Antonyourknee 
"[@Narlepoax III":](/1823496#comment_7460560
)
For the first part. I hoped to remind everyone to be careful in their comparisons of Equestria to earth and to take note of the fundamental differences in their culture and society that would produce their state of affairs. Not to disregard assumption we can make about their population and infrastructure.
Regardless of the rate of which Equestrias leadership is compromised (their structure of government seems to be less affected), As I have stated before the Size of their army would not have mattered in any of the events shown to threaten them as the threats were either too well infiltrated(changelings),off the grid(Starlight) or magical gods9Discord.Tireck,Sombra). It clear that in lieu of any political or national(as in an opposing nation) Threat,the threats that do threaten Equestria are on a level that renders Army Size pointless and thus not worth the effort to form a large standing Army as it would appear that no amount of solders could protect Equestrian from the threats that could take down their Alicorn Leadership. It just Wouldn't be worth the Tax money and cost.
Not Until at least an actual armed Threat like the Sombra's Army time line appears in which case then the Army needs to be Expanded. Could a larger standing Army have beaten Sombra before he launched his attack? We can assume not since Apparently even with all of Equestria in Total war and Celestia herself leading the charge,they can only hold him back. So the use of a standing Army is at best Questionable for Equestria.
If Anything Celestia needs better Able Soldiers, notjust a large standing Army. Quality over Quantity.
No Good Ruler likes Drafts,I would think that if a need for soldiers came(which would means that diplomacy had badly failed,so already the state is not in a normal state of affairs) that many ponies would gladly join up
willingly as it has been in many situations in countries thorough history. I think you Misunderstand when I said That Equestria has drafts in that I meant that if it came down to it,As a nation Equestria would be obliged to utilize any means to secure the safety of its citizens and interest and if that meant drafting able bodies ponies then it should and would do that.
Its not hypocritical and its not the first choice but if a state came about where it was needed we can assume the nation is already in crisis(to an extent that Celestias normal methods of going about have not worked) and extreme measures need to be taken that may be troubling to official state principals but such things are the reality of nations in crisis.
I was confused when you Questioned if Equestria had a draft because to me the idea of Equestria not having a draft at all,as in they would not do it if the need came up seemed odd to me.
I also feel as that Equestrias military capacity is already such that even with 14000 soldiers it is probably one of the if not the largest armys in the know world.
As such Only Irrational Rulers like the Yak Prince or those beings so powerful that the military is irrelevant to them,would try to be threats to equestria.
Its like in Comic books, the big bad is such a powerful supervillian or has some Macguffin that all the armies on earth with all their numbers and tech and missles and stuff can do nothing but be redshirts and so we have to fall to the heroes to save the day. I don't even know what the point here is any more,since obviously the reason the guards and Celestia are so useless in the show is because the writers make em so the bad guys can be a bigger threat.
I guess my point is that An army size of 14,000 is not such a bad number or impossible all things considered. Though personally I Headcanon that Equestria has an Army of 100,000 or so with royal guards as a separate branch and the normal soldiers wearing silver armor. Man I was disappointment when they had cool helmets for Sombras guys and the awesome uniforms for the Wonderbolts and Whatever Pinkie and maud were but the Normal Soldiers just had gold armor,not even the unicorn version.
A waste of biomatter
For the first part. I hoped to remind everyone to be careful in their comparisons of Equestria to earth and to take note of the fundamental differences in their culture and society that would produce their state of affairs. Not to disregard assumption we can make about their population and infrastructure.
Regardless of the rate of which Equestrias leadership is compromised (their structure of government seems to be less affected), As I have stated before the Size of their army would not have mattered in any of the events shown to threaten them as the threats were either too well infiltrated(changelings),off the grid(Starlight) or magical gods9Discord.Tireck,Sombra). It clear that in lieu of any political or national(as in an opposing nation) Threat,the threats that do threaten Equestria are on a level that renders Army Size pointless and thus not worth the effort to form a large standing Army as it would appear that no amount of solders could protect Equestrian from the threats that could take down their Alicorn Leadership. It just Wouldn't be worth the Tax money and cost.
Not Until at least an actual armed Threat like the Sombra's Army time line appears in which case then the Army needs to be Expanded. Could a larger standing Army have beaten Sombra before he launched his attack? We can assume not since Apparently even with all of Equestria in Total war and Celestia herself leading the charge,they can only hold him back. So the use of a standing Army is at best Questionable for Equestria.
If Anything Celestia needs better Able Soldiers, notjust a large standing Army. Quality over Quantity.
No Good Ruler likes Drafts,I would think that if a need for soldiers came(which would means that diplomacy had badly failed,so already the state is not in a normal state of affairs) that many ponies would gladly join up
willingly as it has been in many situations in countries thorough history. I think you Misunderstand when I said That Equestria has drafts in that I meant that if it came down to it,As a nation Equestria would be obliged to utilize any means to secure the safety of its citizens and interest and if that meant drafting able bodies ponies then it should and would do that.
Its not hypocritical and its not the first choice but if a state came about where it was needed we can assume the nation is already in crisis(to an extent that Celestias normal methods of going about have not worked) and extreme measures need to be taken that may be troubling to official state principals but such things are the reality of nations in crisis.
I was confused when you Questioned if Equestria had a draft because to me the idea of Equestria not having a draft at all,as in they would not do it if the need came up seemed odd to me.
I also feel as that Equestrias military capacity is already such that even with 14000 soldiers it is probably one of the if not the largest armys in the know world.
As such Only Irrational Rulers like the Yak Prince or those beings so powerful that the military is irrelevant to them,would try to be threats to equestria.
Its like in Comic books, the big bad is such a powerful supervillian or has some Macguffin that all the armies on earth with all their numbers and tech and missles and stuff can do nothing but be redshirts and so we have to fall to the heroes to save the day. I don't even know what the point here is any more,since obviously the reason the guards and Celestia are so useless in the show is because the writers make em so the bad guys can be a bigger threat.
I guess my point is that An army size of 14,000 is not such a bad number or impossible all things considered. Though personally I Headcanon that Equestria has an Army of 100,000 or so with royal guards as a separate branch and the normal soldiers wearing silver armor. Man I was disappointment when they had cool helmets for Sombras guys and the awesome uniforms for the Wonderbolts and Whatever Pinkie and maud were but the Normal Soldiers just had gold armor,not even the unicorn version.