Class Structure of Equestria and Background of the Mane Six · 9:00am Apr 4th, 2014
Introduction
Because we in America (and to some extent in the rest of the Anglosphere and in Europe) live in what may be the most socially-egalitarian civilization in the history of the world, we may sometimes miss a key element in Equestrian society -- that it is not as egalitarian as our own. In particular, that it is not divided so much by wealth as by birth and subcultural custom.
Social Classes: The classic system of social classification is tripartite ("upper, middle and lower"), with some further division being made. For the sake of this essay I will use a further division of each class into two subclasses ("upper and lower") so that we have:
1. Upper Upper Class: This is the absolute social elite, and in Equestria this means royalty and greater nobility. This is a very small class, consisting of the Princesses, their consorts, and the heads of what remains of the Great Houses after the final unification of Equestria around YOH 500-600. Examples in canon include Princesses Celestia, Luna, Cadance and Twilight; and Prince Blueblood. Examples in my fanon would also include Fluttershy, by birth but not by choice; her unfortunate mother Sweetwing, and Fluttershy's evil uncle Windvane.
Members of this group are generally very wealthy, because they can if necessary marry into richer families of the next lowest subclass. They may also be very decadent (Blueblood is an example of this in canon) because they've been born to the highest status without ever having to do anything to achieve it. All of them can trace their lineages back to before the unification of Equestria, and some of them -- like Windvane -- are still convinced that this unification under the Ruling Princesses was a serious error, which they mean to see corrected.
2. Lower Upper Class: This is the more common social elite, comprising the lesser nobility and higher gentry. This is a larger class, from which Equestria derives most of its higher officials and military officers. They can often trace their lineages back to before the unification, and usually back to at least the Time of Expansion over 500 years ago. They are not as wealthy as are the highest nobility, but theyr are often smarter, better-educated, and of better character. With some obvious exceptions, the lower upper classes tend to be extremely loyal to the Realm.
Examples in canon include pre-Ascension Twilight Sparkle, pre-marriage Shining Armor, and the rest of their family, and Fluttershy based on her mannerisms (in my fanon Fluttershy is actually better-born than this, but chooses not to let most ponies know her true lineage). Dr. Ill Wind, who is from a less senior branch of his family than Windvane, belongs here as well.
3. Upper Middle Class: These are a social elite right beneath the gentry. The difference is that they have risen recently in wealth and still lack any noble ancestors. They are often richer than the Lower Upper Class (neither Twilight Sparkle's family nor Fluttershy herself are particularly wealthy), because membership in this class is based primarily upon wealth rather than birth.
Canon occupants of this class include Fancy Pants (who is neither noble nor gentry, and hence beneath Twilight's parents in pure social status, even though he could buy and sell their little bookbindery many times over), Filthy Rich (who has risen to this level within his own lifetime), Diamond Tiara (who has never known anything but wealth and hence fails to appreciate it), and the Oranges of Manehattan. Rarity Belle is rising to this status -- and has reinvented herself in order to do so. The Apples of Sweet Apple Acres refuse to advance to this level, because they despise the necessary affectations -- they are probably rich enough to do so if they actually so desired.
4. Lower Middle Class: These are respectable Ponies who lack the wealth and polish to be considered Upper Middle Class. Most of these families own some land or a fair amount of other property (bank balances, vehicles etc.) and are reasonably well-educated and capable of consistently polite and decent behavior. Examples in canon include Rainbow Dash, Applejack and her immediate family, and Pinkie Pie and her immediate family. Fluttershy lives at this level of wealth, but behaves in far too refined a fashion to be of less than Lower Upper Class origins. Rarity Belle started at as Lower Middle Class, but the lady is rising. Cheerilee is solidly here, due to her lack of wealth -- though she definitely has the education and good manners to rise if she finds a rich husband (she's never going to make it on her own as a teacher).
5. Upper Lower Class: These are rough, crude and relatively poor Ponies who are nevertheless seen as decent and honest individuals. They generally neither own land nor any other wealth worth considering, and their educations are limited to basic literacy and numeracy. None of the Mane Six are this poor, though some of the background Ponies sometimes are. Derpy Hooves is probably around this level, because of her social handicaps, her single-mother status, and her own self-denial in favor of her Muffin. Cheerilee's sister Berry Punch is probably sinking to this level, if she really is an alcoholic single mother. This is a relatively small class in modern Equestria, but it was a much larger class before the Enlightenment (which began about 250 years ago) and its accompanying Industrial Revolution.
