Every year, friends and family gather at Apple Acres from far and wide-With desserts!

The sun is high. It's so hot that Applejack's corn is popping on the stem. The winds up. Everything shimmers. Iridescent foliage. Air full of herbs and pollen. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are playing tag through the shrub. They shout and laugh and when Scootaloo tries to fly she crashes into a bush. The bush grunts. She pokes it. It doesn't grunt again. The game continues.

And so does the surveillance.

Until the eagle lands.