“Big Mac, I’m gonna need ya to hold this here barrel for me.”

“Eeyup.”  The large, red stallion lifted the barrel with ease and held it under the tree for his sister while she kicked the trunk of thee tree as hard as she could.  In one hit, Applejack had knocked nearly all of the apples out of the tree and into the barrel on Big Mac’s back.  The two earth ponies walked this barrel back to the barn where all the other barrels were being held.

Applejack and Big Mac were busy at work in the middle of Applebuck season, and were in a hurry to remove all the apples before the stormy season.  They had been hard at work all morning, waking up at the crack of dawn with the rooster, and working until the sun set.  Twilight had always been nice enough to help their Apple family by dividing the orchard into groups, and making fancy charts and reports over the years to determine how many apples they would have growing, and a quota of how many apples they needed to harvest in order to harvest the entire orchard.  

Applejack thought this would make things easier, but instead it only added to her stress.  Even when working as fast as they could they never seemed to be “ahead of schedule”; this time of the year was always stressful on the Apple family.  In a way, that was why Applejack was so thankful for her brother.  He was always so calm and reassuring, the perfect balance to her hot headedness.  Had she been working with anyone else, she would have already started screaming and rushing to try and buck all the apples.  Not with Macintosh here, though.  Of course, she would never tell him any of this, but it was still nice to have him around.

Big Mac lowered the barrel back onto the ground.  “Well sis, I think Applebloom said she would make us lunch.  Should we take a break fer a while?”

“Sure, that sound mighty sweet of Applebloom,” replied Applejack, still slightly out of breath from bucking apples all morning.

As the two walked into the room, they were greeted with an unnatural burning smell coming from the kitchen.  Granny Smith’s voice could be heard coming from the kitchen: “Now, be careful there darlin’, yer makin’ the fire too big!”

“Don’ worry Granny, ah know what ah’m doing!”

Soon after, Granny Smith came out and explained to the others what  was happening in the kitchen; Applebloom was trying as hard as she could to cook the food on her own (she was growing up, and recently it seemed that she wanted to do everything without help, trying to prove that she was growing up, not a kid anymore.  Applejack remembered when she was like that), even though the most she knew how to cook on her own was daisy sandwiches and carrot sticks.

“She’s just tryin’ ter grow up so fast,” Granny explained, a tear coming to her eye as she remembered the little filly that used to be Applebloom.

Big Man gave his grandmother a hug, and silently whispered “Don’ worry gran-gran, she’s jus’ tryin’ ta find out who she is.  She’s still the little filly we love.”

“That’s right grandma!  Just like me when ah was her age!” Applejack chimed in.

“Oh, I know you two’r right… still doesn’t give’er the excuse ta kick me outta my own kitchen!”

The three laughed together as they dispersed themselves among the small table in their dining room to wait for Applebloom to finish making lunch.

“So, how’s the harvestin’ goin’?”

“Gramma, I don’t think we can get all the apples this year, according ta Twilight’s raports.  We just can’t work that fast!”

“Forget the reports, how do YOU think the harvestin’s goin’?”

“Well, like Big Mac says, we’re workin’ as fast as we can.  But I still wish that Applebloom could help us out there.”  Everypony started to argue against the idea.  “Now I know y’all don’t agree, I’m jus’ sayin’ it’s a shame that Applebloom can’t help us out there in the orchard.  If we could jus’ get one more pony out there harvestin’ with us, we may not be so behind all the time!”

“Now sis, you know that Applebloom is still in school.  That’s more important.”

“I know Big Mac, but she’s always willin’ ta help…”

“Don’ worry sis, we can harvest all the apples.  We’ve done it before.”

“Applejack, listen to yer brother, he’s been doing this fer… how many years has it been, Macintosh?”

“A few.”

“Exactly!  We Apple ponies can do anything we set our minds to!”

“Tha’s exactly what ah was tryin’ ta tell YOU, gramma!” said Applejack as she walked out of the kitchen.  “And ah finished cookin’ lunch fer everypony!”  Applebloom walked out of the kitchen with a large plate full of…daisy sandwiches and carrot sticks.  The family sat around the table eating their lunch and talking about their plans for the weekend.  Applebloom was going out again with her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo on another Cutie Mark Crusaders “mission” in the library with Twilight.  

