• Published 28th Jul 2012
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Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying - l0x0r



Twilight visits Canterlot and makes a new friend in Princess Luna

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Part 2b

My only regret is not becoming a pomologist


Luna had helped clean the few dishes they'd dirtied while eating lunch. Although perhaps helped was too strong a word. She had levitated them over to the sink, where she had watched Twilight quickly clean the two cups and single plate, leaving the teapot still mostly full to refill the cup that Spike was sipping from, despite his earlier declaration on the unmanliness of the beverage.

Before they left Spike to look after the library, Luna had debated with herself whether to put on her crown and other royal accessories. But with Twilight’s compliment fresh in her mind, and taking into account that she was on vacation after all, Luna decided to go out unadorned. Energized by the caffeine from the tea, and her slightly scandalous decision, Luna soon found herself walking alongside Twilight Sparkle as they left Ponyville.

The day was idyllic as the two ponies crossed a small bridge demarcating the boundary of Ponyville. Celestia’s sun was just past the midway point of its slow arch, and the weather pegasi had cleared the sky of any hint of clouds threatening to obscure the azure sky overhead.

“You’re not feeling too tired from waking up so early, are you, Princess Luna?” Twilight asked her a bit anxiously.

Luna quickly reassured her, “Oh no, I feel refreshed actually, especially after that wonderfully brewed tea. It was so mild that it hardly needed any sugar at all.”

“Spike does know how to brew an excellent pot of tea, despite his grumbling. Back when we lived in Canterlot, I found that most ponies preferred a stronger, more bitter blend, which I never really liked.” Twilight screwed up her face in remembered disgust. “But I needed the caffeine for all the late night study sessions I had, so I found a milder blend. I also researched a gentler brewing method that I taught Spike so he could make tea for me and I wouldn’t have to take a break from reading.”

Luna smiled to herself in amusement at the picture Twilight painted. Truly Spike must have had a hard time living with Twilight. “I’ll be sure to give my compliments to Spike when we return. And you’ll have to divulge your secret blend when I have something to write the recipe down with.”

“It would be my pleasure, Princess Luna. I actually found it in a text on early pony alchemy. Apparently a pony discovered it while searching for the secret to eternal life.”

Twilight chuckled a bit at the folly of the attempts by ponies who'd sought a lifespan comparable to the immortal princesses. There were a few moments of silence as they walked along the well kept road companionably.

The silence was broken by Luna as she looked around awkwardly for a moment before turning to Twilight with an earnest expression and a hesitantly uncertain voice. “Twilight, if you don’t mind, do you think that you could call me Luna? Everypony in Canterlot addresses me as princess, and I just don’t feel right with my friend calling me by my title, as if they were just any other pony.”

Twilight seemed a little surprised by her request, but quickly replied, “If you’re sure you want me to…” Luna smiled at her encouragingly. “I’d be happy to call you Luna.” She glanced around, as if to check and see if anypony had heard her being so familiar with royalty, or perhaps to make sure that she wasn’t about to be struck down by divine lightning.

“Thank you, Twilight. Sometimes it feels like I’m placed on a pedestal by my title, and I don’t want there to be a distance like that between us,” Luna admitted.

Twilight laughed a little before kindly replying, “To be honest, I think it’s the fact that you control the moon that makes most ponies respect you. I mean, it’s not everypony who can say they have even a fraction of the power you have in a single hoof. You’re probably one of the most powerful creatures in all Equestria, and I think that ponies who don’t know you very well are probably a bit intimidated by that.”

Luna bowed her head and concentrated on the tightly packed dirt of the road they were following as she quietly replied, “Just because I have so much power doesn’t mean I’m better than anypony. I make mistakes, just like everypony else.” She half-heartedly and self-mockingly chuckled. “When I do make a mistake though, it’s often several orders of magnitudes larger than most ponies’. “ She sighed deeply. “Celestia is revered, as she should be, not simply because she’s the most powerful pony ever, but because she’s the wisest. Sometimes I feel that the ponies of Equestria respect me only because I’m her sister.”

Luna was knocked, quite literally, out of her quickly developing funk by Twilight leaning over and bumping against her side. Surprised, Luna looked up to find Twilight regarding her with a serious but compassionate expression.

“That’s not true. You’re more than just Princess Celestia’s sister. You’re Luna, the princess who gave us the moon and the stars. It’s true that the day is important; it gives us light and allows us to work and grow crops. But the night is just as important. It gives us time to rest and dream. And like the poet Orange Tundra once said, ‘What value are these days I trudge through without the dreams I gallop towards?’ The gifts you’ve given us are just as important as Princess Celestia’s, and you’re important not because of Princess Celestia, but because you’re Luna,” Twilight hotly declared.

Luna blushed at the intensity in Twilight’s eyes and voice, and stared back down at the ground, not wanting Twilight to see just how happy her words had made her feel, nor how guilty. Every time Twilight spoke of Celestia, Luna felt an electric jolt pass through her. She could all too easily remember her sister’s face, pensive, morose, and perhaps a bit resigned, as she had spoken of Twilight Sparkle and her new friendship with Luna.

She hadn’t said anything explicitly about how her sister’s friendship had come at the cost of Celestia’s own relationship with Twilight, but she didn’t have to. Her relationship with the special unicorn had waned and Luna’s had waxed. Luna could picture her sister trapped in a melancholy routine of duties, seeing to the needs of the kingdom and suffering the insipidness of her courtiers while languishing in an ennui that could be swept away with a single sentence from Luna.

What was it that kept her silent then? If she truly loved her sister she should be willing to do anything to relieve her suffering. And yet …

Luna glanced back toward Twilight Sparkle and found her avoiding eye contact, cheeks slightly reddened, perhaps from the emotion behind the heartfelt sentiment she had revealed a few moments ago. Luna smiled, albeit somewhat sadly. Twilight was sometimes just too cute for words. Silently Luna asked for Celestia’s forgiveness and promised to reveal the truth to her sister after her return to Canterlot. At least, after she’d had the taste of having a friend for a little while. With her self-promised pledge, Luna attempted to banish the thoughts of Celestia from her mind, at least for the moment.

“So, that was some party last night, huh?” Twilight awkwardly asked, attempting to break the even more awkward silence that had fallen upon them.

“Oh yes,” Luna replied reflexively. However she quickly warmed to the subject. “It was a delightful celebration. Even more enjoyable then the festivities I’ve attended in Canterlot, in my opinion. I must admit that I had a few trepidations at first, but I’m glad you convinced me to go, Twilight.”

“I’m happy you enjoyed it.” Twilight’s reply was tinted with a touch of relief. “I was worried that it would be a bit … simple compared to what you’re used to.”

Luna’s reply was rueful. “While it wasn’t as formal as the parties in Canterlot, it certainly wasn’t nearly as boring either.”

“I hope that my friends didn’t upset you last night. Rainbow Dash is a bit brash sometimes, and Applejack works hard growing her apples, so she’s a bit enthusiastic about everypony liking them.”

“I found them all quite charming, really,” Luna reassured her friend. “Though, I’m afraid that I scared poor Fluttershy. I hope I didn’t ruin her evening.”

“I don’t think it was you, Luna. It’s just that it’s a little, um, difficult for Fluttershy to meet new ponies. I’m sure that once she gets to know you as well as I do, you two will be the best of friends!”

“I hope so,” admitted Luna. “I’m finding that having friends is rather pleasant.”

The two ponies had arrived at a fork in the road, with a narrower path branching off from the main thoroughfare. Twilight led Luna down the new path and through a stand of trees standing atop a hill. As they cleared the trees and stood looking down into the valley below, Luna had to admit that she was impressed by the sheer size of the farm spread out before them.

Evenly spaced apple trees, expertly plowed furrows, and well tended fields covered the valley, as well as the rolling hills in the distance, stretching out in all directions as far as the eye could see. The path they were on led down through a simple white fence and up to a picturesque barn.

Twilight had paused alongside Luna who had stopped to appreciate the scale of the farm. “Is something the matter, Luna?”

“Oh no, I was just marveling at just how large Applejack’s farm is. She must have a whole herd of ponies helping her to maintain it.”

“Actually, I think it’s just Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh who take care of most of the farm, at least the apple related parts. There are other ponies who live here, but they look after other areas.” She lifted a hoof to point out a carrot themed house in the distance. “A pony named Carrot Top lives over there, but I think she mostly just works on the carrot fields.” She turned to Luna apologetically. “I’m actually not too sure how Sweet Apple Acres is run, I just know that it seems like Applejack and Big Mac are busy all the time.”

“Well, I hope that we won’t be bothering her too much by dropping by.”

“Oh, Applejack always makes time for her friends, especially if they’re willing to lend a hoof with her apple trees,” Twilight reassured her.

The two ponies set off again, quickly descending the hill and casually strolling through the gate decorated by a cut out of an apple. As they approached the large barn, Luna and Twilight found Applejack just leaving the building with what appeared to be a bundle of sticks covering her back and extending almost out past her tail. She seemed deep in thought, but her face brightened when she caught sight of Luna and Twilight.

“Howdy you two,” she called out as she ambled over toward them. “What brings y’all out to Sweet Apple Acres today?”

“Hey Applejack,” Twilight greeted her friend. “I thought that it would be interesting to Luna to see your farm since it’s one of the main attractions of Ponyville.”

“And you made your apples sound so delightful, that I couldn’t waste the opportunity to try some,” Luna added.

Applejack smiled brightly and puffed her chest out slightly as she replied, “Well, ah don’t know about our lil ol’ farm bein’ an attraction, but if you’re here for apples, you’ve come to the right place.” Her face turned contemplative and she glanced off into the distance. “Though right now ah’m on my way to go do some work on the other side of the farm. Ah’d hate to put it off for too long…”

“That’s no trouble at all, perhaps we could help,” Luna offered, remembering what Twilight had said earlier. She was also ready to make a new friend, and she had heard that working together was one of the best ways for ponies to get to know one another.

Applejack ran a critical eye over Luna and drawled, “Ah don’t know …”

Twilight cleared her throat and looked at Applejack pointedly, causing the orange pony to flush for a moment before she decided, “Ah mean, ah’d love to have some help. Come on and ah’ll take ya across the property and we can have a bit of a tour as we go.”

She led the way to the nearby tree line, Twilight and Luna following closely behind her. The early afternoon sunlight, which had been warming Luna since they had left Ponyville, filtered through the canopy overhead. The ponies were dappled with spots of shadow and sun, and the cooler air was a welcome relief from the almost oppressive warmth. In the distance, there was a steady drone of insects that Luna hadn’t noticed until she had begun to focus on their surroundings. The gentle breezes that buffeted the treetops overhead and occasionally drifted down to the trio of ponies smelled faintly of fresh apples.

In an attempt to strike up a conversation, Luna broke the stillness of the afternoon. “You have a rather large farm Applejack. How long has the Apple family owned it?”

Applejack turned her head back to better hear Luna while she spoke, then tilted it in thought as they continued to walk. “Well shoot, ah guess the Apple family’s been in these parts since about the time Ponyville was founded. They owned a lot of farms over the years, but Sweet Apple Acres didn’t come round till about five, six hundred years ago when a lot of the ponies were leavin’ Ponyville and sellin’ cheap.”

“What happened back then to cause ponies to leave Ponyville?” Twilight asked. “I mean, it’s a pretty nice place.”

Applejack craned her neck to look around the bundle of wood on her back in Twilight’s direction. “That was ‘bout the time when Princess Celestia moved to Canterlot permanently. Ya see, back a thousand years ago, or there abouts, Princess Celestia ruled Equestria from the Castle of Two Sisters. But after the, uh … late unpleasantness,” Applejack shot Luna an apologetic glance, “she started travelin’ round Equestria, rulin’ from wherever she was at the time. Eventually though she settled in Canterlot, and a lot of earth ponies moved on out of Ponyville.”

A root leapt out and tripped Luna, causing her to stumble slightly, which drew the attention of Twilight and Applejack.

“You alright there, Princess?”

“Are you hurt, Luna?”

Both ponies spoke out at the same time, and Luna, despite her reddening face, reassured them, “Yes, I’m fine. I suppose I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

“Yeah, you need to watch out for those roots,” Applejack good naturedly admonished her. “And the low hanging branches, and sometimes those trunks’ll sneak up ya too. Ah know that walkin’ through an orchard might be new to a city pony such as yourself, but ah’ll try and point out the dangerous parts.”

