//------------------------------// // GENERAL NOTES // Story: Fallout Equestria: New Pegas // by Calbeck //------------------------------// [HORSE'S ORDERS REGARDING "BIG M/T"] "The packet also contains a transponder, so their defense systems will allow you to pass. You'll find the research center's location on your PipBuck map, but do not show it to anyone." Bringing up the PipBuck, I tapped a few buttons. Sure enough, there it was... waaaay off to the northwest, practically halfway to the Ponave! It would take at least a couple of days to get there by hoof. "Um... with all due respect, sir... they don't have radios, or a terminal hookup, or anything so you could just, you know... call?" "They do, and I already have. What you are carrying will ensure their compliance. Besides, I want them to have a look at your invisible companion, the one you and your 'apprentice' always seem so irritated with. I'm curious as to whether its ability to evade my sensors and cameras is innate, an improvement in zebra cloaking methods, or something else altogether." If I'd been chewing any gum, I'd've swallowed it. [THIS IS THE PREMISE FOR "CELESTINE BLUES": The Institute for Magi/Tech Development was a top secret pre-War facility.] "Were it still working properly, I would have no worries about Gardens of Equestria. As it is, however, a serious malfunction was still being repaired when the War ended. I lost contact with both Celestar One and the Rep'Corn site, after a pair of balefire missiles struck the area. I'd always meant to eventually reclaim and repair both, but believed I had more time. This news of the Gardens has reminded me that making such assumptions can have... disastrous consequences." [THIS IS THE PREMISE FOR "SUNSHINE ROAD"] *** The Rad-Away Redline: NCR supply train, heavily armored and armed, riding reclaimed rails. No coal? No problem... mana-fueled reactors'll turn a steam turbine even better. Just make sure you're up on Rad-X and wearing lead saddleblankets... *** Wonder Bread Maker: "It always comes out pre-sliced. Nothing I do stops that from happening, and I don't know why. Just eat the damn stuff." (provides a use for toasters!) Preservatives kept snack cakes around. Why not a loaf of bread? Somepony just obsessed with "lookit all these damn toasters! There hadda be TOAST! And that means BREAD!" *** In a later chapter, the Vikeans reveal that they've recovered and rebuilt the DD recon mecha, using heavy oak timbers to replace missing armor, painting it in blue/yellow, and renaming it "Ironsides". In even later chapters, after Hasverige is destroyed by a concentrated DD mechanized assault, Hard Way's crew uses it to avenge their fallen city. Gore-Nest in command, Flap-Jack and Crag as airborne recon and fire support (respectively). The twins, serving as Mobility Engineers, turn out to mesh extremely well for the purpose (make a joke about being "drift compatible"). THEME: Jet Black Stare's "Ready to Roll". *** The ex-NCR Vikeans are actually Black Clops operatives providing intel on the former raiders. When Hasverige falls, they throw in their lot with the mecha crew, rationalizing that the DDs present the NCR with the greater threat. Since they've done nothing to actually harm the Vikeans, Hard Way and the others forgive them in the interest of killing more DDs. The two serve as Ironsides' Gunners... and with their higher levels of NCR education, they are very good at it. *** Crag goes "full-kaiju" in an extreme moment, when Gore-Nest is critically wounded and passes command to him. This effectively passes Ironsides' ownership to him, its bottlecap value triggering the dragon's metamorphosis into adulthood. It's Cherry whose PipBuck assesses the value, resulting in another "WTF" moment. *** Traditional Caravaneer Breakfast: Jalapeno flapjacks are a caravaneer’s traditional breakfast, out in the Moohave and most of New Coltifornia. It’s amazing how often you can still scavenge flour, the batter doesn’t take a lot of water to mix up, and wild jalapenos are fairly common. Milk from your pack brahmin works as both beverage, and a source of butter, if you’re any good at churning (guess what I did for a lot of the time I rode around in the wagon as a young colt?). Trail coffee is an occasional treat too, though you’re usually best off not asking what rummage-rubbish was ground up to make it. If you’re REALLY blessed by Luna, you’ll run across a trader who’s got something sweet to put on the flapjacks, like jars of prickly pear jam preserved in honey. [BLACK BLIZZARD] "It was as though all the evil buried in the West had burrowed its way to the surface... every burned mare, every torched village, every black sin. And it came for us on the winds of Hell." MINISTRY OF AWESOME (MAw) "BLACK CLOPS" Littlepip, via memory orb, confirms that RBD and the MAw were running covert operations as well as "awesome" projects like the SPP. In the aftermath of the bombs, many MAw agents in the West fell in with the newly-formed NCR as it struggled to rebuild, absent any leadership from RBD. This is a major reason the NCR was able to bounce back so quickly. They still remember and revere her memory as an institutional tradition (similar to the MWT/Steel Ranger remembrance of Applejack), and if her continued existence is confirmed, it will trigger a (similar) schism between MAw and NCR loyalists. RAINBOW DASH'S CLONE As part of the Equestrian military effort, there was a brief attempt at creating a clone army using the Mirror Pool. RBD volunteered for this, but as with Pinkie Pie, the