Family Appreciation Day | |
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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 | |
credits • transcript • gallery • allusions animation errors • statistics • speculation | |
Episode guide | |
Previous Hearth's Warming Eve | Next Baby Cakes |
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

"Yay! The zap apples are comin'!"
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

Bunny costumes and onlookers.
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

Cheerilee schedules Apple Bloom to bring Granny Smith.
- "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.

Putting words in Granny Smith's mouth.
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 and her family in Canterlot.
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."

Apple Bloom is appreciated for having Granny Smith.
- "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

Granny Smith cheering when the zap apples become ready to harvest.
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

Timberwolves howling is the first sign.
"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 second sign.
Third sign: crows and flowers

The end of the third sign.
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 zap apples changing shape, with the aurora-like rainbow behind them.
Zap apple jam

Scootaloo having an open-face zap apple jam sandwich.
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
References
- ↑ Raven Molisee's DeviantArt journal (2012-02-23). Retrieved on 2012 February 23.
- ↑ Cindy Morrow on Twitter (2013-03-15). Retrieved on 2013 March 15.
Episodes, films, and animated shorts |
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Season one | |||
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Episode 1 Friendship is Magic, part 1 | Episode 2 Friendship is Magic, part 2 | Episode 3 The Ticket Master | Episode 4 Applebuck Season |
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Episode 5 Griffon the Brush Off | Episode 6 Boast Busters | Episode 7 Dragonshy | Episode 8 Look Before You Sleep |
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Episode 9 Bridle Gossip | Episode 10 Swarm of the Century | Episode 11 Winter Wrap Up | Episode 12 Call of the Cutie |
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Episode 13 Fall Weather Friends | Episode 14 Suited For Success | Episode 15 Feeling Pinkie Keen | Episode 16 Sonic Rainboom |
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Episode 17 Stare Master | Episode 18 The Show Stoppers | Episode 19 A Dog and Pony Show | Episode 20 Green Isn't Your Color |
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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 |
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Episode 25 Party of One | Episode 26 The Best Night Ever |
Season two | |||
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Episode 1 The Return of Harmony Part 1 | Episode 2 The Return of Harmony Part 2 | Episode 3 Lesson Zero | Episode 4 Luna Eclipsed |
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Episode 5 Sisterhooves Social | Episode 6 The Cutie Pox | Episode 7 May the Best Pet Win! | Episode 8 The Mysterious Mare Do Well |
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Episode 9 Sweet and Elite | Episode 10 Secret of My Excess | Episode 11 Hearth's Warming Eve | Episode 12 Family Appreciation Day |
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Episode 13 Baby Cakes | Episode 14 The Last Roundup | Episode 15 The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 | Episode 16 Read It and Weep |
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Episode 17 Hearts and Hooves Day | Episode 18 A Friend in Deed | Episode 19 Putting Your Hoof Down | Episode 20 It's About Time |
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Episode 21 Dragon Quest | Episode 22 Hurricane Fluttershy | Episode 23 Ponyville Confidential | Episode 24 MMMystery on the Friendship Express |
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Episode 25 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1 | Episode 26 A Canterlot Wedding - Part 2 |
Season three | |||
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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 |
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Episode 5 Magic Duel | Episode 6 Sleepless in Ponyville | Episode 7 Wonderbolts Academy | Episode 8 Apple Family Reunion |
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Episode 9 Spike at Your Service | Episode 10 Keep Calm and Flutter On | Episode 11 Just for Sidekicks | Episode 12 Games Ponies Play |
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Episode 13 Magical Mystery Cure |
Season four | |||
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Episode 1 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 1 | Episode 2 Princess Twilight Sparkle - Part 2 | Episode 3 Castle Mane-ia | Episode 4 Daring Don't |
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Episode 5 Flight to the Finish | Episode 6 Power Ponies | Episode 7 Bats! | Episode 8 Rarity Takes Manehattan |
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Episode 9 Pinkie Apple Pie | Episode 10 Rainbow Falls | Episode 11 Three's A Crowd | Episode 12 Pinkie Pride |
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Episode 13 Simple Ways | Episode 14 Filli Vanilli | Episode 15 Twilight Time | Episode 16 It Ain't Easy Being Breezies |
