Ever seen any GOOD grimdark?

[Mister Jack 566]

If you're a gorehound who thinks Cupcakes is awesome then this thread isn't meant for you. If, on the other hand, you can't stand that sort of thing, then I ask you if you have ever seen any darker MLP fare that even you considered well made, despite your usual distaste for that sort of thing. It doesn't necessarily have to be gore based. It could be horror, tragedy, or just plain dark. Basically, if it is too grim to get onto the show, but at the same time you felt there was more to it than cheap exploitation, post it here.

[Crispy 5,563]

Past Sins.

 

 

Fallout: Equestria, Spark, The Party Never Ended, Vagabond... I can't think of many more off the top of my head.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Crispy

[Mister Jack 566]

Admittedly, there isn't a whole lot I like. I generally dislike ponies being killed or maimed. However, I think Story of the Blanks is both interesting and creepy.

[Crispy 5,563]

Admittedly, there isn't a whole lot I like. I generally dislike ponies being killed or maimed. However, I think Story of the Blanks is both interesting and creepy.

 

Story of the Blanks was a pretty cool little game/story. However, if you haven't, you should totally look at the ones I mentioned. All are great stories.

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

I could possibly write one since grim/dark is one of my favorite genres to write. Not really about ponies though, but I've found one... no two (I just though of one as I typed this sentence) concepts that I'm sure some ponies might find more agreeable then Cupcakes.

 

The one I JUST thought of mere seconds ago is what if the Ponies were to come into our world. Well the cruel humans would capture them of course! The humans start doing some rather painful experiments on the ponies to try to find out why they're sentient ponies or something. Then they take a Unicorn and try to find out how magic works. Unfortunately by accident the humans experiment with some very evil magic from ancient Pony times or something. The Unicorn then enters a trance that causes her to lose control and start attacking the scientists! They try to shoot her, but she uses her magic to defend herself and then go on to gruesomely slaughter the humans. One sympathetic, but somewhat cowardly scientist who disagreed with the experiments to begin with then frees the other ponies so they can stop the raging Unicorn with friendship... or something.

 

Okay so the concept isn't perfect but I only thought of it a second ago. The concept makes the Ponies look Good and the humans very evil, but yet some have hearts too. No pony is harmed, but there are plenty of gruesome human deaths for the gore hounds. It would also go along with the theme that the magic of friendship always prevails in the end.

 

Another idea I had is that we had an insane man who starts seeing ponies (which aren't real). He see the ponies reactions to people in real life which are usually negative. He listens to his non-existent Pony friends and starts trying to find a way to make his pony friends happy in his world by making it more like Equestria. He obviously settles on, "Let's slaughter all the bad people!" being a complete lunatic. He goes on a crime spree being a serial killer and leaves pony related traces around his crime scene. One in particular is that he'd carve out a design of a Cutie Mark on his victims' thighs or whatever the human equivalent of a flank is. The Cutie Mark would depend on which pony he felt the person could've been more like. They'd dub him "The Cutie Mark Killer". (Cute killer name) The Ponies would then tell him that he's doing the wrong thing being kind hearted ponies. Eventually he'd end up regretting what he's done after the ponies get really upset and even try to physically stop him. Eventually he either get's caught, kills himself, or his escaped victim or something kills him.

 

This concept could be REALLY Gorey or really dark. And since the only thing being harmed is humans and the Ponies try to stop the killer it once again shows that Ponies are good and humans are bad!

 

Or I could write a simple grim/dark where ponies kill other ponies if I really feel in the mood!

[Kyreth 194]

I could possibly write one since grim/dark is one of my favorite genres to write. Not really about ponies though, but I've found one... no two (I just though of one as I typed this sentence) concepts that I'm sure some ponies might find more agreeable then Cupcakes.

 

The one I JUST thought of mere seconds ago is what if the Ponies were to come into our world. Well the cruel humans would capture them of course! The humans start doing some rather painful experiments on the ponies to try to find out why they're sentient ponies or something. Then they take a Unicorn and try to find out how magic works. Unfortunately by accident the humans experiment with some very evil magic from ancient Pony times or something. The Unicorn then enters a trance that causes her to lose control and start attacking the scientists! They try to shoot her, but she uses her magic to defend herself and then go on to gruesomely slaughter the humans. One sympathetic, but somewhat cowardly scientist who disagreed with the experiments to begin with then frees the other ponies so they can stop the raging Unicorn with friendship... or something.

