Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[tylertoon2]

This seems like as a good a time as ever to post this gloriousness.

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[Meleagridis]

This seems like as a good a time as ever to post this gloriousness.

Three of my favourite things: white suits, people being awesome, and that ski-ba-ba-bop.
If you can dance to it, then someday I'm gonna sing to that electrowing.

Also, has anyone else speculated on what the wartime entertainment might have been like? The Equestrian expy of The Masked Marvel might be fun to see (including the "zebra" spymaster with the obviously-painted-on stripes and the very bad fake accent), though I'm not sure it'd make it past the MoI and MoP.
(By the way, watching some of the serial again on YouTube... I don't remember the acting being nearly so stilted when I watched this as a kid. Funny how that works. It's still pretty fun, though.)

I've suddenly got a vision of a zebra Mr. Moto. ...But I'm not that comfortable in my knowledge of pre-war Equestria. Does anyone have some kind of source of information I could raid?

[Caoimhe]

This seems like as a good a time as ever to post this gloriousness.

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If you like some of that and want to date yourself back further (into the future ), then come and try my Dixie Biscuit.




Speaking of music and relating it to topic: What's the deal with ghouls and ska? (Meatlocker chapter) :P

[Somber]

I'm sorry folks. I'll try and get something a little more substantive soon. You've all been incredibly patient and supportive and deserve another chapter. I have tomorrow off for the holiday, so hopefully I'll be able to make some headway into the chapter.

One of the problems I'm facing is dealing with Glory's reaction to BJ running off. It's not just the sex thing. It's what happened in Yellow River and to Boing. I really don't know what a person would do in situations like that. So I dunno if Glory could keep having a relationship with BJ after that. BJ may very well have killed Lightning Dancer and maimed Dusk. The negatives just keep piling up.

[O. Hinds]

Oh, we're doing randomness? Um...
Nuclear salt-water rockets

And did you know that four-stroke engines have to for smooth running have odd numbers of cylinders in each ring while two-stroke engines don't?

Also, has anyone else speculated on what the wartime entertainment might have been like? The Equestrian expy of The Masked Marvel might be fun to see (including the "zebra" spymaster with the obviously-painted-on stripes and the very bad fake accent), though I'm not sure it'd make it past the MoI and MoP.
(By the way, watching some of the serial again on YouTube... I don't remember the acting being nearly so stilted when I watched this as a kid. Funny how that works. It's still pretty fun, though.)

I've suddenly got a vision of a zebra Mr. Moto. ...But I'm not that comfortable in my knowledge of pre-war Equestria. Does anyone have some kind of source of information I could raid?

Sadly, I don't think that such a database exists (though I doubt that I'd mind being wrong). I think that you sort of just have to pick up bits and pieces here and there, trawl through whatever stories you consider in appropriate part canon, and make stuff up to fill in the many gaps. I've not really done much work with wartime (though it's annoyingly not the standard, I prefer the terms "wartime" and "postapocalypse" to describe the periods during and after the war, reserving "prewar" for the times actually before the start of the war) Equestria, to be honest, so for me it's mostly been "grab the few small hints and make a lot of stuff up," a task at which I like to think I am not too bad.

[Caoimhe]

@Somber: That's tough. I'm gonna try to think of a positive outcome for the both of them.

I'm trying to imagine how BJ could possibly explain it. She pretty much was thrown into a blind rage and had no idea who exactly she really was attacking, and did try to get help on her own afterword. Blackjack for the most part now truly knows now that she can't take on the wasteland on by herself.

Would Glory put her above her family now? Maybe we need examples of terrible things the Enclave is doing for her to better realize that where she came from was not a good place for her. Glory seems to understand Blackjack more than anyone else, would she be willing to devastate BJ more to put the fate of the world in jeopardy? But with Boing and everything, too... hmm. It is possible for them to have a toxic relationship, strained by stress I guess.

Hmm... trying to think of real world examples that could relate, since I've been in some really shitty relationships and left people over things that made me feel horrible afterwords because they were out of the other person's control (mentally and via mistakes).

Glory has a lot to hear about and deal with for sure. This is pretty damn huge, especially coming in late here, we probably need Blackjack to remain positive, happy and feel supported as much as possible.

[O. Hinds]

I'm sorry folks. I'll try and get something a little more substantive soon. You've all been incredibly patient and supportive and deserve another chapter. I have tomorrow off for the holiday, so hopefully I'll be able to make some headway into the chapter.

