The Aftermath (A WarAU)

by Down-Pour

Rating: mature
Tags: Death, Twilight Sparkle, Sad, Applejack, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Tragedy, Violence, Pinkie Pie
Length: 2576

The mane 7 fought valiantly in the War for Equestria, but how did they fare?

This is a collection of chapters that tackle the subject of the War for Equestria, a war between pony kind and an unspecified enemy force. Each chapter follows the mane 7's experiences during this period and their lives following the war's dramatic conclusion. This au is my own (obviously this isn't the only warAU but this has no prior inspiration). Chapters are in alphabetical order of the characters, each can be read as a separate story if you're not interested in the others.

Published 2020-05-19 16:10:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-05-19 16:10:01 UTC

Fluttershy

The medic role had suited her well after she refused to command her animals to fight. She was a medic in 3 of the 16 battles of The Equestrian War. She would rush around the battlefield to provide all the aid she could. This haste to attend to the injured was her undoing. In the battle of Appleloosa, Fluttershy, without looking carefully enough at her surroundings, stepped on a magic trap laid by allied forces. She was instantly shocked to death by a powerful current of electricity, equivalent to 20,000 volts. Her body wasn’t discovered until after the fighting was over, this particular battle had been lost. It was Discord who found her. He was initially an ally to the war, but choosing to only disarm rather than kill the enemy soldiers, upon finding the charred Pegasus, Discord removed himself entirely from this reality, taking the body of Fluttershy with him. Her friends held out hope she was missing, or that she was hiding out somewhere, but the disappearance of Discord eventually let them come to accept the truth. Only one of them grieved. The rest had lost too much to the war to process their friend's death.

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie was an outspoken pacifist from the onset of the war. She was unwilling to participate in any way, even baking food for the soldiers. She defied her friends and ruler claiming she would never do anything to hurt anypony, let alone make them frown. She didn’t really understand the idea of war and from what she did know, she knew she wanted no part in it. This left her vulnerable to a different type of attack. It began with isolation and dirty looks. No one spoke to her or made eye contact, even those too old or sick to fight spat at her hooves. Her mane had now deflated and became straight from the lack of happiness in and around her. Then, a group known as the Markers were tipped off about her location. She was pinned down in the street by the gang and a white-hot brand was pushed deep into the flesh of her neck. She screeched in agony but all turned their backs on what was occurring in broad daylight.

She had to treat her own wounds as no nurses were available or willing to help. She bore the title ‘COWARD’ from around her neck, the red, puckered scar always looked inflamed and painful. Now, even if she left Ponyville, everyone would know of her objection. She slinked around the Ponyville streets, only the benevolence of those who knew her kept her alive as she moved from place to place. Each house she stayed at was defaced with graffiti or rotten food so Pinkie would soon have to find another kind soul to harbor her. Upon returning from battle, her friends found her in Fluttershy’s cottage. When the pink pony had asked where Fluttershy was, Rarity had flown off the handle and berated her for her cowardice and how dare she set hoof in Fluttershy’s home. Her friends said nothing to defend her. AppleJack spat at her like all the others had. Twilight just didn’t care. Rainbow Dash wasn’t even there or Starlight. She left the cottage in tears, totally alone in the world. She continued her existence of constantly moving from home to home, becoming a blight on each community she came upon. She became a bringer of misery, never of joy.

Rainbow Dash

Loyal to a fault, Rainbow Dash was a mighty warrior. She lead her own squadron of Pegasi in all the battles of the Equestrian War, only losing one soldier. Rainbow Dash was feared by the enemy, her squadron had learned a trick to shape their wings as to produce a whistle (which was nicknamed ‘wing whistling’) as they flew overhead, those smart enough to plant their faces to the dirt survived. It was her silent flights that kept all the enemy awake at night. Some teams would just be plucked from their sleeping areas never to be seen again, or lifted to an unearthly height, then dropped. Needless to say, Rainbow Dash was a natural-born soldier. She was ruthless, brave, and, as her element dictated, loyal.

