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Shared Universes, Ponies, Equestria, Equestrian Culture, Science and Magic, Other Species (Changelings, Dragons)
Shared Universes, Ponies, Equestria, Equestrian Culture, Science and Magic, Other Species (Changelings, Dragons)
When your main inhabitants aren't human, speculation abounds.
- Real horses are the same way, stallions can't stand competition so they drive most of the mature males out of the herd.
- In the future, the six mane characters could all be "sister brides" to the same stallion.
- Pretty much jossed with Hearts and Hooves Day.
- Earth Ponies are generally buried so they can return to Earth.
- Perhaps like Ghenghis Khan's funeral? He had his body buried in a small mound and herds of horses trample over it until it was in indistinguishable from the earth itself. To an Earth Pony, seeing an unburied skeleton is one of the scariest, saddest things possible. It meant that somepony died alone, unhonored and no kin to see them back to the Earth or continue their work.
- Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in The Wicker Man (1973).
- If an earth pony was hated when they were alive, they may be buried in an unmarked grave without the ceremony of a funeral. To further dishonor them, flowers with negative meanings may be planted on the patch of dirt where they are buried, such as yellow carnations (disappointment and rejection), cyclamen (resignation and separation), orange lilies (hatred), or petunias (resentment and anger). For this reason, there is also a superstition among some earth ponies that it is bad luck to name a foal after one of those flowers. As to why there is a filly named Petunia in "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks", the no-naming-foals-after-certain-flowers custom is considered archaic by some, or it is not a universal practice.
- Pegasi are practice Tibetan Sky Burial, where their bodies are devoured by scavengers so their bodies are in the sky. Fluttershy will have no problem with that, or a literal sky burial where they are buried in clouds.
- I'd like to think that they would be placed into a cloud and dispersed in a ceremony. Perhaps a little rain to show sorrow at the passing of a friend.
- Or perhaps something like a Gargoyles Wind Ceremony. Everyone flies through the ashes (or perhaps raindrops as suggested) so that the departed will be with them always.
- I'd like to think that they would be placed into a cloud and dispersed in a ceremony. Perhaps a little rain to show sorrow at the passing of a friend.
- Unicorns practice cremation since they're magical and their bodies became free from the earthly realm. Their ashes are scattered or kept in urns like humans do, and their horns are often kept in display as a family's memento.
- Pegasi may also practice cremation, scattering the ashes to the wind so the deceased "may fly forevermore".
- Higher class ponies are encased in tombs engraved with elaborate designs, detailing their past lives.
- Pony grave markers, where used, are engraved with the deceased's cutie mark.
- A small, undecorated tombstone is considered especially sad because it belongs to a foal who died so young that they never had a chance to get their cutie mark. Alternatively, ponies who died without cutie marks have a generic symbol on their tombstone such as a heart or a butterfly.
- Is this good?
- This is not a waltz. It's in 4/4 time, not 3/4 time.
- Alternately, it sounds a lot like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SbQXvSrVbE
- Look at the tracks that the Cutie-Mark Crusaders leave in "Stare Master" that Fluttershy follows into the Everfree Forest: the Crusaders are clearly wearing horseshoes.
- Given the amount of horse-related Furry Reminders the show has, it's not that unbelievable; real horses, despite common conception otherwise, are actually matriarchal — in a herd, the lead mare, as her name suggests, actually handles all the decision-making for the herd. The stallion's job is basically to sire foals, fight off attacking predators, and keep peace between the mares.
- Methinks somepony might be overusing Soma.
- Jossed if you consider the Micro Series to be canon, where a library is told to be organized alphabetically. Also the main comic book series that has a mention of the Dewey Decimal System.
- Alternatively or in addition, the hat may simply have served to conceal the horn's glow when the unicorn in question is actually using magic — assuming that that is in fact an in-universe phenomenon and not just Rule of Perception.
