How My Little Pony Tackled DEATH 

“instead of showing us how they died, they showed us how they lived”: a paraphrase of a really nice RU-vid comment I saw.

You missed a detail. At the base of the twisted trees is the stone with their engraved cutie marks. They got married at that stone.

What I find to be the more difficult pill to swallow in the episode is the depiction of pride. Grand Pear was depicted as a very prideful individual. Even if no one else understood why the two families were feuding, he didn’t want to lose the fight, his pride blinded him, and it ended with him abandoning his daughter because he couldn’t see over the error of his ways.

I once read a comment saying, everyone wanted to know how Applejacks parents died but instead the writers showed us how they lived, and I think that's beautiful

What’s really tragic is that Pear Butter died thinking her father hated her.

this is why mlp is peak fiction

My favorite part of the entire series is how Granny immediately realized how wrong she was when Buttercup was abandon because "wow, you're right, you are an apple now". That's the apple family way. Family is family, even if they aren't blood or anything like you. Pear didn't even go to his own daughters funeral or care to meet any of his grandkids. I just feel like there is a lot more that hasbro wasn't allowed to show/imply when it comes to grand pear than the classic "me or them!" "well basic human compassion and healthy relationships would say that anyone forcing a choice like that shows you only care about the power you have over me, not who i am so- yeah I pick them" And not only follow through, but follow through for *decades* Also we stan Mrs. Cake and Mayor Mare for how supportive they are

I really love this episode. It wasnt upfront with the whole "the apple siblings' parents are dead and thats a thing", instead it showed us who they were, and how they came to be, and that last segment where they all came together to just be happy with who they were was really sweet :D It didnt make their deaths the whole episode, but instead their lives and how they positively influenced the fam :)

why...why is a children's show making me cry so much?!? This episode was beautiful! 😭

I literally go back to their love story whenever I need to take in something sweet and now just realized how crazy it is that Big Mac ended up with a pony who loves to bake when his mom was best friends with one. 😭

A RU-vidr who deleted his channel theorized that the very next episode implies what their fates were. AJ and Big Mac were given the task to deliver pies on a dangerous route leaving Applebloom home alone, and AJ was so protective if Applebloom in the entire episode that it was out of character. Applebloom goes on that dangerous journey by herself and encounters a chimera (or whatever the name of the creature with a tiger head goat head and snake head is). Pear Butter was nicknamed Buttercup. The RU-vidr then went to this movie Princess Bride where this prince goes on an adventure with a princess named Buttercup, and they get killed by the same creature. The theory is that they met the same fate, and AJ was acting the way she did in the episode is cause of PTSD and if it were to happen again, she didn’t want Applebloom to be alone. Sorry this comment took so long.

I LOVE how mlp tackles certain topics like this bro it shows just how peak this show is

My father died in 2019, and with the end of MLP releasing, and trying to find a distraction from my grief, I binged the whole series. When I got back to this episode, I couldn't contain my tears. To this day, I can't watch this episode, or listen to Buttercup's song without crying. The moment when Burnt Oak says "You've come to hear about your dad? I'm glad, I was hoping you would. It's nice to talk about." Always gets me.

As someone who lost my mom to cancer around the time I was entering the 2nd grade, this episode hit home for me. Like Applejack and Big Mac, I do have a few memories of her. However, like Applebloom, that's all I really have: stories. Regarding who she was prior to my being born, I don't know except for what my dad, other older family members, and what my stepmom was there to see when she was getting to know her. The pictures I have remind me that she loved me, and is here in my soul, something that's a bit of a comfort.

I really love how they gave Pear Butter Pinkie's curls as a nod to the fact Pinkie and Applejack are cousins. edit: this is false lol i misremembered the episode. the curls are just a coincidence! edit 2: me AND the person who corrected me both misremembered. it's left ambiguous whether or not they're related. so who knows

One of the episodes that solidified Joanna Lewis and Kristine Songco as my favorite writers ever. They also wrote Legend of Everfree, which talks about death in an even more subtle way. And more importantly, they worked on Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts, which manages to tackle subjects like trauma, murder, bioethics, supremacist ideologies, and genocide, all while keeping it hopeful and kid friendly.

