The Lost Chapter of Equestrian History + Headcanon · 4:47am Apr 16th, 2014
Intro
I was rewatching the "Hearts and Hooves day" episode of season 2 when I this time noticed something I hadn't paid much attention to before. The facts presented about love potion which the CMC use on Big Mac and Cheerilee could very well be a chapter of Equestrian history which by in large most of the fandom (including myself up till now) have completely ignored. The following content of this blog will have three sections in which I first presents the facts given by the episode. Then I will go into a analytic hypothesis of what the info very well could mean. Finally, I will present a much more radical headcanon of what could further be implied by the information given in that episode.
Facts
There are two parts in "Hearts and Hooves Day" episode 17 of season 2 which informs us about the important missing chapter in Equestrian History. The first of the two being when the CMC bumps into Twilight Sparkle on the street and are introduced to the book which contains all the information about the origin of the day celebrated in the episode. Twilight Sparkle says:
"Did you know this holiday got its start because of a love potion?" "It even has the recipe." (around 8 minutes into the episode)
The CMC borrow the book to create the love potion, and succeed as the recipe is true. When they try to find answers to why the love potion works in such a horrible way, we get this little scene at around 12:20.
Sweetie Belle: "We might not have given Big Mac and Miss Cheerilee a love potion. We may have given them a love poison."
Sweetie Belle: "Apparently some prince a long time ago whipped up this recipe and gave it to this princess he liked. He meant it to be a love potion, but things didn't turn out so well."
Sweetie Belle: "Well there is something here about a dragon, a kingdom falling, chaos reigning. Okay, apparently it was all because the prince and princess were so lost in each others eyes that they couldn't perform their royal duties."
Analytic Hypothesis
Now, let us take all the small facts we're presented with and put them into context. I want to point out that nowhere in the episode is it either said that the background to the holiday is historical or a made up story. So, I'd like to give my reason why I think the kingdom that fell was actually real.
All Holidays Celebrate History/Tradition
Nightmare Night: Celebrated due to the rise of Nightmare moon.
Hearth's Warming Eve: Celebrated due to the founding of Equestria and the tribes coming together.
Winter Wrap up: Performed due to traditions (historical in a way as it's done without magic because the founders of Ponyville were earth ponies.)
The Running of the Leaves: Presumably performed in that way due to historical traditions, just like Winter Wrap Up.
The point I'm making here is that seemingly, every single holiday or big event is there because of something historical. It is not a far stretch to put Hearts and Hooves day into the exact same box as all other holidays.
Most timelines of Equestrian history that I've seen usually puts the founding of Equestria as the time period right before Discord came to rule. If we take the info given in this episode as historical, then this period fits perfectly into the between the tribes founding Equestria and Discord coming into rule. Sweetie belle even gives us why the Kingdom fell. "Well there is something here about a dragon, a kingdom falling, chaos reigning." I want to point out that if Discord and his species had never been seen by anypony by this time in Equestrian History, what would anypony refer to him as? I'd say a dragon due to his very serpent-like movements. However, it could also be a possibility that a dragon actually attacked the Kingdom. Either way, the other piece of information that I underlined says it all, chaos reigned. Would make perfect sense if this happened right before Discord came to rule Equestria.
The last piece of info that I'd like to go into is that we are actually presented with a previous unknown Alicorn, which I did show in a previous picture, but I shall circle it in here:
As the photo clearly shows, the book had the princess drawn as an Alicorn, while the prince is seemingly an Earth Pony. Which does make perfect sense for her to be an Alicorn, given that all princesses so far are Alicorns. Also makes perfect sense for the male to not be one, we do have a certain prince as an example for them not needing Alicorn status to be royalty. 
I would also like to draw attention to the fact that the appearance of the Alicorn in the book is none of the known Alicorns. It is definitely not Twilight as she was not even an Alicorn when the event took place. It wasn't Any of the others either:
The design in the book just doesn't fit any of these three princesses. Luna and Celestia being the only really likely candidates though. So, this leaves us with the question, who was this fifth Alicorn? She's seemingly disappeared from the world ever since her kingdom fell.
Headcanon
Honestly, we can make lots of headcanon theories about this lost chapter of Equestrian History. We have a kingdom that fell, an Alicorn that disappeared. A love potion being cause of it all. Maybe it was the chaos of the kingdom that created Discord? Or maybe he was the one that gave the prince the recipe for the love potion. Was Equestria built on top of a lost Kingdom? Well, I would like to give some insight into what I believe could have happened.
I won't tackle the subject of Discord in this headcanon, I will however give you all my ideas for WHO the Alicorn was, and what happened to her. It is obvious that the Alicorn was poisoned with love, eternally bound in a frenzy of love very much akin to that which we experience firsthand with Big Mac and Cheerilee in the episode. So, what happened to the two if they never snapped out of the love? Well, it is a very likely that this Alicorn that predates even Celestia and Luna was immortal just like them. This means that she'd live forever... while the Earth Pony she loved would eventually die. I can only imagine what that would do to this mysterious Alicorn. My guess is she was driven insane by the loss, every fiber in her body compelling her to be with the love that she could never get. I believe this changed her drastically, made her crave love in such a way that it could never be truly quenched, eternally hungry for it... I believe she's still around today in MLP, I believe she is...
Chrysalis...
