When Twilight, a very gifted young unicorn, goes to the Summer-Sun Celebration, she is awed by what she sees. She studies magic through books at first, but then she realizes that she should formalize her education. Unfortunately, the formal education system is a trying experience for a gifted filly.
This was written before the season 2 finale
Page generated in 0.183 seconds
Total duration
913 users online
465,504 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Seems interesting! You do a good job conveying Twilight's thoughts. I'll follow this.
Epic
Interesting! Definitly worth a track
This is amazing, I really hope you update soon, it looks to be an amazing story. I always love the young Twilight stories, so cute.
A very interesting interpretation of the process of learning. I like what I read, can't wait for the next chapter :)
Nice! I like the shadows image. I think I've heard about the cave philosophy before... good reference!
343223
Good catch. "Platony" is indeed the ponified name for Plato, who wrote the amazing "Allegory of the Cave" in his Republic. It is one of the most recognized treatises on the subject of finding wisdom and is a topic that appears in several of my works.
Oh. I know how disappointed she must be in her country's educational program. I've been there :)
Nice chapter, btw.
I've always liked the fan idea that Prince blueblood and Twilight were once school friends.This is the first story I've come across to include said theory.
Can't wait to read more.
Good story.
Altough it wasn't a real big problem here, try to add space between the paragraphs.
Right now it looks like 1 big wall of text and that might scare people from reading it.
I like how you described Twilight when she was getting her result, but it was a little bit overdone.
Hope this was some useful feedback, keep the good work up!
The wall of text isn't a big problem.
So you're building up to something? How devastated she will be when she doesn't get perfect scores? Oh, and jealousy...
404969
Thank you for your feedback.
I suppose I might consider adding spaces in between the paragraphs. Of of course that would increase the length and I also have the habit of writing short bits of dialogue so that's gonna look like a lot of empty space.
Yes, I did overdo that scene, but it was on purpose. Her approach to something as simple as looking at her grade was ridiculous; turning it into a herculean feat. I wrote that to show the immense dedication and passion she has towards achieving her goal as well as develop her perfectionist look on things.
“The main point is that the prince does not do work himself. He trusts his subjects to deal with his problems for him at his direction.”
Wow,blueblood's dad needs to seriously work on his wording skills no wonder his mind is screwy.How old are they anyway?
ok....
So due to blueblood's father wording his description poorly, Blueblood just went from rude pest to the story's major villain.
.....wat.
446904
447509
I'm going to try and rephrase some of Lucian's statements to make them sound more fluid, but I think that he brought his point across well enough. It may seem choppy, but his meaning is conveyed as he saw right. It is important to realize that Blueblood's father is a tyrant (as much as a prince as opposed to a king can anyway). He would not disapprove of Blueblood's course of action against Twilight, and if fact, he knowingly set it into motion.
JJ Malcolm you had it right when you said that "Blueblood just went from rude pest to the story's major villain." However although the wording was poor on my part (which I'm going to change very soon) the desired outcome was the same as if the original wording had been masterfully done. Blueblood is a young version of his father. The only difference between them is that Lucian is a tyrant for power, but Blueblood will be a tyrant for hedonism.
[Later update]
May I ask what you think now of Lucian's statement Charzoid?
447765
My last statement still stands.
Celestia's gonna be pissed.
Unless it's tyrant-Celestia in command in this 'verse.
Hmmm... very interesting. I'd love it if Blueblood tried some magical pranks and got in serious trouble with Celestia...
Actually, I think The Prince was supposed to be a satire (Machiavelli wrote it after having been abused by the Medicis, and a lot of his other work was on the other end of the political spectrum) but the points still stand. It figures that that'd be the way Blueblood thinks.
On a grammar note, "all right" is two words. Otherwise, your writing is really good. I can't wait for more!
-Sigma
448852
Really?! The Prince a satire? I've never heard of that. I've actually never had the pleasure of studying the original text and only read a summary in a book on philosophy. I suppose when I consider it, the outright overtness of the Prince suggests that, but I'll have to research that. Thank you for that note.
As for "alright" versus "alright," the dictionary confirms that you're right as well. I shall have to edit that and make a future note to avoid using the monoverbum.
447765 I didn't mean I was confused by what he was saying but what I meant was that's terrible advice to give a little kid especially his own son.You just explained why he'd say that though. Wheres his mom at?
