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the time before
Down to Earth
Spirits soaring High
of Goddesses and Mares
Those Without a Face of Their Own

the time before

“Spike, what can you tell me about the time before Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi unified and founded the first Equestrian Realm?”

Accessing database storage alpha 7.13.8-D … Access granted

…

It was a dark time indeed. Subsequent ages referred to the pre-Equestrian era as ‘the age of strife’ ‘the time of hatred’ ‘the dark ages’ or simply as ‘the terror’.

Even modern historians can only make guesses at what was before this period or how long it actually lasted. The estimations range from about two hundred years up to several millennia. On a side note, neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna are willing to provide information on the matter, despite the fact that both admitted to be old enough to have seen even the times before the disputing tribes.

“Sorry to interrupt, but can I ask a question?”

Of course you can. What would you like to know?

“Do you know How old the Princesses are?”

Yes.

“How old are Princess Celestia und Princess Luna?”

“Ah ah ah my little pony. It’s not polite to ask a mare’s age.”

“Ooookeeeeyyyy… what was that?”

That was an automatic recording by Princess Celestia which she asked me to play whenever somepony asks for her or her sister’s age.

“So she doesn’t want to be asked how old she is?”

That would be a fair assumption. Do you wish me to continue on the first subject?

“Yes, please.”

So, where was I? Ah yes, since nopony knows how long the separation of the three tribes actually lasted we can’t say how the relations of the tribes changed over time, or if they changed at all. All available data, aside from a few legends without a clear indication of their age, stem from the last 50 years before the unification.

Shortly after the accession of King Silver Hoof, the father of the famous Princess Platinum, he declared that all Earth Ponies had to bow before the Unicorn Kingdom and pay tribute for rising the sun and moon. The demand was laid down in his 17th proclamation and accounted for one third of a year’s harvest. Most of the Unicorn nobility considered this very generous of them since, to them, tending to sun and moon was much more important and difficult than simple farm work or tending to the weather. Therefore they considered an equal spread between the tribes more than just fair.

The Earth Ponies, as you might have already guessed, were deeply insulted by this demand and refused the proclamation since it would leave them with barely enough to feed themselves, least of all the Pegasi which also demanded food as payment for their services.

Considering latest estimations on the population of the time we can see why this proclamation turned the underlying tension between the tribes into open hostility. Unicorns only made up roughly fifteen percent of the overall population, Pegasi accounted for an estimated 25 percent and therefore nearly 60 percent of the living ponies at the time were Earth Ponies. I’m sure you see how this demand was rather ill received by the other tribe’s leaders.

The Earth Ponies simply refused to deliver more food than previously to the Unicorns, which took this as a grave insult to their personal and national honor. The Pegasi felt the proclamation was presumptuous and therefore decided to show the Unicorns Kingdom who was in charge of the sky. For two months afterwards the Unicorn Kingdom was almost constantly covered in heavy thunderstorms and blizzards.

After the two months the Pegasi thought they made good enough of a point and switched the weather over the Unicorns Kingdom back to its normal schedule. At this point the whole situation would have ended if King Silver Hoof had seen reason and accepted that it would be too costly to pursue his proclamation further, but he was nothing if not determined.

King Silver Hoof saw the weather the Pegasi brought to his kingdom as a declaration of war and the refusal of the Earth Ponies as an act of treason. The latter is most interesting simply because Unicorns and Earth Ponies had vastly different assumptions of their relations towards one another. Unicorns always considered Earth Ponies to be servants of their kingdom, while Earth Ponies never actually had a unified state and mostly considered the Unicorns rather rude customers.

“Wait wait wait wait. There was no Earth Pony state?”

From a legal point the Earth Pony tribe never united under the rule of a single individual or faction. While the Pegasi where essentially a military junta and the Unicorns had formed an aristocracy, the Earth Ponies remained splintered into small groups mostly defined by common heritage or shared living space.

They had a common cultural basis, which lead to prospering trade between different families and all available sources claim that no Earth Pony ever went to war against another Earth Pony. Even in this day and age Earth Ponies are considered dependable, honest and loyal, especially to their friends and family.

The Earth Pony tribe at the time was mostly organized into big family groups of several dozen ponies. Those families then formed local groups of three to twenty families that either lived in one big settlement or at least close enough to each other to be considered neighbors. Each family had a matriarch or a patriarch, normally the oldest pony of the family. Local group’s patriarchs and matriarchs then met once every few years and selected one of them to be the representative of their families. Today such a representative would be similar to the major of a town.

If multiple local groups were faced with a common threat the elected representatives of all involved groups would meet, discuss their further actions and, if needed, selected one of them to represent all groups. Chancellor Pudding Head only came to power because the entirety of the Earth Pony tribe saw themselves threatened and therefore a representative of the entire tribe was needed. Neither Princess Platinum nor Commander Hurricane ever learned that there actually was no unified Earth Pony nation which they could actually have negotiated with, though most likely the individual families would have accepted any deal Pudding Head would have made. Earth Ponies always had great trust in their leaders.

“Ok, first time I ever heard that. Anyway, what did happen after King Silver Hoof considered himself at war with the Pegasi and thought of the Earth Ponies as traitors?”

He when the Pegasi made no further move against him he assumed they massed an army and therefore did the same. First he gathered as many craftsponies and architects as he could and had them fortify every major city in his kingdom. The walls of Neighbylon and Troyt date back to his reign. His defenses where considered impenetrable even by Praetor Lightning Strike, one of the highest Pegasus commanders at the time.

He considered himself lucky that the Earth Ponies were stupid enough to still deliver their goods to his kingdom after their quote unquote ‘rebellion’. But when even after several years the Pegasi didn’t assault his strongholds he thought his defenses strong enough to go to the.

So he gathered battle mages and their acolytes from his entire kingdom and ordered what, outside the Unicorn Kingdom, marked the start of a thirty year long war. Historians later dubbed it ‘the wendigo war’ though some ponies found the title ‘food fight’ much more to their … taste.

“Did you just make a taste pun about a war for food?”

I liked that one.

“You’re a really strange AI.”

I was designed and build by her Royal Highness Princess Twilight Sparkle, based on the mental imprint of her number one assistant. She even named me after him. Even though a few alterations were made, his dedication to his duties, his loyalty to the princess and his love for comics are the baseline of my personality matrix.

Furthermore, I’m glad to inform you that my system is working inside specified parameters and my last system error was logged 2.479 hours and 33 minutes ago. Therefore I am not strange, but perfectly fine, thank you.

“Ahm, can we please get back to the war?”

Yes of course.

Approximately six months after the 17th proclamation was made public King Silver Hoof ordered his first, sixth and tenth battle mage division to destroy Pegasi outposts near their borders and tasked the second and third division with keeping the weather over the kingdom in check.

Simultaneously he ordered his remaining fourth, fifth, seventh, eighth and ninth battle mage divisions to bring the traitorous Earth Ponies back in line.

The Unicorn armies conquered several major Earth Pony settlements and many small surrounding homesteads.

Within a half a year he had expanded his kingdom to nearly double its initial size and thought himself on a good way of conquering the Earth Pony tribe. What he didn’t know it that in this half a year both of the other tribes gathered their strength to strike back. The Earth Ponies had formed a coalition to fight back the invaders and prepared an army, while the Pegasi waited for the cold of winter to set in before they wanted to strike at the Unicorns’ supply lines, essentially making them freeze and starve to death.

What King Silver Hoof didn’t know however was that his regular citizens struggled to keep the food supply up and running, without the goods from the Earth Ponies the agriculture of the Unicorn Kingdom was barely enough to keep them afloat.

One month later the first great battle between the Earth Pony army and the Unicorn Kingdom’s battle mages was fought near a temple that is only known as the Oracle of Dolphin.

The Earth Ponies had crafted suits of armor unlike any the world had seen before and historians of the time claim their army numbered about 7.000 ponies. Even if we take conservative estimates of 3.500 Earth Ponies in battle armor, they still outnumbered the Unicorn Kingdom’s battle mages present ten to one.

After barely 30 minutes of fighting the entirety of the Unicorn Kingdom’s ninth battle mage division was destroyed, all it’s mages killed and most of the acolytes put to flight.

In the later war the tribes developed a three way stalemate of sorts.

The Unicorns were unable to push back the massive armies the Earth Ponies could field and retreated to their cities and defended their mighty walls. Since the Pegasi couldn’t field enough heavy weapons to lay siege to an extensive fortress city they stayed clear of the Unicorn Kingdom and considered the sky over the kingdom lost.

But the Earth Ponies had no such powerful defenses and so the Pegasi raided many Earth Pony settlements and kept huge parts of the tribe’s army on garrison duty to minimize the losses in food and civilian population. At the same time the plundered food and resources allowed the Pegasi to maintain their population and their army throughout the war.

Since they had neither flight nor magic the Earth Ponies resorted to ingenuity and science to further their war effort. They attacked and besieged many Unicorn cities; even managed to break a few of those mighty walls. Constant Pegasi raids kept them busy though and most likely prevented the annihilation of the Unicorn Kingdom. With the combination of a reliable base economy, a drive to develop technology to match magic and flight of the other tribes and an enormous numerical advantage, many historians hypothesize that the Earth Ponies could have actually won the war, even if it would have taken them a century or two.

