Description:

do NOT separate them
I have some notes on both of them, more about their lives in general than their relationship tho. I posted this on my patreon a few months ago…
i can't believe i haven't uploaded ANYTHING of these two despite them being two of my favourites and definitely my favourite mane six pairing. They were one of the first couples I designed a nextgen for…

General Design Notes:
Applejack isn't that different, I mostly just warmed up her colors and added some horse-y markings. Also, it always bothered my that her hat just…stays on…so I always like to draw her with a little hat string. I also made her cutie mark more related to her talent (applebucking) and simplified it into one…thing instead of three. I like to do that with all the cutie marks IDK why.
Also I gave AJ two ponytails for a very specific reason: they used to give her two ponytails in the sculpted plastic toys and I think it looks really cute. I had this toy at some point and while I'm 99% sure it got lost in one of my many moves I still hope to find it whenever I go through my stuff….pray for her
A lot of people make AJ buff so obviously I decided to not do that….you wouldn't know she's one of the strongest ponies in Ponyville just by looking at her but she is. She doesn't care about looking strong, so she doesn't really bother with that city slicker bodybuildin' nonsense. Showing off muscles requires a low body fat ratio and AJ definitely doesn't care about lookin' good over a good helping of Granny's apple pie, apple crumble, apple tart….apple brown betty….
Rarity looks…different lol. I kept her hair as similar as I could so she's hopefully still recognizable. I based her markings off a siamese cat, also gave her some sock markings because they're CUTE. I also gave her a little beard because idk…I like to think she's not actually naturally super feminine, she maybe takes after her dad a little physically. She's surprisingly strong.
I also gave them both little silver wedding rings. because they're married horses

