Original air date: August 14th, 1992
The class get their grades back, and Miss Hackney announces that the school is rewarding their good grades with a masquerade party, and that they should arrive dressed as whatever they want to be when they grow up.
On the way to Starlight's ice cream shop, the girls discuss their various ambitions for when they grow up. Starlight offers everyone an ice cream sundae on the house, but to her surprise, Bon Bon instead goes home.
When Bon Bon gets home, we learn that she aspires to be a model when she grows up, but she's afraid everyone will laugh at her if they see her dressed up. She briefly considers not going to the masquerade, but after a pep-talk from her mother, ultimately does.
Patch is doing her circus clown act when Bon Bon arrives. Patch gets splattered with the watermelon she threw upward and falls over, provoking laughter from everyone else. Bon Bon thinks they're laughing at her, and runs away in tears. She passes Teddy, but doesn't pay him any mind, and ends up in the forest.
Later, Bon Bon's mother can't find her daughter, and asks around, but no one has seen her. Teddy appears and says he saw her run toward the forest. Several ponies head out to go and find her.
Bon Bon is still running away, and narrowly avoids running off a cliff. Shortly after, everyone sees her. Bon Bon calls them out for supposedly laughing at and mocking her, but she soon learns the truth: that they were laughing at Patch, and it was Patch herself who said she was the silliest pony. A camera pony from earlier shows Bon Bon the footage as proof.
Bon Bon agrees to return to the party, but then the ledge she's standing on crumbles, and she holds on for dear life. Starlight and Lancer rush in to save her, first by Lancer lassoing her before she can fall to the ground, then by him and Starlight safely lowering her down.
With time left before the end of the party, everyone returns to school. Bon Bon confidently walks through with just her necklace, garnering positive comments from the other partygoers. Lancer offers her a dance, which she accepts.
"The Masquerade" provides examples of:
- Adventurer Outfit: Lancer is wearing one to the masquerade.
- An Aesop:
- Be supportive of your friends' goals.
- Don't let the opinions of others hold you back from pursuing your goals (within reason, of course).
- Artistic License – Physics: Patch is great at throwing a watermelon in the air with one hoof while riding a unicycle, which means one of two things: Patch possesses super strength or the watermelon is incredibly light. There's also the fact that it splatters over her easily when watermelons in real life are much harder than that.
- Big Damn Heroes: Lancer uses his lasso to catch Bon Bon mid-fall, then he and Starlight lower her slowly down to the ground.
- Bigger on the Inside: The camerapony's van is fairly small, but somehow manages to transport everybody in attendance at the masquerade.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The camera pony who was filming everyone at the school party turns out to be conveniently useful later when Bon Bon believes everyone was laughing at her costume and his footage just happened to have all the right moments needed to show her they were actually laughing at Patch's antics.
- Compressed Vice: Bon Bon doesn't display this much concern for her body image in any other episode, nor does she have posters of fashion models on her bedroom wall.
- Continuity Nod: The Rockin' Beats show up again so she and Melody can play "Sweet Music" briefly.
- Dressed to Plunder: Teddy's costume for the masquerade is that of a pirate.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Given that she turns down an ice cream sundae, Bon Bon thinking she'll be made fun of for her dream of being a fashion model could give the impression that she's self-conscious about her weight.
- Doomed New Clothes: The hat Bon Bon brings to the masquerade is lost when she nearly falls off a cliff.
- Dramatically Missing the Point: Teddy doesn't see the big deal with Bon Bon running away to the forest.
- Event Title: The title is "The Masquerade", which the characters all go to.
- The Freelance Shame Squad: Patch getting watermelon all over her and falling down provokes a long bout of laughter from everyone.
- High-School Dance: The school is having one where the students are to dress up as whatever they wish to be when they grow up.
- Hot Wind: Several shots in Bon Bon's Fantasy Sequence during her song depict her mane billowing in the wind while she wears various outfits.
- Job Song: "The Best Dream" in which Bon Bon sings about her friends' various desired careers as well as her own (to be a model).
- Literal Cliffhanger: Bon Bon ends up in this situation when the cliff edge crumbles underneath her.
- Missing Child: Bon Bon runs away to the woods when she thinks everyone at the party is laughing at her.
- Mythology Gag: When Bon Bon is standing dressed up in front of her mirror at the end of "The Best Dream" song, she has a bow tied on her tail, like ponies in the original My Little Pony series had.
- Non-Mammal Mammaries: Bon Bon fantasizes about being a supermodel. She imagines herself in a bikini and a one-piece swimsuit both with breasts.
- Orphaned Etymology: Bon Bon's song has "hands down" in the lyrics when there's no humans in Ponyland that would have hands.
- Out-of-Character Alert: Starlight notes how unusual it is of Bon Bon to pass up an ice cream sundae (for free, even!).
- Poor Communication Kills: Bon Bon enters and hears everyone laughing and making comments ("Look at her!" "She's so silly!" "So dumb!" "Her costume is so weird!" "Definitely the silliest pony here!", causing her to think everyone is making fun of her when it was actually directed at Patch.
- Say My Name: Bon Bon's mother yells her daughter's name when Bon Bon is in danger of falling off a ledge.
- Schmuck Bait: Sweetheart accepts a wrapped present box from Patch, a known prankster and currently dressed up as a clown for the sole purpose of goofing off. When she opens it, spring snakes fly everywhere and Seetheart falls over.
- Wolf Whistle: Teddy's reaction to Bon Bon strutting by when she returns to the masquerade.
