Apples and Flowers

She really should have known that her presence would reach the ears of the town seamstress and resident fashionista extraordinare. By the time she had arisen from bed, gotten breakfast, and taken another brief walk through town, several ponies had graciously informed her that Rarity was on her trail and would certainly be catching up to her any time. She decided to the boutique, knowing she would end up there anyway.

No sooner was she there than Rarity came rushing inside, quite out of breath and bubbling with excitement. Fleur squeaked when she was caught in a hug.

"Fleur, darling! How lovely to see you again! Why didn't you write that you were coming? We would have found more regal lodgings for you than that barely passable excuse for an inn."

"The inn is perfect actually." Fleur replied politely and honestly. "It's quiet and out of the way, and ponies haven't tried approaching me there."

"If you say so. Oh!! Darling! While you're here, I simply must have you model my new dress line for me! Why it's it's absolutely fabulous and I think you'll love it!"

As she spoke, she levitated over a dress and started magically trying to put it on Fleur. Sighing, Fleur allowed it, and stood still while Rarity situated the dress just so, taking meticulous pains to see that every cuff and piece of hem was perfectly straight and smoothed.

"There!" Rarity stepped back and her eyes won't wide as she let out a joyful gasp. "Oh, it's simply perfect!! Fabulous! Oh, Rarity, you have outdone yourself this time!"

Fleur bit her tongue in an effort to not laugh at the mare's enthusiastic self-praise.

"Oh! Next dress!"

Two more dresses later, Fleur was starting to wish that she wasn't a model that looked stunning in pretty much everything, if only to get the private modeling session with Rarity over with. Just as she would have said something, the door to the boutique swung open, and Applejack trotted in, balancing a small basket of apples on her head which she carefully dropped on a table.

"Here's your apples, Rarity!" She announced cheerfully. "No charge, neither. Oh hey, Fleur!"

The farmer took in the scene in front of her with some amusement as Fleur managed to return her greeting with a nod.

"Applejack, darling, doesn't this dress look simply stunning? Absolutely divine?" Rarity was all but squealing with delight.

"I reckon it looks right nice." Applejack returned. "A bit too, er, fru-fru and fancy for my tastes, but then I ain't much for fancy."

"Too fancy?! Too fru-fru?! Wha- Oh, you just have no sense of high fashion!" Rarity huffed indignantly, magically releasing Fleur from the constraints of the admittedly much longer than necessary dress.

Before she could put on another, Fleur escaped to Applejack's side.

"Help me out of here, please!" She wispered urgently. "Rarity is worse than a dozen adoring fans put together!"

Applejack stiffled a laugh with her hat, then righted it and looked towards Rarity, who was busy redoing a ribbon.

"Ah, Rarity? I showed Fleur here the town yesterday, I'm plannin' to show her the countryside too. Might take her to Sweet Apple Acres for a spell, too."

"Sounds lovely!" Fleur said eagerly.

"What?! Oh but I had more dresses-"

"Another time Rarity." Applejack piped up, grabbing Fleur's hoof and dragging her along to the door. "I'm sure she'll be back over when she's good and ready."

"Oh, well, but-"

"So long!"

And Applejack slammed the door behind them, leaving Rarity to huff and whine in dramatic disappointment.

}===============[]============={

"Thank you for rescuing me back there." Fleur said as they walked through the streets and headed out of town. "Rarity is...quite a task to handle."

"Think nothin' of it, sugarcube. She can be, uh, a bit intense when she's all in her fashion space." Applejack snickered.

"It's not that I mind the dresses, but I came here to get away from all the adoring fans and press and all that, only I walked straight into another mob of them here." She sighed. " I honestly just want to be treated like any other pony for once, like I used to. Not as some famous, exclusive supermodel."

"Well if it helps, I don't see ya as those things. To me, you're just a pony same as me, and if those fans of yours get to be too much, well shucks, you just light your tail over to Sweet Apple Acres and hide." Applejack flashed her a grin.

Fleur smiled back, almost shyly. "You have no idea how much that means to me, Applejack, thank you."

"Anytime, sugarcube. Always happy to help a friend."

Their walk was very enjoyable to them both, especially Fleur, who loved being able to have a fun, normal, non-fashion related conversation. They laughed and joked about Rarity, all in good fun and with not a single offensively insulting remark towards her. They talked about Pinkie, which really had Fleur laughing as she heard about some of the hyper pony's escapades.

"Did she really clone herself??" She asked breathless, between gales of laughter.

"She sure as tarnation did." Applejack wiped a tear away as she struggled to regain control. "Whooooweee, I ain't never seen such a confudled mess as that created! Every pony in town wanted to hang her up by her tail or run her outta town for a year's worth o' Sundays."

"Did they?"

"Nahhh. Pinkie bein' the Element of Laughter worked in her favor that day." Applejack chuckled. "Ponies realized they'd be stuck with planning' their own parties and such. Plus seein' the sad look on her face made their hearts melt."

"Aww." Fleur smiled. "I love cute stories."

Applejack snorted and then waved a hoof.

"Here we are! Sweeeeet Apple Acres!"

Fleur was completely taken aback at the sight of the farm. She inhaled deeply, catching a distinct hint of sweet apple scent in the air, mingled with another, slightly sweeter scent that she realized came from the flowering buds on the trees.

