Sep
19th
2017
Points of Canon: S3x08 - Apple Family Reunion · 6:57pm Sep 19th, 2017
Ah, the moons.
- The cardboard box Applejack recovers from the attic – probably, this place isn’t properly called an attic, but I’m not sure what it is called – has an interesting “this side up” arrow.
- The box mysteriously contains a half-eaten apple. Were it left unattended for as long as the cloud of dust implies, it would have rotted through. How did that get in there?
- Applejack says “Gesundhoof.” wat.
- “I still can’t believe it’s been almost one hundred moons since our last family reunion.” See RTAC #11, which is entirely devoted to working out a sane length of a moon.
- “Well, you have been talkin’ about it pretty much every day since then.” …Wait. For a decade? Because that’s what any month-scale moons come out to. Decimoons, each equal to 100 hours, come out to a saner ~416.6 days, and put the previous family reunion at just over a year ago – but then, it’s not entirely clear why is Apple Bloom so excited about it.
- “Who’s showin’ their muzzle at the reunion?” Eyeballing the thickness of the stacks, and considering Apple Bloom’s excited “Everypony!” we can assume that on the scale of a hundred invitations were sent out. That’s a lot more than we see actually show up.
- According to Apple Bloom, Apple family branches exist in: Yonder Hill, Hollow Shades, Galloping Gorge, Foal Mountain, Fillydelphia, Tall Tale Town, Appleloosa and Manehattan. Quite a few of these locations were never mapped.
- “I think we’re gonna need a bigger cider trough.” We never actually see a cider trough, even though this would be the perfectly appropriate occasion for one.
- “Looks like the family’s grown tenfold since the last reunion!” Which would exclude the use of decimoons, wouldn’t it? If the family grew tenfold in a year, we’d see a huge number of foals in diapers, which we didn’t.
- Big Mac brings in a wheelbarrow of mail. Notice that he can only operate it using his mouth, and even that is inconvenient because he’s too tall for it. Why do they even have the thing?
- “You may be a tad old, Granny, but you’re as feisty and full of spark as ever…” Well, she certainly isn’t using her zimmer anymore.
- “We’ve been hostin’ these things at Sweet Apple Acres every hundred moons since we first planted roots here in Ponyville.” Actually, here’s an interesting question: When Granny Smith settled in what is now Ponyville, her family was the Smith family, according to Family Appreciation Day. So why is it called “Sweet Apple Acres,” and did the “Apple” clan even exist before that?
“That’d be your Great-Great-Auntie Applesauce when she was just about your age. Now, she used to go by another name, but everypony started calling her Applesauce after half her teeth fell out when she was makin’ apple jam. Yeah. Never did find them teeth in all those jars.”
- The mare depicted on the black and white photo is certainly well above Apple Bloom’s age at that point, and has her cutie mark.
- A great-aunt is “a sister, half- or step-sister, or sister-in-law of a grandparent.” A great-great aunt is therefore the same in relation to a great-grand-parent. But Granny Smith is Apple Bloom’s grandparent, i.e. this lady is her cousin. If she counts as an Apple, can Granny Smith still be an Apple by marriage, or does she have to be a straight up Apple? I’m confused.
- Actually, here’s another thing I forgot when analyzing Family Appreciation Day: Granny Smith calls Apple Strudel “Uncle,” so she has to be an Apple by birth…
- Later in the episode, Granny Smith calls Applesauce “Auntie,” further muddling things. Because Applejack also calls her “auntie,” and that’s just bogus.
- So what is Applesauce’s actual name, if any?
- “Apple family’s been workin’ on that same old quilt since our first reunion.” The picture shows a young Granny Smith, definitely younger than the age we see her when she’s a mother of an adult Bright Mac, or when Bright Mac is a toddler, in the company of three other mares, one of which is the Applesauce mentioned above. Another one is Apple Rose, and Granny Smith cites her as her favorite cousin. The mare on the right, however, is her mother, not a fourth cousin – she has the sewing machine on her cutie mark and the same hairstyle and collar as her mother in the Family Appreciation Day and the group family photos.
