> The Day the World Died
>  by Nagmeister
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Global Thermonuclear War
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The sirens began blaring. In Canterlot, all the ponies quickly rushed towards their bomb shelters as another flight of bombers passed overhead. In the castle, Princess Celestia stood over the tactical map with her generals Steelheart and Trueshot. On the map, a swarm of red dots could be seen coming in from the south while scattered green dots were slowly disappearing in front of them. "Our forces are being decimated," said Steelheart. "Already they've broken through the defenses in the Southwest Quadrant. They'll reach the castle in less than a week at this pace."
"We will not be able to win this war using conventional means, Princess." confirmed Trueshot. "We only have one way to ensure that we might survive."
Celestia knew what they were talking about. After all, these weapons had been designed for this use. And, they did have missiles capable of destroying five hives at once. But, it still felt wrong. She knew that it was either her ethics or her species' survival, but she was still not very willing to go through with it.
She knew that it had to be done, however. "Everyone report to the launch room. We will commence nuclear attack in five minutes." A single tear rolled down her cheek for all the Changelings that would be killed because of this.

In the nuclear launch room, an electronic map of the world was covering a wall while the opposite wall was covered in computers. On the wall was a massive sign that read Defcon Five, Defcon Four, Defcon Three, Defcon Two, and Defcon One in large bold letters. Defcon Two was currently illuminated by a light next to the sign. Celestia walked up to the control panel underneath the map and started to type in coordinates. Yellow dotted lines appeared running from the various nuclear silos across Equestria to the changeling hives and the light moved down to Defcon One. She then began to type in codes; one by one the lines became red and small white dots began travelling across them.

"We have confirmed launch of seventy silos. Missiles will impact the hives in about ten minutes," said a tech. "Faust save us for what we have done."




T-9M


In Hive Chryssalid, a massive industrial city jutting out of the desert landscape, Chrysalis sat in her throne room. Two changelings had come to her to report the news on how well the invasion was going; suddenly, a changeling burst into the room and panted out a warning. "Missile... Missles incoming... retaliate strike... ponies firing..."before dropping from exhaustion. Chrysalis had gotten enough information to know what needed to be done, however. She slowly and elegantly walked towards her cab, which was going to take her to the missile tracking center.

T-6M

Chrysalis entered the missile control center. All the changelings saluted her. "At ease," she said. "Give me a status update on the incoming missiles."

"They're six minutes out, my Queen." said one of her top leaders. "Unfortunately, we have no way to defend against them. However, our retaliatory strikes have already commenced."

"Good," said Chrysalis. "We shall strike one last blow before our extinction."


T-3M

The Equestrian missile control room was tense with anticipation. "Multiple nuclear launches detected. It looks like they're heading to the cities. Our ABMs are still offline from the last bombing run; we're expecting heavy casualties."
"Get the Council here immediately!" said Celestia. "I need them here in the next two minutes!"
"Yes ma'am!" said one overzealous young unicorn before he teleported away.
"Damn. Damn, damn, damn, damn." was all Trueshot could say as he looked at the screen.
"All mages! Report to the bunker at once! We need you to set up a defensive shield around the city!" shouted Steelheart into the PA system.
One of the young technicians in the room started mumbling to himself. "Oh Faust, this is really happening, isn't it. I never signed up for this, Faust. Why have you forsaken us... Nopony's going to make it through this, are they. We're all going to die here..."

T-1M

Suddenly, more launches appeared from all over the planet. The Griffon Kingdoms, the Minotaur Empire, the Centaur Republic; all of them were firing everything they had. Even the Draconian Coalition was firing the few missiles they had at the changelings; indeed, this was going to be the end. The council looked in abject horror at the sight that was unfolding while a single tear rolled down Celestia's cheek as she watched all the images of missiles hit their targets.

T-0M

Suddenly, the Equestrian missiles on the screen disappeared; and with them, the hives they were targeting. A breath of relief left the room for a brief second until everyone remembered the storm coming for them.



In Hive Chrysalis, all that an observer could have seen was a streak of light coming down before wiping out the hive, and ten million Changeling lives, in a massive explosion. All that was left was a crater three miles across. And in an instant, the Changeling race was no more.



T+4M

Of course, the Changeling missiles were still inbound for Equestria. While many cities were protected by shields that blocked most or all of the blast, some smaller cities, like Ponyville were not so lucky. And so it happened that on a peaceful, partly cloudy day, it began. Many ponies, including the remainder of the Mane Six after the assassinations, were milling about. It was a rather busy market day, with the market almost crammed with ponies. So, few noticed the strange droning sound that was slowly growing louder until it was too late. Suddenly, somepony pointed out something in the cloud layer; a streak of light was heading straight towards Canterlot Castle. It almost hit its target, but was blocked by a magical shield; the distinctive mushroom cloud, however, could be seen from miles away. Instantly, calamity ensued. Most of the ponies ran in the general direction of the nuclear bunker, but many just ran off into the forest or towards Canterlot, trying to escape their inevitable death. Unfortunately, the bunker could only hold so many; almost half of the seven hundred thousand ponies in Ponyville were turned away. And then they saw it. A streak of light, followed by another, and another. Soon, nine distinct trails could be seen heading for different parts of the city. Seconds later, they started detonating.

The first one went off over Town Hall; it instantly incinerated anyone who was unlucky enough to be within the general area. Mothers clutched their foals, fathers stood over their colts, and innocent ponies took shelter anywhere they could.

And then the second one hit. And the third. And the fourth,fifth,sixth,seventh,eighth,and ninth. All of them hit different parts of the city with much the same event. Almost no ponies survived on the surface; and in the nuclear bunker, parts of it had caved in on ponies' heads.


T+30M

It was almost over. Almost all the missiles launched by all the various empires had hit their targets, wiping them out entirely. The cities of Manehatten, Appleloosa, Lower Canterlot, Vanhoover, Las Pegasus, and countless others had been reduced to rubble. The Griffon Kingdom was a radioactive wasteland. The Centaur Republic's lush fields of green grass had turned into brown plains of death and destruction. The Changeling desert was littered with the ruins of hives. The Minotaur Empire's vast cities and profitable ports had become piles of rubble and sunken wealth. And in the ruins of Canterlot, one Princess sat alone, alone over the dead bodies of hundreds of millions of her subjects. Picking up a gun slowly, she knew the once choice she had. Live a murderer of billions, or die a martyr to the thousands that remained.


T+10Y

And this is where we are now. Ten years after the day the world died. Ten years since our planet killed itself. We are the survivors of the war; the ones who narrowly escaped the radiation poisoning, the ones who hid in buildings and shelters, the ones who were at sea, the ones who were outrageously lucky, the ones who killed each other to survive, the ones who saw things no pony should see. And while it will be a long and arduous road, especially now that all four Princesses have been slain, but we will make it. For Ponykind is strong; Ponykind is resilient, and most of all, Ponykind never gives up.