It was just one innocent white lie...
Story by Meghan McCarthy & Dave Rapp
Written by Dave Rapp
Written by Dave Rapp
As Filthy Rich takes a shipment of zap apple jam from Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and Big Mac head into the barn, where they find Apple Bloom stacking crates. When questioned, Apple Bloom reveals that she accidentally gave Filthy Rich crates of cider instead of zap apple jam, and tried to lie about it to cover it up. After the mix-up is sorted out with Filthy Rich, Applejack scolds Apple Bloom for lying. Apple Bloom counters that Applejack has never lied in her life, which makes both Big Mac and Granny Smith laugh, saying that Applejack was quite a liar back when she was younger. Though embarrassed, Applejack says that Granny and Big Mac might as well tell the whole story.
When they were younger, Applejack was desperate to prove she was capable of being in charge of the farm, and Big Mac was far more talkative and bossy. Upon going into town one day, the siblings come across Filthy Rich and his fiancee, Spoiled Milk. Filthy Rich recalls the history the Riches and the Apples have had, offering to sell some of the Apple family's cider at his store. Applejack wants to accept the deal in order to prove she's capable of coming up with good ideas, but Big Mac is staunchly against the idea. Still, Applejack offers to sell just three barrels of cider to Filthy Rich, with more coming if the deal goes well. Big Mac admonishes Applejack for going over Granny's head, and Granny hears about the deal and vetoes it, saying that apple blight has reduced the amount of cider they can sell that year. Granny also forces Applejack to go to Filthy Rich's store and say that the deal is off as punishment.
Once there, Applejack lies about the deal, saying that she can't sell the cider because Granny Smith is sick. Big Mac scolds Applejack again for lying, while trying to keep what Applejack did hidden. Unfortunately, Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk show up with a bouquet of "get well soon" flowers for Granny, forcing Applejack to keep lying about her condition, saying that Granny has got apple blight herself, and is in the hospital. This gets Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk to leave, although they head for the hospital instead.
Once at the hospital, Applejack has to constantly come up with new lies about Granny Smith to Filthy Rich, while also lying to Granny about being there for a presentation on apple blight infecting a pony. All the while, Big Mac incredulously tells Applejack to stop lying, but she won't listen, yelling back for Big Mac to stop scolding her and just do what she wants. She covers Big Mac with a sheet on a gurney, intending to say it's Granny being so sick, but a doctor wheels Big Mac out of the room before Applejack can show him off to Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk, heading for an operating room. Granny, thinking she's there to lecture on apple blight, says that they need to "prune the branches," revealing a saw. Seeing what's about to happen, Applejack finally confesses all of the lies that she's told and promising something she couldn't deliver. She apologizes to everypony and said that it's all her fault, but Big Mac also says he played a part in Applejack's web of lies, saying that if he had listen to Applejack instead of talking all the time, none of the mess would have happened and promise to talk less and listen more, especially to Applejack. Granny also insists that she's in charge of the farm, and that Filthy Rich will not break the tradition of their two families working together or she'll get his grandfather involved.
With the story over, Apple Bloom says that she couldn't believe that Applejack told all those lies. Applejack admits that while it's a story she's not proud of, it taught her the value of honesty. Granny Smith even caps off the story by serving everypony glasses of apple cider.
Tropes:
- An Aesop:
- Lying to your own family will bring ruin and regret. What's worse is that nothing can ever stop a lie from catching up to you. In addition, nobody starts out perfect, and everyone makes mistakes. But most importantly, Granny Smith runs Sweet Apple Acres, and you'd better remember it!
- As Big Mac has learned, don't just complain and state the obvious, thinking that you have done your job. While it is easy to do so, you also need to provide an alternative as well, which is the more difficult part. Otherwise, your recipient will be more likely to just double down on what he's doing. He also learn to Talk Less, Listen More when his constant talking cause Applejack to keep telling lies.
- Ambiguous Time Period: There's a moment where Cheerilee appears in her "1980s" teenage getup in the background. This makes sense if Applejack and Cheerilee are around the same age, but makes it confusing when the flashbacks are set (or even if they can be set by Earth standards).
- Amputation Stops Spread: When a case of apple blight is so bad that the trunk turns red, "the only thing to do is prune them branches". Unfortunately, Granny didn't realize she was looking at Big Mac's leg...
