"So I guess you're gonna have to change your name now, huh?"
Applejack grinned playfully at the pony before her. Seeing her again was such a nice treat after all their years apart. She was always of the opinion that some of the best treats in life were those that came as a surprise, and that was certainly proving to be true today.
"Do you think so?" Rara asked, grinning right back. "I mean, I guess I shouldn't really be calling myself Countess anymore, right? It kinda went with the old persona." She tried not to sound too wistful as she spoke of the apparent demise of her Countess persona. Being able to be herself instead of a character was great, but Applejack could tell part of her would miss the glitz and glam. It didn't define her, nor did she want it to, but she had liked it.
"You could always pull a split personality type deal," Applejack said, giving her a wink. "Keep 'em guessing who they're getting."
"Heehee...I'm not sure that would go over well," Rara responded. "If the fans come expecting the Countess and get...erm...whichever other name I decide to go with..."
"What'll happen?" Applejack asked earnestly. "It's still you."
"Well...yes..." Rara answered. "But it would be like if somepony came to your farm for red delicious apples, but you gave them macintoshes."
"That'd be a disaster!" Applejack exclaimed. "They might both be apples but they're completely different!" Rara grinned and gave Applejack's nose a gentle boop with her hoof.
"Exactly," she said. Applejack raised a brow, then smiled as realization struck.
Just the mere fact that they were able to talk like this after the way Rara had made her entrance was enough to make Applejack happy. The sheer disappointment she'd felt when she thought her old friend had abandoned her old sensibilities had really hit her hard. Rara had been such a sweetheart back at Friendship Camp; if she had really become a demanding diva, it would have been heartbreaking.
Thankfully, it turned out it was only the influence of her manager Svengallop–a pony she was more than happy to see get his comeuppance–that had made her appear as such. Inside, she was still the same sweet pony that she knew way back when, and now what she had inside had come outside as well.
Upon further contemplation, Applejack found the way she had worded that previous thought to be awkward and a little gross. The point was that her nature and demeanor were matching once more.
"So, back to names then," Applejack said. "What's wrong with just Rara?"
"Nothing's wrong with it," Rara responded with a smile. "It's just a little short for a stage name."
"What about adding something to it?" Applejack offered. "Like...Lady Rara?"
"Lady Rara?" Rara asked, smirking. "Sounds a little pretentious."
"Great point, Countess," Applejack replied, grinning a cheeky little grin.
"Oh, shush, AJ," Rara said, giving Applejack a playful little shove. The two mares broke into soft laughter, leaning slightly against each other. Memories of camp flooded Applejack's mind as they laughed. She couldn't even begin to count the number of times that they'd shared a laugh like this back then, although to attempt to do so and go through all those memories would have been more enjoyable than tedious.
"Oh, this reminds me of the time at Friendship Camp when the counselors caught us sneaking extra desserts!" Rara said, giving Applejack a nudge.
"Oh yeah!" Applejack laughed. "And they made us write apology letters to the other campers!"
"And you hid a cupcake in your cap and gave it to me when we got back to our bunk," Rara said with a grin.
"And you did the same for me," Applejack replied. She let out a happy sigh, one of those sighs that felt practically involuntary. Applejack wouldn't have stopped it even if she could. She glanced sideways at Rara, grinning from ear to ear. Nothing felt better than reminiscing with a long-lost friend.
Applejack could already feel a little something in the back of her head, though; something that felt like a little more than just the joy of reconnecting. Back when they had been friends at camp, she had always felt some manner of extra connection with Rara, something which her young mind couldn't understand at the time but which felt so clear in hindsight.
She had tried to spend nearly every moment with her while they were there, and she had made absolutely sure to get her contact information so they could keep in contact after camp was over. The more Applejack ruminated over it, the more it felt like a crush that she was too young to understand, and the more she thought of it as a crush, the more it made sense.
Rara was sweet, kind, and to be quite frank, beautiful. Even without the makeup and the flashy costumes, she was a sight to behold. Applejack could remember looking at her back at camp and thinking that she might have been the prettiest pony she'd ever seen. She never intentionally dwelled on it back then, but she attributed it more to her naïveté than anything else. It was clearly a crush, and Applejack could already feel it start to emerge once more as she gazed at her.
Applejack's train of thought was interrupted as she noticed Rara looking back at her. The farmer blinked a few times, then offered her friend an awkward smile.
"Applejack?" Rara asked. "Are you alright? I asked you a question and you've just been staring blankly at me."
"Oh!" Applejack exclaimed, a little too loudly. "Uh...sorry, Rara...just been thinking."
"About what?" Rara asked. She tilted her head in a cute manner that made her dark gray bangs dangle just above her left eye. Applejack smiled lightly, mentally trying to fight back the blush that wanted to grace her cheeks and greet the one who spurred it on.
