Opinions And Inquiry Welcome · 6:07pm Jul 15th, 2015
Time for some potentially triggering abnormal discussions up in Bobville. I'm wanting to write a story, yet have no really... uh... roundabout way how to cover the topic. Even though it is an interesting topic. On my part, I blame a lack of character and true originally I sold out long ago to buy that Mexican fanfic writing sweatshop. And since the workers are on strike (I just need to wait for my new whip ordered from Amazon to come to my doorstep any day now), I am in needing of the assistance for you fine fellas. Anyways, if you're wondering what this is all about, come join in!
This is actually a really close interpretation of what I'm trying to figure out.
Death Penalty! Love it or hate it, it happens. From the earliest steps of man to even present day, killing evil criminals or just for connivence's sake is what humanity is all about. From the simple act of smashing someone's head in with a rock to the noose, firing squad, beheading, guillotine (which is just beheading but streamlined), electricity, gas, smashing someone's head in with a slightly heavier rock, mankind has invented countless ways of killing in bloody/non-bloody discretion. But what does this have to do with ponies, you may be asking yourself, of which you should stop because talking to yourself is really weird. Well, quite simply... how do ponies execute?
Well they'd probably be really nice about it for starters.
I'm not really interested in the why's and such. I already got a plan for that. But how exactly a pony goes about delivering the end of life itself to an individual has me licked (and not in the good/creepy/pretty creepy but somewhat enjoyable way). Like, do they use an axe? Sword? Party cannon into a volcano? Hug them to death? Blast them to the moon?! It's all so mysterious yet unsettling morbid at the same time.
Which, of course, makes for excellent opportunities for dark comedy, so you could probably guess why I'm going about this. Comment about your own interpretation of cutting off pony life, for I certainly only have chalked up the "blasting to the moon" idea currently.
It'd probably go about using a face like this.
Probably intra-cranial detonation.
I have no reason to assume that they do. Ever. Thus, I suspect the correct answer to your question is mu.
They shoot horses, don't they?
Though I doubt modern-day Equestria has the death penalty; they seem like a bunch of goody four-shoes.
I pictured the princesses simply vaporizing the offender. Like, their horns shine and the pony criminal just becomes a soot stain on the ground. All while keeping an unnerving poker face.
Most likely something to do with magic. Hanging as well.
I Highly doubt they would have a death penalty. Remember, not only is this a utopian society of sapient horses... it's also a show mainly produced in Canada.
That said, if they did, it would likely be something quick and painless. Maybe instantaneous vaporization?
This topic is kinda pointless, considering ponies (from what we've seen of them) do whatever they can to avoid death like the plague.
I keep thinking of that hilariously bad line from Wonderbolt Academy about Dash's friends almost getting "demolished".
Ponies don't seem to have that killer instinct like humans do, so I'm not sure how the death penalty would function even if it somehow existed in Equestria.
This ain't exactly Fullmetal Alchemist we dealing with here, knowwhatI'msaying?
they have fluttershy use her stare till their heart gives out from guilt
A long drop hanging that would instantly break the neck, (internal decapitation) thus avoiding agonizing suffocation?
Idk. There's a shit-ton of stuff you can do with telekinesis. Crushing the heart or brain for example.
I adore the execution method from Ponydora's MDGC entry. it was a mirror-lined box with a hole in one side. Unicorn fires a beam of magic in, it ricochets around until the pony inside is toast.
The Doctor Manhattan method.
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I would say guillotine. Fits with the timeline and ponies have long necks. Actually, probably petrification. No, you can come back from that. I don't think they would just vaporize the offender, because that would put the burden of their execution on one pony. Yeah, probably back to guillotine.
There are hundreds of methods that could be used to kill someone, but it depends upon how grimdark you want to go. Are ponies buried, per se, or are they just incinerated in order to not use up valuable farm land? Electrocution is always an option, but so is hanging someone or instantaneous disintegration.
You could always flood a room with Carbon Monoxide or use a spell of some sort that would shut down their brain, but where's the fun in that when you have "shot in the chest with magic fire until dead" as an option?
