Drinks Are On Us

The jog into town was longer than she'd remembered it being. Maybe it had to do with the fact that, as time wore on, her breasts were beginning to swell up slowly once again. She was becoming acutely aware of this due to the fact it was getting harder to breathe again. The pendulous swaying of her bosom from side to side as she ran wasn't helping things either.

It would be a fair bit of time later before she knocked on the door of the crystalline castle. To her relief, the purple unicorn herself answered the door. Eyes lighting up at seeing her friend, she opened her mouth in greeting, only for AJ to cut her off.

"Twi, ah've got a problem, an' ah need yer help, also, can ah use yer bathroom right quick?"

Twilight, stunned for a second, could only nod and step to the side, allowing the mare to sprint inside and make a beeline for the restroom. It wasn't until a minute later that she realized that AJ's bust had entered before the rest of her had.

"Okay, so... as of this morning, you've begun lactating." Twilight stated, jotting upon a noteboard. "And you've never done so before, correct?"

"Never dripped a drop in mah life." she replied, seated upon a stool in the middle of the crystal castle's library. She was blissfully empty again, but was glancing at her bust every now and again, watching for the telltale hint of swelling.

The alicorn nodded, and made another note. "And in addition to this, what you're making is not mare's milk, but is in fact... apple cider?"

"It ain't natural!" AJ exclaimed, wrapping her arms around her knees. "There's somethin' wrong with me, an' ah need it fixed, fast! Ah just dropped a load o' chores t' come here Twi, an th' farm needs as much o' me as it can get."

Twilight sighed and nodded again, before jotting more notes. "Okay Applejack... first things, first, I'm going to have to ask you some questions. Are you up to that?"

"Sure thing. Ah ain't Honesty fer nothin'."

"Okay... have you angered any unicorns lately?"

"Ah think ah annoyed Rarity last week, but she wouldn't do somethin' like this. Other than that, no."

"Mmmm... I agree, I don't think Rarity would go that far, even if she knew how to do what you're describing. What about hexed locations?"

"... the castle in th' Everfree don't count, does it?"

"No, I swept that place. Besides Princess Luna's little hallway pranks, there's nothing magical set up there. Hmmm... What about food? Haven't eaten any cursed apples, have you?"

"Ah try not t' have anythin' t' do with magic food. 'Sides, ah'm allergic t' spark sprinkles."

Twi paused for a second, before scribbling furiously, recording that tidbit. "Okay, so no magic food, no magic locations, no angry unicorns..."

"That's about it."

"... has Discord been to visit?"

"... nnnnnoooooo, not since th' thing with mah sister an' her friends. Then again... he wouldn't exactly have to be there, would he?"

"No, he wouldn't." The purple mare sat her noteboard down. "I know how to check though, if you're okay with it."

"Oh most certainly sugarcube."

She drew a breath, seemingly to settle herself. "In that case, I'm going to need to have access to them. Could you please strip?"

The tone had been composed, and though it gave AJ pause right at first, she nodded, and proceeded to undo her shirt and overalls again. At length, her breasts were exposed once again, rounded and freckled, with moist nipples, to her friend.

Twilight for her part, was completely professional as she leaned over and examined them. She did not touch, though her horn went aglow as she spoke again. "I'm going to take a kiimetic resonance scan of them. It may tingle a little, but there shouldn't be any problems. Do I have your permission?"

"Please Twi, go ahead. Ah know yer bein' doctorly, but really-"

A glow surrounded and lifted her breasts, causing her to gasp lightly. She was right, it DOES tingle. she thought to herself. Beside her, the alicorn materialized a flat plane graph upon which, a line wavered up and down. It was all Greek to the farm pony, but her friend's eyes watched it dance with an unreadable expression, silence reigning for a few minutes before she finally went "Huh."

"What, what is it?"

"There is a trace here." Twi announced, pressing a finger to one of the lines upon the display. "Judging by the degradation, it appears to have been applied at about 1:30 AM last night."

