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Fanfic / The First Steps Of The Rest Of Your Life

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Rhino: Are we there yet?
Hydro: No, Rhino, we're not.
Rhino: Damn.
Well that killed about five seconds, now what?

The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic Fan Fic written by Rhino and published on Fimfiction.net. It features a variety of different original characters, attempting to live a normal life—or as normal as one can be in Ponyville. The list of main original characters as of writing this are:

  1. Rhino, the protagonist and a unicorn vet with "res" abilities; "The Arcane Assassin"
  2. Hydro Pump, Rhino's best friend and an earth pony hydraulic engineer; "The Aqua Engineer"
  3. Voltage Surge, a unicorn electrical engineer who later gains Shock and Awe powers; "The Electromancer"
  4. Blue Breeze, a pegasus weather pony with wind-related abilities; "The Tempest Monk"
  5. Atomic Vortex, a pegasus former guard (now private investigator) who was framed for theft and assault; "The Cyclone Knight"
  6. Ruby Pinch, a unicorn filly from another dimension who becomes Rhino's adopted daughter.
  7. Orion Starchaser, a pegasus member of the Astronomer's Guild who is sent by Princess Luna to retrieve star pieces.

Together, they face the challenges life throws at them...whether they want to or not.

Tropes present in this work

  • Assassin Outclassin': An assassination attempt on Atomic Vortex ultimately fails due to the intervention of Rhino and Hydro.
  • Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: Invoked; when Princess Luna appears at the end of the fight between Lieutenant Torchlight and the good guys:
    Atom: Princess, can I please beat him [Torchlight] some more?
    Luna: Nay, it would be most unlawful of us to allow you to fight under our watch. (turns and picks up a book) Oh, we have not read this tome. We are afraid we might be distracted for a few moments and will be unable to react to anything that might be happening while our back is turned.
    Atom: (grins evilly at Torchlight, who gulps)
  • Badass Adorable: Ruby Pinch, i.e. Pinchy. Young and cute filly, who has been training to become a ninja and actually has skills to show for it.
  • Berserk Button: If you want to get away with your limbs still working, don't even threaten to harm Fluttershy around Rhino.
  • Beta Couple: Hydro/Applejack and Blue/Rainbow get significantly less elaboration than Rhino/Fluttershy and Volt/Twilight. Hydro and Applejack's relationship is barely even referred to.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: Rhino normally keeps his cool...but he is not to be messed with. See Berserk Button above.
  • Clear My Name: How the group first meets Atom - and by extension, Navy; Atom is framed and taken to Rhino to be watched until the trial, and it's thanks to Navy that the guys start to realize Atom is innocent.
  • Clothes Make the Superman: Lieutenant Torchlight is the first major pony villain of the series and uses enchanted armor to boost his magical and physical ability.
  • Cool Sword: Atomic Vortex has a magically enchanted sword called Breeze, which has been passed down through generations of his family. It consists of a hilt that uses natural Pegasus magic to form a blade in the shape of an infinity symbol out of wind.
  • Crossover: With Epic Rap Battles of MLP; Rhino hosted a Q&A and appeared in a couple chapters afterwards (and is still there, going by that story's canon). Similarly, a few characters from Epic Rap Battles of MLP briefly appeared in this story, and led to Pinchy becoming a main character.
  • Early-Bird Cameo: Pop Filter is briefly seen several chapters before he is formally introduced.
  • Human Cannonball: To defeat the sentient cloud monster Fluffers, Volt is fired out of a canon holding a weather device.
  • Living Weapon: Volt is used as a weapon by his comrades in both a fight with Torchlight and a fight with the members of the mob.
  • Official Couple: Rhino and Fluttershy; Hydro and Applejack; Blue and Rainbow Dash; Volt and Twilight Sparkle.
  • Playing with Fire: Lieutenant Torchlight when boosted by his magical armor can be become a skilled pyromancer and tends to use this style of magic as his main form of combat.
  • Pungeon Master: Voltage Surge and to a lesser extent Blue Breeze.
  • Red Mane Take Warning: When Rhino gets his Berserk Button pressed, the blue stripe in his mane turns red. He then becomes extremely violent.
  • Relationship Upgrade: After the train ride back from Canterlot, the tension between Volt and Twilight is finally resolved resulting in them becoming a couple.
  • Shout-Out: Hydro Pump.
  • Straight Gay: Navy Shadow is a Pegasus author and Atom's best friend, but he also hits on Atom during the duration of his stay with the group.
  • You Are Not Alone: When Lieutenant Torchlight is curbstomping Atom and is on the verge of victory, Rhino, Hydro, Volt, and Blue all step in to join the fight.

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