Applejack is a female Earth pony and one of the main characters of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. She lives and works at Sweet Apple Acres with her grandmother Granny Smith, her older brother Big McIntosh, her younger sister Apple Bloom, and her dog Winona. She represents the element of honesty.
Applejack is one of the only two members of the main cast who were part of the original My Little Pony cast in the 1980s animated series, the other member being Spike. Lauren Faust, the show's developer, was inspired to create Applejack by her childhood toy G1 pony Applejack.[1] Faust intended to use more characters from the first My Little Pony series, but Hasbro did not maintain the trademarks to nearly all of the original character names and most names had to be replaced.[2][3][4] Faust used the character's G1 color scheme, abandoning the dark red color from the G3 toy line. Voice actress Ashleigh Ball has cited country singers Miley Cyrus, Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire as inspiration for Applejack's voice and dialect.[5][6] She shares some personality traits with the G1 pony named Starlight (not to be confused with Starlight Glimmer).
Applejack is also the name of a strong alcoholic beverage produced from apples. In the episode Bridle Gossip, poison joke causes Applejack to shrink. Spike calls her "Apple Teeny," pronounced the same as appletini, an apple-flavored alcoholic cocktail. Applejack is the first pony to have her name abbreviated in the show. In Applebuck Season, Twilight calls her "A.J.," a nickname that is used again by Spike in Boast Busters, Big McIntosh in Winter Wrap Up, Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash in The Last Roundup, Pinkie Pie in MMMystery on the Friendship Express, and Coloratura in The Mane Attraction.