Looking Back At: AssassinationVerse (Warning, Spoilers for those who have not read the series) · 12:30am Jun 13th, 2019
This is kinda of a new thing I've decided to do with the end of Season 9 being the final season of MLP: Fim. It's been 9 years since I started writing fanfiction for this site, and all in all I've had some good moments. From writing AppleDash stories that gave me my first break, to meeting various writers I've known for a while, to developing tearful and emotional stories, to the one shots of humor, and the various series that I have developed both new and old. There have been hits and misses, and a few stories just dead in the water due to my own mistakes or the lack of ethuisasm to continue (To which I apologize for that).
I figured its best to look back on how I've changed as a writer and how certain stories of mine have grown up to this point. Some have still good lasting impressions on people and myself, others do not. Now before anybody gets any worries about me quitting, I'm not. I'm still going to write FIM Fanfiction and I plan on making Generation 5 stuff should I also be interested in that series as well in the future.
Besides continuing AssassinationVerse, I still have a prequel planned for NegotationsVerse, The continuation of the Fallout Reaction Series, a follow up story for Growing Fire In My Heart, and a possible spiritual successor story for Why Am I Crying that is centered around Gallus depending on how the final season ends. There are also the ocassional one shot ideas and a few authors want to co-write with me on ideas we come up together. So yeah, I'm still gonna be writing.
I know my updates aren't as frequent as they usually are but that's mainly because I've been focused on trying to make a life out of myself. I'm 28 years old with a four year college debt that I am trying to pay off by trying to either work in the Gaming Industry, working Retail full time or trying to make a successful life as an online comic writer/novelist while also trying to get out of NYC. Not to mention all the other fanficion I do that isn't MLP related. I kinda have a busy life.
Still, I make do with the time I have and I'm going to be occasionally talking about past fanfics of mine, ones that shaped me in various ways. I won't be doing every fic (nor am I doing requests), but most of the ones that I will do pretty much everyone knows and this series is one of them.
So let's first talk about The Assassination of Twilight Sparkle
I've always been under the belief that Why Am I Crying is the best story I've ever written personally, but I do believe that The Assassination of Twilight Sparkle was always the one that got a lot of people to view me. Mostly, its thanks to the timing. The creation of this story is actually a response to all the hate towards the idea of making Twilight an alicorn in the season 3 finale. I thought it was both annoying and an insult to both the creators and the fans of the show that so many jerks were just not only "bitching" about it, but also were going on about how the show was "ruined" and everything. It kinda was the closest thing to a civil war we came to in the fandom.
So I decided to create a response to it by creating a story where, after season 3, Twilight became a princess and tried to change Equestria into a more enlightened like era with both friendship, science, reason, and acceptance. Naturally, there were traditionalists who didn't like such things and they made Twilight's life a living hell, insulting her, demeaning her, hindering her, and until finally she was assassinated. Naturally, its treated as a tragedy that tears those that were close to Twilight apart with the main focus being on Princess Celestia. After all, she practically raised Twilight like a daughter and help make her into a princesses so its natural that a part of her blames herself for all of this. Plus, this wasn't done by the actions of a past villain or anything. It was done by her own subjects, the people she's sacrificed everything for and lost.
We see Princess Celestia primary go through the various stages of grief with vows to see Twilight's dream of the future become a reality. But one of the key moments was when Celestia goes "Reason You Suck Speech" on Blueblood and his group for their assassination and their reasoning behind it. Basically a reflection I personally had with those who were against this whole "Twilight is an Alicorn thing" and how their actions were ruining the fandom and hurting people. Disagreeing with something is fine, but when you go outright hateful towards a single change or a show's direction or even a fan's view of something that is different from you there is no excuse other then you're being a jackass and you need to remember its just a tv show and not your fricken life.
The story was a huge success and it helped me gain a large crowd. Also this was the story that I think started my reputation as a person who likes to kill characters and write their funerals... because I'm into grimdark shit weird things like that (And other reasons that are psychological due to all the tragedy in my life).
