Applejack awoke the next morning and immediately regarded her room with suspicions, scanning the room with her eyes to see if something had changed about between when she had gone to bed and when she awoke.

She didn't notice anything at first, and so felt comfortable stepping over the side of her bed and getting onto the floor.

Her instinctive distrust of the place had not entirely gone away, however. Just because she managed to sleep through one night without dreaming of squiddy gibberish-speaking abominations or waking up to find her limbs cut off did not mean Rarity was entitled to her I Told You So just yet.

"Rarity?" Applejack called. She left her room and went into the hall. "Rarity!"

Her call echoed through the empty ambient hall. There was no answer.

Applejack's first thought was to be suspicious, skeptical, to take this as confirmation that something strange and sinister was afoot and Rarity had run afoul of it.

But there was a logical side to Applejack, as rare it was that it came out, and it told her that the mansion was a big place. It was entirely reasonable that Rarity might not have heard her from so far.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "I'm sure that's it."

She glanced up and saw a statue of a bat perched on the rafter.

"Yeah, and my name's Orange Juice Von Cinnamon," she added. "Rarity!" she called out hoarsely, trying to avoid catching Crimson Veil’s attention. Her hope was to find Rarity, grab her, and then hoof it and get as far away as from this mansion as possible. Maybe even leave an apology note to Crimson for not finishing her dress so as to pretend Applejack wasn't onto her.

"Rarity," Applejack said again.

"Yes, darling?"

Applejack nearly jumped out of her skin when Rarity popped up behind her.

"Lands' sakes, Rarity, don't sneak up on me like that!"

"How would you prefer I sneak up on you?" Rarity asked. "Like this? Or maybe more like this?" she struck an overly dramatic pose each time.

"None of the above! I would prefer if you not sneak up on me at all!"

"Yet, I seem to recall that you were asking for me," Rarity said. "And I was behind you, it seemed only prudent to make my presence. Or would you have preferred that I let you be alone and walk all the way to the end of the hall and back before you found me standing here?"

"I don't know! Maybe!" Applejack said. She sighed. "Look, Rarity, I've said it once, I'll say it again, this place gives me the creeps, and I don't trust that Crimson gal is being entirely honest with us."

"Probably not. After all, would you spill to your deepest darkest secrets to a pair of ponies you just met? Especially when you're trying to hire of them as a professional to do a job?"

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Applejack said. "Look, Rarity, all I want is to hear you say that we can leave."

"Okay," Rarity said. "We can leave."

"Wha-really?"

"After I finish Crimson’s dress for her," Rarity added, sticking her hoof into Applejack's nose.

Applejack sighed. "Fine. But then right after that, we split. No complaining. No delaying. No dilly-dallying. Just you and me getting out of here as fast as possible."

"If that's what makes you happy," Rarity said airily.

"That is what will make me happy," Applejack insisted with a growl.

“Mind your tone,” Rarity said. “It’s unseemly to growl when you’re a guest in someone’s home.”

Applejack scoffed.

"Now, why don't we go and have a nice breakfast?" Rarity suggested. "Perhaps you'll find some of the edge taken off after you eat something."

"Yeah, maybe," Applejack said. She raised an eyebrow. "We're not going to eat, like, fried vampire fruit bats or something, are we?"

"I don't know. Is that what you want?" Rarity asked, tilting her head and causing some of her mane to fall over her eye in a seductive manner.

"No!" Applejack said. "I just want a normal breakfast."

"Your will be done," Rarity said with a joking tone.

Applejack rolled her eyes, but followed Rarity into the kitchen, where Crimson Veil was standing around in a cooking apron, with a steaming pile of hash browns and eggs waiting on plates set up on the table.

"See? Now this is more like it," Applejack said, pleased at the meal. She took a seat and stared at her food, ready to dig in until the last second.

"What's wrong, Applejack?" Crimson Veil said. "Not a fan of hash browns?"

"No, no, it's not that," Applejack said. "It's just ..."

"Just what?" Rarity reached over and poked Applejack in the shoulder. "You're afraid the food's been poisoned? That maybe we've mixed a bit of potion into you that's going to turn into a timberwolf?"

"No! ... Maybe," Applejack admitted, unable to bring herself to lie to their faces, even if she was still suspicious of Crimson.

"Tell you what," Rarity said, "why don't I take a bite, and then if nothing happens, you'll know the food is fine?"