But then the war was over. But to Rainbow Dash, it would never end. Her mind was now so attuned to life on the battlefield, that she would never mentally be free. She was whisked away by guards when she was found wing whistling over the Princesses temporary castle. Despite her pleas that she was only trying to defend the Princesses, Rainbow Dash was hospitalised and held in a psychiatric care facility for the rest of her days. It was the fear of the princesses that if the mental torment of an Equestrian war legend was uncovered, then fewer troops would wish to apply. Visits were prohibited to all except royalty, and Twilight never visited despite her perk. Rainbow Dash lived on in shame, fear and anger that she wasn’t fighting in a war she knew was ongoing beyond the walls of her room. After having her wings clipped she was permitted to walk in the gardens but Celestia put a stop to that in case she was seen.

Rarity

During the battle for Equestria, Rarity had shown herself to be an unrelenting force on the field. She was ready to selflessly put herself between any civilian and the peril they were facing. As such, she lost so much of what she was in the aftermath, personally and physically. Yes, she went back to making dresses but she never wore them with pride, her reflection made her grimace if she caught sight of herself in the puddles of Ponyville (she no longer kept mirrors in the boutique). While she wasn’t one to judge people’s appearances if they were happy, she couldn’t bring herself to accept her face. Her dresses had dropped in quality too, now she was relying on her hooves and sewing machine. She’d had to go through a lot of therapy to train herself to live a magic-free life, but she caught herself expecting cups to lift without the assistance of her mouth. Had she not fallen when she did, allowing her horn to be crushed underfoot by an unknowing ally, her life wouldn’t have been irreparably changed. She hated the pitiful looks she got from the older mares and young foals who hadn’t fought, who didn’t understand that she sacrificed so little compared to others. She was thankful their gossip went unheard.

The cochlea implant had brought her hearing back, but nothing could take away the memories of the silence. The blast at the castle gate had been too close. She was thankful she wasn’t vaporized like the twenty-something guards, including Shining Armor and part of AppleJack. The sound of the blast had completely destroyed her hearing, at the time leaving only a whiny ringing before the silence took over. Never the less, she’d continued to fight, terrified and screaming the whole time. She screamed as she had her horn was shattered, she screamed while the castle crumbled and the war was won as the enemy was crushed under its weight. She only stopped when she saw Sweetie Belle in the hospital a few days later, where her wheezing screech came to an end. She didn’t speak for a long time, content in her silence. The implant made it better, Rarity did eventually speak again, especially when she saw Pinkie in Fluttershy’s cottage, she positively roared at the sight. However, from then on, she avoided conversation as best she could.
She was happy most of the time, despite the traumatic life changes she’d faced, but her therapy could only do so much. The loss of her loved ones was worse than anything her body could take. She poured all her energy into her work, becoming a reclusive hermit, using Sweetie Belle to fetch her needed items. Ironically, her facelessness only increased her dresses value and notoriety. They became highly prized collectors items, rarely worn and mainly displayed. Sweetie didn’t tell her sister that.

Starlight Glimmer

From the wars start, Starlight had been devoted to her mentor, taking the role of Twilight’s assistant in organising and encouraging peace between the two sides. She, like Twilight, remained headstrong on a peaceful resolution even after Fluttershy’s death. But we all have a breaking point, and Starlight’s was during the 8th battle known as the Red Gorge massacre.

A thousand ponies were funneled into the tight passage where the enemy ambushed them, picking off hundreds in minutes. Many were killed by the stampede of panicked soldiers retreating. Those who fell were trampled or had their head dashed against the rocks, while others were squeezed so tight from the tightly packed herd, they asphyxiated. Starlight managed to use her magic to raise herself above the fray in time, but no matter what she or the Pegasus soldiers did to pull unicorns and earth ponies free, they were unsuccessful to free even one soul. One of those souls was Trixie Lulamoon who was one of those trampled. The callousness of the enemy's actions brought an end to Starlight’s peace regime.
Her signature attack was a sight to see. A beam, sometimes up to 20 meters long vaporised all in its path. Her turquoise death rays lit up the battlefield. She was thankful she hadn’t faced any physical injuries beyond scrapes, bruises and a broken rib but nothing lasting.

Twilights personality shift and the horror she had witnessed lead her back to where she started. Her former mentor's tyranny had to end, the world needed to be an equal place for all life. She found new followers, she repeated the spell to remove their cutie marks and even changed her hair. All Starlight wanted was to forget all that had occurred after she had met Twilight and her friends. She lived in hiding in the caves of her former village with her ever-growing colony, she knew if she was found, Twilight wouldn’t spare her former friend and understudy for her insolence.

