After a marathon of viewing the lost Friendship is Magic seasons found by Zipp, Sunny has determined that it presents content that is factually incorrect and embarks on a new crusade to right what is wrong. Things get a little bit out of hand when she contacts our world for changes.
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This is a short and silly story inspired by the cover picture and parodying the Save G4 movement that some people have going on the internet. This is not meant to be taken as a serious critique of either G4 or G5.
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Update! This story was featured and someone generously did a dramatic reading of it. Go listen to it if you enjoy your horses being talky.
Chapters (1)
what is wrong with G4 exactly???😐
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The mane 6 having to learn lessions from past seasons over and over again, Twilicorn, Starlight Glimmer, The birth of Flurry Heart, Grogar being revealed to be Discord in disguise, the mean three (including a literal child) being turned to stone for all eternity, Princess Twilight Sparkle probably outliving her friends in the near future because of her immortality, the IDW G4 season 10 comics, I could go on and on.
And the reason why they want Hasbro to do a rewrite of G4?
Because of both the old writers leaving the show after season 3 and executive meddling on Hasbro's part.
If you want a better idea about the rise and fall of MLP G4, I highly recommend this video by Toosie4ever:
>story parodies bronies taking things too seriously
>bronies show up in the comments
>immediately begin taking things too seriously.
love this song.
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It's the same old story same Old song and dance!
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G4 has several flaws, but some people think it's worth redoing over, which is what this story make fun of.
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This is exactly what this story is about. It's fine if you have opinions about things, everyone is free to speak their mind. Demanding changes and harassing people who were just trying to do their job over said opinions is where a line is crossed. After all, freedom of speech ends where other people rights do. Here Sunny won because of course she would, she's a cute poner. I do not condone doing this in real life tho.
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I had a good laugh at those comments. Comically missing the point is like best comedy. Good song too.
You know the funny thing is no one has had the sense to do a story with Lauren having to interact with a program she left in season 2.
this story is amazing, I just loved how funny it was especially that ending. I hope you write more soon
I hope that MixMaster226 doesn't see this.
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I thought it, but it felt in poor taste. Other than quoting the line out of the cover pic out of respect for what caused this story to exist, I didn't want to involve any existing people because this is at core supposed to be funny.
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You're in luck, I already promised to make a real one shot about Hitch and Sparky if the next TYT episode isn't about them. Because it should have happened already.
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I hope they do. That would be an absolute win in my book.
Two things:
), but then I saw English wasn't your first language, so all is forgiven.
1) I totally missed that you were the author when I clicked on the story— I've been bingeing a ton of Starscribe's stories lately, so thanks for your contributions to them!
2) I was going to comment about all the typos/errors in here (it's the editor in me, I apologize
I have to say, for being your first story on here, it was a really funny premise, and you did a good job! Keep it up!
This is a pretty funny story. I didn't like the last 2 seasons of the show myself honestly but I wouldn't raise this much fuss about it.
I myself didn't like some of the stuff in later seasons, and I probably take things a bit too seriously at times (I laugh at myself when I do so though). What I DON'T do however is needlessly harass/threaten the VAs, show writers, animators, etc.
If ANYTHING, the CEOs and Marketing have more to do with Sunny's "woes" than the people who made the show itself. I seem to recall reading in a very old interview transcript that one of the reasons Mrs. Faust left was the pressure to get a month's worth of episodes done in a week's time or somesuch.
This is a nice little story, I like it.
"Any sufficiently advanced magic is indistinguishable from technology" indeed
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Two responses
1. Thank you, on the behalf of Starscribe too. I've been editing Star's stuff for years, although not with 100% dedication like Bitera, the real MVP. It does help with my English a lot, even if I obviously don't catch everything. I try my best tho.
2. It doesn't help that I'm naturally very typo prone, I'm a tad dyslexic. I did go over two editing passes on my own, but if I do another one shot, I will have Bitera and Star go over it too. This one was kind of a surprise first story, so even they were not in the know. So next time should be better. Also, fellow editor brohoof! /)
But yeah, glad you enjoyed it. It was a very silly premise, and didn't turn out quite as funny as I had initially envisioned. When your perspective character is so obviously in the wrong, it's hard to paint them in a positive light. Not that anypony in universe would know that. Nopony alive lived through G4 to tell an accurate retelling of it. Beside Discord, but he's an unreliable narrator. Also he maaay have caused the whole thing for giggles.
