((Just a bit of a long post warning, I don’t think this one is quite as long as my Friendship Games thoughts. But still I ramble about this episode quite a bit, but obviously for a good reason since it’s undeniable this episode was a pretty big deal))

Well we’ve had a few days to soak it in now, the CMC have their Cutie Marks. Now that we can start hopping off the initial excitement of it all coming to a close. It’s time to start giving the episode that brought the CMC’s quest not exactly to an end, but a new beginning.

As I said in my initial small “Big Day for the Show!” post. (I probably should of warned that it was spoilers, I kinda feel bad about that now especially with a few people I know who were understandably upset about already knowing beforehand. As really part of the excitement of the episode was certainly the whole surprise that their Cutie Marks were received in this episode.). I pretty much had a strong hunch the CMC were getting their marks this Season. Clues from before the season such as the Trailer were strongly hinting at something that they’re finally going to have, and what else could it have been other then the CMC’s Cutie Marks? Then there’s the theme of this Season called “Cutie Mark Magic”. If the CMC don’t get their marks in a season where it’s theme is based around Cutie Marks, then things would of looked dim for them ever getting it until the final season I’d say. And call it a gut feeling, but episodes like Appleloosa’s Most Wanted and Bloom and Gloom just gave a strong indication that we’d be seeing the end of the CMC’s search for their marks relatively soon. Now despite all the clues being there, I didn’t quite expect the curveball they threw at us. They certainly managed to hide it well, but at first I was almost certain them getting their marks was going to occur in the Finale where sometime during the time shenanigans we’re going to get given the hints from Friendship Games, the CMC would get their marks and it’d be one of the only things left permanent after the whole ordeal somehow. But I think I like this way much better, giving it it’s own respective huge episode and even airing it on the 5th Anniversary since the Pilot first aired. (Which I don’t know if it was too intentional as without the mid-season break the Finale would of probably aired on this date instead and that would of been nice to celebrate it too. But still it’s a big episode on a big day, so it still counts).

Now I want to say something about the episode. Which I know people have already gathered, but nonetheless even mentioning it. Depending who you are, might get… controversial. It’s the fact that Crusaders of the Lost Mark is basically what Magical Mystery Cure was for Twilight, what this one was for the CMC. The similarities are astounding. You have at least two (Maybe even three if you can think how to stretch Pip’s election) plots that could stand as their own episode intertwined in a musical fashion so it can fit the 22-minute timeslot, the protagonist of the character gets a big change near the end of the episode that will affect their characters as well as the show as a whole in the near future, and possibly more. However, having something said to be similar to MMC is bound to have mixed thoughts when you bring it up as of course everyone remembers the drama that surrounded that episode. Now I’m not saying the Cutie Mark Crusaders getting their Cutie Mark is going to start yet another great divide in the fandom like Alicorn Twilight did, as unlike AliTwi the Crusaders getting their marks have been an awaited day for a long time now while for most fans AliTwi seemingly came out of the blue (Well, there were the clues here and there like early sightings of AliTwi plushies and/or dolls, and the hints in the first half of the Crystal Empire. But some even if they saw it wrote it off as a mistake and/or mere conjecture). But here’s my thoughts on this: If you know me by now, I personally loved MMC so when I say CotLM is the CMC’s Magical Mystery Cure. That is actually a compliment, maybe if other people say it’s the CMC’s MMC they won’t exactly mean the same things I do but in terms of how I feel on the subject with MMC, it was and still is one of my favorite episodes of the show regardless of any drama, controversy, and nitpicking criticism it falls under. Nothing’s ever going to change that for me. And regarding drama, even if it’s bound to be much less vocal then AliTwi’s there already exists some form of disagreement with how the episode handled their Cutie Marks. There’s people criticizing the design of the Cutie Marks, or how the Cutie Marks they received contradicted what we learned about Cutie Marks in the first season, or that because the CMC will be finding other’s Cutie Marks that them receiving their Cutie Marks was for nothing because they’re still Crusading for Cutie Marks. Just not their own anymore. Derpibooru already has a tag called “Cutie Mark Drama” as a result and it may show up in public discussion places for the show from time-to-time especially after Season 5 is finished with no more new episodes to talk about and as we reflect over what Season 5 brought us all in the end. So yeah though it’s evident it won’t be quite as fandom shattering as MMC’s, even Drama surrounding the episode may go a similar route at times. So you can chalk that one as one more similarity.

