The Princess of Adventure: Return of the Dreaded Love Bird.

by Darkonshadows

Regular Rarity

Rarity was a mare of high class and style; she made dresses for any mare and suits for any stallion… though suits were in small supply considering the female to male ratio of ponies in Ponyville. Dresses weren’t her special talent but they were certainly her passion and she had a big one for fashion.

Recently she has been hitting a slump in the gossip market, mostly because Fluttershy was otherwise in a loving relationship with Rainbow Dash. At first Rarity thought it was a bad idea for them to be together, but the more she thought of it the more she found the two to be cute with each other.

Friends since a young, growing up together and one loved the other secretly until some bird let it out of the bag by kidnapping Fluttershy. Rarity really hadn’t given Kazooie much of a passing thought given she hardly had any time to chew the fat with her as Applejack would say. The only thing she got out of the bird was advice to aim her sights lower then royalty or nobility and they she would find love some day.

Her sister was running around with Apple Bloom, Babs her cousin and Scootaloo… despite never stating it to Sweetie Bell, Rarity always thought of her as a kind of a chaotic mass of inspiration. She loved her little sister dearly even when she was being a total nuisance, sometimes she was too much and sometimes she wasn’t nearly enough.

Right now Rarity was just sitting in her clothing shop just doing practically nothing, it was open and the sign clearly said it was. If she wasn’t working on dresses, ponies would usually come in to get her to repair clothing and work on non dress related casual wear. She was also the most reliable pony for warm clothing when winter rolled around. She had finished all her other orders in record time by this point.

At this moment she was bored, things had better pick up soon or she was going to see how Pinkie was doing. She heard her perky party pal was perilously putting herself up with a bear that wore yellow shorts. She was intrigued about the bear and its fashion statement.

It was nearly lunchtime anyway and she was getting a bit hungry, cleaning up her work area and making her way out the door locking it showing there was an out to lunch sign. She wouldn’t be back until it was way past dinner.

It started as a normal day walking down the streets of Ponyville the sun was shining, the grass was green and the ponies were… dear goddess what was wrong with that ponies mane and tail?

Sitting on a nearby roof hind legs kicking out idly was a yellow pony with wild mane and tail, her cutie mark struck a strange feeling of dread in Rarity for it was of a canary surrounding by what appeared to be a green mist. The mare was quite strange and a horror to Rarity’s sensibilities she just had to interrupt this mare’s day to find out if she could do the poor dears mane and tail, hopefully using everything she had at her disposal to fix that rat’s nest.

Taking in the pony as a whole she saw the green eyes wandering the streets idly and then one in a while she’d look off into the sky as if she were in deep thought.

“I say, excuse me dear, yes you up there on the roof!” Shouting to the stranger, Rarity gained the pony’s attention swiftly as she had taken a sudden interest in such a horrid fashion statement that had attracted her attention and ire. She was quickly earning the attention of a few other ponies towards her and the odd mare that wasn’t hurting anyone or doing much except watching out for trouble. That all color yellow scheme was just plain weird and seemed kind of strange on a pony, when so many around had vibrant and differing colors.

The mare in question looked to Rarity and looked around before pointing to herself, Rarity nodded and she flew down. The pegasus did not land however; she just hovered out of Rarity’s reach and a few feet away further than that.

“Yes did you want something?” Her accent was strange to Rarity, it almost sounded like she was squawking the words or was actually a bird.

“Yes, well my name is Rarity and I was wondering who you were, such an auspicious new mare such as yourself in Ponyville usually has a party lined up for new comers by our resident party animal. Oh sorry, I forgot to ask you your name.” Rarity hoped she could get into a conversation and learn something about the odd one color mare, whose cutie mark was the only exception.

“I’m Canary Mary, if you’re talking about Pinkie we’ve already met.” What she wasn’t about to say was years ago when Pinkie was a little filly, all the Spiral Mountain residents were introduced to Pinkie… well the nicer ones anyway. Canary Mary was happy to be included on the list of friendly Spiral goers of the Isle O’ Hags. “If you have nothing else to say I’ll just be on my way.”

“Hold on now, I have a few questions for you and it would be kind of rude to not sate my curiosity a little don’t you think. I promise to not be too invasive about it, but I couldn’t help but notice you have a really strange cutie mark and I’m for the life of me stumped on its very meaning.” Rarity thought the mark was of a canary, but the green coloring around it didn’t look quite right and she wondered what it could possibly represent.

“Ever been caged in a mine?” Canary Mary said earning a sharp look from Rarity.

“Yes, I was kidnapped by Diamond Dogs once. Those brutes were trying to use me to dig for gems, but I showed them not to mess with me or make me get my coat and hooves all dirty.” After a moment of gritting her teeth in anger at the memory Rarity quickly calmed down. “I can tell you it wasn’t a very pleasant, so what happened to you dear?”

“Well if I’m right, my cutie mark represents my incredible resilience to poison as a special talent as well as my ability to fly really well even while heavily poisoned and possibly intoxicated despite my haggard looking state.” Seeing the uncomprehending look on Rarity’s face Canary decided to add. “I was put in a cage in a room suspected to be slowly filling with toxic gas, if I keeled over and stopped breathing the ones that put me there would have known for sure it was dangerous. I was rescued by two brave people who broke the door to my cage and I flew away like a bird out of the green poisonous miasma that I was lucky to have survived for as long as I did.”

“My word that sounds positively horrid, far more so then what happened to me…” Rarity was looking at the ground with clear sorrow before she looked back up to Canary scrutinizing her wings that looked to have seen better days and yet she continued to fly still. “Well I have to ask, what have you been doing since you got free of your rather dire predicament and what became of your heroes?”

“Oh they’re still around; doubt a dangerous mineshaft would do them in. I may not look it but I really am a swift flyer, I love professional racing as a part time thing and as for having a job I’m working for an old friend of mine. Right now I’m just taking in the sights and watching out for trouble.” Canary Mary didn’t want to say she was sent by Kazooie to watch out for the Cutie Mark Crusaders in case they died of unforeseen accidents. From what she had heard from the red bird, Canary thought they were rather suicidal in their single minded quest to find their special talents “I’m not much for being near others; as I’ve had plenty of trying experiences in my life.”

