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Author Topic: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic  (Read 216654 times)

Necro910

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #315 on: October 25, 2011, 03:20:33 pm »

That depends on how you define "real violence", I think. Surely the giant pony-eating four-headed hydra alone qualifies for "major threat".

I think it's mostly because the ponies keep the lands they own under their own control. It's the reason the Everfree Forest is feared - it's not under control, things happen by themselves there. So the ponies keep to lands they're tending to, and thus keep out of trouble.

I'm fairly certain there's a darker side to the MLP verse, which the show simply does not explore. The mere existence of the Ursas, the Hydra, and the Cockatrice, hint at the fact that the world isn't a perfectly safe place, by far. There are also different sentient species and other factions that are briefly seen, hinting at a much larger world beyond what is shown. There are obviously things we do not see happen, but that isn't a reason to believe they do not happen at all.
Or that they will happen in the future as well

Zangi

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #316 on: October 25, 2011, 03:42:36 pm »

One theory could be that some sort of bipedal sentient beings were the first to obtain civilization... Griffins and Diamond Dogs being two possible examples, but Griffins are more likely out of those two.  Considering it, given the setting, humans will never be a part of Equestria...  So it'd have to be other sorts of fantastical bipeds that are animal-ish, if not Griffins.

Ponies, were at first more savage, but... 'intelligent', out of that, 'clever' ponies... most likely of the Unicorn caste, learned to mimic and utilize tools used by the bipedal civilizations.  Others just caught on, with more difficulty.
Ponies as a race, are very non-innovative when it comes to industry/tools, since they have other innate abilities like flying/telekinesis/ability to shape nature and despite being quadruped, such tools are usable as they are.  So they just use what they get.

Whatever sort of creativity they have, would be concentrated in artsy stuffs.

In DF Terms:

Ponies
[PERSONALITY:ARTISTIC_INTEREST:25:60:100]
[PERSONALITY:INDUSTRIAL_INTEREST:0:25:60]

EDIT: Took out my parenthesis to make it more clear; I'm of the opinion of no humans in Equestria / Ponies don't live on Earth.
« Last Edit: October 25, 2011, 04:03:13 pm by Zangi »
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Sean Mirrsen

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #317 on: October 25, 2011, 03:57:12 pm »

I'm trying to imagine what sort of holocaust could befall a late 18th-early19th century Earth to leave behind a world inhabited by talking ponies who control nature...

edit: Perhaps something like this:
http://www.weebls-stuff.com/songs/Cute+Explosion/
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TheBronzePickle

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #318 on: October 25, 2011, 04:45:17 pm »

Ponies themselves aren't violent because they're, like their earth counterparts, fairly large herbivores. They lack natural predators and have little need to kill grass before eating it, so the concept of lethal violence is likely fairly foreign. Even the princesses, who grew up in a world where life was a hell of a lot more dangerous, are incredibly lax to kill their enemies.

Ever since Discord got himself overthrown, the entire world's likely found itself settling down. There are probably more races than just ponies who participated in his overthrow, and they're probably equally as likely to 'forget' just who else participated in their histories. The different cultures seem to have minimal contact, with the occasional person wandering between two of the established states. Other than occasional mild xenophobia on a single-person basis, the different cultures likely have a neutral-friendly attitude toward one another, but choose to be rather isolationist. I severely doubt that FiM's going to ever show anything political, so this is just speculation and will likely remain so.
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Telgin

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #319 on: October 25, 2011, 05:18:20 pm »

Ponies themselves aren't violent because they're, like their earth counterparts, fairly large herbivores. They lack natural predators and have little need to kill grass before eating it, so the concept of lethal violence is likely fairly foreign. Even the princesses, who grew up in a world where life was a hell of a lot more dangerous, are incredibly lax to kill their enemies.

While it's true that being an herbivore obviates most of the need for killing, it's not the only factor.  Deer males get pretty darn violent with each other over dominance issues, for example.  Fatalities are uncommon but not unheard of, and I'll admit not the primary focus of any squabbles.  Humans mostly kill each other for reasons completely aside from the fact that we're carnivorous.

Anyway, that aside I would like to see more of the other civilizations myself.  I'd also love to learn more about the history of their world.  We know Celestia and Luna overthrew Discord for example, but where are their parents?  What exactly did go on in the before times?  Plenty of room for the writers to expand on things, but I suspect we'll be left to our imaginations for most of it.

By the way, this is something that's been bugging me for a while: what exactly is Equestria?  Is it the name of the country that the ponies all live in, or something bigger / smaller?  Does their planet have a name?  I can't recall them ever referring to it as Earth, but I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched most of the episodes and can't quote the dialogue from most that I have.
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Sordid

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #320 on: October 25, 2011, 05:19:29 pm »

Did the ponies (Under discord, most likely) exterminate all major threats?

