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Changeling
Hey Somber. I am curious to know whether or not you made that title art yourself. And if so, how long did it take you to draw it? How long did you practice?
If it wasn't the case then who did you buy the art from? How much does average art cost?
6818501 I didn't. A very nice Russian artist made it the second he heard I needed some cover art.
Cool
YsmirDragon
Sounds like them, but I think Somber probably has bigger plans for them or he may not. Never could predict what he planned, great chapter man and yes I did enjoy the Orah.
On another note if you are or have written anything outside the field of fimfiction, where would I find it, I'm curious thats all.
Fantastic chapter! I really liked the Orah. You are really starting to paint a wonderful picture of what the Zebra tribes are like keep it up.
Also, I wonder what the Carnili (sp?) are like...
Okay, here we go!
Well, then a stable pony shouldn't feel too out of place. And maybe Whisper could stop by for a vacation. :D
Oh, but it would be so wonderful if some Orah were listening just then.
Like the concern for her friends even through injury and PTSD, but I wonder if Majina's tried to use Mr. Sleepytime on a scaled creature before. It's not much, but does seem like something they could try besides just ineffectually paddling.
It's interesting to think of where FoE in general would be without opportunistically dropping things on enemies (or having things dropped on you).
Guess P-21 was a combination of worse initial injury, partial healing, and neither he nor Blackjack having sufficient medical knowledge.
Heh. Guess, in a way, Pythia lucked out on the ship. Presuming, of course, she's not still stuck in the future/wrong present. And this isn't just Scotch being pissy.
Surprise! Pythia has better instincts than early-PH Blackjack.
I expected better of you, Majina.
Let's talk about the benefits of opiate abuse!
Ah, someone actually not completely incompetent at setting up computer security. They do exist!
Heh. Also, useful. Though still a liability in a lot of situations.
Seeing it from the outside rather than the perspective of the one wasting their time doing that really gives it a different flavor.
It's interesting to see a more direct sense of what Scotch's metal/machine phobia is.
Don't know if it's just because it was filtered through her, but if that were the impression I got from something, I'd probably be freaked out, too.
Ah, the benefit of not having witnessed him murder a bunch of defenseless zebras, and trying to kill Majina and her mom, too.
I have to wonder if there isn't some projection going on there or something, because as much as Blackjack was interested in getting around, it wasn't that pronounced, especially in terms of actually taking action or saying things. There's probably a degree of response to the whole "champion in bed" thing going on, with maybe some internalization of Glory's strong reaction to it. If nothing else, probably an exaggeration of the memory to be larger than life, like Blackjack was in some other respects.
Come to think of it, that really does seem in conflict with what I understood of most of the zebra nation, which was more focused on a harder, more complete battle against the monsters of their land, with it even defining why they so needed Equestrian gems for talismans and weapons. So that was probably a sore point even before the war.
It feels like there's a lot mixed together with this. The practical side is there, and certainly it's good she's learning enough to play it safe. But it must hurt her pride to do so, even (or especially) if her general recent feelings of uselessness would make her feel more dependent, more like a child.
Even given the last chapter of PH, that's pretty disturbing. I figure best case scenario is that she's looking at a kind of Luke-on-Dagobah-scary-cave situation, set up by Granny.
I love that description of his voice.
For all that here there's mainly the negative or crazy connotation, there's also a better one: doesn't Scotch have a bit of Blackjack's strength and determination and care for her friends; hasn't she shown it? Given how much the Dealer's worked by indirection and double meaning, wouldn't be shocked if he meant some undertones of that as well.
I feel like that underscores the point a bit.
Given the story so far, how sure can you be that they weren't?
Hard to say if Granny is being serious or not. In any case, Scotch didn't really react well there.
This time it seems like Granny might be dismissing things too fast, what with the radiation being magical in nature and confirmed to have effects that spirits pick up on, even if they aren't specific to them.
On the one hand, it's not hard to see why anyone from Blackjack's party would be ready to be done with curses. On the other, it seems pretty plausible that she actually was cursed, doesn't it?
And there, I have to say, we have a refreshing different take on what it means to be cursed.
Her own issues may have been helpful for once, but the perceptiveness and empathy are good in any case. I could see determining when to apply skepticism and when to take everything her zebra hosts say at face value being an ongoing challenge going forward. They clearly know more than she does a lot of the time, but we've also seen that on occasion she's got things to add.
