Sweet Apples Under A Night Sky

Chapter Three

"Ahh! Pinkie! What's with the bright light?" Twilight asked and shielded her eyes.

Pinkie bounced over to her with an extremely bright spotlight on her head. "Hi Twilight, just in time too, we're about to test my 'Party Lighter Upper Spotlight Light'." she smiled and tilted her head slightly. "Whatcha doin'?"

"Trying not to go blind." Twilight grumbled and blinked a few times.

Pinkie giggled, "Silly Twilight, you don't look in the spotlight light." and bounced away.

"So Selly, where you from in Canterlot?" Rainbow Dash's voice asked.

Twilight turned to see Selene and Rainbow standing by the punch bowl, still blinking and seeing spots, she trotted over with a nervous smile.

"Oh, around. I used to live near the palace." Selene said and smiled at Twilight.

That's terrifying. Twilight thought and smiled back.

"No kidding? Twilight used to live there too." Rainbow smirked.

"I know, she already told me. It must have been wonderful being Celestia's main student." Selene said.

"It was, and still is." Twilight replied, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand up with tension. "Listen, Selene, I just wanted to apologise for being an ass back there. It was rude and I'm sorry."

Selene waved a hoof and smiled. "It's alright. You're forgiven." Until I figure out what you were after. she thought darkly.

"Well, let's get off to a fresh start. I'm Twilight Sparkle. Pleasure to meet you Selene." Twilight smiled again and extended a hoof gingerly.

Selene grinned and gasped the hoof in her own. "Pleasure's all mine, Miss Sparkle."

Rainbow watched the transaction with a confused expression as the unicorn and pegasus hugged like old friends. She shook her head and flapped off to talk to Pinkie.

"Does Pinkie always have things like that?" Selene asked.

"Usually." Twilight nodded to the pink pony with the spotlight light thing still attached to her head.

Selene giggled and shook her head. "And that cake... by my night it's big." she gestured to the giant cake in the centre of the room.

Twilight laughed, "That's not even the starter cake. That's the 'welcome to our town' cake. The real cake is probably hidden somewhere upstairs."

Selene's jaw dropped. "How can there be a bigger one?"

Twilight leaned in, "There's always a bigger one." she whispered and leaned back with a smug grin on her face.

Selene turned bright red as she understood the innuendo. Then a small smile spread across her lips, soon covering her whole face in a fit of giggles.

Twilight joined in and the two laughed for some time.

"Well, Pinks, another great party as usual, but me an' Selly had best be movin' if we wanna catch the last apples. Ah'm sure Big Mac's got them crates up there by now. See y'all soon girls." Applejack said and trotted out the door, not noticing the vacant expression on Selene and Twilight's faces.

Selene felt her heart flutter at the mention of the red stallion.

Twilight did too.

They looked at each other and blushed. Selene nodded curtly and followed Applejack, waving goodbye to the other ponies.

***

Applejack and Luna trotted down the road and up to the semi-famous farm, Sweet Apple Acres.

"There she is, Selly. The only place I would rather be other than with mah friends." Applejack said proudly.

Luna gasped as she saw the farm, it looked so peaceful. Such a contrast to the palace's marble walls and golden framed paintings and servants scurrying everywhere.

Source

"It's so peaceful." she murmured.

"Ah know, right? C'mon, ah'll introduce you to mah sister Applebloom and Granny Smith, and mah dog Winona." Appleajck set off at a steady pace, Luna trying to keep up.

"Slow down AJ, you're going too fast."

Applejack flashed a grin and stomped her hooves.

Luna saw the gesture and it dawned on her. "Oh, you want a race?" she grinned back and broke into a full gallop, just barely keeping ahead of the farmpony.

Being the empress oft he night and having the speed of darkness was useful in times like this, even if she wasn't in her real form.

They reached the barn and stood panting. "Alright, you win." Luna said as she gasped for air.

Applejack rose on her back legs and whinnied in triumph. "Ha! Don't you worry about that, ah'll soon whip you into shape." she nudged the disguised princess in the ribs, making her giggle.

"Oh please don't do that, I'm very ticklish there. My sister would always get me when I wasn't expecting it."

Applejack had an evil look in her eyes. "You don't say..."

She nudged Luna again, prompting a stifled laugh. "Don't you dare." she said as menacingly as possible. The effect was lost on Applejack, having a giggling pony try and be menacing when being tickled, was a rather funny sight.

Applejack chuckled, "Alright, alright, let's go inside now."

