A complex and fairly complete history of Equestria from before the founding to present day, from a historians eyes.
This is a chapter by chapter rundown of the major events of Equestrian history. It is a more complex writing detailing the events, cultures, and characters of the history of pony kind. Written by a pony historian, it records a complete history.
Some basic historical knowledge of both the pony and human kind would be helpful when reading this. This is a complex version of the history, written to a higher level. If you cannot understand the terms used and historical events or documents referenced, you probably shouldn't be reading this story.
If you have any unanswered questions about the history, put them in the comments. I'll give you more information then you ever wanted to know, and if the question has a too lengthy answer, I'll put it into my personal archives of Things to Talk About in Later Stories.
Foreword and The Pre-Equestrian Events in the Pony Kingdoms
"Those who fail to learn from history are condemmed to repeat it."- Whinny Churchill
My name is Inkblot. In this volume I have attempted to collect and compress the complete history of Equestria from historical documents and the writings of those who came before me. This text is a complete telling of the important and notable events from the late Pre-Equestrian era until the current day.
There are a few things to note before this text begins. First, the dates in this book are written using the Post-Unification Calendar reckooning. Some have been transcribed from their original documented format to fit this system. These dates are segregated into P.E., being the Pre-Equestrian Era, and E.E., being the Equestrian Era, which begins in the year of the supposed founding of Equestria. Secondly, it is also important to note that some dates are disputed. If a date is unconfirmed, an asterisk will be present. Thirdly, it is necessary to understand that being a complete history, some minor details must be overlooked to fit the size of the book. Such details may be clarified in separate novels pertaining to the subject which they are included in.
It is also important to realize that this book covers only the late Pre-Equestrian Era into the recent Equestrian-Era, which is up until the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle.
-Inkblot Libri
Chapter 1: The Pre-Equestrian Events in the Pony Kingdoms
Well known is the fact that the Pre-Equestrian Era was rife with hardship and struggle for the three pony kingdoms. Though the location of these kingdoms is speculated upon, it remains to this day unknown to scholars. Much of the knowledge of the earlier history of Unicornis, Pegasus Alas and Equinis is sourced only from legend.
It is known, however, that about three-hundred years before the unification of Equestria, the first Summit of Peace was held. It was there that the three tribes agreed upon the conditions of an unsteady peace. The agricultural earth ponies, who had endured centuries of raids, would give portions of their crops willingly, to both unicorns and pegasi. In return, the militaristic pegasi would control the weather, bringing both rain and sunshine in equal measure, insuring that the earth ponies’ production would not fail. The unicorns in turn, would take it upon themselves to raise the sun and moon, controlling the day and night and bringing the needed sunlight to the earth ponies' fields. It is said that the unicorns raising the sun and moon, in accordance with their feudal system, were for the most part peasants, for in that time, it was a laborious task.
It is vital to realize that the governmental systems of the tribes were not as they are today. Unicornis was ruled by a feudal monarchy. In fact, the rule of the morarchy in Unicornis was nearly absolute for centuries, until a collection of angry unicorn nobles created the Magna Cart in 310 P.E.*, a document restricting the king’s power and influence. The king was still afforded many luxuries, while in some places, the less affluent unicorns were forced out of desperation take up farming, though their attempt was not nearly as fruitful as that of the earth ponies. In truth, only the nobility and royalty of Unicornis, about twenty to thirty percent of the population, ate solely food taken as tribute from the earth ponies. The large majority ate at least partly locally grown food.
The pegasi, in contrast were an extremely militaristic society. The leader of Pegasus Alas, was selected as the strongest child of the Commander. The Commander in Chief of the Cloud Armies was expected to lead their kingdom to war and did so often. The pegasi feuded often with their aerial neighbors, and both griffons and manticores have been mentioned as enemies in records of that time. A particularly notable text, the Alis ad Bellum, recounts the Commanders of the pegasi and the wars the fought between approximately 196-89 P.E., including the famed Gryphem Wars. Under the laws of Pegaus Alas, every citizen was enrolled in the military at the age of eighteen, required to serve for five years. The Commander’s word was law, and every pegaus received food rations, a practical tradition stemming from the limited food the pegasi obtained. The only source of food for Pegasus Alas was the earth pony farms, leading them to enforce the tribute far more heavily than the unicorns, and to store significantly more in case of shortage.
The earth ponies, different from the other three, became the first democratic pony government. In Equinis, the heads of the most important families, or Summos, voted on a Chancellor, who served for eight years. Though corruption was rampant during the earlier years of the system, in later years most elections were fair. Chancellors were chosen from among the members of the Summos, for their intelligence and competence. They ruled over a kingdom mostly dedicated to food production, a laborious task leaving the earth ponies with little wealth.
In any case, the Pax Cibum, the document detailing the agreement, was upheld for many centuries. by all accounts, the peace was not violated until the year of 2 P.E., when the White Winter began. The White Winter was the strongest winter that pony kind had ever seen and has since. With no food coming from the earth pony farms, each tribe was forced to use their preestablished stock piles. When the frozen winter showed no sign of relenting, fighting broke out and raiding began anew, and the second Summit of Peace was called between the increasingly hostile tribes.
