The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 41 & 42

A double blogpost as per usual of Sundays for me but honestly I don't think I have that much to say about those chapters because they are not that interesting nor that problematic. Chapter 42 for example is an extremely long fight sequence with characters that couldn't be less forgettable if they tried and more glorification of BJ invincible nature. The only thing I'd say would be of note is the end of chapter 42 but it is clear what it is and I don't like it. The Evil Star God shouldn't have that kind of influence. He is directly detrimental to the story of FO:E but more on that later.

Let's go !

The first scene is not that problematic. It's a lore dump about the Highlanders and how powerful they are as a gang that can fight on equal grounds the Reapers. Psychoshy is also a part of the group and apparently Rampage thinks she's starting to consider BJ as a role model and the usual preachy stuff about how BJ is such a good pony and that if you hate her, it's usually misguided rage because she does good things. It's not interesting nor new so I won't dwell on it. BJ being elevated to such a high rank should be expected at this point. Yes, Rampage is showing some character and I should be happy about it but honestly, she is a bit too much confident in her analysis when I remember the dumbness of her "we're all victims" speech.

Then we have a discussion about the importance of working together to survive more durably in the Wastelands. It is the starting point of BJ making a conscious effort to unite the Wastelands even if think that this ideal needs some heavy work to be able to last durably. We'll see how it goes. I hope BJ won't have a silly "Oh my god she's so charismatic, let's stop our decades of fighting and mutual hatred and alter our dog eat dog mentality at the drop of a hat !"

Then we have Homage crying because of the incidents at Arbu and the Steel Rangers (making chapter 41 being near chapter 34) and essentially, the scene can be summed by BJ giving a pep talk to Homage that makes her give the nothing-burger of a speech at the end of chapter 34. I don't get why it was important that BJ was there to give this pep talk and influence Homage but there we have it. It's quite strange because Homage famously lied about what horrors transpired about Arbu. As soon as she heard that Pip killed cannibals, she apologized for doubting her and sung her praise while hiding the horrible massacre of Bucklyn Bridge and the details of Arbu. It's really a useless scene. Oh, and we also seem to notice that death reinforces the influence of the Enervation and the ring might be something that react with death to amplify the Evil Star God (ESG) note.

The next scene is a quest-giving one. We learn that the Harbingers have pristine weapons, want to kill BJ and have a leader called the Prophet. BJ lies to save Psychoshy's head and we basically get some information of Hightower Jail. Nothing much to add.

Skipping the fight sequence where the influence of the ESG starts making BJ more and more susceptible to killing people needlessly but she still remains the naive, invincible pony. Nothing new. Skip.

Next scene we have Splendid that wants BJ's ass and a discussion between BJ and her team that is actually interesting. They can't keep up with her and her cowardly nature makes her wish to run away from her issues by not confronting them and jumping straight into action. I like the fact that her friends are at the end of their rope and wants some time for themselves finally deciding something different than Blackjack for once and honestly, I hope this isn't just a one time thing. I do applaud the idea that they need to rest. I shouldn't but we're at a point where anything not going as usual is something I'll praise. Hell, we even have some actual moments where BJ is actively avoiding to sleep and slowly losing it.

Chapter 41 ends with BJ leaving alone to be chased by the Harbingers while her group goes to rest at Chapel.

***********

This chapter is weird. BJ is completely losing it and running away chased by tons of Harbingers and essentially, this whole chapter is one gigantic battle scene. My policy on battle scene without stakes is the same as ever. If I have nothing to say, I won't bore you with it.

One of our first scenes is one where BJ realizes the effect she has on her environment and the Dealer talks about her and the responsibility she has towards everything she did. I don't like the Dealer's speech because he essentially has the mind of "Check and balances" where he is more concerned about people having to answer to someone to be punished if they do something wrong. I personnally find this attitude completely childish and he looks like the normal humans in the Incredibles where there are more concerned with placing blame and punishing than actually doing stuff. I know that essentially, he wants to say that without anyone to respond to they are essentially going to get corrupted because absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that jazz. Hell, he apparently still wants to place blame and punsih the corpses of the ponies responsible for the Apocalypse.

The Dealer has the mentality of a child. He wants no one to have power if they can't be counterbalanced, which is fine in a situation of peace and is the basis for democracy (even if that remains a very idealistic view for even democracies fail) but in a context of war... things have to be done and punishing needs to be done excessively tactfully. I don't know who the Dealer is but he has the mentality of a loser that would let his family get killed simply because fighting for what you believe is right or for what you love doesn't make the war better. It's strange that the Dealer is so focused on putting blame and punishing.

