infinityDivided
Prince Of Doom
- Location
- USA
Only in populated areas; the Everfree Forest is specifically mentioned for its lack of controlled weather.
Illuminating Invitation (MLP: FiM AU)
- Thread starter Alivaril
- Start date
- Users' Choice!
Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
- Location
- Australia
They control clouds and rainfall. Eternal day or eternal night would still dramatically affect temperatures and living conditions.
I imagine in prehistory there used to be a more automatic system for the day night cycle but it got broken by Discord or something.
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OverReactionGuy
Verified Sanity
When in doubt blame Discord.
I was saying how Sunset's first thought being the climate turning unpredictable seems strange given that they don't predict these things anyway, they schedule them.
And pre-Celestia the sun/moon was handled by a large number of unicorns working together- this is directly mentioned in-story. Since Luna+Celestia were the ones who defeated Discord, that can't have been his fault (though he may have collapsed civilization, and thus took over handling it until the sisters came along)
- Location
- Australia
I was referring to prehistory i.e before all that. Discord is much much older than Luna and Celestia.
dragonx99
Actually Satan
Even if something is normally controlled you can often tell what it will do if it the controls are removed. Sunset is saying that they don't even have the luxury of being able to say "if we stop controlling it then it'll do xyz", instead all they can say is "well, hopefully it won't kill us all".
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
The existence of special talents likely changes the competence curve. It is possible that ponies gain enough natural competence in their special talent to make a living doing it as soon as they get it. Which also makes higher education seem less important.
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- Location
- Finland
Not really supported by the series as far as i can tell.
And not everyone is going to make their special talent into a career (i doubt every guard pony has a special talent of "really good at being a guard"), though i could be wrong.
And even then, being really good at fashion is different from being really good at running a boutique.
Saphire
Lurking dragon
- Pronouns
- She/Her
The "backup plan" in this case is probably somewhere between drinking herself stupid and banishing herself to the sun. Possibly with some collateral damage involved (mostly to anything "royal").
And now I'm just imagining a scene of...
"911? This is Canterlot High School. We have a really suspicious woman on the premises who has difficulty with coordination. No, she's not been aggressive. I have her seated in another room, actually. You'll have someone in an hour? Well, I might be able have someone watch her for that long...", and then there's a sound of breaking glass as a certain maybe-purple not-unicorn tries to run away.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Special talents seem to be very inclusive. Rarity uses hers for everything from fashion analysis, sewing to mining gemstones I see no reason that it would not include selling fashion as well.
In Equestria Girls, all the Mane Six characters are age 17-18 because they are seniors in high school. This is backed up by Sunset's comments on the number of fall formals she's attended, driver's licenses, etc. (There are some strange issues with the mirror universe which suggest it's not precisely IRL Earth, and the legality of a lot of stuff is more down to a kid's understanding, but in general the behavior and age matches up).
Sunset Shimmer is the big exception, of course, and a show that we can't necessarily count on Equestria!Twilight's age as matching up with her apparent age in the mirror universe - it seems the mirror made Sunset a teen, perhaps because 99.99% of the people depicted on the 'mirror' side looked like teens. But it seems very likely that we are meant to consider the mirrorverse Equestria Girls as Equestria equivalents in age.
Although - in 'Magic Duel', Twilight genuinely thinks that Trixie was able to change the ages of Snips and Snails, commenting that "An age spell? But... how could you do an age spell? That's only for the highest level unicorns!" So it's entirely possible that given her prodigal status and experience over Twilight, Sunset Shimmer was able to cast an age spell on herself and keep herself young. As you point out, time and age manipulation spells seem to be a thing. The ramifications of that are certainly interesting.
Given Equestria has what appears to be a pre-industrial economy, the idea that people tend to graduate school at 14 normally and go into business like Rarity or Applejack or take an apprenticeship like Pinkie is actually pretty normal. It's also notable that half of the Mane Six have what seems to amount to civil service jobs, (librarian, weather pony, and wildlife management officer), but that kind of makes sense when you consider that Equestria has had both agriculture and the same government for 1000 years of relatively stable rule.
It's also easy to assume pony lifespans equate to humans both in length and progression, and I think it's a fair assumption given the nature of the show, but it's worth noting that not all animals age in the same way - the range of health we'd probably consider 'middle aged' or 'elderly' can be either very extended or very brief in some species in contrast to maturity.
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Nit-pick not sure that pre-industrial is the best way to put it. It seems clear the Equestria has all the tools and technology to be an industrial nation and have for a long time they just seem to choose not to. I suspect strongly supported environmental laws.
Also we don't exactly see any lack of wealth.
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dragonx99
Actually Satan
Wait does it cover all of that? I thought her talent was Just finding the gems and everything related to using the gems was a result of her own hard work?
- Location
- Finland
We can't really map equestria to any real world time, magic, and lack of interest in doing so by the creators, make such attempts largely pointless.
And i am going to argue against the idea that this society somehow makes ponies grow up and join the work force faster.
That feels largely be working backwards from "swords/armor -> pre modern -> poor living standards/low leisure time".
And i am going to argue against the idea that this society somehow makes ponies grow up and join the work force faster.
