Ashes to ashes - Chapter 1
Memories
“Mommy?”
“It’s okay sweetie, everything’s gonna be okay. Now remember, we’re playing a little game ok?”
“Yes mommy, hide and seek.”
“Good girl, now why don’t you hide under the bed? I bet nopony would ever find you there.”
The filly smiled and snuck under the bed. She had a bright red coat and an orange mane. Everypony always told her she looked like a little flame. She pondered about what her mommy had said. She was right, nopony would find her under the bed, especially not the new ponies in town. She was a bit sad that she couldn’t join the party outside, but her mother had insisted on playing the game when she had seen them. And since mommy controlled the sweets, the smartest thing to do was to listen.
Besides, the filly thought, it seemed as if the party would be coming to her! The sounds from outside were getting louder by the minute. It was a bit weird that the sounds weren’t from cheering ponies, as one would expect at a party, but rather lots of bangs. She mentally shrugged, maybe they had firecrackers. That would be great! She loved firecrackers, even thought she had seen them only once. But judging by the sounds, the party ponies had lots of them!
Her mother, who had a similar colour scheme as her filly, only darker, had also noticed the sounds getting closer.
“Stay here honey, mommy’s going to take a look downstairs real quick.”
The filly nodded and crept deeper under the bed.
While the mare was away, the foal noticed that the party ponies were running out of firecrackers as the sounds from outside died out. She was a little upset about this, she had really wanted to see the fireworks. Silently she hoped that they had saved some for her.
The filly bumped her head into the bed when suddenly there were a couple more bangs, these ones were much louder then before.
She was rubbing her head when her mommy came in the room, locking the door behind her.
The mare looked differently: her own red colour was mixed with a darker shade on her haunches, like somepony had thrown a bucket of paint over her.
When she saw the confused look in her fillies eyes, the mare made an honest attempt at a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry sweetie. Now, do you remember the new ponies we’re playing hide and seek with?”
The filly nodded.
“Well, they have found me and they will be here soon. So when they get here I want you to stay hidden as best as you can, do you understand?”
The filly nodded and chuckled, her mom obviously wasn't good in hide and seek if she had been found so soon. It was a perfect opportunity for the foal to prove herself to be better then her mother.
“That’s my filly, I love you so much. Now remember, whatever happens, make sure they do not find you. So no moving or talking, okay?”
Once again, she nodded.
From the other side of the door, muffled stallion voices sounded.
“Where did that bitch go? Search every room!”
The mare grabbed something in her mouth. The filly didn’t know what it was called, but she did know that her parents had gotten upset when she had tried levitating it. She was told that it wasn’t a toy and that it was very dangerous for her. This made her wonder why her mommy would be holding it in her mouth. She was about to ask her when somepony tried to open the door. Remembering her promise, she crept back as far as possible. As the mare saw her filly crawl under the bed, a tear escaped her eye and she gulped.
More voices turned her attention back to the door.
“Boss, this door is locked.”
“What are you waiting for? For her to open it? Fucking shoot it open!”
The filly heard a loud bang and saw the door slam open. They had saved some firecrackers after all! She saw lots of hooves on the other side of the door opening. Then she heard lots of bangs and screams. From her position underneath the bed she saw several bodies, belonging to the hooves in the door opening, fall down on the floor.
One of the party ponies had leaped into the room and had fallen just in front of the bed. The filly panicked when she looked directly at his face. Surely he would spot her from the floor. She held her breath and made herself as small as possible while she kept staring at the stallion. His eyes were wide open but didn’t move.
The trance broke when a familiar voice’s shriek pierced the air.
“Mommy?” The filly whispered as her attention was turned towards the hooves of her mother.
Soon the hooves were joined by the rest of the mare’s body as she fell on the floor. There was even more red paint smeared over here and she was breathing funny.
The rest of the hooves trotted closer towards the mare.
“Not so tough now huh?”
“Too bad you didn’t surrender, you’re pretty though. You would have made a good slave.”
“Boss, what should we do with her?”
“Whatever you like, but make it quick, we gotta round up the rest of the slaves.”
One set of hooves trotted back towards the door, the rest closed in on the mare.
“You gave us a hard time, allow us to return the favour.” One of the voices chuckled.
With her last strength, the mare turned her head towards the bed and looked at her daughter. She cried as she looked at her filly underneath the bed.
“Mommy? What’s wrong?” The filly forgot to keep her voice low at the sight of her crying mother.
Instantly all sets of hooves turned towards the bed. One of them stepped closer and stopped right in front of it. A tar black stallion’s face appeared, half covered by a snow white mane and sporting a wide grin.
“Well well, what do we have here? A straggler?” He turned his attention back towards the mother. “No wonder you kept on going so long, you’ve been trying to keep this little brat safe. Too bad you died for nothing, how does it feel, dying while knowing you’ve failed?” He let out a loud laugh.
The dark red mare tried with all her might to glare the black buck to death. It didn’t work.
“Now now, don’t be upset. We’ll take real good care of the little brat.”
