"Good morning, Apple Bloom! Time to wake up now!"

The filly groaned, positioning herself away from the now open door to her room, her sister standing there idly with an excited grin on her face. Keeping the same expression, she slowly inched toward the light switch, flicking it on with a simple twitch of her hoof and watching as her little sister growled in annoyance and fumbled in her sheets.

"C'mon Apple Bloom, we got less than a week until summer harvest, don't'cha wanna be a big pony and help me now?"

Her sister suddenly appeared from underneath her sheets, mane frazzled and her bow completely sideways as she glared in frustration at her big sister.

"Ah'm a big pony, and big ponies need their sleep."

Applejack, her expression unchanged from the wide, open mouth grin plastered on her face, blinked three times before she slowly walked out, focusing on nothing but the filly still glaring at her until she shut the door, swinging around and giving a large sigh in the still dark hallway. Green irises scanning the pictures and antiques lining the walls, Applejack lowered her head to the ground before giving a small, "Ah, ponyfeathers."

The mare turned her head and trotted toward the staircase to the downstairs, intending to at least have a quick bite before bucking that day. Descending the stair, the old wood creaking in her wake, Applejack walked to the cupboard and pulled out a bowl, before turning tail and reaching for the bag of oats sitting next to the table. Grasping it in her teeth, she threw it onto the table and poured the contents into the bowl.

Swinging herself onto the green chair, she reached for a spoon and coiled her hoof around it before shoving it into the bowl and taking a bite. As she chewed, the events of the day reemerged in her mind.

Six days until the summer harvest left, which meant that the mare and her brother would have to work double time to prepare. The western area would need the most attention, as it bore the most amount of trees, and had more apples growing on each, if what she had counted the last year was any worth.

She may not have made it out to her friends, but Applejack was very statistical when it came to her apple trees.

She kept count of the total amount of apples collected each and every day.

She counted the days leading up to every harvest by the hour.

And every new tree planted? She added them up as well.

Attempting to scoop another spoonful of oats, the mare heard a low scraping sound. Brow raised, she looked down, a frown on her face. The bottom of the bowl met her gaze, the mare sighing in discontent at not even being able to enjoy her breakfast.

Musta been thinkin' too hard. Ah'm sure it'll all be fine.

Getting up, Applejack bit into the bowl, carrying it over to the sink and plopping it inside with a huff. Turning around, Applejack gave a small smile, trotting toward the front door in silence, so as to not disturb the old green mare softly snoring on the rocking chair in the living room. Her steps were slow, her legs ached, but she still continued on as if it didn't hinder her.

The mare barely stepped a hoof over the threshold before she stopped, blinking rapidly in confusion.

Looking up, she reached a free hoof out and raised it over her head, tapping it lightly.

The mare blinked in silence.

Turning her head, Applejack found a familiar brown hat propped atop one of the stands next to the staircase. She blinked yet again, before she slowly trotted over and stood before it, eyeing it in the moonlight peeking in through the windows. Quickly placing her Stetson onto her head, she turned, stopping midway as she found herself peering into a mirror.

A pair of bags were nestled underneath her eyes, the eye lids trying their hardest to remain open as they twitched in anticipation. Her mane was battered, frazzled, as messy as a pig in the rain, each and every strand sticking out in opposite directions. If a certain white mare had seen her then and there, Applejack could count on her springing into action with a brush materialized out of nowhere in particular.

Applejack gave a chuckle as she smiled at her reflection.

Heh, six A.M. wakin' up in the mornin'.

Wheeling around, the mare stalked past the still sleeping old mare to her right, before opening the door and stepping into the warm air of the summertime. Standing as still as a statue, Applejack gave a large grin, admiring the fruits of her labor, before she sprinted to the first set of trees, eager to work hard on the events of the day.

"Applejack, Ah overslept!"

The red stallion stopped in his tracks, breathing heavily as he lulled his tongue out and stood quietly, his sister staring at him oddly, a hind leg raised in anticipation for her next buck and the rising sun's light illuminating her body.

Mac's heart beat twice, the low whisking of the wind against his body being his only answer before Applejack spoke.

"Yeah, Ah know."

