You ever felt like something was going to be really different, but then it wasn't? Yeah, that's how I felt when I rewatched Applejack's episodes this season and compared them to the old analysis. She got two episodes, and neither one did her any favors or expanded her character.
Anyway, here's the updated analysis.
Applejack is the middle child of the current generation of the Apple Family, a dedicated bunch of farmers who run the massive Sweet Apple Acres. A lifetime of working the fields and bucking the trees has left Applejack with a very strong work ethic, a great deal of strength, and a very, very stubborn attitude. She is one of the most dependable ponies in Ponyville; she always keeps her promises, no matter what the circumstances. This isn't always a good thing, however, as she has sometimes broken herself trying to keep all the agreements she's made. She's also more than a little competitive, albeit nowhere near as bad about it as Rainbow Dash. And of course, she's stubborn as a mule.
And then Season 2...did nothing to her.
In the second season, Applejack was pretty much ignored. Mind you, she still got episodes, and there was still some insights, but they were mostly about the Apple Family and not her specifically. The only one to give her any personal development was "The Last Roundup," which was an okay episode in and of itself, but Applejack's part was completely covered up by very poor use of Pinkie and...well, you know what I'm talking about. Point is, all the development and plot points and keen insights occurred around Applejack, while she remained pretty much the same pony as when she entered the season.
Season 3 attempted to rectify this by having her host the Apple Family Reunion and deal with an overly-grateful Spike, but none of the developments were anything that had not already been established. The only possible thing to take away about her was her damned alternate fate in “Magical Mystery Cure;” she's become a dressmaker, but can't figure out fashion or anything frou-frou. (Although again, that isn't anything new.)
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Applejack has been working at the family farm since she was a little pony, save for a brief time when she tried to live as a Manehatten socialite. Because of this, Applejack has developed a strong understanding of family traditions, farming techniques, and the changing of the seasons. She also heads up the business side of the farm's management, having technically been given control of the farm by her brother, Big Macintosh. She is also responsible for taking care of her younger sister, Apple Bloom, and her senile grandmother, Granny Smith. All Apples are named after either varieties of apples, or products and items that either use apples as an ingredient or are related in some way.
Because of the amount of responsibility she has, Applejack is almost always working. Most of the time, this involves bucking apples out of the trees, which she then divides up based on quality and either sells directly or uses for other purposes, such as food for pigs or for her own family. Years of doing this, coupled with the Earth pony's increased stamina, has made Applejack possibly the strongest mare (if not pony) in Ponyville. For example, during the Iron Pony Competition, Dashie managed to kick hard enough to ring the bell; AJ kicked hard enough to send the bell into the stratosphere. Most of her strength, however, is focused on her hind legs, and as a result she can still be beaten at hoof wrestling.
Applejack is also a frequent participant in rodeos across Equestria, and has applied herself to a wide variety of events. She can run, jump hurdles, weave through barrels, and throw hay bales like nopony's business, and takes considerable pride in her athletic abilities. The one weakness in this regimen, however, is that while she is very good at all these events, there are none she truly excels in. Applejack is very much a "Jack-of-All-Trades, Master of None" kind of pony; she will place in just about every event in a rodeo, but will be hard-pressed to actually win one.
Applejack's business capabilities appear to be generally good. She's able to keep the farm running, has a solid market for her product, and is very good at marketing. However, she has also made some pretty poor business decisions as well, most notably revolving around Cider Season. The Apples need the money from the cider sales to stay afloat through the winter, where their crops won't grow and they'll have very limited ways to make money until spring. However, Applejack refuses to hire more help, instead opting to keep the entire farm a family-only business. As a result, there's only a couple barrels of cider a day, and since cider in this universe is more addictive than crack, the residents get upset every year that there's not enough to go around. (Of course, if they stopped letting Pinkie buy ten dozen mugs a day, they wouldn't have that problem.) Then, when Flim and Flam arrive, the Apples wisely reject the initial deal, but Applejack never even brings up a possible counter-offer. In the end, however, the competition between the two forces Applejack to allow her friends to help, which in turn produces enough barrels for the entire town to have a mug.