But I think that’s enough comparison to previous episodes for now, time to actually start talking about what happened in the episode.

Now the first order of business is of course the combination of Pip’s Election as well as Diamond Tiara’s redemption that takes up about 2/3rds of the episode. With many songs going through it as it goes with the Musical format. I was surprised to see Diamond sings quite well, I’d actually say her singing was probably the best parts of any songs she sang. Her parts of the song where she’s arguing with the CMC over position of Class President against Pip as well as the first version of “Be the Pony I want to Be” were probably my favorite singing bits in the episode.

Now on Diamond Tiara’s redemption itself. It is a little jarring to see it all suddenly come in this one episode where in pretty much every episode before this we’re supposed to dislike her. And she didn’t really show any of the depth that showed up in this episode until this episode. It’s bound to be a common criticism of this episode from those with a critical eye along with the rushed pacing as well as those who remain unimpressed with Diamond Tiara as a whole. On my personal thoughts, this episode has made me like Diamond a little more but she’s not entirely in good graces yet, we’ll probably need to see a little more apologies in some sort of way in the future especially to Scootaloo after she poked fun at her for her disability to Fly. At the same time though, I found Diamond’s sarcasm when she’s talking with the Crusaders in the Clubhouse perhaps the funniest part of the episode, she had very amusing lines and faces to go along with them. I kinda hope Diamond at least keeps enough of her mean streak to keep that going, but of course have a moment to say sorry afterward and say how old habits die hard or something. Cause if she did that a lot more in her previous appearances, I’d actually find her a little more amusing to watch then she was in most episodes. Sure I’m happy Diamond can be nice and more depth to her from now on, but I’m hoping she still has a little bit to learn.

We do know now though that it was really her mother that raised her to be like that to the point where similar to Trouble Shoes there must of been a situation where Diamond got her mark but she didn’t quite understand what it meant at the time but nonetheless had to act like she got like the best Cutie Mark ever in front of everypony, flaunt it, and look down at anyone who didn’t have theirs yet including of course our main trio of Crusaders because that’s what her mother taught her to do. Now that’s going to be quite relatable to those who have… less then ideal relationships with their parents. When your parents put you up on a personal pedestal they set up their own you’re feeling pressured to keep up with their ideals regardless or not if you disagree with them. Now I can’t say what’s it’s like to have controlling parents as I personally have great relations with my Parents, they have supported me my whole life and I love them dearly but I think I at least know a few people I know online who aren’t as fortunate to feel the same way about their parents and I’d suspect it’d be really hard growing up in a situation like that. It’s also true that many bullies become bullies because they have a hard life at home, which seems to be the case for Diamond. It doesn’t excuse the actions of bullying, but in severe circumstances it can certainly turn out understandable why someone would pick on others because they may want to feel their above others to make up for the fact that at home to them feels more like a prison where their parents act like guards over everything they do or worse if the parents are particularly neglectful or even abusive. It’s going to make it at least a little harder to dislike Diamond Tiara as much now even if you rewatch earlier episodes of the show. Though the same can be said for Gilda after the Griffonstone episode that was also in Season 5.

Now that we’re outside of Diamond Tiara’s part of the episode though, there’s a reference to the Twilight Vs. Tirek battle when Pip mentions what happened to the playground. Apparently sometime during their battle perhaps a stray blast from either Twilight or Tirek managed to hit the school playground. It’s a fun little continuity reference just because that scene is still one of the top scenes of the show for me for just how much of a surprise and how epic it was (It reminded me of the fight between Aang and Ozai in the finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender). So nice to see there’s still some collateral damage from that humongous fight and it wasn’t all cleared up instantly between the two seasons.

