Alexander Kirin · 3:42pm Jul 8th, 2020
I’d say that this blog won’t be political, but that isn’t strictly true. It is, however, the fun kind of political. Namely, the one that doesn’t actually express opinions and is just thinking too much about Equestria through the implications of pop culture references.
Consider Autumn Blaze. Her exposition song establishes that before Rain Shine revoked the village’s speaking and emotion-having privileges, Autumn was the village playwright, creating her world’s versions of Citizen Kane, Phantom of the Opera, and, relevant to this blog, Hamilton.
As further proof she’s Kirin-Manuel Miranda, she also cast herself in the starring role.
She also repurposed one of the songs before her banishment.
Let’s take a moment to unpack that. Now, the others have implications of their own, especially if the first one is in any way biographical for Rain Shine. But Hamilton is especially interesting, given its unbreakable ties to the American Revolution.
It isn’t clear whether the kirin elected Rain Shine or if the village is a despotic macrocracy (that is, rule by the largest.) Autumn just calls her “our leader.” But this does seem to imply that the kirin village is a colony of some greater empire that successfully declared its independence from it.
This is actually supported by the Cutie Map in “Sounds of Silence.” Mapping Twilight’s omniscient coffee table to something a bit more readable isn’t easy, but the Peaks of Peril appear to be part of the mountains on the eastern edge of the Badlands, seen here. Not far inland, relatively speaking. And across the Celestial Sea, once you skirt the Dragonlands?
An area labeled “Kirin Grove.”
Something happened back in the day. The question is what.
Whatever happened, it's probably related to the lack of male kirins in the village.
Also, an FYI because I've seen this notion/question pop up on YouTube comments: the kirin only needed a little bit of herbs to get their speech back, yet Autumn Blaze took so much to get hers back.
No one seems to see the suggestion she overdosed because she didn't know if it'd work. There's a fic in there somewhere about her going to back to her normal self, before the overdose and before the ban.
Also, it's not the biggest kirin that rules. Check the Them's Fightin' Herds lore: it's the longest one who rules. I mean, sure, it's a bad pun and from a different but related species, but it's still applicable, no?
I don't really know nor care what Hamilton is, all I've heard of it is there's some controversy around it, but that's not a distinguishing feature these days. Guessing I'm not America-centric enough in my thinking for that.
It has the makings of a good story!
Wait, you mean your leaders are just taller than everyone else?
It's strange, because Lin's favorite musical is apparently Les Miz, so I would expect him citing that one instead of PotO. In fact, he really did play the role of Loud Hailer in Les Miz for once back in 2016, while I certainly don't remember him starring in any version of PotO.
The question is, which one of these Kirin settlements is actually the ‘old world’?
5303477
I'd agree with this had it not been for the fact that Them's FIghtin' Herds Kirin and MLP's Kirin are two different beings all together.
That makes too much sense. If true, then perhaps ponies are just like the Irken Empire, rulership by the tallest. Celestia spent 1000 years as the almighty tallest! Cadance was given her own kingdom to rule when she became too tall to serve her aunt. And that would explain why Twilight was groomed to take over, when you consider just how tall she was in the finale.
Mind = Blown.
5303503
Which part of 'a different but related species' are you objecting to? They're both composites coming from an Asian mythology, both have equine and draconic features, and Tianhuo at least had her share of inner turmoil relating to balance in the early lore. They're different, but related. Or similar, at least. Not a native speaker.
5303520
Well from what I've seen Tianhuo comes from a more draconian version of the Kirin, as compared to MLP's Kirin is more traditional in the design. The reason i bring it up is because Them's Fightin' Herds and MLP are two separate entities with their own lore branches; two different universes
5303524
Which I am aware of. And never implied otherwise. Don't really know where that's coming from, either. Lots of settings have elves, most of them are forest-dwellers. Not a lot of kirin representations, so if one is to look for overlapping rules or tropes, might as well broaden the search parameters a little bit.
Or, say, if one wants to make a joke about said tropes.
5303526
Ah, i was under the impression that you were mixing TFH and MLP together as one canon.
My bad
5303503
But puns trump all.
Speaking of real politics, I feel like Autumn Blaze is definitely a benevolent egoist.
derpicdn.net/img/2017/3/12/1385139/medium.png
I have now tried to write lyrics for My Shot with "I am not throwing away my voice" and I have learned yet again that I am not a poet.
(ETA: And I see later in this very thread that such a thing already existed, was in the OP, and I missed it. So yeah.)
Hmm. Hmm hmm hmm. Those are some very interesting suppositions.
