Sister forum[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Sat Mar 21, 2015 10:55 pm
Stable 22?EvilGidgit wrote:Definition of Mercy / Clearing House
Mercy kill the occupants of Stable #22
O. Hinds- Zebra Engineer
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by FeatherDust Sun Mar 22, 2015 12:25 am
>Some Assembly Required
>Discover Stable #90.
Ha! Lovely.
>Discover Stable #90.
Ha! Lovely.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Exodus Hero Sun Mar 22, 2015 5:52 am
The Laws of Science Be A Harsh Mistress
Survive being crushed by a boat
Shop Smart... Shop, S-mart
Equip a Boomstick
Consider Me Scared and Aroused!
Survive your first encounter with Lancer
No Country for Old Mares
Discover the Identity of Mare-Do-Well
Not in the Face!
Successfully remove mutation form your face
Survive being crushed by a boat
Shop Smart... Shop, S-mart
Equip a Boomstick
Consider Me Scared and Aroused!
Survive your first encounter with Lancer
No Country for Old Mares
Discover the Identity of Mare-Do-Well
Not in the Face!
Successfully remove mutation form your face
Exodus Hero- Stallion/Mare
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Evilgidgit Sun Mar 22, 2015 8:05 am
I meant Stable #99. I was remembering which chapter Blackjack kills the Stable at the same time. 
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Harmony Ltd. Sun Mar 22, 2015 11:35 am
Tainted Love
Join Unity
Wicked Game
Lose a love interest
Head Like A Hole
Lose control of yourself to the Goddess
Fight Fire With Fire
Become an Executioner
Land Of Confusion
Save the Hoof
I Need A Hero
Save a community
Trying to come up with more song-related achievements...
Join Unity
- Spoiler:
- (gain the ability to talk with the Goddess and Lacunae with your mind as you become part-alicorn from taint exposure)
Wicked Game
Lose a love interest
- Spoiler:
- (I thought of Glory there, but this can apply more generally to anyone and any kind of loss)
Head Like A Hole
Lose control of yourself to the Goddess
- Spoiler:
- (Alternate title could have been "Assuming Direct Control", but it wasn't song-related)
Fight Fire With Fire
Become an Executioner
- Spoiler:
- (paired with the "I'm Not an Executioner" achievement. Get this achievement when you choose not to spare someone)
Land Of Confusion
Save the Hoof
- Spoiler:
- (Finish the game with the Hoof still alive and all the surviving communities doing well)
I Need A Hero
Save a community
- Spoiler:
- (What would be the first community BJ saved again? Was that Megamart? I can't remember, it's been so long...)
Trying to come up with more song-related achievements...
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Technowolf Sun Mar 22, 2015 2:10 pm
I think you linked the wrong video.Harmony Ltd. wrote:Land Of Confusion
Save the Hoof
- Spoiler:
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Harmony Ltd. Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:13 pm
No, that was intentional.
But anyway, thinking about, I think this achievement would be better attributed like so:
Land Of Confusion
Organize the Resistance
But anyway, thinking about, I think this achievement would be better attributed like so:
Land Of Confusion
Organize the Resistance
- Spoiler:
- (convince the factions of the Hoof to unite to fight the forces of the Legate and/or Harbingers)
Harmony Ltd.- Draconequus
- Posts : 8667
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Sun Mar 22, 2015 3:49 pm
Ah, okay.Evilgidgit wrote:I meant Stable #99. I was remembering which chapter Blackjack kills the Stable at the same time.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Icy Shake Mon Mar 23, 2015 1:47 am
Chapter 68 is one of those that really reminds me of the story's roots, and consequently, is one of the most fun in some time. Yes, the weight that's built up for so long is still there, but for the moment, we don't need to worry too much about them as the immediate goals are simple and achievable through the things Blackjack does best. Putting her back in the underdog and outsider positions helps with that, and Blackjack and alcohol is still a winning combination.
- Chapter Sixty Eight Running Thoughts:
- “Unicorn Flux clones,” he said, rather annoyed. “The mechasprites built the gun. We used the clones to enact rituals uncovered by Rarity in the course of Project Eternity. While Rarity never let me study the Black Book directly, I did have exclusive access to all her research notes. That, along with other lore she’d confiscated from libraries and zebras all across Equestria, allowed us to work out how to make the blanks draw in a star spirit and bind it to the stone.”
Establishes not only how PH worked, and the star spirit, but also sets up the threat of unicorn blanks on the Legate's side. [ETA: And, more immediately, Silver Stripe.]
I’d always handled Pinkie by letting her catch the violent criminals and the overtly corrupt. The bad ponies. But towards the end, I hated her.” He paused. “No. I hated her Pinkie Sense. Her… her meddling.”
Note how much the talk of "meddling" makes him sound like the Legate.
I remembered Amadi’s rant against Discord.
Oh hey.
“We’ve given as much of the poppy tears as we can,” another zebra said, checking the bottles.
Expanding the possibility that Med-X is morphine.
Her hooves grew tighter around his neck as they started to shake. He grunted and tried to pull away. “Momma! You’re hurting me!” he cried out.
“Shut up!” she hissed, spraying spit as her hooves tightened even more. “You’re a horrible child! A monster! I know what you’re going to do! Who you are going to serve!” She screamed. I lunged forward, trying to pull her legs off from around the boy’s neck, but my hooves passed through her as if through mist.
I wonder what exactly the deal is that led her to this oracular experience. Was it always something she had going on? Is it something that just happens to some ponies? Is it the brain tumor? Probably the brain tumor.
“Then you need to go with me to the moon and find some other way,” I said. . . . “Unfortunately, you’re missing the fact that you have to kill me. You’re my executioner.”
He's still on that? Get with the program, man.
“That seems… both hypocritical and somewhat cowardly,” he pointed out as he regarded me flatly. “You decide that ponies deserve to die all the time. The ponies you’ve killed didn’t throw themselves on your bullets.
Well, not most of the time. There were some who came close, though.
“I fucked up!” I roared at both of them. “I’ve admitted it over and over again! I fucked up! I’d give anything to have done it differently. What do you want from me?”
“To push the button,” Goldenblood said coolly as he stepped between the pair. “To do what you did then to me now. Kill me. If you could do it to your stable, doing it to me should be foal’s play.”
See, I'm pretty sure the angle here is to goad her into playing executioner by pushing her emotional buttons, but it's hilarious that the actual argument seems to be look at the other times you did what you say you don't want to do now, and how much you regret them and believe they were mistakes, so now do it again.
Four stallions appeared next to him. One leered at me, the one from the bridge over the Hoofington River. “Gotta say, didn’t think you’d be dumb enough to let us walk. I thought we were dead for sure.” He grinned even more. “And the second time we met, you almost couldn’t kill me. Admit it.”
