Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[OneMoreDaySK]

@ARoundCorner
Happy to help, now if you'd just get an avatar, we'll be fine and dandy. It makes it a lot easier to identify people when scrolling through days worth of posts. *hides from Cptadder*

@CptAdder:

[CannonFodder]

I have to agree with OneMoreDaySK

Spoiler:

[Vergil]

Excellent work as always Somber and editors. Thank you!

If there was a way for BJ to go alicorn-ish while still staying BJ...well, this would be it. It'll be interesting to see what upgrades she gets on that frame. The fan art for this should be awesome too.

I'll admit Rampage losing it when she guessed what Deus was up to got a laugh out of me. Similarly, BJ abruptly deciding to pay the Goddess a visit came pretty close to making bang my head on my desk. I'm glad that one didn't end as badly as I half expected.

Eater confirmed as Lavos, we're doomed.

We basically know the entirety of Psalm's story now. All that's left is to find out exactly what she's doing in BJ's head and resolve it.

Finally, I'm going to take the three tanks that have wings comment to mean BJ is going to have to take on some enclave ships. Probably using some wings of her own she conveniently just got. With someone riding on her back. Maybe with an alicorn army. Probably while drunk. I am ok with this.

Well anyway, back to intensely hating the Goddess again while I wait for the next installment.

[Icy Shake]

So, here we go again.

'Running Commentary/:

'Chapter Thoughts':

'Editing Matters':

Sadly, I had to stop in the middle for Downton Abbey, but that's not a huge problem and I think I actually finished sooner than normal. I guess I'll just say that DA got me thinking about the aristocratic death rate in WWI, and in the process of trying to look it up I found this by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, and thought that it was a sentiment I could easily see Vanity holding:

I vow to thee, my country -- all earthly things above --
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.
The love that asks no questions: the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best:
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

Anyway, it also occurred to me how strikingly the attitude of the ponies of Equestria mirrored that of the belligerents of the first world war at its outset, even as the war ended up having a greater resemblance to the second world war and cold war in its combat and end.

Concluding those tangents, my thanks go out to Somber and the brushing crew for their efforts on the chapter. Good work!

[O. Hinds]

Spoiler:

It ought to be "Grimhoof", the army base. It's odd; I thought that we'd fixed this one.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

So, here we go again.

'Running Commentary/:

'Chapter Thoughts':

'Editing Matters':

Sadly, I had to stop in the middle for Downton Abbey, but that's not a huge problem and I think I actually finished sooner than normal. I guess I'll just say that DA got me thinking about the aristocratic death rate in WWI, and in the process of trying to look it up I found this by Sir Cecil Spring-Rice, and thought that it was a sentiment I could easily see Vanity holding:

I vow to thee, my country -- all earthly things above --
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.
The love that asks no questions: the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best:
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

Anyway, it also occurred to me how strikingly the attitude of the ponies of Equestria mirrored that of the belligerents of the first world war at its outset, even as the war ended up having a greater resemblance to the second world war and cold war in its combat and end.

Concluding those tangents, my thanks go out to Somber and the brushing crew for their efforts on the chapter. Good work!

Thank you for the error corrections.
Regarding the attitude to the war, well, it did last twenty years. That's over one and three quarters the length of WWI and WWII put together (by the start and stop dates Wikipedia gives). The portion of the war after Littlehorn was about eleven years, which is also the sum of (1919-1914)+(1945-1939).

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

Spoiler:

inner fanboy

[Icy Shake]

Regarding the attitude to the war, well, it did last twenty years. That's over one and three quarters the length of WWI and WWII put together (by the start and stop dates Wikipedia gives). The portion of the war after Littlehorn was about eleven years, which is also the sum of (1919-1914)+(1945-1939).

You're right, of course, and it's not really a surprise how that happened; not only was this Equestria's first industrial, total war (post Littlehorn, anyway), it was its first war in a millennium, so their perspective was understandably more similar to the peoples' of prewar Europe, who had known relative peace for a century, apart from the relative few who had seen the Boer War and knew what was coming (Goldenblood = Churchill?)--I'd imagine even many Americans might have had the Spanish-American War in mind as how the conflict would go, rather than the Civil War, though most favored staying out of it at the outset. So the social changes occurred during the conflict as the potential for unparalleled destruction grew, rather than during and following a lesser conflict, engendering a desire to avoid war even at high costs.

