Filly Rampage is the cutest!

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Wampage

That is a good perk for her actually. Two things (to this chapter anyway) seem to happen when Blackjack finds herself in trouble either her barding stops it or it goes right on through or just outright ignores it. In the first case of everyone is firing at her and not her friends so it's not an issue but on the other hoof... When something does get through, well, if that much firepower is being thrown around her squishier friends are going to need all the help they can get.

Filly Rampage is adorable, and I love it!

Gone… why is it always gone?

Pirates of the Caribbean reference? hehehehe.

Awesome new chapter man, haha! I love it!
Now I understand a little more about Rampage, the poor lass... But hey, even as a filly she still kicks ass! :rainbowlaugh ... is it weird I ship both Rampage and Blackjack? 8D

That ship captian! Yes! so much yes! XD hahahaha! I love it, I really do.

Keep it up!

Quite a few firsts in this chapter. First time seeing the cutest crazy immortal death machine. First time seeing Glory's diabolical cooking. First time her friends got a real glimpse into Blackjack's crazy. And last, but certainly not least, the first time we see the Seahorse. The bloody motherfucking Seahorse. No amount of cute, funny Captains or snarky P-21 jokes can amend my permanently ruined mental image of that goddamned boat.

6455003 funnily enough that never really put a damper on my view of the Seahorse.

Also I'd forgotten that particular story of Sekashi's. Reminds me why I always liked her so much!

6455062 Eh, it's not that I'm particularly hung up on it, but it was a rather poignant moment in the story, you know? It's not something that's easily forgotten, and so I'm reminded of it whenever the Seahorse is mentioned.
So when I think of the Seahorse, I think of that. An annoying factor of the brain to associate those things constantly.

Ironically enough, that was the only tale of Sekashi's I remembered. The whole thing reeked of foreshadowing to me, so I ended up remembering that one and none of the others. Personally, I always thought Sekashi was kinda creepy.

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Guess I will just have to keep certain things in mind, though I don't mind spoilers at all.

I love the captain! She's just amazing! Where's the rum gone?

“I did it again, didn’t I?”

Poor Rampage, I want to hug her too now.

He looked at the shaking foal with a look he’d reserved for me and the mine boss and thoughts of returning to 99.

For a sec I thought Thorn was being referred too. Dead but still shaking, creepy.

we used up most of our caps paying for EC-1101.

Which never got decrypted like advertised. Screwed out of 10000 caps.

The catch is that, so long as your soul is here, you can never pass into the everafter. And there is a price paid for rending something eternal.

This means the Mane 6 never passed on since the figurines are soul jars.

"Boom. Headshot."

stream1.gifsoup.com/view7/3892268/tf2-boom-headshot-o.gif

Just before we hit, Ditzy flattened out, flying over the rubble strewn fields of Miramare.

They were really close anyways. If Ditzy didn't drop they would have missed their stop.

Her captain’s a bit off, you know, but she’s the only one brave enough to risk it.

However, the captain is quite… erratic in his pricing.

Feels like pronoun conflict here.

Tying up Glory… that led into some downright disturbing neighborhoods of thought.

Satin, whips, chains, and latex.

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I take it you are talking about the pony who prayed to the stars story?

6456506 Aye. Make of that what you will, but that story really stuck in my head. Although I don't believe the story itself is all that relevant to the plotline, a lot of the themes within it all seemed pretty prominent. Hell, she talked about soul jars in the story, and a few paragraphs later Blackjack and the Goddess/Lacunae were talking about soul jars in relation to Rampage and the Black Book.
But anything starry in particular seemed significant to me. With all the talk of stars making deals, evil stars, stars corrupting, stars in Blackjack's room, Blackjack's weird starry nightmare, Nightmare Moon, Marigold going to the moon, Project Starfall being name-dropped earlier and adding in all the stuff about starmetal and star blasters from the original FO:E, it all coalesced to scream this is a very big deal to me when I read all this the first time.
But having actually read a significant quantity of the story already, well, I'm not going to spoil anything. I'll just say that Sekashi's stories really aren't that relevant.

Although, in relation to this:

This means the Mane 6 never passed on since the figurines are soul jars.

It was all Rarity with those figurines. The others (well, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and probably Rainbow Dash) should have passed on fine. This was all elaborated in the original FO:E.

