Here's a question people at EqD have discussed at length without a satisfactory answer. In early pony society, we see interdependent class structure. See 4:15-4:32 here-- [video=youtube;6c9T9WayS9c]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c9T9WayS9c[/video] But, the unicorn role is to raise the sun and the moon. Thus, solar magic was at one point independent of Celestia. Further, although Luna and Cel are rulers of Equestria, the foundation did not involve them. Consequently, they must have been external powers imposed on Equestria at a later date in place of the council-style government that we see exemplified at the summit (5:40 - 7:20). Of course if that's true, pony society was once independent of the gods, if it didn't in fact predate the gods. The dominant theories seem to be: 1. Hearth's Warming Eve is accurate and the above is gospel truth. 2. Hearth's Warming Eve is a moral myth--not factual history. 3. Luna and Celestia were alive and well, but they were outside the scope of the story--busy, as it were, with the same abstract place Starswirl the Bearded (mentioned in the ep) must have been. While an interesting theory, this doesn't seem to address the lack of Celestia in the rising of the sun. What are your thoughts?
i believe you are thinking too hard... the point of this was to entertain, i don't think Lauren Faust or the rest of the MLP team indicated or even expected any connection between modern equestria and the past equestria.
Of course it's a kids' cartoon that doesn't specialize in continuity; we should expect there to be plot holes. Nevertheless, the specialty of a fandom like our own is to experiment with modes of continuity as a kind of game. As for whether there's any continuity necessary between modern and past Equestria, the answer's in the semantics--of course there's to be continuity. If there wasn't, we couldn't call it past Equestria
The thing I'm really curious about my friend other than this, because I did question this a few times and thought that Celestia would show up somewhere in the episode, is the question of how the alicorns came to be. Because obviously the Alicorns hold every trait of all three races (I'm assuming Earth Pony), and there for are either the gods of all three races having all the traits, or if the Hearth Warming Eve story is true, then they are a hybrid formed through out breeding of the three different races.
Yeah. Personally, I think Cel and Luna would need a better Genesis than mixed breeding, though. Luna's time on the moon, and her personal familiarity with Starswirl the Bearded, suggest that they really are divine in some ways. Given that, I imagine their genesis must have been spectacular--something itself mythic in scope, like the birth of Aphrodite. Whatever that story was, it would explain alicorns as merely the result of divine birth.
So in the case of divine birth, were they born before or after Equestria was founded. And on that matter, Equestria isn't actually the world, or so it is explained in the episode. It is just that country they are in. So what is the world they are in? If Cel and Luna and Starswirl were around before Equestria, did they create the entire world? Also something that makes me think that alicorns came before everything else is that, the horn of the unicorn is apparently called alicorn.
You are forgetting the ruling of Discord, and that was an important part of Equestrian History. Well, If I were to make a timeline with everything I know as shown in the series, it would go something like this. -Creation of the Universe -Pony Dominance -Early Pony Society (As shown in Hearth's Warming Eve) -Founding of Equestria -Ruling of Discord -Overthrow of Discord -Ruling of the Alicorns -Nightmare Moon and Princess Luna's Exilement -Celestia's Reign -Nightmare Moon Returns. -The New Elements of Harmony and Princess Luna's Return. -Discord's Return. -Discord's Imprisonment. And, regarding the topic, it's interesting to note that for Princess Luna to have any kind of familiarity with Starswirl the bearded, she must have already been born by the time the Founding of Equestria took place or shortly after, and considering this, they must have already been around by the time Discord ruled Equestria, or that Starswirl was really, really old by the time he died. So, either Discord's reign was relatively short for Luna and Celestia to live and develop through it, meaning they were the result of the breeding of Pegasi and Unicorns and non-divine powerful beings that gained their status as Monarchs after they overthrew him or Starswirl lived through Discord's reigning, meaning Luna and Celestia are divine beings and they were just trolling. I like the first one the better, because on the first episode they tell us about how Luna's jealousy of her sister corrupted her, opposing completely to the popular belief of divinity as perfect. There are a lot more theories, but we would have to wait and see if there's another chapter in which they mention Equestrian History to have any kind of backup. Also, I'm tired of thinking.
funny fact. about 3 weeks ago at Zagreb brony meetup, TweetyBird came up with this theory (before episode), and there was long discussion about it. I'll ask him to post it since he's author of idea.
Well, actually, this kind of disproves part of my argument. It was based on the social differences between the three pony groups and how they were apparently expected to do one thing and stick to it, as well as some groups being, seemingly, superior the others, at least according to their wealth, influence and careers. It was based on the Earth Ponies being on the bottom of the ladder, growing food and being (mostly) dirt poor, while the Unicorns lounged on the top, having their magic, creative or easy jobs, wealth and forming most of the social elite. However, I also claimed Luna and Celestia were divine or semi-divine beings, owing to their longevity and their ability to control the celestial bodies. The second part of this is now disproven, though, as the unicorns of old display the same ability. Thus, my theocracy theory is busted.
Nooooo clue. I never got the impression Cel was a creator since the only divine responsibility we've seen for her involves sun-rising duties. It'd be like assuming Apollo created the world in Greek mythology. Possibly. Then again, Twi was familiar with Starswirl; did Luna ever give any indication that she actually knew Star personally, or did she merely recognize the costume?
