Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[RoboRed]

Yep.

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

I live in the ass crack... I live in Houston, we get hurricanes, we get heat that is not only over the 100s but gets so up there in the humidity your perm will fall flat, you immediately start to sweat, and you struggle to breath. The rain is not cool or refreshing, and if there is any cold, no one knows how to drive in freezing weather and end up causing bull shit. I remeber riding th bus to school in Amarillo and there was nothing but ice on the road, the freaking bus would drift around corners and into the freaking school parking lot and always end up in the same spot it was coents... I the town is as big as a freaking state, and traffic is just stupid.

we arent living on top of each other because everything is so freaking sprawled out. the acid rain alone makes it almost impossible for you to wear a decent hat in rain because they will disintegrate.

the odors and the heavy air. I went to san marcus and it was 103 and and I was comfortable. why? because the humidty was at 30%

[Icy Shake]

Oh, look at that. Medley was one of the four Crusaders that Blackjack saved from the town with the dragon problem way back, so she did have some lines and some history. That does make her death scene kinda.....eh.

Yeah, she seemed basically okay and all, back when she had a speaking role, but there's only so beat up I can get about someone we've barely seen in hundreds of thousands of words. My big thing was okay, they aren't doing the "we could have saved her, but you fucked up and we had to save you" schtick? No? Great, let's move on.
And as others have brought up, the ability to really care can be hampered when someone dies in a ridiculously shitty death trap (and, IIRC, drowning in their sewage "system") after an actual (admittedly, we're talking about a low bar here, considering the circumstances) engineering professional told them "hay assholes, ur doin it rong (and here's how you can do it right, or at least better)."

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

I still think Pinkies talent is making ponies smile. not throwing parties

[Guest]

Here's how I felt about Medley's death: it was a realistic tragedy. Senseless and - here's where it gets different from the normal way ponies die in the Wasteland - entirely avoidable. Somepony saw it coming, warned everypony else, but was ignored because of the wrong reasons. And when it came back to bite somepony in the rear, it bit hard. It wasn't a "deserved" death, or even all that ironic. It was just something that wouldn't have happened in a more ideal world - the kind of death that trying your damnedest to "do better" can often prevent.

Still workin' on review. BTW, to all you artists out there: how the hay do you do what you do?! Jaysus, I worked for six hours straight on a piece and it still didn't look half as good as most folks' sketches. Sure, part of it was the medium (contour drawing) but still! Oh, and also, I totally recommend reading/viewing Lynd Ward's woodcut novels - we had to create captions/write up short stories based off'f em for a class, and they were very cool indeed. So, yeah, that's what I've been doing with all my free time, if anyone was wondering where I'd gone. =P

[Sindri]

Here's how I felt about Medley's death: it was a realistic tragedy. Senseless and - here's where it gets different from the normal way ponies die in the Wasteland - entirely avoidable. Somepony saw it coming, warned everypony else, but was ignored because of the wrong reasons. And when it came back to bite somepony in the rear, it bit hard. It wasn't a "deserved" death, or even all that ironic. It was just something that wouldn't have happened in a more ideal world - the kind of death that trying your damnedest to "do better" can often prevent.

The problem (and the thing Blackjack refuses to get) is that it doesn't matter how much better you do if you can't convince them to do better. They're the one building it, they're the one living in it. You warned them in a rational an intelligent manner and they told you to piss off. Now the combination of their incompetence and their refusal to even think of doing better has killed them. I know it sounds terrible, but this is how the imbeciles are weeded out of the gene pool: you give them every chance to help themselves and survive, but you do not try to pull them out when they attempt suicide by stupid. The other idiots either learn from the example and become a little less idiotic, or they're next. Either way in a decade's time people in general are smarter and live longer, and the buildings stay up. That's how evolution works.

The only duties of those nearby are to make the information available and to ensure that only those guilty suffer for it.

[WavemasterRyx]

Still workin' on review. BTW, to all you artists out there: how the hay do you do what you do?!

Still working on my commentary too... here's hoping once everyone goes to sleep I can actually make some progress on it...

And well... I suppose it's just something that comes with lots of practice and, to be completely honest, luck. Sometimes you can get in this kind of "zone" where everything just happens and it's really wonderful, and you can draw so fast... Maybe I'm really not the best person at all to talk to about it... I'm still terrible at art heh.

[Guest]

@Sindri
Medley might not have been the one who put up that building, though, or any buildings. She might not have even been particularly pissed off with Scotch. That's not, AFAIK, information we have. It's nice to think that she somehow got what was coming to her, I suppose, but social Darwinism doesn't necessarily apply here.

