• Published 25th Jan 2015
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A New Beginning in a New Land - REDACTED99999



'Through worlds and sadness and loneliness, we found each other, and if we can be happy together, then maybe it will all have been worth it somehow.' - A man in love.

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Chapter 48

Rarity wasn’t a big fan of farm work. It was hard, it was exhausting, she was behind on her own work, and maybe worst of all, it left her sweaty. It was not work suited for a lady, not at all.

Still, Applejack needed help, and what kind of friend would she be if she ignored such a plea? No, sometimes you had to sacrifice a bit for your friends, and they in turn would do the same for you. It was poetic really, when you thought about it.

Of course that didn’t mean that she wasn’t very happy when she heard Applejack’s words. “Thank you for yer help, everypony, it means a lot to us, but I think me and Big Mac can handle the rest of the season by ourselves. Now come on in and enjoy the feast Granny Smith and Apple Bloom prepared for you.”

Rarity would have cheered out loud, if such a thing wouldn’t be considered extremely rude. She couldn’t help to the “Thank the heavens” that she mumbled under her breath though. Jax seemed to be the only one to hear though, judging by his chuckles.

Since it was Friday, it was her turn to… watch over him? No, he wasn’t some foal that needed an adult. Spend her day with him, then. Or ‘hang out’ as she was sure Rainbow Dash would say. Most of the day was gone now, having been worked away on the farm, but she had tried to stay close to him still. Princess Celestia herself had tasked them, after all, there was no need to be tardy. Even if all of the other elements were nearby.

He hadn’t been talking much, though. She blamed the work. It’s hard to talk while you were fighting to breathe. He also looked kind of tired.

He still smiled whenever somepony talked to him, which Rarity found reassuring. She doubted Sombra knew how to smile, for some reason… Not that she had had a lot of contact with the stallion, but as far as she understood, he was more of an ‘evil laughter’ kind of pony.

Which simply wouldn’t do when she gave him his new clothes. Nothing short of genuine appreciation would do for the brilliance she had put into it. She couldn’t wait to see his face.

Jax walked beside her as they walked towards the farmhouse. A nice aroma of hay and apples surrounded them as they entered behind everypony else. Applejack hadn’t been exaggerating, the word feast really was a good description of what was before them. Not that their prior meals had been bad, just not as plentiful and varied. There was enough here to feed half the population of Canterlot.

Not the noble half though. They would probably not touch food that wasn’t made by a ‘real’ chef.

Thoughts like those made Rarity glad she was born in Ponyville. Nobility had its charms, and she quite frankly adored it, but the thought of all the things she would have missed was she born amongst their ranks was enough to make her content with what she had.

“So… Apple Bloom. You and your fellow crusaders still doing the whole star gazing thing?” Jax asked as he sat down. Rarity took the free spot beside him.

“Well… not exactly. It’s been too cloudy, y’know? Last Monday was beautiful though…” Her gaze turned dreamy. “Every star was a falling star, and that thing at the end was so sweet…” She sighed wistfully. “Ah wanted it to last forever…”

Rarity’s heart melted a little. One day the young filly would be sighing like that because of a lucky colt, and it would be even cuter.

She had to agree that the ‘show’ Princess Luna had put on had been very, very beautiful, and that the finale had been more than heart-warming. Rarity was so happy that Jax and Luna were finally together.

She was just a little jealous as well. If only Blueblood had been a little more… perfect.

Jax’ laughter brought her back to reality. “It really has been only four days since then, hasn’t it? Amazing how many things can happen in such a short amount of time… but yes, it was quite beautiful.”

Apple Bloom perked up as if she realized something. “Hey, Applejack said that you’re together with Princess Luna now. Can ya get her to do it again next Monday?!”

Rarity looked over at Jax’ smile. It was genuine, she was sure of it. ‘Alright, no need to check his smile every two seconds, Rarity. Relax.’

“Well, I’m sure there will be something, if the weather permits it. Whether it will be the same… I don’t know.”

“Aww come on! It was so beautiful, but only a few ponies from school saw it. Ah… Kind of told them that the Princess would probably do it again next week…”

“Well, she can’t just do the same thing every week. That’s too boring.”

“Well she doesn’t have to! Only next week, so that all the ponies that didn’t get ta see it have a chance… I mean, it was even in the paper. They’re all curious.”

Jax looked confused. He looked at Rarity for confirmation.

