Essays Index
Locations series: Part 1 - Creation | Part 2 - The Nine Realms | Part 3 - Earth

An overview of the continents of Planet Earth.

Earth:
Earth, also known as Midgard to the rest of the Nine Realms, and as the Borderworld to the universe at large, is the planet that Equestria inhabits. It is a very distant counterpart to our own Earth, with a roughly equivalent geography, but on a smaller planet, with a much smaller and much closer sun. As an alternate Earth, it has many cultural parallels to our world, but the existence of magic, the lack of humans, and the entirely different laws of physics that this universe operates by makes the differences much more pronounced than any similarities.

In its early history, Earth had only one giant supercontinent, but due to the natural shift of plate tectonics, it eventually broke apart into several smaller continents, each with their own notable history following after. The continents today are Equestria, the Southlands, Thoroupe, Zebrica, Neighsia, and Antarctica, the latter of which is uninhabited. So far, every continent has at least been visited by ponies, and decently accurate world maps and globes have been produced, but technology has not yet progressed far enough to make worldwide travel convenient, so Equestrian ponies are still mostly ignorant of the more distant continents.

The ecosystem of Earth was once a lot less diverse, but many new species were introduced by the Eternals after the Split, most especially chimeras, which also had a profound impact on world history and cultural development. The Split also had the effect of tearing numerous rifts in space around Midgard. Though the Tree of Harmony long ago sealed or contained the most dangerous of these rifts, Midgard is still full of numerous small, invisible, and interconnected portals. These are not widely utilised, but to those rare few who can perceive these portals, such as Pinkie Pie, they make for extremely useful short distance transportation.

Equestria:
Officially, the kingdom known as Equestria resides on a continent that is also known as Equestria, this having been its name since the kingdom was founded, even if it took a few centuries for non-pony natives to accept the name. Prior to that, the continent had no official name at all. However, after the end of the Reign of Chaos and the beginning of the Reunification Wars, Equestria as a kingdom began to grow larger than the continent from which it originated, as many countries on other continents that were formerly sovereign until their ruination by Discord became Equestrian territories and protectorates. As such, whenever anybody refers specifically to the Equestrian continent rather than the kingdom of Equestria, they call it the Heartland.

However, despite the kingdom of Equestria expanding far outside the Heartland, it still does not claim dominion over the entirety of the Heartland itself. Most of the region known as the Frozen North, for example, is not actually a part of Equestria, despite having once been home to the Three Tribes. Equestria claims no ownership of any land further north than the Crystal Empire. Since the fall of the Dragon Empire, Yakyakistan is now the only sovereign nation in the Frozen North, and has the most legitimate claim to those lands now. As well, many other independent city-states and small kingdoms exist as enclaves in the Heartland, including the diamond dog kingdom of Dimondia, and the deer kingdom of Thicket.

The Southlands:
Equestria's southern frontier is the desert north of the Macintosh Hills, where its most recent settlements such as Appleloosa reside. Everything south of this point, including the Forest of Leota, the Badlands, the Forbidden Jungle, and the Arimaspi Territory, are considered wildland, yet unclaimed by any recognised sovereign power. This is the northernmost edge of the continent that ponies simply call the Southlands.

At the time of Equestria's founding, very little was known of the Southlands, hence its other most common name, the Mysterious South. For a long time, it was erroneously believed to be a land of vast deserts, with cities built around great pyramids, inhabited by other ponies much like the Three Tribes, and with more fantastical creatures such as hippogriffs living further beyond. These myths of a "Southern Equestria" were likely drawn from tales of Neighgypt brought back from Zebrica by donkey travelers, confused and conflated with the stories from the Southlands about the pyramid-building civilizations that actually did exist there.

In reality, the Southlands of the time were inhabited primarily by chimeras such as the cipactli, the quetzalcoatls, and the ketztwctls, among others. These civilizations did indeed build pyramids, but in a much different style to the Zebricans, and usually as temples, palaces, or marketplaces rather than burial grounds. The lands were mostly jungle and forest rather than desert, although desert regions also existed. As well, the only ponies or zebras to be found in the Southlands at the time were slaves taken from exploring parties; there were no pony civilizations in the Southlands until much later in history.

