ILP's Good Fallout Equestria Fanfic Library: Better Days

Hello there and welcome to the first of hopefully many Fallout Equestria fanfic reviews. If you’re interested in why I’m doing this, the introduction is available here. With that out of the way, let’s get right into it.

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Today’s story is ‘Better Days’ by Gamma Deekay, a writer who’s been around over a decade and has been writing Fallout Equestria fics for just as long. It follows the story of Percussion Cap (great name btw), a bounty hunter for Fillydelphia at a time before the original fic starts where Fillydelphia was just a major hub for slaving, not yet the hellish pit of despair it’s more commonly known as. Her latest job is an odd one out in that she actually has to take somepony alive, something she’d pass over if not for the massive payout. Unfortunately it immediately goes wrong, and the target is turned into red mist by the unscheduled interruption of a stallion named Caltrop.

Caltrop is, by all accounts, a loser; one with a southern drawl to rival Applejack’s. The only thing saving him from one of PC’s bullets is the belief that she can keep him as a 'personal slave' long enough to try paying off the massive debt she’s now in. And so the two travel, slowly warming up to each other and getting into more trouble. They run into PC’s grandma, Storm, and pick up a young hellhound named Sandy, and these 4 constitute the fic’s main protagonists. Storm is even more of a bitch than PC at times, but only wants the best for her granddaughter, and pops in and out to help. Sandy’s young and naive, trying to find her place in the world after her family rejected her; I think her introduction and characterization is a little weaker, but she’s ultimately a fun and inoffensive member of the party.

One of the fic’s central themes is about Percussion Cap learning to lighten up and finally make friends. Caltrop is the instrument for which this happens, and while I think they become friends a little too soon (maybe 4-5 chapters in?), their resulting escapades make up for it. They’re both captured by another bounty hunter, Caltrop’s actions save her from being abused, and from here on they learn to start caring for each other. Their relationship develops nicely, even if there are times (especially near the end of the fic) that could’ve fooled me about PC not being a bitch anymore.

I will say, this fic does feel a little rough around the edges. This fic appears to be one of Gamma’s first, and it shows at times. There are some points where the fic feels a little scatterbrained, one of the worst offenders is a series of chapters where PC, in simplest terms, is captured, breaks out of prison, leads the gang away from the prison, stops and rests, leads the gang back to the prison, is captured and roughed up by a prison gang, released with little consequence, and leads the gang away from the prison for real this time.

On a related note, the final arc of the fic revolves around a place called Flint, a town hidden in the wastes where some of the best bounty hunters are held as glorified slaves to do the dirty work of a rich and powerful stallion. PC is captured and forced to work here, a transition that was a little jarring at first, but the fic rolls with the idea pretty nicely in the end, and delivers a conclusion I found to be satisfying.

Verdict: Rough at times, but ultimately not too distracting. Recommended if you want a down-to-earth fic with a happy end.

Am I forgetting anything? Oh yeah…

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Guess what, you’re getting a double feature. Written while wrapping up the end of the first fic, Silver Nocturne’ is a short prequel to Better Days, following a town guard named Sunsoft as he tries to solve a string of murders in the dump he lives in. Caltrop is there as Sunsoft’s gay lover, but his role is much more subdued. It’s noir-inspired, but not overly so, and comes with a nice twist and some decent action. I’m a little disappointed that it doesn’t end up tying into the sequel much though. It’s still pretty good, so if you’re gonna read Better Days you might as well read this too.

Oh and it’s worth mentioning these fics are also part of a greater overarching plot collaboration between Gamma and Digital Ink. The stories that are finished in this include this one, Monsters, Merchants of Hope, and The Long Winter. Of these I have read Monsters (nothing to say about it right now), and I attempted to read Merchants of Hope. That one has a rough enough beginning that I couldn’t get into it, but may try again in the future. The Long Winter is on the list though, and will hopefully be reviewed here at some point.

And with that I bid adieu for now! Seeya again some other time!