Canary Mary actually liked Kazooie when she wasn’t stealing her food; at least Canary was reimbursed one worm sandwich before she was brought to a world of cute little vegetarian horses. The sandwich was made especially to her tastes too; it was one of the reasons she agreed to join Kazooie on an adventure to a different world. The all vegetarian diet wasn’t so bad either, the food was relatively palatable even thought she technically didn’t need to eat any of it.

Rarity knew right then that she had to find a way to fix Canary Mary’s poor battered form, it spoke out in her mind as someone who needed her generous hoof. So she’d make an offer to help Canary’s image, probably brought on by being stuck in a toxic mess for so long.

“Well now, I was wondering if you would be up to a spa trip my treat or maybe getting a makeover.” It was Rarity’s bleeding heart that spoke out to the poor mare before her.

“No thanks.” The mare shrugged her canary yellow shoulders and then pointed at something. “Oh, now that looks like trouble.”

Rarity’s curiosity at what Canary thought looked like trouble caused her to look, as Rarity turned her head away Canary Mary flew to a different rooftop and hid there. She watched as the three questing ponies were being bullied by three other ponies.

Rarity watched as Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon and what could only be Apple Blooms cousins stealing their sweet treats. She saw red, but she wasn’t going to barge in there. She was going to watch and make sure the situation didn’t get out of hoof, but still they stole from her little sister and that rankled Rarity greatly.

Forgetting Canary Mary and her need to aid what she saw as a living disaster zone to all things fashionable for the moment, Rarity started to follow the Cutie Mark Crusaders while in turn being followed by a watchful wary canary pony.

It didn’t take long for Rarity to catch on to what was happening to her sister and her friends. Those three fillies were bullying her sweet little sister, why weren’t the three crusaders going to any pony for help on this issue or telling an adult? After a moment a sad realization set itself in Rarity’s mind, after the Gabby Gums fiasco why would they tell any adults if something was bothering them or even try to seek help.

At least the Cutie Mark Crusaders were not getting violent with their tormenters and were taking the high road, which was something Rarity truly respected even when they were followed around by three bullies who wouldn’t leave them alone. The fashion pony was proud of her little sister and not just because she was the biggest voice of reason in three filly group. It was kind of sad to see no pony putting a stop to this and Rarity needed to talk to Applejack about this.

It seemed the Cutie Mark Crusaders were going her way as they too were heading towards the farm, upon arrival she saw that they had been building a float. She also saw that the float had been wrecked. The poor girls looked devastated; they also looked like they were about angry enough to seek out vengeance. Rarity just couldn’t stand idly by any longer watching such continued cruelty enacted upon the three fillies.

Turning to the house Rarity started to march for it and out of the door came Zecora who stopped and they met eye to eye for a moment. They just stared at each other and then Zecora decided to clear her throat.

“Rarity my fancy cloth stitching friend, some help I wish you could lend.” The zebra stated with some desperation, Zecora looked to be at wits end about something important and Rarity being who she was wanted to help her immediately. She did have pressing concerns however and she wouldn’t tarry longer then she needed to.

“What is it Zecora? I kind of have pressing matters to discuss with the Cutie Mark Crusaders being bullied.” This was apparently to the zebra’s surprise from what Rarity could see, given that Zecora was around Big Mac a lot lately you’d think she’d notice if her favorite little friend Apple Bloom was being hurt.

“Bullied you say? Then there’s much more to discuss coming your way. Ask Applejack about a secret she keeps, that with which the truth her heart weeps.” It wasn’t Zecora’s secret to say, she moved on to watch the crusaders in their dismay.

The truth that made Applejack’s heart weep? Well that was strange. At least this is what Rarity was thinking, why would Applejack keep a secret from her and why would she weep if Rarity ever found out about it? Oh, maybe it was because of the fact that she kept trying to play matchmaker with the farmer and she already had a crush on someone. That would very well explain it, except Rarity never saw a single hint as to the mare or stallion Applejack was interested in. Fluttershy still hadn’t missed a spa date yet, but she was busy with Rainbow a lot of the time nowadays and there really hadn’t been much gossip from the shy mare.

Walking into the house Rarity came across a happy Macintosh, who was happy to spend a lot of time with his Zebra friend. Rarity thought it was actually kind of cute thinking about Zecora and Big Mac snuggling together with the black and white mare while blushing red all over. Rarity once thought Big Mac and Fluttershy would work… that thought kind of crashed when she learned her best friend didn’t exactly swing any stallions way, it’s certainly understandable why she suffered as a model and given her childhood bullies were all male and even to the point she was a teenager she was still being picked on.

“Oh, hello there Big Mac how have you been doing today? I was wondering if your sister was in, there is something I have to discuss with her.” Rarity came to a stop just within the kitchen and saw Big Mac was watching a pie cook in the oven.

“Eeyup go that way, turn left at the pear tree and go straight. You can’t miss her.” He slowly drawled out slowly, well this was the most Rarity was expecting to get from him as he eagerly awaited his pie. It didn’t smell like an apple pie either, but it was none of Rarity’s concern as she swiftly left flicking the door closed behind her.

Walking outside, Rarity stopped and looked at the ground. Her hooves were getting a bit dirty, but some injustices could wait till she had her talk with Applejack. For there was no way she was going to continue letting her Sweetie get bullied, her sister was a sweet filly and there was no reason for such brutish behavior toward her or her friends. Well this was unless they made something explode or Sweetie made another food monster, then there was the getting constantly covered in tree sap thing. Rarity had to deal with the tree sap every other week wondering if the Cutie Mark Crusaders knew just exactly how hard it was to get tree sap out of fur and hair without damaging it. The three of them were positively lucky Rarity was so forgiving or else they’d probably need a crowbar to pry off whatever gets stuck to them should they get stuck in sap again.

