Going to Seed

Going to Seed is the tenth episode of season nine of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the show's two hundred and sixth episode overall.
In this episode, Applejack's plans for an orderly harvest go awry when Apple Bloom becomes obsessed with catching a magical creature she thinks can help them.
==Production==
This episode aired on May 17, 2019, on Cartoonito in Italy, fifteen days ahead of its scheduled premiere on Discovery Family.
According to supervising director Jim Miller on Twitter, the episode was at one point titled "Its the Great Seedling, Applejack!"
==Summary==
===The Confluence===
 The episode begins at Sweet Apple Acres, where Applejack and her family are preparing for the "Confluence", a rare apple-harvesting event in which all the apples in the orchard turn ripe at the same time. In preparation for this event, Big McIntosh stayed up late the night before making an apple-bucking map and schedule so that they do not miss a single tree. Granny Smith has also recruited Goldie Delicious to help with the days-long harvest.
Goldie mentions that, for the harvest, the Apples could use the help of the Great Seedling, a magical Earth spirit that grants a bountiful, perpetual harvest to those who catch it. Applejack has long since dismissed the Great Seedling as myth, and she believes Apple Bloom to have also outgrown the legend. But Apple Bloom's interest is instantly rekindled, and she believes she is now old enough to finally catch the creature.
 Applejack is unsure about Apple Bloom wasting valuable harvesting time chasing a legend, but Apple Bloom thinks the Great Seedling can be of great help during the Confluence. Granny Smith and Goldie Delicious assure Applejack that they and Big Mac can handle the harvest themselves while Apple Bloom goes off on her own and has some fun. Taking their words to heart, Applejack drags the sleep-deprived Big Mac along with her to get to work.
===Signs of the Great Seedling===
 While bucking apples, Applejack and Big Mac notice Goldie having difficulty with her share of the apple-bucking duties due to her elderly age. Applejack advises Big Mac to revise the schedule he made, especially with Apple Bloom off hunting and setting traps for the Great Seedling.
The next morning, Applejack tries to get everyone back on schedule to make up for the previous day's loss of work, but Big Mac is even more sleep-deprived from making a new harvesting schedule, and Apple Bloom just wants to see if the Great Seedling was caught in any of her traps. Much to everyone's shock, strange patterns made of apples cover the field, and Apple Bloom believes they are tracks that the Great Seedling left. As Granny and Goldie keep encouraging Apple Bloom, Applejack accuses them of making the tracks themselves and giving Apple Bloom false hope, but they deny it.
 Applejack approaches Apple Bloom in the barn afterward and tries to convince her that the Great Seedling might not be real, explaining that the legend was used in order to make harvesting time fun for young foals. However, Apple Bloom is convinced that it is real, and she remains determined in her goal to capture it. Applejack makes a deal with Apple Bloom: if she helps with the harvest during the day, Applejack will help her set traps for the Great Seedling during the evening.
===All work and no play===
 While harvesting apples, Applejack tries to offer more rational explanations for the "tracks" left by the Great Seedling, but Granny recalls a time when Applejack was young and also obsessed with finding and catching the creature. During the last Confluence, Bright Mac, Pear Butter, Big Mac, and Granny Smith were harvesting apples while Applejack was setting traps for the Great Seedling. When she fell into one of her own traps, she was stuck in it all day and missed out on helping with the harvest. From then on, she gave up trying to catch the Great Seedling and focused all her energy on hard work and responsibility.
Apple Bloom sympathizes with Applejack for suffering such embarrassment, and with the promise of getting everything done twice as fast, the two work closely together to harvest apples and set traps for the Great Seedling. Little by little, Applejack starts to enjoy herself, having forgotten how much fun setting traps could be, and she and Apple Bloom look forward to checking the traps the next day, with Apple Bloom once again promising to help with the harvest even if the traps are all empty.
