History of Equestria

From Equestripedia, the Archives of Equestria!

The history of Equestria is a long and storied one, with many events transpiring in the land long before it ever received the name Equestria.

Prehistory

Earliest known aspects of Equestria's history date back millions of years. While Zecora traversed the 4th dimension, she came across a variety of ancient aspects of Equestria's history. The most ancient aspect of history she came across was a forest of dark, sentient trees that tried to attack her. From the forest, she came across a mystic potion or elixir that she used to create a cupcake capable of soothing even Angel Bunny. While traversing the dimension of time, Zecora came across a sea of prehistoric fish and jellyfish. At another point, Zecora also across the ancient days of the dinosaurs such as Brachiosaurus, Spinosaurus and similar creatures such as Pterosaurs.[1]

During the days of the dinosaurs, there existed a race of Cave ponies. Cave ponies were large, burly ponies with oddly shaped heads and thick manes. They spoke a primitive language that didn't resemble any form of known Common Equestrian. Although seemingly simpleminded, they were capable of simple leisure and enjoyed parties. Not much of their culture is known, but they appeared to worship the sun, or at least revere it, as they carved and painted depictions of the sun in their caves.[2]

Pre-Equestrian Age

Early civilizations

There were many ancient civilizations located in Equestria, presumably before the era of the Three tribes. While in the 4th-dimension, Zecora came across a civilization building Pyramids,[1] which may be connected to the Anugyptian civilization of years later. The civilization was extremely wealthy and plentiful in gold.An ancient ruler o the civilization included the mad King Anubis who ruled with an iron fist. Anubis ruled over ponies and Jackals alike but more than all, oppressed the cat population The cats eventually rose up and defeated Anubis, presumably ending his reign.[3]

Another ancient ruler of Anugypt - assuming the kingdoms are one in the same - was the infamous Cleopatrot. A vain ruler, Cleopatrot upholded the laws of her land to a T and punished those who dissented. She wasn't shown to be outwardly cruel however, merely traditional and scared of the unknown. According to Rarity, she pioneered early beauty keeping techniques and practices, famously using oils to keep her skin soft.[2]

Zephyr wars

At some point in history, likely before the Three Tribes era, conflicts between the Pegasus and Griffon communities rose to a boiling point. A war broke out known only as the Zephyr War in which the two sides did battle. The war was interrupted by the Hippogriff civilization, who acted as mediators as diplomats from both sides discussed the tensions. Afterwards, the two sides decided to not only call the war off and co-exist, but also create a new kingdom together in Eastern Equestria. This kingdom would evidently not last.[4]

Three tribes period

At some point, the whole of Equestria was split into three tribes. The Earth Pony tribe, the Pegasus tribe and the Unicorn tribe. These tribes were at odds with one another given the extreme and often time volatile personalities of their rulers, but the tribes eventually worked together and developed a strong bond. This came about as a result of the Windigos.

A recipe for magic pudding was invented in this era.[5]

Age of Heroes

Noted for its abundance of heroic ponies, the "Age of Heroes" is a period of history shrouded in legendry and wonder. It was widely believed, even by the Princesses themselves, that many of the tales and legends spoken of during this period where nothing more than filly tales, but one-by-one, many of the most famous legends were chosen to be oh so true. The starting point of the era is vague and not quite well defined but appears to be surrounding Rockhoof's famous feat of saving his village from a volcanic eruption that threatened its existence. As this story spread, several other ponies performed acts of immense selflessness, saving of entire cities or merely guiding other ponies in the process.

A young, meek, but kind and selfless pony named Stygian accidentally invited the Dazzlings into his village, turning his beloved people into stones. Stygian embarked on an adventure and gathered the six most well renowned heroes of his time; Rockhoof, Mage Meadowbrook, Flash Magnus, Somnambula, Mist Mane and Starswirl the Bearded, together, the friends defeated the Dazzlings and saved the village.

The era was filled with high adventure the likes are unknown, with many heralding stories. Perhaps the greatest adventure taken place in this era was the rescue of the Princess from the Pony of Shadows; the corrupter worlds. A quest in which the fate of all other worlds rested on the shoulders of our heroes as they battled with in-fighting, emotional turmoil and great suffering. Eventually, against all odds and due to a dark magic not quite understood by any pony, the heroes managed to save the princesses from the Pony of Shadows and infinite worlds in the process.

Despite the friendship shared by the three tribes, much of Equestria was still split in the three sides, with pony kinds sticking to themselves. Although communication between the kinds was rare, it was usually not looked down upon, but prejudice against kinds were not out of the ordinary either. Books were written about the evil of Pegasus[6] while unicorns were often considered weaklings.[7]

The Adventures of Starswirl

As fate would have it, arguably Equestria's greatest hero was also one of its greatest blights. Starswirl went on many adventures in his advanced age, one of which lead him to a dark swamp where he unknowingly sewed the seeds of what would later become Queen Chrysalis, who would later create the Changeling kingdom and enact several wars against Equestira. One of Starswirl's greatest adventures in his older age was the exploration of the multiverse. He and Princess Celestia would reguarly traverse to other worlds to study or goof off within them. While a bonding experience for the two, the trips took a turn for the worse when they discovered a world opposite of their own. In that world, Starswirl and Celestia grew close that worlds leader; King Sombra. However, the visits made the walls betwene the worlds weaker. Starswirl ordered Celestia never to go back, but she refused.

Soon later, Starswirl embarked on an adventure he never returned from.

King of the monsters

At some point in the Crystal Empire, a young Umbra named Sombra conquered the entire kingdom. Princess Celestia and Luna tried to stop the self-proclaimed "King of the monsters", but they failed. Sombra locked away his kingdom into the shadows where it laid dormant for over 1,000 years.

Chaos

At some point in the Leota region of Equestria, Discord conquered the land with his chaotic powers, but was eventually stopped by the Elements of Harmony.

Division and reunification

The three tribes divided

Some time after the reign of Twilight Sparkle and the Council of Friendship, the peaceful relations between the three tribes came to an end under mysterious circumstances. According to one-biased and rather dubious-account, the Pegasi and unicorns went to war against the Earth Ponies, but were defeated. Ultimately, the three tribes began to live separately from one another, with notable tribe-centric population centers including Maretime Bay, Zephyr Heights, and Bridlewood. A set of magical crystals, made to fit together as one, was also separated, with one ending up in each of the three communities.

As time passed, the separated ponies continued to grow simultaneously fearful and dismissive of one another, each tribe regarding the other two as inferior, though still a threat, to itself. One notable exception to these prejudices was the family of Argyle Starshine, who shared stories of Queen Twilight and her friends-now remembered as the Guardians of Friendship-with his daughter Sunny Starscout. Despite their fellow Earth Ponies no longer believing the ancient stories of peace and ridiculing them for doing so, Argyle and Sunny longed for the days when all three tribes would live in friendship once again. One night, while Sunny was still a young filly, they even attached a note with a welcome message for their fellow ponies to a balloon and sent it flying into the night.

In the meantime, the unicorns and Pegasi had both lost the use of their ancestral magical abilities. The Pegasi were bereft of their ability to fly for quite some time, to the point that the Zephyr Heights Royal Family were believed to be the only ones with the ability to fly. This was in fact false, and the royals maintained the illusion as a means of inspiring loyalty in their subject.

Future

At some point in the distant future, Alien ponies and Cyberponies will rule Equestria. Whether or not they conquered the country, coexist with normal ponies or are even the evolution of ponies is unknown.[8]

References