) Disney saw fit to re-release The Phantom Menace in cinemas for one week for the film’s 25th anniversary (only two weeks off). It almost slipped my mind until today, hence Monday Musings being a few hours later (advantage of a Bank Holiday, peeps – a freeUnused Season 5 MLP Episodes – Part 3 (Spiritual Precursors to Episodes We Got) · 7:51pm Feb 2nd, 2022
Rarity: "Stop the presses! It's Wednesday evening! Mike Cartoon Pony is posting another blog on unused Season 5 episodes! Forget these dresses for a client coming in an hour, this is The. Most. Important. Thing!"
Part 2 can be read here, discussing unused episodes revolving around the Cutie Map.
No solid theme uniting today's picks, outside of them all having the loose idea or elements resurrected for episodes we did get (granted, that was kind of the case last time), they're just random picks short enough to tackle three of them in one post. The first two are dated to October 11th, 2013, the same date the Premises for "Castle Sweet Castle" and "Bloom and Gloom" were submitted, the first two episodes in the series in writing order – this is common, just a result of getting out lots of ideas at the start, and seeing what's worth carrying forward. The third is dated a bit further, down at February 27th, 2014. There is an unused episode in between those two, "How to Become a Princess", but as it progressed to outline form, a whole five pages, it will need a whole post. Plus, it's totally original. That'll be the topic for next time.
Fluttershy's Nightmare Night: Written by Dave Polsky
Fluttershy: "Oh… this isn't going to have Flutterbat, is it?"
Pinkie: "All Nightmare Night episodes starring you have Flutterbat, silly! Except this."
Though this episode idea certainly seems like an early version of "Scare Master" (and its title was the original title of "Scare Master")… you'd be right, this is clearly a precursor to that. Though there are many, many differences, there's enough structural overlap to make a connection. Yet again, we have an episode resurrected in vague notions later. As we'll see, perhaps it was wise.
It’s time for another Nightmare Night Festival in Ponyville, but this time the fear factor gets kicked up an extra notch: the traditional candy offering to Nightmare Moon at night’s end will be held not in Ponyville but at Zecora’s house deep in the dark of the Everfree Forest. Brave Everfree Forest on Equestria’s scariest night... if you daaaaaare! And indeed the Mane 6 are rarin’ to go for some good old holiday fun... well... most of them anyway. While the Mane 6 prepare for the big night, Fluttershy’s hiding out in her house. This has always been her least favorite night of the year anyway, even in absence of this year’s extra fear-boost. Though Fluttershy’s attended before, she never makes it through the whole evening without something benign scaring her completely out of her wits, so this year she’s decided to skip the event altogether. But somepony needs to run Zecora’s vacated booth, so Fluttershy’s friends - who feel the night would be incomplete without Fluttershy’s participation - ask if Fluttershy would at least help with that until the march into the forest toward Zecora’s house begins. Fluttershy’s never tried running a Nightmare Night Festival booth before, so they argue that maybe this is the secret to her getting through the experience: if she’s the one doing the “scaring,” she’ll be so busy with her duties that she’ll have no time to think about being scared herself. Fluttershy’s moved that her friends want so badly to have her involved, and agrees to give this a try.
Night falls and Fluttershy’s on the job, doing her best to stay as busy as possible. But when ponies come to her booth to get scared, Fluttershy just can’t bring herself to scare them. She either says “boo” in a teeny tiny soft voice, or begs ponies not to be scared after she “scares” them, or anxiously tries to make the “scaries” go away, or gives loads and loads of warning before giving a scare, etc... to the point that her booth becomes one big huge bummer and nopony wants to go. Unfortunately, the fewer the ponies attending her booth, the more time for Fluttershy’s thoughts to fill her with worry and dread, and the more likely she’ll have another mortifying cut-and-run episode. The Mane 6 worry that if she gives up on this Nightmare Night Festival, she may never attend one ever again! So the Mane 6 take action and try getting ponies to keep going even though they have no interest. When this plan runs out of steam, the friends make one more last-ditch effort: they’ll keep disguising themselves in different costumes, pretending they’re different ponies, and attend Fluttershy’s booth one after the other (while Rarity works feverishly to keep the crazy costumes in fresh supply). But when this well-intended ruse goes haywire and gets accidentally exposed, Fluttershy’s mortification is off the charts. The Mane Friends concede their plan was a perhaps “slightly flawed,” but at least it’s coming from a good place, right? They’re just trying to keep Fluttershy involved because they’d miss her. Speechless, Fluttershy flees the scene.
