Let Us Think of a Post Apocalyptic Equestia Together

[Silentium]

You know what? I have an odd little idea, and definately a unique idea to the Spam Stables. Let us all think of a post apocalyptic Equestria. Let us assume the role of an unfortunate soul who is still around to witness a newly warped Equestria. What will the pony encounter? What kind of world is it currently? Can we find any information to point to a plausable cause to this unfortunate demize? What are the other races doing in this landscape? How many carcasses are lying around in the streets (Okay, that may be too graphic for Canterlot...). You know, that kinda stuff.

To do this, everyone can add to the "lore" of this realm. However, a few rules are needed:

1) The whole world is in a post apocalyptic state. Even though I say "Equestria", it would seem easier to assume that the whole world is in this state, at least for the convenience of writing the lore up.

2) This takes place immediately after the cataclysmic event that mutated the Equestria we know into the infirm world that we are going to attempt to describe. Therefore, assume that there is discord everywhere (as in, no structure, no groups or organized cities yet; "it's every man for themselves" for a little bit). "Structure" may be added later on in the thread.

3) No "Fallout Equestria". Basically, try not to copy from Fallout Equestria (such as the vaults for example), although I'm more concerned about the use of FE technology than other features really. Please note that I haven't FE, but I do know some knowledge of Fallout, so I ask of you not to slide any FE stuff into the thread.

4) Keep all information close to the canon. As in, no random new technology that's more advanced than that of Equestria's technology, no aliens, etcetera. Mutations or the similar are allowed, so long as it is currently, or will soon be, explained as to how it happened. Following canon strictly is superfluous, as it may hinder the flow of the thread and all possible creativity. It, in my opinion, may be best to be somewhere inbetween canon and non-canon.

5) Keep the lore formation process in an articulate way. Base your lore off of the lore already listed. For example: the general idea of the thread is that there was a sort of civil war, and everyone was building the lore and describing the enviornment of Equestria based off this. Don't be that one guy and go off on a tangent about how the Zebras thought it would be hilarious to raze Equestria, and continously give contradicting statements to the lore that is currently arround.

6) Avoid "wall texting" lore. We don't need a few people monopolizing all of the lore; give other people a chance.

7) It's open world. You aren't just stuck in Equestria. You can go to other places, such as the Kingdom of the Griffons, and see how they are doing.

8) This is a semi-RP thing. When you go to post, you "move" the pony around. You don't have to be detailed on what the pony is doing, just be detailed on the enviornment and what said pony may encounter.

9) Please put a breif summary of what you contributed into your post, and please use a spoiler. I ask you to do this for organization's sake.

10) You can add survivors, or gangs, organizations, or the similar, etcetera, I just don't want them added during the beginning parts of the thread.

11) If you have any questions, PM me or add them in this thread via spoiler system.

Idea/Recommended: Let us try this out. When someone makes a post, you end in a question. For example, your post may be about how the pony found a cup that looks special. With this, you finish the post, and ask, "what will the pony see when he fully views the cup?" Then the next participant writes out his post talking about the cup, and how it is a sign of how there are others nearby. Then this person ends his post with "what will the pony do with this new information?" And so on and so fourth. Basically, you type an answer to the previous question, or something close to it (you don't have to be restricted to answering the question specifically), possibally add a little more, and then ask a question giving a good suggestion on what the next participant shall do.

Those are all of the rules that I can currently think of that may help keep this thread running smoothly and keep creativity up. I may add new rules (rules 9 and 10 and 11 for example) when I see fit. I will especially do this because I know now that my rules and the goal of this thread may be a little hazy for some people, so I may expand or rephrase rules or add new ones to help better explain what's going on/what to do.

With that said, I shall begin. But I will only begin with this:

The pony is at the outskirts of Ponyville...

Major Points So Far:

1. Ponyville is in ruins

2. Pony sees aftermath of fight, wonders what caused it

3. Timberwolf comming, Pony takes spear and aims it

4. Attempts to hide in ruined building, falls through poor conditioned stairs

5. Timberwolf ran away, no understandable reason why

6. Pony searches house, finds saddle-bag. Late afternoon comes

7. Decides to find shelter, goes to middle of town, decides two story building at center is good

8. Bunks in building at center of town, contenplates what could've happened

[Harv0kz]

((Mind if I play around? I'm so ninja, I derail plotlines. Better fix))

Going into Ponyville, the pony could only see the rubble of buildings in ruin, and those set ablaze. Everywhere on the ground, various arms lay on the ground, such as spears and swords. Torn pieces of armour could also be seen, rusting away unused, abandoned by their former users. The pony look up at the sky, and saw the sun still visible, the skies so bright, but it failed to lift his spirits. The inhabitants were nowhere to be seen, and the town seemed to be a former shell of it's former days.