I’m gonna go back a little on the music. What’s funny is in every musical FiM episode so far. My favorite songs have always been the more sadder in tone. In Magical Mystery Cure, my favorites were I’ve Gotta Find A Way as well as Celestia’s Ballad. Well technically Celestia’s Ballad is a little more happier but I also like to think it could be a tears of joy song too. Looking at the lyrics it’s nearly like a Mother to their offspring as they’re about to set off on a new chapter of their life. Now skip ahead to Pinkie Pride and my favorite song was Pinkie’s Lament, even if I suppose that song is one that starts off sad but ramps up to a much happier one. And now in Crusaders of the Lost Mark, my favorite turns out to be the first rendition of “Be The Pony I Want To Be” sung by Diamond Tiara. I don’t know why that ends up being the case nearly every time, but I always seem impressed more by songs that at least have some part of it that can be tearjerking.

Oh I should probably mention the thing that seemed to have finally confirmed for sure that Applejack’s (And well Big Mac’s and Apple Bloom’s too of course) parents are deceased. I was kinda hoping we’d get that a little earlier then we did (Which was part of my disappointment with Apple Family Renion), but if this indeed 100% acknowledgement. I approve that it’s finally a canon thing. Now the question is, will there be any more references to this in anyway? We’ll have to see.

But I think it’s about time we get to the true catch of this episode. The very fact that the CMC got their Cutie Marks. But first I want to talk a little show history if I may. I’ll first mention how I got into the show in February 2012. I don’t remember how I first learned of the show but I think I saw it mentioned, and I was so bored I thought I’d see it. And the Pilot surprised me enough that I wanted to see more. Within one week I had caught up with all the episodes that had aired up till’ that point. So I got hooked, enough so that I wanted to start catching the episodes live. Do you know what was the first episode of FiM I caught on Live TV? It was Show Stoppers. I know nowadays that’s probably considered one of, if not the worst of the CMC episode as it’s the episode that basically started our impatience for them finding their Cutie Marks. But personally, I feel a bit of a soft spot for the episode myself. But I do understand why with each and every Cutie Mark Crusader episode where they tried and failed to get their Cutie Mark could make Show Stoppers all the more annoying cause it makes it seem they’re drawing out a foregone conclusion as what Show Stoppers seem to show was that Sweetie is a good singer, Apple Bloom is good at design, and Scootaloo’s a Dancer and/or Daredevil on her Scooter. Now when we look at the final results, it’s definitely at least a little different then what Show Stoppers would of had us believe. Though Sweetie’s is the closest as there is still the Music Symbol with what seems to be a Cutie Mark within a Cutie Mark as while they all have a shield, they have icons in the middle of them personalized. Now neither Apple Bloom or Scootaloo have obvious references to design nor neat tricks like Dancing but that hasn’t stopped some rather vague Cutie Marks from being expanded upon before. Perhaps we’ll learn for sure in future CMC episodes.

For now though, we can just bask in the relief that the CMC got their Cutie Marks as yet another one of the many Status Quo breaking moments in this show. There’s been at least one in every season after Season 1. Lesson Zero was our first one, it brought an end to what could have made the show become stale really fast if they didn’t find some way to break those limits. I’m referring to the Friendship Letters, particularly also that it was only Twilight who could write them. And Season 5 (and any episode without a Friendship letter for that matter), if the moral is spoken in anyway it’s not as obvious as a journal entry. Season 2 also had Canterlot Wedding with the introduction of occasionally recurring characters Shining Armor and Cadence. (Though mostly Cadence, poor Shining hasn’t really got his due. But apparently both have a secret getting revealed this Saturday, should be interesting ^^) Season 3 had the debut of the Crystal Empire, which was of course the place Cadence was meant to rule for, as well as the return of Discord, Rainbow becoming closer to being a Wonderbolt, and of course who could forget Twilight’s ascension into an Alicorn. Season 4 has the Elements of Harmony being given up to the tree and Twilight’s Golden Oak Library being destroyed in the Finale, with a brand new Castle which would be featured in Season 5. And of course this Season now has the Cutie Marks as part of that list of things this show has done to prove that FiM’s Status Quo certainly isn’t as binding as most other shows of it’s kind are. There are probably so many shows that have something they achieve to answer that’s introduced in the first season and meant for a much later moment. But never actually get to that point because either the show is canceled before they can even get that far, or they save it for the very, very, VERY, end when they actually do get to do it. But not this time, FiM gives the CMC their Cutie Marks smack dab in the middle of Season 5. With a Season 6 on the way and even a full length movie. They could of have easily drawn it out until they know for sure what’s the final Season of FiM and make the CMC getting their Cutie Marks one of the last episodes of the show or even have them get it as part of the movie instead of in the actual show. But instead nearly the entire fandom gets to be taken by surprise as the CMC get their Cutie Marks in what seemed like a normal episode at first, not even warned about the fact that it was going to be a Musical episode either. And I’m glad they did surprise us, as this arguably can go up for most surprising moments in the show’s history next to the reveal of the Changelings in Canterlot Wedding.