- Anachronism Stew: Ponyville Hospital has an old-style operating theater, in contrast with its otherwise modern-day equipment.
- An Arm and a Leg: Averted, but Granny Smith comes very close to sawing her own grandson's leg off (in her words, "pruning the branches") under the belief that he's a pony who came down with apple blight.
- Bad Liar: To Apple Bloom's shock, Applejack was this when she was younger. So bad, in fact, it almost endangered the family and business. Granny Smith uses this story to explain to Apple Bloom why constant lying, and lying in general, is a bad idea. Applejack is not proud of this backstory and was the reason why she vows to be honest.
- Bait-and-Switch: Granny Smith introduces this particular story by claiming that Applejack's lies put the whole Apple family in the hospital — implying that AJ somehow got them all sick or injured. Instead, AJ, Granny Smith and Big Mac wind up sneaking into the hospital and pretending to be doctors or patients.
- "Be Quiet!" Nudge:
- When Applejack starts pretending that Granny Smith is sick, and Big Mac sarcastically comments that nopony knew, she kicks him in the hoof to make him shut up.
- Later on, as Big Mac is about to give his sister a piece of his mind about her Snowball Lie, Applejack forcefully stuffs his mouth with a green apple.
- Berserk Button: Filthy Rich is infuriated by what he thinks is an attempt to renege on a business deal.
- Big Brother Bully: The young Big Mac acts like a blustering know-it-all to his younger sister Applejack, a stark contrast to the soft-spoken Big Brother Mentor he is now. Of course, Applejack wasn't exactly any better.
- Big "SHUT UP!": While Applejack didn't say this to Big Macintosh, she did tell him to listen to her for once after getting tired of him running his mouth all the time.
- Big "WHAT?!": Apple Bloom's reaction to Granny Smith telling her Applejack had been a big liar in her youth is to jump on the spot with all hooves while shouting "WHAT?!"
- Black Comedy Burst: Part of Applejack's plan involves Mac being in a hospital bed to pretend to be Granny Smith, with the blankets over his face (which usually means the patient is dead, by the way). A doctor mistakes him for a surgical patient and takes him to an operating theater. Due to a misunderstanding, the "surgeon" is Granny, who thinks he's a blight-raddled tree, and is all set to amputate one of his legs before AJ comes clean.
- Blowing a Raspberry: Granny Smith blows a raspberry at her grandchildren after they mention running the farm, pointing out to them that she's not going anywhere any time soon not after what happened.
- Bowdlerise: When the episode was posted on Netflix and released as part of the Season 6 DVD set, all uses of the word "cider" were replaced by "juice" or "juicing."
- Brains and Brawn: Turns out AJ and Big Mac used to fight over who would eventually run the farm: AJ with her ideas or Big Mac with his strength, eventually at the end they realize it will take both, but only after Granny Smith passes.
- Call-Back: Filthy Rich is still buying zap apple jam from the Apple family. His family business, "Rich's Barnyard Bargains" is also mentioned, and seen for the first time in the flashback.
- Call-Forward:
- In the flashback, Cheerilee is seen in her '80s chic ensemble seen in her photograph from "Call of the Cutie".
- We see Derpy in the flashback after apparently having eye surgery.
- Character Catch Phrase: Before he started saying "Eeyup" and "Nnope" all the time, Big Mac used to constantly say "ideas are all well an' good, but you can't plow a field with em" so often it annoyed both Applejack and Granny Smith.
- Comically Missing the Point: After Applejack reveals the heap of lies she made, one of the surgeons dimly responds "So... she's not a doctor?"
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Young Applejack wanted to break tradition and sell the apple cider to Filthy Rich earlier than planned. She passes Granny Smith the news, but learns why that is a bad idea and is forced to rescind the deal. When Rich threatens to cut ties with the Apple family business, Applejack starts lying about Granny being sick as a way to cancel the deal. And things spiral out of control since. Big Mac takes some of the blame as his lack of communication skills had led to Applejack making the rash decision without consulting with Granny Smith first.
- Creepy Twins: A pair of twin pegasus fillies appear as a Freeze-Frame Bonus in reference to The Shining.
- Cringe Comedy: You can't help but facepalm and feel sorry for Applejack as she talks herself into a hole and keeps digging it deeper into a potential disaster.
