My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S1 E25 Party of One



"Pinkie Pie: Sure, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy﻿ had to house-sit for that vacationing bear, but what are the chances all my other friends would have plans this afternoon, too?"

"Written by Meghan McCarthy"

Pinkie Pie holds a birthday party for her pet alligator, Gummy, inviting all her friends. Afterwards, all the guests compliment Pinkie on the great party, with Twilight saying "We should do this again soon!". Pinkie, being Pinkie, interprets this a little too literally...

The very next day, Pinkie shows up at each of her friends' houses, eagerly offering invitations to Gummy's "after-birthday party" that afternoon. Her friends, however, aren't as enthusiastic...

"Twilight/Applejack/Rarity: This afternoon? As in, "this afternoon" this afternoon?"

All of them offer excuses for why they can't come, but it isn't until Pinkie gives herself time to think about it that she realizes this.

Once she notices Twilight picking up a package from Sugarcube Corner (instead of studying, like she said she would be), Pinkie decides to investigate. After sneaking around Ponyville in disguise, overhearing several secret conversations between her friends, angrily chasing Rainbow Dash around town, and a tense exchange with Applejack, Pinkie suspects that her friends don't like her or her parties anymore. To get some confirmation on her suspicions, she interrogates Spike into giving her information, but gets frustrated when he doesn't know what she's talking about.

"Pinkie Pie: Tell me that my friends are all lying to me and avoiding me because they don't like my parties and THEY DON'T WANT TO BE MY FRIENDS ANYMORE!

Spike: "Your friends are all lying to you and avoiding you because they don't like your parties and they don't want to be your friends anymore.""

Pinkie is satisfied at seemingly having her suspicions confirmed, but immediately feels depressed and lonely upon thinking she's lost her friends, to the point where her poofy hair deflates and her color scheme becomes muted and dull.

In her mentally unhinged state, Pinkie ends up holding a morose and disturbing second party with several inanimate objects as her new "friends". Rainbow Dash stops by, apologizing for her behavior earlier, and offers to take Pinkie to Sweet Apple Acres. Pinkie repeatedly refuses to go, leaving Rainbow Dash no choice but to forcefully drag her there. Upon arriving at the farm, Rainbow leads Pinkie to the barn, where a surprise party is being held with all their friends. Pinkie assumes this is a surprise farewell party to celebrate her being booted from the group, until everyone explains that it's her own surprise birthday party. Pinkie, realizing she'd forgotten it was her own birthday, returns to her old cheery self and decides to enjoy the party. Twilight writes to Princess Celestia from the party, stating the Aesop that one shouldn't expect the worst from their friends.

Tropes (YMMV items can be found here).
"ChunkeeNoodleSoup: Madame LeFlour is eating cake. Does anyone see what's wrong with this?"
 * Actor Allusion: Madam LeFlour's French accent sounds kinda familiar…
 * Ass Kicks You
 * When dancing during Gummy's birthday party, Pinkie Pie knocks both Twilight and Fluttershy into a wall with some overly enthusiastic moves of her rear half.
 * When Rainbow Dash attempts to get Pinkie Pie to come with her, Pinkie pie bucks forward and then sits on her head. Pinkie Pie is also drawn significantly heavier than Rainbow Dash.
 * Bad Liar: All the main cast save maybe Twilight Sparkle show this tendency coming up with excuses to avoid Pinkie...especially Applejack, which seems to relate to her being the Element of Honesty.
 * Black Comedy Burst: Pinkie Pie's breakdown... one of the darkest scenes in the series... is Played for Laughs.
 * Blatant Lies
 * How her friends get out of going to Pinkie's after-party, and then how they cover up their own goings-on.
 * Rainbow Dash draws a wristwatch on her hoof, right in front of Pinkie, and then points out "Look at the time!" to try to get her and Fluttershy away from Pinkie.
 * At one point Applejack says that Pinkie can't come into her barn because they're renovating it and there's too much construction going on. The other ponies back her up by making blatantly fake tool noises.
 * Brick Joke: Written invitations.
 * Carnivore Confusion: Best summed up by this Youtube comment:

