Fallout Equestria: Forgotten Days Reviews: Prologue, Chapter 1, Chapter 2

Video made by me.

You know, I still have no idea how to introduce fanfics when I'm going into them blind.

So, it seems we have yet another fanfic about a pre-war pony finding themselves in the Equestrian Wasteland, if Pink Eyes didn't exist before this I'd blame this trend on Fallout 4.

I kid of course, this week we look at the fanfic Forgotten Days by Wildstar, so lets begin.

---Prologue---

The great peace that reigned for one thousand years slowly came to a close. With the rise of The Ministries, the end times could be seen drawing nearer and nearer. Though life ticked on by, slowly, semi-peacefully in the dreams of ponies alike, united with the hope that the war would end soon. Even as far as The Crystal Empire and it's outlying villages held onto that hope. Even during the times where even though the call to arms was called, only a mere fraction actually stepped forward to fight. Though some, did in fact fight, and one such pony, Shimmer Jubilee, knew all too well what the cost of war could be.

The breeze on the wind flowed through Shimmer's long pink mane. A warm breeze that immediately made her smile. Late summer after a fresh rain. The wet grass beneath her hooves made her feel reassured that nothing could go wrong in the world. She slowly turned observing the small town before her. Unlike most villages, being this close to the Crystal Empire, the roads were paved. Several fillies and colts ran down the road chasing a small red ball. A muffin cart slowly being pulled by after them. And the smell of freshly started cooking fires filled the air. Here the war was long forgotten. She had only just begun stepping back inside her small house when all of a sudden-

"Good Morning! Stable-Tec calling!" A rather squeaky and annoying cheerful voice broke the silence. Breaking Shimmers illusion of a peaceful summer day and the war forgotten.

Video Belongs to Bethesda

Okay, maybe I spoke too soon when I dismissed the Fallout 4 influence.

So yeah, apparently Shimmer Jubilee has been spending the last week trying to avoid the Stable-Tec representative and just wants him to go away because he annoys her. She finally relents to talk to him and asks about Stable-Tec, getting a brief explanation about them having built underground Fallout shelters. We also learn that there's a Stable in the area and he's obviously trying to oversell it a bit.

So we get the usual thing, that because of her family's service she's been pre-approved for entry into Stable 45, and that they need to finalize some paperwork. We also learn that Shimmer works for the Ministry of Peace helping ponies, as shown by her cutie mark being a heart with a ribbon wrapped around it.

And that's when things get odd:

He nodded a few times, "Okay! Fantastic! Next question, "If you needed to, would you be willing to participate in a program to help rebuild Pony-kind if a disaster would occur?"

Shimmer just blinked.

"I'm not quite sure what you mean?" She asked with confusion written across all of her features.

He looked up from the clipboard, "Well simply put, Stable 45 will have one of the finest breeding programs! That is if somehow we're all wiped out and forced to retreat to the Stable! So, if you could?" he asked motioning the clipboard towards her.

Really? Stable-Tec isn't even being subtle with this one, they're outright saying, "You're going to be used for breeding to re-populate Equestria." But Shimmer agrees to it anyway so... yeah, I don't know what to say to that either.

So we learn that Shimmer is the only surviving member of her family and the representative heads off to Stable 45 in order to get everything finalized. Shimmer is a bit annoyed with the stallion, but puts him out of her mind as she turns on the radio, humming along with the music as she does.

But the sound of the Ponytones is interrupted by a scratching sound, and this:

"We apologize for this unscheduled interruption of your regularly scheduled music. But we have some...troubling news to report." A loud sigh could be heard as the pony read, "We've just received a disturbing report that...a Mega-Spell has gone off and destroyed Clousdale. The number of dead is unknown at this point." Another pause but muffled shouts and yelling could also be heard, "This just in! Manehatten and Phillidelphia have also been struck! These have been confirmed by affiliate stations across Equestria! My God!"

Well of course it was the day the megaspells went off, what other day would it be?

Shimmer is understandably distressed by this when she realizes the Zebras have Megaspells, and wonders how they got them. The radio continues saying that all ponies that are approved for Stables should make their way there now. Realizing that means her, Shimmer starts running towards Stable 45 as fast as she can with anypony else in the town that have been allowed entry.

There's a brief moment where she notices a carving on a tree of "S.J. and D.G. 4Ever!" I don't know if this was supposed to be an inside joke or foreshadowing or what, but I digress.

