I loved this chapter... BJ's drunk-fu, taking a pack of generally poorly equipped mercs with nothing but a bottle of booze and a buzz.

Found an error. At the end of the drunk fighting.

“Shut the fuck up! Do you want her to come back?I”

6411680

*Bisexual

6411680 Upheld? This is one of the early fics that helped establish the lesbian/bi female protagonist stereotype.

orig03.deviantart.net/330b/f/2012/366/3/e/knife_to_the_crotch_by_marukomu-d5pz9k4.jpg

6403575 Not sure if I'd put Heroes on this list. Much of the fic centers on Silver's regrets over her actions on the first few chapters.

Wonder if she will be back for that sword. Anywho, if she gets too much tougher she probably won't need armor to stop bullets. She would probably continue to wear it anyway to prevent the bruising that would occur upon bullet meeting flesh that was strong enough to stop it.

I love drunk Blackjack, she's awesome! :D hehehe, damn good chapter well done man, legitness.
Awww maaan, they just... wow... my heart man, jesus christ.

Awesome chapter, regardless.
KEEP IT UP!

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I'm afraid as far as "I've made a terrible mistake and I deserve to die" goes, you've seen nothing yet. A whole lot of unspeakably terrible things happen in Project Horizons, and Blackjack tends to blame herself for it.

However, the main reason I can put up with Blackjack's whining over Littlepip's is that Blackjack genuinely has things to whine about. Littlepip blubbered on about slaughtering cannibals until the end of the book, while Blackjack at least has the decency to blubber about incidents where she actually did horrific things, or where the monstrous consequences were her fault. For the most part, anyway.

As far as those recommendations that 6403575 gave you went, I'd question the inclusion of Heroes. Sure, the protagonist in that doesn't whine about stupid shit and doesn't give a damn about shooting someone who deserves to be shot, but she still does the "I'm a worthless creature who deserves only death" thing when she screws up the things she cares about. Still, Heroes has a unique and incredibly well-crafted character, it's possibly the best first-person perspective I have read and I'd recommend it anyday.
I'm not sure about Memories, since I haven't read the rewrite, but if it's still following the same themes as before, there isn't any angst because the protagonist is fucking mental. You'll still get the "I'm a murdering monster" spiel, just in a slightly different guise.
And as the other guy said, Murky Number Seven doesn't whine over death, it's too depressing for that. Death is the easy way out in that story.

Really, if you want FO:E without an angsty protagonist, Pink Eyes is pretty much the only story you're going to get.

I wonder what condition the zebra's homeland is in? It must be a wasteland similar to Equestria, or they would have taken over.

Also, I hope Blackjack can find some way to explore the Core, and maybe take a trip to Canterlot later. I'm curious to see what became of Celestial and Luna.

His cutie mark was a strange outline of a pegasus with hooves stretched above her and wings wide, surrounded by a sunburst of rays of light.

Celestia raising the sun, interesting.

Well... Blackjack had fun in a museum. Also, there is a typo right as she leaves the two ponies she hurt. It is in one of the pony's lines of dialog when he asks his companion if he wants her [Blackjack] to come back.

6412863 this is Blackjack we're talking about here. I think something like omni-sexual would fit better.

6415641 The zebra homeland was scorched to ruin with all the might of Celestia Prime (or whatever its name was) while the bale fire bombs were going off. And Celestia and Luna's fates were detailed near the end of Fallout: Equestria by Kkat

Achievement Unlocked!

History Nut

Survive the Attack in the Museum

6422673 pansexual?

Blackjack drunkenly fighting is... fucking scary lol

Celestia protects

THE EMPRESS PROTECTS!
sd.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/i/keep-calm-the-emperor-protects-4.png

Not sure I'm down with the whole "religion in the Wasteland" thing (no, it's not because I was planning on doing it myself :V) As a treatise against religion, it seems to work. At least she got the Virtue talk from someone more interesting than LP did.

Anyway, I hope I never tire of Blackjack getting drunk and killing ponies. :D

Darn it Somber. Last Chapter I said 'One more, then I'll get back to what I was doing,' and with this Chapter, I now know. I've been swept into my normal reading habit. Of reading many Chapters in one go. When I have more "free time" that is fine, but when I have things to do. I can't really say it is good. I guess I'll be reading another Chapter... more things just piling up because of this, so I read.

I had even told myself to space out the Chapters... but oh well.

As a side note from that, and a main note on the story. I just loved the whiskey part, I hope it won't be played much and get tiring. The singing was the jewel on the cake.

We didn’t eat Leg of Duct Tape

Duct tape fixes everything including a nice dinner

the three rules for messing with BlackJack
rule number one: never mess with Drunk BlackJack
rule number two: never mess with Sober BlackJack
rule number three: never mess with BlackJack. ever.