But it turns out Fluttershy has not fled for home; rather she’s gone to confer with her forest critter friends and unload how distraught she is over letting everypony down with her fretting. Not only to the forest critters listen sympathetically, but they even indicate they may have a plan to set things right. Meanwhile, the Mane Friends search throughout Ponyville for Fluttershy but she’s nowhere to be found... and time has come for the climactic trek to Zecora’s house.
So they set out as planned, but this trip into the Everfree Forest proves especially daunting for the Mane Friends as they’re beset by one terror after another. These terrors are being perpetrated by forest critters who mean no harm - they’re just trying to vindicate their friend Fluttershy by delivering some promised frightful fun on her behalf - but nopony else knows that! They think these are genuine scares, and they’re all going half out of their minds! Meanwhile, Fluttershy’s sipping tea in Zecora’s house, grateful to her critter friends for coming up with this win-win scenario, while Zecora wonders what the heck’s taking everypony so long. When Zecora and Fluttershy go to check on where everypony is, they discover this well-intended plan of their own has gone haywire and the rest of Ponyville is hunkered down in the some remote part of the forest, afraid to flee and desperately trying to survive the night! Fluttershy then assumes the role of Unlikely Hero, clearing up the unfortunate misunderstanding. The night ends as planned in at Zecora’s house, while everypony laughs at the how unexpectedly frightening the night turned out to be. Fluttershy inadvertently was behind the best Nightmare Night Festival in memory. The lesson: in friendships there will always be misunderstandings and miscommunications, but as long as friends have the patience to sort it all out it’s never anything to be afraid of.
Pretty great to have an episode where Zecora plays a prominent part again (for context: at the time, her last appearance was in "Filly Vanilli" as a plot device for a single scene, with only blink-and-you'll miss-it silent cameos in "Twilight's Kingdom – Part 2" and "Slice of Life" since, neither of which had been animated yet at the time Polsky wrote this). But otherwise, this is pure Polsky, making many questionable writing decisions on top of a structure that leaves a lot of scenes just wheel-spinning through weak conflicts until they reach their concluding point. I can see that scare-booth sequence tiring very fast, and the way it's written here, it's supposed to last a whole act of the episode. On top of that, we have many overtly cartoony parts (Rarity frantically making many costumes for them to switch in and out of; yeah, Fluttershy would recognise her friends, this isn't The Tigger Movie).
On top of that, there's continuity errors aplenty, not least in Fluttershy having come out on Nightmare Nights before but always given up (um, she was holed up in "Luna Eclipsed", Dave), and the pretext of Zecora running a booth every year (she didn't do that last time either)
Still, the basic structure eventually used for "Scare Master" – Act I is Fluttershy deciding, with her friends help, to go out on Nightmare Night, Act II is her trying and failing to be scary, and Act III is her and her critters (sort of) successfully scaring everypony – is present here. So we got a much better episode out of that, one which respects Fluttershy's place after four-and-a-half seasons, doesn't dumb her down, and has decent, amusing gags and jokes along a simple but effective plot.
The first premise for "Scare Master" is dated to March 17th, 2014, half a year later than this. As that was when Meghan McCarthy took back over from Larson on Story Editing duties (she had supervised the first two episodes written, which were episodes 3 & 4, so she was in charge when Polsky wrote this), it's conceivable she felt it was worthwhile dusting off unused ideas, and giving this one to Natasha Levinger, seeing if she could make something of it. That's my hypothesis, anyway. Seems fitting!
The Other Mane 6: Written by Amy Keating Rogers
Lyra: "They… really don't pay us enough to wade through these demeaning, pandering fanservice moments, Bon Bon."
Bon Bon: "Oh lighten up, Lyra. At least they steered clear of your falsified human fascination!"
