Woo! It's here! Yes, yes, yes, yes!

i'm going to asume based on the cover this takes place during the last act of original FoE

I made a account just now to express how much I enjoy this story and this chapter. I should've made an account earlier to give you a well deserved thumbs up.

The climax had me on the edge of my seat! I usually don't question the safety of the main character in stories, but here? I felt my chest tighten with anticipation, lord knows I was getting hyped to read the resolution or outcome. You did a awesome job and so did you're editors! Thank you.

Sincerely,

A adoring fan.

Um, Angel? Pinkie cut in. As I looked at her in surprise - and annoyance at being interrupted - I noticed that the apparition was pointing at the saloon door.

whoops! it's been a while, so i forgot the protagonist is named Angel, so i was thought she was talking to an apparition of Angel Bunny!

"Ya knew where they were hidin’ all this time?!"
I'm surprised Apple Core jumped to that conclusion, since Angel's exclamation seems to pretty clearly indicate that she didn't know (or was trying to look that way, at least). I'm not really sure how to explain it, actually, even given Apple Core entering hearing range at an unknown time. If you don't mind, would you please explain what's going on here? It's bothering me, though fortunately I seem to be doing alright with assuming a solution exists and moving on, rather than getting stuck.
(Regarding Angel's hopes on Black Widow giving her a chance to explain, there I'm guessing it's just about knowing information that might be useful, combined with concern that Black Widow would think she was putting on an act.)
...Argh, really bothering me, this, though. What am I not seeing?
Okay, right, moving on, moving on...
And sorry about this.
(Well, at least Angel doesn't know for sure what's going on in Apple Core's head either, and it's her point of view. So if I don't understand, that's alright on that front and shouldn't impact my processing of the viewpoint too much. Okay, good, glad I thought of/through this! Still wondering what is going on there, but now feeling less of a need to know, and having an easier time moving on. :))
(And maybe it was just a wording issue or something, me reading Apple Core too literally, etc. [shrugs]
Anyway!)

"turning on the broadcaster and tuning in to DJ Pon3’s frequency"
"turning on the radio and tuning in to DJ Pon3’s frequency"?
It's been a while, but the broadcast is for transmitting and, at least on some models of PipBuck, an expansion module, right? Though I don't recall whether Angel has one or not.

"They were zebras defectors"
"They were zebra defectors"?

"but I found her earlier sentence, in which she was wrong on both counts"
What earlier sentence is that? I don't seem to be seeing it, unless it isn't literally a single sentence.

"if he did rape you, regardless of this current situation"
"if he did rape you, regarding of this current situation"?
I'm not sure that's right for what you want, but if not that, I'm not sure what exactly that second part is meant to mean.

"urge to tryin and struggle against"
"urge to try and struggle against"?

"she said, putting on her hoof and disappearing"
"she said, putting on her hood and disappearing"?

"an opened drawer, where I could see an empty safe at the bottom"
...Huh. There's a safe at the bottom of the drawer, somehow?

Well. :D
Another very good (if also long :D) chapter; thanks for writing!

Oh, dear, and sorry about those IRL politics. Good luck.

Cliffhanger that is gonna haunt me for the next few months.... Can't wait for the next chapter!

Time to wait for a chapter that will come next year.~

10569642

Thank you, this was a beast to edit, i had to pause because it was so long.

10569975

Thanks for pointing these out, normally I find them all, but there are a few sneaky ones that tend to hide.

10574565
Ah, thank you for your editing work!
And you're welcome; sorry I don't to a more exhaustive search-and-record operation here, but, well, as you mention in that very comment, the chapters tend to be a bit big. :D

10569056
I'm fairly certain this takes place before FoE. FoE has a log left by an Appleloosa slaver talking about how Red Eye sent an alicorn to takeover Appleloosa, and a character named Apple Core that was implied to be a high ranking figure at Appleloosa.

There's no filly at Appleloosa with Ditzy, so this is definitely before the Pinkie Bell arc, also DJ Pon3 never mentions the Stable Dweller. Calamity was briefly referenced when Angel visited New Appleloosa, but he was out at the time, and Angel was disappointed that she couldn't examine a live pegasus.

Also, Littlepip wrecked Old Appleloosa when she came around. If that had already happened by the events of this story, then surely there would have been some signs. Black Widow was said to have led Old Aplleloosa for years, after all.

As far as I am aware, this story takes place between Calamity's exile from the Enclave, and Velvet Remedy's escape from Stable 2.