"... ah was in bed by then!" AJ exclaimed, indignant. "Are y'all tellin' me somepony invaded mah house an' put a hex on me while ah was sleepin'?!"

"I don't know. Even if we know the time, some other things aren't adding up." She then traced another line on the display. "This right here is way too soft. If this had been a spell cast by a unicorn, or even Discord, it would have been much sharper than this. Most ponies, when a spell is cast, they concentrate on keeping the waveform in as close a compact shape as possible. There's nothing like that here." She straightened back up and placed a hand on her hip, the other to her chin. "This really looks more like Nature Magic to me."

The orange mare tilted her head. "Nature... magic?"

"That's right. Sometimes objects in nature are capable of casting magic spells of their own... Poison Joke is one example, if you remember." Both of them made a face at the memory. "And the Tree of Harmony itself is another. The spells they cast, I learned later, follow the softer waveform, like this one here." She turned her head to the display's output again. "As a matter of fact, this pattern looks like it's... well... maybe if... hold on, lemme check something."

The glow around AJ's breasts vanished, and she had to take a moment to regain her balance as Twi summoned various books from the shelves surrounding them. Taking each one in hand, she flipped through their pages, looking up at the display and back, before moving onto another volume. It was the third book where she went "Aha! Here it is!"

Turning triumphantly to AJ, she stated her findings. "AJ... what this wave form best resembles... is wish magic."

They sat in silence. "Wish... magic...?" the farmmare echoed, a gnawing realization opening up a hole in the pit of her stomach.

Twilight nodded. "Applejack... have you made a wish, recently?"

It took a few seconds for her to muster a reply. And even then, it was in a small voice. "Last night... ah found a well on th' acres. Ah hadn't seen it b'fore, a-and Granny told me that when it was first built, she'd made a wish in it. An' then th' next day, it was gone."

"Well... you know th' Acres are in a tight spot right now. Mac's hung up t' heal, an' just yesterday, Applebloom got a fever. Ah was thinkin' about calling you girls in to help again..."

Twilight's face softened. "You know we're always glad to help."

"Ah know, sugarcube, ah know. But right then an' there, with that well there... ah found ah had a bit, an' so... ah made a wish."

"... what did you wish for? Can you remember the wording?"

"... I wished t' be able t' keep my family and th' farm goin' through th' cider season... and t' be able t' make enough cider for every pony in Ponyville." She laid her head in her hands, a guffaw coming out of her mouth. "And just a bit ago, when ah was comin' in t' talk to you, ah saw that th' well's gone an' vanished again... it's because it granted mah wish, didn't it?"

"All the evidence seems to suggest that fact."

"Shoulda wished fer somethin' else. Like fer Bloom t' get better."

"Considering what it did to grant your wish, it seems like it has a... unique sense of humor."

"... yer prob'ly right. Ah've no idea what it'd do t' Bloom. Ferget it."

"So..." the question trailed off into thin air, both mares at something of a loss. AJ glanced down at her breasts again, and spied the gentle rounding of their forms. They were starting to swell up again. Twilight, her composure breaking a bit to allow her to fidget, fished up a question. "What do you want done now?"

"Well... can y' fix me up? Like, undo whatever it was exactly that th' well did?"

She hummed in thought, brows furrowing at she looked at the display again. "... I think I can. You'd have to give me a bit though. Wish magic, being an offshoot of Nature magic, needs some gentle coaxing to be undone. It's why the antidote for Poison Joke is a herbal bath mixture. I could probably ask Zecora for some opinions-"

"No." Applejack interrupted, raising an arm to cover her nipples. "Ah don't want anypony else t' know 'bout this. Not Zecora, not even th' rest of th' girls."

This caused Twi to pinch the bridge of her nose. "Fine, I won't ask Zecora then. In either case, it's going to take me a bit to synthesize a counter-spell."

"Can y'give me an estimate?"

"Best estimate?... three to four days, probably."

AJ groaned, resting her face in her hands again. "Ah cain't wait that long, ah got chores t' do. And ah cain't do 'em if ah gotta stop every few hours t' empty mahself."