Walking out straight and looking around with a pear tree with her eyes, she stopped and looked back to the barn as Zecora peeked in on the bullied fillies. Turning her head forward she continued on her way, even if it meant getting her hooves dirty she could always polish the dirt off herself later so she can shine like the jewel she is.

Moving forward over the hill trying to avoid dry cracking mud or even the more slushier wet version of it she found the pear tree, the single solitary odd tree in all of Apple Acres. It was said that some hired hands had somehow turned a apple tree into a pear bearing tree based on a apples growth style. They didn’t seem to care how it happened, it was never really questioned it even if they didn’t like it at first.

The fashion designer was about to turn left when she heard something coming off from the right, biting her lower lip Rarity tried to fight her curiosity… but it was for not. She turned right to see what was going and what was creating that racket nearby.

Upon arriving to a strange scene, Rarity saw it involved Pinkie, a bear and a pony whose head looked to have been replaced with a large ghastly looking skull. The one with the skull was bouncing from his left hooves to his right hooves while chanting.

“Eekum Bokum Eeyoah, Eekum Bokum…” The skull headed pony chanting and continued to do so and it was entirely accompanied by strange noises.

Walking up to Pinkie, Rarity opened her mouth to ask a question only to get a pink hoof shoved in it for her trouble and she could tasted a cupcake in there now. Pinkie really shouldn’t force cupcakes down another pony’s throats but it was a good way to stop a pony from talking. Rarity wasn’t trying to eat as many sweets lately and would later have a word with Pinkie about quieting her with a cupcake like this.

“Omanaka!” The skull headed pony shouted and then a magical force started wobbling in front of him and a large round green sphere started growing to obscene sizes. Rarity swallowed as she stared at the now magically resized lettuce.

“Thanks Mumbo!” Pinkie jubilantly stated as she hugged the skull headed pony and then started to push at the giant lettuce ball. “Banjo, could you please lend a little help here? I want to move this over by Carousel Boutique, hope you don’t mind if I work on my float there Rarity.”

“Of course not dear, but you better not destroy my home! I get enough of that from the food monsters Sweetie makes.” Sighing Rarity watched as the bear and pink pony rolled off the giant lettuce ball, with a moment of the pony stopped to give her a cheery wave before continuing to push alongside the bear. Rarity turned to the skull headed pony Pinkie called Mumbo. “Isn’t it a little early for Nightmare Night costumes?”

“No costume, head is skull that happened of bad magic incident. Mumbo been like this for while, is used to it really.” Mumbo gave a bony smile in the direction of the large rolling head of lettuce. “Mumbo asked for help in pink ones project, Mumbo glad to finally aid her.”

“My word, does it hurt to have your head like that?” The fact that his head was a skull was quite frightening and at the same time the goofy countenance of it kind of made it less of an impact after the fact of learning that’s what his face naturally looked like.

“Not really, Mumbo fine with it. Do you need Mumbo’s assistance? If no, Mumbo have magic to get back to, left pot running circles around home trying to catch kettle.” Standing there with a twitching eye Rarity watched as Mumbo just walked off in an easy gait. There certainly were a few new weirdoes around Ponyville.

Shaking her head Rarity decided to stop getting sidetracked and ran back towards the pear tree and past it, she was so going to need a spa trip after all this she was beginning to sweat a little. It was a tad warm today.

After passing the tree it was a small distance later that Rarity found herself running into Applejack just smacking another wave of apples out of a nearby tree.

“Applejack, are you busy darling?” Rarity let out loudly as she trotted up to Applejack who took notice of the fashion minded pony approaching her.

“Aw shoot no Rarity, I’m always willing to make time for a friend, what are you doing all the way out here anyhow?” Applejack asked a little concerned to see Rarity actually a bit sweaty.

Rarity opened her mouth to answer Applejack, but she couldn’t say anything because of the giant Timber Wolf that slammed into the ground nearby to roar into a male grey ponies face that it had pinned. Applejack and Rarity just turned to the scene to hear the crack of a whip and the maw that was about to bite down on the grounded stallion was suddenly forced closed and bound by a whip.

“Get a move on Fit, I think got him for the moment.” Daring Do said through her teeth full of whip handle as she was currently positioned on the back of the wooden wolf that started bucking trying to get her off. The pony identified as Fit leapt up and started a four hundred meter dash. The giant wooden wolf gave chase as Daring waved her pith helmet in the air making sure to keep her grip tight on the whip as she rode it off into the distance chasing that speedy grey speck.

“Was that… I think Rainbow is going to like that next book.” Applejack said a little stunned to see Daring doing something incredible.

“No doubt, anyway Applejack before we’re interrupted again I would like to continue. We need to talk.” The frown that crossed the farmers face made Rarity take notice.

“Talk about what Rarity?” Applejack asked a little apprehensive, she didn’t want to talk about her crush on Rarity if it was brought up and she knew very well she wouldn’t lie to the beautiful pony before her. She could hardly lie to any pony period.

“Well first of all can you tell me about Babs? I don’t think Pinkie’s given her a party yet which is kind of strange for her, then again I think I saw her recently getting her float together so she’s been a bit busy as of late.” Rarity shook her head; the earth pony named Mumbo probably has some sad story behind his head being a skull. She had no clue what she was witness too, but it certainly had been random.

“Oh that, well shoot I can do that. Cousin Babs has been bullied a lot in Manehatten and her folks sent her on over here to get away from that for a while. We’re happy to take her in.” Applejack wondered why Rarity was suddenly giving her a leveled look for.

“Be that as it may I don’t think it’s working out quite how your cousins in Manehatten pictured it should be.” Deciding to let that sink in, Rarity waited for Applejack to ask the obvious question.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Applejack thoughts were suddenly broken away from her work which she was still doing without really thinking about it. She was still bucking trees and gathering apples without a second thought and Rarity was just following her around slowly, she finally stopped wondering what was going on when she was told about it.

