Episode [S5E18 - Crusaders of the Lost Mark] ruined my novel. Help me fix it. (spoilers) · 8:55pm Oct 10th, 2015
I've been writing my novel for more than 2 years now. I wrote 47 chapters that are still unpublished. Then, this episode happened...
The episode is great and all. I can't really say anything bad about it, but it did hurt my novel a lot.
I don't want AU and I can't say that events take place in the past (for reasons in the novel).
There's just one solution to this predicament. CMC need to lose the cutie marks that they gained in this episode! It's the only possible fix.
I need something short that I can just mention along the lines. I don't want to focus a chapter on the losing of cutie marks because it's not at all what the novel is about. Also, I don't want to distract a reader with this more than I have to.
So, here's my question to you all. How would you make CMC lose their cutie marks?
I've already thought up three scenarios:
1. They try to help Discord get a cutie mark (without his knowledge)
They make a mess of things. As an excuse they mention their cutie marks. They were meant to do this, they say.
He takes their cutie marks and deems the pesky problem, that CMC presents to him, solved.
2. Starlight Glimmer steals their cutie marks. She stores them in a glass jar, but it gets destroyed. Twilight manages to remove the cutie mark restriction lines (=), but she can’t get their cutie marks back. They need to earn them again, but this time for something other than what they previously earned them for.
3. Turns out that Discord was just playing jokes on them. The fact is that they still need to find their real talent.
Fluttershy made Discord apologize for the prank, but they never really forgave him.
Let me know in the comment which scenario you like best or make up a scenario of your own.
Frankly, I think you'd be better just tagging it as AU. I get that its annoying when canon contradicts you -particularly for a long term project...
But unless you want to start a sub-plot about the CMC losing their cytie marks, dealing with what that means (psychologically and setting-wise), and motivating themselves to crusade again...
Well, that might be more complicated for the novel overall than a disclaimer saying "This is before Crusaders of the Lost Mark" and an AU tag.
3458652 The novel makes some permanent changes to the world, so it can only be set in future. CMC trying to get their cutie marks is essential to the novel, so I need that as well. Saying that it takes place in the past wouldn't work.
What I'm thinking is just mentioning the event of them losing their cutie marks. No focus, and almost no extra word count. The frustration and faze and getting motivated for crusading again is all in the novel's past. That way, I wouldn't have to deal with it all. I know it's a bit cheap, but I still think it's better than AU. Nopony reads AU.
I agree 100% with 3458652
I've never gotten why the AU tag is seen as some sort of badge of shame. It just means that you're being honest about your story not quite fitting the official time-line, and openly acknowledging that instead of doing mental back-flips just to fit a round peg into a square hole.
Those scenarios make Discord look like a far bigger douche bad than he actually is...
3458652 I hate to say this but I agree, AU may be the cleanest/least painful way of doing what you need to do.
Other than that, I think option #2 is also somewhat clean. We don't really have a precedent for marks being lost & destroyed, but I think it's possible to persuade the audience that this is OK.
3458675 3458682
But I don't wanna!
derpicdn.net/img/view/2012/10/19/126597__safe_twilight+sparkle_rarity_animated_hub+logo_couch_lesson+zero_marshmelodrama_fainting+couch.gif
3458672 3458728
The Three Sisters. Friendship Is Optimal. The Monster In The Twilight. Project: Sunflower. For The Hive...
Just to name some site-wide 10.000+ views top-dog AU tagged stories off the top of my head.
Past Freaking Sins is AU now, after a situation not at all unlike your own story. (Twilight's ascension.) And that story is above 100.000+ views by now.
That's like saying that all anthro stories are porn, when that fourth or so sequel to the equally T rated To See Both Faces was near the top of the feature box earlier this week.
So... to be blunt, I think you're being a bit silly.
3458728 Best gif. +1000.
The ways you suggested are all good, but all sad. After so much trial and foreshadowing (I strongly suspected this exact outcome), to strip them of these cutie marks purely as an act of victimization, punishment, or to call them a prank would be more tragic and about as appealing as an AU tag, in my opinion.
If I absolutely had to write away their cutie marks, I might explain them as having been temporary right up until the fulfillment of a grand, magical quest for which their cutie marks were specifically given. The simultaneous, super-magical manner of their marks' appearance, I'd explain, was unlike other ponies' cutie marks. The forces of Harmony called them to a mission which they only understood partly when they received their marks, and imbued them with magic that they each volunteered to sacrifice in order to save ponies they care about. Their talent may be to protect and restore the cutie marks of others after Starlight wreaks havoc, but to do so would mean they'd choose to give up their talents.
I anticipate that the CMC may have a crucial role to play in Starlight Glimmer's redemption and/or defeat in canon. The only problem with this is that I don't realistically see the CMC losing their marks after Starlight's predictable defeat at the finale of this season, so you'd have to find a new explanation as soon as we see their marks in any episode following Starlight's defeat. This also applies if you claim that Starlight took their marks forcefully, etc.
Instead of making them victims of Starlight's villainy or having Discord rob them of their very fitting, precious destinies, I'd make them heroines for the sacrifice of their cutie marks by defeating some other problem together, thus giving them due justice. As a part of their sacrifice, they might have been age-regressed or destiny-altered (much like the mane 5 were in Magical Mystery Cure), or they might have been forced to expend all of the super-magic of their marks in some way, thus releasing them from their special, temporary callings to find new cutie marks.
