Setting:
Whitetail Woods, Ponyville
Summary:
While in the Whitetail Woods, Spike and Rarity run into some deer who start to charge at them. Rarity and Spike get separated, where Spike finds himself face to face with an angry “deer” named Treebark. Rarity has returned to Ponyville to ask her friends to help find Spike, but Spike comes back on his own and tells them about the deer. The mane 6 go to meet the deer to find that Treebark is really a colt who believes that he’s a deer. After talking amongst themselves, they decide to have Treebark experience life in Ponyville. After a fight with some mane 6 pony, he realizes that he really is a pony and runs off. The mane 6 realize that they were forcing him to be a pony. Treebark cries by a fountain in Ponyville with his “temporary antlers” taken off. He sees a pony who needs to find something. He uses his tracking talents to help her find what she’s looking for. Another pony sees. Treebark then helps several ponies find what they need. “Where did you learn to do that?” “My family.” Treebark realizes that it’s OK to be a pony; his family will still love him. The mane 6 find Treebark and they all return to the Whitetail woods to see off Treebark. Letter to Celestia.
 
Intro scene
>Whitetail Woods, mid-day/early afternoon
>Spike and Rarity are walking through the woods
>Motivation other than looking for gems preferred
>Three silhouettes of deer stand in front of them and begin to charge
>Rarity and Spike run away
>Spike trips, looks back, sees the deer charging (and getting closer) and takes off in a different direction than Rarity
>Rarity loses the two stags chasing after her
>Rarity: That was a close one, wasn’t it, Spike? SPIKE?
>Notices Spike is gone and shrieks
>Spike continues to run
>Dead end
>He turns around, about to crap himself as the third deer silhouette gets closer
>Cut to intro song
 
Act I (buildup)
>Ponyville, mid-day/afternoon
>Rarity finds the rest of the mane 6 and begins to recount the story.
>Rarity: We need to find spike!
>Rainbow: Found him.
>They see that Spike is right there.
>Spike tells them about his deer encounter.
>Flashback:
>Treebark: What’s a dragon doing in the Whitetail Woods? Have you come to eat some fawns?
>Spike: What? Dragons don’t eat deer.
>Treebark: You don’t?
>Spike: Nope. Personally, I prefer gemstones, but I live with a bunch of ponies, so my diet usually consists of hay.
>Treebark: Oh, I’m sorry! You know what? Why don’t you bring your pony friend of yours to my herd and we’ll make it up to you?
>Flashback over.
>The mane 6 talk it over and agree to go see the herd.
>Whitetail Woods, evening
>They meet the herd and Treebark.
>The mane 6 are confused as to why a pony is wearing tree branches on his head.
>They realize that he thinks he’s a deer.
>The mane 6 talk it over.
>Applejack: We should show him Ponyville. He needs to see what he really is.
>Fluttershy: Are you sure that’s a good idea?
>Twilight: I agree with Applejack. He honestly thinks that he’s a deer, and he should at least be around other ponies for once in his life.
>The mane 6 tries convincing Treebark to spend a day in Ponyville.
>Treebark is hesitant at first, but with the support of two stags, he agrees to go with them.
 
Act II (conflict)
>Ponyville, late morning/noon the next day
>The mane 6 take Treebark on all kinds of adventures throughout the town.
>Treebark is hesitant at first, but he gradually enjoys himself.
>Rainbow: You fit in pretty well, don’t you?
>Treebark: Well, not really. I mean, Ponyville is nice and all, but I’m a deer and belong with other deer.
>Applejack: Listen, sweetie… there’s something you should know. Those antlers ain’t real.
>Treebark: I-I know. They’re just temporary until my real ones grow in.
>Rainbow: Haven’t you at least noticed that you look nothing like the other deer and look just like us?
>Treebark: What… what are you saying?
>Twilight: Treebark… you aren’t a deer. You’re a pony.
>Treebark: W-WHAT?! NO! That can’t be true! I-I’ve lived with deer my whole life!
>Rarity: I know it must be hard to cope with, but you’re really a pony like us.
>Treebark: You’re all lying to me! I thought you were my friends!
>Rainbow: Uh, hello! We ARE your friends, but that doesn’t change the fact that you. Are. A. Pony!
>Treebark runs away crying.
>Ohnowhathavewedone.jpg
 
Act III (solution)
(Moral)
>Ponyville, mid-day/afternoon
>Mane 6 talk about how feel bad about trying to force Treebark to be what they expected him to be
>Twilight: We have to find him. Let’s go, girls.
>Some fountain in Ponyville, mid-day/afternoon
>Treebark cries to himself and takes off his antlers.
>He looks at himself in the fountain.
>Treebark: I guess I really am a pony… Who am I kidding? I don’t belong with deer. I belong here with other ponies.
>He sees somepony looking for something.
>Treebark: Is something wrong?
>Random Ponyvillian: Oh, I can’t find my [virginity] anywhere. (replace obvious word)
>Treebark: You know, I’ve always been good at tracking things. Maybe I could help.
>He helps the pony find something.
>Two more ponies see his talent and ask for his help.
>He helps them find their crap too.
>Ponyvillian: Wow! Where did you learn to do that?
>Treebark: My family… My FAMILY!
>The mane 6 find him, apologize and explain why they were wrong.
>Treebark: You don’t have to apologize. You were right all along. I’m a pony, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t be a deer too. I think I know where I belong.
>Cut to scene where the mane 6 and Spike see off Treebark (who is wearing his antlers again) as he returns to the other deer and as Twilight recites her letter to Celestia in the background.
>Twilight: Dear Princess Celestia. Today I learned a wonderful lesson about friendship. I learned that when we see a pony who isn’t what we expect them to be, we shouldn’t change anything about them. They’re fine just the way they are, and if we ever think we don’t belong, maybe there are friends right in front of us that we haven’t even thought about. Your DEARest student, Twilight Sparkle.
 
Characters
Treebark, Treebark’s herd, Spike, Mane 6, Random Ponyvillians.
 
Notes
My main note here is not to FORCE characters’ roles into the story. Season 3 tried that, and in my opinion, it had the least amount of character development for the ponies that weren’t the main focus of the episode. Case and point: “Alicoooorn partyyyyy.” Let the characters’ personalities come naturally. I would rather take somepony in the mane 6 out of the story completely rather than say, “Rarity hasn’t spoken in a while. I’ll have her complain about dirt or swoon over the deer’s fur patterns.”
 
[X] I want to get this done because we have a great idea and some spectacular people working on the project. (Personally, I don’t think we should even have end credits)