“Sold out!?” Rarity wailed. “I could hardly have imagined this day could possibly get any worse.”
“Well, sorry ladies. You’re missing out on some real stiff competition,” the ticket clerk said unhelpfully.
Twi didn’t seem real upset about it. “Don’t worry Rarity, there are other things we can do.”
“Hey, what do ya’ll reckon Spike is doing over there?” Applejack asked.
Rarity and Twi glanced over to where Spike was pacing back and forth near the stadium entrance. The stallion who had been ahead of them in line—the one who had been even more melodramatic than Rarity when he saw the sold out sign go up—went over to talk with Spike when the little dragon motioned to him. They exchanged something between them, and, instead of leaving, the stallion headed to the stadium entrance, looking all too pleased with himself.
Twi looked puzzled. “Well, that was weird. Spike is usually still asleep on a Saturday morning like this. What could have motivated him to get up so early?”
“Money,” Applejack said as chewed her lower lip. “I reckon he’s scalpin’ tickets.”
“Oh, Spike-ee-wai-kee is quite the little businessdragon. We should buy some tickets from him. That way we’ll be able to see the horseraces after all.”
Twi gave Rarity a stern look. “We’re not going to buy tickets illegally. We’ve got to stop Spike before he gets in trouble.”
“Please, Twilight,” Rarity pleaded. “I’ve been having such a stressful week. I have this ridiculous order I need to fill for a very important client, and, no matter how hard I try, I’m just not pulling it off. All I need is something to take my mind off of it for a little while.”
“Okay fine,” Twi sighed, “we’ll buy tickets illegally.”
Spike quickly tucked something into his coat when he saw them approaching. “Oh, hey Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, uh, fancy meeting you here. I’m just . . . getting some exercise. You know, good Saturday morning exercise.”
“We know, Spike,” Twi said.
Spike hung his head. “I guess you’ll want me to stop then.”
“No, we actually wanted ta buy some of them tickets ya got there.”
Spike’s eyes lit up. “I’ve only four left. That will be fifty bits each.”
Twi rolled her eyes. “Fifty bits? You’ve got to be kidding me, Spike. They were only ten bits at the window.”
“Hey, I don’t set the prices. It’s a supply and demand thing,” he protested.
“Okay fine, fifty bits then, but you’re not ripping off any other pony with that last ticket.”
“That’s alright,” Spike said as he collected their coins, “the last ticket is for me.”
“Since when are ya inta horse racin’?”
Spike scratched his chin with his last ticket. “I’ve been into it since Pinkie let me co-announce The Running of the Leaves.”
“Do you announce these races too?” Rarity asked as they neared the entrance.
“Nah, I’m really more of a bookie.”
“Spike!” Twi rounded on him. “Placing bets on these races isn’t any more legal than scalping tickets.”
“I think it’s actually a lot less legal,” Spike mumbled.
Applejack chuckled. “Ah think we need ta keep better track of this little guy.”
***
The announcer’s voice boomed over the intercom. “AND NOW FOR OUR FINAL RACE OF THE DAY: THE ONE HUNDRED METER SPRINT.”
“Are you absolutely, positively certain that we can’t place a bet with Spike on this one?” Rarity pleaded with Twi. She had more or less become the group’s chaperon despite the fact that she had been unable to cajole Spike into not being a bookie.
Twi shook her head. “I don’t see what’s so fun about gambling anyway? I’ve done the math and it seems to me that the house always screws you in the end.”
“And the house being Spike,” Applejack joked.
“Why don’t you just try to enjoy the races?” Twi said in an exasperated tone. She had not been enjoying the races herself, but had instead been poring over some of Spike’s betting charts with keen fascination. She seemed to be really impressed with his work in spite of being morally opposed to it.
Applejack turned to Rarity. “How ‘bout this, since we can’t bet money legally, let’s bet each other a favor on the outcome of this last race.”
“What sort of favor?” Rarity asked suspiciously.
