Author's Note

Contains secret meeting between non-poly Elements of Harmony, hiding zebra fantasies very poorly, erections, staring at graphic exhibitionistic zebra on pony sex, brief anxiety attack, getting caught, suppressed feelings of love and lust, and discussions about sexuality and herds. No sex scenes.

Horny Honesty

Applejack, the big and powerful earth pony stallion that Ponyville knew as the hard worker of his family, felt like more of that of a mouse as he walked down the School of Friendship hallway after the students had been dismissed. He knew that the Head-Stallion that was one of his dearest friends, Dusk Shine, had called this meeting about something urgent. About rumors that were spreading about Zecora and his sexual patterns. If it had been several months ago back when the orange stallion was still getting to know Zecora as a platonic buddy, Applejack would’ve outright refused getting into his newest friend’s business. But since then, Zecora had fucked one of his own femcolts in front of Applejack and others, and most surprising of all, decided he wasn’t completely satisfied with just the pegasi lovers. He took the beautiful, svelte, silky Elusive as his newest mate.

Applejack felt his cheeks grow red and flushed with the realization that the unicorn that seemed untouchable and too busy with his work was open enough to date Zecora and his femcolts, becoming one himself. The orange stallion couldn’t be farther from a femcolt, having worked up a considerably masculine body and dominating his fair share of stallions. It was why he figured he got along with Zecora so well, though while his body remained as sturdy as ever, his fortress of a mind was compromised and a lot of his core values had begun to shift. Most of the stallions he was attracted to were no longer available whether due to work or being taken, leaving the closest stallion in his life being Zecora by default. The striped adonis remained true to constantly visiting Applejack, at least once a week, to help the farmpony with growing those trees with his potions and creating new kinds of apple. The money kept rolling in for even more renovations to the barn as well as Big Mae saving up money to support any foals she ended up having in the near future. And yet, with Applejack almost immediately catching on to Elusive’s involvement in the herd, their hangouts grew tense and awkward. Not that they didn’t have plenty of conversation still, but Applejack found himself having to bat away the thoughts of Zecora and Elusive getting it on. Of half his best friends being the subs of a zebra stud and not knowing if Zecora would want to hit on any of the others.

Applejack bit his lip, finding that he liked the idea of Zecora hitting on him a bit too much for his liking. He’d wish his feelings for Zecora would’ve remained friendly, as he didn’t have too many actual friends beyond the Mane 6. But it was incredibly persuasive to see half of them underneath Zecora willingly and happily, and Applejack wondered constantly what it was about the stoic zebra stallion that had them falling one by one. Perhaps it would be better if he held back as much as possible, finding a nice stallion to settle down with and staying in Sweet Apple Acres as much as possible to focus on his family. Maybe one that had silky fur and a gentlecolt personality…

Applejack shook his head, holding back on the familiar image that was trying to take a hold of his mind. He was already at the door that led to the teacher’s lounge, and he pushed the door open and trotted in to see only Dusk Shine and Bubble Berry at the spacious table inside. Pushing the door behind him in hopes that he closed it, Applejack frowned as he approached the wide-eyed alicorn and pink stallion.

“Ah guess ah could’ve assumed that Zecora’s femcolts weren’t part of this meeting, but wouldn’t have it been a good idea to have them so we could ask them directly?” Applejack groaned, knowing that he had plans to hang out with Elusive as soon as the meeting was over. Which would’ve made it a lot harder to hide the contents of the meeting since he’d have much less time to process it. Dusk Shine’s ears flattened against his floppy dark mane, something that Applejack found to be kind of cute even if he’d never say it, as he narrowed his eyes down at the farmpony.

“This is about Zecora potentially conquering the rest of us as some glorified harem,” Dusk Shine shook his head. “Something I didn’t even consider a possibility until I started reading these!”

With a large flash of light from his long alicorn horn, Dusk Shine dumped a comically large amount of newspaper clipping and photos onto the big table. Several of them even fell off the table from the force they landed, which Bubble Berry moved in a pink blur to pick all of the pieces and place them back on the table. Even though the chubby pink stallion remained appearing tense, his mane was still poofy, which Applejack knew was only possible if he was excited. What was he excited about? Surely Zecora going after all of them was bad, right?

