Applejack

**Applejack** is a female Earth pony and one of the main characters of *My Little Pony Friendship is Magic*. She lives and works at Sweet Apple Acreswith her grandmother Granny Smith, her older brother Big McIntosh, her younger sister Apple Bloom, and her dog Winona. She represents the element of honesty.

## Development and design

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. Lauren Faust, the show's developer, was inspired to create Applejack by her childhood toy G1 pony Applejack.[1] Faust intended to use more characters from the first *My Little Pony* series, but Hasbro did not maintain the trademarks to nearly all of the original character names and most names had to be replaced.[2][3][4] Faust used the character's G1 color scheme, abandoning the dark red color from the G3 toy line. Voice actress Ashleigh Ball has cited country singers Miley Cyrus, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as inspiration for Applejack's voice and dialect.[5][6] She shares some personality traits with the G1 pony named Starlight (not to be confused with Starlight Glimmer).

As a filly in the flashback from Where the Apple Lies, she's proportioned similarly to Plaid Stripes, "Pearly Whites", "Thunderstruck", filly Fluttershy, later filly Pear Butter, later filly Derpy, and Crystal Hoof.

### Name

Applejack is also the name of a strong alcoholic beverage produced from apples. In the episode Bridle Gossip, poison jokecauses Applejack to shrink. Spike calls her "Apple Teeny," pronounced the same as appletini, an apple-flavored alcoholic cocktail.
Applejack is the first pony to have her name abbreviated in the show. In Applebuck Season, Twilight Sparkle calls her "A.J.," a nickname that is used again by Spike in Boast Busters, Big McIntosh in Winter Wrap Up, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash in The Last Roundup, Pinkie Pie in MMMystery on the Friendship Express, and Coloratura in The Mane Attraction.

## Depiction in the series

### Diligence

"*This is your sister Applejack - remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?!*"
— Applejack, talking to her brotherApplejack is a brave, reliable, strong, mature, and hard-working pony, although headstrong about doing things on her own. In the episode Applebuck Season, she insists on tackling the annual apple harvest all by herself while her brother Big McIntoshrecovers from an injury. Big McIntosh doubts her ability to complete the seemingly insurmountable task, but Applejack is determined. After she diverts a cattle stampede that was headed toward Ponyville, the townsfolk hold a ceremony in her honor, where her close friends champion her helpfulness. She receives her trophy without much fanfare and goes back to her applebucking. She becomes exhausted but continues to buck trees 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 from her friends. She shows in The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 that she truly learned this lesson, as she was touched by her friend's offers to help as "honorary family members" and immediately accepts. In Apple Family Reunion, when Granny Smith gives the job of hosting the reunion to Applejack, she is determined to host as many activities as she can so they can create many good memories. However, despite her good intentions, Applejack becomes too caught up in her planning to realize that the most important thing about the reunion is to bond with your family. Eventually, she learns her lesson, and brings the family back together to rebuild the demolished barn.
### Mannerisms

Applejack speaks with a Southern American accent, a thick southern drawl, similar to the accent of the southwestern Missouri and Oklahoma Ozarks, where there is a great number of apple orchards. In numerous episodes, she refers to members of her friends and family as "sugarcube" as a sign of affection.

She has no reservations about getting dirty or messy or having any proper eating etiquette, much to Rarity's dismay during a sleepover in Look Before You Sleep, walking in Twilight's library with muddy hooves, chewing with her mouth open and burping, and unwilling to bother with making the bed. Applejack says 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." A rare exception is seen in A Bird in the Hoof, when she is reluctant to begin eating at Princess Celestia's brunch because she does not know which dish is "proper" to eat first.

In Sisterhooves Social, Applejack does not take offense when Rarity calls the competition held at the Apple farm "uncouth". Applejack simply tells Sweetie Belle that her big sister Rarity thinks *everything* is uncouth but that she will come around in time. She gently offers Rarity advice on how to compromise and better get along with Sweetie Belle, which Rarity gratefully accepts.

