You're really going to leave it off on that unresolved moral quandary? At least Discord wasn't deliberate in his cruelty...

A distressingly thought-provoking piece. Discord's continued nonchalance towards any other offspring out there may be the most horrifying part of the whole story. Best of luck in the judging.

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You're really going to leave it off on that unresolved moral quandary?

Well, since the Smooze can't actually talk it's inevitable that things would not be fully resolved in this story.

At least Discord wasn't deliberate in his cruelty...

Had any of this been intentional, I don't think it would be very in-character for him. A lot of his problems are definitely caused by his ignorance, and this was a pre-reformation and pre-terror of Equestria Discord.

A distressingly thought-provoking piece. Discord's continued nonchalance towards any other offspring out there may be the most horrifying part of the whole story.

Admittedly, I don't think he would know how not to be nonchalant. The only other option is to go on a quest to find every other mare he had been with, hoping they didn't move or undergo non-smooze related significant life changes between now and two thousand years plus prior and put them to rest if they ended up getting smooze'd. He did go and track down Lady Smooze, and he does care about Mister Smooze enough that they've been reunited.

But yeah, fridge horror at the thought of other little hybrids still out there. H-o-o-r-a-y!

Best of luck in the judging.

Thank you!

Oof, it was really uncomfortable to see Discord being completely nonchalant about having possibly cursed other mares and babies to a similar fate; I can really see this wrecking his relationship with Tia. This works well as a horror, and is one of the few serious stories I really think earns the mature tag for its gore. Well done.

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Oof, it was really uncomfortable to see Discord being completely nonchalant about having possibly cursed other mares and babies to a similar fate.

I'm not sure if 'curse' is the right word since it's usually malicious magic that is intentionally cast, not biological consequences resulting from attempts at hybridization.

This works well as a horror, and is one of the few serious stories I really think earns the mature tag for its gore. Well done.

Actually, I think that 'dark' tag works better as a 'horror' tag now that you kind-of mention it. It's good to see I have mature-rated gore nailed, since I usually write pushing-teen-rated stuff and wasn't sure how mature this was compared to other stories.

I think my favorite thing about this story is the fact I registered 'Bastard Juice' as a clever title the moment I saw the memory.

And maybe I'm just jaded after spending the past view years delving into vulture culture, but the gorey bits weren't as gruesome or disturbing to me as much as they were just incredibly fascinating. Not in a weird way or anything, just that it's always fun when a seemingly innocent concepts are the results of existential horrors in disguise.

...Then again certain gorey things do unnerve me, but I think the concept was interesting enough it cancelled any feeling like that out.

Was any of this even coherent? Words are failing me tonight.

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Bleh, I’m stuck on mobile for a while so my replies won’t be as lengthy as I’d like.

By vulture culture do you mean a culture vulture (https://www.collinsdictionary.com/amp/english/culture-vulture)? I can see why that would be unnerving, but not in the same way.

Or do you mean the literal culture of vultures via nature documentaries and the like?

I have less tame gore in a couple other stories, but nothing I write is much of a slash fest.

(Yet.)

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'Vulture Culture' is the term I've seen used for people who collect and preserve animal bones and hides and whatnot. I've seen the phrase used on Tumblr, but I guess it hasn't really caught on elsewhere. Just sounded more eloquent and less creepy than 'I collect animal bones and body parts'.

Essentially speaking (Spoilered for potential gore or nasty warning) I have a major hobby that includes picking up dead stuff, often still fresh or even rotting, and cleaning and preserving it in any way I can. I've cleaned off still-meaty animal heads for their skulls and tanned a few hides. All is ethically sourced, if I might add. I live in a family that's big on hunting, though a few I've simply found.

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Oh, that’s pretty neat! I’m really into web sleuthing, forensics, and true crime types of stuff.

Though, that’s for dead people, not animals.

It’s definitely way gorier than cleaning skulls of ethically killed creatures, so I can’t put too much about it here.

Howdy, hi!

Quite a while ago, you submitted this story to be reviewed by the Pens and Couches Review Group. This group has since undergone some changes and rebranding, and we finally reviewed your story! Check out your review here!

On one hand I'm tempted to dislike this story based on the feelings it gives me, but those feelings are also what this story are probably meant to convey so, take your like I'm going to go to sleep and hope I don't have nightmares.