"Hello, Patch. I wanted to thank you for telling my story."
Original air date: July 3rd, 1992
The girls have gathered for a slumber party at Sweetheart's house and enjoy an ice cream sundae. But there's a storm outside, and it causes the lights to briefly go off. Patch suggests it was the work of a ghost, but is blown off. Afterward, everyone tucks in, then it's bedtime.
While the girls are trying to sleep, the storm comes back, and at Patch's suggestion, they get under a tent for a ghost story. In Patch's story, a young knight pony named Squire wishes to be a knight, so his father tells him that he must tame Basil the dragon. So Squire sets off with a sword the next morning, and after an encounter with a snake, finds Basil's cave. He tells Basil he's going to tame him, but Basil doesn't like the idea, and spews fire at him, causing Squire to fall into a hole. By the time Squire has climbed out, Basil is gone.
Just then, the girls hear a noise coming from the attic. They go up to investigate, but it's only Sweetheart's cat Springfield. Bon Bon is relieved that there was no ghost, but Patch is disappointed.
After that, when they're trying to sleep, Patch is visited by Squire's ghost, who thanks her for telling his story, and requests she let him know if she ever sees Basil. Starlight asks Patch who she's talking to, and she initially believes it was a dream, only to see Squire's ghost one last time...
"Slumber Party" provides examples of:
- 30-Second Blackout: The storm knocks the power out for just a few seconds before everything turns back on as if nothing had happened.
- Actual Pacifist: Squire, apparently, since Patch notes that he didn't desire to use his sword.
- Agent Mulder: Patch is eager to believe that there really is a ghost in Sweetheart's attic, and disappointed when there's nothing there. She is visited by a ghost shortly thereafter, though.
- Animation Bump: Patch's movement when she says, "I'm going up there" is somewhat fluid by the show's standards.
- Badass Boast: "I shall tame you [Basil]! I shall be a knight!" from Squire. His actual battle against Basil, however, goes pitifully for him.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Squire fails to tame Basil, who burns a hole in the ground which Squire falls into. Basil has vanished by the time Squire climbs out.
- Breath Weapon: In classic dragon fashion, Basil can breathe fire, and does so at Squire.
- Bottle Episode: The entire episode takes place in Sweetheart's house.
- Bowdlerise: In Patch's ghost story, Squire's task is to tame a dragon.
- Cat Scare: When the girls investigate a noise in the attic, it turns out to have only been Sweetheart's cat.
- Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Squire survives a confrontation with a dragon many times his size, narrowly dodges being burned to a crisp by Basil's fire breath, and survives falling into a hole in the ground and crawls out afterward. But since his ghost looks the same way he did in the story, he died only shortly after his showdown with Basil.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Springfield the cat first appears lapping up melted ice cream, and is later responsible for the noise that the girls go to the attic to investigate.
- Childish Pillow Fight: The girls have one before Sweetheart's mother steps in.
- Chromatic Arrangement: The picture of a shield on Squire's flank is a bluish-grey, red, and green.
- Covers Always Lie: This Italian
◊ DVD shows Squire walking with the Seven Pony Friends (minus Bright Eyes), while Basil is breathing fire in the background. In the episode proper, Squire and Basil are in a story set in the far past told by Patch in the then-present day of The '90s, and Patch is the only one to interact with Squire, who is a ghost. - Curb-Stomp Battle: Basil makes short work of Squire by burning a hole in the ground that Squire then falls into.
- David Versus Goliath: Squire is the David to Basil's Goliath. Basil wins.
- Death of a Child: Implied with Squire, whose ghost is still a child.
- Determinator: Even after many, many years (and as a ghost, even!), Squire is still on the hunt for Basil.
- Dragon Tamer: Squire must tame Basil the dragon in order to be a knight. He turns out to be no match for Basil, however.
- Dramatic Thunder: It shows up to briefly turn out the lights when the girls are about to eat ice cream, and it later wakes them up with a fright. Patch lampshades that the weather is perfect for a ghost story.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Bright Eyes has a sock puppet of their teacher Miss Hackney, who won't appear in person until the fourth episode of the series.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first episode of the show establishes just how ravenous Bon Bon is by having her taking advantage of the extraordinarily brief power outage to steal some ice cream, which she does a poor job of hiding once the power comes back on.
- Event Title: The girls have a slumber party in the episode.
- Face Your Fears: The girls face their fears of sudden noises in the attic after hearing a ghost story.
- Fake Brit: In-universe; Bright Eyes speaks in a posh British accent during her Hand Puppet Mockery of Miss Hackney. When Miss Hackney appears later in the series, however, she doesn't talk in such an accent.
- Fauxshadow: Squire never uses the sword his father gives him for his quest. It appears to be there mainly to illustrate Squire's nonviolent nature.
- Fear Song: "Things Are Not Always What They Seem" accompanies the girls investigating the noises in the attic.
- Fluffy the Terrible: The dragon Squire must tame is called Basil.
- Foreshadowing: Patch suggests that the power going out was the work of ghosts, and Sweetheart's father tells her there's no such thing. But who should visit her at the end of the episode but the ghost of Squire...?
