My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic/Recap/S2 E6 The Cutie Pox



"Applejack: Yee haw, little sis! Congratulations on gettin' not just one, but two cutie marks! We're mighty proud of you, right Big Macintosh?

Big Macintosh: Eeyup!

Applejack: I've never seen anythin' like it, have you Big Mac?

Big Macintosh: Nope!"

"Written by Amy Keating Rogers"

One bright sunny day, Apple Bloom and the Cutie Mark Crusaders decide to try their hooves at bowling! They fail miserably (as usual), but what's this? As Apple Bloom makes her throw, someone yells "Cool! A bowling cutie mark!" Apple Bloom, excited, looks at her flank... which is still bare, as the cheers were for a young pony who happened to get a strike in the next lane. To add insult to injury, her own ball finally completes its meandering journey to the pins, only to bump against one without even budging it.

Despondent over her latest failure and resistant to her friends' efforts to cheer her up, Apple Bloom wanders into the Everfree Forest, where she stumbles down a hill and chips her tooth. Fortunately, Zecora invites her to her hut, and quickly mixes a potion to fix the tooth. When Apple Bloom wonders if there's a brew to give her a cutie mark, Zecora explicitly states that no such thing exists, then uses a flower named "Heart's Desire" to make a potion for a crow-less rooster. After Zecora steps out to get some amethyst, Apple Bloom eyes the flower and thinks there might be a way to get her cutie mark after all...

At school the next day, Apple Bloom shows up proudly sporting her new cutie mark! It turns out she's really good at playing with loop-de-hoops, performing so well that even Cheerilee cancels the day's curriculum so everypony can learn from her. But in the middle of a trick, she gets another cutie mark -- in plate-spinning! As she crashes in surprise, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon proclaim her to be a fraud. To everypony's astonishment (including her own), Apple Bloom is immediately proficient, effortlessly loop-de-hooping and spinning plates simultaneously. Soon the entire class ends up in Ponyville, where Apple Bloom mesmerizes everypony with her acrobatics.

Later that night at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, Big MacIntosh and Granny Smith are congratulating Apple Bloom for her unprecedented dual cutie mark achievements. An exhausted Apple Bloom heads off to bed, but she can't sleep; she's gotten a third cutie mark -- tap-dancing shoes -- and she can't stop performing her skills!

Desperate for a cure, Applejack takes Apple Bloom to see Twilight Sparkle for help. Twilight soon discovers that Apple Bloom has caught the Cutie Pox, a puzzling plague that perplexed ponies back in the paleo-pony period, where ponies earned multiple cutie marks and were compelled to act out every one of their talents. When Apple Bloom starts to speak in French, they resolve to find Zecora to ask for a cure, but are held back as Apple Bloom develops even more cutie marks and is immediately driven to perform each one. The citizens of Ponyville start to panic…

"Lily: She's cursed!

Rose: Hexed!

Daisy: Enchanted!

Spike: No, she's not.

Daisy, Lily and Rose: *whew!*

Spike: She just has some weird, mysterious disease with no known cure called Cutie Pox.

Everypony: CUTIE POX?!"

Everypony immediately barricades themselves indoors. Just then, Zecora arrives; Twilight briefs her on Apple Bloom's condition, and Zecora mentions she came by because she was tracking down some ingredients that disappeared from her hut. Fortunately, Zecora happens to have a cure for Apple Bloom -- the Seeds of Truth, a flower that will flourish once the truth is told.

Apple Bloom resists at first, but eventually confesses that her marks appeared because she used Zecora's ingredients to make a cutie mark potion. The seeds suddenly sprout into a beautiful blossom; Apple Bloom hungrily devours it, whereupon her cutie marks immediately disappear. Ashamed, Apple Bloom apologizes to everypony for getting carried away with her quest for a cutie mark. All is forgiven, with the promise that Apple Bloom will learn from her mistakes. She then dictates a letter to Princess Celestia about her lesson learned -- that there are no shortcuts in life, that honesty is always the best policy, and all good things come to those who wait.

…and not five seconds after saying that, the Cutie Mark Crusaders announce that they've waited long enough, then happily run off into the distance to do some more crusading. Maybe Zecora can help them get their marks in potion-making!