“Any sort whatsoever. Ah’m plannin’ on havin’ ya help me transplant an apple tree.”
“Pray tell me, what makes you so certain that you would win our bet?”
“Ah know more about running than you do,” Applejack said confidently.
“I will concede that you are more knowledgeable about running than I am, but I know much more about stallions than you do.”
Yeah, I’ll bet you do, Applejack thought. “Okay, fair enough. Who’s your pick for this here race then?”
Rarity surveyed the eye candy on the track. “I will have to go with Thunderlane.”
Applejack knew she had already won. “Alrighty then, Ah pick Snowflake.”
“Oh you can’t be serious, dear. He’s weighed down with too much muscle. I mean, there’s hunky and then there’s too hunky.”
“You just watch. You picked the stallion with the best body, Ah’ll grant ya that much, but Thunderlane isn’t built for this event. This is a sprint. Ya need some muscle ta win it.”
The gun went off.
“OH! AND IT LOOKS LIKE A BAD START FOR CAPPUCCINO, HE WASN’T QUITE IN POSITION AND IT’S ALL OVER FOLKS. IT’S SNOWFLAKE FOLLOWED CLOSELY BY JACK HAMMER AND THEN EVERYPONY ELSE AND THAT’S A WRAP. THANK YOU ALL FOR COMING OUT.”
Rarity hung her head, and a tired defeated look came over her face. Applejack realized that winning the bet had made neither of them happy. “Aw, don’t feel so bad, Rarity. I’ll still pay you a favor if ya want and ya don’t even have to help me replant the tree either. I know how much ya dislike that sort of work anyway.”
Rarity immediately brightened up and gave Applejack an unexpected, but admittedly well-deserved hug. “Oh thank you so much, Applejack. I wouldn’t have normally asked this of any of my friends, but if you want to owe me a favor I would love it if you helped me with the order I’ve been struggling with. You might be just the perfect fit.”
Applejack immediately wondered what sort of fate Rarity had in store for her. Terrifying visions of herself in some sort of embarrassingly poufy party dress flowed in her mind. She imagined endless hours of posing in froufrou outfits while Rarity fussed around, measured her with those sewing tape measures, which had no rigidity.
A pair of purple hooves clopped together loudly in front of her face. “AJ, snap out of it.”
“Yeah, you kind of spaced out there,” Spike said, hunching under the weight of a large sack, which looked to be full of coins.
Rarity was positively bursting with smiles. “Oh, why didn’t I think of it before? Applejack, you have the absolutely perfect body for the outfit I’m designing. This is going to be so wonderful. Applejack, I could just kiss you!”
Applejack chuckled. “Whoa, slow down there, Rarity.”
As they filed their way out of the stadium amid the throng of ponies, Applejack felt awkward about how her heart had jumped when Rarity mentioned kissing her. Ah must just be worked up from ogling all them hot track stallions during the races.
Applejack hoped her friends would not look back and see how much she was blushing. She pulled her hat down over her face, so its brim might hide her flushed cheeks, but as she plotted along, only able to see the ground immediately in front of her, she bumped in to Rarity’s surprisingly firm haunches.
Rarity wheeled about to face her. “Applejack, do watch where you’re going!”
“Uh, sorry.” There was no hiding her embarrassment now. “Tell ya what, I gotta head back to Sweet Apple Acres and finish up some, uh . . . chores. I’ll see ya’ll later.”
“Just stop by my boutique whenever you’re ready to help me,” Rarity called after her.
This too made Applejack’s heart jump. Gosh, Ah gotta get ahold of myself.
With the tension relieved and a few chores hastily done, Applejack felt more like herself as she approached Rarity’s clothing shop. Sure this was going to be boring, but Rarity had been really stressed out lately and it would be nice to be there for her while she fretted about this order of hers.
“Applejack, this won’t do,” Rarity pouted as she ushered her inside.
“Ah don’t see what the problem is.”
“Oh really? Think about it Applejack. You’re covered in sweat and dust. You can’t very well try on my lingerie when you’re all dirty like this.”
