“You’d be surprised what a patch of dirt can teach you. I suppose that’s why we like it.” - Chancellor Merryferry  

 
Applejack usually isn’t one for gambling. She’s an honest farmer who sells apples in a town which lies in a haunted forest, where creatures could come out and kill everypony at any time. So again, Applejack USUALLY isn’t one for gambling.
 
That is until she had to admit losing large sums of money at a poker night. There may have been drinking involved, but her memory could hardly recall a thing. All she knows for sure is that the next morning, with a roaring headache, a gang turned up outside her door with flintlock rifles cocked and pitchforks in hoof, demanding money that was due to them. Applejack, feeling like she had been possessed by some spirit, suddenly blurted out that the gang had cheated and that she doesn’t owe them a “lickin’ thing”. After that, somehow, she managed to turn them away by the skin of her teeth, but they would be back. She knew they would be back. When she slammed the door and turned around, her family was there, giving her very angry looks.
 
It was no use explaining how the gang had duped her to her family if they had guns that they weren’t afraid of using. Applejack needed to get the money they wanted and fast. One day, whilst setting up her apple store, a notice on the town board caught her attention:
 
“PARENTS WANTED!
 
“In light of the recent refugee crisis of orphans from Unicornia and Pegasopolis coming into our fine nation, parents of Earth have been asked to band together and help these children who are in desperate need of attention. The government has decided to pay its citizens money for caring for these fine young foals, and to teach them the ways of our…”
 
And that’s all that Applejack needed to read. Money was involved and she needed it now. She ripped the notice off the board and ran back to her farm, store unattended and unpacked.
 
Explaining the idea to her family was difficult; they had heard rumours about what unicorns or pegasi were like. However, eventually, they settled on it. They needed the money. The next day they signed their names and waited. And waited…
 
Until there was a knock on the door.