And now this has me thinking about just what Scotch's place in everything might be. Because that's a pretty specific message to take.
Feeling getting stronger.
"I make mistakes from time to time." . . . Sorry.
Oh, also looks like in Arion we might have our first male shaman, at least with much direct focus.
Okay, between not being detectable by the PipBuck and this (for something that size, a frog can't be much in terms of a practical food source) I'm guessing this is a spirit, or some intermediate state.
Seems like a natural reaction. And it lightened things up a bit after a long stretch of drama.
Ya know, little stuff.
She was in Tom's mind conference, right? But I guess it's reasonable for her to be surprised that it was something people so far away knew about and were so concerned over, especially since she might reasonably think the zebras of 200 years ago wouldn't know about the life creation/drain tipping point caused by the war.
That's really cute. The more so from playing up the contrast between him and Scotch.
None of this is fishy at all.
This just makes me so happy.
Was sowing discord one of the Starkatteris' things? Because she seems like a natural.
Hey, after all the time with Lacunae, and the other stuff, she should be used to that sort of thing. :D
See, Spike was totally wrong to be worried about zombie ponies. He should have been worried about zombie zebras.
Didn't really think that through, huh?
Creepy.
***
So yeah, one of the impressions I'm getting from the chapter is that Scotch might be some kind of Kwisatz-Haderach figure. A pony who, for some reason obviously not related to a millenia-long breeding program (though she did come from a thoroughly female-dominated society . . . ), is able to interact with spirits kind of like a zebra shaman. And possibly cross-tribe, but of course so far only with the Orahs' swamp spirits. Maybe not that strong, but if nothing else she seems to have an instinct for understanding them (by this metric, hitting the Atolis' sea spirits a bit, too). And it could be quite pronounced indeed, if the unprecedented action from Ol' Cottonmouth is an early indication of a general trend.
Arion was cute, and he and Scotch were cute together. Also "Stinkbutt McHugegun" made a nice contrast with Scotch's whole 99-precociousness on the sexual front, and general growing up too fast from her general history. In some respects, she is still a kid, and it's nice for that to show through in her actions and narration (which was a strong point in the first cutaway to Team Captured by Slavers, especially with Majina and Precious, but also with Pythia, if a bit mixed as you'd expect in her case). I liked seeing a bit of her machine-PTSD from her perspective, and sucky as it is for her it feels natural that if ripping the memories out didn't fix it, waiting a year and a half wouldn't get her over the experience entirely, either.
The Orahs' stance on the war in particular was interesting, though of course very convenient for Scotch. With it seeming like the Carnilia are up next, and them having got in the war pretty early on, that could be more of a challenge. Plus side, Scotch might be more accepting of the sexual aspects of their culture (especially where children are concerend) than, say, Goldenblood's mom or the Captain of the Abalone (or was it Sky Altar?). Of course, if there was some aspect that threw her for a loop, that could be a fun reversal of expectations. Anyway, where the Orah were concerned, I don't trust Kyros one bit. And I think we saw our first male shaman. But the aspect of them that probably stood out most to me was Granny's explanation for why the machine shop and its contents were cursed. It was very different than the rest of the times we've heard about zebra curses, but is a natural outgrowth of the Orahs' way of life. Struck me as taking the point too far, but I get where her feelings were coming from.
Lastly, okay. Friends. Not much new from Majina, but I like the whole freaking out about people making up nasty monsters. It's nice Precious is starting to get more to do, and she's working all right as the hothead so far. And she works really well off of the other girls; not only the zebras, but the reality check to Scotch was a big help since mopey self-doubt is one of Blackjack's traits I'll bet they'd all be happy if she didn't exhibit. I hope we'll start seeing more rules or patterns where Pythia's future sight is concerned, because even as limited as it seems and counterproductive as it is in some circumstances, it's a really strong advantage in others. So a feel for how/when it works would be helpful in the long run for it not to feel either arbitrary or simply overpowering. (On the latter, the limitations in what they can actually do based on what she sees do help.)
Chapter 3 Commentary
I'm loving the chapter titles so far.
Granted, she didn't have one of the stables that had its own greenhouse.
