Long ago, when we knew a little about MLP world, the three european-looking pony tribes which united to form Equestria were thought to represent ALL the unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies in the world. But then boom! We got egyptian ponies, chinesse ponies and kajun ponies (!) existing at the same time with their own countries, traditions and history. Not to mention aztec ponies, indian ponies and probably weird arabian ponies since they have their unicorns. So how did you deal with it?

7185950
When you have a very vague ongoing show, you can either wait until the show is done, make your own alternate universe, or write really vaguely and slowly add details as the show progresses.

Or just say that the story is specifically tailored to a particular season and episode, a lot of lazy people do this and it works

Just because they had different features and languages/cultures doesn't mean that they were politically separate. Those are probably different subgroups within the three overarching nations that participated in Hearth's Warming.

Saddle Arabia and the Crystal Empire do appear to be distinct from Equestria proper (or, in the latter case, were until recently); their founders could have either left earlier and founded their own societies that the Windigoes for one reason or another did not pursue, or split off after Hearth's Warming; both seem much smaller than Equestria proper.

7185950
A mix of biological reductionism - three kinds, no more, and I hate kirin and hippogriffs too - and an understanding that those nations were almost two thousand years ago (at least in my headcanon) and even then probably didn't comprise the entire pony population of the planet.

7185950
It's great, actually. It gives an author a lot of elbow room regarding worldbuilding, and, if done properly, can help set a living and breathing backround for your fics.

Equestria is just one of many Pony nations the same way there are many German nations (Germany, Austria, Sweden, etc.) Equestria is just the most well known and powerful with Celestia as de facto Empress which is more or less a ceremonial term.

7186027
In a vaguely related note, I tend to treat European-accented ponies as coming from the pony nations left behind when the others migrated, and only later integrated into Equestria. Only Maretonia remains at least nominally independent.

7186029
That makes sense. Celestia only heads Equestria, but due to her age and (presumed) wisdom, her advice carries the force of law even for the independent nations-she's stopped wars with a frown and a few well-placed words.

(Also, who downvoted my comment and why?)

7186079
Well in my case ahe heads them all (save Maretonia ans perhaps the Crystl Empire), but things wouldn't have reached that point if she wasn't influential there first.

7185950
Deal with what now?

7185950
I'd always assumed, given Equestria was founded after a migration, that there was an "old world" the ponies came from. The place is set up as a mushy, ersatz-North America, complete with tribal natives, Canada and every expected biome the world has to offer. I played with that, setting it up as a sort of post-republic Rome with modern trappings, along with a whole punch of other Pony nations (and other species) spread across the "old world", and a few spots in its early history that are less than comfortable for the inhabitants to acknoledge.

Then canon took a great, steaming shit over any ideas I'd developed, but I didn't listen!