“Haven’t you been paying attention to her or what she’s possibly been doing the past few days? Quite frankly I’ve seen her recently bullying my sister, your sister and Scootaloo.” Despite several other things being on her mind, Rarity wasn’t going to let this issue drop.

Applejack stayed silent for a moment, she looked to the ground before she brought her eyes back up to the sapphire lights before her with an uneasy frown. Rarity wasn’t lying to her, Babs was bullying their sisters and Scootaloo.

“Sorry Rarity, I’ve been a might bit busy lately. I wanted to give the Cutie Mark Crusaders some space to have a good time with Babs; they seemed fine when I left them to it…” Sighing to herself Applejack removed her hat swiped at the sweat upon her brow before replacing it where it belonged. “I guess it was too hopeful of me that things were going just swell between the four of them. I even forgot to tell Apple Bloom why her cousin was visiting, didn’t seem so important up until now. What exactly has Babs been doing?”

Rarity gave a quick rundown of what she saw; it seems the adults in Ponyville were rather inattentive if such brutish behavior could be carried out. Babs, Silver and Diamond were all the culprits.

“I think I can kind of see what’s happening. Babs came to Ponyville in the first place to get away from bullying about having no mark on her rear. What I can’t understand is why she would turn into a bully herself.” It just wasn’t right for an Apple to go bad; Applejack would have to look into this.

“I can tell you why, she’s probably trying to avoid being bullied so she joined the bullies in their bullying. That young lady really needs a stern talking to.” Rarity was looking for some agreement from the orange pony next to her and after a moment Applejack agreed.

“I want to talk to my little sister first to see if everything is alright with her, then I’ll talk to Babs about what she’s been doing. Now can I get back to work Rarity? I promise to try my best to take care of it.” Applejack was a little worried at first that Rarity wanted to talk to her for another reason, but now that she knew it was just a problem with Babs she could take care of it as soon as she was done with her bucking. Setting an Apple straight wouldn’t be too hard; they never fell far from the tree after all.

Rarity stood still her mind wandered, back to Zecora’s words. Did she want to continue this conversation? She was still trying to grasp what Applejack feared to hear that would make her sad and what kind of truth would it be.

“Not yet, there’s something else I wanted to ask you.” Rarity watched Applejack buck three more loads of apples, now she had to think of the right kind of question to ask.

“Well go on, I need to finish up so I can give some ponies a stern talking to.” A thud followed Applejacks words as a rain of apples fell from the tree she planted her hind legs firmly into.

“Applejack, are you sweet on me?” It took Rarity this long to figure it out, after that little thing Applejack said about her at the Crystal Empire. The only thing that would possibly make Applejack sad was facing some cold hard truth.

The second Rarity asked was the second she winced as Applejack’s hind legs went wide missing the tree she threw them at and she let out an agonized gasp as her mare parts struck the tree solidly in a painful manner which was announced by the sound of splintering wood. After a moment Applejack left eye twitch and she slowly fell forward onto the ground groaning in pain, a few minutes later she managed to stand up and give Rarity a pained look while giving off a false smile.

“Applejack is everything alright, that kind of looked rather painful dear.” Rarity tried to ask as the poor mares hind legs buckled slightly.

The truth that would make the farmer weep was that Rarity would never love Applejack the way she wanted to be loved. Rarity didn’t mind sharing platonic feelings with her friends but she confirmed a suspicion that came up since Zecora asked that she specifically talk to the orange pony and suggests that they needed a heart to heart in an oblique manner.

“I’m… ouch that’s going to smart later… Rarity I have no idea what you…” The lie died on Applejacks tongue as Rarity gave her a hurt look; she didn’t want to disappoint Rarity with a falsity. “Yeah I like you… always have and I always will.”

“I’ll tell you what I told any mare when I thought they might have liked me in that way, I’m flattered but I’m strictly into stallions.” Moving close to the farmer Rarity hugged her and let Applejack snuggle up against her.

“I never had a chance with you huh?” The farmer leaned into the hug and felt her hat being place on her head by Rarity’s magic it had fallen off when she missed her buck. Applejack didn’t so much as sniffle or even tear up about it; she just looked at the ground.

“Afraid not darling, but don’t get me wrong Applejack I don’t find the idea of your liking me as offensive. It’s just that I don’t like the idea of leading you on even for one moment. You can always dream of me if you want, you just can’t have the real thing. I’m aware I’m quite the attractive mare, but no means no and I hope our friendship isn’t affected by this.” After a moment Rarity releases the hug and looked deeply into Applejacks sad green eyes. “Come now, I think you’re done for the day. You’re either going to the hospital, back to your house for a bag of ice or I’m going to find Fluttershy to help you with your injury.”

“It ain’t that… agh…” Applejack grimaced at the pain she was currently in, as several spots of blood fell to the ground clearly visible to Rarity from her position.

“Oh my goodness Applejack you’re bleeding! Come along now we have to get that looked at.” The poor farmer blushed and Rarity realized where Applejack was probably injured given how hard she slammed that part of her body into the tree. “Oh my, this is rather embarrassing for you isn’t it… I’m so sorry Applejack.”

“It’s okay Rarity… not your fault.” Hardly passing through her lips Applejack soon felt her being lifted into the nearby cart by Rarity’s magic and the mare hooked herself in and started to pull Applejack back to the farmstead.

“It most certainly is my fault and I won’t hear another word of it.” Pulling as hard as she could, Rarity got her passenger quickly back to the home and called out for help. “Big Mac I’m sorry but there’s been an accident, can you please get Fluttershy, Nurse Red Heart or at least tell me Zecora is still around!”

Big Mac immediately rushed out and saw the blood splotches in the back of the cart and his injured sister, he quickly ran towards Ponyville. He last saw Zecora following the Cutie Mark Crusaders into town; they said something about getting some float supplies.

