Applejack froze where she was standing as Coco made her declaration and Rarity just stood there slack-jawed, not sure what was going to happen next, but it could very well explode in their faces depending on how Applejack reacted, oh the doom of not only their friendships but also Coco's budding romance!... Rarity's practical side had to admit that was unlikely but she didn't often let her practicality override her love of some good drama!
Applejack took her time, slowly putting the box down of Applebloom's things down, and slowly turning to a brightly blushing Coco Pommel. Applejack took a moment to assess the other pony, seeing her squirm nervously under the gaze, shifting from foot to foot as she was assessed by the farm pony. "Coco." Coco straightened up slightly at her name from Applejack's lips, nervously looking about as if she might be talking to some other Coco. "Yer the one who sent me all of them fancy frou-frou items?" Coco nodded hesitantly, not sure where this was going. "And them pretty letters?" Another nod and a bit of a nervous step back as Applejack walked towards her, only to let out a surprised but happy meep as Applejack leaned out and gave her a gentle nuzzle on the neck. "It's mighty flatterin' that you'd have such strong feelin's for me sugar cube. But we do need to talk about a fair number of things before you get any ideas in your head ok?" Coco nodded, nervously shifting from hoof to hoof and Applejack couldn't help but chuckle. "Now don't look like I just killed yer dog there Coco, I'm not sayin' no, I'm sayin' yes, if yer going in with your eyes open."
Coco let out a small gasp of breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding and absolutely beamed at Applejack. "Oh! Oh! Good! I'll agree to any..."
"No!" Applejack held up a hoof. "Listen first, then you'll need to agree or not, can't have a relationship built off nuthin' but honesty, got it?" Coco deflated just a little, nodding vigorously again. "Good." Applejack smiled as she turned on Rarity, the smile a bit more forced this time. "You knew." Applejack said flatly.
Rarity cleared her throat slightly. "Now darling I didn't know until you came to me with the letters..."
"And then you wanted to ambush me?" Applejack was clearly unamused by her friend's actions.
Rarity inched towards the door. "Oh, no, not at all darling, this wasn't an ambush. I just wanted to put you two in the same vicinity and... Well... Oh! Is that the time!? I agreed to help Cheerilee with something! Excuse me!" She turned and galloped out of her boutique. Applejack grinned, turning back to a worried looking Coco, who then frowned at Applejack.
"Hey, that wasn't very nice, if you weren't really upset with her!"
Applejack shook her head and patted Coco on the back of her neck. "Oh don't worry about it sugar cube, she gave me a bit of a hard time about that cute little heart you sent me, I was just returnin' the favor." Coco tried to fight off a grin while she tried her best to still look stern at the farm pony, just causing Applejack to giggled more. "Well you're just the most adorable little thing ain'tcha?" Causing Coco to blush brightly again. "So, you wanna settle in, this will be a bit of a chat."
Coco nodded and jumped up on the chaise lounge, pouting a little when Applejack chose a chair across from her. "So, what are these stipulations we need to talk about?" Coco nervously clapped her hooves together a little.
"Well sugar cube, if we do say get very serious and want to move in together, I can't leave my family and the farm like that. Unless something changes I'm not gonna be able to move to Manehattan with ya. And to be frank I'd probably go crazy if I had ta live in a city."
Coco nodded in understanding. "Oh, so I'd have to move out here to Ponyville if we wanted to get serious?"
Applejack nodded. "I'm 'fraid so, I wouldn't want to make a demand like that but I can't just leave mah family short handed like that."
Coco nodded, smiling at Applejack. "Oh, I understand, to be frank, I'd rather have someone so concerned about me and her family that she'd end a relationship before it got serious than try to put off the decision. If it comes down to it I can move out here. I mean, Rarity works from out of Ponyville... It'll be a little harder since I don't also have a store here, but I can make it work."
Applejack smiled widely back, well, this was actually going quite well. She had been a bit more enamored with the idea of having a relationship than she'd let on to Rarity, and this was going well. "Also ya know we'd be living with mah family, at least for the foreseeable future. Maybe Big Mac'll end up getting married but at his rate, we'll probably beat him there if we wanna go that direction." Coco giggled a bit uncontrollably while blushing crimson at the thought. "That good with you sugar cube? Big Mac keeps to himself mostly but you'll need ta at least get along with Bloom and Granny Smith."
Coco nodded and smiled. "I'm sure they're lovely."
Applejack nodded. "They are, but we can put off you meeting them for a bit at least, I'm sure Applebloom will shower you with questions with how involved she was trying to get Big Mac set up with someone."
"Uh..."
"Don' worry, I'll head her off and give her a proper talking to this time." Coco nodded in relief as Applejack straightened up a little. "Now, last issue, foals. I want 'em."
Coco blushed brightly and then frowned, seeming to deflate and nodded, looking down as her ears drooped. "Oh... Ok I get it... Sorry..."
Applejack clicked her tongue at Coco, causing her to look up to Applejack shaking her head. "No sugar cube, I'm not saying no because we're both mares, there's always adoption, I just need to know if you're interested, because I've always seen foals in my future, I'm not about to give that up, for anyone." Applejack added in a mumble. "And there're those spells that Twilight mentioned last week..."
Having not heard the mumble Coco smiled brightly, blushing slightly. "O-Oh!" She nodded. "I've always wanted foals too! Though... I will admit that since I never had a romantic line I wasn't really expecting them, I'd like them a lot!"
Applejack smiled and got up, walking over and planting a gentle kiss on Coco's cheek. "Good, then we can give it a try, how does that sound Sugar Cube?" Coco jumped slightly at the unexpected kiss but smiled wider than she had all day and nodded. "I wasn't kidding when I said the farm was busy though, how long are ya here for?"
Coco hesitated. "Well it's the offseason, I was going to stay for a week, but I don't have anything to do for the entire month, I can change my train ticket!"
"Well that's up to you sugar cube, but I'll see about making some time for ya tomorrow, ok?" Coco nodded, getting up and walking with Applejack to the door. "Heh, I think I'll just leave this stuff here." She pushed the box of Applebloom's stuff to the side. "In case Rarity needs to lure me over again, this one turned out pretty well for me."
Coco giggled and hesitated before leaning in and giving Applejack a kiss on the cheek, backing up quickly afterward and blushing, looking off to the side. "S-See you tomorrow."
Applejack chuckled, shaking her head slightly. "Yer as shy as Fluttershy aren'tcha? See you tomorrow sugar cube." Coco closed and locked the door after her new marefriend, sighing happily as she walked back up to the guest room Rarity was letting her use.
*------*
A loud banging came on the locked door of the boutique and calling through it came Rarity's voice. "Coco! Coco! I didn't bring my key with me! Open the doooooooooor!"