@Ryx
You are a super artist, silly!

[Kippershy]

when did kipper shit you out? or did he forget to eat you?

KIpper you really should finish your food, and if you did eat him, make sure you chew, otherwise you just crap him out@

Honestly

Tytan no worries

Sorry dude. I'll get back to my job now.

[Kippershy]

when did kipper shit you out? or did he forget to eat you?

KIpper you really should finish your food, and if you did eat him, make sure you chew, otherwise you just crap him out@

Honestly

Tytan no worries

I make no promises as to whether or not Kipper is house trained.

[MLPOCG]

This was a good chapter, maybe not quite so good as the last but it was nice to see the story wind down after so much action and focus on its character driven elements. Your chapter endings always get me interested in what'll happen next :3

[Ketchup]

Looks like it didn't take long for Captain Tytan to get settled...
We need a welcome song.
And what is it now, 2 Captains and an Admiral?

[Sindri]

Looks like it didn't take long for Captain Tytan to get settled...
We need a welcome song.
And what is it now, 2 Captains and an Admiral?

Last I counted it was two Captains, one Admiral, one Wavemaster, a variety of Sirs, one Soviet Bastard, and one Grey Goddess. Plus an overstuffed gutter and some folk better left undescribed.

[FeatherDust]

It is kinda funny that we're all sitting here waving our metaphorical weather dicks at each other to see who's is worst.

Eh, I live in Texas, the worst weather I can claim is 50-ish straight days over 100 degrees. We don't really HAVE winter down here; it's more like late fall just mooshes into early spring somewhere in the middle of february. We occasionally get snow, and it is pretty cold for a month or two there, but I have it pretty reliably that everywhere else that's just what you expect from late autumn and doesn't really constitute a winter.

Seriously though I was at the local theater when the new Obama movie thing came out... You wouldn't believe how many old, white, racist people there were. IT WAS HILARIOUS!

Oh, god, I had to spend like half an hour explaining to my mother that it doesn't matter what your politics are, a movie like that is crap that you shouldn't support. There can be no real scientific justification for a prediction of the future, as it's "just the writer's thoughts", which means it can't possibly convince anyone who already disagrees with it, and if you already agree with the movie's thesis (that is, "Obama is bad for America"), then you really don't need to spend any money going to see a movie about it. (That and it'll be so over-the-top that it's instantly recognizable as mere propaganda.)

I live in the ass crack... I live in Houston

Ooh. Sorry man. I'm up in the Dallas area. To everyone who isn't familiar, everyone in Texas more or less consoles themselves about their own icky weather with "Well, at least we're not in Houston", which basically takes all the bad weather the rest of the state has and adds humidity to it.

[WavemasterRyx]

Alright finally finished!
Once again, thank you very much Somber, Hinds, Bronode, and Snipe for all the hard work that all of you put into this story. *hugs you all together*

It's okay if you don't know what your writing schedule will be like, Somber. Just try your best, and do what you need to, chapters like this are worth waiting for. *hugs Somber again*

Chapter 50 Commentary:

Had a Great time on Tf2 with all of you guys. Our Battle Cries of CUUUNT! Echoed as loud as our guns as we battled the robot hoards.

Spoiler:

Damn my inability to ever be able to play when other people can... I always miss the most fun...

[Kippershy]

Alright finally finished!
Once again, thank you very much Somber, Hinds, Bronode, and Snipe for all the hard work that all of you put into this story. *hugs you all together*

It's okay if you don't know what your writing schedule will be like, Somber. Just try your best, and do what you need to, chapters like this are worth waiting for. *hugs Somber again*

Chapter 50 Commentary:

Had a Great time on Tf2 with all of you guys. Our Battle Cries of CUUUNT! Echoed as loud as our guns as we battled the robot hoards.

Spoiler:

Damn my inability to ever be able to play when other people can... I always miss the most fun...

>His own work alongside Blackjack, forever immortalised in this picture.
>Doesn't say a word about it.

[Katarn]

>His own work alongside Blackjack, forever immortalised in this picture.
>Doesn't say a word about it.

LIAR!

[Kippershy]

>His own work alongside Blackjack, forever immortalised in this picture.
>Doesn't say a word about it.

LIAR!

Not at all. Waves was the one who drew that picture of Crimson, which is to the left of the Blackjack picture.
(the one we were all shooting...)

Look again.

