[Grimdark] [Sad]
Author: NTSTS
Description: Luna's isolation on the moon has left her mind fractured and unstable. Confronted at every turn by horrific nightmares and hallucinations, she struggles towards the only foreseeable solution...
Lunacy
Additional Tags: Depressing, Psychological, Suicide, Madness, SPIDERS
50 comments:
Poor luna, bar the happy contest most of her stories seem to be sad.
ReplyDeleteThis fic is very disconcerting in a good sort of way, and very well done; I was able to debate some of the prose's quality based solely on the pretense that her insanity lets some of the telling and reasoning behind her thoughts seem illogical or contradictory... but that's what sets it apart.
ReplyDeleteYou owe it to literature to read this: it's a masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteGah i really can't read sad things. i try to read everything i comment on, been beaten again. i made it absolutley nowhere.
ReplyDelete@Trollestia
ReplyDeleteIf you don't read it you will be attacked by millions of sun spiders that want to feast on your flesh.
@Trollestia It's a bit upsetting but its not that disturbing.
ReplyDeleteStories like this are the reason i worry about luna.
ReplyDeleteI liked this a lot. One of the best sad Luna fics I've read. Well done.
ReplyDelete@Rainbow Crash
ReplyDeleteIll probably try again sometime, i have quite possibly the lowest tolerance for anything remotley sad/upsetting possible though.
I just finished The Sock Swap and hmph I wanna keep that smile on my face I'll let this story slide for now.
ReplyDeleteWhat's up with people actually enjoying sad? What are they too happy in their daily life? is sadness and melodrama really more addictive than comedy?
ReplyDeleteAnyways i can't wait till Season 2 to get rid of all these freaking sad stories...unless...(oh god) please do not tell me the writers made her the combination of Twilight+Fluttershy...aka exactly what every anti-social person is like and tries to get rid of it...
Well i'm done with my half-rant...
Maybe later, but at the moment I am filled out of joy from the Happy Happy Luna fics.
ReplyDelete@Mr.Anonymous
ReplyDeletePeople enjoy reading something sad not because it's sad. This fic is: thought provoking, disconcerting, and has a very very good emotional build up and connection. The sad is making you connect so a character that /only exists in text/. Was shakespeare scene because he wrote tragedy? No? Glad we can agree.
The point of sad fics is evoking emotion, and people like feeling emotion. Sadness or happiness, getting that feeling and empathy is a great feeling, even if the actual emotion itself is tragic.
I skipped the happy story and read this instead. I can say that Im not enjoying this thing Because of being too happy in my Daily life like mr anymous speculated. Quite the opposite really...
ReplyDeleteWell executed but I would have liked it much more if the ending had gone the other way....this universe is not one for suicide.
ReplyDeletethe author nailed the feeling of wanting everything to end, well.
ReplyDeletetoo well.
this was sick and beautiful.
now i need some alonetime
...I think I need to go read some happy Luna now. Good thing I haven't touched that sock story yet.
ReplyDeleteThis didn't do anything for me at all. I just couldn't really connect to the story as well as I could many other sad stories.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that really got me was Celestia's character. She didn't seem to try to get to know the problem, she even saw what was happening.
I dunno. Even the final scene didn't even give me the briefest moment of care for what was happening. Maybe I've read so many sad stories that I've actually killed my emotions. =/
This... this is something else. It's sad as hell, and it really hits you. This is a masterpiece.
ReplyDeleteThis alone is pretty damn dark.
ReplyDeleteThis while listening to an album called:
Slow Transcending Agony...
Hell yes.
This story doesn't work for me, mostly because Luna's instability is actually somewhat hard to believe. The circumstances themselves are equally noticeable. You would think that twitching, screaming, numerous accidents, being regularly drained of magic, and incredibly forced Stepford smiling would tip somepony off, especially Celestia.
ReplyDeletesome of this is, uhm, hard to follow. i didn't know if this was pre-banishment, a hallucination during the banishment or post-banishment. by 2/3 in, i figured it out but it was a bit confusing at first. maybe that was part of the point.
ReplyDeleteotherwise, it was nice. a bit melodramatic but depression and insanity tends to bring those out of people.
U DA BEST NTSTS!
ReplyDeleteLove, /CO/
Is the end an illusion, too?
ReplyDelete@Satanfingers
ReplyDeleteI'm fine. *TWITCH* See? *TWITCH* Nothing *TWITCH* Wrong *TWITCH* With me. *TWITCHTWITCHTWITCH*
Hehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehehe....
What's that, Flux? You want me to purge all life the world by crashing my moon into it? Weeeeee~lllllllll....
