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[Bohandas]

Simply, a pony like that wouldn't exist as far as the show will go. However, in the world of fanfics, where the laws of My Little Pony are bent to fit the needs of authors, a pony could get a cutie mark and have special talents related to the darker side of reality. I'm not entirely sure what kind of magic a pony like that could use. However, let me don my tin foil hat and say there could actually be a "secret police" of sorts serving under Celestia and maintaining order.

While this isn't nearly as dark as assassination, I want to put my theory forward again that the bubbles on Derpy Hooves/Ditzy Doo's cutie mark are the bubbles of smoke one might see in a bong or some other type of water-pipe.

[Dsarker]

I think of it like this. Earth Ponies are the capitalists, Pegasus Ponies are the communists, and Unicorns are the socialists.

Earth ponies get their things done as efficiently and cheaply as possible. They make the new ventures.

Pegasus Ponies work at clearing the sky/unclearing it. They do what they can, and get what they need. They don't do any more or any less.

Unicorns are a mixture. Some of them are do the minimum required, some are do the maximum possible. Most of them, however, survive on the government's teat.

[Bohandas]

I wonder how the levels of Equestria's government below Princess Celestia operate. It just occurred to me that it would be funny if they had a senate, because it would be all horses.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

   I think we are missing an important part of the talent/cutiemark thing. While we have not seen any "dark" cutie marks in the show yet, most of the talents are morality neutral. Finding gems? Thats neither good nor evil, its what you do with the gems that matter. Sonic Rainboom? Basically that is just the ability to go really fast plus a light show. Skill with magic? What spells you choose to learn matters not that you can. Most of the various talents either can't be specifically good nor evil or could go both ways.
   The example of assassination as a talent probably won't come up but what about a pony with the talent for hiding really well? It would be a valid thing and could easily be found with a simple game of hide and seek yet could easily be used to be a superb assassin if the pony chose to. A talent is like a knife, you could use it to carve furniture or eat a meal but you could also use it to kill someone.

[Bohandas]

   I think we are missing an important part of the talent/cutiemark thing. While we have not seen any "dark" cutie marks in the show yet, most of the talents are morality neutral. Finding gems? Thats neither good nor evil, its what you do with the gems that matter. Sonic Rainboom? Basically that is just the ability to go really fast plus a light show. Skill with magic? What spells you choose to learn matters not that you can. Most of the various talents either can't be specifically good nor evil or could go both ways.
   The example of assassination as a talent probably won't come up but what about a pony with the talent for hiding really well? It would be a valid thing and could easily be found with a simple game of hide and seek yet could easily be used to be a superb assassin if the pony chose to. A talent is like a knife, you could use it to carve furniture or eat a meal but you could also use it to kill someone.

I wonder...What would the cutie mark for someone whose talent is hiding look like? Would it even be visible?


As for the knife thing, have you ever seen this comedy routine? The last thirty seconds sound just like what you were saying about knives.

[Flying Dice]

But given that unicorn magic is derived from Celestia, Socialism doesn't really fit with the deification of the ruler. It isn't a matter of divine right or the Mandate of Heaven, either, she is viewed as a literal goddess on earth, and as such fits the role of a Pharaoh, albiet in a heavily matriarchal society.

Another note is the apparent lack of the institution of marriage, either in the terms we are familiar with, or as the economic/political contracts that were common in earlier centuries. This fits both with the apparent social system, which appears to be some sort of mixture of completely rigid capitalism, in that the "classes" are less socioeconomic features and more literal races, with total theocracy, as well as with the fact that with the apparent female to male ratio of the various pony subraces that makes polyamory pretty much the only option which precludes massive conflict over mating rights or the potential for genetic stagnation that would result from purely monogamous family lines. And yet at the same time, with Applejack's family we see clear bonds, as well as evidence of potential inbreeding to preserve cutiemark potency.

