My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic - Season 7 Episode 13: "The Perfect Pear" (SPOILERS) · 2:38pm Jun 21st, 2017
In which Bill Shatner reminds us that he's an actor, not a joke other actors make, and the status of Ma and Pa Apple is FINALLY confirmed after seven long years. Oh, and there's a heartbreakingly bittersweet love story.
Gonna say it right up front: This is the episode that finally, once and for all, puts the issue of the Apple Sibling's parents to rest. As in, in peace. They're dead. It's canon now.
OK, on with the show.
Ponyville is excited by the return of Grand Pear, a legendary pear jam maker who once lived in Ponyville before moving to Vanhoover. Apple Bloom tries some of his pear jam and loves it. After getting a jar for free, she returns home all smiles and delivers the news to her siblings.
They freak out.
It turns out there's a long-standing feud between the Apples and the Pears, and Applejack and Big Macintosh aren't really sure why. They just know they can't ask Granny Smith because if they even mention it she loses her shit. So they decide to ask Goldie Delicious.
Basically, Granny Smith and Grand Pear were rivals, always taunting each other and trying to one-up each other and it escalated into a ridiculous feud. The only Apple and Pear who got along were Bright Macintosh and Pear Butter, who Bright Mac nicknamed "Buttercup"...and who are the parents of Big Macintosh, Applejack, and Apple Bloom.
We got us a Romeo and Juliet situation here, folks.
The Apple Siblings are shocked to learn their mother was a Pear.
To learn more about their parents' past, the siblings visit Bright Mac's old friend Burnt Oak. From Burnt Oak, they learn that Bright Mac was a hard worker and honest to a fault. Then, to learn more about Buttercup, they visit Mrs. Cake. They learn that Buttercup was a whiz at helping ponies figure out what they were best at. They also learn that Cup Cake's given name is actually Chiffon Swirl.
Bright Mac and Pear Butter's courtship, presented as a musical montage, is sweet, adorable, and...perfect. But right after they finally said "I love you" to each other in the most romantic way possible, Grand Pear announced that the Pears would be leaving Ponyville.
To find out what happened next, Mrs. Cake tells the Siblings to visit...Mayor Mare, who has the final piece of the love story of Pear Butter and Bright Mac.
Bright Mac and Pear Butter got married right on the edge of Sweet Apple Acres, in secret, in the dead of night. Granny Smith and Grand Pear showed up, both hot under the collar, and Grand Pear forces Pear Butter to make a choice between the Pears and the Apples. She chose the Apples, breaking her heart and her father's heart.
And that's why Granny never talks about what happened.
Having heard the whole story, the Siblings decide it's time to settle this once and for all, and go to confront both of their grandparents.
It turns out Grand Pear moved back to Ponyville because after all these years, he just wanted to get to know his grandkids. After all these years, Grand Pear and Granny Smith bury the hatchet, and the Apple-Pear family is reunited.
What...what can I say? 10/10. Bring the tissues.
EDIT: Anyone wanna help me remember which fics I need to go back and fix with the correct names of Bright Mac and Buttercup? I'm not bothering to fix Splatterbarn because I kinda don't want to turn Bright Mac into...*shudder* THAT...but I know I at least need to fix "Apple Turnovers". Anything else I'm missing? I honestly can't remember.
I don't think I've been this happy with a headcanon massacre since "Crusaders of the Lost Mark." Though I do now find myself wondering how the Apples are telated to the Oranges.
Family-based episodes are my weakness, and I was in tears throughout basically the entire episode. It was wonderful and beautiful and bittersweet and perfect.
wow that is the happiest saddest ending
Fantastic episode.
It amazes me that people still doubt that they are dead. It's a kids they're never gonna be allowed to just say that they are dead. Course considering how much it's been implied before this episode I don't think they could have made it much clearer.
4578137
Probably Granny Smith has a sibling that married into the Oranges...or had more children and one of them married.
I love these lore building episodes. Apple Jacks parents were so cute together. Definitely doing fan art of this.
This was one of the best episodes yet! So romantic, so heartwarming and yet also tear jerking. Will you change Applejack's parents names in Persona EG too or leave them as they are?
4578196
Oh SHIT, I for....
fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck ;_;
That's gonna be a SHIT TON of work. I'll probably do it while I'm rereading the entire fic in prep for getting back underway with it. (Not changing anything about RD's parents, though, because Bow Hothoof is a STUPID ASS NAME.)
My favourite of the season so far. Wow. So tears, much feels.
There's also the issue of the Apple siblings' father (Fuji Apple) having married into the Apple family in Persona EG while their mother was Granny Smith's offspring, which is the reverse of canon. Frankly, I'd say "It's an AU. Very AU." and leave it at that.
Best episode of the season, and second best ep of the series
I loved the last episode, but this one totally eclipses it.
4578137
Let's just run with it, and assume all Fruit named ponies are actually distant relatives. Now, how does Cherry Jubilee tie into this?
THis one made my top 3 of the whole show, by far a 10 out of 10. I am not so proud that I can't admit I cried like a baby watching this.
But, how did they die? Was that answered at all?
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If I had to take a wild guess I'd say maybe sickness? It's not uncommon for parents to die in short time from one another from serious diseases.
Meanwhile, the meta lesson for this ep is to cool your jets and wait til you actually see it to pass judgement. I can't believe how many people were freaking out about this one when the synopses were released and it was revealed that it'd be about the Apple parents, with a good chunk shouting 'RUINED FOREVER' because they actually thought it'd be set in the present or something (which, admittedly, WOULD have been a horrible move if that had actually happened). Meanwhile, those of us that kept our heads quickly deduced that this was gonna be a flashback episode like we got.
