In an alternate Equestria Twilight Sparkle couldn't make any friends. Sad and lonely in her library in Ponyville, Twilight writes one of the most controversial and offensive novels ever to exist in Equestria in hopes that it would get the attention of at least somepony. What happens next is a bit more than she could have asked for...
-----Author's Note-----
This short story is meant as sort of a viewpoint on troll-fictions (stories created for the sole purpose of "trolling" or annoying readers). It's sort of a message on how you come off to others and the reality of what you're doing. I got the idea from a good friend of mine while I was visiting him, and decided I would make a story about it. I kept it short because I felt the point is pretty self explanatory.
Dedicated to the friend who inspired me to write it.
They should have SO beat her
I liked how you pointed out how she thought even bad attention was good attention, that's how I imagine people who write trollfics. I'm surprised how in character she was and give that as a point in your favour, the writing was great and kept flow well. Only thing I don't like; it was really short. Take that as you want,
Well done, watching you for now.
Dear Princess Celestia,
Today I learned how effective censorship can be! The other ponies in Ponyville taught me that the proper response to reading something you don't like is to show up uninvited at the author's house and threaten her into retracting everything she wrote, so that next time she knows not to write in the first place! That way, dangerous and original ideas are kept out of the hooves of the masses. It's better that way. I also learned that the best way to achieve Harmony is to never risk offending anypony. Even if important ideas never see the light of day, and nopony dares to challenge the status quo, it's best to try to please others, without regard for artistic integrity. It's a good thing Equestria is a complete autocracy, without things like civil liberties or freedom of the press and speech! Hail Celestia!
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle
Try harder but you should keep trying at it it's a good story with great potential you just need to rewrite and fix grammar errors will get you nagged I learned that the hard way.
love it
324729
'Writing something solely to piss people off and gather attention' =/= 'expressing dangerous or original ideas'.
I have a similar fanfic. Coming on nicely. Mine is a little different though. So far only two chapters, but there will be a pretty good moral to the story that explains the spread of the internet ad the real world. Check it out. (Suggestions for characters wanted) Nice fic though explains a lot in a way that relates to us. javascript:smilie('
');
Hey everyone, just to put some clarity on this:
This story isn't supporting censorship, it's just trying to remind people that writing stories with the intention of angering people isn't a wise decision. I respect people's opinions on it, and I shall not be removing anyone's comment.
324729
assets0.ordienetworks.com/images/GifGuide/clapping/citizen_cane.gif
Bravo, sir.
Short and sweet, though far from perfect, it's not that bad.
I'm more or less liking this to support the message it's promoting as I once again would like to remind people that making a story to piss people off is like screaming and crying in public so people will pay attention to you.
I umm... kinda enjoy trollfics. But not all ofcourse, I only enjoy random religious/historic trollfics, like Hitler visists ponyville, or Jesus visits ponyville.
I do hate the disgusting gore-y ones tho.
324729 It never specifically states what she wrote only that "ponies were suffering" through the things she was poking fun at. So I think it's clear she didn't write about "Abortion, is it right or wrong?" More like "That guy has cancer, LOL". I think the author purposely left it vague to avoid going into the nasty details, but it's quite obvious that it was intended to imply it's blatantly offensive, and not something that could be perceived as offensive.
Wait, so she wrote a controversial novel and the citizens of Ponyville were all ready to attack her?
That's, uh... what? Certainly Equestria may not be a perfect place, but I would imagine that they have at least the tolerance for different viewpoints that we have on Earth, and I don't see people gathering with torches outside of author's doors...
324821 This line: “There are real ponies out there suffering through these kinds of things! What gives you the right to sit there and make humor out of their suffering!?” A colt yelled from the second row.
Notice it said "suffering through these kinds of things", I think the author is implying that her book wasn't JUST controversial but that it was also blatantly offensive. Since it says she is making humor out of their suffering I am lead to believe she was making jokes about like people having AIDS, or murder and rape or some shit. It's quite clear though that it's not just like "Oh I hate Christianity because blah blah blah."
324836
But there are people who do that here on Earth, too. And while people may complain about it on the internet, I can't imagine them being that concerned with it IRL. That's just overkill, man, not to mention illegal.
324806
Mist, the point is that it doesn't matter whether something is blatantly offensive, and besides, who are we to judge? Why should we stop someone who wants to write "that guy has cancer, lol?" We don't get to make value judgments about speech. If something is a lie, then that's why we have libel and slander laws. I know many of you are not American, but I am, so I'll let the United States Supreme Court be my final word on the matter:
"If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea itself offensive or disagreeable." Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, 414 (1989). "[T]he point of all speech protection ... is to shield just those choices of content that in someone's eyes are misguided, or even hurtful." Hurley v. Irish-American Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Group of Boston, Inc., 515 U.S. 557, 574 (1995).
324853 Like I said, the story isn't gold, but I think the story is trying to send out a message of how ridiculous troll fictions are.
324800
Hitler Visits Ponyville was video series, not a fanfic.
FOOL, YA FOOL.
324856 That's not the message of the story. Like I said, I'm not supporting censorship or telling people they can't say something. If people want to write troll fictions than go right ahead, I'm not going to stop them. This story was made to show how ridiculous they are. I believe people can say what they want, but that doesn't mean they won't look like an idiot.
324859
Yeah, I get that. It's just that the method in which they chose to do so doesn't seem very well thought-out, in my opinion. I feel like a more realistic outcome would be for ponies to start actively avoiding Twilight instead of just ignoring her, or perhaps insulting her behind her back.
It's the "gathering outside her house with torches" bit that throws me off. The rest is okay.