What we have here is basically the first attempt at what would become "Slice of Life". The proper story is that it started as more of an anthology episode, with Twilight (or just the camera) taking the viewer across various vignettes around the town, full "22 Short Films About Springfield", before Hasbro insisted on at least having an overarching narrative to tie the piece together. Yet even before that, Rogers wrote this.
Everypony is excited that the Grand Galloping Gala is going to be held in Ponyville this year. Especially The Other Mane 6. Octavia and DJ Pon-3 have amazing plans for the music, blending together their musical talents by amping up Octavia with an electric cello while DJ Pon-3 mixes together the sound with some cool beats. Lyra and Bon Bon plan to dance the night away to this fantastic music while Dr. Hooves is looking forward to hitting the Apple Family’s Food Cart with his sister Derpy for some of Granny Smith’s famous Apple Crisp Muffins.
But, as everypony knows, the most important part of the Grand Galloping Gala is...the fashion! The girls decide they're going to get dresses made at the Carousel Boutique by that Rarity pony. Each girl makes a private appointment and goes in to describe their dream dress to Rarity. Lyra’s up first, as she describes a beautiful gown with various accessorizing details to embellish the dress. Rarity is truly inspired. This pony has exquisite taste! Then Bon Bon comes in next for her appointment... and describes the same exact dress, right down to the accoutrements! Rarity tries to interrupt and steer her another direction, but she can’t get a word in edgewise. Next Octavia enters. Surely this musical pony will have a different sense of style. Nope. Rarity cannot believe her ears as this pony also describes the same dress with the same details. And she will also not be swayed. Then DJ Pon-3 (who doesn’t talk) comes in and starts playing a remix of the same words the other three ponies have used to describe their dresses while doing a laser light show with her Unicorn horn depicting the very same gown! Rarity is dumbfounded. By the time Derpy comes in, Rarity holds up her hoof and tells her not to say a word. She knows exactly what she wants. Rarity holds up a sketch of the dress that every other girl is getting. Derpy nods in agreement and goes off. Rarity sighs, having the strangest feeling of déjà vu.
Meanwhile, even Dr. Hooves is going in to see Rarity at the Carousel Boutique for a consultation on a “new look” for the Gala. Who knows? Maybe he’ll finally find the companion of his dreams? Dr. Hooves emerges from the dressing room dressed in similar fashion as the First, Second, and then Third Doctor. Rarity thinks these looks are all a bit stodgy for Dr. Hooves and that she needs to think on this a bit.
The day arrives for the girls to try on their dresses at the Boutique and show them to each other. As they get dressed, they begin to sing a song in the vein of “Paris Original” from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” thinking they are each going to be wearing wonderful, one-of-a-kind dresses. But when they step out of their dressing rooms, they reveal that they are wearing the exact same thing!
Now, these ponies are particularly peeved. What kind of shoddy shop does this Rarity run? Rarity tries to explain that she tried to tell each of them that they were ordering the same dress, but the girls wouldn’t listen to her. The girls realize that this is true. They were very set on what they wanted and didn’t listen to any of Rarity’s suggestions. So what do they do now? They all love this dress. But who should get to wear it? The friends decide that the only fair thing is for none of them to wear it. Instead, Rarity will make them brand new, completely different dresses that they will reveal to everypony at a big fashion show next week. As they leave, Rarity can’t help but feel a bit of déjà vu yet again.
Dr. Hooves has another batch of outfits to try on. This time he emerges as the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Doctor. The Fourth is okay, but he keeps tripping on the scarf. The Fifth is very dapper, but Dr. Hooves keeps eating the celery, which really annoys Rarity. “That is fashion! Not a snack!” And the Sixth is just ridiculous. It makes him look like a clown. Back to the old drawing board!
Rarity gears herself up to design five entirely new looks for these girls. But when she has her private appointments to discuss the new dresses, each girl tells Rarity that she doesn’t need to make her a new dress. After all, it would be a terrible waste if nopony wore Rarity’s original design. And if all the other girls are getting new dresses, then this dress will be just fine. DJ Pon-3 even manages to tell Rarity in another amazing remix. And once again, Rarity tries to step in and tell the girls that this isn’t going to work—that all of the friends are going to be wearing the same dress—but they won’t listen. When Derpy comes in, an exhausted Rarity holds up her hoof stating that Derpy needn’t say a thing. She knows that Derpy wants to wear the original dress that Rarity made otherwise it would be a waste. Derpy nods, smiles, and leaves.
