Sunlight streamed into your room, signalling the start of a new day. You groan, turning over and bury your head into the pillow. 'Any second... any second now that rooster is going to start...' you think to yourself, bracing yourself for the loud bird to signal everypony to wake up.

You wait....

... and wait....

... and wait. But only silence reaches your ears.

You open your eyes, and you remember. 'Of course... I'm back here.'

You don't wake up in the small, wooden room in the quaint little barn you've come to love. Instead, you find yourself in a grand stone bedroom, the walls adorned with paintings and white wallpaper. You're not in the small, conservative bed that you've come to call your own; you're now in a grand king bed with handmade sheets imported from Saddle Arabia, and pillows filled with phoenix feathers.

Somepony knocks at your door, and in walk two mares in maid outfits. "Good morning, master." they say in unison.

"Oh. Good morning." you reply lazily. As the two maids begin to prepare you for yet another day in the life you've come to hate, your mind goes back to a few days ago, when you returned home:

After you finally arrived back in Fillydelphia, you almost choke on the smoggy air of the city. The last year in Ponyville had made you used to the slow, leisurely pace that the small town ran at, but being thrown back into the city overwhelmed you as all the ponies around you rushed everywhere. You're bumped and jostled on the train platform as business ponies rush to and from, and you decide it would probably be safer outside the station.

Working your way to street level, the skyscrapers of the city towered over you. Other pegasus ponies zoom above you, some delivering mail and packages at breakneck speeds while others remove the clouds from the sky. The latter don't seem to really care too much about their job, as nopony seems to even glance at the small bits of sky that can be seen through the buildings. Though it would be quicker to fly home, you've learned from past experience that it is much safer
to walk the streets than try to avoid the almost-suicidal delivery pegasi.

Before you know it, you find yourself standing in front of a tall building with grand decorations and a smartly dressed earth pony by the front door. Recognizing you, he holds the door open for you as you enter, bowing his head. "Welcome back, Mr. Silverwing." he politely says. As you make your way to the elevators on the far side of the lobby, he rushes over to the house phone and dials one of the penthouse suites on the top floor. "Hello? Mrs. Silverwing, yes, I'm terribly sorry for interrupting you, but your son is back. Yes, he just entered the door, he should be up shortly. Yes, you're welcome Mrs. Silverwing."

You take the elevator to the top floor, the ride up the building seeming to take hours. Your floor is finally reached and the doors open, revealing two older pegasus ponies who are dressed as if they had just dined with Princess Celestia herself... which has happened on more than one occasion. Walking up to them, you finally greet them after a year apart.

"Hi mom, hi dad."

The two embrace you, your mother crying that her little colt has finally come home, your father trying to retain his composure and air of authority, but even he sheds a tear of finally having you home. They quickly sweep you back inside their luxurious accommodations, bombarding you with question after question;

"Where did you go?"

"Why did you just suddenly leave?"

"Did you get hurt? You're limping!"

"Did somepony try to kidnap you? Should I call the police?"

"How come you never wrote to tell us if you were safe?"

You finally get them to remain quiet while you tell them a very vague account of the past year, leaving out which exact town you were in, working on the farm, and of course being attacked by two timberwolves. Your mother of course has endless amounts of questions, but your father smiles and pats you on the back.

"Honey, don't worry. Don't you see, this is a fantastic development for our young son here! He has quite clearly grown in maturity, and I think it is time that he join my company and take his rightful place as manager for some of our newer accounts!"

You try to protest, this being the exact thing you had tried to avoid in the first place. But he won't hear any of it. "Nonsense!" he boomed excitedly. "You survived a whole year on your own, and without using a single bit from our account, might I add. I'm throwing a celebration tomorrow night and announcing your entrance to the Silverwing Bank and Investors. And I won't hear anyone try to tell me otherwise!"

And that's exactly what he did, the next night your home being flooded with all the important ponies in the area; the board of VIPs from your dad's company, executives from the branch companies, politicians, celebrities, and even a few members of the Wonderbolts. Everypony congratulated you on your move into the family business, your father beaming with pride that his one and only son has finally accepted his fate. On the outside you smile and act as happy as everypony else, but deep inside you feel like throwing yourself out the window.

'This... this isn't what I want...'

"...ster? Master?"

The call of one of your maids brings you back to reality, the memories of the past few days fading away yet again, instead now finding yourself being groomed by one maid, the other adjusting a blue suit that somehow made its way onto your body. "Master, your father is waiting for you." she says as your bedroom door flies open.

Your father enters, beaming ear to ear. "Ready for your first day, son?" he says happily. You sigh and nod, the fight and rebellion you once used to have now gone. You follow him out and he leads you downstairs to a waiting carriage. You both get in, and your father begins to ramble on and on about your new position in his company, and how he is envisioning great things from you.

