They need another "good" race besides ponies introduced in season 6

[Buck Testa 5,503]

Rules: 

1) Simply posting "its just a kid show" as a means to end conversation is strongly discouraged. 

2) Don't derail the conversation if you don't like it or think it shouldn't be had in the first place. Discussion is what these forums are for

 

As an extension to a topic I made a bit ago called "What is the social Status Of Sheep and Cows in Equestria?" I would like to bring into the conversation something that this show is doing wrong and needs to be rectified at some point in season 6. 

Ponies, and only ponies, have been set as the standard of "Good" in Equestria and beyond. Almost no other race in equestria has been shown in a favorable light up to this point save for only a handful of examples. Not only do they seem to own other sentient beings like Cows and sheep (which I go more into in the other topic) the other races the ponies have interacted with have been depicted as

 

Greedy: Dragons (including Spike), Griffins, maaybe a case for the Breezies though I doubt it  

Aggressive: Dragons, Yaks, Buffalo, Griffins, ect

Ugly: Donkeys, Mules (which Rarity even makes a point to say being compared to a mule is to be called ugly)

Manipulative: Griffins, Breezies (that time with flutters), Dragons (even spike in this case) 

 

and most uncomfortable of all

 

The need for the ponies to "show them the ways of harmony" and teach them a "better way" : All of the above 

There is a reason why I compare this Message of "Harmony" to a religion, because this all has some very uncomfortable parallels to missionary work, where people go out and save the "lost souls" with their message and convert them to the Pony way of thinking.

 

Spike for instance sees no value in his own species because he raises the pony's ideals above the dragons mindset. As of now, there hasn't been any depiction of Dragons besides Spike in the show that haven't been greedy, manipulative, aggressive and unfriendly. It's been their reputation up to this point, save for maybe DragonShy's dragon, but even HE had to bow to the ponies superiority after he got scolded by Fluttershy. Note superiority in this context is in the ponies depiction of "good" and not in physical prowess.

 

Yes, the IDW comics have addressed this in part, but it still needs to be in the Show. And its also prudent to point out that even in the IDW comics the Dragons who live among ponies are looked upon with suspicion and Spike speaks some strong anti dragon sentiments 

 

Gilda is becoming an ambassador of harmony to the Griffins with the idea that she would be teaching them the ways of ponies.

 

maybe even getting them to acquire cutie marks if the rumors are to be believed

 

 

If the griffins become better and more organized, its because they bowed to the societal structure and ideals that the Ponies gave them, not because of their own merits. They were "lost" without the benevolent ponies coming in to fix their way of life. That has some unsettling undertones to it, whether the writers intended them or not. 

 

Donkeys and Mules live as relative equals among ponies, but even they are the butt of jokes and you rarely ever see very many of them in comparison to Ponies. 

 

The only Races that have been shown to be genuine equals up to this point in the show (and even this is debatable) is 

 

Minotaurs: Iron Will while aggressive in his own right was not the one that made Fluttershy go overboard. He actually was not a villain or someone that needed to learn anything, he was just doing his own thing and trying to make a living

 

Zebra: We've only met Zecora so we don't know for sure, but so far what we know about Zebra is that they just have a different but equal culture to Ponies (more on that in a moment). 

 

Steven Magnus: I don't know if there are more of his kind, but He was shown with fairly decent respect and wasn't entirely manipulative or aggressive (debatable with that one scene in the spa but I digress)

 

 

 My major point here is this: There needs to be shown another race besides ponies (like Deer or Giraffe or something) That while their civilization is different than ponies and while they may not be in line with ponies views, they are still just as valid, equal, and "good" as ponies are. 

 

The more Ponies go to places and reform these lost little species of sentient beings, the more the idea of "Pony Master Race" seems to blare louder and louder. The diplomats from Saddle Arabia Could be a start, but I'm hoping for something genuinely not a horse or Pony to fall into this need for something "different but equal" to Equestria's culture and sense of "good"

 

My hope, they show where Zecora came from and hopefully they won't be painted with the same brush as Griffins and dragons have been, where Zecora is the only special snowflake who is "good" while the rest of her kind need the ponies "help" to be better. 

 

What are your thoughts on this? 

[stellaluna 47]

These are all really good points, but take into account that we've also seen the mane six helping and teaching their fellow ponies, even large groups or communities of ponies at a time. Every episode revolves around a friendship lesson, whether that lesson is being taught to other species or fellow ponies. It's the girls' job to spread harmony and do their best to make things right; so of course we're shown them doing just that. 

