Drinks Are On Us

After that... things went back to normal, with only a few alterations. The first one being that AJ would always wake up in the morning with an engorged bosom, sometimes manageable, sometimes not so much so. And her chores would occasionally be interrupted every so often, one or twice a day, by herself taking a break in the barn, emptying herself before continuing about her work.

Applebloom's fever did eventually clear up, a few days after the fact much to everyone's relief. Applejack would find herself surprised one day to find her with one of their milk heat-pasteurizers cleaned out and set up in the cellar, the yellow filly looking awfully smug standing next to it.

It was a couple weeks later. Big Macintosh was still being held back to rest, but both of the sisters had dug in their hooves and caught up on the chores. And all the while, the farm's supply of cider had slowly, and quietly, built up.

It was a nice day, truth be told. A breeze in the air bespoke of the oncoming fall, and AJ could see that the time was nigh. It was not Applebucking Day just yet, but it would be in a few more short weeks. And as she had learned before, it was not a one-pony job.

Which was why she gave a friendly wave as a pair of her friends entered through the Acre's white gates, Twilight Sparkle, and her athletic counterpart, Rainbow Dash. "Hay gals, glad y'all could make it!"

"Wouldn't miss helpin' out for anything!" Dash exclaimed, coming alight on the ground in front of AJ. Her toned and slim physique was poised in readiness, a tremble of excitement evident in her pose. She didn't have to guess why.

"Same here, Dash." Twi added as she caught up. "You wanted to get the south field harvested today, right AJ?"

"That's right. Even if we don't get it all done t'day, that's fewer trees that we'll have t' worry 'bout come Apple-Buckin' Day." She gave a grin as she watched the pegasus almost bounce on the spot. "And it seems some o' us are chompin' at th' bit t' get started, eh Rainbow?"

"You bet!" she replied. "I swear AJ, I'll do anything that's needed if it means we'll get to have plenty of cider for this year's season!"

"Ah don't doubt it." AJ smiled as she turned around, proceeding to lead the way. "Ah've got th' baskets lugged over there earlier, so all we need is t' just-"

Dash zoomed past her, taking the lead. "Last one there's a rotten apple!"

She and Twilight could not help but laugh at their friend's over-exuberance, the pair of them breaking into a brisk trot. The alicorn's eye was at length, drawn towards the sway of the orange mare's chest. The top buttons were undone, displaying her cleavage again, but it seemed by now that she wasn't bothered with it. They obviously weren't empty, judging from the heft of their sway, but at the same time, she knew they'd been bigger.

"... I can definitely see why you wouldn't want to tell Rainbow." she finally spoke up. "Cider season's all she seems to be able to talk about, last few days."

"She's a fiend fer it, ah know." AJ replied, staring ahead. "Comes from bein' last in line too many times. Celestia willin', we'll have more than enough for her an' everypony else this year."

Twilight nodded, knowing what she meant. "How're you hanging?"

"Well enough. Ah told Bloom 'bout it, an' she an' ah've set up stuff on th' farm. We've actually got five barrels so far, workin' on fillin' up a sixth."

"Five barrels... gosh, that is a lot."

"And if ah hadn't had you slow'em down, it'd be even more." The apple mare looked askance at her friend. "Speakin' of spells... it's been two weeks. How's it comin'?"

The purple pony looked down. "I've got the groundwork for it laid out. it's just that I'm having trouble finding a component that'll match the wish magic's waveform. Technically, it is functional, but I wouldn't want to cast it in its current state."

"Then let's not." AJ replied. "Like ah said, take however much time y' need. We still got sum time b'fore cider season, and ah'm makin' th' best of it. No need t' rush."

She got a subdued nod. "Alright AJ, if you say so... have there been any complications, or side-effects?"

The farm mare rubbed her shoulder. "Well... just one so far. It's nothin' dangerous, ah'm just gonna haveta see Rarity 'bout some adjustments..."

When Twi gave her a blank look in reply, she sighed and cupped her bust in both hands. "They're growing. Fer real. Started noticin' it last week, even after emptyin' them completely, they've been feelin' an' lookin' bigger than they were when this whole thing started."

"Oh!" The alicorn put a hand to her chin in thought. "I've heard of this, actually. Nursing mothers on average experience an increase of one to two cup sizes, between onset of lactation and weaning of their foal."

"So it's t' be expected then?"

"Yes, it's completely natural! Well, I mean, natural due to sustained lactation, not natural as a side-effect of making cider, you know-"

"Ah getcha Twi, dun worry about it." AJ patted her shoulder. "Ah'll live, ah think. There's worse things than havin' bigger tits, ah reckon."

