Yay, “Call of the Cutie” time! Call of the Cutie was actually by Meghan McCarthy, and is certainly better than “Dragonshy”, her first episode.

This is also probably where we got the most of Twist. They actually planned to use her more in the show, but Hasbro didn’t like her and kept cutting her bits, then eventually Twist’s voice actress moved to America, and she never spoke again.

This one seems to have changed a bit in writing, too. There was an outline for this episode in the leak that had “Minty” and “Willow” instead of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, and the Cute-ciñera was a joint one for Willow and “Frost”, who was originally in there instead of Twist!

None of that survived to the first draft, though at that point, Diamond Tiara was just Tiara.

But let’s watch the actual episode that aired. Um, this is gonna be a long one...

So, we open to Cheerilee’s classroom looking like this:

Back row is background fillies (Noi¹, Piña Colada, and Tootsie Flute), in the middle row, Apple Bloom seems to be sitting right between Diamond and Silver, which seems like a really bad idea, and the front row is Twist… and a Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo clone with all the wrong colors. No sign of Snips or Snails, or later ponies like Featherweight and Rumble, and certainly not all the colts and fillies they came up with for Twilight Time. Early days in the classroom.

Twist is sitting backwards talking to Apple Bloom.

Then the camera pans past everyone’s rear ends, showing that they all have cutie marks. Even Scootablue/Archer. I suppose that shot might be one reason not to actually show Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo there.

Funny thing, by the time Cheerilee is telling everyone to quiet down, Twist is now talking to Scootablue, and the Sweetie Belle clone is talking to the back of her head. Did she even get a name? (Okay, looked it up. Sun Glimmer is what derpibooru has listed. Seems awfully close to Starlight Glimmer...)

And Cheerilee needs to explain to a class that mostly already has their cutie marks what a cutie mark is. Maybe it’s an excuse to show off cute baby pictures of herself. Which is no small thing, given Twist’s reaction.

Cheerilee back when she was younger after she got her cutie mark, with the braces and mane was great. Though that’s hardly when she was the age of most of the class.

And watching Apple Bloom scribble down notes with her pencil in her mouth is fun. Twist is being cute and first to answer questions in class. Meanwhile, Diamond and Silver Spoon are up to no good.

Apple Bloom is continuing to write notes avidly, but Diamond is insisting on interrupting her concentration and wants her to pass a note. You’d think Cheerilee would have noticed this.

Well, she does, but only to lecture Apple Bloom. Shouldn’t Diamond be the one getting in trouble here, since it was her note? Maybe I should reconsider that “best teacher a girl could hope for” bit.

And it all ends in laughter and Apple Bloom looking at her butt. School sucks, doesn’t it?

The bell rings, and everypony exits the school, including at least three ponies that weren’t even in the classroom before the opening song. Twist exits with a spring in her step and the sound effects.

Apple Bloom’s all slouched over, dejected, and Twist being the good friend she was for part of this episode, offers her homemade peppermint sticks. Making those as an earth pony must be tough. Handling 260/270° syrup with just your mouth?

Of course, along comes Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara from both sides, and they start circling Twist and Apple Bloom like sharks. Sharks with marks.

Diamond Tiara: “I don’t know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark. Getting a cutie mark is so last week.” I’d still love to know what she got a cutie mark for…

Silver Spoon: “It's going to be amazing.” Diamond Tiara: “It's a party celebrating me and my fantastic cutie mark. How could it not be?” I still think it’s a shame these two just got written out after Diamond’s redemption episode. Diamond Tiara and the fantastic cutie mark…

“Bump! Bump! Sugar-lump, rump!” You know, Twilight and Cadence have their own whole flank-shaking thing, too. I wonder how many others of these there are?

“See ya this weekend!” “BLANK FLANKS!” You know, should Cheerilee really have said “My flank was blank” in class earlier? Still wondering about how good a teacher she really is.

“Don't get your mane in a tangle. You'll get your cutie mark. Everypony gets one eventually.” “But I don't want one eventually! I want one right now!” This is probably about when people started getting annoyed with Apple Bloom.

And, of course, Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith were all the last in their class to get a cutie mark. Guess Big Macintosh and Applejack were in different classes?

Why does Applejack’s cutie mark twinkle when she rubs it, anyways?

Apple Bloom decides her special talent has something to do with apples, which seems reasonable, since she’s surrounded by apples and everyone in her immediate family has an apple cutie mark.

“Apples apples apples!” *crash* “Oops... apples.” She’s very bouncy. Much like Twist earlier.

Applejack: “Get your delicious, nutritious apples here!” Apple Bloom: “Delicious and nutritious, and so many uses!” *chomp* “You can eat 'em.” *gulp* “Play with 'em”. *grunt* (“Hey, watch it!”) “Create fine art for your home with 'em. You have to be crazy not to get a bushel of your very own.”

