Tuesday 8 April 2014

Equestrian Family Values

A little something I posted on my FIMFiction account and thought I'd reproduce here. Consider the Mane Six in terms of what we know about their families:

Applejack is ferociously loyal to her family: she still lives on the farm with her two siblings and grandmother. As "Simple Ways" underlined, she's certainly not a mare who'd be short of suitors if she wanted them. But family (and the farm, which for AJ is really part of her family) come first.

Pinkie Pie had a rather dull, grey childhood, but still keeps in touch with her sisters in particular. "Maud Pie" made it clear that there's a lot of love in that family, even if it's not always shown in a particularly extroverted fashion.

Twilight Sparkle doesn't seem to see her parents very often, but the little evidence we have suggests that they get on well enough. Despite the number of ponies who fell out with Twi at Shining Armor's wedding, her parents weren't among them.

Rarity's closest relative is, of course, Sweetie Belle; the sisters have certainly become that little bit closer as Sweetie grows up. She's rather less keen on her parents, probably because they're so obviously not in the social class she aspires to, but she can at least tolerate them.

Rainbow Dash's family life is rather more of a mystery. Leaving aside her adoptive sister Scootaloo (though I'll come back to her in a moment) the only probable relative we've ever seen was the rainbow-maned stallion in that brief Equestria Games announcement flashback.

And Fluttershy has nopony. She is the only one of the Mane Six who is utterly devoid of known relatives, blood or adopted. Even in her flashbacks, we've never, ever seen her at a childhood home or with her parents.

Note the progression here: the earth ponies are the most family-inclined, followed by the unicorns, with the pegasi the most distant. I have a hard time believing that that's a complete accident on the part of the writers. It also just happens to fit Scootaloo's position as the other pony whose blood family we've never once heard mentioned.

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