- It could be a simple case of an in-universe mistake. Considering that it is a dramatization and that Pinkie Pie is involved, the historic accuracy of certain details may be compromised, Presumably to the great gnashing of many an equestrian historians teeth.
We do know that there was a "dark ages" (the time of Discord) which has since passed and a "middle ages" (time under both the Alicorn's rule) which are both considered to be part of Equestria's history. Luna was acting much like a medieval monarch trying to gain the loyalty of her people by giving a demonstration of her power with her voice (in the Middle Ages, people were more loyal to their region rather than their nation, thus kings and queens needed to remind their subject why they bowed to them).
Equestria appears to be in some kind of industrialization far away from the tiny little farm town of Ponyville. Skyscrapers and a large city exists at least in Manehatten. The most obvious fruit of their labor is the train, which is new enough that ones going on longer journeys need some strong Earth Ponies to pull it. Earth Ponies appear to be the leaders in this new field, and growing into new rich factory owners. It is cutting into the old Unicorn nobility, who have been the sole wealthy ponies in Equestria up till now. The evidence of that are the extreme amount of Unicorns in Canterlot, and how in the play the only "royalty" that appeared as a representative was the one from the unicorns (and the fact almost all Earth Pony's appeared to be little more than serfs). This new Earth Pony elite, however, has forced the Unicorn's to welcome some of these Earth Ponies into Canterlot's high society in a desperate plead for their status to survive.
Pegasus society appeared to have already moved on from its Roman militarism to a society based around sports, similar to the revival of the Olympics being reformed not as tribute to the gods done by warriors, but competition done by athletes.
Some Earth Ponies are moving into what was once inhospitable lands surrounding Equestria, similar to the migration west in the Old West.
Princess Celestia's use of Twilight to research more into the mysteries of magic parallels Enlightened monarchs spending lots of money on scientists to increase their own prestige and their appearance of wisdom. Celestia seams to be at least trying to become more directly connected to the common man, also a trait of some Enlightenment era kings.
With Unicorn magic increasing the spread of technology (magically making something work is a very helpful trait for ingenuity and invention) one has to wonder how quickly they will get to the modern era.
- Building off of this, Equestria may undergo democratic reforms (or going into full Crack Fic mode, a revolution) at some point.
- We have seen brothers in the case of Thunderlane and Rumble.
- Jossed as of the Season 6 episode "Flutter Brutter."
- We see an earth pony/pegasus couple in Hearts and Hooves Day; technically, Cadance (alicorn, originally a pegasus) and Shining Armor (unicorn) are an example as well.
- ... Why?
- In one of the previous generations, an incident with a magic mirror resulted in a bunch of baby clones. Remember kids, use mirrors responsibly, or you too can become an unwed mother!
- "A bunch of baby clones"? After being careless with a reflective surface? Hmmm... Sounds like a certain episode may secretly be about pony abortion!
- In one of the previous generations, an incident with a magic mirror resulted in a bunch of baby clones. Remember kids, use mirrors responsibly, or you too can become an unwed mother!
- Maybe they have a custom that's the exact opposite from humans: Those who hang their heads are showing horned aggression, not submission, and those who raise their heads exceptionally high are relaxing the guard on their throat, similar to how humans take a deep bow to look smaller and open the back of their necks to bladed weapons. Like in human society, there are exceptions: Blueblood, for example, holds his head high to say "You're nothing, just watch me show you my throat like you're some sort of slug or hornless pony," and sometimes a unicorn hides behind his or her horn to show submissive fear.
- A lot of them have flower names, but again, flowers are both decoration and food in Equestria.
- Specifically, they seem to be traditionally named after the food whose production they're most involved in. The Apple family grows apples, Pinkie Pie and the Cakes are bakers...so this could easily have started out based on a notion of "learn a pony's name and know who to go to come shopping time".
- The fact that Equestrian Ponies are shown to be Made of Iron further shows this. If a pony can survive having an anvil dropped on them, something that is FATAL to humans, then less extreme physical violence really not an issue.