Rarity used her unicorn telekinesis to take a bite of hash browns with her fork, eat it, chew, and swallow.

"Tastes fine to me," Rarity said as she dabbed at her face with a napkin.

"Good enough for me," Applejack said, relaxing. She picked up her silverware with her hooves. "I trust you, Rarity."

"I know, darling," Rarity tapped Applejack on the back. "After all, that's what friends are for."

Applejack happily went to work eating her plate. Once she gotten over her fear, she found Crimson Veil was a good cook. Maybe not as good as anypony in her family, but she knew a decent hash browns when she tasted it.

She was too enthused with her food to notice that after her initial demonstration to prove the food wasn't poisoned, neither Rarity nor Crimson touched a bite on their plates.

Applejack chewed and swallowed, eying Rarity's plate. "You gonna eat that?"

Rarity politely pushed her plate over to Applejack, surrendering the food. Applejack proceeded to devour it.

"So, uh, Rarity," Applejack said, waving her hoof around, ignoring the bit of oatmeal that dripped from it, "when are you going to start working on that dress?"

"Soon, Applejack," Rarity said, glancing at Applejack with sharp, piercing eyes.

"Why do you ask?" Crimson asked.

"Because I told her we could leave when I finished it."

"Are you really so eager to leave?" Crimson asked. "I hope you don't have a mind to dine and dash. That's terribly rude, you know."

"Yes, terribly rude," Rarity agreed.

Applejack groaned. "I can tell you two are getting on like a barn on fire."

Crimson's eyes looked away from Applejack. So did Rarity's, but Applejack was still intent on Crimson and didn't notice Rarity.

"Yes, fire ..." Crimson mumbled. "Rarity, shall I show you around the mansion? There are several rooms I'd love to show you. I bet you might even have some ideas for improvements to the decor!"

"Why, I just might! Thank you for the opportunity. It's nice when somepony recognizes that somepony has a sense of style and lets them redecorate."

"Rarity, I told you, I'm not letting you put no frou-frou banners in my barn!" Applejack shouted. "Hey, wait a minute." She glared at them both with suspicion, then approached Rarity. "Rarity, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Why of course," Rarity said, turning to Applejack. "You can talk to me for several minutes, if that's what makes you happy."

Applejack opened her mouth to speak, then looked over at Crimson, who was swirling a glass of orange juice in her hoof.

"Alone?" Applejack said.

"Fine by me," Crimson said. "I know when I'm not wanted. I also know when I am wanted." She gave a flirty wink and sauntered, disappearing into the darkness of a nearby hallway. To Applejack, the whole mansion seemed to be built of nothing but hallways with occasional stops for necessary rooms like the kitchen and bathroom.

"What did you want to talk about that you didn't want my new friend to hear, Applejack?" Rarity asked with concern, taking a sip of orange juice. Applejack took no notice of the dissatisfied expression drinking it put on her face.

"That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about, Rarity," Applejack said. "Y'all barely know this pony. You just met yesterday, and now you're all buddy-buddy with her like you've known each other for years!"

"Perhaps I have known her for years and simply neglected to mention that information to you," Rarity said. "Remember that whole Colutura fiasco, when you had a friend you didn't mention for years? Or Fluttershy's brother?"

"This ain't the same thing."

"How do you know?"

"I ... I just do, all right?" Applejack said. "I'm the Element of Honesty, aren't I? That means I can tell when ponies are lying or hiding the truth, and I'm telling you, Crimson Veil is hiding something!"

"We are all hiding something from someone or another, are we not?" Rarity said mysteriously, much to Applejack's chagrin. "Furthermore, I do not believe simply having the Element of Honesty makes you capable of that. If that was how it worked, Pinkie would be able to make ponies laugh by touching them, and I could give away everything I own without the slightest hint of parting regret."

"Couldn't you?" Applejack asked, brow raised.

"Well, not without a little bit of regret," Rarity said, "And the promise I'd be able to get it all or replace it eventually."

Applejack shook her head. "This conversation is getting nowhere."

"I can agree with that."

"Forget it," Applejack waved her hoof. "Just go and make your stupid dress so we can get out of here, and when Crimson Veil, I don't know, turns into a giant snake or something, I can point at you and laugh and say 'I told you so'!"

"Yes," Rarity said, glancing away from the window, where the sunbeams had begun to shun through. "Or something. Oh, and Applejack? One more thing."