But this never came to pass because the Wendigoes brought the long winter.

Terminating connection to database storage alpha 7.13.8-D … procedure concluded.

Would you like me to comply a list of related topics?

“Yes Spike, show me what you got.”

Recommended topics to proceed from here are:
- Pre unification Earth Pony culture
- Pre unification Pegasi culture
- Pre unification Unicorn culture
- Earth Pony battle doctrine
- Pegasi battle doctrine
- Unicorn battle doctrine
- Equestrian combined arms doctrine
- The long winter
- The Wendigo war
- The great exodus

Personally I love the story about the great battle of the San Palomino Plains where Princesses Celestia and Luna led the charge against the last remnants of Discords first ‘reign of chaos’.

Or would you like to ask me something about an unrelated topic?

“I think I would like to hear about…”

Author's Note

Ok, now for some organisatorial stuff. :twilightsmile:

Any of you who has a Question for Spike the D.R.A.G.O.N. or who want's to learn mroe about a certain topic may feel free to ask their question in the coments of the last released chapter. I will then either pick one at random or, if there are more than just a handful of people partaking in this story, I will pick the one with the most votes. :pinkiehappy:

by the way, all answers will effectively be my own headcanon, I will try to make is as logical as I can in regards to the series but you have been warned.

Let's see how this one progresses. :trollestia:

Down to Earth

“… Earth Pony culture. But not just from before the unification, you surely have something that’s more up to date!?”

I could try to give you a more general overview on Earth Pony culture and social structure.

“Sounds good to me.”

Accessing database storage eta 2.08.14-A to 2.08.14-D … Access granted.

Compiling information … procedure concluded.

…

Please be aware that the following descriptions are based on averages. There will always be Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi that deviate from what can be considered normal or average behavior. Don’t think of anything I say as a fundamental law or rule, as with all social observations there are tons of exceptions.

Ok, with that out of the way, let’s start.

To understand the cultural background of most Earth Ponies you first have to understand that they have a vastly different social dynamic than ponies of other tribes. A Pegasus tends to be more or less competitive and therefore, most of the time, quickly forms rivalries and bonds of comradery with other Pegasi around him- or herself. Unicorns on the other hand almost always try to excel, be it in a field of personal interest or in comparison to other ponies in general. Earth Ponies are rather reserved by comparison.

It is common knowledge that Earth Ponies tend to have extremely strong bonds towards family and friends. What most other ponies don’t realize however is that those bonds are either based on a very personal and shared background or that they are cultivated and nurtured over long periods of time.

In pre Equestrian history Earth Ponies spend almost their entire life with their family. Parents, grandparents, siblings, etc. were the primary social circle and therefore formed the basis of Earth Pony society. Neighbors, most of the time families who befriended one’s own family generations prior, formed the secondary social circle. It is believed that, since the aforementioned primary and secondary social circle of the average Earth Pony consisted entirely of other Earth Ponies, over time a subconscious trust towards specimen of their own tribe evolved. Therefore the tertiary social circle finally was formed by essentially all other Earth Ponies.

Based on their experience before the founding of Equestria and the rule of the royal sisters Earth Ponies tended to be more cautious towards beings from outside their social circles. Since Unicorns and Pegasi are more common in Earth Ponies social circles these days and the last hostility between tribes dates a couple thousand years back it is rather uncommon for Earth ponies to refuse to offer hospitality and friendship to other ponies. The most common exception to that is when the individual in question has personal negative experience and refuses social interaction on base of that experience.

Still, compared to other ponies, Earth Ponies tend to take their time in forming friendships. An individual will have to slowly work their way inwards from the outer social circles.

If we assume that you are from outside even the tertiary social circle of an Earth Pony you first have to introduce yourself. It is generally expected of an individual from outside the tertiary social circle to be professional and straight to the point when they have business with the Earth Pony in question. I would advise you to refrain from making small talk or ask question about their family, at this stage that would be considered nosy and you would, at best, get a rather dodgy answer. Earth Ponies who don’t know you most likely won’t think any less of you if you just walk up to them, state your name and what business you have with them, do said business, say good bye and head off. If you stick to this polite yet professional way of doing things, over time you will be seen as a hardworking and down to earth pony. No pun intended.

After your new Earth Pony neighbors took their time to judge your character, they will likely approach you in one way or another to let you know that you successfully managed to enter their tertiary social circle. This will likely take the form of them offering you to call them by their first name or a nickname of sorts.

At this point the social dynamic experiences a rather extreme change of pace. Your, soon to be, Earth Pony friend will start to ask you questions about yourself, do a little small talk and in general be more open towards you. You are completely free to ask them questions about themselves and common accomplices. It is still considered somewhat rude to ask questions about the Earth Pony’s family, except for family members who you already know to some degree. They will slowly introduce you to other members of their social circles and will then observe your interactions if them. They will also continue to examine you and your work on a general basis.

Earth Ponies have a tendency to try and form a tightly knit circle of friends. After you entered their tertiary social circle they will start to try and draw you in closer, so to speak. You will be asked for favors from time to time, mostly work related ones and if you ever need help you are free to ask for it. Over time, especially if you manage to befriend an Earth Pony’s friends, you will advance into the secondary social circle and will officially be called a friend.

If you are introduced into an Earth Ponies secondary social circle and they call you a friend you essentially have a friend for life. If you ever need help you know where to find it. You won’t get invitations to their parties because you are always invited, unless explicitly stated otherwise. You can ask any question about any family member and friend of theirs and they will likely answer, though they will respect other ponies privacy and will let you know when you should rather ask the pony in question personally.

Most ponies never advance beyond that state of friendship with an Earth Pony, or any other pony for that matter. And, frankly, most ponies wouldn’t mind that. You essentially formed a friendship that will likely last a lifetime, what more could you ask for?

Though if you ever, by any means, prove you’re the most loyal of friends and the most dependable of ponies, you will enter the what I like to call *the inner circle* of an Earth Pony. Some ponies describe it as something mythical. They say you have to be so pure of heart that you are worthy to bear an element of harmony. Or that it’s more likely to turn into an alicorn and many more such fantastic fairytales.

But in fact it’s rather simple and much less fancy. Most Earth Ponies do anything for their family, they will put their lives on the line if need be. And if you grow close enough to them they will sooner or later entertain the thought of doing all that for you too. The only thing left to do is to show that you would do the same for them.

Granted, such deep friendships are rare, but if you ever find yourself in one you can call yourself the luckiest pony alive. You are not LIKE family; for all intends and purposes you ARE family. Only the most personal of secrets will be kept secret. You won’t need a key to their house because the door will always be open for you, by Tartarus, the door will likely not only be open but there will be a plate set for you at the table. In all honesty, I can’t really describe to which lengths an Earth Pony would go for you at this stage. All I have is an old recording from Twilight and Applejack I’d like to show you on that matter. Do you want me to play it?

“Sure, I was always curious how the infamous bearer of honesty looked and sounded like.”

“Twi? Why do ah have t’ talk into that camera there?”
“AJ, there are at least a dozen books on me, you and all the other girls individually and several hundred about our adventures as a group, but all those books have one fundamental flaw that I want to correct.”
“Shucks, ah never thought ah would hear ya’ say books aren’t perfect sugercube.”
“Well, they are great and all but even I aren’t deluded enough to assume they have no weaknesses. Anyway, what I want to do is to preserve all of us on film. A book can’t show you how a pony talked, how their voice sounded and even their look can only be shown in still images. A camera can do all that. Now, are you ready?”
“As ready as ah ever be. What do ya’ want me to do?”
“First, let’s hear what friendship means to you.”
“Shoot Twi, that’s a mighty though one. Ah think Friendship can mean a lo’ of things ya’ know. It can mean that ya’ all have to be open and honest about ya’ problems and feelins. It can also mean that ya’ just give a good fella a little extra discount on his apples. But it can also mean that ah’ am willing to kill and die for mah’ friends.”
“Wow that was dark. O…K…, let’s lighten the mood with…”

I took the liberty to end the recording here because otherwise it would likely compromise your sleep schedule. I think you get the point of how intense friendships with Earth Ponies can be.

“I’m not eight anymore, I don’t have to be in bed by ten.”

You want me to play the full recording? This one alone is 5 hours 27 minutes and 43 seconds long and after that there are also the ones with Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Moonddancer, Sunset Shimmer, Starlight Glimmer, Shining Armor, Princess Cadence, Discord, Steven Magnet and 487 other ponies, griffons and zebras.

“… Ok, that’s a lot of recordings. Why is there so much?”

Twilight wanted to be thorough.

“What in the name of Celestia ... can we continue with Earth Pony culture please?”

Of course, now that you got a short overview of the average Earth Pony’s social dynamic let’s get to the main point.

For extreme long periods of time Earth Ponies were very sceptic towards outsiders, and rightfully so. Before the three tribes united Unicorns and Pegasi often thought of them as dull, stupid and mundane. More often than not they made it painfully obvious that they did so. In response to that Earth Ponies mostly isolated themselves from the other tribes, preferring to stay amongst themselves.

To them, only other Earth Ponies were trustworthy. The family was the first and most important group to rely on and the friends of their family were their friends too. This concept worked so well that it took more than a millennium under the princesses’ rule to slowly but surely get Earth Ponies to break with these traditions.