“It was, darling. Had a whole article to itself, comparing it to the shows from other weeks. Of course I understand that Princess Luna can’t steal the entire sky for this kind of thing every week, but I’m sure she could do it at least once more? For the foals?” And for herself. It was quite beautiful, after all. She gave him her best puppy-eyes, to which he rolled his with a good natured smile.

“Right, for the foals. I’ll try to convince her, but if she can’t then-“

“Oh that’s great!” Twilight burst out, apparently following the conversation. Rarity wasn’t the only one who had enjoyed the show, it would seem. “I’ll let the weather ponies know to leave the sky clear.”

Jax’ laughter was delightful. Rarity was a little amazed that he could laugh so carefree in his current situation. Rarity herself would probably be panicking if she was in his place.

The rest of the dinner went by with a cheerful atmosphere, everypony enjoying the food provided, which Rarity had to admit was quite a treat. Somewhere along the evening, Jax, Applejack, and Pinkie decided to have an eating competition in honour of Rainbow Dash, though Rarity wasn’t quite sure how that helped or honoured the hospitalized mare in any way.

Of course, Jax and Applejack never stood a chance. Pinkie took the non-existent prize as everypony knew she would.

“I… I can’t breathe properly.” Jax complained as they made their way out into the night. He had one appendage on his stomach, the other on the wall to steady himself, but Rarity had her eyes on the star-filled sky, excitement filling her once again at the thought of his gift.

“Well, darling, that’s what you get when you eat a wide selection of food, and then decide that eating an entire pie is a good idea.” She chided him with a smile on her muzzle, turning towards him. It had been fun watching them, though she would never admit it out loud.

“But it tasted so good! And we almost had a pie each! What was I supposed to do, ask to take it home with me like a normal person?” He laughed, and Rarity joined him. She became a little worried when he seemed to become short on breath, but his inability to stop laughing just seemed to make it all the more fun.

“Are you alright darling?” She asked between pearls of laughter.

“I’m fine, I’m fine.” He took a couple of more deep breaths, laughed some more, and then finally seemed to gain control of himself. Rarity wasn’t quite sure why it had been so funny, in retrospect. The poor stallion couldn’t breathe and they were just laughing away. It was just one of those in-the-moment things, she guessed.

“So…” He had gotten his laughter under control, though the smile was still on his face. “You’re on ‘watch’ tonight?”

Her smile fell a little. “Darling, don’t make it sound like I’m some warden watching a prisoner. I’m simply here as your friend.” She smiled softly at him, but a frown settled on his face. This simply wouldn’t do. “Besides darling, I would make a terrible warden.” She added.

His smile returned with a roll of his small eyes. “Well that’s true. Alright, let’s go with… So you’re the one I’m hanging out with today?”

It was her turn to roll her eyes. “Yes, we are spending the day together, although the work took away most of it. Still… we have a couple of hours, if you want.” She looked at him expectedly. She didn’t want to tell him she had a gift for him just yet, she had to present it to him at just the right time.

“Sure.” He answered with a shrug. “I just need to get my pay for yesterday.”

“Ah, you mean from the show? It was very…” She circled her hoof in the air, trying to come up with a positive word. “… Energetic.” She wasn’t pleased with her choice, but she couldn’t quite come up with anything else to describe it. To be honest, it had scared her a little, him singing about his demons, but it had also made her more determined to try and help him. She started walking to hide the displeased face she made, and he followed.

“You didn’t like it.” He deadpanned.

“It just wasn’t my cup of tea darling. Nothing personal, of course.”

“Of course. I did like your… Ponytones? I liked your guys’ song. It was a nice contrast to my song.” He smiled. “I like that you have both Big Mac and Fluttershy singing in it. They are like the ponies who talk the least out of all the ponies I’ve spoken to… well ‘all’ is a big word since I haven’t talked with that many ponies, but still. Well I’ve managed to have a proper conversation with Fluttershy, but she seems like she prefers to listen, and Big Mac seems fine with ‘yeup’s and ‘nope’s.”

“Ah, it does seem that way at first darling, but once you get to know them they talk plenty, trust me.” She smiled at him. Now that she looked closely, she could see that he had bags under his eyes. Maybe he had gone to sleep late last night…

“Yeah, I believe you, you probably know them a little better than me. Oh! I also want to visit Rainbow. She must be bored to death in the hospital.”

Rarity smiled a little wider. “Of course darling. I’m sure she’ll appreciate it.”

***

“Here… Here you go. Thank you for the… uhm… performance. Vinyl really liked it a lot.” Octavia emptied a bag of coins into Jax’ appendage- what were they called again? Han… Hand? Hands… That sounded right.

