Pre-Equestrian Era. (A Middle Ages headcanon history) Part 5: The Collapse and Post Collapse.

The Middle Ages were a war torn but also advanced and even at times prosperous time in the history of ponykind. Many advancements in magic, cities, and culture came from the Middle Ages, however this period of time was not to last nor end peacefully. This chapter will focus on the fall of the Middle Ages, The Collapse.

The Falling Middle Ages are referred to as they are for a reason, that reason being the fact that the Falling Middle Age refers to the events that would lead up to The Collapse. The turmoil and chaos caused by escalating territorial wars, wars over the Earth Ponies, and inner conflicts shook every existing kingdom to its core. The wars would claim many lives and even lead to the destruction of cities and castles. No exact clear transitional period can be identified between the Falling Middle Ages and The Collapse and the event itself is steeped in a lot of mystery. What can be known about the Collapse is that it did not happen over a short time, it likely happened over the course of close to half a century if not about a full century. Accounts of the time do mention many kingdoms falling, some within the same year of each other. The infamous story mentioned in Chapter 1's status as a fictional legend or true account is up to debate however given the situation it is not far from what was possible. A major contributing component of the Collapse was a mysterious illness which spread throughout the lands of nearly ever kingdom. The Plague's historical names varied greatly, though "The Plague" as well as "The Great Illness" were the most recurring. Symptoms of the disease were documented to include much more severe cold symptoms along with many other different symptoms, generally being infected brought a lot of suffering and eventually a slow painful death. A cure was evidently never found and even magical spells from the most powerful of mages proved ineffective at anything but suppress the effects for a limited amount of time. Nearly if not all who were infected with this illness ended up dying from it. No clear method of stopping the spread of the illness could seem to be found as ponies seemed to become sick "spontaneously", this could potentially have been due to a lack of medical knowledge. Due to the nature of this illness in the way it spread so quickly and successfully infected so many throughout the kingdoms it is likely that the illness was of magical origin as no prior disease of any kind had had such an impact as The Great Illness had. One theory of the origin of this disease is that it is a creation of the Windigos, creatures mentioned in the highly documented accounts of the events leading to the formation of Equestria. Though having some evidence it cannot be confirmed that the Windigos were responsible for the Great Illness as the only documented ability that the Windigos have is that of turning the land cold. However it can be easily concluded that that the Windigos were responsible for another later major event of the collapse known historically as "The Unending Winter". As time went on in the start of collapse the weather began to shift slowly but surely towards a colder winter like climate. This happened over time however got progressively worse as time went on, the entirety of the known lands were not affected at once rather instances of cold weather came over multiple lands and got progressively worse at various times in various places. Many cities ended up buried in snow and even frozen. The increasingly destructive and hostile weather combined with the ever present plague was almost enough to stop the wars and conflicts that had occurred, unfortunately that was not the case as even with these events wars still occurred as they did in the Falling Middle Ages. The third and final event to occur and further bring the collapse was the mysterious and unnatural changes of day and night. The normal day and night cycle had mysteriously lost it's consistency and resulted in nights lasting days or vice versa as well as unnatural changes in the position of the sun and moon, there was little to no pattern in these changes. The now irregular day and night further created chaos and fear among ponies and often left already struggling crops often deprived of sunlight or even over exposed to it. The "Day Night Chaos" as it was called happened sometime during the middle of The Unending Winter. Over time the weather, chaotic day and night cycle, and plague brought down even the largest and strongest of kingdoms. Eventually what was formerly many different kingdoms was reduced to few crumbling kingdoms and wandering remnants of fallen kingdoms. The Middle Ages had ended and the medieval world and kingdoms had ended with it. However despite what many thought it wasn't the end for ponykind.

The collapse took its tole on ponykind and every kingdoms was in shambles, three particular kingdom remnants, one of each race, ended up eventually banding together to form an uneasy alliance to try and survive the seemingly apocalyptic cataclysm that befell them. They were not the only kingdom remnants however they and the other remnants to join them ended up as the only known ones to survive. The remnants of the unicorn kingdom were a combination of ponies from the then dead kingdoms of Unihorn, Cornia, and a multitude of others. Notably the latest heir to the Cornian throne, Queen and later Re-titled Princess Silver. The Remnant Pegasi came from the fallen Kingdom of The Cloud and were led by the current Commander Rainstorm. The Earth Pony remnants were by far the most mixed of ponies though the Chancellery of The Sun Over The Field, led by the Late Chancellor Cakehead, was the closest to majority. The three leaders ultimately chose to band together and traveled throughout the ruined lands scavenging whatever food supplies they could. The time they traveled is not exactly known however many accounts of the time detail entire cities and castles encased in snow covered ice, battlefields with entire armies frozen in mid combat, and other horrors discovered during the travels were entailed in written accounts. After what is presumed to be a long time the kingdoms eventually found a land untouched by the apocalyptic winter, in this land the three remnants settled and soon developed into the three tribes. This ultimately started the Second Tribal Period, which is also known as the Post-Collapse. In the Second Tribal Period a system of cooperation was eventually established between the three tribes of Unicorn, Pegasi, and Earth Ponies. The Earth Ponies would willingly grow food for themselves and the Unicorns and Pegasi in exchange for the Pegasi's weather control and the Unicorn's maintenance of the now artificially controlled sun and moon. Though the relationship between the three tribes was extremely fragile and filled with tension war was completely avoided throughout the Second Tribal Era.. Despite the lack of war hatred did exist strongly between the tribes and they generally did not care about each other. only cooperating due to the apparent need for it. The Second Tribal Era would ultimately last for multiple generations up until The Unending Winter ended up reaching the lands in which the tribes resided, forcing them to move to find another faraway home.

The events of the near end of the Second Tribal Era as well the events leading to the formation of Equestria are very well documented, the day Equestria was founded is celebrated as "Hearts Warming Eve." So those events will not be detailed in this text however this book will conclude with the ultimate effects that the Middle Ages and Collapse had on how the current Equestria is. As the three tribes united and formed the new land of Equestria the ponies of the newly established kingdom formed a new society based on what was learned from the chaotic Falling Middle Ages and seemingly apocalyptic Collapse as well as the first discovery of the magical power that the simple presence of friendship and unity held. The many lessons that were ultimately learned in remembering the dark, violent, and destructive past as well as what was learned after the tribes finally united would ultimately shape Equestria into the strong, prosperous, and peaceful kingdom it currently stands as.