Faithfully Yours

                                                                                                                                                      2nd February

Dear Rarity,

Heck, where to begin. I guess first of all, I gotta say I owe you an apology. You were right, I was ...a might antisocial at the Country Mare's Dinner last month. I have to attend an awful lot of these dos, you see, and after a while... Oh shoot, I can't go making excuses for my behaviour. I can be a real brute sometimes. But if I can't excuse myself, I can at least explain myself somewhat, or try to in any case.

I got married at the beginning of Fall; I'd left with Flim and his brother directly after they bought up Sweet Apple Acres, and we did some travelling as he organised the arrangements for the new workforce. Then Flam took the lead, and Flim and I headed to Manehatten. It was a low key registry office thing, so no need to feel like the world and his mare were there and you missed out. That being said, I felt plum low that it had to be this way. I'd never imagined in my wildest dreams I'd be getting hitched, at least not since I was a little filly, but if I had, I'd have dreamt of a stunning dress made by ya'll, and the finest bridesmaids a friend could have. However, Flim wanted to keep me out of the spotlight until I'd proven myself as a good wife and socialite, and I knew my brother would still be angry about my decision.

It ain't easy for me, having to act so proper all the time. I've had to change a hell of a lot to fit into my husband's life. So many things I've never really done before I've had to learn how to do, and not just do, but do real well, and learn real fast, and all by myself.  I've got a lot of nice things; Celestia knows they sprung up around me like rapeseed the minute I stepped through my new front door.

And -perhaps the hardest skill to master - I've learnt to appreciate them. Now that I do, that's all I do, more than I've ever done anything. Suddenly I care about how I look every day, how the furniture is arranged, what hoity-toity business stallion's coming to dinner and what I should have the hired help cook up for him. Little things I thought I knew have given birth to a million little sub-things, and there's always something to do without ever really doing anything.

I won't pretend I'm not proud of having become the girl of the swirly signature at the end of this letter, one that doesn't betray a trace of who she was before. Because that's who life has had me be: Jacqueline Flim. It happened so quickly I couldn't stand to act like it even mattered, and at the convention...well, I guess I felt like neither should you.

I'll bet you wonder why I married him. The truth ain't all that complicated. I fell in love.  Now I'm gonna implore you not to share this with anypony else, I don't even know why I'm sharing it with ya'll. I guess I feel like you're the only one who might understand, but you might just think I'm as crazy as all the other Apples do.

It was at my brother's wedding. I'd never known love; sheesh, closest I'd ever got was a few bad dates. You know I was the last filly of age in the Apple family who weren't married off? I had been for a long time too. But I fell hard, Rarity, and it ain't no easy thing to admit to. We were dancing, crowd was going wild, music was over and under us like a rope. We were spinning. Stars looked like a white wreath. My hair had got free, flying out everywhere, and my feelings were way ahead of it, like something snagged and unravelling fast. Then I looked back at him, and it happened, like a change of key. What I felt inside myself, I saw in the way he looked at me. And for the first time since I was a filly, I dared to dream above the ground. I walked away with my eyes to the stars. No white wreath, just...air-holes. Air-holes in a black box.

So two weeks later, when Big Mac was back from his honeymoon, and we were sitting round the table at the back of the tavern, I took the opportunity and bet myself. Flam had said they weren't gonna stop until they got the farm, and I asked Flim if he could really gamble. I said I'd bet him my hand in marriage if he bet us the right to keep the farm for as long as we were still Apples. Big Mac was hollering at me, saying I was crazy, that he wouldn't allow it, but he no choice. I was set on it. That gave him away to Flim and Flam, who called him, and of course he was out. And so it was up to me. I made a valiant effort. I lost. The farm was theirs, and I was his. I left with them with good grace.

Hay, you'll probably hate me for it, but I meant what I said at the convention - I didn't have anything to say to my family. I knew  everypony thought the worst of me, high-tailing it with the new management just when the farm went under, but I knew that this was the way it had to be. I'd made a deal, see, and I was a loose cannon, so damn in love it would have crushed me if I hadn't gone with him. And then everything changed so quickly, and I just couldn't bear to think about my old life, and how much everyone hated me, given how tough things were at the time. When I found my footing, I knew I'd lost a hell of a lot more. And what could I offer them in compensation? I couldn't go home, I couldn't guarantee them any financial security, I mean I'd failed. But I couldn't even grieve for my own failures, because I was so far from the mare I'd been.

The other thing I feel kinda embarrassed to admit. See, Flim weren't altogether trusting of me in the beginning. I mean it was such a sudden thing, and in spite of everything, he really barely knew me. The deal whereby Flim and Flam got the Acres wasn't exactly accepted graciously by Mac, and the thought of me, former co-owner of the farm, conspiring with the remaining original workforce, put Flim a little on edge. When I got some privacy, I worried about who would receive my letters at the other end; everypony said Ponyville was going to the dogs, postal system and all, and if one of Flam's guys got hold of it and reported back...well, I was just worried he'd feel betrayed.

I feel okay writing a letter to you though. In fact, it's felt like the best thing I've done for a while. So Rarity, if you think you can forgive me for everything that's happened, and keep this letter-writing business under your no doubt fabulous hat, at least until I get can get used to it - I'd be real grateful if you would reply, and tell me all about your life with my cousin, so that I might have the undeserved honour of once again calling the most talented seamstress in Equestria, my friend.

Faithfully Yours

Lady Jacqueline Flim

--

Rarity set the letter down on the coffee table, and stretched out blissfully on the couch, revelling in the warmth of Applejack's sentiments; the bridging spirit of those words that sought her in her remote home.

It was Eight in the morning, and she was about to get up and head to her studio, where she would proceed to read the letter a dozen more times before getting on with some work. Then a thought struck her, and she peered over the back of the couch to the kitchen, where her husband was wearily making tea.

"Darling," She said, her voice now stripped of its morning frailty. "Was Flim at Mac and Fluttershy's wedding?"

"I...believe he was, yes." Braeburn muttered, having slipped subconsciously into the housework, at which his wife had long since rendered him all but obsolete.

"Are you sure?" Rarity asked, "I didn't see him."

Braeburn turned to her, raising an eyebrow dryly. "You talked to him, sweetness. I saw you."

Rarity toppled back down, bewildered. Celestia knew she must have been more drunk that night than had thought.