Black Feather: Things you should know · 1:38pm Dec 31st, 2014
Here are a few things that you may find helpful to know
in order to get the most out of this story.
Didn't this story go by another name for a couple years?
Yes. I've rebranded the story in March, 2017 due to the story's growing independence from its inspiration material. The story's short and long descriptions have been rewritten as well as being given a new title. The old title fit when the project was new and unfocused, but it doesn't really apply to the overall plot structure, theme, and tone of what the story has become.
Is Fallout: Equestria related to this story in any way?
No. Not anymore. Originally, I intended to write the story as a side-story within the Fo:E narrative. Over the first two years, I slowly distanced myself from following Fo:E canon, ultimately straining beyond the breaking point where I decided in October, 2017 to completely divorce the story from Fo:E and scrub out all the elements which were a part of that story. This story is now 100% independent of Fo:E, although there is a list of elements which were inspired by that story which I have kept because they are an integral part of Black Feather.
What universe does this take place in?
Black Feather takes place in an original universe of my own design which I'm presently calling Nyx². Most of the canon MLP events exist here, along with most of Past Sins. Here, Nyx grows up normally after the events of Past Sins, and in her mid-teens, a war breaks out between Equestria and the zebra nation. This story takes place during the final year of that war. Apart from this, Nyx² contains a rich, original backstory going back many thousands of years.
There are multiple stories in this universe, aren't there?
Yes. To start with, there are two stories within the Nyx² universe. The main story is Black Feather. There is also a short story which I wrote back when Black Feather was a part of the Fallout: Equestria narrative. Littlehorn tells the tale of the school massacre which took place in the Fo:E universe during the mid point of its zebra war. In Fallout: Equestria, the Littlehorn massacre changed the shape of Equestria, adding fuel to the already prolonged war with the zebras. My plan is to write an alternate version of this story, titled Brumby Ridge, which will retell the tragedy but within the same universe as Black Feather.
What is the publishing plan? The story seems to be taking forever.
Quality storytelling is my number-one objective.
When I first started publishing, the story was not ready, and I didn't really know what I was doing. Shortly after publishing, it became clear that I was going to have to do a rewrite of the early chapters and raise the standard of quality for the entire story. Over the next year, I fleshed out pretty much the whole plot.
In early 2017, I started going through a second rewrite of the early chapters because they can be so much better with the new standard of world-building I'm using.
Later in 2017, most of my efforts were in consolidating and defining exactly what this whole universe consisted of. I began working with one of my editors, DuvetofReason, to collaborate on an expanded universe design which would include stories he wanted to write which take place in the distant future. Our combined universe has grown quite solid, and after having shed the final remnants of Fallout: Equestria, I realized that this was really holding me back from being able to write the story I wanted to write.
Now, as I enter November 2017, things are looking very good for this story's future. A tremendous amount of detail has been fleshed out, along with a solid idea for what Black Feather's ultimate structure will look like and how it all fits into the larger universe.
There is some rewriting to be done in the first few chapters of the story, but I plan on alternating that with publishing new chapters. I don't have a specific pace planned for the publishing, but I can definitely tell you that there is progress going on behind the scenes continually.
Do I need to have read Past Sins before reading this?
No. If you are unfamiliar with Past Sins, you can still enjoy this story. I cover anything essential you need to know within Black Feather. Still, I recommend you are at least familiar with Past Sins for the best experience. Black Feather is essentially an unofficial sequel to that story, progressing Nyx's character arc as an adult. As such, Black Feather will contain spoilers for Past Sins.
I saw you used the Gore tag. How disturbing is this story going to be?
Despite this tag, the story is very clean for the most part. Instances of graphic gore are rare and brief, but they are present. This is a war story, and in war, there is gore. The amount of time the characters are in a situation like that is relatively low. This story is not meant to be an assault on the senses where the reader is exposed to nonstop violence and bloodshed. It's just not that kind of story. If something traumatic happens to the characters, they are deeply affected by it and I may spend chapters having the characters recover from it.
What MLP story elements are canon here?
The most important thing is that this story (and its universe) maintain the overall themes of MLP quite faithfully. The characters, setting, overall metaphysics, and core themes specifically having to do with friendship and harmony are preserved. The overarching story is much more "mature", however, with significantly greater stakes than what MLP is allowed to present to its audience.
Most events from the show are canon to this story. The few exceptions are when something in MLP has developed into a direct contradiction with either critical timeline events or with the metaphysics of the universe I'm writing in. An example would be the final episode from Season 4, which included the battle with Tirek and the Rainbow Power states of the Mane-Six. At best, I might just change some facts about the Tirek attack, but it is simply not possible, in this universe, to "steal someone's magic" like Tirek did. As I say this, I have not yet watched the final episode of season seven, which includes Starswirl. From what I am told, it does not look promising, and I may have to make significant changes in order to fit it into my narrative.
For now, it may just be best to maintain a list of major canon MLP elements which will not be included in this story.
