1100 years ago, almost to the day, on a cold dark night, the greatest warlord Equestria has ever known fell. He was a Pegasus chieftan and went by the name of Featherblood the Fierce. Featherblood ruled his Pegasus tribe with an iron hoof. The warlord Featherblood the Fierce started out small. In the begining he had nothing more than a few hundred followers from his home tribe. But, using his might and his wit, the rest of the Pegasi tribes soon fell to him. None could stand before the awesome might of the great and powerful Featherblood! But Featherblood was still not content to rule the Pegasi. And so, he turned his gaze to the pony tribes who lived below on the ground.
The first to fall to the mighty Featherblood were the Earth Ponies. The Earth Ponies fought long and valiantly, but in the end a bunch of untrained farmers were no match for the might of the highly trained Pegasus army. After several years of regrouping his forces and training the Earth Ponies into an unstoppable infantry force, the likes of which the world had never seen, Featherblood turned his gaze towards the Unicorns. They resisted for years and held out even longer that the Earth Ponies. Had Featherblood the Fierce attempted to conquer them with nothing more than his Pegasi army he would have failed, but now he had the Earth Ponies. While the Pegasi kept the Unicorn's most powerful mages occupied the Earth Pony armies marched across the land, laying waste to every fortress and defense laid before them and in the end the Unicorns like the Earth Ponies and the Pegasi before them, fell to Featherblood the Fierce. When his rule was secure and peace had settle over his newly conquered kingdom, Featherblood settled down. He even fell in love. He took for a wife a Unicorn noble by the name of Silverlove Lulamoon. They had two wonderful daughters, one a Unicorn stallion and one a many-hued Pegasus mare. It is said that their decendants live on, even to this very day.
But Featherblood the Fierce grew restless. He was still not content with his kingdom. He wanted even more. Featherblood wanted to give his beloved Silverlove an even grander kingdom. And so, one by one, he conquered the other races. The Zebras, the Diamond Dogs, even the Minotaurs and Gryphons fell before him. And with each nation he conquered his army grew stronger and stronger. Eventually there was nothing left for him to conquer. Decades passed after that and while Featherblood remained surprisingly strong and spry, his mind began to leave him. His mind finally snapped on the day that his beloved Silverlove finally passed on. After she died, he would sit in his great hall and brood for days on end, not revealing his thoughts to anypony, even his own children. Until one day he finaly spoke. He summoned all of the greatest Unicorns and Zebra shamans and mages at his disposal and told them of his wish. It seemed that Featherblood the Fierce's conquering days were not yet over. When she was alive, Featherblood had suffered no one and no thing to lay a hoof upon or to insult his beloved Silverlove. For 'Death' to claim her was the greatest insult of all and he could not let that stand. And so Featherblood had one last conquest to make. With the help of his Unicorns, shamans, and mages he would conquer time and even 'Death' itself. He would bring back his beloved Silverlove. For many years his magic users toiled day and night, around the clock, to find a way to undo the fabric of time. And they succeeded.
On that bleak night, 1100 years ago, Featherblood and his magic users ripped open a hole in time and then summoned forth the angels of 'Life' and 'Death', that Featherblood might do battle with them. When they first appeared the angels immediately attempted to repair the hole in time created by his magic users, but that is when Featherblood the Fierce struck. Featherblood and his magic users did glorious battle with the angels. The steel of Featherblood's blade and the spells of his magic users clashed with the divine powers of the angels. For days the battle raged. Featherblood's forces were strong but they were no match for the angels and, one by one, his Unicorns, shamans, and mages fell until only Featherblood himself stood before the angels. Alone he was no match for them and he fell.
The angel of Death prepared to strike the final blow but she and her sister, the angel of Life, were distracted by a horrible sight. In the days that they had spent battling Featherblood and his magic users, chaotic magical energy had gathered around the battlefield, naturally drawn by the chaos of the battle and amplified by the magic user's occasional use of it. Before they struck the final blow, they witnessed as the energy from the hole in time caused the chaos energy to coalesce..... and it was given life. The angels attempted to capture the newly born spirit but it escaped. In later years it would cause a reign of terror that would last almost 100 years before the angels could stop him, but that is another story.
When the spirit escaped, the angels turned their gaze back to Featherblood, wounded and weak. Rather than kill him, the angels decided that a more fitting punishment was in order. They removed Featherblood's soul from his body and they cast it through the hole in time that he had caused. They laid a curse upon his soul, so that wherever in time it landed he would be reborn into a far simpler life. A life in which he could never bare arms against another living creature and in which he would live to serve others. The angels then sealed the hole in time and left to pursue the spirit of chaos. Eventually, with no real heir having been declared, Featherblood's empire fell apart. Both of his children tried to claim his thrown but failed. The son left to join the Unicorns and the daughter to join the Pegasi. The pony tribes and the other races all went their own ways, some going peacefully, some fighting long battles in an attempt to hold the Empire together under their control. But all soon dispersed and the world was once again quiet. Until the reign of 'Chaos', that is. But now those 1100 long years are over, and Featherblood has been reborn. It is time for him to rise again.
It was a bright and sunny day in the middle of July when it happened. Fluttershy woke bright and early so that she might finish her chores in a timely manner. She didn't want to be late for the picnic she and her friends had planned. As she flit about her cottage her thoughts were interupted by a heavy knock at her door. She went to the door and opened it just a crack and peeked out. Standing there were two pitch black stallions. One was a Unicorn with a burning sword marking his flank, the other a Pegasus with a dagger through a skull.
"Um.. Yes? W-who is it?", she asked meekly.
"Lord Featherblood!", the Unicorn said as they both bowed low, "It is time to arise once again."