• Published 27th Mar 2015
  • 691 Views, 24 Comments

I Loathe Having to Make My Literary Work Meet the Public's Taste - McDronePone



Just how hard can it be to get your own story pubished?

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Four Princesses Stuck in A Room

Four Princesses Stuck in a Room
by Short Quill

The Four Princesses of Equestria sat in a room in Canterlot Castle while Equesrtria itself lay outside, ablaze in turmoil. As the royal heirs of their once mighty kingdom, they were called for a meeting on how to end the civil war that sprung up not too long ago. Yet as they sat there in that sealed room; in that dim light; at that circular table, their bicker and banter never ended with a conclusion.

“We should take all the rebels and pass down harsh judgment,” raved the Moon Princess, Luna.

“No, I believe we must show them their options and give them a choice of surrendering or succeeding from the kingdom,” suggested the Sun Primcess, Celestia.

“That’s too risky. I say we appease them and end this conflict now,” pleaded the Princess of Love, Mi Amore Cadenza.

“You’re all idiots. I say we allow this war to continue and make a profit out of it with all the industry needed to supply the weapons,” reasoned the Princess who bore the Magic Element of Harmony, Twilight Sparkle.

Back and forth; round and round; on and on the endless resolutions, suggestions, and bargaining continued amongst the four Princesses, all the while the sound of battle outside grew closer to them. Sooner or later their conversation would be for naught as either the guard would signals the all-clear, or the rebels would crash through the gates and destroy everything.

“Enough of this,” Luna yelled, charging up her horn. “If you are not with me, than you are all against me!”

“Stay your magic, sister,” cautioned Celstia as she readied her own horn, “or I’ll stay it for you.”

“I do not wish for violence,” pleaded Cadence as she wearily prepared her own magic, “but if you cannot stay calm, then I won’t hesitate to defend myself.

“Fine, if this is what all of you want,” Twilight Sparkle stated and followed her peers’ suite, “then I’ll agree to this madness too.”

And so the tension reached its climax and they all blasted powerful spells at each other.

Soon enough the war ended, the fighters coming to a not too peaceful yet not too violent resolution. As they rebuild what was left, they’ll never find the room with the four princesses lying lifeless.

Four princesses stuck in a room while the world outside continued.

THE END


Print’s mouth squirmed and twitched, yet not a single movement of it could form a word to even come close to describe what he felt after reading the text Quill had given just now.

With a smirk and look of content in his eyes, the unicorn asked Print the obvious question. “So what do you think? Is that good enough for you to put in your leaflet?”

Print continued to look at Quill with a sight that could only be described as baffled, stupefied, and utterly unbelieving of what he had just read. He quickly reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a pitcher of water and a glass. He carefully poured water into the glass and gulped it down in one, big swig. Immediately, he doused the the water left in the pitcher all over his head, drenching him and the chair he sat on. Then calmly, took a deep breath and began to speak.

“Quill…”

Said pony’s ears perked up. “Yes, Mr. Print?”

“Are you out of your mind? Or you just normally this thick headed?”

Quill's smirk quickly fell as he became perplexed by the statement. “I’m sorry?”

“This… this,” Print continued to struggle, trying to control the convulsions of his body in an attempt to keep calm. “This is the most ridiculous debauchery I have ever read in my life. Just what in Equestria were you thinking?”

“What? You wanted something relating to the princesses, I gave you something relating to the princesses. What’s the problem?”

“Problem,” Print said half laughing, half yelling. Then he went into a long, one-breath rant. “I’ll tell you what the problem is. First off, you literally just copied the first draft you gave me and replaced the characters you originally had with the princesses. Continuing from that is the second problem. You kept the original dialogue in, making these flat things you call ‘characters’ act nothing like the princesses. And thirdly, barring the fact that you wrote a story where you had all of our princesses die, you also shoe horn some side plot involving a civil war in today’s Equestria. At least I’m assuming that, because Twilight Sparkle is written down here as one of them. Do you SEE the problem now?!”

Quill stood there, watching Print breath until he was back to a calming state, waiting for an answer.

“Well besides the fact that you said incorrectly what I gave you the first time my ‘first draft,’ yes, I can see how what I’ve written now may make some ponies a little angry.”

“’A little angry?’ Quill, does the phrase ‘massive political backlash’ mean anything to you?”

“No because it shouldn’t have anything to do with my story.”

Print’s head was soon growing veins at this point. “If we publish this story in our leaflet, we’re looking at thousands of ponies writing in angry mails and assuming that were trying to incite some kind of revolt, or mutiny, or something equally as stupid as those. And on top of that, we’ll be losing all our readers in one single issue. Tell me you at least understand that.”

Quill just sighed at what he was hearing. “So not only do you want my story to involve the princesses, you also want me to make your readers happy and believe I’m not trying to incite a rebellion?”

“Or just make it look like you’re not,” Print reaffirmed his question handing him back his story. “If you still think you can pull that off, then come back to me and maybe I’ll see if we can put it in.”

Quill groaned but knew that he was fighting a losing argument. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do, Mr. Print. But you’ll get this in when it’s right, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Print said, quickly dismissing Quill, “just go so I can take a nap… in a grave.”

Quill left the offices, once again foiled by the specific taste of consumers. “All I’m trying to do is write something great for everypony to read, but apparently that’s not enough,” he grumbled to himself as he approached a crosswalk. “What am I gonna do?”

From across the street he could see a pastry vendor selling sweets to approaching costumers. At the sight of this an idea came to his mind. “I think I know how to make this story please everypony…”