Firsthand accounts of the meeting speak of how, within a matter of minutes, the Summit went from reasoned debate to verbal warfare. A note here is that each tribe was often stereotyped, the pegasi as brutish and barbaric, the unicorns as snobbish and uncaring, and the earth ponies as unintelligent. Though these stereotypes are very untrue, during that time the tribes, despite their trade and tribute, had very little contact with one another, allowing such misinterpretations of the other’s cultures to thrive. This, and the well documented obstinance of the three tribal leaders, led to a downhill cycle, each change causing the next to be worst.
The three leaders of the pony tribes, in these times were; Commander Hurricane, an extremely tough stallion; Chancellor Puddinghead, a mare who was known for being rather eccentric; and Princess Platinum, a cunning mare and talented sorceress, for who King Bullion, her incompetent father, was little more than a puppet. All three were strong leaders for their individual tribes, but their lack of cooperation led them to quickly end the Summit, leaving in a rage.
Each leader returned to their respective homes, and, within weeks, each had departed, in search of a new land. The only of these journeys that have in detail been recorded is that of the unicorns, for a diary of Clover the Clever has been preserved and sits today in the Canterlot Archives. It is known that the unicorns were hosted by griffons before sailing to what is now Equestria. This leads historians to conclude that the old pony lands were across the Celestial Sea, though the exact location is disputed.
The journal of Clover the Clever explains that upon arrival in the new land, they discovered not only its native cow inhabitants, but also the fact that the pegasus and earth ponies had arrived at a similar location. The three tribes fought, and the blizzard came upon them. It tells of their sojourn in a large set of caves, and the freezing of the leaders. It also tells of the miraculous magic of Clover the Clever, and how it unfroze the land with the power of friendship, infusing that power into later culture and magic of the Equestrian species. And, a few days later, on the First Day of Winter Moon, came the official founding of Equestria, when the leaders agreed upon the name and created a flag. This flag was not the same as the banner used today, it was instead a combination of the flags of the three realms.
It is that day, which is now counted as the beginning of the year 1 E.E. in the modern reckoning. And with it began journey of a newly made kingdom, of settlement and the unification of pony kind.
After the beginning of the Unification, the three rulers decided on a course of action. They sent messages through unknown means back to their homeland. The messages encouraged the ponies of the three kingdoms to leave their homes and come to the newly founded Equestria. A vast majority did so at the behest of their leaders, though some opted to remain behind. These remnants, the few documents show, communicated with the Equestrians for about a century until starvation from the rarely relenting windigo storms and the outbreak of the bubonic plague destroyed them in about 168 E.E, the time of the last communications with Equestria.
Traveling long distances, most of the settlers made landfall in three bays, where they settled. These are the three cities of Manehattan, Baltimare and Fillydelphia. Manhattan and Fillydelphia both served for a time as the capitals of Equestria, which was ruled by the three rulers. Princess Platinum decided matters of government and ran the court, Commander Hurricane matters of violence and military, and Chancellor Puddinghead matters of land distribution and agriculture. The three worked together to oversee settlement efforts.
One matter often overlooked in records of the founding of Equestria is the native species of the land. These species include the Yaks, Cows, and Buffalo. There is evidence that there were ponies in Equestria, but that they had gone mostly extinct by ten thousand years ago, and their closest genetic relatives are the horses of Saddle Arabia. The ponies of Somnambula, Hayseed Swamp, and other locations are of unknown origins, but coinhabited the land with the native species before the settlement. Of the native species of Equestria, only the Yaks hold still most of their native lands. Being immensely fierce and warlike, as well as living in a near unreachable location, they resisted any colonization and settlement attempts, though the hostilities led them to close the borders of their nation for centuries. The buffalo though attempting to keep their lands, were not as successful as the Yaks, and were driven out until they only resided in the dry southern parts of Equestia, and even now their territory is shrinking. The third group, the cows, put up little to no societal resistance. In some places, the cows became bandits and rouges, but in most, they remained peaceful, becoming creatures seen but ignored in Equestrian society.
Pushing these native species out, Equestrian settlers spread as far as Foal Mountain by the year 4 E.E.*, when the founding of the town of Hollow Shades occurred. Within ten more years, they had pushed past the Everfree Forest, which they avoided. The ponies brought with them both weather and plant control, changing the natural order of things. Only in the Everfree Forest, where some strong, unknown magic dwelled, did things remain as they were. The settlers also killed off most of the dangerous magical creatures that once roamed the land in large numbers, leading to the extinction of a few, namely the cockentrice, a subspecies of cockatrice, and the wyvern, a two-legged relative of the dragon.
Unicorn and earth pony peasants, due to their similar lifestyles, had fairly few issues coexisting in these new settlements. Fairly quickly, they began to work together using unicorn magic and earth pony strength to build villages and run farms. The similarities in everything from the clothing to the social structure of the lower classes of the two tribes, though among upper classes they varied greatly, had led to there being a few villages, even before the unification, in which the two tribes had bridged the large river between the two kingdoms, the Rhein. The pegasi however, had a harder time integrating. Not only did some have to adjust to living on the ground, but they had to alter their lifestyles to fit a less regimented schedule, a lack of food rations, and without wars and a large military, they had to adjust to not being the dominating culture, s early Equestria was fairly dominated by unicorn social customs, which is where many modern words relating to manners and etiquette come from.
