I'm gathering our team of new editorial writers to collaborate on one big season 8 hopes and dreams post! What better way to get to know them than digging their brain for ideas they'd like to see forced upon our helpless little cartoon equine friends?
Gather your opinions, enact the flame shields, and prep for speculation. We have some wildly different ideas now, and the bat/Trixie/Glim domination has come to a close. At least until I get my hands on a post or two...
Below, get 20 different episode ideas and concepts we want to see in season 8!
Marvel&Ponder
She is currently working on the Mane 6 Development series. Expect many more chapters of that!
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#1
If it Wasn’t for The Greater Good
Discord and Starswirl buddy-cop episode. Lawful good and chaotic good tackle some quest of great importance that requires their combined expertise.
Consider this a comedy-heavy premise with the potential to delve into flashbacks and/or backstory (I have to know if there’s a history between those two) and ze feels (because they can take the piss out of each other so accurately, you have the opportunity to cut to the heart of some insecurities, fears, and doubts). Oh, and Discord and Starswirl team-up to top it off. Magical or otherwise, that alone might be worth the price of admission.
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#2
Straight Outta Cloudsdale
Flashback story about the longest friendship out of the Mane 6. Scootaloo becomes curious what it’s like to grow up in Cloudsdale, and so begins an episode in the vein of Where the Apple Lies following Rainbow Dash’s and Fluttershy’s teenage struggle toward making it out of flight school alive, with the focus being largely on the journey knowing the ending that Rainbow drops out (she wasn’t “kicked out” according to her, but it seems something happened).
Bonus points if Rainbow’s flight prowess and Fluttershy’s relative academic skills mean for some cute two-way tutoring that gives the writers a chance to establish why this is the most long-lasting friendship (it was never made entirely clear if Junior Speedsters Flight Camp had an academic component, despite sometimes being referred to as a flight school, however that would explain why a champion flier like young Rainbow Dash would ever drop out of a camp/school that focused on the one thing she had great talent in).
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#3
Crossing Over
The leaking portal to the Equestria Girls universe becomes more of an issue when the cracks (seen at the end of Legend of Everfree) splinter further, breaking the fabric of reality.
Alarmed that his portal is unstable, Starswirl threatens to shut it down unless Twilight and Sunset Shimmer (reintroduced to audience/Starswirl as a dimensional traveller and ex-student of Celestia, to limit the amount of EQG knowledge you need to understand the story) can find a way to stabilize it.
…. And yes, bonus points if a Celestia and Sunset reunion is worked in all its fully animated glory, with proper dramatic weight. I’m not original. I’ll fully accept this if I get to see it.
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#4
Legion of Gloom
Having lost the vast majority of her changeling army, Chrysalis is in the market for new followers. Or at least baddies she can use to exact her revenge with. Going from port to port, she seeks the worst of the worst, coming across many minor players in the MLP’s rogues gallery (Lightning Dust, Flim and Flam, etc.) with reasons to hate Twilight, Starlight, and their friends.
Evil tryouts, essentially. All fail in comedic ways, except for the final contender. Those of you who keep up with spoilers know who I’m referring to.
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#5
Twilight v. Celestia
With the four leaders of Equestria called together to make important decisions, Twilight is thrilled, until she finds herself fundamentally disagreeing with Princess Celestia on a major issue. While Celestia would rather do what’s best for Equestria at large, Twilight’s personal connections are too important to her to sacrifice.
This is where Twilight has the chance to break out of Celestia’s shadow. Despite being equals in Celestia’s eyes, Twilight often acts as though they’re still student and teacher (compare the two gala episodes and you’ll see what I’m talking about; even if Twi’s role has changed, Twilight herself is still trying to impress her ex-mentor).
The Skullivan
His first article was "Does a Villain Really Need to Be a Threat", which you can read over here!
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#6
Uneasy as Pie
Pinkie Pie tries to help her twin sister Marble come out of her shell by showing her the sights around Ponyville, but all the hustle and bustle of a medium-sized rural village might be too much for the timid filly.
