Some thoughts about earth ponies

I’ve been thinking about it and I want to share.  
In short – earth ponies are useless as a race.  
Now, let me explain, why.  
Why are unicorn special? Because they have magic.  
First – telekinesis. It’s a great power, actually. Take biotics from Mass Effect, who are capable of warping atomic bond, create singularities, fly, lift heavy objects making fly others and many uses. Remember also Ermac from Mortal Kombat. Thanks to his telekinesis, he’s one of the most fearsome opponents, and he can just tear apart a man without much efforts.  
Second - magic. Nuff said. Reality warping in it’s finest. Maybe not like Discord does it, but to similiar level.  
Pegasi can fly and control the weather.  
Unicorn have the school of gifted unicorns, where nopony else can study.  
Pegasi have Wonderbolts where nopony else can serve.  
What earth ponies have where no other pony can serve? Nothing.  
Now, what are they capable at? Pulling carriage? Please, anypony can do that. Sweetie Belle was able to pull a carriage, full of luggage and other stuff without much strain.  
Garden? Anyone can do garden. I know many people who grow vegetables and flowers. Unicorns can do it even better than earth ponies, because they have magic.  
Strenght? No way. Rainbow Dash was able to beat Applejack in hoof wrestling. Also, a single Unicorn can easily overpower any number of earth ponies with telekinesis.  
So, this is my opinion. If any of you have something to add, go ahead.

All I’ll say is: Necessity is the mother of invention…

@Ebalosus  
Cherry Berry (an earth pony) frequently rides around on a pedalcopter or hot air balloon for one.

Soo are you saying anything other than the obvious?
 
I mean, we DO see that one has wings, the other has a horn, the 3rd has neither.  
It might have escaped your attention but this is not something that needs pointing out.
 
Anyway, Lauren Faust decreed in the name of fairness that earth ponies have “earth affinity” (whatever that means), ie. Word Of God says you’re wrong. Anybody can NOT garden and so on. Sorry.

Sigh, another topic about that….
 
While at this point we could REALLY use factual proof about that special Earth Pony affinity in the show, it’s pretty obvious that they still have a purpose. If the other two races were truly an advanced evolution, then we wouldn’t see Earth ponies anymore, everyone would have wings or a horn. Even more so than someone making another Pegasus or, heaven forbid, yet another Unicorn OC, genetics cast out inferior versions which over time with the generations only keeps the best aspects.
 
That means that it’s a fact Earth ponies have something unique which is incompatible with the evolutionary path of wings and horns. Otherwise, each time an Earth pony would breed with a non-Earth, its children would gradually get closer to having wings or a horn with each generation, eventually giving those to everyone.
 
Of course, one could claim that Earth ponies have nothing special, that their genes are incredibly dominant and thus override evolution, or that it’s some sort of highly common genetic defect in the same category as malformations and hereditary diseases, but that would come for sure with some sort of discrimination towards Earth ponies due to being inferior. That isn’t the case.
 
Or you can just dismiss evolution/genetics and claim that Earth Ponies are meant to be the inferior race, forced to do the job the Master Races choose not to do, the typical supremacist argument. That… just doesn’t fit with the setting of MLP, at all.

@Poison Trail  
Well, actually your last statement is correct. earth ponies do the dirtiest and most difficult work. Unicorns are refined and superior magic users, all in high society and magic schools and such, and Pegasi are proud warriors and air conquarers. Earth ponies are nothing. There wasn’t anything special about them in the show. all unique and amazing things were done either by Unicorns or Pegasi. Besides, Unicorns can teleport, change the matter itself, alter gravity, self-levitate, create things out of nowhere and such. They can easily create food and no earth ponies would be needed whatsoever.

@ARQDAC  
“my headcanons are fact, quack quack”

@ARQDAC
 
 

I think Earth Ponies get looked down upon because they have no obvious powers and no obvious mythological ties. To that I say, imagine Svaðilfari, the horse that that giant used to help rebuild Asgard. The horse was so unassuming that the gods were willing to let his master have his help, despite their previous insistence that he do it himself. Said unassuming horse carried load after load to help rebuild the walls that the duo was able to rebuild Asgard’s walls in the ridiculously short amount of time it would take.

 
 

 
Earth ponies have chutzpah
 
@ARQDAC
 
Also, can you point out where unicorns have created food? The truth of the matter is, except for proteges such as Star Swirl, Twilight, Starlight, and Sunset (hmm), most unicorns don’t have a whole lot of magic at their disposal. Rarity, for example, can dowse for gems, mend things, levitate, and generate light. Useful stuff, for sure, but not the kind of stuff you’re implying.

