Backstory: The Cutie Mark Crusaders and Others · 10:22pm Apr 22nd, 2019
Well, it has been an unexpectedly long time between the last blog in the series and today. Shit happens.
If I had written this entry back when I originally intended to, it likely would have turned out very differently. I don't know precisely in what way, but it is interesting to muse over how one's opinions and views on things shift over time, in reaction to what things, and in what manner of new configurations our weird and complicated minds end up.
As I've mentioned this shifting of views before, and briefly touched on how my views of the Cutie Mark Crusaders shifted over time as well. Back in that blog, written during S4 in reaction to Rarity Takes Manehatten shifting my opinion of Rarity greatly, I mentioned how my interest in several foal characters coincided with my interest in writing a story about them. Some of that interest prompted the story, some of writing the story prompted the interest.
Taking a step back from examining my own shifting interests, a lot of what people do with characters in stories is to examine how those characters have changed. We get a lot of "in the foreground" change as characters interact with each other, face challenges, and learn lessons.
When we think of backstories, the primary purpose of those backstories is to help us understand where characters have come from so we have a better idea of what they are like now, but also to illustrate a sense of change from that backstory to the character we see in front of us. This is especially important when we're first meeting a character, but we often don't hear about backstories until somewhere around the middle of our journey. Some stories might use a backstory as a prologue, but a series like MLP hasn't really given us the backstories of any characters until several seasons in as I've mentioned in preceding installments of this series.
The CMC and several of their peers represent characters for whom we don't have backstories. If we imagine a future in which they are adults, as many fanfics often do (especially mature-rated ones), their childhood depictions in the show are that backstory. But when watching an episode featuring these children, we're being told stories and the characters lack explanatory backstories. We're expected to take what we see in the here and now, and accommodate the limited glimpse we get with whatever our mind offers up to fill in the blanks around them.
The format I've been using up to this point won't really work for these characters, so I'll be stepping away from it a bit.
Apple Bloom
As mentioned in Applejack's entry, Apple Bloom is primarily a supporting character for Applejack's character. She stands above Granny Smith and Big Macintosh as she and her fellow Crusaders get episodes focusing on them and their antics.
I usually tend to think of her as the leader of her trio of friends. It was her seeking advice on how to acquire her cutie mark that led her to receive the suggestion from Rainbow Dash to try a bunch of random things until something works. This became the charter to the Crusaders. Standing up to Diamond Tiara at her cuteceanera is what brought Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo into her group, and set the tone for most CMC episodes to follow, with Diamond and Silver being their recurring antagonists.
Between this and a general sense of her life on Sweet Apple Acres as the youngest Apple sibling, and her general life and learning the culture of Ponyville, and the schoolhouse taught by Cheerilee form her essential "background." Depending on where you set your story on the imaginary calendar for Equestria, various events that happen up to and including Crusaders of the Lost Mark are all worthy inclusions.
Episodes taking place after Crusaders of the Lost Mark tell a different sort of story than those before, as the Crusaders have been changed by earning their marks in a pretty important way. Their general mission is different. Helping other ponies find their marks or helping advise them on uncertainty regarding their marks are the new direction for Apple Bloom and friends.
Going further into the future, such as the popular and aforementioned adulthood, might extend that sense of "backstory" to encompass even more episodes. Such a story should probably take into consideration how Apple Bloom changes from her current "kid crusading on behalf of others" chapter of her life and imagine how she goes from that into the young adult chapter. Does she form a real job out of crusading with her friends, or does it represent a side job/hobby while she balances her limited time between it and whatever it is she does to pay the bills? Does she work at Sweet Apple Acres as either her primary or secondary vocation or do one of her other interests rise in importance?
Sweetie Belle
A lot of the same considerations for Sweetie Belle mirror those for Apple Bloom (and Scootaloo), so I won't repeat them.