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Thank you! I tried my best! I personally did enjoy some of the later seasons, especially the Young Six, but I feel like it was a missed opportunity. But then again, I bet it was very difficult storywise to balence having what could basically have been a whole new mane cast. The story's punchline is the only time a personal opinion of mine did slip through, the rest is all made up. The point of this story was to make fun of the complainers, not the complains themselves.
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Yeah, I totally understand that. The people who complain hardcore like to paint the showrunners as some kind of evil demons out for the poor innocent fan's blood, which isn't really fair. Although the humans in this story are totally fictional, I made a point to show that in the end, they're just people like you and I, just trying to do their job. Some may not be the best at it, but who are we to judge? I bet if we looked at a mirror we would see a lot of flaws. As a certain purple smart would say, we're not flawless.
As for the actual complains, you can note that I made sure that Sunny only complained about things that are factually wrong from our viewpoint, because her understanding of history is flawed, and her friends support her because they don't know any better either. Otherwise she would just have been a mouthpiece for my opinions, and that's just terrible writing. I certainly didn't want to take a side in the debate of who's right and who's wrong regarding the latter seasons, so I had to make Sunny's reasoning both inherently flawed while also making sense from her perspective. I hope that made it across in the writing. Sunny is a well meaning extremist, but she's our well meaning extremist.
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Thanks! And indeed. Although honestly, I doubt the ponies could actually make a device that could contact Earth. Here Discord likely intervened to make the bridge between pony tech and our tech, without the ponies's knowledge, because who doesn't enjoy a little chaotic phone prank.
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Nothing is Wrong with G4. It's just Bronies taking things way too Seriously; I loved every aspect of G4, and I like how the show Ended, and I also love G5 what irritates me is how so many bronies are throwing a fit over stupid shit and taking the show way too seriously what I have to say to Bronies that do this grow the hell up change happens. It is inevitable to deal with it and cope. It's bronies taking things too seriously and bashing both g4 and g5 that makes me sometimes want to leave this community because it's entirely and utterly ridiculous.
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i was being sarcastic
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I figured my comment was more pointed to the bronies that take things way too seriously and can't grow up and accept change and move on and cope.
Get bent, G4 purists lol
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Well duh, I doubt even Zipp and Izzy could put an audio time machine together without a little outside help.
(\ ✘✔
I don't see the issue. G4 is flawless as-is. Who would ever rewrite such a masterpiece of forethought and planning?
sus tbh
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It simply didn't have good enough writers for its ambitions.
Friendship is Magic was never good at drama but kept trying to do it anyway. Its cartoonish, anything-goes setting and inconsistent, MacGuffin-laden lore were completely unusable for any serious story, and the show is for 6~10yos so it literally wasn't allowed to be nuanced, dark, or "2real" anyway. Also, as a Flash-animated series, all of its fight scenes are boring, stiff, and bad.
The writers kept swiping tired old ideas from fans, alternating these with wild left-field ass-pulls so they could pretend they weren't obviously doing that. For instance, crybaby bronies got the bizarre idea back in like S1 that the reason Scootaloo couldn't fly was because she was permanently crippled rather than I dunno because she was a little-ass kid, the same reason Apple Bloom was useless on the farm and Sweetie Belle was unable to perform any magic. For some deranged reason Faust and co. decided to go with this pointlessly "waaaah :'(" idea, including one episode where Scootaloo openly sobs over it and Rainbow Dash has to awkwardly wave it off. But to avoid looking like they were just swiping bad fanon the writers later hard-passed on Scootaloo being an orphan, giving her the most forgettable parents in one of the most forgettable episodes in the series (along with likely-unintended homophobic implications discussed below.)
Even the series finale is a shitty fanfic idea from S1: Twilight becoming the next Princess of Equestria, immortal and all, completely undermining not only herself as a character but all six main characters as a group. This was conceived by and for weebs who don't understand anything about a story except powerups, "feels", and destroying characters to make them vehicles for their petty self-gratification tropes. Unfortunately the show's fate was sealed on this one as soon as Twilight got wings - which, by the way, instantly destroyed the entire point of "alicorns", which was to be race-neutral leaders, which isn't possible if they grew up as one of the three races!
The show laid the groundwork for good morals and thoughtful ideas and then failed to deliver on literally any of them, proactively destroying its characters and themes and becoming an aimless mess of pretentious false Aesops and cheap weeb glamour, bouncing back and forth between ripping off bad brony ideas and trying to look like they weren't with bad original ideas.