The filly felt herself being pulled away from under the bed. That wasn’t fair! She started screaming and kicking in order to make her point clear. The only thing she accomplished was making the buck laugh harder. She was floated out of the door. The stallion stopped in the opening.
“Now say goodbye to your mommy, you won’t see her again.”
Confused she looked at her mommy. Her mother’s eyes were wide with fear. Her beautiful, tear-filled, amber eyes. The filly didn’t want to go away from her.
She screamed.
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I screamed.
I opened my eyes and looked around me. It took my eyes a couple of seconds to adjust to the darkness. Next to me, several ponies were laying on filthy mattresses, covered in all sorts of dirt. All of them were wearing metal collars, slave collars, I remembered as I rubbed my own. For years it had been chafing, itching, choking and cutting me.
I hated it.
I hated being a slave, being nothing more than a tool to everypony else. Just something they could use and then discard. I’ve had many masters but in the end I always ended up here again, Old Appleloosa. The things they’d made me do were sickening but there was one thing I hated more than all of that.
I hated myself.
If I had just listened to my mother and stayed silently under the bed, nopony would have ever found me. My mother’s sacrifice wouldn’t have been in vain and the last thing she would have seen wouldn’t have been her filly being carried away screaming.
That is why I hadn’t spoken a word since that day. I owed it to her. The only sounds that came from my mouth were the screams whenever I had another nightmare. My earlier masters sometimes would test me to see if I really was mute, at first they would get a reaction from me but as I grew older, I got used to the pain and humiliation. The last time somepony provoked a reaction from me was a long time ago. This little act of defiance kept me going.
“Are you all right?”
The voice came from the mattress next to me. I realized I was still sitting and quickly laid down again, ignoring the question.
“That must have been a really bad dream. Or perhaps a memory.”
The voice was from a stallion, probably the new buck. A dark blue unicorn, a couple years older than me. Most of the other slaves minded their own business. Occasionally one would try to approach me, attempting to start a conversation. They would first say something like ‘I know how you feel’ and then start about how you shouldn’t be facing your problems on your own. Then they would explain how they could comfort me. When I wouldn’t respond, they would get frustrated and reveal their true intentions of ‘stress relief’. After swearing at me for a while, most would just give up. Unfortunately some took my silence as a challenge and would try to force themselves upon me.
The way my masters tested to see if I really was mute was most often by heavy beatings. This gave me a lot of first hoof experience on pony anatomy. I quickly learned what my vulnerable spots were, how a quick punch in a specific location could make you curl up in pain.
I was always happy to share those lessons.
After a while, only new arrivals bothered to speak to me. Usually I would just ignore them until the other slaves told them about me.
This guy was different though. For the last week he had been trying to start a conversation with me. The only reason he wasn’t curled up and crying right now was because he was always polite and never tried to approach me. The others had told him to give up but he was stubbornly going on. I had of course stubbornly kept my mouth shut, trying my best not to acknowledge his existence.
My scream had been the first sound I had made this week. I cursed myself for showing that sign of weakness.
“You know, you remind me of myself when I was younger. After I lost my father I locked myself into my room and didn’t let anypony in. I just laid on my bed, staring at the ceiling.”
I turned around to face him.
“The next day my mother came in. She didn’t say anything, she just trotted over to me and gave me a hug. I let all of my pain come out and cried. After crying for what felt like hours, I felt better. I know how difficult it is to deal with sorrow, but you have to find a way to let it go. And the best way to do that is to talk about it. My name is Stargazer, what’s yours?”
I looked at him and noticed my vision had become blurred. I brought a hoof to my eyes and was surprised to find out I had been crying. The last time I had cried was... um... long ago. So long I couldn’t even remember.
After several seconds of being completely stunned I realized Stargazer was still waiting for an answer. Looking back at him, I felt my cheeks grow hot. On the one hoof, I had promised myself to never speak again. But on the other, he wasn’t my enemy, and I felt that I owed him an answer after trusting me with his story.
“Ember” I muttered before bringing my hooves to my mouth. Wow. Did I just? Yes I did. Does my voice really sound like that? I remembered it more... fillylike. Well of course it sounded different now, I wasn’t a filly anymore. Wait, why did I just talk? I hadn’t even made a decision yet. Were was my self control? What was I thinking? I found myself breathing hard and fast, the collar cutting in my neck at every gasp.
“Well, pleased to meet you Ember.” I focused back at Stargazer as I managed to get my breathing under control. Then a sudden realization dawned on me. Since I hadn’t spoken in all those years, Stargazer was the only pony alive to know my name. Even the slavers didn’t know nor cared for what my name was and simply called me all sorts of names, none of which really flattering. And there was the breathing again.
My thoughts were interrupted by Stargazer waving his hoof in front of my face. I realized I must have looked like a complete foal then and tried to bury my head in shame. I quickly turned around and curled up again. By focusing on my breathing I finally managed to get it under control again.