470436
The point is that both Lucian are Blueblood's mindsets are messed up. Lucian is a great Machiavellian prince but a bad father, although he tries to be a good one. He wants his son to grow up to be exactly like him. He treats his subjects (the lower classes especially) as though they have no rights and no value. He wants Blueblood to rule with an iron fist in the same way, so he gives him that advice. As for his mother, I wouldn't be surprised if he was misogynistic, though I won't define that.
470488 ok.Whens the next chapter?
470557
check the blogpost I wrote
470583ok
THAT MOTHER FUCKER!!
528389
It's not about the overall score. There are numerous problems that are devastating for Twilight. First off, she has lost perfection. Perfection was not just her goal but her standard. She tried so hard and gave up so much of her time all in the pursuit of this one goal, but that was taken away from her by this.
Secondly, she lost that perfect score because she was betrayed by the only person who she thought would be friendly towards her. I guess I didn't take a lot of time to build it up, but the acquisition of as few as one friend, was extremely important for Twilight. I'm going to go into greater detail in the next chapter on how Twilight was effected by this, but that's a basic overview. To put it simply, this incident may only have little consequence academically speaking for Twilight, but in regard to her motivational and psychological state, this was a crippling blow.
Holy balls this is really good. Favourited, thumbs-upped and watched.
Good job!
An enjoyable read, sometimes they really talked too much but well
Wow this fic demolished all of my expectations it may very well be may favourite and I read quite a bit so that's saying something.
1219678
I'm glad to hear you liked it. It truly does mean a lot to hear that my efforts have not been in vain. It will need some work later down the road, but for now I hope that its thesis provides some solid speculation on what motivated Twilight prior to meeting the rest of the mane six. The story isn't finished though, of course. The theme of isolated independence doesn't bode so well with the moral of the series -and I certainly don't want to argue that the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts- so it demands that I write a sequel, hopefully to be composed in the not so distant future.
1220613 I would love to see a sequel when you find the time.
You wouldn't believe how much I loved this story.
It moved me a lot of times. But not only that, it also made my think. To me, that's one of the greatest achievements a story can aspire to.
Not bad for a fanfiction about pastel colored equines!
My only complain is... well, the name of the old sage mage is, canonically, "Star Swirl the Bearded".
I've found very distracting every time he's called different to that.
If you fix that, it would be perfect.
1652814
Wow, I've had this story up for months now and no one's said anything. This is the first I've heard that his name was pronounced differently. Thank you for pointing that out.
Wow, that was a really well written story. Favorited!
1921769
Many thanks. Writing this one was fun, and I learned a lot from it. If and when I write a sequel for it, I hope I will have fixed all the shortcomings this one had.
the cave metaphor already.....really......that's deep for an average filly
2482466
I should think, nay, assert that Twilight is certainly not the average filly.
Wow. Blueblood has been portrayed as the antagonist in lots of fics, but I don't think I've ever seen have such malice.
Thats funny!!!
3193947
ugh, it is greatly vexing to see this matter rear its ugly head again, when I thought is was fear behind me.
This is a problem which I thought I fixed a long time ago. It was not until a few months after I completed this story that someone pointed out to me that I had misheard and thus mis-transcripted that old philosopher's name. I've corrected that in this chapter, ma'am, and hopefully it won't show up again.
3194132
Well i also read the story in full and im very much hoping for a sequel! I was just saying that auto correct is very tough to get past and I wanted to say that I loved the story!!
This hits so horribly, painfully close to heart.
I wonder if people reading this, thinking its harsh, would think, with three small alterations.
She had a mental disorder that left her intelligence, exuberance and all others intact, but broke her inate soocial freindship so that she was incapable of recognising when somepony wasnt being nice to her.
Her mother continously dissuaded her from her following, instead taking up gardening or such.
Her dog, which recieved as a pup the year of the festival, died in her hooves with a wimper at the application to University.
And then you think, theres an awful lot of people out there, who have had a far worse life, and are still successful.
If you have no freinds, family, or even self. What do you have?