Derpy is Doctor Hooves' sister, huh? Better the fandom would have gone nuts at that. You can tell the writers hadn't yet gotten a feel for how the fandom did these characters, in any case.
Frankly, I… don't even have words. The subplot about Doctor Hooves reads as pandering and parody gone so, so wrong. And never in a million years would Hasbro have let it through. Meanwhile, the main thrust is just a rehash of "Suited for Success" threaded through replacing the Mane 5 with these other ponies. It's dull, it's repetitive, and it doesn't really utilise individual personalities for any of the five mares (well, maybe DJ Pon-3, given she communicates via mixes), either similar to their fandom personalities or original takes.
Though I guess the Rose/Dr. Hooves thing did live on in later seasons (you see them sitting together romantically in a few events in the last two seasons).
Anyway… Ugh. I've come back around to "Slice of Life" a little, but it's a miracle it works even in "moderately pleasant as a once-off" mode. Then again, maybe we shouldn't judge this one too harshly – clearly they rejected it instantly for a reason, and it might have honestly been just a writing exercise, not meant for the public to ever see. Which… oops.
Fillydelphia Ragtime: Written by M.A. Larson
Applejack: "Oh, great. You two."
Flim: "Why, Applejack, one would almost think you didn't want to have another clash of wits against us."
Flam: "Everypony needs an archenemy or two, young filly. Just give in. It is your destiny."
Applejack: Ah will if y'all promise to not make old, hokey quotes like that ever again.
Flim: "No problem –"
Applejack: "In writing."
Flim & Flam: "…You know, having an archenemies is old hat these days anyway."
This be the infamous speakeasy episode Larson mentioned in a few interviews. It's also a Rarity/Applejack episode, so that's likely to colour your take early, depending on whether you adore their comic chemistry, or feel it's well overplayed in favour or other less-used pairings. I also made a mistake, and should have included this last post: this is technically a map episode, though it doesn't feel like one.
The map is a-callin’, and this time it’s Rarity and Applejack who are summoned. Rarity is thrilled that they’ll be going to the bustling metropolis of Fillydelphia! Applejack is nonchalant. She’s been there lots of times since she sells a percentage of every cider season’s output to her friends who run the local Fillydelphia restaurants. When they arrive, Rarity is utterly charmed by the town, but neither pony knows quite what to do about their mission. Everypony seems happy and the city is bustling. But when they notice a huge crowd forming, they discover that they’ve arrived on election day! And – surprise! – the winner is the newly minted MAYOR FLAM!
As his first order of business, he is outlawing cider! With all his snake-oil-salespony charm, he has convinced half the town of the horrors of cider. He has seen with his own two eyes how cider can pit pony against pony! For Fillydelphia’s own good, cider must go! And in its place? A potato-based alternative beverage called True Spud. Half the town cheers, the other half grumbles. But Applejack sees red when she sees her restaurant owner friends up on stage with Flam. She has known and worked with them for years, knows their families and their businesses, and now they’re joining this huckster to outlaw cider?
As Applejack goes off to meet with the lone holdout amongst her restaurant friends, Rarity is approached by an aide to the new mayor. Hizzonor recognized her in the crowd and wants to see her. She suspects Flam is somehow related to the friendship problem, so she flatters and compliments him to try to get to the bottom of what’s going on. She becomes a flapper-dress-wearing femme fatale, infiltrating Fillydelphia’s high society while standing by Flam’s side.
Applejack, meanwhile, is crushed to learn that her old friends are hitching their wagons to Flam because he is flashy and popular and they think they can get something out of this access to power. These were business partners, sure, but they were also real friends. And now they have thrown her overboard for a false friendship that might improve their status. She is genuinely hurt. And so, as Rarity works the halls of power looking for clues to Flam’s motives, Applejack starts sneaking cider into town. Most Fillydelphians are thrilled to have their cider back – they never saw what the problem was – but some have bought Flam’s lies hook, line, and sinker and are True Spud true believers. The once peaceful town is being ripped apart at the seams.
