Tag Archives: dark

SirTruffles’ “Three Left Turns”

01 Friday Dec 2017

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Today’s story turns out right.

Three Left Turns
[Dark] • 2,478 words

Equestria’s last night is nigh. Next evening it will be ash. Twilight slips off with but the past to bargain with. Can she buy a future?

FROM THE CURATORS: Our search for literary merit in fanfiction sometimes leads us to stories with unique styles — and this certainly delivers on that score.  “Here’s something I’d describe as literary impressionism,” Chris said in his nomination.  “It’s a story that focuses more on communicating mood and emotional sense than on offering up a concrete picture of ‘what actually happened,’ told in an unusual format which highlights the narrative’s ambiguities.”  Virtually our entire discussion was about unpacking that unique style.  “Nothing is ever stated plainly, but there are plenty of hints as to what’s going on,” Present Perfect noted, while AugieDog summed up our overall impression: “In the end, it’s the gorgeous imagery that carries the day.”

Just as impressionism can lead to beautiful paintings, we found that Three Left Turns used the strengths of its format to its benefit.  “The ambiguities let SirTruffles paint a picture for the reader without getting bogged down in details which might detract from the moods and moments he’s trying to highlight,” Chris said.  Present Perfect found the story accomplishing a rare goal: “It’s hard to wring true fantasy out of a setting that’s already fantastic, but this does it well by avoiding standard Equestrian staples in favor of the purely abstract.”  And Horizon appreciated its thematic cohesion: “Everything works in concert with that theme of sacrifice.  Even the absence of traditional dialogue just seems like it reinforces the idea of something once given up.”

It was those strengths which led Three Left Turns to a feature despite some curator dissent.  “The style and atmosphere is really well executed, but I feel that I’m missing something,” Soge said, while AugieDog found it a fascinating read regardless: “To journey every once in a while into some dimly-lit and incense-laden atmosphere where question aren’t asked let alone answered, that can be fun, too,” he said.  “Whatever doom there is here, it’s a very quiet and gentle doom. And really, isn’t that all we can ask for from our dooms?”

Read on for our author interview, in which SirTruffles discusses dangerous speeds, zig-zag lines, and willy-nilly portmanteaus.
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AShadowOfCygnus’ “Cold Light”

27 Friday Oct 2017

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Today’s story might offer up some cold comfort.

Cold Light
[Dark] [Human] [Sad] • 3,209 words
[Note: This story contains sexual themes.]

Even in our darkest moments, the stars shine coldly down — distant and remote, but bright in the blackness. Refuse them, shut them out, and they remain. Let them in, and they may convince you of the warmth in their embrace.

This is not a story about stars.

This is a story about people and ponies, and what they visit on each other in moments of darkness.

FROM THE CURATORS: While most of our features are exemplary because of the ways that they reflect the show we all enjoy, sometimes we run across a story that draws its power from its willingness to use pony as a lens onto far darker problems.  “This is not an easy story to read,” Present Perfect said in his nomination.  “It deals with a difficult topic, but unfolds it in a way that is insidious, pervasive, and excruciatingly gentle, up until it kicks you in the teeth.”  We quickly reached broad agreement on its quality.  “It manages to establish a nice balance between sadness and melodrama, talks about trauma without glorifying it, and despite the bleakness of the situation, it ends on a good and positive note,” Soge said.

For AugieDog, it was that emotional balancing act which tipped the scales toward a feature.  “It’s the protagonist’s initial anger toward the unicorn that really makes the story,” he said.  “She wants to be tough, capable, realistic, not needing any unicorns … but finds a different kind of toughness: the toughness that doesn’t turn away a unicorn’s help.”  Both main characters’ portrayals were hard-hitting, Chris said: “The unicorn’s matter-of-fact declaration about giving and taking is something wonderful, a credo delivered with such certainty when most it’s needed. … This is a harsh piece of writing, as anything that tackles this subject would have to be, but the way it doesn’t flinch away from the toll taken on the girl feels necessary rather than exploitative.”  And Soge noted the power of the raw premise: “There are a lot of metaphorical implications of meeting a unicorn after that particular situation, and I’m glad to see the ways the fic explored that.”

