Essays Index
History series: Part 1 - Pre-Earth | Part 2 - Ancient Earth | Part 3 - Pre-Classical Era | Part 4 - Classical Era - "Era of the Two Sisters" | Part 5 - Classical Era - Reign of Chaos

This is an early history of Equestria's world and the Nine Realms, tying into Discord's Magical History Tour, Fiendship is Magic, Journal of the Two Sisters, Under the Sparkling Sea, and probably other things too. See the Borderworld Pantheon and Locations series for more specific details on some of the places and events mentioned here.

Ancient Earth:
Formation:
As Mutter's Spiral settled, and planets and solar systems began forming in that sector, Earth came into being in its earliest incarnation. Like many planets, it began life as big ball of molten rock, until its surface cooled and hardened. Meteor impacts occurred, gases formed an atmosphere, water started appearing, and eventually the planet was able to support primordial life. For the most part, this occurred naturally, without the influence or interference of any gods, though even this early in its life, Earth was already abundant with wild magic.

Life evolved on Earth at initially no faster a rate than in our own world, but the path that evolution took was affected by the high magical presence on the planet, and most animals evolved some kind of magical channeling point. What this channeling point allowed them to do varied, but for the most part, it merely extended lifespans and enhanced already natural abilities. Some species also grew in size because of their magic, while others became more intelligent.

Not long after these primordial magic-users first appeared, Earth was briefly visited by agents of Order, who seeded the planet with strains of equinoid DNA.

The Paleopony Period:
For a time, most of Earth's land was part of one giant supercontinent, and this landmass was dominated by the dinosaurs. Mammals were also present, but were small at first, and lacked intelligence in comparison. Around this time, the first Earth-born gods began appearing, created from wild magic and the rapidly emerging sapience of the planet's native life. These gods were just as primitive and simple-minded as most of the species which helped to create them, but they were still able to begin accelerating the development of life.

The gods favoured the mammals, and started guiding them to evolve larger and tougher. As Earth had previously been visited by Order already, the seed of the equine form was already there in the genome, and so the mesohippus was one of the first sapient mammals to rise from the primordial chaos. Though they lacked many of the traits of their descendants, the mesohippi were ancestors to modern ponies, zebras, and donkeys, and were already able to develop cutie marks, being a naturally social and harmonious species. They lived in wild herds, and at some point were struck by the first recorded instance of cutie pox in history, which they depicted their struggle with via the medium of cave paintings.

By this point, the interference of magic and the gods with evolution had also led to the emergence of magical species such as the butterdragons, the rocs, and many other creatures that are now rare or extinct. This time period was frequently visited by a time-traveling Discord, who was friends with a butterdragon named Hubert.

The dinosaurs, meanwhile, were threatened by the rapidly-evolving mammals, and attempted to eat all of them to preemptively save themselves from a potential threat. Some of the Earth gods did not like this, however, and drove most of the dinosaurs away into the subterranean caves that existed beneath the continent. The remaining surface dinosaurs gradually became birds and modern reptiles, while the dinosaurs trapped underground eventually evolved into dragons, gaining their heat resistance from living so close to the Earth's molten core, and adapting to survive on a diet of gemstones and minerals rather than meat, due to the scarcity of other animal life underground.

Later, the supercontinent broke apart due to plate tectonics, and the pieces started drifting away from one another. Descendants of the mesohippus persisted on several continents, their evolutionary paths here diverging and giving way to the various modern equines. Zebras and donkeys first came into being in Zebrica, while further north, ponies and horses would emerge in central Thoroupe. Ironically, the continent of Equestria at this time had no equine life, and instead was primarily dominated by bovids and cervids.

As the characteristics of the earth ponies, pegasi, and unicorns began to be more prominently expressed, the three races developed separate identities and cultures, and drifted further apart geographically. Many earth ponies (and their close relatives, the horses), moved south into northern Zebrica and the Midlands. The majority of unicorns at the time moved east to settle Neighsia. And the pegasi remained in the eastern reaches of Thoroupe. Only western Thoroupe remained a racially diverse climate by the time of the first great civilizations.

