What's So Great About AppleDash · 1:16am Oct 21st, 2014
I’ve never written much about AppleDash, mainly because what I would write about is shown much more clearly in my fics, especially The AppleDash Project, which really hits on everything I think is awesome about this ship. But in the interest of fairness, I’m finally going to share my thoughts and explain how AppleDash is the most romantic ship...
AppleDash is not a traditionally romantic ship. That honor goes to FlutterDash and RariJack.
But AJ and Dash really shine as a couple because AppleDash is the best funny, down-to-earth, slice of life ship. Applejack and Rainbow Dash make a stable-but-messy couple who can take what life throws and come back for more. AJ and Dash are a couple you’d want to invite to a barbeque, because they seem fun and relaxed and might butt heads in a snarky way, but not end up flipping tables at each other.
Applejack and Rainbow Dash fight, second only to Rarity and Applejack, but where a RariJack argument tends to take over an entire plot or subplot and turn into wild demonstrations, AJ and Dash are more likely to bicker verbally, or possibly turn to a competition to solve it.
This makes sense, because they’re characters who are both very, very different, but still share a lot of the same values. They both value courage, physical prowess, honesty, and straightforward solutions. They call it like they see it. Their approach to solving most problems will be the same, or at least totally understandable to the other, building a deep mutual respect between them. But at the same time, Applejack is an earth pony’s earth pony, tied to her land, focused on family and community. She’s a nurturer at heart, and steeped in responsibility and personal honor. Dash, on the other hand, is the model of pegasi ideals; she’s ambitious and focused on individual excellence, with a taste for grand adventure. She’s also a dreamer who easily gets wrapped up in any amusement or novelty that strikes her fancy.
This means that as a couple they can have a strong core built on values they share and an understanding of the other and how she thinks. Applejack might not want the adventure of being a Wonderbolt herself, but the goal fits in with the deeper values she holds so it would seem undeniably worthy to her. Similarly, Dash might never want to be a farmer herself, but it’s simple and straightforward enough that she can understand the reasons AJ would want to do it.
But at the same time, they still clash frequently, both directly and indirectly. Directly, they’re likely to dig their hooves in on different sides of an issue, understanding both sides equally well but thinking the other is just wrong due to the different weight they give to aspects of their lives or the cultures they were raised in. Indirectly, they develop a problem and go about their own business until it becomes big enough to be the other pony’s problem as well.
They also have communication issues, but they stem more from withholding information from each other that not being able to understand what the other is saying: Applejack tends to keep personal problems inside and not reveal weakness to the ponies who could help her. Dash is often thoughtless enough that she doesn’t realize that she should tell other ponies something, and she’d rather ask forgiveness than permission if she’s pretty sure other ponies would object.
A quick aside: Many people cite their competitive streaks as being a potential problem between Applejack and Rainbow Dash, but I think it rarely would be. People who argue this seem to miss a major aspect of both characters: they both love competition. It’s their hobby. When they have a day off, they go looking for a pony to compete with. This could easily drive a different pony crazy: if Dash kept trying to compete with Twilight, she might eventually ask if every darn thing has to be a competition. But Applejack is unlikely to ask that, because what’s wrong with every darn thing being a competition? It keeps a pony on their hooves. Not to mention that, as a romantic couple, they’re no longer single competitors: they’re a team, and a team that’s likely to be unstoppable when they work together. Competition is as likely to drive Applejack and Rainbow Dash together as it is to break them apart.
So, AJ and Rainbow Dash are a couple that finds themselves in minor conflict again and again, but will undoubtedly return to a core understanding to patch things up before moving on to the next petty squabble. They’re the least likely to show a “romantic” side in the traditional sense, and most writers have to content themselves with a kiss and some private cuddles in the apple orchard or barn to show the loving side of the couple. That’s cool and all, but we’re talking about romance. How is that romantic?
AppleDash is really the ultimate sitcom-style couple. Like any couple on a long running TV show, they have their frequent ups and downs, but they settle easily into a loving relationship.
They work better than any couple in episodic fics, or "wacky situation" fics like Those Blue Wings or What Would Daring Do? that let them run around like crazy ponies for a while before they fall into each other's forelegs. They also work well as a side plot in a fic about one or the other of them, without stealing the center stage. They're a great comedy duo, and a couple you want to watch having conversations and arguments about little things, reacting to each other with a mixture of love, friendship, and teasing.
AJ can easily fall into the role of stoic, dry-witted, long-suffering anchor for Dash's antics, and Dash is the best character on the show at both going over-the-top and then realizing that she went over the top and coming back, slightly embarrassed, for some cuddles and reassurance that their love will always be there anyway. Or you can play AJ’s love of tradition and more country mannerisms off of Dash’s more urban coolness and modern attitudes. In any case, teasing will be a major part of any dynamic; both characters are thick skinned, understand each other enough to both dish it out and take it without really hurting each other, and flawed enough for the audience to enjoy a joke at either’s expense.