I keep telling myself, "Just one more chapter..." but I always wind up reading more!

My virtue is getting drunk and causing huge disasters

Fucking best virtue ever

“She’s a fucking monster drunk,” I heard Busted Legs say to the other.

Hell yeah, you better not fuck with her

Sad chapter, really love how you described the main 6 and how you incorporated the virtue thing

Huh... who would have thought that the Ministry of Morale had cops? I thought they only threw

parties.

Rogue line break.

How strange to find her alone, disconnected from her friends in possibly the most friendly place in the Wasteland. (unless you're a foal with Red Eye)

Whats more, she got into a drunk fight at a museum, and witnessed the dicovery of virtues and friendship.

Interesting.

I just wish she could have gotten that sword.
That would be se-weet~

Play.

STOP! IT'S TIME TO STOP!

The crowd went wild, breaking into mass stomping, and cheers of ‘Hoofington Rises!’ built and grew on each other. The cheers blended together into one massive voice, chanting in unison, ‘Hoofington Rises! Hoofington Rises!’

"-no more!"
Points if you got the reference.

“She’s a fucking monster drunk,” I heard Busted Legs say to the other.

Damn straight! DO NOT let Blackjack near the booze!

“One bullet, three caps,” the filly behind the counter declared firmly. “Otherwise use yer own. Priestie might put you out of yer pain fer free, but I ain’t running a charity here.”

Brutal. Savage. Reked.

Damn. I don't quite understand what was happening in that last scene, I have to go over it a couple times, maybe read into the next chapter to get it, but it was heartbreaking all the same.

That brought me short.

That brought me up short.

P-21 made this look so easy… I realized more and more how I much I depended on him.

Extra I (i), between "how much"

pigmies

Is that a pony wordplay version on the word 'pygmies'? Looks like it.

There was a moment when their grins showed this to be the best night of the lives.

best night of their lives.

“Sweet Celestia’s crotch, she’s drunk ,”

“Sweet Celestia’s crotch, she’s drunk,” (just looks weird otherwise, I see italicized words for emphasis just fine)

“Shut the fuck up! Do you want her to come back?I”

An uppercase I (i) instead of an exclamation point. As 6412858 pointed out.

I said as I sat up, held the bottle with my hooves and look a drink.

took a drink. How did a lowercase l (L) even get there?

New Perk added: Tough hide (Level 2) - The Brutal experiences of the Equestrian Wasteland have toughened you.

The b in brutal being capitalized seems unnecessary, but I'm not priotized on analyzing every footnote on the level up and author's note sections.

Ain't no rest or peace for the wicked sillyness like Blackjack. That salesfilly charging 35 caps up to 75 caps on a tab, is that the introduction of.. Charity? Yup, it is. I wonder if that unnamed alicorn Blackjack saw in the museum was any character in particular (not the NMM statue, before that) As for the museum scenes, geez did we have to include gelding and calling the guy Nicked Jewels? Ouch. Just ouch. Don't mess with a crazy drunk mare who happens to acquire a dragon claw. I remember this chapter's end still, a fyayed up double meaning of 'Peace'.

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I like that song; 2016 cover https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpDOeQT5CA

And from CrazedRambling's intermediatary singing until 1h:9m:49s in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE3VRZeXJzo#t=1h4m1s

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Ponies who can't take any more of the shit the wasteland throws at them go to the place with a near 100% chance of a quick death (that also takes in orphans left behind and where they get to talk to a priest before they die)

You know, after rereading this for the... what, third time? I'm dumbstruck that I never thought about how impressive it is that Blackjack learned that entire song perfectly just from hearing it a few times. And she remembered the whole thing while drunk, even!

8816089
It kind of goes along with the idea that maybe if things had been different her special talent could have been in music. Granted, musical numbers are a canon part of the setting, and it's not clear to what extent ponies have a boost for remembering and performing normal songs as a result.

I turned back to the section on ‘Places to go, Places to avoid’. Megamart, been there. Stockyard, Ironmare (only if you had Ranger business), Elysium, Flank (only ponies eighteen and over), Hoofington U., the Arena (at your own risk), Meatlocker, and Paradise. I was a little amused to see Paradise listed as both a place to go and a place to avoid. Apparently, the Fluttershy Medical Center and the Rainbow Dash Skyport were ‘safe’ salvage places.

So if you where going to Elysium do you enter elysium?

I imagined Priest with Doc Mitchel's voice.

A chapter that begins with Blackjack being separated from her friends, with no knowledge of what happened before? Good thing I’m reading this story after it has been finished. Otherwise the suspense would kill me.

Priest, huh. What were the odds that he was religious?

Religion always feels a bit out of place in the setting. Especially if it’s an Equestrian version of Christianity with priests and churches who are worship the Royal Sisters. Maybe as a cult that was established after the War, but not as an organized religion that has been around even before.

