Celestia famously believes in redemption and rehabilitation. Only the vilest, cruelest offenders find permanent homes in her prisons. Only those lost and damned, and a singular mare kept captive in relative comfort in a high tower of the palace. Her cell is well furnished, and food is brought to her from the royal kitchens from which Celestia herself dines. Among those privileged few in her lady's service, the mare in the high tower is a curious ghost story. What awful crimes must she have committed? What could she do? What but the power to slay gods could keep one small mare in the quadruple sealed apartments they call Death's Vault?
Chapters (1)
I've always believed that earth ponies would make the best necromancers. Death is as much a part of the cycle as life... but not everyone's comfortable with acknowledging that. Especially not in a small, suffering town, where patience is thin and tempers run hot as the only weapon against the blight. The only weapon they understand, anyway. The only one they don't fear, or at least the one they fear less.
A fantastic, haunting narrative, perfect for this time of year. Thank you for it.
Well, nice... but it just ends, which I guess serves to set a mood. Regardless, I got invested and don't get any more plot, which kinda is a bummer, add I like the setting.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
I will totally take the blame for anything people don't like about this one, since it was my idea, but it came out just beautifully!
8514205
The last line is a clue.
Will she ever leave the tower and found not guilty of killing that stallion?
Probably not. That's how Equestria government works
8514285
She's not locked because of what she's done so much as because of what she is.
8514321
In other words she will never leave her tower and will suffer from isolation.
Huh..... you should've used that and made it a horror idea
8514219
The last line is a clue MY FUCKING ASS!!! All we get is her begging for the interviewer to say something and the only other thing we have is the story description and that's it. The only thing I can think of is that somehow she is mentally ill and I am not under the impression that is the case. She simply has a power that is difficult to control and suffered for it.
8514339 Do you often get this triggered or is today a special occasion?
8514219
It is not a particularity helpful one.
8514353
Tch...guess you could call an innocent person be convicted a special occasion...sorry story hit a lot of sore points in a good way...making your audience care is generally a good thing.
Yeah, there are plenty of people that have similar powers in fiction that aren't placed under such restrictions. There is no indication at any point in the story the he has mental problems, we have no reason to believe he's a lying, and his powers are easy to control. If there are reasons to imprison him then they aren't alluded to very well.
8514387
Acting like an ass to the author isn't excusable. Grow the fuck up.
8514339
Gee, I wonder why, in a story about a pony who's special talent is death, whyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy somebody in her presence might suddenly be strangely, disturbingly silent. Why ever could somepony who'd previously been moving around and doing things go still and stop responding? What possible reason, in a story about a pony whose talent is death, would there be for such a mysteeeeeeeeeeeerious thing.
I get that this story is subtext and not text, and a lot of people aren't used to looking for subtext, and get lost when the text doesn't tell them the ending. But you could have just asked what was going on if you didn't get it, instead of being a total jackass about it.
Edited: removed a snippet that was probably me being a jackass. I regret nothing about the rest of this, though.
I wonder how many of these replies might simply be "I'm sorry." ?
It's a nice pretty story.
And really, in a world where things are so much about life. I can see both sides of things as a living plague might be considered.
Alas, its neither fair or truly compassionate in a way, but is all the same.
It comes down to perspective. And in that no one is going to see things the same.
I see very little to be angry about with this story. It reads beautifully, once again you have left me ready to retire from writing because I simply cannot match the way you craft your narrative. If Twilight, Good Night is the peak of my haunting/horror later on and worldbuilding throughout, if Respite is a testament to how I can craft a culture from nothing, if Glow is my best drama, all of it pales in comparison to your ability to put me before this pony, listening to her confession, and see a young mare guilty only of one crime: living.
Well done, Cyne. Take a like and a fave.
Rather pointless. And thoughtless, for that matter. And, come to think of it... tasteless.
I find myself always opening and broadening my way of thinking when you write stories cynewulf. I liked this story. Simple, enjoyable, and it leaves me questioning myself and not cover crop.
Nicely done.
8514539
have you tried reading it instead of licking it
8514321
Or is she locked up in order to keep her safe from the outside world?
8514576
One would think that much would be obvious by the order of lesses. Unfortunately, even resorting to... alternative methods of appraising literature didn`t help the problem.
8514586
you mean 'lessers' not 'lesses'
8514602
No, I mean lesses.
Pointless.
Thoughtless.
Tasteless.
Honestly, you of all people should show healthy appreciation for wordplay.
thats some old school horror.
killadj.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/edgar-allen-poe.jpg
8514605
yiou mean deprecation, not appreciation
8514606
I really like the Tell-Tale Heart
8514607
I haven`t spoken about either.
I`ve spoken about Appraisal (əˈpreɪz(ə)l/) noun - An act of assessing something or someone.
Your appreciation, is well... not my problem.
8514614
you mean 'you're appreciation', not 'your appreciation'
8514624
Nope.