Applejack dislikes things that are "girly" and "fancy", like the froufrou dresses in Suited for Success. Applejack describes in a flashback in The Cutie Mark Chronicles how she tried being a pony of elegance for a short time as a young filly by moving to Manehattan to live with her Aunt and Uncle Orange, but she ultimately decided to return to the farm after she realized that she was homesick and found it hard to fit in. When Apple Bloom starts speaking French in The Cutie Pox, Applejack says her sister is "speakin' in fancy". Despite her disdain for "fancy" things, however, she crafts a heart-shaped ice sculpture in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 and enjoys wearing a dress in Simple Ways.
She almost always wears a light brown stetson hat, which she usually removes before sleeping. She is the only one of the six main characters to keep her mane and tail tied back in a "ponytail". Applejack takes great pride in her hat and seldom goes anywhere without it. In the episode A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 she hastily puts on her hat over her headband while Rarity is busy crying for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. During the episode The Mysterious Mare Do Well, Applejack is the only pony to keep the hat on when Rainbow Dash realizes that it was her friends that were the hero stealing her thunder. Also, in the many times that she has been made to wear a dress, she usually has a revised version of her stetson. Even her handpicked dress in Suited For Success had a hat, although it wasn't her normal one. Applejack also has more than one hat in Magic Duel because Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and Applejack herself are each wearing copies of the hat at the same time. In Somepony to Watch Over Me, the Apple family home has a whole closet with Applejack's hats, along with pink bows for Apple Bloom. In Made in Manehattan, Applejack's hat becomes damaged from all of the work put into restoring the park. At the end of the episode, Rarity drops Applejack's damaged hat into a trash can and buys her a new hat from Manehattan.

### Stubbornness and giving in

Applejack is occasionally very stubborn and inflexible, causing her to be hostile toward others or incapable of seeing alternate solutions to a problem.
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, she eventually lets go of her pride and is the first to apologize. She is quick to argue with Rainbow Dash in Over a Barrel, worsening the tension between the residents of Appleloosa and the buffalo.

In Applebuck Season, she shows great resilience when being offered help, working herself past exhaustion in the midst of trying to harvest the entire apple orchard on her own. Her fatigue has shown through considerably by the time she finally accepts assistance from her friends.

In Bats!, Applejack clashes with Fluttershy over how to deal with a swarm of vampire fruit bats. When her methods lead to Fluttershy becoming a bat herself, Applejack soon relents, giving a portion of the orchard to the bats. She also demonstrates a difficulty of changing her habits and routines in Applejack's "Day" Off.

### Empathy and care

Applejack is often shown to be one of the more empathetic members of the main cast, putting the needs and feelings of others before her own.
In The Ticket Master, Applejack states that her reason for wanting to attend the Grand Galloping Gala is so she can sell enough treats to buy a replacement hip for Granny Smith. In Dragonshy, despite the other ponies' impatience (with the exception of Pinkie Pie) with Fluttershy, Applejack is willing to take the long way around the mountain with her in order to help her up. Applejack is also the first to notice Twilight Sparkle's glumness in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, and she is the only one to apologize for not listening to her in A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2. In Sleepless in Ponyville she is the only pony who notices that Scootaloo is abnormally nervous and jumpy. In Castle Sweet Castle, she is the one to suggest uprooting the Golden Oak Library's roots and making a castle chandelier for Twilight. In Brotherhooves Social, Applejack attempts to talk to Big McIntosh about what put him in a sour mood before being called away.
Applejack pulls back Rainbow Dash by her tail when the latter is about to do something rash, as seen in the episodes Friendship is Magic, part 1, Friendship is Magic, part 2, The Ticket Master, Dragonshy, The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000, and The Crystal Empire - Part 2.

In Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1, Applejack is the one to assure Twilight that they and their friends will always be connected through the Elements of Harmony. She is also the first to take Twilight's safety into consideration for Equestria's sake in Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2.

On occasion, Applejack gets carried away with her empathy, especially with Apple Bloom. In Bridle Gossip, Applejack becomes overprotective of Apple Bloom when Zecora comes into Ponyville. Her overprotective nature comes into play again in the episode Somepony to Watch Over Me.

