So let's talk about how viable that war would have been... (S5 E11 Spoilers)

[Ace O. Jade 122]

So I wanna talk about this because something I keep seeing mentioned in reference to "Party Pooped" is that the Yaks and their declaration of war did not actually pose a serious threat.

 

Personally, I think that that analysis is all wrong and--based on the information the show has thus far provided us--should a war between yaks and ponies break out, the yaks would ultimately win.

 

The comments to which I'm referring to may be wrong, or I may be wrong, or there may be no way to tell, but that's the fun part about forums. So, let's have a discussion about it.

 

 

First, I wanna talk about this assumption that Celestia, Luna, and alicorns in general have some godlike or incredible power and they alone would be enough to defend Equestria from almost any foe. I think this assumption is incredibly incorrect and that alicorns aren't as powerful as everyone thinks they are.

 

To start, let me bring up the point that in this history of the show, the alicorns have successfully defended Equestria twice, and failed to defend it every other time danger has presented itself. The first of these two times in particular are when Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon after her initial transformation, which was an occurrence of alicorn vs. alicorn and not something from which we can gauge relative alicorn power. The second time was when Cadance, combined with Shining Armor, defeated Chrysalis, a foe who had previously ousted Celestia. Cadance didn't even defeat her alone, she required help.

Ultimately, the Alicorns have been defeated more times than not; Chrysalis defeated Celestia in a matter of seconds, Twilight, wielding the power of all four alicorns, only stalemated Tirek, and Twilight couldn't stop a normal unicorn from escaping. The princesses were both take out by plants, for pony's sake.

Ultimately, despite the fandom seeming to believe that the princesses have godlike power, they've failed to consistently utilize any power they have to defend Equestria, and historically have relied on the Elements of Harmony, a resource which would not have been available at the time of the Yak-Pony War. To paraphrase Rainbow Dash in "Princess Twilight Sparkle Part 2", "Without the Elements of Harmony, how are we supposed to defend Equestria?"

 

"But what about the Rainbow Power they used to defeat Tirek?"

Well, I'll admit it's a possibility they could use that, but I find it to be an unreliable assumption to make seeing as they haven't displayed any ability to call upon that power again, despite situations arising where it could be used (i.e. The Bugbear attack or when Pinkie came face-to-face with that arctic beast).

 

The second thing I'd like to argue is that the fandom seems to assume that the average pony would be more valuable than the average yak as a soldier, considering the flight and magic. What the fandom seems to be forgetting is that this is not the human world, and those skills are considerably more common-place. Unicorns would barely have any magic at all applicable in a war environment, as Twilight said herself that the average unicorn can only use a little bit of magic relevant to their Cutie Mark. Additionally, we have no reason to believe that yaks DON'T have magic, they simply never displayed the use of any.

While I don't have any reason flight wouldn't be useful for war (it very much would) the yaks live in a world inhabited by Pegasus, Griffons, Changelings, etc. They must be used to dealing with flying enemies and have developed anti-air weapons, considering they are historically warmongers.

 

"What about ponies that are especially adept at magic, like Twilight, Trixie, and Starlight?"

They would probably be the biggest opposition to the yaks, alongside the alicorn princesses (who I would weigh to be generally their equals in terms of offensive strength, give or take). But they alone cannot fight an entire army. They would put up a good fight, but they would ultimately just be flat-out outnumbered. Heck, Twilight plus five friends took their sweet time dealing with a flying bear. An army of weathered soldiers would destroy any small line of spellcasters.

 

Which brings me to my third point: YAKS ARE HISTORICALLY WARMONGERS. This was stated by Applejack in the recent episode. I mentioned the comparison of the average yak to the average pony earlier in the context of soldiering, but that's just it: the average yak IS a soldier, while the average pony isn't. Yaks have much more experience (as far as we know) waging war than ponies. While it is true that the pegasi were originally a militaristic society (as displayed in "Hearth's Warming Eve") that was a long time ago and based on what we have seen of modern pony society, that nature has been abandoned. While it is also true that the Royal Guard exists, we have only seen them engage in war-like activity once, during the Changeling invasion of Canterlot. They lost big-time. While I'm not saying it would be a one-sided slaughter, I'm saying I'd place my bets on the yaks to ultimately beat the Royal Guard.

 

 

Those are the three main points I wanted to make. In summary: I think the yaks would beat the ponies in a war, and I've based my argument on the information we can take from the show so far. This is a forum thread, of course, and I'm completely open to discussion and friendly argument, so let's talk about it. Who do you think would win, and why?

