1) Probably.
We’re a quiet, vegetarian species that mostly lives within our own borders, which just so happens to be largely docile forests and rolling, green hills. There are some intimidating species and climates out there.
2) Deflation implies a change in the economic value of money and goods. There really hasn’t been one here; things are just valued differently. That could change. There’s been talks for a while about altering the way our current legal tender works, but nothing has happened yet. At least as far as I know.
3) Exactly! What if those caverns were just mined out from a past civilization? Diamond Dogs couldn’t have done it; Griffon history began tracking the caverns before they ever ascended. Griffons and Dragons couldn’t have done it all, right? I mean, it’s all over the world!
4) Bon-Bon: Well- not that there’s anything wrong with it, dear. But I’m not really a wallflower myself. Lyra just tends to steal the show.
Bon-Bon: Largely novels by pony authors; I don’t think you’d know any of them. There’s this author, Anaphora Syntax, that writes these stories with similar themes. They all take place in popular religious settings, but from the view point of average folks. I’ve read a bunch of hers. The one I’m on right now- the perspective just changed for the third time. It’s been going down the line from mother to daughter. The second mother just died and her daughter, the new main character, hasn’t found out yet.
Well, there’s a long answer and a short answer. The short answer is because, that’s what Griffons called us. As for the long answer, well…
Worlds with multiple sentient species don’t just become intellectually advanced all at once. I don’t know that your world keeps track of this sort of thing, because you’re the only ones, but the process in our world is called ascension. It’s not the most popular subject among ponykind because we weren’t the first to ascend. We weren’t even the second.
To be considered an ascended species requires several things. You have to be capable of organized thought exchange, both verbally and in writing, amongst yourselves and other ascended species. You have to be capable of sustaining yourself in an isolated environment indefinitely (a nomadic lifestyle must be a choice, not a requirement). You have to be capable of creating shelter from raw materials and defend yourself from harsh environmental conditions. And I’m sure I’m missing some, but the most difficult is that you must be able to prove that you, or a community of your peers, can protect themselves against a staged attack by a malicious entity.
It’s debated pretty fiercely between dragons and griffons which ascended first, but we definitely came after both. There will always be those that argue, but there’s pretty definitive evidence. As we were hunted by them, griffons also studied us. When pegasus and unicorns first appeared, they observed pegasus manipulating rainfall to yield more substantial wild growth, and reported mild, though varied magical ability in us long before our recorded history began.
Griffons named us unicorns, which in their language at the time (they’ve gone through a few) meant one-horned, and pegasus were called pterippus- which I’m fortunate enough to be able to manually type out, because I can’t even pronounce that. After our ascension began we kept our name, but the pegasus didn’t.
The story goes that a “hero” by the name of Pegasus united or conquered, depending on interpretation, every major pterippus community and changed the entire species’ name to his own. He did some other stuff but I’m not all that into specifics. To that end, pegasus were the first pony species considered to be ascended, though at that time the term had yet to be defined.
Our hornless, terrestrial cousins have an interesting story. Pony roughly means small horse. Earth ponies were so named once unicorns and pegasus started appearing, as a way of further defining them, because we’re all ponies. But when our ascension began, one group of grounded ponies relied on hard work and close ties to the earth. They became what we recognize today as earth ponies.
Meanwhile the other group, fascinated with magic and the desire to harness it, called themselves crystal ponies. They somehow found that crystals were easier to store magic in and harness magic out of than anything else in the world. They even somehow used magic infused into crystals to create the artifact known as the Crystal Heart. When earth, unicorn, and pegasus ponies had to unite in order to survive, timelines show that crystal ponies had no need for outside help. Though the other three had lost contact with them, crystal ponies were already decades ahead of their time through magically-aided technological advancement. At least, so the story goes.
While on the subject, the last species to be considered ascended were cattle. Both goats and sheep are in the process of ascension.
1) Don’t pokemon have personalities independent of their species? How would I answer this? I mean, I like Jolteon. Doesn’t mean I identify with it.
2) Maybe. Maybe events are manipulated a little to give the appearance that we’re more unified than we are. Maybe that manipulation causes ponies to subconsciously behave better; because their internal voice expects it of them. Maybe other nations fear our unwavering loyalty to one another, and what that could do if directed toward a threat.
Maybe.
3) Cooler than not having weapons? I guess so. But they’re also dangerous.
4) Thanks, but I sort of played that game to death. I appreciate the notification, though!
5) Everypony can be a chump now and again. Nopony’s perfect.
6) I knew about Matt, that’s how I found out about the show. But I hadn’t heard anything about Mike. That’s fantastic! Do you have any voice credits for him?
1) Well, yes. The real world does tend to be real.
2) Every now and again, certainly!
3) Stupid, huh? Charming.
Maybe I don’t want to follow around some windbag as she spouts existential jargon. Maybe I wanted to play at the concert level. But you know how good you have to be to do that professionally? You think I’m the only one with a special talent for playing the lyre? Special talents aren’t all created equal. You know how infrequently lyres are used in contemporary performances? The few spots available are taken by ponies that are just better than I am.
4) I don’t want to leave Equestria. As for where ponies came to Equestria from, historically those willing to put aside their differences followed our ancestors here. Those that couldn’t let go of their hate, stayed behind and perished.
I don’t really want to talk about marriage anymore…
5) I go by Lyra but my legal name, the stuff I fill out on official papers, is Liora, surname: not available. I could tell Jane McRandom that my surname is Freechmen if I felt like it, but it wouldn’t make it true.
1) I… I look, alright. I look really hard. Some kind of… Explanation, a form of balance, a rational reason. But I can’t find it, or I haven’t yet. Humans have come so far without magic, without individualized flight, but all I can come up with is unpredictable luck. Nothing more. Your advancement isn’t based upon a group’s collective persistence over centuries so much as just one or two people working out of desperation and getting lucky. And if those people failed, it just sits until the next person possibly gets lucky. That’s… That’s not even a community. That’s just a bunch of ponies walking in different directions until one of them either finds something or gives up.
If there’s an explanation- if there is some kind of reason… It’s the hand. It can’t be anything else. It just has to be. The question is, why?
2) You’re welcome to come over, but I think I’m having dinner with Boscov again. I’m not sure. He said something about getting me some fresh kiwi, but I’m not sure when.
3) You’ve misunderstood a lot of things. We don’t have just one religion. We have just as little understanding of how we were created as humans do and there’s countless conflicting theories. We just don’t take it as a reason to fight.
Princesses Celestia and Luna are gods, but they didn’t create us. When some of us say gods, we aren’t talking about deities. It’s based upon an old measure of an entities strength; specifically their potential to threaten a society. The sisters are gods because they possess that much magical ability. Discord is a god because he can alter reality on a whim. Princess Cadance is just a measure below a god because, while she can manipulate the thoughts of others, she can only do so in one specific way.
But the oldest records of history talk about a time long before Equestria or any kingdoms where ponies fought for survival in an untamed land, just like any other beast. Any predator large enough saw us as pray. But over time, culminating in Equestria’s formation, we learned that if we prepare we don’t always have to fight. Amongst each other, we never have to. There will always be conflict, but that’s why we organize, plan, make efficient use of the soil and weather. And if humans weren’t so busy making bombs powerful enough to wipe out a city, maybe they could formulate a means to control weather too.
