Misconception

by Drizzle Quill

Part Three: - my Marefriend!

Rarity wondered if there was something wrong with Applejack’s head.

She didn’t mean it to be rude – heavens, no! Why would she be rude? – but something was quite out of character about the farm pony today. Applejack was the Element of Honesty, yet she was lying to Magnum just by coming here today! But she had been willing to tell poor, innocent Spikey-Wikey the horrid truth? What was going on?

“Rare! My little Rare! That’s my girl!” loud shouts echoed from across the field; Rarity winced and ducked her head in case anypony recognized her.

Magnum came hurtling towards them, and instantly ruffled Rarity’s mane; she let out a sharp yelp and jumped backwards. “Father, that hurts! And you’re messing up my mane.”

“Oops, sorry,” her father replied, sitting back on his haunches. His blue eyes were alight with pleasure as he looked his ‘little girl’ over once again. “My, my, Rare. Have I told you what a lovely young mare you’ve become?”

“Only a million times.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Magnum smiled, pulling Rarity in for another hug. The unicorn mare’s face flushed red as she noticed Applejack watching with obvious curiosity.

Magnum turned and burst into a wide grin. “And you must be Applejack! Pleasure to meet you, young filly, pleasure to meet you.”

AJ’s eyebrows lifted in surprise; she let out a warm chuckle and blushed. “Well…Ah guess it’s rather nice to meet you too, Mr. Magnum.”

“Now, now! Call me Magnum.” Rarity’s father was grinning so hard it appeared that his face would burst; casually he placed one hoof over her shoulder and began to trot towards the restaurant. “Come on, Rare,” he yelled over his shoulder at his dumbstruck daughter. "I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about."

Heart flitting like a million butterflies were trapped inside, Rarity followed, prepared to meet her fate.

She could hear the time bomb ticking, one second at a time.

Tick, tock. Tick, tock.

Rarity was pleasantly surprised to realize that, so far, dinner with her father and Applejack honestly hadn't been that bad.

They had all ordered their meals and taken their seats in the outside section of the Daisy Days Café, upon which Applejack had asked Magnum how he had earned his cutie mark, three footballs, causing Rarity's enthusiastic father to launch whole-heartedly into a tale of his school experiences in the expertise of sporting. Rarity herself had heard the story hundreds of times, but she was pleased to see Applejack nodding and seeming genuinely interested in all the things she herself was not.

"...and so Fiery Splash dove at me, and I swear, he was as big as a table as he slammed into me, knocking me down and the ball out of my hooves..." Magnum waved wildly around with his front hooves as he exaggerated the scene; Rarity noted Applejack fighting back a chuckle and had to wince to fight down one of her own.

The story continued, and Rarity felt her eyelids beginning to droop. Choking back a yawn, she excused herself from the situation to go inside and use the mare's room.

Trotting into the cleanly tiled room, the white unicorn levitated some of the pure water out of the gleaming silver faucet and washed her face in it, washing her normal light blue eyeshadow run into the drain. Everything was going wrong...

...but then why was everything going right?

A sob choked in Rarity's throat; she stared at her disheveled reflection in the mirror to see a confused and clearly upset mare staring back at her. This was all Applejack's fault. She had been furious earlier, so if she was supposed to be so angry, why was she just nervous?

Rarity sighed and looked down; she was glad she wasn't crying. Instead she looked at the little spiral designs engraved in the tiles of the floor. They were actually quite a beautiful color - a teal that reminded her of the ocean waves, or maybe Fluttershy's eyes. She had always adored Fluttershy's eyes - simply gorgeous for modeling.

"Deep breaths, Rarity," she whispered, levitating her purple mane perfectly back into place. "Deep breaths. Time to go face your father."

She sighed; it felt like her chest was choked up. "...and Applejack."

The clopping of her hooves on the tiles as she entered seemed to toll out the tune she had been trying to wrench out of her brain the whole time now.

Tick tock, tick tock.

"There you are, Rare!" Magnum looked up from under his wide-brimmed hat as she approached, bursting into a wide grin. "You missed the ending of the cutie mark tale. A real stunner, that one is."

"Yep," Applejack agreed, smiling at Rarity like nothing about the scene of her lounging with Magnum like they were old buddies was wrong whatsoever. "Ya should 'ave been 'ere, Rarity." Her green eyes blinked, changing into an expression of confusion. "What happened to yer fancy-shmancy makeup?"

"It washed off in the restroom," Rarity replied, lifting her head ever-so-slightly to keep a prideful appearance. She didn't want to seem nervous, or like her stomach was fluttering like a million butterflies were trapped inside. "That's alright with you, I suppose, Father?"

Magnum laughed like that was all some sort of a big joke. "Of course I'm alright with it!" He sighed and reclined in his seat. "Haven't I always told you to lose the makeup stuff and be more natural?"

"That's what Ah tell her!" Applejack snickered; Rarity felt her face flush hot.

"It just washed off!" she squeaked in a shriller-than-usual voice. "Nothing else to it!" She looked down at the grass, suddenly taking a very peculiar interest in a ladybug creeping stealthily over a blade of grass.

AJ lifted one eyebrow, let out a loud snort, and struck up another hearty conversation with Magnum which was luckily cut off by the arrival of their food. Rarity smiled heartily at their server, a tan stallion with a pale blue mane slicked back along his scalp, nodding as he placed her zesty cucumber sandwich in front of her; she intercepted it with her own magic and took a hasty bite, trying to stay as out of the conversation as she possibly could. Applejack welcomed her hay salad with open orange hooves, while Magnum used his deeper blue magic to remove his hat, revealing his previously hidden horn, took his daisy and daffodil sandwich, and also began to eat.