Wait, why exactly is it bad again?

Applejack pulled several of the clippings and photos at random towards him and looked at them. The photos were incredibly graphic in nature, showing Zecora fucking all three of his subs including Elusive on a model runway in Canterlot. There was even a picture of all three of them side by side facing away from the camera, their ponuts in the focus as they were dripping with zebra seed. And Elusive was striped, something that gave away his new relationship to Dusk Shine and Bubble Berry before the newspapers made their way to Ponyville. The headlines included sentences such as “Ponyville zebra takes half of the Elements, will he complete the set?” or something more egregious such as “Three Elements of Harmony fallen to exotic depravity, is Equestria going down a dark path?”

Applejack was utterly torn on being disgusted with the public for their aghast treatment of Zecora, and partially agreeing that it seemed more than odd that he had only brought Elements of Harmony into his herd. Even though the orange stallion could vividly remember when all six of them had harshly judged Zecora just for being a zebra years ago, Applejack knew that his specific suspicion had nothing to do with the species of his friends’ Master. He was more concerned with the fact that he was taking up not only members of the Elements, but that he had taken Elusive up as a partner. As Applejack kept fixating on Elusive’s unorthodox decision, his eyes subconsciously were pulled to a picture of Zecora and the unicorn femcolt. The much lighter stallion was being held by Zecora in a full nelson, the zebra’s fat bitchbreaker fully plunged into Elusive’s ponut to where his fat balls were right nestled near the Element’s diamond cutie marks. Applejack should’ve felt furious, that Elusive of all ponies was being completely dominated by somepony other than…well, that didn’t matter. All that mattered was that Applejack was seething.

“Well, isn’t it just because Elusive enjoyed watching them fuck at their own party?” Bubble Berry questioned. “I don’t think Zecora would go out of his way to hit on any of us if we didn’t express interest-”

“Are you sure?” Dusk Shine scowled. “Why hasn’t Zecora brought any of the other Ponyville citizens into his special herd? Why has it been Elements so far? He fucked a bunch of the adults here and even impregnated some of them, probably, so why aren’t they part of his circle?”

“Maybe because they only saw Zecora as a hookup?” Applejack tried to defend his buddy, ignoring the surge of desire that rushed from his mind down to his dark orange loins as he stared at Elusive being taken in the photo. He wished he could tear it up and focus on pursuing somepony else, letting go of Elusive’s lack of interest. But seeing his zebra buddy and his…unicorn friend, having sex with each other was bringing up a lot more dizzying excitement than he would’ve liked. The feeling went dangerously beyond simply being happy for them, and Applejack observed with shock that Dusk Shine and Bubble Berry were also blushing as the conversation went on. As they stared at more of the clippings and pictures.

“I don’t know why Zecora would be arrogant enough to think I have time for sex,” Dusk scoffed, the sharp exhale blowing his dark blue and pink mane a little as he rolled his eyes. “I’m a Prince of Equestria for crying out loud! I barely have time to read a good book anymore, let alone go out on a blind date or try out a relationship.”

“Have you gone on blind dates?” Bubble Berry asked.

“That’s irrelevant,” Dusk Shine spat the two words quicker than Bubble Berry could finish his sentence, and Applejack could see tension in the powerful purple alicorn’s shoulders with a sense of empathy in his heart. The orange stallion felt a lot of stress keeping his family afloat before Zecora helped him out, he could only imagine how difficult it was to be one of four Princes running an entire nation. Before he could offer his sympathy, Dusk Shine continued. “If Rainbow, Butters, and Elusive want to waste time fucking, than that’s their problem to have when we inevitably deal with another threat to Equestria. I’ll actually make sure that we are safe and at peace from another evil hurting our land of Harmony.”

Dusk Shine was no longer looking at Applejack or Bubble Berry, blushing heavily as he stared intently at the window behind him. Applejack then turned to the chubby pink stallion that was blushing just as much, staring at a picture of Zecora putting Rainbow Blitz in a mating press before his head flicked up to look at Applejack.