Discord's Reign of Chaos changed this, as he brought the chimeric civilizations in the Southlands to an end, breaking up their kingdoms and causing the various peoples of the region to disperse into smaller, isolated tribes, the equine slave class included. The great cities of the Southlands and their many temples and pyramids fell into ruin, with many ancient magical artefacts and relics being forgotten and left to collect dust in their depths. As ponies were unsure that any civilizations even existed in the Southlands outside of rumours and flights of fancy, the region also did not receive any relief from Equestria in the Reunification Wars.

Left to their own devices, the chimeras of the Southlands, and the equines descended from their former slaves, remained in a state of isolated tribal anarchy for many centuries afterwards, even as the rest of the world recovered. The solitary tribes led simple lives, surviving off the land, warring with other tribes, and constantly living in the shadow of the great ruined temples and palaces of their ancestors, a constant reminder of the price of hubris. To many of these tribes, guarding these ancient temples and warding others off became a sacred tradition, one which many still continue to this day, to the chagrin of archeologists and explorers everywhere.

Explorers from Equestria and Zebrica eventually began visiting the Southlands again in the early Celestial Eras. Although hostility from the local tribes prevented them from making many inroads to the continent's interior, the lack of any larger civilizations claiming the land meant that colonial explorers were able to begin establishing settlements along the east coast. Equestria began their efforts with the city of New Horseleans, near the Forest of Leota and the Tenochtitlan Basin, and later established more settlements further south, such as Puerto Caballo, and the Tricorner Villages of Marapore, Ponypeii, and Lusitano.

Later, beginning in the Fifth Celestial Era, the great archeologist-adventurer, Daring Do, made her career in exploring the Southlands. Her adventures in Orshab, the Yucatán Ponynsula, the Lost Temple of Tlatelolco, and the submerged Temples of Tehuti, among others, made both her and the region itself famous in Equestria. She defeated many villains, uncovered ancient secrets, and discovered and protected many dangerous magical artefacts lost since the time of the Reign of Chaos. Her efforts in the Southlands contributed greatly to furthering Equestria's understanding of the Southlands and its history, saved the region from disaster on numerous occasions, and also inspired several best-selling novels.

The Equestrian and Zebrican coastal colonies of the Southlands also still survive, serving as both trading ports and holiday resort destinations.

The Forsaken Crags:
Equestria and Thoroupe are connected by a land bridge in the far north named the Forsaken Crags. The Crags are a long strip of mountainous land, facing the Sea of Ghosts on their south side, and one of the planet's two polar ice caps on their north side. They were long ago crossed by the migrating Three Tribes during their original exodus from Thoroupe, a journey that took them several generations to complete, despite being a relatively short distance. During this period, the Tribes built many small outposts and settlements along the coasts and amongst the mountains. However, while the pegasi kept the climate along the Forsaken Crags under relative control during that time, the wild weather returned after they left, and now, not even ruins remain of most of those old settlements and encampments.

Despite this, a rare few castles and fortresses along the Forsaken Crags still remain relatively intact, mostly those protected from the weather's effects through ancient unicorn spellwork. The most long-standing of these structures is Castle Defiance, which still sits mostly in one piece towards the eastern end of Crags, gradually sinking into the sea as the ground beneath it erodes.

The Griffish Isles:
Lying between Equestria and Thoroupe are the Griffish Isles, a series of islands collectively half the size of Griffonia. The Griffish Isles were originally a dominion of old Griffonia, settled after the Three Tribes had been driven away across the Forsaken Crags, and were held by the griffons for some time. From there, the griffons expanded further west, establishing colonies on the Equestrian continent, unfortunately at the same time the Three Tribes were expanding southwards. This led to territorial disputes between Griffonia and the Pegasus Nation, leading to fighting both in the south of Equestria and in the Griffish Isles, until the matter was eventually settled with a treaty.

Griffonia kept ahold of the Griffish Isles until the Reign of Chaos, when Discord swept across the Isles from Equestria, and the griffons fled eastwards in droves in hopes of escaping him. Alas, their homeland was no safer from Discord than the Griffish Isles were, but by the time the fleeing refugees became aware of this, the Griffish Isles had been almost totally abandoned.

Following Discord's defeat, the Royal Sisters led the Reunification Wars to reestablish order in Equestria and depose the various warlords and petty tyrants that had arisen during and after the Reign of Chaos. Once they had reunited the Heartland, they then turned their attention to the fallen nations of Thoroupe, and crossed the Celestial Sea to bring relief to the griffons as well. Along the way, they swept through the Griffish Isles in search of any sign of civilization, but found only a few tiny villages and isolated pockets of survivors remaining.

