Twilight smiled contentedly round the table. It had been a Good Day - one of the best since her arrival in Ponyville, one year ago. The Summer Sun Celebration had gone off without a hitch, and the afternoon had been spent in happy camaraderie with her closest friends, enjoying excellent food and even better company. What more could a pony want for?
And now, the sun being magically set by Princess Celestia herself from her exalted position at the head of the feast, Twilight sighed in comfortable repletion. It was good to take a day off, she thought - once in a while, anyway.
She was about to suggest a party game of sorts to her companions, when she realised that they were all getting up from the table and making moves ready to depart - all, that is, except Rarity, who was still nowhere to be seen. She had made some excuse about needing the Little Fillies' room twenty minutes ago and hadn't come back; Twilight suspected the rich fare may have been a little too much for the fashionista's refined palate.
"Where are you all going?" she asked, anxious that what had been one of the happiest - and most relaxed - days of her life should not end so soon. "It's only just getting dark; we could play charades, or associations, or..."
She trailed off, realising that, aside from Spike, who seemed equally confused, her friends all appeared somewhat uncomfortable. She tried to meet their eyes, but every time she did so they would look away, finding something very interesting to look at on the ground or in the air.
Sensing her confusion and wishing to forestall a 'Twilight' moment, Spike asked, "Come on guys, what's going on? Is everything alright?"
The responses he got were not, initially, encouraging. Rainbow snickered to herself as if remembering some personal triumph (but then, how unusual was that for her, really?), Applejack cleared her throat and went red, Pinkie Pie started bouncing up and down in evident excitement, and Fluttershy - well, she was hardly to be seen, cowering behind Applejack and keeping her hair resolutely over her eyes.
Spike sighed; Twilight was starting to get antsy, her breath becoming perceptibly shallower already - it was time to resort to desperate measures. He raised a single eyebrow in Applejack's general direction, and the effect was immediate. No-one dared deny The Eyebrow.
"Er, well!", she began, then hesitated.
"Yes?", Spike encouraged, his eyebrow raising still further.
"Y'see", she continued after a moment's thought and a distinct 'gulp', "there's a tradition. In Ponyville. On the night of the Summer Sun Celebration. And... y'all might not want to - to be a part of it, if y'all see what ah'm sayin'."
Intrigued now - something new to learn! - Twilight cocked her head in interest. "Ooh! Local traditions are always fascinating, especially from a cultural-historical point of view! Carry on, AJ!"
The first sure sign Spike had that something fishy was definitely going on was Applejack's faint - almost unnoticeable - yet earth-shattering eye-twitch. That, and the fact that Rainbow and Pinkie now both seemed to be struggling to contain their laughter.
"Well," Applejack continued, then stopped again. She gulped.
A long pause ensued, broken only by the town clock chiming nine somewhere in the distance. At the sound, Fluttershy started whimpering to herself.
Eventually Pinkie Pie could contain herself no longer, and leapt up onto the table, bursting out, "It's the best part of the day, Twilight! Ponyville looks forward to it all year!" She then inflated and formed eleven balloon animals, evidently in an attempt to keep calm, in less than eight seconds.
Seeing that AJ appeared to be close to expiring, that Pinkie was too excited to have anything more rational to say, and that Fluttershy seemed to be doing her level best to melt into the ground and become one with the fabric of reality, Rainbow decided to take up the mantel. "Y'see, Twi'," she began, "the Summer Sun Celebration is only the first part of the... entertainment. In Ponyville we like to spice things up a bit in the evening with some more 'extracurricular' activities."
She winked loudly - at least, if felt loud to her audience, who were either thoroughly confused (Twilight), suddenly acutely aware of what was going on around them (Spike), or embarrassed (everypony else). At that moment a group of pegasi flew past, and one of them called out: "Hey! You coming, RD?"
"Wouldn't miss it! I'll be right there," Rainbow hollered back, making the sensitive Fluttershy wince.
"Miss what?" Twilight asked, still not following. Applejack decided that, as Element of Honesty, it was her job to complete the explanation - though she could see from Spike's unusually blanched expression, and the way his eyes were darting around the town square as though looking for something he didn't wish to find, that he, at least, had understood.
"Well, sugarcube," she began, speaking calmly and quietly as though to an intelligent but still very young foal, "After the sun has set on Midsummer's Day, the inhabitants of Ponyville like to spend some quality time together. In a very intimate way," she added, as Twilight seemed about to interrupt.
Twilight digested this piece of information for a minute or so, before asking, her head still on one side as though doing her best to understand, "So, you're saying that - that all the couples of Ponyville are intimate with one another on this particular night? That doesn't seem so bad," she considered.
