Signal boost: Horse Voice's "Celestia Hates Us All"

What I'd like to say here is "OMG GUYS HORSE VOICE JUST WROTE A NEW STORY" and stop there — letting you drop what you're doing and click through with less delay. However, some of you might not have read his ponyfic classics like The Writing On The Wall or The Savage Way or Biblical Monsters, and might need some additional incentive.

So, have some: I have read "Celestia Hates Us All", and can recommend it as thoroughly enjoyable.

... More? Oh, alright. Horse Voice's latest is an inventive take on the core premise of Versebreakers — that musical numbers are an active, powerful force in Equestrian society, and that there is a conflict between ponies seeking to master that force and ponies seeking to muzzle it. His approach to musical numbers blends in power over death itself [1], along with a heavy metal aesthetic that feels like a natural and satisfying way to square the two concepts. That's a recurring theme here: so long as you're willing to accept the core idea of combining horror and MLP, everything here fits neatly together, weaving in darker elements in a way that doesn't feel out of place with the show but rather boldly reinterprets it. I'd say that the story drips with style, but that would imply wasted words.

If you're a Versebreakers fan, it's also worth noting that I've created a new group to collect stories that use the concept — Celestia Hates Us All will be its first third-party addition, but hopefully not the last. Go join "Tales of the Versebreakers" on your way toward the crypt.

--
[1] In a manner somewhat reminiscent of Jim Butcher, though I suspect that's convergent evolution, since HP Lovecraft is probably the most immediate progenitor.

Comments

[FanOfMostEverything]

Sheesh, now I really need to finish that one story where Lyra files a progress report after "Crusaders of the Lost Mark."

Also, reading Celestia Hates Us All right now.

[Snowy]

What I'd like to say here is "OMG GUYS HORSE VOICE JUST WROTE A NEW STORY" and stop there — letting you drop what you're doing and click through with less delay.

And I'm off.

[Blue_Paladin42]

That's a recurring theme here: so long as you're willing to accept the core idea of combining horror and MLP

Unfortunately, that is where I stop looking at the link.

[Corejo]

3673265

Unfortunately, that is where I stop looking at the link.

Because you clicked it to go read, right? Because that's the correct answer.

[Proginoskes]

3673265 Real proper subtle horror in the mold of Lovecraft or Poe is excellent, but "shocker" or "thriller", which are often mislabeled as horror, and shakycam nonsense like Blair Witch Project, all do nothing for me.
Thankfully, this review marks this story as Lovecraft-descended.
EDIT: and yet the story itself is tagged "Gore" and "Thriller", not "Horror". I'll give it a try anyway in case I have a different understanding of "Thriller" than does Horse Voice, but I am no longer supremely confident that I will like it.

[horizon]

3674625 3673265
I believe, though I might be wrong, that FIMFiction site rules require the Gore tag if you describe pony death, and since this a story about raising the dead…

This is definitely not a shock story; the tension here is all subtler. Contentwise, if you've read "Herbert West, Reanimator", nothing here rises to that level of brutality. This is a pony story, after all.

[TheJediMasterEd]

Oh, woe is me
My life is a mystery,
And, can't you see
That I'm at the start of a pretty big downer....

Sha-na-na-na, that ain't no crime.