Fallout Equestria: The Long Road Ahead

The Long Road Ahead

War Never Changes. That phrase has been around since the second great war, the worst that ponykind ever knew. At least the worst before the war that destroyed everything.  Ponies and Zebras had always maintained a peaceful relationship; Zebras traded their coal for our gemstones. The ponies used the coal to fuel their machines, and Zebras (being incapable of magic) relied on the power contained in the gems to make their charms, talismans, and curses work properly. But like anything good thing, it couldn’t last. The zebra’s coal supply began to dwindle. Ponies were capable of growing more gemstones through magic on rock farms, and the Zebras were left to dig the coal from the earth. Since the gemstones could be remade, the Zebras decided that the Ponies should give them away for far less than they were actually worth. They were turned down for renegotiation again and again, until finally the Zebras threatened war if the renegotiation didn’t happen. It didn’t.

Princess Celestia refused to allow the Zebra nation to demand anything of her, and Equestria was weaponized. Entire new companies were built to produce the engines of death that ponykind had never seen before. They fitted their gemstones into weapons that emitted pure energy, and would disintegrate whatever it hit on occasion. Far more common were simple ballistic weapons: A small piece of metal propelled at massive speed. By the end of things, you could find IronShod Firearm vending machines on every last street corner, even more common than the Sparkle~Cola machines that you can still find littering the ruins of the old world.

During the buildup to full-blown war, Princess Luna was given her own school for gifted unicorns on Crescent Moon Ridge. It was given the best of defenses, because the ridge sits right where the Equestrian border met the Zebra border. All went well at first, but the unthinkable happened. A caravan of Zebra women and children refugees passed through the area one day, attempting to avoid the war. They were hailed, but they didn’t speak Equestrian, so they had no means to respond to the signal. The headmistress attempted to protect her students by activating the defenses and attacking the caravan. By the time she realized her mistake, the Zebra assassins guarding the caravan were already in the school, killing everypony that they could find in vengeance.

Celestia blamed herself for that, and abdicated her throne to Luna, her younger sister. Luna took the six most revered mares in all Equestria and gave them their own ministry to help her with the war effort. Twilight Sparkle led the Ministry of Magic, and researched all magic and magical devices that she possibly could. Rarity led the Ministry of Image, which was dedicated to propaganda and the like. AppleJack headed the Ministry of Wartime Technology, developing new weapons and armor to keep the soldiers safe. Rainbow Dash was given the Ministry of Awesome, which only ever did one notable thing: The Single Pegasus Project. Pinkie Pie led the Ministry of Morale, which kept the ponies in fighting spirit as best she could. But hers served a darker purpose as well; They hunted down traitors to the Equestrian war machine. One such traitorous group was 4 Stars Transit line. They allowed Zebras to bring a Balefire Bomb into Manehattan and detonate it.

Fluttershy’s  Ministry may have the saddest story of the six. Fluttershy led her Ministry of Healing to heal the sick and wounded on and off the battlefield, but had a secret project in the works with the Ministry of Magic. She was creating a way to heal every last living thing on the battlefield, regardless of how near it was to death. She created an intricate underlying framework that a spell was cast upon, which amplified its power several thousand times. She called it the Megaspell. She intended it to only be used for healing magics, and never once thought that it could mean the end of civilization. In her desperation to stop the bloodshed, she gave the Megaspell to both sides, hoping that if each side had the power to end a battle with no losses, there would be no reason to fight any longer. But by this time, both the Ponies of Equestria and the Zebra tribes had become jaded and greedy. They turned this wonderful creation into a weapon. When they were used, the entire world ended in a flash of Balefire and pure magical energy.

Then came the Enclave. The pegasi had been Equestria’s fighting elite when the Zebras began using dragons, so it makes sense that Cloudsdayle was the first place to be hit by the Balefire bombs. When it happened, the entire sprawling city disappeared in an enormous pillar of green fire. The pegasi, who were also responsible for the weather of Equestria, locked the cloud makers in full production, and cut themselves off from the rest of the world, vowing to return someday. They set up their own government, and kept to themselves for over 200 years. But then they kept their promise. When the Goddess and Red Eye conspired to take over the wasteland, the Enclave returned, but they intended to save nopony. Their first action upon returning was to destroy the Canterlot Ruins that had been tainted with the Pink Cloud, which was the most wicked megaspell the Zebras had been able to devise. It seemed tame enough, being just a pink mist, but everything it touched died, and was melted into the landscape. It even possessed the power to kill the once-thought immortal princesses. The Enclave slaughtered any that stood between them and total control, and they were only stopped when a brave little unicorn mare named LittlePip took control of the SPP and destroyed the cloud cover.

It’s been years since LittlePip’s passing. The enclave is all but gone, and civilization is being rebuilt by the day. But it’s not enough for some ponies. The NLR, the New Lunar Republic, have been trying to take control of the new civilization to take it back to the ways of Old Equestria. But they aren’t the sole power in this world, not by a long shot. Xenon’s Legion, a band of Zebra Slaver Tribals are the greatest threat the wasteland could ever know. Xenon wants nothing more than to destroy the last of pony civilization, and bring them to heel as his slaves. Xenon was able to overcome Mr. House and the NLR at the battle of Hoof Dam, and took over New Pegasus, slaughtering thousands in the process. Nopony knows for sure what his next target is, or if the NLR will be able to hold him back this time, but there is one thing that everypony knows for sure.

War Never Changes.