Culture, Biology, and Dietary Headcanons

@Latecomer
 
Personally, i’d wager that the pattern of crime would be something like the sorts of crimes commited in the pre-industrial era, but on a vastly smaller scale, especially considering these days would have particularly large rates if they had the population we have today. The problem is that i’m not sufficiently knowledgeable about early modern crime rates to make any guess as to a specific number, and applying city numbers to an enitre country is complicated.
 
My idea is that the normal Equestrian town probably doesn’t even see one murder in one year, and even large cities would have murder rates that would be very low for our standards.

@Latecomer
 
@Mildgyth
 
Well I mean you can suggest and guess and headcanon all you want. But all we know for sure is rocks in the ground are valuable. I think the show writers didn’t care. So we have an abundance of riches in the ground that can buy large pieces of machinery but at the same time Rarity can just stick them on her dress.
 
And gem finding spell or not it shouldn’t be all that hard to find as long as you are dedicated. You technically don’t even have to mine for them, they’re all sticking out of the ground. I wouldn’t call Maud’s ability to find gems a spell or a power. Just knowledge of where to look.
 
But besides that, a cutie mark , in my opinion, almost guarantees you a job anyway.

@Mildgyth  
I concur - Ponyville probably hasn’t had a murder since it was founded. Manehattan might have enough for an “Equicide Division” but they fit in one medium-sized office and more than half the cases seconded to them turn out to be accidents, suicides or fights gone wrong.

@Ranch  
The fundamental nature of economics means nothing abundant can also be highly valuable within the same system (I think). So if gems are really so easy to find, anyone who wanted one would just do so rather than paying an inflated price for one.
 
And it really depends on one’s mark.

Thats true I just don’t think the show cares about real life economics. There is no differing between rare and common gem stones. If there is, its probably not by much.

@Ranch  
What makes you assume that?

@Latecomer
 
Everything about the gems is already silly. Pre cut, sticking out of the ground. All it takes is a bit of digging in already pre dug mines or caves. (or maybe diamonds were there but that is doubtful because then there wouldn’t be any gems left) I don’t think a cutie mark is needed to find gems because, as I said, they are easy to find and seem to be in abundance.
 
It’d be cool if there was some kind of color coded scarcity with some of them but we never saw that. In my opinion Gems are common but something like gold is probably where most wealth comes from. But I and a helpful anon already brought up Just for Sidekicks which shows the exchange rate of a basic gem. A gem I’m sure we see on several of rarity’s dresses.
 
I’m just saying the show never gives us a hint at there being some kind of variable in value with gems. So I think wealth comparable to what humans think of as uppercrust whatever life is probably in gold. But I’m just guessing.

@Ranch  
Just for Sidekicks itself shows the variable value to some degree. But yes, gold is likely more “obviously” valuable - a top-class gem can only likely be picked out by a jeweler.

 
I like this conflict that zebras can’t actually learn magic, and unicorns are just a myth in Zecora’s homeland. And calling Equestria a dark monster-covered land always brings a smile to my face. The good old Grogar times. ;-)

@DarkObsidian  
They could be referring to modern Equestria too. Think of all the monsters we saw in the show.

@Ardashir
 
A valid point. But somehow I still suspect that this alludes mainly to the age of Grogar. :-)

Makes me wonder how zebras think the sun works…

@Latecomer
 
Option A: The world revolves around the sun.  
Option B: …
 
Profit…? (^ _ ^)!

@Latecomer  
They may not particularly care. The sun, the moon, all that, they’ve always been there, so why take special notice of them?

@Background Pony #C0A4  
Well, sometimes they do rather odd things…

@Background Pony #44BF  

 
In theory, it might be possible for a skilled unicorn to develop a spell to emulate Luna’s dream powers - Twilight was able to copy Rarity’s gem-finding spell after seeing it in action. It’s just that under the circumstances, it’s highly unlikely that Celestia or Starlight would have been able to invent one on-the-fly.

@Mildgyth
Do you think this still applies for the G5 ponies? Was there a spike in murder rate while the pony breeds were going through their divorce during the collapse between FiM and ANG?

I suppose it’d depend on the society - Earth ponies and pegasi seemingly advanced while the unicorns went backwards, so possibly the former would have a more modern crime pattern, although still lower in numbers, while the unicorns would still be on the same pattern.

As for the other question, I can’t say for certain, since we don’t know how that happened, but times of social upheaval do tend to be associated with such things.

We just don’t know enough about how G4 became G5- we don’t even know if the collapse of Equestria actually occurred, or if it’s just these three weird towns being weird about everything. The fact there’s no windigoes is telling, in a lot of ways, it makes me assume what happened was more of a natural drift apart then a sudden, cataclysmic event.

@GenericArchangel
Could even be a lost colony, though it’s a stretch.

@GenericArchangel
They naturally drifted apart and lost magic before their distance turned to xenophobia and hatred, thus precluding Windigoes due to a lack of magic.