Fallout: Equestria - Common Ground

by FireOfTheNorth

Chapter 6: The Pass of Death

Gabby prodded me with questions so late into the night, I was reluctant to arise the next morning. She was fascinated by everything I could tell her about the Equestrian Wasteland, a place so different from the Commonwealth—and usually not in a way I’d consider favorable. Empty, blasted, irradiated landscapes and crumbling, raider-infested cities were something I’d left behind for snowcapped mountains and increasingly green and vibrant valleys; not to mention Equestria's surplus of dangerous government offices and factories. Though come to think of it, the danger was very real here as well, given my latest run-in at the Greenbush Agriculturium. As far as I knew, there were no Dogs of War in Equestria. One thing I did know, however, was that hadn’t seen the last of them here.

Brittle Pass was said to be crawling with the cyberwolves, but traveling that way was necessary for going farther into the northern Commonwealth. (That, or grow wings, which didn’t seem likely, no matter how much radiation I’d absorbed on the Red Harvest.) When I left the headquarters of Greta’s Grenadiers, they were busy preparing for the expedition to Rest ‘n’ Go and the Greenbush Agriculturium, setting out to finish what I couldn’t. There were an awful lot of missiles getting packed into saddlebags; the mercenaries would need as many as possible to take out that Dog of War. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an option I would have in the Brittle Pass. I’d need to be sneaky and hope my journey through the pass went unnoticed by the mechanical canines.

It wasn’t far to the entrance to the pass, and I was there before midday. Alongside the highway leading into the pass was a faded sign.

I noted the information as I trotted over the invisible border to the stretch of the pass that griffins had monetized many years ago. It looked to be just as scenic now as it might have then, but now there was no need to pay for the pleasure (unless one counted risk as payment). I’d need to keep my eyes sharp for Dogs of War as well as places to camp once the sun started to set. The Dogs of War were supposedly more active at night, so I’d have to hole up during the dark hours and pray they didn’t sniff me out.

There were ticket-taking booths and a welcome center to the right off the road. They appeared to be devoid of life, but FITS identified something in the ticket booths. Once I got a closer look, I surmised that the vague life forms were robots; I decided to give them a wide birth, since I didn’t want to find out if they’d ask me for money I didn’t have. If possible, I wanted to avoid getting ambushed by a Dog of War among the more harmless automatons like I had at the Agriculturium.

Brittle Pass certainly was scenic, even with the remains of billboards dotting the slopes. There were also structures on mountainsides above, previously reachable by cable car but now inaccessible to anyone without wings. Some cables were still strung across the landscape, though they were now largely overtaken by plant growth on the lower reaches. Once or twice, I thought I saw a griffin flying in or out of the buildings high above; probably raiders who’d declared them as their sky keeps without having to worry about the Dogs of War down below. I hadn’t seen any of them yet in my first day of travel, but that was fine by me. I kept eyes and an ear out for them as I moved cautiously through the pass. I didn’t dare listen my PipBeak’s radio openly in case it alerted anything hostile to my presence, but I did pop in one earbud and tune in to Radio PC. The signal was getting weak as I neared the edge of the distribution station’s range, but I could still make out the voice of the Commonwealth Crooner.

“… In business news, the Immortals remain isolated ever since the attempt by one of their members to assassinate the other Family heads and create a power vacuum for them to step into and assume the mayorship. The r-epercussions of their actions continue to hinder them and do not look likely to fade for some time. How-ever, though the Family and the Sunset Strip Dragons both continue to block them, the Immortals have redoubled their efforts at consolidating power in the south of Pleasure Coast and on the fringes. In r-elated news, I’ve received reports that the assassins responsible for the emergency mayoral election—Mayhem and Havoc—have been spotted by Scavengers traveling south, apparently seeking to wait out Mayor von Griff’s anger at their attempt to kill him. Perhaps they’ll lend their services to the warlords of Castoway and bring that conflict to a swift end. And, while we’re talking about missing griffins, I’ll take this moment to let you all know that there has still been no news on the whereabouts of the pit fighter known as “The Whip.” Her two-hundredth fight at Le Grande Resorte, which many had been anticipating, was canceled due to the sudden turmoil at the death of Mayor Delgado, and she has not reappeared to reschedule since. I reached out to the new head of the Sunset Strip Dragons—Gloria Delgado—and she told me that she has not been contacted by The Whip, nor has she found any way to contact her. As always, Radio PC relies on our listeners to bring us the news, so if you know anything, let us at the station know immediately …”

