Things I Have Been Reading: The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Sassaflash · 10:34pm Mar 3rd, 2016
Things I Have Been Reading: The Rise and Fall of the Dark Lord Sassaflash by Dromicosuchus
So, dark secret: I didn't like Mendacity that much. I don't know if this fic is near as popular these days as it was back in halcyon days of 2012, but I think the 1.9K upvotes is enough to indicate that my opinion here is in the minority. At some point I did drop this fic in my favorites, but it went into the decent, but unmemorable category, and I guess that is appropriate since can only now really remember what bugged me about it. Namely: I read the fic because I wanted to see an adventure/drama based around Bonbon secretly being a changeling. Instead I got long discourses on the author's weird, atonal pseudo-Lovecraftian Neo-Gothic headcanon for Changelings and Equestria. It's all dark, mystical, metaphysical, and filled with gravitas bordering on horror and just... doesn't actually fit with the show at all. Lovecraft and other Gothic horror tropes don't really fit with Equestria in general, honestly, and the fic's obsessive focus on metaphysical grandstanding was a real mood killer for me.
So, naturally, I would decide to read another fic by the same author that's just straight up about named Lovecraftian bullshit in Equestria.
This is the best plan. This is the best of all possible plans, and... I actually really enjoyed it.
No, seriously. In fact, this is probably the best use I've seen people put named Lovecraft elements in a story (albeit, aside from the C-man's status as Bigger Bad, most of the monsters come from other Mythos writers). It manages to add these monsters and elements to the story without making them feel toothless and also without devolving into nihilistic Lighottian mysticism. I mean, fuck, he makes Tsathoggua cool. Tsathoggua. This is a Great Old One who's claim to fame is literally sleeping and having the world's most territorial case of the runs. He also looks like a rabbit fucked a perpetually under-caffeinated gorilla.
The story itself involves the Mule, a widower looking for something to do, answering an ad put out for help. When he comes to the address given he meets a pegasus mare calling herself the Dark Lord Sassaflash who, given no one else answered her somewhat bizarre ad, hires him on to be her "minion." After a few days the two set out on a journey, with the Mule slowly coming to realize that this Dark Lord Sassaflash may be more than pageantry and hyperbole as they journey to the frozen edge of the world where the quest to slay a god is only the beginning of the Dark Lord's ambition.
The beginning of the fic is a nice slow build as we learn more about Sassaflash and Mr. Mule as he calls himself as they journey across Equestria. As things unfold we learn more about the world, Sassaflash's powers and her character. This all comes to a head in a disastrous confrontation with the Great Old One Tsathoggua. From there the fic switches gears as Sassaflash and Mr. Mule struggle to escape death in the frozen tundra and avoid the wrath of the Old One and it's brood. At this point the fic focuses more deeply on who Sassaflash is and what she wants, as things about the world are revealed.
Unfortunately this leads into what I feel is the weakest part of the fic as the author once again subjects his audience to his weird headcanons. See, the ancient Unicorns were actually more powerful than Twilight, but Unicorns don't do that now because Yog-Sothoth is apparently a giant Paradox Spirit and beat the shit out them for being upitty. Also, Celestia is also basically a nice Great Old One but doesn't do anything useful for the same reasons. Also, Discord gets an adaption villain upgraded from malicious tormentor to the bloody Destroyer of Worlds. On and on with stuff that feels like the author had to torture to fit into the universe. Huge complex metaphysical systems with all sorts of complications and rules that change everything about the setting, but are also conveniently shaped so that they could plausibly existed without breaking observed canon in half like a twig. It's like finding out the soda machine in the lobby is secretly operated by a Rube-Goldberg Machine the size of the Empire State Building and that this is sound and logical.
This segment also unfortunately terminates in a somewhat cliche sequence that was kind of grating, but, I will say that the ending turns this around and gets back to what I really liked about the story, which was the adventure.
I'm not much one for adventure stories, but it's really fun to watch Sassaflash work. She's extremely clever, and none of her victories ever feel cheap. She's constantly playing the monsters of the Mythos against each other, and bending their own arcane rules back on them. It's really entertaining and satisfying to watch her plans unfurl. The atmosphere through the first two thirds of the fic is also excellent. In particular the frozen north of Hyperborea and the caverns ruled over by Tsathoggua, stick out as places where the author roles out some captivating prose.
I am still baffled that anyone could make Tsathoggua a creepy and effective antagonist.
Besides that Sassaflash and Mr. Mule make an interesting duo, particularly at the beginning where the two of them are learning about each other, and towards the middle when certain things Sassaflash believe end up turned on their head. I do feel that the author probably could have developed them and their relationship a little more elegantly, especially in regards to the aforementioned cliche, but the ideas are still there.
I know I complained a lot, but this fic ranks up there pretty highly as far as just dark adventure fantasy goes for me. It was interesting, entertaining, engagingly written, and it made the Lovecraft thing work, which as an enthusiast of things otherworldly and tentacled I can say is a very rare thing. The only real weakness is the author tried to put their own weird metaphysical ideas onto the setting when he just didn't need to to make the plot work, and the fic eventually moves past that. If a story about a clever, ambitious anti-hero fighting the forces of the Mythos sounds appealing to you, this is basically going to be your jam. For everyone else who likes dark fantasy and adventure, I also recommend giving it a try.
Well, given the fact you found the Lovecraftian ideas tacked on in Mendacity, it is somewhat logical that they fit better in a fic which is actually intended in its core to be Lovecraftian, I guess