Nov
1st
2017
Points of Canon: S4x07 - Bats! · 4:14pm Nov 1st, 2017
Boo!
- “It’s officially Apple Bucking Day!” Which is actually a very strange statement, considering that Applejack bucks apples all the frigging time. The only way it makes sense to me is that we assume that “Apple Bucking Day” starts an “Applebuck Season,” which would set this episode to be an autumn one.
- “They’re back!” Notice that the vampire fruit bats are treated quite distinct from the colorful fruit bats in Apple Family Reunion – those latter are not seen as much of a pest, while these are. There is no clear explanation, but Applejack appears to imply that regular fruit bats are content to have some limited area and do not eat apples outside it, while vampire fruit bats do.
- “Attention! This is a Sweet Apple Acres code red! I need all hooves … and claws … on deck!” As somepony (who?) is ringing the bell, Applejack is standing there calling everypony for aid – but they had to have been here already, otherwise, there’s no way they wold hear the bell all the way from their respective dwellings. Yet Applejack has discovered the bats immediately after sunrise, whereas I don’t believe you can get Rainbow and Rarity there this early. What exactly happened here?
- “But I thought the fruit bats usually stayed put in the west orchard.” Which is actually a direct reference to Apple Family Reunion, isn’t it? Unfortunately it does not give us a hard chronology lock: Twilight could have learned this information at any point before or after the reunion.
- Applejack managed to produce an apple that is about two meters in diameter. Such an apple would weigh about three metric tons. Which is about 2000 times bigger than the heaviest single apple grown in our world. Earth pony magic is OP.
- “This here’s our entry into the Appleloosa State Fair’s produce competition.” Does this mean there’s an Appleloosa State? Because I’m pretty sure it has to. Appleloosa was settled very recently, and obviously isn’t a kingdom. If you don’t agree, you get to provide an explanation for the use of the word “state” here.
- “This is the first vampire fruit bat I’ve ever met and, well, it might take some time for me to really understand their language.” Which is a statement describing just how Fluttershy experiences speaking to animals, and is important for that reason.
- Notice that eventually the trees where vampire bats ate all the apples go completely naked. I suppose that’s another reason why they’re seen as a pest – this can’t be good for the tree.
- “They’re big and ugly and mean as sin” This is actually the only time the word “sin” appears in the show. It’s not an obvious concept, and a rather special word.
- “They help your trees, they’ll grow stronger faster” Seeing the above mentioned lack of leaves, I suspect Fluttershy doesn’t know what she’s talking about in this case.
- “These bats, they’ve got to hit the road” An interesting observation: Nopony wonders or cares where would they go. This is kind of being a dick towards your neighbor apple farmers.
- “You don’t know what it was like the last time there was an infestation, but Granny Smith has told me enough stories about it that just the thought of it gives me nightmares!” A prior infestation has occurred in time before Applejack’s birth, apparently – even the flashback is sepia, and shows a very youthful Granny Smith, with her mother and father still being around.
- “If Granny Smith wasn’t with Apple Bloom an’ Big Mac checkin’ out our produce competition in Appleloosa, she’d be here tellin’ us to do just that!” So that’s where everypony else is. Notice how Twilight narrowly avoided interacting with Granny Smith again. Also… wait, so who has been ringing the bell?
- “The good news is that I found a spell that can get the vampire fruit bats to stop wanting to suck the juice from the apples.” Notice that this has to be some manner of mind control spell. Mind controlling bats is seen as perfectly OK.
- “Fluttershy, I need you to do your Stare on the bats.” It’s interesting how this ability has acquired a descriptive single-word name early on and it remains constantly in use.
- “Think of the cider! Won’t somepony please think of the cider?!” Actually, if the cider season had come and gone by this point, would Rainbow be so worried about not getting any cider? It’s always made from fresh apples, isn’t it? Unless she explicitly means applejack. But later Rainbow says, “First round of cider’s on me!” which would imply fresh cider, wouldn’t it? This, together with the interpretation of “Apple Bucking Day,” is chronologically important, and not just for this episode, I want input on this.
- “I just don’t like the idea of taking away the thing that really makes the vampire fruit bats vampire fruit bats! It just feels wrong!” And here we have the really rare example of opposition to mind control on ideological grounds.
Rarity is wearing some manner of positive pressure hazmat suit, marked with the biohazard symbol in place where the cutie mark would be.
- Ponies have a biohazard symbol, and presumably biohazards that would necessitate using such suits.
- Notice that this equipment requires some manner of power source.
- This particular suit has horn protection on the helmet, and that does not impede casting – Rarity is using her magic to wield a butterfly net to catch the bats. The horn part of the helmet lights up while she is doing so.
- “Good work, everypony! I think we got ’em all!” That’s not a whole lot of bats. They have to be ridiculously ravenous to cause so much damage in a day.
- Notice that nopony wondered if the bats can consume anything other than apples, either.
- “We’ll be drinking cider all winter long!” Doesn’t it, you know, spoil instantly, like Granny Smith says in Where the Apple Lies?