"What is it now?"

"Language," Rarity said. "I'll not have you call Crimson's dress 'stupid' again."

Applejack rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll try to be a little more sensitive in the future, since you two can't seem to handle hearing a pony say so much as one of Granny Smith's old-timey swears!"

Applejack finally left the room.

Rarity watched her go with prying eyes, then took another dissatisfactory sip of orange juice.

The sunlight grew closer and closer in, and Rarity hissed and winced as the sunlight brought a sizzle to her skin. She lifted up her morning gown, rushed over to the window, and pulled the curtains over.

"Oh, Crimson!" Rarity called. "I'm ready to see those rooms now!"

"Excellent," Crimson said, appearing as if from the air, startling Rarity.

"You must show me how to do that sometime," Rarity said after she got over her initial fright.

"In due time," Crimson said. "In the meantime, why don't you tell me what you think these rooms need? I have a spare walk-in closet that is just crying out for some color."

"I think I can help with that."

"Good. And ... what about Applejack? Can you help with her? Is she going to be ... difficult?"

"Applejack is always difficult, darling," Rarity said. "But after knowing her for so long, you start to learn a few tricks about how to deal with her general pigheadedness."

Crimson licked her lips at the mention of pigs.

Rarity found this odd.

"What? Pig's blood is good eating."

"I will have to take your word for it."

Not much eventful happened for the rest of the day, save for a few occasions when Applejack would knock on the door to the room where Rarity worked on the dress to check on her progress.

"Rarity," Applejack knocked, using her hoof and thump-thumping the door. "Rarity, are you in there? Can I come in?"

"Oh, very well, darling," Rarity said.

Applejack pushed the door open with a gentleness surprising coming from her. "Are you done working on the dress yet?"

"Applejack, for the last time, no, I am not done working on the dress yet," Rarity said, keeping sewing needles on a nearby pincushion as she sew together a black cloth dress that in Applejack's opinion, did not look like her best work.

"I will tell you when it is finished," Rarity said.

"Well, how long is that going to take?"

Rarity signed. "Applejack, how long did it take me to complete your dress for the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"I don't know."

"How many revisions did it go through?"

"I don't know that, either ... forty? You had to make a lot of changes to it."

"N-" Rarity was about to correct Applejack and tell her the proper number of two, but then she got a wonderful, awful idea.

"Yes, Applejack, that's right. Forty. Forty revisions. Forty changes. Forty times to have to start from scratch. So it took me a very long time. So, if I'm going to be able to finish Crimson's dress, I am going to need time, and I am going to need to be able to concentrate so I can get through those forty revisions, and I can't do that if you keep interrupting me, so please... just leave me alone to my work, and then the sooner I can finish it, and the sooner we can get out of here."

"Okay," Applejack said. "Sounds good to me."

"Good," Rarity said, locking eyes with Applejack.

Applejack felt an erotic shiver fly over her snatch from where she knew not. Deciding that was good a cue as any to leave, she did.

Applejack stepped outside. She walked around, pacing back and forth.

"Applejack, I can still hear you! Take your nervous pacing elsewhere, please!"

"I'm going, I'm going," Applejack said, and she went to go pace elsewhere.

"Ah, perfect," Rarity said after completing a stitch. She looked at the door to make sure it was close and listened intently for any sound of Applejack's hooves on the floor, then sniffed, putting her vampire nose to good use to track Applejack's scent. There was a hint of it there, but it was fading, not strong enough to be from Applejack herself, but from one of her many visits.

Assured she was alone, like Penelope in the Odyssey, Rarity began to unsew the dress.

It was some time later, after nightfall and after dinner, Applejack was preparing to go to bed. Taking a page from Rarity's book, she had dressed up in a nightgown, normally something she wouldn't ever bother with, but she had asked Rarity for help sleeping and it was what she suggested. And as much as Applejack could criticize Rarity for, one thing she couldn't was that Rarity did always seemed to have a blemish free face, clear of bags under her eyes or bloodshot within them.

Unless she was having one of her workaholic periods.

Or it was just the makeup.

This time, Applejack did notice that Rarity and Crimson Veil barely touched their food, but when she pointed it out, they proceeded to eat mostly normally, if it a bit slow for Applejack's tastes. They had a hay steak and red wine, which was not the best pairing in Applejack's opinion, but it washed down with a bit of vanilla ice cream easily enough.

