Guys, ah've been hearin' ah need ta make a universe bible an' ah have no idea how ta make a universe bible so ah'm jus' gonna steal the Cadanceverse's an' edit it ta suit mah needs 'cause it's easier ta ask fer forgiveness than permission an' all that AH REGRET NOTHIN' HERE WE GO

The Big Apple.

The Gateway to Equestria.

Manehattan, the heart of Neigh York City, biggest and boldest of the Five Boroughs, where anything can happen. Like when Daring Do, world-renowned archaeologist and treasure hunter extraordinaire, went off across the country and came back with five stones that turned out to be the Elements of Harmony. Since then, this already-grand metropolis has become the center of the universe.

Celestia, knowing what destiny had in store, kept a close eye on the Elements. She knew that the Elements and her most trusted student, Twilight Sparkle, would be the key to Equestria's salvation, so she arranged for them to be in the same place at the same time. And in the end, what better place for Twilight to make the friends she would need than in the City that Never Sleeps?

And so Twilight's path guided her to the matronly Orange Sherbet, whose generosity earns her the nickname of "Auntie" throughout the city; the keen Honey "Daring" Do, who devotes her life to unearthing the secrets of the past; the breezy Blossomforth, whose unswerving belief in those around her usually trumps her tendency to space out; the wise Octavia Melody, who feels a great purpose when she plays beautiful music for the world; and the brash Trixie Lulamoon, who throws herself at magic like a bird at a clean window to hear the audience cheer her name.

In the end, Twilight stayed in Manehattan, just as Celestia always knew she would have to. In a city like this, there's always more to learn, more to see...

By all appearances, the continent on which Equestria rests stretches nearly from pole to equator. Roughly one-fifth of this is the bleak tundra where the Crystal Empire was and will be again, and one-tenth is a roiling maelstrom of volcanic activity, home to dragons and inhospitable to ponies. East to west, the continent is pretty slim. It seems reasonable to estimate it at the width of America east of the Mississipi River.

I would rather not speculate on the politics or culture of the Manehattanverse as a whole, as I feel it to be beyond the scope of what we're exploring here, but since it does seem to come up in some stories, I'll explain the political history as I have it. Just... bear in mind, politics are a subject that universes rarely profit from examining too closely. Don't get too carried away, is all I'm saying...

It's said that the only thing that saves us from the bureaucracy is its inefficiency, and that's probably true of Equestria. Celestia and Luna seem to spend less of their time ruling than they do making public appearances. While they are known to make decrees and proclamations, they prefer to maintain a hooves-off approach until they're needed. It's the paradox of omnipotence; though they could do it, if ponies as wise and powerful as the immortal alicorns controlled everything directly, the populace would become weak and foolish. Instead, they allowed the ponies with feudal holdings to retain their land and power, inadvertently establishing the Equestrian peerage. Unfortunately, during the Nightmare War, many of these empowered nobles rushed to take a side in the conflict, against the wishes of their subjects and Celestia herself.

In the aftermath, the nobility lost some goodwill among the common ponies. To save face, they were forced to further delegate their power. However, they were unwilling to actually give up power in a real sense, so they appointed ponies to govern their lands but required them to seek the approval of a noble house before any change in policy can be effected, often sub-dividing land beyond that in a similar manner to create the illusion of decentralization. This system backfired on them, as it takes forever for policies to move up or down the chain. Now, the risk of enacting something that will enrage the citizens or have unintended consequences and then being unable to undo it is too great for the nobles to have an active role in politics. The effect on the common citizen is beneficial, so long as a city doesn't need its mayor to actually make any decisions.

Technologically, Equestria seems to be in the middle of a golden age, as the full potential of magitechnology is beginning to be explored. The last fifty years have seen ponies accomplish the equivalent of centuries of real-world technological advancement, going from tents and lean-tos to nearly modern buildings, from wagons to steam engines, and developing electric lights. It can be estimated that the current technological level is equivalent to early twentieth century America, though with magical outliers.