Five minutes later, Fluttershy was looking over a nasty wound and lacerations between Applejacks thighs. The poor shy mare winced at her friends somewhat embarrassing bloody injury that had splinters in it. They were in the process of removing the splinters in the Apple family kitchen.

“Can you tell me how this happened?” Fluttershy asked quietly as she held Applejack down with Big Mac while Zecora directed Rarity to pull the splinters out with tweezers. Applejack was a fighter and it was hard get the splinters out of her wounds without her flinching, but Fluttershy was surprisingly strong with the way she helped keep the blonde pony pinned.

“I feel the blame falls squarely on me Fluttershy, I caused this to happen.” Rarity deftly tugged a large bloody chunk of wood out of Applejack and she struggled a bit against the ponies and zebra holding her down.

“This is quite one of the most painful things to ever enter my sight, but at least you Rarity are trying to make things right.” Zecora pointed out the next splinter that needed to be removed; they would have to clean the wounds after they were sure they got all the bits of wood out of Applejack. “You are not alone in the blame, as I can take some of the same.”

“You were nowhere near the place at the time, why would I blame you for any of this?” Applejack held back a scream as another splinter was swiftly relieved from her flesh.

“I am the one who gave her a clue, about the feelings she is receiving from you.” Zecora had a rubbing salve that would make sure Applejack didn’t get an infection, as well as some potion to numb the pain for the poor mare. “Thanks to my salve you’ll be right as rain; this topical medicine takes me down memory lane.”

“No, I needed to tell Rarity that as she needed to know and I needed to get over it eventually. I was spinning my wheels going nowhere with all my pining over something I can’t have. At least I still have my wonderful friends.” Soon the last splinter was removed with a small yelp, Applejack gave a sad smile to Rarity who smiled back equally as sullen. Fluttershy moved forward and start to apply the salve was rubbing it into her injuries, Applejack started hissing in pain as the salve made short work of any possible infection she might have garnered from her injury. Fluttershy, Zecora and Rarity finished up by bandaging the inside of Applejacks thighs and where she hurt herself. “Guess I need to be more careful for a while.”

“You’ll be okay Applejack…” Fluttershy said softly petting Applejack, it must not have been easy to handle all that pain without so much as a whimper. Especially from an outright rejection from Rarity’s mouth the moment it was known Applejack had a crush on her. Fluttershy was a nice calm presence to help Applejack with that, she wouldn’t know to handle a rejection from Rainbow Dash quite as well.

“With friends like all of you, of course I will.” Applejack was glad Rarity didn’t seem like she was going to be avoiding her anytime soon.

“Zecora where are the Cutie Mark Crusaders right now?” Rarity finally asked having thought back to why she originally came to Sweet Apple Acres in the first place. Well at least she knew who Applejack was interested in now, unfortunately she wouldn’t want to play matchmaker with herself and Applejack.

“The answer to that is easy as it is mote; the Cutie Mark Crusaders are working on a new float.” Yawning Zecora looked around the kitchen. “I would like to know if we could soon start making some dinner, I hope whatever we’re having that it is certainly a winner.”

Big Mac nodded and set to work getting his ‘kiss the cook’ apron on and started to wash his hooves, his lady friend was asking for a meal and he was really willing to provide. Besides that Mac knew his elder sister needed some apples in her after the blood loss.

“Are you two staying for dinner Fluttershy, Rarity?” Applejack asked standing up, wincing slightly at the movement causing her some pain.

“Um if you don’t mind that is… Rainbow was going over to Twilights the last I saw of her. We really need some time apart from each other and I think a good book will do just that.” Fluttershy noted that Rainbow had been getting rather clingy lately and she was supposed to be the clingy one in their relationship. Blushing to herself, Fluttershy didn’t mind Rainbows rather grabby hooves or the constant snuggling, the way her wings wrapped around her body. Fluttershy’s mind had wandered into dreamland as the other ponies watched her face continue to light up in brighter shades of red.

“Not at all sugar cube. What about you Rarity?” Despite her hopeful look, Rarity didn’t look as willing to spend the meal with them.

“Okay, as long as we can talk about this liking me thing in detail.” Rarity watched as Applejack gulped and bowed her head. “It won’t be that bad Applejack, it’ll be just like ripping off a large bandage.”

After dinner Rarity left feeling like she successfully aired out the problem of Applejack liking her, she had a pretty good idea that she was attractive enough to draw in mares as well as stallions. It actually made her feel good about her own image; of course she didn’t believe Applejack for a minute about looking pretty without her makeup on.

On her way back home, Rarity stomped her hoof, she knew she had forgotten something. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were building a new float and with all the bullying they’ve been through they needed to be talked to. Maybe she’ll talk to them tomorrow at the parade; hopefully she wouldn’t forget to tell them about Babs being bullied herself.

Walking into the boutique Rarity noticed something was missing, she sighed to herself as she realized that Sweetie Belle must have been by the boutique while she was out. Shaking her head she trotted up stairs to her bathroom and started meticulously preparing for bed.

The next day…

“Veggie salad, veggie salad!” As thus Pinkie’s float exploded into a pile of lettuce. Meanwhile in the nearby tree several of Pinkie’s old friends held up cards.

Canary held up an eight, Banjo held up a seven while he munched on an apple and Mr. Fit gave her a nine for healthy eating. Banjo had seen more impressive mishaps from Kazooie.

“Did I miss anything?” Kazooie said as she landed in the tree next to Banjo, currently in the form of a pegasus. Think of the devil and she appears.

“Not much, how’d things go with the timber wolves?” Banjo asked politely.

“Eh, could be better. I at least rubbed their noses it in like you would a dog when you want them to understand territory rights. Toss me an apple my health bar has a few notches in it from being chewed on.” Banjo plucked an apple and chucked it over at Kazooie who caught it in her left wing, twirled it like a basketball and then slammed it home into her mouth with a satisfying crunch.

“Ooh, me three me three, I want an apple!” Pinkie said excitedly from her position right next to Kazooie on the branch, Banjo sighed and tossed her one too.

