The Play's The Thing: In Retrospect · 1:00am Apr 3rd, 2015
Hey all,
Not too long ago, I finished the short story Playing Second Fiddle. The story is about Diamond Tiara's discontent at being cast as a supporting character in a play. Of course, the play featured is the one that composes the bulk of my first finished and, in my opinion, most well-balanced story "The Play's The Thing!" Playing Second Fiddle is meant to be a short companion piece to The Play's The Thing, describing how Diamond Tiara reacted to, and eventually got over, being "robbed" of the starring role. If you liked The Play's The Thing, check it out!
However, this blog post is dedicated to The Play's The Thing.
The Play's The Thing was borne of three reasons:
1) A departure from the emotional rollercoaster that is "Scootaloo & The Cabinet of Seers" was sorely needed.
2) I loved the idea of Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo as an adorable couple. They are so darn cute!
3) I was very interested in how the newly united ponies of Equestria would tackle the inevitable romances that would follow Equestria's unification, and the tension and misgivings that would come with it.
I'm really fond of the story, and I thought it would be really neat to share some insights and inspirations that went into creating the story. Kind of like a "making of" of sorts or a trivia page.
-The title of the holiday the play surrounds, "The Night of Harmony's Flowers", is about a fictional plant called Harmony's Flower. Much like the the seeds of truth in "The Cutie Pox" episode, it was a flower that bloomed under rather different circumstances than most normal flora. This flower in particular would bloom only when creatures that were different from one another expressed romantic feelings and expressions with each other. When they shared a kiss (or a similarly powerful expression of love 
), Harmony's Flower would fully bloom and stay that way. In my mind, I think that Harmony's Flower would make for a great wedding gift, or as a part of a wedding ceremony.
-The flower's appearance, curiously enough, is based on Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. The flower itself is based on Scootaloo. The petals are those of a tiger lily, which has six orange petals surrounding the purple floret. Orange for Scootaloo's fur, and purple for her mane. In many depictions of Scootaloo's wings within the show, there are six feather "segments" that compose them, matching the six petals.
The stem is one from a rose, which is notorious for it's thorns. The thorns, in this case, represent Sweetie Belle's horn. The primary color for the stem is white, and the leaves below the head of the flower are pink, matching Sweetie Belle's coat and mane. The hybridization of different flowers is meant to symbolize two different races coming together to form something new and wonderful.
-During the flashback where Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle meet, Sweetie Belle imagines herself with a variety of cutie marks and professions. They are identical to the jobs that she and Scootaloo use to defend Apple Bloom when they meet in the episode "Call of the Cutie."
-The date of the holiday in the story is June 12. This is taken from the day of the Supreme Court ruling in the case of Loving vs. The State of Virginia, concluded June 12, 1967, where it was decided that people of different races could be legally married. It is also known as Loving Day. The writer of the play in The Play's The Thing, Mrs. Loving, is named after Mildred Loving of the holiday's namesake.
-Magistrate Warren is named after Chief Justice Earl Warren, who wrote the opinion for the unanimous court outlawing interracial marriages, citing that outlawing such marriage was an act of racism, and was thus unconstitutional. Magistrate Warren's actions lead to similar consequences.
-Aide Cohen was named after Mildred and Richard Loving's lawyer, Bernard Cohen. In The Play's The Thing, Aide Cohen doesn't actually speak, a role reversal between lawyers and their clients during a trial.
-Star Bright and Drift Monsoon are named after singers Sarah Brightman and Chris Thompson. For the Japanese version of the film Pokemon: The Rise of Darkrai, they performed the end credits theme I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go) together. The song is about two people in love with each other, yet cannot be together. The two singers proclaim that they will eventually be together again, if only in spirit and memory.
-The village name of Founder's Green stems from the term "Fiddler's Green" that depicts the afterlife as a sort of paradise. This is keeping with the song's theme above, wherein Star and Drift would eventually be together, if only in spirit and memory.
-When Cheerilee describes parents of different races to the class, she uses the example "Your mommy is an earth pony, your daddy is a pegasus." The character of Magistrate Warren tells the village leaders that "his mother is an earth pony, his father a pegasus." Not a coincidence, because Cheerilee helped to write the play Harmony's Flowers.
-At the very end of The Play's The Thing, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo are on stage performing the events of the story. This was inspired by the originally scripted ending of the 2005 film adaptation of the play Rent. At the film's conclusion, it transitions from the "real world" to a stage, where the cast of the movie reunite and finish the finale. The song's lyrics mirror Sweetie Belle's struggle and decision to confess her feelings to Scootaloo. Same sex-relationships were also a major component of the film.
-My idea is that the events of The Play's The Thing were eventually written into an actual biographical play about Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, hence the chapter's act-based naming scheme. They are obviously the stars, but the narrator, with lines seen at the end, is meant to be Cheerilee.
-Mrs. Loving notes that she appreciated Sweetie Belle changing Drift's character to be a weak flier to bolster his character. This implies that in the original Harmony's Flowers, Drift was simply chosen as an ambassador, and could fly just fine. However, Scootaloo brings up that Drift couldn't fly well to defend her volunteering to play the role - before Scootaloo was cast as Drift. Does this mean that Sweetie Belle could have planned the whole casting outcome when she edited the script? Or did Sweetie Belle simply write that in the script to mirror her situation? You decide.
So yeah, there's that. It was a fun little story to write, but it had a lot of hopefully interesting quirks and intricacies for dedicated readers to look into or discover. I hope you all find it interesting, and I'd love to know what you think!
Books and movies based on real things are awesome when done right. And you did it right.
Bravo!
I really admire how much thought you put into this story. You poured your heart into it and I think that's what truly made it great
I loved this story very much. Thank you.
Yes, though I've also wondered, you ever consider writting a story of the play itself? Like, just that story? I think it in of itself wqs great and I'd love to see more of that story of how all love was legalized in equestria
2938917 Thank me? No, no, no, thank YOU! Effort put in to a story means absolutely nothing without readers like yourself to see it.
2938685 Thanks! I think this was a neat adaptation because the story didn't really advertise itself as being based on the holiday.
2939497 You know, I have been asked that three different times. I have it in my pocket as a potential story idea, and I just wonder if I can make it interesting enough to serve a story on its own. Getting the right ratio of romance and political ridiculous-ness and all that.
Wow, a lot went into this.
This is all pretty cool. It shows what other writers put into their stories. I love it when stories have these hidden little easter eggs in them. If I were a super history buff, or a legal expert, I may have caught onto the date connecting to an actual court ruling. Sadly, I didn't, but that's okay. These are just hidden gems for people to enjoy.
Sarah Brightman is awesome!
The Play's the thing is a lovely story.