- “Well, nopony told me you actually had to knot the end of the thread!” Wait. Your mother is the one with a sewing machine on her rump. How the hell do you not know that, when even I did when I was five – from watching my mother?
- Notice that the quilt is only about two times bigger now than it was in its earliest photo.
- “You’ve really been workin’ on the same quilt since the first reunion?” Wait, so why doesn’t Applejack know that already? She’s at least 20 and my best bet is 25. She would have attended at least the previous reunion herself, right?
- The flashback with the fritters shows a toddler Applejack in diapers. Notice the button eyes. Then compare to the picture in her birth certificate in The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows. She was replaced, I’m telling you!
- It’s interesting that Applejack talks quite intelligibly while still wearing a diaper – a cloth diaper, at that – while the Cake Twins don’t, even when they’re out of diapers.
- “The two of us entered the seven-legged race every reunion!” I wonder why is it a seven-legged and not a six-legged race. In any case, it might be useful to remember they never won one.
- The first family photo depicts a filly Granny Smith in front of the skeleton of a barn. A pre-cutie-mark age filly, Apple Bloom’s age. But the Family Appreciation Day flashback depicts a teenage Granny Smith meeting Celestia together with her father, mother, and two other adult stallions. Now, the other two are presumably the brothers of one or another parent of Granny Smith, and they are the origin of the cousins she has. But how the hell can a filly Granny Smith take pictures in front of a Ponyville barn? Because not only this is unambiguously where it is, every family photo is taken from exactly the same spot and shows the same hill behind the barn!
- The second family photo in front of the barn has Apple Rose, Apple Strudel – who is presumably one of the two stallions in the Family Appreciation Day flashback and actually is Granny’s uncle, with Apple Rose being his daughter – and Applesauce. We have three missing parents at this point.
- The third photo has Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applejack, Apple Bloom, Apple Rose, Apple Strudel, Braeburn, and a few other ponies I can’t reliably identify. Now, notice that the entire Apple Trio is present, that Apple Bloom is only a little smaller than she is currently, that Bright Mac and Buttercup are missing, remember the photo of Apple Bloom with Winona from Ponyville Confidential, and riddle me this: How long is a moon?
- A very rare actual crescent moon in modern time – and it looks like it has pieces of Mare in the Moon on it. Whut?…
- It’s 2 AM on the clock. Applejack is still pacing. And there’s a different hat hanging in her bedroom, entirely unlike her usual hat.
- There’s a round handle on the wall in Applejack’s bedroom. Is that a hidden wall closet?…
- Rarity provides Applejack with a cartload of cloth – that’s got to be expensive, I hope she got paid for it.
- Pinkie’s contribution is 8 jars of honey, which for some reason involve handling an actual beehive and then tossing it out. “Don’t forget the glitter!” Which isn’t getting actually used for anything and Applejack is not golden when she’s engaged in the next step of the preparations.
- Rainbow’s contribution is filling about seven buckets with water from a raincloud, which has got to be the least optimal way to do it possible. Applejack survives a lightning strike with nothing but light charring.
- Spike is used in lieu of a lighter. Notice that the flame he uses to light the fire is green, but the flames of the burning wood are the usual orange. Notice that Twilight and Fluttershy don’t appear at all, and every other Mane 6 member only participates peripherally. If there’s a suitable Applejack-less episode, it could well happen in parallel.
- Apple Strudel arrives driving a carriage pulled by Braeburn. Hm.
- One set of Apples arrives in some manner of airship, and I think this might be the only airship in the series with an actual propeller. Notably, it has wheels as well.
- “Ooh, this is more excitin’ than when it rained frogs!” This is said by Granny Smith. So did it, at some point, rain frogs in Ponyville? Not counting Fluttershy’s resettlement operation in Feeling Pinkie Keen, that is?
- A filly about Apple Bloom’s age is happy to see Winona, who licks her. See above regarding moons and toddler photos.
- Applejack reuses a powered megaphone seen previously.
