What does Friendship is Failure teach? · 7:03pm Oct 12th, 2019
Even though Twilight ONCE tried to ward off Pinkie Pie from harassing Cranky Doodle to be friends with her, (A FRIEND INDEED) look what she did during AMENDING FENCES with Moondancer-- trying to force her ways onto someone who wasn't interested and not bugging off until she got what she wanted.
It's not surprising really, MLP often kicks their own lessons out the door, while it SEEMS the characters learn something in one episode, the next episode they've completely forgotten and act the same way again.
Even still, I don't take what they teach about FRIENDSHIP and MORALS too highly anyway. Sure, they have SOME points, but they are not the ONLY WAY things turn out.
In the real world, there are just some things Friendship cannot fix or make right again.
So, Friendship is Failure is here for me to show those potential differences, in life as well, as well as to kick Twilight in her miserable rump like I want her to be.
The Number One lesson of all FIFs is mainly the same thing: You cannot force someone to come to your way of thinking. (I'm not telling people to think like me, I'm telling them to back off because I don't want to think like them)
Stone Heart
Prefers to write stories to his own preferences, and not the preferences of other ponies' he finds sickening, and even though he may have potential to improve (IE: Writing things to other ponies' preferences) he still his the right to refuse.
then again, if he does write a successful book (On others' preferences) and he doesn't like it, he refuses to accept praise, comments, or even money from it because to him, nothing of value is gained from going against his code and caving in.
(Same goes with me)
"You wanna write: THE WRITE GOOD!
I am not here to cater to other people's demands (Just as they are not here to cater to mine) and if I do as they ask, nothing of value will be gained for me... that is a promise.
And FYI (Just correcting my haters with their TVtropes of me) In WRITE OF WAY, Stone Heart didn't punch anyone... it was Twilight who threw the punch, not him.
MANNY COLLARS and HELPER SOUL
Some friendships, once broken, don't always make up and get back together, especially if one side does not desire it, and if what was damaged cannot be repaired anyway.
Manny does not wish to make amends with Rarity for her sickening and selfish betrayal that ruined him long ago, and it also shows people can REFUSE to forgive. (Like me, I refuse to forgive... there's no point in forgiving, and nothing of value is gained)
Helper, why should he forgive Night Light for really ruining his life. Night Light may be sorry and want to make it up to him, but he can't possibly do all that.
-He can't fix Helper's leg (It cannot be healed and cannot be amputated)
-He cannot being his mother who died of a broken heart back to life
-He cannot make Helper a royal guard
-Twilight Velvet would never be with him, nor could he have a family with her
-No other mare wants Helper because they want STRONG, HANDSOME, RICH, MAGICAL ponies. Not a magicless Earth pony with a broken leg who can't do much.
-Above all things, Helper is too old for change now. He is what he is, and it cannot be changed even if he wants it to/
(Starfleet Season 4: Kudos' mare-friend left him for a pony who was better looking and magical. It was all for vain needs)
STRINGS
While he's not aggressive like the rest, his problem is one of my most favorite issues to address-- being unable to get over things.
Things like Alcoholism, or heartbreak, sometimes people CAN get better from these and move on, but there are some who just just can't (and just because they can't doesn't mean they are retarded, should be disregarded)
Strings is in love with Princess Cadance, and while he understands he can never be with her, his heart remains closed, even towards Sun Rae who is in love with him. He has no romantic feelings for her, and she cannot force him to love her.
Love isn't something you can control with magic, or force upon someone. Love just IS... it just HAPPENS... he can't help who he loves or who he wants to love.
There may be plenty of fish in the sea... YES... but some fisherman can choose pull in their lines and never cast again. (They would rather starve than live without the one that got away)
Some men just don't wish another woman, and even if you say it makes them selfish and immature, consider this...
I'm always Told what Beast Boy is doing is selfish (Trying to get Terra to come back when he doesn't want to) Not that it matters to me because I still portray her as regretting what she did (Because she CAN and probably would) even without BB following her (Which he stopped doing)
Well what about Strings? Trying to force him to not leave the Empire and continue to do things that make him unhappy, and change his feelings because you want them too is JUST as selfish.
Just like they tell me "Terra is under no obligation to love Beast Boy"
Same applies with Strings, he is under no obligation to love Sun either.
Same goes for Davis in DARKNESS OF DIMENSIONS. He's okay with Kari Dating TK (to an extent) but he does not wist to be with any other girl, but lovesick girls keep invading his privacy, some won't take "No" for an answer, and worse than that, Kari or his mother, or even Jun tries to set him up on blind dates thinking he MUST... or is REQUIRED to have a girlfriend, (Simply because they think he SHOULD have one and want him to have one so THEY can be happy) when he repeatedly tells them to lay off.
Davis is also under no obligation to date other girls. This fisherman has hauled in his line and will not cast again.
"It is selfish to NOT respect their wishes and continue to stalk and harass them until they stockhome syndrome."
