Anno Equestria: A Brief History of the Pony Nation

by Insert Pen Name

The Expanding Frontier

Anno Equestria
A Brief History of the Pony Nation
A FiM fic by (Insert Pen Name)

The Expanding Frontier
AE5-200

Canterlot may have been the first and, for a brief time, only major city in Equestria, but it was by no means the full extent of the new pony nation. From the very moment of our arrival in Equestria, adventurous ponies of all stripes set out to explore and claim the new land for their own. In the five years it took to build Canterlot into a habitable city, ponies had spread out across the Equestrian Heartland, establishing farms and villages wherever viable resources could be found, and laying the groundwork for further expansion in the years to come.

The first city to follow Canterlot was the cloud city of Cloudsdale, founded in AE17. Cloud villages had existed from the start in Equestria, but most of these were small and sparsely populated, since most pegasi found it more practical to live alongside the earth-ponies and unicorns with whom they worked and traded. Fearing that the pegasus way of life was at risk, many of these cloud villages drifted together to quite literally form a new city of their own. Cloudsdale quickly became the hub of Equestria’s weather services, and a haven of pegasus culture, though it was never a major power on the political stage.

The decades following the completion of Canterlot were also a time of intrepid exploration and discovery. In AE26, the first great Equestrian explorer, an earth-pony cartographer named Globe Trotter, reached the Great Eastern Sea and spent the next two years mapping the coastline. He soon discovered that ponies were not the only claimants to the new land. Prides of griffons had come from across the sea, and had long established colonies of their own in the cliffs surrounding Horseshoe Bay. While the haughty griffons were largely aloof to Trotter’s expedition (and to the existence of ponies in general), it was not long before envoys were being exchanged between the griffon colonies and the burgeoning Equestrian government. Globe Trotter himself was richly rewarded by Parliament for his accomplishments. Buoyed on by his success, Trotter used his fortune to construct himself a ship, The Bellpony, with which he set out over the Eastern Sea in search of new lands and new treasures. None of these expeditions were successful; Trotter’s “Bellpony’s Chart” is currently on prominent display in the lobby of the Canterlot Archives.

Many more explorers soon followed Globe Trotter’s example, some more successfully than others. In AE31, the Trail Brothers, Merry and Bill, spent eight months forging through forests and over mountains before reaching the Western Sea and making camp on a broad plateau overlooking the coast. Their story was not widely believed on their return, so in response, the brothers set out once more with a band of loyal followers, and founded a new settlement on their former campsite. In a single inspired moment of irony, the Trail Brothers named the town Tall Tale. Contemporary records indicate that the joke was not lost on their detractors back home.

Perhaps the most celebrated of all these early explorers was the pegasus Boldly Go, who from AE89 to AE112 traveled the breadth of the Equestrian northlands, which had been largely unexplored since the Exodus. In addition to her numerous minor adventures, she is credited with discovering and naming Neighagra Falls and Galloping Gorge, and in AE93 she founded an outpost on the west coast that would eventually grow into the great city of Vanhoover. In AE113, Boldly Go departed for her boldest adventure yet. Accompanied by a crew of fifteen companions, she set out north, to cross back over the Crystal Mountains and learn what had become of Old Homeland. None returned to tell the tale.

Wherever these early explorers dared, settlers were almost sure to follow. The Equestrian East Coast was the first major frontier, and from AE28 onward, ponies flocked to the sea in droves, establishing colonies along the lenght of the coastline. In addition to land-borne agriculture, maritime ponies gathered sea-salt, sea shells (for dyes), seaweed, and pearls to trade with their Heartland cousins. The salt trade in particular was especially prosperous, and many of the new settlements thrived on the wealth it provided. More lucrative, however, was trade with the griffon colonies in Horseshoe Bay. In AE37, a group of intrepid merchants moved south from Fillydelphia and established a trading colony in the north shore of the bay. Known as the Horseshoe Bay Company, they traded fruit, grain, and cut lumber to the griffons in exchange for such exotic goods as ivory, copper, and feathers (especially down), which they would then sell to their fellow ponies for almost ludicrous profits. Their colony eventually grew into what is now the city of Baltimare, though the Company itself has waned greatly over the course of history.

Though significant, the griffons were by no means ponykind’s first contact with other sapient races in Equestria. Prior to the arrival of the Exodus, donkeys, cattle, goats, sheep, and other such creatures lived in scattered pre-literate communities across the Heartland. By all accounts, the arrival in their land of strangers in such large numbers was some cause for alarm. However, as the fledgling Equestria spread, many of these races quickly integrated with the new pony nation, trading their tribal independence for a secure (if arguably subservient) place in the new society.

Not all native races were inclined to welcome the pony newcomers, however. Tribes of deer, diamond dogs, and buffalo all actively resisted assimilation into the pony nation. The Deer in particular were frequently at odds with the early settler ponies, whom they viewed with natural suspicion. The settlers themselves were equally distrustful, and frequent deer raids on their orchards and fields did little to improve their outlook. Sporadic clashes between the Pony settlers and the Deer continued on and off until AE118, when Parliament under the Fifth Triumvirate* signed a peace treaty with the Deer. Regardless, the tribes seem to have sensed that history was passing them by, and by AE200, most of the deer had departed for the northern forests. Modern deer are now rarely seen outside of the Equestrian north, though one of the Heartland forests still bears the name Whitetail Wood in their memory.

The departure of the Deer marks the start of a long period of decline for Equestria’s native cultures. Today, most sapient creatures in Equestria have fully assimilated into pony culture, and most of these have gradually waned over the centuries. While this cultural decline was largely inevitable, and should not imply blame, we ponies would do well to remember that the foundation of our majestic nation came at a price we cannot repay.

*Fifth Triumvirate (AE116-43): Ploughshare the Burly, Lord Shinypants, Whirlwind the Swift.

Comments

[shutaro]

I really like this (hi)story of the ponies. I can imagine this in a sourcebook for a pony-RPG or a history book for elementary school.
And I adore the names: All hail lord Shinypants!

[djthomp]

I assume that as per tradition, he never actually wore any pants. Shiny pants as a metaphorical concept, if you will.

Somehow I had never made the connection that the Whitetail Woods was a deer reference.

[Insert Pen Name]

1451573 It probably isn't, but that's how I saw it. It's all head-canon anyway.

[badassgrunt]

Globe Trotter

images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130312005204/walkingdead/images/4/42/I-See-What-You-Did-There..png

[BenRG]

It's an unfortunate historical truth that dominant cultures will always assimilate and ultimately extinguish weaker ones. In the face of this, the Deer chose exile, the Buffalo chose a strange kind of proud isolation and most of the others seem to have decided to throw their lot in with the stronger pony nation.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

I'd be willing to make a small bet that currently there is an anti ivory movement among Ponies. The trade is strictly regulated to be sure it's nonsentient & subject to protest if not forbidden.