Original air date: November 6th, 1992
At a meeting in the girls' teahouse, Bright Eyes brings up the green-winged songbird, which used to be plentiful in Ponyland but hasn't been seen for years, thus creating doubt as to whether they still exists. She announces her intention to find one, and Patch, Bon Bon, and Ace accompany her on her mission.
The area on the map indicating the old woods simply has a question mark, which the ponies take to mean no one's ever been in there, so they decide to go there in the hopes it will contain the green-winged songbird. Ace leads the way, and they lose their trail, meaning they're in the old woods.
Ace consults his pony scout manual, which tells him to climb a tall tree to see where they are, so the girls follow him up, but all they can see is trees. To make matters worse, Bon Bon has eaten the week's supply of food she brought. Patch suggests they go fishing like the pioneers did, to which Bright Eyes agrees. Ace has some spare fishing line, and Bon Bon admits to still having an emergency candy bar they can use as bait, so Bright Eyes ties the fishing line around a stick and hooks it to the candy bar, then throws it in the water. She gets a particularly strong pull, and Patch and Ace try to help her reel it in, only for the three of them to fall into the river.
They get out of the river, thinking the fish got away, only to notice something thrashing about inside Ace's bag, where the fish turns out to be. They prepare to eat it, but are compelled to release it when they see its sad-looking face.
With the group lost and without food, Bon Bon tearfully writes in her diary just in case anyone ever finds it, and a green-winged songbird perches on the diary. The ponies follow it, and Patch manages to snap a photo. They follow it some more, and they find it with another adult bird just like it as well as three babies. Patch snaps a photo of all of them together as well. Several more birds just like them show up, and the ponies follow them around, eventually ending up at an area where a significant portion of the trees has been cut down. It suddenly clicks; this is why there are so few green-winged songbirds.
Bright Eyes has an idea; if Bon Bon has been writing in her diary the entire time, they can use the entries to deduce how to find their way out. So Bon Bon reads the diary out loud to guide her friends, and Bright Eyes bids the songbirds goodbye, promising to help out however possible.
At home, the mayor of Ponyland gives all four ponies a Pony of the Month award and declares the old woods a protected area, never to be subject to deforestation again.
"Birds of a Feather" provides examples of:
- Anthropomorphic Shift: Bon Bon runs out of food and complains that they'll starve to death, in a forest full of grass. Their solution is to go fishing.
- Apocalyptic Log: Invoked by Bon Bon when she and her friends get lost in the woods and she tearfully decides to write a "farewell entry" in her diary, in case anyone ever finds it.
- Ate It All: Bon Bon eats the week's supply of food she packed, with the exception of a single candy bar.
- Bee Afraid: The gang get chased by bees at one point because they're after Bon Bon's flowery hat.
- Big Eater: Bon Bon is usually this, but it's especially blatant here. She's upset when they get lost because she "only" brought a week's supply of food, which she immediately starts chowing down on. She then panics when she realizes she's out of food. Lampshaded by Ace:Ace: How can you eat a whole week's supply of food in one afternoon?!
Bon Bon: Easy. I-I was hungry. - Chekhov's Gun: Bon Bon writes in her diary. Bright Eyes later realizes they can use the diary entries to retrace their steps out of the forest.
- Covered in Mud: Ace slathers mud on Bon Bon to soothe the stinging she's incurred.
- Determinator: Bright Eyes in particular never stops believing that the green-winged songbird can be found, and it pays off in the end, which the mayor commends her for.
- Doomed New Clothes: Bon Bon wears a large, flowery hat to the expedition. When it becomes apparent the bees chasing them are after said hat, she ends up tossing it behind so the bees leave the group alone.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Bon Bon doesn't want to eat the caught fish because of its sad face.
- Excuse Boomerang: When some food is needed to use as bait for fishing:Bon Bon: Well, I do have my one little emergency candy bar. For use only in super emergencies.
Bright Eyes: Thank you. (takes the candy bar) This is a super emergency.
Bon Bon: Don't mention it... - Four-Legged Insect: The bees have only four legs, compared to the six they would have in real life.
- Green Aesop: The reason no one sees green-winged songbirds anymore is because a large portion of the trees serving as their home has been cut down. The mayor combats this by making the old woods a protected area.
- Kindness Ball: Ace is at his kindest here compared to his other appearances. He helps the girls out with finding the green-winged songbird, doesn't do anything to sabotage the mission, and offers assistance at regular intervals.
- Late to the Realization: Bon Bon sits down in nettles, but doesn't get up and yell about the pain until Bright Eyes informs her of this.
- Motive Misidentification: Bright Eyes, Bon Bon, Patch, and Ace all get chased by bees, but then Bright Eyes realizes that what they really want is Bon Bon's hat.
- No Cartoon Fish: Averted; the ponies can't bring themselves to eat the fish they just caught because of its sad face.
- Pain to the Ass: Bon Bon gets it when she sits down in nettles.
- P.O.V. Cam: There's one for the bees when they're chasing Bon Bon's hat.
- Reused Character Design: The green-winged songbirds look just like the birds that appear briefly during the song "Today's My Wedding Day" from the previous episode.
- Scary Stinging Swarm: The gang run away from a swarm of bees until Bon Bon throws away her hat, at which point the bees go after that.
- Skewed Priorities: Bon Bon before she climbs down from the tree to rescue her friends:Well, I guess I'd better go rescue them if we're gonna have any lunch.
