A+ In Animal Husbandry

Fall weather was moving in over Ponyville which meant it was harvest time around Sweet Apple Acres. Over the years things had grown and even with the few more family members who had joined life on the farm it was still not enough to cover taking care of all the tasks plus tend to the harvest of the apples. This year Applejack decided to offer extra credit to the students of the School of Friendship for any creature who attended to help at the farm for the next month helping in the evenings or on the weekends. Sadly only four students had shown up for the extra credited activities but Applejack was more than willing to make due.

The four students who had shown up were Silverstream the hippogriff, Ocellus the changeling, Smolder the dragon, and Yona the yak. Together they were good friends who attended the school at the very beginning and were in their last year before graduation. Each had grown through the years into fine young women with strong morals and even healthier looking bodies. Applejack eyed them up in down with her fading green eyes as time was not as so kind to her as she took on the head of family duty to replace Granny Smith after her passing.

"Well I reckon you'll have to due. Even one pair of hands was going to be better than nothing and with four of you that's even better. I hope you don't mind doing seperate tasks that way we cover more grounds. The family will be doing the harvesting in the east field so they'll need a hand over here around the house and south west farm area." Applejack inhaled a snort and spat out a wad into the metal dish by her chair. "So lets do this right. Silverstream, you can go to the barn and deal with Lonestar. He needs his stable cleaned up from the dirty hay and fresh left in its place along with feeding and watering him and while your at it give him a good brushing as well."

Silverstream saluted to the orange mare. "Yes Ma'am, sir, Applejack. I can handle that no problem."

Applejack nodded at the hippogriff and then turned her attention to the changeling. "Ocellus, I need you over at the pig pens. They'll need a feeding, a washing from the hose and give them a count so we know what we have for stock. They can be a bit rowdy sometimes but I think you've got the smarts to do it."

Ocellus gave a nod in response. "I'll do my best. How hard could it really be to do something so simple."

This time her emerald eyes locked on to the dragoness giving a smirk to her friends. "Smolder, since you've got some attitude I figure you'll be good for getting our new sheep dog in order. Winston has been a might of a handful training and I ain't got the strength and energy like I used to to train a new dog like Winoa was. Give him a good lesson in obeying and see about getting him a brushing. He should be around the fields somewhere so just give his name a call and he usually will run to that."

"Ha, that's it. I thought it would have been much harder of a task given to me." She looked at her nails with a cocky smirk. "This will be a cake walk."

Applejack rolled her eyes at the dragoness before turning to her last helper. "As for you Yona, you've got some big strength and endurance that could rival mine from years ago. I've got something special for you, come with me." Applejack wrapped her arm around the yak as she took her towards the dead south while the rest of the girls went about their ways to do their own jobs.

Each one not realizing the events for the day going to be something to give them a spark towards themselves and what they really desired.