It's a very strange time for Equus, it is.

War rages in the north between Equestria and the changeling nation of Imago...

The Storm Empire's unimpeded expansion in the south, its economic and military power rivaling Celestia's own...

And, last but not least, the Mad Emperor's militarization.

They speak of unholy things from within his northern borders. Guns able to kill from distances unimaginable, roaring beasts carried aloft by metal wings that dominate the skies, and rolling bunkers of metal and death that can halt any charge.

Stranger yet when the Mad Emperor declares war on Equestria, declaring the sisters "false gods," and personally seeing to the liberation of the changeling capital, Honigstadt.

As of yet, nobody's quite yet sure why he did what he did.

Some say because power, some say lust, but others speak of something simpler.

Friendship.