Present Perfect vs. Project Horizons, Book 2 · 7:33pm Feb 25th, 2016
BOOK 1: 1-16 || BOOK 2: 17-33 || BOOK 3: 34-49 || BOOK 4: 50-62 || BOOK 5: 63-77 || EPILOGUE
I really couldn’t stay away from PH. Though book one has a very clear and fully resolved storyline, the continuing story of Blackjack and friends is just irresistible. Why do I like this story so much? Frankly, I’m not sure, and it’s one of the things I plan to address in this review.
The other thing to address is, well, just how to review in the first place. I think I’ll start by updating everything I touched on in the first review, and then moving ahead with new characters, situations, and everything else. Because otherwise, this is just gonna be “here’s what happens in book two”, and nobody needs that. :B
As always, these reviews are brought to you by VisualPony, who this time had help from GutiuSerenade, Astro-Brony, and a couple others! It’s made for a fun audiobook. :) I’m sorry this is ten pages long, but I had a lot of ground to cover and that’s why it took me so long. D: Let’s begin. (There will be major spoilers.)
When last we left Blackjack and co., their primary antagonist had been blown to smithereens, bringing to an end the “figure out EC-1101/escape from Deus” arc that formed most of the first book’s plot. Book two concerns itself with the ramifications of EC-1101, introducing a lot of the major factions of Hoofington (factions being a major component of Project Horizons), and culminating with “stop the Steel Rangers from shelling Hoofington with a giant assfuck nuclear howitzer”.
Characters
Let’s get right into those spoilers with Blackjack. She doesn’t change a whole lot, character-wise, in this book. What does happen to her is absorbing all the damage ever. Over the course of these seventeen chapters, she: gets shot (no surprise), is blown up multiple times, gets super-cancer, loses an eye, has her leg bones turned pliant, attempts suicide, gets not one but two boats dropped on her (I kind of missed the first time it happened, but she never shuts up about it), loses her other eye, gets nailed spread-eagled to the floor and gang-raped, loses all four legs as a result of that, and dies.
Yes. Blackjack is dead at the end of chapter 33. Or at least, that’s what she tells us. I expect the next million words to be “Blackjack was still dead” over and over again, which will make the following three books easy to review. :V
But seriously, I’ve never seen a writer so thoroughly commit to having their main character go through every hell imaginable, nor have I seen a continually-tortured character weather it all with such aplomb. Yes, Blackjack is whiny, and her “I got hit with a boat” complex is only the tip of the iceberg. But through all of this, she really starts growing into her role as the team’s heart. Even after getting the “we’re here because we want to be, let us help you” speech from her friends, she’s always trying to stay strong for them, to be the rock they can lean on. A couple scenes where she breaks completely down are highlights of this book for just this reason. She’s always giving her all to protect her friends, whether it be from attack or reality, and she’s constantly cracking jokes. The one at the end of chapter 32 was particularly appreciated, as it was completely unexpected and its timing was perfect. But of course, I just love the fact that, while on her deathbed, an eyeless, legless, cancer-ridden lump of pony meat, she’s giving her companions wet willies and making poop jokes. Poop jokes.
Frankly, that may be why I like her so much. I’ve continued to ask myself this question as I followed along with this book, and I’ve never been able to answer it: Why do I like this story and its characters so much? Is it because it takes place in a setting I’m already familiar with and invested in, while having so much less of the things that made me dislike Fallout: Equestria? Do I unironically like Blackjack more than Littlepip because she’s a better character, or in a better story? Is a good first impression really all it takes? Poop jokes from a dying mare may hold the key.
Not to go out of order, but let’s continue with Glory, because she takes on a very important role in book two: Blackjack’s marefriend. You better believe I was squealing with delight when my dreams came true on this one. They’re fucking adorable together (and adorably fucking, see also other fic reviews), and few things brought me more joy than seeing them interact. Even when they broke up for a while, it was still great, because at least it had happened.
As for Glory herself, either her character has gelled, or I just wasn’t paying much attention to her through the first book, but where P-21 has always been serious and severe, Glory is the serious, oblivious one. As in, she constantly misses jokes and won’t understand sarcasm without a warning. Scotch Tape calls her “the most boring pony in the Wasteland”, and by the end of book two, she’s all but owning that moniker. She is distinctly a comic relief character who isn’t the one telling the jokes.
More noticeable is that she continues to be the Wasteland’s whipping mare. Along with all the other terrible things that have happened to her (being branded a Dashite among the worst), by the end of book two, she’s lost a wing, and not in any way you’d think a pegasus in a post-apocalypse normally would. It’s pretty horrifying. It’s offset somewhat, however, by something of a reconciliation with both her father and her older sister, the one who had originally sworn to kill her. That latter reunion stands as one of the best, not-having-downsides-ing-est things Blackjack has ever managed to accomplish. Of course, that is offset by Glory’s ridiculous emo phase, when she demands to be called Fallen Glory and mostly just sulks about the Enclave kicking her out. I mean, it’s understandable to be upset about this, but seriously. Fallen. Glory.
