The year is 2152, one thousand, one hundred and fifty-two years since Nightmare Moon was defeated by the Elements of Harmony. Ponyville is long gone, now a hillside of condos and resorts. Skyscrapers loom on the horizon.
Welcome to Equestria City.
The population ranks up around 9 million ponies. Other massive cities have sprung up all over the land as the Industrial Age took over, expanding the population exponentially. Year by year, however, the three races of ponies were divided out as cultural differences got thicker and thicker. The Pegasi were the first to leave, immigrating hundreds of miles away in the course of 12 years, completely gone from Equestria City by 2179. The two remaining species of ponies worked together and developed a weather facility on the ground to make up for the Pegasi's void. But eventually Unicorns migrated even further away from Equestria City a couple decades later, as riots and hostile cultural differences continued to rise. Princesses Celestia and her sister Luna did their best to keep relations between the races neutral but they could only help so much.
As tension grew between countries, weapons manufacturing and military might that was previously unimagined began to be developed as each race prepared itself for the inevitable. The brink of world war was now upon all ponykind. Each nation grew larger, needing more land and resources to fuel its growth. Hostilities only grew more and more tense as resources were debated over.
The straw broke the camel's back on December 7th of the year 2203, with the Pegasi bombing of one military base, Mare Harbor, in a preemptive strike to keep the Earthen ponies from interfering with the ongoing Pegasi invasion of the Unicorn countries. The three hundred and forty-three Pegasi dropped thousands of bombs during the attack, completely devastating the harbor. Two hundred and forty-two ponies were killed on the ground, and 1,082 were injured. Only minutes into the attack, the Earthen ponies defended themselves with heavy cannons and AA guns. Only 29 Pegasi were shot down, however.
The United Earthen Nation declared war on the Pegasi. The Unicorns saw their opportunity and attacked the United Earthen Nation soon after. Years later, a mare was drafted into the Earthen military, trained, and sent out into the war zone of the world she was born into.
Her name is Alison, the year is 2225, and this is her story.
The pavement rushes past her as she dashes on all fours.
SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHI-
Her squad had been ambushed about a half hour ago. She was the in the back of her 5-pony squad as they patrolled the streets of the Central Business District, West.
Welcome to Equestria City
A deafening roar suddenly had engulfed her as a hot cloud of dust and fire completely obliterated two squad members in front of her. A muted red blur in the air above rushed past the dazed ponies and began to turn around into another flyby. The squad split up running in opposite directions. Alison ran and glanced back once. The red form sped up behind one of her running team members and swiped him off of his hooves, dragging his struggling body high up into the air before throwing him down to his death.
Alison continues running until she reaches a building with a hole blown in the wall. She raises herself onto her hind legs and slowly walks through the gap, scanning her surroundings with her assault rifle.
Except for her face, Alison's entire body is covered in overlapping armored plates of steel to protect her from shrapnel, debris, and some small arms fire. Her rifle, an M-421, is built into the armor plating on her right forearm. You couldn't even tell that it was there unless you looked closely and spotted a small part of the barrel protruding from the smooth, elongated dome of the metal shell covering the delicate internal parts of the weapon. Her steel helmet covers every inch of her head except her mouth. A thin, plastic visor is over her eyes and nose, and two holes in the top of her helmet allow her orange ears to perk up naturally. She is an Earthen Marine, of the United Earthen Nation.
Alison opens a door cautiously and enters the darkness of the stairwell. Her helmet clicks as a light on its side turns on, illuminating the stairs.
Her helmet contains small, on-board computer directly connected to her mind through a wireless neural implant. She can fire her weapon, reload, use her radio, and turn on the light by only thinking of it.
She reaches the 24th floor, switching her light off and emerging from the stairwell silently, her gun raised. The entire floor is an enormous maze of cubicles. A thin but noticeable layer of dust covers everything around her. She slowly walks up to the window and looks outside. A Pegasus flies by outside, thin contrails trailing off its wings. Before Alison has a chance to react and hide from the pony, a massive explosion destroys the 23rd floor of the skyscraper next to her. The explosion throws the Pegasus toward the window a few meters to the right of Alison. The winged pony shatters the glass as it tumbles through and smashes into a cubicle, throwing paper and dust into the air. Alison crouches behind a cubicle and waits for a full minute.
