Fallout Equestria: Stella Royale

You’ve heard of the tragedy of Canterlot.

At the end of the war, the once great city was covered in a cloud of pink gas. A horrific creation of Zebra design. It preserved the city and its inhabitants, a twisted monument to the folly of Ponykind. The unlucky survivors twisted and preserved as the Canterlot Ghouls.

It was finally destroyed by the Enclave in a moment of fire and death. The city was gone, and supposedly so was the last of the pink cloud. At least that was what ponies thought.

But there is another story in the Wasteland. A tale told by old Ghouls who spoke of it as if it was some sort of religious icon.

You see, as the war raged, the societal Elite of Western Equestria wanted a way to take their minds off of things. So a new project was launched, a resort high in the mountains known as the Stella Royale. Folks from all over Equestria were invited to the opening night.

To be at the Stella Royale was a sign of status. Celebrities and nobles were given invitations to the resort opening. Some even say that the Princesses and Ministry Mares were set to be there. It was to be a shining light in the darkness of the Great War.

But it was not to be.

As the last day came the Stella Royale was preparing for the opening gala. But as the world burned, the ponies in the Royale survived for a time. Until one day, it too was swallowed up by a cloud of pink gas.

What happened to the Royale? Nopony really knows. But some say that she still stands there preserved in the mountains of Equestria. Her treasures still locked away in the depths of the casino.

Those who have been there and made it back tell tales of horror. A cloud hangs over it like nothing seen since Canterlot. The casino stands guarded by ghosts and surrounded by a city of the dead.

The Stella Royale is no longer a shining light in the Darkness. Now it has been swallowed up by that darkness and twisted into something evil. The treasures inside is something ponies would go to war over.

And war… war never changes.

00000

I slung my saddle bags over my barrel as I headed out into Camp Night Sky. In the wake of the events of the battles in New Pegasus and the Enclave War they had started to expand more. Night Sky was on the edge of their Mohoofe holdings.

I was just a visitor at the moment to be honest. I leaned over a barrel of water and splashed my face. The water stilled after a moment, and the face of a Zebra mare with Zencori stripes looked back at me.

I might as well introduce myself. My name is Sani, I’m a Viatorem from the Free Roam Alliance. I was sent here by the Consul of the FRA in order to help with the dealings with the NCR and their allies. Riva and Zafir were out of Crusader Town and there were more to the south.

Now my job was to do the same in the West. The Viatorem had a duty to the Alliance to make contact with other groups. I had heard of a smaller nation in and around Seaddle called the Cascadia Federation. They had been a minor player in the Enclave War, but had never played a large role outside of the city.

And so that was where I came in. The Consul wanted to learn more about them, so she sent me.

“Viatorem Sani,” a stallion’s voice said from behind me. I turned to see a Unicorn stallion with a grey coat and dressed in Ranger armor stood there. “You’re up early.”

“Colonel Scale, yes I wanted to get an early start today,” I replied with a soft smile. Colonel Grayscale was the Ranger commander for the Camp. “I have a long way to go to get to Seaddle still.”

“The offer of a Vertibuck still stands you know,” Scale offered. “The territory between here and Seaddle is still very wild after all. Yes, yes I know you’re trained to survive that kind of thing. Still, I don’t like sending you out there. I know the General would be mad if a dignitary died out there.”

“Colonel, Viatorem training requires surviving for weeks in the most wild parts of the Homelands,” I laughed as I patted my rifles. “Equestria has nothing it can throw at me that I can’t survive. I appreciate your concern, but I will be fine, I promise.”

Grayscale frowned a little at that. It was a shame to see a handsome face like his marred by a frown. If he was a Zebra perhaps we could have even been something more.

“Fine, but be careful Sani,” Grayscale told me. “There have been stories about ponies going missing around here. You don’t want to be next, right?”

“I’ll be fine,” I reassured him. “I’ll send you a message when I get to Seaddle, okay?”

“Okay,” Grayscale replied.

I nodded and put my earbuds in my ears from the prototype PipBuck. The Propoli had made it for Viatorem after reverse engineering it from one found by the hero of Roam, Azala. It had taken some getting used to, but I had gotten the hang of it quickly.

I set the radio to NCR radio as a song started playing.

“Shattered remains of once great cities,
These silent highways lead to halls of stone.
Every horizon brings it closer now,
I venture onwards into the unknown.”

00000

I was making my way through the Wasteland outside of New Pegasus. Even from this distance I could make out some of the lights from the cloud city. This felt more like my element than the camp or the city.

I took a deep breath as I made my way over a rock outcropping. I checked my PipBuck again, things looked pretty normal right now at least. I was going through my radio stations again when I noticed one just called “Mysterious Broadcast.”

That was odd, why was it there? Curiosity got the better of me as I switched to the broadcast.

Looking back, this was the biggest mistake of my life.

“The Stella Royale Resort and Casino is having its grand opening,” the purr of a Mare’s voice came over my earbuds. “We will be opening our doors to the ponies of Equestria as well. If you’d like to join us, come to the coordinates in this transmission. The Royale is the finest resort in all of Western Equestria. We are the shining light in the darkness. Come to the Royale, we are waiting for you there. The jewel of the west waits for you.”