Anyway, her newfound relationship with Blackjack is naturally comparable to that of Littlepip and Homage in FoE. And while the latter was problematic since it was basically Homage preying on LP’s naivete and emotionally abusing her (at least, that’s how I remember it), the problem with the former is that Blackjack has placed Glory on a pedestal. She’s got the “I can’t live/do this/go on without you” thing going on, is what I’m saying. It’s not as bad as LPxH, though, because it’s absolutely mutual. Glory and Blackjack are more or less equally fucked up, and they deserve each other.
(Also, I want to point out that I was very glad Blackjack actually got laid prior to this relationship. The circumstances around that were extremely amusing, to boot. I was less glad when she dream-fucked Trixie, and there’s just no way I can explain that succinctly. But Blackjack gets all the mares.)
Enough about them, P-21 time. He’s mostly spent book two continuing to be his lovable, grumptastic self, but he had a few changes. Foremost, he got himself a gun, a grenade launcher to be specific, since it’s less easy for him to take out Blackjack with it at close range. (You’ll remember he went gunless for a long time because he was afraid he’d shoot her.) He found himself a new beau, which I was super-happy about… until about two seconds later when I realized something has to go wrong now, and I’m just waiting for Chapel to get blown up. D: That’s the kind of relationship one has with these stories, it would seem.
P-21 has also been thrust into an unwanted situation after they pick up Scotch Tape from Stable 99. As the characters are able to figure out, she’s his biological daughter. But through a combination of Stable family life not really including fathers and P-21’s general PTSD, he is absolutely not willing to claim her. By the end of the book, that may be changing, and I look forward to seeing how their relationship grows.
His other big role is in being emotional support for Blackjack. He’s not the only one, to be sure, but the ways they interact are fascinating and completely unlike any other character dynamic. This goes double when we hear his confession that he’s in love with her, despite, y’know, being gay and having been raped by her. (Later on, he claims it’s more a sister kind of thing, but the point is, P-21 is tsundere as fuck.) But nowhere does he shine more than right near the end of chapter 33, after Blackjack has been raped. He comes to her alone, both chastising and then comforting her as only a sufferer of shared trauma can. It was one of the best scenes in the story so far.
Let’s move on to newer characters. Rampage isn’t new, of course, but she wins the award for Most Improved. While by design she’s still got something of the Mary Sue about her, that’s balanced perfectly by her tons of personality. She really grew on me over the course of this book. From what I can gather, she’s a collection of various ponies, including the one who likes killing foals, Twist and her zebra girlfriend (more sure of the latter than the former), an elderly (male) doctor, and Rampage herself. There’s something about soul-binding and regeneration talismans, and suffice to say, she can’t die, she wants to, if she dies hard enough she’ll come back as a filly and spend the next few days aging back up to normal while eating a high-protein diet. Her main trait is being equally full of snarky quips and existential crises. After all, with all those personalities inside her, can she be sure she’s real? (I was so very thankful for Glory’s “the movies get it wrong” explanation of Multiple Personality Disorder.) She even leaves the party at one point due to an ethical disagreement, and when she comes back? Tries to kill Blackjack. Until she apologizes. Plus, she has major history with the leader of Chapel. Good character, this one.
Newer is Lacunae, who also grew on me over the course of the chapter. Her main downside is being an alicorn, but as it’s slowly revealed just what (and possibly who) she is, I found myself more and more appreciative of Somber’s take on Unity. To be sure, the whole “the Goddess wants to save the Wasteland in the only way she can” idea is a pretty good angle. Lacunae, being a vessel for the Goddess, admittedly doesn’t have much character (and readers of my regular reviews may understand why I was rather incensed when she picked up a minigun). But she often provides the calm, collected outsider view during party quarrels, and is overall steadfast if occasionally confused. Plus, she might get a boyfriend here soon; more on him in a minute. :V
Newest is Scotch Tape. The story of how she comes to the party will wait until the plot discussion, but suffice to say she’s a teenage filly from Stable 99’s maintenance crew. We last saw her taking over her mother’s role at a young age after said mother was recycled by the Overmare for what turn out to be completely evil reasons. Her role seems to have been that of the innocent, and of course the Wasteland is no place for innocents. Her big scene came while the party was traversing a radiation-, Taint- and Enervation-filled tunnel. After being attacked by a giant machine monster, she developed something of a phobia of both machines — the thing she’s supposed to be good with — and underground places. This was exacerbated by her first time killing a pony and the revelation that she was P-21’s daughter, followed by his subsequent rejection of her. Her memory is modified after this, and sadly, not perfectly. It’s this event that made Rampage leave the party. Scotch is a bit of a hanger-on (I’m very much in agreement with Blackjack’s mantra of “leave her at Chapel”), but she also experiences losses the hardest. I feel those losses pretty hard myself.
Side characters have of course continued to be a highlight of Project Horizons. Foremost among these are Big Daddy Reaper, an old trader named Keeper, and the story of how they and their friends tried to clean up Hoofington once upon a time. By the end of book two, we’ve met four of the six friends, and they’re all really strong presences (even if Elder Crunchy Carrots does almost nothing before getting blown to hell). I could honestly read an entire story just about them. I’m looking forward to meeting King Awesome (who’s a notable enigma: I’ve heard his name mentioned numerous times, but there’s no indication of where he is or what faction he might head) and Glory’s mother, who was a filly at the time.
