Can you take the mare out of Sweet Apple Acres? · 1:35am Nov 25th, 2014
The other day on the AppleDash group, the subject came up of why everyone assumes Applejack is tied to Sweet Apple Acres. The short answer is her cutie mark, but that’s part of a larger set of reasons that make Sweet Apple Acres the place where she knows she belongs. Unless you take a really limiting view of cutie marks, I don’t think that chains her to that specific farm, but rather symbolizes that she recognized the things she needs, all of which she happens to be able to find on Sweet Apple Acres. This includes her family, but it’s deeper than that, encompassing her history, personality, skill set, and future. Sweet Apple Acres happens to be the perfect place for Applejack to be who she is, which is why she’s there and not in Manehattan.
But she doesn’t have to stay there. By looking at the reasons why Sweet Apple Acres is perfect for her, we can identify other places that she’d be just as happy. Of course Sweet Apple Acres would always be special to her, but if she can get the same things from another location or even career, I think she could be equally satisfied.
So, what does Applejack get from Sweet Apple Acres? What would it take for her to be willing to try someplace new? And what kind of new place would make her really happy? Here’s my take.
Things Applejack gets from Sweet Apple Acres (and how they could influence her to leave):
Security:
Sweet Apple Acres is a safe place for Applejack. She’s surrounded by her family, who love her unconditionally, doing a job she’s been training for her whole life. It’s remained relatively unchanged from the time it was founded, and all of that makes it a place Applejack knows intimately, and a place she’s appreciated, respected, and loved.
We can see this in the story of how she got her cutie mark: when she sees the rainbow pointing to Sweet Apple Acres she knows just who she is, but it’s when she’s on the farm, in the embrace of her immediate family, that the cutie mark actually appears. Her problem in Manehattan wasn’t that she couldn’t do the things she needed to to be accepted, it was that she was insecure, out of her element. When she realized that, and remembered that Sweet Apple Acres was where she didn’t feel like that, she knew she had to go home. And home is where she found her cutie mark.
Sweet Apple Acres could potentially lose the security it gives Applejack if several things changed quickly. If, for example, Granny passed away, Apple Bloom left, and/or Mac brought a wife to live there in a short period of time, it’s perfectly likely that would throw Applejack off balance. There’s also external factors that could affect the farming side of things: a plague of some sort in the apple trees, Mac or Apple Bloom implementing new farming or business practices, or Ponyville changing drastically in some way that isolates Sweet Apple Acres from the part the Apples have always played. I’m not saying that any one of these things would be enough to scare AJ away, and all of them happening in one fic would be misery porn, but I think if several happened at once, she’d seriously consider leaving.
Responsibility:
Applejack feels responsible for Sweet Apple Acres, and she likes that. Applejack likes being needed in general, so being manager of the farm makes her feel important, more so because it first perfectly in her skill set. She also seems to feel a responsibility towards Ponyville, possibly stemming from her family having founded the town. As seen in Bats!, these things are connected: Sweet Apple Acres basically feeds Ponyville, so it running efficiently is important for Ponyville’s prosperity. While it might be stressful at times, I suspect it would be more stressful to Applejack to be depending on another pony for that.
This could be used to push her away from Sweet Apple Acres in two ways: first, if she felt that there was another pony who made a better manager for Sweet Apple Acres, she would eventually admit that. She’d hate it, but she would step down for the good of the town or the farm. A slightly more cheerful parting would be if she felt she could better serve the town or Sweet Apple Acres someplace else. In either case, it comes down to the idea that if she wasn’t acting responsibly by working on Sweet Apple Acres, she wouldn’t want to be there.
Legacy:
Applejack is the fourth generation of Apples to work Sweet Apple Acres, and the implication is that not much has changed in that time. It’s her legacy in both the literal and metaphorical sense; both the physical property and the traditions that come with it. That’s a special thing: an unbroken connection to the ponies who worked to make her farm, Ponyville, and her siblings what they are today, and which she can add to, guard, and pass down to her own children. (As an aside, I’ve had conversations with European bronies who don’t have quite the same sense of the “family farm” that’s a part of American culture. But I think the implication of the show is that the romanticized version of that dream is alive and well in Equestria, and deeply felt by Applejack.)
Losing the legacy would probably take the form of literally losing the farm, in which case she’d obviously leave; even if offered the chance to live there and work it as tenant farmers, the guilt of being the one who lost it would poison the whole place for Applejack. Along the same lines, if she needed to go someplace else to save it, for example if it fell on hard times and she needed money to save it, she’d do almost anything to do that.
