Fallout: Equestria - An Equal Experiment

Banded by Equality by our cutie mark!

The Balefire Bombs wrecked havoc across Equestria. Nopony expected them, leaving hardly any time for residents to escape to their assigned stable before they were locked shut by their respective overmares. Evacuating the small equal community was, by comparison, simple. Everypony entered in an orderly single-file line once the flash of necrotic energy came over the horizon from the detonation at Tenpony Tower, no filly or foal left behind once Starlight shut the doors. Stable 11 was successfully sealed, and the experiment could continue.

By the second month underground, racial tensions brewed heavily amongst the population. Unicorns were blamed for creating the megaspells which stuck them here, pegasi blamed for closing off the clouds, and Earth ponies blamed for inventing such devastating weaponry which enabled the war. Starlight, seeing the discord forming in the group, established a new law: Any instances of flight and magic were outlawed, bar the unmarking ceremony performed by the overmare. "We cannot have true equality," she explained, "without making sacrifices."

From there, the community thrived. The rules around flight and magic gradually softened to permit basic flight and levitating objects after an Earth Pony stallion mentioned to Starlight that they still retained the gift of growing food, and others shouldn't be put at such a disadvantage. After thirty years of living peacefully underground, the overmare calls over the speakers that it's time to return to the village. Many are skeptical, petrified of the post-war world outside the stable, while others are overjoyed to see the outside world for the first time.

Everypony in the vault- several hundred if not nearing a thousand- gather near the immense door as the mechanisms whir and creak to life, slowly revealing the blinding daylight of the necromantic wasteland. A pegasus mare- Lockpick- is the first to step onto the soil and behold what had become of their quaint mountain town. After a few moments, the ponies waiting with baited breath, she turns with an immense smile and whinnies into the air. "It's still here! Everything is still here!"

The first thing the newly-returning settlers do upon setting hoof on the soil is to return to their family homes and scavenge. Heirlooms, photographs, anything that can remind them of the original stable dwellers who had passed over those thirty years. The second thing, as issued by their former overmare, is to erect defenses.

"Though the war between the Zebralands and Equestria may be over," she says with a powerful confidence, "the land is lawless. Those who do not understand our ways of peace will take advantage of it, destroy our homes and our way of life! We cannot leave ourselves open to such abuse. Our walls shall welcome and comfort those who understand and wish to join our utopia and repel those who wish to do us harm. The Republic of Our Town must stand as a beacon to the lost and afraid!"

And so, construction begins. Materials are dug out of the nearby mountains surrounding the village, allowing for a quartz wall at least a hundred feet high with brass railings to discourage any climbers. At the corners of the settlement stand two watch towers build from the old homes, one stallion manning each station to keep an eye out for any airborne assaults. The village boasts no outward defenses save for these structures, the immense steel door relocated from the stable to keep out unwanted visitors.

As supplies run low, a group of three ponies- two unicorns and an Earth pony- are given a mission to find any remaining settlements willing to trade their crops for metal and stone. A trade route is established between the Republic and the settlers of Fetlock, assuring a steady stream of supplies and the occasional newcomer to the village, the first being a stallion by the name of Cinnamon Roll.

Despite the defenses, rumors of life behind the walls of the Republic brew a general fear and unease in the population, many looking to the sky for any signs of an Enclave invasion or similar attacks. Propaganda increases tenfold to assure that, should they remain within the walls of the Republic, they will be safe. "Our utopia has survived a devastating war, one which brewed from deep-seeded envy and hatred for their different views. Out there, you are different. Here, we are all the same, we are all one. The Republic has all you will ever need, there is safety in sameness!"