“Take two more steps,” he said softly.
“I… can’t…” I whispered. “I can’t move… I think my heart stopped…”
“Your heart is too strong to quit. Now take two steps!”
“Why…” I asked I sat in the cold water. “Why the fuck… do you care?” I asked as I shook. “You’re not real!”
The old stallion smiled at me. “Just because I’m not real doesn’t mean I don’t care. Now. Take two more steps.”

That's when I knew, he's much more than her Crazy. She should have pieced that together, or did she and I not realize it?

WOW! Three updates in one day!?!

thirstyforbeer.com/db/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/ThirstyForBeer_AwesomeGIFs-0011.gif

6475144 Point taken, but the narration is in-character.

6474887 Granted, the story is already finished, him and his editors just have to format it for fimfiction. I'm guessing some chapters need more fixing than others.

Is this MLP FIM's first look at FOE PH? Wow. Hard book to read. It does a number on the feels.

6475350
I know he's finished, it's the amount of chapters he adds daily because it is usually one or two chapters, but today he uploaded three! That's what I love, we get more to read.

It stopped and then stretched down to bump its muzzle against the tiny orange form of Applejack. From within the beast came a low little whine. Again and again it nudged the bucking figure before it sat down and raised its head in a long low howl. Looking at the figurine one last time, the giant mechanical beast turned and stalked back the way it had come. One by one, the remaining cyberdogs rose and trotted after it on softly clicking claws. Just like that, they disappeared back into the recesses of the tunnel.

“What the fuck was that?” Rampage asked as she adjusted her armor.

“I...” Was that… “I don’t know,” I said as I levitated the little orange figurine, sitting and hugging it as I looked in the direction the security cyberdogs had gone. I found myself imagining that the tiny Applejack was crying, though.

Aw god, not Winona! The feels are real here!

So this was where the Enervation got to its worst... Goodness, this is just crazily messed up!

Man oh man, what a chapter, this was dark as shit! but also enjoyable.
I loved how they all played together with the instruments, that was sweet in a way.

The underground... no darker or terrifying place then the underground.. doesn't matter what game, ya don't dwell for long in the underground.
Nice job!
I AM HAVING METRO FLASHBACKS!

Keep it up sucka!

6467386
Hmmm, I was never notified of this message.
I don't think Psalm has been mentioned as being sucked into Unity but I don't mind spoilers so read bits and pieces of the wiki page that was made for the story.

As a cynic, I find this story enjoyable. I've got nitpicks, but everyone does.

This and Fallout:Equestria makes me want to play the game over and over again.

Damn good read!

(Edit:I should probably point out that some of the information, whilst rather general in content could be considered spoilerish, so yeah, just warning you all.)

I started reading this shortly (within a week) of finishing Fallout:Equestria(F:E), near the beginning of this year. The ending of which had me almost in tears. I wanted to read something similar, an emotional roller-coaster like no other. I started this and noticed immediately that the tone was slightly different. Why shouldn't it be? You're a different author after all. So I plowed through determined to get through this monster of a story. I finally gave out about 3 weeks later around oh chapter 60 something-ish, maybe 63?

I just reached a point were it was getting to be too horrible (the situation, not the story). I couldn't take it and fell off. Don't get me wrong you're story is amazing, even if you tend to have Blackjack repeat learning the same lessons again and again sometimes. Or have her go through cyclical logic, in which she repeats the same arguments to herself and others just using slightly different words. Yeah, there were some issues.

Another thing I didn't particularly like was how you changed the story of the Ministry Mares (MM) via their interactions with Goldenblood. In the original story, all the faults of the world could be laid at the feet of the rulers of the respective nations, either not seeing the writing on the wall, or ignoring it purposefully. As a result, the apocalypse happened. It happened because of the choices the Mane 6 made. Yes, they were bad choices, made in a bad situation, which in hindsight was just overall bad. But they were just that, they were the MM's choices. All the decisions could be laid at their feet, sure people were fighting against them, or had their own agendas, but the Mares made the decisions based on their own judgements.

In your re-imagining of the situation, you essentially made the MMs puppets. You had them dancing to the strings of this Goldenblood character of yours. Essentially all the decisions, whether they be good or bad could, from your writing, be laid at the feet of one stallion. You, in essence, made the Mares seem completely blameless of the whole fiasco, because somebody was pulling their strings, controlling all the information and was somehow completely omniscient.

I liked that it was the MM's fault in F:E it made their stories that much more poignant. It gave them the feel of tragic characters, ones whom tried their very best but still fell short, instead of the victims they seemed to come across as in your story.

Maybe that wasn't your intention, but that is how the writing came across to me and I didn't like it.

So, now that I've got the slightly negative view points out of my system, I'd like to cover what I like so much about this story.

I love the character of Blackjack, I love that she keeps going no matter how much shit she has to wade through. I love that the damage she takes feels real. That she's not bulletproof, that if you shoot her, it will hurt (though obviously this becomes less of an issue later on for various reasons), that she knows her faults, knows that she needs to do better and goes out to prove to herself that she can do better.

I love the other characters as well of course, especially Rampage. She seems so simple at first and yet over time you realise that the simplicity belies a level of depth to her character, which was just being hidden.

As much as I disliked your retake of the Ministry Mares, I like what you did with the Enclave. You gave them a level of competence and organisation which they lacked in the original. You made them seem like a competent threat. It always struck me as a bit silly that near the end of the F:E the Enclave lose several of their biggest and strongest airships within minutes of each other. Their airships are regarded as dragon killers, so why were they destroyed so easily, for plot obviously, and while it was suitably epic, I always felt like they'd been undersold. You gave the Enclave some much needed dignity back, fleshed them out into a real group, with their own factions whose agendas lay in conflict with one another.

