A Working Historical Chronology for MLP:FIM (General, Combined, Dec 2014 Revision)

Introduction

Yet another revamp of my Working Chronology. The Working Chronology is subject to change as new ideas occur to me, new fanons get folded in, and the canon itself changes in ways which require placement in time of newly-mentioned events.

Chronological Systems

Y.O.M. is "Year of Megan," the years since The Advent of The Megan. B.T.H. is "Before the Harmony, dating from the Defeat of Discord. Y.O.H. is "Year of Harmony," dating from the defeat of Discord. There are numerous other chronologies in use, the most common being to date from the Banishment of Luna. Y.O.H. has the distinct advantage of being the most acceptable to the Two Royal Pony Sisters, who would rather date events from their signal mutual triumph than from the other obvious reference point -- The Banishment of Luna, which the most emotionally painful event of both their lives in their current incarnations. The Return of Luna occurs in BoL 1000, or YOH 1500.

Basically, The Megan arrived 2024 years before the Cataclysm, so the Cataclysm occurs in the Y.O.M. 2024. After the Cataclysm, Ponies slowly abandoned the Megan year-count, because they felt that the Universe had betrayed and abandoned them. The Meganist system was continued by some Pony groups, especially the group of scholars and scientists who would found the Crystal City.

Another important system was started by the citizens of the Crystal City. This was A.U.C. (Anno Urbis Conditae or "The Year of the Founded City"), which dated from the foundation of Lake Town in 447 After The Cataclysm (2029 Before The Harmony). The A.U.C. dating system was most prominently used by the Crystal Empire, where it gradually took over from the old Year of Megan and the newer After The Cataclysm system. The main problem with it today is the 1014-year stasis between A.U.C. 2480 and A.U.C. 3494, during which the Crystal City was in a time-space limbo. In the A.U.C. system, the Return of Luna occurred in A.U.C. 3491.

The next most common system used in the period covered was "A.T.C." (After The Cataclysm) which was used mostly in the 1,438 years after the Cataclysm ended the Age of Wonders and before Discord's millennium of tyranny: the Cataclysm occurred in the year 2438 B.T.H. So the Return of Luna occurred in Y.O.M. 5962, for those few Ponies still dating from The Megan's Advent, or 3938 A.T.C.

For some 1000 years, starting in 1438 A.T.C (AUC 991). and ending in 2438 A.T.C. (AUC 1991), Discord was the lazy tyrant of Equestria and (on and off) most of the rest of the world. This was called the "Age of Discord," and many Ponies dated by Y.O.D. (Years Of Discord). This system was thankfully abandoned after the defeat of Discord by Celestia and Luna.

There were still other systems, such as the Years of the Lawstone (Lith) and Years of the Heartspire (the Heartspire), but they were abandoned with the fall of those cities. The Pegasi of Derecho dated their years by the Crystal-Imperial AUC system. Many more systems are practiced around the world, though Equestria's Years of Harmony are gradually becoming dominant.

