Do Earth ponies have the potential to be the most op race?

[ManaMinori 4,146]

Its been shown that earth ponies have an inherent magic to be super strong, but also have an affinity with the earth itself. What if there were earth ponies who harnessed their true potential, which was using the earth to the full? Earth is more than just dirt and rock, but at its core lies magma- fire, its sky is shifted by wind, and water is abundant in its seas, oceans and rivers. On top of all that, energy is evident in the life that inhabits the earth, but also in magic. Suppose an earth pony could utilize all of that, all of what the earth gives and holds? Would that make earth ponies the ultimate pony race?

#Avatarponies

#energybenders

[Cwanky 17,651]

They already are in a sense. They control the most important and basic resources: food and labor.

Without food, people starve, currency collapses, and discord  ensues. It is as Ra's Al Ghul said, "create enough hunger and everyone becomes a criminal."

Earth pony societies function quite well without the unicorns, sans Celestia and Luna manipulating the sun and moon (at least in Equestria that is). Weather seems to occur naturally in Equestria outside of pony governed areas. The moment the earth ponies realize that they can just rely on meterology, climatology and geology for natural weather control, the pegasi become rendered rather useless.

If you actually look carefully you'll notice there's a major trend. Most of the major settlements in Equestria are founded by earth ponies, Apploosa, Ponyville, Manehattan. The earth ponies are pretty much the backbone of Equestrian infrastructure and its economy. You don't mess with that hun or else.  

[cmarston1 5,960]

Not really.  I mean have you seen the feats that powerful unicorns like  Sunset, Starlight, and Twilight were able to accomplish?  Earth ponies are nowhere near that level of being able to manipulate the fabric of time and space.

[ManaMinori 4,146]

2 hours ago, cmarston1 said:

Not really.  I mean have you seen the feats that powerful unicorns like  Sunset, Starlight, and Twilight were able to accomplish?  Earth ponies are nowhere near that level of being able to manipulate the fabric of time and space.

would be useless, if an Earth pony had the power to tap into natural energy (which magic is) and prevent a pony from doing it. (like energybending, or Amon) We haven't seen the full capabilities of earth ponies, so who can say?

[Xeltor23 704]

I don't think they could manipulate the earth's energy, or magma's erengy (even if they could try to manipulate the elements themselves), but we can find something op to every race I think. Well you say it's not just dirt and such, but searching to extend their power to harness the plants' life energy for exemple is... too much, let's say. I like to think that their magic, as a passive one, allows them to be super strong, as it also permits pegasi to fly for exemple. But of course, nothing says that every race can't try to use another type of energy other than magic (you talked about Hamon, correct me if I'm mistaken but I think you're talking about Jojo's Hamon here), but then evey race should be able to do it, and it's something which don't really have any link to magic itself... I don't know if I'm clear enough.

I agree with the fact that they could have affinity, let's say, with earth bending, but life's energy and energy in general? Nah, don't think so, or else we could say that pegasi can control molecules as they control clouds, don't know if it's a fine exemple, but well

[Black Sabbath 2,486]

Unicorns can travel through time, move the sun and moon, mind control other ponies, teleport, remove other ponies talents, transform one object into another, etc etc.  I fail to see how an earth pony could even be half as powerful, even if they could bend the elements. 

Edited May 9, 2017 by Yamet

[ManaMinori 4,146]

2 hours ago, Xeltor said:

I don't think they could manipulate the earth's energy, or magma's erengy (even if they could try to manipulate the elements themselves), but we can find something op to every race I think. Well you say it's not just dirt and such, but searching to extend their power to harness the plants' life energy for exemple is... too much, let's say. I like to think that their magic, as a passive one, allows them to be super strong, as it also permits pegasi to fly for exemple. But of course, nothing says that every race can't try to use another type of energy other than magic (you talked about Hamon, correct me if I'm mistaken but I think you're talking about Jojo's Hamon here), but then evey race should be able to do it, and it's something which don't really have any link to magic itself... I don't know if I'm clear enough.

I agree with the fact that they could have affinity, let's say, with earth bending, but life's energy and energy in general? Nah, don't think so, or else we could say that pegasi can control molecules as they control clouds, don't know if it's a fine exemple, but well

I can't see how its too much. AJ was shown making a seedling sprout in a matter of seconds, and having her zap apple trees bloom in the course of a day. How is that already not manipulating life energy? Unicorns raising the sun and moon isn't too much (or transmogifying themselves, or others, or taking away their cutie marks), nor are pegasi creating forces of nature too much. So why on;y the earth pony potential powers are too much?

[Castle Bleck 19,396]

5 hours ago, cmarston1 said:

Earth ponies are nowhere near that level of being able to manipulate the fabric of time and space.

 

 

Not to mention Maud being able to turn a simple rock all the way into a literal weapon of mass destruction.

Edited May 9, 2017 by A.V.

[Xeltor23 704]

7 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

I can't see how its too much. AJ was shown making a seedling sprout in a matter of seconds, and having her zap apple trees bloom in the course of a day. How is that already not manipulating life energy? Unicorns raising the sun and moon isn't too much (or transmogifying themselves, or others, or taking away their cutie marks), nor are pegasi creating forces of nature too much. So why on;y the earth pony potential powers are too much?

We could also argue that these could be special seeds as ,I don't know, they are Zapp apples, which are particular in their natuure itself from the beggining.

Moving the sun or moon isn't a proof of raw power (Celestia and Luna were struggling to stop some storm clouds in the episode where Flurry heart was born, so yeah) and the pegasi don't seem to be ableto control every kind of cloud, as they're the ones controlling the weather in inhabited places, bur not other the Everfree forest for exemple.

