Best Overprotective Big Sister Applejack · 10:31am Mar 9th, 2014
Once again, an enjoyable pony episode! It made me realize that Applejack acts much more like a mother towards her little sister Applebloom, than Twilight Sparkle acts towards Spike, despite being his guardian and the pony who hatched him in the first place.
Applejack, consciously or unconsciously, has taken up the role of their dead parents in her relationship with AB. She's always been quite protective of her sister, and I got the feeling that it was Granny and Mac who convinced her in the first place to let Applebloom handle the farm for the day or two.
Twilight, on the other hand, seems to have a more equal-level relationship with Spike. Sure, she sees him as her little brother, but he's also her research assistant, personal secretary and trusted confidante. I get the feeling that both she and Spike think he's more mature than he actually is, in reverse of how Applejack sees her little sister.
Funnily enough, this all means that Rarity and Sweetie Belle, the two sisters who are the least close to one another, have the most normal sibling relationship! They love one another (and Rarity's much better at admitting and showing it, post-Sisterhooves Social), but they also frustrate and annoy one another, and have their clashes and spats.
Also, the chimera was/were one (three?) great new addition to the Equestrian bestiary. I very much liked how they made it intelligent as well as monstrous, serving both as a direct threat and as a metaphor of sisterly dysfunction.
Rarity and Sweetie Belle's relationship being the most sibling-like makes sense. After all, they're the ones who have the most normal family situation. Sweetie lives with her parents and occasionally with her cool big sister who's already moved out and is making a name for herself.
Meanwhile, Spike is treated more as a ward, an assistant, and now and again a caretaker in his own right, and thus neither he nor Twilight seems to know just what he is to her, or she to him. As for the Apple siblings, their parents are either dead or astronauts, and so the older two find themselves sliding into the absent niches.
Actually, that'd make a good story. Big Mac in an explicitly paternal role. Hmm...
This was also applejacks freak out episode