Hmmm...An earth pony with Power Incontinence might be interesting. They put all their effort into killing plants to prevent rapid overgrowth.

That would be kinda depressing.

Perhaps they could live in the desert and undo desertification.

Man we really need Earth Ponies.

Nomadic Earth Ponies wandering the Sahara and other deserts, turning it into a flourishing paradise.

...I'm sure something would still go wrong somehow.

They got Fertile Feet? Or uh, hooves?

Well, deserts are actually supposed to exist. The problem is that they're supposed to be distributed differently and mostly smaller.

EDIT:Many fans, such as myself think that some earth ponies can do that.

edited 30th Jul '12 10:53:02 AM by Sereg

Sereg: Or trimming. Floral art as a necessity.

@Freeman No, they set up camp somewhere for a few months (or however long it takes), grow a garden, and then leave.

@Sereg Yeah, it's a big problem in Texas, I think.

@Kuroi: I suppose.

Rainbow socks.

The Cakes.◊

Twilight fixes problems.

edited 30th Jul '12 11:21:00 AM by SkyStrike

Thinking about it, I've come up with a general theory on racial magic that simplifies things a lot. Not only are earth ponies naturally connected to the earth, but pegasi are naturally connected to the sky, and unicorns are naturally connected to the heavens/the void/the æther/whatever you want to call it. Said connections do not manifest themselves uniformly, but are personalized according to an individual's talents.

/headcanon

edited 30th Jul '12 11:10:51 AM by PerpetualLurker

Pretty much how I've always thought about it.

@Perpetual Lurker: Also basically how I veiwed it, but you worded it better.

Yeah that's basically how I see it.

Eh, we pretty much are Earth Apes.

Or to be more precise, Plains Apes, but whatever

Another important point in that theory for me is that those "connections" are incredibly vague. An earth pony would find it easiest to be good at growing a plant because of their connection to the soil, which supports and feeds the plant. A unicorn, on the other hand, could theoretically assist a plant's growth through a connection to the sun, which provides a plant with its energy, but those that would be capable of doing so would be rarer. The more abstract the connection, the less common it is, but it is still possible.

/more headcanon

edited 30th Jul '12 11:33:19 AM by PerpetualLurker

I dunno, the whole "Earth Pony magic" thing seems to me to try to establish some sort of equality in power between the three "races", where no such equality necessarily exists. I mean, gems are connected to the Earth; but Rarity would certainly have an easier time finding gems than Applejack.

I rather like the idea of Earth Ponies being less powerful than Pegasi or Unicorns, with no advantages to compensate their disadvantages; and the three races living together in harmony nonetheless.

In my headcanon, Earth Ponies are disadvantaged compared to Unicorns of Pegasi; but they manage nonetheless, out of sheer hard work and stubbornness. Yeah, Twilight could pick all the apples in a fraction of the time that Applejack does, as she showed; but it is Applejack who is going to spend days and days working on that, whereas Twilight would rather spend her time studying her fancy mathematics in her fancy tree library.

edited 30th Jul '12 11:41:26 AM by Carciofus

@Carciofus

We have Word Of God on the whole "connection to the earth" thing, though. Not to mention things like Appleoosa's orchard or the incredible strength exhibited by earth ponies at one point or another that wouldn't make any sense if there weren't something else at work there.

Ah, alright. If it is Word Of God, I stand corrected.

Earth Pony Magic does exist. It's been directly confirmed that only the Earth Ponies can grow food, and in Hearth's Warming Eve Applejack grows a sprout out of some dirt on her hoof in a few seconds, which is obviously not a natural occurrence.

I do agree though that the races aren't "balanced." Growing food is necessary and nothing to scoff at, but the Pegasi and Unicorns still have a clear advantage over the Earth Ponies in nearly every situation. Nor have we ever seen any clear evidence that the widely purported "Earth Pony Strength" actually exists in canon. All we know is that Big Mac is immensely strong, and Applejack is slightly stronger than her group of peers.

Anyway, I'm enjoying the fact that I can pop into the thread at any time now and see actual on-topic discussion going on. That being said, I probably won't be around as much as before until Season 3 starts, for various reasons. I'm off today though, so I'll definitely be posting throughout the day.

Do we know when Season 3 starts?

Most likely in September, but no, there's no official word yet.

It all depends on how you judge "equality". If this were a more action oriented show, we would probably be talking combat ability, which would obviously not be balanced. If were talking general usefulness or quality of life, though, earth ponies are no worse off than pegasi or unicorns, IMO.

I like the idea of Earth Ponies with Charles Atlas Superpowers because A) super strength is always fun and B) Earth Ponies would get pushed around a lot by pegasi and unicorns if they had no powers, and would probably be a lower class of citizens instead of equals.

At least it seems he intends on returning when S3 begins.

In any case, yeah, I tend to think that E Ps are the Boring, but Practical race. They can't fly or do spells, but their physical abilities and abilities to farm are above average.