The Fatal Wound

All is fair and love and war.  Nothing can be more true can it… No blow is too low, no shot is to cheap to be taken by some country, somepony will do it if they become desperate enough.  That is why we are where we are today, because somepony with enough power decided that we had a wrong way of life.

Our life is in shambles.  We, once prosperous ponies with great lives ahead of us, are now forced to scavenge for what little food there is.  We, once equal and happy, now are killed because they are a different race.  Most of all, we, once ignorant and proud, have all been shown our own mortality, we have been shown things that should only exist as words on a page.

A lot has changed since when Celestia ruled until the Great Disaster, the first being Celestia herself creating a new form of government taking from her own power.  She came up with it after an assassination attempt, famously quoting “If somepony has tried to kill me, then I’m obviously not making everypony happy, he must have wanted some sort of change to try and kill me”

She stepped down from her position, creating six branches, each covering a part of a government.  Each branch had another that would contradict its ideas, allowing balance to be achieved.  She needed somepony to be fair and incorruptible, so she picked the six mares that she trusted the most, the Elements of Harmony.

Twilight, with her unquenchable thirst for knowledge, would lead the “Magic, Science and Technology” branch.  Applejack, originating as an honest farmer who cares and knows about the environment, would lead the “Nourishment and Environmental Welfare” branch.  These two would constantly contradict each other about the balance of technology.

Rainbow Dash, with her immeasurable courage and loyalty, was crowned leader of the “War, Combat, and Weapons branch”.  While Fluttershy, who had only recently learned to fight for her beliefs, was put in charge of the “Peace, Trade, and Harmony”, which would take care of all non war related foreign matters.  These two possibly had the most heated debates of all the branches, decided weather or not a country should be destroyed or not.

The last two possibly had the strangest balance of all.  Pinkie Pie, with her natural bouncy nature and will to give everypony everything they can possibly own, was put in charge of “Recourse Development and Acquirement” which gathered the resources from within Equestria and piled them together.  This is where Rarities branch took over, as she took charge of “Recourse Distribution and Regulation” her fair ways and experience in running a business made her perfect for this part.  She was in charge of taking the resources and giving them out to different areas, deciding who needed more material at the time.  These mares became forever known as “The Counsel of Six”

Celestia and her sister Luna, stepped down from their seat of total power, becoming “Overseer’s” which had almost no power, acting only as advisors which kept the balance from tipping between the six, or helping one when she needed encouragement, or keeping another from acting without another’s consent.  Celestia continued to teach Luna everything she needed to know, but it was all so much, and Luna was still young at heart.  It took time to teach her the ways or being a leader, but time was bountiful, Equestria was the greatest continent the world had ever known, with only a few to even think of rivaling it’s greatness.

This time was referred to as the “Great Climax”.  During this time, Equestria had developed amazing forms of technology, holographic computers the size of a watch, super computers that could fit inside your pocket, and even simple, inexpensive machines that could give you a five minute anti-gravity experience in a simple room.  However, possibly the greatest technological achievement, completed by non-other than Twilight herself, was nano-technology.  Machines that could be injected in with a simple syringe, fix a major injury is less than thirty seconds, then die off before dissolving harmlessly into the bloodstream.  This created huge advances in medicine, granting the mortality rate to new heights of 120 years.

Applejack made sure that our food supplies were abundant, even if a disaster struck, using the eastern lands filled with rich, fertile soil for planting the majority of the crops, which yielded spectacular results.  At no time did anypony go hungry, even during times where food supplies were cut off, there was enough backup food to feed any area in trouble for weeks.

Nopony would dare challenge Equestria in direct battle, as newest military weaponry granted a supreme force in battle.  Guns that could fire beams of light that could penetrate flesh and bone with ease.  Armor that could deflect the most powerful blows from other armies feeble weapons.  While some countries were still sharpening swords and axes, we fired upon them with advanced weaponry.  Although this doesn’t mean we obliterated everything in our path, our country was built on the foundations of love and tolerance, and that didn’t change with a power shift.  If an ally needed any sort of assistance, all they had to do was ask and they would almost have to turn down some of the help.  The government would send military, and recourse support on a scale that could never be matched to other countries.  Although it could do nothing to compare to the voluntary work sent from the countries in general.