“That’s not the only apple you want is it Pinkie.” Kazooie chuckled and Pinkie’s angry pout as she stuffed a leaf of giant lettuce in her mouth because she didn’t want to say nice things to red pony that was teasing her. She followed the lettuce leaf with a bite of the apple and exclaiming it was juicy.

Applejack, Rarity and several other ponies ran by towards where the golden apple float went off the cliff into a little known mud hole where some pigs were playing.

An hour later Applejack shouted out for Rarity and Rarity stopped wondering what she wanted.

“I was just wondering Rare… how do you know we wouldn’t work out?” To be honest Applejack wanted to know if they have a spark. “I mean you hardly gave me much of a chance.”

“Ahem… this is how.” Rarity moved up to Applejack and then kissed her on the lips shoved her tongue Applejacks throat and the farmer was immediately swooning. Pulling away from the kiss Rarity sighed to herself. “You see that’s why we wouldn’t work out.”

“That certainly felt good to me.” Applejack said from her position on the ground.

“I didn’t feel a single spark for you dear; sorry again about breaking your heart like this but I’m straight. You just like mares and I have to admit I’m sorry that I have that affect on them. I’m cursed with my effervescent beauty that attracts the opposite gender of what I truly want.” Rarity put a hoof to her forehead and dramatically summoned her couch to fall on. “Oh why can’t I find a great stallion that is a gentleman and is not a stuck up lowbrow inbred blueblood? Oh how I would like to find just the one that actually cares about style.”

“Yeah, yeah, I get it Rarity no ulterior feelings for me whatsoever… though it was nice of you to prove it to me in that way.” Rarity wasn’t lying she’s straight; even Applejack could tell she wasn’t lying. “I have a quick question Rarity, why did you prove it to me by kissing me like that? Wouldn’t I normally get the wrong idea from something like that?”

“I will kiss a mare, but I’ll never love them like they want me too. Every pony get’s one Applejack and that’s the limit unless you’re a stallion.” Rarity patted a position next to her on the couch and Applejack sat down. “Also before you ever consider it, I do not condone the use of magic related stallion transformations to play with my heart.”

“Why, has a mare turned themselves into a stallion to get at you?” Applejack asked in a concerned tone. “What were there names and where do they live.”

“You wouldn’t believe the half of it, there’s no hiding personality even if you can magically flip your gender in some way.” Rarity scrutinized Applejack for a moment. “No you aren’t going to buck any of them into next Tuesday, this is not my first rodeo Applejack and this is not the first time this has happened with a close friend of mine.”

“A close friend as in one of the five of us, who was it aside from me? I know it wasn’t Rainbow; she needed my help with learning the finer points of kissing. Fluttershy is a little more than friendly to any mare, but she’s only been forward when it comes to Rainbow Dash and I hear tell Rainbow was her first. I also doubt she’d actually want to kiss someone unless they were something special to her. It’s not Twilight since she’s kind of oblivious to this stuff… Pinkie Pie!” Staring incredulously at Rarity, the fashion pony ducked her head slightly and blushed at Applejacks accusing stare giving off a weak smile.

“Well yes, it took a long while for her to stop being affectionate towards me. That one kiss turned into a mile long battle to stop her affectionate ways of trying to ruin my figure… she still does it but she’s less forward about it which is rather generous of her. Not that she’ll ever stop handing out free cupcakes to her closest friends; I honestly don’t know why Pinkie isn’t the element of Generosity as she gives her entire being to every pony every single day. That said I am way too generous with my admirers.” Looking up to the sky Rarity just stared at the cloudy blue yonder that Rainbow zipped by for a moment performing twirls and dives. “Pinkie is still a good friend don’t get me wrong, but she can be a little much at times. She promised, me in a normal not over the top way, that we’d always be friends at least and that she’d remember the free kiss. Well technically she did Pinkie Promise to remember the kiss.”

“Well at least I know why Pinkie gets along with you so well despite you two not having anything in common. I wouldn’t mind that kind of friendship with you as long as you sweeten the deal with hugs.” Applejack gave Rarity a pleading look and the unicorn gently wrapped a hug around her.

“Oh, your sweet darling, just because your barn door swings backwards doesn’t mean I could ever hate you. I’d have to hate Pinkie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash too if that were that case and I love them all too much to push them away like that.”Applejack opened her mouth to say something before Rarity cut her off. “Platonic love so don’t read too far into it, let’s try to keep our friendships away from the tail ends and mentions of benefits please.”

“So… how was Pinkie?” Applejack asked only for a mop of pink curls to pop up right next to her spooking her off the couch Rarity magically dragged to the field they were in.

“I tasted like cotton candy of course… Rarity doesn’t want me to talk about it too much so I won’t.” Pinkie smiled pleasantly at Applejack as she flipped over the back end of the couch to lie on her back next to Rarity.

“Pinkie, how marvelous of you to drop in as could use some company. I think it’s about time for Applejack to escort Babs to the train station anyway.” Applejack ears perked up at the words and she quickly ran off not wanted cousin Babs to be late for her train back to Manehatten.

“Hey Rarity, how are things going.” Pinkie started off a little less jovially.

“I’m fine darling, though I gave Applejack her one like I did to you. I really do need to have a talk with Sweetie Belle about all that bullying she went through this week.” Pinkie’s eyes widened and she leaned in close and waited to hear the news. “Yes, I’m still straight Pinkie after fifty or so mares you’d think they’d get the idea.”

“I still don’t know what Applejack see’s in you since your straight and all. No bends, but the curves are definitely nice.” Rarity accepted Pinkie’s words about her charming appearance for what it was with a nod.

“So… you have a large crush on Applejack?” Rarity asked out of the blue. “That explains so much about why I couldn’t figure out a mare or stallion for you considering you’re all over the place. So you’ve got a taste for apples lately?”

