This story is a sequel to The Great Inflate
Twilight Sparkle has failed. Her experiments in inflation have destroyed the populace of Ponyville, and in her anguish, herself. The ghost town is marred by the sight of thousands of rubber shreds, each color reminiscent of the pony it once was. Celestia has taken upon herself the burden of restoring the town as she blames herself for Twilight's mishap. She'll piece together the townsponies, one shred at a time, if only to see their smiles and hear their joyous laughter once more.
It's tedious work, but work that Celestia feels is her only duty to her little ponies now. If only she knew the consequences of fixing such a tragic mistake...
Inspired by a round of comments on The Great Inflate between me and Kaidan.
Oh... Here it is.
Well, I know what to read after work now.
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30-odd weeks brewing in the mind, I think you'll like it, especially with your enthusiasm then.
~Dash The Stampede
Huh.
Well... I wonder how this will go. Never seen Sombra used that way before. Good show.
Tia has a long, long road ahead. But what will happen when a pony is reconstructed? Will they be alive and dandy? Or lifeless? Or even... undead?
Keep this up, bloke. I want more plz.
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So I'm glad he worked for my purposes.
I've never used Sombra, period!
I'm glad you likey though. I'm gonna write the next chapter tonight or tomorrow, depending on how exhausted I am after Mayhem fest.
I'm gonna try to actually finish this one!
~Dash The Stampede
Why would you write more of this dark-inflation goodness? Why, damn you, why!?
i.imgur.com/mbm7vxk.gif
Now I have to read all of it!
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Because my dark needs demanded it! And because I wanna explore the consequences.
I'm glad you like it. Good, very good.
~Dash The Stampede
oh my the feels
i truly hope the spell Celestia sorta is dreading to try works right so the popped ponies can return to the living.
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It is dark magic, though.
We'll have to wait and see!
I'm gonna start chapter three tonight, so stay tuned in for more Ghost Town!
~Dash The Stampede
Well, shit.
What do now, Celestia?
did Celestia succeed or did she half succeed and made Twilight a balloon pony hybrid hmmmm or is Twilight undead hmm.
well cant wait what the next chapter will bring
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Well, undead certainly don't breathe!
~Dash The Stampede
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They can fake breathing, though.
Of course, how they would know to fake breathing without direction is another matter entirely.
---------
I'll just leave this here:
Hope Spot.
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That's a valid point, but again, unconscious breathing.
---
So...I'm doing it wrong, then? I'm so confused
~Dash The Stampede
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Nonononono you're doing it right.
I was just pointing out that, if directed, the undead-Twilight could actually fake being alive so she could kill Celestia at a later time.
Them undead, they be sneaky little things. (When told to be sneaky.)
Wow...
Don't give it a week or so before trying a 'great cleansing!'
It's not like you live in a world filled with enough magic that it sloshes, or anything!
Or as if there are artifacts of such healing power they may even fix the mind of a goddess consumed with hatred!
Or as if a Lord of Chaos, to whom entropy and the laws of nature are a plaything, consider one of the afflicted the only friend he's ever trully have had!
Seriously! At least consider a few options before hammering the 'cleanse it with heavenly fire' button!
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That was the overbearing thought on my mind as I was writing. I don't see a lot of writers cover the formalities of informing one's parents when they pass away, so I wanted to try and bring those loose ends to a close. I'm glad you're finding it interesting, that's the goal.
~Dash The Stampede
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gotta love angry mob stupidity, mmyes.
I am a comedy writer, mainly. I suppose it's leaking in here as well.
~Dash The Stampede
How much you wanna bet that the spell Sombra gave her, had a certain bitch zebra not destroyed it, would have actually worked perfectly and with no consequences beyond maybe bringing Tia slightly towards the dark side? After all, the crystal ponies don't look like zombies to me.
Then again, the crystal ponies are made of crystals - it's entirely possible Sombra's spell would have fixed the shredded pony-balloons and given them their minds back, but they'd still be rubber pony-balloons.
Also, all in favor of introducing the fanatics to some eels?
blessboenish.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/f6d660ba6d56753e_l1.jpg
Leave no one alive.
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Interesting thought, thinking it'd have no consequences for Celestia, but remember the alicorn amulet? Dark magic takes some serious shit from you if you don't cast it right.
I coulda made them revive, but then, we'd have to delve into the remainder of their minds, their thoughts roiling about, as they wander the dreamless abyss of nonexistence. And everyone knows that trying to understand insanity only brings one closer to becoming it.
Of course, that doesn't rule out future chapters
I dunno if those eels are good enough. I was thinking the crevasse eels in Ghastly Gorge, or even tatzlwurms.
~Dash The Stampede
Hi just read chapter 3 and well so far so good will continue to read the story but I still say the great inflation was better I don't know why I mean I can tell you have put allot of work in to this. I guess its just me
must admit I am starting to get a lot of muddle up thoughts in my head i am enjoying this fic a lot but a part of me is screaming on the inside for me to stop. Because just thinking of what Tia is going through is screwing my head to hell telling twilight's parents that she turned in to a balloon and poped i have only one thing to say to that Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn still nice work.
