@TexasUberAlles  
Pretty much. Hair, feathers, and scales do have a connection that way but you’re right by saying that it’s also complicated. The three function very differently from each other too.

@redweasel  
It’s a little more complicated than that, but they are made from the same basic material.

@redweasel  
They’re specialized scales. Birds evolved from dinosaurs afterall.

feathers are specialized hairs.

@Goobington  
Could be. Before the movie came out, I thought the two of them were alicorns (their fins reminded me of wings while the glowing lights could have been their horns).

I think it might be a royalty thing.
 
Notice how Queen Novo has three glowing lights, Skystar only has one, and the other seaponies have none.  

 

 

@Ihhh  
Pretty much. It’s less of an error and more of a style difference. But you know how this fanbase can be sometimes. Lots of nitpicking.

Sooooooo what the point we are trying to make?

Rarity and Applejack’s heads look different too, but nobody gets the vapors over it.

@mjangelvortex  
If you mean the general, is he her father?  
I mean i dont think any of thr adults are the actual parents of the kids.
 
Or i missed something.

Nitpicking

@Dashie27  
The magic aura was also different for other ponies.  

 
Kind of like how they gave the ponies their own unique walk cycles.  

 
@Twilestia  
We’ve seen her father before and he looked like the other hippogriffs. But that’s an interesting headcanon.

The movie had a lot more detail, like how when magic was used instead of just being a blob, it was more like a helix  
>>1693712p (merged)

Maybe shes more pony then griffin. She is a niece of the queen, maybe her father or mother is a regular pony and her other parent a hippogriff.

@cheezedoodle  
That too. It could explain why the others still had feathery manes and tails. I prefer how the Hippogriffs look in the movie (not just for the more detail in their feather manes but Inthink their wings and feathered fetlocks look better there too). But given the show isn’t animated in Toon Boom and is limited by a TV budget and time restraints, I can understand why some changes had to be made. They’re still pretty enough in the show’s style at least.

Maybe their head and tail feathers are just long and pliable enough that they can be styled like hair.
 
Something like a peacock’s tailfeathers.

@Frustration in Excelsis  
It could be a style difference like what they did with the ears (a simple style is easier to animate on a TV budget). Plus, her father seemed to have feathers and so did the background Hippogriffs.

Besides that one strain the rest of her hair looks normal actually  
May just be a weird design choice.

… huh. Maybe it’s a difference in how they’re drawn?

Maybe it’s an age thing?
 
Or it’s like Celestia’s flowing mane?