//------------------------------// // 8. Beneath a Bushell // Story: And The Stars Shine Forth // by archonix //------------------------------// Beneath a Bushell There were but a few stars still visible as Luna made her way to the gate of Sweet Apple Acres, along a path that promised to be very familiar by the time her stay in Ponyville was ended. In Canterlot at this time her day would already be drawing to a close, the moon having fallen past the horizon some time ago and her still-truncated duties ended. Celestia would be upon her balcony, renewing the link between sun and earth and obsessively planning the many thoroughly boring details of the day ahead. Luna, meanwhile, would be bored out of her skull and trying to avoid the attentions of the oh-so-discreet watchers and spies Celestia had set to keep an eye on her. She slowed her pace to take in her surroundings, smiling and nodding to herself as she looked over the mist-laced meadows and dark-headed thickets scattered around the outskirts of town. Not a servant or noble or pestering palace official in sight. A flock of large black birds bounded and squabbled in the open field alongside the path as Luna passed by, calling to one another in loud, rough voices as they jockeyed for position in some indiscernible, ever-changing hierarchy. Luna paused at the gate to watch the clamour. Every now and then one of the birds would hop into the air and land at the centre of the group with a loud croak, setting off a flurry of flapping and pecking as the others tried to reorient around the interloper. Soon they would settle to a temporary peace and resume feeding and shouting at one another until another of the great black beasts rose into the air and started the whole thing over again. "Rooks," a voice said to her right, from the far side of the gate. Luna turned to look at the newcomer and smiled as she found Apple Spritzer leaning on the gate post. The old mare was watching the birds with a lazy sort of interest, not really paying attention to the individuals so much as the entire group. She examined a hoof as she spoke again. "Them's rooks. Tha's from t'city, aye, so tha's prob'ly wonderin' if thi's lookin' at crows, but them's rooks. Tha can always tell." She looked up at Luna with an unusually stern expression. "If tha see's a rook by it's own sel' it's a crow, an' if tha see's a pile o'crows in a field then thi's lookin at rooks." "I see." "Aye." The pair watched the birds frolic and fight for a short while longer until Luna turned, reluctantly, from the ongoing battle of the misty meadow. She cleared her throat. "If a crow were to find itself amongst the rooks, what would the outcome be?" For a moment Spritzer stared at the birds, pouting and tugging her lip with her teeth. She frowned. "Nothin' much. They don't alus see eye to eye but they's still birds. Rooks an' crows'll eat together. Even jackdaws, though them buggers is always off starin' at shiny trinkets. Now ravens, that's a different matter. Tha's prob'ly seen ravens, aye?" The look she gave Luna demanded an answer; Luna responded with a curt nod, which seemed to satisfy Spritzer. The old farmer turned back to look at the rooks, though her eyes settled some distance beyond the flock. She pulled her hooves onto the fence and leaned forward. "They look alike, but none of t'others stand to be round t'raven for long. Raven might try an' fit in but it'll stick out like a black chestnut on a white mare." As she spoke, Spritzer tossed another narrow-eyed glance toward Luna. "Sometimes they'll let it stay a while if they's not so hungry, but sooner or later they'll kick it out and send it packin'." "I see." Spritzer nodded slowly, looking at Luna with a more cheerful expression as she continued talking. "So tha's back for t'work, aye?" "Aye. I mean yes," Luna replied, turning away to hide the momentary flush of her embarrassment. She cleared her throat. "Applejack believes I can assist with the marking of your trees." "Oh Jack." Spritzer shook her head and laughed quietly as they began the short walk to the farmhouse. Another pony trotted past, oblivious to their presence as she made her way toward the orchards. "Tha's got her addled an' no mistake, youngun. Whatever tha said to 'er last night—" "We did nothing but look at the stars." "Then tha's made her lunatic," Spritzer shot back as they rounded a corner into the farmyard. It was empty today. All the workers were already lost amongst the trees and buried in their work. "Jack, tha's a complete and utter nit if tha thinks t'unicorns can 'ear t'trees." This last was addressed to Applejack herself, who had taken up a seat on the porch and was watching the pair through lidded eyes as they approached. A stalk of grass rolled lazily around her mouth as she chewed on it. "She only needs the basics, Spritzer." "Basics, she says." Spritzer kicked at a pebble and shook her head. "Aye, lunatic tha's come. It's one thing for