6. Lower Lower Class: These are the "underclass" -- Ponies who are either both indecent and dishonest, or have such severe handicaps that they are incapable of functioning within normal society. Career criminals and the mentally insane fit into these categories. This is a tiny minority in modern Equestria, though they wouldn't have been had Discord won. The show isn't dark enough to focus much on Ponies like this, but Don Caballero's minions would probably fit into this category, as would the few insane Ponies depicted. Many Ponies of this sort probably reside in prisons or spend their lives drinking themselves into the gutter. If Derpy wasn't one very determined mare, she'd sink to this level.
Specific Characters
Twilight Sparkle: Her upper-class origins are obvious; everything about the character fits the stereotype of "scholar gentry." Her parents are bookbinders, editors and publishers; her elder brother holds high military rank at a young age and is deemed a fit consort for an Alicorn Princess; she herself shows no fear of anypony else based on their social status, and speaks in a reserved, naturally-well-mannered fashion to everypony, save when actually suffering one of her famous freakouts. I rate her as "Lower Upper Class" because there is no evidence of her family having any specific noble titles; they are definitely ladies and gentlecolts.
When she Ascends, of course, she becomes an Alicorn Princess, which automatically elevates her to Upper Upper Class. She's still a little uncomfortable with this elevation -- remember the scene in "Princess Twilight Sparkle" when Celestia reassures her that she doesn't have to call her "Princess" Celestia any more, or make obesiance to her? The fact that she's humble about her good fortune of course endears her to the two Senior Alicorns: Celestia, in particular, has bad memories of Sunset Shimmer, who came from similar origins to Twilight's, but was a lot pushier.
Rarity Belle: Rarity is interesting because she's a blatant example of a "social climber," and a rare sympathetic portrayal of the type (no one can be snobbier than those in entertainment). From her parents it is very obvious that she's of Lower Middle Class origins; yet her own behavior is at least meant to be perceived as Upper Middle Class. She exaggerates her ladylike manners just a bit too much, and drops them when stressed: compare with Twilight Sparkle.
She befriends Fluttershy, who from her behavior is very obviously of some sort of Upper Class origin. She happily befriends Twilight in the very first episode of the series, largely because Twilight is from Canterlot and from her behavior also of Upper Class origin. And she befriends Spike, who is Twilight's Number One Assistant and (it's fairly obvious to Rarity) adoptive brother. And her goal all the way until she actually meets him is to seduce Prince Blueblood into marriage.
Now I'm not saying that Rarity is nasty about any of this. She's a very nice Pony, and she's extremely good to her friends. It's just rather obvious that she chooses her friends, in part, from a consideration of her own social advantage.
The other way, of course, that Rarity is a social climber is that she's a businessmare. And a very competent businessmare at that. It's quite possible that Rarity could make it into the Upper Middle Class on wealth alone, if she keeps on going this way. The show is very much to be commended for that -- those in business are usually cast as unsympathetic characters.
Fluttershy: Everything about Fluttershy practically screams Upper Class. She's reserved, but when she opens herself to somepony uses a sophisticated and polite vocabulary. Her manners are impeccable. She looks like a classic aristocrat. Even in her eccentricities she's obviously upper class.
The only real question, to me, is just how high she was born. Because I like Gothic melodrama, in my fanon I've made her birth as high as is possible for any Pegasus -- she's a direct matrilineal descendant of Commander Hurricane the First, and hence -- if there was still a Pegasus Mandate -- she'd be a claimant to it. In canon we have to go with at least Lower Upper Class.
Rainbow Dash: She's obviously Middle Class -- she has a nice house and a very responsible job at a relatively young age (around 18) when the series begins. She's rather boisterous for that origin, but she's still maturing and has a naturally gusty sort of character. One could make arguments for either Upper or Lower Middle Class -- I went with "Lower" based primarily on her mannerisms -- but I notice that she has no trouble whatsoever getting along with Fluttershy. But then, they've known each other since their blank-flank days.
