The Magic Coins

Doctorwhobox
serial_name=31-34 The Magic Coins
writer=Michael Reaves
series= Series 1
length=4 episodes
date=October 27-30, 1986
preceding=Little Piece of Magic
following=Mish Mash Melee|

"The Magic Coins" is the tenth serial in the United States children's television series "My Little Pony".

ynopsis

The Little Ponies are delighted to discover a treasure chest of magic coins - until an ill-thought wish leaves Ponyland without water, putting all their lives in danger. To undo the spell, they must appease the troll to whom the treasure really belongs.

Plot

Part 1

Megan, Molly, Danny and the Little Ponies are enjoying a picnic by a river when the Baby Sea Ponies uncover a sunken treasure chest and bring it to the surface. It's filled with coins, each one with a different design, and Galaxy senses they're more than just treasure. Gusty however is more interested in volleyball, and a game begins using a bubble Fizzy makes from the river. Sweet Stuff trips going for a long shot and smashes into the chest, scattering the coins everywhere. As she returns the bubble, Gusty lunges for it, bursting it with her horn. As Fizzy strides over the coins to make another, she wishes she could make bigger, stronger bubbles - and as she does, a coin she's standing on vanishes. She makes a stream of bubbles so huge that Molly is encased in one and floats in the air above the river.

Baby Lickety-Split is tired of waiting to eat, and wishes for food stacked as high as a tree, stamping her foot onto a coin as she does. The coin vanishes, and an impossible amount of food comes flying from the picnic basket. Megan comes to realise the coins are granting the Ponies' wishes. A sudden storm brews, and everyone runs for cover, abandoning the food and the coins. A furious Baby Lickety-Split wishes on a coin that it would never rain again, and the storm vanishes in an instant, allowing them to resume their picnic.

Some weeks later, Ponyland is wasting away; trees shed their leaves, rivers dry up and Posey's garden is devastated. As the Ponies express their need for rain, Baby Lickety-Split reveals her wish. Megan asks Magic Star to bring her the remaining coins, but there's only three left - one shows a candle, one a feather, and the last shows two clapsed hands. Megan wishes for rain on each of them, but to no effect. She decides they must consult the Moochic, and on the way, they pass a dry riverbed - where the Baby Sea Ponies lie without any water...

Part 2

Ribbon, Lofty, Lickety-Split, Danny and Molly follow Whizzer's lead to find a pond for the Baby Sea Ponies, but by the time they've reached it, the water's already dried up. Gingerbread, Magic Star, Galaxy, Fizzy, Heart Throb, Wind Whistler and Spike follow Megan to the Mushromp. There, the Moochic tells them the coins belong to a troll named Niblic who lives in the Crimson Canyon. To reach him, they must cross the Jewel Desert, and with such a limited water supply, they soon collapse from dehydration. Galaxy spikes a cactus with her horn, and enough water pours from it for everyone to drink their fill. They complete the journey with renewed energy.

In the Crimson Canyon, Megan's party meets a small man named Puck, who offers to guide them to Niblic. Along the way, they are cornered by goblins. Megan produces the coin with a candle on it and wishes for a bright light. The goblins flee in terror, and the group finds Niblic manning a bascule bridge over a deep chasm. Megan tells Niblic she knows what happened to his coins and leads the others over the bridge, but when they're halfway across the troll demands to see the coins instantly. Gingerbread is forced to admit they've spent them, and in his rage Niblic raises the drawbridge, leaving the Ponies dangling precariously from each half...

Part 3

As she hangs from the bridge, Megan promises to bring Niblic a treaure of greater value to the coins, as long as he undoes the effects of the coins' magic. Niblic agrees, lowering the Ponies to safety. Puck suggests three different treasures they might be able to obtain, and the party splits up.

Magic Star, Heart Throb and Spike retrieve the Golden Rose from a hedge maze, using fire to fend off the vicious plants that guard it. Niblic however is allergic to flowers, and with one huge sneeze he destroys the treasure. Gingerbread, Galaxy and Puck meanwhile steal the Emerald Idol from the City of the Ancients, dodging many booby traps, but a tiny crack causes the idol to shatter the moment it's in Niblic's hands. Fizzy, Megan and Wind Whistler climb Fire Mountain to find a giant ruby, the Heart of Fire - but it's right in the middle of the volcano, without so much as a bridge leading to it. As Megan flies on Wind Whister, Fizzy captures the jewel in one of her bubbles and guides it into Megan's reach. Wind Whistler has difficulty flying back due to the thermal upcurrents, and lands on a small ledge at the side of the volanco - which gives way beneath her feet...

Part 4

Megan grasps the coin marked with a feather, and wishes to be light as a feather for the next few seconds. As the ledge collapses, she and Wind Whistler fall, but then float away, carried through the air by the thermal upcurrents. They deliver the Heart of Fire to Niblic, but he has an entire chest of rubies like it, and tells them to get out before he changes his mind about setting them free.

