The old mare plodded slowly up the hill, the pain in her chest doing her no favors as she inhaled the morning chill. The frost-laden grasses of late autumn lent a strange texture to every hoofstep; crackling, yet pliant. As she neared the top, she paused, catching her breath. A smile barely ticked across the corners of her mouth as she watched her breath glimmer in the first rays of dawnlight.

"Eeyup," she said, to no pony in particular. "Reckon it's a great day to be alive." She'd always loved the first days of frost.

As she reached the top of the small down, she sat, the respite more than worth the brief chill to her yellow backside. The Acres would be in full swing any moment now, as the family raced to harvest the last of the season's apples before the frosts became worse.

Moments later, a buzz sounded from one of the small "hives" not too far away. It quickly grew louder, and was joined by similar noises from the rest of the small shelters as well. Then, almost too quick to see—unless a pony knew what she was looking for—hundreds of little machines swooped out from their overnight charging stations and went to work.

The old mare watched, and sighed, as the small robots flew through the trees and started plucking apples with a dexterity and finesse no mere bucking could match. So much had changed over the years, but she'd always felt she, herself, was one step ahead of it. Now though, looking back at Sweet Apple Acres, she sometimes wondered.

Or was it wandered...?

No, definitely wondered.

She was mostly sure.

Yes, "wondered."

"Granny?" A young, vibrant voice that rang like a concerto called out. "Granny... What are you doing out here again?"

It was... what's-her-name, the old mare thought. The young 'un by way of Skystar and her own cousin somethin' or other. Half hippogriff, half Apple...

Think! she demanded of herself.

But it did no good.

"Hi, Granny," said the newcomer. "It's me, Starburst."

Damn, the chemo had been doing a number on her mind lately. "Consarn it, I remember who ya are!" she lied.

Starburst nodded perfunctorily. "Then, you also remember the farm nearly runs itself these days. You ain't got to come up here and 'supervise' or whatever."

"Tarnation, child!" she said. "You don't think I know that? I invented the first three generations of those apple pickin' drones!"

"Then you know they can work [i]without[/i] you watchin', right?" Starburst said.

The old mare rolled her eyes. "That ain't why I'm up here."

"Then why?"

"I just..." Apple Bloom paused, unsure in her own reasons.

"We worry about you, Granny. You come out here every morning, but the doctors say—"

"Buck the doctors!"

Starburst sighed, she'd done this before. "Do you want me to call Aunt Gabby?"

Her one weakness. "Aunt" Gabby. The griffon she'd fallen in love with. Married.

Married.

Married!

The thought still brought shivers to her spine... And other places. Some crazy combination of lust and love, of guilt and shame. Not that her family and friends ever saw anything wrong with it; species [i]or[/i] gender. Far from it. They'd celebrated and cheered!

But she'd never had foals. She'd never continued the Apple family line. She'd been "Auntie Bloom" in later years, and "Granny" only after AJ had passed. She'd been thinking of—

"Granny?" Starburst leaned in and offered a hoof. "Want to come back to bed now?"

Apple Bloom looked up. She'd lost time again. The sun was at least an hour into the sky. Below her dozens of ponies, hippogriffs, changelings, dragons, yaks—and every other kind of family she knew—were moving through the fields of Sweet Apple Acres, helping bring in the harvest, assisted by the picking drones she and Gabby had created.

"Granny Apple Bloom!" Starburst was speaking loudly into her face. "Do. You. Want. To. Go. Home?"

Apple Bloom stood, cursing the pain in her chest as she did so. She shook her head, trying to clear the haze the chemo seemed to have draped upon her life. "What do you see?" she said, gesturing to the orchards below.

"It's... Sweet Apple Acres." Starburst said, not quite groking the question, but letting the old matriarch have her way.

"Same as it ever was?" Apple Bloom said, standing to let herself be led downhill.

"Yes, Granny." Starburst said, smiling for no reason in particular. "Same as it ever was!"