Even More Season 4 Revelations! · 7:49pm Nov 2nd, 2013
According to Equestria Daily's countdown clock, we are down to 20 days until the Season 4 premiere of MLP! As such, they are coming out fast and hard with little sneak peaks at what will be going on in this season of MLP. I will be doing my best to keep up with all the stuff that keeps coming out so I can recklessly speculate about it like a CNN anchor covering some tragic event that is speculated by them to be terrorist related.
That is a terrible simile. I should be ashamed of myself.
Moving on, here is what is on the table for discussion today.
1. Discord will be in the Season 4 opener!
I must give credit where credit is due. This story was broken by MLP analyst and serious Discord groupie ILoveKimPossibleAlot on her Tumblr. 
She also shows us an image of a synopsis of "Princess Twilight", the Season 4 premiere, with a cast list that includes John de Lancie as Discord as a guest star. Also included is an image of Princess Twilight and her compatriots wearing the Elements of Harmony.
I already mentioned in a previous blog about the Season 4 premiere that my hope was that Discord's reformation in "Keep Calm and Flutter On" was just to have him freed from stone so he can run around in a renewed spree of chaos, including removing Twilight's wings. That would redeem in my eyes both "Keep Calm and Flutter On" and "Magical Mystery Cure", which as I have mentioned before are my least favorite episodes. At the time, I noted that there was nothing to indicate that Discord would be in the premiere. Now, I know that is not the case. But in what capacity will he appear? Could he perhaps be the villain responsible for the Everfree Forrest running amok and the Princesses' disappearance? Or perhaps his appearance is just to make clear that he is not responsible for that? Perhaps they have to work together with Discord to fight some new villain and stop this situation. Perhaps Celestia saw this coming and that's why she needed Discord to be reformed. The philosopher A.N. Whitehead once defined beauty as the razor's edge between order and chaos. Perhaps the lesson here is that true harmony is a balance between order and chaos.
I see this as a win/win situation. Either Discord is once again running amok and de-alicorns Twilight. Or we just get more Discord, which is always a plus. I just hope that he plays a significant role and is not just a momentary thing where he just shows up to say "No, this isn't me" and goes away. Still, John de Lancie is already set to make a number of appearances this season as Discord so this won't be the last we see of him anyway.
On a final note, I once heard a rumor that King Sombra was supposed to be the villain who brought together all the other villains as some kind of Evil League of Evil. I would totally love to see that! MLP's own Legion of Doom! I heard that this was supposed to include Trixie, but obviously that can't be the case now. Still, if, as I have speculated before, the villain in the premiere is the force behind Nightmare Moon, and possibly Sombra, and Discord is appearing as well, they might still be trying to do something like that. If it is the case though that this mysterious villain is the force behind Nightmare Moon and Sombra, then this premiere will bring full circle not just pilot, but with Discord's appearance, the second and third season premieres as well.
Maybe it's the force behind all of them! Equestria's own First Evil or Source of All Evil*! 
2. The first page of the script from Season 4 premiere: "Princess Twilight".
Equestria Daily posted what is apparently the first page of the script of "Princess Twilight". 
Two things here I'd like to note. I think it was in one of Doctor Perseus's blogs where he mentions two of the number of things he's like to see on MLP in the future are Twilight dealing with others treating her differently as a princess, and Twilight learning to fly maybe at the hands of Rainbow Dash. I'd like to see these things as well. I know that doesn't jibe with my distaste for Twilicorn, but if they insist on going full speed ahead with this, I admit those things would be fun to see. Especially with how aggravated Twilight gets. And her insistence on mastering everything. Just in this one page in what appears to be the opening of a scene, we see those two very things. Now, I don't know if this is going to be a recurring thing throughout the two-part premiere. But given all the stuff we already know will be going on, it seems that there might not be enough time to develop it out properly. I wouldn't want to see that get rushed like "Magical Mystery Cure". Hopefully, this will go on over a couple of episodes, which will make it story arc. As I've mentioned in a previous blog, I'd like to see more of those. This would rather be a character building type arc, which is also good.
3. A new Season 4 promo! It has begun!
For the most part this just gives us visuals for what we already know. I imagine the strange weather patterns and out of control plants are all the result of the expansion of the Everfree Forrest. The sky being half day and half night is probably the result of the Princesses going missing. The promo ends with a background image of what I speculate might be the Tree of Harmony. There are other things like a stained glass window of Twilicorn. There are a few things though that look like they might not be from the premiere. Like Twilight flying with Spike on her back and Spike blowing some kind of giant wooden pegasus shofar. That fact that we keep seeing Twilicorn makes me think in my gut that Twilicorn is probably here to stay, and it's probably time to start getting over it.