Evidence suggests that this is how the vast majority of in-setting societies work.
5303541
On the general subject of Autumn's philosophical views, her little speech about the oneness of all is definitely pantheism in the making.
Now I've got MLP version of Hamilton pictured in my head
5303567
Celestia cursed Troubleshoes so he wouldn’t be a threat to her rule 
Oh, I didn't realize there was a whole series of Fome thinks to much blogs!
Relevant...
5303678
FOME already linked to it in the blog, under the Autumn-Blaze-as-Hamilton screenshot. It's quite good.
5303567
5303514
And why Luna, the shorter sister, was slighted, and why Nightmare Moon was as tall as Celestia.
5303705
Well dang, so he did - how the heck did I miss that? I even scanned back over the blog again before I posted it because I thought he would have and overlooked that link both times. Age is getting to me!
5303567
Maybe being a leader makes you grow taller from absorbing some form of devotional energy from your subjects. Twilight shot up pretty quick once she was made chief princess. If I recall Fluttershy transformed into Flutterbat because she absorbed the bats hunger specifically. That could indicate that ponies can transform based on subconscious attitudes.
5303477
Oh no... is it a mare prison exile colony? Maybe Nirik-ism isn't a race wide condition?
5303477
Actually, there are male kirins. The production team(?) stated that due to time constraints they were unable to make separate models for them (or something along those lines), so they instead differ from female kirins in their eyelashes (pretty sure it's the eyelashes at least). There is a relevant Equestria Daily article titled How To Sex a Kirin that talks about this.
Oh, very interesting idea; thanks. :)
5303477
The overdose angle is certainly a fascinating one, though it should be noted that Autumn was already somewhat resistant to the effects of the Stream of Silence. She was rendered mute, but her emotions weren't deadened. Odds are she wasn't that different before the inciting incendiary incident.
I mean, if we're talking about longma, then that should really apply to draconequi. After all, same name, different languages. And the longest one certainly does rule zero others.
Most of what I know stems form the Weird Al polka medley.
5303488 5303514 5303567 5303710
As several people have noted, macrocracy does appear to be the norm in this world. Though it leads to something of a chicken and egg issue: Are creatures made leaders because they're large, or do they become larger after being made leaders?
5303490
Pretty sure they were just going for a bevy of pop culture references. After all, this means that Autumn is also Orson Welles and Andrew Lloyd Webber.
5303499
I'm going to say the unseen offshore Kirin Grove, on the basis that there just aren't that many kirin in Rain Shine's village. Doesn't seem like a place that has the resources or the living space limitations that call for colonization.
5303558
Round Trip is a delight.
5303579
The thing is, what historical events would it be based on? Luna's marginalization and fall in the early days of Equestria? A more contentious take on Twilight's rise to power? Sunset Shimmer somehow?
5303621
Blog tags are a wonderful thing.
5304104
Hmm. One could have fun with that nearly nonexistent sexual dimorphism...
5304104
I stand corrected, then. And concur with FOME that one can have fun with that kind of set-up. Were there kirin foals, though? Official kirin children? Or were there in Season 9 (haven't caught up yet).
5304132
Yeah I wasn't being completely serious, just stretched my thoughts a little bit too far. Still, if you haven't seen Hamilton in its full glory, I'll wholeheartedly recommend you to watch the newly released "movie". It's a masterpiece.
5304135 I'm seeing it as more of an AU different from canon
5304135
Adding to the confusion, in issue #44 of the comics Spike mentions having tickets to a rap musical about Celestia, which was clearly a Hamilton reference even though it has no symmetry whatsoever.
Can I just say I love the term "Macrocracy?" Definitely seems to be a trend in MLP...
FWIW, I get the feeling that leadership is generally taller because this is a children's show; as a child, you have to listen to the Tall Ones, probably because they are so tol.
5304140
... Sort of. Further details would edge into spoiler territory.
5304149
No harm in thought-stretching; that's what this whole blog is about. I was just going in a different direction.
5304253
Oh, that could be very interesting indeed...
5304992
I was going to use "magnocracy" at first, but I made sure to pin down which bit was Greek and which was Latin. Pretty sure a few of my followers would've tracked down my home address otherwise.
Whatever happened, grass no longer grows there and the air tastes like scorched copper...
5303599
Troubleshoes... failed rodeo clown to powerful demagogue?
I'm totally going to use that as a description for the Cutie Map now.
That is, if that's okay with you...
5307177
Go right ahead! I've been calling it that for years.
Well, the way Twilight shoots up like a weed after becoming a ruling princess would suggest it's the latter.