[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

Kippershy wrote:For Somber, he's been off his medication after his insurance company/policy failed him and he ran out.
For me? The first two days I was like, fuck it, too bored to sleep. Day three it became funny. Day four it became a challenge. Day seven is when it became inability to sleep. Day nine rolled along and I took a whole pot of sleeping meds because I knew if I didn't, I'd eventually die from it.

I admit I usually stay up late at night, sometimes past 2am, but I know sleep is very important. I just should start going to bed earlier more. But, Kippershy, you must have gone through quite a bit of bother.

Changing topic a little, I was reading Chapter 6 "Play" for fun and got curious about Cheerilee being head of the education bureau. I'd definitely like to see Cheerilee again in the story and see what happened to her during the war and why she disliked the MoP's schools.

Evilgidgit wrote:Changing topic a little, I was reading Chapter 6 "Play" for fun and got curious about Cheerilee being head of the education bureau. I'd definitely like to see Cheerilee again in the story and see what happened to her during the war and why she disliked the MoP's schools.

 The same exact thing that happens during any war; biased education focused more towards instilling nationalism than education.  The wasteland is actually a improvement upon wartime equestria.

Caoimhe wrote:

I need to pay more attention here. D:

Welcome back!

I don't know if speculation on Lucanea rescuing Littlepip is still appreciated, but maybe this would please the grumpy grumpypants. What if Lucanea rescuing Littlepip was the latter's Plan B all along? I think she knows Blackjack travels with an alicorn, and when going up against the Goddess, it pays to have a sympathizer present whose loyalties are questionable. It's challenging for her to arrange it without tipping off the Goddess, whose mind is the central consciousness of both Lacunea and Blackjack. But we know Littlepip is good at Batman Gambits so it only requires Somber to be as creative.

As unrelated speculation, I think it's inevitable that Blackjack ends up in Maripony at the time of the Earth Shattering Kaboom because of the Goddess' stated intention of dipping her (hell, this could tie into my above speculation of how Littlepip plans to get Lacunea to show up). What does it add to the story? Well, it resolves one sideplot without a lazy off-screen death and Blackjack could grow as a character from the experience. I also believe it's likely the Goddess will succeed in making Blackjack into an alicorn, and all hope seems lost now that she and Lacunea are brainwashed minions. And then everything explodes and Blackjack and Lacunea must escape while the building is falling apart and the Enclave are in a kill crazy panic.

And before anyone complains that alicorn Blackjack is throwing pandas at us overpowered, consider also that right now people complain about her being a cyberpony, and it's possible alicorn Blackjack will not be able to retain her cybernetic upgrades after gaining a new body. Once again making her a squishy flesh pony who can fly and cast spells just a little better than cyber-Blackjack. Making it the first point in the story since the Green Line that Blackjack suffered a downgrade.

Evilgidgit wrote:

Kippershy wrote:For Somber, he's been off his medication after his insurance company/policy failed him and he ran out.
For me? The first two days I was like, fuck it, too bored to sleep. Day three it became funny. Day four it became a challenge. Day seven is when it became inability to sleep. Day nine rolled along and I took a whole pot of sleeping meds because I knew if I didn't, I'd eventually die from it.

I admit I usually stay up late at night, sometimes past 2am, but I know sleep is very important. I just should start going to bed earlier more. But, Kippershy, you must have gone through quite a bit of bother.

Changing topic a little, I was reading Chapter 6 "Play" for fun and got curious about Cheerilee being head of the education bureau. I'd definitely like to see Cheerilee again in the story and see what happened to her during the war and why she disliked the MoP's schools.

day 1: Nothing
day 2: tiredness, otherwise nothing
day 3: darkness hallucinations. only small. little figures out of the corner of your eye and such.
day 4: increased hallucination rate
day 5: slenderman hallucinations
day 6: beginning of audible hallucinations
day 7: very clear visual hallucinations, somewhat clear audible ones
day 8: very loud audible hallucinations
day 9: I don't even want to tell you

It's not pleasant. It's not funny.

