The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 27 & 28

I felt like making a double blogpost today and seeing how my issue with those chapters are quite similar and if I didn't adress them in one bulk, I'd feel like I would repeat myself uselessly. Again, PH had the possibility to be really interesting and poignant but... it does a lot of bad. It tries so hard to make BJ invincible that no matter how much pain, wounds and even death sentences she has on her ass, it still seems like its only cosmetic. A pretty dress of pain and angst to make her appear like a martyr and no, Somber, pointing it out constantly, do not change the issue.

Let's go !

So right after the horror show that was the end of chapter 26, we get our Blackjack completely panicked when she realized that she doesn't know where here friends are but it appears clear she's being taken care of in an hospital and while she tries to flee from the clutches of those damn nurses fighting bravely against Med-X, she ends up sedated thanks to a memory orb but before that, let me just say something important right before we get into the little details of the chapter. Having a convenient hospital, minutes away from the convenient elevator shaft who goes from the secret ruin to the surface is a lot of convenient things to happen at the same time. What's more convenient is that this hospital is equipped and ready to heal the Security crew for free (more on that when we get to it) and at the drop of a hat.

Yes, stories are build on some little coincidences and conveniences to happen from time to time and I should let that one slide but I can't let it slide. There are too many things that will learn about this hospital that makes it a REALLY convenient place to have ended up after a little trip to the Core. In any case, memory orb.

It's the longest and most boring orb ever. There's a bunch of nothing in it aside from my theory of Twilight being Maripony being almost directly confirmed by how Twilight talks to Big Mac, so that's a done deal. However, even when fucking Goldenblood isn't the subject of a memory orb, he ends up becoming it. So we learn that GB and Fluttershy are a pair, a couple... meaning that they likely fucked because I can't imagine Somber passing on that obvious chance to put GB's descendants in PH... and we also learn that Mister Goldenblood is a mister know-it-all (really, we needed to know that the Royal Canterlot voice was used for 263 years ? And how the fuck does he know that ? Does he need to upstage everything ?) and he is just like BJ, fighting against pain and suffering to do what he thinks he's right because HE KNOWS and the other doesn't. This character is insufferable, there is nothing to show this guy as something else than just a master puppeteer.

After the memory orb, we learn a few things : BJ has been operated on for six hours straight, BJ's legs are fucked and have the consistency of rubber, meaning she can't walk anymore (well, she'll get some super practical braces later so no biggie) and that she is completely fucked because of the taint, she has like dozens of tumors in every single organ and she has at most a year to live. Honestly, if I made a blogpost for chapter 27 only, I would have been surprised at how much consequence there is for the reckless behavior of Blackjack. Hell, she even has a one of her eye missing ! If that's not consequence, I don't know what is ! Except that... several scenes will show something different from expected.

In any case, the state of the crew is pretty grim : Glory has lost her wing for good, Lacunae is lost in her own head, Scotch is traumatized and P-21 isn't much better. The group is fucked is what I'm getting at and that is and interesting state. It is a state of weakness where we can see the characters act differently and they can take a step back to realize where they're at and what to do. Is this adventure worth the trauma, the risk and the challenge ? Take Scotch Tape, does she actually wants to go on a crusade to save the Wastelands from themselves ? How is it executed you ask ? Well... It's not completely fucked but BJ tries her damnedest to make it so...

P-21 is actually making some sense in this scene, he shows some vulnerability without being a victim. He saw the small sliver of happiness he had almost being taken away from him and he showed that he cared about himself and the lives of his friend, unlike BJ who constantly makes things about herself : SHE has to save the Wastelands for GB's schemes, SHE has to make things right with Glory because she loves her, etc. She continues to be this insufferable self-centered supermare that thinks the world explodes if she stops fighting... just like Pip. Exactly like LittlePip. I don't know who thought they were two distinct characters because the more I try to say they're not the same, the more similiraties they have.

Now we're going to get in the part I call "BJ is the stupidest and ungrateful bitch there is." So, now, our little missy all sad and guilty that her Glory lost her wings want to go meet the Enclave alone after waking up from a six hour surgery operation, missing an eye and being unable to carry her own weight to ask for their help in the vague hope that they can help her.