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The way I understood the figurines from the original FO:E was that Rarity made them but she took little bits from all her friends. That is why the Be Strong, Be Smart, and It was under E! have an effect. Though I don't really want to search through 600+ k words to find where I read it.

6457377
I'm pretty sure it was all Rarity. She cut her soul into 43 pieces, kept 8 to herself, seven for her figurines and one for her body. She then imprinted the others' souls onto those pieces, which were then shoved into the figurines. Or something like that, I don't really remember much about the process, either. But I know that she didn't take any of her friends' souls, because the process of cutting her soul was described as redefining torture. I highly doubt she was able to inflict agony unspeakable on her friends in a stealthy manner, not that she would do it on principle. And for that matter, I really can't see Rarity doing it if it would doom all her friends to eternal unrest, also on principle.

According to the wiki, she used a special carpet to copy their souls, but I don't really remember that.

6457801
Hmmm, then I wonder if it would be possible to bring Rarity back. Though that seems to be redefining punishment was well if she can never go on to whatever is after death in the FO:E universe. Kinda also giving up on her friends as well.

6457951 Well, the whole point was that she wasn't giving up on her friends, She sent each of them a full set, of the seven she made, five went to the other element bearers, and the other two went to Spike and Princess Luna. The idea was that no matter how bad things got, and by how much they were separated, they would always be together, or something along those lines. That was why she went through so much effort that she imbued them with the essence of her friends themselves. Considering the fact that all the figurines got separated from one another and scattered about across the Wasteland, I don't think it worked, despite all of that.
It's not really all that weird for her to never pass on, honestly. The only main characters in FO:E canon that seem content to die and be done with it are Applejack and Princess Luna. Pinkie Pie is debatable, since her machinations and precognitions seem to be continuing on eternally, to the extent that all those Ministry of Morale propaganda posters actually seem plausible in stating that Pinkie Pie is watching you FOREVER!

I WILL read this someday. It'll probably kill me, but I will

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I didn't get the impression Luna was ok with passing on, even though she died in Celestia's arms. I could see AJ being OK with it, but should would also know that many of her friends did not get off as well as she did. Once Maripony is blown to hell for the second time, it seems like Twi moves on, Dash probably died somewhere, and Fluttershy is still alive at the end of FO:E. Though again, the afterlife is not really considered in the FO:E universe so there isn't a big hint as to if there is one or if dead is dead. However, the addition of souls muddies things a bit. But if there is an afterlife, then Rarity would be separated from her friends forever.

6459157 Are you forgetting the part where Littlepip finally gives her a respectful burial and she has a brush with the spirit of Luna?

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Most likely. I think I read FO:E maybe a year ago at this point and many other stories in that time.

Edit: I went back to "Shadow of the Ministry Mares" and didn't see anything really relating to Luna's spirit when her bones where burned. Just it raining inside her room and clearing the Pink Cloud.

6461542 I think that was the not so subtle hint of something supernatural going on...

On a separate note, Somber. One thing that kind of irks me about what I've read thus-far is the repeated use of "clip" being used to describe "magazines". First, there is a difference between the two; and second, there are only a few internal-magazine, clip fed weapons in the Fallout series - the Battle Rifle and This Machine being the only two I can think of, both are .308 chambered, M1 Garand rifles.

Yay! Blackjack made a friend!

6456506 No, it means RARITY never passed on since it was her soul shredded into 43 pieces. The figurines of the others were made via a soul reflection imprint.

We both stared at him a moment, then pointed at each other in unison and said in chorus, “She started it.”

It looks like they chose the latter.

“I… I never meant… I didn’t want this to happen again. Not again… not ever again,” Rampage blubbered as she looked down into the grave like she wanted to crawl into it as well.

Fuck, I'd almost forgotten how brutal this story can be. To equate Rampage with the word "blubbered" is chilling.

What is S.A.T.S?

And then Rampage was a Crystal Gem. :V So she's growing on me, especially from this chapter. I remember soul jars being a thing in the original, and I ave a suspicion there's more than one in her talisman. That would account for her ridicutie mark, after all. I was also very thankful for Glory's "not like in the movies" explanation of MPD. It's a breath of fresh air.

