War, War never changes.
Same speech, different words.
Always the same story about how ponykind couldn't figure out a better answer than war, and destroyed the world. How the virtues of Friendship, Honesty, Kindness, Loyalty, Generosity, and Laughter, were lost to a raging machine of death and destruction.
A decades long war of countless deaths, betrayals, and pain, ended in Balefire. What should have been a cleansing flame of renewal to a world torn asunder by war, was only the start of a new era of killing. War was not abated, but instead reborn.
The darkness within the hearts of the creatures left over from the Great War was free to fester and grow, and become unleashed upon the world. For years after the war, that darkness grew, unable to be stopped, and soon it had engulfed the entirety of the nation.
However, from the darkness rose pockets of light, specks of civilization in an otherwise despicable world. Whether it was a single pony protecting a group of starving foals from cannibalistic raiders in an old shack, or a force from before the war, driven by the ideals of the Old World, who would protect all who would accept them in an old stronghold, the darkness was broken, invaded with light.
All, it seemed, was not lost.
Our story begins in one of the underground bunkers built before the war to house the inhabitants of the old world from the apocalypse, called a Stable.
The Stable was called Stable 21. A stable built for compulsive gamblers, and a select few scientists, to survive the Balefire that swept the nation and tore it asunder. It came equipped with everything a gambler needed to live their ideal life. From Roulette, to Blackjack, to Slots, to Poker, Stable 21 had it all.
However, under the veneer of a life of luxury for the inhabitants lay a despicable caveat. All who entered the Stable, and their descendants, and their descendants' descendants, would be marked. At the age of 10, the right leg of every pony in the Stable would be removed, and replaced, with a new, robotic version. In addition, each replacement leg would be made out of one particular precious, or not-so-precious, metal; Platinum, Hardened Chrome, Silver, Steel, Bronze, and Iron. The type of metal used would determine the recipients place in the hierarchy or the stable, and it would be determined as everything else in the Stable would be determined; The luck of the draw, a game of Blackjack. Ponies who received Platinum would be at the highest echelon of society, living a life of luxury, those who received Chrome would be under them, and so on and so forth all the way down to Iron, the lowest class in the Stable, who would live a life almost no better than if they were out in the Wasteland.
Unlike most Stables in Equestria, Stable 21 has had a long history with the outside world. A mere 20 years after the end of the world, in the midst of the last death throes of the Nuclear Winter which covered the nation, the Stable came under attack by a small force of well armed raiders, the descendants of ponies who were denied entrance into the Stable at the end of the war. The Stable opened it's door, and met the invaders head on, pushing them back. From that day forward, the Stable kept a cautious eye on the outside world. Over the years, they fended off many attacks from raiders, and kept themselves hidden from many other groups.
100 years after the war ended, the resources within the Stable began to run low, and a new measure was put into place. Eleven years after the day a young pony had their leg replaced, they would play another game of Blackjack, to determine whether or not their life within the Stable would be over. This act, while cruel, held the resources stable, and continued to protect the autonomy and secrecy of the Stable below.
200 years after Stable 21 was sealed for the first time, a colt was born. His name is Lucky Thirteen. This, is his story.