"But Plénitude, don't be silly ! She's hurting ! She wants to do something to make things right. It's obvious she isn't thinking straight !"

I agree. Why does Rampage help her though ? Why does no one tell the "not a smart pony" that throwing herself in the Wasteland after a life-saving surgery without being able to properly move is the dumbest thing in the history of ever ? You see that's an issue with BJ's friends, they are doormats. They may appear cool and layered but when BJ says she wants to do something, they will never have the balls to stop her. They all love her but if she's running straight towards certain doom ? Meh, it's okay.

So our Miss put four braces and now she can walk. No period of adaptation, no explanation on how she can walk on FUCKING BRACES when her legs are basically with rubber bones, nothing. She just put her "Now I can walk" braces and she goes on her merry way but she does say that it's not very comfortable though. My god this is stupid. P-21 barely tries to stop her but she essentially... shits on him for being a coward and the scene ends like this with her saying how much of a meanie pants she was to have said that.

Okay, I know this is done on purpose but do we really need to follow a character that is an ungrateful, spiteful and moronic bitch ? Because P-21 might not be a very well realized character but at least he was starting to get more bearable (when he isn't talking about how hard it is to want to kill the ones he love.) BJ is just becoming more and more of a bitch and NO ONE is going to slap some sense into her. She gets to be the bitchiest suicidal and homicidal pony ever but she gets scott free because the chapter wants us to understand that BJ is oh so noble. Braving pain and reason to fight for the smallest chance of success and against impossible odds, she must be a hero ! Yeah, right.

I think I relate to Triage in this chapter : BJ is just a dumb suicidal pony with nothing redeeming about her except her misplaced sense of justice. She wrecks things and she hopes than somehow things will get better on their own.

After that ? We're back on the usual fare. Give a shotgun and a sword to BJ and no matter if she just woke up with four crippled limbs, one eye missing and organs trying to regenerate from the surgery, she'll be just as effective. Oh, and we also get a scene where BJ almost get tempted to have a sense of priority and go through with the moronic idea of going to the Enclave in her state, alone but she remembers that being a cliché hero means saving all the fucking lepers of the world, otherwise you're just as bad as a raider. BJ, there's this little thing called "context" and "priority", I dunno if you heard of them.

But she doesn't need those : she saved them anyway. Why didn't she fail ? Why was it so hard, Somber, to make so that, in her state, she couldn't save the family ? Sure, she would have said that because she hesitated and such but she need to actually understands the limit of what she can and cannot do. For now, she literally saved everyone that she could save. Stable 99 were dumb enough to not listen to her advice and the 40 foals were already dead for all I care. She needs to fucking learn HUMILITY. She is not some kind of supermare who has the duty to save everyone and as long as she'll have this idiotic belief that is born only from a conceited belief that if she's not a superhero then she'll be a monster, she'll repeat the same exact mistakes she did for the last fuckin 26 chapters. It's tiresome to see her go in circles in such obvious and telegraphed ways. However, now is the chapter where we have to show how badass and invincible the almost dead BJ is.

Because showing a moment of weakness, of genuine weakness only matters when she doesn't fight, right ? Unsufferable.

Then she goes through the marsh, almost get killed by a frog but is saved in the nick of time by P-21 who was... inspired by her, I suppose. She doesn't apologize for her behavior, he apologizes for being weak. She apologizes for being the reason they were hurt and he has to tell her that... they chose to follow her so perhaps she should stop being this self-centered bitch before I paint the walls with her one-eyed face.

So she arrives at the Enclave base. Nobody tries to arrest her or kill the obvious terrorist and instead they lick her precious hero vagina because Homage is continuing her propaganda machine about how BJ is somekind of beautiful Jesus that simply made sure to kill those mean raiders that were her former friends and family and P-21 and Scotch Tape to continue with the story to force her to accept that she's a hero. It's a nauseating scene that reeks of self-congratulation, unneeded with that and I won't even grace the scene with Red Eye's unit with a commentary.

As for BJ dropping on P-21 and Scotch Tape that the former is the father of the latter, I have nothing to say. She shouldn't even comprehend the concept of fatherhood or even care about it but she is just talking about it like he has a duty to act as her father when I'm sorry, he doesn't fucking have to. He can just be his friend or a form of big brother, he doesn't need to be a father to a kid he created when he was forced to fuck an obsessed mare. One could say that it's consistent with BJ seeing colts as having no real rights but they weren't expected to be fucking fathers either. More on that later.

