An open letter to KKat; From One Wasterlander to Another... · 5:22pm Aug 3rd, 2018
Good evening Children of the Wastelands!
... I am about to wear my heart my sleeve. Apologies for those with a nervous disposition!
I just wrote a letter to KKat. “Why? They’ll never read it! That’s crazy! You’re crazy!” I know, I know, but it was something I had to do. It was closure for me.
I’m about to put it here for you to read. There’s a section in which I make a small request, if anyone else finds a way to help me accomplish what I request, I would be eternally grateful.
I’d like to share this with you all too because it is the reason I want to keep telling you all the stories I have, from MLP, Fallout and then my own imagination and life. I’ll let you read now, but know that I am opening this to everyone because you’ve always got to have hope, and believe that someone out there also needs to hear what you have to say...
Dear KKat,
I’m not expecting you to read this. Heck, I’m not expecting you to even notice it. You probably get thousands of these a day and you have a rule set up in your mailbox to ensure they slide nice and neatly into your junk folder. I would not blame you for that.
However, I wanted to write this with hope in my heart that somehow, someday, maybe accidentally, maybe on a curious whim whilst browsing that overfollowing, greedy junkbox, you stumbled on this and chose to read it.
My name is Matt, AKA Duskhoof, from Nottingham, England, I’m writing to express my gratitude and to ask a very small favour. That last bit might sound a bit ominous, “oh dear, they want me to send a signed bag of my stool again, don’t they,” but please trust me. It’s nothing like that.
Firstly; the gratitude. ‘Fallout: Equestria’ means a lot to me, which is something else I’m certain you hear a lot. However, my personal reasons for loving this story are not just because it is a well told tale with gripping twists, strong knowledge of the shows and games it was based on and well-loved characters (although those are some damn good reasons). For me, this story was the keystone in my doorway to my desires to become an author.
Let me sent the scene (edit; oh dear. I did say it was unchecked, didn’t I? Set the scene, I think I mean. HEY! That rhymes! Anyway...); there’s a kid, bullied in school, few friends, no relationships. All he has is a desire to write and tell stories, so he studies English Literature and Language, keeps boxes and cupboards worth of story ideas and holds that goal in his heart. However, he never wins the writing competitions he enters, he’s never good enough. Sounds eerily familiar, when I write it like that.
His confidence knocked, he drops the belief in his writing abilities and starts doing 9-5 jobs, falls in love, has his heart broken. A friend introduces him to a My Little Pony Rolyplaying chatroom, and he gets into it. Through that, he watches the show, signs on to the fandom and eventually begins reading (and listening to) the story of Little Pip and her friends.
The story lit up a spark within him that he didn’t know was still there, a need to write that could only be quelled by putting pen to paper. Before he knew it, he had the draft of three stories told 100 years before the birth of Pip, but that had beneficial consequences to the events in the story you wrote.
That’s where I am now. I have notes; so, so many notes. I am excited for where I am going. I know that once my third and final prequel is written, I will go on to tell more stories; stories about a clairvoyant girl who hides her abilities due to the stigma and questions of her mentality that her mother raises, stories about a group of orphans who steal a space ship and become protectors of a Universe far, far away, stories of an adventurer who has to find his place in a world where all the artefacts have already been found and old tombs raided. These tales will come to be told one day and it’s thanks to you that you gave me the courage to tell them.
For that, and for everyone who does not say it to you, thank you.
Now I’m getting to the point of my badly written and unedited letter where I ask that favour. I promised it was small, and I truly hope it is.
I want to buy a copy of the Fallout: Equestria book. I want to be able to annotate it, make notes, stick stickynotes into it and study it. The English Literature lessons drilled into me the importance of having a hard copy of a book that you can own and understand, and I severely want to be able to do that here.
I wondered if you knew where I could get one? I am prepared to pay what is needed because this is important to me, perhaps the most important purchase of my life.
Don’t worry if you have no clue where I can start, I know there’s a PDF version I can print, but as I’ve said, as an English student, there’s nothing like having a book in your hands to work from.
I have a lot of ideas for my stories, and I don’t want to spoil any of them, but getting my hands on that book would help. Thank you for even thinking about it, no matter whether you cannot or do not do anything to help me.
I think I’ve come to the part of the letter where I close and walk away from this, knowing it’s in the laps of Celestia and Luna. I’m going to close by saying; I’m ready to be good enough now, and it’s thanks to you.
My English teacher wrote, ‘all good things,’ on a bag I used to own on my last day of Sixth Form (one British college option, the other being... well, college) and it’s a sentiment I share at the end of every message I write.
Always wishing you good things, no matter what you do next.
Sincerely,
Matt R. Brooks
Duskhoof.
That’s it, in its entirety. Unedited, unchecked... oh merciful Celestia what have I done.
All *mumble* things
The Idiotic and Foolish Duskhoof.
I do hope that KKat reads your letter, Dusk and that it moves them as much as it me to read it.
I know from my experiences that receiving this kind of thanks, knowing you've inspired others, brings the greatest glow of satisfaction there can be.
Good luck to you and good things to you as well.
4913416
Thanks Olden, that means a lot! Good luck to you too
I sent a seemingly innocuous message to Kkat asking what Crossroad’s cutie mark was since it was never mentioned in the story. I never thought I’d get a response, but I did giving me creative freedom to create her a cutie mark.
So you never know kkat might reply to your more sincere letter if they replied to my out there question.
4913576
That's inspiring :D Thanks for the heads up
Not too many people are comfortable with putting their hearts out like this. Especially to someone they don't know said person.
I only hope that they find this a moving and motivating as I did. (I know I would if someone sent a letter like this to me.) Keep doing what you love to do. Might have to give your story a read too, do I need to read the original story?
4913751
Thanks :3 I do like your style of writing as well.
I think you can read the story as a stand alone piece of fiction. Although thanks for saying this, it’s made me realise how careful I have to be about the ver ending of the stories that I was planning...
I do not know if Kkat will read it since you misgender her =P
4913862
*Whistles as he quickly edits that!* oppsie!