Difference between revisions of "Ponies in Paradise"

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Ponies in Paradise
Generation 1 | Season 3 | Episode 13 (A)
My Little Pony Tales
Original Airdate	September 25, 1992
Writer(s)	Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough
<< Previous Episode	Next Episode >>
Just For Kicks	Who's Responsible?

"Ponies in Paradise" is the twenty-fifth episode of the My Little Pony Tales cartoon series. It originally aired along with "Who's Responsible?". It was written by Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough.

Synopsis

At the ice cream shop, Bright Eyes enthusiastically announces that she's been selected to be a foreign exchange student and live on Tropical Island for a whole week. Her good mood is quickly dashed by the less-than-positive response her friends give her. Patch shares stories she's heard about sea monsters, Bon Bon says she's heard rumors that the island natives eat other ponies and Sweetheart not only enquires about the dangers of the volcano on the island, but also bring up the claims that island natives sacrifice ponies to the volcano to keep is asleep. Bright Eyes is dimissive of their xenophobic expectations and leaves for the island in a good mood.

Much to Bright Eyes's horror, when she arrives, she learns the island's volcano is an active one, prompting her to consider taking the plane back to Ponyland. The tourist guide talks her out of the plane though, and Bright Eyes meets up with the Sunbrights, with whom she'll be staying. Moki Sunbright, the family's daughter about the same age as Bright Eyes, welcomes her and introduces her to Mrs Sunbright and Ikki Sunbright. The two exchange gifts, a book about Ponyland and a handmade lei, when Ikki suggests they go for a ride in the family's canoe. Bright Eyes recalls the story Patch told her and tries to get away, but is pursuaded to hop into the boat. To her surprise, she actually has a good time, until an unidentifiable figure suddenly emerges near the canoe. Thinking it's a sea monster, Bright Eyes grabs Moki's paddle and starts hitting the figure until Moki stops her. It is revealed the figure is Mr Sunbright, who is a professional pearl diver. Bright Eyes stutters her apologies together and is given a pearl by Mr Sunbright as welcome gift.

On Moki's suggestion, the family goes homeward. Moki shows Bright Eyes around the house until lunch-time. Thinking back to what Bon Bon said, Bright eyes at first is hesitant, wondering if she's going to be on the menu or if she's going to be fed another pony. It turns out the meal only consists of fruit and vegetables, making Bright Eyes finally at ease with her host family.

After lunch, Bright Eyes begins writing a letter to her friends back in Ponyland. She ridicules herself for believing all their scary stories and walks off to meet up with Moki and Ikki. They tell her they want to take her along on a hike to the top of the volcano, like they did with the last guest they had in their house. Bright Eyes nervously asked what happened to that pony, to which Ikki answers she is gone. Panic-stricken, Bright Eyes tries to flee, but is stopped by Mr and Mrs Sunbright. Bright Eyes tries to tell herself she is acting silly and goes along to the volcano, but once there refuses to get too close to the top. Slightly fed up with Bright Eyes's behavior, Moki pushes her near the edge. Trying to get away, Bright Eyes moves too close to the edge and falls into the volcano's mouth on a small ledge. Suddenly, the ground starts shaking, indicating the volcano is going to erupt. To Bright Eyes's surprise, the Sunbright's help her climb out, after which the five make a run away from the lava flowing out of the volcano.

At the Sunbrights' home, the family apologizes to Bright Eyes for endangering her like that - the volcano, which the island natives call Sleeping Rock, wasn't expected to erupt, or they'd have never taken her to the top. Bright Eyes in turn admits she thought they were going to throw her in and apologizes for her xenophobia. Mr Sunbright counters that when he was young, he and his friends thought mainland ponies could fly because they had yet to be introduced to airplanes, so that it is understandable Bright Eyes had weird ideas about island ponies too. Bright Eyes realizes that while there may be differences, there are many more comparisons between the ponies she knows and the ponies of Tropical Island.