[Buck Testa 5,503]

These are all really good points, but take into account that we've also seen the mane six helping and teaching their fellow ponies, even large groups or communities of ponies at a time. Every episode revolves around a friendship lesson, whether that lesson is being taught to other species or fellow ponies. It's the girls' job to spread harmony and do their best to make things right; so of course we're shown them doing just that. 

This is true. However: While we've seen SOME ponies whom have strayed from harmony and friendship and all that jazz, its a bit odd that entire Species of sentient creatures seem to have the same problem. If it were only SOME dragons that acted like what spike saw that would be one thing, if it weren't ALL of the griffin kingdom that was dilapidated like a demilitarized zone, then it might not carry some of the undertones I'm pointing out here. As it stands, non ponies who seek friendship and harmony are in the drastic minority, while the opposite is true of Ponies (the disharmonious ponies are in the minority). Showing another race that, while different than ponies, is just as "good" and has their act together as ponies, would go a long way to helping to fix these undertones. 

 

Also showing a group of Dragons that Spike can actually look up too instead of swearing off all of Dragonkind as greedy and selfish would help it too. 

[stellaluna 47]

This is true. However: While we've seen SOME ponies whom have strayed from harmony and friendship and all that jazz, its a bit odd that entire Species of sentient creatures seem to have the same problem. If it were only SOME dragons that acted like what spike saw that would be one thing, if it weren't ALL of the griffin kingdom that was dilapidated like a demilitarized zone, then it might not carry some of the undertones I'm pointing out here. As it stands, non ponies who seek friendship and harmony are in the drastic minority, while the opposite is true of Ponies (the disharmonious ponies are in the minority). Showing another race that, while different than ponies, is just as "good" and has their act together as ponies, would go a long way to helping to fix these undertones. 

 

Also showing a group of Dragons that Spike can actually look up too instead of swearing off all of Dragonkind as greedy and selfish would help it too. 

 

I suppose that's true too. We're not exactly told for certain that all of the griffins we see come from that particular region, as we do have Gustav - it seems unlikely that he would have come from a place like Griffonstone. On the other hand, it seems that Griffonstone is central to the Griffon people and thus represents them as a race. :|

 

There are other races we haven't seen fleshed out yet, such as the Saddle Arabians we saw for a few frames. What would be really good to see is the mane six working together with members of another species to help a singular member of that species, or even a pony. Party Pooped was good as in the end, the ponies didn't really end up 'teaching' the yaks anything; in fact, I believe Pinkie apologizes at the end of the episode. So it's not all that bad, but seeing a new or underdeveloped species present themselves as positive but different would be quite nice, agreed. 

[PinkieatHeart 208]

I think it'd be awesome to see some new species, especially if they were good and were allies. They could maybe even teach the ponies a thing or two. :3

 

What would the race be though, I wonder?...

[Castle Bleck 19,175]

If it were only SOME dragons that acted like what spike saw that would be one thing,

 

IIRC, the red one in Dragonshy was actually a step in the right direction.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

IIRC, the red one in Dragonshy was actually a step in the right direction.

I mentioned him in the Op actually. The portrayal of dragons as we know it came after Dragonshy though, and there were a lot more of them. Are we to take from that that eventually "nice" dragons just leave its kin behind and hide away somewhere until Ponies drive them off for sending up smoke? (that could actually make for an interesting topic actually) 

I think it'd be awesome to see some new species, especially if they were good and were allies. They could maybe even teach the ponies a thing or two. :3

 

What would the race be though, I wonder?...

I'm hoping for a Group of Dragons that Spike could look up too or a look at Zebras besides Zecora. 

[SteveMorison 404]

My Little Giraffe, My Little Giraffe ahhhhhhh...

Edited February 29, 2016 by DashBandicoot

[Red Cedar 1,407]

Granted, we've only seen one, but zebras seem pretty cool.

 

In any case, the Mane 6 have spent as much time educating other ponies as they have other species, so I don't see it as much of a problem. The Griffins especially seem to be pretty benign, just out for themselves because, well, look at the state of their whole civilization.

[Buck Testa 5,503]

My Little Giraffe, My Little Giraffe ahhhhhhh...

 

I want it to be a thing dag nabbit XD

[Concerned Bystander 2,901]

What we see in FiM is actually a fair representation of the real world, and is a cleverly concealed (if probably unintentional) lesson in current affairs for children.  We have on many occasions seen the western ponies (did I say ponies, I meant countries) viewing themselves as the apex of civilisation and trying to usurp local culture elsewhere in the world, and spread our own regardless of whether it's wanted or not.

