13 Horrible Life Lessons My Little Pony Tries To Teach Our Kids

13. Applebuck Season

The Horrible Life Lesson: Self-sufficiency is for suckers.

My Little Pony begins its descent into codependent madness as early as the fourth episode. When her brother Big Mac finds himself unable to work due to injury, Applejack tries to harvest all of the apples in Sweet Apple Acres by herself, leading to sleep deprivation and fatigue. She eventually allows her friends to help her, learning that sometimes we just can't do everything on our own.

The problem is that Applejack doesn't spread herself too thin by bucking apples alone. Her exhaustion reaches its peak after her friends - the same friends who criticize her noble self-sufficiency - ask her to help them with tasks that anypony else could have helped with.

Rainbow Dash merely needs AJ to fall onto a catapult, launching her into the air - an unnecessary boost for a pony capable of breaking the sound barrier. Pinkie Pie just needs somepony competent enough to read a recipe book. Fluttershy wants Applejack to herd some bunnies that seem more than willing to take direction from Fluttershy herself.

Applejack may have been plenty tired and a bit loopy before all of this nonsense, but it's after helping her friends that poor AJ can no longer muster the strength to finish the harvest. If her friends had followed her example and taken care of their own needs, she might have finished just fine. Applejack could have served as a model of self-efficacy and determination. Instead, she became infected by her friends' over-reliance and lazy refusal to manage their own affairs.