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[[Image:DayAndNight.jpg]]
 
[[Image:DayAndNight.jpg]]
  
===Introduction===
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===Equestrian Time Line===
  
"Fossil records indicate that the three extant pony races have existed, more or less physically unaltered, for well over 50,000 years [18] and ruins suggest that rudimentary civilizations have existed for at least 10,000 years [19]. However, written records of pony history even just back to the early years of Celestia's thousand year reign are sparse. What is known of the few centuries prior to the Princess Luna's imprisonment on the moon stem primarily from the recent (relatively speaking) recovery of the Library of Gnosis.  The LoG also provides some hints about the culture of Equestria prior to Celestia's rule, but they almost raise more questions than they answer. Written history from the time before Celestia's reign are mysteriously absent, save a small corpus of stone engraved writings found in ruins.  A presentation of the current scholarly consensus of Equestria's history is presented as a timeline later in this document.  For the detail oriented reader, excellent reviews and contextual analysis of the LoG documents are given in references [1,3,6-9].  A review of the ruin writings may be found in reference [4].
+
  BA = Before Ascension
 +
  AA = After Ascension
 +
  CR = Celestia's Reign
  
Known history can be crudely broken into five time periods: Pre-Ascension Era, Equestrian Expansion, The Reign of the Two Sisters, Celestia's Thousand Year Reign, and the current era, which is referred to as The Second ReignWhat is known of the Pre-Ascension era is limited to a document called the Preparation Accounts, which detail the Old Kingdom's monarchy and their preparations for the Ascension of the Regal Sisters.  The Preparation Accounts were found in the Library of Gnosis, along with numerous other writings detailing the the astronomical, mathematical, and economic knowledge of the timeWhile these other documents do give a point of reference on how far we have come over the centuries, it has taken scholars a great deal of contextual analysis to tease out any details of the Old Kingdom's culture from themFrom this type of analysis, for instance, it is known that one of the primary motivations for the Ascension plot was to rid the Old Kingdom of predatorsThe fear of predators appears to have shaped a number of aspects in equine culture, the most significant of which is the near ubiquity of adherence to a religion which we only know as "worship of the Goddess"Goddess worship is mentioned a number of times in the Preparation Accounts, but here it appears only as a vehicle for collecting magical energy to power the AscensionAccording to the account the collection of energy through Goddess worship lasted centuries, perhaps even milleniaContextual analysis reveals that the population at large did not fully comprehend the real nature of the religion's purpose, but it is clear that it also brought some measure of comfort to the population following predationApart from this, however, details on Goddess worship are scant at best and even more odd is that no temple ruins to the goddess have been locatedThe best that can be said is that the religion was completely extinguished in the years following the Ascension in favor of worshipping the Regal Sisters.
+
77 BA: Gnosis creates the Summer Triangle Project.
 +
75 BA: Vega, mother to Midnight Star, is born and impressed into the Summer Triangle Project.
 +
45 BA: Summer Triangle creates Shard of Numar.  The artifact fails to meet specifications Gnosis desired.
 +
20 BA: Regal Sisters, Celestia and Luna are born.
 +
19 BA: Vega dies, Midnight Star is born.  Summer Triangle goes underground, Shard of Numar disappears.
 +
  5 BA: Shard of Numar resurfaces and is transformed into the Elements of Harmony during Midnight Star's Awakening.  The Elements are embedded in five pony friends of Midnight Star.  Midnight Star and her five friends are referred to as the Six.
 +
0 BA/AA: Ascension of the Regal Sisters.
 +
  1 AA: The Six are slain in battle with the Ancient Predators.  The elements of Harmony are collected from their bodies by Celestia.
 +
  50 AA: Military conquest of Equestria largely complete.
 +
60 AA: Dissolution of the Old Kingdom's institutions is underway.
 +
100 AA: Seasons begin to stabilize in Equestria.  Celestia and Luna establish a largely communal libertarian society.  Regal sisters assume religious authority.
 +
  ~500 AA: Luna is banished to the moon.  Celestia's reign beginsElements of Harmony are stored in the Everfree Forest.
 +
200-250 CR: City wars begin and ultimately are suppressed.  Celestia establishes a stronger central authority as a result.
 +
260 CR: A Federal Constitution and Equine bill of rights is drafted.
 +
500 CR: Rural revolts against federal taxes.
 +
700 CR: Red Dragon terrorizes EquestriaThe dragon is eventually slain.
 +
800 CR: Canterlot loses its crown as the largest city to Manehatten.
 +
  850-950 CR: Industrialization begins after discovery of unicorns with metal seeking magic.
 +
  983 CR: Midnight Star and the rest of the Six is believed to have been reincarnated in Ponyville.
 +
1000 CR: Return of Nightmare Moon.  The reincarnated Six defeat her and Luna is returned.
 +
  1059 CR: The last of the Reincarnated Six, Pinkie Pie, dies.  Elements of Harmony are returned to Celestia.
 +
1200 CR: First Aircraft is invented.  Ponies begin survey of Everfree forest from above.
 +
  1220 CR: Contact with world outside of Equestria is established.
 +
1230-50 CR: Trade flows along airship lines are established.  Wealth in Equestria increases dramatically.  Regal Sisters establish the Trade Commission, headquartered in Canterlot.
 +
1269  CR: Manehatten stock exchange established.
 +
 
