Could Shining Armor's security measures actually work against a villain?
The conceit of the episode 'Twilight's 7' is that in light of Ling Sombra's recent invasion Shining Armor has been called in to beef up Palace security. In light of this, he sealed up all but one secret underground entrance to the palace, installed several massive fans to 'blow away' any aerial attackers, installed a security system that can only be accessed by special badges given to the guards, installed a pitfall device in front of the thrones that reacts to the slightest touch, and filled the throne room with geese to act as an early warning system.
Ridiculous as this all sounds it proved to be fairly effective at thwarting Twilight and her friends plans, leaving it up to Spike and some inside help from Princess Luna to win the day. But those security measures seem an awful lot like they were installed more with thwarting Twilight in mind than seeing off any villains.
Let's take these in order:
1.) Sealing the Underground Entrances - actually not a bad move since this is what gave Queen Chrysalis access to Canterlot even when Shining Armor has deployed his protective shield spell way back in A Canterlot Wedding. The problem is, no villain since Chrysalis has chosen to sneak into the castle, with Lord Tirek, King Sombra, and even the Storm King's forces marching rather brazenly right into Canterlot. It also doesn't help that he leaves one 'secret' entrance obviously open and guarded by a single rookie guardsman. Simply bricking over the entrances would pose no impediment to a sufficiently powerful villain, and even one as comparatively weak as Cozy Glow would have no trouble outwitting a single Royal Guard.
2.) Fans to Blow Away Enemies - Again, not a bad countermeasure to a Changeling swarm, but only a few of King Sombra's mind controlled troops were Pegasi, and even then the fans didn't seem powerful enough to stop a skilled flier like Rainbow Dash (it's worth remembering Sombra had the rest of the Wonderbolt's under his control). The fans also would be a detriment to any aerial defense of the castle winged guards might otherwise represent, leading to a massive hole in the castles defense against flying enemies that aren't light enough to be repelled by simple fans... such as a dragon, a fleet of dirigibles, or frankly anyone who would be just fine with dropping heavy bombs onto the palace from a high enough altitude.
3.) Increased Personnel and Badge Security System - Having doors that cannot be opened by anyone but a trusted guardsman with an appropriate badge sounds like a good idea, but there are two huge drawbacks. The first is that this is the first security measure that isn't Changeling proof... if Applejack and Rarity can steal a badge and impersonate a Guard than it would be all the easier for a Changeling to abduct and assume the form of a Guard as well. Increasing the number of guards actually makes this a higher risk as new and unfamiliar faces would be dismissed as simply being new personnel. Add to this the risk of fire or some other emergency breaking out and suddenly all the doors are sealed and no one in the room has the appropriate badge to escape and you have a serious problem on your hands. It's also still hard to see how such doors would pose much of an impediment to a villain of the strength of Tirek or Sombra who have a habit of blowing up or breaking down walls.
4.) The Pit Trap - Probably the second most idiotic countermeasure. Not only is it easily thwarted by anyone who can fly, but it essentially is a constant hazard to the Princesses and their subjects since it is activated by the slightest touch. Such a trap should have a secret button or switch to activate. Additionally it is neither deep enough to be fatal nor lined with anything that might impede a sufficiently powerful villain from escaping. If this trap had been in place when King Sombra invaded it would have been amusing, but that's about it, as the Pony could have quickly assumed shadow form and floated back up the pit and blown the trap door off its hinges.
5.) The Geese - Okay, this is a pretty effective way to let you know when someone enters the throne room. In fact, you'll know when anyone enters the room, with no way of knowing if they are friend or foe. Also the geese sound off at random other times, leading to many frustrating false alarms. It's really the stupidest countermeasure, as if there is a villain in the throne room at all and you don't already know about it, you are likely already in trouble. Further, there's nothing stopping a truly evil villain from destroying the geese outright before they can do much as make a sound. Again the only villain this might impede is Cozy Glow, and that's only because you can't easily make friends with geese.
Altogether Shining Armor's security measures are laughably weak and would be torn apart like tissue paper by Grogar and his legion of doom.
Submitted April 25, 2019 at 11:01AM by TheKnackerman
via reddit https://www.reddit.com/r/mylittlepony/comments/bhb23f/could_shining_armors_security_measures_actually/?utm_source=ifttt
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