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Advance:
<div class="spoiler" title="your title goes here">Spoiler</div>

What, earth ponies acting like lightning rods or Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash laying on each other?
Cuz I could totally go for both!

Really though, it would be cool to see a little more power given to earth ponies in some way.
It's been said (not in the actual show, mind you) that earth ponies are magical, but in terms of being 'connected to the earth' which is why they are the farmers, builders, and general 'work-horses' of pony society.
It's a much more vaguely defined specialty than 'flight' or 'magic powers' so it hasn't been explicitly mentioned in canon.
I do remember reading a fic a long time ago where earth ponies had a magical ability to essentially become 'part of the earth.'
By planting their hooves and concentrating, they become all but impervious to any attack, even to the point of deflecting giant monsters as if they were made of steel or stone.

I always thought that that was a pretty cool way to give them a talent that was a little more flashy and somewhat on par with what the other races have.

How powerful are the Mane 6?

You really have to ask at this point? Most of them come across as legendary heroes of Greek and Roman Eras, and one's a freaking god!

You could probably describe most of them in the personality and abilities of greek gods actually.

Twilight Sparkle→ Asteria (Godess of nocturnal oracles and falling stars)
Rainbow Dash→ Athena
Applejack→ Artemis
Pinkie Pie→ Thalia (Muse of Comedy)
Rarity→ Erato (Muse of Love Poetry)
Fluttershy→ Gaia

@Deadparrot

That's a cool take on earth ponies, thanks for sharing. Have some Scootadash as a reward!

I've got a question for discussion, it's an old one, but I'd like to hear some dialogue about it.

Bronies are, for the most part, a group of teenage and adult men who throughly enjoy watching a tv show designed for young females. Most of us would, regardless, still strongly identify as men and masculine in nature. My question for you all is what do you think is the nature of masculinity and femininity and where do mlp and the bronies fall in regards to it?

I personally regard myself as a reasonably masculine person, and I do think the show is rather feminine, and I see no problem with my liking it. Not only am I willing to tolerate the feminine aspect of the show because I enjoy its writing, I also honestly enjoy the feminine stuff. My reasoning for why I don't think this really encroaches on my masculinity is that just because I like to hang around the girls doesn't mean I am a girl. I like to watch the show for the same reason I like to spend time with women, ALL OF THE GLORIOUS SEX because it's just kind of nice for me to experience that feminine atmosphere that women provide without having to provide it myself. It's nice to be able to take a break from the adverserial environment that inevitably emerges when all guys are hanging out. Watching females interact in a distinctly female way…that's something I as a man feel a need for, and the show helps me fulfill that need in a way that is only slightly less satisfying than stalking real women and 100 times less likely to get me arrested.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's kind of silly that you're considered less masculine simply for liking to watch or be around females. The way the two relate to each other is largely the reason why we even bother to draw a distinction between masculine and feminine.

My question for you all is what do you think is the nature of masculinity and femininity and where do mlp and the bronies fall in regards to it?

Masculinity and Femininity are social constructs created by dark age cultures to justify the position of males as the dominant force of the guardian caste, and the only justification for it is in a purely evolutionary sense that men are technically disposable.

Though in such a sense, actually dignifying such a position is brutal, as what is good for evolution is not good for society or individuals, only the genetics that spawned both. And as such, even the minor justification of the idea of "Masculine" or "Feminine" are rather repulsive in retrospect.

The continued social construct of masculine and feminine traits is a lesser evil than most, but it does continue to cause undue stress for those who still feel compelled to live up to it. As such these social constraints are best to be ignored when they get in the way.

Of immediate social concern is that traditional traits associated with masculinity and femininity generally place it on a pure dichotomy straight down the axis of active and passive behavior. Which has the unfortunate implications that men have to be active in a world where passivity is increasingly becoming a must for the continued stability of national peace when we are supposed to be cutting the wars loose from our social fabric.

The fact that women acting masculine is acceptable while men acting feminine is not further cements the violent culture of the dark ages. Thankfully, it is quite rare for women who embrace the so called masculine to over embrace it like men do, so it appears that active women are more socially adapted to modern life, which requires balance, than men.

The imbalance of a society that places activity and "masculinity" over continues to be seen in occasions where men in passive or nurturing positions are looked at as unusual at least, and looked down on other levels. Such is a tragic state of things if men who would be best suited for Day Care or a Secretary job are looked at as creepy and doorstops respectively.

Often of bizarre occasion is that in media, men are empowered unnecessarily to fulfill a fantasy surrogate for the audience when an empowered woman doing the same job would be equally or more engaging for the audience. Out of some misguided idea that men can only identify with men and women can identify either way; when in modern life we notice that this is not the case, as it is quite often noted that the small handful of mature and capable female characters are generally better received than the dull horde of copy paste "Male fantasy" which has ceased to be an actual fantasy for the well adjusted population of society.

Although female characters who have had power taken away from them so that the male can fulfill the "fantasy" are decreasing in frequency, the fact that the role is almost entirely held by women is a weird cultural artifact that is becoming increasingly stale. And a rectifying factor of a situation switch between the genders is still not seen visibly enough to maintain balance.

I must catch myself though, this has strayed out of Femininity and Masculinity being fake constructs to gender issues created by these false ideas, so let us move on.

An incredibly bizarre factor in these social constructs is that even the idea that traits often aimed at children are accepted for longer by the more feminine than for the masculine. And thus overly "feminine" women and men are continually seen continuing to collect large piles of stuffed toys and other things, while the extremely "masculine" are expected to have put away those things ages ago. Thankfully this is a dying aspect of the dichotomy, which is instead being continually absorbed by the nerd and geek ideals instead as they grow in popularity.

