A Fashion For Nightmares (The Return of Nightmare Moon?)

by Mockingbirb

Epilogue (The Morning After)

When Twilight woke up the next morning, her head ached. "What a night," she grumbled. I don't think I've ever..."

Her hornlight tugged the blanket down her body, and she saw her own chest. "Thank Celestia. I'm still me."

Rarity pranced into the room. "But if you ever desire a change, you know who to talk toooo!" Rarity almost sang with delight.

"No."

Author's Note:

AU Rarity works hard at turning ponies into Lunas.

But maybe she thinks the Luna x Luna shipping opportunities make it all worth it? (link to Bicyclette's Self-Shipping Contest)

Comments

[fanreader999999]

Crackfic

[RangerOfRhudaur]

Personally, the epilogue left me a little disappointed. Its jokiness was too big of a departure from the interestingly heavy story beforehand, at least for me.

Overall, while there are several tantalizing threads you show us (the tension between Rarity the Decadent and Rarity the Generous being the foremost), I feel like they don't get sufficiently tied off by the end of the story. You managed to set the stage for a deep ethical dilemma very well, without making either Rarity or Twilight stereotypical, but then it feels like the curtain never really came up. I really think you could make something fascinating if you expanded on this, but at the moment, it just leaves me wanting more.

[hamster wizard]

Some interesting concepts thrown around here, but the overall vibe this gives off is more dystopian than anything else, or at least it feels more like that sort of setup. Even if something is created with the best of intentions, it's rarely left solely to the creator to decide its usage.

There's potential for frivolous body-swapping for the ultra-rich while the terminally ill are left by the sidelines unable to afford the treatment. Or maybe even potential immortality if one has the wealth for it. Also the idea is just really macabre to me, and the lighthearted tone of the writing adds to that a bit.

[Mockingbirb]

11105758

Also the idea is just really macabre to me, and the lighthearted tone [...] adds to that a bit.

Yeah, I think you saw in the story pretty much what I was aiming for: an element of the macabre and potentially dystopian, reinforced by the lighthearted tone that Rarity takes (or affects?) about the whole business, a tone that hints at a lack of the concern which might help avert the problems.

(Edited about two hours after initial posting, to try to clarify and elaborate.)

[UrsaMajor]

Hm. Feels very Twilight Zone in a good way.

[Bicyclette]

hehehe, very fun!

---

for some reason i'm feeling very intertextual with this comment, though i'm sure none of these were actual influences. i really like Twilight's AU background here as a doctor returning home from the frontier, which reminds me of the standard introduction story in a Sherlock Holmes continuity, with Twilight slotting into Watson, the viewpoint character who provides the straight mare character to the eccentric genius.

i really liked Twilight's line about medical school showing her arrogance about Rarity's line of work as being less intellectually challenging, which was very classic Twilight. the irony that it was Rarity's fashion pursuits that unlocked this new technology instead of the more expected route of science-loving Twilight's reckless pursuit of knowledge was a great one, and the depiction of the first adopters being the social élite with their silly and inscrutable fashions and motivations really gives this story the feel of an Edwardian-era science fiction work.

Blueblood's complot reminds me of The Last Duel, and worked great on the multiple levels it was meant to.

and finally, the idea of culturing alicorn bodies from Luna's ancient buried remains to use as shells for brain transplantation is a really cool one! one of the coolest ideas i have seen on this horse fiction website, and just the kind of birb idea i read birb fics for. thank you for it!

[Mockingbirb]

11221454

really gives this story the feel of an Edwardian-era science fiction work.

When I write steampunk, I like to go ALL IN.