Equestria

Fictional principality of talking ponies

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  • Princess Celestia
    (Head of Government until abdication)
  • Princess Luna
    (Head of Government until abdication)
  • Princess Twilight Sparkle
    (Head of Government until unknown date,
    Element of Magic)
  • Prince Shining Armor and Princess Cadence
    (Co-Leaders of the Crystal Empire)
Ethnic group(s)Ponies
Demonym(s): EquestrianRace(s)
List of species
  • Majority:
    • Pegasi Ponies
    • Unicorn Ponies
    • Earth Ponies
    Minority:
    • Alicorns
    • Thestral Ponies
    • Mules
    • Donkeys
    • Dragons
    • Griffins
    • Draconequus
    • Breezies
    • Bisons
    • Buffalos
    • Minotaurs
    • Yaks
    • Zebras
    • Siren (formerly)
    • Hippogriffs/Seaponies
Locations
List of locations
  • Capital Region:
    • Canterlot (Capital)
    • Ponyville (Main Setting)
    • Cloudsdale
    • Everfree Forest
    • Winnyiapolis
    • Neighagara Falls
    Frozen North:
    • Crystal Empire
    • Crystal Mountains
    • Yaket Mountain Range
    Celestial Coast:
    • Baltimare
    • Manehattan
    • Fillydelphia
    • Sire's Hollow
    • Hollow Shades
    • Seaward Shoals
    • Haysead Swamps
    Lunar Coast:
    • Vanhoover
    • Tall Tale
    • San Franciscolt
    • Las Pegasus
    • Applewood
    • Califoalnia
    Mysterious South:
    • San Palomino Desert
    • Dodge Junction
    • Appleloosa
    • Sonambula
    • Sea of Clouds
Characters
Senior civil government
and military high command

  • Captain of the Royal Guard
    • Prince Shining Armor
      (Captain of the Guards,
      Prince Consort of Princess Cadence)

    Regents / Consorts / Heirs:
    • Princess Flurry Heart
      (Heir to the throne of the Crystal Empire)

    Council of Friendship
    • Spike
      (Hero of the Crystal Empire,
      Friendship Ambassador to the Dragon Lands,
      Royal Advisor to Princess Twilight Sparkle)
    • Rainbow Dash
      (Element of Loyalty,
      Wonderbolts officer,
      School of Friendship teacher)
    • Pinkie Pie
      (Element of Laughter,
      Friendship Ambassador to Yakyakistan,
      School of Friendship teacher)
    • Rarity
      (Element of Generosity,
      School of Friendship teacher)
    • Applejack
      (Element of Honesty,
      School of Friendship teacher)
    • Fluttershy
      (Element of Kindness,
      School of Friendship teacher)
Main settingPonyvilleFederal capitalCanterlotNational languagePonishCurrencyBitEnemies
List
  • Current:
    • Windigos
    Historically (currently allies):
    • Changeling Hive
    • Griffonstone
    • Dragonlands
    • Storm Empire
    • Yakyakistan
    • Discord

Equestria[1] (/ɛˈkwɛstriə/) is the fictional setting of the fourth and fifth generations of the My Little Pony toy line and media franchise, including the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic and My Little Pony: Pony Life.[2][3][4][5] Created by Lauren Faust, the setting incorporates many elements of fantasy, including inspirations from European and Greek mythology.

Equestria serves as the backdrop for the adventures of Twilight Sparkle, the main character of Friendship is Magic, and her friends, who are collectively referred to as the Mane Six. Equestria is shown to be located on a terrestrial planet, similar to Earth.[1] Equestria hosts many intelligent and sapient creatures, of which the majority are ponies. Equestria's foundation is described as the result of the cooperation of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.[6]

Although shown to be generally peaceful, Equestria engages in wars with various magical and supernatural threats throughout the series. The "Bit" is the national currency of Equestria and its territories.[7] Throughout the series, Equestria is ruled by princesses.[7]

Development

Photo of a smiling woman with medium length red hair and a purple shirt.
Lauren Faust, the creator of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, developed Equestria to be the backdrop for the show.

Two years were spent on creating the foundation of the series.[8] Pennsylvania Dutch design, steampunk fantasy art, European fairy tales, and Bavarian folk art served as influences for the original pony world.[9] In some cases, Hasbro requested that the show include certain settings but allowed Faust and her team to create its visual style which Hasbro would then base a toy set on; an example is the Ponyville schoolhouse.[10]

History

The history of Equestria, as depicted in My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, began at the end of the "Age of Eternal Winter." Before founding Equestria, the three major pony types—Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi—were separate tribes. This period is described as chaotic, when the horse-like windigos brought freezing temperatures and eternal darkness to the world, and other monsters terrorized the populace.[11] The three tribes separately emigrated to the continent of Equus, where they began feuding with each other, which fueled the strength of the windigos. Eventually, the tribes set aside their squabbles to unite as the nation of Equestria and defeat the windigos. The foundation of Equestria is celebrated during the annual Hearth's Warming Day festival, which is depicted as similar to the Christmas or Yule celebrations.[6]

