//------------------------------//
// I Love Being Married... 
// Story: Honey 
// by Linkinshire 
//------------------------------//

It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life. - Rita Rudner 

“Mummy...”
Rarity is instantly on edge. She freezes, the needle and thread in her telekinetic grip hover beside her head. Hm... She knows that tone very well by now. She quirks a brow then smiles slowly.
“What is it you want, Honey?” She says knowingly. Honeycrisp makes a noise which is something between a squeak and a groan. It is the same noise that Applejack sometimes makes when she's about to tell a lie.
“Nothin'...” Honeycrisp mumbles.
“Noth-ING, darling. Your ma has utterly ruined your pronunciation,” Rarity replies and she looks over to her daughter with a fond smile. Honeycrisp is fidgeting restlessly on her hooves.
“Mama told me that you secretly liked that I wasn't all fancy all the time,” She says as she picks up a scrap of cloth, fiddling with it between her hooves. Rarity rolls her eyes gently as her smile widens.
“Maybe that's true...” She concedes, tapping her chin in mock thought. It is very true, of course. She wouldn't dream of having Honeycrisp be as polished as she is. She wants her daughter to have some of that country charm, so that she can get dirty without worrying about the mess to her coat. She wants her to have the freedom that she lacked somewhat as a filly. Honeycrisp is trying desperately not to giggle at Rarity's thoughtful pout.
Rarity absolutely loves her laughs. “But maybe your mama is using wishful thinking in the hopes that I won't mind with you and so won't tease her so much,” She adds and Honeycrisp giggles, her head ducked and her tail is swishing as she holds back the urge to bounce up onto her hooves. Rarity also absolutely loves how considerate her daughter is around her work. She's always careful in Rarity's room of creativity.
“Mama also said that you liked that she wasn't fancy either.”
“Yes... Well, I suppose if she were like me then we'd drive each other crazy or otherwise get very bored of one another,” Rarity says, her smile unfaltering. She finds it very difficult not to smile around her darling filly. Honeycrisp approaches her with delicate little steps and Rarity draws her into a warm embrace. Honeycrisp nuzzles into her.
“Mummy...” She says again.
“Yes, darling?” Rarity replies, placing a soft kiss to Honeycrisp's forehead.
“What was yours an' mama's weddin' like?” She asks.
Rarity quickly lowers her needle and thread to the ground beside her, her magic flickering and leaving the sharp implement trembling. She forces on a strained smile.
“It was lovely, darling.”
“Mama said that-”
“Mama should really stop telling you things...” Rarity interrupts gently but firmly and Honeycrisp is quiet a moment, thinking.
“She said there was a fire.”
Relentless little filly... Rarity's eye twitches then she loosens her grip on her daughter and ducks her head to meet the warm, bright eyed gaze of her daughter. She tilts her chin up then sighs, glancing away a moment.
“My dearest little apple of my eye,” She begins then she takes a deep breath. “I beg of you, darling, for the sake of your mummy's sanity, repeat these following words...” She continues, her tone serious and Honeycrisp nods dutifully. 	“My mama and mummy's wedding was nice...”
“My mama an' mummy's wedding was nice,” Honeycrisp repeats.
“There was no fire.”
“But mama said-”
“I know what mama said but please,darling...” Rarity presses pleadingly and Honeycrisp pauses.
“There was no fire,” She says.
“Thank you, Honey,” Rarity replies with a warm smile. 
“Thank you, Honey.”
Honeycrisp almost instantly frowns, her nose scrunching up as she realises her mistake and Rarity laughs lightly.
“Oh...” The filly mumbles sheepishly, a blush dusting her cheeks and Rarity nuzzles her, smiling widely. 
“Now, is there anything else that is bothering you or would you like to help?” She asks and Honeycrisp beams at her.
“Can Ah be in charge of the swatches?” She quips and the elder unicorn kisses her nose then retrieves her needle and thread and adjusts the plans scattered across her desk.
“Of course you can!” She agrees then a thought occurs to her and she glances over her shoulder. “Oh, by the way, did I mention that your aunty Sweetie was coming over this afternoon?” She adds slyly and the squeal of delight her daughter gives is, without a doubt, the absolute best sound in the world.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“-And so mummy said not to talk about it again.”
“Uh huh.”
“But when I said about the fire, she started twitchin' and things.”
Applejack blinks, snapping out her thoughts and her hoof stills on the trunk of Bloomberg Junior. Then she grimaces.
“Aw, Honey... Ah told ya' not to mention that to mummy! She's gon' tan mah hide when Ah get home...” She groans.
“Sorry, mama... but will ya' tell me the truth instead?” Honeycrisp quips as she fidgets on her hooves and Applejack gives her a pointed look. “Yeah. I know. You're the Element of Honesty but mummy didn't wanna talk about it so I weren't sure if you would neither.”
“Honey, more important than all that is that Ah'm yer' ma! That's more than enough reason for you to believe Ah'll give ya' the honest truth,” Applejack tells her then she smiles warmly. “So... What's ya' question then?” She quips.
“What 'xactly started the fire? At yours and mummy weddin'?” Honeycrisp says and Applejack huffs a heavy sigh, looking away.
“Erm... Well... It was, from what Twi said, a series of little things which led to a complete catastrophe. Lemme get this right, Twi was awful specific...” She returns then she rubs her cheek, thinking carefully and gazing off into the trees before she nods to herself. “Mummy had too much drink, mama had too, both of us fell over, Pinkie had moved the lights to someplace closer to the dance floor, so that when we tripped, Rares went tumblin' into the battery, the shock made her accidentally release some magic which flew across the room, bounced off Mac's cuff link then recoiled into Vinyl Scratch's vodka shot and sent it flying six feet into the battery powering the lights. Rare's had dented the casing in the collision and around a second later, the whole thing was aflame, the alcohol combusted violently and burnt a chunk of Rare's tail off before completely engulfing the nearby table and like a series o' dominoes, one by one the tables were set alight. Our chief in fire safety, Twilight, was busy bein' passed out on one of the speakers...” Applejack explains then she takes a deep breath. “And so our wedding burnt to the ground...” She concludes. Honeycrisp gapes.
“Wow...”
“Yeah...” Applejack says then she cracks a grin. “It was pretty darn memorable though! We had the Canterlot Guard come chargin' in thinkin' it was an assassination attempt and then we all sat on picnic blankets eatin' burnt weddin' cake.”
“Was mummy upset?” Honey asks worriedly and Applejack looks down to her daughter and smiles again.
“Not that much. Personally, I think she found it rather thrillin'.”
“Then how come Ah was sworn to silence, mama?” Honeycrisp questions, sounding a little outraged and Applejack leans down to nuzzle her filly's cheek.
“It jus' don't do much for the delicate image of a princess, is all.”
“Is she your princess then, mama?” Honeycrisp quips and Applejack chuckles with a wink.
“Eeyup! She certainly is... and a darn pretty one too!”
Honeycrisp giggles before her mane is ruffled gently and she's scooped up onto her mama's back.
“So, what's that make you? Her prince?” She questions as she scrambles up onto Applejack's hat, perching herself there with the kind of grace that she probably didn't get from Applejack. The earth pony grins up at her fondly.
“Ah guess so, sugar cube. Though sometimes, Ah feel it was me who got swept off mah hooves...”
She heads on towards her farm. She'd bet a whole bushel that Apple Bloom really would love to see her niece...