MLP G3-G4 Timeline

[nvrrrdie]

So I was just watching Princess Promenade and I was thinking it would be fun to explore the idea of connecting the lore of g4 and g3 into a single timeline... Spike awakens to guide the new princess of Ponyville and the ponies insist that Ponyville doesn't have a princess - but the dialogue implies a period in the past where royalty did exist in Ponyville!

Personally I find g3 Spike different enough in personality that I don't LIKE to consider him the same character as g4 Spike but I want to put details like that aside for now. If there's a castle in Ponyville then it is likely to be Twilight Sparkle's castle, presumably the first castle that Ponyville would have ever had based on g4 history. So it would be interesting to think that Spike was sleeping beneath it for 1000 years to meet the princess of the future generation.

Clearly at some point the period of royal rulership of Celestia and Luna would have somehow come to an end. Hugely significant event because they're pretty much like immortal demigods and also catastrophic enough that after 1000 years they do not seem to commonly persist in the historic memory of Ponyville.

I haven't reviewed Runaway Rainbow in quite some time so I'd like to apologize if I'm getting the facts wrong but it appears that Unicornia still maintains the institution of royalty. My best guess would be comparing it to Cadance's Crystal Kingdom, I like how it fits together at least.

Also please bear in mind I'm only halfway through friendship is magic and there's lots of stuff I could be potentially missing but I find it a really interesting idea to play around with, what do people think about this? Has anyone ever gone into this before?


P.S. If we extended this timeline further then g1 would likely be a long time before g4 because when Rainbow Dash studies the history of the Wonderbolts they mention General Firefly as a historical figure from the past? I'm not very knowledgeable about g1 media however.

I started thinking about all of this because I wanted to convert Princess Promenade into a magical girl story for fun, kind of sailor moon style.. I forgot all the ideas I had for it though

 

[HoofHearted]

I love this idea! I like how G3 is last in the timeline, since its world is probably closest to a chill utopia without a ton of serious problems or danger. Those ponies deserve a break! G3 Spike could be a descendant of G4 Spike, since both sort of exist as aides to royalty. I can't remember the exact dialog, but I know there was a joke where Spike had a long name, and then said "You can just call me Spike". Did he say Spike the 3rd or anything like that which would imply a line of Spikes?

The G3's are segregated though, but not out of bigotry like in G5, they just don't seem to realize the other groups exist, so if you incorporate all pony media into one timeline, it could go G3 (independently evolving species) > G3.5 (coexistence) > G1 (coexistence) > MLP: Tales (coexistence) > G4 (coexistence) > G5 (breaking apart and scattering and eventual coexistence)

If you're going based on royalty, then maybe G1 (Majesty, Princess Ponies) > G4 (Celestia/Luna) > Tales (edit: they actually do have a King and Queen, I forgot! :0) > G3 (freedom from monarchical tyranny!)

Thanks for posting! It's fun to play around with these ideas

 

[nvrrrdie]

I love this idea! I like how G3 is last in the timeline, since its world is probably closest to a chill utopia without a ton of serious problems or danger. Those ponies deserve a break! G3 Spike could be a descendant of G4 Spike, since both sort of exist as aides to royalty. I can't remember the exact dialog, but I know there was a joke where Spike had a long name, and then said "You can just call me Spike". Did he say Spike the 3rd or anything like that which would imply a line of Spikes?

The G3's are segregated though, but not out of bigotry like in G5, they just don't seem to realize the other groups exist, so if you incorporate all pony media into one timeline, it could go G3 (independently evolving species) > G3.5 (coexistence) > G1 (coexistence) > MLP: Tales (coexistence) > G4 (coexistence) > G5 (breaking apart and scattering and eventual coexistence)

If you're going based on royalty, then maybe G1 (Majesty, Princess Ponies) > G4 (Celestia/Luna) > Tales (edit: they actually do have a King and Queen, I forgot! :0) > G3 (freedom from monarchical tyranny!)

Thanks for posting! It's fun to play around with these ideas

Oh that's an interesting idea! In the movie, Spike introduced himself as "Master Kenbroath Kilspotten Heathspike" - so not exactly the same as your suggestion but it could definitely be considered a hereditary surname or something, based on Spike's name? Not even necessarily familial but perhaps a title associated to the role of royal assistant. And he does say he comes from a long line of royal dragons!!

I'll call them Spike and Heathspike to differentiate from here. From Runaway Rainbow it would appear that before Heathspike's hibernation, Ponyville and Unicornia had contact with each other but communication appears to have been lost over time and he struggles to recall the information to travel to Unicornia, saying he "used to" know it. So perhaps there was some series of events that led the connections between the areas to break down. But that doesn't explain why they are completely unaware of each other or wholly composed of earth ponies, unicorns, etc as entirely separate.

Going only from G4 lore Ponyville was recounted to be formed from a treaty or something between earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi so even though they're mysteriously segregated from each other at this point I still want to place it later in the timeline because of the fact that Ponyville exists AND has its own castle. I'm not sure what the castle status is like in other generations though or what their versions of history/lore are, I just know there was not any castle at the beginning of g4.

I'm not familiar with g5 but I've been wanting to get into it after I finish friendship is magic (though idk I might actually want to get through the entire comics series even before that) and your ideas are making it sound really interesting! How much content has been released for it so far? I'll also have to look into the royalty from g1 and Tales. You've given me a lot to think about for this concept, thanks so much : D

EDIT: wow I'm actually reading about g1 events for the first time and it actually sounds so much more intense than I realized!! Is it worth watching it, where would you suggest to start with g1 media? I never realized how unique g3 was for just having silly hijinks rather then fighting against sinister villains!!

 

[HoofHearted]

I like that idea of it being a title! I haven't seen too much G1 media, just Rescue from Midnight Castle and song clips here and there, but G1's Spike comes in the Dream Castle playset with Majesty, so every single Spike thus far has had some royal connection.

I never really thought about it before, but that is sort of spooky that they don't remember knowing unicorns, pegasi etc. Pegasi are very shy, so there's more justification for them splitting off, but even then, you'd think the history would be passed down. Of course, they probably have a lot more years of civilization, maybe millions instead of our thousands. Unicorns and pegasi became myths over time. Unless there's something more sinister at play.... *dun dun!* That's ripe for storytelling!

That's a good point about Ponyville having a castle. And we see Ponyville being founded in Family Appreciation Day by the Apple family, while Celestia is still presiding. G5 is canonically set in the G4 timeline in the past, but G1, Tales, and G4 could also be evolving concurrently in different places. If G3 is the modern day, then Unicornia could be Unicorn Range (on the map below) and Butterfly Island could have formed on the West Coast. Maybe Los Pegasus broke off and floated out? G1's Dream Valley could be in the Galloping Gorge (gorges and valleys aren't the same, but they're similar, and the forested area next to it looks similar). If G1 is sooner in the timeline, the valley might have turned into a gorge over time. Lots of ideas!

Good luck getting through G4! I dropped off around season 5, but it's a really fun show with so many funny moments. I've only seen the G5 movie, which is good with a killer soundtrack, but I know they made a 3D animated series and a 2D animated series afterwards, so lots of content to enjoy! MLP Tales is super down-to-earth, and boy-troubles and preteen struggles are a major theme, which I think is cute. And G1 is pretty intense, yeah! I've heard it described as high fantasy, and there's plenty of peril and action from what I've seen. I think RAMC is a good starting point, as the first My Little Pony special.

They really went from mortal peril, to preteen struggles, to tea parties, and back to mortal peril again with G4!