Friendship? Emotion not found.

by The Rar

Author notes/Nonsensical rambling/Bonus Ending

Whew! Done!
And now that we are done I’ve taken a little bit of time and put together a thank you and some notes for everyone reading. Before we do get started, let me just say that really, only numbers one and four on this list may hold any of your interest. The rest is mostly just personal look backs and a bit of self-evaluation. If ya’ll wanna stick around for that, be my guest. As a side note, I’m drinking energy drink, so if things seem to get a little hyper, blame Monster Energy.
Table of content:
1) Thank you notes/author’s notes
2) Reflective development record
3) Final author’s notes
4) Bonus Ending/Continuation/Extra Epilogue

Thank you notes/author’s notes
Ok, first let me start this off by saying how bloody shocked I am at the response I got to this story.
I think I got something like… 35 or 36 likes and maybe 6 dislikes. That’s… Great. I’ve seen more deserving stories get less positive feedback than mine. I’m incredibly thankful for that!
And another reason the good feedback I got is because this story was sort of… Self-indulgence really. I had an idea and the reason I wrote it was because I wanted to just… Have fun with my idea. Which I did. This has been a bloody fun thing to write. I would seriously recommend writing a story to anyone reading this. I haven’t done the whole…Go to profile and thank for the like/favourite/watch thing (That’s what this is for), but I did look at people’s profiles. I saw some people who had nothing submitted. Seriously, it’s a fucking blast to write something that you like writing. Try it. Even if you don’t submit it to Fimfiction or any other site you wish to mention, it’s still amazingly fun.
I’m not going to say any names in this by the way. I don’t want to go and ask every single person I’d mention if it’s ok to say their name. So I’m just keeping everyone anonymous.

As another point as to why story writing is good…
I don’t know if it’s silly to hold people you don’t know highly… If it’s wrong, I don’t want to be right.
This story got the attention of someone very special to me, Fimfiction wise… So this story is incredibly important in my opinion. You’d merely need to look through my profile to find out who it is, but they’re really the whole reason I got into pony fanfiction. I actually got told to come to fimfiction by someone on a forum where I’d posed a question, and the story happened to be the first one I saw. Thank you, my soft spot for romance, and thank you Twilight and Rarity, for being awesome ponies, and making an even better ship. But really, that made my heart soar when I saw they’d looked my fic over.

So, basically, thanks to everyone who made this story a smashing success. Even people who downvoted. I’m not arsed if people dislike my writing. Hell, I don’t blame some of them, my initial first chapter was atrocious! More on that later, but really. You can’t win them all, and I’m fine with you openly disliking my story.
It’s when people don’t let me know why when I get frustrated.
I’ll admit, it’s a big ask, asking someone to comment to be perfectly honest, and it may be an unreasonable base for anger, but it really gets to me when someone finds fault with my story… Finds something they don’t like and don’t tell me! Hell, there are parts I don’t like, but nobody commented on them, so I left as is. If people who dislike would tell me why, whether it be grammar errors being to numerous, or simply because they didn’t like the story, I think I’d be able to shake their hand and willingly accept their downvote.

As a… what’s next type thing… I think I’m going to leave ponies alone for a while! Why? Alright, I had a fairly odd dream (Wow, this already has degenerated into story about me xD). I don’t know what the fuck happened, but it was a late night, I fell asleep and had a weird dream. I was a pony, naturally, and I don’t know what the hell I was doing but I was like… wanting to get a boat. I went up to the like… boat… ticket giver(?) and asked for one. He said I couldn’t have one, so I snuck on one. It was full of talking pigeons (For God only knows why.). The ship (Which felt a lot like a bloody storage container as opposed to a ship. Some other pony had joined me somewhere along the way. We ended up in like… Antarctica (More like a self designed snow scape.). For some bloody reason me and the other pony went swimming in the icy water (And didn’t freeze. Because like… Ponies, fuck yea.). Then the pigeons joined in and there was some fucked up quest given by an old big pigeon and then, I woke up. Was like six in the morning or something, I was tired still, but the dream was so fucked up I just burst out laughing. So… I don’t want to re live that (As funny as it was.), so Ima take a pony break xD
Wow… I really don’t know what the hell that was! Welp… If you ever wondered what goes on in Fillyville, now you know.
But I’ll be back with more stories soon!

Alright, those left reading or who haven’t skipped to the final section, welcome to share how terrible my first attempts were!