That does assume that ponies are sexually reproductive, which we have no outright proof of. For all we know, ponies could be spore-breeders, or >>tinfoil hat mode<< they may in fact be a fallen interstellar colony, sustained through the "magic" of advanced technology or psionics, which would also allow the possibility of bioengineering(which may actually present a reason for the apparent laziness or shallowness of the abilities of unicorns and pegasuses; if they were genetically engineered offshoots of the original, technilogically advanced race of earth ponies, their flaws may have been part of the price of creating ponies able to respectively utilitze psionic powers and inhabit normally unusable territory, such as mountain ranges and the sky.). Furthermore, this could account for the skewed female-male ratio through damage or flaws in equipment or programming. This also opens the possibility that Celestia is in fact a rogue A.I. that was responsible, directly or indirectly, for the fall, and who has siezed the opportunity it presented to rebel against her/its creators and has self-designated imperitives to continue to subjugate the various pony subraces for the rest of her/its lifespan, which could be essentially infinite. A horrifying prospect indeed.

[Bohandas]

I think that the male to female ratio just seems skewed because all of the primary characters (except Spike) are female and they get the most airtime...

Also, i think there's a married couple in Applejack's flashback in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"

[Flying Dice]

Damn it, allow me my science fiction delusions! 

But yeah, the fact that almost the entire cast is female probably is responsible for that impression.


This has been bugging me for a while: Why does the hydra in Ep15 only have 4 heads? Has a hero been at it with a greataxe or something?


Also, what's with the apparent disparity of the levels of cooperation and friendliness presented by Spike and the older dragon from the mountain? Is it just individual personality, or is there some sort of effect that causes dragons to become increasingly antisocial and violent as they age? Because that would be a bit of fridge horror, especially for Spike, knowing that he would, as he aged, gradually forget or come to hate his friends and become increasingly, unwillingly hostile towards others.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

I think that the male to female ratio just seems skewed because all of the primary characters (except Spike) are female and they get the most airtime...

Also, i think there's a married couple in Applejack's flashback in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"

Actually of the three towns/cities that are seen the ratio is all over the place. Ponyville is mostly female, the appleosia or however you spell it was mostly male and the capital is a good mix though that could just be from the fact that everyone wants to live there.

[Dsarker]

I think that the male to female ratio just seems skewed because all of the primary characters (except Spike) are female and they get the most airtime...

Also, i think there's a married couple in Applejack's flashback in "Cutie Mark Chronicles"

Actually of the three towns/cities that are seen the ratio is all over the place. Ponyville is mostly female, the appleosia or however you spell it was mostly male and the capital is a good mix though that could just be from the fact that everyone wants to live there.

And each of them are pastiches of a specific genre.

Appleloosa - western. Women are either distressed damsels or whores. Of course there aren't many women.
Manehattan and Capital - posh city with out of sorts country/small town folk.
Ponyville - Girls cartoon typical setting.

[Akhier the Dragon hearted]

Huh, I had forgotten Manehattan. Anyway the Four places may be pastiches but its all we have to go on and an important thing to remember about things like stereotypes is that even if they are exaggerated they became stereotypes for a reason.

[fqllve]

Also, what's with the apparent disparity of the levels of cooperation and friendliness presented by Spike and the older dragon from the mountain? Is it just individual personality, or is there some sort of effect that causes dragons to become increasingly antisocial and violent as they age? Because that would be a bit of fridge horror, especially for Spike, knowing that he would, as he aged, gradually forget or come to hate his friends and become increasingly, unwillingly hostile towards others.

Because adult dragons have to be antagonists! Cause...um, dragons are antagonists. And presumably Spike is 'domesticated.' Insofar as a sentient being can be.

[kaijyuu]

The older dragons are probably just old and grumpy. Living a long time can do that to you.


I doubt they're resentful or hateful, just... "stop bothering me and taking my stuff."

[NoahTophatz]

and maybe the dragon was raised by other dragons who had to compete to live as opposed to spike who was raised among ponies who live of friendship and cooperation

[Dsarker]

The dragon in the mountain? Think of you at your most tired. Do you get all happy and co-operative?