In which I give in to the hype.
Okay, I've never done something like this before, so forgive me if the format I chose here is annoying. What I'm going to do here is write my thoughts on a chapter of Fallout Equestria as they come, then give a summary of my opinions at the end of a chapter.
Prologue + Chapter 1
- Okay, the intro makes no attempt at hiding what's in store here, but it doesn't exactly tell much either.
- So, PipBucks appear to be the gadget to end all gadgets here. I know that all of the things it can do are what the Pip Boys do in the Fallout games, but that's a lot of useful abilities that other characters don't have, especially the edge in combat. (Why would that functionality even be built in to them, anyway? At least in Fallout, the people inside the Vaults were never meant to leave. Why build in combat assistance for a device meant to assist in everyday work in the Stable?)
- Unicorn Master Race, eh? Not a fan, but what are you going to do?
- At least they're smart enough to recognize that living in a bunker is plenty depressing. Most post-apocalyptic stories either ignore it just have the characters go completely insane with no attempts to stave it off.
- Obvious crush is obvious, not that there's anything wrong with that.
- You know, ditching the best survival tool you have is probably a bad way to go about going out into a very hostile environment.
- CMC 3 BFF? Real subtle.
- Ahhh... skeletons. I see we're off to a great start
Thoughts on Prologue+Chapter 1:
Well, it's certainly well written, but I really wasn't expecting otherwise. Aside from my musings over the Batman level of gadgetry in the PipBucks, I really couldn't think of anything wrong with it. Of course, the story's hardly started, so we'll see how things go.
Chapter 2
- How does she even know what sounds he's hearing? I doubt insects were a subject taught in Stable School.
- Sweet Apple Acres? Where in the world is that thing getting its map data from? If it had old records on file all this time, why didn't anypony look at them?
- Chekhov's Terminal, I presume?
- Looks like slavers. This is going to end in blood.
- ...or immediate capture, that works too. The blood can come later.
- How does a pony get a talent for cheese in the Wasteland? Come to think of it, how does Pip even know what cheese is? How much useless (for life in the Stable) knowledge did they teach these ponies?
- Ah, human profanity. At least I hear that Pip gets creative with hers later on.
- And there's the blood. Reminds me of that famous scene from Scanners. You know the one.
- Pip is a competent fighter? That was fast. I guess having that gadget helps, but it doesn't exactly teach you how to pull off roundhouse bucks.
- Are you feelin' lucky, punk?
- At least Pip also wonders how his map knows everything, too.
- That's one lazy sniper. It had all the time in the world to kill them on the bridge.
- And the CMC were the first Overmares, as if that wasn't made obvious enough by the passcode last chapter.
Thoughts on Chapter 2:
And so the bloodbath begins. Pip learns fast. Almost too fast. A good bit of Fridge Logic too on how she could know so little about the outside world yet still know about the little things, but lets just assume that they can somehow synthesize cheese in the Stables. Still not a fan of exploding ponies, but it'll only get worse from here on out, so I'd better get used to it. It's certainly entertaining, but I do hope it doesn't rush Pip's development here.
That's all, for now. I'll probably continue later, but I make no promises. Peace out.
Comments
CrimsonFlameKnight
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 7th 2012 at 11:16:47 PM
Yeah, the Calamity/Velvet relationship felt sort of...off for me. The idea of them becoming an item makes sense, but I feel there should've been more buildup to it. Admittedly, I have a similar gripe with Pip/Homage too (even though I love their relationship).
DeathCloud
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 1:18:07 AM
Memory Gambit is point where fic become really awesome.
And Zebras, more I learned about their believes more they are unsympathetic to me.
Sereg
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 3:38:47 AM
Okay. At this point it's REALLY obvious that you have a different view on show canon than kkat and I have.
But let's see:
Littlepip thinks she's corrupted kindness. Whether or not she's right is a matter of debate among the fans.
Okay. Kkat believes that spells can be learned. I've always believed the same thing. You believe that Twilight is the only one who can. But the show makes no sense unless kkat and I are right. There would be no magic schools if Twilight was the only one who could learn spells.
Okay. Zebras. First of all theay DO have historical evidence fo their beliefs. Even if it wasn't for that, they still had more evidence for their beliefs than the ponies do. Nightmare Moon tried to kill everyone TWICE. Then immediately joned the government. Do you have any idea how suspicious that is?! It was something that the first episode of the show confused me wih because that reaction is completely abnormal! The burden of proof lay on the ponies. NOT the zebras.
RD could not POSSIBLY have been the first to perform a sonic rainboom or it would have never become a legend in the first place.
"•Wait, so Alicorns can't interact with clouds? Even though they're part pegasus? " This i actually a good point that I didn't notice, but it actually makes sense later.
"It's not a magical ability! It's just normal intimidation! " Word Of God disagrees with you.
