Ponies Using Swords · 3:30am Jul 28th, 2014
This is my first blog entry, hooray!
Ponies are often depicted as holding swords in their mouths.
As many people have pointed out before this is impractical and potentially dangerous. Why would a species without hands develop or use a weapon which was clearly intended for use by creatures who have hands?
My theory is that ponies did not create swords originally. They were developed by griffons, minotaurs, or some other species with the hands to wield them.
In ancient times Equestria was probably not as peaceful as it appears to be today. The ponies would often have to fight griffons and other formidable creatures. When a pony defeated a griffon they would claim their sword as a trophy, what better symbol of your abilities as a warrior than carrying around a weapon captured from such a powerful enemy? A pony warrior with a sword would command much greater respect and prestige than their rank and file brethren.
It didn't take too long before pony black smiths began to produce knock off swords. They quickly lost their original meaning but gained a new one, becoming a badge of office for the Equestrian military as a whole rather than a symbol of the elite. I could imagine a ceremony at the end of a new recruits training where she is presented with a sword thus marking her as a full member of the military.
So, even though they might not be practical as weapons swords could still be useful as symbols.
It's a cool idea, but you haven't even scratched the surface of the hands/hooves problem in MLP.
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I knew you would make a blog one day!
I like this idea. This is now my head canon.
2322038
I think he was only addressing the sword problem.
2322038
2322062 is correct, I am specifically addressing swords and proposing a solution which no one else has come up with to the best of my knowledge.
2323652
Glad you like it.
He Speaks! You've got such a brain on your shoulders, how come you never wave it in front of us peons? I completely agree with your headcanon regarding swords. In fact, ponies seem to barrow technologies from other cultures in general without greatly modifying them for pony use.
Their weapon's technology lags far behind their disk-jockey-turn-table advancements (DJ-pon3). Hell, the seem to have some capacity to produce nuclear weapons since even a backwater town like Ponyville utilizes X-rays.
2324904
People have already said most of what I want to say and it seems rude to me to just start talking about my headcanon when someone else has made a post about theirs.
Just because they have X-Ray machines doesn't mean they have nuclear weapons. The first X-Ray photographs were taken in the 1890's, the first controlled nuclear reaction happened in 1942, and the first atomic bomb was detonated in 1945. The ponies could probably build some sort of radiological weapon (unless the x-ray was magic), but not a true nuclear bomb.
Interesting.
Where did you find that art?