Megas

On a related note, I assume you've read the script for rejected season 6 outing in which the CMC attempt to educate an implicitly ASD-inflicted foal on social etiquette? It's definitely an odd premise for the show to tackle (particularly given how nakedly presented the autism allegory in question is) but an interesting experiment nonetheless.

I haven't read up on that one, though it does sound interesting. That said, given how the rest of S6 came out and how a good chunk of episodes came out completely different from what was originally planned(and often worse for it), I wouldn't have expected it to turn out well at all

I know what you mean regarding season 6 - judging from both the modifications made to numerous episode scripts (to the extent of the final/aired versions of multiple episodes ironically exuding a more unfinished feel than their outlines, such as AJ's Day Off and The Cart Before the Ponies) and the production notes exchanged between the staff (one email from Jim Miller on The Crystalling admits that, while the episode itself was 'always going to be a difficult script to crack', the draft 'still wasn't working' after multiple revisions due to lack of necessary exposition, which may explain the awkward and exposition-heavy dialogue in the final episode itself), numerous episodes appear to have been edited hastily (or outright wrongheadedly) by Haber and co. despite a few internal objections (the email actually acknowledging the dicey affair that is Newbie Dash's moral), in turn leading to a downturn in finished episode quality (particularly as Haber seems to struggle in integrating plot exposition naturally, thus leading to him seemingly applying much of the resulting clunky dialogue across the season as a 'quick fix' and ultimately explaining one of my most major issues with the season overall).

That being said, while the dropped premises for S6 are generally less well-written/cohesive with FiM's spirit than the preceding five seasons (as one would expect), Nick Confalone's treatment for a Guinness World Records episode with Dash and Pinkie is surprisingly amusing - I'm not a huge fan of the comedy in Confalone's finished episodes, but it comes out arguably more effectively in written form - his scripts (particularly his first drafts) in general tend to be hilarious, such as the dropped scene in Party Pooped :

PINKIE PIE (V.O.) (German accent) And so my quest begins.

As she narrates, dissolve through different angles of her standing there, looking super-intense and serious.

PINKIE PIE (V.O.) The journey will be fraught with peril, yet if I am to entertain our guests, the noble yaks, I must learn about them, study them, and live amongst them. And I must do it all this afternoon. Nothing will stop me. Nothing will distract me.

EPIC MUSIC screeches to a halt as--

PINKIE PIE (normal voice) AIEEE LOOK AT THAT LEAF! Yes! Yes! It looks like a cupcake!

ANGLE ON - a leaf that does, in fact, look like a cupcake.

PINKIE PIE (CONT’D) (Singing and dancing) Go cupcake leaf, go Pinkie Pie, go cupcake leaf, go Pinkie Pie.

Pinkie Pie instantly gets serious again. So does the music.

 PINKIE PIE (V.O.) (German accent) This is no accident. This is a sign.

 She sticks the stem of the cupcake leaf behind her ear.

PINKIE PIE (V.O.) This leaf will be my companion. And its name shall be... Cupcake Leaf.

They do kind of milk the gag afterwards (Pinkie monologues to 'Cupcake Leaf' through the remainder of her journey as opposed to the Beatles references in the final episode, which I always suspected to be a Larson-added touch somehow) but the sardonic tone of the text in general is surprisingly well-utilized.