As time went on, problems with the new govermental system arose. The three tribes often had trouble agreeing. Their opinions were shaped by prejudice, and the leaders often had trouble keeping in mind the other tribes. At that point they decided they were in need of an impartial leader. This is when Starswirl the Bearded steps to the forefront of Equestrian history. He promised the leaders an impartial ruler, and after a journey of six months, returned with two little fillies who had wings like pegasi, horns like unicorns, and the earth pony ties to the land; the two sisters, the alicorns. No pony besides Starswirl and the Royal sisters know from where they came, but they were judged to be impartial, and with their powerful magic, capable of defending Equestria from many threats. The two were coronated in 13 E.E., officially becoming the Princesses of Equestria, commanding equal shares of power. Commander Hurricane took charge of the Equestrian defense force, Princess Platinum assisted them in the learning of proper decorum and the running of courtly affairs, and Chancellor Puddinghead continued to run the agricultural work.
However, the true beginning of the power of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, the royal sisters, began in the year 15 E.E., on what became known as Subtracti Luminis Diem, or The Day of Lost Light, now celebrated by a minor festival only in unicorn majority towns. It was on that day that the unicorns lost control of the sun and the moon, for raising the heavenly spheres drained unicorns of magic. On that day, according to the Catalogue of Mares by Haysiod, a record of the heroines of early Equestria and their deeds, the Princesses discovered their ability to raise the sun and moon, gaining what were then aptly named Marks of Destiny, which are now referred to as cutie marks, for unknown reasons. At the time, it is said, they were around the ages of forty-four in the case of Princess Celestia, and twenty-seven, in the case of Princess Luna.
The transfer of the duties of controlling the heavenly bodies passed onto the Princesses. With that transfer, Equestria passed into a new era, The Era of the Two Sisters, a time of unification, advancement, and magic.
The early years of the Era of the Two Sisters was marked chiefly by the death of Chancellor Puddinghead in 17 E.E., of Marelaria contracted in Hayseed Swamp. Her position of Head of Agriculture in the government was taken by Smart Cookie, Puddinghead’s former secretary and one of the Trio of Unity, who held it until her death in 36 E.E., at around age sixty. One well preserved document that sat for centuries in the Manehattan Archive was the last will of Chancellor Puddinghead. It detailed which of her many creations to eat at the funeral feast, and recipes detailing their preparation.
The years after the Chancellor’s death were filled with peace, save for the death of Pansy, one of the Trio, in 29 E.E., the beginning of the loss of the true original founders. Clover the Clever, after his famous Trials, died in 51 E.E., a very lucky time to die. For soon after his death, and the loss of Starswirl the Bearded and the Pillars in 41 E.E., began what is known as The Age of Chaos.
The Age of Chaos was the first of the great challenges of Equestrian history. In the year of 59 E.E., Discord, the Avatar of Chaos, came in full body to Equestria. It is highly important to understand the difference in this. Discord, the spiritual representation of the concept of chaos, is everywhere there is chaos and anarchy. However, during the Age of Chaos, his physical avatar which had the power to physically cause chaos himself, and was immensely powerful, arrived and conquered Equestria.
At this time, both Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane, the final founders, died of mysterious circumstances or chaotic doings in 60 and 61 E.E. respectively. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were forced into hiding. Discord ‘ruled’ carelessly, causing much suffering with his alterations of the natural world. Ponies at that time relied heavily on a steady and constant environment. The upset of the natural world caused chaos, upsetting not only the entirety of pony society, but their natural harmony with where they lived and their magic. Discord did not take an active hand in the creation of suffering, but his many monsters and the magical mayhem of Equestria temporarily derailed the kingdom’s advancement and stability.
For nearly half a decade, there is not even a rumor of the whereabouts of the Royal Sisters. Historians dispute the location of their hideaway. Many say that it was located deep in the Everfree Forest, a claim supported by the location of their future castle, and the forest’s natural resistance to strange magics. The other purported location of their sanctuary was the caverns of Canterlot Mountain, which is also well supported. Nevertheless, the Princess sunk deep into hiding, most likely to plan and eventually attempt to locate the at the time rumored Elements of Harmony. It is not known how they located the elements, but the first hint of the Princesses whereabouts comes from the town of Hollow Shades. It was here that they made their grand debut, driving back a shadow lurking in the near abandoned town and healing their vampiric opponents, revealing their true nature as threstrals.
From here, records show that the two sisters made their way east. It was in the small village of Bulltown, a town named after Princess Platinum’s father King Bullion, that the Two Sisters, the Battle of Chaos. They turned the Elements of Harmony on Discord, petrifying him. The village, though eventually cured of both his chaos magic and the residual power from the Elements, remained abandoned, and is by this era rotted away into nothing, though the event is commemorated on a great pillar that is said to be imbued with the Magic of Harmony, and brings peace and balance to all who approach it. All Equestrian treaties are signed in the presence of the Pillar, and some of history’s greatest disputes, such as the great fight between Alexander Hoofliton and Aaron Spurr, some centuries later.
The chaotic magic was expelled from Equestria at Discord's defeat. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna brought the statue of Discord with them. They also began the construction of the Castle of the Two Sisters in the Everfree Forest, so to mark a new era for the Equestrian Government. The castle was completed in the year 69 E.E, becoming the headquarters for all branches of government, except the judicial, which remained in Manehattan. At this point, Equestria truly became a diarchy, for with the death of the Founders, the two princesses took complete control over the government. Celestia ruled over the Day Court, and Luna ruled over the Night Court, alternating daily, their courts and magic adjourning and meeting at dusk and dawn, with both sisters presiding over the once weekly Dawn Court.
