Original air date: October 9th, 1992
Patch and her friends have worked on building a new playground for the orphanage Patch used to live in before she was adopted. It's a hit with the kids, but Rosy, an old friend of Patch's, is still eager for parents of her own. Patch reassures her she'll get them someday. Just then, a chariot being pulled by two ponies comes down the road, which appears to belong to the royal family.
Later at the ice cream shop, the girls learn from a magazine that the king and queen of the Isle of Pony are coming in search of their long-lost daughter, who was lost at sea as a baby. The descriptions provided about her are that she was born on March 16th and had bright pink hair, yellow eyes, and a red birthmark on her front right hoof. Patch appears to meet all four, so with the rest of the girls as well as Rosy, she rushes home to dress like a princess to present herself to the king and queen.
Though the girls have limited material to work with, they succeed in dressing Patch up in a presentable manner for the king and queen. Rosy has gotten her hair wet, causing her blue dye to come out, so she gets rid of the dye entirely, revealing her natural hair color to be pink. Patch sadly realizes she won't see her adoptive parents again once she's with the king and queen, and tells her adoptive parents she's dressed up because she's going to an audition, unable to bring herself to admit to them what she's really doing, though she does hug them and tell them she loves them before she leaves.
After a long wait in a line of possible princess candidates, Patch runs away and confesses to her friends that she doesn't want to be a princess or leave her adoptive parents. She then realizes that her "birthmark" is actually red paint that she got in her hoof while using it to build the orphanage playground. Overjoyed, Patch throws off her outfit. The girls then find out that Rosy also has a March 16th birthday and a birthmark on her front right hoof, proving that the princess is actually her, so they rush back into the castle only to find that the king and queen have gotten back into their chariot and left. Patch throws a lump of mud at the chariot to stop it. The king is furious, but quickly forgives Patch when she informs him she did it because their daughter has been found. They place the princess' crown on Rosy's head, and recognize her as their daughter. The reunited family embrace one another, much to the happiness of everyone else.
"Princess Problems" provides examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable:Bon Bon: Hey, everybody, look!
- Alliterative Title: "Princess Problems".
- An Aesop: Just because your adoptive parents aren't your biological ones doesn't make them any less loving or capable of giving you a good life.
- Anachronistic Orphanage: Despite the show being made in, and presumably taking place during, The '90s, there's an orphanage Patch spent several years in even though American orphanages haven't existed for decades.
- Armor-Piercing Question: When Melody can't understand why Patch wouldn't want to be a princess, Patch asks Melody if she would want to leave her mother. Melody, of course, doesn't.
- Bonding over Missing Parents: Patch, who is an orphan, gets along well with the children in the orphanage, even helping to renovate the play area.
- Bratty Food Demand: During "A Princess Must Look Beautiful", Bon Bon grabs a bowl of jelly beans and tells Patch, "You don't want those jelly beans, give 'em all to me!"
- Changeling Fantasy: Defied. Patch is horrified at the thought she might be a princess and have to leave her friends and adoptive family behind.
- Distinguishing Mark: Patch thinks she has this on her hoof, but it's actually red paint. Rosy turns out to have the real one.
- The Door Slams You: When the orphans run into the new playground, the door ends up hitting Patch, who was standing too close to it.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Bon Bon remarks that the long-lost princess could be in the ice cream shop they currently occupy. Not long after, the girls realize that Patch matches all of the descriptions. Subverted when it turns out the long-lost princess is actually Rosy.
- Foreshadowing: Rosy turns out to have pink hair by nature, having dyed it blue. We later find out that she's the lost princess, not Patch.
- Istanbul (Not Constantinople): The Isle of Pony is a play on the Isle of Man.
- Jerkass Ball: Though it's mainly a case of being Innocently Insensitive, the girls aren't eager for Patch to interact with her adoptive parents once it appears she's the lost daughter of the king and queen. Sweetheart tells her not to help her dad with the chores, especially glaring for Sweetheart of all ponies, and Melody adds to it by telling Patch she needs to "get with it" since she won't be with her adoptive parents anymore.
- Lost Orphaned Royalty: The plot revolves around the King and Queen of the Isle of Pony coming to Ponyland as part of their long search for their lost daughter. Naturally, Patch matches all the descriptions. She's ultimately not happy about it at all, as she's Happily Adopted and is scared of the prospect of losing her adopted parents. Subverted when it turns out she wasn't the lost princess; her old friend from the same orphanage Rosy is, and is reunited with her long lost parents.
- Missing Child: The King and Queen of the Isle of Pony lost their only daughter at sea when she was a baby and had no idea if she was alive or dead since. And because of Dad's job, they obviously have their share of unscrupulous enemies...
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Thinking Patch is going to an audition, her adoptive parents support her and tell her they want her to be happy.
- One-Shot Character: The only appearance of Rosy and the King and Queen of the Isle of Pony.
- Orphanage of Love: Patch used to live in one of these before being adopted, and she seems to have pretty fond memories of the place, as she still has friends there and loves to help other orphan ponies.
- Plot Hole:
- How could Patch sharing her birthday with a long lost royal daughter mean she was actually her, considering that, if her date of birth was known in the first place, she surely couldn't be found as a lost baby with no knowledge of her biological parents?
- The ponies waiting in line to be assessed as to whether or not they're the princess look nothing like the description.
- The description of the lost princess says that she had yellow eyes. Rosy has blue eyes up until the very end where they're mysteriously yellow.
- Rags to Royalty: Rosy is introduced living in the orphanage, but in the end, once it becomes evident she's the lost princess, she goes to enjoy the life of royalty with her parents.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Patch and her friends think this trope is in effect with her, but as it turns out, it's actually Rosy.
- Royals Who Actually Do Something: The King and Queen of the Isle of Pony have been personally combing the land searching for their lost daughter.
- State Visit: The King and Queen of the Isle of Pony are visiting Ponyland as part of their search for their lost daughter.
- Status Quo Is God: Patch turning out to be the lost princess would surely have separated her from the rest of the cast and ruined the dynamic with them, so Rosy is the lost princess instead.
- Sure, Let's Go with That: Patch's parents ask where she's going, and guess that she's going to an audition at the theater since she's all dressed up. Patch goes with this.
