The alarm clock next to Pinkie's bed sang its annoying, jingling song at its usual hour that morning, just like so many other mornings before it. She lifted her leg aimlessly in the direction of the irritating sound and finally managed to silence it after a few attempts before inadvertently dragging it off the end table and onto the floor. The sudden crash jolted her awake. She dragged herself to the side of the bed to inspect the damage to the clock from her comfortable position. Right now, though, she couldn't have cared if it had shattered into a thousand pieces.

She sighed heavily and flopped her face back onto her pillow. For the first time in a while, she simply wasn't ready to rise, shine, or attack the day. The soft mattress, fluffy pillow and warm blankets beckoned her to stay, but she had prior obligations that morning that she had to keep. She did make a promise after all, and despite not being one of her signature Pinkie Promises, she was still sworn to it. Applejack had run behind a bit with the bucking that week thanks to a minor but bothersome injury and didn't want a repeat of what happened months ago when she cooked up a batch of baked bads or sent Rainbow Dash careening into the library. Pinkie and the others had agreed to lend her a hoof that day and hopefully get her back on track.

Still laying on her stomach, enjoying every extra second possible, she flipped her covers away and crawled out of bed. After replacing the clock onto the end table, relieved that it still worked, she dragged herself to her dresser and looked herself over in the mirror.

Pinkie was a wreck. She had thrown a party six days in a row prior to yesterday. The only reason she hadn't bothered to throw another the day before was that the Cakes wanted to take a day for themselves and had asked Pinkie to watch the twins for them. Thursdays were generally slower than most other days of the week and thankfully for Pinkie, that trend had continued. Trying to balance watching the twins and dealing with a steady stream of customers would have been more than even she could handle.

Even though it was relatively, mercifully slow during the day, the night had other plans. The Cakes were delayed on their return for a few hours and didn't get home until well after the moon was overhead. Pinkie had wanted to get to bed early to catch up on some rest but was forced to stay up later than she wanted watching Pumpkin and Pound.

She headed to the bathroom for a nice, hot shower. She silently prayed it would snap her back to reality, but after she had finished up, she didn't look any less exhausted than she had before. After toweling herself off, her hair poofed into its usual curly style and she forced a smile onto her face. It took more strength than she had and after a moment, the smile fell into an uncharacteristic frown, coupled with large bags hanging from her eyes. Feeling defeated, she carried herself downstairs.

A few minutes after arriving in the lobby and checking the store out one final time before heading out, Rainbow Dash entered Sugarcube Corner. She had a bounce in her step that morning similarly to how Pinkie typically does. Her cloud bed had been kind to her that night and she was raring to go.

"Hey Pinkie, what's up? Ready to head to Sweet Apple Acres?" Rainbow got a good look at the party pony and grimaced. "Jeez, you OK? You don't look so good."

Pinkie perked up as best as her groggy state would let her. "Sure am, Dashie! Just a little tired but I'll be fine."

Rainbow chuckled, "You, tired? Heh, good one, Pinkie! That's something I never thought I'd hear. I'm going to fly on ahead. I'll see you there!"

As the cyan pegasus flew away, Pinkie sighed. "The one time I'm being serious and nopony believes me," she mumbled to herself. With a large yawn, she headed out the door.

Even though the one closer to Sweet Apple Acres was Fluttershy, Pinkie was one of the last ones to arrive. The only one that took longer was Rarity, and not by much despite how much farther away Carousel Boutique was and how long it took the sophisticated pony to get ready. She even had to pick out just the right chapeau to bring with her to wear during lunch, lest the midday sun get in her eyes or make her sweat and cause her make-up to run.

Most of the morning, Pinkie drudged through her work, taking much longer to knock the apples from their branches than the others. They were too caught up in what they were doing to ask if she was alright, even though it was plain on her face. She even caught herself leaning up against a couple tree trunks asleep. Nopony mentioned seeing her in such a precarious position, so she tried not to think about it. She didn't want to let her friends down, after all. As lunch crawled closer, she hoped that the food Fluttershy brought would give her a little bit of a boost for the afternoon.

Applejack had eaten quickly and gotten back to bucking sooner than the rest. Rainbow Dash spent her lunch relaxing on a cloud she decided to run and grab when they stopped for a break. Twilight was going over the projected schedule and bucking route on some papers she brought. Rarity and Fluttershy sat and gossiped while they ate. The normally hyperactive Pinkie nibbled at her daisy sandwich without saying a word.

The orange earth pony had gotten a few more trees taken care of when the one she was working on cracked from the strength of her kicks. It was a deep and wide break, but the tree stood. The loud snaps got the attention of the others, including the exhausted Pinkie.

"Aw, shoot," Applejack sighed. "This was one o' the older trees in this orchard. It's so much larger than most o' the others, y'see. One of our most productive trees too. Ah've seen plenty o' cracks before, thanks ta all the buckin' we do ta these things, but not like this one. We'll probably need ta take 'er down. Poor thing."

"How long does it usually take to get a tree removed?" Pinkie asked.

"Depends on how deep the roots go really. Can take anywhere from a couple hours ta several. Bein' an older tree, it's more likely to take a while," Applejack explained, "but it should be OK for now. We still got a long way ta go before we're done buckin' these trees today, otherwise Ah'd say we take care of it now. But, me 'n Mac can take care of it tomorrow."

Pinkie took another look at the jagged crack in the massive trunk. "Well, I suppose. It's just that- " she tried to say before she was cut off by a twitchy tail. She forgot how tired she was upon seeing her tail going crazy. "Eep! Girls! My Pinkie Sense is tingling!" She looked skyward trying to spot what could possibly, randomly, fall out of the sky, but it had been a clear day so far. She turned nervously toward the tree and began to sweat.

