Lyra sighed as she stared at her computer screen. She had been waiting for a while staring at her story. So far it had one view and that was it. It was boring but Lyra couldn’t help the rise of anticipation buzzing throughout her body. She knew it would probably never happen but she couldn’t help thinking that maybe, just maybe, today would be the day that she got on the featured section.
She had an account on the site, Friendship is Science Fanfiction, for years. In fact, she supposed that she may have been in the first 100 to get an account however 6 years and 30 fanfics later and she only had 40 followers.
Lyra knew that one of the ways to get “famous” on the site was to post stories every day but the thing was that Lyra didn’t have the time or imagination to do that kind of commitment. She had a full-time job after all.
One user by the name of Soapwasherlady9090 had been writing 2 fanfics a week for the past year. Nearly every one of her fics had ended up with thousands of views and hundreds of likes. And she had started after Lyra! It was so unfair!
Lyra groaned and despondently moved her mouse over to the featured section and stared at the stories that had been posted for days and still had thousands of views. Lyra didn’t think it was fair that they had so many views when Lyra had worked for days on her story.
And it wasn’t as though there were many differences between each story. Occasionally an original story would end up featured but most of the time they followed the same distinct formula.
- They were funny, random and satirical
- They used a what if story line
- Most took place in the Movie verse. (The one where Lila goes into Equestria)
- They were Slice of Life
- There was NO tragedy. In fact, Lyra had found that writing a tragedy was one way to guarantee you would never find yourself on the list.
She knew that wasn’t completely fair as all of the featured stories were amazing and obviously written by hugely talented Ponies but she couldn’t help the sliver of resentment that lived inside her.
Lyra wasn’t the best writer but even her using those points could write a good fanfic.
Just like that, an idea popped into her head. That was it! Using those points she would write a Fanfic that would get featured! Then everyone would know her! It was a great idea! Lyra had never written comedy before but she wondered how hard it could honestly be.
Lyra grabbed her mouse and clicked on the new story section. She quickly began filling in the boxes.
Title: Adventures in Equestria
Description: Alice and Rhea find themselves in the pony realm. There they meet all the ponies in Equestria and nearly destroy the world. Oh and Pepper is being weird as usual!
Unpublished view password: Pepperisthebesthuman
Status: Complete
Content rating: Everyone
Categories (maximum of six): Comedy, Random, Slice of Life, Girls in Equestria
Main characters (maximum of five): Alice, Rhea, Pepper
Lyra quickly clicked the create story button. She could feel the adrenaline coursing through her and she began typing, hooves flying across the keyboard. She just knew this one was going to be a success!
She didn’t stop until she had done over 2K words. She was finally finished. True it was 2 in the morning and her eyes were stinging but it was well worth it. This would be her masterpiece. She was sure of it. She quickly published it then turned off her computer and went to bed.
Bon Bon was already in bed when she crawled in. She was so happy and sure that this would be her best fanfic ever. The first one to launch her into being known. She could barely keep her eyes closed but eventually, she managed to get to sleep.
The next morning Lyra woke up groggily. She was so tired. Her mane and tail were messy and her eyes were bloodshot. She groaned. Why didn’t she go to sleep again? She nearly fell asleep again when Bon Bon called her from the kitchen.
“Lyra get your but outa bed!”
Lyra stumbled out of bed and dragged herself over to the kitchen. It smelt like waffles. Lyra took a deep breath and smiled. It smelt perfect. She ran over to the table and sat down eager to eat.
She looked over to Bon Bon only to see her glaring at her. Lyra flinched slightly.
If there was one thing she had learnt it was don’t annoy Bon Bon.
“Bon Bon?” she asked curiously. The mare in front of her was shaking slightly and her eyes were bloodshot. She walked over until she was right in front of Lyra.
“Why is it,” she hissed through her teeth, “that you woke me up at 2 in the morning coming to bed?” Lyra frowned. Why did she go to bed at 2:00?
It was then that Lyra remembered. Her Fanfic! Yeah, that was why!
“Uh, you see Bonny um…” Bon Bon eyed Lyra angrily tapping her hoof on the ground, “IwaswritingaFanficIwantedtofinish! Please don’t get mad!” She begged.
Bon Bon looked at Lyra and sighed. She knew how much that show meant to Lyra so she sighed and handed Lyra a plate with waffles on.
“I forgive ya.” she said with a cruel smirk spread across her face “But you don’t have long to eat that. Work starts in 5 minutes.” Lyra gulped, her eyes widening. She shoved the waffle in her mouth and ran and grabbed her lyre.
