Fallout Equestria: Influx Reviews: Chapter 2 · 8:23pm Mar 26th, 2017

Video Made by Me.

I wonder if anyone didn't realize why I made a Terminator reference last time?

Yep, we're back at one of my favorite fanfics, one that funnily enough was actually recently updated at that, so crazy timing huh? Yep, this week we're looking back at Influx by FalloutBrony, its a really good story and I'm always happy to get a chance to read it, or in this case review it.

What else can be said about this really? Its a great story, you guys really should read it.

So lets begin.

---Chapter 2: Iron Horse of Speed---

Green light bathed the area as the two hoofball sized balls of energy flew down from above towards us. My eyes could only see the crackling spheres. Everything else around me didn't matter, all that mattered was what's heading right for me. I turned my head back to the raider who had confronted me and without another word I did the only thing that came to mind which was to avoid the energy balls and that was to drop to my stomach, clutch my head in my hooves and scream in terror. Oddly enough with my eyes closed, my EFS was still visible and I could see my threat warning flashing even as my fur stood on end as the energy spheres flew over my prone body. I cringed and held my head harder when suddenly, my ears were assaulted by a blood curdling scream that abruptly stopped mid scream. The half scream was then followed by a wet squelching noise and splashes. I could see a green glow through my closed eyes and stupidly, I cracked an eye open to see what was causing the glow, and immediately regretted it because the glow belonged to the raider who was now dead. He had turned into a pile of goo, with his skeleton collapsed into a heap in the pile of sludge. I took a deep inhale of breath, ready to scream my lungs out at the horror before me when a shadow passed over my head and then four purple legs landed hard in front of me. Blinking in confusion at the new arrival, I removed my hooves from my head as I looked up to see this new arrival to the scene. A purple pegasus stallion stood in front of me with his back to me, his wings spread out to the fullest to make him look as big as possible and crackling on either side of him under his wings were two plasma rifles.
"Don't you assholes have anything better to do than to terrorise a defenceless mare?" He yelled angrily. "You better get the fuck out of here before I turn you all into slush puppies."

Well, other than the spelling errors, that's definitely a good way to introduce a new character, so points to the author for that.

Needless to say, that's enough to make the Raiders run away, even Raiders know not to mess with a pony who can vaporize you if he wants to. Crystal isn't exactly sure about this guy either, but that's at least understandable since she has literally just met the guy, but he seems to relax and even asks Crystal if she's okay and helps her to her hooves, other than being a bit smug, he definitely seems like a nice guy.

He introduces himself as Tooty Fruity (I can't make this stuff up), and when Crystal introduces herself he comments that it's a strange name for a Zebra.

"Um, I suppose my parents wanted to be different with me," I suggested.

Well, that's a good enough explination as any and it would probably sound crazy if she told him the whole truth. He apparently is having some issues with his gun strap, so he kinda falls over... somewhat anti-climactic. Apparently his weapons aren't in the best condition right now since it's hard to find repair parts.

Fruity asks Crystal what she's doing outside and when she asks if he doesn't mind that she's a Zebra, he says that it would be better discussed somewhere safe. They decide to head to Tenpony Tower together before there is a sudden loud shriek, and they run together towards an overpass and up a set of stairs as, things start to fly around them. Yeah, real fun stuff going on here since they're now being chased by, basically vampires.

Welcome to the Wasteland Crystal!

They start moving faster towards one of the metro stations nearby to take cover from the, whatever it is that's going after them, Bloodwings I think. She gets slashed at from behind and bucks at whatever it was, and at the same time the creatures are attacking Fruity in the air, but he winds up crashing into a pole, ouch.

Thankfully he's okay and they start up again, as another one of the creatures impacts the ground where Crystal had been standing before. Thankfully by now they're getting close to the station, which seems to be inhabited... I thought this was Fallout not Metro.

Video Made by Me.

Crystal runs into the platform and struggles up onto it as the light shines on their attackers, causing them to scream and fly off. Yeah, they're Bloodwings, really fun concept aren't they? One of the ponies in the Metro Station named Slick knows Fruity and apparently he's been kicked out of there twice, and something will happen if he gets kicked out a third time.

Of course that being said it is an emergency, and he also points out how Zebras are seen by ponies. Fruity points out that she's fresh out of a Stable, and they agree to allow them into the station, as long as Fruity stays away from the alcohol, ever get the feeling that you're missing some kind of story here? Uh, apparently we do get some of the details, but I'm just gonna say that apparently he gets a bit, horny when he drinks alcohol.

You meet the most normal ponies in the Equestrian Wasteland don't you?

Speaking of which, when they enter the settlement, they have a run in with a rather ripped stallion named Biceps (hmm, sounds familiar) who is about as thrilled to see a Zebra as you'd expect. Yeah, even 200 years after the war ponies still don't like Zebras, which sadly does make sense. It's also at this point that we learn that Fruity is a Dashite. Biceps finally relents and storms off, apparently he's also a trader so that at least makes sense as to why he comes in here.

