Salutations my fellow ponies, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Some of you may know me from my research on the magic of friendship, now I have turned my attention towards making a single volume of knowledge discussing everything ponykind knows. Things we will discuss and explore include: history, cutie marks, plants, mythical creatures, legends, and much much more.
I completed this in my free time because I haven't found another piece of literature anywhere in my library, or even the Canterlot royal library.
So please come and join me as we first go into a brief history of Equestrian history. Unfortunately much of it has been lost in the ages, however we have managed to piece together a basic picture from arcane texts we have found.
Earliest Known History
The earliest known recording of ponykind as we know it today was more than a thousand years ago, the exact time or date is unspecified. It started with the three basic species that make up our modern society.
The powerful Pegasi warriors, that fought any enemies that dared face them or their allies. Their wings allowed for superior maneuverability and speed. They often wore armor and were raised since they were fillies to fly properly and fight. There have been unconfirmed reports of fillies as young as five being taken from their mothers and forced to learn how to fight. Sometimes they even took deformed fillies and tossed them off their cloud home. Those who were not physically strong enough for the task of fighting managed the weather instead. Even those who knew how to fight and were strong enough often still found themselves controlling the weather due to the peace often present in this land.
There were the elegant unicorn magicians. Whose magic allowed them to make great works of art and clothing. Their pieces of art were much sought after by the other races, as their themes ranged anywhere from peace and prosperity, to war and destruction. In unicorn society there were a few chosen elite, those most powerful in magic. They were charged with raising and lowering the sun and the moon. This was a great honor and they were rewarded handsomely for it. In the few times of war the unicorn's acted as kinds of commanders at times, and there have been cases reported where one of the sun raisers used magic unseen before in battle to decimate an entire army. This however was an ultra rare occurrence, as most unicorns did not want to, or even couldn't stoop down to that level.
Finally there were the hard working earth pony farmers. They worked from far before dawn until far after dusk, they grew all the food. They provided the other races with food, in return for the various services and products they provided the earth ponies. Often the earth ponies had the least glorious of the three races, however they were well prepared for this. Their muscles were often bigger than that of the pegasi, allowing them to stand for an entire day. Even though they grew the food, they had the least food per individual. The earth ponies were the biggest race in sheer numbers by far.
The Great Blizzard
As can be easily imagined, this arrangement did not work very well for anypony. When there was a shortage of food the pegasi would stop the rain and this would only increase the hunger. This in turn would cause the unicorns to stop raising or lowering the sun. The entire system would collapse into a spiral of starvation and thirst if even one link in the chain failed. Often the ones blamed for these short comings were the Earth Ponies, and as relationships continued to deteriorate, it become colder and colder. At first it was barely noticeable until the winter came now known as "The Great Blizzard."
This blizzard refused to let up and days in it quickly turned into weeks and in turn months. Every race blamed each other and the blizzard only became more intense. Everypony was soon starving and freezing. No matter how strong building they built, or how high they went, or how much magic they used, nothing could keep the blizzard away for long. The earth ponies refused to give any food to the other races, but it wouldn't have mattered either way. There was almost no food, only dried up dead plants with almost no nutrition whatsoever.
When it seemed like it couldn't get any worse the three tribe leaders had a meeting to figure out what could be done. But this only resulted in further accusing and degrading of relationships. Even though it seemed like the blizzard couldn't get worse, it somehow did. Knowing that their land was doomed each of the three leaders went of in search of a new land. Followed by a small following of ponies they arrived in what would become Equestria. After much fighting over who had found the land first, and who had claims to it, the blizzard found this land. However the primal love the other ponies shared for each other, overpowered the hate that the leaders shared. This caused the blizzard to be abolished and the land of Equestria was made.
END
There is much much more to this history, however you have been provided with enough of a background to understand the next part.
Modern Society
The various races now have more diversified roles than before, however there principle duties remain the same. The pegasi still control the weather, the earth ponies grow the majority of the food, and the unicorns still make art and clothing. The main difference between then and now, is that the unicorns no longer need to raise or lower the sun and the moon.
The current land of Equestria is peaceful and much more populous. There are many large cities in this land, and some smaller towns. Many races of both sentient, and non-sentient creatures inhabit our land. However the biggest by far is ponykind, that is not to say ponykind should feel superior.
The rest of this arcanum of knowledge shall explore every aspect of pony kind imaginable. It will be expanded upon or revised when any new information is made available.