Overall Earth Ponies are amongst the most traditional ponies you can imagine. If their family did something a certain way since hundreds of years they will do their best to keep it that way. They will generally try to avoid change as long as possible.

“Didn’t you say earlier, when you talked about the last pre unification war, that the Earth Ponies had an edge because they developed new technology faster than the other tribes?”

Yes I did and that’s the thing. Earth Ponies will hold onto their traditions as long as they can, but if they face a problem they can’t fix with their traditional methods and tools they will abandon said methods and develop a new, simple and, most importantly, working solution.

The cultural identity of Earth Ponies is a strange mixture of traditionalism, pragmatism and practicality. As long as something works there is no need to repair it and if something needs repairing, they do it in the simplest way they can. Thanks to this mindset, Earth Ponies rarely become scientists, but Equestria’s engineering corps is made up of Earth Ponies almost exclusively.

A little anecdote: A Unicorn scientist tried to study the composition of the upper atmosphere to develop more accurate models to simulate influences on Pegasi weather schedules. Since quill and ink didn’t work well in the extreme thin air at high altitudes, they came up with a special ball point pen that held the ink inside under high pressure. An Earth Pony engineer suggested using a lead pencil instead.

Granted this may or may not the entirely accurate, but it nevertheless captures the mindset of most Earth Ponies perfectly.

In general Earth Ponies tend to prefer the more practical kind of work. Hard physical work is seen as the most preferable kind of work. It’s often assumed that hard work is seen as a method to build a pony’s character. It is still unknown if the fact that the average Earth Pony’s life expectancy is about 20 years higher than that of Pegasi or Unicorns relates to their more physical active life style. Alternative theories attribute the longer life span to an Earth Pony’s natural magic, which also gives them greater than average strength and tenacity.

If you want to summarize Earth Pony culture it comes down to long standing and almost sacred traditions and hard work. Be it that work has to be done a certain way or that festivities need to be celebrated in a specific manner. Traditions are part of their heritage and to most Earth Ponies their heritage is of utmost importance. The Apples for example, to this day, tend to the orchard of Sweet Apple Acres the way they always did. The fields are still plowed by the eldest Stallion with Big Macintosh’s old yoke and plow instead of a tractor. Their infamous Zap Apple Jam is still made the same way that Granny Smith once laid down. An Apple still bucks each tree one by one and their apples are still carried to Ponyville’s market in massive wooden crates and sold at the ancient booth Applejack build, with a smile and the most southern accent you ever listened to. And, as far as I heard, their apples are still the juiciest and tastiest in all of Equestria.

“The Apples still work like that at Sweet Apple Acres? But Sweet Apple Acres is by far the largest single orchard in Equestria. I heard the main orchard alone is about 25 square miles and that there are dozens of other Apple orchards all over Equestria. They are one of the richest families of Equestria. Estimations put their cash assets between 5 and 30 billion bits, property not included of course.”

All your information is correct, but to answer your question, they indeed still work like that. I personally think Applejack would have their hide if they ever changed that.

Do you want me to continue my summary?

“Yes Spike … please do so.”

But to any Earth Pony worthwhile their friends and family are far more important than their traditions. They will be rather impersonal towards you if they don’t know you and nopony they hold in high regards vouches for you and their rather clinical business attitude might seem rude at first, but if they finally consider you a friend you have a friend for life. I think not many friendships go as deep and are as strong as when an Earth Pony names you an honorary family member.

And finally they are a deeply practical people. If something works, great. If it doesn’t, you have to fix it immediately and as simple as you can. The simplest solution is often the most elegant, isn’t it?

The only thing that changed about Earth Pony society, culture and social structure in the past two millennia is that they, for the most part, lost their aversion against non-Earth Ponies. In this day and age Pegasi, Unicorns, Zebras and Griffons can and often will find Earth Ponies as nice and hospitable as if they were family.

Terminating connection to database storage eta 2.08.14-A to 2.08.14-D … procedure concluded.

Do you want me to compile a list of suggested topics again?

“Yeah, sure, what would be good to go on with?”

Recommended topics to proceed from here are:
- Pegasi culture
- Pre unification Unicorn culture
- Equestrian unified culture a.k.a. how three tribes became one people
- Earth Pony battle doctrine
- Earth Pony magic
- Earth Pony biology
- The long winter
- The Wendigo war
- The great exodus

We could also, once again, go on with an unrelated topic. How would you like to proceed?

“Next give me…”

Author's Note

Ok, second chapter out, still no questions from readers, well, maybe now one of you get curious and want's to choose the next theme? :twilightsmile:

Any of you who has a Question for Spike the D.R.A.G.O.N. or who want's to learn more about a certain topic may feel free to ask their question in the comments. If for some reason there are more than one comment I will pick one at random. :pinkiehappy:

As last time, all answers will be my own headcanon, I will try to make it as logical as I can in regards to the series but you have been warned. :trollestia:

Spirits soaring High

“… something about Pegasus culture and society. I’m really curious how they compare to Earth Ponies.”

I expected that a bit earlier to be honest. Pegasi often inspire other pony’s imagination, they have a certain aura of mysticism and freedom to them. And yet they appear utterly alien, with the ability to fly, cities made of clouds and all that. It’s kind of natural that you want to know more about them.

Anyway, let’s get this show on the road.

Accessing database storage epsilon 2.19.03 to 2.19.04 … Access granted.

Compiling information … procedure concluded.

…

First and foremost, please be aware that the individual Pegasus can deviate from the following descriptions. As I said in regards to Earth Ponies before, these are averages, some of which are several millennia old. Modern life, as well as social change that came to be since the earliest times of pony civilization has tempered the flame that burns in the heart of most Pegasi, so to speak. It is safe to say that the Pegasi living today have little in common with their ancestors. When compared with Unicorns and Earth Ponies they might in fact have changed the most over the last couple thousand years.

Ok, I think we should start with a look at Pegasi today. In modern equestrian society a Pegasus is most likely to be either employed in weather management, striving for a sports career, enlisted in the military or performs a task that requires high speed and agility in general.

All of these occupations have in common that they offer a great deal of physical activity. Pegasi prefer such tasks because they are driven by an instinct to constantly stay in motion. They have a basic psychological need to be active and keep moving. This is likely based on the fact that, if you are an herbivorous species in an environment that provides almost no cover to hide from predators, all that’s keeping you alive is your speed and agility.

“What predators are you talking about? I’ve never heard of any predators that hunted Pegasi.”

Ponies are herbivores, even though limited consummation of meat is possible, the bulk of a pony’s diet consists of plants. All known herbivorous species, that are not self-aware, serve as pray to predatory species of their native ecosystem. Even species that have developed a defense mechanism that makes them almost invulnerable to natural predators still serve as pray to those predators if said defense is compromised. There is no indication that pre-historic ponies where an exception of that.

For example, a Timberwolf will attack any pony he comes across because he views them as pray. A Pegasus can fly away, an Earth Pony is unlikely to be alone and can therefore fight the attacker off in a group and a Unicorn has its magic to defend itself. But a Pegasus with an injured wing could not escape, to a single Earth Pony it would be near suicide to fight against a Timberwolf and if a Unicorn is unable to use its magic it’s practically defenseless. All three cases would lead to the pony becoming pray to the Timberwolf.

Based on these observations it is widely accepted ponies, at some point in their evolution, served as prey. Naturally there is no historical evidence but we have the legends of the individual tribes to draw from. Because legends often preserve knowledge for extensive periods of time we can use them to make guesses about times long before ponies even had a language.

Most commonly known among Pegasi is the legend of ‘the Living Flames’ which talks about creatures that are made of fire. They spread it wherever they went; the living flames were huge creatures that soared through the sky as lumbering giants. But nothing could stop them, whatever crossed their path was doomed to burn and the fire inside their chests was so hot that even their very breath became a torrent of flames.

“Dragons?”

Most likely, yes. Other popular legends are ‘the Scream of Death’ and ‘the Spears of Light’. The former most likely refers to Griffons, because of their blood chilling screams when they attack, while the latter talks about how certain areas are forbidden because of spears made of light that shoot in the sky and kill Pegasi that stray too far from home. Ponylogists and historians assume that ‘the Spears of Light’ were actually primitive spells from Unicorns who mistook the Pegasi for airborne predators and shot them down when they came near their hideout.

“Wouldn’t the unicorns have found the body of the dead Pegasus after they shot him down? I mean they would have seen that these were ponies too, wouldn’t they?”

We are currently talking in the realms of legend. These originate from times when ponies lived in caves or wandered the lands as nomads; they might be several 10000 years old. At those times there was no formal education for Unicorns that taught them how to use their magic. It is likely that a Unicorn simply gathered as much magic as it could and blasted it at whatever was threatening it. It’s unlikely that anything hit by such a raw magic blast left enough remains to identify its species.

“Holy sh…”

Indeed.

Anyway, from an evolutionary point of view it makes sense that the ancestors of the Pegasi left the ground almost entirely when their natural magic evolved to enable them to fly. Flying predators are more dangerous than their earthbound counterparts, but they are extremely limited in numbers and Pegasi continued to evolve and adapted perfectly to a life in the sky.