 +
-----
 +
 
 +
[[Image:EquestriaFlag.png]]
  
Following the Ascension, Equine armies of the Old Kingdom, aided by the Regal Sisters' power, conquered and secured the borders of what is now known to be Equestria.  This period is normally thought to have taken a mere fifty years [15-16], although some contend that conflicts with Ancient Predators continued for as long as two hundred years [10].  During this time what was left of the Old Kingdom's monarchy that produced the Regal Sisters dissolved in favor of Celestia's governance.  The remnants of the monarchy is still visible today in the noble lineage of the court in Canterlot, but their powers are significantly reduced.  Most of the evidence from this time stems from recovered warpony artifacts.  Scholarly activity appears to have been suppressed either due to the need for military power or resource collection, so most accounts of this time are second hand produced many years aftewards.  It is also known that during this time Equestria's population expanded very rapidly, which is evident from the mass graves that mark the death of this Conquest Boom generation.  Although the Ancient Predators were driven out in the Expansion, one of the most difficult challenges facing ponydom throughout this time was coming to grips with the consequences of the Regal Sisters acquiring total control of the weather and seasons.  By all accounts this time was one of high mortality and starvation while the Sisters themselves came to grips with managing the physical aspects of the world.  During this time, traditions of the Winter Wrap-up and the Running of the Leaves were started, although they took some time to be developed.  Scholarly writings in the few centuries after the Expansion tend to focus on principles of maintaining balance with nature -- which continues even to this day.
+
===The Equestrian National Anthem===
  
Four hundred and seventy four years of relatively peaceful development in Equestria under both Sisters followed their Ascension and the Expansion Era (depending on how you define the end of the latter era).  The sisters' dual reign ended abruptly with a falling out between the two sisters, the story of which is well known, and resulted in Celestia banishing her then crazed sister Luna to the Moon.  Thus began the Thousand Year Reign of Celestia.  Years since have used this moment as a reference; this review is being written in the Twelve hundredth and fifty eighth year of Celestia's Reign (abbreviated 1258 CR).  Despite the return of Luna, now 258 years ago, the practice of recording years in CR has remained."
 
  
- Preface to "Introduction to Modern Culture", circa 1258 CR
 
  
 
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===The World of Equestria===
+
* "Century after century, the census reports that Equestria's population remains nearly static [2].  With an apparent abundance of food and space, what limits the growth of the pony population?  Many of the theories to date attempt to model the phenomenon by invoking social or cultural limitations to reproductive drive [42].  These theories however fail to explain recently surveyed [53] attitudes towards foal-bearing and the reported occurance rate sexually transmitted infection[15].  Recent data, vide infra, suggests an external force is modulating population growth at physiological level."
  
[[Image:EquestriaMapSmall.jpg]]
+
- Canton Scrollsworth, abstract in Equestrian Journal of Biosociology, circa 1267 CR
  
====Equestrian Time Line====
+
* "Fossil records indicate that the three extant pony races have existed, more or less physically unaltered, for well over 50,000 years [18] and ruins suggest that rudimentary civilizations have existed for at least 10,000 years [19].  However, written records of pony history even just back to the early years of Celestia's thousand year reign are sparse.  What is known of the few centuries prior to the Princess Luna's imprisonment on the moon stem primarily from the recent (relatively speaking) recovery of the Library of Gnosis.  The LoG also provides some hints about the culture of Equestria prior to Celestia's rule, but they almost raise more questions than they answer.  Written history from the time before Celestia's reign are mysteriously absent, save a small corpus of stone engraved writings found in ruins.  A presentation of the current scholarly consensus of Equestria's history is presented as a timeline later in this document.  For the detail oriented reader, excellent reviews and contextual analysis of the LoG documents are given in references [1,3,6-9].  A review of the ruin writings may be found in reference [4].
  
