Sweet Apples Under A Night Sky

Chapter Two

Luna trotted up and down the train, taking in her surroundings and kept murmuring to herself: "This is really happening. I'm actually free for a time."

She stopped when she reached the other end of the train and smiled to the passengers, who smiled back and carried on their own conversations as she began to walk back, coming to that empty storage caboose. Really she was looking for Big Mac. Just a glimpse, she kept telling herself. Of anything. She giggled to herself.

Such a nice change. she thought to herself. Away from all the busybodies of the palace and, more importantly, my dear sister. she smirked as she thought of what Celestia was doing right now.

She heard a noise behind her and jumped.

"Sorry, Selly. Ah didn't see you there." Big Mac's soft voice said.

"Oh, it's alright, Big Mac." Luna replied. I was actually hoping to see you, you know. "How are you?"

"Could be better, that last crate really put a strain on mah back though." Mac said and rubbed his aching back.

Luna bit her lip, I could give you a massage, would you like that, you hunk of a stallion ,you... "I h-hope you feel better soon." Idiot, just say something to him.

"Ah'll be lookin' forward to be spendin' more time with you." Mac smiled.

Luna felt a lump rise in her throat. "Um..."

Big Mac chuckled. "At the farm. AJ said yer helpin' out aren't ya?"

"Oh yeah, of course you meant that." Luna giggled and blushed. She forced a yawn out. "Well, I'd best be getting back to the bunk, I didn't get much sleep last night." she shuffled towards the end of the carriage.

"By the way, what's yer full name?" Mac asked.

She turned around and smiled sweetly. "Oh that';s right, Applejack never did introduce us properly. I'm Selene."

"Selene." Mac murmured to himself, smiling at the word. "Have a good sleep Miss Selene."

"You too Big Macintosh." Luna blushed furiously and walked as dignified as she could out the door.

Big Mac, being a stallion, couldn't help but watch her flanks sway side to side as she walked away. He grinned to himself and settled down in his own bunk.

***

Celestia paced frantically up and down her extravagant throne room, in front of her overly large throne. "What have your scouts reported, Captain?" she asked the captain in front of her, who was bowing respectively.

"Nothing as of yet, your highness." Shining Armour replied, still looking at the floor.

This made Celestia's pacing increase. Her Captain of the Guard was usually the most -well, second most- organized pony to ever come out of Canterlot's school for gifted unicorns. The first being Twilight Sparkle of course.

The princess stopped her pacing. There's a thought: Twilight Sparkle. "Shining Armour, send word for your sister. I think she may be of importance here. Tell her to keep an eye out for any new arrivals in town. Say no more than that."

"But, princess, surely it would be easier to send a message via Spike, right?" Shining asked, looking up.

Celestia nodded. "But it would take too long to write the damn thing, plus Spike's on holiday if I recall correctly... Take my chariot instead, it's carriers are the fastest flyers in Equestria."

"Your wish m'lady." Shining bowed again and trotted out, rejoining the remainder of his squad outside.

"What's up cap'n?" Fizzer asked as he brushed some of his mane out his eyes..

"You know what's up, idiot." the obsidian black and fire red pony, Brandling, replied. "About PL." he whispered and glanced over his shoulder, much like a conspirator would, which is probably what the ponies walking past them all thought.

"Yeah, yeah I know, but what did the big one want?" Fizzer responded, just as consiprationally.

"Oh shut it you two, Captain? What did she say?" the light blue Jax asked, respectfully.

Shining nodded in approval, Jax was always the most level-headed of the soldiers he commanded, and Shining's Lieutenant. "Celestia wants to get my sister, Twily, to help look for L- the fugitive." he stopped himself from saying Luna. If any of the nobles should learn of her disappearance, it would mean bad news for Celestia alright, which in turn, would bring bad news for himself.

"Really? She thinks the Elements could be helpful here?" Fizzer queried.

"Probably. Although she didn't say Twily and her friends, she just Twilight."

"Ooh, does this mean we get to see those fine flanks again?" Brandling chuckled. "Damn Rarity, you fine."

