Paul's Thursday Reviews XXIV · 4:32pm Jan 21st, 2016
For the past week, my family and I have been working near-continuously in an attempt to take all the things moved down from my old apartment and find space for them in my parents' house. This includes figuring out what we want/don't want, what we want to sell, and where on God's green Earth we are going to put the keepers. After so long, I think today may be the last day for all that mess, and hallelujah for that. Sometime in the next few days, I can begin the next step; posting everything we want to sell up on Ebay, a little bit at a time.
The reason I'm talking about this is that I want to point out how difficult it has been finding time to write this past week. Of the last six days, half went without any writing whatsoever. I even missed a day of reading, which frustrates since it usually takes around 5 days to catch up for every one missed. Fortunately, on the days I did write, I got a lot done (1,500-2,000 words apiece), but it hasn't been near enough for my tastes. Here's hoping that after today I can finally get back to my proper writing habits.
But today is a special reviewing day. Today is the day that, at last, I get to tell you my thoughts regarding a certain famous story. Let's see how it turned out, no?
Stories for This Week:
Consoles vs. PC (Princess Edition) by SpitFlame
Fallout: Equestria by Kkat
So Her Legacy Will Endure by PresentPerfect (Requested by PresentPerfect)
Miss Sparkle, Psychopath by Adda le Blue (Re-Read)
Schadenfreude 2: Schadenfreude Harder by Daemon McRae (Sequel to Schadenfreude)
Total Word Count: 701,423
Rating System
Why Haven't You Read These Yet?: 1
Pretty Good: 1
Worth It: 2
Not Bad: 0
None: 1
Why did I think this would be interesting? Oh, right, because I’m an ex-gamer and was curious as to how it would play out.
I anticipated something silly. What I got was stupid and random, i.e. not my cup of tea. The entire story revolves around Celestia and Luna being jerks to one another (and Cadance) over their gaming preferences. I’d have been amused if there was something resembling an actual debate and proper characterization, but instead what we end up with is the fanfiction equivalent of two petulant children squabbling in the comments section of a badly written news article.
This wasn’t funny, it didn’t do anything to further the argument, and it even managed to make Cadance look more intelligent and wise than her aunts (and that takes work). I’m okay with silliness when it serves a purpose, but this was just plain dumb.
Pass.
Bookshelf: None
At long last, I’ve made it here. Just being convinced to read this story was a task, brought on by over a year of friends and strangers pressing me, of fan art teasing me with ideas, and of hundreds of fan-fanfiction expanding upon a world I knew nothing about. I was determinedly against reading this story for some time, if only because I didn’t feel like riding the bandwagon.
But, in spite of the drudgery that makes up roughly 30% of all fanfiction might have you believe, some bandwagons exist for a reason.
And so it comes to this. Fallout: Equestria may be the single biggest phenomenon of the MLP fan community. Every person who is even only a mild fan likely has heard of or encountered something related to this story at some point. It is, for all intents and purposes, an MLP literary legend. I don’t trust legends. I always go into them expecting the varnish and shining gems to be covering a massive pile of shit.
Ironically, that’s not a completely inaccurate metaphor in this case.
So what is Fallout: Equestria? Many people find the whole thing intimidating. At over 620,000 words, they have a good reason to. Some have referred to it as a long, nonstop pile of pain, darkness and misery. I don’t know how many people have turned away from it on the basis that it’s ‘too dark to handle.’ Frankly, these people are weak and unworthy.
Fallout: Equestria is a story about sacrifice. It is about being the best we can be in the face of the most horrible of realities, facing down monsters, wicked organizations, sheer evil and yes, even ourselves. The pain is a crucible; you must endure it to get to the light. There’s a reason the main character acquired the honorific title ‘The Lightbringer.’
Ah, but let’s get more specific. Fallout: Equestria is a quasi-crossover of My Little Pony and the free-roaming, open-world video game Fallout 3. I say ‘quasi-crossover’ because none of the characters of Fallout 3 are taken into the world of MLP. Instead, Kkat took the concepts within the game and applied them to an Equestrian setting. I'll just add here that this is my favorite kind of crossover, although I prefer to refer to them as 'tributes.'
I had never played Fallout before, so I took the time to do so while reading this story. For those of you unaware, Fallout 3 takes place in an alternate Earth in which the United States and China effectively destroyed the world via nuclear war. Most survivors did so by hiding in specially constructed ‘Vaults:’ underground, self-sustaining bunkers. The game takes place 200 years later when the protagonist escapes his/her vault and explores the wasteland that is the Washington DC area.