Applejack: It may escape some viewers that the Apples of Sweet Apple Acres are not at all poor. They own a lot of immensely-valuable land -- the problem is that (like most farmers) they can run into cash-flow problems before they sell their harvests, and if they plan unwisely or experience bad fortune can be in danger of having to sell some of their land (the last thing that any professional farmers want to do). They avoid being Upper Middle Class primarily based on their mannerisms: it's obvious that some other branches of the Apple Family are quite wealthy. If I had a Middle Middle Class category, I'd put them in it without hesitation -- as it is, I relegate them to Lower Middle Class based on speech patterns alone. They are very obviously well-respected in Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie: Pinkie Pie's family isn't poor either, though one might imagine so until one considers that "rock farming" is a real occupation in Equestria. They were obviously able to send Maud all the way through the higher educational system -- in geology and the physical sciences, she is probably better-educated than Twilight Sparkle. And Pinkie herself chooses to spend all her bits on throwing parties and living above her place of employment (considering her sweet tooth and the nature of her employment, that is an understandable decision on her part). Ever notice that she's never actually short of money? Pinkie and her family, like their Apple kin, are Lower Middle Class primarily due to their lack of polish.
Conclusion: The show -- and the world of Equestria -- actually becomes richer if one considers the issue of social class. Equestria is quite egalitarian by the standards of historical aristocratic monarchies, but it is a monarchy (or diarchy, or thaumocracy to choose Professor Ashen Smirk's terminology) -- not a republican democracy like modern America. And we would be wise to remember this.
Any comments?
Interesting read. I appreciate that you've taken into consideration that one can change one's position in life; in a lot of systems with rigid castes/levels, it's often assumed that one is trapped in one's level, and/or that the system itself prohibits change, but ponies are regularly shown to be determined to improve their lot, so a meritocratic base makes sense.
I'd enjoy seeing your take on where other notable characters stand in this system, and why. For instance, Trixie is a severe oddity by pony standards, so where would she stand? What kind of position does Spike hold? What's the position on non-pony sophonts like donkeys, cows and diamond dogs?
Though if there's one thing I absolutely loathe, it's the "useless noble caste" concept. The ones who got where they are not because of their own accomplishments but who their daddies and granddaddies were, and routinely act like they're a higher class of being. The Lunaverse alt-setting were said to suffer notoriously from the influence of the absurdly corrupt Night Court, to the point that the original author ended up having Luna figuratively geld them en masse. It's curious how so many writers love to crowbar in "Game Of Thrones"-style court schemings and hierarchy when the show has Twilight sidestep the whole concept by going to the top echelon on merit alone. (And even that hasn't stopped some writers from making post-MMC stories where the absurdly powerful noble corps have some say in what the new princess gets to be.)
To say nothing of their hilariously flawed military structure.
It's interesting how much emphasis is placed on behavior in these social classes. Are there examples of overlap, or deviance from the norm?
My headcanon tends to put Rainbow Dash as having grown up very lower middle class, bordering on upper lower (what we call the "working poor.")
Her confrontational attitude and do-or-die goal of making the Wonderbolts, along with tending towards a flashy, almost gaudy aesthetic, speak to me of someone who grew up in a rougher place and is desperate to get out. (Think the typical character in Bruce Springsteen songs, or the classic rap song narrative.) Her extravagant house is more likely to be because she's not good at managing money, and spends more than a typical middle class pony would on housing in order to look more important than she is, especially to other pegasi (whom she's most concerned with impressing.)
This also puts another spin on her dream of being a Wonderbolt... like a poor kid trying to be a football star or a rock/rap star, this is her ticket out. She has the talent, she has the drive, and whether she's ignoring opportunities at a more stable future to do it or making a back up plan, the Wonderbolts would be proof that she's not just another kid from the wrong side of the tracks.
But that's just my headcanon.
(Other things that point to or tie into this narrative are the implication that she dropped out of flight school (from Sonic Rainboom), her distrust of academic education, and her need to constantly prove herself to other ponies.)
(Also: I totally agree on Fluttershy, and I suspect Dash got some kind of scholarship due to her obvious talent in order to be in the same school as her. This would also give Dash a reason to stand up to, and get picked on by, the bullies-- being a scholarship student herself, even with her talent she wasn't at the top of the pecking order.)