Applejack crawled into her bed and was ready to start trying to get to sleep when she was startled by a loud clanging noise that made her jump out of her bed and nearly launch herself straight into the ceiling.

"What was that?" Applejack asked.

She received no reply, and took a deep breath and wiped off the sweat that formed on her forehead.

"Easy there, girl," Applejack said. "You're being ridiculous. It's nothing to worry about. It's a big mansion. I bet Rarity probably just dropped a piano or something." (why Rarity would have been carrying a piano at all was a piece of logic she was not concerned with in her effort to calm herself down).

"It's nothing. You're just a little jumpy because you don't trust Crimson, and you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Yeah, that's it."

Applejack made another attempt to go under her covers, but a loud shriek like from a swarm of bats speaking in one voice alarmed her and made her scramble and fall of the bed.

On the cold hard floor, Applejack's mind went to work with terrible possibilities. Perhaps the other shoe had dropped. Perhaps the clang she heard was Crimson Veil bludgeoning out Rarity's brains with an old trophy, and the shriek was the cackle she made afterward, or the appreciative hum of a carnivorous monster she was now feeding Rarity's remains to.

With this fear in mind, Applejack bolted out the door.

"Don't worry, Rarity, I'm coming!"

Applejack charged. Unfortunately, she charged off the bed and into the floor, getting herself caught in the sheets.

“Applejack?” Rarity asked, opening the door softly, holding up an unlit candle which she placed on the nightstand. She realized the discrepancy, and waved her hoof over it, making the wick come alight to keep Applejack from seeing it before tending to her friend.

“Are you all right, darling?” Rarity helped to untangle Applejack from the bed sheets, which had gotten tangled around her body in the course of her fall. “Whatever in the world happened?”

“I was, uh,” Applejack said as she stood upright. She kicked a leg out into the air and pumped it up and down. “Just doing my stretching exercises. You know. Keep the muscles sharp. It’s not my fault that Crimson put this bed smack dab in the middle of the room and I bumped into it.”

“Really?” Rarity asked, winding the sheet through her hooves. “Because it looks more like to me like you fell off the bed.”

Applejack looked away from Rarity. She sighed. “You’re right, Rarity. I can’t lie to you. I did fall off.”

“Whatever for?” Rarity asked. “More importantly, are you okay? Do we need to ask Crimson to get you another bed, one lower to the ground?” She put a hoof on Applejack’s back, and Applejack was struck by how cold it was. Not enough heat in the old building, she figured.

“No, no, I’m fine,” Applejack insisted, swatting Rarity’s hoof off before the chill got to her. “I just ...”

“Just what?”

Applejack got that look on her face Rarity recognized as her not wanting to admit what she did.

“Applejack, if you’re hurting … or if there’s something bothering you – other than being here in general, I mean – I would like to know.” She ran her hoof comfortingly over the back of Applejack’s neck and shoulders.

"Applejack, darling," Rarity said, "I think maybe you should go back to bed."

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea."

Rarity helped Applejack onto the bed, making sure she didn't fall over again.

"You poor darling," Rarity said, giving Applejack a comforting rub across Applejack's Cutie Mark. Applejack felt a shiver go through her, her Cutie Mark proving unexpectedly sensitive, even with Rarity's cold hoof.

"Being here is just being absolutely awful for your health, isn't it?" Rarity asked, sympathy shining in her eyes.

"Yeah," Applejack said. "I want to go home. I want us to get out of here."

"Well, I think we've labored the reasons why I can't do that enough already," Rarity said, "but I think we can arrange for you to go home back to Ponyville first thing tomorrow morning."

"What? No, no, Rarity, I can't do that," Applejack said. "I've already told you, if I left and then Crimson revealed her true colors and did something awful to you because I wasn't there to protect ya ... why, I don't think I'd ever forgive myself."

Rarity's eyes shifted over to the corner of the room.

"Tell you what, Applejack; why don't we write a letter to Rainbow Dash and she can come get you with a chariot, or Twilight with her hot air balloon, and then they can stay here while you go back home? That way, we still have someone here to watch over me, but you can get out of this, and I quote, creepy mansion, and I can keep working on Crimson Veil's dress."

"Gosh, Rarity," Applejack said, "that's mighty generous of you."

"I think you were the one who started to trying to bring the Elements of Harmony into the conversation?" Rarity giggled.

