One day as Majesty and Wind Whistler were walking through the streets of the city, changing pleasantries with each other, Majesty started looking around and saw how the ponies that had been residents of Vynciani all their lives interacted with each other and the humans. She saw ponies working in the different stores in the merchant’s streets, in different jobs and tasks, some helped as store clerks, others cleaned floors or stands, others helped store and display merchandise. They talked with the humans, discussed with them, laughed with them, ate the same kind of food they ate and so on. Majesty didn’t know what to feel seeing this scene.
Even she herself wasn’t sure what she was going to do anymore, after seeing civilization and what it could do, she wasn’t sure about her own views on living in the wild and living as a civilized pony.
Wind Whistler, knowing Majesty well by now, noticed that there was something that was unnerving the unicorn. “Is something wrong, Majesty?” she asked concerned.
Majesty looked to her side to look at Wind Whistler, and sighed, “I was just thinking, seeing all this ponies around here. All living with the humans, living LIKE the humans. Even you, studying the human way of thinking, and I learning how to read and write… are we doomed to become like the bipeds? Is it even a good thing? Do we stop being ponies if we do? I don’t know what to think.”
Wind Whistler nodded, “Well, let me see… imagine that a mighty human sailor, sailed the seas and had many adventures and then finally returns to his home town with his ship. To honor him, the residents of the town decide to keep his ship at port as a testament of his adventures and accomplishments. Time passes, and the mighty human sailor grows old and dies, but the ship remains at the port. The townsfolk realize that some parts of the ship are getting old, and so they remove the old planks, and rusty nails, and replace them with new boards and brand new nails. This goes on for decades, until finally, one day, every single part of the ship has been replaced at least once. Every board, every nail, the sail, everything. Is that ship still the ship of the mighty sailor? Or is it now a different one?”
Majesty was surprised at this, but remained silent, she wasn’t sure herself.
“Also,” added Wind Whistler, “Let’s suppose that, as the old pieces of the ship were being discarded, someone else in the town started to collect them, and so did his children and their children, until they had collected all the original pieces of the ship of the mighty sailor, and using the original blueprints, built it entirely using the original pieces they had collected. Which one is the real ship of the mighty sailor? The one docked at the port? Or the one that was rebuilt by this other person? Both? Neither?”
Majesty was even more confused now, “I… I’m not sure.”
“Well, some might argue that for a ship to be considered the real ship of the mighty sailor, is the one that was used by the mighty sailor when he was still alive. While we can discuss which one of the ships, or both, or neither, were indeed the one used by the mighty sailor before he died, we CAN consider that the ‘essence’ of the ship of the mighty sailor, that which separates it from any other ship, is the fact that it belonged to the mighty sailor. The mighty sailor is the one that makes the ship of the mighty sailor the ship of the mighty sailor.” explained Wind Whistler.
Majesty nodded, while it sounded confusing she thought that she understood what Wind Whistler said. But she remained quiet, she wanted to hear where Wind Whistler was going with this.
“So,” Wind Whistler continued, “In order to see if ponies will remain ponies if they continue to change, to act and behave more like humans, or elves, or whatever other species, we first must understand what makes a pony a pony.”
This surprised Majesty, she had never considered it like that.
“Does eating grass, living as a herd and walking on all fours makes us ponies? Or is it something else, some internal ‘essence’, that makes us ponies?” asked Wind Whistler.
“Human culture is not homogeneous,” said Wind Whistler, “while I traveled with the merchant caravan, I saw humans of different places that had developed different cultural values and customs. Some placed emphasis on commerce, some placed emphasis on military might, and others placed emphasis on developing their minds, or something else. Some lived in houses, others in huts, some lived sedentary lives in a city or town, while others lived a more nomadic lifestyle, going from one place to another. They had different forms of governing themselves, some had chiefs, others kings, and several other forms of government.”
“But,” continued Wind Whistler, “with all those differences, cultural, or otherwise, they all still see each other, or recognize each other, as humans, they still see the ‘essence’ of what makes them human in each other. Their way of living isn’t what makes them ‘human’, but something else does, an innate ‘humanity’.”
Majesty’s eyes went wide, “What you say is, no matter how much ponies change or develop, as long as we still retain our ‘essence’ as long as we retain what makes us ponies, we will still be ponies.”
Wind Whistler smiled and nodded, “Yes, at least that’s how I see it.”
Majesty nodded too, “I understand, thank you, Whind Wistler.” She decided that now she was going to try and understand what that ‘essence’ was, what made a pony be a pony, and make sure that all ponies from all over the world understood it and did everything to protect it, always.