It was totally innocent, really!
Rarity’s mane dripped as she emerged from her bathroom. “Dare I ask what happened to the towels?”
“Well, I was thinking we could make some bathrobes like you have.” Sweetie Belle poked at the floor with her hoof. “And, well, you didn’t have any fabric that was thick enough to work, and I know you have a bunch of extra towels, so I thought—”
“It’s alright, Sweetie Belle.” Her horn lit up, opening up her closet and exposing her own embroidered bathrobe. The garment glowed with blue light as she hovered it over to her waiting hooves. “I’d just appreciate it if you and your friends did something a bit less… destructive in the future, that’s all. Honestly, why didn’t you ask for my help? Or at least say something when you came into my boutique.” Rarity lifted the bathrobe to her head and started rubbing her mane dry.
Sweetie Belle brightened. “Oh! Well, Scootaloo noticed that all of our cutie marks have a double symbol on them. And Apple Bloom thought, you know, we’d done all these things, maybe we have other special talents, too! And, well, we didn’t know you were here, so…”
Rarity sighed. “Nevermind. I should have known the crusades would never end.” Rarity removed her bathrobe from her head with a frown. “Did Apple Bloom and Scootaloo go home?”
“Yeah, Applejack took Apple Bloom and—”
“Yes, yes.” Rarity glanced around the room before sighing again, trotting over to her bed and sitting on the edge of the mattress. “So, I’m sure you have some questions about what you saw,”
“Uhm… maybe a little.” Sweetie Belle started to climb up onto the far end of the bed.
“No, not over there!” Rarity shouted. “Er, I mean, why don’t you sit over here? That end is… dirty.” Rarity patted the mattress beside her, far away from the rumpled sheets on the other end of her ordinarily immaculate bed.
“Oh, okay.” Sweetie Belle trotted around the bed.
Rarity cleared her throat. “Yes, well, like I said. I’m sure you have some questions about what you saw. And I’m entirely prepared to explain them to you.” Rarity nodded.
“You uhm, don’t mind talking about it?” Sweetie Belle tilted her head.
“Of course not!” Rarity said, nervously fluffing her mane as she sat on the side of her bed, her hindlegs crossed. “Now where to begin?”
Rarity’s eyes travelled across her bed to the large wet spot in the middle of it. “Well, I suppose it is best to start at the beginning.” Rarity took a deep breath, puffing up her cheeks before she let it all out in one quick burst as she pressed her hoof to her forehead. “My roof has a leak!”
“It does?” Sweetie Belle blinked and looked up at the pristine ceiling.
“Indeed! I’m afraid I only found out during the last rainstorm when my hooves started to get damp.” Rarity shifted on the bed, smoothing out her wrinkled sheets. “Yes, a leak! Well, I thought, we had a dry week, and Applejack had a free afternoon, why not invite her over to help fix it! She does like fixing things and being helpful. Like when we go to the spa.”
“You sound angry,” Sweetie Belle said, hopping up on the bed beside her sister.
“Do I?” Rarity fanned herself with her hoof. “I can’t imagine why my dear friend Applejack spending all day doing things other than spending time with me might upset me.”
“If you say so,” Sweetie Belle said skeptically.
Rarity coughed. “So, yes. I invited Applejack over to help me find the leak, and had Rainbow Dash pour water over the roof until we found where the water was coming from.”
Sweetie Belle looked down at the bed, then back up at the ceiling. “If there’s a leak, why is the bed wet in more than one spot?”
Rarity’s eyes shifted to the far end of the bed. “Oh, yes. Well, you see, we actually found out it had two leaks.”
“Oh. No wonder you screamed so loud.”
“You heard that?” Rarity bit her lip. “Yes, well… Applejack wanted to get started right away. I suggested we go find a stepladder, but she insisted that I could simply hold her up and let her get to work. And, well, you know, a bed is not the best thing to stand on…” Rarity poked her hoof at her mattress. “Especially not with one pony standing on the shoulders of another. So when she leaned over a little, well, we fell down, and then you came in through the door, and… well, you saw the rest.”
“Wow.” Sweetie Belle blinked. “So Applejack was just trying to help you fix the roof?”
Rarity nodded her head.
“Oh, okay!” Sweetie Belle beamed. “Thanks for explaining! And uh, sorry for barging into your room.” Sweetie Belle rubbed awkwardly at her mane.
“It’s no problem, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity leaned over to give her sister a hug around the shoulders. “Though, truly, you should knock before coming in.”
“Okay.” Sweetie Belle nodded her head. “I mean, it would be really embarrassing if I walked in while you and Applejack were having sex, right?”
Rarity sputtered.
“So you like Rarity, huh?” Apple Bloom asked, looking up at her big sister as the pair trotted down the dirt road back to Sweet Apple Acres.
“Eyup.” Applejack’s eyes remained fixed on the dirt road ahead.
“And she likes you?
“Heh, I reckon.” Applejack’s cheeks colored slightly as she reached up to tip her hat with her hoof. “I mean, considerin’.”
“So you were—”
Applejack’s cheeks turned as red as any apple. “Eyup.”
“Wow.” Apple Bloom looked down at her hooves. “I didn’t know two girls could—”
“Well, they can. And uh, do.” Applejack reached up with one hoof to push her hat a bit lower over her eyes.
Apple Bloom nodded thoughtfully. “I guess that makes sense. There’s still one thing I don’t get, though.”
“What’s that?” Applejack asked cautiously.
“What was Rainbow Dash doin’ there?”
Applejack sighed.
Author's Note
Thanks to all the members of the Writeoff Association for their feedback on the original version of this story.
And special thanks to Haze and Monokeras for glancing over the story before I posted it.
The cover art was drawn by Glacier Clear and colored by me.
This story also has a dramatic reading done by Agent Fluffy which can be viewed here!