Also fresh is your adherence to Whedon's Law. That scene of P-21 getting frustrated as Blackjack taunts Rampage is just the funniest thing. :D Also, Captain Thrush. Not all of your characters have been equally so, but I have no idea how you get someone to be so instantly likable. You're still pre-stealing my ideas dammit

I'm gonna have to go back and reread the initial Macintosh's Marauders memory orb scenes, because I apparently didn't pay too much attention to them and things are really picking up. I'll assume I win no points for guessing the mare behind the curtain is Maripony.

I will say this chapter dragged a little with all the stuff about zebras. I mean, I appreciate the look into what exactly their beliefs about the stars were, and it was all interesting, but it's a huge infodump right in the middle. D:

6759940 Yeah, it took a bit for Rampage to start being fleshed out.

I think that one of the real trials for P-21 and Glory is that they need to put up with the fact that Rampage and especially Blackjack are children. Despite the fact that both are older than them. On the other hand, I think that the childishness, silliness, and impulsiveness—the general fun side of her—from Blackjack is an important factor in tempering her low moods and angst. Also Drunkjack is the best.

I love Captain Thrush; she's a ball. Not to take anything away from his putting a fun, likable character on the page, but I think in this case Somber might have had some help, or at least inspiration, if you know what I mean. ;D (ETA: Note: scroll down and look at the titles, or at the URLs.)

Oh, and because it's actually been an issue, Somber has had to come out before and say "just because I've done something, doesn't mean others can't use the same idea, even in FoE stories."

I think rereading them is likely a good call, because they do end up being a nice side story, and in some cases fairly closely tied to events and characters in the main one.

6760414
Icy Shake! :D Old buddy, old pal! D'you maybe happen to know where those scenes are so I don't have to go looking for them myself. <.<

I do not understand your bird speak. :B

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6760539
Okay, if you go to these chapters and search for the associated lines, I think you should get them all through chapter 19.

8:
Stars. They’d been a five letter word and a black page
(Macintosh and Maripony)

10:
Not peaceful! Not peaceful! Get me down! Get me down now!
(first actual Marauders)

12:
Flying again, a pegasus, a mare this time. Thank goodness.
(Jetstream and Vanity)

15:
Okay. Warning next time please!
(Macintosh and Maripony meet for the first time)

17:
Wow… no password or anything? Refreshing…
(Cupcake at the council with the Princesses)

19:
I was lying in a bed. A hospital bed, from the beeping machinery
(Stonewing's operation)

Oooooh! A party. As in a full five stars, red alert, don’t let the Overmare catch us, wow party!
(Marauders at the MoP party)

Jetstream. The memories that flowed from the orb weren’t the same as I was used to.
(Jetstream's memories of Stonewing)

6760650
That's even more than I'd hoped for, thank you! :D

“So what happened to Orion?”

“Ah, poor silly Orion with the heart of stone found himself stronger than the most terrible monster of the savanna. With his spirit within the unbreakable heart, he knew no fear, and so nothing could stand before his spears and hooves. But his tribe questioned how Orion could have gone from so little to so much. They questioned if he had used the forbidden magic of the stars, and Orion grew angry. He was strong and terrible, how dare they question how! In a rage, Orion slew his tribe from the elders to the youngest foal. And so he was left alone.

“For years he wandered. All zebras fled from Orion the traitor, for the blood of the slain had marked him in stripes of crimson. No monster could slay him, even as he wished it, for they could not devour the stone heart. No spear could fell him. And so he cried out to the stars to take their gift back. But the stars do not undo what they have done. So finally, he jumped so high that he reached the stars and joined them, hunting for the most terrible monsters of the skies in the hopes that one may slay him.”

oddly, i am suddenly reminded of Curse of the Sad Mummy.

6726073 Sparkle Assisted Targeting System.

The FOE variant of V.A.T.S. in the games.

I know that I shouldn't, but I completely "ship" P-21 and Blackjack. They just have such good chemistry.

Theres too of them ... ... ... I'm done, I quite ( go's back and reads Moore) lol

If I saw a skull appear on her butt, I

What would it do to rampy to shoot her in that state

Wow ok i was certain that Rampage was Twist.
Guess that blows that theory. But i'm still sure she was one of the marauders. We have had Doof and Stonewing so far.

