Slavery of Sheep?

[GuerrierCosmique 146]

Friendship is Magic features a lot of animals and mythological creatures as regular people, say ponies, griffons, dragons et cetera, they all live like normal persons on Earth do, but what about sheep? They are clearly sentient, too, but still treated like regular farm animals.

 

"You could have just asked." Applejack slams the door, like "Shut up, slave. You have nothing to tell here".

 

Are sheep a suppressed species in Equestria, enslaved for production of wool, that will be taken from them without any payment nor reward?

 

My guess is yes, sheep are slaves to ponies. No matter if it's "Rule of Funny" or something, ^^ Nethertheless, sheep seem they don't care about their status, maybe they're happy with being put into gages to produce wool for ponies.

 

 

 

[Monocerus 36]

well honestly that's probably the same way the cows are. they know there being used but do they really care?
​i think the unfair farm animals are just fine the way they are.

[TailsIsNotAlone 3,695]

OMG. This is extremely important and you guys are totally right.

 

I think there should be a S4 episode where the sheep rebel against their pony slavemasters, Equestria fights a war over it and later the sheep become marginalized citizens who put on shades and yell into microphones about life in the flock.

 

I can't imagine how this would backfire in any way.

[Zygen 6,066]

I dunno I kinda just think they're maybe for the atmosphere of a farm. I think infact that the sheep are just maybe living with the ponies idk.

 

I guess in a way they are kinda slaves idk. Maybe the Ponies can't understand sheep for somereason. Yet they can understand other animals, which is why they don't respond to the sheeps remark? Maybe its just for the viewers or something idk.

 

Its not as much a mystery as pigs are.

[Firelord Derpy 310]

Well, one thing to remember about Equestria is that they may not be exactly limited to our morality and or the Moral rules may be different then ours given the diversity of the sentient creatures in their world.

Take for example the cows, while they may have the ability to speak and reason they stampeded and could have caused massive damaged to Ponyville just because one of them saw a snake. 

 

What does this mean? Well while Applejack's behavior may have been slightly rude in that situation we do not know the full situation, after all with the skittishness of the cows (And the fact they seem rather slow) there quite possibly could some form of mutual contract that the Applefamily provides protection, food, and shelter, in return for wool or dairy products. Given the nature of herd animals and how the Cows acted perhaps the sheep suffer from something similar and if they aren't kept in line they will wonder off and do something dumb and hurt themselves repeatedly. (to my limited knowledge sheep aren't that bright in real life but I may be wrong.)

 

Since we only see them speak once we don't exactly know how smart they really are, they can speak but.

 

"The ability to speak does not make you intelligent" Qui-Gon Jinn. 

 

Maybe they lack the common sense to live safely on their own and instead take refuge in farms for safety with the knowledge that they are giving up many of their freedoms.

Or on the other hoof maybe they are slaves but not smart enough to realize it.

Or on yet another hoof maybe they realize they are slaves and are happy with it.

Or on the other hoof maybe they know they are slaves and are unhappy with it and are planning a sheep revolution. 

Or on the other other hoof maybe they aren't slaves and allow AJ to boss them around a bit because she's the boss and they know they can't live on their own.

IDK 

[Jammo 986]

Very good question. That would hold a lot of weight and have serious ethical implications in our world...

 

But this is a silly show about cartoon ponies and I don't think slavery was a topic in the mind of the writers when they threw out that gag.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

Applejack just so happens to own slaves.

 

*Takes a puff on pipe and smiles crudely*

 

While I find the thought that she just happens to be the one pony who appears to own slaves extremely amusing, I think Firelord Derpy offered plenty of convincing explanations for this anomaly.

 

Applejack is best slavemaster.

[Planty 1,053]

Friendship is Magic features a lot of animals and mythological creatures as regular people, say ponies, griffons, dragons et cetera, they all live like normal persons on Earth do, but what about sheep? They are clearly sentient, too, but still treated like regular farm animals.

 

"You could have just asked." Applejack slams the door, like "Shut up, slave. You have nothing to tell here".

 

Are sheep a suppressed species in Equestria, enslaved for production of wool, that will be taken from them without any payment nor reward?

 

My guess is yes, sheep are slaves to ponies. No matter if it's "Rule of Funny" or something, ^^ Nethertheless, sheep seem they don't care about their status, maybe they're happy with being put into gages to produce wool for ponies.

 

And cows are the same!

 

They are herded by the ponies and not treated very well at all in the show!

 

And they can talk and seem to eat the exact same things as the ponies. I wonder what happened to them to cause the ponies to over rule them so?

[Firelord Derpy 310]

And they can talk and seem to eat the exact same things as the ponies. I wonder what happened to them to cause the ponies to over rule them so?

(One thousand years ago)

 

Cow 1 "Hey Mooriella."

Cow 2 "What?" 

Cow 1 "I just thought about a snake."

Cow 2 "SNAKE! AHAHAHAHHAHAH"

 

Ye Old castle of Everfree.

Luna "And thus our dearest sister we hath.... Pray tell what doth that rumble under the midsummer sun be?"

Celestia "Luna you speak weird."

Luna "Verily"

Nameless Guard name Phil "Your Highnesses! STAMPEDE!" 

Luna "NAY!"

Celestia "Not again." 

(Loud rumble as a huge herd of cattle Stampede through the Castle causing massive damage.)

 

Celestia "WHAT IN MY NAME WAS THAT ABOUT?" 

Cow 1 "I thought about a Snake your highness!" 

Luna "Verily? I shudder to imagine what thou would doeth if thou met something worthy of fear, like a Sea Serpent." 

