From One Fallout to the Next - War Still Never Changes

Hello readers,

Seeing as this is my very first blog post ever, technically my first bit of public activity at all on FiMFiction (not including the stuff you can't see yet), I feel the need to introduce myself to all of you. My name is Michael, but you may call me Elo. I've been writing all kinds of stories for a number of years now. Ever since I was in elementary school. My muse has been rather on and off for the past few years, however, I've always considered it a passion of mine. The genres of my stories have normally been within the same categories. Mostly catering to my own interests and those who share my interests.

Stories of dragons, humans with super powers, and anthropomorphic animals playing intense video games. Science-fiction, action-adventure, and romance. Gradually improving as the years went by. My interest in "role-play" certainly helped keep me writing even when I found myself unable to continue the various projects I had started for myself. Despite how much I liked to write though, I've never been much of a reader, and have read only a small collection of works throughout my life so far. I'm rather picky when it comes to things I'm willing to read. If it doesn't hold my interest long enough, I find myself abandoning the story, and this has sadly been the case for hundreds of pieces.

Which takes me to the case at hand. Fallout: Equestria.

First of all, allow me to say that when I originally discovered the title, I hadn't the slightest interest in it.

"Fallout and My Little Pony? That's stupid! It could never work, they're too different, and too many things would conflict with one another. Whoever thought writing a crossover fanfiction with these two things is obviously stupid and needs to reconstruct their perspectives."

Kkat, it is with great pleasure that I inform that you not only made me eat my words, but you made me choke and die on them as well.

Before that, though. As I said when I first discovered the story I had less than no interest in reading it. My opinion on the very idea was beyond negative and I'm regretful of how I felt about it. What initially sparked the change in my own perspective, however, was a good friend of mine. One slow and rather boring day I had been browsing the role-play profiles of my friends on a pony role-playing website. I took notice of the fact that my friend (Techno) had "Fallout: Equestria - original characters."

"There it was again, Fallout: Equestria, and since when was it a sub-fandom?"

So I went to Techno on Skype and began talking to him about it. He of course recommended the story to me, praising it, and insisting I give it a chance. Now I trust my friends, they wouldn't recommend something to me unless they truly believed it was genuinely worth recommending, so finally I caved.
"Fine. I'll read the prologue, and chapter or two. It'll probably be some generic Fallout clichés and junk like that, but whatever. If I don't like it, I can stop any time."

Needless to say, I read the entire thing, even the Afterworld (Ten Years Later).

When I read the Prologue, it immediately gave me a sense that everything about to occur had already long since passed in the character's timeline. There's a strange sense of urgency to it. Like whatever is happening, or about to happen, it's beyond our comprehension. Leaving us curious. At least that's how I felt at first. It left me curious, at best, but I still wasn't convinced that this piece was going to be any good.

As I continued reading, however, I was never satisfied with the amount I had read. Each chapter simply leaving me with more curiosities. Slowly but surely dragging me in. Things really picked up after the first chapter too. It was quite a bold start to the story, especially when Calamity was first introduced, since he practically straight up murdered our protagonist.

Yeah, yeah! I know it was a misunderstanding.

The story goes on, or more accurately I kept reading, and suddenly things got a little interesting. LittlePip's reaction a Stable that wasn't her own. I swore that I could feel LittlePip's disgust. This place, too much like the one she grew up in, but twisted and altered for new purposes. It was like somebody was trying to play god. Forcing this change upon future generations without them having the slightest clue of the deception. The very thought of this made my skin crawl.

Next thing I know. DJ-Pon-3 is being introduced, the fill-in for Three-Dawg, and my mood shot straight up! Three-Dawg was one of my most favorite characters in Fallout 3. I was glad to see Kkat incorporating her own version of the disk-jockey. More curiosities filled my mind as DJ spoke though, how did he know two Stable-Dwellers left their Stable, and how did he know what they both had been doing since they left? Granted we're asking ourselves this all the time in Fallout 3.

