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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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You know, when it got to the part in this chapter explaining hte spirits of the sky and sea, I started thinking, "Summon a whirlpool on the bastards or something!".
I completely forgot about that megaspell. Boy, that's some nasty business.
I'm not sure if this was a typo or Scotch misspeaking in Zebra.
I think you missed an endquote after "but you beat me to it."
I can just feel it. This story is going to be epic. I'm just not sure how yet. But Somber made a mare constantly trying to be good into a death wielding badass queen of drunken mayhem that is the most badass pony in all of the Fallout Equestria universe, I'm sure he can make Scotch into something just as epicly amazing too.
I'm dubious on the title. It's fine on its own, but unless paired titles like that (1: To Distant shores, 2: On Tempest Tossed Shores) are going to be an ongoing theme, it's pretty repetitive. ETA: Also, with the benefit of hindsight, the chapter gets them to tempest-tossed shores, but most of the chapter is on the open waves.
I like the double meaning there, what with her most notably working on the digesters/recyclers.
They like words that sound like that, I guess. Or "-loosh" is a word-part for some kind of slurry/liquid/paste or something.
Well, it's what she'd been missing back home, but gotta acknowledge being put on the spot makes it harder, even if it's what you've been looking for.
So, that's at least the second time Scotch has ended up traveling with a voyeur.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought so.
Heh, me too, after getting so used to everything being connected, etc. from PH.
Okay, so Scotch is looking like the impulsive do-gooder, Pythia taking on the practical minded side.
Useful application of Atoli characteristics.
Noooooo, why would they have one of those? It's not like they'd be really, really helpful all the time.
So still not used to being the focus of the attack/right in the middle of it all.
Whoa, where did she come from?
Damn narwhals, always causing commotions.
Her faith in him is touching, but I wouldn't count on him knowing that much about zebra naval stuff, especially if it might even be post-war.
Interesting idea (reminds me of the pegasus cities, actually), and I like that a floating city manages a dry dock.
Wow. Scotch is being really dumb with the stars thing. Really should have picked up on the hostility there better, took it to heart. Don't want to arouse that antagonism. And then even Pythia getting in on it, but at least that's more in sarcasm. The bit about the Atoli seems like it could be related to Pythia's soul stuff.
Huh. Super mundane, but I guess in their context it's scandalous.
Like this stuff from Majina, and how her tribe's deal is impacting her way of seeing things.
/zebra logic
Looks like Tradition's starting to work against them.
Ooh, I like that.
Dude, that only worked on Rampage. And maybe Lacunae. You can't count on destroying someone's brain working on just anyone.
. . . Yeah, see how far that gets you.
Why didn't I realize that Precious has Spike's coloration but Rarity's eye color before now? Coincidence? I think
notprobably!Are they going into Okambo?
Because we couldn't have something go right for them now, could we?
Well, at least she's learning it quickly, if not gently. And though I don't doubt she had plenty of hard times with Blackjack, it is true that she wasn't in the driver's seat there, and she did have a lot of people around who wanted her safe and could do a lot to make that happen. Also, no need to worry about the lower level stuff since most of the time they were a group with two Reapers.
Okay, she is growing up fast.
Okay, so it looks confirmed that Riptide's agenda with Scotch really is more than just not liking ponies, wanting an engineer, etc. And the fact she at least claims to know details about the Eye of the World suggests continued involvement even if they really escape her on land.
The whole political angle with Riptide is interesting, but some of those Tradition things which are protecting her now seem silly and arbitrary; I guess that comes with the territory in that the perspective we have is as much from the outside as the protagonists'. All the same, it does strike me as a little strange that apparently everyone is all about Tradition there (and not doing anything about the mutineer Lamprey), but weak with the passenger parts on the sea. Maybe it's about who and how people see you doing it. Anyway, the polygamy thing/family connection to Riptide has me wondering what Captain's husband's situation is; seems pretty important.