a unicorn to buck apples, Jack, but this?" Applejack spat out her grass and pulled her hat forward. With a deliberate lack of haste she stretched her forelegs, rolling her shoulders several times before she slid from the chair and sidled over to the rail. "Spritzer, go join up with Fritter." "Jack—" "Did I ask a question, Apple Spritzer, or did I tell you to go join up with Fritter?" Taken aback by the force of Applejack's response, Spritzer didn't even give her usual 'aye' as she turned to leave. By the gate she paused briefly to look at Applejack and rolled her eyes before trotting away into the mist-filled orchard. Applejack didn't speak for a while after Spritzer had left. She stared at the trees, seemingly lost in thought until the rhythmic crack of applebucking echoed from the distance, followed by a loud whoop and the rumble of falling fruit. Her head jerked at the sound, her body following the movement a moment later as she quickly turned to face Luna. Just as quickly she looked away again, shaking her head slowly. "Sorry about that." "It is well, Applejack," Luna replied. She glanced over her shoulder at the distant farm gate and smiled. "Apple Spritzer was just explaining to me the difference between rooks and crows." "Y'all didn't know—" Applejack shook her head again. "Never mind. Guess you told her why you're here?" "I did. She did not seem well-disposed toward the idea." "Yeah, well that's Spritzer. If she ain't got a thing to complain about she'll make one up." Applejack kicked at the dirt under her hooves. "I didn't mean to snap at her like that. I should probably go talk to her at breakfast an' apologise for bein so curt." "I am sure she shall not bear a grudge against you." "Spend enough time around Spritzer and ya might change your mind about that, princess," Applejack replied with a rueful grin and what Luna assumed was meant to be a gentle thump on her shoulder. Fortunately the farm pony didn't notice Luna's clumsy stagger as she tried to remain upright nor did she hear the grinding clack Luna's teeth made as she bit down on an involuntary yelp. By the time Applejack was paying attention to her again Luna was entirely stable, though in the process of balancing against the blow one of her back hooves had dropped into what Luna sincerely hoped was just a muddy puddle. "Am I to assume she was correct?" "Kinda," Applejack replied. "I mean, y'all were half right last night, hearin' the trees is a sort of earth pony magic, I guess. It ain't really magic though, not like the fancy stuff y'all do with your horns. It's jus' listenin'." "All of our species embody their own forms of magic," Luna replied, wondering just why Applejack would so minimise her own talents, even as she attempted to identify the dubious ground on which her hoof rested. It didn't feel particularly hopeful. "But even if it is not a form of magic, still Apple Spritzer did not seem to believe that I as a unicorn would be capable of it." "She's just stubborn is all," Applejack responded. She glanced at Luna and almost smiled, but there was something in her eyes that Luna couldn't quite identify. "A pony like you could learn to hear the trees in their own way, I reckon. An earth pony like me who's spent her whole life listening, well she just has what Twilight would call a more imperlicit understandin' of what they say. Y'all could—shucks we're here talkin' about it when I should be showin' you how! You just come along now, I'll explain it all when we get there." Luna waited for Applejack to turn away before carefully extracting her hoof from the puddle. The distinct odour of pig slurry drifted past Luna's nose, just strong enough to make her think about gagging without actually doing so. She wrinkled her nose and tried to shake the worst of the muck from her hoof as Applejack lead her on toward the orchards. Grass, that was what she needed. Luna fell gratefully upon the thick, mossy carpet beneath the trees, scraping and rolling her hoof against the grass until her pace became an odd hopping stumble as she tried to keep up with Applejack. "You okay there?" Applejack had paused to watch Luna's progress. She pushed her hat back and shook her head at the sight. "I– I stepped in something." "Yeah, that'll happen on a farm," Applejack replied, grinning wryly. "Normally I'd say you should trim off those fetlocks but I reckon Rarity would tan ma hide in your case." Luna lifted a foreleg and peered thoughtfully at her hooves, not daring to think what her hind leg looked like at the moment. "She did seem rather enamoured with their appearance. I wasn't aware they were considered so attractive in this age." "Attractive? Well yeah, I guess some ponies like em. They seem to work for Mac anyway." Applejack nodded to the big red stallion as he passed by in the distance. They set off at a slow pace through the orchard again. "There's a water trough on the way, y'all can have a quick splash around in