Applejack’s eyes opened in the early-morning darkness. Like clockwork, the rooster’s call sounded out as she sat up and stretched her back. She rolled out of bed and shook off the sleep, before walking to her vanity. She lit a lantern ahead of the rising sun, and pulled a fresh set of red ribbons from their box. As she did up her mane and tail, she smiled at herself in the mirror.

“Mornin’, Li’l Apple,” she recited. “It’s a hard day a’ workin’ ahead, you do your momma an’ me proud.”

Her grin widened as she plopped her Stetson into place. “I always try my best, daddy.”

She cantered from her bedroom and down the stairs into the kitchen. As the rest of the house woke up, she cooked breakfast, and Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom, and Granny Smith sat down to big plates of scrambled eggs, toast, and tall glasses of juice. They tucked in together, eating with practiced speed. The sun poked up over the horizon as they finished, and without a word spoken, Applejack cleared their plates.

Big Mac stepped out the front door with a nod, heading off to the west orchards, while Granny Smith pulled a chair up to the sink to wash dishes. Applejack headed outside, the day’s chores playing through her thoughts, when Apple Bloom poked her on the shoulder.

“What’s up, sis?” Applejack walked to the side of the farmhouse and harnessed herself into a cart full of empty baskets. “I gotta get an early start.”

“It’s, uh…” Apple Bloom shuffled her hooves on the ground and looked down. “Well…I was hopin’ ya’d walk me to the first day a’ school, like ya did last year.”

Applejack’s eyes widened and she smacked her forehead. “It’s the first day for ya already? Dang, this summer’s flown by.” She chuckled and undid the harness. “’Course I’ll walk ya, AB; ain’t no Apple that’s gotta walk to the first day a’ school all on their lonesome.”

Apple Bloom’s face brightened and she rushed back inside, emerging with a messenger bag around her neck. She smiled at her big sister and headed for the main road. Applejack gave a brief glance to the cart, and then out into the fields; Applebuck Season had begun and the crop was massive. She let out a sigh, thankful her brother was in top form, and trotted to catch up to Apple Bloom.

“Ya excited to be back in school?”

“Uh huh.” They passed out of the orchards and onto the dirt street, catching sight of the town hall off in the distance. “Summer’s always tons a’ fun, but so’s school. Don’t get no chance to use math outta school.”

She chuckled. “I never could wrap my noggin ‘round math when I was a filly. Got enough now to keep all the books for the farm right, but it ain’t my strong subject. Good to see you got the math bug.”

Apple Bloom smirked. “I ain’t that good, I just like it.”

“Well, it’s a good thing for you to like.” At Apple Bloom’s shrug, she asked, “Anythin’ else you been lookin’ forward to?”

“Well, I missed Miss Cheerilee, an’ even though I saw ‘em both all the time over the summer, I always like doin’ school stuff with Sweetie Belle an’ Scootaloo.”

“I don’t doubt it. Y’all three’re inseparable. Good to see that, too. I didn’t have any friends like that when I was your age.”

As they turned down the road circling downtown Ponyville, Apple Bloom raised her eyebrow. “Ya didn’t have no friends?”

“Nah, AB, I had friends, they just weren’t like you with Scootaloo an’ Sweetie Belle. I saw ‘em at school, an’ we kicked around a soccer ball at the park sometimes, but I didn’t have no club with ‘em or nothin’.”

“Secret society,” Apple Bloom corrected.

“Secret society, then.” She chuckled. “Ya know I went to school with Rarity?”

“Did ya really? So you were fibbin’ an’ did have a friend like that?”

“Nope! We pretty much hated each other.”

Apple Bloom skidded to a halt and stared at her sister, her jaw hanging open in astonishment. Applejack laughed. “We didn’t fight or nothin’, just didn’t get along. I was always, well…doin’ the sorta stuff y’all like to do: playin’ sports, climbin’ trees, goin’ on adventures ‘round the woods.”

