Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[Meleagridis]

A more immediate question might be "Who stole the meteorites from the museum?"

I completely forgot about that. Who else has direct interest in Eater paraphernalia?
My first guess is the Harbingers, but now that I think of it I can't quite recall their connection to the EoS. There was a prophet blabbing about The Choir, I think?

Is there anyone else in the Hoof who might know they have a stake in this unseen battle? That know the Eater?
Remnants.
Probably hasn't escaped Discord.
The Goddess knows everything Blackjack does.
Dawn's crew knew about Goldenblood. But they never let on anything about the Eater or the Choir.
The Black Book is far away. And about to be buried. I doubt BJ will just take a quick jaunt over to Maripony to save him for whatever reason.
Hm...

I'm not saying that it won't work so much as the program had several fall backs in case the chain of command was all killed. It'd be kind of dumb to create a program that only a small number of ponies that can over time be fired or replaced on the list and then when the end comes nobody other than a relative can use it.

I don't think that even the OIA's schemes were supposed to extend to 200 years after the war. I'm pretty sure that there were supposed to be agents around to update the program if there were shifts in power... or perhaps everything was happening so fast that changing anything would be moot.

Thinking about it though, if Glory could have had an easy out the whole time, wouldn't that be really "funny"?

Little Blue Joke would find that hilarious:

As an irritated side-note: turns out there are no pictures of killing joke on the internet. There is batman and Wave's picture. Shame. Always liked that odd little side-tragedy.

[Caoimhe]

Was it ever revealed what the video transmission in Blackjack's head was all about and who was behind the recording? Was it tied with the Harbingers? That'd be interesting as I was thinking Twilight Society at first but I suppose it's not impossible that a Harby could be in their ranks.

[CannonFodder]

Was it ever revealed what the video transmission in Blackjack's head was all about and who was behind the recording? Was it tied with the Harbingers? That'd be interesting as I was thinking Twilight Society at first but I suppose it's not impossible that a Harby could be in their ranks.

My guess is that is that it's the unknown third party. IF it were the harbringers then they wouldn't need to spend all that time looking for blackjack, they could have just swarmed her with their army from the get go cause then they'd know her position at all times.

As for the meteorite I'm guessing it's the same third party as well.

[Icy Shake]

when I hit chapter twenty nine in the audiobook

Eh? I wasn't aware that 29 had even started recording yet. The latest release appears to be 24 with 25 and 26 both in editing and little or no work yet done on 27.

Sorry, the other audiobook, which is partway through chapter forty four, and will probably finish in the next couple of weeks. It turns out it's now featured on the EqD FoE Side Stories Compilation Posts; I was just lucky to run into the videos on YouTube.

If you like audiobooks, you should really check it out; the overall quality is at worst only marginally lower than Scorch's. Of course, I can only speak for chapters twenty five and later--and there are a few odd pronunciations, like "contingent", and he makes some different choices than the other audiobook, like using the non-silent "h" pronunciation of "Homage", and not reading chapter numbers, titles, or footnotes. Kkat seems to like it, but did point out an important error--a couple of missing paragraphs--in chapter thirty six that will probably be fixed later when he releases them for download. It's too bad there's no download available yet, but hey, that's what YTD is for.

Long story short, the updates come frequently--he started in June 2012 and is almost done, where Scorch began in June 2011--and depending on the outcome of a vote when he's done with FoE, PH might be next.

[CannonFodder]

Speaking of audiobooks am I the only one that thinks there should be like a director's channel where everyone that does do audiobooks can become a contributor so everyone in the fandom can have a central hub to look for fanfic audiobooks?

Not like a super official channel or anything, just something where people that do audiobooks can upload their stuff to in a central area. There could even been a non-youtube homepage where if you want to join the team you can sign up and see if someone else has already done a reading of a fanfic you want to do a audiobook for and if someone has stopped doing a reading someone else can just pick up where the other person left off.

