Book 1 - The Behemoth came to Canterlot

by Equimorto

Asteroid

"What is the matter, dear?" Rarity asked, frowning. "You haven't even touched your salad. Is everything okay?"

Applejack was frowning too. She impaled some of said salad with her fork and forced it into her mouth, mostly to force herself not to answer.

Rarity extended one of her hands and took one of Applejack's in hers. "Darling? What is it?"

Applejack clenched her hand into a fist on instinct, and Rarity's hand left it. Applejack noticed, and took it back in hers, but then hesitated and let go. She looked to the side, and sighed. "It's... Not right now."

Rarity still frowned. "Applejack, dear. You don't need to wait if there's something on your mind. You know you don't need to worry about making my day worse or anything like that, seeing you upset upsets me more than whatever it could be."

Applejack sighed again, more softly than before. "Not right now," she repeated. She turned to look at Rarity, and added, "Please. We need to talk, but now is not the time."

Rarity stared back, indecisive, biting her lower lip for a moment. In the end she smiled. "It's alright."

Applejack smiled too. It looked tired, but genuine. She stabbed some more salad, and went back to eating.

Rarity just watched her, tilting her head to the side and smiling. She wasn't quite in daydreaming territory, but she was certainly in that general direction. Applejack noticed it, and threw a few side glances in her direction while focusing on her meal. She knew her expression was showing some cracks, but she knew Rarity was too caught up in admiring her to actually notice, right then at least. It hurt a little, but seeing Rarity happy still made her happy. And she was alright with making her happy a little longer, because she knew it would hurt a lot more than a little when they finally got to the talking.

She'd meant to find a better time for it, or maybe she was just making excuses to never get to it until it was inevitable. Rarity had finally noticed and asked, and she knew it would not have been fair to shrug it off and push it further. Neither did she have it in her to do so in the first place. So in the end the inevitable had come, she supposed.

Now all that was left was the talking.

Comments

[Speckle]

Are we finally getting to the source of the break-up?