Applejack's hooves gave the last fruit-bearing apple tree a good smack, causing its delicious cargo to tumble into the baskets waiting below.
"Ahh, looks like that was the last one," she said, looking at the field of already-bucked trees. Looking above them, she noticed several pegasi arriving with numerous large, black clouds. "Just in time, too," she mumbled.
Carrying the baskets of apples behind her in a cart, she set off at a hurried pace, though she was careful not to go too fast and lose anything. She arrived at the barn only slightly out of breath.
After stacking the baskets in the apple cellar, she hurried into the house, eyeing the storm clouds above.
"Big Mac?" she shouted into the house, closing the door behind her with her hind leg.
"Eeyup?" came the expected reply.
"You brought in Winona, right?"
"Eeyup."
"And Apple Bloom ain't still out with her friends? She's home safe an' sound too? Y'know how she likes to stay at Zecora's, helpin'er with all that potion mumbo-jumbo..."
"Eeyup."
"All right," she said, yawning. She trudged upstairs, totally exhausted from a good day's work. She loved that feeling; the feeling when it's just getting dark outside, and you've been working all day, and you know that you've done all you can for today. When you can lay in bed and get to sleep straightaway without any tossing and turning, because you're so beat from the day's chores.
Climbing into bed, she pulled the covers over herself and, after adjusting her position several times for maximum comfort, fell asleep within minutes.
K-BAM!
Applejack flew out of bed and tumbled to the floor in a heap of bedding. What the hay...?
The was another FLASH-K-BAM and the sturdy mare jumped once more. Well, that explained what had woken her up. She trudged over to the window. On nights like these, she was glad to be an earth pony; she wouldn't want to mix herself up in a storm like this, and by the sound of it the weather pegasi were doing overtime. Once she reached the window, she took a look outside and...
And froze.
Oh, no. Ohhhhhh, oh horsefeathers.
Wheeling around, she galloped straight at the door and, slamming into it with her front hooves, knocked it right off its hinges and continued straight on down the hall. Ah, well. It can be fixed. Upon arriving at Big Mac's room, she knocked furiously, though not quite hard enough to knock the door in.
"MACINTOSH, YOU'D BEST BE WAKIN' UP! AND AH MEAN NOW!"
Almost immediately, the door opened and Big Mac was standing there, looking for all the world like it was 2:00 in the afternoon. His casual demeanor was slightly put-off by the sight of his wild-eyed sister standing there.
"Eey-"
"No time fer that! C'mon!"
Not dwelling on Mac's unnaturally quick response, she grabbed his hair with her teeth and dragged him down the hallway shouting and protesting. Having taken him by surprise with this maneuver, she managed to get him all the way to the front door before he escaped her grip.
"What in the hay, AJ?!" he said, rubbing his aching scalp and breaking his imaginary taboo against words other than 'Eeyup'. "What was that fer?"
Applejack didn't bother wasting time explaining; in fact, before he'd even started talking, she was opening the front door and splashing outside at top speed. Big Mac followed her at a slightly slower pace (that is to say, not scrambling like a madmare), but once he saw the flickering glow outside, his jaw dropped and he was temporarily stunned, just as Applejack had been.
The barn was on fire. The roof was the only thing really affected for now, but soon, despite the heavy rain, the whole thing would be ablaze. His mind, being conveniently calm in its state of shock, observed the hole in the roof and guessed that a lightning bolt from the storm had struck it. It wasn't a wonder either; huge storms like this typically weren't supposed to happen by law, but Rainbow Dash was so good at her job that, no matter the size of the storm, not one house in Ponyville had ever been hit before. Because of her perfect record, she and her team were permitted to handle huge storms that would make other towns' weather pegasi quail. But, as is the law of nature, perfect streaks are made to be broken.
Through all of this, Mac wasn't really panicked so much as worried. This was certainly a tragedy, as the Apples would have almost no profit from the farm this year and they would have to dig into the family savings to buy food over winter. Hay, if it came down to it and they were desperate enough, the rest of Ponyville certainly wouldn't be opposed to helping them out for just one year.
No, he wasn't panicked. Not until he watched his sister gallop into the burning structure. THEN he was panicked.
Running into a burning building was, in hindsight, not the smartest thing Applejack had ever done. She felt the intense heat of the flames and breathed in the smoke almost immediately upon entering, and at that point remembered to keep low to the ground.
For a second, she had lost hope. How would she ever be able to save everything? She realized that she had to try. Their whole farm was at stake, and she would rather die than say that she took the safe, easy way out and in doing so harmed her family.
She delved deeper into the inferno, towards where most of the apples were stored. The apple cellar would be fairly safe, as it was underground and safe from the worst of the damage, but it could only hold so much of the crop. What was stored in there was tiddlywinks compared to what was in the barn...
How had this started, anyways? A loud crack-BOOM reminded her of the storm, and the lightning that came with it. Oh...right. But...shouldn't the rain be putting it out?
She shrugged to herself mentally and forged on. Grabbing two baskets of apples, she rushed towards the door as fast as she could.
Big Macintosh crashed into the barn, looking wildly about for Applejack. He was usually good in a crisis, with a level head on his shoulders, but the thought of any harm coming to his sister caused his brain to take a temporary hiatus, being replaced by instinct.
"APPLEJACK!!"
She emerged from the haze, carrying two baskets of apples that were spilling all over the place. His pulse slowed a few paces just knowing that she was still alive.
And then the roof collapsed.