Oh yes. Equestria has a very open and mobile class system, more similar to that of late 19th-century Britain than, say, to that of medieval France. Had Rarity succeeded in marrying Prince Blueblood, she would have been seen as an equal at least to the gentry (two levels up) and theoretically been of the highest nobility (three levels up). If she becomes wealthy through business, very few ponies will fail to see her as Upper Middle Class (one level up), and those who do will be seen by their peers as absurdly snobbish.
I was thinking about her after I wrote this. Trixie was raised middle-class, I'd put her family on the "lower middle-class" side of the divide since I have to pick one end. She rebelled against her family in terms of their support, though she picked exactly the career (show-business) toward which they gravitate (indeed, even though they are more into theater than stage magic, her magic act has a very theatrical style, which is one reason Piercing likes it).
Her plan is to rise through success in her career. Because she refuses to grasp the extent to which making and keeping friends is very important to this career, she is actually sinking rather than rising. She's effectively Upper Lower Class after losing her wagon in "Boast Busters," and she actually works as a propertyless laborer (on the Pie Rock Farm). She's so successful at this, due to her considerable magic talent, that Igneous and Cloudy pay her a generous bonus -- which she squanders on an insane revenge scheme involving an Artifact of Doom. In fact, if Twilight (and the Realm) hadn't forgiven her for her actions in "Magic Duel," she would have sunk all the way to "criminal," which would have made her Lower Lower Class.
Trixie, who despite her eccentricities and slight sociopathy has fairly conventional morals and does sort of get how ordinary ponies think, is quite aware of this by the end of "Magic Duel," which is one of the two reasons she's so grateful to Twilight for forgiving her. Incidentally, Nosey's approach wouldn't have worked on her either, because she would have found him both ridiculous and repulsive: she would have known from the start what he wanted from her, and been disgusted at the concept.
Spike is not a Pony but he has been raised as one -- most Ponies treat him as essentially a Pony once they realize that he's not going to act like a dangerous monster. (One of the reasons he's so horrified in "Secret of My Excess" is that he actually behaves as a dangerous monster, and to the Ponies whose well-being and good opinion he cares for most in the world -- it means a lot to him that Rarity forgives and even compliments him at the end). His manners are those of the gentry, and I think it's significant that Rarity reacts very well to him when he behaves as such (which, of course, is only training him to even more greatly prefer being mannerly).
It's difficult to see Spike as low-status, when he's the close companion of Celestia's chosen student (who eventually becomes a Princess) and one on the short list of individuals who could simply walk in without an appointment to see any of the other Princesses, and be treated as a friend by them. It certainly would be foolish of even the high nobility, let alone the gentry, to scorn Spike, and for the most part they seem to respect him.
The Mane Six tend to treat him like a child because Twilight so treats him. Twilight is more than a little overprotective of him -- she doesn't emotionally-grasp that he's very hard to physically harm, and could defeat most Ponies in combat. To him he's still the baby she impossibly managed to hatch, and she wants to keep him far from danger. It's notable that neither Celestia -- who presumably has a very good idea of his capabilities -- nor Rarity -- who next to Celestia and Twilight probably knows him best -- think of him as physically weak or vulnerable.
There seems to be mild prejudice against donkeys; there are insulting expressions regarding them but it's no longer seen as proper to use them in their presence. Pinkie Pie sees Cranky as a person whose friendship or lack thereof matters to her. I treat their Onager kin as semi-assimilated immigrants in "A Long Night at the Hippodrome."
Cattle are obviously not as smart as the Ponies -- I figure they're like gorillas with better vocal apparatus. None of them have on the show said anything beyond Koko's conceptual capabilities. They seem to be free though second-class citizens, who generally trade their milk for money or other goods.
Diamond Dogs seem to be considered "barbarians" by the Ponies -- sometimes friendly and sometimes unfriendly, depending on their behavior. Their ability to hide and dig, and their willingness to practice slavery, probably result in their being seen as untrustworthy by most Ponies. I like the fanon idea that Rarity more or less tamed the group that captured her, and has a continuing business relationship with them afterward. Though note -- it was based on her and her friends managing to intimidate them.