Oh hell no. Remember Gilda the Griffon? Now take a wild guess what griffons eat.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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kaijyuu

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #321 on: October 25, 2011, 05:22:26 pm »

By the way, this is something that's been bugging me for a while: what exactly is Equestria?  Is it the name of the country that the ponies all live in, or something bigger / smaller?  Does their planet have a name?  I can't recall them ever referring to it as Earth, but I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched most of the episodes and can't quote the dialogue from most that I have.
Dragonshy pretty explicitly states that there's an "outside of Equestria." Unless the dragon flew to the moon, it's very likely a country or continent, rather than the planet as a whole. Everfree Forest is often implied to not be in Equestria (folks say it doesn't work like Equestria...) so a country is most likely.
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Dsarker

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #322 on: October 25, 2011, 05:22:49 pm »

Did the ponies (Under discord, most likely) exterminate all major threats?

Oh hell no. Remember Gilda the Griffon? Now take a wild guess what griffons eat.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Fillies are friends, not food!
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Necro910

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #323 on: October 25, 2011, 05:24:49 pm »

Did the ponies (Under discord, most likely) exterminate all major threats?

Oh hell no. Remember Gilda the Griffon? Now take a wild guess what griffons eat.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
Cue cupcakes.
Fillies are friends, not food!

TheBronzePickle

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #324 on: October 25, 2011, 05:27:00 pm »

Equestria is assumed to be the name of the pony nation, with the planet being unnamed. Mention of Orion's Belt suggests a planet near where Earth is, but that still leaves a bit of wiggle room depending on how close to earth Orion's Belt actually is (can't be damned to Google it).

Ponies are also fairly docile creatures naturally. They're playful and social. Even wild horses aren't very violent. The ponies of Equestria seem to have been raised in a very friendly culture, and it's been so long since they've been in a particularly threatening world that the idea of killing others has probably nearly disappeared from the minds of ponykind.

Going by Gilda, which isn't much, griffons seem to be at least somewhat friendly towards ponies.
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kaijyuu

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #325 on: October 25, 2011, 05:30:30 pm »

Equestria is assumed to be the name of the pony nation, with the planet being unnamed. Mention of Orion's Belt suggests a planet near where Earth is, but that still leaves a bit of wiggle room depending on how close to earth Orion's Belt actually is (can't be damned to Google it).
Now that I think about it, since constellations are heavily dependent on where you're standing (cosmically), they're pretty much certain to be in the exact same position as earth. Just in another dimension or something. If they were on alpha centauri (nearest star system to earth), several constellations would be quite different.
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Quote from: Chesterton
For, in order that men should resist injustice, something more is necessary than that they should think injustice unpleasant. They must think injustice absurd; above all, they must think it startling. They must retain the violence of a virgin astonishment. When the pessimist looks at any infamy, it is to him, after all, only a repetition of the infamy of existence. But the optimist sees injustice as something discordant and unexpected, and it stings him into action.

Sean Mirrsen

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #326 on: October 25, 2011, 05:32:06 pm »

By the way, this is something that's been bugging me for a while: what exactly is Equestria?  Is it the name of the country that the ponies all live in, or something bigger / smaller?  Does their planet have a name?  I can't recall them ever referring to it as Earth, but I'll be the first to admit that I haven't watched most of the episodes and can't quote the dialogue from most that I have.
Dragonshy pretty explicitly states that there's an "outside of Equestria." Unless the dragon flew to the moon, it's very likely a country or continent, rather than the planet as a whole. Everfree Forest is often implied to not be in Equestria (folks say it doesn't work like Equestria...) so a country is most likely.
A very specific country, even more likely. What with the buffalo "indians", Manehattan and Fillydelphia.

The question still remains of exactly how Celestia and Luna control the day/night cycle, though.

ninja edit: Alpha Centauri would be very fitting for the setting though. :P
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TheBronzePickle

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #327 on: October 25, 2011, 05:35:26 pm »

Celestia and Luna are worshipped as Gods. They probably have the raw magical energy to make the planet itself stand still.
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Dsarker

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #328 on: October 25, 2011, 05:36:02 pm »

Hey! Stop with that serious discussion of yours!

Spoiler (click to show/hide)
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TheBronzePickle

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Re: My Little Pony, Friendship Is Magic
« Reply #329 on: October 25, 2011, 05:38:54 pm »

I would walk Pinkie Pie. And then I'd play games with her until it was time to go to sleep, then I'd curl up in bed with her and we'd drift off into sweet dreams.
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