//------------------------------// // Release // Story: Simple Love // by Nickel Alloy //------------------------------// Rarity had gotten out of the hospital four days ago, to be welcomed home eagerly with a fully redecorated room by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was awful, but she gave them points for trying, and anyway in her current state she couldn't rip the streamers or anything else down. She had also been greeted with a 'welcome home' party courtesy of Pinkie Pie, consisting of one very large cake, her closest friends and a record player, since Twilight had yelled at Pinkie that Rarity wasn't feeling her best and that a huge party was unnecessary. Rarity was thankful for that, but she'd wished for a larger party just to see Big Mac. It had been weird, the way he'd just shown up like that in the hospital to tell her about his parents. And then he'd been avoiding her ever since. To tell the truth, Rarity was seriously considering a romantic relationship with him, but not if he did strange things like that. Couples should be open with each other. She winced at herself. They weren't a couple, and it was rude to even think of them that way. He'd been acting strange around her, ever since the awkward retelling of his parents' demise. Rainbow Dash had teasingly described it as "sexual tension", which Rarity had laughed off, but she was starting to get a suspicious inkling that Dash was right. Rarity trotted as best as she could over to the window of her bedroom and stared out. Not for the first time, she wished that it gave her a view of Sweet Apple Acres. Instead, she was treated to the noises of the Ponyville marketplace every single day. She'd made a speedy recovery from the concussion, but her head still wasn't what it used to be, so it was torture to be woken up with her temples throbbing from the normal buzz of the day. The boutique was quiet. Sweetie Belle appeared to be at school. Fluttershy, who had helped Rarity finish her (extremely late) My Fair Filly costumes and had run sales at the boutique for the last week and a half, was not there for whatever reason. Celestia knows where Opal has gone. Rarity knew she should probably hobble downstairs and get to work, but today she really didn't care about dresses. Ah, well. Running a comb through her hair, she headed downstairs to at least get some coffee in her system and start the day. On the way, she thought about Big Mac. Before Applejack's spontaneous summoning of her to the farm (Rarity still couldn't work out how she'd been the only option), she hadn't seen Big Mac much. The Pony Tones had unofficially stopped meeting after Torch Song had gone to the Metroponyton Opera House in Manehattan. Nothing major had happened that had called her to the farm, not since Flim and Flam. And Big Mac never came to the boutique -- he never needed clothes. Rarity turned the sign on the door to OPEN, but then slapped it back. She deserved another recuperation day, and damn everyone else for thinking otherwise! Besides, she hadn't had the strength to drag herself out of the boutique for the past few days, and maybe it would be nice to walk to...oh, Sweet Apple Acres or someplace like that. She hummed to herself as she hobbled outside with her coffee in her favorite blue mug. She took the back road, which usually wasn't occupied by more than the occasional traveler, and therefore was thankfully lacking noise. It gave her time to think. First off, what had inspired Big Mac to come and say something like that? Surely he'd felt some kind of connection between them, or he wouldn't have trusted her with the story. Possibly he had accidentally eaten one of Zecora's plants. He's too smart to do that. Stop it. What, then? Had he tried in his own awkward way to advance their relationship? It was endearing, although it had only created further discomfort between them. Big Mac is very nice -- and handsome, too -- but he's never been the most social pony. "Big Mac's not here, Rares," Applejack said boredly down from the front door. "I-I wasn't looking for him," Rarity said, flustered and blushing. She'd hidden the mug in a hay bale on the way here, but what it would do to the paint! Not such a good idea after all. "Sure ya weren't." Applejack rolled her eyes. "Come on in, then. We've got hot cider." "Hiya, Rarity!" Apple Bloom squealed from the red-gingham-covered table. "Real sorry about the other day." The other day had been a week and a half ago. Rarity chose not to comment. "Apple Bloom, why aren't you at school?" Rarity asked. The littlest Apple looked confused. "It's Saturday." "Well, then, what happened to Sweetie Belle?" "Oh, she's probably out at her singing group again. Ya know how she is. She wants hers to be just like the Pony Tones!" I didn't know she was in a singing group. Rarity struggled to keep her smile from melting off her face. "Something wrong, Rarity?" Apple Bloom asked. "Oh, no, nothing, dear!" Rarity said. "Don't ya have chores to do?" said Applejack, plunking down two steaming mugs and taking Apple Bloom's empty one. "Ah told ya five minutes was enough." Apple Bloom scampered out the door, and Applejack swiftly took her place. "Rares, what's wrong? Big Mac told me what happened the other day. He must really care about ya if he's told ya something like that." "Why, though?" Rarity asked, trying to be nonchalant. "Ah think he's just tryin' to make a connection, but he doesn't really know how ta go about it." Applejack sighed. Rarity pushed around her mug, suddenly fidgety. "Ah know ya like him, ya know," Applejack said, raising an eyebrow. "Everyone does." "They--they do?!" "Yeah, it's not hard ta miss. Ya know, ya get all red and kinda suddenly focused whenever he's brought up. Come on, Rares, what's got ya two not talkin'?" Rarity stopped looking Applejack in the eyes. It was intimidating. She chose to instead stare at Applejack's cider mug, which was patterned with cartoon characters. "It just seemed really...awkward. And neither of us really knew what to say afterwards." "That's easy enough to fix!" "Really?" Rarity looked back up at Applejack hopefully. "Yeah!" Applejack was suddenly excited. "All ya need ta do is talk to him. Don't even bring it up. Just... talk. Maybe ya could go on like, an official date or something." Rarity was instilled with a sudden bolt of confidence. "You really think so?" "Yeah. Rares, I know ya have it in ya to help mah brother break out of his shell. Ah think it'd be good for him. And Ah think it'd be good for you, too." Rarity smiled. She didn't even care about the mug in the haystack anymore.