Fallout: Equestria Reviews: Chapters One and Two · 8:49pm Feb 19th, 2017

Video made by me.

Wow, it sure has been awhile since we where last here.

This is the first time I've gone back and re-visited a fanfic that I've already reviewed so honestly I'm not quite sure what to say about it here in the intro. That being said, I didn't give it a proper intro last time, so I might as well change that.

Fallout: Equestria is where it all started for us as a sub-fandom, its what got me into My Little Pony, and it created one of the largest sub-fandoms in the community. There's not enough words to describe how important this fic is and how much things really changed when Littlepip first stepped hoof outside the Stable.

So, lets begin, I hope you all enjoy.

---Chapter 1: Out of the Stable

“Because in Stable Two, no pony ever enters and no pony ever leaves.”

So yeah, basically Vault 101.

Our fic really begins with Littlepip staring at the walls of her maintenance stall she works in and finds it very, grey and boring. We learn a little bit about her job as the PipBuck Technician's Apprentice, that it mostly requires her to do chores while the Technician sleeps, chores like cleaning the walls.

“This wall needs a mural.”
I let myself fantasize, picturing the Overmare agreeing and ordering Palette herself to turn our entire stall into one of her brightly colorful masterpieces. Palette was the greatest painter in Stable Two, and like every skilled artist, that made her a stable treasure. Life in Stable Two inevitably began to eat at your spirit -- you were born in the Stable, you lived your whole life in the Stable, you were going to die there, and the course of your life was largely laid out for you to see by your Cutie Mark Party. So the Overmare insisted that a new song be added to the Stable broadcast’s repertoire each week, that public areas were brightly painted and adored with uplifting and motivational murals, that regular parties were planned in the atrium… all in an effort to distract and stave off depression.

Yeah, Stable Two isn't exactly a cheerful place, even if the Overmare tries to make it one.

Apparently this idea of it getting a mural is incredibly unlikely given this area is very rarely visited by anypony. Littlepip is saddened when she realizes that it means she'll be staring at the same grey wall every day for the rest of her life.

“Oh dear. Is it really that bad.”

Littlepip has a visitor, and its the musical pony of the Stable Velvet Remedy. Its at this point that Littlepip admits that she has a crush on Velvet, even though it seems that Velvet's barn door, in Littlepip's mother's words, "doesn't swing that way." Yeah, Littlepip doesn't really have much of a chance with Velvet, but its still understandable.

Velvet asked Littlepip if there was anything she could do to help her because Littlepip had looked heartbroken when she first entered. Its a nice moment that shows Velvet as a caring pony, its a nice touch. Littlepip brushes it off and asks Velvet how she can help her, apparently Velvet's PipBuck is chaffing her foreleg and she wants the padding to be replaced on it. Littlepip says she can get it done quickly, but Velvet says that its okay and she can take her time. Littlepip says that it'll be done by this time the next day and Velvet thanks her and leaves.

The next day Littlepip is all done with Velvet's PipBuck and is taking it to her room. However when she reaches it, she finds it surrounded by the inhabitants of Stable Two and she thinks that she's going to have to fight her way through them to get to Velvet before she hears this line from the gathered ponies.

“She’s gone!” “How could she leave?” The hushed voices and panicked whinnies around me grew alarming. “Why would she abandon us?”
Gone? Velvet Remedy was… gone?
And then the words that stopped me cold. “I didn’t think the Stable door even could open!”

Yeah, it turns out that Velvet had left Stable Two through the Stable's Door. The Overmare gets the attention of all the ponies and reassures them that it'll be easy to find her because of the PipBuck's tag that will take them right to her. The PipBuck that Littlepip is currently holding in her telekinesis... awkward. Littlepip realizes this and tries to get back to maintenance, but she accidentally bumps into the Overmare, and with everypony staring at her, the Overmare tells her to take it to her room.

After awhile Littlepip is back in her room listening to the radio talk about what had happened. Littlepip thinks back to a story she had been told about a pony that had managed to get the Stable Door open, only to find nothingness beyond it and got whisked away by it. We also learn that Littlepip is the smallest pony in her age group and was the last to get her Cutie Mark, which looking back is understandable. She's lucky that the radio doesn't mention her by name, but there's not much doubt about who it could be.

The Overmare is talking about Velvet leaving the Stable, saying that they shouldn't blame anypony for it except for Velvet. Littlepip is grateful for her words, but doesn't think that it'll really change anything, she's still going to face resentment every day because she let Velvet get away. Littlepip then finds an encrypted voice file and thinking that its one of Velvet's new songs, she breaks the encryption.

