Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons Reviews: Chapter 2 · 8:30pm Mar 12th, 2017
Video Made by Me.
This... is going to be a hard review to do if the last one is any indication.
There's no getting around this, I'm reviewing Project Horizons once again, its divisive and people take issue with it. I admit, its far from perfect but its not actually that bad a story, sometimes.
Of course when we get to the later chapters, that will be difficult to do, but I'm going to try anyway. Thankfully that won't be for awhile, so for now we'll be fine... I hope.
Lets get started.
---Chapter 2: Trust---
Outside. Everypony in the stable imagined it at some point. According to the Overmare, it was supposed to be an irradiated desert, a death quick enough to doom anypony caught beyond the main door but slow enough that you’d wish you could put yourself out of your misery. To be honest, I’d imagined the outside to be a really big atrium. Just a huge flat space with better air and better lighting. Of course, we knew that the outside hadn’t always been deadly, but there wasn’t much in the school about how it used to be except grainy pictures in books. Apparently, recycled wafers grew on things called ‘trees’ while there was an edible carpet called ‘grass’ everywhere.
Well it seems that the Overmare doesn't always lie after all, exaggerate a little sure, but not lie.
As Blackjack and P-21 leave the Stable they find another two Raiders and Blackjack quickly takes them out. The world outside of the Stable seems to be pretty barren other than some plants as they start moving fast, at least until P-21 started to slow down. She actually briefly considers just shooting P-21 because that would be more merciful than anything Deus and his followers would do, but she decides against it, instead helping him walk with her telekinesis.
And since apparently we apparently can't go one review without this guy showing up, they find a Sprite-Bot who tells them to turn left. When Blackjack asks why, the voice asks if they want to live as the sound of Deus is now very obvious.
Video Belongs to someone.
Since obviously they want to live, Blackjack and P-21 follow the Sprite-Bot and hide in what's left of a house before the Sprite-Bot leaves suddenly and drew away Deus and his Raiders. She then looks up at the sky and realizes the enormity of it which overwhelms her. P-21 manages to snap her out of it for now. The Sprite-Bot returns and introduces himself as Watcher of course and he mentions that he controls the Sprite-Bots.
So yeah, basically the same explination that LittlePip got in different words. He mentions that Blackjack is better off than some ponies he knows, but comments that she didn't have Raiders hunting her outside the Stable... hmm, I wonder who he means. He tells them to head west from where they are now and that they might find something interesting in that direction, saying that they should find friends, although they seem to have a head start on that.
“What?” I looked at P-21 and gave an awkward laugh. “Oh… no no no. We’re not friends. In fact, we really just met today…” when I rounded him up to be retired. My laugh withered as P-21 just looked away. “Okay, awkward.”
Real smooth Blackjack.
Watcher suggests that they might at least consider becoming friends and the Sprite-Bot changes to the music and moves on. A marker is added to Blackjack's PipBuck that points her somewhere in the west. She starts to walk but P-21 is still in bad shape and she starts to help him when there's a sudden voice.
“There! That way! Please listen to me,” came the plaintive whine of U-21.
“Shut up! Do all stable ponies whine this much? ‘Please don’t kill me, I don’t wanna die. Please don’t rape my ass! It hurts, don’t do that.’ Bitch bitch bitch...” a stallion said sharply. “Now hurry up. When we find the big guy, he’ll decide what we do.” U-21 shouted off a few more protests as they continued off to the south.
Ugh, I really hate Raiders... go back to my last review for me talking about them.
P-21 seems more interested in going after the Raider and U-21 than heading west and he says that he doesn't want to go anywhere with Blackjack (which may be a valid point if you think about it). Blackjack points out that the Raiders would likely come back and find him, doing the same thing they do to U-21. After trying to figure it out for a minute, he finally agrees to travel with Blackjack until he can move on his own, that's sensible I suppose.
When Blackjack tries to help him, he protests then falls over when she moves away so he relents and allows her to help him up as they start heading west, again, Blackjack considers the possibility that they might find a doctor, but isn't sure how good the odds of that are.
Three hours later they haven't exactly been making great time as Blackjack is thinking about what has happened to Stable 99, she definitely misses it even if it was a bit screwed up, which makes sense. They fought some Bloatsprites which didn't pose much of a threat given she just killed them with the butt of her rifle.