The greater nobility isn't actually useless. Luna just sees them as "decayed" in All the Way Back because they are no longer as dominant as they once were. Equestria is still an aristocracy but -- in the centuries since the Unification -- it has moved beyond feudalism through autocracy and is heading at a fair clip toward being a true parliamentary democracy.
Luna also really doesn't like Blueblood, because he violates many of her moral precepts. Don't underestimate her prejudices when I write from her viewpoint, and remember that -- love her as I do -- they aren't exactly my own ones.
The lesser nobility and gentry are quite useful -- most of the high officials and military officers come from this class origin. There are both more of them than the higher nobility, and they have more incentive to strive.
Heh, well the "Game of Thrones" level intrigue mostly belongs to the time before the Unification, over 1000 to as much as 1500 years ago when the great noble houses really did have private armies and only dubious loyalties to the Realm. (Which is why I named it the "Time of Thrones" in my Chronology). Though the Shadows would love to encourage such disloyalty, since anything that divides the Realm makes it easier to conquer. The self-proclaimed High Commander Windvane, Fluttershy's Evil Uncle, is actually an anomaly by modern social standards.
Oh, the Equestrian military structure is something of a sick joke at the start of the series. Not that it's not powerful and effective -- it's both -- but this is more in spite of its higher-level organization than because of it. There are multiple cross-cutting organizational divisions, there is very little standardization of equipment, and the Guards are pretty much distributed in penny packets all through the land.
Guess what Luna's going to have to do when she really does come All the Way Back? Reorganize it.
1981042
1981269
I think there's still plenty of room for a useless noble class in Equestria, or rather, in Canterlot. As the seat of national government, they'd be concentrated in Canterlot. Canterlot strikes me as the sort of place where hereditary nobility would flock. Think of the fops attending the garden part in Sweet and Elite. Fancy was there, but so were a throng of wanna-be nobles and hangers-on. Any power they have (or think they have) has been granted them by Celestia in the last 1000 years and they govern at her leisure only; if they tried to hold a "no confidence" vote in the Princesses, they'd get laughed out of town. The upper middle class and those of the lower upper class who bought their way into it would be scattered across the country, concentrating in large cities like Manehattan. They'd be far more likely to contain ponies who advance Equestria socially and economically than would the idle rich. Note that there would certainly be the philanthropic rich among the upper nobility, but I see these as a minority in a fading noble class trying to hang onto their positions in a society moving on without them.
Twilight is rather an exception here. Keep in mind that several things happened before she got wings:
- She was student of the Princess (at the time, the sole reigning monarch) and sister to the Captain of the Royal Guard.
- Later she was sister-in-law to Princess Cadance and sister to (what I assume is his title) her Prince Consort. Admittedly an idle Princess-in-waiting, until...
- Still later she was sister-in-law to Princess Cadance, now a reigning monarch in her own right (technically an Empress, if she wanted the title), and sister to Prince Consort BBBFF of the Crystal Empire. Twilight never uses, abuses, or even mentions her newly acquired status.
- Only then did she ascend to Princesshood, converting the country to a nominal Triarchy in the space of an afternoon.
Effectively she was already lesser nobility thanks to her position and later to her family connection with Cadance and Shining. Her ascension moved her up one rung on the ladder, maybe two, but not as far as it looks. Speaking to her humility, not only has she never assumed the throne (save once when Discord forgot he'd planted some seeds), but she continues to live in a tree which doubles as as small-town library where she raises (?) a baby dragon. Despite her status, wings, and horn, she still isn't generally recognized as a Princess outside of Ponyville (where she insists otherwise) and Canterlot, and even has trouble hailing a cab!
1981126
Quite a lot. For one thing, each of the Kinds has its own subculture with its own expectations -- the Unicorn emphasis on art, magic and gracefulness; the Pegasus martial and competitive code of honor; and the Earth Pony hard-working determination (Trenderhoof, though he stated it rather condescendingly, was quite right about that).
Then there are subcultures, many of which cut across class and racial lines. For instance, Shining Armor's gaming group in secondary school. Each sport is its own kind of subculture, and not only pegasi compete as we see in "Fall Weather Friends" and will be seeing a lot of, I'd expect, when the Equestria Games take place. There are different behavioral subcultures, including a distinct "fast set" represented in other people's writings by Cloud Kicker and Storm Front, and in mine by Summer Lightning (though the poor mare really doesn't get out of Dunnich often enough); a scholarly subculture, and a sort of freemasonry among farmers (Pinkie Pie has no problem getting along with her Apple kin).