 The next morning, Applejack and Apple Bloom discover even more tracks left behind by the Great Seedling, and every trap they set has been sprung with nothing caught in them. Her rational explanations disproven, Applejack starts to believe that the Great Seedling is indeed real. Excited to finally catch the creature, Applejack decides to set even more traps with Apple Bloom while the still sleep-deprived Big Mac begrudgingly covers their portion of the harvesting duties.
===The Apple sisters' stakeout===
 Toward the end of the day's harvesting, Applejack and Big Mac discover that some of the trees they were scheduled to harvest apples from have already been picked clean. Goldie Delicious explains that this is yet another sign of the Great Seedling—the closer it gets to being caught, the more mischievous it gets in order to throw its pursuers off its trail. This gives Applejack the idea of staking out the trees that have not been bucked yet and catching the Great Seedling off-guard.
That night, Applejack and Apple Bloom stay up and hide in the trees in anticipation of the Great Seedling's arrival, with Applejack remarking that this is the first time she has gone on a Seedling hunt with her little sister. Though they eventually doze off to sleep, they are woken by the presumed sound of a trap being sprung, and they set out to catch the elusive creature. During their hunt, however, they come to believe that the Great Seedling is hunting them.
 Applejack and Apple Bloom flee from the Great Seedling, and it appears to chase after them. When the creature corners Applejack and Apple Bloom outside the barn, it is revealed to be Big McIntosh, who has been sleepwalking and bucking apples for the past several nights due to his sleep-deprived state.
===You're never too old===
 The next morning, the Apple family successfully brings in the entire harvest—well ahead of schedule thanks to Big Mac apple-bucking in his sleep. Apple Bloom is disappointed that they did not catch the Great Seedling before she truly outgrows the legend, but Applejack says having fun with friends and family is something one never outgrows.
Just before Goldie Delicious departs for home, she notices tracks of carrots similar to the Great Seedling's tracks of apples, even though the Apple family was not harvesting the carrots. Realizing the Great Seedling may still be nearby, Applejack and Apple Bloom decide to go on another hunt.
==Quotes==
:Granny Smith: As I'm up to recall, Apple Bloom used to love settin' traps for the Great Seedlin' when she was a young'un. [laughs]
:Big McIntosh: [laughs]
:Applejack: Well, I'm pretty sure she's outgrown the whole thing by now. Right, Apple Bloom?
:[beat]
:Apple Bloom: Or maybe I'm big enough now to finally catch him! Who's with me?!
:Applejack: We fell behind a bit yesterday, so we need everypony at their best.
:Goldie Delicious: If that's your brother's best, we might be done for. Mm-hmm.
:Applejack: He was just up late workin' out a new schedule so we can stay on track.
:Apple Bloom: I didn't sleep either! I was too excited! I can't wait to see if I caught the Great Seedlin'!
:Granny Smith: She spent the better half of the day stuck in that trap! [laughs]
:Applejack: And missed out on helpin' with the harvest because I was chasin' somethin' for little foals. I felt guilty everypony else had to work harder because of me. So I decided right then and there I was too old to waste any more time on Great Seedlin'.
:Granny Smith: Oh, we finished the harvest just fine. But we laughed about that story for years! [laughs]
:Goldie Delicious: [laughs] I'm still laughin'!
:Apple Bloom: I'm glad we solved the mystery, but I really wanted to catch the Great Seedlin' before I get too old to try.
:Applejack: You know what, sugarcube? You're never too old to be a filly. There will always be work to do, but havin' fun together is somethin' you never grow out of.
:Goldie Delicious: Oh. Looks like you forgot to clean up the carrots.
:Applejack: Huh. Big Mac wasn't harvestin' the carrots. Just the apples.
:Big McIntosh: ["I-don't-know" sound]
:Applejack: You know what this means?
:Apple Bloom: Time for another hunt!
:Applejack: Look out, Great Seedlin'! Here we come!
==Gallery==
==References==
de:Die große Apfelernte
id:Going to Seed