//------------------------------// // Episode Seven; Bridle Gossip // Story: The Heroes of Equestria; Season One // by TechDragonX //------------------------------// [Ponyville, May 25...] A month after Twilight hosted her first slumber party, she decided to head out into Ponyville's Market area. "Spike, I'm heading to the market," Twilight said, "Do you want something?" Instead of answering Spike walked down the stairs holding his Bitbag. "Lets go," Spike said walking up to Twilight. "Looks like someone knows what they want," Twilight said opening the door. The duo walked outside and almost bumped into Cobalt and Dawn. "Oh, hey guys," Dawn greeted. "Did you get Applejack's message too?" Cobalt asked. "No, we were just about to head to the market," Twilight said. "Strange, nopony is out, and it looks like Rainbow cleared the clouds today," Spike said. "What does the message say?" asked Twilight. Cobalt pulled out his C.H.W to show Twilight and Spike Applejack's message. Team Harmony members, meet Pinkie and me at Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville is on lockdown. "Well, lets go to Sugarcube Corner then," Twilight said after reading the message. [Two Minutes Later, Sugarcube Corner...] Upon reaching their destinatsuggestedy found the lights were all off inside of the shop, and they were quickly let inside by Pinkie. "Um, Pinkie why are you in the dark by yourself, and where's Applejack?" asked Twilight. "She's not in the dark by herself," Applejack said walking out of the darkness. The lights were brighten up to allow everypony to see each other. Every member of Team Harmony was there including Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "Why is Ponyville on lockdown?" Spike asked. "Ponyville is on lockdown because of her," Rarity said pointing at a hooded figure in the distance with her hoof. "Who is that?" Dawn asked. "That's Zecora, she comes into town and lurks by the stands," Rainbow said. "Maybe she is looking for something," Twilight suggested. "Then she digs at the ground," Fluttershy said. "She could be digging for rocks," Cobalt said. They looked back outside to she what Zecora was doing. Upon looking back out the window they spotted Zecora pulling off her hood, which revealed several stripes along her body. "Stripes, oh the horror," Rarity said fainting. "It's not a fashion choice, she's a zebra, she was born with those," Twilight said. Rarity looked at Twilight for a moment for what she said to register, before she fainted again. This time Sweetie Belle and Dawn took Rarity to one of the booths. Then Zecora glanced in their direction as they all ducked out of the way of the window. [With Zecora...] 'Was somepony watching me?' Zecora thought as she looked around herself. After looking around the current ghost town of Ponyville she decided to head back home. [Sugarcube Corner...] "Look she's leaving!" Rainbow exclaimed. "Where does she live?" Twilight asked. "She lives in the Everfree Forest, an evil place for an evil enchantress," Pinkie said, "I even made a song about her." Before she could be stopped Pinkie began to sing. She's an evil enchantress She does evil dances And if you look deep in her eyes She'll put you in trances Then what will she do? She'll mix up an evil brew Then she'll gobble you up In a big tasty stew Soooo...Watch out! By the end Pinkie was heavily breathing, while waiting for a reaction. "That was catchy," Twilight said. "Thanks, but I'm still working on it," Pinkie responded. "Guys what happened to the girls?" Cobalt asked. Everypony started looking around until they heard a loud CRASH. "Sorry, I'll pay for it,"Spike said. "They must've followed Zecora," Applejack said. "We have to go after them, before they get hurt," Dawn said. "What if they get cursed?" Pinkie asked. "Impossible, there is no such things as curses," Twilight said, "Its just a story." "You'll never know, that's what ponies were saying before Nightmare Moon attacked," Fluttershy said. "Lets get our sisters," Rarity said standing up. The group then ran out of Sugarcube Corner to go after the three fillies. [Everfree Forest...] Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were silently sneaking behind Zecora, they noticed when she avoided blue plants that were growing in the center of the path. "Girls, what are y'all doing?!" Applejack yelled causing everypony to turn in her direction. "Beware! Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!" Zecora said as she noticed Team Harmony standing in the blue plant. Applejack didn't budge from her position, but everypony else did. While Zecora walked away into the fog that was flowing behing her, with Applejack telling her to stay away from them. After getting back to Ponyville they all went to their respective homes for the night. [The Next Morning...] Twillight was woken up by numerous knocks on her door, she got up out of bed and noticed she had messed her mane up while asleep. "Maybe, Zecora cursed my mane," Twilight said jokingly as she levitated a brush towards her mane. "Or she cused my horn!" Screamed Twilight, as she spotted her horn, which was flopping around and covered in blue polka dots. Then again there was more