Even on the ground Pegasi are fast and extremely nimble, the fact that those qualities are even more important in the sky led to further improvement of those skills, since only the fastest and most agile flyers survived. Slow and clumsy specimen sooner or later got picked off by predators.

Based on this Pegasi are naturally adapted to high speeds, can tolerate extreme g-forces without technical assistance and feel uneasy when they stay still, their minds and bodies are all about movement. Some Pegasi might be known for taking long naps on clouds and such, but that’s not all that common when we take the entire population into consideration. Some Pegasi seem to have evolved past their unease when at rest.

But their overall desire to stay in motion is still reflected in their culture today, you will find few Pegasi who are comfortable with office jobs or something alike.

The next important thing about Pegasi culture is its tendency to encourage competition. In ancient times Pegasi essentially raced against predators and other Pegasi alike. If you were faster than the others, you lived. If not … well, you didn’t.

Throughout history Pegasi always displayed a higher than average drive to compete. In times before the tribes united the social standing of a Pegasus was directly related to his martial prowess. The better you could fly and fight the higher was your social status. This naturally led to a more individualistic society. The average social circle of a Pegasus is not more than ten ponies. The bonds inside this social circle however are extremely tight, comparable to family, sometimes even beyond family.

Before the unification Pegasi were trained in single and squad based combat. These small quads were led by the strongest member and essentially operated independently of other squads. Squad members always tried to surpass each other and rise to leadership themselves. The individual squads competed against each other for glory and recognition. All squads of a city more or less followed the orders of the leader of the best squad. And the leaders the cities then decided which of them was in charge of all Pegasi in ritual single combat. This was supposed to guarantee that the Pegasi always had the strongest leader possible.

Because of that competition is almost a second nature to most Pegasi. It drives them to join the military and compete with their fellow soldiers to be recognized as the best. Same go for careers in various sports. A Pegasus has a natural drive to be the best … and a need to prove it.

The Wonderbolts are a great example for that. They started out as a squad of elite flyers of the equestrian army. They were supposed to gather the best Pegasi, form the most elite flying and fighting squad imaginable and, along the way see which of them was the very best. Today they are only in name part of the military. Even though technically all members of the Wonderbolts are soldiers, they are permanently exempted from their duties in favor of their flight shows. Now the Wonderbolts are an ideal, something for young Pegasi to strife for. Every few decades some general or prince or whatever suggests decommissioning and disbanding the Wonderbolts. Analysis of natural social dynamics however suggests that this would lead to the Pegasi directing their competitive nature towards something else, which, in turn, could lead to wide spread tension among ponies. Every suggestion to disband the Wonderbolts was therefore rejected by royal decree.

Like princess Celestia said in her speech at the 2000th anniversary of Cloudsdales founding:

“Pegasi always strife to get better, to push past the boundaries and obstacles the world puts in front of them. It gives me unparalleled joy to see my little ponies try to better themselves, especially when so many of them succeed. But we always have to remember that rivalry can as easily lead to two ponies driving each other forward as it can to them despising each other. The flame that burns in the heart of the Pegasi has to be tempered. When you all can control your inner fire, it will drive you to achieve things that are considered impossible, but if left unchecked that very same fire will consume every stallion, mare and foal that ever soared through the skies of Equestria.”

It stands to reason that this view on the nature of Pegasi is what led Princess Celestia to expanding the Wonderbolts to their current size and structure. I mean, each city with a significant Pegasus population has a field office, while every cloud city has full-fledged training grounds, often entire stadiums, dedicated to them. Wonderbolt Academy might be the most popular of the training facilities, but it is in fact only one of dozens of similar installations. That has to have a reason don’t you think?

“Yeah, that would be quite a lot of money and resources just to fund a team of stunt flyers.”

Well, let’s move forward. We discussed two of the most basic things about Pegasi and their society. Now let me tell you how they changed over the centuries.

In pre-Equestrian times the Pegasi were a society trained and geared for war like no other. Records in Cloudsdale state that the Pegasi internal politics was dominated by rivaling city states that fought for dominion over the other cities. External politics however always displayed an image of unity and strength. Even though internal conflict more than once brought them to the brink of civil war, Pegasi always tried to prevent outsiders from recognizing this fact. To provide internal conflicts with a more reasonable outlet than civil war a regular competition between all Pegasi city states was established.

Commander Hurricane claimed that the Battles for the Sky, the forerunner of the modern Equestria Games, were already held for more than thousand years in the skies of their old home when Equestria was founded. Princess Platinum and Chancellor Pudding Head agreed on continuing this tradition, though they demanded to rename them to Equestria Games.

By the way, large Pegasus communities, like Cloudsdale, dominate the Equestria Games to this day, a testament to the physical prowess of Pegasi in and of itself.

After the first founding of Equestria the Pegasi suddenly found themselves in a rather peaceful environment. They held onto their tradition of excessive training in the armed forces, which lead to some tensions in the early days after the unification. Later the Pegasi made up the veteran corps of Equestria’s armed forces, with the Unicorns providing powerful battle mages and Earth Ponies providing regular ground forces. It took some time but the harmony and peace of the first unification finally caught up with Pegasus society and managed to cool their hot blood down quite a bit.

After Princess Celestia und Princess Luna took over they reformed Equestria’s armed forces into the royal- and night guard. Pegasi, even today, make up a significant portion of the professional military, with relatively small parts of Earth Ponies and Unicorns in active service.

“Mind me asking how the guard is actually composed?”

Not at all, latest records speak of around fifty-five percent Pegasi in the guard. Unicorns account for about thirty percent and earth ponies only provide fifteen percent of the regular armed forces. All the while the royal guard is only allowed to number a maximum of ten thousand Soldiers at any given time.

“Wow, next to no earth Ponies in the guard.”

Considering the fact that the Princesses are Alicorns it is advantageous to be able to visit all equestrian cities with your guard. Earth Ponies however are unable to enter cloud cities without Unicorns to provide a cloud walking spell. Furthermore the rather small scale of the royal guard demands a fast method of deployment to be effective, which can only be provided by flight or teleportation.

I should also state that the listed reserve forces shift the overall percentages and numbers of the guard quite a bit. If I consider the reservists the total of Equestria’s army consists of sixty percent Earth Ponies, twenty-one percent Pegasi and nineteen percent Unicorns. Which would add up to a total of forty thousand soldiers.

“That’s a rather extreme shift. How comes?”

Earth Ponies most of the time prefer their family business over a military career, so they only enlist for the basic military training and enter reserves after that. Powerful unicorn spell casters often enter the guard if their research can be beneficial for the military, but leave as soon as their project is finished, which also effectively makes them reservists. Pegasi however are virtually nonexistent in the reserve. They prefer active service instead and only join the reserve after they have to drop out of service due to age or injury.

But according to the unified equestrian battle doctrines Earth Ponies have to make up the majority of the army in case of a war since massive ground forces are needed and Pegasi are simple not as effective as Earth Ponies when they’re grounded. Unicorn battle mages can work far more effective if they are well protected by front line fighters and can concentrate on their spells instead of keeping an eye open for attackers. Furthermore, a phalanx of charging Earth Ponies is a terrible sight to behold and incredibly powerful, but even this unstoppable wave of muscles and steel is even more devastating when constant air attack of Pegasi special forces prevent the enemy from forming a defensive perimeter. And then there are the Pegasi themselves. Granted, a well-trained Pegasus can outmaneuver nearly everything flying creature, but with Unicorns that provide massed AA fire, it suddenly becomes far easier to achieve air superiority.

“That sounds terrifying.”

According to captured enemies it is.

But let me get back to topic. Over the millennia under the princesses’ rule Pegasi became much less aggressive and managed to direct their natural competitive spirit to more productive means. Today a Pegasus coworker is still likely to try and surpass his peers, but he will do so in more of a friendly competition and place more emphasis on the bonds of comradery than gloating about his superiority.

Furthermore the Pegasi established a centralized weather management that plans and schedules the weather for all of Equestria. They also prevent random thunderstorms, blizzard or tornados and therefore play a large role in Equestria’s continued prosperity.

“If they can prevent them, why do the Pegasi schedule thunderstorms, blizzards and alike regardless?”

That’s because they can’t prevent such events indefinitely. The atmosphere has its own ebbs and flows; energy constantly shifts and changes. If a thunderstorm is prevented that leads to the energy remaining in the upper atmosphere. If the stored energy becomes too much the Pegasi won’t be able to control it anymore, which could lead to a devastating storm if enough energy is stored. Weather phenomena can only be delayed, not prevented.

“Interesting, you never learn something like that in school.”

The full extent of weather management and manipulation is quite complex and is mainly taught at Cloudsdale university. Every Pegasus can kick a cloud to make it rain, or shoot a single lightning bolt, but only certified specialists can read and understand the currents of the atmosphere to an extend that enables them to plan weather schedules for entire villages or towns.

Overall Pegasi are much more than single minded brutes and featherbrains. They have a proud history of honorable warriors that faced danger head on, even if that meant certain death. Some of the brightest minds in Equestria are Pegasi and they spend every ounce of brainpower they have so that the rest of us can enjoy a sunny day. And most of ponies might, at some point, find themselves in a friendly rivalry with a Pegasus that encourages both of them to give their best.

…

And they throw the best after work parties you can imagine. These guys really know how to let loose after they done their job. The feasts of ancient times, after the win of great battles, are the stuff legends are made off.

