The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 26

The chapters as of late seems a bit easier to read for me and I find it delightful. Now does that mean that there aren't tons of thing that makes this story quite the mess still ? Of course not but it seems that it is not as much as an issue... at least as long as I don't see the face of Goldenblood who single-handedly made this story quite the pain to go through.

Let's go !

So, one of the first thing I want to mention is that Somber establishes limit on the power of Lacunae regarding teleportation and that is something that I need to salute since many a time, teleportation could be used as a multi-purpose tool to disarm situations. Sure, he gave some amusing little formula that I'm sure wasn't meant to be taken seriously but since I like to be silly, let me write here : E = (D² * M² * Ff) / (Rad). Again, we don't know the units used for each of those elements is the Distance expressed in feet ? In miles ? In meters ? Is the mass expressed in ounces ? In kilograms ? In pounds ? It's a silly question to ask, I know since the general thing to understand is "The more people I have to teleport and the farther it is, the more I need radiation to do it."

“Over a thousand miles of tunnels, subways, and other pieces of underground infrastructure were constructed in Hoofington, and much of it remains intact and unflooded thanks to still active pumps and ventilation systems. Care should be taken to stick to sewage maintenance tunnels and blue line subway tunnels. Enter into green industrial tunnels only in dire circumstances. Red tunnels should be avoided at all costs. These security tunnels were restricted during the war and contain potent defensive systems. Remember: Red and you’re dead.

Over a thousand miles of tunnels were built and furnished in a town that was constantly attacked by zebras in less than ten years of work ? Yeah, no. Sorry, Somber but you have to understand that to dig over a thousand miles of tunnels under a city you need workers, you need materials, you need money and you need time. Materials should be impossible to receive since a city under siege has, by definition, its supply chains cut. Money never seemed to be an issue in FO: E despite AJ having to sell her farm to finance her Steel Ranger project so while I am not surprised, I am not going to give him point for that. As for time and workers, I think the answers are quite obvious, don't you think ?

But let's go with the fact that Equestria seemed to have been EXTREMELY effective and swimming in unused materials and money at the time.

Not much to say about the next scene. Rover compares BJ to Goldenblood making the same of comparison that was made between Pip and Red Eye so I suppose that the link is the same. We also learn that Horse was offering for Winona to become a cyberdog. It's a bit inconsequential but I suppose it is to prepare us for the stupid event that will happen later. But we have to talk about the Museum scene first.

Firstly, I have to give credit for Somber giving us a scene between Scotch Tape and Blackjack that actually talks about character. It's really something that this fiction has over FO:E that I will constantly give it praise for. It is nice to see characters interacting even if I will say that a lot of characters interact with Blackjack but not much with one another. I am not quite sure of the relationship between P-21 and Glory for example beyond jokes made at BJ's expense. It really feels like they don't share much with each other when BJ is not there.

As for the fight against Lancer ? Well you know my opinion about PH's fights by now and while it is interesting, I have to say that there are two things that pissed me off in it. First, BJ doesn't die from two separate occasions where one even exploded on her face. Seriously, those things are supposed to kill a pony when you step on it, not just midly inconvenience you. Second... Lancer's monologue. This character is supposed to be quick and deadly, that's what made him interesting but when he has BJ at his mercy... he starts a villain monologue that will, of course, lead to BJ being freed by some helpful event. Those events are unnecessary, dumb and directly hurt the characterization of this villain and... well, BJ is made of titanium now.

Nevermind, I have another thing to take care of. So Sekashi was the wife of Lancer's dad and she fled after she started to question the very nature of the clan's goal and the nature of the stars. It seemed Lancer was there to kill her specifically but... failed. And we learn that Stars are going to be a huge part of the fiction, I'm not sure I am thrilled about that but context is everything, right ?

On another note... P-21 and Priest fucks. While I can easily understands that P-21 needs some dick in his life to find some happiness and relieve some stress... I have a harder time with Priest essentially fucking an unstable, suicidal mess of a pony for nothing more than... being nice. They didn't share anything together and it just comes across as... almost predatorial, like he is preying on mentally fragile people that will of course fall into his hooves. I don't know how to feel about it.

What I do know how to feel about is P-21 STILL going on about how he hates BJ and wants to kill her for his lover's death. I'm sorry to say this but... move on. This is too late, Somber. You had a window to deal with it and you missed it, after BJ saved P-21 from killing himself and shared this moment with him, you narratively said that the character was over this and that we would explore new things. Not going back to old grounds that will never be taken care of and will just make his characterization go in circles. Let me be clear : I don't ask P-21 to be fine about his lover's death and it can still be a part of his character, however, we need to move on and explore new horizons. We're almost 500K in and it's time to stop with the same shit again and again.

Otherwise, we do have a scene for Lacunae and Scotch Tape that helps give them a bit more substance with the former being a splendid violonist and the second a poor, scared little filly in need of someone to take care of herself despite trying its best to be tough. Nice scenes. We also learn that coal wasn't an issue at the end of the war and that power still runs in the Hoof thanks to Dams since they seem to still be intact despite the destruction caused by the balefire bombs. I am not sure that it makes sense that it still works but let's go with that.

Then the stupid scene happens. After a fight against cyberdogs, Winona as a the super cyberdog appear ready to kill everyone... but she doesn't because BJ has an AJ figurine that makes her all sad and so everyone leaves. It makes no sense and I won't even try to defend it. It's dumb, moving on.

A lot of walking around later, BJ gets her four legs shattered by some sort of sonic wave and she uses a Hydra despite the huge Enervation Spell that is near the Core, setting up the fact that BJ's legs will most certainly be fucked for a while since they start bleeding and BJ barely succeeds in walking two meters without hurting. On a side note, we learn about different types of Megaspells which are a nice addition to the world but I am a bit sad that they won't get to be used in the story proper without making for a huge amount of canon breaking. At least, Somber thought about the full potential of Megaspells and even clarified that the whole world had been fucked by the balefire strikes.

After another fight against... something, BJ used Trottenheimer's folly continuing to make her more and more infected by the Taint, preparing us for something I assume.

Finally a very interesting scene happen with the Enervation field being high as fuck : Glory lost her wing, we learn that there are at least five different souls inside Rampage and we even learn that the Dealer is definitely more than just an hallucination. As for the memories of Goldenblood blackmailing Rarity about her having the Black Book ? It makes no sense because it is supposed to be after Rarity got hold of it but the canon of FO: E makes so that she directly showed the book to AJ and RD and the former knows what it is. So... a blackmail about revealing that Rarity still has the Black Book cannot make sense in the same world than FO: E, especially since Rarity would have denounced Goldenblood for his obvious meddling with data.

Closing thoughts : The usual but with some promises ? Interesting.