Fallout: Equestria - The Eternal Winter

“Just Giggle at the Ghosties…”

My eyes lazily cast themselves out of my bedroom window as I lean back in my desk chair, viewing the industrial skyline that was Stalliongrad. From the countless smokestacks, black, acrid smoke rose into the winter skies above, their ash gray coloring blending perfectly with the snow-heavy clouds.

No doubt the snow will be turned gray from the ash and soot, having long lost its’ innocence long before falling to the land below.

Turning my gaze from the window back to the terminal sitting before me, my hooves lazily type across the keyboard, drafting a message intended to be sent to a subordinate of mine. This particular subordinate had been a pain in my flank for the past two months, complaining that their work space wasn’t spacious enough or air conditioned just the way they liked it.

Their solution?

They decided to complain to their high up (me) until he passed the message along to his higher up, who is known for being a total jackass and will most likely send a rejection letter back down the line, only for the subordinates’ high up (still me) to get another whiny message on his terminal the next morning. I swear, this little fucker is going to be the end of me. If I get one more complaint about a damn seat cushion, I’m going to-

“Cherno, could you please come down here?” calls an angelic voice from the staircase. Spinning in my desk chair and jumping to my hooves, I trot across the oak floorboards towards the staircase and down them to the sight of my wife, Harp, with a look of worry on her face.

“What is it my dear?” I ask, giving her a quick kiss on the snout, but this did little to improve her mood.

“The street. There’s a convoy passing by.” She says simply, pointing a hoof to the street outside. Normally, the asphalt gray street would be empty save for the occasional farmer and his cart. But this time, a stream of armored vehicles and tanks rumbled along the road. Beside the machines of war, solider ponies in full combat uniform marched in unison, machine guns and rifles slung over their backs with steel helmets on top of their heads. Suddenly, a jeep rolled up to the entrance to our walkway, and out stepped an officer with his assistant. Harp and I exchanged looks of surprise before I open the door and step onto the porch.

“Captain Lancer, what do I owe the pleasure?” I asked, raising a hoof for a hoofshake as the captain approached. He did not return the gesture. Instead, he stared at me with a hard, haunted look. His assistant, a unicorn mare with the rank of Corporal on her sleeve, cleared her throat and telekinetically withdrew a clipboard from her saddlebags. The clipboard floated before her and a few of the pages flipped up, a series of names written on the pages.

“Cherno of the Bolt family, you are here by drafted into the Grand Equestrian Red Army. You have ten minutes to pack your belongings and to say goodbye.” She said simply, a pencil floating out now to check off my name before putting her clipboard back into her saddlebags. I turn to look at my wife, tears rolling down her light green cheeks.

At this point in the war, when you were drafted into the army, it meant that the military needed soldiers desperately.

And at this point in the war, being drafted meant certain death.

Nodding, I turn from the two soldiers and approach my wife, terror gripping my heart. As soon as I was close enough, she sprang for me and hugged me tightly, her tears staining my chest as she wept.

“What will I tell little Atom when he gets home…?” she hiccuped, pulling back to look at me with puffy, red eyes.

“Tell him…” I hitched, trying to control my composure. “Tell him I had to go to work.” I say. “Tell him I got called in for some overtime. I’ll be able to take him to the zoo when I get back.” I say, weaving a lie for my wife to tell our colt. But I knew Atom wouldn’t believe what Harp said, he was a smart colt for his age. He wasn’t oblivious to the world around him, he’ll piece it together.

“Kiss me before you go to pack…” Harp said, her voice barely above a whisper. I lean in and lock her lips with mine.

Her cold, hard lips.

Confused, I pull away and give a scream. Instead of an angelic beauty before me, a skull stared back at me with black, hollow sockets. Panicking, I release the bones from my embrace and they clatter to the ground, breaking upon impact from their surprisingly brittle nature. Stumbling back, my eyes cast up to the ruins of my home, the walls scorched and blown apart. Looking back, I expected to see the Captain and his Colonel, but instead, my eyes landed on the sight of a machine gun nest, its’ crew nothing but bones and riddled with bullet holes.

A final stand on the lawn of peace.

Above me, the sky was a sickening green and shone with malevolent intent. In the distance, the industrial skyline of Stalliongrad was obliterated and glowed the same sickening green. My eyes casted up further to the clouds, thick and heavy with rain. Suddenly, and explosion rocked with air, forcing me to scream in pain as my eardrums imploded from the sudden pressure change. In my pain, I spotted a cylindrical shaped item piercing through the clouds above. My eyes trailed the object, following it until it reached a few hundred feet from the ground.

That’s when it erupted into a violent explosion.

Immediately, intense heat began cooking my coat and skin, boiling away my muscles and tendons. Following the heat, a tremendous force impacted my form, liquefying my eyes and internal organs into a soupy nature. Finally, a wave of green fire enveloped me, cooking my bones to charcoal before a final force blew my bones away, dust in the wind.

And this all happened so fast, I didn’t even have a chance to scream.