Here is another offering of expanded Equestrian Wasteland lore, again from one of my Fallout: Equestria roleplaying campaigns. In the story Fallout: Equestria, there were area which were modeled (at least in part) on Fallout DLCs -- Canterlot was heavily based on Dead Money, Fillydelphia on The Pitt. I've continued that with the game that I have run. In the previous two-part super-entry "Crystal Empire Blues", I revealed much of my headcanon for how the Crystal Empire fits into the world of Fallout: Equestria, modeled on Old World Blues. Now, I present a little bit about Gaia Valley. (As always, this is just headcanon, not canon.)

Zion -- Honest Hearts

Gaia Valley is the Equestrian Wasteland's version of Honest Hearts. The name "Gaia" comes from the same Greek mythology as "Tartarus", making it a perfect choice for a Zion homage. Much as was the case with Zion in Honest Hearts, Gaia Valley is a geographically isolated bit of paradise, free from the radiation and poisons that warp and sicken the rest of Equestria, and home to feuding tribes whose only knowledge of the outside world comes from those who have found their way into the valley with the intention to save or exploit.

The way Gaia Valley became this, however, is entirely unlike Zion. And it has its roots in a company named Solaris.

A brief note on companies: The story Fallout: Equestria introduced several major Equestria-spanning corporations: Stable-Tec, Equestrian Robotics, Four Stars and Ironshod. There were clearly others, but they never got a focus within the story. With the roleplaying games, I've been able to introduce and expand on two other companies that are part of my headcanon: Good Pony and New Futures. (I suspect I'll write a blog about them at some point.) In addition, I've incorporated into my games two companies lifted from Fallout: Equestria side stories and reworked: Robronco and Solaris. Both of these have been introduced as smaller companies struggling against their larger rivals. Below is the Solaris introduction given at the beginning of one of the Beyond Equestria game sessions:

Solaris. A localized powerhouse in pre-war Equestrian Industry, the corporation nevertheless grew stunted in the shadow of its self-proclaimed rival Stable-Tec’s success. Competition drives some ponies to desperate measures once they begin to lose. Cheat a little. Skimp on quality control. Fly, don’t run. Unleash the bees. The repercussions on product and populace were not always as quickly discerned as a wretched apple cider. While there were enough incidents involving Solaris products to make the press and tarnish the company’s name, the vast majority of its endeavors were initially successful. The company grew, and became a significant wartime employer. Solaris expanded to dominate the stretch of Equestria along Highway 52, with tendrils spreading out and taking root as far as Stalliongrad. In many cases, it took years or even decades for shortcuts and shoddy craftsmanship to take their toll, turning the once benevolent designs of the past into a curse on the present. In at least one case, it took centuries.

So now I present the Gaia Valley Recordings. As a special treat, as with the segment above, the Gaia Valley Recordings are available as readings by the marvelous Scorch Mechanic!

Enjoy!

The following was the opening to the session following the discovery of the first four recordings:

Investigation. Having uncovered evidence from the wreckage of a MWT armored chariot that implicated the Solaris company in industrial espionage against Stable-Tec, and furthermore indicated that their northern “Research & Execution” facility was likely the site of their attempts to challenge the Gardens of Equestria our heroes threw themselves into an investigation of that facility and the neighboring Gaia Valley. They soon discovered that Gaia Valley was a Solaris testing ground. An artificial river feeds the valley, the water being mundanely and magically filtered as it leaves. Filtered for radiation, pollution and “classified biological detritus”. And recordings left behind by a ghoul named Herald have begun to tell a story of atrocity. A story in which Solaris detonated a zebra megaspell on Equestrian soil! The answers, the truth behind the Solaris Legacy and the threat it may still pose, are likely hidden in further recordings by the ghoul, in still-functional Solaris terminals, and in a hidden chamber within the “Research & Execution” facility labeled “Bio-Containment”. But Solaris isn’t the only work of ponies to have left a damaging hoofprint on this beautiful land. The shadow of the Enclave darkens the valley. And the shadow still moves..

In the course of exploring Gaia Valley, the following series of recordings were uncovered:

