Set in a world where humans were at odds with the other races until a mysterious pandemic has started to turn the majority of mankind into savage, animalistic creatures called Ferals. Because of this, the Royal Sisters made a walled city where many Equestrians and selected non-infected humans would be safe from the Ferals, while the rest of the world around it seemingly decays.
Years later, a 16-year-old human named Spike Clawson is having a miserable life, from the loss of his parents to the outbreak when he was young, constantly being mistreated by those around him because of his race and lives alone in a rotting apartment.
Having enough of the unjust treatment, Spike sets out to find the last place on the planet where he can live happily without being treated like a plague. Accompanying him is a group of pony girls who while they've never been there for Spike in person seek to make it up to him and join him on his quest to show not every pony in Canterlot hated him for what he is.
Feral World is a My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fanfic written by Wildcard25
on Fimfiction.net here. It is considered his darkest fic yet with its post-apocalyptic setting and Fantastic Racism being a major factor.
The story contains examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Spike is this in this fic. Especially when you compare him to both his canon self and the author's other incarnations of the character as he's a lot more ruder and abrasive. When the girls rescued him the first two times, he didn't exactly show a lot of gratitude towards them and thought they only did it out of pity. Granted, he lost his parents to the pandemic when he was young, was kicked out of an orphanage when he turned thirteen, lived in a rundown, rotting apartment all by himself, and was constantly pushed around by many Equestrians solely because he was a human. So, his attitude is somewhat justified. Thankfully though, he's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Gold and slowly but surely warm up to the girls when he finds out they genuinely care about him and have been there for him in secret.
- Beast with a Human Face: The Ferals are heavily implied to be this. Justified as they were once human.
- Big Damn Heroes: The girls rescue Spike just in time as he was ganged up by Ferals.
- Breather Episode: The chapter "Camp Out" is this.
- Calling the Old Man Out: Sunset and especially Luster calls out both their mother and aunt for not doing enough for the humans. A fact that both Celestia and Luna solemnly agrees.
- Disappeared Dad / Missing Mom: As mentioned above, Spike's parents, Oliver and Rena Clawson, were victims of the pandemic. Though, whether they are dead or became Ferals themselves has yet to be answered...
- The Dog Bites Back: Spike gets back at some of the ponies who made his life miserable before escaping Canterlot for good. See Pay Evil unto Evil below for more details.
- Fantastic Racism: All over the place in this story. The Equestrians look down on humans for not having any kind of magic and the humans aren't very fond of the Equestrians constantly treating them like crap either, and that was before the outbreak.
- My Species Doth Protest Too Much: Not all Equestrians treats humans like shit. Such example are the girls themselves as well as the Royal Sisters, Grand Pear, the Cakes, Shining Armor, and most surprisingly, Neighsay himself.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Before escaping the city, Spike decides to give his power suit a few "test runs" by blowing up both of Surf & Turf's respective cars, destroying Flintheart's house with a falling tree, savagely beating Rumble to a pulp and leaving him in a trash can, did the same to Hoops, Dumbbell, and Score and even broke their wings for good measure. Was all that unnecessarily petty and cruel? Probably, but they all had it coming. Surf and Turf were a pair of pampered Alpha Bitches who look down on Spike, Flintheart was a racially biased Stern Teacher (bordering on Sadist Teacher) who lets the other students gang up on Spike but punishes him when he tries to defend himself, Rumble was a Jerkass who constantly badmouthed Spike and humanity as a whole and never gets punished for it, and Hoops, Dumbbell, and Score are barbaric bullies who treats Spike as their personal punching bag on a regular basis. So, it's hard to feel sorry for any of them. Even Rainbow Dash commented (At least regarding the bully trio and Flintheart) that they kinda deserved it.
- Post-Apocalyptic Dog: Starlight has an Australian Cattle Dog named Jack for a companion.
- Was Once a Man: The Ferals were once humans until a mysterious virus mutated them into savage, mindless beasts.
