The death toll of the day the war began ran into the millions. Dozens of cities were turned into iridescent craters, their centers vaporized and buildings that stood, cracked and broken. Manehattan's Prime Square was reduced to glowing slag, and the Statue of Unity (out in the harbor) had toppled into the ocean. Canterlot Castle was hit as well, but each warhead detonated harmlessly across the massive shield that had gone up at the first sightings of incoming weapons. Ponyville was not hit by any weapons itself, but many buildings and major structures suffered severe damage. Most were totally replaced by wars' end. As the smoke cleared and magical energy bled out of the Canterlot shield enough to send messages, and eventually teleport ponies, the search for the Elements of Harmony and the call to war was crying out into the new darkness. The clouds of magical radiation and dust that had blanketed the sky, and with no great amount of equipment for the few pegasus ponies trained and armoured to manipulate the radioactive cloud. Because of the cloud and lingering radiological effects that was laying over Canterlot rendered communications exiting or entering the remains of the city. Rescue operations were just coming underway in Ponyville, and it was there the Apple family had managed to dig themselves out of the ground, and for one, back into it.
“I'm...sorry, Applejack. I...there wasn't anything we could do.” It was raining, and the fat droplets that fell from the sky were black with soot from fires that still smoldered in the town below, blackening the earth and sky wherever they landed. “She...” Twilight trailed off. Not the best in social situation, she simply drew silent. The only noises were the wind, rain, and Applebloom's sobs as they stood at the grave of the late Granny Smith. A crude stone marker stood at the head, a temporary solution before a proper stone could be cut. An apple seed had been planted in the dirt above the crude wooden coffin, and would bear what would later become known as Granny Smith apples. Applejack turned and walked away with Twilight, shaking with the mixture of raging fury and crushing depression. Mac led Applebloom off towards the remains of the house, to rebuild.
“Well, Twi, Ah may not be sure jus''what hit us, but Ah know work's got to be done. You'd best head off in'tah town and see what can be done down there.” Twilight nodded unhappily. “...alright, Applejack. I'll trust your judgement.” She wrapped her friend in a tight hug. Twilight herself knew little of Grandma Smith Apple, but knew of the aged mare as a valued and tolerated, if not outright respected, member of the community. The death toll of the day the war began ran into the millions. Dozens of cities were turned into iridescent craters, their centers vaporized and buildings that stood, cracked and broken. Manehattan's Prime Square was reduced to glowing slag, and the Statue of Unity (out in the harbor) had toppled into the ocean. Canterlot Castle was hit as well, but each warhead detonated harmlessly across the massive shield that had gone up at the first sightings of incoming weapons. Ponyville was not hit by any weapons itself, but many buildings and major structures suffered severe damage. Most were totally replaced by wars' end. As the smoke cleared and magical energy bled out of the Canterlot shield enough to send messages, and eventually teleport ponies, the search for the Elements of Harmony and the call to war was crying out into the new darkness. The clouds of magical radiation and dust that had blanketed the sky, and with no great amount of equipment for the few pegasus ponies trained and armoured to manipulate the radioactive cloud. Because of the cloud and lingering radiological effects that was laying over Canterlot rendered communications exiting or entering the remains of the city. Rescue operations were just coming underway in Ponyville, and it was there the Apple family had managed to dig themselves out of the ground, and for one, back into it.
“I'm...sorry, Applejack. I...there wasn't anything we could do.” It was raining, and the fat droplets that fell from the sky were black with soot from fires that still smoldered in the town below, blackening the earth and sky wherever they landed. “She...” Twilight trailed off. Not the best in social situation, she simply drew silent. The only noises were the wind, rain, and Applebloom's sobs as they stood at the grave of the late Granny Smith. A crude stone marker stood at the head, a temporary solution before a proper stone could be cut. An apple seed had been planted in the dirt above the crude wooden coffin, and would bear what would later become known as Granny Smith apples. Applejack turned and walked away with Twilight, shaking with the mixture of raging fury and crushing depression. Mac led Applebloom off towards the remains of the house, to rebuild.
“Well, Twi, Ah may not be sure jus''what hit us, but Ah know work's got to be done. You'd best head off in'tah town and see what can be done down there.” Twilight nodded unhappily. “...alright, Applejack. I'll trust your judgement.” She wrapped her friend in a tight hug. Twilight herself knew little of Grandma Smith Apple, but knew of the aged mare as a valued and tolerated, if not outright respected, member of the community. Twilight continued on towards the town, Spike on her back. Spike hiccuped once, and she looked at him. He almost never got hiccups. “Hey...Spike? Are you oka-BRAAAP.” Spike burped loudly, and a scroll fell into his lap. Twilight snatched up up quick, and by the time she looked up, she was in one of the rooms in the catle. Confused, she turned around and saw Celestia trotting into the room behind her, leaning down to magically brush away some dust and examine the giant map spread onto a table. “I'm sure your wondering why I've teleported you here so quickly,” she wiped away more grime with the rag in her magical grasp. “And I'm sure you know in part.” The Princess looked at her student. “We...we have been the civtims of a direct attack. We're still not sure who, and our soldiers are slowly coming up.” She looked at her. “You six are going to be some of the most important ponies with me and my sister her in Canterot.” Waving a hoof to dissaude Twilight from asking any questions (wchich she would have, if she had been able to work her jaw), Celestia began drawing on the map with a red pen. Dozens of cities were being circled in red. “Basically, each of these cities are...” She steeled herself to say it, and it broke Twilight's heart to see her teacher in pain. “Well...gone. Some sort of magical energy weapon has obliterated them.” She shook her head. “Your friends are here,” she pointed at the door behind her. Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were there, each looking stunned. Rarity had bits of blood spattered on her white coat mixed with soot across her body, and her mane was in tangles. Applejack was caoted in bits of mud, and her hat was missing. Rainbow Dash was coated in grime and dirt, and looked somewhat sick. Fluttershy was coated with dirt, and tangled into her mane and tail were small furry critters and sticks and bits of branch. Even Pinkie Pie hadn't escaped unscathed, as parts of her mane had been scorched blcak, with other bits of debris clinging to her body. All in all, they looked about as bad as they felt. Princess Celestia turned to them, white, tall, proud, and immaculate. “Today, we've been attacke, and have to begin to rebuild.” She sighed. “Come along. We must reassure the populace.” She walked onwards, and literally dozens of unicorn ponies came up and began magically cleaning up each of the six friends, who looked on with minor disbelief. Eventually, they walked up beside Princess Luna and Celestia. They were on the royal balcony, where Celestia would stand to raise the Sun, and where Luna would the moon. Cadence and Shining Armour soon appeared beside them, both looking shaken. Brother and sister Sparkle met and exchanged words before Celestia cleared her throat. “Alright. We have to show a strong face. So...look alive.” She turned back to face the curtain, which was slowly drawn back. The entire group moved forward, and Celestia stood before a podium.
“Ladies and gentlecolts,” she began, speaking into a series of microphones that would broadcast her voice and image to televisions and radioes across the state. “Today, we have been attacked. We do not yet know by who, but this act is an act of war.” She took a deep breath. “We are going to reply to this attack with full force and power of our armed forces....forces that, until now, we have not needed. Therefore, we need as many ponies to volunteer for service. Unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies alike, the time of service is now. The time to work, is now. We will not vanish quietly into the night!” She had raised her voice, and was speaking almost angrily “We will not go quietly into the night!”