papermint Rampage HAHAHAHAH thos of you that do not git this will shon "starts to LOL again"

Hahahaha, wow, what a chapter... tanks man... fucking A! LOving how this is going man, this is frigging epic!
I need to work on my own story Dx
So I can see fanart, because ambitions. But ima lazy uck, ugh,

Nice chapter well done! I shall read on!

Hahahaha, wow, what a chapter... tanks man... fucking A! LOving how this is going man, this is frigging epic!
I need to work on my own story Dx
So I can see fanart, because ambitions. But ima lazy uck, ugh,

Nice chapter well done! I shall read on!

I couldn't help but notice that the fight scene with The Legate is a bit different from the Google Docs version. I assume the changes were intentional?

so large I that couldn’t see across it

so large that I

Twister said she popped

as she

The Legate looked up and me

at me

I'm kinda at a crossroads for a proper comment here.

Be Kind!
No, Fluttershy. Not this time.
Do better!
It’s not for me to do better. It was him. Now I am going to do better…
I pointed the gun right at his head as he lay there in a spreading pool of filth. I was fairly certain he’d be crippled for life; perhaps he’d bleed out. But I looked down the barrel and stared right into his eye. I’d given him mercy and he’d squandered it. He’d hurt others. It was every bit my fault. If I’d killed him, he wouldn’t have hurt another pony…

Me every time Blackjack has the chance to be bad
s2.quickmeme.com/img/d6/d6b8987e336a7a7e1dfad7e8180762f69d4a8167ceb962c389897e161b8802cb.jpg

No, we must reward her. One of us. One of us!’

Funny... my coworker and I were discussing this reference just the other day; I had to show him this line on my phone last night and we both got a laugh out of it. I didn't know about the original source for the song until he told me about it, just the Simpsons version. Horror was different in the 30s... But, heck, the original fits even better here. And speaking of references...

MEGA DEUS

...You're a louse, Somber.

Speaking of lice.... maaaaan, Psalm is freaking everywhere. Retcon? She's like Forrest Gump with a high powered rifle... you turn around and she runs up and shoots you in the face. That she was the cruel operative with the SMGs is equally jarring... she kinda tortured that nurse for no real reason. Killing Pinkie wasn't vile enough? And of course, now that I think about it, the most likely way Blackjack was dreaming that stuff was from Unity... so she's in there somewhere... I'm an idiot... of course she's a bundle of guilt and such... so yeah, we knew where she was already, awhile ago. I'll take the red dunce cap, if you have one. Better glue it to my head or I might try poking a particular alicorn in the eye with it. I wonder who she'll kill out of the canon next...

Honestly... this account of the peace summit is just weird. Forget Psalm a moment... it was one thing when Big Mac stepped in front of Celestia to take a bullet; Fo:E left it at that and that was fine. That all happens in a flash and it's done; tragedy ensues. This was more gradual... and Celestia was even more useless than she was against Chrysalis. Why did Twilight want to make alicorns again? They seem like a waste of time as portrayed here. Either the zebras already have targetted poisons for them somehow or Celestia lacks the constitution of an earth pony. Really, how the HELL did these zebras not just roll over Equestria in a week? They're portrayed as basically superior in every way. How did they ever consider Luna a threat if their Caesar could just 1v1 her? We see how easily they can take out an alicorn. Yeah, this doesn't add up worth a damn.

On that note, I could do with less favoritism towards the Other... but that seems to be the way the wind is blowing in this fic. It's a bit jarring... and frankly, laughably false... given what the zebras did with mega spells, and at the summit, and even to other zebras... and this Legate... army of cyberzebras, oh but Blackjack is 'profaned by metal'? What a hypocrite. Yeah, too bad the princesses didn't agree to a duel, ya dipshit. Let's see... Blackjack's duel sure ended fairly... oh and this from the sort of racial mindset that brings poison bombs and hit squads to a peace summit. Yep... I'm sure a duel between Luna and the Caesar woulda TOTALLY been on the up and up. ...Are we supposed to fall for this horseshit? The impression I got of the Caesar was an inferiority complex that made diplomacy early on impossible; he escalated the war by having to prove to his people that he was a strong leader even when he wasn't. Sounds like Luna later, actually. But the thing is, with Luna we're being told that much, over and over and over. With the zebras... I have to figure it out from subtext. Never mind that the Remnant is even a thing. 'Kill em all, no matter how long it takes!' Bahahahahhaha... I can't take them seriously... am I supposed to?

Ah well. More than enough to keep moving forward, despite that little rant. Ah! The encounter on the bridge... well... it was certainly interesting. It confuses me a bit that Blackjack doesn't already consider herself a killer. She mercy killed 99, the foals and Fluttershy medical, and has killed countless in combat. Ultimately, Lacunae was right about her being a joke if he'd walked away again... some infections have to be cut out. I'm mixed on her taking the shot because Blackjack couldn't, but that's not a bad thing. Overall, that scene delivered for me. Hell, the sheer transparent approach of those bandits was actually pretty hilarious.

And finally, a real Twilight figurine! It's long since occurred to me that the not smart pony has progressively gotten much less not smart, which is all to the good. It'll be interesting to see how much effect this, and having them all, has for her. Given that, even after her upgrades, she just got wrecked again... I'd say she needs all the help she can get, especially since we're still waiting for the other hoof to drop from ole Trixie before Maripony gets blasted.

Geh... I think I'm going to have to do a word count of the comments I'm making on this. It's like the perfect storm of awesome and irritating to make me want to spout off continuously; I apologize. It didn't happen with Fo:E; I just wanted to keep reading. I do here too, for the most part... but it's more grueling to do so.

With the zebras... I have to figure it out from subtext.

That's kinda their thing though isn't it? Dance around pretty much everything to make sure any potential threats are as least sure as they can make them.

Never mind that the Remnant is even a thing. 'Kill em all, no matter how long it takes!' Bahahahahhaha... I can't take them seriously... am I supposed to?

As stupid as it is, after asking 10 of my friends if they would rather have the enemy win or have everybody die, 3 of them said that everybody would die. So there is definitely some people like that our there. And when they're are dealing with what they see as the harbinger of the end, it makes sense that they would risk everything to stop it. Such a thing could easily be seen as an all or nothing situation.

Uh... I haven't seen Present Perfect's comments for a few chapters... I wonder why?

Oh well! :\ Great chapter as always... Psalm killing Big Macintosh... WHY? :'( You know what. Don't answer that. This is one of those darker things that I don't want to know. He trusted her... v.v

One of these days Somber, one of these days... I would like to finish this, and move on. But till then, I will keep going, suffering, crying, and laughing. All to this wonderful, wonderful story. I'm looking forward to the next chapter. ^^

7897970
Busy man, other things. This is a lot to handle all at once, especially if you're doing a review rather than just reading/listening.

7931415 Very true. Thanks, it is nice to finally talk to you, also thanks for replying. I forget that people can be busy, reviewing is quite fun, yet it is also quite difficult. I look forward to talking to you again. ^^

I just realized...

Project Horizons is to us what EC-1101 is to Blackjack.

...Maybe? Probably not. I don't know, but it sounds cool. Ish.

HOLD THE FUCKING PHONE PSALM DID NOT JUST KILL BIG MACINTOSH >:|

People told me I would hate this story. They said the last two books are far and away the most bleak and depressing. I did not believe them. But I'm starting to. :| Twist and Shujaa was one thing, but this is beyond the fucking pale! Augh.

Okay, so, well, sex ed with Blackjack, always fun? <.< What the hell is the status of her relationship with Glory? They love each other, they don't love each other, they're just fucking, but BJ still refers to her as "my love". Argh.

God, she's just developing more and more complexes as things go along. I thought she was making an effort to get better! :|

NEST sounds like an acronym that's also a reference to something...

And what the hell was all that crap with Luna at the end? c.c

8015822 Their relationship is "Glory attempting to be open minded and Blackjack being the self centered mare who whats to be the mare that Glory wants her to be because she loves her but can't because she's immature and terrible for Glory." I think 'complicated' is the best word for it. Glory wants a Blackjack who isn't who Blackjack really is and is hoping that she can some how have that special relationship, even if she does have sex with others on the side. It's really tough for her because she doesn't accept it.

8016202
Okay, that makes sense.

Relationships are hard, no matter how you're involved in them. D:

8015822
Eh, I'd have a hard time saying book four as particularly more bleak than, say, two. Not to say there aren't some moments, including ones you haven't reached yet, but on the whole... I don't see it. Five's more likely ta getcha though. (It caused at least one longtime fan to pretty much go off the deep end in a very vocal way, and suddenly.)

As for the relationship, beyond what 8016202 said (and 8016517), bear in mind how background plays into this. Both are in their first relationship, both after in some way being forced out of their homes. Between the two, Glory, whose mother abandoned her family to pursue a hopeless crusade, has the better parental example of a functioning romantic partnership. As a Twilight-ish character, I'm betting she wasn't exactly paying attention to examples outside her family, either. Blackjack had 99. Long story short, they are seriously figuring this out on the fly.

PP, if everyone you know who's tried to get better/work through complexes has successfully done so, and on an early try, I'm envious. :P
Please advise how to copy... please?

If it is, I'm not sure what to.

Trippy as fuck? :V

Running, screaming
Fighting, dying
For a cause that's oh so trying
The patience of the dead and dying.

Bleeding, fucking
Misery squared
Upon my soul
This pain will bear.

Running, laughing
Winning, and crying
I'll crush this cunt
Or I'll die try trying

Rampage snickered.  “Oh, come on.  Deus couldn’t go five minutes without a ‘cunt’.”  P-21 looked at her coolly, and the striped mare blinked.  “What?”

“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t use language like that around my daughter,” he said primly.  I shared a look with Glory and suppressed a laugh.

“Oh, really?  What should I use?” Rampage asked with a grin.  “Sugar pot?”

“Vagina would be the most accurate,” Glory offered.

“Hoo-hah,” Twister suggested.

“Vertical smile?” Sunset said with a grin.

“I usually just call it my turbine,” Scotch said as she rubbed her chin thoughtfully, then looked at me, “‘cause it makes me hum.”  It seemed perfectly reasonable to me, but P-21’s mane seemed to twang a little like snapped wires.  “What?” she asked, and the poor blue stallion looked so flustered that I decided not to chime in with my own personal nickname.

Never heard "Hoo-Hah" before.
Never heard anybody call it a turbine either, but her description is just so hilarious!

Makes er' humm! Haha!

I do so love the socio-sexual mores of Stable 99.
Too bad they're all gone now. I doubt many stables would ever develop such a colorful personality.

he knew I couldn’t pull the trigger.

The round ripped right between his eyes and sprayed his brains across the crumbled asphalt.

No…

I stared at his limp body.  That… that hadn’t happened.  Couldn’t… never…  Then I heard the most gentle whisper through my mind.  

‘Forgive me, Luna, for I have taken the life of another.’

Talk about being haunted. Psalm is takin' over!
Everypony make way for the murderous Marauder!
Train Blackjack is leaving the station!

Psalm turned, bringing up Penance.

Her sword! Soul jars can be anything, and souls can imprint on the wielder! Psalm must have been in the sword

And finally we conclude with the last statuette, and yet another existential crisis.
The weirdness never ceases, does it?
But...BJ really is turning I to Psalm.

What if it wants just the soul sword? What if it was something deeper?
Oooh, what a scary thought! Right?

8084944 simply. Bauetiful.

7992188 you should really broaden your horizons.

High Glory is best Glory

I'm so damn confused

Celestia was supposed to surrender the throne to Luna after the failed assassination attempt that ended Big Macintosh's life.

But here we are with that event haven't been passed yet Big Macintosh is still alive and then gets killed here.

Was this an accident or did I just read the original Fallout Equestria incorrectly?

8283659
Think you have a mistake with FoE. As Watcher said pretty early on over there (Fallout Equestria Chapter 9)--

“Well...”  Watcher’s words came slowly, as if they were painful.  “The Massacre at Littlehorn broke Princess Celestia’s heart.  After that, nearly midway through the war, Princess Celestia decided She wasn’t the right pony to lead Equestria anymore.  So She stepped down, abdicated Her position to Her sister, Princess Luna...”