Okay, so it looks like in her own mind at least, Blackjack now believes it was she who pulled the trigger.
Is it because I’m male? Some deep festering guilt over what you did to stallions like P-21 back in your stable? You only kill mares because of lingering resentment of the Overmare, Daisy, and your mother?
This strikes me as impressively off-base. "Only kills mares"? Where's he get that? But at least the resentments are plausible, since even where her mother is concerned he wouldn't have any reason to know that that's not really what she feels towards her.
My white hide was wrapped not in cybernetic plating but in dyed-black Security armor stitched to a ponyhide base. More scars crossed my skin, and my mane lay a little more chopped and wild. A pair of mirrored shades covered my eyes, reflecting the world back at him, and they gleamed along with the pair of hoofcuffs on my belt. A well-used security baton hung at my side, and I levitated up the pump-action shotgun and pointed it at his face.
“This is me as an executioner, Goldenblood. Corrupted justice,” I said in a low, rough sneer.
Love the look, don't care for the "corrupted justice" line.
“Goldenblood’s better at this than you are. He wouldn’t have tried to talk me into killing him by telling me I’m something I’m not and will never be. Now go away. The big ponies have business.”
Yeah. Also, I kind of like it when Blackjack goes into contempt mode with people who deserve it. Very cathartic.
“That is the question. I’d like to think that, at the end, she died as Princess Luna. But as she was progressing, with the steps put in place, she would have ushered in a very dark thousand years.
Pretty much what I've tended to believe, perhaps a bit more pessimistic.
“I am trying to save ponies’ lives, and you’re still fixated on you. Still. Even now.” I sighed and took another drink as he sat there, looking wretched. “Why don’t you help me?”
The question seemed to rouse him a little. “You’d accept my help?” He laughed jovially, then trailed off as I continued smiling at him. His lips curled in sickly, horrified disbelief. “...Wait, you’re serious?”
Right about here, I'm imagining her just snapping and saying "Yes! I'm really not that hard to understand if you pay attention to me! The things I want that are relevent to this conversation aren't exactly complex! I want everyone to live and be good ponies and be happy! How does killing you get me that?"
“You haven’t been paying attention to me, have you?” I said with a laugh. “So long as you keep trying to do better, that’s all I ask. The computer was right when it pointed out I kill a lot of folks that didn’t need to die, and I save folks who I probably shouldn’t have. Can’t do anything about the former other than try my best not to do it again. But sparing others… I like to believe that ponies want to do the right thing. To be better. Killing just leaves corpses.”
Not far off, but much calmer.
“Subject revival in progress. Notify the M.o.P. for medical care. Terminal data damage to this program. Conducting a remote transfer to an available mobile unit.
Ah, so that's what was behind the Applebot.
It took me fifteen minutes to find it, but yes, there it was, the glass bottle with its amber contents seeming to possess a faint aura accompanied by the singing of holy spirits.
Ca-ching! Also, nice pun.
“You were a teacher and a politician. How do you just… summarize someone like that?” It seemed a little ridiculous.
“Every teacher’s a little bit of a psychologist. We have to understand students. Parents. But really… it’s art. My talent is appreciating the value of people, what they can contribute… how they can best be used. I can tell pure metals from base alloys in seconds. I know their strength, their malleability.”
Useful talent to have in most contexts, though of course I don't see why "politician" would be something you'd particularly not associate with that. In any case, works with his cutie mark about as well as any of the more abstract ones.
I need… woo…” I caught myself. Wow. Only a fifth of a bottle, and I was already getting tipsy.
About 5 oz or three drinks, on an essentially empty stomach and a body with no alcohol tolerance. I'm not too surprised.
“I tried asking nice. If he still won’t send us back, then I’ll have no choice but to kick his ass, take that talisman, and send us both back despite him.”
“You?” Goldenblood said skeptically. “Blackjack, I know you’ve overcome much, but–”
Blackjack: It's been too long since I've had a nice, simple problem that can be solved by one-on-one violence! And I'm drunk! How much better do things get? This is what I do.
I shut him down with a look. It was the first time I’d given that look since Cognitum had torn my cutie mark away. It was the perfect blend of overconfidence and malice sprinkled with just the right amount of mad audacity, soaked masterfully in ethanol. My shooty look.
I like the description. Will say, though, that she's had the shooty look plenty of times when that combination (even ignoring the alcohol) didn't really apply.
“But nothing,” I said with a grin. “I’m getting out of here. I’m getting back to Glory. My friends. I’m going to stop Cognitum and Amadi. I’m going to get my baby back and be the best damned mommy I can be. And do you know why?”
His eyes widened, and he shook his head ever so slightly, as if afraid that the wrong answer might set me off.
“Because I’m Security, and I think I’ve had one too many,” I said, glancing at the bottle. Then I took one more pull and swallowed hard. “Yeah. Definitely one too many. Let’s ride, Goldie.”
That's some real intensity there, but with that twist of humor at the end that lightens it up nicely. Reminds me of the Blues Brothers, a bit, but with Blackjack taking both Elwood and Jake's lines from this:
Goldenblood was just missing one important fact:
He was trying to negotiate with a fifth of whiskey.
I really hope she didn't drink the whole thing. That, or ponies (or Flux clones) can handle a crazy amount.
I narrowed my eyes, took an indolent pull off the bottle, smacked my lips, and grinned back. “Ayep.”
Whew. Good. She was just talking about the fifth she was still in the middle of drinking.
The king’s children, however, proved far less enthusiastic. ‘R U Crazy?!’ the batpony stallion asked.
Channeling RD: "Have you even met me?"
Okay… I gave him a hug and a brief kiss on the lips... then a firmer smooch... damn, he was a nice kisser… at the doorway to the throne room. “You’re a good pony. Thanks for helping me. Go and see to Whisper.”
You can take a girl out of Stable 99 . . .
He had the advantage on me in size, strength, armor, weaponry, flight, and destructive magical power.
I had the advantage of being too drunk to care.
Doesn't this just have the wonderful feel of Blackjack version 1? It's a wonderful simplicity, and for all I love the weight that's built up since then, it's hard not to enjoy this feeling. But beyond that, it's a reminder that underneath the burdens of responsibility and regret and love and failure and triumph, that mare is still there.
I really have to imagine that Persephone is thinking right now something along the lines of "Why do I have to deal with these people?" or "Everything would run so much more smoothly if my blowhard husband weren't in charge." It reminds me of a more extreme version of the Stronghoof/Crumpets dynamic, except of course Stronghoof has more good points in his favor, at least that we've seen.
I had time to fill my mouth with whiskey and set the haft of the spear perpendicularly to block his vertical chop, raising my hooves and magic to brace the pole.
