So, this came out yesterday:

I had no idea that G5 was planning on essentially turning ponies into racist segregationists and that the plot of the series would be to once again unite the tribes.

Here's the thing. On its face that is what we are doing as well in Equinox. But... there's a right way to do it and there's a wrong way to do it. I want to be crystal clear up front that Equinox will be nothing like MLP-G5. Nothing.

Equus (the pony homeworld) remains united over the centuries. It is the colonies which have become separated by tribes over the course of more than a thousand years.

There will be no 'activist' ponies in Equinox. There will be no petty racism for its own sake here. None of that nonsense exists in Equinox.

What we do have are actual valid and plausible reasons why the the tribes have drifted apart over many centuries. The colonials started out united. Eventually, they settled on worlds which were more hospitable for certain tribes than others, which skewed the demographics over time. After enough generations, there were whole worlds which were purely one tribe or another. Caelum, the capital of the Pegasus Republic is a gas giant which they have found a way to colonize with floating islands and so on. There are a lot of very valid reasons for the way things have developed.

With separation along tribal lines and several generations passing, it makes sense that each tribe would view the others as quite alien. We see this in Swan Song quite plainly.

Another distinction is that G5 essentially reverses Twilight's achievements, making her a failure. Again, our Equus is united. It's just the colonies (which by now vastly outnumber Equus in population) who are divided. This divide has caused actual real hardships, wars, etc. Whole generations have come and gone believing their tribe to be superior. And yes, we're using the word tribe here rather than race. Ponykind is a single race which includes all three tribes.

The main thrust of Equinox when it comes to the tribal division and reunification is that this produces a unique form of energy which ends up being critical to saving ponykind from hostile forces in the galaxy. Without tribal unity, this force collapses. There are powerful beings who have a vested interest in producing this energy and there are other powerful beings who want to make sure it does not happen. All this depends on tribal unity.

What makes our saga different is that this will all have very real and plausible story flow. There will be legitimate reasons why tribes divide and unite. The conflicts and circumstances drive the plot -- not any kind of real-world political agenda. That kind of thing ruins stories, and we believe strongly that a story should be strong on its own merits rather than having some kind of activist agenda in order to virtue-signal for our audience.

The reason I bring this up is because G5 is coming... and we want to make absolutely sure that nobody mistakes anything in Equinox as being 'inspired by' G5 or related to it in any way, shape, or form. We came up with the idea first, and we're sticking with it.

I don't think people should jump to conclusions so quickly. We don't know much about what happens between the end of G4 and the hundreds of years to the start of G5, other than magic apparently disappearing. Considering how reliant on magic Equestria is for basically everything, having it disappear would definitely lead to huge divide and potentially even collapse. I mean if electricity stopped working one day that would lead to the collapse of nations and the deaths of hundreds of millions. I don't know if ponies are as reliant on magic as we are on electricity, but even if they are just a fraction as reliant on it that would cause huge problems.

Now sure they could screw it all up and have it all be full of PC bullshit, but it has the potential to be great and I'm looking forward to it.

The way you handled the tribal divisions in Flurry in Time has been solid and believable. I’m confident it will continue to be that way in your standalone stories! Some of the best bits of Flurry in Time have been from ponies like Swan Song and Oakheart finding middle ground with each other.

While we’re talking about colonial differences, where do the other races factor into them? Kirin, Zebras, Griffons, and other creatures from Equestria are present in your universe. Did they go their own ways or accompany similar pony tribes (like Griffins with Pegasi, Zebras with Earth Ponies, and Kirin with Unicorns).

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The big, looming question I have is, what happens to the Sun and Moon if all magic is gone?

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A lot of the 'minor' races chose to remain a part of the Commonwealth and have colonies that are dependent on Equus for their laws and defence.

The Griffons have their territory known as the Imperium, but have been torn apart by a millennia long civil war between the warring clans. They have an interesting history, but I'll let Recon elaborate on that one.

The zebra choosing to ally with the comara (earth ponies) was more an act of desperation. The newly formed Pegasus Republic was swallowing up worlds left and right after the First Griffon war, so the Alliance was formed as a counter to them.

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All good questions. Zebras are part of the Alliance, which is why you see zebra items in Oakheart's office early in the story. His wife is a zebra.

Kirin have mostly remained in the Commonwealth, I suspect, as we don't have any notes about them taking sides with any of the pony tribes.

Griffins are very different here than in MLP. You can see from their size that even physically, they are quite imposing. We have an elaborate history for them. A few facts:

* They have the most advanced weaponry of any mortal race. The planetary system including their homeworld of Avaria is fully colonized by the griffins, much like what humans have done in The Expanse prior to the ring. The important factor here is that griffins have no FTL capabilities. They have no access to Mirrorspace. As such, they are essentially contained. Otherwise, they would pose an enormous threat to all the pony colonies.

* Many millennia ago, a Windigo ship jumped into the griffin star system and lured one of their warships into attacking. The Windigo opened up a jump point into mirrorspace and waited for the griffins to follow them through. They chased the Windigo all the way to the Equus star system, where the Windigo then sacrificed itself in order to force the griffins to crash land in the ocean. Upon landing, they salvaged what they could from their sinking ship and flew to the nearest landmass where they established their own territory.

* Griffins are carnivores, and they find ponies to be a delicacy. They have hunted ponies for many centuries until the alicorns brought them under control. The alicorn Helios finally 'negotiated' a cease and desist with pony hunting when he threatened to destroy griffin villages should it be found that they have resumed hunting. This largely brought an end to the hostilities, but occasional instances still occur.

* When ponies reached for the stars, the griffins expressed a desire to return to their ancestors' homeworld. The ponies agreed, and all griffins were migrated off Equus. The colony ship made its way to Avaria and was hijacked by the local griffins of that system. These griffins forced the ponies to take them elsewhere in the galaxy, sparking the first griffin war. Eventually, it was brought to an end though I'd have to ask Duvet exactly how. We do know that it was the griffins which were the source of advanced weaponry for pony ships in that phase of history. These weapons shifted the balance of power significantly among the tribes.

There's more, but you get the idea.

That really isn't the type of video I'd be getting my information from. They're extrapolating from too little information(and missing a lot of public information too). And just being honest, from the way how fast they jumped into ranting from such little information sort of paints them as not very fun people in general.