Hey has anybody ever thought of a story where humans were the indigenous peoples of Equestria? I know that there are stories with something like this already,but what I'm going to describe is something that's somewhat similar to the arrival of Europeans to the American continent and the resulting decline of the Native Americans due to their arrival.I'll put it this way.For a long time,large numbers of diverse human tribes or clans(a number of the said tribes or clans being racially diverse) have been living in much of Equestria with relative peace minus some conflicts between rival tribes or clans before the arrival of the recently united pony tribes and their immediate settlement in what's now Equestria.Their arrival marks the start of the the humans' eventual decline due to a number of reasons such as loss of land or unfamiliar diseases brought by the ponies killing large numbers of them.When the humans had finally disappeared,their memory was erased and were only considered a myth by later generations of ponies while anything referencing their science was hidden away.To conclude this,what does anybody think of a HiE concept just like this?
There's a possibly interesting story there, and yes I have thought of it, but I've never really liked it.
I think the main reason I don't like it is because humans don't have magic and then ponies do. Magic is something that ponies didn't create-- it just "is there" the same way that cosmic rays just "are there". But if humans evolved in the same planet, then they would have been aware of magic.
I prefer to see humans as aliens. I've pretty much written that.
I have an idea I've been kicking around that explores this...unfortunately it treats humanity as the lost civilization of Atlantis.
At one point they had the greatest civilization on the globe, but now they are no more...that kind of thing. It's mostly a side note in a Simarillion-style creation story (coming soon), but the concept is definitely worth delving into deeper.
if you've got an idea of how to incorporate a human society into the Equestrian planet, by all means do so. Just be careful. This is one of those "there are far more ways to do it wrong, than there are to do it right" sort of things.
I see.You know I've always thought of seeing humans being like the Native Americans and the ponies ( and possibly other races like the gryphons) being like the Europeans.
I've been bouncing around an idea like that for a while, but I doubt I'll be writing it anytime soon. Basically Humans lived in a country neighboring Equestria and acted as a buffer state between it and more untamed, wild lands filled with more hostile beings. Luna was one of the big reasons they were allied with Equestria, and after she was banished relations soured a bit as Celestia was always very wary of them in the first place. After a series of natural disasters and diplomatic goofs, the two peoples lost contact.
Cut to the time of the show and things start happening when a strange, bipedal creature comes out of the Everfree forest with a message for the Princesses. "They are coming."
Humans are... well, humans. And they live in what is basically a huge expansion of the Everfree Forest. Equestria - where the ponies live and their allied species such as cows, donkeys, and such - is all magical with weather control and such, but it varies for the rest of the world. If they come off as gritty or "mean" it's a "had to be sharp" thing, but even then they run the whole spectrum of okay guy to total dickwad.
Luna had a strange affinity for them with her more confrontational, straightforward, and martial nature (this is partially fanon on my part, but I think it fits), but these qualities are part of why ponies were intimidated by her which eventually lead to her transformation into Nightmare Moon.
One thing I've been toying with is that humans are from the old lands, where the three pony tribes originally lived prior to coming to Equestria.
I have OTHER ideas... and I'm still working out the kinks on this one. Like human technological advancement. I'd peg them for early-mid iron age tech around the time of Luna's banishment (roughly speaking) and anywhere between American Civil War to WWI or WWII tech the time of the show/fic.
And when I say "neighbors" they're not right next to each other - the Everfree Forest is pretty damn big and crossing over it in any fashion is dangerous.
It's an interesting idea to say the least. Which is probably why Kalros's story "Of things forgotten" was instantly featured upon its release.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, there's a lot of untapped potential in this "genre" of fan-fiction. It sounds like you want to explore the "How could humans fit into Equestria's past history?" aspect. But you don't have to have humans be from Equestria to actually have a presence. I've been working on a couple of stories where humans are not from Equestria's Earth but were occasionally brought to it (by gods or by accident) and interacted with it for a long time (think thousands of years). The problem in these stories arise because ponies see humans as just like any other monster (and therefore a threat) and kill them outright, leaving only the strongest and craftiest humans alive and hardly trusting of ponies or almost anything else. It sounds like you've almost got a similar thing going on.
Basically, I think it is a good concept but just remember Kandagger's words. "There are a lot of ways for this to go wrong."
Also, do you plan to story to be about the humans disappearing, ponies trying to find the "legendary" humans, or about humans reappearing after many years of supposed extinction, or is it just background info? How you use this background info in the story will help determine how your story ends up.
