Timeline and Glossary for The Pony Dialogues

This chapter provides the basic information about the world of The Pony Dialogues to make reading and understanding the story easier. That being said, you don't have to read this to understand what is going on. The Prologue also repeats a significant portion of this information.

Main Continent Time Line before the Cataclysm

Years before Present
1500 Ever Ruler, a changeling disguised as a sheep, is born in Fleece.

1485 Fleece discovers the existence of changelings and begins exterminating them.

1400 All major nations on the continent have joined in the changeling hunts.

1390 The so-called Ice Age begins

1280 All the changeling queens have been eliminated from the southern portion of the Main Continent.
The three pony tribes migrate north en masse.
Starswirl the Bearded begins studying magic seriously, becoming well-known across the land.
Starswirl prophesizes that the "After 1000 years, the stars will aide in her escape."

1230 The pony tribes unify.
Clover the Clever continues Starswirl's studies of Magic.
Tree of Harmony is 'discovered.'

1200 The Ice Age ends throughout the Continent.

1180 The Cataclysm occurs, dividing the Main Continent into the North and the South by a large and dangerous forest.
Unnatural Storms prevent travel by sea and air between the northern and southern hemispheres.

North Continent's Timeline in Years before Present

1180 The Age of Discord begins.*
Clover the Clever is pronounced dead.
Celestia and Luna become alicorns.
The Everfree Forest begins to grow.
Contact with the South Continent is lost.

* Historians are unsure how much time passed by during the Age of Discord due to time manipulation.

1050 Celestia and Luna weaponize Harmony and begin eliminating threats from the new Kingdom of Equestria.
Discord is turned to Stone.
King Sombra is banished.
Age of Discord Ends, and Age of Harmony Begins.

1040 Celestia and Luna become diarchs over all ponykind and most of the North Continent.
The Castle of the Two Pony Sisters is built above the Tree of Harmony.

1002 Luna becomes Nightmare Moon and is immediately banished as a threat to the Harmony.
The Elements of Harmony become inert.
The Everfree Forest overtakes the castle.
Starswirl's prophecy of the stars aiding in her escape is linked to Nightmare Moon.

1000 Celestia begins construction of a new castle
Earth ponies are tasked with creating Canterlot Mountain with their magic.
Pegasi are tasked with building the palace.

950 Canterlot Castle is completed and unicorns become its primary residents.
Celestia forms the School for Gifted Unicorns to find future candidates for all major national government positions.

950 to 2 Equestria experiences 1000 years of peace.
A small portion of the North Continent seeks war but are isolated politically and economically by Equestria.

2 Nightmare Moon returns.
The Elements are reactivated by a mare whose cutie mark is a large star surrounded by five small stars.
The Element bearers free Luna from Nightmare Moon.
Starswirl's prophecy that "the stars will aide in her escape" is declared fulfilled.

Present Twilight is crowned an alicorn princess after completing Starswirl's spell, which reinforced Equestria's Harmony.

South Continent's Timeline in Years before Present

1180 Age of Chaos begins.
The South Continent loses contact with the North Continent.
Countries of the South Continent no longer have a common enemy of changelings so turn against each other.
Ever Ruler reveals zirself as one of the few remaining changelings and begins teaching doubt.

1050 Age of Chaos ends, and the Age of War begins.
The Philosopher Movement begins in response to Ever Ruler's teachings.

1040 Ever Ruler and Corvo Nevermore, another changeling, adopt each other as siblings.
The philosophy siblings begin construction on the Academy, a independent city-state for philosophers.

950 The Academy opens its doors to all who wish to study wisdom in peace.

950-50 South Continent experiences 1000 years of war.
A small portion of the continent, the Academy, seeks peace but are isolated economically and politically.

50 Corvo Nevermore and zir scientists invent fractal technology to help people build homes quickly.

45 The nations of the South Continent send ambassadors to the Academy in order to gain fractal technology.
Ever Ruler welcomes the other nations to learn all they want from the philosophers.
Corvo Nevermore predicts this will end badly for the philosophers and flees to the North through the forest.

40 Bufgium invents the Fractal Spear, weaponizing Corvo's technology.
Massive persecution of buffalo occurs in Bufgium by the antelopes.
Ever Ruler uses a mass pacification spell in order to save innocents from the slaughter.

