It was just a kiss...
"Rarity, why the hay am I wearin' your lipstick?"
It was an honest question. Why was AppleJack wearing her lipstick? And it was a question Rarity was not prepared to answer. She was especially thrown by it because she had just been thrown from the pleasant dream she was having of last nights events by her friend dislodging herself from their embrace.
"Iea..."
Rarity scoured her mind for any rational reason as to why her lipstick would be on AppleJack besides the obvious truth. Her eyes darted around the room looking for that reason. Shifting from the bed to the door but always being drawn back to the stern yet confused look of the farmpony in front of her. Just when she was about to confess, a soft snore broke the awkward silence between the two ponies.
"It was Twilight!"
AppleJack raised an eyebrow in suspicion as the aforementioned unicorn sat up from her bed. She gave a loud yawn to banish the last of her sleep and smacked her lips.
"Good morning girls! Did you sleep-"
"Tell her Twilight! Tell her that you dared me to do it!" Rarity exclaimed, jumping behind Twilight in an attempt to hide herself from AppleJack. Twilight looked over to AppleJack, where she had been starring at Rarity that stare had shifted over to her. It was a deep, angry stare. One you might see from a creature of tartarus. Why was her friend so mad? Why was Rarity cowering behind her like a little filly? And what had happened last night after she had went to bed?! Whatever it was, it was making her madder by the second and Twilight was starting to get scared. She knew what those legs could do and she didn't want them aimed at her. Panicked and confused, she blurted out an answer.
"Yes! I did! I dared Rarity to do it! Now stop staring at me like that!" She cried, burying herself in her blankets to where only her horn was visible.
AppleJacks stare instantly softened. She hadn't meant to scare one of her best friends, she just wanted to know what the hay was going on here. She walked over to the quivering mass of blankets and patted them softly. Twilight slowly stuck her head out and looked up at the farm pony. There wasn't any trace of anger on her face anymore, only the good old caring expression that only AppleJack could have.
"I'm sorry I scared ya sugarcube, I just wanted to know why it was woke up wearing Raritys lipstick." She said, causing Twilight to look at her in confusion. What's she talking about? Did I dare Rarity to give her another makeover after she went to sleep? I don't think I did... "But what else could it-" Twilight began saying aloud before coming to a conclusion in her mind. "OH! Right! Yeah! That! Whew! We sure can get crazy at these things can't we?!" She said with an awkward laugh.
"Okaaay..." AppleJack said, taking a step back. "But next time y'all wanna pull something like that, do it while I'm awake alright?"
"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" Twilight said, going through the motions that came with making a Pinkie Pie Promise. Rarity has some serious explaining to do.
"Thankya. Now since SOMEpony made me sleep with my mane and tail down, I'm gonna take a minute to get 'em fixed right quick." AppleJack said, shooting Rarity a quick look as she walked back over to the dresser to continue what she was doing before being distracted. Perfect! Twilight thought to herself. I'll have Rarity come downstairs to help with breakfast and have her explain what's exactly is going on while AppleJack fixes herself up "Great! I'll get breakfast started. Rarity, could you help me in the kitchen?"
"Of course Twilight! Just let me fix my-Hair! Hair! Hair! Hair!" She started crying as Twilight took her mane in her magic and dragged her out the door. Hardly how somepony asks for help.
They walked downstairs through the library's main room into the kitchen. The tiles were a mixture of sky blue and white. The table and chairs were straight from the 70s when everypony was obsessed with socks. They followed the same color pattern as the tiles with the addition to chrome legs. The Chair backs were blue blue padding with two lines of white coming from the top corners and meeting mid-way at the bottom of the back. The seat of the chair was the same way coming from the front and going to the back. The tabletop and counters were white with tiny black spots flecked on them to make them stick out. Rarity loved this pure 70s diner design but she would always cringe at the contrast when entering the kitchen from the library.
"Okay Rarity, tell me exactly what's going on?" Twilight asked as soon as they entered the kitchen.
Rarity was shocked. She knew Twilight would ask about what was going on sooner or later. But she had expected her to at least wait until AppleJack had gone home, or even invite her out to lunch to ask about it a week later. She was not expecting to be interrogated as soon as they entered the kitchen. Again she found herself trying to look everywhere besides the eyes of the mare in front of her and again she found herself always looking back to the gaze. "Promise you won't tell AppleJack?" She said at last.
"I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." She said, making her second Pinkie Pie Promise of the morning.
Rarity bit her lip, trying to get the nerve to confess what she had done. Her hooves began to shuffle on their own. She could feel her heart beating in her throat. A bead of sweat started to make its way down her head. She had to do this. Despite being caught off-guard, she'd never hear the end of it if she didn't just say it. She took a deep breath and....
"WellitallstartedlastnightwhenAppleJackfellasleepfacingmeandherbreathingonmyneckwasreallydistractingsoIturnedaroundand-" Her mad babbling was silenced by Twilight putting a hoof over her mouth. "How about you sit down and go through all that again." She said, guiding her over to a chair. "Only this time, try not to sound like Pinkie Pie after eating a bakers dozen of cupcakes."
"Eheheh, I'll do my best."
"I really shoulda tied my mane back with somethin' before I went ta bed last night... It's harder ta tame than usual today!" AppleJack said as she struggled with the brush. It was always hard to set her mane back to normal after sleeping with it untied, normally because it would be full of tangles. Today it was thick as lard and she could hardly move the brush through it without yanking half her skull out. Wonder if Rarity's got anything I can use to help get this fixed She thought to herself. Rarity always seemed to be wanting to do stuff with her mane and tail. Heck, it was her idea in the first place to not have her hair tied back before they went to bed last night so she had dadgumwell better be able to fix this mess of a mane. Not being a pony to riffle through somepony else's belongings without permission she headed downstairs.