Please enjoy.
The Elements of Harmony
The Elements of Harmony are powerful, and extremely mysterious artifacts. Their origins are unknown but the earliest mention of them in history is by Princess Celestia. They have the power to purify, petrify, and other unknown affects.
Origins
Not much is known about the Elements of Harmony, and even less is known about their origins. However from the information we've gathered, the earliest mention of the Elements of Harmony seems to be during the Discordian times. When Princess Luna and Princess Celestia found themselves incapable of defeating Discord, the god of chaos, on their own, the Elements of Harmony appeared to Celestia and Luna. This allowed Discord to be turned to stone for over a thousand years. Without the Elements of Harmony it is quite possible that we would still be living under Discords chaotic rule.
Other than this, their origins remain shrouded in mystery. Someponies have suggested theory's that say they have always been around, even since before the three tribes. Other theories claim that Luna and Celestia created them. A third relatively popular theory is that the Elements of Harmony appear whenever there is a need for them.
History
The first recorded time that the Elements of Harmony were used was against the god of chaos, Discord. Discord was ruling Equestria with a never ending cycle of unrest and unhappiness. Nature was completely off balance, and nothing was as it should be. Finally Princess Celestia and Luna stood up to Discord. They were defeated by the god of chaos and things only got ever worse as Discord constantly came up with new ways of torturing the ponies of the world. The Elements of Harmony were then obtained by Celestia and Luna who used them against Discord. He was encased in stone, and soon forgotten by all except the Princesses.
The second major recorded use of the Element of Harmony was against Nightmare Moon. Princess Luna had been raising the moon, and felt the ponies neglected her, and her gorgeous night. This led to bitterness and hate for the older sister, the ponies, and the light. Eventually Luna turned into Nightmare Moon, which has often been attributed to a theory named, “The Lunacy.” Nightmare Moon and her twisted sense of logic decided to force everypony to look upon her night, only she would never again allow the sun to rise. Crops began to fail and hunger was rampant, it was approaching near lethal conditions. The entire time Celestia had been trying to find a way to beat Nightmare Moon, but she was too powerful. Eventually Princess Celestia was forced to call upon the powers of the Elements of Harmony, which banished Nightmare Moon to the moon for one thousand years. This is also the source for what used to be the “Mare in the Moon,” formation.
After a thousand years, Nightmare Moon returned for vengeance against ponykind. She, once again, decided to plunge Equestria into a state of eternal night. A group of six ponies went off to go find the Elements of Harmony, which had been hidden long ago. They traveled through the Everfree forest and faced many struggles. These only solidified their friendship, which in turn caused the elements of harmony to reform, even after being destroyed by Nightmare Moon. After the Elements of Harmony had reformed, the six ponies worked together to cleanse Nightmare Moon of the darkness that plagued her, turning her into a younger version of Princess Luna.
Not long after Nightmare Moon had been vanquished, the ancient enemy, Discord, escaped. He brought a fresh wave of chaos from his over a thousand year long imprisonment and stole the Elements of Harmony. The Elements of Harmony's new representatives went off in search of them, only to be tricked by Discord to turn into something they weren't. Giving up hope they went back to their home in Ponyville where they found the Elements of Harmony, but due to their lack of friendship and missing one pony out of the six, the Elements were useless. After much magic and troubles the six ponies were back to themselves and used the Elements of Harmony to imprison Discord in stone again.
General Information
There are six Elements of Harmony: the element of kindness, the element of loyalty, the element of laughter, the element of honesty, the element of generosity, and the element of magic. Each of these elements is currently represented by a specific pony. These ponies demonstrated the true potential of the Elements of Harmony when they worked together to beat Nightmare Moon, even after the elements had appeared destroyed. The six ponies are Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and finally me, Twilight Sparkle.
The elements were found by these six ponies, but promptly destroyed by Nightmare Moon. However, the ponies didn't give up and found that the shattered elements came to them as they each represented part of it. It has been theorized that anypony who would have properly represented the elements could have done the same.
However most of the information from this point on is theorizing, and guessing games. None of us know when the elements will be needed again, or even figure out if they ever will be needed again. But for now, the Elements of Harmony are kept in a secret vault in Canterlot castle which is protected by an extremely powerful spell, that I don't even know what it does. I do know that nothing good will come of attempting to get into this vault.
More information needed, will update when available
~Twilight Sparkle.