I've already read Kalro's story and that story did indeed made this idea pop into my mind.What I was thinking of was a story that's a bit parallel to the history of the Americas with the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual decline of the Native Americans as a result.In other words I was thinking of a story where the humans are basically the Native Americans and the recently united pony tribes (and possibly other races such as the gryphons) being the Europeans.In such a story ,the ponies should pretty much,or at least try to,ally themselves with friendly human tribes(or those that aren't hostile to them in general).Anyway it's just an idea that got into my head and I'm not really sure whether I should write this sort of story or not because outside of writing analysis and rhetoric essays,I'm not exactly ready to write fiction for others yet despite my own creativity.
>>348041348041 "What I was thinking of was a story that's a bit parallel to the history of the Americas with the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual decline of the Native Americans as a result.In other words I was thinking of a story where the humans are basically the Native Americans and the recently united pony tribes (and possibly other races such as the gryphons) being the Europeans."
I did exactly this, but in reverse. It was the humans who migrated. Like the Portuguese in Brazil, they lose their initial conflicts of arms, but a plague they carry is what wins it for them (the plague hits alicorns like smallpox hit the natives), forcing the survivors to go across the ocean and hang out with the lesser ponies. Humans aren't really interested in what's over there, they've still got dragons and each other to contend with. At least not until my story's events happens. /shameless self-promotion
Hm, it's funny to read this... and that idea for the "they are coming" fic sounds absolutely awesome, and if you don't, I might have to shake a literary stick at it and see if there's anything I can work from it.
But what's funny to me is that so many of these ideas with humans can be transplanted onto other races or beings. For example, I've been scoping out an idea where, after several thousand years a fully developed, intelligent race of Diamond Dogs return from banishment and seek to claim a place on the surface.
So a diplomatic party (or pack if you're feeling adventurous) are sent up to contact the Princesses. The dogs, after meeting Celestia who had remained blissfully unaware or had forgotten about the dogs completely, tell the story of their banishment.
Basically the idea is that there was four alicorns, three sisters and one brother. The diamond dog forefathers, being the favorite and only sentient race on the surface before their banishment decided to claim their position as masters of their world, and in their rush for power they attack the alicorn gods who ruled over the world as infants, watched over by their celestial forebears. So they attack them, kidnap the infant brother and in their foolishness they killed him in an attempt to gain his power.
Celestial forebears enraged and the Diamond dogs are nearly completely wiped out. They are only saved by the pack (collective name for diamond dog society) turning against their leaders who coordinated and masterminded the attack. Their betrayal secured a mercy for the dogs, but instead they were banished underground for ten thousand years, and will only be released from their banishment if their remaining daughters forgive the Diamond Dogs for their crimes.
There's a lot more ideas bounding around up here, but it's just funny to me how you could almost transplant Diamond Dogs and Humans for one another, considering how much the fandom works/knows/fannonises both.
I guess when I get some more advice.I've written a story before,but that was when I was in English class during middle school.When it comes to writing,I fair well in persuasive writing and analytical essays but I tend to take my time.I mean my teachers praised me for my ideas and way of writing in many of my most recent essays in Jr.lit/English 11.
I prefer having Humans as aliens (extraplanentary or transdimensional).
Although I did toy with the idea of Humans as legendary creatures who live well past the Everfree Forest (barrier between magical and mundane). Equestria's magic is like radiation to Humans (imagine walking around Chernobyl's reactor right after the meltdown). Ponies won't go to the Human Lands because well, the Everfree Forest is horribly dangerous and they actually depend on the magic radiating from Equestrian ground to survive.
I'm trying this as a backstory to a HiE story I've worked on, with humans basically exiled to Earth (current Earth, that is) from Equestria after going to war on a pony society which, unbeknownst to them at the time, was ruled by alicorns.
Lots of alicorns.
So, yeah, there's a pretty quick curb-stomp war, and when the human's leaders are wiped out, and then the NEW leaders are wiped out, there's not a lot for them to do but surrender and offer to go far away. Since the alicorns are much longer lived, they won't accept humanity going anywhere from which they can return. So they find a new habitable world through scrying and use a shitload of energy to send one alicorn through to open a stable doorway. Then they banish the humans, who have no natural magic, through the door, knowing they can't return, and then seal it back up.
And then Discord does something to screw over all but two alicorns, rules for a thousand years or so, and then you can probably figure out what happens next.
