PROLOGUE: GREAT WAR
The group of six saw the words on the screen, waiting in anticipation. While there had been many wars in the past, only one such event had been given the title of “Great War”. It was a war where all the species of the world fought one another thousands of years ago during the Ancient Golden Era. Records, books, and tales told of the massive battles, destructive changes to the environment, and the heroes forged in those lands. Back then, different nations ruled, some completely wiped out and never seen again. It was a time before there was even an Equestria, and a time when the sun and moon moved on their own. That same great war was said to be the reason why they couldn’t move on their own today, requiring magic to ensure life could go on. What caused the war was lost to time as well as many other details.
If this “Great War” was as earth shattering as the one in their world, it was clear that the things they were going to learn were going to be a bit more serious than expected.
The screen began to show what looked to be an army of hairless minotaur like creatures in uniform, marching with strange sticks and flags. They stood on two legs, had two arms, and didn’t seem to have much hair except on their faces or heads. Gallus, Yona, and Smolder were a bit disappointed. Sure, they were taller than the average pony from their judgement, but they didn’t seem to strong or scary. Nothing about them really screamed “warriors” in their appearance. The others saw them as unique, a creature they had never seen before as they scaled what looked to be a building of some kind with a red flag in one of the creature’s upper limbs that looked like claws, but not as sharp. Ocellus was writing down as many notes as possible as she tried to keep her eyes on the screen and her paper at the same time.
The narrator talked about the aspect of change and how it came easily to the nations on this world. It talked about a place called Russia, ruled by Czars who met their downfall at the hands of revolutions. Another place was called Western Europe who fought against a group of “fascists” named “Reich” who tried to make an empire that would last for a thousand years, but it fell in less than ten.
Gallus snorted. “Ten years? And they aimed for a thousand? Losers.”
“Yakyakistan around far longer than loser reich fascists!” Yona proclaimed with pride.
“What is a fascist?” Sandbar asked, rubbing his head.
“And what’s a Czar of Russia?” Silverstream asked.
“Well, fascist or fascism is negative term applied to someone who holds absolute power in their kingdom,” Ocellus replied.
“What’s wrong with that?” Everyone asked. After all, they all came from lands that were ruled, or once ruled, by a single authority with absolute power.
“It’s kind of meant as an insult for bad rulers. Like King Sombra or Queen Crystals,” Ocellus replied, shrugging her shoulders. “As for Czar of Russia? I guess it’s another word for king or something with Russia being the kingdom. Of course maybe-”
“What the hay?!” Sandbar shouted as he stared at the screen. The others turned to face it and were just as surprised as they were.
“Is that… a pony?” Silverstream asked in disbelief. “And is that… creature riding him?”
The others stood in shock as they did indeed see what looked to be a pony, only around the princesses’ height, being ridden by a soldier. This one was in a different uniform and had a different facial structure compared to the Western Europeans. It reminded them of a student, named Tenzo, who had come from the nation of Neighpony.
“He’s got a saddle and spurs on him as well,” Gallus laughed as he punched Sandbar in the shoulder. “Guess you ponies really are submissive to these guys, huh? Where’s yours, Sandbar?”
“Shut up, Gallus,” replied Sandbar, rolling his eyes. “Still, I have to admit I didn’t imagine there would be ponies in this world.”
“Maybe we’ll see hippogriffs here as well!” Silverstream gasped. “That would be awesome.”
“Yaks! Yaks would be better!” replied Yona.
Smolder interrupted them by pointing to the strange machines behind the horse riding creature. “Are those tanks? Didn’t Professor Pinkie Pie ride a ‘party tank’ with her friend Cheese Sandwich one time?”
“Yeah, but those look cooler. Definitely made for battle,” Gallus pointed out with a nod of approval.
It turned out they were called “Japanese” who lived under what seemed to be eternal imperial rule, but their pride had been shattered by atomic fire. The word atomic entered everyone’s ears again as they listened in, wondering what atomic fire was. That’swhen they saw the ruins of a devastated city. “Woah, looks like a hurricane went through there,” Gallus replied.
“Or this atomic fire he mentioned,” Smolder suggested, rubbing her chin. There had been various types of fire created by dragons before but never an atomic one. If it could do something like this to a city, it would be a very powerful tool for her kind. She thought of the shocked faces of her fellow dragons with a smile if she could learn this and impress them.
