The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 25 · 2:26pm Nov 16th, 2018
This chapter is interesting. While I have grown completely dull to the constant fights that Project Horizons have, I have to admit that, at the very least, we do continue to advance the story in meaningful ways and it is something that I need to point out as a big positive. No more meandering jog on a threadmill for now it seems. As for P-21 suicide attempt, I have conflicted feelings about it but I'll try to vocalize them.
Let's go !
So let's talk about Psychoshy for a minute : this character is pure cringe through and through. The name, while being an insult, remains one of my main issue since it sounds like a parody name more than anything, the direct quotes from the show to the point of reanicting entire scenes ("What's wet and clueless ? Your face !" is a good example), the edgy cutie mark and so on makes her a character that would feel right at home in someone's parody of MLP like Friendship is Witchcraft. As such, it makes every scene she's in extremely hard to watch. I love the show as much as anyone else but this amount of reference is simply cringy as hell.
Speaking of cringe :
“You… you fiend! You monster! You creep! You filly seducer! You… you… bad pony!” Glory said as she thumped me over and over again. The magic had left with the alicorn, and the Hoofington drizzle poured down on both of us. “How could you do that to us? How! I’ll… Ohhhh! Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!” she chanted over and over again as she kicked at me. I put up only a halfhearted defense.
This scene is extremely anime. I refuse to believe that this scene wasn't inspired by a comedy because this disarm totally the tension. Filly seducer ? Here, I suppose the author wanted a sort of heartwarming reunion but... it shouldn't be heartwarming and it shouldn't start like that. This scene both has a sad tone and a rather strange one that when mixed give the impression that the latter had nothing to do here to begin with and really makes it look like that BJ trying to off herself isn't really that big of a deal.
Aside from that, when the story tries to be serious, especially showing how each character reacts differently to BJ's suicide attempt, it really succeeds. Even if I could say that Glory and BJ don't have much chemistry as a romantic couple, it is a legitimate scene that is unfortunately cut short by the Reaper stuff that I couldn't care less about and you'll understand in details why when we'll get to Big Daddy explaining his goal when creating the Reapers.
As for the dream with the Dealer, I would have loved to say "FINALLY !" but I'll remain calm since this fiction showed me more than once that it likes to mentions stuff but not deal with it. Case in point : BJ being extremely self-centered and thinking that the world revolves around her. It is a really good lesson for her to learn but it appears clear to me that the Dealer is more than just an hallucination created by her mad mind. It is far too... smart for the "not a smart pony" that is BJ, he is far too loquacious and he essentially has too much personality to him for just being a creation from Taint alone. I have a nagging suspicion that I hope isn't true.
Aside from that, I really appreciate this moment of introspection for the character and I really, really hope she will evolve durably by understanding the need to share her burden and to consider other perspectives rather than her own. You have a real meaningful moment here, Somber, don't fuck it up.
And then the chapter goes into the Reaper's Arena and boy did I not need that. First off, we learn that BJ killed two members of the Top 10 Reapers, Deus (Number 2) and Gorgon (undefined). This is already a big issue for me. Aside from the fact that I already knew that Deus was the Number 2 right below Big Daddy, Gorgon was a member of the Top 10 ? Meaning that BJ in three weeks time, killed two of the most dangerous ponies alive in the Reaper Gang which were both product of Projects ? My criticism about blowing your load too fast is back in action : Why did you make BJ kill two of the most powerful ponies in the Reaper Gang ? Now, aside from Big Daddy, we have nothing to look forward to. Hell, in anime, you usually deal with powerful foes and then tell the readers that they were chumps. Sure, it's cliché but it also tells the reader that he can look forward to something more spectacular.
We also learn that Reapers like to wear ponyhide as proof of their accomplishment. It's a cool little detail but I hardly see how it can mix well with what we'll learn later. Then we meet Big Daddy and, funny scene aside, there is a lot to unpack :
He pointed at the pictures on the wall with the cigar perfectly balanced on the end of his hoof. “Me, I took one look at the Hoofington Reapers… at the team… and realized that the only real way to calm the Wasteland down and make the tribes behave and play nice was to have a gang so over-the-top badass that all the other gangs would knock the shit off or risk pissing us off. When being a Reaper became prestigious… then the other gangs calmed down even more. We siphoned off their biggest and baddest champions for ourselves; sure, there was lots of fighting involved, but it was more structured. Less ‘rape, pillage, and burn’ and more ‘let’s prove we’re better than them at the arena.’ If a tribe produced a psychopath, we’d kill ‘em one way or another. And if they had a pony that had half a brain and could play along, they did all right.”
So, the goal of the Reapers is to essentially be the Apex Predator to regulate the madness of the Wasteland and it is honestly interesting to see and while being a rather simplistic view it has its merits. However... there is a huge crack in that aspect : there is no code. Without a code, a guideline, of how a Reaper should and shouldn't act, you're not creating peace, you're creating a concentred wart of psychopats. Why did Big Daddy accept Reapers like Deus and Gorgon into his gang when the first is literally a "Rape, pillage and burn" kind of soldier while the other was a psychopathic monster who perpetuated horrible treatment of slave ?