- Absolutely. Ponies bonking each other on the head ultimately leads to a finite # of not-THAT-badly-injured ponies. Ponies fighting and feuding with each other ultimately leads to the Apocalypse, as all the huddled survivors end up being frozen forever in eternal hatred as the entire landscape turns into the next Ice Age. Yeah, no bucking kidding that they'd consider hurt feelings as more heinous than hurt bodies.
- In Real Life, horses will nip and box each other in good fun. Young horses need to be taught that this kind of play can't be done with their more delicate human friends. This may be where the term "horse play" comes from.
- Absolutely. Ponies bonking each other on the head ultimately leads to a finite # of not-THAT-badly-injured ponies. Ponies fighting and feuding with each other ultimately leads to the Apocalypse, as all the huddled survivors end up being frozen forever in eternal hatred as the entire landscape turns into the next Ice Age. Yeah, no bucking kidding that they'd consider hurt feelings as more heinous than hurt bodies.
- The Summer Sun Celebration and Nightmare Night, both supposedly in honor Celestia and Luna respectively, says differently.
- Honoring royalty, especially when they actually do something, isn't automatically a religious observance — heck, if you have a monarchy in the first place, the occasional holiday in the ruler's honor is only to be expected. (Nightmare Night is debatable anyway, being apparently rather more dedicated to the memory of Nightmare Moon than to actually honoring Luna the one time we've seen it so far.)
- Note also that the Summer Sun Celebration isn't honoring Celestia herself — it's celebrating what she does, every day, and while it is in part thanking her for it, it's as much a reminder of her own obligations to her people, um, Her Little Ponies.
- Then why did she cover where they aren't? Did she get to talking with Lyra at the spa?
- This would probably explain (in fanon) Lyra Heartstrings' obsession with humans and human culture, going so far as sitting like a human and wanting to be one. After all, we know dragons don't exist, but which little kid doesn't want to be one at some point or other — even into adulthood?
- Always thought this exactly because of Lyra. My headcanon is that Lyra is what ponies call an "Anthro" which means she's the pony equivalent of a Furry. Seeing as I see at least 50% of the ponies we've seen in Ponyville are kids or Mane Six's age (young adults) (and I feel this is merely because most of the Adults are WORKING during the day, possibly even commuting to the closest big city), I think Lyra is also a young adult who is just a pony version of a Furry :P I bet she even secretly is making a Human Cosplay.
- Why the hay would anypony want to be a Human of all things? Compared to a Pony we are extremely fragile, have no wings, magic horn, or simple hardy strength. Our furless hide/skin is soft and tears easy, we have teeth that are small and pathetic compared to a Pony (or practically any other creature RL or not) and we're slow as heck to boot since we have to balance on only two legs to travel. Hands aren't that big an advantage if you consider that Pony's seem able to use tools just fine, Pony's aren't stupid, have progressed to the point of being able to urbanize and have trains. Becoming a Human seems like a horrible punishment, and considering that most humans are omnivores that has historically eaten almost every other animal (including horses/Ponies) and even each other! It would be a monsterous assault on Pony sensabilities.
- Humans probably have a reputation of being amazingly creative and intelligent in pony fiction.
- Humans would have to be geniuses (at least) to make it work. If there were some mythical accomplishment humans are supposed to have done (like the Net) then maybe. Problem is, the Ponies can arguably say that anything a Human can do, there's a Pony that can do it better. It does't help that the Ponies have a Physical God who can raise the Sun at will on their side. Humans may win out through cunning and familiarity with Fighting Dirty, but that's not exactly something a Pony would admire now would it? We'd be more of a Cuthul style moster race. Our list of Crimes against Humanity/ourselves is pretty long.
