This is a first person pov of a pegasus mare; Polaroid.

8 years ago.

I trotted along the stony dirt path with a rod attached to my back by a harness, two rusty buckets filled with water sloshed side to side with every hoofstep I took. I could see the small barn my parents tried fixing up to give me a my little sister a better life than they had in the distance, I could see my father, a strong pegasus with a beige coat and brown mane, flying in the air with a rope in his mouth hoisting a post up. As I came closer, I saw my mother, a blue unicorn with a pinkish red mane, helping by using her magic to bring it up. I took off the harness and set the buckets near our little farm. Since most of the soil in equestria is radioactive, we have to make do with the little amount we had. Finding soil bags in ruined stores. It was cloudy out, like everyday, I hoped it would be sunny enough for our crops to grow. Trotting past my parents they greeted me while finally hammering the post in.

“Why don’t you go check on your sister, get her something to eat inside, yeah? Call out to us if you need help”
My mom ordered. Going inside past the broken fence of the ruined barn, I heard my sister cry out. I rushed to her aid, a small stained blanket wrapping her up to keep warm. There exposed a beige unicorn with dark brown hair with a pink stripe. We made eye contact, she stopped crying and her horn spit out magic particles while she laughed. I breathed a sigh of relief, walking over to the other side of the barn, I looked inside the many barrels accumulated there. Drawing out a small carrot with my mouth, I brought it over to her, breaking it into smaller parts for her to swallow them.

“Everything’s going to be fine, Pepper”
I consoled her as she nibbled on the carrot. In the corner of my eye I could see a green flashing light, the PipBuck that belonged to my parents was flashing something in a warning. My parents used to be stable dwellers, my parents decided they didn’t want me growing up in a hole never seeing the surface, my mom was pregnant with me at the time and my father decided to escape with her to the surface. That’s where I was born. Walking over to the PipBuck, it flashed a warning that a storm was coming. I ran outside the barn to warn my parents as I could see storm clouds in the distance.

It was dark when I heard gunshots. The small nests my family slept in were baren of my parents. As Pepper slept comfortably, the PipBuck playing a lullaby. I shot up in worry as I raced out of the room, downstairs. My mother, Velvet Burst, saw me.

“Polar! Grab Pepper, now!”
Orange and red light flashed in my eyes, the only thing I’ve ever seen like that, my parents had made to keep warm, fire. Flying upstairs, I could hear Peppers cries. Grabbing her and the PipBuck, I ran downstairs where I saw my father talking to a tall, buff, maroon red stallion with a black mane, and horn. He had armor covered in blood, bones, spikes, and rags covering past scars and injuries. Two other ponies surrounding him, a green pegasus and a yellow earth pony. The earth pony carrying a staff of burning flames, and the pegasus aimed guns attached to their sides at my parents.

“Now, pear hoof, we’ve told you many times to give us the fair trade or there would be consequences… we’ve left you and your family alone and protected you... it’s only fair we have our share”

“And we’ve told our crops have been dying out! The soil is becoming more radioactive due to this rainfall. The crops are nothing more than waste!”

“It sounds like you’re hogging all the good crops, huh” the tall stallion flipped up the cover of a barrel to reveal many fruitful crops.

“Those are ours! We need them to feed our family!”

“And what happens to the rest of us? We starve?” the stallion said with a cocky smirk. My father was appalled, he had no words to comeback this.

“Now, you either give us these crops, or your barn goes up in flames”
he stood before my parents, my father barring his teeth and extending his wings. The green pegasus next to the stallion reved his gun up. “Dad!”
I flew downstairs with Pepper in my arms next to my mom.
“Pola get behind me, for celestial sake!”
my mom snapped without even looking back. I felt tears swell in my eyes, Pepper was already crying. The rest was a blur as my dad swung at the stallion and my mom shoved us under a near by cabinet. I had my face buried in my hooves while shielding Pepper. I could see through the crack of the cabinet door, everything was a blur of fire, my ears were deafened by the sound of gun shots and screams. I tried screaming for my mom but I couldn’t even hear my own voice over the noise. All I saw was that maroon red unicorn opening the cabinet doors and levitating Pepper right from my hooves. I couldn’t do anything, I was stunned with fear. All I saw was his emerald eyes piercing my soul. That was the last thing I saw before everything went dark again and smoke filled my lungs.

I awoke to sunlight intruding through the small crack in the door, right into my eye. I was too scared to open the door, the PipBuck claimed it started raining around the time I passed out. It was silent outside. I could hear the creaking of the barn and dripping water. I slowly opened the cabinet and stepped outside, clenching the PipBuck. The entire barn had collapsed, everything was charred to black. Only rubble had remained, you wouldn’t even have be able to tell if a building even stood here. I climbed around the rubble that had fallen onto the cabinet and stood on what once was the kitchen floor. Now there were no walls and everything was gone. Looking around, only the familiar wasteland stood. I called out to my parents and Pepper, but no answer ever came. I ran out into the dirty path that once led to the barn, again calling out. No answer, I ran around frantically shouting, but I heard nothing but the sound of my own voice. Our tiny garden was robbed and burned, the fences were torn, and the barn was charred into a pile of ash and rubble. I clenched the PipBuck. In the past I attempted to put it on, but with its size meant to fit a grown pony, it only slid right off. Now it was the only thing I had left. I curled into a ball and sobbed while holding it, it played the same lullaby Pepper would fall asleep too. Pepper was gone. I was alone.