Octavia seemed to be nervous about talking to him, but Rarity thought she did well, considering. She knew how easy it was to give in to fear and just accept the worst about creatures you didn’t know much about. Luckily she learned her lesson a long time ago, and she hoped that the rest of Ponyville would follow.

Honestly, how many Zecora and Princess Luna visits did it take to convince the small town that giving into fear only led to somepony being hurt? She would have thought… but it was fine. Jax didn’t even seem like he noticed, he was just looked at the coins in his… hands. She would have to give him a coin purse when they dropped by her store.

“Rarity? What can I buy for 30 bits?”

She realized that this was the first time he had his own bits. Twilight and Luna had been covering his needs before, and Applejack had given him meals afterwards.

It honestly shocked her a little. She could still remember when she offered to make him clothes as a ‘welcome to Ponyville’ gift, he had frowned and those green eyes of his had filled with sorrow. ‘I have nothing.’ He had said… and that had stayed true months down the line until now. It never even occurred to her, but she should have given him a job, give him a few bits to assist her around the shop like she did with Spike… except Spike always refused the bits.

Rarity cleared her throat. “Quite a lot, if you’re thinking about food. Applejack sells 5 apples for 3 bits – quite the bargain if you ask me.”

He had looked so happy when she had insisted that the clothes were free. So much gratitude could be seen in his eyes.

“If you want to… repay me for all the clothes however, I’m afraid it will cost a little more than that.” That’s right, he had told her he would repay her. She couldn’t give him all the clothes for free. She could afford it yes, but… he probably wouldn’t want that, would he?

Everything he has right now is something given to him freely, as a gift, or as something to be paid later. Rarity didn’t realize until now how bad that must have felt for him, being in so much debt to so many ponies.

The way he looked at the coins in his hands told her all she needed to know about that. But there was nothing to do about it right now, she supposed.

“Yes… well, have a good day then.” Octavia said from the door.

“Yes, thank you and good day.” She answered politely and hurriedly closed her maw before she could say something about the… décor. Who paints their house two different colours, honestly? Even the hay on the roof were two different kinds. It was maddening to look at, but she supposed it was their house and they could paint it however many colours they wanted.

“Yeah, thanks. Tell Vinyl I look forward to hearing from her…” His smiled fell at the end of the sentence. “I mean… Ah whatever, I’m sure she won’t be offended.” He turned around and started walking away, a little rudely in Rarity’s opinion. She smiled apolitically at the gray mare, who looked at the human with a weird expression. She looked kind of unsure of herself, but she still had a small smile on her muzzle. Rarity wasn’t sure what to make of it, so she hurried after Jax.

“Well that was a little rude.” She told him bluntly.

“Ah, she wasn’t so bad. I can take the fidgeting just fine, it’s when they scream and run the other way where-“ He looked at her frown and accusing stare, and seemed to realize that she wasn’t talking about Octavia. “Oh you mean the speedy retreat? I guess you wanted me to say ‘now, if you’ll excuse me’ or something stupid like that?”

“It’s not stupid!” Rarity insisted, shocked that he could say something like that. “A few extra words and you go from appearing like some oaf who forgot to turn off the stove, to a gentecolt in a hurry to something important.” She chided him with a frown. “Why can’t anypony see that?” She muttered under her breath.

He stopped suddenly. Rarity stopped and looked back at his surprised face, a little confused. “I’m… I’m sorry Rarity, that was rude of me. I shouldn’t have worded it like that… what I mean was to say was, it’s just… not me.”

Rarity waved his concern away with a hoof. “Already forgotten darling. Believe it or not, you are not the first to tell me something similar…” She sighed at the memory of trying to teach her friends manners. Twilight and Fluttershy didn’t need lessons of course, but Rainbow Dash, Pinkie and Applejack would just gain so much from it. Yet a few simple words and phrases was too much for them to bother. It was really frustrating sometimes.

“You are most gracious, dear friend.” Jax said with a delightful accent and an amused smile.

“Oh hush.” She giggled. “Now let’s go get you a coin purse. Plus I have a suuuurprise for you.” She sang. She couldn’t wait to give him his present. He would be so overjoyed, she was sure of it.

Even if he did feel indebted to her… okay maybe she should wait with giving it to him.

“Really? What is it?” He asked.

Well… Too late now. “Ohh… you’ll see.” She said in an excited voice. She couldn’t really help it, there was nothing better than seeing a costumer’s reaction to her inspiration.