Without warning, Stargazer touched me. I lashed out at him when I suddenly realized he was hugging me. I tried to stop halfway and the result must have looked pretty funny for anypony watching us. Looking around, I saw several slaves observing us, amused and surprised expressions on their faces. Embarrassed, I curled up again. When Stargazer laid his leg on my shoulder again, I instinctively winced, but I kept lying. Once I got used to the feeling, it actually felt kinda nice.
I closed my eyes and relaxed a bit. Slowly I drifted of to sleep.
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“Wake up you useless pieces of shit!” The unpleasant voice of a slaver mare pierced my ears.
“Try to at least look like you’re worth something. We’ve got important customers today!”
I tried to stand up but was thrown off balance by an unfamiliar weight on my back. Panicking I threw it off and jumped up. When I looked back I saw Stargazer waking up. The events of the night before came back to me and I felt my cheeks blush at my panic attack. Stargazer gave me a reassuring smile when he came up though.
Our attention was drawn towards the door as a dozen of slavers entered. They arranged us into several lines. Once we were all neatly lined up, a griffin entered, who I assumed was the customer.
My assumptions were proven to be correct when she spoke up: “So, this is the merchandise? I do hope they are in good condition. Red Eye doesn’t like to pay for broken ware.” Even though I was used to it, I still hated being talked about as if I were an object.
The lead slaver responded: “Of course they are. I would never try to sell anything of poor quality. You know what, I’ll even give you a receipt.” He chuckled at his own joke but quickly stopped when he saw the glare from the griffin. “Heh-heh uh. Right, um, if you would follow me miss.”
They went on to inspect the slaves, stopping by everypony while the lead slaver told the griffin about any ‘faults’ they had. Several minutes later the two arrived to me.
“This one doesn’t talk but she will follow orders no problem.”
“A mute? We already have one of those. Oh well, as long as she follows orders” She inspected me carefully. “Well, well, you don’t see that everyday. A fully grown pony without a cutiemark.”
I twitched at the mention of my blank flank. Being a slave didn’t give much opportunities to explore ones talent so I had never gotten mine. Sometimes I fantasized about what cutiemark would have been if I hadn’t been a slave. Of course, my previous masters had seen my flank as well and some had tried to ‘help’ me find it. It often involved humiliating tasks and every time I completed the task I was glad to not have a permanent reminder of it on my flank.
They moved on to the next pony, who happened to be Stargazer. I listened carefully, curious about what they had to say about him.
“And here we have a new arrival, not too bright, considering we caught him trotting about the wasteland on his own, but he is tough though. Perfectly suitable for some heavy labor.”
I heard the griffin stopping for a second, before continuing to the next one. What had Stargazer been doing, all alone in the wasteland?
After completing the round, the griffin stopped by the door and addressed all of us: “Okay you lot, from now on, you’re all workers for the great Red Eye. Now get ready, in an hour we’ll be on our way to Fillydelphia.”
Oh well, it was about time I got to stretch my legs.
An hour later I was outside together with about twenty other slaves, neatly in a two pony thick row. We were guarded by a dozen guards, some at the back, some at our flanks and a group in the front. I could make out the silhouettes of several griffins flying above us.
A shout from the leader was our cue to move, so we walked out of the town. I didn’t bother looking back.
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Okay, I take the thing about stretching my legs back. After two days of walking, I had grown thoroughly tired of it. Luckily it was almost time to stop for the night.
Half an hour later we set up camp. The slaves were driven into a small circle, surrounded by the guards. The strongest slaves had been carrying several tents, which were set up around a campfire. After getting some grey sludge for dinner I lay down next to Stargazer.
In the last couple of days, we had grown closer and I had started to trust him. He was like a big brother to me. Every night he told me stories, it didn’t matter that I never said anything back, he was happy to talk, and I was happy to listen. He had told me about his past, how he had been interested in science and left his home to join the steel rangers as a scribe, how he hadn’t been comfortable with the way they treated innocent wastelanders, which ultimately led to his desertion. That was when the slavers had found him. He told me to always follow my own heart, and that he respected it if I kept silent. During a story he would hug me. It felt safer with him around and I hadn’t had any nightmares anymore. Exhausted from the long day of walking, I was already falling asleep when an unpleasant voice violated my ears.
“Hey you two, lovebirds, no cuddling between slaves!”
Annoyed, I looked around for the source of the sound. It turned out to be one of the guards, a green unicorn mare with spiked hair and, more importantly, a shotgun which was pointed at us. Grudgingly I stood up and walked to the other side of the circle, where I laid down. The wasteland made an uncomfortable mattress and I had gotten used to Stargazers leg around me. However the exhaustion from walking all day long caught up with me and I was fast asleep in no time.
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I woke up screaming, waking everypony in the camp. They weren’t very happy that I had interrupted their sleep and I got the opportunity to learn a whole lot of new swears. I was about to lay down again when I suddenly found myself staring into the barrel of a shotgun. I gulped and looked at its owner whom I recognized as the guard from the previous night.
“I was having a really nice dream.” She sounded angry. “Watch. Your. Step. Lovebird.”