Tropes (YMMV tropes can be found here)
"Cheerilee: *sternly* Apple Bloom! I want you to take your loop-de-hoop into the yard!
 * Absentee Actor: Fluttershy, and while Rainbow Dash makes a cameo she doesn't speak.
 * And while Andrea Libman's other character Pinkie Pie speaks, it's with the voice of Shannon Chan-Kent, who does Pinkie's singing.
 * Added Alliterative Appeal: Twilight's book on the Cutie Pox goes to great efforts on this.
 * Adult Fear: Applejack having to watch helplessly as her baby sister is tormented by an illness for which there is no known cure. Even worse, we're show quite clearly that Applejack is pretty much scared to death for Applebloom.
 * Aesop Amnesia: Not for the aesop sent to Princess Celestia (that being dishonest and cheating to get what you want won't work out), but the one immediately after, that all good things come to those who wait -- it's brought up and forgotten within a matter of seconds. Then again, this particular aesop is a consistent problem for the Crusaders.
 * This is actually a clever subversion because it reinforces the lesson about not taking a dishonest shortcut and gaining a cutie mark the right way.
 * American Gothic Couple: Seen on the wall in the Apple family's house.
 * Art Evolution: The animators seem to be making more of an effort to diversify the body types in background ponies. This is most apparent in the bowling alley scene. We have the Mr. and Mrs. Cake body clones, but an entirely new body type is seen on a tall, blue-haired unicorn (seen here).
 * Bait and Switch Comment: From Cheerilee:

Apple Bloom: *dejectedly* Yes ma'am.

Cheerilee: *breaks into a smile* and give us ALL a lesson in your amazing loop-de-hooping!

Apple Bloom: *beams happily*"

""It's a loop-de-hoop! At least that's what I always called it.""
 * Be Careful What You Wish For: Apple Bloom really wanted a cutie mark... she definitely wasn't expecting to come down with a magical disease that causes her to break out in cutie marks.
 * Bilingual Bonus: During the brief period where Apple Bloom is speaking French.
 * Brand X: Apple Bloom's hooping is called "loop-de-hoops", ostensibly to avoid a possible trademark infringement with hula hoop. Lampshaded by Apple Bloom.

"Twilight: We were just on our way to see if you had a cure!
 * Call Back:
 * You know something is bad when the third cutie mark shows up, because it's already been established that Apple Bloom can't dance.
 * Some of Apple Bloom's new skills are activities that the Crusaders have discussed attempting in previous episodes, such as chimney cleaning and lion taming.
 * Apple Bloom's rant about Cutie Marks is followed by an anguished cry of "but ah wan' it nooow!" which is a reference to "Call Of The Cutie". Also, one of her new talents caused by the Cutie Pox is hang-gliding.
 * Zecora is surprised at the lack of activity in Ponyville when she comes by, fearful (and slightly indignant) that she hadn't truly overcome the stigma against her.
 * Cheerful Child: Sweetie Belle doesn't mind that she only got gutterballs; she had fun!
 * Ironically enough, a complete round of gutterballs still gives Sweetie a better score than either of her friends' efforts.
 * Chirping Crickets: Or, in this case, a tumbleweed after Spike scares the rest of the Ponyville residents into hiding -- followed by a lonely hawk's screech.
 * Comically Missing the Point: A few seconds after Apple Bloom admits that good things come to those who wait, the Cutie Mark Crusaders announce that they've waited long enough, and head out on yet another effort to earn their marks.
 * On the other hoof, at the start of the episode, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle seem to have learned some sort of lesson at this point; they both are more interested in how fun bowling was, rather than their lack of results. Meanwhile, Apple Bloom is still stuck in her "But I want it now!" phase.
 * Continuity Nod: Zecora alludes to the events of "Bridle Gossip" when everypony appears to have fled in terror from her.
 * Contrived Coincidence:
 * There just happens to be a block of marble to be chiseled, a chimney that needs sweeping, windows that need washing, a chess game that needs playing, lions that need taming, a pony in full fencing gear to duel against, a barbell that needs lifting, and a black board that needs random equations written on it when said cutie marks appear on Apple Bloom. (Fortunately Pinkie Pie appears to have kept her accordion around.)
 * When her Plate Spinning cutie mark appears, Snips and Snails just happen to have plates and sticks.
 * Lampshaded by Applejack when Zecora comes into Ponyville...

Applejack: But, magically, you're here! Was your "zebra sense" a-tinglin'?"

"Zecora: I thought I had removed their fear
 * ...then subverted by Zecora, stating that she came to Ponyville to find a flower that had gone missing
 * Crazy Prepared: Apparently, (adorable) Hazmat suits are standard issue in Ponyville houses.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Zecora, appearing in town just after the rest of the ponies have shuttered themselves inside:

The last time that I visited here.

But doors are barred and shutters shut

Guess I should have stayed inside my hut."


