Once everything was cleaned up, lives finally went back to normal as another Estrous Cycle had ended. Kamina and Animak were not looking forwards to next year, as although Zecora's “dick potion” kinda worked, it backfired in such a spectacular way that everypony involved wanted nothing to do with it. Well...in that large of a dosage anyway. So next year; either Kamina or Animak would have to go through that humiliating procedure of examination so that the mares could try their hooves at getting the potion right next Cycle. The Twins decided to stay queens for a while, beings they felt a phantom pain of rawness when they changed back. This saddened their mates, but they made do with foreplay, and kinky things that Twilight liked to try when she was feeling adventurous.

However, when Animak finally felt comfortable as a king again, Kamina admitted she liked being a queen. This worried everyone that her original identity was at risk, but she said she was okay with being a guy, but felt more comfortable as a gal. To prove it, she would change back whenever the mood suited her, or when it came time for spanky flanky, but otherwise she stayed a queen. At least it made telling the twins apart easier besides having to note their plumage and eye colors.

Not to mention Kamina took to accessorizing, and she was drawing the eyes of the male population as much as Animak drew the eyes of the male population. She only ever regularly wore silver tail rings, and her silver mascara. At least it helped divide the Twin's personalities enough that they didn't do absolutely everything in synch, which decreased the oddity of their interactions.

Aside from them personally, the town hall had an issue with a collapsing roof when the local mailmare Derpy Hooves crashed headlong into it on a delivery. She was fine of course. Ponies all across town swore what Derpy lacked in grace, she made up for in spades with her adorable personality and impeccable endurance.

Thankfully however, the town had enough bits to easily cover repairs, since Spike intelligently instated that some of the taxes normally spent on more superfluous things like convenience or comfort be set aside to be saved up for emergencies, and having the town hall's roof on the verge of collapse counted as an emergency. This way the royal coffers weren't constantly compensating the town for it's frequent incidents.

This meant that AJ's rodeo trip wasn't going to be focused on winning money for the town, but rather for her family. She didn't win first in any of the rodeo's competitions, but she won second in most, and third in a couple, which although not worth mentioning compared to the prizes earned by the blue ribbon winners, was more than enough to put the Apple family at ease involving their funds.

This, however, did not stop the fact that the Apples needed to get a buff from selling their cider to save up for winter this year. Usually they only made it during cider season, which was autumn, and was their premier seller during Nightmare Night, the Feasting Festival, and Hearth's Warming. However; they were planning expansions on the farm to improve their production capacity, and were not going to be able to do it with their normal income.

“So you're planning to sell magically chilled cider at the start of summer? That's great!” Animak and Kamina stated together. Their respective masculine and husky feminine voices creating a wonderful duet that made most everything they said together sound like a song.

“Eeyup!” Mac replied cheerfully as he looked over the enchanted barrel hoops that Twilight made for them. They offered her a commission, beings she was turning out to be the town blacksmith with her love of forging metal and was getting into armoring too, but she said it was easy, and good practice to work a chilling enchantment onto something as simple as barrel hoops. They basically emitted a constant chill inwards from the hoop, and then maintained the temperature when what it was cooling reached said temperature, which was around 40 degrees Fahrenheit, making it both crisp, and long-lasting in preservation in comparison to standard storage.

“Here's hopin' that this here gambit o' yers works out little filly.” Granny Smith warily said to Applejack, beings she was the one who came up with the idea. “If this works, we'll never have to worry 'bout scrapin' by no more.”

“Now don't y'all worry 'bout nothin' Granny Smith. My friends have been spreadin' the word all around town and-.”

“Is the cider ready yet?!” At the loud question, they all turned their heads to see Pinkie Pie camped out in front of the farm entrance, a tent already set up, and little Citrine sucking on a rock candy pacifier on her back.

“Uh...sugarcube...we haven't even started makin' it yet. The sellin' don't start till tomorrow mornin'.” AJ informed her friend with an air of incredulity at just how early she showed up.

“Okay! Hear that Citrine? We get to camp out!” Pinkie cheered, and Citrine took out her pacifier to coo happily at the concept. “Let's make smores!” This made Citrine make utterly adorable squeals of joy as Pinkie set her down on a sleeping bag and set about preparing a fire, all while the Apples and the Twins looked to each other in bafflement.

