Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[FeatherDust]

No; the blanks were tested and found soulless, and it doesn't look like that changed since the test. A more pertinent question is whether Boo either has or is developing a soul; she's obviously not like ordinary blanks, but it remains to be see just how unlike them she is.

My personal theory is that Boo started out as a standard blank; that there was no mistake in her creation that accidentally ensoulIed her. I think any blank would gain a soul given time; Boo was just lucky enough to live that long.

After all, blanks are created virtually instantly. Is a fetus ensouled in the instant of conception? Probably not. It takes nine or eleven months (depending on human gestation time) for a foal to get a soul (or perhaps less, but probably several months at least). Maybe blanks would all develop souls by their ninth monthiversary if the were not eaten or harvested for organs first. Boo may not even be the first to live that long; but the others eventually died to predation or any of the other threats of the wastes, lacking a protector.

[222222]

@Blanks: I need to check to be sure, but I think that Sanguine did extensive testing on blanks before the war, keeping a sample set alive for several months to a year. I'll check after school to make sure though.

Edit: I mean before the bombs dropped, not before the war.

[Cptadder]

@Blanks: I need to check to be sure, but I think that Sanguine did extensive testing on blanks before the war, keeping a sample set alive for several months to a year. I'll check after school to make sure though.

Sanguine covers this, First off blanks are made from raw chaos as I've pointed out before, they are made from Taint which is a bad enough as quality control goes. But you add onto the fact the gear creating blanks is over two hundred years old at this point, who knows what's leaking into the pipes by now.

And pre-war Sanguine did spend several months testing blanks. Some were held back and segregated and tested for months (Not years) before Sanguine gave up on blanks and started using them as walking organ farms.

[CannonFodder]

Sanguine covers this, First off blanks are made from raw chaos as I've pointed out before, they are made from Taint which is a bad enough as quality control goes. But you add onto the fact the gear creating blanks is over two hundred years old at this point, who knows what's leaking into the pipes by now.

And pre-war Sanguine did spend several months testing blanks. Some were held back and segregated and tested for months (Not years) before Sanguine gave up on blanks and started using them as walking organ farms.

Personally I like to think it's because the blanks being tested for souls were never given stimuli to actually grow as a pony. If you were to take a baby and force feed it all it's life and take care for it and never give it any mental stimuli it would be pretty much a blank in comparison as well.

[Meleagridis]

Lacunae will cease to be. Everything she is is made up of the memories of others, which will go back where they came from after the Goddess is no longer around to hold them within Lacunae. Whatever is left will not be Lacunae anymore. I'm mostly curious who THAT pony will be.

That will be the one that, through the minds and thoughts of all of Unity, still felt that she alone deserved the punishment of isolation and pain in The Hoof. Psalm may have taken excessive burdens, but on several occasions you can see that it hasn't really changed her all too much at all.

...I would like to see: Nothing. The heroes are too busy doing their thing to hear the news, and Lacunae keeps the information to herself. Not visibly affected enough to tip anyone off, she decides that others need not be burdened by the knowledge until she decides (on her own) what to do. The group must once again push through a deadly maze of radiation, enervation, and deadly hazards. Once free and gasping for breath, she pauses. What's wrong? ...Nothing.

...Perhaps not so likely.

200 year old narcissistic cysts.

Narcicysts. Clever.

She needs to be treated to a dress and a fuckin' tea party. MAKE IT SO!

Society episode coming soon. Confirmed fancy party. Unconfirmed crashing by The Hoof. Forced to assume that all of BJ's greatest enemies will put on dresses and try to blend in to find her.

everyone is wearing a dress:

[CannonFodder]

That will be the one that, through the minds and thoughts of all of Unity, still felt that she alone deserved the punishment of isolation and pain in The Hoof. Psalm may have taken excessive burdens, but on several occasions you can see that it hasn't really changed her all too much at all.

...I would like to see: Nothing. The heroes are too busy doing their thing to hear the news, and Lacunae keeps the information to herself. Not visibly affected enough to tip anyone off, she decides that others need not be burdened by the knowledge until she decides (on her own) what to do. The group must once again push through a deadly maze of radiation, enervation, and deadly hazards. Once free and gasping for breath, she pauses. What's wrong? ...Nothing.

...Perhaps not so likely.

It could be possible. Psalm forms the basis for Lacunae's personality. So my money is that when the goddess dies it's going to be Psalm with Lacunae's personality and only memories of Psalm's and what Lacunae experienced and only Psalm's soul.

Regardless it's going to be a pain the flank for blackjack to try and fix Lacunae/Psalm when it finally does happen. Say hello to another trip through alicorn memory lane.

[Icy Shake]

You're not, actually. In PH's universe, souls are physics, capable of being scientifically detected and studied (at least in theory; despite soul engineering seeing some development during the war, the field of… soulology? seems to have been mostly neglected, as far as we know).

