History WMG / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingEquestrianCulture

** Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. To [[LastDisrespects dishonor somepony who was hated in life,]] flowers with negative meanings may be planted instead, such as yellow carnations (disappointment and rejection), cyclamen (resignation and separation), orange lilies (hatred), or petunias (resentment and anger). For this reason, it is a superstition among some earth ponies that it is bad luck to name a foal after one of those flowers. (As to why there is a filly named Petunia in "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks", the no-naming-foals-after-bad-flowers custom is considered archaic in some areas or just not practiced everywhere.)

** Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. To [[LastDisrespects dishonor somepony who was hated in life,]] flowers with negative meanings may be planted instead, such as yellow carnations (disappointment and rejection), cyclamen (resignation and separation), orange lilies (hatred), or petunias (resentment and anger). For this reason, it is a superstition among some earth ponies that naming a foal after one of those flowers will result in bad things happening. (As to why there is a filly named Petunia in "The Fault In Our Cutie Marks", the no-naming-foals-after-bad-flowers custom is considered archaic in some areas or just not practiced everywhere.)

** Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. To [[LastDisrespects dishonor somepony who was hated in life,]] flowers with negative meanings may be planted instead, such as yellow carnations (disappointment and rejection), cyclamen (resignation and separation), orange lilies (hatred), or petunias (resentment and anger).

** Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''. To dishonor somepony who was hated in life and give them LastDisrespects, flowers with negative meanings may be planted instead, such as yellow carnations (disappointment and rejection), cyclamen (resignation and separation), orange lilies (hatred), or petunias (resentment and anger).

** Considering earth ponies' association with plants, they may plant seeds or trees on top of their loved ones' graves. Perhaps, if the deceased was named after a plant/flower/tree, they plant their namesake on the grave, similar to the burial customs of the islanders in ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''.

*** Dragons, vampires, [[AnythingThatMoves Zeus]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers and]] {{Wolverine}} aren't exactly the most pleasant mythological beings and we still think they're cool.

!![[center: [-[[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingSharedUniverses Shared Universes]], [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingPonies Ponies]], [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingEquestria Equestria]], '''Equestrian Culture''', [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingScienceAndMagic Science and Magic]], [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingOtherSpecies Other Species]] ([[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingChangelings Changelings]], [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingDragons Dragons]])-]]]

When your main inhabitants aren't human, speculation abounds. If you have other guesses then:

-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingSharedUniverses Shared Universe guesses go here]]
-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingPonies Pony guesses go here]]
-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingEquestria Guesses about Equestria itself go here]]
-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingScienceAndMagic Science and Magic guesses go here]]
-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingDragons Dragon guesses go here]]
-> [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSettingOtherSpecies Guesses on other species go here]]

-> Go back to the [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicSetting Main Setting Guesses page here]]

-> and you can still go back to the [[WMG/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Main WMG Page, here]]

*** Humans are mad, and that madness means there's nothing they might not be able to do, from giving a pony some sort of friendly gesture with their offset digit to flattening a city with a bomb that salts the earth and damages the children of those near the blast or the area of effect for years to come? [[{{HSQ}} Holy crow]], ''humans are Discord's follower race in Equestrian mythology''. I must write this.

In Equestrian society happiness is of the utmost importance. After the terrible chaos and suffering of Discord's rule, everypony wanted stability instead of the anarchy of previous years. After defeating Discord the two Royal sisters began to implement these ideas; however they came to blows over the exact implementation of these ideas. Equestrian society today is ruled as a soft-version of Brave New World. Our Mane Cast are Alpha and Beta, which explains why they are assigned leader roles and why they are friends with each other. Background ponies are often seen repeated many times in the background; this is because they are genetically identical, bred under identical conditions. This means there are hundreds of Lyra Heartstrings and Bon Bons, for instance. Derpy (with cross eyes) is simply a mistake - she is too intelligent for her assigned caste, she has to act slow to fit in. Family relations are discouraged which explains the lack of parental influence; but as Celestia is benovelent she lets traditional farming families like the Pie's and the Apple's stay.