One of the problems I'm facing is dealing with Glory's reaction to BJ running off. It's not just the sex thing. It's what happened in Yellow River and to Boing. I really don't know what a person would do in situations like that. So I dunno if Glory could keep having a relationship with BJ after that. BJ may very well have killed Lightning Dancer and maimed Dusk. The negatives just keep piling up.

Do what you need to do, Somber; we'll be fine with it. (Though, knowing you, of course, it's quite possible that writing is what you need to do).

Yesss... That's a bit of a sticky situation. Mind you, I rather doubt that she'd leave the party (since someone needs to keep an eye on Blackjack to make sure that this sort of thing hopefully doesn't happen again), but that would probably just make things more tense if the relationship did fall apart. As to that question... I don't know. I can see good points (and bad points that still might get made) on both sides, and I'm not sure which will win. On the other hoof, though, Glory staying with the party even if the relationship falls apart now leaves open the possibility of it mending later, especially if Blackjack's actions make Glory hate/disgusted with/afraid of her/insert appropriate emotion in addition to rather than instead of loving her (though, in the meantime if that happens... Yeah, interesting times).

[Caoimhe]

You can also love someone dearly and be disgusted by horrible things they've done in moments of weakness without destroying the core reasons why you love them, enough to put things on hold. At least I feel that way, since I'm a dumb sappy romantic.

Maybe after everything that's happened, Glory needs something to remind her why she loves Blackjack (if they're intended for destined true love blah blah).

[Meleagridis]

Well, I'll give it a try some time. Hopefully I'll find people with the know-how to correct me properly. I'll just need a zebra-style punny name for Mr. Moto.

Spoiler:

Speaking of music and relating it to topic: What's the deal with ghouls and ska? (Meatlocker chapter) :P

More now kay thanks.
I don't think it's ska, more... big band?

I'm sorry folks. I'll try and get something a little more substantive soon. You've all been incredibly patient and supportive and deserve another chapter. I have tomorrow off for the holiday, so hopefully I'll be able to make some headway into the chapter.

One of the problems I'm facing is dealing with Glory's reaction to BJ running off. It's not just the sex thing. It's what happened in Yellow River and to Boing. I really don't know what a person would do in situations like that. So I dunno if Glory could keep having a relationship with BJ after that. BJ may very well have killed Lightning Dancer and maimed Dusk. The negatives just keep piling up.

This sounds blindingly difficult. How does one get into that headspace? I pity anyone who can understand what that would be like; I doubt most of us could understand how that kind of conflict feels.

...I don't think I could do it. I'm not Blackjack, I have only so much ability to forgive until compassion is overshadowed by terror and reprehension. I'd run. But then, I'm not Glory either. Can she learn to forgive like BJ does? Is that a learnable skill?

As an open question to the PHCC: could you forgive? And as a follow-up question: Really think about every horror Blackjack has committed since leaving Glory. Did you answer honestly?

[O. Hinds]

Well, I'll give it a try some time. Hopefully I'll find people with the know-how to correct me properly. I'll just need a zebra-style punny name for Mr. Moto.

Wow; I didn't expect anyone to actually make it. Would you be following the same plot as closely as possible (the one about airplane fuel might give trouble there...) or just making something similar? Also, I think that it might be fun and appropriate to have it genderswapped.

Oh, one particular word of caution: depending on when you decide to set it, you'll probably want to pay particular attention to when various things were invented.

Spoiler:

Speaking of music and relating it to topic: What's the deal with ghouls and ska? (Meatlocker chapter) :P

More now kay thanks.
I don't think it's ska, more... big band?

I seem to recall Somber saying that it was swing.

As an open question to the PHCC: could you forgive? And as a follow-up question: Really think about every horror Blackjack has committed since leaving Glory. Did you answer honestly?

I probably could, I think; I tend to forgive very easily once a problem isn't actually ongoing.

[Caoimhe]

Aye. I don't know why I ascribe ska to Big Bad Voodoo Daddy but swing is one of my thangs. The "dirtier" the better!

[FeatherDust]

So I dunno if Glory could keep having a relationship with BJ after that. BJ may very well have killed Lightning Dancer and maimed Dusk. The negatives just keep piling up.