Smolder ended her thoughts when a new army appeared, this time showing off what looked to be a parade with more soldiers wielding those strange sticks with pointy spears on top. What really shocked them was the moving box like carriages with black wheels and even bigger sticks on them. It was made of metal, and looked to move on its own without anyone or anything pushing or pulling it.
“H-how are they doing that? Magic?” Sandbar asked.
“Maybe… or they could be machines?” Ocellus theorized, rubbing her chin. “In fact, can these creatures do magic?”
“If not, how can they move those metal carriages?” Sandbar asked, but he was interrupted when another of those mushroom explosions happened. Thankfully, there was no large kaboom, but there was the narrator.
He went on to explain about the world’s greatest superpower nation, The United States of America. A name that Yona said was quite a handful to say. It turned out that what made them such a superpower was the fact that they had nuclear arsenals which apparently ended open warfare. A “cold war” was made between America and her enemies, allowing a status quo to go on for a hundred years of peace.
“Yeah, being frozen with fear from war on all sides sounds like great peace,” Gallus snorted.
“Actually, it kinda makes sense,” Ocellus replied as the others stared at her. “Well, let’s say Equestria and the Dragon Lands had powerful weapons that would have made war a stalemate each time? Wouldn’t it be pointless to go to war with each other?” The others nodded in understanding.
Horror soon struck them as they saw what looked to be… well, ruins was an understatement. The screen showed a city that one could imagine must have looked amazing before whatever catastrophe happened. It looked nearly obliterated, barley standing from whatever attack it suffered from. There didn’t seem to be any life around, and it wouldn’t be impossible to think there wasn’t any anymore.
“What did that?” Silverstream asked without her usual zeal of excitement. No, this was a question asked in terror and the others couldn’t help but feel the same.
It turned out that this was the Wasteland they had heard so much about. It looked even worse than the Dragon Lands worst areas, almost as if nothing lived, or could live, anymore. Apparently, this all happened two hundred years ago, according to the narrator, and what was once a rich nation of wealth and power was nothing but a crumbling version of itself now filled with deathclaws, super mutants, and ghouls.
“What’s a deathclaw?” Sandbar asked, feeling a shiver down his spine upon speaking the name.
“What’s a super mutant?” Gallus asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Ghouls as in zombies?!” Ocellus shouted, grabbing a nearby pillow and hiding underneath it. “I… I don’t like undead things…”
Silverstream patted her friend’s back and helped ease her out of her hiding place. “Hey, come on. I’m sure whatever these things are they don’t exist in our world, so we don’t have to worry about it.”
Ocellus nodded but kept shivering as she nervously wrote down what the screen was telling her. Unsurprisingly, people before the Wasteland didn’t have to fight for survival or scavenge supplies. The Pre-Wasteland era had factories that produced everything needed for them with currency to purchase them. Food. medicine, weapons, ammo, clothing and more. All for them to buy and use, with only one major problem of where to put it all.
They saw what looked to be a smaller version of the creatures they had seen, but younger looking. They quickly guessed it as a child version of the world’s inhabitants and watched as he held in his strange claws something big, long, and metal. The words “The Fat Man” appearing on the screen.
“Weird name,” Sandbar replied. “Although, the whole factories thing sounds like they made a lot of stuff.”
“Yeah, sounds like this race was always making things before this war ruined it all,” Silverstream said, frowning. “Imagine having to live for survival by salvaging just for a meal?”
“Eh, dragons do it all the time,” Smolder replied, liking this race more and more.
“And that’s worked out so well for you these past hundreds of years, right?” Gallus commented with a smirk.
The screen changed again, showing what looked to be a local hangout. More of those strange metal carriages were there as well although they were each in different designs. The creatures who owned them were busy hanging out, drinking something, or putting some cylinder like object connected to a tube into the carriage. Then it showed a grill, but what was on the grill made some of them either puke or lick their chops. It was meat, but what kind of meat they didn’t know. It had taken the non-meat eaters to get used to some of the dietary needs that Smolder and Gallus had for meals, but it still made them queasy each time.
“I guess we can rule these creatures as meat eaters,” Ocellus replied, writing it down with some hesitation.