The strangest point by far though is that creativity itself is supposedly an aspect of the so called "feminine" when creativity is arguably a required aspect for acquiring maturity, as not only is our maturing society becoming more media oriented, but discovering what kind of person you are itself requires a lot of creativity in itself to allow you to explore your identity.

In the end, after carefully examining how outdated the concepts of "Masculine and Feminine" are when we should really just say Active and Passive without any gendered associations whatsoever, I can fairly confidently say that Bronies and the love of My Little Pony is the first major sign of rejection of outdated concepts of Femininity or Masculinity. As many of the male fans of the show are proud to associate with it even though it is marketed to appeal to the traditionally considered "Passive" females. And they usually don't fall to either side of "Masculinity" or "Femininity" to compensate either, they just accept.

A interesting note about the show itself is that its one of the few shows aimed at girls that actually promotes a fairly active attitude to solving problems, while not warping that activeness to the point that more passive ideals of diplomacy or creativity are rejected or ignored. As the main characters will generally go straight about saving the day and kicking the smog spewing dragon out of Ponyville, but the eventual solution is that of guilt tripping the dragon instead of fighting it; and calling it out for its bullshit rather than beating the crap out of it.

Its this balanced approach that more shows need to consider, within certain context, and the fact that it revels in its colorful nature and is full of female characters hides the fact it's actually remarkably neutral in terms of how it plays to roles of "Femininity" or "Masculinity", especially considering that those roles, as stated earlier, break down into just Active and Passive under proper inspection, which in an ideal world shouldn't be gender specific.

So with the concept of masculinity and femininity in good need of being buried, despite being an easy shorthand; My Little Pony thrives as a great way to show that it's acceptable for males and females alike to pursue both active and passive focused interests, and that things that are designated "Girly" may even be the key to realizing the creative side locked away in the the presumably passive behavior, and thus being able to adjust into a mature and stable being.

…

Um… I accidentally Kankri Vantas, is that bad?

1. Twilight (Alicorn level power, capable of countless feats that require vast amounts of energy [lifting an Ursa Minor, Gravity Spell, shield spells, etc.], prior to ascending was the most power unicorn the 1,000+ year old Princess had seen.)
2. Rainbow Dash (Highly athletic, capable of stunts that put significant strain on body, performed first "Sonic Rainboom" in recent memory.)
3. Applejack (Athletic, her farming has built muscle allowing for vast amounts of work, physically can perform at similar levels to Dash.)
4. Rarity (possesses a wide range of precision spells, was able to attack changelings, diamond dogs, and a manticore.)
5. Pinkie (has seeming limitless energy allowing for a wide range of activities.)
6. Fluttershy (can pull a hot air balloon at high speed despite significant wind resistance. Requires heavy motivation in order to do so.)

@Fifths

See this video:

@Zero

Ech, post-modernism.

I don't want to turn this into a long-winded debate on the forums, but I will say that I strongly disagree and feel that your argument was rather ignorant. To break down masculine and feminine into merely 'active' and 'passive' is to oversimplify and misrepresent them on a massive level. To classify them as only social constructs is to spit in the face of biology and human nature. To recommend they be entirely abandoned is to castrate the soul and dehumanize the men and women who are now expected to be sexless drones.

Contact me via personal message if you'd like to continue this.

So I take it Twilight is the strongest and Fluttershy is the weakest. I figured.

Besides the fact that Fluttershy is almost singlehandedly responsible for defeating (I use this term a little loosely) the manticore, the dragon, the cockatrice, and for turning Discord to the forces of good ( most of the time ). But yeah…weak, I guess…

Edit: TEXTILE! Y U NO WORK!
Edit: Edit: nevermind…

But she didn't defeat them by fighting them, she did it by being kind. The other members either use strength or magic.

Why are we only ranking this by physical strength? Isn't mental strength just as important in this show? Fluttershy defeated all of those monsters and reformed Discord by taking a moment to step back and analyze her situation, figuring out her greatest solution. I think it's unfair to say those victories don't count just because she didn't get her hooves dirty.

"Ignorant," Fifths?

If we must avoid being ignorant on a topic that none of us but you know about, then I'd ask you consider androgynous and undifferentiated traits sets, as I generally feel (and tend to score) more as being undifferentiated in terms of my identification. I don't really have strong masculine or feminine traits, and androgynous people in terms of traits do better than both feminine people and masculine people in many regards. That seems to indicate that there is at least a third identification that should be considered in a full, not-ignorant discussion of traits.
 
As for the constructs rebuttal, by definition, gender traits are purely social constructs. Purely. What you're speaking to is biological in nature, so I wouldn't confuse biology or human nature with gender.

It's less "spitting" on human nature and more an apparent misuse of the concept "gendered traits" by the original question. You should be more clear when asking these questions in the future in order to prevent other ignorant responses.

As for my (likely ignorant) answer to your original question (I should hurry, I owe Brownmane a response before I get started on another project):
 
Like I said, if you're asking about gendered traits, then I think watching MLP (or any show primarily intended for young girls or at least perceived to be for young girls) is deemed to be a attribute of a young girl. Most cultures hold strongly to concepts of gender. So unless there is a reason nearing necessity for taking on an attribute that is associated only with a young girl, then society needs to acknowledge that person as being more feminine at least in order to preserve a life-guiding construct. And watching Friendship is Magic isn't seen as being necessary to humans by society.

Most people only think of androgyny in terms of being intersexed (which is the mistake I believe you made: getting sex mixed up with gender when the two are actually separate but often associated). So even though a man could have feminine traits and masculine traits, the society in which both of us are embedded tries to dichotomize people into having primarily one trait set or the other (i.e., masculine or feminine.)

