In a field outside London, on the 29th of June, 1838, a portal opens up.

[Fallen Angel]

The portal leads to a small field outside a small village in a world dominated by a four legged species of miniture horses. The inhabitants of this world seem quite happy, and even offer to help the explorers. After the explorers see the capital of this new land in the distance, they travel to it up several soft hills and make it to the capital of this new land, Canterlot. Upon arrival they meet the princess of the night and after sharing some words, agree for a chancellor to come over and speak with both of the Princess' of this new domain they find themselves in in two days. Thbis meeting is a success, and in two months the meeting between the monarch of the British Emprie and the monarch's of Equestria will happen. Untill a agreement is reached, both sides of the portal shall remain unpassable except for small tour groups of ponies wsith skills that require them to help in the preperations, or for small groups of official envoys from both nations.

The portal seems to remain open indefinatly, and eventually and two lane highway is constructed as well as ample space on eeither side of the highway for foot ttraffic. This portal can ve expanded simply by pulling on the sides and stretching them. For quicker traffic, the craft in question hasw to be enchanted to pass through the portal.

What happens?

[Fragenstein]

Care for a Dip?

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[MLai]

What happens?

Do you know what humans do with every new sentient culture they meet?

A related question, first: All ponies in that world are female, right?

[Dienekes]

So Britain, right before her rapid expansion as an empire sees a land that appears at first glance defenseless against then modern weaponry, and not even the same species as them in the height of their racial intolerance.

Heh. Heh heh heh.

Though if the ridiculous magic levels one member of these forums was describing is accurate in ponyland they'll likely win the war. Still after having ponies shoved down my throat for awhile, can you just let me have my minor pony holocaust?

[Scowling Dragon]

Hopefully each pony member is enslaved until they die, after which they are smelted into glue.

[Forum Explorer]

So Britain, right before her rapid expansion as an empire sees a land that appears at first glance defenseless against then modern weaponry, and not even the same species as them in the height of their racial intolerance.

Heh. Heh heh heh.

Though if the ridiculous magic levels one member of these forums was describing is accurate in ponyland they'll likely win the war. Still after having ponies shoved down my throat for awhile, can you just let me have my minor pony holocaust?

go for it. Just don't open this spoiler then.

Spoiler

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Well this is better then the Aztecs one at least. It's also very different. The British culture is less militaristic in it's way. Again Earth has nothing of interest for pony kind. Equestria has gemstones that the British would be interested in however. If they tried to invade, well they still don't have the range or power to counter pegasi controlling the weather which is huge. Creating a tornado would pretty much destroy an entire army that the British could send over. The British can't even get to the Pegasi cities since those are literally in the clouds. Unicorns could flat out remove guns from the equation just by picking them up with telekinises. Two ponies are actually capable of creating forcefields powerful enough to stop entire armies. These can apparently be maintained indefinatly, though at an effort. Earth Ponies would be devastating in close combat, though they would have to get into close combat first.

I don't think it would come to war though because the Princesses can literally move the sun and moon. The British are fully aware of what the sun and moon are and are smart enough to not mess with that level of power. They might not belive them capable of that initially but it's easy enough to prove. So it would come down to just the occasional merchant trading with the ponies for gemstones and perhaps food. I guess the British would trade technology and various worked goods in exchange. Overall though the meat loving British people would not be welcome so traffic would be limited, though I imagine any human willing to become vegetarian would be welcome.

@MLai: No but the ratio is skewed to females

[Brother Oni]

Actually, the British have two advantages, the first one being disease. Victorian era Britain was not the most clean of places and I can easily see the ponies catching something nasty (or just choking on the smog and picking up some form of lung disease after extended time there).

Even if the ponies don't catch anything, their crops would be able to, or other critters that inhabit their realm (for pony haters, imagine Fluttershy's anguish when she has to mercy kill her rabbits because they've all contracted myxomatosis).

As for any potential trading, true that the British don't have anything to offer them, but when has that stopped them before?
When the Chinese attempted to limit the trade in tea by demanding all payments in silver, the British got the required silver from the Chinese people instead by selling them opium and consequently getting them addicted.

If there isn't a demand for British goods and/or supplies, I'm sure they're clever enough to create some within pony society.

[Tiki Snakes]

It basically boils down in both threads to the following;
What do the Humans have that the Ponies want?
What do the Ponies have that the Humans want?

In both cases, it seems like it's going to boil down to trade more than anything, because the only thing the Ponies would really want from their new neighbors is their friendship, and the Humans mostly would want stuff the ponies are unlikely to have a problem with. They would likely be free to make settlements in Equestria and the gem and mineral wealth isn't something the ponies seem overly concerned with, so mining rights should be easy to negotiate for.