"Are you slowpokes done gossiping?!" came a shout from down the path. "We're wastin' daylight! There's apples to be picked, and cider to be made!"

That afternoon saw a good deal of the trees in the south field denuded of their crop, and the three mares with a victorious assembly of baskets stuffed to the brim with ripe apples. Currently, the three were in the process of loading the haul into a cart, while chatting amongst themselves.

"I wonder how much cider you can get out of this load of apples here." Rainbow pondered, balancing a bushel precariously. "I mean, it didn't seem like a lot went into them when that competition happened last year."

AJ peered critically at their lot. "Hmmm... ah'd say we could prob'ly make three, four barrels outta this haul alone." She picked up another basket and settled it in. "But then again, we need these apples fer more than cider, an' you know that, Dash."

"Yeah yeah." the pegasus waved a hand dismissively. "Pies and tarts and dried chips, all that good stuff. But when are y'all gonna start on the-"

"Oh, Applejack?" Twilight interrupted, looking off to the side. "May I ask what those are about?"

She was pointing towards a couple of holes in the ground, where dirt had been disturbed and then grass grown over. In each one of them was stuck a wooden cross.

"Those mark th' standin' places o' poor Barkson an' Bellamarine." the orange mare replied solemnly, removing her hat as she did so. "They were trees what got uprooted when th' Flim Flam brothers stopped playin' fair an' started pulpin' anythin' they could get their hands on."

"O-oh, right." Dash responded, landing before the holes and looking contrite. "Yeah, that was a real bummer... b-but it worked out in the end, the cider they made was terrible."

"With us pitching in, it really was almost a tie." the alicorn added, thoughtful. "The whole thing could have been avoided if the brothers hadn't been so... well... greedy."

"They're con artists. It's how they live an' breathe." Applejack huffed as she plopped her hat back on, returning to the task at hand. "Don't matter. If they try t' show their faces again this year, ah'm not even gonna let'em have a chance."

"Yeah, that's right!" Her blue friend took to her wings again and picked up another crate. "This year's cider season's gonna be the best if I have anything t' say about it!"

AJ quietly wished Dash would stop talking about cider already. As they had worked, her breasts had slowly filled fuller and fuller. She could feel Twi casting worried glances at her, at the exposed cleavage that was now threatening to billow up and out of her open neckline. It really was getting hard to breathe, and she swore that every time she heard the word 'cider', her chest felt heavier and heavier. "We get it Dash, we get it. Y'all're excited about cider season, just cool yer jets already."

"Aw c'mon, why can't I be excited?" She did a spin in the air. "It only comes about once a year! Sure I can buy bottled and refrigerated stuff whenever I want, but nothing beats the taste of it when it's freshly squeezed and made! Cider Cider Cider Cider Cider-...!"

All of a sudden, the farmmare froze, as that chanting reached her ears, her bosom suddenly felt very warm. Was it her imagination, or were they...

She looked down... and gasped.

Her breasts were swelling. Visibly. Right before her eyes, they inflated bigger, like a pair of balloons, filling out what little space remained in her shirt and then some. They stretched the fabric, and made the buttons of her overalls groan in protest, as excess flesh bulged outwards around the straps, the sudden onset of weight nearly pitching her forward. And around her nipples, she felt that familiar stinging sensation, followed by dampness.

Twilight, who AJ had her back to, noticed her friend's sudden stiffness. "... Applejack, are you okay?"

".... need t' find a tree." was all the explanation she got, before the mare took off into the orchard away from her friends, leaving a pair of very perplexed ponies.

"... she didn't go before we started?" Dash scratched her head. "That's weird."

"Maybe." The alicorn bit her lip as a suspicion came to mind. Picking up the last few bushels with her magic, she then turned to the pegasus. "Dash, go ahead and take the cart to the barn. I'll stay here and wait for AJ to return."

Rainbow's expression remained confused, but mercifully she didn't push the subject. She took the cart's handle, and with a few wingflaps, got the load rolling down the path towards the center of the farm. It was only when they were well out of sight, when Twilight darted into the woods to follow Applejack.

"Applejack? It's just me, where are you?"

She'd been looking for a few good minutes now. Her friend had apparently secured herself well, she couldn't find a single trace of her. Becoming really worried by now, she put her hands together to call out again. "Applejack! Where are you?"

"... nnngh... T-Twi, that you?"

"Yes, it's me, I had Dash take the harvest back to the barn. Are you okay? Where are you?"

"I-I'm over here... t-think ah could use a hand..."