I really love how they’ve handled Pinkie Pie’s family. Every single one of them is just as eccentric as her, but in completely opposite ways. Pinkie is extremely expressive, so Maud is totally deadpan. Pinkie is always perky, so Limestone is perpetually grouchy. And while Pinkie is incredibly outgoing, Marble is utterly introverted. Maud has proven time and time again to be a great character, so I’d love to see that light get shined on the rest of her family.
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#7
A Mile In Your Horseshoes
An argument among the mane 6 about whether Earth Ponies, Unicorns, or Pegasi have the most problems to deal with ends up interrupting Starlight as she’s working on a new polymorphic spell, and after a magical catastrophe the ponies find that all their wings and horns (or lack thereof) have been shuffled up. While the rest of the Mane 6 struggle with the new challenges they face in their day-to-day lives, Twilight must try and teach Rainbow Dash and Pinkie to control their new unicorn magic enough to change everypony back.
This is a moral lesson I’ve wanted to see the show tackle for a while now: The necessity of sympathy in situations where there isn’t much room for empathy. FiM has always done a great job of teaching its audience to be there for their friends, but I’d like to see them take on the idea that sometimes your friends are going to have problems that you just can’t understand or relate to, and how to cope with that.
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#8
Dog-Down, Dragon-Out
Spike and Rarity return to the dragon lands to help Ember solve a food shortage crisis. Upon investigation, they discover a secret underground mining operation run by the Diamond Dogs, who have been literally stealing the dragons’ supply of gemstones out from under them.
I just really want the Diamond Dogs to come back, okay? They’re so cool and they’ve been woefully under-used since their debut. With the way that season 7 did such a great job reintroducing so many old characters and breathing new life into them, now’s as good a time as any for the dogs to make a comeback.
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#9
Can’t Flim Flam the Glimglam
The Flim Flam Brothers return to Sweet Apple Acres, claiming to have turned over a new leaf and asking Applejack to teach them how to make an honest living. AJ gives them the benefit of the doubt, but when Starlight detects some strange magic coming from inside the Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, she starts to suspect they have more sinister goals.
I’ll be perfectly honest here: I came up the title first and then wrote a story idea that would let me justify using it. But hey, Starlight is awesome. Flim and Flam are awesome. I’d watch the hay out of this episode.
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#10
The Most Expensive Episode Ever!
It’s Grand Pear’s birthday, and Cheese Sandwich has been commissioned to give him the biggest birthday surprise of all: A special duet performance from Songbird Serenade and Countess Coloratura! Featuring special guest appearances by Quibble Pants and Tempest Shadow.
Celebrity guest stars are fun, but pricey.
Algernon
He got it started with the Irredeemable Villains piece from last week. Check it out over here! He went for a more synopsis style here. On with the ideas:
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#11
Silence is Golden
An episode with no dialogue. The story is told entirely through visuals.
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#12
Big Trouble in Little Manehattan
While looking for a lost pie cart, Applejack is roped into an explosive misadventure by the Flim Flam brothers.
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#13
Twists and Turns
Apple Bloom tries to reconnect with her old friend Twist.
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#14
Daring Do and the World of Tomorrow
An ancient temple filled with deadly traps...
A mad doctor in search of treasure...
A creature with plans of world domination...
And a relic from the past that could destroy the universe...
Are all in a day’s work for globe-trotting treasure hunter Daring Do! Join her in this standalone episode that’s sure to thrill all lovers of adventure!
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#15
The Everfree Horror
There’s something out there in the forest. Twilight thinks it’s just a story to scare foals, but a trip into the Everfree proves her wrong.
Platonic
Platonic dove into Honest Apple for a character study on Rarity for her first foray into editorializing. Get that over here!
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#16
On the Run
Team building exercise time. Let’s do trust falls!
With the finale of season 6, it’s doubtless that Queen Chrysalis will be making a return soon. I have no speculation on how things will turn out there, but what if the ending of the season premier ties into the season finale? After our heroines save the day in the premier, they have another failed attempt to convince Chrysalis to reform. Twilight then has to make the tough decision of banishing Chrysalis. (Perhaps Tartarus or petrification; sending her to the moon would just be lunacy . . . yes I feel bad about making that joke, but not enough to remove it).