Molly and Danny return the Baby Sea Ponies to Paradise Estate, but there's not so much as a drop of water there. Baby Lofty takes a glass pitcher and flies off, determined she'll find some. Colliding with a bird, she drops the pitcher, shattering it. As she flies home, the sun's rays magnified through the glass shards set the dry grass alight. Soon, a huge fire burns just outside the Paradise Estate. The Little Ponies build a firebreak and prepare to abandon Dream Valley. Megan sees the flames as she leads her party home, and wishes on the last coin, showing two clasped hands, that the fire will go out, but the flames only spread around her. As Wind Whistler bravely rescues her, Megan suddenly realises the wish the final coin will grant. She mounts Whizzer, telling the pegasus to fly to Niblic faster than she's ever flown before.

At Niblic's house, a second troll appears and disgusted at the filth, begins to clean up. Niblic is overjoyed, and tells Megan he hadn't realised how lonely he'd gotten. Megan explains that she used the last coin to wish for Niblic to have a friend. Niblic removes the weather spell, and a heavy rain falls, extinguishing the fire. The Paradise Estate's pool is quickly filled, and everyone gathers round to celebrate as the Baby Sea Ponies frolic in the water.

Notes

* Features the songs 'Oh, For A Rainy Day', 'Let A Song Carry You Along', 'What Do You Give To A Troll?' and ends with the song 'Friends'
* Fizzy made bubbles large enough to contain human beings in The Ghost of Paradise Estate, and floated Molly over the river inside one. However, when she does the same in this episode, it's a side-effect of the magic coins that's surprising to the characters because Gusty pops the first bubble everybody plays with. Therefore, it seems appropriate for Fizzy to wish for bubbles that could keep from popping right away.
*When Cupcake says "Hey! No fair flying" at Wind Whistler, she kind of sounds like Fizzy.
* At the picnic scene, Wind Whistler gets Ribbon's hair colors, and Buttons briefly appears.
* This episode is the only time in the first season that Baby Lickety-Split is drawn with the proper purple eyes. All of the other times, she is drawn with blue. Heart Throb and Danny also get improper eye colors for a second, with Heart Throb's turning pink, and Danny's turning green.
* The first shot of Part Two is the only time in the entire series that all six Baby Sea Ponies - Ripple, Sea Shimmer, Surf Rider, Sunshower and Water Lily and Beachcomber - are shown together.
* The beginning of Part Two has different ponies from Part One.
* Part One ends with Megan discovering the Sea Ponies dehydrated in the empty lake. Part Two begins with her saying the same line, after she said it in Part One.
* Fizzy's eyes turn blue while leaving to see the Moochic.
* The Moochic's rabbit Habbit is gray in previous episodes, but in this he is white.
* Although the last coin is already wished on, it doesn't disappear right away like all the others.
* There are some continuity problems when Megan hops aboard Whizzer's back to fly across the desert. First of all, Whizzer flies across the desert, even though earlier Heart Throb metions that it is too hot to fly. Second, Whizzer suffers no heat exhaustion, even though the other six ponies did! Why couldn't Megan just do this in the first place?
* While Whizzer is with Megan at Niblic's house, she is also with the other ponies at Paradise Estate (as a unicorn)... but Fizzy takes her place.
* During the song 'Friends', Truly takes off and flies... without wings. She then morphs into Paradise!
* During various times in the episode, ponies' breeds change. A Whizzer unicorn, a Galaxy Earth Pony, a Ribbon Earth Pony, a Masquerade Earth Pony, and a Lickety-Split Pegasus can be seen.
* Ribbon, Gusty, Lickety-Split, Whizzer, Masquerade, North Star, and Baby Shady all join the search party at various times.
* The fire starts burning-twice.
* When Shady tries to offer water to the Sea Ponies, the one that tells Shady not to blame herself has Lickety-Split's voice. Also, Cherries Jubilee's lips move when one of the baby ponies feels excited to leave the nursery and says, "It's fun."
* Three Baby Sea Ponies are seen at the end of Part One, but then all six are in Part Two. Also, none of the Sea Ponies have their floats at the end of Part One, yet they have them in Part Two.
* Only Sea Shimmer, Sunshower, and Ripple are rescued in this episode, yet Surf Rider and Water Lily are shown swimming in the pool during the song "Friends." Beachcomber's fate is never given.

DVD Releases

* US (Region 1): Disc 3 of "My Little Pony: The Complete First Season", also available in "Two Great Pony Tales" with The Glass Princess.
* UK (Region 2): "The Magic Coins & Bright Lights"
* Germany (Region 2, German language): "Der Zaubertaler"
* Australia (Region 4): "The Magic Coins & The Revolt of Paradise Estate", also available on miniDVD "The Magic Coins"

External links

* [http://dreamvalley-mlp.com/songs86-3.html#oh_for_a_rainy_day Song lyrics]