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The following is a very beautiful and extremely bittersweet comic that was sent in to me perhaps five minutes before I went to bed last night. I'm telling you this because I spent the entire time thinking about what I had just read and seen, and digging through some very similar memories. This is not your average Scootaloo comic, and you won't find her doing average Scootaloo things. The ponies who worked together to create this did a wonderful job: it is stunningly well drawn, and touchingly written. I urge you to check it out for yourselves.
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160 comments:
Okay, Phoe, ill check it out!
ReplyDeleteScoots is a big sister?! This makes Jelfes happy.
ReplyDeleteNot average Scootaloo? Heresy
ReplyDeletemy heart... why, you cruel monster Phoe, did you do that to my heart. ;-;
ReplyDeleteWell that was unexpectedly emotional...
ReplyDeleteWow, that just went dark REALLY fast.
ReplyDeleteI like the art..
ReplyDeleteBeing the youngest sibling, I cannot relate to this at all =|
ReplyDeleteStill a good comic.
When it involves Scootaloo, expect it to be either a chicken joke or something heart wrenching. That's what I've learned from EqD.
ReplyDeleteI think I know what happened... sad face... That was definitely emotionally touching.
ReplyDeleteThat was amazingly well done, artwork, story, everything. The way it turned from happy to dark, everything. Thank you, Phoe, for sharing this with us.
ReplyDeleteQuite touching... and while it works as a standalone, I do hope that it continues eventually.
ReplyDeleteI could see that ending coming from the very start, but it still hurt. :(
ReplyDeleteI want to hug both Scootaloo and her mother...
Bittersweet + Scootaloo = Must-read. Gahhhhhhhh.
ReplyDeleteWait... did what I think happened... happened.
ReplyDelete... oh god... the same thing happened to me when I grew up... I...
I think I need to lie down for a bit...
Ouch. My emotions. They've been smashed with a sad hammer.
ReplyDeleteAw. My heart. it breaks. :(
ReplyDeleteThis is such a sad comic, I weep
ReplyDeleteI just realized that this is a Phoe post. That makes it even better. Rawr.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened. Idungeddit.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to this in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm sad. Well, sadder than I already was. Thanks a lot, Phoe. :(
Confound these ponies for teaching me to experience human emotion.
ReplyDelete...it really lets you paint the picture how you want it. Dam did i paint it sad....
ReplyDeleteAnypony whose making a joke in this thread should be ashamed of themselves. Read the comic, and think about what occurred before making a joke. This is a serious comic and this post deserves serious discussion. Heartbreaking stuff lies within. I am now a little bit sadder because of this.
ReplyDelete...did she... miscarry the baby?
ReplyDeleteWhy are you all getting upset? Scootaloo is wondering about what being an older sister is like, then she snuggles with her mother. Nothing sad at all, as far as I can tell.
ReplyDelete...Wow. Being an older sibling, I feel awful about how I treat my brother sometimes. Even when I`m trying to help him become a better person, he just gets upset at it. Just...wow.
ReplyDeleteSubtlety is the best storyteller.
ReplyDelete@WizardShy
ReplyDeleteWhen Scootaloo gets home, her mother is lying on the couch in the dark with tears in her eyes.
She tries to change the subject about the baby after returning from another check up.
She tells her daughter that she's very precious to her.
What does this add up to? Not a happy equation I know but...
@DJ Kat
ReplyDeleteThe strip is alluding to a possible miscarriage. It's why Scootaloo's mom makes note that her husband isn't home yet, and why she doesn't want to talk about the baby's future, and just wants to hold Scootaloo close to her.
I love the sad ponies, but it's starting to hurt my soul. Counfound this.
ReplyDelete@WizardShy I'm not sure, but I believe the pregnancy took a turn for the worse and the baby died.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to shed some tears but I am too life-toughtened already to do so. Nice to see people do have hearts out there still.