One of Applejack's more frustrating aspects is her stubbornness. Once Applejack sets her mind to something, a wild pack of Timberwolves won't be enough to get her to change her mind. She's also very loyal to her family and always seeks to honor her obligations, which can lead to calamity when combined with her stubborn attitude. During the annual Applebuck Season, her attempts to keep all her promises despite being a step away from zombification led to overpropelled Pegasi, poisoned ponies, and terrorized bushels of brand-new bouncing baby bunnies. When hosting the Apple Family Reunion, she refused to accept that she was missing the point of the gathering and nearly ruined it in the process. And then, in "Over A Barrel," she ruined the very first attempts at a negotiation by immediately attacking the Buffalo...because they took an apple tree. Which she had named Bloomberg. And she read bedtime stories to. (Yeah, Dave Polsky should be thanking his lucky stars Merriweather Williams came along and gave fans someone else to call worst writer.)
Another quibble is her focus on tradition. Her family basically founded Ponyville, and since most of its early inhabitants were Earth ponies, they made it a tradition to not allow magic for the annual Winter Wrap-Up. AJ is also in charge of the team tasked with plowing away the snow, and like everything else, she takes her responsibility very seriously. Naturally, when Twilight's attempt at sneaking in some magic goes very wrong and causes an avalanche, AJ's very upset with her friend for screwing up. Her response, however, was to yell at her for breaking their most sacred tradition, desecrating her farm with her foul magicks, and kicking her off her property. Admittedly, she does back down after Twilight runs off crying, but that was a particularly low moment for her. This is especially bad, though, since it turns out she sucks at her job, as she and the rest of the town were too busy keeping magic out of the event to actually figure out how to wrap up winter.
Outside of farming, Applejack is also a top-notch cook, and is even called the "Greatest Baker in Equestria" by Pinkie Pie. And most of the time, that title appears to be accurate. Most of Applejack's cooking revolves around apples, although she can cook other dishes depending on what's needed. Her range is also wide, as she can make anything from muffins and cupcakes to tarts, pies and cakes. During the Grand Galloping Gala, she was even able to bake up a very impressive cake in the middle of the dance, with her one mistake being to bring the thing into the ballroom right as Pinkie decided to go stage diving. She was also able to whip up an entire cartload of treats to bribe Twilight with in an extremely short period of time, and had the Unicorn's principals not won out, she would have gotten that ticket right then and there. This finally paid off in the Season 2 finale, where Applejack was placed in charge of planning the menu for the wedding.
If Applejack truly has a great failing, it's her pride. The whole Applebuck Season fiasco happened because she mistook Big Macintosh's honest evaluation of the situation as an insult and sought to prove him wrong, and she didn't give up until she was practically on death's door from overwork. She baked the cake for the Gala because her pride as a salespony and member of the Apple Family was being tested by the snooty upper crust ponies. The worst case of all, however, was what happened in "The Last Roundup." When she failed to win the prize money needed to fix Ponyville's town hall, she was so distraught at returning home without being able to honor her promise that she took a job at a cherry ranch to earn the money needed. Then when her friends arrived, she danced around the issue, and only gave up after Rainbow Dash had pinned her to the ground and literally knocked the not-so-blue ribbons out of her bags. Fortunately, she did learn her lesson there, and will hopefully not allow her sense of pride to overwhelm her good judgment again.
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Shipping-wise, Applejack tends to get paired up a lot with either Rarity or Rainbow Dash, although groups with the others are not uncommon. Rarity provides a good contrast; while both take their businesses very seriously, the Unicorn is a clean, orderly artist, while the Earth pony is a dirt-covered farm laborer. As for Rainbow Dash, she compliments Applejack's athletic prowess, while also being different enough to allow for conflict to occur naturally. One interesting wrinkle that is often brought up, however, is her family's old-fashioned values. Since Applejack has a Southern US accent and a cowboy hat, everybody seems to think that her family is a bunch of homophobic flankholes who would disown her if they ever found out she was gay. As a result, she either tries dancing around the issue at first, or just goes into denial of her feelings. The same thing extends to Big Mac for M/M ships, so it's not like she's the only one in the family affected this way.
Applejack spends the least amount of time with her friends of any of the ponies, save perhaps Fluttershy. A lot of this has to do with the nature of her work. Sweet Apple Acres is outside of Ponyville, making commuting an issue, and farming is a very labor-intensive profession, so she has to do a lot of work every day. That being said, she still finds time to hang out with her friends. She finds Rainbow Dash's laziness irritating, but is still willing to throw horseshoes and hoof wrestle with her. She also initially disliked Rarity due to her fussiness and artistic senses, but after a sleepover at Twilight's, the two have begun to get along more. Twilight is Applejack's go-to source for when something is going on that she can't understand, such as when Apple Bloom got the Cutie Pox, and serves as a much more grounded counterpart to the Unicorn's tendency to break down completely. As for Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy...well, Applejack doesn't really spend as much time with them alone as the others, but still considers them dear friends and is always ready and willing to help.