that if you need it." "I suppose that shall be sufficient," Luna replied, though she was unable to stop herself holding her nose in the air as she said it, prompting a chuckle and quiet remark about 'Canterlot princesses' from her friend. They were heading toward the part of the orchard Luna had visited on her first evening prior to her work, far away from the vast, young monocultured trees that bore Sweet Apple Acres' most profitable harvests. Here the trees stood farther apart from one another, spaced less evenly, their trunks gnarled and twisted in their age and their branches reaching toward one another as if stretching out for support and comfort. Luna found herself glancing up at the overladen boughs to see if she could identify their fruit, but she couldn't quite make out the breed except that they were a rather colourful green; in the end it seemed they were still just apples to her untrained eyes. As Applejack had promised they shortly came to a water trough, though as Luna trotted up to it she found to her dismay that it was almost completely empty. A shallow, greening puddle stretched along the bottom, sluggish and dark and reeking of algae. Luna placed a forehoof on the edge of the trough and stared at the water for a while, wondering if the new stink would be preferable to the status quo. "I guess I should have seen that coming," Applejack sighed. She peered into the trough and shook her head. "Maybe y'all could magic some water out of the ground and fill it." Luna's hoof tapped against the trough as she considered the idea. "Tempting as that may be, Applejack, I fear such an act might impact the health of your orchard." "That so?" "It is indeed so," Luna replied as she turned from the trough. Her gaze came to rest on Applejack and for a moment she was struck by how attentive the pony before her had become. A smile crept to Luna's lips as she spoke. "It is a matter of balance. Were I to extract water from the ground sufficient to fill this trough, I would leave a volume of extremely dry soil that would in its turn draw moisture from the rest of the orchard." "Ain't that much water though, right? We don't normally take more than a couple of buckets out of the well to fill one of these." The trough rattled under a hefty kick that set the slimy puddle at its base waving sluggishly back and forth. "In truth no," Luna replied. She scuffed at the ground; Applejack's gaze lowered to her hoof. "However, if I were to do it but once, the temptation would then be to use the same shortcut again and again without heed. Many of our more powerful unicorn brethren even today see no issue with such behaviour. It is one of the many reasons why the unicorn tribe lost the ability to farm." "Oh. I get ya." Applejack lifted her head and pushed her hat back to scratch at her mane. "I can see how that'd be a problem, yeah. Guess it ain't quite the same as digging a well after all." Luna shook her head and Applejack, nodding quietly, turned back to look at the empty trough, lost in thought. She stared at the water for a good few moments before she spoke again; her voice when she did was quieter, somehow less bold than Luna had come to expect from the brash farmer. "Y'all talked about balance," she said, looking up at Luna, frowning slightly and narrowing her eyes just a little. "What about if you took just a little bit of water from all over the place? Would that work?" "Theoretically," Luna replied slowly, tapping her chin. She stepped away from the trough. Applejack seemed to take it as a sign they should keep walking and the pair had soon left the clearing behind. "That's a Twilight answer right there. Theoretically." Applejack shook her head and laughed. "She either clams up cause she reckons I won't un'erstand, or she comes out with all this hubbub about quantum laryngitis or some doohicky like it an' proves I can't." "I was not aware that Twilight would look down on you so." Applejack's gait faltered for a moment and she frowned, but then shook her head. "She don't. It's just the way she talks. She ain’t dishonest or mean about it, though when she holds it back sometimes I feel like maybe she's hidin' something, y'know?" After a moment's hesitation that she was sure Applejack would spot, Luna spoke again. "Do you feel that I am hiding something, Applejack?" Again the apple farmer laughed and shook her head before tilting her hat back to get a better look at Luna. There was no suspicion on her face when she spoke, though she hesitated for just a moment. Luna felt herself blush at the sudden attention and turned away before her own face betrayed her. "Sugarcube, y'all are as easy to read as one of Twilight's books. The kind with the big letters an' the pictures that Bloom used to read when she was little." Applejack's pace slowed as they passed by an obscure marker that Luna couldn't interpret, but that seemed to please Applejack simply by its presence. "All you're hidin' from me