Future's Past: My thoughts on the Fall of Imperial Equestria · 3:21am Mar 23rd, 2023
A little over three years ago now, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic came to an end, with an episode depicting Equestria as a peaceful utopia united by friendship and love, and inhabited by lots of different races.
Or was it? In February 2021, not only did the big bombshell that G5 takes place in the same world as G4 drop, we also learned that the world had become a divided place largely inhabited by races fearful of one another, and living in isolation. Naturally, this intrigued and surprised many longtime bronies, some of whom regarded this as turning Twilight's story into a shaggy dog tale. Others, such as myself, regarded this as a hard truth aesop that nothing truly lasts forever.
The main question on everybody's minds was this-what caused an apparently harmonious society to fracture so dramatically? How could unity disintegrate in the way it did?
In this essay, I intend to examine some of the evidence that My Little Pony: a New Generation and My Little Pony: Make your Mark provide in order to provide my theory as to what happened. I will not be using evidence from the Generation 5 comic as I do not consider it canon (and it also has numerous continuity snarls with the other parts of Generation 5).
Section 1: Pre-Imperial and Imperial Equestria
I will be beginning the essay proper with a rather controversial proposition. What if unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies weren't really that united at all? What if they only stayed together in the face of a common enemy?
In order to answer this question, we need to travel backwards in time to the founding of Equestria by the three tribes.
At some point in the ancient past, unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi lived in isolation, before dwindling resources forced them to relocate to a new land. The hostility they held towards one another led to the Windigos, ice creatures that fed of disharmony and could destroy ponies. In response to this threat, the three tribes made peace with one another and founded a new nation-Equestria.
As demonstrated by the above example, the three tribes did not become friends for altruistic reasons. They became friends as the alternative was certain death. In other words, friendship was a survival strategy, nothing more, nothing less.
And this remained the same throughout much of Imperial Equestria. For the entirety of the country's existance Equestria had external threats and foes-not to mention the threat of Windigos looming over their heads. Furthermore, each had resources the other needed-earth ponies grew food, pegasi controlled the weather, unicorns regulated the sun and moon, etc. These factors explain why they stayed together. Groups of people (or ponies in this case) tend to cooperate when each group has something the others need.
And once those threats were defeated in the Battle of the Bell, the three groups no longer had a single enemy. And because they no longer had a threat that was common to all three of them, they no longer had any reason to cooperate with one another. (In case somebody reading this thinks this notion is silly, just take a quick look at human history for many examples of this phenomenon.)
Section 2: The Cracks start to Show
Despite Twilight Sparkle's best efforts to create a lasting peace, the three tribes gradually began to drift apart and move to their own parts of the continent. This process of drifting reduced the likelihood of members of each group coming into contact with one another.
This is significant, as when groups do not interact with one another it means that prejudice is more likely to develop. (Case in point; one of the factors in the development of European racism towards Africans was the retreat of the Islamic Empires from southern Europe in the 1400s. This considerably reduced the chances of European and African peoples encountering one another, which led to prejudice forming.)
Before long, prejudice began to develop (or simply re-emerged) in Equestria, with each group considering themselves superior to the others and regarding the other groups as inferior. However, they soon began to encounter other problems. The lopsided nature of Equestria's ecosystem meant that Earth Ponies held the cards when it came to food, and the pegasi and unicorns were running low on supplies. They couldn't simply ask the Earth Ponies for food, as it would have undermined their entire argument of being superior to them. Tensions had grown to the point that Equestria resembled a giant tinderbox. All it needed was a spark.
Section 3: Race War
The next clue we get comes from the Make your Mark episode The Traditional Unicorn Sleepover. Whilst telling stories to one another, Sunny mentions the following incident:
But then one day, a magical accident happened! An Earth pony got hurt by a unicorn! Everypony started fighting with each other!
The idea that a war might be triggered over something so tiny might seem ridiculous to us, but again history has many incidents like it. A good example is the Kalkhin-Gol incident, where a minor border dispute between Japan and the Soviet Union erupted into all-out war.
In summary, the groups had been looking for any excuse to trigger a conflict. The Earth Ponies immediately declared war on the unicorns and launched an assault on their territory, working on the principle that a strong offence is a good defence.
