Author's Note

This story can probably stand on its own, but reading the prequel is probably best. Enjoy!

The Secret

Applejack rushed around as she grabbed the last few things she’d need before heading off to dinner at Twilight’s. She slipped into the bathroom and raised her tail. A quick glance showed that there was no traces left of her earlier fun that her friends would notice easily, although she was still a little wet. She patted herself down and decided it would be enough. She’d be late if she tried to do any deeper cleaning anyway, and the bat pony’s long tongue seemed like it had gone deep enough to clean out any mess. She put thoughts of the afternoon of fun away as she tightened her coat and went out into the snow.

A thick group of dark clouds had covered the sunset, so it was already looking pretty dark. A chill wind hinted that a winter storm might be blowing in later. If it was bad enough, she’d just have to spend the night at Twilight’s, but she wouldn’t mind another sleepover there. It’d be like old times, back when Twilight lived in the library.

Applejack’s reminiscing made the trek into town go by in a blur, and she found herself at the castle all too soon. She tucked her tail in tight and gave a loud knock. Spike pushed open the door.

“Come on in, Applejack. You’re the second one to arrive. Well, actually the third, but Pinkie forgot something or maybe she just couldn’t carry all her games here in one trip. She’ll be back. Brr! Let’s get in by the fire.”

Spike shivered and scampered ahead after the door was shut. Applejack shook off any snow stuck to her hooves before stepping inside. On the far side of the main hall, Twilight, Starlight, and Rarity were chatting. They paused and waved to Applejack. She hung up her coat on the little stand by the door and walked over.

“Nice job on the fire,” Applejack said. “I can’t imagine what it takes to keep this big ole castle warm.”

“Twilight likes to experiment with insulation spells,” Starlight said. “Not a bad choice, although I think the first one you tried was perfectly fine.”

“But it’s not! It’s a matter of fine tuning for heat loss and ventilation, and…” Twilight went on, but Applejack didn’t really pay any more attention.

Rarity gave her a look she couldn’t quite read and motioned for her to sit next to her. It was quite warm by the fire, and there didn’t seem to be any places where the cold wind was getting into the castle, so Twilight’s spell must have been doing its job.

“Oh, Twilight, let’s talk about something more interesting than those little differences in spells,” Rarity said. “How are things out at the farm lately? Surely there isn’t much work to do with all the snow. What have you been up to with all that time?”

“Mostly relaxing and keeping Big Mac and Apple Bloom out of trouble. Nothing too unusual.” Applejack chuckled nervously.

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure that’s all?” She seemed like she was about to ask or say something more, but a knock on the door interrupted her.

Spike jumped up and ran over to open it. A chill breeze blasted inside for just a moment as Pinkie and Fluttershy stepped into the room. Spike was about to shut the door, but a colorful blur zipped through.

“Totally not late!” Rainbow Dash shouted as her wet hooves skidded across the floor. She stopped before crashing into anyone or anything. She stretched out her wings and smiled.

“That was quite an entrance,” Rarity said.

Twilight pulled out a list. “Yes, but let’s not get behind. Everything should be ready for dinner now. Oh, I need to get the oat rolls out of the oven right away!”

Twilight vanished in a flash of magic, and Spike led them to the dining room. Rarity sat next to Applejack. She leaned in and whispered. “You’ve always been bad at hiding the truth. But I promise I’ll let you share your little adventure when you’re ready. Besides, we have to protect the innocence of Spike.”

Applejack blushed. “I doubt having Starlight around has helped preserve that.”

Starlight looked over with her ears held high. “Did I hear my name?”

Rarity unfolded her napkin and smiled. “Well, we did mention you. But it’s the sort of conversation that’s best had once any little dragons are in bed.”

Starlight looked over at Spike, who was currently busy helping Twilight bring in trays of the food. “You always were a sucker for any drama or juicy stories about me and Trixie. I’m sure I’ll have plenty to tell once it’s late enough, and maybe after I have a little to drink.”

Twilight finished setting all the dishes on the table. “Well, girls, I didn’t cross reference recipes from a dozen cookbooks for nothing. Let’s eat!”