She followed the sound of AJ's voice towards a particularly thick tree specimen, and went around to find the orange mare there leaning back against it, hands bracing her against the trunk. Twi was glad to see she was in one piece, but she froze once she saw the rest of her friend.

She had undone the shirt and overalls to allow her bust free access to space. And they were taking up plenty of it. They were enormous, the orange spheres almost as big and round as some beach balls she'd seen Pinkie use. They obviously were very heavy, and yet there was hardly any sag, the mounds sticking up and out of AJ's ribcage like a pair of ovoid missiles. Most concernedly, the darkened nipples that graced each breast was freely spraying cider, not from any mechanical stimulation, but purely from sheer pressure forcing the produce out.

"Oh my Celestia..." Twi breathed, staring unabashedly at those immense mammaries. "What happened!?"

"Ah... a-ah don't know..." Applejack breathed, her face strained with a multitude of efforts. "D-Dash... she s-started chanting... a-and then they just... j-just wouldn't stop..."

The alicorn crept a bit closer, lowering her head a little to study them. She had seen them empty and full, but she'd never seen them this big before. "That's not growth, is it? Is it all just... liquid weight?"

"S-so full..." was her reply. "Ah'd thought... ah'd let mahself get... t-too full sometimes but this..." She gave a groan as the spray from her teats intensified briefly. "T-too tender... cain't touch'em yet. Lettin' em... d-drain on their own..."

Twi nodded, standing back up and raising a hand to her chin, thoughtful. "... and you said this happened during while Dash was chanting?"

A nod. AJ's eyes were otherwise screwed shut, busy with trying to get a handle on herself.

"... hmmm... I remember reading in a maternity book once... sometimes, when a nursing mother hears the cry of a baby, even if it's not their own, their breasts will instantly undergo a letdown reflex, coupled with a brief surge in milk production...." she looked to her friend's engorged bust, a puzzled look upon her face. "The effects match up, but you're just making so much, all at once. And the trigger doesn't fit at all. Dash wasn't crying. It was just... the chanting... about cider."

The farmpony suddenly grunted, as the spray from her nipples intensified again. Dumbstruck, Twi stared, watching the spray weaken back down, before timidly repeating "Cider?" Again, she was rewarded with an increase in the release of amber liquid. Gathering her wits, she then tested one more time, with curiosity in her mind, chanting "Cider cider cider-"

"QUIT SAYIN' CIDEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!"Applejack yelled, the cry turning into a scream at the end as her breasts, right before their eyes, swelled up even bigger. Rising up in defiance of gravity, she found her own freckled cleavage pressing up into her chin as her brown nipples positively erupted into fountains of gold, spraying forcefully like a pair of hoses.

"Ah cain't take it!" the mare yelled again, leaning up against the tree as her hands and arms finally came to bear, fingers barely sinking into the taut flesh as she squeezed at them, the spray from her teats intensifying with every press. "Too much! It's too much, ah cain't take it! Ah'm gonna pop! Oh Celestia please help ah'm gonna pop!"

That spurred the purple pony into action again. Her horn lit up, and a purple glow suffused the overburdened breasts, lifting them up a little more. Then, it too began to squeeze, in an undulating fashion, from AJ's collarbone down the length of each breast, all the way to the nipple. In doing so, each nub of flesh spouted with even more pressure, small streams of cider even bursting forth from pores upon her areola. It was enough to make the farmpony give a long shriek as it happened, her eyes open wide and unfocused.

The cider flowed for a good few minutes before it finally began to taper off. By then, both parties were breathing heavily, cheeks flushed, trying to recover from the event. Twilight in particular was looking rather contrite, her head bowed as AJ finally stood up straight, cradling her sore bosom in both arms, their size having shrunk back down to something much more reasonable, if watermelons were considered reasonable. It would be a minute more before either one of them spoke up.

"... sorry..." the alicorn whispered. "I-I... I wasn't sure, I... I-I mean, I didn't... I didn't think it would be-"

The other mare raised a hand to stop what was becoming a ramble. "Shhh... just... just gimme a moment, sugarcube... " She brought the hand back to her heavy chest, holding it and grimacing at the same time, before taking a few unsteady steps. "A-Ah!... good gravy, they hurt. Ah've no idea how ah'm gonna pump 'em tonight...ugh..." She then turned towards her friend, treating her to a good long view of her deepened cleavage, her teats still freely dribbling cider. She fixed her with a good long look, before heaving a sigh, closing her eyes. "... ah understand, Twi. Ah know y' didn't mean ta... Still stings like a motherbucker though."