### Honesty

"*Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!*"
— Twilight Sparkle, Friendship is Magic, part 2Applejack represents 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 Nightmare Moon. Applejack finds it difficult to go against her natural honesty in Party of One when she has to lie about why she cannot attend Gummy's after-birthday party. She sweats and grins nervously under Pinkie Pie's scrutiny despite having the most credible excuse: needing to buck apples.
In The Return of Harmony Part 1, Applejack is the first pony to be hypnotized and brainwashed by Discord, causing her and her hat to turn into a greyer shade. Applejack becomes a compulsive liar, throwing hurtful and sarcastic jabs at her friends. Initially, her lies are not particularly convincing or malicious, but they grow more ridiculous and harmful as the corruption intensifies. In one of her lies when, she tells Rarity that Twilight told her to split Tom, and Rarity starts doing martial arts on her. Twilight also bowls Applejack over when performing the memory spell right after Applejack asked, "Where you went when I was battlin' Discord?" She is also the first pony to have her corruption cured by Twilight, and one of the first things she does is apologize.

In The Last Roundup, she refuses to tell her friends why she abandoned Ponyville to work on a Dodge Junction cherry farm. She avoids telling the truth throughout the episode until the end, at which point she explains that she did not win first place nor any prize money in the Equestria Rodeo, so she got a job at the farm to earn money for Ponyville.

In Rarity Takes Manehattan, Applejack remarks candidly about Rarity's "pretty rotten" actions, much to Rainbow Dash's surprise.
The limits of Applejack's honesty are put to the test in Leap of Faith. When Flim and Flam sell their placebo potion to Granny Smith, Applejack endorses the product, while knowing it is a fake, because it visibly makes Granny Smith feel happier. Once the placebo effect leads Granny Smith to attempt a dangerous dive, she turns honest about the product. Her honesty rubs off on Silver Shill for the product, who comes to realize he had been helping to deceive other ponies.
Applejack's values of honesty are explored in detail in Where the Apple Lies. When she and Big McIntosh were younger, they had conflicting ideas on how to run Sweet Apple Acres. She tries to make an arrangement with Filthy Rich where he sells Apple family cider in his store, but when the arrangement goes south and threatens to sever all business ties between the Apple and Rich families, Applejack tells one lie after another in order to keep their families' relations stable. Her lies quickly spiral out of control, however, and Applejack eventually confesses to everyone involved. After this experience, she learns to value being honest.

The episode The Perfect Pear reveals that Applejack inherited her strong values of honesty from her father Bright Mac. In *My Little Pony: Friends Forever* Issue #23, Applejack's personal beliefs on honesty are directly connected to her Elements of Harmony, making her physically incapable of lying.

### Appetite

Applejack possesses a huge appetite in A Bird in the Hoof and Apple Family Reunion. Granny Smith recalls the time when Apple Split found Applejack as a foal eating all the apple fritters, showing that she "had the appetite of a full-grown stallion."

### Skills

#### Strength

Applejack possesses incredible physical strength due to, as she explains in Fall Weather Friends, years of applebucking, the practice of harvesting apple trees by kicking them to knock the apples down. Some examples are in the following episodes:

* Applebuck Season: Even when she is sleep-deprived, Applejack clears all of the apples out of a tree in a single kick. In the episode Over a Barrel, the citizens of Appleloosawork in groups and kick multiple times to harvest apples from a single tree.
* Dragonshy: Before Twilight enters the dragon cave, Applejack turns a pair of apples into projectiles with a single kick on each, causing them to break upon impact against a rock. She demonstrates similar feats in Spike at Your Service, launching rocks at a group of timberwolves, and Buckball Season, breaking a hole through a wooden target board.
* Fall Weather Friends: In the bucking contest, Applejack uses one hind hoof and bucks the hammer so hard that it breaks and sends the bell flying.
* The Mysterious Mare Do Well: While dressed up, she stops a bus from falling with a single kick.
* Leap of Faith: When trying to "rescue" Granny Smith while the latter swims, Applejack knocks over a tall tree with a single kick.
* Shadow Play - Part 1: Applejack stops a massive boulder with her hind legs before it can crush a group of ponies, then kicks it a considerable distance away.