In the case of Fallout: Equestria, Equestria and the Zebras got into a war – initially over the limited resources of coal and magical gemstones, but culminating in an all-out and highly misguided religious crusade (and trust me, it makes a lot more sense once you read that in context). In the end, the world was ripped asunder by ‘megaspells,’ the Equestrian equivalent of nuclear war, and almost everypony we know from the show died in a brutal, fiery, radioactive apocalypse. The only survivors are those who managed to hide in Stables – Equestria’s vaults.
In Stable 2, a lonely, unskilled and unhappy young mare named Littlepip is tricked into helping a pony escape the stable. Filled with visions of heroism and adventure, she decides to venture out as well in an attempt to rescue that pony, unaware of the horrors that await her. What follows is a whirlwind adventure of guns, blood, cults of progress, mutants and monsters, death and anger and hatred and shit. And Littlepip, one little mare who only wants to do the right thing, struggles to maintain hope and her own integrity in the face of darkness.
How curious it is that this story spans roughly two-and-a-half months of time… and I read it over ten weeks. And now that it’s over, all I can think of is how sad I am that it is so. No more Applesnack and Xenith, no more Calamity and Velvet Remedy. No more Homage. No more Red Eye and the Goddess. No more Lil’pip. Ten weeks of this, and I wish it wasn’t over.
Those hundreds of fan-fanfictions make sense to me now.
I imagine that it’s obvious by now that I loved this story. It’s a sweeping adventure filled with tons of action, but there’s a lot more to it than just blood and death. I’ve already said so much, and it feels like I’ve only just introduced this review. So, in the name of convenience, let me just cut to the chase and talk about some specifics. Like I’m supposed to.
First, let’s touch upon the actual writing. I’m not even going to bother with typos; with a story this large, they aren’t even worth mentioning beyond that they’re surprisingly uncommon. The story will often times engage in extrapolations and lengthy explanations, but it flows well enough that I almost universally didn’t notice. Some of the lines can be telly, but I was so worked up in the story I didn’t care even when I was aware.
There were two things in particular that bothered me regularly. The first is that the chapters can sometimes be needlessly long. With a story this big, I don’t think dividing up a 50k chapter into a few 10-20k ones is a big challenge, and I actively took note of several places throughout most of the chapters where this could have been done. This leads into my second issue: excessive line breaks. I have no idea how many times Kkat inserted a break in the story only to start right where the break left off. So what was the purpose of the line break? This annoyed me every time it happened. Perhaps if those pointless breaks had been traded for spots to start new chapters?
Let’s move on to atmosphere, specifically in relation to the ‘crossover’ element. I’ve read a few reports from people who claim that Fallout: Equestria is nothing like its source material.
I want to know what the hell they were reading to come to that conclusion, or perhaps what game they're thinking of.
As I said, the story takes the concepts and elements of Fallout 3 and puts them into an Equestrian setting. The way this is handled is, in my view, nothing short of spectacular. If anything, Kkat took the limited and confined requirements of a video game and expanded them into something bigger, better and far more fluid. In the game, you meet someone, do a quest for them, get a reward, then leave, never to see or hear from them again aside from maybe a conversation later. In Fallout: Equestria, actions have meaning and strangers can become friends… or enemies.
Simply put, Kkat took a video game and made it into a book. This means taking the bland, cardboard characters of the DC Wasteland and making them into individuals with feelings, goals, interests and souls.
Yet there are still a ton of similarities that any player will readily recognize. Body looting, ammo collection, resource management, healing items, radiation control, raider outposts, it’s all still there. Equestrian locations have been repurposed to reflect familiar Fallout 3 locales: the Pony of Friendship and Friendship City as Rivet City; the town of Arbu as Andale, with all the same horrors; New Appleloosa as Megaton minus the bomb (“Who’d be crazy enough to keep one of those things lying around?”); even an everlasting DJPon3 to replace Three Dog as your voice in the Equestrian Wasteland. Along the way are a number of in-jokes and references that will fly past the casual reader, but will bring out a smile in the gamers. Locations, phrases, little references, allusions, almost every chapter has something to remind you of exactly what inspired this story, and the deeper you dug into the game, the more you'll recognize. There’s enough familiarity to make the source readily apparent at any given time.
