To anyone who started reading this story before its full upload, you may have noticed that it made absolutely no sense. As it turns out, I had mistakenly failed to upload all of Part II and instead substituted Part III. The problem should be fixed now, but if you notice any other errors in the chapter continuity please let me know.

Great story I enjoyed reading it.

Wow, nice one! Sarcastic, diverse, vast and sad world. It was nice two days to dive there ^_=

Wow...

This was hella dark overall which I'm usually not a big fan of, but the world and characters drew me in enough to stick with it, and the darkness is consistent and coherent. I'm actually left conflicted as to how I feel about a lot of the characters, which is intriguing to me.

I'm curious if you've plans for further fics in this universe—it's certainly large and complete enough, and you've left plenty of hooks. Probably the largest question I have left is how exactly the Cult is so technologically advanced compared to anyone else.

8853907
If I recall correctly there is a direct answer in one of Lyra's monologues - about lack of talent and purpose in richman's society.

holy shit this was amazing

This was exceedingly well done.

I would like to second 8853907 in regards to another story in this universe.

Fantastic story, and dark! Lots of fun worldbuilding too. You have a fantastic writing style for histories and future evolutions

Shiiiiit! :O

But man, you had to get me with one last joke. "Etsy" indeed. XD

EDIT: And on reflection, I realize that rape-metaphor scene was actually rape. c.c Damn, talk about fridge horror.

EXTRA EDIT: Alternate title: Potatoman Seeks the Troof

I feel bad that I didn't leave any comments the first time I read this story, and yet here I am, having finished the Elrod a second time without any real idea of what to say besides the fact that I really love this story.

The worldbuilding is fantastic and the way the narrative developed really let us explore a lot of its different facets - from the extensive gene modifications (wait how many chromosomes is a normal amount?) to the Depths, to little details like Elrod's 3x4 ft. apartment, spoken with such nonchalance that you can almost forget how insane the world is.

Every one of the characters is delightful and unique and pleasantly reminds me of Mass Core. The fact that the main character is literally a potato cracks me up to no end. The banter and interplay between everyone is constantly entertaining and interacts surprisingly well with what is an otherwise intensely grim setting.

Doing a second read-through also let me appreciate a lot more of the foreshadowing, like Morgana's clear abhorrence at violations of her and Forth's physical space and privacy, or the exact nature of Elrod's agromorph status and of course the High Point Forth being a fake. (I actually caught her lacking a plasma weapon this time!) There are just so many little details to appreciate in this story; thank you for it.

9973433
I'm not sure if knowing this makes it better or worse. :B

10000071
Noted. I adjusted the tags. I suppose it is too late for you unfortunately, so sorry.

10001228
Appreciated regardless! And I do look forward to getting back into the story.

Man, what a great story, if massively depressing. I had hoped for a light at the end of the tunnel, but in true noir style it is not the way. A great read, I too hope we get to visit this universe again, you put massive amounts of effort into building it, and it'd be a shame imo to only use it once.

This is just great. I don't have the vocabulary, nor the literary knowledge available to really say why, but it is.

The storytelling doesn't pull punches - it's natural, like a pass-the-parcel of intricate origami. The story unfolds, twists, turns, and the world we know gets larger, more intricate. Throwaway lines that could probably illustrate a whole story, even. A crafted universe, so fine and yet so full of possiblity and intrigue.

The storytelling is magnificent. Kept me on the edge of my seat - answered questions, but always let more arise, like a week you can't exactly kill. It's a hopeless, depressing tale of humanity, equinity, and nihilism - or, that's how I see it. But that's consistent, and it's conveyed beautifully - offset with the banter, and the moments of lustre - but the true reality of grime creeps in, and soaks the whole world.

This was probably one of the most depressing stories I've ever read, and it's absolutely stunning. Kudos to you, Unwhole Hole. This was an unforgettable experience.

Huh, pretty well organized.
Looking at the review and tags, I am kinda curious on what the non-con is featuring. Victim, perpetrator wise.

I mean... I can just base it on the standard fandom tropes that has become obligatory at this point. But... I dunno, it feels like a story like this might try to be a bit more creative :P
That said, it is quite the behemoth. So would be a lot of reading to find out. Guess it'd be in case you could spoil/slip a hint on that~

This was excellent, as I've come to expect from you. Almost every character has their lives irreversibly altered, for better or worse, over the course of the story. Seeing the ponies contrasted against their canon selves provided many gut-punches. And the worldbuilding is, of course, top tier. That said, I don't think it was quite as good as 485,000, or even Desert Water, in one major area: character agency. The corporations and the cult were both using Morgana and everyone else as pawns in their grand scheme. No choices they made really mattered to anybody outside the group, in the end, and just because you address that directly doesn't make it any better.

Oh, and the fact that Hasbro managed to create self-aware AI ponies makes zero sense. They can't even manage to make a fully-featured Magic: The Gathering digital client without failing miserably in multiple ways. If you'd mentioned at some point they'd merged with Microsoft, or something, then I would have accepted it, heh.

Finished the story! It was quite a trip and a unique one. I had not realized how much of an itch I had for a good cyberpunk / noir detective story until I came across yours. You have an incredible imagination and a way of making a setting feel oceans deep. I was daunted at first by the size of the story, but I don’t regret it. I was thoroughly entertained!

Admittedly, the ending did leave me with mixed feelings. I can understand the brutal display of an uncaring world. This place wasn’t sunshines and roses going in. But given the villains goals and seemingly unlimited resources at the end. Perhaps a better turn would have to strive for a little more hope? Elrod was very much ancillary in the finale chapters and could have left with little impact. He could have very well taken Lyra’s advice when real Forth showed up. Could have left the party then after pocketing some memory processor from the wreck of fakeforth. (Hey all the Forth’s have that warranty on their bodies don’t they?) An amusing possible epilogue for him if he’d left would have been him resurrecting her and them running off into the sunset together.

Though that probably just the shipper in me. I can understand that perhaps the title of the story refers not to the attempted murder in the beginning but the actual murder at the end. It makes it bittersweet that Lyra could hand out resolutions for most of the cast, but her way is not necessarily better. Even with a world replaced with Ponyhumans, if they are just as dystopian as the people they are replacing then it doesn't feel like much was accomplished. Mercy from Lyra might have been a nicer shock twist. Meanwhile, Twilight, alone and friendless in a bar makes me wish for a sequel. Because while the overall case might be solved, things didn’t seem to change for our main character. But maybe the nihilistic circumstances is the point.

In anycase, I hope you don’t take it as me being too critical! I still would adore another foray into the setting in general. I am torn between asking for a sequel but also maybe even a prequel showing how Twinkleshine Prime led the pony revolution and the Warstone's creation. We got splendid snippets in the story of it, but we never did quite see the whole thing. It might be worth it to explore!

Though I know you have no lack of ideas or will to write. I hope you do keep up creating despite the surreal fact that stories like this doesn’t seem to draw many fans. At least this one got featured in Seattle Angels and RCL! If I ever write a blog post myself about underappreciated gems on this site I’ll be sure to put this one on it. I am off to read another one of your stories now, and from the opening chapters its looking pretty good too.

I'm pretty sure all the cities mentioned should be underwater by this point. Bridgeport will be water world by 2400, at latest. At first I thought that's what the whole "everything is inside" part was about, that they'd just kept building higher and higher sea walls until everything got domed over, but the dock seems to imply that somehow the ice caps stopped melting despite continued carbon emissions.
Aside from climate, the story sort of drags toward the middle. There's a good start and a good end, but in the interim the characters just wander in circles while everyone around them dies. And there's never any revenge, which is the point of noir. At least one henchman has to get it in the neck. "Chrysalis" would have been a good candidate.

I adored that the potato people decided to worship a gormless heroin addict as their god and base their appearance on him.
It is hard to tell if Xyuko and the millions beneath the midwest are related. I can imagine a yellow mare dragging her way into existence among the shenanigans being unleashed.

“Hail Xyuka,” she whispered.

YES!

Another excellent story. Incredible worldbuilding, compelling characters, and the extra-dark, everything-is-manipulated atmosphere that highlights all of your work.

Jesus, I'd be lying if i said i didnt see this coming but its certainly not what i expected.