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Y.O.M. 2024, B.T.H. 2476 - The Cataclysm. (Datable precisely after the Return of the Crystal Empire revealed their archives). Global climate chaotic, with years-long dust winter followed by catastrophic global temperature rise.
B.T.H. 2400 - Global climate has now shifted to Thermal Maximum. What is today Equestria is steaming swamps, thick jungles and barren deserts.
B.T.H. 2029 (ATC 447) - Foundation of Lake Town (the future Crystal City), Year 0 Anno Urbis Conditae (A.U.C.) in Crystal-Imperial reckoning.
B.T.H. 2000 (ATC 476) (AUC 31) - Rise of the Three Tribes.
B.T.H. 1666 (ATC 810)(AUC 363) - The Old Pegasus Mandate attacks and sacks Lake Town. It is rebuilt as the Crystal City.
B.T.H 1451 - (ATC 1025) (AUC 578) - Around this time the Windigoes first come to Earth, and begin altering the Terrestrial climate.
B.T.H. 1440's - (ATC late 1020's - early 1030's) (AUC 580's) Attack of the Windigoes. Creation of the Northern Wastes, inhabited by Windigoes and Frost Giants. Global climate permanently shifts to semi-glacial. (S2E13 "Hearth's Warming Eve")
B.T.H. 1436 (A.T.C. 1040) (AUC 593) - A regiment of Pegasi mercenaries and their dependents become foederate to the Crystal Empire and receive the right to provision from the lands around the (ground) town of Derecho. The Pegasi regiment builds a modest cloud-fort to the north of Derecho, which is the nucleus of the future skycastle (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez).
B.T.H.1437 (ATC 1039, AUC 592) - The Arctic Ocean and Half-Moon Bay begin to freeze over, choking off commerce and destroying the crops of the Three Tribes dwelling around the Bay. (S2E13 "Hearth's Warming Eve")
B.T.H. 1430 (ATC 1046. AUC 599) - Patch completes her quest for the last Shard of Harmony, returns it to Paradise Estate, and dies. (Pony POV Season Four: Generation Transitions & Origins
Three Tribes migrate to Equestria, which becomes habitable for the first time in a thousand years. (S2E13 "Hearth's Warming Eve")
B.T.H. 1391 (A.T.C. 1047) - The Three Tribes begin their general migration southward after it becomes apparent that their old lands are doomed to become uninhabitable owing to the ice. The Imperator of the Crystal Empire gives them permission to pass through Imperial lands on the way south, and their passage is for the most part peaceful.
B.T.H. 1389 (A.T.C. 1049) - Some Earth Ponies migrate southward around the Empire and settle on the shores of the Gulf River, founding the town of Lith around a stony height which they fortify. This is the nucleus of what will one day become a mighty city. (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez)
B.T.H. 1381 - (A.T.C. 1057) By this point the Three Tribes have mostly vacated their original lands and found new homes in the south. The vast majority of those who fail to do so die. Overall, about half of the population of the Three Tribes has perished in these events (S2E13 "Hearth's Warming Eve").
B.T.H. 1375 (A.T.C. 1063) - A band of Unicorn nobles and their Earth Pony retainers and Pegasus guards traveling southwestward found a settlement and build a small towered keep on the site that would one day become the Heartspire (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez).
B.TH. 1338 (A.T.C 1100)- The White Princess, Bianca Snowheart, younger sister of the Unicornian Queen, migrates to the Southwest with her followers, who are mostly Unicorns and Earth Ponies. (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez).
B.T.H. 1328 -The White Princess and her followers join and rule an existing Unicorn settlement and begin the construction of the great tower which will be known as the Heartspire; Bianca becomes the first White Queen of the Heartspire (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez).
B.T.H. 1298 - The Earth Ponies of the Lithic Hills unearth the Lawstone, and form a cult around it.
B.T.H. 1281 - The Earth Pony settlements around the Lithic Hills politically-consolidate to found Lith, first great city of the Earth Pony Tribe in their new lands on the Gulf River in the southeast of modern Equestria, ruled by the Priestess-Queen of the Lawstone. (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez)
B.T.H. 1278 - The Pegasi of the sky-fortress of Derecho discover the Laputa Stone and begin further fortifying Derecho until it is essentially-impregnable to the military science of the day.