“I mean, I’ve uh…got a bunch of parties to organize all the time, helping the Cakes with catering orders, and taking care of their twins,” Bubble Berry shrugged despite his twitching poofy tail as he slowly looked away. “Plus uh, herds aren’t really my kind of activity. Kind of takes me away from the adult parties that I hold at different houses.”

“The what parties?”

“Nothing!” Bubble Berry blushed profusely when Dusk Shine resumed paying attention to the chubby pink stallion, and as the two were staring intently at one another, Applejack moved his forehoof from underneath the table as he moved it slowly towards the picture. With sharp timing, Dusk and Bubble stared at Applejack right in the eyes without noticing that his forehoof had started moving.

“What do you think of all this?” Dusk Shine asked the muscular farmpony, tilting his head at him. “Out of all three of us, you’ve easily spent the most time with him.”

“Ah mean,” Applejack stopped, deeply hating even the slightest hint of lying to the two of them. He couldn’t bring himself to do that, so he settled for telling the truth on what he was comfortable with sharing with them. “Ah didn’t even really care about what Zecora was doing until he got Elusive involved in all of this.”

Dusk Shine stopped, his eyes turning from their sharp gaze to something more heartfelt and more pitying. Applejack didn’t like the look, but it was better than lying and still having that on his chest.

“Yeah, I brought you two closer at that sleepover and remember how much that changed you,” Dusk sighed, his blush slowly fading as his frown deepened. “That’s such a shame, I really thought something would’ve happened between you-”

“Yeah, uh, let’s not talk about that anymore,” Applejack blurted out before Dusk could finish his sentence, though he knew that Bubble Berry would’ve already known due to his Berry Sense. Even in his hot arousal staring at the picture, that pang of sadness came back hitting him in the heart. Even if they all knew the truth, Applejack felt it too much to fully face it when there was nothing that could be done. If Elusive had interest in any stallion besides Zecora, he would have acted on that instead. There was no point in dwelling on what ifs that didn’t exist. Though, Applejack thought, the picture could be at least something to look at when he was bored. He slowly pulled it towards the end of the table as Dusk was satisfied enough with Applejack’s answer as he opened his long alicorn wingspans and huffed as he circled around the room.

“What kind of power trip does Zecora even think he’s on? Does he really think he’s the best stud that Ponyville has to offer? Or even Equestria? Especially when Solaris and Artemis exist?! Or the griffons and dragons that have integrated into Ponyville? They’ve scooped up a lot of the ponies here for themselves, and you don’t see them bragging about what big dicks they have-”

With Dusk Shine moving away from the table and back to it, Applejack inevitably saw a long and dark purple appendage swinging about in its half-hard state, something that was clear as day to the orange farmpony and even the pink party pony, though neither would admit such. Especially when Applejack was on his own mild mission of trying to pull the photo to himself for further looking. He had gotten it off the table, with Bubble Berry too busy intently looking down Dusk Shine’s body to have noticed, before the tall purple stallion turned to look at the chubby pink stallion.

“I’m right though aren’t I?” Dusk insisted. “We should make a pact right now, that none of us three would submit into this carnal foolishness. The Elements of Harmony are completely dependent on us not just becoming…becoming…”

Dusk Shine stopped at the center of the table, his long alicorn wings launching out from his sides nearly like an attack as one of them nearly hit Bubble Berry in the face.

“Like sluts!” Dusk snapped.

“Hey, that’s a bit too far,” Bubble pouted. “There’s nothing wrong with embracing your sexuality and having a good time.”

“As long as you can maintain some sense of reality,” Dusk grumbled. “Do you think Ponyville will be chill with any one of us taking dick or plapping cheeks while a villain appears out of nowhere and destroys our homes? Conquers and ruins all of Equestria? It’s happened more than once! I’m just trying to not lose my head and think with my dick at the cost of Equestria!”

Applejack saw that a lot of the arousal was gone from Dusk Shine that was there before, the anxiety episode causing the orange stallion to reluctantly place the photo back on the table as he rushed over to his dear friend and placed his forehoof on the Prince’s shoulder.

“Breathe, Dusk,” Applejack insisted. “Ah know that they’ve all been experimenting and going through a lot exploring their herd, especially Butterscotch. But ah do believe they’d pause their antics in a heartbeat to protect Equestria if need be. Their stripes don’t make their dedication any less real. But do you really want them to act like a monster is going to ruin Equestria at any moment? Is that how ya want us to live?”