I think this might be one of the reasons for AppleDash’s continued popularity (other than Tchernobog’s evangelism): it’s a very comfortable ship both to read and write. Most of the serious AppleDash fics are tempered with humor, and you probably already know how the character’s interactions will play out. In the same way it’s always nice to catch an old episode of a sitcom you like, picking up (or writing) an AppleDash fic is unlikely to be a new and exciting experience, it’s more likely to be checking in with old friends and remembering how well this works.
Now, this isn’t to say that AppleDash can’t do drama. Often it does it quite well because it’s unexpected and a little messier than other ships-- watching two ponies who aren’t good with their feelings muddle through something emotional gives a “feels” fic a realistic edge that more romantic ships can have trouble finding. It grounds it in something inherently stable, which makes shaking it mean that much more.
Another place AppleDash doesn’t do well, unexpectedly, is adventure. On their own, AJ and Dash are great additions to an adventure fic: they’re the fighters of the mane six, and the two ponies who will never back down from a job that needs doing, no matter the risk. But together, the romance between them doesn’t have enough tension to support a grand romance plot, they think too similarly for a “your-way-or-my-way” plot, and they tend to fall short on quiet, tender moments when they’re under stress.
But if you’re looking for a romance story that’s funny and not that mushy and makes you feel like the couple spends enough time hanging out that they know the other’s taste in music even if they still think it sucks (except for Tawny Cash. He’s cool.), AppleDash is your ship.
You know, I don’t feel like that was as eloquent as my arguments for FlutterDash or RariJack. As I said in the opening, I tend to save my AppleDash arguments for the fics, so if you want my eloquent opinion of AppleDash, I suggest checking out the AppleDash Project chapter What’s So Great About Cider.
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Authors Note: Since writing this blog, I've had this stuck in my head, so I thought I'd share.
Preaching to the choir, but it's a very lovely sermon.
Well I for one appreciate this blog. By appreciate I mean it was one of the ones I was looking forward to you writing within the growing cycle of "M6 x M6" is best series.
As someone who is openly not a fan of the ship and often annoys others with teasing of "worstpony" in reaction to evangelism, it is handy to have something like this that points out the readers digest explanation of the ship. I'm not really keen on spending the time it takes reading a full novel about a pairing that simply doesn't interest me, and this helps me be more informed on the decision, regardless of whether it supports or weakens that decision.
Still looking forward to... certain other hypothetical blogs that may or may not come out in the future. :P
You just had to link that chapter didn't you? now I have to go and read your follow-up chapters in the AppleDash prompt story :P.
Fantastic blog as usual with a spot on summation of characters and why they work together.
Keep up the great work; I am off to read about spitfire in a tub of cider ;).
The romantic thing about Appledash is, when you have Appledash and then you BREAK it…
…you've really, really damaged them. Makes reconciliation some of the most damn feelsy stuff ever, if you can sound the right notes. Naturally both will fight like demons to not let those notes be played
It can end up going to a sort of anti-storyline place of "okay, whew, got that straightened out, now PLEASE will you ponies be more cautious with each others' weaknesses? Because none of us could stand you two breaking up again."
And so they live happily forever after as solid foundations to OTHER ponies' stories.
Because they are polar opposites. 99% of the time people with personalities like there would not be together, so putting htem together just makes a funny kind of sense in a story.
at least that's what it seems like to me.
2546532
See, I totally disagree that they're polar opposites, at their core they share a lot of things. As I said in the post:
That's what makes them different from RariJack or FlutterDash to me, there's a lot there that they would respect and enjoy having in an partner. They're just also very different in other ways.
Too eloquent an argument would go against the spirit of AppleDash, which is to do stuff, not talk about it - although AJ and Dash might have different opinions on how and what the doing should be in a particular situation!
2546532
2546588
Thing is, the idea of someone being an opposite is generally a bit forced. Being an opposite in every respect is very unlikely, and really not even necessarily meaningful to begin with; how many ways do you have to be opposite before being opposites?
Is Rainbow Dash more the opposite of Fluttershy than Pinkie Pie is? Is Pinkie Pie Twilight's opposite? How about Rainbow Dash?
Applejack and Rainbow Dash are probably the two most similar characters on the show, though they are still pretty distinct from one another, though Applejack is far more comfortable with being openly affectionate than Rainbow Dash is and has very different goals in life (or at least, presumably so).
2547229
I certainly, 100% agree with you in the real world, there's no such thing as "opposites." And all of the mane six are well rounded characters (great blog post, BTW) so none of them are complete opposites.
At the same time, when the term is used in writing and fanfiction, I feel like it's fair when it's used to refer to characters who are designed to have clearly opposing view points in a wide variety of situations. While all of the mane six have things in common and differences, I think it's obvious that Faust intended (and the show writers frequently use) Applejack and Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, and Twilight and Pinkie to illustrate broadly different viewpoints which they express in broadly different ways.
The traits and personalities of all of the characters were purposely selected by writers, and it seems to me that those three pairings were specifically designed to give them obvious conflicts to return to on multiple occasions. This is opposed to Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy, or Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who one could certainly argue as being opposites in some important ways. But there, it feels like their differences are more accidental, like the writers discovered them rather than designed them that way. There are too many ways they're alike for it to feel like an engineered difference like the "opposite" pairs.
