Vacation for Three Please

by Blues Rider

10: We're A Work In Progress

Rarity slumped onto the table in front of her. She felt groggy and mad, which wasn't a new feeling, but it wasn't really boosted by spending the night on Twilight's purple couch. In fact the last few days had become an uphill battle for her. She held a small jar of jam in her hand, tossing it delicately through her fingers as she looked for a distraction.

Twilight bought a plate of buttered toast over to the purple table, placing it close enough for Rarity to grab, but far enough away that Rarity's hair wasn't going to get caught under the plate. The mass of well kept blue hair raised itself up off the table, searching for food.

Pushing her hair back with her jam pot hand, Rarity straightened herself up. She spotted the toast and decided to open the small jam pot, satisfied by the sound of the sealed paper label tearing and the pop of the jar decompressing. Then she searched for a knife and plate, only to realise Twilight had failed to bring those over yet, and she resumed her slumped position on the table.

For the past few days she had been through a lot. From the moment she met her counterpart self, she had: found out Applejack's doppelganger was in a relationship with Rainbow Dash rather than her, had a big falling out with Applejack, been hung up on the phone by Sunset, given her speech at the fashion conference before quickly departing, arguing with Applejack again, calling Twilight to ask for a bed for the week and missed the rest of her fashion conference.

"Right, I'm off." Twilight announced a little abruptly. "Remember you're meeting me at the mall for lunch at eleven-thirty. I'm not having you slouch around the flat all day." She lightly ordered Rarity, not standing for the I-feel-so-sorry-for-myself' mood.

Before Rarity had a chance to answer, Twilight had twirled her coat on, grabbed a piece of toast and left for the crisp, chill morning. The outside chill passed over Rarity's body as the door closed. Rarity noted the three pieces of buttered toast in front of her, picked one up, put it on her plate and proceeded to spread the jam onto it with her knife.

For the next few hours, Rarity spent most of her energy laying on a sofa and scrolling through social media accounts, searching for something greater than her problems to occupy her time before eleven o'clock came around. When eleven o'clock did come around, she dragged herself off the sofa in a drunken manner and forced herself to get changed out of her pink, fluffy dressing gown.

Not wanting to appear scruffy in public despite her mood, she reached for the small wardrobe she had in her suitcase and adorned a long sleeve, low cut top without shoulder straps, and a pair of black, ripped jeans with accompanying gold pocket chains. She figured this best accentuated her figure while suiting her mood. She especially loved the black, gold and white colour combo that her skin tone bought to the outfit.

Then she checked her phone, daintily unlocking it. A widget displayed a small icon of a sun disappearing behind a cloud. Next to this icon, the temperature read seventy degrees fahrenheit. She figured this was warm enough to warrant a handbag and no coat.

Then she checked her messages, specifically scrolling to Applejack's messages. There were no new messages. And with the feeling of dejection continuing, she threw her phone in her handbag, locked the door to Twilight's flat, and made her way towards the mall.

---

Rarity had been feeling good. She thought about her nightmare over pancakes and in the car on the way to Canterlot mall. She thought how amusing it is that sometimes nightmares can be so simple, and yet they will jump-scare you awake. She recalled how she woke that morning, it was like she had fought a manticore, and she thought about how weird it was to dream she was a pony even while she was a human.

Rarity had been given the first shower slot that morning, having been deemed 'most in need'. Which she had no problem with after her sweaty nightmare. Apart from Rainbow's apparent grogginess from being woken up, it had been a good morning. The events of Equestria Land seemed to have been largely forgotten, and the focus was largely on reopening the mirror portal.

They climbed into Sunset's car just after eleven O-clock.

"How fast does this thing go?" Rainbow asked from the front seat, clearly having been considering it for a few days. Sunset chuckled.

"Well the fastest I've ever been in it is ninety-five miles per hour. But a lot of roads are limited to fifty or less over here so I can't drive fast often, though I'm sure it can go faster." Sunset replied.

"Fifty?" Rainbow replied in disgust. She took a moment to digest it. "I go faster training foals to fly."

"Mmmm hmmm. It's mostly for safety purposes..." Sunset started to explain. Rarity's attention was distracted by the largy, beautiful metropolis passing by.

She watched from the back window as Sunset drove down a ramp to Canterlot Mall. They stopped momentarily as Sunset activated some kind of device that gave her a ticket thing, which then raised a barrier in front of the car before driving into the main area of the car park.

Sunset parked her car in the underground car park, the four girls got out and made their way through some glass doors to a pair of escalators. They rode upwards, Rarity recalling the stunned awe she experienced when she first visited two days ago. That felt like a long time ago now.

They sat at the same table they had the other day, right in the centre of the mall, the cafe encircled by three stories of shops (and a long corridor full of more shops). Sunset checked with the girls what drinks they wanted, and made her way to the nearest vendor to collect the four drinks plus one for Twilight.

However to Sunset's surprise, the next person she noticed was her Applejack, from the human world, making her way down the corridor section, heading for the cafe. Wearing a concerned and confused expression, she stood up and waved Applejack over to meet them in the cafe. Out of the corner of Rarity's eye she caught rainbow's flicker of annoyance.