Reflective development record
Ok, let’s start this from the beginning. Then I’ll work on forward, just saying anything worth noting about any chapters.
Chapter one.
Holy hell was this a train wreck looking back on it. I would show you the original copy, I have it right here on my laptop, if only it were fewer words I’d copy paste it. But, it’s kinda big, so I’m going to spare you it. But I’m slightly embarrassed to say, I’d let my grammar, spelling and punctuation slip because in all honesty, this was written late at night (Only spare time I had on a weekend) and I never intended to submit it. I didn’t even proof read it! Sloppy sloppy stuff from me. Bad thing is, I submitted the stuff! When I said I’ve seen more deserving fics get less credit? I mean it. I think the original submission got six likes and one downvote before I submitted part two, got a little more serious and cleaned up the first chapter (I say cleaned up, I mean to the best of my ability. Thing was quite bad, and I couldn’t be bothered cleaning everything. Lazy…). I’ve seen stories with genuinely good plots be shot down because of things worse than what I did. Enough negativity though.
This first chapter was really self-indulgence as I said at the start. Creating things is my kind of pass time, so I thought I’d give writing a whack. I’d recently got Borderlands two, and I do love my ponies… I got an idea and thought what the hell. Turned out mighty fine if I do say so myself.
The opening sequence probably got more attention than the entire first chapter. I actually tried several different ways of starting it, and what you see now is actually very different to how I originally planned it, but it’s what it is and I think it worked nicely.

The forest scene. Sorry, I can’t recall which chapter exactally (I’m on my laptop with no internet, and I only have chapter six onwards.) It stretched over chapters two and three IIRC. I recall splitting that one. This was so much fun to write (Again, writing was a blast.). It was really fun to just… play around with things. Again, I wasn’t a very confident writer at this point, so final product is third generation. The other two generations? Playing around with… what could happen, how it could happen, characters I could create. I finally ended with only adding in Dex (Which worked nicely. I’m glad I didn’t over complicate things in Pandora, and miss out on Equestria, the real fun house.). But it was very fun, in just this like… final Pandora slice, to make a setting. I mean, Borderland’s lore is kinda sketchy, so you can flex it quite a bit, which I did. It was very fun making a sort of… Warhammer 40k type “There is only war” world. Which is actually what I based a bit of Ajax off. Finished the Ultramarines Omnibus, and loved Uriel Ventris. I like the idea of the kind of… Everyone is a hero type deal. Spark in the darkness, as it were. Hence, the world was born.

Faith and Shield. Maybe I take too much pride in my work, but I love these two guys. Again, drawn from the U Omnibus’ Uriel and Pasanius duo. It actually pains me that I didn’t like… (If you haven’t guessed already I’m a dumb teen and I love fillers.) use these two more. I might do a little tale with these two in the future. I just like them too much.
The journey to Celestia.
I’m not going to lie, this got way more written for it than it originally should have. But again, I liked to write Faith and Shield’s characters, so I just continued. I think it was taken well.

As a side note, reading back through chapters really highlights some dumb ass things…

“It can talk?! That’s amazing” Shield said in amazement
How bloody redundant is the second part, right? My god…
Anyway.

I expected my favourite chapter to write would be Rarity’s, after all, I’m a hardcore Rarity fan. It actually wasn’t. I planned out the little mural thing a while back, and because I KNEW that I had to do that, it wasn’t as fun as writing the rest of the story. Plus, Rarity was a tricky bugger to pin down personality wise. It was actually hard as hell to get her right. Her reactions and such.
My favourite chapter to write was actually a tie between Rainbow Dash’s day, and AppleJack/Pinkie Pie’s chapter. I’m inclined to side with Rainbow Dash’s. Simply because of the image generated in my head. I mean, who doesn’t play out what they’re reading or writing in their heads? It ain’t gonna happen anywhere else, so why not? It was so much fun to imagine all of the things that went on in that chapter. Simply a blast. And also because I think Rainbow Dash may have worked the best with Ajax (For reasons I cannot fathom.).

Final Author’s Notes

Anyway, it’s late and I’ve ran out of monster, so I’m going to wrap this up.
This has been incredibly fun to write, and I’ve got more on the way (But after my little dreamy dream it may be after a weeks vacation!). I have Wormholers being written.
I have both a Warframe crossover and a Warhammer 40K crossover in the making. They have two problems though. Warframe: Not enough solid lore. Warhammer 40K: Far too much lore for my brain to take. I’d blow a head casket just writing deployment for a space marine chapter (Really, I would. Fuck you Codex deployment tactics.).
Thank you to everyone who read, goodnight.
Oh…

Bonus ending
Pandora, Royal Pandorian Museum of Relics and History, Relic room of the Great War.
54 Years after end of Rebellion and Hyperion’s expulsion from Pandora.

“So you’re one of the people who helped win the war?” A child asked
The group of children sat on the gleaming marble floor of the Museum. They sat before a great throne, positioned at the far back of the room. The room itself was a grand corridor, one of many that the Royal Museum held. This one however was the grandest (And the largest. The owner of the museum took pride in the fact that he had a 200 metre long and 20 metre wide room to exibit his works). It was the grandest because it commemorated the most recent and possibly the most significant event in Pandorian history. That being the end to Hyperion’s tyrannical reign, the liberation of mechanical sentient beings, and the independence of Pandora. This room in particular was displaying and commemorating relics that helped win the war, and key figures behind the victory of the Revolution.