- Humans would probably be the Badass Normal in pony mythology. We lack magic, special powers, or even physical strength but because of our cunning and dexterity we can do things that would seem damn near impossible to ponies. It took a goddess and some of their most powerful weapons in order to send someone to the moon? We've expand our domain into other planets. They need to find water, diamonds, gold, and other resources in nature? We can create our own water, gold, diamonds, and etc. (Mind you it is impractical and expensive but we are capable of it.) They use spears, cannons, and whatever their magic can preform? We have weapons that can wipe out entire cities in a blink of an eye. And so on and so forth. As for how we're characterized, we'd probably be defined as curious, ambitious, well meaning, extremely self-centered, and greedy. For every good thing we've done, we've done an equally horrible thing. For every discovery and invention we find both a good and bad application for it. Also, I always theorized that Lyra was the equine equivalent of a brony. (Ponman? Equine Sapiens? I'm still trying to think of a name.)
- Simply the fact that humans live in a place where the ENTIRE WORLD RUNS ITSELF and can create wonders and horrors in equal measure WITHOUT MAGIC, may combine Badass Normal with Eldritch Abomination from the standpoint of the ponies. The ability to build a machine that can fly and doesn't utilize magic in any way shape or form may be both fascinating and horrifying at the same time. ("Guess what, Dashie, I just invented a machine that makes you obsolete!")
- Seriously, I doubt the Wipe Out Cities in an eye blink thing would go over very well. It sounds impressive, but horrifying at the same time. Their God Princess Celestia might be able to top that by using the sun to burn all of Equestria though....
- Dragons, vampires, Zeus, and and Wolverine aren't exactly the most pleasant mythological beings and we still think they're cool.
- Due to Rule 34, twisted, sex manic perverts might also be used to describe humans.
- The "humans must be better" argument falls flat when you remember that in real life, animals are not as intelligent as humans and are glorified in fiction, especially by Furries. Humans are, if not a myth but exist on another continent (as is done in the fanwork Turnabout Storm), probably mediocre compared to ponies but in fiction, a pony's human companion may be hyperintelligent for a human, much in the same way where a human's animal companion is hyper intelligent compared to them and others of their species.
- Humans! The Fey Folk of Pony Mythology!
- Humans are mad, and that madness means there's nothing they might not be able to do, from giving a pony some sort of friendly gesture with their offset digit to flattening a city with a bomb that salts the earth and damages the children of those near the blast or the area of effect for years to come? Holy crow, humans are Discord's follower race in Equestrian mythology. I must write this.
- Fridge Horror did something happen to Humans with Discord's defeat?
- So if Discord had enough time, he'd bring Humans back?
- This! Humans originated as folklore beings. The most famous is of course the household spirit the Brony (sometimes pronounced Brownie) that attaches itself to what it perceives as "the best pony" and tries to help them by brushing their mane and bringing them things, but there are others. They are master craftsmen, greedy and capricious. Humans, unlike most real sapients, cannot be seen naked or they will turn to stone or fade away, the story varies, so they are obsessed with clothing. A similar legend says that to drive away a Brony, you should dye your coat and mane. This will cause it to disappear in a puff of smoke and the wail "Ruined forever! Not show accurate!". Their absurd appearance (minotaurs with the face of an ape and the mane of a pony? seriously?) clearly shows they're an old mare's tale. No grownup believes in them anymore, but the pony equivalents of Tolkien and the like created the genre of fantasy and included fictional beings based on humans, so now they're part of pop culture. And when Pinkie Pie breaks the fourth wall — well, she has the Sight, knows all the Lore from Granny Pie, and she knows we're real.
- And (seeing the toys IRL) they can be big enough grab you with one hand when they try to collect the whole herd!
- J.R.R. Koltien.
- Possibly more like the Philosopher's Stone. The Ponies have the idea of the object, but they don't have the object itself.
- May be due to Celestia being older than everyone.
- In this, the ponies only reflect the values of their intended human audience. As anyone who has ever been ten will know, human children long to be older than they are. It's only after your late teens or early twenties that being young begins to be viewed as superior (in Western societies).
