History Recap / MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason

* {{Mondegreen}}: Applejack's extreme fatigue causes her to misunderstand every single one of Pinkie Pie's ingredients for the muffins, from "chocolate chips" to "wheat germ", as ingredients that wouldn't be part of any muffin recipe.

* StealthPun:
-->'''Applejack:''' I completely understand. Just next time, try and ''steer'' clear of Ponyville.\\
(''said after stopping a cattle stampede'')

[[caption-width-right:350:[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84PZbL_-jjU Who's a silly pony?]][[note]]Warning: extreme EarWorm[[/note]]]]

** A few ponies faint during the rabbit stampede.

* AnAesop: Everyone needs help from time to time, and one shouldn't be too proud to ask for it if the work load is too much.

* AnimalStampede: The episode opens with a herd of stampeding cows coming towards Ponyville. Fortunately Applejack manages to stop them.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first scene of this episode is the most Big Macintosh has ever been seen spoken in one place. He would become TheQuietOne later on -- this is the only episode where he speaks multiple full sentences without invoking OOCIsSeriousBusiness. Funnily enough, this also resulted in him commonly being depicted with a piece of straw in his mouth, despite this never happening again.

* LethallyStupid: Pinkie Pie mishears Applejack reading the ingredients for the muffins. Instead of starting a fresh batch, she bakes them and causes a lot of ponies (including Pinkie herself) to get sick.

** "[[Literature/HeartOfDarkness The horror,]] [[Film/ApocalypseNow the horror...]]"

** In [[ArtisticLicenseBiology Biology]]: [[SomewhereAnEquestrianIsCrying real-life equines cannot throw up]]. If they got to the point where they'd need to, they can ''die'' because of it.

* MindScrew: What exactly is in a zoo in Equestria? A lot of fans suggest humans, with varying degrees of seriousness.

** A lot of fans will tell you he lost that bet with Applejack last episode.

It's harvest time (AKA [[TitleDrop "Applebuck Season"]]) at Sweet Apple Acres. Unfortunately, Big Macintosh has injured his back, leaving Applejack as the only pony available to bring in the harvest. When Big Mac suggests that the job might be more than she can handle, she takes it as a challenge and vows to finish the job by herself... right after she saves the town of Ponyville from a stampede of panicked cattle.

* CallBack: Twilight suggests asking the rest of the Apple clan (last seen in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon "Mare in the Moon"]]) for help, only for Applejack to explain they were just in town for a family reunion, and are busy working their own farms.

* AmusingInjuries: Applejack's repeated face-plants when she tries to launch Rainbow Dash into the air.

* OhCrap: Rainbow Dash before Applejack finally launches her off the catapult.

* SmackOnTheBack: After reassuring Big Macintosh that she can handle the harvest all by herself, Applejack gives a friendly nudge to her brother, completely forgetting that he had injured his back. Big Mac winces and glares, and AJ says "Sorry."

'''Big [=McIntosh=]:''' But still only ''one'' pony, and one pony plus ''hundreds'' of apple trees just doesn't add up to...\\

It's harvest time (AKA [[TitleDrop "Applebuck Season"]]) at Sweet Apple Acres. Unfortunately, Big [=McIntosh=] has injured his back, leaving Applejack as the only pony available to bring in the harvest. When Big Mac suggests that the job might be more than she can handle, she takes it as a challenge and vows to finish the job by herself... right after she saves the town of Ponyville from a stampede of panicked cattle.

->'''Twilight:''' ''Your applebucking hasn't just caused ''you'' problems. It's [[AddedAlliterativeAppeal over-propelled a pegasus, practically poisoned plenty of ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies.]]''

Applejack remains stubborn as ever... up until she thinks she's finished, only for Big [=McIntosh=] to show up and point out that she's only harvested half the trees on the farm. At this point, her body has taken all the abuse it can and she collapses. Upon regaining consciousness, Applejack has finally learned her lesson about not being afraid to ask for help. Indeed she literally begs for her friends' assistance, and all the apples are harvested on time with their help.

!!Tropes present in this episode (YMMV tropes can be found [[YMMV/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E4ApplebuckSeason here]]):

'''Big [=McIntosh=]:''' Biting off more than you can chew is just what I'm afraid of.\\

'''Big [=McIntosh=]:''' [[MemeticMutation Eeyup.]]

* CharacterizationMarchesOn: In the ColdOpen, Big [=McIntosh=] has a perfectly two-sided conversation with Applejack. By Season 2, his blunt delivery of [[BluntYes "eeyup"]] had gone [[MemeticMutation memetic]], to the point that OOCIsSeriousBusiness can be invoked by him saying ''anything'' else.
* ContinuityNod: Twilight suggests asking the rest of the Apple clan (last seen in [[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS1E1MareInTheMoon "Mare in the Moon"]]) for help, only for Applejack to explain they were just in town for a family reunion, and are busy working their own farms.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The first scene of this episode is the most Big [=McIntosh=] has ever been seen spoken in one place. He would become TheQuietOne later on--this is the only episode where he speaks multiple full sentences without invoking OOCIsSeriousBusiness. Funnily enough, this also resulted in him commonly being depicted with a piece of straw in his mouth, despite this never happening again.

* ExtremeOmnivore: Spike finds the "baked bads" perfectly edible. He even retrieves them from the trash. By comparison, Pinkie Pie, who had been set up as this in the first two episodes, is left sickened when she tries one and is grossed out to see Spike fished them out of the trash to eat them.

** Applejack faints when Big Mcintosh shows her the many apple trees left to harvest.

* FurryReminder:
** AJ falls asleep standing up (horses are notorious for this) and neighs when snoring.
** Also, AJ's extreme fatigue despite her standing naps. Horses can sleep standing up, but if they really need rest, they still need to lie down for a few hours.

* TheMerch: The "baked bads" inspired this [[http://www.welovefine.com/1533-baking-bad.html t-shirt]] which also has a ShoutOut to another [[Series/BreakingBad show]] which involved "baked bads" of another type.

** The nurse's name (AllThereInTheManual) is Nurse Redheart. The G1 era has a trio of "nurse ponies" who are all called Nurse [Something]heart. Nurse Redheart in particular has Nurse Sweetheart's color scheme. [[note]]They're toyline-only, unless Nurse Sweetheart's design being used for teenage main cast member Sweetheart in ''MyLittlePonyTales'' counts.[[/note]]

* NoodleIncident: How ''did'' Big [=McIntosh=] hurt himself anyway? We never got into that.

'''Pinkie:''' ''[weakly]'' No; not baked goods... baked ''bads!''

** "[[TheTick Not baked goods; baked bads!]]"
* ShownTheirWork: When Applejack is heading off a stampede of cattle the methods she used, from using a partner to box them in to roping the lead cow and pulling it aside to change the direction they were heading, were all textbook cowboy technique for controlling a herd of charging cattle.

-->'''Applejack:''' "I completely understand. Just next time, try and ''steer'' clear of Ponyville."\\
''[said after stopping a cattle stampede]''

'''Twilight Sparkle:''' I am ''not'' taking no for an answer...what?

* YouAreNotAlone: The aesop of the episode is 'ask your friends for help'.

* IAteWhat: Averted with Spike who enjoys the "baked bads" Applejack made.