After the first peace treaty between Equestria and the Gryphon Kingdom was signed there were seven moonless nights. And even though some legends say it was to honor the seventy thousand dead soldiers that died on both sides, truth is that Princess Luna had celebrated with the Pegasi after the war was over and had a seven day hangover which prevented her from raising the moon.

“You’re kidding?! I always thought the princesses can’t get drunk.”

Why should they be unable to get drunk?

“Well … they’re Alicorns! Doesn’t that mean they can’t get intoxicated and such?”

Granted, it takes much more to make a princess drunk, but it’s possible. Their inert magic, which scales far beyond any other living being, makes them quite resilient to all forms of damage, be it poisonous or physical. On the other hand, Princess Luna always had a reputation for being able to let loose and have fun.

But this is all I have for you now.

…

Terminating connection to database storage epsilon 2.19.03 to 2.19.04 … procedure concluded.

Recommended topics from here on are:
- Pre unification Unicorn culture
- Basic weather manipulation
- Substitution and support of Pegasi in weather management
- Equestrian unified culture a.k.a. how three tribes became one people
- Pegasi battle doctrines
- Pegasus magic
- Pegasus biology
- The long winter
- The great exodus
- Pegasi and airborne predators
- Truths and Theories about Alicorns

“Spike? I didn’t ask for another recommendation of topics.”

I know, I skipped the part where I asked if you wanted one and simply compiled a quick list.

“Just to be curios, what would’ve you done if I decided to quit instead of continuing?”

Rough estimations show that there is only a 12,736% chance of you terminating the connection after the last topics, so I decided that it was worth the risk of wasting processing time on an unnecessary task.

Besides, I myself have a processing power of roughly 750 ExaFLOPS and have unrestricted access to the Royal Archives main cluster, which can provide up to 10.000 YottaFLOPS.

“Are you aware that I have no idea what those numbers mean?”

…

I should’ve expected that.

FLOPS is short for floating point operations per second, which is a method of measureing the processing capacity of computers. One FLOP would mean that the computer in question is able to execute one floating point operation per second.

I have a maximum capacity of 750 ExaFLOPS which translates to 750 times 10 to the 18th power of FLOPS. In other word I can run 750 Quintillion floating point operations per second. It took me about 0.00000000000015 second to compile the list I’ve shown you.

For comparison: The archive’s main cluster can run up to 10000 YottaFLOPS, which means it can process 10 Octillion Floating Point Operations per Second, that is 10 times 10 to the 27th power. That beast is more than 13 million times faster than I.

“What do the archives use this much processing power for?”

It serves as Canterlot’s mainframe, runs several high security servers for the government, performs constant threat and virus scans on all system that it’s connected to and houses Solaria and Selena, the two AI assistants of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna.

“Mother of…”

And even with all that this monster of a computer still has spare capacity of about 55%. This, by the way, can be purchased by independent parties for just 1 Bit per hour or used to speed up high priority research projects.

“One Bit to get an hour of processing time on this thing?”

As laid down in the ‘royal decree about support of private and government research for the continued prosperity of Equestria’ by the princesses Celestia, Luna, Mi Amora Cadenza and Twilight Sparkle. It is supposed to ensure that even small companies can afford processing power on Equestria’s most powerful super computer. The only restriction is that a council of scientist, engineers and the princesses has to review and grant the request for processing time.

“That makes surprisingly much sense to be honest.”

I think so too. But where were we … ah yes. As you’ve seen, I can spare the effort to compile lists like this on a hunch. So, which should be the next topic?

“Well, we’ve derailed quite a bit. Anyway, let’s continue with…”

of Goddesses and Mares

“… the princesses. Yeah, give me something about Alicorns!”

Please say you don’t want me to tell you ALL about Alicorns.

“Hmm? Would there be a problem with that?”

Several actually, for once there is a lot of classified information about the princesses. Since they are the head of the state some of their actions and personal information are top secret. But more important might actually be the sheer amount of relevant data. We are talking about multiple beings whose combined lives add up to thousands of years of recorded history. Add to that the legends about Alicorns from all over the world and you got several lifetimes worth of study.

“Good point. How about you tell me about what Alicorns actually are, why they are as powerful as they are and such. You said ‘Truths and Theories about Alicorns” just pick some cool and informative stuff.”

Well, give me a minute.

Accessing database storage zeta 17.01.01c to 19.87.45t … Access granted.

Compiling information … procedure concluded.

…

Okay, I think first we should address the elephant in the room and make one thing very clear. Not every pony with wings and a horn is an Alicorn. Furthermore there is a huge difference between an Alicorn and one of the princesses.

Now, before you even ask, yes, I know that most ponies think having wings AND a horn automatically makes you an Alicorn. Granted, superficially they appear rather similar, but from a scientific and magical point of view there are a lot of differences.

I’ll start out my explanation with winged Unicorns and horned Pegasi. Those two are, by far, the most common beings mistakenly referred to as Alicorns. The thing is they are exactly what I called them, a Unicorn with wings and a Pegasus with a horn respectively.

It is believed that in times before ponies formed a more or less stable society mating between ponies of different subspecies was relatively common. Not as normal as it is today, but way more common than in pre-Equestrian societies like the Unicorn kingdom, the Pegasi city states and so on.

But it isn’t enough to get two ponies form different tribes to start a family. Both parents need to be true-bred specimen. If one parent is an earth pony and the other isn’t, it’s very difficult to recognize when the foal inherits both of the tribes’ traits. If a Pegasus and an Earth Pony have a foal it will always be considered a Pegasus if it has wings. Reports of Pegasi which can’t fly or are uncommonly strong often trace back to the parents being an Earth Pony and a Pegasus. Same goes for Unicorns without magic, non-Pegasi who can walk on clouds and Earth Ponies with a sixth sense or something like that. All of those phenomena are normally related to the pony in question being a hybrid of two tribes.

“I heard of some of those. One of the Cutiemark Crusaders, Scootaloo, was a Pegasus but could not fly. Or the famous weight lifting champion Bulk Biceps, he was strong like a buffalo. Or … oh my Celestia … the Pinkie Sense!”

All of which are good examples, yes. Though nobody really knows what the Pinkie Sense actually is and what causes it. The most commonly accepted explanation is: “It’s Pinkie Pie, don’t question it!”

Anyway, let’s get back to topic.

Now that we have ticked off the ‘normal’ hybrids, let’s get to the really rare ones. Because sometimes, when a Pegasus and a Unicorn decide to mate, the foal can inherit a horn as well as wings, though this is extremely rare. But if the genes have a particularly good day and whoever you think brings the foals doesn’t look too closely, it might happen. In all documented cases however, one of the related magical aspects was extremely underdeveloped or lacking completely. The only exception to this is princess Flurryheart, but since her mother is an Alicorn it is to be expected that she doesn’t follow the normal rules. All other ponies which were born with wings and horns are what modern science calls winged Unicorns and horned Pegasi.

“Why would a Unicorn with wings not be able to fly? I mean, it would have wings, just like a Pegasus?”

That’s a rather common misconception. The wings are essential for the flight of a Pegasus, but they are only one part of it. Basically the wings serve to channel magic, like the horn of a Unicorn if you will, only with feathers and more specialized. Without their wings Pegasi can’t fly anymore, but they still possess their inert magic and are therefore able to manipulate weather and walk on clouds.

And that’s the thing with horned Pegasi and winged Unicorns. They normally display the appendages of both tribes, but have only the magic of one. Their horns or wings are basically without function. No matter how hard a winged Unicorn flaps its wings, it won’t fly. In the same way it’s pointless for a horned Pegasus to try to cast a spell. It will only lead to mild headache.

Nevertheless, those beings where thought to be gods, demi-gods or divine messengers in ancient times, most likely because of observations of real Alicorns and their abilities. Because of that more than one noble family tried to produce those pseudo Alicorns with strict breeding schedules. With virtually no success I might add.

But now I think it’s time to talk about the real deal, true Alicorns. The only verified occurrences of naturally born Alicorns are Princess Celestia, Princess Luna and Princess Flurryheart. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance, short for Mi Amore Cadenza, are what is normally referred to as ascended Alicorns. We will discuss those later.

Now, a true Alicorn is not just a pony with wings and a horn. Their basic genetic structure is fundamentally different from other ponies. Within their DNA they unite all three pony subspecies. These are in perfect balance with each other so one does not overpower the others. It could be argued that because of this Alicorns are more harmonious by nature. Because of this internal balance of power they can also channel the natural magic of all three pony tribes. But this still isn’t the end of it. The different aspects of the tribes do not merely exist next to each other in an Alicorn, they are cooperating. You could say the whole is more than the sum of its parts.

For example, it is possible for Alicorns to magnify their Earth Pony strength and durability with their magic. They can boost their flight with raw muscle power or magic alike. And the durability of an Earth Pony allows them to channel amounts of magic that would burn out the nervous system of arch mages with decades of experience.

“Holy shit, I kind of understand why the princesses are sometimes referred to as gods.”

This isn’t even the best part. The funny thing is, what I just described is just a normal naturally born Alicorn. The princesses are on an entirely different scale. Comparing any of them to a ‘normal’ Alicorn would be like having a three year old fight a heavy weight boxing champion.

