By the following morning, the rains had calmed enough that Applejack and Rarity could go their separate ways. Applejack returned to the farm with much resting on her mind. Talking to Rarity had stirred up a lot of old questions and left her with a few new ones as well. She hadn’t thought much about Crystal in the intervening years. She had an occasional stray wonder to where she was and how she was doing now, but those were fleeting and far between.
The reality was that Crystal Chalice was ancient history. She’d moved on with her life. They both had, her and Rarity. She’d moved on from the others as well. She’d moved on from Octavia, from Serendipity, from some she couldn’t even remember the names of anymore. In time, she would surely move on from Twilight as well.
But did she want to? That was the question still weighing on her mind. Walking away had never been this hard before. She knew she’d done the right thing; she was sure of it. She always was, because it was always the right choice. But something nagged at her this time, something she couldn’t quite explain as she returned to her hard but comfortable life.
Worse, Twilight had left. From the sounds of it, she’d gone for good. Applejack still couldn’t get over that. She’d worried that this day would come many times since they’d been together, but the idea that Twilight would actually leave Ponyville had never even crossed her mind. That part still seemed unreal, even though she’d spent the last night in the hollow shell of what was once Twilight’s home.
Even still, however, there was a part of her mind that wondered if perhaps this was what was meant to happen. Twilight was an Alicorn Princess now and would surely be needed to join her fellow Princesses. Her time in Ponyville would have come to its end eventually. This farewell couldn’t have been stopped, only postponed temporarily.
She was right. She had to be right, just as she’d been each time before. So why did she feel so wrong?
As she approached the front door, she saw Granny Smith rocking in her chair by the front door. The eaves kept the dripping rain from hitting her. Her eyes watched the gates like a hawk, then fixed on Applejack as she stepped through. “Well, look what the cat dragged in,” she remarked.
“Good mornin’, Granny,” Applejack greeted the family matriarch. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home last night. I got caught out in the storm and had to bunker down.”
“You bet your cutie mark you’re sorry!” Granny shouted at her. “Your little sister was worried half to death about you.”
Applejack perked up. “She was?”
“Course she was. Don’t mean she ain’t still mad, though.” Applejack drooped at that news. “Now get on inside and if you’re lucky, maybe there’ll still be some breakfast for you.”
“Yes, Granny.” Applejack started for the door, but as she reached out with her teeth for the handle, she hesitated. She stopped and looked back at Granny Smith. “Hey, Granny? Do you think Mama would have liked Twilight?”
“Mm?” Granny looked up from her rocking. “How should I know? Don’t see that it rightly matters now, anyhow.”
Applejack nodded. “You’re right. Just somethin’ on my mind is all.”
Applejack moved to open the door again, but this time it was Granny Smith that cut her off. “Applejack? Your mama loved you and your kin more than anythin’ in Equestria. She gave up more than you could know to be here.”
Applejack closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, pushing down old hurts. “I know, Granny.”
“I don’t reckon I know what she’d think of Twilight, but she’d want you to be happy, no matter what.”
Applejack nodded. “Thanks, Granny.” With that, she swallowed the pain in her heart and went inside.
A light knock on the guest chamber door was followed shortly after by the door sliding open. Princess Celestia almost seemed to glide as she strode inside, a warm smile emblazoned across her face. “Good morning, Twilight,” she said with charm and poise, as though nothing out of the ordinary had happened the previous night.
Twilight lay catatonic on her bed. The possessions she’d brought with her from Ponyville sat disorganized in boxes around the room. More alarmingly, the boxes themselves lay almost haphazardly in their positioning; nowhere near the neatly stacked and carefully organized fashion Celestia had come to expect from her student.
Spike stood along Twilight’s bedside, his face large with fear. “She hasn’t moved,” he explained to Celestia. “After you got back, she came in, climbed into bed, and dropped. I don’t think she’s asleep. She won’t talk at all.”
“Well, that won’t do,” Celestia said. She stepped forward beside Twilight’s bead and looked down at her, still in place, eyes staring distantly at the far wall. “Come now,” she said. “You must have had some fun last night. At least a little?”
That got her. Twilight looked up at Celestia, asking, “How could I?”
Aside, Spike muttered, “Well, she’s not talking to me, anyway.”
Celestia sat down beside the bed, looking down at the newly crowned princess. “Come now, you seemed to enjoy yourself when you were dancing.”
“No, I wasn’t,” Twilight insisted. “That was horrible! I felt like…like merchandise on display. Why would you do that to me?”
“I was trying to give you that push you needed to get back out there.”
“You left me!” Twilight sobbed. Recognizing the accusatory tone in her voice, she made a mental effort to lower her tone. Even as frustrated as she was, she knew the princess had to have her reasons. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Don’t apologize. I left because I thought it would be best. Surely, you didn’t want me looking over your shoulder while you were trying to….” She smiled and jerked her eyes sideways, gesturing at the pillow on the bed. “I imagine that wouldn’t have been comfortable for either of us.”
“I wasn’t trying anything,” Twilight insisted. “Applejack just broke up with me yesterday! Early morning, but still yesterday. I’m not ready to…I can’t even imagine trying to….”
Celestia reached her hoof up and laid it gently on Twilight’s neck. “That’s the point of the rebound. It’s supposed to…hold on a second….” A warm glow emerged from her horn and she closed her eyes. After several seconds, a small red book floated into the room. It levitated before Celestia and opened, pages turning rapidly until she found her spot. Celestia narrated, “Having a chance to experience affection from a new source will help you to overcome the emotional anchor tying you to your first love. It is an important step towards breaking the emotional chain conflating your desire for affection with your feelings towards that specific pony.”
“You got that out of a book?” Twilight asked. At once, she felt terribly hurt and betrayed by this. Books had always comforted and nurtured her. They’d been there for her when nopony else was. They were her friends and confidantes. How could they do this to her?
Closing the book and setting it on Twilight’s bedside table, Celestia answered, “Of course, I did. It was the perfect thing to do for your situation. Any friend would have done the same.”
“What? No, they wouldn’t,” Twilight replied.
“Don’t be silly.” Celestia raised her chin. “Of course they would. They would want to heal your broken heart and that’s how they’d do it.”