#### Athleticism

Applejack possesses extraordinary athletic abilities. She and Rainbow Dash compete in the Iron Pony competition in Fall Weather Friends, where their athletic feats draw a sizable crowd. Applejack demonstrates her skills with a lasso 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 left and right hind hooves as "Bucky McGillycuddy" and "Kicks McGee" respectively.

#### Cooking

Pinkie Pie describes Applejack as "one of the best bakers ever" in Applebuck Season. Applejack sells apple-based foods at a concession stand in The Best Night Ever. In an earlier episode, Applejack describes to Twilight how she will use the money from the concession stand to upgrade the barn roof, buy a new plow for Big McIntosh, and replace Granny Smith's hip. In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1, Princess Celestia asks Applejack to prepare refreshments and the wedding cake for Princess Cadance and Shining Armor's royal wedding. She cheers up a grumpy Twilight with an apple fritter during the wedding preparations. In Apple Family Reunion, Applejack shows her skill at making apple fritters to her relatives. In the episode Rainbow Falls, she makes an abundance of apple brown bettys for the Ponyville air relay team.

#### Herding

Applejack stops a cow stampede in Applebuck Season with only the help of her dog, Winona. Twilight Sparkle seeks her help first when she is looking for a way to herd the parasprites out of Ponyville in Swarm of the Century. Applejack and her family also herd the Pinkie Pies together by Twilight's instructions in Too Many Pinkie Pies.

#### Playing musical instruments

Applejack demonstrates an affinity for playing musical instruments throughout the series. In A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2, she plays a fiddle during the picture montage in Love is in Bloom. In Pinkie Apple Pie, she plays a banjo during Apples to the Core. In Somepony to Watch Over Me, she plays a snake charming flute to save Apple Bloom from a chimera. In a flashback in The Mane Attraction, she accompanies Coloraturaon the acoustic guitar during a camp talent show.

### Experience as a Ponyville citizen

Throughout the first season, Applejack tells Twilight Sparkle about the way things are in Ponyville. She gets upset with Twilight for using magic during Winter Wrap Up, and tells her "That's not how we do it 'round here, Twilight, and especially not on *mah* farm", although she quickly regrets her outburst when Twilight runs off in tears.

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."

### Cutie mark

In Call of the Cutie, Applejack tells her sister that she was the last one in her class to get a cutie mark, a trait that seems to run in their family; Granny Smith and Big McIntosh were also the last ponies in their classes to get their cutie marks. In The Cutie Mark Chronicles, Applejack 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 relatives, the Oranges, in a big city called Manehattan. However, she finds it hard to fit in and becomes terribly homesick. The rainbow left in the wake of Rainbow Dash's sonic rainboom convinces her to return home. Applejack realizes that she truly belongs in the family farm, and her cutie mark, three apples, appears.

### The Apple family

Applejack's immediate and extended family is featured in the show multiple times. This includes her big brother Big McIntosh, her little sister Apple Bloom, her grandmother Granny Smith, and many more distant relatives. The episode Pinkie Apple Pie suggests that Pinkie Pie may be among these distant relatives, but all evidence shown leaves this ambiguous.

#### Applejack's parents

The whereabouts of Applejack's parents is touched on in the episode Apple Family Reunion. At the end of the episode, the shot fades to a view of Sweet Apple Acres as two shooting stars fly through the sky. The shooting stars are meant to represent Applejack's parents, according to storyboard artist Sabrina Alberghetti.[7] In Crusaders of the Lost Mark, Applejack tells Apple Bloom that their parents would be proud of her after she receives her cutie mark. Applejack's mother is referred to in the chapter book Applejack and the Honest-to-Goodness Switcheroo.

Applejack's parents Bright Mac and Pear Butter appear in flashback in the season seven episode The Perfect Pear, in which they are revealed to have had a Romeo and Juliet-like romance as a result of a feud between the Apple family and Pear family.