Luna wasn’t sure how to respond to Applejack’s teasing, but Twilight interjected, “And I’m sure that the next time you’re in Canterlot, Luna will return the favor. But I still don’t understand why so many ponies left Ponyville so long ago.”

“Well, Ponyville was originally started by a group of earth ponies from Mesoponyamia who wanted to be close to Princess Celestia’s capital to make sure that earth pony concerns were heard, same as everypony else’s. Course the Apple family don’t have much use for things like that. We just came along to make sure everypony got enough to eat. But as my dad used to say, ‘This here’s good soil. So long as the sun rises in the mornin’ and sets at night, we’ll get along just fine.’ So when most ponies left for greener pastures, we stuck here in Ponyville.”

Luna felt a surge of guilt. The time before she had transformed into Nightmare Moon seemed both like a distant, hazy memory, and as if it had happened just the other day. She could easily remember the envy she had felt toward her sister, and the lack of respect and appreciation from their subjects. When she had attempted to bring about eternal night, she had only been thinking of her own feelings, not about the difficulties it would cause for anypony else.

Applejack didn’t seem to notice the effect of her words on Luna, but Twilight looked toward the princess with a questioning and somewhat concerned expression. Luna appreciated her friend’s sensitivity and concern, and tried to smile in reply, nodding her head to show she was alright.

“Yep, the Apple family leaves the politics to other ponies,” Applejack declared proudly, unaware of the silent communication going on behind her. “Course as the other ponies spread out some of us went with ‘em and started farms across Equestria. Now, just about anywhere you go, you can find an Apple or an Apple relative.”

They emerged from the artificial apple forest into a grassy avenue which ran through the orchard, its ends lost to sight behind distant hills and stands of trees. Across its relatively thin width were more trees, although to Luna’s inexperienced eyes, the trees were slightly different from the ones they had just left. The trunks were thinner and further apart, and the leaves were darker and shinier. The tiny apples peeking out from the leaves also seemed slightly larger.

As they walked across the sun drenched grass, with a few daisies underhoof perfuming the air, Luna inquired, “Is there a reason why your orchard is separated like this?”

Applejack stopped and turned around to better face the princess before she responded. “Well, those trees back there,” she explained while pointing her hoof back the way they had come, “are some of the oldest trees on the farm. They’re mostly Baldwins, a good all round apple. You can eat’em, cook’em, bake’em, juice’em, what have you. But while they’re good, they aren’t the most flavorful apple you ever tasted, if you know what I mean.”

She turned and pointed toward where they were going. “Now these trees here were planted by my great, great, great, great grandpappy.” She narrowed her eyes in thought and tapped her chin with her hoof. “Or was it my great, great, great, great, great grandpappy? Hmmmm… ah’ll have to check the family tree when we get back. Anyway, most of these trees were planted decades after the other trees, and these are mostly Pearmains. They’re a lot sweeter, but they don’t store as well as Baldwins, and they’re a might larger too.”

Applejack set off again, with Luna and Twilight quickly falling into step. “Yep, ever since Sweet Apple Acres was started, each generation’s added their own trees to offer the ponies of Ponyville and Equestria a wider variety of apple. And to prove that their apples taste better then the last generation’s too.”

As they entered the shade of the next stretch of apple trees, Twilight asked, “You keep saying that most of the trees are of one variety or the other. Does that mean you have different species in each section? Wouldn’t it be simpler to have trees of the same type together to make it easier to catalogue them?”

“To be honest, it would make things a might easier if all the trees in one area were the same type, but ah’m afraid it just don’t work that way. Ya see, havin’ a bunch of trees that grow the same kind of apple together, is kinda like havin’ a room full of mares. When it comes time to pollinate, they can have a heap of fun together, but without a stallion, they can’t exactly get down to business, if’n you know what ah mean.” Applejack laughed at her own joke for a minute, but she quickly sobered and her cheeks colored slightly as she twisted her neck to look toward Luna. “Pardon my coarseness, Your Majesty.”

Luna cleared her throat lightly, and could feel her own face warm a bit at the provocative image. “It’s all right, Applejack. It was quite a, uh … descriptive simile. And please, I thought I told you last night, call me Luna, just Luna.”

“Yes ma’am, Miss Luna. Ah guess ah forgot.” The farmer seemed rather uncomfortable as she spoke.

Twilight appeared ignorant of her friends’ reactions, as she contemplatively remarked, “Actually, there were a series of studies conducted by the great unicorn Red Lotus into sperm-less fertilization which had promising –“

Applejack blushed even brighter and quickly cut Twilight off. “Aw hay, Twilight, it was just a metaphor. What ah mean to say is that for every dozen or so trees of one type, we gotta plant a crab apple tree of another type that blooms round the same time so they can cross-pollinate one another.”

“So the different species of apple bloom at different times of the year?”

“Eyup, and they need to be harvested at different times too. Heck, sometimes it feels like ah’m bucking all year long.”

Applejack continued to share a surprisingly vast amount of information about the many different breeds of apple, as well as the history of the Apple family, and even of the history of Equestria. During which, it felt to Luna as if they had walked for miles upon miles, far past what she was used to when traversing the halls of her palace. The leaves of the trees overhead provided a great deal of shade, but still, Celestia’s summer sun made the day sweltering. Luna found that she had begun to sweat in a rather unregal manner, and was hoping that Applejack was going to take a break from her tireless pace soon.

In time, they passed through endless rows of apple trees and finally emerged into a wide and open field. It was empty, save for the rows of slender saplings barely as tall as a pony, bending under the weight of the oppressive sun.

“…and that hill over there was planted by Great Uncle Wickson. He was tryin’ to make an apple specially suited for hard cider. He says he planted the trees to maximize the amount of water they got from it runnin’ along the contours of the land, but ah think he was sippin’ a bit of his own product a lot of the time,” Applejack confided to her friends. Luna was becoming a tad jealous at the earth pony’s ability to walk such a distance and still have the energy to continue to talk.

She looked over to the hill that Applejack had pointed out, and found that it was covered with trees planted in a rather confusing and seemingly random pattern of short zigzags, and long curving lines.

“Course, he did manage to breed the best cider apple you ever did taste; makes a punch that’ll knock the shoes off your hooves and the mark off your rump.” Again she sheepishly turned to look at Luna. “Pardon my Griffon, Miss Luna.”

Luna tried to hide her exhaustion from being so out of shape as she replied, “It’s alright, I’m used to the heated rhetoric of the various diplomats who come to Canterlot.” She noticed that Applejack was slowing down, and couldn’t hide the eagerness in her voice as she asked, “Have we reached the end of our journey?”

“Eyup, these here are the apple trees me and Big Mac planted just this year. They’re just saplings right now, but give ‘em a few years and they’ll be makin’ the sweetest apples you ever did eat. We’re plannin’ on callin’ ‘em Honeycrisps, on account of their bein’ as sweet as honey, and of course crispy.”

Applejack released the rope that was holding the poles to her back, and with a crash they fell to the ground, revealing a pair of saddlebags that had been hiding underneath the bundle. In a few moments more they had joined the stakes on the ground.

“So, why exactly are we out here,” Twilight asked. Luna noticed that while she wasn’t as winded as her, the unicorn was still breathing a bit more heavily than normal.

“Well, these trees here are just babies, and if we let ‘em grow all wild like, they’ll be sendin’ branches every which a way and growin’ in all directions. So what we’re goin’ ta do is plant these here stakes in the ground,” she pawed at the bundle of poles she had been carrying. “Then we tie these trees to them so they’ll grow up relatively straight. We’ll also put a couple of light weights on some of their branches so they don’t get all tangled up with one another as they grow.”

Luna looked across the field at all the small, almost fragile plants which supposedly would one day be trees. There had to be three score of them at least, lined up in straight rows, with wide spaces separating them.

“All of these trees?”

“Yes ma’am. I wasn’t plannin’ on finishin’ today, but ah did want to get as many done as ah could.”

“It should go faster with all us helping out, right, Luna?” Twilight enthusiastically declared.

In admiration of the unicorn’s enthusiasm, Luna smiled and agreed, “That’s right.”

“And I sure do appreciate the help. Now, let me show you what it is we need to be doin’.” Applejack bent down and picked up one of the stakes with her mouth, effortlessly standing it up on its end. The wooden pole was half again as tall as she was, with the end closest to the ground sharply pointed. With practiced ease, Applejack carried it to the nearest tree and grasped the pole firmly with both her hooves. She began thrusting it into the ground, driving it deeper and deeper with a continuous twisting movement, until a third of it was buried in the earth. “Now, we just get our twine and tie it off.”

She walked back over to the loose bundle of sticks and retrieved a ball of fibrous string from one of the saddlebags. She bit off a few short pieces, then returned to the tree where she tied its slender trunk to the stake with a series of farmer knots.

“And finally, we weigh it.”

Applejack once again returned to the saddlebags, this time fetching a small cloth sack. It had a long, thin strap that she neatly flipped over her head, easily clearing her hat, allowing the small bag to dangle around her neck. She cantered over to the tree she had just tied, and studied its thin branches for a moment. After coming to a decision, she bent down to the bag and with her mouth, retrieved a small but thick metallic ribbon which she wound around one of the tree’s branches. The weight caused the branch to droop lower to the ground and away from the other branch it had been pointing toward originally. To be honest, Luna had no clear idea as to why Applejack had chosen that particular branch, but she seemed happy with it.

“And that’s all there is to it. Pretty simple huh?”

“I’m not too certain about the criteria used in the weighing part, but the other steps do seem straightforward enough,” Luna admitted.

Wanting to help her new friend, Luna attempted to emulate Applejack’s movements by picking up one of the stakes wither her mouth, but found it much denser then she had expected. She had only managed to lift the heavy piece of wood a short distance from the ground before she lost her grip on it. Reflexively she was able to hug the pole with her forelegs and catch it before it fell too far. However the sudden weight unbalanced her and almost dragged her down to the ground with it. Not wanting to fall flat on her face, Luna began to flap her wings, and finally stopped the stake’s descent. After a few awkward moments of struggling, she managed to stand the pole on its end. Her hooves grasping the wily piece of wood tightly, and lightly panting from the exertion, Luna looked up at the end high in the sky.

“Um, maybe I should handle the stakes,” Twilight offered in a tone similar to the one Celestia liked to use whenever Luna suggested that she could handle preparing breakfast on her own.

The pole Luna was holding was encased in a glowing purple patina and gently lifted up and out of her grasp. Without any apparent effort, Twilight floated the stake over to the next apple tree in line and rapidly shot it down into the dirt, exactly matching the depth that Applejack had driven hers to.

For a moment, Luna pouted. It seemed a bit unsporting to use magic. Applejack and the other earth ponies couldn’t use unicorn magic, and they seemed to do just fine farming. Besides, if she had known magic was permissible, she would never have made such a foal of herself trying to physically lift that heavy pole. On the other hoof, Luna had to admit that she was already tired from the extreme hike Applejack had led them on. If she had to wrestle with heavy equipment for too much longer, she’d probably faint from exhaustion.

At the same time, Luna wondered why Twilight had only handled a single stake. With their magic, either she or Luna could have quickly finished the entire field in a matter of moments. If using they were allowed to use magic, then why wasn’t the talented unicorn using her gifts to their fullest? Luna glanced over to Applejack for a possible explanation, perhaps it was some sort of farming thing that she was ignorant of. However, she found the earth pony regarding her friend with an expression that was equal parts geniality and resignation. Abruptly the princess understood. It had to be irritating to see somepony perform the same task as you, but faster and with more ease then you ever could. If Twilight used all the power she could to finish a job in seconds, a job that would otherwise take Applejack hours if not days, would surely cause the plainspoken farmer to feel frustrated. Obviously while it was all right to use magic, it wasn’t polite to flaunt it.

“I’ll handle the tying process then,” Luna volunteered. Using only the tiniest fraction of her magic, she picked up the ball of string and after unraveling a suitably long piece, she burned through the fibers of the twine to create three equally proportioned pieces. With only the lightest of thoughts, she levitated them over to the sapling Twilight was standing next to, and tied the darkly glowing threads into perfectly identical bow ties.