“No, but I need to live that way,” Dusk insisted, looking down at the floor and shaking his head. “If I don’t focus on every possibility in the future, I leave Equestria vulnerable and lacking any defense. Ever since Solaris gifted me with my alicornhood…this is my burden to bear.”

Applejack clamped up, backing away and looking at Bubble Berry’s pitying look directly at their leader and best friend. When Dusk was a unicorn, it was easy to emphasize and relate even despite their differences. Now, Dusk Shine’s status as an alicorn and a Prince made him become a stallion that was worlds apart from the rest of them. Zecora or not, it would be nothing short of a miracle for somepony out there to not only bring Dusk back to Equestria mentally, but to convince him that he had time for love.

“Urgh, whatever,” Dusk groaned, pressing a forehoof against his head as Bubble Berry stepped forward and leaned against the sleek and well-built purple alicorn with his chubby pink body, staring up with big blue eyes.

“Are you going to be okay?” Bubble asked. “I don’t want you to think that any of us having sex lives is going to destroy Equestria. I lo…really loathe the idea that you’re forcing yourself to suffer because you’re holding the stress of an entire nation on your back. You’re not alone in your responsibilities, you have us beyond having Solaris and Artemis ruling Equestria. Now, why exactly did you bring the pictures? Don't the clippings sell your point enough?”

“I, um-” Dusk blushed profusely, both at becoming suddenly and vividly aware of Bubble’s tooth-rotting sweet smell, touch, and words as he then pulled his eyes off the chubby stallion and looked at said pictures before continuing. “Well, obviously it would’ve been outlandish to claim that they were all fucked on stage with no visual proof. Pics or it didn’t happen?”

“Oh yeah,” Bubble blanked out of his suspicion as he pulled a clipping with his eyes flashing wide and his tail bouncing side to side. “Great Solaris’ sun cheeks, I can’t believe Rainbow Blitz quit the Wonderbolts only hours before their show. That’s crazy…”

Applejack winced, worried that Dusk would go back into his episode due to being reminded of one of the Elements giving up a crucial part of their life, instead he seemed enamored with the pictures that Bubble had brought his attention to. It was the perfect timing, Applejack rushed over to his picture and slowly pulled it off the table as they conversed about the various positions in the pictures and scoffed in disbelief. Well, Dusk scoffed while Bubble only stared in quiet awe. Opening his hat with his other forehoof, ready to hide the photo in there to take back to the barn while the others were getting flustered over the rest of the pictures, Applejack watched in a blink of an eye as a sparkly purple magic took hold of the photo and ripped it out of his hoof. Though, with a cold jolt of shock and horror at being caught, Applejack turned around and realized it was not Dusk Shine who had caught him. Somepony far worse.

Elusive.

“Ah…uh…” Applejack nearly dropped his hat on the floor as he damn near pissed himself, backing away from the unicorn femcolt as he glanced at the door that the farmpony never ended up closing after all. Dusk’s pupils shrunk to pinpricks as he used a spontaneously powerful magic spell to teleport all the clippings and photos out of sight besides the one Elusive already took.

“Elusive!” Dusk stammered, growing bright red even as Bubble Berry stepped away from pressing against the alicorn. “Oh dear Solaris, um, you didn’t walk in on anything! You just spooked me is all, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Yeah! If this was an actual meeting, we would’ve invited the rest of you!” Bubble laughed, blushing just as much as he refused to look at any of his friends in the eye. “Luckily, it was just a normal hangout with Applejack till you came over. Which you did, we totally planned that!”

“You two are just adorable,” Elusive giggled, his only acknowledgement of Dusk Shine and Bubble Berry before he looked at the muscular orange farmpony with an expectant nod, even though Applejack was blushing just as hard as the others. “Are you ready to catch up at the boutique, darling?”

“Y-Yeah, ah’m ready,” Applejack agreed, despite his brain still being in shock over Elusive agreeing to hang out despite the farmpony trying to steal a pic of him being fucked by his stud. Then again, if they did it on stage for everypony to see, why would Elusive be upset about it?

