Rarity was in the zone. No… ‘zone’ was way too much of an understatement… way too pedestrian. She was in her element, in her Queendom… Yes… That was the word. Rarity was in the Queendom of fashion and she was its supreme ruler.
The world around her bowed to her will and accepted her gracious gift.
“Dresses!” she screamed at the face of the universe.
“Jeans?” said a timid voice coming from behind her.
“How dare you?” she hissed.
She turned to face the offender. With a mere thought, she threw them on the ground.
“How dare you?” she repeated, putting her foot on her head in sign of victory. “You should know better! Why do I put up with you?”
The ruffian whimpered pathetically on the ground. Satisfied, Rarity leant toward them to identify the fashion criminal.
“Applejack?” she realised.
Rarity woke up, sweating and out of breath. She lifted her eye-patch, careful not to mess with her coiffure. The world of dresses was gone. In its place, was Canterlot’s High craft room.
“What a dreadful dream…” she whispered in the dark.
She sent a worried glance at Applejack. To her relief, she was soundly asleep, safe and sound. Then the relief let place to a deep sense of guilt.
Rarity you are not an abusive girlfriend! she scolded herself mentally. Yet the discussion of the day before was still vivid in her memory… as well as the frightened look of a blond girl at the feet of a Queen.
Am I?
Applejack woke up at break of dawn, feeling fresh and rested. It had taken some time to get used to Rarity (really) soft mattress but she was starting to get used to it. The fact that she only ever used them when a certain fashionista was also in it might have helped.
Surprisingly, said Rarity was not in the bed at the moment.
“Rare?” Applejack called.
“One minute, darling,” she answered.
Being already at the Canterlot High gave her time to be lazy in the bed for once so Applejack did exactly that and, true to her word, Rarity was there a few moments later, carrying a plate filled to the brim with breakfast food.
“Wow? Food in bed? I thought you didn’t want to stain the bedclothes?”
“Don’t worry about it, darling,” she said with a dismissing wave. “One exception from time to time won’t hurt.”
“If you say so!” Applejack said, not willing to risk a change of heart.
Applejack ate with gusto, but carefully enough to make sure she wouldn’t make a mess. Rarity seemed to be content with watching her eat.
“Say Rare,” Applejack said as she swallowed the last bite of a croissant, “do you have any spare clothes? I don’t really want to spend the whole day in the same clothes as yesterday.”
Rarity’s eyes lit up with excitement. Applejack blinked. In the interval, Rarity had had the time to pick up a pair of blue jeans from god knows where.
“Huh?”
“Do you like it?” she asked excitedly.
So this is what woke her up… she went sewing, Applejack thought, amused. I should have known.
Still, this was new. This looked like a pair of blue jeans. Rarity wasn’t fond of the jeans texture. “It lacks finesse” or something like that but this one looked like a true, 100% authentic blue jeans. With little to no decorations to boot. Applejack took it, curious, expecting a surprise of some sort. There were surprises. Six of them. Six, deep, functional, glorious pockets.
This was a simple tailor-made pair of blue jeans with six pockets.
“This… this is the most practical thing you’ve ever done…-” Applejack wiped a tear “-It’s so beautiful… Wait, I forgot an important date didn’t I?”
“No,” Rarity chuckled, “I just got some inspiration and I wanted to surprise you. I get it that you like it?”
“Like it? I love it! It’s amazing! You the best Rare.”
The compliment made her smile, but in a corner of her mind, a doubt persisted.
A few days later
There was something wrong with Rarity.
Applejack could not deny it any longer. At first, the signs were easy to dismiss. The fashionista had been very sweet and affectionate for some reasons so Applejack didn’t worry too much. But little by little she noticed how less and less talkative she was. Once again she did not worry that much. After all, every time Rarity got “on the verge of a breakthrough” she’d get lost in her world and become a bit hard to reach at times. But it usually lasted a couple of days at worse and, even then, she’d at least talk about it from time to time until she found “l'étincelle”.
But not this time. In fact, it was as if Rarity didn’t want to talk at all… even asking her opinion on simple matters had become difficult.
School had made it hard to properly discuss the issue so Applejack had chosen to wait for the weekend to address the pear tree in the orchard but when Twilight had told her Rarity had been missing her French classes she decided that it couldn’t wait any longer and she knew she had made the right choice when she entered the craft room.
The place was a mess.
For a second Applejack wondered if someone had not come and sabotaged Rarity’s work. She may not as good with this whole fashion sense as Rarity but the first word that came to her mind seeing Rarity’s new line was “ugly”. The clothes were a nightmare of pockets and unlikely materials mixed without cohesion. Even Sweetie Belle couldn’t have done something that bad.
In the middle of the sea of atrocious clothes was the fashionista, struggling with her work.
“Rare?” Applejack called, clearly worried.
Rarity jumped at the sound, not having realised that she was not alone anymore.
“Who? Applejack! What are you… No! Don’t look!”
Several answers came to Applejack’s mind but only one thing mattered to her at that moment.
“You okay babe?”
“No…” Rarity sighed. “This is a catastrophe…”
“Just minute.” Applejack got next to the couch and pushed it effortlessly. It slid across the room, smoothly stopping its course behind Rarity. “You can go.”
She let herself fall dramatically on the sofa.
“You wanna talk about it?” Applejack asked softly as she went next to her.
“Maybe…”
“Take your time.”
“Applejack… be honest… am I an abusive girlfriend?”
“Is it about the other day? T'was just a dumb dream…”
“Answer me, Applejack.” She asked, more insistently than she wanted. She quickly covered her mouth, realising she had used her authoritative voice again. She slowly took them out to add an imploring “Please?”
Applejack sighed and sat on the sofa. She patted her laps and Rarity took it as a cue to put her head on them. They stayed there a moment, with Applejack playing in her hair.
“Before I answer, tell me what’s bothering you.”
Rarity stayed there a moment, the contact obviously calming her.
“I made a dream… The same as yours I think. There was this beautiful dress utopia I was building… and then I attacked you when you asked for a pair of pants! Oh, darling, it was dreadful…”
“Babe, I know I’m not in place to say that but… that was just a dream. You’re not like that.”
“If that was the case I should not scare you…”
“Scare me? What do you…” Her own words came back to her mind. “Oh.”
Applejack took a deep breath. She was a fool not to have noticed sooner.
“Okay babe, listen. Yeah, I admit it’s scary how you can make me do things with your words… but it’s not that kind of feeling. It’s more like when you face the oldest, biggest tree on the orchard and you know you’re not that big. That’s awe Sugarcube, not fear. Besides you only use it to give me free designer clothes, that I sure as heck love I have to add and make me open up a bit about my feelings. That’s mighty far from abuse in my book. Would you ever use it to harm me?”
“No!” The very thought was repugnant to her.
“See?”
“I suppose…”
“Listen to me. Maybe in need a bit of time to get used to Queen Rarity, but you’re still my Princess. I knew it when we started dating and I love you just the way you are.”
Rarity laughed. “That was, 'corny as heck’ as you would say.”
“Oh shush!"