Birthday Bios: Rich Custard · 5:04pm Sep 17th, 2016
You know, it’s amazing that I haven’t burned out on these Birthday Bios like Custard here. I swear, I started these on accident (I was initially going to do just Tomato’s group of friends, but it got out of hand). It’s also a miracle that I haven’t missed any of them so far, considering how unpredictable life is (still had to reschedule one thanks to August vacations). I narrowly avoided a power outage once!
What was I talking about? Oh, yeah, Crème Brulee’s father. M’kay, let’s roll.
Rich Custard was born in his family’s countryside home, miles away from their luxurious Manehattan penthouse. His mother had been sick and on doctor’s orders, couldn’t travel until she gave birth and recovered from it. It took a few more weeks until his mother was well, and both she and her husband brought baby Custard home.
He was naturally a polite and well-behaved colt, showing the utmost respect for the servants that watched him while his parents were at work. As he grew up, he often played various games with the servants, whether it be bouncing a ball when he was little, or card games when he was older. Sometimes he liked to drop a paper from the penthouse and follow it with binoculars to see if it landed on someone. It caused an accident when one paper blinded a cab driver.
He wasn’t much for walking down the streets of Manehattan, preferring to ride in his fancy carriage. The more gruff and loud citizens of the city scared him, and everypony always seemed to be in a hurry. When he had no choice but to walk, he didn’t look anypony in the eye. He has tried waving to ponies in a silent greeting, but most just gave him funny looks. He supposed it was best to ignore them, though that was kind of impossible the two times he got mugged.
His parents taught him the ins and outs of the Delightful Creams industry, as he was to run it once they retired. The task of overseeing it all was daunting, but he was up to the task. He was one of the smartest ponies in his private school and was adept at multitasking.
He was but a young adult when he started attending the fancy parties of the elite. He often liked hearing about what kind of businesses each pony oversaw, which was a variety of things. When he was talking to the manager of the Fruit Clan’s Manehattan branch of their perfume and lotion industry, the employee that she had brought caught his eye. A humble but skilled perfumer, Jasmine Flower held a radiance that Custard couldn’t help but be drawn to. So, he quickly made her acquaintance.
Shy as Jasmine was, Custard was going to coax her into blooming like a flower. Visiting her place, inviting her to his, and learning more about her while being open about his own history got her to do so. He even visited her birthplace, the Salt Lick Valley, to see for himself where she grew up and meet her family (and ended up being roped into a yearly tradition of attending their Frontier Festival). It took a couple of years, but they wed.
After Jasmine expressed disliking living in an apartment building, Custard made a move to buy a mansion in one of the neighborhoods across one of the bridges. They lived as one of a few higher-income families a stone’s throw away from a poorer neighborhood. Jasmine had insisted they mingle with their new neighbors, which resulted in some awkwardness.
A couple years later, their daughter, Crème Brulee, was born. At first, it seemed like she inherited Custard’s easygoing personality, combined with her mother’s naturally sweet nature. After hearing about Jasmine’s sister and her hot-tempered daughter, the new parents thought that they were the lucky ones in having the better-behaved baby.
His mother had died due to poor health, and his father was due to follow soon with a horrible case of pneumonia, so Custard had to take over the Delightful Creams industry. He couldn’t spend as much time with his daughter as he liked, but he trusted his servants to handle her (some having been around during his own youth). Even when Crème started throwing the classic toddler tantrums, he was sure that her fillyhood would be a lot like his growing up.
As little Crème grew up, Custard would only see the sweet façade she bore for him and Jasmine, and not her more sinister, bratty side. He’d often fire servants for misconduct that he didn’t realize that Crème did, and always heard reports from her about how this foal or that foal pushed her into the mud, or threw something at her, or shoved sand in her eyes. He and his wife often scolded the parents of whatever foal hurt their daughter for not teaching them better (even though the reality was that said foal made a minor offense against her and Crème framed them for something worse).
The only one in Crème’s class that didn’t get in trouble with them (at least when he was little) was Tomato Sandwich. Between his friendliness and intelligence, Custard really liked the boy. He couldn’t help but be impressed over young Tommy having expanded the school fundraiser from a simple white elephant sale to a great fair that was bringing the neighborhood together. Custard was happy to even lend a bouncehouse for a bit more fun that day, and he hoped to employ that kid when he was old enough.
He still went about running his business, trying to spare some time for dates with his wife and spending time with his daughter. Of course, when Crème was a teenager, he had a bit of trouble connecting with her, since she was more interested in fashion and modeling, while he never quite got it. In fact, sometimes it felt like that she took everything for granted, and whined whenever they visited Jasmine’s family in the Salt Lick Valley.
However, when Custard noticed her grades plummeting, his first worry was that of her being depressed. But, when he found out that she just had a smart “friend” doing all her work for her, he was angry with her for being dishonest. So, he grounded her and hired tutors to help her learn each subject, despite her protests.
The math tutor was Tomato Sandwich, who despite his attitude change to a sarcastic grump, was still a favorable colt. After all, he was still smart and well-behaved, and his newfound hardnosedness would keep Crème from manipulating him into doing all the work. And it went well for a few months, with Custard paying the boy well.
Unfortunately, when Tomato mysteriously went berserk at a party, and turned it upside-down, terrifying the party-goers, the servants, and his family. None of Custard’s associates wanted a madhorse like that in any of their businesses, and an angry Custard fired the boy. Nopony knew what the cause of it was, and Custard just assumed that maybe Tomato was just a ticking time bomb that stored too much crazy for anypony to handle.
After it seemed like Crème’s life was turning around, Jasmine had reported to Custard that she had caught her in the act of framing a maid. While he was in denial at first, a similar framing of one of Crème’s own assistants, as well as the testimonies of former servants and Crème’s classmates had him realizing that his own daughter was a monster. With that, Custard ended Crème’s modeling career, ignoring her protests and sending her off to aunts Sego Lily, Honeysuckle, and their husbands and families, in hopes that she’d learn something.
While he had issued a formal apology to most that Crème wronged, he was still angry and fearful in regards to Tomato Sandwich. Custard could not conceive of anything Crème could have done to cause that, and just assumed that it was some mental health issue. He even warned his niece, Flora Peace (who was in Manehattan to attend college), to stay away from him. He wouldn’t find out until much later that coffee is something that kicks Tomato into destructive overdrive.
He still runs his large business, which is rather stressful. He and his wife would have bimonthly spa days that Flora grants them to help them relax, and they pay her in return. Custard does miss his daughter, and is sorrowful over being so gullible as to let her become the way she did. He feels like an inferior parent to Flora’s parents, who managed to turn a hot-tempered filly into a sweet mare.
But, nevertheless, he must go on with life.
Given everything he had to worry about, it's no wonder Rich didn't notice what became of Crème until it was far too late to change it. That doesn't make it any less of a tragedy, though. Love and trust are wonderful things to give and terrible ones to exploit. Still, at least he made amends with those he wronged. He's a much better pony than his daughter.