Recap / My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic S4 E9 "Pinkie Apple Pie"

You were only able to carry 100 pounds back to the wagon.

Apple Family: No matter what comes, we will face the weather! We're apples to the core!

Written by Natasha Levinger

As Twilight Sparkle is studying genealogy, the study of family history, at the Golden Oaks Library, Pinkie Pie reads from a random scroll, stumbling on a discovery: she's part of the Apple family! Due to an old heritage, she's Applejack's fourth cousin, twice removed. Pinkie promptly tells the Apple family, who are overjoyed to have Pinkie as part of their family. But, upon checking the scroll to make sure, the exact name appears smudged (except for the word "Pie"), making Pinkie's link to the Apples unclear. Granny Smith suggests they all load up the wagon and head for the house of Goldie Delicious, another Apple family member, who has extensive knowledge of family history, to find out for sure. As Pinkie leaves to gather her things for the trip, Applejack tells the rest of her family members that they all need to be on their best behavior to make a good impression on Pinkie.

While on the road, the Apple family's wagon breaks, since Big Macintosh overburdened the cart before the trip. After stopping an argument before it starts, Granny Smith decides it's best to keep going, since the wagon broke closer to Goldie Delicious's house than to Sweet Apple Acres. At Pinkie's suggestion, the Apples fashion the broken wagon into a makeshift raft, and head downriver. Pinkie snaps a photo of the family for a scrapbook she's making, having been documenting everything so far. Applejack tries to navigate with a map, but Apple Bloom drops it in the water, causing another argument between the Apples. Granny Smith takes the helm, confident that they've avoided "the scariest cave in all of Equestria," right before leading them directly through it. Fed up, Applejack tries to take the helm from Granny Smith, causing a full-blown argument between the Apples, ending with the raft's wheel flying off, the Apples helplessly flying down a waterfall soon after.

The family makes it to Goldie Delicious's house, all of them dejected but Pinkie. Goldie Delicious is running an errand, which leaves Pinkie with enough time to grab more paper for her scrapbook. While she's gone, the Apples confide in each other about how Pinkie's seen them at their worst, and won't begrudge Pinkie if she doesn't want to be an Apple after all. Pinkie, overhearing, says she still wants to be an Apple, because the Apples never gave up even when things got tough, showing them the scrapbook she's made. And just because they fight, that doesn't mean they don't love each other.

When Goldie Delicious returns from her errand, she finds the Apple family's history book. After finding the page relating to Pinkie, they find the page in question is smudged too, thus the mystery is left unsolved. Though Pinkie's disappointed, Applejack decides it doesn't matter what the book says, or doesn't say; as far as the Apples are concerned, Pinkie's one of them. After returning to Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack plans to write in the Mane Six's diary about how being a good family means going through the rough patches together... right before the Apples start arguing again over who should write the entry and Pinkie cheerfully joins in.

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Tropes:

• An Aesop: No family is perfect, but that just makes the love and loyalty they share that much valuable.
• The Alleged Car: Somewhat. The Apples' wagon becomes a motorless variant when the wheels break off. The family even refers to it as a jalopy.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Happens twice.
  • A fish grabs the map that Apple Bloom drops in the water. The fish then is plucked out of the water by a bald eagle. Pinkie just takes a picture.
  • The raft's wheel falls into the water. A duck grabs it. The duck is then plucked out of the water by a bald eagle. Pinkie looks on, taking vacation photos. Unlike the fish, the duck is later seen flying with the wheel still around its neck.
• Ambiguously Related: At the end it's still unknown if Pinkie Pie and Applejack are related, but they decide Pinkie can be a member of the Apple family if she wants.
• Apple of Discord: Minor ones. The Apple Family is driven to distraction first by an argument over who steers the raft. At the end of the episode, there is another brief disagreement over who gets to write the episode's lesson into the journal.
• Artistic License – Ornithology: Zigzagged. Bald eagles do carry off fish. What they don't carry off is ducks.
• Ascended Meme: Apple Bloom briefly sings a song that brings to mind the series of fan videos based on the "Twilight-licious" meme.
• Aside Comment: Pinkie looks to the camera and addresses the audience at the end before joining the rest of the Apples in "arguing" and "bickering".
• Beyond the Impossible: As usual. Pinkie Pie's odd abilities make an appearance. No matter how she took the Apple Family picture with her tail, her tail remains in the picture.
• Big "WHAT?!": Pinkie's reaction to finding she's related to the Apples, which Twilight and Spike can hear despite her having wandered outside the library.
• Black Comedy Burst:
  • The cat-shaped◊ ball of dust◊ could have actually been a real, long-dead cat that had deteriorated into ash.
  • In general, the episode proves unusually cruel to small animals. In addition to the Always a Bigger Fish examples, we see a squirrel helplessly stuck to a sappy tree. Granny Smith ignores it, hopefully out of obliviousness. (Fluttershy would not be fond of this episode; good thing she isn't in it.)
  • We also see a fish eating Apple Bloom's map. Later, we see that same fish, dead, being eaten by an eagle.
• Blush Sticker: Applejack gets some when Apple Bloom delivers over-the-top praise of her contribution to the family.
• Brick Joke: Before they leave, Applejack asks Mac if he'd made sure the wheels were sturdy enough to hold them all and the overloaded luggage which he answers (with increasing annoyance) that he did. It seems to hold well enough during the song but breaks apart immediately after the song ends.
• By "No", I Mean "Yes": When Pinkie Pie and Apple Bloom are excitedly clamoring about being sisters:
  Apple Bloom: I have another sister!
  Pinkie Pie: Well, you actually have a fourth cousin twice removed by a fifth cousin, but that's, like, exactly like a sister!
• Camera Fiend: Pinkie takes a lot of photos of herself and the Apple Family during the trip to Goldie Delicious.
• Catchphrase: In this episode we hear all the possible meanings of the word "Eeyup".
• Chekhov's Skill: In the opening scene, Pinkie is shown to be able to pull objects from the bottom of a pile without it toppling over. Goldie is later shown to do the same, which may or may not be a clue to a genetic link between the two.
• Continuity Nod:
  • Pinkie Pie calls Twilight "silly" again.
  • The trombone Pinkie used in "Swarm of the Century" is seen among the family's luggage.
  • During the song, Pinkie tosses out Rarity's sink from "Suited for Success".
  • The cheetah seen in Goldie Delicious' cabin looks like one of the cats Ahuizotl sicced on Daring Do in "Read It and Weep" and "Daring Don't".
  • Granny Smith mentions her skill at storytelling at the end of the episode, a reference to "Family Appreciation Day".
• Crazy Cat Lady: Goldie Delicious, to the point it can be considered up to eleven. She's even got a cheetah in her home.
• Crazy-Prepared: Deconstructed. While Big Mac packed EVERYTHING they could possibly need for the trip, it comes back to bite them when their cart collapses under all of that weight. And when they break down by a river bank, they realize about the only thing he didn't pack was a raft. (Zig-zagged, though: he did pack life jackets.)
• Death Glare:
  • Applejack gets two from Big Mac after the cart breaks, largely from her chiding him about not making sure the wheels were sturdy.
  • Apple Bloom gets one from the rest of her family, which they try to hide from Pinkie Pie, after she loses the map.
• Deconstructed Trope:
  • Of the idea of a "perfect family". The episode makes it clear that there's no such thing, that all families fight and argue from time to time, with the best ones being those who manage to stick together through it all.
  • It also deconstructs the idea of being Crazy-Prepared. When Big Mac packs everything they could possibly need for the trip, the cart collapses under the weight. And while he brought life vests, when they decide to take the river the rest of the way, they find out that the only thing he didn't bring was the raft!
• Delayed Reaction: When the Apples are bickering with each other for their misfortunes:
  Apple Bloom: There wouldn't have been an overboard if Big Mac hadn't overpacked the jalopy!
  Big Macintosh: Eeyu— Hey!
• Double Aesop: The Apples learn not to pretend to be a perfect family, because there's no such thing; the best families are the ones that stay together through thick and thin. Pinkie, meanwhile, learns that friendship is more key to being a family than actual blood ties.
• Easter Egg: Both Meghan McCarthy and Mike Vogel◊ claim to have never heard of Slender Man before fans started discussing this episode, so Slendy's Freeze-Frame Bonus cameo (detailed below) was most likely another case of a background animator amusing himself.
• Eat the Camera: Done to Applejack when the Apples and Pinkie go over the waterfall.
• Economy Cast: The entire episode features exactly eight characters throughout, not counting the nonspeaking animals.
• Eldritch Abomination: The cave is implied to be filled with them; Pinkie calls one of them "the best unidentifiable monster ever!"
• Eldritch Location: "The Scariest Cave in Equestria", with all of its horrors shown offscreen. Played for Laughs, of course.
• Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Everypony has life jackets for the river trip, even though the family had no intention of travelling by river while packing.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus:
  • The creatures in the "scariest cave in Equestria" never appear on-screen — except in the photo in Pinkie's scrapbook in the end.
  • Even truly eagle-eyed viewers might miss what happens just after the 17 minute mark. Pinkie tackles Applejack into a hug, and the camera pans to the right to follow them. For a split-second during the pan, a mysterious figure can be seen hiding behind some bushes: a ponified version of Slender Man.
• Hammerspace Hair: Pinkie Pie's mane again. This time she stows her photo album in it.

