“Phew, I think that’s the last of it,” Applejack declared, placing the last box in the room. “Ya don’t realize how much you accumulate until you make big moves like this. Hope it doesn’t feel like I’m invadin’.”
“Not at all, darling,” Rarity assured. “Come. I have the perfect space for your photo albums.”
Rarity took Applejack to her closet where Rarity had some boxes and documents.
“I’ll make some room!” she told Applejack.
Rarity began moving a file cabinet when a loose letter broke free.
“Oh… I thought I got rid of all of those,” she said, taking the picture out of Applejack’s view quickly with her magic. But not quickly enough.
“Winter Victory. Isn’t that the mare you dated before me?” Applejack asked.
Rarity nodded slowly. Rarity and Winter were only together for a short time, and so Applejack only met her once–the only one of Twilight’s five friends to have met her in person. The only thing Applejack knew was that Winter was also a designer and that the two did not part ways amicably. Rarity never seemed to want to talk about the relationship more than that.
“I’m sorry, Rares. We can move on…” Applejack told Rarity.
“No Applejack, it’s quite alright,” Rarity said, levitating the letter aside. “You’ve always respected my privacy in regards to this, and I appreciate that. Especially now that we’re moving in together, I’m ready to talk about it. If you’d like.”
“If you’re willing, I’m all ears,” Applejack agreed.
“After Twilight’s coronation, I didn’t slow down in terms of work…” Rarity began.
“I met her in YakYakistan. I planned a trip there for a few days so I could begin the process of opening a shop. I was in the fashion district just minding my own business…”
“Oh! Another pony in the fashion section of YakYakistan. I thought I’d never see the day,” Rarity heard someone say behind her. She turned to see another white unicorn.
“Hello there! Yes, I’ve wanted to expand my business to non ponies,” Rarity explained. “I thought this would be a good way to begin the process.”
“Wait, you’re Rarity, aren’t you?” the other unicorn noticed. “You’re based in Ponyville, right? And you’re one of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s friends.”
“Yes, that’s me! Pleasure to meet you.”
“You as well. I’m Winter Victory.”
Rarity beamed, recognizing the name.
“Ah, yes of course! My friend Pinkie Pie has told me about you. I admire your work–it’s been a big inspiration for me in wanting to expand my business here.”
“Ah, that’s amazing! There’s a good coffee shop around here. I’d love to meet and give some advice. But no pressure.”
Rarity grinned again.
“Thank you. I’d like that very much!”
“I should have run right then and there. Since I was new in YakYakistan, she knew I was an easy target. She wanted to gain my trust only to use it against me. But nonetheless, we set a date for our coffee. And it went well. She was kind and gave me sound advice, so we decided to meet more…”
As Winter came into the coffee shop for their fourth meeting, Rarity couldn’t help but be taken back once again by new friend’s beauty, which made her feel incredibly uneasy. She hadn’t told anyone she might like mares. The thought had come up once or twice in Rarity’s mind, but she was able to suppress it since she also liked stallions. But this mare. There was no way in Equestria Rarity was straight and she didn’t know what to do.
“Hi Rarity,” Winter said. “It’s always a pleasure to see you.”
Rarity smiled and tried to speak, but no words came. Winter smiled a bit as well.
“I know that look,” she teased. “You’ve had it every time you’ve seen me.”
“Wh… wha…?” Rarity stammered.
“How about we get our coffee and I take you to my favorite YakYakistan restaurant for brunch, huh?” Winter offered.
Rarity nodded and laughed again, feeling like a complete idiot.
The pair arrived at the restaurant, which was fancier than Rarity was expecting.
“Two please,” Winter told the host.
As the host led the two to the table, Rarity could not believe what was happening. She never had the best luck in the love department. She was so excited and nervous, she could hardly stand it.
“I like you, too,” Winter said as soon as the host left.
“What?” a shocked and dazed Rarity blurted out.
“Yeah,” Winter assured. “I think that we’d be a good team, you and me. Both professionally and personally.”
“Me too,” Rarity managed to say.
Winter put a hoof to her mouth as she pondered what to say next.