Okay~ But only because you're so adorable~<3
Magic + Nuclear fission = ... wat.
ReplyDeleteAUGH NOO! LUNA IS MY FAVORITE AND NOW... so unsettled right now. I'm gonna go read some happy luna now. She was so innocent and sad. i... gahdabuwhat? nevermind. this is sad. me no likey at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand. NTSTS' finest fic so far receives the lowest rating? Forced to question that.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I'm glad you managed to get over your personal criticisms, man, and it's good to see you with even more published work! I imagine soon enough you'll be the most well-loved and prolific of all of the /co/ writefags, haha! Congratulations on the highly positive reception, and looking forward to your next fic when it finally rolls around.
You already know how I feel about Lunacy - absolutely fantastic, vividly descriptive, beautiful, provocative, emotional, horrifying on so many levels, and all-around superlative. Definitely hoping you stick with the sad/dark shtick!
Good Celestia! This was depressing, but very well done. 5/5
ReplyDeleteEasily one of the most soul-destroying MLP fics I've ever read. Wow.
ReplyDelete"Ugly yet beautiful" is the phrase that comes to mind. I'm definitely gonna remember this one. Excellent all around.
Listening to Katatonia's "Brave Murder Day" album while reading this definitely helps set the mood too.
The last paragraph and sentence really got to me... Very sad story, but very well-written. I applaud with a tear in my eye. Luna always seemed like a mysterious character to me, and thoughts like, "How does she cope with living on the moon for a thousand years, then being thrust back into society?" always ran through my head after watching episodes 1 and 2. Great story.
ReplyDelete*sigh* I was hoping for something a bit more.... contextual? I wish it had started before the insanity trully took hold and that it involved allot more interaction with people. Insanity fics are at their best when they show the contrast of the normal with the abnormal, when it just takes place in one person's mind, it feels like it loses the real horror of the problem. I don't know...
ReplyDeleteThis fic was exceptional, and it was terribly sad. I really hate to see suffering Luna. The end really killed me. I held out till the very last paragraph, hoping that Celly would bust through the wall with a massive show of force, saving her sister, and getting her the help she needed.
ReplyDeleteWhen it never happened... I... I really hated how it ended... I didn't hate the story... I 5 Stared it. I just hated WHAT happened to Luna. I hated that NO PONY did anything to help her. NOT EVEN HER SISTER. I truly do not believe this would happen if the story had kept Celestia more in character. Her wisdom and knowing seems to be very impressive, and she seems to be far more intuitive into the needs and the troubles of her little ponies. I have a VERY hard time believing she would not have investigated the situation to at least try to learn what was happening to her little sister. I don't think she would have let Luna be alone enough to allow the more extreme of her torments to go unobserved. I don't believe that Celestia would have allowed Luna to complete her self destructive goals, and I think that she would have done anything to protect her little sis.
This story is of the failing of friendship, and It. Is. Sad.
Wow. That was kinda intense. This is a fantastic and moving piece of writhing. The despair was conveyed so well. I was in tears by the end.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to go read some happy Luna.
Not much of Luna fan but ok, I'll read this...
ReplyDeleteI'm gonna go cry myself to sleep now...
ReplyDeleteThen in the morning I'm going to read every happy-Luna story I can find...
Wonderful, Luna reminded me largely of Mr White in the Sunset Limited
ReplyDeleteI am in agreement with other bronies here in that it seems out of character that Celestia did not find out/intervene
ReplyDeleteit seems rather open ended and unfinished at the end..
was the moon thing one final hallucination? did she really die? in her craziness did she send herself to the moon? what happened when her body was found? what did Celestia think was going on?
eather way this needs a part 2 eather about the aftermath or the events from Celestia's view
@stitch
ReplyDeleteIndeed, a part 2 is needed.
It was ruined for me as I read the comment section first instead, eh...
ReplyDeleteSeth, maybe add a [Spoiler] Spoiler [/Spoiler] option?
@undead431Generally comments ARE spoilers in most stories. >.>
ReplyDeleteAh, Christ's sake. This story. I, honestly to God, have no idea what to say. I'm speechless. The story hit it's mark, left me feeling empty. To spare my mind, I'll just agree with what has already been said; Celestia being OOC, the ending is open to a sequel, lots of unanswered questions et cetera.
ReplyDeleteOf course, my main grip, suicide just feels wrong in the FiM universe, just my opinion. That pretty much killed whatever innocence was left in this franchise to me, but hell, it was a great story nonetheless.
