Fallout Equestria: Reminders Reviews: Chapters 3 and 4 · 7:25pm Apr 23rd, 2017
Video made by me
Okay, this is going to take some explaining.
This fic was originally titled False Guilt, which I have reviewed before, but for some reason the author decided to change the title to Reminders, its a bit confusing really but not really anything I can do about it.
So yeah, not much else to say other than this week I'll be reviewing Reminders by VaatiDJ, lets get started.
---Chapter 3: An Unknown World---
I didn’t sleep well that first night away from home. Maybe it was the cold, muddy ground of the canyon that made it difficult, but it was really just the surrounding in general. The canyon walls reminded me of the world I was in; a world I had never seen before. Fear clung to me like a dagger. I didn’t know anything about the wasteland, and that Dread pony expected me to know exactly where I was suppose to go. I never wanted to be out here to begin with, I wanted to be back home. I wanted to think this was all a dream, but knew that was wishful thinking. That being said, I couldn’t just pretend this was a dream, especially with Willow Wisp around. I wasn’t about to leave a pony as injured as Willow Wisp without any treatment. I needed to find somepony with medical experience if I was going to keep her alive, and I was going to make sure Willow lived.
Well at least she doesn't want Bobby Ewing to be in the shower.
Video belongs to someone.
So yeah, that's a pretty good way to start the chapter with the main character wanting to make sure that Willow is okay, she also comments that she needs to get them to Manehattan, though she has no idea where that is. The second priority for her at this point is to find Twister and give them a piece of her mind for framing her, so yeah fun stuff happening. Basically we're just getting a recap of what happened before, but its not too bad.
Dead Hooves comments that she's surprised that Willow is still alive given her state and wishes she could learn more about her, which would obviously be hard at this point. She realizes that Willow wasn't in the stand that they had used as their camp for the night and finds her digging a grave for a Raider before she collapses from exhaustion and Dead Hooves rushes over. She's surprised to find that Willow had been burying the Raiders in a mass grave, and Dead Hooves tells her that she should rest.
I couldn’t understand what her thought process was, and why she was burying them to begin with. Not that I had a problem with it, but she shouldn’t have been doing anything when she is so injured. It was like some sort of duty she had to do, something that just made her do this. The only explanation was that it was responsibility she had before they captured her.
Yeah, given that the Bloody Angel seems to have a tendency to bury her victims I can see why they thought that Willow was her and since Willow is now asleep Dead Hooves starts filling the grave. Its at this point that she also realizes that she had just killed ponies and is having a hard time processing the whole thing and why she's doing this, but she still finishes her work.
Dead Hooves gathers up her things and the sleeping Willow and turns the radio on briefly, getting this song since, well, its Fallout:
Song belongs to the Ink Spots.
She doesn't really want to listen to the song though so she turns off the radio again and starts heading out of the area. Its at this point she realizes that she's stepping into a world that she knows absolutely nothing about and that she's getting involved in something bigger than herself.
The world she enters is dead, which is kinda obvious given the time period we're talking about and she hopes that she'll be able to find somepony that's willing to help her. She briefly wonders if maybe a megaspell had gone off in this area for some reason based on the state of the area around them. As she travels along she spots another pony in the distance, a Unicorn and hopes that they'll be able to help them out with what's going on.
And of course the Unicorn just takes out their gun and aims it at them, demanding to know who they are. Dead Hooves tells him the truth that they're trying to get to Manehattan. The stallion lowers his weapon and asks Dead Hooves if she's a Stable Dweller, which confuses her a bit and she explains that she had lived with her father until he had died. Apparently the Unicorn also knows who Twister is and is surprised that Dead Hooves made it out of that encounter alive.
And of course because of Dead Hooves' luck she's on the opposite side of Equestria from Manehattan, which figures really but when has things ever been easy? He directs them to a nearby settlement, she also mentions that she had been framed as the Bloody Angel, which surprises the stallion. He also says that Willow was a slave and he introduces himself as Sharpshot and says that she seems to think of Dead Hooves as her owner now so... yeah that's a bit messed up.
Sharpshot asks Dead Hooves why she never tried to leave her home before and she says that she never really had the chance to before because of her paralyzed lower body. Sharpshot makes the rather insensitive comment that she's lucky that her father kept her around because of the disability, and there's a bit of a question as to whether or not he was a good pony.
