.out.of.character.: A Study of the Storm · 2:05am Aug 28th, 2022
(Spoilers abound. Because of their overall importance to the analysis, I will not be blocking them. If you have not read the fic yet, I'd suggest you do that first before reading this. Trust me, it's completely worth it.)
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The horror genre is home to some of the most creative pieces of art ever made, and I think there is one simple reason for that: fear can be found in anything. Creators in all sorts of different media have found unique ways to weave horror into their creations by implementing all sorts of novel ideas. Some artists rely on large, in-your-face moments to scare you. These include such cliches as jumpscares, chase scenes, and even whole genres like body horror. Then there are the artists that use more subtle tactics to scare you. These techniques are not entirely noticeable at first glance and can require a second look for the viewer to grasp the true horror of the piece. Sometimes, there are things that, by themselves, shouldn’t scare us at all. However, thanks to one or two small details, we can catch on to something that twists that entire image into something incredibly unpleasant.
Now, armed with only one of these types of horror, a piece of art can become memorable and haunting for years to come. However, it is when both tactics are used that I think horror is used at its max potential. When we are confronted with something we can understand and, at the same time, something we cannot. Just look at movies like The Shining and Hereditary, video games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent, TV shows like Black Mirror, and paintings and photographs by artists such as Zdzislaw Beksinski. You can especially find this fusion in youtube series like Catghost and Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.
No other story on Fimfiction succeeds at blending these two concepts as well as .out.of.character. by shortskirtsandexplosions.
.out.of.character. is a perfectly crafted story with well-layered tension and subtle scares throughout. However, the greatest thing this story accomplishes is what it can make us fear: the MLP fandom itself.
The story starts off in the middle of a sentence:
around and looked at her, panting for breath.
This immediately draws us in and is just an overall wonderful way to start a horror story. The lack of proper sentence structure puts us off, and the dramatic contents of the half-sentence are enough to leave us eager to know more.
It only gets worse from there.
Throughout the first half of the Fic, subtle horror is used to great avail. We start off just as confused as our protagonist, Rainbow Dash, and she doesn’t know more than anything we know. This makes every new piece of information that we receive that much more impactful. We come to find that something is changing the town of Ponyville and its inhabitants, and a storm is brewing…
Horror can be found in the twisted versions of ponies we all know and love. They are usually exaggerated versions of fandom-created twists on the characters; Twilight Sparkle is an uncaring jackass who treats Spike like dirt, and Fluttershy is highly self-loathing and blames herself for everypony else’s misfortunes at such an extreme measure that it’s almost as frustrating as it is depressing to read. Scootaloo is infatuated with Rainbow Dash and has been subject to a multitude of horrible tragedies that goes beyond just a simple tragic backstory. No characters are safe, and even the twists that aren’t all that terrifying by themselves are made scary by the fact that none of them should act like that.
One of the more terrifying uses of this type of horror is during a conversation with Zecora, in which Zecora doesn’t speak in her usual rhyme scheme. Instead, she talks like how everybody else would talk. There’s nothing outwardly scary about that, but we still have this undeniable sense of terror because, again, Zecora shouldn’t act like that.
There are even references to famous fics such as My Little Dashie and Past Sins, with the former in particular being used in a particularly foreboding way. Cupcakes is in there as well, as one would expect.
As the Fic progresses, we soon come to find that even the narrator is working against Rainbow Dash. He often tries to control her every thought and action to fit with the current narrative; he is very much so an unreliable narrator. There’s even one part in the story where the narrator has to correct himself:
Rainbow Dash's right side ached and pulsed with pain.
"Nah. It's just that my left wing hurts. I'll get over—" Rainbow shuddered in place, her muzzle hanging ajar. "My... my left wing..."
Rainbow Dash's left side throbbed with pain.
Rainbow Dash is trapped. And we, as the reader, continue hoping to see the titular happy ending: Rainbow Dash frees herself from this strange curse and perhaps saves all of Ponyville in the process.
What we don’t realize is that, as long as we keep reading, there is no chance that there could be any happy ending waiting for Rainbow. Because some of us, despite what we may think, don’t want things to end up happily ever after.
Think about how much traction Grimdarks have gotten. Two of them are considered pillars of MLP fanfiction (I don’t think I have to say which ones they are) and several more have tens of thousands of views. And out of all those fics, how many have happy endings?
So why do so many of us continue to read these stories that are devoid of any hope and, usually, are just torture for torture's sake? In my opinion, the main reason is so that we can understand the villain of the story, and attempt to find meaning in their actions. The world is obsessed with monsters. Fictional ones, like Dracula, Frankenstein, and the Mummy. Even real-life monsters, like vicious dictators and sadistic serial kills. Despite our abhorrence to these things, they are always remembered for ages.
For a lot of people, we can’t understand why these monsters do the things they do. So we try to get inside their head. That’s the same thing with MLP fanfiction. Yeah, I just compared Pinkamena to Stalin. Just stay with me for a second, though.