So does Rampage age a lot faster than everyone? So wouldn't she be like an old mare after 10 years?

an egg of pink quartz wrapped in golden wire and glowing with an eerie pink-tinged light. A strange glyph in the egg’s center, a twisting whirlpool that throbbed like a heart, glowed more brightly than the rest, and there were more lights within

is rampage like Lust from full metal alchemist ? because if she is RUNNNN *runs for the hills*

(cue Irish sea fairing music to set off this boat trip!)

What shall we do with a drunken pony?
What shall we do with a drunken pony?
What shall we do with a drunken pony, early in the morning~

Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises
Way hay and up she rises early in the morning~

(worlds greatest sailor parody)

Now, let's set this ship off with a swig of rum and a 'traditional' sendoff!

Oh i ship Blackjack and P-21 so much, I know they probably won't get together because when does anything work out for Blackjack but still, I think they would be so happy together.

8076948

YEAHHHH!!!!!

Now, are we going, or do you two want to keep acting like two-year-old foals?”

We both stared at him a moment, then pointed at each other in unison and said in chorus, “She started it.”

I sighed as I looked the clouds, my gut clenching before I doubled up and hacked and coughed through my bruised throat.

I sighed as I looked at the clouds

A chorus of “Ew…” filled the air as the filly enjoyed her radish favored soda with a small smile of triumph.

enjoyed her radish flavored soda

And those gems were even more valuable to the zebras now than before; the new industries might have reducing the relative utility of the old talismans, but at an even higher rate they were creating new uses for enchanted gems.

might have been reducing the relative utility

I caught his look and chuckled… then coughed, hacked, brought up something a decidedly ‘bugh’ color, and spat it into a rag before shaking my head.

'bugh' is not a color I have ever heard of, did you mean 'bough'?

I assume profit follows on step three.

Ha, nice meme. Step 1: Take over Stable 99 Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit

A flicker, and world faded away.

A flicker, and the world faded away.

P-21 had strung a wire across the bottom of the stairs and up overhead, then had me tie three frag grenade by their stems.

then had me tie three frag grenades by their stems.

I had no doubt, as lay there in the post office, sucking down my third RadAway, that she was probably already looking for us.

as I lay there in the post office,

As Fourpony pointed out here: 6456506
The pronoun for the ship's captain from his to her seems odd. But it was her father's to Thrush herself. Or is it just Ditzy's slightly dated Wasteland Survival Guide?

“Gone… why is it always gone? A great tragedy strikes the Wasteland once again.”

Ha, just as I was thinking about this: Why is the run gone?!

For a chapter about what Mercy means, it sure has a handful of humorous moments.
Damn this chapter's foreshadowing.

8399764

'bugh'

Think "meh" or "blugh".

(Also 6456506)
I believe that the ship's captain pronoun thing is that the Guide is out of date enough to refer to her father, not Thrush herself.

The stallions stared on in shock as they looked from one of us to the other. “Sweet Celestia,” muttered the grizzled stallion as P-21 set down on his rump with a groan.

“There’s two of them. There’s two…” the blue stallion moaned in despair. “Celestia save us all...”

Can Equestria stand the strain? starting ch. 21...

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Can't help but remember my family saying the same thing when they met my ex.

Good memories.

I gave a snotty sniff, narrowing my eyes slightly. Maybe it was due to Caprice’s games, but I just wanted to know for sure who was pushing my buttons. “Funny. What kind of Goddess wouldn’t know?”

“WE DO NOT NEED TO DIVULGE EVERY–” I smiled.

Hi Trixie. Of course you couldn't let such a blow to your ego slide.

Ok, so we can assume that hundreds, if not thousands, of balefire bombs were dropped on equestria. My question is, why did they wait? Seriously, what went through the zebra’s (and equestrian’s) head to think that “ok, we have this new, super powerful, city levelling weapon. Should we use it now? No, we’ll wait, probably for a good few years, till we have hundreds we can drop all at once, and not drop them and scare the enemy into surrender.”

Just imagine if during WW2 the US decided to wait a couple years and build up a stockpile before nuking japan. It seems completely nonsensical to wait and not use your super weapon that, at the time you made it, your enemy can’t replicate.

this chapter kinda made me angry. and then just sad.