 

Okay so the concept isn't perfect but I only thought of it a second ago. The concept makes the Ponies look Good and the humans very evil, but yet some have hearts too. No pony is harmed, but there are plenty of gruesome human deaths for the gore hounds. It would also go along with the theme that the magic of friendship always prevails in the end.

 

Another idea I had is that we had an insane man who starts seeing ponies (which aren't real). He see the ponies reactions to people in real life which are usually negative. He listens to his non-existent Pony friends and starts trying to find a way to make his pony friends happy in his world by making it more like Equestria. He obviously settles on, "Let's slaughter all the bad people!" being a complete lunatic. He goes on a crime spree being a serial killer and leaves pony related traces around his crime scene. One in particular is that he'd carve out a design of a Cutie Mark on his victims' thighs or whatever the human equivalent of a flank is. The Cutie Mark would depend on which pony he felt the person could've been more like. They'd dub him "The Cutie Mark Killer". (Cute killer name) The Ponies would then tell him that he's doing the wrong thing being kind hearted ponies. Eventually he'd end up regretting what he's done after the ponies get really upset and even try to physically stop him. Eventually he either get's caught, kills himself, or his escaped victim or something kills him.

 

This concept could be REALLY Gorey or really dark. And since the only thing being harmed is humans and the Ponies try to stop the killer it once again shows that Ponies are good and humans are bad!

 

Or I could write a simple grim/dark where ponies kill other ponies if I really feel in the mood!

 

Great ideas! I haven't really liked any of the Grimdark stuff I've read but I think I would enjoy those.

 

I always find it strange how the thought of the ponies from the show, imaginary creatures, getting killed is really disturbing but the thought of the same thing happening to humans is less so. Despite the fact that we are humans and care about many other humans.

[HanPolo 151]

I always find it strange how the thought of the ponies from the show, imaginary creatures, getting killed is really disturbing but the thought of the same thing happening to humans is less so.

To me, its the same feeling as when the dog dies in a horror movie. No one really cares when the owner is brutally murdered with a tire iron, but if the killer even goes near the dog i rage.

 

It kinda like that, but the show is the dog in this quite stupid metaphor of mine. The thought of an innocent cartoon charater that i love being tortured/maimed disturbs me. I cant see what people get out of the really grimdark fics, but each to their own and i dont think differently of anyone who does like them. However, i did really enjoy what i read of Fallout: Equestria, but thats because i really love Fallout and i thought of it as a parody set in another universe and not something simular enough to the show to disturb me. Its the only one i like really...

[Evilshy 5,090]

I wrote a non-gore sequel to cupcakes, precisely because I don't like how most horror these days is just gore and shock factor. It in octavias hall, it's called Kindred Spirit.

 

I don't know how well I did. I liked it while I was writing it, but then I posted it and suddenly didn't like it much. A few people told me it should have more torture, so I added some more, and changed a few things. I like it a little more now, but I still don't like it much. Of course, I very seleomly like my own creations :/

[Slendermane 477]

I don't like gore for gore's sake, so I'm not a fan of Cupcakes. However, there are some grimdark and sad that I like. Here are some good ones that I have read.

 

Fallout Equestria is a post-apocalyptic wasteland, where the main character sees the horrors ponies will resort to to survive, and questions how far she will go.

 

Silent Ponyville is horrific nightmares manifested, as a character must fight their inner demons and uncover traumas from their past.

 

Lunacy. I both like and hate this story. If you read it, than you know why. Princess Luna went crazy during her thousand year exile on the moon. This story is her dealing with her own madness.

 

The Pony Psychology series is dark, but I wouldn't call it grimdark. It is similar to Silent Ponyville, but without the monsters. Each story is about why each character behaves the way they do.

 

Musical Dreams. Octavia's fantasy while she hears a dark piece of classical style music.

 

Now for some sad fics.

Today, Tomorrow, Forever. Derpy is a single mother struggling to take care of Dinky.

 

Bubbles. It is from the point of view of a mentally hanicapped Derpy as a foal.

