How Peaceful Are The Ponies? · 4:37pm Dec 18th, 2014
Introduction
One question which suggests itself is the degree to which the Ponies, and specifically the Ponies of Equestria, are peaceful. To answer this question, we have to compare the Ponies of Equestria to the Humans of America, and then consider the ways in which different biology and culture affect the outcome.
I. Humans
Humans are not a very peaceful species. We can tell this by comparing Humans in a "state of Nature" (hunter-gatherers) to other sapient animals in such a state. Humans tend to fight a lot, and fight relatively lethally, compared to (say) parrots, crows, elephants and cetaceans. Interestingly, we are right in the middle where other great apes are concerned; chimpanzees and orangs are more violent than us, but bonobos and gorillas less violent than us, on the average. We may or may not be more violent than the delphinid cetaceans -- orcas and bottlenoses, in particular, are actually fairly violent toward each other and toward other cetaceans, but seem to have decided on a truce with us (possibly because they know we are dangerous to provoke).
This is a rough comparison: we lack sufficient observation of other sapients in this dimension, and most importantly lack observation of other technological sapients, for we are the only advanced technological sapients on Earth. Sapience makes violence easier, more lethal and more protracted, because it gives one weapons and the mental ability to hold longer and more severe grudges. It is also important to distinguish between intra- and inter-specific violence: members of the same species have greater inhibitions against violence but also more to quarrel over (e.g. dominance, mates and the same food sources) than members of different species (who may however regard one another as food sources -- something less common within a species, though Humans and Chimpanzees are both sometimes cannibalistic).
II. America
America is a dominant Great Power, and has achieved this status both by diplomacy and violence. Over the last century, America has been mostly peaceful (unwilling to initiate the unprovoked use of force) but not particularly pacifistic (unwilling to use force in self-defense or the defense of allies). Generally speaking, Powers cannot become Great and especially cannot become dominant without being willing to be defensively violent, because Powers which attempt to be pacifistic (e.g. the European Union) wind up dependent upon more violent Powers (e.g. America) for their defense. A pacifistic country with no one willing to defend it simply goes under, and its resources are added to the capabilities of aggressor states.
America is peaceful compared to previous dominant Great Powers, and compared to most regional Great Powers. We have not launched a war to annex territory for over 115 years (and that one we thought the other side had started). We have not launched an unprovoked major war in over 150 years (and that was a civil war). We have not launched an even poorly-provoked international war for over 165 years. Our main aggressions over the last 200 years, in fact, have been against barbarian tribes (the American Indians) and at least some (but, sadly, far from all) of those wars were defensive in nature.
I focus on America here because America is one of the three main models for Equestria. The other main models are Britain (which has a similar though somewhat more aggressive history during the same time period) and an idealized East Asian autocracy (but most East Asian autocracies have been more aggressive than America or Britain, during their periods of relative dominance). In general, the West became peaceful after the end of World War One (1914-1918), partially in response to the horrors which that war revealed. That peacefulness tended toward pacifism in Western Europe, which was an indirect cause both of World War Two (1939-1945) and Western European dependence on America for her defense after the end of World War Two.
The fact of American relative peacefulness can be obscured by our large military and global military commitments. However, our military commitments are essentially-defensive in nature; our ongoing wars were generally started by our foes, and our large military exists in direct response to our defensive responsibilities. If one put (say) Russia or China (let alone Iran or North Korea) in our position of relative power, it is highly-improbable that they would be as restrained in the use of force as has been America. This is also true if we compare with earlier dominant Western Powers (even Britain).
The extent of our peacefulness should not be exaggerated, however. In particular, though we are slow to get to the point of total war (we haven't fought one since 1945, a period of almost 70 years), once we are angered or frightened to that point we are extremely deadly fighters. Our ability to convert extensive civilian production to military ends in wartime -- demonstrated by America in the Civil War and both World Wars; and by Britain in the Napoleonic and First World War -- is a potent asset, and one which Equestria almost certainly also possesses. The French, the Confederacy, the Central Powers and the Axis all learned this in war to their confusion and defeat; the Communists were deterred from aggression by the demonstration of a fraction of this capability in the Cold War; and the Terrorists may learn this in the end as well.
