There's a little problem with the author's note. (The author's note contains a copy of the entire chapter.)

Wheeeeeeeeew, what a chapter man... once again I don't have the words to properly express what I think about it.
But eh, I'll try.
...
Yeah I got nothing, but this was a damn good bit of work well done and I'm happy to have made it this far, dare I ask how many chapters are left until this ends? Cause holy crap what a journey this has been, I can smell the ending~ And I want to hope BJ gets an ending worthy of her... but I've seen spoilers, so... not holding out hope.

Damn good show Somber! Next chapter ho~

Tenebra backed away from be a step or two.

Tenebra backed away from me a step or two.

Goldenblood muttered trotted in the direction of the cries.

Goldenblood muttered as he trotted in the direction of the cries.

The one to stairwell wasn’t locked.

The one to the stairwell wasn’t locked.

Within, a cloaked figured worked furiously,

Within, a cloaked figure worked furiously,

Scruffy, ha

“You going to go back into memories and spying on the Wasteland, leaving it to rot?

“You're going to go back into memories and spying on the Wasteland, leaving it to rot?

Littlehorn was depressing as fuck, and so that is where Goldenblood gets his coughing from, the Pink Cloud and somehow gaining an immunity to Pink Cloud's deadly effects. He serves the Eater of Souls after all..
Hmm the Pink Cloud and Canterlot. In Project Horizons all because some dragoness ate a silver ring? Looking up the original story, how very contrived, leave it to a dragon to spread Pink Cloud from within the bubble accidentally. For fuck's sakes.. is that Mouse then?

That chapter ending.. I have two words for Goldenblood and what he did with Horizons..
Dammit Goldenblood!

...buck.

I can't believe it took me a whole goddamn year to notice the reference behind Tom!!

"Maybe it would have been different. Maybe it would have been better. Or maybe it would have even been worse. That’s the problem with ‘what if’s and regrets. There’s nothing you can do about them, and you’ll never know for sure. Even with all this.”

It took you THIS LONG to finally realize that, Blackjack?!

>WHO DID IT?
Well, that was refreshingly vague. “Rarity, in the atrium, with the candlestick,”

clue reference eighty proof Wild Pegasus that's a pretty low grade whisky i mean eighty proof is 40% alcohol per volume which is low to me

Lͯ̈ͨͨ̽̈͜҉͍̜͚̪͎̪O͑̅͊̂̋̊̈́ͪ̅ͭ̉̈̈̇̍͒͏̘̟̳̳̥̳͠Ô̵̷̡͈͖̗̪͕̗͖̱̼̲̲̣̖̱̼̇ͮ̎̒͂̄͒̽ͪ̆ͥ̇̊̾ͨ̿͘ͅK̵̢̗̠̬͍̤̳̭̺̻̣̤̝̺͈̭̠͐ͥ̇̿͌ͮͪ̆ ̷̧̹͙̣̼̹̼̣̅͗ͬ͋̾ͣ̓̿̊͂̓͌̀͢͠O̴͎͚̪͈̯̳̓̀ͭ͛̊̏̚U̴̶̢̘̗̙͕̰͇͆͆͑̀̐͆ͦ͂̊ͤ͌̐̿͒̍́͜Tͬ̅͛̽̅̚͢͟͏̷̙̙̥̱͖͔̯͙͉̳̜̝̭̞̖̙̥͡ͅ,̧̦̳̯͕͉̟ͭ̏ͫ̓ͩ̇̽̄͌̈͆̑̈́͌̽̾́͡ ̷͙̟̘͇̳͔̦̼͍̖̤̲̜͗̐̂ͣ͐̈́͂̅̈́̆ͦͯ͢H̸̵̨̡̭̱͓̬͕̫͉̗̞̺̟̘̘̪̒̑͊͐̀Ȅ̿̂̈́̈́ͯͦ̆͘͏̰̤̥̱̣͓͎R̅̃̓̒ͧ̒̒͏̸̮̘̰͉̮̫̬͉̲̩̀͢ͅE̹͙̠̪̲̓̃ͫ́́ͨ̉̽̐ͦ̊̀ ̛ͥ̍͗̌̽̿̈́̚҉̢̥̲͈͎̪͕̞͔̹͓̪Ç͈̟̩̙̻͍̩̝̱͂͐ͫ̿ͮͯ͛ͤ̓̑̈̃̓͟ͅO̟͖̱̲̠͇̖̦̞̩ͤ̿̆ͨ̉̾̕͜M̨͇͉͖͙̟̫̫̲̬̭̤͈̂ͫ́ͯ̆̆̇̊́͂̐̿͌ͦ̽͢͞Ẹ̪̣͍̜̩̥̮̲̥̼̱͎̝̠̺̣̋̿ͯ̂̎ͦ̍ͭ̎͛̐͘Ṩ̛͉͓̜͈͉̬̍ͥͥͫ̄̏̀̐̋̿͑ͪ̀͝͠ ͤ̒ͫͦ͗̅̇ͭ̐̽̄͑̌̃ͮ̂̐̍̔̕҉̸͏͓̼̮͎̙̬̠͖͇̣͍͟Ţ̶̹̙̲̜͓͕̪̤̻̱̃͗̈ͣ́̀O̶̮̩̰͖̘͓͉̺̳͉͓̯̝ͥ̏͒̐͑ͨ͒ͭ͋ͬ̾͢͜M̩̦̘ͨ͋ͦͮ̉͋ͪͭͦ̐̌̊͡!̺̱̯͓̱͎̟̱̥̤̠̫͕̖̲̐ͦͤ̋͝͞ͅͅ

Good luck,” she said simply as she leaned in and hugged me. “May the night comfort and bring you rest,” she said solemnly before turning and walking out of the room.

"Good luck, I'll be sure to make it to your funeral on time. Have a good night, Sleeping Beauty!"

“I mean that at the rate we’re going, all that’s going to be left is a poisoned, polluted wasteland

You could not be more right, Twi.

I liked the Clue reference.
But I can still win this game!

I say it was Goldenblood, in the atrium, with the tuning fork!

Too bad Golden will live.
These cold-blooded manipulating bastards are worse and more dangerous than murderous psychotic rapists.
And they should be treated as such. Without remorse.

What language did he use as Zebra language? I'm very curious

The chapter titled "Goldenblood" gave me a whole ton of the answers I was expecting. It also gave me a whole ton of Goldenblood being the most important pony in pre-war Equestria. <.< I mean, he sees Lyra stapled to her bench in Canterlot, for fuck's sake! You worked in some good details like Lionheart being important around this time, but there's a little too much "Here what really happened" in that run through Canterlot.

Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that genetic death is all that batponies deserve. :V (And I have to ask: what does the King do with foals who aren't bred true? I can't imagine every coupling results in a batpony, given wonky pony genetics from the show...)

Thinking about the memory orb puzzle, it's very video gamey, not in the sense of "this came from the video game" (I mean, it might have, I wouldn't know), but more "this is something I would expect to find in a video game", yet I honestly rather enjoyed it. Have a mintal, Pinkie!

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One of the things I appreciated about Horse's "redemption" was that, as with most of his life, it had him doing something (at least in this case) good but for wholly selfish and spiteful reasons.

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I'm a bit surprised you'd choose that as the GB is MIP thing from that scene; yeah he saw it, but his time in the cell with the dragon is kinda pushing the idea that Canterlot might have been fine if people had listened to him.

As for what to do with non-batpony babies... I guess I assume they'd be kept there and live out their lives like the non-batponies who were brought in to breed them. But who knows.

I loved have a Mint-al, Pinkie. So natural from him, and how it goes through different kinds of threatening, reflects different balances of power in the room over time. Good stuff.

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As for what to do with non-batpony babies... I guess I assume they'd be kept there and live out their lives like the non-batponies who were brought in to breed them.

I do not believe this for a minute and assume Hades is way into foal murder. :V

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Sometimes I'm a lot more negative and pessimistic than you, sometimes the reverse. Hardly surprising this isn't the first type, given everything... and you may well be right about Hades. But if you add in Persephone, not so sure. I see her being like, "Ugh, no, husband, we're not murdering the babies. That's not nice, and on top of that it's counterproductive to the whole point of the exercise, especially if we can't bring in more outsiders later like we can't because the outside world is dead/which I'm sure you don't want to do." :p

He took a moment, fighting for breath before he murmured, “It’s not… that simple. Twilight… what you’re feeling for Big Macintosh, everypony is feeling. We’ve all lost friends and loved ones to this war. They want revenge and payback for all we’ve lost. We can’t just stop after we’ve given so much to–” he began when she cut through his words again.

reminds me of a quote in a book...but all i can remember is something about "setting the bloody pendulum of revenge into inexorable motion".
oh, and a quote in a Green Lantern Corp comic book: "it will be an eye for an eye until both sides are blind."

Luna will rule as an apparent figurehead, shielded by layer upon layer of bureaucracy and obfuscation.

reminds me of the recent "Honor Harrington" books: the Earth government had lost control of their bureaucracy, and a handful of bureaucrats actually ran everything with zero oversight. a smart-alec reported dubbed them "the mandarins".

“‘Defenestration from Shadowbolt Tower.

Ohmygosh yes, yes, YES!!!

Ahem, that one, please.

Right, there is no more Shadowvolt tower, typical Blackjack not planning ahead.

Still love golden blood, legit my fave character, ever

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I'm probably just dumb, but would you mind explaining?

Another great chapter. I'm now confused about Goldenblood -- I have a love-hate relationship with him now. The parallels between BJ and him are... extraordinary.

I'll have to read another chapter, I'm a little too hooked to stop.

Seeing the destruction of Equestria was something else, but it was really heartbreaking to read. I liked it...

“Yes,” he answered solemnly. “There’s a star spirit bound within the moonstone.”

...
Excuse me?

What do you mean there's a spirit inside the moon stone??

I do love the side we never actually saw in this. The how on why Mouse (the mouse from Fallout Equestria that once was a dragon) could have such an endless supply of pink cloud. The what of what happened in Little Horn. And that moment with Luna. The why for her not just fleeing. And we know from FoE why the shield fails too. Between the two, so much more makes sense. And i love we finally get to meet Goldenblood

is the language golden blood and the toppahani zebra speaking. A real language. If so...can someone translate?

Did I mention it even in passing to any pony I met with a stethoscope and a theoretical doctorate?

"They asked me how well I understood theoretical physics . I said I had a theoretical degree in physics " - Fantastic (Fallout New Vegas)

Love how Goldenblood is just Blackjack but without any friends to stop these self hating impluses. Who's Tom?