I set my alarm for just before sunrise to give me enough time to get to Applejack’s farm when it rose. I put on some old work clothes and was out the door lickety split. The sky was a deep purple, with a more orange hue in the east. I walked through the town of Ponyville and right over to Applejack’s farm. I passed under a wooden sign that read "Sweet Apple Acres" and sure enough, standing outside was Applejack herself and a big, strong-looking red stallion. Applejack saw me and waved.

“Howdy and good mornin’! Glad to have ya helpin’ us! This here is Big Macintosh, my big brother. My lil’ sis Apple Bloom is still asleep. Ya’ll ready to buck some apples? We’re in the north field today,” she said.

“Buck?” I said. I was vaguely familiar with the term, but I didn’t think a biped like me could “buck” something. Applejack chuckled, and Big Mac just looked on and smiled.

“Hehe, that’s right, you can’t really buck, can ya, standin’ on two legs an all. No matter, jus’ follow me and I’ll get ya a ladder. You can pick em’ with your, uh… “ Applejack looked at her hooves, and I could tell she was struggling to remember what they called hooves on my kind.

“Hands?” I said, smiling.

“That’s it,” she said.  She trotted over to the barn and came out with a ten-foot ladder on her tail. I followed her over to a line of apple trees in the north field.

“There’s a bucket under each tree. Jus’ pick em’ off an throw em’ in. ‘Cept the bruised o’course. We’ll take care of them after. Go down this line, and I’ll meet ya in the middle,” said Applejack. I climbed up my ladder and started picking apples as quick as I could, trying to gain her approval.

“How’s this?” I said, moving my hands and picking off apples and throwing them into the bucket as fast as I could. Applejack looked and smiled, which made me smile.

“That’ll be jus’ fine,” she said. At that, she walked over to the first tree in her line and kicked the trunk with her hind legs, causing all of the apples to fall right down into the buckets. My mouth dropped open. I had never seen anything like it. Applejack saw me and blushed.

“Hehe, that’s how we do it here on Sweet Apple Acres. Don’t worry sugarcube, you jus’ work with what ya got,” she said, and trotted off to the next tree. How am I supposed to compete with that? She just emptied a whole tree with one buck, and I’m up here stuck with my lame two hands that had never failed me up to that point in my life.

I don’t know what it was about her, but for some reason, I wanted to impress her. So what did I do? I picked apples from the tree as quick as I could, and when I finished, I just moved right on to the next tree. About an hour and a half later, I was just about to the middle of my tree line. She met me there, just like she said she would, which meant she had done a line and a half to my half line. When we met, I bowed my head in shame.

“I’m sorry, Applejack. I promise I’ll go faster,” I said, disappointed in myself. Applejack looked embarrassed herself, yet she was smiling.

“Oh my, sugarcube, don’ feel bad. Ah' been doin’ this fer years. Plus, ah’ got two hind legs that were made for apple buckin’. You jus’ keep workin’ as fast as you can, you still saved me a lot of time. Besides, your sweatin’ a good deal, which means ya’ll must be workin’ hard, right?” she said. It was enough to make me feel better, and I raised my head with a little smile.  

As Applejack trotted off to the next tree line, I picked up my ladder and headed over to the line parallel to hers. When I reached the third tree in the line, I noticed Applejack through the leaves of a branch. I moved the branch out of the way to get a better glimpse of her. There she was, looking at her harvest of apples under a tree, with the sun shining down on her like an angel and the wind flowing through her golden mane. This was the first time I ever really thought about in-depth what a beautiful creature she was. She was the kind of beauty that demanded your respect. As I looked on at her through the branches, I thought about how pretty her blonde mane was, how adorable her white freckles were, and how cute she looked in her cowpony hat. She kicked up an apple to herself and then got back to bucking. She was so swift and determined in her work that you couldn’t help but admire her hard work ethic. You might say this was a “simple job” since it didn’t require a lot of thinking, but it was really tough. I greatly admired how Applejack came out here everyday to do this and work just as hard day in and day out.

At about three o’clock, I was picking apples from a tree when Applejack came and found me. She yelled up to me from the ground.

“Ah’ worked you enough for one day, AJ,” she said. I slid down the ladder and she kicked me an apple.

“Woo, that’s a mighty fine day of work right there. Not too easy on the farm, is it? Ah’m proud of you though, ya’ll worked real hard!” she said, hitting me on the shoulder with her hoof. It felt great when she complimented me.

“I worked hard? You do this every day! I wish I could be as hard working as you,” I said, truthfully. Applejack blushed and shook a hoof at me. Just as she did that, a small filly with yellow skin and a red mane with a ribbon in it walked up to us.

“Howdy sis!” she said. She had the most innocently adorable voice, and to make it even better, she had a strong country accent like her sister. She was smiling at first, but as soon as she saw me, the smile faded and she just stared at me. She had to be the cutest little thing I’d ever seen.

“Apple Bloom! You know better then to stare. This here’s AJ, he’s from far away,” said Applejack.

“Are you one of them human thingys?” said Apple Bloom, turning her head.

“Sure am. I was just helping your sister. She’s a hard worker,” I said, and Applejack blushed again.

“Ah' know she is. She’s the best sister ever!” said Apple Bloom, running around Applejack. Applejack put her hoof out so that she ran into it, and Applejack pulled her in and started rubbing her mane playfully. That's the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. Where I was from, older siblings treating their little siblings well was hard to come by. Seeing Applejack being so good to her sister was a breath of fresh air for me.

“You wanna play a game?” said Apple Bloom. This was a dumb question, as I love games.

“Are you kidding? I love games,” I said enthusiastically. Apple Bloom walked over and picked up an empty bucket with her head, and Applejack started kicking the bruised apples in her direction while Apple Bloom tried to catch them.

“We can’t sell the bruised apples, so we collect them like this. Makes it more fun!” said Applejack, whipping apples to her sister with her tail. It did look like fun.

“Here. Now you try,” said Applejack, and she kicked an apple over to me with her back leg. I caught it with one hand and tossed it over to Apple Bloom, who jumped up and caught it with the bucket.

“Nice one, AJ!” they said. I smiled and clenched my fist with excitement, just as Applejack kicked me three more apples. I caught the first two with each of my hands, but the third one hit me square in the nose. Instead of just bouncing off, the bruised apple was soft, and it actually stayed on my nose like a clown. Applejack, her sister, and I started breaking out in laughter. We were laughing so hard we fell to the ground. It was the most fun I’d had since I could remember.