Then a battle follows where BJ will lose temporarily her magic (yes, you read that right, she also sniped someone with her magic with only one eye. Best time to learn to snipe is when you barely have a depth perception), have a punctured lung and will be shot 32 different times on top of all the things that I said earlier. Somber is trying too hard to show that BJ is invincible despite us... needing to care about how she has six months to live yet ? You know what, let me paraphrase a quote from Red Dead Redemption 2 because they did the same thing better : "With the life we have, we could die tonight or tomorrow. We don't know when we're going to die but you do. In a sense, that's a blessing because you can decide of what you wanted to do of those last moments, what person you want to be in your last moments."

Oh yeah and in this mess... Scotch Tape killed her first pony and it's actually treated pretty well. I would have liked that with BJ and...

“I’m sorry,” I said quietly, thinking back to that raider I’d killed with the broken tip of a rusty knife. I’d been so carried away that I’d never thought about it. “I know it hurts,” I said softly, reaching to pat her with my floppy hoof. “It’ll always hurt. It never gets any easier.”

Fuck. You. You know it hurts ? No you fucking don't. It never gets easier ? What's that trite bullshit Miss "I sing when I kill people while drunk" ? Those are completely empty words coming from the worst possible pony in this story.

Also, let me quote this part because it's... nauseating to see so much masturbation in saying that BJ is invincible.

“Congratulations. You’ve set a brand new record,” Triage said as she trotted in, her horn glowing as she lifted the clipboard in front of her. “Punctured lung. Torn muscle. Thirty two different gunshot penetrations. Probably a nasty case of magical burnout. Two liters of blood lost… Luna only knows how you didn’t die from shock… and the first pony in history I think to go through the autonomous healing booth three times in one day.” She adjusted her glasses. “You know what this means, don’t you?”

It is important to note that at this time, she has been healed again by the hospital. I mention this because it'll be important later. Chapter 28 where Glory really falls. Glory who also is the daughter of a former Dashite called Dawn. I'm sure she's a nobody and not something that will add to the Princess feeling of our Glory.

The part about Lacunae is honestly the only part I truly like of this chapter. It's short and sweet, we get some interesting scenes with Twilight, Trixie and Psalm but the fact that Lacunae is literally Angst ponified made me laugh a bit more than I would like to admit. BJ walks with the literal angst of all Unity. Why not ? At least this scene was interesting even if BJ hugs everyone because she's so damn nice to everyone. Also, I suppose that the scene with the mirror was a way for Lacunae to get rid of a bit of BJ's angst and making her realize the importance of her own life (I sure do hope this will be an important moment and not just a "Yeah, it happened" one).

As for Scotch Tape, she's for now the most interesting character since she has to deal with trauma of all nature in a realistic manner unlike the rest of the crew. I really hope they don't just erase her character development for the sake of dumb morale choice.

And cliffhanger ! The Zodiac own the hospital ! The terrible Zodiac who were so effective ! I am shaking in my boots !

**********

Chapter 28 start with... BJ threatening to kill the doctor that saved her life twice now because she is jumping to conclusion. She is taking hostage an unarmed bystander that actually treated her right to... This scene is embarrassing to watch.

I wasn’t feeling very sympathetic at the moment. “In case you didn’t notice, ponies try and kill me a lot. You didn’t take me seriously, so I grabbed what leverage I could.” And you’re a bit of a nag, I added mentally. “Yeah, I help ponies. Yeah, DJ Pon3 thinks I’m a hero. Me? I’m just Blackjack. And I’ll do whatever I have to against any enemy to survive and save my friends.”

Except that you repeat even now that you're not an executioner. Except that you tried to kill yourself more than once. Except that you went on a wild goose chase with half an eye, and a crippled body. Don't try and sound all cool and badass, even fucking Lacunae is showing contempt for your actions, even if she does jack shit to stop you. Somber : stop trying to make Blackjack sounds like a hero from an 80s action movie, I know you like your protagonists invincible and badass but please be a little consistent.