[Katarn]

@Kipp Okay, maybe I misunderstand you. I thought that you didn't say, that Crimson pic was next to BJ, which in fact you did.

[Kippershy]

I'm just... reckless, tall, strong, reckless, tough, reckless and reckless.

[CamoBadger]

Recklessness is a gift for those who crave adrenaline.

...damn I need a rush...

[Kippershy]

I don't crave it at all, is the weird thing.
I dislike conflict, partially because I know the damage I can and will do if I lose myself to it and partially because it's just not my thing.
I'm not much of an adventure seeker, either.

I just do things as I see fit, shit happens to make it seem like I'm some crazy guy who goes out seeking it.
(well, okay, not EVERY time is it out of my control that shit happens.)

[CamoBadger]

At least you have that common sense. Only fools go looking for fights.

That's not to say I haven't hoped to get in a fight after certain really bad days...sometimes I just need to let off some steam in a constructive way...

[Cptadder]

I need to go back through and read Wave's commentary but the four pages of insanity were required reading and I had some reading to do first.

Oh, look at that. Medley was one of the four Crusaders that Blackjack saved from the town with the dragon problem way back, so she did have some lines and some history. That does make her death scene kinda.....eh.

So once again fitting her into the Boba Fett area, some lines a tiny bit of backstory and she died. She won't be insanely popular only because and I can't stress this enough... no jetpack.

Looks like it didn't take long for Captain Tytan to get settled...
We need a welcome song.
And what is it now, 2 Captains and an Admiral?

It's a Army Captain so it's closer to say one Lieutenant, one Captain and one Admiral in a pure naval ranking.

Question!
Why would Spike be unaware that the Enclave are the ones hitting the broadcast towers and Raider camps?
He knows they exist, he's some kinda hacker and can listen in on broadcasts, and I would figure at least one of his MoM spritebots would have spotted a vertibuck at some point.
He just seems baffled by it...

You forget the Enclave is hitting targets they know a great deal about, they might not even be showing up in person since they have access to Ministry of Awesome Hubs and might still have people walking around with full access. They might be able to pull full remote shutdowns, or simply shut down cameras. Also they might be able to use the nature of Equestrian security against it.

What do I mean? Simple, in some security setups if you deliberately trigger a security lockdown of a facility it will shut off it's outside coms and broadcasting to prevent them from being used, lots of broadcast facilities are designed this way so if you hack in an hijack the signal or take over the building a simple security alarm takes the station off the air. So the Ministry of Awesome hubs that the Enclave control might be able to send a panic signal to a SPP tower engaging a lockdown and taking it's broadcast ability and coms of the air. They could also be visiting in person to shut down the towers but if the towers were designed to ensure that they could be shut down remotely in case of Zebra infiltration it makes good sense to have the capability built into all SPP towers.

Thus the need for DJ Pon-3 to go visit each tower in person, lift the lock down and disable the remote lock down ability by cutting the link to the MOA hub.

[Ametros]

I somehow managed to end up on reddit. Found a page of feedback for the latest chapter. Perhaps you'll want to give it a look Somber?
http://www.reddit.com/r/falloutequestria/comments/zlu9v/project_horizons_chapter_50_selfishness/

[Cptadder]

@adder
But they are hitting raider camps, too. And Spike is aware of only one other group like, but not of, the brotherhood. They've showed up in power armor and heavy weaponry at his doorstep within PH.

99% of the wasteland, including Homage, might know next to nothing about the Enclave, but Spike not only just knows them... They are his greatest threat. He had to have Blackjack climb down from his cave because he knew they were watching him and couldnt risk leaving again. Why wouldn't he watch them back?

I just think he should have said he suspected the enclave or something and wonder what they are up to.

He might suspect the Enclave but they do have two centuries of non-interference in the surface world under their belt, he knows about the Thunderhead group but these are mainstream Enclave troops. As for the attacks does Spike say he's seen the attacks or just the aftereffects because Red Eye and the Talons both have access to Power armor and heavy weaponry not just the Brotherhood and the Enclave and from the sound of it so do the Eggheads.

[Tytan]

I'm not reckless, I'm just clumsy... and forgetful. How else would I have gotten eaten by kippper.

@ Kipper
The Admiral says that I'm his Captain now... Just sayin'. (It's complicated, but it involves diapers, you, and me reminding him of Puppysmiles.)

[Kippershy]

Ah, you got off easy this time, Tyt.

edit: fixed

[Tytan]

Ah, you got off easy this time, Tyr.

