Pony (Friendship is Magic)

Ponies were a species of mammals who are native to the land of Equestria. They are likely related to Horses and may share some relations to Sea Ponies and Mermares. Ponies are varyingly colored, generally peaceful and good-natured beings with kind hearts and mighty strength. Outside of Equestria, Ponies are both heavily sought after and yet nearly unknown. I the Infernal Lands, it was believed that Unicorns were among the mightiest, most powerful creatures in the world.

Pony history is long and complicated. Early ponies date back potentially hundreds of thousands of years ago, as "Cave ponies" once roamed Equestria long, long before the Fouding of Equestria proper. In modern society, Ponies are among the most dominant forces in all of the world who've made their presence known all over.

History
Ponies seemingly originated on Greater Equestria, primarily the center regions of Equestria. An ancient species, Ponies date back thousands of years. The earliest known ponies are the "Cave ponies" who lived in days long before the Pre-Equestrian kingdoms. At some point, presumably before Equestria, there existed a desert kingdom known as Anugypt ruled by both Jackal and Pony alike. The kingdom was a brutal monarchy ruled by the cruel King Anubis who enslaved cats. At some point later, ponies were believed to live in castes in a medieval environment. During these periods, Ponies were at direct odds with dragons and frequently did battle with them.

Pony recorded history goes back to at least the Age of Heroes, an era in which Starswirl the Bearded embarked on his many adventures, but it's likely recorded history may be even older. Ponies tend to speak the Common language, but older ponies spoke Olde Equestrianne, a now-dead language understood by few. It's unknown when the switch over happened, but books written in the "Age of Heroes" have been written in modern language, implying it may have been quite long ago. Other ancient Pony tongues included Old Northern Equestrian and Unicornian.

Likewise, the first known spoken language used by ponies was the Cave language spoken countless moons ago. The current languages are written in the Equestrian script, though older texts used Old Equestrian. It's unknown if ponies ever used other known writing systems, such as the Zebra script, though it's unlikely.

At some unknown point, Pegasus and Griffons engaged in a war known as the Zephyr War. The war was cut short when Hippogriffs swooped in and interrupted one of their skirmishes and mediated the conflict. With their influence, the Pegasus and Griffon founded a kingdom in Eastern Equestria. At another unknown point in ancient history, ponies either did battles or wrote about mythical battles with monsters such as cyclopi.

In the final days of the Long Winter, Clover the clever banded together with other ponies to huddle for warmth. Their bond would prove instrumental in the foundations of Equestria. After Equestria was founded, Starswirl the Bearded somehow came in contact with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and began to raise and train them. Celestia had the ability to raise the sun while Luna the moon. While ponies could do the same prior, it was such a draining and intense process that unicorns who did so lost the ability to use magic ever again. Celestia and Luna were both raised to be princesses to rule the land but Celestia's mean, thuggish attitude and Luna's slightly dimwitted and lack of magical skill made the process difficult.

On one fateful night, Luna opened the portal to another universe where she was sucked in and given mysterious armor by a group of troll like monsters. Although she was saved by Celestia and Starswirl, the mysterious darkness was far from finished with Luna. As it turned out, Luna and Celestia were intended to be vehicles used for utter destruction by the Pony of Shadows in his goal to wipe out all of existence. The girls were saved by the kind Stygian and continued to live on in relative harmony.

During the last for days of Luna and Celesta's co-rule, Celestia traveled to alternate universes with Starswirl. One such universe was a mysterious world where Celestia was dark and corrupted while Sombra was kind and just. In this world, Celestia fell in love with Sombra who in turn loved her. Although the two were happy with one another, their romance was not met to be as Celestia was forced to stay in her world. Breaking her heart, even if she knew it was for the best. Later, Celestia and Luna both had to team up to defeat the Sombra of their universe, who had just shattered Princess Mi Amore.

After King Vorak informed Equestria that a centaur wizard named Sendak had kidnapped a unicorn, the centaur royal family was forced in an awkward situation where they had to explain what happened to Princess Celestia.

At some point, Celestia and Luna defeated Discord with the power of the Elements of Harmony. The sight of the battlefield was still bizarrely chaotic and mysterious by the time Twilight Sparkle embarked on her quest to the Changeling Kingdom.

Falling to the darkness of the Shadowforce, Princess Luna became Nightmare Moon, engulfing Equestria in the "Eternal Night". Princess Celestia managed to defeat Luna by banishing her to the moon, and deeply regretted the decision. Over a thousand years later, Discord would still be shaken up by the event, believing Celestia would do the same to anyone who opposed her.