Beyond its quality, much of our discussion centered on the fact that “this is almost non-pony fiction,” as Present Perfect put it.  “Outside of a reference to two royal pony sisters, it looks like urban fantasy.”  And ultimately, for a majority of us, quality won out.  “I don’t know that this is a great fanfic per se, but it’s a great story, and the fact that it’s presented as fanfic doesn’t harm that story,” Chris said.  “In the end, I’m going to have to come back to Benman’s ‘Aren’t we here to spotlight the coolest shit our community has done?’ standard; this could be published in any fantasy magazine right now, with zero changes to the text.”

Read on for our author interview, in which AShadowOfCygnus discusses Boswell watersheds, anachronism stewpots, and poking holes in the world.
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very trustworthy rodent’s “The Wealth of the World”

04 Friday Aug 2017

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Today’s story has a richness you won’t want to put down.

The Wealth of the World
[Dark] • 7,849 words

In the 19th century of Princess Celestia’s rule, Equestria experienced an acceleration of its progress and prosperity as the first westward expansion began. Yet there were some ponies who took this call to progress as a warrant for ever more radical reform. In 1858, 148 ponies left Equestria to realize that radical dream. This is their story.

FROM THE CURATORS: “We’re all into style imitations of classic authors, right?” Present Perfect said in his nomination.  “This is a Hawthornian piece about ponies setting off to found a new land out from under the confines of Celestia’s supposed tyranny. And when I say ‘tyranny’, I mean things like ‘having money’. They of course end up succumbing to the greatest of evils … the identity of which is really clever, informed as it is by the imitation and turning it on its head.”  This quickly sailed to a feature amid compliments like Horizon’s: “I’m awfully impressed. … Every revolution contains the seeds of its own destruction, I’ve heard from somewhere, and this is a tight and compelling example of that.”

While we agreed it was an exemplary story, our most spirited debate was whether this worked equally well as MLP fanfiction.  “For all that it’s a wonderful story, the Equestrian setting is an undeniable drag on it,” Chris said, and Soge agreed: “There is a certain homogeneous hierarchy here that isn’t applicable to the show’s universe.”  Horizon disagreed: “It feels like commentary on Equestrian society.  It lampshades the way that it’s leaving canon Equestria behind, in a way that is both literal and symbolic — by physically sailing away and establishing a society based upon rejecting Equestrian ideals.”  He added that the show has explored similar topics — “in many ways this is Our Town from a different angle” — causing Present Perfect to note, “What this story is missing is a tie-in to Starlight’s village.”

But regardless of the merits of its pony approach, its style easily won us over.  “The author captures the Dark Romantic style of Nathaniel Hawthorne, while transporting the themes of Earth’s Holocaust into a complete narrative about the roots of fanaticism and moral failure,” Chris said.  “That’s wonderful.”  Present Perfect echoed him: “The writing is just wonderful, maybe a little heavy on dialogue for journalfic, but very much portraying a pony of letters.”  It added up to a story both moving and literary, Soge said: “Despite never having read Hawthorne, or much of the American literary canon for that matter, I really like the style, as well as how the emotions of the protagonist flow from the writing.”

Read on for our author interview, in which very trustworthy rodent discusses downed waterships, fleeing clouds, and monolithic metanarratives.
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wille179’s “Unicorns Are Magical”

14 Friday Jul 2017

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Today’s story will offer you exactly what you want to read in a horror fic.

Unicorns Are Magical
[Dark] [Alternate Universe] [Sad] [Tragedy] • 3,899 words

“Unicorns are wonderful!”
“Unicorns are fantastic!”
“Unicorns are marvelous!”
“Unicorns are glamorous!”
“Unicorns are enchanting!”
“Unicorns are terrific!”

They also like to twist words. What would happen if you asked what they really are, without the wordplay?

Unicorns provoke wonder. They create fantasies. They cause marvels. They project glamour. They weave enchantment. But most importantly, they spawn terror.

For you see, nopony said that unicorns were good.