- One of the vampire bats is reading a tiny book. Where did he even get it? Or is it just a visual gag?
- Fluttershy does not know any other creature with this kind of eating pattern.
- “The witching hour…” Ponies have the word “witch” – either as a noun or just as a verb, but they do. What exactly does it mean to them, considering widespread unicorn magic?
- “Does everypony have their pony signal?” (sigh…) That said, I’m pretty sure this kind of overcast sky is only normal for autumn.
- Pinkie engages in maneipulation, that is, holds a flashlight with her mane, and later, even digs with it. Notably, she hides the flashlight inside the mane as well.
- Rainbow takes out a scarecrow. Have we seen a scarecrow before? Notably, the scarecrow is wearing pants. I expect this was Applejack’s last pair, because she normally does not wear any, and for Big Mac they would be too small.
- “Fluttershy, sweetness, please come down, and… do stop being a vampire bat.” Notice that she’s hanging upside down by the tail which is knotted around the branch, which is itself an example of tailikinesis – and also notice that it’s strong enough to hold her up without apparent discomfort. That said, the physiological changes as part of the bat transformation may be responsible for that – she has also acquired a long snappy tongue, fangs and bat wings.
- “But maybe vampire ponies eat other ponies! I’m not taking any chances!” Do ponies even have the concept of vampire ponies? Because this phrase would suggest that they don’t. However, it’s Pinkie, so it’s inconclusive. Later, Fluttershy immediately asks, “I tried to eat ponies?” suggesting that the concept actually does exist, and I trust her more than Pinkie here.
- Beyond the gems, the ground contains a rather large bone. Where did that come from?
- Twilight projects a presentation illusion into thin air, cooking up the content on the spot. The technique appears to be similar to Trixie’s animation in Boast Busters at that.
- The Stare is not a one-way connection, and magical effects can travel backwards along it. Notice that in this feedback effects, they can change spheres: Twilight’s spell modifies the bat’s attitudes, but Fluttershy transforms physically.
- Twilight is the one hauling the mega-apple with no apparent effort, but we already knew that her telekinetic strength is measured in metric tons.
- “Action stations!” Notice, not battle stations.
- This is one very rare case where an actual knife appears on screen. And it’s the size of a machete at least.
- The final solution is once again setting aside a preserve for the vampire fruit bats – but if they’re such a pest, some other method of limiting their damage to a certain area had to have been employed, right? What was it?
- The episode ends with writing in the Friendship Journal, however, there is an opportunity to move the date of that if you need it, as the events are never referred to as having happened today. Not that this is much use, though, because, since the season is implied to be autumn multiple times, it has to be at the tail end of Season 4 brackets anyway.
Fluttershy ends the episode with canines, and they never turn up again.
With regards to the fresh cider, if Apple Bucking Day marks the start of a season, it's possible that the cider apples haven't been harvested yet. There's likely a cultivar-based sequence involved.
The moment it comes out of the barrel, which implies some degree of preservative capacity in said barrels. Some might be kept in reserve. Special reserve, so to speak.
I love the Danny Elfman-esqe song duet/duel between Applejack and Fluttershy here, and how the rest of the Mane Six are swept up in the herd mood. Even if Pinkie's still smiling as she chants along!
(Personally, I think the only way the episode works is if Applejack's overreacting, but that's just me.)
With no further mention of "witch" save "witching hour," perhaps it just refers to ponies who're active at night? Or to the hour when Princess Luna does whatever royal duties she does?
Alternatively, it could always refer to unicorns who use their magic for some nefarious ends.
Maybe just Applejack speaking indistinctly? I know I've accidentally called the enormous Canfield Fair a 'state' fair, when it isn't even a county fair, technically. Bucking huge, either way.
It's a common conceit by left-minded hippie types that because nature has a great deal of symbiotic codependency keeping everything going, that absolutely all interactions in the natural world are in some complex and not immediately apparent way, symbiotic. Even the actual zero-sum interactions like this nonsense.
Japanese tradition of fruit trees with corpses buried under them bearing the sweetest fruit? There used to be a headcanon that AJ's father's name was Fuji. Jossed to hell and gone.
Man, I still despise "Where The Apple Lies". It's a one-episode headcanon wrecking machine.
4714311
Maybe, but later Rainbow repeats this verbatim. Of course, it’s possible that Rainbow doesn’t know and doesn’t care…
It’s also dubious all around and can be interpreted as a lie.
Can't Argue With Elves the Episode.
Pretty sure with earth pony magic they are apple bucking on and off 9 months out of the year, so this could be like april. Perhaps Apple Bucking Day is the day when a major section of the orchard is ripe to begin bucking? I could totally see it happening 9 times a year and Applejack still making a big deal of it.
What if regular fruit bats don't actually eat anything, but photosynthesize/draw energy from the trees they live on?
Some kind of sleepover. And it can't be a coincidence that the rest of the Apple family is out of town on a really implausible excuse... But I can't really think of a theory here. Ideas?