There's little obvious competition for resources that would kick off a conflict, but plenty to be gained from cooperation, so that honestly seems the most likely result.
At least between the humans who control access to the portal and those on the other side. It would potentially lead to war and conflict on the human side of the portal as other human civilisations vie for access and control of it, depending on how lucrative the situation becomes.

[Aotrs Commander]

Given that Equestrian ecology is roughly analogous to Terran, only with additions and an apparently generally higher level of intelligence, something like a parasprite - easy enough to slip unnoticed through the portal - would as disasterous for Earth, which has no mirror, meaning it would have no natural predators (as something in Everfree keeps their numbers down). A parasprite plague, unchecked could be disatserous. (It is also unlikely, that, without pony assistance, humans would even consider using one-man bands to lead them away, assuming you could find a suitable place to lead them to.)

Given that ponies are not immune to disease, while there are terran diseases that might run riot in Equestria, the reverse is very likely to be true for Earth, too.

Generally, when two ecolosystems meet, or a new species is introduced, it virtually always end badly for the inflitrated system.

[Tiki Snakes]

Given that ponies are not immune to disease, while there are terran diseases that might run riot in Equestria, the reverse is very likely to be true for Earth, too.

Generally, when two ecolosystems meet, or a new species is introduced, it virtually always end badly for the inflitrated system.

I can't imagine much of the disease present on either side would be communicable though. The biologies are simply too different, even when comparing say Horses and the Equestrian ponies, let alone humans.

Though you're right on the general ecolosystems thing. This would strike me as less of a threat to equestria than the other way around though, given the tenacity of native equestrian species.

The parasprite thing though I would imagine as less of a problem than you might think. Whilst the Humans would likely not think of using music, they are much, much more happy to resort to pesticide, poison, trapping and generally exterminating the pests than the peace-loving vegetarian equines.

[Aotrs Commander]

I can't imagine much of the disease present on either side would be communicable though. The biologies are simply too different, even when comparing say Horses and the Equestrian ponies, let alone humans.

Though you're right on the general ecolosystems thing. This would strike me as less of a threat to equestria than the other way around though, given the tenacity of native equestrian species.

And, as I aforementioned, a lot of terran species have analogoues in Equestria, which means the Equestrian predators are more likely to be able to deal with the apparently less smart terran equivilent prey, while the reverse is less true - and of course, the Equestrian side has other creatures too.

(Now, I'll grant you, there are probably species that exist on Earth that could cause the reverse damage, but none of them live in England, which has a fairly small and benign animal population at best. I mean, fer cryin' out loud, about the most dangerous non-domestic animal is our one species of moderately poisonous snake or running afoul of a nest of wasps or bees or something.)

The parasprite thing though I would imagine as less of a problem than you might think. Whilst the Humans would likely not think of using music, they are much, much more happy to resort to pesticide, poison, trapping and generally exterminating the pests than the peace-loving vegetarian equines.

Parasprites also reproduce faster and eat more voraciously than any native species. One only has to look a rabbits is Austraila - or mice, or rats worldwide - both of which are about the same sort of size - to see how badly pesticide, poison and trapping generally doesn't work all that well (especially in the period on question, where there wasn't much of the former). Ever seen one of those documentaries on the horror stories of mice population explosions, where you are literally looking at buildings being hip-deep in mice? Imagine that, except with creatures that reproduce faster , eat more and more quickly and can fly.



Also, this makes me think of a point; myxomatosis infections, as Brother Oni mentioned earlier (who's point on diseases I was sort of addressing) would rather unlikely to occur, given it was only even recently observed in Uruguay at the time, and wouldn't be introduced as a (largely failed) pest control for another hundred and twenty years.

[Makensha]

Hopefully the Queen of the Ponies would realize quickly that humans are bad news and encase the portal so that neither party can pass through.

[Forum Explorer]

Actually, the British have two advantages, the first one being disease. Victorian era Britain was not the most clean of places and I can easily see the ponies catching something nasty (or just choking on the smog and picking up some form of lung disease after extended time there).

Even if the ponies don't catch anything, their crops would be able to, or other critters that inhabit their realm (for pony haters, imagine Fluttershy's anguish when she has to mercy kill her rabbits because they've all contracted myxomatosis).

As for any potential trading, true that the British don't have anything to offer them, but when has that stopped them before?
When the Chinese attempted to limit the trade in tea by demanding all payments in silver, the British got the required silver from the Chinese people instead by selling them opium and consequently getting them addicted.