""Rocky": You heard th' lady! She ain't goin' nowhere, chump!
 * (Madame LeFlour is a flour sack, by the way.)
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Spike is oblivious to Pinkie's angst during and after the interrogation, even though it should be perfectly obvious to any observer, and this ends up making things worse. Granted, he's got a pretty bad record of reading people from before too, but this is the most extreme example.
 * Comically Missing the Point
 * After hearing her friends' increasingly Blatant Lies about why they can't come to the after-party, Pinkie somehow finds Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy's absurdly convoluted Stereo Fibbing the only one that seems plausible.
 * Spike has no clue about what he's being interrogated for or about, nor does he get one at any point. Ironically, this means he ends up frustrating Pinkie Pie with the same kind of literal-minded, cluelessly irrelevant answers you'd expect from her in a similar situation.
 * Companion Cube: Pinkie's 'new friends'.
 * Continuity Nod: Pinkie's hair goes back to the state it was before she discovered how to smile.
 * Creepy Circus Music: Accompanies Pinkie Pie during her Sanity Slippage, complete with cacophonous trumpet stings when she twitches.
 * Dramatic Spotlight: Parodied. Pinkie Pie draws the (wrong) conclusion that her friends have all turned against her from her interrogation of Spike, and declares so in a Dramatic Spotlight. Then it turns out the light comes from the lamp she used to interrogate him with, as he turns it off.
 * Enhanced Interrogation Techniques
 * Exact Words: Spike tells Pinkie exactly what she told him to say.
 * Expository Hairstyle Change: Pinkie's depression and Sanity Slippage is demonstrated by her normally wildly curly mane going very straight, just like in "Cutie Mark Chronicles" when we see her dour upbringing before she learned to smile. When she snaps out of it at the end, her mane returns to normal.
 * Failed a Spot Check: For some reason, Twilight Sparkle fails to notice a highly-obvious Tin Can Telephone dangled just inches above her head until she's on her way out of Sugar Cube Corner.
 * Fauxshadow: Most of what happens at Gummy's birthday party... except for Pinkie saying "I can't tell you that, silly; then it wouldn't be a surprise!"
 * Forgotten Birthday: Inverted. It's only at the end that Pinkie realizes it's her own birthday, and the others had made plans to throw her a surprise party well in advance.
 * Funny Background Event: Gummy can be seen rolling around on a ball of string at one point while Pinkie is talking.
 * Funny Schizophrenia: Pinkie Pie talking to her imaginary friends during her Sanity Slippage.
 * Got Me Doing It: Rainbow Dash briefly talks back to "Rocky" as if she's actually mad at "him", before she realizes what she is doing.

Rainbow Dash: Who're you callin' a chump, chump?! *beat* Ugh... That's it: party's over."

"Rarity: Love the new hat. Very modern. What's the occasion?"
 * Hidden Depths: You wouldn't have believed that an episode of My Little Pony starring the silly party-crazy member could be so profound… and creepy.
 * I Have to Wash My Hair: Rarity's excuse. She even sinks her mane into garbage just to make it plausible.
 * I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash's excuses.
 * Incredibly Obvious Bug: Pinkie dangles a can-onna-string just above Twilight Sparkle's head, almost in front of her face, to listen in on her conversation with Mrs. Cake. Locating the listening device proves ill for Twilight.
 * Interrogated for Nothing: Spike honestly has no idea what Pinkie wants to know during his interrogation, so simply tells her what she wants to hear. Ironically, he might have known or guessed about the surprise party, so if she'd merely asked him what her friends were doing that afternoon, he might have been able to tell her, and avoid all of the unpleasantness.
 * Ironic Echo: There are two occasions when Pinkie Pie is staring at Applejack and then stops after saying "Okey-dokey-lokey." The first time she says it happily and it signals a relief of the tension. The second, not so much.
 * Kubrick Stare: Along with slowly shrinking irises.
 * Letting the Air Out of the Band: Twilight rings the counter bell at Sugercube Corner while happy, carefree music plays. Then Twilight reminds both the music and Mrs. Cake that this pick-up is serious business.
 * Literal Minded: "Oh, Twilight, you shouldn't hit the books. You should really just read them."
 * Locked Out of the Loop
 * Minimalist Cast:Only the mane 6, Gummy, Spike and Mrs.Cake show up in this episode, with the last two only in one scene each. The first shot is the only time that background ponies appear.
 * Nice Hat: In-universe, anyway; Pinkie's invitation basket hat.