Volunteer work was valued extremely high in Equine culture, you were rewarded with honor for nothing but helping a friend get off his feet, and a government medal for volunteering outside of the borders.  Speaking of Equine culture, it was some of the most sophisticated in all the world.  Houses that would do everything for you, robots that could answer the door, play a game of cards, and clean your toilet, sometimes all at the same time.  Although this did nothing to isolate ponies, friendship, happiness, and general prosperity flowed through the land like a virus.

Then tradgedy struck.

In broad daylight, while Celestia sat on her throne with at least a dozen guards around her, a single stallion burst through the door, and slayed everypony in the room except two.  A single guard who lay pinned to the floor with a single, iron sword in his side, and the princess herself.  The guard described everything in vivid detail.  Describing the pony who had killed everypony as an earth pony with jet black fur and a pure white mane.  When he turned to face him he realized that he had one eye that had no iris, just a pupil, and one that was pure white.

He faced the princess and drew a gun to her head.  Looking at her right in the eyes.

“Before you pull the trigger” Celestia had asked “I beg the question… why?”

“I do this because I can” Said the stallion with an evil grin “You’re a challenge, and I relish a challenge”  Then he pulled the trigger, painting the royal throne with blood.  Then the stallion turned to the last living guard, giving a sickening smile.

“Tell this story to somepony else…” said the stallion, his one pupil quivering slightly. “I want somepony to know of my achievments…”

Then he jumped out the window, down the deep cliff below.  The guard, after telling his story to the doctor treating his injury and insisting that he wrote it down fell asleep and didn’t wake up the next morning.

Luna was forced upon the throne, with nopony else could step up.  She tried her best, but her inexperience would quickly lead to the downfall of the country.  Without an experienced leader guiding them, the Counsel soon became just as ignorant.  Luna was a fair ruler, and as pure of heart as Celestia herself, she just couldn’t know the consequences of her mind set.

With great power, comes ignorance as well, under Luna the nation grew unmindful of the threats that remained dormant; threats that were advancing as we were, as they patiently gathered their forces.  On the faithful date of August 14th, 2026, the changelings and griffons launched a combined attack against Equestria, taking a quarter of our eastern territory before the army could even arrive.

Even then, the army was surprised to find that instead of being the easy victory every battle had been before, they were greeted with laser fire that should only be on their side of the lines.  The lasers passed through  their armor that was supposed to be impenetrable.  The slaughter that ensued will forever be remembered for how many good ponies gave their lives.

However, after that we became prepared, the country had expelled it’s element of surprise and the odds have been evened.  The Counsel assembled and decided on a course of action, with the six they managed to prepare their troops for war and brief them on the new dangers they faced.  We had managed to stop them from expanding, but we couldn’t take the territory back.  Suddenly, our once prosperous citizens were placed on rations to try and save the little food we had.  We were sent into a state that we hadn’t seen in over a hundred years, blackout curtains were distributed, training on what to do if the town was attacked.

The Counsel of Six sat together every day and debated on what to do, things were going well at first, each debate calm and orderly, each mare giving the other a chance to speak.  Unfortunately, as with all living things, the tension began to get to them.  They stopped letting their grudges go at the end of the debate and slowly began to drift from each other.  The debates quickly turned into arguments that would sometimes drift far from the topic at hand.  They were getting nowhere, and the food was quickly running out.

Finally, the day came where they had to make a decision, or the country would run out of food and starve.  They were desperate, and therefore, “Plan XXX” was born, I remember the conversation like it happened yesterday… it all started with Twilight opening the meeting…

“Alright girls… we need a gameplan…” started Twilight.

“No… really I haven’t noticed!” retaliated Rainbow viciously

“You know Rainbow, calm down, it’s too early to start throwin’ insults” Started Applejack “Our food supplies are at its minimum, tonight there will be no rations, and I expect tomorrow we’ll have an attack, and our troops will be to malnourished to defend themselves…”

“Well maybe if you didn’t decide to put all our farms to the east, then we wouldn’t have this problem!” Accused Rainbow.

