(a.k.a. Applejack and the Secret Diary Switcheroo)
"Applejack starts a diary to record all her hard work bucking fields at Sweet Apple Acres. Whenever her friends annoy her in the slightest, she writes about it. It feels good to vent! But when the book falls into the wrong hooves, Applejack finds herself in a real pickle!"
The fifthnote officially licensed My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic chapter book of a series of books by G. M. Berrow, and part of the overall My Little Pony (Generation 4) universe. Sweet Apple Acres is selected as a finalist in the Best Orchard in Equestria contest and Applejack wants to do her best to make sure her family wins, so she enlists the help of her friends. But when her friends turn out to be more hindrance than help, Applejack tries to rid herself of her stress by writing about it in her own personal journal.
This book provides examples of:
- Balloon Belly: Pinkie Pie is described as looking visibly stuffed after gorging herself at the pie-eating contest. in true Pinkie fashion though, she's still hungry.
- Big Eater: Surprisingly, Cranky Doodle Donkey. By the end of the pie eating contest, he beats all the contestants including Pinkie Pie. There's also Mayor Mare who manages to keep up with Cranky and Pinkie despite taking smaller bites and trying to maintain proper table manners.
- Bowdlerise: For some odd reason, in the UK, the part where Fluttershy mentions the Vampire fruit bats is cut out. Also, all mentions of cider were changed to juice (cider only refers to alcoholic drinks in UK parlance).
- Call-Back: The rest of the mane six giving Applejack trouble makes her realize why she may have wished to work alone in "Applebuck Season".
- The Cameo: The contestants of the pie eating contest include Cranky Doodle Donkey (with Matilda cheering him on) and Lyra (with Sweetie Dropsnote cheering her on).
- Continuity Nod:
- Rarity's time spent mentoring Charity Sweetmint from Rarity and the Curious Case of Charity is mentioned, who has apparently been doing very well with her new fashion line in Manehatten since then.
- Fluttershy says that the various critters in the apple trees are not as meddlesome as the vampire fruit bats when she becomes reluctant to ask them to leave.
- Deconstruction: Of the aesop of Applebuck Season, which was about learning that it's okay to ask for help. When Applejack asks her friends for their help this time, they turn out to not be very helpful. Applejack even says that she's beginning to realize why she preferred working on her own during Applebuck season after seeing how unhelpful her friends are.
- Easily Forgiven: While mortified, Applejack's friends hold no grudge against her after reading her personal journal and the demeaning things she said about them.
- Growling Gut: Applejack's belly rumbles hungrily in the third chapter, where she's waiting until the rest of her family sits at the table to eat the delicious meal Granny Smith made for them.
- Honor Before Reason: Applejack is not very happy when Twilight suggests requesting an extension on the contest which would be easy due to her authority as a princess. Applejack felt that if Twilight did that to help her win the contest, then it's not really winning.
- The Inspector Is Coming: À-propos of the "Best of Equestria" awards, Applejack works her butt off trying to get her Sweet Apple Acres looking perfect by the inspection's date — i.e., having a good harvest and putting the farm in top shape. Sadly, her friends and family are of little help and the judge, Blue Ribbon, appears unimpressed by the results. However, Blue Ribbon has been secretly stopping by the orchard all week, watching her work. He is so inspired by this that he can't help but award her the prize. Applejack is understandably shocked.
- Market-Based Title: In the UK, the title was changed to, "Applejack and the Secret Diary Switcheroo.
- Oh, Crap!: Her reaction when she learns Apple Bloom accidentally gave Rainbow Dash her personal journal instead of the Friendship Journal. Only natural since almost all of her entries on her friends in said journal are not very nice.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Blue Ribbon. It turns out that he secretly visited Sweet Apple Acres several times before the big day and saw the rest of the mane six helping out Applejack. He decided that a farm that produced a bountiful harvest and taught ponies new skills deserved to be the named the Best Orchard in Equestria, thus allowing the Apple family to win the contest.
- Shout-Out: Pinkie asks AJ how one would start making an apple pie. AJ rattles off the normal stuff like flour or sugar, but Pinkie tells her she's wrong, that one needs to start with the universe and then forgets the rest, having to refer to one of Twilight's science books written by Cart Bacon.
- There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Applejack asks Rainbow Dash to help remove some of the leftover apples in the trees after she bucks them, which Rainbow Dash does by shooting herself head first into the treetops. The result is that she indeed gets a couple of apples off the trees along with almost all the leaves on them.
- Tuckerization: Two of the trees in the orchard are named Steffan (after the show's composer Steffan Andrews) and Big Jim (after the show's storyboard supervisor "Big" Jim Miller).
- Workaholic: As expected of Applejack, especially now that she's trying to win the contest. The ineptitude of everypony else is what leads to her venting in her journal.