“There,” Luna said admiringly of her hoofwork.

“Well, that went a might faster than I thought you two eggh- uh, I mean intellectual ponies would do it.”

Deciding to take her words as a compliment, Luna smiled toward Applejack and replied, “Thank you. But I’m sure that we can do the next one faster. We can probably stake all these trees in only a few hours.”

“Then what are we standin’ here for, chompin’ the hay? Let’s get going. The sooner we finish, the sooner y’all’ll be able to enjoy some old fashioned Apple cooking. Twilight you can put in the stakes, Miss Luna, you can tie the trees up, and I’ll handle directin’ the branches.”

Soon they had settled into an easy pace, the steady thump of Twilight driving the poles melded with the incessant background noise of the summer insects, creating a rather relaxing melody.

Cutting and tying the thread didn’t require very much concentration at all, so Luna found her attention wandering. She looked back and found Applejack a few trees behind her. Despite not having the advantage of magic, the farmer was deftly shaping the branches of the trees with her flexible weights. Luna could easily imagine the tiny saplings grow tall and strong under the orange pony’s care, their canopies growing wide and providing barrels upon barrels of apples in the distant future. Briefly she wondered about what the world would be like when these trees had matured. Where would she be? Or Celestia? What about Twilight?

Her ruminations were interrupted as Applejack finished with her tree and looked up, meeting Luna’s eyes. She smiled at the princess encouragingly, as if the two shared a secret. Luna found herself smiling back. She had to admire the seemingly boundless energy the other pony had. Despite the sun high overhead, pouring down heat, and the arduous hike they’d had, Applejack seemed as fresh as she had earlier in the morning.

Luna turned back and finished tying off the last knot of the tree she was working on and trotted over to the next, floating the ball of twine beside her. As she walked, she watched as Twilight focused on the pile of poles far behind them. With a single-minded focus, she levitated one of them across the pale blue sky. Her unwavering attention was likely more appropriate for a potentially explosive magical experiment then a simple levitation spell, but Luna had noticed that whatever Twilight did, she did it whole-heartedly. Once the stake was close to the tree she was next to, far ahead of where Luna was, Twilight shot it into the ground with a precision that the marksmen guard ponies would envy.

As she turned her head and selected another stake from the pile, Luna found herself noticing the subtle movements of Twilight’s muscles as they flexed and moved along her slender neck. Like Luna, Twilight obviously wasn’t used to such demanding work as this. There was a thin sheen of sweat highlighting her coat, and her mane and tail hung heavily from the mugginess of the afternoon air. She was likely unconscious of it, but Twilight’s face scrunched up adorably every time she absently blew her slick bangs from her eyes.

“Everything alright, Sugarcube?” Applejack’s voice startled Luna from the reverie she had fallen into, and she hastily spun around to find the orange pony only a few paces away with a kind but questioning expression on her face. Apparently Luna had been watching Twilight for longer than it had felt like.

“Oh no, everything’s fine,” Luna hastily replied. “I was just taking a break to …” Luna wracked her brain for an excuse which wasn’t cliché. Unfortunately she failed. “Admire the scenery,” she lamely finished.

Applejack looked past Luna, to where the princess’ attention had been fixed moments ago.

“Ah can’t blame ya, it sure is a pretty sight,” Applejack remarked wistfully. “Even though I know it’s full of a lot of fru fruness and namby pamby manners that don’t make a lick’o sense, it still feels … magical.”

Shocked that Applejack would speak of their friend that way, Luna turned her head to try and see just where Applejack’s outrageous impressions stemmed from. She closely examined the distant figure of Twilight, but couldn’t discern any of the flaws Applejack alluded to.

Perhaps feeling their scrutiny, Twilight turned around and after a moment, hesitantly waved at them. Luna smiled brightly and energetically waved in return. However her hoof abruptly stopped moving when she realized what Applejack had been talking about. Past Twilight, far away across the rolling hills, made delicate by the distance, Canterlot stood rising from the short but majestic mountains. The sun reflecting off the afternoon’s haze lent the city of towers a mystical appearance, as if it were a mirage, or a dream.

Luna’s smile fell, and her heart sank. What was she doing? She had allowed herself to become lost in the moment. Her new found fixation with Twilight would possibly be permissible if they were going to be friends for all time. But faced with a reminder of Celestia’s presence, Luna knew that she had only a few more precious days to spend with her newfound friend. Once she revealed her duplicity, no doubt Twilight would want nothing to do with her.

The more delight she felt while being with Twilight, the harder it would be for Luna when Twilight and Celestia reconciled. And what did it say about her that she was able to be so happy spending time with Twilight, while the pony who truly deserved the wonderful unicorn’s affections was most likely despondently holding court only a few minutes away by air?

“Yes, it is quite lovely,” Luna agreed sadly. “But I imagine that to somepony looking out of the city in this direction, your verdant fields are every bit as beautiful.”

Applejack regarded Luna with some surprise. “Really? You think so?”

Luna smiled sadly to herself. “As the saying goes, ‘the grass is greener on the other side.’ Like you said, Canterlot is full of high class, and quite honestly, boorish snobs. We like to romanticize that which we don’t know, ignoring the drawbacks the lives of others have. I’m sure that there are many ponies in Canterlot who desire to live the simple life in a small town like Ponyville. Just as I’m certain that there are ponies here who yearn for the exciting life they envision must be found in a place like Canterlot.”

“Ah reckon you’re right. Ah remember when ah was a filly, ah thought Manehatten was some wonderful place where anything could happen. Where ah’d find my cutie mark, discover fame, and fortune, all in a week.” Applejack chuckled self-deprecatingly. “Boy howdy was ah wrong. City life, y’all can keep it. Ah guess it’s kinda like one of those impressionistic paintings. Real pretty from far away, but just a bunch of splotches of color that don’t look anything like you thought it did up close.”

Luna looked toward Applejack impressed. “I didn’t take you for a pony interested in the arts.”

“Ah like to think ah enjoy them as much as the next pony. There always seems to be an art museum next to the convention center the Equestrian Farmer’s Society books for its meetins. So after a while, ah got curious and decided to see what was inside ‘em. Ah guess ah liked what ah saw.”

“Hey you two, what’s the hold up?” Twilight called out as she briskly walked toward them. Luna looked around and realized that while she had been speaking with Applejack, Twilight had very nearly completed planting the stakes next to all the trees.

“We got a little distracted ruminatin’ on the philosophical and artistic nature of ponies is all,” Applejack replied good naturedly.

“Sorry, Twilight.”

“Oh,” Twilight remarked, a bit discombobulated by Applejack’s reply. “Well then, I guess I’ll help you, Luna, so we can get through this more quickly.”

Luna felt a warm jolt run through her as Twilight’s magic slid over and around her own, struggling for control of the ball of twine. She felt an instinctual urge to push the other magic away, to subjugate the weaker power, but she quickly squashed that reaction and instead released her hold on the string. Twilight’s relatively light purple magic surrounded the ball and unwound a significant portion of it. She seemed unaware of the effect her magic had on Luna’s.

The unraveled length of string stretched until it broke under the strain. Twilight rolled the unwound twine into a small ball. “There we go. I’ll take this one and you can keep using this string.” She floated the larger ball back toward Luna, offering it to the alicorn.

Luna dryly swallowed, and felt the cold rush pour through her body that indicated her magic was being released. She struggled with it for a moment in a way she hadn’t had to in years, attempting to rein it in and not use more then was necessary. Carefully she reached out with only the tiniest fraction of it and gingerly grasped the offered ball of twine, ghosting it along Twilight’s power. The glow surrounding the ball darkened to the familiar hue of Luna’s magic, and thanks to her close scrutiny of Twilight, Luna was able to see the unicorn shiver slightly as the transfer of control took place. Perhaps she wasn’t the only pony to feel the strange sensation arising from mingling magic.

“Th-thank you, Twilight.” Luna turned back to the task at hoof, determined to push the thoughts of Twilight and her mentor, Celestia, from her mind through concentrating on doing the job.

In a few hours more, the three ponies had covered the entire field of saplings. All sixty-eight of them. Luna had counted. Even though she had been using magic to do her work, Luna’s hooves were hurting from her having stood upon them for so long, and the heat and humidity had sucked nearly all the water and energy from her.

Applejack looked down at the final tree like a mother would regard a favored child. “There ya go Colbert, you’re all set. Now you’re gonna grow up into a fine tree, ah just know it.” She paused for a moment to blink back a tear, wiping the slight excess moisture from the corner of her eye with her hoof. She then looked up and back at the long field of now well maintained trees. “Looks like we finished ‘em all. Good job girls. Now we can head back to the barn and sample some of our fine apples and apple accessories.”

Luna was relieved that their arduous task was over, and she shared an exhausted smile with Twilight Sparkle. Neither of them seemed to have the energy left to speak.

They paused long enough for Applejack to collect her saddlebags and the remnants of the other tools she had brought with her, before they began the long trek back to the barn. For a moment, Luna flirted with the thought of resting her aching hooves by taking flight. However, she quickly discarded the tempting thought. It seemed unfair of her to hover around, showing off her ability to fly when neither Applejack nor Twilight could follow her into the air. So she decided to be polite and continue to keep pace with the two earthbound ponies. She was an alicorn and a ruler of Equestria after all. If a unicorn and an earth pony could walk such a monumental distance, she could as well.

By the time they reached the Apple family home, Luna was on the verge of collapse. Only the desire to save face in front of the other two ponies, neither of whom seemed fazed by the magnitude of their jaunt, kept her walking.

As they approached the barn, Luna attempted to appear nonchalant by striking up a conversation. “That was certainly an interesting and surprisingly enlightening experience, Applejack.”

Applejack regarded Luna with a warm smile. “Ah’m glad y’all came by, and thanks again for the help. I was plannin’ on workin’ on those trees for a few days more, but thanks to you and Twilight here, I can get back to the more difficult work we need to get through before applebuckin’ season starts.”

Luna was almost afraid to ask, “More difficult work?”

“Eyup, the early bloomin’ apples will be ready for buckin’ in a few weeks, and there’s still a heap of apples in the cellar from last season that need to be brought up to make room for this year’s crop. Why, by this time next week, we’ll be hock deep in apple pies, apple cobbler, apple cakes, apple crisps, apple preserves, you name it and we’ll make it. Gotta use up the last of those old apples. Though this year won’t be near as bad as last year. Last year we still had somethin’ like twelve tons of apples we had to get through. Big Mac ate so much he said he had applesauce comin’ from his ears. This year though I think we only got about two tons left on hoof.”

“Two tons of apples. And you’ll be carrying them all by hoof?” Luna asked incredulously.

“Yes ma’am,” Applejack proudly replied. “Just a little exercise to help us limber up for applebuckin’ season.” Her tone grew somewhat annoyed as she continued, “So long as nopony goes and does a foal thing like falling out of the apple loft this year.”

Luna shook her head in amazement. She had often heard of the physical labor farmers were subjected to, but she had never fully realized its true extent. Perhaps that was why so many farming ponies were earth ponies; they might be the only ones who could stand up to the physical stress of such a lifestyle.

They were close to the Apple home, when an elderly mare came out and caught sight of them. “You done with that new plot already? That was quick. Good thing I had a feeling I needed to get supper ready early today.”

The three ponies walked closer, and Applejack addressed the older mare, “Eyup, thanks to my friends, we were able to get through those trees lickity split. Speakin’ of which, Luna, this is Granny Smith. Granny, this here is Miss Luna, my new friend. I hope you don’t mind, but I invited her and Twilight here to supper.”

"Why, that ain't no problem at all. The more the merrier I always say." The faded green pony squinted her eyes tightly and peered in Luna and Twilight’s direction. “Afternoon Miss Twilight, and hello Miss Luna. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She tremulously held out her hoof toward Luna. The princess blankly looked down at it for several moments before she realized that Granny Smith was offering to shake hooves. Luna walked forward and gently took the other pony’s hoof in hers, concerned with not using too much force and inadvertently hurting the old mare. However, Luna quickly found out where Applejack had learned to shake hooves as her leg was vigorously pumped by a strength belied by the other pony’s delicate frame.

