[GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

swicked wrote:

Nightfire wrote:Daily check, Is everyone feeling good today?

I swear, I've gotten complimented, like, a dozen times today on here.
I honestly don't know what I'm doing differently today than I've done on any other, but it'd be difficult to feel bad after all that XD

Well maybe today people see ya as a sweet person today like always.

swicked wrote:

Nightfire wrote:

swicked wrote:

Nightfire wrote:Daily check, Is everyone feeling good today?

I swear, I've gotten complimented, like, a dozen times today on here.
I honestly don't know what I'm doing differently today than I've done on any other, but it'd be difficult to feel bad after all that XD

Well maybe today people see ya as a sweet person today like always.

Well... I don't particularly know what to say to that. So I'll just say thank you

Sorry, I do my best to make people happy or at least give a nice compliment so i call them Sweetie or cutie mostly that :mybad:

Kattlarv wrote:@O.Hinds: Oh, and just to make sure: Psalm had a radsuit right? Or Some equivalance of it, seeing how she went out into a heavily irradiated, kill you in seconds area. Since I doubt she stayed in tenpony for a few decades. Then again, she could have gotten one inside tenpony likely.

It would appear that her gear was good enough, her actions swift enough, and the shadow the tower cast on her… shadowy enough that she was able to escape damage.

Kattlarv wrote:And wasn't bypass spells made AFTER the war though?

Well, actually…

Kkat wrote:SteelHooves stepped in.  “Since it’s a matter of survival.”  He explained, “The zebras created Bypass Enchantments midway through the war.  A Bypass augments another magical effect, allowing it to ignore one specific type of thing.  The zebras, for instance, used it to create balefire bursts… the much smaller version of the megaspell you are familiar with… with a zebra bypass.  With that, a zebra could trot into an area crowded with ponies, set off the blast, and kill everypony within a block or two without being harmed herself.”

The mental image of an invisible zebra walking into a crowded Stable atrium during one of Velvet Remedy’s performances suddenly lodged in my mind and refused to leave.

“The unicorns of the Ministry of Arcane Sciences failed to crack the enchantment before the megaspells fell,” Blueberry Sabre informed me.  “But it’s impossible to know how close they were.  And thus how close Red Eye is.  I think, however, that you can grasp why it is in everypony’s best interest that Red Eye is not allowed to finish this research.”

Yes, that's right. "Midway through", it says. And with the war lasting about twenty years, that means that we developed them and kept them out of Equestrian hooves for a decade. And that the M.A.S., working for about a decade, couldn't manage to (publicly, at least) duplicate our feat. Why yes, I am feeling very smug right now.

Regarding how the sniper rifle's ammunition had that sort of magic on it, I can only assume that the O.I.A. was a bit ahead of where the M.A.S. was believed to be, though whether that was from independent research, stolen and interfered with work from the M.A.S., knowledge somehow gained from the Zebras, or some combination of the above, I don't know.

Kattlarv wrote:(BM) Since it goes against my autism. And as said, that scene doesn't seem to hint that he actually did anything, just shouted, then got shot. And then who was shot by their own bullet? I know AJ complained when they developed armour piercing bullets that could penetrate their own power armour. And wasn't that she was upset on Braeburn for? Or am I completely mixing things up here?

Twist did not have a clear view of events at the time; she found out afterward what happened, but her own experience was not especially clear. Or she's lying, maybe.

IIRC, BM got shot, prompting the development of Steel Ranger armor. Braeburn and, under him, IF developed AM rifles to counter Zebra robots, which upset AJ due to the rifles also being able to punch through SR armor, and then the Zebras developed special AP ammunition that made the argument moot.

Kattlarv wrote:@Everypony: (P-21/locking the door) Why would a magical door that could ONLY be opened by Twilight or descendant have a lock, which some random above average pony would be able to tamper with?

…Huh. That's a good point. I don't think that I've heard anyone make it before, either (my apologies if I am forgetting someone). Well, there're some points against that specific hypothesis.

swicked wrote:

Kattlarv wrote:@Everypony: (P-21/locking the door) Why would a magical door that could ONLY be opened by Twilight or descendant have a lock, which some random above average pony would be able to tamper with?

