Rebuilding a Crusade retrospective : Scootaloo's parents. · 7:30am May 26th, 2017
So, I find myself laying awake tonight with a slight case of insomnia... Needless to say, I have decided to take a moment and look back at what I have written already... Or more specifically, what led me to make Scootaloo's parents the way they are in Rebuilding a Crusade.
When I started conceptualizing Rebuilding a Crusade, I simply had a premise... And, that premise had been to take every "___, from the CMC, was really ____'s daughter" story, and make them all true, all at once. While making it work for Rarity has proven more difficult then I expected, the most difficult part of the scenario was still changing custody of Scootaloo from her parents (whoever they are in cannon) to Rainbow Dash.
This is where the question became difficult... Scootaloo's home life seems quite cheerful in canon (even if her parents have yet to be revealed... Although dialog in Parental Glideance has made me wonder about that...). So, I would have to go non-canon in order to set up a scenario that allowed this set of events to occur.
Once I had established that I needed to leave cannon, I had considered several ways to do just this... I could have made her an Orphan, and simply had Rainbow Dash get custody by default. But, I had thrown this idea out, because I felt like I wanted to try something less obvious.
The next possibility was to have Rainbow Dash earn custody of Scootaloo from her parents. But, I didn't want to do this, because I was worried about the custody hearing adding little to the story (other than bumping my word count up.)
So that left me with my final idea (and ultimately what I went with). And, that idea was to have Scootaloo's parents surrender her to Rainbow Dash of their own volition. But... that left a good question: what parents gladly surrender their child to another?
While the obvious answer to that question was to have them poor as dirt (and thus simply couldn't care for her). I decided against this, because it felt redundant with my explanation for Rarity's parents surrendering Sweetie Belle.
Therefore, It was from this train of thought that I had the idea to make Scootaloo's parents be some form of neglectful (either abusive, neglectful, or -- Celestia forbid -- both). I then spent quite a bit of time trying to decide what sort of neglect they would be. While I had considered making them outwardly abusive (either physically, or emotionally)... I decided against it, because it felt like a plot device that was a bit over used. Then I considered neglectful parents... but that still felt overdone (even if not quite as over done).
That's when I decided on my final incarnation of Scootaloo's parents: they were neglectful, but not outwardly so... They were emotionally neglectful, keeping a wide birth from her wherever possible.
From this point, came the question of why. At first it seemed obvious to me: she cannot fly... However, my self praises quickly faltered as another question hit me: why did they care?
That is when I said: they care because her flightlessness would hurt their self image, or their public reputation... Or most likely, both.
However, that left a new question: if she was that much of an eyesore to them, why didn't they just toss her out of the home, or chase her off? After all... if they were that big of a narcissist, why did they care about Scootaloo enough to keep her around, at all?
It was then when I decided, that they kept her around for pragmatic reasons... Leading to me deciding into make Scootaloo's well being be in their best interests.
It was from this point that I made Scootaloo's parents be nobility. I told myself: these are important ponies, who care about their public image. Therefore, they would consider their actions with high scrutiny.
However, while I decided to print the story with this answer, I missed an obvious issue with my narrative: I still hadn't answered why Scootaloo's flightlessness hurt their image or reputation. While having Scootaloo's parents' reputation, and power be tied to some form of eugenics seemed to answer the question... it really didn't.
It wasn't until a much later chapter that a more obvious answer came to me: Scootaloo cannot fly because of her parents... Therefore she embarrasses them, because her very faults are a public reminder of her parents' failings.
It was this plot device that painted the complete picture of Scootaloo's parents in Rebuilding a Crusade:
Scootaloo's parents are narcissistic. They take great pride in how much power, and reputation they have. They consider themselves above both the common pony, and the law itself.
However, they are also hyper aware that other ponies have opinions, and those opinions can have negative repercussions. Therefore, they are hyper-aware of these things... But, only so far as they ask themselves "How could ___, affect me?"
It was also this desire for a constant good public image of themselves that inspired them to try to alter Scootaloo's physical growth patterns while she was still in the womb. In many ways, I suspect they were aware of the rumors, that some foals who went through the procedure didn't grow properly. Naturally, they excused it, by telling themselves that the modifications were small, and therefore above error.
All they asked for is: a foal who was highly qualified in their physical traits (Southern Cross wanted his foal to be another Wonderbolt), and also highly adept in mental thing... like art (because Regal Sunbird wanted a genius to "follow in her hoofsteps").
Needless to say, they were unwilling to admit there was a problem when their daughter was born with stunted wings, and no flight. They simply kept telling themselves, that they hadn't made a mistake... No, their daughter's supersized wings were simply taking a while to grow in. However, their denial slowly faded, as more and more doctors told them the bad news: their perfect filly wasn't going to be the perfect physical, and mental specimen they had payed for.
Naturally, Scootaloo's parents had hit a road block. They hated her being around, because they saw her as a roadblock to their self image becoming society's image of them. But, they were too afraid of hurting their external images more by getting rid of her.
This meant that they spent the next couple of years struggling to figure out a way to change their situation... all, while hiding Scootaloo from the public (on fear that public scrutiny would make things worse for them).
Now, when Scootaloo is presumed dead in Chapter 1, they are overjoyed. They think their public image problems have been resolved, and they quickly make moves to move Regal Sunbird back into the full public limelight (and back to complementing her husband's image... and him hers).
However, with Rainbow Dash's revelation that Scootaloo is, in fact, alive. Regal Sunbird is terrified... She worries that Scootaloo will become her problem again. It is at this point that she sets her mind on ensuring that the public sees Scootaloo as nothing but Rainbow Dash' daughter... Needless to say, she'll do anything, say anything, or pay any pony anything to make sure that the only thing the public sees when they look at Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash together, is mother and daughter... Even if she has to drag Rainbow Dash's name through the mud to do it.