Cow 2 "SEA SERPENT! THAT MEANS SNAKE! AHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHA"

 

(Several hours later after Celestia and Luna are dug out of the ruins of the castle.)

Celestia, "Okay, we've got to do something."

Luna. "Verily my sister, Oh while we're on the subject of doing something I have this plan for increasing the hours of the night....."

 

 

 

And thus cows began their new life under the guidance of Ponykind. (Due to a typo Sheep got taken into the system as well, something the sheep didn't really mind.) 

[Twilight Circuits 603]

 I'm going to point out that there isn't any mention of pony's eating meat that i'm aware of. In addition to that, sheep's wool would provide for textiles and cows produce milk. Since wool grows back I doubt the sheep are what one would consider slaves. There's probably a mutual agreement or something. Although, i wonder what the pigs are for...

[Argumedies 1,748]

I wouldn't say slave but more like second class citizen.

 

I know that's something that you wouldn't think of being in a show like this but it fits the profile closer then slave IMHO

[Nohbdy 4,108]

OP, are you questioning the superiority of the pony master race? The inquisition will be with you shortly.

 

But seriously, Equestria does seem to have some race issues. The ponies (which themselves appear to be divided into race-based castes) clearly hold the most power. We've seen their treatment of Zecora before they finally accepted her, and we've seen how often the term mule is used in a derogatory context ("mules are ugly," "stubborn as a mule," etc). Then there are the obvious instances of Applejack herding clearly sapient livestock without regard for what they think, like with the sheep. There's also the term everypony, which is often used even when a non-pony is present (even Cranky Doodle, a donkey, says it).

 

Obviously, we're overanalyzing a kid's show, but the potential for racial tensions in a pony-dominated society makes for some interesting discussion. Guess there's not quite as much love and tolerance in Equestria as the ponies try to make it seem.

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

You know, I wonder how dominate the ponies really are; sure, we know that ponies are the dominate species in Equestria, but in "Dragon Quest", Garble doesn't seem to know who Celestia is at all when he reads that letter that Spike belches up. Makes me wonder if perhaps it's just in Equestria that ponies are so dominate, but in other places, such as places where Dragons usually congregate, they are not as common as other races or not as dominate.

[Tank the tortoise 262]

The background ponies will eventually unite the sheep and cows under the Vox Ponypuli and overthrough the Founders being lead by Father Celestia.  Father Celestia a dictator who has fashioned a cult that is the dominant religion in Equestria.

 

Find out more in Pinkie Pie-oshock Infinite!

 

[Argumedies 1,748]

You know, I wonder how dominate the ponies really are; sure, we know that ponies are the dominate species in Equestria, but in "Dragon Quest", Garble doesn't seem to know who Celestia is at all when he reads that letter that Spike belches up. Makes me wonder if perhaps it's just in Equestria that ponies are so dominate, but in other places, such as places where Dragons usually congregate, they are not as common as other races or not as dominate.

You know I've often wondered this myself. Even Twilight admits that ponies don't know much about dragons. I wonder if they will touch on this subject in season 4.

 

But I digress. As far as ponies looking down upon other species, if you look at it from a predictor/ prey perspective. Ponies, no matter how strong and magical they might be they are still a prey species. If anyone hasn't noticed yet, this is a very hostial world. There for I would say that because they evolved into the dominate of the prey species, they would hold that title against other subspecies of other prey animals. But they must not show weakness to predictor species in the process.

 

There inherent magical abilities give them that edge and its my opinion that ponies have become that balance between predictor and prey.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Argumedies

[Rainblow H. Ash 5,091]

Perhaps, but it seems to me that Ponies and a lot of other species have developed alongside each other. For example, Griffons, Mules, Donkeys, and Zebras have all developed the ability to coexist together without harming each other, and the Buffalo appear to have warmed up to ponies after "Over a Barrel". There are Changelings too, of course, but all we've seen of them is that they are hostile to other species and want power.

 

Regardless, I think at this point it's a racial makeup type of deal; Equestria simply is a mostly pony-inhabited nation, so it does figure that ponies would have the most power and be the most wide-spread within its borders. The show doesn't elaborate on whether or not there are entire nations that are mostly Griffons, Mules, Donkeys, what have you, and we're not even sure if the Changelings have their own kingdom or not, although if Chrysalis is a Queen as she says then she probably does.

 

As for Dragons, they appear to be a migration based society, as the Buffalo are, although on a much higher scale since they seem more scattered and really only appear to be seen in large groups during the Great Dragon Migration.

 

*Takes a puff on pipe*
 

This is actually a really interesting conversation that is related to the topic of this thread, but I almost feel like this should be a subject with a topic of its own, although there probably is one that is either really old or I haven't noticed.

[Argumedies 1,748]

Now if you want to add Griffons, Mules/Donkies, and Zebras in to this equation I think in this case, its more a numbers game.

 

Mules, Donkies and Zebras are (almost) respected because they are still equine in Classification... distant cousins if you will.

 

Griffons get respect cause they're B.A's

Edited March 29, 2013 by Argumedies

[pinkieshyrose 58]

Uhh I think there was somthing in lauren faust said somthing about pigs that proably explain the sheep in cows somthing like they had no other place to go so the apple family took them in perhaps thats the same way for the cowns and sheep I dont  think there slaves I think applejack is just rude sometimes.... there proably like children to the farm scince they raised them so she has the patients she has for Apple Bloom messing a room up.... just to give a idea. 

 

But if there are slaves that means Pinkie Pie is not into slavery scince she gives daisy joe oatmeal in a nice way and she never use the mule thing the same proably goes to fluttershy...