According to the Admiral I was eaten, shit out, became a space ranger name Captain Underbritches, fought Count Horsetile, and became his subordinate (The Admirals not Horsetile).

...It was a good day.

[O. Hinds]

"No. Some of them I didn't even like all that much. Not like Mom and Steam. Not like... how I feel for Glory." - Exactly. Wait... Steam?

This is from chapter… 30? (I used the combined Naller document. (By the way, I don't remember who made/is making that, but thank you! It's quite useful. I was also able to get a friend into FoE using the ebook file downloads from the site.))

 Everything’s big when you’re little, and trying on Mom’s things was a way to prove that I was getting bigger.  That someday I’d be all grown up and ready to take on my job as a security mare.  I was going to be a pony who saved ponies!  So I trotted out of Mom’s room wearing her security barding and a helmet so big that it rattled around my horn like my teacher’s bell.  It was all I could do to not trip and f-- whoopsie.  One misstep sent me sprawled out in a tangled mess of blue.  I blushed furiously as I pushed back the face mask enough to see if Momma had noticed.
        But Momma was crying.  I’d never seen Momma cry before.  It wasn’t a thing mommas did.  Most grownup ponies never cried because they were grown up and it was silly for a grown pony to cry.  “Momma…?”  She must have been crying because of what I did.  I wasn’t supposed to touch Momma’s work things.  Especially not her shiny gun.  “I’m sorry, Momma.  I didn’t mean to.”
        She sniffed and looked at me with a small smile, even though she was still crying.  “Oh!  Oh, Fishy.  I’m sorry.  No, sweetie, you didn’t do anything wrong.”  She spread her lavender forelegs wide and pulled me into a hug.  Now she was laughing and crying at the same time, but apparently I wasn’t in trouble.  My shame transformed into confusion as she kissed my horn and wept in my mane.  “You know Momma’s friend Steam?  Well, there was an accident.”  
Ooooh, accidents were bad.  I knew this because I caused so many of them myself.  Steam was always a funny mare who brought me highly illegal and very fun toys made from maintenance supplies.  Steam also brought toys she took into Momma’s room when she and Momma made all the oohs and ahhs and ‘yes’ noises doing stuff I wasn’t supposed to know about till I was in filly school.
“Well, Steam was hurt very badly,” Momma said as she nuzzled my ear.
“The medical ponies will make her all better, Momma!”  I said, trying to explain the obvious.  The medical ponies made everything better, even me when I’d stepped in a radroach trap poking around maintenance where I didn’t belong.  But when I said that, she shuddered and held me even tighter.  “They can make anything better, Momma.”
“Not this, sweetheart.”  Momma swallowed hard.  “She’s dead.”
Dead?  Dead.  Dead!  Dead dead dead dead.  Deaded?  Deads?  It sounded like a stupid word.  “What’s that mean?”
“It means that she’s not alive anymore.  She’s gone, and we’ll never see her again,” Momma said quietly as she hugged me tightly, looking with her sad pink eyes as she nuzzled me.  Now I was starting to cry too.  Gone?  Gone where?  And why?  This was stupid!  Steam made Momma and me happy!  It wasn’t fair that she was gone!
“Well, just… go and bring her back!”  There.  ‘Nuff said.  Momma could do it.  Momma could do anything.
Except this.  “I can’t, Fishy.  Nopony can.  She’s gone into the everafter to be with the Princesses.  So I’ll see her again, someday.”  She sniffed.  “Until then, I’ll try to be the best pony I can be.  So that when we meet again, she’ll be proud of me.”  That didn’t make any sense, though.  If she was gone forever, how could Momma see her again?
“How, Momma?” I asked in confusion, blinking up at her.  She stroked my mane gently as she hesitated, then smiled.
“Everypony dies someday, Fishy.”  I held her and heard her heart beating.  And then I had the thought.  That horrible thought that every foal has sooner or later.
“Even you, Momma?”
“Even me, Fishy.”  She said it so gently that somehow it hurt even more.  Like a dress rehearsal for when the day came.  “But as long as we remember how they loved us, they’re never really gone.  Okay, Fishy?”
        “Yes, Momma, I’ll remember,” I’d promised.  I’d forgotten a week later, till now.

"She trailed off as her blue eyes met mine and widened in shock." - If I do recall correctly, her eyes were originally described as being pink, so this might need to be corrected, or decide which color works better.
That out of the way... *hugs Caprice tight*

[checks]
Ah, you are correct! Thank you.

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