Well, the Greek "psyche" is already taken (and it was the Zebras that appear to have opened the field...)--perhaps Latin's "anima", thus "animology", would work? (It mixes Latin and Greek portions, but I think it sounds better than "animologia", or anything dropping the "l".)

[O. Hinds]

You're not, actually. In PH's universe, souls are physics, capable of being scientifically detected and studied (at least in theory; despite soul engineering seeing some development during the war, the field of… soulology? seems to have been mostly neglected, as far as we know).

Well, the Greek "psyche" is already taken (and it was the Zebras that appear to have opened the field...)--perhaps Latin's "anima", thus "animology", would work? (It mixes Latin and Greek portions, but I think it sounds better than "animologia", or anything dropping the "l".)

It seems to be ponies who really worked on it in the "modern day", though, and I doubt that they'd give it a Roman Zebra name.

[Icy Shake]

You're not, actually. In PH's universe, souls are physics, capable of being scientifically detected and studied (at least in theory; despite soul engineering seeing some development during the war, the field of… soulology? seems to have been mostly neglected, as far as we know).

Well, the Greek "psyche" is already taken (and it was the Zebras that appear to have opened the field...)--perhaps Latin's "anima", thus "animology", would work? (It mixes Latin and Greek portions, but I think it sounds better than "animologia", or anything dropping the "l".)

It seems to be ponies who really worked on it in the "modern day", though, and I doubt that they'd give it a Roman Zebra name.

A good point. Granted, Rarity is one of the more cosmopolitan members of the cast, and might be more inclined to accept a borrowed word, especially if it appears in the Black Book. Otherwise, "egology" might be a more euphonic English construction, while using an English base more commonly used than "anima", if less so than "psyche".

[Kattlarv]

(re-post from the "other" topic: Has been in a very bad/angry mood the past few days due to severe insults among other things, might have noticed I've been a bit more snappy than normal. Be glad at least it wasn't combined with my sacrifice to Khorne)

@RandomBu: (bad) It is right after the sex scene, my wording was a bit exaggerated, but she says that he wasn't good per say. He "worked". And tbh, I forgot what the point was to a 120 %, but it does matter as she first says he did "meh" then the next minute move to praising and worshipping his sexual prowess. (over-exaggerated, but that terrible supposed "running gag" went on forever)

(view) Yeah, I got a bit rambly there, but as said, if it was true, it really ruins a lot for me. Makes me feel like Somber is playing sims with the characters, clicking what they should do "Fuck that person", *click on [have revenge and whatever], removing the action*, "greet that one", *add cheats, changing out traits for character, removing that trauma, adding 100 % love with those*, "And now you do that..." and etc, rather than like... I dunno, picking dialogue choices in Mass Effect or DA. Neither a really good example, but meh.

(personality) As said, I am a thinker, I think a lot, way more than I ought to tbh.
And how do you think I feel? I find the whole FoE universe really interesting, and having Kkat fail with logic in one place, to then have Somber resume it, and even do it harder, along with hurling the opposite of "counter balance" in makes it hard for me to like it as much as I'd like to. I can understand wanting to sweep stuff under the rug, like with Psycho, or leaving it in a pile of "I do it later" (or "Meh, this works, they'll learn to like it") like with Fluttershy. It still is hard for me to take some things seriously. Like tossing "Hey! You want a baby! I need it for plot convenience!" on Twilight and her just going "Yay! Okay!" just makes it feel more like Sims. Not sure which show did a take on "motherhood" in tv shows, but that has some very good points to it, people are generally very reckless with pregnancy, just dealing with it either like a tool, or treating the mother as simply a vessel there to do it's biological function.  (not entirely unlike how the vulva is treated in most porn, just there to "do it's job") Which imo, is very insulting. And I forgot what I was going to say... meh, prolly not important.

@Cao: Way back when... the Styg chapter came out, Somber came out with having "feminised" BJ to be more "female", having asked female friends for advice if BJ's actions felt "female" to them, and if it would be something a woman would do, among other things along how she ought to act overall to fit her gender role better. And to what we were told, these/this female/s thought BJ acted completely "female". And I can admit part of this/that whole ramble was just being frustrated, I still meant most of what I said, but it came off as more hostile than I intended.

