As the sun broke over the horizon and the rooster crowed, Alex sprang out of bed. Pruning was his favorite chore around the farm, and he wanted to get to it. By the time he found the clippers and reached the outside, Applejack had already cut the first branch.

“That’s fifty,” she said. “Fifty straight days of me beatin’ you to work.”

“It’s not a fair contest. You don’t have to get dressed.”

Their banter came naturally. It would never do any good to get into a fight, not when storming away to cool off was magically impossible. Applejack had welcomed a new hand on the farm, and with Alex’s natural talent for growing, the output of apples only looked to be growing.

In the morning sun, the work was not tiring at all. By noon, Rainbow Dash or somepony would probably bring over a few clouds so that they weren’t sweltering. The long days always ended with a supper big enough to tame the hunger generated by so much work.

“Mornin’, Rarity.”

Alex looked up and waved to where Applejack was looking. “You’re out early today,” he said.

“Immigration day,” Rarity replied. “Now that it’s safe, we’ve got more people coming through every week. But it’s the ponies travelling to Earth that really need the help. For some reason, everypony thinks that because I was the first to go, that I’m some sort of expert. So I’ve had to become one. And now I’ve got to meet my group. So have a pleasant day!”

Alex and Applejack waved to Rarity, then went back to their chores. Alex gave Rarity a silent thanks. She was constantly trying to play matchmaker for him, bringing new human girls over to meet him. He was in no hurry, since he had his pick. His status as a “bound human,” as the survivors of the battle had come to be called, gave him a certain cachet. And being bound to one of the mane 6, well, who could say no to that?

“Hey! Are you fully awake yet?” Applejack gave him a playful nudge with her hoof. “I know you ain’t still fawning over Rarity.”

“No, I’m not.” He looked over the farm and its bounty, then toward the horizon. At the edge he could just see the Gate. “I’m fawning over Equestria, thinking how lucky I am to live here.”

As Twilight took her morning coffee break, she closed out some of the library’s ledgers and slipped into the back room. Lisa was poring over a desk with her hands aglow.

“In behind,” said Twilight. It had become their common practice to alert each other to their presence. Both of them tended to get deep in thought and would be startled by sudden noise. Lisa looked up.

“How’s it going?”

“Fine? Any progress on separating bound humans and ponies?”

“I haven’t really done much work on that. I think it’s a fool’s errand. Besides, it’s not so bad living with me, is it?”

“No complaints,” said Twilight.

“Instead, check this out!”

Lisa handed Twilight a book, but when she leafed through, the pages were blank. “I don’t get it.”

“Remember when the parasprites ate the words out of the books? I thought to myself, what if they could regurgitate them? Voila!” She waved her hand and text appeared on the pages. “It’s now a copy of this other one here.”

“I have book-copying spells.”

“This is different!” Lisa showed the excitement she always had when discussing a new idea. “The book can go blank again, and be recopied over and over. I figure that if everypony has one of these, we can lend books without them having to ever leave the library. I call it an m-reader.”

“Oh, that is different. Sounds like it’ll put me out of a job.”

“No, there’ll always be a place for a good librarian. Besides, I don’t have range of more than a few feet, so there’s still some work to do.”

Twilight trotted toward the front door. “Well, put it away for a while. It’s ten o’clock.

It had, in fact, been Lisa who had first suggested that she and Twilight take exercise breaks daily, but with her customary zeal, Twilight had been the one to remember the schedule.

Lisa found the basketball and joined Twilight outside. After casting the spell to harden the grass in order to give the ball bounce, she levitated it for the tip-off.

A few baskets later, Twilight sipped her coffee and said, “Are you sure it’s exercise if we’re just sitting here taking shots magically?”

“It’s magic exercise. We have to keep our powers in shape.” Lisa chuckled. Her white glow stole the ball from Twilight’s pale red. It was awesome to be magical.

As Fluttershy and Julie finished their lunch, they talked over flowers and how they would best decorate next spring. Being bound had not changed their lives much at all, since they were always together beforehand. Julie threw the trash away and checked her watch.

“I think it’s time we got going. You know neither of them is happy when we’re late.”

