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Kiffers — A Dose of Reality Part 4
#cmc #comic #cutiemark #mylittlepony #scootaloo #kiffers
Published: 2014-11-14 12:25:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 1181; Favourites: 13; Downloads: 4
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So, throughout the show I have often wondered why Scootaloo has yet to receive her Cutie Mark. They've often hinted that her special talent has something to do with her scooter, and she is always on it. And I'm fairly certain that a pony receives their CM as soon as they learn what their "special talent" is. So, what gives? Why is she still a blank flank? Personally, I believe it is because something is holding her back, and she refuses to acknowledge here true talent, because it means she must abandon her dream of flying with Rainbow Dash. I don't think she'll ever receive her cutie mark, unless she learns to accept the truth. Life isn't full of just happy endings. There is heart ache too.But, well, that's my personal opinion.
Part One: tinyurl.com/ADoR1
Part Two: tinyurl.com/ADoRP2
Part Three: tinyurl.com/ADoRP3
Part Four: You Are Here
Art ©
My Little Pony and Scootaloo © Hasbro
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Comments: 12
Yes, I'm afraid sometimes you have to let things go to let better things in.
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Indeed. But most of the time it works out better than we could've imagined.
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Worst advice ever. And not just 'cause it'd be sad if Scoots could never fly.
See, people with disabilities are often told what their limits will be, and when you struggle with something and don't make much headway, frustration is the obvious result. But people often (yes, in *reality.* I can write the word in a more flowery font if you wish.) end up breaking the predicted limits.
There are many people walking now (after physical therapy, after techniques that they didn't have access to early on, after their body just being better at developing/knitting itself than someone had predicted) who were told that they never would. And when it comes to people who never did end up walking, there are ones who didn't just end up having good lives, but ended up excelling at things you'd think not being able to walk would be an absolute barrier to. A lawyer in a wheelchair's not hard to imagine. But a mountain climber in one is totally ridiculous, right? Except, no, that's not right.
People are walking now who were told "Quit DREAMING, face REALITY, you will never get out of that chair" by well-meaning doctors and family and their own frustrations. They're where they are now because they didn't listen.
Same goes for many who aren't walking now: they were told "Quit DREAMING, face REALITY, someone in a wheelchair cannot do this." They ignored it. They found a way.
And in both cases, before they found a way, they were like Scoots in this series of pictures, trying it and having it NOT work.
And walking's just an example. There are people who can see now who were told they never would, and blind people who are doing what they were told they blind couldn't do. Replace that with any sense or ability you'd hate to not have.
Hell, I have multiple relatives who were told "quit DREAMING, face REALITY, you won't be alive come Christmas" many Christmases ago.
And of course, it doesn't take a disability or terminal diagnosis - pretty much all of us have been told this by our own frustrations with whatever it was we couldn't get. If you're trying, trying again when at first (and second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth) you didn't succeed, your brain's saying this to you right now, I'd bet. Mine sure as hell is.
I shudder to think where the world would be if everyone who had a particularly difficult or painful time making it to where they are now had taken this advice when failure was most painful.
Don't get me wrong, I know not everything works out - in fact, the idea that if you work hard enough it always will too easily leads to victim-blaming and can be poisonous too. But the idea that someone in a situation similar to the one we find Scootaloo in should just give up is dead wrong and much worse.
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I do agree, to a certain extent, with some of your points. However, what this comic does not go on to show is that Scoots does eventually go on to lead her own life. I know that dreams and goals are important, but if they stand in they way of you going out and finding your own way in the world, aren't they, in a sense, a handicap? Scootaloo's not being able to fly doesn't ruin her entire life, nor does a paraplegic's being in a wheelchair ruin their entire life. However, they still have to incorporate their disability into their life. I know eventually that it doesn't bother them, which is great! But they still have to be aware of it.
Now, I may be wrong, as I have never had a disability or illness preventing me from doing what I would like to do. Hell, I've never even broken a bone. In fact, I'm not even sure if, as you say, Scoots has a disability or illness. A lot of people seem to think so, but personally I just don't think it's in the universes plan for her to fly. She has a higher calling. But even without a disability, this can still ring true. And, for the record, this comic isn't just advice for those people, it can be applied to anyone. A little girl who grows up, even to her teens, wanting to be a Princess, must eventually face reality. If she ignores all other opportunities, just so she can one day become a Princess, she's only hurting herself.