What you have to understand is that, while a naturally born Alicorn unites the strengths and magic of the three tribes in one body, the princesses are also linked to basic magical concepts of the universe.

“What?”

Bear with me for a moment, because this is where ascended Alicorns come into play.

As you might already know, Princess Cadence was born a Pegasus and Princess Twilight Sparkle was originally a Unicorn. Both ascended to alicornhood when they connected to the fundamental magic of Equestria itself. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna also ascended, but already were Alicorns and therefore didn’t transform. To keep it short, the power and status of a true princess comes from hard work and a deep understanding of the world, not from wings and horns. Funny enough, turning into an Alicorn is more or less a side effect of the ascension itself.

What little we know today indicates that a pony is able to connect its very soul to at least one basic principle of reality. To achieve this, the pony has to understand and master the concept in its entirety. When this connection is formed the aspect of the world and the pony, essentially, become one and the same. You could say the pony becomes the living, breathing avatar of whatever it is connected to.

That ascending ponies turn into Alicorns happens because of the sheer amount of magic that is flooding their body. Under normal circumstances a pony with this much magic in its system would be burned to a crisp within seconds. The transformation prevents that.

Philosophers and scientist have formed many theories why the ‘safety mechanism’ of the transformation exists. Some proclaim that a higher power deems the ascended worthy of the powers of a god and therefore grants them alicornhood. Others believe that the extreme amount of magic destroys a pony’s body, but also awakens dormant genes and the body afterwards regenerates as an Alicorn. Some even believe that Celestia causes the transformation with a spell. The princess herself though claims to have better things to do than monitoring her entire people, just in case somepony becomes worthy of wings and a horn.

Anyway, what’s important is that an ascended Alicorn has access to a, theoretically, infinite amount of magic. This is the reason for their immense power, as well as their exceptionally long lifespan and all other things Alicorns can do that normally would violate rules of biology and physics.

“Exceptionally long lifespan? Aren’t the princesses immortal?”

That’s a difficult question to be honest. The life on an Alicorn, even one that hasn’t ascended, is very long, easily ten times that of any other pony. When it comes to the princesses though … I am not allowed to tell you how old Celestia and Luna are. But when you consider that there are more than five thousand years of recorded history since their names where first written down … yeah, they are far beyond the ten times already. But we also don’t know if they will eventually die.

Sorry, but we have to delve deep into philosophy here, but the fact that an individual pony is mortal is a conclusion from the presumed knowledge that every pony is mortal. But if you think about it, the mortality of an individual can only be truly proven by its death, not otherwise. With immortality it’s exactly the other way around. You can’t prove that somepony is immortal until you have tested it under all possible circumstances, which is essentially impossible. So yeah, as long as the princesses don’t die we can’t be sure if they are in fact immortal or not.

When asked if she is immortal or not, Princess Luna once stated.

“I don’t know. I know I can get wounded, that I can get sunburned, that I can get ill and many more things. But I haven’t died yet so I don’t know if I can. But like all living beings I’m not eager to find out.”

Well, since nopony seems to have any reliable facts, the immortality of the princesses will likely remain a theory for the foreseeable future.

“Okay, but if the magic of the princesses is essentially limitless, how can they lose to the likes of Discord, Queen Chrysalis, Tirek and King Sombra?”

All magic, no matter how powerful, is bound by certain rules. For example, you can’t just create whatever you want from nothing. Magic only provides the energy and tools to create things. Another good example is that you have to gather energy before you can use it for a spell or that the cause has to happen before the effect, not the other way around. The thing about Discord is that he isn’t playing by these rules, literally. Discord’s exact magical capability can’t be measured or defined because of that. A spell of his could hit you before he did actually cast it. He could release energies that would take millions upon millions of years to gather, without actually gathering them. He simply ignores the rules of the universe as we know it.

Tirek on the other hand was bound by certain rules. But how do you expect the princesses, creatures whose very nature is magic, to fight something that can suck up magic like a sponge? The only feasible way to counter a being like Tirek with magic is either to ignore the rules or to overwhelm him with more magic than he can store. The former was Princess Celestia’s plan when she first sent Discord after him and the latter is what princess Twilight did when she unleashed the magic of friendship against him in the end. Even before she tapped directly into the magic of friendship, she had the combined power of four Alicorns. Tirek was not only unable to absorb her magic if she resisted, but also hopelessly outmatched in terms of magical capabilities. When it came to power and control Princess Twilight outclassed Tirek by a longshot. He only could absorb her magic because she allowed it. When she and the other Elements of Harmony later bombarded him with an endless stream of magic it was simply too much for him to absorb. He was overwhelmed and lost control over the magic he had stolen. This resulted in the magic reverting to its natural state and returning to its owners.

Chrysalis and Sombra are much easier cases however.

When Sombra was a normal Unicorn and no shadow consisting of nothing but fear and hatred, the royal sisters defeated him easily and quickly. Sadly, when he was banished his body got destroyed and all his hatred for the sisters and his own subjects lead to him turning into some sort of Specter. And since he was some sort of ghost, he could ultimately only be destroyed if whatever was keeping him anchored to this world got destroyed. When the crystal ponies’ fear for him was replaced by the love for Princess Cadance and then channeled directly at him via the Crystal Heart he evaporated like the puff of smoke he was. His anchor to this realm got destroyed and therefore he couldn’t maintain his form.

And in regards to Chrysalis, let me ask you something. Would you appreciate Canterlot being melted down to sludge and the ponies inside reduced to nothing but ash in the wind?

“Of course not, that sounds like an end time’s scenario.”

Well, thankfully, Princess Celestia also doesn’t appreciate it and therefore didn’t go all out against the changelings. If she had drawn magic directly from the sun she would likely have incinerated Canterlot, the mountain it’s located on and a sizeable portion of Equestria’s central region along with it. Chrysalis only escalated it to a point where Celestia had to make a choice. But I’ll have to admit after she had taken the blast to the horn she was almost powerless. Channeling magic with a damaged horn is possible and honestly quite spectacular to watch, but also rather unpleasant for the one trying it.

But with that being said I think with we have discussed the essential parts about what an Alicorn is.

In the beginning you asked what makes them as strong as they are. We already said that Alicorns are stronger than normal ponies because they literally combine the strengths of all three tribes. But now let me go into more detail about why the princesses are on an entirely different scale. I think I’ll have some nice things for you about that one.

“Sounds good to me!”

As I said earlier, all princesses have ascended, except for princess Flurry Heart. But she has more than enough time to get that done. There is no need to hurry if you are considered in your best years if you hit your three-hundredth birthday.

Anyway, Princess Celestia ascended when she first took control of the sun and received her cutie mark. Naturally she didn’t master the magic of the sun in that instant, but was already learning and mastering its magic her whole life long, even if she didn’t realize it. Starswirl the Bearded was the one who originally convinced her to try taking control over the sun. Based on what we know about his character he might already have known that taking control over the sun was all it needed to complete Celestia’s destiny and allow her to ascend. He wasn’t much of the gambling type, you know. Later he did the same for Luna with the moon, likely on the same basis.

From this point on the royal sisters were connected to the sun and moon. Their magic keeps the day and night going and the sun and moon strengthen them in return. If needed both princesses are able to call upon the magic of the sun and moon themselves and channel it through their very soul. They become stronger and more like the things they reign over.

The same principle applies to Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight. Cadance ascended when she brought love to even the darkest and most bitter of hearts. She became the princess of love and since then love is her domain. She can ignite the love in ponies’ hearts. It is the shield she uses to protect her charges against darkness, cold and harm.

When Twilight Sparkle finally understood how strong Friendship can be and that it could change destiny itself, she turned from the Element of Magic to the princess of friendship. Her power comes from her friends and is therefore the strongest and the weakest at the same time. Alone she is still an extremely powerful mare, but she already was that when she ascended. But with her friends by her side her power is for all intend and purposes limitless.

What truly makes them stand out is that they can draw in power from the concept they are connected to and use it to boost their own abilities to absurd levels. The more power a princess gathers this way, the more it changes her form and alters her very nature. They become less of a pony and more of an ideal. In ancient mythological texts those forms were called avatars.

But I think this is something the princesses should explain themselves.

Start recording!

My name is Celestia, princess of the sun and ruler of Equestria. This recording will be classified until the ruling princesses of Equestria at the time decree otherwise. Its purpose is to inform the current government of the scale of my abilities in case I lose control and become a threat to Equestria.

As you all know my little ponies, the sun is my responsibility and my privilege. My magic guides it through the sky and its magic gives me power in return. If I draw magic from the sun itself I can turn myself into its avatar. My sister once called this form The Glory.

The Glory is the physical embodiment of the sun’s light, beautiful and warm one moment, but harsh and blinding the next. It takes the appearance of its host, but wears only a golden helmet and robes of purest white. If The Glory appears its light can be seen from all points on the same plane of existence, nothing can block out its radiance. It is able to push back all darkness and no shadows exist in its presence. The Glory could sooth mortals who are cold and alone with the sun’s warm and gently light, but it can also drive them blind and burn them to dust within an instant. All that lay eyes on it are bound to stare in awe at its beauty and to catch The Glory’s glare means to have your sight taken from you forever. The heat of its anger can sear even the flesh of the gods.