Nice try, Apple Bloom. She’s going totally high-pressure salespony, too. She could’ve easily ended up like Flim and Flam.

Apple Bloom chasing her tail is very cute.

“You touch it, you buy it! We take cash or credit.” Do they? I don’t see any way for them to accept credit there.

Bon Bon totally extorts Applejack for apples here. That’s the end of Apple Bloom selling apples. Not sure if she ever sells them again.

Applejack does suggest going to the cute-ceañera with Twist, which was a good idea.

Except, of course, when she goes to talk to Twist about it, Twist just got hers. Not surprising. You’d have to be pretty passionate about making candy to stick with doing it as an earth pony, I think.

Twist is happy about it, though Apple Bloom isn’t exactly appreciative.

Twist does still want Apple Bloom to come to the party with her, but Diamond and Silver Spoon come by with some cutting remarks and get Apple Bloom upset… and she never hangs out with Twist again. Just about, anyways.

Switch to Rainbow Dash noticing Apple Bloom down in the dumps some time later, and it’s time to try everything under the sun to get a cutie mark, though we later find out that’s not how Rainbow got hers. It sticks as Cutie Mark Crusader SOP, though.

Man, Apple Bloom can talk a lot in one breath. And Rainbow Dash can snap her tail with a crack backwards, which is kinda impressive.

Applejack was last in her class to get a cutie mark. Rainbow Dash was first in hers. They got theirs the same day…

Training montage time!

We have Apple Bloom:
Doing pushups. “That’s right! Stretch out those legs! Got to be nice and loose!” Um…
Juggling.
Hang-gliding.
Karate. (And note that after this, in Show Stoppers, Apple Bloom says she likes Kung Fu!)
Kite flying.
Ultra-pony roller derby! (What makes it ultra pony?)

And Rainbow’s running out of things to try on her list, while Diamond and Silver Spoon walk by and make Apple Bloom feel even worse, while not necessarily even knowing she’s there. They do seem to think you are only special if you have a cutie mark, which doesn’t really make the most sense.

“I’m doomed. Doomed! I’ll never find something I’m good at!” I did say this episode was probably where most people that don’t like Apple Bloom get it from, right?

“You look like you’d be good at eating cupcakes!” And Pinkie lures Apple Bloom away with a promise of cupcakes. Wonder if Pinkie spotted Rainbow was having trouble and decided to give her a break and take Apple Bloom off her hooves?

“I can't believe I didn't think of this. A cupcake-eating cutie mark, it's sooo obvious. Now, where are those cupcakes? I'm ready to chow down!” Not sure how that’s obvious, though I’m not one to argue about free cupcakes.

Pinkie doesn’t have any, though, and it’s time for Pinkie’s Brew! Or maybe a song about cupcakes.

Not sure that actually works as a cupcake recipe, but it’s a fun song.

And Apple Bloom is clearly just as good at me at cooking, and makes some nice crunchy cupcakes. I’d have thought she’d have learned some cooking on Sweet Apple Acres, actually, since Applejack should be good at it, when she’s had some sleep.

Apple Bloom does somehow mistake flour for a cutie mark.

We also learn Pinkie Pie likes bingo.

Now it’s Twilight’s turn to show up. Guess it’s Rarity and Fluttershy’s day off.

Her we go with the high speed recap again.

Apple Bloom begs Twilight until she tries to make a cutie mark appear, and a bunch go by, but to no avail.

“Told you that not even magic can make a cutie mark appear before its time.” Magic can apparently remove it afterwards, though. Maybe Twilight could have removed Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark and put it on Apple Bloom? Or how about getting one of those equal cutie marks? All things considered, it’s probably a good thing Starlight Glimmer wasn’t around yet. (Unless she was in disguise at the beginning as Sun Glimmer…)

So Apple Bloom decides that she won’t go to the party… while walking into the party without noticing.

Let’s take a moment to appreciate Amethyst Star’s saddle here.

The cupcakes apparently are pretty bad, as we see a pony start to eat one and spit it out. Were they actually putting Apple Bloom’s cupcakes out there?

And there’s Twist… with a white version of Diamond Tiara? Okay, “Royal Blue”, apparently.

“How could I have forgotten the time? How could I have forgotten Pinkie Pie was hosting the party? How could I have forgotten it was at Sugarcube Corner?” “Don't forget your party hat, Forgetty Forgetterson!” How would one forget Pinkie was throwing a party?

Man, Snails just goes and chows down ¾’s of a cake here. Diamond’s right to be upset here.

Then you have that unicorn just randomly stabbing things with his sharp pointy horn.

Apple Bloom’s having trouble hiding behind things. Funny when you consider she’s not the only one hiding behind things in this scene.

Trying to be a table walking out of the party is fun.

And there’s Berry Punch drinking directly out of the punch bowl, and getting a reputation as an alcoholic for the rest of the show.

