Appletree Electric & Construction is one of the largest, busiest, and most profitable companies in Ponyland. Once a modest workshop in a small country village, it has grown and expanded with the town's increasing demand for more and larger business and housing facilities, as well as for new parks, recreational structures, and city streets. These days ATECC is responsible not only for designing and constructing all of the local buildings and roads, but also for installing the plumbing and electric utilities, and seeing to their maintenance. These little ponies have got their work cut out for them.

The ATECC payroll, of course, comprises a long list of employees and contract workers -- but the core staff is very small. Daddy Tree, who founded the company with the help of his twin brother Leafy, remains the head foreman and general overseer of all of the company's work, from the largest to the smallest jobs. He attends the Queens' councils and receives his commissions from the highest authorities in Ponyland. Tree is proud of his work, and has good reason to be.

Tree's twin brother Leafy is chief of the electrical staff, and looks after the town's generators and power lines. It's a job that keeps him plenty busy -- especially since he's also the owner of the local tavern, Horserace Bar.

Bright Bouquet is head of the construction staff. He oversees all of Ponyland's building projects, from homes and apartment buildings to roads and bridges, shops, restaurants, large playground structures, and even the royal palace. He is also a schoolteacher, and four days a week teaches a class of fifth graders at Ponyland Elementary.

Fizzy is the head architect at ATECC. She spends her time drawing up blueprints, writing reports and proposals, and giving presentations at the company's board meetings. Fizzy studied design for many years in her youth, and has worked hard to develop a simple, robust, attractive architectural style that will serve the needs of the town without exhausting the limited staff of workers -- or the Queen's coffers.

Tex is in charge of inventory. He writes up the budgets, orders and distributes supplies, and keeps stock of the shipments received at ATECC. Tex also works construction, and is Bright Bouquet's right-hand stallion.

Mary, wife of Bright Bouquet, is a carpenter. She takes care of the woodworking projects at ATECC, cutting, carving, and sanding doors and frames, shelves, posts, and railings. She can often be seen on construction sites installing her handiwork, or helping her husband with harder jobs, laying tile or shingles. When she has time, she carves wood furniture, too, and she has made a hobby of building birdhouses.

Honeysuckle is ATECC's most unlikely foreman, a 29-year-old Flutter Pony who looks -- and is -- far too delicate for the hard labor of pouring cement or raising steel beams. Honeysuckle is an electrician by trade, and with her small hooves she can achieve the greatest precision in electrical wiring and repair. With her light wings, she can work easily on powerlines and rooftops without need of a ladder.      But Honeysuckle's chief duty is painting, sealing, and finishing the walls, floors, and structures that ATECC installs. In this work, too, she is at an advantage with her wings and her small frame, since the highest walls and ceilings present no difficulty for her.

Chief, best known as Ponyland's Fire Commissioner (a position for which there has been, thankfully, little need), is also a full-time member of the ATECC staff, and is in charge of the town's water supply and plumbing. He oversees the installation of kitchen and bathroom facilities in homes and businesses, maintains the palace fountains, and sees to the irrigation of the parks and playgrounds.

It's hard work at Appletree Electric and Construction, and every day has its challenges, but Daddy Tree and his staff always get the job done. They know that their work may well be the most important in Ponyland, providing shelter, water, and electric power for the entire town. Everyone appreciates what they do, and the Queen herself sends her personal thanks with her payments.