CD wrote:I don't know if speculation on Lucanea rescuing Littlepip is still appreciated, but maybe this would please the grumpy grumpypants. What if Lucanea rescuing Littlepip was the latter's Plan B all along? I think she knows Blackjack travels with an alicorn, and when going up against the Goddess, it pays to have a sympathizer present whose loyalties are questionable. It's challenging for her to arrange it without tipping off the Goddess, whose mind is the central consciousness of both Lacunea and Blackjack. But we know Littlepip is good at Batman Gambits so it only requires Somber to be as creative.

As unrelated speculation, I think it's inevitable that Blackjack ends up in Maripony at the time of the Earth Shattering Kaboom because of the Goddess' stated intention of dipping her (hell, this could tie into my above speculation of how Littlepip plans to get Lacunea to show up). What does it add to the story? Well, it resolves one sideplot without a lazy off-screen death and Blackjack could grow as a character from the experience. I also believe it's likely the Goddess will succeed in making Blackjack into an alicorn, and all hope seems lost now that she and Lacunea are brainwashed minions. And then everything explodes and Blackjack and Lacunea must escape while the building is falling apart and the Enclave are in a kill crazy panic.

And before anyone complains that alicorn Blackjack is throwing pandas at us overpowered, consider also that right now people complain about her being a cyberpony, and it's possible alicorn Blackjack will not be able to retain her cybernetic upgrades after gaining a new body. Once again making her a squishy flesh pony who can fly and cast spells just a little better than cyber-Blackjack. Making it the first point in the story since the Green Line that Blackjack suffered a downgrade.

Considering Trixie has mere hours before going '"THAT'S THE POWER OF KABOOM!"-Billy Mays' blackjack probably isn't going to become a alicorn cause this is the final countdown to Trixie needing SPF 5million.  If blackjack does become a alicorn we're talking like right before littlepip walks in the door.  Like Blackjack walking out of the room with the vats RIGHT before Littlepip walks in.

 It could happen, but that's cutting it wicked close.  Like as soon as blackjack pops out as a alicorn littlepip walking in level close.

cb5 wrote:
Considering Trixie has mere hours before going '"THAT'S THE POWER OF KABOOM!"-Billy Mays' blackjack probably isn't going to become a alicorn cause this is the final countdown to Trixie needing SPF 5million.  If blackjack does become a alicorn we're talking like right before littlepip walks in the door.  Like Blackjack walking out of the room with the vats RIGHT before Littlepip walks in.

 It could happen, but that's cutting it wicked close.  Like as soon as blackjack pops out as a alicorn littlepip walking in level close.

Keep in mind that Littlepip was trapped inside Maripony for a while with an Enclave pony before rescue came for her. Blackjack may not even awaken from her mutation until after Maripony becomes a crater. If Maripony is like the Mariposa base, the vat room would sustain damage and the rest of the facility would cave in at several places, but for the most part can still be excavated by interested parties with the necessary resources, like the (Grand Pegasus) Enclave.

*OFFTOPIC*
I just saw Kim's username on the list of people online. I'd screenshot, but I'm on my phone right now.

Point is, she's back! Yay!

CD wrote:Keep in mind that Littlepip was trapped inside Maripony for a while with an Enclave pony before rescue came for her. Blackjack may not even awaken from her mutation until after Maripony becomes a crater. If Maripony is like the Mariposa base, the vat room would sustain damage and the rest of the facility would cave in at several places, but for the most part can still be excavated by interested parties with the necessary resources, like the (Grand Pegasus) Enclave.

 However if Blackjack does become a alicorn she would need to become one before the bomb was announced and all the alicorns were evacuated.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, rather we're talking, counting in for the amount of time needed to travel to mirapony even with teleporting(I HIGHLY doubt lacunae could just one teleport only teleport clear across the country), a pinhole size window of opportunity.  If it does happen it will be like only a couple minutes before littlepip gets there.

