Of all the things to break 4chan, it was My Little Pony. At least, that's what it seems like. I rarely frequent the place, but near as I can tell, something like this went down*:

*I obviously only have one source, so if there's another side of the story out there, let me know and I'll link it.

1. /co/ discovers the new (and awesome) show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. The dark horse of The Hub's lineup, it's become quite popular since it's debut.
2. A significant number of the users on /co/ like the show, and threads start popping up everywhere. Seems like it should be fine, since /co/ is for comics and cartoons, right? Ponies of a different color should fit right in!
3. /b/ discovers Pony. Pony threads start popping up all over /b/. You know, that place where gore, bizarre fetishes, and pretty much anything except for Child Porn and Scientology lives in peace?
4. Pony threads reach 6,000 posts in one day.
5. 4chan's reaction is to put all Pony threads out to pasture.

Reaction comics are made. General consensus is that they shut the barn door too late to do any good.

Eventually a "peace treaty" is "negotiated"...if by "peace treaty" you mean a comparatively restrictive set of rules that ONLY apply to pony posts, and by "negotiated" you mean, "follow these or NO PONIES EVER." Does this mean the fandom will have to change horses midstream?

But already dedicated Pony image boards have been created. Polls are created because no one wants to back the wrong horse.

Breaking news can be found under the /co/ news tag on the blog Equestria Daily, which keeps up with the happenings in bronyland on /co/.

Reality TV star Gene Simmons spoke on a panel at MIPCOM 2010 with all kinds of advice about how to deal with digital piracy.

"The music industry was asleep at the wheel," Simmons complained, "and didn't have the balls to sue every fresh-faced, freckle-faced college kid who downloaded material. And so now we're left with hundreds of thousands of people without jobs. There's no industry."

Poor man, reduced to earning money by slapping the KISS logo on any bit of merchandise that will hold it.

"Everything from KISS condoms to KISS caskets," Simmons disclosed. "We'll get you coming and we'll get you going. We literally have everything from KISS Hi-Def television sets that are about to come on the market to KISS Motorcycles. Well, it's Planet KISS. Oh, I've already trademarked that, I forgot that."

Meanwhile, the rampaging hordes of Anonymous launched Operation Payback--DDoS attacks on the MPAA, the RIAA and others . . . including GeneSimmons.com.

Gene Simmons' response is about what you'd expect from a fading 70s rock star who doesn't quite get this Internet business:

Some of you may have heard a few popcorn farts re: our sites being threatened by hackers.

Our legal team and the FBI have been on the case and we have found a few, shall we say "adventurous" young people, who feel they are above the law.

And, as stated in my MIPCOM speech, we will sue their pants off.

First, they will be punished.

Second, they might find their little butts in jail, right next to someone who's been there for years and is looking for a new girl friend.

We will soon be printing their names and pictures.

We will find you.

You cannot hide.

Stay tuned

(Scuse me a moment, I have to stop giggling uncontrollably at the thought of somebody saying this to Anonymous.)

The comments on Ars Technica devolve into the usual arguments about the State of the Music Industry, but at least one person points out that Mr. Simmons might want to "put his house in order before waging war against the interweb"

Dearest, beloved, Fandom Wank.

I know you were looking forward to great excitement today. Some of you said words to me that indicated you anticipated fiery 'judgement' upon those who remained fresh and dewey white, those you call n00bs.

Anyway, you got today instead.

Stop anticipating things, we'll just break your hearts.

Sincerely,

Sepia P. Magpie, Esq.



PS: Use this post to reflect on how you could be better people. Or just fuck around in the comments.

As a note: 4chan in general is not worksafe. This thread, however, is worksafe (for now).

Over on /y/, someone posts a request for Welcome to the NHK porn. They specifically ask for Yamazaki (a male character, this is important), and post a screenshot of Yamazaki in drag as their picture.

Someone (post 225385 in this thread, since I can't link to individual posts) says the following:

/s/ is that tway ------->

gtfo.

(/s/ is the "sexy beautiful women" board)

The rest of the thread, excluding the demands for NHK yaoi, consists of this:

/y/: That's a guy, idiot.

wanky person:If it looks so much like a girl that we have to take your word for it that it's a boy, it doesn't belong in /y/. I could post a random girl and say it's a trap, would it automatically make her hot?

other person: You're a dumbfuck. It's a specific character, so we know he's male (or at least we do if we're familiar with his show).

wanky person: doesn't matter. it's a girl. gtfo.

/y/: you're retarded!

other other person: The amount of fail in this thread is sad.

Not an epic wank, but definitely funny. It's growing, too. This all started about two days ago.

ETA: Bahleeted.

Once again, kiddies, I bring wank from the land that is 4chan.org (not worksafe, though so far this particular wank is).

Another arteest wank, in which said-artist asks for a critique. When people speak up, offering opinions or thoughts and whatnot, their response to this Masterpiece of All That is Art is less than enthusiastic. Artist begins to wank, with the usual "U DUN UNDERSTAND MY WORK U UNCULTURED BUFFONS" and "MI PEICE HAS INNUR BEUTY!!!!", as well as the typical blaming-of-cameras and general preaching about being close-minded.

Short, but sadly amusing in its cute little wanky way.