@Eru: That she did yes, but like Psycho having a spine along with a self-esteem and being brash has also been ret-conned. I dunno at what part, but I think it was after they beat her down, they asked about Sanguine, and she was quite shocked if In recall that they would say she was banging him. She said she'd never do that, or if it was he that made sure they never got "there". It is fully possibly Somber had planned for her to be banging Sanguine, then went "... nah" and went with something else, either thinking it was totally "casually" for a father/daughter to make out, or forgot about it. Anyhow, as said, he only did it since he wanted to milk his pleasure as much as he could as he didn't know when the next time he'd get to have sex was. It is true BJ didn't know this, but she has little reason to be impressed anyhow, he did bad as said. I can however agree to that she could admire his will, that he just kept going and going, but overall it must have been strange for her. (and again, it is rather stupid that during sex, he never got sweaty or got his own gunk on him. (described as pristine if I recall the Psycho scene, despite the fact he was bottom. I can sort of forgive Somber for not knowing what female ejaculation is, or or avoiding it for whatever reason, but it was kinda "bleh" that he made Psycho having severe problems to contain her screams of exstacy. That just screams "porn movie" to me tbh.) But yeah, as said, it firstly made a bad design choice to use it, but then the fact it was milked like some sort of hilarious running gag a dozen fucking times in the next couple chapters. I even see more success having a running gag where Chapel all laugh over how Medly died drowning in faecal mixed water as they stood neglecting her. Anyhow, I can see BJ maybe lying to do something, but she made no comment about it whatsoever, no "there, that might pique Psycho's interest" (to which imo, she ought to have instead taught him something useful, then brag about how "he's getting really good at doing that twirling thing with his tongue..." or whatnot. Plus, if I recall, they were just "within" earshot, they don't even seem to have heard it as no reaction was given, bar from Lac and Ram. But overall, I could totally see BJ insult him, she's a 99 mare after all, sex was just fun, it was a game. If someone was a bad player, why would she worry about hurting their feelings? As said, her mind was "completely 99" about it, so she should treat him like a male, and why would a mare care if she hurt his feelings? It was just sex, if anything, lying to him saying he was amazing would just encourage him to do what he does, not improving. Instead saying he sucked would either crush his self-esteem, but in 99's case, force/encourage them to improve if they wanted to get any recognition. A mix in between would be the most tactical.
->
She tossed about all her personal problems, character traits and whatnot away to be with Styg. (as said, she didn't care she got attacked and insulted, she saw his dick's honour as much more important, despite up to this point being shown as being very sensitive towards insults, unless I remember that a fuckton wrong.) *Ahem* Anyhow, at the start, they just saw each other, Psycho was injected with 1000 mg Viagra, getting a hard-on so fast her clit grew ten times it's firmness that day, (why am I making a reference to this? xD) her folds puffing up like an air-bag. (I am in a very strange, giddy, broody and "bothered" mood right now...) Styg initially disapproved quite strongly of her, quite a few times, under a day, she entirely changed how she acted to appeal to him. They overall if I recall, max spent ~2-10 hours "relatively alone" with each other. Yet managed during this time, and the fact Styg is restricted to chalk talk, to fall madly in love. Psycho insisted and needed to prove she was strong and independent for Styg, despite severe lung damage, which barely even affected Styg, and he also showed that he now totally digged her sudden change of heart. (just to seeming give up said traits later) Then while recovering from smoke damage, thinking it is the best time to fuck him with a near-dead filly next to her... Somber, what is with you and mares elongating and getting moist around fillies which lives are in peril or have overall lost hope on life? xD But yeah, overall, then she as said wasn't even caring for herself or her pride anymore, just wanting to me Styg's mare, not even being phased by the fact he fucked BJ. Oh, she got shocked, but then was "oh, okay then. I guess I can't expect to be the only mare for this hunk of a perfect stallion, he has needs after all." (again going to mention neither of them heard the "comment") And he, as a result from whatever fucked up culture he now comes from,(like really? there's just so much wrong with them if Styg is the "prime" of the litter.) along with just being horny (and hey, she offered her flank, he took it, like I said he would) fell wildly in love with her as well, since she was the second mare he had met in the wasteland that offered to bang him, and did very well in getting him off repeatedly too. (along with here with got shown a hint of BJ being a 99 mare when she advised Psycho to let him eat out her cunt clean afterwards. And again, where are all the cunt jokes? xP For a world previously ruled by mainly mares, they are awfully limited to male genital references. Pip did good on breaking that stereotype, to a degree. The fact mares and stallions were the "beep boop" in FoE cut the score quite a bit though.)