Letting my attention wander for a bit, I soaked in the impressive views as I traveled along. I remembered to scan for danger every few minutes, but at least I didn’t have to worry about landmines placed along the highway. The Dogs of War scared off raiders from placing them, so I could travel along the road without fear of being blown to bits if I placed a hoof in the wrong place. Flocks of birds, some of them quite frighteningly large, scattered whenever I neared their perches. As one flock took off with a great cacophony of cawing and chirping from atop a ridge, I dropped to my belly. Clanking sounded distantly as a Dog of War, in its quadrupedal patrol mode, came into view over the rocky edge. Its gaze swept across the land below, and it stood sentry for a few minutes more before retreating back over the ridge. After enough time had passed that I felt it wouldn’t return, I rose from among the grasses and continued on my journey.

Near the end of the day, I found shelter in the form of an abandoned settlement constructed from travel trailers grouped around a mostly intact brick building. I approached the structure cautiously, but the only life that was setting off FITS were scattered radroaches, which I made quick work of with my hooves and claws. In the fading light, I examined the remnants of the settlement, which told a gruesome tale. The exterior trailers had been shredded in many places by gunfire and claws, suggesting that one or several Dogs of War had torn through this place. There were no bodies or skeletons, but many signs of blood and struggle. The griffins that lived here must have either cut their losses and flown or returned for their dead after the Dogs had left. I didn’t really want to consider the alternative—that the Dogs had dragged the griffins’ bodies away after slaughtering them.

The building at the settlement’s center was still mostly intact, though the door had been torn off its hinges, taking some of the brickwork with it. I worked to remedy that problem before bedding down for the night, using a toolbox I found in a corner among some shredded fliers. (I also added some of the tools to my saddlebags; they might come in handy in the future.) After looking around some more, it appeared that this building was once a visitor center for those touring Brittle Pass. Once some abandoned possessions were cleared away from the large table in the main room’s center, it revealed a map of the pass. The walls were plastered with advertisements for the different services in the area, though many of them were faded, torn, stained, or obscured by abandoned laundry. Diners, resorts, scenic tours, and thrill-seeking expeditions could all be bought for a price (or looted for free, now that the world had come to an end).

Off the main space were several rooms with beds (sans mattresses), and one of these included a desk and terminal. It looked to be in questionable shape, but given enough time, I was confident I could fix it up. Letting my insatiable curiosity get the better of me, I spent more time fixing it than I probably should have. At last, the screen came to life, and I obtained access to the system once used to record visitors and transactions. It seemed that the settlers here had once used it to keep records, and these were the only files that weren’t corrupted beyond reading. The early records of the settlement’s creation were interesting in that I got a look into the day-to-day life of such a process, but I was still hoping for something meatier and checked out the most recent records as I downloaded the rest to my PipBeak.

1407.Q2.41
[With more beaks to feed this year, we’ll need to plant a wider range. I sent Bertram out to get another couple ‘bots to convert from the old park entrance. I was a little hesitant about sending the lad out on his own, but he’s got a good head on his shoulders and he’s a good shot. He’ll do fine if any raiders show up to harass him. Brunhilda is complaining again about water rationing. I told her if she wants it so badly, she can trek out and replenish it herself, but I fear she may do just that and hoard it. Doesn’t she understand we can’t just magically purify our own water, not without one of those pony talismans? And good luck getting those away from a Roost.