So without being able to be undifferentiated or androgynous, having an obviously feminine attribute that isn't necessary to being defined as a human by society gives that society a few tallies toward "feminine" in regards to defining you as masculine/feminine.

In order to "combat" this feminine perception from society, one must actively participate in many other non-essential masculine activities. This would include weight lifting, watching sports, hunting, being sexual towards the opposite gender and in an moderately aggressive way, having a masculine appearance. etc.

Most bronies really aren't these kinds of people. Most bronies (either due to age or lot and/or situation in life) are single. Many don't have much relationship experience. I don't think we have a ton of hardcore sports fans here, and I don't think any of you played many varsity sports like American football, baseball, hockey, or others associated with the North American concept of masculinity (football (soccer) isn't seen as being as masculine as others here.) I don't think we even lift. I don't think we have avid hunters here. I'm guessing most of us are pasty white guys who aren't built like trucks based on the images I've seen of many of you (Fifths is actually darker than most, but I'm a very small black guy myself.) You might get the idea.

So if a brony strongly identifies with being a part of a subculture that is focused on a show well-known for over 30 years and even today as being for "little girls," and there are few non-essential traits that we participate in as a group that would counter that one non-essential attribute that we don't have to participate in as humans in society, then that attribute will be seen as being more indicative of our trait set than our presented gender which is as simple as cutting our hair and wearing comfortable clothes.
 
So as society defines it (society being the only factor in what makes for gender,) bronies aren't as masculine as other men.
 
 
If you're talking about hormones and aggression, then that will be a different topic.

Forgive me for any ignorance.

Knowing is half the battle isn't it?

Look at what I found!

It seems I'm going to have dust off my brass knuckles again. Gotta keep the heretics from putting their grime on this beauty.

SHE'S MINE.

@Verbose
"I don’t think we even lift….I’m guessing most of us are pasty white guys who aren’t built like trucks based on the images I’ve seen of many of you "

>"I don’t think we even lift"
>"think we even lift"
>"we even lift"
>"even lift"

Bro,

I

LIFT

And in many ways, that's better. I'd take a victory through kindness, rather than brute strength or violence any day.

Actually I had literally no idea what on earth I was talking about, and was just spewing recycled opinions from a thousand social justice bloggers.

That was basically me doing an extended role-play as a learned reaction that I picked up when I was young.

…

I mean it, I don't really know.

But whatever the case, I'm the last person you should ask on matters of Gender, Masculinity/Feminity, or even Sexuality.

…Considering I don't consider myself to have any of those things. At least not in a traditional sense.

I'm going to avoid gender discussion and move straight back to Earth Ponies:

Let's assume that Earth Ponies have traits that the unicorn and pagasus ponies don't, like extra toughness, nature sense, 100% resistance to electricity and bludgeoning damage.

Does that mean Twilight, upon "ascension" got those powers, too?

That's some mean multi-classing.

@Zero

…Well shit man, that was a really good mimic. You had me fooled.

@Verbose

Okay, so because I find one person's arguments to be ignorant, that automatically means I think everyone disagreeing with me is by definition ignorant that I am the sole source of learning in our argument? Come on man…you once criticized me for writing barbed arguments that take unneccesary pains to insult people while making a point. Not only are you doing exactly that, you're misrepresenting me to the point that it's insulting.

For the first time, I'm going to be the one to cut this conversation short because you're the one fatiguing me. You're steeped in an ideology and have redressed the argument in a way that your own conclusions are correct by definition. Any argument between us would go nowhere, and I'm not interested in pointless arguments.

Let me just say that I think that there is something more to masculinity and femininity than simply "Whatever arbitrary traits society has said are appropriate to one sex or the other." I think there is something more to being manly than merely playing sports, racing cars, and shooting guns, more to being feminine than wearing makeup and buying shoes. While I agree that we shouldn't strangle individuals and force them to strictly adhere to either masculine or feminine archetypes, I think it's wrong to completely discard masculinity and femininity as entirely arbitrary.

Well before this show came out I'd consider myself 100% Masculine. Love chicks, R Rated Action films, some sports (Boxing mainly because I thought a sport where two men beat the shit out of eachother was more entertaining than watching a bunch of men chasing balls), rock and metal music, used to work out like crazy (mainly when I was in highschool, I've gotten very lazy recently and I'm pretty sure I couldn't lift the way I did in highschool if I went to the gym today….which is sad because I had the best Deadlift for my weight class back in Senior Year, oh how my coach would be so disappointed in my lifting habits since I got out of that school).

Then suddenly MLP comes along and suddenly a bunch of men no one would ever think of being 'sissies' or 'fags' are suddenly labeled as such. The show has made me realize that what makes a man is not the woman in his arms (because she has big titties), it's the way he fights everyday…..no it's probably the titties (An upvote to the person who gets the reference!). I do think that the fact that you can outright say you love My Little Pony and not be ashamed of it does give you some masculine points, everyone has that one thing they like that they'll never admit to people because they think it'll negatively change their opinions about them.

Fifths wrote:

@Zero

…Well shit man, that was a really good mimic. You had me fooled.

Heh, thanks.

I know a friend who's an actor, and he's always said I need to draw from my own experiences to act properly.

…That never worked for me.

Instead, I take a shortcut, I sort of "Borrow" someone else's personality. And from there I let that personality do the talking.

It kinda makes me wonder about myself though. I kinda wind up feeling like the real me is a blank slate, and everything else is either stolen or broken off.

For everyone who remembers, yes, that's kinda the reason I find it hard to create a Ponysona. Or any kind of Persona.

Well… Part of it. The other is that they kinda gain a life of their own and drift apart from me a bit.

… I should stop this here… Not everyone wants to hear me gush.

