Is the Crystal Empire part of Equestria?

[WickedGames 96]

I don’t know if this is canon or not maybe I forgot but is there any official that says that the Crystal Empire is part of Equestria?

[Rafa Stary 682]

Yep, there is the "Frozen North" part of Equestria, there is where the Crystal Empire can be found, you can view it in the official Equestria Map 

Now if it always was officially "in universe" I'm not sure, the entire place disappeared for ages, so that mean it couldn't by considered part of Equestria before its reappearance I think? Idk, I'll eventually rewatch episodes or the read the comics to check that info.

Edited November 14, 2023 by Rafa Stary
Add extra information

[Props Valroa 26,046]

No. It is not Equestria. I refuse to believe that "Equestria" refers to the entire world like some people have said. Equestria refers to the lands of the three tribes of ponies. Earth ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns. Only those are considered Equestrian, and only the nation of Equestria is considered Equestria as well.

Also, it's not a very reasonable idea the show had, that the "Empire" is only the capital shown in the show. I imagine it was once a massive area owned by Crystal Ponies that stretched across the North of the world. But after the Capital vanished, the Empire basically collapsed and became apart of Equestria over time. 

[Evil Pink One 12,990]

Equestria= earth.

It is the name of their planet correct?

[Silly Druid 6,140]

3 hours ago, StrawberryMilk Simp said:

Equestria= earth.

It is the name of their planet correct?

I don't think so. Equestria is a state/country, and the planet is named "Equus" in some fan works.

The Crystal Empire is a vassal state of Equestria in my headcanon.

[SBaby 660]

Equestria is the continent in the middle of their world, but not the entire world.  The landmasses that are off to the east, as well as the area west of where the map ends are not part of Equestria.  The planet is called Equus.

As for whether or not the Crystal Empire is part of Equestria or its own country is debatable, because the organizational relationship is weird.  Celestia and Luna are called the Princesses of Equestria (and later on, they pass that to Twilight), but there are clearly independent kingdoms that are separate from what they rule, right in Equestria.  And the Crystal Empire has its own Princess and Prince (since Shining Armor and Cadence are married) that rule over it.  So my guess is that it's probably just an independent state within the land that's allied with Equestria.

In alot of ways, Equestria is more of a City-State than a full on kingdom.

Edited November 14, 2023 by SBaby

[Nightlight1313 141]

It's definitely fuzzy. I'm not sure Equestria even has real geographic borders. Considering they were able to host/participate in the Equestria Games, I would assume so. "Empire" could be a legacy name from a time period where it was independent. After its resurrection it definitely appears to be in perhaps a dukedom - or like Druid said - vassal state situation. At the very least, Cadence and Shining's connection to the Canterlot royal family have pushed it in the direction of honorary-Equestrian state. It's definitely not not-Equestria in the same way that say, Griffinstone or Abyssinia is.

[WickedGames 96]

On 11/14/2023 at 2:48 AM, StrawberryMilk Simp said:

Equestria= earth.

It is the name of their planet correct?

I think it’s a alternate version of Earth yeah

[Rafa Stary 682]

If there are people who really say that Equestria is the entire planet, then I don't know what's the reason for it, The map clearly shows that there are more lands separate from Equestria that have not been seen, plus afaik it was never officially stated that Equestria was the planet, if that was the case then I don't see the reason for calling it "Land" or "Kingdom", I feel like this could be a bad impression left by the 2017 movie, which introduced Mount Aris, which later appeared in an "expansion" of the Cutie Map, also, talking about the Cutie Map...

I think this could be the Crystal Empire? not sure

Edited November 16, 2023 by Rafa Stary
Remove repeated text

[Kosmodakrigan 36]

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.

Edited April 8 by Kosmodakrigan