I'm sure the argument would be "We're bad but we're a necessary evil and the Wasteland is better now that it has ever been." but is it really ? Big Daddy clearly wants to make the Hoof a better place but by essentially letting strength prevails without a strong code of ethics, he is simply another raider in power armor, trying to sound more important than he actually is. He says that he would kill a psychopath if a tribe created one but his willingly blind to the psychopats he has in his own gang.
Let's talk about the rules that a Reaper as to follow to show that EVEN that isn't really true :
“The catch is you back up your fellow Reapers. That means stomping anypony that crosses us or threatens us. That includes the Steel Rangers, Society, or anypony that does us wrong. It also means proving yourself in the ring every few months. Show that you’re tough enough to take on a challenge or four. I heard how you handled Mallet when she was sent to retrieve you. She’s good, and you took her and her friends. As far as I’m concerned, that shows you got the guts to shine in the Reapers.”
So you essentially have to fight the enemies of the Reapers and help the one in your gang if they are in dangers. I don't remember Rampage helping Deus during his fight against BJ so I guess that's not a huge deal and proving yourself in the ring sounds completely ass backwards for me. Of course strength and resourcefulness is important but what Big Daddy is doing is simply recreating the "Might makes Right" formula that permeates the whole Wasteland. For me, the Reapers have a half-baked ideology.
And then we meet Sanguine. FUCKING FINALLY ! After almost 500K words, we finally meet the ghoul that we know about and who seems to know a lot about EC-1101 ! And the meeting is an interesting one. Aside from the fight that Psychoshy's true name is Fluttershy and that she kisses a ghoul like a lover, we will get some responses... after a pointless fight against her and a wink towards Thunderdome. As I said, I grew dull to the fights against random ponies in PH so unless there are actual stakes, I do not care.
So we learn that Project Chimera was Goldenblood's idea (of fucking course) and a gift to a broken-hearted Fluttershy... I am still unsure about why she would be broken-hearted but I would naturally think it's about her giving the megaspells ? I am unclear for now. However this revelation makes GB punching Twilight because she wants to use the research of Chimera even LESS legitimate than it was before. If it was something that he had no control over, something that even he didn't see coming then it would have been fine... Not here. Not fucking here.
We learn nothing about Project Horizons but at least Trueblood remains Evily McEvil and I certainly hope we won't see any "I suffered a lot as a kid because my dog fucked my ragdoll and so I became a mad scientist" for him.
No time for that we have a suicide attempt to go to ! P-21 tried to hang himself (also the guy is still limping, he should really have met Scalpel to heal it, that's a bit dumb on his part) mainly because he was destroyed to see everyone dies on top of the males refusing to leave with him. While I could argue that I personally find P-21 to be an unstable mess that goes from being happy to live in the Wasteland and not hearing about Stable 99 to being broken right down to his soul when he found himself unable to save anyone, BJ included, I will give credit that the scene is powerful and that BJ does have a good realization moment here. While I will say however is that I heavily deplore that NO ONE wanted to follow him because it gives the impression that P-21 was a special snowflake for being the only one who wanted to run away from Stable 99.
Yes I do appreciate the Cave of Plato analogy where the ponies looking at shadows thinking they're the real deal rejects the one that saw the true reality of things. However, by making so that no one had a personality strong enough to follow him, P-21 joins BJ in the special snowflakes that somehow weren't that much affected by years upon years of indoctrination. So yes, the scene is powerful but is slightly tainted by the will of the author to make his characters something they couldn't possibly be.
It is a strong moment with a real connection between the two characters. P-21 has moved on from his hatred of BJ and 99 to show that he cared a lot about both and still does.
Oh, speaking of things that shouldn't be : the letter of Stonewing towards his killer. I'm sorry but no, just no. I said it before and I'll say it again : Less is more. We already know of the tragedy of Stonewing, how he lived, how he "died" and how he evolved into a barely sentient monster. The tragedy was already there, we didn't need a letter to tell us how sad he was and how much he wanted to die : it feels really contrived, forced and doesn't add anything to the story except padding the story.
Finally the last discussion with Big Daddy is really... worrying me. This paragraph especially :
“Blood of the innocent. Blood of the guilty. Fresh blood. Cold blood. Old blood. You’re standing in a river of the stuff. It’s flowing through you. Gives you strength. It’s also tearing you away and drowning you. And for all the blood that’s soaking you through and through... it’s nothing compared to all the bloodshed you’re going to prevent.” He sighed and shrugged. “I also see stars above you... stars beneath you... stars within you. You’re made of stars. Bloody stars.”
Stars in FO: E are usually linked to that dark and mysterious force described in FO: E that corrupted Luna and are seen even in PH as creatures that grants the wishes of mortals to push them towards their own destruction. If this discussion is meaning that BJ is somehow an Avatar of the Star because she literally has stars in her soul. I'm going to be pissed : she does NOT need more things to make her special unduly, thank you very much.
Closing thoughts : Powerful moments wins this time over my other points. Let's keep this momentum.
Not sure if this counts as spoilers but better safe than sorry. Don't worry, BJ doesn't become an avatar of the stars or something like that. The only thing that happens with it is something to do with stars though. It won't be touched till you get closer to the end though, so just keep it in mind.
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Got it. Thanks for the heads up.