“Hmm, I’m getting hungry. Anybody mind being a snack?” Gallus joked, earning him some glares. “Relax, I’m kidding.”
Of course, he wasn’t laughing when it was revealed what mankind ate. When it was revealed, all six of them were ready to puke.
“A COW?!” Sandbar shouted in disbelief. “Those are sentient beings! Why on earth would they eat them?! What kind of monsters are they?!”
“Yeah, I like meat and all too, but I wouldn’t eat anything sentient,” Gallus gagged. “That’s just barbaric.”
“Yona starting to not like strange creatures,” Yona frowned, crossing her hooves.
Their attention shifted to seeing another of the creatures, this time leaning against a red metal carriage that was called a car. It then shifted to what looked to be a fridge filled with the teens easily could easily recognize as soda bottles. It stopped on a large lounge area with a coffee machine, cups, and donuts as the narrator explained how much the Americans enjoyed their way of life. They were so secure that it would never change, or be challenged. Their minds turned back to the vision of the Wasteland, and couldn’t help but find irony in that statement.
“Cars…” Ocellus rolled the name on the tip of her tongue. “Sounds like the name of those metal carriages.”
“Are we still going to ignore the fact that these Americans are eating sentient beings?” Sandbar asked, huffing.
“Hey, come on. A thousand years ago we dragons and griffins were eating you guys for food. Maybe they’re the superior species on this world and they eat the lesser ones,” Smolder suggested. “It’s just survival of the fittest. I’m not agreeing with it, but things are different in this world. Maybe we can write that in our project about how friendship could get these Americans to be friends with other races like cows and ponies?”
The others nodded about the idea and filed that away in their minds.
The screen continued as it showed two sinks in a bathroom which didn’t seem too interesting, but that was soon replaced with something that did look completely out of this world. An invention that the narrator explained was something beyond normal. It was metal, had three eyes attached to its head, and multiple limbs with different tools on the end such as claws or saw blades. The most amazing thing was these things were levitating in the air not from wings or magic, but a fire coming out of a big tube underneath them. Yona yelled and was about to charge forth but Gallus and Sandbar held her back. Thankfully, she backed down when the strange things disappeared and instead there were large square like objects with blinking lights. What she saw, according to the narrator, was a robot.
“Woah, woah! Stop right there!” Gallus yelled with stars in his eyes. “Robots?! As in metal robots?! Those cool awesome machines from those comic books and sci-fi movies?! They made them?!”
“Sounds like it,” Smolder shrugging as Gallus zoomed in for a closer look with awe. She couldn’t help but chuckle as he attempted to hide his fanboy behavior by coughing into his claw and retreating into his previous spot. “Careful, Gallus. Your geek side is showing.”
Gallus growled, crossing his arms as his cheeks turned red. “I like cool things. Robots are cool.”
“Whatever nerd,” Smolder teased.
“I guess that seals what I was thinking all along,” Ocellus replied as she wrote down her theory. “These creatures invent stuff. I’m guessing they have no magic, so they invent things with science and reason to survive in this world, like the minotaurs. They must be highly advanced than us on a technological level. I mean, this computer thing sounds like an oracle! Can you imagine having something like that in our world?”
“Can it do Yona’s homework?” Yona asked.
They soon saw more of the robots features as another one came up, helping what looked to be a cheerful and happy American family as they sat down for a morning breakfast. It then showed them watching a strange box with a screen on it, not to different from what they were doing now. It was called a Mister Handy robot, created by the company known as RobCo.
“Wow, I wonder what they make with a name like that?” Smolder asked, snorting.
Apparently, for such a weird looking machine, it could do a number of things according to the narrator. It could walk your dog, do the laundry, watch over your kids and more. All while leaving you to do whatever such as go out for a date with your spouse or watch shows on some metal box with a screen called a “TV set”. It looked very similar to what the six of them were doing right now.
“Dude, if I had a robot? I would so have it do all those chores I have at home,” Gallus replied with a smirk.
“I would have it dig for gems to eat.”
“Ohh! I would have it make me breakfast like this one. It would be amazing!”
“I guess I could always use a robot to help study.”
“Yona want it to do homework!”