Applejack started walking again, and her sister followed alongside, listening closely. “Rarity was always playin’ tea an’ house. She was real proud a’ her collection a’ Fluffy Kitten Tales dolls. I said maybe a whole dozen words to her ‘fore we were outta school. She wasn’t mean or nothin’, we just didn’t see eye to eye. Still don’t much, but we got other stuff, now that we’re all grown.”

As they walked, Applejack’s thoughts jumped back a full year. Truth be told, she hadn’t seen eye to eye with Rarity for most of her life, polite enough around town, but strangers in passing. It had been at a rained-in slumber party at Twilight’s where she had at last buried the hatchet with Rarity.

Thinking about slumber parties at Twilight’s brought a different set of memories to mind, and a blush colored her cheeks as she realized Apple Bloom was still watching her. She cleared her throat and continued, “Me an’ all the girls’re thick as thieves now, just like you an’ your friends.”

The school house came into view and Applejack knelt down by her sister. “I’m real glad ya got a pair like those two. I ain’t ever been as happy without my friends as I am now, an’ I sure am glad ya got a group just like ‘em.” She ruffled Apple Bloom’s mane, her smile widening as her sister scowled and straightened her bow. “I’m real proud of you, Apple Bloom. Momma an’ Daddy’d be real proud of you, too.”

Apple Bloom grinned and hugged Applejack around the neck. “Thanks, sis.”

“You have yourself a good first day. I’ll be seein’ ya.”

Breaking away, Apple Bloom hurried off to the schoolyard, disappearing into the growing crowd of fillies and colts. Applejack saw Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle among the bustle, nodded once, and turned back towards the road. Her smile drifted to a neutral line and her trot turned into a canter, then a half gallop, as the sun crept further above the horizon.

As she arrived back on the farm, she eyed the orchards, fat with apples ready for bucking, and hurried up to the house to grab the cart. She could hear the creak of Granny Smith’s rocker through the window as she did up the harness. She set out at a trot.

A wheel on the cart fell off.

“Oh, what the hey?” Applejack muttered in annoyance and unstrapped herself again. She rounded on the cart; the end cap on the axle had snapped off, leaving a jagged spray of splintered wood from which the wheel slid free. Her grumblings grew louder as she shoved her side against the cart.

The axle straightened up from the ground as she supported the broken side, and she pawed at the fallen wheel, pulling it closer. She lined up the hub with the splintered end of the axle. “Almost,” she grunted. “Just need this ta hold for long enough to get it to the barn…”

A snap of wood fired like a gunshot as the other end cap broke. The second wheel gave and the cart bed crashed to the ground.

“Oh, for Luna’s sake!” Applejack stamped her hoof, scowling and gnashing her teeth. She stomped back to the harness, grabbed it in her teeth, and pulled. Plumes of dust kicked up as she dragged the broken cart across the yard, beads of sweat dribbling down her brow. The distance between the house and the barn seemed much further than she remembered as she inched her way in the rising sunlight.

At last she got the cart inside and let out a breath. “This is just what I needed…” Rounding the workbenches, she picked through the spare wood until she found a sturdy new axle. She did a quick size-check on the cart and sighed in relief. “Least we had this.”

She fetched the wheels from the side of the house and got to work replacing the axle. When the cart was back in action, she strapped herself in for the third time and headed for the south orchards.

According to the sun, more than half the morning was gone.

Applejack groaned. “Gonna be one of those Applebuck Seasons, ain’t it?” Her trot turned to a gallop, and she rounded a row of trees. She cursed under her breath while setting up baskets around the first in line. “Alright…bit of a late start, but I ain’t gonna let no hiccoughs mess up today, no sirree.” She reared back to buck.

“Sis!”

Her aim faltered and she hit the trunk at a bad angle. A single apple fell, bounced off her head, and landed in a basket. She tipped back her hat and rubbed the sore spot, doing her best to keep the annoyance out of her tone; her brother sounded worried. “I’m over here, Mac! What’cha need?”

Big Macintosh stepped around the row, trotting sheepishly to meet her. He mumbled something she couldn’t make out.