"Pinkie dear, I trust Applejack's judgment on the matter. If she says the tree will be fine until tomorrow, then it will be fine," Rarity said. "She's been doing this sort of thing long enough, so she probably knows what she's talking about." The posh pony looked through the dense orchard and raised a hoof to her chin. Applejack obviously was more familiar with her acres of land, but trying to find the damaged tree the next day could possibly take more time away from actually removing it than she and her brother would like. With this in mind, Rarity had an idea and pulled off the bright purple bow adorning her hat, albeit rather grudgingly, and wrapped it around one of the lower branches.

Applejack and Pinkie were the only ones who noticed the unicorn's actions and didn't know what to make of it. "What's that for?" Pinkie finally asked.

"Well, I thought that the purple would stand out well against the sea of greens and browns and make it easier for Applejack to find the tree tomorrow when she and Big Mac come out here to dispose of it," Rarity explained, almost too proud of her idea.

"Um.. I guess that makes some sense," Pinkie admitted, rubbing the back of her neck uncertainly. "I still think we should at least pull it down. Just in case, y'know?"

Rarity chuckled at Pinkie's insistence, "Darling, Applejack and Big Mac will handle it. Don't worry so much!"

Suddenly, there was a soft ruffle from the grass behind the broken tree. Pinkie and Fluttershy looked around the trunk and saw a squirrel laying on the ground. It hadn't been there a minute ago. Fluttershy darted over to the critter with a gasp. "Oh my goodness! Are you OK?" She picked up her furry friend and checked him for any injuries. It pointed up to a small hole overhead in the middle of the trunk where three other squirrels were peeking from. Two appeared to be smaller than the others.

"Oh, is that your family?" The squirrel nodded its head. "Did you fall out of your hole checking to see what all the commotion was?" It nodded again. Fluttershy giggled, "Looks like your Pinkie Sense was right after all."

A tired grin found its way to Pinkie's face, "Heh, I guess so. Fluttershy, will you help me pull this tree down? Please? You've been listening. I'd rather not leave it like this." She was starting to wonder if it was paranoia or fatigue that was making her carry on about a situation that seemed to already have a solution.

"Well, I'm not as strong as Applejack or Rainbow Dash, but yes, I'll help. Just let me find a new home real quick for my little animal friends and I'll do what I can," Fluttershy said.

"But.. can't they just hang out for a minute somewhere out of the way?"

Fluttershy laid a hoof on Pinkie's shoulder reassuringly, "Don't worry, it shouldn't take long to find another tree with some shelter for them." The squirrel family skittered down the tree trunk and met up with the tiny father, ready to follow the yellow pegasus to wherever she led them.

Pinkie slouched low, frustrated that her words were falling on deaf ears. 'Why do they have such a hard time taking what I say seriously sometimes?' she thought to herself. 'I know I can be hyper and random a lot but still..' She tried to pay it no mind. Fluttershy did agree to help, which was more than Applejack or Rarity could say right now.

Rainbow was still lounging at the time, intent on taking a bit longer of a break than the others. She was the fastest mare in Equestria, so a few extra minutes wouldn't hurt anypony. Seeing Fluttershy leading a squirrel expedition gave her an almost mean idea. She and Pinkie agreed a long time ago not to prank Fluttershy, but they didn't say anything about her little friends. When she had an opportunity to sneak off unnoticed by the others, she sped away and returned a minute later with a raincloud. She hovered herself over her intended prank victims and readied herself.

Twilight was just finishing up her lunch, ready to bring her work over to Applejack and go over her papers again. So far, they had made fair time, but she felt they could do better and had spent most of her break drawing up some possible ways to shave some time off their chore. She lifted her parchments up and-

BOOM!

The sudden loud thunderclap made Twilight jump and accidentally fire some blasts of her magic in random directions, one of which nearly hit Pinkie. Unfortunately, it didn't miss the tree behind her that she was vigilantly guarding. The magic connected right on the crack and splintered some of the exposed heartwood, causing the rift to widen even further. Fluttershy's squirrels had darted away at the noise the second it happened. The two ponies looked up angrily at Rainbow and chastised her as she rolled on her cloud laughing at her own antics.

"Guys, come on! That almost hit me!" Pinkie yelled fruitlessly. All their bickering and scolding each other drowned out the pink pony's pleas. Her weariness started eating away at her patience. "Will somepony listen to me?!"

A few quiet crackles coming from behind caused Pinkie to freeze up and hold her breath. Any exhaustion she had completely disappeared in an instant. The breaking of wood under intense weight coupled with a loud, ominous moan spun her around and she screamed as the old tree started to fall toward her. A moment later, she was silenced. A sickening crunch, followed by the snapping of twigs and rustling of leaves on the ground, took everypony's attention away from what they were doing.

"Pinkie?" Twilight whispered nervously.

The five anxiously approached the fallen tree that their friend had asked repeatedly for help with, silently begging that what they were all thinking wasn't true. A few feet from the new stump, beneath the trunk, a single pink leg stuck out motionlessly. They gasped as one. Twilight's horn flared and she grabbed the large tree, trying desperately to pull it off Pinkie. It was still partially stuck on the stump and wouldn't budge. Fluttershy and Rarity were on the verge of hysterics, weeping openly at what they feared. Rainbow and Applejack dashed over and pushed at the connection with all their strength until it finally came apart. Twilight tossed the tree away the second she could, tears matting the fur on her cheeks. They finally saw their friend.

"Oh no..."