Probably worth acknowledging that the music playing is the same background music the cmc go crusading to… and that Pinkie plays at at least one other party.

Apple Bloom almost gets out of there, but Applejack’s got her embarrassing her little sister sense going on full, and drags her back into the party. Who did Applejack hear about Twist from, anyways?

She takes Apple Bloom right to Diamond and Silver Spoon, and seems to think they are Apple Bloom’s friends, too. To be fair, Diamond is Filthy Rich’s daughter, and Applejack is kinda business partners with him.

Apple Bloom is then silly enough to improvise a tablecloth dress, and pretend she’s got a cutie mark.

Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon really need better outfits, too. I just know Rarity didn’t make those saddles for them…

Apple Bloom does manage to convince them for a minute to leave her alone.

“I shouldn't. I couldn't. My cutie mark is so unbelievably amazing, I'm afraid that if I show it off, everyone will start paying attention to me instead of you. Outshined at your own cute-ceañera. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be?” It’s kinda telling that this is what convinces Diamond to go away.

Pity that she trips a minute later and rips it off, and Diamond and Silver go back to calling her a blank flank. One of the few times we see Silver Spoon take the lead in making fun of Apple Bloom, too.

Of course, they don’t count on Scootaloo calling her out on it from under a table with Sweetie Belle!

Same table Apple Bloom was walking to the door with the punch, earlier, so there was even more sneaking around under tables then we saw!

This is kinda a defining moment for Scootaloo, too. First thing she does in the series, (aside from the accidental second episode moment), and it’s calling out a bully with “You got a problem with blank flanks!?”.

And Sweetie Belle comes along backing up her friend.

Silver Spoon: The problem is, I mean, she's like, totally not special.
Sweetie Belle: No, it means she's full of potential.
Scootaloo: It means she could be great at anything. The possibilities are, *mockingly* like, endless.
Sweetie Belle: She could be a great scientist, or an amazing artist, or a famous writer. She could even be mayor of Ponyville someday.
Scootaloo: And she's not stuck being stuck up like you two.

And suddenly we know the whole cmc. I appreciate this. I always have loved this moment. Twilight and Applejack step in to reenforce things, and suddenly the not-yet cmc is at the heart of the party.

And as far as Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?

Diamond Tiara: Hey, what's everypony doing? This is my party, everypony is supposed to be paying attention to me.
Silver Spoon: Whatever. We still think you're losers, right, Diamond Tiara? Bump, bump, sugar... lump...
Diamond Tiara: Not now, Silver Spoon.

This is actually kind of sad. They were behaving pretty badly, but this was supposed to be Diamond’s special day, and now she sounds pretty depressed. Silver tries to back her up, and it seems like they slip away at this point. I would actually have liked to see what happened next with them, but it’s CMC time.

“Name’s Scootaloo.” “And I’m Sweetie Belle!” “Apple Bloom!”

Apple Bloom: So I was thinking, now that we're friends... I mean, we are friends, right?
Scootaloo: How could we not be? We're totally alike. We don't have cutie marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy--
Sweetie Belle: Totally crazy.
Apple Bloom: Well, now that we're friends, what if the three of us work together to find out who we are and what we're supposed to be?
Sweetie Belle: Ooh! Ooh! We could form our own secret society.
Scootaloo: I'm liking this idea.

Again, great dialog and character establishing here. Forming a secret society totally worked out, too, even if we didn’t go with ‘The Cutastically Fantastics’.

Though, admittedly, it’s not really much of a secret society if everyone knows you are in it.

And Twilight does the moral of the episode even though it’s not her episode, because of course she does. Celestia reads the latter half.

Dearest Princess Celestia,
I am happy to report that one of your youngest subjects has learned a valuable lesson about friendship. Sometimes, the thing you think will cause you to lose friends and feel left out… “...can actually be the thing that helps you make your closest friends and realize how special you are. Hmm…”

Princess Celestia glances back at her cutie mark at the end, which totally deserved a followup episode right there.

Okay, so I think I feel about the same about this episode as I already did, which isn’t surprising. It set up a lot, and all in all is an episode I really like, even if there are a few hiccups.

And just think, if it hadn’t been for Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, the Cutie Mark Crusaders might not have gotten together. Or gotten their cutie marks, for that matter.

That wraps up this episode, though, and next week, we get to enjoy some Applejack x Rainbow Dash shipping in “Fall Weather Friends”.

--Sweetie Belle

1. Who once starred in one of my fanfics with Bloo.

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And that's how Apple Bloom became a super villain, driven to crime by peer pressure and joining a gang.

I do have a soft spot for old CMC episodes, when they were still kids.

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"The Cutie Mark Three" could easily have been a gang. "The Cutastically Fantastics" sounds more like a superhero band, tho'.