“Come again?”

“…There’s a spider on one a’ the trees.”

Applejack gave him a blank stare. After a moment, she rolled her eyes and let out a breath. “I swear ta Celestia, Mac, you’ve gotta get over this one a’ these days.”

“They just got so many legs…” He looked away and rubbed his knee.

She cast a venomous glare at the tree, gave it a buck, and trotted down the path as the baskets filled. “C’mon, ya big baby, let’s get rid’a that critter ‘fore ya have yourself a heart attack.”

They made their way into the west orchards, Applejack leading the way and Big Mac following behind her. She noted with some relief that despite her own morning, her brother had been making swift work of the grove, clearing several rows. She got to the next tree in line still bearing fruit and looked around. “Alright, where’s the creepy-crawly at?”

Big Mac peered around his sister. “It was on the trunk…”

“It ain’t there now.” She looked up and down the apple tree and along the ground. “Must’a wandered off when it heard ya whimperin’,” she teased. “I’m gettin’ back to work.”

“But it might still be here,” he whimpered.

Applejack stifled a groan. “Alright, alright. Help me find it at least. Don’t gimme that look; darn thing ain’t gonna bite ya just for seein’ it.” Applejack worked up and down the row, searching out the spider, wondering how long she’d need to look before Big Mac would be satisfied that it was gone. After several fruitless minutes, she straightened up. “I reckon it’s flown the coop, Mac. I’m gonna head back now, an’…”

Big Macintosh stared wide-eyed at her, his knees shaking. She followed his gaze up, and lifted the hat from her head. He stepped back and mewled as she examined the fat, black spider perched in the gutter-dent of her Stetson. “Well, howdy, little fella!”

Big Mac gulped and averted his eyes. Applejack grinned at him. “I’ll get this critter outta your mane. Then I’m gettin’ back to work.”

“You’re gonna take it off the farm, right?”

She couldn’t help herself snickering. “No, I’m gonna leave it on your pillow. ‘Course I’m gonna take it out; no sense stickin’ it back in a tree and have ya blubberin’ to me again.”

The color drained from his face as he imagined finding the spider on his pillow.

“Oh, Mac,” she marveled. “What would’ja do without me?”

“Spray for spiders.”

She shook her head, gave him a wink, and headed back the way she came. The smile slid from her face as she trotted out of the farm. “Lan’ sakes, I ain’t got a’ lick of work done,” she groaned. She coaxed the spider from her hat and into a tree on the opposite side of the road, and turned around. A weary sigh escaped her muzzle as she stared at the heavy crop.

Her gaze turned skyward and she winced. It was almost midday and she had bucked a grand total of one tree. “Some days…”

As she dragged herself back across the road, she heard the sound of feet marching towards her. She turned to see Spike making his way from Ponyville. “Hi, Applejack!”

She tried to sound enthusiastic. “Howdy, Spike! What can I do ya for?”

“Twilight asked me to bring you this.” He caught up with her and handed over a scroll.

She groaned. “A letter? What the heck’s happened now? I swear, today…”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s anything bad; she was happy when she gave it to me.”

Applejack frowned as she pulled off the ribbon.

Dear Applejack,

I know Applebuck Season has just started for you, and I wanted to extend the same offer as last year to help, if you need it. Even if your brother isn’t hurt this time around, I’m sure an extra set of hooves or five would still be helpful.

I also know you have a tendency to work yourself to exhaustion, and since we didn’t get together on Saturday, I was hoping you’d meet me for lunch at the café. I understand if you’re busy and don’t want to pull yourself away, but a relaxing lunch might be a good change of pace!

Also, I missed seeing you on Saturday, so I’m being a little selfish.

I’ll be there around noon, and I hope to see you. If not, we always have next Saturday.

—Twilight Sparkle

Applejack let go of the letter and watched it spring closed. Her frown turned to a small smile as she turned to Spike. “Just Twi invitin’ me to lunch. Thanks for bringin’ it out, Spike, that was mighty nice of ya.”