Twilight gave a small grateful smile, before looking her over. "Mph... I think I can take the edge off the pain some... i-if you're okay with that, I-I mean..."

"Ah think so... let's get back to th' barn first though. Y'all can treat me right before ah try t' empty 'em. Dash is prob'ly worried 'bout us anyways."

"In your condition?" She gestured to the still-sizable mounds on the apple pony's chest. "There won't be any hiding those from her. And you can't button your shirt still like that, can you?"

"... yer right about that. Not just too big, it'll sting like hell too. Well... y' got any ideas then?"

"... just one. And it'll involve keeping Dash plenty distracted..."

Rainbow Dash was expecting Twilight and AJ back up the path any moment now. What she was not expecting was to see the purple pony flash in out of a teleport in front of the Apple's house, a couple of mugs in her hands. Curiosity piqued, she stood up from her perch upon the barn's roof, and glided down to her. "Hey Twi! What's going on, where's AJ?"

"Rainbow!" Twilight turned to face Dash, a smile upon her face. "Applejack got busy on something... particular, after she got back. You see..." she looked back and forth, almost theatrically. However, it was enough to get the pegasus to land and lean in to listen.

"You see... after the whole business with cider season last year, she's set up a small cidering mill, hidden within the orchard."

Rainbow's wings flared. "A-A secret cider mill?!"

She gave a nod. "She wouldn't even show me where it was. But she did leave again, and then disappeared... and came back, with these." She held the mugs out. Each one was filled to the brim with warm, frothy cider.

The blue mare pierced the air with a squeal. "CIDER!" she shrieked, before accepting one of the mugs from Twi. She stared at it, stuck her nose into it to smell the aroma... and then tossed her head back, pouring the beverage down her gullet, draining half of the stein in one go. The alicorn could not help but stare... well, maybe stare and then glance for a split second behind her, to where a crawling bush had frozen in place the instant Dash had yelled.

"Oh Celestia!" she exclaimed, coming up for air and licking her lips. "This is almost better than last year's! How does AJ do it?! It's just the right blend of spicy and sweet that makes your taste buds dance! I could drink this stuff all day!" Again, the tankard went bottoms-up as she continued to drain it.

"Heee... I do admit, this cider is really, really good." Twilight agreed, bringing her own mug to her lips and sipping at it much more sedately, trying her best to put out of her mind that just moments ago, these mugs had been placed under her farmpony friend's nipples, and then swiftly filled to the brim with the amber produce that had flowed from them. It really did taste amazing...

She looked up again. The bush was laying on its side, next to the barn door. "I'm going to go see about storing the apples. Why don't you go look for AJ? She'd might give you another mug~..."

Dash laughed as she wiped her muzzle clean. "I can see her handin' out samples. But if she's just gonna give'em away before the season's even starting, she must be makin' a lot!" Mug in hand, she then flapped her wings and took off, climbing above tree-level and then gliding off in search.

The alicorn, for her part, did not move till she was out of sight again, before making a beeline for the barn. Inside, way in the back, she found Applejack sitting down, gritting her teeth as she tried to position the cups over her engorged nipples, wincing at every contact made. "Bloom said she'd get new cups fer these... kinda would like'em now more than later."

"Hold still." Twi chided, her horn lighting up again. Again, a glow surrounded AJ, not just her breasts, but her entire body. She obeyed, and soon felt a gentle tingle work its way over her skin, leaving behind a cool, relaxing sensation that made her nipples stiffen. When it finally faded away, she found herself feeling refreshed, a smile upon her face.

"That should do it." her friend stated, her horn's glow shutting off. "How're you feeling?"

"Mmmm... much better." she replied, flexing her shoulders, feeling the marked absence of any stiffness from their work earlier. Cupping her overfilled jugs gave her a much more sedate sensation, compared to the painful tightness she was experiencing before. "Thank you, sugarcube. Ah think y'all more than made up fer earlier with that."

Her friend gave a thankful smile as she watched her put on the pumping cups again, this time with more apparent ease. When the machine was switched on, she grimaced, but soon relaxed again, the tubes quickly filling up with gold fluid. At length, Twi's expression turned serious again. "But this new thing... your triggered production whenever you hear the chant... that's a side-effect that we didn't know about before. And if it gave you this heavy a reaction with just Dash and me saying it... what's going to happen during the season, when you have a line of customers all chanting it as well?"

The thought had obviously not occurred to AJ yet. Her face paled as she stared down at her bust again, lost for words. Twilight watched her for a bit, before speaking what was on both their minds. "I think I'm going to get back to work on finishing that counterspell. And fast."