Shotguns can be either fun or terrifying, depending on which end you are standing. Since I was on the wrong end, I acted very carefully. Sure there were times when I wished the slavers would just kill me, but right now my brain told me that it preferred to stay inside my skull. With my eyes fixed on the barrel, I slowly nodded. She took the shotgun and trotted back to one of the tents. I let out a sigh of relief and laid down again. Once the adrenaline wore off, I quickly fell asleep again.
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In the morning everypony was a bit more grumpy than normal and a lot of them, slaves and slavers alike, shot me glares. After the slavers had gotten their breakfast, we were herded towards a large pot. An earth pony with the remains of some dead bug as cutiemark was handing out bowls containing our 'breakfast'.
Truth is, when something broke, the slavers would use the same stuff to hold it together. But hey, we were about to walk for a whole day so I had no right to complain. I grabbed my bowl (the slaves weren't allowed to use magic) and turned around, only to bump into a familiar green face. the collision made me drop my bowl, spilling its contents in the dirt. The upside of the grey sludge being so sticky was that it stayed together when spilled. That is, until a hoof stomped onto it.
“Oh, was that your breakfast?” The guard mare smirked and trotted away. I stared at the remains of the food. Right on cue, my stomach grumbled. Great, just great.
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Halfway through the day it had started raining. Now it was nearing nightfall again and we were setting up camp in the small puddles that had formed. Somehow I had managed to survive. Counting rocks had taken my mind off of my stomach even though it had made me nearly trip several times.
After everything had been set up and the slavers had gotten their dinner, it was our turn to eat. I nearly choked on my glue-ball but my stomach was thankful. Walking to the circle in the centre of the camp I hesitated: should I go to Stargazer, sleep without nightmares but disobey the bully guard. Or should I sleep by myself, obey the guard but risk having another nightmare and waking everypony up again. I decided that the slaver mare could go buck herself and went over to Stargazer.
I was already falling asleep when I heard a click just behind my head. Turning around I was greeted with a familiar sight: the barrel of a shotgun. Really, this was getting old.
The slaver mare glared at me. “What did I tell you about not sleeping with him? Now get up and walk!”
Stargazer stood up next to me. “Hold on, if she sleeps alone, she’ll get another nightmare and wake everypony up again.”
She turned the shotgun towards him. “You stay out of this. If your mare-friend screams again, she will be punished accordingly.”
“First of all, she isn’t my mare-friend, she is my friend and she needs me. Secondly, why are you picking on her? She hasn’t done anything wrong to you!” That’s it Star, you tell her!
“Oh really? She is not your mare-friend? Then get your flank up and follow me to my tent so you can prove it.”
Wait what? She was hitting on Stargazer? Why didn’t she just order him to come with her? Was she actually jealous of me? I couldn't help but snicker at the last thought, but was interrupted when Stargazer did something completely unexpected: he spat in the mare’s face.
It took my mind a while to process that. Years of being taught to be obedient had taken away the very idea of such an act of defiance.
Clearly the slaver mare was also taken by surprise. She blinked a couple of times and made some incredibly funny faces. Then she tried to burn Stargazer to the ground with her stare, I swear I saw steam coming from her ears. She was about to say something when I heard something land right behind me.
Startled, I quickly turned around. It was the griffin boss and the look on her face said: I am not amused. She was looked at Stargazer, then at the guard mare, the spit still dripping from just below her right eye.
“I do NOT tolerate disobedience or disrespect and neither does Red Eye!” She boomed. “You will be used as an example of what happens to workers who do not know their place!”
She pointed at Star and several slavers escorted him to the center of the circle. This was not good, I had seen dozens of ‘examples’. Best case scenario would be torture, worst case...
I had to do something! I looked at the green guards mare, hoping she would speak up and tell that it had been her fault. She was grinning. She was actually grinning. I didn’t know a lot about love, but she had been hitting on him less than five minutes ago! Why wasn’t she doing something to help him? I panicked and pushed my way towards the middle, where Stargazer was standing still, surrounded by guards.
The griffin spoke. “You are workers for the glorious Red Eye! He gives you a purpose in life! Protection, shelter, food! All he wants in return is the loyalty and respect he deserves. THIS stallion.” She turned and pointed her claw at Stargazer. “Has chosen to insult his protectors. And I want all of you to know what happens to workers who bite the hoof that feeds them.” Okay, that was all buffalo manure and she knew it. Who would call their slaves workers? As far as I knew, workers were free to go whenever they wanted.
My thoughts were interrupted when she walked over to Star and grabbed him by his throat. As he struggled I saw blood dripping down from where the griffin’s claws were puncturing his skin. She lifted him in the air with one paw, crushing the life out of him. Stargazer. The first pony in years who had been kind enough to honestly care about me. He was dying in front of me and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
I screamed.
It had become my usual reaction to bad stuff but at least it caught his attention. He looked up and saw me, sobbing and staring at him, and did something that only seemed to make it worse: he smiled. He gave me a reassuring smile as his trashing slowed down and finally stopped. The griffin held him like that for what seemed like an eternity before throwing him down on the ground. “They die.” She finished.
