Income in Equestria

[ManaMinori 4,149]

Sometimes, I wonder if the mane 6 are supposed to be or near the point of poverty. Since currency is a thing in this gen, there's obviously an economy. We see ponies holding jobs and are to assume that they get paid for doing those jobs. (Except probably Twilight) Equestria is based off the U.S, in terms of layout and pun names, so I'm going to assume that its economy works similarly as well.

 

So, for example, in the U.S. teachers have pretty crummy pay, and are required to spend money from their own pocket on school supplies for dozens or hundreds of their kids. And all the mane 6 are teachers. So how is it that these ponies are able to now provide for students all the materials that they need, on top of having to manage budgets for their own personal housing (upkeep, insurance, property tax, utilities, etc.) care/feed/house/ nurse animals, their own food, clothing (in Rarity's case), and possibly have bits for their own splurging, at the end of the day? I mean, especially Fluttershy who probably has to spend the most, perhaps not on prime real estate since her house is so close to the Everfree, but on all those animals, and the school's students? And what about Cheerilee?

[Vulcan 3,256]

I haven't been all that caught up with the show after they introduced the school, but I was always under the assumption that while they are teachers, they still continue their former occupations , much in the same way as many university professors often do. after checking the wiki, it does seem like Rarity still owns the fashion store, Dash is still a member of the wonderbolts and Twilight is still a princess. So it's likely they're not really in poverty and their teacher jobs are more like voluntary work than a livelihood. 

On a side note, I've always wondered about Pinkie..She has always seemed odd economically when you think about it. She works as a teacher and for many seasons an employee at the Cake Shop yet she seems to have the income to frequently host extravagant and expensive parties...in one case There's been an episode where they've shown that she makes multiple parties a week. It doesn't seem to add up...

[Kadeda 178]

Twilight, Rarity, and Rainbow have a decent amount of money imo. Pinkie and Applejack are more on the average citizen I would say. To the question above... i was under the impression that Pinky is paid to host parties. Twilight pretty much has infinite cash and Rarity and Rainbow should be well off... maybe they help. That's why she can afford all of that stuff all the time.

 

Fluttershy... i don't know what the hell she does or how much money she has. I would guess on the lower end but above like... minimum wage.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Kadeda

[Brony Number 42 10,093]

In a world of magic, maybe products are really cheap. There are factories where unicorns make stuff in bulk. So basic items are practically free. Even luxury items are cheap.

[SharpWit 2,872]

Twilight comes from Canterlot which hosts wealthier families and is also probably more expensive to live in. This could allow her parents to have lent her some money or given her an allowance while she was still living there. As she was Celestia's pupil and not just another student at the school for gifted unicorns, she probably would have most of her education covered, and then go on to recieve a stipend. I suspect she became Ponyville's Golden Oak's Librarian due to previous experience, so she would have been making money from that on the side, and likely even more after moving since she ran the library. After becoming a princess her stipend would probably be upgraded to a Salary. I think this would go up again once she had her castle, since this would dramatically increase the property value for the entirety of Ponyville, and she'd recieve a portion from bringing in new revenue. 

Rainbow Dash worked as a weather pony which I guess would be a city job, which means high job security and increased wages over time. She might still be doing this in addition to her role in the Wonderbolts. Also having the only cloud house in Ponyville, I think she was making more than the average Pegasus, so she's doing just fine.

Pinkie Pie does a multitude of tasks at Sugar Cube Corner, ranging from cashiering, baking, dishwashing, managing the place while Mr. and Mrs. Cake are gone, foal sitting for them, ect. She wouldn't be making the income of all these combined, but it would allow her to negotiate for higher pay. Her living there as well could mean her rent is very low, as maintaining her home also means maintaining the establishment. Part of why she's able to host so many parties is because she already has much of the supplies which allows her to reuse a majority of the items. She can get a discount by having Sugar Cube Corner cater to the events and of course promote them which brings in more customers, and not all parties are arranged just so she can have fun. She is a party planner after all, so I'm sure ponies approach her all the time and pay her for her services in the likes of birthdays and other celebrations.

Rarity is a dress maker who owns three shops and sells to both average shoppers and upper class clients. At the very least she would be in third place among the mane 6 for highest income, if not for Twilight's ability to ask for funding directly from Celestia, or Applejack who we'll get to shortly.