ReplyDelete@Roman500 ever read the fanfic Final Dream of a Filly? Perfect example of emotional Scootaloo. Probably the most emotional Scootalo fic i've ever seen. You should definitely give it a try
ReplyDelete@The Lotus Tea Dragon
ReplyDeleteIt also accounts for the fact that she is no longer showing.
I must be a heartless person to read this, not get what happened, then still not feel sad after learning.
ReplyDeleteThat, or it just ruined the "punchline" since it had to be explained...
I feel a very certain tightness in my chest that refuses to vacate itself.
ReplyDeleteEugh. Been a while since I felt like this. A real sucker-punch to the emotional gut.
Sorry, but I didn't like it very much. Not only do I not like sad stories, but it was also hard to read with all the typos and with the text being written over the paintings. Also, the blurriness of the pictures makes me question my vision, and it was hard to tell where one panel ended and the next started. Overall not bad, but visually it could have been done better, I think.
ReplyDeleteI could quibble with the comic, but this probably isn't the time and place to do so. I will say it's well drawn and well written, and it does tug effectively at the heartstrings.
ReplyDeletePretty good.
ReplyDeleteNot good enough to pierce some of these brony's shells, though. Nor mine because I pretty much saw it coming.
Still gains more respect from me than any over the top and wacky comic out there. Those are fine but I like ponies for far more than humor.
@Okay the overlapping panels is a style of comic. And the blurriness is an art technique used to have a better transition from one scene to the next, or rather, make it smoother. It also is a nice affect. I wont blame you for not liking it, though, because that's your own opinion, and who am I to judge that?
ReplyDelete*cries* This is so saddening! Pitty it's NOW I deside to head to bed.
ReplyDelete*effect
ReplyDeleteToo much sad pony.
ReplyDeleteToo many feels.
ReplyDeleteGosh dangit why did it have to end exactly how I dreaded it would... ;-;
ReplyDeleteThis is what I think I could call a "double-tap" piece. As in, one that hits you hard the first time through, then rips you clean in half when you think back over it again.
ReplyDeleteMakes me kinda happy to be a self-proclaimed comedy writer. If my only role is to provoke a smile or two after real life rears its ugly head, then I can die satisfied about that.
saw this coming soon as i saw the first few panels
ReplyDeleteThemeFromUp.mp3
ReplyDeleteThere we go, that should clear it up for folks who didn't get the last page.
This does bring back memories, not of something that happened to me but to a girl in my first grade class. She was also the youngest, and thought her mom couldn't have another baby. But lo and behold, wabam, she got pregnant. Now it was a very high risk pregnancy, but everything was going great...for eight months. Then, there was bad news a couple weeks before the delivery. The baby's lungs hadn't developed properly, and it would not survive more than a couple hours after birth.
All that time, she was so excited, we made her pictures congratulating her and wishing her the happiest lifetime of memories with her own precious little sister. It was such a poignant class activity, a real "coming together" between us all. And then, when this news struck, we knew it hit her really badly because she felt like she had dashed our hopes, and that it was her fault like we'd wasted our time.
Sorry, folks. I'm not ramping up to a happy ending here, kinda depressing myself here. When the baby was born, she didn't even survive ten minutes. They got a few pictures of her being held by the family, and then she was gone. I don't know all the details, I left that school shortly afterward, but all I remember is that she was so distraught by the experience she didn't show up to school for a couple weeks. We were advised to not offer condolences or bring it up, probably because she was so shaken at being so close to something so emotionally taxing.
So this is a comic that I'm glad approaches it from another angle, and could really be told sans ponies. But the thing is, by making it MLP-themed, something we've taken so close to our hearts, it gives it even greater impact at just reminding us how precious life is, and how privileged we are to even have the lives we're given, the memories we share...the air we breathe.
I actually CRIED...I just cried because of a fancomic about pastel colored ponies...sometimes, life can be magnificent.
