Sunday, April 27, 2008

Unkept promises abound, or Pony Pals Super Special #4: The Fourth Pony Pal

So it's the FOURTH Super Special and it's about the FOURTH Pony Pal. Sorry. Not really funny.



Plot: Pam wants to take part in a jumping clinic in Virginia, so she and her Pony Pals go on a road trip!!! w00t!!!
When they get to the clinic, Mrs. Foster (the person in charge) is a total snob, and all the other girls are wankers. Shelly, Mrs. Foster's daughter, is just as mean as everyone else, but seems withdrawn and sad a lot of the time.
The meddling Pony Pals get to the bottom of it: Shelly misses her pony Midnight Ride, but is angry at her mother and best friend Brooke because they'd been advising her to dump Midnight Ride before he DIED of COLIC.
Ooooh, that burns.
The Pony Pals comfort Shelly, convince her to cry it out, and help her reconnect with her mother.
Then they go home.

More notes:
Lulu casually mentions homework. It seems like the Pony Pals NEVER GO TO SCHOOL.

Summer vacation again???

Wait...the clinic is in Virginia. Isn't that where Lulu's godsister or whatever Alicia lives?? And they're not going to go visit? I guess Alicia doesn't exist anymore.

They get a letter from Eleanor Morgan, the pro stadium jumper from #21. She writes like a 10-year-old.

Pam's dad is all, "Oh no, a week without Pam, what will I do?"
Shut up, Robert. You should be jumping for joy.
At least I think his name is Robert. Didn't he say his name was Robert that one time?

Anna feels like she's missing something important....
Underwear? No, not underwear.
Shoes? No, of course not.
Pads? Heck no, why would she need that?
Oh duh - ART SUPPLIES!

Grandmother Sanders gives them a beauty kit to take with them. Read: So you 3 won't look like slobs at the jumping clinic.

They live in Conneticutt (I know I spelled that wrong), right? It takes them 4 HOURS to get to Virginia. I don't think so. Mapquest says 9.

They act like people make a big deal about whether you have a horse or a pony. No, Pam, I don't think anyone cares.

Mrs. Foster is wonderfully polite ...until Pam's mom leaves.

Mrs. Foster: You shouldn't have disappeared like that. All your friends are upstairs.
Shelly: They're not my friends. They're your students.
Nice, a character with backbone!

Anna is such a freak!
"When we stay over at Pam's we sleep in the barn. We call ourselves the Pony Pals and love to trail ride."
And you wonder why you don't make friends easily....

Pam: Hi. I'm Pam Crandal. The tall one.
Um, the black one....

They have a palomino pony...named GOLDIE.
Proving that no one has any originality.

Heh. Mrs. Foster splits them up.

Pam is kind of stupid.
Shelly: Tell Brooke that my mother wants to speak with her.
Pam: *turns to Brooke* Shelly said-
Brooke: No duh, I'm not deaf.

Brooke and Shelly are fighting. Pam is sharing a room with them. Should be fun. XP

"Anna didn't mention the lucky upside-down heart marking on Lightning's forehead. She had a feeling Shelly wouldn't care."
I don't care either, Anna.

Sweet. Shelly is antisocial and feisty. We have a lot in common, Shelly!

Okay, I know these girls like horses, but there are OTHER horse books and movies that DON'T involve Black Beauty.

Everyone likes to talk about themselves, Pam. What's wrong with you?

Brooke is Regina from "Mean Girls".

Shelly seems upset. Pam wonders if Shelly lost a big competition.
Or maybe someone died, perhaps?

Bells say ding-dong, ding-dong. What kind of bell says dong-dong, dong-dong?

Shelly tells Brooke where to stuff it when Brooke mistakenly makes fun of the Pony Pals. Yeaaah!

Mrs. Foster: Quiet, you two. Watch carefully. You can learn a lot just by observing.
Anna: I can learn how to be bored.
Lol.

The Pony Pals want to know what Shelly's problem is and why she's so sad and angry.
I want to know why it's any of their business.

Anna and Snow White escape. In the process of looking for them, Pam sets off the burglar alarm. Hahaha, it wakes EVERYONE up.

I notice no one in this series ever has short hair or glasses. If they're a girl, anyway. For boys, that's true, too...except for the short hair part.

They start talking about ponies and Shelly runs away crying.
RED FLAG!

Her pony's name was Midnight Ride. -_- Guess what color he was?

"Shelly is a lot angry at her mother. We all wonder why."
Not only is that HORRIBLE grammar, but it should seem pretty obvious why Shelly hates her mom; the woman's a PSYCHO.

Anna has come a long way. Instead of instantly labeling people "snobs", she gives Shelly another chance.

Brooke: More Pony Pal secrets?
Lulu: Yes, and they're all about you, Brooke.
Pwned!!

To make friends with Shelly, they write her a letter????
But you guys are staying in the same house!!

Shelly doesn't want to play therapist with the Pony Pals, but she'd rather hang out with them than watch...*drumroll*..."Black Beauty"!
What is their obsession with this movie, as well as spaghetti, brownies, and grilled cheese sandwiches?

Shelly probably shouldn't watch a movie about a black horse. Might set her off again. Whatever.

"I was the only one who cried when Midnight Ride died."
Awwwwww....

Okay, lame. When Shelly tells them she has no interest in competing, Lulu and Anna understand.
But when Pam, in the beginning of the series, told them she HATED competing and had no interest in doing so, they EMOTIONALLY BLACKMAILED her into competing.
These guys SUCK.

Mrs. Foster has a horse named Royal Star.
What a prissy name.

Shelly writes a book about Midnight Ride and gives it to her mom.

Shelly got Midnight Ride when she was 6, and he died of colic when she was 10.
That really sucks.

Shelly: I don't want to live here anymore. I'm going to run away.
Anna: You can come to Wiggins with us if you want, but don't run away.
Whaaat? If you take her to Wiggins with you, you'll be HELPING her run away. SO CONFUSED.

Mrs. Foster promises to be less of a stiff.

Shelly: Is this what the Pony Pals do all the time?
Anna: Not ALL the time. But we trail ride a lot.
They also as participate in parades, man face-painting booths, catch hunters in the act, rescue hamsters, herd sheep, train ponies, find little girls and lost ponies, save ponies, tutor dyslexic girls, heal sick ponies, bargain with sellers, comfort dying ponies, tame wild ponies, join the circus, brave blizzards, give people makeovers, babysit, give blind ponies sight, manipulate and persuade, put out fires, adopt stray cats, take care of elderly ponies, help girls run away, build secret clubhouses, compete in horse shows, barrel race, watch bears, act in movies, find dogs, help birth foals, rescue abused animals, go back in time, communicate with animals, and help the environment.

Shelly's new friends Linda and Mary Ellen have ponies, too!
One is an Appaloosa named Smoothie, for his smooth gait (aaaaagh!).
Now they're all best friends and call themselves the Pony Pals, too.
Doesn't this happen in ALL Pony Pal books? They meet a new girl, make friends with her, convert her to their religion, and then send her home, where she creates her own three person Pony Cult. Creepy.

Only 3 Pony Pals books left: #37, #38, and Super Special #6.
Then it's all over.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

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