As revealed a while ago, soapboxes will now happen once we get enough submissions for it. Send them whenever, but also expect them whenever!
If you'd like to submit one, hit this post up.
This time around, your headlines include:
- Tribalism in Equestria
- Will IDW comics talk more about romance with the main characters in season 10 than the show?
Gallus' Interesting Career Choice - How Griffonstone Collapse?
- Season 10 Comic Idea: Yona and Sandbar's Relationship Explored
Get the articles below!
Tribalism in Equestria
By Christopher
The world of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic centers around the nation of Equestria. Long time fans of the show will know that Equestria formed when the three tribes of Equestria (unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies) merged together and achieved peace and prosperity under the “benevolent custodianship” of Celestia. With the brief exception of the series finale, the relationship between the three equine tribes is shown as being placid and friendly. Even then, conflict doesn’t emerge because of any substantive sources of conflict but instead emerges as a direct consequence of external meddling (I.e. disguised Chrysalis spreading rumors). While it’s completely understandable why the series wouldn’t want to highlight something that is peripheral to the show’s main focus (friendship between individuals) the very dynamics and abilities of the different equine tribes means that inequality and conflict is an inevitable outcome. Allow me to explain.
Each of the equine tribes have different abilities. Unicorns can use their magic for jobs which require finesse (i.e. brain surgery) and pegasi have a niche in manipulating the weather. Sure earth ponies are reported to possess unique abilities to grow food, however the other two tribes could just as easily fill their jobs. This creates a dynamic whereby unicorns and pegasi possess a monopoly over certain sectors of the economy, facing less competition and securing better wages. Earth ponies on the other hand are essentially consigned to a limited number of manual labour jobs and could always have their jobs poached by other creatures, effectively suppressing their wages and social mobility.
As unicorns and to a lesser extent pegasi consolidate more wealth (and by extension control over the means of production of wealth), they will desire a way to suppress wages to maximize profits. As a consequence, they will seek to flood the labour pool with low-skilled workers who don’t threaten their jobs (i.e. no clawed, winged creates such as griffins), but who can fill the same niche as the earth ponies (i.e. the buffaloes or yaks.) This will create a dynamic where Equestrians are generally pro-immigration, but earth ponies will view immigrants as a threat to their economic well-being, further tearing at the social fabric.
Surely Celestia wouldn’t put up with this inequality? Surely she would intervene to ensure that the earth ponies aren’t exploited and that their needs are met? While this would certainly be true, we must remember that somepony somewhere has to pay for any government assistance program (hint it’s the taxpayer.) Since unicorns and pegasi would possess the majority of the wealth, they would pay the bulk of the taxes towards these programs which would primarily help the earth ponies. Such a scenario would inevitably cause the former to view the earth ponies as “social parasites” leaching off of the “Atlases” of Equestrian society.
Such resentment would give way to demographic panic as the poor generally have higher birth rates than the rich, resulting in earth ponies growing faster than the other two tribes. This will cause the unicorns and pegasi to fear that they are being “replaced” (or if Equestria democratizes outvoted) likely prompting a clamp down on earth pony political participation.
In light of these factors, we must face the fact that Equestrian society is headed for crisis and conflict either in the near future or in the long term. The unavoidable inequalities that will emerge naturally possess no remedy that will ensure equity for earth ponies without alienating the members of unicorn and pegasi tribes. Separation into separate nationstates wouldn’t be viable either as the different tribes are mutually interdependent and while somewhat segregated (see demographics of Canterlot vs. Ponyville) they lack contiguous territory for a nation state.
In short, the ponies of Equestria are going to have to learn to accept permanent inequality between the different tribes or face the violent Balkanization of Equestria, complete with tribalistic warfare and bloodshed. The inmutable dynamics of their fantasy world prevent the pursuit of an egalitarian, merit based system, condemning them to eternal conflict and resentment.
TLDR: Equestria is screwed and there is nothing anypony can do about it.
Will IDW comics talk more about romance with the main characters in season 10 than the show?
By: Double C
With the season 10 comics coming, IDW promises readers of exploring things that the show never attempted to do. Among those is romance with the main characters and how it will work out. In the final episode, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich are married and have a son which has been the favorite “go to” ship for Pinkie since season 4 in the show and fans were happy. But it left Twilight, Spike, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, Starlight, and Trixie guesting if their married or signal. They might go with the most popular ships like Twilight and Flash, Rainbow and Soarin, Fluttershy and Discord, Rarity and Spike, Applejack and Caramel, Starlight and Sunburst, and Trixie and Blueblood. If they wanted to in a surprise twist, they could go for Rarity and Fancy Pants, Applejack and Spike, and Trixie and Pharynx.