Shining cuffed him about the head for that. "That's my sister's friend your talking about." he growled.

"But hey, at least it aint Twilight I'm after." Brandling chuckled again and dodged another swipe from Jax's blue hoof.

"You dirty minded beast, you." Fizzer giggled, his wavy, blue hair falling all over the place..

"Alright, enough you lot, let's move." Shining said and they all snapped to attention. "Move out." he said in his 'I'm the boss' voice and clambered into the golden chariot by the gates, taking off as fast as the Wonderbolts.

***

Twilight Sparkle stretched and yawned. "Good morning Owlowicious." she said to the owl sitting by her headrest.

"Hoot." the owl replied and tucked his head under his wing.

Twilight chuckled and sat up. "Now, now, you. We've got lots of work to do and Spike is on holiday remember?" she stroked the top of the owl's head and cooed, making him ruffle his feathers and withdraw his head. "That's better. Now come help me sort out the library." Twilight smiled and hopped off the bed, Owlowicious riding on her back.

This was the third time she'd rearranged the library this week. And it was only Wednesday. Owlowicious hoped she wouldn't rearrange it every day of the week Spike was out. That would suck.

"OK, now: 'Ancient Obscure Unicorn History'? Goes in... Knowledge For The Times. 'Mystical Spells And Their Uses'? Goes in Arcane Knowledge. 'Keeping Track Of Your Deadlines'. Read Later pile." she smiled sheepishly at Owlowicious as she floated the book across to her flank. "Just for good measure."

This continued for quite sometime, and she was just about to put the last book in its shelf when she heard a knocking at the door. "Coming!" she called out and dropped the book.

"Hello Twily." grinned Shining Armour. "Mind if we come in?"

"Sh-shining Armour!" Twilight said, stunned at her brothers sudden arrival. She rushed forwards and hugged him around the neck. "What a pleasant surprise."

"It's not just me, there's Fizzer, Brandling and Jax here with me. We'd thought we'd drop by for a bit of catching up." Shining smiled.

"Of course. Hello guys." she'd met them all before at her brother's wedding last April. The last thing they'd done for a while now actually.

"Hello Miss Sparkle." Jax replied and bowed and lightly kissed her hoof in a respectful manner. "Nice to see you again."

"Eyuk. Gag. Can we get this over with?" laughed Brandling and shoved Jax in a friendly way..

"Nice to see you too Brandy." Twilight laughed and hugged them all. "Please, come in and tell me what brings you all to our cosy little town. And please, just Twilight, Jax." she batted her eyelashes at the pale blue pony, who blushed and laughed nervously. She knew he had a small crush on her ever since the wedding. Brandling had told her -in front of him, making him choke on his drink- and turned both of them scarlet.

They dated for a while but split up before things could get too serious, she liked him but wasn't ready for a relationship yet, and he just being too far away, so they broke up under good terms. She knew he still harboured feelings for her though, which worried Twilight a bit. The real stallion of her dreams was apparently off limits, being a family member of a friend. Or so the rules said.

After a few drinks of coffee Shining sat Twilight down and began to tell her about the fight's Celestia and Luna had been having more and more often. Each increasing in volume and stress and making all the staff, and Canterlotians, extremely nervous.

"The most recent one was the worst." Shining finished with a worried look in his eyes. "Luna's gone missing you see."

Twilight gasped slightly. "B-b-but the princess told you in strictest confidence!" she said, appalled at her brother's taddletaling.

"I know. Which is why it hurts for me to say this..." he took a deep breath. "I think Celestia's gone a bit... overboard."

Twilight dropped her cup and stared at her brother, taking in his scandalous words.

"We should go." Jax murmured to Fizzer and Brandling who nodded and shuffled out the door awkwardly.

"Twilight I-" Shining started, feeling the anger resonate from his little sister and flayed his ears back.

"How dare you..." Twilight said through gritted teeth. "Princess Celestia is the kindest, most endearing ruler in all of Equestrian history. How dare you say something so terrible about her, to me! Your own little sister!" she cried, tears filling her eyes.