B.T.H. 1019 - Birth of Discord in his current incarnation on Paradise Estate, to Shady.
B.T.H. 1018- Birth of Celestia and Luna in their current incarnations on Paradise Estate, to Mimic. Celestia, Luna and Discord are at first all friends. (Pony POV Season Four: Generation Transitions and Origins)
B.T.H. 1000 (- Discord Awakens to his true Cosmic identity, destroys Paradise Estate and most of its immortal inhabitants. Celestia and Luna flee to Lith. Start of the Age of Discord.
B.T.H. 1000-0 - Age of Discord Discord (lazily) dominates the world. Among the places Discord cannot dominate are the Crystal City, which is protected by the Crystal Heart; Derecho, which is too mobile and heavily armed for him to easily attack; the Heartspire, which is guarded by powerful and subtle unicorn magics; and Lith, which is protected by the powerfully-lawful rituals of the Earth Ponies. All these cultures are however severely blighted by the requirement to constantly defend themselves against the minions of Discord, and some begin to turn toward darkness. Celestia and Luna employ them as bases of operation to undermine Discord's rule and seek a means of permanently overthrowing the lethargic tyrant-god. The records of the Age of Discord are mostly lost owing to the depredations of Chaos. (Pony POV Season Four: Generation Transitions and Origins and (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez)
B.T.H. 800- Around this time Luna is Monasdrommir to the barbarians of the far northeast, across the Stormy Sea. She leads them west to Hyperborea, from which they fight the piratical minions of Discord who seek to destroy the coastal cities of the Crystal Empire (Corrupution At Nightfall).
B.T.H. 4- Discord makes a serious attack on Lith. In attempting to defend themselves, the ponies of Lith unleash powerful forces of Law which petrify the entire population and nearly petrify Discord as well. Celestia and Luna realize Discord's weakness.
0 Y.O.H. - Celestia and Luna find the Elements of Harmony and turn Discord to stone, ending the Age of Discord and commencing the Age of Harmony. Celestia and Luna declare themselves the Ruling Princesses of Equestria, but at first their authority is largely illusory, as noble families dominate the land. Celestia and Luna begin recruiting their Guards to defend the lands they have liberated.
7 Y.O.H. - Celestia and Luna raise the earliest version of the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters, making it their capital. The town and eventually city of Everfree begins to grow beneath that fortress.
95 Y.O.H. - Battle of Trottingham: Princess Luna repels a Griffon invasion at the price of the lives of many of her beloved Night Guard. First serious damage to Luna's sanity.
231 Y.O.H. - Celestia and Luna unite their powers to overthrow the White Queen of the Heartspire, who has become corrupted into evil by her own power. The top of the Heartspire is wrecked and its surviving inhabitants mostly flee, demoralized by the fall of their regime (Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez). Some join the growing realm of Equestria, others join other realms or found their own.
439 Y.O.H. - Birth of Crimson Quartz -- the future King Sombra.
476 Y.O.H. - King Sombra takes the Crystal Throne.
488 Y.O.H. - King Sombra corrupts Princess Luna, badly damaging her sanity.
489 Y.O.H. - Celestia and Luna unite their power against King Sombra, defeating and discorporating him. However, Sombra's spell takes the Crystal City into extradimensional stasis, and Sombra himself is not truly dead, but only sleeping outside spacetime, ready to return when the stars come right. Luna begins to sink into manic-depression, alternating between rage and sorrow.
490 Y.O.H. - A Little Ice Age begins as the Windigos and Frost Giants, now unchecked by the Crystal Heart, begin to slowly expand the Ice Waste southward.
496 Y.O.H. - In one of her last acts of sanity, Luna befriends Ruby, a young filly living in Sunny Town. She hopes through decades of friendship with a new kindred spirit to heal her deep emotional and psychological wounds.
499 Y.O.H. - Luna's young friend Ruby is murdered by her kin in Sunny Town. Luna in her fury temporarily enters the Nightmare state, destroys the town, slaughters their inhabitants and condemns them to eternal undeath.