“Rarity, as your friend I would respectfully ask for you to drop it. I am nobodies rebound pony. That and I wouldn’t know where to find enough rubber to do that. Then there’s the issue with all the glue and you know how we ponies don’t like discussing stuff like that.” Rarity sometimes found it hard to follow Pinkie’s logic, at this moment Pinkie herself thought her logic was sound. “I like mares and stallions both, but mares seem that much sweeter to me. Applejack is more than stallion enough for me; however I’m not up to using a harebrained scheme to win her over. I just don’t do that with friends, so I would like to respectfully ask you not to try anything.”

Okay, that kind of hurt Rarity a bit, she knew Pinkie knew she’d try to get them on a date together against their wills. Not to mention that she’d be paying for it personally, generosity was hard to pull off when your friends asked you to not be generous.

“Don’t worry about it Rarity, even if Applejack is not right for me I can always try someone else. I’m not moving on from her until she gives me a chance though.” Pinkie smiled to Rarity who smiled back.”She’s stubborn isn’t she?”

“Yes she is and that’s nice to know. Now if you could get off the couch dear, I need to transport it back home where it belongs.” Rarity stretched out her hooves and hopped off the couch, followed by Pinkie. With a flick of her horn she sent the couch flying back to whence it came.

“So have you finished Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash’s wedding stuff yet?” Pinkie gave a bright goofy smile.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about Pinkie.” Rarity looked away from the party pony.

“Oh come on Rarity, after all the time Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash has been spending together lately? It’s hard to get some play time in with Dashie when Flutzie is always cuddling her. I bet you already started making their dresses even if they haven’t even tried to think of marriage yet… I’ve already called dibs on the after party.” Rarity groaned at Pinkie’s enthusiasm. Even though she was technically right, Rarity had finished Fluttershy’s wedding dress a few nights ago.

Shaking her head Rarity looked at Pinkie with a serious expression on her face. “I know they have a good chemistry Pinkie, but it’s a little early to be planning for our friends eternal happiness… which they seem to already have. I just wish you didn’t just make my mind immediately go to lingerie for their next set of birthday presents.”

“Well it would be more exciting than the normal dresses you give Rainbow Dash for her birthday, considering what she does with them. Fluttershy at least makes an effort to wear some of the dresses you give her when she’s not too embarrassed about all the attention it’ll get her in public.” Pinkie knew that Rainbow never liked dresses, the only dress Rainbow would ever be willing to use again is her gala dress and or the one off occasion dresses that she’d never be seen in again despite Rarity forcing her into them.

“I swear there’s nothing feminine about Rainbow Dash or Applejack… but they are still some of my most dearest of friends.” Shaking her head Rarity set off to find Sweetie Belle, her sister hasn’t annoyed her once all week. Odd that she’d have a craving for her little sisters annoying habits.

“See you later Rarity!” Pinkie yelled after her as she topped the nearby hill and started back for the boutique. Rarity gave a short wave back to Pinkie and continued.

It didn’t take Rarity long to find Sweetie Belle, they were both back in the boutique before long.

“Sweetie how much of that stuff did you use to make that float?” Rarity said in a sweet and slow tone, Sweetie gulped in an audibly at the look currently on Rarity’s face. “Before we get to that, why didn’t you ever come to me about your troubles? I’ll have you know I don’t like seeing you be bullied and you do know you can count on me to set some pony straight right?”

“Well why didn’t you set Babs straight then?” Sweetie Belle asked innocently.

“Because I went to Applejack about it, I didn’t know you three would stoop to revenge and I don’t like that it happened with you almost getting hurt. Revenge makes you as bad as the ones bullying you, I’m so glad you three managed to set things straight and work it out. Applejack didn’t know you were being bullied; even then that doesn’t excuse any of the ignorance in Ponyville to this kind of thing. Why even I only caught wind of it recently and I must admit to my own failure to prevent it from furthering. For that I apologize to you.” Rarity swept Sweetie Belle up into a hug before she could say anything. “Don’t you ever scare me like that again; I don’t like imagining you seriously hurt and you recently flew a float of a cliff.”

“Rarity… you’re choking…me…” Sweetie Belle was starting to turn blue in Rarity’s strong hug and she released the pressure on her sister with a apologetic smile.

“Sorry dear, I may not seem like it at times, but you know I care…” Sweetie snuggled into Rarity’s coat and she coddled the filly that meant a lot to her.

“I’m sorry we didn’t go to Applejack or you, whoever Scootaloo’s parents are…” Sweetie said after a moment.

“It’s okay, I understand completely after what happened with Gabby Gums.” Sweetie stiffened the moment Rarity mentioned that and then just relaxed after Rarity started giving her an unladylike noogie.

“Yeah, I can see why we didn’t go for help sooner.” Sweetie stated because she can honestly understand the Cutie Mark Crusaders aversion to asking for help with their problems after having all of Ponyville turn on them. “Well, look on the bright side, at least our float floated right?”

“Again while we’re on the subject, how much luster dust did you use and how much is it going to cost me?” Rarity asked after a moment.

“Oh yeah, about that… can I get away with a sorry?” Sweetie Belle gave a sweet little smile as Rarity glared at her sister, that stuff wasn’t exactly cheap. A certain little filly was going to be eating an edible boot soon.

“It’s not bad enough that your cooking keeps trying to take over Ponyville, at least I’m not billed for the damages that those incidents cause.” Closing her eyes Rarity didn’t let go of her sister. “Still be mindful of things you do Sweetie Belle, you never know when someone might just be acting out because they have it worse then you.”

“Okay, Rarity…” Answered Sweetie somberly, she actually didn’t know how Babs had it in Manehatten. It must have been pretty bad for her to join the likes of Diamond and Silver.

“Come now, I might even let you help with dinner if you get washed up well enough. In fact I made a wash myself after hugging you.” Rarity gagged at the smell coming from Sweetie Belle, she wasn’t afraid to get her hooves dirty for her sister but that didn’t mean she didn’t like the following clean up afterwards. It was just better to stay clean in the first place to Rarity.