What she found instead isn't what she expected:

“The override code for opening the door to Stable Two is… CMC3BFF.”

The fic doesn't say who it is at first, though the context and description of the voice pretty much says its Apple Bloom, there's really nopony else it could be. Littlepip thinks on what she needs to do next before finally reaching a decision, she's going out after Velvet Remedy.

She gathers up what gear she's going to need before finding herself at the Stable Door facing off against two security ponies. The ponies are obviously not exactly going to let her get close to the control panel, and to make matters worse for our hero, they recognize her as the pony that let Velvet escape. As they step forward, there's a thud as a metal footlocker knocks the two ponies out.

Earth ponies -- they never see that levitating-something-up-behind-you trick coming.

As Littlepip goes to the control panel, the Overmare's voice is heard telling her to stop, and when she doesn't she orders ponies to stop her at the Stable Door. She inputs the code as the door starts clanging and opening up. As the door opens, the Overmare tells Littlepip that she doesn't have to do this, and when Littlepip says that she'll bring Velvet back, the Overmare says that she won't be allowed back in.

Yeah, that's real fair.

With that Littlepip leaves the Stable, and makes her first steps outside of the world she had grown up in. She finds herself in a cellar filled with skeletons, she moves on and opens the cellar door, taking her first steps into the world above.

---Chapter 2: Equestrian Wasteland

“What world do you live in? Out here in the real world, blood flows, little pony. Blood flows...”

Littlepip steps out into the Equestrian Wasteland and is faced with... nothingness! Given the story she mentioned before, she is freaking out before she realizes that its just nighttime, something she had never experienced before because of the lighting in the Stable. She's faced with a world that is completely alien to her, filled with scents and sounds that she had never even considered.

We get the first real look at the Equestrian Wasteland, while its dark there's this feeling of foreboding to it, especially when she looks up at the sky and sees the mass of clouds. She can see trees nearby, and her PipBuck tells her that she's at Sweet Apple Acres, she turns around and finds herself in front of a large building. When she checks her PipBuck again she finds several radio stations, she picks one and picks up an old radio broadcast.

“...still sealed up. There is no way inside. My son, he ate one of the apples from those damned apple trees up near the Stable, and now he’s terribly sick. Too sick to move. We’ve holed up in the cistern near the old memorial. We’re running out of food and medical supplies. Please, if anypony hears this, help us... Message repeats. Hello? Is there anypony out there? Please, we need help! I was bringing my family to the Stable up near Sweet Apple Acres when we were attacked by raiders. Only my son and I survived. We made it to the Stable, but it’s still sealed up. There is no way inside. My son, he ate one of the apples from those damned apple trees up near the Stable, and now he’s terribly sick. Too sick to move. We’ve holed up in the cistern near the old memorial. We’re running out of food and medical supplies. Please, if anypony hears this, help us... Message repeats. Hello?...”

Its tragic, its unknown exactly how long the message has been playing on repeat, most likely since the apocalypse, its sobering and works well as the first real voice of the Wasteland.

Littlepip turns off the broadcast and then notices that the radiation detector option on her PipBuck has activated automatically, which surprises her. She realizes that she can't just stay there or she'll die from radiation poisoning, so she starts to look around the immediate area for anything that might point her towards where Velvet went. She spots another building with a higher vantage point so she heads over that way.

The building she visits has been pretty much picked clean by this point, but what she does find is a functional terminal. She gets curious and is surprised to find a message from Velvet Remedy on it:

To any pony who has left Stable Two in search of me:
Please, go home. I am doing what I have to do. The Overmare understands, even if she can never agree, and I hope one day you will to. I will not be back. Do not look for me. Do not endanger yourself further for my sake. Please forgive me.
Velvet Remedy

Yeah, there's still not much of an explanation for why Velvet left the Stable, but that'll come later. She checks the rest of the files on the computer but the only other file has a binary encryption so she can't really do anything to read it unless she can find the other terminal, so she just downloads it.

She also realizes at this point that she has no chance of ever returning home to Stable Two even if she does find Velvet. She climbs to the top of the ruins and in the distance she spots a flickering light, the only real sign of anypony being alive in the Wasteland so far.

As Littlepip approaches the fire, there's something off about it, the first pony she sees is bound and gagged, and before she can do anything else, she gets approached by two rough looking ponies that are clearly Slavers based on their behavior, which the bound pony informs her of and calls her an idiot.