@Lumin: I could accept that, if not all of them went in the same direction. Along with everyone else in the wasteland doing the same as her. Sticking to their pre-written "roles". I mean come on, a seeming 120 % of the male raiders are rapists and foalfiddlers, Deus was a raping machine, though not seeming too picky what he pounded. (unlike the raiders preferred taste for underage girls) ex-slaves most logical course of action to get revenge on a mare? Rape her! seeming ~95 % of males in PH is capable off rape, and enjoys sex. The most "worst"  mares in the wasteland? A immortal ~10 year rape victim that killed her captors, then forgave all stallions to abuse her, not caring the slightest to do anything vindictive, goes off to kill herself. Years later she does stuff, becomes a Reaper, strolls around for celibacy for ~30 years, wailing to hookers how mean males are that they have to rape poor defenceless and innocent mares that wouldn't for the world do anything like that (okay, she's the only pony in the wasteland that actually says mare rapists exist, but still), then "seduces" a stallion with little problem to use him for impregnation. The the Flashers, a group of rape victims devoted to forgiving rapists and helping each other cope with the rapes. Scoffing at how stupid the lie going around about them that they are rapists, mares would never sink to that level. Inviting in males to treat them to a good time and satisfy their needs, then sends them off. Whilst random town also had a kerfaffle a bit back, their solution? Keep mares as animals, rape and sell them as property. And the only really sexually active confirmed other "bad" female character was Brass, who just banged her pets... wat? Is it just me, or am I missing something here? And I am rambling again... dammit. Point being, BJ gets raped, P-21 wants to castrate them at least, BJ goes "No, no, I can't sink to their level, I am a mare, I should know better than that." and it's not just her as said, about every single fuck either does it, or is busy being raped themselves. Every single female crusader has been raped (bar from Charity I think), not a single colt has ever been raped, those just get killed instead, since that would be gay otherwise. I just find it incredibly biased/biggotry to have stallions casually raping foals (or well, female foals) to death by internal bleeding, yet have mares that barely are okay with killing in self defence. How the fuck did they even grow up? In a stable for pacifists? I'll just stop rambling here before I go too off topic...

@Swicked: Okay, I will give you that, Boo is the only pony so far that has managed to be logical, stay in character and not done any stupid shit xD
... not including shitting on BJ's carpet...
I really loved P-21 development through he whole "She's your daughter you asshole! Be there for her! - I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!" thingamajig. That whole arc was one of my fav tbh, lore wise and character interaction.  She's his bundle of regret, hate and bad memories, and he is trying to mold her into something good... and stuff... (and why didn't I do BJ and Duct in my P-21 story? Would have been way more interesting... and had room for really inappropriate Scotch comments xD)

@Cao: Ah, scoodle. One of the character that stuck most with me, perhaps a tad bit much... why did I even make the "aftermath" of that scene? Anyhow, trailing off here. I still recall that scene  (other than the heavy emotional content) both for 1: Somber uses non-FoE ghouls, her version are above pony strength, not bellow. 2: Partial instant kill, most live for quite a bit after being severed in half. 3: Partial contradiction, all ghouls stopped moving instantly when ...Silver Spoon was it yes? Came up. Yet some pages later, as all ghouls are told they are standing still and staring at Spoon, they are also mentioned to have eaten Scoodle out, on multiple places under just a minute.

@EP: (shooting bj) Sorry, even Glory shoots BJ, in more than two ways

[SilentCarto]

Well, back in second or third edition Dungeons and Dragons, there were 3 different types of special abilities that characters could have: natural, supernatual, and extraordinary, I believe. And depending on what type of ability it was, it would react differently when put under an antimagic field. So to me it's very easily possible to think of the shadow step as a different type of teleportation.

Yeah, I've played 3, 3.5, 4, and a bit of Next. The thing is, I don't believe that different pony breeds really use a different brand of power. My view is actually pretty similar to the differences between male and female channelers in Wheel of Time. They both use the Power to teleport, even though men do it by punching a hole through the universe from point A to point B, while females make the two places metaphysically identical so that there's no difference between "being here" and "being there". In the same way, I think all ponies manipulate magic in different ways, but they're all using the same essential "stuff". They accomplish the same task in a different way -- a unicorn might open a wormhole or something while a batpony does something wonky involving shadows -- but I feel that the mechanism of the actual transit should be the same no matter how they construct it.

Maintaining that Dawn has died. Or been taken. Coerced. Subverted. But not normally. And the truth will be in her eyes.

Hmmmm... you know, we DID just learn about the existence of cyber-zebras... perhaps it's something wearing Dawn's brain?

I tend to look at P-21's going along with what Blackjack wants somewhat differently. Specifically, I think of it as linked to his refusal to use guns: it's another method--a tool, if you will--that he uses to be the pony he wants to be at the expense of doing the things he wants to do. And I don't think that this is especially inconsistent; while of course he has at times chafed under her leadership (up to and including kidnapping her and strapping a bomb around her neck, heh), he strikes me as one of the deep thinkers of the group, capable of separating and weighing his desires (and this becomes more true as the story progresses). And considering his repeatedly-stated admiration for, basically, the fact that Blackjack tries so hard to do the right thing, always, I think that, in a sense, he's using her as a means to self control that he might otherwise lack (think of the execution of the mine overseer...).

I agree with most of this. I think P-21 was totally aware that his own moral compass was demagnetized, and he looked to Blackjack for cues about right and wrong even though he personally hated her because she was a reference point. Think about it -- in the Stable, it was easy. All mares are abusers, some worse than others. Every new colt is a step closer to your own death. You personally are a step closer to death for everypony above you. It's no shock that P-21 fell in love with a unicorn; the unicorn stallions were the only group that were entirely neutral toward him.

