Do ponies have free will?
This is a topic that occasionally crops up the fandom, and I'm curious to see what opinions around here are on it: Do ponies have free will, the capacity to choose the direction of their lives totally of their own decisions? The answer seems to have changed over time on the show:
In the beginning of the show, ponies seemed to have much more direct agency.
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Your talent only provided general suggestions towards what your position in life was. You could stick straight with it, or bend things a little bit: Rarity made dresses, despite having gemstones on her butt. Rainbow Dash wasn't just fast, she ran the town's weather.
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The Element-bearers were chosen by the carrying out of a careful, long-term plan and to create the circumstances where they could assume the Elements. While initially seeming like they have no agency, remember that this is the act of another being and not the world itself.
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While earlier seasons did reference destinies, it was in the context of something a pony can gain through their own choices - not something they just have.
In later seasons, however, the concepts of Destiny as an inflexible path and cutie marks heavily defining a pony becomes much more direct in the show:
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Attempting to change marks or adjust the circumstances of gaining a mark has dramatic negative consequences ranging from ponies being unhappy in their new lives to the destruction of Equestria itself. The latter implies that there are literally no other ponies who could possibly bear the elements, unless we assume another factor (i.e., Celestia's planning) is responsible.
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Songs directly a make clear statements about ponies having fixed destinies they cannot change.
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Hell, the entire Troubleshoes episode seems to be a clear case of "you can't avoid your destiny, and running from it will just hurt you. You can even get your mark in something you're unhappy with. Better hope you can settle for second-best."
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Even when the show tries to contradict this, it get murky: Marks and Recreation tried to tell us ponies can still share fun things despite their mark, but ended up just showing that they can have side hobbies - not the talents and destinies their lives revolve around. That's nice, but Thunderlane still couldn't become a talented chef even if he tried. He doesn't have the mark.
When thinking about this, it's also important to consider the pony mindset: Ponies love controlling things. In fact, I think it's fair to all them control freaks. Everything about their world - the nature, the weather, the magic - is run by a higher power. It's little-surprising that they're generally unmoved by the idea of destiny as a fixed, unchangeable thing, no matter how bizarre or worrisome it may seem to us. Those who aren't satisfied - those rare outliers - are isolated, as had happened to the Our Town ponies.
Submitted May 17, 2018 at 11:37AM by Logarithmicon
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/8k64mb/do_ponies_have_free_will/?utm_source=ifttt
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