@cheezedoodle  

 
 

@ARQDAC  
Octavia, Hoity Toity, and others are earth ponies that are more “refined” than most unicorns we see in the show… same with Sapphire Shores, who is also a wealthy, extremely successful performer and celebrity. None of them do “dirty” work. You make the common assumption about unicorns also that just because we’ve seen some of them that are very adept at magic and can do things like teleport at will (Twilight, the lead character of the series), that somehow means all unicorns as a race are that overpowered, when its been plainly stated that characters with magical ability like Twilight’s (or even Trixie’s, as she made her living off of displaying her powers meaning they were clearly out of the ordinary) are exemplary. Twilight is a ridiculous measuring stick to use to declare the powers or even potential of unicorns as a whole race, as she represents Magic itself, so basically has no equal in that respect.
 
Powers for ordinary unicorns are pretty much limited to telekinesis (which is nothing to sniff at true, but doesn’t seem to really give them any edge in day to day life in pony society) and maybe some sort of ability related to their talent, like Rarity being able to sense gems.
 
Bottom line, it was proven as fact that not just “anyone” can grow their own food in Equestrian reality. If they were able to, earth ponies as a race/tribe wouldn’t have had any ground to stand on (no pun intended) back when the three tribes were warring against each other. Whatever abilities they have or don’t have, that just aren’t as plain to see as the other two, they are considered entirely equal to and their abilities indispensable to both of the other races.

@ARQDAC  
Rarity had the power of a crazy powerful magical artifact in that episode. Are you honestly trying to say she could have done that on her own without the book?

@Background Pony #792C  
Where it was stated? Besides, unicorns don’t have Twilight’s power because they don’t read magic books all the time and don’t study like her. If all the unicorn did this, then they all were that powerful. We’ve seen only Twilight studying so hard, but nopony else.
 
And when it was proven as fact that only earth ponies can grow food? Even humans, who don’t have magic at all, can grow food. Why not unicorns or pegasi?

@Background Pony #792C  
I treat is as nothing more but an excuse. She’s a unicorn? Yes. She did it? Yes. That’s all.  
Also, food:  

@ARQDAC  
Where was what stated?
 
And do you honestly think that any unicorn would have Twilight’s power if they simply just studied as hard? Twilight represents the Element of Magic, and it has been stated (by she herself in “Boast Busters”) that magic is her special talent. She also said that most unicorns only have powers related to their talents in the same episode, but since her talent is magic, it means she’s capable of much more than most unicorns. Amount of studying has nothing to do with it, Twilight’s just exceptional.
 
Earth ponies being the only ones who can grow food was stated in “Hearth’s Warming Eve”, when the history of the tribes was given. Pegasi have the ability to control the weather, the unicorns had the responsibility of moving the sun and the moon with their collective telekinesis (before they had the Princesses to do this) to create day and night and the earth ponies were the only ponies able to grow food. All three races depended on each other equally to survive. Which again, means they are all completely equal to each other and no race is superior or inferior to any other.

@ARQDAC  
But she didn’t use her own magic to do it… that’s plain even looking at the gifs, with her green magic and glowing eyes. The same way that she had no memory of anything she did afterward… the book was the one creating all the things magically, it wasn’t Rarity herself with her own abilities. Without the book, Raruty isn’t capable of creating objects simply by thinking if them. If she was, why would she even see dresses, and not just create them by thinking them up? Why not just create everything she needs on a whim? She doesn’t, because she can’t.
 
The Trixie example is the exact same thing… she’s also using the power of an extremely potent magical artifact, the Alicorn Amulet. Did you even watch that episode, “Magic Duel”? The amulet gave Trixie extraordinary powers she didn’t normally possess, and they disappeared the instant the amulet was removed from her.

@Background Pony #792C  
Autocorrect, but yeah, sew dresses.

@Background Pony #792C  
She said, quote: “For ponies whose talents are for things like cooking or singing or math.” Not unicons. Ponies.  
“But what if a unicorn’s special talent is magic?”  
Period. No references to a specific unicorn.

@Background Pony #792C  
They were unicorns to wear/use it. Earth pony can’t do it. Pegasus can’t do it. Only unicorns.  
Plus, they can self-levitate and make wings for each other.