Professor Zodiac stands out among those six because she’s considerably more over-the-top than even Big Daddy. With her Great and Powerful Oz shtick and tragic backstory (apparently, pony/zebra hybrids are a thing in this story, and three major characters, including Zodiac, are ‘zonies’), she is a fairly unlikely leader for the Zodiac crew. Who, as it turns out, are siblings only in the “family you choose” way, so that’s less silly than I originally thought. I’m not sure we’ve met all of them by this point (I definitely don’t remember a Scorpio), but they’re no longer hunting Blackjack, which is great. Also, Pisces and Capricorn are seaponies and I want to write about them having sex with Blackjack because I’m a terrible person. D:
Another great side character was Captain Thrush. Blackjack and crew need help getting down a river, so they hire a boat. The way Thrush was introduced just floored me. Here’s an undiluted excerpt from my notes:
“I’ve got the biggest hat, that makes me captain” shit, how do you make a character instantly likable like this
Honestly, I don’t know. The misdirection before we figure out who the captain actually was was fairly transparent, but I cheered when she showed back up for a second outing.
Other smaller, yet no less memorable characters include the ghoul pegasus Harpica; a doctor named Scalpel, who ends up being yet another moral center; Enclave soldiers Wind Whisper, Lightning Dancer and Twister; little swindler Charity, who might just be my favorite character ever; and definitely not Psychoshy. :| I think I know what’s going on with her, and I don’t like it, but I’ll report back when I have the full story. And then…
Then, there’s Paladin Stronghoof.
See, earlier, before they actually get to interacting with the Steel Rangers, we hear about a “Paladin Bombs”, who is purported to be crazy. It turns out his full name is Sugar Apple Bombs Stronghoof, and you don’t call him “Paladin Bombs” to his face. He shows up at an inopportune time with most of BJ’s friends in tow and gets into a fight with her, at which point he starts being amazing.
And about halfway through the scene, I realized: He’s goddamn Lieutenant Armstrong from Full Metal Alchemist. He’s not even based on the character: he poses, he waxes poetic about duty, he has a tiny blonde moustache and a super-muscular physique, he fucking sparkles. There’s no question about it, he’s a straight-up ponification.
This was the point at which I realized, holy shit, I am biased as fuck toward this story, because I did not care in the least. Stronghoof was hilarious, his scenes were amazing, and I really hope he hooks up with Lacunae, because he’s sweet on her, and she starts getting protective of him, and that would just be incredible. :D
One more thing before I finish with the characters. (Goddamn, I haven’t even gotten to the plot yet?) I noticed a very interesting trend in this book: Somber refuses to let his villains be outright monsters. With one exception, each one stands on the shoulders of a perhaps worse monster. Gorgon’s tragic backstory was more or less expected, since we really never get to see him past the one fight scene. What I was not prepared for was Deus’s tragic backstory. And it’s super tragic, no lie. These characters are treated as characters first; some, like Sgt. Lighthooves, can cross sides of who we’re rooting for, sometimes more than once. But even characters like Daisy, Blackjack’s tormentor from Stable 99, are never shown as “misunderstood” or “sympathetic”; they’re simply broken individuals, acting out against the world because the world never showed them anything good. I mean, the Overmare is especially broken, but never absolved of her crimes. Even Goldenblood, who I’m expecting will be the next big bad guy, if not the bad guy for the entire story, is often playing both sides of the game, and is the way he is because Blueblood beat the shit out of him when he was a kid.
Oh, and that one exception? The third of the Horses of the Apocalypse, I believe, the one who controls manticores. It turns out she’s an old antagonist from Deus’s past, and she actually likes being a monster. The hilarious part was Blackjack celebrating having an opponent she could kill without feeling guilty. Granted, for all that I was right there next to her, I thought she was maybe overdoing it a bit, but it was still fun. :V
World-Building
Having mentioned Goldenblood, I want to talk a little about the OIA. Now and again, I’ve seen, in the various Fallout: Equestria groups I am part, people complaining that no one writes about the original characters from FoE. Everyone’s always writing about their own characters, in new and different parts of the Wasteland from what we saw of the original. I've done it myself; for the most part, I get it. Fixtures like Spike or DJ Pon-3 can be used because they have reach across the Wasteland, not to mention very specific goals they can pursue while interacting with your OCs. (To be sure, Red Eye has a very palpable background presence in Project Horizons; when we finally meet Usury, the last of Bottlecap’s siblings, we find out just what an effect he’s had on things in Hoofington.)
The point is, Kkat made a sandbox for everyone to play in, but the unspoken rule is not to use her main characters. It’s just a thing with fanfics-of-fanfics: the original author’s babies are their own, don't mess them up. So people are naturally gonna write about Nitro Blitz, the kind-hearted Raider who just wants to find true love in the Wasteland, before they make Calamity or Velvet Remedy the star of their story. Characters from the original might make a cameo, but it’s only going to be the lightest of borrowings before they’re put back where they came from. Even the placing of PH's story in Hoofington removes it from a great deal of its predecessor's range.