Hell, emotions play a big part in this too. Just because you give up on one dream (as Scootaloo is doing here) doesn't mean you can't have others. No one ever really gives up dreams, they just make new ones. A perfect example is actually one from myself. Since I was six, I wanted to become a veterinarian when I was older; I thought it was the best job on the planet. Then, as I grew, I learned that I would be required to kill animals, not just save them. I'm in college now, and I have since shifted my dreams, and am getting a degree for something much different. Does that mean I'm any worse a person because I didn't pursue the dreams of a six year old? No, of course not.
And really, why is Scoots being unable to fly a limitation? I actually think it broadens her horizons, since she doesn't have to fit to the social norm that pretty much every other Pegasus is forced to adapt to. I mean think about it, can you actually name one Pegasus in the show whose special talent or skills don't revolve around flight? Lightning Dust, Soarin', Spitfire, Rainbow Dash; they all revolve around flying. Even Derpy is shown as a flight replacement for Rainbow Dash in Rainbow Falls.
In fact, I think one of the best examples to demonstrate my point is the Element of Kindness herself, Fluttershy. Unlike pretty much every other Pegasus in the universe, her life doesn't revolve around flying. In fact, the only reason she even found out about her cutie mark was because she is a poor flyer compared to others. After being teased about it, Rainbow Dash stands up for her in a race. A race which wouldn't happened without the teasing. Now, because of that race we learn how being with animals and on the ground is were she got her cutie mark. Funny, the only Pegasus in the show who is shown to live on the ground and have nothing to do with flight is actually happy about it.
In fact, Rainbow Dash had some of the best advice for Scootaloo, in the episode that centered around her being unable to fly. "Listen Scootaloo, maybe you'll fly someday or maybe you won't. You're all kinds of awesome anyway." She's not saying quit DREAMING face REALITY, as you put it, but she is saying that no matter what, she knows Scoots is going to be "awesome". Rainbow Dash is her role model, and this goes a great way to showing children that living with a disability is not the end of the world. That people still love you, and you'll be able to live a great life despite it, or even because of it in some cases.
It is true that not everything works out the way we planned for it to happen, but people (or ponies) are amazing creatures, and I've learned that it takes a lot for us to truly give up. Sometimes we never do. Just because an obstacle is placed in our way, doesn't mean that we'll quit. It just means that we learn to move past the obstacle, and we, or in this case Scootaloo, are even stronger because we had to face it.
I did not write this comic to be malicious in any way towards people with disabilities. And if I thought for one moment that I was in any way discouraging them, I apologize. I wrote this comic because yes, sometimes the truth hurts. A lot. And at the moment, it can seem like the end of your life. But I stand by my little quote at the end. Yes, sometimes you must abandon your dreams to move on with your life. But new goals and ideas and plans are formed everyday. One of my favorite quotes says, "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us." Yes, for Scootaloo, this is a door closing for her. But she got her cutie mark! Now that she's not going to be focusing all of her devotion and attention to the "closed door", she can move on to discover who she actually is, and not become another Rainbow Dash.
As I've been writing this reply back to you, I've thought about this and what you've said quite a bit. And I've come to a realization. When I made this comic, it was purely for shock value, having a comic with a sad ending, and a little bit of "what if" thought on my end. But I've decided that I actually would LOVE for this to be how the show portray's Scootaloo receiving her cutie mark. Perhaps not in the same way, but something similar. Because then we would get to see Scootaloo for who she really is. Not just a Rainbow Dash fan-girl or a cutie mark crusader. Just Scootaloo. I think that would lead to amazing character development within the show, as well as teach any children who watch the show an important lesson.
Anyways, thank you for your comment. I respect and value your right to have an opinion. I hope I've managed to answer you in a way that somehow satisfies you. Maybe even given you a little food for thought. If not, and you just see this as me blathering on about a bunch of b.s. and trying to defend myself, then I'm sorry. We'll just have to agree to disagree.
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I don't think you meant anything malicious by it, and I do get that we can't all be princes and princesses.
Also, I get that what I get from the comic doesn't perfectly tell me everything that's in your heart on the subject. It's just that the comic as written isn't one about ceasing to obsess over this one thing you don't have in order to use everything you do have to go forward. What's on the page is Scoots taking her flight problem as it exists right now as "A Dose Of Reality" that proves that she must give up on ever flying. That was what she had to do for her special talent to show itself, with the moral of the story written right there to hammer it in.