And yeah, big soft spot for the old cmc episodes. There may have been times I was more invested in them then the theoretical main 6 characters...

--Sweetie Belle

Come to think of it, given that Diamond would have insisted on having her cute-ceañera ASAP, wouldn't that mean that she herself was very nearly dead last in the class to get one? Other than Twist, (who found hers the very same day) and the CMC, everypony else was settled and done. Considering what Spoiled Rich likely had to say about late cutie marks, I wouldn't be at all surprised if Diamond got a little ahead of herself.

Kind of a perfect storm really, her shrew of a mother on her back, a proud and volatile temper, and a mutually antagonistic feud. One wonders what could have happened if the Crusaders took their lesson with Babs just a bit further...

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When Diamond said in the episode that getting your cutie mark was "so last week", I kinda have the impression that she actually got her cutie mark literally last week.

It would've been interesting if they'd tried to reconcile back when they got Babs back on their side. Especially when you consider that Babs threatened to tell Silver and Diamonds mothers about their bad attitudes at the end of the episode.

Oh, and when I noted that I'd have liked to see more of what happened with Diamond at the end? I actually did write a short drabble about that a year and a half ago...

She glared down at them from the stairs. It was a pretty good one, her number two glare, but they continued on, oblivious.

"So I was thinking, now that we're friends... I mean, we are friends, right?"

"How could we not be? We're totally alike. We don't have cutie marks, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon drive us crazy—"

"Totally crazy."

She'd drive them totally crazy, alright.

Who needed friends, anyways, especially a bunch of blank flanks? She didn't need anypony, let alone a bunch of losers! It didn't matter that everypony was ignoring her now! It didn’t matter that her parents weren’t here! It didn't matter—

A hoof touched her shoulder.

"You want to blow this party, and go over to my place? I've got some new manga—"

Silver Spoon. She breathed out.

"Yeah, sure. Let's go."

They walked out without a glance backwards.

--Sweetie Belle

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I think It's difficult to overstate just how fundamental Silver is to Diamond's life. When a story gives her a chance to shine she can be brilliant in her own way, as an abiding friend to Diamond, as the one pony who can approach her when everyone else is closed off, and sometimes as the one to bring her to heel when she's gone too far.

Just as a matter of sheer guts, I'm not sure I've ever seen someone top that time when Silver tackled a lycanthropic Diamond Tiara out of a tower window to get her away from the crusaders. (Silver had already been bit so she was fine, but still...)

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That was one reason why I think we really needed a Diamond Tiara/Silver Spoon episode after "Crusaders of the Lost Mark". A major rift happened between them in that episode, and wasn't really satisfactorily resolved. They were left with a big friendship problem that I would've liked to have seen the cmc try to tackle.

--Sweetie Belle

Ah, this brings back memories of some of my favorite memes.

This makes me appreciate the Silver Standard more, tbh. Nice post that brought back memories! Haven't rewatched Season 1 in a while.

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A long one, eh? Well why not - it's almost a Poorly Disguised Pilot, except it let to a conjoined spinoff rather than the usual separate one or bust. So we're led into a whole new world here, following a character who's only had one major role so far.

This is also probably where we got the most of Twist. They actually planned to use her more in the show, but Hasbro didn’t like her and kept cutting her bits, then eventually Twist’s voice actress moved to America, and she never spoke again.

It's kind of a shame they never outright addressed this, or had her move away in show too. Then again, it's not quite as bad as it seems - an examination of the episode reveals they weren't actually friends at any point, just potential ones. So it's "what could have been" rather than an abandonment.

No sign of Snips or Snails, or later ponies like Featherweight and Rumble, and certainly not all the colts and fillies they came up with for Twilight Time. Early days in the classroom.

Then the camera pans past everyone’s rear ends, showing that they all have cutie marks. Even Scootablue/Archer. I suppose that shot might be one reason not to actually show Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo there.

Definitely whipped up for this ep without much long-term thought - you can even see the last-minute replacements when they realised the last bit. Ah well, I suppose it feeds the "multiple different classes" hypothesis.

And watching Apple Bloom scribble down notes with her pencil in her mouth is fun

One downside of increasing hoof-hands/wing-hands is seeing less of this. Of course I'm sure the showmakers see it the other way round. (Also, what's up with the forced bipedal seating?

Diamond Tiara: “I don’t know why we had to sit through a lecture about getting a cutie mark. Getting a cutie mark is so last week.” I’d still love to know what she got a cutie mark for…

You'd think her name, but looking closer there are no diamonds on it. Wait a minute...

None of that survived to the first draft, though at that point, Diamond Tiara was just Tiara.

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

“Bump! Bump! Sugar-lump, rump!” You know, Twilight and Cadence have their own whole flank-shaking thing, too. I wonder how many others of these there are?

It could be a whole tradition.