III. The Ponies
Unfortunately, real-world equids are not sapient: they are sentient (possessed of complex emotions and clear personal identities) but not (as far as we know) capable of complex conceptual reasoning and advanced linguistic abilities. This deprives us in part of an important real-world reference to the Ponies, who are only about as similar to real equids as are we to prosimians (more primitive primates such as lemurs).
For what it's worth, while wild equids are mostly non-predatory, they are quite combative both in intra-specific fighting over mates and for general dominance, and against predators (especially in the case of stallions protecting mare herds or mares protecting their foals). Zebras are among the most dangerous animals toward zookeepers for both reasons (they realize that the zookeepers are attempting to dominate them, and instinctively perceive them as a predatory threat). In my opinion, the Primal Plains must have been at times a violent place, though civilized Ponies tend to be more peaceful.
Being descended from a prey species which preferred flight to fighting under most circumstances, the Ponies are probably more likely to choose evasion over battle given the alternative. Pony vs. Pony battles are probably characterized by a lot of maneuvering and turns of fortune as reserves are committed on both sides, one of the reason why single-shot firearms are less effective in their wars than they were in ours as such only work well against massed and relatively slow-moving targets. On the other hand, the greater flexibility of the limbs (repeatedly demonstrated in canon) compared to ancestral equids means that the Ponies have less speed and endurance than real horses; this, coupled with the possession of sapient tactics and technological weapons, means that they will turn and fight before wild horses would do so.
In my opinion the Ponies are biologically quite capable of violence, including aggressive, murderous and even unprovoked violence, and this is what I depict in my fiction including most especially His Mark On History (set in the Old Worlds, and the Ponified version of the assassination of the Archduke Franz Ferdinand). They are nicer and less violent, on the average, than are Humans, but they are far from harmless. This is amply demonstrated in canon -- push the Ponies far enough, and they will fight.
IV. Equestria
The Realm of Equestria is the highest Pony civilization has climbed since the Cataclysm four thousand years ago, and it is philosophically one of the most enlightened cultures Ponykind has yet produced. Equestrian culture enshrines the Harmony as sacred, and idealizes both Love and Friendship, to the point that most Equestrians feel significantly-deterred by their own consciences from aggressively-violent behavior. This is ingrained the point that aggression and violence save in self-defense or the defense of others leads to social rejection and constitutes a serious reproductive handicap; this has been increasingly the case for centuries, has already exerted a significant cultural-evolutionary effect and if continued may exert a significant biological-evolutionary effect as well.
This is in consequence of deliberate and subtle social engineering by Princess Celestia, the immortal Avatar of the Cosmic Concept of Fusion, who has been engaging in this from a position of mostly-increasing autocratic power for the last millennium and a half. Essentially, she has been refining and augmenting what she finds admirable in Ponykind, the very qualities of Love and Friendship which led her to voluntarily incarnate as a Pony herself over 2500 years ago, and not for the first time either.
It is important in this regard to consider something that very few Ponies know, which is that Celestia and Luna are not themselves exactly Ponies -- while their Avatars are Alicorn Ponies, their essences are that of transcendent Beings which have been sapient since shortly after the Big Bang. Their personalities are mostly Pony, but at times they can call upon knowledge and abilities far beyond those of Ponykind. Their superior capacity for violence, at need, has helped enable the peacefulness of present-day Equestrian culture.
In general, Equestria has been more peaceful than even America, both internally and externally. However, there have been wars, both civil and foreign, and modern Equestria stands ready to defend herself and her allies (though she has relatively few such defensive pacts; Equestria is more like America in the 1910's than America in the 2010's in this regard). The Equestrian Ponies prefer to fight humanely, accepting surrenders and sparing civlians and prisoners to the fullest extent possible -- but they will fight, if pushed to it. And, as High Queen Hunger's Changelings discover in the backstory to The Fall of Hive Hunger-Prime, they are deadly fighters when pushed that far -- which is why Compound and her friends are in such a deadly situation.