“No, it’s not,” Twilight insisted. She felt herself getting louded again, but the pain in her heart was throbbing too much to control. With tears in her eyes, she said, “Rarity stayed up with me all night when she found out what had happened. She gave me ice cream. She listened. This was…this was just noise and distractions. It was like you didn’t care at all. She….”
Celestia jerked up suddenly. “Ice cream? What a wonderful idea. I’ll be right back.”
As Celestia cantered out of the room, Twilight stared at her pillow. Her mind drifted across the various hurts and humiliations she’d suffered over the last day. She could scarcely believe so much could go so wrong so fast. She stretched out one of her wings and looked at it. It was an adjustment to be sure, but it also represented a great change in her life. It terrified and fascinated her all at once.
This should have been a momentous development in her life and all of her friends should have been excited to share it with her. Folding it back down to her side, she wondered how so much devastation could come from something so majestic.
It wasn’t long before Princess Celestia returned, setting two cartons of ice cream, one strawberry and one chocolate, down on the bed. She took a seat at the bedside again. The warmth in her eyes made it difficult for Twilight to remain angry at her, but she wanted to be. Of all the stings and betrayals she’d suffered over the last day, Princess Celestia’s had hurt the worst. It was like she barely even knew her.
“Okay, I got the ice cream,” Celestia said. There was a strange eagerness to her voice, like a student learning how to perform a new task for the first time. “Now, if I were Rarity, what would I do next?”
Twilight looked back down at the pillow. “It doesn’t matter. Rarity wasn’t a real friend anyway.”
Celestia blinked. “Then why did you bring her up?”
“I don’t know.”
Celestia nodded. She watched Twilight for a few seconds. Sullen, stubborn, and utterly devastated. Cheerfully, she asked, “Why don’t we try it, at least? Maybe not Rarity. What would Pinkie Pie do?”
Despite herself, Twilight chuckled. “Pinkie would go overboard trying to cheer me up. She’d have cake and party balloons before I could even say anything.”
“Cake and party balloons. Let me see what we have.” The princess was off again before Twilight could say anything more.
Quizzically, Twilight watched her mentor go. She couldn’t shake the feeling in the back of her mind that there was some kind of meaning to this strange behavior the princess was displaying, but its intent faded into the quagmire of emotional exhaustion. She laid her head back down on the pillow and resigned herself to wait for Celestia’s return.
Rarity returned to her boutique to work on her latest order, but thoughts of Applejack, Crystal, and Twilight wouldn’t leave her mind. The feelings she’d spent years trying to bury had been ignited by last night’s conversation. It weighed on both her mind and her heart.
After three hours, she stopped to look at the pattern she’d been drawing up. There was something missing from it. The design was passable, certainly, but that spark of passion was missing. It looked like something she could draft in her sleep. The lines were cold and mechanical. The colors were passably chosen but nothing popped. This design before her was quite possibly the most mundane, serviceable, and entirely mediocre thing she’d ever made.
The pattern offended her with its prosaic acceptability. In an instant, she took a pair of scissors to her sketch, destroying it before anypony could bear witness to this tragic display of intolerable tolerability.
With a sigh, Rarity slumped at her desk. This wasn’t working. She’d tried to bury herself in work to get her mind off Twilight and Applejack but it only resulted in dragging her work down with it. She needed to see Applejack again.
Before she left, however, she remembered something important. Something Applejack had entrusted to her, something she’d completed her work with and had meant to return before all of this transpired. In a small box on her shelf sat the gold-chained broach and its three emerald apples, still as beautiful as it was when she’d been trusted to hold onto it.
With the precious heirloom tucked into her saddlebag, Rarity set out for Sweet Apple Acres. The sun approached its zenith as she trotted that old familiar road once again. When she came upon her friend, she said simply, “We need to talk.”
Applejack looked knowingly over the fence at Rarity. Without hesitation, she nodded. “You’re darn tootin’, we do. I got chores to finish up here but I’ll meet you in the barn when I’m finished.”
Years before, Rarity sat in her bedroom with her friend Crystal Chalice. A white vanity sat along one wall. The mirror was curved at the top with a trio of pink hearts following the angle. Her bed was covered in a red comforter patterned by pink clovers, each composed of four hearts conjoined at the bottom.
Three mannequins stood beside the door. Two were clad in very rough shrouds; the barebones of ideas yet to be realized. Next to them was a cabinet holding several bolts of colored fabric, each in its own slot. Rarity had a system to the color organization, although it was certainly a mystery to any with a deal of sense--
“There was nothing wrong with my system,” Rarity retorted bitterly. “It was color-coordinated by modern trends of association.”
“It looked like the place where rainbows go to die,” Applejack joked, sitting on a hay bale. She’d offered Rarity a place to sit, but the unicorn had simply grimaced and opted to stand instead.
“Oh, please. You wouldn’t know pattern synergy if it bit you.” Rarity cleared her throat. “In any case, my organizing system is not the point here.”
Rarity lay on her front on her bed, levitating a red scarf from her bedside table. Crystal Chalice stood motionless in the middle of the room, dressed in a light red gown with a flowing cape. Rarity wrapped the scarf around her friend’s neck, then considered the look in front of her. “Mmm,” she muttered to herself. “I don’t know that this works with your mane.”
“Does it have to?” Crystal asked. “It’s not for me. How do the colors look on their own?”
“They work,” Rarity answered. “I feel like something’s missing, though. Let’s try a different color on the ears.” With her magic, Rarity unclipped a pair of Crystal’s sapphire earrings from her ears and returned them to a small wooden box at her friend’s hooves. She levitated an emerald pair and clipped them to Crystal instead.
“Hmm…you know, it might be easier to match the colors with one of these amulets you’ve made,” Rarity suggested.
It was not the first time she’d proposed such a thing, however, and she was already prepared for Crystal’s response. The earth pony shot a hoof to her gemstone necklace, protesting, “Not on your life!”
“It would only be for a few minutes, darling.”
“You can have it when I’m dead!”
Rarity rolled her eyes but she knew that there would be no convincing her. Crystal hadn’t taken that necklace off since the day she’d made it those years ago. “I owe you so much,” she’d once told Rarity. “You’re a good friend. And mom…she tries. But this? This is mine. It’s not you and it’s not my mom, it’s me. I made this.”
