It’s rewatch time, and the next episode is Amy Keating Roger’s “Bridle Gossip”.

I seem to remember that Zecora was originally going to be more of a second mentor figure for Twilight, when things were going to be more adventure-y, rather than slice of life-y.

She didn’t end up getting used that much, though, and we never did learn all about zebras.

She doesn’t really get used that much in fanfiction, either. I think it’s mostly all that rhyming. Let’s get into the episode, though!

Well, I like the background music at the start. Looks like Spike riding around with Twilight again. And Spike is rhyming with Twilight with his first line, too. Probably unintentional.

All the other ponies are missing, though. Zomponies?

Well, there’s one closing the blinds, and Ruby Pinch was going to go out, but Berry Punch pulled her back inside.

“Is it some sort of pony holiday?” Spike, you were raised with ponies. Shouldn’t you know most of the pony holidays?

“Does my breath stink?” *urp* “Not more than usual.” Does Spike’s breath usually clear out all ponies for miles?

“Is it… Zombies?” “Uh, Not very likely.” “Not likely, but possible?” Okay, now he’s thinking along the same line as me. Twilight doesn’t think it’s likely, but she thinks being sent back to magical preschool is likely, so I’m not sure she’s really the best judge…

And everyone’s hiding together in the dark in Sugarcube Corner. Plus Apple Bloom apparently. But no Sweetie Belle or Scoots. Rarity…

No Mr. or Mrs. Cake, either.

And there’s Zecora outside in a brown cloak, pawing at the ground, with glowy yellow eyes.

I’m thinking going up to her and asking her why she’s pawing at the ground and if she needs anything would be the sensible thing here. Maybe they want to play hide and seek.

“Did you see her, Twilight. Did you see… Zecora?” “Apple Bloom! I told you not to say that name?” How do they know her name, if they hide any time she’s around? Something’s fishy here…

“Well, I saw her glance this way…” “Glance eeeevilly this way!” “And then a bunch of you flip out for no good reason.“ Yep. That’s what I’m seeing here too.

“She’s a zebra.” “A what?” Hasn’t anyone heard of zebras?

And they apparently know she lives in the Everfree forest. Spike, sensibly, goes to get a snack. And so do I, since I still had some pasta left over in the fridge.

But, no, the Everfree forest is so unnatural, enough that Rarity faints for the second time in four minutes, and Pinkie starts going on about wicked enchantresses. Pinkie, you were supposed to give her a coming to Ponyville party and become her friend. It’s what you do for everypony...

But no, she has a whole song about it, and looks rather unhinged.

“Wow. Catchy.” “It’s a work in progress.”

And Zecora comes into town once a month to go shopping. Apple Bloom tries to be the voice of reason.

“Yeah! You know what I think?” “Apple Bloom! Hush and let the big ponies talk!” “I am a big pony!” Sheesh, Applejack, way to be dismissive of your sister. Second time now this episode.

Apple Bloom then decides to sneak out and stalk Zecora. Applejack’s so busy being protective of her that she doesn’t notice, I guess.

“Well, I heard Zecora eats hay.” “Pinkie, I eat hay. You eat hay!” “Yeah, but I heard it’s the eeevil way she eats hay…”

Then Applejack noticed Apple Bloom is missing.

“Hey, where’s Apple Bloom?” “The door’s open.” “She went outside!” Everyone is so observant…

And they all leave, except Spike, who is staying there wearing one pot, and holding a pan in his hand, in case Apple Bloom comes back.

You know, looking at Apple Bloom, they were drawing her a bit differently earlier on, too. I just end up noticing stubby little legs…

“Beware, Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!” And it’s Zecora’s first line. She tried to warn them, at least.

Naturally, they all decide to stand in it and yell at her about “creepy mumbo-jumbo”. Pinkie continues to annoy. Between her and Applejack...

You can practically see Twilight reevaluating if she really wants to be associated with all of them as they leave.

Naturally, Pinkie’s stupid song got stuck in Twilight’s head while she’s trying to sleep.

And everything kinda goes ‘Heffalumps and Woozles’ for a minute.

Twilight sure has a bad case of bedmane.