- Curse of The Ancients: After Applejack bucks Granny Smith a second time in the same day, Granny asks "What in the frilly fumidil has gotten into you?"
- Didn't Think This Through: Applejack offering cider barrels for Filthy Rich to sell without Granny Smith's permission; as Granny later informs her, the cider gets spoiled too quickly so it has to be sold and consumed as soon as possible, plus the apple blight has affected the farm's production so they'll barely be able to make and sell cider themselves.
- Disapproving Look: Applejack and Big Mac give pretty nasty ones to Apple Bloom once they figure out that she lied about the mix-up.
- Disproportionate Retribution: While Applejack did promise to sell some cider to Filthy Rich, him threatening to cut all his family's financial ties to the Apple Family when she's unable to keep her promise was a little extreme. However, he backs down when Applejack lies about Granny Smith being sick, and later is warned by Granny that she'll tell Stinkin' Rich about his threats if he decides to go through on them.
- Don't Tell Mama: Granny Smith warns Filthy Rich that if he cuts ties with the Apple Family, she'll tell his "grandpappy" Stinkin' Rich. This makes him very nervous.
- Double Take: When Filthy Rich says he intends to visit Granny Smith at the hospital, Applejack's first response is approval, before realization sets in.Applejack: That's right. [start] Wait! Get where?
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending: After the flashback is over and Apple Bloom recaps the moral of the story, the Apples come together in laughter around four glasses of cider as the episode fades out.
- Exact Words: At the beginning of the episode, Granny Smith tells Apple Bloom that Applejack's lies ended up "sending the whole family to the hospital." At the end of the the episode, they do indeed end up at a hospital; not as the result of presumed sickness or injury, but because one of Applejack's lies was that Granny was sick with Apple Blight.
- "Fawlty Towers" Plot: Applejack lying to Filthy Rich starts a sequence of lies that ends up blowing up in her face. It actually ends up quite similar to the Fawlty Towers episode "The Anniversary".
- Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling: When they were younger, Applejack was the more foolish sibling, prone to acting without planning ahead and telling lies to cover her tracks, while Big Mac was the more responsible voice of reason, albeit the one who always insisted he was right.
- Framing Device: Apple Bloom telling a white lie inspires the Apple family to sit her down and tell her why Applejack values honesty so much.
- From Bad to Worse: Things go from Applejack having Granny mad at her to Big Mac nearly getting a limb sawed off!
- Funny Background Event:
- Derpy is seen with bandages over her eyes. Apparently this was a corrective eye surgery that didn't take (since previous flashbacks showed she already had her distinctive wall-eyes when she was even younger).
- One of the ponies in the operating theater audience during Granny's lecture is sound asleep.
- Furry Reminder: Granny Smith yelling "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" is punctuated by a horse's whinny.
- Girlish Pigtails: Teenage Applejack in the flashback wore her mane in this style, reflecting her younger age and less maturity.
- Hypocritical Humor: Big Mac rages on Applejack for lying to Filthy Rich about Granny Smith being sick, but when Granny comes in, he immediately lies about wanting oat crumbles for their dinner to cover up what they were talking about.
- Informed Flaw: One of Big Mac's is that he supposedly doesn't listen, but once she's set in the lie, it's Applejack who does most of that. Apparently, he didn't listen before the events of this story.
- Irony:
- Applejack telling Big Mac to not speak for more than a few minutes for her lie to work. It almost gets his leg sawed off due to the fact he can't talk while trying to keep up her charade until Applejack finally came clean with the truth.
- Even though Applejack vowed to never tell a lie again, she is still somewhat prone to mistruths. This makes her "mostly above" instead of being "completely above" dishonesty.
- I Warned You: Big Mac repeatedly racks on Applejack for always digging herself into deeper trouble by not thinking things through.Big Macintosh: I hate to say "I told you so," Applejack, but...
Applejack: You and I both know you don't "hate" to say anythin'. - Jerkass: Big Mac used to be a Big Brother Bully that was dismissive of and condescending to Applejack for wanting to innovate new ways to improve the farm, liked to talk to the point of actively drowning out others, and was smug about how he was the one that worked the fields.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Both times Big Mac distracts Rich and Spoiled with one of his talks, Spoiled points out that all they asked was how Granny was doing.
