So, I hope you had a great holiday. How about we read something horrifically depressing and disgusting to destroy all the warm happiness you’re soaking in now that the world has failed to end and you’re full of Christmas ham/delicious Chinese food.

Here’s something my #1 Assistant sent me and boy is it a doozy.

Everything is Fine by Andysonic1

I had stated early when I started this blog and was still simply discussing the mane six and there regular roles in Grimdark that it’s very hard to find Fluttershy in the villain role. Much has changed in the year since I made that statement. I can’t say if it’s the growth of the Grimdark fandom or the fact that Fluttershy has had more episodes in which she shows that little bit of aggression that was so lacking in the first season. What I can say, however, is that Fluttershy as the villain is always a nice change of pace from the regular Pinkie Pie Serial Killer or Twilight Sparkle Mad Scientist.

“Everything Is Fine” starts out with a meteor hitting Ponyville. This, naturally, kills everypony. Lucky for Fluttershy her obsession with keeping the animals of Ponyville safe gets her trapped in a cave and away from the blast. This leads us down a rabbit hole of trauma and insanity as Fluttershy finds a way to cope with the sudden loss of everything she ever cared about.

As you can guess by the title, Fluttershy goes about her business like everything is just as it was before the blast. Just how she goes about making everything seem like nothing has changed is honestly one of the most disturbing things I’ve read for this blog. The depths to which she sinks are absolutely marvelous and can’t be well contained in a summary without spoiling the whole thing for you.

I will say that while we do get the ever present and almost cliche insanity trope that often presents itself in Grimdark, we also lose that almost nauseatingly old gore for the sake of gore trope that’s hindered Grimdark from developing a bit. There is no outward murder in the story yet, although there is a lot of blood and death from the meteor strike. It’s a little refreshing to see a character not actually murdering or harming anyone outright as desecration of a corpse is, in my personal opinion, about as bad as molesting a table. It’s something that isn’t overly common and the story gives us that.

Fluttershy, as one of the more mellow ponies in the show isn’t generally given the role of villain for a very good reason. How do you make a completely passive character into somepony who would commit atrocities? Andysonic1 finds a way and does it beautifully. Instead of simply saying “she snapped” or making her a victim of another evil pony he gives her a very valid very realistic reason to lose her mind. It’s nice to see her snap without ever being a victim or having some reason to want revenge. Fluttershy doesn’t want revenge on the meteor, she just wants her friends to be alive again and her innocent wish turns into something disturbing to say the least.

Overall this story is fantastic. I really am enjoying it. I can’t really say that I see very well where it is going, as there is some weirdness going on in the latter chapters that I’m not really understanding yet but I’m really looking forward to the ending. There is a little bit of sex in the latest chapter which I generally wouldn’t include on this blog I can make an exception this time. It’s not really there as porn, it’s there as a way to heighten the horror and dial up the disturbing. Granted I don’t generally think of that as a reasonable way to make something more horrific, it’s not overpowering and certainly isn’t a reason to keep the story off the blog.

This is a good one and I hope to see more of it. You all should read it as soon as you can.

Until next time. Take care of yourself and maim your brother.