"Uh..." Applejack said. "Well...I mean, it's not super important right now. You asked me a question, right? Lemme answer that first, instead of being rude like I was."
"Don't worry about it," Rara said, smiling warmly. "I wasn't offended at all." The two smiled at each other for a bit, until a nudge from Applejack brought them back to reality.
"C'mon, Rara," she said. "The question, remember?"
"Right!" Rara replied. "So...uh...did you really mean what you said?"
Applejack blinked, trying to rifle through her mind for what she might have said. Her mental rolodex wasn't quite cooperating with her, seeming rather intent on reminding her of her re-emerging crush over anything else.
"Which thing, Rara?" Applejack asked. "I kinda had a lot of things I said." She looked relieved when Rara took it in stride. The last thing she wanted was to look inattentive.
"Well," Rara said softly. "The exact quote was, 'Rara, when you’re simply yourself, you’re the brightest star I've ever seen shine.'" She grinned awkwardly. "Hope you didn't mind me trying to imitate your accent there."
Applejack blinked, her cheeks finally losing the fight against the terrible blush."N-not at all..." she stammered. Then her eyes widened. "To the thing about minding the imitation, I mean! Not to the question you asked me...because that's different! Different answers to both things."
Applejack silently cursed her awkward response, but Rara didn't seem to mind much.
"You goof," Rara said, giggling softly. "So really, did you mean what you said?"
Applejack felt her heart begin to race. As far as she perceived it, it was now or never for her. Actually dating her might not have seemed like a plausible outcome, but at the very least, she could tell her how she felt.
"I did," Applejack finally said. "I meant every word, Rara." Her hooves began to fidget as her heart and mind began tossing words at her mouth. "I mean...look at you. You're just amazing. It hurt me real bad when I thought you changed, because to change perfection would have been a travesty. You didn't need all that glitzy hoo-hah to get where you are right now. Your talent, your beauty, and your good heart would have gotten you there either way."
Applejack bit her lip, then decided to take the shot. She reached forward, gently taking one of Rara's hooves in her own as her mind fed her one of the corniest, yet truest lines it could muster. "You're a star to the world now, but you were always a star to me."
Applejack's heart felt like it was about to beat out of her chest as she held that bluish-gray hoof. She carefully inspected Rara's face in an effort to read her reaction, because her silence wasn't doing her any favors. She watched the corners of her pretty little mouth begin to turn up, and her hopes began to raise. She felt the same way. She had to. Rara was going to smile and tell her that she felt the same way, and everything was going to be wonderful.
Or that would have been the case, had Rara not pulled her hoof away and retreated into her dressing room.
Applejack's heart sank as she watched her friend abscond. She had messed up. She had taken a lovely reunion between old friends and absolutely destroyed it. For what felt like minutes, she neither said a word nor moved a muscle. Her body and mind had formed a mighty union with the common goal of preserving the misery she'd set up for herself.
"...Well, Applejack," the forlorn farmer finally said to her audience of one. "You done goofed."
Applejack slowly got up from her makeshift seat. There was no sense in sticking around here any longer. Having seen her friendship with Rara burn to the ground, she wasn't doing either of them any favors by hanging around the ashes. Rara couldn't just stay in her dressing room forever, and it would probably be for the best if Applejack left before she re-emerged. With a heavy heart, the farmer began to drag her hooves away from the concert site.
It only took a few steps before Applejack stopped herself.
Friendship Camp had been one of the best experiences of Applejack's young life, and yet it hadn't seemed at first like it would be that way. She wasn't a shy filly by any definition of the word, but she also had never really made a lot of friends outside of her family. She was sociable, but she was more the type to make acquaintances than close friends. There was no real reason behind it; it was just the way things tended to be and nothing more.
Rara was the one who changed that. There was just something about her energy and spirit that Applejack enjoyed being around. It was practically infectious, a disease from which she wanted no respite. And the more she reflected on that, the more she knew that she never would have gotten that chance to be her friend if she hadn't gone out and taken it. Approaching her was a risk in the first place, albeit one that she had mostly fabricated.
The way she saw it before actually speaking to her, Rara had better things to do than socialize with a simple farm pony like her. She was a pretty pony from the big city of Fillydelphia, and Applejack was...not that. She could have easily left it right there, not even bothering to make an attempt. Instead, she decided to take the risk and introduce herself. Much to her delight, Rara was pretty much the opposite of what she'd initially thought, the two became fast friends, and the rest was history. And none of that would have happened if she hadn't taken the risk.
Applejack turned around on the spot and marched towards the dressing room. Making this friendship was a risk she had been happy to take. Letting the two of them drift apart was something she wished she could have avoided. Rekindling the friendship was an effort that had yielded wonderful results, and she wasn't about to lose it again. If nothing else, she had to at least fix things.
