So...about that new story... · 2:31am Aug 31st, 2015
First, if you haven't read it, you might want to before delving into the blog post. I kind of spoil the ending.
So, I have written three fics with Sunset Shimmer now. The first, "A Shimmering Sunset," had her set herself on fire because I was (and am) in a very dark place, was not caring for some of the discussions for how to use her in the Lunaverse, and decided to write a story where she killed herself because anything related to the sun in that universe is automatically doomed. (Except when it isn't.) The second, "A Taste of Meat," had Sunset take a dare to break her vegetarian diet and eat meat, only to end up becoming a quasi-cannibal. And now we have "The Legacy of Sunset Shimmer," where she is denied dignity even at the end of a long and wonderful life.
You might assume from all of this that I hate Sunset Shimmer, or otherwise have it out for her. And I don't. I've always liked the idea of Sunset Shimmer, even though the first movie's execution was very lacking in that regard. Besides having a surprisingly good color composition and character style (even as a human), she's amusing, full of story potential, and is a strong enough character on her own that I could see the Equestria Girls part of the franchise being built around her with no difficulty. One of my favorite pony fics of all time is Long Road to Friendship, even if it is dragging its feet during what should be the finale. She's a character I really like, even if I'm not one of the fans who want her to bugger back to the main show and stay as a pony.
So why do I torment her so? Because I torment all of my characters. I wrote a massively long story about Celestia being turned into a filly that included gore, horror, family conflicts, black eyes, and Darkseed 2 references. I'm working on finishing a Lunaverse story about Raindrops willingly having her brain scrambled so that she can't feel anger anymore, and instead causing her to passive-aggressively lash out at her friends and call her brother retarded. Maybe it's because I'm a bad person that likes torturing diminutive equines of mine persuasion, but I do like to indulge in ruining my characters' lives every now and then.
As for this story...well, it really isn't a story per se. It started as a planned blog post after watching the sneak peek for Friendship Games, and...well, it kind of snowballed from there. A few hours later, I had a rough story slapped together, put up the punchline, and threw it onto Fimfiction for the masses to largely ignore.
Some have pointed out just how mean the ending is. And to that, I say...that's the joke.
The whole fic is basically a long version of an old joke, which is often credited as being Irish in origin, but could pretty much be from anywhere. A guy goes into a pub and sees an old man crying into his beer. The old man keeps pointing out all of these things he's accomplished and jobs he's had, but nobody identifies him by his work. After going through several of these, he breaks down and cries, "But you screw one goat..."
Something that has bugged me since the second movie is that everybody is quick to bring up Sunset's demon transformation. I don't just mean her classmates in general, but her friends. They will happily interject, "Hey, remember when Sunset was an evil monster?" into a conversation, despite the girl who feels like crap for that and is trying to make up for it being right next to them. And in the sneak peek, Rainbow Dash does it again in front of the entire school. While Sunset can claim to be "used to it," the fact remains that this event is basically defining her life. So the evil in me decided it would be amusing if, after a lifetime of accomplishing good and becoming just as much of a hero as the Mane 6, the last words she ever heard were one of her friends bringing that up again.
And it had to be Rainbow Dash, because human!Rainbow Dash is kind of terrible. Remember how she came close to dooming the world because she created a band purely to pump up her own ego, treated Fluttershy like crap because she dared to want to write lyrics of her own, and nearly blew their cover because she had to brag about her awesomeness in musical form? Yeah.
And so we have the worst fic I have written. Am I sorry I wrote it? This should answer your question:
There's a new Friendship Game sneak peak?!
I bet that guy in the photo fucked a goat
That final pic is amazing.
In fairness to Rainbow, she is probably battling dementia at this point.
It was a pretty good twist.
And nor should you regret writing it. I know the joke - though I can't verify if it's Irish or not, despite being of Irish descent - and I did get it. Like I said, it made me laugh, and that's what matters.
It's not the worst fic in the world...we have Past Sins for that.
Seriously though, for what it set out to do, it was very well written. I knew that joke right away and the way you built up to it was excellent.
Rainbow Dash isn't that bad!
Teenage Rainbow Dash, on the other hand.. ya, she's pretty cruel.
The more you love your characters, the more you should make them suffer, because suffering builds character(s).