"Crusaders of the Lost Mark"

HOLY BALLS.

Comments

[Alchemystudent]

Great aND I am at a con so I couldn't see it . But sweet Celestia yes!!! And I have egg on my face. I usually write sweetie belle being first

[InsertAuthorHere]

Yes, it happened. It actually happened. In something besides the season opener/ender, with no advertising, and with a synopsis that sounded rather plain outside of using Pipsqueak.

I call it the "Steven Universe" method.

[hypervelocity]

Correction: HOLY SHIT BALLS

[punzil504]

Seriously.

Does this mean that the Lunaverse Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo earn different cutie marks because there's no CMC?

[RainbowDoubleDash]

3457226
Maybe; they're secondary characters, though, and not a priority, so there's no real effect on the Lunaverse.

[Hymmnos]

3457320
You could really use some spoiler tags edited in there. Not everyone might have seen the episode yet.

[Trinary]

3457364

Crud. Sorry.

[Hymmnos]

3457520
Nothing was spoiled for me but others may have not seen the episode when your original comment was posted.

[dungeonguy88]

That was a pretty jaw-dropping episode there. Just amazing. Even better as most of my own writing that concerns Diamond Tiara didn't end up getting massively jossed.

[Mooncalf]

Mind = blown. Blown twice, actually. Could that even happen? Apparently!

I mean, at first I thought it would be just "Diamond Tiara starts to soften up, in preparation for her being nice eventually". And then DT is genuinely nice and supportive? WTF? Changeling alert! Is she seriously going to be a full character and not just a cheap straw antagonist? BOOM.

And then you know what. After DT says that bit about "You have the chance to find out what you want to be", AKA the moral of Call Of The Cutie that had been completely tossed aside in favor of CMC shenanigans for four seasons, I figured that they'd pick it up and run with that for a while, except... BOOM again.

And it works. It makes sense. It matches my headcanon for how the cutiemark acquisition program really does operate (i.e. self-realization) and it works for them. And it mean they can still be together and get into shenanigans and not have to go separate ways due to irreconcilable destinies like several fanfics have posited.

This? This is why I love this show. That they can do this, that they can break the formula, that status quo is not god, and it works better.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I think got redeemedway too easily. I mean I don't think she even apologized for the hell she's put the CMC through. Other than that, great episode.

[HopeFox]

My thoughts exactly. I was ecstatic enough when Diamond Tiara managed to become a decent pony with the Crusaders' help - that would have been enough to make it an awesome episode. And then the rest of it happened.

I (and many others) totally called the meaning of DT's cutie mark, so I'm very happy about that. Less happy that her mother turned out to be so dreadful. A parent doesn't have to be a terrible person in order to have that effect on a child - she can push her to succeed with all the best intentions but worst results. (In fact, in one of my fics, her mother does that from beyond the grave.) Ah well - I'll stick to my characterization of her for my current fics. (Otherwise, my upcoming "Filthy Rich flirts with Applejack because of mundane marital problems where nopony is really to blame" plot would turn into "Filthy Rich leaves Spoiled for Applejack because she's the worst wife ever".)

It's also amusing in hindsight that Babs's "Leave the Crusaders alone or I'll tell your mothers" threat wouldn't actually have worked. Telling her father, on the other hand...

I'm really pleased that they're pushing the characters' personal plots ahead in very meaningful ways. Twilight is a princess, Rarity has a boutique in Canterlot, Rainbow Dash is a hair's breadth away from being a fully-fledged Wonderbolt, and now this. Seasons 1-3 were fantastic, but the "episodes watchable in any order" directive, and not knowing if they'd go past 65 episodes, kept them from making too many large changes. Now they have more freedom and more scope, and they're doing big things, and it's working so well.

Headcanon time - Spoiled married Filthy Rich for his money (and maybe also love), but not just as a middle class pony wanting to live the high life. She was poor. Dirt poor. As poor as it's possible to be in a semi-utopia like Equestria. She pushes Diamond to succeed in society and her education/career and discourages her from associating with the lower classes because she doesn't want to take even a single step backwards towards that life, and she wants the same thing for her daughter.