  BA = Before Ascension
+
Known history can be crudely broken into five time periods: Pre-Ascension Era, Equestrian Expansion, The Reign of the Two Sisters, Celestia's Thousand Year Reign, and the current era, which is referred to as The Second Reign. What is known of the Pre-Ascension era is limited to a document called the Preparation Accounts, which detail the Old Kingdom's monarchy and their preparations for the Ascension of the Regal Sisters. The Preparation Accounts were found in the Library of Gnosis, along with numerous other writings detailing the the astronomical, mathematical, and economic knowledge of the time.  While these other documents do give a point of reference on how far we have come over the centuries, it has taken scholars a great deal of contextual analysis to tease out any details of the Old Kingdom's culture from them.  From this type of analysis, for instance, it is known that one of the primary motivations for the Ascension plot was to rid the Old Kingdom of predators.  The fear of predators appears to have shaped a number of aspects in equine culture, the most significant of which is the near ubiquity of adherence to a religion which we only know as "worship of the Goddess".  Goddess worship is mentioned a number of times in the Preparation Accounts, but here it appears only as a vehicle for collecting magical energy to power the Ascension. According to the account the collection of energy through Goddess worship lasted centuries, perhaps even millenia.  Contextual analysis reveals that the population at large did not fully comprehend the real nature of the religion's purpose, but it is clear that it also brought some measure of comfort to the population following predation.  Apart from this, however, details on Goddess worship are scant at best and even more odd is that no temple ruins to the goddess have been located.  The best that can be said is that the religion was completely extinguished in the years following the Ascension in favor of worshipping the Regal Sisters.
  AA = After Ascension
 
  CR = Celestia's Reign
 
  
-----
+
Following the Ascension, Equine armies of the Old Kingdom, aided by the Regal Sisters' power, conquered and secured the borders of what is now known to be Equestria.  This period is normally thought to have taken a mere fifty years [15-16], although some contend that conflicts with Ancient Predators continued for as long as two hundred years [10].  During this time what was left of the Old Kingdom's monarchy that produced the Regal Sisters dissolved in favor of Celestia's governance.  The remnants of the monarchy is still visible today in the noble lineage of the court in Canterlot, but their powers are significantly reduced.  Most of the evidence from this time stems from recovered warpony artifacts.  Scholarly activity appears to have been suppressed either due to the need for military power or resource collection, so most accounts of this time are second hand produced many years aftewards.  It is also known that during this time Equestria's population expanded very rapidly, which is evident from the mass graves that mark the death of this Conquest Boom generation.  Although the Ancient Predators were driven out in the Expansion, one of the most difficult challenges facing ponydom throughout this time was coming to grips with the consequences of the Regal Sisters acquiring total control of the weather and seasons.  By all accounts this time was one of high mortality and starvation while the Sisters themselves came to grips with managing the physical aspects of the world.  During this time, traditions of the Winter Wrap-up and the Running of the Leaves were started, although they took some time to be developed.  Scholarly writings in the few centuries after the Expansion tend to focus on principles of maintaining balance with nature -- which continues even to this day.
  
[[Image:EquestriaFlag.png]]
+
Four hundred and seventy four years of relatively peaceful development in Equestria under both Sisters followed their Ascension and the Expansion Era (depending on how you define the end of the latter era). The sisters' dual reign ended abruptly with a falling out between the two sisters, the story of which is well known, and resulted in Celestia banishing her then crazed sister Luna to the Moon.  Thus began the Thousand Year Reign of Celestia.  Years since have used this moment as a reference; this review is being written in the Twelve hundredth and fifty eighth year of Celestia's Reign (abbreviated 1258 CR).  Despite the return of Luna, now 258 years ago, the practice of recording years in CR has remained."
  
====The Equestrian National Anthem====
+
- Preface to "Introduction to Modern Culture", circa 1258 CR
 
 
''"BLESSED BODIES OF THE HEAVENS,''
 
''SUN AND MOON OF GREATEST LIGHT,''
 
''BATHE US IN YOUR WARM EMBRACES,''
 
''SHIELD US WITH YOUR PEERLESS MIGHT.''
 
 
''HELP US TO STAND FIRM AS MOUNTAINS,''
 
''DOING RIGHT AND SHUNNING WRONG.''
 
''MAY WE FIND OUR STRENGTH IN FRIENDSHIP,''
 
''UNITE OUR HERD AS ONE GROUP STRONG!''
 
