Wow, a lot to take in this time. The more abstract Eater felt like a better fit, and I liked adding a bit more that was specifically Luna's role in the fight against the Eater itself, when she inverted the dream-projection as a distraction. And adding more focus to the memories and roles of her friends in getting her there, how much she cares, in contrast to the Eater. Cutting a couple references was a nice touch, too. The only change I didn't really care for was the last sentence, where I preferred the simpler old version, which I felt better matched the feeling of consciousness slipping away due to the incorporated pause and that very simplicity, and its shortness gave it more impact.

[More in private message]

Wheeeeeeeeeew... goddamn... how long has it been since I first started reading this? A year most certainly, since i started reading this legendary story, a story I've seen so much fanart of and references to I wonder what it would be like...

And holy fuck, this was one hell of a ride Somber, and the rest of the peeps who helped work on this.
And I still have an Epilogue to read

Damn good work on this chapter...
And Blackjack, you're one hell of a character...
God speed kid.
*salute*

Happen!

chapter quote's word 'Happen' is not italicized here. Should it be?

“Well, this a little much to plan for,”

“Well, this is a little much to plan for,”

The locomotive rammed the car it hit off the other the track and straight into a support pillar on the other side,

The locomotive rammed the car it hit off the other track and straight into a support pillar on the other side,

RIP Lancer

Who is that dusty chuckling/murmuring voice?

RIP Sweetie Bot again

RIP Aries

Whisper and Dawn tried to move in closer to help, but I snapped, “Stay back!”

Dawn? You mean Dusk, surely.

To the underworld with you Legate Amadi, finally good riddance.

Doesn't surprise me after all the debauchery Whisper would be pregnant.

Of course the Dealer survived somehow. Oh now he is called Wasteland.

I said as used the starmetal sword to cut a gap I could fit through.

I said as I used the starmetal sword to cut a gap I could fit through.

A dream. Yeah, no. There goes Stable 99 again. A second dream of peace treaty signing. And Luna drawing the story of Blackjack and Littlepip. Cute. A third dream of Happyhorn recovering. Pff Goldenblood. Yeah right. A fourth dream. Not the infamous scene again. Good, shattered. A fifth dream. Who needs thousands of praise when it's false? A sixth dream. The happy ending that wasn't meant to be.

Now why did both Whisper and Blackjack have to lose their wings? Huh

Good riddance to the Eater

RIP Tom

RIP Luna

RIP Blackjack

7448182
Doesn't surprise me after all the debauchery Whisper would be pregnant.
Well, I mean that was also literally the point from at least two people's and that society's point of view.

"Once more unto the breach. To the last good fight I'll ever know. Live and Die upon this day, live and die upon this day."
T

“Ohh, I can feel her wriggling!” the Legate taunted. “Now, be careful with those damned energy blasts. Wouldn’t want to kill your friend!”

Now I suddenly can't stop imagining him saying that in Flowey's or something

So... I finally reached the final chapter of this grand epoch. I have developed both a happy and a sad feeling within me. Happy because I've reached the end and only the epilogue remains or this story for me to be done. Sad because once I read the epilogue, I won't be able to read this and get the same feeling again... maybe I do have a big sentence coming up but I'll write once I read the epilogue, seems only fair for me

and a red-maned white mare with a neutral expression being visited by a green-and-gold-maned cream unicorn

Ha, I remember sending a PM to CascadeJackal about Lily & Rose being mentioned in-story the moment after I read this line.

I read the last bit over and over again.. taking in the moment.... and i broke down crying when listening to this in a loop

it felt like i've been crying for.. hours.. and i thank you and the creator of the song because i needed that last droplet to burst that bottle open so i can finally cry and feel my pained emotions fade away.. i really wanted to see BlackJack live so she could be with her children but.. i cannot do anything about the ending.. it is what it is.. no matter how it pains me so.. just when Littlepip hooked herself into that S.P.P. tower without one last proper goodbye from homage.. it had a huge pained impact on me.. in probably 2-3 months time i have read littlepip's story and BlackJack's story.. truly beautifull stories.. tugged my heartstrings real good.. felt happiness.. felt anger.. felt sadness.. laughed at them being ever so silly especially with the sex jokes and embarrasing moments.. man.. what a ride of a lifetime.. just need to fully read the epilogue then go to Scotch Tape's story.. i expect more heart tugging in that one aswell!