Most Excellent.

Finally, I just want to say how much I love that you've taken the wasteland and expanded it. You've not (for all my griping earlier) taken away from the original, you've merely added to what is one of the most endearing, heartbreaking and downright sadistic of subfandoms in a way which I and many others will always remember.

Thank you Somber.

p.s. I only meant to mention that I'd read quite a bit, but had to leave it to recover and that I was planning to go back to it. This kinda got away from me a little though. Still, I'm glad that it did.

Rainydaze

Well rested and restocked with food and ammo, we were ready to take on the tunnel. I expected it to be dangerous. I expected it to be dark and creepy.
I hadn’t expected it to be huge!

In retrospect, this ends up being one of the dumbest things they ever do. Still can't figure out for the life of me why they'd choose going in there over finding another way around, or, optimally, putting their quest on hold right there and perhaps regrouping for a bit. The story never really seems to provide enough justification for what they're doing. From chapter 1 to 16, the impetus for their actions was simple; Deus and a bunch of bounty hunters were out to get them. From 17 to 22, it's getting home and checking up on the occupants of Stable 99. From 23 onward, it's suicidally following Blackjack into the depths of hell itself because of some vague feelings she has about what's on her PipBuck.

As far as they know, aside from the impending war between the Steel Rangers and the gangs of the Hoof, there's no crisis that immediately affects them. If I were one of her friends, at this point, not only would I question her sanity, I would suggest that she try continuing her little adventure alone, and then spend a while chilling at Chapel. Instead, they wake Cognitum and then nearly kill themselves. Smooth.

6474878 Remember, Blackjack is not a smart pony.
And even if she were, I'd forgive her for not realizing it in the moment since she's actively dying from 3-4(if you count enervation and hydra separately) things I can think of

6477961 She also doesn't go back in the tunnels that run under the Core for a very, very long time.

6478440 I suppose she did learn her lesson, after all. I mean, who hasn't ventured into a high-level area in a Fallout game unprepared and ended up set upon by like three Feral Ghoul Reavers simultaneously?

6478503 I got eaten at Quarry junction first time I played FONV.

6478503
Feral Ghoul Reavers still make my skin crawl when I see their metal armor rended flesh, gives me chills. I hate having to waste so much ammo to kill one. No freckn' fair. Finding a Reaver in a tunnel is always an unwelcomed surprise. Those ghouls can make quick work of albino radscorpions and deathclaws alike. If I come across three Reavers at once.. nope, not thinking about that possibility.

6478617
If I may reply.
Goodsprings seems the pleasant starting town in the game, and then I looked at exploring beyond the boundaries of the town. With 10 Luck I am risking for the Strip's casinos when I get there. How did I die? By a similar hard-to-kill enemy..
Cazadores straight up north looking over the road from the cliffs, I died from the onslaughting cazadores with too little antivenom (1) and looked for alternative route to New Vegas. Cazadores, never again without proper amount of antivenom and a better weapon. For now it's a nopenopenope against them.

I knew full well starting Fallout: New Vegas to avoid Quarry Junction at all costs. Only cost me two stealth boys, but from my sneaking expedition at level 3.. deathclaws are terrifying up-close simply walking around the quarry and nearby train station. The creatures just walk around aimlessly around the deserted area. That's my Fallout: New Vegas first-time playthrough. Got up to the Strip North Gate, so far.

I took a deep breath, trying to think of something to say. “I wet the bed!” I blurted. She blinked in shock.

Good example why blurting out things is not a good idea.
I love the comedy scenes like these, unexpected and laughing at my sides.
The timing for comedy is perfect, always a fantastic surprise and I love them.

That and the little-pony-in-my-head theme carried over.

Oh please tell me Glory will be alright, that is, the memory orb flashbacks were just that, she doesn't really have a wing detached from her body. Right? Oh the nightmares of mutilation .

Better have a bunch of RadAways, and take some time to heal from those wounds.

Descent into Hell

Anxiously awaiting the next chapters now, I will not fall behind so easily!

Well, I finally finished this story and I really don't get what some people were on about? This story is epic. And apparently some people say that its not worth the read?

The energy needed is the product of the square of the amount of mass to be transported, the square of the distance to be covered, Fireflash's constant, and the inverse of the amount of radiation I've absorbed.

This implies that teleporting becomes more efficient the more radiation she has absorbed.

Unfortunately, he was one tough, quick zebra. His face and chest bleeding, he disappeared back around the corner.

Aren't the missiles supposed to have the power of a shotgun blast? Would he have lived if he was narrated as being blasted with a shotgun?

Clearly, they work though you. You guided me to my target.

"through"

An emerald beam struck Lancer in the chest.

How is he still moving? The thing must have passed through him like it did BJ.

Then her nose began to bleed. Her foals began to wail. Her sight dissolved in a red slurry as her body collapsed, but the scream went on and on and on…

Hmmmm, so something happened as the shield went up that caused the Enervation.

she gasped as I dragged her through the water.

Why do I get the feeling that ain't good water, if it even is water.

I wonder why Glory's wing just fell off. The others had similar injuries and such. Her wings are supposed to be the toughest part of her body and I don't think the dog cracked her bone. I am thinking it is just a plot device.