Granny Smith eventually let go of Luna’s hoof, although it took Twilight’s help for Luna to stop her leg from shaking up and down. Luna had just gingerly put her hoof back on the ground when a pair of ponies, a young filly and quite possibly the largest stallion Luna had ever met, turned the corner of the building. Upon seeing Twilight and Luna, the stallion stopped short, while the filly eagerly closed the gap between them, only stopping when she was close to Applejack, peering curiously at Luna.

“There y’all are,” Applejack said. “Come meet Miss Luna.” She turned to Luna and introduced the two new ponies. “Miss Luna, this is my brother Big Macintosh, and my little sister Applebloom. Applebloom, Big Mac, this is Miss Luna.”

The cute little filly with her hair held back by a bow and with a smudge of dirt along her nose, was obviously trying her hardest to be polite as she approached Luna in measured steps and asked in a voice nearly devoid of the accent shared by Applejack and Granny Smith, “How do you do, Miss Luna?”

Matching the filly’s solemnity, Luna bobbed her head in reply. “Very well, Miss Applebloom. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

Applebloom held her head high and succinctly replied, “Quite.” However she couldn’t keep up her façade any longer and broke into a fit of giggles.

Her warm, childish laughter was interrupted by Granny Smith loudly saying, “That’s enough of your silliness, Applebloom. Get inside and wash up for supper.”

“Yes, Granny.” Applebloom’s voice now held an accent every bit as thick as Applejacks. Luna watched the filly as she obediently trotted into the house, a smile on her face from the innocent antics of the young pony.

Still smiling, she turned her attention back to Applejack’s brother, who seemed even larger now that he had stepped closer to her. She noticed he was wearing a rather substantial plowing collar around his neck, and supposed that he had just returned from some back breaking labor that she was better off not even imagining in her exhausted condition.

He was easily larger and more massive than the many guard ponies who infested the palace. Unlike them though, the red stallion’s size wasn’t nearly as intimidating. Still, it was with a bit of trepidation that Luna walked to him and offered her hoof in the now familiar ritual of greeting. His sister had nearly wrenched her leg off, what would a hoofshake from such a powerful stallion be like?

“Mr. Macintosh, I believe. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve had a wonderful time today on your family’s farm.”

Unlike Granny Smith or Applebloom, Macintosh looked first at Luna’s horn, then at her wings, and finally down at her outstretched hoof. He glanced over to Applejack with a somewhat conflicted expression on his face. She waved her hoof back and forth, signaling him to get on with it.

Luna was beginning to feel a bit awkward just standing there, sticking her hoof out, but finally Macintosh grasped it as if it were made of delicate crystal, and shook it gently a few times before hastily dropping it.

“It’s nice to meet you too. And I’m glad you had a good time, Princess,” the stallion drawled around a sprig of wild grass in his mouth.

Luna’s smile became a bit wooden at Macintosh’s obvious discomfort, as well as his attempt at formality. “Please, just call me Luna. I’m on vacation right now.”

“Yes ma’am,” Macintosh acquiesced without appearing anymore at ease.

“Well, now that we all know one another, let’s get inside afor the food gets cold and the cider gets warm,” Granny Smith loudly declared.

With a speed surprising for such a large pony, Macintosh left them and disappeared through the door leading into the house. Applejack, Luna, and Twilight though waited for the slow moving Granny Smith to enter before they went inside. As they entered the warm, apple and cinnamon scented building; Twilight leaned in close to Luna and confidentially whispered, “Try not to eat too much pie. Trust me.”

Luna looked askance at her friend, but before she could ask her about the cryptic remark, they found themselves in the Apple kitchen. Her first impression was that it was a very cozy room. It was by no means small, but the profusion of cooking implements covering the counters and walls caused it to feel comfortably snug.

The table in the center of the room dominated the space. It was a regular rectangular rough hewn table, but it was covered so completely in baked goods that Luna could practically see the strain of the legs attempting not to buckle. While she was no stranger to bounteous offerings, this was something else entirely.

As Granny Smith slowly crossed the room, she apologized over her shoulder, “Sorry it’s only a light supper tonight, but I woke up from my afternoon nap a little late, and only had time to whip this up.” She gingerly lowered herself onto the well worn pillow at the head of the table. Applebloom reappeared through a nearby doorway, her face and hooves freshly scrubbed and lacking the smudges of dirt they had been sporting. Her eyes sparkled as she smiled toward Luna while she took her place at the opposite end of the table from Granny Smith.

The filly’s cleanliness reminded Luna that she was feeling a bit sticky from all the heat and exercise she’d been through that day. “Excuse me, Applejack, but is there a place where I may wash my hooves before dinner?”

Applejack had taken a seat next to Applebloom, leaving an open space between her and Granny Smith. Luna noticed that even though they were inside, she hadn’t removed her hat. Perhaps she was so used to the weight that she’d forgotten it?

“Yep.” Applejack pointed to the door Applebloom had come through. “Straight down the hall, last door on the left.”

“Thank you.” Luna passed through the doorway and found herself in a wide hallway that narrowed where a flight of stairs leading upwards met it. The décor was just as rustic and charming as the kitchen's had been. Luna easily found the bathroom and quickly washed her hooves and face, cleaning off the dust that had been clinging to her all afternoon.

After levitating one of the hoof towels close and drying her face, Luna glanced into the mirror behind the sink and was surprised by her reflection. The bangs of her mane, which usually threatened to cover her eye, had been swept back by the wind, or a hoof wiping away the sweat from her forehead. With her mane pulled back, more of Luna’s face was displayed then she was used to. Early in the morning she had felt somewhat naked without her crown, but through the course of the day, Luna had forgotten about its absence. Perhaps it was the slight change in her hair, or the lack of her crown, or maybe even the small but genuine smile she found she’d been unconsciously sporting, but in some way, Luna thought that she looked almost like a different pony. Not Luna of the ignored night, or Nightmare Moon, or even Luna the apologist, but Luna … the farm pony maybe?

She scrunched up her face in distaste at the thought. While she had found a new respect for the hard working farmers of Equestria, Luna knew that she wasn’t cut out for so much physical labor. With a final check in the mirror to make sure she hadn’t missed a spot, Luna left the bathroom and walked back towards the kitchen, nearly colliding with Macintosh as he came down the stairs.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty,” Macintosh quickly apologized as he even more quickly backed out of Luna’s way.

“It’s quite alright.” Luna noticed that the red pony had lost both the sprig of grass he had been chewing on, as well as the harness he had been wearing earlier, which in no way made him seem any smaller. His burnt blond hair had been neatly combed as well. “And please, there’s no reason to be so formal. My friends call me Luna, and I’d like you to be my friend.”

“Sorry, ma’am. I’m afraid I’m not used to royalty showing up at my farm unannounced. We’re not the most genteel of ponies, if you know what I mean.”

Eager to reassure the larger pony, Luna began to hastily speak. “Manners alone aren’t necessarily what make a gentlepony. Some of the most dislikable ponies I’ve known have also been amongst the most polite. All the manners and sophistication in the world can’t make up for lacking a noble heart. From what I’ve seen and heard of your family so far, you’re all honest and very hardworking ponies. You should have confidence in yourself, and not worry so much about how others perceive you. While you’re perhaps not the most refined ponies in Equestria, I think that anypony who matters can easily see that you have a gentle heart.”

Macintosh looked thoughtful for a moment before he asked, “Really?”

Her amusement at the stallion’s artlessness bled into Luna’s voice as she replied, “Yes. In fact, I’d be proud to count you and your family as my friends. If you’d be willing to accept such a title.”

The thought of him being her friend seemed to warm Macintosh. He smiled as if it were one of the more humorous jokes he’d heard. “Thank you kindly, ma’am. I’d be honored to be your friend, Luna. Now I suppose we’d better head to supper. Applejack gets a bit ornery when she gets real hungry.” He swept his hoof toward the kitchen. “After you, ma’am.”

Luna took his invitation and preceded him into the kitchen.

“… then she told us that when that happens, we need to use sine over cosine,” Applebloom was energetically informing the other ponies at the table. “So Diamond Tiara asked Miss Cheerilee just when we were goin’ ta use this in the real world. And Miss Cheerilee said it was important for ponies to have a broad understandin’ of things, even if they don’t necessarily use ‘em.” The young filly threw up her arms emphatically as she asked, “But what kind of sense does that make? Learnin’ somethin’ you’ll never use?”

Macintosh squeezed into the space between Granny Smith and Applejack, who seemed to be paying more attention to the food placed tantalizingly in front of her then to her little sister.

Luna took the last remaining cushion between Twilight and Applebloom as the purple unicorn, clearly mildly scandalized by the filly’s lack of appreciation for trigonometry, began her earnest rebuttal. “But you don’t know what information you’ll need in the future. For instance, what if you wanted to build a ramp with Scootaloo and needed to calculate the best angle of its incline for her to achieve the desired height and distance on her scooter? Or what if you need to determine the dimensions of a triangle while building the frame for a new building?”

Applebloom respectfully paid attention to the older pony, but appealed to her sister, “Applejack, when was the last time you used somethin’ like that?”

Applejack distractedly replied, “Ah can’t honestly recollect.” She looked up and noticed the look Twilight was shooting her across the table, and quickly added, “But that don’t mean it isn’t important.”

From the head of the table, Granny Smith cleared her throat before decisively stating, “Applebloom, you pay attention in school and get good grades, you hear. There’s more to this world then just farming apples, and if you don’t learn as much as you can, you’re only hurtin yourself. So mind what your teacher says and work hard.”

Her earlier umbrage at the injustice of the Equestrian education system completely gone under her grandmother's gaze, Applebloom ducked her head and meekly said, “Yes, ma’am.”

“Now that’s settled, let’s give thanks.”

Somewhat uncomfortable with her uncertainty, Luna watched as everypony save Twilight and herself bowed their heads in respect.

“Thank you Princess Celestia for providing us with your sunlight, allowing us to grow and enjoy our bountiful harvest,” Granny Smith rotely intoned.

Luna noticed the slightly fearful glances Macintosh and Applejack gave her as they raised their heads, and even Twilight surreptitiously gauged Luna’s reaction. Luna offered them a small, reassuring smile. She wasn’t a stranger to hearing her sister praised, and honestly, what benefits farmers derived from the moon and the stars paled in comparison with their dependence upon the sun. Luna could easily understand why they would prefer to offer her sister praise over herself.

Hoping to stave off any awkwardness, Luna emulated the oblivious Applebloom next to her and leaned down to sample the apple turnover on her plate. She was prepared for it to taste good, but was pleasantly shocked with just how wonderful it turned out to be. The flaky, buttery crust seemed to melt away on her tongue, leaving only a slightly buttery flavor which melded perfectly with the sweet apple paste in the confection’s center. The warm tastes played beautifully across her palette, and it was with complete sincerity that she looked up the table and complimented Granny Smith, “This is wonderful. It is beyond a doubt the best apple pastry I’ve ever had.”

Granny Smith smiled appreciatively at Luna’s honesty. “Thank you kindly. It’s an old family recipe we’ve perfected over the years. But I think what makes it special is the apples we grow here. Best apples in all Equestria, ask anypony.”

“I’m certain they are.” Luna turned back to her plate, and allowed the hunger she had developed working in the fields to overcome the table manners that had been instilled in her. In only five more bites, she had finished the turnover. Guiltily she looked around to see if anypony had noticed her breech in etiquette, and was astonished to find that there were already several empty plates stacked next to Applejack, and Macintosh appeared to be quickly devouring his fifth pie. Even young Applebloom had dispatched her apple cakes and had moved on to a plate of apple tarts. Apparently being a farm pony required a massive amount of calories which needed to be replenished.

Luna looked over at Twilight, who, even though she was delicately nibbling at her food, had also far outpaced Luna. Not wishing to be seen as ungrateful, or as if she didn’t enjoy the meal, Luna levitated a few nearby baked apples to her plate and set about slicing them into smaller, more manageable portions with her magic.

She had only managed to make her way through one and a half of the succulent treats before she found her appetite more than sated. In fact, she was in danger of becoming uncomfortably full. Thankfully though, the rest of the diners, after having made a substantial impact on the many foodstuffs on the table, had slowed down as well.

Noticing that Applejack was attacking her plate with less ferocity, Luna decided to try her hoof at casual dinner conversation. “You have quite a large farm, Applejack. I noticed that there were other areas besides the apple orchard. Do you take care of them too, or are there other ponies that help with them?”