Everypony knew that this really meant that the girls were going to go spy on boys or talk about boys or do something with boys.  They were now at the age where they just started to notice the opposite sex but were still embarrassed to admit it.  Big Mac thought that Applebloom was developing a crush on one of the transfer students in the class, Rumble, because she constantly complained about him at home.  He remembered when Applejack was like this with some colt she knew, but then dated him for a few months.  He wasn’t too good at reading girls and their emotions though.  They were confusing creatures.

After lunch was finished and the plates cleared from the table, Big Mac and Applejack got back to work finishing the apple quota for the day.  Work in the orchard had always been quiet, since the two ponies were focused solely on their work.  Nopony ever came out into these orchards; maybe that was why Big Mac always felt comfortable out here when he needed to be alone.  Not today, though.

“C’mon brother, if we don’ hurry up with these last trees we won’t be able to catch up tomorrah!”

“Applejack, calm DOWN!”  Big Mac was heard enough of his sister’s worrying; she had been acting delusional since lunch.  “We can do this, we’re working as fast as we can!  We’ll gather all the apples up, just calm down!”

The words didn’t seem to sink in since applejack darted to the next trees and knocked the apples out before Big Mac could catch them with his bucket.  Big Mac finally came to the conclusion, ‘Applejack’s gone crazy!’  He caught her after a few trees and pinned her down.  She was fighting him, and had that same look in her eye as that time she tried to harvest all the apples in the orchard by herself, those many years ago.

“Now sister, you need ta calm down!”

“Ah can’t Big Mac!  We need ta hurry!”

“Nope.  You need a break!”  He pushed her back to the farm, against her will, and towards the house.  By this time her deliriousness was becoming apparent.  It looked like she merely pushed herself too hard and succumbed to the heat.  ‘That’s mah sister, all right!’

Big Mac nudged his sister towards the couch, motioning for her to lie down.  Even though she was still fighting, she cooperated.  She nearly fell asleep the moment her head met the pillow.  Big Mac went back into the kitchen and grabbed a glass of water for his sister, set it down on the table next to her, and sat down.  As much as he wanted to keep working, Applejack needed him more, and he wanted to keep an eye on her just in case she tried to come back outside.  Instead, he lost himself in his own thoughts.

A lot had been on his mind recently, as usual during the harvesting season.  However, today was different.  He had been wrestling with this problem for quite some time now— a few years to be exact.  Usually it didn’t bother him this much but recent events had brought his doubts back up.  He noticed that Applebloom was growing up, even getting interested in colts.  Also, even though she would never admit it, he noticed Granny Smith moving slower and becoming more forgetful each day.  Life changed, and he knew that doing nothing was the worst thing he could do.

Applejack woke up a few hours later, calmer than she had been this morning.  “Big Mac, what happened?  Did we get all the apples?”  No answer.

She turned around and saw him sitting right there behind her.  He wasn’t asleep, but he looked like he was in a daze, just staring off into space.  She called his name again, “Big Mac, y’all alright?”

He blinked and jumped a little.  “Oh, ah see yer awake.  Feelin’ better?”

“Yeah… musta been really tired!  It’s nearly night time!  We need ta get back ta work if we’re gonna keep on schedule.”

“Not so fast, little sis!  You can’t get back to work jus’ yet.  You need to relax fer the rest of the day, we can work tomorrah.”

“And I s’pose you ain’t gonna change yer mind?”

“Nope.”

Applejack sighed.  “Well, it is night anyway…wait; what time is it?”

“Well, the sun set about an hour ago, so I s’pose it’s about eight?”

“Holy fritters, I’m late!”  Big Mac remembered the slumber party that Pinkie Pie was throwing for all the girls back at Sugarcube Corners, and how Applejack promised to bring one of her apple pies for everyone to share.  Fortunately, the pie was prepared beforehand, but AJ was never one to show up late for something.

She ran out of the kitchen with her pie in a box and gave her brother a quick hug.  “See ya later, Big Mac!”

“Yeah…see ya sis…”

The earth pony stopped at the door.  “Are you okay Big Mac?  You seem troubled.”

“Yeah… I mean, nope.  I’m alright!”

“Are ya sure?”

“Don’t worry about me, sis; just get going, and try ta take it easy.”

“All right, if ya say so…” Applejack said as she turned to walk out the door.