Fallout Equestria: Action Hero

by Popcorn Chicken

Epilogue: Muny Company

Epilogue: Muny Company

This was not part of my plan at all! No-where did I mention being a slave and I most certainly had absolutely no intention of working for free! If I was I was going to shoot something I was at least going to receive and equal amount of caps or fame and recognition! And I certainly did not plan on wearing stupid exploding collar! It keeps chaffing against my feathers! I’ll never look cool with it on.

“Chicken, stop fiddling with the darn thing Celestia-darnit!” droned the brown pony with an explosive mine for a butt-mark. “You’ll set the darn thing of and we’ll be cleaning feathers, fur and brain from our coats.”

“It’s uncomfortable!” I shot back, continuing to fidget with the collar. “You don’t have feathers! You don’t know what it’s like!”

“Maybe not brains then. That other griffon hasn’t kicked up a fuss about it. Make like him, chump.”

Reluctantly, I stifled my attempts to shift my collar and my legitimate complaints about its uncomfortableness. The other griffon – the golden one from the bar – was not complaining about how it ruffled his feathers. In fact he found amusement in my exchange with the brown pony, chuckling quietly to himself. This was also not how I planned to network. Feeling resigned, tired and hungry – since we had skipped breakfast – I breathed a quiet sigh and marched ahead with the seven others swindled into the Major’s errand.

What were we even doing? Acquiring some sort of… thing for him? I forget what; wasn’t really listening. No doubt whatever it was only served to tighten his diabolical hoof-grip on the region. Some sort of weapon, ancient zebra artefact or a stockpile of alcohol for use in fiendishly enslaving others.

He needed a new name to reflect on exactly how scummy he was.

Major Scum? Nah, he dressed to fancy for that.

Major Jerk? He wasn’t really that rude.

Major… Evil? Yeah, that’s more like. After all he was… the…

“Chicken, why’d you stop?” the brown pony bumped into me but I ignored him, too focused on my sudden epiphany. “Hello? Anypo, err, griffon there?”

I don’t know how I missed it so easily! I should have picked it up the moment I stepped into the bar last night. When I turned to start talking to him. Heck, even when mum and I flew into town!

He was the villain here! And I? I was the…

“Hero.”

“What?”

Where I had expected delight and appreciation of my sudden enlightenment, I instead received the rustling of the wind and a single response from the golden griffon. The ponies had left us and were now a fair distance down the road.

“I’m the hero! Me!” I said, rounding on the griffon. “The Major! That dork with the funny hat and exploding collars! He’s my nemesis! The villain and my ticket to fame and fortune! It all makes sense now!” I spun to his side, grabbing his shoulders and panning my talons across the cloudy sky, then down to Camp City while monologing my epiphany to him. “Gwynne telling me to abandon my script. ‘Modest opportunities’ mum had said! She knew what was going on here and she’s gonna let me handle it!”

“Your… mother?”

“You! You can have some of my fame too! I could use a sidekick.”

He just stared at me, one brow slowly rising above the other. “Maybe that collar is too tight.”

Author's Note:

If you managed to make it this far, you have my thanks. Fallout Equestria is an interesting phenomenon in the MLP fandom and this will be my entry into it's massive list of side-stories and fan content.

Looking back at this now, I realize this may be an abrupt and confusing ending; all those characters introduced in the last chapter and closing the story before the journey begins. Gillet's adventure does continue, but as a character in a PnP campaign. Action Hero is just his extended backstory, something I found fun and amusing to write, while it also helped me flesh him out as a character and improve my own literary skills.

Again; thanks for reading and I hope you find many more griffon and Fallout Equestria stories.

Comments

[Reggie the Griffon]

Aw Man, This was good I just wish there was more to it.
I hope you'll continue this some way I would love to hear more.

~Reggie

[Doomande]

Hey there, quick question. The story have an epilogue, but is does still say that it is incomplete. Is that incomplete an oversight or?

[Popcorn Chicken]

5669595
An oversight on my part. I don't use Fimfiction a lot.

[The Amateur]

I cannot say I am not disappointed. I was invested in seeing this character take the wasteland by storm! There were possibilities abound to take a film-loving griffin with the need for adventure, and the writing was clever enough to make full use out of the concept.

However, I did enjoy the story up to now. The experience was definitely one worth the disappointment. Any problems I spotted were usually quickly forgotten thanks to the vivacious characterization, witty dialogue, and enthusiastic narration.

Albeit, due to the short length and time skips, I found there were more great concepts abandoned than pursued. Gillet noticeably does not change at all in personality or mindset from fledgling to young adult. Several chapters could have been implemented to demonstrate that Gillet was capable of reconnecting to reality: a lesson in training, an encounter with an experienced wastelander, moments that impact his cinema-driven conscience. Though the character is enjoyable regardless, it is hard to reconcile that lack of development with his enthusiasm and naivety.

If you ever decide to continue Gillet's story via prose, then I would love to see his character go through arcs and make friends with others who are not so optimistic and idealistic. He is at the core of everything that makes this story so wonderful.

[Popcorn Chicken]

5678946
Thanks for reading. I'm glad you enjoyed it.

>>Albeit, due to the short length and time skips, I found there were more great concepts abandoned than pursued. Gillet noticeably does not change at all in personality or mindset from fledgling to young adult. Several chapters could have been implemented to demonstrate that Gillet was capable of reconnecting to reality: a lesson in training, an encounter with an experienced wastelander, moments that impact his cinema-driven conscience. Though the character is enjoyable regardless, it is hard to reconcile that lack of development with his enthusiasm and naivety.

This was something I was aware of and I attempted to address it in Date-ed, but I had to balance that with that fact that Gillet enters the campaign like this (which is common in a meta-sense; most characters start as somewhat two-dimensional and are fleshed out the long they're played). Rest assured, Gillet does learn some hard Wasteland lessons. Some bad and good, but never abandons his naive, enthusiastic and cinematic core.

I appreciate your criticism and it's something I'll consider should attempt to write something in the future.

[AlmanacP]

Your book has been advertised on the new facebook group page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/foebooks/ :)

[Lesolan - Rest In Peace]

How did Gillet's foray into PnP heroism go?

[Doomande]

Sigh how I envy people that can gather players that put as much thought and energy into the backstory of their characters as you have

[Alchemik]

Aw. I was hoping for an entire story. Well, as player character backstories go, this was fantastic. Super entertaining and well thought-out. I hope the game you played him in went well and lasted long. And, ya know, he lived to tell the tall tale.