Old Families of Ponyville · 9:00pm Jul 4th, 2014
Introduction
An important aspect of Ponyville is that it is a small town. At the time of Luna's Return (June 21st-22nd, YOH 1500), it has only around 2000 permanent residents, though its location on the main rail line from Canterlot to the south and west means that it receives a lot of tourist trade and may have 10 thousand or more Pony visitors at festivals, both from the surrounding smaller villages and from Canterlot itself. The town grows swiftly from that point on -- key stages in this growth occurring when Twilight Sparkle settles there, when she is crowned a Princess (1503), when Twilight's Castle appears (1504), when the road is repaired to the Castle of the Two Royal Pony Sisters, when that old Castle is reopened, and when the resettlement of the Everfree City begins. But for at least the period of the Shadow Wars (1500-1524), it remains a small town (that really starts to change later, when groundcars come back into use and the superhighway system is constructed).
Ponyville was founded in YOH 1400 by a company of settlers led by Dawnflower Apple and Acorn Oaks, on land granted to them by Princess Celestia in return for their accepting the charge to "guard the lands of Ponies to the north from that which may come from the Everfree Forest." Dawnflower knew much of what Celestia was implying (1) -- unlike her husband Acorn, she was not fooled by Celestia's charms. And her fears proved very real, as she wound up burying her beloved Acorn in 1421, after one of the things "which may come from the Everfree Forest" slew him. Nor was he the first nor the last Apple to die in such a manner.
The Apples were granted Sweet Apple Acres free of taxation in bits, but they had been paying the price in blood for their land for a century at the point when Abigail Jacqueline Apple, better known to history as "Applejack" -- herself orphaned by that which might come from the forest -- first met Twilight Sparkle. The Apples of Sweet Apple Acres know this and accept this as their right and burden. It's only a recent and specific example of the relationship they've had with the Realm ever since the newly-crowned Princess Luna decided to favor them as recruits for the Earth Pony contingents of her Night Guard, fifteen hundred years before her Return.
The Apples were accompanied by Ponies of other families, who chose to settle in the lee of Sweet Apple Acres, building a village across the river from the Acres, gaining additional protection from the forest. That village became Ponyville. Generally speaking, the Old Families are those who settled Ponyville within the first generation: their founders personally knew Acorn Oaks. "Old" is of course a relative term -- at the end of the Shadow Wars, when the shattered town was rebuilt, it was still only 31 Equestriads, or 124 years -- since its foundation.
The Old Families were almost exclusively composed of Earth Ponies. Ponyville was by Luna's Return home to large numbers of all three Kinds (which was exactly in accordance with Celestia's plan), but its initial settlement was as a farming community, and most farmers are Earth Ponies. They were, however, Earth Ponies in fairly frequent contact with both Unicorns (from Canterlot) and Pegasi (from Cloudsdale), and hence the culture which developed was a mixture of all Three Kinds. Celestia's deepest purpose for Ponyville -- as her Alicorn Farm -- required a mixture of Kinds, though she did not tell this to Dawnflower.
The Old Families
Apples: The most important founding family of Ponyville, including Dawnflower and Acorn Oaks Apple in YOH 1400, to whom had already been born their eldest daughter Green Apple, who would become the grandmother of Applejack and would live to witness Luna's Return. Their most significant holding remains Sweet Apple Acres, which taps the magic of the Everfree to grow the Zap Apples which made the town wealthy, in addition to many other varieties of apples, and which produces other apple-related food products, most notably an excellent apple cider. Melanie Rose Apple was Green Apple's first daughter; she married Tangelo Orange and had three children by him who would become historically famous: Macintosh, Applejack and Apple Bloom.
Other prominent Apples in and around town include those of the Brown Farm (owned by Elizabeth Brown "Brown Betty" Apple, Green Smith's oldest living daughter), just NNE of the town. The Brown Farm also owns a bakery, candy and cider works. Around 10 miles NW of the town is the Delicious Apple Farm, owned by Brown Betty's two younger sisters, Apple Dumpling and Apple Leaves. The Fritter Sisters, technically Apple kin rather than true Apples, work in Ponyville for the Delicious Apples, making and marketing baked goods for them.
Berrys: Originally a minor founding family, descended from Dewberry and her husband Meadwin, who were too timid to live near the Everfree and instead settled in the hill country north of Ponyville proper. In time they secured full title to their lands and bred a large family, the descendants of which live and grow berry orchards and maintain vinyards near Ponyville today. Many make wine, most drink wine, and some are alcoholics. They have often married Carrots and Cherrys. Two prominent younger Berrys are Blackcherry Lee ("Cheerilee") Berry Punch, the town's beloved schoolmistress; and her sister Raspberry Lynn ("Berryshine") Punch, for a time a hopeless drunkard; the daughters of Strawberry and Falcon Punch.