The land now empty and unclaimed, Equestria established camps, fortresses, and port towns of its own on the Isles, creating a supply line between Equestria and Thoroupe for the crusaders. The Griffish Isles served as a staging grounds for Equestria's incursions into Thoroupe, and the land was also used to rehouse refugees who could no longer stay on the continent for whatever reasons. By the end of the Reunification Wars, many griffons had been resettled in the Griffish Isles, but the land was now considered a colonial state of Equestria, one which the ponies and griffons had to share between them.

In the years following, the Griffish Isles grew and prospered under Equestrian rule. The city of Trottingham in the north of the Isles became its capital, a centre of commerce and industry in the region, while coastal cities like Port Cruelsea and Brightstone Cove became important trading hubs, and inland villages like Hoofgate, Brittlesworth, and Woods' End became farming towns.

The Griffish Isles were invaded once again during the War of the Night, when the Trotsylvanian forces supporting Nightmare Moon attacked. The Griffish Isles were a key strategic asset in the war, one which would've enabled Nightmare Moon's forces a much easier time of invading the Heartland, and so the Isles were subject to some of the worst of the fighting in that conflict. The Trotsylvanians were eventually driven back around the same time that Nightmare Moon was defeated, but the war left many coastal settlements ravaged, and caused outbreaks of vampirism and wolfsplague among the population, from which it took the Isles a long time to recover.

Thoroupe:
Thoroupe is the continent east of Equestria, separated from it by the Sea of Ghosts and the Griffish Isles, but connected by the Forsaken Crags to their north. It is also west of Neighsia and north of Zebrica, both of which it is also connected to by land, although the Marediterranean Sea also separates most of Thoroupe and Zebrica from each other.

Modern ponies originated in Thoroupe, where the mesohippus herds dwelled before them, and where the first ponies were transformed by magic from a single, unremarkable equine species into the three primary races of pony that we know today. The Three Tribes were originally ponies of these three races that fled from the griffons across the Forsaken Crags to eventually arrive in the Heartland. However, many ponies remained behind in Thoroupe, there to develop into several distinct ethnic groups which founded nations of their own, most of which are still around today in one form or another.

Thoroupe was the hardest hit by the arrival of the Eternals on the Borderworld. Hixelkicks and two different incarnations of Discord would both unleash all manner of chimeras on Thoroupe, while Order also subjected the land to attack from his own allies, the great spiders of Arachnia. While the end result was that the various species all begrudgingly learned to coexist, building their own nations apart from one another, Thoroupe still spent many years in a state of perpetual war after these new arrivals. The scars of this conflict are still visible today in the tensions between certain neighbouring countries, as well as the significant cultural divides between them.

After Ragnarok, Thoroupe was further devastated by Discord's Reign of Chaos. Just as in the Southlands, many Thoroupean nations were completely wiped out, with no trace of their previous rulers or governments remaining. Even after Discord's defeat, large swaths of the continent remained in a state of anarchy for some time, left to the mercy of warlords and barbarian hordes. To this end, after the Royal Sisters were done in the Heartland, they took the Reunification Wars to Thoroupe, and gradually restored order to the continent.

The result of this is that most nations of Thoroupe today are no longer sovereign. Instead, most of those that survived the Reign of Chaos relatively intact are now called the Protected Territories, self-governing protectorates of Equestria, while the nations which collapsed entirely were rebuilt as the Equestrian Colonies, meaning that the lands there are governed by Equestria directly, and are treated as Equestrian states. Despite this, Thoroupe is not completely Equestrian, as a few independent holdouts still remain, most notably Minos, Tauros, Arachnia, and the Valley of Eden.

The westernmost nation of Thoroupe is Griffonia, also called the Griffon Kingdom, the capital city of which is Griffonstone. Its borders and makeup have changed a lot over the years. The land initially belonged to ponies, until they were driven off by the griffon hordes led by Boreas, the Spirit of the Sky, who first established the kingdom of Griffonia in the land that they conquered. Later, the griffons killed their god, sealing his essence into an idol, and Griffonia fell under mortal rule. For centuries, Griffonia was defined by its periodic civil wars of succession, as various nobles and warlords competed to be the High King of Griffonia, until Discord ended the reign of the high kings, and Griffonia fell under Equestrian rule during the Reunification Wars.