The fall of Discord was also the time at which the Two Sisters began to be revered more as goddesses than as ponies, as their unchanging appearance supported. Between the years 74-100 E.E., there was even a cult which worshiped them, though it fell apart after the death of its leader, Holy Heart.
In 127 E.E., one of the most shocking and horrible events of pony history, occurred. That year marked the rise of Sombra, King of Monsters and Fiend of the North. He removed Princess Amore, the leader of the Crystal Empire, a kingdom located in what had once been an ancient and near impenetrable Yak city. The details of this shall be discussed in a later chapter. Enslaving the crystal ponies, a subspecies of pony with fur that was at times shimmering and near transparent and gem shapes in their eyes. Sombra began to build an army of slaves and umbrum, a species of shadow creature.
The Princesses called upon the ponies of Equestria to stand for the cause. At the time, the Royal Legion was small. After Sombra’s appearance, its numbers swelled as ponies rushed to fight. Over the course of two bloody years, the greatest war in Equestrian history was fought, with death counts on both sides totaling nearly one-hundred thousand. Fought in the beginning on the border of Equestrian territory, the military at first suffered many defeats. For the first seven months of the war, Equestrian forces were pushed across the border, losing ground with every battle.
After the bloody victory of Saddleburg, the army began to push back, reclaiming the land they had lost. Always at their head was Princess Luna, the warrior princess of Equestria. It is said that she fought more battles than any other creature in documented history. With her might and the force of their army, the Equestrians began to advance of Crystallia, the capitol of the Crystal Empire.
Nearly twenty months into what is known as the Crystal War, Celestia herself finally came to the front. Unlike her sister, Celestia rarely participated herself in the battles, working mainly as a strategist. However, she did come out onto the field for the final battle, the Battle of Crystallia in 129. The umbrum, in the form of great crystals, slaughtered many by growing out of the ground, impaling them. Pegasi were taken down from the sky by Sombra’s spells. Crystal ponies were used as shields, cast away and killed by the dark pony.
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna confronted Sombra themselves, in the throne room of his dark palace. What may be considered the greatest magic battle of all known time took place there. Princess Celestia announced that it was Princess Luna who finally ended Sombra’s reign, though at great cost. Though he was banished to the icy north, Sombra did not leave without getting his revenge. Using some dark spell, he cursed the Crystal Empire, banishing it with him, sealing it away in limbo.
After Sombra’s defeat, the Royal Legion was split in two, turned into the Solar and Lunar guards. Each served their princess faithfully, though they would take orders from the other. The ponies of Equestria and the two rulers settled back into their routine.
With the defeat of Tirek in 135, Equestria entered a time of peace. The twenty years that followed saw an influx in learning, as the Princesses began to order schools built across the westward expanding Equestria. However, without warfare, Princess Luna was relegated to the background behind her sister’s politics. And through this led to a new chapter of Equestrian history.
Before we dive into the subject of the end of the Era of the Two Sisters, we must look at another important piece of the Equestrian continent, the Crystal Empire. The Crystal Empire is located on the ruins of an unnamed Yak city. It has a temperate climate, a sharp and magical contrast to the frozen wasteland surrounding it. Inside its borders, the grass grows green and the sky is blue, in comparison to the wild gray tundra. The Crystal Empire is protected by a magical shield produced by a love infused and powered object, the Crystal Heart.
Yak legends say that the land on which the Crystal Empire resides was abandoned by them over two thousand years ago, after the attacks of the mysterious shadow crystals, identified today as umbrum. About fifteen hundred years ago, the crystal ponies came to the North. Their own tales say that for centuries, they lived on the tundra in nomadic herds.
By about thirteen hundred years ago, the crystal ponies had begun to settle into villages, though they could grow little food. Their numbers than were probably less than a hundred. Scattered across the central tundra, the small villages traded with each other. They were interlinked by marriage and species, with a few even venturing into the mountains and creating the first trade links with the near unreachable Yaks,
It was into these villages in the year 302 P.E that a unicorn mare named Amore was born. Unicorns and pegasi are rare among the crystal ponies, but a few, such as the famous healer Radiant Hope, have been documented, and those few are among the most powerful of their kinds. Amore, like many, was a filly of great power.
When Amore was about ten, as her own records show, there came the Blizzards. The Frozen North was engulfed in snow. In the case of the north, it was caused by a great snow dragon. For a year, the tundra froze over, and the few crops the crystal ponies produced shriveled.
Young Amore was digging in the snow, when she came across a blue crystal. Bringing it home with her, she discovered its power to produce warmth and even melt the snow when love was present. Amore took that gift and began to fuel it with her own love for her people and family. She poured so much of her power and love into it, with the help of the other villagers, that it drove back the snow, carving the crystal into the form of a heart. Grass sprouted and the sky became blue. In the center of the village, where the heart and Amore sat, a great crystal palace appeared. She gained her cutie mark at that same moment.
Outside the influence of the Crystal Heart, as the magical crystal is known, the wasteland is still frozen and blizzardly. But inside, the land is one of the most beautiful known to pony kind. In this land the crystal ponies thrived. The Heart’s magic kept the monsters of the north at bay, and it did not allow danger within their borders while fully powered. They elected the young Amore as their queen. She grew in beauty, power and height, being described as a cream coated mare taller than Princess Luna, with a long pink and purple mane and the cutie mark of a crystal snowflake, which is represented in the flag of the Empire
For three hundred years, the Crystal Empire thrived, Empress Amore, as the Crystal Ponies called her, at its head. The name the Crystal Princess is of Equestrian invention, to correlate with its own Princesses, and the term Crystal Queen is used by the crystal ponies for anyone who rules them and controls the Crystal Heart but is not Amore herself.