- Of course, the existence of the historical just-plain-unicorn Princess Platinum suggests that if this is in fact the case, it must be a comparatively more "modern" invention. And we don't really know what the actual social standing of Twilight's family even is — if she rates a princess for a foalsitter and it's later okay for her big brother (a "mere" Captain of the Royal Guard) to actually marry that same princess, they may well be at least related to royalty themselves.
Yes, Pinkie is part of this cabal. She's probably a major leader, just not right on the top because she doesn't want to stop her parties.
- Equestria already has a winter solstice holiday. It's called Hearth's Warming Eve.
- There actually is one, but it's called the "Festival of the Winter Moon" and it's only in the books.
- While we don't really know how far back the events go, it wouldn't be totally unrealistic if relevant info, such as the leaders names and personalities, survived in records to the present day. After all, we know the names of a great deal of the pharaohs going back 5000 years.
- I wouldn't put it past Pinkie Pie to have ad-libbed a lot of dialogue, and Applejack who shared the most scenes with her was quick enough go with it and make it sound like part of the script.
The Hearth's Warming pageant was more than just a tradition. It's a tradition whose real significance has been largely forgotten by mainstream Equestria — but not, of course, by the immortal Princess.
Celestia specifically "invited" the Mane Six to perform it. And in a world where Functional Magic is part and parcel of everyday, and every pony bears what amounts to a magic symbol on their rump, having the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony act out the story of Equestria's unification and discovery of the Magic of Friendship — a story that's probably older than Celestia or Luna — that's powerful.
That wasn't just a quaint little holiday play. That was an Initiation Ceremony. It was as much a part of preparing Twilight for her apotheo... um, "coronation"... as any of the grand adventures and deadly villains she confronted.
- Alternatively, this is a case of Historical Hero Upgrade and Historical Villain Upgrade.
- This is partly to explain the whole "WTH was Celestia doing letting Nightmare Night stain her good sister's name" thing. Basically, Celestia did try her hardest to steer the holiday away from the image of Nightmare Moon... but mostly in the big, important cities like Canterlot and Manehattan, which she thought that Luna would have cared more about. Small rural center like Ponyville, she just didn't have time for, so they retained an ancient tradition into modern day, much like many real-life small towns across the US. To make things clear: other cities in Equestria do celebrate Nightmare Night, but their versions focus almost entirely on the candy and costumes, without the need for a "central" monster.
- Which would explain why Pipsqueak said he was celebrating his "first Nightmare Night ever", despite later episodes showing him to be around the Crusaders' age — Trottingham was a high-enough priority for Celestia to steer them away from Nightmare Night.
- But you may ask: but it's called "Nightmare Night" because of Nightmare Moon. But then again, the "Nightmare" part could not refer to Nightmare Moon, but to nightmare aka. bad dream. And sometimes a term "nightmare" could be used to call something monstrous or nightmarish, if you want to use the latter term.
- This can probably be safely considered jossed. While the Apple siblings' dad was called Bright Macintosh, their mom was born Pear Butter and later went by Buttercup. Likewise, while Twilight does have the same first half of her name with her mother Twilight Velvet, Shining Armor does not share any part of his name with his dad Night Light. Similarly, Rainbow Dash doesn't share any part of her name with her mother Windy Whistles. As for Rarity and Sweetie Belle, their mom is canonically named Cookie Crumbles — they didn't get any part of their names from her either.
And, well, come on. Just tell me that "Red Rum", "Man o' War", or "Seabiscuit" (for example) would sound out-of-place as names for characters in the show.
This spell would be completely optional, and not used by everypony. Some, like the Apple Clan or the Cake famiy just prefer Theme Naming.
- I've heard a theory that there is a pony whose special talent is naming.
- But what ponies with names that aren't real words? For example: Scootaloo, Joe, Trixie, non-ponies Zecora, Matilda, Gustave, Mulia, Philomena.. etc
- Joe, Trixie, Matilda, Gustave, and Philomena are real words. Joe is short for Joseph and means "he will increase" or "let him increase"; Trixie is short for Beatrix and means traveler (quite appropriate for a traveling entertainer); Matilda means "strength in battle"; Gustave means "Goth-staff"; Philomena means "friend of strength".
