Princess Problems

Princess Problems
Generation 1 | Season 3 | Episode 8 (A)
My Little Pony Tales
Original Airdate	August 21, 1992
Writer(s)	Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough
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"Princess Problems" is the fifteenth episode on the My Little Pony Tales cartoon series. It originally aired along with "An Apple for Starlight". It was written by Kayte Kuch and Sheryl Scarborough.

Synopsis

Patch is finishing up a project she started for the orphanage that was her home until she was adopted. The project is a playground for the other orphans, which she put together with the help of her friends. The orphans are allowed to enter right away and have a blast at the playground. Patch heads over to Rosy, a girl she knows from her days in the orphanage, for some small talk. As they talk, a regal coach passes by and draws the attention of Patch's friends. While the speculate what business royalty has in their neighborhood, Clover has an accident with a few cans of paint. Patch helps her clean up, accidentally smearing her hoof with some red paint.

At the ice cream shop later that day, Patch's friends find out who the coach belongs to and why its owners are here. The coach belongs to the king and queen of the Isle of Pony, who have come to find their long lost daughter. The girls think this is an amazing story, except for Patch, who doesn't think it's such a big deal. Starlight starts summing up all known traits of the princess, such as a birthday on March 16th, pink hair and yellow eyes - all traits matching Patch. Finally, Starlight mentions a birthmark on the princess's front right hoof. Patch shows hers, causing the girls to mistake the paintmark for a birthmark. As the girls go crazy over having a real princess in their group of friends, Rosy walks in and is asked to help prepare Patch for a meeting with the king and queen.

At Patch's place, the girls do a grand job at making Patch look like royalty, but Patch isn't happy with that. She doesn't feel like she is herself in the outfit and longs to do simple things like helping her father with some chores. Her friends argue she can no longer do that now that she is a princess and that she should prepare to leave with the king and queen if she is found to be their daughter. Patch grows increasingly regretful of the possibility she is the missing princess, as she doesn't wish to part with her parents.

At the temporary home of the Isle of Pony royalty, Patch and her friends discover they are the last in a very long line of candidates. Forced to wait, Patch realizes she doesn't want to leave her parents or be a princess and runs off just before her turn. Her friends follow her to a nearby fountain. There, Patch explains she has no intention of entering a royal life and in particular challenges the pushy Melody with the question if she would give up her mother for such a life. As Patch curses the supposed birthmark, it finally comes off and Patch joyfully realizes she's not the princess after all. Melody tries one more time, mentioning all of the princess's traits only to find out Rosy also is an exact match ánd has the actual birthmark.

The group runs back to the house, only to find the royals have just left. Figuring they can't catch up on foot, Patch swiftly puts together a mudball and aims it through the coach's window, hitting the king. This stops the coach and gives the girls a chance to talk to the royals. Rosy steps forward and the royals try the princess's crown on her. Her hair momentarily lightens up, proving her to be their daughter. As the three embrace, the girls look on, moved by the happy ending.

Cast

• Orphans, Patch, Melody, bright Eyes,Sweetheart, Bon Bon, Rosy, Starlight, Clover, royal servant, king and queen of the Isle of Pony, Patch's mother, Patch's father

Songs

A Princess Must Look Beautiful

A princess must look beautiful
Her outfit must seem grand
So we'll use this bit of lace

And this tattered pillow case
And whatever else we find on hand

A princess must look beautiful
And dress with style and flair
So we'll make a royal cape

By recycling that old drape
And some fringe from that old easy chair

A princess must have diamonds
Strung from end to end

But look, your mom has all these rhinestones
Trinkets she can lend

A princess must look tailored
Trim as she can be

You don't want those jellybeans
Give them all to me

We tried to make you beautiful
Somehow by hook or crook
For a princess must look beautiful... and surprise!

That's how I look?

Errors

Animation errors

• When Rosy crawls from under Patch's pile of clothes, her eyes are yellow. Moments later, when she looks at Patch, her hair is pink.
• During the entire episode up until the point Melody tries to convince Patch that she is the princess after all, Rosy has blue eyes. It isn't until she needs to match the description of the princess that Rosy suddenly has yellow eyes.
• And of course, roughly forty seconds later, she's back to blue eyes until the end of the episode.
• While Rosy's parents have sparkling hair, Rosy has not, except for one short instance when she bows in front of her parents. At that moment her tail sparkles, or would've if it had been layered correctly. As is, the sparkle kinda floats abover her tail.

Story errors

• One thing that convinces the girls that Patch is the missing princess is that the two have the same date birth. The princess who was lost at sea - if she'd been found but not identified, nobody could know her date of birth and probably arbitrarily assigned her one (the day she was found?). Thus, the match means nothing.

Semi-errors

• The princess was a baby when she was lost at sea. How come her parents are convinced she's still alive after nearly ten years have passed. And why do they do the searching personally and by having people "audition"? Surely there's more efficient ways to find someone, not to mention more tactful ways seeing as they are specifically looking for one orphan out of many. And why did they even allow people to try for princess who clearly were not a match appearance-wise? And just why did they not include details such as age and symbol in the search notification? That would have immediately cancelled out Patch as a candidate!
• That entire blue eyes vs yellow eyes thing described under 'animation errors'? The truly rich part is that Rosy's parents both have blue eyes, making it all the more reasonable for Rosy to have blue eyes too.

Notes

• Apparently, there's non-sapient horses in the Little Ponies' world. Go figure.
• Odd as it may seem what with Rosy being a princess and her hair all lighting up when the crown touches her for head, she is a character original and exclusive to the My Little Pony Tales cartoon. There is no toy of her with a light-up function the producers tried to explain.
• "The Masquerade" has been released on DVD in Australia by MRA Entertainment on October 12, 2005.

External links

• "Princess Problems" on youtube