Which is why the Office of Interministry Affairs really impresses me. Not content to play in his own corner of the sandbox, Somber has created this seventh bureaucratic entity to interact with the ministries established in FoE. And it’s not just the boldness of taking Kkat’s ideas and running with them: the OIA fits this setting flawlessly. I find I have to remind myself it wasn’t part of the original, that’s how much sense it makes in context. And it’s not just Goldenblood interacting with the mane six, but the role the Office plays in things like the Gardens of Equestria.
One side note: I really like the explanation for the zebras’ beliefs about stars, even if that scene dragged a little. Again, not many authors would be willing to expand on another author’s work like that.
Plot
HEY CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE PLOT NOW
Okay, there’s really too much to sum up easily, and look how much I’ve already talked about. D: I’m just gonna pull things out of my notes in order here, I think, and talk about stuff even though I said I wouldn't do that I'm only mortal :(
The subplot where Blackjack finds Octavia’s remains and cello culminates in Blackjack playing at the funeral of that slaver whose horn she broke in book one. It’s actually one of the more touching sequences (not to mention dark; let’s just say her daughter doesn’t outlive mommy by much), even if I found myself wondering aloud what the point of the Octavia thing was.
A side quest into Blueblood’s old manor ends up with them fighting him, not to mention a ton of ghouls who used to be nobility. I found myself pondering the idea that ghouls are a fantastic storytelling device, another way to pull backstory from before the war into the present day. I don’t think enough authors have really utilized them for such. Granted, they may be a little over utilized in this story, but Harpica shows what they’re good for. Also, this side plot gave us a pretty good tragic end for one of Mac’s Marauders, a character who I’d initially looked askance at. The scene later on with his last moments is one of the absolute best in the story.
The backstory about the Marauders really kicked into high gear in this book. I had to go back and reread the earlier scenes, because I’d sort of not been paying attention, and suddenly found myself very much wanted to know what I’d missed. (It is here I want to take a second and mention my reading buddy, Icy Shake, who has been a phenomenal help to me in this process. He not only compiled the list of Marauders scenes, he also sorted out the timeline of when FoE and PH chapters were published. Above and beyond the call of duty, this guy! Everyone give him a hand and maybe a follow or something!)
It turns out the Marauders are a major part of this story. It helps that most of them ended up going through Project Chimera, getting ghoulified, or otherwise turning into characters seen in the present day. Revelations about them range from Gorgon being one of them (again, kind of expected, decently tragic) to Twist not only inventing Mintals but getting Pinkie Pie hooked on them. (That still kind of blows my mind.) And then there’s the late-book revelation about the identity of Big Mac’s paramour, Maripony. I don’t know if it was just a symptom of me not paying attention, but I was flabbergasted and duly impressed by the misdirection. Let’s just say there’s a reason why she looks like Twilight, not to mention is named for a place in the original story. It's a beautifully tragic romance; the places that subplot is going are fascinating.
That river boat ride I mentioned earlier? Great action piece. Having to navigate a boat in and out of buildings sunken into a river, creating whitewater rapids, was a really clever idea.
What that river ride leads to is a subplot about a riverside settlement besieged by Diamond Dog offshoots. This wasn’t my favorite plot, because of how completely unsubtle Somber is about how the Dogs were treated during the war. (Seriously: "The Trail of Broken Diamonds". You can’t get any less subtle than that.) I was also slightly baffled by the appearance of a Dog named Rover. Either it’s a coincidence, and he’s named after the original or something, or he was kept alive for 200 years by cybernetics. Which… I dunno, it just seems an odd character to have in the Wasteland.
This brings us to a major, major, major plot point: Blackjack finally getting back home. Once again, quoting from my notes, it goes a little something like-a this:
is she going to end up like LP, coming home to a Stable taken apart by raiders?
ohhhh yeah c.c oh dear
wait, this isn’t raiders
OH DEAR D:
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, abandon all fucking hope: Blackjack destroying her Stable is the grimmest, darkest shit you will ever see.
And it’s not like it was untoward or anything. We get some great backstory for Daisy and a reason to feel sorry for Marmalade. There’s an item I noted about why Raiders suck so much that makes a lot of sense. The ponification of “Tiger, Tiger” is cheesy, but holy shit if this part of the story doesn’t have two of the best action scenes. (What happens when two ponies with Pipbucks get into melee combat? The coolest shit ever.) But up until this point, Blackjack’s motivation has been getting back home and helping everyone out; but when she gets back, it turns out it was all for nothing.
