The Great Exodus and the Founding of Equestria · 12:03am Dec 20th, 2013
According to legend, thousands of years ago, long before the coming of the Endless Cold, ponies lived in the adverse tundra we today know as the Frozen North. Back then, however, it was a rich and fertile land, cultivated by the Earth ponies who traded their excess of food for the magical aid of the Unicorns and the Pegasi tribes. Such was the balance since the dawn of time until, one day, an indomitable wind of ice and snow spread throughout the ancient homelands.
Before long, the once lush and fruitful soil turned so hard and barren that not even the most able of Earth ponies could make a plant take root, and no magic, no matter how strong, could affect the cold that had spread throughout the countryside.
Time passed and, as storage after storage of stocked food ran dry, a summit was called to tackle the dismal crisis. The leaders of the three tribes—Commander Hurricane of the Pegasi, Princess Platinum of the Unicorns, and Chancellor Puddinghead of the Earth ponies—convened to find a lasting solution. However, in their vex of anger and frustration, they had all turned mistrustful of each other and laid the blame of the climates sudden downturn upon the hooves of the other tribes.
So, each of them returned to their people with a cunning plan. They would leave their frozen lands and the other tribes behind and seek their luck elsewhere. Leading a party of explorers, they each traveled, independently from one another, further south than had ever been done before in search of a new home. Reaching the northern edges of a new and fertile land, where they found endless stretches of green before them and clear skies above, all three laid claims to it separately from each other. One day, when their paths inevitably crossed, a dispute as to who among them had reached the land first broke out.
Little did they know, however, that the cold from hence they'd fled had followed the scent of their heated emotions all the way south, and soon they had a snowstorm upon them the likes of which nopony had ever seen before. Forced to take shelter together in a nearby cave, the three groups had to spend many freezing nights together. Tensions rose amongst some of every tribe, their bodies slowly turning as cold as their dispositions, while the calm and collected found warmth and shelter together.
It was upon this that the enchantress Clover the Clever, Princess Platinum's vizier and famed apprentice to Star Swirl the Bearded, realized what the source of the cold was, and what kind of creatures pursued them. They were called Windigos, winter spirits born from the frozen wastelands in the far, far north that fed upon the fighting and hatred of other beings, and had latched onto the three tribes like leeches to an open wound. With the help of her newfound friends and allies—Unicorn, Pegasi, and Earth ponies alike—she used their positive emotions to summon the power to dispel the Windigos' grasp and end their existence once and for all. The storm outside subsided and the snow began to melt.
For their homes up north, however, it was far too late. The Windigos' dark magic had infested the land and Clover deduced that it would take a very long time, if ever, for the cold to wane entirely. It was then, in that cave, that the three leaders came to the decision to lead their entire tribes to this new land, and that they would do so together.
So began the Great Exodus, a migration from the Frozen North to the southern mainland that would last a generation, bringing their entire civilization along with them. During this long journey, the tribes once more came to realize that they needed each other and that, as a group, they could do more together than they ever could alone. In this spirit, they founded a new nation that would forever tie the fate of ponykind into one, a nation called Equestria. With the Unicornian Monarchy, the State of Pegasopolis, and the Earth Republic under it, it would serve the interests of all three tribes.
When studying this part of history, it is important to keep in mind that it all began with the phrase "according to legend". Precious few written pieces remain from the era before the Great Exodus, most of it stored in the depths of the Star Swirl the Bearded wing of the Unicornian Royal Library, and even fewer were written as it happened. Thus, most what we know of the time comes from oral tradition, not written records, so one must look at it with a critical eye. As fantastical as it sounds, the sagas even talk of other tribes of ponies that didn't follow the three leaders south. Ponies that lived in caves and hunted during the night, ponies that lived their entire lives in the water, and even ponies with wings made of gossamer and morning dew. Notwithstanding the rare sighting made by the occasional boozer or loon, these tales can almost certainly be considered myth.
What we do know, however, is that due to extreme changes in climate, the three pony tribes migrated south from the arctic north to settle down in Equestria. What they didn't count on was that moving there would be the easy part. The hard part would be to outlast their welcome.
- excerpt from "A Brief History of Equestria" by Dusty Scroll
So, I guess this is what I meant by a little background info every now and again. Unfortunately, this is mostly a retelling of the events from the Hearth's Warming Eve episode, but pony history kind of has to start there.
So, tell me what you think. Is this a formula you would find engaging? Is there any kind of topic you're especially interested in? Any feedback is appreciated.
Well I like it, but then I'm a sucker for world building.