Re: [GRIMDARK] Fallout Equestria: Project Horizons Discussion

[WavemasterRyx]

Just had a nasty thought. We've kind of assumed Boo just didn't eat until BJ found her, but what if she followed along after the Fatties to scavenge? Boo might have the Cannibal perk and we don't even know it...

Oh, I had a question about this on the tumblr, and I was actually planning to answer it in the next few posts... I think her being a cannibal is fairly unlikely though.

Spoiler:

Just something to consider anyways.

[FeatherDust]

it touches on a very
controversial topic - sexuality of people with some level of mental
handicap.

Well... it seems to be a far more controversial topic than I thought it was, lol. Honestly I was just thinking about it from Boo's viewpoint

It's controversial because it's got a lot of good arguments on both sides. On the one hand, even a handicapped person is a person, and adult humans have sexual urges, so it would be cruel to deny them that. But on the other hand somebody who has a very low mental age isn't truly capable of giving informed consent, and there's all these questions about manipulation and coercion that start popping up... it's not a simple topic.

Maybe I'm just too simpleminded, I didn't get a bestiality feeling from it at all, nor a pedophilia feeling as swicked suggests.

I think pedophilia is probably the wrong word, but whatever the vocabulary, I think the problem is that Blackjack is in a caretaker/guardian role over Boo, and the power differential is what makes it feel creepy.

Of course, the Boo on my tumblr is not canon Boo, so the things going on in her mind probably aren't what's really going on in the story at all.

Yeah, I never got that feeling off Canon!Boo. I think she just wants Blackjack's presence and affection.

[FeatherDust]

Just had a nasty thought. We've kind of assumed Boo just didn't eat until BJ found her, but what if she followed along after the Fatties to scavenge? Boo might have the Cannibal perk and we don't even know it...

Oh, I don't think so. We first met her nosing around the kitchen; I took that to mean she'd been scavenging what food was available there until it was gone, and didn't have any idea where ELSE food could come from.

I think you mean ambivalent, as Boo isn't a deity, but yeah.

Heresy!
There is only one god, and she is Boo; and Somber is her prophet.

[FeatherDust]

I just don't see Boo as mentally handicapped. She's just new...
As far as I can tell, the only "handicap" Boo has is she was born maybe a few months ago.
That's why I'd see it as pedophilia. Any given filly or colt in chapel is probably more capable of giving consent, as they've had at least a few years to mentally and emotionally mature.

Well.. yes, that's the issue. Boo is adult in body but childlike in mind, that's kinda the point. As opposed to the Chapel kids, who may have a more adult outlook but are still physically children.

[CannonFodder]

That's what I meant. Since she was kissed by Discord maybe that'll come with some perk or something good later on.

Sorry I should have clarified I had jumped from Boo to Blackjack on that train of logic.

Maybe she picked up a chaotic good perk that helps her in small ways? Like being more likely to have a non-deadly end to a confrontation or such? Like how she attacked Boing? Boing should have been dead; however she survived. There's also how she attacked Glory's sister. Glory's sister should have been killed, but barely survived. There's also how operative lighthooves got caught.

Not deus ex machina plot alterations so much as -5 bad end stat.

[SilentCarto]

I don't think his Marauder status factors into it.
[...]
I don't think he was party to that many terrible secrets. Goldenblood had a way of compartmentalizing information and just because he was using Echo as a scribe doesn't mean he was an OIA representative or anything.

“I was the witness. The one who knew where the bodies were being buried but who never blew the whistle. The one who overheard all the dirty secrets but was too gutless to bring them to light.”

I'm not even talking about curses. The Marauders were a group of very skilled warriors, but when Mac died, the unit came apart at the seams. Each individual personally fell apart as well, and that's what made them prime candidates for all these experiments. I'm not saying that someone deliberately targeted the Marauders as a group, but the Marauders were well-known as a disgraced unit. If someone was looking for, say, a permanently injured soldier to turn into a monster, they might well say, "Hey, didn't one of the Marauders get shot real bad?" It's rare to find a warrior of that skill that nobody would miss.

[Sindri]

That's what I meant. Since she was kissed by Discord maybe that'll come with some perk or something good later on.

Sorry I should have clarified I had jumped from Boo to Blackjack on that train of logic.