Sandbar just shrugged his shoulders. “Eh, I wouldn’t want one.” The others looked at him with disbelief. “Don’t get me wrong, it sounds kinda cool, but it also sounds so… lazy. Like did these creatures really invent stuff to do everything for them?”
“Eh, I say it’s worth it,” Gallus replied. “But how do they work exactly?”
Gallus’ answer came via the narrator who explained they were made by something called gasoline. The narrator explained, while showing a giant tank with two strange letters on it, that it had once been everywhere around this world for hundreds of years. However, around the twenty-first century, they began to run out of it on their planet. Another machine was shown with rods attached to it glowing with power and giving of sparks of lightning. A new energy source had been found to replace it, called atomic energy, which made everyone wonder if this was the energy that created the atomic bomb.
“Wow, how much energy do you have to use to dry up such a resource?” Smolder asked.
“Well, there were times when the hive would run out of love, so we would always have to get more from other races,” Ocellus replied, thinking about those terrible days. “It was why we tried to take over Equestria twice. We were starving from low love storage, but we couldn’t change our energy like these creatures did. At least not until we were reformed.”
Back on the screen, they saw what looked to be a bright lit city in the middle of a desert, mostly likely fueled by atomic energy. The narrator explained how it would light cities, keep robots and computers running, and even fueled up their cars. Though he did warn that the cars still had fuel cells which shouldn’t be used for target practice. His warning was proven correct when they saw one of the creatures near a burning car. He held what looked to be a crossbow holder, but it was short, metal, and had a hole at the end of the barrel. It was firing something, but it wasn’t arrows. It was too fast to see. Whatever it was it seemed to do its damage as the weapon caused the car to explode and blow the creature sky high.
Everyone, but Ocellus, couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, though she did giggle a bit at the mistake of the creature. Apparently, for such a technological advance society, they were a stupid species.
The narrator then began to explain how everything was soon made with atomic energy, including toys, bikes, and comic books. Ocellus and Silverstream “d’awwed” upon seeing the teddy bears while Sandbar and Gallus’s eyes perked upon noticing the costume super heroes styled in action poses.
“I wonder what superheroes they have in this world?” Sandbar wondered, hoping they were as awesome as the Power Ponies.
More objects of such desire were shown to them such as a man drinking a mix of rum and soda. A lady enjoying her new clothes for the spring. Shelves of food and goodies in a store that made the six lick their lips, wondering if Professor Pinkie Pie could recreate some of these. Best of all, according to the narrator, they could stay preserved for years. The narrator said it best: when it came to consumerism, America was the best.
“Wow, really? I never would have guessed,” Smolder commented, rolling her eyes.
“Good thing, this narrator is telling you then,” Silverstream said with a smile.
“Sarcasm, Silverstream. We talked about this…”
Yet the narrator mentioned something that made the six of their jaws drop. Apparently, there wasn’t enough atomic energy to go around, which wasn’t a surprised when your planet had a population of billions.
“Did… did he say… billions?” Sandbar whispered, eyes widened.
“Uh, Ocellus? What’s the total population of our world?” Gallus asked.
“Over twenty-five million,” Ocellus answered, writing it down. “Ponies make the highest population with eight million in Equestria and around the world. These beings must breed like crazy to have such a high number. No wonder they were losing resources.”
“How much is billions?” Yona asked, tilting her head. “Numbers not Yona’s strong thing.”
“Let’s just say that if you were to make a hundred Yakyakistans, you still wouldn’t be as big as these guys,” Sandbar answered, making Yona stare at the screen in awe as it showed the large cities and its people going about their day.
The narrator went on to explain how resources, such as oil and petroleum, were becoming more expensive and precious as years went on. Oil had been around in their world for awhile, powering up machines and stuff, but they didn’t know it was this precious for humanity.
“Makes you wonder what they would do if they discovered our fields?” Sandbar asked, unsure of the answer.
A place called the “Middle-East” was in charge of the wells, but even they were wiped out of their supplies. Uranium mines had been stripped clean, and there was soon little means to power up their shiny technology.
“I bet I know what happens next,” Ocellus replied, grimly.
The change the narrator had spoke of earlier had come. And with it came war.
“I was right.”