[Nintenboy195 384]

Honestly, I feel that if the alicorns, unicorns, and pegusi all teamed up, ther could be a chance of them winning. Unicorns have magic and pegusi have more physical strength, (along with earth too). But it could very well be a stalemate as well.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

Rainbow Power is likely only something that can be summoned by all the users together and in instances where a situation is dire. Being nearly overrun by savage yaks might count as such a situation.

 

If there was a way to just banish them like the Crystal Empire was banished then war could be avoided altogether.

 

As far as the princesses go, they should have much greater power than they are portrayed as having. They are the ultimate guardians of Equestria. Twilight is probably just a lesser alicorn and therefore, has no real power compared to Celestia and Luna.

 

I would hope that the ponies could defeat the Yaks as they are really the worst group of creatures since the Changelings. But I am not sure of their true power. It could be that they could do great damage but I wouldn't let them start it without having had hurt them badly. Twilight should have imprisoned the prince for threatening war. Without a leader, an effective assault might be made more difficult.

[A Joe in the Bush 255]

Firstly, I don't think people are over estimating the powers of the Alicorns, I think they're underestimating their morals. Celestia alone could defeat a yak army, simply by droping the sun on them. That's why most people say Equestria would win. But Celestia wouldn't do that due to the massive loss of life that would cause.

 

So you're right that the alicorns wouldn't be able to single hoovedly defend Equestria, simply becaue doing so would result in the destruction of Equestria.

 

Secondly, ponies vs. Yaks. I agree that the Yak soldiers are likely going to be much beter soldiers than the ponies, but the ponies have much better technology and support structure. We only saw a small part of Yakyakistan, but we saw was a wooden fort. Compare this to Canterlot. It's kind of like vikings vs roman legions. The ponies have better weapons, simply by having weapons. We saw no evidence of Yak weaponry. Considering their body type, I think they'd atack much like the buffalo did in Appleloosa.

 

So the Yaks are certainly stronger and more experianced, but the ponies are beter equipped.

 

So I think it would be a very close war, that would come down to either the ponies barely winning, or Celestia vengeance nuking the planet.

[Ochre_Dust 329]

"Ensign, what is that horn sounding off for? Isn't that--"

 

"The signal for a general retreat? Yes sir, it is."

 

"What?! The invasion has barely begun! Why are the front lines retreating."

 

"Well, you see sir, the thing is that the pegasi just formed a hurricane right on top of our troops."

 

"What's a hurricane?"

 

*A yak troop flies by, blown by the wind before being impaled on a nearby tree.*

 

"That's a hurricane, sir."

[Skyling 14]

This would be an immensely one-sided war, the type of which probably earns a quirky name in history books. The Yaks don't stand any chance here and Equestria would win with little to no casualties.

 

 

Firstly, pegasi - if it needs it, Equestria has an efective airforce that the Yaks can't do anything abut. After a few days of trying to march through hurricanes and thunderstorms, their army would be in tatters, miserable, with no morale to speak of and in no condition to fight because they haven't had a moment to rest or sleep for however long the Pegasi have been harrasing them.

 

And then, for more direct action, they have bottled lightning - the type we saw in Cloudsdale's weather factory store room. Give these to pegasi airwings and Equestria effectively has bombers. The Yak army can be literally bombed back to the stone age by having lightning-in-a-can dropped on their heads. Equestria also has airships and even the pegasi cities can be moved around as mobile bases.

 

They can also strike behind the Yak lines and take out their supply lines or harras their settlements with impunity thanks to their overwhelming strategic mobility.

 

The Pegasi alone win this quite easily.

 

And unicorn magic doesn't make it any better for the Yaks - a single unicorn with the "Want it, Need it" spell is going to stop an army in its tracks and make it fight itself over some silly trinket. Like, say ... a box full of dynamite with a lit fuse. Lob a few of tose at the army and watch the Yaks flocking to them like moths to a flame -  before blowing themselves apart.

 

Alternatively, we know unicorns can summon Parasprites (Twilight has done so), and with the appropriate mind-altering spells, can "program" them to alter their diet. And you only need one Parasprite to start with - let them loose on the Yak army/lands and watch them eat all their food and buildings and everything else. With the rate that Parasprites multiply, their whole civilization will be reduced to stone-age level inside a few days when every last bit of housing, crops and piece of equipment is devoured by an ever-multiplying swarm.

 

Or, if you are feeling particularly gruesome, set their desired diet to "Yak" and try not to think about the consequences, they are bound to make one's stomach churn.

 

 

As for the Alicorns, we have seen how one looks like when going all out and not worrying about collateral damage, in Twilight vs Tirek battle. Even after reducing that display by 1/4, there is nothing the Yaks can do to harm them - at her empowered state, Twilight's shields were strong enough to withstand being punched through a mountain without showing any visible strain or drain, meaing its upper level of durability is actually even higher.