Under Equestrian rule, Griffonia became culturally split between north and south. North Griffonia, inhabited by French Griffonian-speaking griffons, was heavily influenced by Equestrian culture as pony immigrants settled there, forming the modern province of Prance, known for its fashion and high culture, as well as the nearby city-state of Monacolt, known for its great magic academy. Meanwhile, the Germanic Griffonian speakers of the south, where Griffonstone was located, retained their anti-Equestrian sentiment, still pining for their former glory. They eventually got their wish in the Celestial Eras when the Idol of Boreas was rediscovered, and a young griffon named Grover became the first King of Griffonstone after successfully campaigning for a peaceful secession from Equestria. The newly independent Griffonstone lasted for almost four hundred and fifty years, before eventually collapsing into anarchy again after King Guto lost the Idol of Boreas.

Northeast of Griffonia, bordering on the region of Prance, is Tauros, the land of the centaurs and gargoyles. The land was once contested between the two species, until a great centaur wizard-king discovered the secret to magical interbreeding between their species, allowing the two kingdoms to unify under a single royal family. Tauros was a major power in Thoroupe for many centuries, and frequently warred with its neighbours to the south. The royal bloodline survived the Reign of Chaos, and was among the few nations to remain independent of Equestria after the Reunification Wars, but was quick to establish good relations with them after seeing how the Royal Sisters dealt with the griffon warlords to the west. These good relations held despite the brief invasion of Equestria by Lord Tirek, thanks in large part to King Scorpan's efforts, and the peace between Equestria and Tauros has held ever since.

To the north of Tauros is Maretonia, a small kingdom of ponies which were driven east by the griffon invasions rather than west like the Three Tribes, and which later fell into ruin after the Reign of Chaos. They were among the many kingdoms re-established as Equestrian Colonies after the Reunification Wars, and are now ruled by the Duke and Duchess of Maretonia.

To the east of both Tauros and Maretonia is the Hooviet Union, a large, cold, mountainous land inhabited primarily by earth ponies, the capital city of which is Stalliongrad. Unlike the ponies of Maretonia, they were not driven east by the chimeric invasions, but settled their land voluntarily long before the Split. They warred with Tauros and Griffonia for a time, and suffered immensely when the Reign of Chaos came, as Discord did not merely break their nation, but instead drove them to a violent revolution in which they killed their own rulers themselves, leading to a series of bitter civil wars. The Reunification Wars later ended this, uniting the various fractured lands as a single Equestrian Colony known as the Hooviet Union, but the scars of these old conflicts are still felt today, and much like Griffonstone before Grover, many regions still wish for independence from both the Hooviet Union and from Equestria in general.

South of Tauros and directly east of Griffonia is the Valley of Eden, a lush and fertile valley ruled from its capital city of Daylight by an immortal alicorn monarch known as Lord Second. Being centrally located in Thoroupe, the pony kingdom was subject to attack from all sides after the arrival of the chimeras, and was conquered, occupied, and reconquered several times over its history, until Lord Second arrived and took over the kingdom following the War of the Sun. As King of the Valley, he united the many warring species that inhabited the land, and led them safely through the Reign of Chaos, such that by the time of the Reunification Wars, the Valley was already back on its feet, and able to remain independent of Equestria. Lord Second continued to rule the Valley of Eden for the following thousand years, until his recent mysterious death a mere few years after the return of Nightmare Moon.

To the east of the Valley is Trotsylvania, the kingdom of the thestrals. It was originally a pegasus kingdom, until sometime after the Split its people were involuntarily transformed by Hixelkicks into pony-bat hybrids. The thestrals still considered themselves ponies, and so were subject to attack from other chimeras, but were also considered chimeras by other ponies, and so had hostilities with the Valley of Eden too. They survived the Reign of Chaos relatively intact, but were weakened and vulnerable enough afterwards that they chose to become a Protected Territory of Equestria.

Under the reign of Equestria and the Counts of Trotsylvania, they prospered, and were amongst the most devoted followers of Luna. They were so devoted, in fact, that after Luna's fall to become Nightmare Moon, Count Dracula Impaler II of Trotsylvania joined her in her rebellion, becoming the first vampire and leading his country to war against the rest of Thoroupe and the Heartland. Even after their defeat, remnants of the Lunanite army still attempted to regroup and fortify in Trotsylvania, attempting to form a New Lunar Republic, but they were also defeated. Despite Dracula's betrayal, the Impaler family continue to rule Trotsylvania to this day, and Count Alucard Impaler, alongside Van Helsing, would later be responsible for Great Crusade that led to the near total genocide of all vampires, and the subsequent end of the Equestrian theocracy.

