Nurse Tenderheart

It really is a tough balance between empathy for the character and narrative tension. The angst of Scootaloo being an apparent orphan gave her so much grit, independence, and made her bond with Rainbow Dash feel incredibly earned. When her parents suddenly showed up in Season 9, it felt incredibly jarring because it shattered a decade of deeply rooted headcanons.

Wishing she didn't have parents feels awful from an empathetic standpoint, but purely for the sake of narrative development, the execution we got felt rushed.

However, their canon existence could have opened up amazing story arcs if the writers had taken a slow-burn approach. Imagine if, instead of dropping out of nowhere, her parents returned to Ponyville to settle down after a near-fatal close call in the field. The arc could have spanned multiple episodes, showing them slowly building a relationship with Scootaloo—watching her struggles, seeing her fierce independence, and becoming genuinely proud of how hard she fights despite the world around her.

This could have launched a fantastic new story arc: Scoots adventuring with her parents, learning everything they know. She would still be the exact same daredevil she always was, but now backed by a honed, natural skill for avoiding danger in a pinch. It would have turned a jarring retcon into a beautiful story about family, growth, and survival.