Sierra Madre

The Sierra Madre Hotel and Casino, often shortened to "The Madre", was a large resort for the wealthy located in the West Badlands. It was owned and designed by Frederick Sinclair, brother of Midnight Field General George Sinclair, to provide a high-end retreat from the newfound horrors of warfare. What the public did not know is that the hotel was dedicated to "Art Deco", an up-and-coming Earth Pony Mare actress that Sinclair had fallen madly in love with, though the feeling was not mutual.

The Sierra Madre's funding came from the Midnight's "Cavalry Programme", having come from the shambles of Gideon's plans following the latter's murder. Sinclair left his former post as a blacksmith for the Midnight and began construction on a small town in the Badlands, calling it "Villa" and offering space and refuge for anyone who wanted to escape the war. Sinclair used his brotherly relation to the Field General of the same name to get the Midnight to simultaneously ignore and aid the bustling settlement, which quickly grew into a town. Most of the civilians, being Ponies, were excited to hear of a new resort being built on the edge of the Badlands on the fringe of their own, known as the Sierra Madre. Most of the citizens joined as builders for the large project, unaware of what it was really meant for.

Frederick Sinclair officially finished construction in 2075 and organised a huge guest list for people to attend the "Grand Galloping Gala", as the Madre had been given the green light to host the event in 2077 to celebrate the grand opening. The list of guests was topped by the Clan St George Briton Dean Domino, the former Crystal Empire Princess Cadance and her daughter Flurry Heart, and of course, the popular actress and singer Art Deco.

Even during construction and leading up to the big day, the Madre suffered problems. The surrounding Villa's inhabitants began to become restless, seeing the Madre's finishing as the start of the end for their town. This was only worsened by the ongoing Equestrian Great War, as the townspeople were welcomed from all governments and the town itself was not aligned with the Midnight Empire, Solar Accord, or the Militia. As it was a Free State, many considered the town to be affiliated with the Militia, leading to political unrest. The Midnight was the only faction with direct access to the town, as it was south of their capitol of Everfree City, but the Midnight Empire itself outright refused to annex the Villa - at least until the Great War was over. The local police service, mostly ex-soldiers of the varying factions, were also stretched to their limit as Sinclair stepped up security measures considerably - banning the majority of outside materials inside the Villa.

The Inventory
Frederick Sinclair was adamant that the Sierra Madre had to be self-dependant. As such, he forbade the importation of third-party equipment once the Villa was able to produce it's own. This lead to a distinct lack of Equestrian Arms, Lunar or Solar weaponry and armour inside the Madre, and eventually the Villa itself. This new brand of equipment was dubbed "Madre Essentials", and was often known for either being far too dangerous for what the item was or not powerful enough to actually do the job. Sinclair privately agreed with this sentiment and thus contracted Big Mountain Research Labs with an offer. He would have the Villa be a testing ground for "safe" experiments, and in return the Madre would get top-of-the-line equipment. While this allowed the Madre to gain access to technologies beyond even the Midnight, such as the "Vending Machines" that would print food and other necessities with Magic and space-age knives that cut through anything, it also caused even more social strife within the Villa as while the inhabitants were prevented from accessing third-party amenities, they were subsequently forced to make use of third-party equipment that was clearly unsafe.

The Cloud
Overtime, a faint smell of "rusted blood" began to arrive on the wind. In order to prevent the stench from polluting the Grand Opening, Sinclair had gigantic fans built into the underground to "suck" the scent below, putting it out of sight and out of mind. But all this accomplished was flooding the underground tunnels with concentrated "Cloud", which proved to be a major health hazard to the workers. The workers were given Hazmat Suits from Big Mountain to protect them, but the Cloud still seeped in through the filters of the suit and rusted the zippers closed, trapping the workers inside their suits. As more and more of the Cloud was tucked away, it began to overflow onto lower, poorer areas of the Villa. Things would only get worse after the Midnight enacted "Operation: Penance" and began to make heavy use of the Ion Cannon for orbital bombardment of enemy encampments. The continual fire appeared to thicken and reproduce the Cloud, which began to choke the Villa.

The Last Lights
On the day of the opening of the Casino, the Grand Galloping Gala was set to start. Everyone was in position and they had brushed their troubles under the rug, when disaster struck again. The sky was set alight as the Last Lights began. The Villa was not hit directly, and was not exposed to high amounts of Radiation due to the filtration systems Sinclair had created in a panicked anticipation. However with the outside world incinerated, the Villa fell into anarchy. The Madre itself never opened, and it's guests were mostly sealed inside save for the few who were outside when celebrations were to begin. Of those locked inside were Art Deco and Frederick Sinclair, as well as Flurry Heart.