Anyway the Stable-Tec representative storms past her because he hasn't been allowed in (you'd think Stable-Tec would be less of a jerk about this kind of thing), and a family is allowed in ahead of her. Shimmer is identified by the guards and allowed into the Stable of course, and as they prepare to enter the Stable, this happens:

Shimmer looked to the small family she saw before. The foal carefully tucked into a magical hold near the mothers chest. She smiled at them and gave a wave of her hoof. They returned the smile but it was quickly replaced by panic as an earth-shattering explosion ripped through the air. Shimmer wheeled around quick enough to witness a Mega-Spell explosion behind her. Giant Purple Flames leaped outward and upward towards the sky. The display was both beautiful and terrifying. Mega-Spells were originally used to heal ponies and zebra's alike, but now, they were perverted into a weapon of war and destruction the likes of Equestria had never seen before.

And then they all died.

Nah I'm kidding, elevator lowered and the hatch above them closed before they could die. Though I find the use of purple flames interesting, usually you see green flames, this is probably something new.

---Chapter 1: Eternity---

So apparently we decided to skip the whole "orientation" because chapter 1 starts out with Shimmer waking up in a stasis pod and throwing up.

"Occupant in Pod 247 has awakened. Technicians to Pod Chamber 3 immediately." Though the voice was muffled, Shimmer could definitely hear the voice through the glass.

The voice began again but this time from inside the pod, "Good Morning Occupant 247. Your sleep cycle has ended and your cue in the breeding program has begun.

At least that's what was supposed to happen I suppose, but it seems that there are Raiders in the Stable who are destroying pods and Shimmer's was the only one they could get opened. She's told to use a syringe on the table when she gets out of the pod. She sees that there are other ponies in the pods, and collapses when she tries to move.

She manages to pick herself up and finds the syringe and a PipBuck. She fits the PipBuck on and it reads her vitals I guess, telling her that she's lagged, meaning she'll be groggy for the next few hours.

Huh, I guess her player's internet is really slow or something.

I kid of course, after some communication with another mare over the radio she injects herself with the needle, and whatever's inside it hurts... a lot. But thankfully it seems to have worked, that's the good news, the bad news is what she finds when she takes a good look around the room:

She looked up and realized that there were several large windows overlooking the chamber. Several of them were broken. And even one had the lifeless corpse of a Stable-Tec Pony dangling from one. Her pupils went tiny as she turned her head and for the first time saw things clearly. There were corpses EVERYWHERE around her. Some still inside their pods, others were simply lying on the floor in dried pools of blood. Several in fact were missing their skulls.

So yeah, she does what anypony in her situation would do, she freaks out. She doesn't have much time to dwell on it though as a pony dressed in armor made out of, a car apparently, comes flying out the window shooting at other ponies. The Unicorn tells her that she was the one on the radio and tells her to find cover.

When she's asked if she knows how to fire a gun she says yes and is given a pistol. Shimmer tries to shoot at the attackers but nearly gets her head blown off in the process. They manage to shoot one of them in the hoof as the other two charge at them, and that's when Shimmer discovers SATS thank goodness and fires several shots into one of the Raiders, taking them out while the other one went down not long after.

The Unicorn tells her to pull herself together and they head out, it also seems that they were the only ones left alive in the Stable, though its not clear yet what happened to the others... well except for maybe Raiders. She finally demands answers out of the strange Unicorn mare, and while she protests at first she finally relents.

"Alright! Dammit fine!" The unicorn said quietly, "Just don't push me again! They might see!" She sighed as she looked down the corridor again, "I'm Blossom Rocket, though most ponies call me Rocket. And those are Raiders. This is Stable 45, where they LOVE to hunt the ponies that come out of stasis for fun and FOOD."

Shimmer blinked, "Did you say, FOOD?"

"Yeah dumbass, food. Meaning they kill you, rape you, and then eat you. And if you're LUCKY, in that order." Rocket hissed as reply. She looked up again, they hadn't moved. "Now, I'm here because I was told I could find some tech to sell. Well guess what? I fucking found something else and now I'm trying to save your Stable-Dwelling ass from raiders. Got enough information?"

Ugh, I hate Raiders sometimes, this is just messed up... but honestly kinda par for the course for these sickos.

So yeah, Shimmer is the last survivor of Stable 45, its not clear what happened to the others except that they had likely died a long time ago. We then get a rather bizarre moment where Shimmer chastises Rocket for using the F word, but hey, its Post-Apocalyptic Equestria and you're facing off against Raiders, I don't think that's your biggest problem.