ReplyDeleteD'awwww. I didn't see why it was so touching until the end there. So cute and sweet. :')
ReplyDeleteAw hell Phoe - you just wanted us to all cry ourselves to sleep tonight didn't you? :P
ReplyDeletei saw that comin from a mile away and it still hit me like a ton of bricks... man makes me think about how i treat my siblings and how it feels like i just ignore them and never realize what a gift to me they have been. wow this is why im a brony because one moment i can be laughing it up and the next moment my heart can be shreding.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading more "I cried" comments, it's official, I have no soul.
ReplyDeletehmm...I have to say the build up to this then the tear down is almost cruel, but the execution was well done.
ReplyDeleteAlternate ending:
ReplyDeleteScootaloo: Mom?
Rainbow Dash: Scootaloo, I'm not your mom. Get out of my house, please.
sad ending... could be sadder. A true Scootasad story would have had the mother die in childbirth.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was gonna be sweet but. . . ouch my heart is warm and fuzzy.
ReplyDeleteI had a close friend who had this happen to her. Cept she was the mother.
ReplyDelete>< sad feelings r sad
Yea, I was afraid of that outcome. Doesn't make it any easier :(
ReplyDeleteI just feel so sad for everypony involved. Man, if there was a 4th comic where Scootaloo learned what happened and showed her reaction... I think my heart would explode twice.
*hugs Scoots and mom*
The heartstrings have been tugged firmly they have. Gotta love Scoots.
ReplyDeleteAs an oldest sibling, this broke my heart into a thousand pieces....
ReplyDeleteAnd to make it worse, When She Loved Me started playing in my playlist. Excuse me while I cry my soul out.
As a father that has experienced a death of his child, this was heart wrenching.
ReplyDeleteIt's much harder if you get to hold them and meet them before they fade away.
And this comic suddenly made me grateful that I have a younger brother and that we get along.
ReplyDeleteI was expecting bittersweet at worst, not sad. :(
D'awww, Gunslingerpen does cute stuff. =)
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry everypony, but am I the only one to think of Ctrl+Alt+Delete here? There is a point of how serious I'm willing to take pony stories, and this comic past this point, kept going at light speed, went around the equator, and past this point again, five times. This is My Little Pony, I watch it so I don't have to think about the horrors of life like this.
ReplyDeletehey, author of the comic here finally stopping in.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for all the comments on this, heh. it's been a while since I've written anything and it's nice to know I haven't become complete trash at it in the time since... even IF most of what I write has things that irks and annoys me.
Just a few notes... I don't plan on continuing it because the ending as is gets the message across fine without flogging the reader over the head worth it. I also wanted it to emphasize the sense of comfort and thankfulness scoots mother felt when she saw her daughter rather than focusing on feelings of loss and sorrow.
I decided to actually have a mother, for once, NOT be turned into an inconsolable mess like they usually do in fiction. still heavily shaken and will be for a while, yes, but also able to find comfort.
I ran the script through two spellcheckers and scanned it over personally and I didn't notice anything. I fully admit I'm not observant, however, and the artist I worked with is not a native English speaker, so hopefully that should explain the typos.
(O_O) ... Phoe, why are you trying to freak me out?
ReplyDelete(My wife and I are expecting our first child in less than two weeks, and there have been a couple of scary moments during the pregnancy.)
@myself
ReplyDeleteThat's not to say this comic wasn't well drawn or well written. And props to anyone who was moved by it. It's just not my taste.
I... didn't feel anything. I understood it, and all, but I didn't see what it was so sad for. I find out that its what I thought, and still don't feel any sadder.
ReplyDeleteScootaloo having parents? MY HEADCANON RAGES
ReplyDelete@WizardShy
ReplyDeleteAssumption #1: You're male.
Assumption #2: You're young.
If both are true, then you'll most likely understand some day.
I lost a niece/nephew the same way.
