Okay, it might just be because I've written what I have; namely, Serial, I'm Dreaming of a Red Christmas and A Rose By Any Other Name. But Cupcakes wasn't that bad, it didn't shock me nor surprise me, I even noticed similarities between my work and this... maybe I just desensitised myself to it because of what I've written.
I even found myself criticizing the torture, saying that there was no way in holy hell Dash would've lasted that long. If it was so easy to bring people back to consciousness after such trauma then medical science would be much further along and we'd have less deaths on the operating table. "But Lewis!" I hear you cry, before wondering how you learned my name, "This is Equestria, not real life!" to which I rebut, "THAT'S EVEN LESS OF AN EXCUSE!" The worst thing the only nurse in the show has had to deal with was bad cupcakes (silly Applejack) After all that love and tolerance, they've hardly built up a resistance to pain and suffering, if anything they're more sucseptible to it.
The fic also has a knack of moving too quickly, why does it skim over Pinkie's "collection"? Forcing the image of Luna knows how many dead ponies in whatever way Pinkie has desired them to be in would make this a hell of a lot more impactful.
Not to put it down too much. Perhaps I in part spoiled it by building it up so much in my mind, but Pinkie Pie, the way she was characterised (actually reminded me awfully of A Rose By Any Other Name) was really good, the bad puns, the happy-go-lucky attitude and the innocence combined with the stark reality that she's a killer? Not only a killer but an amatuer taxidermist come fashion designer? That was a brilliant imagining. SergeantSprinkles deserves my credit for that.
In short, if you want to truly experience the horror of Cupcakes, do the opposite of what Hollywood has taught you when it comes to quality. Just sack it off and watch the film listen to the 20 minute song I posted a while back.
Fun, but nothing I haven't done before (except maybe the taxidermy/fashion thing)