Well, I'm back boys and girls, friends and neighbors. Now, we're all familiar with the layout of Canterlot canon wise: basically the Castle, then the city around it. In RDD Lunaverse, however, Canterlot is broken up into Tiers. So, lets go over how the tiers are set up, and where everyone and everything goes.

Umm, a side note, and this is just a personal thing, and no doubt something many of you will down vote and ridicule me for: no brothels, casino's, or opium dens. This is Canterlot, not Las Pegasus. Not that any of these things are illegal per say (though opium and the like may be exception to the rule) but rather Luna would much rather have her home and capital of her nation as spit polished as possible.

We need an abandoned warehouse district, for kaiju fights. :-)

Another thing we need is a shopping district for those interested in the fashion industry to gush over and everypony else to be bemused by.

2033470
Given how laid back Luna is about things, I don't see her keeping a red light district out of Canterlot really. The nobles however...

I would like to see the forges for crafting the Armor for guards tended to by the best earth pony smiths.

2034404
Those would probably be in the higher tiers.

I assume we're working on the basis that generally the lower the tier the lower class the situation is? However, anyone entering the city (apart from Pegasus) will have to move up through the tier so their might also be 'sectors' running up the city which are also of varying quality.

The lower tiers might also be the newest, as it grows maybe the city is moving down the mountain so it might actually be that the lowest tier is something of a 'commuter belt' where as the tier above it is the more grotty one.

I'd don't think the number of tier's was mentioned but it seems to be even number (Each foal was taking two tiers) and all could be covered by a small group of foals so probably 8-10 tiers although there are probably sub tiers and districts. I'd think they would probably be numbered from the top down as the top would be the oldest.

Presumably the palace is at the top and probably makes up a 0th unofficial tier.

The 1st tier near the palace is probably where the movers and shakers have their residences as well as all the support they need, high class restaurants, shops, etc. Also the more important buildings such as the guards barracks I.e. Blueblood, Greengrass, The Sparkles etc.

The 2nd is probably for the less important nobles, the upper middle class and the like live. i.e. Max, The apple trust, etc.

The 3rd could be where the richer servants and the like live as well as the posher but not top of the range shops and businesses are. The performance and shopping districts would be here or possibly in the 4th. The offices of the more expansive parts of the night court beauracracy might be here as well. I could see Notary living here or maybe a bit below.

The 4th is probably the lowest of the high class areas of the city most of the 'behind the scenes' castle and night court servants live here along with the various support for them. The higher class industry is probably here as well, like the guard armour forges mentioned above as well as the lower ranked guards themselves.

The 5th is probably where the higher parts of the lower classes come in. It's generally a nice place where those who work in industry of the surrounding tiers. Pages who don't live in the castle or their bosses houses probably live here abouts.

The 6th is probably much like the 5th but a bit more lower class. I'd imagine that this is where the main train station is. This was the newest tier when they were invented so it was placed here and has grown since. Due to that there are quite a few warehouses and industry here. General population are the lower classes who work here or for the higher tiers.

I'd think the 7th is probably the nastiest of the tier's the houses were built cheaply and are starting to get on a bit. The poorest of the city tend to live here and the problems of crime and the like tend to be greatest here. Some places are worse than others and some sections might be undergoing renewal but generally not a nice place to live. Some industry might take advantage of the (comparatively) cheap land and workforce to set up here.

As I discussed above the 8th tier is probably the newest, it's probably relatively cheaply built but has all mod cons as it were so it's probably a nicer place to live than the 7th or 6th tier. There's probably good train access so could contain quite a few warehouse and storage facilities.

What do people think?

I think that since Canterlot is a capital city it would also be multicultural. Its lower tiers, apart from maybe having some slums or tenements, there might also be some parts with non-pony races and cultures living there. A little like London.

I don't think Canterlot would really have an 'industrial' section. There don't seem to be any natural resources by it, and it's probably inconvenient to build your factory on a mountainside. Also, the upper classes likely wouldn't want factories (which can be noisy, smelly, and polluting) anywhere near them.

There are probably a lot of warehouses to hold goods, but I doubt anything is actually manufactured inside city limits on an industrial level. There's probably individuals craftsponies who build stuff in the back of their shop and ponies with hobby gardens in some of the larger parks, but not full manufacturing districts.

2037795

Well going by the M-verse we've seen there are gem filled caverns within the mountain itself which appear to have been mined at some point and the L-verse have Diamond Dogs and Salamanders wandering around in there so there might be useful materials.

2037795

There don't seem to be any natural resources by it, and it's probably inconvenient to build your factory on a mountainside.

Nope. Actually, while American factories started out by ideally being next to rivers for the energy, European nations were more known for building them into the sides of mountains for the access to coal and lumber.

2040220: But it's also where the capital is. I can't imagine Luna or the high nobles want to wake up to a face full of factory smog.

Maybe the gems were mined out earlier? Certainly no one seemed to remember them, and Luna seemed perturbed when she found out that they not only existed but had been commandeered by Diamond Dogs without anyone noticing.

2040333 yeah. Diamond dogs are btches like that.

eh? eh?

2040333
Well, London, Paris, Berlin, etc., were actually all major industrial centers, London in particular being famous for smog. But having said that, those cities weren't build into the side of mountains with a limited amount of space.

There could easily be small satellite towns around the base of the Canterhorn mountain that are industrial centers, with maybe a dedicated weather team to keep the smoke out of Canterlot itself.

2036832
I really like this take on the city, i'm not sure how bad the poverty/housing would be allowed to get though given it's both the capital and relatively small, plus Equestria; given what Lute said in his story it might not be quite as rough as described, even if still not nice, but I could be wrong.

2042304

Most cities are built on transport routes most commonly rivers or at least good fertile land neither of which is likely to apply to a city built on top of a mountain. Which makes you wonder why the capital was built there in the first place although when a countries run by an immortal pseudo-goddess I guess you break all the rules.

I can remember one story in which to stop ponies trying to worship them Celestia and Luna decided to take a several hundred year nap in the most remote cave they could find. When they woke up they found that the ponies had found them and had built Canterlot around them

2047346
I think "Hearth's Warming Eve" implies that Canterlot is built atop the same mountain that the founders of Canterlot took shelter in a cave of.

2047346
Canterlot does have a rather large waterfall and some fertile land, especially beneath it.

It could even be treated as a matter of the shows scale, sort of like how Warcraft towns make no sense. I figure that Cantelrot was picked as a fortress city, the mountain is pretty defensible, especially from a medieval perspective.

I recall reading something like that, I loved that idea, would you be able to link me to the fic?

2048018
Huh? That only just occurred to now but I guess I can sort of see it, though that brings forth the question why Celestia and Luna were living in the castle in Everfree. hmmm Maybe Canterlot wasn't always the capital?

2048578
Well, there's a few thoughts on the castle. I have a sneaking suspicion that the Season 4 opener will probably answer them.

2048578

I'm afraid I can't remember which one it was, I think it was about Celestia teaching Twilight how to be an Alciorn and pointing out that so going to get worshiped at least a little bit.

If I do run into it again I'll tell you.

2050747 Was the fic Alicornundrum?

2048589
I wish I could be that calm about the whole thing.

2050747
They may not be the same fic then, but i'd be curious regardless, TY!

2050800
I don't think so, not if he and I are thinking of the same fic, I've never read anything but one of RCs works and I think this fic took place before Twi's ascension.

2050800

Re-reading it I fairly sure it was, although as Vazak said there could be others with the same idea.