You know, should Cheerilee really have said “My flank was blank” in class earlier? Still wondering about how good a teacher she really is.

Very good considering her workload - not that there's much competition for the position.

She’s very bouncy. Much like Twist earlier... Apple Bloom chasing her tail is very cute.

Young fillies combine the cuteness of cartoon ponies and little girls. It's super effective on viewers weak to sweetness!

“You touch it, you buy it! We take cash or credit.” Do they? I don’t see any way for them to accept credit there.

On the other hoof, they can even do rather uncute things cutely. And as far as I know, credit in small towns is handled largely informally.

“You look like you’d be good at eating cupcakes!”

Imagine if she'd been right!

“Told you that not even magic can make a cutie mark appear before its time.” Magic can apparently remove it afterwards, though. Maybe Twilight could have removed Diamond Tiara’s cutie mark and put it on Apple Bloom? Or how about getting one of those equal cutie marks? All things considered, it’s probably a good thing Starlight Glimmer wasn’t around yet. (Unless she was in disguise at the beginning as Sun Glimmer…)

Setting a high baseline for cutie mark's tamperproofness lets any magical interference with seem even more impressive, though. I mean, if even Twilight Sparkle can't do much with them...

(The fact she can draw out momentary, phantasmal marks is also interesting - especially when debating how fixed or predestined a mark is.)

She takes Apple Bloom right to Diamond and Silver Spoon, and seems to think they are Apple Bloom’s friends, too. To be fair, Diamond is Filthy Rich’s daughter, and Applejack is kinda business partners with him.

They're probably the first Apple and Rich kids the same age in donkey's years (no offense!). If one was a colt, I suspect there might be serious discussions of marriage.

And now I want to know what Sweetie and Scoots were even doing there... they obviously don't like DIamond Tiara, they're not in her class and Scootaloo at least is unlikely to have been compelled to attend by parents or guardians. Is there, like, some tradition that going helps you get your own mark or something?

Anyway, this was the capstone on my 12-ep introductory marathon, and I think I liked it at the time. Quite a few people were against the CMC idea from the start, but I wasn't in agreement, at least this season. Still, admittedly they will never quite match the Manes for individual character - heck, this intro barely gives any characterisation to two out of three members.

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When do you think they stopped being kids? Because the show has been rather inconclusive on the subject.

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Indeed, it's an oft-missed and perhpas unintentional twist on what we see onscreen. (Not to be mistaken for Twist, who will be missed despite being oft seen onscreen.)

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They actually planned to use her more in the show, but Hasbro didn’t like her and kept cutting her bits, then eventually Twist’s voice actress moved to America, and she never spoke again.

I knew she moved away eventually, but is it true that they kept cutting her roles because Hasbro didn't like her? If so that would seem to be an early precursor to characters like Babs Seed or Coco Pommel that Hasbro would just dump uncermoniously. Though it turns out that Twist's VA was actually friends in real life with Diamond and Silver's VAs, and all three auditioned for the show at the same time. So them not recasting the role might also have to do with respect for that bond.

and a Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo clone with all the wrong colors.

Well it turns out they were supposed to be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo originally, but someone realized that would create a continuity error if they were in class with Apple Bloom and had them hastily recolored. Interestingly, the Scootaloo clone I remember being named Archer, but this is the first I've ever heard of the Sweetie Belle clone being given a fandom name.

You’d think Cheerilee would have noticed this.

I always hate that bullying cliche where the teacher doesn't notice or is completely ignorant about it. And the show would ultimately go on to kind of reinforce Cheerilee as just a stereotypical teacher: Even down to the strange lesson plans and the kids not wanting to be in class. It's a shame because she clearly had a personality and a presence outside the school. I feel like there were wasted opportunities to flesh her out more, kind of like when she was a cheerleader in "The Cart Before The Ponies".

Wonder if Pinkie spotted Rainbow was having trouble and decided to give her a break and take Apple Bloom off her hooves?

Maybe, or it's entirely possible she just needed a volunteer and thought Apple Bloom needed cheering up. Though it's a little rude of her to promise cupcakes that she hasn't made yet and not tell Apple Bloom until she gets there that she has to make them.

Apple Bloom almost gets out of there, but Applejack’s got her embarrassing her little sister sense going on full, and drags her back into the party.

That scene is horribly contrived, besides the plot dictating it there's zero reason for Applejack to do that. At least with Pinkie Pie you could kind of buy that obliviousness, though even for her that would be a stretch.

I would actually have liked to see what happened next with them, but it’s CMC time.

Wait until you hear that Hasbro turned down ideas for DT and SS episodes after "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" because they thought their stories were done. SS in particular never got a chance to shine on her own, she was always stuck as either Diamond's gal pal or lackey.

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it's almost a Poorly Disguised Pilot, except it let to a conjoined spinoff rather than the usual separate one or bust.