Wow. Very good, I like the art and the way the story was told both through the art and the dialogue. Call me blind, but I didn't see that ending coming, and I'm still not entirely sure what I just read. (SPOILER ALERT) I understand that Scoots probably wont be a sister anymore, but what of the father? Where did he go? Like someone said up above, when Scootaloo's involved, it's either a chicken joke or heart wrenching, and this is a strong example of the latter, even though it strays from the norm as far as sad Scoots stuff goes.
ReplyDeleteAs for the comic, expressive and effectively executed. I did feel it.
ReplyDeleteAs for the general trend of Scootaloo-the-sad-pony, I feel an almost insatiable urge to create something with happy Scootaloo, if only to balance out my headcannon.
@AxelWolfen
ReplyDeleteread it again. the dad's just at work. "not going to be home for a few hours."
@BeatleBrony Yes, she miscarried, but your reasoning doesn't really make any sense. You're normally supposed to gain about 25-35 lbs during the course of the pregnancy and only a few pounds of that will be the baby. So even without the baby there, she's still gonna look pregnant. That's why women still look a few months pregnant after they deliver and why women complain about the excess weight post-pregnancy.
ReplyDeleteI think it was pretty obvious what was going to happen from the first page (my first thought was Up) but I thought it was still moving and being an older sibling, it resonated with me. The very ending is beautifully done. And @dexam, congrats! I hope everything goes well.
Just finished reading Transcendence...now this? Why sad Scootaloo, why?
ReplyDelete@Icy Wind
ReplyDeleteYour little brother looks up to you. Show him what to do through your actions.
I've been an asshole to my mom all this time.
ReplyDeleteFuck you, Scootaloo, for making me realize how wonderful she is for putting up with me.
Also...my sister just lost her baby, and my brother's wife is due in March. Brings back some sad memories.
ReplyDeleteWHY HAVE YOU DONE THIS TO ME!!!!
ReplyDeleteI was in a good mood all day, but now I'm sad
I was bracing myself for the ending, but it left me wondering too much and ended up sort of anticlimactic. I thought that the mother was gonna die or she had an abortion or something but...the whole thing left me with too many questions to have an immediate impact but it sort of suck in after a while.
ReplyDelete@rainboom91
ReplyDelete*Sunk in.
.............................................
ReplyDeleteHorseapples........
If any of you need me, I'll be in my cloud home.
Crying my eyes out T-T
@BeatleBrony
ReplyDeleteExactly.
@Derpy hooves
ReplyDeleteThat's actually just fine. I didn't write it to be uber depressing, I wrote it to be understated and bittersweet. I wanted it to be positive and hopeful, not negative and gloomy.
I...Wow. Dammit.
ReplyDeleteI've never felt the pain of losing a sibling before they were even born. Being the youngest of 3 kids and my parents not making any more attempts for one, the possibility just wasn't there. But hey, it could have just as easily been me, and my older brother and sister having to suffer from me never coming into this world.
But why is it that this fandom must always use Scootaloo to represent all this childhood tragedy? What is it about her that seems to illicit all these depressing thoughts from us and make us use her as the vehicle to express them? Is it just because her personal life is so vague beyond her interactions with Sweetie and Apple Bloom? Just because we've never seen her parents doesn't mean she's an orphan. We've never seen Rarity's and Sweetie's parents before, yet we don't always assume they don't exist. We've never seen Applejack's or Rainbow Dash's, or Fluttershy's parents, and only Applejack's parents are obviously dead because she lives on a farm that's considered the center of her extended family.
Is it because Scootaloo is vulnerable to disappointment due to her idol worship of Rainbow Dash?
Some bronies love to hate Scootaloo, so we get Scootabuse. Others seem to feel like they need to deepen her character through drama and sadness in order to make her more appealing in a deeply emotional way, hence Scootasad.
I'm not saying that this isn't a deep and moving story that for a lot of bronies really hit close to home. I'm just asking...Why Scootaloo? Not for this story specifically, because in this instance it does make sense because she fit the requirements of the plot. And, in this instance she made the whole situation feel all the more real.
