Fallout Equestria: Sin and Sacrifice

Introduction

War… war never changes

Long ago, in the magical land of Equestria, ponies lived in peace and harmony. They worked, played, loved, and raised families under the benevolent rule of their princesses- Celestia, and her younger sister, Luna. In addition to ruling their ponies from the Equestrian capital, Canterlot, the elder sister raised and lowered the sun each day, while the younger not only raised and lowered the moon each night, but served as a warden for the dreams of their subjects. This time of peace allowed for technological innovations in the likes of which pony kind had never thought possible. But the machines of ponykind needed resources, resources that were not found in Equestria. They were soon able to forge a trade partnership with the Zebra nation, but the virtues of friendship and harmony were not enough to keep an everlasting peace, and soon the two nations descended into conflict.

The sporadic firefights that had engulfed the Equestrian-Zebra nations’ border remained as relatively minor incidents until the accidental massacre at Littlehorn Valley, a tragedy Princess Celestia took personally to heart, resulting in her abdication and disappearance from the public eye. Celestia’s absence left the rule of the country to Luna, who soon asked for the help of her sister’s prized pupil, Twilight Sparkle and her friends Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. These six ponies represented the living incarnations of Equestria’s ultimate weapon, the Elements of Harmony. Together, as they had done many times in the past, this group of friends answered the call to save their nation once again by forming the Ministries to help organize the war effort.

The great test of this effort soon came in the form of an invasion and capture of the border city of Vanhoover at the hooves of the Zebra forces. However, while the battle to reclaim Vanhoover was a great success and renewed a sense of hope and patriotism in the ponies of Equestria, the actions that the Ministries took afterward began to take the nation that once prided itself on the virtues of harmony and friendship down a path that lead to great disharmony and distrust among its citizens.

Thanks to a widespread propaganda campaign by the Ministry of Image, coupled with the secret police tactics of the Ministry of Morale, the ponies of Equestria began to cast suspicion and doubt toward their fellow Equestrians, not just against non-ponies, but their fellow ponies as well.

As war and internal strife ravaged the rest of Equestria, deep in the Frozen North, a once great empire thought lost to the whims of dark magic had returned. The Crystal Empire, a source of great wealth and mystery, had reappeared during the early stages of the Great War. Celestia and Luna decided to send their niece, Princess Cadance, and her husband Prince Shining Armor, former Captain of the Royal Guard and brother of Twilight Sparkle, to the empire in an attempt to bring it into the Equestrian fold. The isolated location of the Empire proved to be its saving grace. Since the zebra forces were more focused on directly taking Canterlot in an effort at ending the war as quickly as possible, the Empire was left in relative peace, allowing it to supply the rest of the nation in gems and crystals, two key elements that could both fund the war and fuel the magical energy weapons of the Equestrian war machine.

While the government addressed the war in their own way, three industrious young mares named Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Apple Bloom, the younger sisters to three of the Element bearers, founded Stable Tec. The goal of this endeavor was to provide shelter for the citizens of Equestria in the event of a full scale megaspell attack, and soon enough, their fears were realized. On what came to be known as The Last Day, megaspells destroyed much of Equestria, the radiation poisoning the lush landscape and turning the land into a barren wasteland.

For over two centuries the survivors scraped by, surviving murder and rape at the hooves of their fellow ponies who saw the chaos as an opportunity to prey upon the weak, prompting small groups to band together to try and bring some semblance of civilization to the wasteland and to provide safe havens against the more dangerous elements the wasteland had to offer. Eventually, a hero emerged who, with the help of her friends, was able to bring down the ultimate threat to the wasteland and use a relic of the past to revive the landscape. From came to be called the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows, a new Equestria emerged, with the New Canterlot Republic at the head.

Fifteen years have passed since the Day of Sunshine and Rainbows. The fledgling NCR has started to expand its boundaries and reclaim the old lands of Equestria. However, unknown to the ponies of post war Equestria, over the course of the two hundred and fifteen years since The Last Day, the descendants of the survivors of the Zebra Empire had been rebuilding, known to those who lived in fear of its shadow simply as The Legion, with a new Caesar leading his army forth to reconquer the old zebra lands while the ponies of Equestria were still murdering and raping themselves and just scraping by. By the time the day of Sunshine and Rainbows had come, cleansing the majority of the old lands of Equestria of the ravages of the war, Caesar’s Legion had conquered the old zebra lands, bringing the scattered tribes and survivors into the fold, most of the time through the use of extreme brutality. With their old lands now within his grasp, Caesar has set his sights on the old foe of the zebras, Equestria, seeking to end what had begun over two centuries before.

As the ponies of the NCR struggled to remake their beloved Equestria and defend it from the Legion, a new threat emerged. Tales were told of isolated villages winding up empty, or ponies suddenly disappearing, only to turn up later, their family and close acquaintances noticing strange behavior. Following an incident involving the untimely death of one of these individuals, the citizens of Equestria were introduced to the changelings, beings who could disguise themselves and feed off of the love of other individuals. Following the defection of a changeling to the NCR, the council learned of The Hive, a hidden place where the changelings lived and followed the orders of their queen.

Now, faced with threats on multiple sides, as well as struggles within, the answers to not only the NCR, but Equestria’s future, may be found in its past.