10578873
odd choice of cover art then...though i suppose it could be interpreted another way
the art has angel herself in a muted shade, indiciating past tense or something coming before, while pip and redeye are bright and vivid and in the foreground...perhaps indicating that her actions in some way will have a drastic effect on the events to come...even if she never personaly meets either redeye or the lightbringer perhaps something she does sets in motion something that was pivitol to later events, butterfly effect and all that...we shlal have to read on and see i suppose

10568972
So it is Sorry it took so long, I meant for the chapter to come out in October, but yeah...

10569056
Oh, actually, it takes place about a year before the events of Fo:E. The reason why the cover looks like this is because I wanted the four corners to represent the major forces in the Wasteland: Red Eye, Goddess, the Enclave, and Ditzy serves to represent the average people of the Wasteland; originally, it was meant to be her, Tenpony Tower, and a Sprite-bot, but it turned out that they couldn't all fit in the corner.

10569642
Aw, thanks. It's comments like those that make it possible to make it through the dreaded horrors of real life^^

10569935
Well, that's a terrifying thought!

10569975
Yeah, I maybe should have made more clear what's going on through everybody's heads... When Angel had made her exclamation, she let everybody know that she knows of the place Deliverance was talking about, even though she didn't know that the tribe was staying there. However, she knows of such a place and never mentioned to anypony, and they had been looking for the tribe for a while now. So Apple Core got pissed that she never said "Oh, you know, there is a place/town where my ancestors came from nearby, the tribe could be staying there" or something along those lines. However, instead of yelling at her now "Ya knew where they could be stayin' this whole time!?" she jumped ahead and said "Ya knew where they were hidin’ all this time?!" because she just heard Deliverance saying that the tribe was there. So Apple Core's thought process is: "Tribe is hiding in the place and Angel knew that said place existed". Again, I could have maybe made it more clear

Actually I'm not sure... I think my thought process was that all radios are broadcasters, so I just used that term instead of radio. But yeah, radio is probably safer to use just in case.
Btw, on that note, that whole bit about DJ Pon3's station being blocked, it's me covering my ass for forgetting in chapter 2 that in the original Fo:E Littlepip couldn't pick it up when getting near Appleloosa

What earlier sentence is that? I don't seem to be seeing it, unless it isn't literally a single sentence.

She was referring to the sentence in which she said that she didn't think Angel had the nerve to have somepony killed. Black Widow was wrong on two accounts as Angel definetely has the nerve to have somepony killed (even if she prefers not to so that she can use people as test subjects and stuff), and Cutter wasn't killed.

if he did rape you, regardless of this current situation

Ah no, I meant to use regardless. Black Widow was saying that even if Angel wasn't conspiring against her, she wouldn't have cared if Pillory had raped her. Slavers don't have Human (Equine?) Resources

an opened drawer, where I could see an empty safe at the bottom

Meant wardrobe. No idea why but I keep thinking that the word for that in english is "drawer". Corrected it to wardrobe, thanks for pointing this out.

Thanks, glad that you enjoyed the chapter, and thanks for pointing all of those out^^ And yeah, turned out longer than expected... part of the reason why it took everybody so long to edit it was that the last bit, where Angel and Aite go to Black Widow's? It was meant to be in the next chapter. However after finishing everything back when I published that blog post, after thinking about it for a few days, I realized that the chapter will be better off ending after they make this trip and get knocked out. So practically everybody finished proofreading the first 21k words, I had to ask them to return to the chapter and go over the new 5k words I wrote over the weekend. So yeah, originally the chapter was shorted by about 1/5 But hopefully now that I added this chunk from the next chapter, chapter 18 will be much shorter...

Thanks^^ All of it shouldn't probably bother me since practically none of it affects me on personal level, but I find all that idiocy extremely annoying... plus I know history enough to worry that if this shit goes further south they are gonna start rounding up non-catholics and such Or that it goes along the lines of what I presented in chapter 7 in Stable Eleven (I actually based almost everything aside from the resolution, including most of the characters responsible, on events happening in Poland; heck, the name Moon Scrounger is a reference to the movie the dark overlord of Poland had played in together with his brother when they were kids ).

10570286
I'm actually hoping to have the chapter ready before the end of December. Admittedly, it's a bit of a tall order, given my track record, but chapter 18 should be relatively short. Worst comes to worst, I will just lock myself on holidays for the weekend and power through.

10571943
Oooooh, just for that I AM going to get the chapter done before the end of the year!

10574565
Yeah, sorry it turned out so long

10578873
Yeah, it takes place about a year before the events of Fo:E. I had somepony state in New Appleloosa that Calamity had started hanging out there about 3 years ago; in Fo:E it was stated to be 4 years.