“You’re welcome!” he beamed. “I’m gonna go home now. See you around, Applejack.” She waved as he headed back down the road, and then she looked back at the letter, then the trees, then the sky.

“I ain’t gonna get nothin’ done this mornin’ anyway. Might as well go meet Twi for some grub an’ start fresh after.” She grinned at the thought and straightened. Grabbing the letter, she trotted back to the farmhouse.

Granny looked up from her rocker and set her knitting to the side as Applejack walked in. “Hey there, missy! Lunch time already?”

“Not quite, Granny. I got this here letter from Twilight askin’ me to meet her in town for lunch, so it’s just gonna be you an’ Mac today.”

“Well, alright then. That friend a’ yours in trouble?”

Applejack chuckled. “I thought that, but nope, she just wants to say howdy. This mornin’ ain’t been treatin’ me too good, so I thought gettin’ away an’ seein’ a friendly face oughta get me in a better mood.” She climbed the steps up to her room, and tossed the letter onto her vanity. When she arrived back downstairs, there was a bounce in her step. “I’m feelin’ better already an’ I ain’t even seen her yet.”

Granny picked up her knitting. “Take care, dear.”

Applejack’s walk into town went by quickly, and she found herself humming. Her grin widened as she went, waving a hoof or tipping her hat to passersby. “Gotta thank Twi proper for invitin’ me. She got my number good; this is exactly what I needed. Applebuck Season.” She shook her head. “Every dang year, somethin’ new goes wrong.” She chuckled to herself as the café came into view. Twilight waited for her at an outdoor table, waving enthusiastically at her approach.

“You came!” Twilight called. “I didn’t know if you would; I know how intensive this time of year is for you.”

Applejack took a seat on a hay bale and tipped her hat back. “I reckon I probably would’a said no if’n I didn’t have the mornin’ I did.”

“Got a good head start?”

“I didn’t do squat.” At Twilight’s bemused blink, Applejack laughed. “Just about everythin’ that could go wrong did. When Spike showed up, I hadn’t had a chance to even properly start. Figured I could start fresh an’ have a better time of it after lunch.”

Twilight folded up her menu and set it to the side. “What happened?”

“Oh, nothin’ too awful, just stuff keepin’ me from workin’. Plum forgot AB was startin’ school up again, my cart threw a wheel, an’ Mac needed me to chase a critter off.” She opened her own menu.

“An animal was loose on the farm? Must have been really dangerous for your brother to need help; should we talk to Fluttershy about keeping others away?”

Applejack snorted and she hid her face behind the menu.

“What’s so funny?”

Dissolving into chuckles, she folded the menu back up and set it aside. “Poor Mac’s got himself a fear a’ spiders.”

“Oh.” Twilight tried to not smile. “Well, if it’s really bothersome for him, there are sprays…”

“I don’t want to be doin’ that; spiders’re good for plants, seein’ as they eat a bunch a’ nasty things that do hurt trees. Mac’s just gotta deal with ‘em sometimes. And by ‘deal with,’ I mean come bellyachin’ to me when he finds one.”

Twilight giggled.

“I gotta thank ya properly here for the invite; I’d be bangin’ my head on a trunk right now if’n I didn’t have an excuse to leave for a spell.”

“You’re very welcome, Applejack, and remember, if you need—”

“‘Fore you finish that thought, if there’s trouble with harvestin’ this year, I’ll be askin’ for help. Me an’ Mac should be able to get it all done, but I know y’all’ll be there if’n I need ya.”

“Alright, if you’re sure…”

A waiter approached the table as Applejack nodded. “Are you ladies ready to order?”

Applejack glanced back down at the menu. “Yeah, I’d like a couple’a daisy sandwiches, a plate a’ fries, an’ a slice of apple pie.”

Twilight grinned at Applejack before turning to the stallion. “I’d like a garden salad with raspberry vinaigrette, thanks.”

“Coming right up!”