BJ has done bad things before. This is more personal to Glory, but I don't think it's a relationship ender, just makes things complicated. Especially with how broken up over it BJ was and is -- I would think Glory would be more in the position of "I hate what she did and fear what she might do, but I also love her very much..."

Though I do have to ask, how would Glory know about Dusk? The only way is if BJ tells her about it, I think. And in that case, it's more a confession than anything else, and I think that mitigates the damage. Glory and everyone knew that BJ was out of her head when she ran off.

[FeatherDust]

Lately I've been playing through New Vegas for the first time (yeah, I know...)

And one of the really fun things is that I keep running across things and going, "OH! Hey, that's where this element in FOE came from!" A lot of it from the original FOE, but there's some PH stuff too.

One that really hit me and made me go "GAH!" was when I recruited Arcade Gannon from the Followers of the Apocalypse. He agreed to join me, and then immediately expressed distrust of my pet robot ED-E. Among other comments, he said:
"Some of these robots, you look at them the wrong way, don't screw in a vacuum tube right... The next thing you know, you're a pile of ash on the floor and someone's stepping out of a Vertibird to sweep your remains into a Nuka-Cola bottle!"

(If you've forgotten -- that's exactly what LilPip did after the kid on Friendship City got vaporized during the Enclave attack.)

Also, having Cass as your companion gives you the perk "Whiskey Rose" -- alcohol no longer penalizes your INT score, and you gain damage threshold when you're under the effects. In my head, this perk immediately got renamed "Queen Whiskey".

[Caoimhe]

I started New Vegas not to long ago but only progressed as far as Goodsprings as I've been busy but you've given me motivation to continue in it as I really don't have much to do on a long weekend besides get brunch-drunk. Wee!

[O. Hinds]

Lately I've been playing through New Vegas for the first time (yeah, I know...)

And one of the really fun things is that I keep running across things and going, "OH! Hey, that's where this element in FOE came from!" A lot of it from the original FOE, but there's some PH stuff too.

One that really hit me and made me go "GAH!" was when I recruited Arcade Gannon from the Followers of the Apocalypse. He agreed to join me, and then immediately expressed distrust of my pet robot ED-E. Among other comments, he said:
"Some of these robots, you look at them the wrong way, don't screw in a vacuum tube right... The next thing you know, you're a pile of ash on the floor and someone's stepping out of a Vertibird to sweep your remains into a Nuka-Cola bottle!"

(If you've forgotten -- that's exactly what LilPip did after the kid on Friendship City got vaporized during the Enclave attack.)

Also, having Cass as your companion gives you the perk "Whiskey Rose" -- alcohol no longer penalizes your INT score, and you gain damage threshold when you're under the effects. In my head, this perk immediately got renamed "Queen Whiskey".

I started New Vegas not to long ago but only progressed as far as Goodsprings as I've been busy but you've given me motivation to continue in it as I really don't have much to do on a long weekend besides get brunch-drunk. Wee!

If I might ask, what sorts of characters are you two playing?

[Caoimhe]

I'm playing a dude with tons of charisma and small guns (whatever that's called. I have to reboot into windows to check it out). I always play a goody two shoes in games.

[Caoimhe]

Hmm, I see. I opt from stealing from anyone because of the karma but I guess I should.

[FeatherDust]

If I might ask, what sorts of characters are you two playing?

I'm doing a sneaky sniper with strong speech and science on the side, and somewhat lacking lockpicking. Which does mean I can't get the unique Gobi Scout sniper rifle, but -- eh. I very much prefer my silenced sniper instead -- I took out all of Cottonwood Cove without getting spotted. (Well, technically I got spotted twice, but both times I killed the guy before he could do anything to alert the rest.)

On the personality side, I'm playing as a good aligned manipulative bastard (due to my 80 speech, which I can buff to 100 at need, with a magazine and PTM combo). Everyone likes me or is neutral at this point (largely because there's a point at which the Caesar forgives you all your crimes and resets you to neutral).

I have an upgraded hunting rifle (fire rate and ammo capacity) for when silence isn't important -- a hunting rifle does more damage than a sniper (though slower fire rate), has a smaller spread, and degrades a LOT slower.

Also carrying Maria (unique 9mm pistol) for a holdout gun. I had a .44 magnum that I used to take out Benny, then I sold it. Maria is much lighter, with less damage per shot but a better fire rate.