“Yes young one, I was.” The asked responded.

“I handled logistics for the war. Tactical data, reconnaissance of the enemy, this was all my field.”

“Were you a hero?” A smaller child asked.

“Everyone who fought against Hyperion was a hero young one.”

“Do… Do you have a name?” An even younger child asked. She didn’t look much older than eight. Odd how one eight year old can be so out of tune with the world, yet another can be completely immersed.

“What do you mean?”

“Well you’re a…”

“Ah, ha ha. A robot? So robots can’t have names?” The owner chuckled amusedly.

“Uh…” The child awkwardly and embarrassedly droned.

“My name was Dex, little one.” The Loader sat upon the throne of pearly marble laughed. Dex had done well for himself after the war. He was very intent on preserving and informing people of the war that befell Pandora. Everyone should know of the atrocities committed on the planet, and the horrors people were forced to endure for so long. After Pandora was colonised for a second time by civilised individuals, and Loaders were officially recognised by the universe as sentient beings, to be allowed to live their lives any way they see fit. Dex chose to spend his time preserving the war that gave him his independence. He’d changed his appearance a little since the war, but he was still usual colours, simply re painted. He did have a few medals welded to his torso, but besides that, he was normal.

“The Dex?” One child asked amazedly.

“You know me?” Dex continued to laugh. He loved it when people recognised him. Just another sign that his teachings were far reaching.

“Are you kidding? My father told me so much about you! He used to be an engineer in the resistance you know!” The child explained excitedly.

“Ha ha, it’s good to know that he’s teaching you then.” Dex happily laughed.

“Did you know Ajax?” The child happily asked.

“Ajax?” Dex responded, his tone lowered a tad.

“Yea, did you know him? My father told me more about him than anyone else. About how he was the greatest hero of the war?” The child continued to ask.

“Hmm… There were many great heroes child… But, I think that Ajax was the most interesting.” Dex said to the children. Everyone was listening now. Who doesn’t like to hear about a good hero?

“Why would you say that?” The child interestedly asked.

“His story is a good one I suppose.” Dex lightly laughed, reminiscing.

“What’s his story?” The child asked again, still very interested.
Dex started to chuckle.
“So… You want to hear a story do you, eh?” Dex laughed as he hauled himself up from his throne.

“Well…” Dex began.
*BANG*
He never got to begin his story, something interrupted him. The doors leading into the large room slammed open.
All the children jumped up and backed up to the step to the throne. They couldn’t climb them, as they were far too large. Designed for Loaders.

“So…” A voice boomed from the end of the corridor.
It wasn’t yelled, more boosted. It sounded like it was coming from some kind of speaker.
The voice laughed.
A light throbbing could be heard.
Everyone could feel the air becoming charged with electricity. One kid’s hair even began to stand on end.
A loud crack of thunder boomed, and a flash of light blinded the children.
Their vision began to slowly fade back, but all they could see was a black blob.
No… Wait, it was a person… No, it was a loader like Dex...
It stood.

“You want to hear a story, eh?”
The loader looked up, revealing a glowing red eye in amongst the faded black and white paint.

“Well… Have I got a story for you.”
The loader stood and stomped the ground heavily with one of his legs.
All the children could see was the Loader’s giant leg plate, with a colourful picture painted on it. They couldn’t begin to understand what all the colourful figures represented.

“And it all begins in the magical land of Equestria.”

Comments

[ultra1437]

Bravo, man, bravo. This was a hell of a ride, and i enjoyed every minute i read of it.

[The Rar]

3063418
It's an incredible feeling when someone says something like that about something you've written.
Thanks!

[The Rar]

3095696
Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing with the Russian language and I apologise for butchering it xD
When I'm back at my computer I'll send you the English. Tah for the help!

[APonyReadingFanfics]

I must have missed something, but what happened to the vault hunters? (End 2)

[The Rar]

8373982
Four years after the story was posted.
Y'know.
Sir.
You raise a good point.
My counter point?
Er.
Pay no attention to that man behind the cutain?
That's actually a tremendous thing to bring up, not something I even noticed. Although since it was four years ago my thought train is a bit different, so maybe I had some logic behind it back then? Although thinking back on what I'd wrote I can't conjure one now. Heh, thank's for pointing that out.

[The Rar]

5351916
Almost four years on people not only commented on but found the energy to dislike a comment, I'm not sure whether to be flattered or annoyed that someone years later bagged on someone for commenting on the translations.

5753391
Yea my intent was never to have the Russian be word for word, I just didn't know anything I could use other than. Google translate was a godsend. I remember saying at the time it wasn't perfect and I stand by it, was never ment to be. Although, to be honest I think it shows my English isolation complex in that I never expected anyone who spoke or read anything other than English to read my stuff. Funny world we live in.

[Derpy_DragonV1]

I...am very. Very. Very late to this party. I wish I was here when it first came out just so that I could anticipate the next day the new chapter would come out.