"Huh, yeah," Applejack said. "I tell ya, I might feel better if I had my Element on me." She tapped at her bare and empty neck.

"Even though it would be useless by itself?" Rarity asked with a quizzical tilt of her head.

Applejack chuckled. "Well, it's got a good hefty gemstone in it, doesn't it? Could just take it and bonk someone over the head with it, right?"

"I suppose you could, though it seems like a waste of a perfectly good gemstone to me," Rarity said. She pawed at the sheet with her hoof. "Applejack? Might I climb up onto the bed with you?"

"That's an interesting request," Applejack said.

"Please?" Rarity said, locking eyes with Applejack, and Applejack felt an oddly pleasant chill run through the back of her head. "I do so think you would sleep better with somepony close by your side."

"Yeah," Applejack nodded, scooting off to the side to make room for Rarity. "I probably would."

Rarity climbed up onto the bed. To Applejack, she seemed a little ... slow going up, like an old dog, but she attributed to Rarity just being out of shape from being cooped inside all day, not like her, who got plenty of exercise working on a farm.

Rarity tucked herself in under the covers, right next to Applejack. She leaned over and kept her eyes on Applejack.

"Gosh, Rarity," Applejack said, as the flames of the nearby candle cast a wavering, dancing light across Rarity's face, "you sure are pretty tonight."

"Oh, of course I am, darling," Rarity said. "Wait, what do you mean, tonight?"

Applejack guffawed.

"I don't know. There's just ... something about your face ..."

Without being fully cognizant of what she was doing, Applejack reached out to touch Rarity's face.

Rarity put her hoof out and caught Applejack's with it, and they held hooves together tenderly for a moment before Applejack regained her composure, quickly pulling away and coughing her throat.

"Oh, come now, Applejack," Rarity said. She leaned forward and whispered into Rarity's ear. "Embrace me."

"Oh ... okay," Applejack muttered. She shifted on the bed and wrapped her arms around Rarity.

"Yes, darling, that's it. Come close. Give me your warmth..."

"Mm-hmm," Applejack said, getting increasingly uncomfortable. Rarity felt so cold to the touch.

"Rarity, why are you so cold?"

“I’ve been out in the hallway,” Rarity said, nuzzling and burying her snout into Applejack’s neck. Applejack paid no mind to the slight sniff Rarity gave to said neck. “I’ve been working on Crimson’s dress all day, and it’s so cold out, I just haven’t had the time to warm up myself.”

Applejack looked over at the window. There did appear to be a thin layer of frost on the glass pane, which made Applejack believe Rarity despite her desire to leap on the first bit of evidence she found that something was wrong.

She turned her head and found herself staring at Rarity’s perfectly coiffed mane. She put a hoof through it and pet it like she would do with Wynonna back at the farm.

Rarity glanced up at this curious display of affection. She caught sight of Applejack’s face, which looked like it did whenever she was trying to hide how she felt.

Rarity hit upon a peculiar, but not surprising notion.

“Applejack … do you … perhaps, have a crush on me?”

“What?” Applejack recoiled with alarm that could have only come from Rarity hitting on the truth. “No! No, that’s ridiculous! I don’t ...” she looked away and rubbed at her throat as if trying to swallow a stuck grape. “Have a crush on ...”

“Applejack,” Rarity grabbed her cheeks and pulled Applejack’s face towards her, “is that why you won’t leave? It’s not because you’re afraid of Crimson or monsters, it’s because you don’t want to be away from me! Am I right? Tell me I’m right!”

Rarity’s eyes flashed briefly, and Applejack felt compelled to confess.

“Yes,” Applejack said, following up her answer with a sigh, relieved to finally get it out. “Yes, Rarity, I do have a crush on you. I don’t know when it started, but at some point … one day, I just saw how … beautiful you were, and I’ve looked forward to arguing with you every day since then. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing for either of us, but … at least we were talking to each other. That was something.”

Rarity gave a smile. “I must admit, Applejack … I have had something of a crush on you, too.” Rarity drew a circle on the bed with her hoof.

Applejack lighted up. “R-really? You mean it?”

“Of course,” Rarity said. She looked away, pretending to be shy. “You know, we’re already in a bed, and our friends are far away … they never have to know … perhaps we might … make love?”

“Oh-ho! What?”

Rarity found the shade of red Applejack’s cheeks turned delightful.

“Rarity, don’t you think that’s moving a little fast!?”