It doesn't necessarily have to have a conventional lock. Anything to jam the door so that you couldn't easily open it would do. BJ didn't really try very hard to get it to open.

It would also have to stand up to the scrutiny of those Twilight Society members who wanted Blackjack to be the heir, though.

FeatherDust wrote:

Kattlarv wrote:@Everypony: (P-21/locking the door) Why would a magical door that could ONLY be opened by Twilight or descendant have a lock, which some random above average pony would be able to tamper with?

First, lockpicking is a very rare skill, as Pip commented many times. Second -- you ask why would it have a physical lock? Why wouldn't it? It's just a normal mass-produced door with a mass produced handle. The magic got put in later.

Hm... Okay, I'm scaling back to a few points against that hypothesis. It might not have been mass produced or the physical lock might have been removed, but...

Nightfire wrote:

swicked wrote:

Nightfire wrote:Daily check, Is everyone feeling good today?

I swear, I've gotten complimented, like, a dozen times today on here.
I honestly don't know what I'm doing differently today than I've done on any other, but it'd be difficult to feel bad after all that XD

Well maybe today people see ya as a sweet person today like always.

Part may have been the new/revived links, too. The "Dealer" and "Song" poems reminded me how effectively you handle emotions beyond humor, though that's what I instinctively associate you with. Can't lie, those had me tearing up at certain points when I read them this afternoon.

@FeatherDust: I think you're thinking along the right lines both regarding the door and Stygius.

For the door, the most obvious building method would be to have it be a standard door and let Twilight handle augmented measures. And depending on the nature of Twilight's spell, it could preempt analysis of the physical lock by the Society. Of course, the same line of reasoning would suggest that P-21 would be prevented from tampering himself. An alternative explanation could relate to the Twilight Society being in an intellectual rut, just knowing that only Twilight's descendant could pass the magic lock and that the physical one was historically unused, and failed to inspect it on the basis of it being a non-issue. True, it requires a certain lack of imagination on their part, or further actions from Homage's side, but it could fit together.

The way I see Stygius is that he is a cute, mostly harmless character that serves as a nice distraction. Really, And sure, we get those pretty frequently: Scotch, the Crusaders, Glory, etc. Even, say, Tulip in 45. But here's the key to me: it feels like every time we see somepony like that they get kicked around terribly--two crusaders dead as a result of Blackjack's carelessness; Glory scarred by BJ's suicide attempt; Scotch losing 99; heck, Tulip didn't even last a chapter! So while he isn't perfect, or the deepest of characters (yet), I see him as somepony who isn't out to screw anyone over, who lightens the mood a bit, and actually managed to get a bit of happiness out of his time in the story to date without yet seeing the other shoe drop. And I want to enjoy that while it lasts, darn it!

I suppose one final note I would like to make is that I do feel some difficulty seeing him in too bad a light, or coming to a negative judgement regarding him too quickly, on the basis that he was able to deal with (or at least withhold judgement on) Blackjack's weirdness and history. I guess part is that I'm seeing much from Blackjack's perspective, which included from pretty early on the idea that he was just too trusting to be real. And I want to believe that's true, even though I know it probably won't be long before either that or just being with this group ruins everything for him.

Bah, Stygius just needs some more angst to fit in. THE TWIN SISTER MUST DIE! But seriously, for the most part, aside from Boo, He seems the most innocent character, which is a jarring contradiction from the rest of the cast. I mean even with Boo, we see possibilities for how her character arc would go. As stated earlier, he seems to be a for now a nice, well meaning character.

Random question from FO:E: Do you think it's possible for someone to get Star Sparkle out of the ghoul city before the Enclave bombardment?

Bigger Question: The concept of the statuettes was developed by pretty much shattering Rarity's soul and putting the fragments in each of the statuettes. So how does each statuette reflect said pony, rather than just Rarity? Is it something to do with how she thought of each of her friends and herself?

OneMoreDaySK wrote:Bah, Stygius just needs some more angst to fit in. THE TWIN SISTER MUST DIE! But seriously, for the most part, aside from Boo, He seems the most innocent character, which is a jarring contradiction from the rest of the cast. I mean even with Boo, we see possibilities for how her character arc would go. As stated earlier, he seems to be a for now a nice, well meaning character.

Random question from FO:E: Do you think it's possible for someone to get Star Sparkle out of the ghoul city before the Enclave bombardment?

Bigger Question: The concept of the statuettes was developed by pretty much shattering Rarity's soul and putting the fragments in each of the statuettes. So how does each statuette reflect said pony, rather than just Rarity? Is it something to do with how she thought of each of her friends and herself?

Rarity had a carpet all her friends walked on enchanted with some sort of "Soul mirror spell." Then she or someone else attached the soul mirrors to the statuettes.

TheLastDefender wrote:

OneMoreDaySK wrote:Bah, Stygius just needs some more angst to fit in. THE TWIN SISTER MUST DIE! But seriously, for the most part, aside from Boo, He seems the most innocent character, which is a jarring contradiction from the rest of the cast. I mean even with Boo, we see possibilities for how her character arc would go. As stated earlier, he seems to be a for now a nice, well meaning character.

Random question from FO:E: Do you think it's possible for someone to get Star Sparkle out of the ghoul city before the Enclave bombardment?

Bigger Question: The concept of the statuettes was developed by pretty much shattering Rarity's soul and putting the fragments in each of the statuettes. So how does each statuette reflect said pony, rather than just Rarity? Is it something to do with how she thought of each of her friends and herself?

Rarity had a carpet all her friends walked on enchanted with some sort of "Soul mirror spell." Then she or someone else attached the soul mirrors to the statuettes.

Yes. As I understand it, she basically snapped images of what their souls were like, then twisted fragments of her own soul to match.

swicked wrote:Hehe, that's awesome :D
Nice job!

Well thank you very much, sir. I did my best with it.
And I finally had a chance to read The Legend of Blackjack - and I must say it's quite well done, I'm particularly fond of P-21's portion.

guarddogjr wrote:That picture just makes me want to give Boo the biggest of hugs and all of the cakes!
Another excellent picture Ryx.

Boo can always use more hugs and cakes, so I don't think that will be a problem at all! I'm very glad you liked it, sir. *hugs*

SilentCarto wrote:Awwwww... is that Psychoshy with "Run away run away
run away" written behind her? And is Rampage the face in the upper
left, next to Mercy?

Exacta. You're quite correct, on both counts.

RoboRed wrote:Poor Boo...she's so sad...:(

I know! And the next drawing is going to be just as bad... She definitely needs more hugs and cake.

WaffleSmart wrote:I still don't like Stygius though. I don't see what
anypony sees in him, he's pretty manipulative, selfish, and just not
very smart.

I also laughed pretty hard when Twist mentioned that Psalm was her girlfriend. "Project Horizons, where everyone is gay."

- I had a decent argument for how I feel about Stygius about an hour ago, but I can't remember it now. He isn't my favorite character, certainly, but I don't think he's bad or out of place.
- TwistxApplebloom is fairly common, so I would hardly call Twist being a lesbian as something unique to PH. Really, it's quite common for nearly all ponies to be gay...

Nightfire wrote:Daily check, Is everyone feeling good today?

Not especially well, but thank you for your concern, sir. Mostly just general aches and pains, and a bit down over some role-playing matters, but nothing to be too concerned about, and I have an extended night of quiet, so I'll be okay. I do hope you're better from your random depression soon. *hugs*

My Little Pony: Fanon, where everyone is gay regardless of canon. This extends into all forms of fanwerks. Project Horizons is not an exception to this rule. And that is why we love it so.

So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

Regolit wrote:So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

To be fair, in the FiM universe it seems that most of the population is mares, with stallions being the minority, so it would make some sense that many mares would go with their own gender.
It is a bit odd that 99% of characters in FO:E are homosexual (mares and bucks), but I just use this mindset:
Mares tend to befriend mares, bucks tend to befriend other bucks. In my experience, close friends tend to try out getting a little closer, and in a world like the Wasteland where it's very VERY hard to find someone you can trust, it could make sense to grow much closer to those you already trust and care for.
(Blackjack's case is a bit different, considering she only saw bucks for fun or reproduction and nothing else, but this still falls into 'stick with who you know and trust'.)

I'm probably sounding like a horrid person and a close-minded idiot for this, but it's my "1am holy crap I'm tired" logic.

swicked wrote:Thank you, I do my best as well

As for the fanon... well, in FoE it seems like 95% of all canon ponies are straight. The mane six were. I think the CMC all were. Big Mac was. It seemed like even Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were just good friends... otherwise I would have expected Silver Spoon to have made a move on Blackjack when she finally found her Diamond Tiara :P
I really don't recall anyone other than Twist turning out to be gay...

Well, I was mostly speaking for fanfiction in general, but you have a point, of the relationships Kkat actually mentioned in FoE all but 2 were straight as far as I know - LittlePip and Homage, and Life Bloom (which if I remember right, Calamity expressed a small amount of disdain for).
Was Twist even mentioned in FoE? It's been too long since I've read it.

Regolit wrote:So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

1) I've already mentioned the unlikely/unsustainable death:birth ratio. Very few foals, countless deaths. This is my only gripe.
2) The number of fillyfoolers may be easily explained by rampart rape. Also, way these get foals. You don't have to enjoy to get pregnant...
3) Gays on every step? Sure she met a few. But there are far more (lesser) hetero pairings, and besides, one male can impregnate countless females while one female bears one child. So gay pairings don't reduce birth ratio. And I wrote why lez pairings don't, either.


...still, I can't help but wonder if Kkat's female torture fetish played any role in Littlepip getting hurt so much.

FiM not mostly populated in mares, mares simply more showed . I hope in S3 we will see more normal stallions, maybe that will slightly wash community's brains.

No...nothing will ever wash the community's brains, unfortunately.

Ice Crystal wrote:

Regolit wrote:So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

To be fair, in the FiM universe it seems that most of the population is mares, with stallions being the minority, so it would make some sense that many mares would go with their own gender.
It is a bit odd that 99% of characters in FO:E are homosexual (mares and bucks), but I just use this mindset:
Mares tend to befriend mares, bucks tend to befriend other bucks. In my experience, close friends tend to try out getting a little closer, and in a world like the Wasteland where it's very VERY hard to find someone you can trust, it could make sense to grow much closer to those you already trust and care for.
(Blackjack's case is a bit different, considering she only saw bucks for fun or reproduction and nothing else, but this still falls into 'stick with who you know and trust'.)

I'm probably sounding like a horrid person and a close-minded idiot for this, but it's my "1am holy crap I'm tired" logic.

Makes sense to me.

Kattlarv wrote:
@Kipper: (TMI)

Spoiler:

(Drugs) Yeah, I only got a basic understanding in the matter, but I know some of the "illegal" drugs are not really "bad". Some are just banned since they're too easy to obtain, so some medical thingamajigs wouldn't be able to sell expensive medicine that does less. And yeah, as said. If alcohol and tobacco had been invented today, they would have been illegal. But they have been part of our lifestyle for ages. Both are about as useful as a stick in the ass however imo. At least tobacco/nicotine. (both have the same "introduction" though: Shove a stick up your ass enough times till it doesn't hurt any more.) then when it's gone enough time and it really is itching, you go ahead and pull the stick out and apply some soothing cream, helping you focus and relax. Then it goes a while, and the stick in your ass begins to irritate again. That's at least my PoV on it, except that you pay good money to have this stick shoved up your ass.

And alcohol is out of my question most of it, most of it tastes rancid, since I got no tonsils, and even before that, I couldn't drink fizzy drinks. If I could choose, I'd stick with endorphins xD But alas. I can't have shit of anything... always wanted to try weed though. It's at least one of the drugs that doesn't permanently or majorly fucks you up xP

Spoiler:

On the topic of drugs, I just want to remind you that you're totally awesome and have a very smart outlook on it all.
The only benefit alcohol has really ever had was back when it was first invented, due to the fact it provided clean drinking water - though no-one realised it was simply the fact they boiled it rather then the rest of the process, it still made a lot of difference.
It also used to be a lot weaker, designed so you could drink a lot more of it without getting half as drunk so it could be a reliable source of water supplement.
(most of the time, anyway)

You are indeed correct that if it wasn't for this history and social tradition, it'd not be seen so lightly and would probably indeed be illegal like a lot of other things due to how it affects the body.
(damaging the liver, brain, reaction time, judgement and so on. I can totally see that being higher on the list of illegal stuff then weed)


So yes. reinforcing my mental image of you being smart and sexy. damn you indeed ;)


edit:

Kattlarv wrote:
Ugh... on a side note, back's been acting up like
hell... and I got a feeling I will have "one of those" morning dews when
I wake up later today...
And seriosly, stop being so damn active,
I'm a very... something person, don't make me do stuff that'll stun you
to silence! I'm warning you, I might do it! xD I'll expose... something,
yes! Something! Fear my something! Rawr!
On a last final side note
with the heigh/weight thing, last I checked and if I recall right, I'm
between 170 cm and 180 cm. And weigh around 60-70 kg.
And for the
love of goddess! Who calls me at 2 am to tell me "I'm constipated! I'm
to big, my sphincter hurts. What should I do?"? And stop looking at me
like that gecko! Go back to your egg carton and lick your eyeballs! ... I
need to go to bed soon... and go up in a good time...

Meant to add this too.
Damn. You need someone to come give you pain relief?

Sounds a good height to weight ratio.


Your gecko sounds cute. haha.

Alright, one more sad Boo... finished at 4:30 again... *flips an ottoman*
I'll get back to happy Boo after this, but not only did I feel this was an appropriate answer to the question, but it was also to fulfill a request for a picture of "discorded Boo".

http://boo-project-horizons.tumblr.com/post/24878886167

WavemasterRyx wrote:Alright, one more sad Boo... finished at 4:30 again... *flips an ottoman*
I'll get back to happy Boo after this, but not only did I feel this was an appropriate answer to the question, but it was also to fulfill a request for a picture of "discorded Boo".

http://boo-project-horizons.tumblr.com/post/24878886167

For some reason tumblr wouldn't let me send you mail, so I'll respond here. It is a lot more than sufficient, it's amazing. Thank you.

TheLastDefender wrote:For some reason tumblr wouldn't let me send you mail,so I'll respond here. It is a lot more than sufficient, it's amazing. Thank you.

Ah yes tumblr does that sometimes unfortunately. I am very glad that you like how it turned out so much, now I can go to sleep happy. <3

Felt I needed to toss in a reply on the whole breeding situation and the wasteland populations in general.
There are several things that Regolit is ignoring in addition to the points Randomblank already made which I'll repost here.

RandomBlank wrote:

Regolit wrote:So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

2) The number of fillyfoolers may be easily explained by rampart rape. Also, way these get foals. You don't have to enjoy to get pregnant...
3) Gays on every step? Sure she met a few. But there are far more (lesser) hetero pairings, and besides, one male can impregnate countless females while one female bears one child. So gay pairings don't reduce birth ratio. And I wrote why lez pairings don't, either.

1. The Wasteland is not a closed system, there are nearby countries there are thousand pony stables which we don't have an exact count on but easily add another 100k worth of population all told, sure many of them go wrong but some survive and a thousand is a viable breeding population, you can grow a civilization out of that. More importantly I'll say it again the Wasteland is not a closed system depending on how which fanfics go in your headcannon you have thousands in Hoofington, tens of thousands in Equestria proper, the half a million or so Enclave. You toss in the Stables and now add the last ingredient... immigration. There were ponies living in nearby countries and the war was by no means a global MAD war because most of Equestria proper was a mix of lots of farmland small towns backed by large and extra dense cities. Point being there are areas where families can carve out farmsteads and Littlepip only visited one of those areas once and saw that multiple generations had been born, grown old and died before being taken out by raiders.


2. As mentioned fillyfoolers can still have kids, just because your gay does not mean you don't want kids, in fact some of my lesbian friends would argue that it doubles the chances of kids because you have twice as many people who's biological needs are set by nature to want to reproduce.

3.Littlepip, Blackjack and all the rest live in interesting times. Because of Redeye's actions because of his setting up of his empire you see Raiders who used to run a toll instead going to out and out attacking of everyone. You see Mercs content to get payed deciding to carve out little Empires. You see slavers on retainer stepping up their efforts to provide more bodies for the ruins. Had we seen the level of activity we saw out of any the groups for two hundred years the Wasteland would be a totally different place.

I too have noticed the gratuitous amount of homosexual pairings in FO:E. Sure, there are possible reasons(especially 99), and symbolism, but having virtually every pair encountered being the same sex gets a little old after a while.
Maybe its part of the reason I like Broken Bonds, because it breaks that trend.

Admiral Stoic Rum wrote:I vote Greg Ayres for P21

I agree, the Youhei Sunohara voice is pretty much exactly what I have in my head for P-21.

WaffleSmart wrote:I still don't like Stygius though. I don't see what anypony sees in him, he's pretty manipulative, selfish, and just not very smart. Yet he's instantly loved by anypony who sees him. I was a little disappointed he didn't die in the fight with Steel Rain.

Manipulative? I get a "big friendly puppydog" sort of vibe from him. He's eager to please and kind of naively chivalrous. He's not stupid, just... uncomplicated.

WaffleSmart wrote:I also laughed pretty hard when Twist mentioned that Psalm was her girlfriend. "Project Horizons, where everyone is gay."

We knew she was already. In Doof's memory orb from Ch. 23, she declared, "I’m gay. Fillyfooler. Marelicker. Take whatever damn label you like. And the only mare I’ve ever been interested in stopped being interested in me when I got my cutie mark and she didn’t. You ain’t her. So just get out."

Kattlarv wrote:@Silent: (Pinkie) I know, but as said, it "conviviality places the MoM and Tenpony building, juuust right.", plus, that sniper rifle is like, THE shit. (x-ray, incredible penetration abilites, super long zoom and all that) And wasn't bypass spells made AFTER the war though? Or if just calling it very, very super high tech.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say here. You think it's overly convenient that there are no intervening buildings between the MAS hub and the MoM hub? Tall buildings aren't really that densely packed. Find some panoramic views from the top of the Empire State building -- you could easily shoot into the top floors of dozens of buildings from there.
Bypass spells had been partially figured out at the end of the war, as evidenced by the shield in the MAw, but the sniper rifle didn't have any. It just had a bullet enchanted for superior armor-piercing capabilities. If there had been a bypass in play, the MoM shield would not have needed weakening or the window would not have shattered (depending on the nature of the bypass).

Kattlarv wrote:@Everypony: (P-21/locking the door) Why would a magical door that could ONLY be opened by Twilight or descendant have a lock, which some random above average pony would be able to tamper with?

What Featherdust said. You don't manufacture a special door when you could enchant a standard one instead. I mean, my old office had a keycard reader and a magnetic lock to let people in, but it still had a physical bolt too. And you might not want even authorized personnel entering a high-security lab when it's in use.

TheLastDefender wrote:

Kattlarv wrote:
(BM) Since it goes against my autism. And as said, that scene doesn't seem to hint that he actually did anything, just shouted, then got shot. And then who was shot by their own bullet? I know AJ complained when they developed armour piercing bullets that could penetrate their own power armour. And wasn't that she was upset on Braeburn for? Or am I completely mixing things up here?

This one is a bit confusing. Braeburn pissed Applejack off by developing the anti-machine rifle. Applesnack convinced her that it didn't really matter because the zebras had already developed AP rounds.

I believe the exact comment was that the argument didn't even matter, because the Zebras developed AP rounds a couple months later anyway. But it's irrelevant to that scene, because Big Mac was shot by a standard sniper rifle bullet, nothing superpowered or magical as far as we know. And it's not like he was just standing around and then he dropped -- there was a commotion that Twist didn't see clearly, and then Mac was dead. We can assume that he saw a glint off the scope, realized they were aiming for Celestia, and put himself in the way.

Icy Shake wrote:An alternative explanation could relate to the Twilight Society being in an intellectual rut, just knowing that only Twilight's descendant could pass the magic lock and that the physical one was historically unused, and failed to inspect it on the basis of it being a non-issue. True, it requires a certain lack of imagination on their part, or further actions from Homage's side, but it could fit together.

Or they know they had a locksmith in 30 years ago to unlock it, so now the only thing holding it shut is the spell.