“How about this?” Rarity asked. She levitated a emerald amulet from Crystal’s chest and floated it in front of her, roughly eyeballing the way the green of the amulet and the silver of its chain interacted with the red of her gown. “I think this could work.”
“Great!” Crystal smiled. “Can I get out of this now? It’s starting to chafe.”
“Not yet. I need you to step forward. Raise a hoof like you’re waving to somepony.”
Crystal did as instructed. Rarity continued levitating the amulet, trying to cover the view of her necklace with it so she could properly study how it should move with her clothes.
“We’re close,” Rarity said. “Turn around.”
Crystal grunted in frustration and turned. “You know what I’m looking forward to? Being able to hire somepony to model so I don’t have to do this anymore.”
“We could always ask Applejack,” Rarity suggested.
Crystal laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled. She’d tell us, ‘Boy howdy, it’s always been my life’s mighty big dream to be powerful pretty like Rarity, eeyup! It’s too bad I wouldn’t reckon a pretty design from a cricket in a frog pan picking up daisies from pigs in mud, nope nope!’”
Applejack narrowed her eyes. “I don’t talk like that and she didn’t say that.”
Rarity grinned. “I may have embellished a smidge.”
Crystal laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure she’ll be thrilled. I bet it’s always been her dream to spend the rest of her days prancing down runways.”
“You know what I’m looking forward to?” Rarity glanced out the window. “There are still so many different styles to discover. Every city has its own culture and every culture, its own idea of glamorous. I want to explore everypony’s ideas of beauty and create a style that’s unique, but incorporates them all.”
“I’m just looking forward to getting out of here,” Crystal admitted. “Going back to Manehattan would be nice, but Canterlot also sounds cool and I’ve heard some good things about Las Pegasus. Once we get Crystal Rarities off the ground, we can leave Ponyville and never look back.”
“Well, I wouldn’t go that far,” Rarity replied. “I’d love to see what else is out there in Equestria, but Ponyville will always be my home. I couldn’t imagine ever leaving for good.”
“Tell you what,” Crystal said with a wry grin. “Once we make it big, you can have the Ponyville branch all to yourself and I get Manehattan.”
“Absolutely not!” Rarity shrieked. “The sights and sounds of--”
A knock at the door interrupted her. Rarity and Crystal turned as the door slid open and the orange face of their friend poked inside. “This a bad time?”
“Applejack!” Rarity said with a grin. “What a delight to see you! We were just talking about you.”
“Sounds like trouble.” Applejack tucked her head back in behind the door, then a couple seconds later, she scooted it open and stepped inside. Gripped in her teeth was a small basket, which she proceeded to lay out on the floor in the middle of the room. Once her jaw was free, she told her friends with a grin, “I brought over some pies ‘cause I--is that one of y’all’s dresses you got there?”
Crystal blushed, tucking her head. “It’s Rarity’s. I did the earrings. Do you think it looks good?”
Applejack smiled, eyes refusing to waver from Crystal. “You look pretty as a peach,” she said, not even noticing as she took a couple steps towards Crystal.
“I did not,” Applejack protested.
“Darling, you were practically in a trance.”
“Thanks,” Crystal said. She lifted a hoof and tucked her hair back behind her ear. “We’re working on a few designs,” she said. “We’re hoping to get a little attention.”
Applejack opened her snout to say something, but she was cut off when Rarity cleared her throat. “So…pies?”
Applejack blinked a couple of times, snapping out of it. “Oh, right. I need y’all to celebrate with me.” Somberly, she added, “I don’t got a lot of friends right now.”
Rarity’s face softened. She looked at Applejack carefully, scrutinizing her, but before she could say anything, the gears clicked in Crystal’s head. “It’s Applebud, isn’t it?!”
Rarity gasped. “Was that today?!”
Applejack’s dour look turned into a grin so fast that Rarity couldn’t be sure it had ever truly been there at all. “Last night. Mama started pacing the house. M’daddy tried to get her to calm down, but she couldn’t sit still. Then she looked up and said we had to go, so we all rushed out to Ponyville General.”
“That’s wonderful, Applejack!” Rarity shouted. “We’d be delighted to celebrate with you.”
Crystal looked to Rarity. “Your sister’s supposed to be born in a couple of months too, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Rarity nodded, with a smile, still looking at Applejack. “Perhaps my sister and your brother could be playmates.”
“Yeah!” Crystal agreed. “I mean…I don’t have a sibling, but yours could totally play together.” Rarity briefly noticed the way Crystal seemed to mutter those words into herself, shrinking away a little, but thought nothing of it at the time.
“Oh!” Applejack caught herself. “I ain’t told you the best part. Gave us all a fright when the nurse came out with her. Doctor said he was just as surprised as we were, but she’s got our daddy’s eyes plain as day.”
“She?” Rarity asked. “I thought the doctor said that Applebud would be a colt.”
“Right?! Granny Smith thought there might have been some kinda mix up but mama said no, as sure as a pig loves peaches, she’s ours.”
“Wow.” Crystal blinked. “That’s crazy. So are you still calling her Applebud? I thought that was just if she was a colt. What was that other name your parents were kicking around?”
“Apple Blossom,” Rarity answered. “It was Apple Blossom.”
“Sure was,” Applejack answered. “Thing is, after callin’ her Applebud so many months, it just didn’t feel right. Mama said we should split the difference and call her Apple Bloom.”
“That’s a lovely name,” Rarity said.
“When do we get to meet her?” Crystal asked.
“Give us a few weeks to get her settled. Y’all are welcome just as soon as Mama says she’s ready for new ponies.”
“Out of curiosity,” Rarity asked, “Have you ever told Apple Bloom that she was expected to be a colt?”
“Nah.” Applejack grinned. “I’m savin’ that to embarrass her first time she brings a date home. She’ll be gettin’ about that age in a couple of years.”
“You are evil.”
Applejack laughed. “What, you tellin’ me you ain’t holdin’ onto any stories about Sweetie Belle?”
“Haha, Pirate Lord! Your blade is no match for my spinny star thing!” Sweetie Belle’s voice echoed off the walls in the Carousel Boutique, seeming to come from everywhere as she pranced about the foyer. “Your minions will not avail you!” Levitating a vaguely star-shaped lump of cardboard, she struck one of Rarity’s mannequins.
