Family Appreciation Day

Family Appreciation Day
Season №:	2
Season episode №:	12
Overall episode №:	38
Original airdate:	January 7, 2012
Written by:	Cindy Morrow
Storyboard:	Sherann Johnson & Justin Nichols[1]
Featured characters:	Granny Smith Apple Bloom Diamond Tiara Filthy Rich
See also
transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation
Episode guide
Previous Hearth's Warming Eve	Next Baby Cakes

Family Appreciation Day is the twelfth episode of the second season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the thirty-eighth episode overall. In the episode, Apple Bloom tries to prevent Granny Smith from speaking at her school for Family Appreciation Day. This is the first episode where only one of the main characters appears, namely Applejack.

Production

This episode is listed as number eleven on Zap2it's episode guide.

Summary

Preparing for the zap apple harvest

"The zap apples are comin'! The zap apples are comin'!"

— Granny Smith

The episode opens at night time in Sweet Apple Acres with a wolf's howl. Soon Applejack wakes up to the clanking of pots and pans, and she is joined by Apple Bloom, who looks out the window with her. Outside, Granny Smith is running around shouting "the timberwolves are a-howlin'" and "the zap apples are coming." Looking out from their windows, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Big McIntosh cheer and repeat that the zap apples are coming.

The following morning Applejack and Big McIntosh are making preparations at the apple orchard, unloading large baskets by the bare trees. Inside the Apples' house, Apple Bloom enthusiastically exclaims to Granny Smith that she's ready to make zap apple jam. Granny Smith starts by giving Apple Bloom a stick with some twigs tied to its end, prompting Apple Bloom to inquire if it is some special herbal ingredient she uses, but Granny Smith replies that it's a broom and that she should start sweeping.

At the orchard, a strong wind starts blowing and the skies get covered with dark clouds. The naked trees starts buzzing with blue sparks around their branches, and soon the sparks disappear and big leaves sprout, which Applejack calls "zap apple leaves".

Diamond Tiara taunts Apple Bloom

"Thank goodness you're here on the farm and not in town where everypony could see you."

— Diamond Tiara taunting Apple Bloom

The storm clouds quickly disperse and Diamond Tiara and her father Filthy Rich arrive at the farm. They watch Granny Smith and Apple Bloom jump over full watering cans singing the alphabet while wearing bunny costumes. Filthy Rich is there to do business with Granny Smith about the jam. Diamond Tiara tells Apple Bloom she must be "so embarrassed" by Granny Smith's "silly ways" and ridiculous costumes, and that she's lucky she's on the farm and not in town where everyone could see her.

The scene fades to Apple Bloom and Granny Smith in town gathering ingredients for the zap apple jam. Granny Smith sings loudly and hops along, drawing the attention of other townfolk, which makes Apple Bloom lower her head in embarrassment. Granny Smith inspects some pots and pans at a stand and chews on one of them, and leaves her false teeth attached to it then carries along. She makes smalltalk with the bees while harvesting their honey. Apple Bloom begs her grandmother to stop acting that way when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon spot them. The fillies derisively call Apple Bloom by the nickname that Granny Smith gives her, which makes her bury her head in shame and eventually beg Granny Smith to get back to the farm. Granny Smith keeps singing and prancing, and Apple Bloom pulls down her bonnet over her eyes, embarrassed.

Scheduling Granny Smith for Family Appreciation Day

The next scene has Filthy Rich giving a lecture about his business at the schoolhouse in front of a bored, half-asleep classroom–except Diamond Tiara, who is alert and attentive. He concludes his lecture and Cheerilee thanks him for being a part of Family Appreciation Day, first as "Mr. Filthy", but he frowns and Cheerilee quickly corrects herself to "Mr. Rich." Cheerilee checks her her list for the student up for the next Family Appreciation Day, and names Apple Bloom. Apple Bloom tells her that Applejack and Big McIntosh will be too busy to come and speak because it's zap apple harvest day. Cheerilee asks if anyone else from her family could come, and Apple Bloom nervously shakes her head no, but Diamond Tiara butts in and exclaims that Granny Smith could come. Apple Bloom tries to say something, but Cheerilee quickly accepts the offer. Apple Bloom is horrified and whines to herself that she'll be the laughing stock of Ponyville.

"Come Monday, I'll be the laughin' stock of Ponyville!"

