#ive thought abt donkeys and mules a lot bc to me they are the closest thing to black coded

[nineponies]

ignore that last post. here are my design notes on how i draw + portray mules, plus some explantions/info/headcanons that didn't fit on the sheet under the cut

so the mules we have in canon arent all that great . they look identical to donkeys (and are always the punchline to a joke like our poor friend here)

so like a sane mlp fan i sunk 2 hours into designing a mule !

i used a random background mare and cranky doodle as refs bc mules are a male donkey and a female horse. i tried to pick a couple of the most notable traits from each.

then i put the donkey legs on the front bc of this quote i found on wikipedia while researching about mules (and hinnies, which are a female donkey + male horse)

i was a little conflicted on how the face would look but i decided to lean more pony like because i like the idea of a mule being able to pass as a pony from a distance. i suspect some mules do pass as ponies with if their coats are light enough and their snouts lean a little more ponylike...*cough cough wink wink*

on that note, smthn i also didnt get to mention is that a mule's mane tends to curl ! i based this on mulia and matilda's manes (even though matilda's mane is straight in her flashback but shh.)

as for naming conventions, i'd guess that there are a lot of second generation mules with names like miracle, serendipity, and blessing bc their births are a big deal. first gen mules seem to favor m sounds in canon (mulia). with most of the mothers of mules being earth ponies i can see ponylike names being quite popular for their babies