Except that one time with her friends of course. ‘It’s fine, just make it 20% cooler’… she shivered. She hoped to Celestia that Jax wouldn’t ever react like that.

***

They entered her boutique through the back entrance. “Sweetie Belle?” She called, just to be safe. Sweetie Belle wasn’t supposed to be there, but you never knew with her. Sometimes she liked to give Rarity surprise visits, which was quite sweet when she wasn’t behind on her work.

“Alright, come on in darling. I’m sorry for the mess, waking up before sunrise to work on the farm did not leave me with much energy to clean these last couple of days.” She led him to the main room where she could smell the dust in the air. Had it really been that long since she cleaned? She turned on the light.

It was a mess, just like she knew it would be. There was fabric everywhere, sacrificed to the floor in her mad inspiration. Dust covered the ponyquins that she hadn’t used. Half-finished projects were scattered around in random places. Maybe she should have asked him to wait outside while she cleaned a bit… She laughed nervously as she turned around.

Jax just waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “I still haven’t paid you for any of the clothes you made me Rarity. You don’t need to impress me with a clean place. I’m already impressed by your generosity.”

Rarity’s chest swelled with pride at his words, even when she noted the slight sadness to his voice.

“I am going to pay you though. I hope you’ve been keeping track.” He joked, adopting a half-smile.

“Of course darling.” She hadn’t really. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She knew the cost of the fabric for each of his outfits, and roughly how much time she had used to make them, so she had an estimate. But all his outfits were something completely new, never before seen in Equestria. How do you put a price on something like that? Not only that, but she really wanted to give him an enormous discount for all the trouble he has been through since arriving.

She also knew he wouldn’t like it. It would be pretty costly for him though, especially his new clothes.

Maybe a tiny discount wouldn’t hurt… He wouldn’t even know.

She shook herself out of it. He still didn’t have any bits, except the ones in his hands, which wasn’t nearly enough. Which reminded her.

“Let me get you a… I know I have it here somewhere…” She started searching in piles of fabric and clothes, sure she had seen a spare coin purse somewhere… She normally didn’t let her mess get this far. She would have to clean it tomorrow. No excuses.

“Ah!” She exclaimed as she found the plain coin purse she received from the bank with her withdrawal. It was practically just brown linen with a string at the end to close it. She was going to throw the thing out but got side-tracked. “Here you go. A bit unimpressive, but it will have to do.” She levitated the dreadful thing over to him, and by the look of shock on his face, he had a similar opinion of-

“No don’t!” He jumped back in near panic, spilling bits all over the floor and making Rarity freeze completely, unsure what she had done wrong. Perhaps she had offended him by trying to gift him such a hideous coin purse? Well, she didn’t think he would be, going by past interactions with him… he didn’t seem to care that much about fashion. Had she been wrong?

“Don’t touch me with your magic, Rarity. Please.” He looked a little lost, if she was honest. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but she understood why he could be upset with her.

She slowly raised a hoof up to her mouth. “I am so sorry darling. I completely forgot about the… the chaos thing. Here let me just lay it on the table over here and you can pick it up by yourself.” She noticed that he visibly relaxed after she moved her telekinesis away from him.

‘You should have remembered!’ She chided herself. ‘Who knows what would have happened if he hadn’t reacted in time! And now his surprise is soured by this experience…’ She sighed tiredly.

He walked over to the table and put the bits he still had in his hands on it. “Thanks… this will do nicely.” She could hear it in his voice. He had lost a lot of the confidence he had just a little while ago. This was really bad. This was not how she wanted to present her brilliance. She would have to delay until she could get him in a good mood again.

“How many bits do you have? Sit down and let me pay you for the ones you lost. I’m sure I’ll find them while cleaning the place.” She said as she went over to the… She was sure her own coin purse was here somewhere… or did she have it in her saddlebags? But where did she put…

“22 bits.” He said after counting. “Why are all of them one bits? Don’t you have anything higher?”

“Of course we do darling. We have 1, 10, 50, 100, and if you really need to buy something expensive, 500 and 1000 bit coins.” She said as she moved fabrics out of the way in her search. At this point it might just be easier to look for the bits he lost on the floor… “I don’t know why Octavia decided to pay you with single bits. Maybe it was all she had.” She carefully levitated some silk out of the way to reveal her saddlebags. “Aha!” She quickly found her silk coin purse and took out eight bits. “Here you go darling.” She levitated them over, careful to not let her telekinetic field anywhere near him.