1407.Q2.42
Bertram returned today with the ‘bots for cultivation and irrigation. He claims to have seen some strange ‘bots at the old park entrance prowling around that looked like big wolves. I’ve never seen anything like that before, but we’d better keep an eye out. It’d be good to at least know their capabilities in case we can convert them to help us out around here. He said they were quite large; maybe they could be used to haul supplies and water?

1407.Q2.46
When Brigham went out to get water today, he said he saw ‘bots running along the roads outside of their normal routes. Now, what could that be about? I had Bailey take a look at the ones we got around, and she didn’t find anything out of the ordinary about them. Maybe it’s because of our reprogramming and the rest in the park are finally starting to go haywire after being at the same task for decades. Might be best to round them up and shut them down until we need them.

1407.Q2.51
We found Brunhilda’s body today, finally. It took a lot of circling, but eventually we found her near the old diner. It looked like she’d gotten halfway through removing the bolts securing the server to the floor before she was attacked by something. Not even Doc Braun could say what did it, she was so torn up, shot up, and burned all. I’ve seen some depravity from raiders, but nothing so excessive just to leave the body.

1407.Q2.53
I know what killed Brunhilda now. Blitz just barely made it home. He was attacked by one of those metal wolves Bertram saw entering the park. It’s a miracle he made it out alive. We have to do something about them, I think, but given Blitz’s description and the state poor Brunhilda’s body was in, I don’t know what.

1407.Q2.56
The cyberwolves have us completely pinned in. They’re patrolling just out of our range, watching, waiting. What are they waiting for? They could easily wipe us out if they wanted to, given their firepower. There’s a town meeting tonight to decide if we should abandon this site and relocate. Even if the wolves don’t attack, they can starve us out.

It probably wasn’t a wise thing to read before going to sleep in a place said to be teeming with Dogs of War (which were clearly what had attacked the settlement). I thought I could hear distant howls, but they may just have been in my head. Disconnecting my PipBeak, I set up my bedroll and bedded down to get some sleep before the following day, when I’d need to trek through the open landscape again.

Some hours later, I woke to the sound of clanking metal and scraping ceramic plates. I almost didn’t dare to breathe as I cast FITS. The spell revealed a hostile entity circling the building. I caught a brief glimpse in a window of a Dog of War’s glowing eye, dully illuminating the metal plates around it. My heartbeat suddenly seemed far too loud, but at least that was all in my head, unlike the hum coming from the reactivated terminal. I rolled across the floor as quietly as I could, stopping in a panic when my hoof brushed against an empty Sparkle~Cola bottle and nearly sent it scraping across the ground. Keeping clear of the bottle, I rolled the rest of the way to the terminal’s power cord and carefully unplugged it.

Outside, the Dog of War stopped moving the moment the terminal was unplugged. I thought for certain it was going to crash through the wall and tear me to shreds, but then it resumed its pacing around the building, doing a single lap before departing. Even when its mark disappeared from FITS and I could no longer hear it, I was still terrified it might come back to kill me. It took me some time to fall back asleep again, and visions of the automatons plagued my dreams.

The remainder of the night was relatively peaceful, and dawn brought a morning with no sign of Dogs of War, other than great footprints in the ground. As I scrounged one last time through the settlement before taking off, I discovered a trap door I’d missed before. It led down into a shelter beneath the main building, where the maneframe was located along with some empty shelves. Either the settlers had also never found this place, or they had cleared out all the supplies here before or after the Dog of War attack.

As I set back off on the second leg of my journey, I kept an even sharper eye out for the mechanical hounds. The two sightings I’d had were already two too many, and I didn’t need more close calls. Radio PC was now out of range, and I had nothing to listen to on my PipBeak to keep me company until around midday, when I picked up another radio station.

“Hope you all enjoyed that little tune!” a peppy female voice spoke through my earbud at the end of a song. “If you want to hear more, then come on down to the Rockfall Hotel! We have live shows every night, a full bar and restaurant, automated room service, and luxurious suites all for a reasonable price! Don’t miss the Rockfall Hotel! The Brittle Pass’s best place to stay! And now, another classic from way back when; it’s Gustav Kruener with “Nowhere to Go But Back to You!’”