So naturally I started making a sequel, but when I was making it in my head I realized I could take the story further into an adventure story based on the idea that one single change can create a domino effect that could effect others or even the world. Thus started my second story: Aftermath Of A Fallen Star.
Aftermath of a Fallen Star was created to do two things: One was to show the after effects of the first story (Like Ripples from BronyWriter's Secret Life of Rarity) and to help build the world that I would be creating to lead into the adventure epic I wanted to create for this story.
The story started very well, with many people praising various chapters like Stag's and Pinkie Pie's. Also, check out the chapter done by Grand Moff Pony, many say it was the best chapter and I agree. Plus, certain things about the world I created would be explored in future seasons believe it or not like does a cutie mark represent the future job you will have in life or how ponies tend to keep themselves and not really open themselves up to the other species that exist in the world, especially in education. Some people also think I was also giving a reflection of Progressive vs Traditionalism which is a current social war today, but in honestly I wasn't and I can see why some think that especially in today's world.
However, this was when the bigger plots I was creating for this series came into play such as the true manipulation behind Twilight's assassination, Luna's attempts to stop it but failing, Spike running away, and the prophesy of the Black Star. All indicating a end of the world like scenario that would have even the gods themselves quake in fear.
Needless to say... this wasn't all favorited by people... with some saying that not only had I introduced plot holes... I kinda ruined the story for them by shifting it into a different direction they weren't prepared for... and... looking back now they were right...
Yeah, I made mistakes. Mostly on the Luna related stuff, but at the same time I don't think its as bad as people make it out to be. Still, the negative viewing did not only affect the story, but it also affected the future of the series as well. While I can blame the lack of numbers for the future Path stories on the fact that the show isn't as popular anymore and that fanficion views are just down everywhere, a part of it to blame is just how I turned the story from a tragedy and the aftermath of its actions into the build up for an attempt to be a combination of Game of Thrones and LOTR, but with ponies.
I wanted to create an epic adventure story, It's been my dream to make one since the start of the series, but I never had something to work with that I could take it to such a height. I thought The AssassinationVerse was that attempt to do it, I had a situation that I could use to build up the actions of characters and into an epic tale. However, at least half of my original readers didn't like it or want to see it and I'm assuming they stopped reading after the second story.
Needless to say, despite the problems I was determined to create Ragnarock, the third and final story for the series. It would be the longest story I ever made, with more then a hundred chapters, and I was determined to make every chapter at least 10,000 words or more for all the plans, battles, moments, and such I had spent an entire year creating... until after careful looking I realized I had made more problems. I had too many plot holes, questionable moments, and things that would take up space of the main story to explain. Thus, I had to do something to help bridge the it all together
Which lead to the creation of The Path fanfics.
Path of The Dragon and Path of The Tyrant are the current stories of the series (and I am writing the former right now with hopes of updating it this weekend) that explores the path of Ragnarok's main protagonist and antagonist and their rise to power.
Dragon follows Spike on the Erebus Islands as part of a mercenary gang and his adventures of not only growing stronger, but trying to make life better for those around him with the Power of Friendship in honor of Twilight Sparkle. This series is mostly to help show the action, adventure, and fantasy elements that Ragnarok will have. With anime-action influences combined with massive battle complex scenarios and straightedges. There is also character growth, introducing different characters and cultures, and my version of the Call of The Dragon Lord which is to be the climax of the series.
Tyrant follows the rise of Majesty Blueblood, the first born alicorn in a long time (this was before Flurry Heart was announced), who is destined to bring the world into darkness and chaos. Manipulated and taught by her family and her mentor Nazo, she embarks on her political journey in the land of Unicornia (aka Pony Nazi Germany) in her rise to ultimate power. This was to showcase the reasoning behind the villain's actions, how they became who they are, and showcase the political, scheming, and dubious side Ragnarok will portray.
Needless to say, they haven't gotten a lot of attention, likes, or favs compared to the previous fanfics. I even asked at one point what the problem was. Some say its because of the "Forced Dark Tones" I have put in the story when it didn't need to be (which I can see why people think that). Others are just not interested in fanfiction anymore. Some don't like the direction the story is going. And others just want to wait until its fully done before reading it.