Maybe she picked up a chaotic good perk that helps her in small ways? Like being more likely to have a non-deadly end to a confrontation or such? Like how she attacked Boing? Boing should have been dead; however she survived. There's also how she attacked Glory's sister. Glory's sister should have been killed, but barely survived. There's also how operative lighthooves got caught.

Not deus ex machina plot alterations so much as -5 bad end stat.

My current theory, based on virtually no evidence and a rather shaky recollection of events, is that Discord's Kiss is what makes her immune to Enervation. We know from Folly's shells that Ichor of the Meddler can block all manner of nasty metaphysical effects, so why not a shield from soul-sucking auras when he actually likes you?

[CannonFodder]

My current theory, based on virtually no evidence and a rather shaky recollection of events, is that Discord's Kiss is what makes her immune to Enervation. We know from Folly's shells that Ichor of the Meddler can block all manner of nasty metaphysical effects, so why not a shield from soul-sucking auras when he actually likes you?

Blackjack became a cyborg before she met discord.

[Moodyman90]

Cyborg just means less things of her to melt off from Enervation, Sindri's talking true immunity.

I think.

Though I'm with Cannon in that she seemed to be immune to Enervation before the kiss. Though I'm still certain the kiss did something.

Unless a kiss is just a kiss this time.

[Sindri]

Blackjack became a cyborg before she met discord.

But see, it doesn't make sense for turning into a cyborg to make her immune to Enervation. It's the quickest and most obvious answer, but also the one with the most holes. Sure, maybe there would be some sort of decreased effect if it only worked on living tissue (I think it more likely to deal on a per-life force basis than a per-living biomass basis, but there's no real info either way), because she has less tissue to work on, but she feels nothing from E-fields.
First symptom is always fatigue, right? Just the natural result of the field draining the energy you're trying to use to move and think and stuff. And it would make sense for Blackjack to ignore that, since she's got a weird reactor thingie and she doesn't even feel normally tired so long as she has tasty gems. But the energy would still be getting sucked out even if she didn't feel it, and there was never any kind of mention of her energy bar going down faster. She doesn't eat any more gems in Enervation zones.
Then in high-powered fields you get into the serious effects, people going all soft, new wounds intensifying and old ones reopening, etc. And a cyborg should get hit by that worst of anypony. Every stretch of her has been pulled apart and stitched back together in surgery at least once. She still has what basically amount to great gaping holes in her, plugged with metal and plastic, which ought to be opening and oozing like Glory's chewed-on wing.
And most of all, strong Enervation makes you soft. It makes bones wibbley and muscles tear too easily, to where you leave bloody hoofprints and patches of skin on everything your brush when the fields are bad enough and you're close to death. And Blackjack has a bunch of heavy weights of cold chrome anchored to her still largely organic skeleton. If she were being affected by Enervation now like she was before everything changed, her legs would be tearing right out of her sockets under their own weigh when walking. But instead, we see her sprinting and jumping and wrestling in a field that would take an unprotected organic straight to the melt-in-your-mouth stage of tenderness, and not show a single sign of fragility.
Blackjack is not resistant to Enervation, she's completely immune when she should be more vulnerable than anypony to the late stage effects of it and quicker to catch on than anypony to the initial energy drain. This didn't come from just cutting off two thirds of her live tissue, it's something mystical. And Discord's Kiss seems like the best candidate from where I'm standing, unless there's some reason for dying once and coming back to protect your soul against other things trying to suck it out.

[FeatherDust]

But see, it doesn't make sense for turning into a cyborg to make her immune to Enervation. It's the quickest and most obvious answer, but also the one with the most holes.

You just said all the stuff I was planning to say.

Then in high-powered fields you get into the serious effects, people going all soft, new wounds intensifying and old ones reopening, etc. And a cyborg should get hit by that worst of anypony. Every stretch of her has been pulled apart and stitched back together in surgery at least once. She still has what basically amount to great gaping holes in her, plugged with metal and plastic, which ought to be opening and oozing like Glory's chewed-on wing.

That was my biggest point, yes.
And in addition to that, nobody seems to know what makes her immune. If it were just cyborg parts that do it, at last Rover ought to be familiar with the effect.

[Sindri]

@sindri as long as Blackjack's body stays together, she's unlikely to feel most of it.

Yes, which I conceded in my first point. But her oft-ignored readouts would definitely notice even at low levels, and at high levels her body shouldn't stay together.