Okay, I'm now going to over analyze things we've been shown and told in the show to help support my little headcanon. So please, do know that I know I'm probably reading too much into things, but I'd like to use this as a chance to flesh out the character. I'm now going to bring up some points to why I see a lot of connections between the lost Alicorn and Chrysalis, and why it helps explain the behavior of Chrysalis.
Her Design:
This might be small, but her design itself could be interpreted in a way that the holes all over her body represents the love she had lost and will never be able to replace, like a gaping hole in her soul that cannot be closed.
Her Attitude Towards Love:
She has a very dominating demeanor towards love, very similar to how the potion dominated her perception of love. Notice that she uses a form of "love magic" to control Shining Armor, as if the only form of love she's been able to understand, is one that completely dominates every aspect of the pony.
Intimate Knowledge Of Canterlot:
Chrysalis apparently knew what was underneath Canterlot, and the history of the place. In the second episode of the wedding, she explains to Twilight that the crystal cave she got trapped inside was used by greedy unicorns. It would make sense that she knew these things if she had lived there a long time ago, a time where the hidden crystal cave wasn't so hidden.
Why She Attacked:
She says that she attacked to keep her subjects from starving. But, could there perhaps be another reason for why she attacked Equestria of all places? I could think of two reasons for it besides the one she stated. The first would be because they built a kingdom on top of her old one. I think I'd be a bit upset if someone did that to me. The second reason could be Cadence. Cadence is an example of actual love, and Chrysalis is tormented and warped love. Having been driven mad by the love poison, it could be safe to assume that actual love, especially in that concentrated a form, would be something that would piss Chrysalis off.
Defeating Celestia:
Maybe it wasn't just the love of Shining Armor that caused her to be capable of beating Celestia. Maybe she was just really powerful to begin with. It would make sense for Chrysalis to be just as powerful, or even more so than the royal sisters if she was truly this ancient Alicorn who pre-dates the royal sisters.
Now, those are the reasons for why I see a connection between Chrysalis and the ancient Alicorn. Though, I can't say what really went down back then, or how she got an army of changelings like herself. A guess would be that she actually made them herself after having been changed by the love poison. I think a lot of different ideas can be thought up from this little piece of Equestrian history, and maybe someone out there can come up with a great idea for what happened back then, and how Chrysalis got her changelings. Thanks for reading :)
Holy. Crap. Dude, that.... I never gave that story much thought, but that could explain how an alicorn-shaped, pony-like monster could have come into being. Somebody needs to write about this.
Dude, if you aren't going to, do you mind if I use this idea? I was already wanting to write something about the origin of the changelings, and this would fit perfectly with it. I would certainly credit you, but I'll refrain from writing it if you'd prefer to do something with the idea yourself and would prefer that I not.
It's something that always slips my mind, but you're right! That legend is something that gets glossed over very easily.
There was a tumblr for Queen Chrysalis that used the same theory that you did, and while she's never fully explained it, ( the event was one of many great pains in her life ) it proved to be a fascinating blog to follow. After a while, that blog combined with another related to Discord. It's still entertaining, but the backstory has been constantly delayed by both artists' lives.
Here's the link if you're interested.
http://discorderlyconduct.tumblr.com/
2015061
I'm not sure if I'm going to write a story about this any time soon. Though, I really want to write it at some point. I can't really stop you from writing a story based off this, as long as you give me credit for the headcanon, it's fine
Also, I updated my journal so it contains all I wanted to say last night
2015297
interesting tumblr 
Glad to see someone else also noticed this. Though, I've added a lot more to my journal about why I think what happened, happened 
I was updating my journal to what it is now while you dropped that comment
Hmm, and what if Chrysalis is Celestia and Luna's mother/aunt/whatever?
2015574
Not sure if they are related, but there is a possibility that Chrysalis is in fact their mother/aunt/something-else 
That was actually something I talked to a friend about
Wow, that's a very interesting theory and much better than mine, with Chrysalis that was once the first queen of the Crystal Empire, Twilight reads about in the book with the history of the Crystal Empire, before falling to the dark side for some reason, because I couldn't find much clues for that so far.
It makes much sense, there are only two little holes in the theory:
1. You said Equestria was maybe built upon a lost kingdom.
But the ponies came from elsewhere and when they came in the region now known as "Equestria" there wasn't a kingdom. It was just land that belonged to no one.
2. You mentioned Chrysalis could be as powerful as Celestia and Luna or even more so, because she was an alicorn once too.
This is something that is already disproved by the comics. At the end of the events of the first arc, when Twilight and her friends encountered her in her castle she admits to Twilight that she doesn't have the power to destroy, only the power to manipulate others and to change her form.
The way she defeated Celestia was either the love of Shining Armor that increased her power immensely or she used something like a counter spell that sent Celestia's own magical attack back to her.
That would fit, she also uses the shape of others, so she could as well use their spells against them.
But that are only minor things, they don't disprove the theory.
It fit's so perfect that I can only say that it most likely really happened like that.
>>>I think a lot of different ideas can be thought up from this little piece of Equestrian history, and maybe someone out there can come up with a great idea for what happened back then, and how Chrysalis got her changelings.<<<
Not only an idea, we already know it.
Or at least the ones that read the official comics. In the first arc, we learn that she can create changelings out of ponies.
Chrysalis doesn't free Twilight's friends, as she had promised if Twilight should run over to her, and when Twilight confronts her with that, she just says that she only promised to not do them any harm when she changes sides, because Twilight herself will suck their love once she is finished with her.