Eventually, at a high-powered society dinner with all the town’s elites, Rarity discovers that the mysterious force behind True Spud is none other than Flim! The brothers are working both sides to drive the Apple Family out of Fillydelphia to make room for their potato product! Applejack, meanwhile, uses this information to convince her old friends that they have been behaving badly. They have abandoned their wholesome principles, and treated a good friend poorly, all so they could make themselves feel more important. They realize they have been nothing more than social climbers, and it’s never worth it to climb if it means you have to step on a friend. They agree to sell cider again! Flim and Flam, meanwhile, are run out of town on the rails, peace is restored to Fillydelphia, and a small sapling grows in the town square.
I was surprised that "Leap of Faith" wasn't nearly as tedious as I'd remembered when I rewatched it last year and actually didn't just blandly reuse Flim/Flam as antagonists in the same manner as before – in fact, they were always used in different ways in the show until Season 8 & "Best Gift Ever", where the new staff just gave up, as they often did. Here… they're just their old trickster selves again, and it's just "let's take 'em down!" So, yeah, not too exciting. There's no tension or surprises whatsoever, the danger of playing the two as antagonists straight.
Otherwise, the speakeasy element only forms a small chunk of the episode, so that's probably why Larson thought it might be okay with Hasbro (it's certainly no "Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment". Honestly, in many ways, this feels structured similarly to a Season 4 key episode, just with Rarity off doing her own plot. As a map episode, that it lacks the "were we right for this job? Oh, actually we were" conflict feels weird, even though it's usually rote when it does show up.
Rarity going undercover as a femme fatale, only Larson, folks. Does raise the question of why Flam would trust her, though. By this stage, Larson's "Rainbow Confession" episode had already hit the cutting room floor, despite getting out a script, and since that's the precursor to "Rarity Investigates!", and both that episode and this Premise feature Rarity dressing up as a different character type to investigate… hey, gotta recycle good ideas! Though a femme fatale might have been tricky to pull off in a TV-Y show. Though the personalities and character of Applejack's business partners aren't specified, I find myself substituting Silver Shill in there, just because that was an Applejack Vs. Film/Flam episode. Brains are strange.
It is worth mentioning that Larson really enjoyed writing Flim and Flam in their debut episode:
"I particularly enjoyed writing Flim and Flam. They are villains, but they are designed to be charming and disorienting. They speak very quickly. They finish each other's sentences. They're in constant motion. Everything they do is designed to dazzle and confuse people, so they can shake your hand while they're stealing your wallet. You can see their charm in action when the song ends and Apple Bloom is 100 percent ready to take their deal. This is the reaction the brothers are used to. In the midst of the song, one of the brothers confuses Applejack enough that she agrees to give them some apples for their demonstration. And when you're writing characters like that, their energy and optimism infuses the actual writing. I wrote that episode very quickly because their dialogue flew through my head as fast as it appears on-screen."
And, you know, I totally get that. So perhaps he would have absolutely been able to not only get great dialogue and moments out of them, but in a fresh way and plot that felt different to how they'd been used before.
Overall… I can't muster up a large amount of enthusiasm for this. Flim/Flam episodes, after their first one just don’t do that much for me (despite the fact I quite like all their appearances prior to Season 8, they remain an uphill battle for me), reminding me of older, lesser cartoons content to recycle plots and antagonists blandly. Besides, it's fair to say had we got this, we wouldn't have gotten "Rarity Investigates!", which is awesome. Though, maybe this might have been better than the passable but bland and forgettable "Made in Manehattan". That's a debate with pros and cons on both sides. Thoughts?
Concluding Thoughts
Now we're not on map episodes (no, "Fillydelphia Ragtime" still isn't really a map episode, despite being technically one: it has none of the tropes bar the setup), there is a bit more freshness in the ideas. However, it's as easy to see as ever why none of these got used. Thankfully, the next few episodes, and especially a Rarity/Suri episode and the aforementioned "How to Be a Princess" episode (basically a Princess cosplay episode in full Trade Ya! "everypony gets their own subplot" mode) are delightful, and I can't wait to share them. See you then!