Applejack followed Elusive out of the room and then the hallways as they left the School of Friendship, the tall orange stallion looking down with a swarm of thoughts storming his mind while Elusive turned to look at him.

“You alright, darling?” Elusive asked. “I can assure you, I still want to hang out. Especially since how far apart we’ve become over the years, despite being Elements of Harmony. It’s a travesty really, and we should continue to make it right.”

“Yuh-huh, yer absolutely right about that,” Applejack admitted, looking into Elusive's deep blue eyes and unable to hide his thoughts about the unicorn anymore. Ever since he was roped into a sleepover with the stallion he found arrogant and spoiled via Dusk Shine and bad weather, Applejack had found himself falling head over hooves for the beautiful unicorn and didn’t know how to address it and be successful since they were worlds apart in terms of upbringing and personality despite knowing and being friends since they were both very young colts raised in the same small town. They shared that in common, what with Rainbow Blitz and Butterscotch coming from Cloudsdale, Bubble Berry coming from a rock farm, and Dusk showing up to Ponyville very late as a young adult. And now Zecora had won him over, somehow, despite the shopkeeper seeming absurdly unavailable to anypony else. And on top of that, Elusive had even cut his working hours significantly in order to make time for his new Herd. With Zecora also helping Applejack have more time on his hooves with the help around Sweet Apple Acres, both events lead to the stallions being able to hang out more often as of very recent. The events made them realize how little they saw each other anymore.

Despite Elusive’s reassurance, the two of them walked the rest of the walk in silence to the boutique as they both processed what had happened. Applejack’s bitterness about having his long-time crush “stolen” was overshadowed by the fact that they had time to hang out at all, something that left him feeling less broken about his feelings and more fulfilled in the mere company of his past attraction…

Elusive caught Applejack blushing and giving him wide-eyed glances with those captivating green eyes of his as he quietly alongside the dainty femcolt. The unicorn may not have been as intelligent as Dusk, or as perceptive as Bubble, but the femcolt certainly gets the hint from how often their conversations would steer in a certain direction. How their conversations from the farm or the boutique would shift into how Elusive was getting on with three more partners than he had before, how Zecora was treating him, and what seemed to be harmless questions about what they all were into. Elusive initially thought it was mere curiosity about how such an unconventional relationship would even work half-decently, perhaps that it would make no sense to Applejack and he needed to have it explained to him. But instead, with how often Applejack sought after hanging out with him specifically out of the Mane 6 since he made the time, Elusive had started to wonder if the orange stallion had a crush on him as well as possibly Zecora.

Catching all three of them, especially Applejack, pining for Zecora and the graphic sex he was having in his herd, seemed to easily put those suspicions to rest.

Though, Elusive knew that Applejack would never truly get mad over the unicorn deciding to directly ask for the truth from his mouth. Even if Applejack got flustered or defensive, Elusive knew that Applejack would respect his approach if nothing else. Taking a deep breath and readying himself to clear the air and potentially change Applejack’s life forever, Elusive smiled softly as he looked back to his dear friend.

“Darling, do you have feelings for me or Zecora? Perhaps both?” Elusive asked. “I truly have no judgment, I just want to understand what just happened earlier.”

“Ah saw a picture of y’all fucking,” Applejack shrugged. “That’s what happened.”

Elusive scowled, of course Applejack wouldn’t lie but wouldn’t exactly answer the question either.

“And what were you doing with it?” Elusive pointed out, magically floating the picture in front of Applejack’s eyes to remind him that he had tried to take said picture. Applejack stopped walking altogether, frozen to the spot as he was torn between fight or flight. If Elusive had wanted him, they would’ve been together. He had chosen to be with Zecora, and that was that.

“Ah tried to take it for mahself,” Applejack grumbled. “What exactly is the point of this conversation for you? Zecora did something great for both of us, giving us time off working so hard. But that didn’t keep ya from dating him, now did it? You became his newest sub even before you took off a huge workload, and ya didn’t do that for me. So that is that and-”

“You’re upset that I chose Zecora and not you.”