@ARQDAC  
Right. But you’re removing the context, which was her talking to Spike about her magical prowess. In context, it’s quite clear she is talking about unicorns in general (since they are talking about magic, and only unicorns use magic) and then herself and her own magical abilities.
 
They (Rarity and Trixie) were unicorns using the objects yeah. Does that mean that only unicorns could use either/both objects to create things and cast spells? Maybe, but we don’t know because it was never specifically stated. And that still doesn’t change the fact that Rarity or Trixie themselves, being ordinary unicorns, could not do those things without magical artifacts.
 
We have seen a unicorn pony levitate itself once, when baby Pumpkin Cake did it. Which was done for comedic effect with Pinkie dealing with the babies in the episode, and was at least explained by Rarity saying that baby unicorns could get strange magical surges sometimes (allowing them to do things (like levitate themselves) that they wouldn’t normally be able to do) at the beginning of the episode. The other example, with unicorns being able to create wings, was again limited to Twilight. And even she was so magically spent after casting the spell on Rarity she couldn’t use it on the others.
 
I don’t see you responding to any of the other things I brought up around trying to nitpick certain points.

@Background Pony #792C  
It’s just sophistics. With, or without context, she didn’t tell that other unicorns aren’t capable of the same magic. And there wasn’t stated that unicorns can’t learn the same spells, because there wasn’t any unicorn who would’ve learned the same amount of time as Twilight.  
Twilight levitated herself in Crystal Empire, part 2. And like I said above, it wasn’t stated that any other unicon cannot do the same, if they would learn as hard as Twilight.  
As for food, you convinced me. But it’s only because it was a stupid move for creators to at least somehow allow earth ponies to survive.

@ARQDAC  
It’s true that she has never specifically said that other unicorns can’t do magic at the same type of level as she does, you’re right. But does it really need to be specifically stated? Again, it’s pretty clear that as far as magical talent, Twilight is beyond exceptional, as she literally represents Magic. She is/bears/represents the Element of Magic. Do you really think that would be the case if any other unicorn could do what she does just by studying more in school? I am really curious as to your answer to this questioning or reasoning behind it if you do feel that is the case.
 
I don’t remember Twilight specifically levitating herself in Crystal Empire part II, but again, even if she had, she’s Twilight. Twilight is the exception to magical ability and potential with unicorns, not the rule (just like how she was able to “create food”, albeit with great strain and concentration, by turning a frog into an orange… but even she has never been shown to create food from nothing at all, like earth ponies apparently can and do just by virtue of their race and inherent ability).

@Background Pony #792C  
 
Sorry, didn’t find better  
Twilight represents the magic of friendship, or just friendship. Not unicorn magic. Magic of friendship. That rainbow thingy, remember?  
Besides, there’s a whole school for gifted unicorn. What are they studying there? Telekinesis only? Also, who wrote all those books Twilight was reading? One Starswirl? Besides, he was nigh-omnipotent, and was a unicorn.

@ARQDAC  
It just occurred to me that somehow, this whole conversation and topic got seriously derailed. Originally, I only brought up unicorn magic and its limit in the majority of unicorns (not Twilight or Trixie or others of similar caliber as I had mentioned) to prove that unicorns could not create food, since that is what is supposed to set earth ponies apart and is what makes them special and valuable as a race. But somehow it got turned way off topic from talking about earth ponies, to somehow talking about unicorn power levels. Which I’m not sure I really care about discussing/arguing.
 
That having been said, thanks for the picture, it’s just a still image but it still reminds me of the part you’re thinking of that I forgot. Secondly, you may have a point about Twilight and the Element of Magic… since it’s one of the Elements of Harmony, which are all about different qualities that together are supposed to create the magic of friendship, it’s possible that that alone and specifically is supposed to be Twilight’s talent. I’d argue against that maybe not being the case since none of the other mane five’s talents revolve around their elements specifically (meaning, why would Twilight alone be the exception whose talents are supposed to be taken literally and tied in with her destiny), and would say it still seems plain she is exceptional even by talented unicorn standards seeing as how Celestial hand (hoof) picked her as her personal student after seeing Twilight’s massive levels of power and ability on display (which also earned her her cutie mark, which should also suggest very strongly that magic is her specific, personal talent).
 
Don’t forget also that however legendary Starswirl was, he still hadn’t been able to figure out and complete the spell from “Magical Mystery Cure”, which Twilight did (which of course, is what preceded her being elevated to a Princess). Implying that she is at his level of ability if not beyond it already, even though she is a lot younger than he was at the time he would have been working on that spell.