I'm saying this to every Scootasad story. Scootaloo has died tragically multiple times, and in one she had to choose her own afterlife, giving us possibly the most heart-wrenching, bittersweet ending in pony history. She's faced rejection and outright hatred from Rainbow Dash. She's been crippled and made unable to fly in her adulthood by either developmental complications from illness or a childhood injury.
The question I present to you is one which I hope shall produce some long, deep thought. Where does the Scootasad come from?
On one hand, I'm sad about the ending. On the other hand, I'm ecstatic that Scootaloo has a family, and does not in fact sleep in the clubhouse or Fluttershy's coop.
ReplyDelete@Adrian Brony
ReplyDeleteGlad you did what you did, much better this way, amazing work all around.
I'm not gonna cry... I'm n-n-not gonna cry...
ReplyDeleteBefore I would be able to look at a comic like this and not feel a thing, even for a subject this dark. But these ponies have opened up a part of my soul that I have had very little experience with, these...emotions. And now, I sit here, tears in my eyes, thinking, "WHY SCOOTALOO?! WHY DO YOU MAKE ME CRY?!"
ReplyDeleteWhat the hell, man. Why is Scootaloo always the subject of sadness.
ReplyDelete@Eonseig
ReplyDelete^ This
Haha... Scootabuse
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete@Eonseig Good question, I don't get it either. Needs more Scootalove.
ReplyDeleteNow I am one to indulge in scootabuse every now and then but this is actually amazing and quite a reflection of how this fandom is growing.
ReplyDeleteSomepony just pulled a Tim Buckley for the first time!
Awwwww.........
ReplyDeleteJust....
Awwwwwww......
A bad day all around for everypony, isn't it?
@Jav
ReplyDeleteI did my best to do the exact opposite of what B^Uckley did in how the issue was handled.
No, why did I read this!? So terribly sad.
ReplyDelete@WizardShy
ReplyDeleteIt's implied that Scootaloo's mother MISCARRIED or that the baby came stillborn -- either way, dead. I haven't experienced this myself (knock on wood for the future) but I've had galpals who have, and it's a completely WRENCHING experience, ESPECIALLY when it happens late in the pregnancy when you're pretty sure that the baby is healthy and coming into the world on schedule.
I know you can't relate, but basically, at that late point, it's almost as horrible as having a baby die AFTER being born. Surely you can at least kind of savvy what that's like, yeah?
Why can't I scoot all these feels?
ReplyDeleteWow. That last line will kill ya. In a good way.
ReplyDelete@Adrian Brony
ReplyDeleteIt says "Borther or sister." That was a typo.
But yes, good comic, don't need to say any more, everything's been said.
I saw this coming after remembering Phoe's bittersweet comment. Even that couldn't save me. I didn't cry -- I haven't cried much in my life, I'm a "get angry" person -- but I could feel it. After the panel with the picture, there were tiny little hooks in my heart, hooks from a weapon called pathos. The artist wielded that weapon in its purest form: subtly. It hurt, it almost physically hurt me to read this. Pony or not, the message hit me like a truck. This was beautiful, in the tragic sense.
ReplyDeleteHm...
ReplyDeleteI'm actually a big brother, but I somehow never got to understand how Scootaloo felt. I should probably try to read it slowly. Anyway, neat comic.
Is... is there going to be a part 4?
ReplyDelete@Midnight Shadow
ReplyDeletenope. After this there really isn't much variation in how it will play out. I would rather it be short but at least somewhat subtle than needlessly extended and flogging you in the face with "THIS IS SAD!"
I can honestly say that I shed a single manly tear after reading this, no kidding. After finishing, I thought about it for a second, came to the unspoken conclusion, and allowed myself to feel emotion. With head raised and back straight, my eyes misted until a single tear trickled down from my eye. Just the one, and I let it dry there as a testament to poor Scootaloo and her mother.