“Love you Bon Bon!” she called, “Uh I’ll see you when I get home!” she hollered and charged out the door, Fanfic temporarily forgotten.
Lyra got home and immediately slumped onto the couch. She knew many ponies thought that being in a chorus wasn’t hard but to those ponies, she wanted to shake her hoof at and tell them to play an instrument for 12 hours and then say it wasn’t real work.
Lyra turned her head slightly and saw her computer. Quickly her work was forgotten and she grabbed her computer. She loaded it up quickly and logged on to the site.
The first thing she saw was 15 notifications.She stared at the screen grinning like a mad mare. She clicked onto her story and scrolled down to the comments and began reading
PepperthemadgirlXx:I had to read this story and wow is it bad. Your pacing is awful and you are trying waay too hard to be funny.
Lyra’s grin fell. That wasn’t what she expected. She felt a twinge of sadness. Maybe it was just the first comment.
2121Marblecake: I had seen some of your stories before and they were ok but today I had the displeasure of reading this. I was considering following you but um I’m good…
Lyra could feel a couple of tears rise up in her eyes. All she had wanted was to have a linked story but this wasn’t that at all. All the ponies were saying her stories were bad. Surely there must be somepony who liked the story.
Lepeoplemagica: I showed my friend this story. We both laughed at how bad it is. Go die you pathetic excuse for a writer!!11!!1
Lyra quickly clicked out of the comments. She had only wanted to try something new but it seemed like no-pony liked it. She clicked out of the comments. She just wanted to scream.
She turned her head up and stared up the ceiling. Her thoughts were going at 300 miles a minute. She thought she was an ok writer at worse.
Go die
She flinched as she thought about the comments. She didn’t think that people hated her so much. She just wanted to cry and lie in bed and never get up. How did some people get featured and others left in the dust?
That was how Bon Bon found her, staring at the ceiling, computer in her lap. She sighed. She knew what Lyra was like when she was in a slump. She also knew how hard it was to lift Lyra’s spirits.
She sat next to Lyra and wrapped her arms around her. The effect was instant. Lyra started to tremble and she leant her head onto Bon Bon’s shoulder. Bon Bon could feel it getting wetter and wetter. Bon Bon stroked her back comfortingly.
Suddenly Lyra grabbed Bon Bon's shoulders, staring into her eyes. Bon Bon blinked. Lyra's eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. She glared at Bon Bon.
“Lyra?” She cautiously asked. Lyra gripped her shoulders tighter and Bon Bon flinched. She was hurting her.
Lyra peered at her. “Am I a good writer Bonny?” she asked, her voice trembling. Bon Bon tilted her head in confusion. What was this about?
“Of course you are Lyra.” She said soothingly. It didn’t work however as Lyra just glared at her.
Lyra thrust the computer in Bon Bon’s face. Bon Bon looked at it in confusion. She could see that it was on that fanfic site that Lyra adored but she couldn’t understand what Lyra was showing her.
“Do you see them, Bonny?” Bon Bon looked closely at the computer. All she could see was a story with some kind comments on it.”The comments, they hate me!” Lyra yelled.
Bon Bon quickly scanned the comments. Lyra was right they really were quite nasty. Quite a few told Lyra to kill herself, however, some were genuinely trying to help, most were just there to be horrible.
Bon Bon looked into Lyra's eyes. “Oh Lyra…” she said. She took the computer and lay it on the table then reached over and hugged the mare. She could feel Lyra shaking and she could feel hatred rise towards the ponies that made Lyra cry. They were horrible and she just wanted them to find a hole to die in…
Lyra pulled herself away and looked at Bon Bon. “Hey Bonny can you read my story and tell me what is so bad about it?” she asked shyly, biting her lip.Bon Bon nodded and pulled the computer over. With Lyra leaning on her shoulder she began to read.
Bon Bon looked at Lyra uncertainty and put the computer down. How would she tell Lyra? This time it was Bon Bon biting her lip.
“How was it?” Lyra asked eagerly. Bon Bon looked down and Lyra slumped.
“I see. You hate it.” She said, defeated. Bon Bon flinched slightly.
“No Lyra that's not it… it's just… um…” Bon Bon sighed and looked Lyra in the eyes. It was time, to be honest. “Ya see Lyra it just seemed that you were trying too hard to be funny, you know?” Lyra looked down and started playing with the couch cover.