Well, Lauren Faust wanted the CMC to star in their own spin-off and this was the backdoor pilot to it. But Hasbro rejected it in favor of having the CMC get their own episodes in the show. It ultimately would turn out to be a decision for the better, though many of the early CMC episodes didn't make it seem that way.

and Scootaloo at least is unlikely to have been compelled to attend by parents or guardians.

Well it's unclear how long her parents have been away or how long her aunts have been watching her. But it could be that Diamond was told by her parents, or even by Pinkie Pie who's hosting the party, to invite all the kids in her class. Of course stuff like this shows why that's not usually a good idea, kids who don't know the guest of honor will only feel pressured to attend out of obligation and won't necessarily be the best guests. It'll feel like something they were forced to do instead of something they wanted to do.

When do you think they stopped being kids? Because the show has been rather inconclusive on the subject.

I don't think they really stopped being kids so much as they just started getting older, perhaps on the cusp of pre-teens. I wanna say it was "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" and them getting their cutie marks, but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon having theirs and not acting any different really throws a wrench into that headcanon.

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When they got their cutie marks and started a business to solve problems and a camp to gather blank flanks. To me at least they kinda became just mini version of Main Six, existing to solve friendship/cutie mark problems.

That isn't to say that they completely stopped being childish, not even grown ponies managed that. Though the grown CMC episode was still weird when CMC kinda became dumb for the plot to work, like not knowing how trains worked.

7096345 "Growing Up is Hard to Do" was apparently meant to take place much sooner into the show than almost at the end. No idea why they came back to that idea after shelving it for so long, especially since it was probably written before the CMC got their cutie marks.

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Hm, that does make sense to me. As for why so late, sometimes writers really like an idea they have and keep trying to push it. And sometimes they do it in a different show instead.

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It's a shame because she clearly had a personality and a presence outside the school. I feel like there were wasted opportunities to flesh her out more, kind of like when she was a cheerleader in "The Cart Before The Ponies".

When I saw her and Twilight together in Show Stoppers, I figured she might be a good candidate for her first non-Mane friendship in Ponyville. She's got to be one of the most educated mares in town, after all.

Well, Lauren Faust wanted the CMC to star in their own spin-off and this was the backdoor pilot to it. But Hasbro rejected it in favor of having the CMC get their own episodes in the show. It ultimately would turn out to be a decision for the better, though many of the early CMC episodes didn't make it seem that way.

Really? I'd have thought comparing Stare Master and Show Stoppers would have shown the comparative advantage of being able to use them and the Manes together. Not to mention Cutie Mark Chronicles...

Well it's unclear how long her parents have been away or how long her aunts have been watching her. But it could be that Diamond was told by her parents, or even by Pinkie Pie who's hosting the party, to invite all the kids in her class.

But Scootaloo isn't in her class. at least, not after the recolouring.

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Yeah - it made me wonder how the show had missed them growing up when it happened in the show.

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It's kind of a shame they never outright addressed this, or had her move away in show too. Then again, it's not quite as bad as it seems - an examination of the episode reveals they weren't actually friends at any point, just potential ones. So it's "what could have been" rather than an abandonment.

I suppose they didn't actually say they were friends. They left class together, and appeared to have been talking before class, but that might not have been a long term thing.

Definitely whipped up for this ep without much long-term thought - you can even see the last-minute replacements when they realised the last bit. Ah well, I suppose it feeds the "multiple different classes" hypothesis.

Yeah, later episodes had different ponies in the class too, so they may have even changed up the classes at some point. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are certainly in Apple Bloom's class later on.

One downside of increasing hoof-hands/wing-hands is seeing less of this. Of course I'm sure the showmakers see it the other way round. (Also, what's up with the forced bipedal seating?

Yeah, I kinda wish they'd kept more with using your mouth for earth ponies, at least. For unicorns, using your magic makes sense.

Of course, the bipedal seating does imply that they want you to use your hooves, since the main thing that would do is make sure you had two hooves free.

None of that survived to the first draft, though at that point, Diamond Tiara was just Tiara.

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!

Yeah, her cutie mark may very well have been designed before they added "Diamond" to her name. Of course, the name change from Minty and Willow fascinates me, too. Previous generation Minty had a whole Christmas thing and was obsessed with socks. Doesn't seem like a likely bully.

“You look like you’d be good at eating cupcakes!”

Imagine if she'd been right!

That would've been an interesting thing to get a cutie mark for. An earlier version of that line seems to have said "taste-testing cupcakes", incidentally.

Setting a high baseline for cutie mark's tamperproofness lets any magical interference with seem even more impressive, though. I mean, if even Twilight Sparkle can't do much with them...

(The fact she can draw out momentary, phantasmal marks is also interesting - especially when debating how fixed or predestined a mark is.)

Yeah, that does set things up a bit. And it makes sense that we originally thought it needed a magic artifact (and then it turns out Starlight is just that good...).

