Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[Sindri]

-Golden: Yes, it doesn't mention all the shit he did, nor the sexual abuse to Fluttershy...

Okay, where is this coming from again? Because I cannot recall any evidence to even vaguely suggest that Goldenblood was ever sexually abusive.

I still don't see why she wanted to get pregnant. She was way to stressed out to handle a pregnancy.

We don't know whether she wanted to become pregnant or not, but after she did, she would never want any foal to die for any reason, regardless on its temporaty effect on her own health or stress level.



Re: "spoilers" almost everything that Somber's said in the comments that I recal has been either interesting but ultimately not very relevent background stuff (theories on afterlife, Glory's planned death and Bottlecap as the love interest, etc.) or things I'd already figured out.

Re: housing
Good to hear you found a place. Not sure about pricing; depends on whether it's a rental house or an apartment or what, where it is, etc. And I'm probably skewed in my impressions of prices. As long as you like it and it's in your budget it's good.

Re: classes
If it's the school I'm thinking of, it has a reputation for academic excellence. And drugs. Try to focus on the excellence.

Re: tvTropes
This is why I clearly label all my links as the schmuck bait they are. Because eventually you need to learn to not push the big red button.

[Scyto Harmony]

Yay for Somber!



But yeah, I hope you get good students. I don't doubt that you can count on one hand the number of respectful students in my school >.>

[O. Hinds]

Re: tvTropes
This is why I clearly label all my links as the schmuck bait they are. Because eventually you need to learn to not push the big red button.

Or the ordinary-sized blue letters, in this case.

[SilentCarto]

I like to think that P-21's difference was he refused to succumb.

That seems more like a 'how' than a 'why'. What is it that caused him to refuse to succumb when everypony else did? It seems like there's some essential part of his personality involved, assuming the memory of him hiding outside the school room was accurate. That drive to learn ultimately gave him the tools he needed to escape.

CptAdder's comments sound good to me.

@Silentcarto:
How on Earth did you place the thread opener so well?

I waited, I watched, and when the time was right, I struck!
...and a little luck. The new opener is always the second post on page 34, so when we start getting to the end of page 33 I start paying attention.

TVTropes makes me feel hack as fuck as a writer. :(

Then you need to read this one: Tropes Are Tools

[SilentCarto]

In other news... found a place. 700 dollars a month... I think that's like 450 euros or some such. It's a nice place. More room than I need, but it's newer and in a nice neighborhood. It has a garage for winters and a washer and dryer so I think everything is covered...

No yard for panda tho...

That's great!

I have to ask, though -- is Panda a strictly outside dog? Lots of people keep a dog in their apartment and get along fine. You just have to take them out for walkies periodically. I do realize that an 8-to-9 hour day is a pretty long haul, though.

Well, you know your dog and I don't.

[Caoimhe]

I like to think that P-21's difference was he refused to succumb.

That seems more like a 'how' than a 'why'. What is it that caused him to refuse to succumb when everypony else did? It seems like there's some essential part of his personality involved, assuming the memory of him hiding outside the school room was accurate. That drive to learn ultimately gave him the tools he needed to escape.

Maybe it has to do with him being gay? Assuming there weren't a lot of gay stallions born in 99 before without the strong headedness that P-21 has to do something about it. Being more than repulsed by the act he was made to perform but fundamentally incompatible might have given him the extra push to do something about it. I don't imagine male homosexuality was something talked about much or educated on for the males. Being unsure about your difference can be a majour driving push.

In other news... found a place. 700 dollars a month... I think that's like 450 euros or some such. It's a nice place. More room than I need, but it's newer and in a nice neighborhood. It has a garage for winters and a washer and dryer so I think everything is covered...

No yard for panda tho...

That's great!

I have to ask, though -- is Panda a strictly outside dog? Lots of people keep a dog in their apartment and get along fine. You just have to take them out for walkies periodically. I do realize that an 8-to-9 hour day is a pretty long haul, though.

Well, you know your dog and I don't.

This is all assuming that his lease doesn't outright forbid dogs.

[FeatherDust]

TVTropes makes me feel hack as fuck as a writer. :(

Don't ever think "trope" means "cliche". It doesn't. Tropes are some common building blocks you use to construct a story. There's a reason the examples pages list everything from the Bible to current films.

Like Silent said, tropes are tools. Using them isn't bad, any more than it's "hack" and "cliche" to fix an automobile engine with a socket wrench and spark plugs. You don't even have to be using them in a unique or unusual way -- If anything, identifying the tropes you're using can help you be more aware of your own writing process.

