Over a Barrel

Over a Barrel
Season №:	1
Season episode №:	21
Overall episode №:	21
Original airdate:	March 25, 2011
Written by:	Dave Polsky
Storyboard:	Kenny Park and Lih Liau
Featured characters:	Little Strongheart Braeburn Chief Thunderhooves Sheriff Silverstar
Song:	You Got to Share, You Got to Care
See also
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
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Over a Barrel is the twenty-first episode of the first season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In this episode, Spike and the Mane Six head to the frontier town of Appleloosa and find themselves caught in a dispute between the settler ponies and the native buffalo herd. The idiom "over a barrel" means being in a helpless position where others are in control.

Production

The crew worked with a Native Consultant and did revisions to the episode according to his notes.

The episode's closed-captions misspell Appleloosa as "Appaloosa".

The scene when Applejack reads to Bloomberg reappears in Harvesting Memories.

Summary

A train ride to Appleloosa

Applejack and Bloomberg

Spike and the Mane Six ride an overnight train heading to the frontier town of Appleloosa so Applejack can gift an apple tree named Bloomberg to her relatives there. When evening falls, Spike decides to sleep next to Bloomberg in the caboose after the ponies' chatter keeps him awake.

Arboreal train heist.

The next morning, the ponies are awoken by a herd of buffalo stampeding next to the train. While some buffalo ram into the side of the train, a young female buffalo leaps onto the roof and, after outmaneuvering Rainbow Dash, disconnects the caboose with Spike and Bloomberg still inside. The ponies look on in dismay as the buffalo push the disconnected caboose down the line in the opposite direction.

Applejack, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, and Rarity arrive in Appleloosa, but before they can ask for help, Applejack's cousin Braeburn insists on giving them a tour of the town. When he shows off the apple orchard, Applejack tells him about the incident with the buffalo and the stolen tree. Braeburn explains that the buffalo want the apple trees removed but that the town relies on them for survival.

Meeting the buffalo herd

The tribe of buffaloes are not happy with the recent turn of events.

Meanwhile, having determined to try and rescue Spike, Rainbow Dash sneaks around in the desert before being startled by Pinkie Pie, who claims to be there for the same purpose. Their interaction draws the attention of the buffalo, and the pair are quickly surrounded. As the buffalo charge toward them, Spike calls out from among the herd and identifies the ponies as friends, causing the buffalo to depart.

That evening at the buffalo tribe's camp, Spike explains to Rainbow and Pinkie that the herd respects dragons and didn't mean to take him. The young female buffalo from before, who Spike introduces as Little Strongheart, apologizes for the train incident and explains they only wanted the tree to prevent the settler ponies from expanding their orchard, which was planted atop the tribe's traditional stampeding grounds without their permission. The ponies then meet Chief Thunderhooves, who affirms the tradition and heritage of running the path each year. Now sympathetic to the buffalos' cause, Rainbow calls for discussion with the Appleloosans.

The next morning, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Spike return to Appleloosa with Little Strongheart just as Braeburn and the rest of the Mane Six are about to set out in search of them. Although Little Strongheart and Braeburn invite each other to communicate their perspective, Rainbow and Applejack quickly take over the discussion and end up in a shouting match. Twilight Sparkle intervenes and says that both sides have good reasons to keep the land, prompting Pinkie to suggest an idea.

You Got to Share, You Got to Care

Pinkie Pie's solution is less than effective.

The buffalo herd join the ponies in Appleloosa as Pinkie puts on a song-and-dance number about sharing and recognizing the similarities between the two groups. The music fails to impress either side, however, and Chief Thunderhooves declares that the townsfolk must uproot all of the apple trees by high noon the next day, or else the herd will destroy both the orchard as well as Appleloosa. The town sheriff, Sheriff Silverstar, replies that they will be waiting for them.

As the buffalo return to their camp to ready themselves for the stampede, the settler ponies spend the day preparing fortifications for the coming assault. The Mane Six try to talk each side out of their plans but are unsuccessful.