Basically like a group where people that do audiobooks can sign up and go, "hmm this fanfic is already being done by someone" and if someone is already doing a fanfic you can team up with them. Like person a will do chapters 1-10 whereas person b will do 11-20. OR person a has stopped doing a reading and stopped at chapter 10, person b can continue the reading from 11 and later. OR person a could do chapter 1, person b do chapter 2, then person a comes out with chapter 3, person be chapter 4; this one would potentially be the fastest cause if you have a couple of people coming out with readings of chapters bam bam bam you could get done completely even with a massive story like project horizons in only about a month if you have a entire team working together.

IF there was a website and a large group of volunteers we could have as a fandom every last fanfic having complete up to date audiobooks in less than a year.

I'll be the first to admit, in this day and age a ton of people just simply do not want to read extremely long stories, but if this were to happen they could just listen to the audiobooks on their ipods or such and it would give a massive boost to the writers of the fandom cause then the people that think fallout equestria is too long and they don't want to read it could just listen to it instead.


Sorry that was off topic, but it's a interesting idea.

[O. Hinds]

when I hit chapter twenty nine in the audiobook

Eh? I wasn't aware that 29 had even started recording yet. The latest release appears to be 24 with 25 and 26 both in editing and little or no work yet done on 27.

Sorry, the other audiobook, which is partway through chapter forty four, and will probably finish in the next couple of weeks. It turns out it's now featured on the EqD FoE Side Stories Compilation Posts; I was just lucky to run into the videos on YouTube.

If you like audiobooks, you should really check it out; the overall quality is at worst only marginally lower than Scorch's. Of course, I can only speak for chapters twenty five and later--and there are a few odd pronunciations, like "contingent", and he makes some different choices than the other audiobook, like using the non-silent "h" pronunciation of "Homage", and not reading chapter numbers, titles, or footnotes. Kkat seems to like it, but did point out an important error--a couple of missing paragraphs--in chapter thirty six that will probably be fixed later when he releases them for download. It's too bad there's no download available yet, but hey, that's what YTD is for.

Long story short, the updates come frequently--he started in June 2012 and is almost done, where Scorch began in June 2011--and depending on the outcome of a vote when he's done with FoE, PH might be next.

Ooh, I didn't even know that there was another one.
[listens a bit]
Hm. It's not terrible, but I think that I'll wait for Scorch's. Thanks anyway, though.

[Caoimhe]

All the audiobooks seem to be filled with grating nerdvoice or ridicilous overacting that mellows to boredom after a couple pages. I so wanna do an audiodrama but for a story so long... that's a lot to take in.

[Icy Shake]

So, yeah. I do endorse the CrazedRambling audiobook, but I think I oversold it; upon listening a little to it, even the twenty-five-plus chapters, along with the Scorch audiobook, on good speakers instead of earbuds, I find that the difference in quality is greater than I represented. Scorch, in addition to having better character voice work--and I cannot deny, the characters' speech is much better in Scorch's audiobook, probably with the biggest relative improvement belonging to Steelhooves--has a more lively, expressive narrative voice. That's not to say that CrazedRambiling's work is bad; it's not. It is decidedly competent--even pleasant to listen to--and certainly intelligible without additional processing, which is more than can be said about some other audiobooks. But it's not of the same caliber.

That said, there is a balance to be struck between quality and simply getting a product out; certainly CrazedRambling's work could be better; indeed, if it could be improved significantly by cutting the amount released to a half or a third of what he does, I would gladly endorse making that exchange. But make no mistake--his work, while not exemplary, is easily acceptable for anyone wanting an auditory option. Certainly, I would take Scorch's offerings for any chapter it is available over Crazed's, but for the moment--in fact in all likelihood for the next couple of years for the later chapters, based on the current rate of Scorch's releases--CrazedRamling offers a passable alternative for those chapters not yet released by Scorch.

[CannonFodder]

Wait. . . Wait.
The pony that was in charged of project horizons was trottingheimer right? He was in charge of military weaponry projects. Starfall was for that gun blackjack kept using which used moon rocks and starmetal to create one big boom. Project Horizons in real life was a planned military moonbase. It could be that Cognitum is half lying in that while project horizons isn't necessarily a doomsday weapon it could be used as one. If the weapon was on the ground in hoofington then Cognitum could have just gone under Goldenblood's house to dismantle it or take control.