Days later after I read the chapter (don't remember which one and not going to check, these suckers are long!) I finally figure out (I think) the father and mother of the foal that Blackjack descended from. Of course this might be just be me adding 2 and 2 and getting Discord but I think I've got it.

So, everything that happens from here on out is just Blackjack's punishment for being "not a smart pony" and is actually her purgatory. Headcanon confirmed.

Holy fuck... Winona, a mechanical monster pony, and I swear I want to jump in the story and take Glory home with me! And Scotch Tape... Hell I just want to give them my guest room!

New perk added: Forged in the Hoof

I feel like that should be a quest perk.

6687297 can you do better?

NO JUST NO TO ALL OF THAT

Well, fuck.

I was glad to see Lancer again. Kind of wondered if he would return. So he's Sekashi's... son? Or just the son of her husband, by another mare? I was very pleased with the way Lacunae was written; she's got tons of magical power, but she's not immortal and, best of all, her ammo is finite. :B I REALLY HOPE SHE ISN'T VINYL SCRATCH

P-21 and Priest. Unexpected. <.< I'm super-happy for him, but I can't help thinking it's just going to end up with him getting hurt. I mean, if nothing else, dating Rampage's ex can't be healthy. :V

Winona got worse than Gummy. c.c At least he wasn't designed. Seriously, who the fuck came up with that and why did AJ allow it? If that scene bothered me, it's because they literally couldn't have survived without the deus ex machina (invocation of his name was timely) and at least one coincidence. The final sequence makes up for that somewhat, though. Everything from the lights shutting off to the end of the chapter was super-creepy and awesome. (Why is it always Glory though? D:) My only real complaint is that it stretched on a bit long for the sake of jamming tiny bits of backstory in. It's a clever technique, but it was overused.

6687297I'm sorry, I know that this comment is over a month old, but I can't let this level of firearms related misinformation go uncorrected. I thought I could, I really thought I could, but I couldn't.

What the fuck is this bullshit?
Okay first things first? Why? What was the point? What the flying fuck would you eject a perfectly good bullet and jam it back into the rifle? What it just to show off? What it to intimidate? Wtf?!?!

Blackjack ejected the round, Lancer put it back in. It's in the section you quoted. And it's round or shell, the bullet is the bit that goes down range after you pull the trigger.

Secondly, it'shysically impossible to happen. That rifle is loaded with a mag, with a bullet in the receiver yes?

I hope so, it's kind of impractical to carry single shot firearms around when you can run into ponies with freaking miniguns, even if Lancer is a sniper. And it's chamber, mate; the receiver is the front end of the action, the chamber is part of the receiver, and the round goes in the chamber.

Then you can't just eject the bullet like that, you need to fire it first. Once you coach the bolt and load a bullet into the receiver the bolt will not physically move UNLESS you fire the bullet first. THATS HOW BOLT-ACTION FIREARMS WORK YOU AMALGAMATION OF WEAPON-ORINATATED STUPIDITY!

Th' fuck is coaching the bolt? Based on context, I guess you mean to say cycle the bolt, but I'm not sure. I've never heard the term before, honest. As for the bolt locking until the gun is fired, that is something I have only seen on pump action shotguns. And even then, there is a button that you can push that unlocks the bolt so that you can clear, or unload, the gun without firing it. Any other action type (be it bolt, auto, or lever), the bolt can be cycled regardless of whether the chambered round has been fired or not.

Furthermore, even you somehow magically cycled the bullet out there's still a whole magazine of bullets there.

Yes, there there would be, and the logical thing to do would be to slam the bolt home, clambering the next round. It would be much quicker than catching the round and spitting it back in the gun, but then we wouldn't have seen Lancer's epic zebra ninjaness.

And once you cock the bolt you load another one, so unless this asshole is jamming a bullet where another bullet already is~ in the process destroying the rifle ~then this is utter bullshit.

You cock hammers, you cycle bolts. Loading is when you put the rounds in the gun or magazine, chambering is when you strip the round from the magazine or belt and push it into the chamber to fire it. As for the gun attempting to chamber two rounds at once, that's called a double feed, and no, it doesn't destroy the firearm. What it does do, however, is gum up the gun for the second or so it takes to clear it, which is as simple as opening the action and dumping the rounds out.

Do you actually understand how weapons work? Or is this just stemming from hours of testosteronated Call of Duty matches?

Me, yes. I own several rifles and pistols and have handled, and fired, many more, of every major action type. I am a huge gun enthusiast and have numinous books on the subject and have quite a bit of experience. As for Somber, while I can't speak for his personal experience, it appears from the way that firearms and gunplay is described here (with a few minor exceptions, like the interchangeability of clip and magazine and the separation of 5.56mm and .223 caliber), that he at least knows what he is talking about.

Edited to add a pony face and a comma.

“Lacunae, pretend for a minute that I don’t know anything about alicorns, mathematics, teleportation, or arcane science. Can you teleport us all across the river?”

You never studied, did you Blackjack.

Lacunae had said parts of her were missing. I’d eat my tail if this wasn’t one of those parts. Lacunae, alicorn or not, was a musician. I was sure of it as our four notes blended together into one whole. The contrabass hit the eight notes with regularity, providing the foundation for the other three. Harmony. It might not be Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, or Loyalty, but as sure as the stars in the sky and overhead, it was Magic.

Beautiful.