“Shucks, maybe it was a bad idea ta run all the way here . . . Wait a second, we’re talkin’ lingerie?”
A cute little blush crept into Rarity’s white cheeks. “Um, yes. That’s why I said I normally wouldn’t ask any of my friends to help me with it.”
“Why didn’t ya ask Fluttershy ta help ya? Ah’m sure she’d look a world prettier than me in lingerie and she wouldn’t tell ya no, even if she didn’t want to do it.”
“Fluttershy is too trim for this number. It’s for a wrestling mare called Cat Fight. She’s very famous, so I’m sure you’ve heard of her.”
“Can’t say as Ah have. Ah don’t really follow mare wrestling. It always seemed like more of a teenage colt kind of thing ta me and it ain’t no real sport. All the matches are as rigged as a pulley system . . . Well, sorry about getting all sweaty. Ah guess ya should have told me what it was ya wanted before Ah came.”
“Oh, but then you would not have helped me at all.”
“Sure Ah would have.” Applejack was not sure she was telling the truth.
“Well, this is a problem that is easily remedied. All you have to do is take a thorough bath and we will get right down to business.”
Before Applejack knew it, she had been ushered into Rarity’s bathroom and the door had closed behind her. Oh for Pete’s sake, Ah’m gonna have to dress up all sexy for her anyhow, ain’t Ah?
***
Applejack came out feeling as sparkly and clean as a brand-new pitchfork. “Alright now, let’s get this thing done.”
“Not like this we won’t,” Rarity complained as she sniffed Applejack’s mane and looked her up and down like she was sizing up a pumpkin which had been left in the field for too long. “Applejack, did you remember how I said that you needed to wash thoroughly? The lingerie simply cannot get dirty. The fabric can never be washed or even dry cleaned.”
“Well that ain’t very practical now is it?”
“No, and the saddest part is that this outfit will most certainly be ripped to shreds in the lingerie mare wrestling event. Even if it isn’t damaged during the match, Cat Fight will ruin the fabric by sweating in it.”
“Well, what do ya want me ta ta do? Ah already took a shower.”
Rarity pulled her back into the bathroom. “No, only a thorough bath will do, and since you have proven yourself incapable of cleaning your own body, I will have to carry out the procedure myself.”
Applejack had not been washed by another pony since before Apple Bloom was born and she had only ever been washed by her parents. The stubborn part of her rebelled at the notion of letting Rarity scrub her down, but some other crazy part of her kind of liked the idea.
“Just think of it as a free spa treatment,” Rarity said, filling up the tub and dousing the water with all manner of perfumes, soaps, and other chemicals that hifalutin ponies bothered with.
To keep her mind from wandering dangerously, Applejack closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of the warm water and the smell of the vanilla soap. As she lay in the bath, she imagined Rarity was her mother, working the soft sponge over her coat. The illusion was soon shattered.
Applejack’s eyes popped open and she turned to glare at Rarity, who looked slightly flushed. “Just what in tarnation do ya think you’re doing?”
“Oh grow up, Applejack. Just think of me as a doctor or something. If I take an extra-long time on this part it only means that I’m being thorough about your hygiene.”
It did take an extra-long time, but Applejack couldn’t say she didn’t enjoy it. Any notions she had about not allowing herself to get worked up were a lost cause. This is gonna be the most awkard day of my life . . . well, Ah guess some day had ta be. As Rarity went about cleaning her hide legs, Applejack felt guilty about wanting her to go back to what she had been doing before. Oh for crying out loud, my mind sure does get ta wandering sometimes.
When Rarity insisted upon toweling her off as well, Applejack wondered if her friend was being condescending by treating her like a baby or if she was taking some sort of pleasure from the whole thing. Just as Applejack suspected, Rarity insisted on drying off everything.
Applejack almost broke a sweat as Rarity blasted her mane with a blow-dryer. She hoped she wouldn’t sweat, because doing so would probably start the whole process over again. She wondered if she felt hot because of the bath, the blow-dryer, or because of something else.