I was at all confident that they were edible, but they’d be better than air or dirt and quite possibly better than two-centuries-dead grass), my PipBuck’s inventory system labeled them ‘Bloatsprite Meat’. There was even a ‘value’ next to it. How the heck would my PipBuck know the value (in a totally unknown economic situation) of a bug it’d never seen before?
Short version, Fallout is weird and confusing and nobody knows how that works.
She briefly thinks about Midnight back in the Stable when she remembers what had happened there and she regrets it. As they reached a flooded town there's a sound of ticking when the radiation counter starts to go off. While its not as dangerous as it could be, she's nervous about it, noticing a rainbow tint to the pools as she heads for a nearby farmhouse so she and P-21 can rest, and thankfully this area seems to be radiation free, that's a good sign.
The inside has been ransacked of course because you can't have an easy time, there's also a mention of something called Hoofington's Angel of Death in a newspaper who seems to be going after foals. So, yeah, seems this area of Equestria has been screwed up for a long time, just a guess. There are a few photos of the family that had once lived in the farmhouse but there's not a lot of information on who they were, still its sad to think about any place like this that had once been somepony's home.
This is why I've always found Fallout to be, strangely sobering because of how ultimately you're walking through places that people, or in thise case ponies, used to live.
Family. They were family. Not the mother-daughter dynamic of Stable 99, but a family. I could vaguely remember hearing about the old ways in history class, but seeing an actual, happy family like that…
There's a moment where Blackjack catches P-21 staring at the photos, it seems that the family is probably part of the Apple family based on the Apple cutie marks maybe, I dunno. When she comments that they're cute, P-21 asks if all mares are sex fiends and we get this line from P-21 that pretty much sums up the issues with 99:
“Males as soldiers. Husbands. Brothers. Not as breeding equipment.” I tilted my head to the side as I was now completely lost. “You see them, though, and... and... cute? That’s all you can say about them?”
Yeah... I gotta agree with P-21 here... Stable 99 is a pretty screwed up place on a good day.
Blackjack had just been trying to lighten the mood, and wishes to herself that she had left the Stable with another mare instead. They find a Terminal which P-21 manages to get working after hitting it a little. Blackjack asks P-21 if he had been close to Duct Tape when he mentions her and he says that she had been close to him before stopping work on the terminal so it doesn't lock him out.
Yeah, pretty much sounds like my attempts to hack terminals in Fallout.
When Blackjack tries to ask him more about Duct Tape he dismisses it because she was dead and he had escaped the Stable before saying that he needs to focus. Blackjack goes into the bathroom so that she can get cleaned up with radioactive water, and we get this pretty funny bit of dialogue between our two heroes.
Returning to the living room with the terminal, I smiled. “So, am I glowing?”
For the first time ever, a look of absolute, incredulous shock settled on his face. “You’re pregnant?!”
I laughed as I flopped on the couch. “Oh, Goddesses, I hope not. I just washed in some water that was a little more radioactive than I’d like.” Of course, if I were pregnant and irradiated… okay. Not thinking about that now. It definitely killed the joke though.
P-21 comments that she looks cleaner before finding the terminal's password to be Granny, and of course it turns out that the terminal can unlock the safe nearby so he doesn't have to try and pick its lock. Blackjack finds some things in the safe and some log entries in the terminal.
Entry 1) Well hello there. Not exactly sure what I’m supposed ta be writing about. Doctors said it’d keep my noggin from falling apart if I write stuff down. ‘It’s important to keep a journal, Hoss.’ Personally, I think it’s a bunch of hooey, but since Apple Bloom went through the trouble of sending Granny this contraption, I may as well learn to use it!
Entry 2) Well, in a time of one boneheaded decision after another, one more shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Celestia’s out and Luna’s in. A thousand year rule’s a goodly stretch, I suppose. Unfortunately, I doubt that this whole shake up is gonna do anypony a lick of good. Ministries? What are they doing that wasn’t done before? Heard they’re gonna remove the gardens cause each one has to have their own headquarters or some such. Glad I retired when I did. Don’t think I could stand the hurt of seeing it all torn up.