>>393800393800 I'm working on it. Between two and four chapters done at this point. I want the idea perfect in my head before I post... honestly, I had this idea as partial backstory to a HiE fic. I was just going to gloss over it in exposition, but if people like it that much, maybe I should go into detail about it.
I'm not really sure if my case would count, but in one of my stories, humans are on the same planet as equines, just not the same continent. It's a bit like the development of two seperate cultures developing across the world from each other. Equestria, for the sake of simplicity, would be the equivalent of Europe (what with it's many nations and different cultures) while 'human land' would be more like a medieval style isolated island continent. They have yet to fully meet one another, but I feel the result will be fairly entertaining. (at least to me, that is.)
>>347076347076 Technically the Native Americans didn't decline. There are more of us today than there was back when we were the only ones in the entire continent. (Yes, I'm Native American.)
I've had an idea that I've considered making into a fic that deals with this subject.
Basically humans were indigenous to the world Equestria sits in, they were a race just like griffons minotaur, dragons, etc etc (I imagine multiple other species in this little verse of mine).
Thing is though, they were first discovered by Starswirl the Bearded roughly four and a half thousand years before the series proper. When he found them they were just a loose collection of tribes terrorized by the dragons who at the time were less nomadic and had settled in a large region to the west of Equestria. Starswirl did his best to help, mainly by teaching several humans the art of magic but the events of the play in the Hearth Warming Eve episode forced him to head back before he could really see what he'd done.
Anyways over the next two centuries humans adapted until they had many mages and began to unify and take the fight back to the dragons who had hunted them as sport for so long. It took forever for the rest of the world to really take notice but when they did what they saw was quite shocking actually. Humanity had nearly completely driven the dragons from their old territory, killing them in droves and stealing their gems. In doing so the humans had massively expanded their territory, encountering and absorbing three other races into their growing power, the griffons, minotaur, and diamond dogs.
Clover the Clever who was at this point pushing 240 was sent to negotiate a truce and five years later peace was settled, but now humanity was a major player in the world, using the wealth stolen from the dragons to jumpstart their economy and begin expansion within their new territory.
You see, humans had taken to magic to an incredible degree and were the first to invent the art of enchanting objects, something they used for great effect in making not only weapons and armor, but also trade goods and economic tools to enhance their agriiculture and industry. For the next 600 years there was a boom of growth and prosperity for the humans, griffons, diamond dogs, and minotaur.
However the dragons had come back for round 2 and began what would become known as the first dragon uprising. The dragons, bolstered by their allies (again I'm adding new races for flavor) the satyr, naga and buffalo. War broke out almost immediately and would continue for the next ten years, eventually dragging the rest of the worlds nations into the war to suppress the dragons' growing power.
This would be the first meeting of Celestia and Luna with humanity in general. At the time Celestia and Luna were members of the royal family of the Crystal Empire, Equestria at the time was ruled by a triumvirate of the pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony nations.
Anyways the war dragged on, costing many lives before eventually the dragons were defeated and more of their territory taken by humanity. This war proved that humanity was ready to take its place as one of the major players in the world.
three centuries passed and more upheaval began as Discord conquered Equestria and set up his rule of chaos, Celestia and Luna, royalty at the time but in no position to inherit the throne of the Crystal Empire, saw what Discord's reign would bring and marshaled a large volunteer army to free Equestria from Discord.
Despite their power the sisters were unable to overcome Discord and turned to outside help, a human mage by the name of Athall proposed a solution and using the magic of Celestia and Luna began to forge an artifact to enhance and amplify their already terrifying power. What he forged would go on to be called the Elements of Harmony, a national treasure of Equestria.
With this new advantage, Celestia and Luna pushed the fight and ten years later they turned Discord to stone and set themselves up as rulers of Equestria. Peace reigned for the next century before humanities eventual rise to power.
It started with a border conflict, a small village of humans claimed a Buffalo herd had raided their village and killed several of their members. The accuracy of this claim has been widely debated for centuries afterwards but things escalated and war was declared, however the Buffalo despite their superior numbers were utterly crushed by the Emperor Iommid, widely considered one of the greatest strategists who ever lived. Buffalo territory absorbed into their growing empire, it was inevitable that the dragons would strike back and the second draconic uprising began.
