My Little Strife: The Sigil Is Magic

by Ichtudirweh

Author's Notes

You have reached the conclusion of the fanfic! Thank you for everyone who has upvoted, watched, or has followed this literature from the very beginning. I am a man of my words, and will revise and polish up everything after chapter two. Now, to uncover any questions that you have in mind.

Q: Why the heck did you choose to write about Strife:Quest for the Sigil? I've never heard of it until now.

A: The whole goal of the fanfic was to raise awareness and possible interest for a forgotten FPS game. Back when I first started writing this fic, I had a unparalleled interest in Strife's plot. What started it all was a recommendation from a DooM online community to go check it out. Strife was more than just a "run and gun" linear videogame. It contained dynamic elements that wasn't present in any videogame at the time, an in-depth storyline with interactive dialog, and a RPG style FPS gameplay with three possible endings. It was unfortunately overshadowed by the release of ID Software's Quake a month later. Due to poor sales, it never took off with the public. The age of 3D renders buried Strife in the sand.

I like what someone said online from awhile back. "You could literally fit everyone inside a small room who has played or has least heard of Strife, and there will be open space inside that room...."

Strife was a criminally underrated game for its time. By merging the storyline of the game, with a theme on the internet that everyone has heard of (that being MLP), I hope it will shed some new light on the FPS itself. My old friend John H from high school sparked my interest in MLP ever since 2011. To be honest, I never had an interest in cartoons (besides the mature HBO Spawn series) since then. No matter how rediculous this statement may seem, My Little Pony has certainly influenced my outlook on life as a whole. I think the motto "Love and Tolerate" is easily forgotten by a majority of people out there. We have to remember what makes us good at heart in the end.

Q: Why did you make the fic "A choose your own adventure"? I remember reading those kind of novels when I was a kid with the Goosebump series....

A: This is due for the fact that Strife was a dynamic RPG FPS, with a high rate of replayability after you've completed the game. Strife had many paths that you could have chosen to follow. To make this fic stand out from any boring linear plot, I've decided to make the reader directly interact with the events occuring within the story. The death sequences that the reader may have stumbled opon was to make it more interesting. There were many gaps inside Strife's storyline, that I've hoped to uncover for the reader along the way (I.E. the brief origins of the Order, the ranks of the Order, how the Sigil works, ect.). I will admit that some parts of Strife did feel abit rushed, as if the developers just wanted to complete the game.

Q: Why merge it with My Little Pony?

A: Simply for the fact that I've spotted alot of similarities between the two universes. Themes like the future medieval theme for one. What made Strife seem interesting to me, was the fact that the main setting took place in a small town similar to Ponyville's. The element of magic seemed like a reoccuring theme for Strife. For example, it's unclear exactly how the Sigil works. We all know that it has something to do with the user itself. Whether it being a divine force or technology, or maybe a mix of the two. Also, look at the textures for the houses and buildings in Strife. Now compare it to the architecture of many My Little Pony buildings. You will see that both structures have been built by similar materials. Even though My Little Pony and Strife share such themes, it still retains the modern/futuristic theme present in our lifetime as well.

Q: How did you make those pictures in the story?

A: First, I would take a screenshot of the particular scene from the fic. This was so that the reader has a sence of what's going on if he/she has trouble picturing the scene for himself/herself. I used the gzdoom engine for my playthrough, which can be found here http://www.osnanet.de/c.oelckers/gzdoom/index.html. Gzdoom was used because it smooths out any pixelation normally found in old FPS games, and enhances almost everything else in the playthrough. The mod, Weapons of Rebellion (http://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=32780) for better visuals and redefined weapons.

Then I would look inside the gzdoom for the particular screenshot. If it's a plain screenshot with no addons, I would use imageshack to upload the picture as is. If I've felt that certain characters should be added within the scene, I used http://pixlr.com/editor/ to upload the screenshot. I would take a vector image from the Mane 6 or an OC to be added as a layer. If the character wasn't proportioned to my liking, I used http://www.picresize.com/ to adjust it accordingly. Any cutting, cropping, ect. was done at pixlr. All original characters and images belong to their respective owners.

Q: I've noticed you copied and pasted a majority of the paragraphs in a few sections. Why?

A: While all of the work I've contributed to this story is purely original, there has to be a flow of linearity. If I were to start from stratch, with every minor detail from each paragraph, I would surely lose the interest of the reader. The reason why it may seem that some paragraphs overlap is an error on the reader's behalf. If something doesn't make sence, or if it's too confusing to follow, send me a PM. I will be more than happy to correct any errors that you may find along the way. As I type this, I will inform that this is still not a final product. I will have to revise this entire fic from where I left off in chapter two. I garentee that you may find grammatical and/or spelling errors along the way. I will announce it when I feel everything is corrected and polished up.

Q: Anything else from you in the future?

A: As a matter of fact, yes. I have all of the chapters laid out for my next fic. It's called My Little Castlevania: Resurrection of Discord. In this fic, you will follow the path of another unnamed Protagonist in the settings of Castlevania. It will be a linear approach, told in first person. I don't plan to add any pictures. You can find all the details on my latest blog post. After that story is complete, my final fic will be called Isolation. This one will be purely original, from the log entries of a journal written by a single man. The theme will evolve around his isolation, and how he uncovers the mysterious vanishing of the human race along with the sudden arrival of the Mane 6. You can also read the details of that fic on my latest blog entry as well.

