• Member Since 17th Jun, 2017
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The Red Parade


Cars are still parked outside. If the rapture had happened, why was it unrecognizable? Why was the sky blue? Why did no one tell me? Do these things not announce themselves?

T

Rainbow’s face darkened. “Cozy, I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. I need to know how we end.”

Something flashed through Cozy’s face, something Rainbow vaguely thought of as fear. But it passed and Cozy hissed, rubbing her forehead. “Fine. You want to know how you two end?”

There was a second of silence filled by the wind.

Cozy’s eyes burned red when she spoke again. “One of you will destroy the other.”


A gift for Shaslan.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 28 )

This feels like a whirlwind of moments, each one fading smoothly from one to the next. It's the end of a relationship, and the start of a relationship, and the little glimpses of the middle... all of it with haunting imagery woven between repeated phrases that only make sense towards the end. It was well worth the read, from start to finish, and it's one that I immediately had to scroll back up to read again! You've done it again, Red!

SJFDHDGAELDHGKFSDFHSGHDFGSHDFABFGSHDGFAS

10942024
I know, right? It was just that good! My favorite part was right at the beginning, when it was raining dead butterflies. It set the scene for the rest of the fic, and I just couldn't get that image out of my head. Couldn't stop trying to imagine what it would sound like...

Why isn't there a Cozy Glow tag?

Idk what the hell happened, but damn that was good. is it ghosts? I think it's ghosts. Reminds me of I see dead people. The boy didn't realize he was dead, so this was just... Holy crap this was good. I didn't understand what was happening but it was super, super, SUPER good. I loved it and am forever a fan thanks to this.

One of them will destroy The Other? Didn't Ronan already kill him? :pinkiehappy:

Man, I love fractured horror stories like this, with separate memories flowing into eachother, possibly non-chronologically. Loved the imagery too, very nice.

Probably the best thing I've read all year, and there's some some pretty stiff competition for that title.

Please, please wait for me
Please hang around
I’ll see you when I fall asleep...

Absolutely insane, everything about this fic is just hooking, the moment you start reading you can't stop. For as much distress I felt I simply couldn't stop reading either.

I'm curious, what's the source for the cover image? Did you make it? It's very pretty!

Each really intense scene bled into the next until the last stretch where things calmed down and made sense. Loved it.

10942390
90% chance it's an AI generated image.

Woah. So beautiful, mysterious, terrifying, hypnotic, surrealistic and moving . . . and the Yves Tanguy-like image (only with more color than he'd have used) certainly adds to the mystique.

You have a genuine gift. I could never create something so beautiful.

Ahhh, I see it now.
Very cleverly done. I was waiting for all the disjointed, confusing, and unconnected parts to start weaving together and at that one snap moment that it does, I was extremely pleased with how you've arranged this.

Very, very cleverly done. :twilightsmile:

Well, that was a trip and a half. The imagery was absolutely haunting - in a good way, I mean - and the twist at the end was really something. I also felt like there were a few references to other works in there, but that could just be me.

Excellent work as always, Red.

Wow, this is beautiful. At first I kind of missed the point, but then it just clicked. Wonderful, magnificent— where's the thesaurus? I need more synonyms.

As usual, your abstract prose is fantastic. The visuals are wonderful and haunting. Cozy being able to see the end of relationships is interesting. I wonder why you chose Cozy for this.

Howdy, hi!

Okay, so this story is basically high art but enjoyable. The vivid imagery and set pieces that you've described in this story are so absolutely stunning and I spend an entire day afterward just playing it on loop in my head. The opening shot with the dead butterflies is just so monumentally powerful that I fail to find words to truly describe it.

The build-up, the mystery, and the payoff of the ghosts was so well executed and I can't help but be completely enthralled with the execution of everything.

Just, ugh, thank you so much for writing such an amazing story.

Wow. I'm a sucker for this kind of surreal narrative with beautiful prose, so this was an easy sell to me. Everything ties up beautifully in the end. Top tear horror all around.

This really captures the emotions of a breakup. Though the details are fantastical, it uses those elements to get to the heart of it. Yeah, maybe Dash is actually dead, but I like that there's some ambiguity there.

Ambiguity in fiction, when used correctly, forces the audience to look past the literal events and try to unearth the themes of a story. Some of the plot details aren't clear, but everything coheres when looked at through a less literal lens.

This story confronted me with uncomfortable truths and dark memories in a productive way. It's a rare thing to do that right, and I'm always happy to see fiction that nails it.

I love everything about this story. Easy favorite from me. Thanks for writing it!

I...wow.

Red, you never fail to impress me with your writing. Everytime I go in I expect some level of quality, but you always exceed every single one of my expectations.

Scene to scene was an absolute joy to read, flitting from thought to thought with absolute clarity. Many different moments really make this just a really beautiful story to read.

And of course, my favorite has to be the cover art. Really sets the scene and what's about to happen, and brings across some pre-reading vibes as well.

Thanks for writing, it was an absolute pleasure to read this.

When she spoke the skies opened to swallow them whole, and then there was nothing.

absolute poetry here, Red. the absurdity of injuries coming from hoof touches and soft grass, the unsettling blanks of Applejack's words, dead butterflies falling from the sky, all coming together to create this very unsettling nightmarescape.

Every ray soaked into the fabric of her black lace dress, bleeding into her very skin. She sighed, raising a hoof to shield her eyes from its malevolent gaze.

loved the descwork in this passage.

One of you will destroy the other.

and a beautiful title drop. writing Cozy Glow as a companion of Flurry Heart is something i am very for, but placing both and Cadance into the context of being Fates was a very nice touch, with Cozy not being satisfied with the nature of her röle especially. the awkward social situation of demanding this conversation at a funeral (whose? does it matter? maybe it will!) really adds to the ominousness of all this.

“Fluttershy wants us to see the butterfly migration.”

not much to say here besides continuing to love the imagery.

Each one was clad in black, and each one stared right at Rainbow despite not having a face.

very unsettling

Strawberry Sunrise smiled from across her. “Oh, it’s no problem.”

oof, i felt this shift, very well done to make it understated

Outside, a monarch butterfly crawled along the porch’s railings. It flapped its delicate wings before taking off into the storm. Seconds later, it disappeared completely amongst the rain and wind.

really powerful section here. nice touch with your choice of background pony on top of this.

How could the one she loved destroy her?

i loved how you brought it back around to the blanks in Applejack's dialogue in the first section. all the components of that most important of days mixing and mulling around each other to create the nightmares that ghost-Rainbow Dash experiences, which contextualized feels more like a depiction of a mind suffering from dementia. and what is someone in that most awful of stages but a living ghost, tortured by their own jumbled memories and a world they can't make sense of anymore? an absolutely beautiful piece, Red, something as much experienced as read. really wish i could write anything half as good as this!

Wow, this is amazing!

Not quite sure I understand it completely, but I certainly love it all the same! Wonderful work you've created here!

An extremely belated favourite for a fic I reviewed in July and was impressed by. Very nicely written, if a little abstract for me on occasion.

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