 * E=MC Hammer: One of Apple Bloom's cutie marks makes her write random, unrelated equations on a blackboard.
 * Engineered Public Confession: Everypony's looking at you, Apple Bloom.
 * The episode also provides, in the same scene, an Accidental Public Confession: When no pony was looking, Pinkie Pie ate six corncakes. That's as many as two threes. And That's Terrible.
 * Epic Fail: Apple Bloom threw (or spat) her ball with very bad form, releasing it on an upward trajectory and causing it to bounce down the lane. Somehow, it managed to go perfectly straight and touch the front pin, and yet lost so much velocity that the pin didn't even budge.
 * Which is still arguably better than Scootaloo's performance; her ball didn't even stay in the right lane, caused destruction, and landed in the gutter. She suspects she might be banned from the place from now on.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Though delightful at first for Apple Bloom as it drives her hula-hooping and plate-spinning tricks, it becomes very much Inverted by the time she gets the "tornado" cutie mark, the last one she gets before taking the cure.
 * Expressive Accessory: When Apple Bloom is sulking, her hair bow droops down. This effect also extends to the hat Rarity offers to cheer her up.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar:
 * Literally -- Twilight's book mentions "the trots", which is a euphemism for diarrhea.
 * Zecora seems to be making Viagra for birds.

""My sister's speakin' in fancy!""
 * Godiva Mane - on Apple Bloom's statue of Venus, although what she's supposed to be covering is unclear.
 * Gratuitous French: Happens when Apple Bloom gets a Fleur-de-Lis Cutie Mark.

"Scootaloo: Come on, Apple Bloom, it's just a cutie mark!
 * Good with Numbers: Apple Bloom derives the relationship between integration and summation on her own.
 * Hammerspace: Apple Bloom was able to get item associated with her cutie marks off screen, like a hammer and chisel, an accordion, a whip and chair and lions.
 * Hazmat Suit: Complete with radiation symbols on the suit, roughly where the pony's cutie mark would be.
 * Heli Critter: Apple Bloom temporarily becomes one by spinning a hoop with her tail fast enough to lift herself off the ground.
 * Instant Expert: The Cutie Pox gives you incredible skill at whatever talent equates to the Cutie Marks that appear...
 * Blessed with Suck / Power Incontinence: ...but you can't stop doing it.
 * Irony:
 * Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon pooh-poohing Apple Bloom's hoop-related cutie mark as useless calls into question exactly what their cutie marks are supposed to be good for.
 * It was then that Apple Bloom made the fatal error of pooh-poohing their pooh-poohs.
 * Applejack, the Element of Honesty, couldn't make the Seeds of Truth bloom. Zecora implies that it has to be a confession, and Applejack had no lie to confess.
 * Jerkass Has a Point: Diamond Tiara probably only calls Apple Bloom out on her cutie marks being fake in order to take her down a peg, since she hates anypony taking the spotlight away from her. Still, she's 100% right, and even Cheerilee shares her skepticism.
 * Loophole Abuse / Exact Words: Applebloom said she'd wait, never said how long.
 * Mind Screw: When Applebloom is demonstrating her hoop talent, one of the school background fillies appears to be Derpy Hooves, down to her wings, hair color and style, and her crossed eyes of gold. Your guess is as good as ours.
 * Misplaced Wildlife: Something of a regular occurrence for CMC episodes - there was a squid in "The Show Stoppers", and here it's lions.
 * Nice Hat: Rarity offers Apple Bloom one in an attempt to cheer her up. It doesn't work.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Of all the ponies Spike had to elaborate about Cutie Pox to, it had to be the Flower Trio.
 * Not Helping Your Case: After Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle try to cheer Apple Bloom up.

Sweetie Belle: Or lack of a cutie mark!

Scootaloo: Shh! That's not helping!"

able to extract seeds from her bindle. "Zecora: What has happened to you, youth?
 * Offscreen Teleportation: How Zecora leaves at the end of the episode.
 * Parental Bonus: The bowling alley scene features a few background ponies who look an awful lot like the main characters (and Jesus) from The Big Lebowski. Behold, Jeff Bridges, Steve Buscemi, John Goodman and John Turturro as ponies.
 * Pass the Popcorn: Spike is munching popcorn when Apple Bloom's condition gets worse in the middle of the town.
 * Ponya Non Grata: Scootaloo says that Mr. Kingpin will probably never let her back in the bowling alley again. She seems oddly cheerful about it.
 * Power Incontinence: Thanks to the Cutie Pox, Apple Bloom gets an infinite number of Cutie Marks and talents. The problem is, she can't control or stop using them, no matter how much she wants to.
 * Powerpuff Girl Hands: Though normally Averted in the series by Word of God, special mention goes to its avoidance in the bowling alley scene. None of the balls (outside of Imagine Spots) have finger-holes, and through the CMC, we're shown at least three ways ponies can bowl (butting with head, bucking the ball, and using one's mouth).
 * Prehensile Tail: Apple Bloom was able to lift and hold a barbell using her tail.
 * Zecora's tail is also nimble
 * Pressure Point: Big Macintosh knows just the right one to treat Granny Smith's charley horse.
 * Pun-Based Title: "Cutie Pox" to chicken pox.
 * Rhymes on a Dime: Zecora appears in this episode in top form, as usual. In fact, she makes an on-the-fly rhyme for a situation that she couldn't possibly have known about beforehand.

