This story is a sequel to My Little Pony Friendship is Magic What If?: Volume 15
G5 may be well underway, but there's still lots of unexplored potential in G4 worth considering. It's here once again, that series which dares to ask and seeks to answer that fateful question "What if that episode had been written differently?"
Twelve episodes are on tap for this volume, celebrating this series' tenth anniversary. Among the featured episodes includes a redo of a rewrite from Season 3, the rewriting of the final untouched episode of Season 8, a two parter, and even some bonus chapters.
It undoubtly goes without saying by now, but it's worth repeating all the same: The episodes rewritten are based on my personal opinion so please respect it. Don't get offended if an episode you liked is on the list here, or an episode you didn't like isn't on this list. I'll gladly respect your opinions if you respect mine.
I obviously mean no disrespect of any sort to Hasbro, the DHX writing and editing staff, or anyone who likes the episodes that appear here. The intent of this fic, like all of its predecessors, is for entertainment purposes only and nothing more.
Given the high number of volumes in this series, linking to each one would be impossible without producing a lot of clutter. So check the prequel tab, and the also liked and the similar pages for previous volumes to see whether an episode has already been tackled.
I feel something is lost having a Pegasus be the one falling to the ground. They have wings. They can fly. Also, some proofreading is in order because words are either missing or spelt wrong. I mean, struff? What does that even mean?
Hey there. Thanks very much for getting this next volume started. Really appreciate the effort that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up in all the right places. Particularly liked the references/foreshadowing to "Cutie Mark Chronicles" as well as making Rarity A LOT less antagonistic to Rainbow.
On to the next chapter.
Again, an excellent job on the exchanges, characterizations, action, general wrap-up and future episode set-up on the rewrite. Definitely appreciated the logic of having the story of how Rainbow met Tank be told in flashbacks [as well as a few other event] as well as the foreshadowing to the episode where Rainbow's parents are introduced.
On to the next chapter.
Again, you did a really good job on the re-re-write of this episode. Particularly appreciated you making the Alicorn Amulet's influence on Trixie a bit more obvious by acknowledging how much she regretted following its removal. Also liked Luna's involvement without removing Zecora's as well as Celestia's "Mama Bear" warning to Trixie after the mess was resolved. The increased "community service" was another wonderful detail.
On to the next chapter.
Another really well done chapter. Definitely appreciate the effort that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action and future chapter set-up. I loved the mother-daughter moment between Celestia and Twilight before the former disappeared as well as the slight nods to the altered version of "Magical Mystery Cure". And, yeah, the stuff with Sombra's good counterpart in that alternate universe never DID go well enough for the two of them to have any kids. Of course, I'm surprised there wasn't yet another stained glass deal concerning Twilight helping save the Human World after she ascended but before this adventure. But, anyway, glad to see Cadance getting some mentions as well as the slight alterations concerning Discord and Zecora.
On to the next chapter.
Again, the work going into the re-write was quite well done. Definitely appreciate the reasons for the re-writes mentioned in the author's notes. Making the time skips three separate visions, each before the previous, made more sense as well as the better detail in the argument that made Twilight head back to Ponyville for a while to re-think what truly WAS the right thing to do.
On to the next chapter.
Another well done effort on the re-rewrite. Thanks very much for liking one of my ideas enough to use it here. Definitely liked how well you did on the exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up. Plus, not only is Rainbow going through the Academy like everybody else, she has ALSO saved the lives of three of the current Wonderbolts AND has helped save the world (at THAT point) SIX times in FOUR years. If THAT's not earning it, I don't know what is.
And, on to the next chapter.
Yet another well done chapter. Appreciate the work going into the exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up. Yeah, putting more focus on Zephyr's struggling artist traits as well as giving the parents a bit more character was certainly the right idea. The stuff about how, yes one can sometimes fail even when they do their best, but that's no excuse to give up (with certain exceptions [such as stuff that is legitimately too dangerous or too far beyond one's ability]) IS a good lesson.
On to the next chapter.
Yet another really well done chapter. Can certainly understand the stuff you explained in the Author's Notes. Indeed, Rarity having that much trouble with three boutiques and noticing how well Pinkie was doing at Sugarcube Corner makes for a good hook, though Pinkie had a really good point about how there is a pretty big difference between running a boutique and running a bakery. Good way for both Rarity AND Pinkie to learn some lessons.
Anyway, the exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up were pretty well done.
On to the next chapter.
Once again, you did a splendid job on the characterizations, exchanges, general wrap-up and future chapter set-up as well as the points you made in the author's notes. Yeah, scaling back Pinkie's direct presence was a pretty good call and you did great on the modifications to the first act.
