I still don’t get why there seems to be this big cultural divide between Thracians and Earth Ponies to warrant themselves as a 4th Tribe. Wouldn’t it be a bit more interesting if the Thracians were actually Alicorns, that way we’d get some measure of insight into Aliforn Culture and exactly where Celestia and Luna differ from other Alicorns?

Is that actually what the founders looked like?!

@Ardashir  
Yeah, I’ve seen a couple of those. But all that’s left is a proper Thracian Peltast, Celtic Warrior, and maybe one or two others, but I’m just thinking about the most iconic troops of the various different culture of those times.

@chubbyninja89  
I think we already have cataphractoi on the site by one variant spelling or another.

@Ardashir  
You know, I didn’t think about that. Good point.
 
Now I want to see someone make fan art pictures of various famous types of warriors from the classical era.

@chubbyninja89  
I read this, remember how peltasts fought, and I think of Swift Foot’s name. I wonder if it’s a coincidence?

Thracians make for the best peltasts.

So do we keep them as far away from any Human world portal?

Freakin’ cannibals!

@GeneralKenobi75  
They could have been more warlike. They also could have been more isolationist and when the Wendigo’s winter hit they were forced by necessity to approach the other tribes for help but their xenophobic history could have made the other ponies distrust them. Either way, it seems like the Thracians have a revisionist history about what actually happened.

@Alphamon_Ouryuken  
Thank you!

@ApplejackFan204  
It’s a big tribe, best friend forever…

Interesting twist. Didn’t see that coming
 
Reminds me of another “lost” civilization that was recently added via the RPG (but these live in the frozen north)
 

@Background Pony #ABE8  
We’ll probably/hopefully have to wait and see for the answers to all those questions.
 
It might be that their lives are so harsh this is the first chance they’ve had for revenge rather than desperately clawing for survival.

All of this happened thousands of years ago. While I don’t have a problem with the Thracians holding a grudge against the Equestrian (justified or not) for that long, I wonder why they only now decided that it’s time for payback? Is it because nopony thought about inviting them to the school of friendship and they feel left out again? Or are Swift Foot and her father rogue elements acting on their own? Also what’s their end goal here?

@Darth Sonic  
And from what we’ve seen so far, Swift Foot is already about to demonstrate their savage demeanor.

@GeneralKenobi75  
Honestly?
 
Carnivorous diets would probably be enough to get them rejected if we take the name to it’s natural conclusion.
 
It would also be a cool racial dynamic.

@Joshua  
Exactly. And so am I. It may be that the Thracians were more warlike than the other tribes(which is saying a lot considering the Pegasi) and thus were not invited in.

@GeneralKenobi75  
And both those additions were good ones. That’s not to bash this particular addition the comics are giving us now, since I am generally curious about these Thracian ponies.

@GeneralKenobi75  
Very good point dude.

@ApplejackFan204  
Not really. It’s simply a new addition. Just as the Hippogriffs and the Dragon Lord were. And just about everything else that’s been added since the second season.
 
Also, given how many of our own holidays are simplified in spite of actual history, Thanksgiving being one of them, it’s not surprising Ponies do the same with their own holidays.

@Background Pony #3773  
This is a good mini-essay on pony cultures in and outside of Equestria. Thanks for sharing it.

@Masem  

 
It is obvious that the idea of ​​only three horse breeds by believing that “breed” and “tribe” are one and the same, has no roots in reality, since it is obvious that there were three separate civilizations organized in state forms with their own sociality - we need just looking at Mistmane and Rockhoof to realize that it is far more than just “the three tribes” that were political entities at the time. The TV show has shown that there are far greater differences between the ponies than that observed in Ponyville and Canterlot.
 
So the IDW comics have not changed anything, just revealed that there is much more. The crystal ponies were the first rebuttal to “the three tribe” theory, which was smoothly overlooked by the fact that these are outside Equestria. The Saddle Arabians are obviously not from the three tribes.
 
In reality, it’s a very big world out there, despite all the 222 episodes in the TV show - we’ve only just dug a little on the surface of what may be a version of our own world.

@GeneralKenobi75  

 
The FiM TV show was not exactly concerned with historical flashbacks and the world outside of modern Equestria so there is of course a lot that is not known about the history of the ponies, especially the ancient history of so long ago. It will not be surprising if there are more than just “three tribes” that sound like the ponies’ answer to humanity’s racial divide from our own world. The Bat ponies are canon in IDW comics, but not in the TV show - despite these being undeniably fascinating. We also know that there are very significant differences between the ponies, which indicate that the idea of ​​”the three tribes” is a profound simplification. Instead, it seems that the G1 worlds idea of ​​many pony herds in self-functioning small communities is the real backdrop of ancient history up to the time before the Hearths Warming Eve.
 
Currently, from a scientific perspective, not three “tribes” had come together, but functioning state forms. They had already been in a confederation or loose federation which was by nature fragile, which may have opened up to far more societies than the aristocratic unicorns, the egalitarian earth ponies and the militant pegasus. So the “fourth” tribe was probably an earth pony society different from the other earth ponies.
 
In our own world, the genus Equus has many different subspecies and at least 300 to 500 horse breeds in the subspecies “domestic horse”. The TV show showed a very large variety of different horse breeds, maybe there is a breed somewhere in Equestria that we know is very large, which maybe reminiscent of the Norwegian fjord horses? Due to production costs, universal models had been used on the ponies with few exceptions in the TV episodes.
 
The thracians are a natural consequence of the very strong Greek background that forms the essence of much of ancient history in pre-Equestria times, especially for the pegasus. It is believed that “the fourth tribe” has not given up the ancient traditions of a warrior and little civilized age, and since one has seen earth ponies - it is a Viking “tribe” that consisted of earth ponies that had been assmilated into modern Equestria - Thracians were regarded by other people’s as warlike, ferocious, and bloodthirsty in our world.
 
There is a strong possibility that the thracian ponies may be carnivorous as there is very little that could be grown in the island that housed a volcano, and the statues seen outside this island have sharp teeth - an abnormality in Equestria’s statue traditions. Easy to see why King Thrace chose the island, the volcano gives his people warmth and protection. Maybe that’s also how the Viking “tribe” that Rockhoof came from, had survived the windigoes. They had chosen to stay outside an active volcano despite the dangers.
 
The most natural explanation for why the Fourth Tribe was not accepted into “The Great Herd” is probably a misunderstanding. As seen with Star swirl and Stygian, and other examples as well, communication difficulties where one can misunderstand one another are a major problem for the ponies. This was seen in the final episodes where lack of communication was a major cause of distrust between pegasus, earth ponies and unicorns.

@Joshua  
Maybe they were kicked out of the Great Herd for being carnivores? Yeah, probably not.