* Tirek, because of the way magic works in Nyx², it cannot be 'stolen' like Tirek did in the show.
* The Rainbow-Power states which the Mane Six used to defeat Tirek, which make no sense whatsoever.
* Spike, because I just can't take Spike seriously.
* Starswirl as he is presented in the season seven finale. After watching the episodes, I may feel differently.
* The changeling hive, shown in the season six finale, or the new "rainbow deer" forms the changelings transformed into. I have an original changeling model Nyx² uses.
* Anything depicting the royal alicorn sisters as magically weak. In this story, alicorns are badass.
* Nightmare Moon's height. This is an odd one to include in the list, but because Nyx is Nightmare Moon, I don't want her being fully twice as tall as a typical pony. Nyx is Luna's canon height, just a bit taller than an ordinary stallion.
The absolute biggest thing I've gone my own way on is the nature of alicorns. This entire story is about the nature of alicorns and the implications that this carries for Nyx. Therefore, this story departs from both MLP and Past Sins in terms of alicorns.
When exactly does this story take place?
This story takes place fifteen years and three months after Nyx was created. And Nyx was created sometime in the early spring of MLP Season 2 or 3. The show seasons don't really match up with years, so it's difficult to tell. At any rate, all of the little colts and fillies from the show would be in their mid-twenties. The Mane-Six are in their mid-to-late-thirties.
How old is Nyx, anyway?
When referring to Nyx's age, there can often be confusion because she was created as a ten-year-old. So I refer to her chronological age as 15, but her biological age as 25. Usually, she's referred to as 25, and things like her "sixteenth birthday party" would actually be her sixth.
Pictured: A newborn, apparently.
Wait, who is this Flitter character, exactly?
One of the main characters is the background pony from the show named Flitter. In this story, she is a changeling who used to live incognito in Ponyville until the war broke out. I mention this to avoid confusion as to her identity. It also worked out pretty nicely that Flitter the MLP background pony is Rumble's canon foalsitter. I maintain this in the story and make her Nyx's former foalsitter as well.
Pictured: The same pony.
Regarding the other tags
* I've rated the story Teen because this isn't a story about gratuitous violence, sex, or obscenities. It does get intense at times, but the disturbing or violent elements are rare exceptions and not a persistent aspect of the writing. There are expletives spoken when the characters are extremely frustrated or shocked. They are used sparingly for effect, rather than as a normal part of speech for any character.
* I did not include the Sex tag because I do not describe any sexual acts explicitly. Sex is implied on occasion, between two main characters, who are a couple.
-- Chalkboard art at the top I made by modifying leovictor's sketch
Which is funny considering my headcanon has Flitter dying in the Crystal Empire during an attempt to purge it of Changelings, post-war (don't ask).
EDIT: Oh, and according to knighty all Fallout Equestria stories should have the AU tag. Also worth noting that you're ignoring a rather important part of Season 4, so that's also an AU tag.
2690927
Ha! To add more than a dash of irony to that one, in this story, the Crystal Empire is simultaneously the vehicle of salvation to the changelings, and the reason why Flitter lost her entire family and species . She's now the only changeling. This is such a precise reversal of your headcanon we couldn't have planned it better.
Really? Folks in the Fo:E board speak of the AU tag as if you only use it if you deviate from Fallout Equestria canon - not MLP canon. They say things like "It's sooooo important to stick to Fo:E canon, but if you just can't, then just put on the AU tag and you're fine.
Heck, the Fo:E group even has a subfolder called Alternate Universe. Also, a casual glance at existing Fo:E stories shows that the vast majority of them do not have the AU tag.
make sure to put a "dark" tag on this as well. I would wager Most " Past Sins" stories and just about all "F:OE" stories deserve one. And as an editor on this I guarantee this one does as well.
2710250
Yeah that goes without saying. I've had "Dark" from the start.
Seems fine to me.
I'm personally not seeing much sense in the deliberate misspelling of "nightmare", to be honest
2718776 I honestly never expected anyone would have an issue with it.
2718915
It's not about having an issue with it (besides having an issue with misspellings in general... which I absolutely do have). It's just that I don't see any conceivable purpose in misspelling it other than inciting people to send you "hey, you misspelled that" messages about it for the rest of your fimfic career
2719642
Well, that's fair enough. I did put up a poll about it and I figure if readers are really that fussed over it, I can change it. I don't want to jeopardize the story over something so petty. Despite that though, I seem to have really put a bee in someone's underpants regarding my story's very existence. Check out the downvotes. There's no way that this is due to the quality of the story itself. No way in the world.
2719646
Well, it's your choice. All I'm doing is warning you. And as I said, I personally see no conceivable purpose of using "nite" except to sound "all edgy 'n' cool 'n' shit". Which, honestly, doesn't seem all that good a reason
Well, yeah... that's to be expected, sadly, just from having Nyx, and having FO:E, and on top of that, changing the canon of both to make your story work