"It's absolutely beautiful!" She exclaimed, eyes wide with awe and appreciation.

"Why thank ya." Applejack puffed her chest out just slightly. "We here take great pride in our apple orchards. Been our livelihood for generations."

She led the way into the nearest stand of trees, and they walked along the path in the shade beneath them. Fleur took in the sight and scent of her surroundings, pausing to inhale deeply once again, the mesmerizing apple perfume flooding her senses.

"Absolutely fabulously, amazingly, unspeakably gorgeous!" She breathed out, entranced.

Applejack sat down under one of the, leaning back against the trunk, and smiled slightly as she watched her companion stand there with her head slightly lifted, eyes half closed, just lost in the beauty of the orchard. As she watched her, she was struck by the fact that Fleur found it so awe inspiring and worthy of such elegant discriptions. Applejack pondered, realizing that Fleur was the only non-Apple related pony to ever be so completely lost in her special world of sweet fruits, and it sent a happy warmth through her body and straight into her heart, causing her face to soften into a sweet and tender smile without her even knowing.

Fleur shook herself out of her trance and gazed at Applejack, noting the farmer staring at her with a tender and soft smile on her lips as her emerald eyes glinted with appreciative joy. She blinked, feeling her face heat up a little as Applejack's gaze seemed to peirce straight through her. She coughed lightly, snapping both of them out of the now slightly awkward moment.

"Oh, uh...right!" Applejack managed, blinking rapidly. "Anywho, this is just one orchard. We ain't the type to do things by halves. We got about ten orchards in total, iffen ya wanna take a look at the rest, or I could just show ya the house and barn and introduce ya to my family?"

Fleur smiled brightly. "I'd love to meet the rest of the Apple family. Are they as charming and friendly as this one?"

She leaned over and playfully jabbed Applejack's chest with a hoof, causing the other mare to redden and sputter slightly.

"Aw now, shucks, don't go gettin' me all flustered with your fancy compliments!" Applejack rubbed her neck with an embarrassed grin. "Bad as Rarity, ain't ya?"

Fleur laughed outright. "No. Rarity takes her compliments well over the top and gives them out to everypony as a habit...so it's hard to tell at times if it's even deserved. If Fleur de Lis compliments you so elegantly, you can rest assured it's the truth and absolutely deserved."

Applejack mumbled under her breath, huffing as she blushed intensely, removing her hat and then plopping it back onto her head in very embarrassed agitation.

"Well shucks." She inhaled deeply. "Alrighty then, miss Fleur, just come with me and I'll introduce ya to the other Apples."

Fleur grinned at her obviously flustered friend and fell into step next to her as they made their way up to the farmhouse.

}===============[]==============={

The remaining Apples were indeed as charming as Applejack, Fleur decided, as she listened to Granny Smith rattle on about zap apple jam one one side of her, while Apple Bloom rattled on about her being famous on the other. Big Mac may not have been the most vocal of ponies, but he was nevertheless charming in his own right.

"I was just about to put food on the table." Granny Smith finally stated. "Now yer gonna stay for dinner, ain't ya?"

It was phrased more as a statement than a question. Fleur glanced at Applejack, then Apple Bloom, then Big Mac. They all seemed open to this request, so she grinned.

"Of course, Granny Smith. Thanks for asking me."

"Eeyep. Apple Bloom, drop that confounded whirly thingy yer tryin' ta make and help set the table! Big Mac, you just get yerself out ta the shed an' bring in another chair. Applejack! Go fetch a jar o' my zap apple jam from the pantry!"

The younger Apples scrambled to obey their elder's commands while Fleur looked on from where she sat.

"Can I help with anything?" She asked.

"Noooope." Granny Smith drawled out as she forced her creaking limbs to lift her out of her rocker and carry her over to the stove. "Ya'll just set yerself where ya are. Yer a guest an' in this house guests don't work!"

"Really I'm perfectly happy to help." Fleur persisted. "I can help Apple Bloom with the table. Or help you with lifting the pots on the stove."

Granny Smith stared at her hard.

"Now young'un. I may be old but I kin still move my own pots. Iffen yer gonna be stubborn, then ya kin go ahead an' help Apple Bloom! Hmph. Persnickety whippersnapper, thinks I can't move my pots an' pans..."

Fleur swallowed a laugh as Granny set about dishing up the food, and offered her assistance to Apple Bloom. Between them, they set the table in record time. Applejack and Big Mac reappeared just as they finished. Applejack stopped short and blinked.

"Granny! I thought we had a rule against guests workin' in the house?!"

"It was my doing." Fleur quickly interjected. "I kind of argued."

"Persnickety young'uns these days." Granny complained.

Applejack snorted, quickly covering it with a cough.

Dinner was a short affair, and Fleur insisted on helping clean up, prompting further complaints from Granny about young whippersnappers. After that task was done, Applejack asked Fleur if she'd like to see the barn and rest of the orchards. Fleur agreed eagerly, and the others bid them farewell before Applejack tugged her friend off for a further farm tour.

Fleur decided she could easily spend all the time in the world with Applejack, given the chance, because being treated the way she treated her was refreshing and rejuvenating, not to mention very heart warming as their friendship seemed to deepen with every moment they spent laughing and talking. She gave a happy sigh accompanied by a wide smile. This was beyond fabulous. It was magical.