I collapsed on the ground, tears streaming from my eyes. They killed him. They actually fucking killed him. I screamed again, this time it wasn’t a scream of terror, but one of rage. How dared they. What gave them the right to treat us like toys, using us and discarding us when they grew tired of us? I looked around, most of the slaves were staring at me, a lot of the guards as well. I looked further, I saw the tents, the food pot, the campfire.
I kept staring at the campfire, my mind going blank, all of the sounds around me died out, only my emotions remained as i looked at the flames licking at the logs, consuming them. Even though I was pretty far away from it I could see every detail as sharp as if I was standing right next to it.
I stood up, not looking away from the fire. Ponies around me backed up, forming a small circle.
I stared at the flames and felt my horn tingle. I paid it no attention.
Wind blew up my mane, which was strange as it had been wind still all day.
Somepony tried to pull me away but quickly retracted his hoof.
My vision became a bit blurred as a fog appeared around me. I looked down to find the rain puddles boiling but disregarded it and focused on the fire again.
A shotgun floated in front of me. It was surrounded by a green aura which I immediately recognized. I turned to face the slaver guard who had been the cause of Stargazers death. Her face wasn’t as schmuck as I was used to, instead it was filled with terror. I saw her lips moving and I could faintly hear her. “Calm the fuck down!” She was screaming, though it sounded as whispers to me. “He wasn’t important, get over it.”
This only made me angrier. I couldn’t think straight anymore, all I knew was that Stargazer was dead and that it was her fault. And know she said he was not important. “He was important to me.” I whispered. “He was important to me and you took him from me.”
The circle around me grew bigger as ponies slowly backed up, shielding their eyes with their legs.
She stared at me in confusion for a second. “Gee, he was just a slave. Don’t need to get worked up so much about that.”
I remembered everything slavers ever did to me. I could see the faces of the slavers that broke into my room when I was a filly. I saw them laughing as my mother died in front of me. I saw them take me away, selling me to the highest bidder: an old filthy stallion who liked fillies way too much. I saw myself back in Appleloosa after I had become to old for him. I saw half a dozen other masters, each using me like I was nothing more than a tool. I saw myself a couple of days back, when I met Stargazer. A friendly face. I saw the life being crushed out of him, still smiling. I saw a green unicorn mare grinning at the sight.
A couple of things happened at once.
My vision was taken away by an incredibly bright light. I could hear several loud bangs and a lot screams. For some reason I found it very funny that for once I wasn’t the one who was screaming. Suddenly I felt very tired. It was probably for the best to lay down and calm down a bit. Whoops! Without warning, my legs decided to stop working. I was happy to find out that the ground was completely dry. Now if those ponies would just stop screaming so I could just go to sleep. Sleep would be good, hopefully it would get rid of that terrible headache. And maybe that stinging feeling all over my body. I felt myself slowly pass out as the screams around me faded.
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I do not own the rights for Fallout nor My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
They are held by Bethesda and Hasbro respectively
Furthermore the Fallout Equestria universe has been created by Kkat who also deserves a lot of credit.
And also thank you Otherunicorn for proofreading and pointing out some things to improve!
Not to say this story isn't good or well written, as I have not read it yet, but:
Don't you think there are enough Fallout Equestria spin offs? Fanfiction about Fanfiction itself is kind of redundant, but we're reaching the stage of ridiculous. There is more spin off work than their is of the original, and that's saying something as the original is over 2,000 pages. I see this is your first fanfiction, and I just want to forewarn you that you picked a pretty hard area to satisfy as your first story. Most spin offs just try and capitalize off of the success of the original.
Just thought I should throw that advice to you, but good luck with the story.
106627
Thanks for the heads up, and yes, there are a whole lot of spin-offs.
But I just got this story in my head so I decided to write it out.
So the only thing I can say is that I hope you enjoy reading it.
And thank you again for the good luck.
Oh, hey. Another Fallout: Equestria story. I give all these a go.
Good start. There was the occasional grammatical mistake, but other than that, a good start. The part about losing Stargazer was interesting, and the beginning reminded me a bit of Pink Eyes. However, that magic fire tornado seemed a little OP to me... Just saying
106648 has a point, but following what he says to a logical conclusion, couldn't that also apply to fanfiction in general? Kkat invented a world, a mix between two of the greatest franchises of all time, that is well done and exciting. Who wouldn't want a part of it? Writing in an established world saves time and effort in world building, and building off the success of other franchises is nothing new or particularly bad. But what I think what he was getting at was that this story has to be able to stand on its own and be more than "Mary Sue's Adventures in the Wasteland" (not to say that yours is, but if you're not careful, it could become that. I have seen more than a few Fallout: Equestria stories go down that road).
Nevertheless, I see potential in this story. Tracking to see how this plays out.
I have read Fallout Equestrian fan fiction over and over again, and am writing my own. I have other I ideas I plan to do too. But this is a good start! I understand the errors (Which I pay no mind to at all). It's fun to see the stories of others in this wonderful world. I just have to say that you shouldn't stop no matter what others tell, thats one thing this fanbase has taught me, KIU! (Keep It Up)
106899 It's not uncommon to capitalize on success, but I think F:E has been near milked dry at this point. People are more or less just stealing Kkat's idea now. World building is one of the most interesting parts of story telling, and really it's something that you're going to essentially have to learn to do as you progress as a writer.