At least the dinner they had that night was somewhat edible, once again Rarity made mention that cooking and or monster making was not Sweetie Belle’s talent. She even made mention that singing might be her little sisters talent considering how well she got along with the lake krakens. Sweetie Belle ignored that and passed it off as Rarity being herself.

Rarity slowly crawled into bed, it was kind of mean of her to kiss Applejack and tell her that was it. She did it to the other mares too and they understood. She kept breaking hearts everywhere she went and she didn’t have much of an unbroken heart herself.

She stared at the ceiling for a bit thinking about things only she worried about and then slid the sleep mask over her face, Rarity needed her beauty sleep after all. After a moment she slipped the mask off and sat up to look at Sweetie Belle snuggling into her side. Sighing Rarity nuzzled her sister before slipping the mask back on and she pulled the blanket over the smaller body next to her. Her sister did get lonely at times and tended to crawl into her bed, Rarity never minded that at all. Why would she start now?

In Canterlot Luna sat upon the throne wondering where Celestia had gone, she hadn’t been around for a while. What was her sister doing that was so important? She hadn’t been in Canterlot for several days now even after Kazooie had called her out for a little support in getting Chrysalis out of her own head. That had been a rather successful venture and nobody was hurt except for the mental representation of Chrysalis who got stung in the butt which jolted her out of her funk.

It was strange that she’d surrender to Kazooie of all ponies; Luna still hadn’t heard what became of that. In a flash the room was filled with light and Celestia walked in looking rather drowsy and sat her large white rump down next to the dark alicorn.

“Sister art thou alright? You have been away for a time.” Yes, because going missing a day after Twilight sent a message that she had been assaulted wasn’t suspect at all.

“I just had things to check on.” What Celestia wasn’t saying was her suspicions of someone sending a pony to attack Twilight specifically along with her friends to send a message to her. So far anything Celestia had discovered was inconclusive to what she previously thought.

What Celestia had discovered after hearing Twilight was assaulted was the usual stuff she’s always hearing. Assassination plots of different rulers, nobles trying to kill her again through outside contracts with other species, griffon expansionism, Minotaur’s butting heads, Zebra’s just lazing about in their plains not really hurting any pony, the Ever Free Forests magic is acting normal and Saddle Arabia finally just about ready to start more negotiations since the old contract went out a short while ago.

Why could Celestia just deal with dragons? They were exceedingly lazy if you give them enough gems and gold; they were rather hedonistic and hardly had a coherent kingdom to begin with. At least they mostly live in places that a pony is smart enough to stay away from. Unlike Twilight of course who’d followed Spike into a volcano even if it wasn’t active it could have become so as soon as she stepped hoof inside. Other than being territorial dragons really didn’t bother Celestia or her ponies all that much.

Blinking Celestia realized she had a hoof waving in front of her face; she looked to Luna’s worried eyes. “Sister, are you sure that you’re well?”

“I’m fine Luna, I’m just a bit tired, I just need to write a message to Twilight and then I’ll go to bed.” With grace Celestia stood up and shook the sand out of her mane and started to trot out of the room thinking about the things she’d write to her student. Maybe it’d help her to get her mind off being physically assaulted if she were to put on a show for the delegates? She still wondered who was behind the attack; there was nothing stolen and nothing gained from the attack except to possibly distract her from seeing the true reason of the attack in the first place.

Celestia was going to give Twilight a hug the next time she saw her, she deserved that much. She wondered if Cadence made it to Ponyville alright and if her Empire was doing well? She was still a young ruler after all and she needed Twilights help defeating Sombra. Things weren’t at their possible worst, though Celestia suspected someone was toying with the prophecy she had running and they were doing it from the shadows outside of her sight.

Standing in front of a mirror after removing the regalia, which even Celestia admitted at times might have detracted from her full on natural beauty, she started to brush her long mane and tail out. Her thoughts kept creeping right back to Twilight, her faithful beautiful smart student. It’d never work out, she thought to herself shaking her head violently, even if her favorite color was purple.

Crawling onto her extravagant bed, ah the perks being a princess, she laid down and started to slowly drift off to sleep and then her eyes snapped wide open as she felt something snuggling into her back.

“Luna…” Celestia said slowly.

“Yeah, what is it Celery?” Luna snuggled closer to her sister, she missed the warmth of when they used to share cuddles as just sisters.

“You’re already asleep aren’t you?” Sighed the solar princess as she was being spooned by her sister of the night. She did miss their closeness for a thousand or so years and it wasn’t like Luna couldn’t sleep in a bed of her own it’s just that even Celestia missed this kind of closeness that only siblings could share just short of being lovers with another pony.

“Add cheddar to the soup, you’d taste weird otherwise.” Luna mumbled into her mane, nuzzling the silky texture as her own mane drifted off the side of the bed.

“Oh Luna, what am I going to do with you.” Celestia tittered as she looked over her shoulder past the hooves that wrapped around her waist to the smiling face as Luna started dream walking. This wasn’t the first time Luna got a bit clingy, Celestia loved her sister dearly and at times was willing to make concessions for Luna’s loneliness.

As such Celestia let Luna cuddle her as she drifted off to sleep, her sister really needed to find someone to love or else Celestia would be stuck as her sister’s plush toy for the next millennia. Luna had a hard time finding ponies that would even be her friend after her bout with madness that Celestia mostly erased a thousand years ago after their fight caused the Ever Free Forest to regain its lost ground.

Nowadays Celestia could rest easy knowing her little sister was alright, but she definitely needed more friends than just anyone related to Twilights group and Little Pip.

Everything would be just fine and hopefully the somewhat bright future Celestia was trying to make would come to fruition, not just for Luna, Twilight or a small amount of ponies, but all beings in the world. Hopefully things wouldn’t become too bright as evil was the counterbalance to good and would strike if things became too good to be true.

Celestia rolled over in her sleep and wrapped her sister up in a hug.

Author's Note:

Stigma of sleeping with a sibling not withstanding.