Instead of using their limited stock of power to keep going for a few decades, the Middle East turned to using them as weapons to settle old scores. The group watched in horror as bombs fell from the sky, cannons were fired, and buildings were lit aflame as the narrator continued through the destruction. The European Commonwealth, which once prided itself of becoming a glorious united state of nations, betrayed each other and scrambled for the last drops of oil in their lands. “Figures,” Gallus scoffed, “as soon as it gets tough they just backstab each other for their own selfish needs. Maybe they should be invited to the academy to learn friendship?”
“It does almost sound like what Princess Twilight hopes to do,” Ocellus replied, as her friends looked to her. “I overheard her talking about a dream of hers of uniting the nations as one set of government. One culture. One curracy. To promote unity and friendship. What if what happened to this Commonwealth happened to such a thing here?”
“No way! We’re better than that... right?” Silverstream asked, nervously.
They then saw a map appear before them, filed with contents and oceans that were alien to them. One area in the west that was colored blue was called Alaska, the last place of resources held by the Americans. Another area in the east, colored red, was called China and they desired the land for their own use.
“Couldn’t these two countries just come to some agreement to share?” Sandbar asked, shaking his head in disappointment.
“If what we heard was right, it didn’t sound like there was much to even share,” Smolder answered.
“Yona would share with friends if friends need something!” Yona declared, but then sadly looked down. “Not all Yaks might agree to share with others if Yaks needed it too.” She then smiled at her friends and looked determined. “But Yona find someway to make it work!”
The narrator explained that between the two superpowers was a place called Canada, which soon became covered by the same blue color as America and Alaska. According to him, the Americans annexed their northern neighbors to be united in the war against the Chinese invaders. Yet, Canadians, and the six students, saw it as a ruthless conquest to control power. The Resources Wars had come, and Canada was a part of it whether they liked it or not.
“These Americans sound like jerks,” Silverstream huffed, crossing her arms. “You don’t just waltz over and take someone’s home like that.”
“When war comes you do what you gotta do,” Smolder replied.
The map disappeared on the screen and soon showed what they soon learned was a Chinese in a lab coat. He was beside a computer and other gear while staring at them with determination. On the desk in front of him was a very thin black glove that looked like a cross between armor and a t-shirt. The group then watched as they saw a single soldier go completely invisible, lost to their eyes, before reappearing and aiming one of those strange rod weapons. His armor was unlike anything they had ever seen before. Pure black as night and yet an orange face screen for his head. The narrator said it was stealth technology, allowing those who wield it to go completely invisible and assassinate key targets with easy shots.
“Sounds a lot like the changelings, only turning invisible instead of a different shape,” replied Ocellus, writing it down. “Imagine having an assassin that can turn invisible? You could kill any target and get away with it without anyone seeing you.”
The others shivered at the thought of their leaders being taken down mysteriously with no witness. Sandbar visioned all four princesses brought down with holes in their head. If such a thing happened it would be chaos all over Equestria.
The Americans weren’t ones to be outshined either as the narrated explained they had their own answers to war. Such marvels included robots that could fire laser beams. A giant robot the size of a building that was being worked on by engineers. More of the unique shooting weapons only these were firing rays of light, similar to magic beams, that was making cars explode with each shot. The companies of RobCo and Poseidon Energy began using their skills and factories to make war on America's enemies with tools such as combat robots, energy weapons, and cybernetics. According to the narrator, everything was being used to fight against the Chinese.
Smolder whistled with a nod. “Okay, these Americans might not look tough, but they can make some seriously deadly stuff.”
“You see those robots? Including, the big one? Wow, imagine if that thing was set loose on Tirek when he invaded Equestria,” Sandbar said in awe.
More of the American arsenal of war was shown on screen from a man holding and firing that “Fat Man” object they saw earlier which caused a mini explosion. Their awe soon turned to disgust when they saw a dog, its brain, and robotic limbs attached to it body. Apparently, even animals were used to fight wars, something Professor Fluttershy would give a stern disapproval of it, if she had her way. Of course, they all laughed when they saw one of the robot butlers fighting off scared Chinese with a flamethrower. The idea just seemed so ludicrous.
“Actually, the butlers in my Auntie Novo’s castle are all trained to defend themselves, and my family if need be. So, it’s not that weird,”Silverstream said.