The waiter trotted back inside the restaurant as Twilight turned to her friend. “Sometimes I wish I could eat like you do.”

Applejack laughed. “Farmin’ takes a lot out of a pony; gotta stay fueled up.”

Sighing, Twilight rested her chin on a hoof. “You and Rainbow both. I get self-conscious eating with her, like I’m starving myself or something. Where does it all go?”

“Well, for me, it goes square into the trunk of a whole mess a’ trees. For Dash, half of it’s in all them crazy corkscrews, an’ the rest gets turned into hot air.”

Twilight giggled.

“Speakin’ a’ Dash, how’d the move-in go? Y’all settled in now?” She grinned. “No second thoughts, I hope.”

Twilight’s smile widened. “Half my room—well, our room, I guess—is still covered in boxes, and she has so many bits and pieces of clouds everywhere it’s like I’m in Cloudsdale, but it’s been nice. To tell the truth, the last month or so Rainbow’s been staying over so often it’s almost as if she already moved in.”

“So it’s all been good?”

“Well…” Twilight rubbed her forehead and winced. “Tank’s gotten me in the head a few times.” Applejack snorted. “Not as much as he’s gotten Spike, but I’m still learning when to duck. The library is definitely louder now, but that’s not really new. It’s been nice.”

“Well, that’s good ta hear. Can’t say I’m surprised, what with the way ya both are; I reckoned it was only a matter a’ time.”

A wistful sigh escaped Twilight’s snout. “Still feels like we just started dating.”

“Time flies, don’t it? I couldn’t rightly believe Apple Bloom started up school again already. Summer just up an’ vanished.”

The waiter came back, dropping a single plate in front of Twilight and three in front of Applejack. They nodded thanks as he left, and Twilight looked over her friend’s spread. “I don’t think I could eat that much even if I did buck trees all the time.”

“Aw, heck. A week solid a’ buckin’ and you’d be ready to eat the whole dang crop.” She lifted a sandwich from her plate and took a large bite, chewing with her standard speed, while Twilight nibbled her salad. Applejack watched her friend’s muzzle crinkle from the dressing, and found herself slowing her own eating pace. She grinned at Twilight. “Ya ate plenty at the reunion when I met ya.”

“Oof. Don’t remind me; I sloshed when I walked.” She stabbed a bit of lettuce with her fork a bit harder than necessary.

Chuckling, Applejack finished off the first sandwich. “I still remember what you were like back then. Never met a pony who wanted friends so badly an’ didn’t even know it.”

Twilight poked at her salad for a moment. As Applejack began to grow concerned in the silence, she looked back up, a wide smile on her face. “I’m really glad I met you girls when I did.” Applejack waved her off with a hoof. “I mean it; I really didn’t know what I was missing, and I don’t think I would have figured it out with anypony else. It’s not just friendship that was special then or now, it’s you and the others. Magic doesn’t happen like it did back then just because, we needed that special connection.”

“Ya really think so?”

“I’d bet my horn on it. As amazing and surprising as it was to find out, in hindsight I think it was Rainbow’s Sonic Rainboom that started all of this, and drew the six of us together…” She looked off to the side, her expression vague. “Sort of like a magical echo, or ripples in a pond.”

“This sorta stuff really works like that?” Twilight nodded and took another bite. Applejack picked up her second sandwich. “I don’t rightly know what to think about all that. I’d be a fool if’n I didn’t think what happened weren’t special.”

“You don’t have to think anything about it in particular, Applejack.” She offered a small grin. “Just know that when I say I’m glad I met you, I really mean it.”

“Well…when I say I’m glad ya came in that balloon a’ yours and turned the whole dang town upside-down, I really mean it, too.” Applejack took another bite, and conversation dropped off as they ate together. She polished off her second sandwich and the plate of fries, before reaching for the slice of pie. She sat back on the bale of hay. “I tell ya, this is nice.”

“I like the food here, too.”