is the answer 'bout that water." "Oh." "If ya think I wouldn't get it—" "No, it is simply..." Luna closed her eyes and held her breath for a moment as she tried to order her thoughts. That Applejack seemed to take everything she said at face value felt strangely troubling, yet the worry was tempered by Applejack's eagerness to acquire her knowledge. She let out the breath and willed herself to relax. At her side, Applejack was peering around the orchard, perhaps already sinking into the routine of her work, but Luna could feel the curiosity radiating from her even so. "In one sense it is not a complex skill. Telekinesis is something all unicorns master at an early age." As she spoke, Luna cast a sliver of magic toward the ground, drawing a few drops of moisture together into a slender string that she curled up into the air before the two of them. Applejack watched the water raptly, her eyes widening at the sight and a little smile playing across her lips. She lifted a hoof to the water and then hesitated with the tip of it mere fractions of an inch away from the flowing surface. "So ya could do it?" "As I said, in theory it is possible." Luna idly formed the water into a loop around Applejack's outstretched hoof and held it in place, waiting to see how Applejack would react. With great care Applejack raised her hoof a little higher and laughed as the water moved with it. "Well ain't that somethin',” she said, smiling. “But there's a but, right?" "A caveat, yes. Two in fact. The first is that most unicorns have a great deal of trouble manipulating more than a few objects at a time." Luna unwound the watery band, releasing Applejack from its bonds. The water broke apart into a spray that fell pattering to the grass as she dispelled her magic. "Which leads to the second. Water, in fact all non-solids, cannot be handled as simply as a piece of rock." As she spoke Luna brought forth another thread of her magic, levitating a small stone from her hooves until it floated between them. Another thought set the stone circling between the pair. Applejack put her hoof down as she watched the pebble swinging back and forth in its orbit. "Why not?" "For the same reason you cannot hold water between your hooves," Luna replied. She held up a hoof against the stone, halting its motion through the air with ease. "I can hold this stone with my magic much as I hold it with my hoof because it is solid. If I press one part of it, the rest moves with it." She pushed against the stone, moving it out of the grasp of her magic."Water is not the same. Press on it and it moves away. Grasp it as you would a rock and it escapes." The stone fell as Luna's magic ceased its hold upon it, a trail of shimmering motes chasing it to the ground. They both watched it land. "Okay, I think I get it. So y'all need a magical bucket. Or maybe some sort of invisible tube thing." Applejack lifted her hoof to stare at the damp ring of hair around her wrist and then looked around at the orchard, hear ears tilting this way and that as she mulled over the problem. "And I guess if you wanted to pull little drops of water from all over the place y'all would need a whole heap of tiny little magic buckets?" "Yes! Though the analogy is not perfect. In reality they are a manipulation of the standing magical field that introduces a series of tensors which create a kinetic potential well in the local aetheric topological matrix. To implement multiple instances of such a topology over a broad area would require an immense level of both power and control that..." Something in the way Applejack's shoulders sagged a little made Luna lose her train of thought. She moved a little closer to her companion and nosed at her cheek. "Applejack? Is there something the matter?" "Naw, ain't nothin'." She turned her head away and then let out a loud grunt. "Okay, maybe it is. Ya got lost in those big ol' words like Twilight does when she thinks an idea ain't all that interestin'." Luna smiled. She couldn't help herself, faced with Applejack's downcast face and folded ears that spoke of how much she had wanted the idea to succeed. Or perhaps she had just wanted Luna's approval of it? "Dunno what ya'll are so happy about," Applejack groused as they resumed walking. "Your belief that an idea which has been studied by generations of extremely talented unicorns is uninteresting, Applejack, amuses me greatly. That is why I smile." She waited a moment for the words to sink in. Somehow Applejack managed to frown and raise her eyebrows at the same time, but her ears popped forward a moment later and she looked up. "Generations? Really?" "Of course. The greatest minds of our history have studied problems of this nature in order to discover more efficient farming techniques. The consensus has long been that many little magical buckets would be the most effective way to draw large amounts of water without causing any significant issue, though I understand the idea was not particularly popular amongst the earth ponies of the day, who considered the use of magic to be dangerously lazy; neither was it popular amongst unicorns, who prefer to extract water from a single column of earth in order to minimise their energy expenditure. In fact the strength or finesse required to manipulate so many objects rules out the technique for all but the most powerful or talented of mages." "I expect they ain't all that interested in farmin'," Applejack mused, shaking her head.  "It is so, Applejack," Luna replied with just the hint of another smile. "In addition I can think of three alive today who could perform such a task. Two are alicorns." "And I guess the third..." Applejack's head tipped back. Her laughter danced in Luna's ears like the rustling of leaves in a breeze. "Twilight?" "Indeed. She has immense skill, though I understand she has lapses of control when she is under stress." "You could say that," Applejack said, frowning. She glanced up at her trees and grinned, though there was an odd tilt to her mouth. When she spoke again Luna could hear a hint of melancholy in Applejack's voice. "I should have figured. A year or so back she helped out with the harvest after I went and tried to clear out the entire east orchard alone. I saw her scoot all the apples clean off four or five trees at the same time like she was picking a daisy. That one sure is somethin' else." "Perhaps you should employ her to fill your water troughs," Luna replied. Applejack's laughter echoed around the orchard. The last of the stars had disappeared when they reached their destination and Luna, finally paying attention to their surroundings, found she was momentarily unable to articulate what she saw. The orchard appeared as a vast, deep and ancient forest before her, its carpet of perfectly flat turf stretching into the distance between broad, rugged trunks. Here and there she could see small circular depressions in the ground, too regular and evenly spaced to be anything natural, but clearly out of use for quite some time. They were free of grass too, she noticed as she peered into one. Rich red earth and a thin layer of dried, cracked clay lined the bottom of the pit. "Flood catchers," Applejack explained before Luna could even formulate the question. She wandered up next to the princess and peeked into the earthen bowl before turning away. "The soil up here don't take in water too easy. Tends to flash-flood when the rain comes through, so paw or gramps probably figured they might as well get some use out of it an' dug these holes all over to hold on to some of the water. Whenever a flood comes through we got ourselves a nice set of waterin' troughs all read an' waitin' and it helps water the trees too. Maintainin' them is a pain in the dock but they're worth it." "How ingenious," Luna replied as she turned away from the pit. The description had sparked something in her head, an idea she might be able to discuss with Twilight later on that evening. She filed it away and turned her attention back to Applejack. The farmer had apparently fallen madly in love with one of the trees if the way she was gently caressing its trunk was any indication. Applejack's quiet murmurings to the tree as Luna approached did nothing to dispel the notion. Applejack's loving monologue continued until she happened to glance up at Luna. Her jaw set and her mouth turned down for a moment. "Old trees. They can get kind of ornery round this time of year." "They do not appear any different from the others," said Luna as she turned to examine another of the trees. It stood mute and firm and imposing, every inch the strong tall silent type so favoured by certain romance authors. Applejack's replying grin carried just a hint of a secret to it. She raised her eyebrows and patted the tree trunk as she stepped away. "Trees ain't much for expressin' themselves. I mean they're trees, right? But they're still alive, they still move with the sun and feel the air on their leaves an' they get more ornery than Granny Smith when they're old and a storm is comin'. That's the kind of stuff ya have to listen out for." Ears twitching as she looked this way and that, Applejack trotted a quick circle around Luna until her eyes came to rest on a pair of trees a short distance away. With a nod and a quiet snort she nudged Luna and pointed her in the direction of the two trees. "Y'all see those two?" "I do," Luna replied. She tilted her head and couldn't help a playful smile as they walked toward the pair. "Is this to be a test of my ability to discern which is ready to 'drop', as I think you might put it?" "Ain't nothing wrong with a little test," Applejack responded, now taking her own turn to raise her chin a little. She indicated the trees again with a tilt of her head. "Okay, you tell me which one of these trees can stand to be thinned off before tomorrow." Sporting what she knew was a grin far too