Great chapter. Looking forward to the next!

And the word count keeps growing!

Y'know, I just wanted to say, congrats on finishing it. Writing just shy of 2 million words takes enormous patience.

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My move from Horizon Labs to Ironshod Firearms is jarring

Something relating to the story title. Ooooo, exciting.

You'd think so, but not all that strongly. In a kind of general sense, yes.

Whenever life starts getting tough either at work or at home... the line "ante up" pops in my head... and I get my game face on.

....

Usually a mix of a scowl and a frown.

Drinking problem :D if she does get one I will relate c:

Good lord, the word count rises... jeeeeeebus, cripes this is getting good.
Blackjack is truly an amazing pony, wow... I wanna hug Dx

Nicely done, nicely done once again!

I have all the chapters downloaded from the main google docs page, but I'm tempted to hold off reading them till these are all posted and I can read them all in one ePub rather than many many separate .docs.

6407414 Unfortunately at this point I was pretty conscious of not ripping off littlepip's addiction. Blackjack is unofficially a borderline alcoholic, but she manages it well enough. Sadly events occur where alcohol no longer offers her the solace it did before.

finally here on fimfiction, have a hug ^_^
(sorry for finding you just today TT_TT)

Please let me stay with the stars.

Zebra scum, Y U hate stars?! NMM is long gone.

Edit: No fucking way I caught up to the most recent posted chapter. Ha... Haha... HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

6410711 Sometimes, for a character to develop, they have to start in a bad place. And talking with one of my editors, his hatred is very relatable to him given some of the things that happened to him.

After rereading ive realized blackjack has a sort of pinkie sense with her itchy mane.

I feel like I missed something between the end of this chapter and the beginning of the next... I guess I'll read on.

Achievement Unlocked!

Back From The Brink

Get near death, and heal up at a doctor.

Boy did I have an ouchie.

And the award for understatement of the century goes to...

Lots of good storytelling in this chapter, none better than that first folk tale told by the zebra. And I'm happy to see that Blackjack is finally understanding that the real villain in the Wasteland is the Wasteland itself. :)

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dun worry, it's k :B Also, once again Fimfic fails me in regards to not letting me know when you've replied to my comments. D: So now at least I know you're reading them! And now I've read yours! Everypony is reading.

6680195 It is a good lesson. If only she could figure out a way to whine or make the sad-eyes at an incorporeal, abstract concept, and make it work. Like this: . Or maybe this: . Or shoot it I guess.

I don't know if it's true, but I've seen speculation before that not getting notified is an artifact of replying from the main page, which puts the reply on the page for the most recently published chapter rather than the chapter the original comment was posted in. It looks like this may have been a case of that.

Imm imagining little pip and black jack getting along quite well

7630850 Hahahahahahaha!

Achievement Unlocked: Learning New Tricks- Aquire the Telekinetic Bullet spell quest perk.

What the fuck is with BlackJack and the red button. And how did she get injured?

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The quarter-inch steel plate had buckled as it deflected the bullet.

she got shot in the back by lancer

Awesome. Blackjack finally has a real spell.

But can she deal? How the stakes grow in her favor, but she wishes them not.
But she is the Jack of Trades in this deck, and it may be a long while yet until she loses.

Oh well, she still has one spell more then Pip.
Though I'm starting to think the two may be opposites.

Ones is heroic and intelligent. A lock picker.
The other, a super dweeb with horrible plans and Puppy Smiles level luck.

Still, I would say she has been through a lot more pain, if only physical.

Did Pip ever have the problem of her guts trailing out of her belly?
I think not.
Has Pip ever been paralyzed, or nearly so, by a bullet to the back?
I think not.
Has Pip ever been known to bask in radiation, then just walk out of it?
Faust, I sure hope not.

I looked back him hanging his head.

I looked back at him hanging his head.

Sweet Celestia, what was hell was going on here?

Sweet Celestia, what the hell was going on here?

There was something being set up on the one of the flatbed train cars.

Extra 'the'

“It’s killing the fucker to make sure that she never does it again.” Be kind. “It’s making sure every bastard who even thinks of copying her crime hesitates because they know they might face the same punishment.”

Wasn't the pony wearing the multiple bomb collars a male? Not female? Quite confusing after being informed the mine administrator was a male with 'he'. Or maybe P-21 is channeling his inner pain and being indifferent of specified gender?