1/5 for making me sad, 1/5 for murdering innocence. 5/5 for being a beautifully written work that both moves and gets to the reader. Stunning.
5/5
5 stars for the writing itself, some of those sentences are a joy to read as literature, but man is this fic depressing. I wanted more than anything at the end for Celestia to save her, or try harder to connect with her. Or something...just...ugh. Gotta go read something happier. I should have left the Sock Swap fic for afterwards.
ReplyDeleteI just want to say you have a beautiful way of writing. My only regret is that this doesn't have anything redemptive. I knew from the beginning what would happen and nothing changed that single note.
ReplyDeleteCelestia's ignorance was not bought. And the ending felt unjustified. I don't think every story needs to have a happy ending, but I hated Silent Hill's suicide ending too. It robs me of any ability to care about the character.
ReplyDeleteOtherwise, well-written. Fairly strong prose, madness was believable. Pretty decent structure.
++++++++++++++++++++spoiler+++++++++++++++++++++++
ReplyDeleteAs soon a I finished reading this I immediately imagined Celestia making a transmutation circle, sacrificing twenty murderers and bring Luna back to life, only to say "the F**K!?"
Poor Luna. . . I can understand why she'd go to such an extreme. A thousand years alone on the moon would destroy your sanity. . .poor dear. . .almost made me cry.
ReplyDeleteThis was one of the saddest fanfics I have ever read so far involving Luna. The feeling of helplessness that Luna had around her, I really felt it. Some people like to put that being in the moon for that long of a period of time could have driven Luna mad is understandable, and this was one of those few examples of just how far out of her mind she might of gone. Another factor I would have like to point out is moon dust. I hav eheard or I think its even recorded thatmoondust has bad effects if someone comes into physical contact with it, andif inhale, it could lead to some mental problems. And also since the sun has to give of light for the moon to shine, it must of have been painful for Luna to withstand, as the story or someone pointed out.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't help but be relieved that Luna got what she wanted at the end of this fanfic. I know it sounds kind of awful, but I think it's for the best for her. There couldn't anything else -in my opinion- that could of have been done to help her since she was so far gone. If the Elements of Harmony couldn't do it, then I guess nothing else could.
And the consequences of being caught trying to do what she wanted to would of have been aweful, especially the idea of being sent into an asylum. I really don't think she could of have been fixed in an asylum, and since she is near immortal, she could of have spent eternity stuck in one. That myself is one of my deepest fears to have come to reality: have to spend the rest of your life in asylum.
I am suprised just how long Luna could keep everything together just long enough to accomplish what she wanted to do. Having delusions throught the day, especially the ones she faced, must of have been downright terrifying and painful. And the story seems to hint just how broken apart the sisterly bond between the royal sisters was. Or should I say that it was already dead from the start? It seems as if they are complete strangers to each other.
But none the less, I liked how the story ended with Luna having to suffer no more. She seems now at peace. What I would of have liked thought just as an extra would of have been what became of Celestia, and how she and maybe some other close individuals might of have felt (the mane six?), and their reactions to this.
I hope, if you are reading this, the author of "Lunacy", that you know you wrote an amazing, heartfelt, and tear-jerking fanfic.
I wanted to make this comment a long time ago for this story, but I have been so busy all this time, but now I am relieved to have finally have written a response to this story. As I have writen before, I hope that you, the author, are able to provide a second part or story to this, or at least provide in your own words what Princess Celestia or maybe even the Mane 6 think of Luna's suicide. And I am also sorry for writing such a late, late review to the story. I am though thankful that the real Princess Luna isn't like this one. May this Luna forever rest in peace now.
Man, this was depressing as f**k, gonna go down a few then go to sleep.
ReplyDelete5/5 rating, what someone else said, sick yet beautiful, it really hit me.
I have some problems with this.
ReplyDeleteSunlight had no effect on her in season 1, for all of the five seconds we saw her. Though I suppose the effects could have gotten worse over time.
The spiders cannot glow and be black. Pick one.
The switching to Celestia's POV kills a lot of immersion. Luna's voice is the strong point here.
"A small of an accident"? (Could be intentional.)
And I've seen so many "pony throws themself off a high place" openings, this really started off on the wrong hoof for my tastes.
"It was as though her body knew was to come"
Of course, the other strength of this, I think, is the tragedy. She wants help but won't or can't ask for it. Celestia wants to help but won't if Luna won't level with her. Unfortunately, it just ends with a senseless loss that could have been easily preventable if one of them had simply taken a step. I hate sad fics, and I told them I'd hate this one; it's empty at the end, pointless, and ultimately lost on me.