knocks at her door. Rainbow then flew in through a window, but was flying upsidedown. This caused her to fly all over the place and somehow managed to open the door. "Rainbow, are you alright?" Twilight asked as her friend crashed into a bookshelf, when she seen Rainbow wings they were backwards and had blue polka dots covering it. Just then Spike came walking down the stairs, but looked like he used to before becoming the of the element of companionship. The rest of Team Harmony entered after the Spike entered the room. "What happed to y'all," Twilight asked. "It's a furse a furse!” Pinkie exclaimed, with her tongue sticking out and covered in blue polka dots. “It’s a purse?” Spike asked unsure of what Pinkie said. “She said it’s a curse,” Applejack said, with Applebloom stepping forwards, pointing to her bow. Applejack was riding on Applebloom’s bow, however Applejack was the size of a small rock, and had a two blue dots on her. “I’m don’t want to say, I told ya that curses might be real, but as you can see it is,” said a unicorn with a dark purple coat, a purple and blue mane, one blue eye, one red eye, and their cutie mark was a cluster of blue polka dots. “Cobalt, Dawn is that you?” Spike asked, confused about what happened to them. “I have to agree with them too, Twilight,” Rarity said, but tripped on her overgrown mane, and fur. Twilight looked over her friends noticing that Fluttershy had none of the blue polka dots on her. “Fluttershy, were you changed in any way?” Twilight asked. Everypony then looked at Fluttershy as she nodded to Twilight’s question. “Can you tell us?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy then wrote the word no with her hoofs. Applejack then jumped into Fluttershy’s mane knocking it out of its position. Which exposed her neck to the group, which was covered in the blue polka dots. “Is something wrong with your voice?” Rainbow asked. “I don’t want to talk about it,” responded Fluttershy in a jazz singer style voice. Spike then started to laugh, along with rolling around on the ground. The other members of Team Harmony were trying to see if Luna would be able to help them, but she unfortunately burst into laughter at the sight of the ponies. “I got a idea, we need new names,” Spike said standing up, “We got Spitty Pie,” he said pointing at Pinkie. “Pfftay?” Pinkie asked. “Why, in case this doesn’t go away by the end of the day,” Spike answered. “Rainbow, you’re new name is Rainbow Crash,” said Spike. “No need to rub it in,” Rainbow said. “Fluttershy is now Flutterguy,” Spike said as he grabbed some paper and a pen. “Well, your new name is umm... I got nothing,” responded Fluttershy. “Twilight Floppel, Appleteeny, Hararity,” Spike said to Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity. “Wait until this affect wares off,” Twilight said. “Lastly we have umm... I don’t even know what to call you,” Spike said looking at the Cobalt and Dawn fusion, before walking towards a bookshelf. “We can’t stay like this, we should be looking for a antidote,” The fused Star twins said. “I think I found something,” Spike said carrying a green book. “ Supernatural Plants and Cures ” Twilight read out loud. “See this may have what we are looking for,” Spike said. “This can’t be what we need, but I know who might know how to cure us,” Twilight said. “Twilight, may I use the bathroom?” Applebloom asked. “Sure, down the hall to the left,” Twilight responded. Applebloom dashed off towards the bathroom leaving Team Harmony in the library. [Twilight’s Bathroom...] Applebloom locked the bathroom door, and then proceeded to crawl out of the vent to get outside. Where she found out that the vent was like a maze which led to Spike’s room. “So this is Spike’s room?” Applebloom asked herself opening a window and jumped into a hay cart. ’Time to head to Zecora’s place’thought Applebloom. [Golden Oaks Library...] As everypony was leaving Spike decided to go back to sleep, leaving the others to their own business. “Team Harmony lets go,” Twilight said opening the door. [Zecora’s Hut...] After wondering around the Everfree Forest for a hour, the ponies of Team Harmony found Zecora’s hut. “We’ve made it, though we lost Applejack and Rainbow,” Rarity said. “Let’s go and speak to Zecora,” Twilight suggested. Before the remaining Team Harmony members were able to knock on Zecora’s door they were stopped by Pinkie, who wanted Fluttershy to sing her song. After receiving Pinkie’s pleasing gaze, Fluttershy reluctantly began to sing with the jazz style voice. She's an evil enchantress And she does evil dances And if you look deep in her eyes She'll put you in trances Then what will she do? She'll mix up an evil brew Then she'll gobble you up In a big tasty stew Soooo...Watch out! When Fluttershy finished singing, Pinkie hopped off the log that she was dancing on and walked up to Zecora's door, however she stopped when she heard Zecora's voice from the other side. "Sthe sthtole my sthong!" Pinkie cried out. "Pinkie that didn't sound anything like your song," Rarity said. Just then the door opened slightly causing the ponies to jump into the nearby bushes, revealing Applebloom. "What's Applebloom doing