What happened to the Apples?
There has been some speculation that the creators may finally tell us what happened to Applejack's parents, with said occurrence being the reason she is such a stickler for honesty today.- The synopsis says that Applejack once told a lie that put the entire Apple family in the hospital. It's likely that while everyone else survived, Applejack's parents were badly hurt as a result of that incident and were barely holding on as a result of it. Applejack's mom probably lived long enough to give birth to Applebloom, but the long-term effects of her injury were so severe that she eventually died like her Dad. In turn, Applejack feels so guilty for having a part in the death of her parents that she makes a vow to them that she will never tell a lie again just to ensure that she never puts anypony else's lives on the line again.
- Jossed. They're nowhere to be seen. (Given it looks like Apple Bloom wasn't born yet, they were probably just out of town at the time.)
Applejack will have fibbed about completing a farm chore that turned out to be urgent.
- Jossed.
Applejack's lie will turn out to have something to do with her relationship with Big Mac.
Possibly she lied to show him up in front of Granny Smith, or to put up a front in front of him. This may also wind up being why Mac has changed from then to now — he also blames himself for the damage Applejack's lie caused because he was more of a talker instead of a listener.- Not exactly, though the incident did lead to his learning to talk less and listen more.
So Big Mac Just Stops Talking.
I don't understand why the moment at the hospital was the moment Big Mac chooses stops talking. He was right to begin with. Applejack got way over her head and Big Mac was right to scold her. She shouldn't have made the deal to begin with and she shouldn't have kept lying to protect herself. If anything, Applejack needed to learn to hear other ponies out and not Big Mac.- Big Mac doesn't stop talking completely. However, a major aspect of the story that is mainly skimmed over because of the focus on Applejack is that Big Mac's attitude when speaking drove Applejack to action/lie in the first place. Big Mac was right that lying was wrong, but if he stopped shoving his catch-phrase down her throat for one minute as though it was a gospel-truth then Applejack would have been more-likely to listen to what he had to say instead of her (realistically) objecting blindly to a "self-righteous" "know-it-all". Thus the story, at least so far as it concerns Big Mac, does offer a coherent impetus for Big Mac to have learned to speak less so that his words have more weight. Maybe not explicitly in support of the absolute monosyllabic state he's known for, but it definitely makes sense as the first step down that path.
The details of Applejack's story are not necessarily accurate.
There are several things in Applejack's story that seem a little bit suspect on closer examination. (Aside from the obvious question of the parents and the above regarding Big Mac, why would Filthy Rich threaten to cut ties with his most important supplier and shoot himself in the hoof?)Let's stop for a second and think about the previous episode. In that one, there is another Applejack flashback, and it's pretty clear she hasn't got all her facts straight. That was something that had happened within the last few days. In light of this, her account of things that happened years ago should probably be taken with a grain of salt, as she could easily be mistaken about the finer details.
- Technically, Granny is the one telling the story. Applejack seems to agree with her recollection at the end, but that's no guarantee.