Oh, of course! I'd forgotten that part.
I reached over with my magic and scooped up his crown, plopping it on my head. “There! Oblitawhatchit me now, jackass!” Ow. Talking hurt. Strike that, breathing hurt. Oh, that wasn’t good.
To my shock, he didn’t. I supposed he liked his crown.
Nice foreshadowing.
I sighed, raised my baton, and then flung my other weapon straight at his face. The glowing whiskey bottle arched straight and true. Of course, a bottle, even half filled with the fluid of heaven, wouldn’t do much to him. It might not even break. He could have deflected it… but he wouldn’t. No, he brought his sword right through the spinning glass. Time seemed to crawl a moment as it shattered into a dozen glistening shards. Glowing shards…
That I directed straight into his eyes.
Great move, and an unforced error on the king's part. And for all that Blackjack had trouble with Goldenblood summarizing people, she's been getting better at reading them, too, though in combat most of all.
“So… what happens now?” I asked, the adrenaline wearing off and… oh... wow... gravity was heavy...
Her greatest enemy!
I looked across at the King and his family. Oh, look: an easy segue! “How is he?”
“Do I look like a doctor?” she said sourly, but then answered, “Probably blind.
Well, given that she looks mostly like Fluttershy . . .
“Again, do you see a M.o.P. mark on my ass?”
“Almost...” I grinned, examining her flank closely. Her eyes narrowed angrily.
There we go.
“The Brood, the Harbingers, and a few dumb scavs who thought discovering Black Pony Mountain is actually Nightmare Citadel meant good looting grounds. Persephone and I are handling the defense.”
“Black…” I blinked. “Is that why the mountain…”
Yep, and only a chapter or two behind the readers! Okay, maybe more.
“I think that that doesn’t matter,” I said firmly. “[Charm] helped me. She gets helped. If that turns her back into a bitch… well… not like I don’t have experience dealing with those, right?”
Of course, tends not to apply in quite the same way when people cross you.
I swear, Whisper's casual homophobia's never gotten old.
Why shouldn’t she be here? I didn’t pay any attention to anything but her as I raced over. She turned her head in surprise as I threw my hooves around her and kissed her so hard I thought my horn would burst. It was…
Wait. That’s not a mare’s tongue.
I broke away and goggled at the gray effeminate stallion I had my hooves around. “Oh, don’t stop there!” he begged with a lazy grin. “I live for moments like this.”
And now she's getting it.
Now or never. I didn’t have a gun or even that fancy armor. All I had was my magic and whatever I could improvise. A smarter pony would have gone after Triage. Maybe tried to convince Sagittarius. Come back later… except… Except after talking to those two, I needed this. I had to show that I was the real Security, not those fakes. Not Cognitum.
I looked over the racks and found what I needed. Good thing about a workshop was all the useful things lying around.
Hello, Wonder-Glue.
One tube of Wonderglue later, and all four of her hooves were secured to the floor. Professor Zodiac was working on the far side of the room. I whispered softly, “I’m Security. The real one you tried to trap with a box of badly-named ‘deadly’ neurotoxin that would put me to sleep. I need you to listen. Just sit tight.”
Okay, so we're doing the PipBuck recording trick, but with a witness instead of a broadcaster. Or maybe in addition to.
“...glad to remind you that only in unity can we stand against this threat. The zebras have begun their final assault. In every corner of the Hoof, they have begun a slow advance in to our territory. The Harbingers will require all your assistance in repelling and annihilating this dire threat to Equestria,” Cognitum said calmly, making the word ‘our’ sound remarkably like ‘my’. “As one, we have the strength of unity to end this threat and unite into a glorious future!”
Really, really not very good at being in character. Yeah, she can say it's changes from her disappearance, but at some level you just have to figure that the people who knew Blackjack will know that it doesn't have the right feel.
“You’d be wise to drop this imper–” Cognitum began when Rampage cleared her throat loudly, drawing her eye. Rampage scowled at her and gave a tiny little shake of her head. Cognitum looked back at Glory, then said in a calmer voice, “Dear Glory, if we hadn’t had to struggle with the divisions of Thunderhead, the city might have been saved. Think of how many died needlessly because of strife and conflict. Think of how many might yet die if we continue to argue among ourselves. Think of the children,” she said with a wave of her hoof at Charity and Scotch Tape.
Okay, that got me laughing a bit. Sure thing, Mrs. Lovejoy.
“As you can see, it’s rather easy to learn all kinds of special things when you can see through important eyes and ears.”
Which raises the interesting point that Cognitum didn't ever seem interested in getting rid of the bugs. But then again, Zodiac is an ally, isn't she?
Needless to say, the focus I needed to teleport away was lost almost instantly; I wasn’t done yet, though. I raised my hooves and smashed them against the cracked seal, and the purple trickle became a deluge. The robot began to jerk erratically as the brain sank to the bottom of the case. One more hit and the dome came loose and flew off, the brain flopping out on the ground. The robot screamed and then fell prone, the blade in my side stilling.
Well, that was a bit of an anticlimax. Then again, already had the Hades duel.
Something was off. I slowly scanned the room, lacking any EFS to help me out. Nothing... yet I couldn’t help but think something was wrong. That’d been too damned eas–
Uploaded? Would make sense, and allow the cavalry a reason to arrive.
“You kill anyone and everyone who might even think of disobeying you, and then... then... you kill a few more just to be safe. Only when you have absolute and utter control do you let them live.”
My back hit the rear wall of the planetarium. She casually knocked the last shelf aside, smirking down at me. “Time to fix her mistake.”
Then she exploded. Well, not all of her. Just everything from horn to shoulders. Her head evaporated in a directed blast that continued into and through the wall above my head.
Okay, figure he heard all the above, roughly.
“Y’hal talsh ta much,” a stallion drawled in a muddled voice from the doorway.
. . .
“I thought we talked about talking first, shooting later.”
“Pretty shure tha’ thing... twern’t feelin’ mighty talky,” he said as he sat down, his words slightly slurred, but I was picking out what was accent and what was the bandages covering him.
Okay, maybe Velvet didn't hear the first part, where he was saying she was too talky. Or maybe Calamity doesn't do the thinking thing very well.
“And if that’s Blackjack, then who was that mare in metal makin’ all them grand statements o’ unity and all that junk?”
“It’s a long and complicated story,” I said, then sat down and looked over at the dead cyberunicorn.
Rarely have truer words been spoken.
Apparently, when the leader of a powerful group dies, there’re quite a few questions asked.
Well, sometimes. That so didn't happen when Awesome died. Or are we counting largely implicit pleas "will you please not kill us?" and "could you maybe not lead a serf rebellion?" as "questions"?