----- OOO ----- No, it’s my tuwn! Stawt now? Okay. Hi! I’m Joy. I’m fiwst year and I alweady know thwee spells! Last week I leawned a healing spell so whenever somepony has an owie, I can fix it! Dancing Lights… he’s my elemin…emelar… basic spells teacher says I might be a natuwal at healing magic! My mommy and daddy awe Peawl Sheen and Hewald, and… Hey, no poking! Anyways, we awe all on a field twip to Gaia Valley. It’s weally pwetty! I wish I could live here! Not that I don’t like living at Pwincess Luna’s school. It’s weally nice. My bed is much bigger than I used to have, and my woommate is okay except he snores. And we have the bestest teachers! Cheewilee… do you wemember Cheewilee? She’s our Pony Studies teacher! She’s weally pwetty and super nice and she’s the only earth pony teacher in the entiwe school!... anyway, she’s having us do a time capsule! So we all get to make recowdings and put all sowts of stuff in it and we buwy it here in Gaia Valley and in ten years when we gwaduate we come back and dig it up! Anyways, I’m supposed to say what I think the future will be like. Well, I’ll be all gwown up and I hope I’ll be a healer, maybe even at the hospital in Stalliongwad where I was bown! Helping mommys have little colts of their own. And fillies too. And maybe I’ll marry Cheewilee, but she’s kinda old. So maybe that cute red-maned filly in thiwd year? I don’t know her name, but she does weally awesome fire spells! And, um… I guess that’s it. Oh, of couwse in the future the stupid war will be over and evewypony will live together and be happy. Even zebwas! Next week, Cheewilee says she’s gonna have a zebwa come to class to show us how zebwas are really nice like ponies when we don’t fight. Do you think the zebwa will have glowing eyes like all the pictuwes? Hey, I said no poking! I’m almost done! Anyways… um… okay, you go next. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- Oh sweet Celestia. I… I didn’t think… It’s been ten years since I lost my little Joy. Ten years, and now, hearing his voice again… I… I knew this would be painful, but I had no idea. He was going to be a healer. If… if things were different, he’d probably be working for the Ministry of Peace right now. I knew this would be painful. But I had to. For him. Hell, they tried to keep me out of the valley, those Solaris ponies, but I had to come here. Had to dig it up. It’s my son. My joy. The last message, last thing he ever said. The capsule was meant to be dug up now. It was only right. …It’s all I have left of him. It was a promise. I promised him I’d be here when it was dug up. Even if I had to dig it up myself… What the…?! Sirens? What’s happening?! What… ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- They did it! Sweet Celestia, the zebras… they megaspelled us! They destroyed us! Killed us all. I don’t quite know how I survived… but I don’t think it will be for much longer. The air is poison. I can feel it burning me up inside. I’m so weak. I… I barely managed to make it to this cave. They killed us. Just like they killed my Joy. I hope we killed them back, the bastards. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- I’m… still alive. My mane is falling out. My skin burns so badly I can’t sleep. But I’m alive. It hurts so much! But… I have to stay alive. I have to, in order to tell ponies the truth. To let them know what has happened here. I’m beyond medical help. This is magical damage… magical radiation. Luna, where did they even get such horrible magic! I’ve used up all the painkillers I had, and I’ve begun to raid them from the Solaris bastards. They’re everywhere. They’ve got little packages of glowing orange stuff. I tried it, and it took the pain away for a while… but the side effects… worst ever. This… this wasn’t the zebras. It was Solaris. Solaris megaspelled Gaia Valley. They’ve got ponies in radiation suits wandering all over the irradiated hellscape they created. I’ve managed to stay hidden. At least for now. I’ve been trying to spy, find out what I can. I think… I think the rest of Equestria is okay. From the way those suited ponies have been talking, what they did here is a secret. What they’re doing, rather. Whatever they’re doing, it’s not over. Yesterday, one of those Solaris ponies said something about “Phase Three”. Whatever that is. How cloud they be allowed to do this? Why would they? How could any pony destroy part of Equestria like this? On purpose! Were they… Were they testing to see what a zebra megaspell would do? Maybe try to find a way to protect us? Merciful Celestia, did Solaris steal a megaspell from the zebras? I… I think they did. Somepony’s coming. Herald out.. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- I burn! The pain is unbearable! Inside and out. I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. My mane has fallen out. My coat is pealing away. Exposing hot, raw, red flesh. My coat has slewed from my flank… but the reddened flesh grows dark here, a blackened trumpet, a shadow of my cutie mark. I don’t know how many days it has been. Thrice now, I have stolen the glowing orange liquid in the Solaris bags and drank it. The affects are beyond horrible and last days, but at least they take away the pain for a few hours first. At least, for a time, I can think clearly again. But it’s getting harder to acquire. Last time, that damned Solaris Security buffalo and his horrid dogs nearly got me. Mean, savage things. Big. I think Solaris breeds them for aggression… …the dogs, not the buffalo… It’s not my body I fear for most, but the deterioration of my mind. Each day, I remind myself who I am, and who is important to me, lest I forget. I cannot forget. I must not forget my dear Joy. I… I am Herald. My special talent… hehe… is being a tattletale. All the kids said so. And they were right. I’m a reporter now… My wife is Pearl Sheen… she’s also our editor-and-chief at the Royal Canterlot Voice. So that means… unofficially… she works for the Ministry of Image. And I work for her. Officially. I love her… so dearly. She’s probably worried. I don’t know how many days it has been. Somepony at the Voice must have noticed… missed me. Maybe. I don’t know how many days it has been. I… I think I already said that. I have a son. No, had a son … my beautiful Joy… I cannot forget my Joy. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- Celestia is here! Or was here. I saw Her in the distance, through the radiation-warped air. At least… no, I’m sure it was Her. I couldn’t tell more than her silhouette, but… ARRUGH! Dammit, the orange poison… Celestia… she looked pissed. And I think I heard Her shouting. Solaris has poisoned part of Equestria. Ruined it. Urrrngh! They couldn’t possibly get away with that. It couldn’t possibly go unnoticed. I tried to get closer but the orange drink’s convulsions had already started. Tonight, the Solaris ponies are buzzing around like a beehive that’s been bucked. I can almost taste their anxiety. The “white coats”, I overheard from a maintenance pony, are preparing for Phase Three. It comes tonight… and I think it is the only thing standing between them and the wrath of the sun come morning. AAAAARGH!! Oh Celestia! No more. I’ll never drink it again! Ple…EEEAAAAAK! I hope She burns them all! But… She won’t. That is not Celestia’s way. She is loving, kind… merciful. I hope Luna burns them all! AAAAIIEEE!!--* ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- How long have I been out? My memories are returning, but sluggishly. I can remember bits. Pieces. I’m trying to get my bearings. The whole world has changed. Nothing seems familiar. The pain… is gone. Completely gone. There is a pressure in my head, like a headache before it hurts, but that is all. It is dark. Moving towards the entrance of my cave, I can see a dim light. The air is clear, not the poisonous green I seem to remember. But a thick cloud-cover filters Celestia’s light. I cannot tell the time of day. Whatever it is that I have become, whatever Solaris’ megaspell turned me into… I’ve never slept before. I think I’ve been asleep for a very long time. Or, at least, in a state I will call sleep. It was that plant. I’m sure of it. The last thing I remember was eating one of those strange fruits… the ones from the plants that started growing throughout the hell that Solaris had turned Gaia Valley into. I was mad from pain. I was desperate. The fruit was slimey, horrible, foul… but the juice cooled my throat, eased the burning a little. Then… nothing. There are names on the walls. I recognize some of them. Herald. That is my name. I am Herald. I am… alone. Other names: Gaia Valley, Solaris. Those names I know. Gaia Valley is here. Solaris… I know that name all too well. Others: Vernal, Pearl Sheen. I do not know these names. But there is one name… one I feel I should know. Joy. I know Joy… but I cannot remember who, or why. But the name is heavy on my heart; I feel its importance. And it hurts. Because I should remember… The pressure in my head makes it hard to think. A dull throbbing now. Not really painful, but… unhelpful. Oh… …Celestia! Outside my cave… the whole world is changed. Gaia Valley is… pure. Beautiful! Green. But not like before. Those plants, they are everywhere. They grow out of the ground, out of the rocks, on the trees… Wait… Oh… oh Celestia… Joy! My son! ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- It has been… I do not know how long. Weeks, at least, since my last journal. Months? The headaches are getting worse. I found a whole lot of these pink recording modules squirreled away near my cave. I think I may have put them there, but I cannot remember doing so. I’ve tried listening to a few, and they all carry voices of long dead children. I’m using them now to continue my journal, having run out of my own. It was not an easy choice. At first, I felt like I was desecrating them. Wiping away memories of these young colts and fillies who deserved to be remembered. But now, I’ve come to think of it as finally putting their spirits to rest. Although there is one I cannot bear to record over. That of a young colt names Joy. I do not know why… but hearing that recording always moves me so powerfully. It hurts, and yet I cannot let it go. I spotted the tribals -- I can think of no other word for them -- again today. They wear barding crafted from the remnants of Solaris uniforms and the hide of animals, lashed together by vines made from the omnipresent plants. Some carry sharpened sticks while others brandish badly aged firearms. A different tribe, I think, than the one whose ponies came foraging near my cave many days ago. Different markings. They spoke, but their words were strange, the meaning muddled. They spoke Equestrian, but their speech has …devolved? Colloquialized? Altered through slang and personal phrases and re-interpreting of words. The sort of change to language that must have taken generations in isolation. As if to strengthen my theory, they had a colt with them. The colt spotted me and galloped away in horror. The adults took up fearful, defensive stances. I retreated back into the forest. Generations. I believe my long sleep was far longer than I imagined. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- They did it. The zebras… they actually destroyed Equestria. After weeks without a break in the clouds, I knew something was wrong. I hiked to the old Solaris building and looked out. It’s as if Gaia Valley and Equestria have traded places – the valley is an oasis of beautify and purity, and the rest of my beautiful homeland is a blasted, poisoned waste. Solaris, they did it too. Heh. They found a way to restore the world… sort of. Heh, isn’t that funny? It’s the Solaris plants. They grow everywhere in the valley. *Everywhere.* I’ve even seen them growing on the metal wrecks of old chariots and campers, their roots riddling the metal like an infection. These plants, they feed on the radiation and the toxins – suck them out of the land and air – and transform them into something healthy and good. The waters flowing into Gaia Valley are heavily irradiated. But the plants – the Twisted Manes call them “punga” – they grow in the water like reeds, purifying it. It is a good thing, I have discovered, that there is some irradiated water here. Bob needs it. And so do I. The tribals, I have discovered, are descendants of the Solaris employees. That building had a miniature stable where the Solaris ponies must have hid for a time… before it failed. And failed badly, I would guess from the way the children of the survivors avoid the building like it is cursed. At times, I find myself curious how things went in there, considering the fractured community that emerged from it. The tribes seem to herald… hehe, herald… back to the departments in the facility. The Twisted Manes, which seem to be a priest tribe, and the Tenants, who hold the keys to the tribals’ sacred places, are clearly the progeny of the maintenance ponies. Hee hee. Mane-Tenants. Hah! The tribals leave me alone. I think it’s because of Bob. The other day, one of them left a bird at the door of my cave. A wounded owl, its wing broken. It wasn’t from Gaia Valley. I could see the damage drinking and breathing the toxins outside has done. Mangy, half blind. But what killed it wasn’t anything outside. It was one of those plants. They’ll grow in anything irradiated. Anything. One night, the headaches just stopped. And there was one of those “punga” growing out of my skull. I think he’s cute, really. The way he bobs up and down on my head when I walk. So I called him Bob. I asked him if he liked the name, then nodded my head and saw him agree. Bobbing bobbity Bob. Heehehe. Humgh. Equestria is gone. But at least I’m not alone anymore. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- They think I’m a god, the tribals do. Well, not me. Bob. Twisted Manes seem to believe that I grew out of Bob, not the other way around. I’m some avatar of the punga, taken pony form for them to worship. I’ve tried telling them otherwise, but they never listen. I can barely understand this new generation’s speech, but I think they believe what I say is Bob testing them. Frustrating ponies. I generally try to ignore the lot of them. Except today I didn’t. Today I tried to give them an order. I don’t think it worked. Part of me really, deeply hopes it didn’t. Either way, my soul will never recover. I’ve told them to kill. Explorers – ragged, shabby ponies from the wastes beyond the valley’s walls – stumbled into the valley. They were ugly, sickly, but good ponies at heart. Friendly. And the Twisted Manes, being good if frustrating ponies, welcomed them. Gave them drink. Fed them. Fed them the punga. I remember very little of the years that have gone by. But I remember the bird at my doorstep. The punga’s fruit holds seeds, and those seeds will grow in anything whose substance has soaked in the radiation of the poisoned Equestria. I do not sleep. But I dream. And in those dreams, I see the punga spreading beyond the valley, unstoppable. Sinking its roots into every living thing in the blighted lands. Mass extinction, a prelude to Equestria’s hollow rebirth. Solaris succeeded. And their success threatens an apocalypse even greater than the war. ----- OOO -----

