“The Fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends”

*click, click, click*

The final sound of Equestria before the bombs fell, as the last 3 stables finally sealed their doors.

Moments later, all across Equestria the bombs began raining down on every significant city, town, and village. The hardest hit places were Hoofington and Canterlot in a desperate bid by the Zebra to wipe out the enemy and their evil “Nightmare Moon”.

Canterlot:

Meanwhile, in Canterlot the princesses held the shield as long as they could until Celestia who was already weakened by the poisoned gas finally fled from her sisters now dead body. Knowing that all was already lost and that Luna really was a rightful ruler having given her life, protecting their beloved city. As she left the protection of the shield she suddenly felt regret, feeling like she was abandoning her sister once again to a cruel fate. She turned and tried to go back but her thick pink cloud prevented her.

Feeling guilty that once again she had let her sister take the punishment while she'd run away. She finally wept as she fled to the only other safe place she knew, the old castle in the Everfree Forest.

It was clear the area was untouched by the devastation of the bombs as she flew over. Either the zebra's had thought it was not a target, or simply had forgotten the place Tia and Luna had first ruled from as Alicorns. Finally, she landed at the ruin of the castle of the two sisters. It was a ruin but it was still standing. Back before the war, Rarity had tried to salvage and repair some of the fabrics. However, from the bare walls, it was clear they were never returned. Obviously, other everyday things in life had taken over long before the war started.

Everyday life? That was a laugh. Ever since the coal incident, normal had gone out the proverbial window. Damn that Goldenblood! She should have known from the moment he'd spoken up that he was going to be trouble. All because he was both worth listening to, but not remotely trustworthy just like his uncle Blueblood. She'd actually ignored his advice and taken that damn coal. Of course, this was before his suggestion to Luna about the fabled ministries.

Since the moment she confided in him about stepping down after that attack at the school. He'd betrayed and blocked her at every step! Oh, she'd known about his role running the O.I.A and she herself had minor invested interests in some of his secret plans, plans that the 6 girls hadn't known about in their Ministry's. They were known as the Ministry Mares, but she still called them girls because to her they were still so young, but they had managed to achieve soo much even before the start of the war.

She'd even tried to reach them to reason with each of them but Golden and his O.I.A had put a stop to her. She'd only wanted to put them back on the correct path. Rarity with Image butchering the stories that every foal should learn. Applejack with the technology companies running amuck. Pinkiepie with her drug-ridden twisted sense of Morale. Fluttershy, Celestia had learned had still tried to stay true to herself despite her attempted act of Treason. That was one of the few stories Goldenblood had willingly shared with Celestia in the privacy of her retreat.

Then there was the 2 biggest let downs in Equestria. Twilight her faithful student who had gone mad looking for ever greater spells. To try and turn the tide of the war whether they were used as weapons or not. It didn't matter, Twilight had lost sight of the true power of magic. Finally, there was Rainbow Dash. As she sat there crying her eyes out again, Celestia remembered most how Rainbow Dash had been the biggest let down of all. All that money and resources wasted on a failed project, a project it was now too late to realize. It was all over, all of it gone. The Element of Loyalty had been the final betrayal of Equestria in the end.

“No!”

She whispered to herself. Maybe there was still some way to for Rainbow Dash to redeem herself in Celestia's eyes. What was it Rainbow Dash had called it? The Single Pony Project. Rainbow Dash had told Celestia in a letter once that Goldenblood had let through to her. It had said something like that only the Ministry Mares and the Princesses could access the SSP hub for the foreseeable future. At least until Rainbow Dash could locate a suitable candidate to run it. She'd had Twilight personally prepare the protection bubble as a precaution because she'd not wanted “Goldie to get his hoofs on another stinking inch, or another bit of money from the M.o.A.'s lead project.” It was supposed to be nearly complete. Maybe there was a chance to still use it somehow, even though Celestia had no idea what it actually did.

Celestia wiped her eye's as she'd finally run out of tears to cry. Though she felt cold on this castle floor and looked even smaller than normal. She finally realized it was time to stop running and try to do what she could to save Equestria. Do whatever she could for Equestria for when the Stable doors did finally open again.

Slowly she got up off the floor and stretched her wings. Then she walked over to a dust-covered statue of herself and Luna whispering “Goodbye sister, I know you visited this place many times since your return and you long ago bid this place goodbye. Now it looks like it's my time to finally say goodbye to our old home.” With that, she leaned forward and gave the statue of Luna a gentle kiss on the cheek before flapping her wings and rising up towards the sky.