This war lasted longer, six years and the eventual inclusion of the satyr, naga, and deerfolk onto the side of the dragons further encouraged the fighting. But scarily enough, humanity was winning, using their enchantment and magic to push their enemies back. Under Iommid's leadership territory after territory was absorbed, including Zebrica after a minor struggle.
Worried at the human's growing power the Crystal Empire joined the war against them in an effort to curb their strength. A few years later, so did Equestria. However by this time the humans had conquered nearly the entire known world, pushing the battered alliance of their enemies continuously east towards Equestria.
The Crystal Empire, a large island nation with a terrifying navy was relatively safe, even if the humans were already constructing a navy to engage them, but Equestria was open to an invasion by land and that is exactly what the humans were prepared to do.
Five years of preparation and a massive operation began, while their navy kept the majority of the Crystal Empire's forces at bay, the humans marched an army close to 800,000 strong into Equestria, beginning the war in a narrow valley just outside Equestria's border.
They were opposed by roughly 300,000 Equestrian troops with added numbers of dragons, and all the other races that had opposed humanity, totaling at 325,000.
The defenders were well entrenched and even considering Iommed's tactical brilliance, what was assumed to be a quick and easy victory turned into a bloody month long siege, thousands dying on both sides as the Equestrians held their ground as best as they could.
In the end it all came down to a single individual, Airell, son of Iommed and next in line to the throne. He was widely considered the strongest warrior in the known world, skilled in both magic and swordsmanship he was a natural leader of men and was well respected by the warriors under his command. He became well known for cutting out the eye of the Dragon king Baalati, slaying the six bearers of the elements of harmony over the course of the siege and nearly slaying Celestia and Luna three times in battle.
He was the shatterpoint, and during the final days of the siege he was unfortunately slain after an extended battle with the two royal sisters. His loss disheartened many in the army especially since his body was never recovered.
Slowly the human formation began to break, their morale shattered and an invigorated Equestria pushed them out of the valley completely and began taking the offensive.
Iommed died the following year to disease and with no next in line the human empired descended into chaos as generals fought for the right to rule. Eventually the human empire was united under the general Uren.
However by this time the once great empire is in shambles and a newly invigorated alliance is pushing at their doors almost. Desperate Uren performs a dark an ancient ritual to combat the pony sisters but they interrupt and interfere with the spell, causing it to go off and make every single human on the planet disappear.
This is essentially the backstory as the fiction would take place after season 2 when they begin to come back.
I was thinking of a senario like this: Humans live on a continent that is on the other side of an ocean that is impassiable by water going ship. They posses Airships that are partially sail driven, powerful engines being to heavy to put on an airship. Said airships are armed with bastila that fire explosive bolts instead of cannon, as cannon have a recoil that would be rather dangerous onboard an airship. On the ground and sea, they are more normally steampunk. Infantry are usually armed by breach-loadin flintlock rifles, as well as bayonets and other bladed weapons. The human nations of this continent have been engaged in a long and bloody war with a neigboring empire of xenophobic elves.
The largest human nation is basically a steampunk Roman empire, they are unmatched on the ground (amongst other humans) but lack in naval or areial capablitys (the airships are mostly from other countries).
At the time the story takes place, the humans and Equestria have been aware of one another for several years. The Humans distrust the magic using Equestrians and both sides have been keeping a respectful distance from one another.
However, Equestria is being menaced by... some army of bad things (I'm not entirely sure what those things are yet) and desperately seek to ally with the Human nations to stave off this menace.
Human in Equestria » Forum » Humans being indigenous to Equestria theme
Hey has anybody ever thought of a story where humans were the indigenous peoples of Equestria? I know that there are stories with something like this already,but what I'm going to describe is something that's somewhat similar to the arrival of Europeans to the American continent and the resulting decline of the Native Americans due to their arrival.I'll put it this way.For a long time,large numbers of diverse human tribes or clans(a number of the said tribes or clans being racially diverse) have been living in much of Equestria with relative peace minus some conflicts between rival tribes or clans before the arrival of the recently united pony tribes and their immediate settlement in what's now Equestria.Their arrival marks the start of the the humans' eventual decline due to a number of reasons such as loss of land or unfamiliar diseases brought by the ponies killing large numbers of them.When the humans had finally disappeared,their memory was erased and were only considered a myth by later generations of ponies while anything referencing their science was hidden away.To conclude this,what does anybody think of a HiE concept just like this?
There's a possibly interesting story there, and yes I have thought of it, but I've never really liked it.
