I threw a short glance at the chapter for old times' sake, and found myself completely absorbed in just a few sentences. There hasn't been a story that could do this to me in months, especially not one that I've read once already.

2988831 I know, right? I had to start re-reading this entire thing when it got put up on this site. I'm just waiting for Somber to put Project Horizons on here and beat out Diaries of a Madman in terms of sheer word-count.

well he is in a lot of pain

Damn Four Star, you traitorous pieces of crap!

Two words OH SNAP

Gleaming in the darkness, the eyes of at least a dozen zombie-ponies stared back at me.

Little Pip's gonna love that.

Great!!

2989417
You know, you are right. They are traitors. But, if we think about it, what is loyalty? They have never sworn an oath to Equestria. They have never pledged voluntary allegiance to that country. What makes them real traitors is not their betrayal of Equestria (which is not, in fact, a betrayal, per se; more like, they just calculated the possible outcome of war and placed their bet on the zebras), but their betrayal of the Ministry (THE Ministry, in Steelhooves' kind of sense) that subsidised them and let them conduct their business.

But, generally, I think that the main idea, the main point is that we are not countries. And we are not nations. And, by all that's holy, we are not corporations. We are people, regardless of race, nationality and, in the case of Fo:E, species. We all have our own way to choose and we try to adapt as good as we can. In this way, I am more of Xenith's point of view, which I do not share completely, but understand and comprehend. We do what we can to survive. It's a vice; but it's no sin.

But that's just my opinion.

2990651 How about "they're traitors to equine life"?

2990684
If you are American, does it mean you have to fight for America in a war? Or, if you are British, does it mean you have to be loyal to your country? I say no. Because this is one of the things we do not choose. Loyalty is a matter of choice, not obedience. That's why Rainbow Dash stood up for the buffalo. And her calling Fluttershy a traitor is just a sign that the element of Loyalty was leaving her. The connection was getting lost because she forgot what loyalty was. You can't be a traitor to the equine life, just as you can't be a "race traitor" or "religion traitor" or something like that. They were traitors to the Ministry that they pledged allegiance to and that helped them. They betrayed its trust. But they were on the zebra side. Their loyalty lay with the zebra, not the ponies. So, there was no betrayal in that aspect.

Or did you mean something else? My mind can be a wee rusty at times.

2990712 Zebras are equines.

2990727
Yes, that's why I see no traitorship (is that even a word?) towards equine life. Both sides were at war. Both sides had corporations working for the war effort. Both sides were ready to launch Megaspells. And so they did. It's like discussing who was wrong in 1962. Both sides were wrong, and utterly at that. Both the Soviets and the States. And anyone who claims otherwise is either biased or does not understand how politics works.

It's not black and white, you see. There are no traitors. It's an obscure term, and the way Littlepip thinks of it in such a way that she does - it only shows that she had not yet freed herself from the Stable propaganda about zebras. If you remember, her attitude changes when she meets Xenith.

2990743 They knowingly blew up a city of innocent ponies, with the knowledge that ponies would kill innocent zebras in return, and didn't even have the excuse that they thought Luna was evil.

You're trying to make a murky, morality argument of war and loyalty. But I'm not sure how to make my point any clearer. It's all irrelevant.

2990768

They knowingly blew up a city of innocent ponies, with the knowledge that ponies would kill innocent zebras in return, and didn't even have the excuse that they thought Luna was evil.

Yes, and that makes them borderline evil. This was a terrible thing to do, and they should have suffered a punishment for the massacre. But it's no act of betrayal.

You know, I think that we could exchange our opinions on betrayal and loyalty in general via PMs? What I'm saying, Fo:E-wise, is that Four Stars was a terrbile corporation, but they never pledged their loyalty to anything but profit, so there couldn't possibly have been a betrayal. You can't be a traitor without having loyalty. It just doesn't work that way.

2990791 I wasn't originally calling them traitors, I would just call them evil. The "traitor to life" thing was mostly just a snarky comment.

With that said, I still think it's accurate. Living beings are biologically programmed to have a loyalty to life. To live in a respectable society, you must have a loyalty to life (that's why murder is illegal in every culture). Thus, "traitor to life".

Let's not go into PMs. I think I've made my interpretation clear, and, being an interpretation, you're not going to change my mind. The whole argument is just based on semantics. I don't have any desire to change your mind if you disagree, so that's that.