“Sweetie Belle, I am trying to focus!” Rarity shouted, turning away from her sewing machine. “I adore you, but could you please go--what in Equestria are you wearing?!”
Sweetie Belle beamed, her face concealed by a long, blue strip of fabric with two large holes. “Oh, I found this in the other room. Why didn’t you tell me you were making ninja masks?”
Rarity struggled to find words to explain this vital piece of her new summer line, Beauty and the Beach. She opened her mouth to speak, then closed it again, eyes fixed on Sweetie Belle’s acquisition. “I…Sweetie Belle, that’s not….”
“Not what?”
“Not…the right size. But it’s perfect for you!”
“Of course not,” Rarity answered. “I would never dream of anything so gauche.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “Course not. Wouldn’t be ladylike. What was I thinkin’.”
“So,” Rarity mused, returning to the topic. “At this point, I believe those other ponies in your grade had ceased communications with you, is that correct?”
“Oh, if only.”
“Applejack.” Applejack rolled her eyes at the familiar voice calling out to her as she stepped out of the schoolhouse. A voice once warm and compassionate, now tinged with ice. Her old friend loitered by the fence, as though she was waiting for her.
“Three Point,” Applejack replied just as icily.
Three Point crossed the path towards Applejack, fixing a steely gaze on her. “How’s your special somefilly? You picked which one you want yet?” Three Point passed Applejack and began to circle around her.
Applejack turned to look at her as she moved. “Why, you interested?”
To Applejack’s enjoyment, Three Point stopped in her tracks for a second. Then an angry scowl spread across her face. She growled, “I wanted to inform you that Sound Stage has moved on to greener pastures, so don’t even think about trying to crawl back now.”
Applejack rolled her eyes. “So, what, he sent you to threaten me? Don’t you ever get tired of bein’ his attack pony?”
“Sound Stage doesn’t know I’m here,” Three Point clarified. “Think of this as friendly advice. Stay away from him.”
Applejack sighed. “Same question, then. Don’t you get tired of kissin’ his--”
“Applejack!” The strict voice of Mr. Sketch called out from behind her, causing her to jump. As he strode forward, his gaze turned to Three Point. “Young lady, I believe you have practice to get to.”
Three Point nodded quickly. “Uh, yeah, I was just on my way.” She gave one last, quick glare to Applejack and then cantered off.
Mr. Sketch turned to Applejack. “Inform your parents that I need to speak with them when they have the chance. Tomorrow would be best.”
Spikes of dread jabbed into Applejack’s sides. “Uh, did I do somethin’ wrong? I know some ponies have been jawin’ but--”
“Applejack, nopony can control the fevered delusions of others. Though it is unfortunate that the communal imagination appears to have fixated quite so strongly on you, it is hardly a matter of my concern.”
“Yes, it is your concern, you conceited jackal!” Rarity’s scream echoed in the barn. “If fillies are picking on each other, that is supposed to be your concern!” Applejack responded to Rarity’s outrage with laughter, prompting a look of equal parts concern and outrage. “What?!”
Applejack’s chuckle turned into a broad smile. “I don’t know. I like to think messin’ with Three Point helped me develop a thicker hide. Lot of ponies out there need to learn how to let the little things slide off their back. I don’t let it get to me, ‘cause I know words are just words.”
“That is a lovely if mildly condescending notion,” Rarity said flatly. “However, the responsibility of a teacher is not to ‘let words be words’. Cheerilee would never allow such a thing. She’d be taking disciplinary action against them, not whatever he was attempting to stick against you.”
“Yeah, I spent the next day in a fit of panic over that.”
“Thank you for coming in, Mr. and Mrs. Apple.” Mr. Sketch sat behind a low desk in a sparsely-decorated office. A single window occupied the wall to his left. The curtains sat open, allowing the afternoon sun to radiate within the room. A cabinet stood beside the window, holding an assortment of books but no personal effects.
Bright Mac and Buttercup flanked their daughter, who sat across from her teacher. Her pigtails quivered with her nerves, but were swiftly stilled when her father placed a single hoof against her back, just under the base of her neck. Applejack’s breathing calmed and the tension in her muscles started to relax.
“What’s this about?” Buttercup asked.
Mr. Sketch cleared his throat. “I wanted to speak with you both about Applejack’s grades. How much help is she receiving at home?”
“We all try to help her where we can,” Bright Mac insisted.
Lowering her eyes, Buttercup sheepishly admitted, “Workin’ a farm’s a lot of work, though, and we just had a new foal join our family. We could probably stand to spare another hour or two for her than we manage.”
Applejack spoke up urgently, stepping forward and putting a hoof up on Mr. Sketch’s desk. “I spend hours on my homework every night. There’s a lot don’t make sense, but I try to read it again and again ‘til it clicks. I’m tryin’ real hard, Mr. Sketch.”
Mr. Sketch held up a hoof. “I think you all misunderstand. Applejack’s grades are phenomenal. Her test scores easily outstrip most of the other students in her class. Her homework rarely has a mistake, which is somewhat alarming given her rural disposition.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Bright Mac asked.
Mr. Sketch waved off his concerns. “I mean it in the best possible way, I assure you. The point is, Applejack’s performance is exceptional.”
Buttercup gave Applejack a warm smile, asking, “Our daughter’s a prodigy?”
“I considered that, but no. She doesn’t seem any quicker than the other students in class and, by her own admission, she spends hours on her work. Instead, I would propose that whatever you’re doing at home, it’s working quite well.”
Bright Mac rubbed his hoof across Applejack’s shoulders. “Strong work ethic and dedication to what she’s doin’, is what. That’s our filly.” Applejack blushed as a proud grin began to creep across her face.
“You should both be very proud. That’s the reason I wanted to speak to you today. If she continues like this, Applejack may be eligible for early graduation in one or two years. I know it seems early, but you should start thinking about institutes of higher learning. With grades like hers, Applejack could have her pick of any university in Equestria.”
Bright Mac gasped. Looking down at his filly, he said with a grin, “Y’hear that, Applejack? You could be the first Apple to attend university!”
Excitedly, Buttercup said, “We’ll talk it over. Is there anything else?”
“No, you are free to go.”