Honestly the best story I've ever read in my life, everything about this is perfect

Thank you for writing this amazing masterpiece, Somber!

This is my third or fourth rodeo and the tough parts still hit like a ton of bricks. (Noticing it was completely uploaded on FIMFiction was a great excuse to read it again, with the addition of a comments section this time around! ).

I can't tell you how many times this story has encouraged me to keep going, no matter how tough things get. No matter how much pain we go through, there will be moments and times that make all of that pain absolutely worth it in the end.

Somber, if you're ever in the Alaska area, PM me and I'll buy you lunch or dinner.

Oh holy damn... only the epilogue remains in this goliath of a story. This chapter was seriously incredible. The trip to the center of the Core, the fight with the Legate, the sequences with the F.A.D.E shields... and the penultimate ending... it was so incredible. Like I said in my last comment. I was shaking throughout the entire thing, especially so at the end there. Now I just have to see what the epilogue brings. Hopefully some more amazing and not depressing as hell stuff.

~SolidFire

I've finally finished this monster of a story. So now, I can say my piece with a clear conscious.

I give the story a thumbs down. You and your team are excellent at creating characters and writing engaging character moments, but the pacing. I just couldn't take it. Some parts of the story seemed to drag forever while others were barely fly piss on the wind.

The entire eldritch angle was weak, in my opinion. The story could drop that entirely and wrap up a little early and suffer nothing for such a change.

I almost love this story. Blackjack is incredible, but my problems with the story override the good in it for me.

And so this fic joins the ranks of those few stories which have made me shed a tear.

Thank you, Somber, and the rest of the PH team. It's been fun.

7885304 Same here.

I'm sad and yet happy/relieved it's over. The last 4 months of my life have been an emotional roller coaster because of this Fan Fic.
I laughed, I cried, I lost my mind several times.
But I will never regret these 4 months...
Ok... Time to read the epilogue...

Tentacles reached out, and even those ended in lamprey-like mouths.

Dafuq? Is this Alien?

“Oh, no one complains when stallions have to take a few minutes afterwards!”

A refractory period for super weapons...nice.

“They’re just stupid cards.”

“Right. And that’s just a stupid cutie mark,” he responded with a laugh. “Ace of swords. Power. Focus. Determination. Victory. I did this once for you before, if you recall.” He turned it upside down. “Confusion. Chaos. Lack of clarity. Sounds like both sides of your life.”

My jaw worked as I stared at the card, then at the queen of spades, depicting Luna in profile with a sword. “And that one?”

“Queen of swords. Quick thinker, decisive... executioner.” He practically purred the word. “And while you might not have deliberately chopped off the heads of your prisoners, you really never took that many prisoners to begin with. You are frightfully good at killing.” He turned the card upside down. “Overly emotional, vindictive, morose... and bitchy.” He scratched his bony chin. “How many enemies have you had who haven’t died horrible deaths?”

“It was just a card game. Just an accident...” I whimpered, clenching my eyes shut. Don’t think about it. She’d gotten up to go pee. Simple as that.

For some reason, I find this sentence the most enthralling so far.
It describes so much about her character. Something she herself couldn't explain from her own point of view, and something others have incorrectly estimated on.

I also find it exorbitantly ironic that one of her best skills is execution.
She is the best executioner. She is the executioner.
But she "isn't an executioner".
Bravo, BJ. That's quite the juxtaposition you got going for ya.

“Of course. She goes to pee and gets crushed. Happens all the time.” I stared at him, mentally begging him to stop. “Woe to those poor fools who saw your flank and thought it was nothing more than playing cards. Even Cognitum’s assumption it was victory was dreadfully naïve. If anypony with a bit of sense had seen your flank, they would have run the other way and never stopped.” He paused as I swallowed, and then returned to his refrain, “How’d you get your cutie mark, Blackjack?”

