Don't call me Sugarcube!

The next week sped by, Applejack and Rarity staying mostly out of each other's way. Rarity busied herself working on designs, most importantly the hat, and spending all of her idle time on introspective soul-searching as she tried to figure out how she really felt.

Applejack spent her time much like she spent all of her other time. Working hard and ensuring the farm ran smoothly, and spending time with her family. Applejack had come to terms with her sexuality long ago - it hadn't taken her long. As far as she was concerned, you were who you were.

So, as if no time had really passed at all, the two found themselves sharing a train compartment, travelling to Canterlot as fast as a magical engine could take them. Twilight had offered to teleport them there, but she'd spoken with such enthusiasm about wanting the practice that Rarity didn't quite trust her to not put them miles off course, so they took the train. The slow, chugging train. The one that would take hours to make the journey.

"You ain't said a word since we set off, Rarity, what's eating ya?" Applejack finally asked, the silence becoming deafening as it continued for long awkward minutes.

"Oh, I was just thinking, don't mind me" Rarity absent-mindedly replied, hoping her white lie was imperceptible. She had been thinking, but she would rather die than tell Applejack what. Fantasies of what they could do to pass the time weren't something Rarity was proud of. "Oh! I haven't given you your hat, one moment!" she suddenly exclaimed, realising that in her distraction she'd forgotten to actually give Applejack the gift that her imagination had decided should result in sloppy kisses and decidedly unladylike behaviour in one of the free bunks.

"Well ain't that something" Applejack cooed, drawing her eyes over the hat. Rarity had taken inspiration from the dress when designing it, and created something simple, but expressive. Something that screamed "Applejack" without being fancy, or overcomplicated. When Rarity had finished with it, she finally knew what ponies meant when they said that perfection was achieved not when there was nothing more to add, but when there was nothing more to take away.

Rarity had created an identical copy of Applejack's current hat.

"I tried other designs, darling, but I kept coming back to this. You look exceptional in that hat, so I thought I'd make you another. Just in case you get one dirty." Rarity explained, holding out the new headwear for Applejack to take in her hoof. It wasn't exactly like the one on her head - it was cleaner, and less obviously worn, but that was the only intentional difference.

"Shucks, Rarity, thank you. I gotta be honest, I was getting worried you'd give me something with sparkly bits on it!" Applejack laughed, Rarity joining in after an awkward moment thinking back to all her other designs. Which included sparkly bits. One of her prototypes had made the room resemble a disco hall more than a design area. She'd scrapped that design.

The remainder of the train journey went much more easily now that Rarity was able to talk to Applejack, taking her mind away from other things she'd enjoy doing to her, and then immediately beating herself up over thinking those things. Applejack was getting used to the idea of a day off, and maybe even (Not that she'd admit it, even to herself) looking forward to it.

"Okay", Rarity said as they stood outside of the event venue, being only a little late. The trains were normally much more punctual, and Rarity would be having words with the ponies responsible for the delays, but for now they were needed inside. "Here we are, Applejack, let's get in there! I, of course, shall spend the night networking, so please do try to have fun"

She opened the door with a wave of her horn, and the two were immediately assaulted by the event staff. "Tickets, please?" one of them asked, while the others stood around looking menacing, staring at the unlikely sight of Rarity, all dressed up and sparkly standing next to Applejack, who still had a little dirt on her hooves from yesterday's work.

"Of course, how silly of me" Rarity stalled as she reached for the tickets, which were exactly where she'd left them.

The staff lightened up considerably after they saw the tickets, and invited the two inside, through to where the main party was happening. Rarity was spellbound, catching sight of every big name she could think of, and barely seeing a single face she didn't recognise.

"Rarity", whispered Applejack as they walked up the short hallway towards the main hall, "I thought ya'll said this was going to be a party? They're all just... talking"

"Well, I suppose 'event' might be a better word. I must admit, I was expecting drinks at least" Rarity whispered back, starting to regret inviting Applejack along at all. Turning up alone would probably have been better than dragging her orange friend along to such a dry 'party'.