 

Reduce that by 1/4, and you still get what will be effective functional invulnerability against whatever the Yaks can put forth. The Alicorns can wade in to these armies and slaughter them with impunity, either by their traditional beam-spamming or by simple TK. Remember, even before becomig an Alicorn, Twilight's magic was strong enough to reconstruct Ponyville's dam in like 20 seconds where she had to float what would reasilitically be tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) tons of material in to place, before fusing it all back together, and she could easily handle dozens of boulders at a time (we have actually seen her handle hundreds of objects at once, when she harvested all of AJ's orchard at once during Applebuck season, for purposes of multitasking with the TK). 

 

Surely all the alicorns can at least match pre-Alicorn Twilight in TK department - so grab on to a few dozen Yak necks with said TK and sharply twist. And again. And again. Or simply hover in the air and blast them with magic with impunity.

 

Or, if they so desire, they can make another "super Alicorn" like against Tirek - combine their magic in one of them (Luna, perhaps? She seems like the one who would be most vicious) and watch them decimate armies in minutes through sheer, raw power.

 

 

No, this wouldn't be much of a war - it would be an almost one-sided slaughter of the type that would make the ponies feel bad about themselves afterwards. But they would win it handily through all their advantages (flight, magic and the Princesses) in any realistic deception of the war, because if one actually takes all the things and feats that Equestrians have shown and takes a moment to ponder how they could be applied to killing and actual warfare ... you end up with some very scary stuff.

 

Ultimately, you need flight and/or magic if you want to combat Equestria (or some very advanced technology), preferably both - the Yaks have neither.

 

For all their seemingly vicious and warlike nature, once you get down to the gritty stuff, they present no more of a credible military threat than an african warlord and his warband presents to a modern military force - it would never even come to a true direct confrontation, because the lesser force will bombed and harrased in to oblivion before the ground forces (assuming it even gets to that and the Yaks down't scatter or surrender) move in to mop up the disorganized and weakened enemy force.

 

No, the Yaks don't present a credible threat to Equestria if a serious war would break out. It would be a massacre.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Skyling

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

I think Equestria's biggest problem in a war would be their "Never kill anything" policy. Though, I think Pegasi alone would probably be enough of an advantage. Not only do you have an airforce, but you have one that can control the weather. Hurricanes, thunderstorms, blizzards...Yaks are definitely used to blizzards and harsh weather, but lightning bolts fully controlled by your enemy is another story.

 

They'd definitely win on the ground though, since I doubt Earth Ponies are anywhere near as strong, and Unicorns...well, most of them have simple spells that help their talents. Though they do have a technological advantage, we've seen ponies with vehicles (like Flim and Flam) and (party) cannons, those can be repurposed.

 

Equestria is probably used to dealing with more powerful enemies anyway, the Changeling Invasion, Tirek's attack, Sombra's attack, the Bugbear attack, dangerous creatures running amok. (Dragons, Manticores, Hydras, Ursas, even Cockatrices...) Whatever major attack it is, Equestria gets its flank kicked, then unleashes their superweapon and wins.

[Alto 437]

 the yaks prolly have a decent fighting chance

 

1. they are likely based on the mongols which have the largest land empire in history

 

2. yaks seems like warmongers while the ponies prefers friendship

so they are more likely trained in combat than the ponies

they can prolly take over a few cities before the princesses or the equestrian army can intervene

Edited June 30, 2015 by Alto

[Skyling 14]

Does Equestria even have a "never kill anything" policy, though? I mean, sure, we never see them killing stuff (except Sombra), but then it's hardly a show about fighting and warfare in the first place - doesn't mean they wouldn't do it if the situation called for it, though. 

 

I mean, these are the three pony races them almost hated themselves out of existence before they were united as one country - and the Royal Guard do tot around spears after all. And a spear is certainly not your weapon of choice for non-lethal options. And during her fight with Tirek, Twilight certainly didn't seem to be pulling her punches out of worry what it might do to her oponent - rather, she was giving it everything she had even before she knew how durable Tirek actually was.

 

--

 

Another thing that works in Equestria's favor - population numbers. Like, Equestria's population would be huge compared to some savage tribes camping out in the frozen north. Each of Equestrias bigger cities has probably more population than there are Yaks combined. 

[VengefulStrudel 1,486]

If the IDW comics are any indication, Sombra is still alive, just lurking in the shadows (literally). Even then, his 'death' was accidental, they didn't show any signs that they wanted to kill him. Also, the way they treat their major enemies also hints that they have a "no killing" policy. Destroying Discord, Tirek and/or Chrysalis would've ensured that they never threaten Equestria again, but they chose to imprison them (twice for Discord/Tirek). Even in the tribal era, we just saw them bickering, no killing. I find it highly unlikely they'd ever kill anything, at least on purpose.

