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Early.
Should that be high or huge?
For.
Remove as redundant.
Sunset Blessing you still don't get it yet. Once you do, Will it be to late, if you ever do?
Lobbyists
Well, Blessing finally admits she's no better a pony than she was a human. Now let's see where that particular ball tumbles on from heron out.
9361697
As a human, Sunset was a fundamentalist Sunday school teacher in a failing marriage with one son who had no real career or marriage prospects. As a pony, she is the leader of a rapidly rising political/economic group, a religious leader who is deeply respected by hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of people, the mother of a immortal daughter who is one of the leaders of a powerful global organization and will soon be happily married, the partner of another pony who she loves and who loves her, and a soon to be grandmother. Of course she thinks she is "better" as a pony than she was as a human. She is not perfect, but she is in almost every possible way vastly better as a pony than as a human, and so is practically every other pony she knows. Can you name one character in this story who is not better as a pony than they were as a human? I suppose Swift Strike might have been better off. If he and Haley hadn't turned into ponies, perhaps the abusive relationship he was in with Haley/Rosetta would have turned into an abusive marriage? Perhaps Shadow Dancer is wondering right now if he might have been better off if he hadn't become a pony, but that's because he doesn't realize yet how merciful the Dream Wardens are likely to be with him. Tom was less than enthusiastic about becoming a pony, but now that he's in a relationship with Amanda, his life will soon be much better as a pony than it would be if he were still human.
I hope this story goes on to the third part. In the first part "What you are Meant to Be" we got introduced to these characters in a very basic way, and they didn't get a lot of development. In this story every character has suddenly become a complex multifaceted individual.
It took me a while to figure out why Devon got as much attention in this story as she has, despite her being critical to the main plot. She was practically the main character for the first few chapters and she is one of the characters you could remove from the story and the plot not be impacted at all. The reason why is she (and Amanda) are pretty much the only truly "good" characters in this story. Every other character in this story does things that are at times morally questionable or flat out wrong. Phobia--morally questionable, Wild Growth--morally questionable, Tattered Wing--morally questionable, and I don't think I need to explain how Tonya and Sunset are morally questionable characters.
All these morally questionable characters also have elements of them that have them doing good too, so it's hard to not at times root for them. I find myself rooting for even Sunset Blessing at times because she is doing good 90% of the time and I can see where she could be great if she ever reformed.
Devon and Amanda are the lone characters that don't get their morals dragged through the mud and stand in contrast to all the rest of the cast to remind us what truly good people look like.
9361923
And yet Devon and Amanda are, in terms of their ability to influence the world around them, two of the weakest major characters in the story. I think if they suddenly got handed great power, they would find themselves forced to make harder moral choices too.
9361877
A better person, not better of financially. Shimmerism isn't about ponies being better of financially, it's about becoming people making you a better person because 'humanity is innately dark and ponies are pure.'
Yet when Blessing was a human, she never killed a person. Now that she is a pony, she has. That makes her objectively a worse person than she was. And she knows this, she admits it even:
Which has me wondering what comes next for Blessing. Admitting is only the first step, after all. Actually acting to change it is another.
9362047
I'm not talking about Sunset Blessing merely being "financially" better off. I'm talking about the complete transformation of her life experiences and the radical changes in her personal growth she's experienced since she became a pony. As a human she was stewing in her own profound inability to change the world around her, and her endless frustration was making her an increasingly bitter and hate filled person. She has been transformed in so many beneficial ways since she became a pony,(becoming a visionary, charismatic leader, developing new skills, building new relationships with many ponies, including ponies as diverse as Phobia, Tonya, and Number Crunch, acknowledging many of the mistakes she's made, first as a human and later as a pony) and even her involvement in a murder doesn't, in my view, change that. To quote from an earlier chapter:
""But you're better as a pony than you were as a human," Tonya protested.
Sunset nodded. "I'm better, everypony is better, but that doesn't make me good. I'm better because I see the way to a better world and am willing to actually do what it takes to help make that better world. I'm also willing to do whatever it takes to protect my loved ones. I failed at that on both counts as a human. Princess Luna likes to look down her nose at me. She has no idea how low I was as a human and how much better I am now."
"Luna gets on you about the fact you're a Shimmerist from what you described," Tonya pointed out. She didn't like Sunset talking about herself like this.
