Bridle Gossip

"I am sure there's an explanation for everything Zecora does, and if anypony here were actually brave enough to approach her, she would find out the truth."

- Twilight Sparkle

Bridle Gossip is a My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic episode from season one. In this episode, Twilight and her friends encounter a mysterious zebra, named Zecora, outside of Ponyville, who is rumored to be a witch.

Episode Summary
Twilight and Spike arrived in Ponyville one day to see the town completely deserted. While they wonder what was going on, they were urged by Pinkie Pie to hurry to the Sugarcube Corner snack shop before "she" gets them. Inside, they meet the other ponies, who are hiding from a strange hooded creature named Zecora. No one really knows what she was (until Twilight pointed out that she was a zebra), or why she passes by once a month, digging at the ground and lurking around the stores. However, they do know she resides in The Everfree Forest, which its self-preserving environment was almost alien to Ponyville. Pinkie even came up with a song describing Zecora as an "evil enchantress".

While Twilight tried to rationalize her friends' suspicions, Applejack's little sister, Apple Bloom, decided to see Zecora herself near the forest. Before she had a chance to get near her, her sister and her friends stopped her while driving Zecora away. The zebra returned to the forest, giving them a brief warning: "Beware, beware you ponyfolk! Those 'leaves of blue' are not a joke!". On their way back, they unintentionally trotted across a small field of blue flowers.

The next day, Twilight woke up, shocked to see her horn all soft and rubbery. Her friends were not so happy about their sudden ailments either. Pinkie Pie's tongue was so swollen it was always sticking out of her mouth and she couldn't speak without spitting. Rainbow Dash wings were inverted, preventing her from flying properly and constantly crashed. Rarity's mane was all messy to the point that she couldn't even see or walk through it. Applejack had shrunken in size. And Fluttershy had a deep male voice. While Spike laughed at the ponies' expense, giving them all various funny nicknames (except for Twilight Sparkle, as he couldn't think of a proper nickname for her rubbery horn), they try to find out how this all happened. Save for Twilight, everyone concluded that Zecora had cursed them and decided to confront her in the forest in hopes of finding a cure. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom, who was the only one not "cursed" and believing that she was to blame for this mess, went ahead to find the zebra herself.

When they finally reached Zecora's house, they saw her mixing a strange concoction in her cauldron, similar to Pinkie's song. Twilight insisted that there was more to this occurrence, until she overheard the zebra mentioned Apple Bloom. Thinking that the zebra was preparing a soup to eat the younger pony with, Rainbow Dash and Applejack barged in while the other ponies followed suit in a rescue attempt. Ironically, Apple Bloom arrived from behind them and said that she was assisting Zecora with gathering ingredients. They both revealed that the brew Zecora was making was a remedy for poison joke, a poison ivy-like plant that causes "laughable" results to anyone who touches it. They were never cursed, but were affected by the blue plants, and were too stubborn to heed Zecora's warning the previous day they faced her. The cure was from one of Zecora's books; one similar to what Twilight saw in her library, but she didn't bother looking past its weird title. After apologizing to the zebra for the terrible misunderstanding, they all returned to Ponyville to use the remedy (via bubble bath), explaining to the other ponies about Zecora in the process.

They learned that there was more to a person than just their appearance, and that Zecora was not the scary character they had previously believed.

Major Events

 * Apple Bloom and Zecora were introduced in this episode.
 * Twilight Sparkle and her friends got "cursed" due to the Poison joke, but got cured in the end.

Quotes:

 * Applejack: The Everfree Forest just ain't natural. The plants grow...
 * Fluttershy: Animals care for themselves...
 * Rainbow Dash: And the clouds move...
 * Applejack/Fluttershy/Rainbow Dash:  All on their own !
 * Rarity: Ohhh! (faints)


 * Pinkie Pie: And that wicked Enchantress, Zecora, lives there doing her evil... stuff! She's so evil, I even wrote a song about her...
 * Rainbow Dash: Here we go...


 * Twilight: (After hearing Pinkie Pie's song) Wow... catchy.
 * Pinkie: It's a Work In Progress...


 * Twilight: Now what exactly have you actually seen Zecora do?
 * Rainbow Dash: Well... Once a month... she comes into Ponyville.
 * Twilight: (sarcastically) Ooooh...
 * Rarity: Then... she lurks by the stores...
 * Twilight: (sarcastically) Oh my!
 * Fluttershy: And then... she digs at the ground.
 * Twilight: (sarcastically) Good gracious! OK. I'm sorry...