- “I know it hasn’t been that long since we’ve seen each other.” Babs reappears. She still doesn’t have her cutie mark. We don’t know just how long was it since her last appearance.
- “I can’t wait to tell you about my new school!” Chronologically, this has been used to justify placing this episode in an autumn. However, considering that Babs has been bullied during her last appearance, and needed a few weeks to get away, I expect the change in school is connected to that, rather than a new school year.
- “There’ll be plenty of time for family bondin’ while you’re racin’ against your other cousins.” So Apple Bloom has between one and five cousins.
- “It’s like a mile away or somethin’!” Ponies habitually use miles, that’s one of the cases.
- “Pappy pony picked a pluck of prickly pluffnuggets.” Yeah, it’s a tongue twister. Now, what are pluffnuggets?…
- Applejack uses her tail to swing the checkered flag.
- “I imagine you two think I have forgotten what you did to my parasol six reunions ago?” “We were just usin’ it to help break open that piñata!” Piñatas were a party thing for a substantial time.
- The three sewing machines Applejack provides for the quilting are powered by what sounds like an internal combustion engine, and is started by Applejack pulling a cord. Huh?
- “Golden Delicious? I think he’s racing with his cousin!” Notice that Golden Delicious and Goldie Delicious are distinct: Golden Delicious is a boy. Also notice that Goldie Delicious did not attend this reunion.
- By the time the kids are running around the trees until they’re dizzy, they’re unsupervised. Why, exactly, are they going through with this? I mean, they’re kids, sabotage should be in their nature.
- “You’ve got eight now, dont’cha?” “Oh, sure do. Tell you what, my Apple Tart may just be a baby, but he is a hoot!” Does that mean that this mare has a whopping eight children? She looks very young…
- Midway through, and for the rest of the episode, Applejack uses the deck of the Carrot Building to make announcements from. If you needed an indication that Carrot Top sold her farm to the Apples and moved into a house in town, here it is.
- Applejack uses another one of those rather antique-looking large format cameras with an obviously electric flash. Later in the episode we see that this one has a shutter timer.
- Only ten Apples fit into the cart for the “hayride.” I imagine the rest of them went into hiding.
- “Where in the world does that girl have us headed? The west orchard?” “What?! I was jokin’! Why, we haven’t tended those fields since all the trees went and got filled up with…” The “west orchard” has not been actively used since it has been colonized by fruit bats. I wonder what is the real distinction between these, and the “vampire” fruit bats from Bats! I mean, these have to eat something too, right? Why was the orchard abandoned?…
- Now, red fruit bats can possibly be explained in terms of survival advantages, but what about the other colors?
- An empty cart crashing into the side is enough to demolish the primary Apple Barn – the one where they actually live – entirely. That’s… not sound building, nope. And while the barn is apparently relatively easily rebuilt, picking apart the rubble and sorting out all the property and relics within had to have taken some effort.
- Braeburn is a sneaky one. He avoided all of Applejack’s activities and only turned up again after the barn got destroyed.
- One of the musicians – the one with a harmonica – has an interesting shoulder mount for said harmonica, instead of holding the instrument in her hooves like the fiddler and the banjo player do.
- In addition to the Apples, the barn raising crowd includes the neighbors – notably, Carrot Top, Bon-Bon, Cloud Chaser, and a few other Ponyville ponies.
- Ponies installing the vertical posts have hard hats, even Granny Smith – but not Big Mac for some reason.
- Hammers are typically held in mouths rather than hooves in this sequence. So are nails. You really should not do that at home, kids.
- Apple Bloom rides a bull while hauling supplies. That’s what, a third time we see a bull?
- During the whole dance and construction, the fiddler tore a string. Apparently, nopony noticed.
- For the first, and probably the last time I notice a well on Apple property.
- The final barn photo includes the Oranges – who avoided everyone for the rest of the episode – and a grand total of 38 Apples, including the four principal ones.
- Nopony arrived in a taxi carriage, but Babs is leaving in one.