Twilight Sparkle

Even after Fluttershy’s disappearance, Twilight tried her best to only disarm her opponent and rely on diplomacy to end the war. She organised hundreds of meetings between her and the enemy leader but even if the leader turned up they were unable to compromise. She was gradually worn down by the impasse. Her friends gradually turned against her as she refused to see their perspective, Twilight’s infallible optimism sickened them, they thought her intelligence would make her less naive. The 16th battle is when she changed her whole demeanor, the last battle at Canterlot was her undoing. The specific moment can be linked to the blast. Unknown to all was the origin of said explosion, those who had survived it had conflicting stories on its appearance, radius and destruction. What is known is no magical shield could’ve stopped it and it was the most likely catalyst for the collapse of the castle which had ultimately ended the war.
If you can’t tell already, the blast wasn’t an enemy attack, as believed by all.
Twilight was at the end of her tether. She’d lost all her friends to disloyalty or death, everything she’d tried to prevent further violence had been in vain. A beam of sunlight and a jet of the darkest black shot in opposite directions from the castle balcony. Twilight was informed by Shining Armor that the Princesses had fled, Celestia to the sun and Luna had willingly returned to the moon. As Cadence had abdicated as it was against her charge to fight, Twilight was now the Queen of Equestria. Twilight’s world shattered. She was abandoned by her two mentors, left to take the fall for a war that appeared at a stalemate. While processing this information, she was fighting off vicious attacks from all angles. Her brother did his best to defend her as she ingested the news that she was in charge, hoping it would push her to do something to give her forces the upper hand. And indeed, she did.

It wasn’t clear, even to her, if her magical blast of incomprehensible heat was intentional or a release of pressure and stress she couldn’t control. She never took credit for the blast which turned her brother and friend’s legs into a smear on the castle courtyard. She didn’t fight any further after the blast, it wasn’t necessary. Her army fought valiantly, so much so that even though they were outnumbered 1 to 10, it wasn’t clear who would’ve won had the castle not collapsed.

Upon the wars end, she was promptly crowned in a ceremony where none of her loved ones attended aside from the recently widowed Cadance. Twilight was not the mare she was before. She didn’t care for friendship now, seeing it as not a weakness or strength, but an unnecessary addition to one’s life. She was now totally indifferent to the lives of others. She developed some cruel tendencies such as hunting animals for sport (she enjoyed displaying her mounted trophies above her throne and study), restoring capital punishment and installing several puppet leaders to keep all to her liking. When the princess of the sun and the princess of the night returned, they were quickly manipulated into remaining subservient to their new Queen who threatened them with execution for their desertion during Equestria’s darkest hour. Her tyrannical reign would see no end within the lifetime of her former friends who she made no effort to contact or defend from the harsh ruling she’d imposed.

AppleJack

AppleJack

As expected, she was an incredible fighter. Her initial appointment was as an engineer but as the battle of Canterlot was at its height, it wasn’t hole digging and cannon preparation that they needed, it was more bodies to throw at the enemy. After being a mediocre engineer, AppleJack showed her true strength as she kicked enemy heads clean off their shoulders. AppleJack was a tank among glass vases. The only thing that stopped her was the blast. She was completely engrossed in bludgeoning an enemy with her two forehooves to get out of the way. The blast caught her back legs as she reared up for another skull-crushing stamp, taking her legs off clean from underneath her. She fell to the ground instantly. She was kept awake by the shock but spared the pain thanks to adrenaline. It was thanks to Rainbow Dash snatching her off the field and to a medical unit that AppleJack lived. She was only fighting for 15 minutes.

After the war was won, AppleJack became a spokespony for the Canterlot military, her story of heroism becoming exaggerated with each retelling to foals and fillies. While she was no doubt a great soldier, she had not continued to fight with no back legs as she went on to claim. It seemed her pride overtook her element. She inspired many to join the cause while she wallowed in guilt at her family farm with only her little sister to keep her company, a sister who couldn’t wait to fight like her idol. She wore prosthetic back legs for the rest of her life, springs and pistons allowed her to have an even more powerful kick than her old legs had had. She worked harder on the farm alone than all her family combined ever could’ve.