[Moodyman90]

So as of right now Blackjack being seemingly immune to Enervation can be linked to either.
A. Dieing and then coming back.
B. Something about being a cyberpony. or
C. The kiss from Discord.

[Meleagridis]

What of the perk they received after walking through the old zebra city, when the tunnels ate them alive? Just before the Collegiate?

As far as Boo and souls go, I have the theory that at the end of PH, if Blackjack's body is too thrashed to repair itself any more, then Boo will be used to give Blackjack another chance to live. Probably with a lot of protest that they can't do that to her, especially from Blackjack herself, but Boo will do or maybe even say something to have them do it..

This what I may like to see. Blackjack has, yet again, the chance to cheat death out of her head one last time. But for the very first time, the price is not personal. For the first time, someone else is the sacrifice.

And I do think Boo should be able to make it clear she would do anything to keep Blackjack alive, even handing over her body and soul.

And I do think Blackjack should refuse. Give the blank a life to live.

[Vergil]

So as of right now Blackjack being seemingly immune to Enervation can be linked to either.
A. Dieing and then coming back.
B. Something about being a cyberpony. or
C. The kiss from Discord.

Personally I'm just running under the assumption that she has been immune since her death. Something having to do with the stars.

Then again this is Somber we're talking about and it could be none of the above.

[Moodyman90]

Good point, I just feel like putting up the list of theories right now.

No idea why, just the whim I'm on right now.

[SilentCarto]

She doesn't eat any more gems in Enervation zones.

Doesn't she, though? Her power usage is affected by a lot of factors, like how much she's exerting herself and how much damage her systems are trying to repair. Would she really notice if she was burning through her reserves faster than usual to replace Enervation losses? It would be like trying to see if a clock's minute hand was running faster than usual. You might notice if you were keeping careful track, but if you just glanced at the clock every so often, you wouldn't realize it until you compared it with some other timekeeping device or got grossly out of sync with the sun. Hell, she hasn't even sat still long enough to get a feel for her baseline power consumption since her conversion.

Enervation is a damage-over-time effect. She has a healing-over-time cybernetic implant. I don't think it's strange to think the two would counteract each other.

[Derpmind]

My current theory, based on virtually no evidence and a rather shaky recollection of events, is that Discord's Kiss is what makes her immune to Enervation. We know from Folly's shells that Ichor of the Meddler can block all manner of nasty metaphysical effects, so why not a shield from soul-sucking auras when he actually likes you?

I just got back from rereading Chapter 39, and I think Discord's Kiss might really be what makes her immune to Enervation. The page right after the kiss has this:

Of course, there was a saying about frying pans and fires; personally, I’d never used much of either, but I could appreciate the sentiment. Especially now, as my chest began to burn painfully. Instantly, my friends started to sway and droop. Enervation. Lots of it. We were getting into depths comparable to our previous jaunt under the city. The one that had almost killed all of us…Fortunately, despite the pain in my chest, I didn’t feel the draining lethargy I had before. It hurt, but it was a distant hurt, and instead of passing out I felt a faint ringing in my ears. The rumbling roar overhead quickly drowned it out as the pressure grew and grew above us, the flow slackening off.

[Exodus Hero]

Hey hinds found a misspelled word.

Spoiler:

[skibadaa]

Just, you know, hopefully not one that'll whine when said abilities not only save her from rad poisoning, but regrow her leg to boot.

Yeah, Lil'pip was pretty unappreciative of her good fortune there huh?

"Yeah so I totally was expecting to die horribly but then instead I woke up completely healed from my new alicorn/hulk regen powers, and I was like WTFis this BULLSHIT!! THANX OBAMA!!!"

[SilentCarto]

I just got back from rereading Chapter 39, and I think Discord's Kiss might really be what makes her immune to Enervation. The page right after the kiss has this:

Of course, there was a saying about frying pans and fires; personally, I’d never used much of either, but I could appreciate the sentiment. Especially now, as my chest began to burn painfully. Instantly, my friends started to sway and droop. Enervation. Lots of it. We were getting into depths comparable to our previous jaunt under the city. The one that had almost killed all of us…Fortunately, despite the pain in my chest, I didn’t feel the draining lethargy I had before. It hurt, but it was a distant hurt, and instead of passing out I felt a faint ringing in my ears. The rumbling roar overhead quickly drowned it out as the pressure grew and grew above us, the flow slackening off.

