Utopian Myth · 12:44pm Jan 25th, 2015
I’m getting more and more irritated by stories that cast Equestria as a utopia where war, poverty and crime are all unheard of; partially because it’s unbelievable storytelling, but mostly because there’s plenty of implications in the series itself that it simply isn’t true.
Here are my top seven examples:
1. Do you know the name of your councilman who’s in charge of your city’s water supply?
Probably not; because you take running water for granted.
In the beginning of the Canterlot Wedding, Rarity is excited at helping plan a wedding for a princess, but even more excited at helping plan the wedding of the Captain of the Royal Guard. The position wouldn’t be seen as important unless people knew there were serious dangers which Shining Armor was protecting them from, and he wouldn’t be considered brave in fighting them if they wasn’t dangerous.
As Twilight herself said: “They wouldn’t let just anybody be the Captain of the Royal Guard.”
2. Canterlot is built on top of a mountain and surrounded by high walls. This is not good for commerce: carting goods and people up and down mountains requires vast expenses of time/ energy/ fuel; and a mountain top severely limits your ability to expand your city. The reason you build a city on top of a mountain is for defense.
3. In the pilot episodes, when the mane six are confronted with a manticore; five out of six of their first responses were ‘fight/kill it’. In the Season Two finale, the mane six are confronted with a mob of about forty changelings, and have no hesitation to fight their way through; almost certainly killing at least some of them in the process. It never seems to bother any of them that they just killed things, and went back to having a great time at their wedding celebrations as soon as they were able.
(This also showed that the mane six had considerable martial skill at the end of season two, which they didn't have at the start of season one. Possibly after the Mane six became the EoH, Celestia arranged for them to have combat training?”)
4. In ‘It’s about time’ Twilight sees a future, damaged version of herself and her first theory was a future war; showing that war is something she knows about and sees it as a believable scenario. (Arguably, being her first thought means she sees war as the most likely disaster scenario, rating over any natural phenomenon like an earthquake.)
5. Rainbow Dash attempts to teach Apple Bloom karate when trying to help her find her cutie-mark. When Apple Bloom gets cutie-pox, one mark she gets is for fencing, (and apparently finds two swords and a fencing partner close at hand), suggesting mock fighting is widely practiced in Equestria.
6. Celestia almost always travels around with Royal Guards, Canterlot usually seems to have a high security presence and in The Canterlot Wedding, we see there is a large contingent of Royal Guards that can be called upon when needed. Do you really think there’d be all those dozens of guards walking around if they were just for show?
7. Most of all: there are Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon! Simply put: if you have bullies on a school ground level, you will have bullies on every level:
You will have it at a domestic level and cause abusive marriages.
You will have it at a workplace lever and cause poverty.
If people enjoy trampling on other people to give themselves a sense of power, you will have rape and murder.
Admittedly; Equestria seems better off than most human societies. No one rules a country for a thousand years without getting good at it, even Celestia, and a good government will avoid rampant crime/ poverty. I’ll also concede that Equestria may not have had a war in recent memory. However I’d think that avoiding war would come as a result of maintaining a strong military rather than having none at all, and having low crime rates are due to a crime’s potential gain not being worth the risk, meaning a competent police force and strict punishments for offenders.
Yes Equestria seems like an OK place, but can we please stop it with these fics that say it’s had a thousand years of peace, and crime is unheard of. The other big thing to consider is how much of Equestria’s reputation of a land of peace and harmony, is a carefully crafted veneer by Celestia who wouldn’t want a grisly murder to be front page news.
P.S. For those waiting for an update of Limits of the Horizon: I’m writing well, but for various reasons, I’ve decided to split LOTH into a trilogy, and am currently on the second last chapter of part one. I want to put the connect the last chapter of part one, with the first chapter of part two, which, in turn, is connected to a trilogy of short stories I’m working on; so it’s not one chapter I need to finish before updating, it’s the equivalent of about 5-6… (Not to mention getting new pictures.) Expect early Febuary.
Also, things said in show.
Faster than a bullet. This implies a knowledge of guns.
Pinkie Pie's cannons... which leads one to the uncomfortable idea that there are real cannons.
Plus, there are numerous references to rockets.
Which is unsettling. Why would a peaceful equine civilisation need rocket technology?
Fireworks possibly; the Chinese used them for celebrations well before they used them for warfare, but I understand your point.