The question took me by surprise. I could still hear Gem pleading her twin to ‘go ghosty’. “The Reaper Deus killed Taurus. Mini died in an accident. Gem killed herself to kill Deus,” I replied softly. “I would have killed them if I had to. They were after my head, after all.”

She... died in an accident ? Wow, that's some HEAVY rewriting of history there, Blackjack. Can't you just have the balls to say that you killed her ? Yes, it was in self-defense, I'm not even arguing that but when you shot at her with your telekinetic bullet, it was to make them vulnerable to kill her. The fact that you didn't kill her the way you wanted is a non-argument. It wasn't an accident, you twat. It was murder, horrible with that. To make an analogy, Shooting someone who's next to a cliff and them dying of the fall rather than the gun wound isn't an accident.

But yes, let us talk about the Power Rangers unit that are the Zodiacs and who's best participation so far was done by a Zodiac who suicide bombed herself into the face of Deus, hardly something needing skill. No one is angry that Gem and Mini died fighting her, Leo isn't mortified to have been humiliated while trying to kill her, neither is Aries or Aquarius. They're all cool with her and no one asks for Taurus' gun because you know, they really didn't care about him. It's like the Zodiac exists to either be A: Weapon dispensers (Taurus and Leo) or B: A joke. (Aries, Aquarius, Virgo, Gem & Mini even if they did have their moment)

So the Zodiac professor asks for 50K cap in payment of all the healing they received inside the hospital, especially BJ who just used their super machine three times, something never seen before. Honestly, while the professor is portrayed as a bit greedy, it's totally fair for her to ask for payment. She's not running a charity and the equipment, healing potions, beds and the likes that have been used to take care of the crew costed caps and as such, it is natural that they get payed in order for the place to continue running and save potentially other lives. Trade saving the Wasteland and all that.

Of course, the easy counter argument is that... somehow the professor doesn't care about the bill and just wants to guilt-trip BJ into giving EC-1101 since its value exceeds 50K cap and since we later learn its to unlock Project Steelpony I can get why. However, here comes the best part :

Then a clear, wonderful voice shouted over the babble. “Blackjack doesn’t owe you anything!” I turned and stared at the sight of Glory looking more beautiful and radiant than I’d ever imagined, even with one wing replaced by a dull nub. She looked at me with her brilliant purple eyes and gave me a smile that made me want to melt in her embrace then and there.

Zodiac frowned at Glory. “Excuse me, but we spent serious money on you and your friends…”

“Did Blackjack agree to assume these debts?” Glory asked sharply, pointing her wingtip at the flickering pony projection.

“Of course not, she was unconscious. But Rampage…” Zodiac began, but Glory cut her off with a magnificent sweep of her wing.

“Did Blackjack ever say that Rampage spoke for her and the rest of us? You might want to collect your fifty thousand caps from her.”

(...)

Glory stepped past us to slowly walk back and forth in front of the projection. “Not once did Blackjack agree to pay you anything. Not once, I bet, did you ask her, or even mention that you were going to want her to pay for it. You spent all that material before telling her so that you could spring all of it on her at once and guilt EC-1101 out of her.” My jaw dropped as I stared at the shimmering mare. And it had almost worked!

For me, that's the part where I have to scream bullshit at my computer screen. Since when do you have to agree to pay MEDICAL FEES when you were UNCONSCIOUS. Glory, you're a medic, a Volunteer Corp member and you're going to use this bullshit argument that BJ doesn't have to pay shit because they decided to heal her without asking her if she accepted to pay ? Excuse me ? You should be the one to know how expensive and hard to come by medecines and facilities are, hell perhaps they also uses the money to pay for some repairs and maintenance and for the protection of their hospital ! There was 1000 ways to try and make the same point without coming as the biggest hypocrite in the world on top of saying something blatantly false.

And also... what about being grateful you bitch ? They healed you ! They housed you and probably even fed you ! BJ has been under a six hour surgery and you are not even going to say "Yes, we're going to pay you what you need or do something for you" ? You're going to act like a pissy bitch because they tried to guilt-trip you and failed. Yes, that's underhanded but the claim doesn't come from fucking nowhere ! Hell, they didn't even steal the thing because they were too scared of BJ despite her being so crippled she can barely move ! (yes, that's the actual reason, I'm not kidding, we're that far gone.)