I think the main reason I don't like it is because humans don't have magic and then ponies do. Magic is something that ponies didn't create-- it just "is there" the same way that cosmic rays just "are there". But if humans evolved in the same planet, then they would have been aware of magic.
I prefer to see humans as aliens. I've pretty much written that.
I have an idea I've been kicking around that explores this...unfortunately it treats humanity as the lost civilization of Atlantis.
At one point they had the greatest civilization on the globe, but now they are no more...that kind of thing. It's mostly a side note in a Simarillion-style creation story (coming soon), but the concept is definitely worth delving into deeper.
if you've got an idea of how to incorporate a human society into the Equestrian planet, by all means do so. Just be careful. This is one of those "there are far more ways to do it wrong, than there are to do it right" sort of things.
>>347114
I see.You know I've always thought of seeing humans being like the Native Americans and the ponies ( and possibly other races like the gryphons) being like the Europeans.
>>347097
I understand your opinion.
I've been bouncing around an idea like that for a while, but I doubt I'll be writing it anytime soon. Basically Humans lived in a country neighboring Equestria and acted as a buffer state between it and more untamed, wild lands filled with more hostile beings. Luna was one of the big reasons they were allied with Equestria, and after she was banished relations soured a bit as Celestia was always very wary of them in the first place. After a series of natural disasters and diplomatic goofs, the two peoples lost contact.
Cut to the time of the show and things start happening when a strange, bipedal creature comes out of the Everfree forest with a message for the Princesses. "They are coming."
>>347238
I'm not gonna lie, that sounds like a pretty awesome premise. I would definitely read that.
So long as that tired, old "humans are the real monsters" trope didn't take over the story.
>>347244
Haha, no.
Humans are... well, humans. And they live in what is basically a huge expansion of the Everfree Forest. Equestria - where the ponies live and their allied species such as cows, donkeys, and such - is all magical with weather control and such, but it varies for the rest of the world. If they come off as gritty or "mean" it's a "had to be sharp" thing, but even then they run the whole spectrum of okay guy to total dickwad.
Luna had a strange affinity for them with her more confrontational, straightforward, and martial nature (this is partially fanon on my part, but I think it fits), but these qualities are part of why ponies were intimidated by her which eventually lead to her transformation into Nightmare Moon.
One thing I've been toying with is that humans are from the old lands, where the three pony tribes originally lived prior to coming to Equestria.
EDIT: Also "They" may not refer to humans.
>>347248
Sounds awesome. Why aren't you writing this right now, again?
>>347254
I have OTHER ideas... and I'm still working out the kinks on this one. Like human technological advancement. I'd peg them for early-mid iron age tech around the time of Luna's banishment (roughly speaking) and anywhere between American Civil War to WWI or WWII tech the time of the show/fic.
And when I say "neighbors" they're not right next to each other - the Everfree Forest is pretty damn big and crossing over it in any fashion is dangerous.
>>347076
I guy named Kalros wrote a story very similar to that idea
It's an interesting idea to say the least. Which is probably why Kalros's story "Of things forgotten" was instantly featured upon its release.
I've said this before and I'll say it again, there's a lot of untapped potential in this "genre" of fan-fiction. It sounds like you want to explore the "How could humans fit into Equestria's past history?" aspect. But you don't have to have humans be from Equestria to actually have a presence. I've been working on a couple of stories where humans are not from Equestria's Earth but were occasionally brought to it (by gods or by accident) and interacted with it for a long time (think thousands of years). The problem in these stories arise because ponies see humans as just like any other monster (and therefore a threat) and kill them outright, leaving only the strongest and craftiest humans alive and hardly trusting of ponies or almost anything else. It sounds like you've almost got a similar thing going on.
Basically, I think it is a good concept but just remember Kandagger's words. "There are a lot of ways for this to go wrong."
Also, do you plan to story to be about the humans disappearing, ponies trying to find the "legendary" humans, or about humans reappearing after many years of supposed extinction, or is it just background info? How you use this background info in the story will help determine how your story ends up.
>>347972
I've already read Kalro's story and that story did indeed made this idea pop into my mind.What I was thinking of was a story that's a bit parallel to the history of the Americas with the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual decline of the Native Americans as a result.In other words I was thinking of a story where the humans are basically the Native Americans and the recently united pony tribes (and possibly other races such as the gryphons) being the Europeans.In such a story ,the ponies should pretty much,or at least try to,ally themselves with friendly human tribes(or those that aren't hostile to them in general).Anyway it's just an idea that got into my head and I'm not really sure whether I should write this sort of story or not because outside of writing analysis and rhetoric essays,I'm not exactly ready to write fiction for others yet despite my own creativity.