 

But anyway, I digress from the point of the topic.  I've quite recently given some thought to this myself.  We have seen that the various animals in Equestria share certain characteristics with their real-world counterparts.  I find it interesting that Zecora lives in relative isolation within the Everfree forest when Zebras are herd animals that generally live on open plains.  I'd love to see an episode where we are introduced to the Zebra race, and maybe find out why Zecora has chosen (or if she actually did choose) to live apart from the rest of her race against her natural instincts.

Edited February 29, 2016 by Concerned Bystander

[BlinkZ 1,151]

Zebras woudl be cool to see

IT seems sheep and cows are somewhat um..enslaved i mean they wer being put onto ships (I assume for thie rwoll bu still they wer penned)  Ponies seem the msot domient and any other species is a second ary citizen.

 

Logicaly Pony toys sell better -hasbro-

just saying

[Mesme Rize 15,681]

You can't expect that the show will now suddenly shift it's view from Equestria (a Latin name for "horses" i might add) too a whole different race and if that's the case, it will just be for one episode.

 

Don't forget, the show is called My little "Pony"

[Buck Testa 5,503]

You can't expect that the show will now suddenly shift it's view from Equestria (a Latin name for "horses" i might add) too a whole different race and if that's the case, it will just be for one episode.

 

Don't forget, the show is called My little "Pony"

I'm not saying they should completely shift focus away from ponies. All it would really require is an episode showing a Different Species with a Different but equally "good" culture and way of life as Ponies. Nearly every species that has been shown up to this point had been portrayed in very poor lights. That's really what I'm saying. 

[EquestriaGuy 1,074]

 

I want it to be a thing dag nabbit XD

I 3rd the Giraffe idea. It would be hilarious.

[Silver Letter 1,830]

It is an interesting concept displayed in this post. It might be good if they had gone with a more uncertain view as to whether dragons or griffins are good or bad as individuals because there must be good and bad amongst them. Of course there may be difficulties around that. They might have to add new dragon/griffin characters who are good and would take time away from established characters and their development. Also, the views of ponies are overwhelmingly in line with harmony and the various pony groups are blessed by the tree of harmony. It could be very well that they are inherently superior as cutie marks tie them with the tree of harmony and are in charge of maintaining the world including spreading their ideology of friendship. We shouldn't rule that out entirely.

[cmarston1 5,952]

Now that I think about it this really is something I would like to see.

Particularly I would either want to see more Zebras in an episode focusing on Zecora and her homeland or a good spike episode about him learning more about Dragon Culture and maybe even learn more about his origins. (while Dragon Quest did have him focus on Spike meeting with other dragons and I kind of like the episode, I would like to see an actual group of dragons that aren't all jerks and give us some sort of interesting insight on Spike's character being a dragon (a creature not known interacting with ponies very often) living in pony society.

Plus for either of these hypothetical episodes I would love to see some more of the show's lore in general.

Which is one of the main reasons that I really enjoyed The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone.

Even though it isn't one of the major things I love about the show, getting a little bit more info about the many different fantasy creatures in the show doesn't hurt.

Edited February 29, 2016 by cmarston1

[Carolina 212]

Huh. This is a really good point!  If you think about it, even immortal (or long-lived) non-ponies like Discord are sometimes treated like they need the Ponies' help in order to live successfully (well, perhaps Discord is the only example as of now, but it's still worth mentioning.) Shouldn't Discord know a lot more about the world and how to behave than the ponies do just by virtue of being so much older? 

 

Now that I think about it, the only other "good" species we have seen is the the humans from Equestria Girls and they aren't even technically from the same universe!

[cider float 2,536]

I don't know the ponies have shown to have their own flaws like being xenophobic. Ponies have also shown to have produced sour apples like Diamond Tiara, Starlight Glimmer, Trixie and Sombra.

 

And if your complaint is that the ponies are the central species remember it's My Little Ponies not My Little Dragons, Buffaloes, Yaks...

Edited March 1, 2016 by cider float

[heavens-champion 1,893]

They could add reindeer.

[Sketchy Tail 206]

We need deer in the show dang it.

 

Yes they're in the comics, but I'm talking in the SHOW.

 

Also the giraffe idea is awesome too, I'd like to see that.

[Guest]

They could add reindeer.

 

Agreed! Since there already is a northern location in the map of Equestria, I like to imagine that it could as well be a comfortable environment for reindeer too.

 

All my yes to the giraffe idea as well.

[Castle Bleck 19,175]

We need deer in the show dang it.

 

Yes they're in the comics, but I'm talking in the SHOW.

 

Hopefully a lot less hypocritical than in the comics, too.