“You can’t just plant crops anywhere!  The east was the best place to plant them, and it yielded our best harvests while still allowing room for cities, so shut yer trap!”

“Girls, there is no need to resort to such cruelty towards one another.” Rarity said.

“Rarity’s right, I think you should all calm down, your being super mean to eachother.” Said Pinkie, her mane deflated slightly.

“Yes, they’re both right, we need to focus on what the real enemy is” suggested Twilight.

“Yeah!  Why haven’t they been eradicated yet Rainbow!” shouted Applejack.

“Because Flutters over here is forcing me to wait!” shouted Rainbow gesturing towards the shy pegasus.

“Well you know… fighting against them hasn’t been working so I thought we could…” Fluttershy said quietly.

“It hasn’t been working because you won’t let me go on a full-fledged attack!” Shouted Rainbow.

“Well they do have an overwhelming force…”

“Well what other options do we have!” argued Rainbow.

“A lot Rainbow, negotiation is still an option, we don’t know what they want.” Rarity jumped in defending Fluttershy.

“It’s obvious what they want!” Shouted Rainbow, standing up “Both the Changelings and Griffons vowed to kill us at their first opportunity, they won’t stop, and if we don’t do something now then we will perish, why waste precious hours trying to communicate.”

“She does have a point…” Applejack agreed.

“What POINT, it’s barbaric and terrible!” shouted Rarity, standing to match Rainbow.

“Alright, let’s take a vote to try and find out where we all stand, we can decide from there.” Suggested Rainbow.  The other five nodded and grumbled in agreement.

“Fair enough, it should be anonymous though” Said Twilight ripping a sheet of paper into six pieces and distributing them. “Alright… take your vote”

The six mares filled out their sheet and passed it to the center, when all six had written down their vote.  Twilight picked them up and started to read them.

“One vote for peace, one vote for war… two votes for peace, two votes for war… three votes for war…  four for war…”

“I cannot believe this!” Shouted Rarity “You all want to fight against an enemy that would cost us thousands of lives that could be easily avoided if we would just talk with them.”

“There is no way to contact them!  We’ve tried!” shouted Rainbow

“How hard!  How many resources are put into this!”

“Enough so that if they wanted to reply, they would have.”

“I’ve had enough of this nonsense!  At least Fluttershy agrees with me.” Said Rarity looking at Fluttershy.

“Well…” started Fluttershy “My vote was more of an undecided… if what Rainbow said was true, then we need to end this war, if you can come up with a plan that would allow minimal casualties on our side, I’ll change my vote…”

“Fluttershy!” Shouted Rarity with disgust.

“Give me ten minutes and I can come up with one.” Said Rainbow.

“I have one already…” Said Pinkie quietly.

“Pinkie…” Started Twilight “You don’t mean…”

“Yes… the DB…”

“What are you ponies talking about!” Shouted Rainbow.

“Well… in the mines, a couple workers discovered a new mineral… unfortunately he could never take care of it, as it immediately reacted with the moister of sweat on his hands” Explained Twilight “We have a very small sample of it… we… we made it into a weapon, a bomb that could be carried and dropped by two pegasi, it took years of careful study and so many good scientist succumbing to the element, but we had managed to maximize its effects, so theoretically, could destroy a whole country… killing everypony who comes into contact with it instantaneously.”

“Why didn’t ya tell us about this before!” Shouted Applejack “I thought we agreed to keep no secrets!”

“It doesn’t matter now.” Said Rainbow “We can destroy them and retake our food supplies.”

“But what if…”

“Shut it Rarity!” Shouted Rainbow “Do you have a better idea!”

“Well I…” Started Rarity “I… I… no, I guess I don’t, but this is…”

“What is it?  Rash?  Irrational?  Well we have no other option… were on our last legs as it is!”

“Well…” Started Rarity “I guess you do have a point…”

“I guess we should take another vote…” Said Twilight.

The slips were passed out and then brought back.