“I’m so proud of you,” Buttercup assured her daughter as the family descended the hill outside the schoolhouse.
“I try real hard,” Applejack said again, unable to mask the self-satisfaction in her voice. “You think we could--” She stopped suddenly, looking across the schoolyard. Just outside the fence by the main road stood Crystal Chalice, wearing the same red dress Applejack had seen her in when she’d told her friends about Apple Bloom.
Applejack’s eyes devoured the dress. It clung tightly to Crystal’s forelegs with the skirt coming down to just above her hooves. Gold shoes accented in the front with rubies decorated Crystal’s hooves while her ears were clipped with emerald rings. At her hooves sat the carousel Applejack had repaired for her; an assortment of earrings, broaches, horn rings, and wing clips hung from its layers of hooks.
She seemed to be speaking to a pair of fillies. As Applejack watched, Crystal laughed cheerfully, then gave the two a wave as they began to depart. She gently picked up the carousel in her teeth. There was a spring in her step as she started walking the other direction.
“We could what?” Buttercup asked. “Cat got your tongue?”
Applejack shook her head. “Weren’t nothin’. Could I maybe have a moment?”
“Go on,” Bright Mac said, giving Applejack a playful shove. “You’ll give us time to plan a special supper for our special filly.”
Applejack smiled back at her parents, then trotted down the path to meet Crystal. “Hey!” she called out.
Crystal stopped, turning to look at her. As soon as she saw Applejack, warmth spread across her face. She set down the carousel and greeted her friend. “Applejack!” she said with a cheer. “It’s nice to see you.”
“You’re wearin’ that dress again?” Applejack asked.
Crystal reached a hoof up, fiddling with her necklace. “We’re advertising. Rarity’s wearing another one of our designs. We’re going around talking up ponies who look like they could use a pretty dress or three.”
“Gotcha,” Applejack replied. “Well, it looks good on ya.”
“Thanks,” Crystal said with a blush. “It feels a little weird, though. I want ponies to be looking at the outfit, but I can’t help but feel like they’re judging me too. Like, hello, I’m not the product. Look at these shoes!” She held out her foreleg and wiggled her hoof.
“They’re shiny,” Applejack offered in response.
“Yes! Super shiny! I spent a whole day in shop class trying to make these. Do you know how hard it is to form gold into shapes like this?!”
Applejack blinked. “Uh…that tough, huh?”
Crystal glared at her shoe. “No, actually, it’s super easy compared to some of the other materials I’ve had to work with, but that’s not the point! I’m trying to show off my dress and my shoes and these earrings, and so far, I’ve gotten a lot of ponies looking at my mane. There’s nothing in my mane!”
“Maybe that’s why,” Applejack suggested. “You’re gussied up all nice but your mane looks like an average Friday.”
“Well, what am I supposed to do with it?! Wrap it with a silver string of emeralds to contrast the pink and create an elegant pattern web that….” Crystal drifted off for a few seconds. Then she snapped back to the present. “That’s a brilliant idea. Applejack, you’re a genius!”
“No, I ain’t,” Applejack said with a grin. “I just put in the effort.”
“I’ll talk to Rarity about this idea. Thank you!” Crystal leaned in and wrapped a foreleg around Applejack’s neck, embracing her. In an instant, Applejack felt the blood in her body rushing through her. There was a static feeling to Crystal’s embrace that she hadn’t felt before. She put a hoof out and pulled it tight around Crystal, sinking into the strange sensation.
The moment seemed to last forever, and yet it was over too quickly. Crystal squirmed in Applejack’s embrace. “You, uh, you gonna let me go any time soon?”
“Huh? What?” Applejack’s eyes fluttered open. She didn’t even remember closing them. “Yeah, I…beg pardon.” She released Crystal and took a few steps back. She was amazed by the way that even after releasing her friend, the feel of her touch seemed to linger on her leg and chest. There was a phantom prickle that followed her, like the shadow of her embrace clinging still to her.
“It’s okay,” Crystal said with a laugh. “Trust me, I didn’t mind.” She shuffled her hoof awkwardly on the ground. “I should probably get going.”
“Yeah, you—no!” Applejack shouted suddenly.
“No?”
“No, I just…m’daddy said we’re havin’ a special supper for me and I was wonderin’ if you might like to come?
Crystal opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it. She studied Applejack for a few seconds, scrutinizing her in a way that made Applejack feel uncomfortable. Then, very carefully, she answered, “…sure. Thank you.”
“Great!” Applejack felt weirdly relieved by Crystal’s acceptance. “You, uh, you gonna wear that?”
Again, very carefully and with a strange scrutiny on her face, Crystal asked, “Do you want me to?”
“It just looks nice, is all,” Applejack admitted. “Not that you need to look nice or nothin’, I just thought--”
“It does look nice,” Crystal said neutrally. “Chafes around the shoulders, though. Rarity said we could work on that.” Looking Applejack in the eyes, she said, “But sure, I’ll wear this.”
“Great! It’ll be good to get away from your mama for a while, I think.”
Crystal chuckled. “Don’t I know it. Anyway, I’ve got some more ponies to try and impress, then I need to find Rarity. I’ll see you tonight, Applejack.”
“See you tonight, sugarcube.” Applejack watched Crystal leave for a few seconds, then turned and started down the road back home. Her heart swelled and pumped energy through the rest of her body, giving her an extra spring in her step. She was sure she hadn’t felt this good in a very long time, and she owed much of that to the energizing sensation of Crystal’s hug that still lingered on her skin.
“I don’t like it,” Big Mac said at the supper table. Buttercup and Bright Mac sat on one end opposite Granny Smith. Along the sides, Crystal Chalice sat alongside Applejack. Big Mac had surrendered his seat, moving opposite the two. Apple Bloom lay tucked in her mother’s foreleg, with Buttercup rocking very lightly in place to soothe the foal.
“I think it’s a great opportunity,” Bright Mac said gleefully. “It’s a chance to bring home some big city learnin’ about our crops. See what they’re cookin’ up in those brain trusts of theirs.”
“What do we need big city learnin’ for?” Big Mac asked. “We do just fine by ourselves right here. There ain’t nothin’ in those fancy schools worth half as much as the love, care, and attention we give our crop. All they’re gonna do is fill Applejack full of fancy ideas, and those may be all well and good but you can’t plow a field with ‘em.”