Starlight is immediately upset with the ruling. She refuses to believe that a ‘pony’ can’t change their ways. Starlight begs Twilight to think of something else, but alas no. Thus Starlight sabotages the banishment; it’s treason if you will. Now Starlight is on the lam with Chrysalis trying to avoid being arrested while at the same time trying to convince the queen to embrace love.
Of course, Chrysalis might not be in the same forgiving mood and now has the perfect opportunity to enact her revenge on Starlight.
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#17
The Party Forger
Party in the big house?
Everyone’s favorite party planner is finding it hard to budget lately. With all her new responsibilities as a Friendship Ambassador to the Yaks, following the map’s missions, and keeping up with all those pinky promises, Pinkie is finding that she’s spending all her bits on many other things that aren’t parties.
But opportunity rarely calls when a pony’s ready for it. Ponyville has another holiday to celebrate and Mayor Mare employees Pinkie to plan it. This would be fine, but Pinkie doesn’t even have enough to buy the essentials needed for the event. Refusing the position is not an option in party pony’s mind, so she convinces herself that stealing a few supplies would be okay so long as she pays it back.
Unfortunately, the novice thief is spotted by new local pony of the week, Hush Money. He tells Pinkie that he ‘understands’ her situation and they he won’t tell the town what a horrible degenerate who should never be trusted to host a party again she’s become if she agrees to help him get a few supplies for himself. Pinkie ends up being a distraction for all her friends as Hush Money takes whatever he wants around town. Will Pinkie’s guilt drive her to a confession? Will the town forgive her? Is there a pony jail?
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#18
Under Celestia’s Sun
Enjoy the furits of your labor.
It has been a pretty rough year. Celestia is feeling a little tired and slightly stressed out. As luck would have it, the hippogriffs extend an invitation for the princesses of Equestria to come and celebrate their recent victory over the Storm King.
Gathering Twilight, Cadance, and Luna, Celestia tells them they need to put together a Power Point presentation basically of the culture of Equestria for the event. Twilight loves the idea and presses for all the princesses to do research by visiting places around Equestria. What we have here is a fun episode with the princesses’ getting a chance to enjoy all the things their leadership and hard work has given their subjects. Perhaps Celestia will see it is all worth it.
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#19
Griffons in the Mist
Because everyone likes what I like, right?
Excited about all she’s learned and applied from the ponies, Gabby invites the CMC to visit Griffonstone. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie tag along as chaperones and also to see the progress of friendship in the area. Guess what? Turns out the griffon kingdom looks worse than before. Of course this is only because ponies have such high regard for tranquil activities or parties.
Griffons like having heated debates (Rd and Pinkie view them as fights), competitions for money (looks like no griffon wants to play unless paid to do so), and daily scream at the sky sessions (the Griffonstone version of breaking out into song.) While Rd and Pinkie are convinced the griffons all still hate each other, the CMC have been talking with Gabby. They are excited the griffons have embraced friendship and made it their own. Will the CMC be able to convince their chaperones of this before the two Elements of Harmony try forcing unwanted practices on the griffons?
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#20
Bully Forever
Finding new beginnings.
Diamond Tiara has become such a pillar in her community, however, she’s finding it hard to relate to her oldest friend Silver Spoon. Every time the two get together, Silver Spoon is always gossiping and poking fun at other ponies. Diamond asks the CMC about what to do; they suggest she tell SS that she no longer wants to do mean things.
The convincing doesn’t quite work that way. Turns out Silver Spoon makes a rather valid argument for teasing others. Diamond finds herself slipping into old habits and she’s not sure what to do. Does she need to break off her friendship with Silver Spoon? Once a bully are you always a bully? Diamond makes another trip to visit the CMC to find they are having a club meeting for all their extended location members. Perhaps one member, Bab Seed, can provide some perspective?
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And that about covers it! We might do another wave of editorial writer recruiting after these four complete their trial period. A followup post will go out once we do!
Feel free to drop your episode ideas below!