Cakes: Marginally an "Old Family" in that Sugar Cake was a friend of the Carrots who was frequently seen in Ponyville from the beginning, and moved to the town in 1434, right at the end of the Mexicolt War. The family remained friends with and often married into the Carrots. This is demonstrated at the time of Luna's Return with Cup Cake, who married Orangeroot Carrot and founded the Sugarcube Bakery in the 1490's. Cup and Carrot Cake (as he then styled himself) became important to history as the friends, employers and ultimately business partners of Pinkie Pie and hence the Pie Sisters; and as the parents of Pound and Pumpkin Cake.
Carrots: The Carrots are every bit as old as the Apples: Violet Carrot was one of the original companions of Dawnflower Apple. However, the Carrots have tended to produce too many sons and not enough daughters in each generation, and have suffered other ill-fortune, to the point where Golden Harvest Carrot and Maroon Carrot both struggle to keep their respective families afloat. The return of Golden's older brother Landscape Carrot in 1510, the Changelings of Hive Carrot in tow, saves Golden Harvest's farm, and massively boosts the economy of Ponyville; his subsequent marriage helps restore the family's status.
Cherrys: A founding family often allied with the Berrys. Strawberry's father was Royal Cherry, which is why her firstborn daughter Blackcherry ("Cheerilee") got a Cherry name.
Golds: A merchant family who married into the Apples before the Settlement of Ponyville -- Gold Heart wed Apple Bloom the Elder and was the father of Dawnflower Apple and hence great-great-grandfather of the Sweet Apple Acre Siblings -- and also into the Pies at around the same time -- Pure Gold was the grandather of Goldie Pie and thus great-great-grandfather of the Pie Sisters. This is the main kinship link between the Apples of Ponyville and the Pies of South-Dunnich, and hence between Applejack and Pinkie Pie. They have also intermarried with the Riches and Smiths.
Hearts: A founding family related to the Apples from way back, in that both the Apples and Hearts are descendants of Saint Sweetheart, one of the survivors of the Cataclysm four thousand years ago; the two clans have intermarried more than once since that time. Goodheart was a friend of Dawnflower's who traveled with her in the settlement. The Hearts are rather empathic and tend to produce healers. Goodheart's great-great-grand-daughter Nurse Redheart is of this matrilineage.
Pies: Not actually a founding family of Ponyville, but strongly connected to that town through the Golds and through Pinkie Pie's presence in Ponyville. The Pies are actually a founding family of South-Dunnich, originating from the Paradise Estate Pony Surprise, who was sent there by Discord to "go farm rocks" twenty-five hundred years before Luna's Return. They are kin of the Apples, Rocks and Quartzes. The most famous Pies are Golden Pie, her daughter the miscalled "Virgin" Cloudy (who conceived the eldest three Pie Sisters immaculately but the two younger ones the normal way), and the five Pie Sisters: Maud, Claire, Pinkamena, Marble and Limestone.
Riches: Stinking Rich, the grandfather of Filthy Rich, was but a young stallion when Green Apple discovered the Zap Apples. Stinking Rich, who had previously been a fertilizer merchant, became wealthy through marketing the Zap Apples and other Apple products from Ponyville. The Riches have tended to be friends of the Apples since that time, though the clans have not usually intermarried. The enmity between Diamond Tiara, who is Filthy Rich's daughter; and Apple Bloom is atypical for the two families, and the elder members of both families hope that the rift will not persist.
Implications:
Family Reputation
An important thing to remember about any member of the Old Families is that they have, and are concerned with maintaining, family reputations. Ponyville is a small town, and if somepony behaves immorally -- cheats others in business, picks fights, sleeps around, and such -- awareness of these transgressions will spread through the grapevine (not to be confused with those growing in the Berry vinyards) and embarrass not only the sinning Pony but also her kin (it's worse when it's a mare because the chidren of the mare belong to the mare's family). This leads to reactions ranging from annoyance to hostility from the sinner's own family toward herself. Obviously, such scandals are socially-harmful to the perpetrators, in many little and great ways, both direct and subtle.
The positive side of this is that somepony from a family of good repute gets the benefit of the doubt when dealing with a native of Ponyville. They are assumed to be trustworthy and virtuous until proving themselves otherwise, which helps greatly in transacting all sorts of business. They will be invited to respectable social gatherings and are more likely to be viewed as potential husbands or wives, or their children will be viewed as such. They will be able to get business loans more easily, and at better rates.