Rarity took a brush and began straightening out the tangles Applejack’s mane. Alright, now she’s takin’ it too far. “Uh, Rarity, Ah don’t think my hair needs ta look pretty. All Ah’m supposed ta be doing is trying on some lingerie, right?”
“Um, yes, but this outfit wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t also put some cute bows and ribbons in your mane and tail and you will certainly need to be properly groomed for that.”
***
A bazillion hours later, Applejack gazed back at herself in the array of mirrors. She looked completely ridiculous. Her outfit must have had fifty massive frilly ribbons weaving through it, streaming forth from the outfit in fancy pink bows which looked especially bright against the silky black of the lingerie. No pony in their right mind would wrestle in such a thing, but Applejack could not help but feel sexy in a stupidly ridiculous sort of way. The tightness of the outfit was sort of uncomfortable, but it felt good at the same time.
Applejack saw a blush creep in to her cheeks as she ogled her own body in the mirror. She hoped she would not get too worked up. If she got wet it would not only ruin the lingerie, but it would easily be the most embarrassing thing to ever happen to her. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing.
“You’re taking this all very gracefully,” Rarity complemented her. “Thank you for being so patient with me.” She made a few more adjustments to the bindings and bows. “There, it’s perfect. I finally did it!”
Applejack opened her eyes and was again confronted with her own burlesque sexiness. “It’s a bit tight, honesty.”
“It’s supposed to be tight, dear, but I suspect you are a bit better built than Cat Fight herself, so it might be especially tight on you. How does it feel otherwise?”
“Well, pretty good. Ah wouldn’t be caught dead wearing something as fanciful as this, but I reckon it has its appeal.”
Rarity become stock still and her eyes shrunk down to pin pricks as if she’d noticed something unspeakably terrible.
“Uh, what is it, Rarity? You look like you just saw a cockroach or somethin’.”
Rarity seemed to come back to herself, but also seemed angry. “Oh you have got to be kidding me,” she complained as she pulled on one of the fifty or so pink ribbons which wove through the outfit. “This bow is completely out of alignment. I can’t believe I didn’t see it before.”
“Aw, don’t worry so much, Ah’m sure it’s nothin’ ya can’t fix. It won’t be a big problem.”
It was a big problem. The more Rarity used her magic and hooves and teeth to realign the ribbon, the more bows were pulled out of their proper shape and, soon enough, she had managed to tangled a series of impossible knots into the whole thing. Applejack was glad that she had stopped feeling turned on by how own reflection in the mirror, but it pained her to see Rarity so distressed over the disaster she was creating. The outfit itself had also become less comfortable as Rarity’s yanking and tugging on the uncooperative ribbons synched the silky fabric ever tighter round Applejack’s belly.
“Alright, just stop for a minute. Ah’m sure there’s something we can do. Just let me slip out of this crazy thing and Ah’ll help ya untangle the mess. Ah’ve untied some real convoluted knots in my day, so there’s no reason ta panic. Ah’m here for ya.”
“No reason to panic?” Rarity said incredulously. “Applejack, unless I fix this, there’s no way you’re possibly going to get out of the lingerie without destroying it.”
“So Ah guess no dinner then?”
“Well, I suppose we could have dinner, just be very careful you don’t get any food on yourself.”
“Nah, Ah prefer ta eat as messy as Ah please. Let’s just get me loosened up. It’s still a couple of hours ‘til dinner anyhow.”
“Fine, but I need to try something else, because whatever I’m doing isn’t working at all.”
Applejack rolled over on her back to expose the tight lacing on her belly. “Try loosening these up some. Maybe Ah’ll be able ta wriggle out then.”
Rarity knelt over her and pulled on the ribbons with her teeth, working meticulously to loosen the pink bands. Applejack had to roll this way and that so the bows on her back could slide freely, allowing Rarity to tug on the ribbons without ripping them. She buried her muzzle lower down Applejack’s waist and wrestled with some of the tighter ribbons there.