It stopped and then stretched down to bump its muzzle against the tiny orange form of Applejack. From within the beast came a low little whine. Again and again it nudged the bucking figure before it sat down and raised its head in a long low howl. Looking at the figurine one last time, the giant mechanical beast turned and stalked back the way it had come. One by one, the remaining cyberdogs rose and trotted after it on softly clicking claws. Just like that, they disappeared back into the recesses of the tunnel.
“What the fuck was that?” Rampage asked as she adjusted her armor.
“I...” Was that… “I don’t know,” I said as I levitated the little orange figurine, sitting and hugging it as I looked in the direction the security cyberdogs had gone. I found myself imagining that the tiny Applejack was crying, though.

This scene honestly makes me cry every time.

6477199 To be fare I don't think it was trying to say Goldenblood manipulated them completely. The six made bad decisions all on their own. He influenced things certainly, maybe pushed them at critical junctures, but there is more to it than just that as we learn later.

6808243 You are correct on pretty much everything you said.

I'm assuming the standard Zebra rifle Lancer uses is something in the fashion of an M1 Garand, where you have a clip, and a bolt you have to work to use to eject the casing of the fired round, and move the next bullet up to be pressed home into the breach by the bolt coming forward. It's not hard to take an ejected round that hasn't been fired because you pull the bolt back, to merely place it back into the breech, letting it take the place of the next round that would normally be chambered in the magazine.

You can do the same with a pump shotgun too, where you just pull back the pump, which ejects the shell, and while the chamber is open, you could place another round in it and go on like normal, or let it feed from the tube magazine.

And because I can... how to disarm someone with a "Chinese Assault Rifle".

6687297 You're over analysing.

I need to purge a bit... blame the Enervation... ah, spoilers below for up to chapter 26, be warned. Further, some negativity, mostly surrounding one character, incoming, so be warned about that, too. Still, if you're reading this story, you can handle it.

Ugh... Goldenblood is really trying to suck the life out of this for me. It's not the excessive dark, it's not that it feels like it's often neglecting both sides of the crossover in favor of simply wallowing in misery (and yes, fellow readers, I know it gets worse ), it's not even Blackjack's repetitive back and forth in attempting to deal with the Wasteland (can't blame her, see the rest of this sentence). Nope, it's this guy... I definitely see his relation to Blueblood in my desire to reach through the monitor and punch them both.
It feels like this fic is trying to one up Fo:E with a Gary Stu who's been inserted into history as this master tactician working brilliantly behind the scenes. Too brilliantly... he's obnoxious and utterly contemptible, and I don't mean as a villain or whatnot. The very notion of his existence in the lore is anathema. The whole point that was wonderfully delivered in Fo:E about the six was that they couldn't manage to save the world apart. Noble and well-intentioned as they were in their failings, once they let their own ministries and own ideas about how to end the war distract them from each other, things started to go wrong. If they'd coordinated with each other, shared ideas or even just more of each other's company more... who knows? But now, according to this, they had a whole other ministry devoted to coordination, or something, with Goldenblood at the head of it all. Practically everyone is in awe of him, many seem to want him or fear him (or both) and it kinda makes me want to strangle the au-... nevermind that sentence isn't going anywhere good. The story tells us, a couple times, that he's not as smart as Twilight, but it's an informed attribute. He knows EVERYTHING... including the two years he purged from her mind (yeah, had to walk away for awhile at that one, and she kissed him first, ugh I need to throw up). He's smoother than Rarity, more perceptive than Pinkie, works harder than AJ... are you getting where I'm going here? Spike respects him as a father figure... ugh, it's nauseating. He's more than once had me hovering over the thumbs down and I'm sure he's far from done. ...But... only hovering... god I hate him... but not the story.

And that's.... quite a trick. This story has a major character that I hate as much as I've ever hated any character in any story, not counting the obvious flat villains out there raping children and such (which... we also have in this fic... yay...) and I'm still enjoying it. So much dark, more than enough to induce apathy one would think, and I'm usually early to that particular check out line. Not this time. I'm looking forward to the more than million words I have to go, even with the semi-spoilery comments I've skimmed about how it's only going to get darker. Honestly? Blackjack drunk almost negates Goldenblood for me. Those sequences are simply amazing. I've caught myself singing 'Shoulda just sent the whisky' at work... and getting odd looks from a coworker. I assume it's that I can't carry a tune because it's clearly not the lyrics; they're awesome.
Rampage is a lot of fun as well. Is she a shout out to Full Metal Alchemist homunculi, or am I seeing pattern where there's only coincidence (looking at you, Lancer... and really zebras in general)? She seems to have several souls in her, and certainly a gemstone that regenerates her from basically anything (sometimes as a filly for some reason... weird but adorable in a terrifying sort of way... that Ripper...). In any case, her default persona (ponysona? whichever) is more likable than I expected, here's hoping they solve that other persona... (though I'm not holding my breath... this fic doesn't have the hopeful undertones of Fo:E, quite the contrary, ah well). The others.... I just worry about, but that's to be expected in something this dark. They're strong characters, both in story terms and in context, focus on any of them maintains an interest. That's impressive with this many, it really is.

There's a strong sense of emotional rollercoaster... by which I mean I can practically see the tracks and hear the underpaid kid telling me to tighten the restraint bar and enjoy the ride. While that would generally lead to me going full apathy and just reading out of curiosity, it hasn't happened here. That speaks to the talent on display in this work. So have yourself another upvote, may Goldenblood choke on it, but the story deserves it... so far. I have a long way to go. Who knows, maybe I'll even hate him less by the end (again... not holding my breath).
Thanks for bringing this to this site, making it possible that I'd stumble across it. Given the sheer size, it must be a fair bit of extra work getting it to this wider audience. Especially for newer fans (such as myself) of the show and the fan-made works surrounding it, it's quite a generous undertaking. Charity would never admit it and it's presumptuous of me to say it, but I think she'd approve.