While there is no shortage of monsters willing to deal physical violence to the ponies, all of the antagonistic ponies we've seen so far have been socially antagonistic (Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, Prince Blueblood, Jet Set and Upper Crust, Trixie, Hoops, Quarterback and Dumbbell). We haven't seen Rainbow Dash or Apple Bloom being physically beaten up by their respective bullies, just made fun of. On the other hand, the Cutie Mark Crusaders descend into a BigBallOfViolence at the drop of a hat, and the mane cast are often casually violent with each other, and ''it's not a big deal''. When they hurt each others' feelings, though, it's time for a big apology and a letter to Princess Celestia. Since friendship is basically the only thing keeping Equestria safe and functional, this makes sense. It also fits with the behaviour of real-world horses - horses bite each other when they're annoyed, but the way to make a horse truly suffer is to shun it from the herd.

* This would probably explain (in fanon) Lyra Heartstrings's obsession with humans and human culture, going so far as sitting like a human and wanting to be one. After all, we know dragons don't exist, but which little kid doesn't want to be one at some point or other - even into adulthood?

*** This! Humans originated as folklore beings. The most famous is of course the household spirit the Brony (sometimes pronounced Brownie) that attaches itself to what it perceives as "the best pony" and tries to help them by brushing their mane and bringing them things, but there are others. They are master craftsmen, greedy and capricious. Humans, unlike most real sapients, cannot be seen naked or they will turn to stone or fade away, the story varies, so they are obsessed with clothing. A similar legend says that to drive away a Brony, you should dye your coat and mane. This will cause it to disappear in a puff of smoke and the wail "Ruined forever! Not show accurate!". Their absurd apperance (minotaurs with the face of an ape and the mane of a pony? seriously?) clearly shows they're an old mare's tale. No grownup believes in them anymore, but the pony equivalents of Tolkien and the like created the genre of fantasy and included fictional beings based on humans, so now they're part of pop culture. And when Pinkie Pie breaks the fourth wall - well, she has the Sight, knows all the Lore from Granny Pie, and she knows we're real.

In the real world, mustangs are wild (well, feral) horses. The tourist in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS3E12GamesPoniesPlay Games Ponies Play]] exhibited claustrophobia and a love of wide open spaces, rather more like a wild horse than the highly civilized ponies from other areas. This suggests a culture more closely mimicking wild herd structure, including polygyny (one stallion, several mares). This is why she was flirting with Shining Armor so shamelessly - she didn't see anything wrong with flirting with a married stallion.

Because really, what are the odds that the Earth Pony Chancellor was a CloudCuckoolander like Pinkie Pie? Besides, this is before Celestia's time - the leaders' real names and personalities may be lost to history. So when actors are chosen to portray the pageant, they apply their own personalities and interpretations to the story. If, say, the Crusaders and three classmates performed their own pageant at school, the leaders would be very different ponies, although the overall story would be the same.

That wasn't just a quaint little holiday play. That was an ''InitiationCeremony''. It was as much a part of preparing Twilight for her apotheo ... um, "coronation" ... as any of the grand adventures and deadly villains she confronted.

** Which would explain why Pipsqueak said he was celebrating his "first Nightmare Night ever", despite later episodes showing him to be around the Crusaders' age - Trottingham was a high-enough priority for Celestia to steer them away from Nightmare Night.

* The earth pony system was a personal name - family name system, with consistent surnames among families, similar to the system used in most Western countries (e.g. all the known members of the ''Pie'' family share the surname ''Pie'').
* The unicorn system was a family name - personal name system, similar to that found in some East Asian countries (e.g. ''Twilight'' Velvet and ''Twilight'' Sparkle).

** In [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tartarus historical Tartarus]], Tartarus was the actually Greek equivalent of Hell - it not only housed all the evil monsters that were threats to the gods (much as Twilight mentions), but there was also a section as punishment for the enemies of the gods, where the punishment justifies the crime.