It's time for Mortal…Kaos.

Ok, these are the choices that got the most support in the last poll on the subtitle for the thread here. I'll leave this up maybe a bit longer than I did the last one. You get to pick one of six choices; the one with the most votes wins.

Choose your destiny!

Popular Twilicorn fanon says yes. Canon has yet to elaborate with the closest confirmation being Cadance's endurance while maintaining her shield spell in The Crystal Empire.

@gender/post-modern debate

@gender traits discussion

This is actually a very interesting topic. I have read what other people have posted and will now give you my opinion. I will put it in the spoiler tab to avoid yet another tl:dr taking up to much space. Here goes!

Just watch the first couple minutes

It's always fun to see a little nod like that.

For some reason I just came up with a weird spin on the Derpy/Ditzy name dichotomy.

Basically whether she's using one or the other depends on which way through time she's trying to go after learning a few tricks from Doctor Hooves.

So while going back in time she may call herself Ditzy, and Derpy while going forward.

Maybe her logic goes along the lines of this:

"If while going back in time I use a different name, I'll be less confused if someone I don't know, knows me. And if they mistake pre-timetravel me for current me, past me will assume they got the wrong pony rather than be scared out of her brains at the idea of stalkers."

Just some crazy thought.

Though, it could be the other way round, but that would assume she meant to destroy the town hall to fulfill a time loop or something, but I doubt that.

Edit: There's also the possibility she didn't want to get confused with the Doctor with the whole "Hooves" last name as well. Just throwing that out there.

I would assume that alicorns have powers of all three ponies, like the earth pony powers you mentioned.

Also, I made the front page of MLB with this:

Do you guys think Earth ponies get jealous of pegasi and unicorns? Think about it.

Pegasus ponies: they have wings to fly
Unicorn ponies: they have horns to use magic
Earth ponies: um… they grow food?

Seriously, it must suck to be an Earth pony. They have a huge disadvantage. What can they do that other ponies can't? It's not like unicorns and pegasi can't grow food too, they'd probably do it more efficiently than Earth ponies ever will. It's just something that's been on my mind.

@Alicorn Powers and stuff.

Yeah, there probably is a bunch of powers that Alicorns have that come from all three ponies.

But! There may be individual variances based on which offshoot they may be associated with.

For example, Cadance gets Crystal Pony stuff, since same base powers, different expression (Earth interpreted as "Crystals" instead of "Plants").

Luna probably could have a little bit of Lunar Pegasi in her we don't know about.

(OH NOES! Suddenly I brought up up one issue I can't shut up about! BAT PONIES! someone hit me over the head with something!)

Seriously though, however it is that Alicorns gain their powers, they probably gain their attributes from whichever ponies are closest associated with them, at least one from each major Pony kind.

Technically, if you want a truly mythicaly dubious Alicorn that looks like freaking Quetzalcoatl or something, you could use nothing but the dubiously canon non standard ponies for whatever the ascension method is. Like one Crystal pony and a Seapony instead of two earth ponies, a Bat Pony in place of one of the Pegasus, and have one of the Unicorns have whatever is going on with Sombra with the Bent horn and the Etheral mane.

…Congratulations, you have now got the weirdest looking theoretically possible pony. And also possibly a Mary Sue.

Until find evidence otherwise, I'm going to work on the assumption that the most natural methods for Alicorn ascensions involves the math of 2 unicorns, 2 Pegasi, and 2 Earth Ponies, including the one becoming an Alicorn… But that offshoots of the same kind are perfectly acceptable substitutes.

@DisturbedBrony's "Earth Ponies are envious of Pegasi and Unicorns" thing.

Yeah, that's probably a thing. But from what we can tell, there's a factor we aren't fully aware of that fits into this… And I know at least one possibility.

Competence.

From what we know, there's a vast number of "Special Talents" out there, and the vast majority of ponies don't get a talent associated with their race… or any race.

Unicorns "usually only get skilled at magic associated with their talent." What's to say that a similar rule doesn't rule over Earth Ponies and Pegasi as well?

If we assume that an Earth Pony or Pegasi could get magic as a talent, then maybe examples of that would involve an Earth pony who can cause earthquakes, or a Pegasi that can shoot lightning out of their feathers.

…Or some other crazy stuff.

And when the next thread starts I'll just go full nazi mod and do something only I want.

Dog Gammit, Hasbro.

If we look to Hearth's Warming Eve, we see that Earth Ponies excel at agriculture. Whether or not only they can grow food is something that has been debated for pages over on TV Tropes. It's difficult to confirm or deny given that, in the episode, the pegasi lived in the clouds and unicorns lived in the mountainous region, making crop growth difficult for both.

It may be kind of cringe inducing, but Earth Ponies appear excellent at manual labor given their size. Couple this with their farming abilities and it's no wonder they usually do the physical work, while unicorns are more apt at precision and pegasi at…flying?

If we move into the realm of fanon, than the door opens wide. From the popular "super healing abilities" found in fics like The Immortal Game, over to super strength. None of this has been proven in canon, however.

I would think that all the ponies get jealous of the others' abilities. Pegasi of the Earth Ponies growing abilities and connection to the plants (just imagine not being able to grow anything in your city), over to the unicorns jealousy of flight (why do you think that Flutterwing spell was invented?). Granted, Earth Ponies do probably have it worse off.

Oh wow, still talking Earth ponies and stuff. Okay.

So far, all three have some loosely defined magic, as we've been told. And the good thing about it being loosely defined is we can at least make up as many scenarios as we can and sort out which seem likely.

I personally think that given enough time and enough dedication, any initial differences between the races kinda dies out after a point after figuring out some ingenious uses for the skill set.