I did? Fuck! I tried to look nonchalantly down at the screen. “Naturally, you’re testing my honesty?”
“Of course. That’s it precisely,"

Can’t blame her after the stunt Lancer pulled in the chapter 9.

I admit, I hadn’t liked Stable 99’s spiritual leader; she went around killing fun faster than the security ponies did, but I respected her.

Stable 99 had a priest? Considering how everything in Stable 99 was horribly fucked it, I don’t want to image what kind of sermons she preached.

For miles around the city, the Enervation saps the life and magic of any living thing. In some places there are Enervation fields strong enough to kill a pony. You won’t see a thing. You’ll simply start to die.

You’ve gotta love Hoofington. You may turn into a crazy cannibalistic raider. You may end up as a slave working yourself to death in a mine. Or you may be able to avoid these fates and then simply drop death because you walked into a enervation fields without knowing it.

It’s such a charming place.

No. But since the Enervation saps healing magic, keep an eye on your healing potions. If they go clear, that means the Enervation’s drained them enough to make them useless. If the potion starts turning other colors, gets cloudy, or starts to smell, run, and lose the potion.

So always keep a potion at hooves and check it every few minutes. It’s you’re mine canary.

Or you could use an actual canary. Thought they are hard to get in the Wasteland.

Why do you think life is so tough and desperate here? Almost anypony who can leave the Hoof does. Those who can’t live in the safest pockets they can find. But there are also great opportunities to be had here. Weapons and armor. Lost technology. Mineral wealth. Secrets. Things worth risking lives for, apparently.

Hoofington is basically the most fucked-up place in the Wasteland. That’s really impressive, considering how fucked up the rest of the Wasteland already is.

“This should be stapled outside every stable for any hornhead that goes racing out into the Wasteland!”

Sure and the first Wasteland who comes across them, takes them with him, because he needs toilet paper. Or some Raider decided to booby trap them for funsies.

An inner voice, sounding very much like P-21, muttered that he was probably a foal-fondling cannibal who sacrificed ponies to his idols of Celestia and Luna.

Can’t blame her for thinking like that. There’s probably at least one Pony exactly like this somewhere in the Wasteland.

Was I a super mutant raider bandit Wasteland walker who could shoot deathbeams from my glowing eyes?

I don’t think Super Mutants exist in Fallout Equestria. We have Alicorns for that.

Most ponies know of ‘Deus Ex Machina’. The name’s zebra-speak for ‘God of the Machine’. And yes, he gave it to himself.

An edgy name he gave himself? Always yelling Cunt all the time? Deus, is basically an angry twelve year old. An angry twelve year old murder machine, but still.

Lots of ponies have a favorite like Deus, Rampage, or Psychoshy, and discussions of their various fights can usually be found across Hoofington.

Psychoshy? Does being a Reaper means that you have to take a stupid codename? Sure Buttercup the Reaper doesn’t sounds that menacing. But could you guys at least try a little bit harder coming up with names that don't sound like something an edgy teenager would come up with?

This also doesn’t tell us what the Reapers actually do. Are they like warlords ruling over their own small kingdoms? Are the top-tier mercenaries? Or are the just saner Raiders? Probably not the later, because they seem to have fan clubs and Raiders are feared not admired.

Flank (only ponies eighteen and over)

That’s just going to encourage every horny teenager to go there.

If I’d read this long ago, would Scoodle still be alive? Because I would have believed a book more than her?

No. You still would’ve looked at your E.F.S, seen no hostiles and grabbed the box. Because sometimes you’re really not a smart pony.

It was stupid, but for some reason, her warning made me want to go even more. I wondered if there was some way to neutralize the defenses. A sniper like that black unicorn I’d seen with Macintosh’s Marauders. Maybe Gun could be… ugh. What was wrong with me?

You’re Blackjack. That’s wrong with you and that’s why I love you. As soon as you hear that a place full of dangerous monsters you basically scream with glee and want to go there as soon as possible.

Her eyes got big. Her smile got wide. “You got the money ta buy guns and stuff? Seventy-five!”

Oh Charity, you’re such a loveable asshole!

The city had been built to withstand any attack. Gray walls of concrete rose above the slithering moat of the Hoofington River. The towering buildings behind that wall had no windows facing out. They’d forsaken a view of the world outside in return for greater security. I couldn’t imagine an uglier city. I honestly couldn’t imagine any ponies actually wanting to live there.

Probably everypony living there choose so because he or she cared more about fucking over the Zebras than anything else.

Place was probably crappy even before the bombs dropped and only got worse afterwards.

My amber eyes pierced the darkness to make out a vaguely pony-shaped object. A horn... wings...
“No way...” I whispered. Then, with a flash, it disappeared.

Oh crap!

