Potential Story 01 - My Little Nerf: Squads are Magic Girls

So I have ideas for stories. A METRIC FLANK TON of ideas. Some of these are personal projects that I want to keep myself for a while. They're passion projects, my babies, and I don't feel ready to show them off yet. Plus there's that crippling fear of being called out as a plagiarist when I have absolutely no idea of any stories even resembling what I'm working on.

But there are some stories I have in mind that are rather...I hate to say generic, but they're some rather common ideas that have most likely been done before. And I'd like to tap into that experience well to better refine my stories. So welcome to the first of my Blog series: Potential Story! A series where I can get helpful ideas, inspiration, and motivation to actually write instead of lounge around watching YouTube all day!

This is the first of such stories, tentatively named "My Little Nerf". Combining two Hasbro properties and one of them doesn't even have a story to it? That sounds easy! In this case, it's Nerf! More specifically, a Nerf Wars and Humans vs Zombies. I'm sure there are at least a handful of people that'll see this and know what those mean. Those people can immediately skip past the quotation box and get on with the point of this blog post. But for everyone else, I'll give you an exposition dump.

*FLUTTERSHY YAY CHAAAAAARGE*

So a Nerf War and HvZ are game types that the fans of the Nerf brand have made and refined over the years of the brand's existence. There are many variations on the game types, but I'll give a general blanket overview, as I have little experience with these outside second-hand information.

A Nerf War can be like your usual First-Person Shooter multiplayer matches. Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, etc. If you've played or heard of any Call of Duty, Halo, or Battlefield type of video game, you most likely know what these are. There are multiple different variations you can play, and some that only work with Nerf, but that's about your usual fare. HvZ, on the other hand, is entirely different.

--Humans versus Zombies. When you hear it, you may think "oh, Zombie hoard survival like in a video game, yeah?" Noooooo. It's a beast all its own. Ever heard of Live Action Role Play? You probably have and just don't know it. Yeah, it's the stereotype of the "basement dwellers" dressing up in crappy costumes and acting out their D&D session either in the park or a large backyard. Thing is, though, HvZ is actually pretty cool. And it can span entire collage campuses.
--There are two teams: Humans and Zombies. The zombies start out with a small number, and are unidentifiable until they make their first kill. They very quickly grow into a mob, as Humans can be turned into Zombies, but Zombies respawn after a set amount of time and cannot be turned back into Humans or removed from the game at all.
--Games of HvZ can be as casual as "survive until X date" or as intricately crafted as a sprawling D&D campaign, with game mechanics, rules, a flourishing multi-year story, and so much more. One guy in the US owns a large plot of land and dedicates it to yearly HvZ games with an ongoing canon and CELESTIA DAMNED TOWNS BUILT OUTTA PLYWOOD AND SCRAP METAL LIKE AN ACTUAL ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE.
--Still don't believe me? Then watch these videos by Captain Xavier. He's a legendary Nerf Modder, creator of the feared Eir and the dreaded Tyr. The way he tells his stories is so good, and it's partially what inspired the fic idea.

There are people that modify their blasters to perform better, but at the risk of possibly hurting someone at close ranges; especially children. Thus modded blaster rules will vary from game to game, at the discretion of the host(s)/Game Master(s).

*whew* With that out of the way, here's the idea:

I know for sure that I want to make at least two stories, one Nerf War and one HvZ, both taking place at Camp Everfree with potential for sequels should the demand be there. And to give you an idea of the kind of madness I have in store, here's some character bios for one of the teams in the Nerf War. They were not written in the order they're listed in. Some will be rather boring, and some will have channeled my inner Death Battle announcer.

Team Rainboom, the closest one can get to a legitimate spec-ops team on the field of Nerf.

In Nerf Wars, Applejack prefers the RIVAL series of blasters for their naturally better performance and lower profiles. She enjoys getting up close and personal, making sure you know who took you out. Thus she favors the Hades as her primary blaster, with a Zeus secondary and a Kronos sidearm. But when faced with certain objectives such as King of the Hill or timed point holds, she busts out the Prometheus and a backpack filled to the brim with ammo; ready to lay waste to any poor sap that gets caught in her sights.

If you could describe Fluttershy's playstyle in one word, it would be "hide". Fluttershy doesn't like non-critter things flying towards her fast enough to bounce off. But she wanted to help her friends in their game and spend more time with them. As a result, she will usually hole up somewhere and provide extra ammunition to her friends as needed. In the event she's found and none of her friends can help, she has a series of emergency Jolts hidden on her person; usually up her sleeves or in a boot. This keeps her covered long enough for one of her friends to come and lend some aid.

