Battlefield Equestria: Lore Series (Part 1)

Given the long history of Equestria, it is difficult to discern when Pony society made the transfer from the relatively uncivilized "nomadic gatherer-tribe" stage to what would become the founders of the first permanent settlements.

From archeological evidence, the first permanent settlements arose in what is now the Manehatten River Valley (Manehatten translates from Ancient Equestrian into something like "protective mother") some 4000 years before the events of what is now known as "Hearth-warming's eve". In the historical sense, anything that transpired before this date is denoted by the "BW" (Before Warming) symbol.

The reasons for this sudden change from a nomadic lifestyle to the creation of permanent settlements are unclear, mostly due to the fact that the transition occurred many hundreds of years before the invention of writing. Up until this point, society had had no need for a way of permanently recording information, with the exception of simple pictographic images that had very little significance outside of burial sites. "Proper" writing would not appear until around 100 years later in 3900 BW.

Long before the creation of bustling Metropolis that dominates the landscape today, the Manehatten area was a large expanse of relatively flat land. The proximity to both the coast and the Manehatten River produced large areas of fertile farmland, while the mountainous territory further up the river was a good source of easily accessible gems and metals. The relatively stable climate made the local sky ideal for Pegasi cultivation. Even more importantly, with the mountains on either side and behind, and the sea to the south, predators and foreign invaders would be very hard-pressed to make it into the valley. Therefore, it was the ideal location for all three types of pony to settle. However, their new home produced other pressures that would shape their society for years to come.

As previously mentioned, the lack of any permanent records of this time, written or otherwise, has made study of this period in history rather difficult. It is because of this that the exact nature of the circumstances surrounding the separation of the three Pony races into distinct and racially separated tribes is unclear, and the argument still rages between historians today as to the exact reasons for this racial separation.

That said, it is clear that the three races did not abandon each other immediately. Archaeological evidence shows that the three races stayed in close proximity to each other and worked together for a period of about 500 years after their arrival, before the tribal split formed in around 3500 BW. It is, however, still difficult to map out the actual sociological and cultural mentality that would lead to such a split.

Furthermore, the transition period between separation and the three races forming their own tribes is a virtual blank, with only scattered references and circumstantial archaeological evidence granting the vaguest of timelines for this period in history.

The tribal split resulted in the creation of the first major political powers in Equestrian History; the Skyborne Stratocracy, The Unicorn Kingdom and The Earthen Republic.