Sweetie Belle has a very different relationship to her family than Apple Bloom has to hers, and that represents a big portion of Sweetie Belle's character in focus episodes such as Sisterhooves Social or For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils. Sweetie Belle's relationship with her big sister, Rarity, creates far more motivation and conflict for her than any other source. Episodes like Forever Filly focus on how Sweetie Belle is changing, and how Rarity adjusts to those changes.
Like with Apple Bloom, if we imagine a hypothetical future story centered on Sweetie Belle, the episodes of the show represent her backstory. Where Apple Bloom's backstory is often focused on her personal drive to reach what is often described as pony puberty or at least a component of the rite of passage to pre-adulthood or even adulthood, Sweetie Belle's backstory is more focused on navigating the complicated sisterly relationship, of wanting to emulate her big sister, but to be her own self and not be overshadowed by her older sister.
Whatever future we imagine for Sweetie Belle, her "backstory" could be important or unimportant. If she remains close to her friends and family, what kind of career or life will she pursue? Will it involve her Crusading or not? Will she embrace some kind of destiny that takes her away from those things the way Rarity's life often does? Will she let show business take her away more permanently?
Scootaloo
In my primary format, I spend a great deal of focus on the family portion of a character's backstory. Scootaloo is somewhat unique in that we know very little about her home life or family. Indeed, a large portion of the fandom has interpreted her to be an orphan, homeless, or in a foster home. She has formed and adoptive sisterly relationship with Rainbow Dash, whom she had already idolized, in Sleepless in Ponyville. We get a tiny hint of some aspect of her home/family in Parental Glideance suggesting that her parents/guardians are distant but not absent, as she resents what she sees as Rainbow Dash taking the high degree of affection from her parents for granted.
There is also non-canon material (Ponyville Mysteries series of IDW's comics) offering us a depiction that her parents are often absent, leaving her to be primarily cared for by her aunt(s). As usual, many fans welcome such material into their headcanon and of course such material is fair game for writing projects such as I offer as hypothetical examples in this blog.
The fact that Scootaloo can't fly is an increasingly difficult to ignore elephant in the room. Flight to the Finish came close to confirming that this is a permanent disability of hers, but as with the parent issue in Parental Glideance, shied away from outright doing so. A hypothetical story could have her overcome this disability in some way, or explore her acceptance of it. Scootaloo's preference for using her wings to power her scooter for travel represents a big detail of her "backstory" that likely features into those hypothetical stories.
Another facet of Scootaloo's character is her struggles with fear. She idolizes and emulates Rainbow Dash, and is impressed with Rainbow's bravery and daredevil attitude. Scootaloo often chooses crusade goals that involve feats of daring. When the facade slips though, we see a filly easily frightened. Moreso than her two friends. We see this character arc depicted well in Sleepless in Ponyville and Campfire Tales with a focus on Rainbow Dash's acceptance of Scootaloo and accommodation of her fears.
Scootaloo's "backstory" feels less "generic" than Apple Bloom or Sweetie Belle's, and feels like a goldmine of material to use in future stories involving her.
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon
Despite being important to many episodes focused on the Cutie Mark Crusaders, we have very little detail about the lives and setting for these two former antagonists. What little we do have is primarily for Diamond Tiara, leaving us knowing next to nothing about Silver Spoon. The series also seems to have largely abandoned these two ever since Crusaders of the Lost Mark, giving us no material to work with "post-redemption."
Again, the comics offer a little bit more material, but not much.
Despite that lack of canon material to work with, these two fillies have inspired quite a lot of fanfiction. Broadly speaking, that material falls into "hate" and "love" categories.
A lot of the fandom has experienced bullying in some fashion, and for quite a few writers, these two fillies represented those bullies from their own lives in stories. Writing about consequences befalling Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon serves as a catharsis for their own, potentially unresolved, experiences. Or they just served as fodder for torture porn.
Alternatively, many folks (myself included) found them intriguing to speculate on. As I mentioned in my blog about the comic, I wonder about how an otherwise friendly and harmonious place like Equestria could bring up fillies like these two. After watching Crusaders of the Lost Mark, we got something of a direct answer in the form of Spoiled Rich's depiction. In a broader sense, we got episodes like Marks and Recreation which depicted a young blank flank Rumble apprehensive about his future cutie mark, and the changes to his life it would impose.