Julie’s flying had improved since the war, to the point where Fluttershy was the determinant of their flight times. Julie was far too polite to point this out, but she wasn’t above tossing her friend a subtle reminder now and then. They took off and headed for Cloudsdale.

Even though the clock was chiming the hour just as they arrived, Rainbow Dash still tapped her hoof and said, “It’s about time!” Fluttershy let it pass.

Julie kissed her husband on the cheek. “How was business this morning?”

“Slow. Free transit between Earth and Equestria may make me unprofitable.”

“Does that mean you’ll move up here permanently so we can stop these half measures?” said Rainbow.

“I might,” said Luke. “I’m sorry that you had to get bound to a married man, and a businessman at that.”

“Oh, I’m not. I wouldn’t change anything about what happened. I just love taking the opportunity to needle you.”

“But I know that you and Fluttershy lead very different lives, and now you’re forced to be together by us.”

“It’s not like that at all,” said Fluttershy. “We always knew that when humans came to Equestria, everypony’s life was going to get a little more complicated. We just didn’t know how it would happen.”

“Yeah, so don’t sweat it,” said Rainbow.

“Oh, and we were supposed to tell you, Pinkie Pie invited us to a special party tonight. Bound humans and ponies only. Think you’re willing to spend some more time on the ground for that?”

“Yeah, that’s worth it. And then we need to give these two some alone time. But that’s for later. Right now, race you to the weather factory!”

“Hey!” said Luke. “I think she uses her binding to me just to make me sweat.” He took off after her with Julie and Fluttershy following. Luke slackened enough and Julie increased her speed until they could hold hands, and the whole group flew in syncopation. Luke and Julie looked into each other’s eyes and spoke silently. Worth it indeed.

As the sun set, Princess Luna moved into her position atop the balcony. Already popular with the humans, she had become even more beloved after her role in the war. Without looking, she called back over her shoulder, “Do you want to try again tonight?”

“Now?”

“It is the right time.”

Olivia stepped out from their shared quarters. Her hair blew in the night breeze, and she idly wondered if someday it might not take on the shimmering starlight of her bound partner. She concentrated and activated her magic.

“Are you sure you want me lifting the moon? It’s supposed to be a full one tonight, that’s got to be heavier.”

“In fact it is easier. You don’t have to worry about balancing.”

She concentrated, and managed to bring it halfway up to the horizon before Luna stepped in and set it continuing on its path.

“You will get it soon enough. I appreciate your efforts. I’ve never had an apprentice before.”

Olivia grinned slightly. “I wonder,” she said, “if we are going on patrol tonight…”

“Certainly.”

“If we might not visit Lisa. I haven’t seen her in so long.”

Luna looked to the south. She did not often visit Ponyville, not wanting to think of the events there. “Very well. I should like to see Twilight Sparkle as well. But perhaps, in the future, we might invite them here.”

“That would be nice.”

Although the practice of humans riding ponies had become unpopular again, princesses are exempt from rules, even unwritten ones, and Luna would frequently bear Olivia rather than having the both of them pulled in a chariot. Whatever skill Olivia lacked in magically raising the Moon, she had in being able to ride without giving it her full attention. As they sailed the sky, she took the opportunity to see herself from the outside.

Her star had only risen since her arrival in Equestria. From citizen to mayor to partner of the princess, any human would envy her. But it was the ponies that she appreciated more. None of them knew that her skin color meant a class difference on Earth. Why would they? Ponies came in all colors. She had an opportunity that she could never win on Earth, to truly be judged on the content of her character.

There was an occasional pang of homesickness, but she wouldn’t give up Equestria for the world.

As night fell, Bastian looked over the landscape. His friends would all be sleeping. Tomorrow they would rise again to soar among the clouds, to bring forth bounty from the soil, to bend the laws of nature to their will. He had lost count of how many friends he had, and hadn’t tried to tally. Privately, he felt that more credit than he deserved fell on him for the Equestrians’ victory, but he still felt proud. He had faced down a man who wanted to kill him, and made a friend of him.

Whatever the night or the next day would bring, he was ready. He had earned Equestria.