Hasbroverse Worldbuilding post two: Ponyland to Equestria · 6:59pm Jun 24th, 2013
Well, looks like I'm actually continuing this. ;) Again, remember. Seat of pants.
Pre-G1, Queen Majesty.
Twenty years before 'Rescue at Midnight Castle', a unicorn named Queen Majesty ruled the ponies from Dream Castle. For information on her, please go to this awesome tumblr, Heck Yeah, Pony Scans! And marvel at her... justice, which would make tyrant Celestia go, "Damn, girl! Little harsh, there?!"
I am dead serious, too. *Backs away from Majesty*
*Ahem* Twenty years ago, Tirac appeared. I won't give him some deep motivation or anything like that. That's beyond what I want to do. But when he showed up, he assaulted Dream Castle and killed Majesty with his Rainbow of Darkness. Almost overnight Ponyland fell into disarray and fractured into cities, tribes and other scattered groups. Tirac wiped out bout a half-dozen of them as he prepared to bring forth Eternal Night...
Hearth's Warming Eve
Okay, let's get this out of the way. ;) I look at the play as one part historical fact, one part allegory, one part Aesop, one part myth and several other parts making stuff up. Even in the show itself. Now, in G1, there were basically five groups of ponies we saw-the Dream Valley Enclave, the Big Brother Ponies, the Flutter Ponies, the Sea Ponies and the Princess Ponies. That's not enough to create Equestria from. So I created three tribes...
1. the Ponies of the Plains, a group of hardscrabble, semi-nomadic farmers.
2. The Sky Clans of the Peak, a group of pegasi living in the mountains and clouds.
3. The Mages of the Rock, a group of unicorn sorcerers living in what would eventually become Canterlot.
Sound familiar? :p Yeah, when the episode came out it took very little maneuvering to basically make the Three Tribes into those tribes. Like I said, I don't think the play's fully accurate, historically. And please keep in mind the 'Alternate Universe' tag the Hasbroverse has.
Anyway, the Three Tribes did encounter windigoes and Ponyland did have a rather bitter winter that year, but they became friends and met up with Megan's group, integrating into the growing Equestrian Alliance. The king of the Mages was Blueblood I, our own Blueblood's distant ancestor. Also, Platinum, Hurricane and Puddinghead remained sealed in ice to this day, alive and unmoving. Admittedly, if you'd like something that uses these character far better, please read K9 the First's A Brief History of Equestria. Seriously, it's awesome.
Megan Williams, humble hero.
Megan Williams in 1982 was 13 years old and lived in Rural Kentucky with her parents, younger brother Danny and younger sister Molly. She's brave, confident, headstrong, can think quickly on her feet and has a bit of a temper. She led a fairly ordinary life until one day in 1982 a pegasus pony by the name of Firefly flew over the rainbow and landed in a well. And the rest, as they say, is history.
After the events of 'Quest of the Princess ponies', Megan asked Wind Whistler, "Now what? We've gone through Tirac, Squirk, the Smooze, Gorgar, Lavan and a ton of crap otherwise. Now what do we do?" And Wind Whistler, wisest of the Dream Valley enclave, had no answer, except to survive another day. Megan didn't like that answer, to say the least. So she began planning, thinking of ways to unite the ponies. The five G1 tribes united for the most part easily enough, although the Princess Ponies stayed in the Crystal Desert, but they did have two little surprises... and three gifts.
Celestia and Luna, and the empowerment of hoof, horn and wing
About a year after 'Quest', Megan and some other ponies visit the Princess Ponies, who use their Wands to give the earth ponies their strength and connection to the land, unicorns increased magic and pegasi their weather-manipulation abilities. They also have three foals-Celestia and Luna, kinda-sorta accidentally created/conceived from the Heart of Ponyland itself, the raw source of magic and upon which the balance of this world rests, as well as Princes Sparkle's daughter. The Princess Ponies know they cannot raise the three properly, so they asked Megan and the Dream Valley enclave to raise them. Megan, of course, agrees. And over the next eight years, she, Danny and Molly do their best with the two fillies. Even if Celestia gets obsessed with New Wave and Luna worships heavy metal. :p The Equestrian Alliance grows, incorporating almost all former Ponyland tribes and groups, into them, along with most if not all G1 non-pony species, such as crabnasties, penguins, stonebacks and others. Two clans of griffins even joined, separating from the Griffin Kingdoms. Gilda and Gustav are from those clans. Wind Whistler was elected the first chancellor of the Senate.