Entry 3) Big Macintosh is dead. I know they said he died a hero saving Princess Celestia. I’m glad that Celestia’s alive and all, but I also wish Granny’s grandson were still about. Instead, they’re going on and on about how heroic he was. Makes me want to spit. Big Macintosh wasn’t a hero for saving Celestia. He was a hero because he’d have tried to save anypony who didn’t deserve to die. Granny’s not doing too well since the funeral. I don’t think any statue in Ponyville’s gonna make up for this.
Entry 4) Buried Granny Smith behind the farm. Apple Bloom sent her condolences. I dunno if Applejack’s heard. Getting a message through to the Ministry of Technology’s a hassle and a half. It’s been a long time coming, watchin’ her slip away. Somehow thought she’d last forever, though. Things are getting so bad that I‘m feeling like I want to join her some days. This world’s so angry. It’s so full of hatred that all I can do is shut it out and try and keep this little corner green and healthy. It’s all I can do anymore. Made a new friend, though. Marigold at the garden club. Kind filly. Said she’d stop by and show her foal the farm.
Entry 5) World ended today. Thought that was worth writing down. I guess the war is over. Hurray. Load of ponies streaming through my fields to get up into that stable on the hill. I sent Marigold and her foal up that way since they can’t reach 90 in time. Hope it does some good. Hope there’s some good left anywhere.
Entry 6) Sky carriage crashed in the fields last night. I figger that’s it, then. Dunno what that sludge is, but it melted those two pegasuses. Liquefied ‘em. There’s some kind of green snow starting to fall. Pretty sure it’s going to kill me. Done killed everything else. Ain’t seen anypony since that black mare snuck in the barn. Invited her inside, but she just skedaddled. Feeling tired now, but maybe that’s just my age. Never wanted ta live long enough to see all this. Just wish I had the strength to rest with Granny. Fels wrong dyin lie tis.
Entry 7) one genration pases away and anothr genertion comes, but Euestra abides fore
Log-in time out. Disconnecting.
Its a pretty sad log, talking about the days leading up to the apocalypse, and also makes the first mention of Marigold and her foal, this'll be important later. Eventually P-21 gets the ammo box that he had been working on opened and gives Blackjack the ammo inside. He reads the terminal entries as well and asks Blackjack what she wants to do about them and they decide to bury the bones of the dead pony next to Granny Smith.
Blackjack also finds one of the figurines, this one of Applejack in the hooves of the dead pony. When she asks P-21 if she should take it, he asks why she'd want to do so, and she has, a pretty good answer:
"Because. I want to remember him… because no one else does but us.” I looked at him and gave a snotty sniff. “And I’ve got to be strong…” And I wasn’t strong. Not really. I had a shotgun and an overactive proclivity to using it.
P-21 seems to agree with this sentiment and she takes the figurine placing it in her bag. They bury the skeletons and return to the farmhouse to rest.
Blackjack wakes up to an alarm coming form her PipBuck and panics, not realizing right away that she's outside the Stable. She starts going over all her options, even considering losing her PipBuck at one point to avoid any trouble and contemplated the possibility of going back home but decides against it, realizing that she'd never get to see her friends and family again.
Dear Celestia if only...
And then she realizes there's red bars on her EFS' compass, something is here and it's not friendly. It seems that U-21 had her PipBuck tag and was here looking for her with a group of ponies. It seems that P-21's room is empty for some reason when they investigate it. One of the ponies goes into Blackjack's room, only to get a face full of lead for her trouble. She takes out another couple of ponies as U-21 struggles to use his weapon.
Blackjack shoots at U-21 but the shot gets caught in his PipBuck, P-21 accidentally shoots Blackjack, and as she's about to kill U-21 he stops her. She tries to leave the Unicorn behind, but P-21 is very insistent that she helps him instead. She gives him a healing potion and leaves with P-21, continuing to head west.
P-21 doesn't seem to want to use a weapon for some reason, saying that if Blackjack understood then she wouldn't want him to have one either. They keep moving and finally reach the destination that had been on her PipBuck, a town, an actual town called Withers... except it has Raiders in it, fun!
Inside one of the buildings they find what's left of several ponies most likely and a Raider, taking her out with more Raiders that go after them drawn by the sound of gunfire. There was also some non hostiles in the town as they started to move further in to take out the Raiders. She gives P-21 a gun and gives him a very brief tutorial on how to use it when he says he might shoot her again. It seems that he's more worried that he might use it to kill her than anything else, which is, actually understandable given what he's been through.