"Twilight-" Shining pleaded before Twilight cut him off again.

"Get out." she said sternly and turned away from him. "Just... go."

Shining Armour sighed and turned to leave. "I don't know when I'll see you next, so Celestia said you need to go to her immmediately. Goodbye little sister." he said sadly and walked out the door, closing it gently behind him..

"Tough break, cap'n." Fizzer murmured as they awkwardly comforted their captain.

"It's fine, Fizzer. Let's just go back to Canterlot now." Shining muttered as they climbed back into the carriage again and set off. Shining looked down over the edge as the train from Canterlot arrived in the Ponyville station. "See you soon, Twilight." he murmured as tears blinded him temporarily.

Twilight watched them leave through the window in her bedroom. She slowly began to sob into her pillow as they left, "Oh big brother... how could you say something so terrible?" she whispered in between sobs.

"Hoot." Owlowicious hooted and tilted his head slightly and stretched out a wing to comfort her.

"Oh, you wouldn't understand, Owlowicious. Brother stuff." She sniffed and nuzzled the owl.

Owlowicious hooted again and pointed a wing at the clock.

Twilight looked puzzled for a second then gasped, "Oh, yes! Today's the day Applejack comes back from the fayre!" she cried happily. "Maybe that will take my mind off what Shining said."

***

As the train pulled into the station, Applejack and Luna woke up and stretched. "Afternoon Selly." AJ smiled to her new friend.

"Hello." Luna smiled back.

"C'mon an' get yer stuff ready, we got a big day ahead of us." AJ said as she readjusted her hat and helped Luna to her feet.

Luna's face fell momentarily. "We start work immediately?"

"Of course." Applejack nodded. "Folks like us gotta get up early an' harvest the best apples."

"Oh." Luna had no idea that the earth ponies worked so hard. She assumed they woke up the same time as everypony else. Apparently not.

"Here's an idea: ah'll go look fer Big Mac and you can get out on the platform and stretch yer wings, ah'm sure mah friend'll show you around." Applejack smiled, eager for her friends to meet her new friend.

Luna nodded and thought about Big Mac. her dream about him -them- had been... nice, to say the least. She blushed lightly as she recalled it, his powerful forelegs cradling her and he lightly kissing her forehead... except... it was different. It wasn't Luna Luna. It was Selene Luna he fell in love with. She suddenly felt as if this whole idea was a horrible waste of time and feared losing her friends and felt sick to her stomach.

"Selly? You alright, sugarcube?" AJ asked and patted her on the back at seeing her face turn a slightly pale green.

Luna shook her head, clearing her thoughts and smiled, "I'm fine AJ, just a bad dream." Lies, all of it. Oh how I wish I could stay here. With them. With him.

"Well, as soon as yer ready, we'll head up to the farm an' ah'll show you around. Deal?" the earth pony stuck a hoof out.

Luna took it and shook gratefully. "Alright, see you on the platform then."

They went their separate ways on the train, Luna to the left and out the door to the platform, where many ponies were meeting each other and being reunited. She felt a pang of guilt as she saw two ponies, one filly and one mare hug each other as sisters would and thought of her own sister, still up there in the palace, far behind now.

She spotted a familiar group of ponies on the edge of the platform: one all pink, one butter yellow with a pink mane, one cyan blue with a rainbow mane, one white as a fluffy cloud with an indigo mane and the final one: a lavender mare with a purple mane and a pink stripe going through it.

"Hey girls look over there! There's a new pony. *Gasp* Oh. My. Gosh you guys, a new pony! You know what the means?" the pink one exclaimed and pointed to Luna.

Oh dear. she thought.

"Oh dear." the ponies accompaning the pink one said.

"A party!" the pink pony shouted gleefully and bounced up to Luna. "Hi. I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?"

Luna looked stunned at the pink pony invading her personal space. "I'm L- Selene. Nice to meet you Pinkie Pie."