"And let's say for the sake of argument that being a Shimmerist is wrong," Sunset said as she flicked her tail. "I don't believe it, but let's just go with that for a moment. I don't hate humans, you don't hate humans, Number Crunch doesn't hate humans, most Shimmerists I personally know except for a few bad apples don't hate humans. We want the best for them, and we believe that's making them into ponies. I hated humans when I was human; I hated all kinds of humans that didn't deserve it. You were there to see it, so you know it. I may still not be worthy of being called good, but I'm a hell of a lot fucking better than I was as a human."
Tonya gave a sad nod. Sunset had hated so many others when she was human, probably herself most of all. It sounded like Sunset hadn't let go of that self hate though."
9362255
Ahh, but in that conversation alone there's a hidden undertone: They don't hate humans, but they believe they're better than humans. They pity them.
That is, essentially, still racism. The kind of racism that caused Sunset to create ETS in the first place. Blessing really hasn't changed that much, the potential she displays now has always been inside of her. All that changed was that a catastrophic event gave her the ability to display them.
And mind that this story is mainly displaying the rare few transformed whose lives improved after this. Many more ponies have found their lot in life to have gotten worse, losing their jobs and as a result -as how the latest chapter showed- at risk of losing everything down to their houses. Others have been exiled from their families, lost their families as their transformed relatives move out of their lives, or even got themselves injured or killed by panicky or criminal humans.
9363133
I have to agree here. What about those who were technicians, engineers and software developers who weren’t lucky enough to be turned into unicorns. What about those who wanted to continue in their preferred profession but found they couldn’t, either because of discrimination towards ponies (which anyway you put it is just wrong), or because there simply is no way for them to continue doing what they wanted to do.
You also have to remember that ETS came with a fair amount of ‘psychological conditioning’ that made the transformed pretty much different in how they acted as well as how they looked. Although Sunset had plans for the ‘new’ earth, (if that’s how it would’ve been called), she underestimated her own work. You have to remember that she wanted the transformed to combine technology and magic and the result was they largely turned their backs on technology (though that may change at some point).
The ends never justify the means and no matter how beneficial the results, xenocide is never justifiable. Yes many lives have been improved but just as many have been wrecked as well. ETS is pretty much the greatest crime that has been levied towards the human race and there are those so enamoured with how their lives have been changed that they want to continue in it's pursuit. Given their actions, shimmerist are seeking to engage in a criminal pursuit and it will be interesting to see how all that works out, either in the development of human magic or something else from Equestria.
As is always we will have to wait and see.
9363133
9363398
I agree that many new ponies will have to face problems like the sudden loss of jobs and human racism, but I think you are both greatly overestimating the number of ponies who will have their lives significantly damaged by these problems. The most recent chapter in this story has shown us just how rapidly ponies are gaining a strong international social safety net, one which will likely be the envy of many humans in non pony controlled regions. Consider why Sunset Blessing in this chapter:
"...had to call the Shimmerist leaders in Orlando, New Orleans, Miami, Little Rock, Montgomery, Jackson, Saluda, and Brooks; as well as call the non-Shimmerists who had risen to leadership in Baton Rouge and Tallahassee. She still had high hopes of bringing Houston's leadership into SPEC's fold, but had given up the majority of the rest of Texas as a losing battle against the backward West.
The Caribbean islands and Central and South American nations with ports into the Caribbean were also on the radar, as offshore allies would be invaluable if the government ever turned on her. There were lots of ponies down there, and there was strength in numbers. If the worst ever happened she intended on having ponies in the south to have a place to flee to. Having places that could operate outside government oversight was simply valuable in itself as well. It was a good rule to hope for the best but make preparations for the worst."
Why do you think many more Shimmerists rose to power in the South than non Shimmerist Lunites and Harmonists? Perhaps you will argue that southern ponies are just more racist than western ponies. But I think the main factor was that Shimmerism is better at helping ponies defend themselves from human aggression and racism than its ideological rivals, and in the South, the large number of humans made the problem of human aggression more serious than it was in the West.
This chapter shows what an amazing job Sunset Blessing and other pony leaders are doing to prevent the problems you point to from ruining pony lives. When humans threatened to destroy the lives of those 2 dozen pony families on New Orleans, Book End just had to make one call to Blessing to get the help that prevented a lot of ponies from suffering a personal tragedy because of unemployment. As news of how ponies support one another spreads, I bet a lot of humans who are currently unemployed will be wishing they had become ponies as well. Many rich humans who normally wouldn't have helped their fellow humans with problems are likely to start feeling social pressure to be more generous, just to avoid looking bad compared to rich ponies.