Majina's gushing over drama and how perfect things were for a story was fun. It's looking like sometimes Precious and Pythia are filling similar niches, in that they're breaking things up when others are bickering or getting distracted by things they shouldn't. (Oh, and it's already the second time a pony's simple suggestion has led the way forward for a zebra shaman/seer. Don't know if it's just outsider's perspective, but I hope it doesn't happen too often. This one seemed milder than the first, though, where Pearl, or at least Altar, really should have had an idea of how to talk to the small spirits.) On which note, wow was Scotch off base in proposing star-shamanism there; I would have thought her smart enough not to do that. Pythia jumping on didn't help, but she didn't seem serious; whether it was all tweaking Captian and the shamans or if it was in part to deflect attention from Scotch, it didn't seem to me that she was doing the same thing as Scotch. That said, the barb about the Atoli was probably going too far. In any case, I could see Pythia's unexpectedly forceful developing into a longer term plot or character arc.
But the big change already is in Scotch's outlook. Already regretting it, thinking about how bad Chapel wasn't. But she's handling it well, and you've got to expect that. It'll be very different than her last adventure, but she'll have more chance to grow into the person she wants to be. To be more like everyone she listed when thinking about what she isn't. Right now, she could use some of Glory's optimism and P-21's confidence; but as I said, at least at the moment, the contrast between thinking about what she'd left at home and then silently going on with poling the boat shows she's not as lacking those qualities as she might feel in her most discouraged points. And if she can keep going, she'll probably find that growing in her all the time.
Wheeeeew... what a chapter, hehehe... I'm in a pirate story writing mood now... thanks.
Nice job!
Chapter 2 Commentary
<Strength check failed.>
Getting shot at sucks, but Scotch also came up through the Blackjack School of Heroic Sacrifice.
Odds of any of them getting any credit whatsoever for their heroism?
*Six Million Bit Mare sound effects*
Ah, now that's something Scotch can fix!
<Repair check succeeded!>
Hmmm. Reef sails and call up a current?
It's almost like Riptide is tracking Abalone somehow. A limpet tracking device? A marked bullet? Or maybe something Riptide (Uh... Riptide's captain? They seem to use the name for both) gave to Abalone's captain (Edit: Okay, Mahealani) some time ago?
Tiller!
There we go.
Woah. That was rather more immediate than I'd expected.
...so maybe it's not so much "tracking Abalone" as "already within visual range"...
There is seriously no main character in this story I don't like.
Like you didn't know this was going to happen when you saw it the first time. :)
You know, if it wasn't for the AC series, I would know much less about sea chanties and the landmarks of Florence. It's a weirdly educational series.
Just like Fallen Towers back home!
She does kinda remind me of Sweetie Belle sometimes.
I'm not sure if that makes Pythia Babs or not...
Ah. Okay...
Given that she knows things she shouldn't know about, it makes one wonder if she sold her name to a Starkatteri or something...
Well, not doing so is a bit much to ask of a bunch of non-mariners. You might should have offered that advice before they left.
I wonder if ponies and zebras are different enough in profile to be told apart when you can't see whether they have stripes.
“At least she had one for a while!” Pythia shot back.
Ouch. I do like that these four do display a childlike lack of priorities, bickering while trying to run for their lives.
Weird. Hey, the gas mask should limit their visibility...
Ohh. Ghoul?
Fun chapter. Interesting to see the limits of Pythia's (and shamans') powers, and I guess I'm going to have to accept the existence of nature spirits as described until further notice. Still weird that ponykind never, you know, noticed this...
6727491 Now that you mention the title, yeah, it should probably just be "Tempest Tossed".
Also, I want to note that the star's name should be "Sadalsuud", not "Saladsuud". Also known as Beta Aquarii, its name (Sa'd al-Su'ud) means "luckiest of lucks". So the description as a lucky star is accurate to real-world (Arabic) astronomy/astrology, which is a little detail I appreciate.
I'm just gonna say it now: do not call on Algol. Like, ever.
6733284 I had actually assumed "Saladsuud" was a ponification of Sadalsuud (kind of like how "Pythia" might literally translate to something about rotting rather than "Serpent's Wisdom," or just plain python/serpent), but come to think of it that would make it the first case where that was done rather than taking Earth-names for stars.
6732902 Other than not liking it when Majina gets weepy, I'm with you on the main characters so far. Fortunately that usually is short-lived or not in focus.
I know what you mean with the ponies never figuring things out, but I just take that as a sort of informed/implicit part of the setting of FoE: almost nobody on either side could know much about the other. Price of admission, so to speak.