[Harshreality 60]

So I wanna talk about this because something I keep seeing mentioned in reference to "Party Pooped" is that the Yaks and their declaration of war did not actually pose a serious threat.

 

Personally, I think that that analysis is all wrong and--based on the information the show has thus far provided us--should a war between yaks and ponies break out, the yaks would ultimately win.

 

The comments to which I'm referring to may be wrong, or I may be wrong, or there may be no way to tell, but that's the fun part about forums. So, let's have a discussion about it.

 

 

First, I wanna talk about this assumption that Celestia, Luna, and alicorns in general have some godlike or incredible power and they alone would be enough to defend Equestria from almost any foe. I think this assumption is incredibly incorrect and that alicorns aren't as powerful as everyone thinks they are.

 

To start, let me bring up the point that in this history of the show, the alicorns have successfully defended Equestria twice, and failed to defend it every other time danger has presented itself. The first of these two times in particular are when Celestia defeated Nightmare Moon after her initial transformation, which was an occurrence of alicorn vs. alicorn and not something from which we can gauge relative alicorn power. The second time was when Cadance, combined with Shining Armor, defeated Chrysalis, a foe who had previously ousted Celestia. Cadance didn't even defeat her alone, she required help.

Ultimately, the Alicorns have been defeated more times than not; Chrysalis defeated Celestia in a matter of seconds, Twilight, wielding the power of all four alicorns, only stalemated Tirek, and Twilight couldn't stop a normal unicorn from escaping. The princesses were both take out by plants, for pony's sake.

Ultimately, despite the fandom seeming to believe that the princesses have godlike power, they've failed to consistently utilize any power they have to defend Equestria, and historically have relied on the Elements of Harmony, a resource which would not have been available at the time of the Yak-Pony War. To paraphrase Rainbow Dash in "Princess Twilight Sparkle Part 2", "Without the Elements of Harmony, how are we supposed to defend Equestria?"

 

"But what about the Rainbow Power they used to defeat Tirek?"

Well, I'll admit it's a possibility they could use that, but I find it to be an unreliable assumption to make seeing as they haven't displayed any ability to call upon that power again, despite situations arising where it could be used (i.e. The Bugbear attack or when Pinkie came face-to-face with that arctic beast).

 

The second thing I'd like to argue is that the fandom seems to assume that the average pony would be more valuable than the average yak as a soldier, considering the flight and magic. What the fandom seems to be forgetting is that this is not the human world, and those skills are considerably more common-place. Unicorns would barely have any magic at all applicable in a war environment, as Twilight said herself that the average unicorn can only use a little bit of magic relevant to their Cutie Mark. Additionally, we have no reason to believe that yaks DON'T have magic, they simply never displayed the use of any.

While I don't have any reason flight wouldn't be useful for war (it very much would) the yaks live in a world inhabited by Pegasus, Griffons, Changelings, etc. They must be used to dealing with flying enemies and have developed anti-air weapons, considering they are historically warmongers.

 

"What about ponies that are especially adept at magic, like Twilight, Trixie, and Starlight?"

They would probably be the biggest opposition to the yaks, alongside the alicorn princesses (who I would weigh to be generally their equals in terms of offensive strength, give or take). But they alone cannot fight an entire army. They would put up a good fight, but they would ultimately just be flat-out outnumbered. Heck, Twilight plus five friends took their sweet time dealing with a flying bear. An army of weathered soldiers would destroy any small line of spellcasters.

 

Which brings me to my third point: YAKS ARE HISTORICALLY WARMONGERS. This was stated by Applejack in the recent episode. I mentioned the comparison of the average yak to the average pony earlier in the context of soldiering, but that's just it: the average yak IS a soldier, while the average pony isn't. Yaks have much more experience (as far as we know) waging war than ponies. While it is true that the pegasi were originally a militaristic society (as displayed in "Hearth's Warming Eve") that was a long time ago and based on what we have seen of modern pony society, that nature has been abandoned. While it is also true that the Royal Guard exists, we have only seen them engage in war-like activity once, during the Changeling invasion of Canterlot. They lost big-time. While I'm not saying it would be a one-sided slaughter, I'm saying I'd place my bets on the yaks to ultimately beat the Royal Guard.

 

 

Those are the three main points I wanted to make. In summary: I think the yaks would beat the ponies in a war, and I've based my argument on the information we can take from the show so far. This is a forum thread, of course, and I'm completely open to discussion and friendly argument, so let's talk about it. Who do you think would win, and why?