“He did not say that,” Rarity said affronted.
“Oh, he said that all the time back in the day.”
“But that’s….”
“I know.”
“Celestia forbid that Twilight should ever hear something so--” Rarity stopped suddenly, putting a hoof up to her snout. She looked to Applejack, who had begun to cringe into herself. “I am so sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”
“No, it’s….” Applejack took a heavy breath. Her mind strained to fight down the upswell of pain coming from her heart. “Let’s just continue,” she said.
“They do got a lot of fancy ideas in the big city,” Bright Mac agreed. “But maybe she could put those to use for the farm.”
Buttercup opened her snout to say something, but she stopped suddenly. She put a hoof to her head and closed her eyes, grimacing for a few seconds. Supper abruptly stopped as eyes of concern turned to her.
“Buttercup?” Bright Mac asked, voice tinged with worry.
Buttercup shook her head and opened her eyes, smiling for the family. “I’m fine, y’all. It’s just another headache. So, Crystal, that dress you’re wearin’ is lovely. Where’d you pick it up?”
Crystal blushed. “Rarity made this, actually. The shoes and earrings are mine. We’re trying to spread some word of mouth about our new business, Crystal Rarities.”
“Ha!” Bright Mac laughed. “I see what you did there.”
Applejack smiled. “They’re doin’ a lot of great work. I might reckon on buyin’ a dress for myself, occasion ever comes.”
“For you, I’m sure I can talk Rarity into a discount,” Crystal said with a wink.
Rarity scowled. “I have never charged a single bit for any of you. You’re my friends. I always thought it would go without saying that my designs were a show of friendship.”
Applejack held up her front hooves to supplicate Rarity. “You’re a good friend, and we appreciate--”
“Do you mean to tell me that if I had asked for payment, you’d have been willing?!” Applejack blinked as Rarity put a hoof over her forehead. “Oh, the gold mine I have missed out on!”
“Stay classy, Rares.”
Applejack blushed and smiled into the glass tilted up in her teeth. As she set it down, her grin caught the questioning eye of Granny Smith. The panic she felt fought down any enjoyment or satisfaction she had from Crystal’s offer.
Bright Mac asked, “How’s your schoolwork, Crystal?”
Crystal shrugged. “It’s okay. Rarity and I spend a couple hours working on it together.”
“You spend a lot of time with Rarity, I take it?”
Crystal smiled. “She’s like a sister. She was there for me when we first moved to town. I don’t know what I’d do without her.”
Applejack chuckled. “Those two are tied at the hip. It’s a miracle I could get Crystal away for a night.”
“It really was,” Crystal agreed. “Between Rarity and my mom, my schedule’s usually pretty full. Speaking of, it’s getting pretty late.” She looked at her empty plate. “I had to promise my mom that I’d be home before it got too dark. I should probably go.”
“Well, here, I’ll walk you to the gate,” Applejack offered.
“But you haven’t finished,” Crystal protested. Applejack’s plate still had a mound of untouched green beans and two half-eaten carrots sitting on it.
“Big Mac can have the rest.” Applejack’s brother perked up at the offer. “This is my night and I want to see you out.”
Buttercup smiled warmly. “I think that’s a lovely idea, Applejack. It’s good to see you makin’ new friends. Why don’t you walk her home?”
Crystal’s eyes brightened at the suggestion. “Would you?”
“Sure as sugar,” Applejack said with a smile. “Let’s get goin’.”
“You seemed to click with Crystal pretty well,” Rarity said. “How long had you been planning this?”
“Weren’t nothin’ like that,” Applejack said. “Happened in the spur of the moment. Most of what I’d been thinkin’ about had to do with her mama.”
“Oh? Do tell.”
Applejack breathed a heavy sigh. “Her mama was a piece of work right from the start, and she took to me like a bat takes to centipedes. Didn’t like me one lick, and from what I saw, didn’t like Crystal much neither.”
“She had a lot on her plate,” Rarity started, but Applejack raised a hoof to silence her.
“I don’t reckon you and I are ever going to see eye to eye on Crystal’s mama but the point is, I didn’t like how she treated her. Crystal had a rough start. I wanted to try and be there for her. Do what I could to lend a helpin’ hoof and maybe give her a shoulder when she needs it.”
Rarity’s gaze softened. “Oh, Applejack. That’s a good thing to do as a friend, but comforting a wounded party should never be the basis of a relationship. You can’t have a healthy relationship if one side is acting as an emotional crutch to the other. It’s an inherently unequal dynamic.”
“Well, yeah,” Applejack agreed. “I get that now. But I was young and there was somethin’ kinda romantic about bein’ needed like that. Course, I didn’t quite get that’s what it was at the time….”
“Your family seems really nice,” Crystal told Applejack. “What’s it like having so many ponies under one roof?”
Applejack laughed. “We ain’t just ponies, we’re family.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t mean so much where I come from,” Crystal admitted.
“M’daddy’s a good stallion. Strong, works hard, helps keep the family fed. Mama’s a hard worker too. She likes to compete with him, see who can finish first. Big Mac’s a talker and he can get full of himself right quick, but his heart’s in the right place. And Granny’s a fighter through and through. It can be easy to forget how tough she is, but she’ll snap you into place right quick, you cross her.”
“How about your new sister?”
“Apple Bloom? Still ain’t used to callin’ her that. She can be a bit needy at times, I gotta admit. I swear on Princess Celestia’s good name, that filly goes three minutes without bein’ picked up by somepony, she’ll start cryin’ like she skinned her knee. But we love her all the same. M’daddy says she’ll grow out of it, we just give her some time.”
As they rounded the corner, Crystal’s house came into view. “That’s me,” she said sadly. “Thanks for tonight, Applejack. I had a great time.”
Applejack responded by pulling Crystal into another hug. The same electric sensation was there waiting for her, and she could feel a strange fulfillment dancing over the hairs on her neck and chest. “Any time, sugarcube,” she whispered into Crystal’s ear. “You ever need to get away from your mama, you come on over, y’hear?”
“I’m going to hold you to that,” Crystal said gratefully. She released the embrace sooner than Applejack would have liked, then looked into her eyes. “Good night, Applejack.”
