Equestria: A History

by FantasyLore

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure
Length: 1678

A short history of the land of Equestria, starting with the beginning of creation.

The Mother and Father created Middan, the World in which Equestria would soon be born. This short story follows the Gods who made it and the leaders who ruled it.

NB: This is just my headcanon.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-11-23 13:06:27 UTC

History

It was noisy in the Space Between Worlds, it always had been, and would remain that way for eternity, for the Space Between Worlds was where the Creators could look down on their creations and watch over them.

The Creators were of no specific race, and had many different forms. In this case, we shall be following the creation of what ponies call the Mother and Father. In truth, they were both Pegasus Unicorns, but they preferred the term ‘Alicorn’.

The Mother was a beige Alicorn with a dark red mane and tail, and blue eyes that shone like stars. On her flank was an inkwell and quill. She was named Faust.

The Father was a silver Alicorn with a purple mane, tail and eyes. On his own flank was a white speech bubble coming from a film reel. He was named Hub.

Together, Mother Faust and Father Hub created a land with lush green fields, sparkling gem mines in mountains, and the snow-covered North. They created lands beyond this – wastelands, quarries, forests, canyons. All combined to create a new World.

In this World, which we shall call Middan, they put life to roam the land. Then, they created sentient life. Father Hub put in the Griffins, Buffalo, and Zebra. Mother Faust put in the Deer, Changelings and Cows.

Lastly, they created the Three Kinds of the Main Land.

Into the Ponies, they put their strength and affinity with the land.

Into the Pegasi, they put their agility and affinity with the sky.

And into the Unicorns, they put their magic and affinity with knowledge.

When all was settled and done, they sat back and watched their creation grow.

The Three Kinds were cut off from the rest of Middan, living on an island to the far south. They held a long-standing truce between their kinds.

The Pegasi would control the weather in return for food from the Ponies, and the Unicorns would raise the sun and moon with their combined magic.

All of them, however, did not trust the other kinds.

As such, disharmony caused a rift in the World to be made, and from that rift came Discord – a Draconequus and Spirit of Chaos.

His creation alarmed the Mother and Father, so they bound him into the Rift. Their anger at the Three Kinds’ disharmony allowed them to create the Windigoes – creatures that fed on hate and created snow and ice – to punish them.

The Three Kinds did not learn their lesson, and the eternal winter grew more hostile, and Discord grew in strength.

The Mother and Father wept for them.

Three individuals, however, came to see the solution after trying to find a new land. While trapped with their frozen leaders, they created the Fire of Friendship and melted the snow. Clover the Clever, a unicorn; Smart Cookie, a Pony; and Private Pansy, a Pegasus, became heroes to the Three Kinds. The leaders saw the errors of their ways, and founded Equestria.

Discord, though strong, was now unable to escape his bindings, the harmony in Equestria keeping him trapped.

Chancellor Puddinghead, Princess Platinum and Commander Hurricane ruled Equestria together, and as time went on, a romance blossomed between the Unicorn Princess and the Pegasus warlord, and the two were soon married.

Overjoyed with this development, the Mother and Father granted them an Alicorn child, who was named Equs. He had a flowing purple mane and a beige body with red eyes. After Chancellor Puddinghead and his parents died, he succeeded the throne, with the Three Heroes as confidants, until their deaths.

He ruled Equestria justly and was a well-loved king. As a token of thanks, each kind presented him with a wife. The first wife was Terra, a Pony with great strength and the ability to see beyond the obvious and logical. The second wife was Magi, a powerful Unicorn whose magic and knowledge could have rivalled Clover the Clever’s. The third wife was Aurora, a Pegasus with empathy towards all creatures and ability to command the skies.

Each wife bore the King two children, and each child was an Alicorn with tremendous power.

Terra gave birth to the two oldest. First was Vita, she held the ability to know life and keep track of its many dealings. Second was Mortem, he was able to shepherd those to the Everlasting Fields without getting lost, and knowing who was going to die.

Magi was next to bear him children. Gaia bore the metaphorical weight on her shoulders, able to change the seasons at will and know all who crossed the soil. Ardus controlled the tides, knew the fish, and he knew the secrets that no others knew.

Aurora was the last to give birth, though her first child, Solaris, was stillborn. Celestia became the embodiment of the sun in his place, able to raise it without a thought and cast rainbows where she wanted.  Luna was the youngest and the embodiment of the moon, and she was the artist of the stars.