Another silence fell, the alicorn mentally rummaging in her brain for solutions, before reaching into her pocket for an empty vial. "There's one thing that you could do, I think, to help speed things up. I can get a much better sense of what we're dealing with here, if I can run produce tests."

The orange mare looked back up. "Produce tests?"

"That's right. But for that, I'm... gonna need a sample." She held the vial out to her. Although her face was once again set into an impassive mask, her cheeks gave way to the barest hint of a blush.

Her friend stared at the vial for a moment, before accepting it, uncrossing her arms to reveal her naked bosom again. Looking down, she cupped a breast in one hand, before lifting the vial up to her nipple. Like before, not much coaxing needed to be done before a steady stream of gold began dripping from her teat. The vial was filled quite easily.

Twilight accepted it back gingerly, her cheeks still flushed. "Thank you, AJ... I'll take this down to the lab downstairs, and run it through the most extensive tests I can. It'll take an hour or so though, so, make yourself at home. Especially the bathroom, if you need to... well, empty yourself again. I'll give you the news as soon as I can, so just hang in there, okay?" She tilted her head, and offered her a smile.

It felt good to see that, after everything that had happened. Applejack found herself smiling in turn. "Okay, Twi. Ah trust you. You'll figure it out."

She gave one more nod, before departing the library, vial in tow. It was only before walking out the door when she turned around, spying AJ putting her top back on. "By the way, Spike's in the kitchen, testing a brownie bites recipe that Pinkie gave him. If I were you, I'd wait till the smoke clears out before trying anything in there!"

And so, left to her own devices, AJ pondered. She was not a scientific pony like her friend. But she had her own knowledge about things. And now, armed with the knowledge of how and why her body was doing what it was doing, she felt the need to do a little testing of her own.

She looked at the clock. If she had the right of it, it'd have been 20 minutes since she'd emptied herself last. She could tell that her breasts were once again filling back up, her topmost button having refused to be connected.

Twi said she'd take a while... so, ah wonder...

Tossing caution to the wind, she ambled down the crystal castle's halls until she spied the door to the kitchen. True to her word, coils of smoke were escaping from its top.

Peering inside revealed to her a battlefield of flour, cocoa nibs, and butter, with a handful of crushed nuts. In the middle of it all, Spike, perched on a stool, was sticking a finger into a pan of brown treacle, testing for doneness. "Hmmm... maybe if I turned the oven up another fifty degrees... oh, hi Applejack!"

"Howdy, sugarcube." she greeted, looking about a bit warily. "Say, odd question, but have y'all got a funnel an' a empty cider jug 'bout?"

The dragon raised an eyebrow, but then hopped down off his stool and trotted over to a cabinet door. "We've got a funnel, yeah, but I don't know about cider jugs. You re-collecting them for Cider season soon?"

"Oh no no, was just wantin' t' test somethin'. Ah'll bring 'em back when ah'm done, honest." She wasn't sure, but she felt like her shirt was tightening up already. Then again, that may have just been the smoke making it hard to breathe.

Spike blissfully didn't inquire further, instead poking his nose into the lower cabinets, one by one. The funnel he found easily enough. At last he gave a shout, pulling out a one-gallon cider jug. "This what you looking for?"

"That's perfect. Thanks, Spike." she replied, accepting both items from him and patting his head, which earned her a tail-wag. "Again, ah'll bring these back, lickety-split."

"Take your time!" he replied, before perking up. "Oh hey, while you're here, couldja tell me if I got these done right?" He stuck the pan of unidentified substance up under her nose. It smelled like burnt jelly.

"Er... h-how much flour didja use?"

"Half a tablespoon. Why?"

"Ah'd... try a little more than that. Don't give up though, hon. You'll get there."

He shrugged, and returned to his baking, which allowed AJ to escape the kitchen and its dangers. With the funnel and cider jug in tow, she found a seat in full view of the clock, and sat down to wait. An issue of 'Bookworms Bimonthly' on the table next to her caught her attention, and with little else to do, she picked it up to glance through its pages.