Amore’s magic and soul was tied to the Heart itself, and while even the smallest shard of it existed, she too lived. Thus, it is suspected that even today she is not dead, but somehow imprisoned by Sombra, whose title of King was granted in the Crystal Imperial style.
Empress Amore welcomed the Tribes upon their arrival to the Equestrian lands. She maintained friendship with both them and the even more remote yaks. Each year she hosted the Crystal Faire, to rejuvenate the Crystal Heart and protect the Crystal Empire. An overlooked but immensely important part of the Faire, however, was the admittance of Yak and Equestrian ambassadors, to add to the Heart’s love and for symbolic purposes.
These friendly relations led to friendly relations between the Empress and the Princesses. Multiple visits of state were made by the rulers of the two kingdoms over the well over a century of their coinciding reigns.
After centuries of peace, the Crystal Empire met its greatest challenge. Completely unprepared, it was left in shock. In 127 E.E, A unicorn named Sombra rose up from inside the Crystal Empire, and somehow incapacitating Empress Amore, usurped the throne. Enslaving the crystal ponies, he began to raise an army of mind controlled or evil ponies and umbrum, shadow monsters of the north who could produce illusions and many other forms of magic, and had great power, though the Crystal Heart had the power to destroy them.
A young healer, Radiant Hope, escaped the Empire and came to the Castle of the Two Sisters to plead the Princesses for assistance. They came, for the sake of the crystal ponies who faced suffering unparalleled in history. Chained and tortured, they were forced to dig up the land of their corrupted homeland, in attempts by Sombra to reach the umbrum buried far beneath. At this time, the Yaks closed their borders to all after Sombra attempted to raid them. This ban would last for many centuries.
During the two-year war that followed, as was explained in the last chapter, the Crystal Empire suffered heavy losses. Its small population slaved away in or outside the Empire. On the battlefield, they were individually controlled by umbrum, prisoners saying that the shadow monsters used their powers to create illusions, leading the ponies to believe they were fighting the umbrum themselves. Nearly a third of the population died during those years. With Sombra’s defeat, the crystal ponies were finally liberated, but banished to a dormant exile in the Ice Crags until their return, afterwards making them living links to the far past.
The End of the Era of the Two Sisters and the Early Solar Era
Chapter 5: The End of the Reign of the Two Sisters and the Early Solar Era
After the fall of Sombra, Equestria entered an era of fear and persecution. After the disappearance of the Crystal Empire, dark magic, which had been tolerated, was hated and feared. Ponies ranging from foals to grandparents were murdered by mobs. Those born with powers over shadows or darker forms of magic were distrusted. Princess Luna was hated and feared for her night and dream related powers, many of which fell under dark magic. In a desperate bid to protect her, Princess Celestia did what she could to lessen her sister’s influence and keep her in the background.
The persistent atmosphere of fear created a shadow that hung over Equestrian culture. Since then, many of those with shadows of night for their magic talent have been shunned or distrusted, leading them to fall into the paths of revenge and evil, leading to more hatred.
Princess Celestia attempted to calm the fears of the general populous. It was during this time that Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns came into being. Most of the younger unicorns with inherent Dark Magic were gathered into the school in an attempt to remove them from mainstream society and protect them from harm. However, removing them from the world only furthered the damage, and in 141 EE a mob destroyed the first iteration of the school, killing many of the students within. The event shook Princess Celestia, and in its wake she banned Dark Magic and most forms of shadow magic, using the laws as a pretense to gather as many Dark Mages to her as possible, in order to protect them.
The Shadow laws angered many of the Dark Mages in Equestria. Banned from their own magic, they lashed out, causing a small rebellion labeled as the Shadow Rebellion. The Solar Guard put the rebellion down, but Princess Luna and the Lunar Guard did not participate, for despite her sister’s urging, she refused to play a part in the fight, purportedly saying that it was “...an action to oppress and put down the ponies of the night, and to destroy us solely because of what we are born with.”
Many historians agree that Princess Luna’s descent into darkness was hastened greatly by the Shadow Rebellion, and its harsh and devastating end. With most of Equestria’s Dark Mages, ranging from foals to grandparents, dead, the night was feared more than ever. Equestrians shunned the stars. They turned away from the darkness. Protesters gathered near the Castle of the Two Sisters to demand the imprisonment of Princess Luna.
The battle between sun and moon finally came to a head on a day in 149 EE* inside the Castle of the Two Sisters. On that day came the event that would change Equestrian history forever. Princess Luna, fed up with the hatred, fear and her sister’s ever-growing power gave in to her hate and jealousy and fear. Taken over, Princess Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon, allowing the moon to eclipse the sun and plunging Equestria into sudden darkness.
Analysts and magical experts call Princess Luna’s alter ego a ‘Nightmare Form’. Nightmare Forms, they say, are what occurs when an alicorn succumbs to their worst impulses and emotions, literally becoming a twisted version of themselves. Once fallen into that form, it is impossible for the pony to break out of their own accord, having become somepony else entirely. It takes powerful magic, for example the Elements of Harmony, as well as their own will to escape, for a pony to turn back.