Falling the fall of Nightmare Moon, Princess Celestia founded the Wonderbolts to hep keep Equestria safe from further dangers. The history of the Wonderbolts in of itself proved to be long and complex in its own right. In a similar fashion, Celestia founded Princess Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns in Canterlot after an attempt to conquer Canterlot by an unknown species almost cost the life of a young filly. During the battle, Celestia was aided by Inkwell who she sought to become a teacher at her school. Inkwell proved to be a successful teacher for decades to come, even teaching Twilight Sparkle in her later years.

Equestria Girls
Somehow, ponies turn into humans when they travel into the Human world, and vice versa. For unknown reasons, humans seem to revere ponies and horses to extreme extents within, with several sports teams, buildings, landmarks, etc, being named or designed after horses in some fashion.

Appearance
Ponies are four-legged mammals native to the lush, green environments of Equestria. Ponies are characterized by a typically well-meaning, good-natured and kind heart but can be brash, mean and even cruel in rare instances. Ponies are very colorful, spouting various different mane, eye and coat colors. Unique to ponies are "Cutie marks", magical emblems that imprint on a pony when they find their special talent. Ponies are small creatures, standing at about four feet tall when fully grown. They are however, much stronger than they initially appear, with strength high enough to injure fully grown dragons and tangle with some of the darkest monsters in Equestria.

Although Ponies tend to inherent the coat colors of their parents, this isn't always the case. Trixie Lulamoon's (presumed) mother had a deeply orange coat, while Twilight Sparkle's mother had a white coat. Interestingly, a ponies coat seems to be parallel to Human skin tone, as other universe incarnations bare a similar skin-tone to their coat color. Coat color also works in tandem with other fur colors adorned by other species, as the Cats of Harmony bore the same fur colors as the Mane Six.

Life cycle and longevity
Ponies appear to be long-lived creatures, with the longest recorded life-span of non-immortals being well over 100 years. Prominent examples of long-lived ponies are Granny Smith and Grand Pear, the former of whom was born before Ponyville was even founded. Naturally born Alicorns like Princess Luna and Princess Celestia have been shown to be effectively immortal. Umbrum have been shown to be able to prolonged the lifespan of ponies by manipulating time itself.

Variations
Several different tribes of pony exist, often with few outward differences, such as unicorns possessing horns, Pegasi possessing wings, Earth ponies having neither, and Alicorns possessing both. Despite these differences and other variations in magical ability, ponies of different tribes have been known to form couples and produce offspring. Examples of this include Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood, an Earth Pony stallion and Pegasus mare with a Pegasus daughter, Scootaloo; and and, a Unicorn stallion and a Pegasus-turned-Alicorn mare with an Alicorn daughter, Flurry Heart.

Unicorn
Unicorns are ponies with a horn and no wings. They can cast magical spells, manipulate weather and, with much strain, move celestial bodies. Often considered weak physically, unicorn posses some of the greatest magical ability in all of Equestria and beyond.

Pegasus
Pegasi are winged ponies with great agility and reasonable strength. Pegasi are typically tasked with manipulating he weather, moving clouds and making sure Equestria flourishes on a meteorological level.

Earth Ponies
Earth Ponies are described as having the most heart of all pony kinds. They're characterized as being strong willed, lionhearted, great cooks and hard workers. Earth Ponies are typically seen working more rustic jobs or even working as technological specialists.

Alicorns
Alicorns are ponies with features from all three variations. Despite being revered and respected, alicorns are sensitive creatures who value friendship and want to be treated as equals to others, not superiors.

Bat Ponies
Bat Ponies are flying ponies, but differ from Pegasi in having bat-like wings, tufted ears, and cat-like eyes.

Crystal Ponies
Crystal Ponies are ponies who live in the Crystal Empire. They can be any of the aforementioned kids while having unique biology that show off a crystal-like body.

Kirin
Kirin are unusual ponies who live in the Peaks of Peril on Dragon-Kirin island. Like unicorns they have a horn through which they can channel magic, but they also have scaly patches on their bodies, long tails, and lion-like manes. None of the Kirin seen thus far possess cutie marks.

Umbrum
Umbrum, or shadow ponies, are malevolent beings who once dominated the Crystal Empire. They are capable of disguising themselves as small, unthreatening winged ponies similar in appearance to breezies. In their true form-which can be revealed by love magic such as that wielded by Princess Amore or Princess Cadance-they are monstrous beings more similar to Windigos.

Island Ponies
Island Ponies are ponies who live on islands such as Dazzle Island. Like Crystal Ponies, they're not tide to one of the three "main" types. Unlike crystal ponies, Island Ponies don't appear to have any other notable attribute other than more wild colors and sharper manes.

Cyber Ponies and Alien Ponies
At some point in the distant future, Cyber and Alien Ponies inhabited Equestria.