This is the best example of earth pony plant magic I know of. Of course, just like we don't think the average unicorn could lift an ursa minor, the average earth pony may well not have the ability to do this.
I agree. I think "Province" is a better term in kingdom, but ce la vie. I also think it's interesting that this state is named after a small, brand new town. I suggest that most states in Equestria follow the city-state model, where they are named after the largest city in their area, and that city is pretty much the capital. Would explain why we never see state names or borders on any maps.
I mean, it's probably kind of true in an evolutionary biology sense, where the trees that best fend off fruit bats grow up stronger with fewer competitors for sunlight around them. Fluttershy probably read this in a textbook somewhere and has not really thought about it from an agricultural point of view, where lots of tries die off in the short term.
Where did they come from? I agree though, the smart thing would have been not to involve Fluttershy at all, just get that guy who also takes care of Twittermites, bury the bodies, and then if Fluttershy comes around asking questions tell her they moved to another farm upstate.
See above, but they're really going to buy 3 train tickets out to Appleloosa just to scout the competition? Something else must be going on.
But no one brings up what else the bats are supposed to eat if not Apples, which is weird.
Fermented cider, seems the reasonable answer.
Unicorns that cast curses?
I do remember this episode had a fall feel to it.
Good question. The least bad answer I can think of is A)Twilight casts a ward around the orchard to keep them contained and B)Applejack or some other earth pony juices up the trees enough to keep up with the ravenous appetites of the bats. That has all sorts of problems as well.
It'd actually be nice if they had a future episode where Applejack mentions that a bunch of apple seeds she got from vampire fruit bats turned into super-strong trees so that Fluttershy doesn't look like so much of a jerk anymore, but I doubt it will happen.
Did she actually have fake teeth in the S5 Halloween episode? I mean, I kind of thought she just started showing her canines again.
4714341
4714311 Ok, but then State Fairs have to be a thing, right?
4714471
Seeing as how they are all colors of the rainbow, I’m pretty sure that would preclude them from photosynthesizing.
No ideas, but a sleepover does sound plausible…
Actually, remembering Applebuck Season, and how everypony helped Applejack, this kind of scenario comes to mind:
This does not explain why the rest of the Apples are not here to help them, and does not explain who was ringing the bell, so it still has problems, but at least it gets some of the issues out of the way.
I’m out of ideas here.
Considering she takes them off simultaneously with fake ears, I would have to say yes.
Clearly, what AJ means is that today is Apple Day, and she’s just using “bucking” (in the expletive sense) as an intensifier. :P
4714471
Officially, Sweet Apple Acres traditionally celebrates Apple Day by bucking apples (in the literal sense) for even longer than usual. In practice, AJ is the only one one who likes that tradition—so the new Sweet Apple Acres tradition is that they arrange some “business trip” to keep the rest of the family as far away from Ponyville as possible on Apple Day. :P
And that’s why AJ’s upset enough to call it Apple Bucking Day.
4714808
Your idea certainly explains the Mane 6's presence. The issue there is, if Applejack feels she needs the help enough to host a sleepover so her friends can spend all day working on the farm, it makes it even weirder that the rest of the Apples would travel to Appleloosa just to "scout the competition."
4715035
Ok, here's my theory: Bloomberg is really sick. Braeburn is calling in some of the most powerful earth ponies he can to try and heal her, which includes the rest of the Apples. But Applejack couldn't go anyway, since she needs to stay on the acres and pour magic into her giant apple until right before the fair. Plus, she would be deeply distressed to know Bloomberg is sick. So the rest of the family tells her they are just going to go "scout the competition," and hopes they can heal up Bloomberg so that she will be alright when Applejack gets to Appleloosa (since we know she will visit Bloomberg.)
Ah, I couldn't remember if that happened. I wonder if Discord helped her with her "problem?"
4715148
Good one! Only one thing left to explain:
Who is ringing the bell?
4715152 Hmmmm. I wonder if Winona could be trained to tug on a bell rope whenever she hears someone shout "code red." Could be a useful skill, with the superior hearing of dogs. Or could the bell be non-diagetic, like fast-paced background music during an action sequence?
4715175
Pretty sure that can’t be the case: The Mane 6 run from multiple directions towards the farm as they hear the bell.
Winona is an option, though, if a bit strange one because we never actually see her for the entire episode.
4715148 Alternative theory: It isn't that Bloomberg's sick; it's that the buffalo really, really want to taste Granny's apple pies.
4715179 The other Apples took her with them?
4715675
Then there’s nobody left to ring the bell!
You see, Applejack is calling everyone for code red and yelling from the front porch while the bell up in the tower is ringing. No ropes she could be pulling, no pulling motions no nothing, and the thing is still ringing. Now, I’m pretty sure the Apples would use none of that newfangled automation nonsense, so someone has to be ringing it…
4715828 One of their bovine or ovine renters?
(Who we know very, very little about, but they're still there!)
4715974
Maybe… Still iffy though.