“Nah, I mean…this. I ain’t really done somethin’ like this in a while. I mean, I see all the girls just about every week, an’ we got our Saturdays, a’ course, but it’s been a while since I just…sat around with ya.” Her smile turned fond and warm. “It’s nice. You’re easy to talk to. What’re we even talkin’ about, magic? Eatin’ food? My brother bein’ a scaredy-cat? Don’t even matter what. Feels like everypony’s always bendin’ my ear, needin’ help or advice. It’s not that I don’t like helpin’, but well…I’d go to you for help or advice if’n I needed some. It’s nice.”

Twilight smiled. “It’s easy to talk to you, too, Applejack. It’s not like it’s hard to talk to Rainbow, or anything, but I do have to…censor myself, I guess.” She rubbed her chin. “I could probably talk to her about magic, but she’d make that face she makes when she’s bored as soon as I started.” She lifted the last bite of salad to her mouth.

“This one?” Applejack’s mouth dropped to a neutral line, and she rested her hoof on her chin, blowing an imaginary bang off her face.

Twilight started giggling and almost choked. She swallowed her mouthful. “Perfect!”

Applejack snorted and returned to the remains of her pie. “Ya want a bite of this?”

“I’m full, thank you.” Twilight’s eyes flashed as she looked Applejack over. “…But I could go for dessert.”

Applejack paused with the final bite halfway off the plate. Their eyes met.

Twilight plunked a bag of bits on the table. They stood from their hay bales at the same time, and without a word, Twilight took off at a canter with Applejack close behind. When Twilight turned off the road and down an alley, Applejack’s brow knit.

Twilight stopped at the back of a flower shop. Bags of seeds and old flowers left out carelessly over countless years had transformed the dirt ground into a wild garden, which was the most inviting stretch of alleyway Applejack had ever seen. Twilight’s horn lit and she floated a few stacks of crates over, and soon the little patch was a secluded hiding place.

Raising an eyebrow, Applejack asked, “Why, uh…why here?”

“Spike’s at home; I don’t want to sneak around him.” Twilight turned to face her friend, eyes half lidded.

“You…you sure about this?” Applejack looked up and down the alley. They were off the main thoroughfare and nopony was in sight, but she chewed her lip.

Twilight stepped closer and whispered, “Just hurry up and kiss me.”

Applejack closed the gap and pressed her lips to Twilight’s. Hooves wrapped around her neck, and she was pulled to the ground to lay on top of Twilight, blocked from view by the crates.

Twilight’s tongue snaked into her lover’s mouth and she hugged Applejack’s hips with both hindlegs. Applejack could taste the sweet and bitter dressing, and the thought that she should order salads more often passed through her head. Twilight’s hooves were in her mane and a relaxed sigh escaped her muzzle.

She nipped Twilight’s lower lip as she sat back. Twilight followed her up, pulling her into a series of kisses, and she hugged her lover to her chest. She felt her hat sliding off.

Applejack caught her Stetson as it fell and plopped it on Twilight’s head. She leaned back and grinned. “Well aren’t you just the cutest farmpony I ever did see.”

“Oh, I don’t know, I think that’s your title.” Twilight booped Applejack on the snout and kissed her again. Together, they drifted back down to the ground.

Applejack buried her face in Twilight’s neck, sucking and nipping. Twilight’s hooves roamed her sides, and she felt her excitement rise, but she found herself bumping into crates with every caress. “Ain’t much room here,” she breathed.

“Nnn…” Twilight kissed her neck. “I have an idea.”

She gripped Twilight’s springy, supple flank. “Yeah?”

“I’ve been reading through my spellbook, and there’s this one I wanted to try.”

Applejack felt Twilight’s teeth graze across her ear, and a shiver ran up her spine. “I ain’t gonna grow anythin’ extra, am I?”

Twilight’s forelegs drifted down and gripped her ass, pulling her closer. “No, it doesn’t have anything to do with transformations. I haven’t tried it with Rainbow yet, because it’s supposed to be really…intense and overwhelming if you’re not careful.” Twilight’s tongue slid along her jawline. “I trust you with it, though.”

