Troubleshooting: Adorable Ponies and Warfare · 2:23pm Jun 21st, 2016
If there is one area both the show and fandom constantly get wrong, it would be the combat. This is a very understandable failing; after all, real world horses don’t engage in combat very much and it is very hard to deduce the fighting methods of something whose shape is so different from a human. The only reliable method of physically striking their opponent is bucking, which requires them to be facing away from their enemy.
Fortunately, ponies have magic. This evens the playing field substantially.
Earth Ponies, due to lack of appendages, do not have many personal weapons. They use their Earth Magic to create plant based weapons that fight for them, generally Tree Golems. These Golems could be grown to the specification of nearly anything a pony could think of, giving the Earth Pony military incredible flexibility. Many Earth Pony soldiers study animals, using their design to create more effective plant monsters.
Earth Ponies rarely got into a direct fight on their own, because despite their nigh-invulnerability and incredible strength, there were simple very few ways to direct that in a fight. They let their golems do most of the fighting and often made alliances with another party rather than attempt to fight on their own. Later, the Earth Pony nation became a neutral party that helped build peace between the Unicorns and the Pegasi.
Pegasi: Pegasi soldiers have two main weapons. The first is an extendable lance, which they can charge and stab things with. The lance is extended when imbued with Pegasus magic, which also strengthens the shaft. They aren’t put into practice very often as they have few uses in a fight other than surprise. The other weapons are wingblades, see here. They are more common, and have the advantage of both armoring the wings of a pegasus and providing an offensive weapon.
Pegasi rely on stealth and surprise attacks, taking advantage of their ability to fly and construct mobile bases on clouds. They were strongly allied with the Earth Ponies, because they had no way of growing food on their own.
Unicorns: While unicorns prided themselves on possessing a variety of powerful spells, in truth the most common and dangerous weapon was essentially just a brick. Most unicorns lacked the necessary power to cast damaging spells, and there were very few spells that could cause direct harm unless you had a specific Mark.
A Mark was, and is, more important to Unicorns than it is to members of other pony races because it limits what kinds of spells a unicorn can cast. Rarity, for instance, can detect gemstones. With a rock Mark she could theoretically also perform more sophisticated Geomancy, but all of those spells require more power than she has. Ponies whose Mark allowed them to manipulate energy were highly sought because they could typically absorb energy to strengthen their own casting, giving them a wide range of spells. Holding large amounts of energy is dangerous over extended periods of time, and can cause insanity.
The most common Unicorn weapon was a brick because, while few unicorns could cast dangerous spells, all Unicorns had telekinesis. With the proper creativity a flying brick could be more dangerous than things designed to be weapons wielded by others. Unicorns had a number of other weapons that worked on a similar principle: Buzz saws, Needles, and Spiked Balls were all put into practice. However, due to its simple nature, the brick remains the most common weapon among Unicorns today.
The Unicorns were in the habit of starting wars they could not win. They and the Pegasi were in a cold way for nearly a century because the two races had no way of fighting one another properly. The difference in fighting styles between the two meant that neither could launch a proper offensive. They eventually made a formal peace treaty so that they could pretend that the other side had surrendered first.
What I mostly got from that is that bricks are dangerous.
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I should never have trusted you.
4038430 There was a construction VBS?
...Have you ever wondered if we'll get a Bible themed VBS? Just once? I'd take a Time Travel one at least...
4038444 Yes, yes there was. And I have done a Bible themed one once or twice. In particular, I remember one called Gangway To Galilee that focused on the life of Jesus. It was one of the years where the VBS Director was disappointed in the prepackaged skits, so I got to write five skits about Jesus as a teenager....and then got to play Jesus as a teenager. It was fun.
4038470 I bet it was. I'd love to do that, our church just buys whatever Lifeway's sells.
I don't dislike Lifeway, but I wish we would try more original content. Watching a video about a kid afraid of Roller Coasters work up the nerve to go on a Roller Coaster all week is less than impressive.
4038487 I'm aware of Lifeway, but I don't think I've ever used one of their kits. Really, VBS should be a fairly flexible process and emphasize making the best ministry that you can instead of sticking with what you paid for. I'm lucky, because as a pastor's kid, I've always had something of an audience when I want to change something, and I'm good friends with the director's family. But if you feel like your church's VBS could use a little sprucing up, it may be a good idea to speak up.