Something tells me her story holds more weight then any Equestrian deity or star could possibly ever hold.

A good, truly trademark Cutie mark story.
I bet Hasbro and Faust have just been waiting for the time that those butt tattoos finally have a legit character story to attach too.

But I don't quite understand what Dealer is saying here...it's not like her talent was immidiately apparent?

I groaned, pushing myself to my hooves. What would it hurt to tell him? “It was Hatches. I don’t remember what her real name was. We just called her Hatches.” I closed my eyes. “First one to leave always gets picked up by security. The others had won, and it was either going to be me or her leaving first. Getting picked up after curfew was three days locked in rehabilitation cells, or flogging. So Hatches and I had one more round to see who’d leave first. I lost.”

That sounds like some serious capital punishment.
What a world...sounds like torture.

What's a rehabilitation cell?

“Oh?”

“Yeah. Then I was such a whiny baby about it that she agreed to leave first anyway. Nice about it, though. Claimed she had to pee,” I muttered with a wistful smile that soon withered. “But the door’s sensor had malfunctioned. She walked through, and it closed on her. Killed her… but I didn’t get in trouble or have to tattle on the others at the game,” I said lowly.

“So you won,” the Dealer chuckled. “And all it cost you was a life.”

I'm beginning to see a pattern.
Blackjack always wins.
Even if she loses, she will still win.
She may want to lose, but player 2 will always be the real loser.
Doesn't matter if it's friend or foe, they all pay the price to trump her loss.

They all die. And she always lives.

Even Cognitum. She won everything. EVERYTHING.
then she got chucked into space and blasted by Folly.
She won literally everything...then lost everything.

Because Blackjack will always win.

Once again, he was in my path. “I’m sure.” He was silent for a second, empty sockets almost pitying, then asked as calm and cool as poison, “What was her real name, Fishie?”

Yeah. This guy ain't Echo. But that's besides the point.
I'm starting to think Hatches is far more then what little we know.
At least, far more to Blackjack.

Maybe her first friend?
Maybe she made a promice?

“Right. But people who help you do have a nasty tendency to turn up dead,” he said with a chuckle. “Always somepony there to take the bullet. To die in your stead.”

So true...don't forget enemies either though!
Like Deus. Or Steel - no wait. He never got reformed.

“Sure. You didn’t even want to kill your enemies. You just turned them into friends.” His grin widened. “How’d that work out for them, again?”

Oh, I get it. Enemies turned friends. And friends always die for her.
Nice trick of fate.

“And now, I give you what you desire most... a heroic death.” He leered at me. “Make it a good one. You’ve none left to die for you.”

Then he evaporated with a last laugh.

Well...that was in interesting encounter.
...so the Wasteland can personify itself.
Scary.

But I sure wouldn't be pining for the light after a talk like that.
That's what it wnats. Never give it what it wants.

So many secrets...

Luna really likes her some secrets...
...I wasn't expecting the dream effect to bring Luna into the fray though. How odd.

“I used to think so too,” Celestia sighed. “I just couldn’t bear it. But you persevered where I failed, and the Caesar has finally admitted that continued war will simply result in megaspell annihilation.”

For an undead star spirit, you're not very creative, are you?

“T’not m’name...” I muttered thickly. What was going on here? “Yer suppst t’be ded,” I said as I squinted at him. I lifted my hooves and felt them draw short with restraints. “Let me go,” I growled at him.

Lolol. Happyhorn.
Gotta hit all the popular stops, amiright?

LittlePip, strapped to a wheelchair in a straightjacket, appeared to be raving as a red-eyed stallion addressed her with a worn expression

Lol. I wonder if Pip got dragged into this dream at the same time.

Like, she was just sitting in her weather tower, having The talk with Celestia when suddenly she gets roped into Happyhorn, and has to confront Red Eye.

