My Little Pony: Split Timeline Theory · 5:02pm Jul 23rd, 2014
What if I told you My Little Pony had a split timeline? You'd think I'm crazy, wouldn't you? Well, I have a theory. Whether it's a good theory or not is based on your own opinions, but I've done a bit of research and believe this theory to be true.
Now, to start, if this theory works, then you must go in accepting every generation of My Little Pony connects; G1, Tales, G3, and G4. If that sounds like too much to start, then please allow me to explain my reasoning. Let's start at the home base for every single one of these:
Generation One 
Now, I believe this is the foundation of the My Little Pony timeline. Why? Well, it's simple; this generation has a lot of things other generations don't, and it even connects to G4 in multiple ways. Now, let's start with one of the most obvious things that connects G1 with G4; mentions/references in the show. In the season 4 finale of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Celestia talks about how Tirek and Scorpan once invaded Equestria, determined to take over. Scorpan, however, came to appreciate the ways of Equestria and took action against his brother. For those who are unaware, Tirek was one of the first villains ever introduced in the My Little Pony universe. In generation one, the protagonists defeated him with the power of rainbows, banishing him and sending him away, only to come back thousands of years later.
Now, I'm going to go into some chronological events I believe took place to get the results that lead up to my theory.
One: The Humans Were Banished
In Generation One, there were human beings. When Firefly approaches Emily (human), she acts as if she has no clue talking ponies exist. Now, imagine no humans knew about the existence of talking ponies with wings and magic. What do you suppose would happen when they found out?
A.) Peacefully and casually make friends with them and live in harmony.
B.) Ignore them and go on with their lives.
C.) Protect them and respect them as sapient beings.
D.) Do experiments on them and dissect them in the name of science and discovery.
Chances are, us as a human race would choose D. I'm not saying some humans would want to respect and live with them, but most probably wouldn't. When human beings started terrorizing the land, claiming property, and experimenting on ponies, the rulers of the land (which I believe were Celestia and Luna's parents at the time. I'll go more into that later.) knew they had no choice but to banish the humans. They did, however, create a portal in case the human race ever decided to once again come to the land with open arms and no weapons or cruel intentions. Over the generations, however, the humans completely forgot about such creatures and instead developed as their own race.
Two: Celestia and Luna's Parents are Killed
Now, in Generation One, I believe their were rulers over the country. Were they Celestia and Luna? No. Did Celestia and Luna exist? Yes, but they were very young. Now, somehow, Celestia and Luna's parents must have been killed. There are tons of villains that come in and out of Equestria. Unfortunately for a young Celestia and Luna, there parents were taken at a young age. Now, I do believe their parents managed to get rid of the threat, but simply died in the process. Their children, however, were far too young to rule at the time, leaving Equestria to mend for itself.
Now, if Equestria was left without rule, this would have caused each group of ponies to deal with more responsibilities; the Earth ponies would grow food, the pegasi would work the weather, and the unicorns would bring about night and day. Sound familiar? This is the part of the timeline that's mentioned in Hearth's Warming Eve. This, however is also where the timeline splits into two separated timelines. Let's talk about the first branch of our timeline:
Generation Four: 
So, suppose everything's going to chaos; everypony's fighting, freezing, and starving. So naturally, the three representatives of each race (and their assistants) go out to look for new land elsewhere. Eventually, they all stumble upon one land that looks great; there's plenty of fresh earth, clear skies, and rubies to go around. Each tribe sees it as the perfect land, yet every other tribe has already claimed it. Soon, each pony is arguing over who should have what land, and the same problems start to occur, starting with freezing temperatures. Eventually, the tribes learn that if they want to keep themselves well fed, happy, healthy, and alive, then they must all come together as one and not feel hatred. These events, as you all know, lead to Generation Four, Friendship is magic. In this timeline, they all get together and try to sort things out, and eventually combine into one. In this timeline, Celestia and Luna come back to make sure peace maintains throughout the land, which eventually leads into the land they have today.
What if the ponies all got along in the first place, though? Everypony worked with another and got everything done just right? Celestia and Luna didn't even come back, seeing as how perfect and organized everything was? This, my friends, would lead us to the other branch of the split timeline:
Generation Three:
Now, I know this sounds a bit out there, but I genuinely believe this an alternate timeline, FiM being the other branch. My reasons for thinking this is simple.
1.) Everypony is divided up in this generation. Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi all live in different locations. Earth ponies live in Ponyville, unicorns live in Unicornia, and pegasi live on Butterfly Island. This also supports the theory that while the ponies were existing with no ruler, they completely managed to live by themselves. They never fought, so the three tribes never managed to get together and become one, as done in Friendship is Magic. Heck, some ponies don't even believe in the existence of other tribes, that's how far they managed to divide.
2.) To that day, they have no ruler. Here, Princess Celestia and Luna still exist, but they have no need to rule. Everything's organized in such a way that they're completely capable of handling themselves. This also supports it ties into a time when there was a ruler, seeing as how there's a castle in the show, with no inhabitants.