"Ah, Rarity, you made it! Come, we have much to discuss about your new clothing line! How long would it take for you to-" some clearly important figure immediately began as they walked into the room, sweeping Rarity away and leaving Applejack alone and uninterested, and quite lonely in the room filled with ponies.

A few minutes later, Applejack found herself sitting at the side of the room, inspecting the needlework on her hat and chewing on a leaf taken from one of the plants around the room. They probably weren't meant as snacks, but Applejack didn't really care.

"Why, hello there, and who are you?" asked an anonymous stallion, having inadvertently snuck up on her while she was distracted.

"Oh! Why, I'm Applejack from down in Ponyville, partner, how do you do?" Applejack replied with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, shaking the unsuspecting pony's hoof with all her might. He didn't talk to her after that.

None of them did, giving her a wide berth, like coming into direct contact with her would give them diseases. For almost half an hour, not a single pony came closer than a few meters.

"Applejack! Have you been alone this entire time?" Rarity asked, after wandering up to Applejack and sitting beside her, resting her back against the wall.

"Yup. Ain't none of these fancy do-nothings spoken to me. So much for a party, Rarity." Applejack complained, adjusting her shiny new hat and making sure it rested on her head just right.

Rarity made a snap decision. She didn't like doing things like that, but sometimes things had to be done. She'd just gotten an order that, honestly, she wasn't entirely sure she could fill in time anyway, so spending more time here was, in the short run at least, pointless. "Oh, then let's get out of here, Applejack! I'll prove to you you can have a good time in Canterlot."

"What about ya'll's business stuff? I don't want to intrude on that"

"Oh, who cares, let's live a little! Besides, I already have one order, I don't need more. You're more important to me, Applejack." Rarity said, switching from her purposefully overdramatic voice to a completely serious one as she continued, "I mean it. You're very important to me."

"Rarity, are you...?" Applejack asked, unsure of what she was hearing.

"Yes, Applejack. Yes I am." Rarity replied, unsure of what she was saying. She was insane, clearly. Completely and irrevocably insane. She was throwing away her friendship on some fools errand. Twilight would go crazy trying to fix this friendship-screwup.

"I never did thank you for the hat, not right properly" Applejack replied in a too-steady tone and an unbreaking gaze. "Ya'll said we had a hotel room for tonight, right?"

"Well, yes, the train home isn't until tomorrow" Rarity answered, unsure of where Applejack was going with this.

"When can we check in?"

Oh, that's what Applejack meant by that. "Any time after six" Rarity whispered, lowering her eyes and letting her tone become a little sultry. The two looked at a nearby clock, tracing the hands down with their eyes until they could interpret the time.

"It's 6:30, Rarity"

"Let's go" she replied, before turning around to the crowd and announcing "Ahem, everypony. I shall be taking my leave, I wish to spend some time with my dear friend, especially as you all seem to be ignoring her, quite rudely."

Nobody reacted, they probably didn't even hear. Rarity let out a pained "Hmf" and strode out of the building, head held high. Applejack followed behind, glad to finally be leaving.

"Thanks, Rarity, I know ya'll were looking forward to that, and I'm sorry I had to go ruin it for you" Applejack diplomatically offered.

"Nonsense, if those ponies can't see beauty when it's sitting in front of their faces, I shan't be having anything to do with them."

"What'd you say?" Applejack asked, the shock clearly visible on her face.

"Oh, do I have to say it, Applejack? You were right, in a way, when you were wearing that dress. I was jealous - of you. I never look that good, and you do it without even trying. It simply isn't fair, and if I can't have those kind of looks I at least want you" Rarity enthusiastically explained, assuming Applejack was just messing around and wanting to hear the words.

She wasn't. "I uh, I thought you just wanted to get out of that stuffy party, Rarity. I didn't know you felt that way" she slowly said, trying to think things through, before giving up a few seconds later and doing what felt right. "Oh, what the hay. Rarity, you're a massive pain in the flank, some days it seems like everything you do is just meant to get on my tail, and you never do know when to shut up. I guess what I'm trying to say is I feel the same way"

"You... hadn't realised?" Rarity asked, unbelieving. Those had been her best seduction tactics. She was pretty sure that she could persuade a buffalo to give up its native lands with those. Applejack hadn't even noticed. That just wasn't fair. Rarity pouted the entire way to the hotel. Even while checking in - the poor receptionist got a full-force blast of Rarity's poutiest face. She may never recover.

