Author's Notes:

Hello everypony,

Sorry for not updating in six months. I've been extremely busy with school work for the past few months. Over the Thanksgiving Break and Christmas Vacation, I was able to make some progress on this story (100 pages.) I will be uploading these in the coming weeks.

I will focus on having a longer chapter format and not upload multi-part updates for each individual chapter. Additionally, I will be merging the previous multi-part updates for previous chapters together.

Chapter 26: Humans and Equestria

The following is an excerpt from Bondage to Freedom: The Struggle to Liberate Our Equine Brethren (1982)

“When humans and Equestrian citizens first made contact, neither knew what the future held for either themselves or for the other race. Some humans feared that the emergence of another group of sentient creatures was a threat to their survival or even a demonic entity that heralded the beginnings of the “End Times.” Fortunately, our human friends have largely abandoned such backwards thinking.
Ponies for their part were (rightfully) scared of what the humans were capable of and what their ultimate designs for Equestrians (and her neighbors) were. They had entered into a world where humans were the unchallenged master over all other life, going so far as to enslave other animals. The usage of equine creatures for menial, slave labour has remained a source of intense acrimony between ponies and humans.
Fortunately, the human race has reduced its reliance upon horse labour, with several (mostly European) countries and American states abolishing the usage of horses in menial labour. Instead, horses are given the opportunity to roam freely on giant horse “reservations” where they are looked after by pro-equine humans.
Our Benevolent Monarch, Princess Celestia (287 BNM- 1031 ANM), decided to simultaneously pursue positive relations with the human race while pushing for the liberation of equines from human captivity. To this end, she offered humanitarian assistance in exchange for the liberation of their equine populations. A special “Liberation Tax” was imposed on all goods sold in Equestria in order to pay for the cost of liberating foreign ponies.
Initially, Celestia wanted to authorize the transportation of all liberated horses to Equestria where they would be free to pursue a future amongst their own fellow humans. However, our Dear Leader and our Fellow Countrymen were saddened to find out that thees formerly “domesticated” horses possessed no sentience that was comparable to the ponies of Equestria. Additionally, Celestia, despite her magic prowess was never able to grant these ponies sentience.
Thus they were allocated to live on reservations where the liberated equines are looked after by doctors and other caregivers. It is estimated that approximately 2% of Equestria’s population is tasked with caring for the approximately 2.5 million mentally disadvantaged equines. Equestria’s government has benefited from other nations, such as Canada agreeing to set up their own equine reservations. An estimated 10 million (⅕ the global non-sentient horse population) lives in these “offshore horse reservations.”

BNM/ANM= Before and After Nightmare Moon. Equestria entered the human world in 1006 ANM or January 1, 1946 CE/AD.Equestria’s total population is estimated to be 45 million sentient creatures. 90% of which is equine (unicorns, pegasi, Earth ponies), while the other 10% are either foreign equines (zebras) or non-equine sentients (i.e. griffons and dragons.) The nation of Equestria has a land mass similar to California, the most populated American state.

Humans in Equestria: A History of Two Races

As soon as human diplomats and human journalists started entering Equestria, they proceed to send back reports detailing natural beauty and the general politeness of ponies in Equestria. This combined with a Disney film named Equestria: A Land Where Friendship is Magic, which detailed Equestrian customs and traditions, prompted a mass interest in visiting Equestria for holiday.
Every summer, Equestria is flooded by foreign tourists from all over the world, with the year of 2014 witnessing a total of 50 million tourists entering the country. The Crystal Empire receives an annual 15 million visitors.
While many ponies were hostile to the concept of equine owning humans vacationing in Equestria, the majority of Equestrian citizens embraced the concept of human tourists visiting the country. This stemmed from a belief that exposure to kindhearted and intelligent equines could help change the hearts and minds of human visitors (as well as a desire for human tourist money.) Such “Tourist Diplomacy” is credited with helping mollify the treatment of equines the world over.
However, many humans weren’t content to merely visit Equestria. Many humans desired to permanently migrate to the beautiful, largely agrarian society. Celestia, responding to fears that human migration might soon overwhelm the native stock and then “domesticate” them, decided to impose strict immigration restrictions. Only humans who were willing to pay an elevated residency tax and hold a job or start a business were permitted to say in Equestria. Additionally, immigration was capped at 1% of the previous census’ population, below the rate of natural population growth for the indigenous equine population. Exceptions were made for humans who had engaged in some “heroic action in the defense/service of equines.” These citizens would be granted automatic citizenship and residency in Equestria.
Intermingling between ponies and human migrants was a common sight in the early “Post-Flash/World Jump” Era. The numerically superiority of ponies meant that human migrants were required to live in majority equine communities. Their ability to manipulate objects with their hands allowed humans to fulfill several jobs that had previously been reserved for unicorns, such as being surgeons and artisans. While this endeared them to Earth ponies and pegasi businessmen (who would use the humans as cheap migrant labour), this human ability angered unicorns, who now faced competition from another, cheaper source of labour. As a consequence humans regularly face harassment from unicorns, with groups such as the Unicorn Defense Union, an unicorn supremacist party, advocating the expulsion of all humans from Equestria.

However, as large numbers of humans began to settle in Equestria, they often formed their own enclaves in the inner cities of Equestria, prompting concerns that human migrants are failing to assimilate into Equestrian culture. The humans which have adapted to Equestrian customs and become citizens are often referred to in Equestria as “Bronies” and “Pegasisters.” They make up approximately half of the estimated 600,000 humans that live in Equestria.

The existence of large numbers of humans in equestria, particularly large numbers of Bronies, has meant that there have been a handful of controversial court cases revolving around human-equine relationships. While interspecies relationships that are theoretically capable of producing offspring (i.e. between a donkey and a horse) are legal in Equestria, marital/sexual relationships between species which cannot produce offspring (i.e. equines and humans) remain illegal, despite the elimination of most anti-sodomny laws and a growing “free love movement” in Equestria. The Equestrian Supreme Court is expected to render a verdict on the issue next year.

Despite the continued challenges that the human presence in Equestria continues to poise, it is generally believed that Equestria’s moderate migratory policy has enabled it to take the best and brightest minds from the human world while maintaining Equine supremacy in Equestria.

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