“Alright… one, two, three, four, five… all six of us voted to launch this… I guess we have no other choice.”

“What’s the worst that can happen!” said Rainbow looking visibly more relaxed.

Much worse happened, and much worse probably will happen.

They hooked up the bomb to two pegasi and had them fly over enemy territory.  They knew what would happen, and they knew that they weren’t coming out alive, but they did it anyway, taking it upon themselves to sacrifice their lives to save their country.

Unfortunately, things never work out the way they were supposed to.

Maybe it was the difference in the contents of water, maybe something interfered with the bomb in some way.  Either way the bomb didn’t work at all the way it was supposed to, instead of covering the area of taken Equestria, it spread throughout the entire continent, covering all of Equestria and most of the surrounding countries.

Most ponies were disintegrated instantly, their DNA evaporating, or change so radically that it was impossible to live.  Which was the intended affect.  Although for some reason, others managed to survive the whole ordeal, but not without cost.  Those who survived were never the same again, each depending on the amount of exposure they had, modified by their existing DNA.  Some mutated into creatures the size of houses with no actual intelligence, others changed into organisms half the size of an average dog, but extremely intelligent.  However, some managed to escape the whole thing, in simple containment facilities called Stables.

I was one of them, safely stored in Stable 13.  Back before Plan XXX, my family was extremely wealthy, my father the founder of one of the most prosperous companies in Equestria.  Counsel-Cola Co.  a soda company known for its strange abilities and energizing powers.  All six flavors were instant hits, making my father an instant billionaire.  I was destined to inherit his fortune, being an only child, I was an aspiring writer, intelligent, and with cunning to no end.  When I hit my 18th year, I joined the royal guard just as my father did.  After about six months of training, I was stationed as a peace-keeper, mostly placed with famous figures to make sure nothing got out of hand.

One day, on my 20th birthday, one of the regular guards stationed with the Counsel called in sick, forcing me to take his place at the meeting.  Disheartened, I unwillingly did so.  I had no idea how lucky I had been, or unlucky depending on your perspective.  I was standing guard while the Counsel discussed Plan XXX.  I knew that as guards, we were supposed to let everything we hear go through one ear and out the other, but I admire anypony who can stand for hours on end with absolutely nothing to do and still resist the temptation to listen in on conversations of famous ponies.

The moment I got home I presented the information to my parents, breaking the contract that I signed saying that I would never tell anypony.  After an hour long discussion, the three of us decided to get three tickets to these things called Stables, which had been built around the city after the invasions.  Funded by the government, they were built to be safe houses in case of another invasion.  We lived on the western border, about as far from the actual danger zone as you could get.  Still, our family was what you may call paranoid, but what I call careful.

I like to think I inherited my father’s ability to leave no detail unused, and to leave absolutely nothing to chance if it could be avoided.  We bought three tickets to the Stable and packed some supplies that could be easily movable.  Afterwards, we laughed at our paranoia, realizing that what we had prepared for was never going to happen, but I don’t think any of us slept to soundly that night.

We woke up to a loud banging on our door; I got up with my father as we went down to investigate.  We opened it to find a family guard in the usual golden armor.

“C-Cloud… does your family have a Stable ticket?”

“Yeah, me and my family all bought…” I said “What’s wrong Colt?”

“Good, tell your family to go to the Stable”

“What’s wrong?” I asked him

“Some kind of bomb has been dropped, far east of here” said Colt “We need to get these ponies to safety.

“What?”

“Now’s not the time to be shocked Cloud, we have to move!”

“G-gotcha…” I said terrified out of my fur as I rushed inside to get my armor “Dad!  Get mom and get out of here!”

“Don’t worry Cloud,” He said already grabbing the survival packs we had stored

“Good luck dad” I told him

“No son… your part of my family, and nopony in my family ever needs luck.” He said “In fact, luck is the only thing keeping us from being the king of the world.”

That was the last thing my father every said to me.  I will remember that forever, and I will live by it long after I forgot who said it.

My father and my mother rushed out the door just as I finished getting my armor on.

“Alright… let’s go.”