cocky, Luna sauntered up between the trees, before leaning against one and curling around it to look back at her friend. "You must be aware I have slightly better than even odds of picking the correct tree purely by accident? It might be this one." Luna watched Applejack through narrowed eyes as she curled languorously around one tree and then the other, relishing the touch of rough bark against her coat, a sensation she hadn't enjoyed for quite some time. Her hoof slipped to the ancient wood. "Or it might be that—" Though barely noticeable, nevertheless the tree shivered beneath Luna's touch. She paused, frowning, and turned to stare at its trunk, then raised her eyebrow at Applejack in turn. The farm pony's eyes were wide and focussed, fixed on Luna's hoof as if to urge it on. Luna let her eyes return to the gnarled, lichen-crusted bark of the tree as she searched her memories for any similar reaction. She had worked as a farmer in the past, but never in an orchard and certainly never in such close relation to the earth as Applejack apparently enjoyed. She hesitantly recalled the events of her first morning as Applejack had patiently explained the mechanics of apple bucking. "Applejack?" She couldn't help or hide the quaver in her voice. Applejack trotted to her side, grinning fit to burst and tapped the tree gently. No apple fell upon them this time. "Seems like Montana here likes you," Applejack said. Her grin faded as she looked into Luna's eyes; it seemed as if she was searching for something in particular, but Luna had no idea what it might be. She felt her heart contract in her breast, drawing the breath from her lungs. "A-Applejack, I—" The farmer lowered her eyes. Her hoof had strayed to the tree again and she began to stroke it gently, sounding out a rhythmic rat-tat-tat as her shoe bounced across the rough bark. Each touch drew a susurration from amongst the highest branches of the tree. "Like I said, you're easy to read as one of Twilight's books." Her hoof slowed and fell to the ground. She looked into Luna's face again. Luna felt a blush rising on her cheeks and quickly looked away. Of course the bearer of Honesty would be able to see through such a shoddily-worn disguise. What other outcome should Luna have expected? She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I have been foolish," she whispered. "I thought, even after all this time, I could maintain the façade, but—" "Now look, I ain't one to judge what a pony don't tell another. I hide stuff all the time, it ain't a thing to be ashamed of, long as you don't lie about it when a pony asks." Applejack stroked the beginnings of a tear from Luna's face and smiled at her. Again Luna's heart rolled and tightened. How had Applejack so easily discerned the truth? And why wasn't she reacting with fear, or with anger? "None but Twilight was supposed to know! She— we share such secrets as you have not seen, Applejack, I would not keep any such from her." Not knowing what to do, Luna began to pace between the two trees, pausing at the foot of each for only as long as it took to see them. "But now I say it aloud, you must surely believe I keep myself hidden from any friend I find. Yet I am no liar, Applejack!" Luna's pacing ceased at the foot of one of the trees. She stared up into branches that her burgeoning tears reduced to a fractal nonsense of light and dark. "All I wished was to find companionship and seek out a life different from my own, but now I shall never— Oh, I am undone!" Luna fell to the ground with an almighty sob, not caring about the undignified heap in which she ended up, or that her new arboreal companion shuddered yet again at the touch of her hooves. Yet through her keening she heard, not the reproach she had expected, but a quiet, friendly laughter. The surprise was such that she found herself entirely unable to concentrate on her self-pity. Luna scrubbed at her eyes and looked over her shoulder at Applejack. The farmer took off her hat and fanned her face. "I've gotta hand it to you, that right there could give Rarity's best a run for her money." "I-I do not..." Luna frowned. She lifted her head to peer at Applejack, her fears forgotten for the moment. "You are not angry at my deception?" "You ain't deceived me about a dang thing, Sable," replied Applejack. Why was she keeping up the pretence? Then the farmer stepped over to Luna's side and nuzzled at her cheek. Luna's mind reeled as the certainty of her fear fell away under the soft warmth of Applejack's breath. "B-but I did not tell you of my true nature, Applejack." "Well now..." Applejack dropped her hat on the ground and settled on the grass next to Luna. With so slender a space between them the cool morning air soon grew warm and comforting, and Luna soon found herself leaning closer to her companion. Applejack remained unmoved, neither accepting nor rejecting the motion. "What if I told you I already figured it out?" "I