“Woah. Maybe Zecora cursed my hair.”

Guess she has a bad case of floppy horn, too. This raises some questions about horns…

Twilight is looking for a book on how to fix her horn, so Spike helpfully shows her the exact right book. Which she naturally disregards. At least Spike knows what he’s doing. Nice drumming in the background music.

“A purse. How could it be a purse?”

Rainbow, if you can’t fly, don’t fly.

Rarity should’ve stuck with this look.

“I hate to say I told you so, Twilight, but I told you so?” Seems to me like you love to say ‘I told you so’, Applejack, rather than hating it.

Spike: “This is hilarious! Look at all of you! We got: Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Spitty Pie, Apple Teeny, Flutterguy, and... uh... I got nothin'... Twilight Sparkle. I mean seriously, I can't even work with that.” Twilight: “This is no joke, Spike. Now start looking for more books so I can find a cure!” He already showed you the cure, Twilight…

Apple Bloom, being one of the only adults in the room, naturally heads off to talk to Zecora about it. And Applejack hides in her tail.

And it’s Pony Trek III: The Search for Applejack.

“Spike? Are you coming?” “Nope. Uh, got to stay here and look for a cure.” While still looking directly at the book with a cure. I think this is more that he’s going to stay there and wait for Twilight to realise she’s wrong. Though he did decide Twilight is “Twilight Flopple”...

And Applejack’s voice starts commanding ponies to do things out of nowhere, not for the last time in this series. Fortunately, Apple Bloom, unlike Rainbow Dash many seasons later, knows how much attention to pay Applejack. And she has conveniently become toy-sized...

“No? You can’t ignore a direct order from your big sister!” Um, being sisters doesn’t work like that. Applejack’s a bad big sister in many other episodes, too. All in all, Rarity is much preferable.

“Sorry, Apple Bloom, but I’m the big sister now!” So… being big is all it takes?

“I’m gonna tell Big Macintosh on you! Ah… ponyfeathers.” Is this the first time we hear ‘ponyfeathers’ used?

And the others come by… and Applejack decides to put a bit and reins on Rainbow Dash and ride her. Well, I suppose a few seasons later, Pinkie Pie rides Applejack…

Zecora’s home is a tree, just like Twilight’s, but this one has totems outside and bottles hanging from it, and this neat African vibe. The whole tree looks kinda like a face. It’s a great design.

Zecora, of course, is getting a potion ready. Looks kinda like the one the wizard makes in Stardew Valley, all green and bubbly and full of forest magic.

And Pinkie makes Fluttershy sing her evil enchantress, which actually sounds a lot better sung by her with her temporarily low voice. I’m actually really glad Filli Vanilli came out of this…

No, Twilight, don’t lose your sense now. Zecora is not making Apple Bloom soup.

Fluttershy screaming with that voice is silly.

They all rush in, Rainbow Dash does what she does best, breaking stuff, and Applejack decides to try ear-wrestling.

And they knock over the cauldron, because why not?

“How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work, then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?” You tell them, Zecora.

“It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!” Seriously, they already have been…

“Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally get in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse.” Why is Apple Bloom the only reasonable one in Ponyville?

“If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact.” Zecora, ‘back’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘exact’.

Zecora, naturally, is working from exactly the same book Spike was. Zecora and Spike should get together.

Why is Twilight the one apologising when she only caved at the last minute, and all of the others were acting much worse all episode?

Don’t judge a book by its cover. Okay, having Twilight literally judging a book by its cover in an episode about doing that metaphorically was clever.

Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the "contents" of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle

And here I was thinking something more like "Dear Princess Celestia, All the ponies in this town are racist!"...

Everything is, however, cured by a trip to the spa.

Yeah, not really my favorite episode. I don’t like it when everypony’s been hit by the idiot ball, and I don’t really like how badly everyone but Apple Bloom, Spike, and usually Twilight were acting. And Zecora was acting totally reasonable, of course.

The poison joke bits were fun, though.

So, next week we have ‘The Swarm of the Century’? Somehow, it hadn’t occurred to me that M.A. Larson wrote that one. Could go either way on how I like it, too. Winter Wrap Up is after that, then Call of the Cutie. It’ll be interesting to see how this goes!

