Letters from an Irritated Princess

by Tired Old Man

Finding Cutie Marks Through Recreational Fun Seems Like a Good Idea

Dearest Crusaders,

It is worth teaching
Our marks do not define us
As the first lesson,

Or else you will find
A child can spin webs of lies
As well as adults.

Be glad it stopped now
Before a creepy cult formed
With manifesto.

It’s a scary thing
To see ponies swayed by words
Just because they’re loud.

However, fret not.
Their words state, “No fun allowed!”
How long did that last?

Have fun with your camp.
But next time a spoilsport comes
Maybe send them home?

Wishing You Success For Years,

Princess Celestia

P.S.

If you’re wondering
I enjoy writing haikus!
Three lines, big meaning.

Luna, what is wrong?
Are Sunny and Moony okay?
...They painted their flanks?!

Oh, this will not stand.
They shall not shirk their duties
For a hoof paint war!

Come, my dear sister!
If it’s a fight that they want
It’s a fight they’ll get.

Comments

[Tired Old Man]

I’ve had a long week.
Finally saw episode.
It’s okay, I guess??

[RazDelacroix]

8464326
It's a lovely-chapter to me! Hope your coming days get better!

[KnightMysterio]

Written entirely in haiku?

Huh. Cool. :D

[Fetch]

One of those haiku
I believe is in the wrong
With eight, not seven.

[MtangaLion]

For best irony
Rumble gets mark in Speaking,
Motivational

[Tired Old Man]

8464378
I spot the error
And make a slight correction
WITH HUSHED SUBTLETY

[Breakfateschain]

That last haiku was 4-7-5 instead of 5-7-5. Other than that, good job on making entire chapter haikus

[Tired Old Man]

8464646
My word, I’m sloppy
One too many, one too short
INCONSISTENCY

[FanOfMostEverything]

Five short syllables
Then a line of seven
Followed by five more.

What? I like that one.
I will take any excuse
For metahaiku.

[Tired Old Man]

8464845
That line of seven
Is really six syllables
Add “And” at the start

[Valhuir]

A perfect moment
Suspended lightly in time
A haiku is made.

Not just syllables
Despite our Western viewpoint
The heart of it's time

[AyanamiRei]

8464326
I thought it was GOOD, but not great. At least it made more sense than the previous one where somehow Alicorn Twilight was POWERLESS against the face of ELECTRIC BEES!! Despite the fact that she was able to hold SEVERAL ponies suspended at once with her telekinesis AND make force field bubbles.

Seriously, can anyone explain how Electric Bees > Alicorn Twilight???

[BlueYoshi]

Awesome episode
No complaints from Blue Yoshi
Keep up the great work

[bot105]

8465093
Perhaps use mirror
In the place of imitate
To correct your post?

[nebulaegalaxy]

I see everyone
Commenting their own haikus
I want in on this

Being serious,
This was wonderfully written
Despite small errors

As previous comments have pointed out

[terrycloth]

8465092
She only memorized single target spells, which were useless against swarms.

[Fruity Treeze]

This fanfic is great
Very creative and fun
I am liking this

[AyanamiRei]

8466388
Not true, here's an instance of her surging and stopping SEVERAL PONIES AT ONCE:

[terrycloth]

8466435
That was months ago, though. She's obviously swapped out her spells since then.

Alternative theory: maybe the electric bee strings work on a unicorn's magic field? Then neither that 'time stop' spell or a shield would help, but she would have tried them and been knocked out for part of the three days.

[AyanamiRei]

8466477
Well keep in mind we DO see her surge to do Time Stop.

However, the problem is that we are given NO valid reason as to WHY she did not simply use her magic and/or wings. Hell she could have worked WITH the Earth Pony, one to distract the bees and another to steal the honey.

I mean yeah sure, MAYBE there is an alternative explaination, but we're given ZERO reasons for why this is IN CANON.

I mean just as easily you can give reasons for Twilight just being weak/dumb. Maybe Twilight didn't try hard enough to find a different solution. Maybe she forgot she could force bubble. Maybe she didn't have powerful enough emotions for Time Stop. Maybe Twilight didn't think it was worth trying herself, and just waited for the Animal Expert to get better. Etc.

[Blast]

Not every haiku
Ought to be solemn in tone
I don't think this is.

[Briarpelt]

My haiku skills are
Rusty, as I focus more
On rhyming poems.

So, I'm not going to bother haiku-ing the rest of this comment. It's about time we got an episode explaining more about cutie marks; the potential limitations have been worrying me for some time. Personally, I'd have a lot of trouble with any cutie mark I could assign myself: I have a little talent in several different areas, and if I suddenly found out that I was better at one than the others... well, I don't think I'd be to bothered by that in itself, but it would be discouraging. It's like, "oh, I guess I'm not as good at that as I thought I was." Sure, I can still do it, but not professionally--who would publish a book written by someone with a singing cutie mark? Who would hire a professional singer with a writing cutie mark, even if they loved singing and writing equally? Who's going to appreciate the artistry of a painting if it was made by a mare with a talent in haikus?
We choose our own boxes. I don't think it's possible to escape them, since everything from your job to your interests is a category of some kind. What makes a person who they are is the unique combination of characteristics and talents that they possess; we define ourselves and each other by those characteristics and talents. The thing is, people aren't box-shaped; it's more like piling a bunch of differently-shaped boxes together, and the resulting cluster is the unique shape of you. Things get problematic when somebody sees one of those boxes and assumes that's all you are. That's what Rumble was worried about: gaining a cutie mark and then never being seen as more than that, or worse, never being able to be more than that. I'm glad that he was wrong about cutie marks, though I still think having a label that points out one of your boxes (even if it's a big one) can have the effect of cutting off some others, if only because other people won't take those other talents as seriously. A cutie mark is like proof you're good at something; if you don't have that proof, no matter how good you are, many will never believe you're as good at it as someone who does have that mark.

[Eroraf86]

8662018
Paragraphs. Use them. Nobody wants to read a wall of text.

[Cursed Quill]

Senryuu* I enjoy.
Easy: five, seven, and five.
Reference? No need.
But if you want something more,
Have you considered tanka?

*Haiku require more
than five, seven, and five on.
Senryuu are simpler.
A seasonal reference
and cutting word, haiku need.