She ushered Luna past her and up to the farmhouse. "Applebloom! Granny! We're back!"

"Applejack!" a happy young voice sounded through the house as a yellow filly with a large pink bow in her mane ran upt o and hugged Applejack.

"Eeehh. What's that now?" a wheezing voice asked form the other room.

"Granny! AJ's back!" the filly cried and danced around her sister.

Luna smiled as she saw them together. I wish my sister was ever that happy to see me. she thought sadly.

"Hi everypony. I want y'all to meet mah friend here, Selene. She's gonna help out on the farm for a while." Applejack gently pushed Luna forwards.

Luna smiled a bit awkwardly as Applebloom hugged her. "Any friend of Applejack's is a friend of mine!" she cried happily and danced around the two. "Hey, wait a minute." she stopped and turned to AJ. "Where's Big Mac?"

Applejack smacked her forehead with her hoof. "By Celestia! I clean forgot about him." she ran back outside and Luna and Applebloom followed closely.

She gave a great sigh of relief as she saw Big Mac and Caramel dragging the heavy hoofcart towards them.

"Well howdy gals." Caramel grinned at them, his eyes lighting up as he saw Luna. Mac and Caramel unhitched themselves from the hoofcart and trotted over to the girls and bowed. "Well howdy do, little lady." he said to Luna and kissed her hoof in a gentlecolt's manner. "What's your name?"

Luna blushed and withdrew her hoof. "Selene." she smiled and curtseyed.

"Lovely name." Caramel smiled and bowed again, then straightened up and did the same to Applejack and Applebloom. "Howdy ladies."

"Oh shut her apple pie hole." Applejack laughed and gave him a playful punch.

Applebloom just giggled and his shyly behind her sister.

Luna grinned at the filly, then nodded to Big Mac. "Hello Big Mac. Sorry we left you behind."

"It's alright." he said in his monotone voice. "Ah'm just happy to be back."

"Howdy Big Mac!" Applebloom cried and jumped on her brothers back, giving him a great big hug.

"Howdy Applebloom. How's the CMC work goin' on?"

"CMC?" Luna whispered to Applejack.

"Heh, that's our sister's name fer her and her friends. The-"

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" Applebloom blurted out.

The four adult ponies laughed at the fillies sudden shyness.

"Ah, uh... gotta go..." Applebloom muttered and ran off to find her friends, leaving the embarrassing situation behind.

"So, Selene." Caramel purred at Luna, "Where are you staying while you work at the farm?"

Luna blinked. "I hadn't really thought about that." she murmured. It was true, what was she going to do?

"You can stay with us." Big Mac piped up and turned a slightly brighter shade of red.

Caramel eyed his friend while Applejack laughed. "Sure thing. You can bunk in Big Mac's room. he won't mind, will you BM?"

Big Mac chuckled nervously, "Ah, um..."

Luna splayed her ears back in protest. "Oh it's alright, I'll sleep in the barn or something."

Applejack shook her head. "Psh'aww. You're our guest an' guests always have priority. And ah wouldn't even suggest going to sleep in Caramel's house." she smirked at the orange pony opposite her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Caramel asked with a hurt, puppy dog look in his eyes.

Applejack shoved him, "You know full well what ah mean." she laughed. "We don't need another 'Daisy' incident."

Caramel turned as red as the apples on Applejack's cutie mark. "I thought we agreed, never to speak of that again?"

Luna tilted her head. "What happened?" she asked curiously.

Big Mac laughed, "You don't wanna know Selly."

This only made Caramel turn even redder as Applejack whispered in her ear the dirty secret.

"Oh." Luna said and giggled.

"Well... nice seeing you... I should go..." Caramel mumbled and began shuffling away.

"Oh ah'm just teasin' ya, ya big lummox." AJ laughed and patted him on the back. "Wanna come get somethin' to eat?"

"Nah I'm good, I just ate anyways. Besides, I got stuff to do tomorrow." Caramel said and waved them goodbye. "See y'all tomorrow!" he called, mimicking AJ and BM's accents.

"So, sleeping arrangements." Applejack stomped her hooves. "Ah'll sleep in mah bed, an' Selly'll sleep in Big Mac's bed. That alright big brother?"

"Eeyup." Mac decided she couldn't do any harm, as long as he got his Playmares out from under his bed first. Neither of his sisters, nor his granny knew about them. And for good reason: they were Caramel's.

"Well, if your'e sure." Luna smiled at the stallion.

