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

[Harmony Ltd.]

Hi everyone.


I've had an idea, of which I'd like to present the concept to y'all.

First, why am I talking to you people about it ? Because I'm shit at writing a story, and especially in English as it's not my native language ; but I want to share and discuss a bit about my ideas. And most likely as I discuss with people here it'll give me even more ideas.
Plus, if someone more talented than me would like to write it, I would likely find that really cool.


So here's the gist of it :

The idea would be to write a number of short stories, each counting different Tales from the War, on the Equestrian side mostly, but also on the Zebra side - or even maybe from the point of view of third-parties.
The main drive would be to show the progressive escalation of the conflict on each side, and the growing desperation of the people fighting it, as the War progress.

I plan to have a succession of stories following a specific unit, from its mobilization in the wake of the Littlehorn Massacre, to the Grim End ; another series of stories following people from the Ministry of Awesome ; and some stories from a Zebra perspective.
More ideas will warrant their own short stories with their own unique protagonists.


My cannon consist of the original Fallout Equestria, and Project Horizon.


My first questions would be :

What's the consensus on the chronology of the War ?
When did it start and how long did it take from the hostilities to be initially started to the Bombs finally falling ? As a rough estimate, how much time had passed between the start of the show (season 1 ep 1) and the start of the war ?
What majors events of the War have been identified and named in FoE and PH so far (I have only read FoE one time, and I haven't re-read PH yet) ?



Note :

I -will- touch upon Cadance/Shining Armor, and I -will- talk about Changelings. Those who are on the Skype Chat may already know what I've in mind for these two subjects.

[Stringtheory]

copying a recent post by SilentCarto over on the PH discussion thread:

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.

from what I've heard the war lasted 17 years with the ministries being set up 10 years in and the time difference between the show and the start of the war is generally assumed to be 10+ years, enough time for industry to be set up in Equestria, and the Mane6 are depicted as middle aged elderly by the time the ministries are set up, the 'Pinkie Pie is watching you forever!' posters show her with a streak of grey in her hair

hope this helps!

[Meleagridis]

The hostage situation where two wonderbolts died. Those were before the war, first casualties, right? I think so.

[Harmony Ltd.]

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.

[Stringtheory]

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.

Big Mac died five years after the ministries were founded a.k.a. year 15 overall
here's the timeline from the FO:E wiki: [link], it doesn't have that much info and only shows stuff from the original FO:E, but its pretty good

[Harmony Ltd.]

Thanks again.


Reading that timeline, it seems that the conflict had three major phases : at first things were relatively slow for a while (for 10 years), then a leap in intensity after the creation of the ministry (for 5 years), and finally the two last years of absolute madness where both sides are getting completely desperate and are unleashing all they can on the enemy.

That's interesting... So it'd mean most technologies were barely out of the prototype stages when they reached the frontlines ? Heh. Chance of MS Igloo-like story-elements : rising.

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