Luna, may this codex serve you faithfully as it has served me in the teaching of my own most accomplished pupil. I obviously did not mention this when you received the book from me, but this codex was once one of the most treasured possessions of Star Swirl the Bearded himself. It is my hope that it will remind you of us and home with this fact in mind during your many quests and deeds in the modern age. Were it not for running the Empire and fighting this war, I'd surely have joined you in your travels myself!

Keep your friends safe and close out there in the vast galaxy, little sister,
-Celestia

***

Table of Contents:
1. Worlds and Locations
2. Culture and History
3. Organizations, Factions, and Civilizations:
4. People
5. Magic, Technology, and Warfare
6. Races and Creatures
7. Curiosities

Locations

Canterlot
A thriving metropolis of over 3.6 million citizens of varying races, creeds, and walks of life, Canterlot is the capital and imperial seat of the Equestrian Empire. Besides serving as the center of ponykind’s burgeoning interstellar empire, Canterlot also boasts the distinction as being the host city for a number of diplomatic, cultural, and corporate endeavours, as well as serving as the terrestrial anchor point for the Grand Solarian Concordat’s Elysia Station where the Concordat’s Parliament and Systems Tribunal regularly hold public session.

Canterlot began its history after the defeat of the Windigos in 1 CE by the combined forces of Unicornia, Mustagnia, and elements of the then collapsing Nimbian Empire, and served as the colonial focal point of a Unicornian royal mandate that spanned across much of what is now the Equestrian Heartlands. Construction of the ancient city began by unicorn engineers on January 5th, 1 CE, and finished five years to the day in 6 CE.

In commemoration of the construction of the new city just in time to serve as capital for the newly dubbed Kingdom of Equestria’s peaceful secession from Unicornian rule, its newfound citizenry held the first Grand Galloping Gala, and invited members of all three pony races in a gesture of solidarity that has continued to present day under new auspices.

It was this solidarity and mutual amity that proved to be the city’s – and Equestria’s – greatest asset in weathering the intervening centuries that would come. Canterlot has endured sieges, nature’s wrath, regime changes, Discord’s mighty mischief, and more in its over two thousand year history.

Modern day Canterlot’s combined metropolitan and provincial land, sometimes referred to as the Imperial Province or simply Imperial, is characterized by four distinct and vibrant districts: Old Town, Downtown, Canterhorn, and Lakeview.

Old Town serves as the cradle of the original city as well as the headquarters for the majority of Equestria’s ministerial and bureaucratic bodies, rounding the administrative circle off with the office and palace of Empress Celestia and some of the most prestigious cultural and educational institutions in the galaxy. Downtown is the capital’s beating commercial, pancultural, and industrial heart, and is the renowned point of origin for a number of Equestria corporations. Canterhorn consists of the varied assortment of parks, preserves, posh estates, and thoroughfares that line the slopes of the city’s central mountain. Lastly, the Lakeview district, in addition to serving as an additional site for multiple thriving art, technology, and entertainment venues, possesses the city's’ primary waterborne industrial artery, whose connection to Saddle Lake and its adjoining river links it to the city of Ponyville and all waterways beyond.

As a GSC-designated ‘core city’, Canterlot is regarded, alongside Manehattan, New York City, New Alexandria, Morningstar City, Misriah, and Tilu City as one of the most prominent metropolises in the known galaxy. Those who walk its streets for either business or pleasure should not be surprised to brush shoulders with proverbial – and sometimes literal – giants.

Canterlot Palace
Constructed in unison with its namesake city in the year 6 CE, the palace, often referred to as Canterlot Castle, possesses a history nearly as long and rich as the country its’ occupants have ruled over for over two and a half thousand years.

It was first the seat of the then Princess-turned Queen Platinum, Equestria’s first ruler and its only one of non-native birth. The palace along with Canterlot itself served as the capital of the blossoming Kingdom for centuries until the arrival of the Regal Sisters, Celestia and Luna, who elected to have their administrative capital moved to land that has since been reclaimed by the Everfree Forest.

After the Nightmare Moon incident that roughly coincided with the disappearance of the Crystal Empire – Equestria’s closest ally – in 1551 CE, Celestia and Luna’s first capital was abandoned, and the palace once again saw restoration as the proper political heart of the Kingdom as Celestia claimed it as her permanent residence and seat of office.

