Micro-Series Issue 6

My Little Pony Micro-Series #6 is the sixth issue of IDW Publishing's My Little Pony Micro-Series comic series. In the issue, Applejack and her family pursue the mythical and mysterious Sass Squash during the Hearth's Warming Eve season.

Summary
At Sweet Apple Acres, Apple Bloom, Big McIntosh, and Granny Smith are hard at work making apple treats for all of Ponyville for Hearth's Warming Eve, taking pleasure in the family togetherness that comes with the season. A frazzled and overworked Applejack comes in and says there's a lot to do on the farm. Granny Smith splashes her with a bucket of water and tells her to calm down. Her family convinces her not to work so hard and to join in the holiday cheer.

Later that night, after the Apple family has gone to sleep, a strange creature sneaks onto the farm and replaces a sizable portion of Sweet Apple Acres' apples with squashes. When the Apples discover this the following morning, Granny Smith states this to be the work of the Sass Squash. She shows her grandchildren a photo album and tells of when the Sass Squash first came during her childhood. She had tracked it down for weeks and eventually scared it off.

Realizing the potential mischief the Sass Squash could cause this Hearth's Warming Eve, Applejack decides to catch it. Her family members brainstorm ideas on how to catch the Sass Squash, but Applejack says she'll catch it on her own and tells them to enjoy the holiday, despite their insistence to help.

Applejack sets a cage trap for the Sass Squash and stakes it out from a nearby bush. After hours of waiting, she falls asleep. When Apple Bloom wakes her up, she finds herself caught in her own trap and the apples she placed as bait have been replaced with squashes. Applejack attempts to catch the Sass Squash by using mirrors to catch it in the act of apple theft and disguising herself as a tree. These too end in failure, and Applejack refuses her family's assistance at every turn.

A two-page montage follows, to the tune of a jaunty Hearth's Warming Eve song. of Applejack trying various ways to catch the Sass Squash and being outsmarted every time. Frustrated and tired, Applejack remembers Granny Smith telling her that it's not her job to make everything perfect. She returns to the farm and apologizes to her family for not being able to catch the Sass Squash. Granny tells her not to be hard on herself. With only one day left until Hearth's Warming Eve, the Apples decide to capture the elusive Sass Squash together.

As the sun rises on the following day, the Apples get into position and prepare to spring their trap. Granny runs off to lure the Sass Squash in by banging pots together, and before long, the creature angrily appears. Apple Bloom draws its attention by playing a fiddle, and as it charges toward her, it trips onto a pile of leaves, and Big McIntosh tosses a net over it.

As the Apple siblings restrain the creature, it removes its own head to reveal Granny Smith; the Sass Squash is only an animatronic suit. Granny explains that she invented the myth of the Sass Squash to get family members to spend quality time together. Applejack apologizes to her family for trying to take on all of the responsibility alone, and she meets them for a family hug.

A short time later, after some quality Apple family togetherness, Applejack looks through Granny Smith's photo album and discovers a picture of a young Granny with the real Sass Squash. Outside, Granny Smith leaves a warm apple pie for the Sass Squash and wishes it a happy Hearth's Warming Eve. When Granny leaves, the Sass Squash takes the pie and leaves a squash in its place.

Quotes

 * Applejack: What are y'all doin' standing there? We've got tons to do! Sortin' apples, peeling apples, corin' apples, smudging apples, mashing apples, carting apples, deliverin' apples—


 * Apple Bloom: Magnets! How do they work?


 * Big McIntosh: Net.


 * Applejack: I promised y'all that I would capture this Sass Squash, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do! And I don't need a lick of help! ...That is, right after you help me outta this cage.


 * Granny Smith: Welp, she's lost it.


 * Applejack: Darn! Dang! Shoot! Fiddlesticks and marmalade!


 * Applejack: "It's not your job to make everything perfect." Then whose job is it, Granny?


 * Applejack: Apple family...
 * Applejack, Apple Bloom, Big McIntosh, and Granny Smith: Go!