He felt a lump rise in his throat, "Eeyup. No problem." he murmured as he looked into her eyes.

Applejack must have seen this and quietly giggled. "C'mon then, let's get somethin' ta eat." she smiled as she put both front hooves around them and steered them towards the house again.

***

Twilight sat and thought about the newcomer. "What is she hiding?" she mumbled to herself, Owlowicious was off hunting or something. "Well, I'm not going to sit here and think bad things about her just because she's new in town and Celestia said to-"

What was she doing? Disobeying Celestia's orders? The nerve she had. Spike! Take a latter." she called.

No response.

"Oh, yeah. Holiday." she murmured and chuckled nervously. "I'll just do it myself then. Good thing Spike left me a bottle of his dragon's breath in case I needed to send a letter." she'd have to remember to thank the little dragon for the wonderful idea he had.

She sat down on her haunches and began writing the letter.

Dear Princess Celestia,

My brother told me of your troubles with Luna and thought I could help-

"No." she grunted and started over.

Dear Princess Celestia,

How are you? I'm fine. Shining Armour dropped by earlier and told me about Princess Luna. I hope everything gets better soon-

"No." she grunted again.

Yo C-Dawg-

"Definitely no." she threw her hooves in the air in frustration and thought for a while. She used her magic to grasp the quill one more time and began writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

I received word of your orders from my brother, Shining Armour, as soon as he arrived, and began making note of all the ponies who got off the train at the station. One in particular caught my eye: the dark blue (similarly blue to Princess Luna) pegasus called Selene. or 'Selly' as my friends started calling her. She is currently working at Sweet Apple Acres. I'll keep you updated in case any new developments show up.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

She re-read the letter several times, making sure this was the one she wanted to send. "'Faithful student'? or 'Spy?" she mumbled sadly. She didn't particularly want to do this, but she knew better to cross the princess, or mention what Shining had said about the two sisters fighting a lot recently. "perhaps I should send that C-Dawg one." she groaned and reached over to the small, purple jar of light green gas Spike had left behind.

She uncorked it and sniffed suspiciously. "Eugh. Spike really needs to brush his teeth more often." she said as she pinched her nose and dipped the end of the letter in it, making it flame up as if Spike had sent it away.

She sighed contently and went back to her bed and lay down. "Ohhh, why does this have to be so hard? Oh I know, I'll go see him. He always makes me feel better." she giggled with glee at his memory.

She locked the door on her way out and trotted off to Sweet Apple Acres.

***

Celestia sat in her room ,brooding over her sister's disappearance. Her ears pricked up as a small green shoot of flame appeared in front of her. She grabbed in in her mouth and unfurled it immediately. "Ah, a letter from Twilight. This should be good." she muttered and scanned her eyes over it, resting momentarily on 'Selene'.

She finished reading and looked up. "I'll have to thank Shining Armour when I can." she murmured thoughtfully and smiled. "And Twilight, for giving me this information, I'll be sure to put it to good use." she walked over to the door and stuck her head out. "Guard?" she called.

"Yes ma'am?" a guard hurried up to her disembodied head and saluted.

"Ah, good. I need you to go down to the barracks and print out wanted posters for a pegasus by the name of Selene. She may hold information about my sister's sudden disappearance." Celestia ordered.

That may be a bit too harsh. What if she's just a simple mare from Canterlot who happens to look like Luna? a small voice in her mind said quietly.

"I can't take that chance." Celestia said sternly, earning a wary glance from the guard remaining outside her door. "Oh, um..." she blushed and slammed the door before he could say anything. "Besides, you don't exist, you're just a part of my imagination." she told the voice.

That may be so, but you should still listen to me. the voice said softly.

"Ugh. Go away." she snapped and turned to face the world out her window. "But I do miss you, little sister. Oh please come home soon." she murmured as tears filled her eyes again. "Please..."

***

Twilight trotted down to Sweet Apple Acres, just in time to pass Caramel on the way back, who winked at her and let out a wolf whistle.

"Lookin' good, Twilight." he called to her, making her blush and blow a raspberry at him.

"Go buck yourself, Melly." she called back.

"Ah, you're no fun Twilight Sparkle." Caramel chuckled and waved goodbye.

Twilight reached the entrance to the farm and took a deep breath of air. She loved that smell of fragrant apples. Especially the fragrant apples of Sweet Apple Acres. Mainly because of AJ's brother. "Ahh, Big Macintosh, ever since I bumped into you during that disaster of the Smarty Pants doll, I could never get you out of my head." she monologued for a bit. "And before that, when Discord made you act like a dog and you licked me. That gave me the shivers all over. The good kind." she added with a sultry tone, still talking to herself.