“Yeah yeah, I’m sure,” I could hear the sarcasm dripping in every word he said. “Let me guess, he told you he was part of some great group that helped keep the wasteland safe. I won't deny the power armor, but usually those kind of things are made up to make foals think of their parents are heroes. I'm telling you, any stories your dad told you probably aren't true, and he ain’t a hero,” I opened my mouth to protest but he spoke once again. “Let me guess, you’re going to tell me something like ‘my father knew the elements of harmony’ or ‘my father saved a town from nuclear devastation,” I closed my mouth. While not exactly as exaggerated as that, somehow he read into exactly where I was going with it all. “It’s just a big fucking lie okay? The ministry mares have been dead for more than sixty fucking years and the mega spells hit seventy-five years ago. If you have a problem with it, take it up with father fucking time, understand!”
She wonders whether or not she had been told the truth by her father and she shouts at Sharpshot, waking Willow up at the same time and she apologizes to Willow for waking her up and that she had to hear it. Yeah, Sharpshot is a bit of a jerk, but he is at least willing to help them get to a Doctor.
So with that the trio starts heading towards the nearest settlement.
---Chapter 4: Stables and Doctors---
The trio keeps moving forward towards the nearby settlement with Sharpshot in the lead, apparently his name is very appropriate since he seems to be an excellent shot at least. Willow seems to be content with playing with Dead Hooves' mane and seems almost child-like, which is a sad contrast to what we do know about her so far.
That’s not something you hear somepony saying often, destiny being cruel. Honestly, it is, knowing that somewhere out there, thousands upon thousands of different versions of the same event might just be getting created as we speak, and with a sad and tragic fate in most of them. The thing that sucks about destiny is that once something happens, it can’t be fixed and you know that beyond all those other sad alternate universes there is on happy one where those events didn’t happen. One where pony kind lived in a happier place full of sunshine and rainbows maybe.
Video belongs to Bethesda.
Then Dead Hooves thinks that would be too boring so she dismisses the idea... yeah because things are always going to be sunshine and rainbows in alternate universes.
Sharpshot tells them that they'll be at their destination in a few minutes, he also apparently had once visited Canterlot... and if you know anything about Fallout: Equestria you know that's a bad idea. Apparently Sharpshot didn't know about it and as a result his goggles are fused to his skull, fun! So yeah, basically he tells Dead Hooves not to go there, which is of course good advice.
Sharpshot then asks Dead Hooves how she plans to find Twister, pointing out that she can't just wander around the Wasteland hoping to stumble across him. Dead Hooves admits that she really doesn't know how she plans to do that and at the moment is more worried about getting Willow help and to Manehattan. Sharpshot offers to accompany her to Manehattan since he has business there anyway, but he refuses to explain what it is, so Dead Hooves agrees since she doesn't really have much of a choice in the matter and he only asks for her help on his personal matter in return.
They reach the settlement and its not really much to look at, just a few buildings and ponies around it. They enter the building to meet with a pony named Stitch who seems to think she can remove the goggles from Sharpshot and Dead Hooves introduces herself and Willow, asking Stitch for help with Willow's wounds.
When Willow is laid down she's in pretty bad shape and Stitch starts to work but she needs alcohol to clean the wounds and something to soak up the blood. Stitch tells her to go talk to an old pony in town for some cotton and Dead Hooves tells Stitch what they know about Willow, which admittedly isn't much.
Sharpshot assures Dead Hooves that Stitch will be able to take care of Willow and Dead Hooves asks him to get the alcohol. Dead Hooves goes to talk to Granny who is still asleep on her porch and she wakes up when Dead Hooves approaches and asks what she wants. She asks for the cotton to help Willow and Granny gets them and offers Dead Hooves a place to stay, so far a pretty nice town at least.
Dead Hooves returns to Stitch's place where Sharpshot is waiting, and yeah Willow is in bad shape so she needs to be cleaned up, but hey at least its not describing a full surgery like last week. Stitch asks the two of them to wait outside and they comply while she gets to work on helping Willow.
