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Description

Scootaloo: “Hold on; wouldn’t moving in with Rainbow’s parents mean I’d have to move to Cloudsdale? That kinda goes against my whole ‘stay with my friends in Ponyville’ thing…”
 
Bow Hothoof: “Oh, don’t worry about that; obviously we would be moving to Ponyville first! We know how important you three are together here!”
 
Windy Whistles: “Besides, it gives us an excuse to see our daughter Rainbow more often! We could see her and support her every day!”
 
Rainbow Dash: “…Oh, uh… n-no, Scoot, you should stay with your aunts. I’m… SURE they know what’s best for you.”
 

 
I have returned for the Season 9 Retirement Party! Sorry I’m kinda late with this one, but rest assured I did not abandon you all to travel off to dangerous parts of the globe hunting rare, exotic, and dangerous animals such that I would be preoccupied for years at a time while you all were forced to be passed around from babysitter to babysitter like some kind of hot potato! I just got… stuck in traffic. The traffic of personal obligations. You’ll understand when you’re older, okay squirt?
 
Anyway, this week’s comic is based on The Last Crusade, aka: “Holy Crap, Scootaloo’s Parents DO Exist: the Episode”. It makes sense that they would cover this during the last season, considering how big a question mark its been since the start of the show, but still… I wasn’t entirely prepared to meet them. I always figured they were this enigmatic entity that just kinda abandoned Scootaloo for most of her life and are so non-present that they’re never actually seen (and they will probably continue to be so in my comics). Honestly, I’m not that far off; they DID ditch her to go off hunting monsters or whatever, and after leaving her behind for so long, suddenly they decide they want her back, but in a way that completely changes HER lifestyle while leaving THEIRS largely unmodified, and neither she nor any of her close friends and family get any say in the matter! I… have problems with that. I have problems with THEM as parents. And the show just kinda flaunts them as these cool adventurer-types without really addressing too much just how terrible they are towards their own offspring. I feel for Scootaloo here, but at least she’s adapted well and is stronger a pony for it. Plus their “evil” plan to break up the CMC never came to pass, so all’s well and such.
 
That ending was epic, with that giant party dedicated to the Crusaders and all the side characters they’ve helped out in past episodes all together in the same area (Bow and Windy should’ve been there to see Scootaloo off, though; they are part of her fan club, after all). However, this DOES make this episode feel very much like a CMC finale. And even if they show up in starring roles of future episodes individually… I’m not really ready to say goodbye to them as a group just yet. They’ve been through so much together, entertaining me with their own special group dynamic, and inspiring me in many meaningful ways. Crusaders of the Lost Mark is still my favorite episode of the show, and I love seeing all the adventures they go on, whether they’re trying to find their own talents, helping others figure out theirs, or just getting into mischief in general. The Mane Six may be the stars of the show, but it wouldn’t be the same without the Crusaders, and no one can ever replace them.
 
So EQD’s Artist Training Grounds is starting in a couple of days! Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be participating this time. I’ve got some stuff in my life I need to take care of right now, and it feels like I’m barely able to get these comics out on time anymore, so I don’t think I can reasonably commit to the whole drawing-a-day thing this year, despite the much more accomodating schedule. I’ll still be working on comics, and maybe I’ll submit an entry or a few to the event, but it’s not gonna be a big overarching thing like it was last year. Please do support those that are participating, though. Plenty of great stuff I’ve seen come from these, and new artists need the acknowledgement!
 
Cutie Mark Crusaders forever, everypony! Looking forward to the next episode!

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Comments

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BJDazzle
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Artist -

Dumb Pony Artist
@SPB2016  
All I can think of is just that they’re a bit more difficult to contact since they live in Cloudsdale. It’s not really a good excuse, especially in regards to the Appreciation Day thing; if Terramar could fly in all the way from Mount Aris to attend, I’m pretty sure these two should’ve been able to drop by for this.
SPB2016

Come to think of it, how come Scootaloo never asked if Rainbow Dash’s parents could watch over her whenever her aunts and parents were away? It’s not like Bow and Windy have better things to do. And while we’re at it, where the heck were they for CMC Appreciation Day? They were there for the Scootaloo fan club’s first meeting.
thps48
Solar Supporter - Fought against the New Lunar Republic rebellion on the side of the Solar Deity (April Fools 2023).
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Wallet After Summer Sale -

Young Leosword
@BJDazzle  
It’s essentially the same thing that happened to the Pillars and Stygian. The Pillars appeared in the comics like four, five months before we even knew about Campfire Song Song, Daring Done, or Health of Information, and Shadow Lock alludes to the fucking S07 finale like eight months before it airs. XD
BJDazzle
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Artist -

Dumb Pony Artist
 
Okay, yeah, I got really confused by that typo.
 
