The chronicles of Project Horizons : chapter 48 & 49

Why two chapters today again ? Because I feel like it and also because I'm reading a bit faster as of late and that these chapters do not have much things for me to talk about that in depth about. I find those chapters incredibly dull despite the action-packed nature of them and I could really do without some of the usual tiresome tropes. I think I grew dull to most thing in PH and since Project Eternity doesn't interest me, I do feel a bit... bored, I do admit.

Let's go !

We have a continuation of the Hightower Jail adventure. I have to say that this little escapade is far too long, bloated with far too many characters I couldn't care less about for a goal that is essentially very minor in the grand scheme of things. It didn't need to be three chapters long, it's not like Canterlot in the original which lasted 51K words because it was an important spot in the story : the capital where everything is revealed. It was an important place with a deep meaning to the war and the setting at large and it could justify it's length like that. Not Hightower Jail, the reveal we have is something that honestly are less than impressive or so obvious that it was easily inferred hundreds of thousands of words before.

We have a small bit about how the Contracts of the Griffins are actually Slave contracts that they write themselves and they only find value into belonging to someone else and doing its bidding in the limits of the contracts. It's a bit of a strange thing, really, and I don't see it going anywhere but hey, it's not because you're in the middle of a burning, full of radiations and Enervation building that you can have a nice chat about other cultures. Also, I don't care about Carrion, he's a single-minded griffin with absolutely no real honor but a blind and willing loyalty to the master that possesses his Contract. It's essentially a willing cession of his freedom and just make him a tool. He is not a knight or a samurai because they at least chose their masters. His master, we learn, is a Remnant sympathizer that got Tulip killed. What ? You mean the obvious, greedy bastard is the culprit ? Lies I say !

We have a clash between the Extras (Xanthe and Psychoshy) against Blackjack and such and it could be interesting to say how much her friends fear her but honestly, I understand it without seeing it. Yes, Psychoshy and Xanthe are scared and I'm sure her friends are scared of the overwhelming power that BJ has but honestly, I never saw any of her friends act out of fear, so I really couldn't care less about that fabricated drama while the burning burns.

Then we have Lacune """""dying""""". I'm tired of those obvious effects that don't work on anyone but people who never read a book in their lives and that's not the first time that Somber did a death fake-out. It's starting to become jarring. We have a whole thing with Rampage about the fact that she doesn't consider herself a person because she's just an amalgamation of many souls and that might be the only interesting thing if not the most pressing thing. I think Somber is really underestimating how short 30 minutes to 1 hour is but what do I know. Rampage has an interesting conflict that I don't see easily resolved. As for the details, we all knew who were inside of her so it's really just long padding.

Skipping a bunch of ultimately unsubstantial stuff, we learn that Doof became Deus because Twist refused to talk to him for five minutes. I don't know why we're still talking about Deus at this point since he is far from being an interesting character. He is a simple pony with anger issues, that's it.

Snips sacrifices himself essentially and Rampage has a very interesting remark :

She kicked me upside the head, knocking me sprawling. Oddly, the pain helped me focus, and I rubbed my aching skull as I looked back up at her. “Are you saying that you’d curse a pony with a death spell you can’t remove just to save one of your friends? ‘Cause if that answer is yes, then you’re getting another kick!” I blinked up at her, and she grabbed me with her hoofclaws and hauled me up to look me in the eye. “I don’t care if it is for a friend. I don’t care if it’s for me. There is shit you do not do. The ends do not justify the means!”

Why is Rampage of all people the only one with the sensible mind here ? In any case, Somber will not address this issue and instead will give to BJ a cope-out vision. What's a cope-out vision ? It's a convenient vision that intervenes just after an interesting point against BJ is made just to not address it and go as planned despite the complaint. The cope-out vision essentially shows Fluttershy being horrified of the Phenix Talisman and refusing it and making Rarity shift her interest to... the Statuette project. She learns about cutting soul and creates the first Soul Jar with... Well, with Octavia's contrabass because sure, why not.

Then we find Snails and... nothing. He isn't interesting so moving on. Stygius kissed Psychoshy to tell her to stay behind as they fought the Warden since she was in no condition. This character is so developped and so layered. I can't wait to see him gutted.

