We can all agree that the Apple clan was important to the founding of Ponyville and that the clan is of substantial size, but what other significance may the clan had before their settling days?

Equestria is vast. There is evidence that the land is further inhabited by the Apples and other closely related family. What may then have happened during the clan's past?

I like to think that since they must have been around for a considerable amount of time that there can be made from this possibility heartwarming tales of journey and hardships.

This has been floating around in my head for bit, so I thought I would hear some speculation on the plausability of the Apples playing a significant role to early Equestrian days.

363929

Ostensibly, Apples are hereditary earth magic shamans. Aside from the account of Ponyville being founded, there are also Apples closely tied to the founding of Appleloosa.

It is my assessment that Apples are in the business of being professional pioneers - they come first and create a settlement, affecting their influence on the surrounding terrain to make it fertile for crops. Then the regular settlers come to the spot which is already guaranteed to yield rich harvests, thus negating one of the greatest dangers to fledgling settling - starvation during first winters.

For reference, consider the legend of Johnny Appleseed.

364025

The connection to Johnny Appleseed completely escaped me! It does, however, strike me as fitting that I should revisit the old legend.

I'm also wondering if an argument could be made for the roots to expand back to Smart Cookie. I shant think it too much a stretch, although, I probably will not try to touch on that in the stories I'm developing unless the backstory needs as much depth to include it.

The reason for wanting to at least contemplate a connection is simply because I would like the Apple clan to have either been of a nomadic group who did not settle with the original Equestrians but rather the last remnants, or the opposite. This decision would drasticly alter the plot if I can find reason for one possible history to make more sense.

The stories would be adventure and lore development is a fun thing for me!
So I'm open to debate on this subject if others would like to imput as well.

(Just a quick question, is the OP formated wierd? It does not display properly for me :/ )

367915

Despite the fact Smart Cookie is played by Applejack in the play, I find it dubious she was an Apple. As Applejack`s behavior strongly suggests, traditionalism is one of the respected family values for Apples. Smart Cookie, on the flip side, is quite eager to embrace the very abrupt change in traditional ways.

No, I imagine that ancestors of Apples were initially in support of Puddinghead and took a bit of time to get used to the idea of sharing the land with two other tribes.

It`s also highly possible that Apples initially refused to leave the original lands belonging to Earth Ponies and only moved to Equestria when the winter caused by Windigoes killed their crops for good. That would explain why there are so much pioneers among Apples - having had arrived with the delay, they were the ones with the most necessity to create new settlements, as the already established ones had no space for them and their apple orchards.

P.S. - inserting smileys often changes the spacing between those particular lines.

363929

Well, we know that Granny Smith and her family were the ones who founded Ponyville and Appleloosa after wandering like nomads for years (remember Braeburn is Applejack's cousin, which makes him Granny Smith's grandson), but also that one of Granny Smith's sons/daughters left for Manehattan not long after for the "sophisticated life". We also know that the Apple family in modern Equestria come from all over Equestria, and even embraces "non-Apples" like Hayseed Turnip Truck. Heck, Flim and Flam might be distant relatives from a line that embraced unicorns as partners, if their cutie marks are anything to go by.

My own suspicion is that, during the last few hundred years, the Apples and their relatives spread out across the previously-untouchable San Palomino desert to find new land to farm, and that Granny and Braeburn were among the last of those travelling ponies setting out for new pastures. Stinking Rich and other farmers like the Carrots, the Cherries, the Turnips, and the Berries, might have been part of this tradition too, with the bakers, confectioners, chefs, and smithies building upon the farmers' work.

They're probably great traditionalists in part because they're so long-lived. Twilight does mention that Ponyville has celebrated Winter Wrap-Up day for hundreds of years, so maybe earth ponies like Granny Smith have the benefit of being very long-lived as part of the bargain of being earth ponies. That doesn't mean their positions in agriculture are fixed, though. They do take up various positions in society - like when the Oranges moved to Manehattan and Turnip Truck to Canterlot - and in practice the Apple clan is defined just as much by its subculture as by blood ties

Meanwhile, it's possible that the Apples are descendants of Smart Cookie, but then Cookie did live at least a thousand or so years ago. By simple genealogy, she could easily be an ancestor of every earth pony alive in modern Equestria, and that's not counting the possible unicorn and pegasus inclusions to the family tree.

Never been asked this topic before very well 363929 I'll give this a shot.
First thing to know is that Maria "Granny" Smith was not born an Apple, she married into the family.

The Apples have a long and illustrious history. Originally part of the Malus Clan of Earth Ponies, the Apples were founded shortly after the War of Eternal Night by Malus Sieversii, former Captain of the Helios Guard and General of the Free Army of the Concordiat-in-Exile. Sieversii was exiled from her clan following the death of her father by her uncle who feared her taking over the clan. After the War Sieversii retired and settled on land given to her by Celestia, nearly a 1000 years before Granny Smith came to the area.

Using their know how, Sieversii and the clanmembers that followed her south cared for the land and quickly became one of the largest producers of food in Equestria. For the most part the Apples stayed out of the lime light, the only time they really made showing in the early days was the state funeral of Sieversii. For the next 800 something years they quietly expanded to all corners of Equestria then in AC865 an Apple became a noble and made a name for herself in helping with Great Canterlot Fire and the subsequent Equestriani-Prench War, Calville Blanc d'hiver-Apple.

Roughly 60 to 80 years before the start of the series does Granny Smith settle in Ponyville and marries into the family. Her daughter Ambrosia marries Hamlin Orange, and the two have three foals. Hamlin died about a year before the first sonic rainboom and Ambrosia ranaway from home and joins Celestia's personal staff as Chief-of-Staff.