The waiter nodded as Rarity dropped five bits into his waiting hoof and trotted off.

The silence grew.

And grew.

And continued to grow.

Magnum was the first to break the silence - and his words snapped Rarity's heart in two.

Here it was - the time bomb was finally going off.

Tick, tock, BAM

"Soooo, Applejack...how long have you and my sweet little Rarity here been dating?"

He asked it as a totally casual question, like it was something that he asked his daughter every day, except it wasn't. Rarity didn't know what to say, even though it hadn't been her he was addressing. Applejack looked up, like the question surprised her, though she had to have known it was coming. It was her who was on par with the whole idea of this "fake dating thing" anyways. Rarity felt a bitter twinge grip her heart; she wrinkled her nose.

Applejack, however, said nothing.

Magnum watched, blue eyes clearly confused by the lack of answer. Rarity too watched, waiting.

But for the first time, Applejack actually looked...nervous. Rarity drew in a sharp breath. Was this even possible? It was her idea to go along with this crazy misconception, wasn't it? So why wasn't Applejack making up her lies, like she said she would?

The truth hit Rarity like a ton of bricks: Applejack couldn't bring herself to lie.

She was the Element of Honesty.

"Father, may I speak with Applejack in private for a few minutes, please?" The words came out of Rarity's mouth before she realized it, but it was too late now. The orange earth pony glanced at her curiously, but said nothing, as if realizing the unicorn had just saved her skin.

Magnum chuckled, digging into his sandwich none-the-wiser. "'Course you can, girls. Go right ahead."

Rarity levitated Applejack's hoof and dragged her over; putting her orange ear up to her own muzzle, Rarity hissed, "We need to talk. Now."

They found themselves sheltering behind the Daisy Days, Applejack with beads of sweat rolling down the back of her neck, and Rarity with anxious, angry blue eyes staring her down.

"Rare, Ah'm sorry, Ah really am, but--"

"Spill the beans." Rarity glared with no mercy. "What is going on here, Applejack? Why are you doing this - trying to fake some sort of relationship between us and lie to my father's face?" She couldn't help it now - the tears were coming. "It's not funny, Applejack!"

"Aw, shucks, Rare..." AJ looked down, chest heaving and lip trembling. "Ah don't know if ya would understand..."

"Tell me!" Rarity practically screamed.

Applejack looked back up at her, eyes pleading. "What if ya don't like the answer?"

Rarity forced herself to take a deep breath in, hold it, and then release it. "Applejack...please tell me...right now...I NEED to know."

"Well..." Applejack winced and looked down, blonde mane hanging in scraggily waves over her face. "Ah guess Ah just really like you, Rarity."

The unicorn couldn't believe what she was hearing; one of her ears twitched in order to hear better. "I'm sorry...what did you just tell me?"

"Ah really like you, Rare. You're pretty and generous and kind and one of mah very best friends, even if we have little to nothing in common. And you offered to take me to this luncheon-fancy-shmancy thing with yer dad, even though Ah've never told ya about mah parents..." Applejack blinked rapidly, and Rarity gasped inwardly as she realized she was fighting back tears. "Ah should have told y'all a long time ago, but Ah didn't want yer pity..."

"You're so stubborn and prideful," Rarity breathed breathlessly, feeling like the whole world was in some sort of dream, and she was inside a bubble - one that was soon to pop.

"And when yer dad made that little slip o' the thought, I thought that I wouldn't be lyin' to him if I could make his thoughts a reality by the end of the day..." Applejack was openly crying now, and Rarity wanted to hug her but held back, watching with eyes wide. "That's why Ah told Spike that...I was really hopin' it wouldn't have been a lie..."

"Oh, Applejack...I can't believe you like me in this way. I never knew." Rarity was surprised to find that she was not blushing, but instead her voice was steady and firm. "If you had just told me in the first place, this could have been avoided."

"Yah would have gone with me as yer date?"

Now she was blushing. Rarity looked away. "Um...well...I would tell him he had made a simple mistake, would point out that we are just friends, and..."

Applejack looked up at her, green eyes angry and hard, causing the unicorn to trail off. "Yah don't like like me, then."

Rarity took a deep breath in, and released it, trying to stop a blush from spreading like wildfire across her face. "I never said that."

"Then how do yah think of me?"

This was an easy question; Rarity answered simply, "You are a very good friend, and I am unsure what my feelings for you are, involving that matter. I think that we should discuss this later, and get back to my father now."

Applejack stood up, straightening her hat. It took her a few minutes to respond, but when she did, her eyes were bright with gratitude. "You know, you're right, Rare. We shouldn't be thinking about this right now, when you need to be visiting your father. It isn't called "Father's Day" for no reason, and we have to tell 'im the truth." She winked, wiping her eyes to cleanse them of all previous tears.

Rarity nodded, feeling her breath come out easily and simply. "Yes," she agreed with Applejack, turning to head out to the front again. "Let's. We'll discuss this...later."

Of course, there's still the matter of Spikey-Wikey to deal with. And the fact all of our other friends will be curious. But let's not think about that now.

Rarity turned the corner, smiling at Applejack as they trotted over to Magnum's waiting form.

We'll start with the fact that this was just a misconception. Yes...

Just a misconception.