I'm not saying it couldn't happen, rather with how much time is left on the clock it's VERY unlikely and if it does happen it will be RIGHT before littlepip shows up that Blackjack should have just drunk a redbull to get wings.

Hmm... It is possible that Lacunae gets called back by the Goddess in preparation for something (been a long time since I read FOE). I seem to remember that Hellhounds were currently being a huge problem around the time she got glassed.

StoneSlinger88 wrote:Hmm... It is possible that Lacunae gets called back by the Goddess in preparation for something (been a long time since I read FOE). I seem to remember that Hellhounds were currently being a huge problem around the time she got glassed.

 Yeah, but it's simply distance over time.  Teleporting may be fast instantaneous travel, but it has long cool down when over long distances.  It may be super useful inside a single city, but over extremely long distances it's just faster to travel the old fashion way.  If teleporting across the country in one teleport was possible, or was faster than flying then why would the alicorns that can teleport need to fly anyhow?

Let's say a alicorn can fly 30 miles per hour.
Now let's say a alicorn can teleport 20 miles once per hour.
Which mode of transit is faster for travel across a country?

Teleporting is like sprinting.  It's insanely useful in short distances, but completely and totally useless for long distance travel cause of the exponential cooldown and the exponential amount of energy needed.

Teleporting clear across the country would probably end in tragedy also and wind up with blackjack and lacunae's halfway through a wall cause of the exponential margin of error.

The amount of time needed to get to maripony vs the amount of time until littlepip gets to maripony is getting closer and closer, not to mention one shot teleporting across the country would require a insane amount of energy and would more than likely just kill Lacunae and Blackjack from the exponential margin of error.

 Tl:dr; Unless Lacunae targeted them miles in the sky away from everything chances are it would just kill them both from accidentally teleporting inside something.

 Tl;dr; of Tl:dr; Teleporting that far would just kill everyone.

swicked wrote:She's been off and on many times. I've occasionally asked for her to start posting, again.
The problem is she isn't following PH anymore; it's far too misogynistic for her tastes.

Something you might remember her commenting on often prior to her leaving.

I don't mean to be racist, but I find this slightly accurate/inaccurate and have no feelings one way or the other.

Teleportation is not actually instantaneous, at least in the show. We always see a slight delay between Twilight disappearing and reappearing. And it is possible for alicorns to teleport long-range if they work together. If you want to send one alicorn from location A to location G, simply have teleport-capable alicorns stationed at B, C, D, E, and F. Each one in sequence can send the target in question forward one location after another. The goddess certainly has the pony power and coordination needed.

swicked wrote:

cb5 wrote:

swicked wrote:She's been off and on many times. I've occasionally asked for her to start posting, again.
The problem is she isn't following PH anymore; it's far too misogynistic for her tastes.

Something you might remember her commenting on often prior to her leaving.

I don't mean to be racist, but I find this slightly accurate/inaccurate and have no feelings one way or the other.

...racist?

That's what (or one of the things) I was thinking.

Alicorns can probably fly much faster than that. I'd wager their speeds peak just under 100 knots (at least in a dive), however cruising speeds might be anywhere from 25 to 50; still much faster than teleporting long distance or walking, as you said.

Icy Shake wrote:That's what (or one of the things) I was thinking.

Are you thinkin' Arby's too?

Derpmind wrote:Teleportation is not actually instantaneous, at least in the show. We always see a slight delay between Twilight disappearing and reappearing. And it is possible for alicorns to teleport long-range if they work together. If you want to send one alicorn from location A to location G, simply have teleport-capable alicorns stationed at B, C, D, E, and F. Each one in sequence can send the target in question forward one location after another. The goddess certainly has the pony power and coordination needed.

Do you really think Trixie would give up the chance of making Lacunae watch?

Misogynistic?  Why?  O.o

Somber wrote:Misogynistic?  Why?  O.o

I'm wondering too.

cb5 wrote:Do you really think Trixie would give up the chance of making Lacunae watch?

