Canterlot

Canterlot is the capital city of Equestria, and thus, is the seat of the Equestrian royal family.

History
Ponies have been living in Canterlot for over 1,000 years as of the Era of Twilight, with the construction of Canterlot Castle starting when and  were both foals. The construction of the castle was rocky, however, as animals kept damaging the construction equipment, causing many set-backs until Luna managed to reason well with the animals and come up with a fair compromise. However, in the early days after the castle was finally constructed, there was no real city of Canterlot yet.

Approximately 1,000 years before the Mare of the Moon incident, Princess Luna was banished from Canterlot to live on the Moon after she succumbed to the corrupting powers of the Pony of Shadows, causing[Princess Celestia to feel great shame for nearly 1,000 years.

After Luna's fall, Luna began invading the dreams of ponies from Canterlot, but was beaten back by Princess Celestia. Much later, Canterlot was invaded by an army of Smoke monsters who attempted to siege and sack the city but were beaten back by Celestia and a volunteering group of unicorns and other ponies. Among the group was Professor Inkwell, who defended the city with all of her might, even causing great injury to herself. Ensuring such catastrophes no longer happen, Celestia founded Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns to better defend the city. Among her first recruits for teachers was the aforementioned Inkwell, who although hesitant at first, became one of the most prolific teachers at the school, teaching there all the way up til Twilight Sparkle's first years.

Some years before the Mare of the Moon incident, a young unicorn named Sunset Shimmer was born in Canterlot, or at least lived there and eventually began to study at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. She became Princess Celestia's personal student, but was lead astray until she eventually betrayed Celestia and used the Magic Mirror to escape to the Human dimension.

Later, was born in the city as the only daughter of the her family and would become the youngest child. After proving her skill by hatching the young dragon named from his egg, Twilight was accepted into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns and would later become Celestia's pupil. Unlike Sunset before her, Twilight did not falter from the straight and narrow and proved herself to be kind, selfless, brave and heroic, if a bit awkward, anti-social and rude at times.

Years later, Twilight was tasked with going to Ponyville to organize the Summer Sun Celebration, but decided to stay in the city after discovering the magic of friendship. A little under a year later,, the princess of the Crystal Empire and former babysitter/honorary big sister to Twilight Sparkle got married to , the captain of the Royal Guards and big brother to Twilight Sparkle. Though the two were madly in love, their wedding was disastrous, with the invasion of the Changelings, thus starting the Changeling wars, took the city by surprise. After a plot was revealed that the Cadance Shining Armor was marrying was in disguise, Twilight managed to free the real Cadance and together, the two saved the day. The following night, Twilight thought about the event dreamily as she wondered who she would some day marry.

Sometime later, the Secret Comet passed by the night sky of Equestria, amplifying the magical powers of all magical creatures. After Twilight and her friends embarked on an adventure to defeat Queen Chrysalis who came back with a vengeance, Spike traveled to Canterlot to try to tell Celestia what happened and inadvertently joined the battle to save Canterlot from the Cockatrice army, becoming a war hero in the process.

Major landmarks
Built on the creatively named Canterlot Mountain, the primary landmark in Canterlot is the equally creatively named Canterlot Castle, which can be seen from even well outside of the city. A seemingly well-known attraction is the infamous Hedgemaze, a place where the petrified remains of villains such as and later,, Cozy Glow, and  remained. Perhaps the second most well-known landmark in the city is the school, Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns, among, if not the, most prestigious schools in all of Equestria with alumni including, , and.

Dining and entertainment
Canterlot features countless restaurants, even having an entire street dedicated to them known as Restaurant Row. These restaurants can vary from fine-dining establishments such as The Ritzy Hay Bale to more casual businesses such as The Tasty Treat.