A few quick words before we start

I haven't been actively into music for very long, only a couple years.

It wasn't until I heard Femtanyl for the first time that I finally understood the appeal.

Since then, I've amassed a few playlists I listen to from time to time.

I've tried listening to albums before, haven't been able to find one I was super into, however, and struggled to label one as my "favorite." I've always preferred individual songs, rather than entire curated experiences.

That was until January 6th, 2026, when a long time friend introduced me to this somewhat obscure album called "Monarch of Monsters" by artist Vylet Pony.

What is Monarch of monsters?

"Monarch of Monsters is an allegory for how trauma, loneliness, and selfishness can turn you into a horrible person; it's about endeavouring to stay alive even within a terminal state of regret; how — in this regret — experiencing any happiness at all feels insincere and undeserved; about perpetuating a cycle of toxicity and wickedness because it's all you've known, and you've been afraid of being wrong; and ultimately, learning to find purpose and self-love in that chaos."

- Vylet Pony

Monarch of Monsters is a 12 song alt/prog/noise rock album created entirely, aside from the cover art, by female artist Vylet Pony, real name Zelda Trixie Lulamoon, known for creating songs themed around the 2010 show "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."

It is a hauntingly beautiful work of art, no words I can write on this webpage could ever come close to doing it justice, but it simply means too much for me not to try.

I would highly recommend also reading the accompanying novella, which can be found here.

Chapter One
Pest

Why i love it

There's a very specific part of my life that I don't like talking about.
Not only was it a very, very difficult time for me, not only did it leave me deeply traumatized, not only did it fuck me up so bad, even at the age I'm at now, even almost a decade later, I struggle to take care of myself, I was also a genuinely horrible person to be around.
I am incredibly ashamed of who I was back then, and have done the best I can to compensate for what I've done to myself and others.

To make an extremely long story much shorter, there was a time in my life where I truly and honestly believed that all I ever did, simply by existing and being my truest self, was a problem, and the fact I was even alive at all was a blight on those around me.

I tried, and tried, and tried some more, so many times I've honestly lost count, to make all of that stop, and in doing so, only made things worse.

I started believing the lies eventually. I grew to hate myself, a deep resentment ingrained itself in my very psyche, a belief that people like me just caused more problems than they were worth.

Of course, when you believe something so broad, there's bound to be people, innocent people, who get caught in the crossfire.

I acknowledge those people, I acknowledge that I have said genuinely horrible things to those people, said things nobody, regardless of who they are, deserves to hear, to those who did nothing wrong. I acknowledge that I pushed the same idea that was ingrained into my head onto others.

I have no way of knowing if my actions still affect every single one of the people I hurt. I've either lost contact with those people, or never had ways to contact them in the first place.

What I'm trying to say is that when you believe what others say about you, they start becoming true.

I wasn't causing problems, not until I started believing I was.

And realizing that the lies told about you were just that, lies, only for you to affirm their legitimacy yourself, is a genuinely horrifying thing.

In many ways, my own life experience aligns scarily well with the meaning of Monarch of Monsters. I have lived through my own personal hell long enough to see myself become the tormentor, towards not only my own self, but towards many other people who did nothing wrong. I have believed that I was not deserving of happiness, and that removing myself from the equation was the best choice I could make.

I too live in that regret.