===//////>

“Ah don't believe it....” Applejack gaped alongside her family at the sight that greeted them upon getting up at the crack of dawn. For once; they weren't the first ones up in Ponyville, as a line of tents stretched down the road into town. “Ah think my friends spread the word a bit too much...did we make enough cider?” AJ nervously asked her family as they all equally nervously shook their heads.

“Y'all just get ta sellin' little filly. We'll be makin' more barrels o' cider while ya work. Up fer some emergency apple buckin' Mac?” Granny Smith asked Mac, who nodded. “Well let's git to it! Thirsty ponies can be scary ponies!”

“Eeyup!” Mac nudged Apple Bloom to follow for help, and she quickly left with them as AJ gulped in concern for possibly building up a bit too much hype for their cider from her enthusiastic friends.

“Ah hope this don't blow up in my face somehow.” AJ fanned herself with her stetson.

“AJ!” She looked up at the harmonic duet to see her lovers descend from the air. “Wow...Blitz wasn't kidding.”

“Crazy right? Can't believe ponies love our cider THIS much! The rest of the family is gonna be making more while Ah sell, but even if they work the whole time until this batch is gone; Ah don't think we'll be able to serve all of Ponyville!” AJ griped, and her lovers nuzzled her to get her to calm down.

“We'll help AJ, don't worry. We'll get to apple bucking or working the press to speed things along.” They then walked past her, and rubbed the whole length of their tiger tails along her body, making the mare shiver and her tail twitch.

“Darn you ya teasin' varmints....” 'Y'all know what yer tails do ta me....' AJ took a deep, steadying breath. She couldn't afford to be turned on if she was going to be working a stall all day. “Alrighty everypony! Our cider stall is now OPEN~!” AJ shouted as loud as she could so as many ponies could hear her as possible, before she turned over the sign hanging on the front of the stall which declared it was open, and the price per mug was one bit each, which would normally buy a small bushel of apples. Then again; each mug contained said bushel of apples. They just sold faster, and thus quicker profits.

Pinkie, being first in line, suddenly had her camp all cleaned up, and Citrine on her back again, the little tot still too sleepy to be fully awake at this early hour. She then promptly dumped a whole sack of bits onto the pay tray, and bounced in place waiting to be served. “Um...how many bits were in that bag?” AJ asked nervously. She didn't expect Pinkie to ante up so much dough for cider, just HOW popular was their cider?!

“Fifty!” Pinkie beamed in excitement.

“Th-that's a whole barrel!” 'D-down by a barrel already from the first customer?!' “D-don't y'all think it's a might unfair o' ya ta hoard so much cider ta yerself?”

“Oh, it isn't all for me! I'm getting it for the Cakes, and Game too. He's in Canterlot hosting a party for Prince Blueblood. Something about it being an...uh...some sort of “I'm a different pony now” party?” Pinkie tried to convey in confusion, idly batting at her long mane with a hoof as she tried to grasp the fancy word Game used to describe it.

“Oh...well, then Ah don't see why not. Just a sec.” AJ trotted to the stack of barrels behind her, bumped it with her flanks, and the top barrel popped off and landed on her back, only making her flex slightly and grunt in catching it, and she set it down to roll over to Pinkie. “Here ya are Pinkie. Don't go drinking it all at once now!”

“Hey! How come she get's to buy a whole barrel?!” Berry Punch, the second in line demanded, and it was about to start a chain of complaints, but AJ ignored them, took out a marker, and wrote “50 bits a barrel” under “1 bit a mug”. “Oh! Okay then. I'll just buy a few mugs though, didn't bring that many bits with me.”

“Thank goodness. My family and the royal twins are working overtime to make more cider, and at this rate Ah'm worried we won't be able to serve even half of ya before we have to restock.” AJ set about serving her, and thankfully; most of the ponies following her only wanted a single mug. AJ got mixed feelings about this, as while they all briskly enjoyed the crisp cold cider immediately, and returned the mugs to be cleaned for reuse, it brought to light just how popular their product was. 'Hm...maybe, we could bottle it, and sell it like our Zap Apple Jam! If it's this popular...but we'd be the ones supplying it all. How could we-?'

“Aw....” Blitz bemoaned as the mug AJ held under the tap only got a few drops, and AJ noticed it was the last barrel of the first stack, and only half the line was gone.