But bear in mind that I read through the first 1/4 of this story without having played the game. From that perspective, I can assure you non-gamers of one thing: you do not have to be familiar with Fallout 3 to be able to easily follow, understand and appreciate Fallout: Equestria. This story is readily accessible to those unaware of the references.
Which brings me to the single biggest drawback for many potential readers: the backstory. It’s powerful and emotional and, as it gradually makes itself known, will tear you up. Bear in mind that this story takes place 200 years after the war; almost every single pony you’ve ever known, loved or hated is dead. Some of them went quick, others lingered. You will learn about several, and their fates will test you, from Diamond Tiara hiding in a tiny room to Rainbow Dash being hunted by one of her oldest friends.
I was indeed tested. The three strongest moments for me: Applejack’s ‘accident’ (distinct anger), the desecration of Luna’s remains (my reaction matched Lil’pip’s), and the last moments of Twilight Sparkle (I stopped reading for a day to let it sink in).
And these are the characters we love from the show. There’s also the pain of the characters we come to love in the journey of the story. They don’t get it easy, either.
But that’s a major part of the story’s point: sacrifice. There will be blood. Characters will die, most of them violently. It isn’t always an honorable or purposeful demise. Sometimes, death would be preferable to the truths revealed. But if you can pull your way through the muck, you’ll find that beneath the ugly realities lay hope, faith, truth and joy.
Therein lies the true strength of this story, the thing that I believe makes it one of the most beloved fictions in our little community. The victories of Littlepip and her friends are victories for all. They remind us of what makes heroes so special. From drug addiction to bringing down massive flying fortresses, it’s not just about physical actions. Though she would regret being referred to as such, The Lightbringer is a hero worthy of our attention and praise. It's at times like this that I think of the speech given by Samwise Gamgee in The Lord of the Rings, where he reflects on the stories that 'really matter.' I dare to say that this is one of those stories.
But I must also turn my attention to the unusual completeness of this story. Despite its vast length, there are things connecting every facet of Lil’pip’s adventure. Things that seem unimportant or long forgotten from the beginning of the story will come back in important ways near the end game. A lesson learned in an early chapter will come back to haunt you long after you’ve forgotten it. This is one of the things that most impresses me about Kkat’s abilities as a writer. Making everything flow together in a way that gives importance to every part of the story is tricky even for short stories. Somehow, even though this thing is a hundred times longer than most people would ever dare to write for one story, Kkat managed to make every chapter be important and relevant to what’s coming.
That’s amazing.
But now, the story is over and I must move on. But I have to admit, this story lives up to the hype in every way it could have. I laughed, I cried, I became furious, I rejoiced, I feared, I found hope. This story has earned its place as the fandom’s literary icon, and I wish it didn’t have to end.
Of course, it doesn’t have to; if anyone wants to recommend one of the spinoffs to me for later reading, by all means do so. Especially if those spinoffs are approved by Kkat and/or feature the characters I’ve come to love.
In the meantime, I will be placing this story on my highest bookshelf and count myself amongst its many, many fans.
Bookshelf: Why Haven’t You Read These Yet?
So Her Legacy Will Endure
By PresentPerfect
Requested by PresentPerfect
*Damn, these crazy tall images!
This was… curious. Apparently, PresentPerfect was watching Friendship Games, noticed the background character Marigold tackling Vice-Principal Luna and decided it would be entertaining to write about exactly why that happened. What started off as a joke turned into something a little bigger and, despite what PP himself might think, I believe it’s for the better.
So Her Legacy Will Endure follows the younger sister of Sour Sweet, Marigold Medley, an excitable and clumsy girl in her freshmen year at Crystal Prep. When the Friendship Games are announced, she immediately concludes that it’s a big event, especially considering it only happens once in a high school career. When nobody else at Crystal Prep is even remotely excited, she concludes that this is wrong and sets out to inspire some school cheer with her friends/cohorts, Twist and Navy.
I suppose the very first thing to get out of the way is the fact that this is a story centering on a bunch of little-known background characters. As such, turn back now if you’re looking for familiar faces. For what it’s worth, PP did a great job creating personalities for Marigold and her two friends, from Twist’s obsession with Sugarcoat to Navy’s penchant for punching as a means of speech therapy.
