“Good morning, Applejack!” Minerva cheered, making the slightly hungover mare groan into her pillow. “You leveled up a bit yesterday. Your Intelligence is level 10, which means you have 100 MP and can carry half a ton in your inventory, and your Charisma is level 11. Also, you learned Sense Presence at level 2, so you’ll know if there’s anything within a meter of you that can leave a Soul Crystal. Or two meters, if they’re focused on you. And you leveled up your Clean spell to level 2, as well. And, of course, you have some Quests.”

“Of course.” she said, forcing herself to sit up. “What time is it?”

“Quarter past eight.” Minerva answered, making Applejack sigh. She clambered out of bed and peeked into the hallway. For once, the restroom was occupied, so she got dressed and spent a few moments stretching out the worst of her stiffness. She’d had much worse hangovers in her time, and had worked through them, so her headache and dry mouth were no more than an annoyance.

When Applejack checked again, the restroom was still occupied, but then she remembered there was another one on the other side of the floor. Unfortunately, it turned out to be occupied, too. While she was waiting, Taki came out of his room, in a loose tunic. As he approached, Applejack suddenly became aware of his presence.

It wasn’t exactly visible, but more like a transparent overlay in her mind’s eye. It reminded her of how unicorns sometimes described using their telekinesis. It registered as a featureless, white blob, like a human version of one of Rarity’s ponnequins, but with a wig. She immediately understood how crowds could be overwhelming.

“Applejack? Getting a late start this morning?” he asked, surprised.

“Yeah. Ah had a bit of a late night.” she admitted.

“Yeah, me too, kinda.” Taki agreed. “I was listening to Krakhini sing until she called it a night. Then Flamme had some problems with the storm. He’s usually not too bothered by them, but severe ones, like last night, can upset him. So I decided to give him some extra attention this morning, after breakfast.”

“Oh, Ah missed breakfast, didn’t Ah?” Applejack realized. Part of her was sorry about that, but her queasy stomach wasn’t too bothered.

“Actually, they got started on breakfast a little late, too. They had to wait for the villagers to get up, then reset the common room, before they could start. Besides, they serve a later breakfast for their guests.” Taki reminded her.

“That’s right.” Applejack remembered, before remembering something else. “Oh, is there someplace Ah can get my jerkin repaired?”

“What kind of repairs?”

“A bobcat got the drop on me yesterday, so some cuts and punctures.” she explained, rubbing her shoulder.

“Ooh.” Taki hissed, wincing. “How bad was it?”

“It slashed my face pretty good, but a healing potion took care of that, mostly.” Applejack shrugged. “And one of the gate guards used a Heal spell when I got back.”

“Well, that’s good, at least. But as for repairing your armor…” Taki trailed off for a moment, thinking. “I’m not sure, actually. You’ll have to ask the at the guild. Or the guards.” he added as an afterthought. Just then, Applejack became aware of another white person-shape behind her. She turned to look just as the door opened and a young woman came out.

Excuse me, please.” the cream-colored woman said, stepping around Applejack and Taki. As she passed, Applejack noticed she had little animal ears of some sort, and that, along with her coloration, identified her as the badger she’d seen a couple days earlier. When she was gone, she turned to Taki again.

“Did you need to use the restroom?” she asked, politeness getting the better of her as she noticed some thin liquid running down his leg.

“No, I can wait. You were here first.” he said, waving her off.

A few minutes later, Applejack headed out into the village. She wasn’t really in the mood for a full breakfast, so she went to the bakery and picked up a couple pastries. She also bought a sandwich for lunch, in case she couldn’t get work at the orchard. She ate the pastries and one dried apple on the way to the gate.

About half an hour later, Applejack arrived at the orchard and rang the bell. A small hawk on top of the sign screeched and flew off. A few minutes later, Yanagi came jogging up, the hawk flying ahead of her to perch on the sign again.

“Morning! Come in!” Yanagi called, and Applejack did. “Morning.” she said again, as Applejack got close enough for Sence Presence to notice her. “Sorry we weren’t here, but it’s harvest season.”

“Ah understand.” Applejack said unthinkingly. Yanagi almost seemed not to hear.

“We always get in a lot of laborers during harvest season—people from the village, and some of the ranchers, too. But it just never seems like enough.” she rambled. Applejack just nodded, empathizing. “Sorry. Rambling. Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be working today.”

As she led Applejack through the orchard, Yanagi explained that while some people could just shake the fruit off the tree, that required a Strength in the high forties, so most workers had to strip-pick. Which meant wrapping their hands around the branch and running them along it. She also explained that she would be paid three coppers for every two bushels, and a pint of cherries for every quarter.

A little further along, Applejack heard something hiss ahead of them and perked up, looking for the source. A moment later, she found it. Or rather, it revealed itself. By slithering out of the tree the giant, serpentine beastie had somehow hidden itself in.

“What in the—” Applejack yelped, pulling back.

“Relax.” Yanagi told her, putting her hand on Applejack’s shoulder. “She’s one of Hannah’s summons, so you’re safe. As long as you’re with one of the family, or another of her summons, she won’t attack you. She might follow you, though, to make sure you’re not causing trouble. Especially if you’re just with a summon.”

“Is…she?” That struck Applejack as odd. “Is she here to guard the orchard?” Applejack asked, studying the creature. Its scales were blood-red, except for the neon-red markings. And the darker red markings on the inside of its hood. It also had six slender arms that ended in long-fingered hands2. Its body was about as big around as Applejack’s hips, and at least three times as long as Applejack was tall, with the hood extending down about a quarter of that, behind where the arms were and spreading wider than the elbows. Applejack had no idea how she hadn’t seen the creature sooner.