I wouldn't say that NO good spin off of Fallout Equestria exist, but I will say that we shouldn't just encourage more and more of them, because it's really going to eventually lower the value of the original. There is more ways of a post apocalyptic world than Fallout. I actually have a story that got posted on Equestria Daily that has to do with ponies in a post apocalyptic world that has NOTHING to do with Fallout.
I do cocaine.
106965
mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/MLP_IMMA_LET_YOU_FINISH.png
Really sir i was almost sure that this community was about support and careing i agree with you that there are quite a few fallout site ficts that have came from Kkat's and sombers ficts but you have to think obn the part of the wrter not all fan ficts gather a huge following, but think of it if you find something you love or widely enjoy you want to be a part of it. This might go from writing a simple spin off of your own design that never gets read to a story that creates a giant splash where even the author of the original work comments on it.
some storys may not be the best but i give every one a good fighting chance to seceded and to liven someones day.
i hope you have a wonderful day
a fellow brony NeverKnown
107089 Ummm, I never recalled signing a paper that made me obligated to blindly love and tolerate everything that came my way, and personally that's a terrible logic. Liking everything and appreciating it for the simple fact that it exists only encourages more low quality things to be made, and before we know it, we're covered in garbage. That being said, you need to understand that love and tolerance was created to counter the trolls outside of the MLP fanbase, not within our own ranks. So no, this community is not about support and caring, it's about enjoying My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. We do not condone blindly following some magical rule book created by young fans who have created the illusion that this community is meant to be a perfect utopia. We are here because we like Ponies, and we want to look at pony related material for entertainment purposes. There is no magical "brony code", and there are no rules on how we're supposed to conduct ourselves. Discrimination within our own ranks is the only way to becoming a RESPECTABLE community. The problem with a lot of fandom is blind tolerance of everything, including crap.
Secondly, there's a difference between being a part of something, and trying to steal a piece of the glory. We've passed the point of "trying to be a part of something" a long time ago when we had 10 Fallout Equestria spin offs submitted here every single day. People need to start creating their own ideas and not just following ideas that were successful. Why tell a story that's already been told when you can tell something new and creative?
I'm sorry, but I write all my own stories, I don't borrow anyone else's. Even if they aren't as good as Kkat's, I'd rather my stories be mediocre and be original, than be "good" and be someone else's. Fallout Equestria was in fact a masterpiece of Fanfictions, however the credit belows to Kkat and Kkat alone.
107188
technically the same could be said for you and everyone else who writes fanfics based on ponies or anything else who writes things based on other stuff. dont you think that there's already enough fanfics based on ponies as it is? if one wishes to write fanfic on someone elses story then i say go on and ahead if its bad tell some things on what they can do to fix it if they are stubborn and don't listen then let their story fall to the ground. Also if your sick of all these FO:E stories then simply don't read them an just ignore them. Now please try not to be a burro and be a little more positive to those who are just starting on their first fic. Thank you kindly
sweet story don't think i read a story about a FO:E slave yet. so ill take it her cutie mark is a ball of fire or something? at any rate who's up for a BBQ we're serving up ponies n griffens from rare to well done
107188 Im going to put this kindly DO YOU KNOW THE REASON WHY SO MANY HAVE JOINED THIS FANDOM?
FOR THIS REASON WE TRY TO TAKE CARE OF OUR OWN And love and f**** tolerate IF YOU'VE FORGOTTEN THIS GO WATCH THE SHOW AGAIN!!! DO I HAVE TO REMIND YOU ITS ACTUALLY A CHILDREN'S SHOW Theres no need to put down budding writers. I Don't have a care in the world of this social monarchy that you think this FANDOM should have EVERYONE'S EQUAL HERE NO ONES BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE.
This garbage as you call it could be equated to us copying off my little pony friendship is magic so before you start putting others down because you think theirs too much of their type of writing ask your self. DO YOU REMEMBER KkAT ASKING OTHERS TO WRITE SIDE STORIES?
Sorry it take allot to work me up but another author trying to kill off others creativity drives me insane i will probity read you work and enjoy it ive just never left anyone bad news only encouragement.
Also i would like not to hear more on this topic thank you
A perfectly reasonable human being
~NeverKnown
Tango: I really enjoy your out take on a slave being the main character of your story i was thinking of doing something like this but it looks like you mostly beat me too it &^^ ive got a few friends who chat on skype send me a pm and ill give you were to look me up im sure theyd be happy to have some new people to talk to ^^
107188 also Discrimination within our own ranks is the only way to becoming a RESPECTABLE community. The problem with a lot of fandom is blind tolerance of everything, including crap. How are you even a brony that is the basis or the pillar of our community
Thank you to all who support me :D
I enjoyed writing it so far so I will keep going.