am not sure I understand." "First day you were here to work, you touched that tree, it shook itself up like it weren't expectin' you at all. I put it out of my mind at the time, but then after how you acted out last night... well, I got to thinkin'." Applejack rubbed her forehead and snorted quietly. "You ain't just some fancy-britches unicorn come down from the city to yuck it up with Twilight for a few weeks. Y'all are... well remember what I said, that something ain't always what it looks like?" Luna's jaw felt as if it would crush itself, bound by the same fear that had tormented her the day the Nightmare had been banished from her body. She swallowed and held her head still. At her side, Applejack let her hoof fall to the ground again, frowning and silent. She turned her face away to the orchard. "I sure as all never meant for you to think I was tryin' to trick anything out of you. I just figured maybe it'd be a kindness to show you a way of the world you probably ain't seen before." She pressed her forehooves together and stared at the grass trapped between them. "I know it ain't easy, bein' one thing on the inside and another on the outside." With a sigh Applejack rolled away from Luna and onto her side, stealing the warmth away as she went. Luna shivered under the cool air that replaced her friend; she clenched her jaw without thought, and closed her eyes as she turned away again. It was only after a moment of silence that she realised Applejack not acting as she had expected. Her lack of obeisance, the frankly intimate way she had treated Luna in the aftermath of the supposed revelation, these were not the actions of a pony who had just found a princess hiding in her orchard. Luna reached toward the tree to let the tip of her hoof brush against its bark, and felt its heartwood sigh at her contact. "Applejack?" Luna's glamour had been incomplete by design, leaving aspects of all three races alive within her body even if they appeared hidden, in order that she could escape it on a whim. Perhaps Applejack had recognised the magic of her own kind within Luna. Would it be a lie to allow herself to confess as much as Applejack had discerned, and no more? She looked up at the tree, then turned her eyes toward Applejack. Her throat closed up, just for a moment. Just long enough to hold the truth inside. Luna swallowed and took another sharp, short breath. "Tell me. What do you believe I am?" Applejack's ears fell back. She turned, her head bouncing back and forth so that she would look anywhere but Luna. "Sable—" "Please, Applejack." Please lie for me. Applejack's ears rolled forward at the plea and she turned, tilting her head to one side as she examined Luna. Her eyes narrowed abruptly. "It don't matter," she said, and then closed them. "You're a pony. You can kick apples out of trees. That's all I care about." "You must care about a little more than that, Applejack," Luna replied. She kept her voice low, lest her words spook her friend. "You care enough to seek an answer. You care enough to question your actions when you come to believe you may have hurt me." She reached out to touch Applejack's hoof and tried to smile when the farmer looked at her in surprise. "It is true I have hidden much from many ponies. It is my nature, I suppose, to divulge only that which is necessary to live a life. But I promise you this, Applejack. If you ask anything of me, I shall not withhold it." She found her hoof wrapped in both of Applejack's. The farmer – her friend – returned Luna's smile and nodded just a little. "Ask," Luna prompted. Applejack sighed and shook her head. "Fine, if that's the way you want to play it. Are you part earth pony?" Luna snorted and bowed her head, letting her eyes drop to the grass on which they lay. "I embody the strengths of the earth tribe. Your people are a part of me, as much as the unicorn." She raised her eyes again to Applejack and couldn't help but be amused at the odd frown the farmer now wore. "Is that a satisfactory answer?" "Kind of a weird answer." Applejack clambered to her hooves, grabbing her hat as she rose, then slapping it atop her head, all business once again. She looked up at the tree they had rested beneath. "Anyhow, now that's out of the way, did ya figure which was which?" "I shall assume both," Luna replied as she likewise stood. Applejack's head bobbed as she tried to conceal her laughter, but she was unable to hide the grin that filled her face. "It would appear I was correct." "Lucky guess." "Indeed. However, were I in your position I might have employed the same trickery." "It ain't a trick," Applejack shot back. She turned, leading Luna out into the rest of the orchard once again. "It was a test." "Of course. I would apologise, but a pony of some importance advised me that to do so would be cause for much trouble." Applejack's ears twitched. A moment later she burst out laughing, and Luna couldn't deny herself the chance