“No, she’s helping with the harvest. Six arms, a seven meter body, and really high Dexterity help a lot with that.” Yanagi pointed out. “And all naga are female. Except during mating season. Then they wrestle for dominance, trying to bite each other, and inject each other with a special venom. When one of them takes enough venom, they turn male. Some people think it’s strange that the loser becomes the male, but naga are all about combat, so it actually makes perfect sense that the superior warrior would get to train the daughters. Especially since mating pairs separate after the female conceives.”

“Your sister again?” Applejack asked

“Yeah, she’s the one who sent us her Soul Crystal, when she heard we were marrying Hannah. They’re only found in a few dungeons in the Aran region.” Yanagi confirmed. Applejack nodded, still listening, even though she hadn’t taken her eyes off the naga.

With everything else, it was no surprise that Applejack didn’t notice the short-muzzled snake head at first. Even with the neon-red curves that underlined its eyes before streaking towards its nostrils. The flickering of the creature’s black tongue drew her attention though, and a second later, Applejack noticed a large, mostly-white oval on top of the creature’s head.

“Wait. Is that supposed to be a face?” Applejack asked, as her mind suddenly reinterpreted the gray lines in the white spot.

“A mask, actually.” Yanagi said. “As they get older, it gets clearer, and as they level up, it gets more elaborate.”

“So, i—uh…she is pretty young, then?”

“Somewhere between three and four years old. Not long separated from her mother. That’s when the features start growing in. Before that, it’s just a blank spot.” Which seemed to be all Yanagi had to say.

“Hey, Minerva? Is it okay to Scan that creature?” Applejack asked, a few seconds later.

“It’s only illegal to Scan a sapient being without their permission.” Miranda reminded her. So Applejack cast the spell as subtly as possible.

Six-Armed Naga – Lv. 3 | Spell Summon
HP: 72

“Hey. Naga.” Yanagi said, as the pair approached the beastie. “Go let Hannah know we need another Slime.”

The naga hissed and flared its hood slightly before folding its arms against its body. Then—in blatant violation of everything Fluttershy had ever told her about cobras—it wrapped its hood around its…Applejack supposed it would be called a torso…making itself look like a mostly normal—if extremely oversized—snake.

“Why do you need slime?” Applejack asked as she watched the naga slither away. Much more quickly and quietly than something that size should able to.

“Because getting the cherries off the trees is just the first step. Picking them all up off the ground to put in baskets would take way too long, so the Slime follows you, picking up all the cherries and putting them in the baskets.” Yanagi explained. Then, seeing Applejack’s face, she added, “Don’t worry. We thoroughly wash the crop before using or selling any of them.”

After that, they were quiet until they reached the area where the day laborers were working. As they passed the first worker, Applejack realized that she’d misunderstood Yanagi earlier. She hadn’t realized Yanagi had meant a beastie, not just a bucket of slime. Frankly, this made a lot more sense. So much more, that Applejack felt a little stupid for not realizing it sooner.

By the time she and Yanagi reached the cart where Clarissa was sitting, Applejack had seen three people with the clear blobs. Clarissa added her name to the paper she was using to keep track of how much each person brought in, then handed her four baskets. Yanagi gave her a ladder and told her to pick a tree and get started.

Several minutes later, a slime showed up and started picking up the cherries she’d knocked down. Applejack watched, curious, as the beastie extended a tentacle4 and somehow absorbed the cherry stems—but not the fruit, itself. It collected almost two dozen before somehow throwing them all into the basket.

Before she went back to work, Applejack took a moment to examine the slime more closely. It was about the size of a human head, or a little bigger. It had some sort of skin/outer layer that shone like a soap bubble,4 but was also filled with some sort of fluid. It was almost perfectly clear, except for one thing floating in the middle of its body. After a closer look, Applejack thought it looked like a Soul Crystal, just without the chain used to mount it.

“Scan.”

Slime – Lv. 2 | Spell Summon
HP: 4

“Jeez. I’ll have to be careful with that thing. I could probably kill it by accident.” Applejack thought.

“It’s not really that easy.” Minerva said. “Damaging the skin or spilling the slime doesn’t do much to them, really. You have to attack the core directly to do any damage.”

“Well, that’s good, at least.” Applejack thought, before getting back to work.

It took Applejack a bit to adapt to doing things the hard way, but by the time lunch rolled around, she’d found her rhythm. Enough to be a little annoyed at having to stop. What was more than a little annoying was Sense Presence reacting to the crowd in the farmhouse’s kitchen.

“Hey, Minerva, is there any way to turn Sense Presence off? Or even just down?” Applejack asked, sitting down away from everyone else.

“Practice.” Minerva told her. “You just have to use it to learn how to tune out the unimportant stuff.”

“The unimportant stuff?”

“The things you sense will be different colors, depending on their intent. Currently, you can see red, for lust; mauve, for danger; and white for anything else, including neutrality.” Minerva explained.

“Mauve? Why mauve?”

“Because…red was…already taken.” Minerva answered slowly, after visibly thinking for several seconds.

“Probably just more of the Gestalt’s whimsy.” Applejack decided, with a shrug.

“Possibly.3 But whatever the reason, as your Perception increases, you’ll slowly be able to identify more intentions, and smaller amounts.” Minerva said.

“Hold on. Increasing my Perception gives me more detail about what emotions I’m sensing, but increasing the Skill Level gives me more range?” Applejack said skeptically “Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”

“Maybe, but it’s easier to level up the skill than the Stat. Especially since you don’t get any experience for sensing neutral things.”

“This world is weird.” Applejack thought, shaking her head.

“Hey.”