Moving forward into episodes in which the Crusaders are going around helping various ponies with their cutie mark concerns, we can reflect back on Diamond and Silver, and imagine what kinds of apprehensions they might have. We can use the backstory of the Crusaders and cobble together through inference a backstory for these two. Linking Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon in future stories to one or more of the Crusaders feels like a solid way to tell stories and offers plenty of opportunities to exposit whatever your headcanon may be about their backstories and how that led to their "redemptions" and influences their continued relationships with their now friends.
We know a little more about Diamond Tiara than we do about Silver Spoon. We know her parents' names and have some ideas as to their professions and personalities due to Crusaders of the Lost Mark, Family Appreciation Day, and Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep (Filthy Rich's dream is funny). Like Apple Bloom, Diamond Tiara's family is rooted in the founding of Ponyville itself. While we typically see her and Silver Spoon operate as an inseparable duo, we've gotten to see Diamond Tiara operate solo in Ponyville Confidential and (to a large degree) in Crusaders of the Lost Mark.
We know less about Silver Spoon out of these two, and yet we have stories like this which manage to imagine a compelling backstory for her, touch upon various events from the series, and flesh out the character in a wonderfully enjoyable way. All while managing to present an aesthetic that feels true to the show, while also true to both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon as not very nice ponies. Someone managed to craft a story like this from practically nothing for Silver Spoon. Patchwork Poltergeist is a creative and imaginative person. While I don't expect everyone to be able to produce a work of art the way he/she/it has, I do expect people to recognize that such a thing is possible.
When evaluating a character, a "lack of backstory" isn't a thing. All characters have some kind of backstory, it is up to you to imagine what it is. Canon, ideally, will guide your imagination through that process, but resenting the show for not providing that backstory is a copout. Against your will, you are offering some kind of backstory for any character you see. You can be inspired to imagine something really cool and fit it into the holes canon presents, or you can imagine something really lame. The latter is not the default any more than the former.
Noi
Without a picture, you're unlikely to know who this pony is. Using Derpibooru and the mlp wiki, there are names for quite a few ponies in the background. Some official, others of dubious officiality, and others simply fandom derived placeholders. Noi's name is one of the latter category.
As an unnamed background asset, Noi has been used in a great many scenes, including some that depict her as a resident of Starlight's Village in The Cutie Map that otherwise contradict her general depiction as a filly resident of Ponyville. She's had several cutie marks, occasionally slight changes to her appearance, but is generally recognizable as a distinct individual. I tend to remember her for the first time I noticed her in Pinkie's Smile Smile Smile song as one of two ponies Pinkie cheered up by sliding down a stair rail with them and going on a hay cart ride pulled by Big Mac.
Despite the contradictions, variations, and so on, it is possible to construct a backstory for her.
Noteworthy among her appearances is that she and Golden Harvest (Carrot Top) appear as a competitor team in Sisterhooves Social. We see her again beside Golden Harvest in Pinkie Pride. While by no means set in stone, we can reasonably speculate that the two are sisters, and we have the beginnings of a family to work with. Like the relationship between Apple Bloom and Applejack, we can make some assumptions about Noi and the general notion that Golden Harvest is likely a carrot farmer.
We see her here in a scene from The Gift of Maud Pie, next to Fruit Pack. It seems reasonable to speculate that this is her mother.
We see Fruit Pack now and then, such as in Rarity Takes Manehattan, The Crystalling, Made in Manehattan, Molt Down, and Uprooted. In general, she seems to be some kind of tourist all over Equestria.
We see Fruit Pack standing beside this unnamed stallion a few times, both in Manehattan and touring the School of Friendship in Ponyville. Possibly coincidental fellow tourist, but also possibly her husband.