Whilst I agree that the alicorns have been shown to be far less powerful than the basically gods we were shown in the pilot, I disagree that alicorns are weak. This is simply because when twilight fought Tirek to a stalemate, Tirek had presumably absorbed all pony magic in Equestria, meaning that four alicorns could match the entire population of equestria in terms of magical power.

[Lambdadelta 1,462]

Yaks cant beat Alicorn. Alicorn magic is really strong. If what Yaks have is Strength and numbers then:

+ Raid every Ponies villages  , take out Earth ponies first cuz they have magic bind to the Land. Without Earth ponies, no food. 

+ Average Unicorn is easy, they are not soldier just rush them (even bunnies in Apple buck season can do that).

+ Cloudale has lightning bottles are pain the ass but Pegasus itself is not that scary if Yaks have some anti-air weapons. 

Alicorn is the hardest. The Yaks have no chance against 4 alicorn with Element of Harmony. If they are stupid, they are doom. However, if they have some brain, then:

+ Celestia wont abuse her Sun Raising power cuz they will harm her people as well => No problem

+ Luna's dream ability is useless.

+ Shining Armor and Cadence are the best defence. Yaks doesnt have a chance against their defence but their defence is STATIONARY, they cant protect everyone. Keep raiding other village.

But in the End the Yaks will lose if the ponies use Twilight with 4 alicorn power or even use Discord => Game over.

If Yaks is stupid and know nothing about what Ponies can do then end of discussion. what IF SOMEONE SMART ENOUGH TO USE THE YAKS TO INVADE EQUETRIA.? (Any upcoming villain)   The Yaks itself cant beat Ponies but if they have a masternind then they can enter the Canterlot but that is another story... Cuz Brutal strength is not enough. :comeatus:

[Glike 487]

Well, the Mane 6 get the attention of the biggest yak army they could find, pretend to retreat and lead them to a secluded spot, Dash uses her Rainboom nuke thing, rinse and repeat.

[Ace O. Jade 122]

This would be an immensely one-sided war, the type of which probably earns a quirky name in history books. The Yaks don't stand any chance here and Equestria would win with little to no casualties.

 

 

1. (Firstly, pegasi - if it needs it, Equestria has an efective airforce that the Yaks can't do anything abut. After a few days of trying to march through hurricanes and thunderstorms, their army would be in tatters, miserable, with no morale to speak of and in no condition to fight because they haven't had a moment to rest or sleep for however long the Pegasi have been harrasing them.

 

And then, for more direct action, they have bottled lightning - the type we saw in Cloudsdale's weather factory store room. Give these to pegasi airwings and Equestria effectively has bombers. The Yak army can be literally bombed back to the stone age by having lightning-in-a-can dropped on their heads. Equestria also has airships and even the pegasi cities can be moved around as mobile bases.

 

They can also strike behind the Yak lines and take out their supply lines or harras their settlements with impunity thanks to their overwhelming strategic mobility.

 

The Pegasi alone win this quite easily.)

 

2. (And unicorn magic doesn't make it any better for the Yaks - a single unicorn with the "Want it, Need it" spell is going to stop an army in its tracks and make it fight itself over some silly trinket. Like, say ... a box full of dynamite with a lit fuse. Lob a few of tose at the army and watch the Yaks flocking to them like moths to a flame -  before blowing themselves apart.

 

Alternatively, we know unicorns can summon Parasprites (Twilight has done so), and with the appropriate mind-altering spells, can "program" them to alter their diet. And you only need one Parasprite to start with - let them loose on the Yak army/lands and watch them eat all their food and buildings and everything else. With the rate that Parasprites multiply, their whole civilization will be reduced to stone-age level inside a few days when every last bit of housing, crops and piece of equipment is devoured by an ever-multiplying swarm.

 

Or, if you are feeling particularly gruesome, set their desired diet to "Yak" and try not to think about the consequences, they are bound to make one's stomach churn.)

 

 

3. (As for the Alicorns, we have seen how one looks like when going all out and not worrying about collateral damage, in Twilight vs Tirek battle. Even after reducing that display by 1/4, there is nothing the Yaks can do to harm them - at her empowered state, Twilight's shields were strong enough to withstand being punched through a mountain without showing any visible strain or drain, meaing its upper level of durability is actually even higher.