Once it's been an hour...

And even as she sat in place, every time she glanced down at her bust, she'd see it swollen bigger than it was the last time she'd glanced. She could feel the pressure building, her breasts still producing cider at a steady rate. She undid another button, revealing yet more of her freckled cleavage.

She almost missed the mark, where a full hour had passed since she last emptied herself. Standing back up proved to be a challenge, as her breasts had each gained significant weight since sitting down, upsetting her balance. She persevered in the end, and made a beeline for the restroom, jug and funnel in tow.

Now, her own research could begin. Stripping off her top again, her heavy mounds fell free, droplets flying from their tips. B'fore, ah'd been buildin' up fer well over three hours. Ah can see ah'm big, but not as big as then. Now it's time t' see just how much ah've made, inside an hour.

She climbed into the bathtub, and sat the jug down with the funnel inserted in its spout. Sitting herself on the tub's rim, she then grabbed her left breast with both hands, maneuvered herself over the funnel, and once again, proceeded to milk herself. Like before, the sensation of release from her nipples threatened to overtake her, as streams of gold poured readily from those darkened tips, caught by the funnel and channeled down into the glass container.

She worked at them and worked at them, taking care to empty each one as much as possible. When she was certain that she had regained her former cup size, she stood up straight, removed the funnel, and lifted up the cider jug.

By virtue of its clear glass, she could see that she had almost filled the jug halfway. Half a gallon... ah made a clear half-gallon o' cider, inside of an hour...

Her thoughts were disturbed, as a rapping sounded on the bathroom door. "AJ, are you in there?" came Twilight's voice. "I have a result now, but I can wait if you're busy-"

"Nah, ah just finished Twi, s'allright. Gimme a sec." She buttoned her top back up, and with cider jug in tow, she stepped out to a somewhat fidgety alicorn. "Alright, so, what's th' verdict?"

"Well... I think you'd probably like to know..." Twi rocked back and forth on her heels. "After running all possible tests on the, erm, sample, there's one conclusion that's been reached."

"... and that is?"

"It's... well." She rubbed the back of her head. "It's real apple cider. Normally with something like this, you'd expect a sort of chemo-synthesis that looks, smells, and tastes like the real thing, but had qualities that don't match up with the original at all. But not your cider. Side-by-side with a different sample that I had poured up from my own fridge, there is essentially no difference in ingredients and spice flavonoids. No odd chemicals, no ambient hex particles, no fine tissue matter-"

"So what yer sayin'," AJ interrupted. "Is that... it's safe."

"... yes, it is. Anypony who drank it wouldn't be able to tell it from the real thing, because again, it really is the real thing."

The farmpony found herself smirking a little bit, having watched her friend's nervous movements after a bit. "An' how exactly is it that y' know it actually tastes like real cider?"

Twilight's cheeks flushed. "W-well.. w-well, I-I... a-ANYWAY!" she quickly turned to the side, signaling the change in subject. "Now that I've finished running the tests, I can give you my best estimate. It's just that..."

"Go ahead an' lay it on me, sugarcube. It's bad news, ain't it?"

"... yes, it is. Due to the complexity of changes that must have been made to your mammaries in order to produce such a compositionally correct product, making a counterspell to undo it needs to be just as complex. I think... I think, that I can do it. But it'll take me a long while. If all goes well... two weeks minimum."

The purple pony then braced herself, as if expecting her friend to explode. Instead, what she got was a sigh, and then a hand rested on her shoulder.

"Twi... alright. Don't stress yerself out 'bout it. Take as long as y' need. Ah can wait."

Needless to say, she was confused. "Wait... what? But I thought that you were-"

"Ah had time t' do some thinkin'." AJ explained, hefting the cider jug into view. "What's happened to me... ah really ain't got nopony t' blame fer it but mahself. Ah made that wish, and th' well granted it. True, it's got some humor doin' it." she glanced down at her chest again, before looking back up. "But it followed what ah'd said... and now, well..."