Piecing these tidbits together, we can craft a family life that seems like a blend of Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle's backstories. There is potentially a farm-based home life, but with parents that leave and travel/tour a lot the way Hondo Flanks and Cookie Crumbles do. Golden Harvest may be an adult older sister not unlike Applejack and Rarity, with Noi being babysat potentially often the way Rarity and Sweetie Belle relate. There are also some similarities to Scootaloo's possibly distant/often absent parents.
Something like this process has resulted in two other "background pony families" for Alula Kicker (a pegasus speculated to be Cloud Kicker's little sister) and Dinky Doo (speculated to be the little sister to Amethyst Star, A.K.A Sparkler) and daughter to Derpy Doo, A.K.A Muffins. Both of these background pony families are fleshed out in extensive detail in the Winningverse series of stories as well as others.
With nary a spoken line, a lack of official names, and mere screenshots from brief scenes, members of the fandom have crafted backstories on raw speculation alone. With some creative effort and imagination, they're capable of bringing their own ideas to life through these characters and telling stories about them.
A character has many parts to it. Characters are complicated things that mimic real beings and attempt to give the illusion of real beings to us. How successful the illusions are at fooling us, even temporarily, into believing they are real beings mark the quality of the character.
The backstory of a character is a component of that illusion. It isn't necessary for all illusions to be successful. It is vitally necessary to other illusions. In either case, the illusion works by guiding the imagination of the audience, not by actually being real. An Illusion works better for those willing to allow it to work. Setting aside or suspending disbelief is a necessary component of enjoying any story, any character, any illusion. When someone is unwilling to do that in any regard and attempts to point to a character and claim in some objective manner that the illusion is faulty, I'd like to point out that their unwillingness to suspend disbelief and unwillingness to accommodate the illusion is a culprit worth considering.
This installment has been about characters for whom we have no backstory really possible as they're children. Some, like Noi, don't have a character to them at all. I've expressed some ways we can accommodate their illusions through speculation and inference. I urge people to make use of these tools when they ponder allowing an illusion to entertain them. Most illusions will not withstand harsh scrutiny. While there is entertainment to be had in resisting illusions, or crafting illusions so well they do withstand harsh scrutiny, I think most of us are just trying to let ponies entertain us.
Another major theme of this installment has been the idea of being writers ourselves. Imagine not just the stories the show has given us and faulting the characters within for limited or unpleasant depictions. Consider also the way characters inspire you or have inspired others. What makes a good character can and should include that inspiration. If a character like Starlight Glimmer lacks a backstory or has a "poor" one, be fair about the backstory that you involuntarily provide for her in your own imagination. Be fair about expressing the ways you fill in the blanks in the illusion, and recognize that if that process requires more from you than some other characters, that is not in and of itself a flaw. Characters like the CMC require a lot of backfilling and extrapolation but are great characters.
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Does anyone else find it rather gauling they helped a turtle fly before Scootaloo
Actually, I find her more engaging now then I did before. Before she was something of a woobie, though no where near Luna tier. But now that we've learned about her family dynamic, she's a much more interesting character. Also I love her aunts voice
Yup, Filthy Rich is a merchant/trader/shop owner, and Spoiled doesn't do anything. Unless being a cunt is a career, in which case she's a workaholic.
Well, yeah. In fact, its seems more people have been coming to the fandom for that then the show itself.
As for the rest... again, yeah, that's what fandoms do. Most do it horribly (rule 34 why do you torment me, oh God, THE PLOTHOLES, THEIY'RE!) but I was decidedly gobsmacked at the level of quality I find in this one.
Although, I will admit their are tropes and... shall we say, homages, to certain stories that have become fandom standards, it seems. Like Dinky is always Derpy's daughter and Luna is always the victim or whatever. Also HIE is horrible. All of it. I can think of two that are good, the rest are self insert garbage featuring six pack having Kevin's who wield magic, turn into dragons, and somehow knock up insert pony waifu here.
And I like how all these characters actually make the world of MLP feel big, as opposed to, say, the Steven Universe method of devoting whole episodes of trying to make a character interesting then them being interesting.