Could it be that what was under Goldenblood's house was just the targeting and firing terminal? And if what I'm getting at is right then that would be one massively overpowered weapon, cause then you physically could not destroy it cause you could not reach it.

[SilentCarto]

No argument on the Applebloom upload. Though I do think that from a storytelling perspective, uploaded minds probably fits into the "less is more" category, in this context--it's not something I think I would want to see too often in the FoE-verse.

I don't think Applebot was an upload at all, merely an expert system capable of mimicking her mannerisms and carrying on a conversation. Something like a VI from Mass Effect, possibly not even properly self-aware.

A more immediate question might be "Who stole the meteorites from the museum?"

I completely forgot about that. Who else has direct interest in Eater paraphernalia?
My first guess is the Harbingers, but now that I think of it I can't quite recall their connection to the EoS. There was a prophet blabbing about The Choir, I think?

Harbingers are a good guess, yes, but we really don't know anything about their connection to the EoS except that the encampment near Flank was humming. But for all we know, they just wanted the meteoric metal to build an annihilation bomb.

Wait. . . Wait.
The pony that was in charged of project horizons was trottingheimer right? He was in charge of military weaponry projects. Starfall was for that gun blackjack kept using which used moon rocks and starmetal to create one big boom. Project Horizons in real life was a planned military moonbase. It could be that Cognitum is half lying in that while project horizons isn't necessarily a doomsday weapon it could be used as one. If the weapon was on the ground in hoofington then Cognitum could have just gone under Goldenblood's house to dismantle it or take control.

Well, Folly seems to have been a product of Starfall, but not necessarily its intended endpoint. Trottenheimer lost his position when Starfall was sealed, and he built Folly under the auspices of Ironshod. I would call it the pistol application of some of what he learned from the Starfall research.

I don't think even Cog knows exactly what Horizons is. Their records were sealed, after all, and unless EC is used to release the seal, they're not accessible to electronic systems. Most of what we know about the projects comes from memory orbs and eye witnesses. I agree that it's remote from Goldie's house -- the computer was just logged into the firing network.

[Sindri]

So, how long until the Goddess's distrust of wheels becomes a plot point?

[RoboRed]

^ Win.

[OneMoreDaySK]

'@Sindri':

[Caoimhe]

So, how long until the Goddess's distrust of wheels becomes a plot point?

This, also the rivalry with Twlight (who's now fuckin' "inside" her) could make for some damn good content.

[nebulous]

On Glory being a changeling, when I first read that I was like "maaaaaaaybe", but now I realize it can't be true. Her family would've found out after some medical checkups. Unless changelings transform down to their cellular structure, but that's overdoing it for the environment they evolved or, if they have artificial origins, were designed in.

[Somber]

Sorry I haven't been posting. I've been in a bit of a funk trying to decide if Sky Striker lives or dies. That and I've gotten buried in my grading... again. Worse than before... ::Sigh:: The anti depressants and chewing up one side and the other.

Dawn isn't a changeling. She's almost entirely robot at this point, even more augmented than Blackjack. The green eyes was just me messing with you. Sorry.

Horizons is much bigger than Folly, but it is very much the same principle. Trottenheimer made Folly understanding and trusting that the silver bullets wouldn't be used against Luna or Celestia. Goldenblood had to build Horizons with something a little more clandestine than usual. But a weapon IS only half of it. You have to look at all the other things that Goldenblood did for Horizons to make sense.

But the why is the thing of it. And that is something that only Blackjack is capable of understanding.

[Caoimhe]

Goldenblood seems like a less vocal/more idealist 1920s Hitler, true to the extreme Mein Kampf. Save the land by any means necessary and the like.

Or moreso, a one pony Illuminati.

[Moodyman90]

And that is something that only Blackjack is capable of understanding.

only Blackjack is capable of understanding.

Granted, Blackjack never really was a dumb pony to begin with, just didn't think before she acted at times. But after all the times she's refered to herself as "not a smart pony" and how much she relies on her friends to be the smart ones, reading that made me thing "Well, they're in trouble then."