There are some obvious eccentrics among the Mane Six. Fluttershy is about as far from the standard Pegasus as one can get while still having functional wings. Pinkie Pie lives in her own bizarre mental reality. Rarity is an obsessive social climber. The three relative conformists are Twilight Sparkle, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. And of those three, Twilight Sparkle is asocial and naive for her age (I make her 17 at the start of the series, but even for that age she hasn't had a lot of experience with other ponies), and Rainbow Dash bulls through life rather obliviously.
None of them are actually evil or do anything which would earn them opprobrium from other Ponies. But then, they are Celestia's chosen Champions, so one wouldn't expect them to do so.
A good example of overlap is Applejack and Rainbow Dash, when it comes to athletic competition. This is in part because Applejack and Rainbow Dash are both "happy warrior" types, and in part because their obviously strong friendship is largely based on competing with one another. I haven't done a real Appledash friendshipping story yet, but it should be obvious from Fluttershy Is Free that I think Dashie deeply respects her.
For that matter Twilight Sparkle also overlaps with both Applejack and Rainbow Dash in that they all have similar codes of honor, especially regarding courage in time of danger. If the Mane Six were a military organization, Twilight would be the commander and AJ and Dashie her lieutenants or senior NCO's, and this is probably true of their cultural lineages as well.
Twilight and AJ seem to have an especially deep respect for one another, transcending race, class and town of origin -- you see them connecting on a profound emotional level in the very first two-parter of the series. I can fully understand why fanfic writers who assume Everypony Is Bi write them as lovers: if they were bisexual, they probably would be lovers, and without either of them violating their fairly strict moral codes either, as they genuinely love one another.
1981142
That makes a lot of sense. Her intense friendship with Gilda, who acts very rough, would also support this. Two of her closest friends right now are the least upper-class members of the Mane Six -- namely Applejack (well-off but down-to-earth), Pinkie Pie (who comes from a more spartan farm family than AJ). Her other closest friend, Fluttershy, is obviously upper-class -- but not rich at the moment, and besides their friendship is essentially romantic in every aspect but openly-displayed sexual affection. It's sui generis from Dashie's point of view -- it transcends normal class barriers.
Very good point -- and Dashie also has a relatively important and probably well-paying job for her age -- mostly because of her inherent talent. So she could afford a house like that -- if she forgoes all savings.
Your headcanon makes sense.
1981269
Given that a classical cornerstone of the barbarian mindset is "Might Makes Right", that would make considerable sense. By defeating the Dogs, they proved that they were not "weak ponies fit only for digging and pulling carts" but rather strong, worthy warriors who command respect. Rarity likely has their respect and allegiance, and could probably walk into their caves and be treated as an honorable guest. Of course, she might have to reaffirm her authority at times, but Rarity seems to enjoy throwing down now and then.
I would have to disagree with the assessment of intelligence there - in Applebuck Season, the cows seemed perfectly sensible once they calmed down, and the sheep in Sisterhooves Social tried to tell AJ that herding them was unnecessary.
One of the points I tried to make in my comedic piece Farmyard Life was that the animals don't quite fit into Equestrian society not due to lack of sapience but because they subscribe to wildly different ethical models. For instance, the narrator (a pig) thinks that the pony with the hat (AJ) is somewhat insane the way she yammers about work and money, can't comprehend the concept of ownership, and has only a tangible concept of the idea of individuality to the point that he doesn't even try to tell other ponies part, or even his fellow pigs. Yet he's got his view of the world all worked out and he's happy.
You may be familiar with the concept of Blue and Orange Morality?
I like this essay of yours, and I think your idea of just where the various characters fit in is very well done. I especially like the idea that Applejack and her family could be much higher in status if they were willing to play the right social games but they simply lack the interest and desire to do so.
It does rather make me think of how in Wolf In Pony's Clothing Ardi keeps wondering why Applejack doesn't rule Ponyville as the alpha mare because she obviously has both the resources and personality to do so; if she were a wolf, she'd be running a pack.
Hmm, now there's an idea that can make your social system even more confusing -- what about non-ponies living within Equestria? Especially if they dwell in communities of their own folk, quite possibly under their own leaders?