Equestria initially struggled with ensuring that the sun and moon set at the proper times, which drained the powers of Equestria's most powerful sorcerers. The birth of future princesses Celestia and Luna, alicorn sisters who could raise and lower the celestial bodies at will, ushered in an era of prosperity. The sisters were crowned as the rulers of Equestria and were trained by the legendary wizard Star Swirl the Bearded to use their powers.[12][13]

Under Princess Celestia and Luna, Equestria could focus greater magic and resources on its development despite the emergence of threats like the evil Lord Tirek,[14] Discord, and wars between ponies and the Changeling Hive.[15] Under the princesses, Equestria was transformed from a feudal kingdom into a superpower with an advanced economy. Six legendary ponies wielded the Elements of Harmony to defend Equestria from these threats and planted the Tree of Harmony so other generations could do the same.[16] The status quo remained unchanged until the corruption of Princess Luna, who transformed into Nightmare Moon with the intent of plunging Equestria into eternal night.[17] This culminated in the one-thousand-year exile of Nightmare Moon, who later returned as Princess Luna.[18]

In Equestria's early history, the northern Crystal Empire was ruled by Princess Amore. Later, the tyrannical King Sombra took over the kingdom and enslaved the Crystal Ponies. After Celestia and Luna defeated Sombra with the magical Crystal Heart, he cursed the Crystal Empire to disappear, which it did for one thousand years. The Crystal Empire later reappeared and was ruled by Princess Cadence and her husband, Shining Armor.

By the end of Friendship is Magic, the rule of Equestria passed down to Princess Twilight Sparkle.[19] The reign of Twilight Sparkle brought about increases in peace, prosperity, hope, and love as Princess Twilight continued her scientific research and made her diplomatic mission to spread friendship to every creature in need. Throughout Equestria's history, it remains distant but mostly friendly relations with other nations like the Zebras and Yaks.

The period after the return of Princess Luna through the ascendancy of Twilight Sparkle is the era most detailed by the main comics, television series, and video games. It is, therefore, fully canonical, according to the showwriters.[20][21]

Alternate continuity timelines

Time magic is featured in the franchise on several occasions. In the series, time magic was discovered and/or invented by Starswirl, which allowed him to manipulate time and remain ageless. Celestia later outlawed time magic due to the risks of irresponsible time travel, and all knowledge about it was stored within Starswirl, the Bearded Wing of the Canterlot Archives.[22]

In "The Cutie Re-Mark," several alternate versions of Equestria are depicted as a result of Starlight Glimmer changing history. In the first alternate timeline shown, King Sombra expands the Crystal Empire's borders to cover half of Equestria and the Griffon Kingdom. In the second, Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings have conquer Canterlot, forcing many ponies into hiding. In the third, Nightmare Moon rules Equestria in the eternal night after banishing Celestia to the moon.[23] Further alternate realities include one ruled by Discord, one in which Tirek ravages the land, one in which Flim and Flam bulldoze the Everfree Forest for development, and one in which Equestria is reduced to a barren wasteland. These alternate realities are later undone by Twilight Sparkle.[23]

Inhabitants

Ponies

Development and design

Faust imagined the three ponies—unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies—having different cultures and living in various places. She pictured the unicorns in the mountains, pegasi in the clouds, and earth ponies, similar to real horses, on the ground.[24] According to Faust, the entirety of Friendship Is Magic is influenced by the fantasy genre. The team borrowed from mythology for most of their pony designs.

In addition, Faust envisioned the ponies as realistic horses who ate hay, lived in barns, pulled carts, wore saddles, and used their mouths to pick up things—qualities that were formerly avoided.[8] After an idea from fellow animator Paul Rudish, many ideas of how the ponies' world was special came to Faust; she imagined the ponies as the stewards of their world who made their weather happen, flowers grow, and animals thrive.[25]

Initially, Faust's designs were similar to the original ponies'. However, they "just didn't feel right" with upturned noses, straight faces, large heads, and small bodies.[26] After drawing a doodle of a random pony, Faust decided to use that design. When creating ponies, the artists needed to be attentive to shape and proportion. Their bodies were similar to the shape of beans, heads to a ball, and legs to curved triangles. Often, the ponies were the height of three heads, divided into three parts:

Other prominent body parts include the neck, which is half the head's width, and the eye, a central element to the ponies' design in placement, size, and shape. While many eyes differ in details, the placement and shape are normally unvarying.[27] Throughout the later seasons of Friendship Is Magic, body types have varied, being designed to embody diverse characteristics, including age and personality.[28]