When I finished, it seemed like everypony was sharing my headache. Calamity summed it up best. “Remember them good old days when the worst we had to worry ‘bout was raiders killin’ us and usin’ our insides fer decoration? I sure do miss them.”
Though come on, it's been a long time since that was the case, even for Littlepip and company.
The green stallion waved a hoof. “The Zodiacs were founded to protect the Wasteland.
Were they? Thought they were more Collegiate-specific. And before that, well, mercenary.
I glanced back at her and saw her gentle smile urging patience. She was going to be kept from LittlePip. She understood the frustration of being separated from the one you loved. As painful as it was, I couldn’t go rushing off. I had responsibilities. Duties. Obligations.
I hated every last one of them.
I like Blackjack here. Feels right. Homage . . .
And hopefully Glory would be there. At which point, fuck the whole world. We’d be together forever and screw anyone who said otherwise!
I think Glory might put the kibosh on that. Matter of fact, skrewing anyone who said otherwise might just lead to them being right . . .
“I told everyone everything was alright because I hoped that, after the S.P.P. was under LittlePip’s control, things would calm down. Get back to some normalcy. And it wasn’t an outright lie.
Fuck you, Homage.
Again, this isn't just about the Element; it's also about journalistic ethics. (God damn it. That complaint didn't feel like this half a year or whatever ago.)
So while everything’s not quite as peachy as I said it was on my broadcast, it’s still much better than it was.”
“Except out here,” I said, looking to the Core once again.
“Yeah. Except a lot of places. Things are settling out mostly around the area of Junction Town, really. A bit in Manehattan. Everywhere else... well... it’s going to take some time.”
Does it not count as dishonest as long as you carefully don't think about what you say before you say it?
“Till then, got to keep people’s spirits up and put a positive spin on things, right?”
Maybe if you weren't the only news source in a lot of places. And, incidentally, probably more likely to be the only news source in precisely those areas where "well... it's going to take some time."
She’s working with Celestia to come up with a solution.”
. . . ? The fuck would they do? You know, in exactly the location they can't do anything? And since roughly the start of the war, has Celestia actually had a record of making good decisions, such that you would want her input? Ignoring her abdication, a topic about which I was out of line in my recent strident condemnation (it's not much of an excuse, but my outlook at the time was, I think, negatively influenced by unrelated factors), many other aspects of starting and handling the war while she was in charge, and diplomacy later, paint her, well, unfavorably.
“What?”
“Nothing. I–” she started to say.
“Don’t start ‘Honestying’ me right now, Homage,” I said a little more harshly than I should have. “Not now.”
THANK YOU.
I walked to the fridge and found Sparkle-Cola, bottles of water, and milk inside. In one of the cupboards was a box of Sugar Apple Bombs. I levitated a bowl over, filling it and listening to the powder-covered red bits tinkling against the ceramic. Then I added brahmin milk and levitated the bowl to the table. Slowly, I slipped into the seat, and... and...
I watched my cereal darken and get soggy. A spoon lay unattended, jutting out to the side. I pressed my hooves to my head as the normalcy began to crush me beneath its hoof. I clenched my eyes shut as tears ran down my cheeks. Oh Celestia, it was too much! Cognitum flashed in my memory. My baby. Shadowbolt tower exploding. Fighting Hades. I curled over as if the weight of everything I’d been through over the last day crushed me down. Too much! Too much!
A great little segment. Feels very true to life. And it's almost surprising she didn't hit that point before, but for how she's always been better at going than when she's needed to stop.
I don’t know how long we were like that. Seconds? Eternities? The blob of cereal on my spoon quivered and then plopped back into the bowl, followed a second later by the spoon itself. Glory’s eyes bored into me, pupils constricting as she seemed to wind tighter and tighter. Say something, Blackjack, I hissed to myself. Something. Anything!
The corner of my mouth curled up in desperate hope. “Um... hi.”
She smiled, and for an instant everything was alright. Somehow, I’d make everything good again. But her smile didn’t stop. It became a grimace. Then there were tears springing down her cheeks as she screamed at top of her lungs, “Get out!”
Well, at least this time it didn't involve getting slammed into a wall. And a good place to end the chapter.
- Chapter Sixty Eight Overall Thoughts:
- Perhaps surprisingly, this chapter felt like something of a return to old, old PH, in the first couple of arcs, before even Blackjack's return to Stable 99. Part of that is probably her new body and new vulnerability, and the inability to just power through things based on her augmentations and armory and reputation. But at least as much of that, I believe, is that for most of it Blackjack has a nice, simple goal: get out of the Citadel and back to Glory. And for the most part, it's the kind of goal that can be achieved through the targeted application of violence (it shouldn't need to be, but Hades kinda sucks that way).
It starts out still in the computer, talking with Goldenblood. There's some information dropped about the logistics behind Project Horizons which includes the existence of unicorn Flux clones, setting up that as a threat for later given the Legate's control of the Brood. There's a lot of back-and-forth about trying to get Blackjack to choose a method of execution for Goldenblood, in which it turns out a lot of what had appeared to have been Goldie was actually the computer. Couple points that stood out included Goldenblood* pointing out times BJ had been an executioner, so why not now? which to me seemed like an argument based around, roughly, "See all these times you did what you say you don't want to do now, and how bad it made you feel and how much you regret it? You should totally do that again." Which isn't the strongest persuasive argument in the world, if you look at it closely and think hard about it. Another was when Blackjack constructed a depiction of herself if she had gone down the Executioner route, which had some nice depiction, but unfortunately took a little detour down the Corrupted X cul-de-sac that I don't especially care for:My white hide was wrapped not in cybernetic plating but in dyed-black Security armor stitched to a ponyhide base. More scars crossed my skin, and my mane lay a little more chopped and wild. A pair of mirrored shades covered my eyes, reflecting the world back at him, and they gleamed along with the pair of hoofcuffs on my belt. A well-used security baton hung at my side, and I levitated up the pump-action shotgun and pointed it at his face.
“This is me as an executioner, Goldenblood. Corrupted justice,” I said in a low, rough sneer."
Ultimately, Blackjack gets out to talk with the computer, and argues that it can only achieve its goals by letting him go, since denying him the death he wants, with its attached sense of importance to gratify his ego, is the worst it could do to him. Also, he could have hidden information from it, and Blackjack, as a Ministry Mare heiress, would be an acceptible recipient of the results of any further interrogation.
It ends up agreeing after GB's vitals and actions indicate he doesn't like where that line of discussion is going, and they go off to look for some food and talk a bit. Blackjack finds some Wild Pegasus, and gets right to it (three cheers for the triumphal return of Drunkjack!) as they discuss her options going forward. GB doesn't have anything better to offer than working on the edges through the king's family, gradually appealing to his vanity and such over the next few days. Not an option! Especially after Goldenblood lets slip that Hades controls the way out not through a personal power, but an artifact.