>>348041 "What I was thinking of was a story that's a bit parallel to the history of the Americas with the arrival of the Europeans and the eventual decline of the Native Americans as a result.In other words I was thinking of a story where the humans are basically the Native Americans and the recently united pony tribes (and possibly other races such as the gryphons) being the Europeans."
I did exactly this, but in reverse. It was the humans who migrated. Like the Portuguese in Brazil, they lose their initial conflicts of arms, but a plague they carry is what wins it for them (the plague hits alicorns like smallpox hit the natives), forcing the survivors to go across the ocean and hang out with the lesser ponies. Humans aren't really interested in what's over there, they've still got dragons and each other to contend with. At least not until my story's events happens. /shameless self-promotion
Hm, it's funny to read this... and that idea for the "they are coming" fic sounds absolutely awesome, and if you don't, I might have to shake a literary stick at it and see if there's anything I can work from it.
But what's funny to me is that so many of these ideas with humans can be transplanted onto other races or beings. For example, I've been scoping out an idea where, after several thousand years a fully developed, intelligent race of Diamond Dogs return from banishment and seek to claim a place on the surface.
So a diplomatic party (or pack if you're feeling adventurous) are sent up to contact the Princesses. The dogs, after meeting Celestia who had remained blissfully unaware or had forgotten about the dogs completely, tell the story of their banishment.
Basically the idea is that there was four alicorns, three sisters and one brother. The diamond dog forefathers, being the favorite and only sentient race on the surface before their banishment decided to claim their position as masters of their world, and in their rush for power they attack the alicorn gods who ruled over the world as infants, watched over by their celestial forebears. So they attack them, kidnap the infant brother and in their foolishness they killed him in an attempt to gain his power.
Celestial forebears enraged and the Diamond dogs are nearly completely wiped out. They are only saved by the pack (collective name for diamond dog society) turning against their leaders who coordinated and masterminded the attack. Their betrayal secured a mercy for the dogs, but instead they were banished underground for ten thousand years, and will only be released from their banishment if their remaining daughters forgive the Diamond Dogs for their crimes.
There's a lot more ideas bounding around up here, but it's just funny to me how you could almost transplant Diamond Dogs and Humans for one another, considering how much the fandom works/knows/fannonises both.
>>348819
I see
>>348930 I tell a lot of cool stories, bro. I'm interested to see if you make an attempt on tackling this idea, I'll be watching.
>>348939
Yeah but outside of writing analysis and rhetorical essays,I'm not ready to write down any fiction yet.
>>348949 Perhaps this is a bit off topic to ask but when do you think you will be ready?
I'm doing something similar, but where humans are Europe and Equestria is the Americas.
Haven't thought out an actual plot but I do know that the humans will have muskets.
And great helms.
Pretty much the only reason I'm writing this story was so I could combine the two.
Although giving a ranged unit an enclosed helmet does seem like a stupid idea.
>>351006 My humans have arquebuses. High-five for early gunpowder weapons!
>>350991
I guess when I get some more advice.I've written a story before,but that was when I was in English class during middle school.When it comes to writing,I fair well in persuasive writing and analytical essays but I tend to take my time.I mean my teachers praised me for my ideas and way of writing in many of my most recent essays in Jr.lit/English 11.
Id be intresting if humans lived with ponies, but didnt have magic, so they eventually just died out
I prefer having Humans as aliens (extraplanentary or transdimensional).
Although I did toy with the idea of Humans as legendary creatures who live well past the Everfree Forest (barrier between magical and mundane). Equestria's magic is like radiation to Humans (imagine walking around Chernobyl's reactor right after the meltdown). Ponies won't go to the Human Lands because well, the Everfree Forest is horribly dangerous and they actually depend on the magic radiating from Equestrian ground to survive.
>>347248
Your idea sounds very intressting and I would definitely read that!
>>347257I would love to write that
>>391855
If you wanna give it a go, go right ahead, heh.
I'm trying this as a backstory to a HiE story I've worked on, with humans basically exiled to Earth (current Earth, that is) from Equestria after going to war on a pony society which, unbeknownst to them at the time, was ruled by alicorns.
Lots of alicorns.