4578266
Ripping apart the most emotionally moving episode of the season without bothering to watch it doesn't make you any less of an asshole, either.
Apple Mom and Apple Dad were adorable beyond words! Romance needs chemistry, and this is how you do it, people.
Minor nitpicks:
-Grown voices coming out of babies is weird and creepy as hell.
-From the way they talked, AJ and Mac knew very little about their parents' personalities. Just feels a little weird, is all.
-Pony names, how do they work!?
But other than that, this was an amazingly sweet episode that did the Romeo and Juliet storyline without overdoing it or ripping out all of the tragedy of it. I love that they spoke to a bunch of different characters other than just Granny Smith, which was my original guess. Really gave a feel for who the Apple Parents were and how they fit in to the world around them.
And basically every line from the Apple Siblings were damn near perfect! Hit it right out of the park!
I actually cried watching this episode
one of the best of the entire series.
I know full well that the writers knew full well that we have been waiting years for an explanation as to the wereabouts of the Apple parents, and that we would be freaked out if it turns out they half-assed the explanation. I'm glad that is not the case, yet with all of these multiple broadcasts I'm so behind on this season, which is a real bummer since I'm still behind last season too.
only reason I almost cried is because I know how the story actually ended at some point.... that's my job ruining a happy day
4578612
Actually there's a bit of brilliance there, you just have to take a minute to work it out:
- Pear Butter took the name "Buttercup" upon marrying Bright Mac because of the pain separating from her family caused her.
- Chiffon Swirl was Buttercup's best friend.
- Chiffon Swirl married Carrot Cake. Just as when Spoiled Milk married Spoiled Rich, Chiffon Swirl became Chiffon Cake.
- HOWEVER. Her best friend had changed her name to Buttercup after getting married. In a show of solidarity, and because she's a baker and it makes more sense, Chiffon Cake changed her name to Cup Cake.
4578846
And I will continue to use Rainbow Blaze wherever I damn well please. Again, Bow Hothoof is a STUPID ASS NAME.
4578857
Yeah ;_;
4578137
Probably by marrage, Grany is supposed to have had a few sisters...
Fantastic episode. I was very frustrated we never actually learn how they die, but still 10/10.
4578572
Some stories are told over and over because theu were so good the first time. I haven't seen the episode, so I can't say how this Romeo and Juliet story is, but for the most part I think that the story usually works
This will without a doubt be the highlight of Season 7, nothing can top this.
This season has been harsh on trekie actors... Discord almost disappears and Grand Pear lost a child.
4579071
Huh. That's kinda brilliant. I dunno if that's what the writers intended or if it was incidental. Either way, I can buy that.
The odd thing is that I have no problem with Shatner lending his voice to a massive jerkass who fucked up his life holding on to a pointless grudge. His signature role was a full-on villain protagonist throughout most of "Undiscovered Country", after all.
4579071
Actually.... perhaps they were trying to bring about a reconciliation in during the events of "Where the Apple Lies", If they were not also off making Apple Bloom.
4579071
Brilliant.
Also related to your point:derpicdn.net/img/view/2017/6/21/1467729__safe_artist-colon-the1king_cup+cake_pear+butter_pumpkin+cake_the+perfect+pear_spoiler-colon-s07e13_comic_crying_cupcake_daughter_feels_female_.jpeg
Memories can be bittersweet.
Well, I guess -- but Bright Mac and Buttercup knew each other long enough to have a plausible romance and survived long enough to have kids, so they're really beating those dumb kids from Verona on all scores.
(Which makes this a lot sadder than Romeo & Juliet, really.)
4578266
Romeo and Juliet is the story of two kids developing a crush on one another and rushing into marriage, whose families spiral into another bout of violence in a long series as a result. They die like they lived, never really getting to know each other all that much.
Perfect Pear is two people growing close over their entire lives, trying to keep their families from finding out, and ultimately getting accepted by his while hers disowns her. And long after their deaths, the same parent who disowned her comes back to their hometown to meet his grandchildren, even if they don't know who he is and he never got to make up with his daughter.
4580102
there's a great post on tumblr pointing out that Romeo and Juliet would have been fine if not for the feud, so it's more about that
4581303
It's likely they would've broken up after a while. Romeo gets called out in the beginning about going through crushes, if memory serves. Even the priest who marries them thinks they're being stupid with rushing into marriage.
4581320
Irony is this image according to the link is from 2016...
orig13.deviantart.net/76b5/f/2016/261/2/2/motivational_that_moment____by_darkonshadows-dai39b5.jpg
Get why it's ironic? Pear Shaped.
I'm gonna say this is tied with "A Royal Problem" for my favorite episode in season 7. This was a really cute and sad episode. It had a lot of cuteness in it and a few really heart wrenching parts. I loved Pear Butter's song; it's my new favorite song in MLP.
Yeah I know I"m late to the party but I'm too lazy to watch the leaks and only saw the episode when this and Discordant harmony were on my DVR this afternoon when I woke up. I saw the spoilers obviously but nothing prepaired me for the feels this one produced.
I liked the foreshadowing with how Grand acted around Bloom.
Big Mac asking to get more stories from Burnt Oak about their father was perfect unshead tears.
Pear Butter's song also made me tear up but I actually cried when the 3 confronted Grand Pear and you could hear in the voice and see on the face Grand's regret for not being there to see them grow.
Ain't that the truth. Best episode of the season easily and one of the best of the series so far.