Applejack looked up and saw a man with tan skin and dark stubble covering his head. He had slightly high cheekbones, and a slightly strong jaw, and was slightly handsome in general.

“You okay?” he asked. “I noticed you seemed a little jumpy earlier.”

“Ah’m fine. Ah, uh… Ah just learned Sense Presence this morning.”

“Ahh. Yeah, I remember that.” he chuckled. “I was traveling when it happened, so it was a few days before I reached a city. That was an experience I wish I could forget. Unfortunately, the only way to get used to it is practice. The first time is the worst, but every new level takes some getting used to.”

After a little more friendly conversation, the man introduced himself as Ricardo and sat down right next to her. They ate in a comfortable, peaceful silence, and when Applejack finished, she headed into the kitchen to visit the loo and mix her tea. Then it was back to the trees.

While they’d been eating, the slimes had been cleaning up after the storm, so when they got back, the first thing they did was dump the collected debris in the cart. The next few hours passed without incident, and after awhile, Applejack even got used to the slime moving in and out of her awareness.

Eventually, Elias called the workers in for supper, which Applejack again ate away from everyone else. While she was getting her grilled veggies and grits with shrimp, Applejack thought she saw a familiar head of red hair, but she couldn’t be sure through the crowd. The food was good, and the shrimp tasted better than she remembered, the one time she’d tried it back in Equestria. Dessert was a compote that was just as great as the cobbler the other day.

After the meal, Elias paid Applejack 25 coppers and two pints of cherries for the seventeen bushels she’d picked. Then she headed back to the village, along with most of the workers. Though since she was galloping, she arrived well ahead of them. For once, she didn’t change back as she approached the village, and since the guards recognized her as she approached, she just slowed down a bit, cantering all the way to Mirembe before transforming back.

Inside, she paid for a laundry basket before going up to her room to care for her weapons, which she’d forgotten to do yesterday. Something that had embarrassed her when she realized it, this morning. And when she was finished with business, it was time for pleasure. Which in her current mood, meant a bath.

When she entered the bathing chamber, the elf was drying off. And for the first time, Applejack didn’t see Marjani anywhere nearby. They nodded and said hello as Applejack started undressing. She threw her clothes in the basket, along with her jerkin, which still had small bits of her blood on it. She’d noticed the smell around noon, so had bagged it, since she hadn’t seemed to need it.

It was only a few minutes later, as she was washing herself, that she realized she didn’t know the elf’s name.

A bit later, soon after Applejack started soaking, Taki came in.

“Oh, Applejack. Hey.” he said, sounding unenthusiastic. He turned the water on and started undressing tiredly. A few minutes later, he sank into the water with a relieved sigh. A moment later, he looked over at Applejack.

“Okay, now I totally get why you laughed at me when we met.” he told her. “Farm work is not easy money. It may not be very complicated, but it is tedious.” Applejack snorted softly at that.

“Harvest is the most straightforward part. The rest of the year, you have to deal with planting, pruning, pests, weeding, watering, and bad weather, like storms and frost. And that’s when all you’ve got is trees. When you start adding in veggies and everything else, you gotta start taking crop rotation5 and other things into account, too.”

“How much planting do you have to do with trees?”

“More than you’d think. Trees die for lots of reasons. They get sick, or damaged, or just plain old. Storms like last night can knock trees over. As big as that orchard is, they probably need to replace a few trees every year.”

“Huh. That makes a lot of sense, now that I think about it.” Taki admitted.

“Ah do wonder why they don’t just have the slimes do the picking, though. They’ve got enough for all of us, so it’s not that don’t have enough.”

“Oh, that’s almost never a problem. Breeding them is faster than most beasties, and easier than some critters, even. They’re the weakest beastie in the world—they’re born with level one in all stats—but they grow a level every eight stat gains, which is pretty quick. And that’s important for breeding them, because you need at least two, at level ten or higher. And with dedicated training, you can manage that in a few weeks. Then you have them try to combine. Their bodies mingle just fine, but when their cores try to fuse, unless their combined Intelligence levels are over 150, they breed, and you get a bunch of weak slimes. If they are over 150, then they become a Huge Slime.” Taki added.

“How many slimes do you get…in a…a litter?” Applejack asked.

“A clutter.” Taki corrected. “A group of slimes is a clutter, especially when they’re weak or newborn. A pool is a more general term for a group, when they're all the same kind. Or an amalgam, when they’re big or strong enough to metamorphose, instead of breed. But there’s also a type of slime called an Amalgam, so you need to be careful about that. And some people call a group with multiple types of slimes a nest. But anyways…” he said, shaking his head.

“The size of a clutter is the average level of the two weakest members of the breeding pool. If you have two level elevens, for instance, then you end up with eleven level ones. If there are more than two in the pool, that increases the level of the newborns. Like with two level elevens and a level ten, then you’d have ten level twos, but if all three were level eleven or higher, you’d end up with eleven level twos. Adding a fourth would make them level three, and so on and so on.”

“You know a lot about slime breeding.” Applejack commented.

“A family in my hometown raised them. Basic slimes may be the weakest beasties in the world, but they’re also one of the most versatile. There are dozens of different beasties in the slime family, and the only ones that don’t metamorphose from basic slimes metamorphose from something that does.” Taki explained. “Besides, the skin is really useful.”

“It is?”

“Oh yeah. They can absorb just about anything through their skin, and when it’s removed, or they die, it usually dries up and falls apart in a couple hours. Like snakeskin, but faster. But with the right treatment, it becomes a stretchy, breathable fabric. I know the first step is soaking the skin in the creature’s own slime, but after that, I don’t know what else you’re supposed to do. Most tanners don’t. I do know the final product is used for underclothes. And for workout and bondage gear.”

