Reviewer Note: This review will be a will different then my normal reviews for a number of reasons:
1. This review was more of a request from a fellow reviewer. 
2. Unlike my previous reviews that are written the same day the story is read, I’m writing this review several weeks after I read the story. 
3.To follow this unorthodox trend, I even followed up with the author to ask them a few questions regarding the story, which is something I never do, but I might consider doing going forward. 

Title: Apparition Amphitheater Presents: Discoevil

[Adult story embed hidden]

Summary: Taking place in the later stages of the Cutie Mark Crusaders schooling days, the three are struggling with the expectations of early adulthood being thrusted upon them while gripping with the former years of their foalhood.  This of course comes with the desire of wanting more freedoms, yet are still shackled by the rules imposed upon them; this comes into conflict when trying to travel to another city for a music concert. 

Taking the loss reluctantly, the girls are presented an opportunity of having their cake, and eating it too when a former foalhood friend offers them tickets to a mysterious dance. 

Analysis: 

Before we start, I would like to mention the song that inspired this story is called ‘Discoevil- by Lordi’, a Finnish hardrock, and heavy metal band. With that, let us start the review. 

The story is a short, three chapter experience of about 10k words with each chapter leaner than 95% Hamburger, and that doesn’t mean a lack of content either. In fact, each chapter wastes no time in progressing the narrative forward toward the dance, and it's inevitable conclusion. When reading (and writing stories myself), I commonly come across two things: ample build up, or none.

This story is all meat and little fat which is great for me because I still get the story without feeling cheated out of more story. By this, I’m referring to missing context that could be lost without the addition of detail. For this story, we’re shown the teenage angst of wanting to stretch their metaphorical wings, but can’t leave the nest just yet, and how the three young mares feel about their current predicament. 

Being we’re in a magical world, an answer to their problem is given to them when an old classmate/friend is back in town and tells the girls about this mysterious dance that comes and goes between towns and cities. Rightly so, the girls are skeptical of the conditions required to even attend in the first place, but given their original plans were ruined, this new dance is quickly accepted. 

All of this is in chapter 1 of course with the last two chapters focusing on the dance itself. I won’t dive into the last two chapters because they are the main focus of the story; the tags, and the song lyrics are a big give away as to what you should expect. What I took away from this story was a strange sense that this had happened before (of course it did with other characters), but is enough of a common occurrence to have infiltrated pony culture. 

It would be comparable to our belief of saying Bloody Mary three times in front of a mirror, but far less widespread. This dance travels enough to entice a large enough crowd to get its desired effects without drawing the attention of any major factions like the guard or the princess, which leaves its actions discrete enough to do whatever it likes to do. Ambiguous detail is enough to suggest this is likely what happens, and perhaps it is only a small piece of the larger whole. 

I followed up with the author, and he informed me most of his stories that carry the ‘Apparition Amphitheater’ title are a part of a collective of stories that may or may intermingle. I felt this prudent enough to mention should a reader wonder if the stories themselves are connected or standalones.  Regardless, I personally would recommend checking this (and his other) story out if you are working with a time crunch, or looking for something creepy without the extra baggage that comes with most horror stories on the site. 

Rating: 8/10

Author Review with Nightmare_0mega

NOTE: This might contain spoilers for the story above, so only read at your discretion.

NO:Hopw you've had a good Christmas, dude. Mine was certainly pleasant enough. Even managed to do some writing and posted chapters on some of my on-going fics.

KS:Nice! I'm curious as to what fics they are?

NO:Well, the first was a side story based on a friend's own Devil May Cry crossover fic called "Pony May Cry: Brotherhood is Magic". The fic in question is called "Quiet Valley", and it's a conceptual crossover between his fic and the horror franchise "Silent Hill".

The other thing is that I uploaded a chapter to my sequel story to my most beloved project on Fimfiction. Said project I affectionately call "The Elements Series

KS:I want to talk to you about the story, and why you wrote it before making a review. 

What was the purpose of the place our girls found themselves in?

NO:Are you talking meta wise on how I came up with the concept, meta wise on why it's a disco hall, or are you talking in-story wise, on how/why the girls are at such a place?

KS:Both. 

NO: Well, I'll answer all three then. I came up with the concept, honestly, because I was listening to a song with the same name; "Discoevil" by Lordi. It's pretty much also the reason why I decided to go with a disco-hall, but it was also to represent a twisted fusion of innocent youth and hidden danger, as they are, at the time of the story, at the cusp of adult hood and desire to live it up while they can, while they have their youth to enjoy. As for in-story, well it's explained rather well in the story itself. They had plans somewhere else, plans fell through, and someone offered them an alternative, and they decided to try to make a night of it... to horrifying results.

KS:Ah ok, and I did pick that up with them acting more like teenagers. What got me was the whole disco dance because I'm over here thinking its like an SCP with how it acts.

NO:Taking a page from the song it's inspired by, I think those that had a more... "visceral" experience will remember the sensation, and are thus entranced when it gives new tickets (hinted at by how Twist behaved, and the ending). So, in turn, those that didn't were a little more hazy about what happened.

KS:Could you explain what or who it is and why they do what they do?

NO: 
What do you mean by "what or who it is"? Are you talking about the disco hall? I mean, if you're talking about the disco hall, there isn't much to say except for a little paraphrasing from a horror movie I like: 

"I never used the word 'phantom'. [...] You misunderstand. Whatever is in [that room] is nothing like that. [...] It's an evil fucking room." -General Manager Gerald Olin played by Morgan Freeman from "1408" (edited)

KS:Yea the Discohall. Is it like one of those tantabus, or something else?

NO:Nope. It's just an evil hall that butchers it's victims and spits them out the morning that follows.

KS:Do you think the Crusaders will ever recall this experience on a subconscious level?

NO:Probably.

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Hey, thank you very much for the review!

I'm very glad I was able to create a lean, yet filling little horror story about young adults wanting to paint the town red and dance until they die, lol. I must confess that I was a little worried about this story, as it was my first attempt at the heavy gore presented along with the M-rating it has, and the fact that reception before now was minimal and ambiguously split. Seeing a thumbs down without explanation is a tad demoralizing, after all.

Still, I'm quite pleased you enjoyed it for what it was, and maybe I might attempt another when the time comes.

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Also, my live editing is absolute garbage, cause I'm noticing things in our conversation that I didn't correct, such as missed punctuation and using "It's" when it should be "Its".