I stayed tuned into the station as I followed the river upstream through Brittle Pass. It was hard to determine whether it was merely a recording or a live broadcast, and the answer remained elusive as I continued to listen. The announcer was clearly doing an advertisement for the Rockfall Hotel, promising warm beds and full service, something that was hard (or rather impossible) to come by in the world after the megaspells. At least, that was the case in Equestria, but I hadn’t considered if things might be different in the Griffin Commonwealth. The Pleasure Coast had certainly been familiar with its rundown-and-destroyed motif; but it was a functioning city nevertheless, not just a broken hive of scattered raiders, monsters, and the occasional settlement. As I’d traveled inland, I’d seen the return of life. Even if there were still raiders and small settlements on the other side of Brittle Pass, maybe here and further on there would be true signs of functioning civilization hardly touched by the War. After all, the Commonwealth hadn’t been a priority target for Equestria or the Zebra Empire, and the only reason a megaspell had struck near the Pleasure Coast was because of how many Equestrians lived there.

By the time the Rockfall Hotel came into sight at the end of the day, my anticipation had reached its zenith. From the outside, it didn’t look to be a hotel equal to the glory of the old world, but at least the lights were on. Though the exterior was weathered and one of the corners had fallen away, the rest of the hotel appeared to be intact. Sandbags were piled near the entrance in defensive positions, but those spots were empty and looked like they hadn’t been used in a long time. Perhaps they’d been placed during some (understandable) unrest immediately after the megaspells had fallen; there were bullet holes and magical energy burns near them, which suggested they may not have been surrendered without a fight.

FITS was full of contacts as I entered the building and I kept my rifle at the ready, but none of them were currently marked as hostile. I was able to identify some of them as I stepped into the foyer: robots docked at stations against the walls. There were no living beings to be seen, but as I neared the reception desk, the pedestal set into it whirred to life and projected the holographic image of a griffin.

“Welcome to the Rockfall Hotel!” she said in the voice I’d heard over the radio. “I’m Gabby, the hotel’s concierge system! If you have any questions during your stay, please address me by name wherever you are, and I’ll do my best to answer! It’s been a long time since we’ve had any Equestrian visitors. I don’t appear to have a reservation for you in the system. How long will you be staying with us, Mister?”

“Doc,” I answered automatically before considering the situation I was in. “I’ll be staying for one night.”

“Excellent! Please, take your key,” Gabby said as a compartment opened in the base of her pedestal with a key in it. “The restaurant and bar are open all night, and give me a call if you need anything. We hope you enjoy your stay at the Rockfall Hotel!”

“Thanks,” I said absently as I took the key and checked the number on it.

I was intrigued by ‘Gabby’, but I figured I could investigate more once I located my assigned room. She’d been upfront about what she was, like the similar system I’d encountered back in Equestria at the Bubble Springs Resort. However, this system seemed much more advanced—or much less corrupted—than that one. The holograms seemed to be prerecorded footage, but they must have recorded the original model in many different positions, given how the system had been able to follow me nearly perfectly with its gaze as it spoke. It hadn’t felt manufactured, though I was convinced it had to be. Gabby was just a system still trying to keep the hotel running over a century since it had had any guests.

My room was easy enough to find and seemed to be a standard suite with a dresser, clean bed, and attached bathroom with working water and lights; all things that were ironically non-standard in my experience. I hadn’t seen accommodations of this level since I’d first woken up in Stable 85 seven years earlier with no memories of who I was. It almost felt like a trap, but everything seemed to be on the level. I made a mental note to check the hotel’s perimeter for signs of Dogs of War before turning in for the night, then left my room to do some snooping and looting.

