They didn't get along. Not at first, anyway. It was surprising to no one; they were the perfect ingredients to the cliche enemies-to-friends story. The kind that teachers read to their young students to give the parents some rest from the constant bickering between children. The iconic phrase "opposites attract" may be the most over-used phrase in history, next to perhaps "everything happens for a reason". They have different reasons for their use. "Opposites attract" is often used to describe why a juxtaposition works correctly, why you could push the opposing sides of two magnets together and watch them connect like two old friends, or why a fashionista befriends a farmer. "Everything happens for a reason" however is a phrase said by ponies who honestly don't know how to explain the situation, it's the phrase told to the fashionista after her farmer is snatched from her (in more ways than one).
Rarity knew the Apples. Everypony knew the Apples. The farm provided most of Ponyville's food, everything that wasn't imported from elsewhere. She'd seen Big Macintosh around town, and she'd met Appleseed and Sweet Apple when they dropped off an order that her parents had put in. She knew of Applejack, but she'd didn't know her. She looked at the orange filly with wild blonde hair and rough hooves and thought she knew everything there was to know about her. She was a farmer, a natural-born agriculturalist, an Apple, and nothing more. She was loud and rowdy, a rough-and-tumble type of gal that didn't appeal to Rarity very much.
Rarity would be the first to admit, however, that the quarrels they had were often her fault. She was always the one who would point out the filly's muddied hooves or the multitude of grass blades tangled in her mane. Applejack wasn't one to take kindly to unasked-for opinions. Naturally, this led to conflict and many hours of after-school detention for disrupting class. These hours were often spent avoiding Applejack's cold emerald gaze from across the room.
It was a few weeks before Hearth's Warming when Rarity got to class to see that Applejack wasn't there, which she found odd. Applejack never missed class for any reason. In fact, Rarity didn't think she could ever recall Applejack getting anything more severe than a case of the sniffles (oh how ironic for the future, my dear). When she still hadn't arrived when their instructor took her place at the front of the clsass room, worry had prickled up her spine.
Their teacher began their morning lesson less enthusiastically than normally and the lesson being taught was not what had been promised the day before. The class had been told that they would continue their lesson on grammar and writing, but... they did not learn any of that, not on that day. They were not told to read a chapter of a book or to take notes. They did not learn the normal curricular. Instead they learned words Rarity had only heard from ponies outside of school or in a magazine.
"Empathy"
"Trauma"
"Grief"
Grief
(Applejack's chair is still empty connect the dots Rarity she's gone she's GONE she's--)
at home. Safe, physically. But emotionally she was
(dead she's DEAD AND GONE)
struggling.
Since that day, Rarity didn't mind Applejack so much. The filly had returned the following week looking so broken, so tired. She'd flinched when Rarity approached her on her first day back, afraid that the unicorn would mock her hair or the Stetson she now refused to remove from her head (their teacher no longer asked her to take it off during class). She'd eyed the stretched out hoof like a frightened animal, green eyes wide and unsure. When Applejack finally accepted the polite gesture, Rarity's world exploded into a magnificent array of color and emotion. When Applejack grabbed her hoof, Rarity never wanted to let it go.
And so the cliche held true. It was never Applejack or Rarity, but Applejack and Rarity.
{Applejack and Rarity Rarity and Applejack just us always us never apart)
Green became Rarity's favorite color. Green reminded her of trees and the pastures in which they grew. It reminded her of the emeralds of silk leaves on a ruby red rose. They reminded her of eyes that scrunched up during a laugh or widened at a surprise. She watched as the color slowly filled her life, in the accents on her dresses and the icing on her pastries.
High school was a strange time for them both as the cliche only continued. Rarity was Miss Homecoming Queen while Applejack was the star athlete. Where Rarity excelled in the Language Arts classes and bombed all mathematics, Applejack passed math with flying colors while trudging through the books assigned to her. So they compromised, helped each other. Rarity would explain literature to Applejack if Applejack explained simplifying polynomials to her. They complimented each other so easily, so naturally, like chocolate and wine.
Rarity promised to never leave her, she promised she would stay by her side til her last dying breath.
Applejack had chuckled and said that was silly, that she wasn't worth it
(but she was worth everything to me, worth every single breath)
Carousel Boutique.
"It had a nice ring to it", another over-used phrase, but to Rarity it might as well have been the chorus to her favorite song. Applejack had used the phrase as a pun when she entered Rarity's new building and heard the light jingling of the bell above the door. It had eased Rarity's nerves and pushed down the bile rising in her throat. All of her dresses were in place, lined neatly on either wall of the store. The shop was small enough to manage on her own, which both terrified and relieved her. What if she opened the store and nopony showed up? What if she went bankrupt in her first week of business? What if--
...
...
Applejack called her a "worry-er" (another pun, combining "warrior" with "worrier", a pun that was found significantly less amusing).
Rarity was a worry-er because Applejack said so.
She opened the door because Applejack said she would be fine (and I was, financially).
(I'm fine I'm FINE)
(I can't breathe
Rarity and Applejack, always an and and never an or. Rarity and Applejack, Applejack and Rarity.
(Applejack and Twilight)
(Missed spa dates)
{Where are where ARE YOU she's LEAVING ME)
Applejack wondered if they'd be proud of her. Her parents.
Rarity said yes.
Applejack asked why.
(Because you're perfect)
Rarity asked why she thought they wouldn't be proud of their daughter, the savior of Equestria, the best friend (yes yes only a friend) a pony could ask for. Why wouldn't they, my dear?
Applejack didn't answer, her green
(Green green, it was everywhere, filling me, green with ENVY)
fixed on the fading Twilight
(DON'T SAY THAT WORD)
sky.
Applejack said she didn't deserve their pride.
Here come the brides.
Applejack and Twilight (and never or)
(at least I still have her)
Here comes the doctor with tear filled eyes
(Everything happens for a reason)
But what reason?
(This cannot be happening)
(I'm l o s i n g her)
(Why can't I move ON?)