The narrator continued to explain that there was even plans to engineer a new super soldier, but they didn’t have the time so they went with power armor instead. The screen showed a female scientist looking over a hovering creature that made the six turn green in disgust. It looked like one of the other creatures, but its skin was green, rotting, and so skinny you could see its bones.
“I think the power armor was the better choice,” Gallus reasoned.
Seconds later, they saw this power armor and gazed with impressed eyes. It looked tougher than any amour they had ever seen, and it was wielding a large blasting gun that was rotating very fast. It shot magic like blasts faster then even Twilight Sparkle could do and was taking down the Chinese soldiers by the number. All done by one single soldier. Although they were put off by the sight of the killing, they couldn’t help but be in awe of the power behind the suit of armor. With pride behind his voice, the narrator explained that power armor especially made a single soldier a living tank with the power of a fire squad behind him. That state was proven true as they watched the scene of slaughter after slaughter of Chinese soldiers. All powerless against the might of a single soldier in power armor who posed in front of them, holding his unique green glowing weapon in his hand. A blueprint of the armor, labeled “T-51b” appeared before them as Ocellus cursed for not writing fast enough.The narrator explained how it was this armor that helped liberate Alaska from the Chinese and that it was once the last great invention of America before The Great War. Today, or at least in the modern time of the recording, it was the symbol of a group called The Brotherhood of Steel.
“Who is Brotherhood of Steel?” Yona asked, scratching her head. “Are they brothers made out of steel?”
“More to the point, how do I join?” Gallus eyes were lid up just gazing at the armor. “I want me one of those suits, but griffin shaped.”
The others nodded in agreement. Even some of the less violent ones couldn’t help but admit it would be cool to have a suit of armor like that. Even if it was designed for war.
The excited mood was quickly squandered upon seeing a battlefield full of dead soldiers. Ocellus and Silverstream turned away with tears in their eyes. Gallus and Sandbar closed their eyes too, but held their sorrow in. Even Smolder and Yona, who had seen battlefields before in their lives, couldn’t help but look at the death and destruction with pity. This wasn’t a war fought against some unnatural evil, this was all over energy and resources. Resources they could have shared, but stubbornly desired it for themselves.
“All those lives… wasted…” Sandbar muttered, shaking his head. “I’m really wondering if such a world can be fixed with friendship?”
None of them answered that question, and just focused on the screen in front of the while the narrator continued. The war had finished after ten years, and the Americans believed that peace had finally arrived. .
“Well, that’s good!” Silverstream said with a perky smile.
However, according to the narrator, it wasn’t the end. A final confrontation was coming.
Silverstream sighed and deflated a bit. “And that’s not.”
He went on to explain that victory and rebuilding were no longer viable options. The next war was going to bring a destruction unlike any other and survival was all that mattered. There was a secret group who foresaw this and planned to save what they could of humanity. They sat in lab coats or suits, talking among another in some underground bunker. For some reason, the group was getting a bad vibe of these people even though they were supposedly trying to save lives. Ideas were tossed around from taking shelter in the mountains, hiding in an oil rig, or even leaving their planet for a new one by colonizing space.
“Wait, they can go into space?!” Ocellus asked, her eyes as wide as dinner plates She cleared her ears out to make sure she heard the narrator correctly. “That’s impossible!”
“After all we’ve seen? I can believe it,” Sandbar replied, shaking his head. “I just hope they don’t discover our planet, no offence.”
Apparently, the narrator claimed a group known as the Enclave were descendants of the elites who tried to save humanity. Although he said that most wastelanders think it takes more than a flag and something called “veritibirds” to govern people as the screen showed another large vehicle but with large windmills attached to it.
“What’s a vertibird? Another species? And who are the Enclave?” Silverstream asked.
Before anyone could reply, they were interrupted upon seeing what looked to be a large vault door slowly opening with the words “112” on it. They saw, past the door, was a large underground shelter that looked ready to take on anything thrown at it. People were seen entering and walking around the grey-bluish steel hallways, looking relieved and relaxed. The narrator introduced them as “The Vaults”. Since most of America’s population didn’t have access to the more radical ideas of escaping distruction a new plan was made. The company known as Vault-Tec provided underground homes for thousands of people to keep them safe from the war. Not enough for everyone, the narrator minded, but enough to keep hope up.