V. The Royal Guard
The Equestrian military is the Royal Guard; this technically includes what we would call not only combat but also administrative, logistical, communications, diplomatic, intelligence, law enforcement and militia elements. This structure is a vestige of an earlier feudal state; the Royal Guard was "Royal" in contrast to similar organizations serving the princes and other nobles who previously exercised territorial power in what later became the unified Realm of Equestria. Theoretically, Falcon Punch was under the aegis of the Royal Guard as a private courier contracting with the Realm in Collateral Damage (and the survivors' trust fund later helped put Cheerilee through college). When Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash did militia service in their youth, they were under Guard authority. And Twilight Sparkle was acting as a deputized Guard Officer, with the rest of the Mane Six temporarily considered to be acting as Guards, in Dragonshyness.
This is technically a centralized and militarized system, even though in fact most of the Militia Guard and the Provincial and City Watch organizations (the equivalent of our National and State Guard and State and municipal police forces are normally under the direct command of provincial or local authorities (as depicted in An Extended Performance; and members of the Guard rarely have to fight in normal service (the squadron Luna personally leads in All the Way Back is an elite unit including elements of the Night Watch -- which is an ultra-elite counterintelligence organization specializing in fighting serious supernatural threats to the Realm). This should in turn serve as a warning not to strain the American analogy too far -- in particular, Equestria has a history of submission to rather than resistance against central and royal authority.
This central and royal power has generally been exercised responsibly, in part due to the prevailing philosophy of the Harmony. Equestrian protestors are less likely to riot, and Equestrian troops less willing to resort to violence, than are those of even the modern West, let alone more violent Human civilizations. (One of the shocking things that happens in An Extended Performance is that the Shadow Coven are able to use their madness aura to induce mobs to violently riot, and trick the City Watch of Manehattan to shoot into the mobs; both are very abnormal for Equestrians).
The Royal Guard organization is complex and not entirely effective, this being in consequence of it having become increasingly politicized over the millennium during which Princess Celestia has been forced to be both Lady of Peace and Lady of War in one for the Realm. After Luna's Return and recovery from the Nightmare, she begins to take an increasing role in reorganizing and re-equipping the Royal Guard -- a difficult but utterly-vital task, as without this work, Equestria would have gone down under the hammerblows of the Shadow Wars (YOH 1500-1524). Equestria will emerge from the Shadow Wars as the dominant Great Power, both on Earth and of the expanding sphere of colonization beyond.
VI. Military Technology
Equestria has been the technological leader of the world for half a millennium, and hence terrestrial technology has followed Equestrian models. The most notable thing from a Human perspective about Equestrian technology c. YOH 1500 is that the Equestrians have communication and energy technologies equivalent to that of the West c. AD 1875-1925, and medical technologies equivalent of that of the West c. 1950-1975, their military technology is equivalent to that of the 18th-century West, with one great superiority (the existence of airpower and airships) and one great gap -- the lack of existence of personal firearms.
The Equestrians don't use personal firearms because they are more dispersed, faster and more agile on the field than are human infantry, and they have not yet developed beyond muzzle-loading single-shot weapons. Muzzle-loading single-shot weapons are close to useless against Equestrians in open formations. What the Equestrians use instead are bows of various types, which they have developed to a high level of sophistication, including steel construction and (in the case of crossbows) repeating actions. Note well: it is only personal firearms which the Equestrians do not yet employ: they possess perfectly good muzzle-loading single-shot smoothbore cannon, which they use for naval and siege warfare.
This of course means that Equestrian combat tends to be close-quarters and more reliant on melee than is the case for Humans of equivalent technology. The Guards still use swords, spears and other melee weapons: these are made of high-quality steels and represent pinnacles of melee weapons technology. They also use light plate and leather armor, which would be useless against firearms, but is fairly effective against their own melee weapons save for spears in the charge. They used to employ heavier armor, but such armors were ultimately defeated by advances in archery. They have not yet developed composites; titanium steel ("moonsilver") plate is difficult to make, and the raw materials obtained by scavenging the ruins of the Age of Wonders, and hence reserved for royalty or the very wealthy.
