Kosmodakrigan

Implying it isn't. I actually believe it is real.

Me too. I first noticed MLP as a meme in summer 2011 but I disliked it. Later I couldn't escape the pony hype online but I still hadn't accustomed to the idea of adult and teenage males liking this show. I thought they were all just joking. So I tried to make fun of them - yeah, I actually began my Brony career as a little bit of a hater. I started watching clips of the show out of curiosity and finally realised that "Bronies" are actually for real, not just for the lulz. At that time (was during Christmas break of 2011) I felt like the show wasn't actually bad. Yeah and then I became a fan too.

Sure, and we are currently trying to create one called Celestianism. We want to use the aesthetic of the show and the philosophy and ethics found in it. The show is meant to teach values to the primary audience. Values are actually an important part of religions. The entire modern value system stems from Christianity. Many religions use myths and legends to convey value systems. With aesthetics I mean characters, locations etc. For example, God the Father is often portrayed as a friendly old man with a long beard but Christians don't actually believe he looks this way. This portrayal is actually from Zeus, and the Ancient Greeks also didn't literally believe there was a palace on Mount Olympus where Zeus was throwing lightning while Aphrodite was getting drunk with Bacchus. I mean most Pagan religions were ethnic so the gods were drawn like members of that ethnicity. People believed that gods of other Pagan groups were the same entities, just personified differently. This is called interpraetatio graeca. But I do like the idea Equestria and the ponies are real...

I would, but only if I could keep the memories of all my stupidities and mistakes since then (which aren't MLP related), so I can correct them.

The name of the planet is a common issue in worldbuilding: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlanetEngland This has exactly happened in MLP in that at first no place besides the "Magical Kingdom of Equestria" (assuming this is the official state name) was shown or mentioned, so there was no need to distinguish between the country and the world. Later when other places showed up like the Crystal Empire, Yakyakistan, Saddle Arabia, Griffonstone etc. everyone was already used to the name Equestria. A fanon name for the planet is Equus (Latin for horse). To answer the question: The Crystal Empire is clearly its own polity, but both de jure and de facto controlled by Equestria. Akin to the US territories of Puerto Rico and Guam (among others). So technically, Equestria is the empire. Unfortunately the politics of MLP doesn't make much sense. It starts with Celestia being Princess instead of Queen.

When we get Celestianism going there will be priests who can baptise you in the name of your best pony into our new community.

I unironically believe Equestria and those pastel ponies are real.

Maybe one day we all can really live in Equestria? I mean, who knows? Maybe in the afterlife and until then we can make our world (metaphorically) more like it. Like if we create a new religion called Celestianism and live according to its teachings and rules.

It seems to me like the population is highly concentrated, akin to Australia: There are a few densely populated urban areas and then lots of undeveloped wilderness with a few towns of little relevance in between. But this is pure speculation based on the fact the films and shows are centered on those three places. Absence of evidence isn't evidence of absence. If we speculate further, the fact that city names in FIM Equestria are puns on North American cities (Manehatten, Fillydelphia, Vanhoover etc.) it would be fair to assume it's about as large as that. North America (USA and Canada) has nearly 400 million inhabitants. Since G5 shows a similiar tech and industrial level to today, it could easily have that population. But that's pure speculation. It could go in the billions which North America could sustain, or have only a few million with most lands uncultivated. If we also assume ponies consume as much ressources and space as humans. The population in FIM (G4) is harder to say because the Schizo Tech levels make it hard to say which population Equestria could sustain. But it looks kinda lower. Again, if it's the size of North America, maybe 100 million (what North America had in 1900 AD). In the HOI4 mod Equestria at War, it has a population of 50+ million, but that is pure fanon. There's a map of Equestria where it looks very small, but it's made like those themepark-like maps for tourists and school kids that show only important and interesting sites, not like a road map one would use to find a specific address. The show staff admitted they don't use a map for writing and that the geography of both Ponyville and the whole of Equestria can be inconsistent.

That would be my dream. I would leave everything behind immediately.

You mean months. A moon is the time the moon needs to rotate around the Earth, which is approximately one month.