- Friendly Ghost: Squire is this when he meets with Patch, thanking her for telling his story.
- Gasp!: Patch when Squire's ghost appears in front of her.
- Generic Doomsday Villain: Basil has no dialogue, and we don't know anything about his personality, or why Squire's father wants him tamed other than to prove Squire's worth as a knight.
- Ghost Story: Patch calls her story about Squire a "ghost story", but there's no actual relation to ghosts in the story, which is about Squire trying and failing to tame the dragon Basil. He survives his fall, so there's no death, either.
- Giant Food: The ice cream sundae the girls make. Somewhat justified in that there are seven of them eating.
- Good Wears White: Squire and his father both have white fur coats.
- Green and Mean: Basil the dragon is green in color.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Squire, the hero and aspiring knight in Patch's story, has a blonde mane and tail.
- Hand Puppet Mockery: Bright Eyes has one of their teacher Miss Hackney.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Squire's father gives him a sword before he sets out on his quest. Squire never ends up using it, though.
- His Name Really Is "Barkeep": Squire is a young nobleman who is to become a knight, thus making him a... squire.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: Bon Bon's guess as to what Clover is trying to say while playing charades:Bon Bon: Oh! Snow White and the Three Dwarves!
Starlight: Bon Bon, there are seven dwarves.
Bon Bon: Sorry... - It Was a Dark and Stormy Night: In Patch's story, it's a rainy night when Squire's father tells him that he has to tame a dragon in order to become a knight.
- Jacob Marley Apparel: As a ghost, Squire still has his sword, sheath, and collar.
- Lightswitch Surprise: The lights go off during a storm briefly, and when they come back on, Bon Bon has eaten some of the ice cream sundae (which she tries to blame on a ghost).
- Long Neck: Basil has a pretty long neck that bends downward at the end.
- Mood Whiplash: A pretty mild example that opens the episode. We're greeted with fog billowing ominously in the night sky with a tree blowing in the wind. The camera then pans over to Sweetheart's cosy little pink and blue house with a heart-shaped hole in the wooden gate, and the scene then cuts to her and her friends playing charades.
- Never Say "Die":
- It's quite apparent that Squire was supposed to fall to his death during his battle with Basil, as a death would be the only thing that would make this a ghost story. However, Patch briefly mentions that "Squire crawled out of the hole", which of course goes unseen.
- The torch Squire finds in the cave is said to have probably belonged to another knight who will "never again see the light of day".
- Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Squire uses the fire shot by Basil to light his torch.
- Non-Indicative First Episode: The first episode of the Slice of Life show features an appearance from a ghost. With the exception of one other episode, supernatural phenomena aren't a presence in the rest of the show.
- Ominous Fog: There's some in the sky at the beginning of the episode.
- Or Was It a Dream?: At first, Patch thinks Squire's ghost appearing before her to thank her for telling the story was a dream, but then she sees him exiting through the ceiling after she's woken up and Starlight asks her who she was talking to.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Despite him being a transparent non-physical entity, Squire's ghost casts a shadow over Patch.
- Real After All: Patch tells a ghost story that scares the others and makes them check the attic for signs of the ghost, but find nothing but a cat. In the last scene, Patch is surprised when the ghost appears to her and thanks her for helping keep his legend alive.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: Basil has red eyes with yellow irises.
- Robbing the Dead: Squire takes a torch that was likely left in the cave by a knight who didn't quite make it, although the body of the knight isn't seen.
- Scary Flashlight Face: Patch does this while telling the story of Squire.
- Scary Shadow Fakeout: "Things Are Not Always What They Seem" is chock-full of these, and the lyrics lampshade it:
- In the night, shapes may seem fearful
In the light, they're much more cheerful
Things are not always what they seem
- Separate Scene Storytelling: The story Patch tells about Squire is shown on screen as she describes it.
- Sleep Deprivation Punishment: Discussed by Bright Eyes, who, when using a puppet of Miss Hackney, says that the children will not be allowed to sleep until they've finished their homework.
- Slumber Party: The premise of the episode, as you may have guessed.
- Snakes Are Sinister: Squire encounters one en route to Basil's cave that coils around him and hisses at him.
- Spirit Advisor: When Squire appears before Patch as a ghost, he thanks her for keeping his legend alive, and requests she let him know if she sees Basil.
- The Squire: Who else but Squire?
- Things That Go "Bump" in the Night: The girls hear a noise in the attic and go to investigate, but it was only Sweetheart's cat Springfield.
- Through the Ceiling, Stealthily: Inverted; Squire, being a ghost, exits through the ceiling after visiting Patch.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: Although Patch is disappointed when the attic doesn't contain a ghost and the noise they heard was from Sweetheart's cat Springfield, Patch does get to meet one in the form of Squire's ghost later on in the night.
- Villain: Exit, Stage Left: Inverted; Basil defeats Squire, but then leaves for an unknown place by the time Squire returns to continue the fight.
- Weaksauce Weakness: When accosted by a snake, Squire scares it away just by sticking out his tongue and hissing at it in return.