• Hidden Depths: Big Macintosh has a penchant for philosophical discussion, not that we get to hear it from his mouth. And judging from what's heard of his conversation with Pinkie Pie, his philosophies may seem... odd.
  Pinkie Pie: ...So what you're saying is, if I have the courage to jump, the parachute will open?
  Big Macintosh: Eeyup.
  Pinkie Pie: Whoa... That is deep...
  Big Macintosh: Eeyup.
• "I Am" Song: The Apples and Pinkie get a song together called "Apples to the Core" where they talk about what it means to be an Apple.
• I Meant to Do That: Granny Smith comes up with this excuse when she inadvertently leads the Apples through the "scariest cave in Equestria".
• Idiosyncratic Wipes: The episode ends with an Iris Out of an eaten apple.
• Implausible Deniability: That hat Granny Smith is wearing is not the one she was looking for!
• Inevitable Waterfall: When the Apples and Pinkie decide to raft down the river, they quickly end up plunging down a foaming waterfall.
• Interrupted Catchphrase: Big Mac does this to himself, if one counts his "Eeyup" as a catchphrase. See Delayed Reaction.
• It's the Best Whatever, Ever!:
  • A Running Gag said by Pinkie.
  • Inverted by Apple Bloom when Pinkie's off getting scrapbooking supplies, she calls this trip the worst one ever.
• Jolly Roger: Parodied in "Apples to the Core" , where, in a scene where the Apples are dressed as pirates, their cart is flying a black flag with a shiny red apple in front of crossed femurs.
• Kitchen Sink Included: Doubles as a Visual Gag when, during "Apples to the Core", Pinkie reaches into the mountain of junk and baggage piled on the cart and tosses out a kitchen sink.
• Lampshade Hanging: During the song:
  Granny Smith: We're peas in a pod, we're thick as thieves, any Cliché you can throw at me!
• The Last Straw: The ad hoc raft manages to survive the trip over the waterfall, and Granny considers it amazing the raft held together. Pinkie, held aloft by balloons, lands on top of the raft and her lightened weight proves to be too much for the poor raft to further endure. And then her balloons break and she falls into the water herself.
• Let Me Get This Straight...: Pinkie Pie and Big Mac appear to have an in-depth philosophical discussion.
• Long List: The genealogy scroll that Pinkie reads is long enough to stretch down the stairs from Twilight's room, out the front door of the library, and quite a distance down the road. At Sweet Apple Acres, it goes from one end of the barn to the other with plenty of length to spare.
• Lots of Luggage: Big Macintosh's insistence on overpacking becomes the biggest source of problems during the family's journey.
• Loud Gulp: All the Apple siblings give one just before they enter the Scariest Cave in Equestria.
• MacGyvering: The Apples make a raft from the parts of their broken jalopy wagon and sap.