I pray that Luna is with you if you ever have to face The Glory directly, for only she can keep it in check. When my sister isn’t with you my little ponies, hide and wait for dusk, The Glory will recede as the sun does.

Are we recording yet?

Yes my princess.

Very good Tilion, let us begin then.

My name is Luna Hanwi Ka-Ata-Killa Artemis Selardi Neaera Anumati Arianrhod Nikkal Chang’e Mayari Yemaha Mahina Selena. I am the princess of the moon, guardian of the night and warden of the dreamscape and, as my sister asked me to do, I shall tell you about the full extent of my powers, The Abyss.

The Abyss is not merely the avatar of the night, it is the ultimate darkness. It is blacker than the bottom of the oceans, colder than the void of space and as merciless as the flow of time itself. It is unknowable by nature, so much that even its exact form cannot be comprehended. All living things tremble in fear as The Abyss approaches. When it draws near fires flicker and die, electric lights crackle and burst and even the light of the sun and the stars recede in respect and fear of what follows. The mere presence of The Abyss strikes mortals blind, while those of greater power and higher destiny will be engulfed by it entirely. Whoever is ensnared in The Abyss holds perfectly still in fear of being devoured by the ice-cold currents flowing through it. The poor souls that survive its embrace emerge as frail and withered husks, their colors faded to deathly grey. But most things The Abyss covers are never to be seen again.

If The Abyss ever approaches Equestria do not attempt to hide, for the shadows are already its domain. Only death might be able to save you from The Abyss’ darkness and nothing short of The Sentinel will ever stop its approach.

Okay, since both Auntie Celestia and Luna think this has to be done … here goes nothing.

I am Princess Mi Amore Cadenza of the Crystal Empire, the princess of love and crystal princess. But you may call me Cadance if you like.

Honey, this is serious business, I don’t know if you should be so informal about the whole thing.

Come on Shining, it’s no fun if I have to be all serious and gloomy, that’s Luna’s thing not mine. Anyway, where was I? Ah yes, I have to tell you about The Sentinel. It’s the name the thing is called that I turn into when I draw in as much magic as I can.

So, The Sentinel is the ideal of a heroic protector. It wears impenetrable armor and carries a shield that cannot be overcome by any force in existence. But at the same time it wields no weapon. The Sentinel protects anypony that stands behind it from harm. Its shield alone can protect an entire city from the fury gods and daemons gone mad. Where The Sentinel stands none can pass without its permission, no matter whom or what they are. Its defense can hold even the most ferocious forces at bay without tiring. But no matter how dire the situation is The Sentinel can never strike a telling blow, for defense is its purpose and its very nature.

Always remember one thing. If all hope seems lost and the world is about to end, come to the Crystal Empire, for The Sentinel will protect it. As long as I exist, the Empire will never fall again.

I have to admit, this is really, really creepy. The thought I could become nothing more than an embodied concept instead of a living pony is slightly terrifying. But as a princess of Equestria it is my duty to let my subjects know of things like this.

Its ok Twilight, we all had to coop with the thought of losing ourselves in an ocean of power and we all made emergency recordings to inform whoever might be confronted with those forms about what they are facing.

You are right princess. Oh sorry, I mean Celestia. … I can do it.

I am Twilight Sparkle, princess of friendship and former bearer of the Element of Magic. This video recording is intended to give you a brief overview of the full extent of my power should it ever be needed. If my friends and I ever unleash too much power I will turn into something called The General and my friends will become its army.

The General is the primordial avatar of war. It is abundantly armed, heavily armored and at all times surrounded by its unstoppable army. I originally couldn’t see myself as some sort of commander, but if I consider that the army consists of thousands upon thousands of versions of my friends I sort of understand it. Anyway, The General can defeat mortal soldiers by the hundreds without breaking a sweat and can smite even the greatest heroes and most powerful arch mages with ease. The General is a creature dominated by honor and courage, therefore it will never fight civilians and never use deceptions, but it will also never retreat.

Since The General not only embodies war itself but also what might be considered knightly virtues it can call out an opposing army’s leader for a duel of honor. Nothing can interfere with such a duel, for honor itself forbids it. The battle will come to a halt and the armies will watch in awe as their leaders fight their duel. The General itself cannot be defeated and even if it isn’t strong enough to defeat its adversary, the enemy’s leader will invariably leave the fight with a grievous wound. If The General calls for a duel to refuse is to concede defeat and whoever was beaten by The General can’t disobey its command ever again.

I beg you, always remember that The General doesn’t care which enemy it fights. All that matters are war, honor and courage. If you face it don’t try to deceive it and don’t attack it under any circumstances. The General, and therefore I, can be Equestria’s greatest enemy if handled not cautiously. But if you give it direction and guide it wisely, nothing can stand in its way and no enemy will ever threaten Equestria.

“That stuff sounds too terrifying to be true.”

Well, I can assure you that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have already used these empowered states since Equestria’s founding. The parts from Princess Twilight and Princess Cadance are yet to be officially verified, but personally I don’t think they would lie. Especially since exploring such powers is extremely dangerous, there is always a probability to lose your sense of self in it. You would essentially stop being you and instead turn into the very power you’re wielding. It’s not entirely accurate but it’s like the concept overtakes your mind, body and soul.

Legends have it that, at the beginning of time itself, many beings with such powers were created and that they still roam the universe. Some claim that Discord lost himself to his power and never returned to his natural state of existence, trapped for all eternity inside the embodiment of chaos.

“Spike, I think I have enough of that. My head starts to hurt if I think any further about what the princesses actually are.”

Understandable, it’s difficult to wrap your mind around something that is normally so far beyond anything you can draw comparisons from. But since the princesses have a hoof in most things that happen around Equestria, we will talk about them again, sooner or later.

…

Terminating connection to database storage zeta 17.01.01c to 19.87.45t … procedure concluded.

The normally recommended topics from this point on are:
- The first equestrian realm
- The castle of the two sisters
- Alicorn worship: Celestial and Lunar cults
- The second founding of Equestria a.k.a. the era of Canterlot
- Discord’s first (and only) reign
- The battle of the San Palomino Plains
- The Nightmare Incident
- Magic

But I would understand if you’d like something lighter in tone. Just let me know what you want to hear next.

“It’s ok Spike, I’m pretty sure we’ll find something nice. Just give me a minute to make up my mind.”

Author's Note

Sorry that it took me so long to post this chapter. I had it written since a few weeks, but never found the time to edit and upload it. Right now I'm in the middle of the preperations to move into my very first very own appartment.
I hope it was worth the wait and if you wan't a certain topic, fire away and I will try to write you my headcanon on it :twilightsmile:

Those Without a Face of Their Own

”I think I would like you to tell me something about Changelings. If I remember correctly, the original Spike was the first to befriend Thorax. He also was vital in him becoming the first Changeling citizen of the Crystal Empire.”

He was, true. But the history of the Changelings’ is hardly told with only Thorax’s story.

I think I got a few things about the Changelings’ biology, society and their interaction with Equestria and its citizens as well.

“Sounds cool.”

Accessing database storage kappa 5.17.85-F … Access granted.

Compiling information … procedure concluded.

…

Ok, I think the best point to start is actually a little lecture on biology and social structures.

The race we know as Changelings is about as old as the modern pony tribes. They are a sapient insectoid species that lives in a hive based social structure. Contrary to popular believe Changelings are not mindless drones controlled by the queen. In fact each member of the species is an individual with a free will and a fully developed personality. The organization in hives is thus not based on biology but social dynamic.

The Changelings’ ancestors were predatory in nature. But contrary to most predators they fed off of magical energy instead of meat. This is likely an adaptation to the fact that most equestrian species have natural magic. Naturally, in non-sapient species the most magic is generated by basic emotions. For example love, fear, anger and arousal. Therefore Changelings evolved to feed of those emotions and the magical reactions they generated. As far as we know the preference for love is based on the ‘taste’ of the emotion, not its sustenance. It is the same like some cats prefering fish over poultry for example. Changelings are able to feed of other emotions or even raw magic itself, if they wish to.

On a side note: Changelings are able to eat normal food to supplement their diet. Though it’s completely optional and cannot substitute their need to consume magic. This means that a Changeling can extend the period it can survive without love by eating normal food. He will still die if he has no access to it over extended periods of time, though. It’s comparable to a lack of vitamins in a Pony’s diet. You can go some time without it but it isn’t healthy and at some point will be fatal.

Anyway, back to the topic. When the prey species of the Changelings developed primitive social structures to improve their chances for survival, the Changelings themselves needed to adapt. Over the course of a few dozen generations two separate solutions to this problem popped up. One was social, the other was biological.

On a social level Changelings formed packs and countered the social structures amongst their prey with their own. Larger packs could attack larger groups of prey and enabled more Changelings to survive.

The biological adaptation was the Changelings’ infamous ability to shapeshift. Some members of the species developed the ability to change their magic to mimic those of their prey. This made it far more difficult to identify a Changeling that was sneaking up on its pray. Which in turn raised the chances of a successful hunt. It has to be said that early variants of this ability weren’t able to trick the naked eye though. But over the course of generations it evolved ever further. This led to the Changelings being able to transform into a doppelganger of their prey species.