“You… out to anyone?” she asked, hoping it wasn’t too personal.
Rarity shook her head.
“I’ve been trying to figure myself out for years now.”
“Been there,” Winter sympathized. “A bit earlier in life than you, but I’ve definitely been there.”
Rarity remembered Winter’s coming out to the fashion world. She never imagined she’d be in the same place.
“I… I can help you,” Winter continued. “If you’re ready.”
“And she did. I would never have been able to come out to my loved ones and then post that statement the following month if it weren’t for her. And perhaps that’s why I didn’t leave even sooner or put up more of a fight in the coming months.”
“After that, I thought things were great. But they weren’t. Love was blinding me. I’d bust my flank to write and try to see her in YakYakistan but she’d never see me in Ponyville. And whenever I couldn’t go or had to see other friends and family, she’d complain. Though her advice for my boutique was sound, she kept insisting she get more profits than I wanted. And whenever I tried to get more control by saying all I had accomplished on my own, she’d dismiss me. But anyway. Winter had news for me one night that was my first wake up call…”
“Guess what? I asked my landlord if you could move in next month!” Winter declared.
“What? Move in with you?” Rarity asked. “Here in YakYakistan?”
“Yes! Isn’t that wonderful? The shop preparations here are already going so well, think of how much further along you could get if you moved here. And think how much closer we could get if you lived with me and stop this long distance nonsense!”
Rarity wanted to be excited, but she thought about all this would entail.
“Why didn’t you ask me before talking to your landlord?” she wanted to know. “You had to have known moving so far away would be a big deal.”
“How can it be so hard? You have me, don’t you?” Winter retorted.
“But I also have a network of clients and friends in Ponyville that go back years, Winter. I said I wanted to open a shop here. I never said I wanted to move. Not yet, anyway.”
“I didn’t know that…”
“Of course you didn’t!” Rarity snapped, the calmness gone. “We’ve only been together for two months… and in that time you’ve just made assumptions about what I want in my career and never asked what I truly want.”
“So you’re saying that I’m the bad guy for wanting what’s best for you? After all I’ve done for you? I have friends and clients too, you know.”
Rarity sighed as Winter was again purposely missing the point.
“I know,” Rarity said calmly. “I’m just saying that we…”
“Fine. I’ll tell the landlord to give you three months instead of one. Is that alright?”
“No,” Rarity thought. “I don’t think we’re ready to move in together and I don’t want to leave Ponyville on such short notice.”
But as usual, Rarity knew that Winter would turn any argument Rarity had in her face again.
“Okay,” Rarity relented instead. “I think that should give me enough time.”
“You mentioned leaving Ponyville at our first Council of Friendship,” Applejack said. “And we did think that was strange since you said Ponyville would always be your home base. And we also wondered why you didn’t talk to us more about Winter. But we didn’t want to judge.”
“I remember trying to give subtle hints that I wasn't happy,” Rarity recalled. “For example, I never mentioned I was moving in with the pony I was seeing when it would no doubt be news at some point. In hindsight, it was silly of me to expect you all to read my mind and pick up that something was wrong. But after, the moving process began, which brought about my second wake up call…”
Winter’s apartment was very… modern, unlike the Carousel Boutique. Rarity liked elegant and fancy things, but in a more traditional way. She felt very out of place with her pastels moving into a more sleek home with neutral tones. But regardless, it was a nice place and it seemed Winter had been happy there. Rarity just didn’t know where she fit in it. Winter was showing Rarity around and they arrived at Winter's work space.
“Is there a place for me to work?” Rarity asked. Winter didn’t seem to prepare the apartment for another pony at all.
“Oh yes…” Winter remembered. “You are free to work here whenever you’d like. And you have space to work in your other boutiques, don’t you?”
Rarity glanced at the sewing machine in the room. It was a lot nicer than hers.
“Oh… yes, I suppose I do,” she mumbled to Winter.
