Obsolution

by not plu

15: The Duplicate Horn

I learned that no matter where you go in life, you should never forget that you are the product of your home and your friends. And that is something always to be proud of, no matter what...

---

In a perfect metaphor for everything going on in her life and frankly, in Equestria, it was raining. Pouring, really. And here Applejack was, waiting to be let into nearly the tallest building she’d ever seen in her life.

She was absolutely drenched: her mane and tail hairs stuck to her body, her eyelashes dripped into her eyes, even her bones felt soaked. Desperately, she pressed her hoof into the buzzer once again, double-checking that the name card next to it indeed said Rarity in that pretentious penmanship of hers.

Finally, the door swung open.

“Oh my goodness, how long have you been out here? I’m so sorry Applejack, you must be--”

“Sweetie Belle? What are you doing here?”

---

A long elevator ride, a warm blanket, and a cup of tea later, Applejack had upgraded from ‘soaked’ to ‘damp.’ Sweetie Belle sat across from her, sinking into the red velvet of her chair, her limbs tucked neatly under her.

Applejack looked around. The white walls, which stretched up to impossibly high ceilings, were broken up by paintings and photographs that Applejack would need a yearlong course to understand. The gargantuan windows must have provided unparalleled views of the city when they weren’t being pelted by rain. And the furniture was certainly... Rarity’s style.

They both silently sipped their tea.

“So are you gonna tell me where Rarity is?”

“Well, I would, except that, um, I--”

Applejack placed her teacup down on the coffee table, which seemed to be made from a single carved block of pink marble.

“Except you don’t know where she is?”

Sweetie shook her head.

“No, I do, I just... well it’s irrelevant because she gets back tomorrow. So it doesn’t matter, right?”

Applejack raised an eyebrow.

“...Right.”

Sweetie Belle, noticing that Applejack’s teacup was empty, eagerly offered her more. Even though Applejack declined, she rose nonetheless, taking both their cups to the kitchen. As she walked away, Applejack’s eyes were glued to cutie mark which now graced her flank.

By the time she got back, Applejack had had time to come up with a conversational topic that might actually get a fully sentence out of Sweetie Belle.

“So how do you like it here?”

She smiled softly.

“It’s definitely a lot different than Ponyville. Rarity enrolled me in a performing arts school, and I really like it there. But yeah, it’s... different. But I get my own room here and it’s really big and that’s cool.”

Applejack forced a smile in return.

“Rarity travels a lot for work, huh?”

The genuineness in Sweetie’s smile had faded, though the expression stayed put. She shook her head.

“Not that much anymore. She’s, uh, on vacation right now.”

This prompted another quizzical look from Applejack.

“Without you?”

“With her coltfriend. I would’ve been third-wheeling, so--”

“Her what now?”

Applejack heard the surprised tone come out of her mouth but she immediately didn’t know why it was there.

Of course Rarity would have a coltfriend. Of course she’d be traipsing around Equestria with him instead of being there for her sister. Of course.

Rather than surprised, Applejack would have liked to be mad. To feel something. But after the traveling and the rain and the mediocre tea, she was tired. Just tired.

“Hey do y’all have a guest room in this place?”

Sweetie nodded, standing again. Applejack took that as all the permission she needed to stay the night.

---

Rarity had taken weeks to design her dream kitchen. The soft, cool-toned color palette was the result of many hours of careful consideration. There was not a single accessory or appliance that drew the eye too much or upset the balance of the design.

Which was the first of many reasons that Rarity was unhappy to see the bright orange sight in her kitchen when she got home.

“How in Celestia’s name did you get in here?”

“A ‘good morning, Applejack’ would’ve been nice.”

Rarity took off her bedazzled sunglasses and perched them atop her perfectly coiffed mane.

“Answer the question, Applejack.”

She took another bite of her toast.

“Sweetie Belle let me in.”

“You’d think a place as pricey as this one would have better security.”

Rarity proceeded to make herself a cup of coffee, ingredients and gadgets floating around the kitchen with ease.

“Aren’t you gonna ask me what I’m doing here?”

Rarity didn’t look up from her caffeination task.

