“Tell me we’re not going to look more into this... this... den of sin and lust?” Ocellus grumbled as the five of them waited for Yona to come back from the bathroom. Gallus and Silverstream had decided to sit closer to the sphere to get a closer look at the upcoming chapter about New Vegas. For Silverstream, she wanted to just see the pretty lights and the excitement. For Gallus, well, a teenage boy is a teenage boy. The rest had stayed where they were with Ocellus blushing a storm while Sandbar was doing his best not to notice.

“Why not? Compared to the brutal stuff we saw with Caesar and his cronies, I think we can enjoy taking a look at a place of fun and excitement,” Gallus said, grinning.

“You just want to see the humans shake their naked rumps in your face,” Ocellus pointed out.

“Aren’t we all naked to begin with?” Silverstream pointed out. “Plus a lot of pony dances seem to involve shaking their tail areas.”

“Yes, but they have their tails down to hide their... their...” Ocellus was starting to turn completely red before shaking her head. “Why are we even talking about this?!”

“I don’t know, but I hope Yona comes back soon. I’m bored of waiting,” Smolder muttered, flicking her fingers across some crumbs. She didn’t have to wait long as Yona arrived with a relieved smile on her face. “Finally, now let’s start this already.”

The narrator started by saying how much wasn’t built anymore in the Wasteland, but before the Great War, it was a different story. The students watched as videos of factories and machine making robots were played before focusing on a new type of robot they hadn’t seen before. They had a tire wheel for legs and were built like soldiers with long arms and screens for faces. Each one showing a picture of a cartoon looking cop with a spinning antenna on top of the robot. They stood outside of a bright sign that said: “Welcome To The Strip”.

These robots were not built by the old companies like General Atomics, but by their rivals “RobCo” whose CEO and inventor was running New Vegas right now: Mr. Robert House.

“Wait a minute, that would mean the guy is over two-hundred and fifty-something years old!” Gallus shouted in disbelief. “Can humans live that long?”

“From what the narrator is saying, not really. I think this Robert House might be a one of a kind,” Sandbar said.

After quickly seeing a computer with Mr. House’s face on it, the screen showed a young man, who looked like the picture on the screen from earlier, watching gamblers in a bright red and back casino. With all the bright lights, clothing, and happy chatter it was clear that this was before the Great War. Robert House was indeed born before the Great War, but while he wasn’t the only one alive from that time, it was a mystery to this day how he survived it. Nobody had ever seen him or know what he looked like today. Was he a ghoul? A mutant? A robot? Or something else? There was a focus on a strange pod connecting to many machines with the narrator suggesting he used some advanced life support system to keep himself alive all these years, but nobody was sure of the true answer.

“Could you see yourself living that long?” Sandbar asked Ocellus.

“Hmm, maybe. It would give me time to learn a lot more than in a fifty-year lifespan,” Ocellus said with a shrug.

“Woah, changelings only live for fifty years?” Smolder said in awe as the others looked at Ocellus with wide eyes.

“Does this mean friend Ocellus grow old before us?” Yona asked. “Cause Yaks live up to hundred years!”

“Well, before we changed, only the Queen or King of the hive lived a near-immortal life. Changelings pretty much lived no more than fifty to sixty years. With our bodies now changed, we’re not sure how long we’re going to live now. It might be just the average pony age of eighty to ninety,” Ocellus said with a nervous smile.

“A hippogriff tends to live around a hundred and twenty years so you won’t be growing old on your own Yona!” Silverstream said as she and Yona nodded.

“Eh, Griffins go from seventy to a hundred. It varies,” Gallus shrugged as he gave his out.

“... a thousand years.”

Everyone paused and slowly turned to Smolder who had her knees hugging her chest as she tried to avoid their gaze. “Dragons... live typically between seven hundred to a thousand years... sometimes older...”

None of the others said anything as the mood suddenly got depressing. A realization that none of them realize until now began to echo in their minds. Smolder gave a nervous smile and laughed a bit. “W-well, it’s not going to mean anything in the long run. I mean, I don’t think that there is anything after death so... It’s not like... well...”

“How can you say that? The afterlife is-”

“How about we focus on the video for now and... Discuss this after?” Ocellus decided and everyone quickly nodded, putting their focus on the screen as Smolder sighed softly.

Their focus was now on House’s casino, The Lucky 38. Back then it was a popular gambling resort, now it was his fortress where nobody goes in or comes out; including Mr. House. Because he only communicated through computer screens, nobody was sure if he was human or not.

Yet while the House of today is a mystery, the House of the past is quite known. He was a popular flamboyant figure who mingled with the rich and famous in America from the movies to the military. He was born in 2020 back when New Vegas was called Las Vegas and had a proper upbringing by being raised by rich parents. Unfortunately, he got unlucky when he lost his parents and brother cheated him out of his parents' fortune.

“What a jerk!” Silverstream shouted, huffing. “I’d never do that to my little brother!”

“Yona want to smash cheater brother!”