clones turned out to be mentally unstable, each reflecting only a narrow sliver of the initiative and personality of the original. Although large-scale military production turned out to be unworkable, the Ministry of Awesome continued to experiment with the concept. Eventually, a few clones were created and enhanced with advanced PipBuck technology. The PipBucks carried software which magically stabilized and enhanced the clones, at least to the point where they could reliably perform a set of complex tasks. These "missions" had to be pre-programmed, however, so a clone could actually be put "on a loop", using its own initiative but continually performing essentially the same task over and over. When Dash fled the Enclave, one of these was set to perform the role of "Mare Do Well" in and around Thunderhead, using cloaking technology to avoid capture while trying to undermine the isolationist positions of the Enclave government. Gilda found and assaulted her, leaving her for dead (to later become a ghoul), prior to finding the real RBD. RAINBOW DASH'S DEATH During the final battle, Dashie leads the Shadowbolts on an epic bombing run in support of the surviving Vikeans --- her final atonement, as she sees it. Unfortunately, she's too old to pull off a 90-degree shear at ultrasonic speed anymore, and knows it. She hits the ground so hard... ...that she actually breaks through the universe, reincarnating as the titular figure of "My Little Dashie". -:3 RADIATION Radiation does not work the same in Fallout as it does in real life. In real life, radioactive particles strike your own particles like a massive burst of tiny shotgun pellets, causing cellular damage as they pass through or embed themselves. In Fallout, radioactive particles simply transfer their energy to non-radioactive particles in passing. This has the effect of "supercharging" the individual atoms, and thus the molecules they form. To a point, determined by its atomic makeup, a molecule's bonds can survive a given amount of energy. Beyond that, it will fragment in order to dissipate the excess. Atoms, subjected to enough such energy, will also fragment (thus perpetuating the necessary chain-reaction of any atomic detonation). Over time, this excess will also bleed away of its own accord, like power draining from a battery. GHOULIFICATION However, a molecule which is "shocked" by a high enough level of energy will adapt to that level as its new norm, storing the excess as a reserve and "remembering" the format it was in when molecular shock was achieved. When later damage occurs, the reserve is expended as a sort of intermolecular glue, maintaining overall cohesion. This is why a ghoul heals when exposed to radiation: his or her cells are literally recharging and re-knitting. The appearance of ghoulification is caused by the fact that the body has differing levels of density, and therefore does not absorb radiation evenly. "Softer" cells with more water and less solidity (such as those found in the skin or epidermis) tend to absorb too much energy before the "harder" cells of bone and sinew can absorb enough. The worst instances come from those who somehow survive direct exposure to a nuclear detonation, because the massive burst of particles causes horrific damage while molecular shock is still taking effect. A molecule which is not sufficiently energized to be "shocked" fails to adapt to the incoming energy, and slowly begins to dissolve into component atoms instead. This is why radiation does not always create ghouls; irradiation must be present in the entire body, at the proper levels to preserve rather than destroy. PRESERVATION This is also why so many things from so long ago are still around. Normally, two centuries is enough for most things exposed to the elements to rust or rot away. Exposure to nuclear blasts, as well as radioactive fallout, impregnated everything from concrete to paper. If it wasn't destroyed by the firestorms, it's still around today and still slowly bleeding off that excess energy. Hence why pre-War food is edible, but also gives you a bit of radiation poisoning. MAGIC Magic is nothing more or less than the deliberate manipulation of the world without use of physical contact. In a universe where the very cells of your body can store excess power, that power can be redirected, given the proper brain chemistry. [HORSE: Although he never mentioned it (not expecting Cherry to go there on his own), Horse also wants something from the complex: an example of the perfected, magic-driven version of nano-assembly technology so he can reverse-engineer it. He was never able to reverse-engineer the original Sierra Madre technology, but had been a leader in similar tech pre-War (parasprite nano-production). He'll be very happy when Cherry shows up with schematics unannounced, calling him "proactive" and deciding to cut to the chase with his backstory.] [LOOPY DELOUP: Covered in burning rubber gunk from a half-dozen flaming Fun Suits, she plummets from the sky to become the Burned Mare. She wants to destroy the "traitors" of Nellie AFB, as well as Cherry, joining up with the Herd (and giving information on Nellie's defenses) for this purpose.] [DOMINO MASK: Burned his way out of the Royale vault through its weak link: the intercom mounting. He made it to the reactors just in time for them to blow, whereupon he and all the Ghosts there absorbed the released magical energy. They have now fused (rather messily) into a MegaGhost, a horrific thing that sludges its way out of the ruins and