Applejack looked up at Luna, a bit of applesauce staining her cheek, and she noisily swallowed before answering, “Yep, we’ve got one of the largest farms in these parts, and we grow just about everything, like apples, carrots, celery, colorful flowers too. There’s actually a lot of ponies who work on the different parts of Sweet Apple Acres, each one kinda specialized at what they’re good at growing. But we all lend a helping hoof when we need to. Heck, Big Mac here’s probably plowed every acre of Sweet Apple Acres least once.”

“Eyup,” Macintosh agreed wearily.

“Course when it comes to apples, Macintosh and me have it pretty well covered. Between the two of us we can buck all the apple trees round here.”

“Don’t forget me,” Applebloom hotly interjected. “Ah’m gonna help this buckin’ season. Ah’m big enough now to buck, honest.”

“We’ll see. But don’t forget, Applebloom, even the strongest tree used to be a saplin’. You might still have some more growin’ up to do before you can buck.”

Applebloom looked down at her plate and grumbled, “Ah’m not a saplin’. Ah’m a pony, and ah’m big enough to buck.”

“Well, if you need any help, don’t hesitate to ask,” Twilight offered. “Your friends are always ready to help you, and we wouldn’t want a repeat of last year.”

“Ah appreciate the offer, Twilight, and you don’t worry any, ah learned my lesson. If ah need the help, ah’ll ask for it. But, no offense, havin’ y’all help durin’ the harvest feels a bit like if all of us went over and helped you reorganize your library.”

“Now that you mention it, it would be helpful if –“

Applejack interrupted Twilight quickly. “What I mean is, it’s not everypony that can buck a Sweet Apple Acre tree. I just feel more comfortable with keeping it in the family as much as ah can.”

“But it seems like such a large amount of land to cover with just yourself and Macintosh,” Luna observed. She noticed Applebloom’s heated glance in her direction and quickly added, “And Applebloom.”

“We did have more family helpin’ us out a while back,” Applejack admitted. “But they moved to other parts of Equestria to help other farms and start a few of their own. It’s a bit harder with just us now, but we’ll just have to make do.”

“You ought to do what I’ve been telling you to,” interjected Granny Smith. “Find a nice stallion to settle down with, and have a few colts and fillies, and you won’t have to worry about there not being enough hooves around during applebucking season.”

A blush quickly spread across Applejack’s cheeks as she hotly said, “Granny! Ah already told you, ah’m not ready to settle down yet. I’m still lookin’ for that special pony, and anyway, shouldn’t you be after Big Mac about this? He’s older.”

Macintosh regarded his sister with an expression of betrayal, clearly indicating he wanted no part of the conversation. Luna could feel her own face heating up in sympathy, but a part of her was fascinated by this familial scene so different from the one she was used to.

Granny Smith turned her attention to the large red pony and asked, “How about it Big Mac, why haven’t you found a nice filly yet and given me some great grand children to have running around underhoof? Why by the time I was your age, I already had one foal with another on the way.”

Macintosh held up his hooves placatingly, while his face wore an expression like he’d tasted something sour. “Well, I –“

“What about that carrot girl across the way?” Granny Smith asked, ignoring whatever Macintosh was about to say. “She seems like a nice enough mare, a little feisty maybe, most orange heads are, but that might be good for a down to earth pony such as yourself.”

Macintosh’s coat turned several shades brighter as he answered, “Uh, that’s-“

This time he was interrupted by Applejack, who had noticed how uncomfortable Luna and Twilight were becoming, neither of them used to such an intimate conversation. “Granny Smith, we have guests. Ah don’t think that now is the time to be havin’ this discussion.”

The frail green mare seemed to either mishear or misunderstand Applejack’s message. She looked over at Twilight and Luna and loudly said, “Oh no, they wouldn’t do at all. Well, maybe Twilight. She’s a hard worker, but I can’t see her running a farm. And Miss Luna’s hips are too narrow for an easy foaling. Trust me; if there’s one thing I know about, it’s hips. No offense girls.”

Luna could swear that her face felt as hot as Celestia’s sun, and she noticed that Twilight seemed almost as embarrassed as her. However the unicorn was able to find her voice, which was more than Luna could claim. “Oh, no offense taken. I’m sure that whomever Big Mac ends up with will be one lucky pony. But I agree with you that neither of us are probably the filly for him.” Twilight’s voice, and the nervous chuckle that succeeded her statement, where rife with mortification.

Luna glanced surreptitiously down at her lower body. There wasn’t anything wrong with her hips, was there? Certainly she couldn’t claim to have the same proportions as her sister, but that didn’t mean that there was anything wrong with the way she looked. Did it?

“Twilight I…” began Macintosh in his slow drawl and a strange expression on his face while looking down at the smaller pony. But he was once again interrupted by Applejack.

“Twilight, Luna, don’t worry none about what Granny Smith said. Sometimes she just gets a bee in her bonnet about somethin’, and says some things she doesn’t mean.”

“Hmph, you’re going to have them not believe a word I say.”

Applejack looked at Granny Smith a bit incredulously. “Well, some things just shouldn’t be said. Especially about two ponies as nice as Twilight and Luna here. Besides which, I think Twilight would make a wonderful partner for anypony, and Miss Luna has some of the nicest hips ah’ve ever seen.”

Luna had no idea when the discussion had made a turn for such awkward territory, but she appreciated the sincerity behind Applejack’s words. “Th-thank you, I think.”

Luckily, before the conversation could become even more embarrassing, Applebloom spoke up with a long suffering tone. “Ah’m finished; may I be excused to go play with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle?”

Applejack looked down at her sister. “Did you finish your homework?”

“Yes.”

“And your chores?”

“Yes.”

“Then you can go play. But make sure you’re back before seven. You still need to take a bath before you go to bed.”

“Okay, Applejack.” Applebloom sprang away from the table and out the door, obviously anxious not to waste a second of her time with her friends.

Granny Smith sighed and commented, “I don’t know about you young’uns, but I’ve just about had my fill.”

The food on the table had been fairly well decimated. There was a final bastion remaining between Luna and Twilight, but the Apple family had finished off the rest. Frankly, Luna was amazed at how hungry she had been, and how much food she had eaten. Why she had nearly finished off two whole plates by herself. “I’m quite full as well, thank you, that was a wonderful meal.”

Granny Smith eyed the surplus of food before Luna. “You sure you’ve had your fill?” she asked unconvinced. “We’ve got some caramel apples, and some candy apples if you like, for dessert.”

“No thank you, I think we’re both done,” Twilight said, glancing at Luna to make sure she was speaking for both of them.

“Alright, if you say so. But I really think you should have some more. You girls hardly touched your food.”

“No thank you, really, we’re full.”

Granny Smith sighed to herself resignedly. “Well, if you’re sure. I suppose we can clear the table then.”

Luna began to stand, ready to help clean up the mess. After all, even though she’d never cleaned dishes before, she was certain that it couldn’t be that difficult. She probably wouldn’t even catch anything on fire this time.

Applejack had also risen, and seeing Luna getting up, she quickly said, “Don’t you worry none about cleanin’ up the table, Luna. Me and Granny can handle it.”

“Are you sure? I’d hate to trespass upon your kindness any further. I am a guest in your house after all.”

Applejack smiled wryly. “Yep, you are a guest, and you’ve already helped us out a bunch today. What kind of hosts would we be if we forced you to do every little thing?”

Luna sank back down onto the cushion. “If you’re sure…”

“Positive.”

Applejack began stacking dirty dishes atop one of the larger platters on the table. Once the stack was unnervingly high and began to woble, she picked the platter up with her mouth and carried it over to the sink where Granny Smith had begun running water. Macintosh hurriedly finished the last few bites of an apple crisp before his sister returned and confiscated his plate.

Without the distraction of the food in front of them, Twilight, Luna, and Macintosh shared an awkward silence, broken only by the background sound of running water and the delicate clink of crockery.

Uncomfortable with the silence, Luna attempted to break it. “So, you certainly have a large farm, Macintosh.”

“Eyup.”

Obviously it was going to be a bit difficult to develop a dialogue with such a terse conversationalist.

“You were wearing a harness earlier. What were you working on today?”

Macintosh looked around, as if to see if anypony was going to interrupt him, before he slowly answered, “I was over plowing on the beet field, so we can get ‘em planted before applebucking season.”

Luna thought she hid her distaste well, but Twilight screwed up her face reflexively. “Yuck, beets. I don’t like those too much.”

Macintosh chuckled at Twilight’s obvious dislike for the vegetables. “Not too many ponies do, I reckon. But these won’t be for eating. We sell them to a company over in Fillydelphia that processes them to make sugar.”

Twilight’s ears and faced perked up at the mention of the sweet substance. “Sugar? But I thought that sugar came from sugarcane.”

That information was more than Luna had known. She had only the vaguest notion of where sugar came from. Actually, she had assumed that it was mined like salt.

Macintosh leaned back comfortably as he rumbled, “Well, some of it does. But sugarcane can only grow in a small part of Equestria, where it’s hot most of the year. These beets can grow in a lot more places, so even though they don’t make as much sugar per pound, most of the sugar we use comes from ‘em.”

“Huh, I never knew that,” Twilight said contemplatively.

“Neither did I,” admitted Luna. “But I must admit that there has been much that I’ve learned today that I didn’t know before. I never imagined that so much knowledge was needed to run a farm.”

“I reckon it’s like any other profession, you need a bit more education then what you get in school. Though I suppose it’s slightly different in that a lot of what me and AJ know, we learned from our parents and other farmer ponies. Not a whole lot of it’s written down. But every once in a while, we all get together for an Equestrian Pomological Society meeting and trade tips and news about how to grow apples and whatnot.”

Luna was intrigued by the word which rolled so expertly off the stallion’s tongue. “Pomological?”

“Yeah, as in pomology. It’s a type of botany that’s mainly about apples and other fruit like cherries, dates, peaches, things like that.”

Twilight broke in excitedly, “I never knew that there was a branch of science dedicated to apples!”

Twilight’s excitement must have been infectious, or perhaps the red pony had warmed up to the subject matter. Eagerly, well as eagerly as Macintosh seemed capable of being, he replied, “Yep, pomology is a pretty interesting subject, least in my opinion. There’s even an orchard run by the Royal Equestrian University where they crossbreed different species of apples to come up with new kinds. There’s other branches of science that are kind of like it, but they focus on things like wheat, corn, and other crops too. Trying to figure out ways to make them grow bigger, stronger, and in more places.”

He paused and ran his tongue over his lips, as if searching for his sprig of grass. “I think it’s like anything else. Weather ponies study about clouds and weather, unicorn ponies study magic, and farming ponies study farming. No matter what a pony does for a living, there’s a lot of stuff you have to know in order to do it. Just because a pegasus doesn’t know how to grow an apple, or a unicorn doesn’t know what kind of cloud does what, or I don’t know how the unified theory of magic works, doesn’t mean that one pony’s smarter than the other. Just that’ they’ve chosen to learn about something important to them.”

Luna had never considered it quite that way before. She had been aware that some occupations, such as weather patrol required specialized training, but she had assumed that jobs, such as farming, could be accomplished with only a minimum of education. However, as Applejack and Macintosh had demonstrated, farming appeared to require a wealth of knowledge just as in-depth as the more prestigious occupations. Perhaps the world wasn’t as quite the simple place Luna had thought it was.

Her ruminations on the complexity of farm life were interrupted by the sounds of dishes being washed coming to a halt, and Applejack wandering back over to join them moments later.

“Ah’m mighty glad you came by today, Luna. Ah ‘preciate the help.” She seemed a bit nervous as she asked, “So, what’d you think about our apples?”

“They’re simply wonderful,” Luna gushed. “Absolutely the finest apples I’ve ever tasted. When I return to Canterlot, I assure you that I’ll be speaking with the palace’s chefs about changing their supplier.”

Applejack beamed proudly, and Macintosh’s smile was nearly as large. Before either sibling could say anything though, Granny Smith hobbled past the table. “All this cooking and cleaning has got me tuckered out. I’m going to go take a short nap before going to bed. You young’uns don’t stay up too late. And Big Mac, if somepony wanted to go a-courting and accidentally stayed out late for some reason, the parlor window’s unlocked and real quiet.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Have a nice nap, Granny.”