""Rocky:" Not so bad? Puh-leeze! They're a bunch of
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: If Spike had told Pinkie Pie pretty much anything else, then we probably wouldn't have seen Pinkie Pie suffer Sanity Slippage.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: Inverted. Pinkie's sneaking disguise is anything but paper-thin, using wacky glasses, a hay bale, a trenchcoat, and a beanie, but Rainbow Dash is still able to recognize her instantly, without even reacting as if it's odd.
 * Pinkie's probably the only one who would ever use that disguise.
 * Perp Sweating: Pinkie Pie does this to Spike in an attempt to find out why her friends are avoiding her.
 * Pose of Supplication: Pinkie, after Spike tells (or rather, repeats back to) her that her friends are avoiding her because they don't like her parties.
 * Reflective Eyes: A reflection of Applejack can be seen in Pinkie's eyes, when Pinkie tries to stare her down and see what's inside the barn.
 * Sanity Slippage: Who would have thought a pink Genki Girl could be downright scary?
 * Who indeed?
 * Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: When Applejack claims that there's lots of construction going on in the barn, Rainbow Dash stage-whispers, "You heard her! Construction!" Cue a lot of ponies attempting to vocalize the sounds of power tools, including Rainbow Dash saying "Drill, drill!" as well as Twilight saying "safety gear!"
 * Screw This, I'm Outta Here: During his after-birthday party, Gummy turns away when he sees Pinkie Pie's inanimate guests. In the next shot of the whole table, he's gone.
 * She Really Can Act: Who knew Andrea Libman had such great acting chops for Pinkie here?
 * Shout-Out
 * The episode title could be referring to Dinner for One, which also includes a scene with someone walking around a table and faking the voices of the absent guests.
 * The pile of rocks is called "Rocky", and Pinkie Pie voices him in the manner of a Sylvester Stallone impression.
 * Spit Take: Rarity does one right at Pinkie Pie's face when seeing Gummy in the punch bowl; she doesn't seem to notice and/or care.
 * Stepford Smiler: When Pinkie Pie's smiles are fake, you know something is very, very wrong.
 * Stealth Pun: Gummy sneezes for no apparent reason after popping out of the top of the bale of ay Pinkie is wearing.
 * Stereo Fibbing: Even Rainbow Dash's and Fluttershy's body language reflects their Stereo Fibbing. Whoever says "Playing beach volleyball!" waves her front hooves above her head, while whoever says "Collecting seashells!" waggles them up and down at chest level. When their stories mutate into "Collecting volleyballs!" and "Playing seashells!", each pony waves one hoof above her head and waggles the other up and down by her side.
 * Talking to Themself: Pinkie initially tries to defend her friends from the barbs of the second party's guests, especially Rocky and Sir Lints-a-lot. Which are voiced by Pinkie herself.
 * That Poor Plant: At Gummy's birthday party, Rarity spits her punch into a plant after finding out Gummy has been swimming in it.
 * There Are No Therapists
 * This Trope Is Bleep: When the episode airs on Treehouse TV in Canada, all instances of the word  are silenced.

Pinkie Pie: Oh, come on now. might be a little strong, don't you think?

"Sir Lints-a-Lot:" After the way they treated you, I'd say isn't strong enough!"

"Pinkie Pie: Who's ready to shake their hoove thang?"
 * Tin Can Telephone: How Pinkie tries to listen on Twilight and Mrs. Cake's conversation. Hilariously, she seems to be trying to peer at it too. Through the string.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Spike "confesses" (with much dismay and shame) to spilling juice on one of Twilight's books, using up all the hot water, and doing muscle-man poses in front of a mirror when no one is watching.
 * A Worldwide Punomenon