What just happened?

“I know the feeling,” Priest said softly. And once more, their lips met and their eyes closed, Priest’s in kindness and P-21’s in desperation. I was pretty sure that that was my cue to leave. I trotted silently away.

What. In the name of all that is holy...

Welp, I would certainly say this is another huge step.
What lies below Hoofington is truly ghastly, and ghosts most certainly exist there now.

Terrifying.

Slowly, she moved to stand behind the three of us. I levitated one of the books of music over and flipped through. “What should we play?” I asked as I looked at the titles. Then one caught my eye. “Canon D? What about A, B, and C?”

oh, i just have to put this here:

“The energy needed is the product of the square of the amount of mass to be transported, the square of the distance to be covered, Fireflash's constant, and the inverse of the amount of radiation I've absorbed.”

That's some right shady algebra. Scarily clean, considering all the different variables going on. You'd need standard measurements balancing them all together somehow. If I'm reading this right, then the SI unit for magical energy would be defined as kg(^2)m(^2)/Gy, with Gy being "gray", which is a unit equivalent to 100 rads, and defined as m(^2)/s(^2). That means the magic unit's definition simplifies to kg(^2)s(^2). Therefore, magical energy is (somehow) a function of mass squared times time squared.

Checkmate, Somber. What do I win?

trying to figure out what the Tokomare was supposed to be.

Warning end of book spoiler.THIS is completely random foreshadowing that no one got the first time. Also how the hell did he get his hands on the schematics of the end game boss anyway?

This time, I was twenty percent faster.

lol, rainbow dash figurine is rubbing off her

I saw the shadow and smirked. “Do you believe in Glory?”

Now that was a good pun

She scowled at me. “I owe you no answers!” I racked a fresh round into Vigilance’s chamber without blinking. I wasn’t going to take another chance with a pony capable of smashing any of us to goo. She pressed her lips together, then said slowly, “We were scouting a zebra encampment south of Brimstone’s Fall… We were… ambushed. Wounded. Twist…” She blinked in shock. She froze as she stared into my eyes. “Is this a dream?”

so, she too was a marauder. seriously, Blackjack keeps saying that they were marauders before the proof pops up. is this intentional foreshadowing or is the author going back and rewriting things and forgetting to not put in information that isn't evident up to that point? funny thing is i remember the article about the zebras with the red stripes and i thought of it when Blackjack first noticed her stripes.

It stopped and then stretched down to bump its muzzle against the tiny orange form of Applejack. From within the beast came a low little whine. Again and again it nudged the bucking figure before it sat down and raised its head in a long low howl. Looking at the figurine one last time, the giant mechanical beast turned and stalked back the way it had come. One by one, the remaining cyberdogs rose and trotted after it on softly clicking claws. Just like that, they disappeared back into the recesses of the tunnel.

Winona is still the ever faithful friend she always was. anyone else see that coming? i did.

9143926
Blackjack had a memory orb of all the Marauders together, giving their names.

I gotta say this dealer is one of the biggest reasons why I keep reading this...

I need answers and hope to get them.

This Alicorn seems awfully familiar...

“Perhaps. But some of you are heavy, and it is almost certain that the Steel Rangers would try to shoot us down. Alone, I could handle that, but if I have to focus on carrying somepony else at the same time...” That didn’t sound like a risk we wanted to take.

Flying is still a viable option as long as you don’t attempt it right next to the bridge. The Ranger most likely don’t have enough horsepower to guard the whole river. Move a mile away from the bridge, wait until nightfall and try stick as close to the Cloud Cover as possible. The Ranger’s Power Armors probably come with Night vision, but even they would have a hard time spotting a small flying object so close to the clouds. Assuming they even look up, when they don't expect an attack from that direction.

Sure it may take a while but it’s safer than crawling through the tunnels. Especially since you don’t know if the Rangers know about the tunnels and have guard posts on their ends. And if they don’t have guard posts, it mean that there’s something really nasty inside, that’s worse than a group of Steel Rangers.

“Tunnels on top of tunnels on top of tunnels,” I said as I rose to my hooves and started pacing. “They dug tunnels to bring building materials under the river. And they buried all the power lines and the like after zebras started attacking with dragons; it was safer. They probably connected all the bases to the city by tunnels too.”

Hoofington was the most attacked city in the war. Perfectly reasonable to put all the important (and secret) stuff underground. Basically a whole city under the actual city, protected from airstrikes.

Similar things happened in Germany during the air raids in World War 2, although not to the same that extend.

“Ponies know nothing. Why do ponies always stick noses where not belong?” Rover grumbled as he picked through the wall of his workshop.

It’s always nice to see a familiar face in this story. Didn’t expect the Sand Dogs to appear again anytime soon.

The Halfheart gang was also making our lives difficult now that word was out that Security had turned down Big Daddy’s offer. We’d been dealing with snipers all morning; it’d gotten to the point where Lacunae shed her dress and, together with Glory, swept out the snipers’ nests in the windows of the crumbling apartment buildings.

“Hey look! It’s Security! The Pony who killed Deus and Gorgon, defeated half the Zodiacs and whipped out several Raider nests. And she accompanied by her whole group which includes Rampage and somepony that’s obviously an Alicorn trying to pretend to be a big Unicorn. Let’s attack them!”

First rule of being a bandit: Attack soft targets! Not the group of heavily armed ponies who are known to eat Raiders for breakfast.

Food came in through Riverside and salvage from the tunnels left. A lot of that equipment was being traded with Brimstone’s Fall and Chapel. Trade was saving the Wasteland.

Thank god, at least some of the stories have a happy ending.

“We only use convicted ponies from Hightower, and only after removing most of their memories and personality. The brain, preserved in gel, just acts as a processor.”

Not sure if that’s better or worse. Assuming this isn’t a blatant lie and they’re still fully aware of their situation. Or not even criminals in the first place.

“Golden Pony say he fix home if could. Get rid of poison. Make apologies. But he not. Over time, he forgot about us till very end. Even Golden pony used dogs.”

Goldenblood sounds more and more like Blackjack. A pony trying to do the right thing and almost killing himself over it.

“I know it could be worse. I expect it to get worse,” P-21 said as he looked ahead at the striped pony. “In fact, things are so pleasant right now that it’s starting to make me feel paranoid.”

I share that feeling. There’s no way that this is just a creepy but otherwise harmless trip through old tunnels. If monsters exist in your setting and your characters have to travel through underground tunnels, they are guaranteed to run into something nasty down there.

Thanks to Homelands I know that they met something in the underground that traumatized Scotch. But even without that knowledge, I would expect them to be jumped by something really nasty.

“I know. I know. But… now I don’t have Mom… or home… or anything. All I have are you and your friends. You’re the last bit of Stable 99 I have. And you left too. And…” her voice trembled again as she clenched her teeth together, “and I am… I don’t want to lose anypony else. I’m going to be tough. I’m…” she pressed her face to my chest and she gave a soft little sob. “I’m not crying,” she said softly amid the tears.

It finally comes all out! Knew she was far to calm and accepting, after everything she went through.

Because I pointed in a direction, and any direction, even Hell itself, was better than sitting around and slowly falling apart?

That’s not unhealthy at all. Not in the slightest, bit. A bunch of broken and traumatized ponies lead by an even more traumatized alcohol addict.

Lancer’s face.

Fancy seeing you her!

She glanced at me as I racked the shotgun and blasted at her striped attacker. Rampage caught more than a little friendly fire, but her opponent dropped in a bloody, striped heap.

After three Chapters, it’s finally time to update the body count again.
With an electric crackle and a purple flash, we disappeared and reappeared out in the rain next to the subway stairs.

I've two things to say about this battle.

Firstly: These Remnants put the group in more trouble than every other enemy before. Of course, most of the enemies they faced before were mostly Raiders. The Remnants used actual combat tactics against the group, which put Blackjack and Co. into real trouble. Maybe this is a hint that "playtime" is over and the group is now facing far more deadly and dangerous opponents. Or maybe I'm wrong and next time the Remnants get crumb stomped by the group.

Secondly: They had years to raid and destroy the museum and only now made a move? At the exact same time Blackjack and Co. showed up? They either had the worst timing or this was an ambush set for the group. I hope it's later.

2: What are the odds, the Remnants just happened to be in the museum at the exact same time Blackjack and Co. entered it? It doesn’t seems to be coincidence. Somepony probably knew that they would go to the museum and the Remnants either planned to ambush and kill Blackjack or tried to destroy the museum to prevent Blackjack from obtaining something.

Confusion entered her eyes as she started to look at us. “Shujaa,” she said as she straightened a little. “Did you miss the red stripes? Are you colorblind?” She looked at my barding in suspicion. “You are not with the army.”

There are multiple personalities inside her head! One of them is a Zebra Proditor who still believes that the war is going on. Another one kills children – could be a serial killer – and is aware what happens when Rampage is in control because tried to break Blackjack by mentioning the fourthly foals.

Honestly, at this point I’m not I would want to have Rampage around me. She's cool and all but you never know how many different personalities are inside her head, what triggers them and how they react.

“Careful, ma’ams and sir. There’s mines buried around the town now,” the ghoul pegasus rasped.

Being outside really has done wonders for Harpica’s mental state it seems.

“You owe Charity for six spark batteries and a bottle of Wild Pegasus! Cough ‘em up!” Medley declared as I wailed and collapsed beneath the four, thrusting my PipBuck into the air before I disappeared from sight.

That’s the most adorable mugging in the history of muggings.

And trade saves the Wasteland.

I would even say that trading is one of the cornerstones of civilization. Rob people and you gain a short-term benefit. Establish trading relations and you have long term benefits for everyone involved. Unless is slave trading. Or drugs.

There is a funny story I know:

We now proudly present: Sekashi narrating Project Horizons.

Sekashi: „There’s a funny story I know: Once upon a time there was a Stable ruled by an insane tyrant. They kept stallion as sex slaves and killed the oldest one once he was the 21th stallion in the Stable. One day evil ponies attacked the Stable and killed many of them. So one not very smart Pony from the Stable tried to lure him away by taking the item the leader of the evil ponies wanted and made a run for it. During her journy the not very smart Pony saw many amazing things. She also killed 40 foals, had to whipe out her whole Stable, almost died of a drug overdose and became so broken that she attempted to kill herself. Among her companions was one of the Stallions from the Stable whoes lover she had killed, a idealistc Pegasus framed and branded as an outcast by her own people and an immortal Earth Pony with vocies in her head that killed her own daughter."