Pride:
Pride is arguably Applejack’s single most important trait. And she is proud of Sweet Apple Acres and her role there. This is the reason behind her love of responsibility and the importance of her legacy-- it’s not enough that she be useful, and it’s not enough that she pass something down to future generations, it has to be something she can stand behind. Her responsibilities and legacy both have to be honest and beneficial for her to love the place.
If she ever felt she wasn’t doing a job she was proud of, whether due to her own limitations or circumstances that required her to act unethically, she would leave the farm. Another way that pride could influence her to leave would be if she felt the legacy she inherited was tarnished somehow-- if a dark secret was exposed revealing that her family and traditions weren’t what she thought they were, that could seriously hurt her connection to the farm and might make her think of leaving.
Of course, there are other, positive reasons she might leave Sweet Apple Acres. She could leave for the love of another pony, if that pony had a really pressing reason to live someplace else. Or, as I said under responsibility, because she could serve the farm or Ponyville better in some way. She could leave because there was an opportunity someplace else, or even from a sense of wanderlust. What’s important to Applejack’s character and happiness isn’t that she lives at Sweet Apple Acres; it’s that she lives someplace that offers her those things I mentioned above.
Where Applejack might go if she left Sweet Apple Acres (and how she would be happy there):
The easiest way for her to be happy would be on another farm, especially starting her own farm. She has the skill set to feel comfortable, secure, and take up responsibilities, and if she could make it a success it would be her own legacy and something she could be proud of. In fact, if the opportunity came up, I can even see it being tempting to Applejack to start a farm in the wilderness, placing herself in Granny Smith’s horseshoes to carve out a new Ponyville for future generations. Slightly more complicated for her would be if she was offered an existing farm, whether through inheritance or because of a romantic relationship with another farmer. In that case, she would be nearly satisfied, but would probably find she’s not totally happy until she was able to make it hers somehow, whether by adding to what’s there, or changing the way things were done. She would need to ensure she was leaving her own mark; that she, specifically, was important to the farm.
Picturing Applejack being happy in a city is harder, but still possible. The key is that she would need something to do there. A special somepony and/or family might offer her security and a legacy (in the form of foals), but it would be important to her happiness to have some responsibilities she could be proud of to fill up her spare time, and her skill set doesn’t lend itself to a lot of important jobs in the city. One thing that could work would be a political position in Canterlot, either as a representative of Ponyville or a minister/secretary/advisor of agriculture, or an ambassador of Princess Twilight to some other city -- especially if there was something she saw that needed reform. This would easily give her a sense of responsibility and a chance to leave a legacy. She’s unlikely to be a typical politician, she’d want to do a job she could be proud of, and she would need to surround herself with a staff she trusts completely in order to feel secure. But in a Mr. Smith Goes to Washington-type situation, Applejack could happily leave the farm to do her best for Ponyville and Equestria. (Ghost, I found the collab we didn’t know we were looking for.)
It’s hardest to think of a situation Applejack would be comfortable with that requires a lot of travel. It’s not that she doesn’t like travel, she’s been behind several of the trips the show has taken outside of Ponyville (and to more different places than any of the mane six,) she just needs the security of returning to the farm regularly. Pretty much the only way I could see that working would be if it was something she had to do to send money back to the farm, or fulfill some other responsibility, and even then it would be a sacrifice for her. She needs roots, and I don’t think there’s anything that could totally make up for the lack of those.
So, I think it is possible to take Applejack away from Sweet Apple Acres, and even have her happy there. It’s not something that would happen easily, and one has to pay attention to how one does it, but there are plenty of interesting stories in the whys and hows of that, and not all of them are tragic. Sweet Apple Acres is special because it gives Applejack the things she needs to be Applejack, but with a little hard work it’s not the only place in Equestria that could do that. And Applejack is never afraid of a little hard work.
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How about a situation where she lives at the farm but works elsewhere?
Ms Apple goes to Canterlot.
Mmm.
Mmmmmmm.
Applejack stands for MP? Now there's an idea.
"Three days in. How's the bête noire of the House doing?"
"There's such a thing as too much schadenfreude, Spinny."
"Nonsense. So?"
"Two lobbyists have applied for Guard protection. And the EDPP whip has had to miss a party conference. Indigestion."
"Do you think she'd take it the wrong way if I gave her a hug? Maybe a cake? Flowers? A flower cake? Made of hugs?"
"Won't you think of the poor politicians?"
"Nope. Karma."
Sock is doing a wonderful Applejack noir and it makes for an interesting view, if not so much happy as making do.
Haven't seen much else in the way of Applejack in th' city.
Applejack encountering high-level politics makes me think about Jury Duty by Estee.