Oh my goodness time to set things back to right
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Eeyup! Celestia's journey is almost over.
Will it end on a happy note? or a bittersweet one?
Stay tuned for the next update:
Scattered Memories*Raises an eyebrow* "Ruby Rose"? That sounds familiar.
Here's hoping it has a good ending. Or bittersweet, absolute worst. An outright downer'd just be too harsh.
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Just a spur-of-the-moment choice, why, is it a famous character or something?
Not familiar to me, at least
I'm trying to balance the good moments with the bad because I don't want to negate the {sad} tag. I've never really imagined a "goody-goody" scenario for the end result, but trust me, it'll work just right:
And now we wait and see if things turn out okay.
The storms were pretty darn vicious the whole time. It really felt like nature was completely against the heroes. Made the atmosphere seem all the more urgent.
...So she remembers on some deep level that she loves books... but not how to actually read, and not her brother?
Must admit I feel tempted to go 'Wha...?' at that, but I guess it could be some special talent slash cutie mark related shenanigans.
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The way I envision it, Each shred contains an essence of that pony's being, their soul, and as Celestia reforms them, each missing shred is a missing piece of the complete puzzle. So yes, she has base learning desires but cannot fully grasp the concept of reading, let alone understanding those around her. Make no mistake - Twilight is missing a piece or two...now, it's up to the rest to 'complete' her.
I know it's not a full explanation, but what am I gonna do, give it all away?
Oh boy. Twily can't read. I wonder how it must be inside a mind that recognises that it loves to read, but no longer can.
It would be like remembering that you like to eat, but forgetting how.
Dude. Great chapter.
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I think this comment might be the cause of a nice little mental trip next chapter :V It also lets you speculate on where the recovery process will go from here a little bit.
I can say with certainty, though, that next update is longer than 2k :D
I will be honest.
Personally, so far, this wasn't pleasant to read.
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Honesty is the best policy.
And honestly, I didn't write it to be a fuzzy warm read :V I play heavily on the content of the prequel for the atmosphere in the fic, and it might be a few more (quite delayed) updates before we see something fuzzlike for this one.
That just means I'm achieving what I want to with this one. Hope it didn't drive you away
6503540 Perhaps I should have said 'not satisfactory' instead of 'not pleasant'.
Again, personally, it didn't feel ''right'' for me. I'm not saying ''right'' as in 'couldn't handle sad/discomfort/whatever', but... I don't have the proper words on hand... Like, it wasn't the ''right'' kind of sad, I suppose ? Like the ''shades'' of sad/bad/etc given weren't quite what should have been... or, maybe *I* just didn't extract the ones expected. Again, I'm searching for words.
more soon please?
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I've had a hard time sticking with the show lately, and only check in periodically..
I dearly want that to change. I want to write again. Working fifty hour weeks makes it hard to find time, but I'm confident I can return to the craft. Eventually. And with such important folks keeping track of this, the pressure is greater.
I'll return to this, soon. I promise. I'd hate to let everyone down after blazing such a unique trail.. Thank you for the kick in the arse.
Also, totally a big fan from long ago!
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D-d-double reply!
I'm actually brainstorming and working at an outline for how I want to end this endeavour as I type! Despite a year away from the forge, the fires burn hot yet. Watch this space.
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Awesome! Welcome back dude!
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It's done!
Not a bad ending, not bad at all. Sad though and i'd recommend you add the tragedy tag *nods* But very good. Glad to see it complete!
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I wasn't intending on a tragedy, but I guess I wrote myself into one :V Thank you for the kind words and suggestion, I've tagged it properly now that it has an ending.
I'm just so so glad I'm done writing it.
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*stares at many incomplete stories* Yep, I so understand that feel.
"everything is perfect"
Except no more Spike
The solution: time travel
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Well, yeah, but we’re also operating in a “universe” where the Elements of Harmony and an entire town get eradicated in a freak balloon accident and Celestia loses her prime understudy, dozens of her subjects, and the only decent defense force in the entire kingdom all at once and we’re to believe she wouldn’t be so wracked by guilt and despair that she may not be of a sound enough mind to properly cast that ish?
Yes, I know its silly smut-turned-actual-story here and that if I wanted to use all of the magical resources of the MLP world to make it a quick one-off, then it wouldn’t have been the story I wanted to tell and the story that needed to be told. And you wouldn’t be here on the last chapter reading the whole thing if Celestia just poofed everything back to one week prior and just stopped that crap before it began. 😊
Sometimes having too many tools is a problem
Thanks for reading anyways though, I appreciate any love my stuff gets all these years later
Ooh, my heart's pounding.
Well, then, Zecora, do you have a better idea?
Ahhhhhhhh, my pulse is racing from this. I think I'll have to wait a day for the tension is getting to me.
Needless to say, I so love this story in an emotional masochist type of way. Something about getting my feelings played with draws me to this.
Oh... Well, what she doesn't know won't hurt her...
Who's chopping onions?!
Goodness, this made me even sadder than the prequel, but it "hurts so good" as some might say. It's more bitter than sweet, but it's bittersweet altogether.
Brilliant work, I'm glad I finally got around to reading it.