Newcomers: Newer families are also concerned with reputation, and even outsiders who settle in Ponyville may be seen as respectable and given the benefit of the doubt if they meet the right criteria. The Ponyvilleans are generally quite forgiving of accidental social errors -- they are however, much less forgiving as regards deliberately vicious conduct. First-generation immigrants are considered "newcomers," a status which may persist all their lives unless they marry or otherwise signally-befriend natives. Their children are no longer considered "newcomers," though they are considered to come of newcomer family. Third-generation Ponyvilleans are simply "natives."
Applying the System:
The Mane Six
For instance, the Belles are a newer family: Magnum Bell and Pearl Sweetie immigrated from Neigh Jersey in the 1470's. Rarity Belle and Sweetie Belle are natives, but just barely. The Belles behave respectably and are hence generally taken by the Ponyvilleans to be a "good family." Rarity doesn't want Ponyville to find out the bad thing that happened to her at the Fillydelphia Fashion Institute because it would hurt not just herself and her business, but also Sweetie's social prospects.
Twilight Sparkle was an immigrant: neither of her lineages has any history at Ponyville. However, she is of the Canterlot gentry, and behaved both honorably and respectably in Ponyville. Furthermore, she's one of Applejack's best friends. She is personally-respected by the townsfolk, which helps her a lot when she is crowned Princess -- Ponyville would still submit to her because Celestia commanded it, but being liked and respected means that they submit to her with good grace, instead of grudgingly.
Applejack is the daughter of the most important founding family, and is famed for her honor. Being befriended by Applejack automatically earns any outsider respectability points in Ponyville.
Pinkie Pie is incredibly weird, but she behaves oddly rather than viciously, and she's accepted by Cup Cake and Carrot Cake, who are Carrot kin. She personally-befriends most of the town, and her status is secure, though ambiguous.
Rainbow Dash is one of Applejack's best friends, and she's also a really good weather pony. Though she is of a low-status Pegasus family, she becomes highly-respected in Ponyville: the obvious contrast being with Cloud Kicker, who is of a very high-status Pegasus family but behaves so offensively in Ponyville that she is generally-disliked by the townsponies.
Fluttershy is actually of the highest possible birth for a Pegasus, but conceals this from everypony save Rainbow Dash and Rarity for a very long time. Her timidity means that she is not as well respected as she might be (contrary to her fears, the town did not mark or remember the incident with Nosey). Eventually she wins vast status in her own right.
Outsiders: Many newcomers, especially the very large number who flock to the town after Luna's Return, Twilight's Coronation, the Restoration of the Old Castle and the Return of Landscape, never actually fit into the old Ponyville society. Over the course of the 16th century, as Ponyville grows from small town to small city, the old society is swamped by the more recent immigrants, who become the majority and whose culture is much more mainstream-Equestrian, in both good and bad ways. The Old Families mostly become the city's upper classes, and remain as such well into the 17th century.
Changelings: The presence of Sky's little hostel for stragglers from the armies of Nightmare Hunger, coupled with the appearance of the remnants of a whole Hive whose leaders have become love-locked on Landscape Carrot, leads to the appearance of a sizable Changeling minority in Ponyville. These mostly wind up as cheap labor for various farms and for Rarity Enterprises. Ponyville becomes one of the leading communities promoting and benefiting from the Reconciliation of the Fifth Race into Ponykind, and a recruiting area for Changeling expansion offworld.
Conclusion: Those writing fiction in Ponyville should keep in mind that it is a small town at the time of Luna's return -- though one fated to greatly grow -- and has strong small-town values including a system of Old Families. When handled correctly, this system adds great depth both in terms of time and background to any characters born in this town -- and it is also a system which can be penetrated by newcomers who befriend the right Ponies.
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(1) That they were to be a civilian garrison town, built to secure the roads southwest from Canterlot in anticipation of victory in the Second Albionish War. Dawnflower, happily for her peace of mind, did not grasp just how much strangeness awaited to emerge from the Everfree.
Do you have any Changeling stories, or stuff about that changeling integration thing? I'm having difficulty figuring whether the current one's are about it.
Unless this is a future project, then I apologize.
It's a future project. My only current Changeling stories are the dark Collateral Damage and the ones about Fluttershy, who is half-Changeling in my fanon.
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Oh, and Ceymi, Nictis and Sky are all from Phoenix_Dragon's continuity.
"What of the theory that Hoofington was socially engineered as a prototype of Ponyville?"
What happened to Rarity?
