Applebuck Season

Applebuck Season is the fourth episode of the first season of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and fourth episode overall. It does not take place in any arc and thus is the first truly standalone episode in the series. It is also the first episode to focus on a character other than Twilight Sparkle.

Applejack has been working very hard lately, a commendable task, but what happens when it gets out of control?

Story
It's "applebuck season" at Sweet Apple Acres. Big McIntosh has been injured, but his sister believes that she can harvest all the apples on her own. About to start the harvest, Applejack hears a cattle stampeed in the distance; with the help of her dog Winona, she diverts the stampede away from Ponyville. The town prepares to give Applejack an award, but when she arrives she is visibly exhausted and loopy. follows Applejack back to her orchard and offers to help in the harvest, but Applejack is too proud (or stubborn) to accept assistance.

Applejack then assists the rest of the Mane Six in various tasks, but her exhaustion only makes things worse. She is tasked with jumping onto a seesaw to launch into the air, so that Rainbow can do cool flying tricks; instead, she launches an unprepared Rainbow into the distance. She helps bake some muffins, but mishears all the instructions—resulting in a batch of muffins that poisons quite a few ponies. She and Winona assist in a bunny census, but instead end up causing another stampede.

Twilight shows up for yet another intervention; Applejack initially refuses, but after seeing how little of the orchard she had harvested and then fainting, she accepts. Twilight's friendship report talks about how important it is to accept help from others.