I think he knows, on some level, that he's capable of the kind of evil we saw in BJ's drowning dream at the start of 33. And he knows he needs someone to stop him when he starts down the dark path. Even before he left the Stable, he had U-20:

“I’ll find whoever’s going to be the next U-1 and kill them. I just need a little more time!” P-21 said desperately. “I’ve got a mare teaching me how to access the Overmare’s terminals and get her override commands. We can sneak out together.”
“No, P-17. No. You’re not going to kill a colt for me.”
“I’ve done it before,” P-21 whispered. “You’ve done it before.”
“And you’ll never do it again. Even if I have to turn myself in right now,” the soft voice of U-20 said firmly, bringing more tears from P-21. “Us killing our own is what the mares want. Takes the blood off their hooves and puts it on ours.”

She did not have a sexual obsession with Sanguine, or did you miss her big "What? I never thought of him like that, he was like a father to me."

Actions speak louder than words.

“Sanggie!” cried a voice from above.
“Speaking of the desperate…” Sanguine muttered, then smiled widely as Psychoshy swooped down into an embrace. To my disgust, the yellow pegasus kissed the ghoul with a positively nauseating amount of tongue. “Fluttershy, so nice to see you again. How are you, my dear?”

I really doubt she did that just for BJ's benefit.

For some reason the official timeline is missing the point at which LP nabs the balefire bomb, but that happened back in CH34 for Horizons. Using this timeline , if you place bomb acquisition on the second lost day, that would leave a little under two weeks (12 days) until Maripony blows.

I don't understand what you mean. Pip (well, Xenith) grabbed the bomb on the way to Maripony. It was a one-day flight even with a stop in the middle to deal with the raiders at Fluttershy's cottage.

I smell a upcoming help Psalm/Lacunae get herself back together chapter. Personally I think it's going to be like Seven of Nine from Star Trek. All of a sudden being removed from a hivemind even though she has a unique personality would take years for her fully recover from and begin to develop a full personality.

I don't think it's going to be "bam now she's Psalm" more of Psalm adjusting to no longer being Lacunae.

You seem to be forgetting that Lacunae has apparently shoved her katra into Blackjack. (Bow chicka bow wow.)

[WavemasterRyx]

Well, back in second or third edition Dungeons and Dragons, there were 3 different types of special abilities that characters could have: natural, supernatual, and extraordinary, I believe. And depending on what type of ability it was, it would react differently when put under an antimagic field. So to me it's very easily possible to think of the shadow step as a different type of teleportation.

Yeah, I've played 3, 3.5, 4, and a bit of Next. The thing is, I don't believe that different pony breeds really use a different brand of power. My view is actually pretty similar to the differences between male and female channelers in Wheel of Time. They both use the Power to teleport, even though men do it by punching a hole through the universe from point A to point B, while females make the two places metaphysically identical so that there's no difference between "being here" and "being there". In the same way, I think all ponies manipulate magic in different ways, but they're all using the same essential "stuff". They accomplish the same task in a different way -- a unicorn might open a wormhole or something while a batpony does something wonky involving shadows -- but I feel that the mechanism of the actual transit should be the same no matter how they construct it.

Oh, Wheel of Time was good fun. I'm just glad FoE balefire doesn't erase history... think of just how complicated of discussions /that/ would get going.

Well, I wasn't saying that each species should have brands of power, but rather just that different specific abilities could have different power sources.
It actually does make sense anecdotally, if you consider the new episode. Where Shining Armor's magic had absolutely no effect on Sombra, but Cadance's did.

[Luminous Lead]

For some reason the official timeline is missing the point at which LP nabs the balefire bomb, but that happened back in CH34 for Horizons. Using this timeline , if you place bomb acquisition on the second lost day, that would leave a little under two weeks (12 days) until Maripony blows.

I don't understand what you mean. Pip (well, Xenith) grabbed the bomb on the way to Maripony. It was a one-day flight even with a stop in the middle to deal with the raiders at Fluttershy's cottage.

I'm thinking more along the time that Pip took PTMs in order to be persuasive enough to get RedEye's Balefire Bomb (the one that was being used to threaten Tenpony Tower), before immediately going into detox and memory modding (resulting in lost days). The actual physical aquisition of the bomb could have happened later, but I was under the impression that there was a not insignificant amount of time between the negotiations (which Blackjack witnessed in CH34) and the actual bombing of Maripony (which we have not yet experienced). After detox Lilpip still had to go to Arbu (mentioned to Blackjack by Homage) and Canterlot (and there was some other stuff too, I think)

Since becoming a cyborg (CH34) Blackjack has gone for days without sleep and has slept a couple of times (I think 3?), not to mention the time she spent in Happyhorn. Either way, I give it less than a week before Trixie goes pop.