 * Apple Bloom: You know what I think?
 * Applejack: Apple Bloom! Hush and let the big ponies talk.
 * Apple Bloom: (under her breath) I am a big pony...


 * Pinkie Pie: Well, I think Zecora eats... hay.
 * Twilight: Pinkie! I eat hay! You eat hay!
 * Pinkie Pie: Yeah... But I heard it's like an evil way she eats hay...


 * Twilight: (sarcastically) Maybe Zecora cursed my hair... (gasps; shocked) Or she cursed my horn!


 * Spike: What if you're wrong, Twilight? What if this really is--?
 * Pinkie Pie: ***A CURSE!***
 * Spike: A "purse"? How could it be a purse?


 * Twilight: (responding to Fluttershy's nods/shakes) Fluttershy, are you okay? Is there something wrong with you? Would you care to tell us? So... you're not going to tell us? Yes you're not, or yes you will?
 * Applejack: Good gravy, girl! What's wrong with you?!
 * Fluttershy (Male voice): ...I don't want to talk about it.


 * Spike: This is hilarious! Look at all of you. We got "Hair"-ity, Rainbow "Crash", "Spittie" Pie, Apple-"tini", "Flutterguy", and... (looks at Twilight) I got nothin'. "Twilight Sparkle"... I mean, seriously. I can't even work with that.
 * Twilight: (laughs sarcastically) This is no joke Spike!


 * Rainbow Dash: I'll bet we'll find a cure to this curse at Zecora's place.
 * Twilight: It's not a curse!
 * Applejack: I agree with Dash. We'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex,
 * Twilight: It's not a hex, either!!


 * Rainbow Dash: It's time to 'pony up', and confront Zecora!


 * Applejack: Turn around right now, missy!
 * Apple Bloom: ...No.
 * Applejack: 'No'? You can't ignore a direct order from your big sister!
 * Apple Bloom: Sorry, Applejack, but I'm the "big sister" now...


 * Pinkie Pie: (referring to Zecora's chanting) ***She stole my song! She stole my song!!***
 * Rarity: "She stole your song"?
 * Twilight: Pinkie, that doesn't sound anything like your song.


 * Twilight: Scary-looking masks, confusing incantations, and a great big bubbling cauldron? Everything is pointing to Zecora being... bad. Or... what if Zecora's just making soup (watches Zecora through window).
 * Zecora: The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?
 * Twilight: Or... What if she's making "Apple Bloom Soup"?


 * Male-voiced Fluttershy (since Pinkie Pie can't sing her song): She's an evil enchantress and she does evil dances and if you look deep into her eyes she will put you in trances then what will she do? she will mix up an evil brew then she will gobble you up in a big, tasty,stew so... watch out.


 * Rarity: You made me look ridiculous!
 * Male-voiced Fluttershy: You made me sound ridiculous!
 * Pinkie Pie: ***You made me speak ridiculous!***
 * Twilight: You ruined my horn!
 * Zecora: How dare you?! You destroyed my home, destroyed my work, then rudely accused me of being a jerk?!


 * Apple Bloom: Did those silly fillies get into your head? You know there's no such thing as a curse.
 * Twilight: Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me that this isn't a curse.
 * Apple Bloom: This isn't a curse.


 * Twilight: (Reading Zecora's book) "Supernaturals: Natural remedies and cure-alls that are simply... super "


 * Zecora: Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book.


 * Pinkie Pie: Oh my gosh! I never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk! I love talking so much that I couldn't talk anymore and my tongue was all AAAAAAA! It was the worst! Don't you agree, Fluttershy?
 * Fluttershy (Back to normal): ...yes.

Trivia

 * The title is a pun on "idle gossip" as well as a reference to a "gossip's bridle" (also "scold's bridle" or "brank"), a medieval punishment and mild torture device, used on women who were nagging excessively or were otherwise verbally abusive or unpleasant.
 * Fluttershy's deep male voice is provided by character actor Blu Mankuma, best known for the voice of Tigertron from Transformers: Beast Wars.
 * The line, "The horror, the horror..." from the 1979 war movie "Apocalypse Now" is heard once again. The original use of this line was in the book Heart of Darkness, and described the way European men treated African men and women during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.