#pipbuck

Part 1 in a series of reference commissions for Bruteforce123!! This is Selena Hope. Lots of fun with the wingers for this one.  She seems to be very overworked. Hopefully she gets some time off soon!!

If you like my work and want to support me, my commissions are open!! For prices and examples you can check out my website, or DM me for more specifics~

In which we get introduced to our main character via what she thinks defines her the most: The PipBoy -- but ponified: The PipBuck!

That half the features she describes are mainly useful for combat gets strangely glanced over by someone who only lived her whole life in a (seemingly very peaceful, albeit boring) fallout shelter.

(They call them stables here cause, ya know, ponified! You'll get used to it.)

Now, that's not me being a nit-picky asshole. Knowing how the story ends this actually makes all of the sense, which is a very nice touch for returning readers like me. New readers might not think too critically about this information at the very beginning of the book, so I don't think it comes to the detriment of them.

The prologue and the first chapter in general surprised me with their confidence in succinctly and entertainingly saying what it sets out to say. How PipBucks are these miraculous inventions to us, outsiders of the stable, but are the most everyday item for the residents of the stable is a great pivot in tone. And sets up the punchline: A PipBuck disappointingly graces her flank as her cutie mark. Followed by a little rant of how PipBucks aren't actually that great.

All of that characterizes our yet unnamed Heroine, as well as the environment she grew up in in a funny yet economic way.

In reality it was like getting a cutie mark of a cutie mark.

In reference to ponies only getting a PipBuck once they have their cutie mark:

Kinda tough to find what you're supposed to be good at when what you're supposed to be good at is something you don't get until you've found what you're supposed to be good at.

Love it.

This prologue also stealthily sets up her ability to pick locks, which she picked up (haha) as she was trying to get her cutie mark. Cutie Mark Crusader style.

Picking locks and hacking terminals is gonna happen a lot in the story, just as it does in the Fallout games. So, seeing this casually planted in a kinda-sorta novelization of these games is pretty cool.

In the last paragraph we finally get her name: LittlePip. Over the years, I've learned to absolutely love this name.

LittlePip's unease with fitting within the society of the stable and the structural hurdles she faced progressing into adulthood there set up her motivation to leave later, while also raising the question the rest of the story will try to answer: If everyone in Equestria is special in some way -- and we don't just accept that LittlePip isn't special -- what about LittlePip is special? Well! Stick around and let's find out :D

Prologue