ReplyDeleteI think that Scootaloo is targeted for Scootasad because she is young and has ambiguous family. The author can create any circumstances to fit around her because she is only seen with the CMC, and there is never any mention of her family. Rainbow Dash also has no canon family, so Scootaloo's admiration of her underlines this fact as a common circumstance. Because she is young she makes a good target because a traumatic event will be that much more damaging to her, and, as hinted at here, there are things she might not be ready to cope with that authors can force on her. Without obvious familial ties like the rest of the cast, Scootaloo is unique in that she is portrayably more alone than Sweetie Bell or Apple Bloom, which increases her use as a tragic focus.
As someone beyond the average brony age, and a woman, I have quite a lot of sad in my life. I read this and got a good think about what I've done before. I grew up the oldest with 2 younger brothers.
ReplyDeleteI can relate because my parents lost a girl after I was born, but I was too young to realize it. My parents told me only when I was old enough to handle it.
I did however think of my brothers and how I've treated them. And how my mother is so strong after having her attempts at having children turn out so rough.
Buckley made a bad decision for a very selfish reason on a long storyline with bad timing. This was a complete story with an intended message that was nice and short. I can see similarities, but not for what seems to be the average reasons.
Maybe my years and tragedies have let me look at things from a different direction. Maybe men just have a knee-jerk reaction of 'I'm stronger than this and you arent LOLOLOL!' these days. I don't know anymore.
I was entertained and reminded how things don't always turn out.
Oh no..nonononoon
ReplyDeleteThis had me in tears. Just yesterday my wife and I had an ultrasound for our 2nd child.
Confound these ponies, they drive me to tears... One of my friends lost the baby at 8 months. They had even just finished decorating the baby's room. Thankfully she went on to have a healthy boy a couple years later.
ReplyDeleteA miscarriage that late in the pregnancy is highly unlikely. If anything, the foal will be born with a serious defect. Somehow that's even worse than not getting a chance to live in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI clearly need to be more careful about what EQD items I click on before work.
ReplyDeleteI am crying right now you monster! Why would you do this to Scoots! Why! Why! Why do I care so much! Make anypony feel suffering but give Scoots come bit of happiness *unadulterated blubbering
ReplyDeleteOh a scoot story. Ill read. Hey she has parents in this one. Yay. *reads* wait...
ReplyDelete....
Why can't scoots ever catch a break?
Well done my good pony. Nice art and story.
...As a man who also had a sibling torn from me because of miscarriage, this is one big devastating case of deja vu for me.
ReplyDeleteNow excuse me, I need to sit down somewhere and reflect on this.
My poor heart... ;_;
ReplyDelete@Eonseig
ReplyDeleteI agree with your sentiment. One thing overlooked though is that the more the fandom puts her through, the more she fills our hearts.
She's like a martyr or something.
Also IMO the saddest Scootasad in the world had a fraction the impact of any happy Scootalove.
Dear god WHY?! I didn't need to shed tears at 8 in the morning. T_T
ReplyDeleteOne quibble here. If there had been a miscarriage of an 7-8 month old the mother would likely still be in the hospital. That's way too far along for the miscarriage not to be traumatic. If Scoots had said the foal was due in a few months instead of a few weeks then it would make more sense.
ReplyDeleteAs a Big Brother I cannot tell you how much that Comic hurt. My little sister is everything to me. And this. This killed me inside. BRB Need to hug her right now.
ReplyDeletePretty sad, but I could see the ending coming as plain as day.
ReplyDeletemanly tears... everywhere
ReplyDeleteconfound this Brony community, they drive me to shed the manly ones more than any other Fandom
Life is not easy for anyone, not even ponies. When crazy things are going on in the world, it's not unusual for a fandom to respond with a lot of sad stories. Of course, it's also nice to respond with fun or happy stories; but the Muse gives what the Muse feels like giving.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like equine placentitis (usually affects mares late in the gestation period) or something equally sad.