Apple Bloom: *reveals her chipped tooth*

Zecora: Ah, you've gone and chipped your tooth!"

"Apple Bloom: And not only stuff that fixes the bad, but stuff that brings the good! Good health, good hair, good heavens!"
 * Well, Apple Bloom's holding her mouth in pain did make it a good guess.
 * Rule of Three: Zecora has cures for bad teeth, bad bones and bad breath.

"Sweetie Belle: But there are three of us."
 * Invoked by Sweetie Belle in the Cold Open of the episode, when Apple Bloom suggests "The Pin Twins" as the Crusaders' new name.


 * Three attempts to help Apple Bloom: Applejack herself, then Twilight, then Zecora.
 * Separated by a Common Language: Twilight lists off a bunch of various punny diseases, trying to find what Apple Bloom is suffering from. One of the diseases she mentions is "the trots," which is British slang for diarrhea.
 * Serial Escalation: Apple Bloom stacks feat upon feat as new cutie marks appear, starting with loop-de-hooping and spinning plates and moving on to incorporate sculpting and lifting a barbell with her tail.
 * Ship Tease: When Apple Bloom is teaching her classmates how to use a hula hoop, she tosses one to Snips. He blushes.
 * Shout-Out:
 * See Parental Bonus above.
 * The bit where Apple Bloom's bowling ball comes to a stop, resting against the 1-pin, is a reference to Uncle Buck.
 * Her throwing of the ball is a reference to The Flintstones, complete with tip-toes sound effect.
 * The symptoms of the Cutie Pox are reminiscent of the Hans Christian Andersen tale "The Red Shoes", and a red shoe is the cutie mark that goes with uncontrollable (tap) dancing.
 * When Apple Bloom gains her sculpting skill, the resulting work is a ponified version of Botticelli's "The Birth of Venus."
 * A painting inside Applejack's house shows an American Gothic Couple.
 * Applejack asks Zecora if her "zebra sense [was] a-tinglin'."
 * When Apple Bloom gained a tornado Cutie Mark, she started spinning like the Tasmanian Devil.
 * The bowling alley outside sign and some parts of its indoor decor sports a design aesthetic that mimics the Googie/Populuxe modern architecture style of the mid 20th century. Even at least two of the background ponies have cutie marks based on common icons of this style.
 * The whole episode plays out like an episode of House, all that was needed was for Zecora to be a total jerk.
 * Apple Bloom's opponent in chess looks a lot like the old man in the Pixar short "Geri's Game".
 * Single-Target Sexuality: Apparently, anypony who even reminds Spike of Rarity earns his enamor, as demonstrated when Twilight's hair is momentarily styled like Rarity's thanks to Apple Bloom's loop-de-hoop skills.
 * Stealth Bye: Zecora pulls this off with Twilight once Apple Bloom confesses to stealing her herbs, and has been given the cure for Cutie Pox.
 * Status Quo Is God: Apple Bloom is back to being a "blank flank" at the end of the episode. And she still never learned the value of patience.
 * Super Strong Child: One Cutie Mark makes Apple Bloom into one, as she's able to lift a half-ton barbell with her tail while doing push-ups!
 * The Jimmy Hart Version: Listen to the music while Apple Bloom shows off her talents to all of Ponyville. Doesn't it sound a lot like John Williams' "The Cowboys Overture"?
 * The Tooth Hurts: Apple Bloom accidentally chips a tooth. Never a pleasant experience. Good thing that dentistry potions exist.
 * Viewers Are Geniuses / Genius Bonus: The average American child is unlikely to know what the relation is between a Fleur-de-Lis cutie mark and French.
 * What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?: Pinkie Pie lied about how many corn cakes she ate. Twice. At least.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: skip to about 12:00
 * Yank the Dog's Chain: Apple Bloom's attempts at bowling is met with applause when she gets a strike with another pony saying that she got a bowling cutie mark... except that was actually directed towards the pony who got a strike in the lane next to her. Apple Bloom's ball doesn't knock down a single pin. Considering how devastated she must have felt, it's no wonder Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle couldn't cheer her up.
 * This whole episode is a life-threatening chain-yank for Apple Bloom.