“ | I have been in Hoofington many years. I am… resistant to the screams of the city. Few alicorns can survive in it for long. In some places, it is physically damaging. | ” |
– Lacunae
Explaining Hoofington's lack of alicorns |
Lacunae | |
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~ DotRook | |
Profile | |
Race | Alicorn |
Sex | Female |
Faction/Role | The Goddess, Unity Priest and heavy weapons expert |
Alive |
Appearance | |
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Eyes | Violet |
Mane | Night Blue |
Coat | Dusk |
Lacunae is an alicorn working for the unity alicorns. She is part of the Goddess, and is supposed to bring Blackjack into aiding the Goddess for their well-being. She is one of the protagonists in Project Horizons. Lacunae is introduced in Chapter 19.
Background[]
Originally, the Goddess sent her to Hoofington to locate some former relics within the city. However, the enervation that radiated from the city became "screams" to the Goddess that brought unbearable pain to every alicorn within Unity. So the Goddess isolated her from other Unity members, allowing the mission to be continued while the other members did not need to suffer the scream through involuntary telepathy.
This isolation defines Lacunae. In text, it means "unfilled space" or a "void", which sums up what this pony is – a part of the Goddess where she dumps unwanted parts of herself (weak personalities, bad memories, etc). Blackjack theorizes that it is these unwanted parts that form Lacunae's unique personality.
Personality[]
She is a very quiet pony, and can sometimes posses a melancholy tone; one of the first things Blackjack notices about her is how sad she appears as a part of the Goddess. She displays the various traits and abilities that come with Unity, but due to her isolation she is not a typical alicorn. This stems from her mission, and perhaps her true identity as well.
Lacunae displays a lot more compassion than any other alicorn because the Goddess uses her as a dumping ground for emotions.
She claims she deserves to suffer, likely due to the original personality buried within Lacunae. Following heavy exposure to enervation in the tunnels under Hoofington, Blackjack entered her mind in order to release her from a temporary catatonic state; in doing so she witnessed many of the negative memories from various ponies that have been placed in her.
Appearance[]
She is similar to Princess Luna in appearance, and when Blackjack first met her, she mistook her for the fallen princess. She has a purple body, a blue mane, and a pair of violet eyes. Being a part of the Goddess and, of course, an alicorn, she is much larger than the typical unicorn in the wasteland. She covers her wings up with a black lace dress, so potential enemies can't recognize her as an alicorn. Even though her body size can make this difficult, ponies are less likely to ask about a larger-than-usual unicorn.
Following the destruction of the Goddess, Lacunae's body (and memories) are eventually returned to her original self, Psalm. As a result, Psalm's cutie mark - a lone, burning candle - is returned to her.
History[]
Before being converted into an alicorn, Lacunae was originally Psalm, an orphan unicorn who was adopted by Goldenblood at Princess Luna's personal request. Psalm was a very quiet, nervous and socially anxious pony, though was faithful and deeply committed to serving Princess Luna any way she could.
Eventually she joined the army and became a member of Macintosh's Marauders after it was discovered she had a natural talent for ranged combat.
During her career as a sniper however, she became increasingly unstable due to the guilt she felt for killing her various targets. Following the events of the Shattered Hoof assassination attempt which broke up the team, Goldenblood had Psalm transferred to the O.I.A. where she became one of their special operatives.
At the end of the war, upon the assurance that she would receive forgiveness from Princess Luna for all she had done, Psalm took part in one of the O.I.A.'s secret Projects, Partypooper; an attempted Coup against the Ministry Mares. Psalm was charged with assassinating anypony targeted by the EC-1101 megaspell routing list, to ensure Princess Luna's rule. Unfortunately the bombs fell during the course of her operations in Manehatten.
Determined to follow-through on her orders and finally earn forgiveness, Psalm spent the following weeks tracking down two more targets in Hoofington before attempting to check in with the remaining O.I.A. command at Black Pony Mountain. After learning that Princess Luna died in Canterlot, and that she never sanctioned the assassinations in the first place, Psalm becomes delusional and attempted to complete her mission by assassinating the final target on the EC-1101 routing list; Twilight Sparkle.
Psalm eventually reached Twilight Sparkle's last known location; the Maripony research facility. Dieing from Radiation poisoning, she witnessed Twilight's fate at the hands of the Goddess and the infancy of Unity forming. Now self-destructive and completely unstable, Psalm attempted to destroy the facility, however failed and was pulled into an I.M.P. Vat. Her addition to Unity caused great upheaval however, as the minds of Unity were horrified and revolted by the monstrous actions of her past (Lacunae would later speculate that it was the addition of her mind to Unity that poisoned it into the hateful entity it became).
Nearly 200 years later, alicorns arrived in the Hoofington area, however this quickly ended in disaster as they approached the city - the Enervation fields have a devastating affect on the drones that is further amplified by their link to Unity. Horrified that Enervation is powerful enough to pull minds from Unity, the dominant mares nonetheless determine that the amplified effect is caused by the proximity of linked minds, and that a single drone may be able to survive operating in the area.