If there isn't a demand for British goods and/or supplies, I'm sure they're clever enough to create some within pony society.

Disease is iffy. Their biologies are very different as has been said and ponies tend to be able to command nature as is. Still it is a valid possibility to hurt both sides of the portal.

Sure I'm sure they'll come up with something. I imagine farming tools would be the most valued. Even tea would be valued. I just doubt the relationship would expand beyond some slight trade.

It basically boils down in both threads to the following;
What do the Humans have that the Ponies want?
What do the Ponies have that the Humans want?

In both cases, it seems like it's going to boil down to trade more than anything, because the only thing the Ponies would really want from their new neighbors is their friendship, and the Humans mostly would want stuff the ponies are unlikely to have a problem with. They would likely be free to make settlements in Equestria and the gem and mineral wealth isn't something the ponies seem overly concerned with, so mining rights should be easy to negotiate for.

There's little obvious competition for resources that would kick off a conflict, but plenty to be gained from cooperation, so that honestly seems the most likely result.
At least between the humans who control access to the portal and those on the other side. It would potentially lead to war and conflict on the human side of the portal as other human civilisations vie for access and control of it, depending on how lucrative the situation becomes.

This is the only statement I would have trouble with. The humans would not be welcome. Not with the damage they would do to the environment, and especially not with how they consider many of the ponies friends to be food. The humans would have to change their attitude first.

[pffh]

You would probably find big game hunters sneaking through the portal to hunt dragons, phoenixes and other such creatures in the Everfree Forest.

[Brother Oni]

Disease is iffy. Their biologies are very different as has been said and ponies tend to be able to command nature as is. Still it is a valid possibility to hurt both sides of the portal.

That's the fun thing about viruses, they tend to be rather non-specific in their hosts.

That's not mentioning parasites or other things that just need water and warmth.

Unless Equestria and all its lifeforms have some really funky biology (for example they're all D-amino acid based life forms), there's going to be something crossing over and when it does, the hosts won't have any specific defences against it, potentially resulting in the scale of deaths when the Europeans went to the Americas.

I agree that this would easily work two ways, but given the state of Victorian England's hygiene (at the time, miasma theory of disease would still be prevalent, with the germ theory of disease still a good number of years away) and the general cleanliness of Equestria, I suspect that more of the Victorian's bugs will be jumping over than Equestria's.

[Forum Explorer]

That's the fun thing about viruses, they tend to be rather non-specific in their hosts.

That's not mentioning parasites or other things that just need water and warmth.

Unless Equestria and all its lifeforms have some really funky biology (for example they're all D-amino acid based life forms), there's going to be something crossing over and when it does, the hosts won't have any specific defences against it, potentially resulting in the scale of deaths when the Europeans went to the Americas.

I agree that this would easily work two ways, but given the state of Victorian England's hygiene (at the time, miasma theory of disease would still be prevalent, with the germ theory of disease still a good number of years away) and the general cleanliness of Equestria, I suspect that more of the Victorian's bugs will be jumping over than Equestria's.

Fair enough though I wouldn't put the weird biology out of the picture.

Now I want to point out that pony medical science is equal to today's by any indication. So they would be much better equipped to deal with a new virus then England would be.

[Aotrs Commander]

That's the fun thing about viruses, they tend to be rather non-specific in their hosts.

That's not mentioning parasites or other things that just need water and warmth.

That's... not really true. There aren't that many (virulent) viruses that jump species (especially in the UK at the time) - though those that do tend to be really big events (see Black Plague). But humans and horses don't have that many diseases in common ( and those that do tend to be spread by mosquitoes of which there are very few in England.) Leaving aside the potential further differences between horses and Equestrians.

And the diseases in London like cholera which are more likely to, tended to be spread by poor hygiene (like drinking water), not airbourne bacteria; so unless the humans are going to send a stream of humans to literally crap in the sewage reclimation system of Equestria (as ponies have baths, taps and hot running water¹), the worse of the diseases just aren't going to take hold in the more advanced and hygenic Equestria. Sure, ponies might get sick coming to the UK, but are far less likely to spread the disease, since, not to put too finer point on it, they have toilets in which to excrete which are not connected to their drinking water...!)

(Nor are there, in the UK, really any of those more unpleasant parasites that don't care what species you are, like you get in the tropics - or even on the continent. There certainly are plenty on Earth - but not in the UK, which, as I say, is probably one of the more benign natural ecologies of countries in the world! Seriously, about the most dangerous creature you'll find outside of a zoo is a disgruntled cow (or maybe horse...!)

...

Actually, one point in the UK's favour - as Equestria seems like a slightly more US-type clime and fauna, there is at least a slim chance that it's just too damn cold, wet and unpleasent in the UK for them!)

