Hey everyone, how's it going? So today, I'm talking about fictional vexillology–specifically,
the flags of places that appear in the TV show My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic,
which happens to be a show I enjoy very much. So let's begin with the most important flag:
the flag of the magical land of Equestria. Now, most flags of the world are rectangular,
and they are attached to a vertical pole on one side on the left. However, the flag of
Equestria is a special kind of flag known as a gonfalon. It does have a vertical pole,
but there's also a crossbar on that pole. And that crossbar is horizontal, which is
what is attached to the flag. It's kinda neat. And this Equestria gonfalon has a swallowtail
at the bottom. Now, this is one of my favorite fictional flags in, like, ever. And I think
choosing a gonfalon to be the Equestria flag was a brilliant move by the artists on the
show because it kinda has this old medieval quality. In fact, gonfalons were used by old
Italian republics all the way in medieval times. So kudos to the artists who came up
with that. That is a great historical reference. The flag of Equestria first showed up in a
holiday episode in Season 1 where the ponies put on a historical play about the founding
of Equestria. In this play, we see three other gonfalon flags of the three different pony
tribes: the unicorn ponies, the pegasus ponies, and the earth ponies. Long story short, they
had to learn how to get along and be friends. And once they did, they decided to unite and
create the one united awesome country of Equestria, where all the ponies can live together. I don't
know what all the little white stars represent; the number doesn't appear to be significant
in any way, but maybe we'll find out later. I do know, however, what the central element
represents. The central element of the flag features the two pony princesses of Equestria.
The white one is Princess Celestia, who is the princess of the day. The pony on the left
is Princess Luna, the princess of the night. The sun and the moon represent day and night,
and the way the elements in the center are arranged signifies harmony, which is huge
in Equestria. If you can't get along, and if you can't make friends, then there's no
harmony and then Equestria is doomed. And Princess Celestia and Princess Luna definitely
deserve to be on the flag because of all that they've done to bring harmony to all ponies.
They are awesome. Now on to the next most important flag: the flag of the Crystal Empire,
which is located in northern Equestria. I don't know exactly how an empire can be inside
Equestria; I don't know if Equestria is a country, or a continent... maybe it's like
the European Union? I have no idea. But there is a Crystal Empire inside Equestria for some
reason. And that flag came up in the beginning of Season 3. In this episode, the main cast
has to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies who live there. So, part of lifting the spirits
of the crystal ponies was putting on a Crystal Fair, which had to have all these elements
like a jousting tournament, and a bunch of craft shops and stuff. And they also had to
have, of course, the Crystal Empire flag. The Crystal Empire flag is purple with a white
snowflake in it, and a bunch of decorative swirly things surrounding the snowflake. The
snowflake is there I'm guessing because it is crystallized water, and the Crystal Empire
loves crystals because the Crystal Empire is crystal-themed with the crystal ponies
and crystal crystal crystal crystal. Yay crystals. Now let's go to the town level of flags, starting
with the primary setting of the show: Ponyville. Ponyville is the place where most of the main
cast lives, and it's just this cute little town in the countryside. Their flag has a
yellow background with two ponies holding up a little heart. It's so cute. This appears
to just be cheerful and happy. I don't know if there's any symbolism behind it other than
the fact that everyone in Ponyville generally gets along and is all happy and friendly and
all that stuff. Ponyville actually seems to have two variations of their flag. One is
this rectangular version and one is this triangular version called a pennant. I don't know if
every town has a pennant version of their flag, but Ponyville does so that's cool. Now,
five ponies of the main cast–Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Applejack–all
live in Ponyville. However, Rainbow Dash is the sixth member of the main cast, and she
lives in Cloudsdale, which is a pegasus city in the sky. So the Equestria Games episode,
which I'll get to in a bit, has the rectangular version of the Cloudsdale flag with a blue
background–I'm assuming that represents the sky–with the Cloudsdale emblem or something
in the center, complete with a rainbow and clouds. We also see a red pennant version
of the Cloudsdale flag back in a flashback in one episode showing Rainbow Dash as a little
filly rooting for Cloudsdale to win the hosting rights to one of the Equestria Games. Unfortunately
that year they lost to the city of Fillydelphia. Sorry, Rainbow Dash. And for some reason,
this pennant is red. No idea why, just thought I'd point that out. Now, guess what? The ponies
of Equestria have their own version of our Olympic Games. They call them the Equestria
Games, and it appears that they invite teams from all these little communities across Equestria.
And at the Equestria Games we can see six other flags that I haven't talked about yet.
So let me try to guess which flags go with which communities. This blue flag over here
appears to have a horseshoe and a horse's head in the center. I believe this is the
flag of Manehattan because you can also see a horse's head sculpture on the top of a skyscraper
in the Manehattan skyline. This purple flag over here appears to have an image of the
sun, the moon, and some stars. So I'm gonna guess that is the flag of the royal city of
Canterlot, the capital of Equestria where the princesses live. And also, the color purple
has been used in some cultures to represent royalty, so that really seems like a big clue
that this is the flag of Canterlot. This orange flag with a mountain and a rainbow on it I'm
guessing is the flag of Rainbow Falls, which is a community that has a waterfall made of
rainbows or something in it, so I think that's pretty safe to guess. Now, way in the back
you can see a yellow flag with some cherries on it and what appears to be the wheel of
a wagon. So this has gotta be the flag of Dodge Junction, which is this kinda American
Western kinda feeling town. It's got a cherry orchard, and theme of the town would explain
the wagon wheel. This other yellow flag over here appears to be the flag of Appleloosa
because of the apple. That's really the only clue I used. I don't think I need any more.
It's also got a yellow background with a green star. I don't know what either of those means,
but the apple has gotta mean Appleloosa. Appleloosa is another one of those Old Western kinda
towns, and it's got an apple orchard instead of a cherry orchard. And it's also right next
to buffalo territory, which was the focus of a land dispute in one episode. Really interesting
episode. But don't worry; they worked it out. They're friends now. And then there's this
purple flag that kinda confuses me. It's got what appears to be the talon of a griffon
on it. Griffons are not ponies; griffons are these mythological creatures that are, like,
half eagle and half lion. I don't know why they're competing at the Equestria Games,
but hey, why not? More friends! The more the merrier, right? The only griffon location
that has ever been mentioned in the show to my knowledge is a place called Griffonstone,
which is described as the heart of the Griffon Kingdom. Twilight also described it as "the
coolest kingdom in all of Equestria", so I guess Equestria can include kingdoms inside
of it. I have no idea how Equestria works, but okay, so maybe it is Griffonstone. That's
my guess. So, other than those flags in the back that don't appear to have been drawn
in, and maybe the occasional decorative flag... but other than that, there you go: the flags
of Equestria. Let me know in the comments if I missed any, let me know what your favorite
flags of Equestria are, and thanks everypony for watching. Bye.