This story is a sequel to Den Fjerde Væg
Foul deeds are at hoof, and an ancient evil stalks Equestria once again. Its power will break and scatter even the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony.
Now, Equestria’s only hope lies far, far away—where rests a magic older and stronger than the foundations of the world. Though this magic is hidden beyond a fearsome barrier, no wall can stand up to a pony fighting for the sake of her friends.
My entry for the Rage Reviews contest FTP #16.
Big thanks to KuroiTsubasaTenshi and TobiasDrake for last-minute editing and proofreading.
Chapters (4)
The Hesperus Gate presumably unlocks the Hesperus Garden.
Unmaking and rerouting are two very different things. Sending the narrative down a different path doesn't wipe away the first one.
"Ahem."
Look, it's either apply multiverse theory or make Twilight quietly have another existential crisis. Besides, you might not have wiped away the old path, but you certainly caused it to disintegrate after Meta revoked its moment of ontological inertia.
"That sounds like a really fancy way to say we unmade it."
You caused what was unwritten to have never been made in the first place. Important distinction. The bits that caused you to flee through the Wall still happened in another timeline, but everything that followed suit dissolved into causal tatters and narrative scraps.
"You're making this up as you go, aren't you?"
Not like this stuff is well-documented.
Thanks to both you and Meta for a fascinating application of your abilities.
Huh.
I like the idea and the experimentation. Not sure I like how it played out. The combination of meta horror and anticlimax kind of doesn't sit well with me.
Still want to see more dimension hopping Ditzy adventures. Just, you know, not horrifying grimdark ones.
For a second there I was genuinely confused by the notes and the title of chapter 4, but then I remembered you posted the whole story at once and kept reading. Nice job, Meta, you've certainly lived up to your name.
This might have been even better if the chapter postings had been more spaced out, but I suppose there wasn't really time. Neat thought experiment, at any rate.
8626048
As I see it, the original path only exists as Pinkie and Twilight’s memories, now.
8626718
Fair enough.
I’m not normally a fan of grimdark and only sometimes a fan of horror. I’m still not sure why I’ve written so much of it myself. In this particular case, I felt breaking the fourth wall to rewrite your own story is such a huge deal, Pinkie would have to face an especially dire predicament before she considered it.
8627260
Thanks. Glad you liked it.
8627263
I really did want to space out the chapters, exactly like that. If I weren’t doing this for that contest, I’d have released the chapters a week (or maybe even a month) apart; if I could have just written this faster, I’d have released them a day or so apart. And I would have stayed in-character in the comments section until the final chapter, too. I’d have been super excited about this grimdark epic that gratuitously killed off the protagonist of my earlier stories, and I’d try so hard to reassure the confused readers that the future chapters were going to be so awesome.
Oh-ho... I see, that's real clever.
I hope your rewrites go well 😉
Brilliant!
IS chapter 2 a cipher or nonsense?
Either way this was wonderfully confusing. I didnt realize how much I missed these characters from this verse.
8628306
Thank you!
8634218
Not a cipher. It’s what happens when a pony tries to type on a keyboard that wasn’t made for hooves. I simulated this by mashing the keyboard with my fist.
(Also, I spoiled that chapter in a comment I left two years ago.)
Fucking shit dude, damn.
8638928
Thanks, I guess?
Ooh i wonder where this is going.
What?
What?
What is this?
8698662
Hooves on a human keyboard.
8698665
Rejected drafts.
8699252
Oh okay.
Although i am interested in the next Actual chapter. This is kinda moving way to fast. Like it seriously got into the conflict of the story in the first chapter.
8699630
Um... did you read chapter 4? And all the Author’s Notes? Those should explain what’s going on.
8700317
When i read the title of the chapter i spent five minutes yelling “SADNESS!” And “WHAT?!” Over and over.
Don’t kill this man. Have you used the editor for this website? Because i did and the only problem i have ever had was it not saving over 8k words on a chapter. BTW that story is gone since i lost interest and i started on a new one. AAAAAnyway you could actually make the 4th wall shiKcjjeijyiGysiebwiwidhjIijhjdh THE FUCKING HELL?
Once again pinky breaks the fourth wall and ends up in my throne room with a displaced. Connor the Cosmic King. I forced them back to thier dimension and made them forget my encounter but things like that happen from time to time, especially if you live in the void castle outside universe 10/029939380196437-BaGGhG. Oops forget i said that.
8700426
You know how in most monster movies or slasher movies, it will take twenty to thirty minutes before the killer monster first shows up? Because the filmmaker wants the audience to get invested in the characters at the beginning, enough to care when they start dying and worry about the dwindling party’s survival. That sorta thing. Look up “Developing Doomed Characters” on TV Tropes if you want to read more.
In my story, the plot itself is the doomed character.
8702352
Oh.
jesus christ that's horrifying
you planning on expanding the series at all though?
8824564
Depends on which part you’re referring to. I have a bunch more stories planned for Ditzy and Time Turner. But this stuff with Pinkie and Twilight and the fourth wall was always meant to be just a side story, so I don’t have very much planned for it.
8698662
It must be a cipher. But which kind and where's the key?
8825441
Really enjoyed this doc derpy series Hope you write more, but even if you dont thanks for the stories.
I wonder what they were going to say.
Maybe they decided to move the 'camera' elsewhere, so they could chat privately?