[Somber]

I'm so glad so many of you liked the chapter. It's a huge endorphin rush to read the comments after a chapter. Better than any antidepressant. Any yes. The Equestrian war was like every war fought by the US one after another (Save Afghanistan) with the same development of technology in the same span. And the same death toll.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@Somber
Glad to see you've gotten over your recent illness for the most part.
How are the students?

[SilentCarto]

Man, it feels like forever since I wrote one of these! Back in the saddle, baby!

Chapter 53 Comments:

Editing:

[WavemasterRyx]

Somber, Hinds, Bronode, and Snipe, as always you have my sincerest thanks for all of the hard work that each of you put into making this story come to life.

Every time so far that you've needed longer to complete a chapter, the result has ended up being well worth the wait, and this chapter was no exception. It was very well done, and even as a "resting chapter" it still felt like it had plenty of action.

Initial Thoughts:

*hugs Somber and the editing team*

[Cptadder]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Dunno re-reading that section again it feels not like a PR blitz but bold gambit to neuther one half of Red-eye's power based (The alicorns) remember the production consisted of Harbinger and three Enclave guards, no cameras no lights not even a single musical number or song of any kind. It was rather low key.

I'm so glad so many of you liked the chapter. It's a huge endorphin rush to read the comments after a chapter. Better than any antidepressant. Any yes. The Equestrian war was like every war fought by the US one after another (Save Afghanistan) with the same development of technology in the same span. And the same death toll.

Necessity is the mother of all invention and a lot of what Equestria did in the first place was extrapolation of existing ideas to weaponry. They did have over ten years of brushfire war under Celestia after all. I've mentioned before even Celestia's methods created large groups of refguees but it was not until Luna showed up that the total war started.

[SilentCarto]

She laughed so hard she was crying. “Oh! Oh! It’s just too much!” She wiped her eyes with a hoof as she looked up at the tank. “Is it that you suddenly don’t have a clue what to do with your life and the only thing you can think of is to follow Blackjack in the hope that she’ll help you make some sense of the incredibly fucked up circumstances you now find yourself in?”
...
“Because that’s what you do when you’ve been beaten by Blackjack, duh!” Rampage said as she sat up. “If she doesn’t kill you then she makes you re-examine your entire life and you follow her along until you find something that makes sense! And because it’s a whole lot easier than trying to kill you a second time. I mean, look at the list. You’ve got me. Sanguine at the end there. Psychoshy. Now Deus. I bet Gorgon would have, too, if it weren’t for that whole rock crushing to pulp thing.”

I'm reminded of this anime-related comic. When you get owned by Blackjack, she OWNS you from then on! ...and Glory owns BJ. Huh.

Wait... Random thought: is SweetieBot v2.0 Cogitum?

Augh, that makes way too much sense! >_<;

Amadi bowed his head. “Ashtar. Shurrak. Dagon. Spare us your wrath and grant the daring a fraction of your power.”

Okay lets re-read this, Okay Ashtar spaces aliens... shurrak I don't recognize but not worrying so far and the third is.... Dagon....DAGON?
Lets back up this crazy train Mr Zebra and stop at Sanity Junction because it's clear your trying to board the express train to Crazytown.

Ashtar (Ishtar) and Dagon were both Babylonian/Assyrian fertility gods in real life. Shurrak, I'm not familiar with.

What I disliked
The entire sequence with the goddess. I don't think it adds anything to the story of the Goddess to contact the Enclave rather than it being the other way around. Further it contracts FOE canon pretty explicitly because the Enclave arrived at the same time as Little pip offering alliance.

I actually thought it filled in a plot hole from FOE. Why WOULD the Enclave suddenly show up asking the Goddess for alliance? How would they even know she was there? Why would they not only be willing, but seek her out? It doesn't make much sense, given their general feelings about ghouls, mutants, and the like. Much more sensical if the Goddess showed up to offer the olive branch, stroked their ego, and invited them to her place to work out terms.

[CannonFodder]

I can't wait until there's new fan art of blackjack's upgrades. I was thinking she was going to be completely machine looking.

[OneMoreDaySK]

@CannonFodder
I'm kinda hoping that Mistermech'll do Blackjack, while Ryx has something on the blanket of mares. They're probably busy though.

[O. Hinds]

@SilentCarto:
Thank you for the error corrections, though two of them were already fixed and one I'd like to ask you more about.

Spoiler:

@WavemasterRyx:
Yikes, thanks!

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Dunno re-reading that section again it feels not like a PR blitz but bold gambit to neuther one half of Red-eye's power based (The alicorns) remember the production consisted of Harbinger and three Enclave guards, no cameras no lights not even a single musical number or song of any kind. It was rather low key.