There were plenty of other rooms in the hotel—all locked, of course; luckily, I was a master of lockpicking. I ended up only breaking into a few rooms, giving up after it turned out most were empty and identical to my own, but I did manage to bag a few things. I found some ammunition (unfortunately, not of a make that would work with the weapons I had) as well as a contraption left behind on a dresser that attached to my PipBeak. Once I had the mod strapped on, I was able to emit and retract a hidden blade from beneath the PipBeak with the flick of a claw. I experimented with it on a pillow and bedpost before tucking it away and heading out to explore more of the hotel.

I didn't come across any other guests during my investigations, and all the marks on FITS were the robots scattered around the place, most just waiting for orders. Out of curiosity, I decided to check out the restaurant and bar that Gabby had spoken of both “in person” and on the radio. I was surprised to find that it truly was in operation and not just left over from a Wartime advertisement. Automatons behind the bar stood ready to pour out the mostly full stock of alcohol behind them, and when I sat down at a table, a waiter-bot trundled over. It took my order from a menu displayed on a screen where its face might have gone, had it been a living creature. It brought me a salad as requested, and I confirmed with my PipBeak that it was edible. The plants used were of the mutated variety, but they were prepared and cooked by professional machines instead of over a campfire by an amateur. Other than being completely alone apart from robots in an empty room, I could pretend I was living in a time before the megaspells had fallen. The one thing that Gabby had been incorrect about was that there was no live show on the stage around which the restaurant was built.

“Gabby?” I asked as I headed back through the foyer after my meal, and the hologram flickered to life. “How many visitors do you normally see in a year?”

“Until 1350, the Rockfall Hotel saw thirty thousand guests a year,” Gabby replied in a chipper tone. “After that, records corrupted. Since 1407, we have had no guests. Trespassers in Brittle Pass are shot on sight!”

“Is that so?” I asked, curious how Gabby could know such a thing. “What about me?”

“You have not been shot, so you must not be a trespasser!” Gabby said cheerily.

“Makes sense,” I replied. “Are you in charge of all the robots in Brittle Pass?”

“I am the concierge system for the Rockfall Hotel! My duties extend to caring for this hotel and its guests! If you have a complaint or question, please do not hesitate to let me know!”

“Thanks, Gabby. Goodnight,” I said as I left to return to my room.

“You are welcome!” Gabby replied perkily, “Goodnight, Mister Doc!”

She was certainly an advanced system, but she seemed privy to information a hotel concierge system shouldn’t know. There was also the food provided by the bots in the restaurant; where had it come from? Surely they hadn’t been programmed to forage while this place had functioned during the War, so who had reprogrammed them or was supplying them? I hadn’t turned up any signs of living griffins here. Perhaps I’d missed them, but I couldn’t stay around here, not when there were Dogs of War patrolling the pass. There was something fishy about Gabby, but I couldn’t yet put my hoof (or prosthetic claw) on it, so I went to sleep instead.

The following morning, I awoke alive and unbothered by Dogs of War or the hotel’s robots, so that was something in the establishment’s favor. After throwing on my saddlebags, I stopped by the hotel’s restaurant for breakfast before heading out. As long as I didn’t encounter any unexpected complications, today’s leg of travel should take me out of the Brittle Pass and let me leave behind the constant dread of being ambushed by Dogs of War.

“Mister Doc!” Gabby called out as I neared the foyer’s exit. “You’ve forgotten to pay for your stay! Please return to the reception desk and make your deposit!”

“How much do I owe for the night?” I asked, curious as to what answer Gabby might give.

“For your accommodations, meals, and service, the total comes to 1,475,110 Commonwealth Guilders or 145 Equestrian Bits, however you would prefer to pay,” Gabby informed me with a smile.

“Interesting,” I said as I continued out of the building while Gabby persisted in calling after me.

The day was brisk but bright, and I made good time through Brittle Pass. It was a solitary journey, without even mutated wildlife to encounter. I wondered if they’d been hunted in the area by the Rockfall Hotel’s robots; I had seen meat on the menu, after all. Fortunately, there were no signs of Dogs of War, or any other automatons, until the end of my journey.

