Dishonored: Derpy Hooves' Quest (to Change the Fate of an Empire)

by Arcane-Boomeus

Chapter One: Day One

Chapter One:
Day One:
Dishonored

Derpy's eyes darted open. She found herself in a dank, musty cell constructed from stone bricks. Just as the Outsider had told her, her body was different now. She could tell, even before getting up, that this body walked on two legs, and manipulated objects in the world around it with the limbs that she somehow knew were called 'arms,' which terminated in 'hands' and 'fingers'.

What shocked Derpy, though, was that remembered things that she was certain she hadn't experienced. She remembered delivering a letter to Empress Celestia at Dunwall Tower, only to have a group of assassins appear from nowhere, kill the Empress, and kidnap the princess, Luna. As if that wasn't bad enough, the Royal Spymaster had then accused Derpy of both crimes.
The next six months, she remembered, had been spent in Coldridge Prison, which happened to be where she still was, being tortured far more than any normal man could have endured.

And now, she was sitting in a cell, the day before her execution, experiencing very strong emotions. Primarily a thirst for revenge and a desperate hope that Luna was okay. As she sat on the cold stone floor, something occurred to her. 'I failed as Lord Protector,' she thought sadly, 'Celestia is dead, Luna abducted, and I myself have taken the fall for it.'

Derpy wondered why Luna hadn't fled. Luna was slightly taller than Derpy, and they seemed to be approximately the same age, but Derpy somehow knew that she was far superior in terms of fighting ability- in fact, when she thought about it, she had killed three of the assassins, causing them to turn into ashes.

The scraping of a metal tray on the stone floor roused Derpy from her thoughts. She looked up to see a man in a blue uniform, with a helmet on his head and a sword on his hip, standing just outside of her cell. The tray she'd heard was on the floor by the bars, atop it lay half of a loaf of something Derpy didn't remember seeing throughout her time at Coldridge- freshly baked bread, hot, appetizing, and, most importantly, free of mold.

“You should eat, Derpy. This meal comes from a friend,” the man said before turning and walking away.

As soon as the sounds of his footsteps became inaudible, Derpy rushed to the tray, devoured the bread in a matter of seconds, and nearly choked to death on the key concealed inside of the bread. She managed to keep the slip of paper out of her mouth, though. In fact, she even went so far as to read it:

Derpy,

Who we are is irrelevant right now. Just know that we have faith in you.

The key to your cell is hidden in the loaf of bread- make sure you don't accidentally choke on it.

Once you're out, head for the prison's Interrogation Room. Take the explosive from the safe

there and plant it on the outer door. When the bomb goes off, run. Make for the river and lose

yourself in the sewers (try to avoid actually getting lost, though). You'll find some useful gear

stashed there- you'll know it when you see it.

One of the prison guards will leave a weapon just outside of your cell.

And good luck. We need you alive (and, preferably, not maimed and/or infected with the

plague) for what's to come.

XOXO,

[Several names were written here and subsequently crossed out, including 'Yo Momma' and

'Rarity' (with a heart serving as the dot over the 'I')]

A friend.

Derpy shook the saliva off of the key, then reached out through the bars of her cell door, fit the key into the lock, and, after a half-second of mentally preparing herself to escape from prison, she unlocked the door. It slid easily to the left, and the sound of it opening was drowned out by the conversation of some nearby guards.

Derpy spotted the weapon mentioned in the note, a sword, on the wooden table directly across the corridor from her cell. On instinct alone, she dropped into a half-crouch, walked silently over to the table, and took both the sword and the small pile of coins that accompanied it. Another unconscious action resulted in her holding the sword in her right hand, with the blade pointing away from her, and her thumb resting on the slightly protruding bit of metal on the bottom/left of the handle. She remembered that this was called the 'reverse grip'.

With nowhere else to go, and no real idea of where the interrogation room was, she turned left. She chose the left primarily for two reasons: the first is the fact that the path to the right was blocked by big metal bars, and the second is that she heard the voices of the guards coming from her left.

Derpy peeked through the doorway, watched three guards discussing her upcoming execution (which she fully intended to be absent for). Then, before Derpy even knew what she was doing, she found herself sneaking across the room, moving between shadows and objects, managing to be completely unseen. She didn't think about it, or plan it, it just happened.

Never one to look a gift pony in the mouth, Derpy let her mind wander as she crept silently through the strange corridors of the prison. She thought about the book she'd snatched from Twilight's library. 'Does Twilight even realize that she had it?' Then, another strange thought struck her. 'I never read the book- I didn't even open it! What if it had important information?!'

Along the way to the interrogation room, Derpy had managed to avoid every guard she saw- she had even pick-pocketed a key off of one of them, while he leaned on a balcony and whistled a catchy song that was still stuck in her head.

In sharp contrast to the astounding speed and grace with which Derpy evaded the guards, she spent no less than five minutes in the interrogation room, searching frantically for the bomb, before she actually tried opening the safe that contained the intricate explosive device. 'I can't be good at everything,' Derpy thought to herself in a vain attempt to fool herself into believing her own lie.

It wasn't two minutes before Derpy was planting the bomb on the outer door of the prison. She still hadn't been seen, due to a cleverly-thrown glass bottle and a display of acrobatics she wasn't sure she could have pulled off as a pegasus. The detonation of the bomb had been simultaneously muted and drowned out by her lowering of the large inner door, which she timed so the door would be almost closed, but still lowering, thus using the door to muffle the sound and the loud mechanical noises to drown any remaining explosion-sounds out.

What Derpy had failed to consider, however, is that there would undoubtedly be guards posted outside of the prison as well. She was quite surprised when she was confronted by five armed City Watchmen after vaulting through the hole torn in the great steel door.

“HEY!”

“YOU THERE, STOP!”

She was so surprised that she, upon realizing that she was standing on a bridge, panicked and dove into the water below. It was sheer luck that the sewer mouth was some five meters from where she dragged herself ashore.

“That went well,” Derpy said aloud, primarily to acknowledge that she'd survived, “... at least, for the most part.”

* * *

Back in Equestria, Princess Luna was barreling towards Derpy's cottage at speeds that, were she not both a princess and the long-feared Nightmare Moon, would have resulted in Police Pegasi giving her a speeding ticket costing several hundred bits- not only was she speeding, she was speeding over a residential district at four in the morning.

Luna had only been to Derpy's home in her dreams, but she'd memorized it's location in case of emergency (or, more realistically, in case Derpy wanted to do something romantic, as Luna secretly hoped). This was, most certainly, something that could or could not have been classified as 'probably an emergency'.

Luna collided with Derpy's lawn in a manner that was not just very, but extremely illegal, climbed out of the crater, took a moment to be self-conscious about her weight, then, after making sure her hair wasn't in complete disarray, knocked on the door.

The door swung open before a very innocent-looking princess Luna, who would later deny having done something creepy like, say, memorizing every detail of the locking mechanism in Derpy's door and making a key that would work with said mechanism, all without telling anypony.

Because that would be creepy.
Luna closed the door behind her with magic as she entered the humble home of Derpy Hooves. “Derpy! We request an audience-” Luna shook her head, dropped the royal 'we', and reiterated, “Derpy! Where are you? I waited all night, but you didn't sleep!”

Curiosity seized Luna, and she entered Derpy's room, where she saw almost nothing out of the ordinary.

'Almost' being the keyword. There was a book on the bedside table.

The fact that the thing that was out of the ordinary was a book was odd, because Derpy secretly loved books, and always tried to keep one nearby. The quality that made the book out of the ordinary was one that could make even the most mundane of things seem very odd; the book, for some reason or another, bore the Outsider's Mark.

Luna recognized the mark immediately. Her reaction, interestingly enough, was actually a series of three reactions. Her first reaction was to rub her eyes in disbelief. The second was, after seeing that the book was marked, to gasp, fall on her hindquarters, and blink a few times. Her third reaction is the one that the Outsider had wanted her to have; Luna sat down on Derpy's bed, snatched the book, and opened it.

The pages were hollowed out, with the exception of the first one, and a whalebone rune- bearing the Mark of the Outsider- was concealed within. Luna shuddered as she realized that the first page was a note- a note addressed to her, from the Outsider himself.

Luna,

I don't think it's very sisterly of you to keep your relationship a secret. Does Celestia not

deserve to know? Unless I missed something, she seems to be very openly 'friendly' with Ms.

Twilight Sparkle.

She would understand, would she not?

She would help you, would she not?

To help you, I'll pose you with a choice: You can ask Celestia for help at the cost of the secrecy

of your relationship, or you can do nothing and let me have my fun with Ms. Derpy Hooves.

I suppose the question could be worded another way: who do you trust more?

Your beloved sister, who embodies all that is good?

Or perhaps myself; The Outsider, known quite famously as “Part angel, part devil, and entirely

ambiguous.”

-The Outsider

P.S.- Don't you think it's odd that this book was in Twilight Sparkle's library?

Luna dropped the book, biting back a torrent of words so profane that Celestia had long ago removed from use through royal decrees and even a few laws. “What are you playing at?” she asked nopony in particular. “You claim to be giving me two choices; then you go and bait me with a third...”

She fell backwards onto the bed with a sigh of exasperation, then saw the writing on the ceiling.

Luna,

You know me better than to think I would try to limit your options, don't you?

For the sake of providing you with more choices, I'll tell you a little secret:

Pinkamena Pie knows far more than she lets on.

-The Outsider (again)

“Derpy...” Luna sighed, “where has the Outsider taken you?”

* * *

Derpy shuddered. She wasn't sure what kind of place Dunwall was, but the sewers were, she decided, a hellish place where swarms of rats -vicious, hungry, carnivorous rats- consumed the bodies of any creature with exposed flesh. Whether the creature was dead or alive was of no consequence; the rats consumed any and all. Derpy had witnessed the grisly deaths two City Watchmen at the paws of the rats, and she'd even been forced to use fresh corpses to draw the dreadful creatures away from herself while she cranked open a door.

Now, having collected a small crossbow and an exquisite folding blade, Derpy knew that she couldn't bear to use them unless it was necessary- even the sleep darts for the crossbow could potentially kill a man, leaving him helpless before the rats.

The note that Derpy had found attached to the sword had born a rather interesting message, one that stuck in her head.

I can tell you, with neither doubt nor exaggeration, that this is the finest sword I have ever

created. If, in your travels, you should encounter God...

God will be cut.

-Rarity Joplin

But there was no time to spend pondering the message. According to another note, one Applejack Beechworth was waiting for her. Derpy supposed that Applejack was one of the ponies that the Outsider had meant when he said she'd see familiar faces.

Derpy peeked over the edge of the hole she'd arrived at, catching a few snippets of conversation between a pair of City Watchmen.

“Shall we gather for whiskey and cigars tonight?”

“Yes, I believe so.”

They stood on a narrow walkway suspended over waters that looked to be around a meter deep. Derpy carefully descended while they were facing away from her, her crossbow loaded with a sleep dart- just in case. She snatched up an empty whiskey bottle before taking the plunge, then hurled it into a wall that was several meters from the guards, slipping silently into the water while they were distracted.

Derpy swam past several more City Watchmen, holding her breath for nearly a minute before she slipped out of the water and climbed up and out of the sewers. The squeaking of a swarm of rats sent her sprinting out of the mouth of the tunnel that was the sewer's exit.

A woman, standing only slightly taller than Derpy herself, greeted her with a bow. “Howdy!” called the woman. “I'm Applejack, the boatman... boatwoman...? Anyways, I cain't hardly believe you come outta that hole, friend, but, sure as sugar, you did!”

Derpy nodded. This was definitely Applejack. She had the same blonde ponytail, used the same vernacular, and even spoke with same voice. “That I did.”

“I reckon I'll be takin' ya back to the Hound Pits Pub, now, sugar-cube. Ya look mighty tired. I 'spose prison does that to a gal- 'specially an innocent one.”

Derpy realized that she didn't know what she looked like. Not only did she not know, she had no clue. If Applejack was any indicator, she had the same hair and the same voice...

It struck Derpy that she was probably using her real voice. It wasn't a bad feeling, either...

* * *

Princess Celestia watched her younger sister panic for a few minutes. “Twilight, do you recall the trick Discord played on you, when he concealed the Elements of Harmony in the reference book you learned about them from?”

Twilight Sparkle looked up at the princess, who was far larger than her, and nodded. “I do.”
“And can you explain to me how and why the trick worked?”

Twilight thought for a moment, then nodded once again, rather cheerfully. “Normally, when somepony is trying to trick somepony else, the last thing they want is for the pony being tricked to find out. Discord's trick relied on us thinking that it was a trick and thinking that we knew how to beat it, when, in reality, the trick lay in what the trick itself was.”

Celestia smiled at her favorite pupil. “Very good, Twilight. Can you tell me what that is called, or where it originated?”

Twilight shook her head, looking dejected. “No, princess.”
“Good. If you could, I'd never trust you again.”

“Huh?”
“It is called a Kansas City Shuffle. The point being that Kansas City is the largest city in the state of Missouri, and the portion of Kansas City that lies in the state of Kansas is relatively small. So, when somepony is told that something is in Kansas City, that pony often looks on the wrong side of the river that divide Kansas and Missouri.”

Twilight frowned. “I haven't ever heard of any of those places...”
Celestia took a deep breath. “There are a great many worlds in addition to our own, Twilight. Many of these worlds have beings like Luna and myself- immortals, who are oft revered as gods. Some of them, like Luna and I, actively rule over their worlds, whereas others range in influence from simply watching to trying to teach their world's inhabitants to behave as they want them to through subtlety or guile.

“One of these 'gods' is the Outsider. He is bored rather easily, and is known to grant boons of power to people who interest him; other than that, his influence on his world is next to none.” Celestia's eyes drifted to Twilight's face, admiring the eagerness to learn and the rapt awe with which the small, purple unicorn listened to her.

“Sometimes, the Outsider gains an interest in beings from other worlds- including ours. He asks permission before 'borrowing' a pony- in his own way, at least- and I almost always give it to him... but the last pony he borrowed seems to have Luna in a panic. Luna and the Outsider have never quite seen eye-to-eye, but he always returns anypony he takes, and they usually end up better for it. All Luna sees is a strange god taking her subjects from their families and friends, submitting them to who-knows-what, and then dropping them back into their lives as if nothing happened.”

Twilight nodded. “And you think that this Outsider is trying to pull off a Kansas City Shuffle?”

“From what I've gleaned, he wants Luna to think that she needs to rescue the pony he took, and Luna thinks that I don't know about it, so she, in order to keep her relationship with this pony a secret, isn't going to tell me. He's sending her on a wild goose chase during which she'll be forced to learn how to socialize with other ponies, when there's nothing she can do about it, there's probably nothing particularly bad he's doing to the pony he took, and I already know.”

“Who is this pony he took? Is it somepony I know?”

“I don't know,” Celestia lied, “I didn't ask. I can't foresee any good coming from my telling everypony that a deity from another world likes to, on occasion, 'borrow' ponies. I think that two things would happen, both at the same time- outrage and a lot of questions that I don't feel should be answered.”

Twilight frowned, tried to hide the shock displayed so plainly on her face, and turned away when she realized she was doing a poor job of hiding her feelings. 'Princess Celestia doesn't trust me,' Twilight thought sadly.

* * *

Applejack gestured with the hand that she wasn't using to steer her boat. “This here's the Hound Pits Pub. It's closed fer business, on account'a half the district bein' plague-ridden and all. We're hidin' right under tha Lord Reagent’s nose, and he don't know nuthin'. 'Course, anyone finds out what we're gettin' up to, an' guards'll be burstin' through the doors with swords drawn. Now that ya've escaped, the Lord Reagent'll be tearin' tha city apart lookin' fer ya...”

She dextrously steered the boat into the stone indentation in the side of the pier. “Admiral Havelock and Lord Pendleton'll be waitin' for ya in the pub,” Applejack said, bringing the boat to a stop. “Believe me when I say that the Admiral ain't no pushover. If'n there's anybody can help ya save Princess Luna- and restore yer good name- it'd have ta be him.” With that, Applejack climbed up and onto the concrete that the boat was now nestled against, and strode off, heading up a set of stairs and out of sight.

Derpy climbed up as well, then took a moment to let her stomach settle. As it happened, Derpy's stomach didn't agree with boats, and boats made it clear that the feeling was quite mutual. Once she was confident in her ability to walk without 'tossing her cupcakes', Derpy walked up the stairs she had seen Applejack use.

The courtyard she found herself in was enclosed. To her left, a building with a large garage-style door emitted strange sounds that reminded her simultaneously of science and a dance party. Straight ahead was a building with a much smaller door, marked by a sign reading 'Hound Pits Pub'. Derpy, heeding the advice of Applejack, entered the building straight ahead of her. Inside, it was exactly as expected- a pub.

Booths were placed along the walls, and an L-shaped bar complimented the L shape of the building, creating a workspace about a half-meter wide for the bartender to... well, tend to the bar. Derpy was discomforted slightly by the large number of bottles and taps along and behind the bar, having never consumed an alcoholic beverage in her life, but she headed towards the voices that she assumed belonged to the pair of men standing in the outer edge of the L, just beside a booth.

“... she's our gal,” said a voice that carried a sophisticated, almost regal air, “even after six months in Coldridge Prison, she slipped out-”

As Derpy drew near enough to the pair to be acknowledged, the other man, who was much bulkier (and well-armed) than the one who'd been speaking, said, “We can continue this later. The woman of the hour is here.”

Both of them turned to face her. “Derpy,” said the larger man, “I am Admiral Havelock, a true servant of the Empress, like you... at least, until the Lord Reagent purged those of us who refused to acknowledge his rule.”

The more regal man bowed. “And I'm Lord Treavor Pendleton. I represent the nobility in our little 'group', but we all act as equals here at the Hound Pits Pub.” Havelock picked up a mug of something brown, with white foam at the top. Derpy was quite certain that it wasn't coffee, chocolate milk, tea, or any other brown drink that wouldn't contain alcohol.

Admiral Havelock took a swig of his alcoholic beverage and spoke. “This is a momentous occasion, Derpy. I'll be honest; we're building a coalition of sorts, with the goal of ending the tyranny of the Lord Reagent, and restoring the throne to Princess Luna, the rightful heir.”

“At risk of execution,” Lord Pendleton added.
“We've got big plans,” Havelock continued, “but we can't put them into motion without you. We need your skills, your ability to fight. And, in return for helping us, we're going to help you destroy the man who murdered the Empress.”

“Sorry,” Pendleton added when it became apparent that Havelock had nothing further to say, “you must be exhausted. We can discuss this further after you've recovered, but, before you retire, you should introduce yourself to Ms. Joplin. Her... personality can be... challenging... at times, but her industrious mind gives her the right to be about as challenging as she pleases.”

Pendleton walked away, and Havelock nodded his agreement. “Yes, she's as much an artist as she is a technician. She'll be crafting your gear. Go talk to her, and then get some sleep. We can talk more when you've rested.”

Derpy headed back the way she came, making the small logical assumption that the building that sounded like science was probably the workshop. She wondered what kind of person Ms. Joplin would be. When she got into the courtyard, Derpy noticed that the garage-door had been opened, and a woman with a purple hairdo that was, without the slightest doubt, the same one worn by Rarity, who owned and operated the carousel-shaped boutique in Ponyville.

Rarity wasn't a pony that Derpy knew very well, but she was, as Derpy recalled, rather friendly, and very skilled in her trade- Derpy (correctly) guessed that, judging by the drill press she was using, Rarity wasn't a dress-maker here.

As Derpy stepped into the building, which was, oddly, lit almost as brightly as the sunlit courtyard, Rarity addressed her without looking up from whatever she was machining. “I'll be crafting your weapons and gear, darling. All custom work. For you, I will create the tools of a master assassin.” She looked up from the thing she was working on, for a few moments, to inspect Derpy.

As soon as Rarity resumed working, the drill made a whirring sound that reminded Derpy of the sound that the mail-sorting machine in the post office made whenever it was turned off. “Uuggghhhh,” groaned Rarity, “this can't be happening! This is the worst. Possible. Thing.”

Derpy wasn't sure what had happened, but, as the machine ejected a tank made of red metal and glass, she became quite sure that this was a regular process carried out by the machine- after all, it had all happened automatically. “What's wrong?” Derpy asked.

“The machine ran out of whale oil!” Rarity whined, before smiling at Derpy. “Would you be a darling and refill this tank at the station upstairs? I really must hold this in place. I'm sure you understand. Don't you, darling?”

Derpy shrugged, picking up the tank, which was, to her pleasant surprise, much lighter than she'd thought it would be. “How much do these weigh?”

“Empty? Around twenty-five pounds. Be careful not to break a nail carrying that, darling,” Rarity said in a sing-song voice as Derpy carried the tank up the metal stairs, “Whale oil is quite volatile, and it tends to explode at the slightest provocation.”

Derpy was only slightly perturbed to hear that the tank she was carrying would be filled with a highly-explosive liquid that was processed from whale fat. Once she reached the machine mounted on the wall, refilling it was simple enough. She slotted the tank into the apparatus, pulled the lever, and watched as it filled with the fluorescent blue liquid. She carefully carried the newly-filled tank down the stairs and placed it into the drill press Rarity was using. A metal shield rotated out to protect the tank.

“Fabulous, darling, simply fabulous. Thank you, Derpy.” Rarity moved the drill up and down a few more times, then turned away from the machine. “Here, see,” she said, holding up a piece of metal that bore quite a lot of resemblance to a skull, with lenses for the eyes, “an assassin's mask. You're wanted, darling, so everyone in the city will know your face. This mask will mean terror to them.” Rarity held the mask up to Derpy's face, and said, “Hold still, darling. The fit must be perfect.” She placed it onto Derpy's face, and the fit was so precisely matched to her face that it felt natural, as if it belonged there. Derpy's vision was out of focus, due to the lenses being slightly misaligned, but Rarity corrected that quickly with a screwdriver. “There, darling, you look terrifying!”

Derpy was briefly amused by the way that she'd gone from wearing a mask in the form of a fake personality, to wearing an actual mask. It occurred to her that that was probably poetic somehow.

“I can always make more, darling,” Rarity said, “upgrades for your gear, munitions, and the like. I'm sorry to say, though, that our situation is rather... unfavorable when it comes to acquiring materials to work with. You'll have to do a bit of scavenging to give us the funding we need, darling. I can sell practically anything of value on the black market.”

After a few moments, Rarity finished tinkering with the mask. “Is there anything you need, or anything I can help you with?”

“Actually, yes,” Derpy said, “I'd like to be able to carry more sleep darts for my crossbow, and I wouldn't mind having a weapon that's a bit less... lethal than a sword. I'd like to avoid killing everyone I come across.”

Rarity rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “I'll see what I can come up with, darling. In the meantime, I'm sure you're exhausted. You should get some sleep. Life's going to become more difficult for you very soon, so you should definitely catch up on your beauty sleep while you can. Your room is on the top floor of the pub.”

Derpy made her way to the pub, found the staircase, and began her ascent. The exhaustion she should have been feeling all along seemed to hit her all at once. Once she reached the second floor, she overheard a bit of conversation.

“…'ve heard people saying that she killed the Empress,” said a shy female voice.
“And kidnapped Princess Luna as well, I'm sure. What 'people' fail to realize is that she was captured immediately after supposedly killing the Empress, making it impossible for her to have kidnapped the Princess.”

Derpy stepped into the corridor that the voices were coming from. “Hm. I think that would have been part of my defense- you know, if I'd actually been given a trial.”

The man who had been speaking was rather small compared to the human males Derpy had seen thus far, with bright green hair. The woman had long, pink hair, and blushed shyly after realizing that she'd been caught gossiping by the one she'd been gossiping about. Derpy thought she was probably the pegasus that was good with animals- the name 'Fluttershy' seemed to fit.

“Ah. Hello, Derpy,” said the tiny male. “I am William Higgins, but people call me 'Spike'. I'll be showing you to your room.”

Spike, who Derpy realized was Twilight Sparkle's baby dragon assistant, lead her up the stairs, where he showed her the room she'd be staying in. “This is the room you'll be staying in,” he said simply, “it was selected to give you privacy.”

When Spike left, Derpy did nothing more than plop down on the bed and fall asleep. No, she did do something; she had a thought. It was a short thought, brief... and incomplete. The thought was, 'If Luna's not alright... I'll... I'll...'

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

End Chapter One

~ + ~ + ~ + ~ + ~

~~Arcane-Boomeus~~

Author's Note:

Author's Notes:

I'll kill that Typhlosion, if it's the last thing I do!
(I'm sorry, that was irrelevant, but it's on my mind. Daddy's got some revenge of his own in the works, dig?)
[Please ignore the above words. (At least where I said 'dig?' {like the phrase 'ya dig?', but without the 'ya'}) I CLAIM TEMPORARY INSANITY.]

On a note related to the story, I'm trying to stick to the dialogue in the game pretty closely, but I'm also putting a little 'spin' on it (Havelock, Pendleton, etc., will probably be far closer to their in-game dialogue than, say, Applejack (who assumes the role of Samuel, as I'm sure you may or may not/probably know).