“You only live once,” Rarity said. “But perhaps you’re right. Perhaps that was a little too forward.” She looked around the room for an idea for how to proceed. It came to her from the candle.

“Say, don’t you think it smells like home in here?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, no?”

Rarity adjusted Applejack’s face to lock eyes again, using a teeny bit of her gaze to implement a suggestion in Applejack’s head. “I disagree. I think it does smell like home.”

Applejack closed her eyes and inhaled. “Say, I think you’re right … it does smell like I’m home. Like I’m right back on the farm ...”

“Back on the farm,” Rarity said, “with all your family and friends and the ponies who care about you … with your precious apples, your dear old dog, and with apple fritters right next to your bed. Somepony decided to serve you breakfast in bed.”

Applejack’s lips drew into a content smile and she moaned slightly.

“Why, I think we’re there now,” Rarity said. “The last few days have just been a bad dream, Applejack. We never left Ponyville. We’re back in your bed in your room in your house. We’re safe, sound, warm, and cozy, and if something bad does happen, help is never far away. Our friends are right outside, enjoying a picnic while we retreat inside to get out of the sun for awhile.”

Applejack nodded enthusiastically.

“Now then,” Rarity said, “do you think you’re in the mood for love making now?”

Applejack crossed her hooves nervously.

“Okay. But be gentle, all right? This is … my first time with someone else.”

“I will, darling, I will. Lay on your side.”

Applejack did as told.

Rarity leaned over and rubbed at Applejack’s Cutie Mark, which again proved more sensitive than Applejack expected.

“Ooh.”

“Do you like that?” Rarity asked.

“Yes,” Applejack said.

Rarity adjusted her position and began licking the Cutie Mark, making Applejack shiver from the chill of her wet tongue.

Refusing to be a merely passive participant, Applejack whipped her tail and spanked Rarity on the side.

“Oh! My, Applejack, how naughty of you,” Rarity giggled. “But I suppose that’s to be expected from a pony who’s so rough and rugged.” She jabbed at hoof into Applejack’s side to prove her point.

“Yeah,” Applejack said. “Now, weren’t you doing something to me?”

“I believe I was.”

Rarity proceeded to shove her way towards Applejack’s thighs and licked the outside of Applejack’s slit.

“Whoa, hey there!” Applejack said. “Don’t you think you’re going a little fast?”

“Whatever do you mean, darling?”

“I don’t know, shouldn’t be, like, a little foreplay or something?” Applejack said, blushing. “I mentioned this was my first time, right? I’m not … totally sure what to do.”

“Some ponies like it faster, some like it slower,” Rarity said. She pressed one hoof against Applejack’s and rubbed at the apple Cutie Mark with her other front hoof. “We can take our time and figure out which you are.”

“Thanks, Rarity. I appreciate that.”

“It’s nothing.”

Rarity leaned over and gave Applejack a kiss on the Cutie Mark. She traveled down the side of Applejack’s body, pecking and smooching along Applejack’s ribs.

Rarity inhaled sharply. It was too much to keep at bay completely, so she began bitting, nibbling on Applejack’s skin. It tasted like cinnamon. What did she eat to make her taste like this? It must have been a soap, surely. Despite her mounting desire, her appetite, her hunger, Rarity managed to control herself. She kept from puncturing the skin and draining the blood from Applejack’s flesh. Even though she wanted nothing more than to crack Applejack open like a beer bottle and down the crimson fluid in one shot.

“Oh!” Applejack moaned, enjoying the sensuality of the bites. She wagged her tail around, spanking Rarity on the side again before sweeping her tail over and pushing it up against Rarity’s slit.

Rarity moaned, eyes half-shut, though it was more from the taste of Applejack than from the tail.
Still, she made an effort to make it seem like Applejack was doing good.

“How’s that?” Applejack asked as she wiggled her tail.

“Perfect, darling, just perfect!” Rarity encouraged her. “Just keep … doing that.” She gave
Applejack another bite. She was working herself up into a frenzy now, and she intended to transmit that feeling to Applejack.

Rarity started rubbing Applejack’s nub with both hooves, running them up and down the slit. Rarity felt the slit wink beneath her touch.

Applejack moaned heavily. “Oh, Rarity, I don’t know if … I’m not sure if you should be doing that!”

“I am,” Rarity said. “Trust me, darling. I’ve read enough romance novels.”

