Original air date: August 7th, 1992
The girls gather for a tea party, where Starlight announces the topic for today's meeting: whether to allow boys into their club. Many of the others aren't on board with the idea, but Bright Eyes agrees, not wanting the club to be seen as prejudiced. Bright Eyes suggests they research the possible options, and vote on whether to allow them in at the next meeting, which the group agrees to do.
Later, Patch and Bright Eyes see two ponies take furniture out of the house, load it into a van, and drive away. When Starlight is informed, she tells the group they have to catch the thieves before they steal anything else. They set several booby traps around the abandoned house in preparation for when the thieves next strike.
That night, the girls are waiting inside the house when the van from before pulls up. They return to their battle stations. The group consists of two parents and their son. The father can't get the door open, so he kicks it down. When they enter, they all step into honey. The assault intensifies with all of the girls chipping in until it turns out the family (the Barrington family) own the house and are moving in next week. The girls agree to help the family clean and renovate the house.
When the house is all fixed up, the family reveal a surprise they have for the girls: a new clubhouse! They immediately wish to have a tea party, and the son, Logan, asks if he can join their club, and Starlight calls a meeting in the new clubhouse to decide. Logan anxiously awaits the outcome of the vote, and to his relief, they allow him in.
"The Tea Party" provides examples of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: "But at a dance, they're good escorts."
- Adaptation Name Change: The family in this episode are called Barrington, whereas in the toyline they’re called the Berrytown family.
- An Aesop:
- Don't jump to conclusions and act based on those faulty conclusions.
- It's okay for boys and girls to hang out as friends and enjoy hobbies typically associated with the other gender.
- Agony of the Feet: Clover accidentally hammers her hoof while barricading a door.
- Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: Mrs. Barrington chases Melody into a room... which contains a painting of a frightening monster, prompting her to run straight back out.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Even Sweetheart joins in on the ambush against the supposed thieves.
- Big "NO!": Bon Bon when Starlight mentions that the burglars might come to her house.
- Book Ends: There is a tea party at both the beginning and end.
- Bridal Carry: A male pony on roller skates does so to Melody during the "Boys! Boys! Boys!" song.
- Cat Up a Tree: A firefighter gets one down from a tree for Bright Eyes during the song.
- Chef of Iron: Bon Bon, a baker who also brings scones to the club meetings, joins the fight against the Barringtons.
- Covered in Gunge: The Barringtons get covered in various foodstuffs from the traps the girls laid out for them.
- Covered in Mud: During the song, Teddy, Ace, and two other boys all dive for a soccer ball into a puddle of mud.
- "Double, Double" Title: The song "Boys! Boys! Boys!" could be called a "Triple, Triple, Triple" Title.
- Early-Bird Cameo:
- Lancer appears briefly in the "Boys! Boys! Boys!" song before his proper introduction in the following episode.
- The girls are roller-skating at the beginning of the song. Roll-A-Rama would later make its proper debut in "Roll Around The Clock".
- Event Title: The girls have a tea party at the beginning and the end.
- Failed a Spot Check: Well after she's run away from it, Mrs. Barrington still thinks the painting she saw was an actual monster.
- Food End: The episode ends with the girls and Logan enjoying scones and tea.
- Foodfight!: The girls employ various foodstuffs in their assault against the Barringtons.
- Free-Range Children: Lampshaded by Sweetheart when she points out they should go home before their parents start to worry.
- Gasp!: Melody when Starlight suggests the burglars might pay her a visit.
- Good All Along: Turns out the Barringtons weren't knowingly stealing the girls' possessions; they're moving into the house and are cleaning it out.
- Hoist by Her Own Petard: Patch ends up falling down the stairs thanks to slipping on the very paint she left out for the "thieves".
- Hoist Hero over Head: A non-villainous example; during the song, a male pony lifts Clover up and holds her above him with one hoof.
- "Home Alone" Antics: The girls booby trap the abandoned house they've been using as a clubhouse when they discover some ponies stealing their furniture.
- Hurt Foot Hop: Clover's reaction when she accidentally hits her hoof with a hammer. Although it's her front hoof, making it look like how somebody would react to hurting their hand, Clover being an quadruped means that all of her hooves are technically feet.
- Keep Away: During the song, Teddy and two other boys steal Starlight's hat and toss it back and forth.
- Literal-Minded: Clover, twice.
- She empties an entire bowl of cream onto Bon Bon's teacup because the latter "asked for a drop".
- When the girls find that a group of ponies has stolen the furniture in the abandoned house:
Starlight: As chairpony of our tea club, I hereby table our vote on the boys.
Clover: What table? It's gone! - Mama Bear: Mrs. Barrington does not take kindly to her son being attacked with jelly, and chases Melody, unwittingly letting her lead her into a trap.
- Misogyny Song: Gender-Inverted and Zig-Zagged. The girls sing about boys and the various traits they have, both positive and negative, while pondering whether boys should be allowed to join their club.
- Mistaken for Thief: The girls think the house they host their tea parties at is being burgled, but the "burglars" are just the family that will be moving in.
- Motor Mouth: Starlight gives a long-winded speech about not letting the thieves get away with it before exhaling loudly and spraying saliva.
- Must Make Amends: The girls make up for attacking the Barringtons by helping them with getting their house ready.
- No "Police" Option: For some reason, the girls didn't think to call the police to report the "theft", and instead resort to booby-trapping the house and attacking the supposed intruders with household items.
- No, You: Patch's response when Mr. Barrington asks her who she is goes, "Who are you?".
- One-Shot Character: Logan Barrington and his father never show up again after this episode.
- Out of Character: Bon Bon getting annoyed when Clover misinterprets her request for "a drop of cream" and drops all the cream in the bowl into Bon Bon's teacup. Given just how ravenous Bon Bon usually is, you'd think she'd react a bit more positively to all that cream.
- Rousing Speech: Starlight after the meeting house is "burgled":Sweetheart: But what can we do? We're just little ponies.Starlight: Well, I'll tell you what we can do! ...Well, uh, better yet, uh, I'll tell you what we can't do. We can't ignore the problem! We can't sweep it under the carpet! We can't allow somebody to come in here and take our things! Because if we do, where will it stop? Where will it go next? Maybe your house, Bon Bon!Bon Bon: No!Starlight: Maybe yours [Sweetheart]!Sweetheart: No, not mine!Starlight: Or yours, Melody!Melody: (gasp)
Starlight: And before we know it, all of Ponyland will be picked clean of everything we own! We can't let that happen! We have to stop them now! (exhales) - Serious Business:Sweetheart: Logan saved my life. I think he should be in the club.Patch: He only saved you from getting full of paint.Sweetheart: Same difference.
- Soundtrack Dissonance: Bon Bon and Melody attacking the Barringtons is accompanied by rather cheerful, silly music.
- Through a Face Full of Fur: Logan's head turns from white to red from his blushing when the girls accept him into their club.
- Totally Radical: A pretty mild example.Melody: Far out... Let's have a tea party!
- Toyless Toyline Character: The Barrington family are based on the Berrytown family from the toyline, but Logan was created specifically for the show, not having a counterpart in the toy version of the family.
- Tree Cover: Patch yanks Bright Eyes into a bush from which to observe what they think is their club meeting place being burgled.
- Visible Odor: Ace is sweating on an exercise bike during the "Boys! Boys! Boys!" song, and black lines come off him as a result of his sweating, causing Melody and Sweetheart to fall off their own exercise bikes.
- The Watson: Bright Eyes points out to her friends that they don't want to be seen as prejudiced, and Sweetheart asks what that means.