Well, they don't want it to look too much like one, and something that did have a dedicated camera team would take longer to get together. If this goes live before the rest of command finds out about it, they couldn't stop it without losing face. As for recording it: power armor.

[Harmony Ltd.]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[Kippershy]

I haven't completed reading the chapter yet, but I'll say one thing:

Spoiler:

[CannonFodder]

I haven't completed reading the chapter yet, but I'll say one thing:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[Kippershy]

Finished.
Somber, I'm sorry but I don't have a write as I read review this time, again. I just wanted to read the chapter.
What I can tell you is that I utterly enjoyed it, however.

Spoiler:

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[Valikdu]

Spoiler:

[OneMoreDaySK]

Wait, so...:

[Vergil]

I forgot to share this last night, but I feel compelled to do so now.

I'm a music nerd, but for whatever reason I don't typically listen to music while I read. I had a lot of background noise in my apartment last night though, so I broke with tradition.

When Blackjack went to examine herself in the mirror, my library on random came up with "False King" by Two Steps from hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gkBmgpAb9U

Considering I agree that this is the basis of BJ's final form, that gave me chills.

[Scootayay]

I'm only checking in because I just heard back from the printing.
Good news, we can include a letter if we want to. They just need to be able to print it. That confirmation email should also be on it's way now.


I haven't completely read the new chapter yet, but it's as awesome as always.

Just something that popped into my mind:

Ch 53:

[Kippershy]

Oh, forgot to say. I like the formulaic format, personally. I write Broken Bonds in a pretty formulaic format so while I do understand why you fear it would get boring, it provides a nice mixture of action and mellowed out character development, even when things are tense.

I don't read Project Horizons for non stop action and I would never even consider asking you to begin writing that way.
Sure, at the start of your story your characters had nowhere to stay, nothing to anchor themselves down to - but now they do and now Blackjack is beginning to learn that she can't continue like she did before.
She's died twice now and come within a breath of it almost countless times as well as that.
She needs to slow down, rest up, prepare herself and enjoy what time she can.

If that means having a formula of two or three action packed chapters and then some rest (or something similar) then so be it. I personally like it. It adds a lot more reality to the story, which is something a lot of people are taking issue with, I've noticed. Not here I mean, other places. People say they're put off by the non stop action and how Blackjack is the most important, most capable person to ever exist because even when she can't hack a terminal for examples sakes, she'll always find another way through no matter how unlikely.

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

I forgot to share this last night, but I feel compelled to do so now.

I'm a music nerd, but for whatever reason I don't typically listen to music while I read. I had a lot of background noise in my apartment last night though, so I broke with tradition.

When Blackjack went to examine herself in the mirror, my library on random came up with "False King" by Two Steps from hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gkBmgpAb9U

Considering I agree that this is the basis of BJ's final form, that gave me chills.

OKay so listening to that track I envisioned the scene then broke it into a trailer

Spoiler:

[CamoBadger]

I forgot to share this last night, but I feel compelled to do so now.

I'm a music nerd, but for whatever reason I don't typically listen to music while I read. I had a lot of background noise in my apartment last night though, so I broke with tradition.

When Blackjack went to examine herself in the mirror, my library on random came up with "False King" by Two Steps from hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gkBmgpAb9U

Considering I agree that this is the basis of BJ's final form, that gave me chills.

OKay so listening to that track I envisioned the scene then broke it into a trailer

Spoiler:

...somebody should make this into an animation, that would be absolutely glorious. For some of the fights maybe show her as she was before being cyberized, so that it has the effect of her questioning what she's become even further.

[Admiral Stoic Rum]

I was thinking the same, maybe her old augmentations or firing on the celestia...like it builds up from her confrontation of deus, to firing on the celestia all kinds of fucked up, then with her augmentations going berserk on enclave and fighting the tank.

in between the scenes it shows a short pan of her new augmentations.like one focusing on her spine, another on the chest shield, some on the legs...

[Vergil]

I forgot to share this last night, but I feel compelled to do so now.

I'm a music nerd, but for whatever reason I don't typically listen to music while I read. I had a lot of background noise in my apartment last night though, so I broke with tradition.

When Blackjack went to examine herself in the mirror, my library on random came up with "False King" by Two Steps from hell.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gkBmgpAb9U

Considering I agree that this is the basis of BJ's final form, that gave me chills.

OKay so listening to that track I envisioned the scene then broke it into a trailer

Spoiler:

Are you inside my head?

[Sponsored content]