3.) Everypony in the show is overly optimistic and there's hardly any arguing. If they're just as peaceful then, then they probably were many years proceeding that.
4.) Some ponies have the same names/colors as ponies in Friendship is Magic. Rainbow Dash, for example. Let's say she originated from Earth ponies. Through genetics of Earth ponies breeding with Earth ponies (because the tribes are very distant) Rainbow would still be born. Yes, she'd be an Earth pony, but so would most of her ancestors who were originally meant to be pegasi. It's a bit hard to explain, but I think you understand what I'm getting at. They also have breezies, dragons, and other creatures from the Friendship is Magic universe.
So yes, because of this evidence, I truly believe Friendship is Magic and Generation Three are alternate timelines. G4 where the pony tribes fought, and G3 where the pony tribes easily got along.
Now, if everything I've stated thus far is true, what about My Little Pony: Tales? 
Well, that's simple; My Little Pony: Tales is the last generation chronologically. Reason? They have the most technology available. From phones, to a modernized currency, to modern homes. Which generation I believe it comes after is the question. Personally, I believe it comes after the G3 timeline, because of one reason; everypony in the show is an Earth pony. If it had taken place after Friendship is Magic, they'd have a wider variety of ponies living there.
So, yeah... That's really it.
All in all, the timeline is simple: Generation one takes place first, and after a few major historical events, the timelines split, one being G3 and one being G4. My Little Pony: Tales takes place after G3.
Yep, that's basically everything I've been theorizing. Thanks for reading everyone. Tell me your input, and tell me if I'm just out there or am missing something major.
-Pizzema Forte
really good Theory
You actually watched all of them?
Psst, you forgot Newborn Cuties
encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSfXt9NCLLWdec7Xd5Qi13VmAun8cTMcjD9ib30TJsc3rBs7bUU Not even Discord would stoop to the level of evil that created these abominations...
Interesting theory, it actually makes a lot of sense.
I feel enlightened. This theory (despite me never watching anything but G1 and F.I.M) makes too much sense to be wrong. I don't know how your brain came up with this, but it is the headcannon of the century!
I must go tell my brothers of this, hopefully their heads do not explode. Thank you for this new way to look at.... almost everything!
I for one never watched generation 1 through 3 so I can't really comment on your theory being believable or not but the evidence is rather convincing. This also sounds like a pretty good story premise and I think you (being the one who came up with this theory) could write a fanfic based on this theory.
I read your theory, you are assuming the Generation 1 was first, that may not be the case, and probably isn't. I have watched several G1 episodes, and two of the movies, and can point a few things out. Were there more than two movies? Flutterponies rule!
In G1 Tirek was killed, not banished to Tartars but outright killed once and for all by the Rainbow of Light. And Scorpan turned back into a human prince, and said he was turned into Scorpan when Tirek took over his kingdom. Tirek took over the prince's kingdom/principality and turned him into a gargoyle and gave him the name Scorpan, OR turned him into a specific gargoyle named Scorpan. The Scorpan in the Season 4 pilot simply left for his home one day leaving Tirek alone. And then Tirek was sealed away at the end.
Suppose Tirek escaped again, this time no alicorn Princesses were in his way but he had another, more cruel way to rule, The Rainbow of Darkness. He didn't even need magic of his own, he had this Rainbow capable of corrupting everything it touched, even so far as to bring about eternal night. He needed ponies to turn into dragons, not their magic. So he turns butterflies, birds and other hapless animals into guards, a human into a manifestation of his brother, who he now has complete control over, and no-one to stop him, except for a human named Megan(not Emily). Megan stops him, bringing peace to Dream Valley for now.
Does that seem possible?
Also, there were humans before Megan. There was a family of witches living by the Volcano of Gloom, and another castle with an entirely different prince than Scorpan. And just because both are so cool the Changelings evolve into the Flutterponies.
2311264 So, with that, if this whole thing were to work, would it be past events, then the split in the timeline; G4 would go to G1 after a long series of events, and G3 would still go to tales? Or am I just overanalyzing everything? Honestly, I've seen a few episodes of G3, every episode of G4, a few episodes of G1, and like, two episodes of Tales. I think everything you've said makes a lot more sense, and I should probably edit a few things around in it to make everything make more sense. Now, looking over what you said, do you think there's still a way to make the split timeline theory work with some editing, or do you think I'm just going a bit too far into things?
2311958 Certainly they could split into different timelines. G1 would be a darker world for the ponies while Tales and G3 would be others. Perhaps those other worlds are isolated pockets of 'happiness'. Have you read The Giver? Societies that seal themselves off from the world and are unaffected by later catastrophes. That might work too.
Looking back, some of the inherent assumptions have been proven demonstrably false or improabable, but the overaching conclusion does have some weight