Reddit Reposting, Episode 4: Biplane Pegasi

I've replaced the introduction from my original post with this one. After the body of the post (past the second HR), I've also included a selection of worthwhile comments from the discussion the post generated back in May 2017.

Hey Fimfiction, why don't you bother to support Derpibooru as an acceptable embed site? It's image 1426381, in case it doesn't give you the URL when you hover.

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• 2 ponies are the optimal configuration for stability. More ponies than two increase drag unacceptably or increase the tower's height too much, giving it an inertial moment far more unstable than a single pegasus. 3 pegasus towers are often seen at Wonderbolts shows and flying competitions, but 4 tall towers are only attempted in still air with a long drop to the ground to recover from any mishaps.
• Flying tandem like this is considered one of the strongest non-romantic expressions of closeness since it requires trust and contact. Think of it like a pair of Earth Pony soldiers sharing a foxhole.
• When taking off in tandem (not recommended for daily flights), having the pony with the most wingpower on the bottom is essential for best take-off unless there is a very large size difference. If the ponies have similar wingpower, the taller pony should be on the bottom.
• However, for two pegasi to join together mid-air, the most stable flight configuration is for the larger pony to be on top to minimize the distance from the bottom pony's hooves to the top pony's ears for increased stability against roll (though extreme size differences, like an adult and a foal may reverse this guideline)
• A tandem takeoff into biplane flight is a ritual at the end of pegasus weddings since it shows both ponies willingly jumping into a challenge where they are required to rely on and support one another, even if one of them has to do slightly more physical work than the other. As long as there is no notable difference in size or wingpower, it is traditional for the stallion to take the bottom spot to avoid sophomoric humor among the wedding guests.
• Sometimes pegasi who marry unicorns or earth ponies will take off with their new spouse on their back, though this is an understandably rare practice

Misc. thoughts about pegasi and their place in Equestrian society

• Ponyville residents would at least be passingly familiar with the post-marriage ritual, due to their proximity to Cloudsdale
• Pegasus cities, though mobile, are more like mobile homes: they tend to anchor themselves near an existing ground-based city and stay in roughly that area (though the buildings themselves may move around quite a bit within the city)
• Canterlot's unicorns are probably less familiar with this ritual due to the lack of Pegasus cities nearby, though its importance as Celestia's home probably means it is popular for destination weddings (they're much cheaper when you can fly and bring your own clouds) and therefore not that unfamiliar.
• In cities large enough for skyscrapers, the middle floors are the ones no pony wants. Earth ponies have their wealthiest tenants on the bottom for ease of access and comfort of having your hooves on the ground, wealthy pegasi inhabit the penthouse and roof so they can fly straight out if they want. Unicorns go anywhere: sometimes on top for the view, sometimes on the ground for convenience, others prefer the privacy of the basement (earth ponies occasionally also enjoy the cellars, but with less frequency than unicorns).
• Before the episode about Fluttershy's brother implied that pegasi probably have a similar family structure to the other pony types, I preferred the theory that pegasi raised their foals more or less communally, with the foal's parents only interacting with one another for purposes of raising their foal.

P.S.

Twilight gets to be a killjoy and explain why this does not work aerodynamically. They're magical pastel ponies, so maybe they have different aerodynamic rules than ordinary creatures.

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Me, on the uniqueness of pegasus culture

Even in the show, Pegasi have a much more unique culture than the Earth ponies & Unicorns. My suspicion is that it is due to their flight abilities. Unicorns do not have to use much magic in their daily lives, but all pegasi seem to have an innate need to fly. Even Fluttershy and Scootaloo stretch their wings daily. For some reason, flight is much more integral to being a pegasus than the use of magic is to being a unicorn.

2 comments from Logarithmicon about the EUP & Royal Guard

• Among the EUP Guard, the practice of tandem flight is typically among the hardest for recruits to master. Although it has undeniable benefits for long-duration, poor-weather, and injured-assistance flying, the intimacy of the act - to say nothing of managing it with arms and armor - makes getting over initial implications troublesome. Non-pegasi recruits generally do not experience it, although they may be buddy-carried in extreme situations.
• The Royal Guard, who recruits from existing EUP Guard ranks, does not face this issue.
• As Pegasus guard ponies often operate in pairs for added effectiveness, to say that you were "flying tandem" has become slang for simply flying in battle so well that it is as if the same level of trust has been established.
• Off-color jokes in the guard are considered extremely insulting and poor taste, as it is understood that the ponies involved have to overcome their natural disinclination to accept such an act. It's a surefire way to start a fight, especially between a pegasus and non-pegasus unit.

So, I [as in Log—Pub.] tend to assume that the general EUP guard mostly operates in single-tribe units meant to make the most of the strength of those kinds of ponies working together. Unicorns are actually the kind of exception - while Earth and Pegasus stick together, Unicorns are sometimes also assigned in smaller groups to be attached to other forces.

As you mentioned, unicorns don't seem to "combine" together real well - only the highest-level magic users seem to be able to merge workings. This kind of leaves them holding the short end of the stick. Not only do they not have to interfere with each other, but the horn is a big "Disable Me!" target, too (with, depending on your headcanon, some nasty backlash effects if interrupted while casting).

So learning to not interfere with each other is a big deal - not just touching the horn, but automatically knowing how to work collectively on a task without messing each other up (for instance, 'grabbing' separate points on a heavy object yet 'pulling' together.