1981557
And Rarity's a skilled fighter -- she could easily handle any one of the Diamond Dogs herself. She was only challenged by having to deal with a whole band of them. Faced with that situation, she instead went with social cunning ("feminine wiles").
The barbaric nature of the Diamond Dogs would lead them to be little-respected by most Ponies, who would thus view them more as a threat to be suppressed than as fellow sapients to be included in their civilization. Though I think that at least some Diamond Dogs would tend to become Equestrianized, because where ever one finds barbarians in close contact with civilization, one finds some aspiring to join the richer and more complex culture. One path of Equestrianization might be enlistment into some sort of Guards or Guards Auxiliary unit -- this becomes especially likely as Equestria mobilizes to fight the Shadows. Obvious analogues are the German barbarians into the Roman military; the Balkan tribes into the Austrian Imperial military, and modern Third World Muslims as allies of the US military. There are obvious problems with such a policy, which the examples I gave should suggest.
Well, I wasn't implying anything too low by making the "gorilla" analogy. Koko tests as being from high functional retarded to low-end human normal, based on the specific test, which means that if she had better vocal apparatus and we were less prejudiced against gorillas, we could probably integrate them into our society as second-class citizens instead of treating them like chattel property. Gorillas may actually average higher than the human norm on some particular intellectual aptitudes, most notably empathy (they have an inordinate supply of the neural structures associated with empathetic reasoning).
Yes, I could see it partially as alien sets of values, but it's demonstrably true that the Equestrians have a set which allow them to construct a complex, functional, and fairly high-technology civilization including political and military organization, and systems of writing and education which ensure its transmission to future generations of Eqeustrians. By constrast the other ungulate species seem to be living symbiotically with the Equestrians, and it is not clear that they could defend themselves on their own.
The Equestrians, having a highly-developed system of ethics and morality, are treating at least the cows and probably some of the other species as people rather than property: the cattle in particular are clearly not slaves, and Iron Will's goats seem to be treated as staff rather than equipment. It is far from obvious that the rivals to the Equestrians as cultural-dominant would be as kind to them: I have my doubts about the Dragons and Griffons, and am pretty sure that the canon Queen Chrysalis and my fanon Commander Windvane would be extremely cruel to the non-Pony ungulates (and probably to non-Pony equids as well).
Thus the cows, sheep etc. need the Ponies more than the Ponies need them: they are essentially dependent on Ponykind and therefore their system of thought and culture must be judged objectively less capable. This is not to despise them, nor is it to argue that they are forever doomed to their subsidiary role: it's simply a statement of fact about the present situation.
1981304
I agree. It's also the place where Celestia would have encouraged them to flock (instead of remaining on their demenses) back in the day when Equestria's unity was new and shaky. Encouraging them to do so would also tend to attach their loyalties to herself as the obvious dominant creature in their environment, and detach the loyalties of the humbler followers of the noble families from their former feudal masters.
Louis XIV of France (the "Sun King!") actually required by law that the aristocrats pay court on him at Versailles at certain times, and made Versailles as attractive a place as possible for the nobility so as to detach the nobles' poorer followers from them, thus substituting monarchial for feudal loyalties. The Shoguns of 17th-19th century Japan had similar practices, including requiring that members of the daimyo families remain at court as effective hostages against rebellion.
This also means that when a rebellion does occur, there are probably some members of the rebel family who have their loyalties torn between the monarch and their own family -- when the rebellion is put down, one way to be merciful is to let the loyal members of the family inherit from the rebel branch, instead of disinheriting the entire family (this makes rebels more willing to surrender and hence shortens rebellions). I'm fairly certain that Celestia would have used this device as an alternative to mass execution and exile, as she seems a very merciful ruler.
On Twilight -- yes, she was a member of the gentry who had unusually strong ties to Celestia and Cadance (and after freeing Luna from the Nightmare, to Luna as well even in canon). Now she's a royal who was not exactly raised as one. Her unwillingness to claim high honors will of course in the long run lead her to far greater love and respect from others, as her deeds speak for themselves.