After Princess Celestia’s arrival in the throne room of the Castle of the Two Sisters, she and Nightmare Moon fought one of history’s most epic duels, matching the battle between Mistmane and Sable Spirit (30 E.E). In their battle, much of the Castle of the Two Sisters was destroyed and Princess Celestia was injured. She eventually brought out the Elements of Harmony, using their power to banish Nightmare Moon.
However, the trouble caused by Nightmare Moon did not end at her defeat. After the battle Princess Celestia was severely wounded. She was rescued by a member of the castle staff and brought to the growing city of Canterlot to be treated. For nearly two weeks, Princess Celestia lay in a hospital, unconscious and unable to use magic. For those two weeks, the sun did not rise, and the night continued. Crops withered and died from the lack of sunlight. Ponies began to eat through their stored supplies. It was midsummer, as anypony who celebrates the Summer Sun Celebration knows, and there was no time to plant new crops after Princess Celestia raised the sun again.
The famine of 149-150 EE was the second worst in recorded history, felt by every species in the known world. The winter of 149 was one of the harshest ever, and the lack of crops after Nightmare Moon only added to the trouble. Ponies fled their frozen farms for cities like Canterlot, where the great storehouses attempted to provide everypony with food.
During the famine, Princess Celestia, taking the influx of immigrants into Canterlot, began the work on Canterlot Castle. She claimed that she had decided to move her dwelling from the Castle of the Two Sisters to Canterlot because the castle had sustained much damage, and because she wished to be more in touch with her subjects. Some historians suspect that an ulterior motive for the relocation was Princess Celestia’s bad memories of the home she had shared with her sister, for in recorded history she did not return to the castle again until Princess Luna’s return, except to gather a few possessions from her chambers.
As the famine continued through the winter, the death count nearly doubled that of all those who died of disaster during the first century of Equestrian history, excluding the period before the founding.
Limping out of the Great Famine, Equestria found itself in a period of instability and vulnerability. Pirates raided their borders and eventually, the griffons, following King Grover, the first griffon king attacked. Weak and unprepared, the eastern half of Equestria was soon overrun. For nearly twenty years, the Griffons ruled much of Equestria, after capturing Princess Celestia during the Siege of Canterlot, in 155 EE, what was considered the darkest era of Equestrian history (figuratively.)
During these twenty years, a rebellion appeared and grew. Hidden deep in the Everfree Forest, hidden by skill and the magic of the talented Mage Willowsnap, a descendant of Mage Meadowbrook, it flourished, gathering resisting ponies and griffons that had turned to the Equestrian cause. One of the most notable of these rebelling griffons was a griffon named Glyn. Having supposedly been a member of the Dark Lions, the griffon’s most elite fighting force, after his capture it was said that he turned to the ponies’ side before returning to the army, infiltrating it as a spy.
Eventually, the griffons found the hidden base of the Equestrian Rebellion. Forced to flee, they were chased south, before finally reaching the great Southern Desert. From here they pressed onwards, becoming the first Equestrians to reach the southern tip of the Westward Continent. It was then that the ponies first discovered the hippogriffs of Mount Aris. Though relatives of the griffons, the hippogriffs were far more pony-like in nature, their culture stemming from pony settlers arriving from the south sometime during the Pre-Equestrian Era.
Queen Novo agreed to assist the Equestrians and sailed the hippogriff’s great navy up the coast. They made landfall at the island of Trottingham, at the time a griffon settlement and from there began the reconquest of Equestria. They defeated the griffons in their makeshift capitol, Manehattan, breaking their hold on the kingdom and freeing Princess Celestia. United with Queen Novo, the ponies drove the griffons back to Griffonstone. They claimed Trottingham as their own. After the war ended, Princess Celestia and Queen Novo became the staunchest of allies. Queen Novo gave Princess Celestia her own eldest daughter, Windchaser, who the Princess adopted as her own child as well, uniting the two kingdoms. Windchaser founded the line of which Prince Blueblood and Lady Fleur Dis Lee come from. After the death of her husband and children, however, Windchaser, carrying her mother’s immortality, returned to Mount Aris, where she lived until she was killed in the Storm King’s invasion.
Finally, in 166 EE Equestria came out of its troubles, beginning what many historians see as the Golden Age of Ponydom.
The Solar Era, in which Princess Celestia ruled as a single absolute monarch, is often considered a Golden Age for Equestria and its pony neighbors. During this era, technology and society progressed in leaps and bounds. For an overwhelming amount of the millennium of the Solar Era, Equestria and many of its neighbors were at peace.
The Solar Era is also known for the rise of Amiscitism, a philosophy of friendship and harmony that is most prevalent in modern Equestrian culture. Although history is unsure how this philosophy first arose to power, its concept quickly took root. By the early 300’s EE, it had overwhelmed all other philosophies and religions in Equestria, becoming a dominant force. The government embraced Amiscitism. It quickly became the foundation for much of the new policy.
In the mid 300’s, Princess Celestia began a series of reforms to alter the government. With her sister gone, the Princess created new position, Captain of the Royal Guard, to lead the armed forces. Another reform was the creation of the Equestrian Education Association, to help regulate the schools.
The legal reforms implemented were also astounding. The death penalty was abolished, as was every form of slavery as a criminal punishment. A court system was set up. No longer were most trials sent directly to the Princess, a reform necessary with the growing population and the beginning of Celestia’s rule as a monarch.