 

Somewhere Only We Know. I don't know how to describe this one without giving everything away.

Edited January 12, 2012 by Slendermane

[Captain Marvelous 544]

I actually thought fLuTtEr was a good story

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

Great ideas! I haven't really liked any of the Grimdark stuff I've read but I think I would enjoy those.

 

I always find it strange how the thought of the ponies from the show, imaginary creatures, getting killed is really disturbing but the thought of the same thing happening to humans is less so. Despite the fact that we are humans and care about many other humans.

 

To be honest I don't like most humans!

I feel either humans are evolving backwards or I am the product of the advancement down the evolutionary road and everyone else is falling behind!

 

I wrote an article here a while ago about how the Mane 6 would fair in a Zombie Apocalypse. Need less to say the requirement is that they all had to die eventually. I wasn't too gruesome about it, but condemning Fluttershy as the first to go drew a tear to even my iron eyes! I don't feel comfortable with Ponies dying... it just doesn't seem right. Yet while waiting in a long lunch line the other day I felt perfectly fine saying, "2012 can't happen fast enough can it!"

 

Guess that's my old self talking while my new more light-hearted Brony self is still awkwardly transitioning in.

 

I might actually write one of the above ideas when I get myself back into writing here soon.

[Fizz. 1,078]

Rainbow Factory was incredible!

 

I could possibly write one since grim/dark is one of my favorite genres to write. Not really about ponies though, but I've found one... no two (I just though of one as I typed this sentence) concepts that I'm sure some ponies might find more agreeable then Cupcakes.

 

The one I JUST thought of mere seconds ago is what if the Ponies were to come into our world. Well the cruel humans would capture them of course! The humans start doing some rather painful experiments on the ponies to try to find out why they're sentient ponies or something. Then they take a Unicorn and try to find out how magic works. Unfortunately by accident the humans experiment with some very evil magic from ancient Pony times or something. The Unicorn then enters a trance that causes her to lose control and start attacking the scientists! They try to shoot her, but she uses her magic to defend herself and then go on to gruesomely slaughter the humans. One sympathetic, but somewhat cowardly scientist who disagreed with the experiments to begin with then frees the other ponies so they can stop the raging Unicorn with friendship... or something.

 

Woa, dude, I'm preparing to work on a major fic where Equestria is a walled in land near Kazkhastan that no people know about, and a few ponies escape somehow and enter the real world causing a major controversy and wars and discrimination. I haven't started yet, but I will definetly write it.

[KPM 288]

Oooh! This is my ja- *reads a bit*

 

Awwwww

[Colon Leftbracket 971]

Okay so I figured if I were to do a grim/dark pony related fic I had no choice but to finally read cupcakes. For the longest time I avoided it because I knew it couldn't live up to the hype.

 

At first I sorta liked it with some good humor on Pinkie's part, but it's when the killing actually started the fic became a horrible mess...

 

So I was right I shouldn't have read it, I liked being ignorant.

 

Also...

 

I'm pretty sure Dash should've died mere seconds after the whole "...'I' on you!" business...

 

 

I guess when this came around it was a new concept and that's why it generates SO much attention, but in reality it is the worst fan fic I've read.

 

Guess I'll read the other's mentioned here for some grim/dark inspiration.

[Nah 3,182]

Writing one right nao.

[cuteycindyhoney 13,307]

I haven't ever written a Pony Fic, but I have written some grimdark. They went over well with the gore fans. I don't generally do fanfics though, so the pnies are safe from me. If I ever write a pony story, it'll just be something fun and light.

[RippedOffMattress 314]

Cheerilee's Garden. I mean god damn! It's like saw, but with KIDS! Definatly bittersweet for me. (but mostly bitter)

I only liked it because of the great shock value in it. But still, I cringe whenever I see Cheerilee now.

[Queen Cassie 3,057]

I generally despise grimdark pony stories. The vast majority of them are grimdark for the sake of grimdark, and I dislike all of them because I feel they spit on the reason I enjoy the show so much: it's cheerful nature.

 

That said, there are a few good stories out there that just happen to be grimdark. Fallout Equestria is a marvelous, heart-breaking tale. Heck, reading that inspired me to get back into fiction writing.