“Good night, Crystal.”
With a deep breath, Crystal trotted up the walk to her front door. She gave one last glance back at Applejack, then she turned the knob and went inside. Applejack wasn’t sure what motivated her to linger after that, but she found herself reluctant to leave. The muscles in her legs were stiff and unwilling to move back towards the farm and the grin on her snout refused to abate. Her heart beat frantically in her chest.
After a few minutes, she managed to convince her legs to go, but they were slow to move. She took a hesitant step away from the house, then followed it by another. By the time she’d reached the corner, her muscles were finally starting to cooperate, and she--
A loud banging sound pulled Applejack’s attention back to the house. The front door had been ripped open with such force that it struck the wall beside it and had begun its rebound arc. Crystal stormed out the door, still wearing that same dress.
“CRYSTAL CHALICE, YOU GET BACK IN THIS HOUSE THIS INSTANT!!!” her mother roared with fury, storming through the door after her.
“Why?!” Crystal turned on her mother, shouting from the end of the walk. “So you can rant about my choices again?! I don’t need this!”
“I will stop criticizing your choices when you stop making terrible ones. Think about your future, Crystal!”
“I am! And the last thing I want in my future is YOU!”
Empty Chalice scowled. “Get inside this house right now, young lady, or I’ll--.” Crystal didn’t even respond to that threat. She turned and started walking down the road. Roars of, “Crystal! CRYSTAL CHALICE!!!” echoed behind her, but her mother never moved from the doorway. Finally, Empty Chalice returned back inside, slamming the door with her magic.
As soon as the door slammed, Crystal’s ferocity seemed to abandon her. She stumbled and the angry pride in her face gave way to fear and uncertainty. Applejack raced up to her, helping her steady herself. “You okay, sugarcube? What was that about?”
Crystal sobbed in the street. “It’s always like this,” she said. “Same argument, different night. My mom hates me. She hates everything I like. She hates my dress, she hates you, she....” Crystal’s sobs turned heavier, drowning out her voice.
“Hey, come here,” Applejack said, pulling Crystal in again. She gave her mane a comforting stroke. “You come on back with me now. I can put you up in the barn so Granny Smith don’t ask a lot of questions. It ain’t the comfiest, but it will put a roof over your head and we already got a few blankets in there for workin’ on a cold winter morn.”
“You don’t have to do that,” Crystal told her.
“Sure, I do. You’re a pony needs help and I got somethin’ I can give. Ain’t nothin’ more to it.” Applejack started walking, keeping a hoof on Crystal’s back just under the base of her neck, like her daddy had shown her. Crystal walked with her, cautiously at first, but after a few steps, she smiled at Applejack through tear-filled eyes.
“Thank you.”
The barn was as hospitable as Applejack expected. There were a few loose piles of hay and several bales, either of which she assumed would make a suitable bed for Crystal. “It ain’t pretty,” she said bluntly. “It’ll keep you warm and sheltered for tonight, though.”
Crystal scowled, but when she realized Applejack was looking at her, her face quickly turned to a smile. “It’ll be fine, I’m sure,” she said quickly. She popped her shoes off, leaving them in a pile beside the bales. Next, she put a hoof up, rubbing her shoulder through the dress. “I need to get out of this thing. Can you help me?”
“Beg pardon?”
Crystal bit the sleeve on her right foreleg and started pulling it upward, tucking her leg into the fabric. She did the same for her other, then lowered her head. “I need you to pull it past my head.”
Applejack approached Crystal carefully. She bit the fabric of the dress just behind Crystal’s neck, then pulled it forward as her friend stepped backwards and tucked her head through the neck hole. Her forelegs popped free of the fabric, followed shortly after by her neck and face. With the dress successfully removed, Crystal breathed a sigh of relief. “You have no idea how good it feels to be out of that thing.”
Crystal lowered her head and reached a hoof up for her left earring, but after fiddling at it for a couple seconds, she sighed. “I’ll need Rarity for these.”
“Any harm to leavin’ them in?” Applejack asked.
She was met with a shrug from Crystal. “I don’t know. I’ve never worn earrings before.” After covering her dress and shoes with a bit of loose hay, she climbed up onto one of the piles. “This isn’t exactly ideal, but thank you. I don’t know where I’d be without you.”
Applejack climbed up next to Crystal, eyes locked on her friend. “Any time. So you want to tell me what you and your mama were fightin’ about?”
Crystal sighed. “I asked Mom for help with the dress. She went off about ‘letting yourself be put into situations you can’t resolve’. Started ranting about how I need to ‘realize the limitations of your condition’ and ‘adjust your behavior accordingly’.”
“Condition?”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “She’s been saying that all my life. Mom’s never forgiven me for being born an earth pony.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meanin’ to ask about that. Ain’t your daddy a pegasus?”
Crystal answered the question with a shrug. “I’ve asked the same question. I think life just hates me for no reason.”
“Hey, it ain’t so bad,” Applejack told her. “I mean, you get to be here in Ponyville.” For some reason, that seemed to make Crystal scowl harder. “And you got me. You got Rarity.” Crystal winced at the mention of Rarity’s name. “Somethin’ wrong with Rarity?”
Crystal hesitated for a few seconds. Applejack watched her face waver, as though searching for the right thing to say. Then, at last, she spoke. “No. There’s nothing wrong with Rarity. It’s just…she’s so pretty and she’s smart and talented. Everything just seems to come so naturally to her. Sometimes I feel like she’s the daughter Mom wanted instead of me.”
“Oh, Crystal,” Rarity said sadly. “I never meant to take her place. You know that, right?”
“Course you didn’t,” Applejack answered. “She didn’t see it that way, though.”
Applejack put her hoof against Crystal’s back again, gently rubbing it. She savored the electric sensation that seemed to arise from the slightest touch of her friend. “Well, you got me. I’m here for ya through heck and high water. You ever need anythin’, you just ask, y’hear?”
To Applejack’s surprise, Crystal closed her eyes and rolled into her, pushing her head into the farm pony’s neck. “I’ve got everything I need right here,” she whispered.
Applejack’s heart fluttered with satisfaction. There was something that felt strangely right about this moment. She couldn’t quite put her hoof on it, but everything just seemed to click perfectly into place. She felt fulfilled in a way she hadn’t felt before. Was this what it meant to help a friend in a time of need?
