How Famous Are the Mane Six?

[MidnightMask]

It's sort of hard to tell sometimes. Do most ponies in Equestria know who they are, due to their multiple incidences of saving Equestria, or even just as Princess Twilight's crew?

I ask this here because I'm curious how much knowledge the average pony ought to have in regards to them when interacting. We know there's newspapers, a stainglass mural, and a whole lot of ponies who are, at the very least, interested in Princess Twilight, being the newest princess.

Should it be like meeting a celebrity, a war hero, or just another pony?

[Zeig]

I'm not sure about the majority of RPers, but I personally give them minor celebrity status to most of my characters' viewpoints, in the sense that they've heard of them and may or may not be able to recognize them on sight. Twilight is the exception, considering that it'd be difficult to not recognize a small purple Alicorn. For the amount of times the main characters have saved Equestria or random cities (including the smaller messes they have sometimes inadvertently dragged Ponyville into) I can only imagine most of my characters having at least heard about them, with the majority being able to recognize Twilight and maybe a couple of others on sight.

The degree of their knowledge varies though. My main character Inkbrand, given his frequenting of Ponyville and Canterlot, has heard of all of them but only recognized Twilight and Rainbow Dash as actual Elements when he first met them. And he only recognized Rainbow Dash because of her flying competitions/sporty nature, as he's a character that's more into physical activities (he may have recognized Rarity as well?...but in that case, only because she's considered an exceedingly attractive pony, and he's the type of character to pay attention to exceedingly attractive characters). He doesn't really know any of their Elements though, or even what the exact Elements are, but he can make passable guesses.

But yeah, that's just how I handle it. Give how involved they've been in Equestria's defense, I just can't imagine my characters not having at least some idea of who they are (unless the character in question is just not from Equestria).

[Skipper]

I think it completely depends on your characters to be quite honest. Like Zeig has mentioned, ponies that frequent Canterlot/Ponyville will more than likely know all about them and all about what they do but characters from farther away, and other regions might not know that much about Twilight or the Mane 6. In fact it may become a case where they hardly know about Luna's return! (Ok, maybe not but still you get my point!)

Yes, there are newspapers but not everypony would read one. I personally never read or watch the news so I am absolutely terrible to discuss current affairs with. I imagine it is much the same with some ponies.

 

[Bellosh]

My Two Cents: From a certain logical standpoint, it should seem like everypony in Ponyville/Canterlot ought to know that the Mane 6 are heroes and to treat them as such. In the show's reality however, we've only seen idol-worship behavior focused on Princess Twilight Sparkle (and Spike in the Crystal Empire). At the end of the day, FiM is about a diverse group of normal ponies who spend most of their time dealing with relatable issues, who just merely happen to get into adventures every now and then. If all the secondary and background characters in FiM constantly went on about every time the Mane 6 saved the day, it would break the illusion that the show is ultimately about normal ponies.

 

I'd say that for slice-of-life RPs, an individual Mane 6 pony should primarily be recognized for her day-to-day occupation and unique skills. For RPs with a more grander scope, then it would be appropriate to insert callbacks to past feats of Celestia-recognized heroism.

[pollo20x6]

I think every pony in ponyville knows who they are.

They've saved the town countless times. From episode 1 onwards, you could say the town found out who they were. Who wouldn't remember the 6 who managed to beat Nightmare Moon, a feared character who was already famous through folklore (Nightmare Night stories)?

As to why ponies in, say, Mane-hatten don't recognize them, I think it's just for story purpose. Realistically, everyone should know who they are. I mean, in The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Ocarina of Time Link was a famous person of legend that was passed on through story for many generations.

And all he did was defeat Ganondorf.

The Mane 6 have defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and Tirek.

I think it's safe to say that not only should be famous, but will be remembered for many years as legends.

But that's speaking realistically.

In the show, it varies. In one episode, twilight carries some kind of celebrity-esque status and in others she is ignored by common street ponies.

[Rosewind]

I think it's a toss up -- they're well-known for saving Equestria umpteen times, then it's kind of like whatever. It depends on the context of the episode and what the writer is trying to accomplish. In actual Equestrian canon, a lot of incredible things are common place (the show even satires itself with this in Slice of Life), so saving Equestria could be a thing you do in an afternoon with some friends.