"It just ain't enough..."
Applejack paced and paced about on three legs. Her right front forelimb cradled a partially unraveled notepad full of numbers.
"It just ain't enough, Granny! Not even remotely enough!"
"Calm down, AJ," the old mare said, sitting by the fireplace of the Apple Family home. She rocked back and forth in her chair. "Ain't no sense in frettin'—"
"Ain't there?!?" Applejack swiveled to grimace at her. "Granny, there's just no way to not be panickin' about this! There simply isn't enough fruit bein' sold from the last few harvests! We've had to dip into our savings account just to get by these past few months! It wouldn't have been that big of a deal so long as the Cider Season delivered the usual flow of bits, but this year we hit far lower than we had expected! And dun get me started on what it cost to gather all the food for the Apple folks visitin' from abroad to help us set up for the Summer Sun Celebration—"
"Things will come around, Applejack." Granny Smith put on a confident smile. "I just know it—"
"Granny, I mean no direspect, but what could any of us possibly know?! I mean... Filthy Rich! We haven't heard from him in months! And you know as well as I do that he goes silent whenever he's mullin' all somber-like about somethin'... and a stallion like that only frets about bits."
Applejack sighed, retreating limply to a table covered all over with paperwork.
"Granny, I'm tellin' you... things are bad." She gulped. "We might have to sell some of our land—"
"We ain't sellin' no plots of land—"
"We will have to sell some land!" Applejack grumbled. "And if Filthy pulls out of our lifelong agreement... then... th-then we're done for! The orchards... the apples... the whole business!"
"Applejack..."
"We'll have to kiss it all good-bye!"
"We've been through rough patches before," Granny Smith said. She gestured for Applejack to come closer, then rested a wrinkled hoof on her shoulder. "Remember when your Ma and Pa died? We nearly bottomed up—but wasn't meant to be." She smiled softly. "You pulled us out of our funk and the rest of the village lent a hoof. It may have been just short of a miracle, but we salvaged a failed harvest and survived!"
"Lightning dun strike twice, Granny."
"Now Applejack—"
"And—as much as I hate to toot my own horn—what made the difference that harvest was me followin' my own stubbornness until the rest of the family caught on!" Applejack sighed, then squeezed Granny's hoof back. "Granny, I admire how much faith you have, but we're runnin' on the same fumes we've been since Ma and Pa died. And t'ain't no denyin' that our harvests have never been as good and profitable as they was when the two of 'em were still alive."
"Now that's an exagerration."
"Granny, it's not. I've done the math. We're hurtin' somethin' awful... and it's only gotten worse with each passing year. Ponyville's growin' and changin' and... and..." Applejack bit her lip. "... ... ...ponyfolk just don't want to buy apples like they used to. I... I think Filthy Rich knows this... and he's strugglin' over the inevitable. He's strugglin' to find a way to break his contract with us."
"And if that happens, we'll find another business pony to work with—"
"Who? And where? Granny, it's been a long time since you did the business dealin's and negotiations for us. I'm tellin' ya... the next closest pony willin' to bite would be in Fillydelphia. We... we just can't afford to ship our product that far! Not in the state that Ponyville's currently in! If... if this was Canterlot or Trottingham or Manehattan, things would be different. But..."
"It helps that yer thinkin' so cautiously for the whole family, Applejack. But what doesn't help is given into worry and expectin' the worth. You gotta approach the situation one hoof at a time. I'd say work on sellin' the most out of our present stock and—startin' this week—begin lookin' in the marketplace for other ponies willin' to show off our wares. We can find a way out of this. It ain't buck or be bucked. Believe me... I've lived long enough to know there's more than one way to climb out of a hole... even if once in a while I've made the mistake of givin' into despair."
Applejack sighed, staring at the floor of the living room melancholically. "Reckon it sapped the livelihood out of you somethin' awful when Ma and Pa died."
"Darlin', like you wouldn't believe. And yet..." A wrinkled smile. "You pulled us out of it. You pulled us all out."
"Yeah... guess I did, huh?" Applejack took a calm breath. "Well, there just might be a way to climb out of this hole should thangs go south."
"That's my AJ!" Granny Smith rocked back. "Now, what do you have in mind?"
"Well... it's a bit of a risky gamble... but Twilight Sparkle's invited me to a hoity toity dancin' event in Canterlot... and if I play my cards jussssssst right... I might be able to get ponies in the Equestrian Capitol interested in what Sweet Apple Acres has to share... ... ... ..."