How many fics have been made that have delved deep into Pinkamena’s psyche? Factory Dash? It’s these monsters that people take the most interest in. Not to say the victims of these stories don’t have their own stories and recognition, but I don’t think it compares to these villains. Hell, the victim couldn’t get their own story without the villain.
That’s why every MLP character has to have their own grimdark version; each of their personalities lends itself to a different monster that we can try to analyze and understand.
Going back to .out.of.character., we read on because we want to understand why this is happening. Who is behind the evil taking hold of Ponyville? Why are they doing this to Ponyville?
That’s why the final twist is so effective. It’s what brings the story full circle, and makes us look at what we read in a whole new light.
We are the monster.
The final few chapters of this story take the plot from an eerie slow burn to an overwhelming nightmare. Nopony is a pony anymore, not really. They no longer have their own voice. They have fully turned into their psychopathic caricatures, and it’s getting increasingly harder for Rainbow Dash to fight her own building desires.
In the final chapter, Rainbow is fully taken control by the narrator and the curse, and it’s horrifying to read. So much so that the storm that has slowly advanced upon Ponyville begins thundering its applause at the protagonist’s defeat. And as she’s giving in, she begins pleading to you.
"Stop this! For the love of Celestia, you have to stop this! Stop letting this happen!"
"Grrkkkt! Stop! Curse you to Tartarus! Only you have the power to stop this! I'll do anything! Just please! Stop it! Stop it right now!"
"You can stop this! You have to stop this! Why won't you just stop this?!"
Just when the story’s about to end, and all we’ve been expecting will finally reveal itself in the final few lines-
-it ends. In the middle of the sentence, the story ends. Right as Rainbow is about to talk to Rarity, just like she did at the beginning.
The only way to free Rainbow is for us to put down the fic. But we don’t do that until it’s too late when she starts begging to you. The storm isn’t bringing us to the story, we’re bringing the storm to the story.
And then the fic repeats itself, and if everyone decided to stop reading the story after the final chapter, then we’ve just reached the happy ending. All the pain that we unknowingly inflicted upon Ponyville stops. The cycle ends, and everything can go back to normal. Hell, maybe Rarity ends up having a nice conversation with Rainbow. No abused fillies involved.
Unfortunately, the reality of it is that it won’t end. People are continuing to read this story almost every day, so the horror can never truly end. This fandom will continue to read dark fics, and even if it’s not this very fic, it would theoretically affect the characters the same, just without the fourth-wall realization. There is never a final escape.
That’s why this story is so successful as a horror fic. It successfully blends in-your-face scares with a silent, creeping dread that continues to eat on you like a parasite.
Now I completely understand why someone wouldn’t like this fic. Its cynicism about the fandom is very strong, and can maybe be insufferable for those that don’t share the world’s fascination with monsters. There is not a silver lining in sight. Just turn towards the negative comments on the fic itself for tons of criticism that I completely understand. However, one criticism that I wholeheartedly disagree with is that the fic is pointless. I don't think that's true at all. I think there's a point here that kind of makes me rethink my entire stance on Grimdarks. This story isn’t telling us to outright stop reading dark stories. If that’s truly what shortskirtsandexplosions, he would be quite the hypocrite. At the end of the day, these characters are truly just fictional. We didn’t make Rainbow Dash into a cannibal. It’s all just theoretical.
To me, the beauty of this fic is that it has truly changed my view on the world. Instead of being fascinated with the darkness in the world, I’m more interested in the light. I focus on the survivors of these evils, the so-called victims, and how, in the face of it all, they made it out. We can’t change Rainbow’s fate, but we can change the fate of others.
Where’s the horror in that?
I remember how much I loathed this fanfic. It remained with me with the pain from a branding iron.
It suffers from the same critical flaw as Spec Ops The Line. And the flaw Undertale avoided.
In Spec Ops the Line, the game stops brow beating the main character for doing BS action, and begins guilt tripping the PLAYER! When the game gives you literally no other option to continue. And even REMOVED the option to just turn around and walk away (that Far Cry games have become legendary for).
Undertale avoids this trap by making sure that if the character call the PLAYER not the main character for being a jerk to them, you're ALREADY well on the route to be a total monster and has a RIGHT to call you out.
DeltaRune makes DOUBLY sure that you're on the route of the jackass of your own intent as a player.
This fanfic? It punishes you for hoping, for believing in Rainbow Dash, for daring to think she can make it out alright. Instead it assumes you're just a sadist there to enjoy watching fictional characters suffer, and not even suffer to watch them grow and change, but again, just suffering for suffering's sake.
That is what makes the fanfic a dismal failure.
There's also the meta-joke that a lot of the alarm bells Rainbow Dash has here... became canon in the final season sas the show's continuity rotted.
If you got enjoyment out of this story, then that's your right. But this is my own opinion on this work. .