2990839
Okay, sure thing. Been a pleasure talking with you anyway.

</lurk>

traitor:
n.
One who betrays one's country, a cause, or a trust, especially one who commits treason.

treason:
n.
Violation of allegiance toward one's country or sovereign, especially the betrayal of one's country by waging war against it or by consciously and purposely acting to aid its enemies.

Your philosophical arguments are all very well but they are as close to a textbook example as you can get.

On an unrelated note, Fallout: Equestria is how I got into FiM in the first place but FoE which I think is quite an achievement.

<lurk>

I missed the last chapter because I am hiding from a friend that I'm reading this story until I finish it, and I was with him all day Saturday. I will probably continue doing this every Saturday but otherwise know that I am totally enjoying this story. Also here is one of my very favorite gifs, yet sadly one I almost never get to use.

gameinformer.com/cfs-filesystemfile.ashx/__key/CommunityServer-Discussions-Components-Files/14492/4370.fluttershy_2D00_cry.gif

2989390
I guess so; you encounter them at least twice on your way to the Strip.

2992158
I don't trust dictionaries. Disctionaries were written by linguists, not philosophers.

I am saddened. It is late and I must rest. I will continue tomorrow. Still love this story.
So.
Much.
Awesome.

I love all the minor references to the show; and they don;t even know they're doing it.

2990712
Strictly speaking, you can be a traitor to religion. Religion is something you choose. You aren't born with the Hindu gene, you take a faith and follow it.

I felt a chill, imagining the kind of pre-war world where you could buy ammo along with your soft drinks at a street-side machine.

evilcontrollers.com/evilblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/borderlands-exploit-modded-controllers.jpg
I don't know if this was a reference but I got a cold chuckle out of it anyway.

SteelHooves sounds like Sev (Republic Commando) to me.

SPOILERS ARE A THING THAT LIE AHEAD
I COULD HIDE THEM, BUT I'D RATHER DO THIS INSTEAD
I'm warning you, there's a real spoiler down there.
Celestia's alive, way up in the air.

Now midnight has come, and I can speak in prose.
But did I say that'd be what I chose?
Sure, now my comments take thought, every single one.
But the difficulty's not that bad. It's actually quite fun.
Give it a little time, and I'm sure I'll get bored;
Put the rhyming dictionary away to be stored.
(No, that wasn't a literal thing I used.
Why would I own one? I'm just confused.)
But for now, I chose some more verse.
Perhaps I do it just to be perverse.
Is that a proper rhyme? It seems like bad style.
But I've been low on anything good for a while.

I don’t know why, but I was certain that MoM had built amusement parks, and that they had been regularly packed full of screaming kids.

They certainly exist; it won't be too long before you see one.
But I can't really say that you'll find it to be very fun.
Most attractions are broken, the coaster's all rusted,
And you'll run for your life, and wonder who can be trusted.

I saw her walking away from that door (which in the dream I had somehow become) even as I called out to her to come back, knowing that if she left, she would never live to see her little cottage again

She's grown far beyond the need for a house,
And become quite the annoying louse.

Great. I’m a child to her. Beautiful. I’m a fucking filly. The same filly as the first time we met at some older filly’s Cute-ceañera. My life just couldn’t get any better.

Littlepip, we've been over this time and again:
She's out of your league, and always has been.

Wouldn’t want ya to. Slaver armor neither. Bad idea. Ask Li’lpip when she’s up an about,

That sort of armor is great for making friends,
Though your life may end before friendship begins.

But Calamity and Velvet Remedy were not burdened by my quest, or my sense of being utterly lost. Why wouldn’t they leave me to it on my own once they had found some place to stay? Tenpony Tower, for instance. Why shouldn’t they?

Not as strongly burdened, I admit it seems.
But they'd not have followed without brighter dreams.
They abandoned their homes to do what was right.
They just lack your audacity in chasing the good fight.

Okay, I think I'm done with that now. It's been fun, but I think that's enough constant rhyming for a while.

To hear them speaking of getting Velvet Remedy armor (something I firmly agreed with Calamity that she needed, even though I couldn’t picture my elegant idol wearing anything other than classy dresses)

Classy dress armor is perfectly possible. Said armor would, in fact, be completely indestructible. It just requires necromancy that one would be ill-advised to mess with.