Ultimately, the story plays out as a replay of the movie, only told from the perspective of Marigold. I tend to like these kinds of stories, especially when handled correctly, and I feel PP handled this one correctly. For one, he doesn’t go through the trouble of reciting every scene and reminding us of the show’s themes – a common mistake with stories of this type – but instead focuses purely on Marigold’s quest with little snippets from the show making themselves known at the appropriate times. It’s like fanservice, but without the pandering (or panties).
A bit of hit or miss for me was Marigold’s sheer determination in the face of catastrophe. That is to say, all hell’s breaking loose as portals to alternate dimensions are opening and monsters are rising up from Tartarus, and all Marigold can think about is how she needs to finish her prior plan to make everyone have school pride. As Fluttershy tried to mention, she’s got some strange priorities. At least the oddity of her determination is recognized in-story; that takes a little off the sting of what would otherwise be a wholly unrealistic reaction to the crazy.
To be honest, this story didn’t ‘stand out’ to me. It’s not that it was bad or uninteresting, it’s that I couldn’t connect with Marigold’s situation. She’s getting excited over a sporting event and, frankly, I find it hard to get enthusiastic about that kind of thing. Add to that my general lack of excited energy for most things – my joy comes out quietly – and I just couldn’t connect. This entirely personal issue shouldn’t get in the way of others, though; the story is fun, the characters are real (or at least as real as they can get in an EqG setting), and the moral lesson is endearing. I think it’s a solid story all around.
If not for that little wall I felt between myself and the main characters, I'd have rated this a level higher.
Bookshelf: Worth It
Miss Sparkle, Psychopath
By Adda le Blue
Re-Read
I recall having mixed feelings the first time I read this story. Once again, I was curious to find how my interpretation would change now that I’ve had a bit more experience and knowledge under my belt.
Miss Sparkle, Psychopath begins when Rarity and the gang discover that Rainbow Dash has been trapped in Twilight’s basement for two weeks and apparently has been brainwashed into being head-over-hooves in love and subservient to “Miss Sparkle.” When Twilight and Spike return from their trip to Canterlot, things rapidly spiral out of control as they try to understand what happened. Soon Spike is found in a similar state (minus the love part). As the remaining group begin pouring over the evidence, Rarity begins to suspect Twilight is guilty. Twilight finds herself in a desperate fight to prove her innocence, with all her friends doubting her, Rarity out for justice and a brainwashed Rainbow her only aid.
This story comes with powerful emotions, some strong action sequences and a whole lot of mystery. I think the very first thing to talk about is Rarity, who takes on the most interesting role as Twilight’s primary antagonist. She quickly concludes Twilight’s guilt and works fiercely to stop her, but her conclusions are based entirely on circumstantial evidence and theories. Her hard-headed refusal to even consider alternate possibilities – even plausible ones – and hunt down the ‘villain’ gives me an image of a inquisitor on a self-righteous warpath.
The funny thing is, I don’t find this to be OOC of her. Instead, I think Adda le Blue simply took Rarity’s dark parts and accentuated them to exaggerated levels. In my opinion, Rarity could indeed descend to these depths under the right conditions, although whether this story produced those conditions or not is up to interpretation. Even so, I can easily see people being turned off by this foray into closed-minded extremism (and she really does take it to the farthest extremes).
For my part, we’re talking about brainwashing. I’ve made it clear my position on that subject in the past, and I think Rarity’s revulsion is warranted.
Even so, I wish Rarity could have set her case a bit more appropriately. As mentioned, sometimes she completely ignores sound arguments in favor of her anger-induces conclusions. In one instance, when Twilight reminds her that the Elements would never pick a psychopath as a bearer, Rarity actually plays down the importance of the Mane 6’s achievements of the last two years by suggesting the Elements ‘aren’t picky,’ and therefor anypony could bond to them. This is such a terrible self-directed insult, and she doesn’t even notice.
Then she uses counteracting logic. In one scene, Twilight and Rainbow are staying at Carousel Boutique and Rainbow remarks that two ponies could fit through Rarity’s window. Rarity immediately latches on to this and claims that Rainbow carried Twilight out the window in order to get to another victim in the middle of the night… forgetting that Twilight can teleport, so the size of the window is of no consequence. But later, when Twilight is in prison and asks to be moved back to the boutique and not try to escape, Rarity’s immediate counter is “I know you can teleport.”
...so if you know Twilight can teleport, how is Rainbow Dash confirming the size of a window any evidence of anything other than that she’s flown through a few windows in her time?