The two mares sat on the edge of one of the beds in their two-bed room in silence, Rarity pulling off her dress and cleaning away the sparkliest bits in her mane, shoving them into a sad looking drawer in the corner of the room.

"Rarity", Applejack began after a few moments, "You ain't said anything to me since I told you. I'd have thought you'd be happy, you just don't make sense to me some days"

Rarity considered it. She ought to be happy, her fears had been unfounded, so why wasn't she?

"Applejack, you are quite possibly the singular most irritating pony in Equestria" Rarity started, throwing out a hoof to knock her orange companion onto her back and pulling herself up to start walking towards her, "I hope you realise how many times you've ruined my day. How many times I've looked at you with such shamed lust, knowing it could never be"

Rarity slammed a hoof down onto Applejack's upper leg, holding her in place. Reaching down, she grasped Applejack's hat in her teeth and yanked it off of her head, throwing it aside and leaving Applejack quite naked. "Do you know how long I've spent looking for 'the one', every time comparing them to this perfect figure in my head and having them come up short? Do you know how long it's been since I realised that figure was you?" Rarity began to shout, beating her hoof against Applejack's chest, her weak seamstress' legs sliding painlessly off of Applejack's tough, muscular exterior.

"Aw, Rarity, I'm sorr-" Applejack began to apologise, truly sorry for the anguish she'd accidentally put Rarity through. She'd known about her feelings for a long time, and dealt with them the same way she dealt with most everything else. Quickly and quietly. Rarity interrupted her midsentence by plunging their mouths together, cutting Applejack's breath short and stopping her tongue, killing her words in no time at all.

"Shut up, I'm not done" she growled after a short kiss, barely lifting her mouth an inch away as she gritted her teeth. "And to top it all off, not only do you look better than me in a dress, you don't even like wearing them. Now that's just a crime against fashion, dear, and one you need to be punished for."

The last word of Rarity's harsh sentence was punctuated with a loud slap as Rarity's hoof impacted Applejack's flank as hard as it could. Not very hard, all things considered, and Applejack wasn't hurt, it just stung a little.

"Rarity, what the hay's gotten into you?"

Rarity's eyes softened for just a moment as she saw Applejack's concerned face staring up at her. "Just give me this, please?" she said with the start of a pout. Applejack realised as she started back into Rarity's eyes that her immunity to Rarity's psychological warfare would only stretch so far, and having a sad Rarity pin her down onto the bed was probably too much.

Applejack nodded, and shuffled slightly to get more comfortable, trying her best not to shake Rarity off as her muscles overpowered the squiggletailed pony with ease. Immediately, Rarity dropped her head down to Applejack's neck, nibbling slightly on her exposed skin.

Becoming softer, Rarity began to lay a trail of kisses up Applejack's thick, well defined neck, exploring her body closer than she'd ever dared to dream. Her free hoof busied itself, feeling all down Applejack's side and probing and prodding, admiring the athletic farm mare's body in ways Rarity could never do with her own. Rarity prided herself on elegance and poise, not brute force, sheer practicality, or having the finest ass Equestria had ever seen. Forget Honesty, that was Applejack's real gift.

"Ya calmed down yet, sugarcube?" Applejack whispered after a few seconds of Rarity merely nuzzling into the side of her neck, forgetting the punishment for a moment as she lost herself in admiring the coarse hairs of her mane, filling her nostrils with the distant smell of apples.

"Maybe" Rarity replied, her voice muffled by the hairs, and quietened by her slight embarrassment. Maybe she'd been a little dramatic just then. Just a little. "Or maybe I just want you to make it up to me"

Applejack didn't need telling twice - she'd pushed the fantasies out of her head long ago, but it didn't take much to bring them back. She'd always wanted to see the fussy, immaculate mare get dirty and lost in the moment, and now was her chance.

