How come Alicorns don't show Earth Pony-level strength?

[100 beasts kaidou 321]

I Mean Alicorns are shown to have Better magic than Unicorns and Cadence showed Great flying speed when facing Sombra, But none of the alicorns have shown anything that even compares to Earth ponies physical strenght. arent alicorns suppost to be a balance of the three?

[Jadefire 2,798]

Because they haven't really been given the oppurtunity to demonstrate their strength as of yet, which doesn't mean that they don't possess the ability.

 

Also, the only thing confirmed about earth ponies is that they "have a connection to the ground"; the only earth ponies who demonstrated superequine strength was Big Macintosh (when he blasted ponies over the horizon in Lesson Zero and drug a house in Hearts and Hooves) and Cheerilee (when she blasted through a wall in Hearts and Hooves). Oh, and Pinkie Pie's Loony Toon-esque behavior.

[Scootalove 10,689]

They just don't show it even if they have the ability.  We know Alicorns have well-known abilities and strength but, they just don't have a chance to show it due to them being busy with their duties.

[Righteous Fury 344]

I'm pretty sure that Chrysalis' attack on Celestia would've turned any other pony into a bloody pulp. Plus Cadence stayed awake and focused on a powerful spell for DAYS. They might not have great physical strength, but their endurance is off the charts.

[Zygen 6,066]

I'm sure that they do have earth ponies ability, but it's just not really been put to use or needed to exactly.

 

The fact that celestia wasn't totally decimated by chrysalis is a good point though.

 

Technically the earth ponies haven't been cannon stated to have high strength, it's just been a fannon assumption mostly. There connection to the earth is their only real cannon ability exactly.

[Mars Caramel 319]

Because "Why should we bother doing things the hard way now that we have horns and wings?"

 

I do think they need to show this earth power, but how can they do it without looking like they could've just used their magic or flight ability?

[Bowties 8]

I like to think that alicorn a magic exceeds their physical strength, which brings up the point that Mars Brown said, Why do things the hard way when you have a horn and wings?

 

But I like to think they are really strong, they just don't have a need to show off or anything. Like in that episode of Doctor Who where The Doctor becomes Jhon Smith, and he could of defeated the family, but he chose to give them a chance and hide. I think Alicorns are like that. They could destroy anyone and everyone, but they choose not to.

 

That was a little confusing. :/

[SBaby 660]

There's actually a very simple explanation for this, and I'm surprised that it's taken three seasons for someone to ask this question.

 

Alicorns don't show Earth Pony strength, because they're probably not part Earth Pony.  Alicorns are half Pegasus and half Unicorn, not a combination of all three races.  Hence why the facebook page used to refer to them as Pegasus Unicorns.  So it wouldn't make sense for them to show Earth Pony strength.

 

Now an interesting note is that the new book about the Crystal Heart Spell does make mention that they are part Earth Pony too.  The reason I'm not considering this in my overall post is because we have yet to see if this will become canon in the cartoon or not (not everything in those books becomes canon in the cartoon).

Edited May 6, 2013 by SBaby

[silvadel 1,393]

They just haven't been in the proper position and it is probably considered unfitting of a princess to express that level of strength in court/canterlot.  If Celestia were to take a break out on AJ's farm, she could probably buck apples with the best of them.

 

I think the best expression of their Earth Pony natures are in the gardens around Canterlot.

[Guest]

Simple: An alicorn's strength manifests itself in their magical ability. It's like asking why a mage can't fight as well as a warrior in a melee battle.

 

Earth Ponies cannot fly nor use magic therefore they compensate by having above average strength.

Edited May 11, 2013 by Guest

[Wingnut 7,005]

My semi-educated guess is that they have earth pony strength or greater but they rarely show it because magic is usually more effective at accomplishing the task at hand than brute physical force.  Maybe Season 4 will shed a little more light on this. 

[Princess Lona 382]

I don't remember anything in the show that said earth ponies had great physical strength. Hearths Warming Eve said they were the ones who always raised the food, but it never said it was because they are strong. I assumed they just had closer connection with the forces of nature and physics than the other races. As alicorns, Celestia and Luna raise the sun and the moon which have an effect on the earth and so connect them to the earth.

[NavelColt 22,882]

They probably do, but the only alicorns we've seen so far are royalty who are far too regal to buck things Except maybe Luna, who we simply haven't seen buck anything yet. Plus, why would a pony possessing magic -need- to exercise physical strength for, unless they simply like to work out?

[AnonyPoni 564]

I would think they do. I also imagine earth ponies add the level of health and longevity, which you can interpret as the Alicorn's immortality

 

@@~Chaotic Discord~, I agree with you, but brohoofed purely because of your sig. Just..... I like XD

[Chivalry Knight 161]

Like the reply's before me state, it's true that they don't really get the chance to show it. I do think they possess physical strength, however, I doubt that they are as powerful as an average earth pony. Consider this; Earth ponies have been farming and doing manual labor for years, this includes plowing the fields and moving very heavy objects, they have gotten so used to it and even have acquired amazing abilities that uses physical strength. Such as moving buildings out of there foundation, or crashing threw barricades. There's also a time where it showed that Pinkie Pie could keep up with rainbow dash in "Party of One" even though rainbow dash was flying at a tremendous speed. I think this is because of there history of doing so much manual labor. However, when you look at Alicorns, There history doesn't involve such manual labor. Instead, they have the luxury of other ponies doing that sort of work for them. They also have the luxury of possessing magic, which greatly reduces the likely hood of Alicorns to physically preform manual labor. Thus leading me to believe that Alicorns could never show "Earth Pony-level strength". 

