Once she got her wings, Twilight found herself with three times the magic to study. She's been spending time with her friends since, the better to understand how each does what she does.
Now it's Pinkie Pie's turn, and she thinks it's best if they discuss her abilities in her heavily soundproofed room. A bit unusual, but it's not like they'll be doing anything actually dangerous, right?
Right?
Set between Seasons 3 and 4. Written for the More Most Dangerous Game, using the Cupcakes prompt.
Chapters (1)
5545819
This is basically built off of Fan's Pinkie Pie headcanon. Technically it does fit the prompt: "Pinkie Pie invites a friend over to Sugarcube Corner. Little do they know that they’re in for a dark surprise." Does it fit the spirit of that prompt? Well... I'm mostly bad at giving criticism, but to make it real short there's a lot of talking about terrible things but not so much any visceral impressions of pink. It's not so much a lack of 'showing' as it is the lack of impact at anything but the conceptual level of the idea itself. (Toldja I was bad.)
And this is why i followed ya your headcanon is awesome.
....please continue somehow....
I thought Thalia was the Minoan muse of making all your spells cost 1 mana more.
If it hadn't been for the "Everyone" tag, I would've been positive that Pinkie's demonstration would be of a sexual nature. Doubly so when she invited Berry over.
I don't get the ending though, does this mean that every earth pony is liable to go unhinged and tear the fabric of space-time asunder?
Have not yet read, but the cover pic looks like it's Beeblepalooza. Like, Beeble googles.
Pinkiebles?
Dark and something seemingly sexual, as
5546813 said. You're pushing my buttons here, Foamy.
Let's have a read, eh?
5546813
I think that the answer to that would be "No, but Twilight is".
Um. Well, that was... a lot less dark than I expected from that cover image. But I don't really get the reveal. I'm not seeing the part where this knowledge was scary or worth self-lobotomizing over. So Twilight's reaction, and all that buildup, kinda fell flat for me I'm afraid.
Plus I'm pretty sure if that fermentation trick qualifies as "necromancy" then all magic everywhere can make similarly bizarre claims
necromancy generally means bringing dead things back to life in 'corrupt and forbidden' ways, not speeding up natural decay in a controlled manner.
Still, it was a different and interesting take on the prompt, with an unusual result, and I like that sort of thing. Good luck in the contest.
5547516
technicaly, the prefix necro means death, and mancy meaning divination. Or more colloquially, magic.
So Fan would be right in this instance, magic which quickens the decay process would be necromancy.
5547516
On the first subject, the knowledge wants to be known and it will destroy you if you know it.
Think, possession that changes who you are slowly and painfully and the only way to save yourself is to get rid of the possession, that's what pinkie did, she 'exorcized' Twilight.
First of all, while it technically fits the letter of the prompt I don't think this story fits the spirit very well. It's just a story you already like to tell, shoved into the shape of the prompt. It's also, to be honest, mostly retreading ground you've already covered--you've already written the whole "earth pony necromancy conversation" once and used it as premise for Applejack's part in your Ravinca story, and the Pinkie part is a lot like that one story where Applebloom was seeking her secrets, which I think was also a contest entry.
Anyways, as for the story itself, I don't understand why Pinkie told Twilight anything. She didn't seem to have any endgame in mind where she would not have to wipe Twilight's memory, and didn't really give her a chance to not go crazy first. I also don't really see how just knowing of this kind of magic is so bad it'd drive her crazy. It seems rather harmless, at least to everything except the user's sanity.
I have to agree that the ending wasn't really mind-shattering or autolobotimizing worthy; really, the story didn't end up feeling dark or comedic at all (which isn't a bad thing; it is a slice of life piece) but the thing that was supposed to lead Twilight to madness simply... didn't work. It just wasn't horrifying at all, nor maddening. I thought the rest of the story was decent enough, though.
5547797
The name of a field alone does not always completely correspond to what it describes. For example, astronomy doesn't encompass everything about the study of space, such as astrology.
This application would be closer to a type of time manipulation. Just because it involves death and magic doesn't make it necromancy, or else you could say that things as simple as telekinesis would be necromancy, since you can use it to kill people (aka, magic and death).
5548406
5549618
Well, I may as well address this.
Okay, here's the thing: none of the prompts were doing anything for me. Seriously, I was coming up blank on everything. My ideas just don't usually match post-apocalypse, gore, humans, or villain redemption. I might have been able to make something work with My Little Dashie or Anthropology if it weren't for the no-crossover rule, but with my usual fallback invalidated, I was coming up dry.
Then came the notification that there was less than a week until the submission deadline. I still wanted to do something for this contest, so I decided to stretch the prompts as far as I could. "Pinkie Pie" plus "dark secret" could work for me, so I threw some previously visited ideas in a blender, hit "puree", and crossed my fingers.
Looking back... it's not crap, but it certainly isn't my best work. Thank you both for your frank assessment of the issue. I'll treat this as a learning experience.
There is definitely a hint of prompt-appropriate horror, but it's faint enough to believe that you simply imagined it. Which is precisely what the Denizens of the Dungeon Dimensions want you to think, naturally. *nods sagely*
5548406 Not dangerous except to the sanity of those who hold it, you say. I think that is quite dangerous enough when one who holds it is Princess Twilight Sparkle.
5559375 No, not dangerous to anyone who knows about it--just to those who try to practice it. Which Twilight would not if she had a lick of sense.