“Really.” Applejack mused, surprised to realize she’d managed to go almost all day without a single sexual reference. Then she asked Minerva, “What’s a tanner?”

“Someone who makes or works with leather.” Minerva answered. “And by the way, your fitted panties are made of slime leather.”

“O…ka~y.” Applejack thought to herself, slowly. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to wear them after hearing that. Then she realized she’d been sidetracked from her original question. “Okay, so it’s definitely not because they don’t have enough slimes to do the work. Then why aren’t the slimes doing it?”

“Oh, right.” Taki said, remembering why they’d started talking about slimes. “Well, their bodies are generated magically, so the higher their Intelligence, the bigger they get. And right now, they’re just not big enough to reach, no matter how much they reshape themselves. So they’d have to climb the tree to reach them, and that would do all sorts of damage to the tree. Plus, while they’ve clearly been trained to only touch the stem, to avoid damaging the fruit itself, I don’t know if they could be trained to tell the ripe cherries from the almost-ripe ones.”

Applejack almost argued that that wasn’t necessary, before remembering that, with the way magic worked in this world, it was. “That does make sense.” she agreed, instead.

A little while later, Applejack got out of the tub and toweled off. As she dried her mane, she noticed Taki in the mirror, staring at her with more than friendly interest. Something that didn’t change as she worked her way down her body. While she was surprised at first, she found it a little arousing. Arousing enough that as she dried her cock, it chubbed up until she was more than halfway to a full erection.

“Would you like some help with that?” Taki asked, as Applejack slung her towel over her shoulder.

“Uh, thanks, but not now.” Sober, Applejack wasn’t very interested in one night stands. Especially not two nights in a row.

“Fair enough. In that case, I should probably get cleaned up.” Taki said. Despite that, he didn’t move as Applejack equipped a tunic. She didn’t mind walking around naked, but doing so with her dick at half-mast was just plain rude, in her opinion. Then she grabbed her basket and left the room. She found Rehema in the main room, where a few people were drinking at the bar.

After handing over her laundry, Applejack returned to her room, where she practiced with her handgun for about half an hour, until Subira delivered her laundry. The sight of her jerkin reminded her to ask about repairs. Subira told her that one of the farmers living to the west of town also did leatherwork.

After Subira left—and Applejack used the toilet one last time—she considered practicing reloading and reassembling some more, but her heart wasn’t in it. Practicing her sword kata also occurred to her, along with the fact she hadn’t practiced them in two days. Though she was slightly ashamed by this fact, she had to admit that the room wasn’t nearly large enough for her to practice in. Besides which, she was getting tired.

So she decided to go to bed and suck herself off.

Laying down, Applejack stroked herself slowly, but her cock sprang to full size in seconds. She spent over a minute stoking and licking her shaft before taking it in her mouth. After half a minute of sucking, Applejack felt her orgasm approaching. She considered backing off and going for a harder cum, but the failing light reminded her of what time it was, so she was soon cumming into her mouth.

“Congratulations! You completed some Quests.” Minerva said, after Applejack had cleaned herself up. (And Cleaned herself.)

“Ah completed some Quests. Ah know.” Applejack muttered along under her breath, before opening her Quest panel.

Day 8 – Late Spring, 4147 AA
21:23
TOTAL STAT POINTS: 1
TOTAL SKILL POINTS: 17
TOTAL SPELL POINTS: 1
QUESTS
Suck a Cock
1 Skill Point + 1 Skill Point (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!)

Swallow a Load of Cum
2 Skill Points + 3 Skill Points (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!)

Masturbate
1 Skill Point

Take a Ride With an Equine
2 Skill Points*

Noticing the time, Applejack realized she’d only been awake for, at most, fourteen hours. And after little thinking, she realized she’d only worked eight or nine hours. That made her wonder why she was so tired. Though a moment later, she vaguely remembered the Gestalt mentioning that she wouldn't have as much strength or endurance as she was used to. She’d need to level them up a fair bit it seemed, to get back to where she had been, in Equestria.

“Now, how do Ah want to spend those points? Ah do want to level up Sense Presence once or twice more, but not until Ah’m more used to it. Then again, Ah don’t need to save points for that, as long as those daily quests don’t stop. So in that case…Ah’d need… level four, so that’s five… Ah need fifteen points to level up my transformations, but is there anything else Ah want to level up, instead?”

After thinking for a couple moments, Applejack remembered that she had a shield she’d never used. After a little more thought, she decided to level her transformations and get one level of the small shield skill. Then she said good night to Minerva and got under the blanket.

“Good morning, Applejack!” As always, Minerva’s cheer was the first thing Applejack heard in the morning. “You have some new quests, and you gained some levels overnight. You learned Small Shield at level one, and your transformation skills are level five, so you can use them every hour.”

Applejack was distracted from the unexpected news6 by her bladder, and after checking the hallway, she hurried to the restroom. After her morning ablutions were complete, Applejack found that her morning was no less gloriously woody, so she sat on her bed. As she started sucking and stroking, she thought about taking it more slowly than last night, but about ten seconds in, her stomach growled. Which was, in fact, rather embarrassing. Even though there was—fortunately—no one else to hear.

So Applejack started sucking harder, and bobbing and stroking faster. It helped, but not enough. Which was when she remembered what else her hand could do.

Spreading her legs wider, Applejack moved her free hand to her damp pussy. She spent several seconds feeling it up, finding where everything was. Once she had more of an idea, she slid two fingers into her wetness, pumping them steadily. She couldn’t really focus on her g-spot—she didn’t quite have enough coordination for that and her blowjob—but she could move her slick fingers to her winking clit and rub it.