Finally, nine years after 'Quest', a rogue storm blows in, a fierce one. Luna attempted to fight it... but it was too strong. Danny went out and found her under a large tree. A branch fell, Luna was pushed out of the way... and Danny was injured. Badly.
After he was brought back to Earth, Megan and Molly went too. There was another bad storm, and when it faded... the Rainbow Bridge was gone.
The Equestrian Alliance kept going, continually growing and carving a nation out of chaos. 54 years after the Rainbow Bridge was lost, Surprise, last of the Dream valley ponies, died on her birthday, falling asleep and never waking up. Every single original G1 pony died like that, peacefully and without much pain.
Two hundred years after Megan left, Discord attacked. His reign of terror lasted but a month... they think. Time got screwed up when he was around. He broke the Rainbow of Light, forcing Celestia and Luna to go to the Dragon Clans for help. The current king of the Clans at the time, Terronax the Fanged, liked their bravery and spunk, and they also had a Clan Leader on their side-Spikor, G1 Spike all grown up. ;) With their help, the rainbow of Light was reforged into the Elements of Harmony. Discord was sealed, but there was a price. The Flutter ponies took the brunt of his 'games', Morning Glory reduced to catatonia. Queen Rosedust withdrew all her people into Flutter Valley, along with the Bumbles.
After Discord's defeat Celestia and Luna took a more active role in government, ruling from Paradise City, which had grown from Paradise Estate. Megan, Molly and Danny faded from history to myth and legend. But... eventually Luna grew jealous of the attention Celestia received and we all know what happened.
The Nightmare War
Not much to say. Luna used Ursae and Shadowbolt golems for her war. Celestia sealed her up, but Paradise City was devastated, the sheer amount of magic there warping magic. A forest overtook it, the Everfree Forest.
From there, it's pretty much the canon. Equestria rebuilds. Cadance herself was created a hundred years after Luna's banishment, the Heart reacting to Celestia's loneliness and despair. And she might have another destiny in store as well. That same year, Spikor slew Terronax in ritual combat and became King Spykoran the Old, King of the Dragon Clans, surrendering his horde so he may stand on his own two feet to lead. For if the King cannot stand, how can he or she lead?
Also, if a female dragon becomes king, she's a king. What, you're gonna tell her she has to be a queen? You do that. I'll be over here, behind the mountain. ;p And only King of the Clans is a fight to the death. All others are nonlethal contests of skill or bravery. Mei Long's clan, for example, uses debate to determine who leads. Another clan, one more mechanically-inclined, has their leader the biggest MacGyver.
The years passed. Equestria stabilized. The crabnasties moved to coastal regions. The Griffin Kingdoms of the north are consolidated into the Griffin Empire. The Dragon Clans solidified their ties with Equestria-Dragon Quest isn't happening here-and eventually, a young student of Celestia's finds a book entitled, 'The Mare in the Moon'.
But while 1500 years passed since Megan's final departure, only 20 passed on Earth...
Why wold they want to be me?
Oh, also, *MacGyver. It's a capital G, bud.
1165542 unf.
I'd think Majesty is another part of (pre-)Equestrian history Celestia makes sure is rarely read or thought about, even though she's not really excised from the books or anything...
"She was a great pony, absolutely. And vital, too, in those long gone days of constant threats. But a good pony; a heroic pony; a pony to be emulated and admired by generations of impressionable young unicorns and other ponies? ... Eeenope."
1165542 Well, what can I say?
1165571 Always forget that bit... thanks.
1165581 Gods, yeah. "Just don't go Majesty, all right? Once you go Majesty, you never go back."
1165591 No prob, mate. At least you didn't spell it like MacGayver. That got old back in 6th grade.
Very cool. Do I detect some forshadowing in the mention of Hurricane and the others? Though I don't expect you to answer that. Good merging of the various continuities. Can't wait to see how the rest of the Hasbroverse shapes up.
Well, I like the explanation here about how the events of "Hearth's Warming Eve" plays into the story. I was wondering about that.
Still curious though, how did Queen Majesty's kingdom come about?