Hey, you guys wanna talk about things? · 1:27pm Dec 11th, 2013
Because I wanna talk about things. If you do not want to talk about things, then accept my apologies and return to your regularly scheduled massive influx of blog posts that you are doubtlessly struggling to get through.
If you do want to talk though, then welcome! I am now using this site's blog system for something other than just posting a picture I drew the other day. I will be discussing theories and headcannons and other obsessive things like that, so if you too are obsessive, and possess skull-based artillery then we'll have a great time probably.
So firstly, do you recognize this pony?
Of course you do, that's Princess Twilight Sparkle! Savior of Luna, Bearer of Magic, Vanquisher of Ursas, Enchanter of Dolls, Reader of Tomes and every little girl's secret fantasy. Everypony knows about her!
But do you recognize this pony?
No? Never seen her before? Well, isn't that strange.
This is a concern I've been hearing about. Some people are confused at how, now that Twilight is a god a member of royalty that the other folks of Equestria don't recognize her wherever she goes.
Truthfully, there haven't been enough season 4 episodes to support this claim, but perhaps it has to do with that issue of the comic series where the pirates don't even think about kidnapping Twilight until Pinkie Pie flat out tells them that she's a princess.
I mean surely if you saw a pony with both wings and horn, that would identify them as unusual right away, right?... Right?
This point got me thinking... How important are ponies' horns and wings in identifying them to other members of their own kind? On numerous occasions, the show's characters seem to forget that there even are more than one kind of pony.
In particular, think of Friendship is Magic Part 2. The ponies find the castle of the royal sisters but are separated from it by a daunting ravine and a broken bridge. They are stumped for all of two seconds before Dash wriggles her wings and belittles them for their forgetfulness.
Now think of Winter Wrap Up, where Twilight volunteers to help with the weather team... Right up until Dash reminds her that she's not airborne just yet.
Now this was an interesting theory to me. It's easy for us humans to group the ponies into categories, but what if, for the Equestrians themselves the distinction between the three are barely noticeable.
Compare this to a society of entirely brown-haired humans. If a blonde human walked down the street in this society, they would stand out like a sore thumb and be subject of everybody's attention. Now compare this to a society of equally blonde and brown-haired humans. If one of the brown headed humans met a blonde one on the street, they probably wouldn't even take notice of the color at all, and perhaps take more notice of their clothes, or their tone of voice, or the massive mole on their face.
It would only be afterwards, if someone came up to them and asked them to describe the appearance of the person they met that the color of their hair may even enter their conscious mind, as otherwise it would be totally unremarkable to them.
Equestria is a society of all types of ponies in equal amounts. Seeing wings, horns or lack thereof is so commonplace that it may not even factor into their method of identifying one another. Perhaps ponies have actually accomplished that impossible dream of seeing someone for who they are, rather than what they are.
Let's return to Princess Twilight. Everypony recognizes Luna, Celestia and Cadence on sight, and respond with bowing, simpering or... Cowering respectively. So why not Twilight?
Well, the other princesses are huge, for one thing. Two out of three have magic hair... Oh! And they all wear fancy jewelry.
... Is that it? The ponies of Equestria gather together for a big coronation, hear of Twilight's exploits, listen to her ramble on about friendship, sing a song and launch her into the camera, and the only thing they remember about her is that she's 'that purple one with the crown.'
So lesson learned then. If you want to disguise your royal nature, all you have to do is take off your crown and you become completely inconspicuous.
She's been taking lessons in secret identity protection from Clark Kent.
I don't find an issue with this. The show is very loose with their continuity and world building so I'm not going to split manes about details that only really concern guys that don't know how to just let go of their headcanon. I think the fandom at large could learn to take a step back and just chill.
Enjoy the ponies, damnit!
1596321
Can't disagree with that philosophy.
Wow, that really makes too much sense. I'll have to take that into account next time I watch the show.
1843804
Thanks, nice to know I'm not completely crazy.