Also I've already thought about the firestorm being OP thing, and I can assure you that it was more of a one-time frustration outlet.
107543 Kind of difficult when there is at least 10 of them submitted every day. I think that attention could be given to other more creative stories. Also notice I have NOT said anything about this particular author, I even wished him good luck. So I have never tried to shoot down this author, only warn him that he has picked a difficult place to start.
107675 NeverKnown, I understand your intentions are for a good cause, but calm down for just a second. You're jumping the gun, and you're making assumptions. Just THINK about what I've said for a moment. Why did people join this fandom? Because they like My Little Pony, nothing more. Love and tolerance is just a meme that was created within it. The show never once mentions or preaches love and tolerance, in fact look at the Zecora episode. It could be see as blatant racism. Everyone treated her like an outcast until they found out she was okay. Not even the ponies blindly love and tolerate everything in their path, and we should not either.
No I do not remember Kkat asking others to write side stories, which is exactly why it should stop. People are doing it without his permission and essentially stealing his work.
I am a writer yes, but as a writer I want to see other great writers. I have never aimed to kill off anyone's creativity, and if you re-read my messages you'll see that I'm encouraging the OPPOSITE. I am challenging authors of spin offs of a story to try and create a new story, to make something for themselves. That's FAR more creative than making a spin off or a sequel. I am telling authors to go out and try all your own ideas rather than borrowing someone else's, and that even if it is mediocre, at least you tried. Also you have to consider I never spoke negatively about this author, and wished him good luck on his endeavor even though I did not agree with it.
You claim you don't want to hear more on the topic, but then make another response? I don't think that makes much sense... Either way I am entitled to respond, as freedom of speech and all:
107705 I have long since abandoned words like "brony", and avoid calling myself such. It makes us sound like a cult, which we're not. I am a fan of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
That being said I am guessing you need me to elaborate on what I said there.
Don't get me wrong, I still wholeheartedly believe that discrimination within our own ranks is the only way to become a respectable community in other's eyes, but I perhaps need to explain this better so you understand WHY I feel this way, as I will admit it may sound a bit extreme standing by itself:
I'm guessing you've not seem many of the "bad" fandoms out there. Fandoms like Twilight, and Hetalia. I'm going to use Hetalia as an example. Hetalia is an anime that was made some odd years ago, that has an incredibly large fanbase that is notorious for being obsessed with yaoi (male on male depictions) and notoriously bad. That community is essentially all a bunch of screaming fangirls who will blindly tolerate anything within the community, provided it has to do with Hetalia. As a result the entire fanbase is generally hated by a majority of anime fans who are not in it, and whenever most of them see them at anime conventions they are shunned and outcasted like social pariahs. This is not from my personal view of them, as I personally could care less if they existed as I'm not a part of them. I did however once see a group of them chased out of an anime convention, and have seen them insulted directly to their faces on a repeated basis.
I'm sure there are some Hetalia fans who are normal people who happen to just enjoy the anime, but you'll probably never see them because they are swept under the rug like the rest of the crowd. Their fandom has been filled with so much stupid bullshit that no one can take them seriously.
Now I ask you: Is that what you want for My Little Pony? For us to come off as so stupid and childish that we are never taken seriously? To where we are known for being so notoriously bad that no one wants anything to do with us? That is the perfect formula for killing the fanbase off. If we make ourselves to where newcomers won't want to be a part of us, then we are essentially locking the doors. When those of us already here leave, we'll have nothing left then. We'll dwindle to nothingness. I speak with the idea of a FUTURE for this fandom.
Let me ask you: Do you support people making porn of My Little Pony? How about stories about raping fillies and then violently murdering them for no reason? Well it's happening. Under your policy we are required to "love and tolerate" them as well. They call themselves bronies, and there is no way for us to deny them of that.
I understand you have good intentions, however you have to look at it realistically: you can't love and tolerate everything. If you do, then we'll be filled with shit in no time.
I agree with the "love" aspect, but only in perspective. Love your fellow fan in the sense that you try and help them. Don't encourage them to make crap, but point them in the right direction, and smack him when he does something stupid. It's called tough love, and it works. Under NO circumstances however should you blindly tolerate everything though, it just makes a mess.
I hope this offers some clarity on what I said, and I hope you'll actually THINK about this and not just jump the gun on me. I aim not to worsen the fandom, but to better it. The thing I've loved about this fandom so far is that a majority of people are older and more logical and less "fangasm"-y to where we look like a bunch of Hetalia fans. I have enjoyed how people can take criticism and use it to move forward.
I understand fanfiction comes with the territory, but if that's the case let's contribute the best material we can.
107989 sorry i cant sway your hard locked views just enjoy the site and read its for the fun of it
Slave? Interesting. I hope you'll write her psyche right - she was conditioned into submission, so she'll submit instinctively. It'll make interesting conversations and adventures. Also hope she'll find her first companion in that very same slaver mare.
I'm loving the story so far, I'm looking forward to see how Ember fairs in the wasteland, given how her life has been.
same here im actually excited to see the outcome of this first chapter
107989
Okay, everyone, let's all ignore the troll and get back to commenting on the story.
