Daylight! Again a somewhat good, but more understated example of Pip realizing just how BIG the outside world is. And drawing attention to the fact that there seems to be a rather large degree of cloud cover all the time, which becomes important later.
Lil'pip works her lockpicking magic And her reward is Clothes, that she can't even wear, wonder if they will be important later.
And the story hits us a little more with just how much has happened, showing us ruined, desecrated, and partially destroyed Ponyville, and then adding some dead animals hanging around from the ceiling for an extra visceral kick. (I'll get to that later.)
And time for EXPLOSIONS, gotta admit, I kind of love that Pony grenades are shaped like apples, and just the way 'pulling the pin' works. And Lil'pip has her first, of many admittedly, kills. And, I do think it's probably rather important her first kill was an accident, simply lashing out in self defense, in a way that wasn't sure to kill somepony. Or maybe I'm reading to much into that. But yes, we all know that killing does get easier for her, but in the Wasteland, either you learn to kill or you die. And the fact that she didn't have to make the conscious choice to cross that barrier and make her first kill, instead having it happen like this, I just think it was well done.
Also, worst. sniper. ever.
And the spritebot returns, along with the first (assumed to be) living thing that hasn't leveled a weapon at Pip since she left the Stable. And so we bring up the ideal of friendship, being listed as one of the things needed to survive, which she blows of, and for good reason, every pony she's met, even one whose life she saved has tried to rob her, kill her, or worse. but she does agree that weapons and armor are needed, even if she still balks at the idea of deliberately killing a pony.
And she has a quest, go retrieve.....A BOOK! Twilight would approve. (side note, despite how blatant Kkat tried to make it, I never caught on that the music coming from the sprite-bots was Pinkie's Parasprite Polka)
And now we get to see Twilight's library and what the raiders have done, and it, it is just sick. This is where we truly see just how sick, deplorable, evil and sadistic Raiders are. And the descriptions, well they are just plain gory, very VERY gory. Honestly if the whole fic had been like this, I wouldn't have made it through. But this is probably the single most horrifically overdone gorefest scene in the story, and as a single instance, I think it does work. It disturbs the reader, or is meant to, it's to show both Lil'pip and the reader just how SICK the wasteland can make ponies, to drive home once and fore all this is NOT the Equestria we know. And going into such detail the first time we encounter a raider nest, the author can just gloss over the description the rest of the time, letting our imagination fill in the horror.
And in the midst of this slaughter house, a single voice, begging for help. And Pip does not think twice about helping them, even after the last pony she helped turned on her not hours before, she would not leave a pony to this. And her saving them, it's down right heartbreaking, the ponies in it, suffered so much, so weak and broken, and yet this time, Lil'pip's kindness is repaid, the pony she saved willing to give her anything in return, truly grateful. And followed by Lil'pips first conscious decision to kill another living being, made without pause regret or remorse.
I hadn’t just killed a pony — these raiders had given up any right to the title! These were not ponies, they were sick monsters that needed to be put down!
That pretty much sums up Raiders, they ARE monsters. We learn more about what causes them to be like this later, so I'll go into that then. Some may cry bloodthirsty, or evil, or what not for Lil'pip here but she was RIGHT, these things were torturing, maiming, killing, and plain BREAKING any pony they got in their grasp, and there was no way to stop them except death. Even if it's death by stupidity for some of them
Of the scattered half-thoughts that flitted through my brain, “untie the nice zombie so she doesn’t get mad at me” managed to be the most coherent, if not the most sane.
Again something there I just find hilarious, and there are enough hints that anyone who played Fallout would know it's a ghoul, and also that it seemed to be a certain wall-eyed pegasus we all love.
And now a scene some people love to bring up to try and show Lil'pip as a bloodthirsty, kill crazy psycho pony. Shooting a fleeing raider in the ass. let see, first off the raider had seemingly JUST been taking part in the raping, burning and mutilation of a child, was holding hostage a pony that tried to help his victim, and had just tried to kill Lil'pip in a way that DID kill another innocent hostage. before chickening out and running when faced with a pony he didn't have numbers or his side to beat. Soon as you have a clear shot, you END something like that, or every single life they go on to ruin is on your head. As to the shooting him specifically in the ass, it is an equine with his back turned running from you, ANY shot is going to be an ass shot from that position.
“In honor of Big Macintosh, hero of the Battle of Shattered Hoof Ridge, and his noble sacrifice for all of Equestria.”'
more mystery over just what happened in the past, Big Mac? Sacrificed himself, how, why?
And we have confirmation of Ditzy Doo, and also learning which name Kkat is using for her.
And perk time, well she does read a lot, and that's generally a damn good perk.
okay thoughts. Whoo boy this is pretty much THE chapter, if you can make it through this, you'll be okay with the rest of the fic, if not, this story is not for you. this sets up a lot more about Pip, shows her get over her worry about killing quickly, though for good reason. Shows just how vile and sick raiders are, shows that not ALL ponies left are the kind that turn on their rescuers, and a few will even help still. We also start to see some of Lil'pips flaws, she tends to be rather hot-headed, letting her anger and rage get the better of her. But she still never goes down so far it makes her overly vicious or bloodthirsty, as she said
That meant there was at least one more raider still in the wastes, but I wasn’t the sort of pony to kill somepony while they slept. Not even a raider.
She still has limits. She won't kill a completely helpless pony, as to the fleeing raider, he had already tried to kill her, if she let him escape he could very well try again, and he made the choice to turn his back on an enemy. I choose to believe that if he had simply set down the weapon and step back, making damn sure not to do ANYTHING at all hostile, she wouldn't have simply shot him the instant Ditzy wasn't in the way. though she might have, I know I'd be damn tempted to. And despite all this, remember, she stopped to help the imprisoned ponies, not even caring about the raiders at that point, her only goal was saving those ponies.
So yes we see that Lil'pip, though not perfect, does try to do what she thinks is right, that she is more then willing to help any pony that needs it, but will be absolutely remorseless when it comes to dealing with threats, or sub-pony scum like raiders.
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