With the sun nearing the mountainous horizon behind me, I spotted the exit from Brittle Pass. There were tollbooths set up here, identical to the ones at the west end of the pass, and FITS registered the robots within them. However, something different from the west entrance was the wall of wrecked vehicles erected across the pass, presumably to keep the Dogs of War from spreading east. It wasn’t a complete wall, since it didn’t span the river, but maybe the griffins were counting on the metallic hounds being unable to swim without malfunctioning.

As I passed the tollbooths, one of the robots within chirped sharply and emerged from its booth, much to my surprise. I stopped and turned to face it as it hovered toward me, my shotgun unslung and at the ready in case it decided to try anything. It didn’t look like it had any weapons on it, but the propellers holding it aloft could probably be lethal against unarmored flesh. The robot’s body was an orb, attached to which were several cameras that functioned as eyes and four equally spaced arms that ended in propellers.

“Sternly. You cannot leave Brittle Pass until you have paid the expenses you’ve accrued,” the robot said with an emotionless synthetic voice. “You are found to be in arrears of 2,020,500 Commonwealth Guilders or 199 Equestrian Bits. Impatiently. Pay what you owe now or await detention.”

“I think I’ll pass,” I said.

“Scarily. Unacceptable,” the robot replied and began to whirr toward me.

I opened up with my shotgun, aiming for the propellers, and the robot crashed to the ground. It continued to demand money as I headed for the wall and exit of Brittle Pass. I was nearly there when I turned to look back and froze in my tracks. First three, then four, then five Dogs of War came into view, stalking from different directions. One approached the robot I’d shot and nosed it like a dog, before turning its head to stare me down just like the others.

I broke into a sprint just as the Dogs did the same. There was no way I could outrun them, not over flat land with no obstacles and no cover. If I could make it to the wall, though, I might be able to use it as its builders had intended. Shots rang out from behind me as one of the Dogs of War ceased its pursuit to gun me down. Bullets rang against metal as I reached the wall and dove into a bus.

The Dogs were right behind me, and their claws and metallic teeth shredded through the vehicle as if it were made from wet paper. I clambered over seats and out a broken window onto an auto-carriage and kept running. The wall was layers of vehicles thick, but the Dogs didn’t seem to care. It was slowing them down, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to save me. Creaks and groans came from the structure as two of the Dogs clambered up the side of the wall and onto the top. One of them climbed all the way over and landed on the other side. I rolled away through a tight crevasse as it fired at me through the structure.

There was no way I was going to make it through the wall, so I focused my efforts on climbing downward and toward the river. If I could wedge myself in a tight enough place, perhaps the Dogs would be unable to get to me without bringing the whole wall down around their ears, convincing them to give up and let me be. If that didn’t work, I could throw myself into the river as a last-ditch effort, try to swim upstream, and pray they couldn’t swim across to the other bank after me.

As I struggled between two vehicles that had been flattened before being added to the wall, I realized that the sound of the Dogs trying to break through the wall had stopped. I checked FITS and noticed that they were all stationary. Craning my neck, I could see one of them; its frozen jaws were opened to bite through an auto-carriage’s frame, its eyes flashing in a regular sequence. As the flashing stopped, the Dog of War turned its gaze to the east. Looking in another direction through the wreckage, I could see that another one of the cyberwolves was doing the same. Suddenly, they all scrambled off to the east, seeming to forget me. I waited until they’d disappeared from FITS to be sure it wasn’t a trap before I emerged from the wall, befuddled as to what could have called them away.

Level Up
New Perk: Hardy Stomach – 50% less chance of contracting an illness from eating mutated vegetation.
PipBeak Mod added: Hidden Blade
New Quest: Deeper In – Find more distribution stations in the North Griffin Commonwealth.
Athletics +4 (29)
Lockpick +2 (104)
Repair +1 (103)
Small Guns +1 (108)
Sneak +2 (106)
Survival +8 (36)
Unarmed +2 (88)