During this time, Equestria also began to globalize, forming alliances with neighboring kingdoms. One of the most notable of these kingdoms was Prance. After signing a treaty with King Charlemane, the leader of Prance, agreed to assist Equestria. New trade routes were opened, and the Prench and Equestrians began to immigrate and trade between their two nations. Within a hundred years, the kingdom of Prance had been incorporated into Equestria, joining them as the southwestern territory on the coast. It was in this fashion that Equestria came to hold as much territory as it did. Though many kingdoms, mostly those run by other creatures or separated from Equestria by great distance, remained autonomous, numerous pony lands were absorbed into the kingdom as time went on, voluntarily abdicating their autonomy to join Equestria.
One side effect, sadly, of the beginnings of Equestria and the fact that Equestria is a majority pony society, is that it retained and still holds an overall backwards view of outside societies and species, generally considering them barbaric and dangerous. The prejudices towards these other creatures was rather similar to the prejudices towards dark magic users. These views, while not personally shown by Princess Celestia, have led to a lack of cooperation, or friendly ties between Equestria and nearly all non-pony nations. Throughout the Solar Era, though there were few to no battles inside the borders of the kingdom itself, there were many expeditions into other kingdoms. Many of these expeditions led only to further hostilities between Equestria and the nations, because these nations often considered the pony military invaders and meddlers, and justly so.
A prime example of this would be the Zebra wars. In 633 EE great zebra chieftain began to attempt to unify the Zebrican Tribes. This leader is seemingly unnamed in history books, for it is believed the Equestrians never bothered to write down the names of most creatures from elsewhere during military expeditions. The unification process was long and bloody. About two years into the war, Captain Ironhead of the Royal Guard ordered an expedition to “calm things down.” The expedition ended up killing the zebra chieftain and razing many Zebrican villages and farmlands while hunting down the zebra military. They then occupied Zebrica for fifty years. During this time, Princess Celestia had left the kingdom on diplomatic business with a group of creatures beyond the Gryphian Mountains.
The occupation of Zebrica was a terrible time. The Equestrian military destroyed numerous ritual sites and powerful Zebrican objects. They controlled food supplies in the few Zebrican cities. Ironhead continued to make things worse for the zebras, saying, “The savannah creatures obviously are incapable of getting over their savagery unless we teach them.” He attempted to press as much of Equestrian culture upon the zebras as possible. The oppression only stopped after Ironhead died at the age of 88 in 715 EE. His successor, Legion, saw the foolishness of what they had done and pulled troops out of Zebrica as quickly as possible.
The sudden disappearance of the Equestrians plunged Zebrica back into chaos. A bloody war was fought and lasted for nearly ten more years. When the zebras finally found peace, they had separated once again into the tribes. They blamed Equestria for their instability and bloodshed. When Celestia returned, she was shocked and furious about the whole affair. She sent a profuse apology to the Zebrican leaders and promised to remove most of the border troops. However, the Zebras closed themselves off from Equestria, and this isolation, and the memories brought home by Equestrian troops, led to today’s common prejudices and fears.
After the Zebrican Wars, the known world saw peace for nearly two a century. But then, in 810 EE, the Gryphon Kingdom collapsed. King Gruto, the king at the time, was slaughtered when Arimaspi the Cyclops broke into the palace and the Idol of Boreas, the Griffons most sacred artifact. The item was lost when Arimaspi, chased by the griffon soldiers fell into the Abysmal Abyss, a great crevice just outside of Griffonstone. This led to the decline of the griffons. Soon enough, the kingdom broke apart and Griffonstone fell into ruin. There was no true centralized government, and the griffons entered a period of poverty and chaos. However, the Equestrian government failed to reach out to the griffons. After the immense failure of the Zebrican campaign, Princess Celestia and the Equestrian government became increasingly more isolationist, and other creatures were becoming more and more rare in Equestria. In fact, very few ponies even knew Griffonstone had collapsed at all for nearly two hundred years.
Few notable events occurred after the fall of the Griffons. One notable event, however, was the founding of Ponyville in 956 EE. The Smith family asked for permission to settle on unclaimed land near the Everfree Forest. Princess Celestia granted them permission. The Smith family settled on the land and were soon joined by numerous other families. They soon grew into a town, one of the largest in the Equestrian Central Region.
Another notable even, in 1035 EE. One day, Princess Celestia mysteriously ventured into northern Equestria. When she returned, she brought with her a young alicorn filly, who was quickly coronated and dubbed Mi Amore Cadenza. Princess Mi Amore then faded into the background for many years and did little on the political stage until the invasion of Canterlot in 1050 EE.
In 1049 EE, Equestria was celebrating its official 1000th Summer Sun Celebration. However, the young student of Princess Celestia, Twilight Sparkle, found evidence of the return of the then legendary Nightmare Moon. Then, the celebration, taking place in Ponyville, was in fact destroyed by Nightmare Moon, who arrived, proclaimed eternal night, and took the title of ruler of Equestria.
Twilight Sparkle gathered to her a group of other ponies, by the names of Rarity Belle, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Pinkamena Diane Pie (Pinkie). They traveled into the Everfree Forest. There, they found the legendary magical weapons, The Elements of Harmony. They battled Nightmare Moon and defeating her. Afterwards, she returned to her original form of Princess Luna.
Princess Celestia announced her sister’s return. She officially reinstated her as a Ruler of Equestria and pardoned her of any crimes against Equestria. However, it is important to note that after her 1000 years on the moon, Princess Luna was little known in Equestria. All that remained of her for the most part were legends. Ponies were scared and confused by this new alicorn, and because of it, as well as her lack of knowledge of modern Equestria, Princess Luna did not take much of the political role, preferring to return to her ancient and long vacant position of Steward of Dreams.