 

Reduce that by 1/4, and you still get what will be effective functional invulnerability against whatever the Yaks can put forth. The Alicorns can wade in to these armies and slaughter them with impunity, either by their traditional beam-spamming or by simple TK. Remember, even before becomig an Alicorn, Twilight's magic was strong enough to reconstruct Ponyville's dam in like 20 seconds where she had to float what would reasilitically be tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) tons of material in to place, before fusing it all back together, and she could easily handle dozens of boulders at a time (we have actually seen her handle hundreds of objects at once, when she harvested all of AJ's orchard at once during Applebuck season, for purposes of multitasking with the TK). 

 

Surely all the alicorns can at least match pre-Alicorn Twilight in TK department - so grab on to a few dozen Yak necks with said TK and sharply twist. And again. And again. Or simply hover in the air and blast them with magic with impunity.

 

Or, if they so desire, they can make another "super Alicorn" like against Tirek - combine their magic in one of them (Luna, perhaps? She seems like the one who would be most vicious) and watch them decimate armies in minutes through sheer, raw power.)

 

 

No, this wouldn't be much of a war - it would be an almost one-sided slaughter of the type that would make the ponies feel bad about themselves afterwards. But they would win it handily through all their advantages (flight, magic and the Princesses) in any realistic deception of the war, because if one actually takes all the things and feats that Equestrians have shown and takes a moment to ponder how they could be applied to killing and actual warfare ... you end up with some very scary stuff.

 

4. (Ultimately, you need flight and/or magic if you want to combat Equestria (or some very advanced technology), preferably both - the Yaks have neither.)

 

For all their seemingly vicious and warlike nature, once you get down to the gritty stuff, they present no more of a credible military threat than an african warlord and his warband presents to a modern military force - it would never even come to a true direct confrontation, because the lesser force will bombed and harrased in to oblivion before the ground forces (assuming it even gets to that and the Yaks down't scatter or surrender) move in to mop up the disorganized and weakened enemy force.

 

No, the Yaks don't present a credible threat to Equestria if a serious war would break out. It would be a massacre.

 

I numbered and color-coded the points I plan to respond to.

 

1. I think you're underestimating the yaks' durability and overestimating the pegasi's. Firstly, these are warmongers from the far north. They can stand far more bad weather than you seem to be giving them credit for. Think the Russians any time someone other than the Mongols have tried to invade them; no one else can compare to their durability when it comes to weather.

Meanwhile, these weather threats you seem to assume the pegasi can pose are far less durable than they need to be. We've seen what it takes to break apart a pegasus tornado: a single pegasus out of line, or some sharp objects (like cymbols) thrown in the mix and the entire weather structure falls apart, the latter possibly killing many pegasi in the process. Even the simplest of anti-air weapons, such as a thrown bola, could disassemble a formation like you're proposing which has no defense and requires perfect precision and teamwork.

 

2. This entire point seems to assume that all unicorns have this magic, when in actuality barely any do. I already mentioned that unicorns only have a small amount of magic relative to their Cutie Mark. Remember back in "Boast Busters" when Twilight had mastered a whole 25 spells? This was far more than any normal unicorn would have at their disposal, and was only possible because Twilight had a magic-related Cutie Mark. The average unicorn wouldn't be able to utilize any of the spells you mentioned, and would be little better than the average human in a war-environment.

 

3. I still think you're giving too much power to the alicorns. Celestia and Luna, these two most powerful alicorns you've mentioned, fought eachother at full strength when Luna was empowered, and the result was... a small castle was partially destroyed? That's not a lot of collateral for a battle. Twilight, the Element of Magic, hasn't displayed any battle capabilities herself past a shield that was able to block a normal unicorn's spell blast. Oh, right, she did fire completely ineffective spell blasts at a bear. Long story short, the alicorns have never displayed any capability of the power you're saying they have, except for when the four of them had their power combined in Twilight. In fact, they're easier to take out than you think. Starlight, a normal unicorn (albeit much more proficient in magic than most), completely erased Twilight's power and the power of five other ponies at the same time.

Additionally, we don't actually know that the yaks don't have magic. Other races do have magic, like the Zebras and the Changelings. At the very least, they would have had to have fought adversaries that have magic before, considering they are warmongers in the universe they're in. They may very well have magical countermeasures with similar effects to what Starlight displayed. An alicorn would do much more damage than the average pony, but the four of them likely wouldn't be able to stop a yak army themselves.

 

4. Actually, we don't know that the yaks don't have any of those. In the episode, we saw a whole four yaks, and none of them displayed those capabilities. That in no way means that they cannot, however. Okay, flying yaks seem weird and that's probably not happening, but magical yaks or yaks with weapons intended for war don't seem far-fetched considering their universe and their society, respectively.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Ace O. Jade

[user1342342 143]

 

 

Celestia alone could defeat a yak army, simply by droping the sun on them.

 

...and destroying the entire planet in the process. 