--Sweetie Belle

Rarity was the most racist out of all of them because she directly insulted Zecora's coat, and when she was told that she was born with them, she predictably faints

Personal observation

7074932
I'd have personally suggested Pinkie Pie. Not only is she the one that should have been making Zecora feeling at home, giving her a welcome party, and helping everyone get to know her, instead, she makes up this whole "evil enchantress" thing from whole cloth and spreads it around town...

Not that I'm that happy with any of them. Applejack was acting pretty bad, too.

--Sweetie Belle

Twilight is looking for a book on how to fix her horn, so Spike helpfully shows her the exact right book. Which she naturally disregards.

"Alchemy is an old mare's tale."

So did you just forget everything you learned in school, or is this some kind of selective memory thing?

The rhymes do indeed cause some issue, but that's because when it gets hard some writers need a tissue.

But fear not crybabies for i am now here, and the secret of rhyming lines i shall now make quite clear.

https://www.rhymezone.com/

Any word you want can be put in the box, so that speaking like Zecora shall no longer be a pox.

7074933
Aye, agreed

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A reminder to all:

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Another thing to note on this i will have to say, going by episode lore Febuary 17th is her birthday.

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Based on...?

7074933
Fun fact, the gibberish she says when they storm I was mean to be Swahili, but for some reason her VA couldn't do I t

I've always thought this ep was interesting. It says a lot about Equestria as a whole and also informs how exceptional the diverse and accepting the nation becomes by the end of the show.

Zecora doesn't strike me as the only character to be misunderstood. It seems to me that Spike, also, doesn't seem to be well understood by a lot of the ponies, who simply don't seem to know much about dragon behaviour. They're also terrified of the Everfree Forest, which is also interesting considering how that fear gets mostly dispelled or not referred to in later seasons, and I do feel that a part of that is because Zecora lives there and because they learned that it wasn't just a terrifying boogey-man filled wood. Even poison joke becomes less frightening after the character learn what it is and even, later on, how to turn it to their advantage.

One wonders how insular Equestria in general is if Zecora was truly frightening for them. Behind the dumbed down behaviour that the show presents (I'm not a fan of it either), it is interesting to think that Equestria simply has no experience dealing with creatures that live in unfamiliar, frightening places, speak strangely, and behave in ways they don't understand. It's equally interesting that this behaviour gets nearly completely reversed later on, with only a few steps backwards. They start wanting to learn more about other creatures, and later on, this eventually extends to dragons, changelings, and outright villains.

7074981
The air date of the episode a friend in deed, Pinkie stated happy two days after your birthday birthday to zecora and the episode aired on the 19th or it was the other way around and it was on the 15th and it was two days until. It's been a while since i watched the episode but that bit of info stuck

7074927

I seem to remember that Zecora was originally going to be more of a second mentor figure for Twilight, when things were going to be more adventure-y, rather than slice of life-y.

She didn’t end up getting used that much, though, and we never did learn all about zebras.

I think that's probably due to worries about racial sterotyping. Ironically, introducing a bunch of different zebra characters would be one way to mitigating Zecora's stereotypical portrayal - but given the show's general approach to non-pony cultures, the zebra probably got lucky.

“Is it some sort of pony holiday?” Spike, you were raised with ponies. Shouldn’t you know most of the pony holidays?

Ponyville does seem to have a few of it's own.

“Is it… Zombies?” “Uh, Not very likely.” “Not likely, but possible?” Okay, now he’s thinking along the same line as me. Twilight doesn’t think it’s likely, but she thinks being sent back to magical preschool is likely, so I’m not sure she’s really the best judge…

Given how ready Twilight is to outright deny the reality of things she doesn't believe in for the rest of this episode, this is probably one of the strongest bits of evidence for the existence of necromancy in this world.

“Did you see her, Twilight. Did you see… Zecora?” “Apple Bloom! I told you not to say that name?” How do they know her name, if they hide any time she’s around? Something’s fishy here…

I'm thinking there was some big misunderstanding here with some of the town's more impressionable residents. Probably a culture clash.

“She’s a zebra.” “A what?” Hasn’t anyone heard of zebras?