[O. Hinds]

re stealing: Strangely, no one seemed to notice when the two NCR Heavy Troopers at Camp McCarran spontaneously exploded and I walked over to loot the bodies.

[Ironmonger]

While we are talking about New Vegas, I decided to play through with a warmonger character, SPECIAL is 7-7-7-1-7-7-5, and I use sniper weapons. Got inspired to go the complete opposite direction of Blackjack and Littlepip by confronting every problem with sheer might and intelligence.

[Cptadder]

Been thinking long and hard about Sombers little question and I knew now was the time to post because I was three words into the post and O.Hinds posted. Odd as that sounds like the last week every time I post it's directly after O.Hinds. The last post which was nine seconds after he posted when I hit preview and I had to get up and walk away to chase the dog out of the kitchen before I could hit submit.

That bizarre coincidence aside here are my thoughts RE:Glory and Blackjack meeting.
The key I believe is P-21

He was in the 99 with Blackjack and he can explain something of the culture there. Unlike Blackjack and to a less extent Scotch Tape he's self aware enough to look back at the old days and contrast them with the wasteland. He's known Glory long enough and been treated by her long enough to hear a few "when I was growing up in the Enclave" stories (Most likely). So the thing to do is to have the first meeting from the end of Chapter 49 to the start of chapter 50 go bad. Lets face it Blackjack has no idea why Glory is pissed and her being as volcanically angry as she will be will just confuse Blackjack more. And Glory can read the fact that Blackjack is not only not sorry but confused as to why she (Glory) is angry. This will make her more angry and Blackjack more confused into a nice feedback loop that should end with our favorite demur Alicorn stepping in to do some telekinetic restraint on Glory and tell Blackjack to take a walk.

End of the chapter have a standard "Listening in conversation" between P-21 and Glory and back story is dropped about some of P-21 and Glory's time together under treatment. P-21 who does hate and love Blackjack for her sake will want to take Glory aside and try and explain the mentality of 99 and their treatment of sex. His best tools for this conversation are his frankness, their relationship as doctor/patient and the embarrassment button that P-21 can push at will to shut Glory down and get her blushing by revealing a sliver of what he went through inside 99.

Why did Blackjack get it on with Stiggy? For her own reason and because she does not have sexual taboos. In fact I think she might not have any considering the environment of Stable 99. Compare this with Enclave upbringing and the military police state and we have a classic culture clash between Glory's Enclave upbringing and Blackjack's Stable 99 upbringing. Glory is smart but Glory is still naive, positive Glory. Which means this little talk should at best bring Glory part of the way to understanding why Blackjack did what she did but it will not lead Glory to forgiving Blackjack this instant, or even this week. This is a mean and nasty fight, the kind that should at least last a week and we got so many big things coming down the pipe the most important to the Blackjack/Glory relationship is of course a certain nuclear device which is on it's way to a predestined explosion in less than a week now.

So that's my thoughts on the Blackjack done fucked up and Glory is pissed situation or BFGP for short. Have the fight be bad but end the chapter on a some what positive note with P-21 talking to Glory and trying to explain things. Glory should weaken a tad to indicate she is listening to P21 but get pissed all over again because lets face it the odds of Blackjack successfully listening in on a conversation that important without something going hilariously wrong and her sneakiness being found out are pretty slim.

[Ironmonger]

Funnily enough Cptadder I had thought of the whole telekinetic restraint thing too, just thought it kinda socially inappropriate.

[Cptadder]

Funnily enough Cptadder I had thought of the whole telekinetic restraint thing too, just thought it kinda socially inappropriate.

In my head my mental expectation of the start of Chapter 50 I'm thinking Glory is pissed enough to go all out after a few exchanges back and forth and Blackjack demonstrating exactly how clueless she is about why Glory is pissed. I'm seeing Blackjack after getting thrown into that wall, getting tossed out the window after Blackjack starts going up the list of "bad shit Blackjack did while we were away". You know that thing your parents/significant other sometimes manage to mind trick you into where they say "Your in trouble" and in an effort to defend yourself you start pre-defending yourself against charges except.. what they called you in there for is not that so now your in trouble for the first thing which you don't know what it is plus the thing you just admitted to?

Ever been in that situation? That's how I imagine it going between Blackjack and Glory and every time Blackjack confesses to some lesser crime without showing any guilt about what Glory will regard as the big crime... the betrayal of their relationship.