here?" asked the Star Twins. "I don't know, I thought she was still in the bathroom at my house," responded Twilight. Before the door was closed the ponies took notice of the inside of Zecora's hut, which was decorated with masks, shelfs with various bottled liquids and books, topped off with a cauldron containing a bubbling liquid. "Twilight, darling," started Rarity, "Did you see her spooky looking decor." Twilight was about to speak when they heard Zecora speaking to herself, and rushed towards a window. "Mmm!" Zecora exclaimed, "A temperature perfect for ponies, I presume, now where is that little Applebloom." "We have to stop her," Fluttershy said. Before anypony could move there was screaming followed by a rainbow blur, which crashed into the above window. "Hold it Rainbow," Applejack said jumping off of Rainbow's chest. The rest of Team Harmony then burst into the room causing a nearby mask to fly into the cauldron, knocking it over. "Zecora, I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but there is overwhelming evidence," said Twilight. "How dare you!" Zecora yelled, "You destroyed my home, my work, then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?" "Hey, you cursed us, so undo it," Rainbow yelled. "It is unwise to venture down this road, your actions will make my anger explode!" Zecora yelled scanning the ponies. "What are you planning to do to Applebloom!?" Twilight asked. "What in Ponyville is going on here?" Applebloom suddenly asked. Applejack let out a GASP of relief at the sight of her sister. "Applebloom, sweetie Zecora was planing on cooking you up," Twilight said glancing at Applebloom. Upon hearing this both Applebloom and Zecora began to laugh. "Twilight, did you really believe Zecora had put a curse on y’all?” Applebloom asked. “I guess I did,” responded Twilight. “Can somepony explain what happened to us?” Applejack asked. “Remember yesterday when y’all were chasing after me,” Applebloom started, “The pollen from those blue plants y’all had stepped in did this.” “It’s like poison oak, but it’s effects are like a joke,” Zecora said. “On behalf of my friends and I, we’re sorry for accusing you,” Twilight said. “Hey, before we go, do you have a cure?” Rainbow asked. “I would, but I’m missing one thing,” Zecora said. “Whenever Zecora enters Ponyville the shops suddenly close,” Applebloom said. “We can help with that,” Twilight said. “This is what I need,” Zecora said bringing a book with her. “May I see the book?” asked Twilight, “I don’t think I have it.” “Here’s the book you see, it’s a shame you lack this in your library,” Zecora said. “Actually I have this book, I just didn’t look inside due to the title,” Twilight said. “Hopefully you’ll take another look, and not judge the cover of the book,” responded Zecora. “Well lets get that flower,” Twilight said. [30 Minuets Later, Ponyville...] Spike was just strolling down the street when he heard screaming. “Run, she cursed them all,” said a earth pony mare. Spike took to the air and spotted the rest of Team Harmony and Zecora. ‘They must’ve found out how to reverse the effects too’ thought Spike. “What do we have here,” said a voice. Spike turned around to only see Robomare Moon, hovering behind him. “What we have is a robot that’s about to get scrapped,” Spike taunted equipping his Harmony Armor. Robomare Moon began charging up her magic, but was stopped by Spike punching her with his gloved claw, followed by Spike suddenly disappearing and reappeared behind her landing another hit. “Looks like I’m faster than you,” Spike said vanishing. “Show your-,” Robomare said being cut off by Spike’s fire breath. When Robomare Moon regained her bearings Spike was charging up another attack. “Oh, no you don’t!” Robomare yelled flying towards Spike. “Element of Companionship!” Spike called out releasing a green inferno of fire and light causing Robomare Moon to sustain major damage. “I’m gonna get you one day!” screamed Robomare. “Yea, right,” Spike said before he landed next to his teammates. “Hey, Spike nice work,” Rarity said congratulating him. “Thanks,” Spike responded. “I finished writing my report to Celestia, Spike,” Twilight said, tossing the scroll towards Spike who lit it with a golden flame. “I guess we’ll see you again, Zecora?” Twilight asked. “Y’all know where to find my home, just follow the trail,” Zecora said walking into the Everfree Forest. “See y’all later,” Applejack said as she and Applebloom walked towards their home. “Bye girls, and Spike,” Cobalt said as he and Dawn went home. “I’ll see y’all darlings tomorrow,” Rarity said as she left. “Bye girls,” Spike said as he watched Rainbow Dash, Pinkie, and Fluttershy leave the library. “Good Night, Twilight,” Spike said walking to his room. “Night, Spike,” Twilight said walking to her room. [Inside of the Celestial Harmony Watches...] “Hmm, I should use this time to work on blueprints for the Harmony Base,” Luna said to herself. “Can I help to?” asked a voice. Luna spun around only to notice that Cobolt was standing behind her. “Don’t scare me like that,” Luna said, “But you can help design the training area.” “You know me too well, Luna,” Cobolt said levitating a pencil.