So, yeah, there's a pretty quick curb-stomp war, and when the human's leaders are wiped out, and then the NEW leaders are wiped out, there's not a lot for them to do but surrender and offer to go far away. Since the alicorns are much longer lived, they won't accept humanity going anywhere from which they can return. So they find a new habitable world through scrying and use a shitload of energy to send one alicorn through to open a stable doorway. Then they banish the humans, who have no natural magic, through the door, knowing they can't return, and then seal it back up.
And then Discord does something to screw over all but two alicorns, rules for a thousand years or so, and then you can probably figure out what happens next.
>>392519 Holy fuck I would read the shit out of that.
>>392519 I'm watching you now.
>>392519 Do it. Nao.
>>393800 I'm working on it. Between two and four chapters done at this point. I want the idea perfect in my head before I post... honestly, I had this idea as partial backstory to a HiE fic. I was just going to gloss over it in exposition, but if people like it that much, maybe I should go into detail about it.
>>394034 Yes, YHES, give into the detail mania!
I'm not really sure if my case would count, but in one of my stories, humans are on the same planet as equines, just not the same continent. It's a bit like the development of two seperate cultures developing across the world from each other. Equestria, for the sake of simplicity, would be the equivalent of Europe (what with it's many nations and different cultures) while 'human land' would be more like a medieval style isolated island continent. They have yet to fully meet one another, but I feel the result will be fairly entertaining. (at least to me, that is.)
>>347076 Technically the Native Americans didn't decline. There are more of us today than there was back when we were the only ones in the entire continent. (Yes, I'm Native American.)
>>422877
I'm sorry.I only used the word 'decline' for lack of a better word.
This is coming from a guy who has some native blood. (I'm Mexican,but the majority of us are of mixed Native and Spanish heritage.)
>>422905 It's fine... I'm Mexican too.
I've had an idea that I've considered making into a fic that deals with this subject.
Basically humans were indigenous to the world Equestria sits in, they were a race just like griffons minotaur, dragons, etc etc (I imagine multiple other species in this little verse of mine).
Thing is though, they were first discovered by Starswirl the Bearded roughly four and a half thousand years before the series proper. When he found them they were just a loose collection of tribes terrorized by the dragons who at the time were less nomadic and had settled in a large region to the west of Equestria. Starswirl did his best to help, mainly by teaching several humans the art of magic but the events of the play in the Hearth Warming Eve episode forced him to head back before he could really see what he'd done.
Anyways over the next two centuries humans adapted until they had many mages and began to unify and take the fight back to the dragons who had hunted them as sport for so long. It took forever for the rest of the world to really take notice but when they did what they saw was quite shocking actually. Humanity had nearly completely driven the dragons from their old territory, killing them in droves and stealing their gems. In doing so the humans had massively expanded their territory, encountering and absorbing three other races into their growing power, the griffons, minotaur, and diamond dogs.
Clover the Clever who was at this point pushing 240 was sent to negotiate a truce and five years later peace was settled, but now humanity was a major player in the world, using the wealth stolen from the dragons to jumpstart their economy and begin expansion within their new territory.
You see, humans had taken to magic to an incredible degree and were the first to invent the art of enchanting objects, something they used for great effect in making not only weapons and armor, but also trade goods and economic tools to enhance their agriiculture and industry. For the next 600 years there was a boom of growth and prosperity for the humans, griffons, diamond dogs, and minotaur.
However the dragons had come back for round 2 and began what would become known as the first dragon uprising. The dragons, bolstered by their allies (again I'm adding new races for flavor) the satyr, naga and buffalo. War broke out almost immediately and would continue for the next ten years, eventually dragging the rest of the worlds nations into the war to suppress the dragons' growing power.
This would be the first meeting of Celestia and Luna with humanity in general. At the time Celestia and Luna were members of the royal family of the Crystal Empire, Equestria at the time was ruled by a triumvirate of the pegasus, unicorn, and earth pony nations.
Anyways the war dragged on, costing many lives before eventually the dragons were defeated and more of their territory taken by humanity. This war proved that humanity was ready to take its place as one of the major players in the world.
three centuries passed and more upheaval began as Discord conquered Equestria and set up his rule of chaos, Celestia and Luna, royalty at the time but in no position to inherit the throne of the Crystal Empire, saw what Discord's reign would bring and marshaled a large volunteer army to free Equestria from Discord.
