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Everyone's heard of the wildly-popular newest generation of ponies. The series features new characters, a larger fanbase, songs, and superior animation and voice-acting as opposed to previous shots at the franchise. The army of bronies and pegasisters has given way to countless videos, pieces of fanart, and the dreaded fanfiction.
Last January, at an non-confirmed date a mysterious story titled Cupcakes was posted on 4chan. So far, the author SEEMS to be someone by the name of Sergeant Sprinkles, but that too is not certain. Here's where the story gets difficult: to get a full (and safe) synopsis of the fanfiction, if you're unfamiliar with it, click here. If you're too lazy to do that, here's the short version: Pinkie Pie (shown above right) drugs and kidnaps Rainbow Dash. When Rainbow Dash wakes up, the story that follows is something of a mix of Sweeny Todd and Silence of the Lambs as she's tortured to death for the "special ingredient" in Pinkie's delicious cupcakes.
Charming, isn't it?
To make things clear: No, i haven't read this fanfiction, and I don't plan to any time soon. The last time I read a grimdark fanfiction, it was by accident and I didn't sleep properly for the next forty-eight hours. As for Cupcakes, it's caused an uproar of either praise or rants of condemnation from bronies in every nook and cranny of the internet. Putting shipping and pairings aside, let's go over the reactions...
At first, many fans were outraged that the piece had ever been written. Pinkie Pie was created as the happy, carefree pony of the six main cast members and it was wrong to think she'd ever harm her companions, especially not Rainbow Dash who she works hard to befriend very early on in the series. On top of this, the story was seen as overly-violent and mentally scarring. Having seen a fan-made "animated version" of Cupcakes, I definitely agree on that account.
The other group viewed it differently.
They seemed to delight in the idea of Pinkie Pie becoming a psychopath and spawned the pictures and spin-off fanfictions we now have lurking on the internet. Besides, it was just a fanfiction, right? At least it wasn't as bad as Sweet Apple Massacre. (Note to readers: Sweet Apple Massacre is another violent fanfiction that I haven't researched much OR read. After a quote from my brother, I don't plan to touch it with a twenty-foot pole. Before looking it up for yourself, know that it's easily the most-hated piece related to the Friendship is Magic boom yet to be created - much more so than Cupcakes.)
As a third party, trolls have started using cupcakes as a tool. Pinkie Pie sings to Applebloom (above right) about baking cupcakes in an episode of the actual show. The song itself is innocent, catchy, and fits Pinkie's canon personality. However, if you look up the song to listen to it on YouTube, you're most likely to see someone comment something along the lines of "Hey, you guys like cupcakes? You should read a fanfiction called 'cupcakes'. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie bake together - it's very beautifully written."
I saw this comment and responded immediately with the word "Troll". The writer's response was to continue to try and beckon me to read the story, proving again that TROLLS ARE STUPID.
Wrapping up what is no doubt the darkest post this blog has yet, what do I, Hideki think of the Cupcakes hype?
When I read fanfiction, or write it for that matter, my belief is this: Fanfiction is a way to see the characters you love in a situation that they haven't had a chance to experience in the show, movie, game, song, et cetera that they're featured in. Cupcakes follows this belief, HOWEVER: I'm also a stickler for in-character writing. Watching My Little Pony I admit, yes, Pinkie has that one episode where she loses grip on her sanity a bit, but my problem is that she had warning signs and was PROVOKED before slipping to the point of creating imaginary friends. As far as I know, there was no lead-up to drugging Rainbow Dash, a friend she's very close with. On top of this, Friendship is Magic is a KID'S SHOW. Yes, the brony community is greatly made up of adults, but originally the ponies were created with pre-pubescent girls in mind. That, and it's also shown on Saturday mornings on the Hub, a channel for children. That fact makes it hard for me to see any character from the show, let alone Pinkie, harming another in such a gruesome way. This also affects the fan-pairings in my mind: Yes, Pinkie Dash and ApplejackxRarity seem to make sense, but I don't care much for and fanfiction or fanart that go beyond pony-hugs and maybe a kiss on the cheek. (With the exception of The Party isn't Over Yet, which was so well-written it has parts that could practically be written into the show.)
No hard feelings towards those Cupcakes lovers, but I won't be joining you, I'm sorry to say.
- much luvz, Hideki.
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