No, that would have been too abhorrent to consider.

…the only way to save even one would have been to make sure the strain on the water talisman was so minimal that its deterioration would have taken several decades. Something that could only have been done if, instead of initially reducing the population by that minimal 0.02%...

I cringed away from myself, revolted that I could even think such a thing.

And that is why you are the conventional hero of this story, rather than the niche-opinion tragic hero. Red Eye would be willing to be pragmatic.
On the other hoof, I'm not sure he'd stop to think about whether saving exactly one inhabitant of the Stable made any sense. One pony is not going to affect the viability of the post-apocalyptic gene pool in any significant way. One pony is not going to be a meaningful sample size for the social experiment. One pony would be unlikely to make it through several decades alone in a box without going insane and/or committing suicide. It's not at all clear what is the best goal here.
So I guess that lack of introspection about goals will have to function as the relevant example of how Red Eye's drive to rebuild civilization does not always lead him in the correct direction.

They were staying with me, but I was losing them to each other.

Don't be so melodramatic. Sure, we can say this has cut your chances with Velvet in half, but that's because it's going from 0% to 0%. Thus, it's also doubled your chances. And you'll always have their friendship and respect as long as you don't do something to force them to chance their minds; they (by which I mainly mean Velvet) may not always act like they respect you, but they wouldn't follow you otherwise.
A pony like you would need to have very stupid friends in order to lose them as friends without losing them as traveling companions. Why would anypony follow a pony they don't like into one dangerous situation after another?

I looked away from Velvet and found myself staring at a huge wall poster, garishly pink, advertising the Fillydelphia Funfarm Amusement Park. (“Everything the Grand Galloping Gala should have been,” endorses Pinkie Pie, “Every day, forever!”)

I have a feeling there are some interesting implications if you assume that slogan still applies. Something more than just raw observations like "the Gala should have included slavery." I think we can do better.
Or, we could observe that the park has become what the Gala was: a rather unpleasant disaster full of ponies who think they're better than you.

I could feel the warmth radiating from her, and my stomach knotted with guilt.

You must admit, it was pretty sketchy even before your sudden realization. It's generally considered quite uncouth to masturbate when a friend (without any sort of benefits) is in the room, even if she is asleep.

My fall was complete. Now, instead of being a child in her eyes, I’d be vomitpony.

You're just lucky you can blame all this melodrama on your fever.

“Your group is like the beginning of a bad joke,” SteelHooves elaborated. “A covert agent, a princess descended from pre-war aristocracy and an outcast from an advanced civilization trot into a saloon and try to tell ponies that they’re completely normal.”

"A lesbian, a medic, and a traitor walk into a bar. The Steel Ranger does too, but his armor protects him."
I can't remember the last time I heard a joke that started with multiple people walking into a bar and didn't end either with a long horizontal piece of metal or with the bartender saying "what is this, some sort of joke?" Do all conventional bar jokes only involve one person, and somehow nobody ever noticed?

“No. I’m sure they’re from a Stable.” The voice was cool and even. “I just find it more believable that they are highly-trained agents on a mission… perhaps from someplace akin to a Ministry of Awesome black-ops facility… than wide-eyed tourists from a repository for civilian ponies.”

What? I thought Calamity said the Ministry of Awesome didn’t actually do anything.

Actually, he said it did nothing to the best of his knowledge. Its projects were not generally very well known.

I groaned inside. How the hell did SteelHooves manage to do that? I was beginning to doubt my story, and I’d lived it.

Hey, at least you're not Blackjack. Sure, it's not very well-known that she's the sole living descendant of Twilight Sparkle (or that Twilight had any descendants) and the rightful heir to the antebellum government (ignoring its current nonexistence). But I can only imagine that if anypony did know, it would be impossible to convince them that she's just some random pony as far as she knows.
In fact, "at least you're not Blackjack" works as a general mantra. Having medical problems? Blackjack once had everything cancer and no eyes or legs. Having fatal medical problems? Blackjack's died multiple times. Feeling bad about how you treat your friends? Blackjack used to rape one of her friends. Feeling guilty about some life you failed to save? Blackjack probably can't remember the last day when she didn't kill a pony she'd rather have saved. Really, when I think of the way problems just heap themselves upon her in a nonstop swarm, it seems amazing that Project Horizons is such an engrossing story, rather than being ridiculously over-the-top.