Also I actually meant to have Calamity very briefly appear in chapter 11; when Angels was going to the train station to leave with the slavers, with Ditzy walking along to see her off, she would see a small crowd gather around Apple Core and Calamity as they were about to start shooting at each other, with ponies trying calm down both of them. Angel would make them stop by loudly thanking Ditzy and kissing her in front of the entire town, making everybody stare in shock, forgetting about the commotion. Angel would then walk between Apple Core and Calamity, asking Apple Core if they could leave now, and the slaver, mildly disgusted and embarrassed for half of the town staring at them, would go, and Angel would very briefly exchange pleasantries with a confused Calamity. Ultimately decided against writing that bit, as I wasn't sure if a pony kissing a ghoul pony was shocking enough to basically break up a fight, and if Calamity wouldn't just shot a slaver on sight, regardless of the town ponies talking him out of him; I also decided that the way I ended the chapter was pretty... "definitive", so to speak, and adding that scene after it would kinda feel awkward, especially since it would be basically just for a comedic effect.

10579033
Ah, actually, the mare in the corner isn't Littlepip, it's actually Unity's Goddess; if you look closely you'll see that it's a projection above a vat.

10579767
oh thats the goddess? the green glow made me think it was little pip

10579805
Yeah, I thought that the liquid in vats was green, like in Fallout, when I described what I wanted to the cover artist, now I am not so sure; was it rainbow-y or something?

God damn have I ever been eagerly looking forward to this latest chapter. Just wish it didn’t end on a cliffhanger, what with your penchant for taking too damn long to update.

10579767
Ah, thanks. :)
(Still seems to me a bit of a leap for Apple Core, but a plausible one, I think.)

Ah. Well, it has been a while, but I'm pretty sure that's how it worked. "radio" should be safe either way, though, yeah.
re DJ Pon3 being blocked: Ah. :D I mean, it makes sense; as I recall, Red Eye was indeed blocking DJ Pon3 from at leas the Fillydelphia area, but I don't recall (and in a quick look back at the original story, didn't see) a mention of exactly when that started. (Sorry you forgot before and needed to implement this as a cover, though, rather than deliberately planning it or something. :))

"She was referring to the sentence in which she said that she didn't think Angel had the nerve to have somepony killed. Black Widow was wrong on two accounts as Angel definetely has the nerve to have somepony killed (even if she prefers not to so that she can use people as test subjects and stuff), and Cutter wasn't killed."
...Sorry, I'm still not seeing it? You mean this sentence, right?
"You see, before, I did suspect it, but… honestly, I didn’t think you had the nerve to have somepony killed"
But that looks to me to only include the first thing, Angel having the nerve. Cutter being killed I'm only seeing in the previous sentence, "As I said, now I am certain that you had arranged for Cutter to die.".

"Ah no, I meant to use regardless. Black Widow was saying that even if Angel wasn't conspiring against her, she wouldn't have cared if Pillory had raped her. Slavers don't have Human (Equine?) Resources "
...Hm. Okay, I think I can parse it as meaning that if I know to look for it and squint hard enough, but that doesn't seem a readily flowing interpretation of that phrasing to me, sorry. Might be just me, maybe even me right now (I'm both a bit tired and a bit rushed)? Not sure.

Ah, righto; thanks, and you're welcome. :)

You're welcome, you're welcome, and thanks. :)
Oh, yes, better, if you're an evil author who likes subjecting your readers to terrible cliffhangers. :D
(But I kid, yeah, I think it's probably better. :D)
And good luck with the next chapter!

I mean, I'm glad it's not affecting you on a personal level right now and hope that holds, but... yeah, good luck, just in case, and for your country overall.

10579838
Taint, which in the core FoE cannon is failed batches of the assension potion (before project horizen retconed it to be essence o discord) is indeed rainbow collored, it also does not glow that i'm aware of, magical radiation however 'does' in high enough ammounts and it IS green

Been ages without coming around this place and finding this chapter has been a great surprise :)
I see you havent lose your touch for cliffhangers.
I am eager againg to read the next one.
Stay safe

Great update!

I really liked this update and how well it was written, even with the cliffhanger at the end.
Too bad my new chapter notification decided to bug out on this update. Late is better than never though.

Topics of abortion and the morality and position of it, along with idpol being put in FO:E that was far more apparent this chapter completely aside; the story is still rather enjoyable.
Even if when these things pop up it immediately drags me out of the fic as it stands there like a giant pink elephant.