And then I said possibly the stupidest thing I could have ever said in that situation
"What? THAT? That's what your so mad about? But... why?"

And at that point Glory will lose it. As in utterly flip the table rage mode. She will not say anything... she may make sounds which could mistaken for words... but trust in this... what you will hear will only be Glory's rage given voice. And it will be the deep prime rage of one who feels utterly betrayed and has their betrayer within range.

That at least is my mental image of that confrontation.

[Caoimhe]

Granted we haven't seen it before, but other than the end of 49, what have we seen of Glory that would indicate she'd be that violently emotional? Honestly, I see her as being more of a clingy, self defeating type based on how much she tries to relate to what she feels is Blackjack's side. Even after the "bad" side in the bedroom and the motherly instincts she has, I don't see her as that outgoing. She seems more inclined to be angry but blame things on herself.

I find her outburst at the end of the last chapter to be about the apex of her rage, and maybe even feel apologetic about it. She seems to have a varying degree of daddy issues and inexperience that don't make her to be in the forefront of ending a relationship. This is her first serious relationship as well, right? In that sense I'd see her as being either scared or blaming herself for not being there. She's in a "weakened" state from the killing joke already so I can she her feeling there's additional physical evidence that she's unworthy of Blackjack, even after all the shit she's had to hear.

Glory has also been away from her kin and way of life from a shorter time than Blackjack. The Enclave is a very structured total institution. 99 was as well but there were more seedly elements to it that Blackjack was used to. Glory is a lot more used to something more solid and 'pure.' She was a lot more of a basketcase when BJ found her than when BJ first stepped outside into the Wasteland. Glory was shivering, malnourished and on her own just waiting there in the weather station thing for what, weeks?

This all part of why I still feel Blackjack is the more dominant in the relationship. She's pretty much made every decision. It's not anything against Glory, but from what we know, she's still on the receiving end pretty much: weaker, less experienced and always in the learning process whereas Blackjack is more stubborn, headstrong, has been around the block more and is less intelligent.

This is also their first REAL big fight, so these traits hold more as they stand.

tldr: Glory is more likely to blame herself for not being there during everything than be relationship-endingly angry at Blackjack's actions. Again, that's why I find Gloryjack to be pure but toxic.


Edit: Look at Glory's "Fallen Glory" outburst. That was really sort of an almost juvenile cry for attention: building an identity for herself instead of getting used to new changes. She's not that mature enough to take heed in a situation like this.

I love analyzing relationships, especially lesbian, because there's usually a looooooot of issues. Girls are hella emotional and not very good at hiding it. :P

[Icy Shake]

Granted we haven't seen it before, but other than the end of 49, what have we seen of Glory that would indicate she'd be that violently emotional? Honestly, I see her as being more of a clingy, self defeating type based on how much she tries to relate to what she feels is Blackjack's side. Even after the "bad" side in the bedroom and the motherly instincts she has, I don't see her as that outgoing. She seems more inclined to be angry but blame things on herself.

I find her outburst at the end of the last chapter to be about the apex of her rage, and maybe even feel apologetic about it. She seems to have a varying degree of daddy issues and inexperience that don't make her to be in the forefront of ending a relationship. This is her first serious relationship as well, right? In that sense I'd see her as being either scared or blaming herself for not being there. She's in a "weakened" state from the killing joke already so I can she her feeling there's additional physical evidence that she's unworthy of Blackjack, even after all the shit she's had to hear.

Glory has also been away from her kin and way of life from a shorter time than Blackjack. The Enclave is a very structured total institution. 99 was as well but there were more seedly elements to it that Blackjack was used to. Glory is a lot more used to something more solid and 'pure.' She was a lot more of a basketcase when BJ found her than when BJ first stepped outside into the Wasteland. Glory was shivering, malnourished and on her own just waiting there in the weather station thing for what, weeks?

This all part of why I still feel Blackjack is the more dominant in the relationship. She's pretty much made every decision. It's not anything against Glory, but from what we know, she's still on the receiving end pretty much: weaker, less experienced and always in the learning process whereas Blackjack is more stubborn, headstrong, has been around the block more and is less intelligent.

This is also their first REAL big fight, so these traits hold more as they stand.

tldr: Glory is more likely to blame herself for not being there during everything than be relationship-endingly angry at Blackjack's actions. Again, that's why I find Gloryjack to be pure but toxic.