[Randombuttons]

Is it possible that the clones
do have souls and that they just weren't given stimuli to actually need a
reason or want to think more?

No; the blanks were tested and
found soulless, and it doesn't look like that changed since the test. A
more pertinent question is whether Boo either has or is
developing a soul; she's obviously not like ordinary blanks, but it
remains to be see just how unlike them she is.

If we'd consider Boo a body prepared to accept a soul, we could have whatever remains of what we now speak of as Lacunae put into Boo. BAM, ordinary pony!
Oh god, don't stone me, I was just kidding, I swear.

It is right after the sex scene, my wording was a bit exaggerated, but
she says that he wasn't good per say. He "worked". And tbh, I forgot
what the point was to a 120 %, but it does matter as she first says he
did "meh" then the next minute move to praising and worshipping his
sexual prowess. (over-exaggerated, but that terrible supposed "running
gag" went on forever)

I know, I experienced it all too the same.
As for myself, I'll probably be able to get over it, if not too fondly. Worse case scenario, there is always the calming headcanon.
I like that you speak your mind, I'm positive that's what the forum is for, after all!

Society episode coming soon. Confirmed fancy party. Unconfirmed crashing
by The Hoof. Forced to assume that all of BJ's greatest enemies will
put on dresses and try to blend in to find her.

During the whole scene when Lacunae was getting a dress picked for herself (Meatlocker, right?), I was chanting to myself "Somber's gonna create a parallel to the Gala."
Close 'nuff.

I just find it incredibly biased/biggotry to have stallions casually
raping foals (or well, female foals) to death by internal bleeding, yet
have mares that barely are okay with killing in self defence. How the
fuck did they even grow up? In a stable for pacifists? I'll just stop
rambling here before I go too off topic...

Back some (many) chapters ago, when I tried to form my thoughts about FoE:PH, I settled on two words (I like doing that) that play important roles in the story: those were sex and luck. They're both elements that simply caused dumbfounded moments of me trying to accept what just went on. My guess is, the "bad guys" being in majority (as well as the way female ponies are) is more relevant to Somber's way of depicting the wickedness of the wastes than the story itself and this growing difference in male and female "baddies" you noted might not be intentional as such.
I'm not actually sure how real people would work in a world like PH's - if you guys have something like that, that'd be wonderful. If you don't, that's fine too.

I really loved P-21 development through he whole "She's your daughter
you asshole! Be there for her! - I NEVER ASKED FOR THIS!" thingamajig.
That whole arc was one of my fav tbh, lore wise and character
interaction.

Don't tell anyone, but P-21 is bestpony.
And yes, it was great. He's an interesting and engaging one, that pony.

Well, I wasn't saying that each species should have brands of power, but
rather just that different specific abilities could have different
power sources.

(I should have read more fantasy RPG rulebooks and less Fallout ones. I can't apply my 100 science to this!)
TL;DR: I wouldn't categorize magic, I'd rather say that certain interactions could exist between certain ones because they were meant to work that way, while others (in their present form) have different benefits related to harmony. The rest of the text is just momentary theorycrafting for fun for which I took no PH lore into consideration when writing, so really, skip the rest of the post. Do it.

I'd like to think all magic is fundamentally related but branch out like when logic synthesis you hammer a piece of metal until it becomes a tool and compare it with others of the same origin - there is something basic and raw with a lot of potential that forms very specific assets to whoever gains them.
It could basically exist as an elemental trait of life that might be carried on through generations or lost, or might appear suddenly, harmonizing so auspiciously with the workings, needs or current state of the world that it'd suggest the existence of an intelligent designer. It's adaption beyond natural selection as well by the means of attaining harmony among the living, between the living and their surrounding; and within the living themselves as well. (If you ask why ponies didn't "evolve" futher, I'll either have to say that it has something to do with the stars or that magic doesn't take kindly to the inaccurate, rough changes in magic the war has caused - before there was no need for further changes.)
Then ponies use it to grope each other's testicles. Oh, and going by the simile, unicorn horns are switchblades and bat ponies can "shadowflash" because it fits them and makes them cool. Never said I was right or believed myself, did I?
I could also bake something up about the ways souls and magic might work together, but it'd end in a disaster - baked bads if you will. Not that souls lack attention, but souls dangit!
Maybe I'd just rather not know and let magic be magic.

(GG, notepad messed up the formatting.)

[Meleagridis]

If we'd consider Boo a body prepared to accept a soul, we could have whatever remains of what we now speak of as Lacunae put into Boo. BAM, ordinary pony!
Oh god, don't stone me, I was just kidding, I swear.

Boo is bred for death. If she isn't the sole survivor, what are the odds of her making it to the end? What are the odds that she is the one who will be gone soon? Now have heard speculation about Rampage, P-21, Scotch, Lacunae... what about Boo?