Despite losing his parents and his money, House had something that couldn’t be stolen: his genius in engineering and business. At twenty-two, he formed RobCo, the top of the line robots company as shown by the robots being lined up for presentation to Gallus’ joy. House quickly regained his wealth and became even richer over time thanks to them. These robots were still working and wandering the Wasteland even today. They were built to be anything from a police officer to even a sexbot.

“A what?!” Ocellus shouted in horror as Smolder and Sandbar couldn’t help but laugh at the idea while struggling to keep air going through their lungs. “What kind of sick creature has sex with a machine?! HOW DO YOU HAVE SEX WITH A MACHINE?!”

“Yeah, I love robots but not that much,” Gallus agreed, shivering at the thought.

Outside of robots, RobCo was famous for building another invention: The PipBoy. It was a wrist device that acted like a mini-computer that was given to everyone inside the vaults. While they were most likely used by the Enclave to keep tabs on their experimental lab rats, the PipBoys were made to last and were quite useful too. More than one heroic wastelander had used them in their adventures.

There was also Liberty Prime, the big giant robot the East Coast Brotherhood of Steel used against the Enclave. House had been part of that project and was so proud of it he even had a portrait of him with his big creation.

“Hey, if he’s the brains behind that big bucket of awesomeness he’s okay in my books!” Gallus said with a thumbs up.

It turned out that Mr. House knew that The Great War was inevitable. War was coming and he wanted to not only survive its aftermath but save his beloved city as well. He used his vast wealth and contacts to turn the Lucky 38 into a military fortress capable of destroying or hacking the nuclear missiles that would come in close contact with the city. If that wasn’t enough, he built an army of securitrons, the robots from earlier, to keep law and order when the crisis was over.

“Wow, he loves his city, huh?” Sandbar said with a nod of approval.

“Yona do the same for Yakyakistan!” Yona declared stomping her hoof on the ground.

“I wonder why he couldn’t save more than just his hometown?” Silverstream asked.

“Maybe he didn’t have enough money or power to do it?” Gallus suggested.

While House was able to defend Las Vegas from the bombs, something must have gone wrong in his plans to rebuild the world. Because for two centuries he just stayed quiet in The Lucky 38 while all of Vegas fell into anarchy. The citizens stopped their gambling and rich lifestyles to fight one another for food, water, and territory. They became the barbarian tribes of New Vegas, each unique in their ways as they ignored the white ivory tower of Mr. House’s casino.

But that wasn’t the worst of it. Some of the tribals engaged in an act that was barbaric even in the Wasteland: cannibalism.

“Oh, sweet Celestia!” Sandbar shouted as did the others in a similar fashion. They all turned away as they watched a humans tear up another human and began to eat them raw like a sack of meat. For those who didn’t eat meat, they felt their breakfasts coming up while even those who did look at such a thing with disgust and horror. Cannibalism was all but forbidden in every meat-eating culture. It was one thing to eat the flesh of another creature or animals, but your kind?

“Ugh, just like that serial killer a few years back in Griffinstone,” Gallus gagged as the scene soon ended. “The sick twisted griffin chopped up his victims and made them into a stew.”

“Just when you think we’ve seen the worst out of the Wasteland...” Silverstream groaned, shaking her head.

“I’m surprised we’re not all throwing up right now!” Sandbar pointed out.

“Yona close too. Very close,” Yona gulped as she turned a bit green.

“I think after seeing what the Legion was like its hardened our stomach,” Smolder said, shaking her head. “Even we dragons don’t eat our kind unless we’re very desperate or angry.”

If these Tribes had been further out west, they would have been destroyed by the NCR or the Brotherhood of Steel. If they were further out east, they would have been forced into joining the Legion. Fortunately, they were in the middle and maintained their twisted cultures for generations. The very town they lived in was dark for many years until NCR troops were spotted coming into the Nevada state. For Mr. House, this was the hope that civilization was returning once more and so he lit up New Vegas like a Hearth's Warming Eve tree to beacon all to come and enter.

While Mr. House did have a useful army of robot minions in his securitrons, he needed human hands to rebuild Vegas. The group watched as the robots surrounded tribal after tribal and forced them to surrender or be destroyed. While some did resist, they were filled with bullets a second later while many more lay down their arms and gave in. However, a few were mentioned by the narrator that they left for greener pastures.

The mood then changed to bright lights and a smooth sound as the six watched as humans in fancy clothes sat down at their tables drinking and eating actual good food. It was a major difference in what you normally see in the Wasteland. In front of the guests was a stage, bright and covered in glitter, where dancing male humans in suits began to tap dance on the stage together. The six found themselves interested in the dance routine with Sandbar even bobbing his head to the beat while Smolder snapped her fingers a few times with the rhythm.

The scene then changed to show a big room filled with card tables, craps tables, and slots with humans going back and forth to play them. Many of them were the same humans in fancy suits who seemed to be the owners of the casino. The narrator said that House turned them into the top entertainment side of Vegas reminiscent from his youth. He turned their spear throwing barbarian ways into the gutter and made them smooth-talking swingers who held the best show stage in all of New Vegas.

