The chronicles of Project Horizons : Chapter 50 to 53 · 4:18pm Dec 9th, 2018
Yes, a quadruple BP in order to go quickly through those chapters that have so many redundant informations that I don't want to dedicate too much time restating things I've already said time and time again. For the few people that are still following me, I apologize if it's a bit of a mouthful to have so many chapters at once but see it that way : it's more content for you and I can run towards the finish line all the faster. If you find that kind of post to be too long, tell me.
Let's go !
Chapter 50 is a bit strange, it starts with explaining that fucking in 99 is quite casual and that BJ didn't really cheat on Glory because sex is so unimportant in an emotional sense, so much so that the... filly, Scotch Tape even says she fucked three persons. I could have done without this picture in my mind, thank you very much. At least I can try and hope she fucked other fillies and not adults but then again, who am I to judge another culture view on pedophilic sex ?
Long story short, it's a huge bump in the love story between Glory and BJ but I can't honestly say that I care because Glory is only interesting when she works on her medical skills and not with her romance that boils down to "BJ can do whatever she wants as long as I can collar her and punish her." I know that's unfair to this couple but at the same time, I still don't see any alchemy between the two. It's a personal thing but there it is. Then the chapter takes a bit more time explaining cultural differences between Glory and 99 views on sexuality. I personnally find disheartening that the only thing that says "BJ is from 99" is that she fucks with random people to heal herself.
Skipping to something interesting, Marigold's memory orb shows Pinkie and RD teaming up to infiltrate Zecora into GB's inner circle because Pinkie says he's a traitor. 50 CHAPTERS TO HAVE THE FIRST SIGN OF AGENCY ON THE PART OF THE MANE 6, ALLELUIA ! I hope this will give us something interesting in the future. (Spoiler : Up to 53, I don't see any consequences to this.)
We have another disrespectful quote by Spike saying that BJ suffers more than Pip. You shouldn't have Somber, it had been a while since you did this... I really didn't miss it. I'll also skip the Goddess influencing BJ because we all know that the Goddess is going to die before anything important happen since we are around chapter 37/38 of the original and the goddes dies on chapter 39.
We have a bit of a powerful scene with Rampage trying to kill herself from the realization that her very self might only be the amalgamation of different things that she cannot possess nor own. It is a very interesting aspect of her character but unfortunately I fear that ultimately, BJ will have the magical answer to make her whole again. Why do I fear it ? Because getting handed an answer isn't the same as going through a narrative to finally come to terms with it. I prefer when such psychological issue don't have an easy external solution such as BJ somehow being naturally talented to remove memories. At least, it reinforces that BJ care about Rampage a lot and tries to help her that's something I say is good.
Then we have an interaction with Charity who is salty about Scotch having a Daddy and thus not being an orphan. Not much to say, she's shown as unreasonable and petty here. Right before a true discussion can come to a close, an accident happen and a random filly dies in the wreckage of a building, drowned in rainwater. I suspect a David Cage collab.
We reach a "Love yourself BJ and stop trying to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders." point. It's a bit late (1M+ words to reach that point ? Really ? Such an obvious lesson should have been applied or tried to be applied much earlier in the fiction and those scenes are a testament of the crawling pace of development that BJ is having. Yes, sure, everything happens in the span of a couple of months but it's not a reason to make BJ grow so little. Those are flaws she had from the very beginning and it shouldn't be that hard to make BJ evolve, at least a bit. Hell, even killing herself is still something she'd be ready to do if it could save people or help her punish herself. And please, the BDSM shit to try and make sure she doesn't try to tear herself apart isn't going to work. It's just going to piss me off because it's going to make tons of sex jokes happen.
Skipping the memory orb of Shujaa where we learn nothing safe that there was Zebra cyberponies and that Shujaa and Twist were set up to die. Cliffhanger : Dawn appears !
*****
Skipping an awkward scene where everybody lies to Dawn because Glory don't want to see her mother for a good amount of valid reasons, we reach another memory of Psalm (I'm so not ready to know why she has those memories... I almost don't want to know) We learn that Psalm was a lonely orphan living in an orphanage and had only one friend that stayed with her called Cheddar. Celestia came and offered to take him into her school because of his obvious gift and after an argument with Psalm, he left. Luna was there to say that she'll help Psalm and after praying for a while, Luna came back and told GB to adopt Psalm before Littlehorn happened. It's unfortunately not very interesting since... well... Psalm has yet to do something important for us, readers. I mean, she didn't even kill Pinkie in his new version (which would have only be good as a framing device and nothing else.) As for the relationship between GB and Psalm, I have yet to see any.