Rarity’s arguments bothered me, because at least some of them made no sense. But again, her arguments highlight her role as a crusader on a witch hunt, and given her rampaging emotional state it’s pretty clear she wasn’t all there. It makes for an interesting dynamic that is hard to accept, but also hard to refute.
Moving on, we have plot holes. Most of them are minor, but these things are high on my list of importance. For example, when did the villain get Spike and how is it that nopony noticed? How is it Celestia managed to fly from Ponyville to Appleloosa and back in less than a day (and if she’s that fast, what does she need a royal chariot for?). Also, at the time Celestia went to Appleloosa, Twilight and Rainbow were on the road to said town… so how is it that they didn’t cross paths at all? How did Celestia know that the villain was the real psychopath when she has barely had a few minutes of time to even see him and nopony told her? Again, these aren’t necessarily big things, but to me they are glaring mistakes.
Then there’s the villain. One of the things that seems so great about the story is the question “who dun it?” As I recall from my first read-through, I was constantly throwing out theories and making guesses based on the evidence laid out before me. There’s this constant shift in suspicion, making you think this or that pony may be responsible, with suspects ranging from Pinkie to Rarity herself to even Trixie at one point (I was so certain her name wouldn’t have come up without good reason. Silly me.).
Then you find out who the real antagonist is, and the immediate response is: "who?" I guarantee with almost 100% certainty that you won’t recognize the design or the name. Is this guy an OC, a little-used background pony, or some minor character you forgot about? If you’re like me, you’ll immediately start searching through the MLP wiki for evidence that this pony even exists canonically.
And there’s the problem: there are no proper hints. None whatsoever. A good mystery supplies little clues that gives the reader a chance to guess at the ultimate bad guy. When it’s over, the reader should be able to look back and say “Oh! That’s why X happened and we saw Y at this time and that led to Z in chapter N!” Having a puzzle that can be put together is a major part of the fun of mysteries, challenging the reader to get it right before the characters can and providing enough links to paint a proper picture.
None of that exists here, specifically because the villain doesn’t exist until the story’s almost over. It’s basically a case of Dues ex Machina. Finding out that the antagonist was somepony I’ve never heard of, who got only a single appearance in all of MLP and that for maybe a couple seconds, knowing that guessing who the bad guy is is literally impossible, all of that made the overarching mystery feel cheap.
All in all, my feelings towards this story remain mixed. There are some great elements to it; again the emotions are real and the reactions feel legitimate. It’s a fun story on the whole, and Rarity in particular makes it interesting as I warred with myself over acceptance and distaste towards her behavior. But unfortunate plot holes and a villain that makes the mystery seem pointless really hurt the story in my eyes. Add to that a poor use of pronouns – which leads to some thoroughly confusing dialogue – and a few weird narrative decisions and it drops even further.
It’s not a magnificent story, but I’m still glad to have read it.
Bookshelf: Worth It
The original was amusing, if not spectacular. The sequel?
Now that’s more like it!
Schadenfreude is a pony who truly lives up to his name. As you may recall from my review of the original, his special talent is taking delight in the misfortune of others, and he’s more than happy to cause said misfortune. He was assigned to act as Prince Blueblood’s personal butler by Celestia, who hoped his direct approach would tame the arrogant prince. But in this story, Blueblood gets the opportunity to be temporarily rid of him by ‘volunteering’ Schadenfreude to help the newly crowned Princess Twilight with reorganizing the Royal Library (apparently for stress relief).
Then Twilight sees his cutie mark: a crooked sign.
She needs to fix it. It needs to be straight. And she will do whatever she can to make it happen.
The results are hilarious and I laughed right along with him.
Once again, a short and silly story with no purpose other than to make you laugh. It works wonderfully. The only reason it’s not among my favorites is that I believe that shelf should be reserved for stories with a greater purpose, but make no mistake, this was a great one. I am so looking forward to reading the sequel.
Bookshelf: Pretty Good
Stories for Next Week:
Influence by Sapidus3
Famous Last Words by Titanium Dragon
The Incandescent Brilliance by KitsuneRisu
Of Birds and Bees and Awkward Things by JoeShogun (Re-Read)
Mistletrapped by Titanium Dragon (Completed Story)
Liked these reviews? Check out some others:
Paul's Thursday Reviews XV
Paul's Thursday Reviews XVI
Paul's Thursday Reviews XVII
Paul's Thursday Reviews XVIII
Paul's Thursday Reviews XIX
Paul's Thursday Reviews XX
Paul's Thursday Reviews XXI
Jeremy's New Years Reviews!