With Luna’s return, the Solar Era officially ended, and pony kind stepped into its new and continuing era: The Era of Harmony.
Finally, it is time to explore the most recent development of the history of ponykind. The Era of Harmony is the most recent era of Equestrian history. It was marked by the return of Princess Luna and the union of the Main Six, the Heroes of Equestria. These heroes, the bearers of the Elements of Harmony returned back to Ponyville.
Twilight Sparkle, the bearer of the Element of Magic, settled into the Library of Ponyville, to continue studying Friendship and to help defend Equestria from threats. Her first challenge came soon after. A dragon, choosing to sleep on top of a mountain, threatened to cover Equestria in smoke. However, Twilight and the other Bearers climbed the mountain and convinced the dragon to leave Equestria.
The Element Bearers also were key in revealing the nefarious conspiracy against the Equestrian Crown and kingdom by Chrysalis, Queen of a hitherto unnoticed species called the changelings. She, using shapeshifting magic that all her species contained, replaced Princess Mi Amore Cadenza soon after the Princess’ engagement to the Captain of the Guard at the time, Shining Armor of house Sparkle, in 1036 EE. Chrysalis conditioned Shining Armors mind while stealing his love, the main source of sustenance for changelings. Only Twilight Sparkle, the Element Bearer, suspected her, and eventually revealed her deception with by rescuing the real Princess MI Amore Cadenza. Then, ponies and changelings fought the Battle of Canterlot. The Equestrians, with the power of the love of Shining Armor and Mia Amore Cadenza, prevailed, driving the changelings from the city.
Then took place the first royal wedding in over nine hundred years. Princess Mi Amore Cadenza married Lord Shining Armor. And with that union came about many things. About the same time, the Royal Guard began hunting out changeling infiltrators.
It was revealed later by the Equestrian Crown that Princess Celestia had in fact battled the kingdoms before, when nearly eight hundred years ago they had besieged the city of Trot. However, she had admitted that the Royal Crown had not considered them a major threat to the kingdom up until that point.
It turned out that changelings have been a part of pony society since soon after the founding of Equestria. Their history is as old as pony history, and they had been taking small amounts of love from ponies for centuries, safely and undetected. In fact, some changelings had lived peacefully among ponies prior to Chrysalis’ attack. These changelings, few as they were, came to the Crown during the new changeling hunts, revealed themselves, and were given permission to stay among pony society, undisguised. They were usually treated with suspicion, fear, and prejudice, something that seems to be commonly seen in history.
Soon after the wedding, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Prince Shining Armor were sent by Princess Celestia to oversee and protect the newly returned Crystal Empire. The Crystal Heart had been captured and hidden by King Sombra before his defeat, so the Princess was forced to protect the Empire under her own power. Soon after, the Element Bearers joined her. They assisted in hosting the first Crystal Faire in over one thousand years.
Twilight Sparkle and her dragon assistant Spike located the Crystal Heart after King Sombra, also returned, attacked. Spike delivered the Heart to Princess Mi Amore. She used its power to defeat King Sombra, and Spike was hailed as a hero of the Crystal Empire.
Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was hailed as the Crystal Queen, in the old Crystal Imperial style. She and Shining Armor were tasked with ruling the newly returned Empire. Its light and hope shone out across Equestria, further cementing the prevailing culture of harmony.
In the following of a trail of important events, about six months after the Crystal Empire’s return, soon before the summer solstice, it was announced that Twilight Sparkle, bearer of the Element of Magic, personal protégée of Princess Celestia, and sister of Prince Shining Armor, had become an alicorn, and was coronated as a Princess of Equestria soon after. The details of her ascension were never announced, but many speculate that she gained some form of true understanding that allowed her rise.
Though far out the reaches of Equestria did not receive the news for some time, the coronation of a new Princess, one who resided in a small town rather than in the capitol, shook the kingdom. There was some unrest, but the feelings of harmony prevailed against any dissent.
Princess Twilight Sparkle continued to live in the town of Ponyville, where a good deal of events of the past few years had occurred and will continue to occur. The town’s importance grew, and perhaps will continue to grow, for who knows what is coming for Equestria in the Age of Harmony.
Afterword
This has been quite the little adventure, this little recapitulation of Equestrian history. Personally, I hope it has proved informative. The journey certainly has been for me, and I hope it will continue into other pieces of the history of this world. With so much lore collected over time, so many tidbits and nibbles into the deeper stories, it is impossible to keep away.
Within this history, I attempted many things. I tried to analyze some of our history, so that ponies may understand where we come from, who we are, and what we have learned. History is the key to our past, and our past is the key to our future. We must embrace it, every part of it, and learn from what it has to teach us, so that we do not repeat our mistakes.
I have at least attempted to touch upon what so many have not, the history of other species and their roles in pony history. Many like to believe that ponies are superior, that other species have little role in the history of Equestria, but to ignore such thing makes our knowledge incomplete. All the species surrounding Equestria have played definitive and essential parts in our history, and only by knowing about these parts, about the histories and interactions of those around us, can we truly know our own past, and its true meaning.
I also attempted to show some of the fundamental pieces of pony society, both good and bad. Things we should hold onto, and things we should try to change. After all, we certainly are not perfect.
