Applejack

Applejack is an Earth pony and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She lives and works at Sweet Apple Acres farm with her grandmother Granny Smith, brother Big Macintosh, little sister Apple Bloom, and a pet dog named Winona. She represents the element of honesty.

Production and development

Applejack is one of the only two members of the main cast who were part of the original My Little Pony cast in the 1980s animated series, the other member being Spike. While Lauren Faust, the show’s developer, intended to use more characters from the first My Little Pony series, Hasbro did not maintain the trademarks to nearly all of the original character names and most names had to be replaced. Faust used the character’s G1 color scheme, abandoning the dark red color from the G3 toy line. During the 2012 BroNYcon convention, voice actress Ashleigh Ball cited country singers Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton as inspiration for Applejack’s voice and dialect.

She has appeared in more episodes than any other character, beating out Twilight Sparkle by one episode.

Name

Her name and her nickname in Bridle Gossip are both alcoholic beverages. Applejack is a strong alcoholic beverage produced from apples, popular in the American colonial period and thought to originate from the French apple brandy Calvados. Appletini, which was ostensibly given to Applejack by Spike for her diminutive size cause by the poison joke, is a cocktail containing vodka and an apple-flavored juice or liquor.
Applejack became the first pony to have her name abbreviated to her initials in Applebuck Season, being called “A.J.” by Twilight Sparkle, a nickname that is repeated by Big Macintosh in Winter Wrap Up, and again by Twilight in The Last Roundup.

Depiction in the series

Personality

Work ethic

Applejack is a reliable and hard-working pony, although headstrong about doing things on her own. She tackles the annual apple harvest all by herself while her brother Big Macintosh recovers from an injury in Applebuck Season. Big Mac calmly expresses concerns over her intention to harvest hundreds of apple trees by herself, but Applejack snaps at him and his “fancy mathematics”, and decides to try it anyway, while still making time to help out her friends at various tasks.

After she diverts a stampede that was headed to Ponyville, the townsfolk hold a ceremony in her honor, where her close friends exult her willingness to help anyone. She receives her trophy without much fanfare and goes back to her applebucking, dangerously exhausts herself, and repeatedly refuses Twilight Sparkle’s many offers of assistance. She eventually faints at the sight of the scores of apple trees she still has to harvest, and finally looks past her pride and accepts help.

Country mannerisms

Applejack speaks with a Southern American accent, similar to the accent of the southwestern Missouri Ozarks, where there are a number of apple orchards. Throughout numerous episodes, she refers to her friends as “sugarcube” as a sign of affection.
She seems to have no reservations about getting dirty or messy, much to Rarity’s dismay when they hold a sleepover in Look Before You Sleep. Applejack has said in A Dog and Pony Show, “Now I’m used to pickin’ myself up and dustin’ myself off, but Rarity won’t even touch mud unless it’s imported.”

Applejack does not take particular offense at Rarity’s opinion of her Sisterhooves Social, where she says that the competition held at the Apple farm is “uncouth”. Applejack simply tells Sweetie Belle that her big sister Rarity thinks that everything is uncouth, but that she will come around in time. She gently offers Rarity advice on how to compromise and get along better with Sweetie Belle which Rarity is grateful to accept.

Applejack dislikes things that are “too girlish” like frou-frou dresses in Suited for Success, though in a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles Applejack describes how she tried being a pony of elegance for a short time as a young filly, but ultimately decided to return to the farm after she realized it wasn’t for her, and she deeply missed her home. When Apple Bloom starts speaking French in The Cutie Pox, Applejack expresses her shock to Twilight by saying her sister’s “speakin’ in fancy”.

She is almost always seen wearing a light brown stetson hat, which she usually only removes when sleeping, and is the only one of the six main characters to keep her mane and tail tied back in a “ponytail” instead of letting it fall loose.

Orneriness

Though Applejack is normally kind and considerate, she sometimes lacks patience with aggressive or rude behavior and returns it in kind, especially with Rainbow Dash. In Look Before You Sleep she lets her feud with Rarity ruin Twilight Sparkle’s sleepover, and in Fall Weather Friends she allows herself to become just as underhanded as Rainbow Dash in her attempt to win. In both of these situations, however, she eventually proves herself the better pony by being the first to apologize.
She is quick to argue with Rainbow Dash in Over a Barrel, making the tension between the Appleloosa and the buffalo worse.

Despite the other ponies’ lack of patience with Fluttershy in Dragonshy, Applejack is willing to take the long way around the mountain with her in order to help her up.

She frequently holds back Rainbow Dash by her tail when she’s about to do something rash, for example in the episodes Friendship is Magic, part 1 and part 2, The Ticket Master, Dragonshy and The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000.

Honesty

Applejack possesses the element of honesty. Twilight Sparkle deduces this in Friendship is Magic, part 2, explaining that Applejack demonstrated her honesty when they faced their challenges against Night Mare Moon. Applejack finds it difficult to go against her natural honesty in Party of One when she has to lie about why she can’t attend Gummy’s after-party. She sweats and grins nervously under Pinkie’s scrutiny, despite having the most credible excuse, needing to buck apples.

When corrupted by Discord’s influence, Applejack became a compulsive liar, throwing hurtful and sarcastic jabs at her friends. When Discord corrupts her and she turns gray, her hat turned gray as well. Initially her lies are not particularly convincing or malicious, but her lies grow more ridiculous and harmful. She is the first pony to have her corruption removed by Twilight, and one of the first things she does is apologize.