Applejack stared at the door with unmatched determination as she approached it. At this point, even a natural disaster didn't stand a chance against her degree of resolve. Had an earthquake caused the land to yawn a tremendous fissure between herself and her destination, she would have taken a leap that would make pegasi jealous. In the event of a flash flood, she would have swam towards that door as if her life depended on it. Were a tornado to blow through, she would have ridden the wind until it landed her at that door. Thankfully, such measures were unnecessary, and she found herself knocking on the door unfettered.
"Rara!" Applejack shouted. "Come on, get out here! I ain't leaving us like this!"
Silence echoed through the clearing. Even on this warm evening, the silence sent a chill down Applejack's spine. Finally, the door opened, leaving Applejack staring into the eyes of her estranged friend. All bluster and bravado fell from the farmer like macouns from a freshly-bucked tree as she gazed into the soft, scared eyes of the pop star.
"L-look," Applejack said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "I'm sorry if I scared you away with what I said to you. I won't apologize for the words because I meant every one of them, but I will apologize for what they did to you. I'll understand if you don't feel the same way about me as I do about you, but the last thing I want is for you to leave on that kind of note. You can't leave if you can't get through this doorway, so I ain't budging until we put this behind us and become friends again. I wanted more, but I'd take just friendship any day over nothing at all." She held her hoof out insistently. She wanted a hug, but a hoofshake would have been enough to placate her.
Rara stared at the hoof presented to her for a prolonged moment, before finally looking back up to meet Applejack's gaze. Her blue eyes glistened with tears, much to Applejack's surprise.
"It's not like that," Rara said.
"What do you mean?" Applejack asked softly.
"I..." Rara began. Then she turned away from Applejack, as if engaging her eyes any longer would have caused her physical harm. "...I do feel the same."
Applejack's jaw fell. At first, she wasn't sure if she'd heard those words correctly. There had to be some kind of error, some misheard or overlooked part of that sentence that changed its meaning entirely.
"You...what?" Applejack asked.
"I feel the same way about you," Rara said softly. Applejack felt about ready to explode as she heard those words, but wasn't given a chance to reply. "But I can't do this to you. I can't hurt you."
"Can't do what?" Applejack responded. "How are you hurting me? I don't understand, Rara..." Rara sighed heavily, then turned to head back inside. Applejack opened her mouth to protest, but stopped when she was beckoned inside as well.
Applejack glanced around the dressing room as she went to join Rara on the couch she'd sat upon. The room was impeccably clean, just as her half of the bunk always was back at camp. With the amount of over-the-top glamorous costumes adorning the clothes racks, though, it was hard to draw too many comparisons.
"Look at all of this, AJ," Rara said quietly.
"What?" Applejack asked. "Your costumes? I'm not gonna be hurt if you still wanna wear this wacky stuff. You're still you, no matter what you wear."
"Heh...thanks," Rara said, smiling sadly. "But that's not what I meant. I'm a huge pop star."
"If this is about your status..." Applejack started, but she was quickly cut off.
"Not at all," Rara said. "Well, I mean, not in that way. What I mean is that I'm constantly traveling all over Equestria for performances. It can be hard for me to find any free time at all, let alone stay in one place for too long. You've got your family, your friends, and your farm here in Ponyville, and I couldn't dream of trying to take you away from all that by asking you to join me on the road. And I couldn't make you deal with me never being around for you. Hurting you like that would be a mistake, one I couldn't forgive myself for, even if you could."
The two sat in silence, Rara hanging her head sadly. Applejack, meanwhile, was left to her thoughts. Everything she'd said had made perfect sense, despite how much she wished it didn't. With her busy schedule, the only way Applejack would see her most of the time was in magazines. Leaving Ponyville was not a viable option for her, and she certainly couldn't ask Rara to give up her fame and fortune for a simple farm life. Such an idea was so ridiculously selfish that she refused to give it a second thought. She couldn't keep her Rara to herself. She had to shine like the star she was.
Applejack felt a shift in the couch as Rara began to get up. She was slipping away, and Applejack couldn't let that happen again.
"Wait!" Applejack shouted, reaching a hoof over to touch her shoulder. Rara gave her a confused look, but sat back down.
For a few moments, Applejack just stared. Truthfully, she hadn't thought things out too much past just keeping Rara there with her. She figured that she could act first and come up with a reason for her actions later, but that reason was taking a little longer to arrive than she'd hoped. She thought as hard as she could, racking her brain for a solution. All the while she stared into Rara's eyes, hoping her desperation wasn't too evident. Rara's eyes were filled with regret for the situation. It almost reminded her of...
And then Applejack had her answer.
"Remember that time at Friendship Camp when you got sick?" Applejack asked. "It was right before we had to choose partners for the talent show."