South of Trotsylvania, at the easternmost end of the Marediterranean Sea, is the Changeling Kingdom, one of the newest nations of Thoroupe, established a mere few hundred years before Nightmare Moon's return. Previously, it was a dark, dreary, uninhabited part of Trotsylvania, left alone by the kingdom and its neighbours, as the land was dead and nothing would grow there. This changed after Queen Chrysalis escaped from her volcanic prison, and discovered the source of the land's infertility when she uncovered a meteor of darkstone there. Under a false identity, she purchased the land from the Countess of Trotsylvania, and established her kingdom there, building a great citadel for her changelings, and carving the darkstone meteor into her throne.

West of the Changeling Kingdom, and south of the Valley of Eden, is Minos, the kingdom of the minotaurs. Another relatively new nation, the land was originally occupied by unicorn ponies, who were later conquered by the Arachnian Empire. The unicorns continued to live under Arachnian rule long after the Split, until during the Reign of Chaos, when Discord created the minotaurs in their land to drive off the spiders. The creation of the minotaur race plunged the land into bloody conflict for the rest of the Reign of Chaos, during which time both the spiders and the native unicorns all mostly fled for Arachnia or the Valley of Eden, leaving the land to the minotaurs in the aftermath. The new kingdom of Minos honoured Discord as their creator, and thus were fiercely hostile to the Equestrians after they came bearing news of his defeat in the Reunification Wars. Not desiring a war when there were no people in need of liberation, the Royal Sisters decided to leave Minos alone, and it has remained independent ever since.

Further west, and separated from Minos by part of the Marediterranean, is Arachnia, the kingdom of the great spiders. The great spiders have lived in Thoroupe for almost as long as the ponies have, and were conquerors and empire-builders long before the Split. The capital city of Arachnia, Roam, was built by ponies, but conquered by the great spiders early in its history, and became the centre of a sprawling spider empire that at one time stretched across most of Thoroupe and even some of northern Zebrica.

It was this imperialism that attracted Order to them when the Eternals arrived in the Nine Realms after the Split, and the Arachnian Empire gladly joined forces with him. However, this also made them a target for Discord's chimeras, who dismantled their empire piece by piece over the next several centuries, until the Reign of Chaos finished it off for good. The Arachnian homeland itself survived, and remained independent after the Reunification Wars, but the great spiders never held an empire again afterwards, unable to stand up to a force as vast and powerful as Equestria.

Finally, northwest of Arachnia, and southeast of Griffonstone, is the land of Mustangia. Originally co-existing with the Three Tribes, the mustangs, a group of earth pony traders and merchants, were rivals to the early Arachnian Empire, who they had a series of wars with. They were later defeated and conquered by the Arachnians, and initially resented Arachnian rule, but came to appreciate it when the Arachnians fought to defend their lands in the griffon conquests. While the Three Tribes fled across the Forsaken Crags, the mustangs were able to remain in Mustangia, even after the Arachnian Empire was eventually beaten back, though this unfortunately only opened them up to further conquest by the zebras afterwards. Their nation did not survive the Reign of Chaos afterwards, but was at least later re-established under Equestrian rule after the Reunification Wars.

Neighsia:
Neighsia is the land east of Thoroupe and Zebrica, and encompasses a very large amount of land, including a significant number of islands.

The westernmost point of Neighsia meets its neighbouring continents around the Marediterranean Sea, and it is there that the earliest equine civilizations in history arose, in the region known as the Midlands. Saddle Arabia, Eyzrael, and many others were among those civilizations, and still exist today as Protected Territories of Equestria. The Midlands are primarily desert, and are populated mostly by ponies, horses, and donkeys. Further east into Neighsia, meanwhile, other nations ruled by non-equine species become more prevalent, but there are still many nations here established by ponies who migrated east from Thoroupe.

While Neighsia as a whole was still subject to Discord's torment during the Reign of Chaos, the Reunification Wars did not come to its most eastern reaches. Equestria's crusades through both the Heartland and Thoroupe took several years, during which time western Neighsia reestablished itself on its own, without help from foreigners. Saddle Arabia and the other Midlands kingdoms still became colonies or protectorates of Equestria, amongst the last to be incorporated, but by the time the Royal Sisters were finished with them, the rest of Neighsia had already restored order to their lands. While many east Neighsian countries formed alliances with Equestria in wake of this, there was no longer any need for them to become protectorates.

