For a long while Equestria had remained at the forefront of progress. Sure, the creativity of modern scholars isn't quite up to the level of the fabled Starswirl the Bearded, but it allows them to maintain their position as the strongest nation of Equus. Even centuries of splendid isolation hadn't changed that.

"Did you hear that? That creep of a princess, Luna, had snapped, packed up, and left Equestria! Good riddance, I say! We will be better off without her." Or so we thought, at least.