Equestria

Equestria is the main setting of the Legend of Mystical Heroes franchise. Equestria is inhabited by magical ponies and other talking creatures, such as the mabus, griffons and dragons. Other animals and creatures also live in Equestria. Equestria is called a kingdom on the first episode of the show and in other media, though it does contain other "kingdoms" within it such as the Crystal Empire or Crystal Kingdom; the show and other media take place in many locations and their exact affiliation with Equestria is not explored. Equestria is co-ruled by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, who reside in a palace in the city of Canterlot. The name "Equestria" is derived from the word "equestrian" (which means of or related to horseback riding), which stems from equus, the Latin word for "horse.".

Production
Lauren Faust wrote in a comment on her DeviantArt page that 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. However, in subsequent interviews, both Faust and Jayson Thiessen mentioned that the geography and continuity of the show are loosely defined and may change as necessary, and a layout artist stated on December 10, 2011 that the production team had no official map of Equestria at their disposal.

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."

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 Return of Harmony Part 1 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 spell is later broken because, as Celestia explains, "Luna and [herself] are no longer even 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 episode, depicted in a series of medieval-like drawings with a narration that says "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 Testing Testing 1, 2, 3, these events are referred to as "The Great Celestia/Luna Rift"

Locations
Equestria features many locations such as Ponyville, Canterlot, the Crystal Empire, and many more. These locations' exact affiliation with Equestria is usually not explored.

Official map and other places
A poster which features an official map of Equestria was released on August 3, 2012. According to the map, Equestria bears a very similar resemblance to North America, having most of the cities like Manehattan and Vanhoover located in the same places as their real-life counterparts.

The following places are present on the official map of Equestria but never featured in any other franchise's medium. From top left – North-West – to bottom right – South-East.
 * Vanhoover
 * The Frozen North; it is evoqued by Princess Celestia in the episode The Crystal Empire - Part 1, as the place where King Sombra was banished.
 * Crystal Mountains, mentioned by Twilight Sparkle and explored by Pinkie Pie in Party Pooped and supposedly seen around the Crystal Empire in the episodes The Crystal Empire - Part 2 and Games Ponies Play
 * Neighagra Falls
 * Unicorn Range
 * Smokey Mountain
 * "Saddle L."
 * Rambling Rock Ridge
 * Applewood, near Las Pegasus
 * Hayseed Swamps
 * Horseshoe Bay
 * San Palomino Desert
 * Macintosh Hills
 * Badlands – When Queen Chrysalis is defeated by Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, she and a few of her changelings go flying in the direction of the Badlands as she vanishes from view (although the comics depict her landing beyond them)

The map is shown in Pinkie Pride during Cheese Sandwich's flashback in Cheese Confesses. A portion of the northwestern area of the map is also shown during Daring Don't. The full map appears again near the end of Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2, when the Rainbow Power is first used.

Promotional material
A New York Times ad mentions that the ponies who attend the Canterlot wedding in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 include residents of Appleloosa, Galloping Gorge, Fillydelphia, and Manehattan.

A poll posted by The Hub's Facebook page focuses on Princess Cadance and Shining Armor choosing between Appleloosa, Galloping Gorge, Fillydelphia, Saddle Arabia and Manehattan as the location of their honeymoon.

The My Little Pony Wedding Quiz section of Hasbro's Pony Wedding microsite describes the Crystal Empire as "cultured".