Literal mud pony.
God I hope that was just a gator. (As opposed to, you know, a dianoga or something.)
*facepalm* I admit, I was kinda hoping for something like Avatar's swampbenders over the whole 'Deliverance' angle.
"Oh yeah, inbred! That's what pretty much all us vault ponies are on the verge of."
...okay, that's fair.
That was a surprise, but I admit she kinda deserved it. Keep your eye on the EFS, kid.
...but no one came.
Her still having that reflex kinda hurt... plus, I guess I hadn't realized that, as far as she knows, everyone she traveled with is gone now. With the exception of Boo, I suppose, but... Boo.
So it is a radigator! (Radodile?) This doubles up on Majina's question. Where is this radiation coming from? The train had a boiler, so it probably didn't run on a reactor, and it was hauling lumber. An old launch site with leaky bombs, maybe?
I stand by my previous statement of hoping it was "just" a gator. It could have been much, much worse.
Earth pony power!
P.S. You now have the attention of the Orah.
Hmm. Interesting downside that makes it not a direct analog to Equestria's potions. I assume you'd still be able to re-break it and heal it in the right position, though, just like if the bone set wrong during natural healing.
Uhhh. Does this happen often? Or is it something she's just picked up?
Did... did Precious just pick up on Scotch's thoughts and try to comfort her? I may not have given the dragonfilly enough credit.
...or it might have been dumb luck. Either way, it's kinda good to see the others feeling equally overwhelmed.
On the up side, Riptide must have moved on by now.
To be fair, back in Equestria (or Fallout 3) this sort of thing wasn't necessarily in vain.
One of these things is not like the others...
Or maybe she hasn't moved on. Geez, either she's absolutely desperate or the payout for Scotch is enormous... which kinda brings us back to the question of who in Zebrinica even knows who she is!
Hmmm. Are the dangling doohickies the Orah way of saying, "Radiation Danger - Keep Out"?
Interesting. In my experience, wartime restricted areas are good scavenging, but that may only be for wasteland badasses who can disassemble a few guard robots with no sweat.
Hehe. Scotch is on the same page.
Yyyeah, about that...
Wait, that means they didn't just abandon the area, something killed them at their posts...
Uh oh.
Oh my. Haven't heard from them in a while... Though that probably means pony technology, which means it may be a good thing they have a pony technician with them. And the chance of finding healing potions just went up.
Aha. Pony tech indeed.
I want to hug Scotch so much right now.
Eff yeah. So: save those for crippled limbs.
*facepalm* Please leave the technology to the technician.
Uh oh again. To be fair, there are a LOT fewer combinations of rotating glyphs than an arbitrarily long string of letters. And at least in the original FoE, Pip had a StableTec maintenance access tool that allowed her to hack in a way that wasn't available to just anyone. But I think nobody really remembers that.
Of course, being a maintenance pony, Scotch probably ought to have one of those too.
Hah! That was a clever bit of dialogue, there.
#hackcausality
No, just not a language she can read. Or one with specific, definite meanings to words. Which kinda does make it not a language, exactly...
I feel like this is probably crossing over two references, but I'm not sure which ones.
Tell me that's not a Portal turret.
Oh crap. For all that her freezing up at a time like this is bad, I'm sort of glad this is still coming up, from a character perspective.
Oh god, it is a Portal turret.
Zencori practice Bagua Zhang?
My thoughts exactly.
Maybe that'll unlock all the doors to the other shells?
Yay? Kind of a toss-up between a reasonably-friendly Orah or Riptide's crew.
Oooookay, that's creepier than expected. See, this is what I was expecting over the whole "Deliverance" schtick. I wonder if that story was spread by some Zencori with a grudge.
I get the feeling that Orah who talk a lot don't live to pass on their genes.
Welp, time for Majina to start telling a new story about them...
Okay, so they weren't lying about the banjos...
Oh, shit. Please please please tell me that he's just named after the guy from the story.
...we're not that lucky, are we.
Little ditty 'bout Orion an' Diane
Two Zebra kids growin' up in the swampland...
There is something deeply ironic about yelling "sicarius" in a thick deepwoods drawl.
I guess if Orion really is centuries old, this is probably more typical of Orah... and the Deliverance version gets another boost.