Psalm, knowing the Hoofington area from before the war and still seeking punishment for her sins, volunteered to be partially muted from the Unity collective and proceeds to investigate the area.
Lacunae investigates and meets Blackjack, who the Goddess sees as a potential asset. The Goddess has Lacunae accompany Blackjack in her pursuit of EC-1101, which the alicorns hope will allow them access to Project Chimera, and thusly allow them to make male alicorns. She becomes heavily attached to the group, much to the Goddess' annoyance, and over time expresses a distaste for Unity and even hopes that Littlepip will succeed in her quest to defeat the Goddess.
Lacunae saves Blackjack's life when she tried to kill herself in Stable 99, teleporting in and out before the Security Mare could be overcome by the chlorine gas. Blackjack would return to favor when Lacunae is left trapped within her own mind after a run in with enervation. Blackjack makes a telepathic connection with the alicorn, searching through the memories the Goddess has implanted within her, as well as Lacunae's own, until she reached her consciousness. Blackjack successfully brought her back, for with Lacunae was extremely grateful.
Eventually, the Goddess overrides Lacunae's mind, along with that of Blackjack, and leads them back to Maripony. She intends to use them both against Littlepip, though the megaspell goes off before their arrival, destroying unity.
Lacunae then gives back to the alicorns all of their negative life experiences, effectively reverting herself to Psalm in the process and 'killing' Lacunae. Twilight Sparkle also possesses Lacunae's body while she's out, using it to search for Littlepip alongside Ditzy Doo and save her life. When she wakens, Lacunae is once again Psalm, and she departs from Blackjack's group.
Skills[]
As an alicorn, she possesses much greater magical strength than any unicorn. She can lift a gatling gun magically with ease (which Blackjack commented would be impossible for her), and can teleport herself and other ponies within a reasonable range ("The energy needed is the product of the square of the amount of mass to be transported, the square of the distance to be covered, Fireflash's constant, and the inverse of the amount of radiation I've absorbed."). She is capable of firing a magic arrow spell when disarmed and prefers to communicate telepathically without moving her lips. She also possesses healing powers, which is seen in her many attempts to heal the group's injuries.
For a brief time during Blackjack's attempt to enter Hightower, she wielded Marmalade's old Pipbuck which greatly increased her deadliness with weaponry through the use of S.A.T.S.
Because she is an alicorn, she can communicate with the Goddess no matter where she is. It is also seen that the Goddess can speak through her without approval. Blackjack is able to distinguish between the Goddess and Lacunae's personalities.
After Blackjack is exposed to a critical level of Radiation in Hightower prison and develops a minor link to Unity due to pre-existing brain damage, the two are able to communicate telepathically and even exchange perceptions and feelings. This ability can be affected by interference from pockets of enervation and the by the will of the Goddess however.
Relationships[]
Blackjack - She assists Blackjack in her journey and has saved her life on more than one occasion. She refused to let Blackjack die in Stable 99, partly because she still had a debt to The Goddess. She quietly considers Blackjack and her companions to be friends and is shown to exert herself to aid them even in tasks that do not directly benefit the goddess.
P-21 - She gets along with P-21, and assists him by relaying messages telepathically between him and Blackjack at one point.
Morning Glory - She seems to get along well with her, and assists her in medical procedures.
Rampage - They get along well enough. Rampage reminded Blackjack of her soft heart when she recruited Lacunae.
Scotch Tape - She has allowed Scotch to ride on her back at times and even once levitated her to cheer her up with 'flying'. She teleported her and Morning Glory to the Fluttershy Medical Clinic when Scotch's organs were filled with chlorine gas by Killing Joke and assisted Glory with providing medical care.
Notes & Trivia[]
- She is used as a place to store regrets, negative feelings and weaker personalities that exist within Unity.
- Can be possessed by the Goddess at will.
- Wears a black lace dress to hide her wings and alicorn status.
- Her black dress is a reference to the lady in black. Along with her mannerisms regarding the hiding of her true nature by using clothing is similar to that of the Intelligent Deathclaw companion Goris from Fallout 2.
- Looks remarkably similar to Luna.
- Wields a heavy minigun with ease.
- Has shown extensive knowledge concerning miniguns, anti-machine rifles and other heavy weapons; she has stated that she dislikes the weaponry, yet still respects it.
- Was shown as being able to wield multiple heavy weapons when she used a Steel Rangers Power armours weapons and her minigun, coupled with her shield spell.
- Has a fondness for dandelion sandwiches.
- Her proficiency in heavy weapons, particularly miniguns, combined with her love for sandwiches might be a reference to the Team Fortress 2 character Heavy.
- Refuses to let Blackjack die and reminds her of her debt to the Goddess.
- Has a guilt complex, possibly from the original personality buried within her.
- Her name is the plural form of lacuna which literally means, 'A missing portion in a book or manuscript.'
- As with all of Blackjack's close friends she has nearly killed the unicorn; specifically when she attacked her with magic arrows after mistaking her for the Raider she was disguised as.
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