You can look at your hero and identify his parts to get an idea of how he'll react to something, look at the tropes related to that trope to find inspirations, catch yourself when you write in a plot element out of nowhere and say, "Oh, whoops, I better go add something about this back at the start so it's a Chekhov's Gun instead of a Deus Ex Machina." Or you might notice that you're using a trope that sounds bad when you read about it, and you can take steps to change it or understand why it's not a problem in this case.

[Guest]

Been re-reading the original FOE. I'm starting to think the Mane 6 really were getting up there by the end. Age-wise, I mean. In the "Pinkie's Last Party" scene, AJ's introducing SteelHooves to Dash, and Dash says that she hasn't been able to fly straight after a Pinkie Pie party for twenty years. Man, the pre-balefire timeline always confuses me.

Anyway, it's great to hear that you did find an apartment, Somber! Do let us know if you need help with rent or what-have-you. Sucks that your dog (great name, incidentally) doesn't seem to be able to come with, though.

[IncoherentOrange]

I haven't read FoE- wait, what the hell am I doing here?

...I plan to listen to it in the near future.

[RoboRed]

Homage got honesty.

[nebulous]

Been re-reading the original FOE. I'm starting to think the Mane 6 really were getting up there by the end. Age-wise, I mean. In the "Pinkie's Last Party" scene, AJ's introducing SteelHooves to Dash, and Dash says that she hasn't been able to fly straight after a Pinkie Pie party for twenty years. Man, the pre-balefire timeline always confuses me.

Not only that, but Scootaloo has gray in her mane in the Red Racer memory orb. The war seems to have started about ten years after season one (giving time for Equestria to industrialize and for Scootaloo to grow up), after which the war canonically continued for twenty years, with Luna's government and total war starting about halfway through.

[Ketchup]

I'm rereading FOE right now, actually. Started 2 days ago.

[Somber]

This is also a tiny bit of canon divergence between me and Kkat. I like to think of the mane six as around Mr. / Mrs. Cake in age when the war started and around Mayor Mare in age when the bombs finally fell... I have no idea how old that really is in years, but that's more or less what I envision. From what I understand, Kkat pictured them as being Mayor Mare's age when the war began and Granny Smith when the bombs fell. And that's just not really ages I can work with.

Okies. Off to first day of orientation. See you folks later.

[O. Hinds]

I haven't read FoE- wait, what the hell am I doing here?

...I plan to listen to it in the near future.

Some words of warning: while Scorch Mechanic's audiobook version is very good, it's still a work in progress, running at present only to Chapter 23 inclusive with the Epilogue added as an extra.

This is also a tiny bit of canon divergence between me and Kkat. I like to think of the mane six as around Mr. / Mrs. Cake in age when the war started and around Mayor Mare in age when the bombs finally fell... I have no idea how old that really is in years, but that's more or less what I envision. From what I understand, Kkat pictured them as being Mayor Mare's age when the war began and Granny Smith when the bombs fell. And that's just not really ages I can work with.

Okies. Off to first day of orientation. See you folks later.

Thank you for the clarification, Somber, and good luck with orientation!

[WavemasterRyx]

This is also a tiny bit of canon divergence between me and Kkat. I like to think of the mane six as around Mr. / Mrs. Cake in age when the war started and around Mayor Mare in age when the bombs finally fell... I have no idea how old that really is in years, but that's more or less what I envision. From what I understand, Kkat pictured them as being Mayor Mare's age when the war began and Granny Smith when the bombs fell. And that's just not really ages I can work with.

Okies. Off to first day of orientation. See you folks later.

That really does seem a much more reasonable age, especially considering what we know from season 2 that Granny Smith is 200-something years old. That's how I'd been picturing them all along anyways...

Take care, Somber, and I wish you the best of luck! I hope it all goes really well. *hugs you tight*

[IncoherentOrange]

Some words of warning: while Scorch Mechanic's audiobook version is very good, it's still a work in progress, running at present only to Chapter 23 inclusive with the Epilogue added as an extra.

I'd heard it was incomplete, thanks for the warning.

[RandomBlank]

Whass' "day of orientation"?

[Aonee]

Ya know, that day right before the start of school, where all the students get their schedules and their locker numbers, etc. At least I think that's what Somber means, I don't know if there's a seperate teacher's orientation.

[Sindri]

This is also a tiny bit of canon divergence between me and Kkat. I like to think of the mane six as around Mr. / Mrs. Cake in age when the war started and around Mayor Mare in age when the bombs finally fell... I have no idea how old that really is in years, but that's more or less what I envision. From what I understand, Kkat pictured them as being Mayor Mare's age when the war began and Granny Smith when the bombs fell. And that's just not really ages I can work with.

