Italian Title: L'anniversario del regno
Air date: October 25th, 2010
A little girl named Caroline gets a doll identical to one she already has as a birthday present. As she wishes for a friend to play with, a Friendship Trail flies out.
Meanwhile, in Pocketville, Oristolfo walks around town wishing to make his new friend until he notices the trail and chases it. After the trail flies in the fountain and crystallizes its waters, Danny notifies Princess Ava about the crystallization. Immediately, Ava enters her room and consults the Pocketpedia, which says that a Dalmatian named Dot is perfect for the girl. As the Friendship Ceremony is about to be performed, Eva glares at Ava while her lackeys Zull and Gort fool around. Dot is sent via the Ceremony to Caroline, and the girl is immediately happy when catching sight of the little Dalmatian. After the Ceremony, Ava briefly has a talk with her sister Eva about the kingdom's anniversary coming up tomorrow. Of course, Eva fakes her enthusiasm.
That night, Eva and her lackeys discuss about a new plan: to steal the Friendship Heart, overthrow Ava, and make Eva the monarch. Gort was to be the distraction to the Royal Guards and Zull was to jump over the fountain to catch the jewel.
The next day, in the Big City, Kate, another girl who recently moved to the Big City, is with her parents Peter and Maria at the station. She had to say goodbye to her mother, who had to stay elsewhere due to her work, leaving her father to take care of her at the new house. Another Friendship Trail flies out, of course, and Zull and Gort are the ones who notice it and notify their boss Eva.
Ava consults the Pocketpedia, which shows her an image of Oristolfo. That meant he was to be chosen for Kate. As the Ceremony momentarily begins, Eva and her lackeys get ready to set their plan in motion, and as the Friendship Heart flies over, Gort immediately runs in front of the Guards and barks at them while Zull approaches Ava. Alarmed, Ava leaps towards the fountain pedestal and pushes Oristolfo out of the way. Zull manages to grab the Friendship Heart, but only one half of it. The Magic Fountain explodes, causing Ava to teleport away and water crystals to fly everywhere. Everyone immediately gets into a panic, while Eva's gang escape with their half of the Heart. Finally, Kate appears in the fountain, which has gone dry.
Tropes featured in the episode:
- Dismantled MacGuffin: The Friendship Heart is shattered in two by Zull.
- Downer Ending: Ava disappears, leaving Kate in her place, as well as the Friendship Heart being broken in half.
- Dub Name Change: Known as “The Anniversary of the Kingdom” in Italy, but changed to “Friendship Ceremony” in the localized English dub.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- This episode has a lot more noticeable animation errors than the later ones.
- Zull is seen with more realistic and detailed teeth when he breaks the Friendship Heart and holds one half of it in his mouth.
- Kate is seen wearing a school uniform even though she isn’t supposed to start school yet, and it’s the only time it is shown with a ribbon tie around the collar.
- Establishing Character Moment: This episode is full of them.
- Danny rushing to the throne room to deliver Ava news about the Magic Fountain’s crystallization in a panic.
- William being calm and collected when telling Danny to calm down.
- Zull and Gort’s brief paw-fight, as well as Zull breaking the Friendship Heart in two and running away with one half of it.
- Eva’s very first line in the series.
- Establishing Series Moment: Zull shatters the Friendship Heart in two as he tries to grab it for Eva, causing the fountain to explode and lose all of its water and teleport Ava into the Big City, then runs off with one half of it.
- Hollywood Giftwrap: The gift box containing a doll that Caroline’s parents give her.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone is shocked when the Magic Fountain explodes and Ava disappears.
- Mood Whiplash: The happy ending theme music plays…after the fountain explodes and Ava disappears.
- No Name Given: Caroline and Dot are unnamed in the episode but have their names mentioned in merchandise and in the episode's official description.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Ava's reaction when Zull is approaching her and breaks the Friendship Heart.
- Pilot: The first episode of the series.
- The Rival:
- Eva to Ava.
- Zull and Gort to the Royal Guards.