Applejack:
Applejack was born to parents from opposite sides of the fence, a coupling that shocked both families to their core. But most of Ponyville was unaware of farm politics, so they had a hard time understanding why two ponies from farming families getting married was a big deal. However the choice to get married hadn’t been an easy one for her parents, and her mother Pear Butter’s subsequent disowning from her family took a heavy toll on her. Like Applejack and her father Bright Mac, Pear Butter’s entire sense of identity was tied to her family. Losing them left a void that even the massive Apple family struggled to fill. While Bright Mac’s mother Annie Smith, known as Granny Smith to AJ, accepted Pear Butter shortly after her marriage, the rest of the family were less easily convinced.
She’s bulky and tall compared to most ponies, but she’s dwarfed by her family members. Big Mac is bigger and taller than her, and Applebloom grew up to be a real beanpole. Applejack is probably the 3rd tallest of the mane six, behind Fluttershy and Alicorn Twilight. (I love JackieBloom’s headcanon on AJ’s size)
Has OCD, almost everyone in her family has some type of anxiety disorder or neurosis. Part of it is genetics, part of it is the unfortunate fact that working on a farm is often dangerous, back breaking work, and accidents are never far away if you aren’t careful. Applejack often obsesses over work, and has to be careful not to fall into ritualistic behavior. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGO7P9…)
A big contributing factor to Applejack’s obsessiveness over farm work (doing it efficiently as well as doing it properly) is the fact her parents died shortly after a particularly bad harvest. Her mother Pear Blossom had just given birth to Applebloom, which meant the family was already financially stressed. The poor harvest, caused by an infestation of fruit bats, forced her parents to work overtime, trying to stretch the few apples they could harvest into money for the rest of the year. One important way they tried to stretch the yield was through making expensive, designer cider. Her parents, exhausted, hoped if they could sell the cider in Canterlot they’d be able to make it through the season. So they packed a caravan and left early one morning, telling Applejack, Big Mac and baby Applebloom they’d be back in a few days, and until then they’d be watched by their Granny Smith. A few days went by, and the family didn’t worry much. But as the days turned to a week, then two, then five, then ten. They searched for their parents, but found nothing, no trace of their caravan. They’d simply vanished.
After this happened, both the Apple siblings responded in different ways (Applebloom was too young to really comprehend everything). Big Mac became reclusive, even rebellious, often skirting his farm duties to hang out with his friends beneath the local underpass. This left Applejack to take care of both her orphaned little sister and the farm, aided by a slowly but surely aging Granny Smith. This overwhelmed her, and it’s what lead her to leave the farm for Manehattan for a short time before returning.
Applejack still gets obsessive over the farm and particularly, the health of her apple trees, (www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xcf8W…. A small part of her still feels like the death of even one tree could lead to an avalanche of disaster, which is why she sometimes gets so paranoid and protective of the trees.
Applejack’s blunt honesty is, partially, a way for her to prevent “magical” thinking, which is believing that your actions have a supernatural effect on the world around you. This is something pretty important when you have OCD…but I’d Imagine it makes her look like a huge stick in the mud in a world where magic DOES exist. (www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxW_DY…)
Rarity:
Rarity was born to working class unicorn parents, and while she always had food and a bed to sleep in her family lived on a shoestring budget. Her father, Hondo Flanks, was a football coach and physics teacher at the local secondary school while her mother, Cookie Crumbles ran the same bakery her own mother had worked in. Both her parents were often busy, returning home exhausted but still making an effort to make the time they spent together meaningful. Rarity learned to take care of herself from a young age, seeking to alleviate some of the stress of her parents. Often times they would come home from work to find her finishing dinner while doing her homework, and both parents were very proud of how independent and self reliant she was.
The family’s life changed for the better when local businessman Filthy Rich approached Cookie Crumbles with a huge opportunity. He loved her cookie recipe and wanted to license it, produce the cookies on a massive scale and sell them in every Barnyard Bargains store in Equestria. In return, Cookie Crumbles would be paid royalties for each sale, and Filthy assured her they’d sell more cookies than she could sell in six lifetimes. Turns out that was a lowball estimate, and Ms. Crumble’s Cookies soon became a household name across the nation. The family were richer than they could have ever dreamed, and the year that followed was a blur of self-indulgence for the three of them.
However the reckless abandon of wealth was put on hold when Sweetie Belle was born, and for a few years things almost returned to normal, except this time the family had enough money to never worry about working again. Rarity finished school and went on to study fashion before returning to her hometown of Ponyville. Her parents were diligent in taking care of Sweetie Belle but they were definitely not expecting to be raising another foal at their age and it showed. When they began taking longer and more frequent holidays, leaving Rarity to take care of Sweetie, she was upset at first. But Sweetie Belle didn’t seem to mind, she had the same independent streak Rarity had as a foal. Rarity occasionally complained about the unexpected responsibility, but her parents returned often enough that she still had plenty of freedom. She even found herself missing her sister when she’d accompany their parents on trips, and she knows deep down if her parents stopped leaving Sweetie Belle with her she’d miss that too.
I like the idea that while Rarity excels at making dresses and fashion related stuff, her true passion is just…art in general, from painting to singing. Even if she can't quite master anything that isn’t related to her special talent, she gets a lot of joy out of putting her whole heart into whatever she’s doing. (This headcanon is partially inspired by the fact Rarity reminds me a LOT of Jessica Lange in AHS, particularly Elsa Mars….I mean just imagine this scene but with Rarity….or even this one )
Rarity is prone to getting obsessive over her work, sometimes even working herself into what’s known as “Cutie Mark Mania”, an altered state where a pony becomes hyper-obsessed with what they’re doing. The name is due to the fact that almost all cases involve a pony getting super into their “special talent”. There have been cases where a pony won’t notice their house burning down around them because they’re so focused on their task. It’s a surprisingly common, rarely talked about ailment that Rarity and Applejack are both prone to due to their type A personalities.
Rarity and Applejack’s biggest reoccurring squabble is…Applejack wants Rarity to design a “farming” collection. She thinks it would be a hit! Rarity is less convinced.

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