Now the Royal Guard, as a much smaller and elite force, does operate mixed-tribe small units - and there, learning to trust and rely on a pony of another tribe is one of the ways prospective recruits prove themselves. Working in tandem with ponies who don't quite get the nuances of your tribe's magic is hard - but a force that does work together can bring an edge to every fight.

My long response to Log, which forms the foundation of another standalone discussion thread I'll repost here in a couple days

Leadership

Something about pegasus culture that I based around Rainbow Dash being the captain of the Ponyville weather team is that their idea of leadership is that it should go to the pony who is the best at the front-line job. Usually this means the best flier in the group. Unlike unicorns and most earth ponies, pegasi have no concept that anypony could earn a cutie mark in managing other ponies. Pegasi who are dissatisfied with current leadership and think they can do better will either fly off (and possibly take others with them) or challenge their current boss to a fight. This does not happen in small and mutually-trusting groups, where natural de facto leadership is all that is needed, and it's very rare that it happens at a city-level. However, this is a plague on medium-size pegasus organizations.

There are two main and related strategies to combat this and allow for mid-size organizations to exist smoothly:

1. Put your best flier in charge and let them be a mouthpiece for somepony else who is actually calling the shots. Rainbow Dash as the weather team captain probably earned her position this way, though she's at least somewhat independent.
2. Put a unicorn in charge. This is mostly used in mid-size military units or units that are known for hotheaded lieutenants and not so much in the civilian life. The unicorn can't participate in any flying contests and can zap any fly-offs out of the sky. If pegasus-specific commands or instruction are needed, the pegasus who should be the commanding officer is the lieutenant to the unicorn (this can create problems what that pegasus is actually incompetent and creates a perception that unicorns are worthless idiots). The other arrangement is that there is a layer or two of unicorn leadership between the pegasus commander and the subordinate pegasi.

Admission to the Royal Guard is conditional on not being a hothead about leadership.

Preening

After the episode about Fluttershy's family that revealed that pegasi probably have always had fairly similar family structures to other ponies. However, they have a very high touch culture and many of their strictly platonic gestures to one another get interpreted as romance. This leads to the perception that their society is about free love and the communal raising of foals.

As previously discussed, they have their biplane configuration. They also have preening and feathermarking as gestures that often are not as romantic as ground-based ponies assume.

Outside of military and racing circuits, mares typically are much more dedicated to preening and therefore have reason to acquire a larger circle of platonic preening partners. Stallions have a habit of not preening until they notice they're not flying as well, a habit that must be dispensed with in the EUP.

The main way platonic preening partners are encountered outside of foals befriending in flight schools are through race teams, the EUP, and performing arts organizations. If you take a dozen ponies and only give them half an hour to preen 24 wings, they quickly discover the benefits of a circle-preen.

Feathermarking

Feathermarking is the one gesture that has variants that are explicitly romantic. Having somepony rub wings on you is baffling to most ground-based ponies when it's not clearly a romantic overture, but these meanings are fairly instinctual to pegasi.

• On the cutie mark (true feathermarking): romantic possessiveness
• On the tail dock: Either lewdness or (military contexts) GO!!!! Occasionally also from carelessness.
• On the wing (flight): one or both ponies was not paying attention
• On the wing/side (ground): reassurance
• On the nose (gentle): nose boop
• On the muzzle (hard): back off or I'll fight
• On the neck (side): shoulder tap
• On the back: let me hold you close (can be either protective or romantic)
• On the shoulders/mane: general affection
• On the tail (tip): either "you're flying too slow!" or "you walked forward before I could tap you in the intended spot"

Ponies brushing or being brushed with wings is a sensitive subject in the EUP: pegasi need to be drilled not to tap non-pegasi with their wings and non-pegasi must be reminded that they'll get wing-tapped anyway because pegasi can't suppress their instincts very well. The non-pegasi in the Royal Guard are trained to understand feather taps since they encounter many civilian pegasi in their duties. Pure pegasus units will use wing taps as a method of silent communication.

Distinctive gestures

The least mysterious platonic pegasus gesture is the flared wings: it's that "eyes front & center, I'm important" gesture that Celestia likes to use (it's also used by RD & Fluttershy in the song "Into the Gala").

Unicorns have two distinctive gestures:

1. Ears pinned, horn pointed at you: bad things are about to happen
2. Horns touching: romance

Unicorns primarily think pegasi raise their foals communally due to their flight schools even though they also send their foals off to magic school at a slightly older age. [2022 update: I still remain attached to the idea of communal foal-raising to this day]

Boozing

Pegasi that live on the ground are either teetotalers or sloppy drunks with very few responsible drinkers. Booze has long been banned in cloud-based cities due to incidents of drunk pegasi falling off clouds and dying because they were either blacked out or couldn't flap their wings properly. Pretty much every family in the clouds has taken some booze up in their saddlebags into their home, but there are no bars or liquor stores in Cloudsdale.

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2022 Post-Script: While I can copy & paste from Reddit into Fimfiction and keep most of the formatting intact, Grammarly absolutely chokes on the copy/paste. I wonder if I'm picking up some control characters and ZWJs along the way that break word detection because some of the suggested edits are downright nonsense. I've never had suggestions this poor when typing directly.