@Zennistrad  
Quit trying to put logic in the same universe with talking pastel-colored equines.

@Techy Pony
 
Well, yeah, but if your episode idea works in your own mind, then there’s no reason to research it further.
 
Really, it just kinda seems like nitpicking to nag on this. Most people don’t really know that apple trees don’t grow from seeds alone (I sure as hell didn’t), and it’s not like MLP has any pretense of realism in it.

@Zennistrad  
It’s called google.

@Millennial Dan
 
You’re seriously expecting the writers of a television show who’ve likely never set foot on an orchard to know how apple farming works in real life.

Well, at least this shows Twilight is flawed, and not a “perfect Mary-Su who will always solve every problem” like some have been accusing her of being…
 
@Eggonaught  
Well, I assume Granny Smith while a great farmer, and has more sense then some give her credit for, (like she was underestimated in “Family Appreciation Day”) but regardless she’s only human, (well “pony”) and doesn’t know everything. It’s possible she could’ve been ignorant about the vampire fruit bats. Doesn’t mean the writers are making her, or Applejack into “idiots,” or anything.
 
Though, I will kinda agree that environmentalists don’t always know everything, especially when it comes to farming, and business.
 
Yeesh, didn’t think this new episode would bring this much controversy. (Everyone seems to love Flutterbat though.)

@Background Pony #87D8  
Someone should draw that.

@Star Cavalcade  
“Don’t worry everyone, I have magic that will make these pesky buffalo too lazy to run around!”  
Followed by a 20 minute documentary about alcoholism and paint-huffing on buffalo reservations…

@Zennistrad  
They should though.

@Techy Pony  
Yeah. MLP usually does social morals pretty well, but they fuck up everything that involves either business or practical decisions.  
This PBF comic shows off the attitude better than I can explain it.
 
Ever heard a college sophomore “environmental justice” major lecturing farmers about how to farm? It’s that same smug, dismissive attitude towards us lesser beings that makes the writers have no respect for AJ.
 
I mean, this episode basically called Granny Smith either a fool or a liar–the woman who’s been farming the area all her life, and who singlehandedly discovered, researched, and exploited a completely new crop.  
All because we need to bend the story and the characters around some hippie moral.

@Zennistrad  
If they’re going to try and give usable real world lessons then maybe they should try and make them accurate.

@Silvercloud
 
You’re expecting the writers of a children’s television show to apply real-world logic to the series? Even adult T.V. shows don’t do that.

@Techy Pony  
I learned a while ago that grafting was a thing.
 
I learned so much about apples that day.

@Silvercloud  
So Fluttershy’s only argument did ultimately suck.
 
Also I didn’t know that’s how apples trees work. Learned something today.

@Background Pony #87D8  
“Besides, you don’t even grow apple trees from seeds…”
 
THANK YOU! That’s the only thing about this episode that actually irked me: Fluttershy is making an improper argument about the vampire fruit bats’ usefulness on the farm, because she doesn’t understand how apples work. Unfortunately, I think this is because the writers don’t either, or AJ would’ve corrected her. You can’t plant a Red Delicious apple seed (for example) and expect to get a tree full of Red Delicious apples. All you’re likely to get is nasty crab apples, because their genetics are all screwed up.

@PwnyPony  
Another moral, kill pests when you have the chance.

@Background Pony #C0BE  
Doesn’t matter if there’s some kind of long-run benefit. AJ has constant cash flow problems, and it sure didn’t seem like those bats were leaving her anything to sell.  
Stronger trees in 5 years wouldn’t do her any good when the farm’s already been repossessed.  
Besides, you don’t even grow apple trees from seeds…
 
And anyway, Fluttershy’s “solution” requires exactly the same kind of population control as farmers like AJ traditionally use, since fruit-eating vermin are the perfect example of R-selection breeders (which reproduce rapidly to take advantage of large but irregular food sources).
 
It’s just that hippies think you can train rabbits to use condoms rather than pay a pelt bounty.

@Eggonaught  
difference being rats do not somehow enhance the growth of seeds when feeding on its fruit. vampire fruit bats are supernatural, though not in the way i thought they would be.  
it was more a contest of long term planning and immediate results. both had good points. the fruit bats actually had beneficial points and were not any more wicked than other creatures. however they were threatening their farm and if they fed on too many trees it would mean immediate consequences, even if they would produce larger and more fruitful trees later on.
 
and yes having their own section of the orchard would work. there is an entire section of the orchard already abandoned to normal fruit bats. and they keep theri place there.

Were they both written by different people?

@Background Pony #D20F  
Yeah the bats might be beneficial in the wild but on an orchard, not at all. So they eat every single apple and plant more seeds. Now they have no apples and in the upcoming years too many trees grow in too small of an area, how is that beneficial?

@Zennistrad  
Yah, like her turning into flutterhulk not because her friends were being attacked, but because a bug was knocked against a wall….

@Eggonaught: Fluttershy’s plan wasn’t stupid. While you are correct that vermin shouldn’t be fed, bats are beneficial for the apple crops. Spreading the seeds to create more apple trees and all that.
 
The first half of this Cartoon was giving off Captain Planet vibes, but only I seem to notice it.

@Techy Pony
 
This. Fluttershy’s main character flaw (aside from being a total pushover) is that she sympathizes more with animals than she does with other ponies.

@Eggonaught  
Fluttershy is kind to animals to a point of absurdity. Sure don’t kill them (especially given that they’re probably intelligent in equestria), but they’re vermin none the less. Fluttershy telling AJ to apologize to beavers for getting mad at them for flooding her field by building damns in another example of her being too kind to animals, putting them above even ponies. If the beavers are smart enough to appreciate an apology, then they’re deserving of reprimand for them flooding the fields.

@Background Pony #C790  
This. Fluttershy’s “solution” was stupid, it’s as simple as that.  
Think about it this way:  
“Hey, you shouldn’t trap those rats in your house! If you just fed them, they wouldn’t eat your food!”
 
Yeah. That’s the kind of hippie “reasoning” you only get from people who’ve never had to deal with the real world. Fluttershy should know more about the explosive reproduction strategies of vermin…

@Background Pony #3CD5  
Well then complain to the writers instead of complaining about Twilight.
 
 
@Star Cavalcade  
I guess that makes sense.