Strawberry Shortcake - Moonlight Mysteries

I tried not to blog this one, I really did. But the Ginger Snap-centricity of the first story had me narrating it already, so you get to reap the benefits.

For no apparent reason, the kids are roasting marshmallows by a campfire and requesting scary stories from Strawberry Shortcake. Out of deference to Ginger Snap, she picks out one with Ginger Snap as the star.
Ginger Snap's No-Light Fright Night
An awesome Ginger Snap episode. Since Fall is going to be in full force soon, Strawberry suggests they all do something special, and the others cheer even though she didn't actually suggest what they do, and can't even think of something right off the bat. In fact, she spends the rest of the day and into the night trying to figure what in the heck they haven't done yet, since they have special occassions twice a week, if not more. Custard is way too anthromorphic in this ep, but I'll ignore that for the most part. She somehow inspires Strawberry to have a campout, and is not pleased to be getting the credit. So Strawberry sends invitations to all her friends (in this case, Orange Blossom, Angel Cake, Huckleberry Pie, and Ginger Snap), and they're all happy to get them and come in person to RSVP. Except for Ginger Snap, who fakes not getting an invitation, even when Strawberry makes a couple extra to put in her mailbox. "Are you having a party? A nice, middle-of-the-day party, hm?" she asks when questioned about the first invitation, making it obvious what her problem is, although it's fleshed out in a later scene that she's afraid of the Dark, but doesn't want anyone to know.
As Strawberry makes invitation after invitation, Custard questions the effectiveness of just leaving them in the mailbox, but Strawberry insists that it's too special to deliver any other way. Good gravy, this girl has problems. Between this and the whole "wait for the other person to learn their lesson on their own" thing (as seen in "Win Some, Lose Some" and "Meet Apricot"), it's a wonder anything ever gets done over there! But eventually even Strawberry gets proactive and not only calls to make sure her latest invitation was received, but goes and delivers an extra extra in person. There's no getting out of it for Ginger Snap now, but she's still gonna try.
Sure enough, on the day of the campout, when Strawberry goes to collect Ginger Snap, she's nowhere to be seen. Chocolate Chipmunk, her pet, derails all her attempts to get out of the trip, from not having warm socks to faking a fever. Strawberry suspects something's up, but Ginger Snap denies it, and packs five or six flashlights just in case. All the others list all the creepy things they hope to see in the woods and- oh dear lord they took Apple Dumpling with them. Meanwhile, Ginger Snap's backpack rips and the flashlights fall out making a trail. Foreshadowing? (I'm writing this as I watch, so I really don't know) As evening falls, everyone sets up their tents, and Pupcake manages to get wrapped up in Custard's mini-tent and scares Ginger Snap, who then notices that the sun is setting and goes into a trance. Strawberry snaps her out of it, only to have her go off on a tirade about building a fire and lighting candles before it gets dark. Strawberry properly guesses what's going on, but fortunately for Ginger Snap, everyone else was too busy laughing at Huck's lack of tent skillz to hear it. Strawberry, all contrite, tells Ginger Snap they can go back, but Ginger Snap refuses to let anyone else know her secret, and besides, she's got her flashlights, so she's okay.
Once it's Dark, Huck says it's time for ghost stories. Strawberry suggests other stories, but is shot down by everyone else. Which is kind of weird, because I remember from one of the books that Orange Blossom had a hard time at a campout, so her being Huck's partner in "scary stuff is cool" is throwing me off. Anyway, they sing a song. And then the wind blows out their fire. And Ginger Snap discovers her flashlights are gone. Luckily, she also brought her pedal-powered sunlamp, but the bulb burns out. So the others go looking for more wood while Ginger Snap sulks in the campground until she inexplicably goes out into the woods in the opposite direction of her friends. I'm guessing she's looking for the flashlights, but wouldn't she take someone with her?
Back at the camp, Strawberry gets the fire going, even though the others are just fine in the dark, and it becomes clear that Ginger Snap is missing. No one questions why she left by herself, they just declare her as good as found, especially by Huck, who calls himself the Pie Guy for no good reason. But they soon find that the dark woods are just as creepy as Ginger Snap always said they were, especially when lightning comes out of nowhere. Ginger Snap's determination to find the flashlights soon fades away and she sings a jittery tune about being afraid. And then she argues with an owl and comes to the conclusion that she's just as freaky to a monster as a monster is to her. In lieu of her friends, she pals up with an owl, cricket, and frog who just happen to know where her flashlights are. With the lights safely in hand, she finds her way back to camp, only to find everyone still gone.
The others, meanwhile, are terrorized by night sounds and more inexplicable lightning, until Ginger Snap shows up with a flashlight and sheds some light on a spooky tree. She also delivers the aesop, and it's a good thing she's the one who does it, since she talks the fastest. Gets it over with quicker. A chill picks up, so everyone heads back to camp to warm up. The End.