9363767
I rather think you're underestimating those numbers. A safety net of this scale is inherently temporary, and many jobs once lost aren't easily regained. Book End also didn't get a magic solution to his problems by calling Blessing, he got a potential solution that may stave off the evictions for a while if they're lucky and play their cards right. And that help bites a chunk out of Blessing's resources, both the monetary and favour variety. It is not something she can keep doing indefinity, and even this attempt isn't guaranteed to succeed.
9363922
How "temporary" or effective the pony social safety net turns out to be depends on what new economic resources the ponies of the SPEC and the Pony Council acquire, and how they choose to allocate those new resources to meet the needs of the pony populace. And that, of course, isn't something we can know until the authors decide to write that part of their story's future. Still, I suspect, given Wild Growth's role in this story, and maybe Bob's potential role in ASGeek's story, that the growth in the pony economy will be so spectacular that it will be nothing short of "wild".
9364104
The economy is in shambles, with America is working its ass off just trying to make it recover. That they have a safety net for ponies at all is a major investment America can't technically even afford and the only explanation that it even exists is that it does to ensure the peace and continued loyalty of transformed citizens. Any estimation of the scale or duration of the pony safety net is going to be a downwards one, not upwards.
9364740
The human economy is in shambles, because millions of people who formerly participated in it have withdrawn their surplus labor. But how is the pony economy doing? Or rather the pony economies, since the development of the Pony South and Pony West are following different paths, at least in the first few months. But not completely different paths, since in both regions we find large numbers of ponies living in new, predominantly pony dominated communities. The development of pony mega cities in Riverview, Saluda and Brooks, although initially due to a initiative from the human dominated federal government, mirrors the creation of new pony communities in the West, and creates the demographic basis for a Southern pony economy separate and distinct from the human southern economy.
The limited information we have suggests the ponies in both the West and South are doing rather better than the humans, which is not surprising, given the potential economic benefits of magic. The economic situation is good enough to encourage a significant amount of emigration into the US by foreign ponies.
""There's some breaking news that came in a short time ago," said Rosalyn. "There's been a large spike in pony emigration to the United States."
"Why are they coming here?" Spike asked.
"If I had to guess, it would be the same reasons humans tend to emigrate," said Twilight. "Hoping for something better than what they had before."
"Immigration officials are up in arms about it because they're evading the border patrol," said Rosalyn.
"Well, the pegasi and night ponies I can understand since they can fly, but what of the other tribes?"
"Apparently the strongest fliers can each carry another pony."
"So much for the wall," Spike deadpanned."
In the South we see signs of significant investments in consumer electronics among ponies. In ASGeek's story, Connie visits an expanding company which sells cable television.
""Several manufacturers are now planning products that they believe ponies will want," Tim continued. "They hope to time their emergence in the market with Equestrian plans to reintroduce the use of currency to the ponies of the west. We plan on teaming with those manufacturers to offer a platform for their advertising."
Connie had heard of far-fetched plans before, but this took the cake. Did he seriously believe he could get ponies watching cable TV again? Never mind all the cord-cutting that had been going on by humans even before ETS.
"My company -- along with the aforementioned manufacturers -- piloted a similar program in our footprint in parts of the south with some good success," said Tim, showing off his perfect white teeth as he smiled for the reporters. "We see no reason we cannot repeat that endeavor here, especially now that the ponies themselves are reaching out."
So that explains it, Connie thought. She did know that ponies in the southern and eastern parts of the country were more integrated with human society. It still sounded like an overly ambitious plan."
This seems to imply that only months after many of them were living in tents, at least a significant fraction of the Southern pony population has both enough money and enough leisure time to be a viable customer base for cable television. And also for computers, given the development of the pony wand as a potential mass produced item. We also see signs in the last chapter that Southern ponies are planning to establish closer economic cooperation across international lines with ponies in Central and South America, which could create new markets for Southern pony industries.
In the West, we see the creation of significant agricultural surpluses among ponies, due to a combination of Earth pony plant magic and Pegasus weather control magic. Much of this food is given away for free, as a gesture of goodwill and Generosity towards humans. While the embargo on advanced magical knowledge for unicorns has slowed the economic development of the Pony West, the introduction of some basic spells, including fire manipulation magic, has already significantly raised the local standard of living over what it was only a few months ago.