I wouldn’t say they’ve been her moms the whole time; they’re just the most consistent parental figures that have been in Scootaloo’s life, but they really only looked after her on weekends or whatever, whenever they could come over to visit since they didn’t live in Ponyville until this episode. They also just kinda came out of nowhere story-wise; we had never met them before outside of a couple occasional appearances in literature and comics, and even then I never felt like they had that much of a presence.
 
I’ve wanted Rainbow’s parents to adopt Scootaloo since Parental Glideance, back before Scootaloo’s aunts were even a thing, because I love the way they hit it off in that episode and how much they seem to care about her and how much she enjoys being around them… Technically her aunts would make more sense overall if they can take care of her properly, which it seems like they do, but part of me never stopped wanting to see her being raised by Rainbow’s family and becoming her sister legally rather than just honorarily. I dunno.
Spoonlol

@BJDazzle  
I dunno, it all depends on many different factors. Like old the CMC really are, how long the aunts stay for (since it’s implied they stay there for the weekend then head home weekend).  
See I wouldn’t call it neglect if you’ve put things in place for your child to be taken care of. That’s basically what child minders are. Scoots doesn’t seem to be unhappy with this arrangement, and you could simple say that’s either cos she doesn’t know any better or that they didn’t really wanna show that in MLP. Like I said this kind of thing happens all the time in real life. It varies from child to child but as far as we can tell Scoot’s living condition isn’t bad, so I’m okay with it. The episode could have gone gone in the opposite direction and have Scootaloo hate the way she’s living but it’s not so in okay with it
BJDazzle
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Artist -

Dumb Pony Artist
@Spoonlol  
Yeah, that last part is what really got to me this episode: the fact that Scootaloo hasn’t been living with anyone full-time. At least with the old orphan headcanons there was someone in charge to oversee her needs, but her aunts didn’t even live in Ponyville, and the implication was just that the job was passed around to a whole bunch of miscellaneous ponies that happened to be available at the time. No effort was made for a more consistent or even reliable living situation.
 
By all accounts, she was living alone. This goes beyond just being too busy for your kid; this is straight-up neglect, and the episode treats it like such a casual thing!
Spoonlol

@Minus  
I never said it was a hobby, we’re only talking about health cos the other guy got really annoyed about it. I completely understand that most of the time a parent usually has to give up certain parts of their lives to raise said child. I brought but the fact it’s more of a question or why they had scoots at all if there jobs are so important. But I know loads of people whose parents work away and get love with other family members or friends whatever. Whether you agree with it or not it is a very real with that many kids can relate to.
 
My whole point was sometimes parents have children and they’re not able to give up their jobs for whatever reason. I also argued that while your child is very important making your whole life about your child isn’t much better. And that Scoot’s are good people just not good parents because they haven’t been able to.
 
Also if you couldn’t have rainbow’s parents instead of the aunts. Yes it would have been cool cos they’ve already been established but that’s not particularly uncommon for this show. The problem with that though is that means Scoot’s really was just living by herself this whole time, making her parents even worse.
Minus
King Sombra - Celebrated the 10th anniversary of The Crystal Empire!
A Lovely Nightmare Night - Celebrated the 12th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Princess of Love - Extra special version for those who participated in the Canterlot Wedding 10th anniversary event by contributing art.
Non-Fungible Trixie -
Kinship Through Differences - Celebrated the 11th anniversary of MLP:FIM!
Philomena - For helping others attend the 2021 community collab
Twinkling Balloon - Took part in the 2021 community collab.
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition
Friendship, Art, and Magic (2020) - Took part in the 2020 Community Collab
Dream Come True! - Participated in the MLP 9th Anniversary Event

It's bad. In a good way!
@Spoonlol  
You’re fighting a losing battle. Having a child is not a hobby, it is something you have to give up your aspirations for, assuming you had aspirations other than “be a great parent!”. They should have taken Scootaloo with them, or quit their jobs, or just put her up for adoption and get her some parents that can actually be parents.
 
