Black and White

--------------------------------------------------- Author’s Notes --------------------------------------------------

I hope you all enjoyed reading this fic’ as much as I enjoyed writing it, even if my OCD inner grammar pony went berserk several times during its creation. I spent a fairly significant chunk of time deciding whether or not to actually submit this to Equestria Daily. Here’s a few fun facts, see if you can figure out why:

• The "and" in the title graphic is actually colored with Octavia's coat and outline colors.
  
• Black and White is based on a true story. About 80% of it is factually accurate.
  
• Cannoli, Cloudburst, Vinyl Scratch, Lyra, Bon-Bon and Octavia are all based on actual people.
  
• If IRL-Cloudburst, IRL-Vinyl Scratch, and/or IRL-Bon-Bon were bronies and read this story, they probably wouldn't recognize themselves.
  
• If IRL-Cannoli and/or IRL-Lyra were bronies and read this story, they would definitely recognize themselves.
  
• IRL-Cannoli would probably know that it was her from her pony's name alone.
  
• IRL-Lyra's revelation would take a bit longer, but she'd figure it out. Of that I have no doubt. [/Zecora]
  
• If IRL-Octavia were a brony and read this story, he would wonder why in Celestia's name he's re-reading the story he's already spent weeks on writing, editing, proofreading, rewriting, and being generally displeased with.

I guess it technically isn’t a ‘self-insert’ by the standard definition, as I didn’t create an OC pony for myself. I truly see enough of myself in Octavia’s fanon that I don’t feel overly awkward and out of place stepping into her hooves and projecting my own story into her background. I can only hope that it doesn’t ruin her for anypony, and if it did, I’m super-sorry! D: Please don’t hate me!
Anyways, I hope you enjoyed it. If you have a comment, question, suggestion, or if you’ve run across a typo, leave a comment on the Equestria Daily page, shoot me an email at , or send me a tweet @melionos. Thanks for reading and keep on rockin’! Bronies forever!

----- ADDENDUM (as of Jan. 23, 2012)-----

This story is not recent--it's actually several months old, only recently uploaded to FiMFiction.net to widen its audience. So huge thanks to RBDash47, who kindly reformatted the entire story for deviantArt. In lieu of its age, there are several things I would like to note. Firstly, I made no tweaks to neither the story or the original author's notes above, to preserve the story's impact. Secondly, I would like to thank everyone--and I mean everyone--who read the story and sent me an e-mail, contacted me about it, did fan art for it, gave me outstanding feedback, or anything of the sort. I read every comment and every e-mail--even if I cannot find time to give a meaningful reply, so for that, thank you. You guys keep me going whether you know it or not.

Fanworks or other things of note I am aware of:

• Signature by Murdoc1905 :: Simple but elegant signature by a fellow MMO-C forumgoer.

• Octavia Onstage by DavidsWolfGoddess13 :: Awesome. What else can I say?

• Octavia and Vinyl by Pescean :: More awesome art, but I have to admit, it was rather unsettling seeing Octavia portrayed as dark-skinned as this, primarily because I'm Asian and have the darkest skin in my immediate family, but also because that's exactly the kind of expression I'm often wearing. Awesome, awesome stuff regardless.

• Little Octavia by BeatleBrony :: Amazing stuff. The musicians in this fanbase never cease to amaze.

• Octavia's Loneliness :: Recent addition, courtesy of FIMprov. Chilling, haunting. 'Nuff said.

• Melionos Interview by RBDash47 :: I really can't say much else about this except "thank you", so that will have to do.

• Whisked Away by the Wind by EonEvolution :: Another example of the brony fanbase blowing me away. Honestly, guys, I don't know how you do it.

• Pulling Misery by EonEvolution :: And a beautifully retouched-up of the above. I'm no good at Photoshop, so the way people can edit stuff in like this--cartoon ponies, no less--and make it look this good astounds me.

The story can also be found on Equestria Daily (contains a link to the Kindle version), the Pony Fiction Archive, and as an audiobook courtesy of ScorchedMechanic, the same wonderful guy who brought you the audiobook version of Fallout: Equestria.

In regards to future ponyfic's--I have been working on one under the working title of Brushstrokes for--well, virtually since Black and White's original EqD debut. Progress is and has been, for the most part, slow, as after the massively positive reception of this story, quality checks are not something I wish to take lightly. It is to be an adventure-styled fic' very much in the spirit of PK's Antipodes, Daetrin's Off the Edge of the Map/Apotheosis, and Jetfire's It's A Dangerous Business, Going Out Your Front Door. There will be minor shipping, but I am avoiding grimdark and instead focusing on other themes. For those that are still interested, here's the current EqD description I plan on running with:

There was little room in Inkwell’s life for anything other than his day job in Canterlot and his mostly-mute father, Mobi. But when the latter ups and vanishes one day with naught but a three-sentence note left behind, the young colt sets off after him, determined to discover what’s caused his father’s disappearance. What he finds transcends that which he thought unthinkable and goes far beyond the fate of an old grey unicorn.

A snippet from a chapter early on:

The sun reappeared in the window, brushing against the horizon. Inkwell had just started nodding off when the mare’s eyes flew open, sending him tumbling out of his chair in shock. She had pulled herself upright by the time he found his footing, and for a moment, they just stared blankly at each other, his eyes connecting to a sharp, slate-grey pair. Her expression was indecipherable; bewilderment was the only thing that he could detect at all, and even that might’ve just been his imagination.

Those digging around my deviantArt page may run across other Brushstrokes-related things--but I would like to note that I am not very far into writing the story overall, and anything above or on my deviantArt page is only tentative and is subject to further changes and/or redesigns.

One more thing I should mention is that thanks to Twitter's refusal to let me abuse multiple-login features like Google, my @melionos account is virtually dead, as it is difficult and very clunky to use with any regularity. If you would like to contact me for any reason (even if it's flaming or death threats), you may find me in any of these places.

- Twitter (This is my actual Twitter account, so please be gentle): @bluesparkks

- E-mail: melionos@gmail.com

- MMO-Champion: Bluesparks

- Steam: Zephyr (I change my Steam username a lot xD)

- League of Legends (NA): Melionos (So sue me, I want to play with [more] bronies)

- DeviantArt: Melionos

I can only hope that the story lives up to my expectations just as much as it does yours. It would honestly be impossible to say whether my expectations of Brushstrokes or yours would be greater--to exceed Black and White's reception is my lowest of expectations, to match IADB,GOYFD/Antipodes/OTEOTM/Apotheosis would be near the middle, to outdo Past Sins is my highest (reasonable) expectation, and to match Fallout: Equestria would literally be a dream come true. If you would like to proofread, edit, provide additional perspectives, or comment on the Brushstrokes WIP, my contact info is above. But be forewarned: As I've said, I put my WIP through the strictest quality filters I can. Do not bother contacting me if all you want is a sneak peek or to hang out in GDocs chat. I am all too aware of how high some of my expectations are, and I am also all too aware of how easily someone can manipulate me into failing at any of them, intentionally or not. I know that sounds cold, but I hope that puts you in clear touch with how seriously I take my writing and how sincerely I would like to achieve or outdo my aforementioned expecations of myself and my work. If you still feel up the challenge (I will be asking for proof of literary prowess), again, my contact info is above.

Thank you all again. Your support is priceless, and I look forward to giving you the best ponyfic' I can offer for you to sink your literary teeth into. Keep on rockin', people. Keep on rockin'.