Audience member: “That doesn’t sound funny at all!”

Sekashi: „Just wait until the end. That’s where it gets really hilarious!”

once upon a time there was a young zebra who was a member of the Remnant. She trained in the Zenith style of combat, learned her potions and poison, and the art of wind… of infiltration and stealth.

Didn’t saw that coming. If it was mentioned somewhere in Homelands, I either missed or forgot it. She must have been really scared by the Remnants if she thought that slavery in a mine was the better option for her and daughter.

It also makes me believe that Lancer made sure they would survive the gunshots. He manages to execute every single of the Zebra slaves except the two he wanted to kill? Not very likely!

She shivered. “To explain that… you must know of the Eater of Souls.”

The Eater is already introduced? I always assumed the Eater as final villain was something that Somber decided to do much, mucht later.

When ponies came to this land, we tried to warn them of the star’s evil. We told them that fallen stars only sleep within the earth, not lie there dead, and that which sleeps may dream.

That puts the Zebra's constant attacks on Hoofington into a new light. They still believed Luna to be Nightmare Moon and went crazy when she took over. So if they really believed that there was an ancient evil under the city them bombing a peaceful city doesn’t seem to be out of place.

They act a lot like the Empire from 40k: Blow everything up, just to be sure!

“I don’t,” P-21 murmured as he reached up to touch his neck. Priest silenced him with a kiss that turned his whole face red. I started to pull away, but what I heard next made me linger.

Wow! Priest is into stallions! And he and P-21 are in a relationship! Never would’ve seen any of this coming in a million years!

Puts him rejecting Blackjack and (initially) Rampage into a whole new light. It’s not because he’s apPriest. It’s because he’s gay.

Dawww these two are cute together.

“I’m such a bad pony… and she’s... she’s so good it hurts! But she killed him, though… I should hate her! Shouldn’t I? You can’t forgive and love somepony who killed somepony you loved! That’s… messed up…”

Turns out Glory is the only gay character in the story with P-21 being Bi with a strong preference for stallions thanks to systematic abuse he suffered from the mares of his Stable. On the one hand I would’ve preferred him to be gay on the other hand, he and Blackjack have such a good chemistry together.

Blackjack raped him and killed his lover. Her victim falling in love with her sounds really, really messed up. Yet this story makes it work by actually acknowledging the problems and showing us that Blackjack has truly become a better pony that hates herself for what she did in Stable 99. That’s good writing.

Glory made dinner. Rampage pretended to be poisoned by it.

Are you sure she’s just pretending?

My dreams were normal, full of chlorine and screams, rooms full of foals with a softly singing lullaby, and a hanging friend.

Leave it to PH to give us some really sweet and cute moments, only to punch the readers in the guts by reminding us that, yes Blackjack is still an emotional wreck.

“I wet the bed!” I blurted.

Huge respect to Blackjack for doing that in front of all her friends just to spare Scotch the embarrassment!

Then Scotch Tape jumped on its back, squeezing tight with all four hooves as she beat on the dome with a wench clenched in her jaws. The dome cracked, popped, and finally shattered as she pulverized the gray wad with the end of her wrench.

For a filly fresh out of a Stable with no combat experience that sure was badass. Cyberdogs beware! The Green Menace has a wrench and she’s not afraid to put the bad dogs to sleep!

It stopped and then stretched down to bump its muzzle against the tiny orange form of Applejack. From within the beast came a low little whine. Again and again it nudged the bucking figure before it sat down and raised its head in a long low howl.

There’s Winona. Is anyone actually surprised that putting her brain into a large cyborg body was a bad idea? Especially after Deus, Gorgon and all the other pre-war experiments? Atleast somewhat sane and not a completely mindless beast.

Like one that was supposed to make every zebra in an entire city want a worthless rock to the point of killing each other. Or one that was supposed to transform everything in its volume of effect to water. I understand that one megaspell actually was supposed to made every zebra affected swap sides and be loyal to Princess Luna.

Fuck you ponies! That's sick and horrifying!

Matrix 7> 5% charge remaining. Target not selected.
Matrix 8> 100% charge remaining. Target not selected.
I sure hoped that the one Glory and I had found was the 100% one. I dropped to the next file. There was a lot more corruption, but I managed to find a few more bits of information.
Spell Matrix 7> Details: Come to Life Spell. ERROR. Data Corrupted.
Spell Matrix 8> Details: ERROR. Data Corrupted. ERROR. Data corrupted.

Pretty sure the one you found is 7 with the Come to Life Spell that turned the corpses into glowing skeletons. So whatever 8 is, it’s going to be really nasty.

“YOU!” Every monitor in the control room flashed on, each one showing a staring eye. Each one looking at me as that voice crackled through countless speakers echoing throughout the factory. “EC-1101! GIVE IT TO ME!”

Things just turned from already pretty bad to really, really worse.

I shrugged the minigun and ammo drum aside and carefully laid Scotch Tape across my shoulders. I should have left her with the Crusaders. Why had I let her come with us?

Excatly! Why did anyone of you morons thought it would be a good idea to drag a child along when you knew that you were going into dangerous places? Blackjack at least has the excuse of not thinking things through but neither Glory nor P-21 had any objections to this? Shame on you guys.

It wasn’t a scream as if from a pony’s throat. It was almost like the memory of a scream that I couldn’t get out of my head. And this wasn’t a single pony… it undulated and rose and fell and was mixed with hysterical laughter, babbling, crying, and pain. I couldn’t shut it out or shut it up.

