• Member Since 22nd Feb, 2012
  • offline last seen January 10th

A Hoof-ful of Dust


You can't see the forest...

E

Big Macintosh becomes host to the will of an ancient eldritch necromancer.

Nothing changes.

Written for EQD's Writer's Training Grounds #017.

(Audio version by AppleCore.)

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 39 )

Big Mac saves the day.

Zen master Big Mac. Nice. Darkness cannot shadow enlightenment, even if that enlightenment was not sought out. Especially if it wasn't sought out. Thank you for a delightful little story of awesome mundanity. :eeyup:

This really deserves to be featured. Here's hoping it happens by the end of the day. :twilightsmile:

4316618
I like the idea that Mac is an ocean of serenity over other characterisations of him, that he has himself all figured out and nothing, not even the routine madness in Ponyville, fazes him all that much.

4317490
I'll settle for the popular stories box (I think it's been there most of the day, by US timezones).

4318639
Well, there's possession and there's possession. I tried to set the Lich up as something unique, so just how it takes control of someone is intentionally vague, to begin with at least. I imagined it sort of like the end-boss of shoulder devils: it can't make you do anything, just suggest, and suggest, and suggest... just some ponies are pretty resistant to suggestion.

Nothing changes.

It's Mac. Of course.

This reminds me so much of Samwise Gamgee resisting the influence of the One Ring in LOTR; I loved it.

4320973
I hadn't made that connection myself, but you're totally right.

And now I have an image of Big Mac being all "Nnnope!" before carrying an exhausted Applejack the rest of the way up Mt. Doom. Which is kinda awesome.

I almost pity the Lich, being forced into subservience like that.

4321264
It would almost be worth a little pity, if it wasn't going to reforge the world according to its own dark machinations had things turned out differently.

4321630
Some ponies build birdhouses...

Everypony needs a retirement plan.

On that day...Big Mac Saved Equestria.

Crap, I haven't even read this story and the song is stuck in my head XD!
Dunno if this comment is even worth anything, but I will definitely be adding this to my read later list! (Having 1,822 stories there, however, I doubt I'll be getting to it anytime soon...XD!)

:eeyup: I really enjoyed this short story, and I can't help but laugh.
You write very well, and I enjoy how in character it is for Big Mac to actually do this.
So adding this to the very short list of my favorite stories. Congratz.:moustache:

Now to check out your other stories!

Like and fave.

Didn't even read, just saw the Micheal Stipe lyric.

Very entertaining!

I could just imagine a mention in Predictions and Prophecies:

And the Other will rise again, and be once more a threat unto the world. But we will troll the shit out of it, and everything will be 'k.

Otherwise, a perfectly symmetrical fate for the would-be evil. To exist unheard, diminished and powerless at the whims of a force greater than itself? Talk about a reversal!

The land of Equestria may seem dark and filled with monsters, but it is her little ponies that bring forth the light.

Damn straight. Well said, sir.

This is in my interests.

The trouble is that Big MacIntosh alrready self-actualized. The Lich could not tempt him. If the Lich would have chosen 1 of the CutieMarkCrusaders, all of Equus would have been doomed.

Big Mac is best pony. He woukd make a great King of Equestria, because he wants nithing more than he already has.

>>>Possibly the most ancient and terrible of these monsters has no name, for it was forgotten when the world was still young. If one were to find a text or tome that references this horror, it would be called the Lich, for it lives in death, or the Other, for it is no longer a part of this world. >>>

It's totally Xenu! Calling it! (Scientology FTW!) :trollestia::trollestia::trollestia:

>>>The land of Equestria may seem dark and filled with monsters, but it is her little ponies that bring forth the light.>>>

Word. :moustache::moustache::moustache:

This statement is now LAW. :yay:

4321232 *ROFLMAO* You know, that happens to be one of the very first scene ideas I thought up in the rough outline I have for an LoTR-Pony crossover farce, "Lord of the Horseshoe".

One Shoe to Buck them All. :trollestia:

4327477
Through the best of intentions, the CMC would, given omnipotence, probably destroy their universe and a few neighbouring ones for good measure.

Or, finally get their cutie marks.

I love it! It is wonderful in that it communicates the idea that the best of us are the best because they do not wish to be anything more than what they are... so six hundred points for making me reflect on my own decisions in life, kudos to Big Mac for defeating an ancient evil, and another kudos for doing it without realizing it was ever there in the first place, and one more Kudos to Big Mac for reminding me of a good book with his far too sharp farm implement.

4328404
The cutie mark resulting from such an event might look like this:

img2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110307111901/naruto/images/thumb/b/b3/Nature_Icon_Implosion.svg/100px-Nature_Icon_Implosion.svg.png

Reference: Explosion Release sigil from Naruto per NarutoPedia.

Note: I had no idea that sigil / mark existed; this most excellent story and the comment exchange between you and 4327477 caused me to giggle and Google "implosion mark" just to see what happened. I like the result! Hope you do, too.

Light and laughter,
SongCoyote

4328404
4328845

I wonder whether the Royal PonySisters, after thousands of years of life and having to, presumably, ascend like Twilight did, could suffer from temptation from the Lich. Given that they kept the book imprisoning the Lich in their vault of the Castle of the 2 Royal PonySisters, they could identify the influence of the Lich and resist it.

About dark influence, Princess Luna fell under the influence of the dark nightmare entities less than a century after the encounter with Sombra. Given the mindwarping magic of Sombra, which might have created the dark nightmareentities or might have been a victim of them. Sombra might have deliberately, or just from exposure infected Princess Luna. The Pony of Shadows might be a nightmareentity. All of this might connect to the Lich.

LIked the premise, but the delivery was a bit dull. I mean, we all knew what was going to happen from the story description. I wasn't expecting any suprises. This story does do what it claims to do. But the end result just didn't make a very compelling read.

Quite likeable, and you get a few props for the title. So it's win/win for you and me! :pinkiesmile:

Aww.... I liked that ending.
Good job. :twilightsmile:

This is awesome, I really enjoyed it. It's short, simple, and entertaining.

I love this very Zen portrayal of Big Mac; the story was mundane in the best possibe way.

Big Mac. Containing ancient evils beneath his pure, impenetrable will.
Like a bawss.

A very nice piece, but it felt too simple to have much impact. I know this was likely the case so, yay for success?:twilightsheepish:

Seeds. Seeds were the key. The Lich would lurk within the fertile soils of this simple farmer, waiting, ever vital, ever strong, waiting to burst forth and... what? Lust was not the path, nor power, not violence. The power to manifest anything his will desired, and all the farmer could imagine was a sharp plow, a fixed tap, and a pretty filly to watch. Was there any limit to his mundane nature? Would he be similarly unswayed by an easy path to riches, to vengeance against those who had wronged him, to a life free of toil and labor? The farmer liked labor, took pride in it. He wished for nothing grand, nothing out of reach compared to all he had already.

There's a very genuine strength to "The farmer liked labor, took pride in it."

These were some good horse words.

Title is a reference to the R.E.M. song.

So he got lots of good luck since he couldn't be corrupted. That's really nice, I like how he's happy with what he has.

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