To me, that sounds a lot like a special unit rearranging local power structures to suit their purposes. Whatever those purposed might be.

I mean, that's kind of what you are, in a way. Sure, all your training was on the job, and "special unit" normally implies that you're taking orders from somepony, but you must admit you three are pretty special, and all but the most short-sighted heroing does involve a lot of rearranging local power structures.
Also, you wrote "purposed."

I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.

SteelHooves, however, put his hooves down. “I insist.”

Where does a Steel Ranger go?
Wherever he wants.
As long as he doesn't want to go to Splendid Valley. That place is nasty, and any armor might as well be made of warm butter if you're going up against a hellhound. I would not recommend a visit.

“I already spoke with them on this. They claimed you’re their leader.”

What? Why? I was really the least qualified to be in charge. Because the radio kept saying so?

Because you've got the drive. Did Calamity suggest freeing the slaves from Old Appleloosa, or take the initiative to check whether Deadeyes has Silver's parents killed? Do you even have an idea in your head where Velvet would go were she the leader? (I don't; a party lead by a pacifist is just too different from anything I ever see out here.) It's you who has the big ideas and the belief you can accomplish them; your friends are just riding your coattails into opportunities to do good.

Strapping my sniper rifle into place, I finally looked to SteelHooves. But my answer faded when I saw he was looking away, his gaze focused on a small picture in the corner of the room that I hadn’t noticed before. The picture of an elder orange mare, her yellow mane salted with grey under her cowpony hat. He swayed slightly. I felt a gravity in the room that told me not to speak.

She survived, you know. She made it into Stable 2 and lived to a ripe old age. Even found love in there, as I remember.
I can't remember if you were ever able to even determine if she survived the apocalypse at all.

Inside, perfectly preserved, was yet another statuette of the bucking orange pony (“Be Strong”) in the glory of her youth.

It's hard for them to be anything but perfectly preserved. Soul jars are, at least in theory, completely indestructible.

“In an interview, when asked how he had managed to be such a supreme douche bag, Chief Grim Star had this to say:”

Another voice, gruff and irritated, came through the radio’s speakers. “Fuck off. I did what was right by those I swore to protect.”

I always kind of liked how ambiguous this gets once we get more information about Rottingtail, specifically that he was apparently planning to let zombies into Tenpony. Maybe all those ghouls were losing their minds enough to be a threat to Tenpony. Maybe it was just Rottingtail who was going bad, and his followers just didn't realize. Soon enough, there'll be no way we could ever tell.

The deep, masculine voice of Steelhooves nickered from within his metal helmet. “Not a fan of ghoul-supporters, I take it?”

I think it was about here that I decided I didn't trust Steelhooves. And I admit, part of it was that three is generally the proper size for an adventuring party, so I was resistant to the idea of adding anypony else. And part was that I was looking to match Elements to heroes, and while I was able to convince myself Littlepip made sense as magic for the strength of her telekinesis, I couldn't make myself believe that Steelhooves made a very good Honesty or Generosity. So he didn't fit my worldview. You may laugh at my prejudice, but that sort of meta-analysis has warned me of coming betrayals many times before. That's why I can't turn it off.
But also, part of it was that he didn't trust Littlepip or Velvet, so why should I trust him? And the biggest part, and the one that actually relates to the quote, is how he talks about ghouls. It's not hard to tell he's two centuries old; I think I pegged him as a ghoul by the time he said "if you remove my armor, I'll die." So the way he played that so close to the vest, and gave an air of being a bit anti-ghoul, really rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like a protagonist who keeps that sort of secret.
Of course, I did eventually accept him, but it took a long time. And what he did to Grim Star certainly didn't help.

Well, let’s jus’ say that the Steel Rangers ain’t exactly got a reputation as champions o’ the common pony.

You can say that again. And then say it a few more times, for good measure.
I wouldn't call Steelhooves' unwillingness to take more of a leadership role in the Steel Rangers his greatest flaw, but I would say it's his greatest sin. Somepony really needed to reform the Rangers a long time ago, and he should at least have tried.