I hope this answers your question X3

[Galen 1,354]

I always sort of suspected that Alicorns don't actually have Earth Ponies' traits due to them being a sort of hybrid between Unicorn and Pegasus. Nothing was ever said about them being a balance of all three pony types for that matter. That being said, as others mentioned, Earth Ponies' speciality is a stronger connection with the earth, nature and animals (altho other types of ponies may also have similar traits, Fluttershy being a prime example). I don't put it past Alicorns to have similar traits, but I'm guessing we'll know more in season 4 when we'll be seeing an Alicorn in action more often and more directly now.

[Chivalry Knight 161]

  On 2013-07-16 at 1:07 PM, Freedan said:

I always sort of suspected that Alicorns don't actually have Earth Ponies' traits due to them being a sort of hybrid between Unicorn and Pegasus. Nothing was ever said about them being a balance of all three pony types for that matter. That being said, as others mentioned, Earth Ponies' speciality is a stronger connection with the earth, nature and animals (altho other types of ponies may also have similar traits, Fluttershy being a prime example). I don't put it past Alicorns to have similar traits, but I'm guessing we'll know more in season 4 when we'll be seeing an Alicorn in action more often and more directly now.

While I do agree with you that we will be seeing an alicorn in action, please keep in mind that Twilight is indeed a "Fake" Alicorn, I have no idea if the OP for this thread was referring to an actual Alicorn (Born an Alicorn) or a magically transformed alicorn. But I do expect to see some great things from twilight, also even though we will be able to see an Alicorn in action, we already know how twilight is. Her personality, her strengths, her weakness's. We already know most of what she is capable of. and considering that she didn't really preform that much with physical strength. I'm going to suggest that Alicorns Fake or not cannot possess the same physical abilities as an earth pony. However, I don't really know what would happen if an earth pony transformed into an Alicorn... hmm, this is an interesting thought X3

[A Talking Dragon 257]

Earth Pony super strength is a fanon myth. There's nothing to suggest otherwise; on the other hand . . .

 

 

ep. 2 - Applejack was unable to pull Twilight up off the cliff.

 

ep. 3 - Twilight is carrying more than A.J at the beginning of the episode. R.D matched the cowpony in a strength contest.

 

ep. 7 - Pinkie, A.J, plus three of the others are unsuccessful in moving a rooted Fluttershy from one spot.

 

ep. 11 - All the earth ponies pulling the plows are males, A.J doesn't pull.

 

ep. 13 - A.J lost in an arm wrestling match to R.D. A.J and R.D match in a pushup competition.

 

ep. 18 - Scootaloo is shown to be the most athletic of the CMCs.

 

ep. 19 - Everyone (minus Rarity and Spike) threw off the diamond dogs.

 

ep. 25 - Rainbow dragged a resistant Pinkie Pie, against her will, across town.

 

S.2 ep. 1 - Rarity carried a large bolder on her back. Twilight also carried a large bolder on her back.

 

S.2 ep. 2 - Rarity carries a large bolder plus Applejack. Twilight fights two earth ponies (Applejack and Pinkie), at once, to a standstill (not bad for a mage type character). Rarity kicks A.J down and makes her back off. Twilight pins Applejack by herself; Twilight and A.J both held down Fluttershy with rope. It takes all of the mane 5 to hold down Rainbow with ropes. R.D knocks A.J to the ground.

 

S.2 ep. 4 - Twilight overpowers Pinkie

 

S.2 ep. 5 - Sweetie Belle and Rarity both place second in an all around physical competition.

 

S.2 ep. 6 - Applebloom has the weakest bowling roll of the CMCs

 

S.2 ep. 9 - The unicorn bellhop carries everything without magic.

 

S.2 ep. 11 - Pegasi were the warrior types

 

S.2 ep. 12 - Sweetie Belle makes a tree bend. 

 

S.2 ep. 13 - Poundcake, nuff say.

 

S.2 ep. 14 - Fluttershy, and not Pinkie Pie, pulls the cart to chase A.J.

 

S.2 ep. 16 - The Indiana Jones type character is pegasi.

 

S.2 ep. 19 - Fluttershy beats up one and tosses two earth ponies quite a distance away.

 

S.2 ep. 20 - Twilight moves more fluent as spy than Pinkie.

 

S.2 ep. 21 - Two unicorn and a pegasi tackles a dragon.

 

S.2 ep. 22 - a female pegasi is shown lifting a thousand pounds with just her wings

 

S.2 ep. 26 - A.J is the one overpowered during a fight

 

S.3 ep. 6 - Sweetie Belle hauls more than Scootaloo?

 

S.3 ep. 7 - The overly buff character is a pegasi.

 

S.3 ep. 13 - Pinkie can't buck trees

 

 

Like I said, earth pony physical power is a myth. However, it doesn't mean they don't have something going for them. Keep in mind that they can't flying away from danger or hid behind magic and in the mountains, but their culture has allowed them to push through despite it all. In turn, they have grown and produce some of the best food Equestria has ever known. And if mlp fans really want to push further and look for something, A.J's grandmother and her friends seem to have been around for quite a long time and there are more known earth pony towns and cities.

[Ampharos 1,009]

@@100 beasts kaidou,

 

I think the earth pony aspect is more of the kindness part. I meant think about it. Cheerilee is nice enough to be a school teacher, AJ is a loving sister and an honest friend, Pinkie always likes to see ponies smile, and Granny Smith is the one responsible for taking care of her grankids, which she loves and cares for.. Plus I think it was mentioned in a book that the earth pony aspect was kindness. 

[RrVPfX9cPtw59FpC 1,304]

Cadence definitely showed endurance. Whether or not this equals strength is up to you to decide, but that's one of the things I see from earth ponies.