“Sorry hun, but we're out at the moment. There's more barrels on the way though.” AJ reassured them, and nervously hoped her kin and lovers had managed to make enough. 'Ah wouldn't bet on it.'

“Cider-up~!” Kamina's husky voice sang as she rode atop a rolling barrel towards the stall. “Whoa! It's all gone already?”

“Eeyup. Gone dry.” AJ pridefully and happily stated. She'd had to bag the bit tray numerous times already. They've made over 500 bits thus far off of ten barrels of cider.

“Well good thing there's more where that came from!” Kamina crowed as her brother and the rest of the Apples all rolled their barrels more normally towards the stall.

“Well Ah'll be a shortstack. Sales are this good?” Mac asked as they rolled the other three barrels up.

“Please tell me you've got more on the way.” AJ pleaded, and Mac looked at the line before his ears bent back.

“Not as much as yer hopin' for Ah reckon.” Mac sadly informed her, getting a despondent sigh out of AJ.

“How're we going to serve all these patient ponies who showed up just to taste our cider?” AJ bemoaned as Blitz became concerned over his friend's worries.

===//////>

The last drop of the last barrel plunked disappointingly into the mug. “Sorry Thunderlane. We're fresh out, and the next batch won't be out for a few more minutes.” AJ apologized, and the mohawk-maned pegasus stallion shrugged noncommittally. He'd waited long enough, he could wait a bit more. “Ah wish we had a faster way to produce our cider without skimping on the quality.”

AJ's musing was cut off by the loud chugging and rumbling of something big approaching, and it drew everypony's attention down the road leading out of town to see a mechanical monstrosity that seemed to be the lovechild between a carriage and a train engine. Riding atop the colorful candy-cane striped abomination were twin yellow unicorn brothers with similarly stripped hair, vests, and hats. Rather than let them finish pulling up, AJ trotted out to meet them, and the brother with the mustache worked a few levers next to the fainting couch they sat on to move the machine away from the white picket fence surrounding the farm and stop before she reached them.

“Well howdy there! Might Ah ask what y'all are doin' here with that infernal contraption?” AJ asked amicably in spite of her phrasing, and eyed in it in interest.

“Well ma'am. We're here to propose a business deal with the Apples regarding their plans to sell cider out of season. Could you direct us to the owner of this orchard?” The one with a clean snout asked politely, and AJ felt odd, like she shouldn't trust them, but also felt she could. She had to play her cards right.

“That would be me. My Granny Smith is the matron of our family, but Ah've more or less taken over the farm. What would this deal be? Just be curt with me about it as well. Ah don't take to no fancy song-and-dance.” AJ set down for them, making the twins look disappointed; clearly they'd had a grand presentation prepared.

“Well...very well then. We're the Flim Flam Brothers. We're traveling salesponies, and it just so happens that we've had a similar idea to you. I'm Flim.” The one without a mustache introduced.

“I'm Flam. See, we were thinking. Why? Why should cider only be a seasonal drink? I've had a craving for cider since the season ended! Most would say; because it's when apples grow the most, or when the stocks of apples have built up.” Flam added.

“But apples are a perennial cultivar. So cider should reasonably be available at all times. That's why we've designed this machine before you!” The brothers posed proudly, and then spoke in unison as the ponies of Ponyville were familiar with from the royal twins. “The Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000~!”

AJ blinked. 'This...is too good to be true.' “What's the catch? Does it skimp on quality?”

“We can give you a sample, but really the quality depends on the quality of apples we can feed this beauty.” Flim stated.

“So, if I could be so bold to ask; could we have some of your mouth watering apples to make a sample?” Flam asked, and AJ shrugged and waved at the nearest tree over the fence. “Thank you ma'am. Come on brother!” The twins then powered their horns, and fired together into a funnel on the machine.

The mechanical press roared to life as it extended a giant vacuum hose with a funnel to the offered tree, and through some mystical force, pulled only apples from the tree, ripping them clean from the stems too, and left the tree bare of fruit. They gestured for AJ to watch as the machine's viewing window automatically picked out the bad ones, and she heard the satisfying crunch of a press pulping apples, before they guided her to a dispenser that filled a wood mug with cider, and they presented it to her. “Go on, try it.”

