[Fallout Equestria] Equestria at War : Tales From the Frontlines

SilentCarto wrote:Okay, so. It all started with geology.
Equestria was blessed with magical gems. So many gems that they could dig them up by hand to use as decorations in dresses. On the other hoof, Zebrica, or whatever you want to call the Zebra homeland, had very few gems suitable for magic, but great reserves of fossil fuels which Equestria lacked. So, naturally, the two started a trade. Having combined magical components with energy supplies, both nations embarked on an industrial revolution. Everything was fine, for a while, but now each nation's economy relied on trade with the other.

The trouble began when some zebra pirates used modern ships and weaponry to take prisoner a number of ponies for ransom. Over the Caesar's objections, Celestia deployed the Wonderbolts to resolve the situation. They suffered some casualties, but all the hostages were freed and Celestia made the appropriate public apologies, and everything seemed fine. But it wasn't.

FOE merely describes tensions rising until a resource war broke out. PH adds some detail to that; the Wonderbolt raid made the Caesar look weak in the eyes of his political rivals. It seemed like the Caesar couldn't resolve the pirate situation, but Equestria could do it after crossing the sea to boot. Ponies weren't skilled in politics, having had the same leadership for over a millennium, so they didn't see the repercussions of this act. The Caesar needed to do something to strengthen his position, so next time a trade dispute came up, he embargoed Equestria while suing for better terms. With Equestrian coal supplies dwindling, the aristocracy leaned on Celestia to let them take the coal by force. She eventually complied against her better judgement, and the coal was seized. The zebras obviously couldn't take that insult sitting down, and the war was on.

Even so, the first decade of fighting was relatively polite. Both sides avoided civilian targets and offered aid to the wounded, no matter their species. POWs were traded and everything remained as civil as war can be. Then Littlehorn happened. A zebra refugee convoy was destroyed by the automated defenses of the Littlehorn school, and the grief-stricken father of one of the dead families set off a Pink Cloud bomb inside the school's shield. Hundreds of children perished, Celestia resigned, and Luna created the Ministries to help her rule. That was the turning point, when Equestria came to view zebras as monsters and zebras believed Luna had reverted to Nightmare Moon. Neither side was accustomed to war or hate, and this didn't give them any time to learn how to channel it safely. Two nations' worth of outrage turned the war into a jihad on both sides, and the assassination attempt that killed Macintosh destroyed any hope for the dialogue that could have resolved the misunderstandings.

After that, it was all over except the shouting.

Harmony Ltd. wrote:Thanks for the timeline, ST. So that'd be 10 years of low-intensity warfare where war is a distant thing for ponies in Equestria, followed by 7 years of a state of total mobilization, right ? How long after the creation of the Ministries did Big Mac die ?


I think we can assume that the War technically started when Celestia sent ponies to seize the coal shipments. I don't think it was long after the end of the Hostage Crisis, though - a few month after it at the longest I'd guess, most likely a few weeks. That's the sentiment I remember getting from the memory orbs at least.