2257887
I hinted at what happened to Rarity in A Robust Solution, and intend to reveal it in another story. Probably the prequel to Nightmare Rarity.
Quite a bit of fascinating information here, especially what Landscape Carrot's been up to and that the Cake twins will be historically significant. Oh, and the town apparently gets wrecked during the climax of the Shadow Wars, but that's to be expected, really. You just haven't made it as a villain until you've done something to Ponyville.
In any case, thanks as always for the further details.
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I actually explained it in detail already right here. It's the key crisis in her life, the moment when she might have been broken forever, but instead emerged emotionally-damaged but undefeated, all the more determined to re-create herself into the Rarity of her ideals. It was actually much worse than what happened to Fluttershy -- but Rarity handled it better.
2258139
The CMC as well -- I already have at least one major deed lined up for each of them. I mention in Twelfth Equestriad Interview that Sweetie Belle has a fantastically-succeesful singing career in which she gets to be the Equestrian equivalent of Lynn Minmay, and I think I've mentioned somewhere else that Apple Bloom leads the way after the war to colonize the Moon and other places. Scootaloo grows up to be the Equestrian equivalent of Maximilian Sterling (aka Jenius).
I haven't yet decided on the details of Pound and Pumpkin Cake's claims to fame, but given the intense power surges they showed in "Baby Cakes," and just who is babysitting them -- I think they're going to have unusual lives as adults.
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2258139 I always thought that Babs Seed would wind up as Sweetie Belle's manager. Mind you, I only have my own stories as source material on this, but Bab's grandfather Pepper Seed was famous in vaudeville as a hoofer, and brought his wife (nee Sugar Pear, then Coco de Mer Seed) and their two foals, Pepper and Sesame, onto the stage as well. Pepper, who was truly a delightful stallion, was killed in a horrible onstage accident when some scenery was dropped on him.
His widow and children were forced to move back to the Broncs, where Pepper's family was from, and struggled to get by. Bab's father, Poppy, wants nothing to do with the theatre, and especially doesn't want his littlest foal, "Babsy-Bits," even to enter one if he can help it. (This may have to be tweaked in a few weeks!) Yet Babs has the theatre in her blood, and along with her tough personality, is ideally suited to be the front mare for Sweetie to make sure all of her deals are good and that she isn't taken advantage of (especially important when she is young and very vulnerable.)
Did I mention that Babs is a very distant relative of Cheese Sandwich, on her grandfather Pepper's side? He may not even know this.
And more generally--I always enjoy your essays! While I seldom have the details anywhere close to this carefully worked out, I agree that Ponyville runs and operates socially like a small town. We've also seen that every town in Equestria doesn't have this close-knit interdependence: Canterlot and Manehattan, especially, are places where it's easy to get lost in the crowd.
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I like your backstory for Babs. It goes with patrilineage instead of matrilineage, but then this is Noo Yoke, which has a different regional culture than Ponyville or Central Equestria in general. I have that whole area as semi-independent well into the first 500 years of the Realm's history anyway.
2259880 Actually, Coco de Mer has to go to the Broncs because she was disowned by her family (the Pears) for running off with a traveling entertainer. She's forced to go and live near her husband's family because she has nowhere else to go. Naturally, the Apples wouldn't dream of ignoring their cousin, no matter what the rest of the family thought. The occasional box of apples made a big difference when Poppy and Sesame were growing up hungry.
Fancy sewing skills she learned came in handy as she hoof-stitched fancy dresses for other ponies' little fillies. Babs' father is still bitter about the way his mother was treated by her family. Babs has grown up knowing nothing else. Her family is filled with hard workers jammed in a smallish apartment who don't see as much of each other as they'd like because of their work schedules. Coconut pulls a milk wagon, Avocado works as a waitress, Poppy is a cop, and Anisette works in the bakery run by her family (and where she used to sneak cookies to Poppy when they were still very young.) Babs is never totally alone, since Grandma still works out of the house.
Babs is related to Cheese via her father's side of the family. Aunt Sesame married into the Bagels, of course, and the relative in common is Cheese's Great Uncle Schmear. Back a ways, so it's very distant.
I do love these essays, especially the ones that go into detail about Equestrian history. This makes me want to either read or maybe even write something about those early years with the Apples and the other Old Families, and what they had to face from the Everfree*. I still think there's an old stone watchtower somewhere nearby, probably half collapsed, that is mostly either ignored these days or used as a place of play by local fillies and colts but that once saw some fierce fighting against the Everfree beasts.
* -- Of course, in my story 'My Little Balladeer' the current generation of Apples face things far stranger and more dangerous than anything their ancestors had to deal with from the Everfree Forest!