Yeah, great start to your adventures Littlepip.

She along with the other captured pony Monterrey Jack (that's certainly a cheesy name) are taken along by the Slavers, and Littlepip is informed that too much talking will likely result in her tongue being cut out. It seems that they're heading for the forest, which is of course a bit ominous to say the least, as one of them tells another that they'd get a chance to, "sample" one of the slaves.

That's when they hear the sound of music and the Slaver Cracker mentions that its coming from something called a Sprite-Bot. The music cuts off after a minute and one of the Slavers wonders if it had been attacked by something called a Radigator, but before they can move on they find the Sprite-Bot right in front of them, freaking out one of the Slavers who then proceeded to shoot at it before it flew off.

Monterrey mentions that they probably heard it all the way in Ponyville and mentions that it was stupid to do it so close to Raider territory. Littlepip though is happy it happened because it showed her how the weapon worked.

They're now on the approach to Ponyville and its about as, pleasant as you expect in the Wasteland since its Raider territory like Monterrey said. There are heads on pikes and its just, generally unpleasant, nearly making her throw up.

Littlepip moves closer to Monterrey and starts to pick the locks while Cracker and the other Slaver Sawed-off goes to talk to the ponies in Ponyville. The last pony Cagey nearly catches her, but is distracted by the sound of his buddies getting shot at, and then Cagey's head exploded. Sawed-Off doesn't last much longer as they're taken out by a Raider with a combat shotgun.

Welcome to Ponyville!

Video Belongs to Hasbro.

She frees herself from her manacles and starts to work on freeing Monterrey when Raiders start to approach their position. One of the Raiders kicks Littlepip, and another one is about to shoot off Monterrey's hooves. Littlepip manages to fight through the pain and kicks at the nearest Raider, sending their shotgun flying.

There's a fight that ends with the Raiders going down, Littlepip hesitates to kill one of them, but after she frees Monterrey he kills her with a shotgun and then starts looting the bodies, Littlepip tries to do the same but she just winds up throwing up. And then Monterrey Jack decides to rob our hero.

Hesitantly Littlepip starts to take off her equipment when she spots the Combat Shotgun and points it at Monterrey. There's a brief stand off between the two before Monterrey finally gives in and gives Littlepip back her stuff before running off.

Littlepip enters the town of Ponyville again and there's more question about how the PipBuck knows where she is... I think its just a programming thing but who knows really. She heads for Carousel Boutique in order to rest, and she's exhausted by this point. She finds the second terminal from before and she hears a familiar voice.

“...special instructions for Stable Two... ...that’s muh family down there! Until the poison is gone from up here, that door doesn’t open for anypony!”
The voice faded in and out of static.
“...know you hate this, Sweetie Belle, but you’re an Overmare now. The Overmare of the most important Stable in all of Equestria. I need you to do this for me... ...to keep them safe... ...best friends forever, remember?...”

Its a sobering moment, even if Littlepip doesn't know what it means yet... its a message between two best friends from 200 years ago. Two best friends that would never see each other again.

The Wasteland is full of tragedies.

Littlepip curled up on the bed in there and fell asleep.

---Character Analysis: Littlepip.

Littlepip is one of my favorite characters in the Fandom, there's really no getting around it, she's just awesome.

Its still pretty early in her adventures so its not completely fair to judge her yet, but you can already see many of the things that will mark her character. While she will grow out of her naive behavior a bit, she will always ultimately be a good pony that just wants to help others, she'll be pushed to extremes, but that's what happens in the Wasteland.

Littlepip is a great character and rightfully is the character that most FoE main characters are held up to. Yes she makes mistakes, but its what makes her relatable. I also love that KKat made her a lesbian, that was a nice touch and makes her more original.

The idea of her leaving the Stable to chase Velvet is one that is done well, and I look forward to exploring her more in the future.

---Final Thoughts---

I love this fic, there's really no other way to say it, this is a wonderfully done fanfic.

Yes it has its issues here and there, but ultimately its creative and a wonderful story. Its really creative and combines elements of Fallout and My Little Pony perfectly, these two chapters just show that off, and so will later chapters.

I highly recommend this fic if you haven't read it already, its where one of the best sub fandoms began, and it will continue to make great contributions to the fandom.

Chapter 1 gets a score of 5/5.
Chapter 2 gets a score of 5/5.

Original Fanfic

Fallout: Equestria belongs to KKat.

Next week, we take a trip along the Big 52 as we follow the travels of a ghost.