The recording device whirred quietly while the reporter found a blank page in his notepad. “First off, I want to say what an honor it is to be here with you,” he said with a shaky smile.

“The pleasure is ours,” Celestia replied with a smile of her own, and she meant it. His background check had revealed his extensive experience and overall excellent reporting, though she was still puzzled as to why her aides had thought to include his recent divorce in their report. “I think I speak for both of us when I say this is something we want to share with all of Equestria.”

The reporter’s smile widened slightly. His pen hovered over his notepad, held in a blue aura. “The first question is for you,” he said. “For a thousand years, you ruled Equestria alone, filling both your own responsibilities and your sister’s. Was there ever a time when it was too much for you?”

Celestia was used to such questions and had expected this one in particular, though perhaps not so soon. “The hardest part was the uncertainty,” she said. “I spent decades wondering if I’d done the right thing in banishing Luna, and I think that’s what took the greatest toll.”

“So what kept you going?” the reporter asked.

Celestia glanced at the midnight blue alicorn sitting beside her. “I knew, one day, she would return. Until then, I just had to press forward. If there’s one thing those thousand years taught me, it’s that life will go on, and a pony can still find joy in it, even if the pony she cares for the most is gone.”

Dozens of apples fell into the basket with a series of soft thumps and thuds. The orange mare standing beside the tree wiped her forehead while she caught her breath. “Ah think that’s the last one fer today,” she called to her tan-coated, blue-maned helper bucking a tree a few yards away.

Red Delicious glanced at her with a smile. “Ya sure keep yerselves busy, cuz.”

“Hafta to make ends meet ‘round here,” Applejack replied, balancing one of the newly filled baskets on her back and walking toward her cart. “It ain’t easy providin’ food fer all of Ponyville.”

“Ah know what ya mean,” said Red. “Seems everypony has to work twenty-five hours a day back in Dodge Junction to keep up with the cherry harvest.”

“How is Dodge?” Applejack asked. She hadn’t visited since her short stay there after the Equestria Rodeo Competition. “Ah know ya had ta move there on pretty short notice.”

“It’s growin’,” Red answered as he placed his basket beside hers in the cart. “Least we haven’t had any problems with buffalo herds like Braeburn has. Thanks fer gettin’ me the job, by the way.”

“Aw, it was nuthin’. Ah'm just glad you were available,” Applejack said. “Ah’da hated ta leave Miss Jubilee short-hooved.”

The two loaded the rest of the apples and walked toward the cellars. The sun was almost touching the horizon, and the stars would be coming out in a few minutes. In the distance, Applejack saw a rainbow blur zipping through the sky and heard the faint, excited cries of a certain orange pegasus. “So, what brings ya out ta Ponyville?” Applejack asked.

“What d’you mean?”

“Well, it’s a long trip from Dodge, and it’s not like we’re havin’ a reunion any time soon.”

Red shrugged. “Ah just wanted ta visit mah cousins,” he said, pawing at the ground.

“Uh huh. Somethin’ botherin’ you ‘bout Dodge?”

“No.”

“Do somethin’ embarassin’?”

“No.”

Applejack thought for a moment while the cart’s squeaky wheels filled the silence. “Filly caught your eye?” Red’s blush and sheepish smile were just the answer she was hoping for. “Ah see. So, who’s the lucky mare?”

“A-Ah don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Aw, c’mon.” Applejack gave him a playful shove. “Ah'm not gunna tell anypony. Do Ah know her?”

“Yup.”

“Have ya talked to her yet?”

“Ah left her a note earlier.”

Applejack scratched her chin. His answers didn’t narrow the possibilities much. “Well, if yer not gunna tell me her name, could ya at least tell me what she’s like?”

Red’s eyes glazed over, and his gaze drifted skyward. “She’s the most beautiful mare Ah’ve ever seen,” he said with a sigh. “She’s absolutely amazin’.”

Red’s description didn’t help shorten the list, but when Applejack followed his gaze, she couldn’t help but smirk. “Ah don’t suppose she’s also the best flier to come out of Cloudsdale?”

“Huh?” Red blinked and frowned at her. Applejack merely pointed at the rainbow-maned pegasus he’d been staring at a moment before. “No! Ah mean, not that she isn’t pretty or anythin’—Ah mean, for a pegasus, that is—not that Ah have anythin’ against pegasi—”

“Ah'm just pullin’ yer tail.” Applejack chuckled as she opened the apple cellar doors. “Let’s get these apples put away, and we’ll go get some supper.”

It didn’t take long for the two to move the apples from the cart to the cellar. The sun was half-hidden, and the first of the evening stars had appeared. Applejack closed and locked the cellar doors. “You run on ahead,” she told Red. “Tell Granny Ah’ll be there in a minute.”

“‘Kay.” Red took a few steps toward the house. “Hey, AJ, d’ya think you could help me make a pie later?”

“A pie?” Red averted his gaze, and Applejack couldn’t be sure whether the color on his cheeks was due to a blush or the sunset. “Well, look at you bein’ all romantic.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Red kicked a pebble, and the color on his cheeks deepened.

“‘Course Ah’ll help,” Applejack said, unable to repress a grin. “Run along, now. Ah’ll be in in a minute.”

Red’s hoofbeats faded away. Applejack sat alone by the cellar doors, watching the sun sink behind the trees. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, savoring the scent of the orchard. The harvest was almost over, and they’d be setting up the cider stand in a couple weeks. Just another part of the cycle the farm had been following since her great-grandparents had settled here. It was a cycle she expected would continue until she had grandfoals of her own, and despite the occasional emergency, Applejack loved every minute of it.

Applejack glanced at the farmhouse. She knew the others were waiting for her, but the night was warm, and the orchard was calling her name. She took off through the trees, eyes narrowing as she approached the fence that separated the orchard from the corn field. She leapt from the ground and soared over the wooden barrier. The corn stalks were almost as tall as she was, and the ears had been picked several weeks ago. The stalks themselves had grown brown and dry and seemed as though they would collapse in the gentle breeze.

Applejack leapt over the far fence and into a field that had been left unplanted this year. She wasn’t much of a scholar, but she made sure the family stuck to their field rotation schedule, even if it meant smaller harvests. As ponies needed rest at night, so the earth needed time to rejuvenate. The land was their lifeblood, and they couldn’t afford to run it dry.

Another fence, another leap, and Applejack left the family’s land. She slowed to a stop, breathing deeply, and turned to look the way she had come. The farmhouse was hidden behind trees and dying corn stalks, as was the sun. The sky was dotted with stars now, gleaming against the purple sky. Applejack sat for a moment and looked at them, trying to pick out the constellations Granny Smith always talked so much about. The night was beginning to cool, and despite the day’s work, she still felt as though she could run halfway across Equestria without slowing down.

A young voice in the fields brought Applejack back to earth. She heard Apple Bloom calling her name and smiled. Two fences later, she found the filly wandering the orchard. “There you are! We’re all waitin’ fer you ta come to supper!”

“Sorry,” Applejack replied. “Just got distracted.”

“Well, try not to get distracted when the rest of us are starvin’.”

Apple Bloom’s reproving glare brought a chuckle from Applejack’s throat. "Ah love ya too, Apple Bloom.” Applejack took one more look at the orchard, now illuminated by the full moon rising above the treetops. "C’mon. Let’s get home."