The two bicker awhile longer before the other two Raiders decide at this moment to make their presence known.

And then in unison, both shared a single word to appropriately sum up the situation, "Fuck."

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Rocket manages to knock over the Raiders, and the two mares gun them down, good riddance. They briefly wonder why the Raiders didn't just shoot them, but who knows, maybe they found them amusing. They get together what equipment they can find, and the chapter ends with this:

Shimmer looked at the giant elevator and the control panel in front of it. "So um thank you." she started as Rocket looked at her with an eyebrow raised, "For saving me." Shimmer added with a smile.

"You're welcome. Just...try not to get killed okay? The Wasteland isn't exactly what I'd call...as friendly as I am." she said as she slammed a hoof on the control panel. Lights and alarms began sounding as a very loud and very rusty elevator began lowering down.

Shimmer then blinked and thought to herself, "Wasteland? Rusty elevator? Just what has happened? How long was I out?" The questions kept coming even as she stepped onto the elevator and it began to ascend upwards. Unknowing that her fate and that of Rocket's as the lift reached the surface.

You've got a lot to learn Shimmer, and the learning curve is steep.

---Chapter 2: The Things We Leave Behind---

"Once we're above, we're going to have to find you something to eat. I can imagine you're starving," Rocket said, standing firm as the elevator came to a grinding halt. Cautiously, Shimmer lowered her foreleg and sighed in relief as the blinding effect disappeared. However, the sight that greeted her was one of ultimate despair; the land was an expanse of pure decay and destruction. There used to be thousands of beautiful trees; now there were only dead or dying specimens cut down in number to mere hundreds. Homes that once stood bright and beautiful suffered the same fate, destroyed or decayed beyond repair. And, far in the distance, the once beautiful castle of the Crystal Empire stood tall.

Even from this distance, Shimmer could see how much it had changed. It was a state; its once shining beauty was now replaced with a strange purple haze that expanded across the entire reflective surface.It was, in some ways, unrecognisable.

Shimmer collapsed as she stared on in horror. The last thing she remembered seeing was the giant fireball as the megaspell detonated. It made sense that the castle would be the target; the royal family lived there and to the Zebra, no matter how neutral, the enemy had to be destroyed. But never in her mind did she think she would live to see this.

More purple not green, interesting... then again I went with an orange red for one of my Wasteland areas so I'm curious to see what's going on here.

Rocket basically tells her to get used to what she's seeing because the whole Wasteland looks like this. Its also at this point that we learn that its been 200 years since the megaspells went off after Shimmer points out her old house.

And we get this line:

Rocket nodded a few times. "Yeah, the war ended almost 200 years ago. The Zebras won… I guess. There's probably less than a half a million ponies left in all of Equestria now. And that's after 200 years of rebuilding and more stupid-ass war." She scowled at her own words. "Enclave, Steel Rangers, Raiders, Slavers; no matter how much time passes, there's always going to be war. Because war..." She sighed loudly, "War never changes."

Its simple but chilling, the Stables are mentioned and it seems that a lot of them have been failing, no surprise there. That being said, they are still in Raider territory so they need to get out of there before they're shot or worse. Shimmer insists on going to her old house because she needs to find something there, but of course that's the Raider camp because we can't have an easy time, but Shimmer isn't going to be dissuaded as she starts heading down towards the town and home.

Of course they get shot at because its a Raider town, because apparently they had charged instead of being sneaky. Rocket comments that this was a really bad idea and she's not really wrong. Shimmer uses SATS to take out more Raiders, and they take out a few more, only to find themselves facing one with a rocket launcher.

Welcome home Shimmer!

Shimmer manages to get out of the way and Rocket gelds another one, gaining the attention of the psycho with the missile launcher, and she shoots at him, but it doesn't pierce his armor for some reason.

At the same time Shimmer is lying next to her old house and manages to pick herself up, and then she gets an idea. She fashions a makeshift weapon out of whiskey and a piece of cloth, lighting it and throwing it at the Raider, lighting him on fire. Yeah, that's not a fun way to die, but Raiders kinda lose all sympathy.

She throws up some more of that purple stuff, but she admits she has no idea what it is and neither does Rocket. Shimmer checks the compass on her PipBuck and we finally get a name for the town, Trottingdale Village. Thankfully there's only one marker on her EFS and its Yellow so that means nopony is gonna try and kill her right now.

