Equestrian currency · 9:08pm Dec 7th, 2022
I ended up diving down the rabbit hole of how money works in Equestria for the sake of deciding what a "high" price for a hotel room would be...
Wait, gold and silver bits is a thing? I don't remember the silver bits, this is new to me! Okay, let's see...
- Applejack charges eight bits for a basket of apples in one episode
- Fluttershy haggles over the price of a cherry and settles on two bits
- Fluttershy pays four silver bits for a balloon ride to Cloudsdale, and this is the only time silver bits are used
- The only other time an exact amount of bits is specified is season 9, when Twilight's late fee for her years-overdue library book is 28 bits.
Wait, four silver bits for the equivalent of a trans-city bus ticket? I'd assume silver bits are not worth as much as the gold bits, because silver and gold, but then either airfare to Cloudsdale is dirt cheap, or foodstuffs are ridiculously expensive. I'd actually buy Twilight's late fee is 28 bits, she hadn't returned it in years, but the other prices?
What do the comics have?
In the Issue #9 story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair, a coupon for 5 bits off is shown, and at the Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown, bits come up multiple times: Leadwing offers caricatures for 5 bits, Big McIntosh wins 5 bits at horseshoes at a horse shoe toss then breaks a bell and pays 10 bits, Sweet Cream Scoops[sic] offers kisses for 1 bit and has numerous gold bits behind her, and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon offer advice for 5 bits.
In the Issue #10 story Zen and the Art of Gazebo Repair - Part Deux "If You Only Have a Hammer, You See Every Problem as a Nail", a sign on a ball toss booth at the Summer Wrap-Up Festival and Hoedown reads, "Guess your weight age or sex" and "Only 1 bit!", Spike sells a custom pony figure of Big McIntosh to Big McIntosh for a small bag containing bits and has collected numerous bits and bit bags, and a cash register at Photo Finish's "De Magicks of Photography" photo stand displays "$500", and in the Issue #10 back-up A page from the scrapbook of Big Mac, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon advise Hayseed Turnip Truck for 2 bits.
Oh, there's a table of all the times prices came up! Let's see...
Okay, yeah I have no major issues with most of those prices, so I guess the transit fare to Cloudsdale is so low that ponies need to get change from a cherry to ride.
It’s all a bit confusing to me too.
What next copper coins/bits next?
Also, an earth pony chauffeuring a pegasus. What the HFIL.
You only just scratched the surface. Don't try to puzzle out the gems if you value your sanity.
5702152
It's how Westeros does it. At least they gave conversion ratios.
In the US, a bit = 1/8th of a dollar.
It is derived from how a Spanish peso could be broken into 8 pieces and still count as money.
The symbols for US dollar and cents derive from the symbols for Spanish Pesos and Centavos.
2 Bits = a quarter. As in the famous jingle: Shave and a haircut, 2 Bits.
I have a feeling that currency exchange rates were not considered when they were animating the scenes.
Or that Equestrians value metals the same way we do. For all we know, silver is more valuable by pony standards.
5702169
That is my guess as well. The silver thing that is.
Who says it's silver? I think I read it in Magic School Days first but I like the head cannon aluminum is expensive in Equestria since electricity seems to be rare as well? At least that would fix why you only see the aluminum/silver coins once on a long range balloon ride (which I would think be expensive) vs gold coins used for basically everything.
5702154
Sorry if this sounds rude but The Who and what now?
I say it's John Wick rules and random coin amounts get you whatever you need.
Body disposal? Five coins.
Hotel room? One coin.
Lots of guns? Four coins.
One shot of whiskey? One coin.
It could be that in equestria Silver is a rarer supstance then gold, so silver is more expensive. Hence why gems are so cheap in the show. Their extremly plentiful.
What I took from this blog is that the word "sex" canonically shows up in My Little Pony
I figured the cherry sales-stallion was just price gouging when he heard how desperately Fluttershy needed a single cherry. In any case, good to know that most of Equestria's prices are fairly consistent It's not an area I've delved that deeply into.
5702153
To be fair, it's Cherry Berry and Fluttershy. They're on opposite ends of their respective bell curves in terms of how comfortable they are in the air.
5702240
I'm just wondering how Equestria's large-scale economy works without paper money. Like, what do they use for bank loans? Or are we supposed to believe ponies like Filthy Rich has rooms full of treasure chests and money bags in their mansions?
5702232
Silver is slowly lost as it tarnishes away, and it's also a useful substance (in our world at least) because it has antibacterial pro
iperties (which, if it gets used up in that application, again might make it rarer in circulation.)Maybe silver really is more expensive/valuable than gold.
5702285
In our world enough decades ago (which I guess is our world's closest counterpart to Equestria's level or style of technology and culture, maybe?) coins, even precious metal coins such as silver from dimes to dollars, and gold for higher denominations, were more common than in our world nowadays.
More valuable paper sometimes existed, but was less common and most people might not see it often in some places and times.
Also, paper money doesn't do so well in your mouth I guess.
5702285
Ironically, in our world today, bank loans don't so often involve transporting briefcases full of stacks of hundred dollar bills around either, I guess.
A disappointment.