!

“What?” Granny Smith ask.

She’s sitting at the dinner table with Sunset sitting on the other side. She came to the farm after hearing that the Zap apples are in season. Sunset has come to make sure that not an apple is wasted.

“You heard me,” Sunset said to the head of the Apple family. “Instead of just Applejack, Big Macintosh, and Applebloom picking the apples, the cows are going to be joining the harvest and I’m hiring workers to help out as well. And yes there be unicorns helping using their magic to pull the apples off the trees. The zap apples having been served at the Grand Galloping Gala has gotten lots of interest in buying the apples. And knowing how traditional your family are, you’re just going to do it the old way and only have 3 ponies do the work. I seen how the cows only handle the milk, when they could be helping out around the farm. The revenue from the sale of the zap apples will help in paying for many improvements I’m planning. I don’t need you and your stubbornness in keeping to your ways no matter how counterproductive it is. I think I proved my point when it came to Winter Wrap Up. Which my ideas got the job done instead of wasting so much time,” Sunset said. (1)

“That maybe true but if you don’t treat the apples right they won’t be any good,” Granny Smith said.

“That’s for making the jam, not picking them. And I don’t want a small harvest of fruit that can only be harvested once a year and only within 5 days, because you rather stick to tradition instead of having all the apples pick before they disappear,” Sunset said. “Besides this is just a formality, I’m telling you what will happen.”

“What?” Granny Smith ask.

“I am the governess of Ponyvile and turns out that while mom did give your family this farm, she accidentally just leased the land to your family. In other words the crown still owns the land and your family besides the taxes, also owns the crown lots of rent that hasn’t been paid since you moved here,” Sunset pointed out handing the copy of the lease her mother had mistakenly signed instead of signing the paperwork to give the land to the Apples.

“This has to be a mistake,” Granny Apple said.

“Think of this as helping to pay all the unpaid rent. Run the farm as you want but when it comes to Zap apples that’s the real money maker, we do things my way,” Sunset said.

Granny Apple look at the paper then back up at Sunset. "You're crazy."

"No, I'm just being practical," Sunset said. "If you want to keep your land then we'll start by letting the cows have a go at the harvest, along with the other workers I have hired. The zap apples are a real money maker, which your family being the only one who picks them. Leaves much of the apples just puffing away, simply because you stuck in the mindset that the old way is the best. Which is why zap apples are so hard to get as your family has been too stuck in your ways to just have the cows help gather the apples or just hire more workers.”

"This isn't over. You can't do this!" Granny Apple yelled.

"It's already been done. Besides this isn't about you, it's about the future. Keeping to tradition is fine, but you should be thinking about getting ready for the next generation. A lot of the younger generations don't even know what a zap apple is. They only see it as the most expensive apple in town. Because your family has been too afraid of change. But now everyone is talking about the zap apples, thanks to the gala. This is what’s going to happen, more than just 3 ponies will be picking the apples, your family keeps what you pick and the rest goes to me as rent. And before you start ranting here’s the amount due for the unpaid rent,” Sunset said giving Granny Smith the amount that the royal accountants made on a piece of paper.

“But- but! But… what about my family? What about tradition?" Granny Apple asked looking at the total and clutching her chest.

"Your family doesn't own the land, I do. So I can take it away. I’m letting your family stay, only if you don’t complain about how I want the zap apples harvest be done. Or you keep your traditions and find a new piece of land to call home,” Sunset said.

"Do not threaten me!" Granny Apple yelled, her voice cracking.

"No threats needed. It's already done," Sunset said with a smirk.

Sunset left the house and left Granny at the table. She stops as Applejack walk up to her as she and her sisters heard everything.

"You told her? About the lease?" Applejack asked.

"Of course I did, I'm the governess of Ponyville. I had to make sure that my first big order was being taken care of," Sunset said. "And after all the work that I've done in trying to convince granny to let the cows help her pick the apples she finally agreed. And what's more, is that I got her to agree to letting the others help. So there be no big lose of apples this time.”

“So the unpaid rent money, will we have to pay it?” Applebloom asked.

“Yes and be paid from the zap apples each harvest. I check the amount of apples your family usually collects before they’re gone and it’s only between 30 to 50 barrels a year. And really haven’t any of you ever gotten the cows to help around the farm?” Sunset ask.

“They do need to be milk and they handle the milk machine. They also make the cheese and butter,” Applejack said.

“Yup,” Big Macintosh said.

“Well once they been milk and handle the other dairy stuff. They can be helping around the farm, instead of just being around the barn all day. You have a workforce right there and yet you don’t have them help out besides tending to the crops and animals. Which come to think of it, why when you thought you could harvest all the normal apples, that you simply ask the cows to help, they could have worked in shifts,” Sunset asked as she stares at the sisters.

Which resulted in causing the 3 Apples sisters to look away from her. (2)

“That’s it! This farm needs an overhaul in how things are done or you’re all getting kicked out!” Sunset snaps at them.

!

4 days later -

Sunset sat at table setup in the zap apple orchard, she’s has a ledger open and is busy writing down the amount of zap apples have been harvested. Wooden barrels are filled with apples and weighted before being being place in the depot for transport later. Sunset is making sure that it’s all recorded and if one of the barrels goes missing for whatever reason, she would know about it.

The apples would be sold by weight per barrel, which the barrels have magic cold spells casted on them to keep the apples from spoiling too quickly. With so many guests from all over at the gala and her getting Applejack to use what was left of the zap apples her family had preserved and stored away, to make apple dishes for the gala. Which is why there have been so many pre-orders for them from other countries. And one of the reasons why Sunset strong armed the Apple family into doing what she wanted, too many people want the zap apples just for a small harvest because of the family being set in their old fashion ways.

Her time in the human world has taught her how old fashion and backwards her world is. So many things are so inefficient and making things cost more because of so little being produced but for the most basic things. In fact most of the major export for Equestria is foodstuff, while they import alot of things.

There are few factories in Equestria, and they are small, discrete things that made finished products. Almost everything had to be imported. Steel and coal from the griffons, concrete, brick and machinery from the minotaurs, wood, paper and cloth from the elk, glass from the donkeys, chemicals, oil and sugar from the zebra. And those were only the major imports. So to keep the goods coming in, they need to export what the other lands want.

Sunset did improve trade by introducing one of the key items that allow trade to happen on a massive scale in the human world, the humble shipping container. The shipping container is a standardized container made to be transported by rail and boat. With shipping containers and cranes, loading time decreased and so did travel time. This led to lower shipping costs and greater efficiency. This led to the creation of cranes at major hubs and ports like Manehattan, Fillydelphia and Hoofington. As the shipping container started to replace the traditional cargo cars, trade increased dramatically as well as the wealth that trade brought in.

The shipping container originally had problems being loaded at ports due to lack of necessary infrastructure. This was alleviated by using unicorns to move the containers around. As the other countries saw the logistical advantages they gave, more ports and train stations were modified to accommodate the cranes needed to offload shipping containers, as well as the proliferation of flatbed cars on railway systems. The changes the shipping container brought forth cannot be emphasized enough.

All thanks to Sunset who learned from her time in the human world, how to work smarter.

!

Author's Note

1 - Seeing how there are talking cows on the farm and they like the ponies would be able to pick up things with their hooves, they really should be working around the farm.

2 - The more you think about it, why aren’t the cows who are shown in cannon being able to talk didn’t help around the farm.