Applejack loaded a basketful of apples onto her wagon and breathed a sigh of relief. There was just enough space to fit one more basket, and one more tree left to buck. After this was all over, she could enjoy a nice hour-long nap, and then it was off to the market to sell.

She reared up her hind legs, striking the tree and hearing the familiar shuddering of the branches. Nothing came down. “Stubborn ol’ tree…” she muttered, bucking the tree with all of her might. The tree gave a mighty shake.

Without warning, a shower of leaves, branches, and a single bird’s nest came falling out of the tree, completely filling her basket. “What in tarnation?” she said, looking up at the considerably smaller tree, still full of apples. Not a single one had fallen.

“Hey, Big Macintosh, can you come over and take a look at this?” she shouted over to her brother at the head of the wagon. He nodded and walked over slowly, taking in all of the details.

“Well, given the angle you struck the tree at, multiplied by the force of your fully wound hind legs, I would have to postulate…” he said, then stopped. His eyes widened as Applejack stared.

“Um… what did you say?” Applejack asked, scratching her head.

“My mistake, forgive me for ignoring a key factor, my previous point rendered moot, I must conclude that…” Big Macintosh began, and then stopped again. He walked over to the wagon, withdrawing a canteen full of water, and took a long drink. The empty canteen cluttered to the ground as he returned. Taking a deep breath, he tried again.

“In a strictly Newtonian world, the forced applied to the tree represented here by the vector…” Big Macintosh said before Applejack shoved one of her hooves in his mouth. He nodded in silent gratitude.

“Hey sis! What’s going on?” Applebloom showed up, noticing the baskets. “Why’re you bucking branches now?” Applejack blinked. There was something odd about her sister’s flank.

“Did you… get your cutiemark?” Applejack asked. There was, indeed, a symbol of a hammer and nails adorning Applebloom’s side.

Applebloom shrugged, adopting a very serious expression. “You appear to be under the misconception that the symbol of my maturity and determinant of my lifelong goals and natural talent has appeared upon my flank. However, I must say that…” she turned and checked, noticing the cutie mark. “Egad! Excelsior! The heavens have bestowed upon me a mark of my very own!”

Applejack rubbed her eyes and sat down under the apple tree. “I don’t even know what’s going on anymore,” she said. A dark shadow fell over her face. “What? I thought that apple tree had no leaves left in it.”

“Salutations, offspring! Wonderful afternoon to be predicting the trajectory of my old apple cannon, isn’t it?” Granny Smith called out from on top of the tree, waving an odd contraption. She pulled a lever, launching an apple into the wagon and scattering apples everywhere. One of them struck Applejack in the head, causing her to flinch. When she opened them, everything was still dark.

“What? Who turned off the lights?” Applejack asked, flailing with her hooves. The afternoon sun shone down brightly on her face as a concerned Big Macintosh lifted her hat. Applejack looked around. She was lying on the ground at the base of a tree, presumably just having woken up from the weirdest dream in her life. “Was it all a dream?” Big Macintosh nodded. “Oh. Sorry. I guess I was more tired than I thought. Just one tree left, right?” she asked. Big Macintosh nodded again, gesturing at the empty baskets set up at the bottom of the last tree.

Applejack took a deep breath, reared her hind legs, and bucked the tree as hard as she could. Apples rained down, filling the baskets as she breathed a sigh of relief. Everything was normal. “Thank goodness. Well, then. I suppose I’ve had my nap. I’ll go take these to the market before we run out of daylight,” she said. “Mind helping me with the cart?”

“Why certainly, my dear sister,” Big Macintosh said, walking over to the front. Applejack blinked, rubbing her eyes.

“What was that?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Big Macintosh turned around and nodded.

“Eyup,” he said.

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