From the 1550’s onward, the palace has continued to serve as first the Kingdom, then the Empire of Equestria’s physical nexus of power into the spacefaring age.

Castle of the Two Sisters
Now the site of ongoing archaeological and historical preservation ventures, the Castle of the Two Regal Sisters was the one-time capital of Equestria for just over a century.

Upon their coronation as the reigning Princesses of Equestria in 1407 CE after a series of heroic acts that strengthened the nation, the sisters moved their capital to the Everfree Forest from the original Canterlot, constructing their new castle to be the physical embodiment of their rule.

In several short decades, the Castle of the Two Sisters would see its illustrious but brief rule abruptly halted forever as tensions between Celestia and Luna reached a catastrophic boiling point that directly caused rise of and battle against Nightmare Moon in 1551. The ensuing battle shook the castle to its very foundations, and Celestia as the resulting victor was emotionally hard-pressed to conduct the critically-needed repairs, electing instead to move her capital back to Canterlot, ruling over Equestria mostly alone for the next thousand years.

Even in its ruined yet partially restored present state, the Castle of the Two Sisters remains a shining example of the enduring grandeur of First Celestial Era Equestrian designs and Unicornian-inspired architecture.

Equestrian Provinces
The combined terrestrial territories of the Equestrian Empire on Equis are divided into twelve distinct provinces that cross the continent of Equestria itself.

Crystal Coast and the Celestia Coast occupy the northeast of the continent, while Hayseed dominates the southeastern coasts and marshes that border the bat pony nation of Dark Moor. Appleloosa, Leota, Imperial, the Heartlands, and the Arctic occupy the heart of the continent up to its polar northern frontier, while San Palomino, Nuevo Burrona, Whitetail, and the Tenochtitlan Basin claim the border with the empire of Aztlan and all of Equestria’s western seaboard.

The provinces of Equestria have been historically autonomous in nearly all facets of their operation save for the realms of currency, taxation, and defence, except where royal and imperial power may deem it necessary to override at will.

Greater Ponyville
The Town of Greater Ponyville, or more commonly called simply: Ponyville, is a medium-sized and economically growing city amongst the youngest centers of habitation on the continent. Ponyville is close in proximity to Canterlot, frequently putting it at odds with the much larger capital’s municipal government, whom have made multiple notorious attempts to annex Ponyville as a special district of the capital in the past. Each were blocked and finally impeded indefinitely by imperial decree that finally appointed Ponyville the provincial capital of the surrounding Heartlands, which had lacked any centralized capital up to that point.

With its core having been founded by the world-renowned Apple Family upon their discovery of zap apples in 2437, Ponyville and its exceptionally fertile environs forever secured themselves as one of the planet’s breadbaskets, although ‘apple basket’ may be a more apt description.

In modern times, Ponyville is a unique crossroads of cultural, historical, and demographical significance. It is widely regarded for its harmony between urban development and the preservation of natural beauty, a place where modern technological achievement stands side by side with the rustic, idyllic nature of Equestrian farming towns that have dotted the continent for centuries. Ponyville houses a major production facility for the human-owned Asklon corporation, which is well known planetwide as the primary source for the lines of demilitarized Warthogs frequented by the rural populations of Equestria for their utilitarian versatility.

Native Equestrians warmly interact with fellow residents of dozens of other races daily in Ponyville’s market, parks, and other social centers. Since 2500 and the formation of the Grand Solarian Concordat, Ponyville has become home to not only all species of pony, but also to small but growing numbers of humans, minotaurs, zebras, gryphons, diamond dogs, and even a guild of Unggoy and Kig-Yar traders. Such diversity is achieved not only by the past advent of interstellar travel, but also by a sizeable subset of Canterlot that found the capital’s Manehattan-like sprawl to promote a lifestyle too fast-paced for their taste, and the influx of immigrants to Equis from the Liberation of Balaho and the defection of Eayn and most of the Kig-Yar race to the Concordat.

Citadel of the Nyx
The origins of the Citadel of the Nyx, the moon Selene’s primary native species, is an indiscernible enigma that is the bane of many Equisian historians.

