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// Introduction 
// Story: Fallout Equestria: Tales of Transylvania 
// by MeetSouder 
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Fallout Equestria: Tales 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 ‘bat ponies,’ 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 foul swoop, taking the lives of thousands, to end the war of millions. 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 the 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 alarms, 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 magical 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 from being further exposed. 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 of 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 desirable 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.

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. 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 look of Equestria. It was populated entirely by the rarer breed of thestral pony, unceremoniously called ‘bat ponies’ 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 its residents, the region of Transylvania 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 they were not predicted to be struck directly, the effects of radioactive fallout was still a threat.

The Stable-Tec engineer charged with creating Stable 17, built it with honest intentions. Working alongside the various government ministries, she took the necessary action that she believed would save all of thestral kind.