“What is it?” Applejack raced a hoof up Twilight’s back and rattled a stack of crates. “Whoops.”

“It’s a spell that links sensory perception. Everything that one of us feels, the other feels, too. So if I did this…” She nipped Applejack’s jaw. “It’d feel like you bit me in the same place, and since I felt it, you’d feel it from me. Like a looping sensory feedback. So a little nip—” she bit again “—would be really stimulating. For the both of us.”

“…Alright, sugar. I think I can handle that.” Applejack pulled away from her lover, regretting the loss of warmth and closeness immediately. Still lying down, Twilight’s horn lit up. Applejack felt warmth spread over her mind and fought off the urge to sneeze. She scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head. “Did it work?”

Twilight leaned up and nuzzled Applejack’s cheek.

Applejack’s eyes dilated. She could feel all the hairs of her coat mesh and rub against Twilight, the spike of pleasure from the primal show of affection prickling her mind like normal. She also felt Twilight’s cheek as if it was her own; a host of tiny differences contrasting against each other, throwing the similarities in sharper relief. She had never felt a nuzzle with more clarity in her life.

“Uhn—” they both grunted, shuddering against each other. Every spot their coats touched ignited with sensation, ephemeral echoes dancing across their bodies, mirroring left and right. Applejack could feel her own hoof, cupping Twilight’s cheek, on the opposite side of her face almost exactly where Twilight’s hoof cupped hers.

“Dang,” Applejack marveled. “This is somethin’ else.”

“Yeah.” Twilight shivered.

Applejack kissed Twilight and lost herself in the magic loop; lips and tongues, hers and her friend’s, dancing together, the lines separating them indistinct at times and sharply apparent at others. She broke the connection and panted into Twilight’s shoulder, feeling hot and ghostly breaths on her own coat.

Twilight shivered as she stroked Applejack’s mane. “Ohh…”

“How ya…” Applejack gasped as Twilight’s hoof ran down her back and up her tail. “Nn…holdin’ up?”

Twilight bit her lip and Applejack could feel the tingle along her own. “Intense is right. It’s not too much, though. At least not so far.”

“Well, you holler if’n ya can’t take it, alright?”

Smirking, Twilight stroked Applejack’s tail. “Don’t you say that every time you take charge?”

Applejack chuckled. “Fair ‘nough.” She planted a kiss on Twilight’s mouth, and led her friend onto the ground. She trailed down Twilight’s neck and chest, feeling her own kisses reflected. A throaty moan escaped her muzzle. Her arousal had grown in the shared connection to a throbbing need, and she could feel her wetness threatening to overflow.

She could feel Twilight’s excitement, too, thrumming to a different heartbeat, echoing and compounding her own. She clamped her hindlegs together as she worked her way down.

Applejack gripped Twilight’s gaskins and spread her lover’s back legs. The sensation made her open her own legs again, and she felt a trickle of lust run down her thigh. A small gasp told her that Twilight felt it, too. She lowered her head to Twilight’s parted folds. “I’m gonna go real slow, Twi.”

Twilight stroked Applejack’s ear.

Applejack took a deep breath, savoring the smell of her lover’s arousal, and pressed her tongue to Twilight’s folds. She swept upwards delicately.

Applejack’s eyelids fluttered. The imprint of her own tongue slid across her marehood, heightened and sharpened by the feedback from Twilight. She panted and felt a hot breath across her mound. “Nn.” She licked Twilight again.

Twilight’s hooves slid across her scalp. “Oh, Applejack…”

She tongued her lover and pressed inside. As she probed and tasted, it felt almost like she was going down on herself. She flicked her tongue against Twilight’s walls and felt the pleasure in her own sex, mapping out her favorite spots inside Twilight, sensing Twilight’s favorite spots through their connection, blending their desires in a rising tide of laps and kisses.