Sharpshot asks Dead Hooves a bit about her PipBuck and weapons and we actually get some backstory about Sharpshot at this point:
“Two years ago,” He started “I was just like you. I didn’t know anything about the wasteland, and I had never seen it before. I was a pony born in one of the stables, stable fifteen to be exact, which is located near the Frozen North. We never had heat, it was always freezing during the winter time, and we were told to never show our faces. That’s why I wear all this clothes on me, because I would be killed otherwise. I don’t know why it was a rule, or why it even mattered. I grew up the first few years of my life with those rules, my parents telling me stories of the ministers and of Celestia and Luna. There was an old stallion who would sing on the radio. I loved his music, it was dark and depressing sure, but it was beautiful to me. I didn’t want to leave stable fifteen, and I thought I never would.
“Then, on my birthday, the stable was breached by an Ursa Major. I watched as it ate everyone, leaving only me alive. I hid under a pipe full of frozen water as he slaughtered everyone I knew, and then fell asleep for hibernation. All that was left from the other ponies at the stable were bits of bloody skin, bones, and organs. I don’t know how I survived, or why I am today, but I remember hearing that old stallion sing my favorite song. It was about the truth behind war, that there was no heroes and that fighting was meaningless. Even after the war ended, we weren’t safe. War spares no one, affects everyone, and never leaves a single thing intact. I learned something that day, as hard as it is, and it’s that war never changes.”
Wow, worst birthday ever.
Yeah, its a pretty interesting backstory, while admittedly a Stable Dweller isn't anything new, its at least a pretty unique take on it. Dead Hooves asks him if he remembers the song and he says that he remembers some of it. It seems that the personal matter he had spoken of was that he wanted to kill the Ursa Major that had attacked his Stable and Dead Hooves agrees to help once Willow is healed. Sharpshot isn't sure he can do it, but Dead Hooves reassures him that they'll be able to if they work together.
Its a good scene, it shows a lot of character for both Sharpshot and Dead Hooves and is nicely done.
Willow comes out of the room and is in much better shape but Stitches says that they should stay in town for a few days while she heals up.
We all nodded in agreement and followed Stitch to her house. The entire way, I looked at Willow, who was happy to be walking again. She looked at me with a smile, and I did the same thing. We were in this together, and we didn’t need to talk to know that. In a few days, we would head out and make our way to Manehattan. I knew something then, that pony Dread was sending us to, White Light, he knew something about Twister. He was how I was going to my revenge, it was as simple as that.
---Final Thoughts---
Yeah again I don't really have much in the way of a character or concept analysis, so I'll just wrap this up here.
This is a good fanfic really, now that's not to say its perfect, it has issues including a few grammatical errors here and there as well as misspellings and words just left out. That really doesn't do much to distract from the story itself, and the characters are all generally likable even if Sharpshot is a bit of a jerk at times in his introduction.
Its a good solid couple of chapters that does a nice job of showing off more of the Wasteland in this part of Equestria as well as show the characters. This is one of my favorite side stories that I've read and I highly recommend it if you enjoy a story that looks at the Wasteland in a slightly different way.
Ultimately, the characters are all, for lack of a better word, human in their behavior and it does a good job of showing this off.
Now if they just hadn't changed the title and confused us.
Chapter 3 gets a score of 5/5.
Chapter 4 gets a score of 5/5.
Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout Equestria: Reminders belongs to Vaatidj.
Next week, we finally get a fanfic I haven't reviewed before as we delve once more into the idea of Changelings in the Wasteland... kind of.
Video made by me
Good review. I'm doing my best to fic the grammatical errors I've made in previous chapters, and am glad to see you can enjoy it even with that. Sharpshot is still my favorite character to write, but over all my favorite character in the story is, oh, shouldn't spoil it since you haven't gotten to the chapter yet.
Still, great review and can't wait to see more in the future.
P.S. What is the man in shower joke relating to?
4507478 Oh that's a reference to the idea of waking up and it all just being a dream, well not it happening but to the idea of it, it probably only makes sense to certain people.
4507490 Okay, that makes sense.
Also, the name Reminders was my choice for renaming because of the idea of remembering the past. It gets a lot more noticeable in the later chapters, but some things such as the scene between Dead Hooves and Sharpshot hint at this as well.
4507533 Admittedly I could've gone with the Mario 2 ending or the Zelda: Link's Awakening ending, I just decided to go with the Bobby Ewing in the shower thing from Dallas because... I don't know why I just wanted to make a joke of some sort.
And yeah that makes sense, but you still changed the title which confused me.