"How did he know I disarmed that bomb...? How did he know I saved Arefu? How could he know about my success at Tenpenny Tower?"

Not only that, but DJ-Pon-3 (more specifically Vinyl Scratch) is my favorite character from the show, and I thought it was quite spectacular that her legacy lived on throughout 200 years. I felt like whoever this Vinyl Scratch was, that I was going to like them.

So I read on, and on, and on. I couldn't stop myself! This story was just so spectacularly written. All the characters had certain charms to them that made you like them, all the locations described with as much detail as possible, and the threats made to be the most threatening they could be.

On top of everything else? The references.

--Every second Homage was quiet felt like an anvil falling on my head. Followed by a hay cart. Followed by a piano. --

Let's take a moment to fully appreciate this reference...

...

...

...

You're welcome.

I'm sure this story has a fair share of other references too. Quite frankly, I'm rather oblivious, and the only reason I spotted this one was because of how painfully obvious it was. Still I loved it. Not as much as the next scene though!

LittlePip going to Homage. Desperate for love, for somebody to hold as her own, and to love her back. She begs Homage for a sign of anybody out there who'd be interested in her. At first Homage's response seems... Uncertain. Like she wishes she could help LittlePip, but is doubtful that she'll be able to find anyone for her, but then...

“LittlePip, I said I might.”

OH. OH MY GOD. YES! I SHIP IT, I SHIP IT SO HARD.

Now every story has it's ups and downs. This may or may not be an understatement for this particular piece, okay no it definitely is, but hear me out. When this got rough they got intense. Impending doom was alright right around the corner for our heroes. Considering the fact that this was the wasteland. I never expected there to be a chance for a happy ending. Every step of the way I laughed, I cheered, I screamed, I cried, I raged, and my heart was all over the place.

Then there was that silver lining at the very end. Bringing about one of the most heartbreaking bittersweet endings I've ever read. All in all I need to say that Fallout: Equestria is one of the absolute best stories I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

You're probably wondering what the point of this blog is by now, or maybe you aren't, but I'll tell you anyways. The point wasn't to simply praise Kkat and her "masterpiece" of a story. I can't even call it a masterpiece despite how good a lot of things are within the story. Despite the plot being good and the characters being lovable, there were numerous grammatical errors, and sometimes sentences were worded in ways that didn't quite make sense. My reason for writing this blog was to inform on the level of inspiration her story had provided to me.

Her story was the seed of a tree that's grown beautifully over the years, it's blossomed into a love tree, and it's not spreading its own seeds about. Maybe one day it'll be a forest. Wouldn't that be neat? Well, my point is that her story inspired me to love the idea- the concept of "fallout and ponies," and it's driven me to try my hand at the idea myself.

In case you didn't understand that unintelligible rambling. What I'm basically saying is that I plan to write a new Fallout: Equestria story. No, it won't be "Fallout: Equestria 2," and no it won't even be apart of the same universe. It won't even be named "Fallout: Equestria" for obvious reasons. This new story will take place in a completely different version of our war ravaged Equestria, with a whole new cast of characters, and concepts incorporated from numerous sources. So far I've written Chapters One and Two. Chapter Three is currently in progress.

The plot won't really be anything like the original. There will be concepts inspired by it, plenty of references for the amusement of those who've read it, but I plan to try and make the story follow the guidelines of "Fallout 3." In no way will it be the same. Of course there will be more than one conflict, there will be success and failure along the way, and our protagonist will have to endure a lot during his adventures. I'm absolutely certain it'll be great though!

In no way do I think it'll be as amazing a tale as the original story created by Kkat. Though I do hope that it brings the readers enough satisfaction to read it all the way through. Who knows, perhaps even Kkat herself will be interested in the story, and read it too. That would be kinda neat, wouldn't it? I don't really plan on releasing any chapters until I've finished a handful of them. Unless of course there is a demand for it (which I doubt but I guess it could happen). For now, I just want people to know that it's in the making, there's even some cover art being made. I guess if anyone is looking forward to this. You have all that to look forward to.