Dusk to Dawn

The work day started as it usually did at Sweet Apple Acres, fast and tiring.  Applejack and her big brother ran from orchard to orchard and bucked this week’s batch of apples down from the trees on which they hung.  Once they had filled the many bins up to the brim, Applejack and Macintosh used their great strength to push the bins and load them onto a cart where some hired hands and some more Apple family relatives who lived nearby carried them off to town to be loaded into the family fruit stands and sold at local grocers.

Eventually though, the two of them loaded the last batch of apples onto an unhitched cart and readied to finish the work day.  It was Applejack’s turn to stay behind and rest (she would be the one to take the cart to Ponyville next time around) while her brother delivered the goods.  She helped hitch him up, and asked, “That right enough partner?”

Big Macintosh said his usual “Eeyup,” in his deep voice, and Applejack backed away she told him to have a safe trip and waved him off.

Once she watched him go down over the passing hill, Applejack turned around and headed back to the farmhouse, her tongue practically tasting the cold and refreshing apple cider.  Once she reached the front steps, Applejack turned around and admired her and her family’s job well done and then headed inside where she poured herself some cider and then filled another mug up nearly to the brim, which she placed in the nearby icebox for her brother.

“Yep, just another fine day at Sweet Apple Acres,” Applejack said quietly to herself as she looked out of the windows and observed row upon row of apple trees to the south which they would tackle next week.  For now though, Applejack didn’t want to think about the hard day she had just worked through.  No, now she just wanted to kick back and relax herself.  Knowing just what would freshen her up, Applejack trotted down the spacious hallway in the farm house and approached a closet that was at the very end of it.  From there, she grabbed a nice, soft towel and a box of sweet smelling soap suds (Sweet Apple Flower Soap Suds), and with a swift kick, closed the door behind her.

She walked back through the kitchen of the home and then walked back out onto the deck where she looked around to make sure that nopony was in sight.  Once assured that she was all alone, Applejack walked over to the barn and pulled its large red doors open.  She walked inside, and using some ropes at the sides of the doors, pulled them almost to a complete close, leaving only a small crack in the doors.  The crisp hay crunched underneath her hooves as Applejack walked ahead silently until she got almost to the extreme back of the barn.  From there, Applejack ascended a small ladder where she uncovered her own little secretive “spa”, a large wooden bin that was usually used for apples, a bottle of apple cider (which she made herself), a small bag of apples which she often snacked on, and some magazines and books which mainly dealt with rural life.  The house had several bathrooms and bathtubs yes, but Applejack always felt at peace out here.

Using the hose system which she had jury rigged to reach up this far, Applejack filled the tub up to the brim with some water that was just right, not too cold and not too warm.  Satisfied with the level of the water, Applejack then poured some of the sweetly scented suds into the water and mixed them around with her hoof.  Applejack nudged the towl just a little closer to the bin so that she could quickly hop out and dry off if needed, and then slowly slunk into the pool where she sat in a comfortable position.

Applejack looked around the massive barn and admired the way the sunlight complimented the passionately hoof built interior perfectly.  Relaxed, but bored nonetheless, Applejack reached over and grabbed a fresh apple.  Still admiring the barn construction and space, Applejack took a bite of it and continued to sit there in silence as she let her thoughts ponder on.  She thought about things such as the income from today’s sale, to the successfulness of her new pie recipe, how it would fare with everypony.

Once she had finished her apple, Applejack reached over for a magazine and flipped through it as she flipped her tail around under the water to get any dirt and debris untangled from it.  As she was flipping through the magazine, Applejack couldn’t help but stop on one page and blush as she admired the cute, brawny country stallion which had been placed for some type of ad.  “That’s what I’m gonna’ have me one day, a good ol’ stallion like this one here,” she thought to herself as she admired the picture just one more time.  She flipped through a couple more of the magazine’s pages, but seeing nothing that really grasped her interest, she threw it aside.  The water still at the perfect temperature, Applejack set to cleaning herself.  She used the sponge that was lying near the base of the bin, and using her hoof, ran the soggy sponge up and down her upper body and neck.

She closed her eyes and did her face a couple times over, making sure to get any sweat that sill lingered.  Then, she reached below the water and did her lower body.  Knowing perfectly well that it was her hoof touching her body, Applejack still couldn’t help herself from looking down and blushing as she ran her hoof and sponge over her breasts and around the top of her vagina.  “N…No sense in not wanting to be clean,” Applejack thought to herself as she continued to look down and sponge herself, not able to stop herself from doing this every single time she climbed into her bath.

The afternoon was nearing, and things were finally starting to slow down at the palace.  Her magical senses kicked in, and Luna’s beautiful, and easy blue eyes opened to the chamber around her.  Luna stood up and allowed her wings to stretch out as she sluggishly walked towards the elaborate observation window at the far end of her room.  When she reached it, Luna drew the drapes and let a small whimper as the evening sunlight temporarily blinded her.  She closed the drapes back and laid back down on her bed, not really ready to start the night.  Luna sighed heavily as she realized she didn’t really have an option, and stretched once more, letting out a quiet yawn as she did so.

Luna walked out into the hallway she shared with her sister, Princess Celestia, and instead of going down the winding staircase turned to her right and walked outside onto the upper terrace.  She walked over to the stone guard and crossed her forelegs atop it as she looked down with a frown on her face.  “We wish it wasn’t so noisy here,” Princess Luna said in a whisper to herself as she looked down and watched the ponies trot, the carriages roll, and the mouths move.

The Princess wasn’t complaining, she loved Canterlot, she loved its ponies and their way of life, she loved everything about the city below her.  It was just that so much had changed since Luna had returned.  Not just the language either.  Populations had quadrupled, more probably, she figured, townships had grown from small villages to sprawling cities, new inventions had come around, and so many more things that she was just not accustomed to.  But then Luna thought about the previous night when she had visited Applejack.  The more she thought about it, the more she seemed to like that life, the way it was old fashioned.  There was no noise, most of the small farming villages were exactly what they were, small in population, the ponies didn’t care how you spoke, and (from what she had observed at the farm) there was little technical innovation over a farm that would have existed before Luna’s banishment.

Then, Princess Luna remembered that she had promised to return and see her friend Applejack, promised to return to see Sweet Apple Acres.  Princess Luna looked down at the bustling streets one more time and then backed off of the wall.  She walked a little ways away from the wall and once satisfied with her takeoff area, spread her graceful wings and lifted off into the afternoon sky.