6733328 Well, Majina is weepy sometimes, Pythia gets bitchy, Precious at her worst is selfish and indifferent, and Scotch has little patience for inactivity or foreign cultures. I don't love any of them all the time, but that's appreciated as well.
As for spirits, I disagree in that the forms and rituals of appeasing spirits are cultural, but their existence, capabilities, and nature should be something ponies could investigate as well as any other natural force. Not understanding such a subtle but ubiquitous aspect of the world would be like developing advanced quantum physics without realizing that isotopes are a thing.
6733402 I know, and all in all these are positive things. It's just for whatever reason that aspect of her is something that affects me differently than the others. In Majina's case, the personal flaw I found more enjoyable was ditching her work of listening to everyone's tedious, boring, repetitive stories and bothering Scotch. Not a problem, just a personal taste thing.
Don't know how it will go, or if it'll be touched on at all, but until demonstrated otherwise I'll just keep assuming that ponies' magic is orthogonal to detecting and interacting with spirits. Kind of like how zebras might not be aware of the principles behind pegasus magic, for example, if they've never seen or heard about pegasi. Maybe even to the extent that to be aware of spirits directly, a pony would need to be near a zebra or an appropriate zebra artifact which would act as an interfacing medium: Boreas might just appear as a really bad storm to them. Or somehow they wouldn't recognize something like the air/storm elemental from the Battle of Hoofington if it hadn't been bound to a talisman. Or, of course, it could also be that the big, noticeable spirits that would give a physically recognizable effect just don't really show up except when summoned, and thus wouldn't be observed by a people not with that kind of alignment.
Where they not called bloatsprites in FO:E?
I read somewhere that the way to cross mudflats or swamps is on your belly like a snake. Sure you get dirty but you get across easily. Mud also conceals your scent from predators, blocks sun and insects and keeps you cool.
mud also makes good visual camoflauge
smell like mud and swamp and the raiders, predators wont even be able to tell that you are there
6738641 Bastard had many more hapless adventures as a wasteland hitpony. His pay from Cognitum was vaporized and he never got to collect from Blackjack, and the ponies he owed money to refused to accept 'saving the world' in lieu of the money he owed.
I appologise if this is creud but i fangssmed so hard i destroyed my house after hearing about this fic
Had a flight the other day and finally found the time to start on my reading backlog, and this was naturally the first priority. Having now caught up... Wow. I'm loving it so far, and looking forward to more. Project Horizons was such a fixture in my life for so long, reading it whenever I could find the time, that its absence was pretty jarring after it was finished. Even if this isn't as long or told on as grand a scale, I am thrilled to have more of your horse words, Somber. Thank you!
That was fucking awesome! Two chapters of seafaring adventures, life on a ship, and now I got to look forward to them trying to survive the equestrian version of the Everglades! I am so hyped right now!
(I've grown up around commercial fishing boats and have spent quite a few winters in the back country of the Everglades fishing as a kid. So, nostalgia!)
6738896 If the mud was was extremely silty and smooth you could cross it in you belly. But in a estuary the mud has small bits of rock, whole bits of rock (jagged rock with oysters and barnacles attached), broken shell, unbroken shell, still living things in the shell, crabs, shrimp, other crustaceans and creepy crawlies. It is not a pleasant substance to slather on yourself, and it smells after its dried a bit. Not terrible, but not something you would use as a cologne on a first date.
The bugs will be pretty bad in the swamp. Also it will be hot. A thick layer of swamp mud will keep you concealed from predators and raiders, keep bugs off, an keep you cool.
I wonder if a curse and some gold is worth maintaining Tradition, escaping immediate destruction at Riptide's hooves, and being able to truthfully claim you've cross a megaspell-induced whirlpool?
7099330 YES IT IS
Blackjack has the curse of not staying DEAD, like me (like my OC) immortality IS A BITCH, AND I KNEW I'F LIVED FOR 164836 AND 18 YEARS, its not fun to not stay dead win you die, my curse is not all the seam hers mine is A gift that whys givin to me, hers IS JUST THAR
finally time to read this
Ok, you're going with a CMC kind of dynamic (Dash , sorry ;) )
Scotch, kinda like Apple Bloom
Majina, more or less Sweetie Belle
Pythia is the least CMC like but I give her Scootaloo
and Precious is a pissed off Babs.