Having vanished shortly after the Nightmare Moon incident a millennium ago, travel to and from the remote city-sized palace had previously been limited to magical teleportation due to its extraterrestrial placement in relation to Equis and Equestria. What is known about the complex and its owners was limited to tales Equisian mages were able to tell of their experiences upon return – as well as what the Nyx were willing to reveal about their own mysterious race.

In light of the return of Princess Luna and the lifting of the curse on the Nyx species that saw them in the grip of the as of yet little-understood Nightmare Forces, Concordat archaeologists have been able to determine the structure’s age through carbon dating reliably back to at least 100,000 years ago.

Even more mystifying, the Nyx have since claimed the citadel to have not been their own making, and was something they had ‘inherited’ from original builders whose name and nature have been lost to history. Despite the atmosphere of ambiguity that pervades the citadel, evidence does exist that corroborates the Nyx’s explanations.

With the moon creatures’ permission, exploration by Equisian researchers has revealed ubiquitous examples all across the citadel of latent and highly advanced ancient technology that has been found on a number of other worlds in hidden sites, including sophisticated holography, a still functioning reactor system, reading and archival devices, and the tell-tale signs of a possible but now long gone network of artificial intelligences. All attempts by the Nyx to utilize this wealth of technology in the past have proven futile due to an apparent security measure dependent upon users’ biological makeup to function.

Such findings are currently being investigated for their xeno-archaeological, industrial, and military significance by a growing number of select organizations across the galaxy.

Mysterious technology and as of yet undeciphered archives aside, what concrete facts exist about the Nyx’s citadel is that it is the nexus of their society, as well as the place in which literal dreams are made and curated for many slumbering Equisian beings that would otherwise struggle to make their own. In a more benevolent analog to the Changelings – another species dependent upon some form of magical or emotional energy for sustenance – this production of dreams and the resulting interaction with sleepers’ psyches is what keeps the Nyx vibrant and ageless, and their small civilization running.

Worlds

Equis
The third planet in orbit around the main-sequence star Solaris in a system consisting of eight primary planets and numerous smaller moons, Equis is a temperate terrestrial planet with a radius of approximately 6500 kilometres. A world of vast blue seas and verdant continents, the homeworld of the Equestrian Empire and its many terrestrial neighbors is regarded as one of the most hospitable planets for organic life in the galaxy.

Equis’ biodiversity, especially in regards to the rise and evolution of sapient species, is an anomaly to xenobiologists of a kind seen in extremely limited number across the galaxy. Well over a dozen extant races from largely distinct genuses have been documented to have evolved both on and even beneath its surface, with the equine genus being most prominent so as to having formed a basis for the planet’s very name.

The geography of Equis is defined by its complex arrangement of continents, seas, and oceans. In the western hemisphere lies the continents of Equestria, the Arctic, Lyonesse, and the West Islands volcanic range, all bordered by Celestial Sea to the east between Equestria and Equina, and the South and North Luna Oceans to the west, between Equestria and Mu. Situated in the largely land-dominated eastern hemisphere are the continents of Harena/Zebrica and Dimora, mostly separated from the vast landmass of Equina by the diminutive Six Seas of Nimbus, as well as the easternmost landmass that rivals Equina in size: Mu, with the East Islands in between the latter two.

At the dawn of civilization, constant conflict between the myriad races and empires began almost immediately, but it was the enduring peace in many regions of the planet in the interim that truly defined its collective heritage as a world. It was in peace and the strive for mutual prosperity that forged such modern superpowers as Equestria, and enabled countless wonders like the Mare of Harmony statue in Manehattan Harbor, the Grand Gardens of Equina in Unicornia, and the bustling and historic melting pot cities that are peppered across every continent.

Since the introduction of human-built slipspace drive technology at the dawn of the twenty-sixth century and the subsequent rise of the Grand Solarian Concordat that unified it with the human homeworld of Earth, Equis has taken on an increasingly pivotal role in galactic affairs.

Selene
Equis’ sole natural satellite, Selene is a largely barren moon that is of a very rare type found in the galaxy. It’s exotic core has yet to be fully researched, but what is known is that moons of its classification are able to sustain breathable atmospheres upwards of a quarter mile above the highest elevation. Minor habitability all considered, cosmic radiation and temperature extremes remain constant hazards for the unprepared would-be explorer of its argent hills and shadowed craters.