Throwing Rarity off with ease, Applejack turned over, pinning Rarity beneath her. "Why don't I show you how it's really done?" she whispered into Rarity's ear, holding her still and tight. Brandishing her tail like a whip, Applejack gave it a test snap, piercing the air with a crack, and feeling Rarity cringe at the sound.

The next crack was louder, and closer. Rarity squeaked a moment afterwards in a perverse mixture of fear and anticipation, quivering slightly under Applejack's tough, reassuring touch. Rarity didn't need anypony to protect her, or to save her, or any of the standard steed-in-shining-armour tropes, but she did want somepony who could keep her warm at night. Somepony she could rely on to never let her down, and somepony who would always be there when she needed them. Applejack did the last two already, and being this close to her was quickly convincing Rarity she could be quite good at the first.

"Ow!" she screamed, halfway between pleasure and ecstasy, as Applejack's tail struck her lightly on the side of her flank, barely ruffling her coat, never mind causing damage. Her body was so sensitive that the lightest touch felt like lightning. She could feel Applejack's hot breath run over her chest every time her hard, powerful chest fell, running over her body feeling like gale-force winds. Applejack's hooves pressed against her body, feeling like ten tonne weights as they held her fast.

Applejack's tail slapped against her side once more, Rarity's moan tending much closer to "pleasure" than "pain" this time as her body got used to one feeling, and amplified another. Swinging her tail over to the other side, Applejack gave her other flank the same treatment, barely a light tickle compared to what her tail was capable of.

"Oh, Applejack! Why do you tease me so?" Rarity whin- complained, her eyes and face begging for release. "Must I say it? Must I really?"

*SNAP*

Rarity's squeak echoed around the room, Applejack's tail whipping as hard as it could mere centimetres away from her aching body. The air flowing outwards from such an event was enough to drive her over the edge, her body so responsive that the slight stimulation felt like a dozen tongues scraping over her body.

"Oh, just do it, damn you!" she groaned, scrunching her eyes up as her body screamed at her to get it what it so badly needed.

"Can't hear ya, ya'll're speaking too fancy for me" Applejack coyly replied, grinning down at the helpless mare laid bare beneath her.

"Oh, you know what I want, you ruffian! Must I come down to your level? Must I beg for you to rut me like the dirty mare that I am? Because I shall, if I must. Just do it, please!" Rarity begged, forgetting the classy, sophisticated businesswoman she'd come to Canterlot to be, and slipping down into the role of a lusty, frustrated mare desperate to get laid.

Applejack relented, giving Rarity what she so clearly needed. Lowering her body, Applejack pressed against Rarity's desperate alabaster form, their entangling coats mixing together and sending jolts of fresh feeling through their wanting bodies, every hair like a needle of red hot pleasure stabbing through their skin.

The moment Applejack grew close enough, Rarity's head darted forward and her horn grew aflame, wrapping Applejack's neck in a sheath of magic as she pulled her in, meeting the surprised mare in another kiss, this one more sensual than forceful. Lightly pecking at Applejack's fruit-flavoured lips, Rarity rested their heads together and whispered thanks.

Slowly, Applejack slid her body downwards, dragging her hard, muscular ridges over Rarity's soft and lithe form, enjoying the soft coos and gasps as each line of her body pressed against Rarity, filling her with warmth, and the feeling of safety. Those feelings weren't what either of them were looking for right then.

Pushing down further, Applejack shifted lightly and brought her now engorged slit down onto Rarity's stomach, gasping as her soft fur rubbed against every inch of it, sending stabbing pleasures through her, like tasting the best apple pie that'd ever been baked.

"Oh, sugarcube!" she moaned as Rarity took advantage of her distraction to wiggle upwards, sending the tufts of her coat scraping against her and overwhelming her defences, causing her legs to fail and her body to collapse, pressing against Rarity with all her weight.

"I", Rarity began, her words interspersed with high pitched moans and gasps as each struggling motion scraped their bodies against each other, the tiniest movement stimulating both of them as their mutual fluids spread across their bodies, soaking their fur and lubricating their motions, leaving only the crushing weight of the helpless all-muscle mare to slow Rarity down.