[Castle Bleck 19,396]

8 hours ago, Xeltor said:

Moving the sun or moon isn't a proof of raw power (Celestia and Luna were struggling to stop some storm clouds in the episode where Flurry heart was born, so yeah) and the pegasi don't seem to be ableto control every kind of cloud, as they're the ones controlling the weather in inhabited places, bur not other the Everfree forest for exemple.

 

Thus reinforcing my headcanon of "Equestrian magic = rock-paper-scissors logic."

[Xeltor23 704]

5 hours ago, A.V. said:

 

Thus reinforcing my headcanon of "Equestrian magic = rock-paper-scissors logic."

Hmmm, you mean that every race has a weakness or an advantage other another race? I'm interested; why would you say that?

[cmarston1 5,960]

19 hours ago, A.V. said:

 

 

Not to mention Maud being able to turn a simple rock all the way into a literal weapon of mass destruction.

Most of Pinkie's antics like the image you posted here, and 4th wall breaks, are only for the audience's benefit and are only for brief cartoony gags, and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Unless you seriously believe that a pony if capable of doing this in universe:

Plus even if Maud is able to weaponize rocks like you mentioned, that doesn't change the fact that unicorns used to raise and lower the sun and moon, and can even travel through time, which are a world of difference from what we have seen from the strongest of earth ponies.

[Tropico 226]

earth ponies the most powerful race? 

 

others already mentioned unicorns time-traveling habilities, moving sun/moon, etc etc etc. thats the most powerful stuff there.

 

while unicorns are most powerful its pretty explicit and clear than all races need each other. they told us tons of times that separately they cant live (earth ponies  growing food, pegasi controlling weather). but imo thats another issue and discussion, unrelated to who's the most powerful

 

[ManaMinori 4,146]

6 hours ago, Tropico said:

earth ponies the most powerful race? 

 

others already mentioned unicorns time-traveling habilities, moving sun/moon, etc etc etc. thats the most powerful stuff there.

 

while unicorns are most powerful its pretty explicit and clear than all races need each other. they told us tons of times that separately they cant live (earth ponies  growing food, pegasi controlling weather). but imo thats another issue and discussion, unrelated to who's the most powerful

 

supporting life and existence seems even more powerful though. and if earth ponies can sustain the life of others (food growing, at the barest minimum of their abilities) then they can possibly- at the max, control the ability to take away magical energy as well.

[Tropico 226]

8 hours ago, Nightmare Muffin said:

at the max, control the ability to take away magical energy as well.

thats headcanon until proved in the show tho xD better just stick to the canon facts

even if it were canon i still dont see it more powerful. i repeat: time traveling, mind-controlling other ponies and animals, movin the sun and the moon. 

Edited May 11, 2017 by Tropico

[Number62 1,264]

The key word is "potential", which means it's possible, but how things are portrayed is ultimately up to the writers.

Remember "Fall Weather Friends"? Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both evenly matched in the Iron Pony event, but Rainbow Dash quickly overtook the competition when using her wings. This can mean that a pegasus and maybe even a unicorn can be seen as "earth ponies but with other skills".

[Maple Bat 3,568]

On 5/10/2017 at 2:04 PM, cmarston1 said:

Most of Pinkie's antics like the image you posted here, and 4th wall breaks, are only for the audience's benefit and are only for brief cartoony gags, and shouldn't be taken seriously.

Unless you seriously believe that a pony if capable of doing this in universe:

Plus even if Maud is able to weaponize rocks like you mentioned, that doesn't change the fact that unicorns used to raise and lower the sun and moon, and can even travel through time, which are a world of difference from what we have seen from the strongest of earth ponies.

Well the thing is pinkie sense... Its be referenced several times and I'd really call it a magical ability plus an earth ponies strength and creativity (as earth ponys build a lot of things) cant be taken away since its not truly magic like the time discord took away rainbow and fluttershy's wings and rarity and twilight's horns.

So The answer is yes they have the potential to be but it's mostly situational and you really can't look at one pony as the whole race examples being Rarity who barely knows any magic, Fluttershy who will rarely fly and pinkie with her unique pinkie sense. It's kinda more of a pony by pony thing (AJ could have totally kicked discord teeth in)

[Landi 602]

I don't really think that the Earth ponies are op. In fact, on the power level scale they would probably place the lowest. This is due to the fact that we have seen Unicorns be able to do almost anything depending on their knowledge in magic, and we've seen that Pegasus Ponies can fly at great speeds and control the weather itself. This being said, I think that Earth Ponies have a very important role they play which makes them vital to Equestria. So what I am trying to say is that Earth ponies are definitely not overpowered, but they are really important.

[Lucky Bolt 35,106]

15 hours ago, Landi72 said:

I don't really think that the Earth ponies are op. In fact, on the power level scale they would probably place the lowest. This is due to the fact that we have seen Unicorns be able to do almost anything depending on their knowledge in magic, and we've seen that Pegasus Ponies can fly at great speeds and control the weather itself. This being said, I think that Earth Ponies have a very important role they play which makes them vital to Equestria. So what I am trying to say is that Earth ponies are definitely not overpowered, but they are really important.

Yeah, I'd agree with this.

[Xe__or 4,377]

As I said somewhere else, their potential for super strength can be really important if you look at fiction in general. A lot of characters with a lot of physical strength usually gain greater reflexes/speed because their body has more potential and is stronger. Just like how a giant monster who can stomp mountains could be a threat to Equestria, so does an earth pony with particular evil and potential to tap into their inherent magic.