Selene is natively inhabited by the Nyx, a sapient and advanced race of mysterious avian-lagomorphic bipeds whose very existence was only recently verified in the wake of the return of Nightmare Moon.

In 2496, Selene became the permanent home of Equestria and the GSC’s primary shipbuilding facilities under the operation of Phoenix Aerospace Corporation, SinoViet Heavy Machinery, and later, Eclipse Shipyards. One of the shipyards’ most prominent productions is the famous ENV Divinity, a supercarrier and the flagship of the modern Imperial Equestrian fleet finished and launched in 2529.

Culture and History

Nightmare Moon
Once thought to be a legend to the point of becoming folklore to thrill and frighten foals, a perspective that endured as the overwhelming majority viewpoint in the combined Equestrian mind for an entire millennium, Nightmare Moon proved her existence exactly how and when her host’s sister had expected, returning and wielding Princess Luna’s altered and commandeered body as her weapon during the Summer Sun Celebration in June of 2551.

A dangerous, corrupting, and power-seeking ruthless entity, Nightmare Moon’s genesis partially stemmed from decades-long period of deteriorating relations between the then Princess Celestia and Princess Luna herself leading up to the latter’s tragic banishment and the abandoning of the Castle of the Two Sisters.

Concurrent with this period was a global weakening of many empires as the planet’s climate underwent shift after shift, of which the most prominent and the sole case that altered Luna’s situation directly was that of the waning Crystal Empire. After a failed invasion attempt by Nimbus upon the Empire and the descent of King Sombra – Luna’s then closest ally – into corruption during his efforts to save his nation, Luna saw both her only friend and a people she had sworn to protect imprisoned into the ice and vanished into thin air.

Weakened from her guilt, resentment and sorrows, Luna gave no resistance to the same seductive power of dark magic the Nightmare Forces offered that had overcome Sombra. Thus Nightmare Moon was born. The Nightmare left Luna and Celestia’s center of rulership over Equestria in ruins and removed Luna from the face of Equestrian history for centuries to come with the banishment she gained from Celestia via the Elements of Harmony.

Upon disastrous arrival to Selene, Nightmare Moon would see the entirety of the Nyx corrupted to serve her bidding during the long wait for her return, plaguing ponies’ dreams and harnessing power for her eventual return.

The Great War
The Concordat-Covenant War, commonly known as the Great War, is an ongoing conflict with theaters of war that span approximately half of the currently explored galaxy from the frontiers of the Perseus Arm that shield Equis, to encompassing almost the entirety of the Orion Arm.

Sparked in the year 2525 during a disastrous first contact between Covenant missionaries and GSC officials on the human agricultural colony Harvest, the Covenant Empire declared humanity and equinity as heretics and themselves as inquisitors of their gods’ wrath, effectively declaring war and rendering it official with a full military assault on the planet shortly thereafter.

Harvest was eventually re-claimed in 2531, but in the years that followed, colony after human colony was found and glassed by the Covenant with entire fleets lost and millions killed. While the UNSC and its reinforcements attempted to delay the Covenant’s destructive march towards Earth, the GSC grand offensive was initiated immediately following the Harvest reclamation. With so many of their warships and troops away fighting against the UNSC or attempting to scour for or raid the colonies of the other Concordat races, many vital Covenant colonies became automatic viable targets as a consequence of strategic overdispersion.

As the 2540’s approached, arrived, and drew to a close, the war reached a stalemate that has endured into the new decade. For each human world the Covenant glassed, the Concordat stood poised to counterattack in equal measure. The sole obstacles to a decisive victory were the fortification of Sanghelios rendering direct assault near-suicidal, and the continued difficulty of locating High Charity for ambush and capture.

With recent and unprecedented events however, senior commanders all across the Concordat mull over the very real possibility of the war’s tide turning. With so much at stake for all parties involved in the titanic conflict, only time will tell.

Organizations, Factions, and Civilizations

Under construction ...

People

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Magic and Technology

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Weaponry and Warfare

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Races and Creatures

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Curiosities

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