@Gex You mean Hayseed Turniptruck?

The song has grown very much on me.

As for the airship folks, maybe they're a bunch of wacky apple scientists.

Glad to see the Character Shiling (did I spell that right?) example was removed. Apple Bloom being excited to see Babs Seed again wasn´t bad writing at all. Guess some people just don´t like her.

And yeah those ponies with the airship makes me wonder if there is a city full of zeppelins somewhere in Equestria. Wouldn´t that be awesome?

I see that fiddle-playing Octavia recolor is being called Fiddlesticks.

"Raise This Barn" is gonna have to grow on me. A lot.

Do none of you remember the airship that Rarity was present at the launch of in Sweet & Elite?

Or is it just a surprise that a member of the apple family would come to the reunion in one?

I liked it to start with. Now I love it.

Wacky apple scientists are usually rich.

edited 22nd Dec '12 10:25:21 AM by edvedd

Oh, I remember, it's just that Airships are cool.

edited 22nd Dec '12 10:27:59 AM by Cookoo

I don't get why everyone is thinking that "Fiddlesticks" is new or Octavia.

We've seen her twice before. Once playing with Octavia.

They used to call her Viola.

So aside from Babs, Braeburn, and anyone else whose name we already know, which Apples did you guys like best?

I really liked that Midwestern-sounding pony that was making the apple fritters. Apparently she has eight kids.

edited 22nd Dec '12 11:04:53 AM by PerpetualLurker

Those two fillies with the overly long secret hoofshake were too damn adorable.

I liked that really dark brown stallion with the green mane and that sort of suit collar. He had an apple and some cinnamon sticks as a cutie mark.

I liked the one who almost fell from the barn.

@Sereg: So she can be Viola Fiddlesticks

@Sereg Why do you care what a background pony with no canon name is called? People can call her whatever they want.

@Librairan: Yeah, I liked him too - and Half-Baked Apple(Which is a terrible name to give a child), the Blue fellow with the cravat who talked to babby AJ. Both those cravat wearing bastards, so adorable.

Caring about background characters and discussing their names for days on end is the fandom's specialty.

Giving background ponies nicknames helps avoid confusion in future discussion...then again you occasionally get the problem of different websites calling the same pony by different names. The big muscle pony comes to mind. Snowflake, Roid Rage, Horse Power... did Ponychan not settle on one or something?

I really liked this one, I didn't think it was boring at all. I think I identified most with poor Apple Bloom, when I'm visiting with my mom's side of the family, I mainly just want to talk one-on-one with my cousin Julia (she and I are both Hetalia fangirls) rather than be with a bigger group (same with my dad's side, usually I get along best just being with my cousins). I noticed some other good secondary morals, such as "Being busy isn't necessarily the same as having fun" and a general lesson about if you're trying to help others have fun, to pay more attention and make sure they're actually doing things that THEY think are fun, not just things you told them to do. And of course, paying attention to others' energy levels as well. I think it also makes sense for Applejack, in that she got used to being in "busy mode" and she kind of forgot that not everypony else would want to be that busy and she projected her "busy mode" on her other family members. I also think Rainbow Dash rubbed off a bit too much on her, since thinking "faster and more exciting equals MORE FUN!!!" is also a mindset Rainbow Dash would have if they let her plan activities for a family reunion.

I also really liked that they didn't go the route of having Babs whine about everything being too "country" and instead, the only major problem she had was that she just wanted to have some time with Apple Bloom and not be pushed into doing lots of busy activities. I actually like that she was able to stop being a bully to the CMC (since she was mainly doing it out of fear in the first place and not because she truly hated them or liked being sadistic) and we were able to have a little girl (filly) Brooklynese-accented character (when I was younger, I really wished that there would be more younger characters or even just more female characters with interesting accents in fiction, and MLP has done a good job at fulfilling that wish, not only with Babs, but I'm glad that they let Apple Bloom have her family's general accent too).

As for "how is raising the barn different from the other things they were doing?" I thought about that question and thought of some possible differences that mostly satisfied me. First of all, music makes things more fun in general, at least in my opinion. Second, the ponies were able to do things like take breaks for dancing or eating or whatever, and that also ties into the third major difference I noted, since having everyone help spreads the work around more so each pony has comparatively less work to do. The third one is that it's something they all did together, and it was something they did more cooperatively, whereas things like the obstacle course were competitive and while making the quilt and fritters weren't competitive, the way Applejack had things going, the ponies involved weren't really able to slow down and take the time to at least talk while they were making the quilt/fritters.

edited 22nd Dec '12 11:42:56 AM by Rainbow

Awwww AJ you take family reunions too seriously

Loved your review Rainbow.

Yup not everybody idea of fun its the same, that´s the mistake Applejack made. especially mistaking fun with planned activities.

I really loved the morals on this episode, even the letter didn´t feel phoned-in.

I guess the two sightings of twinned shooting stars is far more of a big hint than anything :V

@Alesiopdv: Thanks! I think I noticed that moral most because it's one I identify with, and also sometimes have to work at because I have a hard time knowing what other people are truly feeling unless they outright tell me, so I've probably made the mistake of asking others to do things that are fun for me but aren't necessarily fun for them.

I suppose that, in TV Tropes terms, Applejack forgot that when it comes to the idea of a specific activity being fun, Your Mileage May Vary.

I didn't notice it when I first saw the episode, but I liked noting that there were a few unicorn fillies in the still shot of the group picture. That leads back to when I was wondering what would happen if the Mane Six were turned into different pony types, and depending on the things that the different branches of the family are involved in, I think that a unicorn or pegasus version of Applejack would still be loved and be part of the family.

I also just realized that the answer to "how did Applejack get the idea of an entire obstacle course out of a single race?" is that she probably was thinking about the Sisterhooves Social, which is hosted by her family, and may have somewhat based it off of that.

As for Applejack's parents, I would personally assume they're dead, since they didn't show up at all here (and it was mentioned more than once that EVERYONE in the family attended the reunion) and they've never been mentioned in a way that implies they're alive but just on a really long trip. But I also wouldn't want to rule out the possibility that the Apples at home assumed they were dead or missing forever, but that something else happened and the Apple parents are still alive but they lost their memories or something in an accident.

edited 22nd Dec '12 12:21:19 PM by Rainbow

I thought it was a good episode! Not the best, but I like it.