For the final season Mike Vogel (Vice President of Hasbro at the time) pressured them to suddenly dump tons of gay in. In addition to being uncannily abrupt and blatantly patronizing, they (probably unwittingly) put the gays in subtly homophobic places other than Lyra & Bon Bon, which becomes far less subtle if we simply describe it in terms of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
- Sweetie Belle, the most classically effeminate one, divides her time between her M/F parents and her aggressively straight older sister.
- Apple Bloom, the middle-effeminate one, has spent most of her life without her parents. While her family is otherwise straight-seeming, her older sister is a closet lesbian and the second-least-effeminate main female character.
- Scootaloo, the least effeminate one, almost never sees her parents, and is raised chiefly by her gay aunts. Her idol is a closet lesbian and the least-effeminate main female character.
Friendship is Magic thus reflects the homophobic perception of gayness as some sort of disease or poison or "Devil's lifestyle" that robs people of their sex, making men less manly and women less womanly, including children who are exposed to it, even if it's closeted.
There is no way anyone on the team meant to make that implication, of course.
And Twilight was always going to get wings, because this show was made to sell toys to six-year-old girls, so Twilight was always going to need a tie-in to her eventual princess toy.
But if they had been better writers, the toys would have been better-integrated, social commentary like race and gayness would have been more authentic rather than campy, the conflicts would have been more meaningful, the themes would have been more consistent, the characters would have remained endearing and shown growth and increasing complexity instead of redundancy and Flanderization, and the show would have remained in its golden age for some years longer, rather than become just another weird cartoon that only weebs, furries, and perverts like.
And just like the Cutie Mark Crusaders - literal infants insisting they would all do the exact same things in life forever and ever and were all set up to learn that they were individuals with their own skills and hobbies and this would not stop them from being friends - just like the CMC completely obliterated this years-long character arc AND a founding principle of the show's entire setting, the point of cutie marks, with their absolutely idiotic three-of-a-kind mark...
... G5 is at high, high risk of falling into regurgitating G4 instead of finding its own identity.
And that's a damn shame!
Now I should probably read this fic in which, I'm quite sure, Sunny has considerably pettier objections to G4 than I do.
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Ok, get in the party Howitzer.
Damn, you take things too seriously.
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Although Faust left direct participation, she still served as (unofficial) consultant with the team. Like, off the record they would run ideas by her.
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I honestly can't stand MLP and could give a multi-page rant about it, but the real question is why? It's a goddamn cartoon and people should let people enjoy things. Really, the only reason I'm on this site that the show gave us an amazing fantasy universe to play around with and, in many cases, the fans have turned a show I completely despise into something fun and I will forever have a ton of respect for the Bronies for that. (Hell, Admiral Biscuit's Cinematic Universe is one of my favorite "Aliens on Earth" series in all of fiction)
If you love the show, I'm happy for you and I'm glad. If you don't, don't be dick. There's a reason I left the X-Files fandom years ago.
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That wasn't the most polite way to say it, but I kind of agree that some people do overreact. However, I wouldn't put all the bronies in the same basket. It's doing a disservice to the silent majority that just enjoy smol horses doing cute things. For every Sunny out there being overly vocal about some nonsense or another, you have four other who just enjoy things for what it is. If I had one piece of advice, it would be to ignore the loud ones. There's many more reasonable fans out there, and I think this comment section is proving it. Very few fell into the temptation to say their piece and just enjoyed this story for the sillyness it is. Not everything has to be perfect.
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That's just rude. Liking G4 only doesn't make one a purist. It just means the stuff stuff doesn't interest them. And if there's one thing FIM thought us is that it's okay to be different. Personally, I will just keep watching the new cute horses while other people can go consume more G4, or something else entirely. To each their own.