That is, assuming they know what they are doing.

Anyone who knows about Pinkie Pie's weird stuff could reasonably assume she's a Earth Pony Wizard.

(Picture related cause it's hard to tell if she could actually do this)

…Pinkie is a special case though, as I've ended up coming up with some odd explanations for her. Including, but not limited to her being an Oracle, or her having achieved Reverse Nirvana.

And by "Reverse Nirvana", I mean, her head is so full of chaos and energy that she has achieved enlightenment and insight into the world. As opposed to quiet still introspection from regular nirvana.

Edit: And One more Thing (Says Uncle), Who says Life magic as a power is lame? There's healing spells for one, controlled growth of stuff for another, and lots of other stuff.

If Applejack Used life growing magic too well, and it got perverted, she could make a good stand in for Alex Mercer.

…And then there's the fact life based energy also tends to be the most explosive. Being flammable and all.

Waaaaaay ahead of you my friend

… but yes.
That's what I was talking about up at the top of the page actually.
I really would like to see the show give earth ponies a slightly more… tangible talent than the rather vague 'connection to the planet' that they have now.

For those who missed it, the official battle between Scootaloo and Rarity took place the other day and guess who won…

Check out the carnage! Rari-fans may want to avert their eyes.
Scootaloo: Destroyer of All!
(inb4 indestructible Rarity)

@SpikeDog
And let the Photoshopping… begin!

Really, out of everything Equestria Girls has done so far, the concept of having Spike be a dog (assuming the rumor is actually true) is easily the weirdest.
It's been made pretty clear that normal Spike is not a pet seeing as how Twilight has an actual pet and Spike even had one himself… for a little while.
If anything, he should be human at the very least; maybe Twi's little brother or something.
I mean, really, what's it going to be like if AJ still has Winona in this new universe?
We'll have a talking dog and a normal dog?
Eh…
Spike deserves much better.

For whatever reason, I just really hate the idea that ponies are jealous of other races (especially earth ponies being jealous of pegasi and unicorns). I just feel it unnecessary to think that somehow certain pony races feel bitterness towards other races for being able to fly or perform magic and that some races are better than others. The whole point of Hearth Warming's Eve was to show the perfect unity between all three races and why all three races are needed. I think way too many people in fanon underestimate how useful the earth pones are. Think about it, they have a stronger connection to the land than any unicorn or pegasus ever will. They have Earth in their name, the idea that any other race could be better at taking care of the land is ridiculous to me. You didn't see any unicorns working on the farm in Winter Wrap Up (at least to my memory). Earth ponies are the entire backbone of Equestria. They supply all the food, build, and work hard. They are very sturdy, and only pegasi like Rainbow Dash could stand up to an earth pony like Applejack in an arm wrestle. Earth ponies just aren't given enough credit, man.

If this latest rumor for Equestria Girls is real all I can say is….that's pretty lame. Okay I get it, his name is Spike which is also a common dog name but we're going to be forced to believe that there will be a purple human girl in highschool with wings and her name is 'Twilight Sparkle' and everyone else in that world will just shrug it off and be like "Well that's perfectly normal" but we can't have a significantly younger kid named Spike?

Spike better be a fucking talking dog or this show will immediately….meh I probably was only going to watch one episode anyways so……..Yeah it's not like my hype for this can go any lower than it already is.

@Spike rumor

I must say, with every little bit of info I find out about EG, my enthusiasm for it wanes and my cynicism toward it grows. Hopefully the next leak will be something epic (like the Earth they're on is some sort of Turtledove-style AU with zeppelins and a Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere). That would very quickly spark my interest and joy. But no, it'll be some Teen Nick "Kid Com" (Kid sitcom) mindless bullsh--you see? There's that cynicism.

I just had the stupidest musings…

What if like… Scootaloo was a unicorn instead of a Pegasus? Would she use her magic to pull off some hover-board trick? All Back to the future and stuff? Using her board to fly in a way she couldn't as a Pegasus?

What if Sweetie belle was an Earthpony? Would her singing be able to make plants grow? Would the volume of her voice be able to crack mountains as a pure feat of strength? Would she be "Sweetie Belle: Dovakin" all "Fus-Roh-Dah!"?

(Suddenly wonder if Luna's Royal Canterlock Voice push-back effect is from her earth pony attributes.)

What if Applebloom was a Unicorn?

…Actually that one's fairly obvious, she'd either take after Twilight as a magical engineer or something, or she'd take after Rarity. Depending on how you interpret her talent.

Another fun one… Even Stupider.

What if somehow Pony-ville got launched into orbit, with Fluttershy inside, and Angel wanted to get up there to see her?

… I somehow imagine the conclusion would be attempts at carrot Jetpacks.

@Pony race discussion:
Ah, I remember the last time a people became divided between those who could fly and those who couldn't…it was called Transformers…it didn't end well.

Throughout the whole show I wasn't sure if I liked the nod or not. Although, I really did find the part with the girl talking with a brony over webcam pretty funny.

So… Spike's a dog now? This EG thing just gets weirder and weirder…

I chuckled a bit at the thought of Spike, the talking dog, around at the same time as Winona, a regular dog. But then I thought of Pluto and Goofy, and realized it had been done already.

Still though… A dog? Couldn't he have been a younger kid or something? I mean, he's supposed to be Twilight's assistant, not her pet! Oh well.

Umm…

Role reversal?

I mean, before, Spike was the one with hands, and was helping Twilight with all the dextrous work or stuff that needed hands.

NOW WHO HAS THE HANDS? AND WHO DOESN'T?

Heh.

…

I'm still sore the art hasn't started depicting Twilight and Rarity with a horn.

…If they put it in though, all is forgiven.