Then we have a heartfelt moment between Glory and BJ where she simply break into tears but again... you know those scenes where it's just a good scene but there's this one sentence that just make you go "You wot, m8 ?" There it is :

“It’s… It’s not fair…” I gasped. I shook with each new spasm of tears. “I… I wanted to save Mom… I wanted to save Midnight… and… and everypony in 99. I wanted to save you. Have a kid someday. Have a… have a life! I found something to live for, damn it!” I said, my voice hoarse and choking as snot and tears seemed to flow equally. “And now… now I’m just… just going to die?! Why the fuck is this happening to me? What the fuck does it take for me to get a fucking break? To have something fucking good happen? Anything!” I yelled into her chest. “I’m sick of it!”

What the fuck does it take for you to get a fucking break ? Well, aren't you just a good little whiner now. I know she's crying and throwing unreasonable shit but damn does this kind of sentence made her look like some kind of petulant child. She's essentially wrecking the entire Wasteland with her skewed sense of justice and she complains that things aren't really going that swell for her. You do you, BJ. You do you.

Then we get a bit of story about the professor being a mixed blood of zebra and pony (daughter of a super reseracher in roam... and an aunt of one of the Mane 6 ? I suppose AJ's since I don't recall any aunt existing in canon before) and that she essentially got recruited by everyone's favorite Gary Stu Goldenblood and she was the one to deal with Project Steelpony which is essentially the Steel Rangers but better. They started on dog, they then made metal limbs for crippled soldiers and then they went full Deus. And GB was able to do that because everypony was too dumb and Luna was almost enjoying it on a certain level and let it happen.

Also Silver Stripe was in the Tenpony Tower when the bomb exploded, she was a member of the Twilight Society and was one of the six members of the Hoofington crew that was important like Big Daddy and Dawn (yes, Glory's mom). Finally we learn that she survived 200 years thanks to her augmentation (that she had to put on her because she was lynched by ponies after Big Mac's death) and now lives in a jar because of a little trip near the Core. Aside from the fact that apparently, Steelpony was a form of immortality... Silver Stripe is just a helpful character but perhaps a bit too much seeing what we know of the Zodiacs. Then again, they are power rangers.

Also, Glory being pissy at Triage rubs me the wrong way : a way to show GRATITUDE is by NOT being an unsufferable BITCH to the doctor that saved your MORON of a girlfriend. And the whole dilemma around the erasure of Scotch Tape's memory is dumb as fuck and the fact that they never asked the filly for her opinion make this all the more fucked up. Damn, and that's Rampage who is the voice of reason ? That's a change.

As for the scene where BJ is snapping on P-21... I have to say that I can't suffer her attitude. She literally is screaming at P-21 because he didn't want to be nice to the child that represented everything he rejected from Stable 99. He wasn't angry at her, he didn't harm her or insult her and he didn't beat her, he simply didn't want to interact with her and he was fucking right. Doesn't BJ understands that if accepts that she's his daughter and have a responsibility towards her then he have to accept that he let his 20 other kids die in the Stable and didn't even try to save them. Again, BJ is thinking only from her point of view and she doesn't care about P-21 or Scotch Tape, she cares about the world where P-21 and Scotch Tape lives happily as a family, where Scotch Tape doesn't have traumas and the likes. She cares about an idealized vision of a world and she doesn't even try to get their side... Ever.

Also, am I the only one to think that the sole reason the Professor Zodiac saved Capri and Pisces from the Society's menagerie was to complete her Zodiac set of morons ? Like she needed two aquatic ponies to make it work and she was drinking booze and smoking weed in depression because she had an incomplete set for so long. No, just me ? Okay.

We get a bunch of little scenes about BJ refusing to give EC-1101 even when Sanguine offers to heal her and Glory or when the Goddess says she wants project Chimera. That just serves to make her say that she wants to dismantle GB's schemes and all that jazz and she promise to unlock Steelpony if she goes by the place Zodiac told her about. We finish with Rampage leaving the group because of the choice to erase Scotch Tape memories and with a memory where GB kills off someone who listened to the conversation about Project Eternity. Oh, and BJ dreams of things that happened in the past now... that's a thing.

Closing thoughts : Horrendous double chapter. Dripping with issues and without the beginning of a good idea. Onto the next one.