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// Introduction 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Legends of Transylvania 
// by MeetSouder 
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Fallout Equestria: Legends of Transylvania 



Introduction


        There was a time, where the all the races of Equestria lived in harmony. Throughout the entirety of their existence, Equestria had very few conflicts that threatened the relations between the ponies, the griffons, the zebras, the Thestral “batponies”, and all of the other races that comprised the utopia under the diarchy that governed her. But when technology grew, demanding for more unreplenishable resources, so did the tension between the borders of Equestria and the resource-rich Zebralands. Soon, war broke out, starting with minor conflicts over shipments of the life sustaining coal that Equestria burned in her raging inferno of industry. The zebras refused to continue to trade with Equestria’s ridiculously low economic terms, and began to recall shipments to the pony dominated country. Small conflicts cultured into a full scale war after acts of terrorism began to erupt in both countries’ cities. Industry in technology and science quickly turned to factories and research for the tools of war. Boats for exploration quickly donning armor plating and large bore guns to defend the shipments, ceremonial swords and armor ditched for scrap and replaced with “Ironshod Firearms” rifles and other small arms, simple chariots upgraded with arcane motors and plated with steel to defend the vastly growing army as they rode into battle by the thousands.
The war continued for years and as time progressed, the situation between the countries deteriorated. Soon only Princess Luna found herself in command of Equestria’s armies, and a blood soaked stalemate formed between the countries. Desperate for peace, Princess Luna turned to Equestria’s greatest; the government Ministries of Arcane Science and Wartime Technology. They quickly began research for a weapon that could end the war in one fowl swoop, taking the lives of hundreds, to end the war of thousands. They produced the Megaspell. A weapon of highly concentrated destruction magic that would bend the laws of arcane science and warp the physics of their universe. The spell was capable of creating an exothermic reaction of such magnitude, it ripped apart the fundamentals and composition of nature.
This weapon was not built, however, without the zebra operative’s espionage on the research. The zebras quickly learned of the Equestrians motives and raced against the clock to create a weapon to match the Megaspells shear power. Using their vast resources and ancient alchemical techniques, the zebras were able to manufacture a slurry of chemicals deemed Balefire that would match almost identical in destruction to what the Equestrian’s Megaspells were capable of. As both countries built weapons of mass destruction, an arms race ensued, forcing both sides to divert all resources to build more and more Megaspells and Balefire bombs. With each new weapon pointing at a new city, a countdown to the end of their existence soon began. 
On a regular day during the week, in the evening when most ponies were sitting in rush hour tuning into the day’s most recent broadcast about the war, hushing crying foals in the backseat, or eating a quick on-the-go meal in the chariot waiting for traffic to start up again; the world simply ended.
Balefire bombs rained out of the sky in a ferocious attack, quickly igniting the skies around Equestria into a blazing inferno. Many cities didn’t get a chance to sound off the early warning systems, as they were eradicated immediately upon attack. Those lucky enough to be outside of the city when the bombs erupted, only had hours to live as their bodies were quickly deteriorated by massive swaths of radiation. The fallout clouds created artificial storms that drenched the entire country in a radioactive storm. Many tried to hide in their homes, or in the subway tunnels, but soon found nothing but the thickest concrete and lead could prevent their dying bodies of being further exposed to radiation. Mothers clenching their foals as their bodies melted from the immense heat soon turning them to ash, lovers embracing in the metro tunnels as the radiation slowly tore their flesh away, leaving nothing but blackened skeletons. The existence of Equestria came to an end.
But not all of the inhabitants of Equestria perished that day. During the arms race, a company of scientists came into existence, tasked by Princess Luna herself, their goal was to create a series of shelters that would house millions of ponies in the inevitable event of a Balefire strike. Their name: Stable-Tec. Stable-Tec quickly ramped into overdrive to develop a shelter that would withstand a direct hit, they experimented with many designs opting out any form of surface structure, they ultimately came upon one plan, an underground vault-like structure with a giant sealed entrance that could hold roughly six-hundred occupants. They named these structures Stables, and quickly sent out tickets of admission to certain families of all races that were deemed genetically capable of living within one.