This tunnels makes the Fluttershy Medical Center look like a nice place.

“We… we are not going to die.” I gasped, coughing and spitting up more blood. I felt like my heart was going to stop at any moment. “Just… keep walking, Glory! There’s a way out. There’s got to be.”
“I’m not even a pegasus now! I’m not Enclave. I’m not anything,” she wailed as she broke into bloody tears, hugging her wing to her chest.

In the same chapter she talks about how durable Pegues wings are, they fall off. Someone has a really dark sense of humor.

i.ibb.co/xLnHnDS/neverending-circle-2.png

Okay, this is one of the few times I think the story was just unnecessarily cruel to the characters. Maybe it’s because it’s Glory, who comes across as more fragile compared to Blackjack, P-21 or Rampage. Maybe it’s because she already lost her Cutie Mark and her home and went through enough? Maybe it’s because for a Pegasus losing his wings is simply a horrible thing?

It's just so much in such short order. Two chapters ago Blackjack put a gun to her head, intending to kill herself. Last Chapter P-21 actually tried to hang himself. This chapter Scotch, the newest member, had a complete mental breakdown leaving her a shivering wreck. Now everypony is slowly dying inside an enervation fields and Glory lost her wings. Wouldn’t surprise me if Glory would the next one trying to kill herself. All within the span of three or four days.

This isn't even the big final, where the stacks are really high and the heroes at their lowest. It's just another "normal day" for the group.

“You’re going to… you’re going to kiss him again. And… and you’re going to show him your real cutie mark… and… and you’re going to do… do… whatever colts do. And you’re going to be happy. But you have to keep walking. You hear me. Keep. Walking.”

Despite this being another scene of the main character being miserable, dying and dying miserably I love to atmosphere of the scene. Them staggering onward while slowly dying and Blackjack desperately telling everypony to keep moving.

“Is this when the Wasteland breaks you?”

Oh Dealer, Sweetie, the Wasteland already has broken her. At least four times by my count. Her mind just hasn’t realized it yet.

“Take two more steps,” he said softly.
“I… can’t…” I whispered. “I can’t move… I think my heart stopped…”
“Your heart is too strong to quit. Now take two steps!”

No poker cards? No vague and cryptic comments? No psychological analysis of Blackjack’s mind? Instead we got a straightforward and helpful encouragement. What’s wrong the Dealer?

Then, slowly… and faster… and faster… we began to rise.

When suddenly the lift stopped because the 200 yearr old talisman broke apart. At this moment Rampage had another one of her phases and almost killed Scotch Tape, while the Ghost of Deus possessed P-21 making him rape Blackjack, Glory's wings growing back only to fall off again and – worst of all - the only song on the radio was a neverending loop Johnny Guitar.

Blackjack’s On-screen Body Count: 143

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It’s crazy how much stuff happened in this chapter: Feels likes this was actually three chapters instead of one. I enjoyed it a lot, even if I would have preferred Glory not losing her wings.

Another thing I noticed is that I no longer care about the EC-1101.

I still care about the character, the setting, the places they visit and all the people and factions they encounter. I just that all of these feels far more interesting than the mystery behind the EC-1101 or the museum robbery.

The games always had a plot that was somehow connected to the main character. The only outliner's being the spin-off games like Tactics, 79 and the Brotherhood of Steel game that doesn't exist.

• Fallout 1: Find a Water Chip or your vault dies.
• Fallout 2: Find a G.E.C.K. or your village dies.
• Fallout 3: Find your dad.
• New Vegas: Find the guy who almost killed you.
• Fallout 4: Find your son.

The point is, the main quest was always something personal for the protagonist. Initially the EC-1101 was the same. Scary, armed ponies lead by a cyborg invaded the Stable and killed everypony the came across because they wanted it. So Blackjack had to feel with the EC-1101 to save her Stable and figure out why exactly they wanted it so badly.

Then the leader of the Raiders died. Followed shortly afterward by (almost) the whole Stable. Now the EC-1101 is just a thing, we know nothing about and Blackjack only wants to solve the mystery out of curiosity. Not even because she wants to know why her Stable had to die. It’s like of halfway through Fallout 1 your Vault died and the Water Chip only purpose was filling up inventory space.

This is especially notable since we have a far more interesting plot with Lighthooves and the Raider diseases. It’s more personal because he was the one who framed Glory and branded her as a Dashite. We also know that he’s behind the Raider disease and we’ve seen it's horrible effects several times, which makes him a serious danger to Hoofington. About the EC-1101 we know nothing. It could lead to the end of the world or it could be a folder full of very naught porn. Plus Lighthooves comes across as a real scumbag you love to hate and want to see punished. Deus and Sanguine don’t even come close. So I feel both in- and out of universe stopping Lighthooves would be the a far more interesting main quest.

As I left, I heard Rover mutter softly to himself, “Just like Golden Pony.”

Oh I'm dumb. He did end up doing something, even if he died before it activated. He really did do what he could to fufill his promise- to some degree, Golden must have done it for or because of them.

That ai was super freaky man

It wasn’t a scream as if from a pony’s throat. It was almost like the memory of a scream that I couldn’t get out of my head. And this wasn’t a single pony… it undulated and rose and fell and was mixed with hysterical laughter, babbling, crying, and pain. I couldn’t shut it out or shut it up.

So Blackjack is part alicorn or is the enervation so strong that everyone can hear it?

Sweet Celestia! These poor bastards .