I think the dealer doesn't get is that power implies responsibility. Luna used her power because of her responsibility towards her country's safety. The Dealer wants to say that everyone is responsible but his point of view is that they should have capitulated and get run over by zebras. Wouldn't that have been irresponsible ? A direct breach of trust ? The Dealer has an incredibly one-track mind and he really should shut up a lot more.

Then we have the scene where BJ fights with Bluebelle which is a nice way to introduce that the Highlanders are forces of nature but it's ultimately a pointless battle that gives a bit more lore. Then BJ almost kills Candlewick because he touched her rump twice, showing some rape PTSD. I personally think that's too little too late but sure, it's nice to remind the reader that the trauma is still there.

Then we have a long battle scene where apparently... the four gangers team up with BJ for... no real reason. She almost killed one, fought another two seconds ago, another don't care about her and the last one is part of a gang she killed the leader of. Apparently they fight in harmony. It's a long battle where we learn a bit more about each gang : the Burners are a gang that is built around a shared understanding of physical hurt, the Fillies a shared understanding of being a mare condemns you to be raped ( we even have her to tell us that Fallen Arch was super evil so she was right to kill them all like a mad mare), the Halfhearts are depressive and wants to die to rejoined with their loved ones. The battle scene is too long and too pointless. The general message is that BJ is planting the seeds of cooperation in the hearts of gangers to fight against the common enemy that are the harbingers but... a few things.

It's too easy and too quick. Those four gangers have no reason to fight alongside BJ. None. It's too easy to just say that they just needed a little pep talk to finally decide to work together when it's been clear that most of the gang leaders are in it for themselves like Diamond Flash for the Fillies. BJ did nothing to build a trust with the gangers or even the Reapers, she destroys things, she doesn't build anything. She kills, she maims, she destroys. It could have been interesting to have the ganger follow out of fear rather than out of respect and that could have been a good "Look at what you did" moment. She doesn't act in ways that should help such cooperation to happen.

Hell, the Halfheart even dies for her when he has no reason to fight for her. In any case, that's just a cheap dramatic moment. This character was created to die and as such will have no impact on me.

After the fight scene, the group splits and she follows Bluebelle towards Yellow River and we learn a bit about the Quickening and that Bluebelle is CONVENIENTLY, Taurus' sister and the fact that BJ has his gun will be necessary to make her realize that BJ is a nice pony that she can follow. We learn about Black Pony Mountain being a coal deposit and how Equestria evolved towards coal-based energy but even then, it doesn't change a lot to be honest, about how stupid it is that they didn't evolve towards the clearly superior energy sources they had. Then, BJ gets interested in a prison that has a fight between Enclave and Zebras nearby.

BJ is starting to lose it and after a whole scene where BJ and Bluebelle gets out of a sort of cell, we have some comment about how BJ's masochistic tendencies pushes her to take the bullets head on and... this quote seems to suggest that's bordering on the sexual :

Did I? I did tend to get shot up a lot. And cut… and smashed… I bit my lip as I felt some other very disturbing sensations crawling around beneath the ache in my body. Being injured should be a bad thing. Especially the kinds of injuries I dealt with. Instead, I felt... odd. “I… I… um… I…” I felt myself going bright red as I sat and lifted my forehooves and held them an inch apart. “Maybe just a tiny bit?” I said with a sheepish grin.

Do of that, what you wil.

We learn a bit about overcrowded prisons, how the zebra are eating one another giving some insight where the raider disease came from and we learn about how Doctor Mephitis was an asshole that killed her colleague when he fled for the Enclave. Nothing really more than that except that BJ gets very angry and a fight with zebras happen. We learn that BJ is apparently the Star Maiden, Herald of the Apocalypse and that the last Star Maiden was Luna, meaning the Zebras consider her to be as cursed as she was back then. A zebra called Xanthe is now following her because she thinks she's cursed and can't go back to her kin because they would kill her.

After a fight where we see Lancer and where BJ kills by barfing liquid metal to one zebra's face (sigh), we start to see that she's acting far more... impulsively and cruelly than before. She kills a whole bunch of Enclave soldier and it's clearly the influence of ESG. She's being manipulated by him and I can't honestly find this interesting. She's momentarily brainwashed and even then she doesn't kill Glory's sister, making it just a debauchery of cruelty and gore for the sake of it. Also, her sword being in Star Metal is cursed by nature. I have nothing to say : I hate the idea of a evil entity influencing people to do evil and cruel things in this type of story. You're removing the entirety of the tragic aspect of equine nature here, you're leaving a commentary on nature to be about vanquishing a clearly Evil Star God.

Closing thoughts : A lot of fightings, lore dump and a climax based on a huge tonal shift I don't agree on. You're losing your momentum, Somber.