Fallout: Equestria - Sunny Skies Reviews: Forward and Chapter 1 · 7:53pm Dec 4th, 2016
Video made by me
So once again this week we'll be exploring a fanfic that doesn't get all the attention it deserves, Fallout: Equestria - Sunny Skies by IMFoalishFace.
Admittedly much like last week we'll be introducing a fic that explores the idea of a pre-war survivor finding themselves in the Equestrian Wasteland. While admittedly this has been done often, its still interesting to see how different authors explore it.
So, lets see how this goes.
---Forward---
So we start out with one of Scootaloo's audio recordings left for the the Overmare of Stable 13, yeah real original choice of number, okay so I used it too. It seems that the inhabitants of the Stable and the Overmare where chosen because of their loyalty to the ponies around them and to Stable-tec. It has this idea of maintaining the best of the ideals of Equestria after the apocalypse, which is very much in line with Scootaloo in the original fanfic.
Scootaloo also says that Stable 13 was to have a much larger population than a normal Stable as well as something built by the Ministry of Awesome called Operation: Windigo. It is also stated that Stable 13 is the only Stable constructed to the north, which means that it also has to serve as the preservation for the Crystal Ponies.
Scootaloo then goes a bit off topic, talking about how the war has hurt Equestria and how they should have done better. This is definitely in character for her as she ultimately just wanted to help Equestria because of what was going on. She then says that the details of the experiment were in the Safe, and now she would go into detail about Operation: Windigo.
"Your Stable has been equipped to house 33 Shadowbolts in suspended animation. They are tasked with cleansing the world of...... political and social contamination in order to pave way for a better, brighter future; free of the influences of our corrupt past."
Okay... this has bad idea written all over it. While I'll admit this sounds good, the problem here is that it creates the risk of forgetting the past, and that could cause problems down the line. Plus the fact is that the orders are a bit vague so its hard to tell exactly what will happen next, this could be a problem for Equestria though.
Anyway, the Overmare is given orders to help the Shadowbolts out after they left stasis once a command was sent from Rainbow Dash... uh, yeah... that could be a problem depending on whether or not she's alive. Thankfully Scootaloo had enough sense to say that if the Overmare believes there's any sort of risk to the Ponies of Stable 13, that the Overmare is to take steps to ensure that the population is kept safe.
“Thank you and good luck. May none of this ever have to come to bear......"
If only that had happened.
So once the megaspells fell of course Stable 13 is closed up and after a couple hundred years a fire forces its inhabitants out of the Stable and try to make sure that the location of Stable 13 was kept secret from other ponies, but it wasn't to last.
In time, Stable 13's location was discovered by the Steel Rangers, and in desperation the Overmare opened the stasis pods in order to combat the new threat. And in the words of the fanfic itself:
Dooming the Stable, Rangers, and Wasteland.
---Chapter 1: Back From the Grave---
So we open up our narration with a picturesque view of Equestria's heartland. Its a well done bit of imagery that shows pre-war Equestria in all its beauty, its a good way to start the fic because it shows what was lost during the war and contrasts to the Wasteland that we will see in the fanfic. Its a well done opening to the fic and gives a sensation of what is being fought for. This gets us our first real feel of the character, she's remembering a moment from before the war and shows very much her regret over what's been happening, this memory tends to be her trying to hold on to the past.
The main character of the story introduces herself as Sunny Skies, though she says that her family came to call her Nyx because of her coloring. She had fought in the war having fought both the Zebras and the Changelings during the Great War, earning her the nickname Nightmare Shadow.
From there she talks about her story and how its about the fall of an oppressive regime and the idea of a corrupted utopia as well as the rebirth of a nation.
The introduction does well to introduce the main character, it gives her a little bit of a backstory as well as providing her motivation and reasons behind what she does. It makes the character relatable and easily to understand, Sunny Skies is introduced very well and it makes you want to keep reading the fic to learn more about her adventure.
