Tangents of Equestria: Equity - or "Our Little Village" · 5:31am Apr 6th, 2015
First off, whatever else the village founded by Starlight Glimmer is, it is not an allegory of communism. The local government is an Authoritarian Dictatorship - One pony makes all the rules and changes them as she sees fit at any time. The village is, more than anything else, Starlight Glimmer's grand social experiment, where she has already decided what the results are, with any deviations altered to fit her facts. For the lack of an actual name, since none was mentioned during the episode other than possibly Our Little Village, I have decided to name the village after Starlight's stated goal: Equity.
Also, this post contains spoilers, observations, and headcanons for episodes 1&2, of season five: The Cutie Map. EDIT: Spoiler blocks have been removed, seeing as season five is over and done with.
Equity is a small, extremely isolated village, located in arid scrubland with sparse vegetation, rocky, hilly local terrain described as having innumerable nearby caves and caverns. It is at the foot of a mountain pass, with a trail leading through the mountains, with a few other trails branching off towards even more caves and caverns. Given the snow capped peaks and extensive cavern system, there is presumably a decent water table underlying the region, so wells should be a viable source of water for the locals.
The villagers live and work out of twelve virtually identical simple structure buildings lined up with six on either side of a wide avenue leading to a slightly more complex thirteenth building at the end of the street. From the steep slopes of the roofs, either winter snows are expected to be harsh and heavy, or that was the only design the villagers were familiar with before anyone moved here. If it's the first case, the fact that only one building in the entire village has a fireplace will doom most of the residents to death by hypothermia once winter rolls around.
The actual orientation of Equity is difficult to determine at first, until the scene where the main six are imprisoned. As the day goes on, we see the sun gradually coming more and more from the wall with the only door in it, making that the west wall. This door is directly across the street from the only building to have an awning, and both are at the current end of their respective rows, on the far side of the village from the thirteenth building, where Starlight Glimmer lives. That places Starlight's home at the south end of the village, with the avenue running north until it turns into the road leaving the village.
There are no farms or gardens to be seen
One of these twelve buildings is designed as an indoctrination cell, with stone walls and floor, singular. There is no cellar, and the entire interior is apparently open with no other floors between the first floor and the roof despite appearing identical to all of the other buildings from the outside. Four speakers are mounted, one in each corner, near the roof, with the acoustics of the room lend the rhetoric coming through them an eerie resonance. There are several books, with each and every page depicting a large equal sign, framed portraits of equal signs, a feeding trough full of large dull leaves, a washbasin full of water, drab curtains, a bench or two a bucket and a night jar. All of this is to disorient and demoralize the occupants, breaking their wills until they eventually accept their fate and become "happy" citizens of Equity.
One hopes that the interiors of the other buildings are not equally bleak. The windows are sparse, tall, and narrow (too narrow for an adult mare to fit through). The placement of these windows, with two on each outer wall of the first floor, at least one on the second floor (placed over the front door), and one at either end of the attic, implies three interior floors, not counting any possible root cellar or basement. The spacing of the windows, and their tall, narrow structure, mean that the residents do not get much natural light from outside, nor much of a view (not that there is much to look at anyway).
Starlight Glimmer's home, the thirteenth building, is still rather bland on the exterior, but does have some noticeable, if subtle, differences from the other twelve. For one thing, the only avenue leading through Equity ends right at her house, cold stop. the two steps leading up to her front door implies that her house is slightly elevated when compared to any of the other twelve, and it is the only building in the village with a chimney, and therefore presumably the only one with a fireplace. It also has a secret tunnel leading from Starlight's bedroom to a small cave just outside the village.
During Starlight glimmer's reign as the "mayor" of Equity, all residents were required to give up their Cutie Marks in an Unmarking Ceremony involving the Great Mage Meadowbrook's "ninth" magical item, the Staff of Sameness (a fake magic item Starlight made up after finding an interestingly shaped length of deadwood in the desert). As the process was readily described as uplifting and spiritual by Sugarbelle, presumably it is a lot less painful when performed on a voluntary subject than what the mane Six experienced when Starlight Glimmer stole their Cutie Marks. Equal signs take the place the missing Cutie Marks, and have their own effect on the subjects that bear them.
The observed effect of the Equal Mark is that no bearer is any better at any skill or ability than the worst fellow bearer to have the same skill or ability. Nopony runs any faster than any other pony. No Pegasus flies faster than any pony can run on the ground, nor can they fly very high in relation to the ground. Earth Ponies are no stronger than any other pony. Unicorns have limited magic (light telekinesis at best), and not one pony in the village has a special talent. Nopony, that is, except for Starlight Glimmer, who secretly retained her magic related Cutie Mark.
With the Equal Mark magically leveling everypony to the lowest common denominator, one can only speculate the horrors await all those who bear it once Starlight Glimmer converts somepony with an actual physical or mental handicap.
At the conclusion of The Cutie Map, the residents of Equity choose to remain and turn their community into an actual working village. Hopefully Twilight Sparkle will report the existence of Equity to Celestia and Luna, as well as their situation, so that a regular Pony Express style mail station can be set up incase Equity needs to call for aid in the future...
ADDENDUM: As of the Fifth Season Finale, we discover that at least some of the residents of Equitey have indeed chosen to stay there. While we don't see much of the buildings or population due to how the scene was framed, the ponies we do see seem to be healthy, happy, and willing to forgive an apologetic Starlight Glimmer.
ADDENDUM II - The Update Strikes Back: Apparently Starlight couldn't cast her spell on an entire village's worth of ponies until she had a suitable vessel to store all of their Cutie Marks (I can only assume she didn't have enough mason jars, as they seem to only be able to hold one to a jar). In the season seven episode, Rock Solid Friendship, it is revealed that Starlight got the information she needed from Maude Pie, who happened to be in the area at the time as part of her independent Rockterate studies.
This means that Equity was constructed before everypony's Cutie Marks were equalized.
hm interesting, but my guess Twilight would mention it, and it would be forgotten and the town dies off by next winter. a sad sad tale
I quite agree with this statement.
However, many so-called Communist states either are or were in fact Authoritarian Dictatorships to one degree or another, and none truly fit the ideals defined by Carl Marx for Communism. Look at the USSR when Stalin ran things, as an example. At best, a Oligarchy known as the Communist Party ran things instead.
Therefor, likening the village in question to states like Cuba, North Korea, China, and the former USSR using a term common to all of the above is at least understandable and even reasonable.
3715324
True, but that still doesn't make the village of Equity an allegory for communism. An allegory for authoritarian dictatorships disguising themselves under the trappings of something else, perhaps, but not specifically communism.
3715372
Agreed. I am merely stated why so many others take that route.
As an unrelated question... I enjoy both of your stories, but my introduction to fanfiction, and in many ways my first love in fanfics, was with Ranma 1/2. While I hope to read further updates of Distorted Resonance, I do wonder if you have made any progress on (or intend to work on) an update to A Wild Pony in Equestria?
3715389
I do plan on continuing Wild Pony, yes.