The pegasi had already many hours ago already closed up most of the sky, except around the Everfree Forest. So Celestia met no resistance of any kind as she rose above cloud level and kept flying higher. She didn't want to be seen doing this because this might have made her look like she was running away. She kept flying until even the clouds were far beneath her and the air was thin. Finally, she found her direction and flew towards Neighvarro the home of the SPP. As she flew over the city she found the magical shield entrance. Darkness at the end of the day was already beginning to fall. The first time night had naturally descended on Equestria in over a 1000 years.

The evening patrols were chaotic and scattered, easy enough for Celestia to swoop down and walk in through the shield without any pony seeing her. Every pony was still reeling from the news of both the attack on Cloudsdale and the following destruction rained down on the rest of Equestria.

Of course, ponies were strong, it wouldn't take more than a day or 2 before they rallied and re-organized. Pegasi were resilient ponies after all. However, it would probably be decades before some parts of the surface became habitable again. In her now confidant haste, Celestia almost bounded across the foyer of the SPP into the next room. Looking around she plugged herself into the computer pod. Too late, she realized she had put herself into an unplugged part of the Crusader Mainframe. Pushing the control access she had, she realized didn't even have the power to pull herself out of the computer. She was trapped, and all she could do was watch. So she cried again, trapped in her pod as the first rainfall fell on Equestria below the clouds since the bombs fell.

Stable 2 Ponyville: 5 Hours Previously

“Applejack, I didn't think you were going to make it! Your the last one, I was about to seal the stable.”

“Ahm sorry Sweetie Belle, I got here as fast as I could, but it's not easy when your a ministry mare to get anythin done.”

“That's ok AJ, but you'd better get in here quick. Bloom would have my hide if I didn't let you in, or at least she would if she could. She was supposed to make it to a stable and contact me but all the lines went dead a half hour ago. I should really have closed the door 40 minutes ago but I figured you were coming and I've kept all the inner-doors on lockdown to reduce any rad leakage.”

Applejack quickly trotted into the stable before turning and said into the wind.

“Goodbye Applesnack, I'll come back for you one day I promise!”

The door finally slid shut behind her not to be opened again for a very long time. Finally, Sweetie Bell spoke up.

“I'm sorry Applejack but that probably won't be possible. As possibly now the only surviving C.E.O of Stable-Tec, and the designated Overmare of this Stable. I can't authorize the re-opening of that door until it's safe. Besides if Applebloom is somewhere alive out there, she'd kill me for even thinking of letting you go out there again.”

Applejack turned to look at Sweetie Bell “Sweetie, Ahm Pregnant.”

“Well good for you, we need population breeding.”

“But he's still out there, I left him all alone in Zebra town.”

Sweetie Belle sighed and cleared her throat for what sounded like a well-rehearsed line

“I'm sorry for your loss Applejack, but let's work together to keep this stable working, so maybe we can rebuild Equestria someday.”

Applejack finally shed a tear.

Outside Canterlot: 1 day earlier

An exhausted Rainbow Dash emerged from the shadow of Canterlot. Unknown to anyone at the time she was the last person with the exception of Celestia to enter or leave Canterlot's boundary for 20 years. She had only just managed to escape as the spell barrier was formed. Having been nearly touched by the pink, she'd seen first hand what the exposure to the poisonous gas could do. She had kept away from it as much as possible but there had been a couple of very close calls

An hours flight later, she was approaching Maripony to check on Twilight's last known location. If anyone else would have survived, it would be Twilight. As she sat down to rest on a rock outcropping tired from the long flight. As she began to close her eyes out of tiredness, a voice asked behind her.

“So are you done with your little errand?”

Keeping her eye's closed Dash replied back “Seriously Gilda? You want to do this now?”

“Why not? It looks like your already a dead mare flying. I'm in no hurry to get the bounty I can wait you out. So what the hell are you up to anyway?”

“I'm looking for Twilight if you must know. If anyone is still alive, it's got to be her. I can only hope it was quick and painless for everyone else. Oh and Fulfilling a promise to Pinky and 'apparently' making a new friend in the future.”

“The future? Seriously? What kind of friend do you expect to make before I'm supposed to kill you?”

“Hey, I never said I'd be alive to see it. It's just something Pinky predicted with her freaky future magic, you know she's always been weird like that even before the drugs.”

“Don't remind me. She always drove me up the wall, still that recipe she gave me when you 2 came to Griffinstone though, Good stuff.”

“Haha, yeah. You know Gilda, Since I'm not going to be around to see this friend, I'm getting passed it.”