I am adopted. I lost my biological mother when I was around 11. I never knew her, and only met her a few times after my birth. She wasn't in a good place, she was an addict which sadly gave me a plethora of issues starting out. But I’ll never hold it against her because she had to deal with my father. From what I know, since I was a child with special needs and other reasons, I can not recall why, they’d get certain funds to help. That's the only reason he wanted to stay for my birth. My mother was so strong, it broke her heart but she carried through with the adoption process, and she never let him get to me. My adoptive family doesn't even feel like that. I feel like I was born from my a.mother and a.father. I love them more than anything. But my mother, she’ll always be a part of me. I am not mad at her, not upset because I know she loved me so much that she had the mindset to put me up for adoption no matter how much it hurt her. She had a lot of issues, she would have been 52 this year and I know if she had lived I would have gone through the process to make a connection. I miss her, and I don’t think I’ve ever not missed her. She was a great mother, just the decision to protect me was enough to make me see that.

Imagine buying pear jam from your grandpa and thinking he is a stranger. (Also, congrats on 1k! I remember when you only had 100.)

i just realized while watching this that apple farm tree shape like apple while the pear tree is shape like a pear. I keep rewatching mlp guys im that slow!!

It's pretty dubious up until Crusaders of the lost mark whether or not Applejack's parents are dead but the little hint we were given at the cute-ceanera was downright confirmed by Perfect Pear, in one of the most beautiful and tragic story's I've seen. This episode was clearly inspired by Shakespeare but I actually think it's much more tragic emotionally, just with the exclusion of death as part of the main tragedy (it magnified the emotions from the wedding/disownment scene definitely, while being more subtle / left for the viewer to realise the weight of it). Romeo and Juliet was less a love story and more a story on not making rash decisions based on emotion. Perfect Pear however focused heavily on the importance of family and love and in the end it was Grand Pear who made a terrible decision (not the main characters) based on emotion (ie disowning Buttercup). The way the death is handled is way more tragic than the show tells you directly, the fact Grand Pear probably never spoke to his daughter again since disowning her only returning to Ponyville after her death is just awful.

GAH This episode legitimately made me cry when it came out. I was NOT expecting it for it to allude to their death so much

I like the whole "Romeo and Juliet" theme of this episode. 2 feuding families and 2 kids who see past their differences to show that they can get along. I like how it ends as well. The two grandparents setting aside their differences for their grandkids :). Also I love the song "You're in my head like a catchy song". Beautiful song :D

Knowing Pear Butter wasn’t originally an Apple makes the Episode where pinkie thinks she’s a distant cousin of applejack really hit for me. The idea applejacks family reached all around back to pinkie, possibly through her parents siblings and sides, really clicks with me

Episodes like these always get my teary eyed its sad out of all three of the apple kids you can tell apple bloom remembers nothing about them and apple jack's are limited while big mack him asking to hear more stories show he remembered a bit about them being the eldest and misses them a whole lot

something I saw someone mention in a review of the episode (I think it was Equestron? could be wrong about that tho) was a subtle detail that most viewers likely wouldn't even notice on a first watch. Any time that the Apple siblings mention that they're there to ask about their parents, the pony they're talking to drops their smile for a moment. It's very clear that they all thoroughly enjoyed telling their stories, they likely have very few if not absolutely no bad memories of their old friends. But an unexpected reminder of a deceased friend would make almost anyone frown for just a moment.

I remember when this episode came out, my uncle was in the room at the end, that was the first and last time I ever saw him cry.

This episode shows how death brings people closer, by reuniting grandpa pear with the apple family. It’s one of my fav episodes in the series

I am not sure who else noticed, even though I never watched the show, but the thing with the trees made me think of the Greek story on Philemon and Baucis: the couple that won the favor of Zeus because of their hospitality when no one else in the town would offer it. They wished to keep a temple and to die together. In the end, the couple turn into intertwining trees when they died. I wonder if that was an intentional detail.

Just hearing the episode be summarized in a short video like this still makes me emotional. Watching the full thing is just something else really. These kinds of stories are why MLP will always be near to peoples hearts for years to come. Even if you forget details you remember emotion.

This is my favourite episode in the series, and it's not even about the main characters. It's a wonderful little story and just hearing about it touches me in the feels.

