Mark of Inspiration: Script, Analysis, & Backstory

This is something I've been working on for a very long time! I'll be making a separate post about the upcoming audio and auditioning process, but for now, I wanted to talk about why I made this project to begin with, and what inspired the script.

MY PERSONAL BACKGROUND WITH MLP:FiM

When I was in high school, for our senior project, we were supposed to "shadow" someone in the industry that we wanted to work in. Through a series of good luck and connections, I somehow ended up shadowing Meghan McCarthy, also known as the showrunner for MLP:FiM for most of the show (after Lauren Faust left). While this was an incredible experience and she was extremely kind, I was a ball of unmedicated anxiety, and shockingly, working with one of my idols did not help this!

(SPOILER ALERT: THIS WOULD NOT BE THE FIRST TIME THIS WOULD HAPPEN TO ME.)

By the end of our time together, I had written a spec script for MLP—for those who don't know, a "spec script" is basically just a canon-aligned fanfiction that you write in script format for a show. It's a script that could feasibly be an actual episode of whatever show you want to write for. My spec script was a nameless MLP:FiM episode set in the last few seasons of the show: a Halloween special focused on the student six. After finishing all my revisions, on our last night together, I received the compliment that would go to my head and give me a massive ego boost for the rest of time:

"To be honest, you're a better writer than some of the people I've worked with on the show."

The reason my brain (which is pretty averse to accepting compliments) was able to take this one to heart was because it was said in a tone, not of particular fondness for ME, but of annoyance and disgust for some past writer. Anytime I started to doubt myself, I would think, "Well, Meghan McCarthy had to work with people worse than me! So if THEY could make it, surely I can, too!" Maybe that's not the healthiest way to think, but it's just how my brain works!

THE INSPIRATION FOR THE SCRIPT

Fast-forward a couple of years, and I was debating MLP in a groupcall—particularly, the episode "Crusaders of the Lost Mark," written by Amy Keating Rogers. For those unfamiliar with MLP, this was the episode where the young Cutie Mark Crusaders finally get their Cutie Marks—something NOBODY in the fandom ever thought would actually happen. That's like the main couple of a rom-com actually getting together before the season finale. It was a sign of closure, and a sign the show was ending soon.

I personally really enjoyed Crusaders of the Lost Mark. However, others in the group call had major issues with it. And, after our discussion, I actually understood what about the episode frustrated them. Firstly, it was supposed to be a CMC episode—their huge moment!—but over half the episode was actually dedicated to redeeming the CMC's villain, Diamond Tiara. We decided as a group that both plots were good, but Diamond Tiara's redemption should've had its own episode. Secondly, because both plots were crammed into one episode, and both plots had MULTIPLE musical numbers, the script was mostly taken up by song... giving very little time to actually flesh out what was happening through dialogue.

And finally, many people were upset with the actual cutie marks the CMC received. For those not in the know, a "cutie mark" is a mark that appears on a pony when they discover their "special talent" that they will use for the rest of their life. In the very earliest seasons of the show, the CMC have clearly implied special talents: Sweetie Belle sings, Scootaloo rides her scooter, and Apple Bloom... something, something, apples and/or construction? It was pretty vague on that last one.

The three fillies form the Cutie Mark Crusaders to discover their talents, and each episode that focuses on them has them trying new things. However, the longer the show ran, and the more these episodes happened... that BECAME the focus of the girls. Sweetie Belle still sings sometimes, and Scootaloo still uses her scooter for transport, but that's not what they spend most of their time doing. Most of their time is spent trying to "discover" new cutie marks.

And so, when the CMC finally get their cutie marks, it turns out their "special talent" was actually the process of discovering cutie marks—specifically, they decide to dedicate the rest of their life to helping other ponies discover (and understand!) their cutie marks.

Now, I really liked this. I thought it was the only fitting end for the CMC. However, multiple people I talked to argued that, because the earlier seasons of the show implied them to have different talents, they should've at least had an episode demonstrating that those talents WEREN'T their "special talents" after all.

After some debate, I agreed. So I decided on a whim to rewrite the episode where the CMC earn their cutie marks. The changes I needed to make were as follows:

• Focus the episode on the CMC, not Diamond Tiara. (However, I included foreshadowing to a potential Diamond Tiara redemption episode that would occur later.)
• Show that singing, scootering, and construction are no longer the girls' main passions.
• Revisit the first setting where the CMC tried to earn their cutie marks—the talent show—for easy use of parallels to show how they've changed.
• Allude more to the fact that they've grown older, and the show's entering its final era.
• Demonstrate explicitly that HELPING OTHER PONIES FIND THEIR TALENTS is the thing they want to dedicate their lives to doing. The talent show was the perfect setting for this.
• Directly contrast at least one pony to another to express the difference between their talents. (This is what Mini Melody exists for: she's a pony whose special talent IS singing. She loves singing, she loves performing for a crowd, and she states that she wants to keep doing it forever. However, Sweetie Belle has more fun helping her overcome her stage fright, and planning out the talent show with her friends, than actually performing.)
• Reference other CMC episodes that played an important part in their journey.

I think this script has successfully filled all of these criteria, and I'm really excited to show it off.

By the end of the month, the fully voice-acted radioplay of this script will be up on YouTube. I really hope you enjoy it!