Eight tribes codex

by gvozdengrom

A to Z of Equines: Andalusian

Published by Equestrian Educational Authority
Limited edition primer
Authorized by royal request of H.R.H Princess Celestia year 1984 Celestial era

Andalusian

The mighty Cabbaleros of Neihiberia, proud of hearth, hot of blood, high of gait, long of legs, of manes flowing and withers most elegant.

Considered by many ponies to be the most attractive of our bigger, non-magical cousins, Andalusians bare the distinction of being the equines with farthest reaching history. Cave paintings from the province of Andalucia - from which they take their name - prove beyond any shadow of a doubt that andalusians have existed as intelligent species - and inhabited Neihiberia - for at least twenty two thousand years. As a point of reference, all evidence tell us that modern day pony species only came into being after the first Discordian era, some twenty four centuries ago.

Despite being nearly ten times older than us as a specie, as far as culture and civilization goes however, andalusians are second only to zebras in their backwardness. It has been only the last three hundred years that Heyspania - the most powerful and influential of all Neihiberia's kingdoms - abolished serfdom, and even today most of the donkeys and the mules, which compose 38% of Heyspania's total population, are considered second class citizenry there, not to mention their horrific history of raiding into what is present-day zebrica for slaves.

Neihiberia's bloody history can be laid straight at the hooves of andalusian Grandes, and their prickly pride and overpowering greed. Historians across the races agree that without the rise of Carthusian dynasty, andalusians would have exterminated themselves with their mindless feuding. Not that any historian actually considers rise of Carthusians actually as any kind of good occurrence. After managing to unite the other Grandes, by sword or marriage, they turned expansionist, warring and ultimately subjugating bovine tribes, than spreading north driving camargues before them until friessians of lowlands came to aid their neighbors and stymied the expansion. This prompted the institutionalized derision towards friessians that is still a staple of andalusian traditionalism.

After being stopped in the north, Heyspania tried to expand towards south, but were stopped cold by the highly organized and magic wielding Arabians. Next they started building ships to bypass arabians and reach the extraordinarily rich territories in what is modern day Zebrica. Zebras being tribal and widely dispersed could not hope to stymie the invaders, despite also being magic-workers. Moreover, the very fact that they were magical made Zebras, especially the foals, highly prised slaves to heyspaniards. This shameful state of affairs continued until traders from relatively recently established Equestria came south seeking new markets and trading partners. The eternally greedy Grandes ordered the traders to be attacked and enslaved, and their exotic wares seized. While the merchants were forced to abandon their wares, not a one was captured tanks in no small part to the aid of several zebra slaves. In thanks to that, when equestrian punitive forces arrived, they not only captured and publicly executed heads of every Grande family including every single adult of carthusian blood, they also demolished their lavish estates and then promised them that if their raids into Zebra controlled lands continued they would come back and the next time the buildings they would destroy would not be evacuated beforehand.

That was the end of great Heyspanian state, and fully half of their Neihiberian territories seceded and established themselves as new states.

Best example of that would be the united free city-states of Toledo-Maredrid, famed for their superb metalwork, and the southern principality of Grenada that established relations with the arabian emirates to the point that most present day population of Grenada is of mixed andalusian-arabian heritage and technically constitute as a breed of their own.

As far as the physical characteristics are concerned, Andalusians are the tallest of horse breeds, and second only to the clydesdales amongst the equines.

They are most notable for their distinctive upright steps in the trot and canter.

Author's Note:

Welp, there we go.
I want to apologize to everyone of Spanish descent for this entry. I have nothing against any of you, and in fact adore and am ever in awe of the sheer beauty of Andalusians.
This entry was intentionally negatively biased for storytelling purposes.
While it will not be actually acknowledged anywhere in text proper, the putative author of A to Z of Equines was a very snobbish canterlot native. Rest assured that Celestia had some very sharp wards with her afterwards, and the bias, condescension and outright derision such as displayed here was one of the main reasons the booklet itself only ever had one edition, and never entered curriculum of any equestrian school.

I used horsepuns wherever I came up with any, but if anyone sees any I missed feel free to inform me with your suggestions. I cannot promise to use any of them, but I most probably would.

Comments

[Starlight Nova]

Will nightmares appear or at least be mentioned in this story? I'm not talking about Nightmare Moon, I'm talking about these guys.

[gvozdengrom]

7258657
Here?
No, there is no plan currently to include anything like them. The closest thing would be Brimstone Brotherhood - a renegade group of aethon dark magic users, but they are a concept that I'm still working on, and not likely to be fully developed any time soon.

[The Great Derpsby]

I'm guessing Celestia was pretty angry that this was authorised by her on paper, while its contents were not at all what she wanted to see.

[gvozdengrom]

7261914
Oh, you have no idea...
I mentioned it here because once I do get my guts up to actually write the stories proper, the author of the booklet is a minor antagonist as regards Twilight Velvet.
More about that whole issue on that happy day it actually gets more than just notes and plans and concepts.

[The Great Derpsby]

7262051
That does sound very interesting!