Paul's Thursday Reviews XXII
Paul's Thursday Reviews XXIII
Want me to review your story? Send me a request! Check my profile page for rules.
I'm glad you found the same kind of emotional journey in Fallout: Equestria as I did. Though I never really got past the shippy-ness of Homage, and thought I found the end a little lacklustre after 600k words, it's quite a marvel in and of itself – well worthy of it's iconic status.
In fact, it's more-or-less the only big-named icon that I actually enjoyed, and I have come to believe that it's because the other authors just can't torment their characters properly.
As for next week, I'm looking forward to seeing what you have to say about The Incandescent Brilliance. Trixie fics are such an instant turn-off for me (another reason why The Magician and The Detective is pure genius) that I'm interested in what someone else might see in it.
I need to reread it, it's one of the few works that have had such an effect on me.
Are you going to read Somber's even longer spinoff? It was finished just last year and manages even more grimdark.
All 1.7 million words are getting uploaded to Fimfiction.
I think you're low by about 60 percent.
But congratulations for making it through one of the fandom's time-destroyers, and cool to hear that it was worth the effort. I'm looking forward to next week, too, because The Incandescent Brilliance hit me super hard (and even spawned the response microfic "Stellar Fire") and I can't wait to see what you thought.
FoE. 600k words. Well, this will muck up my writing schedule for a while. I've been avoiding it up to this point. Now it looks like I should go ahead. Darnit.
I really want to read FO:E, but there's a big problem that I have with running into characters that I love ending up dead. It hits me too much, I think, and I feel too deeply and it ends up affecting me in a mostly negative way so that I have to fight to forget that I read it.
It's a weakness, sure, and one that I probably need to overcome at some point. But that it has hope in it helps. At some point I probably will read it. Probably after I've written a few of my own dark stories, so I can more properly appreciate what went into it. At present, I haven't written any really dark stories, or even stories with darker elements.
I had avoided FO:E for so long just because I don't know that much about the Fallout setting (and didn't enjoy the games much). Good to know that it's not that kind of crossover, because it does sound interesting.
I've tried:
Four times to read Fallout: Equestria and have never gotten past about chapter ten. I'm one of the weak and unworthy ones, I'm guessing...
Mike
PP originally wrote "So Her Legacy Will Endure" as part of an anthology of silly EqG stories, but this one wasn't funny. Well, it has its moments, but it was more a real story than a collection of jokes, and because of that, it felt out of place in there, mispurposed even. So I henceforth ordered him to make it a separate story so I could put it on Equestria Daily. No, it's not the most amazing plot, but what stuck out to me was the character work. These are immediately very distinctive and memorable characters. From Marigold's ineffable enthusiasm to Navy's penchant for repeating the first word of everything she says, to Twist fighting her lisp (I'd like to think PP got the idea for that from "Let a Smile be Your Umbrella," but he probably didn't), the characters just jump off the page, and it's fun to watch them. That last dynamic is an interesting one, too. Twist never acts resentful toward Navy for punching her, so one wonders if she's the one who came up with that, or at least Twist recognizes that Navy's trying to be helpful. It doesn't come across as bullying to me, and it easily could have.
3703536 There's just zip about the whole premise that appeals to me in the least, so I've never even tried it. Plus it'd take me, and I'm not exaggerating, about a month to read, and that means doing no writing of my own or letting EqD's submission queue get backed up far beyond the point of no return.
Actually, no, the whole joke was that it would be funny if one of the students tackled her to get the pennant because it was the only one in sight; that scene never happened in the movie. :B The rest of the story spiraled out of me thinking that it would be even funnier if said student was a screw-up who had made this their greatest life goal, only to be sorely overshadowed by the epic magic duel.
Of course, now you need to read Fast Times at Stinky Sugar. :V You are allowed to go entry by entry.
Okay but seriously, I challenge you to read Project Horizons now. You are allowed to wait until it's all on Fimfic before you start, though given how much is there already, it could always finish by the time you catch up. (This is your punishment for having nothing bad to say about FoE. >:V)
Anyway, might actually read FoE now... maybe. The length is a bit intimidating... 620,000 words? Damn...
Well, now you just have to read Fallout Equestria: Lesbians.