Getting to his building makes things worse. Everypony there greets you with a hoofshake and your father immediately whisks you to your new office, introducing all the ponies who now report to you. The greetings are short lived, and almost immediately the papers begin to find their way to your desk. Knowing that your father won’t leave you alone until you begin your work, you fall into the routine of reviewing, signing, or declining each business proposal, loan, and invoice that you get. The years that you spent in school and in your father’s office showed, and your father gives you an approving nod before he leaves you to your new work.

The hours drag on and on for you. Hundreds and hundreds of papers come and go from your office, seeming like they’ll never end. You can’t take it anymore, and slam your office door shut and lock it, finally having some peace and quiet. You stare out your window, looking at the sky. Somewhere out there, there’s a small little town where you once had a completely different life. Somewhere out there, a small farm existed, the family there working all day but happy with what they did all day. Somewhere out there, a special somepony that you loved was maybe thinking of you too.

Sighing, you remember how you betrayed her trust, betrayed her love for you, and even though you didn’t know how she felt about you until it was too late, you still feel pangs of guilt in your gut. A knock at your office door returns your attention to the present, and as you open the door your father walks in.

“So how is everything? My word, you finished all of this already? Hahaha! That’s my boy! Perfect timing also, the board and I are meeting to discuss some of our newly acquired properties. Why don’t you come with me? A fresh mind will surely be welcome!”

Without waiting for your answer, he guides you to a meeting room. Nine other older ponies sit around a grand table, and your father takes the head seat as you take the last vacant chair. Talks begin of some of the newly acquired properties the company has bought, and whether or not they will be profitable. Very few are allowed to continue to operate without change; some have new managers sent over to try to bring in more profit while other are completely demolished, the land either sold for development or a new business built in its place. The entire process doesn’t interest you in the slightest until you hear a familiar name.

“…Sweet Apple Acres, run by a Miss Applejack.”

You’re paying full attention now, and what Applejack told you before comes rushing back to your head. Traveling to Fillydelphia, borrowing money to pay off the hospital debt… why didn’t you connect everything sooner?

Your thoughts are once again interrupted by your father. “I think everypony can see here that the land value greatly outweighs the meager profits this place has been putting out, according to our records.” he says. “I vote that we raze the farm and start plans for developing the land for something more useful. Ponyville is a growing town, and we can definitely flip the land easily.”

All the other executives nod in agreement, but you can’t take it and stand up. “No!” you shout, catching everyone off guard.

Your father looks at you sternly, his face all business. “No?” he repeats. You struggle to find the words you need to change your father’s mind as he continues. “Son, even you must see my point. This farm is run by one family, and each year they barely cover their costs. Heck, even a few years they lost profit! The past ten years for them they have barely managed to cover their expenses and can barely keep their own barn standing.”

“But… but, they provide an extremely high quality product, plus some items that can’t be found anywhere else.” you say, remembering Granny Smith’s Zap Apple Jam and the family’s famous cider.

“I’m surprised you know about those items.” your father says, a surprised look coming across his face. “But they make it in such small quantity, we can simply move production to some other larger farm.”

Things don’t look good for your side as the other ponies grow weary and clearly wish to cast aside the matter. Desperate, you try one last thing to save Applejack’s home. “What if… what if I can turn their profit margin into a more favorable output?” you ask.

Your father ponders for a few moments, obviously running countless calculations, scenarios, and risks in his head. Finally, he nods. “I’m surprised that you believe that this farm can be saved. But I guess you must see something that I don’t. Very well then, I shall sign direct management over to you and see what you can do in the next few months. But if things don’t improve by the spring, we shall have to demolish it.”

“The spring? But that only gives me the winter, and they don’t produce anything during the winter season.” you protest.

But your father remains firm on his decision. “That’s all the time you have. We cannot afford to wait any longer than that.”

The next few days are spent doing nothing but trying to figure out how you can turn the Apple’s luck around. You’ve bought them some time, but looking over the paperwork from the farm leaves you astonished. Your father was right; they barely made any profit, which was not much of a surprise as they sold their produce at such a low cost. Adding the fact that you had to increase their profit margin significantly during the winter, the task seemed impossible for anypony to pull off.

One solution finally presents itself, and as the hours pass, you realize that it’s the only option. The only thing that could ruin the plan is what the Apples would say, but you have to trust them that they still trust you… that she still trusts you.

Leaving your office, you inform your secretary to arrange a train ticket to Ponyville, and to set up a meeting with you and your accountant tomorrow. The next few days are going to be long…

Author's Note

Well, this story has definitely lasted much longer than I had originally anticipated. I'm thinking there will be 2-3 more chapters before I finally draw things to a close.