What you normally would expect at this point of evolution is that the two strains of the species start to compete with one another. Like this only the strongest of them would survive and ensure the survival of the species. Contrary to that however the two branches of the Changelings merged back together. This led to the formations of the modern Changeling species.

The reformation of the Changeling hive in the aftermath of the second invasion of Equestria stands as the last step forward in the history of the species. Many Changeling and Pony scientists dedicated their lives to understanding of the process. Yet, to this day there are more theories than actual facts known.

“Why do you call it a reformation? I thought they were transformed, by the magic of love and friendship.”

Well, the Changelings were altered by the magic they had stored within them, that is true. But they weren’t blasted with a magical rainbow laser of friendship that sent their entire species on the worst guilt trip they’ve ever had. Thorax simply reformed the social structure and behavior of the Changelings as a whole. Therefore I call it a reformation and not an evolution or a transformation. Though I’ll admit that ‘simple’ might not quite meet the scale of what he did. Well, he at least made it look quite simple.

“Ok, now I’m a bit confused. What did actually happen?”

Well, I think to explain that I have to go a bit far afield.

First let me tell you about Thorax himself. He was born like all Changelings as a drone and child of the currently ruling queen. According to our records his mother was an individual known as Chrysalis. Changelings form a tight bond to the strongest source of magic and emotion, a.k.a. food, they are presented with. This leads to virtually all Changelings adapting the morals and behavior of their queen. Which in return provides them with all the magic and emotion they need. Thorax however didn’t develop this bond. He formed his own moral code, independent of Chrysalis and the hive. Why he did that is completely unknown.

Normally Changelings like he would die of starvation when they leave the hive. And, to be honest, he was on his best way to do so when Spike met him. Anyway, to avoid this his instincts led him to the biggest source of love at the time, the Crystal Empire. I don’t think I have to elaborate the details of that story since the first Changeling citizen of Equestria is a topic well covered by history lessons. But for the sake of the completeness of my contents I will summarize it quickly.

He attempted to infiltrate the Crystal Empire. To his detrement the experience of Princess Cadance and Prince Shining Armor lead to a high level of security around the Empire. He wasn’t discovered right away, but he left traces and rumors of a Changeling spread quickly. He had to retreat into the Crystal Mountains were Spike later found him. They became friends and Thorax attempted a second infiltration, on Spike's recommendation. His cover was blown as he got confronted with Flurry Heart, who was a focal point of love and quite magical for a foal. You have to remember that Thorax was half starved to death. Presented with and source of unrestrained love and magic in his sate he simply lost control. His instincts took over and he had to flee.

Spike later brought Thorax back to the palace and made a heart wrenching plea for his friend. The records say that there even was a rather cheesy improvised song. I'm glad I have no recording of it, Spike's singign is aweful. Anyway, giving him the benefit of the doubt, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Cadance and Shining Armor agreed to Thorax’s request. He was allowed to remain in the Crystal Empire indefenitely. At this point Thorax was the first Changeling granted full Equestrian Citizenship.

Over his time at the empire he adopted an open and welcoming mindset. He made lots of friends and his conscious mind overruled his basic instincts. This led to him focusing more on his friends and less on stealing and gathering of love. Researchers assume that he absorbed all the energy he needed to survive passively. He may even have generated emotional energy than he consumed by forming friendships. Essentially the energy he received from the Crystal Ponies jumpstarted his magical metabolism and he became self-sustaining.

When later that year Queen Chrysalis started her second Invasion of Equestria Thorax became the lynchpin of her downfall. At that point Chrysalis had already abducted most of Equestria’s ruling elite. She was basically halfway done turning the country into her personal feeding grounds. Fortunately, Princess Luna could to get an emergency call off. She managed to alarm Starlight Glimmer, Princess Twilight’s student at the time, before she got captured.

Contrary to popular believe Starlight didn’t have a plan and didn’t go on to save the day immediately. In fact most of it was made up on the fly.

Starlight Glimmer contacted her friend Trixie to try to come up with a plan to save the Elements of Harmony. Before they had the chance to make it off the starting line however Thorax stumbled over them. Discord almsot immediately joined the group, though nobody knows how he could miss the unfolding events while still immediately reacting to Starlight’s statement that everypony with powerful magic got kidnapped. But that’s the spirit of chaos for you, he rarely makes any sense.

It was somewhat of a happy coincidence for Chrysalis and the Changelings as a whole Discord was powerless around their hive. Chrysalis' throne blocked non-Changeling magic, luckily this included Discord's Chaos magic as well. Otherwise his response to the abduction of Fluttershy would likely have been mass genocide.

Anyway, after Chrysalis had captured Starlight's group she confronted Thorax and tried to drain his magic. According to his base instincts Thorax tried to hold to his reserves of emotional energy. Starlight Glimmer however realized that Thorax might be able to overload Chrysalis if he have her all the love he had. What she didn’t realize was the fact that Thorax’s magic metabolism had changed. He no longer absorbed magic, he produced it.

The moment he opened up to Chrysalis and no longer fought against her he flooded her with magic. Chrysalis herself was unable to handle the amount of power and got overwhelmed.

And this is the point where most ponies misunderstand the actual events. The changelings didn’t all have a change of heart and decided to abandon their ‘evil’ ways. They just acted according to their normal social dynamic.

As I said before Changelings accept the most powerful source of magical- and emotional energy as their leader. The royal strand of the Changeling species is not only bigger and more powerful in magic than usual. They are also equipped with a larger reservoir for emotional energy. Under normal circumstances the hunters feed energy to their queen which then distributes it across her entire hive. This does two things. For once it guarantees that all members of the hive survive. Secondly it means that the queen always has the most energy stored inside herself.

Normally an old queen gets succeeded when a new one has accumulated more emotional energy and thus becomes the main energy source for the hive. Usually the new queen then drains the old one of her magic and kills her. The old queen accepts his fate since it means that her hive will survive even if she does not. When Thorax opened his magical reserves and flooded Chrysalis, the other Changelings registered him as the primary source of emotional energy. And, as their social structure demanded, they immediately switched allegiance to their new ‘queen’. Though I think he’d prefer not to be called Queen Thorax.

So, from the Changelings' perspective Thorax’s reformation of the hive was a normal succession. Their new look however, well … you may blame that one the magic of love and friendship.

“Hmm, that’s quite the different picture from what most documentaries on Changelings present.”

No offense, but most documentaries are the result half assed research at best. Or rumors with great cinematography to make the whole thing entertaining at the wrost. I see why even educational TV has to be at least somewhat sensational if you want your audience to stay awake. But it still bugs me that ponies think of these things as the ultimate truth of the matter.

“Well, not everypony has access to a 750 ExaFLOP computer with a fully aware AI assistant to do the research for them.”

Yeah, I’m one of a kind.

“That you are. Anyway would you care if we get back to topic? I’m curious what happened after Thorax took control over the hive.”

Well, in all honesty not much. The Changelings of Chrysalis’ former hive accepted Thorax as their new leader. They adapted his moral standards and moved on. At first it wasn’t much different from a normal the takeover, when a new queen succeeded the old one.

What did change them however was the fact that they now had no need to gather love anymore. The hive was now self-sustaining and a lot of Changelings found themselves with a lot of free time at hoof. Some integrated into Equestrian society. Others attempted to better their own society. Some decided to reflect on their former life compared to their new one.

Nobody can say what will happen to the Changelings in the future. We have to remember that not long ago all they cared about was surviving. Now they are free to develop in any way they please.

Ponies, Gryphons and Zebras took anything from centuries up to millennia to develop art, philosophy and all the other things we usually think of when we talk about culture. The Changelings will have to go through that too. They might take equestrian culture as some basic guideline, but they will still need time to develop their own cultural identity.

Only time will tell what becomes of the race we once knew as Changelings.

…

Terminating connection to database storage kappa 5.17.85-F … procedure concluded.

“You became quite a bite philosophical there at the end. I’m impressed.”

That wasn’t actually from me to be honest. It’s a part of Princess Celestia’s formal proclamation of peace towards the Changelings. Since most ponies still thought of Changelings as some sort of monsters she thought it was a needed gesture to declare a formal peace treaty.

“Did it work?”

Pfffft, of course it did. You know how ponies are, if a princess says everything is perfectly fine then so it is. If Princess Celestia says we are now cool with the Changelings then by Celestia we will be cool with them.

“Ha, truer words have never been spoken.”

So, you want to go on?

“You bet I want! Got anything in mind?”

I think we could go on with some other enemies of Equestria:
- Discord
- Lord Tirek
- King Sombra
- Nightmare Moon

Or how about some of our other allies, besides the Changelings:
- Zebras
- Gryphons
- Dragons

We could also go down some completely different route again if you have anything else in mind.

“Hmm, all those sound pretty cool to be honest. I think I’d like…”

Author's Note

Sorry once again that it took this long to write the next chapter, but since the Changelings got asked for before the imminent Season finale staring them I waited for that to air and only then started working on it. I wouldn't like to be contradicted by the show virtually imemdiately :rainbowlaugh:

Anyway, I hope that all those who read this silly little bunch of headcanon enjoy it and have a nice rest of the day.

And remember, the next chapter is up for your vote in the comments. :twilightsmile:
And even if nobody will bother I hope Doomhunter will continue to enjoy this and I will continue to deliver. Thanks for sticking with me buddy. :eeyup: