Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[SilentCarto]

@Silentcarto So Psalm tried to save them, got carted off, thinking it would get better, and then everything went to heck?
Any guesses for the remaining passwords?
Also, do ya think the starmetal sword is ever going to get a name?

Tried to save who? Psalm and Jetstream were the worst off. I mean, Applesnack and Vanity went on to their own commands and healthy romantic relationships, which indicates that they took the loss pretty well. Twist was certainly affected by losing her friends one by one, but the OIA didn't pick her up in any way, so far as we know -- I've already elucidated my theory about her and Shujaa. Doof never really got the chance to "get over it", but the OIA didn't have anything to do with him before he took a lethal dose of stupid. Echo, we don't know much about, but he seems to have been okay from Bro's emails. Stonewing was shot in the head at the Battle of Hill 255, so I'm not sure he ever found out what happened to Mac before the Gorgon fusion. Or even if that happened before or after Mac's death. Psalm and Jetstream just plain lost it after that, though.

As for passwords, no guesses whatsoever.

I don't think the starmetal sword is going to get a name if it doesn't have one already.

It's bad villain form to do the legwork yourself. She's too... everywhere to be the big bad mare. But then... Goldenblood does it. If Goldenblood is really the power source for all things conspiracy then Garnet has a license to be the villain.

She doesn't really do any legwork herself. She gets the ministries to do it. I just have the impression that she and the other gemstone ponies were a constant between both directors, someone who could carry on the OIA's plans uninterrupted. After all, someone leaked whatever was bad enough to get Goldenblood deposed -- perhaps he'd become inconvenient in some way?

I'll wager that Horse was nothing but a puppet, told only what he needed to know to believe he was in charge. I detect no loyalty toward either of them from Garnet. She's always the false smile and the word dropped in just the right ear... right up until she shows her true colors to Blueblood when they seal the Redoubt.

I really don't think Goldenblood was deliberately working for the EoS. His behavior and comments in Hippocratic seemed too resigned for that. He was looking at a horrible future and knew he was the only one who could see it; those dedicated to the EoS -- the Harbingers, the Chorus, and the Zebra cultists who almost raised the EoS, for example -- have a madman's sense of something greater to come, not the resignation of a truck driver about to plunge off a cliff without enough time to stop.

Huh. Now I'm starting to wonder if Garnet is personally behind the total destruction of the Marauders. Seems like she's right there every time one of them meets their fate... And now I'm starting to wonder if the failed assassination that killed Big Mac was a failure after all. What if he was the target all along? (Naturally this would require that the assassination be an OIA operation rather than a zebra act, which we have NO evidence for.)

I doubt it. If this was an OIA op, Psalm was almost certainly the shooter, and if that's the case, her reaction looks more like "Oh god, what have I done" than "Sorry, Mac, orders are orders". As I noted, the OIA wasn't even involved with many of the members' situations, and most of their involvement was opportunistically picking up the pieces.

[SilentCarto]

I'll send this to you in a PM too, sir, just in case you miss it, but I really do hope things will turn out alright. If there's any possible way we can help please let us know.

*hugs*:

This. A thousand times this!

[RoboRed]

Somber, take time if needed, ask us for help if you want it and think we can provide, we would be more than happy to.
*Furiously tries to work magic to summon Crystalane to help Somber*

If anyone could make Somber feel better for certain, it's Crystalene.
*feels compelled to photoshop together an image of Crys hugging Somber pony, but feels frustration realizing the limitations of the Pony Creator. (Maybe Crys patting her with a reassuring hoof?)*

I think a hug, or at least a flying glomp, wouldnt be that hard. Just put Crys behind Simber,and erase her back leg.

I'll think of something. I gotta make something.

I'll send this to you in a PM too, sir, just in case you miss it, but I really do hope things will turn out alright. If there's any possible way we can help please let us know.

*hugs*:

...I think I'll be feeling warm and fuzzy for the rest of the day...

[Derpmind]

Oh, unrelated; but did you ever read any more of broken bonds? I found your commentary helpful and hilarious, but haven't seen more from you in a while.
not trying to push you into doing so, just curious is all.

Oh, I absolutely started on the next commentary.
Then Derpmind came on and he was all "Uh! You gotta read all of Murky Number Seven before the 15th or we'll ruin it all for you! *various growling and gnashing of teeth*"

So then I had to stop and do that T_T

I will absolutely get back to that ASAP. I just started the latest chapter.
In the meantime go beat him up. He is a scary bad man.

Sorry for this post being non-sequitur, but I had to rebuild my computer and I've been mostly off-line for the last 2-3 days, and while reading through the backlog I need to immediately say that I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to be scary because when I was making that post I felt all . I know that the spoiler tags flying around were getting ridiculous, but it's definitely not important to read that story for anyone who simply didn't want to. I didn't mean to command anyone to do anything, it was just a suggestion! Sorry.

[SilentCarto]

Actually, could we get a compilation of all the times Garnet has shown up? I don't have a Big Searchable FoE:PH Document so it'd be a lot of clicking for me... the only two times I really recall were the first Project Chimera success and setting Crazy!Jetstream on course to ... do whatever she did.

I downloaded all the chapters as Word docs, which Windows can search.
Garnet appears in:

Ch. 6, The Redheart Orb:

Ch. 19, The Gorgon Orb:

Ch. 33, The Vanity Orb:

Ch. 43, The Jetstream Orb:

Ch. 45, The Pinkie Assassination Dream:

Edit: Additional mentions of Emerald or Onyx:

Ch. 15, BOOM, Inc. President's Terminal:

Ch. 26, The Winona Orb:

[SilentCarto]

I'm surprised you think this, Garnet's roll is obvious, Garnet is a handler. It's her job to liaison between Administration and Agents. She has authority only over the ops she's directly running but she has no broader power except as sanity checks during ops planner.

We are seeing Garnet over and over again because Somber is not going to introduce ten new ponies all to handle the roll of saying "Good morning Agent your task is as follows". She's an asset of OIA and trusted enough to be put in charge of Partypooper which I'd argue is the most loyalty depend mission in OIA considering it's the outright assassination of the most popular members of the Government in order. There's very few people you can trust to shoot President Kennedy to use an old ops joke.

Yes... it's quite obvious, isn't it? She's clearly just a functionary. Anyone who looked at her for even a moment would dismiss her as merely a liason carrying out Goldenblood's -- or Horse's -- orders.

That's why I distrust her.

[Cptadder]

Yes... it's quite obvious, isn't it? She's clearly just a functionary. Anyone who looked at her for even a moment would dismiss her as merely a liason carrying out Goldenblood's -- or Horse's -- orders.

That's why I distrust her.

Seems I need to explain a bit more to put that my statement in a bit more context.

Handlers are not hired off the street, you become a handler when your either an agent who's cover has been blown or you've moved over from the technical side.
Intelligence departments are typical organized as follows.

Administration (The people who talk to Congress)
Operations (Black bag people, people who do the things with result in classic movie spy stuff)
Technical (Gadget makers)

These departments are very big departments, administration does not just means secretaries it also means the Country offices. IE in the CIA (And the FSS) there are offices where there are two to a thirty people in cubicles who's job it is to know everything about a country. The head of the Iranian branch for example will be in charge of the country of Iran he will have under him specialists who handle politics, economics, diplomatic relationships and several other subject matter experts (Or multiple experts) depending on how important we deem the country in question. For example the Iceland office is probably less than five people but the Iranian office could be pushing a hundred. These are also the people who respond to Congressional and Presidential requests for information as well as producing the information that other people in Administration will use put together the classified briefings the President and the various cleared Congressmen will read each day.

Operations is a lot more wild and wooly as being it's the department that deals with Agents and Operations it's got to be slightly confusing by default for security. If your in Operations you won't know who's doing what in any of the other teams. This is the department Garnet is in to use our real world to Equestrian example. She could be an early Agent, she could be a transfer from Technical or Administration picked and trained because she's done some field work, she could be Horse or Goldblood's personal bagpony, IE the person you trust to know all you know because you trust in their loyalty and expertise.

Technical does a lot more than build spy gadgets but I'm running this post over long as it is.

My point is from her actions in the various orbs it's clear she's a handler, possibly the personal handler for the director of OIA, whoever that happens to be at the moment.
And as swicked mentioned her name is probably a codename.

[SilentCarto]

In the Gorgon orb... Emerald?
Is there a possibility that the Garnet might be a code name, and we might have a whole group of gem-based OIA operatives?
“You can call me Garnet." makes me think it might not actually be her real name.

Do we have any reason to believe Psalm might have had a code name? Was there any instance in which Garnet called her Psalm, or could she have been "Agent Onyx" or somesuch?

Codename, I wouldn't be surprised. As for Psalm being Onyx, probably not. "Onyx" told her the Redoubt was closing in Vanity's orb, and she was dark gray, not black. And, er, inside the Redoubt at the time. Psalm was referred to as "Agent", so I doubt she had an additional codename, though.

I'll edit to add every mention of Emerald or Onyx, too, because I know Onyx was specified as the MWT liason at one point.

[SilentCarto]

Well, I did just now read it while assembling that post.

[SilentCarto]

Handlers are not hired off the street, you become a handler when your either an agent who's cover has been blown or you've moved over from the technical side.
[...]
My point is from her actions in the various orbs it's clear she's a handler, possibly the personal handler for the director of OIA, whoever that happens to be at the moment.

And I still don't see how that prevents her from forming a cabal with Onyx, Emerald, and any other gem ponies there might be. (It's unclear whether there's one liason for each Ministry, or if each liason handles two and there's only the three of them, like an evil CMC.)

I'll absolutely agree that they probably were chosen for their administrative abilities, but once they were in place, what would stop them from conspiring? Their entire purpose is to be the bridges between ministries, and to regulate the flow of information to bring about the results they want. Maybe they learned it all from Goldenblood, maybe not, but that doesn't stop them from throwing him under the bus once he becomes a liability.

If anyone is knowingly working for the EoS, I think they're the top suspects.

[Aonee]

I'm betting that Glass would work with the MoI, the name fits, and would be a delicious irony/pun/etc.

[SilentCarto]

So, one of the OIA liasons is named Glass? Do you remember her ever being mentioned before, and can we start to pair up which liason goes with which agency?

It looks to me like Emerald was with MoAS, Onyx was MoWT, Glass might have been with the MoP? Might that be why Onyx and Glass were consulted about the combination MoWT and MoP project to cyberize Winona?

Would Garnet be a generic liason for the OIA in general, or could she actually be with one of the other ministries?

Garnet was definitely the liason to the MoP. She was always the one hanging around when Fluttershy was there.
I think Glass refers to the roboticist who would be doing the brain trasfer. I seem to recall a Doctor Glass being mentioned at some point.

[Aonee]

I'm betting that Glass would work with the MoI, the name fits, and would be a delicious irony/pun/etc.

But if that were true I can't imagine why she would be consulted on the Winona cyberization project.

Either to help hide it or get it out to the public? I'm making guesses and haven't reread anything, so feel free to ignore my WMG attempts.

[Valikdu]

I don't think the starmetal sword is going to get a name if it doesn't have one already.

Seeing how Blackjack's luck normally goes, the sword's name is Frostmourne. And the Eater will try to assume direct control of her through it.

[EDI]That was a joke.[/EDI]


P.S.: We all love you, Somber. Really. *remotehug*

[CamoBadger]

I don't think the starmetal sword is going to get a name if it doesn't have one already.

Seeing how Blackjack's luck normally goes, the sword's name is Frostmourne. And the Eater will try to assume direct control of her through it.

[EDI]That was a joke.[/EDI]


P.S.: We all love you, Somber. Really. *remotehug*

You references, I approve of them, and this post earns a brohoof /)

[Ketchup]

I don't think the starmetal sword is going to get a name if it doesn't have one already.

Seeing how Blackjack's luck normally goes, the sword's name is Frostmourne. And the Eater will try to assume direct control of her through it.

[EDI]That was a joke.[/EDI]


P.S.: We all love you, Somber. Really. *remotehug*

You references, I approve of them, and this post earns a brohoof /)

Warcraft and Mass Effect? Egads!

[FeatherDust]

She's there after they meet their fate. If I recall, Jetstream was in Happyhorn for quite a while before she was picked up. The marauders just seem like casualties

To my mind, Jet's fate was a suicide mission to Roam. Her crazy was just the means to get her to be willing to do it. Just like Stone's fate was getting chimera'd after a near fatal wound.

I'm just wild mass guessing. It's crazy theories, not real ones.

Just a crazy theory. The idea of working for the EoS, though, isn't. To weaponize the EoS is to work for its goals. Goldenblood only came to mind because he's the one most likely to realize its destructive potential.

Possible.
By the way, to answer your quote-attribution question, feather dust is a material birds produce. I think it's broken down feather- and feather-sheath material, but SilentCarto probably knows more. Some birds are dustier than others; handling a cockatoo will often result in looking like you've been baking with flour.

As for that Kooky Komputer, I really doubt he works with anyone. If you look really close, his resume says that he "works poorly with others, often vaporizing them."

What resume? Was that a joke?
Anyway he's crazy but that may be from close contact with Eater and trying to fulfil its goals. I se no reason to exclude him from being te EoS catspaw.

[SilentCarto]

By the way, to answer your quote-attribution question, feather dust is a material birds produce. I think it's broken down feather- and feather-sheath material, but SilentCarto probably knows more. Some birds are dustier than others; handling a cockatoo will often result in looking like you've been baking with flour.

That's exactly right. Cockatoos and African Grey Parrots in particular are extremely dusty because they have a specialized type of down feather that breaks down into a fine powder, which helps waterproof them.
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[Derpmind]

So, I made that Murky Number Seven thread.

[SilentCarto]

Dude, Derp, we can all see it. It's right next to this thread :P

On the contrary; I wouldn't have noticed, seeing as I generally use email links to reach the thread.

[SilentCarto]

Source

Welcome to the Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion Thread!
This is the place to discuss Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons, a Fallout/MLP:FiM crossover fic by Somber. Story discussion is on the left, group therapy to the right. Please try to schedule your emotional breakdowns when they don't conflict with anyone else's.

Rules
We have just a few simple rules here.

1. Don't put down Somber.
   
2. Project Horizons is a grimdark fic which deals with adult topics, so we might discuss subjects that some readers may find uncomfortable. Be mature about it.
   
3. If Somber or a member of the editing team says to end a discussion, please do so.
   
4. Spoilers abound. If you're not current on the fic, we recommend that you catch up before you read on.
   
5. Expect random discussions that may or may not have anything to do with the story.
   
6. Have fun!
   

People You Should Know
Somber: The author of Project Horizons, creator of Blackjack, maker of awesomeness, is a small gray mare who lives in the head of a guy named David. Ignore her claims of suckage.
Bronode, O. Hinds, and Snipehamster: Your editing team, presented in alphabetical order. They make awesome writing look all shiny and pretty.
Kkat: The author of the original Fallout: Equestria. Not a participant in this discussion (yet), but you should be aware of her anyway. If you haven't read FOE, why are you even here? Go! Read!

Somber's Tip Jar
Thank-yous of the monetary variety may be made through PayPal. Simply click on Send Money, send it to David13ushey@gmail.com and mark it as a personal gift.

Story Links
GoogleDocs chapter index - Links to every chapter, plus FOE and FOEPH resources, media, and story download formats.
.epub Format - Thanks to Scorch_Mechanic.
LaTeX ebook .pdf - Thanks to ThePowersGang.
Nallar's Fanfic Archive - An auto-updated collection of fics offered in a variety of formats including Kindle .mobi, .epub, and .html.

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