Emboldened by this tale of her bravery, Ginger Snap demands the scariest tale in Strawberry's book, so she pulls out the tale of how they met Blueberry Muffin.
The Blueberry Beast
On another fall day, everyone is enjoying a picnic, when Orange Blossom suggests they go on a nature hike to see the fall foliage. Her hippie ideas are shot down by Huck, who dares Strawberry to go to the scary briar. At first Strawberry doesn't bite, but eventually he sticks in so many adjectives to his dare that she agrees just to shut him up.
So they all get together later that day to go, and Huck has a walking stick for some reason. Ginger Snap brought a GPS, Orange Blossom brought an umbrella, and Angel Cake probably brought cake, but it isn't shown. And they're off! As they cross a river, Orange Blossom, being a hippie, takes a moment to say "hi" to the fish, Custard managed to sneak into Strawberry's backpack, and Ginger Snap copters over the whole thing. Filler? Oh yeah. There's more filler as they see a frog and worry that it's a tiger pretending to be a lion acting like a bear that's really a frog, or something like that. Fortunately, Huck breaks the chain by pointing out that he's never seen a tiger there, and he lives in a briar, so that's that. And then, more inexplicable lightning, only this time it actually rains, so it's not quite as inexplicable as the last time. So they sing a song until the rain is over and night falls.
In the dark, they're more scared than ever, but Ginger Snap just happens to have a double-flashlight attachment on her GPS, which scares a crow, and Pupcake, like a dummy, takes off after it. So everyone abandons their original plan and goes off in search of the dog. They come to a fork in the road, but the most likely path is also the only one that Huck doesn't know like the back of his hand. Angel Cake accuses him of being scared, and typically, he denies it. But as they get further in, and a fog rolls in, everyone agrees that it's totally spooky. Then Pupcake shows up again, but before they can head home, Ginger Snap's flashlights pick up a creepy looking house complete with broken shutters and creepy shadow. The kids theorize that a monster must be inside, and run off. They don't stop until they get to Strawberry's house and declare an impromptu (co-ed) sleepover.
Strawberry just happens to have theme-appropriate pajamas for everyone (except Huck, who gets generic stars), plus sleeping bags, so they all sack out in the living and hit the hay. Custard does not leap at the chance to sleep with Huck, oddly enough, but no one gets much sleep anyway, since more noises and creepy shadows are afoot. Turns out to just be Honey Pie Pony, though (NOOOO!). At first she's miffed at how little screentime she's gotten lately, but when she hears their story of what went down in the briar, she chips in with her own spooky tale of the Blueberry Beast, and then goes to sleep.
Suffice to say, only Honey Pie and Pupcake were able to sleep that night. Despite HPP's story, Strawberry decides they should go and find out what the beast is for themselves and introduce themselves. Everyone else thinks she's crazy, but they go along anyway, otherwise they won't get any screentime either. So off they go back into the briar. They approach the house, but after hearing a creaky growl, they all abandon Strawberry, even Pupcake. Only, being Pupcake, he probably went into the house instead of away from it. That's what Strawberry thinks, anyway. Custard tries to get out of it, but Strawberry uses her "you're not getting out of this that easily" voice, so instead she tries to convince Strawberry that since Pupcake is technically a carnivore, he'll be okay on his own. No luck. They get as close as they dare, and Strawberry breaks out the "hellos," but nobody answers, so they start to head back. Just then, the door opens, and out comes Pupcake, followed by Blueberry Muffin who introduces herself and declares Pupcake as her bestest friend, even though he was only in her house for five minutes tops. She also introduces Cheesecake, her stage manager, and tells the tale of how she came to live in an abandoned house. Apparently, she's a schizophrenic actress who addled her brain with too many books. Strawberry pities her, and offers to help fix up her house.
Meanwhile, the other kids are starting to regret running off on Strawberry, so they go back in and storm the house. They try to rescue Strawberry, but are wooed by Blueberry's muffins (that sounds vaguely dirty), and thus a new friendship is born.
Now, Strawberry sings a song about not judging a book by its cover, which is all well and good, but she also sings that you can't judge a story by the way it ends. Um, if not, then how do you judge it? It's just for the rhyme, I suppose, but still, it bugs me. Throughout the song, the kids work on the house, and by the end, it's looking spiffy. Strawberry delivers the moral of a different story before getting to the right one. With that taken care of, Blueberry offers more muffins, and the others follow her in, eager for a chance to eat Blueberry's muffins. The End.
Back at the campfire, Huck boasts of his bravery, until a scary noise makes all the kids huddle up together in fright (were they not even listening to the stories?). But it's only Blueberry, lured by the fire and the promise of marshmallows. She joins them, but Huck steals her marshmallow, and everything ends happily.