For the rest of the week, Bright Eyes enjoys her stay on the island greatly and becomes good friends with Moki. When the time of return to Ponyland is only a morning away, Bright Eyes invites Moki to come visist her in Ponyland sometime, as a foreign exchange student from Tropical Island. Moki promises she will, eager to see Ponyland and be with Bright Eyes again.

Cast

• Bright Eyes, Melody, Starlight, Bon Bon, Sweetheart, Patch, Tourist Guide, Moki Sunbright, Mrs Sunbright, Ikki Sunbright, Mr Sunbright

Quotes

Bright Eyes: "A boat? Oh, no boats! I'm a-allergic. Yeah! Yeah, that's it! Allergic."
Moki: "Oh, I have never heard of anyone allergic to a boat before."

Songs

We May Be Different

When we first met, we seemed as different as can be

But now with some reflection, the both of us agree

We may be different, but we're still the same
So many things compare
We may be different, but we still can name
So many things we share

I like visiting exotic places

I also love to explore

Once you learn to look beyond the faces

You learn much more

Much more

Once you get past the fear that keeps us all apart

You learn on close inspection we're much the same at heart

We may be different, but we're still the same
So many things compare
We may be different, but we still can name
So many things
So many things we share

Errors

Animation errors

• As Bright Eyes walks in, Sweetheart sits between Bon Bon and Patch. For the rest of the scene, she switches places with Bon Bon.
• When Bon Bon talks about the island natives' supposed cannibalism, she looks googly-eyed.
• The dream animation of island natives feeding another pony to the volcano is reused for the real animation of the Sunbrights taking Bright Eyes to see the volcano. Different color palettes are used between the two sequences, except for when the pony is thrown into the volcano. The grey-purple island native then suddenly is drawn in Sunbright colors.
• The lei Bright Eyes is given changes colors between the full panel and the close-up.
• Bright Eyes writes her letter in what looks to be her room. But when she walks off and meets up with Moki and Ikki, she comes from the balcony.
• When Bright Eyes runs off because she thinks she's going to be fed to the volcano, her cell stays aligned behind Moki's.
• While Moki should still be pushing Bright Eyes towards the volcano's mouth, Bright Eyes is animated as walking on her own instead.
• Bright Eyes says "I want to go home" a little before her mouth actually moves.
• As they look at the smoking volcano, Mrs Sunbright's and Bright Eyes's tails are drawn on their right legs rather than their behinds.
• The four pearls Mr Sunbright gives Bright Eyes during "We May Be Different" are blue and yellow in one shot. In the next, two of them have turned red and purple.
• Towards the end of "We May Be Different", two ponies who are not Sunbrights or Bright Eyes eat with the group. They are visible two times and have a different color palette between those times.

Story errors

• The volcano is shown and said to be active early in the episode. Later, Moki says that the volcano hasn't erupted for many years and is therefore called Sleeping Rock.

Semi-errors

• Even if it's only a week and ponies don't wear clothes, doesn't Bright Eyes need any luggage for her stay on Tropical Island?
• If in real life you hit a diver on the head with a paddle four times, they'll be too busy dying or being dead to apologize for scaring you.
• Assuming Clover is out of town since she was absent from the ice cream shop scene and therefore can't be written to, why does Bright Eyes write all of her other friends at home but Starlight?

Notes

• "Tropical Island"? Really? Do they, by any chance, also have a "Sandy Desert" or a "Lush Forest" in the My Little Pony Tales universe?
• The Sunbrights were released in Year Ten of the toyline as part of the Family Friends and Family Baby Ponies set. Whereas they are cast in brown in the cartoon, they are cast in yellow in the toyline. Also, Moki Sunbright was specifically created for the My Little Pony Tales cartoon and doesn't exist in toy form, a trait she shares with the other "Year Ten" family eldest children Corny Meadowsweet and Logan Berrytown.
• Ikki Sunbright represents the toyline's Baby Sunbright. However, though Ikki is a boy, Baby Sunbright is a girl.
• "Ponies in Paradise" has been released on DVD in Australia by MRA Entertainment on October 12, 2005.

External links

• "Ponies in Paradise" on youtube