FROM THE CURATORS: It’s an excellent sign for a fanfic’s quality when it gets lodged in your brain and refuses to leave.  “This fic is positively insidious,” Soge said.  “It has been two weeks between when I read it and when I managed to sit down to write this, and the otherworldliness of Twilight’s actions and how wrong everything feels simply hasn’t left me.”  Chris, who nominated it over a year after first reading it, felt similarly: “I think there’s a lot to appreciate about the way this piece creates and maintains a particular, darkly enjoyable tone,” he said.  “It’s a pitch-perfect take on the alien other-ness which defines the Fair Folk in our own world’s mythology, and the MLP setting draws out that other-ness well, with its familiar-but-equine trappings.”

A major contributor to the story’s excellence was its fine detail work.  “‘The earth pony sighed’, in the context of the opening scene of this story, is one of those rare single lines that shakes me to the core,” Present Perfect said, while Soge praised the subtlety of its construction: “It is one of those stories that builds a lot of atmosphere not in what is says, but in the things it omits: Wings, horns, weather control, Cutie Marks, and even empathy.”  That construction was thoughtful as well, creating impact even from its structure, as Chris noted: “The reverse-chronological order of the five characters’ scenes is used to good effect.”

But an unexpected strength was its work with familiar characters despite the massive departures of its alternate-universe setup.  “The author has boiled the main six down to their most basic traits, removing many things that the reader might have imagined would be important to their character and being,” Present Perfect said.  “In doing so, they walk a fine line between familiar and alien, and twist that to ensure that the events happening in the story keep the reader guessing.”  As disorienting as that sometimes was, it was ultimately the source of the fic’s staying power, Chris said: “There may not be a clear line between some of the main six’s lives and motivations in this fic and in the show (that is, not one that can be directly extrapolated from the AU’s premise that unicorns are essentially malicious fey), but the larger themes of the story circle that idea so smoothly that I can’t help but be impressed by the way the story grounds ‘Twilight Sparkle’ in such an unfamiliar creature.”

Read on for our author interview, in which wille179 discusses robot puns, smile-ripping, and tea pettiness.
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DrakeyC’s “Long Live The Queen”

16 Friday Jun 2017

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Today’s story explores the consequences of a royal error.

Long Live The Queen
[Dark] [Drama] [Sad] • 6,853 words

During her time-twisting battle with Starlight Glimmer, Twilight finds herself in an Equestria ruled by a tyrant alicorn that calls herself the Queen of Equestria. In this world, Twilight’s friends are gone and beyond her aid, and Equestria’s citizens live in fear of their ruler’s wrath should they anger her.

The Queen herself suffers worst of all.

FROM THE CURATORS: One of the great joys of fanfiction is that it can explore topics we know the show won’t cover — and one of the greatest pleasures in reading fanfiction is finding a story which can do that while remaining faithful to the source material.  “I think the highest praise I can give this story is that it feels exactly like what we would have seen in the show if the show ever acknowledged the existence of the Equestria Girls movies,” Horizon said, and Present Perfect explained: “It slots in well to Cutie Re-Mark by virtue of being the ‘Sunset Shimmer bad end’ universe.”  That merger drew broad praise: “It’s a solidly put-together glimpse of yet another way Equestria could’ve gone sideways,” Chris said.

The reasons for that quality were wide-ranging and spoke to the story’s depth.  “This manages to get into the ‘Queen of Equestria’s’ character without resorting to lazy storytelling,” Chris said.  “It explores its dystopia succinctly and without a lot of overdone angst, has a nice mid-story reveal, and the ending is a nice mix of bittersweet and hopeful.”  And while several of us found the early going exposition-heavy, we found that eclipsed by the story’s powerful second half.  “It would’ve been so much stronger if Twilight and Spike had been forced to leave the map rather than wandering away from it on their own, and there is an awful lot of standing around and explaining,” AugieDog said.  “But from the reveal in the middle on out, the slowly dawning horror of the AU is handled very nicely.”

And despite that Alternate Universe tag, this was a story that had a great deal to say about the world of the show.  “I’m especially impressed by the way that the tone works both as a standalone piece and as a poignant contrast to the unrepentant villains of Cutie Re-Mark’s bad timelines,” Horizon said.  “That examination of a world doomed despite regrets and good intentions is a powerful one.”  And one that will stick with you, as AugieDog said: “I found the ending to be positively haunting.  Sunset knows she’s trapped, she knows it’s her own fault, and she knows her best chance to make things right again.”