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If there was a job in Ponyville she would think she could do well. I could see her running for Mayor someday.
I've long thought Applejack could end up doing stuff for the government, so long as she felt like what she was doing was very important and made a difference, especially to ponies like herself. I think she'd actually feel kind of honor-bound to do it to some extent if she felt like she was the pony who had to do it, like she had to step forward and take responsibility to help them in some way, and I think the fact that a lot of her family are farmers might also push for that - if there was some wide-scale catastrophe and Twilight needed help actually dealing with it, I think that she could fall into some sort of governmental position for dealing with it all across Equestria, even beyond her own family's farms.
I don't think she'd do it if someone else was doing the job well enough, but if she felt no one else was doing the job well enough, or there needed to be something there, she does have a very strong sense of communal responsibility, as we've seen several times in the show.
Of course, she might also end up doing something like becoming mayor of Ponyville at some point, though given that Mayor Mare is probably like 35, that's probably a ways off.
I wonder if Mayor Mare would offer her her gray dye?
Although it has always struck me as odd that the show creators would put forward a farmer (not to mention a librarian) as a role model for girls in the 21st century (then again, perhaps we should not expect a re-boot of a 1980s franchise to be forward looking), the show writers do give Applejack relevance to modern times by depicting her entrepreneurial spirit. She's often shown thinking of ways to improve sales for her farm, and serves as an example of a practical, independent businessmare who is willing to put in the hard work to maintain her own small business. Thus, if she were to move to the city, I could definitely see her thriving as a small business owner. I can't really imagine Applejack being happy working under someone else (and she'd definitely tire of the endless bureaucracy if working in politics), but running her own business would allow her to be her own boss.
My own personal headcannon for Applejack's motivations are that she feels the responsibility for continuing her parents' legacy. She often takes these responsibilities too far (e.g. Applebuck Season and Somepony to Watch over Me) and fears not living up to expectations (e.g. The Last Roundup and Apple Family Reunion). In some sense, she's like Twilight in that they're both trying to live up to the expectations of their role models, except in Twilight's case her mentor is still around to deliver praise when she meets those expectations.
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Actually, it's not that weird when you think of it. None of the mane six are intended to be aspirational role models-- all of their careers make no real sense in that aspect except maybe Rarity.
What the mane six do are things that seven-year-old girls think are fun: they bake and throw parties, play dress-up, hang out in a library, spend time on a farm (that really resembles the kind of farms where kids take field trips and pick pumpkins for Halloween,) play with animals, and do awesome daredevil tricks. Oh, and one of them is a princess too. None of them are about what girls should be when they grow up, they're about what a seven year old would want to be if they were grown up right now.
2615305
I don't know. Applejack and Rarity are of course entrepreneurs.
Pinkie is a baker's apprentice, working as a waitress at Sugarcube Corner and doing her party planning stuff.
Rainbow and Fluttershy are basically civic employees; one manages the weather, the other handles local wildlife (and provides all sorts of pet services to boot).
And Twilight was clearly a grad student (with a generous royal research grant, possibly the most unlikely thing about any of them
) working as a part-time librarian along the side.
2615662
Yeah, but my point is that if any of the mane six were designed along the lines of telling little girls "these are things you can be when you grow up" (things for them to aspire to) it's a really weird selection. None of them (except for Rarity) are jobs that little girls would easily understand or that people would want their daughters to be encouraged towards.
But I don't think that was anyone's intent with the mane six.
Also, and this is nothing against you, you just reminded me of it, I'm starting to get a little peeved hearing about Rarity as a business mare or entrepreneur. In a technical sense she is, except for the part where she doesn't need money because part of her special talent is literally finding currency laying under the ground.
The show reflects that, too: While the Apples have been shown in several situations that associate what they do with making money and/or trying to increase sales specifically, Rarity's only "business" concern seems to be her reputation. Now, this is a totally valid business concern for any business, and certianly the Apples are concerned about it as well, but we never see anything to suggest that it's related to making money for Rarity, rather than her goal of being seen as a great artist and moving among the elite. For all we're told, Rarity's business could be losing money and totally subsidized by gem finding, and as long as Rarity's reputation as a great designer was growing she would be happy with this. And that's fine, because the point of Rarity isn't that she's a business mare, it's that she's an artist.
Now this isn't to say that she's not a good business mare, maybe she is. We just don't see anything on the show that implies that she is, And obviously in a high-class business like fashion design, eventually her good reputation would bring in more money than she could make gem finding. But the point I'm trying to make is that we've never seen anything from her to indicate that she's actually concerned with that. For a business mare or entrepreneur who the fandom keeps telling me is good at it, she's suspiciously silent when it comes to the making money side of things, especially when compared to the Apples.