 
''KINDNESS SAVE OUR HER FROM SORROW,''
 
''LAUGHTER LIFT US TROUGH THE DAY.''
 
''HONESTY SHALL PURGE OUR ANGER.''
 
''GENEROUS WE'LL BE IN OUR WAYS.''
 
 
''LOYAL TO OUR ROOTS REMAIN US,''
 
''DAY BY DAY THE MAGIC SWELLS.''
 
''LOVE AND TOLERANCE SHALL LEAD US''
 
''O'ER THE SEAS AND HILLS AND DELLS.''
 
 
''IN SISTERHOOD WE STAND TOGETHER,''
 
''IN BROTHERHOOD MAY WE FIND GRACE.''
 
''THE SUN AND MOON SHALL EVER GUIDE OUR,''
 
''NEVER ENDING PONY RACE.''
 
 
''WHY SHOULD WE FEAR TREATS OF DISCORD,''
 
''STANDING NOW ALL HERE AS ONE?''
 
''WE SHALL FIND OUR STRENGTH IN FRIENDSHIP.''
 
''HERD UNITE AS ONE GROUP STRONG!"''
 
  
 
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===THE LAND OF EQUESTRIA===
+
===The Physical World of Equestria===
  
The enchanted land of Equestria has become a beacon of hope and peace for everypony to look up to, but that wasn't always the case. The story of Equestria began in the distant past with three tribes of ponies, each with a unique skill: the horned Unicorns, the winged Pegasi, and the swift Earth Ponies. Every day the Unicorns used their magical gifts to raise the sun in the morning and the moon in the evening. The Pegasi used their talents to create the weather, which helped the Earth Ponies use their skills to grow food. It seemed as if the three groups worked together, but the tribes lived seperately from one another and rarely mingled. The were constantly arguing and demanding special treatment for the use of their skills. All that changed on the day a blizzard caused a massive food shortage and the three tribes were forced to come together to seek out a new home. They came upon a previously undiscovered land but began arguing over who had the right to claim it. Their negative energy began to grow and fueled the power of the evil creatures known as the Windigos ! Realizing that joining forces was their only solution, the three tribes were able to light the mystical fire of friendship, which cleared away the snow and defeated the Windigos. The three tribal leaders then decided to work together in their new home, which would henceforth be known as Equestria.
+
[[Image:EquestriaMapSmall.jpg]]
  
 
====Description====
 
====Description====
  
Equestria is a medium sized land-locked country, surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides. There are a few passes in the mountains that lead out of Equestria, but these are buried deep in forest. The terrain within Equestria contains plains, temperate forests, desert, and mountain ranges.  The most ancient towns and cities are situated in mountain valleys, but some of the newer (and larger) cities are on the planes. The desert areas are, for the most part, unpopulated, except at the fringes.
+
Equestria is a medium sized land-locked country, approximately the size of Germany, surrounded by mountain ranges on all sides. There are a few passes in the mountains that lead out of Equestria, but these are buried deep in forest. The terrain within Equestria contains plains, temperate forests, desert, and mountain ranges.  The most ancient towns and cities are situated in mountain valleys, but some of the newer (and larger) cities are on the planes. The desert areas are, for the most part, unpopulated, except at the fringes.
  
 
====Inhabitants====
 
====Inhabitants====
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Canterlot, the governmental seat of Celestia's rule, houses nearly a hundred thousand ponies.  More populous cities, such as Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Coltimore, and Trottingham exist.  The majority of the pony population, however, exist in rural villages with a few hundred to several thousand ponies in each.  These villages are dotted throughout mountain valleys and the central plains region.
 
Canterlot, the governmental seat of Celestia's rule, houses nearly a hundred thousand ponies.  More populous cities, such as Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Coltimore, and Trottingham exist.  The majority of the pony population, however, exist in rural villages with a few hundred to several thousand ponies in each.  These villages are dotted throughout mountain valleys and the central plains region.
 
====Pony Sociology====
 
 
"Century after century, the census reports that Equestria's population remains nearly static [2].  With an apparent abundance of food and space, what limits the growth of the pony population?  Many of the theories to date attempt to model the phenomenon by invoking social or cultural limitations to reproductive drive [42].  These theories however fail to explain recently surveyed [53] attitudes towards foal-bearing and the reported occurance rate sexually transmitted infection [15].  Recent data, vide infra, suggests an external force is modulating population growth at physiological level."
 
 
- Canton Scrollsworth, abstract in Equestrian Journal of Biosociology, circa 1267 CR
 
  
 
====Pony Politics====
 
====Pony Politics====

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