The grimdark is actually my main contention with the Fallout Equestria series. The ponies are all written like they’re humans. Human instincts include dominance and subjugation in a primal way, which is why we devolve into barbarism and insanity when ecology and society collapse like that. Ponies wouldn’t react the same way. Their instincts dictate two responses to the situation: band together into a herd, and run away from the threat. It would be so much more enjoyable a series if the core aspect of the characters’ adventures were that the fear impulse is something they can conquer to do something brave, and that ponykind held onto that which made them special instead of becoming monsters and predators. Ponies are silly, not savage. And yes, occasionally you’d get “true raider” ponies who’re suffering from either horrendous upbringing or an outright mental issue (for instance, a pony who hallucinates mesmerizing pretty colours when blood is spilled, thus resulting in an eerily childlike personality contrasting with their violent behaviour), but the main horror of Fallout Equestria’s world should be the terrible conditions and dark fates that these cute cartoon ponies must contend with.

As such, with all that said, I commend you for having there be an apocalypse-surviving pony who’s still recognizably a pony in the way they think.

As long she has her sock collection, covering her self with it should keep her safe. Poor Minty in such AU.