"L-Selene huh? Great name. Wanna meet my friends? Although Applejack isn't here yet..."

"Actually I've already met Applejack, she'd said that there were some ponies waiting for her." Luna replied. She knew she had to keep her cool and stop herself from revealing that it was really Luna the princess talking to them, not Selene the commoner.

Pinkie waved the other ponies over and Luna could name all of them: Rainbow Dash the loyal, Fluttershy the kind, Rarity the generous, Pinkie the... laughter? And Twilight Sparkle, the magic of friendship itself.

"Howdy, pardners." a voice called from behind Luna.

"AJ!" Pinkie cried and dove on her friend hugging her into Tartarus.

"Easy there, Pinkie, ah missed you too." Applejack laughed as Pinkie released her and the other swarmed around her. "Ah see y'all met Selly here."

"Well, only Pinkie has so far." Rarity said and smiled at Luna. "My name's Rarity, this is Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight. So tell us, Selene, which, if I may say so is a lovely name, how do you know Applejack?"

Luna felt flushed at having to answer their questions. All asked a few except Twilight, who just looks suspiciously at her.

"Now, now, ah'm sure Selene here has had enough of your questions, an' we'd best be gettin' along. She's coming to help out at the farm for a while, aren't you Sell?" Applejack nudged her.

"Yes, I am." Luna smiled back. It felt good to have friends. If that's what they were. Just regular ponies who didn't know about her royalty, nor did they care she wasn't for the time being.

Twilight continued to say nothing until the others had left, leaving only the two mares and Big Mac struggling with a heavy crate.

"So... come from Canterlot huh?" Twilight asked.

Luna nodded, matching Twilight's gaze with her own.

"I used to live in Canterlot. Where are you from?"

"I um... used to live near the palace." Luna replied with a slightly shaky voice.

Twilight raised an eyebrow at the quivering voice. "Oh, really?"

"Yes." Luna nodded her head stiffly.

Twilight continued to eye her then smiled. "Alright, sorry about being a bit standoffish, I just received some news from my brother, Shining Armour."

Luna's ears went back momentarily as they walked away from the platform together. "Oh?"

"Yeah, something about a certain somepony going missing. You wouldn't know anything about that would you?" Twilight asked.

"No. I don't pay much attention to the princesses affairs." Luna lied through her smiling teeth.

"Hmm. I thought all ponies in Canterlot did." Twilight said absent mindedly.

"There you two are!" Rainbow cried from overhead and landed in front of them both. "C'mon slowpokes, we're gonna be late for Pinkie's welcoming party for Selly."

Luna rushed off after Rainbow as she sped off, unfurling her own wings and taking off into the air after her, leaving Twilight and her guilty mind alone on the ground. Why did I do that? Twilight thought, furious with herself, her brother and life at the minute. I should apologise when I see her next. Yes. I will.

She galloped off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, the usual site of Pinkie's welcoming parties and saw Selene just disappear inside with Rainbow, seemingly enjoying herself. Twilight reached the door and hesitated, "Would I just say 'sorry for being an ass'? Or something more endearing?"

She didn't have time to think of anything more as a certain pink hoof dragged her inside and her pupils dilated at the sudden change in light.

***

Meanwhile, back at the train station, Big Mac met up with his friend Caramel.

"Sup, BM, good to see you back. Those trees are hard to buck by your lonesome." Caramel chuckled and clapped his friend on the back.

"Eeyup." Big Mac replied and grinned. "You see that new mare come out the train? The dark blue one?"

"Yeah. Who was she?" Caramel asked with hungry eyes, very much like adolescent boys would.

"A friend of AJ's come to work at the farm for a while." Big Mac said.

Caramel's eyes went wide, "You dog." he grinned.

Mac raised a hoof in protest. "Ah don't know what yer talkin' about."

Caramel didn't stop smiling. "Alright, alright, lover boy. Keep your member hidden, I know how your mind works."

Mac turned an even deeper shade of red. "Ah shut up, help me get these crates to the farm."

Caramel didn't stop teasing his friend the whole way there.