“Careful, Rarity, that kind of tickles.” Applejack giggled.
“Hi girls, how is the fitting going?” Twi asked pleasantly as she trotted in to see them writhing around on the floor. “Oh! Sorry.” She teleported out of existence. “I don’t think I was supposed to see that,” her voice came from outside.
“Come on in, Twi. It’s not what it looks like,” Applejack called to her.
Rarity stood up and Applejack could see that she was blushing profusely beneath her white cheeks. Applejack rolled over and climbed to her hooves as well, but she could feel from the tightness of the lingerie that she was no closer to gaining her liberty.
The front door opened a crack and Twi poked her face between the door and the frame. Seeing that they were standing up and staring back to her, she smiled awkwardly and slipped inside, closing the door behind her and used her magic to turn the deadbolt. “What’s going on?”
“Oh it’s just awful,” Rarity complained.
Twi looked confused. “I don’t know. AJ looks really sexy like this. I’m sure your client will be very happy with it.”
“It is not supposed to look like this. Honestly, Twilight, you have no eye for fashion sometimes. All of these bows are supposed to be symmetrical and beautiful . . . and they’re certainly not supposed to be tied in knots.”
Twi seemed unsteady on her hooves as she walked up to Applejack for a closer inspection. “Oh, I see what you’re saying. Yikes, this is kind of a mess.”
“How it looks ain’t the real problem. Ah can’t even get out of this thing the way it is right now.”
Twi looked dreamy for a moment and then began laughing.
Rarity frowned. “Twilight, do try to compose yourself. This is no laughing matter.”
“I’m sorry, girls, I was just imagining AJ bucking apple trees in this outfit.” She wiped tears of laugher from her cheeks. “Okay, let me see what I can do. I’m sure I’ll be able to fix everything with my magic.”
Applejack breathed a sigh of relief. If there was any unicorn powerful enough to solve a problem like this, Twi was probably the one.
“Okay, what we’ll need is a good plan of action before we even try anything,” Twi said confidently. She circled Applejack, taking careful note of the various knots and tangles in the ribbons. Applejack felt increasingly self-conscious.
“Ah-ha! I think I see the source of the problem.” Twi’s horn came to life with magic and Applejack felt the ribbons moving about her body in fast succession, knots coming undone, and the numerous ribbon straps loosening from her waist.
Twi looked calm and focused for a while, but then a look of mild shock came over her face and she laughed. “Wait, no, I have it all wrong, that loop isn’t supposed to go there and this one . . . oh wait, no, let me just try this.”
When Applejack glanced back to the mirror, she realized the mess of ribbons and bows had transformed into a chaotic jumble of knots and odd loops. Worse yet, whatever adjustments Twi had just made had also synched the thong tight against Applejack and it now felt like it was forcefully massaging her. “Make it stop!” she blurted out as a bead of sweat trickled down her forehead.
“Sorry,” Twi said sheepishly. “I probably shouldn’t be doing this while I’m drunk.”
Applejack saw in the mirror how affronted Rarity looked. “Drunk? Why are you drunk?”
“Oh you know. Spike wanted to celebrate his winnings and one thing led to another.”
Applejack shook her head disapprovingly. “We really need ta pay more attention ta Spike.”
Rarity leapt to Applejack’s side. “Oh my goodness, you’re sweating. You’re going to ruin the fabric. Twilight, do something. We absolutely must cool Applejack down.”
“I could cast a freezing spell.”
“Uh, best not,” Applejack protested.
“Okay, no magic, we shall have to resort to using technology. Twilight, get us an air conditioner. I will stay here and fan Applejack.” Rarity retrieved a paper fan from cabinet and began frantically waving it in Applejack’s face.
“Don’t worry, Rarity. You can count on me,” Twi declared as she wandered over to the door and struggled to figure out why it wouldn’t open.
“You locked the door when you came in,” Rarity reminded her. “Why did you do that anyway?”