Though one thing I want to get to, it kinda goes back to when I was talking about similarities between this episode and Magical Mystery Cure. Besides the similarities though there were definitely different factors going into things before each episode aired. As said before there was no big indication Crusaders of the Lost Mark was going to be any different from previous CMC episodes. And most people were definitely not thinking the CMC were getting their marks in the episode. Magical Mystery Cure didn’t have the same comfort for several reasons. Not only because of Hasbro’s overeagerness that they spoil Twilight’s ascension nearly a month before the episode airs. But also the fandom was already in a bit of an unstable condition during Season 3. Alicorn Twilight was only a passing rumor before the confirmation where all hell broke lose in January 2013. The only evidence pointing towards it were photos of officially licensed Twilight plushies that had Twi as an Alicorn as well as hints from the first 10 minutes of Crystal Empire (Celestia mentioning a “Next Level of Studies”, as well as symbols that showed behind Celestia and Luna and finally Twilight as well). Most people scoffed it off though seeing the former as a simple mistake and the latter as pure conjecture. Now aside from AliTwi, I think other factors went into people’s thoughts on Season 3. Such as the fact it was made only 13 episodes in order to meet the traditional 65-episode syndication limit. If the show wasn’t as successful as it was too, MMC would of been the straight up Series Finale. M.A. Larson mentioned there was a decently different script for the episode that was meant to be the series end so there’d probably be a little more closure here and there. This version of MMC had Twilight given what was basically a Pandora’s Box, of which Twilight opens, and when Twilight asks Celestia for help. Celestia simply says something to the likes of “Twilight… What have you done?!” with the fact that defeating an opened Pandora’s Box was something Celestia could never do. And basically the rest of the episode would be Twilight having to find a way herself to close Pandora’s Box herself, thus having Twilight prove she did something Celestia couldn’t and as a result became an Alicorn herself. And that’s how it would of all ended. But when Season 4 was greenlighted, now they had to do something different and they didn’t have to go too much on closure now that more was coming. There were also mixed feelings on some of the previous episodes before AliTwi, including Crystal Empire perhaps seeming like a downgrade from what we got from Canterlot Wedding. Sombra is still considered perhaps the weakest main show 2-parter villain. And of course there was also Discord’s reformation that many were split on, like even if you liked Discord and would like to see more the way they seem to turn him around so quickly may have not felt so natural. I also feel there was some sort of burn out for some people in the fandom, and that Season 3 not meeting their expectations was just their last straw. An earth-shattering status quo change like Twilight’s ascension only making this rift in the fandom larger. Between all that as well as the announcement of Equestria Girls… let’s just say that for a majority of 2013 it wasn’t so fun to be a brony…