Read on for our author interview, in which DrakeyC discusses bad OC origins, evil Scootaloo, and Final Fantasy fillies.
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Trick Question’s “Motherly”

26 Friday May 2017

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Today’s story is rated PG-13 due to parental guidance.

Motherly
[Dark] [Drama] [Sad] • 3,617 words

All mothers love their children, and all mothers feed their children. Princess Chrysalis and her mother are no different, except that to a changeling, “love” and “food” are the same thing.

Well… mostly.

FROM THE CURATORS: While the recent Imposing Sovereigns contest inspired a number of unusual takes on Equestria’s ruling princesses, it also inspired some strong reinterpretations of more well-trodden subjects.  “This is certainly not my first time seeing some of these concepts of an alien, uncaring Changeling race with a completely flipped morality system,” Soge said of Motherly, “but the execution here makes all the difference.”  Indeed, that execution was remarkably wide-ranging while still keeping a recognizable core.  “Touching on subjects like strength and weakness, pride and disdain, power and deceit, this story still somehow felt very Pony to me,” AugieDog said.  “A difficult feat for a story with these tags.”

Over and over, it was that well-chosen approach which most impressed us.  “The author tends toward the dark,” AugieDog said, “but here, that style really suits the subject matter: the intertwining of love and cruelty in the pre-sherbet-fairy-moose changeling world.”  Present Perfect was impressed by how it also intertwined with the show: “This is a really good way to use the changeling canon we were granted in Season 6 — arguably one of the best things to come out of that season.”  And while Horizon disagreed, he found just as much to appreciate: “I don’t know how much of the new canon I see in this, but its laser focus on the intersection between emotion and sustenance is really to the story’s credit, and the story it tells with that idea is a strong one.”

But rich characters and character conflicts also helped make this piece exemplary.  “The Queen, in fact, is hands-down the best part of this piece,” Present Perfect said, “at first coming off the stern matriarch one would expect from changelings, but showing by the end that she really does care about what happens to the hive, even if changelings have a very strange way of showing things like care. Her self-sacrifice gives her depth and nuance.”  And that gave the family drama depth and nuance of its own.  “It manages to steadily build up to a surprisingly emotional climax, with some poignant considerations about the nature of love,” Soge said, “and how the feelings in the relationship between parent and offspring can be expressed in complex, and even contradictory manners. Great stuff.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Trick Question discusses interrobang reflections, disagreement hugs, and draconic gut shots.

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Czar_Yoshi’s “Stay Determined”

21 Friday Apr 2017

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(Note: We’re looking to re-feature three of our spotlighted authors, in order to offer them spotlights on stories more representative of their writing!  Our “Correct the Record” contest runs through Sunday, April 23.  Weigh in with your votes and nominations on our FIMFiction thread.  For a “ballot” with a compiled list of nominations and voting links, check this spreadsheet.)

The quality of today’s story is exemplary because today’s story is of exemplary quality because the quality of today’s story …

Stay Determined
[Alternate Universe] [Dark] [Sad] • 15,000 words

My name is Starlight Glimmer, and I hate bad endings. It isn’t fair when some ponies win and others lose, purely by chance. If I had my way, every pony would be equal. Every pony would win. After all, the only other fair thing would be for us all to have a bad ending, and who would want that? This colorless world is bad enough already as it is.

So far, my record is flawless. Never once have I prematurely ended someone’s story, never once have I hurt someone more than they can bear. And every time I spare a life, make a new friend? I get stronger for it. Eventually, I’ll be so strong I can fix the entire world.

No matter what the world throws my way, I’m never going to give up.

FROM THE CURATORS: This unusual time-loop story was a medalist in FanOfMostEverything’s recent “Imposing Sovereigns” contest, so it was initially puzzling that the contest results post was so vague about its strengths … at least until we read it.  “I can see why they had to hew and haw so much about what to say without spoilers,” Horizon said in his nomination.  “The joy of this story is sitting back as you’re reading it, or after you’re done, and blinking as piece after piece falls together in your mind. The moment when this graduated from interesting read to nomination was when I looked at the impossibly bleak and somewhat overwrought Alternate Universe that the story had warned me about in its tags — and then realized exactly how seamlessly it linked to canon, on multiple levels, including some lovely and subtle statements about changelings.”  And while those links became a subject of hot debate, we found there was plenty to enjoy regardless: “I didn’t catch the changeling angle at all, so I’m going to upvote in a fit of bewilderment,” Present Perfect said.

