Outdated Equestrian beliefs/values

[Akemi Homura 7,680]

So, I managed to think of some things that Equestrians back in the olden days (whatever's the equivalent to the Middle Ages back then) where a lot of their beliefs would be considered extremely controversial nowadays from our modern-era human perspective. Since then of course, Celestia's harmony overcame those barriers those beliefs might have created and Equestria continued to thrive. Keep in mind that Celestia probably looked down on these beliefs herself but was unable to do much because this was the common mindset that ponies had. Also keep in mind that this is pure speculation. Here we are:

 

1) Only ponies of the same species may marry and mate: A pretty common way to kick this kind of thread off. This brought forth a rather large social barrier as ponies could not understand true harmony if this were the case. A pegasi only being limited to marry another pegasi and not the one they love (i.e, a unicorn) would bring forth a shitstorm in modern-day Equestria. Especially considering the friction that might have been present between the two species still, even after the showing of Hearth's Warming Eve, the two species couldn't have just looked at each other and accepted/liked the other's habits, right?

 

2) The wealthy shall only marry the wealthy or common class and never the lower: This grinds my gears... or would, rather. Self-explanatory considering how haughty the Canterlot folk are, even to this day. A noble would be limited to marrying a mare with high class or otherwise suffer a rather large bashing from the others if he were to marry a... servant pony.

 

Funny how this is considered "classy" when it's the exact opposite. ClassLESS.

 

3) Unicorns rule, pegasi droll, Earth ponies just suck: I'm aware that the three species can work together and actually like each other, but the case of unicorns being the top dogs might still hold strong here. They have magic, the one thing Equestria really thrives on and is run through; although pegasi probably have their own magic, nowhere near is it as elegant and/or natural as unicorn magic, but they can at least fly. Earth ponies being the ones doing all the "dirty work" would give their species a sad name, in all honesty - nothing more than just slaves, in a way.

 

 

Can you tell that these beliefs could spawn something more than just a problem? Say... a chaotic problem? These may have held some ground to it even after the founding of Equestria which marked the appearance of Discord, directly thriving off the social barriers and some hatred/friction between everything, since everything was a head-scratcher... to the point where you would be infuriated when these barriers are put up. Eventually, over time, Equestrians learned that these didn't pan out and didn't make anypony happy and only made them as a race regress.

 

Feel free to add more to the list.

[Spaghetti 159]

I'm having a hard time agreeing with you on 3, I think that each species of ponies have their own kind of magic that makes them unique to each other. For example, the Pegasus are not only gifted with their wings, but control the weather and the sky. Not even Unicorns can step on clouds without falling through. The Earth ponies I feel have a lot more then what meets the eye. Other then being the sole provider of food in Equestria, they seem like they would also be the strongest physically of the 3 species as well as live much longer (Granny Smith admitted to being alive during the founding of ponyvile, and Twilight told Spike "Ponyvile was started by Earth Ponies, so for hundreds of years they never used magic to clean up Winter". By looking at the Manehatten architecture in Cutie Mark Chronicles, it also seems like the Earth Ponies have a more modern design to their cities with lights and possibly electricity rather then the Victorian-style of Canterlot and the Pegasus' sky fortress.

 

Also consider that Twilight is one of the few Unicorns that spent her entire life in the study of magic as well as having her cutie mark symbolize magic itself; I cannot recall any other Unicorns preforming anything more then simple levitation.

 

Granted this is all headcanon for a children's show, but I the whole 'Unicorn Master Race' thing is a little one-sided when Twilight is the only Unicorn we know who can preform all these incredible feats with magic.

[Creamy Arty 6,251]

I think they overcame all prejudice before Celestia ever appeared; she didn't have a hand in that. There hasn't been any mention of the alicorns being around before the founding of Equestria, and we know Discord came on the scene before they did. So they overcame all their differences, Discord came along to wreck things again, then the Sisters appeared and took him out. They may have had more work ahead of them in pulling the beleaguered ponies back together though.

 

This may be a little beside the point, but I'm going to guess that given Discord's late arrival in pony history, he might not have always existed. Look at him. His body is composed of parts of all the sentient races we've seen so far and some we haven't, or at least haven't proven to have the same level of intelligence as ponies, such as lions. We know that the griffons have their own kingdom and that ponies are allies/friends of theirs. There may have been some racial differences those two kingdoms had to overcome as well. My theory is that when the world cast off all of its bigotry so that every creature could live together peaceably, those feelings formed the entity known as Discord. Kind of like the TNG episode "Skin of Evil."

 

inb4 they actually use that as Discord's origin story.

[NavelColt 22,876]

Not even Unicorns can step on clouds without falling through.

Not naturally, but they can through magic. Just worth mentioning.

 

inb4 they actually use that as Discord's origin story.

Eh. Not a fan of this theory, personally. Just because he wasn't in Equestria forever doesn't mean he hasn't always been around. In my own personal head canon, he's immortal, being the spirit of a fundamental law of nature and all. Due to settler ponies popping up in the region later to be founded as Equestria, his interest caused him to 'move' his focus there, and ultimately take over for fun. He was probably a nuisance to other developing nations around the globe before Equestria was truly founded, and became more than a wasteland of nothing but animals. When he was defeated by Celestia and her sister, she became the Batman to his Joker; she's his ultimate challenge, because she's probably the most harmonic pony on the planet. Ergo, he loves trying to take back his kingdom and destroying the harmony she loves so much. Which is why he persisted in taking back his throne when he broke out in 'The Return of Harmony'.

 

"Did you miss me, Celestia? I missed you."

 

But hey, to each their own; back to the topic.

 

Somewhat branching off what Devin's third note is getting at, I'd say there were a LOT of steryotypes that were believed about each species back then, that have probably dwindled as society has advanced. Pegasi are probably light-weight in bone structure due to flight, so they've probably been reffered to as physically weak, perhaps aloof and even stupid. Unicorns have obviously been called haughty for their apparent sense of superiority, but they also may have been called cheaters or lazy, letting their magic do everything for them, when earth ponies and pegasi have to actually physically work to get things done.

 

Also, as one last side-point if any race is the master race it's the alicorns, who have it all, not the unicorns.

Edited October 28, 2012 by ~Chaotic Discord~