She shook her head and trotted up to the farmhouse door. "Applejack?" she called out.

"Could somepony please get that?" she heard AJ's voice shout from behind the door. "Ah'm tryin' ta cook dinner!"

She heard the scrabbling of unlocking the door behind it and put on a smile to see whoever opened the door.

"Hello, Twilight, what brings you here?" Selene asked as the door swung open.

Twilight's mind blanked. "I um... just wanted to apologise again?" she said and began shuffling on her hooves. Oh I am so not ready for this. she thought and squirmed under Selly's gaze.

Selene looked at her with cold eyes, then wrapped her forelegs around Twilight.

"Hey! What are you-"

"Shh. I forgive you, Twilight Sparkle. All is forgiven." Selene said as she released Twilight and smiled sweetly.

Too sweetly. Twilight's subconscious told her. She forced a smile back and curtseyed slightly, "Well, I um... should be going back now. I'm glad we got this over with." she said and bit her lip at her words, hoping Selene wouldn't notice.

She simply chuckled and waved goodbye, then closed the door again as the purple unicorn turned and began to walk away.

"Damn, I completely forgot she was there. Why is she so keen to stay at Sweet Apple Acres anyway? Unless..." Twilight murmured to herself. "No. They only just met, she wouldn't be trying to-"

"Howdy, Twilight, can ah help y'all with anythin'?" Big Mac asked, interrupted her thoughts.

"Oh, hi Big Mac." she said and attempted to slow her breathing. "I just came to say sorry to Selene for before. I may have been a bit frontier-ish when we first met and I feel horrible about it." she cooed, trying for affection from the strong stallion.

Big Mac stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, you could stay for dinner." he said after a while.

Twilight started. "B-but I'm sure it's just one other mouth to feed a-and I wouldn't want to intrude on anypony's hospitality." she stammered.

Mac waved a hoof and silenced her. "Now hush. Ah'm sure AJ would be more than happy to feed one of her best friends. Besides, Applebloom's gone to play with her friends, so we got the place to ourselves." he said.

Twilight's ears pricked up hopefully. "Oh?"

"You know, for dinner?" Mac replied and chewed on his token wheat stalk.

"Oh." Twilight murmured and let her ears drop normally. Her heart with them. "Well, if your sure AJ won't mind. She sounded awfully busy in there."

"Phs'aw. You're one of Applejack's best friends, like ah already said, c'mon." he trotted over to the door and swung it open. The smell of cooking hit Twilight's nostrils immediately.

"Smells delightful." she said as Big Mac closed the door behind her and showed her to the dining room.

"Oh, hello again Twilight." Selene said as she sat in her spot at the table, breaking away from Granny Smith's riveting tale about apples, apples... and apples. "Are you staying for dinner?"

"It seems so, yes." Twilight said as she smiled a fake smile at Selene. Oh don't put me next to her, oh don't put me next to her-

"Twilight why don't y'all sit opposite Selly? On t'other side of Granny." Mac smiled as he drew the seat away for her to sit on, like a gentlecolt.

She sat down, gracefully and thanked him. She looked up to see Selene watching her before turning back to Granny Smith.

"Howdy, Twilight!" Applejack said as she bustled in, carrying a steaming hit plate of what appeared to be apple soup. "Pleasure to have you. Big Macintosh already told me you were stayin' so ah made you up some special apple soup of yer own. Dig in!" she cried happily and wandered back to the kitchen.

Mac sat down at the head of the table, he being the sole male family member of Sweet Apple Acres and following his father's wish:

"Son. If ah go any time soon, ah want you to be the head of the family." Big, Big Macintosh had said to him.

"Sure, pa." Big Mac, when he was Little Mac had replied.

"Lead on mah boy. Find a nice mare an' have kids an' all that."

"Ah will, pa."

"Good. Now me an' your mother are goin' out for a stroll tonight. Be good for your granny ya hear?" Big Macintosh srumpled his son's mane.

"Sure, pa." Little Mac smiled at his pa.

That was the last time they spoke. Mac wiped a tear away from his eye, not letting the three mares in the room see, and pushed that painful memory back.

"Soups on everypony!" Applejack cried as she brought in another bowl of soup and began ladling it out for the ponies gathered around the table.