3702475
I didn't mind the anticlimactic ending. From my perspective, the ending suggested a coming of peace. The time for drama had passed, the world was settling down, the battles are done. It struck me as symbolic regarding the progress that had been made.
And I loved Homage's parts. I'll admit that I'm a shipper, so I'm a little biased, but even so, Homage's presence and purpose worked well to remind Littlepip and the reader that the world isn't all brutality and death and pain.
3702638
Wow, now that's big. I've heard positive and negative things about it, and I think I can handle the wordcount. I'll add it to my RiL and see if I can't stomach it.
3702655
To be honest, I did lower my original estiamte a bit in order to avoid the appearance of exaggeration. Maybe that was a mistake?
I think I'll add Never the Last Word to my RiL. When I finally get to it, maybe I'll be able to review individual stories from it rather than the whole thing.
3702704
We shall see if you can handle it. Good luck!
3702869
For me, the harder a story hits, the more I like it. My theory is that, if you've grown attached and can feel pain along with the characters, the writer is doing something right. I thrive on high-emotion tales.
3703200
Glad to clear that up! I tend to avoid crossovers too, for much the same reasons. And also because they're usually pretty bad.
3703536
You weak, pathetic fool!
But no, I get it. Some people just can't take that kind of thing.
3703637
The characterization is pretty strong, and from that perspective I think you did well to promote it as an example of that.
3703740
I didn't have nothing bad to say about FO:E! I just gushed so much the negatives got outweighed.
But yes, I'm seriously considering reading Horizons, if only because it's got a pretty large following. I've already proven myself organized (and strong-willed) enough to be able to spread out such stories over an extreme duration. I'll still wait for it to finish being uploaded, but only because I intend to be absolutely certain it's all there. There's nothing I like less than having to wait for stories to finish.
3704503
Fusion. Yeah, that works.
3704929
I wanted to laugh. but then I realized that – with this fandom, and the characters of Littlepip and Homage as guideposts – that might actually exist.
Well, this was unexpected. Thanks for the review, man!
It is an actual story here on FimFiction! Just a short comedy piece, but I found it amusing.
Horizons is an interesting one. I'm waiting for it to finish popping up herebso I can finish it off. It's basically more of everything. Some places it really seemed like!e it was trying to one up the original. Still, there is a really good story equal to FO: E in there, if you can slog through everything.
3705135 Project horizons is best read as five separate books to be honest. So instead of a almost 2M words fanfic, think of it as 5 400k ones
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I may still go through it all in one go. Otherwise it'll just take me longer to get through the whole thing.
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Trying to one up the original? I find myself curious as to how. I mean, seriously, how do you set out to write something to one up a story like that?
Project Horizons is . . . a project in and of itself really. I made it to chapter 55 before I just gave up. Real big case of Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy. Like if the Tomb Raider Reboot from a couple years ago was eighty hours long and rated AO. I don't know if Somber was consciously trying to surpass Fallout: Equestria, but I can understand why some people would make that accusation.
I think a large part of my problem was timing. During its initial run, chapters would come out around once every month, so readers had time to digest every chapter, but I started the story once it was finished (on Gdocs) and quickly found myself just being beaten down into a bog of saturated pain. But I digress, maybe you'll like it, maybe you won't, but if you're looking for finished FOE spinoffs, then you're sorely strapped for options I'm afraid.
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Of course I am. Oh well, I'll get to read at least something eventually. I'm most certainly going to be reading Horizons at some point, I'm just going to wait for it to be published in its entirety on FIMFiction.
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Yep. Of course, there are two completed stories that I am aware of: Starlight which I have not read, is 600k and and looks to be fairly well received, and Pink Eyes, which I did read, and enjoyed. It's 134k, which is positively puny relative to most FOE fare, but its in the vein of the earlier Fallout Games, which were very nonsensical.
Other than that, there are the 'Big Three of Fimfiction' which were the three highest FOE spinoffs on Fimfiction (before PH and the original were published on the site), they are: Heroes, Murky Number Seven, and Memories.
Have fun!
Actually Paul, Fallout Equestria is more than just Fallout 3. The ruins of Canterlot is the ruined Sierra Madre from the Dead Money DLC for Fallout: New Vegas, and there's lots of references to the other games in the series.
I'm glad to see you have read it. The death of Rarity got me for a mean minute, and Pinkie's last moments as well. There were a couple times when reading the original and Project Horizons where I just had to put them down and not think for a while or else I'd cry.