Who should Twilight be with? Who should Spike be with? Who should Applejack be with? Who should Rainbow be with? Who should Fluttershy be with? Who should Rarity be with? Who should Starlight be with? Who should Trixie be with?
Gallus' Interesting Career Choice
By Alexrioponylover95
Hello everycreature!
One of the most interesting things from The Last Problem for me is Gallus as a royal guard now, quite an interesting and unexpected career choice wouldn’t you say?
Now comes the question of why and what led him to deciding to go down that path. Well, there are a few hints I guess that would point to him choosing this role.
The first would be Gallus’ claustrophobia, revealed in What Lies Beneath, (One of my top favorite episodes of Season 8) Gallus having to escape on his own through a tight spot. Now that could have influenced his decision to join the guard ranks, maybe he felt it could have been a way for him to help overcome his fears.
The second would be in The Last Problem itself, in which we see a stained glass window dedicated to the Young 6 defeating some sort of giant rhino. (And I hope the Season 10 comics gives us that event in full detail!) Gallus could have realized after he and his friends won that maybe protecting others was his own destiny and that could be another reason why he started guard training, to become stronger and defend others for a job.
Now, there is another reason, a much more sadder reason why Gallus chose his role and well… as Pinkie put it… Griffonstone is a dump. Plus as Gallus did reveal in The Hearth’s Warming Club, he is an orphan, having no one related to him in Griffonstone. Maybe becoming a guard was a way for him to finally get out of Griffonstone, which was holding him back so much before he came to the School of Friendship. Being in such a high place in Canterlot would certainly be a very nice change for a griffon who had next to nothing growing up and I can’t blame Gallus if that is one of the reasons why he decided this role.
Now how he got to become a guard is another question and I would like to offer my own headcanon towards this. I imagined that Gallus talked about it with Twilight and Twilight decided to help out her former student by asking Shining Armor if he could train the young griffon. Have Gallus be Shining Armor’s personal student, much like how Twilight was Celestia’s personal student.
And one last thing I would like to mention, if Gallus, a griffon, is part of the royal Canterlot guard, would that mean there are also other non-ponies in the guard, such as dragons and changelings? I would like to think so, being that the lands across Equestria are now much more united and friendlier with each other and maybe even Gallus joining inspired others to sign up as well.
How Griffonstone Collapse?
By Toad256
We are told that the reason for griffonstone decline is the loss of the Idol of Boreas by the Arimaspi, but I think there is something more to this. I think Grogar had a hoof in Griffonstone’s downfall.
We know from the other villains that in Grogar’s history he was the first emperor of Equestria and he was called the Father of Monsters.
Next we’ll take a look at the griffins history. The griffins were first unified when Grover brought the Idol of Boreas to the griffins and became their first king. After Grover, Griffonstone had 11 more kings up until their 13th king “King Guto.”
Comparing the two It is possible that Grogar and the unified griffins could have existed during the same period and it is pretty reasonable to assume that the two empires were rivals and fighting each other. It would have been hard for Grogar to invade the griffins being Griffonstone on a different continent then Equestria and the only connection of the two is a built bridge that probably wasn’t there during their time period.
So Grogar being the Father of Monsters created the Arimaspi to wreak havoc on Griffonstone, stole the Idol of Boreas, but fell in a ravine and died before leaving.
Season 10 Comic Idea: Yona and Sandbar's Relationship Explored
by ShadowWriter45
Based on this title, I am suggestion that Yona and Sandbar have become a couple based off what we saw in The Last Problem; if nothing else they either work together closely at Rarity's Boutique. Ultimately it's up to our interpretation. From the couple standpoint, I think that's what can be explored. It's no secret that they'll do a Young Six comic based off the mural we saw in the series finale but what about the Young Six as individuals or what they become in the future. In this case I think it would be a good opportunity to explore Yona and Sandbar becoming a couple not just because it was (slightly) established that they like each other, or Sandbar likes Yona more, and see how that plays out in their group. Show off how their new couple status could effect the dynamic amongst their friends; I'm not talking about how it could negatively impact their friendship but at the very least change up the dynamic a bit. Plus, it would also give us an interspeices relationship that could be a key lead into a part of what we saw in the series finale; granted, I think the first interspecies relationship we all though about was Braeburn and Little Strongheart but that has a fifty-fifty percent chance of being explored here as canon.
