The citizenship status of non-ponies in Equestria?

[windy_prance 114]

Ponies as a society are obligated to care for animals around them...but certain animals like cows, griffins, and Spike seem to given enough independence around ponies to not treated in that way.

 

Why?

 

What is makes one animal a "citizen" and another just a "defenseless animal"?

[Banul 3,831]

I imagine that if the CAN act independently of ponies, they are allowed to do so.

[joecal97 340]

Sentience, or the ability to survive without assistance I'd presume

[Adorkable 2,737]

I hope I'm understanding this right.. ^^"

 

I assume if one can walk and talk, they are treated as a citizen. ^^"

 

I don't know about those cows from "Applebucking Season", though. ^^"

[ghostfacekiller39 23,860]

I think that citizenship is something that exists in Equestria, but isn't held to such strict standards. I think it'd be almost like just being able to speak words that others can understand could grant you Equestrian citizenship, regardless of race and what not

[nami438 90]

I hope I'm understanding this right.. ^^"

 

I assume if one can walk and talk, they are treated as a citizen. ^^"

 

I don't know about those cows from "Applebucking Season", though. ^^"

I was thinking about the cows too. It seems that some cows are livestock, while other cows are sentient (I vaguely remember an episodes where a cow or two were riding the train)?

 

I also believe that the Equestrian equivalent of citizenship is just granted to all sentient beings. As long as they don't cause a huge ruckus (as is the case with the vast majority of characters), there's no reason to punish them or deport them.

[ReverseFaller 2,484]

Any sentient animals that can talk are more than likely citizens. 

 

It makes me wonder, why can some animals talk and others can't? (Winona the dog and the Diamond Dogs) It's kind of like Pluto, and Goofy from Disney.   

[cider float 2,539]

The ponies like you and you live there. Simple as that.

[Yellow Diamond 7,575]

Echoing @Mikami, I suspect all sentient creatures who reside within Equestria's borders are automatically granted the rights and privileges of citizenship. It just so happens most of Equestria's inhabitants are, not surprisingly, ponies.

[Fhaolan 4,486]

There's a weird fuzzy categorization going on in the show. There's creatures that *seem* to be animalistic, like sheep and whatnot who don't seem to have the ability to speak Equestrian, and the ponies seem to take care of them. And there are those that seem to sophontic like ponies, gryphons, bison, yaks, donkeys, zebras, etc. And there's a middle ground groups with cows, goats, possibly pigs? who sometimes seem to act like animals and sometimes seem to act like sophonts. They can talk, yet seem to be cared for by ponies as if they were animals.

 

There's a lot of seeming going on. 

 

As for citizenship... I'm not sure Equestria really has the concept of citizenship. Look at Gilda, and the various gryphons who appear in the show. They behave like citizens of Equestria; they participate in the Equestrian Games, a representative was at the big Equestrian summit during 'Princess Spike', Gilda apparently belonged to the Equestrian equivalent to the Air Cadets when she lived in Cloudsdale, but now lives in Griffonstone which seems to be a country outside of Equestria, on a different continent even, yet the Map sent representatives there... Where the heck counts as Equestria and what doesn't? 

[sweetolebob18 728]

Well, in Apple Buck Season, the cows were stampeding.  AJ was arguably just doing riot control.  +In A Friend In Deed, the cows & Cranky were just walking around.  More disturbing is the scene (ICR which episode) where AJ & Apple Bloom herded a bunch of sheep into a pen against their will.  One of the sheep said "you could have just asked".  This seems to imply the sheep were 2nd class citizens if not slaves.

 

As to citizens.  They are a diarchy (2 rulers) so possibly they don't have ANY citizens, only subjects

[Wind Chaser 4,768]

Ponies have control over the sun, the moon, and nature itself.

 

Everything else gets sent back to coach.

 

What happens when a non-pony tries to control the elements, as explained by Seinfeld:

Edited December 27, 2015 by Wind Chaser