Equestria

Map of Equestria

**Equestria** is one of the Sixteen Realms and one of the two main settings of the *LEGO Ninjago & My Little Pony: Masters of Friendship* series (the other being Ninjago). Equestria is inhabited by magical ponies and other talking creatures, such as griffons and dragons. Other animals and creatures also live in Equestria. Equestria is called a kingdom in The Mare in the Moon and in other media, though it does contain other "kingdoms" within it such as the Crystal Empire; the show and other media take place in many locations and their exact affiliation with Equestria is not explored. Equestria was co-ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who resided in a palace in the city of Canterlot, until The Fate of Lloyd, when they retire with Twilight Sparkle taking their place. The name "Equestria" is derived from the word "equestrian", which denotes a relation to horseback riding. Consequently, it also has an origin in *equus*, the Latin word for "horse."

## Production

The Everfree Forest is west of Ponyville, Sweet Apple Acres is southwest, and Fluttershy's cottage and meadow are located north of the farm, presumably between Ponyville and the forest. Canterlot is northeast of Ponyville.

The English word most similar to the placename Equestria is *equestrian*, "of or relating to horse riding", from the Latin *equester*, "belonging to a horseman", from *equus*, "horse", which is also the origin of *equine*. In this sense, "Equestria" would translate as "land of the horsemen" instead of "land of horses."

## Depictions in the Series

### Before Equestria

According to a storybook in A Flurry of Emotions and Tirek in The Beginning of the End, the land that would eventually become Equestria was originally a collection of farms and pastures until Grogar declared himself emperor of everything. He created various monsters to seize what they wanted and destroy everything else. A unicorn named Gusty the Great eventually rose up against Grogar and banished him.

### The founding of Equestria

The story of the founding of Equestria is relayed in software, and part of this explanation is covered in Hearth's Warming Eve.

The episode's most prominent feature is a play about the founding of Equestria, narrated by Spike. He explains: "Each of the three tribes, the Pegasi, the unicorns, and the Earth ponies, cared not for what befell the other tribes, but only for their own welfare. In those troubled times, as now, the Pegasi were the stewards of the weather, but they demanded something in return: food that could only be grown by the Earth Ponies. The unicorns demanded the same, in return for magically bringing forth day and night. And so, mistrust between the tribes festered, until one fateful day, it came to a boil. And what prompted the ponies to clash? It was a mysterious blizzard that overtook the land, and toppled the tribes' precarious peace."

The blizzard led to famine, at which the three tribal leaders eventually agreed to meet for a summit and decide what to do about the snow, but this only devolved into arguing and blaming each other. The leaders of each tribe then decided to journey to a new land. They all arrived at the same place, and soon began fighting over it, and the blizzard quickly followed. "And so the paradise that the ponies had found was soon lost, buried beneath a thick blanket of snow and hard feelings." Eventually, the leaders' assistants find out Windigos are causing the storm by feeding off of hate. The assistants' friendship creates the magical Fire of Friendship which does away with the windigos and the snowstorm.

The three leaders then decide to join forces and found a country shared by all three tribes, and name it Equestria.

### Discord's reign of chaos

The series starts off with a prologue with narration about the princesses ruling Equestria, raising the sun and moon and maintaining harmony. Only in The Rise of the Great Devourer is the time before their rule mentioned in the series. Princess Celestia tells Twilight Sparkle and her friends that before Princess Luna and herself stood up to Discord, he ruled over Equestria, keeping it in a state of unrest and unhappiness. Celestia goes on to describe that, seeing how miserable life was for Earth ponies, unicorns, and Pegasi alike, she and Luna discovered the Elements of Harmony and rose up against Discord, turning him to stone. Discord's seal is later broken because, as Celestia explains, "Luna and [herself] are no longer connected to the elements", so Twilight and her friends use the Elements of Harmony to encase Discord in stone again.

### The regal Alicorn sisters

The princesses are introduced in the prologue of the first pilot episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that explains that "Two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land", and that "the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn. The younger brought out the moon to begin the night."

### Nightmare Moon

The narration continues: their subjects, the ponies, played in the day but "shunned" the night and slept through it, which made the younger unicorn grow bitter, eventually refusing to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Her bitterness transformed her into a "wicked mare of darkness", Nightmare Moon. The elder sister reluctantly harnessed the power of the Elements of Harmony and banished her *in* the moon, taking responsibility for both sun and moon, maintaining harmony in Equestria. The events of the first and second episodes take place a thousand years after Nightmare Moon's imprisonment, upon which she is freed, but defeated again through the magic of the Elements of Harmony, only this time she is transformed back to her former self and returns to rule Equestria with her sister. In ????, these events are referred to as "The Great Celestia/Luna Rift."

### Alternate timelines

In Curseworld, several alternate versions of present day 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. In the second, Queen Chrysalis and the changelings have conquered Canterlot and forced many ponies into hiding. In the third, Nightmare Moon rules Equestria after banishing Celestia to the moon. Further alternate realities include one ruled by Discord, one in which Tirek ravages the land, one in which Flim and Flam bulldoze whole forests, one in which the Overlord ????, and one in which Equestria is reduced to a barren wasteland. Through Twilight Sparkle's actions, these alternate realities are undone.

### Many moons later

Several years after the final battle for Ninjago and Equestria depicted in The Ending of the End, Celestia and Luna retire with Twilight officially becoming the ruler of Equestria, with Spike as her royal advisor and Gallus as the new captain of the guards.

## Rulers

* Grogar (formerly)
* Princess Celestia (retired)
* Princess Luna (retired)
* The Overlord (formerly)
* Twilight Sparkle