Not the lump in my throat when I saw the trees

I loved the episode when it first aired. I kinda of wish this was earlier on in the series, because it felt to me like they just forgot their parents existed. If this was earlier in the series, I feel like we could've gotten more character development with the Apples

i'm glad someone covered this episode! barely anyone talks about it

Mrs cake and Mayor Mare were so SUPPORTIVE of them

I don't know what it is, but I still have not watched this episode. I keep hearing its praise, most for its depiction of a natural growth of love and being heartwarming, and now for its depiction of moving on from death and remembering the people themselves, especially if they were loved ones who you weren't fortunate enough to spend so much of your time with.

Now that G5 is here (I assume in the future), does that mean the characters from G4 are technically dead?

One of the saddest episodes, it actually made me cry it was so sweet 🥰🥰

I heard somewhere that we shy away from showing heavy themes in kids' media, but all it does is further alienate the kids who go through those things in real life. The way media tailored for kids has a unique ability to gently share the reality of hardships while giving a message of hope and understanding is so important. There are kids with dead or divorcing parents. There are kids who were traumatized and abandoned. There are kids who were hurt in a terrible accident and those who are born with disabilities that others don't understand. It's important to show them that they're real and that they can be okay, AND to expose the other kids who don't share the same experiences to this to nurture empathy.

Thank you for making this video. Pear Butter aka Buttercup and Bright Mac are one of my favorite couples in My little pony friendship is magic and I’m Applejack, Big Mac and AppleBloom got to find out more about them. They may be dead but their spirits live on in their children. Rest in peace Bright Mac and Buttercup. You did well in raising your kids.

I also love how well this made use of the supporting cast, while also fleshing them out. Really nice detail.

Dude, I love shoes who tackle these sorts of topics. As someone who lost a parent, this always hits deep. It reminds me of shows like The Owl House that also tackle this topic. I loved the way Luz presents her grief to Amity over the loss of her father. She just responded to it like it was no big deal and tried to blow it off even though it was killing her inside and I understood her so much for that. I hope further shows in the future tackle this topic and show brilliant reputations of this sort of subjects.

My Little Pony is the best show. Not just the best kids’ show, the best show period.

This was honestly one of my favorite episodes in the whole series. So many shows try to do the same and fail. They showed us just how much they loved each other in a way that was just so heartwarming. It also made me cry so much. Early MLP was cute, but later MLP was more about the characters and the stories and lessons they learned. If I had a show I could watch for the first time again, it would be MLP without a doubt.

The one thing I don't understand about this episode is, the apple siblings didn't know their mother was a pear, but they knew about the trees that their parents planted when they got married. Wouldn't they have guessed long ago their mother was a pear if they knew about the two trees their parents left them?

This episode came out when I was probably 6 or 7, at least when I saw it, and even back then, I knew it was my favorite episode. I didn’t have as much media knowledge, and I still like things that are universally hated or vise-versa, but I could tell it was one of the best. In my head like a catchy song gets stuck in my head because it is such a beautiful song. It was a story even I wanted to know, I just wanted to know where they were, and I knew they passed on, but the way they never said is still beautiful.

Best episode of the show, I cry every time 😭 thank you for this video! Edit: “Are you making me choose?” Absolutely broke me

can someone catch the onion cutting ninja that was in my room? 😂😭

this video was absolutely amazing. How softly you speak, your summary and the way you spoke about the topic of parent loss so gently was amazing. This is one of the best anyalasis/summary videos ive seen in ages and i hope youre able to produce more content like this

I’m not a brony, but I used to watch MLP when I was little. I kinda remember this episode, and this video made me cry while explaining this and stuff 😭

This is one of the few episodes that had me in tears by the end. You did an incredible job explaining it and i'm glad i found your channel. Brony on.

Fantastic to see new MLP fan channels popping up even now. Thanks for your service to the fandom!

i’m not at all an mlp fan nor grew up on it, but damn, this surprisingly made me feel warmth

This episode was one of the last ones i watched. i really love how they handled the topic. I've seen some shows take on the subject and this is my favorite example of it.

This episode encapsulates the heart of the entire series.

Not sure how in to G5 you are outside your videos on the lackluster games but I thought it was really cool how the most recent episode of Tell Your Tale also has Sunny deal with the loss of her parents, with emphasis on her mom which we hadn't seen until this point too. Obviously didn't go nowhere near as in depth as G4 did since we're dealing with a 5 minute episode vs a 24 minute one but I do think it was nice to see them tackle the subject again as Sunny's parents hadn't really been mentioned since the G5 movie.