“What you want me to wait around for this pathetic future friend of yours? Forget it!”

“No Gilda, I don't want you to wait for this friend to get the message. You know, I never told you this Gilda, if you were a male pony or if I was a female Griffin, do you think we could have ever, you know? Got together?”

“Are you saying you've got a crush on me? Hell of a time to spring this one out of the bag.”

“Hey” Rainbow Dash finally opened her eyes and looked at Gilda perched on another rock. “You always knew I was bi-curious.”

“Sure sure, you were always bi-sexual, not bi-species. You're crazy!”

“Gilda, look, The way Pinky was talking, Littlepip and her friends might take some time to get here, and I'm not talking about weeks. It sounded like its going to be years maybe even Decades. Like they're stable Ponies who survived. At least if Pinky is right, it means the little squirts project worked. There is at least One Stable somewhere out there that actually worked. So it maybe lots and lots of years, like maybe a couple of centuries. So I'm not asking you to look out for her. I'm asking you as a friend, a best friend. Have some kids, maybe name one after me or something and tell them to wait, and look out for a torchbearer, or a light bringer something like that called “Little Pip”

“You're insane. That fog I saw in Cantalot must have clouded your brain Dash. How do I know that you're not bat shit crazy?”

“Junior Speedsters are our lives Gilda. I'm not crazy, although I can't say I didn't go crazy trying to work with that damn O.I.A crawling over everything.”

“Dash, do you remember you once told me when I came to see you on your birthday that one time? Was it Baldblood? That O.I.A. Director? That one who kept apparently interfering with your work. What was your work by the way? Cause Ministry of Awesome sounds like a stupid name, and you never seemed to do anything either.”

“Goldenblood, although he was finally replaced about a month ago I heard. And Gilda I was working on Cloud Control, oh and all those damn pegasi suits of armor. One, I noticed you'd got your hands on a converted an early prototype. Don't think I don't notice my own hoof work”

Gilda pouted. “Well I think it fits nicely”

“That's because the one your wearing, I designed that specially for you Gilda. Specifically for you not for any other damn stupid Pony or Griffin. But I guess now it's going to have to be my going away present. Take good care of that thing you hear? It's only a prototype but It's basically the same as my own shadow bolt armor without the pip-buck. I couldn't get authorization from those damn pests to let me add one to the Griffin Mark 1 Armour. Well 'Griffin Integrated Legitimate Defence Armour. G.I.L.D.A”

“So are we going to fight? They're going to want a body we might as well make it look like you put up a good fight.”

“Give 5 minutes to have a power nap. I know they say you'll sleep when you're dead. But I can't put up a decent fight show without some sleep. You have no idea how much not sleep I've had in the last week.”

“Fine, you can have your five minutes, and then this is on. Your either coming back half dead or you're going down into that radiation pit!”

Stable 29 Manehatten: 2 weeks later

Vinyl sat in her room, the lights were low on the nighttime schedule. It had obviously become known quite quickly after the bombs fell what had happened. The Stable wasn't completely quake-proof but most ponies had felt something from the shock waves penetrating the ground from the bomb that blew up at Tenpony Tower.

Unbeknownst to everyone else in the stable Vinyl was a part of one of Goldenblood's secret projects. Much to Goldenblood's own annoyance he'd allowed Vinyl to name the project after she'd only agree to do it on that condition. Project Accordion. On the plus side of the project, it was so low key as to have virtually no funding needed either on or off the books. Goldenblood had provided Vinyl with a complete map of the Stable, and everything between it and Tenpony tower. He'd also had Vinyl begin to learn a teleportation spell.

Goldenblood knew that the post-war Equestria was going to need some guidance and so Project Accordion was basically an escape plan from Stable 29 for Vinyl once the bombs had fallen so that she could be the “voice in the wasteland”. However to avoid being detected entering or leaving the stable that Stable-Tec had insisted on putting a Mainframe into. The only time Vinyl could leave without being detected was in the mornings where the Stable thought she was sleeping from over partying.

It had taken her months of practice and finally, she was ready. The spell platform in Tenpony tower was waiting and ready, however over the distance required, no matter how she tried she was never able to smuggle more than just herself and her stable barding between the two places.

Either way today was the day for DJ-Pon3 to finally get back on the air. There would, of course, be someone waiting from the M.A.S to make sure her trip was successful and to bring her up on the latest news. But only she, THE Vinyl Scratch could broadcast as DJ-Pon3 on Equestria's airwaves.

