Family Appreciation Day

Family Appreciation Day is the twelfth episode of the second season of Legends of the Multiverse: Friendship is Universe and the thirty-eighth episode overall. In the episode, Sheriff Lonnie tries to prevent Fa Grandmother from speaking at her school for Family Appreciation Day. This is the first episode where only one of the main characters appears, namely Sheriff Mulan.

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

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 Fa Family Acres with a wolf's howl. Soon Sheriff Mulan wakes up to the clanking of pots and pans, and she is joined by Sheriff Lonnie, who looks out the window with her. Outside, Fa Grandmother is running around shouting "the timberwolves are a-howlin'" and "the zap apples are coming." Looking out from their windows, Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Li Shang, Sheriff Ting-Ting, Sheriff Su, Sheriff Mei cheer and repeat that the zap apples are coming.

The following morning Mulan, Ting-Ting, Su, Mei, and Li Shang are making preparations at the apple orchard, unloading large baskets by the bare trees. Inside the Fas' house, Sheriff Lonnie enthusiastically exclaims to Fa Grandmother that she's ready to make zap apple jam. Fa Grandmother starts by giving Sheriff Lonnie a stick with some twigs tied to its end, prompting Sheriff Lonnie to inquire if it is some special herbal ingredient she uses, but Fa Grandmother 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 Mulan calls "zap apple leaves".

Diamond Tiara taunts Apple Bloom
"Thank goodness you're here on the farm and not in town where everybody could see you."

- Bonnie Rockwaller taunting Sheriff Lonnie

The storm clouds quickly disperse and Bonnie Rockwaller and her father Señor Senor Junior arrive at the farm. They watch fa Grandmother and Sheriff Lonnie jump over full watering cans singing the alphabet while wearing bunny costumes. Senor Junior is there to do business with Fa Grandmother about the jam. Bonnie Rockwaller tells Sheriff Lonnie she must be "so embarrassed" by Fa Grandmother'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 Sheriff Lonnie and Fa Grandmother in town gathering ingredients for the zap apple jam. Fa Grandmother sings loudly and hops along, drawing the attention of other townfolk, which makes Sheriff Lonnie lower her head in embarrassment. Fa Grandmother 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. Sheriff Lonnie begs her grandmother to stop acting that way when Bonnie Rockwaller and Chloe Bourgeois spot them. The fillies derisively call Sheriff Lonnie by the nickname that Fa Grandmother gives her, which makes her bury her head in shame and eventually beg Fa Grandmother to get back to the farm. Fa Grandmother keeps singing and prancing, and Lonnie pulls down her bonnet over her eyes, embarrassed.

Scheduling Fa Grandmother for Family Appreciation Day
The next scene has Senor Junior giving a lecture about his business at the schoolhouse in front of a bored, half-asleep classroom–except Bonnie Rockwaller, who is alert and attentive. He concludes his lecture and Caline Bustier thanks him for being a part of Family Appreciation Day, first as "Mr. Senor", but he frowns and Caline quickly corrects herself to "Mr. Senor Junior." Caline checks her her list for the student up for the next Family Appreciation Day, and names Sheriff Lonnie. Sheriff Lonnie tells her that Mulan, Ting-Ting, Su, Mei and Li Shang will be too busy to come and speak because it's zap apple harvest day. Caline asks if anyone else from her family could come, and Sheriff Lonnie nervously shakes her head no, but Bonnie Rockwaller butts in and exclaims that Fa Grandmother could come. Sheriff Lonnie tries to say something, but Caline quickly accepts the offer. Sheriff Lonnie is horrified and whines to herself that she'll be the laughing stock of Multiville.

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

- Sheriff Lonnie

Sheriff Lonnie tries to avoid humiliation
Back at the farm, Mulan tells Lonnie she, Ting-Ting-, Su, Mei, and Li Shang 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, Sheriff Mulan assures Sheriff Lonnie that Fa Grandmother has no shortage of entertaining stories to tell.

The scene cross-fades to the Cutie Mark Crusaders' treehouse, where Sheriff Mulan shares her woes with her friends Alicia Acorn and Aurora Amano in a long string of synonyms. Aurora and Alicia tell Lonnie they'll help her postpone her presentation, trying tactics like faking an illness for Lonnie, manipulating a napping Fa Grandmother to say that she won't be able to make the presentation to Caline, trying to harvest the zap apples early (while they get to feel the trees' magic defense), and sending Fa Grandmother on a train journey to see Uncle General Li. The last attempt works, and Fa Grandmother goes to visit General Li.

The scene cross-fades to the schoolhouse, where Caline welcomes Fa Grandmother for Family Appreciation Day, but she doesn't arrive. Lonnie explains that Fa Grandmother got called out of town on account of a family emergency, but right as she finishes the sentence Fa Grandmother enters the classroom. Lonnie, surprised, asks Fa Grandmother if she missed the train, and she replies that it came and Uncle Li was on it. Bonnie makes a snide remark about Fa Grandmother's memory to Chloe Bourgeois, and afterwards Fa Grandmother starts her presentation.