Another amazing blog, bookplayer ^^ This give all of us good ideas for possible Applejack fanfics ^^
2615749
I find it entirely likely that her business would be in the black but she gives away enough to force her to subsidize it. She does things like make ten ball gowns for her friends out of the goodness of her heart after all.
Been wanting to make this comment all day, since it seems I can not make posts from my phone nay more... .
Dotted Line x Applejack is now my new favorite OC x Main Six ship. And it hasn't even happened yet.
You two should make that happen.
A few hundred years later, Applejack still haunts the spot where Sweet Apple Acres used to be. I now feel a need for this fic.
2615252
Mane 6 are role models for relating to other people. They are obviously meant to be not role models for making a career. We aren't even clear what Fluttershy's job actually is.
I always figured her three apples represented family. She's a family mare. And she's only tied to where her family is.
Now, if her family were Rainbow Dash for example, I think she could pull up stakes (occasionally) and go be with her wherever she is. True, the Acres are her home, and it's where she'll always return to roost, but she puts more importance in the ponies for where home is.
Applejack follows the philosophy of, "Home is where the heart is." Her responsibilities to her work and community may be on the farm, but her responsibilities to her heart may not necessarily always be there. She'll fulfill both needs as required.
So, to answer the blog question: Yes, for at least a little while, as long as somepony is around to watch over it for her.
2618124
I don't really buy that, for the reasons I went into above. I think she needs to be getting those things from somewhere. Tradition, work, something to be proud of... those are all things that are just as important to Applejack as her family.
2618165
I think Applejack, though, views supporting her friends/family/whatever else, however, as a duty in its own right. As long as she feels like she's contributing to something, as long as she's fulfilling an obligation she's made to somepony, be it to Rainbow or anypony else, she feels like she's where she needs to be at the time. The apples will still be there when she gets back. I don't think it'd be that hard to imagine AJ leaving the farm behind for a week or two, for example, to follow Rainbow on one of her tours. Even though she's just cheering her on in the stands, she knows she's fulfilling her duty as a friend/marefriend/wife to provide her with moral support. She wouldn't care to do it too often -- she still has to care for her family back home and the trees certainly won't buck themselves.
Now, granted, longer periods away from home, such as a month or more, would definitely require her to have... well, something to occupy her time with. Even if it's just volunteer work in a city she's in, I think she could get very bored very quickly, and even depressed, if all she's doing is being Rainbow's number one fan.
That being said, I still think her cutie mark is based entirely around loyalty to her family. To her, family comes first above all else -- not at the expense of all else, but she's willing to make concessions and meet things halfway on family's behalf. It's hard to tell, given that three apples arranged in an equilateral triangle is kind of a vague cutie mark, but the time and circumstances under which she received it seem to imply that she belongs with her family more than anything. For Applejack, being a family mare is more important than anything, whether that means providing for her family, or supporting them in what they do. Sweet Apple Acres gives her purpose and an occupation, but it's secondary to what she really is.
2618200
Um, yes, that's what we were talking about. I don't think anyone disputes she can leave the farm for trips, she does it all the time in canon. The blog post is talking about if/how she could move away for Sweet Apple Acres for good (or, for years at a time, at least.)
And my argument is that that "something to occupy her time" has to fall into a fairly narrow category of things: something she's good at, something she can be proud of, and something that leaves a legacy that helps ponies in the future, if you want her to be equally as happy as she would be om Sweet Apple Acres.
That doesn't really make sense with canon. The Oranges are also her family, as closely related as Granny Smith and more closely related than her special somepony would be, and it didn't symbolize loyalty to them. So unless you mean Granny, Mac, and Apple Bloom specifically, I'm not sure it follows.
2614910 What's MP?
Who is Baby Trixie?
2727623
Baby Trixie (or human-baby-Trixie) is my daughter. Her name is Beatrix, so we call her Trixie, but around here I have to make it clear I'm not talking about pony Trixie.,
2727621
An MP is a Member of Parliament, a title for a member of the lower house of a bicameral parliamentary system, generally (though not necessarily) one following the Westminster System (i.e. the system used in the UK). I write stories with ponies and politics in them (The Civil Service Series as it is sometimes known) and in these stories Equestria is a bit like the UK in the way it is put together politically, which is why I said 'MP' instead of, say, 'congresspony.' The little snippet that follows is an imagined discussion between two characters from those stories: Spinning Top and Dotted Line.
And Baby Trixie is bookplayer's lovely infant daughter.