The rest of the ponies echoed their well wishes, and Twilight and Luna profusely thanked the tired old mare for the wonderful dinner. Granny Smith nodded happily in reply, then disappeared deeper into the house.

Applejack sat down at the table, resting her forelegs on its now cleared top. With open sincerity she said to Luna, “Ah’m glad you liked our apples. We put a lot of work into growin’ them, and it feels great when somepony else appreciates ‘em.”

Luna’s legs were still aching from the inordinate amount of exercise they’d been subjected to. The dull pain caused Luna to remark sympathetically, “Yes, I think I can appreciate just how much effort you have to put into this farm. But thank you for caring enough to produce such wonderful fruit.” Luna’s eyes fell from Applejack’s green ones, to study the newly interesting grains on the surface of the table. “And that’s why I feel I have to apologize. I’m sorry.”

Applejack’s voice betrayed her confusion as she leaned low over the table, trying to look up into Luna’s face. “Sorry? For what?”

“There’s nothing I see that you need to be apologizing for,” Macintosh stated. His deep voice almost daring Luna to come up with a reason she should be asking for his forgiveness.

Luna sighed. “I’m sorry for trying to bring about eternal night, twice. At the time I was only thinking about myself, and didn’t spare even a moment’s consideration for how the absence of the sun would affect the ponies of Equestria.” Well, other than the thought of how it would force them to start appreciating her as much as they celebrated Celestia. “You work so hard, and produce such wonderful things, and I would have destroyed all that simply because I was being selfish.”

Applejack reached across the table and tilted Luna’s chin up with her hoof until the mares’ eyes met one another. “Luna, don’t fret about that. From what ah understand, that was Nightmare Moon talkin’, not you. ‘Sides which, I think I can understand a bit how you felt. Ah know what it’s like to work hard on somethin’ you’re proud of, then share it with somepony and have them throw it back in your face. Why, ah reckon if ah’d been in your shoes, ah might have acted the same way you did.”

Luna’s eyes were a bit dewy at just how large the orange pony’s heart was, and how easily she was forgiving her, as she choked out, “Really?”

“Eyup. Knowing AJ, she probably would have replaced all the food in Equestria with apples.”

“Or maybe she would have turned all the plants into apple trees until everypony loved apples,” Twilight suggested.

Applejack cut her brother and Twilight a less then amused glare. “Harr de har harr.” Her expression softened as she turned back to Luna. “The point ah was trying to make, is that you made a mistake. One that ah think anypony could have. Course not everypony could pull off what you tried, but you don’t need to apologize for it. Just so long as you know you made a mistake, and realize you were wrong. ‘Sides, you’ve already been punished for it enough in my opinion. There’s no sense in beatin’ yourself up further over it.”

Twilight leaned over and rested a hoof on Luna’s shoulder. “She’s right, Luna. We’re your friends, and we’ve already forgiven you. You just need to forgive yourself now.”

Luna looked around the table, her tears threatening to overwhelm her. “Do you really mean it, are we friends?”

There was a chorus of, “Why of course we are,” “Eyup,” and, “The best of friends!”

Faced with such an outpouring of goodwill, Luna smiled warmly and gratefully at Twilight, and then turned to the Apple siblings. “Then, as my friends, I hope that the next time you come to Canterlot, you decide to stay in the palace, as my guests. I believe that there’s going to be a festival in the next month or so, and I hope that you’ll attend. I’ve never been to a festival with my friends before. Perhaps it will give you a chance to better understand city life, and possibly you’ll be able to teach the gentleponies what it is to be noble.”

Macintosh appeared as if the thought of him in Canterlot was the funniest thing he’d heard all night, while Applejack leaned back contemplatively. “At this festival, will there be any buffets?”

“I-I’m not sure.” Luna wracked her brain, but such a question had never occurred to her as needing to be asked.

Applejack looked over at her brother. “We’d better take an extra cart of apples then, just in case. We might need them to make some fancier food for the ponies that think they’re too good for regular appletastic treats.”

“Well, we’ll let you two figure out the logistics of your trip,” Twilight spoke up. “But right now, we’d better be going. I left Spike alone at the library, and while I trust him not to get into too much trouble, you just never know.”

Twilight stood up from the table, and regretfully Luna did as well. Her body had appreciated resting on the soft cushion, and now seemed to ache even more then before she had sat down. “If we must be going, then we must be going. Farewell Applejack, Macintosh. Thank you for a wonderful and most memorable day.”

“Goodbye, Luna, goodbye, Twilight. Thanks for all your help today.” Applejack came around the table and gave Luna a surprise farewell hug. “And don’t be surprised when we show up on your doorstep, Luna.”

Luna smiled kindly. “I’m looking forward to it.”

With a small wave in Macintosh’s direction and their farewells made, Twilight and Luna left the Apple home and began to retrace their steps from Sweet Apple Acres to Ponyville. The sun was swollen and low on the horizon as they walked along the compacted dirt road.


“Uh, I always eat too much whenever I visit the Apples during mealtimes,” Twilight complained.

Luna looked compassionately over at her companion and saw that Twilight was a bit more … rotund than normal. But in Luna’s opinion it wasn’t a bad look for the unicorn. Perhaps Granny Smith was right in her feeling that the unicorn wasn’t eating enough. “They certainly do provide an enormous amount of food. I suppose it takes a lot of energy to keep a farm running as effectively as they do.”

“More energy than it takes to study,” Twilight agreed. “I usually only have a daffodil and daisy sandwich or something light like that for dinner.”

“No wonder Mrs. Smith thought you were undernourished,” kidded Luna.

“I didn’t notice you eating your share.”

Luna puffed herself up with false self-importance. “I’m afraid that I have to carefully monitor what I partake of. All of Equestria looks up to my sister and I, and it wouldn’t do at all if we simply let ourselves overindulge and enter into an unhealthy lifestyle.”

Twilight rolled her eyes as she replied, “Oh, of course not, Your Highness.”

Luna maintained her haughty attitude for a few seconds longer. But Twilight’s disbelieving expression and disingenuous tone caused a spurt of laughter to bubble out of her, breaking her façade. A moment later and Twilight’s laugher joined hers, causing Luna to laugh more, which in turn egged on Twilight’s laughter. Truthfully, Luna wasn’t even sure why she was laughing. Other then the fact that Twilight’s reaction had been adorable, and for some reason she felt happy and warm. She was laughing because she naturally had to, like she had to breathe, or had to blink. At that moment, she had to laugh.

Eventually though, their laughter calmed down, although there were a couple of false ends which led to brief jags of further laughing. Finally Luna caught her breath, though a large smile was indelibly left on her face.

“You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you laugh,” Twilight mused.

“Really?” Luna thought back over her time with Twilight. Surely there had been a previous occasion when she’d laughed. It wasn’t as if she were a naturally somber pony or one prone to bouts of depression. Thinking upon it, she was surprised with just how little time she had spent in the gifted unicorn’s company. For some reason it felt as if she’d known Twilight for all her life. Or at least the part of it after she’d been released from her nightmare.

“Yes,” stated Twilight with certainty. “I’d definitely remember it if I’d heard something so enchanting before. You should really laugh more often.”

Luna hoped that the fading light from the setting sun hid the blush she could feel rising from Twilight’s compliment. It was several seconds before she trusted herself to speak without her voice betraying her. “I suppose I just didn’t have much to laugh about before now. But right now, I just feel … happy.” She laughed a little, mostly at herself, because she couldn’t explain the way she was feeling clearly. She felt warm and bubbly, like all was right with the world, and no matter what happened, things would turn out fine.

“I know what you mean,” Twilight said with a sigh and a distant tone. “Before I came to Ponyville, before I met my friends, I spent nearly all my time studying. All day and well into the night, only taking a break for classes. I locked myself away from everypony and surrounded myself with my books. I was so caught up in learning that I didn’t have time for friends or for fun that didn’t involve reading and studying. In fact, I didn’t realize it until later, but the only time I felt true joy, the only time I was deeply happy, was the time I spent with Princess Celestia.”

Twilight’s tone grew wistful, and her tongue practically caressed Celestia’s name. The warm feeling that had suffused through Luna moments before quickly contracted. Her insides knotted as she prepared herself to listen to Twilight sing her sister’s praises.

“Don’t get me wrong. I thoroughly enjoy books and learning. There’s a sense of satisfaction, of accomplishment, a certain sense of happiness that you get from them that I haven’t found anywhere else.” She sighed. “But, sometimes that isn’t enough. The wonderful times I’ve spent with Princess Celestia, and later with my friends here, they’ve given me a joy and happiness that I never knew I was missing until I found it. Now, I wouldn’t trade that feeling for anything in the world.”

Twilight’s gaze had drifted to a place or time where Luna couldn’t follow. But as she finished speaking, Twilight blinked a few times and returned to Equestria. She looked over at Luna a bit sheepishly. “Sorry. I got a bit sappy there. I don’t often do that, and Spike usually catches it when I do.”

The cold knot in Luna’s stomach had eased somewhat, but still she felt like a terrible pony for hiding the truth from Twilight. What further happiness, what fond memories was she denying her friend out of selfishness?

“It wasn’t sappy at all,” Luna reassured her friend. “In fact, I think it was a lovely sentiment. I well know how fleeting happiness can be when you search for it alone.”

The two mares lapsed into a silence that lasted for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. They were nearly at the outskirts of Ponyville, with only a single hill separating them from the bridge leading into town. Luna knew that she had broken the jocular mood she and Twilight had been sharing, and had chased her friend’s mirth away. She wished she had the skills that other ponies seemed to come by naturally to lighten the mood. She was sure that if any of Twilight’s real friends had been there, they would know exactly what to say.

As Celestia put away her weary sun, a random idea floated into Luna’s mind. Twilight might not be her friend in a few days when she learned of Luna’s selfish actions, but at least the princess would be able to give her something memorable in the meantime to make up for the memories she was missing out on by being with her.

The stars revealed by the absence of the sun’s light rained down their ineffectual glow as Luna slowed to a stop. Twilight continued walking for a few feet before she too stopped and looked questioningly back at Luna.

Luna commented tremulously, “Celestia has been planning a new holiday. The Winter Moon Celebration, to be held on the longest night of the year. She wants to hold it to honor the moon, and me. I’ve been practicing something for the festival, and I was wondering if maybe you could watch it and tell me if it’s any good.”

“Of course, Luna.”

“Just stay right there.”

As the sun had set, Luna had noticed a pair of trees at a distance from the side of the road that would hopefully be suitable for her purpose. She trotted over to a spot she thought was roughly between Twilight and the trees, and slowly let out a breath. She was nervous, and her heart was beating rapidly, anxious over not making a mistake in front of her friend, and what the unicorn’s judgment of her performance was going to be. She closed her eyes and flexed her magic like a well used muscle. Far away, but as close as her heart, Luna could feel the moon patiently waiting. She unfurled her wings and opened her eyes long enough to rest them on the dark shadow that was Twilight. She closed them tightly and sprang into the air.

As she pushed herself up, pumping her wings vigorously with the effort, Luna pulled up the moon, attempting to match its movements to the beat of her wings. With a final thrust, she propelled her body high into the air, throwing out her hooves to embrace the sky as the moon burst out from behind the thick foliage of the trees, partially haloed by the curve between them.

Below her, Luna could hear a single pair of hooves stomping in appreciation, and in her mind the sound became the adulations of thousands. Leaving the moon to continue its trek across the sky, Luna glided down to where the now midnight purple unicorn waited for her. Softly alighting next to Twilight, Luna was buoyed by how enthusiastically her friend was responding to her display.

“Wow that was great, Luna!”

“Do you really think so? I was afraid that I still didn’t have the timing exactly right. I’ve been practicing, but I’ve been too embarrassed to let anypony see me do it.”

“It was wonderful.” But her voice became contemplative as she added, “although …”

“Yes?”

Twilight’s tone turned strict and analytical. “Well, taking into account the fact that you were performing in an environment you had no control over, you did very well in my opinion. However, I think that it could have been more impressive if you take into account the angle that your audience will be spectating from. You might want to bring the performance to a climax while the moon is lower in the sky and you’re closer to the watching ponies, creating the illusion that you’re larger and the moon is more magnificent than normal. I also think that perhaps you raised your hooves a bit too early and tempered the dramatic impact of the image.” Finished with her analysis, Twilight seemed to recollect who she was speaking to, and apologetically offered, with a nervous smile, “But still, it looked great.”