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Episode 17 Somepony to Watch Over Me | Episode 18 Maud Pie | Episode 19 For Whom the Sweetie Belle Toils | Episode 20 Leap of Faith |
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Episode 21 Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 | Episode 22 Trade Ya! | Episode 23 Inspiration Manifestation | Episode 24 Equestria Games |
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Episode 25 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 1 | Episode 26 Twilight's Kingdom - Part 2 |
Season five | |||
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Episode 1 The Cutie Map - Part 1 | Episode 2 The Cutie Map - Part 2 | Episode 3 Castle Sweet Castle | Episode 4 Bloom & Gloom |
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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 |
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Episode 9 Slice of Life | Episode 10 Princess Spike | Episode 11 Party Pooped | Episode 12 Amending Fences |
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Episode 13 Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep? | Episode 14 Canterlot Boutique | Episode 15 Rarity Investigates! | Episode 16 Made in Manehattan |
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Episode 17 Brotherhooves Social | Episode 18 Crusaders of the Lost Mark | Episode 19 The One Where Pinkie Pie Knows | Episode 20 Hearthbreakers |
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Episode 21 Scare Master | Episode 22 What About Discord? | Episode 23 The Hooffields and McColts | Episode 24 The Mane Attraction |
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Episode 25 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 1 | Episode 26 The Cutie Re-Mark - Part 2 |
Season six | |||
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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 |
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Episode 5 Gauntlet of Fire | Episode 6 No Second Prances | Episode 7 Newbie Dash | Episode 8 A Hearth's Warming Tail |
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Episode 9 The Saddle Row Review | Episode 10 Applejack's "Day" Off | Episode 11 Flutter Brutter | Episode 12 Spice Up Your Life |
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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 |
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Episode 17 Dungeons & Discords | Episode 18 Buckball Season | Episode 19 The Fault in Our Cutie Marks | Episode 20 Viva Las Pegasus |
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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 |
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Episode 25 To Where and Back Again - Part 1 | Episode 26 To Where and Back Again - Part 2 |
Season seven | |||
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Episode 1 Celestial Advice | Episode 2 All Bottled Up | Episode 3 A Flurry of Emotions | Episode 4 Rock Solid Friendship |
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Episode 5 Fluttershy Leans In | Episode 6 Forever Filly | Episode 7 Parental Glideance | Episode 8 Hard to Say Anything |
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Episode 9 Honest Apple | Episode 10 A Royal Problem | Episode 11 Not Asking for Trouble | Episode 12 Discordant Harmony |
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Episode 13 The Perfect Pear | Episode 14 Fame and Misfortune | Episode 15 Triple Threat | Episode 16 Campfire Tales |
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Episode 17 To Change a Changeling | Episode 18 Daring Done? | Episode 19 It Isn't the Mane Thing About You | Episode 20 A Health of Information |
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Episode 21 Marks and Recreation | Episode 22 Once Upon a Zeppelin | Episode 23 Secrets and Pies | Episode 24 Uncommon Bond |
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Episode 25 Shadow Play - Part 1 | Episode 26 Shadow Play - Part 2 |
Season eight | |||
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Episode 1 School Daze - Part 1 | Episode 2 School Daze - Part 2 | Episode 3 The Maud Couple | Episode 4 Fake It 'Til You Make It |
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Episode 5 Grannies Gone Wild | Episode 6 Surf and/or Turf | Episode 7 Horse Play | Episode 8 The Parent Map |
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Episode 9 Non-Compete Clause | Episode 10 The Break Up Break Down | Episode 11 Molt Down | Episode 12 |
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Episode 13 | Episode 14 | Episode 15 | Episode 16 |
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Episode 17 | Episode 18 | Episode 19 | Episode 20 |
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Episode 21 | Episode 22 | Episode 23 | Episode 24 |
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Episode 25 | Episode 26 |
Feature films | |||
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Equestria Girls | Rainbow Rocks | Friendship Games | Legend of Everfree |
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My Little Pony The Movie |
Equestria Girls specials | |||
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Dance Magic | Movie Magic | Mirror Magic | Forgotten Friendship |