...Granny's a swamp witch, isn't she.
Okay, if Orion has a living brother, that must mean he's merely named after the Orion of legend. Yeesh.
Come to think of it, if the legendary Orion -- a mighty hunter -- became a pariah for his crimes, that would make him "unwanted", wouldn't it? Was he, in fact, the founder of the Orah tribe?
Huh. Wow. That's. Huh.
Diane is kind of reminding me of Inara, in a way. A calmer, more well-spoken ambassador for the tribe.
Good thing Scotch isn't Littlepip, too.
What the fuh--?! Does Granny live in the dark side cave from the Empire Strikes Back?!
So I guess she does.
Okay, maybe she is a little bit Littlepip.
Hmm. Implied insult aside, that suggests that Scotch is young and malleable enough to learn Zebra ways better than most ponies ever could. The way Goldenblood did. Maybe even pick up some shamanism?
Huh, I just realized these chapters haven't had game stats at the end. And I haven't missed them.
Pardon me, but "sick" doesn't tell you how to cure it. "Radioactive" does.
Well then. Him and Riptide would probably get along great.
Or possibly already do.
Does the world have a spirit that has an eye?
Huh. Well, well, well... maybe start learning shamanism sooner rather than later.
It occurs to me that another part of the answer might be that with those tools, you can't make anything. Can you make a thousand-year old tree? A child? A friendship?
I'm kinda starting to wonder if Scotch got some, uh, fringe-effect Blackjack on her, so to speak. I mean, considering that BJ was the focus of some heavy-duty spirit magic pretty much ever since Star Point.
Speculation time!
Blackjack dreamed of the Dealer before Echo "woke up" and spoke with him after Echo's death. Now Scotch is seeing him, and Echo and EC-1101 are long gone. I'm really becoming convinced that the Dealer isn't an illusion or hallucination at all -- when he told BJ he's the Wasteland, he wasn't being grandiose or metaphorical. He is quite literally the Spirit of the Wasteland in the same way Boreas is the Spirit of the North Wind. A great spirit of decay or something, I suppose, that existed before the War and perhaps nurtured the conflict into a global war with weapons capable of destroying everything, and grew powerful gorging on the destruction.
I suspect that either Echo subconsciously tapped into something real when he designed Smilin' Jack, or -- since we know that great spirits can "like" things, such as how Boreas likes sinking ships -- this spirit liked Echo's depiction and took on that appearance, complete with the hat and cloak. I will note that Smilin' Jack was withered like Echo's eventual appearance, not totally skeletal like his original look, so the spirit may have made some modifications of its own (or Echo didn't quite depict it perfectly).
Either way, it means that Scotch has the personal attention of a big-league spirit of decay.
Shit.
Aside: If this is true, the Dealer reminds me of Nyarlathotep from the Lovecraft mythos, in that most great spirits are kind of... well, not 'stupid', but 'other'. Their interests and desires are inexplicable, if we can comprehend them at all. But the Dealer is horribly good at interacting with ponies. He understands psychology well enough to hold a conversation, taunt or terrify, even dispense what sounds like helpful advice. I wonder how many others have privately harbored this specific brand of "crazy" over the years...
Huh. Wow. Guess that part of the story hadn't made it across yet.
Change is the only constant, Granny. Even your swamp that "just is" was once a sea, then a plain.
Whisper would add, "Oh, boo-hoo, your swamp might not be exactly the same as it was yesterday. Try clearing the sky for the first time in two centuries and blowing up almost everyone you know."
Tell me that's not a warped pronunciation of "loup garou".
I told you not to tell me that.
Pfffthahaha! Welcome to 99, kid. They're basically the pony version of Carnilia.
Okay, immediately suspicious that Kyros is the rougarou... but also suspicious that Diane saw Theron get hit because she fired the shot. That would make sense, with Orion taking the metaphorical bullet for her, but that still leaves Kyron's testimony as a contradiction. Everyone's testimony would work if Theron himself was the rougarou, but if that were the case, he should have regenerated from a chest wound.
Why do I suddenly hear Phoenix Wright music?
If we assume that Orion is telling the truth when he says he fired at the rougarou, that means Theron's own gun is the murder weapon. And someone has hidden it for some reason.