It must be Tuesday.

“Scotch Tape. Borderline Personality Disorder, stemming from early abandonment. She also suffers from the delusion that others are fictitious parents of hers. It’s a... rather unique take on the standard transient, stress-related psychotic features that we sometimes see in those clients,” he added with a faint smile.

Wow. Must be a freaky world talking to a total stranger then them calling you "Dad" or "Mom" out of the blue.

Unique indeed...

Somebody needs to make a Happyhorn story.
Like Asylum, only with Wastelanders instead of a deluded and predictable Twilight.

“Applesnack? Scopo and haphephobia.” At my blank stare, he sighed. “Fear of being seen and touched, as well as some associated depression issues. You’d think he was a monster under there.”

Okay, this is just getting too funny now.

That, combined with an underlying Bipolar Disorder has created a, to be frank, fascinating mix of delusions, self-neglect, and impulsivity.

Underlying Bipolar Disorder...

“There is no Wasteland, Blackjack. There never was,” he rasped, like a grizzled uncle who smoked too much.

Hey Goldie, you suddenly ingest 50 years if smoking in the last 5 seconds or is just "the delusion"?

Then I imagined the sound of shuffling cards, and an equally grave voice intoning: You think I’m some desolate landscape? I’m everywhere.

A world without the Wasteland...

Yeah. Such a nice place. I should build a summer home here when impending doom isn't staring us all in the face.
Would be nice to gaze up at the bright, blue sun shining it's rays down on us.

...wait a minute. Blue?

 “There’s just one thing I want from you. Something really simple.”

Goldenblood’s frown deepened. “Anything, if it will help.”

“It will,” I said as I stared through the window. “What is P-21’s real name?”

There was no answer for several seconds, and I glanced at the baffled stallion. “What?” Goldenblood asked lightly.

“P-21. That stallion there,” I said, pointing a hoof. “Though if you’ve been reading my mind, you know who I’m talking about.” His eyes went to P-21 and then back to me. “Come on. You can’t honestly tell me that his name is actually ‘P-21’. So tell me his real name.”

He continued to frown at me. “Blackjack, I can’t just tell you...”

Oooh snap! Happyhorn is in trouble now!

“Blue... Blue... um... hooves? Blue... buck...” He fumbled as his eyes twitched from me to the window repeatedly. Sweat trickled down his temple. “I can’t remember. I’ll have to check his file!”

Wwwooowww. So creative mr.undead star spirit.
Eater of souls, but define tell not an elementary grade artists.
A Pre-K child trumps you in spades.

How's that for the ego?

“You keep trying to trap me in dreams!” I shouted at him, the building starting to rumble and crack. “But I am the Princess of the Night, and you will constrain me no longer!” I bellowed as the cracks spread, now through the struggling, grunting stallions like they were cheap porcelain figurines. I seized that fundamental truth and pushed against this lie. I watched as Goldenblood’s eyes went wide with fear before the world exploded into shards of darkness.

I AM THE NIGHT!

Now I was standing in a restored Core, wearing the most ridiculous princess garb as thousands of Wastelanders all shouted their love and praise. Cognitum would have eaten it up. My friends were all alive, of course

So I'm standing on a street in a gleaming city.
I'm all decked out in metropolitan princess garb, with a pink umbrella held upside down above me.

The sky is Yes and the sun is No.

Bubblegum is okay, but Chocolate milk rain is so commercial.

It's duck or nothing in this gleaming city, as ponies made of pure gold walk around on soap covered streets.

The food is bubbles. And the drinks are like bottled bricks.

LittlePip danced on a concert stage fit above a political courtyard with blue trees, and Glory was juggling highly explosive vanilla bottles while lighting them like light bulbs by connecting her tail directly to an open power socket.

Beat this, Eater of souls.

he bellowed as it moved down beneath the sole remaining field, using pony technology to keep it safe as I lay 

You are one sad, little star.
What kind of egotistical god hides behind mortal devices to stay safe?

I could raise a small piece of it.

