//------------------------------// // Industry and Expansion // Story: Anno Equestria: A Brief History of the Pony Nation // by Insert Pen Name //------------------------------// Anno Equestria A Brief History of the Pony Nation A FiM fic by (Insert Pen Name) Industry and Expansion AE1800-1950 The turn of the 19th century brought with it new challenges for the Pony nation. The country's population was rapidly expanding, and more and more ponies were living in poverty as a result. There was simply not enough trade, not enough industry to provide sufficient employment, and even Equestria's flourishing agricultural base could not keep up with the demand. In an effort to encourage private industry, Princess Celestia passed a number of bills through Parliament to relax some of the country's property and development laws. The led to the creation of some new factories and workshops, but even these were fairly limited enterprises, able only to employ a relative few skilled labourers. Manufacturing at the time was largely reliant on water or muscle power, an investment that few prospective entrepreneurs were willing to make. In AE1802, however, a new and exciting invention revolutionised the face of Equestrian industry forever. As stewards of the weather, the Pegasi had long ago mastered a rudimentary form of steam power in the manufacturing of clouds. It was a retired weather technician, Chilly Breeze, who first brought this power to earth, developing the first working steam pump around AE1790. It was Chilly's daughter, Summer Breeze, who perfected his invention after his death in AE1801, and the very next year demonstrated a large-scale working model of her father's steam pump. The new invention took the industrial word by storm. Steam-powered machinery quickly replaced the work of factory labourers, and while many complained that their skills were being made obsolete, the veritable explosion of industry that followed the steam engine's introduction brought with it a tremendous boost to employment. Perhaps the greatest impact that steam power had on Equestria was in transportation. By AE1820, many different inventors had built upon the concept of steam engines to produce functional locomotives. Easily the most advanced of these was a design by the earth-pony Rocket Red, a vehicle he curiously dubbed "Steve"*. In AE1825, the first railroad in Equestria opened between Canterlot and Manehatten. More railroads to other cities gradually followed suit, until by AE1867, every major city in Equestria was connected by rail. Even the old army road leading to the former site of the Crystal Empire was replaced with a modern railroad. Naturally, such technological advancement created an enormous demand for resources, especially coal and iron. In AE1841, Princess Celestia founded the Geological Survey of Equestria to research the country's geology and uncover new sources of coal to fuel its growing industries. The Survey's first assignment was to explore the vast and largely uninhabited Equestrian north. While no coal was discovered there (the rock formations of northern Equestria are billions of years old, far older than any coal beds), the Survey did uncover a veritable treasure trove of mineral deposits, especially copper, iron, and nickel. The Survey's success garnered nation-wide recognition, and a thriving mining industry quickly sprouted up across the north. For all its advances, the early industrialisation of Equestria had great social costs as well. There was little to no regulation of private factories and businesses, and as a result, many workers endured long hours and horrible conditions for low pay. Attempts to negotiate with their employers usually ended in termination of employment (or worse), and strikes and unions were suppressed using a combination of threats, bribes, and violence at the hooves of hired thugs. Conditions were better in Canterlot than in the rest of Equestria, owing to the Princess's benevolent presence, but there was initially little the Princess could do for the rest of Equestria. At the time, Equestria's political landscape was still quite exclusive. As has been stated before, only land, home, or business owners had the vote, effectively disenfranchising the urban millions who lived as tenants. Parliament was composed largely of industrialists, all of whom had a natural stake in avoiding the "unwanted expenses" associated with workers' rights. For decades, Princess Celestia and a coalition of some of the more scrupulous Parliamentary figures fought against the gridlock to push through more and greater reforms, including universal health-codes and a minimum wage. It wasn't until AE1917 that Princess Celestia was able to enact the Universal Suffrage Ruling, which granted all adult ponies the right to vote**. No sooner had the ruling been passed when the Princess promptly dissolved Parliament and held a new election. Not surprisingly, few incumbents retained their seats. Perhaps the greatest cultural legacy of the 19th century was the colonisation of the Equestrian south-west. In AE1852, the Geological Survey discovered gold in the Macintosh Hills on the edge of the San Palomino desert. Prospectors, and later settlers, hurried south to find their fortunes. Though this gold rush lasted for only three years, it did result in the founding of numerous frontier towns such as Dodge Junction, linked to the rest of the nation by rail. The lure of the frontier attracted many more settlers over the following years, but the settler ponies soon came into conflict with the indigenous Buffalo tribes, who resented having their ancestral lands taken by the pony invaders. Sporadic clashes between the settlers and the buffalo continued until AE1882, when Princess Celestia and several Tribal Chiefs signed the Buffalo Treaty, in which Equestria agreed not to support any new colonies, while the Buffalo agreed to recognise the existing settlements in the region***. No study of Equestria's modern colonies would be complete without the story of Ponyville. The site that would become Ponyville was first settled in AE1942, in the fertile plains south of the Canterhorn. This region had been uninhabited since the founding of New Canterlot (the city is near-inaccessible from the south), but in that year, Princess Celestia granted the land as a favour to a roving family of the Apple clan, looking for a place to settle. The apple farm they built might have remained in obscurity, were it not for an extraordinary discovery by the young Apple maiden, Lady Smith. In AE1943, Lady Smith ventured into the Everfree Forest, and there discovered the mysterious zap-apple. Though electrifyingly unsuitable for eating raw or baking, Lady Smith soon discovered that the zap-apples made excellent preserves, and her zap-apple jam created a new trade that drew in hundreds of ambitious new settlers. By AE1950, Ponyville was a bustling village, living proof that Equestria is still growing to this day. * Steve is now on exhibit at the Manehatten Museum of Technology. ** And finally granted stallions truly equal voting rights with mares! *** The treaty does not, however, forbid further settlement per se, though it does stipulate that any new pony settlements in the region would exist outside the protection of the Equestrian government.