Story Start Date: January 28, 2013
Story Finish Date: April 25, 2017
Author's Notes Date: May 4, 2021
As you can tell by the dates above, it's been one heck of a ride, one heck of a struggle, one heck of an effort, but here we are. Four years of production, and four years of waiting for this outro to be made; a story that is now 8 YEARS IN THE MAKING!!
Never has a story taken me this long to make and the end results are...well, pretty disappointing, to say the least. Believe it or not, what you are reading is NOT the story I originally wanted to tell, but is the by-product of what fans wanted. I'm not saying it's your fault or anything. I'm saying that it's my fault for not sticking to the story I wanted to tell instead of trying to be a "crowd pleaser", as it were.
Confused? Well, allow me to explain all about this story and what can laughingly be called "the plot"...
How it Started
It was June of 2012.
The story, "New Discoveries" had just finished and the demand for a sequel were pouring in faster than I had ever anticipated across all three websites this story is associated with [Fanfiction, DeviantArt, and FIMFiction]. With the hopes to capitalize on the success of the original story, a quick sequel was drafted and announced by November of 2012. Set to be released a year after "New Discoveries" was first released, everything was set for what was to be great story about the hardships of young homosexual love.
Quick Off the Mark
The problem was that, when the story was started in January of 2013, it was still just as I had just said: a quick draft. You can tell by the description of the story that the main focus was supposed to be on Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Rumble, and the subsequent love triangle they would form. Sweetie and Scoots are in love, Rumble enters the picture and wins the heart of Sweetie, resulting in her relationship with Scoots starting to diminish, forcing them to really think if they were meant to be. Sounds good on paper [pun entirely intended], but when the story officially started and was about five chapters in, that's when the real problems started to rear their ugly heads in.
Despite the premise being a pretty solid one, it didn't make for a very long story that would rival its predecessor; the story would have been ten chapters, give or take, before it would start to painfully repeat itself. Additional material and minor subplots were added to try and beef up the story and make the outcome seem a lot less mean, but this proved to cause more harm than good.
Apple Bloom's Subplot
Apple Bloom's subplot of falling in love with Rumble literally comes out of nowhere [seriously, reread chapters 4-6 again and tell me it doesn't just manifest out of thin air]. This was because I had thought about the ending of the story. Anyone who knows me could have told me the ending of the story before it even started: Sweetie and Scoots get back together and Rumble is kicked to the curb with no "good ending" at all. Although, with the benefit of hindsight (looking at you, "Marks and Recreation" episode), that may not have been such a bad idea, but still. Adding Apple Bloom to the mix was meant to try and alleviate that harsh blow. Admittedly, it was never an intention to make Rumble and Apple Bloom a couple by the end of the story. All she was meant to be was a soft pillow for him to land on before he hit the ground, giving him support where he needed it and the hopes for a brighter future. Sadly, this became one of the central focuses and something that really took away from the story than it added.
Rarity's Subplot
Rarity, Rarity, Rarity. If there's one thing that was slap in the face for this story, it was making Rarity an active participant of this story. Originally, she was meant to be a support character and nothing more; she was given the idea of their relationship being "just a phase" early on in the story so that, after Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo broke up, she would use those thoughts to help her cope with her heartache.
That's it!
However, by the time we reached chapter 8, it was decided that she was going to be an active player, being the puppet master that was pulling all the strings. Although I tried to make her motivations on point with some of the "real world" issues about homosexuality, it still came across as completely forced and extremely last minute. To make matters even worse, SHE became the reason everyone read the story, wanting to see all her lies and scheming blow up in her face; this is evident in that, after Chapter 24, the views on chapters diminished. Although I am grateful that people stuck around just for that, it saddens me that no one was really interested in the main focus of the story: Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
Meeting Fan Demand
Although these subplots were added at the last minute, I still tried to focus the story on what was originally promised, which turned out to be disastrous [why do you think the main plot of the story didn't start until chapter 13?]. A new story, in the middle of the current story, was outlined and implemented, complete with new plot threads, scenes that would have made the growing relationships start to feel natural and make sense, and everything that was hinted at in the beginning of the story paving the way for what would be a better story than before. Sadly, it was about chapter 14 when a LOT of the PMs and comments started pouring in and changed everything.
You see, people started hitting me with the same complaints: the story was moving too slow for their liking. No one wanted to see the relationships grow. What they wanted to see was Rarity get what she deserved and how Apple Bloom and Rumble's relationship would work without it feeling like he was just "settling" or "catching her on the rebound". Because of so many messages like this, I made the stupid decision to give in to what everyone wanted and began making cuts and edits to the story to make it end faster and get to the scenes everyone wanted to see. This resulted in plot points in the story being introduced, but going nowhere, everything feeling extremely rushed and forced, and certain characters becoming very unlikeable.