9365041
There's no such thing as a 'pony economy.' A small number of ponies have, at best, a large cash influx from other ponies giving them their money. But it a single boon, and beyond that ponies don't have an economy as they don't produce and sell products or services that make money to a pony-centric government. Even in the main story, which is six months further down the line, ponies are only starting to get back into the economy, and the American one at that. Ponies themselves don't have an economy.
At this point in time, all Blessing has is a limited fund to operate from. She can make investments she hopes will pay out later, maybe squeeze some government funding for some projects, but she has no stable trade. Her funds are limited.
9365097
I know we have only limited amounts of data about what's going on in this story's world. In both Halira's and Asgeek's second stories, only about 9 days have passed. But even those short periods of time, we see remarkable progress being made in two separate pony communities a few months apart. So I really don't understand why you think, that despite the ponies having millions of magically empowered workers and some quite talented ponies in leadership positions, they are incapable of creating a "pony economy". Perhaps the authors could comment on this?
9365162
In this story only a week or so may have passed, but in Pandemic: Aftermath six months have passed, and the economy is only just starting to recover. To have an economy you need to be producing and trading goods and services, as well as have a system in place to manage that trade. Ponies currently have none of that. They produce neither goods nor services, nor have a system to manage it. Magic is heavily restricted, with unicorns damn-near having their proverbial hands tied to their backs and pegasi officially forbidden to mess with the weather. Only earth ponies have a free-ish reign to use their powers, and their goods are considered unfavourable on the human market that is terrified of magic, and what little trade does exist is usually free. The few ponies who do have services they sell, such as Wild Growth, keep circulating their money within the US economy. There really is no pony economy on earth. Certainly not one that can keep up ventures like what Blessing did in the last chapter for long.
9365179
The ponies of the West have essentially removed themselves from the previously existing cash based human economy. But they obviously still produce goods and services for their own internal consumption. The entire town of Pony Hope has been built from nothing. They have constructed new pony scale buildings for their own use. They have a new magic based medical system which is much better at treating at least some injuries than anything that previously existed. They have restarted their educational system. They have elected new leaders like Golden Sunrise. They are actively promoting barter trade with local humans, and helping humans develop their own local economies in order to encourage humans to reject modern capitalism and adopt a more ponycentric form of society. And Bob's current experiments have at least the potential of allowing them to develop an entirely new craft based industry creating new magical artifacts.
Obviously they could be doing even better economically if humans weren't trying to strangle their economy by restricting magic and preventing mining. But even despite that interference they appear increasingly satisfied with the direction their society is going. They are certainly not just sitting around wishing they were part of a "human economy". If the Western pony's new Generosity based economy survives and advances magically, it could become the embodiment of the Communist ideal, "From each according to their ability, to each according to their need."
9365179
9365162
39 days after counterspell as of this chapter. The first story by this author ended 30 days after and 9 days have passed since then. Aftermath it is less specific. It starts off with a vague 6 months after description and it's hard to tell how much time has passed since the start of Aftermath to its most recent chapter.
You're both right on different things. SB has limited funds to start with that can't just fund things forever. I think her funding is eventually coming from SPEC member fees and donations by members assuming some of them take off.
There's also evidence in Aftermath that her initial investments are paying off due to the success of pony products in the east and south. While the US economy is all one big thing different areas contribute to that. Individual states can still be in depression while other states have recovered. If the US economy is showing signs of recovery with the west continuing to be a financial black hole then something is carrying the economy into recovery and the south seems a likely source.
You can still see where SB is being very frugal. She has ponies building houses using literal **** as a cost cutting move. She doesn't blindly throw money at politicians, she researchs them. Even Number Crunch makes it clear that money that's being invested has to be invested with a great deal of research. They are eager to get businesses to invest and set up shop in areas like Riverview. The fact that SB's organization is focused on economic concerns rather than social concerns and freedoms in contrast with the Pony Council also backs the idea of a southern economic recovery that is helping carry the US economy when the west is still in a dark age economy.
While there is no 'pony economy there are different groups and areas that contribute and benefit in the overall economy more or less than others. She is pushing for a high contribution and benefit for ponies in the south and that may be paying off by the time of Aftermath.
9365233
9365260
Quite, but to get back on track, my point is that there far more transformed whose life has been impacted negatively than there are those who 'fell upwards' so to speak. The ponies of the West have adapted to this by following Sunset's programming and building a new society that disregards modern economy altogether, while those who seek to reintegrate have, a few exceptions notwithstanding, have by and large found picking their old lives back up an uphill struggle.