//------------------------------// // Cultural Effects of the Pre-Alicorn Period // Story: Selections From the Canterlot Royal Academic Archives // by Third Wave //------------------------------// Cultural Effects of the Pre-Alicorn Period on Modern Equine Society by Lyra Heartstrings Journal of Equinology, Vol. 4, No. 2 Canterlot University Press The pre-alicorn period is a time that has almost been lost to memory.  Eons ago, before the arrival of the Princesses, pony society was divided.  As we all learn in the tale of Hearth’s Warming Eve, the three races were forced to overcome their hatred for each other and learn to live together to forge Equestria from the virgin soil.  Since then we have thrown away the past grievances the unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies had with each other and have learned to embrace all equines as a whole. One might think that the cultures of the pre-alicornic civilizations are a relic of the distant past.  However, the cultures and customs of the individual pre-alicornic societies still have many ramifications on the present day Equestrian culture. Pegasi The race of ponies that has remained the closest to their pre-alicornic roots over the millennia is undoubtedly the pegasi.  There are two main reasons that pegasus ponies have kept much of their older customs into the modern day. The first is that the pegasi have been the most isolated groups of ponies.  As the vast majority of pegasi live in cloud cities such as Cloudsdale, for much of equine history few pegasi ever traveled far beyond the cloud cities or interacted with unicorn or earth pony settlements.  Similarly, unicorns and earth ponies were unable to reach cloud cities without the use of spells which have only come into common unicorn knowledge in the past thousand years. As such, unicorns and earth ponies never came into regular contact with pegasi beyond diplomatic or trade delegations.  With so little relative contact, pegasi traditions remained untouched while earth pony and unicorn customs were changed via regular cultural intermingling. The isolation of the pegasi even continued well into the establishment of Celestia’s rule, as the Equestrian royal guard was only established after the Nightmare Rebellion.  Even now, there are few places outside of cloud cities that have significant populations of pegasi. The other reason for the maintenance of pre-alicornic culture in pegasus societies is the very nature of the society in pegasi settlements.  Pegasus societies in the pre-alicornic period were often very militaristic and were based upon a strict social hierarchy. As the controllers of the weather even prior to the founding of Equestria, pegasus tribes were very specialized.  Foals were divided by skills such as speed, cloud-handling, and water-gathering at a very early age through rigorous testing and competition. Today, some remnants of these competitions still survive, such as the annual Best Young Flier event in Cloudsdale.  Additionally as pegasi of the pre-alicornic era completely relied on earth ponies for food, the pegasi often lived a very austere lifestyle. One solace of these societies came in the form of the military, as the pegasi were also responsible for protecting the pony tribes from outside threats.  For a young pegasus, joining the military often meant a chance to climb the social ladder and a life of honorable service to the tribe. Because of this, the pegasi are very proud of their militaristic heritage, and every pegasus born in a cloud city is required to attend flight school. Pegasus ponies living in the cloud cities who are not good fliers are often treated as social outcasts and ostracized by their peers. Remnants of pre-alicornic pegasus culture can be seen throughout modern day Equestria.  The architectural style inherent in most cloud cities today stems from the pre-alicornic and early Equestrian periods, with columns dominating the facades of most cloud buildings.  The predominance of white buildings is a result of this being the most common and easy to produce form of cloud material, but the older constructions have more in common with pre-alicornic architecture and are more stark and angular.  Newer cloud buildings tend to move away from this and are more ornate and colorful, recently incorporating rainbow inlays into the cloud materials. The military organization of pegasi society also has had a great impact on the role of pegasi in modern Equestria.   To appease many of the ruling pegasi commanders during the early rule of Celestia and Luna, several elements of the pegasi military structure were incorporated into the overall structure of the Equestrian army. It is for this reason that the pegasi contingent of the royal guard was created, though today the royal guard mostly serves a ceremonial purpose.  Undoubtedly the most lasting impact of pegasi society has been the love for sport. The Cloudiseum in Cloudsdale and other coliseums first originated as venues for the pegasus tribes to hold regular competitions featuring pony combat, or tests of agility and speed. The military and sporting tradition of the early pegasus tribes is also reflected in the creation of the Wonderbolts, which serves as the elite Equestrian air force.  While pegasi are required to learn basic air combat in foalhood, only the greatest fliers in Equestria are allowed to join the Wonderbolts. The Wonderbolts arose as a memorial to the great fighting forces led by ponies such as Commander Hurricane, and the annual Wonderbolts Derby in Canterlot shows how revered they are even by non-pegasi. The Wonderbolts and the pegasi royal guard are a strong link between the modern Equestrian military and the pegasi military predating Celestia and Luna, and continue to carry on many of the traditions of the pre-alicornic pegasi tribes in their practices. Unicorns The unicorns of the pre-alicornic period were, unlike the earth pony and pegasi tribes, the most advanced society of the pre-alicornic period.  As they controlled the motions of the sun and the moon before the arrival of the Princesses, they had a very important task. However, using their unicorn magic only required a collective use of the simple telekinesis spell to move the heavenly bodies.  However, the mass of the sun and moon and their distance from the Earth meant that the collective magical power needed to move them was more vast than any single unicorn could conjure up. This requirement is largely what led to the unification of the unicorn tribes into a single society.  The frequent coming together of the unicorns as a single race to preserve the natural cycle of day and night created a bond that overcame the more tribal affiliations felt in pegasi or earth pony societies. As the movements were only required twice a day, this left the unicorns with much time for leisure and to pursue the arts and other activities.  