Fallout: Equestria - Freedom Reviews: Chapter 1 · 12:04am Apr 10th, 2017

Video Made by Me.

Welcome back to, well this fanfic with a rather ironic title and character name... uh, honestly I don't really have anything else to say here.

Admittedly much like last time, this review is going to be entirely blind, I really need to start reading these chapters before writing the review, and I doubt that'll evere go anywhere with my luck. I did enjoy this fanfic last time, and honestly I don't really know where to go from here.

This week, we get back to the fanfic Freedom by WeaponPrime. Lets see where things go from here.

---Chapter 1: Patience and Time---

A grimy mirror hung loosely from the corrugated metal wall just inside the door of the medical shack. The once brilliant surface bore black spots of unknown origin and scratches from any number of occurrences it had witnessed in its time affixed to this wall. A gray stallion stared back from its reflective surface. A jagged scar crossed along his muzzle before blending with his coat and disappearing under his unruly brown mane.

So yeah, we finally get our first look at our main character Free, and that's actually a pretty good way to show off his appearance, admittedly I did the same so, yeah. He asks himself if he even remembers what life was like before being a slave, but doesn't come up with a good answer, so he goes to talk with Doc, the robot from our last review. Apparently Free has to visit the doctor pretty often, which sadly makes sense given where he lives.

Why does this suddenly feel like every play through of Fallout I've had except the slavery thing?

Apparently the Minders continue to take pleasure in reminding him that his name is ironic for his situation. The robot also mentions the Minder Lash's father and that she does not share his calm demeanor.

“I have spoken to Master Fortune about her… less-than-savory treatment of the ponies under my care. I’m afraid that as long as everything meets his grand plan, it matters little to him these days,” Doc replied sadly. “There, the necrotic tissue has been removed. Once again, I must remind you to seek my assistance immediately when you’ve been whipped, master Free. Miss Lash cannot stop you from seeking treatment,” he said as he twisted and floated away towards the locked cabinet.

Free tells him that he should save the healing potions so that they can be used on someone who needs them more and points out that if he did go to the doctor immediately like it suggested, then he'd just get punished more. They discuss Free's scars briefly before the Doctor finishes up and he heads back out.

One of the guards outside tells Free that he's on wagon duty and is sent to the mines in order to carry... whatever they mine in the Dig (seriously, I don't actually think that's been said yet) and we get more of a look at the Dig:

The once large pit was now a massive pony-made rent in the very fabric of Equestria. Over the years, as The Dig became deeper, an inclined road was cut from the sheer cliff and twisted like a corkscrew all the way down to where the current digging was taking place. Teams of ponies pulled rusting metal wagons loaded with dirt and rocks up the winding incline with groups of slavers providing motivation with whips and the butts of rifles. I winced at the sound of a particularly loud crack followed by something heavy hitting the ground. I glanced back and saw an orange maned slaver standing over a prone pastel blue mare, blood leaking from her head.

Yeah, what a nice place this is, but yeah its actually not a bad idea for the starting location. One of the guards berates one of the others, a pony named Chains for having injured the blue mare. Another slave unhooks the injured mare off to the Doc, but Free laments that it most likely means that she won't survive the night.

Yep, just another day in the Wasteland... which Free comments on too so, yeah.

And that's when Lash decides to show up and be a plothole (no, I don't mean that in the storytelling way), so yeah basically she attaches the cart to him. So, yeah things really aren't going to go well here and as we know by this point, Lash seems to take pleasure in trying to break our hero. He starts to pull the cart and Lash being Lash, lashes out at him with her whip to make him pull the card, which seems to be too heavy for him to pull.

That's when somepony approaches and asks Lash what she's doing and a stallion comes in taking away her whip and orders her to go topside and guard Fortune's office. She tries to argue, but she finally relents... by screaming and storming off.

The stallion with the name Whips (do you ever wonder if all these ponies were born with these names or there's a rule that you have to take a name with a slavery theme when you become a slaver?) tells two other slaves to help get the cart moving until Free can get it moving on his own. Whips says that he's had a discussion with Lash saying that she should leave Free alone at least for a few days. It also turns out that Whips is Lash's father and he wonders where he had gone wrong with her.

I looked at Whips and saw the look of defeat that fell across his face. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that his daughter’s behavior was likely due to his career choice. Despite everything, he wasn’t a bad pony. He was fair, only doled out punishment where it was needed, and more than once had spoken up for the ponies under his watch. Lash was the opposite. Snide, cruel, and quick to splay open a pony’s backside without much provocation or simply to hear them scream.