Among the (non-spoilery) exemplary qualities on display was the way it built up its central theme.  “A little something like Starlight wondering for a moment where Twilight and the rest have gone would’ve been nice, but the still, gray air of self-contained isolation that permeates the piece is another thing that really grabbed me,” AugieDog said.  And that went along with multiple levels of careful construction.  “I could wish for tighter writing — but it weaves a story that’s entirely and perfectly and elegantly self-contained, and when you step out of the story you realize there’s also a greater elegance at play,” Horizon said.

It was that careful alignment of the story’s elements that let us glimpse the story’s true strengths.  “The two Starlights we see are mirror images of each other, and the whole story is set up like two mirrors facing each other, infinitely reflecting themselves off into a fathomless distance,” AugieDog said.  “I kept thinking of the line from near the end of Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead where, with the nooses around their necks, one turns to the other and says something like, ‘Next time, we’ll remember.'”  And that was made even more impressive by the dark-horse quality of the contest placing.  “This is a little gem of a story from an author with three stories and a dozen followers,” Horizon said.  “I love the fact that contests can bring this sort of overlooked talent to our attention.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Czar_Yoshi discusses flag-raising, Undertale perfectionism, and the wearing of multiple ties.
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TooShyShy’s “Let Her In”

10 Friday Mar 2017

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Today’s story just wants a chance to get lodged inside your brain.

Let Her In
[Dark] [Horror] • 2,675 words

Night One
“Why is she standing out there? What does she want?”
Night Two
“There’s something off about her….”
Night Three
“That’s not Fluttershy…”

FROM THE CURATORS: One of the benefits of fanfiction is seeing how familiar ponies can end up in wildly different settings — and the fresh takes that those combinations can give us.  “You’ve got Fluttershy used well as a horror device, Apple Bloom as our beleaguered protagonist, and a very thrilling catchphrase in ‘It’s cold out here’,” Present Perfect said in his nomination, and there was quick agreement on how effective this story was at its chosen genre.  “This does the most important thing a horror story can do: be creepy,” Chris said, while AugieDog cited several other accomplishments. “There’s a lot here to like,” he said. “The atmosphere, Apple Bloom’s dawning awareness that this thing’s been stalking her for years, and the way almost the only line spoken aloud in the whole piece is the monster’s repeated refrain.”

Those weren’t the only factors which went into the horror’s core creepiness.  “The excellent audio reading certainly helped, but there is much more than that at play here: Apple Bloom’s fears felt visceral, as she vacillates between reacting to her terror with flight or fight,” Soge said.  “There is this constant atmosphere of irreality to the fic, as you are forced to guess just what is in her mind, and what isn’t. That this stands even after the creature is defeated is really to the fic’s advantage.”  Present Perfect also noted the strength of the ending despite its unusual reveal.  “The one thing it does wrong is showing the monster near the end,” he said.  “That said, the scene comes with some much-needed vindication for Apple Bloom, and the epilogue’s final line is just about perfect.”

While several of us questioned the choice of that reveal, there were ample other scenes where this was stronger for its unusual choices.  “The fact that the creature is seemingly able to invade Apple Bloom’s home — her sanctuary — but chooses not to,” Chris said, “gives the story a more fearful ‘unknown’ aspect than the more traditional trope of ‘the sanctuary is inviolate, save by the failure of the protagonist.'”  And Soge noted one way that it might be an entirely different sort of horror: “I’ll also point out that, despite everything that happens, the monster doesn’t actually do anything against anyone. There’s an interesting interpretation of this fic where Apple Bloom and AJ lashed out at the creature out of irrational fear … not that I think that that was what the story was about, but I think it’s in the story’s favor that such a thing can even be considered.”