[Kippershy]

If we'd consider Boo a body prepared to accept a soul, we could have whatever remains of what we now speak of as Lacunae put into Boo. BAM, ordinary pony!
Oh god, don't stone me, I was just kidding, I swear.

Boo is bred for death. If she isn't the sole survivor, what are the odds of her making it to the end? What are the odds that she is the one who will be gone soon? Now have heard speculation about Rampage, P-21, Scotch, Lacunae... what about Boo?

Nope.
She has plot armour because she becomes an official character in the fifth arc.

[Caoimhe]

Now I see the story ending with BJ destroyed beyond belief and a tearful moment with Boo as BJ's soul is transferred into her. Story ends on a bittersweet note as Blackjack starts craving for snack cakes.

[Kippershy]

Well, Somber DID say this wasn't Blackjacks final form.

[CannonFodder]

Well, Somber DID say this wasn't Blackjacks final form.

My money is on alicorn cyborg and still have a tiny horn.

[Kattlarv]

@Silent: (Sanguine) True, he could have abused/used her sexually, or they could've just banged, we'll never know. But from what both said, neither did anything with the other. And as proven countless times before: Actions don't mean shit. They can only hint towards stuff, and even then they could be erased or replaced by the "new canon". Quite a few "strong, showing actions" turned out to just be "oh wait, was just kidding lol!"

@RandomBu: Well, I have this bad problem that I have really hard to just let things go, or have something neglected. ESPECIALLY if the "cause" of my annoyance get endorsed, promoted or fanwanked, and things like that. Like the rape topic has been. Just been a huge circle jerk more or less promoting males as rapists and females as victims.
Sorta related to said was a "friend" of mine (most of the reason of my annoyance) which went and told me to do things like they were the most easy thing to do possible, yet strongly refused to do any of them themselves. Yet acting like I should, along with saying I was selfish for wanting said things, and that I should understand they had to prioritise for the "important" details. Which in this case for a 18 + flash included writing important things like "unf unf unf" instead of "I'm comming!" to indicate the female in it actually got her needs taken care of as well. Strongly refusing to include said detail as they "were too short on time" to spend 1 minute on including that. Saying instead that I was selfish, and how it was just for me to imagine it, or write it down on a post it note and place on my screen. It wasn't like I had a moving picture to look at. Nooo, I just couldn't take the time to cater to myself, simply download and decompile the flash to add the two words myself. I didn't care enough to do that. Then along with that dared to scoff and get insulted when I said their anatomy was quite crappy, and they went on how "that had taken the longest time to do!" and really, it looked like shit in comparison to it's counterpart. Just to compare: They took a sketch, put it on a fully shaded drawing, then spent hours doing a frame by frame animation to get the sketch to fit in... like okay, yes you put in a lot of time and effort, but what the fuck was the point? Wouldn't it have been better to just put some extra effort into the art itself and just use tweens? Since really, I could not see how or why it would have taken so much time and effort. Heck, a ~2 second scene with the counterpart seemed to have taken up more time than for both the counterparts of it took in the entire flash. Like using a scissor to cut the lawn, takes longer and more effort, but really, what the fuck? (and for the record, it was the cock that was overly detailed, along with being correct and accurate compared to the cunts, which one were a flat, featureless axe wound, and the other just a mush of partially noticeable labia with no features.) Erf, I trailed off rambling again, sorry.

While I can see some logic in seeing things like that. Somber still creates a huge divide between the genders. Not really seeming to bother overall thinking of what implications the wasteland would have. As said, he just gave females a stereotype overall mindset of a semi-domesticated 20'th century female. Which is waaay fucking off the chart in relevance. Not to mention retarded plot points like Deus. "Hm... this prisoner is showing extremely violent tendencies, and has multiple times raped other prisoners, repeating the same process over and over. Should we do something? Like, castrate him? - Nah, the author need him for plot convenience, just put him back with the prisoners and do nothing, preferably closer to the mare ones, since he says how much he wants to kill and rape mares." Again, that is stereotyping just going "oh, all men are just more violent", a lot is due to our culture. Our should I point out the tride where women rule and men are passive, submissive and docile? And what do you mean with "the way female pones are"? the only real "difference" I am seeing is that overall, Somber seems to want to point out inherently overall, all men are violent evil rapists and all women are kind, forgiving and motherly.

As for P-21, yeah, he is. But as Swicked said, he is being a bit "The Sims"'d by Somber, removing his "desired" and "logical" reaction, just having him stop or not do it at all.

@EP: (Boo) I still say it would be hilarious if Scotch concluded that "she hasn't seen bigger than that..." when it came to Boo. No idea what the situation would have to be, but yes, I find it amusing with endowed women, (especially with Boo being so oblivious) so what, bite me xD
As for "real people", do you mean like... Fallout stories overall or what?