My apologies for sort of derailing the current thread topic, guys, but I want to tell you a story.

And, in truth, I also sort of need help with something.

Back when this whole brony business first broke on 4chan’s /co/ board, I thought that “teenagers and adult men and women who like a My Little Pony cartoon series” had to be quite possibly the most stupid thing I had ever seen on the Internet, and by this time I had seen some pretty daft stuff on the sites that I visit. Not knowing any better at the time, I actually seriously thought that this had to be some extremely sarcastic method of trolling on the part of the /co/mrades that launched this entire fandom. Who ever heard of a group of grown men that liked My Little Pony? Utterly ridiculous.

Not so ridiculous, as it would turn out…the “brony” phenomenon grew bigger quite quickly. In December of that same year, somewhere in the neighborhood of two and a half months after the show had first aired on the Hub network, the pony news site Derpy Hooves News was launched, and I didn’t know what “Derpy Hooves” was or anything, other than that it had something to do with this recent, bizarre development of fans of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, which I would come to learn soon after originally discovering the phenomenon, was actually serious for the most part. Still, in an assessment so ignorant that nowadays I am actually ashamed of myself, I brushed off the idea of a news site dedicated to a fandom focusing on My Little Pony, thinking that somebody had just decided to spend some money on a domain name and formatting to carry this joke on further. When I found out that the fandom was a serious thing, I couldn’t believe it. How could I have been so blind? Why hadn’t I listened to that original horde of /co/mrades that gushed about the show’s earliest episodes, and recommended it to all those that might have happened across said praise for this new cartoon that had been grilled by some writer for Cartoon Brew before its premiere, arguably the happening that prompted many to even watch the show’s premiere, and in turn, caused the creation of the brony fandom.

Very shortly after the creation of Derpy Hooves News, suit was followed by the site I’m sure we all know and many of us love, Equestria Daily. Around this time, it was becoming harder and harder to resist thinking to myself, “I might as well check it out, for you never know what surprises may lie with this new cartoon,” “50,000 /co/ users can’t be wrong,” etcetera, and the pony craze had already spread to /b/, with no sign of slowing down any time in the future. From very humble beginnings, we now had a legitimate, respectable (respectable?) fandom, and I was no longer able to hold to my “it sounds stupid” values. I still didn’t have very much interest in the cartoon at the time (or if I did, I’m not admitting it to myself or anybody else), but I definitely had interest in the fandom. I had never really wanted to pick on the bronies, but I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t make the idiotic generalization that the fans of this cartoon must all be off their rockers. As soon as I remembered that the fandoms a person decides to correlate with don’t guarantee determination of any large personality traits and that they aren’t the reason a person acts the way that they do, to put it in simpler terms (speaking as a long-time fan of things like Pokemon who doesn’t feel very affected by this at all), I cut it out with that thinking. So, my interest in bronies was on the rise.

Sometime in mid-2011, I gave up. Earlier that year, ponies had been banned from /b/ (and /co/, to my knowledge, though I might need a citation on that one), and that was when I decided that I was no longer fooling myself with my “there’s no way I’ll ever watch this show” put-on. So I decided that I would just watch the first episode, to finally curb my raging curiosity and see what all this fuss was about. Then I watched the second episode. And the third episode, and the fourth episode, and so on and so forth. I was utterly shocked with myself when I realized that not only did I like this show, I loved this show. There didn’t seem to be a single thing about it that I didn’t wholeheartedly enjoy; the characters, the voice acting, the plot (oh, and the story is great too), everything was fantastic. Maybe it’s just the feeling of euphoria every soon-to-be-brony seems to experience when they first start watching the show, but at the time, I was all about this cartoon. It was seriously the only thing I could think about for a couple of days; I had to really force myself to do something that had always been easy for me: focus in school, because I couldn’t will the Mane 6 out of my head. At school, I would try my best not to slip up and say “everypony” in class or when talking with my friends, try not to hum some song from the show or eek out a reference, tried to keep my bronyness private. At home, I would rewatch the same MLP episodes over and over and over again, because I loved them so much that I couldn’t stop. Yes, for a little while, I was the most obsessive closet fan in the history of closet fans. I became as actively involved in any brony communities as I ever have, watched the show much more than I do nowadays (and make no mistake, I still watch it quite frequently when I have some free time), and wore my fingers down to the nub clicking on Like and Subscribe buttons when watching YouTube videos created by members of the brony community. Yes, Evan was sort of a fanboy.

Soon, the “holyfuckponiesarethegreatestthingevertohappentome” vibe wore off, and I found myself not nearly as enthusiastic about ponies as I once was. Whatever magic that had previously been there was gone, and by this time it was just me enjoying a great show and a decent community. I was familiar now with the fact that the fandom had its negative outliers, but was I to expect otherwise? I don’t think anybody can name any fandom that isn’t like that. By early 2012, /mlp/ had been born, and I was pretty excited, because I finally had a place on 4chan to enjoy ponies without having to worry about the mods and angry anti-bronies jumping on my case (I managed to avoid a ban during the pony pogrom on /b/ and /co/, because I don’t post often on 4chan anyway), but soon that vibe died off as well. I was no longer much of a fanboy, and was more of a tranquil fan. I was still active in the community, but I wasn’t all smiles like I used to be. Ponies didn’t feel like a gift from above, but more a pastime. And I was alright with that--I still am alright with it today. But that’s beside my point.