Because even the pony nations of east Neighsia are not actually a part of Equestria, and because it is so far from the Heartland, this area of the world is one of the least understood by the average Equestrian. Although it has been mapped out, written about, and traded with by both Thoroupe and the Heartland, it is still seen as a land of mystery and intrigue, even in modern times. Ponies from east Neighsia are generally called "eastern ponies" by Equestrians, with ponies from the Heartland, Thoroupe, and Zebrica being generally thought of as "western ponies," even though the easternmost point of Neighsia is easily reachable from the Heartland's west coast.

Zebrica:
Zebrica is the continent south of Thoroupe, east of Equestria, and west of Neighsia. A small land bridge connects the most northeastern point of Zebrica to the Midlands, but Zebrica is separated from Thoroupe by the Marediterranean Sea, and is surrounded by the oceans on all other sides. Being close to the planet's equator, most of Zebrica is much hotter than Equestria and Thoroupe, and is covered in deserts and jungles.

The most northeastern point of Zebrica was dominated by Neighgypt, a kingdom best known for building the great pyramids. It was an earth pony nation, the only one in Zebrica, and was founded around the same time as the other early pony civilizations such as Saddle Arabia. It was also home to the cats and the jackals. Following influence first from Discord and then later from the Nightmare Forces, a jackal named Anubis overthrew the old line of pony pharoahs and turned the kingdom into Anugypt, but Discord later initiated a second revolution by the cats, leading to the formation of Miaowgypt, which still stands today.

Northwestern Zebrica, meanwhile, is home to the Dragon Lands, where resides the Dragon Lord, and where dragons from Equestria, Throroupe, Zebrica, and the Southlands all migrate to every few years for mating season. It is a volcanic region, highly volatile and inhospitable to most, but well within tolerable bounds for dragons, making it an ideal congregation spot. Most other native Zebricans have long since learned to avoid the region, but rare dealings between them and the dragons do still occur.

Aside from the ponies in the northeast, the continent is home to two major equine species, those being the zebras and the donkeys, but Zebrica also has a large population of both dragons and chimeras. The chimeras first came to Zebrica when the Eternals arrived on the Borderworld, sent by Hixelkicks to sow chaos. However, they did not tear Zebrica apart as they did Thoroupe, as the Tree of Harmony had an offshoot growing in Zebrica, through which she was able to work her influence to pacify the chimeras and allow them to work in harmony with the donkeys and zebras. The dragons came later, transported to Zebrica en masse sometime during the Reign of Chaos after Discord destroyed the Dragon Empire.

Despite the initial unrest caused by dragons coming to Zebrica, the land was too wild to be notably disrupted by the Reign of Chaos. The zebras and donkeys lived in tribes and herds, and so their societies were smaller-scale and too tight-knit to disrupt as easily as large-scale societies like the pony nations. When the Reunification Wars concluded in the Midlands, the crusaders found their presence in Zebrica to be just as unnecessary as in east Neighsia, as the tribes and herds were already on their hooves again after the worst had passed.

In the years following, the zebras and donkeys, as well as the chimeras and other native peoples such as the jackals, began to establish sovereign nations like their neighbours had done, as the passing of the Reign of Chaos meant that the possibility was no longer closed to them. The major zebra tribes each established their own nations, such as Maretania, and the donkeys formed a few of their own, such as the Republic of Abyssinia.

Most Zebrican nations today are allied with Equestria, but are not a part of it. Technologically, it is still some ways behind Equestria, but new advancements still make their way over to Zebrica by way of trade, as Equestria today gets most of its fossil fuels from Zebrica.

Oceans:
The sea around the Griffish Isles, which lies between Equestria, northern Thoroupe, and the Forsaken Crags, is known as the Sea of Ghosts. Its climate is not well-controlled, as the Griffish Isles are not widely spread enough for the pegasi or griffons to maintain weather control over the entirety of the sea, and so the Sea of Ghosts is characterised by extreme cold and terrible wild weather. Because of this, it is notoriously dangerous to navigate, leading to a large number of shipwrecks which inspired numerous legends and ghost stories, hence the name.