Well, you want BB to respect Terra's wishes, but you don't want Strings or Davis' wishes to be respected? Congratulations, you've broken the hypocrite meter. This means BB doesn't have to respect Terra's wishes either (Even though I usual make him do so, he does it with outrage and verbal hostility)
In other words, just like all the lessons...
*Looks up at the girl, the guys, the team, the former friends... Reality itself*
"This is one decision you are NOT going to make for me!!"
"If I can't love her...
Let the world be done... with... me!"
I absolutely LOVE THAT kind of thinking and story idea, and it does reflect how some men give up on life. Not worth living without the one they love.
But that's reality. There ARE people who do that-- they give up, they don't move on, and they don't want to or can't move on... DEAL WITH IT!
"Twilight... This is one that you just are not going to win!"
TALON TED, BILL DOLLAR, and SILVER NICKLE
Their lessons are simple too; they are not pleased with how things turned out and have become things they are not proud of, do not like, and you cannot force them to feel happy or proud for something they hate.
These guys are acting just how I would if I had to become something I hate.
If I get a job I'm ashamed of, don't like, and vowed I would never do but ended up doing anyway... I plan to put the Punishment Plan into action
https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/832658/the-punishment-plan-a-possible-future-for-me
I can't help but wonder what kind of progress you'd make in life if you put this kind of dedication into actually GETTING A JOB.
None... that's a promise.
Twilight: "But you've improved so much. You can be something really big."
Mykan: "I don't care, Princess."
Twilight: "You be respected now. You can have people look up to you!"
Mykan: *looks her sternly* "Princess Twilight... what part of "I... Don't.. Care" do you not understand?"
GLITTER GLITZ and MISER STASH
Their lessons are "Not to judge someone at first glance"
Rarity always assumed Glitter was a selfish, work-a-holic business pony, out to one-up Rarity in every field, only to discover to her shock that Glitter's husband died a year after they were married and they never had children. All she ever had was her business that kept her going.
Miser Stash...
Everyone keeps thinking and whining about how TWILIGHT was the one visited by the three ghosts and not "The Scrooge"
That's because Miser ISN'T a scrooge, at least not severely.
He may say "Bah, humbug" at Hearth's warming, but they fact is he's a well-to-do pony, who donates to the poor, he pays his employees very well and grants them their privileges and rewards, and he DOES allow them to celebrate and decorate for Heart's Warming in the Bank, and all he asks is they just leave him out of it and not talk of it so much.
Twilight is the one who is visited by the three ghosts because it is SHE who needs to learn better respect and understanding.
-Stone had an abusive father
-Was bullied in boarding school
-Lost the love of his life to a disease (He didn't drive her off like Scrooge drove Belle)
-Saw his friend, boss, and mentor gunned down before his eyes.
Twilight also learns that Miser didn't start the fire at the Hearth's Warming gather, but it was her own fault for hastily and improperly wiring the electric lights, yet he was accused, and she had him arrested where he was booed and taunted by the rest of the community for a crime he didn't commit.
Miser had every right to be infuriated with Twilight and not wish to make amends with her for what she did.
But the lesson still stands "Things are not always what they seem"
and as the actual Ghost of Christmas Present said...
So perhaps, in the future, you will hold your tongue until you have discovered where the surplus population is, and WHO it is.
That's the basicness of Friendship is Failure, a dose of reality on the ponies, and a foil to Twilight's "Friendship"
MLP is all scripted, so things usually go okay for her and her friends in the end, just like my fics are also scripted and go only one way.
But in real life, it's not scripted.
Tomorrow is promised to no one.
Working hard doesn't guarantee you will be compensated for it.
Even the best laid out plans can go awry.
Friendship is a good thing, but it's not the ONLY thing.
It is a path, but it not an obligatory path to take, and won't ALWAYS save you from everything.
Twilight and her friends gain all the happy ever afters very easily, and now, it's time for that stuff to tone down a bit and finally realize the existence and possibilities of unpleasant realities.
And get this through your heads while you're at it...
Just because you did something mature... doesn't mean you did the right thing, and it certainly, by no means, labels you as a decent person.
TBF, forgiveness is one way to help one heal. Or, you can choose the option of, in essence, forgive, even if temporarily, the person, but not forgetting what they did
I find it cute how we both agree on the same thing and yet have two very different outlooks on the show, I loved this show even when it was written poorly, but I agree it was nice to see twilight have to deal with the harsh realities of life, the realities that'll help her become a fairer, more thoughtful, more caring, more resourceful princess. her teacher Celestia ruled thousands of years, had to suffer without her sisters for millennia because she turned evil, she's seen death and destruction all her life, especially #20. now twilight will get to see the joys and sorrows of ruling an entire nation for perhaps thousands of years. in the show's years, her reign has gone on for 2 years, which means she has a long road ahead. and in that time, shell learn all the lessons you're trying to teach. and a few more she never knew could be taught before. so no matter who you are, whether you like the show or not, there's always a new lesson, and a new letter for Celestia to read.