Chapter 2: Time With Friends

Applejack was making her way into town when the foals kicked, almost making her loose her footing on the gravel road. She never knew why they kicked so hard, but it was just something she's gotten used to, she had to or else this would have been a very short pregnancy. Today, rather than going to see Doctor Monitor, Applejack was heading into town so she could meet with her friends and talk about the foals, among other things, but they usually just talked about the foals the entire time. It was usually Rarity who kept them talking about it, finding it "un-lady like" and "unrefined" that Applejack had managed to get pregnant before marriage, but it's not like she really had a choice in the matter. When you don't have a choice in the matter it's pretty hard to say no.

"Good morning Applejack, how's the foal?" Miss Cheerilee asked as she came trotting up the trail on her way to school, always happy to see Applejack in the morning.

"They're good, how about you?" Applejack asked, passing over the fact that she actually had twins in the hopes of avoiding a long, boring, conversation with her.

"Well, things are going good, but I gotta run, see you later Applejack!" Cheerilee said as she quickly started trotting towards the school, pausing when she realized what Applejack had said. She was obviously tempted to go back to see what Applejack meant, but her duty as a teacher was calling for her, and she couldn't just ignore it. Applejack allowed herself to giggle as she watched Cheerilee debate her options in her head before finally choosing her job over her curiosity. Now that a conversation with Cheerilee had been avoided Applejack was free to continue on her way to the library uninterrupted.

Once she arrived at the library though, it was an entirely different story. Apparently Applebloom had managed to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo that Applejack had twins now, and the two of them then told their respective sisters, Rarity and Rainbow Dash.

"You actually have twins?!" Rarity cried as Applejack stepped hoof into the library, nearly jumping back and slamming the door shut in front of her in surprise. Twilight noticed her surprise however and held the door open with her magic, saving Rarity the embarrassment of running full speed into a door. Applejack sighed before she moved forward again, meanwhile Rarity was nearly bursting at the seams with excitement about the news. Sweetie Belle had made her swear to not tell a soul unless Applejack said it was okay, and the suspense was killing her!

"So dear, you're going to tell us about the twins, right?" Rarity asked, her excitement showing in both her face and voice, making Applejack let out a loud sigh.

"Ok fine, I'll tell ya" Applejack said in a somewhat annoyed way, not really happy to be talking about the situation again.

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"So that's all that he said?" Rarity asked, finding Applejack's explanation of the previous day to be rather boring and uninteresting.

"What were you expecting him to say?" Rainbow asked sarcastically, "That she was growing a three headed pony with horns inside her?"

"Oh come on Dashie, we all know that would never happen" Pinkie said with a laugh before freezing on the spot, "Right?"

"What if that did happen?!" Fluttershy squeaked as she jumped behind Pinkie, the two of them holding each other as they shook, the idea of a three headed pony with horns being too scary for them to bear. Twilight face hoofed before looking back to Applejack.

"Do you still plan of keeping Flim away from all of this?" Twilight asked, genuinely worried that keeping him away might cause Applejack more problems than it's worth.

"Of couse I do, I never wanted to have this happen in the first place" Applejack said angrily, any mention of Flim's name always managed to piss her off nowadays. Twilight sighed before heading for her kitchen, the sound of a tea kettle whistling drawing her away.

"You know this all could have been avoided if you had just acted more lady like" Rarity said from her seat, making Applejack turn to her in anger.

"You try and keep things lady-like after you've had eight full mugs of cider!" Applejack said defensively, making everypony look at her in surprise. It wasn't like her to snap like that, especially not at one of her friends for saying one little comment. What Rarity said wasn't anything new either, she said it almost every time they met up, but this was the first time Applejack had ever really reacted to it.

"Um, Applejack, are you okay?" Rainbow asked as she gently floated over towards Applejack, who now had a hurt expression on her face.

"Yeah, I'm just..." Applejack trailed off as she looked at the floor, "I'm sorry for snapping like that"

"Oh don't worry dear, mood swings perfectly understandable" Rarity said with a warm smile, "You are pregnant after all"

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me" Applejack replied sarcastically, making everypony laugh. Twilight came back into the room a few minutes later with the tea she had been making levitating just a few inches in front of her, and then served them out to everypony, except for Rainbow, she opted for a warm cider. After the big blow up Applejack had, things were rather calm, save for the occasional spat between Rainbow and Rarity, but things were calm. Seeing her friends acting like nothing was really wrong put Applejack's mind at ease, and she liked it, even if it was only for the day. It was times like this that made Applejack really appreciate her friends, even Rarity despite all the times they've fought. Without them, this pregnancy would be a whole lot harder.

"Rainbow, how much cider have you had?" Twilight asked worriedly as Rainbow suddenly flew into the floor with a loud thud, stopping all conversation.

"Just enough to forget how to fly obviously" Rarity quipped, making everypony laugh except for Rainbow.

"Shut up, I can still fly!" Rainbow said, obviously drunk as she tried to fly back up, her wings flapping out of sync, causing her to sway from side to side, eventually colliding with Rarity, causing the two of them to tumble to the floor in a heap.

"Nice flying there Rainbow Crash" Applejack said jokingly, much to Rainbow's dismay.

"Eh shut up Preggerjack!" Rainbow said before passing out, the full force of the cider hitting her like a rampaging bull. Everypony giggled as she snored happily on the floor, not knowing at the time that her peaceful sleep was just a gateway to the most pain she would ever feel. Once everypony said their goodbyes Applejack helped Fluttershy carry Rainbow home, quickly saying goodnight once Rainbow was sleeping soundly in her bed. Fluttershy lingered for a moment after they said goodnight, wanting to ask if anything was bothering Applejack, but she left before Fluttershy could muster up the courage to say anything.