They take a lift down to the residential floor of the settlement and it's actually pretty nice with marble floors and columns that look like they were based on Roamane Columns. They're given a hotel room, though apparently they aren't allowed to leave the hotel room until morning, interesting policy, but better than staying at the Hotel California I suppose.

Song belongs to the Eagles.

Slick says that he doesn't entirely trust Zebras either but he at least has the decency to not leave one outside to be fed on by the Bloodwings. Fruity asks Crystal what she was doing out this late at night given how dangerous it is, and she honestly answers that she had just step hoof in the wasteland that afternoon. Fruity surprises her when he offers to join her because he doesn't want her to be out there alone, which is a nice touch and she agrees.

Then when Fruity asks why she left the Stable, she realizes that she has no actual story to go with it so she makes up one on the spot:

"Well, I was sick of living in the tight confines, and I couldn't really get a moment to myself since there aren't many places you can find that are private enough. I needed to get out and see the real world," I lied.

Not exactly the best at Improv is she?

Crystal comments that she probably should've waited until morning and when Fruity asks what she's going to do now, she says that she needs to head to the Ministry of Awesome Hub in order to try and learn information on her ancestor. Yeah, she really needs to work on lying given that she's just modifying her own story, but I'll let it pass. She then adds that if she doesn't find anything here she'll head for Las Pegasus, or New Pegasus as Fruity calls it.

Fruity seems to be more than willing to head west if necessary, so at least she will have a traveling companion, that's always good. She asks him why he's here and not above the cloud cover, all we really know is that he's an exiled Dashite and he doesn't seem comfortable with sharing any more than that. She accidentally re-opens her injuries and goes into the adjoining bathroom in order to clean up again, and we get the first real look at what Crystal looks like:

The bathroom brought back memories of my home as the layout and styling looked pretty similar. A bath filled the room at the far end, with a shower attached to the wall and a shower curtain hung on a rail spanning the width of the room. Beside the bath sat a sink with a large mirror above it, and nestled in the corner by the door was the bog. It felt good to be in something familiar, and I felt safe for the first time since I woke up. I looked into the mirror and just gawked as I finally saw what I actually looked like. Yep, I look like a zebra alright. I'm white with grey stripes covering my body and my nose. I frowned at the mohawk mane. I don't like that at all, I want my long wavy mane back. My cutiemark is gone, replaced with what looked like a large dot with lots of lines flicking off around it, which kinda made the whole thing look like an eye. Whatever that was supposed to mean, I have no idea. I can't say I'm that sad to see my cutiemark is gone. Sure, it was what symbolised my special talent, but I barely ever got to enjoy it with how often I wound up in the hospital with my diseased body. All it was was just a chocolate éclair with a couple of crystals around it to show my love of making éclairs. My gaze then fell onto my eyes, MY eyes, my baby blue eyes. They were the same as what I had before all this. I felt a joy fill my heart as I realised I still carried my own eyes, so happy to know that not all of me had been changed. I let out a sigh of relief since I know now that not all of me had been replaced.
While still looking into the mirror, I turned my body around so my rear faced it so I could get a better look at the gash in my flank. The gash on my leg I could tend to easy enough without the mirror. Wow, my plot is larger and rounder than it used to be. Well I suppose this is a true mare's rear. I was underweight due to my illnesses, so I suppose this is just an average mare's plot.

Yeah, she actually sounds kinda cute, but I get that she's at least trying to find some remnant of her old life, something that anyone in her position would do. She cleans off the blood and then the wound heals up... so apparently she's Wolverine too, huh. She goes back into the room and finds Fruity asleep before she lays down and goes to sleep as well.

The next day a little after dawn they head down the track towards the ministry buildings. The hub was badly damaged from the inside and they head to the, rather obviously labeled Spy department (seriously, I can't make these things up) thinking that is the best place to start looking, so they start to head up the stairs to the 70th floor. Also apparently Crystal has a lot of endurance at this point because even at halfway there she's not exhausted.

And of course because our heroes can't catch a break (seriously, I think its a rule or something in these fics), the stairs leading up after awhile are blocked off with 11 floors up. They find a map that shows another set of stairs on the opposite side of the building, and apparently she at least still has to eat because she's hungry. They look around the inside of the floor where there are more bodies, apparently the balefire had ravaged this building.

They go to the other shaft and starts heading back up, eventually winding up at the target floor which is in pretty much the same state as 59. They split up and start searching both sides of the room and logically Fruity asks what he's looking for, so Crystal says to find anything on how to make the perfect spy. As she checks the cubicles there's a feeling of sadness as if she's robbing their graves, but there's not really any luck so she goes to check out the office nearby, which of course is locked, so she breaks it down.

The tower shakes briefly but nothing more seems to come from that before she goes to the desk and starts to check the terminal. But of course because you can't ever have an easy time in the Wasteland as usual, the data has been transferred to the Marejave Production Facility. The office belongs to a pony named Colonel Ironsides, yeah that'll be important. She comments that it's time to go and then Fruity scares her and they start making their way out as the building continues to shake and part of it is collapsing.