Even after Blackjack's speech before being carted away from Brimstone's Fall, her speech could not quell the resentment and bloody revenge stirring inside the crowd's hive mind. At least she did not have to see the bloody execution for justice, but damn. So that's what the big red button was for, good thing Blackjack did not press it. Better safe than regretfully sorry. Also, RIP Tumbleweed, it was quite obvious she and Dusty Trails were more than just comrades. How the hell did she contract the raider disease, was it truly something she ate? Oh well, she appeared briefly as her namesake, and gone.
Interestingly enough, this is one of the first times that we see Blackjack's dislike for her inner-imaginative-or-not 'dealer' without his name capitalized. Anytime Blackjack is trying to rest, the dealer won't go away. All that bad hand death must of lured him.

Blackjack must be really good at telekinesis if she can create a bolt of pure magical energy to test as a weapon in its own right. A very interesting spell introduced.

Sekashi and Majina's introduction:
derpicdn.net/img/2014/7/23/681488/large.png

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Or maybe P-21 is channeling his inner pain and being indifferent of specified gender?

I'm personally betting it's that one. Freudian slip, as it were. Just because he's against injustice by anyone against anyone, doesn't mean that to him it's not strongly coded female.

And yeah, they were one of those big cases (at least for the moment...) of seeing how the Wasteland is just plain shitty, even without apparently anyone causing it. Kinda like other cases like the sand dog/Riverside situation of understandable mutual distrust.

The pegasus beside me looked sad as we looked over at the black unicorn staring downhill, her lips moving softly. She made slow, almost mechanical, shots with a long-barreled rifle. BLAM! “Forgive me Luna, for I have sinned: I have taken the life of another.” BLAM! “Forgive me Celestia, for I have sinned: I have taken the life of another.” BLAM! BLAM BLAM BLAM… each death came with a plea for forgiveness in a hopeless whisper.

that made me think of Dragonheart...

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there was the time in maripony with the taint. does that count?

Sekashi is easily one of the best characters in project horizons I love her.

“Stop trying to think like an officer, Jetstream. You don’t have enough brain damage,” Twist said as she looked downhill once more. “So are we staying, big guy?”

Really? She really said that?

It has been almost three chapters without Blackjack being miserable. About time to fix that!

I can accept it if I’m the one who suffers for my poor judgment, but when I keep sailing through while innocents (or at least as innocent as a pony can be in the Wasteland) drop around me?

You’re lying in a blood of pool, paralyzed and hating yourself. That’s hardly what I would call sail through.

I hate that I had been warned twice and still hadn’t questioned ‘why is Lancer working with us?’ I had arrogantly assumed that any threat he’d posed would be to me.

I’m honestly not sure how much of this is Blackjack’s fault. Yes Sonata told her that the Remnants do terrible things. But that’s pretty vague on itself. Lancer on the other hand, had plenty opportunities to kill Blackjack while she wasn’t’ even aware of his presence and while uncooperative was not outright hostile. There’s really no way she could’ve known that he was going to kill the Zebra slaves.

I also don’t know what she could’ve done to prevent this. Even if she had refused to work with him or told him to leave, what would’ve stopped him from sneaking in and pulling the same stunt? After all, he has a cloaking devices. She could’ve tied him up or killed him before the attack, but doing that just because someone told you they’re he's bad news is pretty extrem.?

What she could’ve done was asking Sonata for more information. Maybe if she had told BJ more about how the Remnants operate she could’ve figured out what he was planning how to stop him. Maybe…

Overall this is a bit like the Tenpenny Tower situation in Fallout 3. She made a bad judgement call and trusted the wrong Zebra. A mistake? Yes. But not one made because she were carless or stupid.

P-21’s voice rose up the stairs. “Blackjack needs to get moving, Glory. Everypony who finds out she’s here will be coming. I mean everypony. To them she’s just a cap bounty ready to be cashed in. How soon till we can move her?”

Wow P-21 is pissed. It’s actually pretty sweet, because it shows how much he cares about Blackjack after everything they went through together.

“Shut up and deal,” I hate this dealer. He never stops smiling when he’s shuffling the deck.

Don’t worry it’s just a fewer dream. I’m sure they guy will never show up again in either this or any other story.

I looked at him for a long moment. How… ridiculous? How could he be blaming himself? So what if he’d not said anything? Things were pretty hectic. I hadn’t even noticed Lancer acting funny. “Not your fault. He never would have been there if not for me.”

Oh Blackjack, If you only would listen to your own advices for once.

“What do you want?” Blackjack asked.
“ ”

“Not having my friends pay the price for my mistakes.”

Sekashi and her filly Majina

Hello overly naïve and easily excited Storyteller Zebra. You’ll grew up into a fine mare who’s really going to annoy the overly pessimistic and grumpy Outcast Zebra.

Tears ran down her cheeks as she slumped, and the most horrible laughing, sobbing noise rose in her throat. There was blood smeared across her lips… fresh and red. Bite marks covered her legs. Hooves shook as she stared at me with eyes that were already yellowing.