"But Ah'm not supposed to oversleep!" Mac practically shouted, trotting over with a look of anger, "Ah don't want you workin' out here by yourself. It's dangerous-"

"Nothin' ain't gonna happen to me out here, Big Macintosh. What's the worst that could-"

Mac looked to the sky, the hay stalk in his mouth sticking into the air, "Don't even start that. Ah don't need another accident like last harvest."

His sister gave a short gasp, replying, "Now that ain't fair. That wasn't mah fault-"

"We still had ta clean the barn for three days."

Applejack rolled her eyes, "Big Macintosh?"

"Yes, Applejack?"

"Ah'm here now, aren't Ah? I can handle myself."

"Looks to me," Mac said, giving a concerned look toward his sibling, "like you need a rest."

The mare gave a swift buck into the tree behind her, the fruit in the branches launching themselves into the buckets sitting idly underneath them and bouncing out. Looking toward them, the orange mare blew heavily through her nose and grit her teeth, growling at them before cursing under her breath.

As she began to trot over to the fallen apples, she felt a hoof stop her in her tracks. Peering to her right, she barked, "Mac, move yer hoof-"

"No."

"Why not?"

Big Macintosh gave the mare an unimpressed look, "Look at me."

The mare, continuing to stare toward the apples lying in the grass, growled, "Fine."

She turned her head toward her brother, who gave a soft comment, "You look horrible," noting the large bags hanging underneath her eyes and the sweat flowing from her forehead.

"You really need to take a break."

"There's a lot to do-"

"And Ah can do it."

Applejack stared at her brother, breathing heavily.

"Ah-"

"Go take a break. Ah'll pick up the work," he interrupted with a smile, his sister gazing at him, "Ah need to make up for what Ah missed sleepin' in anyway. Have you even had a drink?"

Applejack cleared her throat, suddenly noticing how dry it was, "Yes."

Mac stared at her, his brow raised in obvious doubt.

"...no."

"Stop workin' so hard. You're startin' to sound delirious," he commented, rubbing Applejack's mane with his hoof.

"Yeah... maybe just a little. Alright."

"Go on inside and ask Granny to cook you somethin' real quick, okay?"

The mare smiled, "Fine. But Ah'll be back in a couple o' minutes, so don't you dare get workin' on the western crops."

Big Macintosh gave a grin in return, "No promises. Get along now."

Turning her head, Applejack trotted off toward the house, the sunlight peeking in through the leaves and the branches of the trees keeping pace with her. Giving a short laugh of realization, Applejack wondered how long she had been up and about since six o' clock that morning, bucking apples and keeping fancy mathematics jumbled inside her mind. A sudden surge of pain coursed through her head, the mare stopping suddenly as she raised a hoof to her forehead, growling in anger as it evolved to much higher levels.

Her eyes snapped open.

Her head wasn't hurting from labor.

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, she suddenly grew aware of a loud sound emerging from her right.

Slowly turning toward the source, she could make it out.

"Holy shit! Someone help me Goddammit!"

Her eyes widened. Turning to the barn a ways away, she quickly sprinted over to the wall, retrieving her lasso from its peg alongside the rest of the farm tools. As she returned to the source's location, she began to spin it above her head in preparation for what she was about to face.

"They're gonna fuckin' kill me! Holy shiiiiiiiiiit!"

And then Applejack saw it.

Out of a small hole in between a group of trees emerged a lone pony, the mare catching the sight of his blue coat sprinting in her direction. Despite what she saw as wings on his sides, the stallion instead opted to run as fast as he could toward Applejack, who sat in utter terror of what was chasing him.

The trees that the stallion had emerged from suddenly fell to the sides, a trio of Timberwolves jumping out of the new clearing, roaring in anger at the pegasus currently fleeing from their clutches. They charged, six pairs of legs and six pairs of bearing teeth hurdling toward the stallion at incredible speeds.

As he drew closer, Applejack noticed that he had an odd mask strapped to his face, covering any indication of the face underneath it as the pony almost sprinted past her, suddenly tripping on a root a few yards away from her. Gasping, Applejack watched as the Timberwolves gained speed, anticipating a kill.

A kill she wouldn't let transpire.