The unicorns retaliated in kind, attacking Earth Pony territory and starting to seize resources to take back to their own lands.
The pegasi, watching from on high, decided to capitalise on the chaos and attacked both groups, using their aerial advantage and clouds to strike from the skies and squirrel other resources away from the Earth Ponies.
Who won the war seems to depend on who you ask. In My Little Pony: a New Generation, we get the following bit of information from Sprout:
My mom says the Pegasi and unicorns tried to eat up all the Earth ponies by zapping 'em with lasers and frying 'em to a crisp... So the Earth ponies kicked their butts in an epic battle, and if they ever try to come back to Maretime Bay, we'll kick their butts again!
I am aware that the Cloverleafs are not particularly reliable sources, but later Hitch says this:
Well, uh, that is kinda what our teacher said in history class.
Whilst the other leaders don't mention the conflict directly, the confrontation between Queen Haven and Alphabittle implies the war ended in a pegasus victory:
Alphabittle: Surrender the crystal, or I'll use my powers against you!
Queen Haven: I'd like to see you try!
Meanwhile, Opaline, an opportunistic unicorn who fancied herself the ruler of Equestria, took the opportunity to initiate a coup in Canterlot and overthrow Twilight Sparkle, and in the process seize control of magic.
Twilight Sparkle looked on in horror as all she had worked to build crumbled. In response, she put one last desparate plan into motion, one she hoped would end the chaos once and for all.
Section 4: Desparate Times, Desparate Measures
Unbeknownst to many, six ponies, two from each tribe, had remained friends with one another despite the bloodshed consuming Equestria. Twilight knew that, as long as what these six stood for remained remembered, there was hope for the future of ponykind. The main priority was to stop the war.
In one last desparate effort, she summoned the entire planet's magic together. This magic was formed into three crystals, which she then broke apart. With the crystals disconnected, the three races lacked the capability to continue fighting-pegasi could no longer fly, unicorns could no longer cast spells, and earth ponies couldn't use magic to grow stuff. The disarray forced them into retreat in their own territories.
Twilight Sparkle entrusted the six ponies with the three crystals, ordering them to keep them safe. When the time was right, they would reunite them and restore magic to the land. Of course, nobody imagined how long that time would last.
Section 5: Splendid Isolation
The three tribes were unaware of Twilight's desparate act, and assumed the others had stolen the magic from the others. However, the earth ponies got completely the wrong idea from the vanishing of magic. As they retreated towards the coastlines of their territory, they were convinced that, one day, the unicorns and pegasi would return to finish the job. This led to them gearing the economy towards war production, and manufacturers of defensive gear such as CanterLogic coming to dominate earth pony society. The constant fear of invasion was what allowed the military-industrial complex to endure for thousands of years. After all, as Phyllis Cloverleaf herself observed, 'to be scared is to be prepared'.
The pegasi had already finished moving most of their resources before the magic cut out, and established their capital on top of a mountain. This was an exceptionally good position; the only land approach was extremely long, which meant that any invading army would be under fire throughout the climb. Once they reached the top, they would find a city full of natural chokepoints. In short, the city was the perfect fortress.
The pegasi also took advantage of their resources to push technological development. Unlike the earth ponies, however, they focused their efforts on making the lives of their citizens more comfortable. The result was the development of a democratic capitalist state with a heavy focus on a tech and service based economy. As a result, pegasi enjoyed the highest standard of living of any of the tribes, thanks to technological innovations such as TV, smartphones, and unparalled shopping opportunities. Curiously, the main broadcasting firm, ZBS, appears to be state owned.
The unicorns firmly got the short end of the stick, however. They relied on magic the most to get anything done, and with no ability to cast spells they became depressed and lethargic. This is what caused words associated with their enemies or magic to be considered bad.
But what of mayonnaise? Don't worry, I have an explanation for that. In an attempt to diversify their economy, the unicorns attempted to make mayonnaise. But it went wrong, and a town was consumed by a flood of mayo.