500 Y.O.H. - Luna goes utterly mad, summons the Shadow to possess her and becomes Nightmare Moon. The resultant battle with her sister Celestia ruins the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters and devastates the city of Everfee. Celestia is forced to use the Elements of Harmony against Luna and banish her to the Moon. This effort breaks the Harmony -- Celestia loses control over the Elements and suffers significant damage to her own sanity in the process. However, unlike Luna, Celestia avoids corruption, and thus never herself enters the Nightmare State (though she comes close a few times over the next thousand years).
500-1000 Y.O.H. - Time of Consolidation - Ruling alone and without the Elements, Celestia must use mostly conventional means to defend peace and prosperity. Equestrian expansion slows but becomes more decisive.
500's Y.O.H.- Some of the survivors proclaim the Everfree Republic in the ruins of the City of Everfree. Due to deep depression, Celestia cannot bring herself to care enough to suppress this rebellion, and grants them the province as their own domain, moving with her loyalists to the new capital on Mount Avalon. Bahamut's Rest is renamed "Canterlot" and the government of the Realm re-established there.
early 600's Y.O.H.- Draconic Matriarchy attempts to conquer Equestria as part of a draconic volkerwanderung. Among the battles of this era include Celestia's personal defeat of the great Dragon Syhlex and his sons.\
610 Y.O.H. - The Lunar Rebellion.
626 Y.O.H.- Fall of the Everfree Republic to Dragon attacks followed by anarchy. The Everfree Forest is increasingly abandoned and becomes the abode of Chaotic monsters.
648 Y.O.H.- Final defeat of the Draconic Matriarchy, the last serious organized Dragon threat to Equestria in North Amareica.
928 Y.O.H.- Celestia signs the Great Charter, establishing the modern Equestrian Parliamentary system of government for the Realm.
1000-1250 Y.O.H.- Time of Expansion - Equestria expands to roughly her present borders, founding many new cities in the opened southwestern and northwestern lands, all the way to the Cruel Sea in the west. Great increase in commerce and learning. The scientific method is rediscovered and begins to be applied. Celestia herself begins to slip into depression and lethargy.
1078 Y.O.H. - Caballans, a Griffon Realm in Western Taura, begins founding colonies along the Gulf River..
Late 11th to 12th centuries Y.O.H. - Caballans establish a major colonial empire to the far south of Equestria, conquering Cervid and Pony tribes who were previously under the control over other races: the amphibian Ahuizotlians, reptilian Coatl and mammalian Lamas.
13th century Y.O.H. Tauran Griffon Realms of Albionish and Prench also begin planting colonies in the Amareicas, seeking lands beyond Equestria to avoid confrontation with Princess Celestia.
1240's Y.O.H. - Equestrian expansion into the Northwest is almost reversed by the Amareican Griffon leader Guntram the Black. Celestia, severely depressed during this decade, exercises no effective leadership against the Griffons. The arrogant but miltiarily effective Pegasus Day Guard Captain Aquila stages a temporarily successful coup in Canterlot, making himself War Leader, though he continues to claim loyalty to Celestia. Equestria avoids a Shogunate largely by Aquila's death in battle slaying Guntram.
1250 Y.O.H. - Upon the death of Guntram and Aquila, Celestia largely recovers her sanity and once again takes charge of the Realm, though during her mental absence Parliament has seized much power. Celestia confirms most of these new powers.
1250-1500 Y.O.H. - Time of Enlightenment - The scientific method begins to be applied on a large scale. Complex machinery is developed. The powers of water and then steam are harnessed to build large factories. Railroads are constructed. The first airships loft into the skies. Schools spread, hospitals are constructed, food distribution improved. Equestria’s population grows into the high tens of millions.
1280 Y.O.H. - Birth of Blueskin Cherrytree, the future General.
1342 Y.O.H. - Albionish and Prench involved in major war against each other, both in Taura and around the world.
1345 Y.O.H. - Albionish victorious against Prench on many fronts, and gain control of Terre Feuille d'Erable, the cold country northeast of Morgan, which they rename the Provinces of Upper and Lower Maple Leaf.
1361 Y.O.H. - Start of the First Albionic War (1361-1369) as Albionish seize coastal cities.