Pinkie Pie. For most players, that's enough to know that they should immediately turn the other way and run for the hills. She can seemingly pull any blaster, old or new, right out of her pink poofy hair; regardless of size or practicality. But she does have her favorite little Doomlands oddballs that she likes to keep on her person.
On her left hip she carries a reverse-holstered Lawbringer, and will reach across her body to draw it purely for the cool factor. Across her back is a carrier for her Vagabond, with which she pulls out the Terminator quotes. But the first thing anyone sees is in her hands. Her baby: The Judge. Armed with The Judge and a bookful of Judge Dredd quotes, she's taken down swarms of players single-handed; somehow able to reload faster than the eye can see.
All any Nerfer in Canterlot and the surrounding county knows for sure is one thing: If you even think that there's even a hint of pink coming towards you, get outta the way.

Like her best bass buddy, Rainbow Dash opts for the RIVAL blaster line in your standard Nerf War. Specialized in speed and agility over all else, Rainbow fields the Hera for its speed of reload and easily stored magazines; though is known to take an Artemis and a Kronos in the event her mags run dry. She often runs Capture the Flag missions for her team, or does advanced scouting when the team needs to be relatively stationary.

Rarity lives to look stunning; no matter what she's doing. Fashion and glamour is her life. As such, she chose to design two custom paint jobs for her dual Sweet Revenges, along with various outfits to go with them. She's not too serious a combatant, usually keeping to the rear and covering Fluttershy. She doesn't mind not firing her blasters much, just so long as her clothes are clean and she's looking marvelous. But if you manage to make her mad, you had better watch out for her twin HyperFires with SciTwi Custom fifty-round drum magazines and a firing rate on par with Applejack's Prometheus.

Sunset Shimmer has long since realized a truth about her life: she has always fought her battles from a distance. A long time ago, her reasons were rather arrogant. If she was to get her hands dirty, it would only be on those she deemed worthy of her attention least she not waste her time on something Snips or Snails could have done. Especially if those worthy few needed a more physical reminder of why she was the Alpha Dog of CHS. Though now, despite assurances from her friends, she holds herself back out of fear that her fiery temper will make her backslide into her old ways. As a result of her lingering self-doubt, she personally handcrafted her arsenal so she could become a true Nerf Sniper.
Her arsenal started off as the three original unique AccuStrike Blasters - the AlphaHawk, FalconFire, and RaptorStrike - but they quickly became much more than their original forms.
Her AlphaHawk has become a beast of a rifle, able to pop off all five shots quickly and load in an entirely new cylinder before an opponent can retaliate. Her FalconFire is now semi-automatic with a six-round internal magazine. Together they get her from post to post, keeping her safe from the fierce mid-to-close ranged players. But they're absolutely nothing compared to her pride and joy.
The Phoenix, her modified RaptorStrike, is now the true definition of a Sniper's Rifle; able to tag any target from three city blocks away thanks to a custom designed compressed air system and sealed brass breach barrel; meticulously tested to ensure proper force for the distance without significant pain received by the target.
With these tools, Sunset has become the default leader of the team; able to see the entire battlefield from her bird's eye views and direct her friends accordingly. A brilliant strategist, an expert marksman, and potentially deadly up close, all fear the day when they must cross her in combat.

Twilight "SciTwi" Sparkle is, in essence, the team's engineer. She's the one who modifies every blaster the girls use, tailors each dart or ball to be the best they could possibly be, and even performs field repairs when needed.
Twilight owns the entire Modulus line of blasters and blaster accessories, and swaps between loadouts depending on game-type and objectives to be played. But her standard loadout is a Regulator without the scope and barrel attachments, a modified full-auto Stryfe for a six-round distraction flurry, and even gets in a few tags with the knife bayonet and the foam 'sockbombs'.
Rumor even has it that she's working on simulation trip mines and grenades that scatter RIVAL balls everywhere. But that's just a rumor......right?

Team Dazzle
Coming Soon

Team Illusion
Coming Soon

Team ClassicWub
Coming Soon

The Muffin
Coming Soon

And with that, I turn it over to you guys! What do you think so far? What could I add? What could I remove? What game types should be in the Nerf War? How should I write out the HvZ event? I'll leave that up to you to suggest as this is long enough as is! I look forward to comments!