— Apple Bloom

Apple Bloom tries to avoid humiliation

Back at the farm, Applejack tells Apple Bloom she and Big McIntosh can't take a break from the harvest. The third sign manifests in a quick change in weather, a flock of crows circling the orchard in a flight pattern of an apple, and the blossoming of teal flowers on the zap apple trees. When the sign concludes, Applejack assures Apple Bloom that Granny Smith has no shortage of entertaining stories to tell.

The scene cross-fades to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse, where Apple Bloom shares her woes with her friends Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle in a long string of synonyms. Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo tell Apple Bloom they'll help her postpone her presentation, trying tactics like faking an illness for Apple Bloom, manipulating a napping Granny Smith to say that she won't be able to make the presentation to Cheerilee, trying to harvest the zap apples early (while they get to feel the trees' magic defense), and sending Granny Smith on a train journey to see Uncle Apple Strudel. The last attempt works, and Granny Smith goes to visit Apple Strudel.

The scene cross-fades to the schoolhouse, where Cheerilee welcomes Granny Smith for Family Appreciation Day, but she doesn't arrive. Apple Bloom explains that Granny Smith got called out of town on account of a family emergency, but right as she finishes the sentence Granny Smith enters the classroom. Apple Bloom, surprised, asks Granny Smith if she missed the train, and she replies that it came and Uncle Apple Strudel was on it. Diamond Tiara makes a snide remark about Granny Smith's memory to Silver Spoon, and afterwards Granny Smith starts her presentation.

Granny Smith's story

"Long ago when I was a little pony, things were very different here in Ponyville... 'cause there was no Ponyville!"

— Granny Smith

Granny Smith tells the class that she and her family were "pilgrim ponyfolk" who traveled and collected seeds. In her story, "the Smith family" reaches Canterlot and comes across Princess Celestia, who stops to see their seed collection, and notices they're tired from searching for a home. She directs them to the land next to the Everfree Forest; Granny's father is so grateful that he raises Celestia's hoof and kisses it (but perhaps for a bit too long than his wife appreciates, if her glaring at him is any indication).  There they build their first home with lumber from the surrounding forest and plant their first orchard, but since orchards don't grow overnight their food runs scarce. Despite having been warned of the dangers of the Everfree Forest, as her family sleeps Granny Smith decides to venture into it after dark in search of food, having reasoned that there must be food sources that support the animals living there. She soon came across a zap apple tree which just happens to be laden with ripe fruit. Having filled her saddle bags at this point, a pack of timberwolves found her and began to howl and chase after her. Granny Smith runs back to her house and begins clanging a metal pot against the cooking cauldron her mother set up outside, which drives the timberwolves away. The family takes the seeds from the zap apples and plants them in their orchard; the seeds magically grow into full size trees in an instant.

Granny Smith then goes on to describe the how she paid attention to the signs of the harvest of the zap apple trees each year, how the apples all zap away if you don't pick them all in one day, and how she mixed up batches of zap apple jam. The process would come to involve the strange activities she was exhibiting earlier in the episode: being friendly with the bees so their honey would be sweet, talking to glass jars to make sure they won't crack, and that "zap apples like pink polkadots". As to exactly why it improves the jam, she came to chalk it up to the magic apples themselves and that magic is just funny that way. She tells that ponies started coming to the farm from far and wide for the zap apple jam, and that the first thing Diamond Tiara's great grandfather Stinkin' Rich ever sold was her zap apple jam. He would stay in the area to open a permanent store, and this came to attract more ponies to relocate to what would become the town site. She concludes, "and that is how Ponyville was founded."

Granny Smith's account of Ponyville's founding agrees with the account given in Winter Wrap Up by Twilight Sparkle, where she tells Spike that Ponyville was founded by Earth ponies. After Granny Smith finishes her story, Silver Spoon kicks off a round of applause, to which everyone joins in. Diamond Tiara is shocked at the attention Granny Smith has received, and lashes out at her, but Apple Bloom rushes to defend Granny Smith. At the end of the episode, Apple Bloom tells Applejack that Family Appreciation Day went well and she learned that she should always appreciate and be proud of her family and friends, even if they may seem different.

"My Granny Smith is super special! I just forgot that for a little while."