I looked up at him, wide-eyed. He smiled at me. “Ah’ve seen yer heart, Li’lpip. Y’all genuinely want t’ help folk, an’ ya put yer own life at risk t’ do so, even when some of ‘em don’t deserve it. I ain’t gonna start questionin’ what I know ‘bout ya just cuz somepony who don’t know what he’s yappin’ ‘bout can get it twisted all up.”

And so what if you were a secret agent? It doesn't change the fact that you're doing good, nor the fact that Calamity would much rather be out here saving ponies than protecting caravans to a town that repulses him enough that he refuses to live there. And if he ended up there for so long before he met you, why would he expect to do any better in a second attempt at being self-guided?

And I was not going to be a jealous third wing.

Only because you're going to have a marefriend of your own, soon. Then you will have unreasonably large numbers of orgasms to distract you when you're in Tenpony, and memories and fantasies to distract you the rest of the time.

But a small flash of green in the sky above us distracted my gaze.

Balefire phoenix? I can't remember anymore when Pyrelight joins the party.
Actually, I was sure I had forgotten that name until I found myself typing it.

“Do what?” Calamity snickered. “Wander off? Break travel to explore random ruins? All the time.”

Just wait until she appears to start attempting suicide by curiosity. She'll find three completely different ways to try to get herself killed just using memory orbs.

Watcher: now there was somepony who deserved to be suspected as a covert ops spy pony.

. . . Sure, let's call that close enough.

“Not much,” Watcher said to my great sense of relief. “I mean, Rainbow Dash did throw two or three projects their way -- the Single Pony Project was one of theirs, for example -- but for the most part, they just lounged around and did nothing. After a few years, Luna ordered it crated up, and they began using the M.Aw HQ for storage.”

It really attests to the Ministry's secrecy that even after two centuries, Spike never learned that they did anything.

A crack of static replaced Watcher with the voice of Red Eye, who was in the middle of telling everyone that raiders, ghouls and hellhounds were bad.

Can't argue on the raiders. And one out of three . . . actually is totally an F.

Four Stars was an elevated train company which had once provided public transportation for the Manehattan metropolis.

I can't remember who first pointed out to me the significance of "Four Stars." I just know that, sadly, it was not me.
And no, I'm not taking the fact that I didn't know at this point that stars were important as a valid excuse. I had plenty of time to draw connections after finishing the story.

In conjunction with new safety and security protocols, all employees will be issued a standard military-class firearm. This firearm is to be worn at all times while on company property. Failure to do so, or failure to keep your firearm well-maintained and properly loaded, will be grounds for termination under employee uniform policy 13-B.

In the unlikely event of incursion onto Four Stars private property by government forces, all employees are required to defend Four Stars proprietary property and executive personnel. All employees are therefore required to attend at least one of the three Four-Star-Defense and Teamwork-Building weekend training programs this month. Failure to do so will be grounds for termination under employee attendance policy 6-F.

I wonder how many employees promptly quit? I assume only the top brass of the company knew they were working with the zebras, but when your company issues you a gun for use against government forces, you don't really need to know why they're worried to know that it's a good time to find a new job.
On the other hoof, they'd need some way to stop employees from running to the MoM and reporting that it would be a good idea to give Four Stars a close inspection. So perhaps they had some way to strongly incentivize their workers to stick around.

My mind searched for an appropriate level of profanity, but came up blank as a newborn’s flank.

I was always a fan of . . . let's see . . . I think it was "Luna stuff my cunt full of moonrocks and call me home!" I think that one's got a good amount of flair, and is nice and strong.

But I couldn’t help thinking how such grenades would also disrupt the more mundane technologies of most robots, including the one guarding this room. “Magical shotgun of dragonslaying in the dragon’s chamber, indeed.”

I mean, if you don't have weapons that can take down your own defenses, do you actually feel confident you can handle anything that gets through them?

The Four Stars Stable is guaranteed to keep you safely protected in the event of either catastrophe, and has food, water and medical supplies to outlast even a complete megaspell event -- nearly twelve whole weeks’ worth!

It's amazing how thoroughly their Stable design failed. Three months of food is pretty pitiful. But I suppose you can't expect the cheapest contractor to point out that your specifications are useless.

Also inside were several assault carbines of a peculiar and impressive design. One of them was scoped and fitted with a silencer. It had a custom wood-carved handle stained with stripes of white and black.

Zebra rifles are quite something, yes.

I do not sn... oh crap

Cover, blown.