----- OOO ----- I’ve heard the tale now. One survivor of the ill-fated expedition wandered into a town, raving in the throws of dying madness, telling of an oasis hidden somewhere up the river, a green place of clean air and pure water. The poor pony croaked in the midst of his rants. The townsfolk never understood what killed him – assumed it was radiation insanity – but I’d bet if you cut that pony open, you’d find roots in his body where only meat and blood should be. I’m leaving Gaia Valley. Aw, shucks, I don’t know why I stay any way. Meaningless names scrawled on a wall. Purposeless recordings done out of habit. The punga clog the river, stealing what little precious poison comes my way. Getting harder to find something good and irradiated to drink. Gonna be the case everywhere soon enough. I’ve seen the punga growing along the riverbanks in the canyon beyond that big building with the pornographic winged unicorn on it. The punga got out. The new ending has already started. More strangers have come, but not the explorers I expected. Griffins bearing tribal banners of black and red, bringing promises and guns. Giving both to the White Hooves, who have gone to war with the other tribes. They’ve already exterminated the Tenants. Taken the keys to their holy places. Gaia Valley’s river runs red. I think the Twisted Manes and the Dead Buffalo are preparing retaliation. I don’t want to see it. Prefer to remember this place like it was. There’s a city down the river where the explorers came from. A place the griffins’ chief seeks to conquer. Maybe I will find a new home there. In the very least, give them warning. And then wait out the end. ----- OOO -----

Between these recordings and other discoveries, the history of Gaia Valley was revealed. And the group of brave caravan ponies, accompanied by a historical researcher from the Followers of the Apocalypse, ended a great threat there. Below is the opening from the final session of the Gaia Valley adventure: