@AWGear
Unfortunately, I don’t remember what was in my head at that time. However, I would guess that I was thinking:
A) Blackjack doesn’t go on a “killing spree”, she exclusively kill in self defense, unlike Littlepip, and this is restated extremely often throughout the novel.

B) Her story doesn’t end very happily. Everyone she loves is dead and she has no one to raise her child with, so she lets almost everyone presume she’s dead and gives her daughter to someone else.

C) “Selfish” would be to let raiders have her pipbuck and literally end the world, instead of returning to her comfortable life in the stable. That point is really bad. Also P-21, Morning Glory, and Scotch Tape all would have died much sooner if she did that.

@Jamin-P-Rose
Everyone joining together by the fireplace and having a feast :P

Ah yes, the way PH really should have ended.

@Willsaber  
What do you mean? What are you reffering to?

@AWGear  
Woow you did not pay attention to Project Horizons even a little bit, did ya?

@Prysmfox  
Just like with every Fallout game, there is no “one path to take”.
 
LittlePip could put Red Eye into the SPP. He even offered her that “way of dealing with him”. Inside of there, Celestia would have full on controll over what he’d be doing, and if he were to go rouge, killing a comatose pony isn’t really that dificult. Red Eye has proven time and time to be stallion of his word (letting her friends go unharmed after captureing her, allowing her to leave Fillydeplhia instead of killing her, giveing her the Megaspell) and she didn’t even tried to double-cross her. LittlePip had a way of “finishing” her story, eliminateing her nemesis and being with the love of her life. Instead, she chose the path of “I’m the hero”, which shows her rather shallow intentions. Basicly, she chose “No Gods, No Masters” ending in it’s most ruthless form.
 
Same goes for Blackjack. She could get rid of the Pip-Buck as soon as she was out of vault 99. Instead, she choose to “play hero” and go on a killing spree. What’s worse with her, is that she wasn’t the one paying for her mistakes. Her story ended with a happy end, while stories of her friends ended prematurely. What Blackjack did was selfish, no matter how you spin it. She chose what she wanted, makeing her friends suffer because of that. If she were to do as her friends suggested, she could spent final days of the world with her loved ones in peace. Instead, she choose to drag them through hell and back, meeting thier demise not of thier own fault, but because they had a terrible leader.
 
Also, frankly, any alternative ending to Project Horizons is better than the one we got. It was very obvious that the Author wanted to end the story as soon as possible, with as many bodies as he could fit into it. Even something as dumb as “UFO ending” from Silent Hill series would make more sense than anything chapter 70 and onwards. With Epilogue being the textbook example of “I have ran out of ideas”.

@sxcbeast  
Even if we won’t take LittlePip’s “idiotic plan” as a reason for Operation Cauterize to be set in motion, it doesn’t change the fact that Eclave has full rights to hunt down those deserted from thier forces. They are criminals and Enclave’s citizens. As such, they have to obey the law of the Enclave.

@AWGear  

I think it was going to happen anyway. Rainbow Dash set up the Ministry in Canterlot to send out an alert to all other Ministry of Awesome hubs. The Enclave went into action because they believed their SPP was under threat, when Pip and her gang set off the silent alarm. Part of the Operation was to destroy all Ministry of Awesome buildings left in Equestria.
 
We don’t get much detail other than what General Habringer says during his exchange with the Goddess. But it seems like the Goddess was making new allies on the side, just like Redeye has done with LP. Either that, or the Enclave felt having the Goddess on their side would secure the continued safety and isolation of the Enclave.

@AWGear  
blackjack is even worse, becuase she knew she was doing the wrong thing half the time but she also knew that there was no other path for her to take, if she wanted to make things better she had to endure, ponies would have to die for the world to change…she tried her best to minimize the causalties but she was neither a perfect, nor a smart pony and she fucked up, often…she paid the price for it too on more then one ocasion, to be honest even if i accept the final arc of the story as cannon i disregard the epiloge, in my mind BJ died during the fight with the eater, she found her absolution her penence for her sins in death and left a beter world, and a hope for a beter future for her children.
 
(that said i have several AU versions of Project horizens in my head like im sure alot of fans do that have things go a bit better…but thats just fanboing snicker)

@AWGear  
perspective is often the problem, theres a saying ‘we are all the hero’s of our own story’ no person thinks they are evil, red eye belives what he is doing is justified and nessiary, so does pip, so does the enclave, so does homage so does ‘everyone’ thats kinda the whole point here, in the wasteland there is no reall abject morality, everything is painted in shades of grey, its a world of anarchy and destruction where might makes right, lil pip may be flawed…but she was a pony who had the might to reshape the world, and the conections…she had 2 choices, accept things as they were, or fight to make it diffrent and whats more i might add she accepted a penence for what shes done…when she sealed herself in the ssp it was with the (faulty as proven later) expectation that it would be forever, that she would never see anyone she cared about ever again, eternal imprisonment with only celestia for company
 
this proved not to be the case but at the time she had no way to know that, and even when shes able to she only allows herself breif visits and only for the sake of homage, it would be easy for her to find someone else just as trustworthy as she, or even moreso and leave, go out and have her happily ever after…but she stays, because she belongs there
 
shes a hero, but shes a tainted one and she knows it.

@sxcbeast  
Let’s look at it from diffrent perspective.
 
Operation Cauterize was put into motion because Little Pip murdered one of Enclave’s Generals(and thier entire ship) in a Megaspell Explosion. Nopony is there to blame for it’s activation, other than the Light Bringer and her “lack of foresight” in progressing whith such dumb plan. If she were to go with something that was less of an overkill, she wouldn’t have started a war with someone, she didn’t even intened to attack. After learning about pre-war equestria, she should have known that “Megaspells are bad, and useing them is a dumb idea”.
 
The reason why Enclave wants Calamity and other dashites dead, is because they are seen as traitors. You must remember that, as a military organization, Enclave cannot tolerate insubordination. It’s just like in the military in our world. Unlike Morning Glory, who was branded aginst her will and the fact that she still belived in the Enclave, it was Calamity’s decision to betray his kind. He was nothing more than a traitor. For that, Enclave had full right to exact justice on someone, who used to be one of them.
 
From the morality point of view, Calamity is even worse of a pony than most of other Enclave soldiers, as they hesitate before murdering other ponies. Calamity had no problem with murdering scared Steel Rangers at Bucklyn Cross or shoting down a young colt. Enclave at least has a decency to send a warning before they start the slaughter.
 
Homage, again, isn’t much better. She is spewing so much propaganda all over the Wasteland, that she even gives Red Eye a run for his money. She also has a habbit of sending the ponies she “cares about” into mortal danger, which may result in thier death (Joke Blue). She preferes to stay in safety of Tenpony Tower when someone else does her dirty work. At least Autumn Leaf had enough courage, to personally take care of diplomacy.
 
Little Pip lacks ability to understand, that other ponies can have differing opinions from hers. Having diffrent view on life doesn’t make you evil. Enclave existed like this for over 200 years, and if it was a “bad way of liveing”, they wouldn’t make it past 100. Sadly, in her mind, if something differs from what she think is right(like Arbu), it doesn’t deserve to exist.

@AWGear  
Autumn Leaf was the pony in charge of everything. The entire Operation Cauterize was his idea. There are a few reasons why LP killed him. He put his own brother, Calamity on a hit list, along with Homage. He set the parameters that stated any settlement with ties to Redeye or any Dashites are to be razed, despite whether or not the settlement was overall friendly. She knew he’d still be a threat after seeing his actions in the Cathedral, the way he showed no mercy, sympathy, caring or remorse for the innocents in danger with them. And the way he coldly killed the scientist. (Tho that last one was pretty weak for Littlepip) Plus it goes with LP’S character. She regretted choosing to save fanatical ponies loyal to Redeye over saving the enslaved group of only peaceful Hellhounds.  
And given her talk with Velvet, I think she might’ve regretted killing Calamity ’s brother. Or maybe she was still disturbed by it given they had the same eyes.

man my dear blackjack has been through hell and back I’m not a big fan of blackjack torture

@Prysmfox  
Yes, those events haunt LittlePip by the end of the book, but the problem is that she seems to be doing nothing to not repeat her mistakes. She keeps saying how much she doesn’t want ponies to die, yet she keeps leading them to thier death. As soon as Enclave appears in Equestria, instead of dealing with them directly or going to places where there are no other ponies, she let’s them follow her to various settlements, which results in the deaths of even more ponies.
 
Instead of killing Atumn Leaf when he was fully immobilized and defenceless, she could take him and use him to negotiate with Enclave. He was still thier leader after all. She had him in a possition where he wasn’t able to flee nor harm anypony. There was no reason to kill him, besides the petty revenge. That doesn’t sound as a “good strategist” to me. :/
 
Also, tehnically you can finish both Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas without killing anyone. Even if we won’t count them, due to thier use of Glitches, you could always solve the main conflict peacefully with speech, without having to kill the main antagonist.

@AWGear  
with regard to arbu and bucklin heres the thing, thats kinda the point, and those two events haunt lil pip for the rest of her adventure, most especialy arbu, if those events hadnt happend if she hadnt been slaped in the face with just how badly she could slip if she wasnt kept in check she might have ‘agreed’ to redeyes idea…she needed those bloody events to happen for her to realize that she is not in fact fit to lead much of anything, shes a great stratagist but a leader of ponies she is not, nor will she ever be…best to be locked away and forgoten, hence the SPP, its a job she can do for the most part away from everypony else and not hurting anypony.
 
and with regards to autmn, does she in any way shape or form make any claim that the action was heroic, no she doesnt, it was ‘nessiary’ what is ‘nessiary’ is not always good…the fallout universe is not a place for the ‘good’ to triumph…not one single fallout game can be completed completly via stealht and pacifisum, you have to at some point pull the trigger.