Appleloosans vs. the buffalo herd

Pony vs. buffalo

When high noon arrives the next day, Chief Thunderhooves, Little Strongheart, and the rest of the buffalo herd appear on a ridge overlooking the town. After a brief moment of hesitation, Thunderhooves becomes enraged when he hears Pinkie Pie singing her song again and orders the buffalo to charge. A battle ensues wherein the settler ponies throw apple pies at the buffalo to stun them. In the midst of the chaos, just as Sheriff Silverstar runs out of apple pies to throw, Thunderhooves charges at him but ends up hit in the face by a stray pie. The battle immediately stops as everyone mourns for the chief, though when a piece of pie drips onto his tongue, he is impressed by the taste and declares that he has an alternative idea to fighting.

You have to share; you have to care.

Per Chief Thunderhooves' idea, the settler ponies keep the land in return for sharing their apple pies with the buffalo and creating a path through the orchard so the herd can continue their traditional stampede. As Rainbow Dash and Applejack run off alongside Little Strongheart, Twilight Sparkle reflects how even the worst enemies can become friends through understanding and compromise.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Rarity: Hmph! You talk about it as if it's your baby or something.

Applejack: Who you calling a baby?! Bloomberg's no baby! Don't wet widdle Rarity make you all saddy-waddy. Bloomberg's a big and strong apple tree. Yes, he is. A-coochie-coochie-coo-coo-coo!

Twilight Sparkle: What's going on?

Pinkie Pie: Rainbow Dash thinks Fluttershy's a tree!

Rainbow Dash: I do not think she's a tree! I was just–

Twilight Sparkle: Did you say she was a tree?

Rainbow Dash: No! Well, yes. But not exactly–

Twilight Sparkle: Ya know she's not a tree, right?

Pinkie Pie: She's not a tree, Dashie!

Fluttershy: I'd like to be a tree...

Pinkie Pie: Oooh, looky! Now they're doing tricks! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Now do a backflip! Or... just jump?

Rainbow Dash: Hmm... Something tells me this isn't a circus act.

Braeburn: We put a lot of hard work into this land so we can feed our town, our families, our foals! And now they're sayin' all these trees have to go? T'ain't fair...

Rainbow Dash: Nobody tricks Rainbow Dash and gets away with it.

Pinkie Pie: Boo!

Rainbow Dash: Yah! ...Pinkie Pie!

Pinkie Pie: Ah, ya caught me! Looks like I tricked you and didn't get away with it either! You're good.

Chief Thunderhooves: We have a long and winding stampeding trail that we have run upon for many generations. My father stampeded upon these grounds, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and his father before him, and–

Little Strongheart: I think they get the idea, Chief.

Chief Thunderhooves: It appears that Sheriff Silverstar and I have come to... an agreement.

Sheriff Silverstar: We have.

Chief Thunderhooves: That was the worst performance we've ever seen.

Sheriff Silverstar: Abso-tively.

Rainbow Dash: I know you don't want to do this.

Chief Thunderhooves: But they have taken our land. What would you have me do, Rainbow Dash?

Rainbow Dash: I don't know... but it's never too late to think of something.

Chief Thunderhooves: At noon, it will be too late.

Gallery

Over a Barrel image gallery

References

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Make Your Mark
Episode 1 Izzy Does It	Episode 2 Growing Pains	Episode 3 Portrait of a Princess	Episode 4 Ali-Conned
Episode 5 The Cutie Mark Mix-Up	Episode 6 The Traditional Unicorn Sleep-Over	Episode 7 Hoof Done It?	Episode 8 Have You Seen This Dragon?
Episode 9 Top Remodel	Episode 10 The Jinxie Games	Episode 11 Sunny Side Up	Episode 12 The Manesquerade Ball
Episode 13 A Little Horse	Episode 14 Missing the Mark	Episode 15 Cutie Blossom Bash	Episode 16 Family Trees Pt. 1
Episode 17 Family Trees Pt. 2	Episode 18 Father of the Bridlewood	Episode 19 Mane Smelody	Episode 20 Nightmare on Mane Street
Episode 21 The Isle of Scaly‎‎	Episode 22 Roots of All Evil Pt. 1‎	Episode 23 Roots of All Evil Pt. 2