“That is a common myth, and one not entirely inaccurate. Before the war, a unicorn usually only possessed whatever magic they developed in their youth, and such magic was usually focused on their interests and thus usually related to their talent. But a unicorn’s magical potential is not limited by their special talents. Rarity exhibited designer skills but also knew a spell to find gems, as well as teleportation later in life. And if a unicorn’s magic was limited, what point was there in writing down spells or having schools of magic? Think of your own stable. Most of the unicorns were trained in magic appropriate to their field, regardless of their cutie marks,” Lacunae explained patiently. “Most unicorns, once they have the spells they want, simply quit studying.”
So essentially, Somber is retconning something that the original said to make BJ works. You could say that this is "building upon the original." I personnally see this as a voluntary modification of something that bothered Somber to explain that BJ can have all the spells she needs as long as she trains for it. I'm fine with that change but honestly I could see people being... pissed.
Then we have the Glory's pancakes which is a funny scene but I don't have much to say : cyberpony likes horrible things. We also learn that Twilight was ready to resign from being a Ministry Mare because Luna sentenced GB to death for his treason. Why does something interesting have to be linked with GB ? Let's see this positively : It's an interesting take on the psyche of Twilight. It's sad that what pushed her to resign is GB and not... the other thousands of reasons that could have been used on top of GB's betrayal but then again it might be too much to ask.
Skipping useless scenes about tons of stuff like tips on memory magic and a fight against a minotaur, we see that BJ can teleport. The spell still drains her magic and she barely knows how to use it for now but really, how long will it take before she can safely use it in combat ? My take is a week.
Skipping an argument between Neighvarro and Thunderhead, we learn that Glory is essentially a clone of Dash at this point down to her genomes and that's concerning to say the least. Let's hope it's not as important as I make it sound. Skipping more things, Scotch got her cutie mark and join the Assassin club of Assassin's creed.
Then we have a nice party making for a nice moment of pause in another wise constantly running fiction.
*******
The start of 52 is interesting because that's a moment where BJ actually looks back at her adventure and tries to convince herself that she can stop the chase of EC-1101 and simply help ponies, help her friends and help the community. If it had been a real evolution of her character, I could even have praised the fiction but P-21 calls her on her bluff and tells her that she doesn't really wants to stop the chase. Why ? I suppose she wants to be the superhero of the Wasteland and kill the menace that is ESG. That I will call ESG even when I'll tell you the real name of this Goddess/God. At least the discussion happened and I hope that it will define BJ in part.
Also : super redundant information. We learn that P-21 & co lied about her lineage to BJ so essentially, yes she is Twilight and Big Mac's descendant... to no one surprised. There never was an ambiguity for the reader so I really don't know what this does for the narrative. Her friends lied to her to protect her sanity. Sure, okay ? It could have been for something new and interesting but apparently not.
Right after that, Dawn and BJ have a discussion and we learn that Dawn is the Harbinger's prophet and that she was saved by the Goddess of the Core called Cognitum and that she wants to save the Wasteland durably. It could have been an interesting villain if it wasn't clearly shown that she was completely reckless. What I don't get however is that she went to see Red Eye at one point but she disliked that he didn't care about the lives he took for his plan... when she is exactly doing that by threatening Chapel to get EC-1101.
We also have some things that tells us that P-21 is in love with BJ and I pray to the gods that it isn't the case. P-21 became tolerable and even kind of enjoyable lately, please don't make him... cross that line and fuck with BJ romantically. That would be such a destruction of his character. I mean... can't there be a strong friendship without going mandatorily to love and sex ?
In any case, Dawn tells BJ her life story about how she was the thing that linked her friends together and that they split when she decided to go away and that she wanted to create a better Wasteland so much so that she abandoned her family for the sake of her ideals to the point of almost dying and being resurected by Cognitum. Cognitum needs EC-1101 to control the Core and become God on Earth.
Then fight scene where everyone have a chance to be a bit of a badass, nothing much to say about it except that Caprice died and... Deus is a tank and Glory's Dad is on verge of death because GLory's Mom is a black terminator. Then another fight with the tank that is an almost blow by blow ripoff of the Ghost in the Shell fight between Kusanagi and a tank complete with her hooves being fucked by trying to open the hatch of the tank.
