Fallout: Equestria - A Pair of Striped Wings

It is a curious fact towards the end of the Great War that there was no truly good people left; there were innocent ponies and zebras still, but at that point innocent had turned into just another word for ignorant. Every pony in any position of power had blood on their hooves, no matter if they were a bureaucrat, officer or politician. Even the civilians were guilty of looking away when their neighbours disappeared from time to time.

And it is a remarkably ironic fact that, despite the vast differences between Equestria and the wasteland that it turned into, it is the same pattern. If you ignore a few sheltered foals and stable dwellers, any given pony you meet is likely to have gone through events they regret. Traumas that still scar them, mistakes that haunt them, blood that taint their hooves and their souls. And all of this... leads to one one fatal question.

If we were to kill every single little monster within the world, would there be anyone left to rebuild?

I very much doubt it, and I have been forced to recognize the logical conclusion to this. There will not be a day when all of the innocent little colts and fillies come together and build a new civilization free from the sins of their ancestors, we can't just endure and wait anymore. If we, the broken and bloodied fools of two accursed ages, can't come together and build a better tomorrow; no one else will.

And knowing what we have to do, why would we let anything stop us? I no longer care about the petty feud between ponies and zebras, the struggles between the rangers and the raiders, nor the divine mandate of the princesses nor the awesome firepower of the old Skyguard. None of it truly matters anymore. The only thing that truly matters is whether you are willing to sacrifice and to struggle not for yourself but for those who are yet to come.

Redemption does not really lie in a climactic choice of right or wrong, where you push a button, pull a trigger or jump a ledge. Redemption lies in not our deaths, but in our survival, and our continuous decisions to do better than we did in our pasts. It is a difficult process, and a long one.

And here another pony would have written an emotional tirade about their regrets in life. Not I. No, I am just sick and tired of it all and there are only two possibly paths forward. The first is sweet merciful oblivion as everything finally ends, and we already tried that. A few moments of sadistic glee was not worth the aftermath.

As such, can an evil individual redeem themselves and save the future?

And, not even for the right reasons?

Those questions are moot. The real question is if there will be anyone who can stop me.

Ètoile Van Hoof

Duchess of Vanhoover