Huh, so this is how Skirts does parody, eh?

I think I need a shower...

But for real, this was fantastic to read, brother. Dark and creepy, and the gore served its purpose well. This is one of those that is way deep, but for once I actually get it!

I will read... In a moment.

Gore, Tragedy, Dark, Random and M-rated. Let's see if Skirts can make me shit the bed on a Friday night

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HOLY FUCKING FUCK!!!!!!!!!!

i.imgur.com/oBhCqAX.jpg
appropriate response

Holy fucking shit. This was fantastic. I can't even speak, I'm completely and utterly stunned.

Well. In a shocking twist, that didn't seem to go very well for Rainbow.

This was a wild ride through some of the more... interesting psychologically twisted story trends i've seen. I like it yet fear the concept of it. It was great how the chapters blended into a coherent story with almost no interuption, but I could almost see reading each as an independent story working just as fine.

That's a hell of a inside view on an OOC

Holy fuck, Skirts.

Okay, can somebody PLEASE explain? I had theories up until everyone turned into gory monsters.

For historical reference.

We came in?

Nothing about it is cool or awesome. It's just horrible for the sake of being horrible!

Sweet Celestia, YES! Thank you!

This story was fucked up in all the right ways and proved exactly what it was supposed to. Great work.
Isn't this where

I shit the bed

Where is the ending?

5350538 It cycles back to the first chapter. Look at how the first chapter starts.

5350541

Which really isn't an ending and isn't logical from Dash's point of view.

(Note: If you hate the 'f-word', as almost everybody calls it, please mentally replace every use of it with a sound effect of your choice. I'd pick a quack or a fart noise, but that's just me.)

What the fucking hell! This is fucking demented! And I fucking like it! What the fuck is wrong with me?! And why the fuck am I saying 'fuck' so fucking much?! I don't normally say 'fuck' every fucking sentence, so why am I fucking doing it here?! And why the fuck am I asking you lot these fucking questions?! WHY?!?!?!?!

5350548 Which is the point.

What the fuck, internet?

...this is going in my Display Case, and I haven't yet decided why. Something about the narrative itself being a character, and how the descriptions of the scenes make my inner sadist grin. I'm now going to inject bleach into my cornea.

Although I like to think of myself as a tolerant man, there are days after reading some of the fanfic descriptions on this site, I feel I could send every writer that writes pointlessly ghastly grimdark/grimdark a la rapey/extra grimdark with bells on fics in the name of more "depth" or "reality" or just because its their kink on a free all-expenses-paid vacation in this version of Ponyville. [1] What is it that leads so many people to take the ultimately hopeful and happy setting and crush it like a ten-ton steamroller running over a basket of puppies? Some claim it is fun.

"We thought that by making your world more violent, we would make it more "realistic", more "adult." God help us if that's what it means." - Grant Morrison.

[1] And yes, I am aware this story is satirizing those sort of fics.

You know Skirts, when other people want to write a satire, they just use sarcasm.

...
Wow.
In making satire of a ton of pointlessly dark stories, you made a story that is actually dark. This is what a dark story should be. Not pointless gore or creeps or abuse. Something actually sinister, that makes you care for the characters and get this overwhelming sense of fear that despite your hope for them they'll end up dead or worse eventually.
Bravo.

I feel sick now.

Umm, wow.
Is it just me or did it sound like RD was asking the reader to stop reading, so the story might not continue?
This, was brilliantly horrible. I love it and am disturbed at the same time in equal measures.
There are words missing from our language to adequately describe the emotions stirred by this story.
And, even knowing it's a giant loop, I almost want to continue! Why?!

was pretty disturbing.

I think I caught most of the tropes being played here, except for the Blossomforth thing in the beginning. Was that meant to represent anything?

But anyways, that give me quite the chill, and at times, I just wanted it to end, but it went deeper and deeper and deeper. That just made it better, pushing aside gore. But the vibes this thing gave off were just impressive. The way the characters constantly paused in their actions, the idea that whatever this was was spreading hard and fast, and I just couldn't help getting the sense that Rainbow Dash was getting trapped the longer she was exposed. That was the point, I guess

Was a wild ride, and I enjoyed it, even if I'm so creeped out that I can't look at some things the same way again. I think being left in the dark was pretty good too. What exactly was it? Not Tim Curry, I know that, but sometimes the dark prevails over the light. But, anyways, like I said, I enjoyed this and I thought it

What an interesting story.

5351371 That's some strange reasoning you got there. I love it.

5350350 ...This is not my country's fault. skirts is Floridian, which is about as close to polar opposite from most of Canada as you can get.

Unless you're referring to David Lynch. Then I got nothing.

This is the self-efficacy of Fimfiction incarnate

... I think I need therapy.

The cloying sense of dominance and control by an immature, indecisive, and most of all uncaring omnipotent force really made me shiver.

Once Dash it the orphanage all I heard in my head as the accompanying soundtrack was hardcore industrial.