Neigh York is a sprawling city on the northeastern coast of Equestria. The residents come from every imaginable background. It's a city that has long been known for high culture, perhaps even moreso than Canterlot itself. An old city yet still growing, the progression of the arts can be seen reflected in the changing architecture as one travels through the city. Notably, the influence of the city's non-pony population has grown over time.

Manehattan alone has a population of over one and a half million. Though many of the most affluent here are earth ponies, the city also boasts at least a quarter of a million non-ponies at last count. Griffon artisans and merchants are common, and several zebra have become wealthy by trading goods from their homelands, or gained fame as poets and playwrights. Several large, predominantly griffon neighborhoods have formed; Griffontown, Manehattan is the largest griffon enclave on this side of the globe.

A number of sleipnir call Manehattan home. However, due to the natural nomadic tendencies of their kind, they are generally not counted in census information.

And now we come to perhaps the most important part of this overview, the characters. For the moment, I'm just going to concern myself with the Element bearers. They're the centerpiece of any universe, and we have a thread for sharing other characters. I'll add the CMC later, when I have a better feel for them.

Twilight Sparkle (Magic). She's the same Twilight Sparkle we've always known, the egghead who idolizes Celestia above all else. Of course, Manehattan is much larger than Canterlot, so Twilight can be a bit of a fish out of water at times. Privately, she still gets a little fangirlish over Daring Do, whose stories she grew up with, and she relishes the fact that a childhood hero of hers shares some of her hobbies. She and Trixie are known to consult each other on magical questions; Trixie occasionally needs direction from the more powerful and well-read Twilight, even if she won't admit it, and Twilight likes having Trixie's perspective.

Spike is also basically the same character as canon. In this universe, he has a crush on Octavia; this crush is not meant to blindly parallel canon Spike's crush on Rarity, but rather was written under the assumption that Spike develops crushes easily and is attracted to classy artists. Has an odd relationship with Trixie that can quickly swing back and forth between admiring and adversarial; he thinks of her as pompous and self-absorbed, and, to be fair, she is, and he's always comparing her to Twilight, but at the same time, he really likes her hat.

Octavia Philharmonica Melody von Clef (Kindness). A famous cellist, and one of Celestia's favorite musicians. Lives in a penthouse apartment, where she practices with her quartet, who are among the closest friends she has ever had. She is extremely patient, calm and reserved. She's rarely the first one to speak, but when she does she is supportive and almost always has some kind of wisdom to offer. Also prides herself on being an excellent hostess. Used to be a bully, as a foal, but saw the error of her ways thanks to Vinyl Scratch. Has tea with Orange Sherbet frequently.

Regarding the name, the entire fandom seems to agree that her last name is either "Philharmonica", "Melody", or "von Clef", and these have seen numerous uses each, so I decided to combine them into a single name. "Philharmonica" is simply a second given name. "Melody" is the closest to canon, as far as I know, and Touileasso has already used it to identify her, so for both these reasons it remains her surname. In the real world, "von" is technically a nobiliary particle, indicating a noble family's place of origin. However, it happens to have been commonly used before surnames, and as such, is still used even for non-noble families. Her proper name can still be given as "Octavia Melody". Her name is Octavia Philharmonica Melody von Clef. Conjure by it at your own risk.

Blossomforth (Loyalty). A junior weather cadet at the Manehattan University of Natural Sciences. She loves flowers. Really. A lot. She lives in a house in the suburbs, which is decorated liberally with flowers, tends a greenhouse behind her apartment and a garden in Central Park. Her love for flowers, among other things, can distract her, thanks to her dreamy personality. She does her best, though, and usually comes through. It's important to note that she's not especially cowardly, nor is she a very weak flyer. She's more or less ordinary on both accounts. She is, more or less, our everymare, the metric of a normal - I might say "sane" - reaction to the crazy situations Manehattan and the Elements tend to attract.

I've had comments wondering how a pony who spaces out and forgets her duties can be the Element of Loyalty. To that I say, it's a well-established practice in alternate universes to use a particular aspect of an Element to read a character, rather than assuming that the character will always be a flawless paragon of that Element, which is reasonable, because often enough, they aren't, even in canon. For Blossomforth, Loyalty symbolizes pure faith, and nothing more or less. Having faith in someone can enable you, or them, or both to do great things.