Finally, she wins by saying "You were nice once, Deus. Be good again." and he runs away.
P-21 looked the way that Deus had gone and then back to me. “How’d you beat him?”
“The same way you beat me,” I murmured softly as I leaned my broken body against his. “I gave him a chance to be a better pony.”
What you want me to say how stupid Deus in a tank is and how stupid it is that she convince him to run away by offering him a chance ? I don't think I need to. It's self-evident that I find this dumb that I won't even try to explain. I'm tired of Somber making BJ wins against enemies that range from the cool to the insulting. Deus is a tank, it's ridiculous and I don't even want to understand how much thought went into this to make it happen. Deus didn't need to come back to life, especially not like that. He isn't nearly interesting enough to warrant a resurrection
******
I like the start of 53 because we have a determined Glory that does what she does best : taking care of people medically without BJ having a word. It's so refreshing to see competent characters without having one of them cry every single second. Nothing can ruin this scene, right ? What ? We learn that The Dealer is actually Echo the Marauder and he took the appearance of his RPG character, Smiling Jack ?
Ha.
Haha.
Hahaha.
HAHAHAHA.
Okay, Dealer you're dead to me.
BJ gets new super legs on the condition that she does a favor to the Hounds and Triage, so all in all, nothing really new. It seems that giving new limbs to someone is easy as pie in the wrecked ruins of Equestria. We also learn that there's a perhaps a conspiracy against GB in the sense that Horse and company are working on the Tokomare that Horse believes to be an alien device from outer space with so much energetic capacity that it can bring world peace. Interesting to see another party of people trying to act against the almighty GB, provided it does act against him.
Then BJ and Glory fucks. Nice to see that almost killing your sister and cheating on you is something you can so easily forgive Glory. Tell me when you want to be interesting sometimes in the near future. And no, I'm not talking about the parts where you heal people those are too few and far between.
We also learn that Horizons is more than likely to be a moon cannon or a "moon-crashing on the Earth" device. I don't really know which but it seems that GB was thinking of nuking the Earth for some reason or another. I am not privy to his plan yet since... it's only be 53 chapters and above a million words since the start of this story so knowing something as essential can wait the penultimate chapter I suppose.
Then Deus join the crew. It's stupid but at least P-21 booby traps the tank to kill Deus if he was to turn on them which is a smart move. A smart move... but still, it doesn't change the fact that Deus the tank joined the party and I am not okay with that.
Another Psalm's dream. We learn that Garnet was behind the Partypooper order and Psalm still wants to kill Horse to make sure Luna will forgive her despite being told to her face that Luna isn't aware of the order since she died in Canterlot. Psalm is a single-minded character that has yet to do something significative to the narrative. Yes, I still think she killed Big Mac but that's only speculation for now.
Dealer then explained something about a zebra shaman using the power of the stars to curse them in a sense and honestly... I don't know what to make of it. As long as the Marauder were together, everything was fine but as soon as Big Mac decided to have a life outside of the Marauders, he was killed. Did the Shaman actually do something ? I am not sure but why not add some supernatural elements to an already convoluted plot ?
Then something related to the Goddess where we see her talking to the Enclave to make them their ally to make sense with the scene in the original (meaning that it's thanks to BJ again that this happened) and essentially, it leads to nothing. The Goddess makes so BJ can't remember what she saw and...
End of this BP
Closing thoughts : Not much to say. A lot of dumb. The Dealer is dead to me. Deus is double dead to me. Glory is very... Glory and BJ took 1M+ word to be told that... perhaps she should stop thinking the misery of the world is something she deserves.
I don't find it too long at all. If it helps get to the end faster then by all means. I know by 40 there were 2 things that kept me going. My determination to read the entirety of it and the thought that maybe a cool thing that inspired a few songs that I like will happen. Sorry I've been silently reading these but I have been enjoying them. I'll get more talkative the closer we get to the end.
4978889
Haha, thanks for your support. I'll deal with the chapters in that manner if I require it but I really try to make it so this doesn't take too much time. This fiction is already bloated enough with sub-intrigue that I'll need to make some comprehensive summary at the end if I want to get all my ducks in a row.
Thanks again for reading me.