Edit: Look at Glory's "Fallen Glory" outburst. That was really sort of an almost juvenile cry for attention: building an identity for herself instead of getting used to new changes. She's not that mature enough to take heed in a situation like this.

I love analyzing relationships, especially lesbian, because there's usually a looooooot of issues. Girls are hella emotional and not very good at hiding it. :P

I've kind of thought of this as a situation that could resolve itself in a number of ways, but that the manner it does so depends on who exactly Glory is at this point; specifically, the nature of her poison joke affliction could make a big difference in how she reacts. If the change is purely physical-ex-neurological/endocrinological, then I think you're on the right track. But suppose that the change is deeper (and we do know that the change occurred at the level of muscle and (peripheral) nerve and bone), and we're now looking at a pony that is entirely Rainbow Dash but without her memories and social context, instead possessing Glory's (I'll admit, this possibility is likely only if at some point the poisoning is reversed, but I'm not entirely discounting the potential for her to remain transformed, ultimately becoming an RD/MG synthesis--if nothing else it would be interesting to see an interpretation of Rainbow Dash raised in the Enclave society, and whether she would still spurn the pegasi to seek to help ponies in general); in that case, a more aggressive personality would likely emerge, one prone to reacting harshly to any slight or betrayal, and who finds it difficult ever to back down. But even there, would it be in Rainbow's character to fully disengage, or merely to remain angry, distant, and aloof until some trigger enabled a reconciliation in which she could save face?

Really, I suppose what you're talking about is the most plausible baseline, but I feel like the range of outcomes is pretty broad.

[Kattlarv]

@Cpt: (wings) Who gave you permission to contribute with perverse stuff? xD

@Somber: Neat to hear :3 And crap! A new chapter soon? I am not ready, I got piles of stuff to read and do

@Inco: (races) They are being fanwanked quite a bit. Especially in FoE. Pegasi get quite a bit too, both races do when it comes to fics, even 18+. EP's just really, REALLY need an episode with something they can do better than the other, or at least something unique tbh. Personally tried to balance it out some with my FoE RPG. (lore wise, they are the only ones that can grow crops yes, but so far, all "situations" have been solved by unicorns, some lesser by pegasi, and any minor problem an EP solved, could have been done by either of the other, if possibly not better.

@EP: Do'h... 5 pages, this can be good or bad xD

@Ketchup: (Pit) What? when did we ever get out from it?

@Somber: (Glory+BJ) I'd say that entirely depends what type of person she is. After all, just to name a quite unrelated example: A domestic abuse victim can often stick around the abuser. For whatever reason, quite often since they think it is their fault. (or ex: stockholm syndrome) So it would entirely depend what Glory is like. She could cut BJ off, have a "just business" relation, angry sex, ditch BJ entirely or forgive her and take her back, or even entirely forgive her and take her back with open arms after some venting. As said, you can pull anything, any stereotype or improbable thing. You've already used several when it comes to "reactions". Like with BJ, Golden, Styg and ... that one someone I can't recall the name off. So yeah, all and all, try to contemplate more what would SHE do, not what would a human female of x heritage, timeline and society do? For example, a friend of mine would cut BJ off completely for a few weeks, then be willing to talk. I'd personally make BJ my bitch till I figured out what to do. And one I know would go all "But she didn't know what she was doing! it's not her fault!" and take her back with open arms... after some alone crying. With other words: People are different. The main gender norm difference is not biological, it's what we are taught by society. So how was she raised? How was she taught to deal with betrayals? How does she act overall? As said, if you'd reverse BJ's, Scotch, Glory, Rampages or P-21's gender, put them through the same stuff, you would very likely have the same results. Genus(?) does very little overall to affect us. Some minor (or major at times) parts are there, yes, but it wouldn't but a huge fucking gap. At most some quirks or traits. (and ofc some narrative at times)

@EP: Woo! No new chapter to completely hamster my busy schedule! I seriously need to chop of a day alone to just catch up though...

[Sindri]

I have a question for Somber or honestly whoever can answer this. He writes between 20K-50K words a week. That does not seem humanly possible, so how does he get this shit done so fast? I'm fortunate if I can manage 1000 words a day.

Simple, Somber isn't actually human. I'm still working on what exactly she is... Current theory is that the grey filly living in his head is more literal than you think, and it's a classic example of earth pony magic.