"Promise you won't tell AppleJack?"
Hold up. Stop. Were her ears playing tricks on her? Did Rarity just ask Twilight to keep a secret from her? This angered the orange farmpony. It almost set her back in her rage to having her personal space violated at some point in the night by the fashionista, the evidence of which she had yet to wash away. Rarity wasn't the easiest mare to get along with, heck she was down right unbearable at times! But because Twilight had insisted on having these sleepovers after the eventual success of the first one she thought that her and the fashionista had gotten so much closer than before. She certianly didn't think there was anything worth keeping secret from her.
"I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."
Secret. The word tasted venomous even as she said it in her mind. She had crept up to the kitchen door just in time to see Twilight finish the ceremony that was the ever sacred Pinkie Promise. She couldn't be sure, but it looked like she held her cupcaked eye closed longer than most ponies do when making that promise. She decided to ignore it for now until Rarity had divulged the big secret to Twilight. That is of course if she'd ever say it. Rarity had been standing there for what felt like an eternity shuffling back and forth on her hooves. Upon seeing how hard it was for her to tell whatever this was to Twilight AppleJack immediately felt the pang of her conscience wash away any anger she had felt about being lied to and decided to go back upstairs to wait for them to finish.
Until....
"WellitallstartedlastnightwhenAppleJackfellasleepfacingmeandherbreathingonmyneckwasreallydistractingsoIturnedaroundand-"
She hadn't understood everything the fashionista had just blurted out but was pretty sure she heard the words "last night" "neck" and "AppleJack" somewhere in there. Given that it was pretty hard to think of something that she thought Apple Bloom was old enough to hear about with those four words put in the same sentence, AppleJack decided to return to the kitchen doorway. This time instead of anger, curiosity was the driving emotion to her decision. Normally I wouldn't be one to pry into matters like this, but seeing as how anxious she is I should probably be here for her in case she needs me. She thought to herself as her mouth pulled itself inward to an awkward scrunch and her cheeks began to glow a faint pink.
When she returned to the scene in the kitchen Twilight had already guided Rarity to a seat at the table and was listening to her recount the events of the previous night. At first she had to really focus on not zoning out as the fashionista described how the details of the bed and room were not what was keeping her from sleeping. If she didn't know the fashionista as well as she did she might have thought she was beating around the bush so as to avoid saying whatever it was she really wanted to say. AppleJack of course knew the fashionista well enough to know that even these seemingly insignificant details were of the utmost importance to her and to leave them out was about as good as walking around town naked. She glanced over to Twilight and saw a look she was sure she was guilty of giving Rarity whenever she went on about some new fabric or the latest trend in fashion.
"But anyway darling, none of those details, while far from perfect to say the least; were the cause of my disrest last night. The problem was the way AppleJack had fallen asleep next to me."
What? THAT'S what this was all about? Sleeping positions? AppleJack had almost released an exasparated sigh but caught herself at the last moment. Surely there's more to it than that. She thought as she took a step closer to hear better. I know she's fussy from time to time but there's no way she could be THIS distraught over something as simple as sleeping positions! As she continued to listen to the fashionista's confession she could have sworn she mentioned AppleJack's smile being a factor in preventing her from sleeping. At this she couldn't help but giggle and unlike her sigh from before, she was too late in stopping it.
The confession stopped. Crap.
She heard the chairs slide out from under the table. Crap!
Footsteps could be heard making their way towards the door to the library. CRAP!!
"AppleJack..?" Rarity stated, eyes wide with shock and horror.
"Rarity..." She started off, trying to figure out how exactly to put the words together in her mind. "I'm ain't gonna pretend I heard everything y'all was plannin' to tell Twilight in there. However I ain't gonna pretend I don't know what y'all was leadin' up to neither." She said as she gestured to the residual lipstick that had come to pass in the night, causing Rarity to blush. "I-" Her words caught in her throat. Why couldn't she finish her sentence? She knew what she wanted to say. She wanted to let Rarity know that what she did was incredibly creepy! She wanted to go off and tell her that she shouldn't have done that and that she should have waited for a more appropriate time to try something like that and-!
Her thoughts stopped dead in her mind. Apparently her prolonged silence had caused the accused to start silently crying. This was bad. Certiantly NOT what she had expected from the fashionista. Sure, she had seen Rarity break down into complete fits of hysteria multiple times over a messy mane but there was something different about these tears. These tears, unlike the many shed in the past felt genuine. Where the tears shed over a split end were spurred on from panic, these came from a place of pure sadness. Seeing her friend in such a state broke AppleJack's big heart into tiny pieces. Knowing she wouldn't be able to chastise her friend in her current state, AppleJack let out a sigh and formed a new response.
"I would like to take you to dinner tonight...."
Confused by what she just heard, Rarity looked up at the farmpony. Her vision was a little blurry but she could see that AppleJack had extended her Hoof out to her, presumably inviting her to accept her request. Rubbing the last of the tears from her eyes and taking a few shaky breaths, she took AppleJack's hoof in hers.
"I would love to" She said with a smile. "But first," She said as she handled a mat of hair that had formed last night. "Let me fix your hair up."
Hesitantly, AppleJack complied as she was lead upstairs by the now almost perky fashionista. Both of the previously mentioned mares leaving a confused Twilight Sparkle sitting on her haunches in the middle of the library. It wasn't until the library bell chimed and Spike walked in that she was broken from her stupor.
"Y'know, Sweetie Belle's not so bad once you get to know her. I should offer to babysit more often." He said as he walked into the kitchen to start breakfast. She wasn't sure, but Twilight thought she saw the imprint of lipstick on his cheek as he walked past....