So Blackjack marches in and calls Hades out, and they set up a duel in the throne room. On the way, Blackjack introduces Whisper and Goldenblood to each other in a way that probably left both wishing it had been handled differently. But, well, BJ is drunk and sick with putting up with bullshit and wants to get home. Persephone is quietly showing why she's great during this process, steering things to where they can do less damage and getting some good lines in (paraphrased example: "Is gelding okay?" "I'd rather you didn't: we're trying for a third"). The fight itself is reminiscent of older ones in which Blackjack is seriously outmatched on paper, but through exploiting a couple of advantages (TK giving her better weapons handling and teleportation, mostly) and anything-goes improvisation (getting Hades to shatter the bottle of WP and driving the shards into his eyes), she was able to overcome his strength, flight, and area of effect attack. Unfortunately, Blackjack ends up accidentally tossing the king's crown, which had the talisman she needed, into one of the oblivion areas Hades had made, where it was destroyed, causing the Citadel to fully emerge into the real world.
It's at that point Blackjack passes out from her injuries, and when she awakens (with a significant hangover), she's been patched up and Whisper is ready for a conversation. She's not happy with Blackjack upending things for her again, but says she can leave. (Oh, and for those keeping track, she's not looking to bang her Canterlot ghoul father Goldenblood right now. Also, she still thinks that Blackjack and Tenebra are perverts for being, respectively, bisexual (definitely) and lesbian (I think, at least in canon).) And she should do so now, before the attacks resume, now that the Citadel is no longer apart from the world.
Blackjack and Charm are taken to near the Collegiate, where Charm can get better treatment than the piss-poor job they were doing at the Citadel (they maxed out at giving healing potions and poorly applying bandages, plus "we should go get Hydra for the guy whose eyes were gouged out"), and where Blackjack has other business. She hits a stumbling block where the people there don't believe she's Security, notably saying that Triage is at a meeting at the Society called by Security (Cognitum), but that she's a decent copy. Blackjack gets in by offering to trade her armor and sword (both authentic Nightmare Moon era artifacts) for the use of the healing chamber on Charm. Once inside, Blackjack gets a better idea of why they weren't believing her: in addition to Cogs, there are a bunch of other "heroes" costumed as her, Glory, or others, and talking about the logistics of it and, for example, how the Lightbringer is unpopular because nobody knows what she looks like.
Sulky and filled with self-doubt (hey, this is Project Horizons we're talking about :D), Blackjack gets to business on her next project: confronting the professor, Silver Stripe. Along the way, she captures Virgo, gagging and blindfolding her and Wondergluing her hooves to the floor so she can't alert anyone and will have to listen to what happens. She accuses Silver Stripe of being a spy during the war, and still being one now. She doesn't deny it, saying that after the way she was treated by the ponies during the war, betraying the ministries was easy; she did, however, want to know how Blackjack figured it out. It was the eyes: Silver Stripe's eyes, which had been broadcasting, which would mean that she didn't even need to steal anything, just look at it to send the information to the zebras. She had also been the one Goldenblood had used to send megaspell tech to the zebras on Fluttershy's behalf. Now she's working for the Legate, and secondarily Cognitum. Either way, she'll get the Core and a cyberized world, or so she thinks. Along the way, they see what Cogs is up to: the meeting at the Society, where she's proceeding to fail miserably at sounding like Blackjack, run roughshod over Big Daddy, act abusive towards Glory until Rampage cuts her off, and make a bunch of noise about how they need to meet the new threat of the now-attacking Remnant unified under a single leader, her. After not listening to anything anyone else has to say, she announces that she'll be going to the moon to deal with a zebra superweapon, and she expects the rest to get in line in the meantime and consider their place in the new order after her return. There's a brief fight between her, in the form of a floating multi-armed robot, and Blackjack, which ends pretty quickly as BJ destroys the brain case, but getting her chest cut up and some broken ribs along the way. But it's not over yet: Stripe had transferred her mind into a Brood body, a cyber unicorn, and was getting ready to kill Blackjack when her head was shot off.
Calamity walks in, followed by Velvet Remedy. They talk about what happened, and comment that Blackjack should just be herself rather than pretend to be Blackjack, and that it's what Blackjack would want. She says she knows because she is Blackjack, and follows up by saying how she went out with Littlepip and returned on a wing of alicorns wearing a whiskey bottle crown, which Velvet points out wasn't in The Book of Littlepip since she'd removed the memory and told them not to tell. Calamity isn't entirely convinced, since there could have been a leak somewhere, but it's a good start, and Virgo points out that BJ didn't kill her, and the professor seemed convinced that Blackjack was the real deal. Then Sagittarius comes in and it's time for an investigation, since come on, dead faction leader.
Blackjack fills them in on everything, and they send out a bunch of messengers, decide to have a big meeting at Blueblood Manor, and start making plans for what to do about the augmentations that they've installed in a bunch of people, given they may well be compromised with spyware and kill switches. BJ is asked to wait around, since they don't want Cognitum to find out she's alive and escaped: who knows what she'd do? She goes off to vent, and is met by Homage, who delivers mostly 1) exposition, and 2) stuff I regard as infuriating bullshit, which is to be expected, because she is Homage. Anyway, exposition: things are looking up near the home bases of Littlepip's coterie. Littlepip and Celestia are working together to decide what to do, which in the context of them not being able to see the Hoofington area, affect the weather there, or even communicate with people in the region except by text messages, would seem to me to be "nothing." Calamity should make a full recovery with the help of his cybernetics. Cognitum has left for Luna Space Center with a few ponies. Bullshit: how she thinks it's appropriate, as much of the Wasteland's sole source of news, to "put a positive spin on things" to "keep people's spirits up," but hey, it's all right since it's "not an outright lie." On the plus side, we get this delicious line from Blackjack:
No, no I don't think it was too harsh. Certainly not in the context of that conversation.“Don’t start ‘Honestying’ me right now, Homage,” I said a little more harshly than I should have. “Not now.”
Anyway, after Blackjack gives herself head trauma since it's better than thinking about her responsibilities and love and the people she cares about and the dangers around her (and I think, on a metafictional level, less painful than a continued conversation with Homage), she decides she's leaving for Star House, given that all the plans are in motion and they don't need her at the moment anyway.
Velvet heals her up and one of the alicorns teleports her there. After Velvet leaves, it's a nice scene with Blackjack alone in the house, taking it in and thinking about things. She gets a bowl of cereal, but ends up unable to start eating it due to the crushing weight of everything that's happened the last day. After fifteen minutes, she's finally able to take a bite, and just then Glory arrives. Both are speechless, with Glory's eyes locked on Blackjack and pupils constricting until BJ is finally able to manage "Um... hi." This breaks the spell, and Glory, after briefly smiling, starts to grimace and cry before screaming for Blackjack to get out, ending the chapter.