Um, why would she need to leave Lacunae behind? She has sufficient alicorns.

O. Hinds wrote:

Somber wrote:Misogynistic? Why? O.o

I'm wondering too.

If I remember Kim's arguments correctly, she really didn't like how some of the Western/patriarchal mindset was still present even with Blackjack's highly-matriarchal history (the fact that BJ imagined a stallion when trying to think of a strong pony was, I believe, brought up several times). The almost non-existence of female rapists and male rape victims was another common complaint, though I think I remember even Kim admitting that PH was "better" in that regard than Fo:E. I might have the timing wrong, but I think Stygius and Whisper's departure, actually, might have been the final straw for her. I'm not going to say she got upset over nothing—taken as a whole, it evidently became enough of a problem she preferred to stop reading—but, while all valid, quite a bit of what she was picking out were details probably written subconsciously. Kim was just able to see them easily enough that they got in the way of her reading. Kim, if I'm misrepresenting anything, I sincerely apologize.

On a more positive topic, can one of you with a timeline tell us about how far we are from Littlepip blowing up the Goddess? While I doubt Blackjack is going to become a full alicorn before then, CD's point that dipping her might actually make her weaker got me wondering just how impossible that is. If we wind up having even half a day longer than we think we do, it's going to be really interesting seeing where the next couple of chapters take us. Of course, given Somber's recent statements around the topic, they're going to be fun regardless.

It happens tomorrow

@Somber:



Seriously, I've pulled three day all nighters before. It's not good for you.

Has she considered posting in the chat thread?

I understand Swicked. Wouldn't expect you to share any of her personal business, though if it in any way helps I'd love to see her post again regardless of if she reads PH or not.

Respectfully, I must say I don't consider PH misogynist. If anything, it is far more misandrist. Stable 99 was a terrible place to live for males, where they were merely glorified sex toys and killed off to make more room for mares. Blackjack herself had been indoctrinated into thinking stallions were playthings, and P-21 was driven to drug usage and suicide over institutionalized rape, and may possibly have become homosexual as a defence mechanism often encountered among rape victims. And let's not even get into the twisted minds of Daisy and the overmare.

Then there is the fact that the majority of the overtly aggressive and base villains are male. Deus was a complete monster who closely resembles how radical feminists view all men. Blackjack's rapists were spiteful, cowardly brutes. Steelhooves an overcompensating macho later emasculated by Dawn and her Cognitum. Sanguine was an emotionally manipulative father in an almost incestuous, pedophilic relationship with his adopted daughter. It could read like a radical feminist fairy tale about the dangers of males.

Blackjack's sex scene with Stygius can be interpreted as misandrist rather than misogynist. Once again, it is about Blackjack using a stallion to overcome her fear of males after her traumatic experience. It's a good thing this time it was with consent, but Glory's reaction to it tells us that lesbianism is the only acceptable relationship for Blackjack. This point might be obsolete in light of Glory's own heterosexual experience, but time will tell if this was hypocrisy or a plot point.

All that said, I would advise anyone not to take these points too serious. It's a shoe-on-the-other-foot arguement, and although I do believe they are valid points, at no point has it bothered my reading experience in the slightest. On the contrary, the wasteland is supposed to be a harsh place were injustice and inequalty reign. Blackjack's struggle to fight that, and to not give in to it herself is central to the story. And I think any misogyny you perceive in PH counts in the same manner.

Steel Rain, you mean.

Somber wrote:It happens tomorrow

I have a feeling that hoofington is about to explode in violence.

cb5 wrote:

Somber wrote:It happens tomorrow

I have a feeling that hoofington is about to explode in violence.

And, in my usual pavlovian response to that being used, my head played the drumbeats and the opening of the Clock Town BGM.

Am I a terrible human being for still having never beaten that?

Vergil wrote:Am I a terrible human being for still having never beaten that?

You're a step up from me. I've never played Orcarina of Time.