Battle against the Warden that ends with Goldenblood (?) saving the day by essentially one-shotting him with the Core Zap Tower. It's the very definition of a Deus Ex Machina. It's just going better and better. Oh and Lacunae who was totally dead isn't dead and save everyone and they flee from the explosion. But BJ "dies", her soul almost scattering away.

*****

Chapter 49 starts with our BJ being in the afterlife but in Hell this time where souls are being tormented by a green light and are being hoarded by ESG near the Core. Aside from that, BJ is back in her body by the end of her little trip. Is she going to be Jesus and save all the chosen Souls from Hell too ? Because I think we need that analogy.

We have some nice scenes where the Goddess shows a bit of vulnerability. She's going to die in a few chapters so better milk the sympathy points while we can. BJ is playing matchmaker with Stygius and Psychoshy and my interest just went below 0 because nothing meeting nothing must create a sort of vacuum of sucking. This first part of the chapter is essentiall a roll call of all the characters with some nice banter but ultimately, it's losing time by trying to make far too many paper-thin characters interesting at once.

We learn that BJ has her eyes sending visual and auditory data to something in the Core. I wonder if it's Goldenblood... Of course, it's Goldenblood, it's not like we're having a ton of other candidates beside him and ESG and somehow I don't see ESG rigging cybernetic eyes. Oh and Xanthe tells BJ that the Remnant have a balefire bomb left and that the MOA just fucked them over during the war by stealing dozens of bombs. Essentially, we learn that the general thing for zebras is that the balefire apocalypse was the only solution to deal with the powerful ponies. Not something that problematic but honestly, I still don't really know how the Zebras manage to lose the war, but that's just me.

Then we have an uninteresting scene where BJ traps Ahuizotl, he is banned from the village, is tricked into selling Carrion's contract and gets killed by him at the very second the Contract isn't in his hands anymore. It's a dull scene because again, I don't feel sympathy or retribution for a character who self-imposed slavery.

Then she goes meet Boing and this scene is memorable, not because of BJ but because of... fucking Boing of all ponies. Her vision of the Wasteland is so fucking refreshing : a cold-hearted pragmatist that feels only apathy towards what has been done to her. She won't forgive BJ for almost killing her and tells her to piss off and that's so rare, I have to applaud it. Why does Somber make tertiary characters have more personality and backbone than her main and secondary cast ? It makes no sense to me but it at least prove he is capable of writing good characters when he tries.

And why is this scene memorable ? Because not even two lines after a rather powerful punch to the pride of BJ... We see Stygius and Psychoshy fucking. Tonal whiplash... I didn't miss it, Somber, you shouldn't have...

Then the next part is about removing the Extras : Carrion, Xanthe, Silver Spoon and Snails go to Shattered Hoof Ridge to find Diamond Tiara... and Carrion forcefully kissed BJ because he has a boner for her. I won't try to make the obvious point that is that a lot of people seems to find BJ attractive and forcefully kiss her. Discord, Stygius, Carrion... It's starting to show that Somber is really repeating himself.

Then we get rid of Stygius and Psychoshy. Stygius is a prince of the batpony and Psychoshy follows him back to his kingdom. I won't even grace the Radhog fucker that is Stygius with a remark regarding how much of a nothing character he is with so many elements of a Gary Stu that Goldenblood could start feeling some competition.

Then we go to repair the legs of BJ to Riverside. It's a long useless scene where we see a Hellhound's cock and a joke about a catheter being in BJ's ass. Oh, and the Dealer wasn't put in EC-1101 by GB but by Luna herself because you can now make a piece of software a Soul Jar. How does that fucking work ?

We have another Psalm vision where we learn she was set up to fail by the higher ups and we start manipulating the poor girl with the idea of being forgiven by Luna, essentially. We also see Celestia having some balls and deciding to go to the peace negotiations at Shattered Hoof Ridge and Luna being against it and being a spoiled child while GB essentially suggests to kill Celestia if there was the slightest chance she could be captured by the enemy. A deep villain we tell you.

After some banter we go back to Chapel and we meet everyone, P-21 seems to be better, Scotch is busy with her plans to change the plumbing and building of Chapel and Glory is very upset that BJ fucked Stygius but you'll see that in the next chapter she'll essentially learn that it's just a culture difference and she'll essentially be angry for a matter of hours, a day at most. The power of bondage seems to get people closer.

Closting thoughts : Meh/20