"Well Ah'll be. Ah was wonderin' if Ah was gunna get a chance to meet ya'll. How'd ya do?" Human Applejack asked pleasantly surprised. Equestria-Applejack was surprise at the nonchalant attitude of her counterpart, but she wasn't too concerned, unlike Rainbow and Rarity who both seemed to stiffen at the arrival of Applejack's counterpart.

---

Rarity watched from a distance as she saw her girlfriend interacting with Sunset and the three Equestria Girls. She suddenly felt sick and disgusted. Had Twilight set her up deliberately here? Was this just some elaborate scheme? She didn't want to be a part of it. The girls at the table looked happy, and in a way it sickened her. Then she felt a tapping on her shoulder.

"Hey Rarity." Came the voice of a softly spoken Twilight Sparkle from behind her. But before she could turn around and have a go at Twilight, she noted the setting, a public space full of people and fashion boutique rivals. She channeled all her anger inwards and focused it directly, quaintly, softly towards Twilight.

"Twilight what is this?" She hissed.

"We need to talk." Twilight replied straight away.

"No shit Twilight." Rarity mocked her. She felt a ferocious ball of electricity causing through her. Part of her wanted to lash out at Twilight right away, and the more she suppressed the feeling, the more rage coursed through her body. She was already physically shaking, and Twilight could see that.

"Come with me, please." Twilight asked, hoping she hadn't already lost her friend's trust.

"I am not going anywhere near those girls Twilight." Rarity demanded.

"I know, I get it." Twilight empathised. "Come walk outside with me. Please."

Rarity felt herself shaking. She cautiously accepted Twilight's proposal, furious if it was a trap, but if it wasn't intentional then maybe Twilight just made a simple mistake and she could calm down. They walked a little way down the large corridor and then slipped into an alleyway between two shops.

They passed through a set of double doors into a large concrete plaza. They both headed straight for the fountain in the centre and took a seat on the edge of the stonework. Rarity, still shaking, instantly felt the cold. She huddled her arms close in to her body, glad for the long sleeves.

"I know these past few days have been hell for you. I really do, possibly more than anyone else. But Rarity..." Twilight paused to ensure she found the right words. "Rarity I need you to think about those girls for a minute. I need you to think about them because you've lost sight of what matters to you."

Rarity wanted to ... she didn't want to hit Twilight anymore ... she wanted to yell ... but she didn't have anything to say. Rarity felt herself just start to slowly shut down, the anxiety dying from her body, taking her energy with her. Twilight sensed this.

"Rarity look at me." Twilight got up, grabbed Rarity by the arms and looked her directly in the eyes. "I need you to help yourself, because nobody else can. I know Applejack has done some things wrong, but you love her and you know that. And I know Sunset didn't tell you about the girls and rejected your call, but you need to hear her out. Because right now, this is destroying you, and if I let you continue like this, I know you'll lose more than just your friendships. I won't let you do that to yourself."

Twilight took a deep breath and held on to Rarity, keeping eye constant. Rarity shivered and took a gulp. She looked into Twilight's purple eyes, and begrudgingly knew she was right, no matter how badly she wanted to deny it. Twilight took another deep breath, calming herself. Rarity mirrored her and took a deep breath too. She didn't let go of her anger, not quite yet, but she prepared herself for the conversation ahead.

Weakly, she nodded to Twilight. A definitive answer. She would go ahead with the plan. Twilight smiled back gladly and sat back on the fountain.

"I promise, I'll wait till you're ready."

Rarity felt a big shiver come over her and she wiped away some water from her eye that might form a tear. Quietly she replied, "Just a few minutes. Give me a few minutes." Twilight replied with a few understanding nods, looking out over the plaza.

---

"An' so Ah told Sunset, that it'd be fine, just don't touch the white outfits!" Human Applejack joked as she finished up the story of how Sunset got everyone their clothes.

"Oh my!" Rarity chuckled. followed by laughs from Sunset and Applejack (Equestria Applejack).

Rainbow on the other hand gave a simple, dry chuckle and a "Heh." It was lost in the forest of chuckles, but Equestria-Applejack noticed and looked at her girlfriend wearily.

"So what are ya'll doing here anyway?" human-Applejack asked curiously. "Ah thought Rare said you were here two days ago." She seemed to say 'Rare' with just enough hesitation that Rarity noticed.

"Ah well, when we bumped into Rarity we figured it was best to head back home. You know, not to keep two Rarity's in the same place at the same time and all that." Sunset replied.

"Uh yeah. Is it a good idea to be talking now with two Applejack's here?" Rainbow asked in what seemed like a sharp manner, but the tone was fore-fronted with concerned. Equestria-Applejack tried to piece together exactly what was bothering Rainbow. But before she got an answer Twilight appeared at the edge of the food court with human-Rarity. Human-Applejack and Sunset noticed them first, and then everyone felt awkward, and nobody knew what to do.

"Ah maybe you got a good point. Ah'll catch...." Human-Applejack was caught off guard.

Twilight gave a casual wave, but Sunset knew instantly that something was going on.

As human-Rarity walked closer to the table, nervous energy still inhabiting her body, she noticed Equestria-Applejack sat next to Sunset and thought of how she had come onto her the other day, then she looked to Rainbow and felt guilty instantly. It wasn't helped by Rainbow's look of annoyance as she turned back to Applejack.

Rainbow looked to her girlfriend and under her breath muttered. "You have got to be kidding me."

Both Applejack's realised. Things were about to get complicated.