“Oh, well, that’s simple. We just need to get you another PipBuck. Yellow, be mellow. Red, it’s dead.”
Yeah, that's probably about right.
P-21 finally agrees to back her up, but still refuses the gun. She takes out more Raiders, saving some hostages, but then, well, things go dark after two bangs because apparently everypony in the Wasteland gets to shoot Blackjack at least once.
She wakes up to find P-21 taking care of some fillies, and it seems that she had been shot by Raiders, who P-21 then took out with a grenade not knowing what was going to happen. She asks the fillies about how they got there, and one of them named Scoodle says that they had been grabbed by Raiders while they were out looking for stuff for something called the Finders. When Blackjack asks what the Finders are, Scoodle explains:
“Finders are a buncha ponies what find stuff. They trade and swap fer the darnedest stuff. Even junk, but they pay good for ammo, weapons, or anything we find that we don’t use. They’ll trade with almost anypony.”
As it turns out these fillies are Crusaders, which makes sense given that they're fillies out on their own I suppose. When Blackjack with her usual tact asks where their parents are, she's informed that they're orphans.
When they start to leave Withers, we get this first real look at what to expect in Hoofington:
There was a billboard at the edge of Withers where the road straightened to the southeast. ‘Welcome to Hoofington, city of tomorrow!’ read the caption over an image of soaring gray towers connected by bridges. In the sky above, seven pegasi flew like an arrowhead trailing crackling thunder. ‘See Shadowbolt Tower!’ declared bold words in one starburst. ‘Home to the Hoofington Reapers!’ announced another burst next to a grinning gap-toothed cartoon stallion in a black helmet. ‘Tour Robronco’s Headquarters. Free for fillies and colts!’ a little robot pony said with a wide smile.
There was one thing off, though. Written across the billboard, in faded red spray-paint, was, ‘Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.’ Not exactly the best advertisement for the city. I could barely make out an eerie green light far in the distance down the road.
Subtlety thy name is Hoofington.
They get approached by another Sprite-Bot and Watcher seems happy to see that they're still alive. He admits that he may have hand some intelligence about the Crusaders being in the town and had sent them there to try and see if they could help. Blackjack asks to just be told next time, and with that Watcher is once again gone.
---Character Analysis: Blackjack---
Blackjack is one of those characters that is kinda hard to get a read on.
Usually when you describe Blackjack, you describe her as an alcoholic nymphomaniac... and that's, actually pretty much the case. But at the same time, she's more than just that, she's not exactly a smart pony sure, but she's not a bad pony, usually.
More often than not she really does want to try and help ponies, like she said in chapter 1, Security's duty is to help ponies, and ultimately that's what she really boils down to. Yes she doesn't really do a great job of it sometimes, but she's not actually a bad character and ultimately this is what makes her interesting.
This chapter showed this off pretty nicely in that she was willing to comfort P-21 and come to the aid of ponies that she didn't even know. While she will sure as heck not be perfect, I don't think she can be summed up just as the alcoholic nymphomaniac... even if that is a major part of her character.
While I don't like all the elements of Project Horizons, I do enjoy seeing Blackjack as a character in it and look forward to exploring her more in the future.
---Final Thoughts---
This chapter, wasn't actually as hard to get through as chapter 1 was, like I said this isn't as bad as some of the later chapters, which are going to be a nightmare to review.
Honestly I'm in the camp that actually likes Project Horizons, I'm currently on chapter 53 but keep getting distracted so I haven't really been able to finish it yet. Its not a bad story, its not perfect either, but ultimately it does a good job of telling the story it wants to tell, and that's really what counts.
I do recommend this fic, but only if you have a strong stomach and can tolerate dark subject matter.
Chapter 2 gets a score of 4/5.
Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout: Equestria - Project Horizons Belongs to Somber.
Next week, we revisit another old fanfic I reviewed, and it seems like we're in this for the long haul.
Video Made by Me.
Thanks so much. These early chapters were a lot of me working out who Blackjack was. On reflection, I would have held off on her getting the figurine till later, but at the time I thought horizons would be 20 chapters... yeah... good times.
4453273 Well I'm glad you liked the review, and it was a pretty good chapter all things considered, I'll let you know when I plan to review this next... I don't really know when that'll be yet.
4453273
I bet they were