Let's see. Suppose Orion really killed Theron. Pretty obvious as crimes go, since there were only two guns in play, and he would have to know that shooting Theron would not result in him getting the girl.
Suppose Kyros killed Theron. It would make sense for him to eliminate both of the tribe's top hunters with one shot, especially if they were also political rivals against his plan of going raider. His testimony is the only damning evidence, but how would he have gotten Theron's gun?
Suppose Diane killed Theron. It would make a certain amount of sense to eliminate the barrier to her preferred mate, but knowing her preference and reason for going on the hunt, Theron would not have willingly given her his gun. Orion might have, and then took the metaphorical bullet for the murder, but this also leaves Kyros as a liar.
If we assume the rougarou can take on the appearance of specific individuals, it gets much more complicated. Either Kyros saw the rougarou kill Theron, Kyros is dead and replaced, or Kyros saw Orion shoot the disguised rougarou, who survived and somehow saw to it that Theron ended up with the same wound.
Hmmm. Not enough information to work it out yet.
Sometimes I can't tell whether Majina really is like this or just puts on to keep everyone's spirits up.
...did Somber just take a shot at certain critics?
Hand?! How many things in Equus do we know that have hands?
I suppose it could be an ahuizotl...
Ah. I see.
They're good.
So... something with scales and hands. I guess they could be adolescent dragons, but I'd think that would be described as a "claw" rather than a "hand"...
No matter what, always let the wizard get a full night's rest.
And here I thought it was Diane's tail. Or Arion's...
Now, if you'll excuse me for a moment... Gyaaaah jibbly jibbly jibbly jibbly jibbly!
JIBBLY JIBBLY JIBBLY JIBBLY JIBBLY
Oh... ohhhhhhhhhh.
Ho
Lee
Shit.
Uh. Did it just eat that frog's spirit?
At first I thought Ol' Cottonmouth was a spirit, then I thought it was a regular snake (well... you know, biological) but now I'm back to spirit again...
pinkie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4878-d99.gif
Huh... that's odd. So, the wings are part of them, not magical extensions? Uh... giant... breezies? Flutterponies?
If they use Utter Flutter, I might puke. Fair warning.
...'kay, that's different...
WHAT. I just... WHAT.
Bwahaha... dragon teeth! I love this. It's like an entire party of characters with the perfect tools for weird corner cases but not the usual straightforward problems.
Next stop, Carnilia!
Naturally. I tell you, these guys just pegged the weirdometer. And it was already calibrated for animated slurry-beasts!
Well, I for one really enjoyed this chapter. So much weird stuff to speculate about, and some intriguing bits about Scotch herself. I find myself going back over FoE in my mind and trying to remember if there were ever any hints of Scotch being a latent shaman in there.
6821556
She's got friends on the other side...
I love the Orah tribe and the story behind it. That was great.
This whole story is great so far.
I noticed a couple typos:
Wow. This was a really impressive chapter. I love how much we are learning about the different shaman and tribes. I feel like I missed something about how granny reanimated Theron. It had seemed like all of the bodies that Scotch had seen were just a vision or hallucination, but then Theron walks out... So many super interesting things going on in this chapter with Zebra magic.
6828191
"Rummage sale" is correct. Also known as a yard sale, garage sale, tag sale, moving sale, jumble sale... whatever the local word is for a private citizen selling items they don't want anymore. Scotch is using it as a metaphor.
6825266
Yeah. She is a real pony now, and I could see her thinking that helping out/going with Scotch would be a good thing to do. But even if asked, it's not a slam dunk, and from a balance perspective, having Boo would be a game breaker.
Well, I think Blackjack's talked to rocks . . . and not just definitely alive-ish space rocks. On which note, sounds like the minotaurs might have some similar things to the zebra going on on the spiritual front.
Yeah, I think she might have repressed some memories here . . . or the adults around her decided that wasn't the time to be completely forthright.
Well, with English at any rate most words have multiple sometimes ambiguous meanings, and when combined with others nearby can mean things different from any of their dictionary definitions individually. So it's not that different . . .
It needn't even be that, since Orion is known as a constellation in Equestria. Could be the two zebras share a namesake.