But anyway, what I’m getting to is imagine if before MMC. We had no clues aside from what we got from the show itself that Twilight would become an Alicorn. No Twilight Plushies, no stupid “Former Hasbro Employee” clickbait stuff saying the show will jump the shark as Twilight becomes an Alicorn and Derpy will be “Phased Out”, No initial disappointment that Season 3 was only 13 episodes, and no announcement of Twilight becoming an Alicorn only weeks before the episode airs. What would it have been like if Twilight’s ascension came up like how they did the CMC’s Cutie Marks? Now I’m sure the reaction would still have been quite large, and there would probably be still the people angry thinking this was done only to sell a new toy. And unlike the CMC’s Cutie Mark it wasn’t an awaited event from as far back as the first season. I think the reaction would of still been a little extreme, but maybe not quite as extreme as it would of given it would have been yet another proper surprise. As I think most people who weren’t fond of the change already were pessimistic since they saw the announcement and had already had their moment of rage before the episode even airs. I think normally if you watch something that you know you’ll hate, you’re likely not going to be watching it with an open mind. They had already decided Twilight becoming an Alicorn was a horrible thing, and regardless of how the episode handled it they would of criticized it even if they had explained it near perfectly. But if it was a total surprise, there would be the gut reactions which could be good or bad, but ultimately without any clues like the plushies or the “Jump the Shark” warning there may have been more discussion about how this might of been something the Staff did and not 100% Hasbro wanting a fourth Alicorn Princess to sell. There might of been less virtually grabbing eachother’s throats within the fandom had no one had their perceptions blind their judgement. There might of been even more people who rolled with it. If there’s less people crying foul of it Jumping the Shark and/or pure Executive Meddling. Perhaps more people might of believed that this was an intention, even if the build up towards it is rather subtle (Ex: Twilight’s element being a tiara instead of a necklace like all the others, and also how there wasn’t really an explanation yet for what Celestia was training Twilight to eventually be. Which IMO the ascension to Princess made that make perfect sense). It’s a shame that all that Drama happened on part of everything in Season 3 including the base breaking stuff that was Twi’s ascension. As I think given the same benefit of taking people by surprise that the Cutie Marks showing up in Crusaders of the Lost Mark may have helped MMC in it’s initial reaction. That said though, MMC despite the controversy remains one of the more popular episodes of Season 3. In fact the last time Equestria Daily held Favorite Episodes poll for each season, when Season 3 came up. MMC held a lead pretty much the whole time, only challenged by Sleepless in Ponyville, but ultimately won the Season 3 poll. That means to me that maybe on part that Season 4 and 5 has portrayed Twilight as a Princess pretty well, but it certainly sounds like it’s been at least vindicated since then. We’ve gotten some interesting stuff with Twilight as Princess already, she’s still the Twilight we know and love, and the show certainly hasn’t jumped the shark (And no, don’t go all smart aleck with me about the Shark plush in Slice of Life that Vinyl and Octavia go over). Crusaders of the Lost Mark will probably get some of the same flack as MMC got for a little bit including similar complaints such as rushed pacing and/or too many songs. But as we see with MMC, it still has a fairly good enough amount of people who loved it. And with CotLM having less of the drama surrounding it as well as bringing in something the fandom’s wanted to see since the days of Season 1 it will surely also be amongst one of the more loved episodes.

Now I want to get a bit on my personal thoughts on the episode. Specifically how it does in comparison with the previous 2 Musical episodes. Magical Mystery Cure and Pinkie Pride. You may know both of those are in my Top 10 Personal Favorite Episode list. Did this one crack into it to make it into a Top 11? Erm… sorry if this disappoints any of you. But it doesn’t quite reach that mark for me, don’t get me wrong though. I’m not suddenly saying I dislike the episode. There’s many great episodes of the show that I love that while I still enjoy them a lot, they weren’t as amazing as the 10 episodes I like so much for me. (For a recap those 10 are: Cutie Mark Chronicles, Lesson Zero, Hurricane Fluttershy, Canterlot Wedding, Magic Duel, Magical Mystery Cure, Princess Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pride, Twilight’s Kingdom, and Amending Fences) It’s a personal favorite list, I am by no means saying like these 10 are the only good episodes of the show. Because if that were the case, I probably would of stopped watching because who’s going to watch a show with only about a 10% hit rate? I will however say it certainly is in the upper-tier of Cutie Mark Crusader episodes. Definitely up there with the Luna+CMC episode trilogy at the very least. It is my least favorite of the three musical episodes, but that’s only because I loved MMC and Pinkie’s Pride so much it’s hard to beat them. Just while I do like the CMC, I generally prefer the Mane 6 especially with the case of Twilight when we’re talking about MMC. So in short my personal view is Magical Mystery Cure > Pinkie’s Pride > Crusaders of the Lost Mark. They’re all great episodes of the show though, I’m just stating personal preference.

Anyway, it’s about time to wrap this up. Again it’s incredible to see the CMC get their marks after so long and it’s sure going to be an exciting future for their characters for certain. This was a pretty much perfect way to top off the 5th Anniversary of the Pilot’s air date. The CMC hasn’t only just made their marks on their flanks. They’ve made their marks on us as well ^^