to join in. They walked on quietly for a while longer until they reached another boundary marker, at which Applejack halted and turned to look back along their route. She grinned at Luna. Then her smile faded a little. "Spritzer'll be fixin to have a fit about this, one way or the other." "All shall be well, Applejack," Luna replied. She raised her nose a little. "Besides,  you do not appear to be the type to tolerate ill temper from your associates. I am sure she shall see reason." "Like I said, spend enough time around her..." Applejack shook her head. "Family, huh? Can't live with 'em, can't toss 'em in the creek." And that was Luna's turn to laugh. She leaned her head close to Applejack, not quite touching the farmer's cheek. "It is a truth I believe we both know all too well. Now, how might we set about this marking?" "Well it's simple enough. We'll work the first twenty together, so I can show you what you're lookin' for. If they're ready to drop just mark them with— aw shoot," she growled, glaring at the nearest tree. "I forgot the chalk." "That is not a concern, Applejack," Luna replied. The farmer turned to her with a frown, but it disappeared as Luna's magic sprang to life and drew a pair stumpy twigs from the ground near one of the trees. A powerful flare of the same magic reduced the twigs to charcoal. She passed one over to Applejack with a graceful bow. "Shall this suffice?" Applejack examined the charcoal stick and then nodded, before tucking it into her hatband. She held out a hoof toward the nearest tree. "After you, princess." "Why thank you, Applejack," Luna replied as she sauntered toward the trunk. Close to it she paused and looked up at the branches. Which was when Luna recalled that Applejack had neglected to tell her how she was supposed to discern when a tree was prepared to give up its fruit. She stared at her tree, then at the charcoal that still drifted in her magic as she pondered the way to overcome this issue. Asking Applejack would have been the obvious choice, but the farmer had decided to make herself scarce right at that moment – possibly as another test. Possibly to find a privy. Regardless, Luna was alone. Tentatively, slowly, she reached out to touch the bark and waited for some sort of response, but the tree remained silent. Luna lifted her hoof and stared at its branches again. Of course an epiphany of that sort would have been far too simple. In all her times as an earth pony, Luna had never once had to commune with the trees, or indeed with any nature on such a fundamental level. She had always preferred the lives of makers, builders and craftsmares to the toil and hardship of a farmer's life. Perhaps it was an oversight she should correct in future. She turned to seek her friend, who would gladly answer the question— and then she turned back to the tree, frowning as a curious notion formed in her mind. She placed her hoof against the bark once more, closed her eyes and spoke. "Are you ready?" Outwardly nothing changed. The tree shifted against her in a breeze that rippled through the orchard, trailing behind it the quiet hiss of shaking leaves. Within, she became acutely aware of something that felt as if it had always been at the back of her mind. Of course it was ready. In fact it had been ready for nearly a week and was becoming quite upset, inasmuch as a tree could feel such things. Luna resisted the urge to scratch at her legs as she withdrew her hoof and stared up at the apples again, bobbing away in a light breeze. "It is a strange thing," she mused. "The solution to so many problems is to simply speak. Shall I do so now, and risk my friendship? Or shall I wait until she finds cause to ask?" The tree before her remained silent, perhaps pondering the question. Luna stared up into its branches and was struck by a recollection that made her smile, until she heard Applejack's voice echoing amongst the trees. "Sable, y'ain't here for dawdlin'! Git along there!" Applejack came prancing up between the trees, with her head bobbing and a stern set to her eyes and jaw. She paused. "Something the matter?" "I was merely considering." She pursed her lips as she thought over how to phrase her next words. "Did you not say Twilight removed a great many apples from your trees at one point?" "That she did." Applejack's face split in a wry grin at the look Luna gave her. She nodded, then shook her head and let out another, very different laugh. "I didn't have the heart to tell her at the time. I just made sure she stuck to cartin' afterwards. I tell ya though, we ain't been wantin' for compost this whole year." "I see," Luna replied. She turned to the tree to begin what she hoped would be a thorough and efficient examination, until Applejack nudged her in the ribs. "There ain't nothin bad that can't have something good grow out of it," she declared. "I sincerely hope you are correct, Applejack," Luna replied as she marked her first tree.