“I thought you two were having sex. I figured you didn’t want any more visitors dropping in like I did.”
“Well, that was thoughtful of you, but can you go and get us an air conditioner now.”
“Oh, right.” Twi laughed and teleported out of the shop rather than bother to unlock the door.
“Well, now what?” Applejack asked.
“Don’t do a thing until Twilight comes back. We simply can’t risk you getting this outfit wet.”
It’s gonna be a little late for that unless somepony finds a way to loosen this darn thong, Applejack thought. She waited in silence, trying not to move. Each movement she made caused the lingerie to rub dangerously against her flesh.
“Don’t ya have your own air conditioner?” Applejack asked.
“Oh I do, but it’s been broken for a while. I keep thinking to have it fixed, but every time I think of calling a maintenance stallion over, the idea seems too much like the start of bad porno movie.”
Applejack chuckled. “Oh brother, you’ve got ta be kidding me Rarity. Ah could have come by and fixed it anytime ya liked.”
“Hey, what gives?” she heard Rainbow Dash’s voice at the door as she tried to push it open.
“Oh, I dead-bolted the door,” Twi replied.
“You have the key to Rarity’s shop? You don’t have the key to my house too do you?”
“No Rainbow, I don’t go around making copies of my friends’ keys . . . though that would probably be kind of useful now that I think of it. Anyway, I locked Rarity’s door from the inside.”
“Yeah, but how did you get out of the shop after you had locked yourself in?”
“You know, magic.” Twi said as her purple magical aura undid the deadbolt and she and Rainbow Dash walked in. Three air conditioners were floating in the air behind her as she wobbled forward drunkenly.
“Thank you ever so much, Twilight. How did you manage to procure all these air conditioners so quickly?”
“Magic.”
Rainbow Dash frowned. “Yeah, if stealing is magic.”
“It’s called barrowing without permission, not stealing. Now are we gonna cool Applejack down or what?”
Rarity set the machines up on three tables and arranged them strategically around Applejack, creating a base of operations where they could continue their efforts to untangle the knots. The cool air blasting Applejack from three directions at once was uncomfortable to say the least, but she was glad that she was no longer in danger of ruining the priceless lingerie. It was hard to feel too aroused under such frigid conditions, no matter how tight the thong was strapped against her.
Rainbow Dash, being the only one of her three friends who wasn’t drunk or fed up trying to untie the stubborn mess of ribbons, was vigorously pulling the bows this way and that. True to her word, she was making fast progress. At least that seemed to be the case until Applejack felt the collar of the outfit synch around her neck.
“Help me Ah can’t breathe,” she choked. It was all she could do to gulp down a breath or two of precious cold air as the collar suffocated her. Her world was going blurry and she was falling.
“We gotta cut the collar away from of her neck,” Rainbow Dash yelled from somewhere.
“Be careful with those scissors.” Rarity’s voice was far away.
The world went black. Death felt kind of cold and sexy and very tight everywhere at once. This has got ta be the stupidest way anypony has ever died, Applejack thought to herself as even blackness ceased to exist for her.
An unimaginably long amount of time passed before the afterlife appeared before Applejack’s eyes. It seemed to be an afterlife filled entirely with Pinkie’s face.
“Hey, she’s finally awake!” she exclaimed.
“Thank goodness,” Fluttershy said from somewhere.
Applejack sat up in what was probably Rarity’s bed. All of her friends were gathered around and Spike was snoring on top of a nearby dresser with lampshade over his head.
“What time is it?” Applejack asked, staring directly at a clock on the wall, but finding it completely impossible to understand.
“It’s a quarter after seven, dear.”
“Ah thought Ah died or somethin’.”
“No, you just passed out. I managed to loosen the collar so you could keep breathing,” Rainbow Dash bragged.
Applejack shook her head in disbelief. “So ya didn’t even have ta destroy that expensive lingerie.”
“No, we managed to do that too,” Twi said.