1982416
You may notice that the original land grant which started Ponyville was given to Applejack's great-grandparents, and that the rest of the party which founded the place were their followers. In feudal terms -- and Celestia is quite capable of turning back on the parts of her social consciousness which still thinks on those terms -- they're basically holding from the Realm with the implicit responsibility for local defense in return for the lands. And they did get this grant directly from Celestia, meaning that no other aristocrats can assert rights over them, were any inclined to make the attempt.
Now this event happened only around 100 years ago -- around YOH 1400 on my chronology -- and hence Equestria had already evolved far from feudalism, all the way through absolute monarchy to the beginnings of an Industrial-Age parliamentary monarchy. But the direct grant from the Realm probably protects them to some degree from obnoxious bureaucrats, and of course they can petition Celestia directly, who remembers quite well what she did and why she did it.
I think I have Celestia think about this in An Extended Performance, and Luna analyzes the situation from the outside both at the end of Nightmares Are Tragic and toward the start of All The Way Back. Ponyville is a garrison, and the Apple Family are its unofficial serjeantry, and this is true even though most of the Ponies living there now think of themselves as civilians living in a fairly safe place. They don't consider that the main reason they are safe is that the Apples have made it very clear to the nearby beasts of the Everfree that attacking the town is suicidal.
Ardi finds himself on the wrong end of this tradition. Even though he's not so much "attacking" as "fleeing for his life."
Yeah -- I think that the other ungulate species deserve some development. I do not think they are on the average as smart as the Ponies, but they are definitely sapients, and probably have their own subcultures and cultures.
1982844 I think I have Celestia think about this in An Extended Performance, and Luna analyzes the situation from the outside both at the end of Nightmares Are Tragic and toward the start of All The Way Back.
Now I have one more reason to check those stories out.
You may notice that the original land grant which started Ponyville was given to Applejack's great-grandparents, and that the rest of the party which founded the place were their followers. In feudal terms -- and Celestia is quite capable of turning back on the parts of her social consciousness which still thinks on those terms -- they're basically holding from the Realm with the implicit responsibility for local defense in return for the lands. And they did get this grant directly from Celestia, meaning that no other aristocrats can assert rights over them, were any inclined to make the attempt.
Ponyville is a garrison, and the Apple Family are its unofficial serjeantry, and this is true even though most of the Ponies living there now think of themselves as civilians living in a fairly safe place. They don't consider that the main reason they are safe is that the Apples have made it very clear to the nearby beasts of the Everfree that attacking the town is suicidal.
This almost makes it sound like what I've read about the old Border region in the British Isles, with the local farmers and others having to deal with and defend against the Border Reivers (who were much better organized than the Everfree monsters!). I can imagine an old and half-tumbledown stone tower on the grounds of Sweet Apple, Acres, possibly the remnants of a stone wall around the place as a reminder of much more dangerous days. Maybe even half-rusted weapons hidden away somewhere.
I can imagine that in a slightly darker Equestria -- not some hellhole ruled by Nightmare Moon or Corona Blaze/Nightmare Celestia, think more along the lines of a 'standard' AD&D realm (or where the ponies lived back in G1, humans and all), that the Ponyville Apples would be in effect the local hersirs or jizamurai*. Not quite nobles, really, but with almost as much power and responsibility, and probably their own warband or the like to help protect the lands they watched over.
* -- Hersir were a sort of lower Scandinavian nobility in the Viking age, the ones who often launched both Viking raids and merchant trips, and jizamurai were the very highest level of the peasantry in old pre-Hideyoshi Japan, basically peasants wealthy enough to be able to afford armor and weaponry usually limited to samurai. They were very confusing in the Japanese social system, as well as able to resist the daimyo nobility, which proobably contributed to their destruction at he end of the Sengoku Jidai 'Warring States' period.
I actually see Rainbow Dash as much harder to place than you do. Yes, she is climbing socially due to talent and determination, but her birth seems a lot less identifiable to me. She has a rough mentality and voice, but she has a relatively high-profile that should logically take years to earn. That, to me, screams nepotism. She's shown repeatedly that she can work the job just fine, going so far (almost) set a record in the Weather industry: no small feat for a small town. Another way to interpret her childhood friendship with Fluttershy is that their families are close to each other, and hence in a similar social-bracket.
Just my counter to low-class RD. She's a badflank either way, i just don't think her being in any class is a sure-thing.