//------------------------------//
// The Equestrian Exodus 
// Story: Anno Equestria: A Brief History of the Pony Nation 
// by Insert Pen Name 
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Anno Equestria
A Brief History of the Pony Nation
A FiM fic by (Insert Pen Name)

The Equestrian Exodus
3PE - AE1


The story of Ponykind’s arrival in Equestria is widely known and often told. Indeed, one of the most cherished traditions of ponykind is the celebration of Hearth’s Warming Eve on the winter solstice, by which even the youngest foals learn of that historic event so very long ago. Regrettably, Hearth's Warming Pageants are often the sole source of Pre-Equestrian knowledge for most ponies, and so some misinformation naturally arises as a result. History is even further compromised by the unfortunate fact that few extant records survive from the Pre-Equestrian Era. That said, the basic story is accurate enough in most regards.

Prior to the year 4PE, the three Pony races lived far to the north in a region known to us only as Old Homeland. Though the Ponies shared a common language, their civilization was otherwise deeply divided along racial lines, and the symbiotic relationship they shared did little to bridge their differences. Nonetheless, the three races managed to live in relative peace until the disaster of the Long Winter, when, starting in the year 3PE, the pony races found themselves beset by a seemingly unending period of freezing weather. Snow fell nearly every day of the year, and though the Earth-Ponies struggled to grow what they could during the brief summer thaws, the tribes were very much reliant on emergency food stores. By 1PE, these stores had finally run out and famine was widespread. An emergency summit was held to discuss potential solutions, but tempers soon flared, and the negotiations were brought to an untimely end.

The exact causes of the Long Winter are subject to debate. The traditional explanation of windigoes makes for a fine moral, but offers little substance for the objective historian. Given that Old Homeland remains frozen even now, it is more likely that the Pre-Equestrian Ponies had fallen victim to some form of catastrophic climate change, though this in itself only raises more questions. In any event, the leaders of the three races; Princess Platinum of the Unicorns, Commander Hurricane of the Pegasi, and Chancellor Puddinghead of the Earth-Ponies, each independently arrived at the conclusion that Old Homeland was doomed, and that new havens must be found farther south. The remarkable fact that the three leaders decided to undertake these expeditions personally is testament to the desperation of their cause.

Of equal note are the ponies who accompanied the three leaders on their quest. Princess Platinum brought her scribe and trusted adviser, Clover the Clever, a former pupil of the legendary Star-Swirl the Bearded*. Chancellor Puddinghead was likewise accompanied by her secretary, Smart Cookie. Commander Hurricane's companion, Private Pansy, is mostly fabrication, however. In reality, Pansy was just one of an entire cohort that accompanied the Commander. However, the names of these other Pegasus soldiers have long since been lost to history, and so in the Hearth's Warming story, all of them were compiled into the character of Private Pansy**.

The celebration of the Hearth’s Warming on the winter solstice is also more the result of dramatic fallacy than historical significance. In truth, nopony knows exactly when Princess Platinum, Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead, and their respective followers first arrived in Equestria. The notion that they even arrived at the same time, as is so humourously represented in the pageants, is likely a poetic embellishment. That said, most historians agree that the three pony leaders must have arrived sometime in late spring or early summer. At some point they did encounter one-another, and after what must certainly have been a profound shared experience, the three groups reconciled their differences and united under the new banner of Equestria. They then spent the next several weeks exploring the region before turning back north to Old Homeland.

Now united under a common nationality, the three leaders immediately instigated a mass-migration to Equestria. With precious little left for them in Old Homeland, the Exodus set out almost overnight. The next nine weeks were a time of great hardship for the surviving ponies as they moved southward, crossing over the Crystal Mountains, and finally arriving in the Equestrian Heartland in mid-autumn. Many songs and ballads were subsequently written concerning that fateful moment; it is said that many broke down and wept for joy at seeing the bare grass for the first time in years. There would have been little time to rejoice, however; shelters needed to be built, supplies needed to be secured, and the Earth-Ponies in particular toiled hard to bring about a hasty autumn harvest before winter struck. Fortunately, that first winter in Equestria turned out to be rather milder than usual, and so the refugees were largely spared from immediate disaster. 

On New Year’s Day, Clover the Clever stood before an assembled crowd and announced the start of a new reckoning of years. From that moment on, years would be counted as Anno Equestria (Year of Equestria), starting with the year AE1. Thus ended the Pre-Equestrian Era, and began what many historians have termed the Early Equestrian Period, a golden age of renewal and expansion which lasted for over six-hundred years until the events of the Lost Years (which will be covered later).

It is impossible now to accurately determine the loss of life that resulted from the Long Winter and the hardships of the Equestrian Exodus. Of the three pony nations, only the Unicorns had kept accurate census records (for tax purposes), and these had been lost by the time of their arrival in Equestria, either buried by the Long Winter or abandoned to the elements during the journey. Whatever the case, there can be no doubt that the death toll was near-catastrophic; barely over 600,000 adult ponies were counted in the first census in late AE1, and a sizable majority of these were mares. Even today, ponykind is still recovering from the disaster that befell us two-thousand years before.

* As impressive as this sounds to us today, Starswirl the Bearded in fact educated hundreds of pupils in his lifetime, so Clover the Clever was hardly unique or remarkable in this regard.

** Ironically, Private Pansy's name is the only thing we do actually know about her.