So the wake up sequence starts up and Sunny wakes up with the worst hangover in Equestria's history because of the stasis, although she wasn't aware of it. She's of course a bit disorientated from the whole process and can't see anything too clearly, only seeing blurs and shapes.
Video belongs to Disney.
So she wakes up and finds herself looking at a filly who seems to be completely terrified of her. Sunny is a little confused about the more utilitarian look of the Stable Barding, though this is kind of understandable given that she has been in stasis for a long time and it takes her a few minutes to realize that she's in Stable 13. Because she didn't wake up in the Hospital, she comes to the realization that this meant that the apocalypse had occurred, and that they had failed. This causes her to go into a panic attack as she tries to escape from her confinement.
Sunny demands to be freed and the filly does so using a cheat sheet, after a few minutes Sunny is freed and is sent crashing to the floor. After the filly helps her up, Sunny asks her how long the Stable has been sealed and she is told that its been about 200 years. But before she can truly process this fact she is confronted with other ponies including one that seems familiar to her though she can't place from where who asks if she's with them or not.
One of the other ponies dressed in Stable Barding says that they need Sunny's help because the Stable is being overrun and they need her help to repel the enemy. She doesn't seem to remember the names of the other Pegasi, but she's told to take a moment to collect herself while they go to repel the attackers. The situation in the Stable is just getting worse however as the attackers are entering the maintenance levels of the Stable.
Sunny resolves to go to help deal with the attackers in the maintenance levels and is directed to talk to Socket Blaze, the chief of engineering for Stable 13. She also is starting to get her memory back, at least she's remembering things about Stable 13, which is a start. She follows her EFS as she heads into the depths of the Stable in order to help stop the attackers. Its then that she first sees who was attacking the Stable, members of the Steel Rangers.
The brutality of the Steel Rangers is obvious, they even kill Ponies who had surrendered to them. Sunny isn't exactly clear on what's going on because she had just woke up, but she's disturbed by the Steel Ranger's actions towards civilians just for the sake of gaining technology. She attacks a Ranger named Tea and breaks her neck before hiding in the ceiling and taking out more of the Rangers with her energy weapons and wingblades.
She then follows the blips on her EFS into the environmental systems and took out another one before she came face to face with a Unicorn dressed in red robes and the symbol of the Ministry of Wartime Technology.
This unicorn was dressed up like cult member with the MoT’s symbol proudly displayed on his chest. Was that what had happened to the Steel Rangers? They had devolved into some technology worshiping cult?
Yeah, that's a pretty fair assessment of the Steel Rangers.
The strange stallion takes out an energy pistol and shoots at Sunny hitting her in the wing, back, and leg, but it did nothing to put her out so she bucked him in the head, shattering it. This finished the Steel Rangers off on this floor, but her relief was non existant because none of the Stable Dwellers had survived, and then she picks up three more hostiles.
With the Rangers approaching her, she doesn't have a lot of choices so she attacks them, doing a lot of damage to the Rangers, but at the same time she's hurt and she's then confronted by another Steel Ranger. She manages to take him out, but not before the Ranger got off a shot, with a rocket launcher, the cheater.
Sunny is in bad shape from the battle and starts to drown in her own blood, but she's still alive. She manages to pull herself together, only to find herself looking at the Steel Rangers she had killed and the Stable Dwellers she had failed to save. She checks herself out and finds that the healing talisman had repaired most of the damage, and small robots are healing her wounds. We also learn that it had been constructed to house 5000 ponies unlike the other Stables.
The Stable is basically a warzone at this point with many dead ponies from both sides. She finds out that the Stable had access to advanced technology and used them to build cybernetics. Stable 13 did not fare well because of the Steel Ranger attack, and Sunny is walking through dead bodies.
So Sunny heads for the Overmare's office and when she arrives she nearly gets shot because the Overmare thinks that she's going to kill her, and this is where things start to get really bad.