Sometime she'd have to fix that and find a spell some other pony could learn to imitate her voice so that there would always be a DJ-Pon3 as long as she was needed. Although she'd first have to find someone who could even begin to imitate her style.

The M.A.S representative was waiting for her, she was still not sure how 'Goldie' had persuaded the Ministry Mare's own Ministry to work behind her back on this one. Still, It was all part of the plan to help rebuild Equestria after the fall. What was it that one Pony had called it. “The Voice in the Wasteland”

A flash of light and a *pop* later, Vinyl stood in the Foyer of the MASEBS. Blinking in the stark bright light that filled the room.

She whistled “wow, that actually worked, I didn't think it would.”

“Welcome DJ-Pon3, indeed the spell worked perfectly,” said a smooth voice behind her.

“Nah, just call me Vinyl or Scratch. So the tower survived then, I was half expecting to teleport into a ruin.”

“I thought you meant the teleportation spell.”

“Oh that, it's just like riding a bicycle, although damn it feels like I've had an all-nighter making out with Octy, damn I'm getting old” as she sat down on her rump. “So what's the news and oh yeah. What's your name?”

The stallion blushed just thinking about Vinyl Scratch and Octavia although it was nothing new in Equestria from their old talk show before the war.

Stuttering a little he gave a little bow “I I I'm Doctor Helpinghoof, at your service Ms. Vinyl. The EBS is ready for your use. Twilights old quarters are now free for your use. It seems she never made it out of Maripony. We've also assigned you an assistant to run errands for you, it might cause some panic and confusion if you were seen wandering the lower floors.”

“So tell me Doc. What's the news and is this pony assistant hot?”

“Well I'm more of a stallion lover myself so I wouldn't really know, but I understand she's the grandniece of your old friend Ms. Octavia and a Unicorn.”

“Sweet Celestia, a new mini Octy unicorn, heheheh, Oh that'll be fun! So anyway's what is the news for my first report?”

“I'll let her you tell you herself, she's waiting in the EBS and please excuse me I must get back to my patients. We may have survived the explosion but it will be weeks before we get some of the injured up and walking I was only actually here to greet you, but I'm sure I'll be seeing you again along with the other M.A.S. staff at some point.”

With that, he trotted off into the elevator leaving Vinyl still sitting on the floor. Eventually, she managed to gather the strength to get her hoofs back under her and she trotted towards the EBS.

Kicking the door open Vinyl called out “Hello Equestria, Mumma's here!”

Sitting in front of the desk was a young filly pony who looked almost exactly like Vinyl imagined Octavia must have looked like as a filly. working some controls and watching lots of screens diligently before turning her head towards the door.

“You must be Ms. Vinyl Scratch, the DJ Pony. I'm Ms. Melody but you can call me whatever you want.” she began to drool a little spotting Vinyl's flank.

“Hey, you're a little bit too young for me kid.” Vinyl retorted snapping the young pony out of it. “But maybe we can work on it some time. But for now, I need you to give me the lowdown. Hey, not that kind of low down!”

This brought the filly's attention off her flank again.

Sitting down beside the young mare Vinyl was close enough to stop her flank looking and bring her attention back to the screens.

“So tell me what's been happening for the last fortnight? I've got a broadcast to make, some tunes to set running and then maybe after that you can help me find that bed the Doc told me about? Deal? After that, I've probably got to get back to 29 before they miss me so you'll be running things here ok?”

“eep! Well from what I can make sense of these pictures. Every Stable has been locked down since the explosions, Of those people who didn't make it, it looks like 95% of them are dead from radiation poisoning or the initial explosions. The remaining 5% are trying to band together in small groups away from BR centers. Well, everywhere except Hoofington and Canterlot” she said as she flipped through the notes on the clipboard.

“BR centers?” Vinyl replied with a quizzical look.

“Bomb Radiation Centers. Where the bombs exploded and left a ton of rads.”

“Oh, cool. Nice and simple, BR centers, I like it. Now, what's up with Canterlot and Hoofington? Because from what I can see here of Manehatten I sure wish the princesses could fix up this crap. But I'm guessing that given that I was called in, they didn't stand a chance.”

Trying not to seem so heartbroken having been reminded of the princesses, the little filly plowed on. “Well Canterlot got hit bad, real bad. From what the grumps say, it got hit by a bomb that was snuck inside the city.” she pressed a few buttons and the views changed to show Canterlot covered in a big pink bubble like a giant piece of bubblegum.

“It seems toxic and the only ponies who seem to have had any exposure to it so far died within a few hours, I think we've still got the footage on the hard drive if you want to take a look?”

