>>10046
>As for the point on Ponyville's pony populace. It was something in later portrayed as somewhat unique but we have seen a few other places. Maybe proximity to Canterlot means it gets a little bit of business and passersby and some decide to settle down even if it isn't an active tourist destination?
Ok, so - I've been looking into background ponies on the wiki as I've heard that was a big part of the early fandom was watching the background ponies. I was curious about the three on the way to give gifts to Moondancer, who have the first dialogue with Twilight in the show back in episode 1. I'd always assumed they were Canterlot ponies, friends of Twilight and Moondancer back in the city that Twilight left behind when she went to Ponyville. However, as it turns out, the trio of Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Minuette all go on to become background ponies in Ponyville!
I was puzzled by this and trying to figure out a reason why this would be outside of the fact that there were limited resources for background characters - I wanted to think of an in-universe reason. This bit you said here gave me the 'lightbulb', at least for a direction of a possible headcanon. In the UK, around London there's various suburban towns and villages that are populated in large part by people who work in the city, and who will ride an hour or more on the train to commute to London just so they can live in a semi-countryside pleasant environment. I wonder if that's what happening here - if these three work in Canterlot and get the train there, but live in Ponyville. Since Ponyville is very near to Canterlot and has a train station...
And since they know both Twilight and Moondancer, and given that all three are unicorns, perhaps it's some sort of academic position or perhaps government job involving magical studies. Who knows! But I like the idea of it.