I figured now was as good a time as any to ask, “SteelHooves, have you ever heard of someone named Flutterguy?”
SteelHooves whinnied. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I heard somepony say your voice sounded like Flutterguy.”
SteelHooves gave a little stomp. “Heard that before.”

Well that actually helped me think what he sounded like (alot). Thank you

3511178

Do not mock it!

“One of the wisest, kindest ponies I’ve met in this blasted hellscape is a ghoul-pony!” I spat at him. “Her name is Ditzy Doo, and she’s easily worth any three Steel Rangers put together. Not for fighting skills or fancy weapons, but for the quality of her character.” I stomped a forehoof hard enough to sprain it. “DJ Pon3 is right. And if you don’t get that, then you have no place traveling with us.”

Oh, shit just got serious.

Gleaming in the darkness, the eyes of at least a dozen zombie-ponies stared back at me. Then I did a double-take. Zombies, yes. But not ponies.

Two words: Oh........Fuck

3385636 Me, too. I couldn't even imagine a voice for him at all, before that.

..., proper etiquette for greeting our ruling zebra benefactors.

This made me laugh out loud.

Damage before RobocopSteelHooves:
15 caps
Damage after Steelhooves:
237 caps

<reads last line> Oh! That's what had them so freaked out here. Right...
And I'm still waiting for Littlepip to offer Little Macintosh to SteelHooves, or at least show him the gun. He let her see the memory, it's only fair. He misses her so much
So much adventure!

Now we are in the golden chapters, the mid game where there are so many places to explore and so much loot, story and lore to find! Loved the last chapter, loved this one. Now, I would have said I loved the chapters prior reading the last 2, but the last 2 have been so interesting with some many moments where I went "I love this story" instead of saying it at chapter end with a few occasions inbetween, that I had to create a new ranking system or downgrade existing ranks! I went with the downgrade, but it's a very strong "like" to the other chapters, it's just that these are superior in enjoyment now the story is rolling.

Wow, I have really grown to like LittlePip, I felt sorry for her being sick and alone. It's rare I feel like that for characters, I'm normally not invested enough or the weakness feels like a passing phase that, once over, it's done and everything is fine forever again. Not so here. It's strange but, I hope she gets a mare to call her own soon. Never thought I would generally feel compassion for a fictional talking unicorn lesbian on the internet, but I guess I'm here.

Now SteelHoof's doubts, this was a welcome part of the story that I loved to see, people calling out the insane luck that protagonists have in universe with logical reasoning. I hate how poor story writing taught me to turn off my brain to have to enjoy the story, so when I get knocked on the head with the "Calling out narrative convenience" stick I welcome the pain of realizing I have been an idiot. Doubly so when the pain includes a well thought out in universe theory that I thought was a little too convenient earlier in the story too... (I summed it up to "Equestria is a small world" then, which it is, but if it's still strange to people who live there, I must give it heed too.)

I saw some pictures before reading the story so I knew the party would include someone in Steel Ranger armour, and I didn't really welcome the long story to getting him into the party, but it was quick and he is interesting. I thought he would have been a boring brute or something yet the backstory behind him is as strong as the rest of them.

Finally, 4 Star.

Companies like Ironshod, Four Stars, Equestrian Robotics and even Stable-Tec.

The odd one out when first mentioned, I thought I missed a reference or something. Still, we were quick (and very lucky) to bump into the HQ and the company history minutes later. Heavily based on Mama Dolce and L.O.B. Enterprises from Fallout 3, with both being fronts for the enemy or involved with enemy contracts. Mama Dolce's might have been the more extreme of the two with active enemy troppers in the area, but L.O.B Enterprises is most similar to 4 stars, with the funny computer terminals, protection of firearms and robots, government investigation and basement bunker.

Zombies, yes. But not ponies.

Oh, and it would seem they too were not from the local area....

I'm going to start imagining the Ministry of Moral as Equestria's version of the Inquisition.

gobiel.com/sonsofruss/motiv/images/40kInquisition01.jpg

fc07.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2012/168/e/1/lord_inquisitor_poster_by_chaoschosenone-d53t1dt.jpg

What chapter 15 reminded me of.

That quip about bacon is SO true!

I think the wasteland is getting to her.

Well, it gets to everyone...

My mind started tormenting me with images of how they might be spending their time together now that I was effectively out of the picture.