Bon Bon reached over and made Lyra look her in the eyes. “I don’t think comedy is your thing Lyra but doesn’t make you a bad writer. Besides…” she smirked at Lyra “I could never hate anything you did.” she hugged Lyra tight.
They stayed that way for a few minutes. Then Bon Bon got up and stretched. “Well, I’m gonna go and make dinner now.Don't be done Lyra I'm making your favourite tonight, after all, Applepie!” She pecked Lyra on the cheek and then walked over to the kitchen and soon the smell of different spices and herbs filled the air along with the sound of pans clanging against each other.
Lyra sat and stared at the computer. She understood what Bon Bon said but it still hurt. She thought that it would be her masterpiece but it ended up being hated by everyone. She sighed.
However, as she looked at the screen she noticed a notification on her mail. She grimaced and hoped it wasn't hate mail. Her hoof trembled as she brought the mouse over the email icon. Slowly she clicked it.
From: Soapwasherlady9090
To:Lyramusiclover
Lyra stared at the screen. Soapwasherlady9090 PM’d her! Lyra rubbed her eyes and stared at the screen.
'Oh no…’ Lyra thought, ‘What if she wants to make fun of me!?’ Lyra began to panic. ‘She has the 3rd largest account. If she hates me then I’m doomed!’ Lyra began breathing in quickly. She liked her little follower group but they would definitely unfollow if she was hated on by a large account.
With a huge amount of apprehension, Lyra clicked on the email.
About: Story
Oh great… It was about her story. She should just exit the site now.
Hi Lyra. You may have heard about me. I have heard about your story (news travels quickly around here) but don’t worry. I’m not going to hate on it or anything. That would be extremely counter productive. Instead, I have something else to say…
So Lyra you may or may not know I have over 100 stories and 3K followers. That is how most people know me. However, before I made this account I had another account which you may have heard of called MoonbubbleshineXx. Yes, I agree it is a dumb name. Now I assume you haven't heard of that account and for good reason.
I wasn’t a good writer back then. I was young, only about 13 or 14 and I didn’t understand how to write and structure a story. However, I wasn’t helped by anyone. All I got was hate. There wasn’t even constructive criticism just hate. I left the site for a year and came back with a different account.
I guess what I’m trying to say Lyra is that you be you. Don’t write because you are trying to fit into a box. Write because you have fun. If you have fun writing ponies will have fun reading. If you want constructive criticism I have a group called Help for Struggling Writers. I know it seems condescending and for newbies but it's for everyone. You don’t have to I’m just saying If you don’t want just hate.
Thanks for your time
Soapwasherlady9090
P.S. It helps if you write the story and then make it because it may change form what you first thought. Stories are like people after all: they change and grow
:)
Lyra stared at her screen in surprise. She didn’t think that Soapwasherlady9090 was that nice. Most of the popular writers never bothered helping anypony else and Lyra just assumed that none of them had the same problem as her.
Lyra smiled. She was right. Lyra shouldn’t be writing for the feature box. If she did that she would never make good stories she would just seem desperate. And her followers had followed her for a reason not because she was popular and she should write stories for them.
She nodded then went onto her notes app and started to type.
Lyra looked at the screen in shock. 6 notifications! She couldn’t believe it. She went to her story and scrolled down to the comments.
Theworldissparkles: Hey welcome back! I missed your writing!
Muntinlife: Good story but you missed some punctuation in some places. Just go through your story again. However, I really like the characters.
33H201bot: hey im gonna follow you k?
Lyra smiled. She wasn’t a perfect writer and she knew that but she could keep trying and having fun. It wasn't as if this was her job or anything. This was a hobbie and she should treat as such. Serious writing wasn't fun to read after all.
Lyra crept into bed and hugged Bon Bon. All the ponies that mattered would love her no matter what.
Author's Note
This is a story about all those writers struggling. I, like Lyra, know that I am not the best writer but I don't claim to be. And don't worry if you are struggling everyone starts out somewhere.
I'm not saying everyone on featured are bad either they must be good if everyone likes them so much. But don't write for that write because you want to that the stuff that's more fun to read anyway
And wow... that was sappy jeez. Don't worry next time I'll try and make it more tragic but this just came to mind and it wouldn't let go. I was writing for 3 hours.
I hope you liked it if nothing else and I you reached down here, Congratulations you are one of the few that actually care about the Authors notes. Heres a thumbs up👍
Anyone have fun writing and reading. Thanks for reading this.