“Well, thanks heavens for that,” Sandbar sighed in relief. “At least one group was dedicating themselves to saving others.”
“I wonder why they didn’t have enough for everyone?” Smolder asked.
“They had billions of people. I guess they ran out of time or the means to do it,” Ocellus suggested.
“Uh oh,” Yona muttered as she and the others saw children hiding under desks with fear in their eyes. The narrator gave a specific date, October 23rd, 2077. Alarms had been rung all over the country, signaling an attack. Some were ducking and covering for whatever shelter they could hide in, others just ignored the end of days happening right in front of them. According to the narrator, they believed it was just another false alarm, only to realize it too late.
“Big uh oh,” Gallus gulped as he saw people running inside the vaults with their families, friends, and few processions.
The narrator suggest that some people were laughing as neighbors raced to the Vaults. Only to feel silly when the bombs did actually come on top of them.
“Yeah, I’d feel silly too if I suddenly got blown up to bits. I’d be laughing franticly,” Smolder said, rolling her eyes.
“I know we kinda have been disgusted by some of the acts of… humanity,” Ocellus said, as she looked at the panicked people with sorrow. “But surely, they couldn’t be all bad? Does anyone deserve this?”
None of her friends questioned what she said and instead looked at the screen with regret. Regret that they couldn’t do anything to help these people. Regret that here was going to be an end of so many lives. Regret that it had even come to this.
“At least some survived. Maybe they’ll learn from it? We ponies did before founding Equestria,” Sandbar said, trying to find some positivity in all this.
According to the narrator, the historians of the modern times didn’t know what happened the day the bombs fell outside of the vault. After all, writing journals wasn’t exactly a priority when trying to run for your life. Fortunately, there were apparently survivors of the war who could tell all about it, but they weren’t what the six of them were expecting. Ocellus screamed as she saw what looked to be a zombie, glowing green as it stood behind a large computer. She changed into a green rat and scuttered under a nearby pillow.
“Ocellus, its not here. It’s just an image,” Sandbar said, lifting the pillow to reveal the shivering mouse. “Granted, it’s uglier than Gallus’ on a bad mane day-”
“Hey!”
“-but its not real.”
“I… I know…” Ocellus whispered in her mouse form. “I just don’t like z-z-z-zombies…”
Smiling, Sandbar held her close and whispered, “Then, how about I hold you until you feel better? Okay?”
“Um, okay,” replied Ocellus, blushing as Sandbar brought them back to group who was grinning at the sight. Not that Sandbar knew why.
The group focused on the screen, learning that these beings were called ghouls. People who were hit by radiation hard, and survived to become what they are now.
“Woah, they can talk? Huh, you’d think their brains be mush by now,” Gallus said.
The narrator explained others from that day survived via other means as well. Such as five robots with brains floating in color jars that held monitors with eyes or lips on them. A weird way to showcase a face for a faceless being.
“Brains in jars? Well, I guess if we ever decide to go the mad science route we’ll just need a small one for Yona’s,” Gallus teased, earning him a kick in the stomach from Yona. He got sent flying to the wall as the others just high fived Yona for her action. “M-medic?”
The others ignored him and focused on a strange machine with a clear glass cover of something… not entirely human yet not fully rotten either. It was connected to the machine with tubes and wires while appearing to be near dead yet breathing.
“If that’s what you’ll look like upon living for so long, I’ll gladly take my normal lifespan, thanks,” Silverstream replied.
The screen then showed two scientist looking females going through junk while surrounded by lab equipment and machines. Some of the junk was being scanned by other machines, while others were in beakers or bottles. Apparently, people were trying to find ways of using the old tech to use to help the wasteland. A noble goal, according to the narrator, but some of the discoveries were better off hidden. The screen then changed to a new machine room, but behind them were bubbling tubes of water, with something shadowy lying inside. The group narrowed their eyes to get a closer view, even Ocellus changing back to normal to get a better look. Whatever it was, it was too murky to see, but it was big… and green.
The narrator finished off the chapter by saying how despite how much humanity tried to avoid change, they couldn't. There was only one thing that always never changed. A word that echoed in each of the six’s heads.
“War.”
War never changes.