Chapter 6: Reunified at Last
What became of the crystals and their bearers, I hear you ask. The bearers of the crystals went on to have foals of their own, and the crystals were passed down through the generations. Eventually, the crystals came into the hooves of their descendants: Sunny Starscout, the Royal Sisters, and Alphabittle. The crystals being a family heirloom goes a long way towards explaining why Queen Haven never removed the original version of the crown; having been told to ensure the crystal remains safe, she took her duty extremely seriously. Unfortunately, it seems as though nopony thought to tell either Pipp or Zipp of its importance; Zipp figured it out through years of research, whereas Pipp was completely oblivious as to the crystal's true power.
And you guys know the rest. Let me know what you think of this theory in the comments below!
Good theory. Still didn't like how Twilight's reign has fallen so terribly.
IF I finally made my stories. I actually don't want the "original" G5 setting to be canon in my stories. And just keep the G5 characters, and somehow incorporate them into the G4 era.
Good theory, but one I don't think the show writers will go with.
I like the simple expplanation thats mostly wrong. Becasue Equestria got all nice and safe, Flim and Flam became the ever increasing growth of liberal snake oil, and eventually the hypocricy of constant false advertising and broken promises reached critical point, and like an avalanche or detonating explosive, the whole system catastrophically collapsed?
Or am I watching too much news again?
5719445
That's fair enough. Others still argue that G5 shouldn't have been a follow-up to G4.
5719446
I suspect so. The ideas I have probably don't fit hugely well with a TV-Y7 show.
5719462
Could faulty products bring down a country? I'm not so sure.
5719466
All too easily. Im remembering something from a few years back where BAE avionics in the UK ordered some cheaper power transistors from China for the radar units in the fighter jets. They passed all the low power level bench tests as expected, then failed, possibly violently when tested at full power if they wernt actually in the aircraft.
On decapping the encapsulation, it was discovered that the metal cans contents wernt the expected half inch slab of high power transistor, but a low level power version soldered accross the pins, being cheaper to make.
Now imagine those componants being in the safety trips driving the drive actuators of the Gigawatt Breakers on the Grid backbone, so the breakers dont trip on an overload, the overload continues, and starts blowing 500 ton transformers, slagging overhead cables and causing turbines to suddently have zero load making them overrun and disintegrate at worst case.
If a mere mis valued safety trip can take out the entire East Coast, what can a steady infusion of dodgy componants do?
And then theres the software.
5719473
That makes a lot of sense.
Hello, it's me again. I recently watch a video of a fellow MLP Youtuber reacting to the "Discord Arc" in the G5 IDW comics. And after hearing his well-thought opinions of it. This further confirms that I will NOT accept the "canon" setting of G5, ever again.
Here's what I'm talking about;
https://m.AND I will personally just input the G5 characters that I like to use and stay onto the G4 verse in my own stories own headcannons.
( Once I finally have the courage and time to make them anyway. )
And to add insult to the bad writers for the G5 setting concept.
I will have my many different OC protagonists for the different stories to successfully convince their own Twilight's on NOT doing the stupid "Sealing all magic in a crystal" plan with common sense.
Then personally deal with the early version of Opaline ourselves. Like the mane six were SUPPOSED to deal with, from the beginning in the "canon".
( P.S. Seriously!? Another frickin Unicorn as a "main" antagonist!? What is with hasbro's obsession of "evil" unicorns in MLP? )
And after Opaline is permanently dealt with.
My OC's will wack the dumb, racist, and naive ponies with what's called a "smart bat". To get rid of the "idiot ball trope" out of there rather brainless heads of theirs.
Then remind them all about Twilight's and her friends lessons. The fact that they were tricked for a second time in a row because of a villain.
Oh, and aren't they forgetting about the frickin windigos this whole time!?
5720271
I had consulted the video before writing this, and I have read the comics. The plotline is part of the reason I did not use the G5 comics as evidence for this blogpost, as the idea that one pony caused everything is frankly ludicrous. Every historical event has numerous factors behind it, and in Equestria it would surely be no different.
Update: the Ending of the End heavily suggests the Windigos were destroyed during the Battle of the Bell. Not only that, but the lack of magic would mean they would struggle to function as they are magical constructs.
5720279
Good point.
Even then, the "canon" setting of G5 won't be headcanon to my own stories. ( Thanks to the intervention of my OC protagonists in each different storyline smartly preventing it with common sense. But that's way later down the line. )
5720296
As in time travel?