And now I want to know what Sweetie and Scoots were even doing there... they obviously don't like DIamond Tiara, they're not in her class and Scootaloo at least is unlikely to have been compelled to attend by parents or guardians. Is there, like, some tradition that going helps you get your own mark or something?

It would be interesting to find out! I did always get the impression that Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle were good friends before this episode, and they just basically bring Apple Bloom in at the end. The way Sweetie Belle is instantly there backing Scoots and they hand off to each other...

Anyway, this was the capstone on my 12-ep introductory marathon, and I think I liked it at the time. Quite a few people were against the CMC idea from the start, but I wasn't in agreement, at least this season. Still, admittedly they will never quite match the Manes for individual character - heck, this intro barely gives any characterisation to two out of three members.

For what little time they got, there was characterization going here. The way Scootaloo talks, her rushing out to Apple Bloom's defense and making fun of Diamond and Silver, clearly not liking ponies being stuck up. Sweetie Belle had the whole list of things Apple Bloom could be, and clearly likes secret societies and superheros, and seems to have the whole loyal friend things going.

They did need fleshing out at this point, though, and that was largely Show Stopper's job...

--Sweetie Belle

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I knew she moved away eventually, but is it true that they kept cutting her roles because Hasbro didn't like her? If so that would seem to be an early precursor to characters like Babs Seed or Coco Pommel that Hasbro would just dump unceremoniously. Though it turns out that Twist's VA was actually friends in real life with Diamond and Silver's VAs, and all three auditioned for the show at the same time. So them not recasting the role might also have to do with respect for that bond.

Hasbro didn't like her character, anyways. I remember that from a video of Lauren Faust at a convention talking about changes and Hasbro interference. I recall them cutting Twist roles, the flip in gender on Trixie, and Pipsqueak being created because they wanted a colt in Luna Eclipsed specifically.

It does make sense that the three VA's were friends. It probably helps Diamond and Silver's in show relationship that the voice actors already were friends, actually.

Well it turns out they were supposed to be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo originally, but someone realized that would create a continuity error if they were in class with Apple Bloom and had them hastily recolored. Interestingly, the Scootaloo clone I remember being named Archer, but this is the first I've ever heard of the Sweetie Belle clone being given a fandom name.

Well, it was a derpibooru tag, and they pretty much try to have names for every pony, no matter how minor. I think she only appeared there, though, where Archer appeared a bit more. I basically found a picture she was in, and checked the tags, then searched for that tag to doublecheck.

I always hate that bullying cliche where the teacher doesn't notice or is completely ignorant about it. And the show would ultimately go on to kind of reinforce Cheerilee as just a stereotypical teacher: Even down to the strange lesson plans and the kids not wanting to be in class. It's a shame because she clearly had a personality and a presence outside the school. I feel like there were wasted opportunities to flesh her out more, kind of like when she was a cheerleader in "The Cart Before The Ponies".

Early in the show, I seem to remember fanfics sometimes placing Cheerilee and Twilight as friends, or even shipping them. Of course, she got shipped with Big Mac in the show itself.

She got less and less time, though, and once we get to the school of Friendship time, there was only room for one school on the show...

That scene is horribly contrived, besides the plot dictating it there's zero reason for Applejack to do that. At least with Pinkie Pie you could kind of buy that obliviousness, though even for her that would be a stretch.

I end up almost wondering if Rainbow, Pinkie, Twilight, and Applejack were kinda coordinating things behind the scenes, with how all of them were showing up. Just like Applejack called in Rainbow for help, and Rainbow gets Twilight when she wasn't having much luck.. Probably overthinking things, though.

The real answer is probably just that Applejack was just arriving to attend the party. It seemed to have a fair mix of adults there, and even if it was, say, parents of the colts and fillies there, Applejack would've been standing in for Apple Bloom's missing parents.

Wait until you hear that Hasbro turned down ideas for DT and SS episodes after "Crusaders of the Lost Mark" because they thought their stories were done. SS in particular never got a chance to shine on her own, she was always stuck as either Diamond's gal pal or lackey.

Yeah, and their relationship had very real friendship problems at that point. They needed at least one more episode...

Well, Lauren Faust wanted the CMC to star in their own spin-off and this was the backdoor pilot to it. But Hasbro rejected it in favor of having the CMC get their own episodes in the show. It ultimately would turn out to be a decision for the better, though many of the early CMC episodes didn't make it seem that way.

I would've watched that spinoff...

--Sweetie Belle

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"Growing Up is Hard to Do" was apparently meant to take place much sooner into the show than almost at the end. No idea why they came back to that idea after shelving it for so long, especially since it was probably written before the CMC got their cutie marks.

Ran out of ideas, needed to stick one last cmc episode in, and went with an abandoned pitch? I think they were struggling more and more with what to do with the cmc after cutie mark acquisition.