With the added stimulation of her clit, it was barely thirty seconds before Applejack came. As usual, she swallowed as much as she could, then cleaned up the rest with her fingers and then a spell, as Minerva announced that she’d completed some quests. Applejack decided to wait for later to check her Quest panel, since there was no reason to spend her points until she was about to go to sleep.

Getting up, she was a little embarrassed to see wet spots on the sheets left by her squirting pussy. As she headed to the restroom to rinse off, she wondered why she’d never noticed them before.

“It’s because you’ve never cum with your pussy during masturbation before; only your cock.” Minerva told her. “Futas like you can experience arousal and climax through either set of genitalia without involving the other, if they choose. Of course, they can also choose to experience it through both, too.”

“Ah thought you could only hear my thoughts when Ah thought at you?” Applejack asked, remembering a few times in recent days when the mini-divinity had responded to thoughts not directed at her.

“You really haven’t been keeping your thoughts to yourself, much. You’ve actually been broadcasting almost all of them. Subconsciously, I think.” Minerva explained. “It’s…sort of like…the telepathic equivalent of talking to yourself. Like how anyone around you could hear what you say, anyone who’s telepathically attuned to you could’ve heard your thoughts the last few days.”

Applejack considered everything she’d just learned as she rinsed off. The arousal thing was interesting, and something to remember. As for the lack of mental privacy, she decided it didn’t matter that much, before returning to her room to get dressed and heading downstairs. Though before heading into the main room for breakfast, she refilled and purified her canteens.

“Applejack, good morning.” Rehema greeted, as she entered the main room. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Yes, please.” Applejack said, pulling out four coins. A few minutes later, Sauda brought out her meal. Breakfast was grits and cherries—as usual—and scrambled eggs mixed with veggies and meat. Near the end of her meal, Taki came downstairs. When he paid for breakfast, Rehema spoke to him for a moment.

“Hey, mind if I join you?” he asked, looking confused.

“Nah, go ahead.” Applejack invited. “So, what was that about? Your reservation running out?”

“No, I’m paid up for five more days. She said the guildmaster wanted to talk to me. I don’t know what about though, and neither did she when I asked. On the topic of reservations, how long is yours?”

“Ah paid for a week on…the fourth, so…tonight and tomorrow.”

“Are you planning to stick around after that, or head somewhere else?”

“Ah…don’t know. Ah haven’t really thought about it.” Applejack admitted. “This village is nice—it reminds me of…home.” she said, just barely remembering not to say Ponyville. Then she remembered her character's backstory, and added, “But in a good way, though.”

“I think I know what you mean.” Taki said, as Flamme walked up. “It’s comfortable and homey.”

“Yeah, that’s it.” Applejack agreed. “Ah would like to see some more of the world, though.” Applejack wasn’t normally one for wanderlust, but she did want to find someplace she could get apples, if nothing else. She wasn’t as obsessed with them as some ponies thought, but she didn’t want to live the rest of her life without them, either. Besides, she figured the Gestalt would find some way to stop her from settling down in this village, since it didn’t seem very exciting.

“I understand that, too.” Taki agreed. “I probably won’t be able to go anywhere until this Greenskull issue is settled, though. Anyways, what are you doing today?”

“Ah’ll probably head out to the orchard again.” Applejack said. “Ah haven’t practiced with my sword in a couple days, so I might do that first. Ah would prefer to get there early though, so maybe not.”

“Yeah, it’s not a good idea to skip too many practices.” Taki agreed. “I’ll probably spend the morning training, myself. Or hunting, maybe. I might head out to the orchard after lunch, though.”

Applejack finished her breakfast soon after and wished Taki good luck before she left Mirembe. After thinking about it for a few minutes, she decided one more day wasn’t going to hurt her skills too much. So she headed for the south gate.

Applejack arrived at the orchard just as Hannah was leaving the house. She was a little surprised by that, but figured she’d been doing housework. Either way, Applejack got to see her first summon spell as Hannah summoned the naga from yesterday. The Soul Crystal glowed brightly, with the light growing to take the beastie’s shape, and then its colors, before finally solidifying.

Applejack rang the bell, and Hannah invited her onto the property. Then she summoned a slime for Applejack and pointed her in the direction of her spouses, as she directed the naga towards a different section of the orchard.

Walking through the trees, Applejack scanned the slime oozing/rolling/whatever-ing beside her and learned it was level one. As she reached the stretch of trees Hannah had sent her to, Applejack found Elias and Yanagi having sex up against a tree. She suddenly realized she’d been hearing them for a few moments now, but just hadn’t consciously noticed it. Applejack was so surprised, she stopped and stared.

Long enough for Yanagi to notice her.

“Applejack, you’re here early!” she said, sounding surprisingly happy for someone who’d been happened upon while having sex. Or “en flagrante delicto,” as Rarity had once referred to it. Then her eyes moved down and her smile grew wider, with more than a hint of lust. Without looking away, she whispered something to Elias, who had stopped thrusting but not done anything else, like pull out. He whispered back to her, and she whispered something else. Then he turned to look at Applejack.

“You wanna join us, Applejack?” he invited her, with a lusty smile of his own.

“It sure looks like she does.” Yanagi said. That made Applejack look down, and she saw her crotch bulging obviously. “Come on over here, sexy.”

“What, uh…what about Hannah?” Applejack asked, looking around for the satyr, despite knowing she was nowhere nearby.

“You can ask her to join if you want, but she’s probably too busy.” Yanagi answered.

“Even if she’s not, we’ll probably be done by the time you get back with her.” Elias added. “This was supposed to be just a quickie, after all. Though that’s probably gone out the window.”