I think this is probably the stuff people warned me about. Quoting myself again:
Blackjack’s infiltrating her Stable-turned-raider-camp wearing most of a dead pony, has to eat her friend’s heart to keep up the disguise, and finds her other friend being sodomized by a mare >.> that’s pretty heavy, but eh, it’s not that bad
And I mean, it’s not, but it’s that really black bleakness that gets to me more than anything. (Because “even when you win, you lose”.) P-21 pulls a Slave Leia and gets a very satisfying kill (what’s with this story and satisfying kills?), though his goals end up being just as hollow as Blackjack’s, friendship ultimately saves the day, and this happens:
YES KISS HER YES
JOIN HER! JOIN HER IN THE SHOWER
YES! :D THEY TOTALLY DID IT
And, oh yeah, I guess they pick up Scotch Tape or something. :B
There’s a weird segue where Blackjack meets Homage via CCTV or something. I was glad they got to talk, but a little miffed BJ just up and learned her secret like that. I mean, I don’t like Homage, but c’mon. Blackjack gets to see the Gardens of Equestria, and toys a little with inserting her friends into the Element roles (which thankfully amounts to nothing). She comes up with a hilarious mental image for who the Stable Dweller is. She gets into a deathmatch with Psychoshy because there’s always an arena. (It was pretty funny, though.)
And then P-21 tries to kill himself. Remember when I mentioned him being BJ’s emotional rock? Well, she gets to repay the favor. Or, I guess, prepay the favor. Having just tried to kill herself (I was surprised by the closeness of the two suicide attempts, for all that suicide is one of many difficult topics this story approaches well), she knows what he’s going through and is able to talk him down. It’s another of her best moments, along with reuniting Glory with her sister; they're those “this is what you were meant to do” kinds of things, and the parallel between this scene the one later, when P-21 is comforting her after her rape, is palpable.
There are also two really good creepy sequences in this book. The first is the underground slog through the living factory, which I mentioned earlier in Scotch Tape’s section. The second comes a good bit later, in an underground laboratory, where Blackjack and Rampage meet something called the Choir. And, well…
the story of Trotteinheimer’s Folly is officially better body-horror than the entirety of SOMA
It was pretty fucked up, I loved it. :V Actually, there might have been a third, with them getting trapped in an irradiated retail outlet that's trying to eat them, but I forget if it was in this book or the previous one.
There’s a fight with griffon mercs that shows how much Blackjack has grown; I made note of her “breaking the script” and showing respect for fallen opponents. The chapter where they finally meet Dr. Zodiac is really neat, as the various scenes are intercut with excerpts from Zodiac’s interviews with each of Blackjack’s friends. We learn a lot of really tantalizing stuff that they would never tell her. I like the idea that ponies were so used to being ruled by Celestia, they weren’t exactly going to look into someone being shady in their government.
Though it takes quite a while to finally meet them, the big bads in this book are the Steel Rangers. Stationed on the HMS Celestia, still in dock, they have a shitton of weaponry, because they’re Steel Rangers, and one of them — Star Paladin Steel Rain, who I will be voicing in upcoming chapters of the audiobook! :D — is of the mind that not only should they be using the tech instead of hoarding it, they should be using it to show the Wasteland just how fucking powerful they are. Cue an Equestria-wide gang war, the rush to stop the shelling, wicked betrayals, and Blackjack getting majorly, majorly fucked up.
Guh, I think that takes care of the major stuff, final notes. Enclave politics remain completely fascinating. Blackjack is a sub. I was impressed the author had Blackjack spend a lot of time preparing for her death-by-super-cancer. Her helping out Zodiac was another “good guy Blackjack” moment. I believe the fourth Horse of the Apocalypse is a half-dragon filly, but we haven’t seen her yet. (I’m just sort of assuming all the Chimera subjects are now the HoA.) I believe it is P-21 who calls the party a “dysfunctional band of emotional retards”. :V Lovely. For the record, I liked Crunchy Carrots because she was able to be badass and awesome without doing anything. The big gun actually gets fired, and I have a terrible feeling about what it might have hit. <.< A significant portion of what happened in the past, possibly up to and including dropping the bombs, seems to have been done solely to spite Prince Blueblood. I find this hilarious.
Missteps
I took a bit of time last time to point out a few things I wasn’t happy about, so I’ll do it again this time. I will, however, start by mentioning that this book alone is two-thirds of a Fallout: Equestria long, so I felt overall like there were fewer missteps, relatively speaking, than in book one. That being said…
I’ve never been big on “Blueblood never got over Rarity”, so his role in this story has been pretty eye-rolling, and culminated in the somewhat groan-worthy sword fight. There are a couple scenes ruined by show quotes, everything from 20% cooler to shoo-be-doo to I can’t fucking remember because I didn’t write it down but the scene was very emotional up until that point, thank you very much. Goldenblood still rubs me the wrong way for the wrong reasons. Someone in the story actually says he’s “good at everything but breathing”, which sums up the problem. I’m not happy about him hooking up with Fluttershy, either. She is MY waifu godda There’s a fight scene prior to the creepy underground factory that they literally would not have survived if not for a deus ex machina. On that note, when Gummy was revealed in the original to have survived 200 years as a giant, irradiated alligator monster, I thought it was funny and kind of cool. What Somber did to Winona is entirely not cool. D: Also, having Steelhooves make an ironically prophetic pronouncement over an RPG was fucking stupid. >.< Boldness aside, Deadlands aside, it was just a bad decision.