- By that token, though, all human names are real words as well (which does make sense, as names are in the end personal descriptors): all modern names turn out to be actual words and phrases or full sentences in some language or another if you go back far enough, with centuries of repetition as languages change having caused their immediate meanings to be lost. In light of that, it may be more likely that Equestria's naming traditions are due to ponies being careful to translate the words that make up their names as their language evolves to make sure their meanings are not lost.
- Joe, Trixie, Matilda, Gustave, and Philomena are real words. Joe is short for Joseph and means "he will increase" or "let him increase"; Trixie is short for Beatrix and means traveler (quite appropriate for a traveling entertainer); Matilda means "strength in battle"; Gustave means "Goth-staff"; Philomena means "friend of strength".
- And it's not like surnames are universal among human cultures.
- The problem with this is that among the named, married pony couples we've seen so far (mid-Season 7), only the Pies (who are fairly obviously outliers to mainstream Equestrian culture anyway) share a name. As for the others, Night Light didn't take Twilight Velvet's name, Bow Hothoof didn't take Windy Whistles', and Bright Macintosh didn't take Pear Butter's either.
This is a result of the pre-unification culture. Since unicorns were the scholars, they'd give their children names that described them in increasingly fancy ways. "The Clovergreen Clever one," "The Princess of Platinum." With the pegasi, their militaristic culture would lend itself to more active trends—"He who is a Hurricane," and such. Earth ponies, in connection with the land, would look around for inspiration when it came to their children's names. "Cookie," "Pudding," etc..
Of course, sometimes cultures will appropriate things from each other, and unification did a lot to mix the mess together. So there are exceptions to the rules, and some just plain weird names that might have come from donkies or griffons. But all in all, the trend remains.
- The earth pony system was a personal name — family name system, with consistent surnames among families, similar to the system used in most Western countries (e.g. all the known members of the Pie family share the surname Pie).
- The unicorn system was a family name — personal name system, similar to that found in some East Asian countries (e.g. Twilight Velvet and Twilight Sparkle).
- Finally, to encourage loyalty to the state above their families, pegasi were given names unconnected to those of their parents (e.g. Windy Whistles and Bow Hothoof naming their daughter Rainbow Dash)
As the tribes united and began to intermarry, the naming systems all blended together.
- Twilight specifically uses "anybody" in Over a Barrel when lamenting the feud between the ponies and buffalo, because neither of them will "be reasonable".
- So when a pony dies, others would say they've been 'Everfreed'? Sounds a bit like a certain other euphemism from a popular book...
Zecora probably has a copy in the original Zebra as well, and presumably obtained a Pony copy in case she ever needed a pony to help her with some formulation.
- Alternatively, hailing from a different culture, doesn't quite get the full implications of the insult.
- Apple Bloom felt mortified when Sweetie Belle mentioned the idiom "Break a leg". So "lame" and similar connotations about the inability to walk under your own power might be more negative to ponyfolk.
- And it's not the only topic like this, either. Consider now the term "horse's ass." Foals typically leave their mother's womb via the rear exit, so calling a pony a "horse's ass" could probably serve as a Your Mom slam. Unless, of course, said pony's birth is what made his mother into a mom. Then he might not mind so much.
- You could say then that "lame" could be an insult similar to calling a human "retarded", seeing that both refer to types of disabilities that some would say make the person/pony in question unable to live a normal life.
- Qualified Talent mark?
- Aside from how calling Tartarus "hell" and Elysium "heaven" is a gross oversimplification Twilight only stated that there were monsters imprisoned in Tartarus.
- In historical Tartarus, Tartarus was the actually Greek equivalent of Hell — it not only housed all the evil monsters that were threats to the gods (much as Twilight mentions), but there was also a section as punishment for the enemies of the gods, where the punishment justifies the crime.