Pegasus flight and Unicorn magic give Equestrian warfare dimensions unknown to the Early and Middle Modern Western Human Powers. From very early times, long-predating even the Cataclysm, Pegasi couriers and scouts gave Pony forces considerable capacities of communication and reconnaissance beyond anything dreamed-of in pre-Industrial human civilizations. Unicorn magic can accomplish a variety of effects, ranging from blunt destructive blasts to protective shields to long-distance communication and reconnaissance; over the millennia its power and versatility has greatly increased.
Equestria has possessed airships for a century or so by YOH 1500. These airships are powered by external combustion coal-fired steam engines, and in recent decades their capabilities have been greatly increased by the development of internal combustion oil-fired piston engines. There are even some ships powered by early turbines, and experiments are being conducted with airplanes (see Phoenix_Dragon's Without A Hive). Military airships are armed with various cannons and other artillery engines, and with unguided rockets and gravity bombs. Helium is the normal lifting gas for military airships. The first experiments have been undertaken with antigravity and mass-reduction devices, including the Buoyance Generators (see Brained By Saucepans' Ask Professor Ashen Smirk).
Equestria also has an oceanic navy with a variety of warships, all of which now have at least auxiliary steam engines, and which incorporate a variety of ironclad designs. The Equestrian Royal Navy is relatively weak in undersea capabilities, a weakness it will remedy in the future through alliances with the Deep Ponies and Kelpies. It does however have considerable powers of anti-submarine warfare, both by means of Unicorn magic and aerial ASW operations, so it is hardly defenseless in this regard.
Conclusion: Canon Versus Fanon
Most of the aforementioned is, of course, speculative to my own fanon. However we have seen in canon that Equestria has cannons, airships and unguided rockets, and we have seen the Royal Guards in numerous episodes -- one important secondary character, Twilight Sparkle's brother and Princess Cadance's husband Shining Armor, is a Royal Guard -- and we've seen enough of him to make it obvious that the Guards have a significant military tradition.
As to the point that the Ponies can and do fight, this is trivially-obvious from watching any of the action episodes. The Mane Six, in particular, are quite willing to employ violence in defense of themselves and others, and have done so on several occasions. It is also obvious that the Ponies live in a dangerous world -- while most Ponies are rarely if ever threatened with serious physical violence, their world includes dangerous monsters and powerful demonic forces, and there most definitely are foreign Powers not under Equestrian control. The show doesn't focus much on serious intra-specific violence, but we've seen that violent criminals and bullies both exist.
The Ponies are peaceful -- but they most definitely can fight. And do, to protect themselves and those they love.
Interesting stuff, considering that I'm writing a massive story that takes place during a twenty year long international war which the ponies are on the defending side of. I'll have to read this and consider your ideas!
Fine work as always in your essays. I like the descriptions given of Equestrian military technology. I always saw it myself as the pegasi being scouts and light cavalry (and occasionally something more if they used their weather control as a weapon), the unicorns as mobile artillery with their magic, possibly 'covered' like war elephants and chariots by other troops; and the Earth ponies as a cross between heavy infantry and shock cavalry.
This though: They used to employ heavier armor, but such armors were ultimately defeated by advances in archery. This is fiction, and you can do as you please, but (he said cautiously) I have read that more and more historians in medieval warfare and weapons technology have argued that IRL archery didn't really do much to stop the use of armor and knights, or at least not as much as the later use of massed guns. Because it had less of an effect on the armored knight or man-at-arms than it did a relatively unarmored horse.
Of course it's also true that by that point (the late 14th to 15th centuries) European armor-making had reached such an acme that a properly-fitted suit of plate was pretty much invulnerable on the battlefield. And it might just be more difficult to make a suit of full-body plate armor for a pony than a human.
Also, though this is starting to stray rather far afield, I do wonder how the ponies handled violence when done against non-ponies, especially predators like the griffons or dragons. On one hand I seem to recall reading that predators are more wary about violence than herbivores/prey, because of the very effective natural weaponry they have; several zoologists pointed out that prey animals are likelier to kill each other than predators, who need to know when to call it quits.