There was a pause, which Twilight shortly filled, asking. "What do you plan to do?"

"... ah'm gonna work with th' hand ah've been dealt. Ah wanted t' make enough cider fer all o' Ponyville... and now, ah really can. Take a look at this." She lifted the jug up, allowing her friend to see the amber sloshing inside. "Just spent th' last few minutes emptyin' mahself again. This is how much cider ah've been able t' make, inside an hour."

Purple eyes widened. "Half a gallon, in an hour? That's..."

"That's a lot, ain't it? And cider season's in three months." She sat the jug down again, before standing up straight, crossing her arms resolutely. "And y'all just told me that it's safe t' drink, too. So... since this is what ah wished for... ah don't see why ah shouldn't go ahead an' carry through with it. At th' very least, th' season'll see mah family well through into next year. And that by itself, would make it all worth it."

Twilight tilted her head, a hand rubbing at her cheek. "You sure about this, AJ? This all happened just inside of today, there may be other side-effects that we don't know of yet, further down the line."

"Maybe," AJ conceded, placing a hand on her hip. "If somethin' does happen, you'll be th' first t' know. Ah know ah gotta set up a buncha stuff back on th' farm anyways, if ah wanna take advantage of this." She looked at her bust once more. Already in the short time spent talking with her friend, she could feel the skin of her breasts stretching once more, as they began to replenish their load. "As fast as ah'm makin' now, though... it's still gonna be a hassle emptyin' them all th' time. I'm makin' faster than th' cows do! If they'd slow down a little bit, ah'd be more than fine wit' that!"

At this, the student of magic gave a smile. "THAT, is a simple lactation problem. And I think I actually have a book on nursing that I can use..."

It was with a much lighter mood that AJ returned to Sweet Apple Acres, even when moving under a sense of urgency. She returned herself back to the tree where she had left off, gathered the felled load there, and began hauling it back to the farmhouse. By then the sun had traveled through the better part of the sky, and it was quickly turning to evening. She swore to herself that she'd finish the chore load the next day... if she could get all she needed set up first.

Stepping into the house, she called out 'Ah'm home!" before making a beeline for the kitchen. There, she found both Granny and Bloom, sipping at drinks.

"Land sakes, Applejack." the elder spoke up, worry lines creased across her face. "Where've you been? Ah tried t' call you up fer lunch, but ah didn't hear hide nor hair o' you."

"Awful sorry, Granny" she replied, making her way to the sink and fetching herself a glass of ice. "Somethin' rather big came up, an' ah had t' run into town."

Bloom's ears perked, but before she could say anything, her big sister cut her off. "It weren't anythin' dangerous. Just... big." she finished lamely. "Ah'll tell y'all 'bout it later. Right now, ah need t' get th' evenin' chores all tallied t'gether, an' then maybe one or two more trees... dang, ah didn't realize just how much time ah got ate up t'day."

"Hmmm..." was all that Granny Smith had to say to that. "... ah don't suppose you'll be wantin' supper then?"

"Huh? Oh! No, y'all go on an' eat without me. Ah'll live. Ain't like we don't got plenty t' eat outside anyways."

She'd meant it as a joke, but both ponies were regarding her with looks of worry. Hands spread out, she reassured them. "Really, ah'll be alright. Ah'll get caught up t'morrow, and then we'll all have dinner t'gether that night. Whaddya say?"

There was a shared glance, but it was followed after by a pair of nods. "We trust ya AJ." Bloom spoke up, her voice having recovered a bit of its usual pep. "Oh, by th' way, didja make that wish fer me t' get better? Didja?"

Now AJ felt really guilty. "It's already gone."

You could have killed a pony with the crestfallen expression on the filly's face. "W-what?! B-But we never even got th' chance t' wish fer our cutie marks yet!"

"That's odd..." Granny herself replied. "It's only moved when somepony's made a wish at it... maybe somepony snuck in t' give it a try?"