Well, on to the next chapter.
Yet again, a well done job on the exchanges, characterizations, general wrap-up, future episode set-up and points made in the author's notes. Appreciated the actual reason for ruling out teleportation and making it more clear that Twilight was bluffing concerning the full extent of the punishment, but needed Gallus to believe she wasn't. The revised bits of Smolder and Sandbar's characterizations helped too.
If you do decide to do a redo of your "Triple Threat" rewrite, you could have Spike fessing up to the scheduling error immediately, correctly trusting Ember and Thorax enough to assume things will eventually work out for the best and attempted cover-ups don't work anyway. The rest of the episode could be Ember and Thorax working with Spike and the ponies to work on the problem Thorax wanted to talk about - (i.e. a few renegade Changelings continuing to abduct potential targets). In addition to a good way to expand a three-minute problem to a 22-minute episode without any of the good guys holding the Idiot Ball, it also provides some good potential foreshadowing for the very next episode (the redo for the "To Change A Changeling" rewrite).
Anyway, really looking forward to more of this.
Not bad. And as it so happens, I am DM. I commend you taking inspiration from that meme I made about how I'd fix the episode
11565639 Oh, cool. It was my pleasure, the ideas really stuck with me.
Also, why isn’t Spike there helping Twilight? That wasn’t explained.
11566255 It never crossed my mind, but now that I think about it Spike's absence is something that I should've accounted for. I should've had him be the one who found the spells, or at least helped Twilight to find them.
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Or at least explain why he wasn’t the first one Twilight asked for help, considering they live in the same place.
I really do like how you acknowledged Twilight having been bluffing when she threatened to keep the Six over break if none of them fessed up. When I first watched this episode, my initial suspicion was that Chancellor Neighsay was the culprit, and that he had caused the mess in an attempt to frame the Student Six, as well as discredit Twilight and the school, which of course also factors in the mentioning of teleportation here.
11566291 Exactly. And given what we knew of Neighsay at the time, sabotage seems like it would've been right up his alley.
Another wonderfully done chapter with great exchanges, characterizations, general episode wrap-up and future episode set-up. Yeah, putting more focus on Silverstream and the Wonderbolts in this episode DOES make a lot of sense. Especially with the lessons about heroes coming from all walks of life and learning more about ones' limits. Yeah, Silverstream trying and failing to do the Sonic Rainboom as well as the passing reference to Lightning Dust were also good details.
REALLY looking forward to the final episode in this volume as well as the next volume.
REALLY good job on the final chapter/episode of this Volume. Certainly appreciate the work that went into the exchanges, characterizations, action, general wrap-up and future episode/volume set-up. Yeah, makes more sense for Discord to accidentally cause Angel and Fluttershy's body swap, as you pointed out yourself. Also liked the stuff about a few of the students coming to help out (as that also makes more sense). The little (admittedly subtle) foreshadowing that Grogar is behind Discord's powers going haywire is also appreciated.
Definitely looking forward to the next volume (which will probably be later this year or sometime next year).
So, any plans to have this rewriting episodes series cover anything from the Equestria Girls spin off?
11584945 I haven't ruled out the possibility of doing so, that's all I can say.
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Cool, seems then you could cover stuff from that someday. How about Non Complete Clause, that could use a rewrite considering Dash and AJ's behavior there?
11585223 I already did do that, I moved its plot to "A Matter of Principals" so that it was Starlight and Discord competing against each other indirectly, and the episode slot that would've been "Non-Compete Clause" was instead a second part to "The Parent Map".
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How about the 2017 movie? Any plan to cover that?
This video does give an interesting revision for Twilight and Pinkie's argument there
Shoreline Argument Scene rewritten (MLP: The Movie) - MLP 15.ai - YouTube
11596784 I might get to that someday, but it's on the backburner, much like my "Equestria Girls" and comics "What If?" volumes, to say nothing of the possibility of doing it for G5.
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Also looking at your thoughts on a lot of Fluttershy's later focus episodes, do you think the writers may have had trouble coming up with Fluttershy plots without retreading old ground especially after season 3 where you did mention being annoyed with Fluttershy constantly regressing? Moreso with how she did have the least amount of episodes focusing on her than the rest of the Mane Six and even being the only Rainboom to not be a major focus of an Equestria Girls movie or special. Is it possible Fluttershy may have been a hard character to write for and having a balance for later seasons?
I had always thought that with all the emphasis "The Last Problem" put on non-ponies integrating into Equestria, a shot of Silverstream as a Wonderbolt would have fit beautifully there.