Luna felt a bit disappointed by Twilight’s quite honest critique. But she reminded herself that there was a reason she was practicing the maneuver. She wasn’t perfect at it yet, and Twilight was simply giving her opinion. “Well, there’s several months left before I’m going to perform it for all Equestria. I’ll keep practicing, but I’m not sure how well I’ll improve without somepony watching and giving me advice. Perhaps you could come to Canterlot and help me practice?”

“But, Luna, surely there’s other ponies who could help you. You don’t need me.”

“I don’t feel comfortable practicing in front of other ponies. When I’m with somepony, I always feel so self-conscious, afraid that I’ll do or say something that will make them think less of me,” Luna admitted. “But when I’m with you, it’s different. I feel … comfortable around you. I don’t think it can be any other pony. Please say you’ll come.”

Twilight searched Luna’s moonlit eyes for several seconds before she bashfully turned away and softly agreed, “All right.”

“Thank you, Twilight.”

The two ponies began to walk towards Ponyville once more. A silence fell between them again, but this time it was soft and companionable. As the lights of Ponyville came into view, Luna reveled in the feelings of companionship she felt in the warm summer air, and resolved to put away her fears and concerns until tomorrow.

There were few ponies on the street as they passed through the town. Most of the residents were likely already preparing for bed. Some of the ponies they passed nodded politely or even waved to them. Twilight and Luna nodded and waved in reply, and soon found themselves back at Twilight’s tree house. The many windows of which were warmly and welcomingly lit. Twilight opened and held the door for Luna before securely closing it behind them.

“There you are, Twilight,” Spike greeted them. “I thought you were going to be back hours ago.”

Twilight brushed past Luna and walked over to her assistant who appeared in the doorway leading to the kitchen, his arms crossed in displeasure. “I’m sorry Spike, but we got caught up helping Applejack, and then one thing led to another and we stayed for dinner.”

“Hmph. It’s nice to know someone got to eat dinner at a reasonable time at least.”

“Didn’t you find the grass and hay sandwiches I left out for you?” Twilight asked anxiously, obviously concerned for the baby dragon.

“Well yeah, but I’m tired of that pony stuff,” Spike complained. “I know we have some sapphires, but I can’t find them.”

Twilight’s concern evaporated and she rolled her eyes before giving Spike a somewhat annoyed look. “There’s a reason for that you know. Every time we get sapphires, you sit down and eat the whole bag in one sitting.”

Spike threw up his arms emphatically. “I can’t help it! They just taste so good. Please, Twilight, I’ve been smelling them all day and it’s been driving me crazy. Please, let me have just one. Please!” Spike fell to his knees in front of Twilight as he begged her.

“Weeeeeellllllll …” Twilight said as she looked upwards contemplatively. A smile graced Luna’s face at the cute scene. She could tell that Twilight was just pretending to deliberate with herself. She knew that the unicorn had already decided to give into the demands of the diminutive dragon. “Alright. But just one. And afterwards, you need to get ready for bed.”

“Aw, but, Twilight, I’m not tired yet,” Spike whined.

Despite his objection, Twilight leveled a stern glare down at the dragon, and after a few seconds of silence, he slumped in defeat. “Okay. But I get to choose the sapphire,” he said in an attempt to save some face at least.

“Deal.” Twilight’s horn glowed, and on a nearby bookshelf, a rather nondescript tome unshelved itself and floated toward her. She held it low to the floor, just in front of Spike, and opened it, revealing that it was actually a wooden box split evenly down the middle, disguised as a book. In its hollow cavity was a small velvet bag that Twilight spread open to reveal several large blue crystals.

Spike’s eyes grew wide and he unconsciously licked his scaly lips as he stared down covetously at the bounty spread before him. He spent several long, agonizing moments examining each of the jewels before he selected one of the larger sapphires.

As he took a satisfied bite from the precious stone, Twilight snapped the faux book closed and whisked it away to the higher shelves, out of sight of the dragon. “There, I hope you’re happy.”

“Oh yeah,” Spike said through a mouthful of gem.

“Good. After you’re done, make sure you get ready for bed. I need to go draw a bath. We worked up a sweat at Applejack’s today.” She turned to Luna and apologetically continued, “Although my tub is a bit small, so we’ll have to take turns.”

“That’s alright.” Honestly, Luna would have felt a bit uncomfortable bathing with somepony else. True there wasn’t anything about it that should make her feel uncomfortable. But for some reason, the act of cleaning oneself seemed intimate to Luna, and something that should be shared only with somepony that she trusted without reservation.

Twilight led Luna down a twisting staircase to a room in the bowels of the tree. It had a long but narrow window close to the ceiling, made of frosted glass; its cool light bathed the room in dim shadows. With a flick of her magic, Twilight lit several squat candles spread throughout the room. Their warm light and pleasing aroma quickly spread throughout the small space.

Luna had never thought about it before, but if she had pictured what a library’s bathroom would be like, it probably would have been similar to what she found in Twilight’s. There were thick root-like wooden ribs lining the walls, in-between which were squeezed several bookshelves. The many candles Twilight had lit were perched on the shelves alongside stacks of pastel colored towels, brightly colored bottles, a wide variety of soaps and lotions, and the occasional stern bust of pony philosophers long dead.

The only thing that felt a bit odd was the fact that there weren’t any books on the shelves. In fact, the only books in the room were in a short stack on a table next to the low and wide bathtub. A stack which was quickly surrounded by a purple glow and forcefully shoved into the cabinet beneath the sink before Luna had the chance to read any of the titles.

“Sorry if it’s a bit messy, I don’t clean up in here as often as I should,” Twilight apologized with a suspiciously innocent air as she straightened a few of the nearby towels.

It actually wasn’t messy at all in Luna’s opinion. The bathroom’s fixtures were solid wood, highly polished, with stylized gryphon clawed feet gripping the floor. The only hint of disorder came from the many bottles in the room partially filled to different points, jumbled together in a dizzying array of color.

“So, did you want bubbles in your bath?” Twilight asked as she turned the tap over her tub.

“Oh. Yes, I suppose so.” Luna’s reply was a bit distracted as she surveyed Twilight’s bathroom.

Tendrils of steam were beginning to rise from the rushing water as Twilight plucked up a pink glass bottle from the shelf across the room. She floated it over to the bath and dropped a dollop into the rapidly filling tub. Soon a thick layer of bubbles was pushing upwards toward the rim of the bath.

“I’ll let you have the first turn, and I’ll go make some tea. I always love having a cup after a nice bath, it makes me feel warm inside and out.”

Luna was about to protest against the preferential treatment, but she was feeling a bit uncomfortable with being so dirty. So with soft sincerity, Luna replied, “Thank you, Twilight.”

“You’re welcome. There’s some conditioner and shampoo next to the tub, but if you want a different kind, there’s lots more on the shelf over there.” She pointed with her hoof at a shelf under the far window. “Rarity brought them for one of our sleepovers, and she told me to try them out to find one that I liked.”

Luna eyed the profusion of bottles as she said, “Thank you. I think that I’ll be able to find something I like. Rarity must have brought a sample of every shampoo in Equestria.”

“Probably,” Twilight laughed good naturedly as she walked over to the door. “I’ll come back to check on you in a few minutes.”

“Alright.”

After Twilight had closed the door behind her, Luna stepped closer to the wooden tub to better examine it. It wasn’t that bathtubs were a novel experience for her; it was simply that this was the first time that she had used one quite so small. The bathtub in her bathroom back in the Canterlot palace was easily ten times as large as Twilight’s. In fact, it was more a private heated wading pool then a bathtub. It’s deeper end rose over Luna’s head and she had to actually swim when she ventured to that side.

Despite Twilight’s bath being much smaller, it felt positively delightful as Luna slowly stepped into it, and the heat from the water began to ease the tight muscles in her leg. The water was hot, but not uncomfortably so. So Luna stepped fully in and slowly sat down in the relatively shallow water. Her movements pushed the foamy bubbles up to her chin, and a few of the larger ones broke free and began to float away.

A childish impulse ran through her and Luna smiled guiltily. She looked around to make sure nopony was watching, then leaned forward and popped the nearest bubble with her horn before it could float beyond her reach. She giggled as its soapy residue splashed against her forehead, and began aiming for the next closest bubble. The next couple of minutes were filled with the sounds of Luna’s partially stifled giggles interrupted by the soft pops of soap bubbles and watery splashes as she moved around the tub to try and better reach the escaping airborne menace.

Eventually Luna ran out of bubbles. She tried blowing on the foam still in the bath, but the bubbles were too small and simply scattered, falling back into the water. She was a bit disappointed that her bath time fun was over, but she supposed that she should start bathing in earnest. Twilight was waiting her turn after all.

She turned her attention to the row of bottles on the shelf next to the tub. With her magic, Luna randomly lifted a light purple one which was labeled with a large strawberry. She uncorked the bottle and brought it close to her nose, and found that it smelled pleasantly sweet and fruity.

Luna levitated a nearby luffa over and applied a small stream of the viscous soap to it. Soon she was quickly building up a sweet smelling lather as she scrubbed herself. The heat from the water felt wonderful as she stretched out her limbs to reach everything. She still ached, but it was a pleasant ache rather than the overused and abused ache her muscles had been suffering from before.

Starting to feel the tiniest bit wrinkly, Luna rinsed herself off, and somewhat regretfully left the bath behind. She dried herself, using a trio of towels to simultaneously dry her mane, body, and tail. She had just hung up the towels to dry and picked up a brush and comb to tackle her mane, when there was a knock at the door.

“Come in.”

Twilight opened the door and glanced toward the bathtub before resting her gaze on Luna. She appeared almost disappointed for a moment, but Luna attributed the impression to her imagination. Twilight’s tone and expression were cheerful as she asked, “Finished already?”

“Yes. I stepped out of the tub just now.” Luna turned to the mirror over the nearby sink. With its help she began to hastily run the brush through her mane and the comb through her tail as she admitted, “Though I was tempted to linger for a bit longer. The hot water felt wonderful.”

Twilight’s hoofsteps were muted on the hardwood floor, and Luna watched her reflection cross the room as Twilight offered, “Well, if you’d like, you can take some more time and have another bath.”

“I couldn’t possibly do that. You haven’t had a chance to get clean yet, and it’s your home. What manner of guest would I be if I monopolized your bathroom?” Luna’s hair appeared more or less as it normally did, both ends. She set the grooming tools down as she turned to face her host. “Besides, after all that manual labor today, I fear that if I stayed too long in the bath, I’d fall asleep. I’m certain that you don’t want an unconscious, waterlogged princess in your bathtub.”

“I guess you’re right.” Twilight turned her head and began to magically gather various bottles from around the room. “If you’d like, the tea is ready in the kitchen, and there’s still some grass and hay sandwiches left in case you were feeling hungry.”

Luna let out a short laugh that caused Twilight’s ears to turn in her direction. “After that meal at Sweet Apple Acres, I’m not sure that I’ll ever be hungry again. But a cup of tea sounds wonderful.”

“If it’s cold, just tell Spike to warm it up for you,” Twilight called out after Luna as she made her way toward the door.

“Take your time bathing. If you’re feeling anywhere as sore as I was, the water will feel delightful.” Luna quietly closed the door behind her and climbed the stairs leading up to the rest of the library. She easily found her way back to the kitchen, which she entered just in time to find Spike with his claw in the jewel jar.

He had frozen when Luna walked into the kitchen, standing on a stool next to the counter, his arm outstretched and plunged deep into a clay jar with the word ‘GEMS’ etched into the side. They stared at one another for a few long seconds. Spike’s wide eyed guilt was palpable.

Luna broke the tableau by quietly stating, “I thought that Twilight said you were allowed only a single sapphire before bed.”

“Well, yeah. But she didn’t say anything about rubies, emeralds,” he pulled his claw out of the jar and looked down at the stone he had retrieved, “or topaz.”

“Hmmmm. I believe that what Twilight meant was that you weren’t allowed to have any more jewels before bed.”

Spike began to look even more worried as he nervously asked, “You’re not going to tell her are you?”

“Weeeeeellllllll …” Luna drawled in her best Twilight imitation.