Applejack did not deign to reply to that. Instead, she got to her feet again and stood next to her little sister, feeling her forehead. "Ah really was gonna wish yah better, sis... hmm. Though maybe y' don't need it after all. Fever's gone down."

Applebloom managed a smile at her. "Ah am feelin' a bit better. Maybe ah can start helpin' out with th' chores again, tomorrow."

"We'll have t' wait a' see." their grandmother replied. AJ found herself nodding along to her words, as the green mare rose to her hooves. "In th' meantime, ah gotta get back t' workin' on that darn quilt. Them Log Cabins ain't gonna stitch themselves!"

They watched Granny shuffle out of the kitchen, before turning to each other. "And you really oughta get back upstairs an' lay down." AJ told her sister, reaching into her hip sack and withdrawing a book. "Ah told Twi 'bout what's been happenin'. She said y'all can keep this if y' want."

When a filly is given the latest copy of Daring Do, even when sick, a grin is sure to assert itself. "W-wow! Tell Miss Twi ah said thanks!"

"Oh, ah will. She may be showin' up a while t' help out too, just so y' know." With that, the orange mare lowered her voice, leaning in to whisper in her little sister's ear.

"After supper tonight... if yer feelin' any better, come meet me out by th' barn. Don't let Granny or Mac see you."

Bloom's eyes widened. In similar hushed tones, she asked "Just us sisters?"

"Just us sisters."

Standing up again, she could feel it. The telltale sway of her filling bosom. But thanks to Twi, she now had plenty of time before she'd feel like she was going to pop. And it was her hope that before that point was reached, she'd have what she needed assembled at last.

It was dark out when Applebloom finally snuck out of the house, tiptoeing as quietly as possible. Dinner had gone without much comment, and she was certain she was feeling good enough to be moving around. Even then, she still took a box of tissues and a wet washcloth with her.

Peering about the premises, she saw only Winona standing watch at the barn's door. And when she approached, the canine wagged her tail happily, and accepted a few pets upon her head before letting the filly slip inside.

There were grunts and occasional banging going on in there. AJ was hard at work on something. She couldn't see anything from right up front, but she eventually found her sister crouched over a contraption at the far end of the barn, hidden behind a stall. Knocking on the wood gave her the jump, but she looked up, and lit up at seeing Bloom.

"Oh, there you are, sugarcube." she greeted, before standing up and steadying herself. "Sorry again 'bout skippin' out on dinner. Ah've just got some really heavy things t' deal with, an' ah could use yer help."

Bloom stared at her sister, noticing something off about her. At length, her eyes were drawn to her bust. She remembered that morning, when AJ had been stretching out her shirt. Here, right now, she was positively overflowing. All visible buttons were undone, and still freckled orange flesh was pillowing up and over her overalls, out front and from the sides. A glance at the contraption revealed that it was in fact, one of the retired cow milking machines.

"AJ..." she began worriedly. "What's goin' on? You're huge."

Her big sister blushed hard, crossing an arm underneath her engorged bust. "... when ah ran into that well yesterday, ah went ahead an' made a wish of mah own... ah was thinkin' of you an' Mac an' Granny when ah made it, too. But nothin' happened when ah made it, so ah didn't say anythin' about it when ah mentioned it this mornin'... Bloom, ah'll tell you th' whole thing, but y' got ta promise me, not t' breathe a word o' this to Granny Smith or Macintosh, y' hear?"

Stunned for only a few seconds, the yellow filly then nodded resolutely. "Ah promise, Applejack! Cross mah heart, cupcakes, an' eyes!"

AJ nodded, before sitting herself on a barrel, and proceeding to undo her overalls. Bloom had seen her sister naked before, so that wasn't a surprise. What was a surprise was how big she'd become. The orange orbs were like watermelons, fighting for space upon the orange mare's ribcage. And... her nipples were dripping...

"Y'see..." Applejack began "Here's what happened..."

"... an' now, you an' Twi are th' only ones who know ah can make Apple Cider like this now."