“Oh … okay, Rarity, I ...” Applejack exhaled sharply, her breath becoming sharp as Rarity’s ministrations got to her. “I ..”

“What?” Rarity asked, rubbing at Applejack’s slit furiously and nibbling, making her way up across Applejack’s back towards her neck. “You what, Applejack?”

“I ...” Applejack panted, her cheeks reddening and her tongue lolling out, “I ...”

Her slit was winking and dripping now.

“I ...”

“What, darling? What is it that you do?”

“I -…”

She was so close now. Just a little more and …

“Rarity!” Applejack shouted, kicking and flailing all four legs. “I …”

“WHAT, DARLING?”

“I TRUST YOU!”

Applejack’s declaration timed perfectly with her climax, as she squirted and got her fluids all over Rarity’s hooves, getting them sticky with thin ejaculate.

Rarity had no interest in licking that up.

Unable to hold back anymore, she deployed her fangs and sunk them straight into Applejack’s neck and drank deeply of that exquisite liqueur that was so common in this world, yet so rare to access in a way that society approved.

Rarity stopped and gently pulled her teeth out. In spite of her hunger, she still had enough of her old self to recognize that she was hurting her friend. Not just that, but enough of her old self to care about the fact she was hurting them.

"Oh, Applejack, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean - I would have never hurt you, it's just that, oh, darling, I'm so hungry ..." she attempted to dab the blood from off her muzzle, as if that would remove the stain of her crime.

"Don't ... don't be sorry, Rarity," Applejack said. She weakly raised a limp hoof and pressed it to Rarity's chest. "It ... actually feels kinda nice. I ... enjoyed it."

"It does?" Rarity bonked herself on the head. "What am I saying? Of course it does. I should know exactly what it felt like. So, darling, you wouldn't mind if I ... did it again?"

"N-no, I wouldn't mind it none," Applejack said.

"Oh, really, darling?" Rarity asked. This was turning out better than she could have hoped. "Then would you mind if I ... finished it? Would you be willing to join me in undeath?"

"Yes," Applejack nodded.

"Oh, wonderful, darling! Then you don't mind if I ..." Rarity took a deep breath and licked her lips, savoring the taste, before plunging her fangs into Applejack's neck again and drinking deeply of that oh so common and yet so rare substance.

Applejack gave a delirious chuckle. She saw stars and other hallucinations in her eyes before her eyes closed for the final time as a pony.

Seconds later, with no blood or life to support herself, Applejack’s body fell over the side of the bed and crashed to the floor.

Rarity wiped the blood from her lips, ignoring the dregs that dripped onto the bed sheet even though washing blood out of clothes was awful to deal with the longer it waited.

"Not to worry, darling," Rarity said, "I'll have you right as blood rain in no time."

Rarity hopped down from the bed and walked over to Applejack's body. She gave Applejack a kick in the chest and whispered into her ear, the way Crimson taught her.

"Rise."

Applejack's eyes, emeralds now replaced with rubies, snapped open. Stiltedly, like a first-time puppeteer still learning how to control the strings, she rose to her feet. Once she was standing, her body resumed lost the rigidness and resumed the flexibility it had in life.

"I'll admit, Rarity," Applejack said, "I was really not expecting to enjoy that as much as I did."

"I was fully expecting to enjoy that as much as I did."

The two of them shared a laugh. They locked eyes. This time, there was no vampiric gaze of domination between them, just pure adoration. They leaned in close and kissed each other on the mouth.

"Rarity?" Applejack said. "What you said in there, about having a crush on me ... did you mean that? Or were you just trying to trick me so you could drain my blood?"

Rarity wrapped her leg around Applejack's neck. "What does it matter now, darling? We're together in undeath, and that's what's important." She gave Applejack another smooch on the cheek. "And most importantly, we're going to Ponyville ... and we're going to share this with all our friends."

"All of them?" Applejack asked. "Every single one?"

"Yes, every single one," Rarity said. "No matter how small the acquaintanceship is. Oh, but we'll start with our dearest ones first, of course and work out way out from them. Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy ... they'll be joining very, very soon."

Author's Note

This is embarrassing. It was brought to my attention that this chapter, when originally published, lacked some needed proofreading, so deleted it, and now I'm going to try and publish it again, and I don't remember what I originally called it.

Shout to my Patrons, who have changed considerably since the first attempt at publishing this.

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