“Please don’t tell her,” cried Spike as he hoped off the stool and rushed over to cling to Luna’s forelegs. “Please, I’ll do anything. You don’t know what she’s like when she gets ‘I’m not angry, just disappointed.’”

Luna smiled down at the dragon and couldn’t resist his adorable eyes. “I suppose I can keep silent about it this time. But you’d better hurry up before Twilight gets out of the bath.”

“Thank you, Princess Luna!”

“No, thank you, Spike. The tea you made this morning was excellent. I’m sorry that I haven’t had the opportunity to thank you for it earlier.”

Spike waved his claw dismissively as he replied, “Aw, after the hundredth or so time making it at two in the morning, anyone could do it as well as I could.”

“Perhaps, but it wasn’t anypony who made it. It was you. Thank you.”

Spike blushed with pride and simply answered, “You’re welcome,” before he made his exit toward the bedroom.

Luna smiled as she watched him go. She then settled down at the kitchen table and prepared herself a cup of tea. She had barely drunk a third of it before Twilight made her appearance. She seemed refreshed by her bath, and in companionable silence she joined Luna at the table, pouring a cup of tea for herself.

Though the warm water of the bath had curbed most of the aching in her muscles, Luna still felt somewhat physically exhausted. Her body was crying out for rest, but her mind was wide awake thanks to the early hour. But what better place to rest the body and exercise the mind then a library?

“I’m not feeling tired at all,” Luna confessed to Twilight as they were cleaning up the teacups. “Would it be alright if I studied in your library for a few hours?”

Twilight smiled and replied, “That’s fine. In fact I was planning on staying up myself, to catch up on my reading.”

They left the kitchen and entered the library proper. Twilight walked toward the stairs leading up to the bedroom, calling out over her shoulder, “I’ll just go put Spike to bed and come back to join you.” She paused on the first step as an expression of dawning realization washed over her. “We can be study buddies! I’ve never had one before, but I read about them when I was studying the proper methods of studying. I always thought it sounded like fun, peers helping one another to learn a subject. But I never had the opportunity before.” Twilight cantered over to Luna eagerly. “So, what topic were you planning on studying?”

In the face of such exuberance, and with Twilight’s large purple eyes sparking excitedly at her, Luna balked a bit as she replied, “Uh, well, I hadn’t actually settled on a definitive topic as of yet.”

“Oh, then we should totally study love. I think I have a good grasp on the basics, but I still don’t understand everything about it. Why don’t you gather all the books you can find on love, relationships, friendships, and maybe even enemyships. Wait, is that a word? Anyway, they say that a good way to learn about something is to study its opposite.” She looked away and tapped her chin thoughtfully with her hoof. “Although, is hate really the opposite of love? Wouldn’t it be apathy?” She turned toward Luna with an excited grin and shrugged her shoulders. “Oh well, I guess we’ll find out! Right, study buddy? I’ll be right back.”

Luna couldn’t help but smile wryly as the energized unicorn raced up the stairs. It wasn’t everypony who could get so excited by the prospect of a night full of reading. She turned her attention to the massive bookshelves lining the walls, and began browsing their titles. As she walked beside the shelves she pulled the occasional promising book from its brethren with her magic. By the time Twilight returned, a rather substantial stack of books was floating next to Luna. She split the stack in two and set the books down on a nearby table while taking a seat next to a conveniently placed oil lamp. “I think these should provide enough material to get us started.”

“Definitely. With this many books, we should get a good foundation at least.” Twilight took a seat across the table from Luna and slid one of the stacks of books closer to herself. She then conjured up a stack of blank paper and retrieved an inkwell and a quill. Twilight floated the top book off the pile, and after a cursory examination of the title, eagerly cracked it open. Soon she was lost to the literary world, only pausing long enough to jot down the occasional scratchy note.

Luna didn’t immediately delve into her own stack of books. Instead she spent a minute or two observing her friend. The purple unicorn was once again focusing on the task at hoof with the same single minded determination that she had shown while working earlier. Luna was quickly coming to find the expression charming, and she hoped that someday somepony would look at her with such intense focus.

Abandoning her study of Twilight, Luna opened the first book of her own stack, and soon was lost in its pages. It turned out to be far more interesting and much less academic then she had expected, and completely engrossed her for quite some time. It was with surprise that she looked up from it to find that the nearby lamp had almost burned through its oil. She also noticed that a cup of tea had been stealthily placed near her elbow, and that Twilight was no longer reading, but was resting her head on her hooves and watching Luna contemplatively.

“You know, you get this little wrinkle between your eyes when you’re concentrating on something,” Twilight said conversationally and with a hint of amusement.

Luna was flummoxed by the random comment for a moment, but she quickly and hotly replied, “I do not!”

Twilight smiled, her eyes twinkling in merriment. “Yes you do. And sometimes you stick your tongue out, just a little bit.”

Luna flushed in embarrassment. Sometimes when she was focused on something, she did bite her tongue between her teeth, and possibly, on rare occasions, she had allowed it to protrude slightly. Hoping to hide her embarrassment from Twilight’s malicious slander, Luna picked up the conveniently placed cup of tea and took a deep sip. As the warm tea coursed through her, Luna raised her eyebrow in surprise. Instead of the jolt of energy she had been expecting, the mellow tea filled her with a relaxing warmth.

“What’s this?” She asked as she floated the cup back down to its saucer.

“Cammel-mill tea. It’s a special kind of tea that helps you relax. Princess Celestia introduced me to it years ago when I stayed awake for three days straight studying for my advanced eldritch magic final.”

The warmth left behind by the drink was heavy and soothing. Luna stifled a yawn as she asked, “What time is it?”

“Nearly one in the morning.”

A bit early, but then she had woken up early. “Do you think it’s too early to go to bed?”

“Not at all.” Twilight raised her hoof to cover her own yawn. She glanced down at the books strewn across the table. “We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

“All right.” The rigors of the day must have crept up on Luna while she had been occupied by reading. Her eyelids were becoming too heavy to keep open for any length of time. The two tired ponies stumbled up the stairs, Twilight extinguishing the lights as they went.

Luna carefully maneuvered around Spike’s basket, trying to let the sleeping dragon lie, as she walked to Twilight’s bed. With a sigh of relief, she slipped under the covers, turning to face the large window through which the starry night was on display. A few moments later and she felt the now familiar weight of Twilight settling into the narrow bed with her. With the other pony’s comfortingly warm presence at her back, Luna quickly drifted off to sleep.


She was awakened from her dreamless slumber by an urgent pressure. Luna opened her eyes to find that several hours had passed and her moon hung low in the sky. The tingling pressure of Celestia’s sun waiting to be raised roused Luna out of the bed. It was time for her to put the moon away in order to make room for the sun, but before she did, Luna wanted to admire the final minutes of night.

Outside Twilight’s window the pale moonlight bathed Ponyville in a sea of black and grey. Shadows softened the contours of the buildings, and the streets were paved with molten silver. Despite the early hour it seemed that many of the residents of Ponyville were awake. Several of the buildings had lights in their windows, and from time to time Luna could see the dim figures of the early risers going through their morning rituals as they prepared for the day ahead. Far in the distance, the edge of the horizon was faintly discernable thanks to the light of the impatiently waiting sun.

Luna turned away from the window and contemplated the soundly sleeping mare she had left in the bed behind her. The moon’s light fell across the bed, highlighting and accentuating the sinuously curving lines of the sleeping unicorn’s body tangled in the sheets. During the night, Twilight had turned over in her sleep, allowing her peaceful, innocent face to be revealed in the waning moonlight. Her delicate eyelashes flickered as she dreamt the dreams of the innocent.

As she watched her friend sleep, in the darkest moments of the night, those just before dawn, Luna asked herself why. Why did she have to sacrifice her own happiness again? Why did she have to give up her friendship for the sake of Celestia’s? Her sister had lived amongst their ponies for a thousand years without her. She had enjoyed the company of friends, students, and apprentices. She had never known the loneliness that Luna had felt, the isolation of being ignored by all of Equestria.

Surely Luna deserved one friend. A friend who would be there for her, no matter what happened. Celestia had a whole kingdom of ponies who almost literally worshipped her. Couldn’t she spare a single pony, just one small unicorn, who would look toward Luna instead of her sister? Did she really need to tell Celestia how Twilight Sparkle felt? Did she need to bridge the gulf that was growing between her sister and her friend?

Abruptly, Luna recognized the burningly cold sensation that was pulsing through her. Its heady sting was both familiar and frightening. She was jealous. Of her sister. Again. A thousand years ago she’d been resentful of her sister’s popularity with the ponies of Equestria. Now she was jealous of her sister’s popularity with just a single young mare.

Hot tears began to slip down Luna’s face. It just wasn’t fair. Why did everypony love her sister? Why did she love her sister? After everything she’d been through, the jealousy, the lies, the strife, the imprisonment, after everything, Luna still couldn’t bring herself to hate Celestia. Perhaps it was simply because Celestia was so much better than her.

No. She was just as good as Celestia, just as powerful. In fact, she was more powerful. Was she not the mistress of the moon and the stars? Was she not even at that moment denying the sun its place in the sky?

An all too familiar and tantalizing power coldly raced through Luna’s frame. But at the moment that she merely had to reach out and reclaim her title as the Queen of the Night, Luna’s eyes fell upon the unconscious, guileless face of Twilight. Did any of it matter? If she defeated her sister and proved that she was more powerful, that she was better, would that mean Twilight would like her any better? No. In fact, it would likely only push Twilight away.

With an almost physically painful sensation, accompanied by a magical howl of rage, Luna let go the power she had been drawing in, and let her hateful jealousy slip through her hooves. Despite the enormous power at her command, Luna couldn’t force anypony to love her. She had tried it once, and had failed rather spectacularly. Her friendship might be based upon deception, but she wouldn’t threaten what little she had by repeating the mistakes of a millennia ago.

With a heavy heart, Luna shooed her moon away and emptied the sky for Celestia’s sun. It would doubtlessly burst impressively over the horizon, filling the world with warmth and light. But Luna didn’t stay to watch it. Instead she settled back into the narrow bed that was permeated with Twilight’s warmth. Unsure of what the next day would bring, Luna pressed her face into the pillow that was suffused with Twilight’s scent, and in the grey dawn light, surrendered herself to what dreams may come.


She groggily awoke hours, perhaps days later, with a feeling that all was not right with the world. Her right wing and foreleg were numb in the uncomfortable way that indicated their circulation had been cut off. She could also feel the dried remnants of a line of drool running down her cheek, indicating that she had slept with her mouth open. Which meant she’d probably been snoring.

Blearily, Luna opened her eyes and was confronted by a wall of purple. She raised her hoof to wipe it out of her way, but found that somepony else’s hoof was restricting her movements. Luna looked down, through a gap in the purple, and found that what was impeding her sight was part of Twilight’s mane.

Somehow, sometime during the night, she and the unicorn had switched sides of the bed. Luna found herself lying on her back, on the side of the bed closest to the door. Twilight was laying half on top of her, with her head on Luna’s chest and her body trapping Luna’s leg and outstretched wing.

Just as she was coming to grips with the situation, Luna was startled by the door banging open and Spike loudly proclaiming, “Twilight, they were out of –“ He stopped suddenly, and Luna regarded him with the one panicked eye she could turn in his direction without moving her head and disturbing Twilight.

“Uh, I’ll, uh, come back later,” Spike decided in a quieter tone. He hastily made his exit, swiftly but quietly closing the door behind him. The manner of his exit, as well as his expression, betrayed the fact that the dragon believed he had interrupted something he shouldn’t have. Luna wondered to herself, was it so strange for two friends to share a bed?

The thought, as well as any others she might have had, quickly fled as Twilight unintelligibly muttered something, then repositioned her head, burying her nose in the crook of Luna’s neck. Feeling the other mare’s warm breath on her sensitive skin, Luna pushed away all thoughts of propriety, or of the horrendous pins and needles she’d be feeling in her wing. Secure in her friend’s hooves, she drifted back to sleep.


A/N: Special thanks to Dawning the Mask, FateSkyFire, and Lambotrist for editing this chapter. Also a big thanks to Wrabbit75 for going back and pointing out my mistakes. Feel free to do the same.

I still want to move to New Zealand and start an apple farm. I don't think I can get through the immigration process though.