The Ghost of Paradise Estate

The Ghost of Paradise Estate is the third story arc of Season One of My Little Pony 'n Friends.

Synopsis[]

Part One[]

At Paradise Estate Megan, her siblings, and the ponies are all working together to spruce up their shared home. With the baby ponies' nursery freshly painted, the baby ponies are invited to stay the night in the main building. During the night, a ghostly figure appears and scares Baby Heart Throb, who goes looking for Megan when the other babies don't believe her. In her absence, the ghost terrorizes the other baby ponies, who fight back with their pillows.

The ghost disappears before Megan returns, and she assumes that they were only having a pillow fight. After singing them back to sleep, she asks Molly to stay in the room with them. However, the ghost returns, prompting Molly and the babies to run for help. They are joined by Megan, Danny, and Spike, and together search for the ghost. After Danny's traps only succeed in hitting Spike, the ghost appears before the ponies and humans.

Part Two[]

The ghost attempts to drive the ponies from Paradise Estate, and succeeds in getting them to flee the building. However, it becomes tangled in a nearby tree and is revealed as Pluma, one of the magical birds known as Pannas. After realizing that all the ponies are outside, she drops nets on them to trap them. Pluma then explains that her actions against them are not her own choice, as she is acting under orders from the tyrant Squirk.

As Pluma reveals, Squirk ruled over what is now Dream Valley when it was covered by water, which eventually began to recede. When Pluma's grandfather Ruff led their flock to Dream Valley, Squirk attacked using his Flashstone amulet. However, Pluma's grandfather, a formidable shapeshifter, bested Squirk and stole the Flashstone, breaking it in two and hiding the halves. Unfortunately, Ruff has now grown old and weak, and the much longer-lived Squirk has captured him. Forced to recover the Flashstone in order to save her grandfather, Pluma attacks and destroys Paradise Estate.

Part Three[]

With Paradise Estate destroyed, Pluma is unable to recover one half of the Flashstone from the resulting crater. Apologetic towards the ponies, she attempts to restore the estate using the amulet, but due to only having half the Flashstone can only recreate half the structure. Despite this, Megan and the ponies agree to help her rescue her grandfather from Squirk's clutches. With the help of Fizzy's magic and the Sea Ponies, some of the group go looking for Ruff underwater while Pluma, Spike, and Danny distract Squirk's minion Crank.

Having mocked Ruff in his confinement, an impatient Squirk goes to check on Crank, allowing Megan's party to reach the captured Panna. Unfortunately, Squirk captures the distraction team and returns in time to thwart the rescue team. Leaving them all in a large skull set up to crush them when the vines holding it open are eaten through, Squirk goes looking for the missing half of the Flashstone. After amusing himself with the incomplete amulet, Squirk locates the other half and restores the Flashstone. Once again possessing its full power, he sets out to return his kingdom to its former state by flooding Dream Valley.

Part Four[]

Thanks to Buttons moving a shell to buy them time, Ruff and Pluma are able to combine their powers and free themselves and their friends. Escaping the skull trap just in time, they return to the surface to find Dream Valley being destroyed by floodwaters. Returning to what's left of Paradise Estate, they find Pluma's nets and decide to use them against Squirk. After Pluma lures the tyrant and Crank to the surface, Megan and the ponies distract him with pleas for mercy.

While Squirk is occupied, Danny sends the Pegasi into action, and they trap the two villains in the nets. Buttons is then able to pull the Flashstone away from Squirk as he struggles vainly to escape. Mounting Wind Whistler, Megan uses the amulet to turn back the flood and restore Dream Valley and Paradise Estate. Squirk and Crank are drained away with the water, and Megan smashes the Flashstone against a mountain to prevent its powers ever being abused against. After bidding farewell to their new friends, Pluma and Ruff depart for home.

Characters[]

Heroes[]

Villains[]

Squirk
Crank

Production[]

Storyboards[]

The Storyboard for Part 1 was production and first draft on March 11, 1986 and second draft on March 17, 1986. https://archive.org/details/20231021_20231021_1800