“Glad to know you’re on board.” He said giving me a pat on my shoulder “Let’s die hero’s”

“I can’t say I’m not terrified” I said reaching for my sword that had been passed down in my family, sometimes being used as a decoration and conversation starter, others, like in my case, as the weapon it was crafted to be.

“Well you know what they say” said Colton flashing me a small wink “The brave don’t live long but the cowards never live at all.”

“Let’s go be brave then” I said walking out the door and was almost immediately trampled by a group of ponies all looking for help.

“Please help!  I need you!  My child is sick! I’ve been robbed!” were all things that were screamed at me as I was grabbed and pulled.

“Please!  I can help but you have to let me go!” I tried to shout over the voices, they either didn’t hear me, or they just didn’t care.

I would have been trampled to death right there, if it hadn’t been for Colt plowing through the crowd and grabbing me.

“Thanks.” I told him after I could stand again

“No problem, now let’s get these ponies to safety.”

We stood there trying to do anything we could to help; shouting directions to the Stable, giving any medical support that we could, and stopped any looters from preying on the weak.

We seemed to be doing a good job, keeping as much order as we could with such a panic, and at least nopony was getting seriously hurt.

Then I saw it.  A huge green sphere, expanding at a fast pace, just slightly faster than a pony could gallop at full speed.

“Oh no…” I said as I felt a familiar sensation send a chill down my spine.  Fear, I was absolutely petrified.

“C-Colt… I…”

“You’re not leaving just yet” Said Colt giving me a stare “You still have a duty!”

The voice in my head that screamed over everything else soon started to quiet as I let my best friend’s courage flow into me.

“You know… I’m starting to wonder if your courage is a good or bad thing…” I said giving him a small smile.

“Probably a bad thing, but it has to be done” he said giving me a small smile.

Suddenly, I watched Colton fall to the ground and a huge pony above him drop down to collect the golden armor.

“Hey what are you…” I started to shout before I felt something hit the back of my head, knocking me to the floor as my vision started to fail.  The last thing I felt was my armor being ripped off of my body.

0)-----(0

I awoke with a start in a well lit room with plain walls that appeared to be made out of metal.  I felt some kind of mattress under me and some sort of bandage on my head.

“Don’t move…” I heard a female voice say from behind me.

“Hey!  I’m a guard, I’m trained in…”

“No I mean seriously don’t move, your wound will reopen.” Said the voice coming in front of me to reveal herself as a pegasus mare with a dark grey mane and a lighter grey coat.  Her friendly blue eyes not meeting mine as they examined the wound “I don’t know too much about this stuff, but right now it’s all you have…”

“Guh.” I gasped backing away as she tenderly prodded my head “Wh-who are you?  Where am I?”

“My name’s Water Lily” Said the mare now applying fresh bandages “You’re in Stable 14”

“But I…”

“I found you and your friend trying to help people, it’s not fair that you should die in the bomb…”

“Colt!” I said remembering my friend “Where is he?”

“Don’t worry, he’s already woken up.  He’s just going to go get you some water, he’s a very good friend.”

“Yeah… he is… thank Celestia he’s alright.” I said lying back down.

Lily soon became one of our best friends, and we lived in the vault together generally getting to know each other and keeping ourselves sane.  The Stable leader decided to open the Stable in five years as to wait until the weapon died down.  So we waited, working around the Stable, making sure that everything was under order and that none of the machinery broke.

However, after about three years, we heard a banging sound on the Stable entrance, we checked the video to find it a pony, dirty and terrified, always looking around him.  We let him in, giving him a disinfecting shower for safety and fed him as he told us his story.

His name was Big Macintosh, he had survived in a Stable, but it had been let out only six months after Plan XXX, he described how the land was fine, and only in some areas did the weapon still linger killing all who spent too much time in it.  However, those exposed became hideous mutants, not just ponies, but any living creature that came into contact with the weapon.  He claimed seeing giant insects that could easily tear a ponies head off, bears that grew three extra limbs, and even a pony with three heads.  He told us that almost all creatures affected by the weapon were hostile and that if they ever wanted to open the vault doors, they would have to be prepared to fight.

