Prologue - A Brief History
The Fourth Age was an age of creation. It was the age of Equestria’s birth. It was the humble beginnings of a kingdom that would last for tens of thousands of years. All three tribes, the Earth Ponies, Pegasi and Unicorns, worked together at a level unseen since before The War of Chaos and Discord’s reign. The end of “The Winter of Hate” created a harmony between these three very different species, unofficially forming the basis for what would become The Land of Equestria.
Celestia and Luna realized that this new empire would need gentle guidance in order to avert another disaster on the level of The Winter of Hate. They released themselves from their self-imposed exile and made themselves known to ponykind again. They were immediately recognized from artworks and records from the previous age, and the ponies welcomed their return. The sisters were named co-rulers of Equestria, and from then on went by the titles of “Princess Celestia” and “Princess Luna”. They also took on the duties of raising the sun and moon from the unicorns.
The three tribes still relatively kept to themselves. The Pegasi moved their could cities around, forming the megalopolis Cloudsdale, the Unicorns carved Canterlot out of the side of a mountain, and the Earth Ponies spreaded out to found towns wherever food could be grown, such as Fillydelphia and Manehattan.
Celestia and Luna founded The Great City of Faust, which became their home and the nation’s capital. This was where the official founding of Equestria took place. It was also the only settlement at the time that contained all three pony species.
The Fourth Age was also an age of destruction. This period of time saw a level of bloodshed previously unheard of by ponykind. The Equestrian Army’s mettle was tested in three separate wars that scarred the landscape. The first of these was the 6-month siege of the Crystal Empire.
With Equestria’s internal affairs secured, Celestia and Luna turned their attention to threats beyond their borders. The Crystal Empire, taken over by King Sombra near the end of the Third Age, was seen as their most immediate threat. Celestia and Luna marched their forces to Sombra’s doorstep and laid siege to the city for six grueling months. As the last vestiges of the Crystal Empire crumbled around him, Sombra enacted his final vengeance, casting a curse that made his fate and that of the Crystal Empire one in the same. As he was banished from this plane of existence, the Crystal Empire was banished along with him.
With the embarrassment that was the Crystal Empire Campaign, the two sisters were forced to absorb what little remained of The Crystal Empire into Equestria. The only surviving member of the royal family, a pegasus named Cadence, was officially adopted into the Equestrian Royal Family by the two sisters.
In the decades following, The Equestrian Empire rapidly increased in power, fending off two separate invasions from their neighbors, The Gryphon Empire. While the first of these was a year-and-a-half long ordeal that ultimately ended in the favour of the Equestrians, the second invasion was an ill-prepared mess that spelled doom for the Gryphon Empire. In the first day, the Gryphons were only able to push 25 miles into Equestria’s borders. This territory was promptly lost a paltry four days later. Over the course of a few more days, the Equestrian Military was able to push the Gryphons to within 28 miles of their capital, Gryphus. The whole war lasted a total of twelve days, and ended with a humiliating treaty that severely crippled the Gryphon Empire.
Soon after this defeat, the Gryphon Empire tore itself apart with a bloody civil war. While King Razorbeak did eventually triumph over the Gryphon Separatists, his victory was short lived; a deadly and virulent plague swept across the Gryphon empire, killing two thirds of the gryphons. Even to this day, they are still recovering from the devastation.
In the years following the Gryphonic Wars, Equestria continued to grow and prosper as smaller nations clamoured to be under its banner. The nation’s status as the dominant superpower had been established. As an extreme display of this power, the two sisters triggered the “Ascension” of Cadence, creating the first artificial alicorn. This ensured that Cadence would live long enough to see her crumbled empire return.
Now, with everything secured, they were finally able to turn their attention to rectifying their greatest failure. Celestia and Luna have set their sights on bringing back the Crystal Empire that Sombra took away so many years ago.