Early Civilizations:
Beneath the Earth, the dragons all united under a single ruler, carving out a mighty underground empire beneath the far northern reaches of Equestria. Here they dwelled for generations, until eventually a dragon king accidentally caused the eruption of a volcano and discovered a way back to the surface. That king, who became known in legend as the Worldbreaker, led the dragons into the light of day for the first time, and established the Dragon Empire on the surface in the land north of Yakyakistan.

Meanwhile, between Thoroupe and Zebrica, in a desert region known as the Midlands, the horses, ponies, and donkeys began establishing the first known equine kingdoms, such as Saddle Arabia, Eyzrael, and Neighgypt. These early kingdoms were responsible for some of the first great inventions and discoveries, particularly in the fields of agriculture, language, and mathematics. Despite this, most other equines at this time were still living in tribal communities, particularly the zebras and donkeys of southern Zebrica, and the ponies of Thoroupe, but this would change in time.

Other kingdoms soon followed, with the various equines of the world slowly establishing their own civilizations. In Neighsia, the eastern unicorns were soon building great empires of their own, while the first earth pony and pegasus cities emerged in eastern Thoroupe, including Daylight in the Valley of Eden, Roam in what is now Arachnia, and Spurta in modern Minos. Even in southern Zebrica, tribal donkeys and zebras living on the west coast began inventing ships and sailing to discover new lands, including eastern Equestria, where a scant few of them would settle with the bovids and cervids. Later still, the Arachnian Empire arose when the great spiders conquered Roam and Spurta, driving out the pegasi, and Yakyakistan formed in northern Equestria from a union of smaller yak tribes, in response to the greater threat of the dragons.

However, most directly relevant to Equestria today were the ponies of western Thoroupe, who formed the Three Tribes that were the precursors to modern Equestria. At this time, the Three Tribes were all tribes in truth, ruled by chieftains or warlords, but it was from the lines of these tribal leaders that their first kings would rise.

The Split:
One of the most significant events in the Borderworld's history was the Split. For reasons still unknown even to this day (though speculated to have been caused by the sudden and violent destruction of a close parallel universe Earth), the space around the planet suddenly ruptured, creating eight alternate dimensions the size of Earth's solar system. Each of these alternate dimensions contained its own parallel solar system, including a duplicate of Earth, albeit barren and lifeless at the time of creation. Collectively, these were the Nine Realms.

This event, known as the Split, also severely weakened the dimensional walls around the planet, birthing a vast web of interconnected portals. Most were small, invisible, and undetectable to the Borderworld's inhabitants, presenting little danger other than to unexpectedly teleport people and creatures short distances. Others, however, were far more unpredictable and dangerous, leading to the rest of the Nine Realms, to deep space, other planets, or even other universes, and these portals would often either suck up everything around them and throw them through the infinite realities to parts unknown, or would spit out horrific monstrosities from other universes to destroy everything around them.

Fortunately for the inhabitants of the Borderworld, these portals did not go unchecked for long.

The Coming of the Eternals:
The Split soon attracted the attention of the Eternals, who all saw the the portal network as a potential strategic advantage. Whoever controlled the Borderworld would be able to reach many planets simultaneously in a fraction of the time it normally took, and so would have a much easier time of claiming the galaxy in their name.

Of the three Eternals, it was Yggdrasil who was the first to arrive on the planet, planting herself over a particularly volatile superportal in the area that later became known as the Everfree Forest. From there, she stretched her roots through the portal network, growing her offshoots everywhere, and using them as mediums to channel her power and communicate with the native mortals and spirits, while also sealing and containing all of the more dangerous portals, at least in the Realms of Harmony.