“But won’t she mind?”

“No. She might be annoyed we didn’t tell her first, but she’ll understand it was spur of the moment. We’ll probably just have to make her the center tonight.” Elias explained, gently grinding against Yanagi.

“Yeah, so hurry up and join us, you sexy mare.” Yanagi repeated, humping back against her husband.

Applejack had absolutely no interest in coming between spouses, but if none of them had a problem with it, then that was another story.7 Ideally, she would’ve preferred to get Hannah’s explicit permission too, but she had no reason to distrust them. So Applejack approached the couple, bagging her clothes as she went. Though when she got close enough for Sense Presence to pick up on them, she froze for an instant and almost stepped back, before remembering that red was for lust, not danger. Fortunately, the other two were distracted by the reveal of what was in her panties.

“Ooh, you’ve got a cock, too.” Yanagi cooed, seeing the hard shaft. “In that case, you should know that my cunt is for family cocks, only.”

“She means my dick is the only one that she or Hannah will let in their pussies. Oral’s okay, though.” Elias clarified.

“Yeah, sorry if that wasn’t clear. And speaking of oral, let me down. I wanna taste her cock.” Yanagi said, unwrapping her legs from his waist. Elias gave her a couple more thrusts before pulling out, giving Applejack her first sight of his cock. It reminded her a lot of a bull’s cock. It was about half again as long as her hand, with a smooth, tapered shape and a reddish-pink color.

Once she’d dismounted, Yanagi kissed Elias quickly, before kissing Applejack much less quickly. As their tongues started to play, Applejack felt Yanagi’s hand stroking her cock. And a moment later, she felt Elias’s hand on her ass and his lips on her arm, though Yanagi and her tongue had most of her attention.

Eventually, Yanagi’s lips left hers and followed the line of her jaw, to her neck. At the same time, Elias kissed across her shoulders, groping her with both hands. Then, as Yanagi kissed down her throat, Elias turned her head and kissed her just as deeply as Yanagi had. He was a little more assertive about it. Rougher, too, and not just because of his beard.

Yanagi took her time working down Applejack’s body, stopping for a moment or two at her breasts. But eventually, she was on her knees, swallowing almost three-quarters of Applejack’s cock. After a few seconds, she switched to Elias, who broke their kiss to moan. Glancing down, Applejack saw that Yanagi had deepthroated her husband, her lips buried in the thick fur of his groin. After a few seconds, she switched back to Applejack. Then back to Elias.

“Oh fuck, I’m getting close.” Elias moaned, after a couple minutes of Yanagi switching back and forth. She immediately pulled off him.

“Do it.” she urged, stroking him quickly with one hand, while the other kept stroking Applejack’s cock. “Cum for me. Cum for us.” she added, running her tongue along one side of the red taper.

“Ugh, so close.” Elias groaned, his hips bucking. A second later, the first shot fired off, hitting Yanagi’s neck.

“Yes, that’s it!” she cheered, aiming his cock so the next shot landed on Applejack’s shaft. “Cum on her cock! Lube it up so she can fuck my ass!”

Yanagi’s words, combined with her hand spreading the hot jizz over her shaft, almost made Applejack cum right there, but she managed to hold back.

Several seconds later, Elias finished cumming, and Yanagi spent a few more seconds spreading his cum—a little thinner and clearer than Applejack’s—over her cock. Then she stood up and braced herself against a tree before pushing one finger into her ass. After pumping it several times, she added a second finger. Then a third.

Once she was sufficiently lubed and loosened, Yanagi spread her cheeks and wiggled her tail flirtatiously. Applejack absently noticed her tail was very different than a pony’s as she stepped forward. She grabbed Yanagi’s hip, spreading her wider, and aimed her hard cock with her other hand.

Surprisingly, it didn’t take much more effort to enter Yanagi’s ass than it had to enter Marjani’s pussy a few days ago. Pushing deeper was another story, though. Her medial ring, especially, gave her trouble. But a couple minutes later, Applejack’s hips were pressed against Yanagi’s round, firm cheeks.

After spending a couple moments observing the short, smooth fur that angled up Yanagi’s back, coming to a point about halfway up her spine, and the lighter green spots that decorated both skin and fur8—and also making sure she didn’t cum too quickly again—Applejack started pumping her hips. It took a bit to reach a comfortable pace, but they were fucking steadily soon enough. A minute later, Elias started groping her ass again. After massaging the globes for a time, he started circling her pucker with one finger.

“I hope this is okay?” he whispered in her ear, as his finger pressed harder, almost pushing inside.

“Yeah, it’s fine.” Applejack moaned, not breaking her rhythm. She even managed to keep going as his finger slipped inside, apart from one extra-hard thrust into Yanagi. But when Elias cast Clean, and Applejack felt the tingle of magic wash over her insides, she slammed deep into the faun-woman’s ass, as her orgasm hit her suddenly. Which triggered Yanagi’s orgasm.

Eventually, Yanagi’s ass stopped spasming and milking Applejack’s cock. She pulled out, and Yanagi slumped to the ground and rolled over.

“That was good, but I wouldn’t mind a little more.” she sighed, gently teasing her pussy with her fingers. “You willing to go down on me?”

“Sure thing.” Applejack agreed, getting down on all fours. She’d just taken her first taste of Yanagi’s tart juices when she felt Elias’s hands spreading her cheeks and his tongue on her pucker. She just arched her back a little, pushing back against his mouth, as she ran her tongue up and down Yanagi’s lips, working around her fingers.

A moment later, Elias replaced his tongue with his cock, teasing her with the slender tip.