“I figured you’d tell me eventually.”

She had a point. And Applejack was, in fact, about to tell her when there was the sound of a door slamming and something very heavy being dropped.

“Darling? Could you come help me?” A distinctly male voice called from the entrance to the apartment. Rarity dropped what she was doing and rushed out of the kitchen, leaving Applejack with her toast once more.

Applejack was washing her plate when Rarity came back, this time with an indigo unicorn who could only be the coltfriend.

“Applejack, may I introduce you to Larkspur. My...”

“Coltfriend. Sweetie told me.”

Applejack stuck a hoof out and he shook it gingerly.

“A pleasure, Applejack. Rarity’s told me all about you and your friends in Ponyville. It sounds like an absolutely charming place.”

“Charming. Sure.”

They’re perfect for eachother.

Rarity turned her attention to Larkspur.

“Darling, would you mind giving us mares a moment?”

He nodded, said another empty pleasantry to Applejack, and then was gone.

“So how did y’all meet?”

Rarity rolled her eyes.

“You don’t need to pretend you’re here to make small talk, you’ve always been pitifully easy to read, Applejack.”

As much as she wanted to snap back with something witty, she had to admit that Rarity had a point. So instead she stayed quiet.

“So what is it? Are you here to reprimand me for abandoning Sweetie Belle? For abandoning Ponyville? For abandoning Pinkie? For abandoning you?”

“I wasn’t going to--”

“Well I’m sorry for having the audacity to do something with my life instead of sitting in stupid old Ponyville squandering everything away, for taking a leap of faith and venturing out alone.”

“Rarity, shut up.”

Rarity was still rambling, melodramatically listing off her assumptions of Applejack’s critiques. Applejack repeated herself, louder. Still nothing. Finally, she screamed her name. This got through to her.

Rarity was quiet. Waiting for the avalanche of criticism that she’d been running from.

“I know we don’t always see eye to eye, Rarity.”

Rarity huffed softly, as if to call that an understatement. Applejack pretended not to hear.

“I want you to know what I always had so much respect for you.”

Rarity looked up, surprised she was getting a compliment and not an insult. She opened her mouth to thank Applejack, but was met with a raised hoof.

“But I can honestly tell you that I don’t recognize the mare in front of me. This ain’t you and we both know it.”

“You don’t know what is me.”

“Maybe neither do you!”

Rarity didn’t have a response to that, preferring to look up at the ceiling instead.

“Look, I’m glad you’re doing well for yourself, Rarity. But you left Ponyville, you holed yourself up in this glass tower of yours, and you’re pretending to be someone you’re not.”

Rarity blinked back tears. Leave it to Applejack to find a way to make her feel guiltier through compliments than she ever could through insults.

“I appreciate it, Applejack, but I’m pretty sure I’ve always been a bitch.”

Applejack really, truly, swear-on-her-Element wanted to disagree. But she couldn’t, at least not entirely.

“Alright maybe. I’m not gonna try and stand here and convince you. But at least you’re a generous bitch.”

“I don’t have to be--”

Applejack laughed, stopping Rarity in her tracks.

“Nice one, fancypants, but Twilight already tried that. Not gonna work.”

“You... talked to Twilight?”

Rarity’s tone was apprehensive, leaving Applejack unsure if this was good news or bad news. She nodded.

“I’m talking to everypony.”

Everypony wasn’t exactly a concept Rarity had thought about in a while. She told herself she had better things to worry about. That everypony else, all her other friends, were living their best lives just like she was living her best life.

But that’s the truth isn’t it? That maybe I’m not living my best life and maybe...

“Fine. What do you want from me?”

Leave it to Applejack to dig through to the truth.

Author's Note:

lol I guess I'm gonna finish this. maybe. no promises.

(I also might go back and edit & improve the old chapters, we'll see)

Comments

[Ice Star]

Oh gosh, these two are capable of being so brutal towards one another. Awesome work.

[Ice Star]

10536930
Aww, that's a shame. It was one of my favorite stories on the site. Will it at least be marked canceled now? It's been on hiatus forever, and I was really hoping to see it wrap up one day.