"Wow..." the filly drawled, eyes flicking back and forth from her sister's face, and her sister's bosom. "They... it's really real cider? Like... tastes th' same as what we make?"

"I thought it did. An' Twi thought it did, even though you'll never get 'er t' say it." AJ chuckled, her bust shimmying with the motion. "She says that she can fix it, but it'll take her a couple weeks t' even get somethin' workin'. So in th' meantime..." she glanced back towards the milking machine. " Ah intend on makin' th' best of it."

It wasn't a huge leap of logic. "Yer gonna pump yerself an' save th' cider you make fer cider season itself, ain'tcha?"

She nodded. "That's th' plan. We only really got this one pump though, that we took out cause th' lines kept gettin' clogged. Been tryin' t' clean it up, put it inta workin' order again. Ah only need two of them after all, not four."

Bloom peered at the contraption herself. "Well... if th' pump itself's still workin', clearin' out th' lines shouldn't be too hard. Just need t' test 'em one at a time an' see which ones t' use. Anythin' else that needs replacin', ah think we got th' parts for. Th' big thing's that tank. Need t' wash an' sterilize before we start fillin' it up again."

She an' Twi need t' hang out more. AJ thought to herself. Ah think ah caught most o' that, but she's gettin' smart. Out-loud, she said "In that case, guess ah oughta get t' work on th' tank. If you can check th' hoses, then ah reckon we can get this workin' b'fore bedtime tonight."

Her sister nodded, before glancing at her sister's breasts again. "An' not a moment too soon, looks like."

AJ looked down as well. The dripping of cider from her nipples had proceeded from being singular drops into almost-coherent pouring streams. Even released from her overalls, they were starting to feel tight again, skin smooth and taut. She blushed again, and stood up, minding the pools of cider she'd created on the floor. "Cain't exactly help it... Twi helped them t' slow down some, but they ain't exactly stoppin'. Think ah may empty mahself a little b'fore ah get started..."

The two of them worked into the night. Multiple times did AJ insist on a rest break for Bloom, but she plowed on through, insistent on helping out as much as possible. At length, the both of them stood before the machine, now much cleaner than it was before, with only a couple of hoses running into its side.

"Welp," Bloom drawled, wiping her brow. "Ah'd say that does it."

AJ nodded, before sneaking a feel of her sister's brow herself. "Y'all shoulda rested more though. Yer fever's not fully up an' gone yet."

"Eh, ah'll live." the younger filly waved AJ's hand off, before turning and facing her. "Ah'm helpin' mah sister save th' farm! If ah gotta be sick fer a few more days, then so be it! Now let's stop dallyin'-" She gave her sister a push onto the stool sat next to the machine. "-and getcha hooked up, y'all look like yer 'bout to explode!"

The orange mare hadn't said anything, but she was feeling tight again. She didn't protest too much as she was shoved onto her seat, nor did she refuse the pair of cylindrical nozzles that were then placed in her hands.

"Need t' get some proper pumpin' cups fer you too." Bloom mused. "Those ones might stretch you out, an' y' don't need nips longer than Mac is downstairs"

That right put Applejack's ears on fire. "Well after that, maybe ah won't pump an' just let mahself explode." she countered, crossing her arms under her leaking jugs, an indignant expression upon her face.

This caused her little sister to snicker, before assuming a contrite pose. "Ah'm sorry, that was mean o' me." she apologized. "But we do need t' find some new cups. Ah'll look around after ah'm better, an' see what we can find."

"Alright alright, ah gotcha. In th' meantime though, these ones are gonna haveta do." She lifted the nozzles, and placed the open ends over her nipples, pressing them in to seal. "Alright, Bloom... let'er rip. Slow an' steady."

There was a nod, the yellow pony reaching over into the machine and flipping a switch. The following vacuum and suction caught AJ completely off-guard, and she gave a gasp as the tubes fastened tight to her flesh. "AH SAID SLOW! SLOW!"

"AJ, it is on Slow."