Presumably at least 2000 years. If we assume Twilight's reign lasted 1000 years like the previous political cycles (Discord, Celestia + Luna, Celestia alone) and no new princess took over after she retired. 1000 additional years for her legacy to pass into mythology. And for all those cities to be abandoned (we don't hear of Canterlot, Manehattan, Vanhoover, Fillydelphia etc.). The technological progress and social shift could have happened within less than a century. G4 already has steam trains, zeppelins, arcade games, DJ equipment and hydroelectricity. Look how much has changed over the 20th century. Besides technology, racial segregation was normal in the US while most Europeans had never seen a Person of Colour within living memory. The tech level in communication and recording makes it hard for the events of G4 to pass into myth. It's the main reason why we don't have any new myths today, unless you count multimedia franchises which perpetrate (pop) society and have at least some moral message like Star Wars and Marvel. Sunny's father has relics from G4 that date back over 10 generations. If we assume ponies have lifespans akin to humans, this would amount to c. 300 years. This is way too short for G4 to become myth in a literate technological society. I don't remember if he said it's just in his family for over 10 generations. Or it was just a gross estimation. So, presumably it's several millennia, with 3000-5000 years being most likely. Twilight ruled for 1000 years with little changes in Equestria during that time. It would make sense if there was some point where civilisation fell back and much technology was lost for some time until it was rediscovered. This would've been the timespan during which many cities were destroyed or abandoned and the historical records of FIM got lost and turned into mythology.

Could you please explain that further. I am really interested.

I remember I once knew a boy who was deep in love with Rainbow Dash. It was during the height of the fandom, when I was like 16-17 and he a few years younger. His avatar immediately stood out since it was a love confession to Rainbow Dash, as well as his signature. He constantly confessed his love to RD. This was when I was new in the fandom and the whole concept of waifus was alien to me. I thought he was joking (like I assumed all other previous instances where I heard of waifus to be jokes and roleplaying). So I just asked him in a private conversation. And yeah, he was serious but it took me some time and repeated confessions on his side to realise it. He said his real life sucked, MLP gave him hope and his love for Rainbow Dash was the only thing keeping him going. At one point, I asked him: "Pal, do you live only for a fictional cartoon pony?" And he was like: "Yeah, that's how it is, but I see no reason why it shouldn't be this way. My real life is NOTHING to me. If there is that pony dreamworld where I have someone I love and who gives me hope - why not? DASHIE MY DEAR I LOVE YOU!!!" Then I asked him jokingly "Sure, but, for real: Does RD love you too?" He was like: "Please, please, not that topic [if RD can love him back]. I... I tried to cut my veins because of this." I was like: "Bro, you need help! A cartoon pony is not worth dying over. Also it won't solve your problem [that your real life sucks, you're in love with RD but can't get into a relationship due to her being not here]." So he explained: "Why not, then I can finally meet RD in Heaven." Me: "What the heck?!?" Him: "Well Heaven is supposed to be the perfect place, and that is subjective. So my perfect place would be me living as my ponysona with Dashie together in Equestria." Then I explained that suicide is a sin and that even for me, as a very educated, open-minded and tolerant person, the whole idea of meeting a cartoon pony in the afterlife sounded very strange. I don't remember how but I managed to talk him out of his suicidal thoughts. He mentioned a girl at his school and I convinced him to try talk to her. In the end, he said that he still loves RD and will forever love her and also believes he will meet her in Heaven. But he will never commit suicide and live his life in the Human Realm to the fullest until then. A few years later, he stopped loving RD though and also lost interest in MLP and Bronies. He reflected back on that time and explained that his life used to suck but when he discovered MLP and Bronies it gave him hope. He fell deep in love with Rainbow Dash, but it was two-sided: It gave him hope and at some points only his love for Dashie kept him going, but also it drove him down cause he couldn't actually get into a relationship with RD, cause, y'know she's a cartoon pony. Some time even later, I contacted him again and he said he thinks MLP is only for kids, that Bronies are ridiculous and he's ashamed to have been one.