The nicest person in the world can be a terrible parent if they don’t get their priorities in order. Scoot’s parents seem like nice and smart people, but they are undeniably bad parents. They’re barely parents at all. And that’s awful. That’s not fair on Scootaloo. They chose to have her, and then chose to leave her behind. Scootaloo never had a choice. We can blame the ones who did choose. We can blame her parents. I don’t know why you want to defend them so much.
 
You’re saying the parent’s health is important. Yes. Because you need a healthy parent in order to look after a child. But uh, who the heck is talking about health? We’re talking about parents doing what they want to do, rather than what they need to do… Or I guess in this case doing things they need to do, but… This episode really did try hard to frame their jobs as being equally important as raising Scootaloo. In this rare and specific situation that does not match most real situations, they should 100% have put her up for adoption, or had her move in with her aunts ages ago. But in realistic scenarios they’d be wrong to choose anything else over Scootaloo.
 
This was a good episode though, but it did kinda lose the only part that made it good now that I’ve seen this comic. The aunts really were a pointless addition. Or rather, they were the inferior addition. Rainbow’s parents would’ve been a far better choice and we’d have older eps to build from. Now I’m not sure this is a good episode anymore…
Spoonlol

@BJDazzle  
Dude I know more then most how big a commitment it is but my point was simple that both parent and children’s health is equally important since it’s the parent who has to raise the child, and an adult who can’t take care of themselves Most like doesn’t have capability to look after a child as well, that was my point.
 
Also the whole point of my statement is that Scootaloo’s parents are indeed bad parents but their not bad people and still have the potential to be good parents. It’s not like they’ve just abound Scoot’s out right, their the ones that brought that house and prothe ones to organised her staying with her aunts. I’d argue the more problem here is why they would have a child to begin with if their jobs are too important but that’s a whole another argument.
GryphonStar5678
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

Bearded Dialogue Master
@BJDazzle  
Thank you, finally, someone understands what I’m trying to get across. I’ll agree that they shouldn’t hover, but still, a child’s life is far more important than the parents’ ever would be. Yes, Scoot’s parents are terrible for putting themselves first, it should have been anyone else, be it the lesbians or Rainbow’s parents, anyone else would have been a better choice for this episode.
 
Heck this comics whole plot would have been a far better episode than “Something makes Scootaloo doubt her life/herself… AGAIN!!”
BJDazzle
An Artist Who Rocks - 100+ images under their artist tag
Artist -

Dumb Pony Artist
@Spoonlol  
…No, I’d say the child’s health is much more important than the parents’, largely because they’re much less capable of taking care of themselves. I think you underestimate how much of a commitment raising a child requires; their health, education, physical development, and happiness falls largely on your shoulders, and any substantial behavioral patterns can have an extremely profound effect on that child’s outcome for the rest of their life, particularly in the early years. You don’t have to hover over them constantly or anything, but it IS a full-time commitment, and there are incredibly few jobs in this world that are more important than parenthood.
 
Basically Scootaloo’s parents decided their jobs as monster hunters were more important, and thus were ill-equipped to make that kind of commitment to Scootaloo. And if you aren’t prepared or willing to make that kind of commitment, then I don’t think you deserve to have children in the first place.
Spoonlol

@Background Pony Number 17  
Not really, considering if they weren’t there then it would mean Scootaloo really was just leaving by herself. She only meant Bow and Windy two season ago after all.  
Would have made a cool story then adopting scoots and all but it’s not the story they went with
Spoonlol

@GryphonStar5678  
Okay look I’m sorry to hear that but I’ve known plenty of people who work away from their child who have turned out fine. I’m not trying to undermine what your upbringing was kink but now I’ve got a better understanding of why you see this episode the way you do.
 
And also no neither the parents health or the child’s health are more important. Both are equally as important. But for one to become all about the other is still very unhealthy and can become a very toxic upbringing.
Background Pony Number 17
My Little Pony - 1992 Edition

This comic points out how Scootaloo’s aunts are superfluous characters. The show writers could’ve done the entire episode with Dash’s parents in their role and it would’ve been exactly the same. The writers really missed the boat by failing to bring the set up they wrote in “Parental Glideance” to is logical conclusion by having Scoots be adopted into Dash’s family.