— Apple Bloom learning her lesson

The episode ends with Filthy Rich, sternly pushing Diamond Tiara, wearing a big pair of bunny ears, to go and join in with other foals from school in singing to the water in the watering cans.

Zap apples

The zap apples are magical apples that grow in the Everfree Forest and the Apple family orchard, which was the Smith family orchard when they were first planted, as told by Granny Smith to Apple Bloom's class in this episode. Granny Smith tells of how she picked the apples from trees in the Everfree Forest and planted their seeds in the Smith family orchard, and how they magically grew to full size trees and their fruits were made into various foodstuff, chiefly Granny Smith's zap apple jam, which was instrumental in the founding of Ponyville, according to her story. Zap apples were originally called "Zapples" and went through several other names, such as "Zippityzapples", "ZipZap Apples", "Zipzapples" and "AppleZaps", according to Cindy Morrow.^[2]

Zap apple harvest

Zap apples are first featured in this episode. They appear and disappear quickly in the span of five days, which is why Applejack and Big McIntosh can't spare time from the harvest to speak at Apple Bloom's school. Their appearance is accompanied by signs that are numbered by Granny Smith. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders try harvesting the apples the evening before zap apple harvest day, Apple Bloom warns her friends, "Zap apple trees aren't like normal apple trees. They're magic." Sweetie Belle tries bucking a tree to harvest the apples but gets electrocuted, and when the three Crusaders try picking an apple and can't manage to pull it off the branch they end up catapulting themselves from the bowed tree.

First sign: timberwolves

First, Granny Smith announces that the timberwolves are howling and that the zap apples are coming, although she later says that they howl "when the zap apples first start growing", after the other signs. The timberwolves appear in Granny Smith's flashback when she tells the story of the zap apples and the founding of Ponyville to Apple Bloom's class. Young Granny Smith enters the Everfree Forest despite its dangers in search of food. She hears a wolf's howl, and after she comes across the zap apple trees the timberwolves start gathering around her, howling and snarling. She escapes, and outruns the wolves back to the farmhouse, where she clangs pots and pans which scare away the timberwolves.

"Timberwolf", or "timber wolf" is a colloquial name for some subspecies of gray wolf, or for the species itself. The timberwolves in the episode have glowing yellow eyes and their bodies look like pieces of timber.

Second sign: zap apple leaves

The next day after the first sign, a sudden strong wind starts blowing and the skies get covered with dark clouds. The naked trees starts buzzing with blue sparks around their branches, and soon the sparks disappear and big leaves sprout, which Applejack calls "zap apple leaves". The clouds quickly disperse, and soon afterward Granny Smith tells Filthy Rich that the zap apples are due in four "days, to be exact."

Third sign: crows and flowers

The third sign is loudly pointed out by Granny Smith. There is another sudden wind and gathering of dark clouds, and a flock of crows circles above the orchard, making an apple shape with their flight pattern. Glowing teal flowers sprout on the trees and blossom into star-shaped flowers, accompanied by blue electric sparks. The clouds quickly disperse and the flowers stop glowing but remain on the trees.

Fourth sign: meteor shower

The evening before zap apple harvest, the Cutie Mark Crusaders watch the zap apples sprout on the trees after a meteor shower. Apple Bloom announces that it's the fourth sign, and the three Crusaders sneak into the orchard to harvest the zap apples, though Apple Bloom warns her friends that zap apple trees are magic. The fillies fail at their attempts to pick the apples, which are still small and gray, and not rainbow-colored like the harvest-ready zap apples.

Fifth sign and ripening

The weather changes abruptly for a final time before the zap apples are ready to harvest. There's a lightning storm over the orchard, then a rainbow shines over it, and the zap apple trees are once again teeming with electrical sparks. The zap apples turn from gray to rainbow-streaked, and rainbow-beams fire all across the orchard from the apples. An aurora-like rainbow shines behind the apple trees and the zap apples change shape from small round apples to larger, more elongated and squarish. Applejack watches the transformation and announces that the zap apple harvest has begun, and Granny Smith announces that "tomorrow we will be makin' up some zap apple jam!"