Applejack's family is by far the largest, and closest, one of the Mane 6, and several episodes of Season 2 and 3 helped to highlight the nature of their relationships. Big Macintosh is the gentle giant of the farm, speaking only when necessary (or under the influence of a love poison) and capable of bucking apples with a light tap from one hoof. Because of his quiet nature, he serves as a voice of reason for Applejack, especially when she thinks she's being challenged by somepony. Apple Bloom is her little sister, and is far more energetic and excitable than even AJ. The two love each other dearly, helping each other with their chores and basically being perfect siblings. AB, however, is very possessive of Applejack, although she might lend her out for one day. (ONE. DAY.) Applejack respects Granny Smith, and knows how knowledgeable she is about Ponyville history and the like, but also knows she's an eccentric old mare and will question her when she does something especially foolish.
As for the rest of the Apple Family, the key thing to remember is that it is big. They seem to hail from all walks of life and corners of Equestria, with their largest point of contact being the Apple Family Reunion. Of the ones we know of, Braeburn is one of the lead settlers of Apple-loosa, her Aunt and Uncle Orange are Manehatten socialites, and while Babs Seed comes from the same town, she seems to dwell within a rather different area. And like Applejack's immediate family, they all love each other dearly and enjoy spending time with each other.
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Applejack bears the Element of Honesty, which is reflected both directly and indirectly through her actions. On a more metaphysical level, she takes her promises seriously, and considers not living up to what she promised to be tantamount to lying. This is, again, part of why she is so stubborn; if she doesn't try hard enough, she'll be going back on her word. On a more literal level, however, Applejack cannot lie. At all. All she can do is offer half-truths and exact words, and even then she's very bad at it. Ironically, in almost all these cases, it's Pinkie who finds out; the first two times, she lets her go after a Kubrick Stare, but when she breaks a Pinkie Promise using exact words... Well, let's just say you should never break a Pinkie Promise. Ever.
Discord broke Applejack's connection to her Element by showing her the group breaking up, and then telling her that such a thing was preordained. So, if they were all going to go their separate ways anyway, wouldn't it be better to lie to them so they would be happy just a bit longer? Of course, this causes Applejack to lie about everything, as well as become a regular jerk for some reason. She was also the only pony whose unbrainwashing we got to see in full, with Twilight bringing forth her memory of the ending of "Applebuck Season" to remind her of the pony she used to be.
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In the end, Applejack is the most neglected member of the cast. She has the fewest fanfics written about her, the fewest episodes total, and seems to be ignored almost entirely whenever anyone talks about the cast. There are a lot of theories as to why, but the best I can come up with is that a lot of her flaws cross over with Rainbow Dash. Both are cocky and prideful, but while Rainbow Dash's flaws are based in easy-to-utilize jock stereotypes, Applejack represents a country folk kind of archetype that isn't explored quite as often. AJ is just a hard pony to write for, especially when you can just use Rainbow Dash and get the same results anyway.
It doesn't help that she never has anything really interesting to do in the show. "Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000" is actually one of my favorites of the second season because it actually utilized her and the entire Apple Family in a strong, cohesive way, "Applebuck Season" was one of the best early episodes, and "Fall Weather Friends" showed her dark side a bit more, but outside of that she tends to just hang on to the rest of the crowd. She didn't even get to do anything to the dragon in "Dragonshy."
While I had hoped that Season 3 would rectify this, it's become apparent that Applejack herself is a difficult character to use well. To put it simply, she's the straight mare to the craziness of the rest of the cast. Even when she was sleep deprived in Applebuck Season, she wasn't totally psychotic or broken, but just kind of cooky and grumpy. That's why I think the writers focus all their attention on her family, as they are far more dynamic ponies that give Applejack something to work off of.
Really, the only hope I can find for Applejack starring in another episode is for them to get her away from any farms. Let her do something other than buck trees and act country. But that will never happen, because that would require Applejack to act outside of her character. Unless something miraculous happens in Season 4 (which probably won't, since according to 90% of the Internet, everything will be about Twilight), she's simply going to be the Best Background Pony.
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