Fallout Equestria: Fireflies and Ire

War.

War never changes.

In the time of antiquity, the gryphons waged war against the fledgling Equestrian territories; wielding their economic and militaristic might against the largely pacifist equine tribes. Lusting for gold and territory.

In response, Celestia, princess of Unicornia, declared war in return. Uniting the battered territories of Earth Ponies, Canterlot Unicorns, and Pegasi into the single unified nation of Equestria. Under this new banner, the gryphons were forced back into their homelands.

Beneath the might of the Equestrian army, Gryphonia’s pine forests were destroyed, their golden cities razed to the ground, the precious-metal mines that shaped their entire economy were annexed, and Gryphonstone, the last remaining gryphon territory, was left in destitution as Celestia marched her armies home into a century of peace and prosperity.

But war never changes.

In modern-day Equestria, war was fought over resources. A globally unsustainable economy built on coal began to collapse as tensions rose between Equestria and the Zebra nation. Leading the Equines to develop alternative energy sources such as gasoline, diesel, electricity, plastics, and nuclear fission.

War was also fought in the factories. Rapidly increasing tensions between both nations sparked an Equestrian industrial revolution, which in a few short years introduced guns, computer terminals, automated carriages and vehicles, stealthbucks and mechanized suits of armor into Equestrian society.

War was even fought with words. After a massacre at Luna’s Academy for young unicorns, Celestia abdicated her thrown, leaving control of Equestria to her sister, Princess Luna. Shortly after, six ministries were created. Tasked with assisting the war effort and protecting Equestria, yet they did little more than to further divide the already splintering society with unbridled nationalism, protectionism, and propaganda.

And finally, for two brief hours, war was fought with balefire bombs. Necromantic megaspells that rained devastation from the sky, reducing most of Equestria to embers and ash. The land was violently reshaped. The cities were drowned in oceans of nuclear fire and radiation. Equine-kind was almost completely extinguished.

Few ponies were able to reach the safety of their survival shelters or the large underground stables before the bombs went off. In Fillydelphia, a lone mare, a simple electronic repair pony, leapt into the shelter of her Stable as the world outside erupted in hellfire, but when the giant steel door of Stable 54 re-opened, she emerged into the nuclear wasteland to find that:

War never changes.