That feels largely be working backwards from "swords/armor -> pre modern -> poor living standards/low leisure time".
...You seem to have a sort of prejudice against teenagers in the work force, but I think you might be working off American stereotypes.
According to ILOSTAT, internationally the working age is commonly defined as 15.
Even in the US, 16 is perfectly acceptable, and there are plenty of 16 years olds that hold down a legitimate job. This isn't a tragedy or a sign of failure in education, it makes sense because frankly people of that age can realistically commit to a trade school, apprenticeship, or secondary education major which can prepare them much more effectively for their career if needed - or go right into the work force if not needed.
This is why high school equivalent is typically called secondary education.
'Forcing them to join the work force' vs 'Forcing them to attend yet more school' is also a bit of a tossup. If you know what you want to do, you're actually likely to be a lot more unhappy being forced to stay in a classroom learning information that will be useless in your career than going out and getting a job doing what you love - or trying different jobs to discover what you love.
The real issue with 'adulthood' is honestly paying bills and budgeting and so forth, and it doesn't seem like that's a huge issue, even for Rarity. If I were to be a real wonk about it, I'd say it's down to low cost-of-living and low unemployment.
Statistics on the population and labour force - ILOSTAT
This topic page on labour force statistics (e.g., employment) provides access to statistical information including data, methods, publications and more.
ilostat.ilo.org
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fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Potato Potato. But if her talent was just finding gems I suspect that she would focus more on that part. But nopony seems to have a special talent that is 'just' anything.
Edit: I expect that her talent might generalize to finding beauty and showing it to others.
I don't think it makes them, but ponies get really enthusiastic about pursuing their special talent.
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Honestly, the Mane Six are never treated by the show and anyone not named Celestia as anything other than adults. They have businesses, they hold authority, they're accomplished, they serve as guardians to fillies (and not in name only), they consider marriage, they're out of school, they live alone, their houses are their own, Celestia has no compunction in calling them for military action, etc, etc.
Plus, we know for a fact that the mirror has some time fuckery to it already considering it made both Sunset and Twilight the same age, when Sunset should be at least 10 or so years older.
And even if you ignore that explanation, here's another: Twilight was already immortal at the time, so if you say the mirror made her a teen human because of her age, it might be because of her relative youth for an alicorn, not in regular pony years.
Plus, there's no rule that says counterparts are even close to each other in age -- Celestia and Luna being the most blatant examples.
Plus, we know for a fact that the mirror has some time fuckery to it already considering it made both Sunset and Twilight the same age, when Sunset should be at least 10 or so years older.
And even if you ignore that explanation, here's another: Twilight was already immortal at the time, so if you say the mirror made her a teen human because of her age, it might be because of her relative youth for an alicorn, not in regular pony years.
Plus, there's no rule that says counterparts are even close to each other in age -- Celestia and Luna being the most blatant examples.
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- Location
- SomeWhereElse
We know some sort of time nonsense was going on partly because of that and also because Principal Celestia is a thing - and it is never implied that she's a couple thousand years old.
So it's either time stuff or a nurse joy situation there
...What on earth makes you think a 17 year old can't do all of that in Equestria? Especially given it's a kid's show, wherein many kids shows will depict a ten year old owning a massive business conglomerate? Twilight lives alone in the Equestria Girls universe and she's very much not over 18.
Keep in mind, you can be a 'sole trader' e.g. own a small business in the UK at 16, or be a company director. 18 is not a universal biological barrier prior to which humans (or ponies) are somehow massively incompetent.
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Dude, RD's job at the start of the series is more or less equivalent to chief of a small town's fire department. There's also no indication whatsoever that Rarity or Fluttershy's businesses are in any way new. No, one ever treats them like they're anywhere close to being minors, ever. And of course, Celestia doesn't think twice before sending them against a freaking dragon in Season 1 (basically deputizing Twilight to lead a military operation in her name).
Sure, the exact number of their age doesn't matter, but they're clearly past Equestria's age of adulthood.
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The point is that Equestria might have an age of majority of 13 or so. A 17 year old would then be considered well into adulthood.
Manehattan shows that the country has industrialized, but they don't seem to have a cheap external energy source (like fossil fuels or nuclear/modern renewables) which greatly limits the economic value of industrialization and leaving pre-industrial areas still able to compete economically. Notice how many vehicles use Earth Pony super-strength as their propulsion.
fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
I mean considering that even today trains need drivers you have to wonder if making steam engines makes economic sense when you can just have earth ponies pull and combine the two jobs.
I don't know if we would have bothered making steam engines if we had 100 horsepower horses.
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There's two logical interpretations of the mirror: the dumb one, in which ponies mature fast and one can be both chronologically 16 and a respected professional and member of their community. This one doesn't even explain Sunset Shimmer, case 1 for going through the mirror.
And then there's the one where the mirror operates on an arcane logic which determines the fact that the equivalent of Equestria in the other world is a school instead of a country, and therefore most ponies become students. This one actually makes sense and accounts for edge cases like Celestia.
And then there's the one where the mirror operates on an arcane logic which determines the fact that the equivalent of Equestria in the other world is a school instead of a country, and therefore most ponies become students. This one actually makes sense and accounts for edge cases like Celestia.