But We Can't Eat Meat!

Once upon a time, before Princess Twilight Sparkle had ascended to such a status, she learned of a magic pond in the Everfree Forest called the Mirror Pool. This pond had the ability to clone whoever stepped into it after reciting a magical rhyme, but both the pond’s location and the rhyme itself were unknown to most of the world.

Twilight Sparkle’s friend, Pinkie Pie, remembered hearing about the Mirror Pool as a filly, and sought it out for reasons lost to time. After her attempt to clone herself swiftly got out of hoof, Twilight Sparkle undid the spell and blocked the Mirror Pool off, hoping it would remain untouched for the rest of time.

This was not the case.

The circumstances are unknown, but somehow, the Mirror Pool was uncovered again. A pegasus pony had been searching for it, hoping to use it for his own twisted gain. And when he found it, he began to clone himself, with only one thing on his mind:

Death.

His number of clones began to multiply and overrun Equestria. Towns were torn apart, their populations slaughtered or forced into hiding. The Elements of Harmony were stolen, their bearers unable to retrieve them from the masses of murderous multiples. They had no choice but to run.

The princesses Celestia and Luna attempted to intervene, but for every clone they sent back, more continued to attack. They found themselves overwhelmed, and in the struggle, Princess Luna was killed. Princess Celestia knew she would not last, and so she fled to the Crystal Empire; the only civilization in Equestria that had not been attacked.

When the clones reached the empire, they saw they had travelled the distance for nothing; it had vanished. Nopony knows exactly how, but Princess Celestia must have worked with her adopted niece, Princess Cadance, to hide the empire from the clones. Its location, along with that of the bearers of the Elements, is still unknown to this day.

Outside, the clones continue to run rampant through the world, but their search has grown slower. Most of Equestria’s population has been slaughtered, and so now their only purpose is to scavenge for the few remaining pieces of civilization.

The ponies who survived the initial attack struggle to survive, hiding from the clones and trying their best to adapt to the new circumstances. Some try to make it on their own, while others work in groups; but in the end, it comes down to survival of the fittest.

The Elements are lost, their bearers missing. One princess is dead, the rest in hiding.

Hope is lost.