I always thought that the reason there were so many homosexual pairings, even outside of Fo:E was due to the population of the actual show. pretty much a majority of the characters were female. add that with the mentality of a social creature(humans) and we're left with people who actively seek romantic pursuits in same genders. The case I feel is even more accurate because Wild horses are know to travel in harems(while groups of males will travel together in bachelor groups and again allowing more homosexual relations) further stimulating the ♀ > ♂ general population sizes. perhaps they kept this social habit somewhere down the line when they evolved. or thinking of it just as a cartoon, perhaps for a girls show there should be a focus on girls. So a lot of shipping is usually female x female or male x male probably due to the subconscious consideration of population settings regardless of scenario.

or perhaps I'm just an idiot who has been spouting bullshit in hopes to reassure my mind that I have at least a little bit of intelligence.

*shrug*

@Regolit
Ha, "sickness of writers," that's rife with something. Palahniuk's glorious works are probably due to sickness (fantastic, obscene sickness); the somewhat higher prevalence of bisexuality and homosexuality in FOE (and yes, I'm pretty sure it is only somewhat higher - significantly higher among main characters, but not so much among the general populace from what I've seen) is... not? I dunno, maybe I'm quibbling over wording.

@Ryx
Poor Boo... for someone that can't actually understand what was happening, being Discorded must be a far worse experience. She doesn't have any way to rationalize how she must have felt in those moments.

WavemasterRyx wrote:Well, I was mostly speaking for fanfiction in general, but you have a point, of the relationships Kkat actually mentioned in FoE all but 2 were straight as far as I know - LittlePip and Homage, and Life Bloom (which if I remember right, Calamity expressed a small amount of disdain for).

Calamity didn't express any disdain -- his brother is gay, too. He noted that the Enclave quietly approves of it because of their limited resources. That culture also largely explains Glory, Dusk, and Lightning Dancer.

At any rate, I think it's important to note that a character being in a homosexual relationship doesn't mean they're strictly gay (if BJ isn't all the proof you need of that). I doubt, for example, that Caprice is.

ketchup504 wrote:I too have noticed the gratuitous amount of homosexual pairings in FO:E. Sure, there are possible reasons(especially 99), and symbolism, but having virtually every pair encountered being the same sex gets a little old after a while.
Maybe its part of the reason I like Broken Bonds, because it breaks that trend.

Are you specifically complaining about protagonists? Because just among the main casts of FOE and PH, we have...
Calamity/Velvet
Applesnack/Applejack
Xenith/Qarl Death-Hoof
Blackjack/Stygius
Lacunae/Stronghoof
Psychoshy/Sanguine (and Stygius)
And that's not even going into secondary characters, like Ditzy Doo/Lionheart and Trueblood/Sunflower.

WavemasterRyx wrote:I'll get back to happy Boo after this, but not only did I feel this was an appropriate answer to the question, but it was also to fulfill a request for a picture of "discorded Boo".

Aww... that can't be comfortable. Maybe Discorded!Boo likes grass?

SilentCarto wrote:

ketchup504 wrote:I too have noticed the gratuitous amount of homosexual pairings in FO:E. Sure, there are possible reasons(especially 99), and symbolism, but having virtually every pair encountered being the same sex gets a little old after a while.
Maybe its part of the reason I like Broken Bonds, because it breaks that trend.

Are you specifically complaining about protagonists? Because just among the main casts of FOE and PH, we have...
Calamity/Velvet
Applesnack/Applejack
Xenith/Qarl Death-Hoof
Blackjack/Stygius
Lacunae/Stronghoof
Psychoshy/Sanguine (and Stygius)
And that's not even going into secondary characters, like Ditzy Doo/Lionheart and Trueblood/Sunflower.

It wasn't meant as a complaint, mostly an observation of minor characters that I managed to remember. Hyperbole, too.

I guess heterosexual relationships just aren't as memorable.

I guess if you read 70+ FoE side stories you clearly see what 8 of 10 protagonist mares is FF, and only excuse for this is imitation of original story and PH.

WaffleSmart wrote:"Project Horizons, where everyone is gay."

