• Published 1st Apr 2016
  • 8,049 Views, 4,429 Comments

Group Precipitation - FanOfMostEverything



Stories set in the Oversaturated World, some silly, some less so.

  • ...
26
 4,429
 8,049

PreviousChapters Next
Home-Grown Determination, by SaintAbsol

The bell above the door jingled as Applejack walked into Rarity's shop with a bundle of fabric under her arm, signaling her arrival.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique," Rarity called from somewhere further in. "I'll be—"

"It's just me, Rares," Applejack called out, cutting off the greeting. "Just finish up whatever yer workin' on, I can wait." She settled in for some time, idly looking around at the various designs Rarity had on display. While she had always been a simple girl with simple needs (and usually just spent her days in a pair of jeans and a T-shirt, maybe a skirt if she wanted to make herself more presentable,) AJ simply couldn't help but admire the amount of effort and work Rarity put into her clothes.

She winced a bit as several comments she had made during the Battle of the Bands came back to her, as well as how she had never actually apologized for them. She'd have to make that up to Rarity one of these days.

Her eyes continued to roam before settling on a series of papers laid out on a table in the corner. With some mild curiosity, Applejack headed toward it, and cast her gaze toward it.

"DON'T LOOK AT THAT!"

Applejack jumped as Sweetie Belle rushed down the stairs, Rarity bursting out from her work room less than a moment later. "What is—"

Sweetie Belle all but teleported the rest of the way to the papers, grabbing them up hastily in her hands and a few in her magic. "You can't see these yet! It'll ruin everything!" Without another world, she dashed back up the stairs, magically snagging a few loose papers as they slipped out.

Applejack, for her part, just blinked. "What in the..."

Rarity sighed, shaking her head. "It's her 'shipping grid', as she calls it; she's been poring over it for a few days now, trying to 'fix' something with it." She brought a hand up to rub at her headgem. "Personally, I think she needs to step away from it. It just isn't right to be playing around in other people's lives like that."

Applejack raised an eyebrow, hearing a bit more of an edge in Rarity's tone than usual. "...yer on it, ain't ya?"

"Yes, and she won't tell me with whom!" Rarity's hands grasped her hair and pulled in frustration, face contorting in rage. "How am I supposed to plan out what I'm going to wear to my wedding if I don't know who I'm going to marry?!"

Applejack sighed, letting Rarity get the drama out of her system before speaking up again. "I think ya might be takin' this whole thing just a mite too serious, Rares."

"'Too serious'?" Rarity repeated in disbelief. "This is my fate we're talking about here, Applejack. It's how I'm going to be spending the rest of my life! It's one of the most important days in my life! It's—!"

"A bunch o' hogwash."

Rarity's tongue stumbled as she tripped over her words, making several sounds that couldn't have constituted any sort of language before she finally managed to get her mouth working again. "WHAT?!"

"I know it might be a might disrespectful to say, seein' as how our sisters are in charge o' it now, but... I ain't ever put much stock in 'fate'."

Rarity could only stare at Applejack, dumbfounded. "B-but what about your..." she hesitated, the old taboo creeping into her mind, even though it was obsolete by now. "...icon?"

Applejack flinched as well, but soldiered on. "I found it the same as anyone else, but... even if I hadn't, I don' think I'd be doin' anythin' else with mah life."

"Then how can you discount fate?"

Applejack sighed, mimicking Rarity's earlier pose as she rubbed her head. "Because it ain't fate that decided what I do, it's me." She paused, thinking a moment. "Lets say you never got yer icon... could you see yerself doin' anything other than makin' dresses and designs?"

Rarity scoffed, multiple times. "Of course not," she finally said. "I may not have know it was what I was meant to do with my life at the time, but I have always been a fashionista!" She cringed. "Even if my earlier designs... aren't something I'm particularly proud of..."

Applejack just smirked at that. "Sorta like how Ah've always been a farmer, Dash has always been an athlete, Shy has always loved animals, and Pinkie's..." she scrunched her face in concentration, looking for the appropriate words.

"'always been Pinkie Pie'?" Rarity offered with a smile.

Applejack had to chuckle at that, there was no other way to say it, really. "Eeyep. Point is, this is who we are, who we want to be, who we chose to be. Not what 'fate' decided we were; so yer sister sees the future, big deal. The future ain't set in stone, so don' worry none about tryin' to figure it out." She smiled, putting a hand on Rarity's shoulder. "Just do what you wanna do, and let everythin' else worry about itself, 'kay?"

Rarity couldn't help but smile, even as a bit of red seemed to work its way into her face. "I suppose you have a point there, Applejack." She gave a wistful sigh, a dreamy look on her face as the blush only deepened. "Still... it would be nice to know if it was who I'd want it to be..."

Applejack couldn't help but tense up a bit before forcing herself to relax. "And who might that be?"

Rarity wagged a finger in Applejack's face, her smile no longer quite reaching her eyes. "Ah ah ah, a lady is entitled to a few secrets, darling." She put her finger down. "Now, what was it that brought you here in the first place?"

Finally recalling that she was here for a reason of her own, AJ cleared her throat. "R-right, well, see, Apple Bloom's sweet on this one feller and wants to take dance lessons with him, but she can't find a dress that fits her right..."


Up in her room, it was all Sweetie Belle could do not to cackle maniacally as she drew a bright red line from her sister's name to one more on her grid, their future now all the more clear in her mind.

Author's Note:

"Dance, puppets, dance!"
"Sweetie? Are you plotting up there?"
"No more than usual!"
"I suppose that's the best I can hope for."

PreviousChapters Next