No other Pegasi fly by outside.
She glances out the window. The city stares back at her. She slowly walks over to the window and looks outside, taking in the view. Thousands of skyscrapers and other buildings continue to the horizon. The streets are littered with spots of flaming debris, giving off long columns of smoke that melt into the clouds far above. Flashes of gunfire flicker in the streets and sky as jets shriek threw the dirty clouds. In the distance, an anti-air gun fires from inside a skyscraper at a trio of Pegasi, its hot rounds tracing arcs into the sky before exploding in tufts of fire.
Alison nearly jumps when hears a groan from behind her. She turns around and raises her hoof in the direction of the Pegasus. She quietly walks around the cubicle and keeps her gun trained on the back of the pony's helmet as it gets up, not yet acknowledging Alison's presence. A memory flashes in Alison's mind as she remembers reading about the Pegasus warriors.
Pegasi troops, known as Interceptors, have guns equipped to their front hooves like Earthen marines, only with straps since Pegasi don't wear armor, only a helmet. A minigun is attached to their right forearm, and a small grenade launcher is attached to their left. They perform dives, flybys, and strafing runs over their targets, obliterating them with explosives and bullets before their target even knows what's happening.
The Pegasus turns around and immediately spots Alison, raising its minigun at her. Alison feels the rifle's recoil as her M-421 fires a single round into the Pegasus's head. The Pegasus's visor shatters in a spray of blood and glass shards as the pony is thrown onto its back, blood streaming from her helmet. Alison keeps her rifle pointed on the dead pony.
A minute passes as Alison watches the pony bleed. For all she knows, this Pegasus might have flown with the pony that obliterated her team members not long ago.
Alison's ears prick up involuntarily…another Pegasus is coming. The squeal of an incoming rocket makes the hair on the back of her neck shoot straight out. Alison turns around and sprints around the office space to another cubicle and ducks under a desk. The missile shrieks in through a broken window and impacts a cubicle; engulfing several other cubicles and surrounding them in thick black smoke and fire as it detonates. Alison pops up from under the desk on two legs and scans the office with her rifle. A Pegasus flies through the broken window and looks in Alison's direction…its red coat radiant in the setting sunlight. This is the pony that just killed three of her team members.
Die, you son of a-
Alison fires a grenade from the grenade launcher mounted below her rifle. The grenade impacts the ceiling a few feet from the Pegasus, completely obliterating the ceiling panels and flying pony. A group of 6 Pegasi in a delta formation glides outside. Alison notices and sprints for the stairwell. One of the Pegasi spots her as he investigates the explosion and breaks out of the formation, firing his minigun. Two other Pegasi follow closely behind him as they bring their rotating-barreled guns up to firing speed. Alison dives down the stairs, landing with a metal thud as a rain of bullets punch through the concrete wall in front of her. She rolls over onto her back and twitches her hoof, alternating the type of grenade in her grenade launcher. Taking aim, she fires the round up at the ceiling of the office. The small cylinder bounces off the ceiling and ricochets off of a few cubicles before stopping on the floor as it shoots out a thick white smoke. Alison jumps and sprints down the stairwell.
Shit just got real.
The grenade is an FA-3, a fuel-air grenade. Once primed, the grenade spews an explosive aerosol that quickly spreads into its surroundings. A few seconds later, a compound in the base of the grenade comes in contact with oxygen and catches on fire as the compressed aerosol is completely released. The aerosol is ignited and instantly explodes; causing a shockwave that tears anything within 20 meters into shreds. Anything alive within 30 meters can still get the wind knocked out of it and suffer temporary loss of hearing.
The Pegasus sniffs the air.
Oh shi-
Alison falls down the stairs as an explosion rumbles through the building, shaking it violently. Her head slams into the wall, denting the steel and smashing her light as she is plunged into complete darkness.