“Pinkie untangled all the knots and make it look as good as new, but the outfit was trampled upon when some angry neighbors came in to reclaim their air conditioners,” Rarity explained, holding up the lingerie for Applejack to see.
“It looks fine ta me.”
Rarity set it down on the night stand. “Yes, but a couple of the bows are slightly dirty and they can’t be cleaned. I will never be able to sell it now.”
Applejack climbed out of bed and gave Rarity a heartfelt hug. “Ah’m so sorry, Rarity. This must be a pretty hard setback for ya.”
“I’m just glad you’re alright,” Rarity said, hugging Applejack close to her.
The rest of their friends joined the hug and Applejack felt relieved to be alive.
***
The sun had finished setting over Sweet Apple Acres and the only light Applejack and Rarity had to work with was the blue aura around Rarity’s floating shovel.
“Ya really don’t have ta help me with this. You’ve already been through an awful lot today,” Applejack said as they dug around the tree’s roots.
“Oh, it’s really no problem at all. It’s the very least I could do after everything I put you through . . . I’m just wondering though, why do we need to transplant this tree? It seems like an awful lot of pointless work.”
“Giuliani here is the last tree of his variety since root rot killed the other two, so I’m moving him to make certain he doesn’t get infected too.”
“Well, root rot sounds a bit gross, but I suppose this work is a bit more practical than some of the work I do,” Rarity mused as she guided her glowing shovel to scrape away some dirt around the end of a particularly long and gnarly root.
“Ya know, Rarity, that silly lingerie of yours might have been a bit impractical, but somepony still wanted it, so who am Ah ta judge?”
“It’s a shame it got dirty,” Rarity sighed.
Applejack stopped digging and leaned on her shovel to watch Rarity sweating with the effort of her spell. “After we finish replantin’ Giuliani, what do ya say we go and make sure that outfit of yours gets some use after all? Ah don’t mind if it’s a little dirty.”
Rarity stopped shoveling and stared back at Applejack with delight. “You really want to wear the lingerie again? Oh, it will be so wonderful, Applejack. I didn’t say anything, since I was trying to be professional, but you looked absolutely beautiful in that outfit.”
“Uh, well, Ah was actually thinkin’ you’d be the one wearing it.”
“Oh, I suppose that could work too, but are you sure it wouldn’t be too baggy on me?”
“Ah doubt that number would look baggy on anypony . . . and, even if it was, Ah’d still like ta see ya in it. Ta be perfectly honest, Ah’ve been imagining you dressed up in all them bows and ribbons ever since ya came out here ta help me.”
A flush spread across Rarity’s cheeks, but she kept eye contact with Applejack in the soft light of her spell. “I’ve had my mind in the gutter for most of the day myself,” she admitted, “and especially when I was trying to get you untangled. I knew you were aroused then.”
Applejack felt herself blushing as well. “Honestly, Ah’ve been pretty worked up all day.”
Rarity set the shovel aside. Its light-blue aura faded, but the light around her horn remained radiant as she approached. As their faces came close, Applejack could smell Rarity’s minty breath waft over her muzzle. She closed her eyes and leaned forward. At first, it was just a sweet kiss on the lips, but Rarity pushed her upright against the tree and Applejack slid her tongue between Rarity’s lips to curl around Rarity’s. They slowly explored each other’s mouths while Rarity hugged Applejack against the tree, caressing her flank with one of her hooves.
When their lips parted and Applejack brushed away a glistening strand of saliva that hung between their muzzles, she smiled at Rarity and said, “Alright now, but we’re going back for that lingerie before we take this any farther.”
Rarity glanced back at the abandoned shovels. “Do you want to finish transplanting the tree?”
Applejack chuckled. “Sure, it’ll probably take us another hour or so, but it’s just gonna make it all the sweeter when the time comes.”
As they dug away at the roots together, occasionally sharing an excited glance with one another, Applejack reflected on everything that had happened. All and all, this is turnin’ out ta be a pretty good day.