Okay, that was incredibly weird. I had never heard of the Stella Royale before, was it a settlement? A city? I had no idea right now as I looked at my PipBuck again for a moment.

What was I supposed to do? If I went I would be late to my arrival in Seaddle. But if this was a new settlement we could meet, then the Consul would be happy with me. This was my chance to really make a name for myself in the Diplomatic Corps.

“Okay Sani,” I said to myself. When you travel alone you tend to do that to keep yourself sane. “This is crazy sure, but maybe it would be a good experience for you. Things can’t be that bad, right? I might as well at least check it out.”

I checked the map this time. The location on it was labeled as an abandoned Steel Rangers bunker. It wasn’t that far away at least, if I went there it would give me a place to go.

I changed direction towards the next destination. I followed the marker towards the bunker. It took me about 10 minutes to get there, I made my way down into the bunker after a moment of hesitation.

The interior was older than I expected. Lining the walls were discarded papers and graffiti that said Stella Royale. It was a bit creepy as I made my way deeper into the bunker, half expecting to be attacked at any moment.

But I wasn’t. Everything was pretty normal as I made my way to the back, following the sound of static. If there was something that would get me to Stella Royale, it had to be here.

But when I got to the back, there was nothing but a radio and beds lining the walls.

“Okay, I’m here,” I said as I looked around confused. “My name is Sani, I’m a Viatorem from the Free Roam Alliance. I’m here to open talks between the FRA and Stella Royale.”

I felt kind of dumb saying that out loud, even more so when I was answered with nothing but silence. This had to be a joke of some sort. I sighed a little and started to turn around when a hissing sound was heard.

I smelled gas, and my hooves gave out from under me. My eyes went black, and the last thing I saw was a pair of green hooves walking towards me.

00000

I groaned as the world slowly came back to me. I held my head for a moment as my vision returned to normal. I blinked in surprise, I wasn’t even sure where I was now. I was standing in an odd town square. There were buildings around me that looked intact with high arches.

I brushed my hoof against something metal and looked down. There was an odd metal coin or chip there which I picked up and brushed it off. On it was two words, the same two words that brought me here. The mystery of this place and why I was here.

Stella Royale.

I quickly looked up and gasped. The sky above was pink and cloudy. In fact, there was a lot of pink around me, though none of it was close. But that was impossible, the Pink Cloud had only been deployed in Canterlot and in the ruins of the old city or so the records said.

So this was impossible.

“Well, I must say I was not expecting a Zebra,” a male voice said behind me. I spun around to see a hologram of an Earth Pony stallion being projected off a fountain. He was an old stallion with a scraggly beard, that was all I could make out. “But still it is not unwelcome. I bid you welcome to the Stella Royale, Zebra.”

“Who are you?” I demanded of the stallion. “Why did you lure me here?”

“You may call me Father Quasar, you are here to take part in a grand undertaking,” Quasar answered. “You are here because I need your skills. Look down at your neck.”

I looked down and realized that there was a metal collar around my neck. There was a flashing light on it as I realized what it was. It was a bomb collar, the Legion had put these on their slaves. Why was I wearing one?

“Why did you put this on me?” I demanded of the stallion. “Answer me! I am a diplomat from the Free…”

“You will find that such titles don’t matter in the Stella Royale,” Quasar snorted. “I can detonate that collar at any time you know. Now, you will do what I tell you and you will make it out of this necropolis alive. We are here to raid the casino’s vault, the greatest treasure of the old world this side of the Dragon Lands rests there. Work with me and you’ll escape with your life and treasures beyond your wildest imagination. Otherwise, you won’t have a head much longer.”

It sounded like I had no choice at this point. I didn’t want to die right now. But this Father Quasar creeped me out. But then again, what choice did I have right now?

“Fine, what do you want me to do?” I asked.

“There are three others who are collared just like you,” Quasar answered. “Find them and bring them back here. I would be careful however.”

“Careful?” I asked.

“The Cloud will have effects on you in here,” he answered. “The collar you are wearing as well as the clothing has been treated with special enchantments so they won’t fuse to you, at least not for a while. However the broadcasters will trigger the bomb collar if you aren’t careful. A few good shots will take them out or if you get out of range in time.”

“So, you’re trying to kill me?” I asked with a growl.

“An unforeseen problem I’m afraid,” Quasar answered. “For now, go out and find the others. I would go after the Alicorn in the old police station first however. She would be the best place to start. The old singer and the Unicorn can wait for now. I transferred the coordinates to your PipBuck.”

I nodded a little as I checked the map and three new markers came up. I eyed the one with the police station, that should be where to start.

“I’ll be back shortly,” I said as I started to walk away. I looked at my side, a new strange rifle was there now. It looked like an energy rifle of some sort. I had to hope that it was enough.

“Be careful of the dead, they still walk these streets,” Quasar added. “The Ghosts are waiting and will hurt you if you aren’t careful. Good luck, and welcome once more. The Royale welcomes you into its embrace.”

And with that his voice cut off. Now, haunting music began to play from the fountain.

“I come from a world where all alarms are false,
I come from a world that only has one pulse.
In all worlds nothing is immutable,
Our nature is gentle and the divine is mental.”