On the other hand there's the knowledge in their heads that ponies are prey. I imagine that when even the most settled and civilized griffon or dragon looks at a pony it sees 'meat' as much as 'person'. And not many people would want to admit they gave in and submitted to dinner!
And not pony at all -- Orangs are murderous? Seriously? I always thought they were more like gorillas, easy going and even slothful.
2661859
Equestrian bows are better than any employed by Humans in any numbers on the battlefield. This is a civilization which can mass-produce weapons and armor from steels as good as those we had in the late 19th / early 20th century, which is why they have bows an Earth Pony can draw with his full strength, and crossbows capable of considerable damage with repeating actions. Princess Ceymi kills Falcon Punch with Thermal Soar's repeating crossbow in Collateral Damage, and Thermal's bow is a half-century or so behind the c. YOH 1500 state of the art.
Yep, the Ponies are biologically capable of considerable brutality. Equestria happens to be an exceptionally-peaceful Pony civilization. Please do thank Princess Celestia for this -- she worked hard enough to achieve this outcome. So did Princess Luna, though her contribution was mostly kicking the crap out of various enemies, Pony and otherwise.
One thing that might be worth discussing is that with the appearance of the Princesses, the ponies were suddenly protected by a couple of superweapons. While not a perfect deterrent against small groups (diamond dog press gangs, for example) or evil supernatural tyrants, the cost to a foreign nation for provoking a conflict with the ponies would've gotten much higher. Even if they were only promoted to the same weight class and not total superiority, the jump from "easy prey" to "I could them them, but it'd be a fight" would discourage those who had been opportunistically attacking the ponies.
After a few alicorn-backed routs, organized and sanctioned aggressions against Equestria would've halted almost completely (there's always a few who never learn, after all). The only violence ponies would then have to deal with would be from a few rogues or from rampaging monsters more akin to forces of nature.
2661859
Oh, one more thing -- we evolved as opportunistic omnivores rather than committed carnivores for most of our own evolutionary history. That's why we have so few instinctive safeguards against extreme violence.
2661890
Indeed. And when raiding got too frequent and was obviously being supported by other Powers, Celestia (and, when she was there, Luna) would intervene if necessary. In fact, to give Equestria more of a protracted military history, I assumed that Celestia spent a lot of that thousand years clinically-depressed and as a result lethargic, because she missed her Sister.
This is really how I see things.
Equestria IS a peaceful nation. It's a utopia by OUR standards (despite the various dangers, one can't deny ponies have lasting peace and a good civilization that people enjoy living in).
But I do agree they'll likely be able to fight effectively if needed.
Pacifist does not equal DEFENSELESS.
2662034
Equestria is technically "peaceful" rather than "pacifist," because they are willing to fight for a good enough cause.
I take issue with this statement for a few reasons.
First, and I know this is a bit of a nitpick, but First Nations were far from "barbarians." First Nations culture is complex, each nation with its own form of social and political organization, spiritual beliefs, trade networks, and complex relationships with neighbouring groups. Hell, the first interaction between First Nations and European explorers (in Canada, at least) was with the Huron and Iroquois people, who had permanent settlements, huge lodge houses, and stratification to a degree.
Second, with regard to the wars with First Nations, I think you are lacking the historical context. These wars were not simply First Nations groups attacking American settlers, but the result of a number of historical events and conditions. At the time, settlers were expanding, taking over First Nations territory because they wanted/needed more land for farming and to... well, settle the New World. First Nations were also plagued by diseases brought over by European settlers that wiped out the majority of their population, and their continued involvement in the fur trade throughout their 1600s to early 1800s didn't help any (and neither did their involvement in major wars in North America, including the American Revolution and War of 1812). These factors in tandem with the loss of their traditional territory and a declining positive relationship with the new settlers resulted in wars. Now, I'm not sure what kinds of "wars" these were, as the only united Aboriginal effort of this time was with Pontiac, but we have to acknowledge that they were the result of exploitation, mistreatment, and in some ways desperation by First Nations people. They were trying to take their traditional land back, and I don't believe it is appropriate to construe the American settlers as being entirely defensive when they intentionally marginalized Indigenous peoples.