Why not lethal injection? Or treat ponies on death row like bad pets and have them euthanized?
3240504 You're a goody four-claws.
Depends on how you want to go about it. Considering, in general, Equestria is very medieval-esque, pretty much anything that those wacky Dark Agers did might apply. With magic in mind, any number of possibilities open up. Sure, there's the classic mainstay of getting an earth pony to bash somepony else's skull in, more than likely mentally scarring everyone for life, but hey, at least it works (so long as you can get the brain off your hooves); also a pegasus could carry the convicted up to an absurd height (so long as said convict isn't a pegasus) and just drop them. Free skydiving lesson before death is always appealing.
However, again, getting back to magic, it opens up so many possibilities: virtually endless. As Syeekoh said, intra-cranial detonation is more than likely. In fact, multiple ways of destroying someone's brain or mind is quite possible. Considering that if I remember right, All Hail the Dark Lord (when are you going to get that finished?) explained that Equestria's "magic" was just the Force, the Force technique of virtually wiping someone's mind out of existence is possible, although it might be near impossible for a unicorn or alicorn to perform it without falling to the Dark Side (or what have you for non-Force fanon ideas of magic). Another possibility would be the convict getting ripped apart at the atomic level. Although cliché, being teleported to the sun to be virtually instantly incinerated is quite conceivable. Teleportation could be used in a number of other ways, too -- to the center of the planet, or even just into a solid area of earth to be instantly crushed, it opens many new avenues of execution. I'm sure there's more, but that's just a few morbid ways of ending a cute pony's life.
Hopefully those have given you a few ideas, Bob.
Is it sad that I've made a small essay on the possibility of how Equestrian's execute their criminals?
What have I done with my life?! 
Rush and Pony on!
T4E
Well, there was NMM's banishment, Discord's imprisonment, Chrysalis's banishment, Tirek's imprisonment, and Starlight's unofficial banishment.
I'd like to think that the death penalty would be Celestia sucking away their lives or something.
3240560 Oh my, that's really effective, at least until the beam loses power.
Does it need really, true death with corpse (or cloud of atoms) to see after the fact or can it be something metaphorical? Like, ignoring them like they are dead (horrible for a highly social species, and can be reversed in case of unjust judgement)? Or maybe shun them down to the diamond dogs tunnels?
If you go for the fast and painless way probably disintegration through ritual (having an executioner can be stressful), dumping in the sun (you need a princess), maybe petrification.
If you want to go for the "funny" way there's death through catapult (need to bind the pegasi wings), death through sugar (may not work on Pinkie Pie), death through boredom, death through boiling, death through deep frying, death through caffeine, launch into orbit.
If you go for the magical thing, aging spell, soul ripping, ritual fuel, magical energy harvesting, teleport into a wall, permanent transmutation and so on.
At the end it depends on how cruel, vindictive and bloodthirsty your society is.
3240577 Sombra got exploded.
Simplest version would be walking the plank. Canterlot is on the side of a tall mountain and Cludsdale is 4 miles up. Bonus point that the pony is far away when they die, but if you want to show off the grisly remains you can do that too.
That takes care of unicorn and pegasus execution methods. Earth ponies living further away would favor exile to the nearby inhospitable area.
3240683 yeah, ponies seem to be big on reforming their problems, and if that doesn't work, locking them up or making them someone else's problem. I think Sombra is the "Evilist" (not most effective) villain we've seen, and he was the only one who actually (maybe) died. And even then they weren't trying to kill him, just defeat him.
If the ponies really wanted to kill something but didn't have it in them to carry it out, they could always hand the creature off to Discord.
3240667
DON'T TELL ANYONE MY SECRET.
3240727 ...fine.
3240541
Actually, she said "smashed to pieces", which isn't the same thing as demolished, though the end result of unrecognizable carcasses remains the same.
As for your question, Bob, just go with whatever feels appropriate for handless creatures living in a world with a mixture of ancient and contemporary technology.
I see two ways of pony execution. The first is the easy way of lethal injection that is a kindness.
