Foreword
"Those who fail to learn from history are condemmed to repeat it."- Whinny Churchill
My name is Inkblot. In this volume I have attempted to collect and compress the complete history of Equestria from historical documents and the writings of those who came before me. This text is a complete telling of the important and notable events from the late Pre-Equestrian era until the current day.
There are a few things to note before this text begins. First, the dates in this book are written using the Post-Unification Calendar reckooning. Some have been transcribed from their original documented format to fit this system. These dates are segregated into P.E., being the Pre-Equestrian Era, and E.E., being the Equestrian Era, which begins in the year of the supposed founding of Equestria. Secondly, it is also important to note that some dates are disputed. If a date is unconfirmed, an asterisk will be present. Thirdly, it is necessary to understand that being a complete history, some minor details must be overlooked to fit the size of the book. Such details may be clarified in separate novels pertaining to the subject which they are included in.
It is also important to realize that this book covers only the late Pre-Equestrian Era into the recent Equestrian-Era, which is up until the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
-Inkblot Libri
Chapter 1: The Pre-Equestrian Events in the Pony Kingdoms
Well known is the fact that the Pre-Equestrian Era was rife with hardship and struggle for the three pony kingdoms. Though the location of these kingdoms is speculated upon, it remains to this day unknown to scholars. Much of the knowledge of the earlier history of Unicornis, Pegasus Alas and Equinis is sourced only from legend.
It is known, however, that about three-hundred years before the unification of Equestria, the first Summit of Peace was held. It was there that the three tribes agreed upon the conditions of an unsteady peace. The agricultural earth ponies, who had endured centuries of raids, would give portions of their crops willingly, to both unicorns and pegasi. In return, the militaristic pegasi would control the weather, bringing both rain and sunshine in equal measure, insuring that the earth ponies’ production would not fail. The unicorns in turn, would take it upon themselves to raise the sun and moon, controlling the day and night and bringing the needed sunlight to the earth ponies' fields. It is said that the unicorns raising the sun and moon, in accordance with their feudal system, were for the most part peasants, for in that time, it was a laborious task.
It is vital to realize that the governmental systems of the tribes were not as they are today. Unicornis was ruled by a feudal monarchy. In fact, the rule of the morarchy in Unicornis was nearly absolute for centuries, until a collection of angry unicorn nobles created the Magna Cart in 310 P.E.*, a document restricting the king’s power and influence. The king was still afforded many luxuries, while in some places, the less affluent unicorns were forced out of desperation take up farming, though their attempt was not nearly as fruitful as that of the earth ponies. In truth, only the nobility and royalty of Unicornis, about twenty to thirty percent of the population, ate solely food taken as tribute from the earth ponies. The large majority ate at least partly locally grown food.
The pegasi, in contrast were an extremely militaristic society. The leader of Pegasus Alas, was selected as the strongest child of the Commander. The Commander in Chief of the Cloud Armies was expected to lead their kingdom to war and did so often. The pegasi feuded often with their aerial neighbors, and both griffons and manticores have been mentioned as enemies in records of that time. A particularly notable text, the Alis ad Bellum, recounts the Commanders of the pegasi and the wars the fought between approximately 196-89 P.E., including the famed Gryphem Wars. Under the laws of Pegaus Alas, every citizen was enrolled in the military at the age of eighteen, required to serve for five years. The Commander’s word was law, and every pegaus received food rations, a practical tradition stemming from the limited food the pegasi obtained. The only source of food for Pegasus Alas was the earth pony farms, leading them to enforce the tribute far more heavily than the unicorns, and to store significantly more in case of shortage.
The earth ponies, different from the other three, became the first democratic pony government. In Equinis, the heads of the most important families, or Summos, voted on a Chancellor, who served for eight years. Though corruption was rampant during the earlier years of the system, in later years most elections were fair. Chancellors were chosen from among the members of the Summos, for their intelligence and competence. They ruled over a kingdom mostly dedicated to food production, a laborious task leaving the earth ponies with little wealth.
In any case, the Pax Cibum, the document detailing the agreement, was upheld for many centuries. by all accounts, the peace was not violated until the year of 2 P.E., when the White Winter began. The White Winter was the strongest winter that pony kind had ever seen and has since. With no food coming from the earth pony farms, each tribe was forced to use their preestablished stock piles. When the frozen winter showed no sign of relenting, fighting broke out and raiding began anew, and the second Summit of Peace was called between the increasingly hostile tribes.
Firsthand accounts of the meeting speak of how, within a matter of minutes, the Summit went from reasoned debate to verbal warfare. A note here is that each tribe was often stereotyped, the pegasi as brutish and barbaric, the unicorns as snobbish and uncaring, and the earth ponies as unintelligent. Though these stereotypes are very untrue, during that time the tribes, despite their trade and tribute, had very little contact with one another, allowing such misinterpretations of the other’s cultures to thrive. This, and the well documented obstinance of the three tribal leaders, led to a downhill cycle, each change causing the next to be worst.
The three leaders of the pony tribes, in these times were; Commander Hurricane, an extremely tough stallion; Chancellor Puddinghead, a mare who was known for being rather eccentric; and Princess Platinum, a cunning mare and talented sorceress, for who King Bullion, her incompetent father, was little more than a puppet. All three were strong leaders for their individual tribes, but their lack of cooperation led them to quickly end the Summit, leaving in a rage.
Each leader returned to their respective homes, and, within weeks, each had departed, in search of a new land. The only of these journeys that have in detail been recorded is that of the unicorns, for a diary of Clover the Clever has been preserved and sits today in the Canterlot Archives. It is known that the unicorns were hosted by griffons before sailing to what is now Equestria. This leads historians to conclude that the old pony lands were across the Celestial Sea, though the exact location is disputed.
The journal of Clover the Clever explains that upon arrival in the new land, they discovered not only its native cow inhabitants, but also the fact that the pegasus and earth ponies had arrived at a similar location. The three tribes fought, and the blizzard came upon them. It tells of their sojourn in a large set of caves, and the freezing of the leaders. It also tells of the miraculous magic of Clover the Clever, and how it unfroze the land with the power of friendship, infusing that power into later culture and magic of the Equestrian species. And, a few days later, on the First Day of Winter Moon, came the official founding of Equestria, when the leaders agreed upon the name and created a flag. This flag was not the same as the banner used today, it was instead a combination of the flags of the three realms.
It is that day, which is now counted as the beginning of the year 1 E.E. in the modern reckoning. And with it began journey of a newly made kingdom, of settlement and the unification of pony kind.