The Overmare let out an almost mad cackle. “What happened? I think I’m talking to the most unconvincing lying piece of shit I’ve ever had the displeasure of communicating with. YOU and your fucking popsicle buddies killed everypony in my Stable!”
And this fillies and gentlecolts is why you be a bit more careful with the orders, way to go Ministry of Awesome.
Video belongs to Fox.
Clearly the situation in the Stable has gotten worse, and the Overmare basically says it, the other Pegasi have set out to destroy anything that doesn't conform to their requirements, starting by massacring the inhabitants of Stable 13. Sunny tries to explain herself, but the Overmare doesn't seem willing to listen until the filly from before pointed her guns at Sunny. As it turns out Moondancer had been in the Stable, which allows the Overmare to calm down finally.
The Overmare explains what had happened with the Steel Rangers who had followed a trading convoy to the Stable, she also explains more about the backstory, that ponies had to leave Stable 13 after a fire in maintenance and had been trading with the outside world for 50 years. Sunny is then given a message from Moondancer who had been the first Overmare.
Dear Shadow,
I know that this is rather cowardly but I can think of no other way to convey my deepest apologies. I will be blunt; it has been twenty years since I sealed Stable 13 from a world that had been bathed in balefire. Rainbow is dead, as are any of Operation: Windigo’s targets. In light of this I have been left to ponder what to do with the 33 cyberpegasus supersoldiers that I have on ice in the basement.
This stable lacks the equipment and resources to allow you all to integrate into the general population. Additionally, there is the question of the mental stability of augmented ponies; I was never able to research it properly but my early observations did not look promising. I also can’t in good conscious just throw you and the others out of the stable; I might as well pull your plugs now and be done with it. I have therefore decided to leave you and the other Windigos in stasis until a time when you can be properly rehabilitated or are desperately needed.
I know I’m essentially sentencing you and the others to a very slow death and I don’t expect you to forgive me. I only hope that one day you’ll be able to understand me and that I might find peace with what I’ve done. Everything I’ve done.
You were such an inspiring and caring pony, Shadow. I can only hope that what made you such a good friend will weather whatever comes your way and that one day we all can enjoy piña coladas on some white sandy beach in the ever after.
Good luck,
Moondancer
She finds out that Nebula is in bad shape, and Sunny goes into more detail about what had happened with the Stasis. Nebula asks about what had happened to her, and finally asks her to take care of her daughter Star, and as the night continues the Overmare passes away.
---Character Analysis: Sunny Skies/Nightmare Shadow---
Sadly this time I don't have a picture to go with this section.
Shadow is actually a pretty interesting character, while we haven't learned a whole lot about her just yet, she's a pre-war pony sure and we have some of her past, but other than her desire to make sure ponies are saved, we don't know a whole lot about her. This is still a pretty good start to her character.
Plus tying her backstory with Moondancer makes things interesting, and the fact that it meant she was able to connect with the Overmare before she died makes things more powerful. Shadow is a well done character and I look forward to reading more later on.
---Final Thoughts---
Sunny Skies is a really interesting fanfic and does a nice job of expanding on the universe of Fallout: Equestria with the far north, as well as the Shadowbolts. The obvious consequences of what's going on is only now starting to come into play, and will continue to play out throughout the story.
I enjoy this story, and highly recommend it.
The Forward gets a 3/5 because of length.
Chapter 1 gets a 4/5 for quality, but could have done more development.
Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout: Equestria - Sunny Skies belongs to IMFoalishFace.
Video made by me
Thank you
This is the first proper feedback I've gotten on the story from anyone other then my editor, so I really am thankful for anything I can get. I'm also going to apologize for chapter two in advance, I'm really unhappy with how long it is and how little actually happens.
4328826 You're welcome, I'm glad to do these reviews to help my fellow authors
.
I don't know when I'll be reviewing chapter 2, but okay.
4328830 Well if you take long enough, I might cut it down before you get to it. Thanks again though
4328842 You're welcome.