Part 4 can be read here, discussing unused episodes which were not repurposed down the line, and thus are unique story ideas we did not got. Likely to be more interesting then repurposed ones!
I agree that "Fillydelphia Ragtime" would have been better than "Made in Manehatten." The latter managed to be boring while also feeling like it never really got started. Both Applejack's and Rarity's personalities and experiences are relevant and explored in "Fillydelphia Ragtime."
I also agree that the Flim Flam brothers were overused. However, since this episode would hypothetically be in season 5, that wouldn't be an issue for it. I certainly prefer the overall plot in this episode than in many of the other Flim and Flam episodes. However, I think "Fillydelphia Ragtime" with different, new antagonists would be delightful. The pieces were in place for someone besides Flim and Flam to be causing the issue.
I like how Applejack's business is important as well, especially since selling apples, apple products, and cider was an important part of her character in early seasons.
I wouldn't want to give up "Rarity Investigates" for "Fillydelphia Ragtime," but the episodes are distinct enough to where having both would have been great. I think "Rarity Investigates" shows Rarity to be a femme fatale, just in a G rated fashion.
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Well, given the two others episodes in this post are very obvious “No, just no” cases, and this one has plenty of fun concepts, I won’t disagree there! My reservations are mostly things that could have been ironed out and improved out with the outline and script. But as Larson has said, Hasbro vetoed this because of the speakeasy aspect, so it’s a moot point. You can do alcohol-type episodes when it’s just cider, apparently, but add probation and it’s too much for the censors, it would seem.
Thus far, if there were any unused episode that would be awesome to see a fanfic version of (as long as it was creative and extrapolated upon/evolved the premise), this would be it.
Funny you mention that: in the Premise for “Rainbow Falls”, the role of the Wonderbolts was instead taken by new characters, old schoolmates/friends of Dash’s from Cloudsdale. Given every other map episode had a new character as the one who stands against the featured Mane 5 pony and outs their virtue to the test, and the main issue with that episode is buying Spitfire and Fleetfoot’s behaviour from professional athletes after the “Wonderbolts Academy” fiasco, that episode would have been improved immeasurably had it stuck with original character there who we wouldn’t know the career of, and wouldn’t see again. So, you know, something like that happened before!
Oh, I’m not saying we wouldn’t get both because of similarities. I’m saying it because of production history - much as this episode was written as a response to Larson’s “Rainbow Connection” episode getting turned down, so too was “Rarity Investigates!” written only because this episode didn’t go through. We saw this last post, with a map episode that shares a lot with “Top Bolt”, and where the latter dusted off that premise and overhauled it from the ground up. This is why I provide dates and my own hypothesis for why each episode wasn’t used, context is key.
Heh, there is that post of her laying on a lounge all saucy to seduce answers out of the guards, that is true. But she is mostly in detective mode, a little different.
Well, so far Fillydelphia Ragtime is the one episode I wish had been made. Larson is a damn good writer, and execution can bring a B plot up to an A.
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Indeed, I won’t disagree there. Lacking extra context as to what happened, I can only speculate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the pressures of being Story Editor for even just those ten episodes were starting to get to him, alongside Hasbro shooting down a speakeasy episode. We do know from interviews he found the micromanaging really tough and nosy.
As I say, every so often one of these is a “that’s be a great fanfic” episode, and nowhere thus far is that more true then here.
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Yep, I agree with that!
I think we dodged a huge bullet in "Fillydelphia Ragtime". In the wake of Trump's 2016 presidential campaign and victory, Flim and Flam somehow taking over an entire city to run one of their cons would've aged horribly, just like the comics where Filthy Rich became mayor after ousting Mayor Mare. Flim and Flam weren't even antagonists in their debut until the Apples spurned their deal and didn't try to negotiate a better settlment. Flim and Flam in all their subsequent appearances, minus "Viva Las Pegasus" just did the same routine they did in their debut, and somehow ponies always kept falling for it.