Read on for our author interview, in which TooShyShy discusses snoring dogs, basement grandmothers, and purges of pre-teens.
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Majin Syeekoh’s “Solving for Death”

17 Friday Feb 2017

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The quality of today’s story will hit you right between the eyes.

solving-for-deathSolving for Death
[Alternate Universe] [Comedy] [Dark] • 3,024 words

In a miscommunication gone awry, Starlight Glimmer has killed Twilight Sparkle with a fork.

Luckily for Twilight, Starlight’s already acquired a resumé in doing the impossible.

She’s totally got this.

FROM THE CURATORS: While the premise and the [Comedy] tag might suggest that this is a gimmicky crackfic, there’s a lot more than that going on.  “This is a dark, dark comedy with a throbbing red heart of sincerity right at its core, and it’s that juxtaposition that makes the story for me,” AugieDog said in his nomination.  Soge agreed: “From its fairly absurd premise, it builds into a genuinely funny dark comedy, but without sacrificing its heart or forgetting about characterization.”  And Present Perfect pointed out that “it’s got enough polish to make it more accessible to people who aren’t as big on weird-idea fics.”

One of the elements drawing praise was the narrative voice.  “The writing style was worthy of note, with an off-kilter charm that really helped the tone of the story,” Soge said.  That also won Horizon over: “The subtle humor of the narration seems like an odd choice for a comedy,” he said, “but then it turns a corner into drama without shifting textual gears, and that slower pace seems brilliant in hindsight.”  Meanwhile, Present Perfect enjoyed the prose.  “There’s a real freewheeling spirit to the language here, with lines like ‘Twilight remained combatively dead’,” Present Perfect said.  “And the relish fork is an amazing running gag.”

But the core strength here was the way it managed to reconcile some wildly different elements.  “Glimmer’s blase-ness, Celestia using Twilight’s death to teach a friendship lesson, and Spike being the only sane dragon are all fantastically played off against one another, and the result is that the story’s various comic elements all enhance and reinforce each other,” Chris said.  AugieDog summed it up: “It’s a tightwire act of a story, and watching the author pull it off just left me grinning.”

Read on for our author interview, in which Majin Syeekoh discusses tensile linguistics, quintuple Zs, and automobile muses.
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cleverpun’s “If You Came to Conquer”

27 Friday Jan 2017

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If you came for a solidly built Alternate Universe fic, today’s story delivers.

came-to-conquerIf You Came to Conquer
[Alternate Universe] [Dark] [Drama] • 5,959 words

Nightmare Moon won. She defeated Celestia, broke the Elements, banished the sun. This all happened a very long time ago. So long ago, that she has had plenty of time to change her mind.

Of course, fixing our mistakes is never so simple, and never without consequences. Even with particularly potent help.

FROM THE CURATORS: “This is an intriguingly crafted AU whose version of Nightmare Moon feels entirely plausible and whose Discord is quite solidly done,” Horizon said when nominating this fic.  “The story feels appropriately sparse and mythic, but what makes this worthy of the Library is the meditation on forgiveness.”  It quickly caught our attention on multiple levels.  “‘Nightmare Moon won’ is one of the oldest AU cliches there is, but cleverpun manages to use the idea to good effect here,” Chris said, while AugieDog brought out the superlatives early: “The scene at the end of chapter one is about as devastating a thing as I’ve ever read in a pony fanfic.”

But while our reactions to the story cited different strengths, one thing on which we all agreed was how powerfully it developed its premise.  “Just when you think you’ve seen the big reveal, everything escalates to another level,” Present Perfect said.  “And that ending, wow.”  Chris agreed: “The ending is the clear highlight to me, nailing that ‘surprising when you read it, obvious in hindsight’ effect that a good twist aims for.”  Meanwhile, Horizon praised how thought-provoking it was: “The story’s climax is effective horror that brings up some significant moral questions.”

And while the story worked powerfully on its own merits, several of us felt that it was best appreciated as part of the trilogy which it spawned.  “‘Conquer’ is a nicely twisted idea presented in a nicely twisted way,” AugieDog said, “but I would call the two sequels required reading, since they complete the story arc in such a wonderfully tidy fashion.”  Horizon agreed: “Continuing to read the sequels is very much worth your time.”

Read on for our author interview, in which cleverpun discusses blanket patterns, awkward melanges, and B-grade splatter films.
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