[Randombuttons]

Well, Somber DID say this wasn't Blackjacks final form.

I somehow miss all the information Somber shares.
Changing forms is... Mean.
Since none of you did, I'm calling Blackjack regaining her limbs. It has the least obvious value as far as the plot is concerned so it'll probably not happen, but I call it because it's the least mean of options.
As for changing her into an alicorn (seriously or not), I'm not fond of the thought - I think it'd hurt the importance and relevance of Blackjack's spiritual/emotional transformation. When she became a cyberpony, that was - slightly arguably due to her mental state - still her and it amplified or the very least supported her development. This whole alicorn-thing would just merrily dance all over the remains of that development. It's a change that the character wouldn't have a chance to reconcile with. At least that's my fear if that were to come.
(It also reminds me of how revealing a wanderer, kind but poor-looking protagonist of a fairytale to be a prince sort of hurts their impact as a person. Am I right, Stiggie? Wahah.)

Just to compare: They took a sketch, put it on a fully
shaded drawing, then spent hours doing a frame by frame animation to
get the sketch to fit in... like okay, yes you put in a lot of time and
effort, but what the fuck was the point? Wouldn't it have been better to
just put some extra effort into the art itself and just use tweens?

Male bits are easier to draw for them and the mistakes are more obvious to them as well - they get familiar with that kind of anatomy very easily. (And yes, female bits seem to get the short end of the stick as far as accuracy goes.) They shouldn't get defensive on the rare lucky occurences when they get warned about their mistakes, but some of them do that - sadly.
And hey, maybe they wanted to practice frame by frame animation.

And what do you mean with "the way female pones are"? the only real
"difference" I am seeing is that overall, Somber seems to want to point
out inherently overall, all men are violent evil rapists and all women
are kind, forgiving and motherly.

The way they are presented - they're usually on the receiving end of cruelty or neutral.

Now I see the story ending with BJ destroyed beyond belief and a tearful
moment with Boo as BJ's soul is transferred into her. Story ends on a
bittersweet note as Blackjack starts craving for snack cakes.

Make that "snack cakes dripped in whisky" and we have a deal - but only if someone writes a sequel titled 'Reaper Boo' or 'Boo takes over the wasteland' as well.

[Somber]

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing soon.

[WavemasterRyx]

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing soon.

There's no need to apologize, though updates are always nice to hear, thank you. I do hope the brushing goes well, and as always, I hope you feel better, sir. *hugs*

[Ketchup]

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing soon.

That's great! I look forward to reading it.

[Luminous Lead]

At least that's my fear if that were to come.
(It also reminds me of how revealing a wanderer, kind but poor-looking protagonist of a fairytale to be a prince sort of hurts their impact as a person. Am I right, Stiggie? Wahah.)

What, you mean like with Aragorn from LOTR? :D

Becoming an Alicorn (unity) is a relevant emotional/spiritual transformation, and one that Blackjack is desperately seeking to avoid.

Actually, fighting against becoming part of Unity is something that both Lil'Pip and Blackjack share. I have a feeling Blackjack's struggle is going to come to a head (yeah, haha it's in her head) soon, as the Goddess's days are literally numbered and rolling down.

As for physical transformations... I think she'll end up as a star (she is the "Star Maiden" after all). The more that I read, the more I feel she's perfectly described by Beyond Her Tomb. Self-sacrifice, destruction, perseverance, forgiveness, redemption and the fate of the world.

...

I'm kind of hoping Discord will show up again. I really want to find out what his "blessing" did.

[OneMoreDaySK]

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing soon.

Nice to know that you've got your spark of creativity back. Meds working out fine Somber? Now that elections are over, a lot of stress is gone, right?

[CannonFodder]

As for physical transformations... I think she'll end up as a star (she is the "Star Maiden" after all). The more that I read, the more I feel she's perfectly described by Beyond Her Tomb. Self-sacrifice, destruction, perseverance, forgiveness, redemption and the fate of the world.

...

I'm kind of hoping Discord will show up again. I really want to find out what his "blessing" did.

That's a very good possibility. From when she died we found out that not all stars are evil. It's possible that she isn't the star maiden of the eater, but rather the other stars? Idunno, spitballing.

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so
ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing
soon.

You feeling better? Did you find something that works? If so then I'm glad to hear it.

[Vergil]

Um... small update. Sorry that it's taken so ridiculously long, but I have 30p done and we're going to start brushing soon.

Rock on, Somber.

[Caoimhe]

That's my Sombiekins. :D Hope you're doing well!

[Cptadder]

You know Somber would save so much time if Somber's sig line was "um I'm sorry". Good to hear everything is working out.

I'm kind of hoping Discord will show up again. I really want to find out what his "blessing" did.

"Do you really want to know?"

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