I know they aren't the same, but it's the dynamic that count. I think I'm gonna like this.^^
6726417 Best OST ever for best game ever. ;)
6727491
Most tradition things are silly and arbitrary.
Thank you, Captain Obvious.
Personally I would find that hilarious, but this is Somber, I doubt it'll be simple.
Oh, that's not going to end well.
*loads Chekov's bullet*
How is this surprising?
I think she got step #3 wrong. Unless she means the Orah will never be seen again ...
I know! Are you feeling ok? Do you need to go back and edit in another three or four thousand?
Lol. Don't you just love these characters? So dynamic.
"Oh we just sailed right through a megaspell! ...got any sahi left?"
Of course she would be thinking of a drink right after mortal peril into the eye of syclla. Cause why not?
But dang if Somber can't make one heck of a engaging action thriller.
I can just imagine that massive Riptide, plowing away at the water as if it were the greatest thing to grace the sea...
Yeah. Sounds pretty vain.
Can't wait to see it fall to a Folly. Not The Folly, I mean I want to see just what that ships guts looks like.
And now here is our first taste of Captain Scotch.
She doesn't even realize it yet, but that call right there was one of leadership.
I'm loving all this shaman and seer stuff. Hope we see more spirit summoning.
Huzzah, so glad to have another great foe story to read...or would it be fone? Or foz? Or maybe just foe:NE....whatever thanks for writing
Am I the only one who had this playing in their heads all chapter?
I have a feeling the zebra lands are gonna be on fire from more than just zebra spells by the time their done lol. So about the thing about it being impossible that ponies have never noticed spirits. I believe they have but they don’t give a shit because they can use magic and manipulate the world directly and don’t need outside forces to do so for them. So the time when ponies had shamans would have been long looong time ago before their race United. Even then their probably just not common knowledge because they just don’t really have a use for them.
Knowing that Somber once intended for Scotch to take up the mantle after Blackjack died in PH has me looking forward to her development.
I love how Pythia points out right away that "the big ponies are dead and gone, so we're on our own". Then drives it into Scotch Tape that she hoped to just go along for the ride.
But now Scotch is getting the opportunity she always wanted. To be taken seriously, but is reluctant to act on it. She's still young despite her experiences.
I imagine the megaspell being some kind of giant gyroscope of death, like a garbage disposal in a sink. It is a terrifying thought that what if the Megaspell Blackjack detonated never stopped like the others?
My theory is there's at least two types of megaspells. Some are one-offs that are not unlike Balefire bombs. Others are channeled through the targeting talisman. And that's probably why they haven't stopped. I can imagine several Megaspell chambers full of unicorn ghouls like the ones in PH. Forever casting, charging, and channeling the power of their weapons. Never realizing the war has been over for centuries.
Here I was reading this naval battle, watching our heroes struggle, overcoming the odds and hoping the crew of the Abalone wouldn’t end up killed to the last Zebra just so Scotch Tape git her first dose of survivors guilty. And it was a great chapter. I especially loved the part when Scotch draw the attention of the gunner away from the shaman. It was made even better by the fact that Scotch isn’t a badass warrior like Blackjack but just a scared filly.
But a small, part of my brain couldn’t help but think: “Why didn’t submarine crew use a rocket launcher instead of an MG?” I mean rocket launchers do exist in Fallout Equestrian, do they? And a Pirate Queen who got hold of at least two submarines should also have access to military grad weapons. One rocket to the bug of the Abalone and her little Scotch Tape problem would’ve been solved immediately.
I really hope this wasn’t the last time we’ve seen the Abalone or its crew. Mahealani is both a badass and honorable. And I want to see what are the consequences of her being “cursed”. I’m expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.
Our saviors, everyone.
So either Zebra's designed Submarines that had to surface in order to attack or torpedos are just the one piece of wartime technology that doesn't exist anymore.
First west should be east
Forgot that second quotation mark, Scotch just said "Scotch managed a grin as the dragonpony eyed her skeptically"
I actually listened to randy dandy oh while reading that part, made for a nice immersive affect.