Stables were quickly built across equestria, many of which were built simply to protect their inhabitants. But some of the scientists, however, needed answers. Answers they could not obtain nor will they ever in their lifetimes, but answers nonetheless. As an experiment, many Stables were built with intentional flaws in their systems to test the ponies and see how they could survive in confinement, others filled intentionally with too many occupants but not enough living space to comfortably contain them, one built with hundreds upon hundreds of rooms, but would house only a single occupant. Stable-Tec’s experiments continued to grow more sinister in nature as building progressed, with one housing an armoury that was publically accessible to occupants of mental disorder, or another with a total male population, but containing only a single mare.
By the time Stable-Tec reached their one hundred and first stable, the signs of an imminent attack began, and Stable-Tec gathered all the occupants quickly leading them into their respective shelters. But with the unexpected attack, and distractions of twisted experimentation, not enough Stables were built;  it was certain there just weren't enough Stables to save Equestria.
Some Stables, however, were not built by the evil minds of mad scientists, toying with the end of the world in their last effort to discover. Many were built by engineers with honest intentions, trying to save what remained of the location nearby the Stable. One such stable, was Stable 17. 
Located on the far northwest coast of Equestria, built into the base of Smoky Mountain, Stable 17 overshadowed a region of the White Tail Forest called Transylvania. A swath of land untouched by the industry of war, the region still retained its classical outlook of Equestria. It was  populated entirely by the rarer breed of Thestral pony, unceremoniously called “batponies” by others. These nocturnal ponies weren’t quite the same as their Pegasus, Unicorn and Earth Pony cousins, sporting darker colored coats and manes, two sharp fanged teeth, leathery wings, tufts of fur on the tips of the ears, and golden colored eyes with vertical pupils. With its economy driven mainly by the farming of fruit bearing plants by it's residents, the town saw little to no action in the war, and was blissfully left out of any attacks during the balefire bombing that consumed Equestria. Unfortunately, even though the town was not struck directly, the effects of radioactive fallout was still a threat. 
The Stable-Tec engineer charged with creating Stable 17, built it with the intentions to save her dying race of Transylvanians. She was certain the city where the vast majority of her race resided, Hollow Shades, was going to be destroyed as it was located right next to the capital city Canterlot. Stable 17 was built early on in the war, being only the seventeenth stable in production, the stable was built with the most robust materials, and with the latest technology at the time. Unlike later stables which were being built during times of great economic recession from the war, 17 was carefully manufactured and perfectly set to keep all of it’s six hundred occupants alive for generations. As a final touch to the creation of the stable, the engineer instituted a system with the occupant selection, that would ensure that all of the three hundred residents of Transylvania would be selected, leaving room in the stable for more to grow.
Stables had a very simplistic government system to run them, Stable-Tec would elect an Overmare, and occasionally an Overstallion, to lead the teams of ponies across their jobs, and effectively extend the life of the stable, the next generation of the Overmare or Stallion would be the successor. The Overmare elected for Stable 17 at the time of its creation, was Night Shade, a Transylvanian mare, whose former job was the coordination of the farming district in Transylvania. She was tasked with the important mission of maintaining strict enforcement of the social policies instituted by Stable-Tec, to ensure that all of the ponies would follow the laws and maintain a peaceful life. 
But Night Shade, whose mind had slowly gone mad with the ability to change an entire society, wanted to keep her ponies forever. For when Night Shade passed, she executed one final command, sealing the Stable door permanently The occupants, as well as the new Overmare lived blissfully unaware that their only hope of ever returning to the surface had been whisked away. For when the bombs fell that fateful day years ago, the door to Stable 17 was sealed, never to be opened again.