Of course, it wasn’t as bad a decision as what is perhaps the worst scene in this story to date. This takes place just after Blackjack has blown up the battleship and possibly drowned herself (again). She awakens in Blueblood’s manor, in some kind of Auto-Doc, and discovers that 15 years have passed. Everyone she knew is dead or worse (Scotch Tape has been used as a brood mare; Priest has been brutalized and dies in her arms), and the Wasteland is under the sway of… fuckin’ something, I forget what. The point is, she wakes up in a considerably-more-dystopian Wasteland, everything’s shit, and then she wakes up for real.
I was seriously cheesed off by this for a number of reasons. First, I kind of thought it was just a dream, but I couldn’t tell, and I would have been impressed by just killing 15 years like that if not for what had happened in the meantime. I was torn between being pleased and outraged while having the wool pulled over my eyes. There was no way to win. Equally bad, if not worse, is the fact that this grimdark future was a bad end not just for Project Horizons but Fallout: Equestria, too. I mean, it’s one thing to say your own character’s actions were ultimately for naught; but saying that about the other story? (This is one reason more people don’t play with other author’s toys.) It was insidious. And coming so close to the already grimdark end of book two, it left a bad taste in my mouth.
Summary
Still, I can’t say it turned me off the story, not even a little bit. Thanks to a certain purple fruit, I know things will get better. Before they get worse, I’m sure. There are still quite a few unresolved plots that I want to see unravel. Mostly I’m just wondering where else there is to go past a book three. I mean, how do you get this many words out of this idea? The sky’s the limit, I suppose.
So why do I like this story? I dunno. I guess it's just that good. :B
Book score: 4.5/5
Overall: 1.7/5
I’m in this for the long haul.
Good news: if you stop at that death then you can escape.
Because as far as BlackJack and all non-scotch Tape and P21 characters are concerned it is all down hill from here. Her gang rape crucifixion is in many ways the best point of BJ's character arc. Why?
Because it is one of the only things that kept me from hating her for as long as I did. LP could be wishywashy and bland. Blackjack? If you thought you didn't like what Homage did to Littlepip you're gonna hate what blackjack does to like half the cast. By the 800K mark I flat out hated her. I kept hoping she might die and redeem herself but she would just get worse.
Dammit, PP, stop making me kinda want to read this story!
I think I read this story because it was like watching video of a disaster. It's terrible and you want to look away, but you also want to know exactly how it played out.
Also if you think the crossover between Blackjack's actions and them overshadowing Littlepip's story are bad now... whew. Whew, man. This is still only just the start of the slow-motion avalanche.
You've officially hit the end of the "This fic is fucking awesome!" portion of the story. From Chapters 1–33, I was fully engrossed, addicted, loving Project Horizons.
I'm someone who enjoys the fic as a whole too, but I can't deny that the first two books are easily the highlight of the story. Some people say they wish PH stopped here, and while I disagree I can see where they're coming from.
I'm very curious to see your thoughts on the rest of the book.
You're very welcome! Glad you found it helpful, and thank you for the shout-out.
I renew my suggestion of alien brain worms. :V (If that's the case, I've probably got them too . . . )
There's something to be said for simple, easy to understand plot lines.
And when she has her first little meeting with Blackjack after the suicide attempt (was that when the breakup started? I don't remember if there was another one), it was funny and adorable and sad and all around wonderful.
Not sure if I'm thinking of the same thing or not, but with the answers to the Collegiate's interview questions, where he talks about whether he likes her, how she's hurt him and how simply being a reminder of 99 continues to hurt him, ending with "How can you like a person like that? How can you love a person like that?" I really get that feeling. I thought it was well done cognitive dissonance, if not outright lying to himself.
He was brought up a couple times already in connection to the Society.
Doitdoitdoit. (Says another terrible person. :V)
It turns out that sort of thing could get really confusing when you started reading PH while FoE was still not finished and were reading them concurrently . . . I think the difference between the raiders got me worse, and the Volunteer Corps.
Agreed, but I'm biased: I think he might already have been my (second) favorite out of the Marauders.
Yeah, that ponification was one of the things I never really got. Also thought it felt weird coming from Blackjack of all ponies, unless it was meant to be a spontaneous invention of her own . . . she's not exactly among the literati, is what I'm saying. It was better than when Somber brought "The Charge of the Light Brigade" into one of his earlier stories, though.
Congratulations! I'm sure you'll do a great job.
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I can sort of get it, too, but still would never agree. That said, if pressed for a rank order of the volumes, I'd probably go
2-1-4/5 (I'd need to think hard about which way these two would go)-32-1-5-4-3 (after putting in that thought). (For all that 3 arguably has two of the best individual chapters left to go.) Partly the low ranking of 3 is because it's the transition from what it was to what it will be, but that's not all that's motivating that feeling.First of all, let me tell you that book 3 ends with chapter 48. (I should know) hehe. And, did you really reeead all of that story? xD
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At this point, I am taking all these dire warnings as a challenge. :V
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Hopefully, 15 minutes of screaming incoherently into a microphone counts as this. :B
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No, you read it for me. :V Many thanks.