Fluttershy is a difficult one. I would say she makes most of her income by acting as a private vet or animal caretaker. We first saw her training birds to sing for the Summer Sun Celebration which being such a specialized task means she gets paid pretty decently for various things like that. Her income probably isn't regular or terribly good, but she also lives a simple lifestyle if you disregard all of the animals. Animal feed adds up, but Fluttershy seems to utilize the land around her home for producing food for them, and as they are still technically wild, many probably still forage rather than rely on her completely. Her greatest asset then is she spends very little of what she makes, so she's never short on change. As for the animal sanctuary, It think she used her connections to get a grant.

Applejack runs a family farm that supplies a ridiculous amount of apples along with highly demanded cider and limited supply zap apple jam. The orchard is enormous and its fruit finds its way across all of Equestria. And since it's run by the family rather than a whole town like in Appaloosa, the earning don't have to be divided nearly as much. If not for the cost of running the farm and a few major expenditures on the side, Applejack would probably be making the most.

The School of Friendship isn't an ordinary school and since it's run by Twilight and her Friends, I'm certain she pays them very well for their time and that this school is privatized to some degree. Might be using that wrong. What I mean is that the regular pony students probably pay to attend while the international students are hosted mostly for free. Or perhaps it is free for every pony. What we do know is that Twilight has access to a nearly unlimited supply of funding within reason which allows the mane 6 to have handsome earnings.

Cheerilee runs a more old fashioned sort of school. She would recieve her income either out of taxes from Ponyville or she'd receive earnings from the parents of her students. I think she'd run the school and events she hosts much like a nonprofit, having a set percentage of what she keeps and what goes back into the school.

[Senko 459]

There's also been some interesting ideas I've seen in some fanfics I've read including . . .

1) All 6 are technically students of Celestia (sending her friendship reports) so they receive a small stipend from that.

2) As element holders/national heroes they are classed as Government Officers and receive tax breaks due to housing Governemnt Officers (The apple farm applejack, the cakes pinky pie etc).

3) Fluttershy is having all her utiltiiies and repair expenses met because she's a fog specalist. Fun fanfic that one.

4) Obviously as above they have their normal jobs providing income.

5) Twilight is using some of her income as a princess to pay them for teaching at the school. Similarly amusing was another fanfic where she had literally no idea about the value of items because she had not had to pay for anything since becoming princess Celestia's pupil just send the bills to the castle.

I agree with your ranking of Twilight having the most finances then Rarity/Rainbow Dash (Rarity has 3 high class boutiques while Rainbow is either a career military officer and/or a weather pony then Applejack/Pinky applejack probably has to funnel a lot of the profits back into the farm while Pinkie is being paid as a sort of nanny/general staff then Fluttershy the uknown). I don't think Twilight was ever the librarian though as Celestia say's she's arranged for her to stay there and then approves her remaining to learn about friendship so she's still a student its just that she's living at the library.

My personal head cannon is that the actual librarian is that pony we see in Cranky's wedding to Matilda who say's no ones asked her to organize anything since Twilight came to town. She's still been getting paid her salary but she's been on an indefinate paid leave since her library was made into the home of Celestia's prized student. My actual job as a governement employee has a similar clause where you can get paid leave till further notice if your needed elsewhere under certain circumstances (vital skill, national emergency for example if your volunteering as part of the state emergency services and your needed to help deal with a fire/flood/etc).

[SharpWit 2,872]

12 hours ago, Senko said:

1) All 6 are technically students of Celestia (sending her friendship reports) so they receive a small stipend from that. 

2) As element holders/national heroes they are classed as Government Officers and receive tax breaks due to housing Governemnt Officers (The apple farm applejack, the cakes pinky pie etc).

They're not really her students though. Sure there's a passing of lessons between them but it's not required so nothing is binding them in that regard. At most they probably get free travel expenses for their missions and recieve payment for time that would otherwise have been used for their actual work. The only tax break I expect is on the money Celestia sends them.

12 hours ago, Senko said:

Rainbow is either a career military officer

She's the equivalent to a member of the Blue Angels who have no special pay privileges. Rank and time served are the only factors there.

[RDDash 19,246]

Twilight lives off from state taxes, (she used to be a librarian),

Rarity is wealthy middle class owner of the chain clothes stores.

Rainbow Dash, I assume she is a middle class, works in the weather bureau (part time wonderbolt/paramilitary)

Pinkie Pie is working at Sugar Cube Corner not something to sneeze at equivalent to the fast food worker/ odd jobs.Has enough connections to be hired any job she wishes too within reason

Fluttershy works odd jobs to sustain herself and her animal hobby

Applejack is a non profit farmer works just enough to sustain her property and family needs 

 

Edited September 11, 2018 by R.D.Dash

[Ganondox 899]

Considering that Celestia lent them magical artifacts, I assume the school is subsidized. It doesn't need to be as awful as America is.