3245547
That it a sober question, one which I have long pondered when considering characters of mine (yet to be introduced) rotting in the utter darkness of prison cells, left only to await what agonizing tortures will befall them next. In these darkest of hours, there becomes only one hope left in the blackness. Yet that hope, which starts as only a faint shimmer, suddenly shines with light more brilliant than even the sun: we have all been placed on this earth, not simply to survive or seek out our own happiness, but we have each been given special and unique talents that make us capable of carrying out some mission, some duty that no one else can. Even if this duty is small, what we will never possibly know on this earth is just how invaluable and indispensable our efforts are in the grand scheme of things. We ourselves may contribute to the fall of tyrants or the salvation of a people. It is in this everlasting hope that we can live on, knowing that the present time is a gift
3245578
I had a critical part in the information passed to a public inquiry on two local power stations that wished to switch to cheap, sulphur laden, pollution spewing Venuzuelan oil. This lead to those two stations, of total 1.2 GW capacity, being closed down by their owners, escentially out of spite.
I had a critical part in the production of the seals on a major underwater road tunnel project, that created a transport link worth a good percentage point on the countries GDP.
This was 25 years ago. Ive been unepmloyable ever since, watching ideas and designs written up in university and even school books being discovered and announced by others.
I used to do my absolute best to try and solve problems, then offer the solutions to others, to help them along. these days, I cant even do that unless I pay large amounts up front, which due to circumstances, I havent got.
Im pretty sure that the base chaos rules follow the fibonacci sequence, given the results of certain experiements. ther are several other publications which when combined, give the most remarkable results, one of my favourite being the piano tuners correction giving a possible connection between QM and GR, without altering either, even though its been shown that they are incompatible.
I am Booster Spice. My ability is to amplify, enhance anothers abilities.
A booster without payload or guidance, is totally useless.
They continued where Star Squirrel had left off through Miss Sandy.
Star Squirrel? Best typo ever
In many ways I liked this story, but I don't feel that foal Twilight was acting in character. Children that young couldn't understand the things that she did. Also, the narrative was written more as a lecture than as an appeal to the emotions. I have to give you credit for being the first author I have read who has been brave enough to touch upon the actual information contained within her lessons, but in the end, it felt dry and anticlimactic.
EDIT - Oh, I would also like to add that I don't think this story needs the dark tag. The events within although unpleasant are not very different from actual school environments.
4040037
First let me say that it should be, if it is not indeed, obvious that you are commenting on a story that is two years old. The fact that people are still reading this at all, when it even fails to remain canon due the overwhelming presence of Shining Armor (however contradictory to the established plot he might have been) and Princess Cadence (however contradictory to plot she might have been). This story was a work in the earliest part of my career, the second of two complete epics. For its terribly poor quality I removed the first, but this one remains and shall remain for an equally good reason.
The fact that you imply this narrative is dry and impassioned seems to me to ignore the true nature of the reader's experience. We know what she is destined for, as readers, as we have seen the triumphant accomplishment of the suffering of the alicorns and the awesome events leading up to the coronation of Twilight. We know that her quest means more to the world than the average filly. That said, you are very right. I did intend for this work to lack "emotion" as you call it. I never intended and never want for people to cry or "D'aw" over this story and indeed my shortlived attempt to make this story emotional was so unbearable that I knew it was impossible. This story, like a lecture, is not meant to entertain, but rather to inform.
Even after all the horrid attempts in the canon itself and the non-canon to do away with the passion of Twilight, my age-old view, which is dying away in the hearts of bronies all around, is still firmly affixed in my mind because of it's stark meaning in the canon. This passion is the meaning of this story: that when Twilight was yet immature, knowledge was her goal and her life. She had an insatiable desire to acquire knowledge, and in knowledge, the practical ability to control magic. In this process she constantly fought against any manner of friendship, and while she may not have truly understood the message I present so strongly in this story, she truly believed in her heart that the great ponies of old were sages and hermits. As it was said, Star Swirl the Bearded, the creature of legend that permeates our curiosity, did not understand friendship. Therefore, Twilight became married to the pursuit of knowledge and pursued that knowledge with a drive unmatched, casting aside and spurning all mention of friends and cooperation.
Yet we know that on the first night of the first year of Princess Luna's return, she had a groundbreaking epiphany that caused her to have a complete paradigm shift, which was the realization that not even Star Swirl in all his wisdom could grasp: that true power and true wisdom lies in the common effort of people. While one may overcome another, two will stand alongside each other and not fall. And a team of three can hardly be broken. In this understanding, she went on to defeat the darkness and chaos and fear itself, and finally even destiny itself through the power of harmony. In this the suffering of Luna is accomplished.