[cider float 2,535]

Firstly, I don't think people are over estimating the powers of the Alicorns, I think they're underestimating their morals. Celestia alone could defeat a yak army, simply by droping the sun on them. That's why most people say Equestria would win. But Celestia wouldn't do that due to the massive loss of life that would cause.

 

So you're right that the alicorns wouldn't be able to single hoovedly defend Equestria, simply becaue doing so would result in the destruction of Equestria.

 

Secondly, ponies vs. Yaks. I agree that the Yak soldiers are likely going to be much beter soldiers than the ponies, but the ponies have much better technology and support structure. We only saw a small part of Yakyakistan, but we saw was a wooden fort. Compare this to Canterlot. It's kind of like vikings vs roman legions. The ponies have better weapons, simply by having weapons. We saw no evidence of Yak weaponry. Considering their body type, I think they'd atack much like the buffalo did in Appleloosa.

 

So the Yaks are certainly stronger and more experianced, but the ponies are beter equipped.

 

So I think it would be a very close war, that would come down to either the ponies barely winning, or Celestia vengeance nuking the planet.

I doubt Celestia could move the sun however she pleases because as seen with how Twilight Sparkle controlled the sun no matter how erratic she moved it around it only moved in it's own trajectory, alicorn control over the sun and moon only go so far as the orbital paths they supposedly go.

 

It is not telekinesis but some other magic based on the orbit of the moon and sun.

Edited June 30, 2015 by cider float

[Skyling 14]

1. I think you're underestimating the yaks' durability and overestimating the pegasi's. Firstly, these are warmongers from the far north. They can stand far more bad weather than you seem to be giving them credit for. Think the Russians any time someone other than the Mongols have tried to invade them; no one else can compare to their durability when it comes to weather. Meanwhile, these weather threats you seem to assume the pegasi can pose are far less durable than they need to be. We've seen what it takes to break apart a pegasus tornado: a single pegasus out of line, or some sharp objects (like cymbols) thrown in the mix and the entire weather structure falls apart, the latter possibly killing many pegasi in the process. Even the simplest of anti-air weapons, such as a thrown bola, could disassemble a formation like you're proposing which has no defense and requires perfect precision and teamwork.

 

I don't believe so - being from the North doesn't make them more resistant to bad weather, just against cold in general. In this situation it's more likely to work against them however - those incredibly thick and bulky coats would become a nightmare when waterlogged in a thunderstorm. They would become bulky and unwieldy to move in. Probably doesn't do you any favors when lightning bombs start dropping ontop of the soaked army either.

 

And the purpose of Bad Weather isn't just the direct damage it can inflict - it's also meant to rob the enemy force froma  chance to rest or sleep. Three days of marching under a thunderstrom without a moment of respite and they will look like like Twilight did during Princess Spike.

 

And the weather systems aren't that weak - Ponyville's tornado was coming apart at the seams because they were trying to form one with less than adequate wingpower, which wouldn't be an issue in this scenario. And the pegasi wouldn't have any issues keeping it going - they can float Cloudsdale itself over the advancing army if need be. The Yaks can't do anything about it and the Pegasi get a base practically on-site, so different weather teams can rotate in and out. You can even utilize the weather machine directly on the poor sods below for added oomph.

 

Also makes it easier to bomb them with bottled lightning, what with having the factory right there. And arrows that flash freeze their targets - remember Equestria Games. The pegasi can sit on clouds, easily outside of any "AA" range the Yaks might have (thrown weapons aren't going to be reaching them) and rain down flash-freezing arrows and canned lightning on the groundbound troops.

 

And there are going to be a lot more pegasi than there are Yaks - they come from a frozen wasteland, such a place can only support a population so big. Meanwhile, Equestria is a lush and industrialized nation, with everything that entails about being able to support nd develop a population. I wouldn't be surprised if there are a hundred ponies for any single Yak.

 

The war is already practically over at this point, before we even get to unicorns.

 

 

 

2. This entire point seems to assume that all unicorns have this magic, when in actuality barely any do. I already mentioned that unicorns only have a small amount of magic relative to their Cutie Mark. Remember back in "Boast Busters" when Twilight had mastered a whole 25 spells? This was far more than any normal unicorn would have at their disposal, and was only possible because Twilight had a magic-related Cutie Mark. The average unicorn wouldn't be able to utilize any of the spells you mentioned, and would be little better than the average human in a war-environment.

 

No, my point explictly assumed there are going to be only a couple of unicorns capable of this - but you don't need more. One is going to be enough to stop the army in its tracks and start spreading chaos and death with Want-It-Need-It bomb crates. Which can also be safely dropped from above, from either airships, clouds or cloudsdale itself (cloudwalking is a thing, so you can have Pegasi ferrying the unicorns around).