3777653 God help you. Book 4 and Book 5 were without joy
I forgot just how much had happened by the end of Book 2. Boy, I wish I had a couple extra months to re-read this thing.
I liked everything about Fo:E, myself, and I loved PH from the start because it was like the perfect sequel I was wishing desperately for at the end of Fo:E. Bigger, more nuanced, and with even better characters.
My favorite thing about PH is how well the characters are all handled over the humongous running length. It's amazing to watch the roles change from chapter to chapter, as things happen to certain characters to change them or different characters change in different ways to the same thing. You've already seen that with Blackjack and P-21 just from the first two books, but it keeps going.
My favorite example is Scalpel. Like you said, she's not very important, but watch for her next appearance. I wish I could weave character arcs half as well as Somber.
(Oh, and don't forget that Lacunae uses a minigun because Unity alicorns are super-mutant analogues. Who else is gonna use the big guns?)
But one last thing:
How can you not remember that please tell me you're just being sarcastic that was the whole point of the dream sequence and it made the whole thing please just go back and find it please for the love of sunrise sarsaparilla
This continues to be a really useful way to get an overview of this story without actually having to put in the time to read it.
First, I just discovered your blog. Awesome.
Damn, that is a long post. But for a long story, I certainly appreciate your recappings. Seriously why does Project Horizons not have a wiki just for volumes' summaries? It is so frustrating trying to keep in mind all the past events and chapters.
Also, oh my gosh yes, Blackjack and Morning Glory I too so adore. One of my favorite OTPs. So damn great. If only Morning Glory was not hurt or missing so often, and the recent chapters.. Blackjack is not a clever pony. I am not sure what happens to Morning Glory, but I do not want to know. I cherish the happy moments of these two characters because I just love them as a perfect match for each other. In this instance the journey matters more than the end.
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Well, I remember who she saw on the throne, but there was some faction or other I'm forgetting. :B I think. Whatever.
3777111 This sums up how I initially felt pretty well. For a while I had wondered why people were ripping on it because when I had only read a limited amount in, it was fine, until the story started to nosedive as I read the newer updates. Things I joked about as being outright implausible with other readers ended up actually happening and it kind of opened my eyes to how fucking ridiculous the story had become, and not the "ha ha wow holy shit" enjoyable/entertaining kind of ridiculous.
3777653 How else would one play Steel Rain?
PP, you found the better hat = authority sketch clever because the concept is lifted from Foglio's Girl Genius, a better work in all ways.
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That's actually a huge part of my issue with the story, especially as combined with the conga line of trauma applied to the characters to try and make it look less sueish.
While this is my favourite part of Project Horizons, I still think that books 3 to 5 are great. Hope you have a good time reading them.
Considering you wrote the best seapony clopfic in the fandom, I am surprisingly OK with that.
This is my favourite thing about PH. Later on there is a chapter of Blackjack going on a side-adventure with a bunch of random mooks and it is just the best thing ever.
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"Best", or "only"? <.<
3779237 I am too scared to search.
Thank you for the great review. I'm afraid that you'll feel like many do that the next three sections are a huge disappointment, or worse, that you won't finish because I took something wonderful and ruined it. These days, I'm not even sure if I should be writing anymore.
Also, I'm glad the OIA works, because when you find out what it was really for, it should all make sense. At least I hope it will.
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...Okay, now the author is telling me I'll hate the rest, I am officially scared D: Don't do this to me, Somber, I thought we were bros.
3781091 Sorry. I deal with pretty severe depression and so it taints everything I do. I have a hard time thinking of my writing as good, and I know I'm not very well liked in the subfandom. You're an objective view, so I value your opinion. I know there's a lot of things I could have done better, so hopefully I can prevent ruining my next story, provided I can get it written at all. Lately all I want to do is just dig a hole climb in, douse myself in gasoline and light a flare. So, yeah. I hope the next part is good. I really do. But I won't be surprised if it turns out to suck.
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Well, depression I understand. :B
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This is Project Horizons. It can only end in tears so enjoy the good while it lasts
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Hoofington Rises
So... yeah. Now that you're covering the stuff I haven't read yet and giving me spoilers so that this work destroys me a little less when I get around to it, I know that this is a decent time to bring up a couple of issues that crop up in book 2. One of them is something that I'm curious about because it is a concrete point that many haters of the fic bring up as part of how it betrays the premise of the original, and the other is something that bothers me personally, ever since I heard that it's true without a shadow of a doubt.
First: Goldenblood and the OIA. The gist of the matter is that, apparently, they were the actual reasons behind all of the awful decisions that the Ministry Mares made during the original story, without which the apocalypse could have been averted. So instead of making the Mane Six fuckups thrust into a situation they were utterly unprepared for, they are now merely puppets of some sociopath or other who can't be held responsible for what they did. Is this a misinterpretation of what actually happened in the fic, or do the naysayers have a point here?
Second: the fate of Stable 99. One of the reasons that the first book of PH hit me so hard is that the story of Blackjack going from a privileged cog in a horrific machine to aware and guilt-ridden was one of the most unique and beautiful things I've ever seen. When the story started with an inside look at 99 that made it seem almost normal, that made me understand how ponies could turn blind eyes to the unforgivable things they're doing for so long. How do you fix a problem this big? How do you undo this much of an injustice? How do you take the soul-crushing but ultimately healthy revelations of Blackjack and apply them to hundreds of myopic mares?