Again, things like fleas are not likely to be as big a problem, as again, the Equestrians must presumably have some way of washing their bedlinens to deal with parasites. I can't recall if we've seen an actual washing machine, though I would expect even if we had, it'd be more like yer old grandmother's (i.e. not a rotary tub like modern ones), possibly with a mangle. (They have enough chemical engineering for cosmetics, haircare products and dyes, so it's not unreasonable to extrapolate they must have bleaches and washing powders too.)



And for those diseases that might jump species, it applies equally both ways; if small pox might jump species and affect ponies, equally pega-pox might jump species and become a lethal disease to humans (or equally bad, horses, which were still the major component of the transport system before beginning to be phased out with the car some seventy-odd years later.)

It's also worth noting that only thirty years hense from the time in question, London embarked on a massive improvement of the sewage system, so it's possible that the knowledge (by hook or by crook) obtained from Equestria, that it might lead to an early improvement of the capital.



¹Equestrian technology level (even just ignoring magical applications) is somewhat unclear, but appears to be at least turn-of-the-20th century, if not about pre-war period - there was a hydro-electric power plant and construction gear in one episode.)

[Brother Oni]

That's... not really true. There aren't that many (virulent) viruses that jump species (especially in the UK at the time) - though those that do tend to be really big events (see Black Plague).

Perhaps I should have used the word 'carrier' rather than 'host' as people can easily carry things without being symptomatic of them.

And the diseases in London like cholera which are more likely to, tended to be spread by poor hygiene (like drinking water), not airbourne bacteria; so unless the humans are going to send a stream of humans to literally crap in the sewage reclimation system of Equestria (as ponies have baths, taps and hot running water¹), the worse of the diseases just aren't going to take hold in the more advanced and hygenic Equestria.

I suspect Equestria is only more hygienic simply because it doesn't have the same population density. If you stuck as many horses in Ponyville as there are in a mid sized town or city, that's a lot of literal crap to deal with.
In addition, it's not streams of people that are required - the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak which eventually claimed the lives of 616 people, was believed to be caused by a single dirty nappy of a baby suffering from cholera (the cesspit it was washed into leaked into the water supply).

And for those diseases that might jump species, it applies equally both ways; if small pox might jump species and affect ponies, equally pega-pox might jump species and become a lethal disease to humans (or equally bad, horses, which were still the major component of the transport system before beginning to be phased out with the car some seventy-odd years later.)

True, but anything going from Equestria to Britain may just end up outcompeted for resources by the endemic critters (like how commensal bacteria protect the gut), of which the poor hygiene British have more of.

It's not just viruses that can jump species, as I said, some things just need warmth and moisture - typhus and tuberculosis for example either have an intermediary vector before coming in contact with humans, or have a very similar disease in equines. As noted, even if a disease can't affect it's host, the host can still be a carrier for some time.

[Androgeus]

The British are fully aware of what the sun and moon are

You underestimate the British weather.

[Forum Explorer]

You underestimate the British weather.

you just won the thread. Congrats on making my day as well

[Aotrs Commander]

I suspect Equestria is only more hygienic simply because it doesn't have the same population density. If you stuck as many horses in Ponyville as there are in a mid sized town or city, that's a lot of literal crap to deal with.

No, it's definately a just higher tech level than 19th century England, and their medical technology is much better (they have x-rays, for a kick off, which puts them knocking on for a hundred years on top of the time period for a start.)

Notably, the problem diseases over here were smallpox, influenza and cholera, and apart from the middle one, had been greatly reduced by the turn of last century. Improved hygiene was a larger part of it, as is better medical practise (which is why we don't have cholera outbreaks, like, now). Equestria appears to have a very good health system, as evidenced by the fact, that, unlike 19th century England, everypony is in rude health, and there appear to be few to no slum areas. (For that matter, Equestria is apparently as affulent as twentieth/twenty-first century societies, rather than 19th century ones, given that even the "working class" ponies (I say in inverted commas, since apart from the Canterlot elite, it seems to be a generally class-less society) seem to be comfortably well-off and in good health.)

Technologically (or maybe magically-replicated-technologically, though the "how it's achived" is less important than the results achieved) Equestria is well ahead of early 19th century England, as evidenced in quite a lot of what we've seen (cameras, sewing machines, hydroelectric power plants, power tools, x-rays, electric power (or magical equivilent) for internal lightning, cosmetics, high-quality colour photography and printing etc etc¹.) So they are just going to in a far better position to handle any potential diseases and reduce the risk of contamination, in the same way if the portal opened between London 1838 and London, say, even 1938 would be (to say nothing of London 2012...)