[tylertoon2]

only Blackjack is capable of understanding.

Oh my god Spoilers, Project Horizons is about either about whiskey, sex, guns or poker. Some kind of casino that morphs into a whiskey powered gun that causes people to have sex maybe?

[Cptadder]

Dawn isn't a changeling. She's almost entirely robot at this point, even more augmented than Blackjack. The green eyes was just me messing with you. Sorry.

Yes, Dawn is a Cylon... or Walter Simons now that you say she's even more augmented. She is the next model which means now it's now per-destinted by the laws of narration that she and Blackjack fight. The only question is if Blackjack can Saren her.

[Caoimhe]

If Dawn gets turned to good it'll be pretty weird having a nice robomom. Unless there's one of those clone machines hidden and they can make her a new fake skin (assuming there's DNA in there somewhere).

[Kippershy]

Thanks for the confirmation Somber.


Anyway, new theory time!


Project Horizons now confirmed for mega sized version of Folly.
Project Horizons wouldn't fire upon Zebrica... it doesn't make sense. If it was some kind of super-weapon capable of such destructive power of an up-scaled folly, it wouldn't have been so secret - it would've been used.

So, what could it be is now known... but what else does it do? What else indeed.
With what I can piece together, there's two options... though one is much more likely than the other, now I think about it.


Option 1:
Project Horizons destroys the moon.
Moon rocks are known to be highly reactive with the eater, explosively so. If the moon were to be destroyed then it's source of gravity would stop completely as it breaks up - causing the gravity of Equestria to pull in large chunks, falling down as a massive asteroid belt attack.

Where would it land? Everywhere... including into the Eater of souls, which would then likely end up destroying Equestria / "earth" as a whole.

This attack would fit in quite nicely with the whole prophecy of the stars, the star maiden shall call down the power of the sun using her left hoof (EC-1101 in the PB fires up towards the moon with a beam so bright, it may as well be the sun.) and calls down the moon with her right. (As the moon falls. Due to most people being right handed, we "do" things with our right hand, regardless. It's the expression used to describe the acts we've done - much like a 'right hand man' does our bidding.)

The maiden of the stars calls upon the power of the sun with her left hoof (PH) and calls down the power of the moon with her right.

Sounds a lot like it'd fit in. The impending damage done by the falling moon would be devastating by itself, but with the fact that the EoS is weak to moon as it is, well, that'd only make it even more damaging.


Option 2:

It would skip the moon part, Project Horizons simply fires down directly at the eater, possibly hitting some moonstone deposit that's located next to it and sets off an explosion large enough to take out the planet.

Though this doesn't sound quite as reliable a plan nor does it really work half as well with the way Horizons is.





Option 1 works because when Luna found out about the Stables, she was displeased but understood the risk/reward. Hell, she was meant to go into Stable 1 with her sister anyway, so it's hardly something she would have Goldie executed for.

Luna knew about Flux and Project Chimera, as well. Remember back to the whole labs incident with the memories of Goldie and Twilight speaking, Twilight threatening to go tell? Goldie implied Luna was behind the plan to some extent, so we'll assume she knew about that too and accepted it.


HOWEVER, what would truly horrify her? Destroying the moon.
Shooting a mega-weapon on Equestrian soil would be bad enough, yeah, but destroying the moon? Destroying what is her special talent? Her cutie mark?

Blackjack understands that. She questions her own special talent a lot and she's seen Glory lose hers by force. Imagine how it would be to have someone else destroy the one thing that made you unique?
Not just special, nor rare. Unique.

Now that, that would horrify her to the point of execution.
She would want him DEAD for even CONSIDERING such an idea.



What about him though?

Well, he loved (and probably still loves) Luna.
He loved her to the point where he set up the OIA just to help her run Equestria smoothly, to make her feel as powerful and awe inspiring as he saw her.
He did everything he possibly could to try and appease her.
...He loved her enough to consider blowing up the moon should she ever die and things get fucked up.

You take his Luna away? You threaten everything Equestria is and stands for? He destroys the whole fucking planet in return.
The ultimate doomsday device.
You hurt her... he doesn't even risk giving you the chance to survive the outcome.