Like I said, I had become a VERY active closet brony for a bit, and sort of dropped off in terms of excitement and enthusiasm for the show. As a matter of fact, I’m absolutely certain that earlier in this thread somewhere, I mentioned that I was sort of in an “I watch the show merely for the sake of watching the show” rut…anybody who wants to go look for that post may if they’d like. I still think that it means a lot to me, and I’ve grown pretty attached to the characters emotionally. I no longer feared the thought that people might know about my taste for the show--I’d been publicly outed as a brony before in the past, but that was with an entirely different set of people than that which I will address here. I came to learn that some of the same people that called me out on having an FiM episode up on YouTube in a different tab while I was using my laptop at lunch (then stole through my history and saw the thousands of pony pages I had looked at; which taught me to clear my history before showing my laptop to ANYONE) were also fans of the show, and embraced me as a fellow brony. I felt comfortable about that, so I didn’t go to so much effort to hide the fact that I’m a brony from then on out, because I’ve learned that most people I hang out with don’t know what a “brony” is anyway, and those who do oftentimes are bronies themselves. The reason that I use my real name on this site and that I have no problem with talking about ponies and bronies here is that I don’t want to be as afraid of people knowing about my bronyness anymore. If any of my friends that doesn’t already know happens across my account on this site, hey dude, it’s Evan. I like ponies.

Now, cut to a school setting. I had told myself that there was absolutely nothing about ponies that could actually freak me out since I was first outed as a fan of the show, but I had been lying to myself the entire time, and I knew it full well, too. I knew perfectly well that there was one huge thing involving ponies that I was worried about--having somebody that I cared a lot about called out as a brony at school. I was good enough at covering my tracks and enjoying pony content discreetly at school that nobody knew about my bronyness, and although I didn’t make as much of an effort to keep my bronyness hidden anymore, there was still reason for me to avoid actively telling people that I’m a brony, because there can be a really horrible lack of mercy and reason towards students attending my school that are considered “awkward” by the other, more alpha students. I’ve only been beaten up once in my life (and that’s one more time than I would have liked, of course), and I would rather be beaten up again than be teased, mocked and abused like some of the guys and girls around here. It’s saddening and depressing, really.

I didn’t want one of my friends to get called out for being a brony (because I know that several of my closest friends are bronies, and three of them I actually introduced to the show myself), because good Lord, man. Anybody who’s revealed in public to like My Little Pony is going to get eaten alive. I knew that. But I told myself that there was no way it could happen, because I figured that, like myself, my friends knew how to be discreet about viewing pony content while at school or at home (my parents, of course, know about me being a brony, because there was absolutely no way I could hide that from them, so I didn’t try. They were a bit uneasy about it at first, like we all are, but they got used to it and become tolerant quickly enough).

So, cut now to today. Like, earlier this afternoon, as a matter of fact. It was lunchtime, and I was sitting in the library with my iPad, playing a couple of highly addictive mobile games. I decided that I had waited long enough for the immediate lunch line to reduce, so I began to make my way out of the library and cut to the cafeteria across campus. That’s when I heard the words.

“My Little Pony?”

For a second, I came to a dead stop. My heart skipped a beat, and I felt an icy shiver directly in the back of my neck, behind my matted hair. “Oh fuck oh fuck oh fuck,” I was screaming in my head, hoping that this situation I had just walked into by chance wouldn’t result in the worst outcome imaginable.

Then I heard the response, and everything just about went to Hell in my head.

“Yes, My Little Pony.”

It was the voice of one of my best friends, one that’s been a brony for about as long as I’ve been one, but only told me a couple of months ago. If there was anybody that I absolutely did not want to see this happen to, under any circumstances, it was this guy right here. This is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met that I’m talking about. The spaghetti was just soaring into low Earth orbit.

Jesus Christ. I tried my best to pretend that I didn’t hear/didn’t care about this little exchange, and practically jogged down to the base floor of the library to pick out a book from the shelf at random, not even looking at the title, cover or author. I wanted really badly to leave the room, but not with the situation that my friend had gotten himself into going down. And what could I do? How could I defend him without sounding like a brony myself? I probably knew better than most people at this school that if you defend somebody who’s been chosen as a victim, you’re labeled the same thing. Worse still, he knows that I’m a brony, and probably a bigger fan of the show than he is. I mean, we’ve even watched episodes together at my house. If I teased him for liking My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, it was dreadfully obvious that he would call me out on my bullshit.

So, feeling obliged to get a better look at the situation and analyze everything as best I could in the very short time that I had, I walked back up the stairs as quickly as I could, still trying very, very hard not to look too interested in this state of affairs, and got the glimpse that I needed. He was watching an FiM fan video on his iPhone, and five guys were warming up to give him shit about it. This rumor was going to spread like wildfire, that anybody could guarantee. I was trying to push out of my head the question, “Why on EARTH would you watch anything pony-related in public, at school?” and trying to figure out some way to help my friend.

The standard comments you’d expect from somebody meeting a teenaged My Little Pony fan for the first time were tossed out, and my friend unfortunately took the bait. “He’s trying to explain what a brony is,” I thought as I heard him sounding totally serious in his explanation from the other room, while these other guys started to snicker louder and louder. His explanation of what a brony is was totally fine--in fact, it was excellent. But, of course, these guys wouldn’t have it. Their current fixation was on that they were face-to-face with a teenaged fan of a My Little Pony series. Make no mistake, I consider these guys to be my friends for the most part. It’s just that, like most male teenagers, they don’t take a particularly reasoned approach to stuff that one would consider “awkward.” And, by this school’s standards, bronies are pretty freakin’ awkward.

I sat down for a moment and quickly ran through the situation in my mind, trying to figure something out, but of course, things just kept getting worse.

“Hey, Evan!”

I had wanted very much to avoid being pulled into this until I had a thorough defense for my friend planned that didn’t make me sound like a brony, but it looked as though I wouldn’t be spotted that luxury. I decided that there was no possible way that I could convince anybody to believe that I didn’t hear my name called from the next room, so I bit my tongue and walked out into the room and said, “Hmm?”

