Midnight Shadow rewrite ready to be published!

Hello everyone. I have some very good news! As of today, the first chapter of the Midnight Shadow rewrite is complete, and ready to be submitted! The rewrite is titled Of Machines and Magic, and it should be published soon. (EDIT: The story is now published, and may be found here.) The rest of this blog post contains more information about what to expect, and what has changed.

Of Machines and Magic is still the story of Midnight Shadow, first and foremost. In addition, all of the original characters that had been introduced in the old version will play a part in the rewrite, although their exact roles may have changed drastically. In general, I'm aiming for more tonal consistency and a general theme to focus on. To this end, I've changed many of the plot points that were present in the original. Some of the changes are spoiler territory, but there are a few notable ones that aren't.

Midnight Shadow is no longer a three-legged pony. This is mainly because I felt having him missing a leg didn't really serve a purpose in the overall story. It only really served as a catalyst for his talent in mechanical engineering, but I've thought of a much better way to implement that aspect of the story that also ties into the main themes I want to convey.

In addition, the main setting for the first chapters of the story is Ponyville, not Canterlot. There are a few reasons for this, but I can't get into them without giving out some major spoilers.

Finally, the specific designs and mechanisms behind Shadow's inventions has been altered. This isn't too relevant to the plot of the story, but I consider it an important enough piece of world-building to warrant a mention.

I can't explain any of the other major changes without spoilers, but you'll discover those in time. I plan to try and update the story once a week, if not faster, but I might have to delay the schedule occasionally. I know I've been horrible with keeping up with this story, but I'll try my best to make it happen.

As one more piece of information, there are some mysteries that were set up in the original version of the story that will not be answered in the rewrite, due to the changes to the story and characters. Sometime in the future, I may return to that version of the story, and see what I can do, but for now I would be willing to share what my plans were as long as they don't also include spoilers for future chapters of the rewrite. If there's anything any of you want to know, please ask, and I'll either explain it to you, or tell you that it'll likely be answered in the rewrite.

If you have any questions about anything, please ask. I'll try to respond to everything (within reason, of course). Goodbye for now, and I hope you enjoy the story!