- Tartarus is Hell at least according to Neil Gaiman. (see page quote)
- I was under the impression Tartarus was just a very dark city, perhaps built into a mountain, home to some ponies with a reputation as dark as their city (but are not necessarily evil; just misunderstood). They're really just sensitive to light, like most nocturnal creatures, and Cerberus is either their citywide pet, or the one that protects them from the sunlight that hurts them.
- Tartarus = Hell is indeed a gross oversimplification (especially when neither are consistent concepts in themselves), though, Tartarus having the same cultural connotations as Hell is plausible either way.
- This troper is now curious as to what curse word "blucher" would replace...
- Considering a third of the population have fluffy feathered wings; this is unlikely. It might just be a censor some ponies use to avoid offending anyone.
You can actually hear some rare bits of untranslated speech. They sound more like what horses sound like, as expected.
- Why does Roseluck sell calla lilies for food? Because the translators slipped up.
- This also explains the strangely meaningful names of some ponies. Their actual names contained no lexical elements that made sense to the translators, who then just willy-nilly made up some names that the voice actors can pronounce, by random association from cutie marks or personality traits. Therefore a pony that the translators first had to name after their cutie mark appeared will often have an English name that refers to it, but nothing can be learned from the names of ponies that the translators had to name without such knowledge.
- Pinkamena, if memory serves, is a goddess of harvest.
- One we saw in the very first episode (a book we saw) and in The Show Stoppers (the talent show poster). Its alphabet depicts unicorn horns, unicorn heads, entire unicorns, horseshoes, crescent moons, lightning bolts, spirals, and a few other things I can't identify (pimento olives?). I believe it is used for words native to the Equestrian language. The other is a Latin-based alphabet, possibly for loanwords from our languages that use it. Millenia of linguistic evolution may have turned "Sisterhooves Social" into "SIHOVI IVCIOVCΓLO", but the letters are mostly still recognizable.
- The real question this raises is, why is there a need for a draft? A secret war perhaps? But against who?
- Stallion with a winged skull cutie mark and a high-peaked combination cap: We shall purge the Universe of the Foul Forces of Care-a-Lot! Glory to the First Stallion to Die! FOR THE PRINCESS!
- Or, going with the After the End theory, the last surviving pockets of humans are putting up a resistance and need to be exterminated.
- Also, it makes a great pun.
- So what's Big Mac's excuse, discharge due to injury?
- Exception due to being the sole male provider within the immediate family?
- Essential worker? After all, Sweet Apple Acres seems like it could be a huge food provider, and armies march on their stomachs.
- They're stationed at the border between Equestria and the Griffon homeland; settlers ner the edge would otherwise get eaten.
- Or, if they're more like IRL horses, mares tend to be leaders and stallions tend to do more of the fighting. Stallions that aren't strong enough to become herd stallions tend to join bachelor herds of other stallions & train to get stronger. Since bands of rowdy young males will cause trouble unsupervised, or go looking for adventure and chances to impress the fillies, over Equestria's history these male bands took over responsibility for defense of the kingdom, dealing with things like the Parasprite infestation in Phillydelphia and most of the monsters that show up on the show all the time, at least the ones that make trouble.
- So there are two Equestrias: the 'civilian'/matriarchal Equestria shown in the show, which is the old, the young, mares and the few stallions able to avoid being kicked out by the other stallions as competition because they're strong (Big Macintosh) or really good at something (Mr. Cake), and the 'male' Equestria, a genderflipped Amazon Brigade focused on training (in civilian pursuits as well as combat), making it into Celestia's forces proper (fighting the good fight and impressing the fillies) and so on?
- Definitely useful for something like this.