Rocket says that Shimmer should go do what she needs to do, and also admits that she's not sure if she's going to stay with her since Shimmer did almost get them both killed. Shimmer is actually upset by all of this, and after a moment Rocket has a change of heart and says that she'll stay for awhile and will teach her a few things.

They go to the cellar door and Rocket shoots the lock open. This had belonged to her Husband where he worked on things on a workbench before he, died however he had died. She says that he had told her to open the safe if she ever was in trouble, and well I'd say this qualifies so she does so.

What she finds inside is a full suit of Power Armor, and a note from her Husband:

"My Dearest Shimmer,

If you're reading this note then I guess you’re in trouble and took my advice. First, I just want to say that you're everything to me and it took some doing but I finally got Ms. Applejack to approve this. The Power Armor you see before you is one of a kind. It's suited to fit you and you alone anypony else that tries to use it won’t be able to. I can't explain how, but it just works."

Shimmer's hooves began to shake as she kept reading the note. Rocket, meanwhile, frowned—but only for a moment. It was Power Armor; everypony wanted Power Armor. They could do so much good or so much bad. Aside from that, it kept a pony safe from a lotin the
Wasteland. She felt a twinge of jealousy but as Shimmer read, she relaxed a little. Specialized Power Armor was even more rare and sadly, usable by only one pony.

"If anypony else tries using the power armor, the spark core will detonate, destroying the armor and the pony trying to use it. So don't lose it! I've left behind something else, too. Look in the side compartment next to the chest plate."

Shimmer looked to the right and saw a small drawer. She pulled it open with her teeth as she held the note in her hooves. Inside laid three unused spark cores. A goldmine in caps if sold to the right bidder. Rocket just stared in awe at the treasure trove.

"It's all Ms. Applejack could spare. And seeing as most of the effort today seems to be going to Stable-Tec, this is probably one of the last suits of power armor made. So take care of it. I know you can do that. I love you my dearest. And when you wear the armor, think of me hugging you tight.

Your loving husband,
Blue Angel.

Shimmer read the note once again to herself and then hugged it close to her chest. Tear upon tear streamed down her face as she wept. The last words she'd ever read from her husband; he only thought of her and her safety—even to the end he thought of her.

Rocket looked at her somewhat awkwardly. This 200 year old Stable-Dweller was literally crying in front of her. In the middle of the wasteland. Inside an old house with an old cellar. But in front of her a brand new set of Power Armor. How could she be crying?

"I love you too, Angel. Thank you," Shimmer whispered quietly as she slowly ceased her crying, putting the note into her pack. Looking up at the armor, she then sniffled and looked back at Rocket. "So, any advice for Power Armor?"

Its a sad moment but its powerful at the same time, its a good scene that grabs your attention and makes you want to learn more.

---Character Analysis: Shimmer Jubilee---

Yeah, no image to go with this again, unless Wildstar has one.

I like this character really, now admittedly she has some parallels to the Sole Survivor from Fallout 4, but she's not really reliant on that character alone. She's an interesting pony who ultimately just finds herself in the Wasteland and is trying to make the best of her new life as a result.

The fact that she's clearly a medical pony is also interesting, it comes up often that she doesn't want to try and kill Raiders, purposely avoiding a kill shot on several occasions. She at one point even gets distressed that she had killed a Raider, believing herself to be a murderer even though it was arguably out of self defense.

Her getting Power Armor at the end of chapter 2 was also a good scene, while it again has its parallels to the Sole Survivor, its not a bad idea. It adds to her character that she had a Husband so long ago that loved her enough to get all of this arranged and it shows how much the two cared for each other.

I really like her as a character and I would love to see her expanded more later.

---Final Thoughts---

I don't know what else I can say here, I really liked this fanfic.

Yes the prologue had its similarities to Fallout 4's opening as well as Stable 45's experiment, but it sets itself apart pretty early on by having it be about more than just ponies being in the pods, and then the Raiders. Its an interesting idea to say the least, and I'd be interested in seeing more about it.

Now that's not to say its perfect, there are a few spelling errors here and there, but the main characters are likable and you get drawn in easily enough. Ultimately, its a good start to the fic and I highly recommend you check out the rest of it.

The Prologue gets a score of 4/5.
Chapter 1 gets a score of 5/5.
Chapter 2 gets a score of 5/5.

Original Fanfic.

Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.
Fallout Equestria: Forgotten Days belongs to Wildstar.

Next week, we finish up my original review schedule with a story of a caged bird who finally gets to spread his wings and fly.

Video made by me.