- Applejack is washing the dishes in a tub – and the tub is, for some reason, outdoors and has a tap and two valves.
- Applejack is shown writing a Lesson Zero-pattern to Celestia, and says that “Today I learned a great lesson about family,” making this unambiguously follow Lesson Zero. Notably, she also signs it with “your humble subject.”
- In one of the reunion photos, a stallion is seen holding a sandwich with both hooves.
- For all of these reunion photos to end up in the family album before the day is out, they had to get developed and printed pretty quickly.
- And the crescent moon I mentioned above repeats.
Whew, that was pretty dense.
You know what, I think the Family Appreciation Day flashback might be bogus to a significant degree.
Tried to find anything about sewing machines with a combustion engine. Find nothing. It looks like no one ever does this ).
Twilight mother also doesn't look that much older than Twilight herself. Maybe a cartoon resolution or ponies age really-really well?
So much dishes that they don't fit into kitchen sink?
4672801
Probably both.
Sure – but why exactly would anyone have a bathtub in the middle of the yard?
Looks a lot like a hands-free harmonica mount that human musicians use (so they can play another instrument, usually guitar, at the same time). So pony musicians will use pre-existing hands-free tech for their instruments, but only rarely and inconsistently invent their own hands-free instruments. Hmm.
I find it interesting that, in the photo after the barn raising, all the adults in the family are earth ponies, but there are two unicorns among the children.
Hey, maybe by "moon" they mean moon phase. With eight traditional named phases, that would make 100 moons come out to a little over a year.
4672801
It's not that unlikely. I had a blender that ran on gasoline.
4672838
The problem with the moons in this episode is that they’re apparently both very long and very short simultaneously. :)
And the issue with those is that ponies never seem to use an internal combustion engine for anything else…
4672858
Maybe there is some problem with fuel? Like Equestria has limited amounts of oil and most of it goes into the chemical industry?
But on the other hand, you can run combustion engine on lots of other things besides oil derivatives...
Wait, according to that map of Ponyville, the west orchard is right next door to the main homeplace, isn't it? How could they have abandoned a stand of trees that close to where they live?
Cousins is such a catch-all that my experience has been that everyone who isn't a direct sibling, a parent, grand-parent, or aunt and uncle get called that, especially when we're talking about children. It's just a mass of 'cousins', regardless of the exact relation. In really weird or stretched-out families, you can even find aunts and nieces who are basically cousins in all but name at reunions, since they're contemporaries.
I think we have to conclude that the visual details in Family Appreciation Day are largely the product of Apple Bloom's imagination, and not to be taken as Celestia's gospel truth.
Is possible to have a parent of great sewing capacity and knot now this.
Asked a sewing machine mechanic if any such existed. "No home ones; I don't know about industrial ones. You just don't need that much power."
4672858>>4672861
Well, as Comnislasher pointed out, weren't the floats (probably) using them in "One Bad Apple"?
does the Summer Sun Celebration in s1e1 not count?
I was going to check for this possibly being false, but Golden appears in s1e1 and in some s7 episodes, so it'd require going back and forth, and Goldie wearing a very hefty costume.
4672811
Livestock who don't have the same social issues. Getting filth off outside rather than bringing it in. Outdoor bathing facilities are a thing, even if not much of one. Indoor plumbing only really took off in late-19th c. here despite the technology being around forever… and the Apples are usually behind everyone else in newfangledness, by budget or by choice. They can't be expected to have the very latest in indoor bathing technology, after all…
Man this is a dense snarl of an episode. Somebody with geneological skill should try a rough Apple Family tree.
There seems to be a lot of contradictory statements in this episode alone, but my guess is that the family works like this: The "clan" of settlers that moved in included the Smiths and the Apples, similar to the way many historical traveling Romani groups operated. Families would periodically intermarry, but children would refer to unrelated adults in the clan as "Auntie" or "Uncle." Perhaps the farm didn't have a formal name until a few decades down the line when Granny had married an Apple stallion, and they named it SWA at that point.
I'm starting to think the Cake Twins are the odd babies out here.