Family Appreciation Day

Chronology

Family Appreciation Day is the 12th episode of the second season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and the 38th episode in total. The episode focuses on the history of the Apple and Rich families, and in the process, Ponyville as a whole.

Family Appreciation Day
Friendship is Magic episode
Airdate	January 7, 2012
Network	The Hub
Credits
Writer	Cindy Morrow
Director	James Wootton

Synopsis

At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big McIntosh are all woken up in the middle of the night by Granny Smith, who is running around the farm screaming that the timberwolves are howling, which is the first sign that the Zap Apples are coming. This invokes excitement in the family.

The next morning, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom get ready to make Zap Apple Jam. A few moments later, Diamond Tiara and Filthy Rich arrive to the farm, and Granny Smith and Filthy Rich wander off to talk about ordering zap apple jam in advance, and Diamond Tiara ridicules Granny Smith's silly ways.

Granny Smith and Apple Bloom then go to Ponyville to get things for the zap apple jam, but Granny Smith keeps drawing attention to the two with her silly antics. Apple Bloom tries to hide from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, who are nearby, and begs Granny Smith to stop it, but still gets noticed and laughed at.

At the Ponyville Schoolhouse, Cheerilee reveals that Apple Bloom must bring in a family member for next week, but since her family's busy with harvesting zap apples, Granny Smith will be the one presenting. At the Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse, the trio makes up a plan to postpone Apple Bloom's presentation.

First, the trio pretends that Apple Bloom is sick and that she must stay home all week, but Granny Smith decides she's fine. The trio then decides to harvest all the unripe apples so that Apple Bloom's family isn't busy on family appreciation day, which ends up going horribly, because they won't budge. The next day, the crusaders enact their next plan. They wait for Cheerilee to show up at the door, and while Granny Smith is sleeping, they use her like a puppet, pulling the ropes attached to her arms while Apple Bloom impersonates her voice, telling Cheerilee that she's too busy to make the presentation, but they accidentally wake up Granny Smith, who sees Cheerilee and says that she "wouldn't miss it for all the tea in Canterlot," leaving Cheerilee confused. For their last plan, the crusaders send Granny Smith off to the train station to see Apple Strudel.

Back at the Ponyville Schoolhouse, Granny Smith still manages to show up, because Apple Strudel was actually on the train. Granny Smith then starts her presentation. She reveals that when she was a filly, Ponyville didn't exist yet, and that her family were pilgrims who ventured far and wide to collect and sell seeds. They traveled to Canterlot, where Princess Celestia stopped to look at Pa Smith's seed collection. She saw how tired Granny Smith's family was, and gave them a place to settle, near the Everfree Forest.

They built their settlement there, but were getting short on food, so Granny Smith wandered into the forest in the middle of the night looking for something to eat. She stumbled across a zap apple tree and grabbed a few apples, but ran off when the Timberwolves appeared. Granny Smith and her father planted the zap apples trees, and they grew almost instantly. She paid close attention to the signs of the zap apples' harvesting time, and also to the special rules of making zap apple jam. Ponies started coming to their farm from all over Equestria for some zap apple jam, including Stinkin' Rich, Diamond Tiara's great-grandfather. As more ponies moved into Equestria, the settlement eventually became known as Ponyville.

Appearances

Characters and groups

• Granny Smith
• Applejack
• Apple Bloom
• Big McIntosh
• Diamond Tiara
• Filthy Rich
• Silver Spoon
• Cheerilee
• Apple Strudel
• Princess Celestia
• Pa Smith
• Stinkin' Rich

Places

• Sweet Apple Acres
• Ponyville
• Ponyville Schoolhouse
• Cutie Mark Crusaders' Clubhouse
• Canterlot
• Everfree Forest

Objects

• Zap Apples
• Zap Apple Jam

Species

• Timberwolves

Events Event: Family Appreciation Day

Misc