I figure unicorns can grow gardens the old fashioned way, like us humans, while earth ponies can churn out plants like a plant-packing plant.

I've always found something compelling about a truly tragic villain. I mean yeah, a villain who's just straight up evil can be really good if they're fun about it - Discord is portrayed as pretty black and white, but he's a helluva good time so I don't care - and an irredeemable villain with a decent Freudian Excuse can really add new levels to a piece. A complete monster can be absoljutely terrifying, and watching a not-so-bad villain Jump Off The Slippery Slope can make you feel for them... but nothing every really compares to a truly Tragic Villain, thrashing madly at the world in vain. Granted those ones should be kept in reserve for a more villain focused work, but still.

Which reminds me Ginger, have you seen Unbreakable? I'd think you love that one to pieces.

@Ginger: Not really; we're just saying that because one pony race is by-and-large better at something than another pony race couldn't have isolated ponies who's talents happen to overlap.

@Dhana: It's pretty heavily implied that the other races couldn't get food, period. The unicorns had a city, but there was definitely free land around it.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:38:41 PM by JapaneseTeeth

Well, Ponychan evidently doesn't want gay people there anymore, so I shall respectfully leave the place.

Again though, you're BELITTLING the Earth Ponies. They've finally been given a type of magic and you're instantly trying to discredit it by saying that anyone can do it, but the E Ps do it better.

Can E Ps walk on clouds? no. why? because it's something only PEGASI can do! Let the E Ps have SOMETHING

edited 29th Dec '11 1:39:35 PM by gingerninja666

Did I pick a bad time to post updates?

Yeah. Fluttershy is the primary example of that kind of thing, as typically Earth Ponies are the best at dealing with animals, but Fluttershy is simply naturally talented at it rather than magically talented at it.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:41:05 PM by PerpetualLurker

OK, I walked in at the wrong time. I don't mean to use this for venting, but Ponychan is a festering cesspit and my Skype group is dead, so I have no other choice.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:41:53 PM by PinkieP

@Ginger: So you're saying that it's wrong for a Unicorn to enjoy gardening even when she doesn't gain the supernatural benefits to it that Earth Ponies do just because Earth Ponies should be the only ones even allowed to do it?

It's not like plants simply wither and die if a non-EP touches them. They simply grow really fast and produce lots of fruit/vegtables/whatever if Earth Ponies work with them.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:45:18 PM by PerpetualLurker

No, I'm saying that if a unicorn wants a garden, then an EP should be allowed to control the weather. Can they do that?

(Two-Face mode) It's not about what's right. It's about what's FAIR!!

edited 29th Dec '11 1:45:23 PM by gingerninja666

GingerNinja: "Can EPs walk on clouds? no. why?"
Twilight Sparkle: "Tell me he's not..."
GingerNinja: "because it's something only PEGASI can do! Let the EPs have SOMETHING!"
Rarity: "He is."

—R.J.

It may just be because of the social structure, now that I think of it:

• Earth Ponies lived by the countryside, they were peasants.
• Unicorns lived in a castle, they were nobles.
• Pegasi are the army.

It's not they couldn't do it, it's just they didn't need to. And when the famine came, they just didn't know how to do it because they haven't for centuries.

EDIT to Mousa and Pinkie: Well, it seems, indeed ^^'

edited 29th Dec '11 1:47:26 PM by DhanaRagnarok

eh... might have been, Mousa.

Ginger, this is one Unicorn we're talking about here. And consider this: there's a spell that can make you walk on clouds. There's a spell that can give you wings. Why wouldn't there be a spell that could give you a green thumb?

Unicorns are gifted simply in that they have access to a greater range of magic in theory. Certain kinds of magic are stated to be retardedly hard, even for a powerful unicorn like Twilight. Unicorn power isn't some all-encompassing, "hey look ma I can do fucking everything" god-power, it's more like a knack. Like how someone can whistle the alphabet backward, or someone can make themselves burp, or someone can wiggle their ears. Magic is largely relegated to a single knack. Yeah, they can theoretically teach themselves how to do it, but it's insanely difficult - I've been trying to teach myself how to wiggle my ears for years.

By the same virtue it's possible that both earth ponies and pegasi could have similar knacks, and thus teach themselves more tricks as well. You can't tell me that trailing stormclouds is just something that naturally happens, after all, nor that keeping miles of orchard alive on the care of two people is something just anyone can do. All magic is likely more flexible than we've seen, but it happens to exert itself in different ways naturally.

Earth Ponies are hobbits to the Unicorn's Sauron and the Pegasususususes Saruman.

What happened? I've known that Ponychan is pretty bad but I didn't think it had fully descended to the lows of its originator.

@Ginger: They could through mundane means rather than magical ones. We humans have changed the weather plenty on our planet via terraforming and introducing chemicals into the air. Should other ponies be unable to move things because Unicorns have telekinesis and thus moving things is their special talent? I'm sure anypony can grow things naturally, but Earth Ponies make them grow faster/better/stronger/etc.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:49:03 PM by PerpetualLurker

@ Ginger: OBJECTION! Earth Ponies CAN! walk on the clouds. When a Cloudwalking spell is cast on them. And what's that about controlling the weather? Didn't hear you cause Trixie showed up and made a Thundercloud.

@ Mousa: Awesome I asked that Rainbow Dash Style question (I think while anonymous for some reason). I agree with the answer.

@kegi btw, I love Unbreakable. Morgan Freeman played such a great character.

Yeah, tragic villains are my 3rd favourite type of villain (behind Well-Intentioned Extremist and Magnificent Bastard)

I was the one who brought up the thundercloud. What I meant is that E Ps can't do any of that. They need a unicorn

edited 29th Dec '11 1:53:43 PM by gingerninja666

Morgan freeman was in Unbreakable? Why don't I remember this?

Because he wasn't. The villain was played by Samuel L. Jackson.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:55:47 PM by Mio

And thus the topic was dropped.

It's kind of hard for a villain to not be tragic nowadays. As long as they have a personality outside of pure evil, I actually kind of like the villains that are practically a force of nature rather than a someone with clear goals and motivations. Not that I don't like tragic villains either, I just think that just about anything can be written well enough to work.

Well then it sucks to be them.

Just kidding. They need specifically either A: a ridiculously powerful Unicorn that comes about once in a lifetime or B: A cripplingly specialised Unicorn.

edited 29th Dec '11 1:55:47 PM by Badwolfwho

Bah! Ninja'd.

Have you seen another pony make a plant grow from a hooffull of dirt in seconds? No?

edited 29th Dec '11 1:59:15 PM by kegisak

@Lurker E Ps can't use telekinesis though. No matter how much they try they can't move a cup with their minds. Nor do they have wings. They have no claim to fame that's ALL their own. That ONLY they can do.

In fact... the only one that do... are the unicorns

Way to make me feel like a FUCKING RETARD!!!

edited 29th Dec '11 1:57:55 PM by gingerninja666

So ginger just implied black people look the same. *smacks Ginger upside the head* all is forgiven.