Hey, there! First thread on this forum, so let's hope everything goes well...

I'd like to start by presenting a head-canon of mine (this is a place for such things, after all). We all know that at least three pony tribes--the Unicorns, the Pegasi, and the Earth-ponies--migrated to Equestria some thousand+ years ago (Hearth's Warming Eve, mmkay?), escaping the blizzard caused by the Windigoes.

But what about its (then) present inhabitants?

I'd like to imagine that there already were some nomadic tribes living in (what we know of as) Equestria, most notably donkeys, cows, buffaloes, and stags. Some, like the donkeys and cows, have since assimilated fairly well into pony society, while others like the buffaloes and stags, keep to their traditions and oftentimes resist what they see (or at least saw) as the unjust occupation of their native land.

To note is that this is simply my head-canon regarding my own, alternate-universe take on Equestria, and now necessarily how things might have gone on the show. Although I find it hard to believe that such a large, rich, and fertile land wasn't already inhabited when ponies came there...

So, any thoughts regarding this? Anyone thinking in similar veins or have you got your own idea of pre-pony Equestria, or how ponies might have dealt with native inhabitants?

1135962

Now that you mention it, there is a suspicious lack of any mention of any earlier inhabitants of Equestria in that Hearth's Warming tale.

History's written by the winners and all that, eh?

I heard they were originally going to have a deer civilization in the show, but simply didn't get to air the episode, so who knows, maybe some answers were there. But for now our best bet is that it was either empty or run by the Buffalo. And who knows, since this is directly after the 'Ice Age' in the pony world there might have been creatures like talking mammoths or woolies that lived there, that might have been forced out or into extinction by ponies (just randomly throwing something out there)

1135952 I usually think that there could be a nomadic herd of earth ponies (probably mustangs) roaming around Equestria. If you're talking about non-ponies, I think donkies can be considered as natives to the land before Equestria and others like bisons and deers near the borders.

Well we kind of already have that with the Buffalo Tribes... Who says that didn't already happen in the heartland of Equestria?

1135986>>1136018

Hmm...

I could see buffaloes/bisons living near the borders, but I've always had the idea that deers (or stags, as I call 'em) live in or near Whitetail Woods. Might because that unaired episode Jeck might be thinking of when Applejack and Ranbow Dash finds a family of deer there.

1136041 Before I go further, stags are male deers like does are females.

Secondly, it's because I feel that there is a Celtic kingdom for red deers and a Norse kingdom for reindeers.

1136081

Before I go further, stags are male deers like does are females.

I know. I've just read too much Game of Thrones

I justify it by claiming that it's the same as when Tolkien writes "the race of Men" or something rather than "the race of humans" or "the race of men and women". I dunno, I just think it sounds more epic than "deer". Deer makes me think of Bambi rather than the proud people I've envisioned in mah' head.

I suppose when I think about it there were (and quite possibly are still) nomadic peoples. The Buffalo still live around Appleloosa, there are Zebras somewhere (outside Equestria proper) and there was mention of a deer episode. I think that since Pony society doesn't have the Manifest Destiny mindset America had, they've left a lot more open area for the native peoples - cervids and bison - to continue living. I mean, when the Europeans found the Americas there were thousands of people here, but they didn't see them all right away. It was only a problem once we/they got it in our/their heads that all of everything here was our right to have and use that it became a big problem because there were already people using it.

Anyway, I figure various semi-equine "wild" animals comprise the native - and probably nomadic - peoples of Equestria. Mule and Whitetail deer, Elk, Moose, Antelope, Big Horn Sheep...there are quite a few varieties to chose from, and it can be noted that they're all cloven hoofed. I figure that they'd act much like different Native tribes do.

1136018 Mustangs are canon as of Games Ponies Play. So that could certainly be relevant.

The idea that donkeys previously inhabited what is now Equestria has wormed its way into my little pile of headcanon over the past few months and is quite firmly entrenched. I've come to the idea that they had a sort of federation of bronze-age-leve semi-permanent settlements scattered all across Equestria and that they'd reached a fairly advanced level of cultural development. When the ponies came they weren't conquered, but they were increasingly edged out by the superior agricultural and technological prowess of the newcomers. Water was redirected, resources were rendered inaccessible.

The fact that they were still semi-nomadic meant that, at first, they simply moved away when faced with resource competition, but eventually they had nowhere to go. They were slowly "harmonised" into Equestria's culture over the course of a few hundred years until all but a remnant of their original culture was left.

And of course not having cutie marks, engaging in unusual marriage practices (in this pile of headcanon ponies practice polygamy and consider monogramy to be selfish and possibly perverse) and being associated with "outsiders" by their originally itinerant nature they tend to be seen as, not exactly inferior, but certainly not as good by most ponies.

... so there, that's one way they might deal with the natives. Not malice, but merely neglect.

1135952
My personal head cannon is that the G1 ponies lived there, but the Windigoes kinda forced them out. the ones that didn't leave died of exposure.

The sea ponies survived only since they live so far underwater that they were protected by the ice, instead of threatened by it. They don't spend much time above unless they know some pony there or are needed...

The Flutter Ponies survived with the help of the Sun Stone, but their xenophobia was worsened when G4 arrived so went into deeper hiding than before. Basically they became even more anti-social than before.

And that is what happened to the ponies before "Hearth's Warming Eve."

1136018>>1136556
Mustangia was my first thought.
As the OP said, Equestria was already fertile, so a race of earth ponies already living there makes sense. Why is all of Equestria so lush? Because these ponies run all over it, from coast to coat and glen to glen.
A culture of ponies that have never had established buildings because they live in a lush country and don't need shelter from nasty Windigo winters. A culture without walls, only wide open spaces, literally and figuratively. Mustangians are open with their feelings and each other, rather chatty, social ponies that might seem intrusive or rude by village ponies. They carry what little they have with them, not unlike Bedouins.
Of course, they hate being closed in, not even in wide buildings, not even for a small while. The walls close in and there is nowhere to run. Peachbottom doesn't strike me as an athlete or a racer, and she seem older than the Mane 6, probably middle aged. Even so, when the mare just up and bolts, Rainbow Dash doesn't catch her easily and it takes the non-flying ponies a while to catch up. These guys are fast.

Aside from the plains, other biomes of Equestria can be accounted for, too. Buffalo in the scrubby, desert areas too hot for Mustangians, deer in the woodland too cramped for Mustangians.

1135952 In terms of the show, the buffalo were clearly (and ham-handedly, and rather offensively) meant to be Native Americans, which positions ponies as the white settlers and Equestria as America. So the canon-flavored answer would be that the buffalo were the original inhabitants and the ponies forced them out.

Regarding a pre-Equestrian deer civilization, that's what my May contest entry was about, as it happens.

1137964 And I was also thinking that the mustangs' nomadic cultures gave them a reputation as 'wild ponies' from the more 'civilised' Equestrians.

1135952 For my Celestia story, I haven't gotten into it quite yet, but the land was inhabited before the three tribes arrived. Then something happened, and it was empty by the time the pony tribes got there, fleeing from the eternal Winter that the windigos brought to their home country.

The crystal Empire, which is not too far from Equestria (on the same continent and such), was around a long time before its disappearance a thousand years ago, so there were at least ponies near the land that became Equestria. I cast the original inhabitants as a pony race (not something like zebras or donkeys).