Is That How You See Us?

by LightningSword

Friendship Journal Second Edition - Foreword

FOREWORD

To the readers of the Friendship Journal:

Thank you for purchasing the second edition of this book, which my friends and I worked very hard to craft in order to impart our knowledge and experiences onto you. This edition now features, written from memory, the inclusion of our experiences between the appearance of our palace to the most recent arrival of Countess Coloratura. Our missions, problems and lessons have been a very important part of our lives, and it was my hope that they would be an inspiration and a great help to you all, as well.

However, the actual response that this journal has elicited, has been an absolute disaster.

I am disgusted with the childish, disrespectful, and deplorable behavior exhibited by the readers of this book. The treatment of its authors (harassment, boycotting, stalking, verbal assault, and others) is the complete opposite of the purpose of this book, and to see such abominable behavior in its readers infuriates me to the point of shame and disgrace. If I had known every single mare and stallion in Ponyville would behave this way, this book would have remained a simple journal and I would not have had the short-sighted mind to publish it. I hoped that this journal would be given to ponies who understood us and deserved to know us and our adventures in friendship, but after seeing ponies engaging in the above behaviors after the publication of the first edition, I was clearly mistaken. For which you should be thoroughly ashamed.

This book was meant to bring us all together, not to tear us all apart. And it seems as though the only ones who care about that message are fillies and colts who see past our flaws as ponies and see the lessons we’ve learned for what they truly are. As it seems adult ponies are completely incapable of processing these lessons, this work is no longer suitable to be marketed towards you. It is for this reason that the additions to this edition of the journal are written with a young audience in mind.

Your support is appreciated, but your behavior will not be defended or condoned. Nor will your opinions about our songs.

Your faithful, winged Princess,

Twilight Sparkle

Comments

[WhitewolfStormrunner]

One word to this: ouch.

[LightningSword]

8418322
Thanks so much for the fave!

[F14m3rz]

Right, so I've decided to give this story a fair shake. Whether that means I'll end up liking this story or not is up to the story itself.

Thank you for purchasing the second edition of this book, which my friends and I worked very hard to craft in order to impart our knowledge and experiences onto you. This edition now features, written from memory, the inclusion of our experiences between the appearance of our palace to the most recent arrival of Countess Coloratura. Our missions, problems and lessons have been a very important part of our lives, and it was my hope that they would be an inspiration and a great help to you all, as well.

However, the actual response that this journal has elicited, has been an absolute disaster.

I believe there's a disconnect between these two paragraphs. In this, we learn that Twilight has made a second edition of the book that includes adventures that goes past the events of Season 4, and that she's hopeful about her readers enjoying what she wrote. This is followed by the next statement, which precludes a dissatisfaction of the response garnered by the publishing of the first book. Now, setting aside the fact that publishing a second edition runs contrary to a statement made by Twilight in the episode itself:

Twilight Sparkle: Yeah, but the purpose of the journal isn't supposed to be marketing

-why would she make one to begin with if she knew that the first one had already been received so negatively to the point that her friends had been harassed? In fact, publishing a foreword that acknowledges that the harassment has taken place would more than likely increase the harassment of her friends even further.
In short, it makes Twilight seem rather thick that she would risk further harassment down the line, even if it means that the bad behavior (bombarding Fluttershy with accusatory questions to the point that she's lying on the ground crying, or Rarity's business taking a nosedive due to people's opinions of her falling drastically) would be addressed.

Besides that, if Twilight's taken it to heart enough that she would make a second edition of the book with a foreword that says "Hey, I'm kinda disappointed that you'd do all that crazy stuff", then what about her friends? Were they okay with a second edition of the story being printed despite the harassment? Did they have grievances to address towards the public as well? Why is only Twilight doing this when the Friendship Journal's supposed to have 7 authors (9 if you include Celestia and Luna when it was The Journal of Two Sisters)?

This book was meant to bring us all together, not to tear us all apart. And it seems as though the only ones who care about that message are fillies and colts who see past our flaws as ponies and see the lessons we’ve learned for what they truly are. As it seems adult ponies are completely incapable of processing these lessons, this work is no longer suitable to be marketed towards you. It is for this reason that the additions to this edition of the journal are written with a young audience in mind.

So she's using the Misha Defense. You know, "Cyberbully Channels are Cancer" and all that. I believe this interpretation of the episode's end is a bit loosey-goosey. While it's true that the two kids at the end were happy about it, I don't believe the lesson to take home was "This Music Video Channel is for kids only", but instead what Fluttershy had said by the end of it:

Fluttershy: And we can't change the way other ponies think about us. But we can change how we let it affect us.

Ultimately, whether a person says that a given work is garbage or that it needs meting out, how a person responds in turn makes all the difference, whether it comes to self-improvement, reflection, or dealing with the world around us. And Twilight Sparkle writing a second edition wherein she says "Adults are too mentally broken to understand our GENIUS", at the risk of having her friends experience further harassment... doesn't quite resonate with that ideal in my opinion.

Your support is appreciated, but your behavior will not be defended or condoned. Nor will your opinions about our songs.

Your faithful, winged Princess,

Twilight Sparkle

Okay, that was kinda funny.

[LightningSword]

9162349
Let me see if I can help fill in the blanks:

The idea was that Twilight had let the backlash of the journal affect her badly. That's made more clear in the opening of the story proper. Her previous intentions were out of her mind for that brief period of feeling resentful and angry that those intentions weren't met, and her anger at these adults acting like children overwhelmed her. She believed writing how she felt in another edition with a foreword was the best way to get it through to the same fans who ignored their song. Obviously, it backfired.

Which is the point. The book represents "Fame and Misfortune" itself. Twilight represents the writers. The book fans represent the Brony fans, albeit much more fairly than the show. Basically, Twilight jumped the gun on how to treat the fans, and it made things worse. Just like the episode.

So admittedly, it's not a decision Twilight would make. But her anger and resentment made her short-sighted and act without thinking (much like the writers put no forethought into the episode), and she let ponies know it the one way she knew they would listen. But it didn't work.

I hope that helps. Thanks for reading.

[Blast]

What did I just read?