5720299
No, not exactly.
I meant that my OC's are already set in G4, and will actually prevent it from happening in the first place.
Basically, why do I need time travel? When my own protagonists are in G4 already, and starts having a "prophesized foresight" of seeing what could have happened on the future. ( Like a random coincidence . )
Then, decides to take care of it from the beginning, by knocking some common sense to not only Twilight, and the rather dummy pony citizens.
And to FINALLY deal with Unicron Opaline personally.
That's how you just basically save Equestria's future without using time travel's over complicated mumbo jumbo, paradoxes, and wibbly wobbly stuff.
And who knows, changing the future for the better MIGHT make the G5 characters that were supposed to be born a hundreds years from now. Are gonna born much earlier as a "side affect". ( And a hidden reward by the universe itself for making things much better than what was intended. )
I mean, would it be cool to see Sunny seeing and being teached by Twilight herself in the same timeline?
5720327
Seeing the future and fixing it? That runs the risk of being a reverse time paradox. Essentially, if they fix the future that was foreseen, there was no reason for the forseeing to happen. This means the future would still happen.
Time paradox's are a nuisance.
5720337
I wouldn't make it that complicated or make their efforts meaningless like that.
I wouldn't make a "reverse time paradox" like you said.
Besides, I'm gonna replace Opaline with a new and even way worse threat that my protagonists, the ponies/non-ponies races in Equis that will have ever face in history!!! ( Like world-ending, extinction level threat that will make sure that there is no hope or "future" for everybody. No G5, no "way better" alternative future for G4. Nothing!
Like a very, very bad future. Reminiscent of that particular alternate timeline of that wasteland in season 5 finale. )
I make this as a "little consequence", that by altering the future for the better. It give the main antagonist a way to personally come to main G4 themselves.
Instead of that reverse time paradox you have just said.
You know, go out with a big bang with a MLP x Crossover will deserve.
I can give you a little hint, the main threat isn't the real Grogar, nor Cosmos, or even the Knights of Order/"Harmony" from that Season 10 IDW.
The real antagonist that I'm using makes the real Grogar, Cosmos, Knights of Order, and basically every single canon/IDW mlp villain ( Reformed or not. ) in existence look like a bunch of children having a tantrum.
I can even make the main antagonist actually laugh and heavily criticized the former villains, and the remaining unreformed villains in front of their faces. For their rather dumb, petty, and poor reasons to being "evil" in the first place.
And hits the point home that every single one of them lost to a bunch of rather "weak" ponies that preach about friendship. When they could have just easily won, IF they have just killed just one of them. If not all six of them.
Heck, the main antagonist ISN'T even organic in the first place. So, he has a huge superiority complex that the organic villains, and heroes can't stand a chance to a digital being like itself/himself.
And here's the kicker. This main antagonist is the one that almost beaten the protagonists, singlehandley in the past.
And it's the main reason why my protagonists are transported to Equestria/Equis in the first place.
( P.S. And the protagonists are already OP in there own right, and far more powerful than everypony/everyone in Equestria's standards.
So, this revelation that the real main antagonist is super mega OP itself, will obviously scare the shit out of everypony/non pony and the remaining villain's minds that learns about this. )
5720340
OP characters. My favourite.
(Sarcasm, BTW.)
5720347
Not a fan to that concept?
And just to clarify, my protagonist's are only OP in Equestria/Equis standards, and even from their origin world too. That's it.
I'm not saying that they are universe-busting, or galaxy-busting, or solar system-busting, not even planet-busting powerhouses. This ain't dragon ball or DC Comics, and Marvel.
It will be more grounded, and my chosen protagonists just be OP in Equestria/Equis standards, and also from their own version of earth.
And like I said, the main antagonist is even more OP than all of them combined ( Due to being created to be that way. ).
So don't worry about having my protagonist's "one-shooting" the main "boss" on the finale.
5720361
This comments leaves me relieved.
5720365
Again, not a fan to seeing too OP characters where they can bust the planet, or the solar system, or the galaxy, or even the entire universe with just their farts?
5720366
Correct. Overall, my preferred writing is 'ordinary characters in extraordinary situations'.