Many centuries of peaceful reign passed, but so did each of Equs’ three wives. With his heart broken, Equs sought the Everlasting Fields to be with them once more, but faced the challenge of choosing his successor.

Naturally, he approached the firstborn, Vita, but she said no, choosing instead to pursue the love of a Unicorn. Mortem also denied when offered, stating that he thought that there would be unrest at the embodiment of death ruling over the land.

Gaia and Ardus both requested to remain uncrowned, both wanting to become hermits and focus their will on the land and sea which they ruled over.

And so the crown fell to Celestia, as the young Luna was not yet old enough to rule. Celestia saw her sister’s disappointment, and only agreed to rule if they could rule together. Equs agreed to her condition, having run out of other options.

Thus, Equs passed into the Everlasting Fields.

With the all-powerful King of Equestria gone, however, allowed Discord to break out of the Rift. He brought Chaos all throughout the land, and as Celestia and Luna had only just begun their reign, they knew not how to protect their kingdom, and they fell.

Discord’s conquest of Equestria included the creation of Sombra, the embodiment of his rage, and sent him to conquer the Crystal Empire, which had been founded by Ponies upon the discovery of the Crystal Heart.

Celestia and Luna were trapped in their own home, Crepuscular Palace, and were unable to help their subjects as their cities drowned in chocolate milk and famine wrought the land.

As a result of the chaos, Gaia had been unable to perform her duties. She and her brother tried to contact Celestia and Luna, but when they couldn’t, they knew they had to reunite the royal family. They met up with Vita and Mortem, and the four of them freed the sky sisters.

All six of them fought Discord together, though he was still too strong for them.

The Mother and Father foresaw their failure, and they could not bear the idea that their creation was to become a land of chaos. They helped the Royal Family by searching into their hearts and creating the Elements of Harmony.

Though surprised at this sudden development, the six siblings used them to encase Discord in stone. When they examined the Elements later on, after society had been rebuilt, they discovered their Virtues – Luna’s Honesty, Celestia’s Generosity, Ardus’ Loyalty, Gaia’s Kindness, Vita’s Laughter and Mortem’s Magic.

Not wanting the Elements to fall into the wrong hooves, they encased them in stone and kept them in the now-destroyed Crepuscular Palace. Vita and Gaia combined their magic to create the Everfree Forest to discourage those who sought them.

The Royal Family went their separate ways, and Celestia and Luna founded Canterlot, placing the statue of Discord in the Gardens there.

There was still Sombra to deal with. The two sisters travelled to the Crystal Empire and tried to reason with him, but Sombra was rage incarnate, and he had to be defeated by force, being banished into the Rift himself. Before his entrapment, however, he cursed the Empire, and it vanished before the sisters’ eyes.

They returned to their royal duties, but there was a seed in Luna’s heart that Discord had planted, and from that seed sprouted jealousy. Luna grew to resent Celestia and the love that the subjects had for her, and seemingly not for Luna herself.

As Luna’s jealousy grew, so did the power in the seed, and it overtook Luna and transformed her into Nightmare Moon.

Knowing she would not be able to fight five of the Elements, who Celestia would surely call upon, Nightmare Moon travelled to the four siblings under the guise of Luna. She trapped Vita in her own home to watch the one she loved grow old without her magic to keep him alive, and Nightmare Moon took Vita’s power for her own.

She waited until Mortem was in the Everlasting Fields before using her power combined with Vita’s to close the Way, then took Mortem’s magic as her own. She then visited Gaia and Ardus, trapping them in the land and sea respectively.

Charged with the power of Luna’s siblings, Nightmare Moon confronted Celestia, threatening to engulf the world with eternal night.

Knowing she could not defeat her, Celestia retreated to the Crepuscular Palace and retrieved the Elements of Harmony. There was little else she could do, so Celestia took the Elements into herself.

Charged with their power, Celestia faced Nightmare Moon, and after an intense battle, she banished her sister to the moon.

Though the power was mostly gone from her, she used the remainder to free her other siblings.

The Elements were empty of power, and Celestia returned them to the Palace in the Everfree Forest, hoping that they would recharge when their next wielders were born. She resumed her position as Princess, and took charge of raising the moon in the place of her sister.