My little Shogunate: Working titles are terrible.
Once upon a time...
The world did not know order, peace, goodness, or even simple kindness. A eternal storm was raging, the unyielding heavens thundered and the ferocious seas raged, In this Chaos, two divine sisters emerged. Unicorns both.
The eldest soothed the stormy seas with a touch of her horn and the ripples from the drops she left behind created the islands of Equestria.
The other, the youngest, touched the crackling skies with her wings, soothing the tempest and storms and gaining the mighty spears of the heavens, its lightning and thunder.
Discord. A great tyrant of Chaos and a demon of disharmony saw this quelling of his realm as an insult and was enraged as harmony encroached his domains. Challenging the impudence of the two sisters with great wailing and gnashing of his crooked teeth, he launched into battle, his maddened cackle shattering mountains and his vile deceit corrupting all it touched as the shapeless foe did battle with the sisters. But with the support of their new land under their hooves and the weapons of heaven at their disposal, even he struggled to face their combined might. And was ultimately defeated, stripped of his power and turned into stone, so he would never more cause harm to the sisters nor their creation subjects.
As the lands became tamed, ponies emerged from the sheltered safety, hidden under the wings of the divine siblings and shielded from the chaos and discord, they emerged to to stake claims in this brave new land. Laboring under the older sisters radiant smile, a Celestial body in the heavens, granting them light and warmth and allowing their crops to grow and caused darkness to wilt and wither away under her scorching gaze.
The youngest, Luna, was aloof and introvert, more keen on operating in secret and exacting fierce retribution to anyone who would harm her subjects, with the weapons taken from the heavens, none could oppose her wrath. A thing of terror and beauty to behold, yet she was not as charismatic as her older sibling, nor as comfortable in social situations, pitting herself in ever fiercer battles to protect her subjects. Calling upon the night to hide her actions.
And though she was loved by her subject, she suspected they loved their sun even more. She tried fiercely gain her subjects open love and adoration, impressing them with elaborate spreads of shining jewels in the sky, spoils of war from her conquests of their increasingly less numerous enemies. And its prize, a grand disc of silver which arced across the skies. Went largely unnoticed. And despite her best efforts. Ponies slept peacefully through her nights.
Before he was smitten by Luna's fierce storms however, he the demon Discord planted a seed of doubt in her mind, preying on her insecurities. For it was one of the tricksters deadliest weapons and how he had pitted the seas and the skies against each other so long ago. But she thought nothing of it at the time. Rejoicing in their combined victory over evil. His words, hollow and empty of truth, dug their barbs into her heart now.
Celestia tried to comfort her sister, convincing her that Luna was loved by all and that there was no shame or dishonor in this, Luna's prowess in all things were unquestioned. but Discord had taken root in her heart and festered. Turning her sisters kind words to ash and failed to quell inflaming her anger and resentment rather than quelling it.
Tainted by Discord's lies, the younger sister grew resentful, and eventually, attempted to usurp her sisters powers. Casting the world into eternal darkness and trying to force her ponies to appreciate her glory.
She failed, and Celestia, in spite of her infinite compassion and benevolence, heart overwhelmed with grief, saw no other recourse but to banish her sister as well, using the Heavenly Harmony to put Luna's twisted form into a deep slumber then sealing both her and her powers into the moon. Shedding naught one tear over her act, for she was now alone in her rule and her subjects needed her to be strong now more than ever.
In the absence of her tears, the heavens opened up in her stead, expressing their infinite sorrow in the loss of the divine sibling and washing the lands then, as they do now, in rejuvinating showers of rain... A rainbow marking the beginning of a new age as Celestia's sun once more chased away the darkness.
Her grief expressed itself in other ways however, as she appointed the first of many Shoguns to guard her lands in her absence, she retreated to her palace to contemplate her kin-strife, and for the first time since the age of Discord, rain washed across the lands unassisted by pegasi hoof, the heavens shedding the tears she could not. Even today, the castle grounds of the old Equestrian Empire remembers this day of loss and will rain unassisted by the three pony races.
In her lenience and compassion or simply blinded by grief, Celestia left an imperfection in Luna's prison. Foretelling the inevitable return of Luna, now twisted into the demon Nightmare Moon by her anger and loneliness, bringing discord and chaos in her wake to once again plunge Equestria into eternal darkness. That which begins, must also come to an end. Lunas Prison will not, indeed, can not hold forever
Enter the now: Equestria is a mighty Empire, ruled in name by the Princess Empress of the Sun and in force by her most trusted military leader, the Shogun. Repelling any and all would be invaders of the lands of the rising sun, their right to rule was unquestioned for a thousand years.
The ponies have grown rich with their labour and Equestria is safe from all would be invaders, the current Shogunate of the Sparkle Clan has become... complacent and the great Clans of Equestria, without outside threats to combat, no longer pay their respects to the Shogunate. Growing unruly and disobedient, the time for a new Shogun is quickly approaching and the solid foundations of Equestria are shaking.
The Princess is displeased, a land sundered is no land at all, and she implores her Shogun to restore order to Equestria.
Crops are failing, the peasants are growing restless, new religious movements even question the divinity of their Princess. Strange foreigners have been sighted from the nations shores. The signs are clear.
The War Goddess, Nightmare Moon, has awoken.
Only one clan will emerge victorious to rule all of Equestria. (With the Empress' blessing of course.)
This was Koma Sengoku Jidai. The age of ponies at war.
Also very silly.