The gestation period for horses is longer than for humans, btw -- 320 to 370 days. So Scootaloo and her parents have been waiting for most of a year. A couple months probably seems like a few weeks, at that point.
Oh, and equine placentitis speeds up in utero development, for whatever reason. A foal affected that way can be still very premature and not look it.
ReplyDeleteSo beautiful. I love my little siblings and won't let anything hurt them.
ReplyDeleteoh hey a comic...
ReplyDelete...
k. I'll be a bit... (coltsdammit man pull it together i cant cry in the middle of class oh why did i read this while the teacher is lecturing)
*sobs silently in the corner*
Something, I'm not sure what, tells me that the doctor visit did not go as planned...
ReplyDeleteWell now that went sad fast.
ReplyDelete/is sad.
for those of you that after so many read posts still don't get it, here it is:
Mom and dad had a fight.
@Kryvian
ReplyDeleteactually no. I left it vague but I left enough evidence of what happened for the reader to figure it out.
Yeesh. Not a story for the faint of heart.
ReplyDeleteGood job on getting that emotional message through. I do not envy the mother when she has to tell Scoot that she isn't going to be an older sister...
That's like the 100th time I've had my heart shattered by these confounded ponies this week... and still... the manly tears are as strong as ever ='(.
ReplyDeleteWhat the.. I read this just after I found out that i am going to be a big brother. How great are the chances for that?
ReplyDeleteWell..... I cried emotionally for the first time since I was 13 and my dog died...... This was much sadder..... I wish I knew if it was a colt or a mare.....
ReplyDelete@Adrian Brony
ReplyDeletePretty sure Kryvian was being facetious here.
I saw it coming as soon as I saw the word "bittersweet", and had it cemented once they were all getting so excited about Scoot becoming a big sister (plus the throwaway line about the checkup).
Ah, pony angst.
(Although I don''t get the male-bashing from CERTAIN commenters. "I guess men just pretend they're stronger"/"You must not understand because you're male". Wow, way to use any excuse to be sexist. I know damn well they'd be flipping their lids if a man made those sorts of remarks about women.)
That was so harsh...
ReplyDeleteOh, dear. I nearly cried. It took me a moment to get the ending, then it felt like an emotional punch in the gut....
ReplyDeleteAnd... wait, oh gosh....
ReplyDeleteI just got the implications of Dad not being there.
Miscarriage
Dad "won't be home for awhile..."
Oh my....
Scootaloo is Cheerlee's little sister...
ReplyDeleteCome on Phoe... This is pretty straight up Scootabuse. Painful, brutal, and with a very sad ending.
ReplyDeleteI saw it coming right from the beginning. Why? Because nobody seems to want to write happy Scootaloo...
I smell a miscarriage
ReplyDeleteNOOO
ReplyDeleteNOOO THIS IS TOO SAD I CANT DO THIS ;__;
Heart-wrenching.....
ReplyDelete@The Commander
ReplyDeletethe only reason I chose scootaloo is because I needed a child with characterization who did not have any siblings.
And a mother holding her beloved child in consolation and thankfulness while telling her how special she is is TOTALLY abusive.
This is sad, but is still Scootalove. She has a hurt, but loving family in this one, which is more than SOME fics give her. I'm still sad, and I read, not only the comic, but every comment.
ReplyDeleteI'm the oldest in my family, but I almost was the second oldest. I almost had 3 sisters, instead of almost having 2 sisters... Almost...
I only have one sister.
I have one sister, and two brothers, all younger, and I thank God for them... but I almost had 2 more sisters. One older, and one younger. Neither ever saw the light of day. They never got the chance. I had trouble myself as a baby, but I did make it just fine.
My mother never forget those two little girls that never had a chance to be. They were always as much a part of our family, in spirit, as we were.
