All Shall Be Well

Vantiveer

Vantiveer #1 · May 29th, 2022 · 5 · ·

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Rainbow may fly east, but Starlight? Must go NORTH.

Wolfwaffe

Wolfwaffe #2 · Jun 1st, 2022 · · ·

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Delicious.

FanOfMostEverything

FanOfMostEverything #3 · Jun 14th, 2022 · · ·

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Fascinating, but impenetrably cryptic to someone unfamiliar with the game. I understand there's something horrific and possibly eldritch going on here, but without further context, it's just a disconnected series of ominous vignettes. Creepy, sure, but barely connected and coming to no discernable conclusion. You've painted an intriguing picture, but I can't really call it a story. Still, thank you for it and best of luck in the judging.

Petrichord

Petrichord #4 · Jun 22nd, 2022 · 2 · ·

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> Recalling Mr. Eaten.

Oh, no.

Oh no no no no no no no no no.

No.

Why can't I forget that name?

Why can't I forget my own hunger?

Bicyclette

Bicyclette #5 · Jul 12th, 2022 · · ·

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You have selected presents, things he might like. A jar of teeth, a cut of offal from the best griffon butcher in the Wastes, and another candle.

and that makes me wonder, knowing candles are sometimes made with rendered fat...

No guards, however. So you haven't been discovered yet. You keep yourself well wrapped in a cloak, even so.

ooh, now that just makes me wonder what is going on to the protagonist!

You once knew a baker- you crush that thought ruthlessly under your hoof. She was no better a baker than anypony else.

and yes, so very Starlight Glimmer

You lick at the blood drawn from your lips by the spiky shells. You raise a hoof to your mouth and idly nibble on the fetlock. Perhaps the butcher will have what you need.

guessing it's Starlight having been turned carnivorous somehow, which is the reason why it is natural she would be shunned by other ponies?

You suspect that there is a monster living in the well on the furthest outskirts of the Wastes. Strangely, when you bring this up to anyone around you, they refuse to meet your eyes. A griffon aggressively tells you to drop the subject, his beak clacking inches from your snout. A changeling drops its disguise and flees into the air the instant you mention it.

dang, just what is it that they know that we don't

Sometimes when you sleep, you wake to find the damnable cat resting on your barrel. It is as content as you have ever seen it, kneading at your fur and flesh with razor sharp claws. You think it might be purring. You think something in your chest might be purring back.

aww, both adorable and disquieting

This is not right. To a pony, a name is precious. Your heart burns with the injustice of it all.

that is so true about ponies

Still, it remains in pitiful condition. You ask a pony with a talent for animals what bothers it. She takes one look and flees screaming.Sometimes it looks at you and licks its chops.

dang, a lot of things in this world that scare ponies and creatures to their core!

You have always had a talent for dancing. Now you dance around a well in the middle of the Wastes, singing whatever comes to mind. You sway, shifting from hoof to hoof. "All shall be well and all shall be well and all manner of things shall be well," you croon. The Thing In the Well whispers back.

aww, this is an adorable mental image! a lonely Starlight dancing awkwardly around a well in the middle of the Wastes, a very fun contrast

You curl up around the side of the well, nuzzle your face into the rough stone, try to comfort an edifice as you would comfort a friend.

aww, this was a cute bit

Something screams in your dreams. Triumph and joy and despair. You scream with it.

at some point i am going to have to get into Fallen London, and then come back to this to see if i get more out of it, because right now i admit that i am not getting much! the ponies and creatures being so one-note in their reactions make me think more of Ponyville's reaction to Zecora than anything chilling, and without already knowing what these bits are hinting at, they don't really form enough by themselves. but i am sure that this is much more impactful to those who know the source material, and i do hope it finds that audience. thank you for writing!

woggs123

woggs123 #6 · Sep 13th, 2022 · · ·

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11297948
Oh yes. To put it lightly, the storyline involving Mr Eaten is a path of misery that bricks your entire account (with ample warnings every step of the way) and people still do it.

JudgementalHat

JudgementalHat #7 · Jan 30th, 2023 · · ·

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11297948

Once, long before there was a monster in a well, eleven pilgrims came to the Neath from a vast and windy waste. They traded for a city (although most say they stole it), the first of seven. Then something went wrong. Someone had to pay for it.

he knew he would be betrayed -he hoped he wouldn't be

How does it feel to be betrayed by the ones you call friends, chained hand and foot to be cannibalized alive? How did it feel when your still-breathing carcass is lowered into a well of sorrow to drown? How does it feel to have your legacy erased, your own name erased, forced to be forgotten by everyone you knew?

Whenever a candle flickers unnaturally out of the corner of your vision, whenever you whisper secrets to a well or dream of going NORTH. Whenever hunger strikes you.
That's him. He's still there.

He isn't dead. He isn't the same either. He's much closer to an abstract concept than a person now. And he is angry.