Featured 3/3/2017!
Everypony knows about a Cute-ceañera, the traditional celebration of obtaining a Cutie Mark. But there's one other tradition that some do not know of: changing your name to match your Mark. The CMC just found out about this, and are hungry to learn more.
A simple 'Cutie Mark Chronicles' style story investigating a common fan idea that I'm in agreement on. Hope you enjoy it!
In face it's not clear, the title is a pun on Mark of Shame.
Also included are many Development Gags and Fandom Nods.
Commissioned by http://alexwarlorn.deviantart.com/ !
Preview image by http://dasprid.deviantart.com/!
MLP belongs to Hasbro!
Chapters (1)
Ok, so I noticed a couple of problems. The big one is that you like using ellipses (The "...") a lot. There's nothing wrong with using ellipses actually, it's perfectly fine grammatically. But it's like an embellishment. Using it over and over can be jarring as it tends to catch the eye and cause a literal pause in the readers mind. All that stopping and restarting makes a piece feel abrupt and grating. If you want to maintain the character's uncertain feelings, it's ok to just write something like "She said uncertainly" or something to that effect.
Everything else I noticed was minor. A far more nitpicky person might call you out on these things, but I don't think they're piece breaking problems.
Oh, and you had pretty solid characterization. Except for maybe Diamond Tiara, all of the characters felt true to the show.
I admit, this is something that has occasionally bugged me, so nice fic.
This is a very clever story.
This was a cute little story, not bad at all!
Thanks for the writing dude!
Okay, that made me laugh. Nice story!
This was a nice story and the first that I have seen that explores the idea of changing a pony's name after getting a Cutie Mark.
It's nice to find someone that shares this headcanon
This was a very nice story, with a reasonable explanation for one of canon's mysteries.
This was a very interesting exploration of this concept and one handled in a remarkably and plausibly non-traumatic way.
I'm not sure but I doubt Griffin laws are similar to Equestrian laws. I'm pretty sure that a Griffin is only allowed to change their name by Royal Command or if they return with the requisite heads of fifty enemies.
Hmm... I never thought of this idea before... I kinda like it
This was really cute and enjoyable! Definitely faving this!
7993209 How was Diamond Tiara out of character? I felt she was in-character.
Finally got round to reading this...
WOW is all I can say.
Well done. Hope to read more from you in the future...
Nice story! I love the idea!
7994594 pointed out cutting down on the ellipses, as did 7993209, and I agree with them. However, I'm also that nitpicky person that AuDragon mentioned.
Like I said, the story was great, so I'm not giving you any flak for it, but there were quite a few grammatical and mechanical errors scattered throughout. I don't have time to point them all out, unfortunately, but I figured I would confirm that we nitpickers do notice. I would find yourself an editor so you can turn this little gem into a masterpiece.
Oh, also:
Oh, childhood innocence...
This has been more or less my own head canon for years. It's nice to see somepony else has similar ideas on Equestrian naming conventions. Name-change theories explain so much of the merchandise vs. show naming!
7994863
I said maybe. I felt like she wouldn't be that unintentionally malicious, as her song "The Pony I Want to Be" hinted at. But she didn't feel that far off and I could accept her characterization as it is in the story currently.
A good explanation and let's fannon names exist with out contradicting cannon ones. And yea the crusaders have kind of vague marks so changing their wouldn't really fit. Got a felling Gabby might just legally make her name Gabby instead of just her nickname if given the chance. Does make me wonder do non-pony equestrian citizens change their names? Some species might have violent naming conventions, a griffon named say Bloodbeak might change their name to something more friendly.
7994532
I imagine it's just tradition that Griffins names ALWAYS start with G.
7994995
Thanks a moment for it to sink in with us the readers. And it is sweet. Reminds me of a fanfic where the CMC ask RD where foal come from, only to reveal RD herself doesn't know as a mare! (It's a comedy.) It leads to the mane six thinking RD is pregnant until Twilight has enough of the nonsense going around.
7995300 My own headcanon is that it's a familial generational/era thing with griffons. Gilda's generation and the two above her all start with a G. I'm writing a story where Gilda has had a daughter, and her name begins with St, as does the daughter's son, while another family all starts with the letter T. I like to think Gilda would be the one to break the tradition in her family.
