Ebony-Inke on DeviantArthttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/https://www.deviantart.com/ebony-inke/art/Floral-Zombie-Pony-458085222Ebony-Inke

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Floral Zombie Pony

Ebony-Inke

Published: Jun 2, 2014

2.6K Views

Description

She's technically dead, her heart isn't beating, and these 'plants' are what keep her functioning and slow down the rotting process as they dig their root through her flesh. Her physical form may no longer be solely hers, but her mind is still her own. These magic plants may seem symbiotic, but at the same time, they're parasitic in nature. There are flowers sprouting out of her empty eye socket and ears, out the back of her head, branches replacing her limbs, moss growing on her back, and her tail has recently been gnawed off by a hungry fox.

It's a cute but kinda gross thing.
But she feels no pain.
And she's happy.

Because she doesn't remember the tragic and terrible way she died.

{More Info:} *taken from my comment on InkyTophat's lovely fanart*
She has no need to eat food (since she's dead already), and the plants only need adequate water and sunlight to thrive. However, despite this prolonged post-mortem 'life', there will eventually come the day that the parasitic plants have taken over her body so completely that she becomes one with nature (like, really becomes a tree with its roots digging into the earth for once and for all) and her conscious/soul leaves.

And that's when those plants take on the disguise of being an 'ordinary' tree with many flowers, which insects may pollinate, and soon this tree produces fruit . The fruit of the tree is delightfully sweet... and poisonous, almost instantaneously lethal, as it can destroy the living tissue of the internal organs on its way down the digestive track into the stomach...and as the carcass cools down, the new sprouts begin to grow.

Behold, the victim has now become the new host. And that's how these plants live on and spread.

Think about it, a beautiful tree, adorned with flowers around its bark and plump fruit hanging from easily-reached low branches, with one or two dead bodies of foolish creatures who have taken a bite to their deaths lying in the cool shade of its leaves. Seeing how these plants taken on new forms of imitated disguises every time they sprout up in a new host, it is not easy discerning them from usual, harmless fruit-bearing trees and flowers, which is why they are so deadly.

However, I do not think that is how she, who yet remains unnamed, has perished, seeing that she is one of the rare 'specimens' that still retains an intelligent conscious/personality after death since the usual 'zombie' hosts merely meander mindlessly around until the day the plants 'settle down'.

Image size

1600x1559px 1.4 MB

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License

Comments65

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QwixLochflow

Jun 3, 2014

Overall

Vision

Originality

Technique

Impact

The first word that comes to my mind is "tasteful".

Being zombie-related, it can be easy to go overboard in making that fact visually recognizable; splotching copious amounts of blood and missing body parts being typical staples of the zombie look. But what drives the tasteful aspect of this to me is that even though it's obvious upon survey, a quick glance might not pick up on it. In fact, this manages to be quite adorable.

The zombie traits here are also unique to me; instead of a focus on blood and bone (sans the sheared tail), the choice to infuse nature-based aspects really brings up the adorable factor. The front legs and wings being actual tree limbs are inventive, but the flower covering (or rather, in place of) her eye not only seems to invert the potential gore-factor, but actually strengthen it.

The fact that a nature-based explanation is here is the best part, I think. It feels that zombies in current culture overuse a science approach to explain zombies, be it disease or scientific experimentation. It's refreshing to see something like this, even more so that I can see this easily being a canon concept.

As I look closer, the smaller details pop out and help underscore the cuteness and nature focus. The mossy flank, leaf ring around her neck, and the crown of leaves behind her head being key, but the color choice and placement is great.

Color theory dictates that red (and all other warm colors) advances in space, while green (and other cool colors) recede. Making her hair and flowers primarily red draws the eye immediately to her face, which is also a human habit; facial recognition is one of, if not the first thing the brain notices. Then lining the head and hair in general with green leaves serves to raise the red's importance. A headshot of this character alone would stand incredibly strong alone.

Green and red are also complementary colors; letting them bounce off each other in this manner is wise. The white coat (to which I'm a helpless sucker for <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/a/a…" width="19" height="19" alt="

" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="417" title="Sweating a little..."/>) also helps raises the innocence of the character. White (in western culture, at least) is a color of purity. It portrays her as innocent, not responsible to the events that led to become a zom-pony. The description also helps sell that. <img src="e.deviantart.net/emoticons/w/w…" width="15" height="15" alt="

" data-embed-type="emoticon" data-embed-id="387" title="

(Wink)"/>

Overall, this is a deceptively strong work design-wise. The tareme-style eyes help boost that cute factor, the entire design treads gore territory yet comes off cuddly, and as a concept, I can see being a staple. Recommended.