These pursuits led to a large educated class and a strong aristocratic tradition compared to the other pony races. It is for this reason that much of the written records of the pre-alicornic period come from the ancient unicorn libraries. From these records, we have also found that it was the pre-alicornic era when much of the documented spells were first created.  After the mastery of the telekinesis spells that required, many unicorns spent their free time experimenting with new spells. Some of these unicorn sorcerers have been immortalized as the founders of modern magical theory. Star Swirl the Bearded is probably the most well known. He was the most prolific sorcerer before the pre-Classical era, creating over two hundred new spells alone.  Star Swirl and his student Clover the Clever, like many revered sorcerers, were often patrons of the upper nobility of the unicorn kingdom, and these two even received royal appointments at the court of the ruling unicorn kings of the time as advisers. These sorcerers penned many treatises on basic magical theory, but only a few survived the Great Migration. Because of the pressing nature of the Great Migration, only the high nobility survived the journey to Equestria.  When the society of Classical Equestria was settled, the unicorns formed much of the aristocracy of the early nation as they still performed the raising of the sun and moon before the Princesses took over that duty. This aristocratic legacy of the ancient unicorn kingdom and early Equestria survives today largely in Canterlot, of which unicorns make up the majority of the population.  It is posited that the founding of Canterlot by the Princesses was a concession to the ruling unicorn nobility in exchange for relinquishing control of the sun and moon. However, others suspect that Canterlot was constructed as a means of reining in the powers of the unicorn nobility and centralizing the Princesses as the supreme authority in Equestria. Historians are divided on this issue and neither Celestia nor Luna have revealed their true motives behind the construction of Canterlot, but over the millennia it has become the center of Equestrian politics and government.  Whatever the true purpose was, the construction of Canterlot on a mountainside and its high towers is certainly reminiscent of depictions of the old castles that housed the unicorn nobility before the Great Migration. Extending from this legacy of unicorns in Canterlot, unicorns make up a large part of high society in modern Equestria.  One notable position in government held by unicorns is the captain of the royal guard. While most officer levels of the Equestrian military are held by pegasi as they are naturally more attuned to military matters, the position of captain of the royal guard has traditionally been given to a unicorn.  Another high ranking position that is traditionally filled by a unicorn is that of governor of Canterlot, which is currently led by Fancy Pants. Additionally, Blueblood received the honorary title of prince after it was discovered that his direct ancestry traced back to Princess Platinum and the pre-alicornic royalty.  This dominance of unicorns in the Equestrian upper class, while it has been mitigated somewhat by the rising social mobility of earth ponies, has led to the higher levels of government being dominated by unicorns even now. This inequality is probably the greatest remnant of the pre-alicornic unicorn society in Equestria today. Earth Ponies Unlike the other two pony races, the society of earth ponies has undergone the most drastic changes since the Great Migration and the founding of Equestria.  While many earth pony settlements are still primarily engaged in agricultural production, many settlements have developed into bustling cities with their own industries.  These cities also demonstrate how industrious the earth pony race has become. Much of the technological advancement in recent centuries has been because of earth pony inventors.  As earth ponies are not blessed with such magical ability as is possessed by the unicorns, they have resorted to advancing industrial production through the natural sciences. These advances created the railroad network that is snaking its way across Equestria and several other inventions that have allowed for bustling cities such as Manehattan to thrive. The prosperity experienced by modern earth ponies is nothing like what the balance of wealth was in the pre-alicornic period.  For their part of the tribal agreements, the earth pony tribes were required to grant a certain amount of their yearly harvests to the unicorns and pegasi.  This feudal system tied the earth ponies to tilling their fields day in and day out, and left little time for advancement in the sciences. However, the earth ponies also had the most representative forms of government of all three races.  Each tribe was free to elect its own chancellor through a democratic process. Each chancellor acted as a representative of their tribe in foreign negotiations, but was still accountable to the tribe. This local participation in government still exists in modern Equestria.  Princess Celestia has permitted the earth pony towns to elect their own mayors rather than having them be royally appointed, though of course the candidates must still be approved by the Princesses. The greater freedoms possessed by modern earth ponies as opposed to their pre-alicornic society is not limited to the political process.  In modern times, earth ponies have also achieved greater social and class mobility as well. This is due in part to the technological advancement allowing earth ponies efficiency in producing finished goods that is on par and sometimes greater than the efficiency that can be achieved with unicorn magic.  Additionally, the farming and subsistence tradition has also lent itself to modern earth ponies in the development of strong business acumen. In fact, many of the most prominent businessponies today are earth ponies. Filthy Rich, CEO and owner of the department store chain Barnyard Bargains, is one such earth pony.  This success of earth ponies in business has led to extraordinary recent growth in several earth pony cities including Manehattan and Fillydelphia. As they have become hubs of commercial activity, these cities are attracting ponies from all over Equestria and contributing to the rising numbers of urbanized and wealthy earth ponies. However, the agricultural tradition of earth ponies still remains throughout Equestria.  Even today, a majority of earth ponies are engaged in farming or other activities related to food production.  As earth ponies are known to have a special relationship with the land, most earth ponies will likely remain tied to the land and agricultural production for the foreseeable future.  Just as pegasi are in charge of the weather, the earth pony race is uniquely gifted among all the races to the agricultural sector, which somewhat locks in their chosen profession. But recent developments have shown that earth ponies are not as locked into their role in society as pegasi, and do possess some societal flexibility.