@Background Pony #DEA3  
You can say that Red Eye, too, cares about ponies of the wasteland, by creating schools for them.  
LittlePip is fighting to bring back the world from before the war. To that, I am going to respond with two quotes belonging to Ulysses from Fallout: New Vegas Lonesome Road DLC.
 
“The Old World died long ago. Anyone who believes they can make it return and everything will be as it was is a dangerous belief.”
 
“These governments of the two-headed bear… the Legion… they carry Old World ideas into an age that no longer needs them, where they cannot live.”
 
History likes to repeat itself, and when Littlepip wants to bring back what has proven faulty over 200 years ago, Red Eye builds something new, more fitting for the current times.

@AWGear  
The thing that keeps em better is what theyre fightingg for and the fact they care bout orhers. Rhe outhirs pictured a much less forgiving or fair world compared tj teh fallout games where the heros dont have xharisma options the same way and while its not the best writing ever id ssy thsy made some rarher interesting characters and made their guilt relatively clear in the story. But i cna see how youd dislike the solve with violence if you go the tschnicaly pasafist route. (New vagas has times where charisma isnt able to help and violence is often the awnser btw, so its not imposibly different from how many perceive their playthroos.

@SPi  
Give her a few more minutes, untill she reaches that beautiful shade of brown :P

@sxcbeast  
@Prysmfox
 
My opinion is mostly based on the fact that I always play high Speech and Charisma characters in Fallout games, which allows me to kill the least ammout of enemies to get what I want.
 
Since both Blackjack and Littlepip are ment to be “heroes” of thier respective story, they shouldn’t be solving every problem with killing. By the end of the original story I had a strong dislikeing for Littlepip, purely based on the fact that she seemed to be killing everypony who opposed her. How is that better from being a raider?
 
|| Destruction of Arbu, Death of Goddes, Slaughter at Bucklyn Cross or Death of Autumn Leaf didn’t have to happen, as both of these events could have been solved peacefully. While we are on that, a “Hero” shouldn’t kill a defenceless, immobilized prisoner. No matter how you put it, it was still a wrong and dishonorable thing to do. Bucklyn Cross was messed up too, as Littlepip slaughtered a bunch of scared ponies who were not hostile towards her. ||
 
I’d put more fault into how both stories were written. It’s especially visible in the Original that “Raiders are bad, Littlepip is good because author says so”, even if Littlepip often does stuff ethier worthy or much worse than raider would.
 
The agenda is especially visible when Pip talk to Red Eye. Even tough he tries to reason with her, trying to solve thier issues in a dyplomatic way, she always decides to do everything “her” which just leads to more death. For the most of the story, Red Eye felt like he was “bad” just because author said so.
 
All I’m saying that if Velvet and Glory would fit more the role of “Heroine” in thier respective stories. They were much more level-headed ponies who could slove the issues with the smallest body count possible.

@Prysmfox
 
@AWGear  
There’s also the fact that Pip isn’t a character who would choose to talk to an enemy. As she’s demonstrated a few times from the Ponyville library to Arbu, LP is very quick to anger; and would rather shoot first then ask questions later. Especially if she already sees you as irredeemable in her eyes. LP, if her ‘Official’ Character Sheet is any indication, has high charisma and speech. 7 for Chr, and 82 for Speech.
 
Blackjack seems like a character who wants to always do Speech Checks, but forgets to put her skill points into Speech. Plus her Perk ‘Intimidating Presence’ (her shooty face) probably counters any plans she may have had to talk things out, before her enemies run away or start shooting. All this despite the fact she’s actually a very charismatic character. Probably more so than LP.

@Prysmfox  
So you prefer rare? Too bloody for me…

@SPi  
eh i prefer my fuck toys with a pulse thanks.

@AWGear  
that said, yes blackjack [who is actualy my favorite charicter] has a shity charisma score, and abismal int too [shes not a very smart pony] but she makes up for it with luck…lots and lots of luck
 
and her invisible perk ‘fate trade’ if you dont know what that is, final chapter just before she faces the final big bad her cutie mark is properly explained…its not prety.
 
all that said if i had my way id rewrite PH from just after the end of the enclave arc on, as with most the eater of souls would be nixed…beyond that im not sure what else id change without actualy siting down and bullet pointing it out

Well done

@AWGear  
you realize lil pip’s charisma score was second only to redeyes right…
 
now that said this is while shes ‘not’ suffering from mintall withdrawl [which is for half the story]
 
also tell me honestly, would anyone have read the story if they talked there way out of every situation?  
a fallout story without a single shot fired is a badly written fallout story.