"What kind of awful disconnected government is this? " This is the point. They fell apart when they stopped working together.
Have to agree that this part of the plot really picks up.
As for Calamty/Velvet. At least that was popperly foreshadowed. Unlike Homage/Littlepip.
kimba90
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 5:47:11 AM
Yep, I too believe that every unicorn can learn spells, not just those with speciality in magic. I think that the latters makes the spells stronger whe using them (for example, every unicorn can use telekinesys but Twilight seems the only one who can levitate millions of objects or giant ones; or the spell that can search for gems in the ground: Rarity can see only the nearest ones, while Twilight can see them at long distances).
As for hystorical examples in zebras culture, I think we'll see them in later chapters.
PerpetualLurker
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 7:35:08 AM
Of course any unicorn can learn spells. The stipulation is that they can only learn spells directly related to their special talent. This is something that is spelled out quite clearly in canon and this fic.
As for the burden of proof laying on the ponies for Nightmare Moon, yes it did. Unfortunately, it has been made clear that before the war, all ponies were completely ignorant to said beliefs. Even Celestia, somehow. They can't exactly prove anything when the Zebras' don't even make it clear that Luna is a problem until ''after' they go to war.
I'm not against more ponies being able to perform a Sonic Rainboom. It's just that Calamity implied that the Enclave had multiple on hand at any one time, when RD had been the first to perform one in centuries.
kimba90
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 8:28:24 AM
Nah, if unicorns are only able to learn spells according to their cutie marks, than there would be no need of hundreds of books about different spells (plus there won't be any common spell, like telekynesis). I think it's more like some unicorns are better in certain spells than others.
Also, perhaps RD taught to more than one pegasus about how to perform a sonic rainboom, that's why it became something more common.
kimba90
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 12:20:03 PM
By the way, is chapter 30 the one with the (un)famous "Velvet's Shotgun Massacre"? Boy, I haven't thought it was so early.
Seraphem
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 8th 2012 at 4:18:20 PM
Again, was not a retcon, New Appleloosa DOESN'T follow Redeye, at all, and only the leaders..possibly ONLY the sheriff..even know the town has ties to him, they weren't giving him the bomb because they support him, they were giving him the bomb because they were trying to stay on the good side of a pony that could wipe them off the map if he wanted.
Agreed, it's pretty much the consensus that The Goddess was just fucking with her head.
The reason behind the Zebra's fear of the stars IS reveled later, it involves something that happened at the dawn of Zebra society that nearly wiped them out.
just like the A-Bomb, with the SRB the hard part is proving it's possible.
WOW, you just twigged to a MAJOR plot point foreshadowing many people missed with the whole "Alicorn's can't manipulate clouds"
As to "the Stare" it's never tied into having anything to do with Flutershy, or even said to be the same thing, could just be something similar they developed on there own.
becuase what he convinced Redeye to do wasn't a trick or ploy, he just reasoned with him.
There does come some historical evidence, or at least a reason in there history why they fear anything from the sky.
And once again it is NOT a religion, at all, in any way.
It's not a whole lot, from what we've seen it's possible the number of SRB cabable pegasi is in the single digits
The Pegasi were pissed that they were the ones taking the highest losses and being the ones doing the heaviest fighting. they served as Equestria's shock troops until the Steel Rangers got going.
And there ARE limits to how much a unicorn can learn, but they aren't hard and fast, it varies on a personal basis, and there could be some spells that are uncategorized and free for any unicron with enough magic and skill to use them, all we have is a very very loose ideas, no firm rule book
And once again as to the "Corrupted kindness" yeah everyone agrees it's bull and is just the Godess fucking with Lil'pip and Lil'pip being a self flagellating idiot.
kimba90
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 9th 2012 at 3:30:19 AM
Well, let's not exaggerate here. Let's just say that, in this point of the story, Pip is very confused about if what she's doing is good or not.
Speaking of unicorn magic (again XD), here's the response Lauren Faust gave to me about this question:
"I went to art school. Everyone there was a talented artist, but we all had our "specialty." And even though I was better at life drawing, I still attended design classes. And though I was no good at painting, I still studied painters, and doing so helped me with the kind of art I wanted to focus on."
Sereg
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 9th 2012 at 6:17:20 AM
Okay, that respons makes more sense, but I still agree with Kimba here. It's less that unicorns can only learn spells related to their talents and more that that's all that most unicorns do because those are the easiest for them. Velvet has also had an EXCELLENT teacher as you'll learn later.
As for zebra beliefs, the members of the upper government DID know about them, but were unsure about what to do with the information.
anamizukib
Since: Dec, 1969
Jun 15th 2012 at 12:39:54 PM
It's really good to remember that when Kkat wrote most Fo E, only season one was out.
Plus, the characters in Pre-War world are much older than in the show. Equestria changed during that time a lot, hence the high tech and later war.