“I'll pass for now thanks, somehow I've got a feeling I'll see worse before I'm done today.”

The filly pressed a few more buttons. “Now Hoofington is the statistical anomaly. Despite being hit and hit hard, a lot of the bombs hit the shield but a lot also got through. Although there are still a couple which haven't gone off yet like the one that hit Hightower Prison, although the sensors say it's still leaking a lot of rads, but the prison itself is in total lockdown. No-one is getting in or out until that bomb explodes. The other survivors around Hoofington though keep spiking up and down. It's like they keep disappearing and reappearing every few days. A couple of minor settlements have already begun to take shape but who knows what's happening out there. It's not like they're just hiding underground, the people are completely disappearing off the radar. I think the doc calls it 'being in flux'”

Just then a red warning light started flashing.

“Woah, what's that?” cried Vinyl

“Sweet Celestia” the filly cried. “The computer program was set to detect any movement around Canterlot I never expected it to find anypony.”

Quickly some buttons were pressed and the camera returned to Canterlot and began focusing down towards Zebra town far below.

“Ram Luna's Horn up my ass” Vinyl called out when the tiny figure became visible. “That's a bloody Steel Ranger. I'm guessing from the way he's glowing pink he got hit by the poisoned wave that hit Zebra town.”

The filly looked up at Vinyl “You sound like you actually care about Zebra town?”

“Despite what you've probably been told little one, they are not all bad. Remember we had a long time of peace before the war and don't let those snobs downstairs tell you that pony's and zebras can't be friends. Your aunt and me had plenty of problems that we had a zebra help us out with back in the old days before the war. I even 'nearly' got to make out with one once.”

“What happened?”

“Well between Zecora spurning my advances and Octy hitting me over the head with her Cello I never got any further. Next thing I knew I woke up in the hospital because apparently, some delivery mare dropped a piano on my head. Poor Ditzy, she got blamed every time someone got hit over the head but it was only one time she actually dropped a Piano. You know I think the doctors caught on pretty quickly and so they came up with “Dropped Experimental Repeat Pony Error. It was quite cute really. Hence her nickname quickly became Derpy.

“Wait a minute, Error doesn't have a Y in it.”

“Well no but it was a bit of an in-joke because in her younger days that sweet little thing was a bit clumsy. At least until she met the pony with the hourglass cutie mark, I never did get his name. Doctor Something I think?”

“Did you seriously flirt with just about every mare everywhere?”

Pouting, Vinyl replied “No of course not, just the pretty ones. And besides between Spitfire and Octavia, they wouldn't let me get away with it... I miss Octavia, I haven't spoken to her since she got blacklisted, I don't suppose you know what happened to her?”

“No, I'm sorry Vinyl, the family lost touch with her the same time you did.”

“Oh well” Vinyl wiped some tears from her eyes. “I guess we'd better make our first show a good one in tribute to her and all the other good ponies we lost. Now I know there aren't many people out there now but let's see if we can't try and reach them anyway?”

Wiping her own tears away the younger unicorn nodded her head in reply but said. “OUR first show?”

“Of course, I may not need a co-host but I still need my trusty mini Octavia assistant to help me, and besides someone will need to stand in for me one day. Those teleportation jumps really take the wind out of you and I'm not getting any younger.”

Vinyl finally found the broadcast switch.

“GOOOD MOOORNING EQUESTRIA! This is the devious DJ Pon3 herself broadcasting from my eye in the sky here in Tenpony Tower. First the latest news and then on to some tunes...”

10 minutes later she finally switched off the live broadcast with the music playing in the background. It seemed like half people in the wasteland who had any kind of radio device had been listening in from the monitors as the broadcast had cut across most of the static. Even the Steel Ranger looked like he'd been able to tune in and thanks to the advice on the habitable places still remaining he was trotting on his way towards the nearest safe Steel Rangers camp, those tough buggers.

Vinyl gave a yarn and wrapped an arm around the filly's shoulders. “Now let's go find that bed, and if you're lucky I might tell you about a few of the stories about when I used to make out with your aunt Octy.”

“Eew, I'm too young for that!”

“I'll be the judge of what you're too young for little miss!”

Author's Note

This is my first attempt at a MLP Fallout fic, i don't expect that it's brilliant writting but feedback is welcome. There are a few "inconsistancys" between my story and FE and FE:PH which i'm basing this on. I hope to address these in later chapters asuming this gets through moderation.

To the moderator, My fic does not currently have a central character as i am currently trying to tell lots of smaller stories in the grander scheme in the early chapters building up to maybe having a central character later.