down to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. Later, it makes a deal with the Herd: his services, in exchange for giving New Pegas one final performance.] ***** Cossack concept: river running under city into Cossack territory, poisoned by Taint and reactor leakage. The result: Jagerponies! They serve a unicorn genius named Agatha, who's really good with a violin. A "kestle" is currently under construction. Cossacks primarily rent their mercenary services out to NCR corporations, land barons, and military (taking only defensive contracts to free up NCR troops for elsewhere, so they're not much abused as cannon-fodder). Coltifornia Kid: "I hope you're quite prepared to die." Ghoulbeck: Unicorn merc Ghoul, with a Zap Apple tree emerging from the forehead. [ALIEN REFERENCES: Homage's gun reduces enemies to ash the color of the moon. Something up high exploded, dropping it to the ground, which is how she found it. No tech like it anywhere else, extremely powerful.] [PARADERP: Cherry runs into a friendly Paradore with lopsided eyes. It looks up at him, imploringly. "No." He shoots it.] "Cider. Sweet Apple. Hot." [Rarity-style Pegas Showmares] ["My little ponies! RISE! Rise for the glory that is... HOBO-US MAXIMUS!" *cardboard barding and sword of glass bottles*] BEER STEIN: A white/grey/black pony who is the lone survivor of a Stable experiment involving elimination of passions to create a more stable society. His cutie mark is a beer stein, his voice is Ben Stein, and he (un)naturally exudes an Aura of M.E.H. (Mental Extroversion Hibernator). He stops combat situations with any being of intelligence higher than 3. Eventually, he opens a rehabilitation mental clinic in New Pegas where his patients begin thinking rationally about their lives. HORSE'S TALE "Beneath Canterlot is a mine. Crystals, gems, the wealth of a young nation. Locked away by Celestial order, its existence stricken from the books, its workers sworn to secrecy. Eventually, forgotten. Because when they had dug their mine deeply enough, in pursuit of their own greed, they found someone else's greed had preceded their own. And that there are things nopony was meant to know..." Bombs Fell, Everypony Died: One of Horse's pet projects was an effort to incorporate anti-missile defenses into the Single Pegasus Project towers. This was firmly rejected by both Rainbow Dash and Luna, so Horse built the prototype into the Lucky Chance instead. While firing its plasma cannons in defense of Las Pegasus, errors in the reactors' power matrix caused feedback, frying much of his body and searing shut the command pod. Putting the pod into emergency stasis mode was his only means of survival. Horse no longer wants out of the pod; even if he could be removed, no healing magic or technology would be able to repair the horrible damage. He would rather live in simulated splendor than as a helpless invalid. It took more than a decade for Horse to properly recover his faculties, during which time the population of New Pegas had reacted to the loss of their Princesses by falling into anarchy. He eventually restored order with his robot police force, brokering a peace and wealth-sharing system with the most powerful gangs of the time. Horse also states that his closest wartime secret was the ability to be in more than one place at the same time. Every time a clone was killed, usually by an assassin, it was replaced with another who declared the clone a "security double". Horse rarely used more than one clone at a time (for obvious reasons), his last having gone rogue in Hoofington during the final months of the War. He has not used a clone since, not wanting to repeat the problem without reasonable safeguards in place. Cherry asks if cloning a pony could work as a form of immortality. Horse explains that while the mind can be uploaded and downloaded at will, including into a body, the soul cannot transfer into anything but a soul jar, which itself cannot be a living item. According to his information, an attempt was made during the War to infuse a pony with a "Phoenix Talisman" which itself was a soul jar, but that the results were --- unsatisfactory. Cherry ponders that if Horse can't have cloned himself, he'd either have to be in a soul-jar or a stasis pod like Rainbow Dash, but his image on the screen is way too young-looking, given what she said about aging at a slower rate while cognizant during stasis. Because he is "confined" and currently unwilling to create a new clone, Horse needs a confidant to act as his agent in the real world. Previously, Benny was that agent (real name: Bent Nail, which he loathes), but his ambitions got the better of him when he stole Horse's poker chip. Horse then explains that the chip really has no value beyond sentiment --- it was the first chip minted when he founded the Lucky Chance. It's valuable enough to him, however, that he does not want it destroyed under any circumstances. [Nellie AFB - House had his casino's defense batteries linked into the base's computers in order to provide a unified defense system. He then shorted out most of the base's systems after the bombs dropped, prompting its crew to abandon it and leave to join the Enclave.] [HORSE DOES NOT REVEAL HUMAN ORIGINS PRIOR TO DEVELOPING A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH D-S --- POSSIBLY AS THE FINAL REVEAL OF THE WHOLE STORY] [Cherry: "I don't buy that the whole planet is just called 'Earth'. That's a stupid name for a planet." Horse: "Well, what would you call it?" Pink-E: "How about Bob?"]