“Honestly?” Applejack stopped, waiting for Elusive’s eager nod of approval for him to continue. “Yah, ah definitely am. And at the same time, curiosity has been eating away at me. He’s been my best friend for a while and he’s gotten all three of you under a spell. Ah want to know what’s so special about being with him, beyond his company which ah’ve already had regularly. He’s a cool stallion, but…”

“You want to know if he’s good in bed, even though he took me and that’s got you in a tizzy?”

“Yeah!” Applejack shouted a little louder than he had intended, though he spoke the truth as he always did. “It’s embarrassing to get turned on by the stallion that took the one you’ve wanted for such a long time. You know how to work hard like ah do, you keep up a lovely appearance, and you are the most generous pony ah’ve ever met. Ah feel like a fool for letting that go, even though…ah guess ah never had it. Zecora’s help has given me time to actually sit around for a change every so often, and it’s given me pause to actually think about what ah want. Though choosing to go after any one of you seriously puts so many friendships on the line, especially after ah finally got to spend so much time with you again and ah don’t want to lose what ah got. And ah don’t want to leave Dusk and Bubble alone to spend more time in a herd, they need me. Especially Dusk, he feels so alone without you guys.”

“Oh,” Elusive deflated a little at that news, not too happy that Dusk Shine was hurting from their time spent primarily in a herd. Shaking his head, Elusive continued. “I can’t exactly solve all your problems, Applejack, but I know where my commitment is and I know where your heart and loins are. This all seems like something to be discussed with the polycule in the Everfree Forest, though Zecora would probably want to get a bigger hut at this rate…”

“What’s that?”

“Nevermind that, darling!” Elusive laughed, waving his forehoof back and forth before bringing it back to his side. “But you should be very sure that you want to be a sub, yes a sub, to Zecora and the sexual whims of the rest of the herd. That’s no easy commitment, even if you have the option to consent to anything obviously, because making such a bigger relationship a priority and doing right by everypony takes a lot of effort. Especially since doing such leaves me walking funny for days at a time…”

“Ah’ve…” Applejack blushed as he looked at Elusive’s legs before looking up at the femcolt. “Uh, noticed.”

“Would you want to walk with me now, darling?” Elusive asked. “Zecora will be comforted by how honest you are and how strong of a bond you two already have. I’m sure he’ll be happy to keep as much of an open mind as possible.”

“Yeah, yer right, he would be nice no matter what,” Applejack nodded, feeling some relief taking the weight off his shoulders as the two steered away from the boutique, walking again only this time they made their way to the Everfree Forest. With the farmpony’s muscular strength, and Elusive’s decent skill at magic, they were certainly fine off trotting throughout the tall trees that used to scare them terribly. Though with the latter’s frequent trips back and forth from Ponyville to the hut, the idea of Zecora fucking Elusive’s brains out usually eclipsed any fear the unicorn might’ve had of the wild creatures within the weird forest.

Applejack saw the sight of the hut and maintained the same pace he had before, even though he wanted to slow down and think over everything more. Though truly, Applejack knew in his heart what he wanted deep down, he was just bringing himself to prepare for any fallback or rejection that might sting him down the line. And Elusive didn’t exactly tell him if he returned Applejack’s feelings, though the farmpony highly doubted that the femcolt would dupe him into a herd only to rub it in his face that he didn’t feel the same. That seemed incredibly cruel, nothing like Elusive.

Taking a chance, Applejack took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Waiting several moments for the scuffling on the other side to stop, Applejack’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest as Zecora was naturally the one to open the door. The tall bulking zebra stud, a paragon of masculinity and sex appeal, normally was just seen as a buddy to Applejack in the context of their typical hangouts. Though this time, Applejack felt his length starting to harden even though he knew that it wouldn’t end in an orgy like his mind had tried to convince him many times it would. Despite being hornier than a mare about to get gangbanged, Applejack knew he still had a lot of feelings to sort out and even recognized that Zecora being into another masculine stallion was a longshot in itself.

“Hello Applejack, what seems to bring you to my shack?” Zecora asked, gently tilting his head at the orange farmpony. Applejack felt time stop, even feeling Elusive fading away in the background as it was one-on-one with telling the powerful zebra stallion of absurd capability how exactly he felt.

“Ah, uh, would like to become a sub in yer herd, Zecora.”