Applebuck Season

Applebuck Season is the fourth episode of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, season one. In this episode, with her big brother, Big Macintosh, hurt, Applejack volunteers to harvest the apple trees in Ponyville all by herself.

Episode Summary
"Applebuck Season" is when the apple orchard is harvested by kicking the tree trunks to knock the fruit loose. With Big Macintosh injured, Applejack decided to take her brother's place. Despite warning her that it would be a huge task for just one pony, she vowed that she could take care of it by herself.

"How many times do I gotta say it!? I don't need NO help from NO pony!"

- Applejack

As she started, she noticed a herd of cattle stampeding towards Ponyville. She, accompanied by her dog, Winona, was able to round up the cows away from the town. Impressed by the farm pony's loyalty and reliability, the ponies threw a ceremonial party in her honor. Twilight Sparkle tries to give a speech, however she is constantly interrupted by her friends, who excitedly announce their plans with the guest of honor. When AJ is finally introduced, she was nowhere to be found. Seeing the sleep-deprived farm pony finally arrive late at the ceremony, the ponies become concerned thus Twilight investigates. After hearing the story of Applebuck Season and the fact that her large family only came for a family reunion and were away dealing with their own orchards, she offered to help, but Applejack stubbornly refused.

Having earlier promised to help out some of her friends, an exhausted Applejack ends up hindering them rather than helping. During her favor to help catapult Rainbow Dash so she can perform a special aerial trick, she was unable to focus and ended up hurting herself and missing her side of the launcher repeatedly. She succeeded in one last attempt, but the unprepared pegasus was sent flying into Twilight's balcony. Later, she helped Pinkie Pie with baking muffins for the town. Her tired state caused her to misunderstand her friend's instructions, resulting in some unsavory muffins which gave Pinkie and half the town food poisoning (except for Spike, who took a liking to the so-called "baked bads"). When helping Fluttershy with rounding up a group of baby rabbits during the "bunny census", the farm pony was too frustrated to handle a delicate operation, treating the bunnies like the cattle she herded earlier. The herd panicked and stampeded into Ponyville, where they ate most of the town's plants, and made Fluttershy's task harder to finish.



After several visits from Twilight during these times, it seemed like Applejack had finally finished, until Big Macintosh pointed out that she only gathered half of the harvest the whole time. No longer in any condition to continue, Applejack finally gives in and accepts the help of her friends. They were able to finish in half the time she herself tried to do, and they were all treated to apple juice. She thanked them all for their help and apologized for causing them so much trouble from her stubborn streak.

Since then, Applejack learned that it is just as okay to accept help as it is to give help.

Major Events

 * Big Macintosh and Applejack's pet dog Winona were formally introduced in this episode.
 * Applejack harvested half of the Apple Trees in the Sweet Apple Acres, but fainted due to exhaustion.

Quotes
Applejack: Are you sayin' my mouth is makin' promises my legs can't keep?

Big Macintosh: Ee-yup.

Applejack: This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?

Big Macintosh: But still only one pony. And one pony plus hundreds of apple trees just doesn't add up to-

Applejack: Don't you use your fancy mathematics to muddy the issue!

Twilight Sparkle: Now, if I can just make a point without being inter--

Fluttershy: Twilight?

Twilight Sparkle: ...--rupted!

Twilight Sparkle: Anyone else? Anyone? No? Well then, as I was trying to say... *sees the Mayor looking at her* UGH! Never mind!

Rainbow Dash: Applejack, what the 'hay' is going on? I mean, I thought I was working with "Ponyville's best athlete".

Twilight Sparkle: Oh no! What happened?

Nurse Redheart: It was a mishap with some of the baked goods.

Pinkie Pie *sickly*: No... not baked goods. baked... bads...

Twilight Sparkle: AJ, I think you're beating a dead... tree.

Twilight Sparkle: Ugh. That pony is as stubborn as a mule. No offense...

Mule: None taken.

Twilight Sparkle: All right, Applejack. Your apple-bucking hasn't just caused you problems. It's over-propelled pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies.

Applejack: I harvested the entire Sweet Apple Acres without your help. How do you like them apples?

Big Macintosh: *points to unharvested half of apple orchard* Um... How do you like them apples?

Gallery



 * Applebuck Season image gallery
 * See also this article's fan labor page

Trivia

 * The title of this episode references buck season, which is a time of year in which the hunting of deer and bucks is allowed in order to cull their numbers. This also references the time of year when their apples are being collected. The term 'applebuck' also plays on the word 'buck' which can both mean a deer, as well as 'a sharp, sudden, violent movement', which is exactly what Applejack does to knock the apples off the trees.
 * The scene when the bunnies were running around the unconscious pony is a lot like the scene in The Lion King when Mufasa was killed by the herd.
 * The line uttered by Roseluck, "The horror, the horror..." is from the Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness (later used as the basis for the better-known movie, Apocalypse Now, which also uses the line at its end).
 * The muffins that Applejack made in this episode would not cause food poisoning in real-life, as the ingredients are used in a variety of other foods. The only way to suffer food poisoning from them, is to remove the muffins from the oven extremely early. Additionally, it is chemically impossible to bake muffins (by definition) without the core essentials being flour and baking soda (or alternatively baking powder). However, the stomach problems may have been caused by the muffins containing worms, since real ponies cannot eat meat (see below.)
 * This episode, along with Fall Weather Friends and A Bird in the Hoof, had arguably hinted that Equestria's ponies may have omnivorous tendencies, making them more human-like than horse-like. In the case of Applebuck Season, Applejack seems to regard earthworms as edible since she did not question Pinkie Pie's (misheard) baking instructions. Additionally, Spike kept pandering at his pony friends to try out the muffins, and he was assuringly aware of the earthworms inside the muffins. However, Applejack was not thinking straight while the muffins were being baked, so the contradiction may have simply slipped her mind, and Spike, being a baby, might not be fully aware of the pony diet. In any case, Pinkie's song in Over a Barrel clearly states that ponies are "strictly vegetarian." Of course, considering it's a song from Pinkie Pie... this may be an exaggeration.