Way number 2 was suppose to be so no pony could feel guilty of murder but is now a sport for the rich and unscrupulous. This death sentence is the sport of Everfree Rampage where a death sentence prisoner is pit against the worst of the monsters in the Everfree in a gladiator style fight.
Can be of other monsters because as I think of this I see this more popular in the aerye's and the Badlands rather than Equestria proper.
I like to think that the princesses simply take away both a pony's possessions and his/hers magic, much like Tirek and Starlight Glimmer did, both earth pony-, pegasus- and unicorn-magic. (Or all, in case of an alicorn... although I find that hard to imagine.)
To me, this is easily the same as an execution, since a pony loses all that he/she is.
But... if you really want to kill a pony, I imagine that he/she simply is brought to a deep sleep, before using some magic to let him/her pass away.
Or, you know, just banish to the sun.
3240577 They vaporized Sombra and NOBODY batted an eyelash at it. Pretty sure ponies simply accept that death happens. While they wont actively try and murder someone, they don't seem to care much when a villain gets wacked.
Also this is very relevant.
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My guess is they do it like Star Trek. In TNG, they wouldn't kill if they could avoid it, but they'd try to be humane. If an execution was necessary, they put the person in the transporter and didn't reassemble them. They were instantly and painlessly converted to energy and dispersed. I'm guessing that a heavily modified teleportation spell would have the same effect: quick and painless but permanent vanishment.
Or, if they're too squeamish to ACTUALLY kill, they might do the Starswirl's Mirror trick: send them to another world, where they can't threaten you anymore, like they did with the Sirens. Permanent and irreversible banishment from the realm has all the needed effects, but doesn't technically kill. This sounds much more in line with the culture and values we've seen.
EDIT: Remember Celestia's statue garden? I don't think they kill. They just petrify somepony who deserves it. The "deceased" can no longer cause any harm, and their statue serves as a grim but not gruesome reminder. Plus, petrification is magically reversible by a powerful spell, meaning that erroneous convictions can be fixed. Most obvious of all evidence, though: we've already SEEN canon hints at this. Discord's words: "It's lonely being encased in stone, but you wouldn't know that. I don't turn ponies into stone." PONIES. The implication is that Celestia DOES petrify ponies.
3240539
Seconding this whole "I can't really picture them having it so I can't really picture how they would go about doing it."
It's like if your good pal
BobSteven walked up to you and said "Hey, how do you think earwigs would enslave the human race?" and you say, "Uh, I can't picture them ever doing that," only for Steven to then say, "Yeah, but how do you think they would do it?"Personally, I'd imagine being fed to something. Maybe some giant dragon in the Canterlot caves, which would also handily explain where Spike came from.
3240845 Celestia has petrified at least 1 pony (Discord himself) but that's the only one that's known and he was petrified by The Elements of Harmony so it's not supported that being petrified is the pony equivalent of execution, just that that's what was done to an immortal that needed to be stopped
They may as well, possess a method of neutralizing the 'soul magic flow' or something. Because heck, all the ponies must need magic to survive in that world.
Death by snu-snu
How about an update to Jungle Fever, first?
Magic-induced combustion. Like Sombra.
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Isn't it obvious, death by honey badger.
Come on.
Scaphism obviously.
3240945
I still think the statue garden is the answer. It fits with a culture that abhors violence and cruelty but still needs to remove certain elements. Petrifying removes the problem but doesn't leave the black mark on the conscience.
They use a type of teleportation magic to just remove the pony's brain.
Accepting a terminal punishment as a starting proposition... Well, when Celestia's doing it, probably either indefinite-term petrification or sending ponies to the sun. (Remember that she needed the Elements to send the Nightmare to the moon. If anypony's going to engage in casual lunar teleportation, it's Luna herself. By that logic, Celestia can easily send stuff to her pet fusion reactor.)
Outside of Canterlot? Like solar immolation, it should be as quick as possible. Instant death spells probably don't exist—at least, not in a widely known context—because of obvious abuse issues, though there may be one with enough conditions and caveats that it can only be used in state-sanctioned executions. However, the simplest, if not cleanest method would be getting a pony with the physique of Big Macintosh to stomp on the head of the condemned.