Lauren Faust had previously mentioned that the whereabouts of Applejack's parents has not been planned, and that the show is unlikely to mention that they've passed away.[8] Faust stated that while she wanted it to be the case, she "didn't think they would allow it."[9]

## TMNT X Pokemon

Applejack doesn't like liars and will use her element to see if the person is lying or not. In Broken Foot, Applejack immediately suspects that Leo is hiding something due to his weird behavior and mannerism. When she finds out he's secretly working with Karai, she's in complete and utter disbelief that he would work with her and not telling anybody. She tries to convince Leo that he has to tell the others about this but he refused to do so in exchange of getting into major trouble

## Quotes

"*Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends!*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 1
"*Soup's on, everypony!*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 1
"*What I'm telling you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe.*"
— Friendship is Magic, part 2
"*Why of all the... This is your sister Applejack, remember? The loyalest of friends and the most dependable of ponies?*"
— Applebuck Season
"*Besides, you're a mighty good athlete. I'm just better. Heh heh heh.*"
— Fall Weather Friends
"*I've been happily workin' in the farm ever since.*"
— The Cutie Mark Chronicles
"*Uh, beg pardon, Rarity, but uh, we don't normally wear clothes.*"
— The Best Night Ever
"*I was talking to... uh... nopony! Nopony whatsoever!*"
— The Return of Harmony, part 1
"*Wh-what happened? Twilight! I saw a vision of us feudin' and fightin'. I couldn't face the truth, so I started tellin' lies. Can you ever forgive me?*"
— The Return of Harmony, part 2
"*My sister's speakin' in fancy!*"
— The Cutie Pox
"*Dear Princess Celestia, It's a tad easier to be proud when you come in first than it is when you finish further back. But there's no reason to hide when you don't do as well as you'd hoped. You can't run away from your problems. Better to run to your friends and family.*"
— The Last Roundup
"*Dear Princess Celestia, I wanted to share my thoughts with you. [clears throat] I didn't learn anything! I was right all along!*"
— The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000
"*Sorry, Twi. We should have listened to you.*"
— A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2
"*Y'all come back here and clean up after yourselves this instant!*"
— Too Many Pinkie Pies
"*Forget it, Trixie! I ain't doin' nothin' 'til you let Twilight come home!*"
— Magic Duel
"*The Summer Sun Celebration may have brought us together, but it's something much bigger that'll always keep us connected. Exhibit A: The six of us are united by the Elements of Harmony. No amount of royal duties is gonna change that. Right, everypony?*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1
"*Listen here, you rabid rhododendrons! You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us!*"
— Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2
"*Yeah, you were pretty rotten.*"
— To Rarity, Rarity Takes Manehattan
"*Made me sit up proud like a corn stalk in August.*"
— Equestria Games
"*Oh, sugarcube, if Mom and Dad were here, they'd be so proud of ya.*"
— To Apple Bloom, Crusaders of the Lost Mark
"*Now, now, don't go gettin' yourself into a tizzy there, Rara. Svengallop turned you into Countess Coloratura and acted like your friend so he could enjoy the perks that came with bein' a star. But the*real*perk of friendship is gettin' to see your friend bein' true to their self. And Rara, when you're simply yourself, you're the brightest star I've ever seen shine.*"
— The Mane Attraction
"*Thanks, y'all. I guess I just got so used to doin' everythin' a certain way, I didn't realize there were any problems.*"
— Applejack's "Day" Off
"*Yeehaw every pony! Soon you can hoof it on over to the sweetest place in Equestria! Guess where it is?*"
— Promotional image for My Little Pony (mobile game)[15]

"*Leo, you feeling okay? You're acting as if you saw a ghost*"
— Applejack questioning about Leo's behavior in Broken Foot

"*What in tarnation?! Leonardo, you're working with Karai?! How could you! This is the lowest of the low even for you! You have to tell the others about this!*"
— Applejack in utter disbelief of Leo working with Karai in Broken Foot