Just how wealthy are they? · 8:36pm Jun 13th, 2019
Twilight Sparkle. You know her family’s got to be loaded. They live in Canterlot and are now officially a noble family, for crying out loud. She doesn’t live very opulently. Her castle is as threadbare as they come, she doesn’t wear fancy finery or jewelry or anything, but you just know that Twilight can pull a big honking sack of bits out of her derrière at any time, and if she couldn’t, you know Celestia would help her out. It’s weird.
Rarity owns her own clothing shop. Actually, more than one. She runs a successful business from the comfort of her own home and also has properties in Canterlot and Manehattan. She’s got scads of money.
Applejack runs a farm and they rake in huge sacks of bits doing concessions at events and selling apples and cider and such.
Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are both single and have their own houses. Not little houses, either. Great big ones. Enough said.
Pinkie Pie—oh, poor, lowly Pinkie—is the only one who rooms with the Cakes, doesn’t own her own house, and gets by on a baker’s wages.
In conclusion, there ain’t no party quite like the Communist Party. 
Equestria is at the very least a social democracy, seeing how unlike in America, ponies aren’t going into debt to pay for cancer treatment and tens of millions of ponies aren’t living in poverty in the supposedly richest country in the world.
Also, Pinkie lives a spartan lifestyle so that she can fund her parties and massive cocaine habit.
5073937
Equestria doesn’t really seem like much of a democracy at all. They have a monarchy. A constitutional monarchy, maybe? They also have an aristocracy that seems to consist of landed nobility. Do they have universal suffrage? Do they have a parliament with elected members? It doesn’t seem so. It seems like Celestia and Luna are the absolute rulers of the country. However, they have a fairly high standard of living and seem to be deeply concerned with the welfare of their citizens.
Equestria isn’t really a bad place to live, if you’re a pony. If you’re not a pony, and you go out in the sticks, you get treated with fear and suspicion. Ponies are vaguely xenophobic and panicky towards Griffons, Zebras and whatnot. Equestria doesn’t seem to have much in the way of a standing army, and the Royal Guard are incompetent at best. In other words, Celestia’s government budgets for public works way, way more than they do for defense. Chrysalis, Tirek and the Storm King could all steamroll Canterlot with ease.
In other words, ponies can afford to look after the welfare of their own because they are naive and their circumstances are largely idyllic.
As for cancer treatment debt, I know all about it. When I was 11, my sister passed away from acute myeloid leukemia and we were left with a bill for like $980,000 of chemotherapy, because she went out of her coverage area for treatment and the insurance company refused to pay it. An attorney told us that she was an emancipated adult with her own income and we didn’t need to pay it, but did that make a difference? No. Our credit score was ruined and we spent years dodging phone calls and letters from collections agencies.
You wanna talk about a real scam? Credit scores are a big one. Think about it; if you don’t patronize a private company, a bank, to obtain credit, you’re treated like a leper and can be denied access to vital services like the ability to rent. Many landlords use credit scores to gauge tenant responsibility. So, just for the terrible crime of paying for everything with cash and living within your means, you are basically treated like a second-class citizen.
My own hometown, Seattle, is full of homeless people who do heroin and spazz out on every street corner, and then piss on the steps to the county courthouse.
So, yes, I’m very familiar with what you’re describing.
It's not weird, she's not into money. I bet that Twilight would live alright with a stipend from Celestia.
Twilight's thing is knowledge and books.
If you locked up Twilight in the largest library with some food and water, that would be the best vacation for Twilight.
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This. Completely this. Money isn’t a goal for her. It’s a tool. A means to an end.
5076243
Yep.
I don't know about the apples man.
Applejack, Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000