As I say, I estimate the technology level of Equestria to be - very roughly - somewhere in the mid twentieth century, maybe something around say, 1940-1960 (given the lack of things like computers), or a bit earlier, give or take a few bits of technology. Certainly better in technology (and the knowledge that also brings), than the 19th century they are now linked to via portal.



¹We've even seen Twilight use a pencil instead of a quill in the field on at least one occasion!

[Eakin]

I'm pretty sure that Britain would try to go all "Guns, Germs, and Steel" on Equestria and be very unpleasantly surprised, but I don't really see the ponies launching a counter-invasion.

But more importantly? Steampunk ponies!

[Brother Oni]

you just won the thread. Congrats on making my day as well

To be fair, Androgeus is about as far north as you can get and still be in England, so he's probably biased.

But more importantly? Steampunk ponies!

Oh dear entrophic decay, no. The last thing we need is another pony sub fetish culture.

[Forum Explorer]

Oh dear entrophic decay, no. The last thing we need is another pony sub fetish culture.

you act as if it isn't already a thing

[MLai]

Did this just turn into a versus thread?

[Soras Teva Gee]

I'll just chime in and say I'm in agreement on the Lich on how there probably aren't going to be waves of disease from this.

One factor I would mention that I've seen more then once being considered crucial in why the Americas got hit so much worse when contact opened up was that they lacked a high number of domesticated animals as useful ones didn't live in the hemisphere. It was those generations of close contact that led to a lot of disease crossover to human in the Old World in the first place.

However Equestria in addition to being horses themselves has domesticated animals. Cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, and cats all present. If we are too assume (which is actually a bit of leap but ponythread arguments need not be revived here) that Earth and Equestrian creature are biologically analogous to share disease ever... then they already have on both sides of the equation. So the ponies will have the sort of built in immunities they need.

Now as to more direct conflict... I'm going with no. Observe what merely the idea of ponies has done, I can't imagine that be dramatically less for actual factual. Biggest pony concern is probably lots of humans wanting to give them a never-ending stream of hugs.

[MLai]

Are FIM ponies from the same continuity as the 80's MLP cartoon ponies? If so, I assume FIM ponies are their descendants?

Because MLP ponies would have recorded history of how a human girl saved them from an evil centaur sorceror. Basically the FIM ponies would have established mythology of humans as friends upon first contact. Yes there would seem to be a time warp, but nothing assumes that time frames between the 2 worlds are chronological.

However, after spending a little time with human adults, FIM ponies would quickly notice how morally complex human adults are. At which point I'd expect the FIM ponies to gently usher human adults back through the portal, and only keep border trading outposts.

I also expect any FIM ambassadors to the human world to continuously bring back disadvantaged human children (orphans, beggar urchins, terminally ill children, and the like). The ponies wouldn't be able to resist, seeing those children in the same light as abandoned kittens. Some children will go back to Earth after reaching adulthood, but I'd expect a community of Equestria-adopted vegan adults to eventually spring up. These humans would become the later Earthbound ambassadors and merchants, as well as managing the border trading posts and other duties that involve dealing with Earth.

[Gamerlord]

Are FIM ponies from the same continuity as the 80's MLP cartoon ponies? If so, I assume FIM ponies are their descendants?

Because MLP ponies would have recorded history of how a human girl saved them from an evil centaur sorceror. Basically the FIM ponies would have established mythology of humans as friends upon first contact. Yes there would seem to be a time warp, but nothing assumes that time frames between the 2 worlds are chronological.

However, after spending a little time with human adults, FIM ponies would quickly notice how morally complex human adults are. At which point I'd expect the FIM ponies to gently usher human adults back through the portal, and only keep border trading outposts.

I also expect any FIM ambassadors to the human world to continuously bring back disadvantaged human children (orphans, beggar urchins, terminally ill children, and the like). The ponies wouldn't be able to resist, seeing those children in the same light as abandoned kittens. Some children will go back to Earth after reaching adulthood, but I'd expect a community of Equestria-adopted vegan adults to eventually spring up. These humans would become the later Earthbound ambassadors and merchants, as well as managing the border trading posts and other duties that involve dealing with Earth.

According to the creator of FiM, no. But there have been some nods to the older gens, i.e the mother of the main character strongly resembles a character from the '80 show.

[Soras Teva Gee]

According to the creator of FiM, no. But there have been some nods to the older gens, i.e the mother of the main character strongly resembles a character from the '80 show.

Given the "pilot" versions were G1 characters as Lauren Faust imagined them its more like a reboot.