My primary theory was he already had a lot of it written and just posted it once a week or something, like what they do with TV shows. I just accept the theory that hes pretty much an avatar of literature or writing god or something lol.

Nope. We see the chapters the instant they finish brushing, which is usually barely a day or two after Somber types the last word.


My research indicates that this is physically possible, but I have only been able to find one other example: Andrew Hussie.

I want Somber to write my obituary. They'll have to add an entire section to the paper for it and it'll surely leave everyone moved and in tears.

Ordinarily, I don't care about people I'm not personally close to dying (not being nasty about it or anything, but there are 150,000 people dying every day; if I cared about all of them I'd never do anything but cry, and I don't see the point in having feels for somebody just because I was in the area or read about them or saw them die or whatever if I'm not going to react to somebody just the same but further away).


Somber made me care about an unnamed fictional strung-out hopeless drug addict who only existed for the space of a paragraph.

I want Somber to never write obituaries because if everybody never stops crying it will be very hard to get anything accomplished.

[snop]
Yes, that is Admiral Rum

That's adorable.

...
What?

I'm sorry folks. I'll try and get something a little more substantive soon. You've all been incredibly patient and supportive and deserve another chapter. I have tomorrow off for the holiday, so hopefully I'll be able to make some headway into the chapter.

...Okay, so when we tell Somber to not worry about it, not rush, take her time, that convinces her that we deserve a new chapter right now. Maybe reverse psychology? No, if we demanded a new chapter right now she'd drop everything and give it to us. Any suggestions? Maybe just not saying anything? Or would that just remove support and make her feel bad? And given that writing is something she enjoys and may very well be her primary support/stress relief at the moment, is it even a good idea to try?

Dammit how do I psychology?

As an open question to the PHCC: could you forgive? And as a follow-up question: Really think about every horror Blackjack has committed since leaving Glory. Did you answer honestly?

Honestly? I don't know. If I were Glory...

From a pragmatic standpoint, removing the primary support for the dangerous insane mare is a terrible idea, not to mention weakening my own loose control over her. Better to be the morality pet for a dangerous anti-hero than to back off and watch her go from the mare you loved to a complete monster worse than even the Hoof has seen before; losing Glory like this would make Blackjack go full Deus, and she's more powerful now that he ever was. Primary focus should be on preventing such events in the future: Blackjack is required to sleep regularly regardless of mood or hurry, and is never allowed to be without one or more trusted, reasonable companions at any time.

From an emotional standpoint things are trickier. The mare you loved nearly killed your sister and a... not exactly innocent but blameless child, and did kill a group of harmless scavengers and your sister's entire squad, likely including her own life's love. Because she refused to listen to your advice and ran off without you, many good people are dead and she very nearly destroyed herself again. Glory even being functional after something like that indicates great strength, and I'd hope she's enough of a medic and a scientist to go with the pragmatic route until her emotions settle a bit and she has a chance to think everything through... but I'm scared.

[Caoimhe]

Picture Blackjack as a drug addict and Glory as her lover who knows about her struggles with addiction.

Now, BJ just had a relapse after going sober for so long, maybe even stole from her family to feed her habit (Glory's sis), deep down though BJ knows she has to kick the habit and worries about it every day.

That's an angle you can work with. Glory wouldn't just up and leave or sever. Maybe if she didn't know about BJ's problems but she does, has seen her at her worse times and has forgiven her for it before.

[Ironmonger]

Ordinarily, I don't care about people I'm not personally close to dying (not being nasty about it or anything, but there are 150,000 people dying every day; if I cared about all of them I'd never do anything but cry

My morbid sense of humor pictures a rather hilarious scene. Anyway, I fully expect Glory to get out all of her angst then just cry or something.

[Cptadder]

I had a long drawn out and thoughtful reply, with points and counterpoints. Jam packed with rambling run on sentences and deep thoughts.

Then my dog chase her toy under my desk and stepped on my power strip.
Such is life.
My second much less insightful reply... soonish.

@Cpt: (wings) Who gave you permission to contribute with perverse stuff? xD

My dear I spent four years in the Navy and grew up with nothing but veterans every summer. I've been finely crafted to take everything the wrong way and say the phrase "An iron tube full of Seaman" without cracking the hint of a smile. That's just a submarine and not an innuendo at all! Except when it is...

Right Captain Hammer?
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Could not have put it better myself.

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