8514629
i'm being silly, but i'll be honest: you can't truly appreciate how good this story is unless you've read the works of Böether, which i don't expect you have done
8514633
I`m actually pretty well-read. But that`s beyond the question. I`m displeased with story not because of it`s technical execution, but because of the motif.
There are many kinds of horror in this world, but nothing, NOTHING angers me more then seeing the consequences of wilful stupidity. Superstition should be harshly punished, not pandered to.
8514678
again, without knowledge of Böether, you're not going to be able to appreciate this story's motifs
8514685
...The knowledge of whom? I can`t shake the feeling you`re spelling the name wrong, because neither I nor Google recognise it as someone who wrote much of anything belletristical. I did find a reasonably known medical researcher by that name, but I can`t help but doubt that it`s HIS works you`re trying to draw parallels to, here.
8514726
the knowledge of BÖETHER DEEZ NUTTS, BIIIIIIIIIHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A beautiful work as usual, Cyne.
Her history reads like a ye olden tale, yet having an examiner come in to observe her feels like a contemporary custom. I wonder, then, just how much time she stole before she was rousted? Still. I'll have to let this digest and come back to it in a bit to work out the rest of the puzzle of her imprisonment. I'm not quite so clever as to sort it all out in one go.
8514732
This is literally the most perfect comment of all time. When all of us are burned away in the final purging fires this comment alone shall be the legacy of all of man's glory.
Dang son
8514732
I think I love you just a little.
I mean, I already loved you for writing the best space opera Luna story ever written, but this comment chain was a work of art.
8514732
Ah. Those. Not much of a knowledge there, but I suppose it`s viable to bake them in honey glaze.
8514678
Your complaint in a nutshell.
8514751
No, that much is par for the course. What gets to me is the all-encompassing acceptance of this wrong as "a thing that is". This attitude is deeply fallacious and dangerous, as far as I`m concerned. I`ve always viewed people who are preaching to sit there and take it as some of the most dangerous associates one could possibly have.
8514760
What's hilarious is that you're assuming that Cyne is preaching because the story comes from a specific point of view. I must wonder how you can even function reading any sort of fiction. Frankly, I must presume it isn't well.
8514763
What makes you think I level this objection against author? I level it against the character. We have a word for it in russian, you see.
"смирение"
It can be roughly translated as "achieving a peace with adversity". And it`s one of the most terrifying conditions I can possibly think of.
8514766 Maybe because the manner with which you voice your complaints sucks? You make it sound as if the story falls flat because the author is preaching or advocating superstition of some form. Far be it from me to tell anyone how to read something or demand they like a thing, but you could at very least put some effort into expanding upon your critique so not to just sound like "didn't get the message, author preaching because POV choice is only with this one character." Because, legit, that's the way your previous comments come across.
8514760
You got me it's totally an essay in disguise on Marx's Critique of the Gotha Program through the right Hegelian lens of Kierkegaard et al with constant referral to the nuanced nihilist underpinnings present in that classic of 20th century absurdist theatre, Rick and Morty are Dead, which in of itself is highly dependent on the Situationism of the Apostle Paul's lesser known "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum"
8514678
Superstition is learned through generations of success or failure to survive a situation. In most stories the superstitious beliefs are proven to be ironically false. Real life tends to be different from fiction, in that superstition leads to a set of behaviors that offer protection from some real (not imagined) threat.
It's why people of the Deep South don't talk about Voodoo or Hoodoo.
It's why Navaho and other Native American tribes don't talk about skinwalkers.
Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.
This story presents a case where the fear is entirely justified.
Potential targets:
Alicorns, depending on who you ask, may not be eternal. If they are, then the objects they represent may not be. She might even be able to 'kill' intangible concepts in this way... Love, Friendship, Magic.
Or, if it truly only works on plants:
The Tree of Harmony.
8514766
To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty. The humor is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of theoretical physics most of the jokes will go over a typical viewer's head. There's also Rick's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into his characterisation - his personal philosophy draws heavily fromNarodnaya Volya literature, for instance. The fans understand this stuff; they have the intellectual capacity to truly appreciate the depths of these jokes, to realize that they're not just funny- they say something deep about LIFE. As a consequence people who dislike Rick and Morty truly ARE idiots- of course they wouldn't appreciate, for instance, the humour in Rick's existencial catchphrase "Wubba Lubba Dub Dub," which itself is a cryptic reference to Turgenev's Russian epic Fathers and Sons I'm smirking right now just imagining one of those addlepated simpletons scratching their heads in confusion as Dan Harmon's genius unfolds itself on their television screens. What fools... how I pity them. 😂 And yes by the way, I DO have a Rick and Morty tattoo. And no, you cannot see it. It's for the ladies' eyes only- And even they have to demonstrate that they're within 5 IQ points of my own (preferably lower) beforehand.
8514781
Okay, Cyne, we need to lock you up safely away from everyone, because I am about to die from laughing here.
8514785
SPark, for you, I'll gladly be led away into exile and bondage in Babylon
Take me away
8514781
That's it, I'm stealing you for myself.
8514792
Kinky!