//------------------------------//
// A gift for Applejack 
// Story: Gifts from a friend 
// by Element of Malice 
//------------------------------//

Chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, pop, thunk. Apples fell from the tree and into the contraption gifted to Applejack by ‘A Friend’ in the mail. She smiled as she watched more apples gather into the nearly-filled barrel attached to a funnel connected to a wagon.

Applejack chuckled before she spoke her mind, “And to think I never thought I’d use somethin’ like this in my life. This almost makes my job too easy.”

“I told ya it’d be useful, didn’t I?” said Apple Bloom, walking next to her sister and gathering any stray apples.

“Sure did, sugarcube. Ah’m glad I listened to ya.”

Being on an apple farm, all the trees were evenly spaced. When Applejack pulled the apple harvester down the rows of trees, it would wind up a mechanism attached to a wooden pole that released with the same force as a buck.

There was no magic involved or long-winded, complicated instruction manuals, only easy-to-read illustrations showing how it worked and how to adjust it as needed. A few tweaks were necessary to get the accurate distance between the trees, but after fifteen minutes of harvesting, Applejack had completed nearly an hour's worth of work. Sure she generally preferred to get her hooves dirty, but it still took honest hard work to pull and operate.

When she first laid eyes on the thing that morning, she had her doubts and wasn’t too keen on strapping herself into it. Perhaps it was from pride. Or maybe it somewhat resembled a smaller version of the monstrosity Flim and Flam road in on when she first met the sleazy business ponies. It was also strange how it only had one set size that happened to match Applejack’s body perfectly.

But now, it was beginning to feel like she couldn’t work without it, and she had Apple Bloom’s persistence to thank for that. Had it not been for her, Applejack would have found somewhere to store and collect dust, never once trying it out, but Apple Bloom voiced her desire to use it once she was older. 

“Mind fetching’ Big Mac? This barrel’s nearly full. Gonna need another soon.”

“You can count on me!” Apple Bloom galloped towards the barn.

Applejack continued walking forward, approaching the next tree. Chunk, chunk, chunk, chunk, click. That new sound, followed by grinding gears, was enough to make Applejack turn her head and look at the harvester, just in time to see the ramming pole finish rotating ninety degrees and face her.

She felt it slam against her face, shattering her cheekbone before her head and neck twisted with a snap.

Applejack laid on the ground, still conscious and in agonizing pain, yet unable to move or even scream. 

The pole launched out of the harvester and started retracting back with cables but caught onto something stopping it in its tracks. The wires broke off of the wooden rod and sparked, setting off the flare hidden inside the back. The flames were hot enough to instantly melt the flesh off of the mare's face and body and incinerate the wagon behind her. 

The last thing Applejack heard was Apple Bloom screaming her name over the shrieking flames.