1369 Y.O.H. - End of the First Albionic War (1361-1369) in Equestrian victory: Equestrians conquer Upper Maple Leaf, Albionish retain Lower Maple Leaf.
1375 Y.O.H. - Griffon Kingdom of Prance collapses in major Pony revolt. Fighting spreads through Taura.
1386 Y.O.H. - Death of General Blueskin Cherrytree.
1389 Y.O.H. - Equestria acquires Neigh Orleans and the Hayseeds from the Prench as part of a diplomatic deal.
1392 Y.O.H. - Birth of Green ("Greenie") Apple, the future "Granny Smith" Apple..
1398 Y.O.H. - Start of the Second Albionic War (1398-1401), as the Tauran War spreads to North Amareica.
1400 Y.O.H. - Equestria captures Lower Maple Leaf but the Albionish sack Baltimare.
Celestia grants land to the Apple Family on the northern fringe of the Everfree Forest, resulting in the foundation of Ponyville. This is a deliberate measure to ensure the existence of potential Element Bearers when Luna returns.
1401 Y.O.H. - End of the Second Albionic War (1398-1401) in a negotiated peace.
1406 Y.O.H. - First Caballeran War, Equestria captures Friendly from the Caballerans.
1419 Y.O.H. - Birth of Golden ("Goldie") Pie, the future "Granny" Pie, and of her future husband Jasper Quartz.
1432 Y.O.H. - Start of the Mexicolt War (1432-1434)
1434 Y.O.H. - End of the Mexicolt War (1432-1434). Equestria captures the Southwest including San Franciscolt, the territories where Applewood and Las Pegasus now stand, and large portions of the Palomino Desert.
1440 Y.O.H. - Equestria acquires Vanhoover Bay, future sites of Vanhoover and Tall Tale, from Albion through a diplomatic deal.
1447 Y.O.H. -The Gulf Cities secede from the Realm of Equestria. At first, an apathetic Princess Celestia is inclined to let them go, until her Champions bring her evidence that they are backed by the Formless, monstrous and mysterious enemies of all Ponykind. Start of the Gulf Rebellion War (1445-1449).
1449 Y.O.H. - Dual climax of the Gulf Rebellion. A Formless army penetrates to Canterlot itself and assails the city, being beaten off by Princess Celestia and a civilian militia led by Celestia's Champions. Inkwell is permanently half-blinded in the battle. At the same time, Golden Mead defeats Gray Traveler at Susquehattan. These will be the last serious invasions of Equestria by the Gulf Rebels.
1451 Y.O.H. - The Rebels surrender, ending the formal fighting in the Gulf Rebellion. Rebel holdouts, some influenced by the Formless, continue to resist for decades to come in remote corners of the Gulf Swamps.
1480 Y.O.H. - Around this year are born the Mane Six and Trixie.
1490 Y.O.H. - Around this year are born Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
1500 Y.O.H. - The Return of Luna, but also Shadowfall all over the world. In Taura this results in the start of the Great War between the Griffon Empire and most of the other Tauran states. Griffon Empire wins victories against Western Taurans and Ursids, but cannot defeat either foe.
1501 Y.O.H. - The Day of Discord. The epic Battle of the Straits between Western Taurans and Wolfen Empire ends in Wolfen victory.
1502 Y.O.H. - Massive fighting all over Taura. Ursid Empire begins collapsing.
1503 Y.O.H. - Chrysalis launches war against Equestria. Return of the Crystal Empire. Discord paroled. Ursid Empire collapses into open civil war.
1504 Y.O.H. - Plunder Vines attack Equestria. Great Tauran War ends in truce of mutual exhaustion. Eastern Taura devastated. Tirek attacks Equestria. Shadow-inspired conspiracies proliferate around the world.

Comments

[Cold in Gardez]

I didn't notice this until just now. Nice job of trying to piece together a timeline for Lost Cities, which actually has enough internal contradictions that a 'correct' timeline is probably impossible.

[Jordan179]

2402656

Thank you! And you're one of the FIMF writers I forgot to but meant to credit in my recent post -- your Lost Cities has been a lode I've mined for so much background ... connecting the story of Derecho with the Coming of the Wendigoes and the Middle to Late Crystal Empire and the family background of Fluttershy; mentioning the Heartspire as the location of a library Wind Whistler might search for the lost lore of Discord's first advent; and Lith as one of the places (along with the Crystal City, Derecho, the Heartspire and Trottingham) where powerful Lawful magic made it difficult for Discord to penetrate during the millennium of his rule. I need to credit you!