Once again, the visible population ratio among ponies in the show's canon is roughly 5-8 females to every male. That gives us three logical possibilities:

1) The majority of ponies never engage in sex or romance of any kind. Unlikely and boring, so typically discarded.

2) Ponies are polygamous. Appears to be refuted by the relationships seen in the show (the Cakes, Twi's an Rarity's parents, the cmc attempting to find an unattached stallion on hearts and hooves, etc.)

3) The majority of romantic/sexual relationships between ponies are lesbian.. If you have five mares for every stallion, in most cases you'll have one straight pair and two lesbian couples. An individual mare could easily be bi or lesbian, but exclusively heterosexual females would be a minority.
They can't show it explicitly in the cartoon because the moral guardians would freak out and Hasbro would lose money if a relationship between female characters was ever shown, but there's no evidence against and the animators at least seem to be implying it's the case in backgrounds and such.
In fanfiction, for the most part things are just portrayed realistically based on observations of the show: lots of lesbians, several straight couples, small minority of gay stallions. P-21 and Life Bloom are oddities, but two characters in a cast this huge are by no means unrealistic. Blackjack, Glory, 'Pip, etc. are perfectly normal, orientation-wise, as are Calamity, Stygius, Velvet, Psychoshy, Stronghoof, and all the (many) other straight characters that seem to be ignored here.

FeatherDust wrote:Is it possible to manipulate by telling the unvarnished truth?

Yes it certainly is; something doesn't have t be false to change how a person acts, and the way you deliver a completely truthful statement can make all the difference in the world. But I don't think Styggie is capable of it.

O. Hinds wrote:IIRC, BM got shot, prompting the development of Steel Ranger armor. Braeburn and, under him, IF developed AM rifles to counter Zebra robots, which upset AJ due to the rifles also being able to punch through SR armor, and then the Zebras developed special AP ammunition that made the argument moot.

I think that the AP rounds came first, and were used to punch through Big Mac's combat armor. They did reference him being shot with a bullet they developed, and Trottenheimer had been making various specialized ammo in the very early days of the way before AJ shut him down.

Regolit wrote:So everyony is absolutely normal with fact what wasteland have 100500\1 born\death ratio and 60% of mares fillyfoolers? LilPip had met gays on every step?I take it issue not like canon or tradition, more like sickness of writers and nothing more.

Sickness? Srsly? You're on a forum discussing Project [REDACTED] Horizons and homosexuality is what you consider to be wrong here?

WavemasterRyx wrote:you have a point, of the relationships Kkat actually mentioned in FoE all but 2 were straight as far as I know - LittlePip and Homage, and Life Bloom (which if I remember right, Calamity expressed a small amount of disdain for).
Was Twist even mentioned in FoE? It's been too long since I've read it.

I actually noted the strangely abundant heterosexuality, and I put it in the same category as Kattlarv's frequent complaint about every rapist in Kkat's work being male. Kkat's a wonderful author, but tends to use human norms as the baseline and then ponify things from there instead of building from the ground. Clamity's disdain is probably a result of his upbringing; in the Enclave homosexuality is rewarded to reduce resource consumption without outlawing sex or something crazy like that, so he probably tends to see gay stallions as "giving in" to the government instead of being themselves in order to get the encouragements offered. I don't recall Twist being mentioned in that story...

Regolit wrote:I guess if you read 70+ FoE side stories you clearly see what 8 of 10 protagonist mares is FF, and only excuse for this is imitation of original story and PH.

...Excuse? By the ratios shown in the show itself, in every six ponies you have one stallion and five mares. Pair them up and you get four mares in lesbian couples and one with the stallion. That's 80%. Factor in gay stallions, a small fraction of asexuals, etc. and the ratio still isn't going to change all that much; my raw estimates would be about 10% of mares are exclusively straight (Psychoshy), 40% exclusively lesbian (Littlepip), and the remainder usually bi- or pan- with a few oddities (asexuals, xenophiles, etc.) thrown in. So 8 out of 10 protagonist mares matching up with other mares? Perfectly realistic and logical.


The only reason you'd need an "excuse" is if you start with the assumption that gay = evil, and if you haven't unlearned that bit of propeganda yet, maybe you should go somewhere normal. This will not be a comfortable place for you.