Barren Equestria

**Prologue:

Beginning of the End**

During the decades after Discord’s defeat by the Elements of Harmony Equestria had begun to advance technologically. Oil had been found by miners searching for gold in the mountains, and had soon had been discovered to be a new fuel source. Earth pony engineers went to work discovering new uses for the new found resource.

Soon carts and wagons pulled by ponies had been replaced by automobiles powered by fuel engines. Oil could be used in anything from heating to lighting. More and more once manual tasks had been replaced by machinery and Equestria’s economy was booming and small towns like Ponyville had become hubs of trade growing bigger by the day.

Not only did Equestria’s technology improve but so did its society and government. Now instead of just being ruled by the Alicorn sisters Celestia and Luna There was the Equestrian Council as well.  The sisters were still important figures in Equestria but had little say in its government matters.

As for the Ponies living in Equestria life had never been better. Hard tasks were now mere flips of a switch and there was more time for recreational activities. With so many factories and machinery being built everyone had a job to support them and their families.

As decades passed more and more oil was needed to power ever advancing technology. The Equestrians began to search far and wide for more of the new fuel they had become so dependent on.

Eventually it was discovered that Equestria’s neighbors the Griffons had discovered oil as well and had technology similar to Equestria’s. The Equestrian Council decided to send a small group of Pegasi scouts to spy on the advancement of the Griffons. When they returned a few weeks later they in informed the Council that the Griffon lands appeared to have far more oil than Equestria did.

The Council came to the conclusion that it would be in Equestria’s best interests to purchase land from the Griffons. Eventually when a deal was struck the amount bought was disappointing to the Equestrian Council. If the Equestrians were to continue using oil as power they would need more. They began devising a plan to invade from the sky, land and water in a massive assault and take as much of the Griffon land as possible.

While Equestria trained and equipped its soldiers the environment was fighting a battle of its own. The Ponies greedy usage of oil had begun to have an adverse effect on the land slightly increasing temperatures and making it harder for some plants to grow thus making it harder for herbivorous animals to get food and begin to grow weaker.

Equestria’s top engineers devised an array of deadly weaponry for the coming war. Guns, devastating weapons witch fired metal at high speeds piercing armor and killing or grievously wounding enemies. Grenades, metal casings filled with gun powder that when lit and thrown explode causing massive damage to anything within a small area and throwing shards of metal to wound and kill even more. They designed flying machines to carry non Pegasi and drop them by parachute into enemy territory. They created these and many more all for one purpose to destroy the griffons.

After months of preparation the day of invasion had come. Equestria’s military once consisting of a few thousand royal guards was now hundreds of thousands of trained soldiers armed with the best weapons Equestrian engineers could think up.

When hundreds of ships and flying machines were seen converging upon their cities the Griffons were anything but prepared. Citizens ran in panic as armed ponies exchanged shots with Griffon guards. Fierce bloody melees broke out in the cramped alleys, buildings and streets of cities across the coast of the Griffon kingdom.

The unprepared Griffons fought bravely but were outnumbered and outgunned by the Equestrian military. Most of the Guards were captured or wounded and some even both. In places the Griffons had small victories and even managed to hold a few of the coastal cities but overall lost the day.

Many of Equestria`s soldiers had never fought in anything more than a skirmish with fellow recruits and practice weapons until that day and had definitely never seen such violent death and fighting. This was a jarring experience for all those who signed up even those who had seen fighting before. Many pondered why all this had to be done but continued fighting anyway.

With the war raging on Equestria was using oil at an all-time high. This began to have a worsening effect on the environment causing slowly increasing temperatures and more types of plants to become rarer and eventually disappear altogether. This in turn caused animals to starve and die.

Equestria`s advance into the Griffon kingdom was beginning to slow as the Griffons began a more organized defence. The surprise from the initial attack had worn off and now the Equestrians had to fight enemies that were ready for them and angry at the loss of comrades and family. Squadrons of Pegasi began to drop larger versions of the grenades called bombs onto the Griffon fortifications to soften them up before the initial assaults making it easier for the ground troops.

As the war dragged on and on, year after year, Equestria`s condition worsened the heat had begun to increase exponentially and water began to dry up making it harder to grow crops and tend sick and wounded Ponies. It rained less and with less force, summers were long and hot and winter came late and ended early. Winter wrap up was a dying holiday as winter seemed not to snow much anyway.

The war was entering its third decade and the Griffons were ready to give up. They had fought valiantly against the seemingly unprovoked pony assault but they had neither the resources nor bodies to keep fighting. In the closing months of the nineteenth year of war the Griffons surrendered to the Ponies.

Finally the war was over and the Equestrian Council was content. No matter how many Ponies and Griffons were killed or hurt they didn’t care, all they cared about was the bits they were making off the new oil coming in to the country. They had destroyed a nation and damaged their own all for money and personal gain.

In the following years the veterans of the war never recovered. They had fought the bloodiest conflict in all Equestrian history and won. They had parades and parties and won medals but nothing could wash away the horrors that they had seen. The thing they saw and did changed them drastically.

The increasing heat eventually made winter disappear completely meaning every year was an endless summer hotter than any had ever been before. Ponies that were very old or young began to succumb to the year round heat. Water had become the main concern. It was evaporating fast and there was not enough for agriculture, bathing and drinking. Life was hell and if you died you were lucky.

Princess Celestia fell ill with an unknown disease witch killed her soon after leaving her younger sister Luna as the sole Princess. With Celestia gone the country was in anarchy. Some Ponies believed this was Discord`s revenge on Ponykind for imprisoning him once again but all knew that there were tough times ahead.

In a mere two more decades things went from hell to mega hell. Water was rarer than a needle in a hay stack. Ponies began to steal it from each other killing for even a small glass. More and more died every day from the heat, thirst and starvation. The council had disbanded and Luna had disappeared leaving no one in charge. All of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony had died except for Twilight Sparkle whose now matured dragon assistant Spike had taken her away from the chaos to his home high in the mountains.

Despite the once beautiful Equestria now being a barren wasteland and many of its inhabitants being bloodthirsty bandits some Ponies did maintain a glimmer of civilization. They built towns and villages re purposed oil machines to find water and more. These survivors managed to keep Equestria alive. This is the story of one of these Ponies surviving in these scorched lands.