Despite their power the sisters were unable to overcome Discord and turned to outside help, a human mage by the name of Athall proposed a solution and using the magic of Celestia and Luna began to forge an artifact to enhance and amplify their already terrifying power. What he forged would go on to be called the Elements of Harmony, a national treasure of Equestria.
With this new advantage, Celestia and Luna pushed the fight and ten years later they turned Discord to stone and set themselves up as rulers of Equestria. Peace reigned for the next century before humanities eventual rise to power.
It started with a border conflict, a small village of humans claimed a Buffalo herd had raided their village and killed several of their members. The accuracy of this claim has been widely debated for centuries afterwards but things escalated and war was declared, however the Buffalo despite their superior numbers were utterly crushed by the Emperor Iommid, widely considered one of the greatest strategists who ever lived. Buffalo territory absorbed into their growing empire, it was inevitable that the dragons would strike back and the second draconic uprising began.
This war lasted longer, six years and the eventual inclusion of the satyr, naga, and deerfolk onto the side of the dragons further encouraged the fighting. But scarily enough, humanity was winning, using their enchantment and magic to push their enemies back. Under Iommid's leadership territory after territory was absorbed, including Zebrica after a minor struggle.
Worried at the human's growing power the Crystal Empire joined the war against them in an effort to curb their strength. A few years later, so did Equestria. However by this time the humans had conquered nearly the entire known world, pushing the battered alliance of their enemies continuously east towards Equestria.
The Crystal Empire, a large island nation with a terrifying navy was relatively safe, even if the humans were already constructing a navy to engage them, but Equestria was open to an invasion by land and that is exactly what the humans were prepared to do.
Five years of preparation and a massive operation began, while their navy kept the majority of the Crystal Empire's forces at bay, the humans marched an army close to 800,000 strong into Equestria, beginning the war in a narrow valley just outside Equestria's border.
They were opposed by roughly 300,000 Equestrian troops with added numbers of dragons, and all the other races that had opposed humanity, totaling at 325,000.
The defenders were well entrenched and even considering Iommed's tactical brilliance, what was assumed to be a quick and easy victory turned into a bloody month long siege, thousands dying on both sides as the Equestrians held their ground as best as they could.
In the end it all came down to a single individual, Airell, son of Iommed and next in line to the throne. He was widely considered the strongest warrior in the known world, skilled in both magic and swordsmanship he was a natural leader of men and was well respected by the warriors under his command. He became well known for cutting out the eye of the Dragon king Baalati, slaying the six bearers of the elements of harmony over the course of the siege and nearly slaying Celestia and Luna three times in battle.
He was the shatterpoint, and during the final days of the siege he was unfortunately slain after an extended battle with the two royal sisters. His loss disheartened many in the army especially since his body was never recovered.
Slowly the human formation began to break, their morale shattered and an invigorated Equestria pushed them out of the valley completely and began taking the offensive.
Iommed died the following year to disease and with no next in line the human empired descended into chaos as generals fought for the right to rule. Eventually the human empire was united under the general Uren.
However by this time the once great empire is in shambles and a newly invigorated alliance is pushing at their doors almost. Desperate Uren performs a dark an ancient ritual to combat the pony sisters but they interrupt and interfere with the spell, causing it to go off and make every single human on the planet disappear.
This is essentially the backstory as the fiction would take place after season 2 when they begin to come back.
I was thinking of a senario like this: Humans live on a continent that is on the other side of an ocean that is impassiable by water going ship. They posses Airships that are partially sail driven, powerful engines being to heavy to put on an airship. Said airships are armed with bastila that fire explosive bolts instead of cannon, as cannon have a recoil that would be rather dangerous onboard an airship. On the ground and sea, they are more normally steampunk. Infantry are usually armed by breach-loadin flintlock rifles, as well as bayonets and other bladed weapons. The human nations of this continent have been engaged in a long and bloody war with a neigboring empire of xenophobic elves.
The largest human nation is basically a steampunk Roman empire, they are unmatched on the ground (amongst other humans) but lack in naval or areial capablitys (the airships are mostly from other countries).
At the time the story takes place, the humans and Equestria have been aware of one another for several years. The Humans distrust the magic using Equestrians and both sides have been keeping a respectful distance from one another.
However, Equestria is being menaced by... some army of bad things (I'm not entirely sure what those things are yet) and desperately seek to ally with the Human nations to stave off this menace.
Seems good, yes?
It's like the Australian Aborigines.