7995307 Actually, I think I've read that one, too!
7995256 Ah, okay.
It was delightful and thought provoking. One part that confused me was that when they were discussing Spoiled Rich's original name, you seemed to flip around Spoiled Rich and Spoiled Milk a few times.
I love it! I love the explanation, and I love the birth names you gave to lots of ponies. The only thing I would disagree with is Maud, just from her siblings I suspect Maud was her middle name at birth instead of her first name, and she changed it to her first name at birth. I think my favorite one is Touchdown.
Oh and Spoiled Rich was named Spoiled Milk at birth because her family was a bunch of dairy farmers, insecurity about being nouveau-rich explains rather a lot about her.
I was kind of expecting at the end the CMC would give themselves a middle name of some sort, but this ending works too.
7995327 I imagine most griffons will just add a G to the front when pronouncing any new name for another griffon.
A very solid work. Well done.
This is a very good one-shot.
Nice tie in to one of the more recent comic issues!
I really enjoyed this one-shot, very cute and helps make a lot of sense for why ponies names fit their marks so precisely. Well done!
got most of the 'other' names right but 'Touchdown' is Rarity's Father's name (Touchdown Pass)
7999318 ...are you sure?
8000941
not sure if if its his old or new name but yeah
oh and the mothers Names are Pearl and cookie crumbles
Who the heck is changeling Kevin? If you're referring to that changeling at Cranky and Matilda's wedding, I'm pretty sure that was actually thorax
Huh, I guess she's channeling Sunset Shimmer. Weird.
8024299
Nope, he's official. http://mlp.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_non-pony_characters#Kevin
Been there, done that. Pro tip, echolocation is NOT all that it's cut out to be.
Ooh. Double ouch.
Is it worse than any of the names of the stallions in your family?
Show writers trying to make a point.
Cutie Mark Crusaders Name Brainstormers! Hooray!(this will never die!!!!!!)
Literally every other mane cast member. It went pretty darn well last time.
...Fair enough.
This idea is genius! It explains almost every single name discrepancy! And I'm somehow just now realizing this!
Well, she does cheat a bit with the Party Cave. But still.
If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Why they never say miss in the show I'll never know.
...Celestia forgive me.
Its like plunger shoes, but with no ceiling!
Muffin button.
A text gag that realizes that characters can't see text is surprisingly rare in fanfiction.
Something your family is going to excel(pun intended) at making in a century or so.
Or Schizo-Tech. That works too.
'Ere we go, 'ere we go!(Apologies. The commenter has become an Ork for no reason other than that it is really late and he's tired. We will fix this as soon as possible).
BWAHAHAHA-Actually that isn't that bad. I was expecting something like Plaid Stripes.
For some reason, the sky grew dark and lightning flashed.
Oh really.
Somebody needs to mail this line to the show writers.
And thus was the CMC's Guide to the Galaxy born. Looking back, this explains quite alot about the Guide's penchant for insanity and property destruction(though anybody actually trying to prove the latter can talk to the Guide's always-out-to-lunch-when-you-call lawyers).
FYI, Maud's dress is cut in 1960's Mod (modern) style.
Cute story.
--Spade
8026151
Ya know, Starlight's name was going to be Aurora... but Disney's copyright lawyers put a stomp to that.
Like poor Coco's name.
I guess Twilight book series' didn't have deep enough pockets.
Everyone knows the copyright system is insane but no one does anything about it except make it worse.
8024299
No. According to supplementary material, his name is Kevin.
7999318
He wouldn't name his child Jr?
You could write another story !
7993209
I remember that my English teacher was talking about term papers & asked "Who knows what ellipses are?"
I said "That's when the moon gets in front of the sun & casts its shadow over the Earth. But, what does that have to do with term papers?"
#7 in Top 10 Reasons I Almost Flunked English
Cool
8569088
Yes, but would there be enough material to use?
And personally... I personally think the trigger way, "kill or be killed" way they've written the copyright laws is terrifying, but we continue to do nothing about it!