((So basically:

Ponyville in rubble and ruins

Nopony seen yet

Various weapons and pieces of broken armour scattered

This what you were thinking of?))

[Lerian]

What had befallen this place? The results of fighting were clear but what had caused the fighters to abandon their position. The pony approached a pile of armour, trying to judge if its initial assessment was correct.

No remains of either attacker or defender, not even concealed in armour or beneath rubble. The piles of weapons were clustered, not held for retreat or looted by victors and the armour was most definitely torn off. The original thought was true. Abandoned, like the town.

Perhaps the town was abandoned in the face of an overwhelming force which had destroyed it in anger? The pony kept walking, trying to piece the history together.

Noted:*

No survivors (Yet?)

No mention of animals (Yet?)

No mention of differing armour and weapon styles, if any

Most / all buildings in ruin, some due to fire. No current mention of cause.

Noted and commented on*

No remains. (Yet?)

Torn metal armour abandoned by users rather than users fell in armour

Weapons and armour left on ground, not gathered for re-use or melting down

*realised that commenting on things IC & OOC wasn't clear

[Harv0kz]

As the pony walked through the ruined town, he came across what was once the old town center, now a shadow of its former past, the pony noticed a tattered flag planted firmly in front of main doors. As you approach closer you see something that unsettled you.

The flag, was the Equestrian Flag, a symbol that united all of pony kind. Clutching the pole, was a hoof. And as the pony's eyes shifted, following the hoof down the length of the leg, the pony realized he was looking at a dead pony. His uniform and armor marked him as an officer in the royal guard.

A Timberwolf's howl could be heard in the distance, so in fear, the point picked up the officer's spear to defend against threats.

((Added on first dead body, Equestrian Flag, wild animals, and royal guards. Pony picks up spear for self defense. Typed on phone so forgive typos. ))

[Silentium]

((So basically:

Ponyville in rubble and ruins

Nopony seen yet

Various weapons and pieces of broken armour scattered

This what you were thinking of?))

That's the right idea. And remember, you can add almost anything as long as you don't provide contradictions to already posted lore, and don't hog all of the story telling process. It doesn't have to be because of a civil war, I only used that as an example (I personally felt you were nudging on that path). Nonetheless, continue on.

You can also add survivors, I just don't want it in the very beginning.

And I also see that people are adding a breif summary into what they added. I should probably put that as a rule.

[Silentium]

The pony, now indulged in panic and dread, feared an encounter with the timberwolf. Instead of attempting to fight it, he decided to hide from it. Somewhere a little deeper into the city, the pony could find a structure still standing, albeit ruined. It was two stories tall, and the second story looked as if it could be accessed fairly quickly. With little time to think, the pony ran to the ruins, and quickly "entered" the building via a hole in the wall. The stairs seemed in fair condition, so he attempted to climb them. But alas, the stairs were actually decaying, and he fell threw. The timberwolf cried out again, and it sounded much closer...

What will the pony do now?

[Lerian]

Pain pinched at the ponies body as, standing, it noticed that the fall had taken it down a secondary set of stairs into a cellar. Light shone down from the remains of the upper stair, showing a door that would be on ground level. Realising that a rusted spear may not be the best defence against a timberwolf, the pony hunkered down in the remains of the upper stairs. The howl cutting through the silence had drawn attention to what that lack of sound meant. No birdsong, no scuffling scavengers and therefore nothing to distract a ravenous timberwolf should it discover this place.

Glancing around, the pony noticed that the fire had not spread downwards so providing the wolf went away maybe there would be some answers down here. The pony slowly reached for the remnants of a burnt piece of wood and gently, wincing at every tiny sound, spread ash on itself. Hopefully a beast that was seemingly made from wood might be wary about coming too close to burnt things and places.

Noted

No indication of what happened to civilians

No indication of what happened to other sentients (pigs, cattle, sheep, mules)

Ponyville destroyed long enough ago to not only rust metal but also decay treated wood

Flag of unified Equestria, so NOT a pony civil war?

Noted and commented on

No mention of other animals, predators more aggressive because of this?