Crystal falls hard which exposes parts of her endoskeleton as Fruity lands next to her and checks on her. They make their way out of the hub and back out into the city before starting back towards Tenpony. They reach a harbor that belonged to the Gold Star Line and had been the berth for the HMS Celestia, which is now swarming with feral ghouls, fun place. Fruity fills Crystal in on Ghouls and Feral Ghouls, so yeah, fun stuff.

They make it back to Tenpony Tower and of course Crystal gets some more looks because she's a Zebra, but they keep going. That's when they run into Diamond Sheers, who is the local stylist who seems to want to style Crystal's mane. She offers to do it for free if Crystal will stop by her salon later. Fruity scares Crystal again and then leads her to the nearby seafood restaurant run by Aqua Marine and they start to eat, also apparently Aqua Marine owed Fruity a favor because of something that happened with the previous time he got kicked out.

They head back to their hotel room to eat, apparently the fish is a Haddock which makes it special. Crystal accidentally eats part of her fork, but Fruity doesn't notice thankfully. Crystal decides to go take Diamond up on her offer to style her mane while Fruity goes to find out about the train.

Diamond works on her mane in order to get it back in the style that she had it in before she was turned into the pony Terminator. It turns out that the next train to the west will arrive sometime within the week. They go to check out the train station and much to their confusion, a train arrives. After the passengers disembark they go to get their tickets, which is 1000 caps for the both of them, geez that's insane, and Crystal thinks so, though Fruity pays for it.

They get into the train after being informed that it'll take about three weeks to get to New Pegasus from Manehattan and start to settle in. They freak out briefly when the train starts to shake, but of course its just the train getting ready to leave and head west.

"It's all destroyed?" I asked leaning close to the window.
Fruity opened his eyes, looked out the window and sighed. "Yeah. Everything has been destroyed. The war ruined Equestria greatly. I may have only lived in this Wasteland for five years but I can see why the Enclave made damn sure that coming down here was against the law," He said with a pained look in his eyes.
"Is that why they cast you out?" I asked softly.
Fruity simply nodded but didn't say anything. I didn't want to press the issue, I'm sure he'll tell me when he's ready and I suppose I can tell him my secret too soon.

The train, apparently named Union of Equestria, continues along for about a week, stopping at different locations such as Dodge Junction and Appaloosa. However since apparently they can't catch a break, because Griffins are now about to attack the train. They start shooting at them with rocket launchers, but the guards fired back, taking out all but two of the attackers who fell back.

However the train is on fire at this point and they go to help put it out, and it turns out that the car that's on fire isn't clear because there's a foal still inside.

I looked up from the crying mare and stared at the burning interior of the opposite passenger car. A little filly was likely burning to death inside that car. A filly who would never experience the gift of life. No, I couldn't let an innocent filly die like this without her living her life. I narrowed my eyes in determination and looked at the mare.
"Where is your filly?" I demanded.

I love this character so much, she's just awesome.

The filly's mother tells her that her daughter is in the middle cabin and Crystal charges into the burning car where after some searching she finds the filly still alive. She picks her up and starts making her way out, the fire burning at her body as she does so. They use super healing potions to heal her and they head back to the cabin as the mare thanks her for saving her filly.

Fruity asks her why she had done that, and she gives him this line:

"I'm a pony of the old world Fruity, life was more precious back then and, I never got a chance to live my life properly because of my health problems," I sighed. "I couldn't let a foal not have her life like I didn't," I mentally slapped myself as I stupidly told Fruity that I wasn’t from a Stable.

She then explains that it was a Stable thing, which he seems to accept a little bit, and says that it's better than her being a roast pony as the train continues on.

---Character Analysis: Tooty Fruity---

While his name is a bit, strange, especially for a Pegasus, but Fruity is actually a pretty interesting character so far.

While he's obviously very secretive about his past and exactly how he wound up becoming a Dashite, even early on we get a lot of indications of what kind of pony he really is. He was willing to help Crystal even though they just met, while it seems a bit strange, it's definitely a sign that he is willing to help her out and is a good pony.

That being said, it's hard to really tell early on, I look forward to seeing more about him later and try and learn more about his backstory. He's an interesting character and the willingness to help and the fact that he has been shown to care about Crystal is something that will likely mark his character in the future.

Just as long as we keep him away from alcohol.

---Final Thoughts---

As usual, I love this fic, while this chapter doesn't have as much of the terminator themes to it, it definitely has a Fallout: Equestria feel to it, and it's done really well.

The chapter does a lot to show off the characters, bringing in Fruity and showing the best parts of Crystal's character when she risks her own life to save a filly. Its a great idea and a really well done chapter and really starts to set the stage for the rest of the fic.

I highly recommend this fanfic, its an amazing story as long as you can ignore some of the issues with grammar it has. That being said, it really is an amazing story and an amazing concept that is handled well.

I give chapter 2 a score of 5/5.

Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout Equestria: Influx belongs to FalloutBrony.

Next week, as has been the theme we re-visit an old fic I reviewed before, and one that is one of my favorites. Lets see how far we're willing to go this time.