Still it does have fans, and people do like reading it so I am still continuing it and I have no plans to stop. Maybe I've sadly hit as high as I can go with this series, but I personally still enjoy writing it despite its faults and I have no plans to change anything or stop.
So in conclusion, was The AssassinationVerse a success? At the start, yes it was, but I've seemed to have hit a point where I kinda ruined it for a large amount of people. Honestly, I guess the biggest sin I did was try to insert an action adventure epic tale when I didn't need to do it. It was fine just as it was, a tragedy of the death of character that was the explored in the aftermath of said death. My complex actions ruined it for people, while others enjoyed it and thus I got a divided fanbase.
Still, the fic has infused others to do fics based on the AssassinationVerse such as various characters avenging Twilight, reviving her, or even having Spike assassinated instead of Twilight in various AU's. And really, the best thing you can hope for is to be an insperation for others to write their own stories. So success there in the end.
I still like AssassinationsVerse, despite the flaws, and I am proud of it. I am still writing it and I plan to continue until the series is finally over with the last chapter of Ragnarock. It might honestly take years, but I'm gonna give it my all and I hope people will continue to read it. Thank you for listening to my retorspective. I'm not planning any schedule to do these, but I am planning to do more in the future.
Later.
you nailed it i loved why am i crying and the assassin verse was great (for me) unitl the the path books were i lost interest, this is were i like feel like a good reader and community member. i love that you did what you wanted to not what the readers thought was best, you had your narrative and went with it. i am certen the people who are still reading are enjoying the hell out of it, and i know that you as the author are making a better story making what you want instead of what others want also it keeps you wanting to wright. i may be out of assassin verse, but i will sure as hell be looking at the next thing and the thing after that.
in short thanks and looking forward to the next protect
I love your assassinationverse. The way it started as a response to the dumb alicorn Twilight hatred and how it slowly evolved into an epic adventure series was amazing and felt consistent to me. We saw how characters were affected and the world slowly built from there.
I admit I like your Path Of The Dragon more than Path Of The Tyrant, but that is mainly because I like action more than politics. I have stuck with this series since the beginning and can’t wait for Ragnarock.
I thoroughly enjoyed the assassin verse stories, it's not often that you see main characters killed off in this fandom, and although the direction you went with isn't what I thought it would be it was still very interesting. The politics from path of the tyrant are something I look forward to, not so much the other story.
It would be Interesting to see if you would keep the theme form the first story and have the main characters lose again. I really am a sucker for gut punches, and not only did you achieve that with twilights death, but the loss of innocence from the main cast, celestia especially was tantalizing. I really hope to see more like that in future.
...aliens.
Still love your stuff, dude. Keep on writing.đź‘Ť
Action-adventures/epics are often hit-or-miss for me. I'm more interested in character pieces which I found in Assassination and Aftermath. I found Assassination a good story for exploring into a story not often considered and seeing Aftermath further explore the repercussions was enjoyable too. But moving into the two Paths stories, I just stepped out.
The tone had changed, and while I'm glad you've continued writing the story you wanted to tell it has also lost my interest since I personally feel it involves and includes confusing plotlines and a sharp dark change of tone into the initial premise. In a way, I could believe that these could be responses to the initial premise but it just wasn't for me any more. I wish you luck in writing and finishing the overall story you want to tell.
I really should continue reading the AssassinationVerse. I think I took a little break because the emotions finally caught up with me, and then that little break turned into a long hiatus.
Hey, still love your stuff here, and looking forward to the rest of Assassinationverse's stuff.
Your stuff is still good as I was inspired to write a story or two centered in your Assassnverse.
If Game of Thrones is a basis for this work, how do plan to keep AssassinationVerse from crashing and burning like the finale of GoT?
GoT's crash seemed to start at Season 5 when it transitioned from a fantasy deconstruction to a straight fantasy, relying on contrivance as opposed to logical outcomes. The cynicism that was tolerable at worst for the purpose of deconstruction became a drag. AssassinationVerse seems to have had a similar stumble from deconstruction (reaction to alicorn Twilight, flaws that could exist in setting) to straight fantasy, a cynical setting that lost the constructive reason for its cynicism.