** Jossed as of ''A Canterlot Wedding'' - Twilight Sparkle definitely throws magic blasts around. Though that could of course be self-taught from some obscure books.

* So when a pony dies, others would say they've been 'Everfreed'? Sounds a bit like [[ReleasedToElsewhere a certain other euphemism]] [[TheGiver from a popular book...]]

* The real question this raises is why is there a need for a draft? A secret war perhaps? But against who?

* [[AustinPowers Who throws a shoe? Honestly!]]

** ''Stallion with a winged skull cutie mark and a high-peaked combination cap:'' We shall purge the Universe of the Foul Forces of [[CareBears Care-a-Lot]]! Glory to the First Stallion to Die! FOR THE PRINCESS!

[[WMG: The ponies of Equestria use the same naming conventions as [[HorseRacing Horse Racing]].]]

[[WMG: Equestira has a naming ceremony similar to ''Genpuku'']]

** Possibly the gun is also a recent invention, too weak and unreliable to be used (see [[http://pooryorickda.deviantart.com/gallery/37506217 "Equestria Divided"]] by [=PoorYorick=] on DeviantArt for examples I am thinking of) besides a morale busting weapon outside of giant cannons. Earth Ponies may not of had not enough need to develop weapon technology (see above reasons) or were not ALLOWED to develope weapon technology, do to there former statuses of serfs.

As we saw at the end of [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS2E13HearthsWarmingEve the play]], the flag shown has two Alicorns on it. If the events of the play takes place before Celestia and Luna are born, how can the ponies think to put Allicorns on the flag? Because the idea of the Alicorn had alredy existed. The sentiments behind it, the best characteristics and talents of all three pony races present in a single pony, was either created by, or be very appealing to, the Pony Pan-Nationalists, the Clover the Clevers, Smart Cookies and Private Pansy's of the world. So when the three tribes became friends and put aside their differences, they decided to put the Heraldric Symbol of Pony Unity on their flag.

We do know that their was a "dark ages" (the time of Discord) which has since passed and a "middle ages" (time under both the Alicorn's rule) which are both considered to be part of Equestria's history. Luna was acting much like a mid-evil monarch trying to gain the loyallity of her people by giving a demonstration of her power with her voice (in the midages, people were more loyal to their region rather than their nation, thus kings and queens needed to remind their subject why they bowed to them).

Equestria appears to be in some kind of industrialization far away from the tiny little farm town of Ponyville. Skyscrapers and a large city exists atleast in Manehatten. The most obvious fruit of their labor is the train, which is new enough that ones going on longer journey's need some strong Earth Ponies to pull it. Earth Ponies appear to be the leaders in this new field, and growing into a new rich factory owners. It is cutting into the old Unicorn nobility, who have been the sole wealthy ponies in Equestria up till now. The evidence of that are the extreme amount of Unicorns in Canterlot, and how in the play the only "rolayity" that appeared as a reperentative was the one from the unicorns (and the fact almost all Earth Pony's appeared to be little more than serfs). This new Earth Pony elite, however, has forced the Unicorn's to welcome some of these Earth Ponies into Canterlot's high society in a desperate plead for their status to survive.

Pegasus society appeared to have already moved on from it's Roman militarism to a society based around sports, similar to the revivial of the Olympics being reformed not as tribute to the gods done by warrior's, but competition done by athletes.

Some Earth Pony's are moving into what was once inhosbilitable lands surrounding Equestria, similar to the migration west in the Old West.

Princess Celestia's use of Twilight to research more into the mysteries of magic parallels Enlightened monarchs spending lots of money on scientists to increase their own prestiege and their appearance of wisdom. Celestia seams to be atleast trying to become more directly connected to the common man, also a trait of some Enlightenment era kings.

With Unicorn magic increasing the spread of technology (magically making something work is a very helpful trait for ingenuity and ivention) one has to wonder how quickly they will get to the modern era.

As a result of there being less males to go around.