I would like to pose a hypothesis. Could it simply be that the current God-Queen Princess Celestia be a lie? A false reality pushed unto the masses by Celestias inner circle, similar to what has transpired in North Korea. I offer up as evidence the Evergrow Forest. It has been said that everything in the forest grows without the help of magic, its sentient beings being non-magical as well (at first glance) with the exceptions of a basilisk or two. But no denizens of this border territory have entered Ponyville proper, and those that have have taken measures to hide their identity. When one of them Zecora was found out she was tailed and chased out of town as a corrupter of youth (Socrates anyone?). Furthermore, her medical technology at least, outpaces anything the ponies of Ponyville have by leagues. They arent even able to diagnose the poisoning that they have surfed, something that Zecora did within seconds after warning them beforehand of the toxins of the blue plants.
This information gap and closed border. Has lead me to believe that the Everfree forest has been segregated by the Royalist forces, who disperse propaganda over it as well. But why? It is simple. The Everfree forest is a, or a part of a, free country with all races held in equal by the law or a country populated entirely by earth-ponies. The latter is not likely, for the Royalist forces surely would have dominated this country like they have done before to other free earth-pony communities. What communities you may ask? Ponyville itself. It is said that the winter-wrap is a tradition created due to the fact that earth-ponies settled Ponyville. This is key. The settlers certainly did not come Celestias home territory, that would set a dangerous precedent of earth-pony self rule. Note that the show said settled. Not built but settled, this means that primitive earth-pony tribes did not build it as Royalist society just took it. Settled means colonized, so there must be somewhere to colonize from. The Everfree Forest and what lies beyond. Like Equestria, this colonizing society is majority earth-pony. Equality before the law would allow earth-ponies to start their own society with Pegusi or Unicorn supervision. It also explained how Zecora, a zebra, seems to have equal rights, or at least those to property. Naturally a colony would remain loyal to the colonizer meaning that this would be a foreign extension of this Freeland (I will refer to this hypothetical land as such from this point onwards).
Now, Celestia must have taken Ponyville in a war of conquest to both, enlarge her kingdom and eliminate this idea of equality. She must not have been able to conquer the Everfree forest though, instead spreading out the reports of evil from the forest and closing the border. After that, she must have constructed these god stories about her to maintain the statues quo. All of this must have occurred during the period of dual rule with her sister, which explains why the sister didnt try to expose this fallacy in her bid to gain power.
And so Equestria stands to this day
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