Orange Sherbet (Generosity). Born a poor farm mare of Ponyville's Apple Family, Sherbet moved to Manehattan with her husband, Mosely Orange. Through a combination of business savvy and inheritance from Mosely's parents, they are now the wealthiest ponies in Manehattan. They often use their money with the primary goal of enriching others. Beyond her matronly and nurturing treatment of all her friend and acquaintances, I can't say too much about her, honestly, because Skyeheart has done more amazing things with her character than I can hope to. If you're going to ask anybody about Sherbet, you should ask him.

Sherbet's charity has given her connections everywhere. It might be worth remembering, however, that goodwill doesn't work on everyone. There are still some ponies to whom she is a rival.

Trixie Lulamoon (Laughter). The renegade scion of Stable Lulamoon, Trixie has made showmareship her life's goal. She lives for the applause, and always knows how to spice up a room. She spent a brief orienation period at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns before taking the entrance exam; when something went wrong and she failed, she ran away from her family legacy to become the legendary performer Hoofdini's apprentice. She is most capable with transmutation spells, and most favors any spell that gets ponies' attention. Light, sound, colors, anything big and dramatic will do, as long as it screams "Trixie was here".

I want to break here for a moment to explain myself, because it seems Trixie's power level is a point of much, MUCH debate within the fandom. I firmly believe Trixie is above average for a unicorn, because the fact that she studied at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns is canon, but I also want to affirm that that might not mean much, considering the "average" unicorn, as noted by Twilight in Boast Busters, only has "a little magic related to their special talent". This is the thing; when people call her weak, they're measuring her against either the most powerful of the most powerful like Twilight, or wizards from fantasy settings in general. But this is a very specific fantasy setting, and in this setting, Trixie may not be on top of the heap, but she's definitely not on the bottom either.

Honey Do (Honesty). Curator of the Equestrian Museum of Supernatural History by day, globetrotting spelunker by... well, also by day, really. I'm not sure why that's... anyway. She used to write books about her adventures, but when she took them to a publisher, the resulting meddling rendered them an overblown, action-packed parody of her life that she was simply ashamed of. For a while, she stopped going on expeditions. When she resumed, she didn't write about them anymore, but thanks to a contract she made with the publishers, they were able to find another writer - her best friend, Sandy Shores - and keep the series going. She considers herself fortunate that the publishers gave her a nickname, since as long as she doesn't introduce herself by it, she doesn't have to listen to the lies. When not making contractually obligated public experiences, she likes to join Twilight in the library or listen to Octavia's music, but the one thing in her life that can make her really excited is the museum. She becomes absolutely giddy when preparing a new exhibit or teaching visitors about the artifacts within.

Much like Blossomforth, people have asked me how Honey Do can be the Element of Honesty when she lies and keeps secrets. Well, first off, she doesn't lie. Honey Do is who she really is; Daring Do is just a role that she plays at the behest of others. Now, she DOES keep her identity as Daring Do a secret, yes, and this is perhaps the more serious charge, as her entire claim to Honesty is the discovery of secrets. But the secrets she uncovers help to enlighten and enrich ponies. It is a rare occasion that revealing her identity would help or keeping it secret would hurt somebody, and, in those cases, she is immediately willing to reveal the truth. Just having a secret doesn't make her dishonest; even honest mares are entitled to their privacy.

Sleipnir? Are they related to Kirin?

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Sleipnir are eight-legged horses with the peculiar ability to walk on anything. Water, clouds, spikes, molten lava... not that there are a lot of those last two in Manehattan. They were the original pioneers of spectrourgy, or rainbow-working methods, which they used to construct bridges. They're technically ponies, but are considered more uncommon in Equestria than some of the exotic non-pony races. They avoided the tribal wars by virtue of being nomads with the ability to cross oceans. It's the sleipnir who regulate the ocean tides, though since Luna returned, she has also played a role in that.

Update to the universe! Thanks to latest comic from IDW, we now know Manehattan's sister across the river's official name: Hooflyn! Update your stories, and hopefully Babs' sister will be revealed next comic.