The Ghost of Paradise Estate

Doctorwhobox
serial_name=11-14 The Ghost Of Paradise Estate
writer=George Arthur Bloom
series= Series 1
length=4 episodes
date=September 29 - October 2, 1986
preceding=The End of Flutter Valley
following=The Great Rainbow Caper|

"The Ghost of Paradise Estate" is the second serial in the United States children's television series "My Little Pony".

ynopsis

A creature who lived in Dream Valley before the Paradise Estate was built returns to destroy the Little Ponies' home.

Plot

Part 1

Megan, Molly and Danny are helping the Little Ponies to paint the newly-built Lullabye Nursery. When they finish, and everyone goes to sleep inside Paradise Estate. Baby Heart Throb is woken by a glowing blue creature that flies around the room and howls. The other baby ponies panic and throw their pillows and blankets at the 'ghost', and by the time Baby Heart Throb summons Molly and Megan, they've repelled it and created a huge mess. Megan crossly tells them it's too late to have a pillow fight, and assures them the ghost is in their imagination. Molly stays with the babies as they sleep, but before long the ghost reappears and she sees it for herself. The Little Ponies search the entire estate, and Danny and Spike set all manner of 'ghost traps', but with no success. By dawn, the babies are in hysterical panic, and the adults have decided they're never going to find the ghost - until it appears for the third time for all of them to see...

Part 2

Despite their protests, the ghost has soon driven all of the Little Ponies out of their own home. As it flies away, it becomes tangled in a tree, which convinces Megan it's not a ghost at all. It's actually a Panna, a shapeshifting creature whose natural form resembles a swan with a massive plume on its tail. The Panna introduces herself as Pluma, and, after confirming that she got all the Little Ponies outside, drops three massive nets, trapping them all.

Attempting to explain her actions, Pluma tells the story of Squirk, a giant octopus who has lived for centuries in Dream Valley, which once lay beneath the ocean. Long before the Little Ponies arrived, Squirk held the Flashstone, a magic amulet that performed any magic he wished for. As time passed, the water level reduced and the Pannas came to live in the new dry land. Squirk tried to chase the Pannas away, but Pluma's grandfather stole the Flashstone and broke it in half, throwing one half into the deepest water, and the other half at what is now the site of the Paradise Estate, so that no one creature could reunite the two pieces. Now, Squirk holds Pluma's grandfather captive.

Gusty wants to know what this has to do with the Paradise Estate, and Pluma's only response before flying off is that she's sorry for what she must do. Buttons uses her telekinses to free everyone from the nets, but by the time they reach Pluma, she's used her magic to totally destroy Paradise Estate...

Part 3

Digging in the crater that was the Little Ponies' home, Pluma retrieves half of the Flashstone, which Squirk has demanded as ransom for her grandfather. She attempts to use its magic to undo the damage, but only half of Paradise Estate is restored.

Fizzy makes bubbles large enough to hold herself, Megan, Molly and Danny, and the Baby Sea Ponies carry them to the bottom of the river to search for Pluma's grandfather. Meanwhile, Squirk sends his henchman, a lobster named Krang, to fetch Pluma's piece of the Flashstone. As Pluma makes to hand it over, Spike signals a hidden Buttons, who uses her magic to fling it far out of reach. Impatient, Squirk himself emerges, retrieving the Flashstone piece and imprisoning Spike, Pluma and Buttons in a giant clam shell. He returns to his lair just as Megan's party have freed Pluma's grandfather, and captures them as well.

The children, Little Ponies and Pannas are tied up inside an enormous skull. The roof of the skull's mouth is held up by seaweed ropes, which several turtles are chewing through. Squirk meanwhile goes on a rampage, blasting everything in sight with the Flashstone piece until he reaches the other half in the depths of the river. When he finally has the entire Flashstone, he uses its power to make the water rise, and Dream Valley begins to flood...

Part 4

Buttons uses her magic to draw a clamshell in between the skull's teeth, just as the ropes give out. Pluma and her grandfather transform together to form a spinning blade, cutting everyone loose. Fizzy once again summons bubbles to let everyone escape. They see that much of Dream Valley is already underwater - but Danny has a plan to stop it. He has the Pegasus Ponies take one of Pluma's nets and circle the sky above him.

As Squirk rises to the water's surface, the Unicorns flatter him, saying they'd like him to be their leader. When his guard is down, the Pegasi drop their net. As Squirk struggles to free himself, Buttons uses her magic to throw the Flashstone into Megan's hand. Megan wishes the water away, taking Squirk and Krang with it. After undoing the damage to Dream Valley, Megan makes one final wish to restore the Paradise Estate - then drops the Flashstone from a great height, shattering it to pieces so it may never be used for evil again.

Notes

* Features the songs 'It's All In Your Imagination', 'I'd Get Out Fast If I Were You', 'You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet' and 'In No Time At All'.
* Baby Lickety-Split's lips move when Baby Lofty says, "Yes it can" about the ghost not scaring them.
* Baby Heart Throb calls on Megan after seeing the ghost, but Baby Lofty takes her place after Megan turns the light on.
* While Wind Whistler explains the ghost trap to Spike, she sounds like Masquerade.
* In Part 1, the ghost is blue, but in Part 2, it is purple.
* Fizzy turns randoms shades of purple at the beginning of the episode. She also blows enormous bubbles big enough to hold the children, even though she can't do so later on in the series.
* A giant Baby Cuddles and Baby Shady appear at various points in this episode.
* When the ghost scares the babies, Baby Sundance runs along a nonexistent bed to throw a pillow at it!
* Fizzy and Buttons switch places at various times in the episode.
* Paradise disappears at the end scene.
* This episode establishes that all unicorns are able to wink in and out - that is, disappear from one place and reappear in another. It also specifies that unicorns cannot wink through a net or cage to escape from it.
* This is the last episode written by George Arthur Bloom, the author of all My Little Pony serials up to this point.

DVD Releases

* Region 1: Disc 1 of "My Little Pony: The Complete First Season"
* Region 2 (German): "Das Gespenst vom Pony-Paradies"
* Region 4: "The Ghost of Paradise Estate & Fugitive Flowers"
* Region 4 DVD mini: "The Ghost of Paradise Estate"

External links

* [http://dreamvalley-mlp.com/songs86-2.html Song lyrics]