So, “Project Preparations” was born out of fear.  Our Stable was equipped with massive amounts of technology, including prototype nanobots.  These nanobots could be injected into the body, complete a task and then return to the injection point to be reused.

It was offered that whoever wanted to leave the Stable could get physical enhancements.  After discussing it thoroughly, the three of us decided that there was a decent possibility that with so many ponies of different backgrounds, ideas, and types, it was a very large possibility that it would collapse on itself.  So we went to the doctors.

“You three planning to leave?” asked the doctor

“Yeah… we think it would be better to take our chances outside” Lily said

“You’re not the only ones.” Said the doctor as he prepared to inject the nanobots “that’s not saying many want to go, safety in numbers I suppose.  You three stick together alright?”

“We will…” I said as I lied on the table “I guess I get to go first…”

I watched as the doctor prepared a syringe and filled with a cloudy blue liquid.  He walked over and placed it into my arm before injecting it.  The feeling afterwards can only be described as searing pain as the billions of nanobots worked their way through my body.  Tearing at muscle tissue, increasing the healing process so stronger muscle quickly replaces it before it is torn away again.  Meanwhile, my organs were quickly being upgraded, my lungs were able to take in more oxygen, my heart able to pump blood faster, increasing my physical stamina, while my stomach and intestines were improved to make me increasingly resistant to poison and allowing me to extract more nutrients from my food.  Lastly, it went on to my skin, making it thicker and more resistant to bruises and cuts.  Finally, after what felt like hours of being on fire, the pain started to wear off, and I watched as he extracted my blood, now cloudy with all the nanobots before he put it back into his machine to be cleaned.

“You ok Cloud?” asked Colt

“I… I’m very tired…”

“That’s normal” said the doctor, a good night’s sleep will fix that easily

“Guess it’s my turn then…” said Lily lying on the table as I got off.

She promptly went through the same process as me, it was painful watching a friend go through such agony, but I knew it was for the better.  Finally, she finished and got off the table, promptly sitting down on the table next to me.

“I… see what you meant…”

Colt got on the operating table and was injected, taking the pain much better than I did, but still shaking slightly at the burning pain, the doctor started to extract the nanobots.

However, the blood was clear, with nothing in it.  The doctor looked puzzled and ran the blood through a machine.  He frowned as he examined the screen.

“This… doesn’t make any sense… are you feeling any pain?”

“N-no…” said Colt “Should I be?”

“Yes you should be… the bot’s are still inside you for some reason…” he said turning to Colt.

“What will this do?” asked Colt

“Probably nothing” said the doctor “probably just a glitch with the bots or something, so they’ll just be floating around in your blood, it should have no side effects.”

“Great… I guess that’s it then… thank you doctor.” Colton said thanking the friendly stallion for his help.

“No problem, you ponies be careful out there.” Said the doctor as we left

Then for the next year we waited again, except this time, instead of sitting idly, we trained in combat, survival knowledge along with other things that would be helpful when out in the world outside.  Finally, the day came when we were to leave the vault.  We packed some gear, mostly food, along with any weapons we could.  Just three pistols and a couple boxes of ammunition for each.  We came to the Stable leader, who was saying goodbye to whoever left.  She was a dark grey mare with silvery white hair.

“I wish you luck adventures…” said the leader as she shook each of our hooves “you sure you want to leave?  We’re going to have a society here, were going to build a city from the ground up…”

“I’m sure…” I told her.

“So am I” agreed Lily

“As am I” said Colt

“Alright… remember, if you change your mind, the Stable door will always be open.”

“We’ll keep that in mind.” I told her “Were ready to go now…”

“Suite yourself…” Said the mayor as she walked over to a control panel “Make a good life for yourself, and may the odd’s be ever in your favor.”

She flipped a switch and the vault door creaked open, revealing a blinding light.

The only thing I could think of at the time, while I waited for my eyes to adjust to the light.  The only four words that crossed my mind, I will remember forever, as excepting our impending happiness, grief, riches, and poverty…

“Our adventure begins here…”