I don't know about other stories, but PH was light on them for a while at the end, with either just Maximum Level Reached or something like Error. Loading . . . and sometimes a quest perk, and then no footnote at all starting in 69. So it's not a new development. That said, I'm pretty okay with dropping some of the FoE non-diagetic trappings. No chapter opening quote, too.
Wasn't he also addicted to painkillers?
Wouldn't have been allowed on the ship if you did.
I'm familiar with this company.
Orah are my favorite Zebra tribe so far. Mostly because they aren't incredibly confusing (as far as zebras go) or total jerks.
We just killed Mecha Cthulu Satan. No big deal, right?
Ah man, I'm glad I remembered to check on this again. This adventure style is really enjoyable.
Ok, I'm rereading Project Horizons, and there is something that bothers me... in PH chapter 37 or so, Precious is Dragon/Unicorn hybrid.
"Carefully, I fished out an amethyst and extended the purple gem towards Precious. She looked at it skeptically, her horn glowed, and the purple filly floated it to her."
In here, Precious looked like she is Dragon/Earth Pony hybrid, or at least I have that... wait, searching for a word... impression.
Am I right, that she changed her race by mistake, or I just reading Homelands wrong?
Chyort another?!!! buck I must catch up on da times....
6890243 Erm... damn. Cause I forgot.
I had way too many unicorns in that story...
6896693
Ah... well... sorry for finding this out? I'm really sorry, because I really like your writing. Well, rereading PH for the 4th time means something, right? :)
Well, I hate to ask this, but... wil you repair this? If I remember corretcly, Precious as half Unicorn appears only in that chapter, so it will be easy to rewrite this little fragment. Or ask me in two months, if I had found more. ;)
I don't know if i want to read this or not PH was great ( personally the ending was a bit depressing ) but to see scotch continue is just to much I don't want to be rude but it just seems like your milking it. PH was great I only spent 2 weeks reading all the way to chapter 64 and that is a goddessed dammed feat if i do say so myself even tho i regret it immensely.
PS: if you continue this when you reach about 15-20 chapters i will be compelled to read it anyways
PH was totally fucking awesome btw
You and your chapters... they hurt... in a good way.
I AM BACK SOMBER! MUHAHAHAHAHA! HERE TA SPAM YA!
Amazing chapter, and i can't help but wonder... Point Lookout?
NNIce work on this!
HEHEHE!
I'm always sad when the characters leave some place behind. Frequently in FoE stories it seems that the main character visiting a place and benefiting from it is like some kind of curse of doom on such a place..
It seemslike the Atoli hunt and eat all kinds of sea creatures what do they have against the Orah
I'm not sure if anyone. Has spotted this or said anything about it, but there was a paragraph where Scotch was running from the robots your wrote: Then she barked her head on the underside of the radiator and yet out a hiss of pain, sitting down hard and clutching her throbbing skull.
If someone already mentioned this then ignore my comment.
>This time… “You three should some and see this.”
Should this say "You three should *come* and see this."
Also i'm glad I had the discipline to wait half a year to start reading this. Now I don't have to end the night on a cliff hanger!
Great to see Dealer make a return.
I'm loving this! It's like the cutie mark crusaders were dropped behind enemy lines into Nazi-occupied Cajun country!
I got so hyped when The Dealer appeared to Scotch.
*where
*eyebrow raise*
I like her already.
Does it echo?
*chile, I think, given the rest of her conversation.
I really like her.
Scotch, you disappoint me.
Pre-Celestia mythology? Or did ol' Sunbutt get herself lost in the swamp?
Er ... if what BJ went through wasn't enough, I'm really worried.
Something missed the editing part in the second half of this sentence.
Man, I was just thinking the same thing.
Somepony needs to visit TvTropes.
o.O
She has to have some way to take after BJ.
Not even if they bit them off someone?
Well hot diggity, that guy is still around!
...so if it bumps into a girl, it fucks her.
While if it bumps into a boy, it eats his balls.
What a charming creature.
Wake up call! Rise and shine, Scotch, its another wonderful day in the Zebrinica wasteland!
Well that didn't got according to plan.
For some reason these things remind me of post-apocalyptic changelings...
I can just imagine some poor mare getting raped by a rougarou...I wonder if her feelings would clash with each other?
On one hoof. Giant evil predator!
On the other, sex.