On top of this, seeing the moon would only break his heart even more each and every night if she was to die and he was to live in a world where everything was fucked up.
That is why EC-1101 checks for high ranking officials before going off - he doesn't want to simply fuck up the world straight off the bat if there's a chance for everypony else to make it better, even if it means he's suffering from his loss.
He's not that childish.




Project Horizons blows up the moon.
Luna was horrified and truly scared at even the prospect.
Goldenblood was hurt and wanted to make sure that if worst came to worst, the world would go down with him.

[Kippershy]

Also, another reason only Blackjack is capable of understanding PH:


She's the only one whose seen all the recordings and memory orbs involving Goldie / Luna.
She's the one who calls all the shots for her group, long term wise.
Goldie was the one who called (almost all) of the shots in the long term back in the past.

Goldie made sacrifices that he didn't like for the well-being of Equestria.
Blackjack has done the same, in her own ways.

Sure, Glory just saw her mum turning into a freak that sliced her dad up.
Sure, P-21 would've never known his parents and lived a life of repeatedly getting raped.
Sure, Rampage has gone through everything she has.
Sure, Lacunae deals with all that memory dump...
However, only Blackjack truly understands the responsibility.

Only Blackjack understands the guilt of messing up - of having your choices hurt the ones you love the most, of hurting the ponies who look up to you or seek you out for protection.
Only Blackjack knows of the stress, strain and heartache of trying to keep it up and fucking up.

Only Blackjack would be able to understand why Goldie would even consider a revenge weapon in the event of losing everyone who means the most to him and the odd few others.

None of the others would understand... not like a true leader who has been through all the troubles and trials would.

[Harmony Ltd.]

This is blasphemy,
This is madness !

[RoboRed]

This is...an extremely valid set of points.

[CannonFodder]

That and I've gotten buried in my grading... again. Worse than before... ::Sigh:: The anti depressants and chewing up one side and the other.

Dawn isn't a changeling. She's almost entirely robot at this point, even more augmented than Blackjack. The green eyes was just me messing with you. Sorry.

Horizons is much bigger than Folly, but it is very much the same principle. Trottenheimer made Folly understanding and trusting that the silver bullets wouldn't be used against Luna or Celestia. Goldenblood had to build Horizons with something a little more clandestine than usual. But a weapon IS only half of it. You have to look at all the other things that Goldenblood did for Horizons to make sense.

But the why is the thing of it. And that is something that only Blackjack is capable of understanding.

So the anti depressants aren't working? :[

Can't say I'm surprised she's gone crazy. I doubt being a brain in a tin can is very good for your sanity.

Bigger than Folly?! Sweet lord that's crazy powerful.

[Kippershy]

Thanks, Robo. Now we wait until Somber has a crisis over the fact that I either:

A. Got it all wrong and blew his head off his shoulders with "OH MY GOD, IT'S FUCKING OBVIOUS BUT YOU CAN'T SEE" overload...

B. Got it all right and blew his head off his shoulders when he realises the plotline of Project Horizons is now revealed (in skeleton form) because if this turns out to be right, it pretty much ensures what's going to happen in the long term and yadda yadda yadda.




Well, saying that, we all know that Somber cares about following canon of FoE so we know that Equestria will be okay in ten years time - but still.

[RoboRed]

And then after ten years plus one day, everyone blows up.

[CannonFodder]

Thanks, Robo. Now we wait until Somber has a crisis over the fact that I either:

A. Got it all wrong and blew his head off his shoulders with "OH MY GOD, IT'S FUCKING OBVIOUS BUT YOU CAN'T SEE" overload...

B. Got it all right and blew his head off his shoulders when he realises the plotline of Project Horizons is now revealed (in skeleton form) because if this turns out to be right, it pretty much ensures what's going to happen in the long term and yadda yadda yadda.




Well, saying that, we all know that Somber cares about following canon of FoE so we know that Equestria will be okay in ten years time - but still.

Either way I don't think we want spoilers.

[Guest]

Dawn:

[Sponsored content]