It Is Recommendsday, My Dudes #82 · 7:56pm Oct 12th, 2022
October's kind of a funny month for stories. Usually there's a decent push of horror right at the beginning, then things are mostly normal, then a huge rush right at the end.
Well, that kind of inconsistency is unacceptable! So I'll do my part to even it out a bit - with some damn haunting horror for the season.
The lighter of today's fare is The Hat Makes the Pony by Vertigo22.
One day, an errant gust of autumn wind blows Applejack's hat off her head. A moment later her body realizes that it's free now and runs for the hills. Because, you see, Applejack is actually a parasitic mass of writhing tentacles and magic inside a hat that puppets the body of a pony. Now she has to get back to the farm and take control of her body again, which is very annoying for a hat to do.
Now, to clarify the tag situation: this is primarily a comedy. Yes looking at the summary and the concept, there's some serious horror going on here: the orange pony we all know (Southern Belle) is a prisoner being controlled by an eldritch monstrosity that suppresses her mind. But the actual minute-to-minute action is largely played for dark laughs, like the hat complaining vehemently about how it really liked its host's hair. (Well, mostly minute-to-minute. The ending gets pretty horror-y again.) Really, it's a great mix with just enough of the dark to act as a solid counterpoint to the ridiculous.
This is a story I'm really surprised has gone under the radar like it has - five years old, a fairly prolific and known writer, a really big name as pre-reader... and it's only 45-6. Maybe it's the cross of tones, but it's surprising to me this one didn't take off harder and has stayed fairly unknown. It's certainly a memorable premise and the execution is spot on.
So before I launch into the next one, I'll lead with my standard:
The Following Story Is Not Work Safe.
Additionally, normally I leave content warnings to the story itself, but in this case it's enough that I feel like I have to add it here. I can't really summarize this one without it. So content warning: be ready for some body horror, some sex, and a lot of drowning.
That out of the way: up second today is the always-great Raugos and the disturbing Aquaphilia.
The story opens on Cucumber Seed, one of three members of the Ordo Aquarius on the beach. A pod of sirens arrive at the shore to enact an ancient ritual. One of the pod chooses him after a long minute of silent consideration. He steps into the waves. She - Calando Stella - embraces him. And then she drags him down into the depths to drown.
Deep below, the magic overtakes him. Cucumber Seed is absorbed into the siren's great dragon-like body, merging to a blob of flesh against her scales. He meets some of the others who came before him: ponies wed to sirens in flesh and soul, bound to ancient and powerful creatures until their lives and their minds fade away. And together, they see the world.
So... this story always gives me mixed feelings. Not bad/good, mind you! The story itself is excellent - it's a masterpiece of writing. But it fills me with awe: the writing is beautiful, as are the sights Cucumber sees and the things he gets to experience. A pony's view of the life of sirens, deep below the waves. The poetry of the ocean and a foreign, wild culture. It is also utterly terrifying on a visceral level because it begins with the main character drowning and having his body incorporated into a giant monster's form as little more than a self-aware tumor. I don't quite know how to better phrase the way my mind recoils at the imagery - and yet the story itself is beautiful.
But as I said: this is a masterpiece. It won the Horsewords Extravaganza II Contest for very good reason. It manages to be both stunning and deeply disturbing in the images it creates, and that's a rare find.
New or catching up? Try Recommendsday: The Index for your story needs!
I wasn't aware that you reviewed (If you wish to call it that) my story. I'm glad you liked it. I vaguely remember writing it and from what little I do remember, it was a great deal of fun. The thing I remember the most is I listened to the rendition of America the Beautiful from The Purge one day non-stop. I kind of wish I'd done a scene where the hat got blown into a hat shop and was adorned by a few ponies; that would have been a lot of fun. I digress though, thank you for reading the story.