• Mythology Gag:
  • In her verse for the song "Apples to the Core", Pinkie Pie says "You're more fun than the color pink." The G3 series includes an episode called "Positively Pink", which is a Birthday Episode for the G3 Pinkie Pie and begins with Pinkie painting the whole town pink and singing about how fun pink is.
  • At Aunt Goldie Delicious' cabin, Pinkie Pie draws Groucho glasses, balloons, and wings on her reflection in a mirror. Faust had originally intended for Pinkie Pie to be a pegasus, and the character is based on the pegasus pony Surprise from the G1 specials and series.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A lot of the misfortune comes from the Apples' unintentional actions. Starts with Big Mac overloading the wagon, leading to its breakdown; then Apple Bloom losing the map while she's playing with it; Granny taking a wrong river route though a scary cave; and both her and Applejack breaking off the steering wheel while fighting over it, which leads the group off a waterfall. Pinkie, however, takes it all in stride, because no family's perfect.
• Nightmare Fetishist:
  • After hearing ponies have gone into the Scariest Cave in All of Equestria and never come out, Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom express anxiety while Pinkie claps her hooves in anticipation and has an ear-to-ear grin. Once inside, while the Apples scream in terror, Pinkie is busy taking pictures for her scrapbook.
  • She later is the only one enjoying the trip over the waterfall, taking selfies (duck-face included) next to each of the terrified Apple members.
• Noodle Implements: Pinkie and Big Mac have some kind of philosophical discussion involving... parachutes.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Apart from a single photo in Pinkie's scrapbook at the end of the episode, we don't get to see much of how the Scariest Cave in Equestria's inside looks like. Judging by the Apples' yelling and later shocked expressions, maybe it's for the best.
• Not Now, Kiddo: When the Apples admit to everything they did wrong, Big Mac tries to chip in with more than one word, but Granny Smith stops him.
• Ode to Family: "Apples to the Core" is about the strong bond of Applejack's family (referred to colloquially as "the Apples").
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: During the Apple Family's collective Heroic BSoD at the end, Big Mac actually starts to speak a full sentence, though Granny Smith cuts him off. But still, when that happens, you know things are bad.
• Prehensile Tail: Pinkie Pie takes it to the extreme, when she uses her tail to take a picture of her with the Apple Family from a distance, either stretching it or sending it through some sort of portal (or just being Pinkie Pie).
• Product Placement: Pinkie Pie and Goldie Delicious pulling scrolls and books from the bottom of a stack suggests another Hasbro property.
• The Quiet One: Played with in Big Mac's case, as in "Ponyville Confidential". For the most part all he says is his customary "Eeyup", but when he starts to apologize for overpacking the jalopy Granny Smith cuts him off before he can get more than five words out. Big Mac also sings full verses of "Apples to the Core," although it isn't obvious as he lacks a solo.
• Real Is Brown: Goldie's hoarding is played remarkably straight for the genre, and her cabin has deeper, darker browns than just about any previous setting in the show.
• Riddle for the Ages: Is Pinkie Pie an Apple or not?!
• Road Trip Plot: The Apple Family takes a road trip to one of Applejack's relatives, and it involves a lot of family bickering and comical incidents.
• Running Gag: The eagle that carries off animals who snatch up the various items, like their map and steering wheel.
• Saying Sound Effects Out Loud: When Pinkie joins in the arguing at the end, she starts yelling "argue argue argue!" and moves on to "bicker bicker!"
• Schizo Tech: As is common for the show. Applejack and the others wear fairly modern-looking life jackets, and the cart they take to Goldie Delicious has shock absorbers, in a land that rarely gets beyond early industrial developments.
• Security Cling: Apple Bloom and Applejack do this to an equally terrified Big Mac during the trip through the Scariest Cave in Equestria. Apple Bloom first latches onto him when Granny Smith mentions the cave before they actually enter the cave.
• Series Continuity Error: Applejack acts like she has never met Goldie and she wasn't at the last Apple family reunion — but we were told in that episode that all of the Apple family was in attendance. Also Goldie is not present in the final Apple photo taken at the end of the reunion episode.
• Serious Business: Pinkie treats making a family scrapbook of their trip as this.
  Applejack: Pinkie Pie, when did you have time to make this?
  Pinkie Pie: (dead serious) Applejack, when you're family, you make the time.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The group go through a very harrowing road trip to reach Goldie Delicious and see if the family scroll is legit, only to finally reach her and realize her own family records are smudged as well. By this point, however, they don't really care since Pinkie has proven herself to be an honorary Apple.
• Shout-Out:
  • The line about the parachute opening if you have the courage to jump invokes the John Burroughs quote "Leap and the net will appear".
  • The ride over the Inevitable Waterfall with the snapshots is a direct reference to the big drop at Splash Mountain.
  • The Scariest Cave in Equestria, although not directly seen, is a nod to the boat tunnel sequence in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
  • An apparent pony version of Slender Man makes a split-second appearance in the bushes when Pinkie tackles Applejack.
• Squee: Pinkie's bigger grins are generally accompanied by a "squee!" sound.
• The Stoic: Big Mac spends quite a lot of time averting this, though he's still The Quiet One.
• Suddenly Voiced: A variant; Big Mac/Peter New actually gets to sing during "Apples to the Core" (more than just the "Eeyup" lines; you can hear it better on this instrument-less version.
• Tempting Fate: After the group fall off the waterfall, it seems to come out unscathed with Granny mentioning the sap they used being strong enough to keep the raft afloat. Then Pinkie lightly lands at the top of the luggage and the thing splits in two.
• Theme Naming: Goldie Delicious, like most Apple family members, is named after a variety of apple. Goldie's name is also suspiciously similar to Pinkie's, making one of several reference to the possibility of their relation.
• Trash of the Titans: Goldie Delicious' hoard of Apple family history and heirlooms. She throws a large pile of it out to her front lawn to make her cabin somewhat fit to receive guests, and the Apples and Pinkie still climb over a lot of clutter inside.
• Tyop on the Cover: The episode is about Pinkie Pie discovering that she might be distantly related to the Apples, but the title card reads "Pinky Apple Pie".
• The Unreveal: It is never confirmed or denied in the episode that Pinkie is related to the Apples, although the episode's Aesop of not worrying who you're related to sees that the Apples consider her part of their family either way.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Applejack asks the family to show Pinkie their best behavior during the road trip, which in practice just leads to them all bottling in their frustrations until they explode.
• Visual Pun: During the song, Granny Smith's line "we're thick as thieves" is accompanied by the Apple family dressed like pirates and Pinkie Pie dressed like a Blatant Burglar. Pinkie's line "The love I feel here is swim, not sink" is accompanied by her throwing a kitchen sink from the pile of stuff in the jalopy.
• Worst. Whatever. Ever!: Said by Apple Bloom — "Worst family trip ever..."

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