This graphic short story hits hard. I simply can't go on calling it "comic" in any way shape of form. It's an affront to what it portrays. There is nothing comical about it. It was a beautiful, bittersweet piece of art that portrays excitement, contemplation, loss and love, all rolled up with ponies, so it tugs that much harder on those heart strings, and opens up the tear ducts that much wider.
Amazingly, I almost missed this post, if not for the fact that I accidentally closed a tab, and decided to hit the bottom of the page to retrieve it. Amazingly enough, I had thought about this earlier today as well...
Whodathunkit?
It's kinda funny how these things work out.
@richfiles
ReplyDeleteheh, thanks. I'm starting to withdraw from all the praise this has gotten. guess I'm not used to the attention (even if it is shared with gunslingerpen).
I never realized exactly how many people have experience with this. I mean, I know the statistics but I guess I never saw how that translated over to actual people.
I myself am an only child, but I almost had 3 younger siblings. I remember I was gonna have a little sister named rose. I do have a half sister, but she is something like 16 years older than me and by the time I could have remembered her she moved away so I hardly ever saw her.
I remember everyone in my class having brothers and sisters and even though they complained a lot I always sort of felt like they were experiencing a fuller life than I was.
Wow. I don't know what to say to that. Great art and a good story that touched on many emotional notes. Good job ponies.
ReplyDelete@richfiles My story is pretty similar to yours. I would of had an older sibling. My mother was given some prescription medicine that shouldn't be taken while pregnant, but she didn't know that she was. And it caused her to have a miscarriage. My parents tell me they think it was a girl, but I don't think that they are 100% sure since they wanted it to be a surprise and refused to learn what it was. The other sibling, younger, that was lost, was a girl.
ReplyDeleteI do have a younger sister now along with three brothers. But, since I live on my own, I rarely see them or hear from them for that matter.
I feel like it's going to be really sad for Scootaloo. I don't want to read the rest, but I need to.
ReplyDeleteYep.
ReplyDeleteIt was very emotional.
Very good piece.
@Adrian Brony
ReplyDeleteWell, that was pretty well done. I have to admit, it didn't hit me very hard, but I understand it. Not the best of it's type for sure, but pretty well done. Good luck!
The ending is too ambiguous for me to feel truly sad. Pregnancies are an emotional time. I can infer something has happened, but since I have little to no clues as to what, I can't empathize.
ReplyDeleteThis is cruel... life is cruel... I hate it... ;~;
ReplyDeletethis really hit home for me. i my self was a miracle, my mother was told she could never have children, yet here i am. my parents have been trying for years to have another child, and she did get pregnant again, and i was so happy i could have a sibling. but several months later, the baby died in utero. it was so terrible, i had never seen her so sad before, and i was terribly sad as well, for both her and my lost sibling. she was never really the same after. but several years later, 4 i think, my parents were going through a huge break up, and my mom was living some where else. my dad picked me up from my friends house and she was in the car as well. they both turned me and my mom said "you know how you wanted a sibling?" then, 10 months later, i had a baby brother.
ReplyDeletebut reading this really made me think. if my mom had that one child, what would be different? how would've i treated him, or her? would my mom have stayed the same? or, was it all for the better for it to happen the way it did? i honestly forgot about the incident, and reading this brought it back. i could not even begin to imagine the pain anyone would have to go through if that happened to them. this comic is extremely well done and really soul touching, and i would like to see more from this author.
@Rusty Star
ReplyDeletethis is stuff normal people go through every day. scoots and her mom both have each other, and eventually the father, to help them bear through the tough times together.
cruel would be something like the mom committing suicide or hating her family or it being a result of abuse or something.
;_;
ReplyDeleteher losing the baby makes me a sad panda
ReplyDeleteDamn, so I do have heart somewhere inside, because before this comic I wasn't really sure.
ReplyDeleteWow. Warn me with a [sad] tag next time. Damn.
ReplyDelete