Ponyville Confidential (My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic)

Ponyville Confidential is the 24th episode in the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic.

Plot
In their very hard attempt to get their cutie marks, the Cutie Mark Crusaders start a gossip column under the name Gabby Gums, but they find it not worth the embarrassment and misery that they cause to other ponies with their stories.

Why It Isn't Confidential

 * 1) It's just the Cutie Mark Crusaders torture episode.
 * 2) Diamond Tiara is at her worst, as she forces the Cutie Mark Crusaders to lie about the citizens in Ponyville, and still makes them do it when they don't want to.
 * 3) Diamond Tiara didn't even admit that the Cutie Mark Crusaders put effort into writing their first news reports at the beginning of the episode.
 * 4) The unsatisfying and mean-spirited montage of the citizens of Ponyville scolding and being downright horrible and disgustingly cruel towards the Cutie Mark Crusaders for what they have done.
 * 5) *Speaking of the citizens of Ponyville, while Diamond Tiara gets her comeuppance for her actions, they don't for how they treated the Cutie Mark Crusaders, nor do they realize the errors of their ways (the episode even tries to portray them in the right for how they treated them), making them Karma Houdinis.
 * 6) Featherweight revealed that he was following Diamond Tiara's orders to humiliate the three girls if they decided to quit their job.
 * 7) After Gabby Gums is exposed, none of the citizens of Ponyville let the girls explain their dilemma.
 * 8) Diamond Tiara, other than getting fired from her editing job, rarely got punished for her actions.
 * 9) Featherweight also never got in trouble at all for following Diamond's orders.
 * 10) Plot hole: Why didn't the Cutie Mark Crusaders tell anyone that Diamond Tiara was forcing them to do it so that they wouldn't get humiliated? It might be possible that the residents are unlikely to believe the Cutie Mark Crusaders, even if they were telling the truth.
 * 11) Even their siblings and the rest of the Mane Six (except for Pinkie Pie) disowned them which seems out of character especially for Applejack and Twilight Sparkle, because wouldn't they just have a talk with the crusaders about the situation instead of shutting them out?

Redeeming Qualities

 * 1) Surprisingly Good Ending: Everyone in Ponyville forgives the Cutie Mark Crusaders after reading their letter, and Cheerilee admits her mistake in that she might've given too much power to a first-time editor. Diamond Tiara is demoted to working on the printing press while Shady Daze is promoted to staff photographer, and Featherweight is instated as editor-in-chief of the Foal Free Press.
 * 2) Although the citizens of Ponyville and the mane six got away scot-free for treating the Cutie Mark Crusaders horribly, Diamond Tiara got what she deserved at the end.
 * 3) Pinkie Pie is the only mane six pony not to be mad.
 * 4) "Fluttershy has tail extensions!

Trivia

 * This is equivalent to the Spongebob Squarepants episode "Krabby Kronicle", the All Grown Up episode "Truth or Consequences", The Loud House episode "Making the Case", the Ed, Edd n Eddy episode "Truth Or Ed", and the Cow and Chicken episode "Dirty Laundry".
 * According to writer, M.A. Larson, the residents of Ponyville shunning of CMC was meant to be justified as "them trying to avoid talking to them because anything they say could end up in print out of context." But he admits that nuance wasn't effectively conveyed in the final product, leading it to be viewed as undeservedly cruel.