--it wasn't the assassination attempt and Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge (which came later) that led to Celestia's abdication, it was the pink cloud attack at Luna's school at Littlehorn.

Am I the only one who wishes someone could make a game of Fallout Equestria? It’d be a lot more interesting than the original Fallout games.

Dammit! She almost had him! Lancer is definitely going to have to die before she takes on Legate again.
In fact, I bet he's going to come back at least one more time to screw BJ over before he dies..

Blackjack: (Singing) Whoa! Whoa! I'm not the Starmaiden, but I'll still beat up this Lega- (THOCK) AH! (THWACK) OH! (CRUNCH) AUGH!
Vitosius: (TRIPLE STRIKING SOMERSAULT)
Blackjack: (BAM) OW! (POW) OW! (CLANG) AUGH! (KICKED RIGHT DOWN INTO THE MUD) Uuuunnnggghhh...
Vitosius: (JAW KICK POPPING HER BACK INTO THE AIR BEFORE JUGGLING HER)
Blackjack: (CRACK) AH! (CRUNCH) OH! (CAR WRECK NOISES) UGH! (EXCESSIVE BLUNT TRAUMA) UNGH! (Is somehow allowed to land, staggering back and forth as her eyes look off in two different directions, singing unevenly) WhOa! WhOa! I LiKe ApPlE BoMbS, pLeAsE pUt ThEm In My GlOrY- (HOOF) WAUGH!
Lancer: OH YOU BEAT THE BOLTS OUT OF HER!
Blackjack: I hAvE mY- (A SECOND HOOF) AGH! (A THIRD HOOF) AH! (THE FOURTH HOOF) UGH! My FaVoRiTe CoLoR iS 21- (THE FIRST HOOF AGAIN) UH! (Falls back to a sitting position with double swirly eyes) No MoRe PeNiS fOr Me, StYgIuS...
Vitosius: (Winds up!)
Blackjack: (Now uttering completely incomprehensible rambling impossible nonsense) The Stable Dweller is Littlepip. (HEADSHOT)

Twilight Sparkle statuette.
+2 Int.
(If you're Blackjack, take +2 Luck instead)

8778967
There is a fallout equestria game. Granted it's more centered on LittlePip, but I think you can customize appearances.

It's called 'FoE: Remains'. This is it I believe. https://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/702978

7471677

and this Legate... army of cyberzebras, oh but Blackjack is 'profaned by metal'? What a hypocrite.

The difference is that all those cyberzombies would be nothing more than soulless robots with a zebra skin over them. Sorta like a Cyberdyne Systems Model 101 terminator or reskinned 1st gen Institute synths. Blackjack would be closer to Robocop, except without having her mind wiped and reprogrammed. The cyberzebras are nothing more than tools, much like a good socket set. (Minus the 10mm, because that went missing once it left the store.) Blackjack is an unholy fusion of pony and machine, giving up her soul to augment herself in unnatural ways.

“On the edge of the badlands,” Rampage said with a yawn. “You missed Flank. Place is a wreck with Caprice gone. I swear, in five years, they’re going to be nothing more than a gang of drugged out fiends infesting the ruins,” the mare said contemptuously.

Could always go safe it again

the poor blue stallion looked so flustered that I decided not to chime in with my own personal nickname.

Well now I wanna know what Blackjack calls her lady bits.

God Psalm killed Big Mac? I mean I guess it was fated an all but Jesus that sucks. Also I'm guessing by collecting all 6 statues Blackjack was able to survive that bullet since it gives her more luck?

“Yeah. Softest heart in the Wasteland,” Rampage drawled. “Look, everypony has to bust their murder cherry eventually. Blackjack finally popped hers. She’ll get over it.”

So... all those... how many ponies she's killed up until now didn't count? The 40 foals? Her stable? How many harbingers did she kill? Or does it only count because he was defenseless and and pleading for his life?

Ahh this brings me back to fallout vegas and it’s final legion boss. Who i killed with a single mini nuke…