They're miniature horses, so...
*gets out the folding screen and a shotgun*
I'm for petrification. It's humane and reversible, but it is essentially a death sentence.
They don't kill ponies, they just send them to the farm! That's what my pappy told me. Sniff, I hope you are happy at your farm, Bubbles, daddy misses you so much.
Seriously though, I can kind of see their death row being called "the farm".
Don't worry, Scootaloo, daddy's just moved up to the farm.
Just for morbid comedy value, I'm going to put forward 'chained in place and then told off in the Royal Canterlot voice until the flesh is stripped from their bones.'
Sort of taking motherly chastisement as the ultimate form of punishment to it's logical extreme.
You can have Equestria's universal (for every crime) punishment be execution. You can even go into how this practice is what prevents crime and lead to their utopian (sort of) society. (I'm aware that in the real world there's been no evidence that the death penalty prevents crime.) If this post is what inspires your story, I demand a footnote somewhere.
3241317 I have to disagree because the other statues in the statue garden were friendship and victory. Discord was the only statue (named) that had anything negative about it. Besides I doubt that school children would be taken on field trips to canterlot to see the inmate collection. More likely the criminals just get a slap on the wrist (look at a lot of episodes to support that) and if they're too dangerous they're likely just exiled, either to a different country or the humanized pony dimension. Sombra was trapped beneath the ice for a thousand years ,discord was petrified, the sirens were banished to the humanized pony dimension, chrysalis was just launched home, tirek was sent straight to hell, and nightmare moon was sent to the moon. Banishment or imprisonment seem to be the only 2 punishments given to that group and everyone in that group was a direct threat to celestia and all of equestria
I like to think they all do something similar to Twilight's brain-death spell in Hard Reset. Quick, painless, and efficient.
Then, they can possess the body and use it as a work puppet. :V
I'll stick to analyzing some of the ways I actually kill ponies in one story.
Hanging. Has some issues, but even earth ponies could do it easy enough since we know ponies can tie knots somehow. just need something the right height to throw the rope over and you can pull the condemned up with your teeth. Or a drop hanging like the wild west for that matter.
Poisoned Muffins. Or anything else really. Equestria probably has some seriously nasty poisons so this could be a really clean way. Your last meal is your execution, and you either die so fast there's no pain, or it kills painlessly so whatever naturally produces the poison doesn't have to deal with struggling prey.
Decapitation via complex machine with blades. Press a button/pull a lever, and bam, no more head. Unless the machine is not set up properly it should be painless enough. Ponies seem to like this sort of thing so it might make more sense than a simpler machine.
Digestion. Probably too horrible for ponies, but it's simple enough, you let something eat a helpless victim. There is also probably something like parasprites that would be willing to devour ponies, even if you have t cover them in honey first or something.
Critical fall damage. Pegasi can carry other ponies, and if it's over a pre designated spot you wouldn't have to worry about hitting anyone else with the condemned.
Lightning. Both unicorns and pegasi can manage this themselves without special equipment, so it seems a logical enough way to kill someone if needed for 2/3ds of the population.
Explosives. Ponies have them, they might use them this way, and with enough there isn't any bit left big enough to feel pain. Seems excessively gory for an execution method though, especially for ponies.
Power word kill. Or maybe just plan completely melting the condemned with magic. The point is with magic it can be very fast, and maybe even if it isn't it still doesn't hurt because that's just the way the spell works.
Petrification. Discord was fine but depending on the actual nature of the spell this could be a very one way thing. It also logically shouldn't hurt at all as there is nothing left to fell the pain. Also if the statues are kept in some vault or otherwise protected from anyone who knows the counter from reversing things it would be a form of execution that's reversible if new evidence comes to light, but otherwise very permanent. This actually makes the most sense for ponies, being a form or execution that isn't, but close enough.
3241767 Applejack is running the farm.
Crucification on the sigil of a Sun, if it's the olden days. A classic.
If not... Drag 'em through town tied to a carriage. Send a message!