Zap apple jam

Granny Smith tells Apple Bloom that she had been making zap apple jam since she was a little pony, and that there is "a whole mess o' steps in this process and you gots to get each one of them just right, or no zap apple jam." When she gives her presentation to Apple Bloom's class, she mentions being friendly with the bees so their honey would be sweet, talking to glass jars, and that "zap apples like pink polka-dots." Early in the episode Apple Bloom and Granny Smith hop over full watering cans in bunny suits while singing the alphabet, and Apple Bloom tries to explain to Diamond Tiara the purpose of this activity, but Diamond Tiara cuts her off. Applejack later asks Apple Bloom's classmates if they want to help Granny "sing to the water".

At the end of the episode, ponies are lining up to buy the zap apple jam that Granny Smith and Apple Bloom made, much like they did in Granny Smith's story. With the exception of Stinkin' Rich, all the ponies in the zap apple jam queue in Granny Smith's memory are the same ponies who queue up for the zap apple jam in the present day, without the sepia tone or old fashioned clothing. Granny Smith tells Apple Bloom's class that it's the zap apple jam that attracted settlers to Ponyville after the Smith family first settled there, and that zap apple jam was the very first thing that Diamond Tiara's great grandfather Stinkin' Rich ever sold.

Quotes

For more quotes, see the episode's transcript.

Apple Bloom: Ready, Granny!

Granny Smith: Ready for what?

Apple Bloom: For makin' zap apple jam!

Granny Smith: Darn tootin'! It's time for some good old-fashioned zap apple jammin'!

Apple Bloom: Yes ma'am, I can't wait ma'am!

Granny Smith: [pause] Wait for what?

Apple Bloom: To make zap apple jam with you!

Granny Smith: O'course.

Granny Smith: Oh, are they your friends? Hello, Half Pint's friends!

Silver Spoon: Hiii, Granny Smith! Hiii, [mockingly] Half Pint!

Cheerilee: Well, thank you, Mr. Filthy- I mean, Mr. Rich.

Apple Bloom: I'll be embarrassed, shamed, disgraced, mortified, humiliate-

Scootaloo: What are you, a dictionary?

Apple Bloom: Whuh- what are you doing here? Did you miss the train?

Granny Smith: Er no, it came. And Uncle Apple Strudel was on it.

Apple Strudel: Ooooooh, noogie noogie noggie! [laughs madly]

Granny Smith: Magic is as magic does, just funny that way.

Applejack: So I take it Family Appreciation Day went well?

Apple Bloom: Did it? My Granny Smith is super special! I just forgot that for a little while.

Granny Smith: Aw, don't fret. I forget things all the time. Now, I'll getcha... er... somethin'.

Gallery

Family Appreciation Day image gallery

References

1. ↑ Raven Molisee's DeviantArt journal (2012-02-23). Retrieved on 2012 February 23.
2. ↑ Cindy Morrow on Twitter (2013-03-15). Retrieved on 2013 March 15.

v • e Episodes, films, and animated shorts

Season one
Episode 1 Friendship is Magic, part 1	Episode 2 Friendship is Magic, part 2	Episode 3 The Ticket Master	Episode 4 Applebuck Season
Episode 5 Griffon the Brush Off	Episode 6 Boast Busters	Episode 7 Dragonshy	Episode 8 Look Before You Sleep
Episode 9 Bridle Gossip	Episode 10 Swarm of the Century	Episode 11 Winter Wrap Up	Episode 12 Call of the Cutie
Episode 13 Fall Weather Friends	Episode 14 Suited For Success	Episode 15 Feeling Pinkie Keen	Episode 16 Sonic Rainboom
Episode 17 Stare Master	Episode 18 The Show Stoppers	Episode 19 A Dog and Pony Show	Episode 20 Green Isn't Your Color
Episode 21 Over a Barrel	Episode 22 A Bird in the Hoof	Episode 23 The Cutie Mark Chronicles	Episode 24 Owl's Well That Ends Well
	Episode 25 Party of One	Episode 26 The Best Night Ever

Season two
Episode 1 The Return of Harmony Part 1	Episode 2 The Return of Harmony Part 2	Episode 3 Lesson Zero	Episode 4 Luna Eclipsed
Episode 5 Sisterhooves Social	Episode 6 The Cutie Pox	Episode 7 May the Best Pet Win!	Episode 8 The Mysterious Mare Do Well
Episode 9 Sweet and Elite	Episode 10 Secret of My Excess	Episode 11 Hearth's Warming Eve	Episode 12 Family Appreciation Day
Episode 13 Baby Cakes	Episode 14 The Last Roundup	Episode 15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000	Episode 16 Read It and Weep
Episode 17 Hearts and Hooves Day	Episode 18 A Friend in Deed	Episode 19 Putting Your Hoof Down	Episode 20 It's About Time
Episode 21 Dragon Quest	Episode 22 Hurricane Fluttershy	Episode 23 Ponyville Confidential	Episode 24 MMMystery on the Friendship Express
	Episode 25 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1	Episode 26 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2