My horn flared as I pushed Tom up the shaft. Just a bit. Just enough for the wedge of magic to lose power, flicker, and disappear. With a relieved smile, I cut the magic.

Tom fell.

I wanted to put that "bu-bye!" Scene from Ice Age Collision Course here, but couldn't find the vid.

Just imagine somebody very enigmatic yelling "BYE BYE!"

One drifted against me, and for a moment I smelled Mom’s mane. I heard the warm chuckle of P-21. Another gave my cheek the caress of a soft gray wing.

Peace be with you, Blackjack...

And there, on the wreckage of the platform, the mare stared at the stars as the number reached zero. Darkness took her. And silence. Yet her lips curled in a smile as she felt hot liquid rolling down her cheeks. The rumbling grew, becoming her entire world, stretching into eternity.

Did...did Blackjack just die?
I was beginning to wonder if the second pony point of view was for Luna's departure, but...

She died, didn't she?
Like I said. "Three strikes, you're out".

R.I.P. BJ.
Rest well...you've deserved it.

can't believe you made me feel sorry for the eater. these 4 chapters have been just painful, it hurts so much.

Good on you guys for tying in with a lesser known story. :D Wasteland Bouquet sounds great!

So that's it, then. Wow. Quite a climactic final ride, and your sense of dramatic timing is excellent. I was not surprised Aries died (she stands out as the one member of that last group Blackjack has zero previous experience with), though I feel really bad for Majina, because she's got not family now. :(

Let's see, other comments. I'm pretty sure Blackjack saw evidence before that Whisper's pregnant. Maybe she just didn't put the pieces together? But I felt like she shouldn't be surprised by that, otherwise. I liked the dream sequences, though the third one at Happyhorn was my least favorite. I mean, the first time she shows up there, there was this big "Is it or isn't it?" in terms of being real, plus all the commentary about post-apocalypse fiction. But this time, in context, it feels like a rehash, and it's obviously not real, because the first two weren't. Once it goes into flash-forward mode, it was neat seeing the various success scenarios the Eater was able to come up with; the psych ward just didn't work a second time around.

And I did take Icy's advice and read about the last third of this myself. So I'm getting the real version! Time to read the epilogue! :V

8282360

Let's see, other comments. I'm pretty sure Blackjack saw evidence before that Whisper's pregnant. Maybe she just didn't put the pieces together? But I felt like she shouldn't be surprised by that, otherwise.

I'm going to quote what I said at the time, which is on the lower end of my complementary-to-not scale of remarks regarding the story and the chapter (which for this chapter included "On the whole, an excellent end to the story" and " I've been giddy, happy for hours"), and then from my thoughts when I reread it later, which were somewhat more blunt...
First reaction to that line:

This has been another installment of "Blackjack Is an Idiot." Thank you for watching.
I mean, from last chapter "She narrowed her eyes, her forehooves playing over her abdomen.  I was suddenly aware how very still my own belly had gotten since I left the Collegiate." True, she didn't explicitly make the connection that Whisper was pregnant, but holy fuck is that dense.
And this from 75.2: “And that’s where my darling babies should be,” [Persephone] said as she smiled placidly at her children, who flushed and squirmed.  “And my grandbabies too,” she said, arching a brow at Whisper, who scrunched up her face indignantly.  “If my little ones are at terrible risk, how can we do any less?”
Anyway, I guess Blackjack (and Luna, which might actually be the bigger pill to swallow) really, really aren't that bright. Eh.

And the reread:

Me: "Oh my god, you fucking moron." I'd forgotten about that. I suppose she never did explicitly hear that (maybe, but the "and my grandbabies too" was pretty close), but wow is that some epic-level dense.

So yeah, you're absolutely right about that point. My silver lining was that it kind of tied in to keeping Scotch from joining, and how it was done, which was presented as a self-consciously dishonest and perhaps somewhat painful thing for Blackjack to do.