324874 I was trying to go over the top for the comedic effect, apparently it was not interpreted that way, and for that I apologize.
324856 I don't think that's what's being implied, it's trying to say how stupid you look when you sit there trying to piss people off just for attention. Though I suppose it could be interpreted the way you're suggesting, that's not what I got from it. If you read the description it kind of sums up the intent pretty nicely.
I do agree the ending could have been pulled off a bit better as to show that it's not about censorship though.
324878
There's no need to apologize! Just my opinion.
i2.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/220/770/1324500486004.png
The advantage of the internet.
324856
If you're going to make it a free speech issue, the other side of that is that other people are free to tell you that you suck.
So... was Luna like never born or something? :applejack confused: Because without the mane six forming their friendship, its pretty much going to be eternal darkness.
I'm surprised that nopony thought it was funny. That especially goes for Pinkie, given her skill at finding humor in just about every potential source. Personally, amusement is the most common reaction I get from trollfics, because they either try too hard to be controversial and end up just being funny in their wannabe-controversialness, or they get a good balance and I appreciate them for the artistry which went into making them. And I guess there are also the ones which are noncontroversial enough that I don't recognize them as trollfics, but I don't really count those, lol.
What was the story about?!?
Im... sorry, but I just can not give any sort of enthusiastic praise. Im sorry, but this story was a shot in the dark, and you, sir, have missed. I apologize, and I know its hard enough with all the haters, but I just have no words of encouragement for you or this story. MaxBrony sends his sincere apologies
Hmmm.... not sure if like. It felt like it needed to be longer. This almost felt like an alternate-universe EPISODE, but there wasn't much build-up or arc to it. I can certainly enjoy the rather original idea though, "Twilight didn't make friends in the first place, so--- X-happens." I always love to see what people do with that idea, and this is certainly no exception. Though, stirring an entire town to violence seems like a bit of a leap. Perhaps she could've awoken to mountains of hate mail or burnt book piles or something-- but lynching her didn't seem very FiM.
Not sure if like.
325044 some kind of alternate ending to the first episode or at least thats what the discriptions says
Nice, but more importantly, regarding the backstory...
"I don't agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it." - Voltaire
I know that this is a simple warning fic about trollfics, but still the message can be interpreted to mean several different things from "Hey keep a lid of the truly offensive stuff" to "Obey what the masses want to the letter or else."
Also:
Dear Twilight Sparkle
What do you mean? I laughed all the way through your novel! It's being distributed as I write this all through out Equestria!
Your loving mentor, Princess Celestia
P.S. U mad, pony?
>Twilight grabbed the serpent
Spike's a baby dragon! He's not a snake!
RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGE
1.bp.blogspot.com/__BgIrAtMG2g/THx5etGWTRI/AAAAAAAAAVw/SH_LpCHTKYM/s320/spike.png
“Well ah’ admire your honesty little missy, but don’t go around tryin’ to upset folk just for attention. There’s other ways to grab folk’s attention than just tryin’ ta’ get under their skin.”
My apologies Applejack, but the only way for people to pay attention to me seems to be to annoy/bother/insult them until they actually listen to something that I say.
If you're talking about positive attention, that tends to not work either unless you actually have something in common, such as a group (the Elements of Harmony for the Mane 6 had brought them together at first), a hobby, a trait and/or attitude that either clicks or clashes with other traits and/or attitudes, etc. Twilight did not have any of these at first, with the exception of the Element of Harmony group.
That said, something about this story pisses me off. I don't know what it is, but throughout the entire story, I simply felt extremely pissed. That's abnormal for me because I'm normally calm on the internet.
325988
Nah, this pissed me off as well.
I think it's because of the whole "heckler's veto" idea. What has happened is that implied threats of violence or other blacklisting things have shut Twilight down. Yes, it was stupid for her to write her little trollfic. But it pains me to see Applejack et. al. forbid Twilight from writing what she wants to write. Like 324729 said.
I guess it reminds me of real-life things such as the whole Mohammed cartoons issue. I hate it when anti-Muslim bigots draw things like Mohammed with a used diaper on his head etc. But, at the same time, it sickens and disgusts me even more than that those artworks will be censored because of 'public security'-- because if some radicals threaten to hurt people then they get free speech shut down. That sets an evil, despicable precedent. It doesn't matter if you're right in the marketplace of ideas-- you just have to make people afraid and then you win.
I just found this too simplistic.
1. She wants friends so she creates controversy.
2. She learns that her controversy wasn't any good.
3. Everypony forgives each other and, through Twilight's naughty actions, she becomes the talk of the town.
What would have been interesting is if Twilight had done what, in my opinion, a 'good' troll does and write something (for example, a hidden social commentary) which selectively enrages certain ponies - whereby the thesis point is proven by their conduct - and brings an issue to the surface for the ponies that understand the text objectively. It would be interesting to go through Twilight's reasoning and why she can't write something equally as controversial but useful (such as her own Daring Do series).
Also
"This story isn't supporting censorship, it's just trying to remind people that writing stories with the intention of angering people isn't a wise decision."
It would be more convincing if this idea encountered some opposition. Otherwise it's propaganda (rightly or wrongly). Think of the word without the nasty connotations - what I mean is that the author is inflicting a view on the reader. It tends to be better if you incite the reader to think for him/herself a view from the interactions within the story (the view has its genesis in the reader, not the author.)
I loved this story Espesaly the ending that story has a great moral and I could see I be a episode in Witch twi is visited by 3 ghosts like a cristmas charol. She would see what it's like to not have friends. Great story man.
TWILIGHT! DON'T THINK LIKE NOTCH!!!
(to all the people who know what i'm talking about)