“We came to
America, either ourselves or in the persons of our ancestors, to better the
ideals of men, to make them see finer things than they had seen before, to get
rid of the things that divide and to make sure of the things that unite.”
- Woodrow Wilson
To celebrate the premiere
of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Season
Seven, I wrote this essay about the American civilization in the Ponies after
People universe. Starscribe and other
talented writers have created a series of extremely detailed and highly
entertaining fan stories. Many of these excellent
stories are as enjoyable and thought-provoking entertainment as the official TV
series or comic series.
Follow this link
for the Ponies after People fan fictions.
However, the lack
of effort to rebuild the American society or even individuals acknowledging
that they are American citizens is an oversight that should be corrected. After all, there is nothing so far that’s
described in the main story that is preventing the returnees and their descendants
to rebuild their American society or any other nation in the Ponies after
People universe.
In the first
hundred years, most returnee communities are less than one hundred citizens and
half of those are foals. However, imagine
that three hundred years after the Event, the American returnees, native-born
citizens and immigrants, combined with their foal descendants would now have a sufficient
population base in North America to attempt to restart their American society. No longer worrying about basic survival, I can’t
imagine that most American returnees would give up, without struggle, decades
of loyalty and building their self-identities as American citizens.
For millions of Americans,
being an American citizen is a defining characteristic of who they are as
individuals and as belonging to something far greater than themselves and their
everyday lives. They take their oath of
the United States pledge of allegiance as an important part in how they think
and how they act. These people have American
nationalism and/or American patriotism.
I wonder why these
humans turned into ponies and their pony offspring would attempt to create new
societies from scratch, when it would be much easier to rebuild the existing
American society. Most Americans would
not want their American society to separate into dozens of independent city
states that in turn would inhibit social cohesion, military security, and economic
growth. Also, without the social
cohesion of being American citizens, ponies could break into three separate
tribes as described in the episode, “Hearth's Warming Eve”.
I have at least ten
members of my family that have served in the American Armed Forces from the
American Civil War to the Gulf War. They
knew that America could be knocked back, but never knocked out. I would not dishonor their sacrifices by
giving up on my American society.
Also, as someone
who campaigns for political candidates, talks to politicians, and votes in
every election; I imagine that if I become a pony in this universe that I would
remember that I’m still an American citizen and then work at America’s
restoration, revised as a multiple species society.
Imagine that you
became a pony in this universe. Would
you suddenly forget all about being a citizen of your homeland or would you
work to restore your nation? In other
words, drink from you own creative wellspring.
Ask yourself how you would react to being a pony in a world with few
intelligent, talking individuals. Then,
put those answers into your Ponies after People fan fiction.
But, you might ask,
would there be sufficient returnees and natural-born ponies at any given time
to restart their American society. My
answer to that is the Nimitz Class aircraft carriers that have more than 6,000
personnel; while some cruise ships have between five hundred and six thousand
passengers, not including crew. All
these returnees would not give up on their American society and accept being
part of one of many post-Event created, city-states.
Imagine the
conflicts when the three pony species and other speaking species decide to
rebuild America: First would be rebuilding
at the city or county level, then rebuilding the states, and then rebuilding at
the national level. For additional fun,
fans of Ponies after People stories would create original characters and then
have them run for city, state, and national political offices, including the
offices of President and Vice-President.
What about returnee
politicians attempting to win back their political careers? Imagine the fun of post-Event pony American presidential
candidates attempting to court individual species, such as the Earth Pony vote.
How many citizens
do you need to recreate a state government?
Four of the original 13 British, American colonies had colonial populations
in the low five digits and still had functioning state governments using only
the most basic communications tools.
The 13 Colonies by British
colonial population in 1770
1. Virginia 447,016
2. Pennsylvania 240,057
3. Massachusetts 235,808
4. Maryland 202,599
5. North Carolina 197,200
6. Connecticut 183,881
7. New York 162,920
8. South Carolina 124,244
9. New Jersey 117,431
10. Rhode
Island 58,196
11. New
Hampshire 62,396
12. Delaware 35,496
13. Georgia 23,375
If
the state of Georgia with a population of just 23,375 citizens could have a
functioning state government in 1770, there is no reason why transformed citizens
could not rebuild their states with far fewer people than existed in 2015.
A
strong and united America would balance the economic and military powers of more
human populated nations. For example,
China would use their 1.3 billion citizens or India with their 1.3 billion
citizens to rebuild their nations with returnees and their offspring at a much
faster rate than America could with far fewer citizens. Moreover, the more citizens a nation has creates
more of the magic of friendship that in turn creates an energy pool that
determines how many princesses a nation can bring to into existence. For example, in the cannon Equestrian nation,
the overall amount of friendship is increasing and therefore the number of
Equestrian princesses has increased from two to five.
Only
a national United States government could revive networks of simple, 20th
Century communications technology such as Teleprinter and Wirephoto
machines. Or maintain a basic
transportation infrastructure of roads, railroads, canals, and airports. Or, maintain national armed forces, a common
currency, or a set of common laws for economic growth.
Rebuilding
the American society would happen in conjunction with other worthwhile
projects, such as the party ponies rebuilding the United Service Organizations
Inc. (USO Show) to uplift any returnees and anyone else who needs cheering up.
Imagine
having the portraits of famous individual ponies and other species printed on future
paper money and coins? What about a pony
version of Uncle Sam or Columbia?
How
would you organize a rebuilt American nation?
With a radio network based upon basic radio technology. I can imagine a network of high powered radio
transmitters, while most civilians would have either crystal radio sets or
batteryless radios. And, with every
vehicle that come back from the time stream provides radio enthusiasts with
parts to create a makeshift radio network.
Ponies that travel
for a living would have citizens band radios based on batteryless radios,
perhaps crystal radio sets powered by Equestrian magic grown gemstones. Come to think of it, Equestrian gemstones
appear to grow like mushrooms as suggested in the opening scene of the “Gauntlet
of Fire” episode. If Equestrian magic
has come to the once human world, why not have Equestrian gemstones grow in the
ground as well?
In conclusion,
there are numerous, logical reasons why returnees and natural-born ponies would
at least attempt to restart my American history and heritage. From my perspective, the Fourth of July
holiday is
more than a day off from work, a family picnic, and seeing the twilight
fireworks display. That day reminds me
of the birthday of our nation, the memory of those who wrote the American Declaration
of Independence as well as the hard-won freedoms that I’ve enjoyed as an
American citizen. I would not give all
that up if I woke up one day as a pony.
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