I'm assuming Ragnarock is going to end differently then GoT (The ancient prophesied threat is abruptly, anticlimatically dealt with halfway through. Spike/Daenerys snaps and turns evil after everything they've been through, massacres Unicornia/King's Landing and Majesty/Cersei, and has to be put down by Mystic/Jon Snow.), right?
I might not care for the direction AssassinationVerse went, but I applaud you for owning up to the missteps, continuing for the sake of those who still enjoy it, and being open to feedback. Keep up the good work.
Personally, I loved the Assassinverse series, along with the first story that came with it
. I'm also loving the The Path Stories you currently have, and I'm eager to see what else you have in store for us in the future
. I know that they didn't get a bunch of love from a lot of people, mainly because of the numerous potholes and edges left in them, but then again, what story does
? Now, don't take this as me saying that the fics weren't at all good, because to me they were awesome, with raw power and emotion and everything adding to that making it all the more better, including in Why Am I Crying
. It's fine that you made mistakes, all of us do, especially when it comes to story writing, and hey, I'm currently in the process of editing my entire first story to my own AU
. But you know what, practice makes perfect, and the more you practice, the better you get at it, and while you do still make mistakes here and there, at least you know what to do so it doesn't happen as frequenlyt
.
All mentions of practicing aside, I love those stories, along with Sanguine Kindness and I'm eager to see what else you have in store for us in the future concerning them
. Sure it may take a good amount of time, but that's okay, life takes priority, and you shouldn't let what others impatience deter you from both your stories and your outside life, and if they can't wait or aren't understanding enough, then what the heck
. Not everything comes quickly and at the pace that everypone likes, and we're just going to have to deal with that, one way or another
.
Anyway, just wanted to send some warm regards, and I'm looking forward to the next incoming projects
!!!
I post this out of full respect for the Assassination'verse and the work of its talented author. You've done effective, quality work and are a fantastic creator! Everyone make mistakes that can be fixed later on, be it in the story itself or in future works. I've read every piece of this Verse I could get my hands on over the years considered the fandom reactions, and thought about it while writing my own stories. After all the first story finished right about when my tale began.
The biggest stumble Assassination'verse had was balancing dark themes, horrific actions, and character focus with uplifting beats of their opposite number to counteract them. Now this may be full preaching to the choir, but the most impactful dark moments work best when given a chance to be played against levity. Giving us characters we care for actually succeeding to maintain hope that evil can be conquered. Now I know this might be thought to be taken account for, after all Majesty is fated to probably lose at some point or another. But that comeuppance is a very foregone conclusion if it even is one. Which means in the latest two tales we are either stuck with trying to maintain that hope on the Spike and company side of things knowing they are completely ignorant as to what is coming, or we are only able to watch as someone we absolutely loathe in Majesty and Unicornia keeps getting progressively better and better off.
Fleshed out characters do not necessarily equate to likable characters, so giving us more depth on characters that we already absolutely despise is a very tricky business and often requires far more attention than endearing and flushing out a character who already has some perks. Essentially once you have doubled down so far on making a character despicable and a target for the audience to not like, you best be prepared to spend a lot of time on them if you want them to be endearing. Every author craves the chance to make an endearing villain, but I think it’s been fetishized too much and too many try to jump for it. If we know she is going to bring down or at least severely impact Equestria, the main nation that most fans care about given it’s the main setting of the show, we don’t need multiple story arcs to tell us we shouldn’t like Majesty. Doubling down so much on making her a harbinger of a end of days didn’t do any favors. Especially when she has so few or no redeemable qualities that make her interesting to view as the lack of such qualities that impact her strongly enough to dictate her choices means every interaction she’s in is fairly choreographed.
Majesty appears, she interacts with ___, she ends up winning and those who oppose her keep losing. The interactions with Silversteel are not enough to give her any real depth that would make her interesting to follow. This can leave readers wondering why they are spending so much time following somebody who is so unchanging and so unlikable with no one around her to really admire or hope churn out a happy ending. With her around nothing happy is permanent.