"SLOWER! M-MAKE IT SLO-AH, AH, AH!"

The stinging sensation of her nipples releasing cider had begun to register smaller and smaller as time had gone on, even with her hand-induced drainings. Now it returned full-force to the front of her mind as cider was pulled mercilessly from her breasts, the suction giving no quarter to her already-tender flesh. In the clear jug in the machine, amber beverage poured and splashed into the bottom, the level quickly covered and rising as Applebloom watched in amazement.

"Wooaah... that really is a lot."

"A-APPLEBLOOM!?"

"Ah'm sorry sis, that's as slow as it goes! Ah cain't make it go any slower! Not 'less ah pop 'er open an mess with th' wires-"

"Y'ALL DO NO SUCH THING YOUNG FILLY, AH DRA-HA-HA-HAAAAW THE LINE AT ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT!"

"AJ, y'all can stop yellin' now, yer gonna wake up the others from here!"

She bit her tongue, and tried her best to not make any further noise, though the occasional grunt and pant still worked their way past her lips. For the better part of three minutes she sat there under the milking machine's assault, the jar filling with cider, her breasts slowly shrinking back down as they were emptied of their load.

At length, she steadied herself enough to speak again. "Ah had no idea how powerful these things were. We gotta tune'em down fer th' cows, ah cain't imagine bein' milked like this every day, in an' out."

"Y'know," Bloom piped up. "In yer case, it ain't really 'milkin', is it? Cause there's no milk." She tilted her head, a mischievous grin on her face. "It's really more like yer bein' 'juiced', or 'squeezed'. Or 'cidered', ah guess~"

She then had to duck to avoid a flying hat. "Hah, very funny." was all that AJ had to say to that. By now, she had once again shrunk down to her original cup size, and the stinging sensation had trailed off sharply, though the suction was beginning to turn into an ache. "Okay, ah think ah've finally hit bottom. Turn 'er off, willyah?"

She complied, and the machinery came to a rest, the cylinders popping off of AJ's teats, revealing them to be quite swollen and sore. Touching one even gently was enough to make her wince. "Okay, no wearin' anything for a while after that... now, let's see what we got here... oh wow."

Both ponies stared at the jug. It was a six-gallon vessel, made to hold a single cow's produce over the course of a day. As it stood, the level of cider that stood within it was well over the one-gallon mark.

"Y'said Twi made you slow down... by how much?"

"Think she said it'd be by half... so quarter gallon every hour... that's six gallons a day, just like th' cows. But earlier, ah was makin' so much..." she paused to add it all up. "... ah reckon ah've made almost eight gallons of cider from t'day alone!"

Bloom let out a low whistle. "That's a lot." she mused. "More than we've made from a day of ciderin' in th' past. Too bad we didn't catch it all."

"Well, there'll be plenty more where that came from." AJ replied, still gazing at the jar. "Heck, if ah ever get caught up on chores an' find th' time, maybe ah'll have Twi take it back off an' lemme speed up again. Till then... ah think we've got a head start on our cider season as it is."

There was a nod. "What do we do now, then? Store it?"

"Almost. Need t' pasteurize it if we're gonna keep it for long, ah reckon. Ageing'll do it some good though, if we still got some o' them kegs left over from last year... been a while since we did any cider that was aged. It's always been fresh stuff with us, hasn't it?"

"That's our thing, sis. Fresh apple cider at Sweet Apple Acres. Accept no substitute!" This was quickly followed by a yawn. "Whoosh... ah didn't think ah was that tired..."

"It's way late fer you. An' yer still sick too. You really shouldn't've pushed yerself so hard." The elder sister wrapped her sibling up in a hug, sweeping her off her feet. "But ah'm glad you came an' helped. You're a better hand at th' machinery than ah am."

Bloom allowed a smug expression to come over her face. "Anytime, Applejack... any.. time..." she began mumbling, sleep quickly catching up to her. AJ felt her forehead once more, confirming the fever's presence still, and silently berated herself as she carried her all the way back into the farmhouse.