- Alternatively, all stallions are required by law to serve in the military at some point, unless they have some sort of special exemption (such as essential worker). Those ponies who have military related cutie marks form a core of professional career soldiers, while regular ponies serve their time and go back to civilian life. Mr. Cake, Rarity's father and Pinkie Pie's father are all old enough to have done their time, while Macintosh has an exemption. The career soldiers (who are actually good at military matters) are stationed in the more important areas which need professional soldiers, while the non-careers are kept in safer areas (as a sort of civil defense force) to free up the career soldiers for more important duties. This would explain why the guard keeps getting beaten; they aren't up to the task of facing a real threat, only the minor disturbances that regular ponies would cause.
- Hmm. As shown in "Owl's Well That Ends Well" and "Look Before You Sleep", Twilight Sparkle does seem to keep one mounted over her mantel, the traditional place to display a firearm or other weapon, two mounted above her bed (for quick access in case she's woken by an intruder), as well as at least one, presumably more, cached away in various drawers where no one can see them; if you view them as weapons, that... doesn't actually seem out of character for Twilight.
- You know, over the mantel is the traditional place to put a lot of other things, including... a horseshoe. When put with the open end facing up, they "collect" good luck. Also, since humans don't normally use handcuffs as a throwing weapon, this WMG seems a bit forced.
- The final nail for this WMG is the tracks the Cutie Mark Crusaders make in Stare Master. If those aren't horseshoes, I'm Harold Saddlon.
- Who throws a shoe? Honestly!
- Of course, this begs the question of Equestria's equivalent of Right Wing Militia Fanatics...
- It's possible that the towns of Equestria (with Canterlot as a possible exception since The Royal Guard is apparently stationed here) have a simple volunteer trained civilian militia for said protection purposes, though it wouldn't have to mean Equestria is highly militarized, it could simply involve citizens volunteering for training and serve to protect towns from threats both foreign and domestic, given how there seem to be no police in Equestrian towns, it might make sense.
- Considering that Twilight caused quite a bit of trouble in Lesson Zero with just "regular" magic, that's probably a good idea.
- Jossed as of A Canterlot Wedding — Twilight Sparkle definitely throws magic blasts around. Though that could of course be self-taught from some obscure books.
- Though if you look at it, it seems that the damaging effect from the beams is more concussive than penetrating (she doesn't blast huge holes in the changelings, for starters), and if one was truly interested in dealing lethal damage, a less energetic, more narrowly focused beam would be a much better choice. My personal interpretation is that these beams are some version of a less-lethal crowd control weapon, and that Shining Armor taught his little sister a few tricks for personal protection.
- The same episode also has the brief Beam-O-War between Celestia and Chrysalis. More likely, most ponies just don't see much need for dedicated combat magic in their everyday lives — earth ponies and pegasi can't learn it anyway and unicorns already have their always-handy telekinesis. Why waste time on spells that can only be used to hurt another living being if you're a civilian and that's not even your job?
- More probably Princess Celestia restricted Twilight from using offensive magic except in emergencies. It'd have to be a vital part of her magic training, even if only to learn what not to do with it, and Twilight is smart enough to figure out her problems without using magic most of the time so offensive magic isn't that much use to her.
- Jossed as of A Canterlot Wedding — Twilight Sparkle definitely throws magic blasts around. Though that could of course be self-taught from some obscure books.
- Nice one... except for the fact that there are non-firearms that launch bullets. Slings and slingshots come to mind, as do certain types of crossbows and ballistae.
- Additionally, both cannon and tanks (Da Vinci's model at least) predate most handguns
- Except they aren't called tanks back then; the term 'tank' as applied to an armored vehicle dates only to WWII, when the development committee was renamed to Water Tank development as a counter-espionage effort.
- Possibly the gun is also a recent invention, too weak and unreliable to be used (see "Equestria Divided" by PoorYorick on DeviantArt for examples I am thinking of) besides a morale busting weapon outside of giant cannons. Earth Ponies may not have had not enough need to develop weapon technology (see above reasons) or were not ALLOWED to develope weapon technology, do to there former statuses of serfs.