The fact we find out later she is literally the cause and a catalyst for everything bad that ever happened and swearing to cause even more misery and grief to characters we actually care about didn’t do any favors. If it turned out so many thought she was fated to be this great destroyer and reckoning, and yet she was actually a fairly nice youth growing up, that would’ve been more interesting if I must be honest. So too could a twist that despite her father’s machinations as well is the predictions of the Deer, she actually ended up going against such fate and either being neutral or dare I say vindicating the dearly departed Twilight; that would’ve been very engaging to see how she went up against such foul and horrific things only to vindicate that good can triumph.
And before anyone says good and evil are not black and white, I think we can all agree there are some things that are morally reprehensible to the point every culture ever would say they are a bad thing. Especially the culture and perspective we as readers are mostly reading this from.
So how do you make an antagonist endearing? How do you give depth to someone who is clearly on the opposite side?
You give them a valid and likable reasons for being the way they are is one of the easiest ways. I myself had to make use of this. The sirens in my story started out just as petty and reprehensible as they were the second movie. But I knew that if I kept them as such there would be a very defined time limit on how frequently I could use them before the readers got annoyed and just gave up. So, to give them a longer shelf life I spiced it up with likable traits.
Showing genuine fear and apprehension when one of them fight as hard as she can only to lose to an adversary who demand she hand over her magic, having a familial bond with each other that is shown to have once been much stronger, going into their back history and showing they are actually children by rape inflicted upon two moral and not at all evil mermares with the implications there in that even though their mother’s love them they still were existent because of a horrible act, and the genuine hope that things could improve for them as they started to become less and less evil. It made people want to see them succeed, be it restoring their powers or restoring their family. Their fated future was uncertain but there was a promise that those three could turn things around and wind up all the better for it. And yet I still could use them as antagonists to the Rainbooms later, but now it was a much dicier situation as the readers knew they were not reprehensible through and through.
Another example of using this sort of strategy can be up employed on characters with no redeeming traits or actions. Another of the stories villains, King Ghidorah, is a mass murdering monstrosity that is directly responsible for the ill fortune fates of several likable characters in the tale. He has literally never done a single good act ever, devouring souls and destroying worlds mostly out of sheer amusement. And yet I was still able to make people engaged in his own fate because I confronted him with something understandable to any reader. Mortality. If I had him show up and get destroyed by the heroes as a big scary threat it could be action-packed but not necessarily engaging. Instead I actually spent some time but not too much looking at things from his perspective where he knows or the very least has concluded he is going to die soon. Going to die soon without leaving any lasting impact and the one goal he has unfulfilled. Essentially I gave him a bucket list and a countdown clock. And we actually never know for sure if he really was going to perish soon or if it was just an incorrect conclusion he made, but the seriousness of what he takes it makes it real.
And while I do have him scheming and cackling mad for most of his final arc, I didn’t have to make a moment and slow down to show just what someone this evil truly is. Pathetic, possibly even slightly pitiful. Now if we spend more time this slow moment might have come off as annoying, even groan inducing, but I had to be careful and spent just enough time showing his perspective and just enough time from everyone else’s that we didn’t get overexposure. I also didn’t give him unyielding success, instead showing his machinations backfired more than a few times and the heroes turned out better for it, which gave ambiguity as to if his final act would be a success or not. In the end what could’ve been an unknowing case of villain grandstanding turned into an almost heroic final battle by an old warrior seeking peace with himself. Many have regarded it as my finest story arc, and it was over 40 chapters in.
Now this isn’t me boasting about my story, I’ve made more than a few mistakes and had to learn from them. I’m only drawing from what I know the best and I certainly do see promise in these tales of yours. But I think the promise of a happy ending for the very least summer pretty for the heroes is direly needed if you’re going to try and tackle a story like this again. We can only spend so much time getting upset over good things happening to bad people, or in this case bad ponies, before wondering where is the good. Because as much as we all might like to claim to love the grim and grit of the world, all fiction is escape is among some regard or another.