The Apple Sleep Experiment

Chapter 2: The Potion

The Potion
Twilight Sparkle was startled when she heard a loud frantic knock at her door.
"Twilight?" Applejack called. "Are you in there? Ah need your help!"
Spike, Twilight's number one assistant, made it to the door before her and let Applejack in.
"Is something wrong AJ?" he asked warily.
"Applejack, what is it?" Twilight asked soon after.
"It's... well.... It's a lot of things really." Applejack said. She was once again drenched in sweat and had dark circles under her eyes from a clear lack of sleep.
"Quickly, sit down, what's wrong? Here, drink this." Twilight said, offering her a refreshing drink of water. Applejack accepted the drink gratefully.
"Ah came to you because Ah have no other option." Applejack started, panting between gulps of water.
"What's happened?" Twilight asked, concern rising in her voice as she watched her friend.
"First thing's first: have ya heard anything from Rainbow Dash regardin' the weather?" Applejack asked, finishing the last drop of water from the glass. Twilight quickly pulled it away and re-filled it for her.
"No, not much. It seems Ponyville isn't the only place suffering this heat. There's a terrible drought all over Equestria. I've heard that rainbow production has completely shut down for the time being. It seems pegasi are having a hard time finding enough water to make clouds, let alone rain!" Twilight said sadly.
"Ah was afraid of that." Applejack said, sighing softly. "And the princess? What does she say?"
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are looking into it. I offered to help but... they said I'm needed here." Twilight said, slightly offended they wouldn't allow her to come along.
"Well, they were sure right about that. Ah need ya." Applejack said, finishing her second glass.
"Tell me what's happened." Twilight said.
"It's Big Mac. He caught wind of Granny's debt to the Rich family and worked himself to the bone harvesting apples. I think he was hoping to make up some more money before the zap-apples got here. Darn fool was out in the sun so long he went and got himself sick with heat stroke." Applejack said sadly.
"Oh no!" Spike said worriedly.
"Oh Applejack, I'm so sorry!" Twilight said.
"He's gonna be alright. Doc says he's got to stay in the hospital for a few days..." Applejack added, trailing off towards the end.
"Wait, if Big Mac's too sick, who is going to help you harvest the zap-apples?" Spike asked.
"That's precisely why Ah'm here." Applejack said.
"Oh Applejack I... I want to help, I really do but..." Twilight started.
"Ah know, Twi, you've got a lot on your plate already. Ah didn't come askin' for your help like that." Applejack said.
"Then what did you need from me? Anything I can do to help, I'm happy to do it." Twilight said with a smile.
"Ah seem to recall a spell you said you've been working on. If Ah remember right, it was supposed ta help ya stay up studying on the nights Princess Celestia gave you those ridiculous reading assignments." Applejack said.
"Yes, but how will that help you?" Twilight asked.
"Well, Ah may not be studying late into the night, but Ah will have to figure out a way ta stay awake long enough to get those zap-apples harvested." Applejack said, leading Twilight to come to the conclusion on her own.
"Oh I don't know AJ.... I haven't perfected that spell yet and I have no idea what kind of side effects it might have. Besides, you'd be using it to keep up your strength; all I needed it for was to stay awake a couple more hours for reading." Twilight said.
"Twi, Ah wouldn't ask if it weren't absolutely necessary. Seems Granny Smith has gotten us into quite a financial pickle. If Ah don't meet Filthy Rich's quota, Ah'm gonna lose the farm!" Applejack said.
Twilight furrowed her brow and opened her mouth to protest but couldn't find the right words. She saw the pleading and the fear in her friend's eyes; how could she possibly turn her down now? Feelings as though there was no other option, she nodded warily and Applejack smiled.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The blistering heat showed no remorse on the day of the zap-apple harvest. Despite the severity of their situation, the Apple family found it difficult to gain any outside assistance for the harvest. Most of the Apple family were tending to their own dying orchards and Applejack's friends all had places to be. Still, there were a few kind Ponyvillians willing to lend a hoof; though most of them didn't last more than a few hours under the sun.
By sunset, only Applebloom, Applejack, Granny, and a couple other ponies remained.  Applejack bucked a zap-apple tree just as the sun set over the horizon. The other ponies collapsed on the ground, grateful that the blistering heat would finally subside. Although Applejack felt as exhausted and useless as they did, she wasn't about to give up. She looked at the few bushels they'd collected and then at the remaining zap-apple trees. She realized that despite their hard work more than half of the bucking was left to do. Applejack looked down at the satchel attached to her side and noticed a potion vial sticking out of it. Making sure no pony saw her, she quickly pushed it back inside and out of sight.
"Sis? Aint ya comin' in?" Applebloom asked her older sister warily. "Granny says there's fresh cider inside..."
"No can do Applebloom, Ah was hopin' we'd get through more trees before sun down. You know as well as Ah that these disappear at midnight." Applejack said.
"Now Applejack, we done our best. 'Sides, I can tell yer about to drop young filly and I'm not about to have another grandchild in the hospital from exhaustion." Granny said.
"That aint gonna happen, Granny. Y'all go on ahead, there's still a few minutes of strength left in these legs of mine and Ah want to make sure we get as many zap apples as we can." Applejack said, walking away from them.
Applejack knew it worried Granny to see her working this hard, but she also knew she wouldn't risk letting on how important this was with Applebloom around. Thankfully that little filly had no idea how serious this zap-apple jam was going to be to the farm. So far as Applejack knew, only Big Mac, Granny, Twilight, Spike, and herself knew the severity of the situation; and they had all sworn to keep this a secret.
Applejack felt the little vial of potion move in her satchel as she walked from tree to tree. She was reminded that when Twilight produced the sleep preventative potion earlier that week it came with a condition. Applejack had to promise to use this as the last resort; the absolute last option. Twilight was worried that the side effects might cause more damage than it was worth. Applejack could see the genuine concern in her friend's expression and gladly made the promise, even though she knew that it was more than likely the potion would have to be used.
Still, AJ gave the late-night bucking her best effort without it. Unfortunately, it was only another hour or so after sunset that she felt her muscles begin to tense up. Soon after, her coordination began to suffer and her vision became a little hazy. Although the sun was long gone, beats of sweat were still rolling off her cheeks and her breathing became raspy and short. In her rapidly escalating exhaustion, Applejack made a miscalculation in her bucking and ended up being pummeled to the ground by zap-apples. She groaned and put a hoof to her throbbing head and shook some loose apples from her hat. Applejack frowned and pulled her satchel towards her.  She carefully pulled out Twilight's potion and held it up in the moonlight, admiring its strange grey-ish shimmer.
"Ah'm sorry Twi," Applejack whispered aloud. "But Ah've got to save this farm."
Applejack pulled the cork free from the potion vial and downed it in one gulp. The moment she drew the vial away from her lips she felt a wave of unbearable sickness. Clasping her mouth with her front hooves she turned away from the zap-apple trees as the potion and most of her dinner came back up with a vengeance.