AJ took it in hoof, sniffed it, and took a swing. Swishing it in her mouth, she hummed pleasantly before swallowing. “Good...but, not as good as our own cider.” AJ gestured the brothers to follow as Kamina rode another barrel up to the stand. “Since ya'll were kind enough to let me sample yours, sample ours, and yours.” While Kamina didn't know what was going on, she levitated the new barrel onto the stand, and removed the empty one while transferring the spigot. AJ served two mugs, and gave them to the brothers. “Taste yours, then ours.”

The brothers drank theirs, and were pleased, but when they tried AJ's, they gaped at the difference. “My fair mare! How is your cider so...wonderful?” Flim asked in surprise. “And cold!”

“Our family recipe! We don't just press the apples, we also add certain spices and such to make it sweeter, and the taste sharper. As for it being chilled; that's new. Our barrels have enchanted hoops to cool the contents. So it's refreshing and keeps longer.” AJ looked over at the machine as Animak and the rest of her family approached, the other ponies nearby were all watching in wonder. “Your machine is amazing, but unless it can add the spices just right, and chill the contents, then we can't afford to downgrade our process if it sacrifices quality.”

The brothers wilted slightly, but then brightened up. “We can make the adjustments! We'll be back tomorrow morning!” The twin brothers rushed to their machine, and magically removed the barrel of cider they'd produced over to the Apples. “See you soon!” They took off back down the road, an energy of excitement abounding from everypony but the Apples, who were more curious than anything.

“Applejack...what's going on?” Animak asked in confusion, and AJ sighed as she moved back to the stand.

“Just a potential business deal.”

===//////>

As stated, the next day, the brothers returned, but with a couple of obvious alterations to the machine. There was another funnel added onto the top of the machine, and the barrels it carried clearly had the runes engraved onto the barrels. While the line wasn't as big as it was yesterday, there was still a crowd in attendance when the brothers and their contraption arrived, while the Apples were in full attendance this time. “We're back! We've added an adjustable spice hopper onto the top that will insert the proper amount of a spice mixture into each individual batch.” Flim proclaimed.

“Well then, we're likely to be in business then. What're the terms?” AJ asked, and the brothers considered seriously.

“A small percentage. For us I mean. We'll need to make plenty of sales to make up for our losses we spent on building this baby.” Flam tapped the machine lovingly. “How about...25/75 with you getting the bulk?”

AJ looked to Mac, who thought the numbers over, and flicked his sprig of wheat around his mouth a bit. “Hm...we'd make enough of a profit to come out of this rather well, but not golden delicious. This is more of a long-term deal we'd have to be makin'.”

“We're absolutely fine with such an arrangement good fellow! We'll take it! But first, we need to make sure the SSCS 6001~ will make your cider properly. Direct us to your pressing station.” Flim cheerfully declared, and while AJ kept running the stall with their already prepared batch of cider, the others followed the brothers, and missed the crowds of ponies starting to feed in from town, growing the line casually now that they know the Apples were doing this regularly, getting AJ to grin.

“Ah must have dear momma's business sense.” AJ mused as she looked up at the sky for moment. 'Would ya be proud of me ma?'

“It works~!” Kamina crowed as she rolled a freshly prepared barrel of cider next to the stack they already had. “It tastes just as crisp as always!”

“Well colt howdy! We might just have to start bottlin' this liquid gold!” AJ gleefully declared, and turned to the growing crowds. “None o' y'all worry! We have more than enough for everypony!” AJ shouted, getting cheers as she kept serving the happy town. 'This turned out better than Ah could've ever hoped for.' AJ turned to watch Kamina swagger back to the pressing area with a happy sway to her haunches, making AJ blush as she kept grinning. 'Why do Ah feel like Ah owe it all to you sugar?'

Kamina meanwhile, was pondering what else she could blackmail the unicorn twins to keep them in line, and giggling at the thought of using what her investigators had on file for the two swindlers. 'Nopony tries to pull wool over one of my mares! I'll make you rue the day you decided to try and cross AJ! RUE I say!' “Tee-hee~! They CAN make good cider though~.”

Author's Notes:

Kamina! You sneaky harpy you~! Just a progression chapter, nothing much interesting aside from Kamina's apparent skill at subterfuge and blackmail.

Oh! And look at that! It's an Applejack focused chapter! Isn't it nice to get away from the Twin's PoV now and then?