Real and true 💜

I've seen this episode many many times, but somehow this video is what made it bring me to tears for the first time- you explained this episode and it's importance perfectly

I consider this as one of the top 3 best episodes of FiM, the other two being Crusaders of the Lost Mark and Pinkie Pride.

yeah for YEARS my favorite episode was Sisterhooves Social because of how it hit me as the eldest of 3 siblings combining with how I already related to Rarity in various ways... then this episode aired & there I was just tearing up during credits.

The late parents of Applejack, Penelope "Pear" Butter and Benjamin "Bright" McIntosh

the one thing that still doesnt make sense to me about this episode is how big mac and applejack know nothing about their parents, applebloom is much younger than them so you would think that the parents would have been in the lives of applejack and big mac at least up until apple bloom was born, dont get me wrong i still love this episode, i just have a hard time overlooking that detail.

It doesn't matter how you die what matters is how you live

Now THESE are the type of bronies I can get behind. Kind, sweet, video essays.

you did an amazing recap of the episode! literally had tears in my eyes!

an an orphan watching this youtube video made me cry so much this means so much to me 😭❤️

I just finished "Missing Out" and unfortunately I couldn't comment there due to kid restrictions. It was so well done, a beautiful run through the series. So many moments captured faithfully. I love it. There's clearly so much love and effort put into this.

This was a really well done video. Thank you so much for keeping the love for MLP alive. I've loved this show since day one, and still do to this day. You've earned yourself a subscriber. I love forward to future content from you.

I would imagine the vague nature of their passing could actually be helpful for people who've lost their parents. It allows them to relate as much as they want/need without going into details that might be painful (this IS a children's show). Especially considering how universal loss is-- we might not lose our parents at a young age, but they will pass eventually. There's no need to make it one specific scenario. Its not about the story, its about the message.

Cryed from start to Finish. It deserves the title of one of the best mlp Episodes.

This is better than Romeo and Juliette 😭😭😭 why do ppl hold that story as THE love story ever? its not. The rainbow pony show has better love stories ‼️‼️🦄🦄🦄

this is so sweet and makes me wanna cry

I never got the message in this episode when I was a kitten but now as a cat-kit (tween for cats) I am shocked

Seeing some Rainbow Slash art at the end was a hilarious tone shift artpiece. Btw Rainbow Slash is a Nightmare version of Rainbow Dash Similar to Nightmarity (Nightmare possessed Rarity) from the IDW comics. Jane Gumball's art is so neat, she also did all the other Mane 6

Thanks for the video! Greif is a very important topic to discuss, even with younger audiences :3

love this video! underrated channel

For someone who grew up watching My Little Pony since i was 3 years and still consider this one my Favorite Childhood Shows. i'm 15 now and i'm Happy i watched this Show as a kid. Every Kid should watch MLP, in my opinion

This is so nostalgic, this was one of my favs episodes together with the blue pony marying the light purple one 😭♥️

this video does such a good job with this episode !!!!! 💖

Such a cool episode review

New subscriber!!! 💖💖💖 This reminds me of when me and my soulmate first got together. Because people never except that we were together.

First time I watch I was surprised about this episode mlp really gave us a important moment of the series and Applejacks family’s story really gave us a Romeo and Juliet vibe tbh the writers did very well with this story

This is by far my favorite episode and it’s soooo underrated

When I saw this episode it made me cry

Fantastic video! 🩷

Can you do a series of episode recaps? I love your style. I like watching video summaries instead of the entire movie/ show sometimes.

I almost started crying while watching this 😭

They did it great, But even tho its so well made I still cry on each rewatch.

Man, I really got to watch MLP again.

I’m going to cry about this episode ❤

This episode made me cry, I loved it so much.

this is one of my fave episodes

this episode is so lovely, mlp will forever be my comfort show. 🩷

I never really noticed this, that episode was really cool

MY HEART 😭😭 OH THIS IS SO BEAUTIFUL ❤️❤️

One of my favorite episodes ever

This is kind of making me wanna start watching more..

i was trying to draw half life characters while using this video as background noise and i almost cried multiple times omg idec that im 18 now this kids show is still so sweet :(

The first time I watched this episode I just started crying and I'm pretty sure a lot of people can say that and I still start crying whenever I see them reveal the tree

This was lovely.

I wish the miniature said "It was pearfect" This would be true pearfection