Twilight's Dollhouse- Just an Honorable Mention? Really? · 4:59pm Mar 23rd, 2020
This story feels less like a grimdark and more like a legitimate horror story. Which makes it all the more shocking that this only got an honorable mention on the Top 10 Grimdarks list from Watch Pony, while giving Cupcakes the number 1 spot.
So what makes this a legitimate horror story in my eyes? Let me explain (in a very "stream-of-thought" manner.)
We open on the funeral of Shining Armor, and the suicide of Princess Cadance, with Twilight being witness to both. Already, we have a realistic, harsh opening, to a world that is brutally unforgiving, with Twilight losing both her brother, and her sister-in-law in one day. And considering that Twilight is an alicorn, well, you can probably see where this story is going.
It really says something when your main "protagonist" is a crazed immortal trying to control her own little world by threat of force, and by making her subjects immortal against their wills, while the "antagonists" are ponies who want to escape their imprisonment. Each time Twilight was close to getting caught, I wasn't sure who to side with, and it is rare for a story to do that for me. Moral of the story: There are no heroes.
And similar to An Apple Sleep Experiment, Twilight gets progressively crazier as the story goes on, to the point where Celestia has to be called in to kill Twilight to stop all the madness, and she (Twilight) becomes as infamous as Nightmare Moon. That is an accomplishment.
Most gruesome transformation: Bon bon- teeth forcibly removed
Most gruesome death: Filthy Rich- melted on hot plate
TL;DR: This story is f
cked up, and I kinda love that; Something is clearly wrong with me!