Skills

Athleticism

Applejack possesses extraordinary athletic abilities. She is both strong and dexterous. When she and Dash hold an Iron Pony Competition in Fall Weather Friends, their various athletic feats draw a sizable crowd. She is also very skilled with the lasso, demonstrating her rope-work in Applebuck Season, Boast Busters, Look Before You Sleep, Bridle Gossip, Fall Weather Friends, and The Return of Harmony Part 2.
In The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Applejack refers to her hind hooves as “Bucky McGillycuddy” and “Kicks McGee”.

Cooking

Applejack is described by Pinkie Pie as “one of the best bakers ever” in Applebuck Season. Even so, she is shown making several different kinds of foods and desserts using apples as the main ingredient, and sets up a concession stand in The Best Night Ever. She is very business-minded, using her time at the Grand Galloping Gala to set up a the aforementioned concession stand and use the money to benefit her family. In a previous episode, The Ticket Master, Applejack describes to Twilight how she wants to set up a concession stand at the Gala to raise money for fixing Granny Smith’s hip.

Herding

She is an accomplished herder, and she is Twilight’s first choice when she is looking for a way to herd the parasprites out of Ponyville in Swarm of the Century. She stops a cow stampede in Applebuck Season with only the help of her herding dog, Winona.

Applebucking

Her skills at “applebucking”, harvesting apple trees by kicking them with her hind legs, are superb: even when extraordinarily sleep-deprived, she is usually capable of knocking all apples off a tree with one kick while leaving the tree apparently intact in Applebuck Season. In comparison, the residents of Appleloosa only knock off several apples per kick in Over a Barrel.

History

Twilight Sparkle first meets Applejack and the rest of the Apple family when checking up on food preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. In the second episode, when Twilight Sparkle is about to fall off a cliff, Applejack convinces her to let go so Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy can catch her. This action is later explained as representative of Applejack’s honesty, in the rather contrived fashion of not telling Twilight Sparkle why she had to let go, and simply asked Twilight Sparkle to trust her, possibly because Twilight Sparkle would have panicked otherwise.

Ponyville

Throughout the series, Applejack tells Twilight Sparkle about the way things are in Ponyville. She gets upset with Twilight for using magic for Winter Wrap Up, and tells her “That’s not how we do it ’round here, Twilight, and especially not on MAH farm.” She explains to Twilight in Feeling Pinkie Keen that “those of us who have been in Ponyville a while, have learned over time that, if Pinkie’s-a-twichin’, you better listen.”
She is one of several ponies humiliated by Trixie in Boast Busters.

Cutie mark

In Call of the Cutie, Applejack tells her sister Apple Bloom that she was the last one in her class to get her cutie mark, a trait that seems to run in the family. In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, she tells the Cutie Mark Crusaders the story of how she got her cutie mark. It begins with a young Applejack leaving the farm to live with her upper class relations, the Oranges, in the big city called Manehatten (a play on words based on a real city, Manhattan). Once there however, she finds it hard to fit in and becomes terribly homesick. The rainbow left in the wake of Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom leads her to return home to the farm. Once there she realizes that she truly belonged there, and finally gains her cutie mark.
Apple Bloom

Apple Bloom is Applejack’s little sister, who’s introduced in the series’ first episode. She is more prominently featured in Bridle Gossip, where she decides to befriend Zecora who all the other ponies fear. In one scene Applejack hushes her with “let the big ponies talk”, and Apple Bloom replies under her breath that she is a big pony. Later, when Applejack shrinks under the influence of poison joke, Applejack tells Apple Bloom to take orders from her big sister, and Apple Bloom replies that she’s the big sister now.

Their sisterly bond features prominently in Sisterhooves Social, when Sweetie Belle witnesses the various activities they share and their playfulness, noting that when they do chores it looks more like they’re playing.

Other depictions

Hasbro.com description

Having grown up working hard to keep her family’s famous apple business growing, Applejack has come to be known as the most down-to-Earth, resourceful, and dependable Earth Pony this side of Ponyville! A proud pony to the core, she’s not afraid to get her hooves dirty and to her, there’s nothing a little horse-sense and elbow grease can’t take care of. Incredibly honest, Applejack would never stoop to tell a lie and this makes her a beacon for those seeking advice. Applejack has impeccable ability to break a situation down to its core and fix it fast, and usually topped off with a wacky country anecdote told with a charming of country twang.

Hubworld description

Applejack is a country pony who grew up on her family’s apple farm. She’s down to Earth and dependable, and she’s not afraid to get her hooves dirty. To her, any job can be done with a little horse sense and hard work. Applejack has a knack for figuring out how to fix a problem -- fast!

Teacher for a Day description

The apple of most farmers’ eyes, Applejack is one hard-working pony! Dependable and down-to-Earth, she isn’t afraid of jumping in with all hooves and getting the job done!
A real problem solver, and incredibly honest, she is the go-to pony for advice. Charming to the core, this country girl is a friend indeed!

My Little Pony magazine description

Playful

Practical

Honest

Applejack is Ponyville’s resident farm gal! Never afraid of getting dirty, she loves to play outside and would never hurt another pony’s feelings.

Appearances

Applejack appears in all episodes so far except episode seventeen, and doesn’t talk in episode twenty. She also does not appear in episode 43 making her not appear in either seasons 17th episode