As if to answer the question, Crystal turned, looking at her. “Applejack?” she asked. Her eyes glistened with moisture. Fear and apprehension was naked on her face as she spoke, and her voice trembled with vulnerability. “I just want to say thank you. I mean it. Thank you for accepting me.” With those words, she leaned her head forward and captured Applejack’s snout in a gentle kiss.
Every hair on Applejack’s body stood on end at once. She half-leapt and half-stumbled out of the hay, rolling into the ground away from Crystal before pulling herself clumsily to her hooves. “What in tarnation do you think you’re doin’?!” she shrieked in the barn.
“I thought….” Crystal shrank into herself. “I thought you wanted…I mean, isn’t that what….”
“Crystal, I like colts!” Applejack insisted.
Delicately, Crystal replied, “I don’t think you do.”
Those words set Applejack off. “YOU--you--Who in sam hill do you think you are?!”
“Applejack, I--”
“You’re supposed to be my friend, you’re supposed to back me, not…not whatever this is! You’re just like Three Point and those others!” she screamed into the empty barn. “No, you’re worse. How could you?! You’re…you gotta be like this, that’s fine, but how could you try and drag me down with you?!”
“Applejack, please, just--”
“I can’t. I can’t deal with this. I gotta go.” Applejack stormed out the barn door into the grasping dark of night.
“I’m sorry,” Crystal sobbed. That was the last Applejack heard before she was out of earshot, stomping her way back to the house.
Applejack lay in her bed staring off into space, the events of the night playing over in her mind. She felt guilty for laying into Crystal the way she did, but she was still angry at her for buying into that stupid rumor.
But she also couldn’t get over the tantalizing feel in Crystal’s touch. Even the kiss she’d given her, despite how brief it had been, seemed to linger on her snout. When she closed her eyes, she could still taste Crystal despite her best efforts to chase away the lingering impression. She hated that feeling. She hated how good it felt. She never wanted to touch Crystal again.
As it typically did every night, a knock came at her door. The door slid open shortly after and Buttercup poked her head inside. “Good night, Applejack.”
“Good night,” Applejack said gruffly, rolling over in her bed.
“Is something the matter?” Buttercup stepped inside the room, approaching her daughter’s bed.
“It’s nothin’,” Applejack muttered.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Buttercup said wryly. “A mama always knows. Now come on, tell me what’s on your mind?”
“I can’t,” Applejack said. “You wouldn’t get it.”
Buttercup sighed. “Well, I tried. Now I guess I’m gonna have to get rough.” Applejack’s eyes shot wide open. She immediately knew what that meant. Before Applejack could defend herself, her mother’s hooves were at her belly, lightly brushing the hair back and forth and sending her into fits of laughter.
“Stop!” Applejack shouted between gasping laughs.
“Are you gonna talk?” Buttercup asked with a grin.
“I can’t--” Applejack’s protest was broken by another laugh. After a few more seconds, she caved. “I’ll talk! I’ll talk.”
Buttercup pulled her forelegs back, but left them perched on the bed beside Applejack, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice. “So what’s eatin’ you?”
Applejack bowed her head sadly. “Sound Stage and his friends have been spreadin’ lies about me, and now I think my friends have been listenin’ to it.”
“What are they saying?” Buttercup asked.
“They’re sayin’ I like fillies.”
“Oh.” Startled, Buttercup seemed to pull away for a second, but she must have put it away quickly enough because she returned to her daughter’s side in an instant. “Do you?” she asked carefully.
“Course I don’t!” Applejack insisted. “I could never! I got a responsibility to the family tree. I got to do my part to keep us growin’, just like you and daddy.”
“Oh, Applejack,” Buttercup said, smiling warmly. “Don’t you ever tell Granny Smith I said this, but I think the family tree’s growin’ just fine on its own. One or two limbs goin’ astray won’t hurt none.”
“Maybe,” Applejack replied. “I don’t know, but why’s it got to be me?”
“We all ask that question at some point in our lives. Perhaps it’s ‘cause you’re strong enough to bear it. Maybe it means you’re meant for somethin’ greater than just settlin’ down and raisin’ the next crop of Apples. Could just be luck. Nopony ever knows why we are the way we are; we just are, Applejack.”
Tears started to well up in Applejack’s eyes. “But that’s not what I want. I want to be like you.”
Buttercup closed her eyes and leaned in to embrace her daughter. She clutched her tight to her chest. Her voice trembled as she spoke. “You listen to me, Applejack. I can’t tell you how you are. That’s somethin’ you got to figure out for yourself. You got to listen to your heart and follow what it tells you, and don’t you worry none what the family might say.”
Buttercup pulled back, keeping one hoof on Applejack’s shoulder and brushing her mane with the other. Her eyes were damp with moisture; had she been crying? “You do that for me, y’hear? And no matter what happens, no matter what you decide or who you love, you do it knowing that your mama will always love you.”
“Mama?” It was Applejack’s turn for concern.
Buttercup sniffed and dabbed at her eyes with her hoof. “Pardon,” she said quickly. “Dear me, I’m a mess.”
Applejack reached out and hugged her mother, sobbing into her neck. “I love you too, Mama.”
Buttercup stroked her daughter’s back gently, urging her, “I love you so much, my little sugarcube. Don’t you ever forget that.”
Applejack nodded. “I won’t. I promise I won’t.”
Clearing her throat, Buttercup broke free of the hug. “Why don’t you let me tuck you in and you sleep on what I said, okay?”
Applejack sniffled. “Yeah. That sounds good.”
Buttercup smiled. She took the blanket in her teeth and pulled it up to Applejack’s neck with just her forelegs dangling out at the knees. She tucked the corner, then trotted around the bed to the side facing the door. She reached for the corner, then hesitated. She looked up for a second, then glanced around the room.
“Mama?” Applejack asked.
“Where…where am I?” Buttercup asked. She stumbled, then shook her head.
Applejack sat up quickly. “Mama, what’s wrong?””
“You….” Buttercup looked straight at her daughter. “Who are you?” Then her eyes fluttered. Her legs gave out at once and she fell sideways, crashing to the floor.
“MAMA!!!”