"I still have some fight left in me, darling" she continued, using her tail to grasp on to Applejack's and tug, shifting her slightly and rubbing against the both of them. Her legs were still mostly pinned down beneath Applejack's dense, impressively heavy body, but Rarity prided herself on her agility, and shifting her body around proved no issue.

Even so, it wasn't enough. Applejack's annoyingly hot, well defined, and chiselled body was putty in Rarity's hooves, the poor mare so starved of prior attention that the mutual tickling of their coats was enough to keep her as a useless lump of groaning flesh. Rarity was unimpressed - Applejack was lucky she looked so good with her eyes scrunched shut and her mouth hanging open, because she wasn't being anything impressive in bed.

Tutting indignantly, Rarity thought to what she usually did when she was having trouble dealing with the burning heat down below. A hot bath, a romance novel, and a hoof - she didn't have any of those things, but Twilight was always telling her she should practice magic more. Maybe it was time she listened.

Concentrating, Rarity started to draw power into her horn, feeling outwards to between their hot, sticky bodies and finding the source of their needs. It wasn't difficult, the vast majority of her mind was already concentrating on it.

She started to rub between them, the magical force warm and smooth and parting their bodies just a little as it rolled up and down, separating them with a sticky sounding squelch and dissipating after a few instants as the waves of pleasure smashed against Rarity's mind, breaking her concentration and eliciting a long groan as Applejack's body rocked against her in response.

Practice, she just needed practice. Starting again, she steeled herself against the oncoming onslaught and pushed harder, massaging both of their most sensitive areas with every bit of force she could muster, teasing them apart and letting them rejoin with a wet splash as the juices of their desire mixed and mingled between them, even while the air around them was left little but a brew of their noises and scents. Their moaning created an instinctual chorus in the air as they both faltered and tried to hold on, both of them feeling the much-wanted tingling start to grow outwards from their crotches and drive all other feeling from their bodies.

Their minds blanked out as Applejack finally gave in, her body becoming more active than it'd been since they started as she arched and spasmed on top of Rarity's poor shape, driving herself against the white mare and bringing her over the edge too, snapping the concentration her magic needed just to continue. The bedsheet below them was soaked through and would probably need replacing, their coats were sodden, and both of their manes looked about as good as each other's. Rarity ought to have hated it - so why didn't she?

Because Applejack had regained what conciousness she could, and was hugging her. Her lazy, sleepy eyes were saying all the words her mouth and sore throat couldn't, and Rarity's gaze was replying with the same ferocity. They didn't have to be up until 10 tomorrow, they could sleep for as long as they liked, entangled in each other's legs feeling warm, content, and most importantly - not alone. Not alone in the slightest.

"Applejack, get off me this instant!" Rarity screeched the very moment she awoke, far too early the next morning, "I am... filthy! This bed is disgusting! Oh, why did I sleep in this, it'll take days to get my coat looking right again." she complained bitterly, blaming the poor orange mare completely.

"That ain't what you said last night!" Applejack snapped back "Ya'll seemed quite happy to get me into bed then. If I remember rightly, you got us this messy, not me"

"Hmf! If you'd been more social, maybe I wouldn't have had to make such a fool of myself admitting what I think of you!"

"Why, I-! Well you know what they say, Rarity - what happens in Canterlot stays in Canterlot! Let's just get back on that train and never mention this again, if ya'll feels that way."

"Agreed!" Rarity snapped back, looking away and trying not to notice the way her dirty mane caught and snagged on her ruffled coat. After a few moments of silence, she looked back and saw Applejack doing the same thing.

"I fell in love with you in Ponyville, Sugarcube" Rarity relented, her voice losing the harsh edge and almost apologising. Almost. Her coat was still ruined, she was still furious - but with herself, not Applejack. It wasn't her fault, not really.

"Yeah. Yeah, me too." Applejack agreed, before starting to laugh. "But please, Rarity, if we're going to make this work, promise me one thing?"

"Anything, darling."

"Never call me Sugarcube again"