Twinkling in the Dark
is a Pretty Cure (primarily Smile PreCure!) fanfic, written by NoonboryKedabory. It began publication on January 28th, 2023.
After a major battle against the Pretty Cure, Joker is left near death, and the Bad End Kingdom must collect twenty-five vials of Bad Energy to save him.
On May 30th, 2023, a sister story called Swarming With Hatred began publication.
Tropes:
- Action Prologue: The prologue shows the battle between the Pretty Cure and the Bad End Kingdom, while the full story is about the Bad End Kingdom trying to recover from the battle.
- Ambiguously Gay:
- Akaoni shows several signs of secretly being in love with Joker, such as him frequently hugging/holding him, and being jealous of his girlfriend Poisony.
- In "A Backup Plan", the Lemony Narrator quips that a scene with Wolfrun giving Joker a back massage can come off as very homoerotic, and later in the same chapter, a loopy Joker tells Akaoni that he loves him.
- Big Sister Instinct: Nao snaps out of her Bad Energy daze when Akaoni begins to threaten Yui.
- Brick Joke: In the opening of "Dizzy-Lizzy", a loopy Joker randomly shouts that he wants to fight a unicorn. At the end of the chapter, Wolfrun cracks a joke about the statement, much to the now-lucid Joker's embarrassment.
- The Cameo:
- "Good Morning!" features a brief appearance from Cure Peach in the groupchat.
- Cure Blossom briefly appears in "Power Nap", on patrol with Cure March.
- Catch Your Death of Cold: When Miyuki scolds Candy for hogging the sheets, Candy retorts that she doesn't want to catch a cold.
- Crossover: While the story is primarily based on Smile PreCure!, the story also features characters from Futari wa Pretty Cure, Futari wa Pretty Cure Splash★Star, Suite Pretty Cure ♪, Doki Doki! PreCure, KiraKira★Pretty Cure à la Mode, Healin' Good♡Pretty Cure, Delicious Party♡Pretty Cure, and Hirogaru Sky! Pretty Cure.
- Damsel in Distress: In the prologue, Cure Peace, Cure Custard, and Cure Yum-Yum are tied up and held over a pond of Bad Energy, with Joker threatening to drop them in and dissolve them.
- Fearless Infant: Yui Midorikawa isn't afraid of Akaoni in the slightest, not even when he takes her for ransom to get Nao to fight him.
- Forehead of Doom: Played for Laughs: When Majorina returns with some Bad Energy and mentions it was from someone with a big forehead, Akaoni prattles off every big-forehead Cure except the one Majorina actually stole it from (Egret).
- Freeze Sneeze: In "Cold Snap", Joker sneezes after getting cold water dumped in his face.
- Get Out!: Joker roars this at Wolfrun and Akaoni when he finally gets sick of their shenanigans in "Cold Snap".
- Good Hurts Evil: What kicks off the plot; four Cures create a huge beam of pure goodness, while nearly kills Joker.
- Green Thumb: Cure August's powers are nature themed.
- Grievous Bottley Harm: While the Cures are training using household objects, Cure Diamond brandishes a broken glass bottle.
- Helpless Kicking: Cure Custard kicks her legs to try and escape the ropes she's tied up in, but to no avail.
- Hold Your Hippogriffs: "For the love of Pierrot" is used in place of "For the love of God".
- Illness Blanket: In "Warming Up", Akaoni bundles Joker into a blanket to warm up.
- Immediate Self-Contradiction: After taking a dose of Bad Energy, Akaoni pats Joker's back to try and burp him, which Joker insists he doesn't need. He burps immediately after finishing the sentence, much to his embarrassment.
- Luminescent Blush: Akaoni blushes in embarrassment when Wolfrun reminds him that Joker can't hear him while he's in a coma.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Cure Happy is less than pleased to find out that her actions nearly resulted in a death. Cure Precious is shown to be quite remorseful about the incident as well.
- Oh, Crap!: This is the Bad End Trio's reaction to finding out they were supposed to be keeping Joker warm while he had a high fever, as opposed to trying to cool him down.
- Pink Heroine: The blast of light comes from the four present pink leaders; Cure Happy, Cure Whip, Cure Grace, and Cure Precious.
- Power Makes Your Hair Grow: Inverted for Cure August; her hair gets shorter when she transforms.
- Rainbow Puke: The excess happy energy in Joker's system causes him to vomit a rainbow.
- Sailor Earth: Nao/Cure March's sister Haru becomes a Cure called Cure August.
- Say My Name: The prologue ends with all three of the Bad End Trio shrieking Joker's name.
- Shout-Out: See here.
- Slumber Party: In "Bruises", Nodoka has a slumber party with Chiyu, Hinata, and Asumi.
- Soup Is Medicine: The rice porridge variant occurs in "Dazed and Confused", where Wolfrun has Joker eat some congee infused with Bad Energy to snap him out of his loopiness.
- Speak in Unison: Wolfrun and Akaoni both yell "How did you do that?!" in unison when seeing Majorina's health wand.
- Talking in Your Sleep: Joker has a tendency to mumble in his sleep.
- Tempting Fate: Joker claims the Pink Trio cannot defeat him because the Bad End Kingdom has a quartet. Cue Cure Grace.
- Unusual Euphemism: Akaoni describes being bundled tightly into a blanket as "snug as a ferret in a cardboard tube".
- Waking Non Sequitur: In "Dizzy-Lizzy", Joker bursts awake, yelling about fighting unicorns, then promptly falls back asleep.
