If the Pegasi are as "Spartan" as they appear. The fact that they were unable to subjugate the Earth Ponies should say a lot about their position in all this.

As for the unicorns. . .I get the feeling that they are the most laid back about all of this. As long as the manorial lieges are well feed it doesn't matter. It actually paints a rather sad portrait of life as an Unicorn commoner, since your usual job has been rendered irrelevant by a foreign country.

edited 9th Aug '13 9:42:52 AM by Mio

It does mean they had the most bargaining power, though. The tribes lived in divided lands, so it's not like the E Ps had to pay landlords. The unicorns needed the sun and moon every bit as much as the E Ps, and couldn't hoard it. The pegasi could harass the EP's with bad weather, but that would ruin the crops and leave everyone to starve, meaning they'd have two tribes to deal with if they tried it.

The E Ps, meanwhile, could do with the food as they pleased. They could maintain it all for themselves, and could therefore set prices. IF the other tribes were unhappy, their only response was force, at which point the E Ps could simply cut off all supply(Or have it cut off in general if they were conquered).

This, by the way, is why the plot of Hunger Games doesn't work.

The reality is if you even have all the riches in the nation, you'll still need some providers of resources or else you really don't have a kingdom. No man's an island, y'know!

edited 9th Aug '13 9:48:59 AM by KingKix

What doesn't work now?

edited 9th Aug '13 9:45:50 AM by KylerThatch

Basically, the reason the hunger games, ie. through 26 teenagers into a ring and watch them fight to the death, works is because the centralized government bullies the 13 city-states into submission through military might.

The problem is that each city-state produces a single resource - one of which is food. The only place in the country that produces this - and because it's not a luxury it's also the worst-funded city state. If it rebelled, the central government would respond by wiping it out like it did with the last state rebelled, at which point they would promptly starve to death because they just wiped out their only food source.

Nyarly: Don't want to be a wet blanket, but that's unlikely to work out. BronyCon had to really push to get her and she indicated in the BronyDoc bonus disc that she really had to just move on after BronyCon. Chances of any con getting her now are slim to none.

Keg: Well, each of the tribes has a component that's needed for the food to prosper. While the earths might have had a bit more power in that they could horde the food, they still need water from the weather and the sun to grow it. If they were to ever get too unreasonable, the other tribes could easily pull a "taking you with me" sort of deal (do not underestimate the power for irrationality fear and desperation have over people).

Well, I never really expected that to happen anyway.

Actually, unless I'm mistaken, it's revealed in the next book that District 13 wasn't wiped out. There's also the matter of them having a large police force they can send over to quell them short of wiping them off the map.

Also, the Hunger Games doesn't work so well on the logistical level, but it's more about the symbolism n' shit. The agriculture and coal districts are the ones that get shat on as a metaphor for the treatment of the working class by the elite. By rights it doesn't make sense that the district that makes luxury goods is better off than the one producing food, but it really isn't that important.

edited 9th Aug '13 10:05:14 AM by Pannic

But, the people who make luxury goods are better off in real life too. At least in the first and second world countries. The only time nessecities do better than luxury goods are during times of extreme scarcity.

Since the Gryphon lands seem to be east of Equestria, I reckon Manehatten was founded as a trade city to facilitate easier trade and travel for friendlier Gryphons. It evolved to include a manufacturing/industrial/economic base as a result of trade/technology pressures on the predominantly Earth Pony community living there, so while Manehatten is lighter on magic than Canterlot, what little magic it has is used in more advanced ways.

I feel proud of myself. I made a friend, and it wasn't accidental like just about all of my previous friendships. They're more of a professional friend than a personal friend, but it's still a significant achievement for me.

Achievement Unlocked: Intentional Friend.

Seriously though, congrats.

Hey guys! Are you alright? Course you are! Anyways I have moved from Derby and now I'm in SCOTLAND! I'VE FINALLY ARRIVED IN THE HIGHLANDS! I'm currently settling in at my wooden villa, when I heard it was going to be on a farm I'll be honest this was not what I was expecting at all. But it's got some great views overlooking the Highlands of Scotland, it's got a hot tub and a bedroom that wouldn't so out of place in a Lord of the Rings film because the upstairs rooms have the celling so high that it makes you think of the Baggins house in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. You literally have to crouch in order to get through the door way. I didn't really sleep well in the hotel I stayed in because I had to content with a very hot room with no air conditioning, traffic noise considering the hotel was right near the highway and having to sleep in the most uncomfortable single bed ever but other than that, life is good here.

So anything happen?

Wa' Hae!

Calm down.

Pretty.

@Ace: I always imagined Manehatten having kind of a dutch vibe, if only for the historical joke.

I recently heard a pony reference from one the last places I would expect. It was a friend of mine who is not a brony, but knows about the show through the only intended fashion that Hasbro originally intended. Through his daughter. He mentioned while I was playing New Vegas he commented that one of the ponies, specifically "the apple pony, who's kind of rough around the edges" reminded him of a character in the game. I didn't mention that I watched it because. . .well I was too busy laughing internally.

I love you cracked.com.

edited 9th Aug '13 11:26:30 AM by CDRW

everything is connected...

Let it be known that if that fact put people off Holmes for life, they can turn in their mancards right now, and forever forsake their rights to it.

put me off Holmes? that little tidbit did the exact opposite for me: made me love the stories even more.

@CDRW: That really doesn't surprise me as much as it should. What with all the influence of the Romantic movement at the time.

God it''s just like if I see any Merch for MIP FIM for Build-a-bear or what have you, either I'm completely paranoid or just afraid but I wonder if the plushies and you lot are judging my actions and make me extremely worried....I dunno maybe just a theory, or my mind playing up....(Nervous chuckling) Uh ya not judging are you?

'Course not.

in fact, i think some of us here have a plushie or two already.

I got a Dashie plushie from BAB, she doesn't judge.