“This story is part of the Shadowverse.”

So, what does that mean, exactly?

As promised, here is the blog post to explain it:
Simply put, the Shadowverse is my single largest fanfic writing project. Except for my prelude to Crysis Commander's Black Sun Nation, all my stories take place within it.

Why?
Because the verse is alive.
To explain this, I have to go back two years. To the January of 2016, when I had just realized that with “Star Swirl the Bearded’s Guide to the Arcane Arts” I had bitten off more than I could chew. That one had been my first fanfic project after just half a year of writing experience in general, and I didn’t have what it takes to pull such a project off.

So, I was understandably crestfallen at the time and decided to rather spend my time reading the IDW comics instead of diving into a new project. That was when I came across the four-parter “Siege of the Crystal Empire”, which is to this day my absolute favorite (followed closely by the “Reflections”-arc). It was surprisingly dark for an MLP comic, featuring Sombra’s tragic backstory, his first love, and the death of a monarch.

I was absolutely inspired by this. Within days, I began outlining a new story. A shorter, more feasible one. 30k, of which I wrote the first half in the matter of weeks.
And then… progress slowed down. Not in terms of ‘words per month’, but more in terms of reaching completion. With every word I wrote, completion moved further into the distance.

Why? Simply put… I underestimated the story. Again. Vastly. Tremendously.
Like you’d underestimate how tall the Burj Khalifa is. Sure, it looks tall, but only when you’ve climbed 600 steps up and are at the end of your stamina, only for someone to tell you that there are 2,309 more to go, then you know that mistakes have been made. With every page I wrote, I realized I wasn’t doing the story justice. With every finished scene, I thought about two more ones that would be needed for the story to work.

How does this explain what exactly the Shadowverse is? Well, this is the story that started it all. It’s name is “Of a King and a Queen”, and within the next few months, I’ll actually start uploading its first chapter.

This fresh, more complex revision has spawned new, more realistic mechanics for both its magic and its politics. New institutions and characters. A complete historic backstory, which both it and its spinoffs will greatly explore and build upon.
On top of this things became a bit more complicated when new canon characters had been introduced in these two years.

So, where do I stand now?
I stand on a pile of 1600 years of historic backstory, about 50 completely original characters, of which more than half play a major part in the events that will unfold, and no less than three alternative timelines.

You’ve heard right. This means “Kindred Spirits” is an AU element of the Shadowverse. The main timeline of the verse revolves around the Equestrian monarchy and its enemies as we (mostly) know them, but the alternate universes—you can thank Starlight for this—all have their own storylines, characters and conflicts. The first one of them we explored in “Midnight Rendezvous”, and for Moonie and her new friend, two more arcs are about to come.

Now you might understand what I meant with “the verse is alive”. Support characters of one story suddenly get their own storyline, their families and backstories are introduced, and it develops from a single story to a network of interweaving events.
So, if you want to see where the journey leads, just stay around. It’s going to be one hell of a ride.

Your
Midnight Quill