Don't worry, they have better things to do now. Like, surviving.

Lonely, and…

Frustrated.

Honey, you're frustrated for at least a couple of chapters, at least judging by the amount of times you were staring at Velvet, Gawd, or Rarity's statue...

Now, instead of being a child in her eyes, I’d be vomitpony.

Could be worse... If she awoke earlier, you'd have to explain a couple of things...

the Single Pony Project

Dun dun DUN...

My mind searched for an appropriate level of profanity, but came up blank as a newborn’s flank.

Well, it's hard to top "Luna shitting moonrocks"...

15:40 <Retl> It just occured to me. The feverdreams in Chapter 15 of FoE
15:40 <Retl> Are those foreshadowing of the ending?
15:40 <Retl> Dead cats and being burned alive.

Neat!

Hey, Kkat. About half way through, when they're wandering through the fog, you state that 'seven 'o clock' is in front to the left. That is not correct. Seven is behind, slight left. I believe you are looking for 10 or 11...

That said, I am enthralled.

4965660

This was written back in the first (and early second) season, when all the clocks in Equestria were (strangely) eight-hour clocks. Even including the fake watch Rainbow Dash drew on herself. I noticed that and went with it.

images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120727025220/mlp/images/thumb/4/47/Ponyville_clocktower_S01E22.png/1000px-Ponyville_clocktower_S01E22.png

Luna shitting moon rocks!

oh kkat you make the weirdest sentences

Forty-two statuettes...
Does this mean the purpose of life is to collect pony toys?

4966282 Your attention to detail is astounding, Miss Kkat. I can't even begin to imagine how much thought was required to create this legendary work of fanfiction.

So... I find it odd that nobody's brought up that it's entirely possible that Littlepip actually was subliminally made into some kind of super warrior during life in the Stable. The only reason I say that it's probable is because doing a quick check of the Vaults in Fallout 3, namely what they have in them and the local surroundings, makes it clear that she was raised in the analogue for Valut 92, which had a lot of musicians (And that would be the kind of place that Sweetie Belle would go since she's the best musician Stable-Tech has.) And played music over the radio constantly, and everyone tuned in. This is further backed by the fact that outside of both was a Raider infested agricultural community.

For the people that don't have FO3, Vault 92 was set up to test if super soldiers could be trained through the use of subliminal training induced by music. This has been something I've been rolling around in my head for the last few days ever since I started reading this fanfiction... And it's good to finally have some approval of my ideas being right.

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Forty-two statuettes...
Does this mean the purpose of life is to collect pony toys?

hasbro: BUY ARE TOYS

2990712 The Element of Loyalty never left Rainbow Dash, she never forgot what Loyalty was; everything she was loyal to died or left.
Pinkie was lost in her addiction, Fluttershy DID betray Luna, she answered to Luna herself, and she gave the zebras the one thing they needed to "win" the war, which included killing Princess Luna. The Enclave was a collection of ponies trying to hold onto power, and Rainbow wanted nothing to do with it, they saw loyalty as obedience and called her a traitor. Equestria was destroyed, her friends locked away or dead, and the ones who could restore things had no plans in doing so. You can stay loyal to something through it's changes, but if it turns into something you want no part of, you did not leave it, it left you.
Note: They were not open about their loyalty. If you have loyalty, be open about it and let others judge you on it. They let the world think they were ponies minding their own business, when they were planning to murder everyone in Manehatten. A lie is a betrayal of trust, and they were liars.
2990743 There is Black and White in this world, there is Good and Evil. They are many grey areas, more than I am willingly to admit, but a lie is wrong, not matter the cause.
I doubt I will change your mind, and I have no intention of changing mine, I just wanted to throw my two cents in.

So, Fallout Equestria is a mixture of Fallout 3 and Fallout: New Vegas... Cool.

“Beautiful,” answered Calamity with a breath. “The red and gold matches the streaks in your mane and tail.” Then with a sheepish grin, “And I’ve never seen anything like it."

clearlycaneda.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/tumblr_ldjuqqbmgo1qbch4xo1_4001.jpg

I'm never going to see Littlepip with Calamity am I? We still have LittlepipxGawd.

"Which means nopony will mistake you for a raider or slaver and accidentally shoot you.”

Good for Calamity, bad for Littlepip, annoying for me.