“Ohhh, sounds like a fun place to be!” Silverstream cheered with delight.

Of course, there was a different kind of entertainment that some wanted besides dancers, singers, and cards. Everycreature blushed as the scene changed to a different casino, one that was blood red with fluffy heart-shaped pillows everywhere. Three guys were cheering and tossing caps towards three bikini-clad women who were dancing rather exotically in front of them. Making sure their teats and rears were right up to the noses of the horny men. One was even dancing on a pole.

“Ah, now here is where the real fun begins,” Gallus said with a wide smile.

Ocellus growled before covering Sandbar’s eyes with her hoof. He turned around to question why, but a quick glare made him stop himself. It turned out House wasn’t afraid for a lower class of entertainment and action, so he turned a tribe of brutes into the owners known as the Omertas. This seedy group of gangsters gave every vice known from sex workers to chem pushing. They were disgusting, but it seemed like plenty were willing to pay to have their darkest desires come true.

Thankfully, where there was a low class there was also a high class. To the relief of everycreature (save Gallus), the change of scenery was a welcomed as they moved from a den of scum and villainy to a blue and oyster-white sparkle of wonder. Home to rich looking socialites dressed in the finest of clothing, with some of them, masked as if they were at a ball. It was like looking at the human version of a casino made for the grand elite of Canterlot. Everyone was in awe of how clean, polish and professional it looked. There was so much wonder and light it if Professor Rarity was watching she would all but demand to live there. Smolder focused on the dresses and masks. Secretly, she wished she had those to wear.

The White Glove Society was House’s biggest success with the tribes. He turned a monstrous gang of savages who did unspeakable acts into a high-class elite of wealth and manners. “Wow, if House can do that to these guys, what do you think he could do with creatures in our world? Like Diamond Dogs?” Sandbar asked. Everyone started thinking of a Diamond dog in a fancy suit and mask serving drinks and cards and just laughed at the idea.

What made the Ultra Lux stand out as a gem among the world of despair was its food. Mouthwatering fresh meats and vegetables were served in a grand ball dinner room where only the finest and richest could afford. Everyone’s mouth water at the sight of things like fresh salad and fried vegetables, smoked salmon with scallops, and big juicy steaks with onions.

“So... good....” Yona muttered, eyeing a warm squash pie.

The narrator continued to talk about all three casinos vying for House’s attention, but the six were too busy talking to one another to care.

“Okay, I’m settled. I think the Ultra Lux is the best!” Smolder said as he imagined herself in a beautiful dress, drinking tea while having a hot steak by her side.

“I agree, it looks like it's the most cultured!” Ocellus seconded.

“Yona like Tops! It bright and fun!”

“Oh, I do too! I’d love to get up there and sing or dance! And the lights are so pretty!” Silverstream said with her eyes glittering.

“Gamora for me baby,” Gallus said as everypony rolled their eyes. “What? I’m a guy, sue me.”

“This is why you’re never going to get a special somecreature in your life,” Ocellus said, shaking her head.

Regardless of which one was better, they all agreed that New Vegas was an oasis utopia in the wasteland. Which explained why both the NCR and the Legion were trying to take it from House. Both were expanding civilizations that needed to take over more land and resources to continue, and New Vegas was in the middle of it all. For now, House was in control, but with the war between the two nations brewing how long could that last?

“So three separate powers are trying to rule the one place that could make it or break it for their efforts to rebuild the world? While I don’t know who would be better, House or NCR, I think we can all agree the Legion should NOT be in control,” Sandbar said, which everyone nodded their heads in agreement. “Still, I don’t know how House is going to come up on top with both armies gunning for him.”

The narrator stated a similar agreement. House may have had his tribals, his securitorns, and a fortress of his own, but was it enough to take out two of the biggest armies in the wasteland? Or did House have an extra card up his sleeve to even the deck? Regardless of who had the advantage, it was clear that a lot of innocent blood was going to be lost in the battle for New Vegas. The Legion was willing to crush or enslave everyone in their way while its leader saw his soldiers as expendable tools built to serve and die for him. The NCR had slaughtered and annexed many in their expanding ‘noble’ efforts to bring democracy to the leaderless. And House was not afraid to use his robots to submit or eliminate any of the tribals who stood in his way for power.

“The way the narrator is talking it's like none of the sides are the good sides,” Smolder said, eyebrow raised.

“Are there any good sides in war?” Ocellus asked out loud.

While many were most likely destined to suffer, there has been no local tribe that has suffered more than The Great Khans. A focus on a rock bearing a strange graffiti showing a mustached warrior with a helmet glaring at the six who were a bit disturbed by the symbol.

Just like the NCR’s origins, they too were from the first vaults that opened and became one of the most infamous raiders in the wasteland. It was hard to feel sorry for a bunch of chem pushing murderers, but even they had a sad story of facing annihilation again and again. Yet, they always somehow survived.

But that was a story for another day...

Author's Notes:

Next up is the Great Khans. Everyone's favorite gang of drug dealing fuck ups.