Overall, I was struck by how quickly this seemed to go by, which is only partly accounted for by a smaller word count. The quick pacing (with even the arguments in the computer seeming to have that sort of character), fair amount of action, and lighter (mostly) tone made it fly in comparison to, say, 65 or 67.
Past that, the return of Drunkjack was fun, Persephone continued to be quietly awesome, Whisper injected both her winning surface personality and underlying complexity, and the cameos from FoE were used to largely good effect. They're here, they're rendered well (if, in the case of Homage, perhaps not in a particularly positive light, but that could also just be me), they aren't doing anything that's detracting from their canon events, and although they are making useful contributions, they aren't taking center stage for long segments in a story that isn't primarily theirs.
- Chapter Sixty Eight Editing:
- She trailed off, meeting the unicorn colt’s sad eyes, then looking away shamefully.
suggest changing to "ashamed" or "shamefacedly", which seems more directly applicable here ("shamefully" could take that meaning too, but it's archaic)
save the colt’s sniffly breathing, she said “I’ve made
need comma after "said"
and she murmured over and over “Shh. Shh,” and “It’s alright.”
commas after second "over" and last "and"
Her hooves grew tighter around his neck as they started to shake. He grunted and tried to pull away. “Momma! You’re hurting me!” he cried out.
suggest a paragraph break after the first sentence
But I doubt you knew how many ponies were on Seahorse.”
"Seahorse" should be italicized
Beyond that, only the King can permit travel.
"King" shouldn't be capitalized
I looked across at the King and his family.
"King" shouldn't be capitalized
Wait a minute… “What ‘talisma
should have second space after ellipsis
Okay… I gave him a hug and a brief kiss on the lips...
paragraph needs to be indented
Whisper said with what might actually be concern.
"actually have been" or "have actually been"?
Black-and-red-striped mane. Card cutie mark, though she had a different suite, hearts,
"suit"
“My old eyes.” I said, pointing at my
period should be comma
“When I was in Thunderhead, Lighthooves used a command to murder all the Cyberponies under his command.
"Cyberponies" shouldn't be capitalized
“So, I’m curious... those augmentation you’re selling so cheaply… Would they happen
"augmentations"
Her paternal tone so reminded me of Glory that my chest ached.
"maternal"? "paternalistic"? You don't normally think about women as "paternal", especially you girlfriend, especially if you want her to stay your girlfriend, and most especially if you never had a father and were only introduced to the concept indirectly and recently (though I guess this could be one of the few lingering effects of the Charm memories, but given how Charm felt about her father . . . )
He pointed a hoof to the side, “And if that’s Blackjack
comma should be period, or speech tag needed
Because...” because what if I wasn’t the real me?
should have second space after quotation, capitalize second "because"
Suddenly my heart beat spiked up and I couldn’t quite breathe in fast enough.
suggest "heart rate", otherwise, "heartbeat"
along with the red-and-pink-maned unicorn stallion Life Bloom
does either crimson or scarlet (really just scarlet, given the only time crimson was used it was "crimson and scarlet") actually count as pink?
He led me into the Quad, and I saw the damage that Cognitum had wrought.
"Quad" shouldn't be capitalized
compared to the devastation that the one beam from the core had wrought.
"core" should be capitalized
my last broadcast after the big battle. But... well...” she tapped her hooves together.
should have second space after quotation and capitalize "she"
Shadowbolt tower exploding.
"tower" should be capitalized
- Other Editing:
- 30:
The military won’t risk damaging Shadowbolt tower.
"tower" should be capitalized
35:
Sitting on the opposite couch were Homage and a strange buck with a candy-cane-striped mane.
. . .
The gray unicorn chuckled and shook her head, then gestured to her companion. “Blackjack? Life Bloom.
His body is white, but his mane and tail are either "red and scarlet" or "crimson and scarlet", so "candy-cane-striped" probably isn't a great description since the assumption is probably red and white
“Neither could Twilight Sparkle,” Life Bloom said evenly.
Excuse me? All eyes were on the candy-maned unicorn as he smiled.
"candy-maned" might not be a great description of "red/crimson and scarlet"
“Well. I suppose that is that,” Life Bloom said with a sigh and a shrug.
. . . (just a few paragraphs)
“I suppose. We may never truly understand the circumstances of your lineage,” Life Bloom said with a sigh and a shrug.
suggest changing the wording a bit on one of them
45:
AM’s guns were loaded with armor piercing and incendiary rounds; just right for your local Cyberpony.
"Cyberpony" shouldn't be capitalized
49:
“Nay, Sister. I would not defy our father the King.
"king"
52:
“I think so,” he answered as he took a seat across from the candy-cane maned stallion, Life Bloom.
not sure "red/crimson and scarlet" is really what "candy-cane" would make you think of
56:
“The King named you his successor soon after you departed. And shortly before he did.”
57:
“I was in that King’s menagerie for years before they shut it down,”
"King's" shouldn't be capitalized
59:
Do you think I am attacking Shadowbolt tower because I want to,
"tower" should be capitalized
60:
Two are coming from the core, but one of them is gigasparks stronger.
"core" should be capitalized
66:
She heard the heavy thud of a heart beat within.
"heartbeat" or "heart beating", or just "heavy thud of a heart"?
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by SilentCarto Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:43 am
"A dotted line rose out of the palace, then started to curve. It looped around the planet, then around the sun, then back around the planet, back to the moon, and finally down right on Hoofington."
It occurs to me that if BJ is now an alicorn carrying Luna's soul, she might be able to nudge the moon enough to spoil that last flyby.
Also, that Psalm may actually accept absolution from BJ at this point...
It occurs to me that if BJ is now an alicorn carrying Luna's soul, she might be able to nudge the moon enough to spoil that last flyby.
Also, that Psalm may actually accept absolution from BJ at this point...
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Silver136 Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:57 am
Oooh, I've got one. Just one though...
That's not Kool-Aid
Discover the effects of taint on Blanks
That's not Kool-Aid
Discover the effects of taint on Blanks
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by ILM126 Mon Mar 23, 2015 8:35 am
SilentCarto wrote:"A dotted line rose out of the palace, then started to curve. It looped around the planet, then around the sun, then back around the planet, back to the moon, and finally down right on Hoofington."
It occurs to me that if BJ is now an alicorn carrying Luna's soul, she might be able to nudge the moon enough to spoil that last flyby.
Also, that Psalm may actually accept absolution from BJ at this point...
So... something like the one I drew? http://ilm126.deviantart.com/art/Sketch-Project-Horizons-Solar-System-Concepts-516381683
- Sketch | Project Horizons Solar System Concepts:
![[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion - Page 11 Sketch___project_horizons_solar_system_concepts_by_ilm126-d8jfunn](https://2img.net/h/fc08.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2015/056/d/f/sketch___project_horizons_solar_system_concepts_by_ilm126-d8jfunn.png)
I also just did another one, a bit more detailed. I'm uploading it onto dA now...
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Mon Mar 23, 2015 7:37 pm
@Icy Shake:
Ah, thank you very much as always.
I've made Life Bloom's mane crimson and scarlet.
Ah, thank you very much as always.
I've made Life Bloom's mane crimson and scarlet.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by ILM126 Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:10 am
Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Vergil Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:13 am
I'm mildly ashamed that I hadn't even considered what Psalm's reaction to this might be.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Silver136 Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:21 am
True, but I'd like to think she's come far enough that it wouldn't bother her too much once everything is explained.Vergil wrote:I'm mildly ashamed that I hadn't even considered what Psalm's reaction to this might be.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Tue Mar 24, 2015 6:01 pm
I thought it was a prion disease?ILM126 wrote:Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Icy Shake Tue Mar 24, 2015 7:45 pm
What I'm interested in is the degree to which she had already come to realize that it wasn't Luna's forgiveness that she really needed in the first place. She's at least partially there, but the fact that Luna was dead left open some room for denial. Given her actions since Lacunae's death (not the moves towards conscientious objection, but the rest), I think that's where she still is, but hopefully this will be an impulse to do more to work it out for herself, if spending time with Stronghoof and the others hasn't done that already.Silver136 wrote:True, but I'd like to think she's come far enough that it wouldn't bother her too much once everything is explained.Vergil wrote:I'm mildly ashamed that I hadn't even considered what Psalm's reaction to this might be.
Yeah, it was described as such by Glory and Crumpets, though everyone else has been a bit looser about it.O. Hinds wrote:I thought it was a prion disease?ILM126 wrote:Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Evilgidgit Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:44 pm
Changing the subject for a moment, I'd like to ask about the Marauders' lockers and their contents. If I recall, only Doof, Vanity, Psalm and Big Macintosh's lockers have been opened, but correct me if I am wrong:
Doof > Password: Momma > Weapon: Persuasion.
Vanity > Password: Regret > Weapon: Duty and Sacrifice.
Psalm > Password: Unforgiven > Weapon: Penance.
Big Mac > Password: Maripony(?) > Weapon: Sexy.
I am very curious what the passwords and weapons of the other Marauders would be. I can guess a couple of passwords like Stonewing's would be "Rainbow Dash", Jetstream's would be "Stonewing", and Steelhooves' would likely be "Applejack". Twist's would be something like "Apple Bloom" or "Peppermint" (the second having a double meaning too). Echo is tricky but maybe related to his roleplay games.
What are your thoughts, or to Somber and the lovely editors, will we actually see the rest of the Marauders' lockers open before the end of the story?
Doof > Password: Momma > Weapon: Persuasion.
Vanity > Password: Regret > Weapon: Duty and Sacrifice.
Psalm > Password: Unforgiven > Weapon: Penance.
Big Mac > Password: Maripony(?) > Weapon: Sexy.
I am very curious what the passwords and weapons of the other Marauders would be. I can guess a couple of passwords like Stonewing's would be "Rainbow Dash", Jetstream's would be "Stonewing", and Steelhooves' would likely be "Applejack". Twist's would be something like "Apple Bloom" or "Peppermint" (the second having a double meaning too). Echo is tricky but maybe related to his roleplay games.
What are your thoughts, or to Somber and the lovely editors, will we actually see the rest of the Marauders' lockers open before the end of the story?
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by SilentCarto Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:39 pm
I think it's actually a spongiform encephalopathy, similar to Mad Cow Disease. Probably, also like Mad Cow, based on a prion (a virus-like strand of unprotected RNA.)ILM126 wrote:Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
There are a number of really creepy pathogens around, though. For example, Toxoplasmosis reproduces in the digestive tract of cats. In rodents, it makes them less fearful of the smell of cat urine, which makes them more likely to venture into the open and get eaten.
I'm sure everyone's heard of Cordyceps fungus by now, thanks to The Last of Us. Cordyceps encourages an ant to climb to a high point and bite down with a death grip, then kills it and grows a mushroom from its corpse to scatter spores. Similarly, a species of nematode (tiny worm) makes ants' abdomens turn bright red and swollen, then encourages them to climb up to a high point where a bird is likely to see the "berry" and eat it, thus spreading the infection.
Perhaps most eerily, humans aren't immune either. This is a very new course of study, but some early evidence indicates that our own gut bacteria can influence us to crave the foods they need to flourish. And there are some theories out there (I have no idea how reliable) that the American Indians' "wendigo" spirits were in fact a prionic disease very similar to, er, Raiderism. It was said that a person who participated in cannibalism was at risk to be possessed by a wendigo spirit, which would drive him into a cannibalistic murder spree. It's probably just a cautionary ghost story, though. ...probably.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:53 pm
Stonewing's was already opened (the password was indeed "Rainbow Dash"); there was no weapon in it, though. That was all I was able to find with a quick search.Evilgidgit wrote:Changing the subject for a moment, I'd like to ask about the Marauders' lockers and their contents. If I recall, only Doof, Vanity, Psalm and Big Macintosh's lockers have been opened, but correct me if I am wrong:
Doof > Password: Momma > Weapon: Persuasion.
Vanity > Password: Regret > Weapon: Duty and Sacrifice.
Psalm > Password: Unforgiven > Weapon: Penance.
Big Mac > Password: Maripony(?) > Weapon: Sexy.
I am very curious what the passwords and weapons of the other Marauders would be. I can guess a couple of passwords like Stonewing's would be "Rainbow Dash", Jetstream's would be "Stonewing", and Steelhooves' would likely be "Applejack". Twist's would be something like "Apple Bloom" or "Peppermint" (the second having a double meaning too). Echo is tricky but maybe related to his roleplay games.
What are your thoughts, or to Somber and the lovely editors, will we actually see the rest of the Marauders' lockers open before the end of the story?
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by SilentCarto Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:55 pm
Stonewing's password was indeed "Rainbow Dash", and it contained only a note:Evilgidgit wrote:Changing the subject for a moment, I'd like to ask about the Marauders' lockers and their contents. If I recall, only Doof, Vanity, Psalm and Big Macintosh's lockers have been opened, but correct me if I am wrong:
Doof > Password: Momma > Weapon: Persuasion.
Vanity > Password: Regret > Weapon: Duty and Sacrifice.
Psalm > Password: Unforgiven > Weapon: Penance.
Big Mac > Password: Maripony(?) > Weapon: Sexy.