So, you see, it's not your fault for this story being this way. It's my fault for thinking that I needed to alter what could have been a great story into an overly-contrived mess of stuff that happens in a sequence. I regret not sticking to my guns and just telling the story I wanted to tell, regardless of who said what.
With all that said, you'd think that that would be as bad as it gets. Unfortunately, two other events happened that almost made this story get thrown off of a cliff with cement shoes on. Brace yourselves, because it only gets worse from here...
The "Official" Third Installment
That's right, folks. In April of 2015, I was contacted by a user on Fanfiction by the name of "CMC Agent Wolf". They had stated that they were inspired by the story so much that they wanted to make a third installment to the series, with the working title "New Adventures", after the story was complete. Not much can be said about it because we haven't talked about it for a long time, so it's safe to say the project is dead. What can be said, based on what we discussed, is that it would have been an alternate universe story, taken place XX amount of years in the future where Sweetie and Scoots are all grown up and with kids of their own. The story itself was meant to be a series of short stories that would be retold in a "Remember that time when..." fashion. This is relatively good news, but then, something far worse happened that changed everything...
Crusaders of the Lost Mark
I don't want to start a comment-war with anyone, so I'll just be brief: I absolutely HATE this episode! I hate everything about it, including [though not limited to] the cutie marks the Crusaders got. I feel it's a huge injustice to the characters and that they deserve so much better. This episode impacted me on such a negative level that I couldn't look at the Crusaders anymore, let alone write about them. TV shows make me laugh, cry, shout out in annoyance, and even make me irate, but it's very rare when a show hurts me so much and fills me with such distain that I practically lost faith in the franchise.
But, how does this relate to the story and its third installment?
Well, the ending, where the story ties into Season 2, Episode 6: The Cutie Pox was something I wanted to rewrite and include in "New Discoveries", back when I wanted to do a 3.0 revision on the story. Deciding it was best to let sleeping dogs lie, I came to the conclusion of incorporating the tie-in with this story. Continuity clues were everywhere in the story; it only would have taken a keen eye to notice them all. Therein lies the problem: with a third installment on the way that was set to be an "alternate universe" story, I felt it was a huge injustice to the writer. He would have to alter his story in order for it to tie into the continuity of the show. Feeling guilty, the ending overcame many rewrites in an attempt to satisfy how I wanted the story to end and how their story would begin.
Because of what happened with this third installment and how negatively the episode impacted me, the story was almost cancelled. It seemed like there was no way out and that it was best that some things were best left for dead in the sands of time.
While time has proven to be the true enemy of this story, in this case, it has proven to also be the best ally. Since it’s been so long, that original third installment has been long forgotten about, but my feelings about "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" have changed dramatically. Still, I can't forget how these two events practically killed this story.
Revival?
With so many disasters going on, and so much going against this story, a fair question that would be asked is, "If it was as bad as you say it was, why continue at all? What made you keep going until the very end?"
Well, the answer to that is quite simple: somehow, someway, there was still an audience for this story. People were genuinely invested to see what happened in the story, even after the climax of Chapter 24. So, that support kept me going, as well as personal investment; as stated previously, this was the first sequel that was started and (at the time) was mostly done, so I bit the bullet and finished it anyway, if only for the bragging right that I finished the damn thing!
Maybe…
With everything said and done, there's nothing left to say about this except that I continuously think about what could have been for this story. Despite production being a living nightmare, I always look back at the things I had to take out and say to myself, "Maybe…"
Similarly with "New Discoveries" (and with the recent release of the Snyder Cut of Justice League), I have been heavily inspired to (possibly) go back and create an "Author's Cut" of this story. Obviously, I am not promising anything, but if such a thing were to happen, it would most likely be posted to "FanFiction.net" (since I don't think this site would allow such a thing) and would include all the chapters and scenarios that were cut out of the story, making it the original story that I wanted to tell. This would include all the proper motives, all the open scenes actually going somewhere, and making it the length that it really should have been. Of course, the ending would be the exact same, so it's not like there would be anything devastatingly different about it that would make it a "must-read", but it would at least give me the closure that I need to properly put all of this behind me.
Maybe…maybe…
Conclusion
I can't begin to tell you how many times I tried to type this up, trying not to sound like a whiny baby about all this and pass the blame onto other people why this story turned out so bad. At the end of the day, this story is long forgotten, and for good reason, because this really should have had the proper drafting and outlining before it was even announced. All I can say now is that it's a lesson learned for next time (if there even will be a "next time").
If you are one of the few people reading this, then you have my utmost respect and gratitude. Thank you for sticking around for the ending of this story and for this long-overdue outro. It means the world to me! I thank you and love you!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I sleep now…
~Phantom Shadow
Trilogy?
If you're one of the few people actually wondering if there will be a third installment of this series, all I will say on this matter is this: No promises, but you never know. Maybe something is already in the works... ;)