“You want this?” he asked, and Applejack thought quickly. Elias’s cock was about as long as hers, but even at its base, it was noticeably thinner than her own. After sucking and nibbling on Yanagi’s lips for a second or two more, she nodded. A second after that, she felt the thin tip almost effortlessly slid through her ring. Less than a dozen thrusts later, his hips were pressed up against hers. Applejack found it odd, but not exactly unpleasant. In fact, his cock was probably ideal for a first anal experience.

“Are you in her, lovey?” Yanagi asked.

“All the way, baby.” he confirmed.

“Fuck, that’s hot.” Yanagi hissed, squeezing her thighs around Applejack’s muzzle as she had a small orgasm. Applejack managed to swallow the first two squirts of cum as they fired off, and let the next two, smaller splashes fill her mouth before gulping heavily. Elias waited for his wife to come down from her orgasm before starting to move.

If Applejack thought just having something that long, hot, and hard in her ass was strange, then feeling it move was even stranger. But after a minute or so, it started to feel nice. It stretched her comfortably, but not enough to hurt at all. And the fullness quickly became pleasurable, making Applejack start pushing back in time with Elias’s thrusts. She even experimented with clenching the muscles in her lower body, until Yanagi pushed her back into her pussy. Then her focus shifted back to the furry slit under her lips.

Applejack let herself get swept up in the eroticism, losing track of the time. The next thing she noticed, Yanagi’s thighs were gripping her head again as the faun groaned huskily. She came a little harder this time, with the first shot catching Applejack off guard and splattering between her nostrils. She caught the next three, with the last one splashing her upper lip again.

As Applejack licked Yanagi’s groin clean, she noticed Elias speeding up. Seconds later, he came with a shout, holding himself all the way inside her. Feeling him twitching and spurting deep inside triggered her orgasm, and she shouted as her empty pussy clenched repeatedly, grasping at nothing.

The trio spent two or three minutes recovering, before Cleaning up (and off, and out) and getting dressed.

“Well, that was definitely fun, but we need to get to work.” Yanagi said, pulling her skirt up. As she did, Applejack noticed that her leaf-shaped tail fit her ass perfectly, being long enough to hide her dark star from view. Moreover, the tailbone fit perfectly in the groove between her cheeks, and the hairs curved around them naturally. Laid flat, it almost looked like she didn’t have anything below the waist at all.

“Especially considering it didn’t turn out to be much of a quickie, after all.” Elias said with a smile, as he pulled out a dozen baskets. He handed four of them and a ladder to Applejack, saying, “Here you go. Just pick a tree and get started.”

Applejack just nodded as she took them and started to walk away. Now that her lust was sated, she was feeling awkward about fucking her bosses. And their nonchalance about it was not as helpful as it could be. She didn’t get to think about it for long, though.

“Congratulations! You completed a quest!” Minerva cheered, a few seconds later.

“Ah did?” Applejack asked out loud, surprised.

“Yep!”

Applejack waited until she was three rows away from Elias and Yanagi before she set the baskets down. Then she opened her Quest panel and looked at it as she set the others up.

Day 9 – Late Spring, 4147 AA
08:09
TOTAL STAT POINTS: 1
TOTAL SKILL POINTS: 22
TOTAL SPELL POINTS: 3
QUESTS
Suck a Cock
1 Skill Point + 1 Skill Point (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!)

Swallow a Load of Cum
2 Skill Points + 3 Skill Points (No One Said It Couldn’t Be Your Own!) + 7 Skill Points (SEPTUPLE BONUS SCORE!!!!!!!)

Masturbate
1 Skill Point

Take a Ride With an Equine
2 Skill Points*

Sex Up a Cervine
2 Skill Points + 1 Skill Point (Right Up The Butt!) + 1 Spell Point (In Mother Nature’s Embrace!) REWARD DOUBLED!! (Full Threesome Bonus!)

Feeling in the Feline Mood
2 Skill Points*

“Maybe Ah should start checking quests in the morning.” Applejack thought. “Who’s Mother Nature?”

“An anthropomorphism of the natural world. Sort of like the Gaia Spirit, but more limited to living things and weather, but not things like rocks and soil.” Minerva simplified. “Ponies don’t seem to have an exact match. Probably because you control the plants and weather, and have a living connection with the Gaia Spirit. But in this case, it’s just a fanciful way of referring to having sex outdoors. It’s a very common thing, which is why the bonus is so low. The same for the anal sex bonus.”

“That makes sense. Equestria’s the same way.9” Applejack thought, as she set the ladder against the tree.

Applejack spent the rest of the morning working steadily, taking a few seconds every hour to cycle through her transformations. Like yesterday, she insisted on carrying the full bushel baskets to the wagon by hand, to help her Strength. Applejack didn’t know where Clarissa had been while she’d been fucking her parents, but the teenager was there when Applejack brought her first basket to the wagon. And the realization that she hadn’t even thought about the girl only made her more embarrassed.

When lunchtime came around, Applejack had a slightly easier time with the crowd as she got three gyros. She stayed in the kitchen long enough to mix her birth control before finding an empty corner, where she tore into her gyros like she hadn’t eaten in days. She was almost finished with her second one when Ricardo approached her.

“Hey. You’re adjusting, I see?” he said.

"Yeah, Ah’m getting used to it.” she agreed, as he sat down beside her, like yesterday. Also like yesterday, they ate in silence.

After lunch, it was back to the trees for another five hours, then supper. After which, Elias paid her thirty coppers and another two pints of cherries. Unlike last night, Applejack lingered, still trying to get used to Sensing crowds, so she was one of the last people to leave the orchard. She still managed to overtake most of the others as she galloped back to town.