Earth Ponies

Earth ponies possess an underlying connection to the earth, nature, and the environment that encourages the growth of plant life and a connection with wild animals. Earth pony-based technology is purely mechanical and often is intended to replicate things they cannot do themselves. Earth ponies form the backbone of Equestria's economy, operating within most industries sectors involving natural resources, construction, or extraction. Their natural talents in agriculture, forestry, and mining extend from plants to rock farms. Earth ponies exhibit supernatural strength, endurance, stamina, fortitude, and durability compared to pegasi and unicorns.[citation needed]

Pegasi

Orange-red vase painting of a man with a spear fighting a chimera while riding a pegasus
Painting of a white unicorn sitting in a circular wooden pen within a forest clearing
Faust stated that she borrowed from Greek and European mythology when designing creatures, like the pegasus and chimera pictured on this ancient Greek vase, or the Medieval unicorn.

Pegasi are part of Greek mythology. Pegasi have the unique ability to fly and magically control the weather. This ability is powered by a pair of feathered wings, which is the distinguishing anatomical feature of pegasi compared to other pony races. Pegasi comprise the majority of ponies responsible for the postal service, patrolling Equestria's airspace, and controlling Equestria's weather. Pegasi are the only pony able to interact with clouds naturally as if they were tangible; this allows them to walk on and move clouds and, by extension, control the weather (although other pony types can do this through artificial means using magic).[citation needed] In the episode "Hurricane Fluttershy,", a coordinated team of one hundred pegasi demonstrates their ability to generate hurricane-force winds to funnel water from a lake.[29]

A quality Faust borrowed from her childhood with the pegasi was a cold shower fountain that made her believe pegasi live in the clouds. She credited Paul Rudish for the inspiration of the pegasus ponies controlling the weather when he was drawing a pegasus pony running across clouds and creating rain.[24]

Unicorn Ponies

Unicorns are part of European mythology. Unicorns can directly absorb, wield, channel, create, and manipulate magic; this ability is powered by a horn of variable length, texture, and color on their forehead. However, a unicorn's horn can be destroyed, taking away most of its magical capabilities.[7] Unicorns are amongst the most educated and scholarly of Equestria's citizens.[7] While other ponies' innate magical talents are "intuitive or instinctive," unicorns require decades of higher education to master any spell beyond the most fundamental.[30] Many spells and abilities are open to all unicorns, but many unicorns specialize in areas like teleportation, transfiguration, or medicine. Generally, unicorns have a collection of various spells relating to their specialty, one being vastly more effective than the rest.[30]

As Hasbro created a castle that Faust put up on her dresser, she believed unicorns would live in the mountains.[24]

Other ponies

Other types of ponies include Crystal ponies, who have a connection with crystals; Thestral ponies have bat-like wings, and slit-pupil eyes as well as abilities of pegasus ponies, night vision, and echolocation; and alicorns, who have the distinguishing features of other pony races—the horn of a unicorn, the wings of a pegasus, and the fortitude of an earth pony—and are rulers of Equestria.

Other inhabitants

The world of Equestria is shown to be inhabited by various magical creatures besides ponies. Faust considered the previous My Little Pony series "more focused on cupcakes and tea parties and it was getting disconnected from its fantasy roots."[31] As a result of this and the fact ponies were based on mythology, she based many of the creatures and villains on mythology. These were modified and redesigned to fit Friendship Is Magic's world and demographic.[32]

Zebras

Zebras, such as Zecora, are distinguishable by their body patterns, thinner legs, and thicker stripes, though they have similar shapes. Since real-life zebras are native to Africa, the tribal culture of the continent serves as an influence on patterns, masks, colours, and homes.[33]

Deer

Deer are depicted as mysterious residents of the Everfree Forest who share a connection to the forestry and surrounding wilderness.

Dragons

Dragons inhabit the aptly named Dragonlands. In the My Little Pony series, typical dragons breathe fire, eat gemstones, and are shown to be aggressive. Though the dragons are based upon traditional designs, they have exaggerated noses and large heads with thin necks to invoke humor. The initial dragon design was more elegant and had a resemblance to the ponies.[34] Although one notable dragon out of all, Spike, accompanies the Mane Six, doesn't inhabit the Dragonlands, aside from the "Dragon Quest" episode, and is not drawn in a traditional dangerous dragon design.

Changelings

Changelings are insect equine creatures, similar to ponies. They are the children of the hive mother, Queen Chrysalis, and can shapeshift through dark magic. They are shown to feed off of powerful emotions.

Draconequui

Draconequus are beings of immense power, powerful enough to alter reality at a whim. Discord is the only example of a Draconequus portrayed in the main television series; however, he and others reference Draconequui as a species, implying that there is more than one.[citation needed] The species is a dragon-like chimera made from the body parts of different animals.[citation needed]

Geography