- Big Mac was a bit of a jerk as a colt, but his increasingly snappy urging of Applejack to stop lying and just tell the truth is pretty warranted.
- Meaningful Name: Filthy Rich's fiancée's maiden name is Spoiled Milk, which fits her due to her sour personality.
- My Greatest Failure: Applejack swore that she would never tell a lie again after telling a series of lies that nearly led to Granny Smith cutting Big Mac's leg off.
- Never Mess with Granny: It's made clear that Granny Smith is the power behind Sweet Apple Acres, and you mess with her at your peril.
- Noodle Incident: The stories of how Big Mac came to always wear his yoke, and how he got his cutie mark, are this, since we only hear the end of each story.
- Old Shame: An In-Universe example, as Applejack makes quite the face when Apple Bloom says that she's never told a lie in her life.
- Once Done, Never Forgotten: Applejack is clearly ashamed of her lies when she was younger, and seems to dislike it being brought up.
- Orphaned Punchline: Twice, Applejack returns to Big Mac, Filthy Rich, and Spoiled Milk, just in time to catch the out-of-context ending of a story from Big Mac's life. Then when she gets back to the barn where she left Granny Smith rambling, we hear another out-of-context snippet of another story.
- Parental Abandonment: The Apple parents are suspiciously absent in the flashback despite Apple Bloom having apparently not been born yet.
Word of God has it that they were on vacation at the time. - Pet the Dog: Spoiled Milk looks genuinely concerned when it looks like they are going to amputate "granny"'s hoof. She's also one of the ponies to raise their hooves when Granny asks if anypony still wants to hear about the apple blight.
- Preemptive "Shut Up": At one point when Big Mac is about to start lecturing her again, Applejack unceremoniously stuffs an apple into his mouth.
- Scare 'Em Straight: Apple Bloom is told the story of Applejack's last major lie to scare her off from lying.
- Series Continuity Error: Apple Bloom says that Applejack has never told a lie her entire life. A whole lot of past episodes would disagree with you there, Apple Bloom. Though it's likely she's just exaggerating.
- Ship Tease: While walking, Big Mac is briefly distracted by Cheerilee.
- Shout-Out: Pony versions of the Grady twins are among the ponies wandering around the hospital.
- Shown Their Work: Pruning infected branches is an effective way of controlling fungal blights in trees, provided the blight hasn't already spread into the trunk.
- Sibling Rivalry: The flashback shows that Applejack and Big Mac used to be at each other's throats when they were younger, arguing who would take over the farm: Applejack with her ambitious ideas, or Big Mac with his chore-built stamina.
- Snowball Lie: After Applejack tells her initial lie that Granny Smith is sick, Big Mac is forced to play into her deception to help her keep up the charade, right up to the point where he has to pose as Granny at the hospital while she obliviously prepares to perform surgery on him.
- Subverted Catchphrase: Young Big Macintosh teases his older self's trademark "Eeyup" a few times, before eventually saying it for real.Big Macintosh: Eeeyright.
- Suddenly Shouting: Granny Smith shoots down Applejack's idea of selling apple cider to Filthy Rich by yelling "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" without warning.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Big Macintosh, as opposed to the calm, quiet, and above all nice pony that he is in the show proper, was a fairly stuck-up Big Brother Bully back in his youth.
- Used to Be More Social: Big Mac is revealed to be much more chatty as a younger stallion, but he also preferred to speak over other ponies rather than listen to what they had to say. By the end of the episode, he adopts his more familiar Silent Bob role, as he believes he wound up driving Applejack into causing the problem in the first place because he was a talker instead of a listener.
- Wham Line:Granny Smith: Your big sister [Applejack] lied so much when she was a filly, the whole family ended up in the hospital.
- Whole Episode Flashback: Focusing on how Applejack came to hold the values that would lead to her honesty becoming her defining characteristic. It also shows how Big Macintosh became a lot more monosyllabic than he was in his youth.
- Worldbuilding: The episode reveals a lot of Ponyville Hospital on the inside.
- You Can't Miss It: Applejack gives deliberately vague and complicated directions to Filthy Rich and Spoiled Milk when they're looking for Granny Smith's room in the hospital, ending with "Easy as Granny's apple pie." Naturally, they get lost.