Actually, the lesson in Flight To The Finish is a good one, I think; I find myself more satisfied with it than a lot of people who wanted her to be proven permanently fight-incapable. Its lesson was about doing what you can with what you've got, about, well, ceasing to obsess over this one thing you don't have in order to use everything you do have to go forward, and that is a good one! I wish people would see that point instead of only the fact that their headcanon about the status of her disability wasn't outright confirmed.
I think where she is in the end is right where she should be - right where I'd try to stay if I ever, say, got hit by a car and couldn't walk. I'd keep doing what I could to have the best life I could. (Not that that would mean I wouldn't also pursue recovering as much of my mobility as possible. But I don't think that hope would hold me back.)
But a lot of people mistake pessimism for realism. And it can hold you back as much as an obsession with that one thing. I wouldn't accept a dose of their 'reality.'
So, maybe I'd walk again someday, and maybe I wouldn't. (…but maybe I would!) And I'd be all kinds of awesome anyway!
(As for how I'd want to see it portrayed in the show - again, I believe Flight to the Finish pretty much nailed it on not letting an obsession with that one thing hold her back - a problem she actually doesn't have most of the time, and it seems nobody here is truly trying to say that her keeping some hope of flying someday has to be bad. Her CM would be related to her scooter skills, and maybe we'd have a flash-forward in the last episode to her doing her stunts as a career, before cheering crowds. Naturally, her "sister" Dashie's at the front - she *doesn't* have to think she'll be the flyer Dashie is someday in order to be her fan, after all, and it doesn't really seem from the show that that's what it's all about. But, I'd deliberately leave no answer as to whether or not she'd fly. Maybe be mean about it: Adult Scootaloo flares out her wings all dramatically! Cue the cheers of those who want her to fly and the rage of those who don't. Then we pull the "camera" back, and she's on her scooter, at one of her now-legendary stunt shows.)
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Well, yes, this is in the "right now", and it doesn't go past for a reason. As I said, when I created this, it was mostly for the purpose of having a sad comic and shock value. And she does give up on ever flying. This is all true. But despite giving up on her dream of flying, the comic does show that a new set of possibilities has opened up to her, in that her cutie mark has appeared. It does show that by leaving her childhood dreams behind, she can now discover her true destiny in life, for that is what a cutie mark (for the most part) represents. And actually, the comic does state that you have to leave behind what you don't have (i.e: her dreams of flying) to move forward with what you do have (i.e: her life, her special talent, and her future). It says it all in the quote at the end: "Sometimes you must abandon your dreams to move on with your life."
And really, I don't see Scootaloo as having a disability. I know that's practically accepted as canon among the MLP:FiM community, but I really just don't think it's true. For me, there's probably some psychological reasoning behind her being unable to fly. Hell, perhaps even in the future after this event happens, she does someday accidentally take flight. Though I prefer the idea of her having to remain grounded.
I don't think people with handicaps should give up hope. But I also don't think that they should let their hope rule their entire lives. And while it isn't always present, her hope of flying does somewhat govern her actions in that she wants to be just like Rainbow, flight and all. Can you name any time in the show when Scoots isn't either showing her love of Rainbow Dash, or being a Cutie Mark Crusader? The only possible time I can think of is when the girls were dealing with Babs, but even then the trio were still playing the part of Crusaders, just more subtlety.
Though I will admit, you've gotten me curious. What exactly is your theory on why Scoots hasn't received her cutie mark yet? For Sweetie Belle it's obvious, as her talent probably has something to do with singing, but for the moment she's terribly stage fright of doing it for others. And I believe Apple Bloom's has something to do with creating or building, but she hasn't really done anything yet to the extent that will grant her a CM. But Scoots? She's on her scooter all the time, and she has no trouble showing off for others or performing tricks on it, so what's up? Why no cutie mark?
(That would certainly be an interesting way for us [the viewers and fans] to finally see her cutie mark, but it doesn't really show how she received her cutie mark. And honestly, with finding their cutie marks being the main point of those three at the moment, I really do believe that the show should give the fans the courtesy of allowing us to see their efforts bloom to yield results.)
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make a sequel with Scootaloo fulfilling her cutie mark and shutting Diamond Tiara up!
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Hehe. Well, I might have an idea for a sequel in the back of my mind, but we'll see how it all works out.
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Thank you so much! They idea has been playing around in my head for months, and I'm just really relieved to finally get it out there.
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your welcome! It has a lovely ending!
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