Okies. Off to first day of orientation. See you folks later.

Well, my thinking is that the Mane Six are in the early twenties during the show, so a decade later would make them ~30 at the start of it, ~40 when they opened the Ministries, and ~50 on the day of the apocalypse. Which seems to match up with your writing.

Best of luck with your class.

[RandomBlank]

We'll see in a week if Somber still feels like writing more or the school drains all of his energy.
I certainly remember how I felt after a day of teaching - and that was only two days a week!

[Ketchup]

Well, my thinking is that the Mane Six are in the early twenties during the show, so a decade later would make them ~30 at the start of it, ~40 when they opened the Ministries, and ~50 on the day of the apocalypse. Which seems to match up with your writing.

Best of luck with your class.

That's how I think of it, given the grey in the manes of several near the end.

[Caoimhe]

Yeah I don't think BJ would have gotten off quite so much as she did to that one memory orb if Rarity was a geriatric.

[Cptadder]

Well, my thinking is that the Mane Six are in the early twenties during the show, so a decade later would make them ~30 at the start of it, ~40 when they opened the Ministries, and ~50 on the day of the apocalypse. Which seems to match up with your writing.

Best of luck with your class.

That's how I think of it, given the grey in the manes of several near the end.

Grey comes from more than age, stress causes grey as well as I well know to meet the old men of the service who are 36 years old and look 55 because they enlisted at 18 and served seven tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, got out and the shear brutatlity of the climate combined with the literal years of combat footing have combined to make them old before their time.

For a less extreme example look at American Presidents Bush I, Clinton, Bush II, and now Obama and compare the inauguration day photos with the inauguration photos and you'll see mean who aged twenty years in only eight.

Time has an excellent photographic easy with before and after photos of the last eight Presidents, the only one who did not age about twenty years was Nixon funny enough
Time's Before and After
Now imagine how well you'd look after two decades of war.

[RandomBlank]

Is there anything better than our headcanons that indicate the 10-year gap between the show and war?
To me it feels like quite a bit more. (think they got to level the Highlanders' mountains before starting the trade with Zebras, and that lasted for a while before problems began cropping up...

I'd say the show's mane 6 is ~20 or less. Start of war is when they are nearing their 40s.

[RoboRed]

Good luck with the orientation, Somber. And congrats on finding someplace!

[Ketchup]

That's how I think of it, given the grey in the manes of several near the end.

Grey comes from more than age, stress causes grey as well as I well know to meet the old men of the service who are 36 years old and look 55 because they enlisted at 18 and served seven tours in Afghanistan and Iraq, got out and the shear brutality of the climate combined with the literal years of combat footing have combined to make them old before their time.

Actually, I knew much of that. I initially typed a part mentioning stress, but deleted it because it looked really silly. Like, ridiculously silly.
Stress also has effects you cannot directly see, like decreased immune effectiveness and general tiredness.
I wonder if the increased pigment in pony manes and tails would have increased resistance to factors that cause graying.

[tylertoon2]

Incoming Unrelated Post!


Have any of you heard of Sex House

It's a series done by the onion, and while it starts out as a (Admittedly Crude) parody of reality Tv. It quickly becomes a lot darker and a lot more interesting. If you haven't you should watch it, it is really good.

[Kippershy]

Ya know, that day right before the start of school, where all the students get their schedules and their locker numbers, etc. At least I think that's what Somber means, I don't know if there's a seperate teacher's orientation.

Don't most jobs give you at least a day to get oriented?

They should do.
I've honestly only had one job myself, been there for over five years. but when I joined my workplace, you applied, got an interview, then after being accepted you were given a date before you were fully accepted to go around the store with the rest of the newbies, learn the layout and such - then did one final quick test before being hired and given your clothing & such.

I should suspect most jobs do the same, especially a school which typically would have a large layout and a lot to remember, you'd need to be given at the very minimum one day to remember it all.


Back when I was in school and moved on up to the next level of education (and thus a new school) we were given maps of the layout and allowed a two week grace period where if we were say, 2 - 5 minutes late to class, it was understandable.
Though adults aren't so quickly forgiven, it's still necessary to give a helping hand.

[IncoherentOrange]

Currently 35:00 into chapter five of FoE, and I find it quite enjoyable.

[RoboRed]

One of these days I'm gonna have to reread FoE. Just because. Also, a lot more stuff will probably make sense to me, now that I've actually played a Fallout game.

[Sponsored content]