This is just one of those things that's seemed clear to me from early on in the show, so obviously people who have other views aren't wrong or anything, it's just a way I tend to group characters and the ships when I talk about them. So, while people might enjoy "opposites attract" elements in any ship, and a fic could focus on those, the ships I label as "opposites attract" are the ones where I feel that the characters were designed for that.
Thoughts:
I think that competition is only an issue for them when they feel that it is unfair. At that point it stops being a friendly rivalry and becomes a real fight. This is why the Iron Pony escalated like it did.
I disagree about adventure and AppleDash. While the adventure will not showcase their relationship, they fit into adventure and fall into banter so well that writing a good AppleDash adventure fic should not be hard.
2547435
Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash have the most sisterly relationship in the main six to me. They know that they are very different ponies who share few interests. They don't seek out each other's company much. However, they understand each other very well and probably know things about one another that none of their other friends do. In addition, they know the other will always support them if they need it.
2547495 It always seemed to me that Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash sought out each others' company despite having no shared interest. One way or another, they both care about that relationship and want to make it work and are willing to work at making it work. If you want to make them kissy-ponies, then it's potentially very romantic. If you prefer a sisterly interpretation, that works, too.
2546588
I think you give Dash (and even AJ) a little too much credit for their ability to work out problems and communicate. They're both extremely proud, and unlikely to admit they were wrong until Twilight hits them over the head with the facts a few times. When they do end up on opposite side of an issue, the primary reaction for both is to escalate, not communicate, so things like Iron Pony, where most ponies would have talked it out and agreed on the rules and did the contest again, becomes all-out war.
AppleDash is a ship for epic arguments about meaningless issues.
In the interest of full disclosure, Rarity is just as proud, and Pinkie can get just as distracted by the argument itself; Twi is too self-aware to fall for that trap often and Fluttershy capitulates to easily for that particular problem to arise in her relationships. (this is, in turn, the dark shadow underneath any Fluttershy ship)
2547808
I guess that's a little closer to what I meant. I know a lot of siblings who share almost no interests but enjoy each other's company all the same.
2547808
You would think that, based on their personalities it would totally make sense, but it actually isn't supported by canon. Other than the Iron Pony competition, their arguments stay firmly in the realm of sniping at each other and grumbling (The Ticket Master, Over a Barrel, Princess Twilight Sparkle). This is as opposed to Rarity and AJ who do tend to escalate wildly in canon (Look Before You Sleep, Simple Ways, Trade Ya.)
Since both pairings have equal access to Twilight's sanity mallet, it seems like there's something about AJ and Dash and how they relate that keeps arguments more in the realm of bickering. Personally, I think it's that mutual understanding, but other people can interpret canon differently.
2547435
I guess I'm just being overly pedantic. Though it would be nice if people used the literary term "foil" more often to describe such.
I'd say most of the cast actually has multiple foils, which is probably why the show works so well; by setting up multiple axes of contrast, you have more possible story space to explore, as you can mix up the characters more.
Rainbow Dash: Fluttershy (Rainbow Dash is everything Fluttershy isn't), Applejack (Both are physical and competitive, but emphasize different things in other areas of their lives, and have very different ambitions (probably)), Twilight Sparkle (thought versus action, but both are leaders)
Applejack: Rarity (both are strong, stubborn ponies with little sisters, both run their own business, but they have very different points of view about the world), Rainbow Dash
Rarity: Applejack, Fluttershy (both are feminine, beautiful, seem to like beautiful things and fashion, and have "delicate sensibilities", but Rarity is an extrovert, assertive, and flirty while Fluttershy is none of those things)
Twilight Sparkle: Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie (reason versus instinct, introversion vs extroversion)
Fluttershy: Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie (gregarious extrovert who is friends with everyone, has no concept of propriety and manners and high culture, likes being around lots of ponies all the time, but who, like Fluttershy, likes to make ponies happy)
Pinkie Pie: Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy
That being said, I suspect that you're right that Pinkie Pie/Fluttershy wasn't really "intentional" and was more discovered, whereas all the others have been common pairings since season 1 (and also are why said pairings are so common in the show - because they contrast with each other). And indeed, it may be that the fact that Pinkie Pie is only intentionally a foil to Twilight is why she sometimes feels so awkward in the show; she worked well when paired with Rainbow Dash back in season 1, but those two aren't really foils.
2548133
I would say that Rarity and Pinkie Pie could be argued to be foils to one another. (Both extroverts who quickly form friendships, but Rarity is reserved and highly conscious of etiquette while Pinkie is not.)
2547899
I do think that their fights only escalate when they disagree on what is fair, but this is uncommon for them.
2548238
You could argue that, but I don't think they've ever really been used as foils by the show itself, really. Honestly the same kind of applies to Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie; they're barely used as foils, if at all - most of it is either a peripheral example or something like Filli Vanilli, which really mostly has Pinkie Pie accidentally terrifying Fluttershy rather than completely missing the point.