Equestria () is a fictional kingdom and the main setting of the fourth, fifth, and sixth generations of the My Little Pony toy line and media franchise, including the animated television series My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (FIM) and its spinoff My Little Pony: Pony Life. 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 and hosts many intelligent, conscious, sentient and sapient creatures. Equestria's foundation is described as the result of the cooperation of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies.
Equestria is benevolent in nature. Its society favors egalitarian love, Friendship, diplomacy, and is matriarchal. Its people, ponies, have near-mastery over their environment; earth ponies cultivate the land, pegasi stabilize seasonal weather-patterns, unicorns advance scientific research, and alicorns control the day/night cycle, creating a nation of unrivaled stability and prosperity. Although depicted as generally prosperous and peaceful, Equestria engages in conflicts with various magical and supernatural threats throughout the series. The "Bit" is the national currency of Equestria and its territories. Throughout the FIM series, Equestria is a de facto matriarchy/tetrarchy ruled by "Alicorn princesses", though this title is more akin to a de facto Queen regnant in practice, with princesses exercising wide-reaching executive authority.
Development Two years were spent on creating the foundation of the series. Pennsylvania Dutch design, steampunk fantasy art, European fairy tales, and Bavarian folk art served as influences for the original pony world. 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.
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 horse-like creatures known as windigos, who feed on hate and division, brought freezing temperatures and eternal darkness to the world, and other monsters terrorized the populace. The three tribes separately emigrated to the land of Equestria, 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.
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."Horse Play". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 8. Episode 7. April 28, 2018. Discovery FamilyMy Little Pony: Legends of Magic Issue #1
Under Princess Celestia and Luna, Equestria could focus greater magic and resources on its development despite the emergence of threats like the evil centaur Lord Tirek,"Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 4. Episode 25. May 10, 2014. Discovery Family. the chaos god Discord, and wars between ponies and the shapeshifting Changeling Hive.My Little Pony: FIENDship is Magic Issue #5 Under the princesses, Equestria was transformed into a regional superpower. 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. 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. This culminated in Celestia banishing her own sister to the moon for a millennium, creating a pattern of maria on the surface that resembled the head of a unicorn, creating the legend of "the mare in the moon" a play on the man in the moon. After 1,000 years of exile, Nightmare moon returned, only to be defeated by the Mane Six. After her defeat, she returned to being Princess Luna."Friendship is Magic - Part 1". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 1, Episode 1. October 10, 2010. Discovery Family."Friendship is Magic - Part 2". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 1, Episode 2. October 22, 2010. Discovery Family.
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 Cadance and her husband, Shining Armor.
By the end of Friendship is Magic, the rule of Equestria was passed down to Princess Twilight Sparkle."Magical Mystery Cure". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 3. Episode 13. February 16, 2013. The Hub. The reign of Twilight Sparkle brought about increases in peace, prosperity, hope, and love as Princess Twilight continued her magical research and made her diplomatic mission to spread friendship to every creature in need. Throughout Equestria's history, it has maintained 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.
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 the "Starswirl the Bearded" Wing of the Canterlot Archives.
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 conquered Canterlot, forcing many ponies into hiding. In the third, Nightmare Moon rules Equestria in the eternal night after banishing Celestia to the moon."The Cutie Re-Mark". My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. Season 5. Episodes 25 and 26. November 28, 2015. Discovery Family. 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.
It is theorized that Generation 5 follows an entirely different alternate continuity, and that it has a timeline where previous events similar to Generation 4 occurred. This is evident by the three pony tribes once again fragmented from each other and divided by hostility, as well as the loss of their respective abilities such as telekinesis, flight, and enhanced strength due to the disappearance of magic from the world.
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. 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. 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.
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. 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 shapes of beans: heads to a ball and legs to curved triangles. Often, the ponies were the height of three heads, divided into three parts:
The head is the largest and longest. The body is approximately half the head's height but the same width. The legs are slightly shorter than the head.
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. Throughout the later seasons of Friendship Is Magic, body types have varied, being designed to embody diverse characteristics, including age and personality.
Pony subspecies There are three major pony subspecies that make up the majority of Equestria's population, comprising roughly one-third each.
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 intended to replicate things they cannot do themselves. Earth ponies form the backbone of Equestria's economy, operating within most industrial sectors involving natural resources, construction, or extraction. Their natural talents in agriculture, forestry, and mining extend from plants to rock farms. Earth ponies exhibit increased strength, endurance, stamina, fortitude, and durability compared to pegasi and unicorns.
Pegasi
Pegasi have the unique ability to fly and 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 type of 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). In the episode "Hurricane Fluttershy," a coordinated team of one hundred pegasi demonstrates their ability to generate a waterspout to funnel water from a lake.
A quality Faust borrowed from her childhood with the pegasi was a cold shower fountain that made her believe the pegasi lived 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.
Unicorns