A/N: There are no excuses for how long I was away. I am sorry.

Saturday (Week 96)

Applejack awoke to the sound of... of nothing. Not since she sold all her farm animals to pay for the canning machines. She was so used to getting up early that she still woke up, without the rooster to crow to wake her. Today wasn't going to be easy.

They recently had to fire one of their farmponies, because they were short on funds. And the Frontlines representative didn't come to buy their food for another week! Hopefully they would make it through. But until then Applejack was to help harvest the crops, while Big Macintosh oversaw the canning process.

Applejack got out of her bed and put on her saddle-baskets. Like a saddle bag, but with baskets. She walked down the stairs and into the kitchen, already stormed through by the staff and Big Macintosh. She didn't mean to sleep in, but in any case, there wasn't much left for breakfast. There was however, an apple left, and she took it gratefully. She bit into the juicy apple, relishing in the taste. Nopony got fresh food, unless they grew it themselves.

She set out to the fields. Today she was schedule to harvest the oranges. The orange grove was a short walk from the barn, and the green trees, dotted with orange fruit were beautiful from the slight distance. The trees started in rows, and before the first row was a cart full of baskets. She grabbed two baskets from the cart, and begun to take them all out of the basket, and formed five stacks of baskets.

Today the first three rows needed to be harvested, so there was no need to move the cart . It was already in a good position. Walking towards the first tree, with two baskets in tow she heard a pony from behind her.

"Um hello? Miss?" a nasally voice inquired.

"What do you want now, Thunder Foot?" Applejack returned with her rich country accent.

"This is for you, and there was no one in the house, so I brought it here." he said.

"Alright. Thank you." Applejack said, less harsh than before.

She took the envelope from the stallion and he trotted away, leaning slightly to support his heavy mailbag. Applejack looked at the neat print on the back of the envelope, and aw that it was from Frontlines. This was either really good news, or really bad news.

She opened the envelope, which was made of thing and grainy paper, and unfolded the letter that was held inside. She read what the letter contained, and hoped for the best.

"To the pony in charge of Sweet Apple Acres,
Hello from Frontlines! We regret to inform you that we are short-hoofed this week, and cannot send a pony to collect your goods. If you still wish to sell them to us, and we hope you do, then you can deliver them to us yourself at this address: 2400 Unicorn Street, Manehatten
If you do not wish to bring them to us, then you can always wait two months until we are scheduled to collect your goods again. If you are going to bring the goods to us, please have them here by the day we were scheduled for. Hope to see you soon!

- The ponies from Frontlines"

So it was really bad news. It would take a long time, and a lot of work to get the food all the way to Manehatten, but the farm would run out of business if they waited another two months. She had no choice, but she would, of course tell the other ponies first.

Instead of moping about the work that was to come, she began on the work that needed to be done today.

Bucking tree after tree, until the sun was setting. Finally she pounded the last tree of the third row forcefully, and all the fruit fell off. The oranges tumbled into the baskets, and she began to drag the heavy baskets to the cart. The cart was almost full, and when she dumped the last three buckets inside, it was bulging with delicious fruit. Completely filled.

She hooked herself up to the harness in front of the cart, and slowly began pulling the heavy cart towards the canning barn. Mercifully, it was not a long walk and she arrived in no time. Big Mac had stopped the machines to start dinner, and the lights were off inside. She left the cart in the barn, in the spot where everypony left the food for processing, and walked in the other barn for dinner.

Big Mac had made simple tomato sandwiches. Where he got the tomatoes she had no idea. But the flavor was a gift horse, and she wasn't looking for teeth. The tomatoes were ripe and tasty with the bread, and she enjoyed the food while she could before she had to tell the ponies around her the terrible news. Her sandwich was quickly gone, along with the sandwiches of all the other ponies. Time to face the music.

"Everypony!" she commanded the attention of everypony in the room, "I have some bad news."

That struck a chord, and the work ponies all faced her. She could tell they were all scared they would loose their jobs just like the last pony. "I got a letter from Frontlines, and they ain't sendin' a pony out here to buy our crops."

They workponies gasped. "But they did give us a solution to the problem. They said that I could send somepony out to Manehatten and deliver the goods to them. I know its a long way, and we don't have the money to pay fer a train ticket. So I'm gonna go to Manehatten."

"Applejack! It's too far." Big Mac reasoned with her.

"Well what do you reckon we should do, Big Mac?"

"I'll go instead."

"Are you sure, big brother?"

"Eeyup."

And with that dinner was over, and everypony went to bed.

(Sunday, Week 97)

Today everypony on the farm was getting up early. They all had to help pile the goods into a big wagon for Big Mac. Because f Big Mac's strength, the wagon was all but empty. Cans, bottles, and boxes were piled in the cart, with no empty space to spare. After every farm-hoof had helped load the cart, Big Mac was ready to go. He had a map, water, and plenty of his own food to eat along the way. Once he had said his goodbyes, he was off. Trotting into the distance with the bulging cart in tow.

"Alright everypony, no time for sitting around. We got work to do." Applejack yelled to the ponies around her. At the sound of her demanding voice, they scattered to do the jobs that had been previously assigned to them.

Instead of canning like he usually did, Applejack was helping Blossom Thunder tend the grapevines. She found Blossom loading a cart with tools, and took up the front to pull the wagon. Once Blossom was done, they two of them started towards the grapevines. The vines were a fair distance away, so the two of them went as fast as they could without toppling the cart.

Eventually the grapes came into sight, and the ponies unloaded their tools and other equipment. Starting their work, Applejack started on the left and Blossom Thunder to the right. They both expertly tilled the soil, pushing minerals to the roots of the plants, then watered them to id with their growth. In no time at all they had finished the first row of grapevines, and had begun on the second. The steps were repeated several times, and before long the sun was setting.

Applejack watched the sunset and thought to herself, That always has been the one constant in this ever-changin' world. No matter where Celestia stations herself, she always manages to set the sun on time.

"Come on Blossom, we best head in for dinner." Applejack said out loud, putting an end to the days work. Blossom Thunder volunteered to pull the wagon this time and the headed off back to the barn.