 

And they are going to have a lot more than one capable of this - while Twilight might be a one-of-a-kind unicorn in terms of hat she can singularly pull off, one doesn't need to be Twilight to contrinute. After all, Equestria has schools for unicorn mages and printed spellbooks for a reason - because there is enough of a population that can put them to use. They might not be Twilight Sparkles, but there will be enough Sunset Shimmers and Starlight Glimmers and Shining Armors available to be more than enough for the task. You don't need thousands of them - a couple in unassailable positions in the sky is perfectly enough.

 

And for the Parasprite trick, you only ever need one - after all, once you have the first Parasprite out (use Twilight herself if need be), it will take care of the rest itself.

 

And if it ever actually comes to "melee" combat (which it really shouldn't, because the war practically starts and ends with one side having an airforce nd the other not), your average unicorn still has a significant advantage - telekinesis, which all of them have. And when you fight with swords and spears, having the ability to levitate a spear past your oponent and stab from an angle he can't defend against is pretty huge. Or levitate them in the air and watch them flail helplessly.

 

As for Yaks and magic - unless they have shown the capcity for it, one can't assume that's something they do posess, not any more than you can assume that Earth Ponies have what would classify as active magic on the argument that they have never shown that they don't. Certainly not on the level that would be able to match and stand up to what Equestria can employ, and it's not a prequisite for being a warmonger - Diamond Dogs have no magic, and they seem to be doing just fine. Just doesn't mean they can tangle with Equestria. They aren't changelings and they aren't Zebras, so one can't simply assume they will have the strengths and knowledge of their tribes.

 

And Yaks were actually described as isolationists, not warmongers - which means they are likely to be less advanced than other races, because of lack of exchange of cultures, information and indeas - especially considering the poor environment they live in.

 

As for Twilight and Alicorns - note that Twilight, even as far back ago as the Changeling invasion, was capable of firing energy beams powerful enough to vaporize chunks of stone floor (see her firing at Chrysali's reflection inside the caves). That's actually pretty darn impressive. The beams that Nightmare was firing at Celestia were also blasting through solid stone like nobody's business (you would need RL tank rounds to achieve similar results) - either Twilight's variant or this would absolutely gut an individual if used without holding back, and probably the next five in line.

 

Note that Celestia actually took one of these blasts from Nightmare straight in the chest - and these same blasts that were shattering stone and ripping up the castle merely stunned her for 30 seconds or so. So yes, I do believe there is little the Yaks can do about them, if they actually choose to take the field.

 

Not that they ever need to, mind you - they can just stay in the air and attack with near-impunity. Not that they even should need to get involved, unless they like leading from front (or contributing to Want-it, Need-it bomb caches).

 

Oh, and there is also Discord for the purposes of overkill.

 

So ... no, from what we saw, I can't conclude that Yaks could offer too much of a fight to Equestria. If they got to meet in the open field, army to army in ground combat and clash head on? Maybe - though equestria's numbers might tell regardless. But Equestria has no reasons to literally play in to Yak hooves, when they have all the tools needed to wear down and rout the Yak armies before they come within a spitting distance of what could be called a fair fight.

Edited June 30, 2015 by Skyling

[A Joe in the Bush 255]

...and destroying the entire planet in the process. 

Did you read the rest of my post? I agreed that she wouldn't do that:

 

 Celestia alone could defeat a yak army, simply by droping the sun on them. That's why most people say Equestria would win. But Celestia wouldn't do that due to the massive loss of life that would cause. . .

 

. . .or Celestia vengeance nuking the planet.

 

 

I doubt Celestia could move the sun however she pleases because as seen with how Twilight Sparkle controlled the sun no matter how erratic she moved it around it only moved in it's own trajectory, alicorn control over the sun and moon only go so far as the orbital paths they supposedly go.

 

It is not telekinesis but some other magic based on the orbit of the moon and sun.

 

 

 

 

That's not moving in just it's original trajectory. That's moving wherever the buck it wants to.

[cider float 2,535]

Did you read the rest of my post? I agreed that she wouldn't do that:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

That's not moving in just it's original trajectory. That's moving wherever the buck it wants to.

Yes it still is because for her first time she could have lost the sun and moon by now. If she could move it however she pleased with her lack of experience controlling it she wouldn't be able to go exactly night and day back and forth.

 

Also why didn't she just drop the sun on Tirek's overly inflated body and raised it back up before it burned anything? She did learn how to move the sun and moon around so well. He was a pretty big target after all and she wouldn't have had to have given up her friends.

Edited June 30, 2015 by cider float