Applejack could forget about Rarity for the moment with such amazing food in front of her. A basket of oat rolls was passed around, and some honey and butter was waiting on the table in nice little dishes. Twilight seemed to be trying hard to be fancier now that she was a princess, but it felt nice to eat elegantly for a change. She could appreciate all the effort it took to make things look this nice, even if she was fine with simpler things.

After the rolls went around, Twilight served them all a nice carrot and squash soup with a garnish of thin apple slices and parsley. As they ate, they made small talk about the weather and how nice it was to take things easy since the cold weather made it hard to do much. Soon, the main course was served. Twilight had made a nice pasta with a creamy alfredo sauce with a side of asparagus. Dessert was a peach cobbler. It was good, but Applejack thought it would never be as good as apple cobbler.

The night went by quickly. They left the dishes for the morning and went off to play some games. They played a complicated one based on Daring Do’s adventures that was a favorite of Rainbow Dash and Spike. Starlight pulled off some clever tricks and managed to win. After that, they tried a few more until Spike went to bed. That was when Starlight brought out the wine and cards.

Starlight poured them each a glass. “Well, girls. You know the rules. If you win a hand, you get to ask somepony else to tell a secret.”

Those hadn’t always been the rules, but they had learned the hard way that debts, gambling, and friendship don’t always mix, so they had switched from actually betting anything to the current rules.

Starlight dealt the cards while Applejack took the first sip of the wine. Starlight always favored the stronger, older vintages. That usually meant they’d all be a little tipsy once they started spilling their secrets. Applejack looked at her hand. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. She’d just have to play it straight and hope it was enough, and she was terrible at bluffing anyway. She swapped out a few of her cards and things were looking a little better.

Fluttershy laid down her cards. “Um… I fold.”

Rainbow Dash had a worried look. She never folded because she didn’t want to be a “quitter,” but that usually bit her in the flank unless she got a great hand. Nopony else folded, so they all laid down their cards.

Applejack had two pairs. Rainbow Dash only had one. Fluttershy didn’t really have anything, and neither did Twilight or Starlight. Rarity looked over the cards and grinned.

“Full house, darlings. Now, who here has a juicy secret that I should ask about?”

She looked over at Applejack. It should have been impossible for Rarity to know about what happened earlier that day, but Applejack could somehow feel she was going to ask about it.

“Applejack, let’s hear about your little secret from today. I heard you had a special visitor.”

Rarity laughed and sipped her wine but didn’t break eye contact. Applejack rubbed her front legs together as she tried to think of what to say. The rules were the rules, and she wouldn’t lie.

“Fine. I’ll tell ya about that, but how in the hay did you know about it?”

“We all-” Pinkie began to talk, but Rarity used her magic to shut Pinkie’s mouth.

“Pinkie, we can’t give away secrets for free. If she wants to get that out of me, she’ll have to win a round.”

“Wait, Pinkie knows too? Do you all know something I don’t?” Applejack looked around. From the looks on their faces, all or most of them were in on whatever this was. She’d get to the bottom of this, but first she had to do as Rarity had asked. She told very brief version of what had happened earlier with the bat pony stallion. She had to include some of the more embarrassing details of what happened between her and Chester when Rarity asked for them. By the time she was done telling about it, everyone looked a bit flustered except Rainbow Dash, who just looked eager.

“There, ya happy?”

“That will do,” Rarity said.

Applejack had thought they’d be more surprised. She hadn’t been with any stallion before. She had just done a little experimenting with Rainbow Dash from time to time or Rarity once or twice. At these little late night parties, she had learned all the details of her friends intimate encounters. She had always secretly wanted to have her own to share. It was starting to feel good now that she actually had one. But what she most wanted was to figure out how they all knew.

Applejack pounded a hoof on the table. “Deal the next hand.”

She was feeling lucky, or maybe she was just feeling that it would only be fair if luck let her win. She took her cards and looked them over. Two princesses. That was a great start. She traded in her other three cards and got one more princess card. Nobody folded this time. She prayed that nopony had a full house. Her friends revealed their hands, and Applejack had the winning one. Her three princesses beat their pairs or two pairs.