Before Rarity could protest more, Winter levitated something out of Rarity’s boxes.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“It’s the first place trophy I got in Manehatten Fashion Week,” Rarity said, slightly overwhelmed by the memories. “Such an intense week–nearly broke me. I learned a lot…”
“You’re not… keeping it in here, are you?” Winter interrupted.
“Well, I don't have many other awards…” Rarity protested.
“You don’t see me have all my awards around, do you?”
“But you have other things all over,” Rarity pointed out. “And I’m quite fond of this…”
“Who let you live here?” Winter demanded to know.
At this, Rarity’s magic took the trophy from Winter and brought it slowly towards her. Rarity wrinkled her nose a bit as she opened the closet to put the trophy inside.
“Atta girl,” Winter said.
Rarity and Applejack eyed the award now standing proudly on their nightstand.
“I like it there,” Applejack said.
“Me too,” Rarity agreed, blushing and laughing a bit.
“So, then a month or so after you moved, you had that bad accident camping, right?” Applejack recalled. “And I met her for the first and only time.”
“Yes,” Rarity confirmed. “And she actually was an excellent nurse for the most part. I couldn’t use my magic for a couple weeks since my horn was cracked and she helped a lot with no complaints. But when it went beyond just the two of us…”
Winter came home after work one day to find her marefriend talking to somepony with a southern accent and a stetson hat.
“Oh hello, Winter. This is my friend Applejack from Ponyville.”
“Pleasure to put a face to the name,” Applejack said. “Sorry for the intrusion, but my plans got canceled last minute and I thought Rarity would like a friend to keep her company while she’s still recoverin’.”
“Well, that was kind of you,” Winter said slowly.
“She seems well taken care of,” Applejack observed. “You both are quite lucky. And I’m also lucky to have my friend here able to make a full recovery.”
Winter nodded and smiled at Applejack in agreement, but said nothing as Applejack sat up from the couch.
“Alrighty then, I suppose it’s time for me to go,” she said. “Don’t be strangers.”
As Applejack left, Winter immediately glared at a suddenly very confused Rarity.
“Why was she here?” Winter demanded.
“She told you,” Rarity said. “She had a free day, knew I’d been having a hard time, and wanted to see me.”
“She didn’t need to come here,” Winter snapped. “She knew she had someone to take care of you.”
“Winter, I’ve hardly seen my friends the past couple years and even less now since we started dating. And I’m bored out of my mind. It was nice of her to come.”
“Are you saying that I’m not good company?”
There it was again. The gaslighting.
“No, not at all,” Rarity said, trying to calm her marefriend down. “Why do you always say things like that when I’m with other ponies besides you?”
“I thought having you live with me would change things.”
Winter also would often imply she wasn’t happy with something in the relationship, but wouldn’t tell Rarity what.
“Change what?” Rarity asked desperately.
Instead of answering, Winter scoffed loudly and left Rarity on the couch. And Rarity knew right then that was the final straw.
“I slept on the couch that night,” Rarity said, finishing her story. “And then once I fully recovered, late one night while I was alone, I left. I simply left a note saying in the most respectful way possible why I decided to leave and that I’d be back later in the week to get my things. I then returned to my Carousel Boutique. The worst night of my life–I came very close to going back or doing other stupid things. But I didn’t. I just stayed and cried.”
Applejack and her sharp tongue wanted to say and ask so many things. But she figured some would be answered over time and now was the time to listen.
“I’m so sorry you went through that, Rares. Seems like way too many ponies have.”
“I consider myself lucky,” Rarity said. “It was an awful six months, but it was only six months. I had a place to escape. And though emotional abuse is abuse, I also feel fortunate I never feared for my physical safety. And ultimately, it led me to something much better that I’m now able to appreciate much more.”
Applejack took Rarity’s hoof.
“I’m not perfect, but I’ll never treat you that way,” Applejack said. “You have my word.”
“You don’t have to be perfect,” Rarity said. “You’re perfect for me.”
Author's Note
Phew–I didn’t expect this to be so long. Despite the kinda dark fic, I hope you all have a good last few days of Pride. My main point of this is that divorce and abuse happen in same sex couples, too. As wonderful as the LGBT community can be, no group is free of bad people.