35 The new fractal technology leads to an unprecedented escalation of war throughout the South Continent.
Ever Ruler hooves over leadership in saving refugees to Courage.

15 Bufguim invades the Academy eliminating the vast majority of philosophers.
With no place safer place to go, the refugees and the surviving philosophers flee to the Everfree Forest.

10 Ever Ruler discovers a unicorn filly in a field of blue flowers within the Everfree Forest.
Ever Ruler loses zir eyesight due to some strange illness that can even affect changelings.
Courage challenges the alpha manticore of the State of Nature in the Everfree for leadership and wins.
Courage becomes a Queen of the Forest.

8 Ever Ruler adopts the filly naming her Wisdom.

Present Ever Ruler leaves the State of Nature with zir adoptive daughter and travels to the long lost North Continent.

Glossary

Key Terms
Note: Sometimes the North and the South Continents have different words for the same thing. Because of this, key terms will be listed with their North's word first followed by the South's word in parentheses.

Binding: A South Continental term coined by Ever Ruler to refer to any idea to which a person submits. This includes anything from promises to superstitions to detailed ideologies. People often take pride in their bindings and fear those who have none. Philosophers are infamous in the South Continent for mostly rejecting all bindings.

Changeling (Horsefly): A shapeshifting species which takes on the form shaped by people's wants and needs. They are made of a green flame, the element of change. The species feeds on magical energy provided by people who have feelings for the form they have taken. This magical species base form is asexual and genderless. Only their queens can reproduce, and they do so by planting a bit of green flame in proximity of people with strong desires. For example, parents who desire a child are often gifted a changeling nymph who is everything they ever wanted. Use of mind magic prevents the parents from realizing the child is not their own. It is popularly believed that changeling nymphs kill off their competition for love and attention.

Everfree Forest (Neverending Forest): This magical forest appeared shortly after the short Ice Age occurred in ancient times. The forest spans all the land across the equator and massive storms prevent all travel by air and sea. Large carnivores and magical plants made the forest too dangerous to travel through until fractal technology became weaponized. Now those fleeing the wars of the South Continent find the forest far safer and more hospital.

Philosophy: This pursuit is literally the love of wisdom. Those who follow it are called philosophers. Traditionally, they claim not to have wisdom but merely to seek it out in all its forms. While there is a lot of diversity of opinion of what is philosophy, doubting conventional wisdom tends to be the most common. Ironically, the very commonness of this doubt has put this doubt itself under scrutiny.

Key People

Corvo Nevermore: Corvo was born between a strenuous alliance between the crows and ravens of the South Continent. Zir philosophy aims towards truth through experimental verification and definitions that refer to natural facts. Corvo specializes in using shapeshifting magic in order to help as many people as possible. Zir goal is to improve the material conditions of all people through knowledge and technology. Ze is most famous for being able to take on the form of a whole kindness of ravens and murder of crows, filling the sky with zir ancient family. These characteristics have earned Corvo Nevermore the title of the Outer Philosopher by historians.

Courage (Andrea): A female buffalo born in Bufguim. Her parents bound her to the Ways of Natures patterns. When her parents were killed by fractal spears, Courage took the spear up herself and joined in the cause of rescuing as many people as possible from her fate. After the philosophical purge fifteen years ago, she led many refugees into the Everfree Forest for safety. Her fighting ability earned her reign over the State of Nature deep in the Everfree Forest.

Ever Ruler (Ei Rikr)

: Given zir name by the Horses who were among the early philosophers, Ever Ruler is the undisputed most famous changeling in the southern hemisphere. Zir philosophy aims towards bringing people together through first doubting ones own beliefs and then a willingness to change and understand someone else. Ever specializes in using philosophy and mind magic to solve common conflicts. These characteristics have earned Ever Ruler the title of the Inner Philosopher by historians.

Wisdom (Sophia): She is a young, unicorn filly with a black mane and a salt-and-pepper coat. Poison Joke infected her mind giving her blue polka dots on her crown and an inability to feel most emotions. Unable to find her parents, Ever Ruler adopted her as zir daughter. Her inability to be distracted by feelings led her to become a prodigy at magic.