"Yeah, I remember that," Rara responded. "But why are you bringing that up?"
"Well," Applejack said, once again reaching out to take a hoof. "I was looking for you so we could sign up as partners, but you weren't around. The counselors told me that I couldn't sign your name without you being around. They tried to tell me to just sign up by myself, because if I didn't sign up soon, there was a chance they'd run out of space."
She reached her other foreleg forward, now clasping Rara's hoof with both of them. "But I wouldn't do it. I wanted to perform in the talent show so badly, but it wouldn't have been the same without you. So I waited for you. Sure, it was hard looking at the others practicing for the show and knowing that I was taking a chance at waiting, but I waited anyway. And when you came back...well, the rest is history. I know waiting for what you want can be hard, but if I'm waiting for you, then it's hard to really mind too much. If you'll have me, I'll wait for you till the end of time, and I'll smile through it all cause I know the reward's worth the wait."
Applejack smiled warmly at the pony before her. She idly marveled over her sudden ability to bring on the corniness. It wasn't a trait she'd exhibited much in the past, but she was quite happy that it had showed its face here. Concentrating on trying to read Rara's face wasn't necessary this time around; the ear-to-ear smile answered any questions she could have had.
Without even giving the action a moment's thought, Applejack found herself leaning towards her, not stopping until her lips felt the warmth of the other's. She felt a slight bit of hesitation behind Rara's actions, but it didn't last long before the action was reciprocated. Applejack felt her heart mend from its previous breaking as she kissed her, never letting go of that hoof. She'd have to let go of it soon enough; for now, it was hers, and she was making the most of it.
~~~~~~~~~~
"I promise you won't have too long to wait," Rara said as she and Applejack headed towards the carriage. "I mean, this tour's only got a few more stops..."
"How many more is a few more?" Applejack asked, grinning lightly. "I seem to remember a certain filly who told me once that she’d only eat a few more jellybeans."
"Oh, come on!" Rara said, giggling softly. "I left the apple ones for you!" The two shared a laugh, leaning on each other slightly as they did. A warm smile and sideways glance was shared between the two before they stood up straight.
"I could tell you," Rara said. "But this is probably easier." She passed a tour schedule to Applejack, who unfolded it right away to give it a look over.
"...Wow," Applejack said, marveling at all the listed dates. "My Rara sure is a superstar, huh?" Rara's cheeks colored lightly, and Applejack gave her a wink before looking back to the schedule. Her heart sank slightly as she read through it. "Yeah, this looks pretty much in line with your definition of 'a few.' But a month's not so bad..."
"Not quite a month, AJ," Rara said, giving her a nudge. "Look at the last locations." Applejack looked a little closer, then smiled.
"Canterlot!" Applejack said, feeling a bit better. "That's pretty close. Don't get why you're coming to Ponyville now, then hitting Canterlot so much later."
"Blame Svengallop," Rara replied. "If I remember correctly, the day of my gig is the same day that they're opening a new spa there." The two shared another laugh. Applejack felt a warmth in her chest as she shared these moments with Rara. She truly never thought she'd even hear from her again after their correspondence stopped. Things sure had changed.
"And you know..." Rara said, reaching into her bags. "I'm only supposed to give these to very special ponies...so it's a good thing you're one of those." She passed Applejack a little piece of paper.
"What's this?" Applejack asked. She inspected it a bit closer, before her eyes lit up. She gave Rara a little grin. "A backstage pass to your Canterlot show. Hoo-whee, do I feel special."
"You are special, AJ," Rara said. "You shouldn't need any pieces of paper to feel that way." She leaned in, wrapping Applejack in a tight hug. "And I have a few weeks after this tour and before the next one. We'll definitely get plenty of quality time in there."
"It'll be worth the wait," Applejack said. She released the hug, gazing into Rara's eyes.
Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo were leading a few of their classmates towards the carriage. Bloom in particular had been quite excited to lead them towards the scene.
"There is no way your sister knows Countess Coloratura that well," Diamond Tiara said.
"She does too!" Bloom responded. "You girls were there, you saw it!"
"She did seem to know her pretty well," Scootaloo said.
"Well, we'll see, i guess," Diamond responded. "I mean maybe she's heard of her, but I doubt she-"
The crowd of children stopped dead in their tracks as they watched Applejack move in towards Rara, meeting her in a tender kiss. The group was too far away to hear any of the resulting conversation before the Countess stepped up onto the carriage.
"Oh...my...gosh," Diamond said, eyes glued to the scene.
"Eeeeee!" Sweetie Belle squeed. "So cute!!"
"Ewww," Scootaloo groaned. "Gross. Thanks for dragging us here to see that, Apple Bloom." She glanced sideways at her friend, then blinked. She tossed a hoof in front of Bloom's eyes, waving it. "...Apple Bloom?