I love the entire idea of these ponies having this spiritual connection and the ability to unlock that. You are an amazing writer. This story is gorgeous. Great job, and continue writing!
5559723 I guess FoME didn't convey it well enough in this story for the idea to really work, but the key bit is that once an earth pony (or Alicorn) knows any level of detail about how Pinkie does what she does (even as little as what she told Twilight in this story), she has to either deliberately forget everything about it, or move forward. And moving forward involves deliberately breaking your mind in half, and doing neither invites uncontrolled madness, because the knowledge itself has awareness and magic and wants to be used.
Of course, I'm not disputing that the horror is extremely weak, so weak that it might literally be beneath your notice, but it's there. I realize how incredibly aggravating the position of "oh, you just didn't notice" is, but since I'm arguing about FoME's ability to convey something rather than anything fact-based, it works out to "you're only mostly right" instead of "let me tell you you're wrong in the most patronizing manner possible".
Also it only works on me because it's retreading stuff that FoME has already written about and I've spent time contemplating, so it does sadly fail the prior art test.
I wrote a review of this story. It can be found here.
5687343
Thank you. I was honestly kind of disappointed with the reaction to this one. As some noted, it was basically a rehash of a Writeoff Competition entry, swapping Apple Bloom with Twilight. And some just felt it wasn't dark enough, or the ramifications weren't clear. Given how I rushed it out at the last minute, that's not that surprising. In light of that, your kudos are greatly appreciated.
I'm only just now realizing why some classes are called 101.
That's a good line.
I'm getting better at recognizing stories that need a second or third reading for them to fully make sense to me...this is one of them.
I do think this story had a really strong idea; it just didn't feel as developed as it should have been. I reread the last section a couple of times and I'm still not really able to see the ramifications of Pinkie revealing her thaliamancy. The sense of horror just isn't quite there.
Kinda disappointed that this is just Negotiations, but the central idea is still interesting, and so is everything else you've added to it.
5778342
Yeah, I experienced the opposite problem here as with the original Most Dangerous Game. Instead of rushing something out of the gate as fast as I could before I could procrastinate past the deadline, I nearly procrastinated past the deadline. The prompts just weren't doing anything for me, so I tried to shoehorn a preexisting idea into a closest available mold. The results were less than satisfying for just about everyone involved, myself included.
Well, live and learn. Next time I don't have any ideas for a contest, I won't try to force it.
Very interesting idea, And your writing is good. I am definitely getting a Lovecraft vibe.
5547797 The grape was already dead, or as close to death as a grape can get without being dead. By the end of the process, it was certainly dead. The yeast that fermented the grape was alive, and was made more vigorously alive until--as in all alcohol-producing fermentation--it poisoned itself with its own alcohol waste and died. Nothing that was dead became alive or gained any semblance of life. If this was necromancy, then planting a seed in the ground to produce a plant is necromancy.
Otherwise, it was a charming and entertaining story.
Necromancy is a great reason to be an earth pony. This story was nice.
5694821 Same.
I read this twice and still don't fully get it. A little help, please?
6223085
tw;du*: Pony souls behave a lot like Discord, albeit with much less magic to abuse. Unicorns and pegasi have physiological limiters on their full power, but the only one keeping earth ponies from becoming like unto minor gods is their own sanity. Once that's well and truly lost, a party pony is created, a being capable of exploiting toon physics for fun and other ponies' profit. Since an alicorn has the abilities of all tribes, this fate could theoretically befall Twilight, who is nowhere near ready for that kind of thing. Thus, a friendly bit of mind wiping was necessary for the continued stability and sanity of existence. Discord was hugely disappointed.
Also, even when they don't have their full, terrible potential unleashed, earth ponies still have quite a bit of magic to work with.
*too weird; didn't understand
6223107 I....alright
Missing "are," I think.
Speaking as somebody who sees the original prompts as just something to spur interesting stories, I count myself entirely satisfied with this tale. I like this ind of... I suppose I'd call it understated esotorica, the making of the world just a little bit stranger without making a big deal over it. Big ideas, everyday application.
I've always imagined Pinkie as something similar to Discord. I've always considered her to be a draconequus that was born in pony form, raised in pony form, and never found out what she really was until, well, Discord. And that was why she changed so much and why she's been so out of character in some episodes. It's hard for her to deal with actually being something that could hurt her friends. I like Pinkie, but in the show she has so much unused potential.
6800544
Thanks for reading. If you like the idea of Pinkie as a draconequus, I highly recommend Bugle's story Random.
Hmm... I guess if you gave some more info on what Thalia-Infected Twilight would be like, it'd be more Dark?
Is Thalia-Infected even a good name for it?
Are you using "talent" for more than one meaning? ... So, Pinkie's talent is for laughter, or fun? ... Then again, it might not be that simple?
7773470
Not all fun is laughable.
Not all laughter is fun.
Harmony is not always nice.
That ending. Bone chilling. Literally.
5546299
...
I never heard about this contest & only got a vague idea of the prompts, but this was a pleasant surprise. Seems like a clever twist on the idea.
I keep coming back to this story.
This is one of my favorite lines from any ponyfic:
I couldn't quite get this joke, Google Fu withstanding. Is sinister close to the word left in another language?
Broke my brain somewhere between amusement and bemusement
10821602
"Sinister" is literally Latin for left (as opposed to "dexter" for right, as in dexterity.) Their modern meanings are tied to longstanding distrust towards and vilification of left-handed people.
Realized just now that I thumbed this one up but never faved it.
My oversight has now been rectified.