While burnt and damaged, this building may not have been looted.

EDIT: A personal note because I've recently poorly explained other things in other threads. When I put things in the noted section, it is just that. Things the pony may have noted. It doesn't mean I'm trying to point out a plot hole or demand that the next comment address them, it is simply things noticed. It may end up that there is not a single survivor in Ponyville for example but it isn't made clear for another 10 or 20 posts.

[Harv0kz]

((The indication of scattered arms and weapons sounds abit cliche to a civil war standpoint, but honestly, anyone who makes that assumption has been looking too much at the NLR/SE conflict fanfics/COs/FFAs))

The pony hunkered down for what seemed like hours. The gnarling and snarling of the timberwolf as it circled the house continued. Until after what seemed like a excruciatingly long time, it let off a dissatisfied howl, and it's steps could be heard amongst the dead silence as it ran off. Whatever drew the creature away, the Pony was grateful for it. The pony decided to search around the basement for something useful, and found a packet of preserved fruits that was still edible, and took them incase they could come in handy, though there was nothing left below.

So the pony slowly ascended, soft creaking sounds accompanying his hoof-steps. Now he had the house to search. It seemed like a normal house for a family. Most things were burned, but a few remained intact, such as a saddle-bag, which the pony proceeded to take. As he rummaged through the house, he found all sorts of personal items belonging to the former inhabitants of the house, some damaged beyond recognition, some covered by a layer of ash. But none useful. Because the thought of wild predators was still on his mind, he decided to get out of the house quickly incase another creature stumbled upon this location. Stepping outside, the pony saw that it was becoming late afternoon.

Changes:

Timberwolf left area for unknown reason

House appears to be structurally weak, as witnessed by falling through the second floor, appears to belong to family[

Still no indication of survivors of any species.

Personal items left behind, potential indication of a rushed departure? Not much useful things left, indication that functional and essential items only taken?

Nothing has changed about the Flag of Equestria (Given that we decided to run from it)

Descending to basement level to find useful things

Acquire saddle-bag

Time is now late afternoon, but not evening yet. Location is outside of house.

[Silentium]

Time flies doesn't it? Unfortunately, it's not good for the individual pony. It would be a good thing to prepare for the upcoming night now. Now what would a pony need for the night? Shelter? A fire? After the encounter with the timberwolf, however, it seemed best to find a shelter elsewhere. A fire for warmth and light would be nice, but the fire would have to be made at the site. Nonetheless, the loner decided head north to see if there was anything. And it wasn't fruitless, as he managed to enter the town center. The main building at the center of town looked affected, but surprisingly in good condition... at least for a post-cataclysmic event. There was some damage, some burning marks, but it otherwise looked to be a two story building with good support. The pony decided use this as his shelter for the night, and possibly sleep upstairs if possible.

[Lerian]

The afternoon had been spent exploring the town and the pony returned to the two-storey structure at what was town centre. The pony knew there was an intact and easily sealed room on that second floor*, it also had shuttered windows so a fire could be built for warmth. Sheltering there would keep the pony safe from wildlife and quite possibly more.

Happy that it was free from immediate danger, the pony began to think about some of the things it had seen and some of the things it could look for in an effort to gain a better understanding of the wider, likely global event.

The abandoned armour was interesting; an abandoned town was expected, abandoned weapons could be in fear of an overwhelming force or refusal to harm kin and former allies, especially if the opponents were mind controlled or enslaved. Abandoned armour could be both of those, illusory magic that told a soldier they didn't need armour or a desire to mix with civilians, in fear that soldiers would receive harsher punishments. Was the armour torn before it was abandoned, an armour destroying effect that made defenders abandon their posts? Maybe after abandonment by an attacking force that would or could not use it and did not want it used by future defenders?

Just having those thoughts made the pony shudder, it knew enough of history that magic was an everyday effect and its loss from common usage or indeed its use in war would have profound effects, more-so if you also considered supernatural creatures. With a final worried shiver, the pony considered checking if the settlement had a library which may give an indication of the attackers and defenders views of the losers culture or perhaps simply moving on, checking if there were fields on the outskirts which may show where the attackers came from and both sides views on supplies.

*Or first floor depending on perspective, the one above ground floor.

Yes I am trying to analyse these from an interested party perspective, I wanted to make it more than just a survival story after 'the event'. Yes, I am too much of a wuss to commit to stating what 'the event' may have been.