Hundreds of years into the future, creaturekind spread out from Equus into the galaxy known as the Equestria Sphere. The old government, known as the Harmony League, once lead the regions on the 'Sphere and periphery in centuries of peace, fell in the fires of of war known as the Amber Glow Civil War. The ancient defenders of the Harmony League, the Harmony League Defense Force(HLDF), fought to unseat the usurper, then disappeared without out a trace. Since then the great houses and the periphery of the Friendship League have been locked in a series of brutal conflicts called the succession wars.

Centuries of near-constant warfare has brought all technical and magical progress to stagnation. Much has been lost. Rumors abound throughout the Equestria Sphere and the periphery of ancient HLDF bunkers and strongholds filled with LosTech.

The only thing keeping the Equestria Sphere from falling into wars where megaspell bombs eradicate entire population of worlds from existence is the Equus Treaty, and stories of black-painted 'Steeds and areospace fighters, seemingly to appear suddenly from nowhere, turning military bases into smoking craters and entire 'Steed lances into molten scrap, then seeming fade away back to nowhere just as quickly.

The balance of power between the great houses and the periphery is held in check by a triune of impartial agencies. The first is the enigmatic and secretive StarCom, who controls the MagePulse Generator(MPG) network, whom controls all interstellar communications and stellar cartography. The second is the JumpShip Union(JSU), a loose collection of JumpShip guilds, whom controls the majority of interstellar travel and trade. The final is the Mercenary Review and Ratings Board(MRRB), whom governs the thousands of of independent and house-aligned mercenary companies, whom not only regulates the agreed rules of conflict, but also sets bounties on those whom violate said rules of conflict. The powers of the Equestria Sphere and the periphery tolerate this trilogy of powers, for without them, all communications and trade would be limited to the few dozen house-owned JumpShips, and they'd have to expend the greater part of their militaries to fight their wars.

For hundreds of years the balance of power has been precariously maintained throughout known space. The the various proxy conflicts, known as the succession wars, have been fought between the great houses and the powers in the periphery employing mercenary companies.

Today in the modern wars, the fighting is carried out is carried out by SteedWarriors, piloting awesome and terrible machines that stride across the battlefields, raining down destruction on their enemies. To some they are white knights and champions, to others they are opportunistic jackals of war and brigands, but all respect and fear them. The BattleSteeds they pilot range from the 20-ton ultralight-class Pipsqueak to the 100-ton assault-class Tirek.

The great houses are the Equestria Sphere are: The Federated Hives lead by House Pharynx, The Draconic Combine lead by House Smolder, The Free Moons League lead by House Glimmer and The Lyra Confederation lead by House Bon.

The Periphery is a loosely defined region of space outside the Equestria Sphere, mostly home to bandit gangs, underworld criminal syndicates and pirate conclaves, that raid each other and the Sphere. There are a small collection of powers that control their constantly fluctuating borders. The Minotaurian Concordant, The Zebra Magistracy and New Yakyakistan are the notable powers strong enough to (barely) hold their own territory.

Beyond the ill-defined border of The Periphery sits an unknown enemy that has sat watching the Equestria Sphere for 400 years, waiting to for the time to reveal themselves. Few explorers whom have ventured out that far have returned. Those few whom have returned, have told wild stories of strange alien creatures possessing never-before-seen advanced tech, though few believe them.

This story is an M-rated story that will contain warfare involving ponified giant stompy death robots, some mild drug-use and consumption of alcohol, some sexual situation, just not any explicit depictions of sex, and of course gee-whiz sci-fi weapons and explosions.

Main characters: Starbright Shimmer(unicorn mare, veteran SteedWarrior and co-owner of the Star Gallopers mercenary company), Star Burst(earth pony stallion, ace DropShip pilot and co-owner of the Star Gallopers mercenary company), Firecracker(pegasus mare, ace aerospace pilot working with the Star Gallopers), Spring Ember(kirin mare, crack vehicle pilot working for the Star Gallopers), Spot Weld and Matchstick(unicorn stallion and male dragon respectively, senior mechanics employed by the Star Gallopers), Wrecks(male diamond dog medic working for the Star Gollopers), the alicorn princesses(officially retired rulers of The Equestria Sphere) and Chrysalis(chief of communications for[redacted]). Zapp Apple Jam(Newest member of the Star Gallopers mercenary company)

Minor characters: The Summer Sun Strikers(basically ponified versions of the Somerset Strikers, if you don't know who the are, watch the BattleTech cartoon, you can find it on YouTube).

The JumpShip Union and The MRRB are both part of StarCom, they just publicly divide themselves to make the creatures of the Sphere think they don't have any real military power. But you don't need to know that. Pay your space pony AT&T bill and no one needs to get hurt.

This is a My Little Pony/BattleTech crossover. For any of the old-timers and lore experts that notice any inconsistencies with the original lore, please note this is an alt universe imagined up by a filthy casual. Please be kind and don't challenge me to a Trial of Possession, I'm too lazy to be a bondsman.

I want to thank CopperTop for giving me permission to use the term BattleSteed and a few names of the 'Steeds from his story PonyTech: Ashes of Harmony. This story was inspired by his,but has nothing to do with his, you should still go and check his story out.