A thread to discuss My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and the tie-in media.
All of the usual forum rules
apply. In addition, please remember that the thread is discussing a kids' show, and it's primarily focused on the work itself, not the fanfic — in particular, we don't want to see lewdness creeping in.
Edited by Mrph1 on Aug 26th 2024 at 10:24:26 AM
The Princesses are not treated as god-queens and Lauren said that she never saw them as such. It's just popular fanon. The evidence of the show says that alicorns are special, but not really all that much.
As Seraphem said, look at Cadance. I actually wrote a blog post about this phenomenon (and some similar stuff) a while ago.
As has been mentioned elsewhere, the nature of ponies to treat things other ponies have done as less special actually makes sense given their nature as a herd species. It's an unusual cultural quirk that adds to the wordbuilding.
Also, I like the fact that it supports the "off-screen battle in Tartarus principle" as I like to call it. For every crazy thing we see on-screen, there's plenty more we never see. This is pretty normal for ponies.
No it isn't. it's a stable, and fairly well established and consistent piece of simply how the 'verse works. Ponies on the whole seem to have relatively short attention spans, baring things related to their special talent. Have a tendency to always be caring more about now, and what's new, then on the past.
For what it's worth there, it looked like literally every pony in Ponyville had a chemical hazmat suit at the ready when they thought disease was breaking out... even if they're not used to it, they evidently have a culture of preparedness.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.Well, then doesn't hat mindset just prove Sereg's point? They're prepared because they're used to this sort of thing.
Ponyville itself, at least; bearing in mind that the vast majority of the series takes place in a single location, and a small town at that, Twilight's change wouldn't really register to a small group of ponies who know her fairly well and are used to have big, weird things going on - especially since they all tend to happen around her, or she gets involved in some way.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.I guess I just don't find that an interesting bit of worldbuilding so much as an example of lazy writing and an over adherence to team's preferred genre. But then I guess that's to be expected coming from me.
edited 19th Feb '14 11:10:38 AM by Mio
I'd just like to point out that the whole "herd based society" thing falls kinda flat due to how anthropomorphic they are. It is a different society and culture than reality, but I don't think it's due to species.
"You are hearby sentenced to have a minimum of one tea party a week with the object of your illegal grudge for the next month!"
"But neither of us even like tea!"
Reaction Image RepositoryAlso there's the thing to consider: humans are pack animals, strictly speaking, but once you develop society on a large scale that kind of thing gets muddied.
That said, primate packs and horse herds do function differently, but pony society still resembles human society, so it's fair to assume they lean more one way than the other.
Birthright: an original web novel about Dragons, the Burdens of Leadership, and Mangoes.But it is still kind of there. How easy they panic, their tendency to all follow along in a group to anything that comes around. The not noting others accomplishments so much, and having a short attention span for those things.
Yeah it's nothing major, but are some subtle things that do suggest at least some influence.

Yeah, those are expected to be big spectacle episodes. I'm just trying to theorize why it hasn't come up in the regular series episodes. And my thoughts are basically that it boils down to how the writers deal with changes to status quo. Namely this: They don't change the core character, they just add circumstance. What I mean by the character's ongoing role in the show doesn't change; AJ will always be an apple farmer, RD is a weatherpony with dreams of joining the Wonderbolts, Rarity will always run the boutique in Ponyville, etc. The chances of their recurring roles changing (e.g. Fluttershy getting a new job, Pinkie Pie isn't going to move out of town permanently, etc.) are very slim.
However, they do change the circumstances of the character's lives, but only in a way that can be taken or left depending on the episode. Take Rainbow Dash for example. She has made progress in her attempt to be a Wonderbolt, but any of the changes that have taken place are such that they can be ignored if the story doesn't involve them. Same goes for Rarity. She's making progress in the fashion world, but it's always through isolated shows and events, and she's always remained centered in Ponyville.
The writers are trying to handle Twilight's new status the same way; yes, she's a princess now, but they'll ignore that fact unless it becomes relevant to the episode somehow. Whether this is good or bad is up for debate, but I think it explains why it hasn't come up much. If they mentioned it offhand too often, it would have to be brought up all the time, to the point of dominating the show.
As for the Rainbow Kingdom, my guess is that Twilight is going to take over Celestia and Luna's old castle. It's close enough to Ponyville to allow for more Slice of Life plots while still giving them a new setting to work with.
edited 19th Feb '14 10:35:09 AM by JapaneseTeeth
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