“Sweet Celestia’s crotch, she’s drunk ,” whispered the one in a dual-rifle battle saddle, goggling in astonishment.

From a half-full bottle of whiskey? Somepony can’t hold their liquor.

The bottle shattered as it smashed into the side of pistol boy’s face, and I telekinetically drove every single shard as deep as I could, dragging the remains across his features and down across his throat
The blue buck opened his mouth wide to yell for help and received a mouthful of gun. I spat out his bridle. “And now I gots a gun.” And I sent the back of his head across the room.

Okay this is probably just me but Blackjack is acting very cruel . She managed to get close to them with their guards down. She probably could’ve taken them out without killing them or at least tried to do so. But this feels just wrong to me.

Of course, normally there’s nothing wrong with killing people that are after your head for the bounty. But in the previous Chapters Blackjack was against P-21's “eye for an eye” approach. She even avoided killing the farmers who wanted to claim her bounty. Do Better and Be Kind are her core principles. But half a bottle of whiskey later and she’s tossing them out of the window.

He stood for one second and then jumped over the rail after his friend. Even with his newly-busted legs, he tried to stagger for the rear exit.

Can’t blame him for that. Drunken Blackjack is ten times as scary and effective as sober Blackjack. Also a lot more ruthless. Nor more worrying about killing and showing mercy. She’s just slaughtering everypony dumb enough to go after her.

“Cut her fucking throat! Hurry!” one yelled.
“But we got her!” the other laughed. I grinned into the face of the smart pony.

You guys never learn, do you?

I did find a medical brace in the security office, and helped splint one of Busted Legs’s busted legs. And I gave another healing potion to the other male.
“Well, take care of yourselves,” I said, rising with a groan.

To give her credit, even when drunk she’s still kind enough not to kill ponies who are no longer a treath to her and even gave them some healing potions to help them recover.

“My body fucking sucks,” I groaned, curling up and clutching my throbbing skull.

You say that you but you’re defiantly going to miss him eventually.

“Friendship. A virtue alone will inevitably erode. The Wasteland will poison it, corrupt it into a dark reflection of itself. A virtue corrupted is a horrible thing,”

A very sage advice.

“To Celestia.”

Sorry to disappoint you, but Celestia is busy being trapped inside a computer.

She was still smiling as the red beams lanced out from the top of the wall and swept through their bodies. Red energy swirled, consuming every inch of her being and turning it to ash. Celestia damn them, her smile was the last thing to disappear.

That was the last thing Blackjack needed after all the crap that already had happened to her.

Blackjack’s On-screen Body Count: 92

Guess we’re reaching the 100 within the next few chapters.

Forget Bottlecap, that filly should study under Usury. She had a heart of stacked caps. I’d at least gotten her to agree to spread the word to the other Crusaders to keep Glory, P-21, or Sekashi from following me till I returned. She also attempted to sell me the location of my stuff for fifty caps, even after I pointed out that I didn’t have money with me. This didn’t bother her in the slightest: I’d owe her when I got back.

I'm curious as to how they will follow her, whereas she was found alone, and nopony knew where they were.
Also... Charity is . Charity is 💱💵💸💴💷💰💳💲

Favorite chapter! Blackjack drunk and Frisky? Just send the whiskey.

“On the contrary. I get all too many, it seems,” he said cryptically before leaving the post office.

That's concerning

The fact that Blackjack almost killed Preist, crazy.

Well, there’s at least one thing I can say with certainty so far. Your fight scenes are GOAT-tier, even among professional authors. It would be an understatement to say that I’ve seen some skepticism about the second half. But as long as Blackjack never stops kicking ass, I think that alone might carry me to the end even if the rest falls apart.

Oh man, rereading this chapter was so much fun! I came back, wanting to read the museum fight scene, but stayed for the whole chapter. It is just too good not to! Blackjack is such a unique character, all of her lines, every single one, just screams "Blackjack". I have a need for some good writing and I feel like rereading the whole book. I need to force myself to give other's work a chance. Few minutes in, and I was back inside the book, clearly remembering the major scenes past and future, knowing exactly where I am in the timeline. This is how well the book flows.

I must do it more often, just open a random chapter and go. Enjoying the "short" snippets instead of diving in the deep for weeks.

This book is such a masterpiece, it just reads itself. So many people can back me up on this one. Somber's way of writing is top tier, 11/10. There is so much fun little bits, setups, lore elements weaved in every cranny the chapter can hold and it still reads well, without overwhelming the reader. The mysteries of every size, with hints scattered, building up in size up to the reveal. I think that is my favourite part of your writing, though it's hard to separate it from the rest with how intertwined it all is. There is an enormous variety of fight scenes, this one being the care-free, murdering spree kind.

6414387

Murky Number Seven doesn't whine over death, it's too depressing for that. Death is the easy way out in that story.

That's hysterically accurate.