In today’s story, take a trip into the future with one of My Little Pony’s ant-agonists.

Discord’s Ant Farm
[Sad] • 2,619 words

That wacky Spirit of Chaos is at it again…

Except, there’s no ponies in the audience.

There’s nothing, really. Just an empty, post-apocalyptic expanse.

Nothing, and some ants.

FROM THE CURATORS: Over the past six years, many fanfics have been written whose premises have been invalidated by later seasons of the show.  However, some remain great despite that.  “This story shows just what sort of potential Discord had prior to his reformation,” Present Perfect said in his nomination, and this soared to a feature amid compliments like AugieDog’s: “Really, it all worked for me — the way Discord feels betrayed; his aimlessness; his lashing out; his hitting upon a new hobby at the end.”

It was that strong execution, combined with an exemplary examination of Discord’s character, that drew most of our commentary.  “Along with good imagery and that overwhelming sense of loss and loneliness, this tackles subjects like the importance of harmony to a spirit of chaos and why Discord doesn’t kill,” Present Perfect noted.  Horizon had similar praise: “The big thing right here is how effectively this paint’s Discord’s denial and frustration and desperation through his actions,” he said.  “It’s easy to forget that, despite his phenomenal power, Discord is fundamentally a reactive force … his portrayal of Celestia is really telling: his ideal fantasy world isn’t one in which everypony loves him and follows his lead, but one in which he gets to continue playing the foil. That, more than anything, drives home the horror of the isolation here.”

We also noted how the prose reinforced those deeper themes.  “The language the story uses had a Discordian feeling to it, too: heading toward overblown but undercutting itself constantly,” AugieDog said.  And the world around Discord, Horizon said, also contributed to the overall excellence.  “I appreciate that the apocalypse is well-sketched but never fully explained,” he said, “and the ant-iclimax — ha ha, see what I did there — is the cherry on top.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Fiddlebottoms discusses graviton theft, future cancer, and angry scalp massages.
Continue reading →