I am very curious what the passwords and weapons of the other Marauders would be. I can guess a couple of passwords like Stonewing's would be "Rainbow Dash", Jetstream's would be "Stonewing", and Steelhooves' would likely be "Applejack". Twist's would be something like "Apple Bloom" or "Peppermint" (the second having a double meaning too). Echo is tricky but maybe related to his roleplay games.
What are your thoughts, or to Somber and the lovely editors, will we actually see the rest of the Marauders' lockers open before the end of the story?
Chapter 12 wrote:Hey. If you’re reading this, please get out of Stone’s locker. I took his harness and put it where it’s safe. And if it’s you, Jet, it’s in the place where he did that thing that one time. Pick it up whenever you’re ready.
-- Big Macintosh
P.S. Honestly, Stone? ‘Rainbow Dash?’ What were you thinking?
As far as I recall, we haven't found the passwords to or opened Jetstream, Applesnack, Twist, or Echo's lockers. Rampage probably remembers the password to Twist's now (for what that's worth...)
I wouldn't assume each one's password is the name of someone important to them.
Heh... it'd be kind of cute if Echo's locker contained a weapon perfect for a techie like Scotch Tape.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Strawberry Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:29 am
Good day, and I'm sorry for the Google Translate.
I could not understand where is the somber and how to write a personal message, so throw off the picture here. This is for him, I hope you do not mind.
Somber good pony and his fanfic I really like. I have read so far only 28 chapters but remained in full delight of reading and want to continue.
Thank you for a wonderful story. * Stroked the soft mane owned Somber *
![[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion - Page 11 1za10](https://i.servimg.com/u/f19/19/18/10/33/th/1za10.jpg)
I could not understand where is the somber and how to write a personal message, so throw off the picture here. This is for him, I hope you do not mind.
Somber good pony and his fanfic I really like. I have read so far only 28 chapters but remained in full delight of reading and want to continue.
Thank you for a wonderful story. * Stroked the soft mane owned Somber *
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Wed Mar 25, 2015 3:51 am
Welcome to the forum, Strawberry. I hope that you continue to enjoy PH.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by ILM126 Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:24 am
O. Hinds wrote:I thought it was a prion disease?ILM126 wrote:Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
I'm not very good with the types of disease, haven't done biology at school yet. Just learning about the atomic structure and nuclear power... I think I'll be learning Biology sometime next year...
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by ILM126 Wed Mar 25, 2015 6:46 am
SilentCarto wrote:I think it's actually a spongiform encephalopathy, similar to Mad Cow Disease. Probably, also like Mad Cow, based on a prion (a virus-like strand of unprotected RNA.)ILM126 wrote:Also, if I do remember correctly... The Raider disease is like a parasite or something... I just read an article about, well, how a parasite made freshwater shrimp cannibal other shrimps. http://www.sci-news.com/biology/science-parasite-pleistophora-mulleri-freshwater-shrimp-cannibalism-02618.html
I just thought it might relate with the Raider disease... ^^"
There are a number of really creepy pathogens around, though. For example, Toxoplasmosis reproduces in the digestive tract of cats. In rodents, it makes them less fearful of the smell of cat urine, which makes them more likely to venture into the open and get eaten.
I'm sure everyone's heard of Cordyceps fungus by now, thanks to The Last of Us. Cordyceps encourages an ant to climb to a high point and bite down with a death grip, then kills it and grows a mushroom from its corpse to scatter spores. Similarly, a species of nematode (tiny worm) makes ants' abdomens turn bright red and swollen, then encourages them to climb up to a high point where a bird is likely to see the "berry" and eat it, thus spreading the infection.
Perhaps most eerily, humans aren't immune either. This is a very new course of study, but some early evidence indicates that our own gut bacteria can influence us to crave the foods they need to flourish. And there are some theories out there (I have no idea how reliable) that the American Indians' "wendigo" spirits were in fact a prionic disease very similar to, er, Raiderism. It was said that a person who participated in cannibalism was at risk to be possessed by a wendigo spirit, which would drive him into a cannibalistic murder spree. It's probably just a cautionary ghost story, though. ...probably.
For half the time I have no idea what you're on about, really, I'm being honest here. But I did get a few things here and there, especially "The Last of Use" reference. A friend of mine played it when it was released, he said that the zombies (or infected) looked creepy. And I said that it wasn't, but that was a few years ago now.
I did search/researched some of the terms you said up there, and I took sometime to read it. But I still didn't understand much of it, I tried, sorry ^^"
But what you said about the American Indians' disease makes sense. Plus, I found some disease that also affects humans...
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Strawberry Wed Mar 25, 2015 11:00 am
Thanks, but I'm not sure that I can very many to write here. My English is poor.O. Hinds wrote:Welcome to the forum, Strawberry. I hope that you continue to enjoy PH.
By the way, if you want you could ask me this or that drawing. Unless of course it does not go beyond those chapters that I have read to this point ..
In any case I have to learn to draw, it's nice to do it more and for those who helped the author of my favorite fanfic.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Strawberry Wed Mar 25, 2015 2:12 pm
Oh, thank youswicked wrote:Hello Strawberry, very nice drawing.
Hi. I am glad that you like (and embarrassed because of this, sorry 
).Blackjack cutie. In general, horizons full of cute ponies and other.. creatures, I can not stop to enjoy them.
I hope my favorite couple (blackjack and Glory) does not fall apart in the later chapters.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by Harmony Ltd. Wed Mar 25, 2015 4:07 pm
If these are still welcome, I just wanna put this here:
Personal Jesus
Meet the Stable Dweller
=> Considering the amount of faith Blackjack put in Littlepip throughout the story, her attitude toward her; and more generally Littlepip's influence on a lot of people in the Wasteland.
Personal Jesus
Meet the Stable Dweller
- Spoiler:
- (should it be "Personal Princess" or "Personal Messiah" instead?)
=> Considering the amount of faith Blackjack put in Littlepip throughout the story, her attitude toward her; and more generally Littlepip's influence on a lot of people in the Wasteland.
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Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion
by O. Hinds Wed Mar 25, 2015 5:40 pm
Thank you for the offer. :)Strawberry wrote:Thanks, but I'm not sure that I can very many to write here. My English is poor.O. Hinds wrote:Welcome to the forum, Strawberry. I hope that you continue to enjoy PH.
By the way, if you want you could ask me this or that drawing. Unless of course it does not go beyond those chapters that I have read to this point ..
In any case I have to learn to draw, it's nice to do it more and for those who helped the author of my favorite fanfic.
(I think. I'm sure I'd be just as bad trying to say something on a Russian forum, but it is a bit difficult to understand you. I seem to recall hearing that PH help some other nonnative speakers learn English, though, so you might have a good opportunity there.)
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