Zecora

Zecora is a zebra living in a hut in the Everfree Forest who first appears in the episode Bridle Gossip. Initially feared by all of Ponyville, she later becomes friends with the ponies thanks to Apple Bloom and Twilight. She only speaks in verse.

She is voiced by Tabitha St. Germain

History
Zecora first appears in Bridle Gossip. In the episode's cold open, Twilight Sparkle and her friends spy on her from inside Sugarcube Corner while she is visiting Ponyville. One pony goes as far as pulling a foal into her home when Zecora wanders the streets. Twilight tells her friends that Zecora is a zebra and that she comes from "a far away land". Her mysterious background and appearance leads to widespread rumors that she is an evil witch, chiefly by Pinkie Pie, who sings a song about it. Apple Bloom decides to find out more about Zecora on her own, and goes missing, making the six leading ponies venture into the forest. There they find Apple Bloom but unwittingly wander into a patch of poison joke, and receive a cryptic warning from Zecora about the blue flowers which are "no joke".

The next morning the ponies find out they have various ailments. The ponies, with the exception of Twilight, suspect Zecora had put a curse on them. Apple Bloom follows Zecora into the forest again and meets her at her hut, where she befriends her and helps her gather ingredients to cure the poison joke. Zecora's hut is decorated with masks from her "native land" which the ponies find creepy at first. Even though the ponies barge into her home, assault her, and knock over her cauldron of brew, Zecora reacts relatively calmly to the intrusion. The ponies confront Zecora and learn that the plant is the real cause of their ailments and that Zecora was preparing a remedy for them. The ponies apologize to Zecora and befriend her.

Zecora next appears in Swarm of the Century, where Twilight Sparkle seeks her aid in ridding Ponyville of a parasprite infestation. While Zecora recognizes the parasprites, she does not know how to get rid of them and simply states that the town is doomed.

Zecora is mentioned one last time in season one in Stare Master, where Twilight Sparkle states that she intends to visit Zecora for some of her favorite tea. However, Zecora does not make an appearance in the episode. Twilight is seen drinking tea with Fluttershy later, implying they did meet before or after the cockatrice incident.

She makes a brief appearance in The Return of Harmony Part 2, in one of Twilight's flashbacks midway through the episode, showing the ending scene of Bridle Gossip.

Gallery

 * Zecora image gallery

Trivia

 * Zecora was, but is no longer, the word used for zebra by the Oromo people of east Africa.
 * Zecora has a symbol on her flank that is similar to a cutie mark.
 * According to Lauren Faust, Zecora was designed to be a sage and mentor to whom the ponies could go for information about their quests. She was originally designed to be a second mentor to Twilight, but that did not come to pass.
 * Zecora's chant in Bridle Gossip is actually gibberish. The crew did not have time or resources to hire a Swahili translator, so they asked the voice actress to improvise.
 * The first time Zecora appears, she digs in the ground with her hoof, a practice which frightened several of the ponies. Though this is not explained in the show, as real zebras dig for water in this fashion. However, this may have been believed to be digging a grave.
 * The way the ponies viewed Zecora is quite similar to the snow salter from Home Alone, like when they looked at her from the window and cowered as soon as she glanced at them, they made up stories about Zecora, but befriended her after actually getting to know her.
 * Zecora meditates in her hut in Swarm of the Century by balancing on her head on top of a bamboo pole.
 * Her name is spelled as "Zakora" instead of Zecora in the closed captions on The Hub.
 * When Zecora first turns and faces the group, her glowing yellow eyes and brown cloak seems to closely ressemble Anakin Skywalker after he has turned to the darkside in Star Wars Episode 3. When he looks directly into the camera showing his yellow eyes and hooded head, this may have been to referance how they think she uses dark magic (The Dark Side) and believed she was evil (Anakins turn to the Dark Side), Anakin's evil cruelty was also something they imagined Zecora to have.
 * Zecora's eyes glow yellow, but her eye color is actually blue. However, this could've been to add to the creepy and evil way they saw her, also, this is quite common to shows and movies, also it resembles Anakin after he turned to the Dark Side in Star Wars: Episode III