If at all possible, I'd encourage you to give them back the exact cutie marks they originally received... only remove them temporarily in your story.
3460801 Thank you for your suggestion. Having them be heroes instead of victims is a very good point. However, the tone of the story is quite dark. It even has the word 'darkness' in the title.
What you're suggesting would require at least a chapter, which wouldn't really connect to the rest of the story.
Still, if I could find a way to make your great suggestion work, it would be awesome. What I need to do is having CMC just casually mention this loss of cutie mark business in their dialogue. About 2 sentences, ideally. It's hard to tell a heroic tale in just two sentences, though.
Also, their future cutie marks have to be different. At least the one Sweetie Belle has.
Perhaps it's best if I wait for the last episode to see what the business with Starlight Glimmer is.
3460944 You're welcome. I think a few sentences could cover them. I imagine it going something like, "If destiny can give us cutie marks once, it can do it again, and, this time, no fountain of youth/time-traveling Tirek/Starlight Glimmer oughta be able to take them."
If dark is what you prefer, you could make them victims easily with any of the ideas you listed.
Dear Bag Dragon,
Since you write in the universe of an ongoing show, canon can change at any time. If you rewrite your stories to remain canoncompatible, you will never publish because you will be continuously rewriting. I recommend that you slap an AU-Tag on the story with an author's note explaining that the story started canoncompatible; but frustratingly however, in the late stages of writing, "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" aired and it is not canoncompatible past that episode, any more.
3461483 Thank you for your support. I know it's not ideal, but I'm just terrified of AU tag. I've written a little something myself
However, I'll probably just go with:
3461538 I’m too invested to follow your good recommendation. This is the biggest project that I took on in my life. Bigger than my Bachelor's degree even. This is my baby. I need to save it! I don’t want to bury it.
3462405 Either example you posted would work, but I imagine that they might be left with some bitterness as long as they remember getting those marks. I can't help but think it would impact them negatively. No matter how the cutie marks were lost, they'd need to mourn their loss. The loss wouldn't be as bad if they relied on each other and grew closer together because of it. It also would help them accept things if they knew it was for a noble purpose that they were lost. Otherwise, it would make them bitter or traumatized, I think. In ideal circumstances, they'd come out more accepting and at peace with things they can't control. I don't anticipate your story is meant to deal with that, so you'll need to rely heavily on the reader's willingness to suspend disbelief.
Best of luck, and, no matter what, enjoy what you write!
3462802 In the latest episode they imply that Applejack's and Apple Bloom's parents are gone. How is losing your cutie mark different that losing your parent? In the show, they didn't show any mourning or those two dealing with it. They mentioned it in one sentence and that was it. Why can't I do the same?
3463936 That's true, but if your fic delves into any material that wouldn't normally be covered in the show (e.g. morning the loss of parents or other dark themes), you'll be opening up your readers to question, if you've dealt with dark themes, why didn't you address the CMC's angst over their cutie marks as well? I may be off on this assumption, but I consider the loss of the Apple parents to be either a.) exactly as cheerful and straightforward as it appears on screen, or b.) there was a lot of unseen mourning, coping, and support for their loss.
If you break the sunny cheerfulness of the show in your story, you might have to break it throughout the series itself. This isn't to say that you have to address the matter quite so realistically or from the perspective I've offered. Maybe the CMC actually are relieved in your version to be rid of those cutie marks for whatever reason.
3464000 The more I address it, the more focus I put on it, and the more focus I redirect from the real story. I fear that the more I'd talk about it, the more unbelievable it would become.
I don't think that having a dark story requires me to deal with all possible dark themes I come across. For instance, I mention necromancy, but I never show it. There's no need for it. I'm just picturing a world where necromancy does happen and where Discord can play a cruel joke on you. One sentence should be enough to put that across, I hope.
3464014 Should be fine. You can only do your best and no better. No use worrying over it to the point of over-complicating things..
I would ignore the episode and keep writing.
I am a bit concerned for you: there is no reason for a fan fiction author to need to spend two years "writing" without publishing chapters as you go. I watched a video where a speaker pointed out that someone might say to themselves "I'm going to read all these books on this subject and then I'll be ready to start doing it!" to which he pointed out that that is just another form of procrastination. Ask yourself if you are not withholding what you have written as a way to not make that promise to yourself and your readers that you will, in fact, finish the story you have begun.
3473970 I do want to keep the effect of the episode on my novel to the minimum. Still, being in accordance with canon is better than breaking canon.
During my 2 years I've been on a few hiatuses (didn't find the time and the will to write) and I published 10 other stories as I was writing this one. There was also procrastination involved.
The thing about the novel is: It's finished. I'm in the editing process. That usually takes 90% of my writing time, but I'll try to shorten it for this story as the canon ruined it anyway. There are also some things that I would write differently now. I was just starting out when I began this story. I've learned a lot about writing since then. However, I don't have it in me to rewrite it. I'm sad to say that I have a life outside FimFiction, also.
I am giving you and everypony else a promise, though. This story will be finished and published.
that’s really great + and you might even be able to use it
3474472
Are you saying that every story on FimFiction that does not keep up with the changes, every story that shows Twilight as a unicorn and the CMC as blank flanks, is now worthless and shouldn't be read? If that's not what you are saying, what does it matter that your story shows the CMC without cutie marks?
3474762 Worthless? No. Less valuable? Yes.
If I had a choice between two stories, one in accordance with canon and one AU, I'd pick the former one to read.