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I didn't want to dwell too much on it in the story, but I can here. The ponies wrongfully assumed that because the phone number had a 0 in it and different format, that it had to come from a distant nation. The no 0 thing is a reference to Hitch's old school phones with only 9 numbers on the pad. Zipp may be a genius and Izzy a masterful craftpony, but the odds of them actually inventing an unknown phone signaling protocol is next to 0. They tried anyway, and did make something that could signal the inputed number. Of course, the odds it would actually be compatible with our technology is quite low. As for reaching its intended target, Izzy did try to involved sympathetic magic. In the end tho, Discord acted as a bridge between pony and human technology, making Zipp and Izzy believe they had actually succeed. Same for when they latter added internet support. Discord's magic convert the Canternet data into Internet packets, and sends them through time and space. That's also why no one on Earth could trace back the signal. He used a IPv6 address that wasn't assigned to any ISP or legal entity. The signal just... dissapeared in transit in the undersea cables. It would take people months to find the location, and by the time they did he could just magically move it somewhere else. Discord is OP, PLZ nerf.
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Somepony with way too much time on her hooves. Come on Sunny, don't you have a world to unite or someone to pester about our lord and savior the crystals and their magic?
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Sunny has been ejected... 1 imposter remains.
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I... thought very long and hard about this one. On one hand, you're free to your opinion. On the other hand, I'm not sure what it is I read. I thought maybe I could argue some points presented in that essay. But ultimately, this comment section isn't really the place for it. It's to discuss a story, one that you apparently hadn't even read at the time you wrote 800 words about... all the things. So while that is dissapointing, congrats for the incredible word count on your comment. It takes guts to draw towards you all the hatred. Cuz judging by those downvotes, you sure did. Heck, I'm giving you an upvote. Because your opinions are original, at the very least.
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They sure did. But at least it spiced things up. Someone was bound to barge in, not read anything and then rant. But what an epic rant it was. This said, if you did end up reading the story, I hope it brightened your life a little.
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Dear Princess Celestia, today I learned that when your write a rantbait story, that you do attract rants. PS: I'm best princess now, go me. Your faithful ex-student, Twilight Sparkle
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You know, at first I wondered why you were even here, but then I understood that you prove my point. You're not even a fan of the source material, but you found something to like in what others made out of their love for it. Which is also totally fine! Your comment better not be downvoted into oblivion. There's no wrong way to enjoy the ponies, so long as you aren't being a jerk about it.
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Glad you found engagement via the fandom!
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Well you said there was no 0.
That was way too much tech talk for me to process, so I'll take "Discord, 'nuff said" as an acceptable answer.
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I think you misunderstood the meta of my comment, or otherwise I was unclear with it. Either way, I apologize.
But what I was referring was the undulating consistency of G4 purists who insist G4 is soooooo perfect that everything that is even slightly different or contradictory is somehow reprehensible.
There is a difference between liking only G4 and being a G4 purist. I was not saying that those who only like G4 are funny. The obsessive, demeaning people who look down on other generations and exalt their idea of G4 is the punchline. I interpreted the story as satire about that particular mindset. After all, was not Sunny trying to promote her specific view of G4, and getting so upset over it? That's what a purist does - they get sucked into their own spiral and stop enjoying the product but instead grow to love only their view of it.
That's less in line with the show's message about the importance of differences than my little snark.
...Guess the names got mixed up over the centuries of history.
Nice touch.
I wonder how often Hasbro actually had to deal with situations like this...
derpicdn.net/img/view/2022/6/5/2880449.jpg
Good story!
I enjoyed reading it.
This was your first story! Amazing! You can be proud of yourself.
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Like clockwork.
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^_^ Glad for them too.
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And that's why it wasn't in the story. I'm a big nerd at heart, and computers are litterally my job. I can get a little carried when I want to, and I'm not the best at explaining things.
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To be fair, it's hard to extract intent from one short line. Sorry for misunderstanding you. As for Sunny, it's true that was pushed her views and lost all enjoyment for FIM because it wasn't exactly what she demanded from it. On the other hand, her anger is probably more justified than that of the people you call purist. She had legitimate concerns about history being misrepresented, which is more valid than... I dunno... perceived social slights.
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Headcanon here is that unicorns know even less of their past than earth ponies did. All they have is snipets of history distorded beyond recognition. Although let's be honest here, it was probably supposed to be Starlight Glimmer. Sunset was likely forgotten to time due to being slightly not in this dimension.
And I'm sure Hasbro employees have dealt with a lot of unique fans. I pity them fools. Also I will let you in on a little secret, it's my first story here, but I did wrote a whole pokemon novel over a decade ago. The less said about it the better tho.
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Tick tock, it's whinin' time :]
Honestly. That G5 continues to roll forward, shows just how much Hasbro takes the movement seriously. As in not at all. G4 was far from perfect. But still 😁.
Love the story.
An amazing read