I dunno if the mods might strike this off as not pony related enough, but it’s kind of just an illustration - a moment in playing Stellaris as Equestria that sent shivers down my spine…
 
Full story:
 
The United Equestrian Empire had risen to great glory. In the centuries since we first took to space, we had formed the Harmonious Alliance with our interstellar neighbors, to secure our mutual trust and safety.
 
On the distant end of the galaxy, another great federation, the Righteous Accord, faced a devouring, endless swarm of beasts known as the Prethoryn Scourge. The scourge attacked the galaxy from intergalactic space, their language indecipherable, their goals unknown, but their insatiable thirst for death, carnage and growth, obvious.
 
For centuries of conflict, the Harmonious Alliance, led by us, United Equestria, entered Rightous Accord space to assist them with the fight against that which threatened us all - and eventually, the scourge were finally defeated and the galaxy was safe from extermination of all life, but the war had left a huge swath of the galaxy without any habitable worlds.
 
To bring life to this barren waste once more, and to seize valuable and rare resources, Equestria built colonies all throughout this region on massive orbital stations. One was built around a pulsar in the Edemar system, named “Wendigo’s Dance” for the dancing, beautiful yet frighteningly powerful blue lights from the jets of plasma that danced around the star’s poles.
 
This entire region of the galaxy came to be known as the Phoenix region - for though it had been reduced to ashes, we were determined to breathe life into it once more, in defiance to the horrors, and as an epitaph to never forget all the many worlds full of sapient life that had fallen there.
 
More centuries passed, and the power, innovation and wonders of the Equestrian Empire grew to a glorious technological ascension, becoming so advanced that other empires began to fear us despite our peaceful ways, our gleaming fleets surpassing the technology and power even of ancient fallen empires.
 
And yet we, the diarch sisters, were not blind to opportunity - an old rival, the League of Ruphea, that had constantly waged war on us was now within our power, and for centuries, attempts at reconciliation had failed. In order to secure a safe future for my beloved ponies, and for fear that Equestria’s great advantage would not last forever, the League or Ruphea were defeated in two seperate wars. One claimed half the worlds of their empire, and another, their independence, and just as Sombra’s empire had been defeated and the Crystal Empire made a protectorate so long ago, the League of Ruphea were made to abolish their warlike ways and submit to Equestria’s rule.
 
The galactic community did not take kindly to this.
 
Fears began to spread. Despite our kind nature and open borders - and the countless populations of their species that lived among us, as us, as equals in our empire - the ponies were increasingly ostricized and feared by the galaxy as a whole. Soon, the Righteous Accord turned from close friends and allies, thankful for having saved them from the Prethoryn, to distant, cold, and afraid. They began to take on a strong imperious attitude towards my beloved ponies, hoping to one day rival and even defeat us, because they feared us so much.
 
A hard choice had to be made. Attempts at reconciliation were largely fruitless. One day, it seemed inevitable that the Righteous Accord would pass the threshold of technological ascension, and Equestria would lose the edge that kept us free and safe.
 
I, Celestia, was unwilling to plunge the entire galaxy into a grand war to end all wars, yet I could not be sure of Equestria’s continued safety and freedom in any other way.
 
After much consulting, debate, and many long nights, I had finally agreed with Luna’s insistance - a war was necessary to secure the freedom and safety of the future of all ponies.
 
Reluctantly, I let Luna lead this war.
 
The countless colonies and ringworlds in the Phoenix Region was the Righteous Accord’s first target once war broke out. In truth, we truly had saved them from the Prethoryn - more than half of all prethoryn slain were slain by Equestrian ships, our success had even surpassed that of the Technizid Mediators, a Fallen Empire of ancient, advanced technology. We had most of the phoenix region - but rightly so, by agreed upon laws of territory we had been the first to re-colonize it so it was ours, and we had defeated the Prethoryn that had taken it.
 
Yet they attacked there first not only because it was the closest, but because they had rewritten their history to believe we had taken it from them… Though most systems were heavily defended, there was one vulnerable system they struck first - Edemar.
 
Accord fleets entered the system, and moved to lay siege to the one colony there. Equestrian fleets arrived just in time to spare the colony fire from the heavens - but it was not enough, more fleets would be needed, and they quickly arrived.
 
And so did more Accord fleets.
 
The battle quickly escelated - the lead armadas of both federations were present, engaged in a battle that would determine the fate of the galaxy.
 

 
As I, Celestia, looked over this battle, I wondered…
 
Had I done the right thing? The Righteous Accord were old friends, and here we were, now fighting to the death, because they feared our power, and I and Luna feared their fear, and now the entire galaxy was drenched in pointless bloodshed as the Evening Armada struck into their space and destroyed their fleets while the Golden Armada battled in Edemar.
 
All this bloodshed over fear of ponies’ future safety. Was it the right thing to do? Could we not have reconciled more peacefully? Why had they continuously refused attempts to make amends?
 
Was it right to bring back old imperial dogma of wars of conquest to ensure the safety of my little ponies?
 
But a cold shiver ran down my spine as I realized - as energy lances blasted across the system and sent thousands of lives to their end with every strike, and hundreds of smaller craft engaged in fights to the death,
 
irrational fear had met fear, hysteria had made old friends tear at each other’s throats and rend the star system in half with blasts from weapons of unimaginable power and horror,
 
A cold shiver went down my spine as I realized, the colony’s name, was Wendigo’s Dance.
 
The blue lights of the Pulsar’s jets danced above the battle, laughing as the entire galaxy was plunged into the grandest, and most horrible of wars to end all wars. It would cement the Righteous Accord’s fear - now there was no going back - the two grand alliances would endlessly fight until there was only one left.
 
And the wendigos danced.