One year. One whole fucking year. · 3:13am Jun 26th, 2014
That's how long it took me to post a new chapter to Filly Fluttershy. That's how long ago I posted the chapter before it. That's how long this story has been languishing without any significant updates. Ugh.
... Well, technically it's been one week less than a whole year. But still, this took me way, way too long to actually update.
Anyway, as you all must have noticed by now, the latest chapter of Filly Fluttershy has been posted as of last week. If you haven't already, give it a read. The chapter is a two-parter, both parts posted separately and days apart from one another. Breaking the chapter into two parts was something I intended to do ever since I first posted the story to Fimfic, and it actually made increasingly more sense to me to break it up while I was writing it over the past year. Put together, the whole of The Lightning Chariot is about 17,000 words long, long enough that I wouldn't want to force readers to go through it all in one sitting.
To be honest, I'm a little surprised that no one asked why part one of the chapter ended so abruptly. In hindsight, I wasn't terribly subtle about what I was planning to do with it, but still. Actually, I had the rough draft of part one written out back in January, and I could technically have proofread, edited, and published as early as then, but I didn't want to put up an incomplete chapter and have you all wait for the second half, especially since part two was really the important part.
Partial spoilers are ahead, so if you haven't read the chapter yet before this point, do that now.
As for the chapter itself, we got to see how Fluttershy really feels about working with the Goddess of Nature, and it's a fair bit different from how Pit felt about Viridi at this point in the game. As much as I detest the Aurum subplot for being a filler arc (and looking back, I'm starting to realize that The Lightning Chariot is also a filler chapter), it was important to the story in that it put Pit and Viridi into an Enemy Mine situation where they ultimately started to get along with each other. That doesn't play out the same way with Fluttershy and Luna in this story, not at all.
We also got to see three new characters introduced to the story, in the form of the Chariot Master and his two unicorns. Needless to say, crossing over the Kid Icarus Uprising storyline with a universe featuring sapient unicorns meant that either those unicorns had to be substituted for another breed of mystical non-sapient creature to pull the chariot, or I needed to cast actual characters from the show for their newly-made roles. Judging from the comments, one or two some of you were taken by surprise by which characters I chose for those roles. Indeed, one person months ago suggested Cranky Doodle Donkey as the Chariot Master, which would certainly fit the original version in a number of ways. But since I chose to take the latter option and had the chariot pulled by two unicorns, it stood to reason that those two unicorns would know the Chariot Master personally, be close friends with him, and be distraught to watch him die the way he did. Those two unicorns will interact with the characters and the storyline in ways that the original unicorns never did. They'll start by trying to cope with their friend's death, and by dealing with the pegasus mare who ended his life.
Finally, the boss fight segment for this chapter has turned out to be the longest in the story thus far, taking up nearly half of part two (4000+ words, though to be fair, the after-battle scene does take up a decent chunk of it). I'm surprised I let it get that long, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out.
Also, for anyone who's curious, that boss fight was partially inspired by the CW show Arrow, particularly the fight with Deathstroke in the season two finale. (What? Fluttershy had a bow in the chapter, so it works. Don't judge.) If you're a DC, you should probably watch it. It's pretty good. If you're a Marvel, then I guess you're stuck with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
In the meantime, I have no idea when I'm going to start writing the next chapter. There are a number of things IRL that I have to take care of and that have to go right first, and I can't even begin to start writing again until I have things sorted out. I don't know when that's going to be, not yet anyway. I also plan to continue my rewriting efforts on the earlier chapters (moving on to The Reaper's Line of Sight, which I had planned to do before posting this chapter but decided to postpone), but that also comes after I've gotten my life more in order.
As for what we can expect from the next chapter (when I do finally get around to writing it), things are only going to get worse for Fluttershy as she returns to Skyworld and storms Celestia's temple. The past day has already been trying for her, what with having to watch Celestia turn evil, being forced to work with Luna, and the Chariot Master's death at her hooves, and she is bound to suffer more, even more than Pit did at this part of the game. Two familiar foes will return, no doubt to add to Fluttershy's strife, and Fluttershy will find out just how much help she can expect from the Lightning Chariot unicorns. Honestly, this is a chapter I've wanted to get to for such a long time (especially considering how much of a pain the recent one was), and I sincerely hope I can get to it soon. Until then, feel free to comment, and stay tuned for updates... whenever the hell that might be.
The update got me inspired to actually finish Kid Icarus Uprising. Turns out I left it at chapter 25 but now I'm just going to have to go through all the chapters again. I was really surprised after I went through the Lightning Chariot, I can't believe I forgot about the Chariot Master! The voice actor really performed his part well. I must've been too focused on the fight and missed him speaking during the boss fight. There's a lot of lines to read into and many things that he implied but didn't say. I'm kinda ashamed that I didn't notice it the first time around.
Anyways, thanks for getting me off my arse and finally on my way to finishing the game.
2235314
Damn, you stopped right before the final chapter? Well at any rate, it's nice to hear that I got you interested in picking up and playing the game again. Kid Icarus Uprising is a fine game, and I'd even argue that it was the first truly worthwhile game Nintendo released for the 3DS (not counting the Ocarina of Time port/3D-make). It certainly has some problems, but the voice acting is solid, the writing is good, and the gameplay is engaging.
2235331 It was the second to last chapter? Dang, well that's what I get for putting it down before I finish it.
Playing through it again isn't too bad, just wish it wasn't so killer on my wrists. 