Chapters 1-6 rewritten/revised as of March 2024. 7 in progress as of May.
I was always told that the world below was barren and fallow. Poisoned. Unfit for life. I always believed that, trusted that. In my ignorance, I had no recourse but to believe that. Then, one day, I saw for myself that the world below our bountiful field of clouds wasn’t quite so dead as I’d been told. For a mare born without the wings so many around me took for granted, a little dirt under my hooves seemed like an impossible dream.
Abandoning everything I knew to take the plunge, to go down from our cities in the clouds and mountain hideaways and find my home again wasn’t exactly fun, but I don’t regret it.
It was the single best decision of my life.
Beware spoilers in the comments!
This story (which can be best described as a Coming-of-Age/Teen Romance/Drama Masquerading as Fallout) takes place about 15 years before the events of Fallout: Equestria, although it contains only a few direct references to events/canon from it. To Bellenast is my attempt to portray a part of the pony world where the apocalypse truly happened nearly two centuries prior, and as such, ponykind--or, at least, those portions of it far away from the most ravaged and blasted ruins of the old world--has grown and moved past those early days of scavenging, abundant hostility, and mere survival. Here, ponies don’t survive, but live. Here, there is peace, there is government, there are treaties and trade roads, medicine and commodities--and banditry, thievery, and wanton violence are the exception, not the norm.
All of this is told through the eyes of one young mare who really would rather have nothing to do with anything exciting or violent. I’ve tried to write it in a way that doesn’t require one to have read the original Fallout: Equestria, although why you might have found yourself here without having read it first, I would be curious to know.
I hope you enjoy the story. As of [November 2023-whenever-2024], I am rewriting some of the most problematic portions of the first half of the story, to better match them thematically and in quality with what I’ve written most recently.
Lookie, lookie, I made a map: Clicky da linky!
Lookie Lookie 2: Electric Boogalookiedoo! An adorable painting of Crystal Dew done by Etyco Filly.
Lookie Lookie 3: Pretty Pretty Pretty!
A commission of Blitz, which contains minor spoilers, but oh well. Don’t click if you don’t want to see.
Character and/or cover art (original here)by the fabulous amazing fantastic generally awesome {all-inclusive adjective of infinite praise here}Amarynceus. Amateur title addition by me.
