Dawn Of Friendship
by Jonathan Chung Nguyen
It has been forty thousands years, since the original mane 6. According to the Codex Astartes, in the 30th millennium the Empress of Ponykind, founder and head of the newly constituted Imperium of Pony, had become a major proponent of Order in all of Equestria. After consolidating her rule in Canterlot, and genetically engineering seven Legions of superpony warriors: UltraColts, DarkPegasuses, Empress' Foal, Imperial Hoof, Luna Mustangs, PonyGuard, and Iron Steeds. She embarked in the 31st millennium on a Great Crusade. The objective was to unify the millions of pony colonies scattered throughout Equestria under an Imperial Truth of science and reason, and against religion and superstition.The Imperium declared that Equestria is to be the exclusive, rightful domain of ponykind.
The Empress made Princess Luna, her most trusted and versatile Primarch, Warmaster of her armed forces and overall leader of the Crusade. The Empress left the Crusade and returned to Canterlot to continue her work regarding Eldar access to the Friendship Webway, while relegating the overall administration of the Imperium to a civilian authority, the Council of Clouds Dale. These actions tested Luna's own resources, and exacerbated existing tensions among some of the other Primarchs, especially those who felt slighted by other decisions of the Emperor or had grievances against their sisters.
Luna became the target of a conspiracy planned by the Chaos god, Discord, and executed by his allies and minions. It involved her near-fatal injury and supposed healing; both events were designed to make Luna susceptible to the influence of Chaos and lead to her eventual corruption. She turned against the Empress, becoming the Traitor from the perspective of the Imperium. She ultimately lead two other Primarchs, as well as their Legions and other forces, in war against the Imperium; the "betrayal" and campaign became known as the Luna Heresy. Most of those who turned against the Empress became, or already were, corrupted by Chaos.
Luna issued orders designed to weaken and disperse the Loyalist forces, while simultaneously building covert alliances. Then, in the first open move of the Luna campaign, she succeeded in culling from the ranks of the rebels those individual units and persons that were still loyal to the Empress. During the opening stage of the campaign, the Imperial side is shown to have been beset by inadequate communications and poor intelligence, its leaders stunned or in denial when faced with the enormity of events.
The next stage, expertly directed by Luna and her staff, involved the massacre of a Loyalist Legion, that was sent by the Imperium to crush the rebellion. Following this action, the bulk of rebel forces made their way to Canterlot. In the Battle for Canterlot, Luna was finally killed in single combat with her creator, while the Empress herself was nearly fatally wounded in the same action. The death of Luna led to disarray among the invading Traitors, whose campaign was by that time also threatened by imminent Loyalist reinforcements, and they hastily retreated. The so-called Battle for Canterlot, and the whole Luna Heresy campaign, was effectively over.
Although the Heresy campaign lasted less than a standard decade, it was devastating in its scale, and the Imperium's victory came at great cost. A long and often violent period of "cleansing" the Imperium from Traitors and of rebuilding its institutions took place following the end of the Heresy, while the Traitor forces fled to a Chaos dominion known as the Eye of Terror. There, they created their own empires.
The losses in talent, knowledge, manpower, and territory precipitated by the conflict caused a prolonged period of cultural, political, and technological stagnation and regression in the Imperium. As for the Empress, her desiccated physical form has since the Heresy been kept in a moribund state thanks to a technological marvel known as the Golden Throne, and she is only able to express herself psychically. The Imperial Legions left are: UltraColts, DarkPegasuses, and PonyGuard