Havoc and Borr would arrive not long after, bringing their armies and the Eternal War to Earth with them. The Nine Realms provided great footholds for their forces, as Borr soon claimed dominion over Asgard, Svartalfheim, and Niflheim, while Havoc established herself in Jotunheim, Muspelheim, and Helheim. Yggdrasil was only able to claim Alfheim before her rivals arrived, and had established a presence on Midgard as well. As soon as they arrived, fighting broke out across the Nine Realms.

Havoc turned Muspelheim into a dimension of pure chaos where she could keep her demons, and Hixelkicks began creating new species of chimeras in Jotunheim using the planet's native life, which were then unleashed upon Midgard. Helheim was gifted to and named for Havoc's daughter, Hel, who used it as a staging ground to unleash her mother's demons on the Realms of Order, and to disrupt the Eternal Empire's campaigns elsewhere in the galaxy, preventing them from invading Midgard outright.

Borr, meanwhile, used the Borderworld's native ponies to create the alicorns of Asgard, whom he used to invade Jotunheim, while Agamarath, now named the Lord of Svartalfheim, created the umbrums and nightmares in his realm to invade Midgard and the Dreamscape of Vanaheim. Niflheim was also used to host the construction of the Loom, with which Borr coordinated the larger invasion of Mutter's Spiral, and controlled the Eternal Empire's other conquered planets.

It was not long after the Eternals arrived that Earth's gods began to also choose sides in the conflict, with many of them playing roles in the wars to come.

The Chimera Wars:
Order's campaign on Midgard was relatively understated. Though he was able to secure allies in both the deer tribes of the Heartland and the Arachnian Empire of Thoroupe, as well as a scant few Earth gods such as Duroc, he had little success in winning converts elsewhere. Most native Midgardians, including the equines grown from his own previous experiments, were at least nominally harmonious, and so the best Order could do was attempt to sow fear in their minds through the Dreamscape with the Nightmare Forces. Even this, however, had little effect other than spawning a few popular superstitions and the occasional dark cult, which were of little help.

In contrast, Discord's chimeras were successful in disrupting life all across the planet.

Being a disorganised horde rather than an actual army, some of the chimeras actually settled down peacefully after only a few generations, forgetting the mission that their creators sent them for, and integrating with the pre-established civilizations. For example, the zebras and donkeys of Zebrica worked with chimeras to form several new smaller kingdoms and republics across the continent, except in the northeast, where the ponies still ruled Neighgypt. As well, the various sapient sea-dwellers and aquatic chimeras of the Celestial Sea worked together to build the undersea city of Coltlantis, which would later become the capital city of Aquastria.

However, other chimeras waged bloody wars against both the natives and each other for several centuries. The worst of the fighting occurred in Thoroupe, where the Valley of Eden was invaded multiple times by both the Arachnian Empire and the centaur/gargoyle nation of Tauros. Not helping matters were that several of the native pegasi of that region had been unwillingly turned into chimeras themselves, the batlike thestrals, leading to massive civil strife that tore apart their nation from within, and led to the foundation of Trotsylvania.

At the same time, griffon warlords began moving into western Thoroupe and conquering the pony lands. With their aerial advantages, the griffons quickly subjugated the earth ponies and unicorns. The militaristic pegasi resisted them for longer, reforming their kingdom into a stratocracy along the way, but even they could not hold out forever, particularly after the griffon warlords united under the rule of the sky god, Boreas.

Ultimately, the griffon conquest of western Thoroupe was a success, ending with the griffons united under one king and one god, and building the city of Griffonstone and the kingdom of Griffonia. The Three Tribes were forced out of their ancestral homelands, and had to migrate away from Thoroupe. The exodus took them northwest across a land bridge known as the Forsaken Crags, and over several generations, the ponies made their way towards the Equestrian continent.

Soon after the ponies left, the griffons killed their god, and Boreas's essence and power was sealed into a magical artefact known as the Idol of Boreas, which became a symbol of office for the High King of Griffonia.