I would like to challenge the MLP writers to convince me Twilicorn is a good thing.
The one thing though that gets my attention is Discord is in the promo! That seems to indicate he may be playing a big role in the premiere. We see Discord sitting on a flying recliner wearing 3D glasses with a bag of popcorn. He appears to be floating over the gnarled trees that are seen earlier in the promo. This might be from the premiere. But promos can be deceiving. Still, this strikes me as villainous sort of thing that Discord is doing. It feels like he's at minimum refusing to help the Mane 6 on their quest and is just sitting back to voyeur on them. But that's just me.
And finally...
4. Synopsis for Season 4 Episode 4: Daring Don't
Equestria Daily posted a synopsis for the fourth episode of Season 4, which I will copy here for the purpose of me discussing it.
Season 4 Episode 4
Title: Daring Don't
Synopsis: Rainbow Dash and friends offer to help their favorite author finish her latest book.
Air Date: December 7, 2013
Zap2it
Yes, you heard it here folks. At long last the return of Daring Do! (I know Doctor Perseus will be happy!) It's probably not too surprising. Fanfictions about Daring Do I feel have become quite a significant sub-genre of MLP fanfic right up there with Doctor Whooves stories. And sometimes crossing over with each other. I imagine there are Bronies out there who say "Daring Do is the Best Pony" even though in the context of the show, she's a fictional character. The most significant thing about this though is that it looks like it will be revealing the author of Daring Do. Probably the episode will be exactly what it says on the tin. Rainbow and her friends helping the author of Daring Do, who they've somehow met, finish her latest book. Potentially they'll be making jokes that poke fun at some of the sillier aspects of fanfiction and fandom, particularly our own Brony fandom. (Oh, please let them meet her at a convention!) My favorite part of "Spike at Your Service" was that joke about Rainbow Dash's unfinished novel about the greatest pegasus flyer becoming captain of the Wonderbolts that is clearly a wish-fulfillment story. 
Perhaps she doesn't even want their help! Maybe they'll just be chasing after her telling the ridiculous things they think should happen, and they're all parodies of stuff! That on its own would be a great episode.
However, what if something more is revealed? There are a lot of fanfictions out there imagining that Daring Do is a real character in the world of MLP, and she either writes her own books or they're written about her. My favorite stories in this regard is DiveBomb's Riflepony series. (These stories have lead me to making Daring Do and Braeburn one of my OTPs. A crack pairing if there was one but DiveBomb does it so beautifully.) Another is Ponky's The Sisters Doo, where Daring Do's stories are actually based more on her sister Ditzy Doo, and the real Daring is an obnoxious, borderline hack. This story gets props for being the most awesome depiction of Derpy outside a Doctor Whooves story. I myself have been planning a series of stories where Daring Do is real. However, you're probably not going to see anything until next summer. (I am currently in the process of writing a Master's Thesis so that's where I am focusing my writing.) In my head canon, Daring Do writes her own novels under the pen name "D.D. Roanling". Might not be able to use that name anymore.
Could it be possible that they might reveal that Daring Do is in fact a real pony? Given much of the fanservice in Season 3 and in Equestria Girls, I wouldn't be surprised. And I know Hasbro is watching the fandom. Digibrony mentioned in his thorough analysis of Equestria Girls that the writers of the MLP comic at their panel at Bronycon revealed that Hasbro decided to make Equestria Girls because of all the humanized fanart. So it is a very strong possibility that they could make Daring Do a canon character.
So, those are my rather long-winded thoughts. What do you think about any of these tantalizing possibilities?
God bless you all. God bless America. And God bless Equestria.
*The First Evil is from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It is disembodied presence of evil that claims to be the origin of all evil and can impersonate only those who have died. The Source of All Evil is a similar being from Charmed.
My body is ready!
There's so much that I'm looking forward to! Rainbow Dash teaching Twilight how to fly, more Discord, an episode about Daring Do and the author of her books, a further look into the history of Equestria...it's all just...so beautiful.
At this rate, I'm probably going to spend all of November 23 fanboying out about Princess Twilight: Parts 1 and 2 and The Day of the Doctor. I just hope they manage to live up to the hype to an extent and be really good episodes. But I have faith in the creators of both shows and I'm certain that November 23, 2013 is going to be a good day for Whovian Bronies to remember.
1476353 You should see the Military Bronies Facebook page. Almost everyday they're like "all aboard the hype train!"