The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 37

This chapter feels like business as usual. BJ fucked up so she angst. BJ's motto is "I angst therefore I am" and it is getting kind of repetitive. It's always the same thing, she'll beat herself up and then she'll be fine in a matter of hours. This character is stuck in a loop and we're almost 700K words in. I'm willing to wait a long time but I don't have much hope that this character will become something else even if I'm not at the halfway point yet.

Let's go !

The first scene is an exact rendition of what I said with the potion last blogpost and I'm just thinking... Are we going to go full "not a smart pony" to justify a scene where she gives up EC 1101 ? Because I'll burn everything if that's what implied. The rest is just angst about how much she fails and how much of a fuck up she is and how much she wants people to abuse her while she's down. Compelling stuff.

Then she goes towards her contrabass and makes this whole side by side comparison between hers and Octavia's life while playing music and fortunately enough, it seems to have helped her push herself out of this depressive state. That's a relief to have so little angst for a change. Then we have some talking segment where we learn more about Precious (why she decided to stay with them instead of Sanguine, I don't really know, I suppose Scotch Tape is that sexy) and a bit about Sanguine. Nothing major.

Side Note : Red Eye being the one behind Sanguine and Deus is a major issue motivation wise, especially if Somber wanted to be faithful to the original. In any case, I'll talk about it in more details if it becomes really relevant. Red Eye is a huge issue for this fiction (unless some of my gripes with him are contextualized.)

We get to talk with the whole gang essentially, knowing a bit more about Priest and Rampage, restating things like Scotch hating herself for being weak and having daddy issues, P-21 being pressured to accept being Scotch's dad when really it seems like a stretch to me. What ? By virtue of the fact that he was raped, he has to act like her father now because she is a nice kid ? Damn, I simply love that P-21 is a male because people would have lost their shit if BJ tried the same thing on a female. "Yes your kid is born from rape but now you can educate her and be her mom !" I mean, I don't think I can talk about how traumatizing being raped and having to raise this kind of kid but I don't think it's such an easy matter to resolve. It feels extremely tacky to say the least. Sure, P-21 could be less cold with her but does he HAVE to be her dad ? That's a whole other can of worms for me.

I am of the mind that you have a responsibility when it comes to your choice. He didn't choose to be raped and as such he has no responsibility towards Scotch Tape. If he decides to be her father, it shouldn't be because people forced him into doing so like he is a petulant child that don't want to do the right thing. It disgusts me to see Rampage and BJ of all people give such advices.

On another note, I like that BJ is slowly training to get her magic back but honestly, I wonder how long it'll take for her to go back to "I'm unstoppable and now I have more powerful magic because of my blood." I just hope that's going to be treated with taste. I like her training but I think that she would be better off without magic at all, showing that there are thing she can't magically (pun intended) get back. Unfortunately I doubt the fiction will go that route.

There is some playful banter and that's always something I like. Scotch Tape cementing her place of best character in this fiction while the rest is just nice even if I find the whole Rampage trying to kiss P-21 a bit much considering P-21 usual nature regarding being touched by a mare but then again it changes from the usual brooding.

Then we have a scene where BJ says that with Precious' memories, they can get into Hyppocratic research before Sanguine even has time to be nefarious and we have this :

“Look!” I smacked the table with my hoof. “You were working for our enemy, but we took you in. I even shared some gems with you. All I’m asking for is enough memories of that place so that Lacunae can teleport us there. We don’t care about what happened to you two hundred years ago!”

A strange silence filled the room, and I suddenly became aware that everypony was staring… at me. “Blackjack…” Glory said in soft concern. “It matters to her.”

A part of me wanted to scream. This was what we had to do to win! I knew that Sanguine was probably rigging as many traps and perils as he could in the tunnels. Maybe if we gave her some Moon Dust or something we could make her tractable enough that she’d cooperate. I really didn’t want to have to pin her down while Lacunae dug around in her head for... what we…

What the fuck was wrong with me? Seriously… what the fuck?

For the first time, I am on BJ's side. Lives are at stake and what is asked of Precious isn't that big of a sacrifice. Yeah, what you're going to make a monster filly that was your enemy yesterday feel bad for like a couple of minutes and it's to rectify one of the most fundamental blunder that BJ did. What is wrong with that ? Where are those morons sense of responsibility ? So you're willing to put the lives of hundreds or thousands of ponies just to not ruffle the feather of a fucking former enemy ? Yeah, I think you deserve all the shit that happens to you.

I know that people will tell me that the issue is that BJ is having a winning/losing mentality when that's not the point and that she thought about being violent but... Yes, that's the point ! You have to make compromises in order to do what's best for your goals. If those morons are more preoccupied with what's moral before saving lives, especially when here the choice is pretty easily done, then yes, perhaps they have no business trying to save people. Insufferable.

BJ also makes it about winning and losing which once again makes her an egocentric pony. It's not "I must do what's right" or "People are counting on me." or "I must rectify my mistake", it's "I have to win." I agree that's the wrong idea to have but the responsibility remains the same.

Then I'll skip most of the forest part because while it gives to some original and weird things, I don't have much to say. It's amusing in some aspects as it really look like some kind of funny deathtrap but it also remains mostly a long scene where barely anything of note happens. The only thing that happened that was interesting was the Killing joke aspect but unfortunately, their menace was transformed into a bit of slapstick episode. I mean, BJ exploded three to four times in a row and she didn't die. Rampage exploded but that's because she's Somber's torture fetish doll. It is interesting to see the Killing Joke again even if I hate them for having been used to create... Fluttertree.

Then Glory was transformed into Rainbow Dash. I mean, it would have been funny if it didn't give her wings back. Since when does the Killing joke make things better for people ? Transforming people into fish into the middle of a forest, that's cool with me. Making BJ explode when she touches something, same. Hell, even Fluttertree makes sens with the retarded aspect they have but... Giving Glory her wing back just to make her look like RD ? No. At least Scotch Tape saved this scene by becoming a chlorine talisman and forcing Lacunae to leave BJ, Rampage and P21 alone, splitting the group.

As for the rest ? We learn that Hyppocratic Research was lead by Flim & Flam and they invented things like Sparkle Cola, Wonderglue and a magic goo called Flux and which was used to do things that looks like Chimera but in more retarded. Flux is essentially Taint, it's something that allows things to merge, mutate and so on. It's basically petrol for how many usage it has. Meaning that... in some form or another, the liquid invented by Twilight Sparkle near the end of the war was actually the Flux invented by Flim & Flam, who even during war were mainly interested in money. Why not ?

The chapter closes with BJ falling an elevator shaft after the Killing Joke curse suddenly took effect at random. It was a funny moment, I have to admit.

Closing thoughts : Harmless but dumb. Funny in parts though. I hope it gets a bit better than just funny.