Characters of the Shadow Wars: Applejack · 11:59pm Mar 4th, 2014
Abigail Jacqueline (“Applejack”) Apple IV
Basic Description: Earth Pony mare, born YOH 1478 to Tangelo Orange and Melrose Apple. Orange coat, yellow mane, green eyes. Cutie Mark is three red apples.
Powers: Attuned with the Element of Honesty in YOH 1500. Sometime in YOH 1502 (mid Season 2) gazed into the Pool of Truth, consequently has active Truthsense and awareness of the existence of alternate realities and some of the secrets of the Cosmics.
Capabilities: Has exceptional strength and coordination, being a natural and well-trained athlete and fighter, having a particularly accurate and powerful double-back-kick (“buck”), controlled enough to propel missile weapons with accuracy. Has a very high degree of control over her tail, and can tail-wield a lariat for precision roping. Is a strong distance runner. Has won athletic awards for these and other talents.
Unlike most sane Ponies, she is a natural killer, though her strong morality restrains her from so doing save in absolute need. She is a very dangerous close-in fighter, and has exceptional endurance and toughness in battle. These are actually common Apple Clan traits, but Applejack has them to an extreme degree.
Is a farmer with mastery over all aspects of agriculture familiar in her region, specializing in growing and harvesting apples, and producing and marketing apple-related food products. Has won agricultural awards for the results of these skills.
Personality: Applejack is extremely honorable, honest, courageous, loyal and decent in all meanings of these terms. She is capable of lying only with great difficulty, and is very poor at doing so: her usual way to avoid lies is to refuse to speak on a matter. She usually lies only by omission, and only to avoid hurting the feelings of others. She's not very good at this, either. Applejack is also rather friendly, kind, polite and respectful, and responds well to such behavior manifest in others. She has a tendency to call ponies she likes "Sugar Cube," which from her can be taken as friendly affection.
Even before Attuning, possessed a strong charisma and ability to convince others of her honesty; since her Attunement these qualities have been enhanced. This is aided among any who know her by her strongly-honorable reputation. Applejack is reverent but fearless toward authority figures: she treats the Princesses (including Twilight) with respect, but does not hesitate to speak up honestly if she believes they are in error.
Extremely beautiful, though she generally-avoids taking advantage of this attribute. She prefers to be a simple farmpony, and win respect for her inner nature rather than her outward appearance. She has repeatedly demonstrated that she can behave and dress in a sophisticated, upper-class fashion whenever she wishes, she just generally doesn't wish to do so. She is however a clean pony, who practices normal hygiene: bathing and keeping her hair brushed and (rather basically) styled when possible.
Motivations and Relationships: She is very strongly motivated by loyalty to her family and friends. She deeply loves all three surviving other members of her immediate family (Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom) and would do just about anything for them. Her best friends are probably Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash, the former of whom she deeply respects for her honor and intelligence, and with the second of whom she has an intense friendly rivalry. She is also strongly friendly with the rest of Celestia’s Champions.
She is particularly admired by Princess Twilight, who regards her as one of her best friends; and Princess Luna, who is extremely-impressed by her courage and prowess. The latter Princess has been known to address her as "Fair Apple," with no particular motivation for awarding the title other than Luna's own high regard for Applejack and her family. The characteristic Apple family traits map well to many of Luna's own most admired virtues.
Applejack’s sexual orientation is unknown. She has never in canon been shown as being even slightly-attracted to anypony of either sex. She may well be virginal, which would be normal for young mares of her matrilineage, as an examination of her grandmother’s age indicates that first foaling in her immediate family averages around 40 years of age.
There are two reasons to assume Applejack heterosexual. In more than one alternate world she has fallen deeply in love with stallions, and married and borne foals to them. The mainline Applejack was seriously-upset when she realized that butterfly effects probably made those specific unions and foals impossible in the mainline, so she seems to desire heterosexual marriage and foals.
The other is the rumor that Landscape (“Scapegrace”) Carrot, the adventurer, drifter and treasure-hunter, was her very special somepony in adolescence, and that she is hoping for his eventual return to Ponyville. It is known that Scapegrace carries her miniature in a locket worn around his neck, and that he refuses to be parted from this memento, so the affection may be real and mutual.
In the past, Princess Luna was in the custom of recruiting Earth Ponies for the Night Guards from the Apple family, and held a regular recruiting event every 100 moons -- 8 1/3 years. This recruiting fair has passed into the Apple family traditions as the Apple Family Reunion, and is still practiced despite its original reason having been long forgotten. With the War starting, Luna is thinking of reviving her practice.
Activities: Applejack is an Element Bearer with Celestia’s Champions, and the unofficial second-in-command of the team, though Twilight Sparkle has never organized them more formally than as a group of friendly companions. Notably, whenever Twilight is absent or otherwise involved, Applejack tends to naturally lead the others.
She is still primarily an apple-farmer, though it is likely that in the future she will be more strongly drawn into the business of the Realm. At some point she may face a choice between continuing her adventuring or suspending her role at her family farm: thankfully, she has not yet had to make such a painful decision.
Sources: Most should be obvious from canon. The names "Tangelo Orange" and "Melrose Apple", for Applejack's parents, come from NaterRang's "Core of the Apple," particularly part 4. The name "Jacqueline Apple IV," Pool of Truth, alternate worlds, the explanation for Applejack's Truthsense, and the observation that Applejack is an extremely deadly fighter comes from Alex Warlorn's PonyPOV series, which has a particularly awesome Applejack. The parts dealing with Luna and her Night Guard come mostly from Nightmares Are Tragic, but are based on behavior I observed in the canon Elements of Harmony and "Luna Eclipsed." Landscape "Scapegrace" Carrot, her childhood sweetheart, comes from my own unpublished fanfics.
I love this blog..you're awesome. Applejack
is my favourite character,
Luna though..second favourite
Have you ever read AppleJack the vampony slayer? It's quite a good fic, I suggest it for a read, if you have time.
Thank you for the compliment.
I really like Applejack, because she is an extremely good, nice and kind Pony, and it's not even really in the job description for her Element. It's just her personality. Thought it does help others to accept her honesty that she is so very clearly benevolent about it. She doesn't want to hurt others, and thus tries to tell the truth in the kindest way possible.
She is normally cheerful and friendly, unless given a specific reason not to be, and she will go far out of her way to help other ponies. She is a very positive pony, and the world needs more of these. Even in the Magical Land of Equestria.
She is actually such a very attractive pony, both in appearance and personality, that this practically forced me to give her some mildly tragic backstory to explain why nopony is seriously courting her.
Of course, there's since been the reveal that Applejack and her siblings are cousins to Pinkie Pie's family.