“Okay, this one’s for you, Rarity. How’d you know about Chester?”

“Oh, that’s hardly a secret. We paid him to visit you. The only thing we weren’t sure about is how it would go, but he told us all about it. In fact, he got here long before you did. Chestnut, you can come out now.”

Chester seemed to appear from nowhere as he stepped out of the shadows. His light brown coat and black mane were unmistakable. Applejack was sure this was him. He winked at her. She blushed even as she eyed his lean body with a sudden longing.

“Good evening ladies. Mind if I join in the fun?”

He poured a glass of wine and took a smooth but long sip as he sat on the couch. He stretched out in a very sensual way that had to be deliberate. He sat with his legs spread just enough to offer peek at what was between them. Applejack tried not to stare.

“You’ve fulfilled the contract, Mr. Chestnut,” Twilight said. “But we don’t mind if you want to stick around for tonight, especially Applejack. I’ve never seen her stare like that.”

Chester got up and sat next to Applejack. She hesitated a moment before giving in and snuggling against his warmth. He put a wing around her back.

“She is a very special pony. After getting to know her, I’d please her any day for free.”

Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. She had been worrying that he had only done what he did for the money. She looked at all her friends.

“So, you paid him to visit me? Or was the sex a part of that contract?”

Rainbow Dash blushed then spoke. “We left that up to him. We just paid him to provide you a little company in winter. We all knew how pent up you were last year, so we guessed something might happen.”

“I need to stick around anyway,” Chester said. “Things happened so fast, and we didn’t exactly use any protection.”

Applejack’s ears folded down. She hadn’t thought of that. She frowned a little. She had always wanted foals of her own, but it had always been something to think about in the future.

“There are some spells we can use to check,” Twilight said.

“Oh, let’s do it!” Pinkie shouted. “I can’t wait to plan the wedding, and baby shower, and-”

Twilight put a wing over Pinkie’s face. “Keep it down. We don’t want to wake Spike.” She turned back to Applejack. “Is this something you want to find out?”

“Yes. The sooner I know, the better. I’m sure granny won’t be happy with how it all happened, but I’ll need to fix things up at home if I’m… expecting.”

“Lay down then. This will only take a moment.”

Applejack stretched out along the couch. She laid her head in Chester’s lap. The smell of the stallion was oddly comforting. Twilight’s horn glowed, and she slowly lowered it until the tip touched Applejack’s belly. A tingle of magic transferred from the horn to her. It rushed through her then went back to where the horn had touched her. A little glowing symbol appeared.

“What’s that mean?” Applejack asked. She held her breath and waited for Twilight’s answer.

“If all goes well, you can expect a colt in about a year. Congratulations!”

Twilight gave Applejack a big hug. All her friends and Chester joined in. Applejack felt tears coming. She wiped them away and kept smiling. No matter what changes this would bring, she had her friends and Chester to help. But she’d really have to spend more time with the cute bat pony to really get to know him.

“This is great! Should I be planning a wedding first? Or the ‘Congratulations! It’s a foal’ party?” Pinkie asked.

“Probably the second one. Chester and me will have to figure a few things out first.”

“I guess I’ll need to find a new line of work. I don’t think you’ll want me providing mares with company as my job anymore, well except you. You’ll have me all the time.”

Applejack snuggled against the fluffy bat pony. “I can think of plenty of fun ways to use those skills of yours, though.”

He gave her a kiss. She rubbed his belly until her hoof bumped into the tip of his cock. He was already a little aroused. When they stopped, all of Applejack’s friends were still watching and smiling.

“I think the storm’s gotten worse, so you all better stay the night,” Twilight said. “You two can have the biggest guest room. And Chestnut, promise me that you’ll let her get at least a little sleep. Luna mentioned how bat ponies can go all night.”

Chester nuzzled Applejack and helped her up. “Luna would know that better than anypony.” He chuckled as he led Applejack away to the bedroom.