Apparently not - which suggests they're from a lot further away than griffins. Their not turning up in the whole rest of the show, or on the official map, reinforces this.

Pinkie, you were supposed to give her a coming to Ponyville party and become her friend. It’s what you do for everypony...

Could Pinkie have been the one with with the culture-clashy first meeting?

“Beware, Beware, you pony folk! Those leaves of blue are not a joke!” And it’s Zecora’s first line. She tried to warn them, at least.

I wonder where she learned Ponish - or how good she is at it with nopony to practice with and a rhyming requirement.

Rainbow, if you can’t fly, don’t fly.

I'm afraid there are two phrases in this sentence beyond her comprehension. (At least, until Read It and Weep.)

“No? You can’t ignore a direct order from your big sister!” Um, being sisters doesn’t work like that. Applejack’s a bad big sister in many other episodes, too. All in all, Rarity is much preferable.

To be fair, she also acts almost as a substitute mother.

Ah… ponyfeathers.” Is this the first time we hear ‘ponyfeathers’ used?

First and second-to-last - it only gets one more use, by Granny Smith. Dunno if it's an Apple thing or a more general earthpony one, but I have suspicions that it's not something to be said around pegasi.

“Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally get in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse.” Why is Apple Bloom the only reasonable one in Ponyville?

The same principle that makes Spike a lot more sensible when the spotlight isn't on him?

“If you will remember back, the words I spoke were quite exact.” Zecora, ‘back’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘exact’.

She's still getting the hang of Ponish.

Why is Twilight the one apologising when she only caved at the last minute, and all of the others were acting much worse all episode?

Because she expects better of herself - which is probably a bit elitist.

I liked it - something for all our cast and two new characters with plenty of potential as well. Yeah, they were a bit unfairly prejudiced, but I don't know if showing them as fairly prejudiced would have really worked with the message.

7074932
See also:Mules. Though given that Rarity hadn't actually seen Zecora's coat properly at that point, I suspect she thought twice when she realised how well the stripes suited her.

7074939
Probably just a naming issue. Modern chemists would laugh at chemstry that called itself alchemy too.

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I do not know the way

When writing for Zecora,
Remember if you can:
It's not enough to make her rhyme:
She also has to scan!

(Let's just quietly ignore the fact that her in-show rhyming often fails this test, shall we? Excellent.)

7074989
Ah, thanks for pointing me in the right direction.

"Happy Birthday Cheerilee. Happy day-after-your-birthday, Zecora!"
Pinkie Pie (A Friend in Deed)
Aire date: February 18, 2012

Zecora's canon birthday is February 17th

(I'm not sure why September 4th is Talk Like Zecora Day, but that was what was advertised on Equestria Daily. Perhaps it was designated before Zecora's canon birthday was known.)

7074991

I think that's probably due to worries about racial sterotyping. Ironically, introducing a bunch of different zebra characters would be one way to mitigating Zecora's stereotypical portrayal - but given the show's general approach to non-pony cultures, the zebra probably got lucky.

Well a recent interview by some of the show staff confirmed that they wanted to do an episode on zebras but Hasbro said no. I believe they also said that Zecora was the only one who rhymed, and I think they jokingly teased that she spoke in rhyme because she fell through a portal to Earth. I think that's mostly just a sort of "We never came up with a definitive backstory for her".

We did see Zecora mentor Twilight once, in "Magic Duel". And she was mentoring Apple Bloom kind of in "The Cutie Pox". I really wish they had fleshed out that friendship, because instead Zecora was mostly just a plot device.

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Indeed - but I'm glad they didn't ditch her, at least.

7074927

Hold on, that last image!

That tub is at least one pony deep! Does that mean they're swimming or is there like, a platform halway down the tub?

7075119
Swimming, I guess.

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Glad to see that you're rewatching the episodes that kicked everything off, Sweets. As the years have marched onwards, we can sometimes forget what absolute gems the first few seasons of the show were and how they laid the foundation for a fandom.