Thank you for all the positive support. It keeps me motivated to continue writing. Keep an eye on for my future work.

Comming soon.

Comments

[Ichtudirweh]

Alright, the content of My Little Strife: The Sigil Is Magic is finally complete! Just have to edit and revise everything from chapter two. The fic is marked as complete, but be aware of any mistakes or grammatical errors you may stumble opon. I will post it here when I feel it's a final product. That may take a few weeks depending on my time.

[Ichtudirweh]

3/12
My head feels like it's going to explode from revisions, but chapters 1 and 2 are fully revised. I plan to knock out at least 2 chapters a day from here on out. If you read the entire story from beginning to end, I'd advise that you re-read it over again for a few clarifications and changes I've made. Sorry folks

Chapter 3 is fully revised, and now I'm working on Chapter 4. Everything is revised up until the Rarity scene. I will continue off from there tomorrow.

3/14
3 and 4 are finally polished up and revised. I plan to knock out 5 and 6 by the end of the weekend. Looking back now, I can't believe how my writing has dramatically changed. Thank god for the better

3/17
5 is complete, and 6 is now complete. I predict by the end of this month, that this fic shall be finally revised and polished. Chapter 7 will resume tomorrow.

3/19
7 is now revised, and I will resume with 8 by tomorrow. The site going offline delayed the update by a day back.

3/20
8 is finally revised. 9 and 10 should be revised by the end of the week. Progress will resume with chapter 11 on Monday.

3/25
12 is complete. I have a few classes to take this week, so revisions might be delayed. Rest assure that I will try to knock out at least five chapters by at least Friday. My goal is to get this full fic revised by the end of the weekend, no later than Sunday. At the beginning of April, I will proceed to work on the Castlevania story(which will not be as nearly as long).

3/28
I'm in the process of working on chapter 13. Everything is revised up to the last Applejack dialogue. Revision realistically might lead up into the first week of April, but I will stick to the original plans with the full revisions by Sunday.

4/1
Chapter 13 is finally revised. This isn't a April fool's joke, so rest assure of that. The fic will be fully revised by the end of this week. I will continue with the Castlevania fic starting on Monday.

4/3
Chapters 14 and 15 are revised. Tomorrow I will be going on a short vacation, but I will still revise chapters 16 and 17 over the week with my laptop. This entire fanfic should be revised by Sunday. Monday will be the continuation of the Castlevania fic.

4/5
Quick update: My vacation turned out to be hectic. I didn't get the chance to update 16 and 17 like originally planned, but I will try my best to stay on course. That means chapters 16, 17, 18, 19 will still have the deadline by Sunday at the latest. If things still don't follow through, then expect everything to be fully revised by this Wednesday. Trust me folks, I hate it when progress reverts backwards instead of moving forwards. One positive aspect from that vacation was the fact that I had the chance to clear my head.

4/6
My plans are to get 16 and 17 revised by today. Chapter 16 is updated up until the Spectre conflict with Rainbow Dash. 17 should be done by the end of tonight.

4/7
I fell behind with chapter 16 yesterday, but now it is revised. Chapter 17 will be revised today, and by next week 18 and 19 should be complete by Tuesday. That will give me the time to continue with the Castlevania fic by Wednesday.

4/8
17 is finally complete. I'm dedicating my entire day tomorrow, to complete 18 and 19 entirely.

Chapter 18 is revised all the way up to the arrival of the Entity.

4/10
18 is now revised. Chapter 19 is completed already, since I've revised everything before the chapter's original release. If you find any grammatical mistakes or spelling errors, PM me and I'll fix them along the way of writing my Castlevania Fic. So that basically concludes revisions! I will continue with chapter 1 of my Castlevania fic starting either Friday or Monday of next week.

[Ichtudirweh]

2427788

That's an interesting question actually. I think it's the whole 'male superiority complex' type of ordeal. If you've followed the worst ending in the original Strife storyline, the Entity abandons it's entire "super race" of beings because there was nothing left for it to feed on. Perhaps the women and children were slaughtered first, simply because they express more notable fear then men do. Maybe the Entity is a creature who feeds off of negative emotions. Who knows.

[Ichtudirweh]

2431991
Or you can just use your imagination and pretend your a protagonist chick That's if you believe in lesbian ships, then go right ahead.

Yeah, I wanted the Order to execute 'Nazi' like authoritarian rule over the citizens of Ponyville. It was to further express their brutality. Also to foretell that history can in fact repeat itself even in the future. I'm glad you caught onto that.

[Ichtudirweh]

2519148

TOO MUCH DRAMA!

[MerlosTheMad]

Goodness, expansive story. A pity a few folks took to downvoting it without saying why.

[Shameless Autism]

I just read a crap ton about it: Veteran's edition, here I come.
Just saw Stream reviews. Only the jerks didn't recommend it!

[Cuber Snuggles]

Finally finished! Now I feel like reading it again! (Looks at clock) at a future date! So it was based off of a game called strife? So I was making random connections! I blame my imagination.

Overall, I really liked this story! It made me feel in all the right places...that sounds wireder out loud... anyways, im glad I took the time to read this!

[rikusouleater]

omg a strife crossover
I never thought I would see the day