Sprinting past the downed pegasus, Applejack twirled her lasso, once, twice, three times, before throwing it toward the nearest Timberwolf, catching it on the ear. Ducking, she caused the rope to pull the Timberwolf to the Earth, his adjacent pack member tripping over him, both collapsing onto the ground and howling at each other.

Looking up, she found the outstretched paw of a Timberwolf, the mare too slow in realizing its intent before she was flung a few feet away from the blow, landing face first into the dirt. Quickly getting up, she snorted air out of her nostrils and sprinted back to the Timberwolf, barely reaching the Everfree creature before it had a chance to gobble up the pegasus, throwing herself onto its muzzle and punching a hoof into its glowing green eye.

The Timberwolf fell to the floor, the mare atop it jumping clear off and away from danger as it reeled in pain on the floor, before it suddenly fell apart, its only remnants being a large scattering of sticks and leaves on the grass by her hooves. Giving a cocky grin, the mare raised a brow, "How do ya like them apples-"

A large weight threw itself into her, knocking the wind out of her and causing her to collapse onto the floor.

Looking up, her face froze in terror.

A Timberwolf glared down at her, its eyes almost blinding her as she was trapped by its claws. Suppressing the urge to gag from the creature's breath, she stole a glance toward the lasso still dangling from the wolf's ear. As if sensing the motion, it swung the end of the rope toward its mouth, before taking a bite out of it and slurping it up like a noodle, finishing it off with a slurp of challenge to the mare lying on the ground below him.

Applejack shut her eyes.

"Get away from her you fuckin' bitch!"

A loud crack sounded out next to her.

The mare slowly opened her eyes, watching as the Timberwolf sat in silence, no longer growling, a large chunk of bark missing from its head. It turned its head to the mare's right, before an object appeared in full swing, crashing into the Timberwolf and taking off part of its muzzle, knocking it to the floor in a heap.

The blue stallion stalked past her, a silver, metallic baseball bat that he did not have before grasped in his teeth, his mask slightly raised to better access the blunt weapon. His wings, still clamped to his sides, blocked any sign of his Cutie Mark, a long, black tail swishing after him as he stood over the Timberwolf. Raising the bat, he was about to end the Timberwolf's life, only being stopped by the sudden shout of the orange mare still laying on the ground.

"Wait, don't!"

The stallion turned to look at her slowly as he spit the bat onto the ground, the white mask sliding back down onto his face and staring at her in silence, before he asked, "What?"

The Timberwolf below him threw its two forelegs up, flinging the pony and his baseball bat high into the air as he screamed in fright, "I'M FUCKING FLYIIIIIIING!" before he disappeared into the cloud layer above them. As the Timberwolf looked back to the orange mare on the ground, who smiled nervously at him, the sound of the stallion's screams slowly drew back, until he suddenly landed onto the creature, practically hitting it to the ground and scattering its remains onto the grass around the two, ending his fall with a loud, "Goddammit!"

Applejack slowly got up, turning her head to the sound of her brother sprinting through the trees to her, his eyes and mouth wide open in what he had just missed. Hearing a growl, she turned to her left and found the remaining Timberwolf howling at her, before it turned tail and fled into the woods, disappearing into the Everfree with a roar of sorrow for its fallen comrades.

Big Macintosh slowly trotted over to his sister, still breathing heavily from what she had just survived, "Thank Faust, are you alright AJ?"

Giving a chuckle, the mare winked at her brother before reaffirming him, "Ah'm fine, no thanks to Mr. Pegasus here," looking toward the stallion still laying spread-eagle on the grass, she added, "You, uh, you alright Sugarcube?"

The stallion suddenly rose, his head shakily raising itself from the grass as he looked at the two ponies staring at him with looks of concern on their faces, the permanent frown on his mask hiding his true feelings as the three sat in silence.

"He seems a little out of it-"

"Hey Sugarcube, you look like you haven't had water in a long time. Are you delirious?"

Applejack and Big Macintosh stared down at the stallion, who looked from Applejack, to Mac, and then to Applejack again, before tiredly admitting, "Yeah, that's me," before passing out.

Author's Notes:

Something I decided to write out of a stupid, crazy idea from awhile ago. Was curious to see the reception it'd get, so I decided to publish it and see where it went. Don't take this too seriously.