Out of the dreams, I'd say the Luna one was my favorite, giving some development for her and a fair bit implicitly for the Eater.

i just knew the Legate would show up again, though i wasn't expecting a giant monster version.
it reminds me of this video-game monster:

I think blackjack and Littlepip are my favorite characters of all time. Good night blackjack get some sleep and be with you’re friends. You’ve earned it more then anyone.

I feel like the original version on the google docs where more dramatic, i renembered this story being harsher, and that is one of the good points of it

Sad to see that somber fell into hating project horizons meme
Hope that he does not fell into other traps

We were nine. Nine going into the deeps beneath Hoofington, facing monsters and abominations from the pits of madness and horror.

A good and traditional number indeed.

Farewell and good luck to the Fellowship of the Hoof.

Who are setting out to destroy a bunch of evil, screaming Rings.

Nine with one goal: to stop the Eater of Souls from destroying the world... inside thirty minutes.

I wondered if Twilight ever had to do anything like this.

What you did there, we see.

I couldn’t really see it, honestly

That's because you couldn't get cable in 99, Bwackjack.

If only Blackjack had survived this, and kept Luna's soul. Then things would have been very different...

(Specifically the chorus.)

I. LOVE. IT.

I spread my wings and flew around it, readying on my left the shotgun that held the moonstone rounds and on my right the riot shotgun, both now sporting glossy black finishes decorated with stars and moons. Up close, the Eater’s two rows of silver spines no longer appeared uniform and unblemished. The central ring of the Tokomare was wrapped in rusty steel scaffolding and supports, and numerous beams and braces spanned the individual spines. The seemingly smooth surface was rough and mottled up close, with holes chewed clear through revealing green gemstones and lines of eldritch power that beat like a heart. Countless mechasprites, emerging from swollen hives of starmetal and tumorous flesh, were at work moving wires and cables around, chewing up deformed blobs of starmetal, and vomiting it forth to smooth out the spines they buzzed around.

Does any one else hear Europe's "The Final Countdown" playing?

Hush now. Quiet now. Rest your sleepy head.
Hush now. Quiet now. To dreams, you finally tread.
Rest now. Be peaceful now, for tho you may be dead.
Rest upon your cloud of stars, for you've earned this sleep dear friend.

What an ending to Horizons. Now I just feel empty.

11464306
That was about the same reaction I had when I finished this book, just sorta a; "So what now?"

I spent 8 months reading this and damn it was worth it, what a good ending to a very long story

I really liked the dream sequences. They made me feel that certain wistfulness that makes up 99% of why I love PH. Only thing I consider a missed opportunity is the fact that she didn’t have to make a leap of faith. It would have been pretty cool/angsty if the third dream didn’t have an obvious tell it was a dream; if she’d had to trust herself at the risk of committing an atrocity.

In general, I’m pleasantly surprised that PH has stuck the landing. The last 13 chapters leading up to this ranged from mediocre to downright horrible, but 77 was actually pretty good. I love the fact that it’s ultimately the Eater’s ego that’ll get it killed. If it had only tolerated the Legate’s boasting, he would have stalled BJ more than long enough.

I adore the fact that BJ’s CM is literally plot armour. At least it gives an in-universe explanation for it, and that's just neat at the very least.

Blackjack’s bossfight against the Eater was a bit too anime for my taste, but eh, wasn’t the worst instance of it, though. The part when Tom came in, though, had me tearing up, so that was pretty good.

I’ll keep this comment relatively short, and I’ll leave my global thoughts for the epilogue.

Also, death reviews.
Lancer: 5/10. Loved how unexpected and out of nowhere it was. Loathed the fact he got some theatrical last words in, especially the whole “promise me” deal is so overplayed it hurts.
Sweetie Bot: 5/10. Hero’s death, but I didn't particularly care much about the character.
Aries: 6/10. The death itself was raw and unexpected, but it seems like deaths like this are reserved for unimportant characters the audience barely cares about. Shame.
Blackjack (even though I assume she’s not actually dead): 8/10. Pretty good death for a protagonist, though her getting to witness things during her final moments was a bit cliché.