Bridle Gossip will remain one of my favourite episodes to date - even though the Mane 6 (and Ponyville at large) come off as not only idiotic but downright malicious towards otherness, it still properly introduced two of my favourite characters to the show: Apple Bloom and Zecora, both in the same episode! I often think back on Lauren's original plans for Zecora and wonder how close her finalized role came to that.

Anyhow, the poison joke stuff will forever be one of my favourite show gags, and it has been great to see them reference it every now and again further down the show's running.

Once again, I am left thoroughly disgusted at the behavior of the Mane Six. One of the things that makes this group so endearing and lovable is the fact that they’re so diverse, yet get along like family. Given that, you would think that maybe they would be more than willing to show friendship and kindness to a zebra that comes into town, and maybe help her out with her shopping. But do they? No.

The message of racism was subtle in this episode. Adding to the racism message is the fact that Zecora is a zebra, which are native to Africa. Like I said, instead of showing loving-kindness to her, the Mane Six avoid her at all costs. They backbite her, even going as far as outright calling her “evil.” And then when they fall under the effects of the poison joke, their first instinct is to jump to the conclusion that it was Zecora who placed a hex on them. ‘Cause, you know, that’s really logical.

Like “Look Before You Sleep,” the setup here sounds like it would be geared more towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They could know about Zecora from school, but avoid her because there have been rumors flying around at school that she’s evil and will “gobble you up in a big tasty stew.” The Mane Six, fed up with the way they’re behaving, then decide to take them to meet Zecora. They then learn that they shouldn’t be judging somepony before they get to know them. It doesn’t even have to be Zecora who’s the victim of racism; it could be a skunk or a raccoon or any other species of animal that the CMC aren’t familiar with.

Needless to say, Zecora gets rightfully pissed off when the group demands that she change them back, and their case isn’t helped when they accuse her of kidnapping Apple Bloom and doing something with her. However, it turns out that Apple Bloom is just fine and was merely gathering ingredients for Zecora so that she could make the remedy for the poison joke.

While the Mane Six were all equally terrible in this episode, I had a very big problem with Applejack. She came off as being extremely overprotective. Unfortunately, as “Somepony to Watch Over Me” showed us, this character trait is one of those that wasn’t forgotten about. To be fair, Apple Bloom wasn’t much better. She decides to leave Applejack hanging on a branch without a second thought, smugly telling Applejack that she’s the big sister now. Did Apple Bloom suddenly forget that they’re in the middle of the Everfree Forest, where all manner of terrifying monsters and creatures could potentially kill Applejack, or eat her? Does Apple Bloom even care? It’s just a good thing that Rainbow Dash ran into her, quite literally, when she did. No doubt Applejack riding on top of her gave the AppDash shippers some fuel for their fanfics.

The best character this episode, in my opinion, was Zecora, who unfortunately has been reduced to a few appearances throughout the seasons, which is really a bummer because I find this character really fascinating. Like Gilda, this character could have been used to expand the universe of Equestria and give us a chance to learn more about a new character. Just another character they went and wasted.

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Well. Poniville doesn't at least - some might say they're a bit of a hick town,

7155221
How many safe and friendly things come from the Everfree? (Well OK, Steven Magnet, and manticores if you're Flutters, but as we see next episode, letting your guard down can be dangerous.

And it really seems sometimes like you would have preferred the show to be centred on child protagonists rather than adults - but for many of us, having young adult leads is part of the appeal. (And not only because it facilitates less creepy shipping.)

7155448

some might say they're a bit of a hick town,

Ponyville is a hick town. This is the town where ponies like Applejack and Hayseed Turnip Truck live, after all.

but as we see next episode, letting your guard down can be dangerous.

That episode was driven more by sheer stupidity than anything else.

And it really seems sometimes like you would have preferred the show to be centred on child protagonists rather than adults - but for many of us, having young adult leads is part of the appeal.

Sure, but I'm just saying that a lot of the morals feel like they would be better suited for child protagonists.

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Only if one has an inflated opinion of adults. And ponies don't have to mature quite the same, anyway.

7155595 It probably helps that the main characters are symbolically children.

7155603
their problems are relatable to both children and adults - because in the end, good friendship isn't so different however old you are.

7155607 And that's what made the show such a raving success.

7155613
We can agree on that at least.