Further south is the Celestial Sea, which lies between Equestria, Thoroupe, and northern Zebrica. With even less islands than the Sea of Ghosts, its weather is almost completely wild, but it is most notable for the undersea kingdom of Aquastria which exists beneath it, ruled by King Leo, the Spirit of the Sea.

Prior to the arrival of the Eternals, some undersea species were sapient, but made no attempt at building civilizations. This changed with the arrival of several new species of aquatic chimeras, most notably the kelpies, the mermares, and the seaponies. The aquatic chimeras, being half pony, had an affinity for harmony, and with King Leo's help were able to unify the various creatures of the sea to found Aquastria. Their first city, built somewhere beneath the Celestial Sea, became Aquastria's capital, and more cities were soon built afterwards, including the kelpie city of Coltlantis.

As Aquastria and the events occuring within it were invisible to the rest of the world, they were frequently overlooked even by the gods. Despite the great deal of harmony that was taking place, Aquastria remained beneath Discord's notice through the Reign of Chaos, and wasn't discovered by ponies until after the Reunification Wars. Equestria and Aquastria became allies after first contact, and have enjoyed a strong friendship ever since.

Finally, even futher south, beyond even the Celestial Sea, is the Marelantic Ocean, which lies between the Southlands and Zebrica. It has a much greater number of small islands than either the Sea of Ghosts or the Celestial Sea, more evenly distributed across the ocean, but still has problems with wild weather due to its sheer size and the generally low pegasus population. Despite this, the warmer tropical climate makes the islands popular for vacations. Equestrian colonies such as Horsolulu on the island of Hawaii are known for their great holiday resorts, as well as for producing and exporting tropical fruit back to Equestria, while others such as the Gallopinghost Islands and the Isles of Scaly were made famous by the adventurers of Daring Do and the writing of AK Yearling, similar to the Southlands.

More oceans and seas exist elsewhere across the planet, including the Luna Ocean between western Equestria and east Neighsia, the Ponycific south of that, and the Fillypine Sea further west, near the little-known Equestrian colony of Austailia. However, much less is known of these western territories, as Equestria has not yet explored as far west as it has eastwards.

Acknowledgements:
-The state of Castle Defiance is at least vaguely inspired by Lost Cities by Cold in Gardez.
-The name "Griffonia" is common fanon that I don't think I could credit to anybody specific, but its period of internal strife with nobles and petty warlords jostling for place as High King is inspired by the Griffonia of The Lunar Rebellion by Chengar Qordath.
-(Some) griffons being German is inspired by the Heart of Gold, Feathers of Steel series by Nicknack.
-The name "thestral" for batponies is semi-common fanon, and I do not know where it originates from in this fandom, but I personally got it from the Seattle's Angels review of Perchance to Dream, by Ether Echoes, a fic which I have yet to read myself.
-The idea that Celestia and Luna could have conceivably had an offscreen war with actual stakes and drama before their fight in the Princess Twilight Sparkle flashback, rather than the entire reign of Nightmare Moon having literally been only five minutes, was proposed in Equestria: A History Revealed by Hoofry_Poneigher.
-The New Lunar Republic, despite what it's ballooned into in fanfic since, was originally invented for the song, "For the New Lunar Republic" by iamnotacleverpony.
-I don't know where I got the name "Neighsia" from, but I think it was from Alara J. Rogers.
-"Neighgypt" was definitely from Alara J. Rogers, from one of her Last Draconequus stories, though I don't remember which.
-Zebrica supplying Equestria all its fossil fuels is a reference to Kkat's Fallout: Equestria, something which I'm sure would bode ill for Equestria's future if we didn't already know it ends in a zombie apocalypse, not a nuclear one.
-"Austailia" is a proposed hypothetical name for a pony version of Australia suggested by one of the show staff. I'm not gonna go digging for the tweet, but I think it was Jim Miller's idea.

I'd also like to state for the record that I'm fully aware of how jarring it is when real-world place names are used in this setting of stupid horse puns, but Fluttershy canonically asked Rarity for "French haute couture," and Cheese Sandwich canonically uttered the words "Hawaiian shirt," so there's little I can do about it. Those names gotta come from somewhere.

As I write more of these, minor continuity errors may begin to crop up, and I'd like to serve notice that I am aware of them, and that they'll be fixed in later edits. Until that time, in case of any given conflict between essays, assume that the one published most recently is the more canonical one.