Applejack nodded, willing her friend to understand. "That's right, sugarcube, but it's a little bit more than that. Y'see, it's not only the couples who are intimate with each other on this particular night. It's..."
She paused, feeling suddenly awkward; the menacing 'you'd better not stop now' frown from Spike encouraging her to continue. 'Well," she gulped again, "on Midsummer's Night everypony gets to be intimate with each other. Everypony. All night."
Twilight's eyes widened and her pupils narrowed to the merest pinpricks as she finally understood. "You mean," she spluttered, "that everypony in Ponyville has an orgy!?"
Rainbow smirked, and replied, "Pretty much, yeah... Speaking of which, I'd better be going. Those mares won't fuck themselves! See you in the morning, Twi, thanks for the laughs!" And, so saying, she shot off into the night, one hoof drifting towards her loins in the process.
Fluttershy glanced round her mane for long enough to check if Twilight was alright, before retreating again. The answer had been 'no'.
Twilight was definitely having a 'moment'. Her sides heaved, her eyes darted hither and yon with wild abandon, and her teeth gnashed. Spike laid a comforting hand on her wither and turned to Applejack. "When you say everypony..." he asked, The Eyebrow once again in evidence.
Applejack hastened to reassure Twilight; "Oh no! Don't worry, Twi, I meant that everypony who wants to takes part. Y'all don't have to if y'all don't want to."
While Twilight attempted to dispel her hyperventilation, Spike frowned. "So... Rainbow 'takes part', as you put it, that much is obvious - but what about the rest of you?"
Pinkie Pie finally burst, having held in her excitement with stentorian and highly admirable strength for several seconds now. "Ooh, I do, I do! It's the best time of the year, because I get to really know everypony in Ponyville, and learn what turns them on, and try new things I've invented throughout the year, and give everypony the bestest orgasms ever, and make all the stallions cum so hard, and taste all the mares sweet little cunnies and make them cum too! It's the best!"
And, without further ado - and before Twilight or Spike had time to fully register that Pinkie was both a fillyfooler and had the mouth of a docker - the party pony leapt from the table and ran headlong in the direction Rainbow had flown just a few minutes before.
Silence fell over the remaining assemblage, with Twilight, Spike, Applejack and Fluttershy now being the only remaining ponies at the tables in the town square. Eventually, with a voice hoarse enough for a much large equine, Twilight had to ask: "Applejack... Do you 'take part'?"
Applejack shook her head. "Nope. Mah family and ah were all brought up to respect the sanctity of sexual relations, and none of us have ever joined in that part of the festivities. And," she added hurriedly, "Nor does Fluttershy. So she tends to stay with us at Sweet Apple Acres overnight. It's quieter over there. Away from the... sounds," she explained.
Spike cleared his throat, still frowning, but this time in thought. Finally he couldn't bear not knowing any longer. "Does... does Rarity ever join in, d'you know, AJ?"
He tried to sound nonchalant. But Applejack had been dreading this question, which she had known would be coming all evening. "Ah believe she does, sugarcube," she murmured.
"She's the star attraction..." Fluttershy's whisper was very faint, almost inaudible - yet laced with a malice Spike found surprising. It was not enough to take his mind away from whatever it was his crush might be doing - or whom she might be doing, though he tried hard not to think of it that way - right now, however.
Now Applejack gave Twilight a gentle nudge, which awoke her from her erstwhile reverie. "Ah think", she suggested quietly, "It might be best for y'all to go home now, Twi. Spike's looking a bit shell-shocked."
"Er, what? Oh, right, yes! Yes, of course..." Twilight tried to bring herself back to the present, her overactive imagination evidently filled with images of her friends engaging in activities of a more carnal nature than she was used to. "Yes, I see - we'll go home now and have a cup of hot cocoa, I think. Come along, Spike," she called through their collective mental fogs to the young dragon, "We'd best be off back to the library."
As they parted from their friends, Spike murmured to Applejack, his voice still thick with emotion, "Look after Fluttershy for us, won't you, AJ?"
Applejack nodded, closing her eyes in assent, as Twilight and Spike led each other, arm in hoof, back to their sanctuary.
Fluttershy, who hadn't made eye contact at all throughout the latter half of the conversation, now spoke up. "You lying bitch, AJ," she smirked.
Applejack winked. For the Element of Honesty, telling untruths came surprisingly easily to her - but she had told the truth about one thing.
She was definitely going to be looking after Fluttershy tonight.