Season three
Episode 1 The Crystal Empire - Part 1	Episode 2 The Crystal Empire - Part 2	Episode 3 Too Many Pinkie Pies	Episode 4 One Bad Apple
Episode 5 Magic Duel	Episode 6 Sleepless in Ponyville	Episode 7 Wonderbolts Academy	Episode 8 Apple Family Reunion
Episode 9 Spike at Your Service	Episode 10 Keep Calm and Flutter On	Episode 11 Just for Sidekicks	Episode 12 Games Ponies Play
Episode 13 Magical Mystery Cure

Season four
Episode 1 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1	Episode 2 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2	Episode 3 Castle Mane-ia	Episode 4 Daring Don't
Episode 5 Flight to the Finish	Episode 6 Power Ponies	Episode 7 Bats!	Episode 8 Rarity Takes Manehattan
Episode 9 Pinkie Apple Pie	Episode 10 Rainbow Falls	Episode 11 Three's A Crowd	Episode 12 Pinkie Pride
Episode 13 Simple Ways	Episode 14 Filli Vanilli	Episode 15 Twilight Time	Episode 16 It Ain't Easy Being Breezies
Episode 17 Somepony to Watch Over Me	Episode 18 Maud Pie	Episode 19 For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils	Episode 20 Leap of Faith
Episode 21 Testing Testing 1, 2, 3	Episode 22 Trade Ya!	Episode 23 Inspiration Manifestation	Episode 24 Equestria Games
	Episode 25 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1	Episode 26 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2

Season five
Episode 1 The Cutie Map - Part 1	Episode 2 The Cutie Map - Part 2	Episode 3 Castle Sweet Castle	Episode 4 Bloom & Gloom
Episode 5 Tanks for the Memories	Episode 6 Appleoosa's Most Wanted	Episode 7 Make New Friends but Keep Discord	Episode 8 The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone
Episode 9 Slice of Life	Episode 10 Princess Spike	Episode 11 Party Pooped	Episode 12 Amending Fences
Episode 13 Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep?	Episode 14 Canterlot Boutique	Episode 15 Rarity Investigates!	Episode 16 Made in Manehattan
Episode 17 Brotherhooves Social	Episode 18 Crusaders of the Lost Mark	Episode 19 The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows	Episode 20 Hearthbreakers
Episode 21 Scare Master	Episode 22 What About Discord?	Episode 23 The Hooffields and McColts	Episode 24 The Mane Attraction
	Episode 25 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1	Episode 26 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2

Season six
Episode 1 The Crystalling - Part 1	Episode 2 The Crystalling - Part 2	Episode 3 The Gift of the Maud Pie	Episode 4 On Your Marks
Episode 5 Gauntlet of Fire	Episode 6 No Second Prances	Episode 7 Newbie Dash	Episode 8 A Hearth's Warming Tail
Episode 9 The Saddle Row Review	Episode 10 Applejack's "Day" Off	Episode 11 Flutter Brutter	Episode 12 Spice Up Your Life
Episode 13 Stranger Than Fan Fiction	Episode 14 The Cart Before the Ponies	Episode 15 28 Pranks Later	Episode 16 The Times They Are A Changeling
Episode 17 Dungeons & Discords	Episode 18 Buckball Season	Episode 19 The Fault in Our Cutie Marks	Episode 20 Viva Las Pegasus
Episode 21 Every Little Thing She Does	Episode 22 P.P.O.V. (Pony Point of View)	Episode 23 Where the Apple Lies	Episode 24 Top Bolt
	Episode 25 To Where and Back Again: Part 1	Episode 26 To Where and Back Again: Part 2

Feature films
Equestria Girls	Rainbow Rocks	Friendship Games	Legend of Everfree
My Little Pony: The Movie

Animated shorts
Rainbow Rocks shorts	Friendship Games shorts	Equestria Girls Minis	Baby Flurry Heart's Heartfelt Scrapbook