Anyway, it's a good story. I find the slave angle interesting, and I want to see how it plays out. Like I said before, this fire power seems a little bit over powered as is, so hopefully you can find some way to balance it out. When do you figure the second chapter is going to be ready?
110599
I'm not a very fast writer unfortunately so I'm not sure when the next chapter will be ready unfortunately (I'm now 1000 words in).
I originally created Ember as a roleplay character for a PnP roleplaying game (under development) and while writing the background story I decided that I really liked it, so I am now writing this.
Also for the sake of roleplaying everyone agreed that the ability to completely destroy everything with magic fire is a tiny bit OP so I already had to figure a way to avoid her using it during the game. So don't worry, I got it covered, I hope.
Hopefully I won't dissapoint you guys.
110599
>Implying anyone with negative criticism of an over-saturated genre is a troll.
110918
The whole thing seems like a silly argument though. "XXX has too much fanfiction" could be said about anything. The reason Fallout: Equestria gets so much of it is because it's not just a story; KKat built an entire world, and only used a small fraction of it. Like the FiM world itself, that makes it interesting to set other stories into it.
112465 The same could be said about any story though. There's stories created every day with expansive worlds where only small fractions of it are used, but that doesn't mean to just go in and make a million stories off of it.
It's far from a silly argument, it's a growing problem. You can't deny how much Fallout Equestria is being posted here. It's every single day, several times a day. The problem is that it's starting to shadow over other stories at this point, and it's reached the point where a lot of people are just doing it to get attention.
I think the BIG difference between "XXX has too much fanfiction", and this is: This is a fanfiction ALREADY. Having too much fanfiction is one thing, but then having too much fanfiction ABOUT fanfiction is something different all together. You have to admit the idea of so much fanfiction ABOUT fanfiction is a bit ridiculous. Also I've even seen: Fanfiction about side stories of Fallout Equestria. In other words Fanfiction about a fanfiction OF a fanfiction. This is getting ridiculously redundant. People are quickly exhausting the creativity from this universe. Plus has it not occurred to anyone that Kkat doesn't own the monopoly on the idea of Fallout crossovers? Is NO one capable of making a DIFFERENT Fallout crossover? Why must it be Kkat's? Her original was good and all, but you can totally make the same concept with a different idea. I think the fact that if anyone DID make a new Fallout crossover they have to state that it's NOT related to Fallout Equestria is kind of a sign that there's too much Fallout Equestria.
112663
> complaining about fanfics on a site about fanfics. Of a series that's made of Lauren Faust's own fanfic world of My Little Pony, for which she got the one-in-a-million chance to make them official.
Why are you even HERE? Seriously. The fact people make fanfics of something is because they like it. That's all there is to it. You don't want to read more Fallout: Equestria derivatives? Then don't. It's that simple. Ignore it. As for "no one making different Fallout crossovers", it's just because KKat did it so well. We LIKE her vision on a fallout+ponies world. No need to reinvent the wheel. Fan fiction of fan fiction may be an odd thing, but when it happens, there's a reason for it (hint: the reason is, we like the original).
It's not a 'problem'. You just make it a problem, and you're hell-bent on sharing your obnoxious vision with the very people you know won't care about it. So if not to troll, then why are you here?
Also, just to point out your flaws, FO:E is not a 'genre', it's a setting.
Btw, I don't really care if you keep ranting here, but Tango said he'd start deleting any comments not about the fic. So kindly, stop bothering the people who DO like Fallout: Equestria fanfiction. Just because you don't like it doesn't give you the right to judge it; I know plenty of MLP fans who wouldn't touch MLP fanfiction ITSELF with a 10-foot pole. You don't see them ranting on the comment pages of your stories, do you?
Are you all done with the arguments? I have no problem with people expressing their opnions but this has gone off-topic I think. So if you really want to continue this discussion and not talk about the story, then please, send each other private messages or something. Otherwise I will start deleting those comments.
112710 Out of respect for Tango's request as he has been very kind to this point and I appreciate that, I shall take this to private messages with you. I will say I only respond because others respond to me. I am entitled to a response if one is presented to me, I will however take it to private.
*Ahem* A lot of random arguements in the comments... Anyway, I love Fallout Equestria. So I gave your story a shot. I'm just getting started, but I like what I see so far. I really expected Stargazer to become Ember's companion, so I was taken by surprise by his death. And you used the change from third person to first person well. I also don't really find it too out of the realm of possibility that Ember could use fire magic. Twilight Sparkle did something similar in the show, just on a much smaller scale. Anyway, can't wait to see what else will come from the story.
i like it ur the first to use a slave as there main charecter so thats a plus right anyway i like it i hope you keep goen just sayen.
Stargazer's death= instant depression
Yay! Finally started reading this!
Oddly enough, I feel myself slipping into Gears' personality when reading this... I was mildly pissed at the slavers. Not my usual reaction to reading a first chapter in a fic. xD
Oooooohhhhh. Fire element magic. I like it