This isn't meant to be an attack on you or on the rest of your blog or anything. I just think it's important to put America in its historical context when talking about any "wars" with First Nations.
2662059 Good point.
Another consideration is that there's an entire school for Gifted Unicorns, and several unicorns such as Twilight and Shining show considerable magical power. Pegasi can create storms. Earth Ponies have super strength and presumably better durability than a human would.
I think it's safe to say their magical abilities probably act as an effective fill in for many of our technological weapons. Which you did touch on. So I think it's safe to say they're actually a pretty powerful military even by OUR world's standards, as you indicated.
2662086
"Barbarian" in the sense of "agriculture but no writing." Of the American Indian groups we fought, the only one we fought who had writing was the Cherokee, and that was after we fought them, but before we drove them on the Trail of Tears.
The Mesoamericans of Mexico and the Yucatan most definitely did have writing, and the great empire of the Incas proto-writing. However, it was the Spanish who fought them, and mostly before even the foundation of the Thirteen Colonies.
I make no excuses for our treatment of the American Indians.
2662102
Fair enough, though I will question whether they even needed writing to be considered "advanced." First Nations culture is an oral-based culture, and I would argue that they didn't need writing to prosper.
I'm not saying that you are. All I was arguing was that, when making a statement about the non-aggressive history of America (which is subject to debate), it's important to put it in its historical context. There was a reason hostilities broke out between Natives and settlers, and I was trying clarify that the American settlers were by no means innocent or the defensive victims of any of these hostilities.
2662120
It was mutual. Given the limitations of both cultures, I don't think long-term peace was possible.
America, during most of this period, was aggressively monotheistic and had absolutely no respect for "heathens," especially when said heathens lacked impressive temple architecture or complex scriptures. We also had no respect for any culture with significantly inferior material engineering skills, and did not give the American Indians credit for their extensive agricultural technology (in fact, we tried to deny its existence). We were very bad at enforcing our own laws against any willing to be violent in a group who did not victimize fellow Americans. We didn't even take seriously our own treaties with the American Indians.
The American Indians, for their part, had even less ability to restrain their own hotheads, and a culture which considered the infliction on ritual torture on the defeated a normal part of warfare. This practically guaranteed that even if we were willing to honor a treaty, they wouldn't, because they couldn't -- and the inevitable violence would, include atrocities that would inflame us to total war.
Seriously, short of armed and violent high-tech peacekeepers, willing to slap down both sides,, I don't think that the Indian Wars could have been avoided.
I don't see a difference between their world and ours. Daring Don't shown us that they also have petty criminals who even gang on a single mare
2662623
I think that the Ponies are nicer and less violent on the average. That doesn't mean that some Ponies, good and evil, aren't capable of violence. The Mane Six, Shining Armor, Daring Do and the Two Royal Pony Sisters are all definitely good Ponies, and all definitely capable of violence. Yes, even the cute little pink one with the poofy hair and the shy one with the long pink mane.
And, of course, some Ponies are evil. Or just mixed up and hurting, as Babs Seed was when she had that epic struggle with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
This is very interesting.
Yeah, I don't think the ponies are at the 20th century when it comes to the tools of war. They've had no NEED to, they've been able to invest their resources elsewhere!
2662633
Oh i have no doubt that Pinkie and Fluttershy are capable of violence. Pinkie had Party of One and recent comic with Twilight. Fluttershy was very aggressive in Best Night Ever and Putting Your Hoof Down.
Wait... wait... TRIXIE IS AN ABNORMALITY! Technically, she's a rebel. In Magic Duel, we saw her take over Ponyville... meaning that she, a civilian, not an heir, forcefully invaded and took over a city/town under Celestia's reign.
What sorts of things did Luna do for the guard? I find her whole Lady of War thing to be incredibly fun to read about.