"Enjoy your new life as a pony carousel!"
The words still echoed, spinning clearly in her mind...
Applejack stared at the ceiling, her eyes tracing over the gaps and grains of the wooden rafters for what felt like the hundredth time. Of course she didn’t “enjoy” being forcibly transformed by magic, and in the split-seconds of the magic working over her body, contorting her, dressing her in riding gear and hardening her flesh into fiberglass, she’d been nearly overwhelmed with fear...
...when it was done, however, she’d felt something different...
...as she went around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around, and around...
A slow-burn descent into an unusual place, as Applejack and the CMC become obsessed with being turned into a carousel. May count as psychological and/or body horror, or maybe fetish-fuel, possibly a trans/queer narrative (?), depending on who reads it.
Content Warning: Contains a lot of inanimate-TF fixation. Nothing really "disturbing" about it, but that's what the story is about.
Because of the horror aspects, I am submitting this as part of the Nightmare Night in April Writing Event. If that interests you, go check out the other stories in that folder!
This is a followup to something that happened in the IDW My Little Pony comics, Issue 78, the end of the Cosmos arc, where the image is from. You do not need to read that to understand the plot, as it's just one scene and I explain everything relevant (I haven't read it myself since it came out), though it's a year-end 4-parter with Discord so you should probably read it either way.
This was an old commission that's sat mostly finished for a while, but was delayed by my severe nerve-damage from COVID.
Why is this under E?
Yet, when the magic subsided, a subtle shift occurred. Fear gave way to something else—an odd blend of curiosity and acceptance. She was no longer merely Applejack; she was now part of the very structure that surrounded her. Cat likes best The ceiling became her companion, and the gaps and grains of wood whispered secrets only she could hear.
And so, she spun—around, and around, and around—each revolution a testament to her newfound existence. The room blurred, time lost its grip, and Applejack danced with the shadows cast by the sun. She wondered if the other ponies would understand, if they could see beyond the fiberglass shell to the heart that beat within.
Perhaps, in this strange fusion of magic and matter, she had become more than herself—a living testament to the extraordinary. As the room spun, so did her thoughts, spiraling upward like the rafters that cradled her. And in that dizzying dance, Applejack found solace, for she was no longer bound by mere flesh and bone. She was a part of the very fabric of the world, twirling through existence, forever caught between earth and sky.
11889396
Presumably because it's only going to contain SFW body horror rather than NSFW body horror.
Aside from that, how do you have a carousel with out any carousel music?, not that I'm saying it needs any particular song but it's never mentioned that there is anything playing and that's got to be at least 20% of the carousel experience.
11889404
That was quiet poetic.
11889559
They'll have to do something about that.
11889396
11889559
Yeah, this is a weird story, but at the end of the day, it's just a really unique idea done seriously: a story about ponies trying to achieve a very unique desire. There's nothing in here I wouldn't show a kid who's old enough to be here
Also, music is coming. The track I've had in mind has been playing in my head for years...
11889404
I'm going to avoid reading this comment until I get to the chapter with the actual carousel, because I'm still proofreading it...
In the first chapter, they said '“Whaa?” Appleloom looked over' - not sure if it's an intentional joke about looking over
Is that the accent or should it be bet?
Looking forward to seeing how this will turn out. My headcanon is that it will spiral out of control and more ponies join the carousel and the places that are made for them.
11889672
11889559
Ah, okay
Until then, songs I found somewhat appropriate:
"Dead Or Alive - You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" - if it were about a carousel
https://mlp.fandom.com/wiki/Fit_Right_In_(A_New_Generation)
Only somewhat funny because of the chorus of "You're gonna fit right in" and a few lines debating it (and fake additions to a pony's body)
11889704
It's a typo I missed when proofreading. Thanks for pointing it out!
11889704
That'll be a chapter a ways out, seeing as they haven't gotten to the actual carousel part yet.
11889904
Oh wow, that song is even more perfect than the one I had in mind! lol
11890512
What song do you have in mind?
11890538
You'll see.
silly rhyme I thought of about the replacement for hoof-holes: ...and a (carousel) pole that was made for her...
When the next chapter come out?