Fa Grandmother's story
"Long ago when I was a little fox, things were very different here in Multiville... 'cause there was no Multiville!"

- Fa Grandmother

Fa Grandmother tells the class that she and her family were "pilgrim ponyfolk" who traveled and collected seeds. In her story, "the Li family" reaches Canterlot and comes across Princess Palutena, 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; Fa Grandmother's father is so grateful that he raises Palutena's paw 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 Fa Grandmother 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. Fa Grandmother 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.

Fa Grandmother 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 Multiville was founded."

Fa Grandmother's account of Multiville's founding agrees with the account given in Winter Wrap Up by Kairi Sparkle, where she tells Olaf and Navi that Multiville was founded by Earth animals. After Fa Grandmother finishes her story, Chloe kicks off a round of applause, to which everyone joins in. Bonnie is shocked at the attention Fa Grandmother has received, and lashes out at her, but Lonnie rushes to defend Fa Grandmother. At the end of the episode, Lonnie tells Mulan 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 Fa Grandmtoher is super special! I just forgot that for a little while."

- Lonnie learning her lesson

The episode ends with Senor Junior, sternly pushing Bonnie Rockwaller, 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 Fa family orchard, which was the Li family orchard when they were first planted, as told by Fa Grandmother to Lonnie's class in this episode. Fa Grandmother 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 Fa Grandmother's zap apple jam, which was instrumental in the founding of Multiville, 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.

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 Sheriff Mulan, Sheriff Ting-Ting, Sheriff Su, Sheriff Mei, and Li Shang can't spare time from the harvest to speak at Sheriff Lonnie's school. Their appearance is accompanied by signs that are numbered by Fa Grandmother. When the Cutie Mark Crusaders try harvesting the apples the evening before zap apple harvest day, Lonnie warns her friends, "Zap apple trees aren't like normal apple trees. They're magic." Aurora Amano 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, Fa Grandmother 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 Fa Grandmother's flashback when she tells the story of the zap apples and the founding of Multiville to Lonnie's class. Young Fa Grandmother 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 Mulan calls "zap apple leaves". The clouds quickly disperse, and soon afterward Fa Grandmother tells Señor Senor Junior 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 Fa Grandmother. 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. Lonnie announces that it's the fourth sign, and the three Crusaders sneak into the orchard to harvest the zap apples, though Lonnie 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
Fa Grandmother tells Lonnie that she had been making zap apple jam since she was a little fox, 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 Lonnie'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 Lonnie and Fa Grandmother hop over full watering cans in bunny suits while singing the alphabet, and Lonnie tries to explain to Bonnie the purpose of this activity, but Bonnie cuts her off. Mulan later asks Lonnie's classmates if they want to help Fa Granny "sing to the water".

At the end of the episode, animals are lining up to buy the zap apple jam that Fa Grandmother and Lonnie made, much like they did in Fa Grandmother's story. With the exception of Stinkin' Rich, all the ponies in the zap apple jam queue in Fa Grandmother'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. Fa Grandmother tells Lonnie's class that it's the zap apple jam that attracted settlers to Multiville after the Smith family first settled there, and that zap apple jam was the very first thing that Bonnie's great grandfather Stinkin' Rich ever sold.

Quotes

 * Sheriff Lonnie: Ready, Granny!
 * Fa Grandmother: Ready for what?
 * Sheriff Lonnie: For makin' zap apple jam!
 * Fa Grandmother: Darn tootin'! It's time for some good old-fashioned zap apple jammin'!
 * Sheriff Lonnie: Yes ma'am, I can't wait ma'am!
 * Fa Grandmother: [pause] Wait for what?
 * Sheriff Lonnie: To make zap apple jam with you!
 * Fa Grandmother: O'course.


 * Fa Grandmother: Oh, are they your friends? Hello, Half Pint's friends!
 * Chloe Bourgeois: Hiii, Fa Grandmother! Hiii, [mockingly] Half Pint!


 * Caline Bustier: Well, thank you, Mr. Senor- I mean, Mr. Senor Jr.


 * Sheriff Lonnie: I'll be embarrassed, shamed, disgraced, mortified, humiliate-
 * Alicia Acorn: What are you, a dictionary?


 * Sheriff Lonnie: Whuh- what are you doing here? Did you miss the train?
 * Fa Grandmother: Er no, it came. And Uncle Apple Strudel was on it.
 * General Li: Ooooooh, noogie noogie noggie! [laughs madly]


 * Fa Grandmother: Magic is as magic does, just funny that way.


 * Sheriff Mulan: So I take it Family Appreciation Day went well?
 * Sheriff Lonnie: Did it? My Fa Grandmother is super special! I just forgot that for a little while.
 * Fa Grandmother: Aw, don't fret. I forget things all the time. Now, I'll getcha... er... somethin'.