He nodded his head and put them into his new coin purse.

“Alright… uhm… let me make that tea you like. Excuse me.” He just nodded his head again as she made her way over to the kitchen.

She swallowed hard. It had been an honest mistake, she told herself. She slowly relaxed her jaw and let out a tired breath. She could fix this. What made Jax happy? He seemed to like puns… did she know any puns? Not on the top of her head. What about Princess Luna? He definitely liked her… she wondered… did he know the story of when she had visited on Nightmare Night?

A smile slowly spread on her muzzle. This was going to be fun.

***

“… and after that, she seemed to relax much more, even pulling a few pranks herself here and there.” Rarity finished the story, taking a sip of her tea.

Jax had eaten up every word. He was looking at her with a smile that said ‘I can’t believe what I just heard.’

“No way!” He finally exclaimed and started laughing. “The fun has been doubled? Thy backside is whole and ungobbled? Ohh God she’s so adorable.” They both laughed, Jax in pure joy and Rarity in relief that her story had worked. “Ahh, but I didn’t know she had so many problems. I’m glad Twilight was there to help her, and Ponyville seems to be fine with her now. But man I’m gonna tease her so much with this, I can’t wait.” An excited smile appeared on his face.

It was time. “Speaking of being excited…” She started, gathering magic in her horn. “I think it is time for your surprise.” She placed herself into the middle of the room, ready to work her magic. With a swing of her horn, several fabrics were thrown into the corner, so that she could find the clothes she needed. The pants over there, the shirt over there. And in the end, the cloak. She was careful with it, making sure Jax couldn’t see the back of it. That was the piece she was looking forward to the most.

She put all of it over to the table, so that Jax could look at it without worrying about her magic.

The entire outfit consisted of cotton fabrics, dyed different shades of blue, except the cloak that was as black as the night.

Jax smile was wide. “Oh. My. God… You made me a cloak!”

Rarity looked on in excitement as he went over to the cloak. It was the piece she had worked the hardest on, and she was happy that he concentrated on it. Now she just had to wait…

He picked up the cloak and held at arm’s length. “Uhh, soft. And heavier than it looks. I’m sure it will be nice and warm during the-“ He turned it around.

Rarity almost couldn’t contain her excitement. He stood there, frozen, as he took in the starscape before him. It had been very challenging for her to find a gem that caught the light in the right way, but she finally found something perfect and it was all worth it for this moment. His mouth was open wide and his eyes almost shone with wonder.

After a whole minute of silence she finally couldn’t take it anymore. She needed to hear how much he loved it. “Do you…” Her voice shook with barely contained excitement. “Do you like it?”

He seemed to come out of a daze. “Rarity…” He looked over at her with a completely serious face. “This is the most beautiful piece of cloth I have ever seen.” Then he carefully laid it back on the table, unfolded so he could take in the whole cloak. He squinted at it, raising a hand tracing something, before laughing out loud. Rarity had a good idea of what he had found, though she thought it would take him longer. “You actually incorporated Luna’s cutie mark! This is amazing! Rarity, you are the best God-damn tailor in this world!”

Rarity blushed a little as he lifted her up and hugged her. “Please darling, I’m just happy you like it.”

“Like it?! I love it. I can’t believe you actually managed to make a cloak look like a starscape. You didn’t actually use real stars did you? It kinda looks like it!”

Rarity smiled brightly at his excitement. She simply adored his reaction to her gift. This was perfect. “No of course not darling. It’s a certain type of gem called a moonstone. It is not exactly rare, but not easy to come by either. I’m afraid that it raised the price of this outfit quite a bit.”

“I’ll pay you back one day, I promise. Thank you for this. Thank you so much.”

“Please darling. I’m just doing what I love. Your reaction means more to me than anything else you can offer.” She told him softly. “Besides… I think I cost you a trip to the hospital. I think visiting hours are over by now.”

”Pff. I think Rainbow can wait till tomorrow.”

They hugged a bit longer before Jax put on the cloak. Luckily it seemed to fit him quite well, and it would do wonders to warm him when the weather turned even colder.

Rarity walked him home shortly after, and they parted with smiles on their faces.

Author's Note:

Woo! Over 300 likes XD That's nice to see :D
So, I'm trying something with perspectives here... It's harder this way, I tell you that, but I guess its good training ^^
I literally just finished this chapter, so if there is something weird about it, please comment. Now... time to finish my exam...
Also, all instances of Applebloom have now been changed to her official name Apple Bloom.

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