--Sweetie Belle

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Still, it fits terribly after Forever Filly. Now if those two were swapped, maybe...

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I recall them cutting Twist roles, the flip in gender on Trixie, and Pipsqueak being created because they wanted a colt in Luna Eclipsed specifically.

Strangely specific changes... do the leaks show their reasoning? It worked out for Trixie at least...

Early in the show, I seem to remember fanfics sometimes placing Cheerilee and Twilight as friends, or even shipping them. Of course, she got shipped with Big Mac in the show itself.

Probably all building off the same stuff I saw.

I would've watched that spinoff...

Could they really have supported a full set of episodes, as opposed to a few per year?

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Strangely specific changes... do the leaks show their reasoning? It worked out for Trixie at least...

Not sure if the leaks show that, because I'm going off of a memory of watching a panel with Lauren Faust on it at a convention on youtube, and it's been quite a while since I saw it. Those were all things she mentioned.

IIRC, they wanted to change what was then a stallion named Presto to female because of the target audience, and then Pipsqueak was a bit of the opposite. They wanted to add a male colt because they knew boys were starting to watch the show and wanted a character for them to identify with. I think. It's probably been more than a year since I watched it, though.

I remember her saying that then Pipsqueak just got added to the background cast and they didn't really do anything with him because Hasbro didn't come back asking for more, and they didn't have anything planned for him.

The leaks occasionally had notes about changes, but a lot of times they either didn't, or weren't where I was looking. Not to mention I haven't looked at any of the fdr or fdx files, because I don't think I have a reader for them.

Looking around, I do see some comments about looking for a way to avoid the whole "teaching a colt some manners" angle on Boast Busters in the leaks, so I wonder if that was a factor in changing it? Presto was changed to Trixie between different versions of the original outline...

Could they really have supported a full set of episodes, as opposed to a few per year?

It's hard to say, since it didn't happen. They'd probably have had to flesh out the other fillies and colts in the school, because you'd really only want to deal with looking for a cutie mark every few episodes. They'd have had to do more world building on families earlier, too. Twist, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon get bigger roles, and so on.

Could have worked. Could have totally bombed. There are plenty of plots they could have done, though.

--Sweetie Belle

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I, um, also found this. Keep in mind that Big Macintosh was originally named Big Apple:

A Date to Dance

Rumor has it that Big Apple has a ticket to the Grand Galloping Gala and all of a sudden all five of Applejack’s best friends want to ask him to be their date. The idea of her brother and any of her friends going on a date is just too weird for Applejack. She forbids her friends from asking out her brother ! When that doesn’t work, Applejack is torn in five directions at once trying to physically keep all of them from getting with earshot of Big Apple.

--Sweetie Belle

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Certainly I suspect a male Trixie would probably have come off as less sympathetic - and those who did support him might have been the kind who always look for a male underdog to boost up in female-led shows.

And maybe DHX didn't want to do two schoolkid shows at once?

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Well that obviously predates it being decided the show would mostly avoid romance. In fact, it might have been the catalyst for such.

Up until this episode, Apple Bloom had been little more than a supporting character. She made a couple of appearances here and there, but the writers never really gave us a chance to get to know her that well. That changed with this episode. This marks the first episode where we really get to understand what kind of character Apple Bloom is: she’s a filly who’s upset about not getting her cutie mark.

For a pony, getting a cutie mark is basically like going through puberty. I find Apple Bloom’s conflict in this episode pretty relatable because I’m sure we’ve all been in a situation like this, especially if you’re a guy, but girls can also relate to the conflict as well. For guys, Apple Bloom’s dilemma is like being made fun of because you’re still a virgin in your early twenties, while all of your guy friends have already lost their virginity. For girls, it can be the same: you haven’t gotten your period yet, while all of your gal pals have.

This episode also introduced us to the characters of Twist, Diamond Tiara, and Silver Spoon. For the record, I never hated the latter two. I know the writers are going out of their way to make us hate these characters, but I just could never bring myself to hate them. They’re children, so it’s not like they know what they’re doing is wrong. The later seasons really make it hard to hate these two, especially with the revelation that one of them is being verbally/emotionally abused at home. If it helps, this was kind of my theory on the character anyway, seeing as how bullies are victims of child abuse nine times out of ten. Plus, I always thought that they were kinda cute. And Twist, I never gave much thought to, probably because she only serves to throw in the “plot twist” of this episode. Really, it isn’t much of a twist if you give it away within the first ten minutes.

This episode also introduced us to the characters of Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Why they weren’t in Cheerilee’s class at the beginning is anyone’s guess. They were hiding under the punch table for obvious reasons and only summoned up the courage to stand up to Diamond Tiara when they saw her making fun of an innocent filly in front of a group of ponies.

It’s episodes like this that remind me why I love these little fillies so much.