She actually noted her immunity much earlier than that, almost as soon as she got back to Hoofington. As the crew enters Brimstone's Fall in Ch. 36:
Lacunae groaned as she slumped. I looked at her sharply. “Enervation?” She nodded. Suddenly, my friends were looking at each other. They all seemed tired and drawn all of a sudden. “It wasn’t like this before,” I said softly, looking at P-21 and Glory for confirmation.
“But… aren’t you feeling it?” P-21 asked me in concern.
That surprised me. No, actually. I didn’t feel the lethargy or pain or anything. I felt just… me. “No. I guess the cybernetics are resistant or something.” I frowned; that didn’t seem right... “I’ll… check inside. You folks see if you can find anything not picked over yet.”

Which, of course, suggests that it's a blessing from the stars.

[Sindri]

Just, you know, hopefully not one that'll whine when said abilities not only save her from rad poisoning, but regrow her leg to boot.

Yeah, Lil'pip was pretty unappreciative of her good fortune there huh?

"Yeah so I totally was expecting to die horribly but then instead I woke up completely healed from my new alicorn/hulk regen powers, and I was like WTFis this BULLSHIT!! THANX OBAMA!!!"

Yeah, I think Blackjack'd probably celebrate alicorn-level regen. Next time her legs get torn off, she just grows new ones! Flesh and blood! The new wings are a little weird, but Glory seems to like them...

Sure she'd be a superpowered mutant, but she's already a long way from where she was physically and just being organic again would probably be a big step towards normal. Alicornification's negative effects are all mental, and she's got those already.

She actually noted her immunity much earlier than that, almost as soon as she got back to Hoofington...
Which, of course, suggests that it's a blessing from the stars.

Right, forgot that point. Yep, direct influence of the Stars or a result of being technically undead.

[Caoimhe]

One of the fun things about PH is that Blackjack is not the all knowing voice of the narrator so we have to constantly translate Blackjackese because she's too 'dumb' to figure things out. Pretty cool if she acquired her resistance that far back and we're just figuring it out now.

Also, I'm too lazy to look it up, did Blackjack acquire the "max level" before Pip?

Edit:

First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of CalifAlicornication
Dream of CalifAlicornication


PH is about a ponified Red Hot Chili Peppers single from 1999, OBVIOUSLY

[FeatherDust]

Which, of course, suggests that [enervation immunity] is a blessing from the stars.

Makes sense if you think about it -- the enervation effect comes from starmetal, which is the body of an evil star. Surely the stars could grant protection from the effects of another star's influence.

[FeatherDust]

First born unicorn
Hard core soft porn
Dream of CalifAlicornication
Dream of CalifAlicornication

PH is about a ponified Red Hot Chili Peppers single from 1999, OBVIOUSLY

I was writing a ponified version of that song at work today!


Pair of princess sisters
Are the rulers of a nation
Little sister Luna
Wants her share of adulation
And when she takes it overboard
It's Alicornication

(It's the)
End of the world
And the death of civ'lization
The sun can't rise in the east
At least
So the moon is her new location
And the weapons that could
Sleep in the wood
With Alicornication

A thousand years inside her cell
To break the spell of sealing
She's coming again so get your friends
It's harmonious healing

(The) tiara's worn
(By a) purple unicorn

Dream of Alicornication (x2)

Brother's engaged and Twi's enraged
It's a dangerous liaison
A fake-out bride with a devil inside
Preparing for an invasion
But she will fall, love conquers all
It's Alicornication

Comeback foe with powers you don't know
Amulet and incantation
Chaos comes to town again
To gain purification
And always thanks to all your friends
Now Alicornication

Mastery of Harmony
To princessly elation
Found and trained and now ordained
By magic innovation

Last morn, unicorn
Tonight, alicorn

Dream of Alicornication (x4)

[Caoimhe]

The last half hour I spent is officially worthless. :(

[Sindri]

The last half hour I spent is officially worthless. :(

I dunno, is writing about alicornication ever really worthless?

[Caoimhe]

Only if you write for Studio B.

[Stringtheory]

The last half hour I spent is officially worthless. :(

hell, most of my time could be considered worthless by most of the population, so don't feel bad about wasting only half a hour

[FeatherDust]

The last half hour I spent is officially worthless. :(

...I'm sorry. It's really not my mission in life to do cool things before everyone else does cool things...

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