I can get what the idea here is, there's definitely a bit of contrast between the two different types of Slavers in this fic, so props to the author for that.

Free comments that he can't help much in the parenting department, but Whips says that he just wants someone who can be honest with him. He says that he'll keep Lash on guard duty for the day but that Free really should try and avoid her for a couple of days. And that's when he finds out that Jerry's scavenging team is back and he suggests that Free leave with a scavenging team team the next day so that he can avoid her for a few days.

Free of course is hesitant because it seems strange that he's just now being put on one after wanting to do this for 10 years, and Whips says that its because they need a strong pony, and he agrees to do so and goes back to lugging the cart. Apparently he hasn't seen much of Jerry lately because the scavenging teams have been heading further out in order to find more things to scavenge I suppose.

And then... this happens,its, just... yikes:

A static screech snapped me from my reverie and I lifted my head. It came from the tower that rose from the center of The Dig. Rusting metal struts, steel cables, and rickety walkways supported its flimsy frame from all sides. Most of the guards steered clear of the shack atop the tower, and with good reason. Speakers hung loosely from the support cables and soon the static was replaced with pained screaming that echoed all across The Dig.
“P-please! Stop!” The speakers screamed. I heard hooves falling on a wooden floor followed by a microphone being moved.
“It will stop only when you admit your folly,” a deep voice said calmly. More screaming cut through me and I looked away from the tower and continued my task, doing my best to shut out the sounds of torture. I focused on the distant rumble of thunder, on the sound of dirt beneath my hooves, or the protesting squeak of the rusting cart axle. Nothing really worked.
“Goddesses stop! I didn’t do anything, Zero! I swear!”
“Were I a unicorn, this would be far easier. I would simply rip the knowledge from your empty head and see to the next rule breaker. But, alas, it is not to be. I must use a far more… visceral knowledge to pry the information I require out. Oh well, let your screams serve as a warning to the others while I find the truth. Aut viam inveniam aut faciam*.”
“No! PLEASE NO!” The stallion screamed. His pained shrieks echoed throughout The Dig, dispelling any budding ideas for dissidence. His agony dragged on for several long minutes before he fell silent. I hoped it was over, but experience had taught me otherwise. Soon the screaming picked up again as Zero’s victim regained consciousness. I was at the top of the road before the speakers fell silent once more. I stopped, sucking in deep breaths as I took a moment to rest my weary legs from the long haul. The speakers crackled as the microphone was jostled.
“Abiit nemine salutato*. Let this pony’s suffering remind all of you of your place at Fortune’s hooves,” Zero announced calmly before the speakers fell silent again. I glanced towards the tower and shut my eyes.
“Rest now. You’re free…” I whispered.

Okay, since I don't speak what I believe is Latin (please someone correct me if I'm wrong), but thankfully unlike in New Roam Innovatus, we have some translations:

*I will either find a way or make one.
**He went away without bidding anyone farewell

So, yeah, its not clear exactly why this had happened, but a slave had apparently displeased Zero and Fortune and was being used in order to make an example for the others. Free is then ordered to of course take the cart to where its supposed to go, and he starts considering the possibility of escape, realizing that this might be his only chance to do so with Jerry.

We also get this line:

Doc once told me that life is a series of short quests, not one long one.

Fallout: Equestria - Freedom the game, set to come out sometime in 2020.

While Free starts to get another cart, he comes up with well some sort of plan although we don't know what his plan is yet, so just, lets move on to the next part of the chapter.

The next part marks the end of the day shift and he goes to get dinner. There's also a mention of the rolls being too small because of a lack of elders because the slaves are being worked to death. It also seems that a salvage team lead by a pony named Cutthroat has gone missing. He then spots Jerry in the room and she trots over to him. and they hug each other and when Jerry says she'll be looking for Cutthroat and Free tells her that he'll be joining her and he gives an explanation as best he can, but Jerry is tired and she goes to sleep.

And we get this line of narration:

This will be our last night as slaves.

Its a good moment that shows that he really cares about Jerry and just wants to help both of them escape the life that they've been forced into living.

Then we get what is either a dream sequence or a flashback (or both) of him, Jerry, and Bucket, and you get this sensation that Bucket has lost all hope because of their situation and what happened to their parents.

He's woken up the next day by Jerry who says that they need to move and go meet up with Bruiser so they can leave. She also comments that he's heavy even with the limited diet that he's been living on. As they start to head that way, a guard spots them and asks what Free is doing up so early and he admits that he has no idea where he's going, and the guard gives him some quick instructions after calling him stupid because apparently slaver camps are limited to one nice slaver.