“This guy is trying to convince us that My Little Pony is the greatest show on television!”

I stalled, because I knew that he was expecting me to defend him, and to tell them how awesome I thought the show was. I couldn’t do that, of course. So, instead, I paused and acted sort of confused, like I had no idea what they were talking about. “It is, the plot is amazing!” Before my friend could finish that sentence with “Right, Evan?” another round of teasing started, and there I stood, motionless, as my friend hopelessly tried to defend himself.

It broke my heart.

I couldn’t stand it. I had to do something, so I tried to really strain my vocabulary to come up with some nearly indiscernible sentence that basically translated to “Fuck you,” but I blanked out and couldn’t think of anything. He looked at me, and I could feel it coming. Any moment, he was going to announce that I liked this show more than he did. I wanted to mouth, “I don’t care what you promised Sethisto, you don’t try to ‘spread the fandom’ around here,” but I didn’t have enough time. Finally, when the second wave of sarcasm and insults subsided, he just made things even more desolate by saying, “Seriously, it’s great, you guys, watch the rest of this video.”

He taps the iPhone screen, and I feel like banging my head against the wall I’m leaning against. God, these guys are just having a field day at this point…and here I stand, doing nothing and not knowing what to do. For the first time in a long time, I didn’t have a plan or approach in a tight spot. The video he was playing, which was some animation with the Mane 6 and Vinyl Scratch, was actually a well-made video, but it wouldn’t have mattered if it was created by Donatello or Michelangelo. It was a My Little Pony related video, and that says just about enough.

Finally, one of the guys grabs the iPhone and pauses the video, saying “I’ve seen enough…” then another round of mockery and insults begins. I finally snapped, got down on my knees next to my totally unfazed friend, put my arm around his chair, and said, “OK, look.” Then I began to talk our way out of this situation, having managed to reach a point where I could think clearly, because short of my friend telling these guys that I’m a brony myself, nothing could possibly have been worse. With nothing to lose, I could finally get my mind working.

I talked us all the way to the cafeteria, managing to cut the conversation short, but it’s quite clear that these five guys are not without their suspicions about whether or not I myself am a fan of the show. I mean, most people would likely have joined in teasing this poor guy about the television shows he likes, but I didn’t. No matter how well my talking went, I still sounded objectively pro-brony. There’s absolutely no way around that, no matter how I try to look at it. These guys aren’t stupid, either. They know that I sounded pro-brony as well as I do. I made it very clear that it wasn’t just the fact that these guys were picking on this guy that I was trying to crack open, it was something deeper than that--it was about why they were picking on him. And in the tone I took (a pretty light tone, but still obviously serious) and the words I chose, I laid it out pretty simply for everybody around.

Now here’s where I need help: where do I go from here? Obviously, it’s now known that a close friend of mine is a brony (and a very public one, according to him…), and it may very well be suspected that I’m one as well. How am I supposed to deal with this without sounding like I’m straining my reasoning or acting too guardedly defensive? I expect this to blow over soon enough, like plenty of things do, but it sure won’t be easy for the time being. Basically, my question is “now what?”

…………….

Um… Well…. Verbose, if you could please had in your tl:dr card in so we can give it to Evan, that would be great.

I knew that thing would be useful someday.

New EqD poll results: What Culture Would You Like to See The Show Explore?

Once again the sheep vote Changelings. I'm really questioning if they know what culture means. Could you picture a Changeling artist? Intricate Changeling architecture? As a hive of shape-shifting, love feeding drones, I doubt the changelings have much culture at all.
As for myself, I'd like to see the glorious Griffon soviet union kingdom expanded upon.

Well…
yeah, I can see your point on what you're trying to say there, Evan.

severely minor cough

If you can take the seat for Verbose right there, I think we'd all be grateful.

Maybe if you should try to defend him, you can just lecture/ask those five other kids (you tell us they're "smart" [also known as being a moronic douche bag], so I'm assuming they'd listen) why they wanted to pick on your friend there and why should they.

I mean, obviously they're going to give a really fucking stupid answer to the second question, but it's easy to combat most things bullies say, nearly almost in a snowclone format.
(Kind of like: "Oh, because he's X and it's/that's Y.")

If they answer with something along the lines of, "Oh, because he's watching My Little Pony shit and stuff and it's girly and shit," you can just say something like, "And you are entitled to making fun of him by spouting mockery and derogatory statements and just taking his stuff away why? (Emphasis)"

I'm pretty sure they'll give another bullshit answer and you know they've gotten their feet in wet concrete, or however that saying goes.

If they do spread word, and if everyone starts to become assholes about it, then try introducing your friend to those other people who are also bronies (although I'm implying you haven't introduced him to them).

If they start making fun of you, IGNORE IT try to ignore it as much as you can. That is the best way to go. Unless it gets too much, do not report the bullying to administration or staff.

As Crimson suggested, go to the office when you need to (by when you need to I mean if you think you should, which is a good idea actually).

I remember when someone outed me as a brony once. Tried using that twice to spread word to other people that I was,but fortunately barely anyone knew what a brony was, so my luck almost ran out there.

This year, I joined a group of kids (in my grade) who were also part of different fandoms, although they particularly didn't really like the brony fandom as a whole, they still respected I was part of it. So yeah, that probably was the first time I outed myself as a brony.

And masculinity isn't what defines a man, what makes the boy just (as in behaviorally just) makes him a man, at least as I see it. To put in other words: Masculinity can become a trait, but what good is in that person's heart makes him a man.

Page Get.

I should stop typing now.

Advice from a sophisticated 13 year old. Thank you for reading this.