This is basically a story where in every grimdark (with sprinklings of shipping and human obsessed Lyra thrown in as well.) head cannon happens all at once. Its an interesting look into most of the fandoms ideas of how to make things more mature, and how most don't bother to have it make any sort of sense.

I can only assume that this author really enjoyed P.T.

5352126
I second that! I'm pretty sure I need serious psychological help now. Ah well; sanity's overrated anyhow.

Whats even going on

5351371

Nothing so complicated. What's going on here is we're seeing Ponyville & Equestria being ripped apart by fanfic authors - hence the cardboard box from My Little Dashie, Canterlot blowing up ala Fallout Equestria, Pinkie Pie being Cupcakes-Crazy, so on and so on and so on. And Rainbow is fighting it, because those stories are contrary to what the world is supposed to be; it's very very much a metafic, where it's more commentary on story trends in general and serving as something of a deconstruction of them, or whatever.

5352278
I agree with this. I don't really know what kind of message the story is trying to convey though, if any. I didn't read this as "grimdark fics are wrong," just as "here is a super violent meta fic, make of it whatever you want." For one it's clearly referencing my little dashie, which isn't really dark. I'm not sure though, there might be more to it.

That ending with RD being trapped in a loop from the beginning I love it

img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110618205941/chrono/images/c/c0/Chrono-trigger-but-the-future-refused-to-change-300x225.jpg

Because the Damned Audience(tm) loves it.

They could stop letting it happen, but they won't. And in the end, we're all a part of the madness, and the reason it perpetuates. Consumption and enablement. None of us are innocent in the end, even the ones who try to be.

Welp, skirts, I managed to hold out for 4 years but it looks like you finally got me. I love this. Though if I'm reading the undercurrents of this story correctly... I can't help but also extend my sympathies.

Just finished this....Holy shit. That had an effect on me.

Okay. So people in the comments are trying to figure this thing out, and most are coming up with similar ideas. The general consensus seems to be that this piece is a satirical or ironic take on how grim-dark fics based on mlp, seem to always fall short because it is out of character for mlp and it's characters to be dark in the first place. That's makes a lot of sense and seems to be the purpose. But I'd like to know for certain.

I know I probably won't get an answer, but I would like to know from SS&E himself, after having endured this story to the end (and beginning again it would seem), if this is what he intended to achieve with this piece. I was confused, then intrigued, then repulsed, as I read. Now I feel a need to understand for certain, (even if the message may seem obvious to others) and I cannot be the only one in need of some clarity.

Moving on, like with SS&E's other stories, it is exceptionally well written and stands out from the crowd. He is as brilliant as ever at conjuring images in the readers mind and making the reader feel for the characters. It got difficult to read towards the end, but I can wholeheartedly appreciate that the idea was to invoke a negative emotional response (and boy did it) and that it was necessary to in order to emulate the cruelty that goes into the other grim-dark fimfics that live in infamy to this day (hence satirising them.)

Great writing as ever SS&E. Now I just look forward to something more cuddly to make the misery of this piece leave the recesses of my mind

5352447

I don't think it's that far. It's partly deconstruction of stuff, yes, but it's also more a commentary on the fact such stories are so supremely at odds WITH Equestria - but SS&E is one of those, given End of Ponies is right in that vein. It's also kind of playing with that 'what if what we wrote were real?'

Like, what I take away from it is that it's speaking to both other authors first, and readers second, and asking : Why? Why put characters through all this? Why shove them into stories that are completely opposite to everything Equestria is? Why glorify gore and rape and violence and wanton destruction and suffering and everything else?

Just...why?

And I don't have an answer for that

So this is Me!Me!Me! in ponyfic form?

Cool.

Impressive atmosphere and creepiness on display here. And the looping effect you managed to pull off really sells the thing.

HOLY FUCK
I just realized this whole story is a loop
This story was fucking awesome, holy shit.

Time loop? HOLY SHIT!!!

This was a thing!
Kinda like if The Stanley Parable was written by a psychopath... Uh, in the best possible way of course!

For real, it's a pretty cool idea, and not one that gets executed often enough for my liking, to have the main character fighting against the narrative (or, to be more precise in this case, the author). So that was cool. The direction you took that mechanic was certainly... not what I would've thought of.
It's... hard to articulate my thoughts on this story, honestly. I mean, I liked it, but I didn't enjoy it, y'know?
It was an experience. I felt genuinely, deeply uncomfortable when Rainbow Dash pleaded with me, the reader, to just stop all of this. I wanted to stop too! That scene was horrifying! I've never had to put so much effort into just continuing reading.
But... I guess I'm glad I did. I think.

So that's the best I can do to organize my thoughts on this fic. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go vomit.

............................I....holy shit.

I can't say I'm happy with the ending because that wasn't a happy ending. It was a strange sort of satisfying, though, and not in the sense that I'm okay with anything that happened, by far. But it was good. Definitely good.