He follows the instructions and after catching up with Jerry they start to head out, going past a lot of Slavers and Guards and they talk about how the slavers often go out looking for more ponies before they meet up with Bruiser and the rest of the group including an enslaved Raider named Wrecker who seems about as nice as you expect, and when Bruiser asks his name, and we get the usual bit of teasing about his name's irony.

The rest of the group including two Unicorns, one of which I believe is a Ghoul shows up and Bruiser mentions the Cutthroat thing again, and then tells Free this much:

“Lookie here, new fish. I don’t like taking fresh slaves out into the world. Makes you a liability. So you’re going to do everything you’re told exactly when you’re told. No questions asked or I will let the first danger we come across rip you to bloody shreds, am I clear?”

Wow, nice guy isn't he?

Anyway Jerry asks him if he's sure that he's up for, and he obviously says so and asks about the other ponies here.

“Right… well,” she gestured at Daydream where she sat in the mud. The pink mare hung her head low, her green mane down over her eyes, and kept her tail wrapped around her. “We picked up Daydream about a year ago. She was half dead, hiding in some old building and surviving off of whatever she could. Bruiser slapped some chains on her and called her part of the quota. He keeps her out of the mine. He figures that if she survived to adulthood out there, then she must have some scavenging chops,” she said with a shrug. “She keeps to herself. I feel sort of bad for her.”
I looked at the mare sitting in my periphery and then nodded my head at the mint green raider pony with a spindly purple mane.
“What about him? Wrecker, was it?”
Jerry scowled and glanced sidelong at him.
“He’s filth. He’s the kind of pony that should be worked to death in The Dig, not ponies like Daydream or you and me,” she practically spat. She returned her gaze to mine and sighed. “Stay away from him. He’s dangerous and unstable.”

So yeah, that's about all we really need to know.

And then after that another pony named Dig Deep arrives, saying that he had been sent by Fortune to, well we don't really learn why, and Bruiser lets it go and they leave the area around the Dig with Free looking for an opportunity to escape.

They keep going through the wasteland, checking what areas that they still can around the Wasteland. At the same time it seems that there's a specific motive to doing this from Dig Deeper who says that they're getting closer to their objective, whatever that is. As they keep moving and Free is asked to help with a cart, we learn that his cutie mark is of a rising sun most likely, though its been damaged by the scars that cross his body.

He's then told to grab Dig Deep and bring him over by Bruiser, and when Free points out that he's not a slave, and he asks how he gets that idea. They find an Image Terminal... guess it was built by Rob Liefeld, okay I've been watching too much Linkara reviews lately. They download and start processing it, and at the same time they're heading along the same route that Cutthroat's group took, though they have no idea where they got lost at.

Free talks with Fricassee and asks her about the burn wounds, and pretty much only gets the answer of "Fire bad." There's a fight with a feral offscreen and they stop to rest for the night.

Instinctively, I lowered myself down next to Jerry. She smiled warmly and nudged me with her head. None of the slaves talked. Bruiser and Stitch whispered quietly to one another while Dig Deep whispered to himself and continuously tapped at his shackle. The others quickly went still as exhausted slumber took them. I wasn’t as tired, given that I hadn’t been allowed far from the cart. I put my head down and watched our keepers through half-closed eyes. I was antsy. Part of me wanted to just grab Jerry and take off at a run. The other part of me knew that bullets tended to travel faster than the average pony could run. As the night ran on I relented and shut my eyes.
Tomorrow would present me with an opportunity.

And with that the chapter is over.

---Final Thoughts---

Well I could do a character analysis or concept analysis here about Jerry or Slavers, but I'm going to save them for later.

This is actually a really good chapter, its not perfect mind you, but it has a lot of good character moments with Free and a little bit of Jerry. I didn't even include all the details, but its a really good chapter and a good fanfic so far. I love this story and a lot of the ideas that we see in it so far.

There's not a lot I can say, it really is a good fanfic. Admittedly this chapter isn't perfect but it at least starts to move the plot along which really is a good way to do things here. Freedom is the story of a slave trying to escape from his life in the Dig. Though I still kind of have to wonder what they're actually mining there since its not actually mentioned, or what they do with the materials.

Chapter 1 gets a score of 4/5.

Original Fanfic.

Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout: Equestria - Freedom belongs to WeaponPrime.

Next week, lets see what happens when the sun shines through.