I believe I am a little late to the party but no matter, does no one remember the importantence of Four Stars? They had some major relations to the plot (story plot, bad Shade.) In PH?
I was a bit skeptical about this story at first, but I'm really liking it so far. Getting more information on the zebra tribes is great.
"Row faster! I hear banjos!"
So the shapeshifter probably killed and replaced someone. I love the Orah it will be good to have friendly faces they can come back to and granny was cool.
Playing around with switch in an abandoned factory and then almost getting killed by the security system. Our saviors, everyone. No seriously guys, stop doing the villains job for her and get yourself killed.
Compared to what I’ve seen and heard about Project Horizons, this Sequel is a lot more lighthearted. Of course, it’s only the third chapter so things can change.
Now we’ve met the second tribe, the Orah. I like them a lot because they don’t go around blaming ponies for things their long death ancestors did hundreds of years ago while blatantly ignoring what their ancestors did to the ponies. Just saying, but maybe the reason that sun gun was destroying your city had something to do with a certain thing called balefire bombs.
The Orah’s stick is being Caju zebras who wanted to be left alone instead of joining the war. And of course, that’s enough for the other Zebras to vilify them in their hillbilly horror stories. If there was a Zebra version of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre you can bet they would be the villains. At least until the fourth movie, where it would be revealed they are just the pawns of an evillllllll Starkatteri.
I’m a bit disappointed that the whole story about Diane, Kyros, Orion and Theron went nowhere. It felt like this was set-up to be some sort of side-quest/story. But now the group has left the swamp, leaving it unresolved. Maybe it’s going to play a role in a future chapter?
The scene with slave hunters was pretty funny. Scorch Tape really should’ve come up with a better play than jumping straight into the slavers arms, hoping that they would pretty her from Lamprey.
And the Dealer now has business with Scotch, too. Seems like he really enjoys bothering fillies who hang around with Blackjack.
Also, healing potions are amazing. Broken leg? Take a sip and you’re fine. Punctured lung? No big deal. Bullet wounds? You’ll be fine. I wish we had stuff like that in real life.
Precious has a weird idea of what being useless means. She removed 4 Limpet mines from the hull, changed the course of the ship by brute forcing the rudder, avoiding the foretold guaranteed deaths of all four of our heros and risk of the lives of everyone on board and she saved Scotch's life by pinning her to the deck as wave after wave hit the deck and threatened to wash her overboard!
Have I missed any instances of "uselessness" here?
The Orah are indeed an interesting tribe.
I really like Diane and Orion.
I also like The Captain, Sky and Pearl. Even Riptide seems like an intriguing villain.
But then I've always loved your Zebra characters as much as your ponies.
Just imagine that all your great zebra lore is based off of one canon Zecora and the almost not mentioned zebras in Kkat's story. All the tribes with their specialities, starkatteri the most. And so much more. That is why I love reding mlp fics, there is so much freedom for writers in terms of worldbuilding. At fist, I got into reading by in how many ways people wrote about changelings, their feeding, and society structure
I love the zebra lore so much ;-; The Orah were super neat! I quite like them ^.^
i swear, one day, ONE DAY, i will write a fic where the zebras are portrayed like the chinese, as in the game
Finally got back into reading this.
I have to say, it's rare for me to care about worldbuilding past the plot-relevant stuff, but this story's got me hooked. Every time I learn about a new tribe, I'm genuinely interested. Hell, it's even rarer for a story to make me go "damn, I wish I could write like that" when it comes to worldbuilding, but this one did. Grats.
I also liked the fact that Scotch's presence didn't end up solving Diane and Orion's problems. It's all too common for a story's protagonist to stumble into a place, and to somehow end up the key to solving whatever problem people were having. Not doing that makes the world feel bigger, like it doesn't just exist for the protagonist's sake, and I'm here for that.
At some point, I checked Zecora's stripes to see if she matched the Orahs', and I was surprised to see she doesn't. But I'm assuming that's why Diane exists in the state she does, to retcon Zecora's tribe. Or not, maybe I got things mixed up. Don't remember if Zecora's tribe was ever mentioned in PH.
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Granted, it has been a while since I read PH, but I don't recall them ever mentioning Zecora's tribe.
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Glad it's not just me.
Why did it happen to be written "Carnilian" instead of "Carnilia"?