the strand [Lore] Fillydelphia

[Bellosh]

Fillydelphia - The City of Sisterly Love

 

No tour of Equestria is complete without a visit to Fillydelphia along the banks of the Manebrush River. In centuries past, Fillydelphia had once been the great trading hub on the overland route between Canterlot and Rockwington. With the advent of airship travel, the moderately populated city has had to share some of the limelight with the emergent Manehattan, but Fillydelphia’s fortunes have not dimmed in the slightest.

 

Fillydelphia itself looks very much the same way it did a couple hundred years ago, as much of the city’s impressive brick buildings and white-coloured wood houses remain preserved and in use. Newer structures away from the old part of town are deliberately constructed imitating the historical architectural styles. Combined with its tree-lined avenues, Fillydelphia provides the air of a well-storied municipality devoid of the cramped-in nature shared by Manehattan and Canterlot.

 

Originally settled thanks to the rich farmland around the lower Manebrush River, Fillydelphia remains an important center of agriculture. Many griffons don’t know that aside from what is grown in the Neighples Delta, a good bulk of their edible grain actually originates from the greater Fillydelphia region. To the north and south of the city, humble farms and orchards of all sorts can be found along the river, intermixed here and there with the expansive estate of a prominent landowner. Every month, the city square next to the lofty Meeting Hall plays host to the largest farmers’ market in Equestria, while many prestigious rodeos and other agricultural shows tend to take place in Fillydelphia as well.

 

The bulk of the city of Fillydelphia lies on the east bank of the Manebrush, but a small strip to the southwest contains a refueling station for airships bound for Rockwington, Manehattan, or even Unyasi. Unlike places like Beakbreak City however, the ponies of Fillydelphia go to great strides to prevent the presence of airships from imposing on the serenity and charm of the old-fashioned city... and nothing in the world would make the ponies of Fillydelphia think otherwise.

~Hitchhiker's Guide to Equestria