She even managed to catch up to Taki, whom she was surprised to see riding Flamme. The tinderwolf seemed a little small for his rider, but Applejack shrugged it off, figuring she was just too used to Spike and Twilight. She slowed down a bit and kept pace with them until they reached Mirembe.

“Ah didn’t realize you could ride Flamme.” Applejack said, changing back.

“Not very well.” Taki admitted, getting off the beastie, whose sides were heaving. “He’s a little too small for me. But it’s the best way to train his Strength and Endurance, usually.” he added, opening the public house’s door for Applejack, letting the sound of singing out.

“Thank you.” Applejack said automatically, stepping through the door. She decided a bath was in order, after a quick visit to the restroom.

When she entered the bathing chamber, she discovered Taki had had the same idea, and was tiredly soaping himself up as he filled his chosen tub.

“Not gonna listen to…what was her name, singing?” she asked, starting to undress. She’d gotten the impression that he’d really liked the dwarf woman’s singing.

“Krakhini. And I thought about it, but I decided a bath was more important. And I might just go to bed after this. It’s been a long day.”

“Oh, that reminds me.” Applejack started. She took a second or two to cast Clean on her clothes, before continuing. “What’d Mr. Rucker want this morning?”

“Oh, right. That.” Taki said, stepping into the tub. “Thistledown arrived from Silberwald with the mail yesterday, so Guildmaster Rucker wanted to know if any of us were interested in doing the next run. I’ve got some business with the Tamer’s Guild there, so I volunteered.”

“You did?” Applejack was sad to hear that. Taki had become a friend—or at least something very close to it—since she’d met him. “When are you leaving?”

“Well, it’s customary to give people two or three days to read their letters and write their replies, so anytime on the eleventh. The twelfth, at the latest.” he said. “And I was thinking, if it’s not too forward… You said you were only paid up for a couple more days, and you wanted to travel a bit more…”

“Ah don’t know.” Applejack answered the unspoken question. “Ah’ll have to think about it.” Part of her wanted to stay and finish the harvest, at least, but Taki’s offer was tempting. As she was considering, a question occurred to her. “Why are hunters carrying the mail? Isn’t there an official post office, or something?”

“Not really. Settlements big enough to have significant internal mail do have postal carriers hired by the mayor, or whoever’s in charge, but between settlements, mail is most often delivered by guard patrols, because they can reliably get it where it’s going. But since there weren’t any convenient patrols between Silberwald and Woodglen, and since hunters are—or at least, are supposed to be—gathering here to deal with the Greenskulls, that was the next best choice.” Taki explained.

“Mm-hm.” Applejack hummed thoughtfully. She spent the rest of the bath thinking. Eventually, she realized this would probably be her best and safest chance to get to Silberwald until the spiders were dealt with. And Celestia only knew how long that would take.

“So what time should Ah plan to leave? And what about your reservation?”

“Oh, I already spoke to Rehema about that.” Taki said, waving a hand dismissively. “Since it’s guild business, she’ll refund me for the unused time when I check out. As for when that’ll be… I’d like to say ‘after an early lunch,’ but I’d rather put in as many miles as I can. Or as we can, rather. So I’ll check with the mayor after breakfast. If he thinks everyone who’s going to send a letter has turned them in, we’ll leave almost right away. If not, we’ll wait until the next morning.”

Applejack agreed that that was a good plan, as she got out of the tub and grabbed her towel. Once she was dried and brushed, Applejack decided to have a drink. While she was equally comfortable dressed or naked, she wasn’t interested in putting herself on display for half the village. So she put on her tunic before leaving the room.

The main room was crowded, but Applejack had no trouble making her way to the bar. Which was being tended by Marjani, naked as usual. (Applejack was beginning to half-seriously wonder if the cat woman even owned any clothing.) Also as usual, she flirted with Applejack as she took her order.

Half an hour later, Applejack decided that two beers were enough for one evening, so she headed up to her room. Of course, as soon as she got comfortable on her bed, the beer caught up to her. So after emptying her bladder, Applejack got comfortable again, before remembering she had points she could spend. Fortunately, she didn’t have to get up to check her Quest panel and remind herself how many. After thinking about it for a couple minutes, Applejack decided to level up her transformations and her small shield skill.

Then she pulled the blanket up and said good night to Minerva.

Author's Note

1. 1 Quarter = 8 Bushels = ~290 Liters. Also, 1 Pint = ~1/2 Liter

2. One of the finer details Applejack missed about the naga, is that the hands had four fingers and two opposable thumbs, one on each side of the palms. And very sharp, retractable, pointed nails.

3. Of course, the real answer is that I’m a Doctor Who fan. Are you my mummy?

4. Even if she knew the word pseudopod, she probably wouldn’t feel the need to use a ten-bit word like that, when tentacle worked just fine. And the same goes for iridescent.

5. Technically, earth ponies didn’t need to worry about crop rotation, since their magic could make up for the deficits. But in practice, they used several agronomy techniques to lessen the strain on their magic.

6. If, like Applejack, you expected level 5 to be usable every 90 minutes, just know that I did the math, and in the long run, it works better this way.

7. In Equestria, the difference between love and lust/sex is clearly understood and accepted, so all relationships are as open or not as those involved can agree on. Monogamy is not uncommon, but it’s by no means the expected default.

8. Yanagi is based on a sika, or spotted, deer, while Elias is based on a roe deer.

9. In a land where homosexuality and birth control have never been illegal, anal sex is just one more way for ponies to indulge. And big cities like Canterlot or Manehatten have a couple parks that are reserved for ponies who like having sex in more natural surroundings during heat. There are also persistent—but unsubstantiated—rumors that there are parks reserved for such purposes year-round.