Twilight arched her back to Applejack’s attentions, twisting against the wildflowers. “Oh, Applejack…I can taste it, too…”

She hugged Twilight around the waist, pushing into her friend’s sex, feeling her juices drip onto the ground. The gentle stimulation, rebounding from body to body, left her shaking and weak. Twilight’s arousal overlaid her own, and she felt their peaks approach.

She slid out and swirled her tongue over Twilight’s most sensitive spot.

Applejack snapped her legs shut and pressed into Twilight’s mound, stifling a shout. Her inner walls clenched in time with Twilight’s: echoing, rising, sharpening, rebounding. Her core flooded with bliss, racing to the tips of her hooves, making her hair stand on end. She could feel the sweat run down Twilight’s sides, the blades of grass flattened beneath her lover’s back, Twilight’s lungs bellowed as a scream threatened to tear its way out. Twilight bit her lip to hold it in, and Applejack felt the sharpness of each tooth sink into her own flesh.

Their connection severed with a flick of magic. Applejack shuddered as an aftershock of her orgasm, alone in her body but still intense and heated, ran up her spine. She collapsed to her side, jostling the stack of crates. Twilight groaned, long and loud, stroking her mane with weak affection. She crawled up alongside Twilight’s barrel and hugged herself close.

“Twi, that was…”

“Good Luna, I know.” Twilight hugged her back, nuzzling cheek to cheek. “I don’t know if I can walk.”

Applejack rubbed her thighs together as another spike of lingering bliss shot through her. “Nnf…let’s not worry about movin’ ‘til I can see straight.”

Twilight chuckled gently and drew her into a kiss, side by side in the little garden. Applejack could feel Twilight’s heartbeat hammer against her chest. They explored each other’s mouths, familiar and inviting, as their waves of passion grew further apart.

They broke their kiss and Twilight snuggled into Applejack’s chest. Grinning at her lover, Applejack took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the minutes wash away. After a while, feeling at peace, she said, “I tell ya, Twi, ya sure know how to turn a lousy day into a great one.”

“And it’s barely half over!” Twilight teased. She pushed herself up on her forelegs to loom over Applejack and kiss her on the tip of the snout. “Glad I could help.”

Applejack stretched out her back and sat up, peering over the tops of the crates. “Coast’s still clear.” She stood up and shook herself off. “Alright! I feel like I could buck the whole dang farm if I had to.” She helped Twilight up and nuzzled her friend affectionately. “Thanks, Twi. I needed this.”

“So did I. Thank you, Applejack.”

They grinned at each other, and a comfortable silence stretched out in the alleyway. Applejack could feel Twilight studying her face as her friend said, “...I really like that smile on you. It’s a great smile.”

Applejack smirked, snatched her Stetson off of Twilight’s head, gave her lover one last kiss, and muttered, “Ya put me in a smilin’ mood, Twi. Yours is nice an’ easy on the eyes, too. I could waste all day lookin’ at it, but…” She glanced over her shoulder and shrugged. “Work’s callin’. Guess I’ll be seein’ ya next Saturday, if’n I don’t see ya before.”

“You’re welcome any time.” They stepped out from around the crates, pressing their sides together in a lingering glide, and parted, heading off in opposite directions. At the mouth of either end of the alley, they both cast a look at each other over their shoulders.

Twilight winked. Applejack winked back.

Setting off at a trot, Applejack avoided the center of town, still feeling trails of lust drying on her inner legs. At the river separating Ponyville proper from the outlying farmland, she opted to ford the water rather than take a bridge, and came out the other side refreshed and wild with energy. She headed home with a bounce in her step.

The trees wouldn’t know what hit them.

Author's Notes:

tl;dr

Fluffy Kitten Tales is a line of filly toys released by Haybro. There have been several incarnations over the years, and the ones Rarity collected in her foalhood are rare and valuable in this day and age. The most recent launch of the line was accompanied with a revamp to the whole concept, with more interesting cats, that's gained some attention from full grown mares and stallions alike.

Also: Fluffy Kitten Tales was borrowed with permission from my good friend Bookplayer.