Oh shit!

And if it was true that she had a disease… rabid raider Blackjack! No thank you!

Just had a horrifying realization. Back in the Stable one of the Raiders tried to bit her, but couldn’t get through the barding. Imagine if she had succeeded. Blackjack would’ve turned shortly after arriving on the surface when she was alone with P-21.

“Have you ever eaten meat?”
“No…” She started to giggle again as she rocked towards me. “But I’d love to!”

She hasn’t eaten meat and wasn’t bitten. So how did she turn? Did she drink or eat something that was contaminated?

I prayed it was just my wishful thinking she looked so happy to be dead.

Previously we only had seen Raiders who were already insane. This is the first time we’ve saw a pony succumbing to the disease. Makes it a lot more horrifying.

The few guards who’d joined the revolt were visible from their subdued expressions. I could tell it’d be a long time before they completely shed that past.

I wonder how they were able to convince the slaves not to kill them.? One would imagine that they’re hating everypony involved in their enslavement with a burning passion.

. “Do you know what fucking justice is? It’s giving to others as is given to you.” Be kind. “It’s killing the fucker to make sure that she never does it again.” Be kind. “It’s making sure every bastard who even thinks of copying her crime hesitates because they know they might face the same punishment.” Be kind. “It’s what’s fair!”

Yeah, what the fuck P-21! This is a really sinister side of him, we haven’t seen before.

Still, my words must have had some effect. They were kind. They were kind enough to let me get out of sight before pushing the button.

I like it when stories make you think about ethical questions.

So did the mine boss deserve it?

In my personal opinion: Yes he did. Letting him walk away would’ve been an injustice after all he had done to his victims. The only alternative I could’ve imagine was having him put to work in the mines a slave and I’m not sure if that’s better.

Now if they had jails and a functioning justice system, I’m all for looking him up. But this is the Wasteland where no such things exist. So I can’t really blame the ex-slaves for wanting to kill the bastard who made them suffer for years.

That said, I think I would’ve settle for a bullet to the head. If you kill someone at least make it quick and don’t turn it into a show.

“But of course he did not understand, for he was a very good but very silly zebra.”

You could even call him a not very smart Zebra.

“So when I meet Lancer again, I should laugh at him?”
“Can you imagine anything more terrible?” she countered. For a zebra like that, I had to conclude that I really couldn’t.

She’s right! Considering how serious he takes his duty, treating him and his mission as a joke is probably the worst thing one could do to him.

But I am alive. My daughter is alive. I may be hungry tonight and dead tomorrow, but for now I shall choose to think of better thoughts. They are fewer and all the more precious than those that are sad

And now I know why Majina is such a hopeless optimist. It runs in the family!

Blackjack’s On-screen Body Count: 82 (RIP Tumbleweed)

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By now, one thing is pretty obvious: Blackjack rarely ever truly wins. Each of her successes comes with a price. She rescued a group of Crusaders from Raiders. Then later one of them died because of her action. The group survived the horrors of the hospital and she brokered a successful deal between the Colligate and the Society. But she was also forced to kill 40 mortally injured foals. She liberatde a mine full of slaves and convinced a gang to turn to honest work. But then almost a dozen Zebras where butchered by someone she considered an ally. There always seems to be a price that comes with victory.

Interestingly this no longer seems to be the case in Homelands. Take for example Chapter 18. In Project Horizons Ossius would’ve been killed in a gruesome way by the Spirit of the Legion. Or there would’ve been a civil war among the Legionnaires resulting in the death of a few likeable characters. Or Ossius would’ve refused to change his ways and Scotch had to kill him. Something bad would’ve happen. But in Homeland, there's actually a chance for a Happy Ending. Unless of course, we later learn that they were all killed by the New Empire.

I'm on my first read through of this story, and I'm loving it so far

Blackjack is a very enjoyable protagonist, and I can't help but think about this song when I think about her as a character. All the gambling and luck motifs fit her pretty well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcZl4I16Sq8

P-21 would have killed me right then if he could. Cold rage burned in his eyes as he leaned towards me. “Do you know what fucking justice is? It’s giving to others as is given to you.” Be kind. “It’s killing the fucker to make sure that she never does it again.” Be kind. “It’s making sure every bastard who even thinks of copying her crime hesitates because they know they might face the same punishment.” Be kind. “It’s what’s fair!”

So much for being the voice of reason and a pacifist

I'm glad Blackjack is making an effort to be kinder herself. I feel like unless you aren't actively trying to be better in the wasteland you're no better than raiders or slavers

Man, am loving this so far. Can't wait to see more of Morning G's stuff, my fav character.