Turns out you don't. You just let them die of a tragedy unrelated to their bigotry that could have happened to any Stable with a matter-recycling system. And that breaks my heart, because for someone with my priorities (I fully acknowledge that Somber and I are probably interested in different ideas.) this strikes me as a huge cop-out.
Now I know what some of you readers might be saying. "But it's the Wasteland! Ponies get killed for no reason all the time! Besides, there's no justice system in place to try and rehabilitate anyone, so there really is no better recourse than the death penalty!" That's certainly what Seraphem, a guy who puts the original FoE on a pedestal and despises PH with a worrying intensity for somewhat stupid reasons, kept saying to people who were bothered by Littlepip killing so many ponies who may or may not have deserved it. I may not be able to argue with that, since keeping tabs on any survivors of 99 would be a serious eater of page time and a distraction from other upcoming plot threads, but that doesn't make me feel any more at peace with the decision.
Somber recently had a Reddit Q&A, where I asked them the question of why they chose to do what they did with Stable 99. I was vague and didn't mention their exact means because I wanted to be diplomatic, so they answered the question of why their way of life got destroyed. I agree with them that it absolutely could not have been allowed to continue the way it was, in good conscience, but that still didn't answer my question of "why raider virus," because I didn't ask that part in time.
If they wanted to keep the tragedy of Blackjack failing to save the ponies in the Stable from themselves, there could have been a situation where most of the ponies choose death over changing things, rather than having the choice made for them. I recently played a visual novel called Hate Plus that did pretty much this. One of your companions is a woman who has been brainwashed into believing all of the sexist ideology of a society that regressed to valuing women only as mothers and wives. When she reads logs that reveal that her society was founded on a rotten lie and that she was betrayed from the start, she can't handle the truth and tries to kill herself. As awful as that is, it's also her choice, perhaps the most independent one she makes in the whole story. Why can't the majority of the Stable 99 Mares make that same decision? Hell, for further nuance, why not have most of their sex slaves do the same? I can see some of them having willful helplessness ingrained into them to the extent that they can't conceive of making it out in the wasteland.
I'm rambling and backseat-writing, and I feel like I should apologize to Somber here. I'm sorry that I have to drag this up when you're already feeling like shit. For all I know, you came to similar conclusions that I did and thought "Jesus, why did I solve it that way? Now I can't take it back!" It's just always a shock when I think a writer is on the same wavelength as me to an uncanny degree and then I find out that that's not as true as I thought it was.
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Y'know, I hadn't thought about it at all, but I think they may have a point.
Whether it's a problem depends on whether you prefer the mane six have agency over there being a unified villain to the piece. Granted, they can still be fuckups by having let him deceive and guide them, but it's shown that at least Twilight, who would probably have been the most likely to smell the rat, had a lot going on to distract her from such things.
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Where the Mane Six are concerned, it's probably a matter of interpretation. I don't think there's really enough detail to back up the most extreme beliefs about the degree to which Goldenblood and the O.I.A. directed or manipulated their actions (it's certainly the case that they didn't just do what he wanted, and it's not like his schemes all went according to plan—sometimes because the Mane Six didn't react the way he wanted or expected them to), but that same lack of detail does leave open the possibility that, except for those parts the reader sees they are acting of their own volition, they're puppets. I think that's a non-obvious reading (if more justifiable based on only the first two volumes rather than having read the rest), perhaps even slightly ungenerous, and the reverse could just as easily be made: that except for clearly cross-ministry projects or things that the Ministry Mares would be set against (Chimera, Steelpony, etc.) or cases where we do see Goldenblood or the O.I.A. steering things, they mainly act as the facilitators they claim to be, and the decisions of the Ministry Mares are largely their own. (A hard version of this reading might be a little obtuse.)
With that said, the addition does make more explicit the fact that they were a part of Luna's government. It was always the case they worked for her, and presumably if any of them got really out of line they'd be brought back in (see, for example, how the M.o.P. was never shown to be focused on, well, peace, with in fact the main diplomatic action we hear about, Princess Celestia's conference at Shattered Hoof Ridge, not really involving the ministry), and they may have had mandates or required programs anyway. Reducing the surface appearance that they were really principals, and the feel of the O.I.A., could certainly make it seem like their actions were not their own, but to a portion of the extent that it can be seen as true, that may already have been the case in base F.o.E.
Finally got around to reading this installment and I'm glad I was wrong about how you would react to Project Horizons. Seems you like it even more than I did. Then again, my reaction was somewhat lukewarm.
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Brace yourself.
Brace myself. >.>
Now that my own review is done, I'm going back and reading yours to date, and I just wanted to mention that this is a line I really wish I'd included in my own. Great summary of a concept that I wasn't able to phrase so succinctly!
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Shit, you're reading my blogs again! All my secret plans will be ruined! D:
(Also check your email gdi I'm bad at being patient :C)