• Member Since 4th May, 2013
  • offline last seen 14 minutes ago

Estee


On the Sliding Scale Of Cynicism Vs. Idealism, I like to think of myself as being idyllically cynical. (Patreon, Ko-Fi.)

E

There are things which are not crimes -- things which others are determined to see as crimes in spite of all evidence, truth, and reality, as long as their false perception gets them what they want. After a visit to Barneigh's Exclusive Garments And Saddlebags, Rarity has found herself on the receiving end of that self-enforced delusion, facing anger, accusations, and abuse of power for the smallest reason of all --

-- one created by the smallest minds.

(Cover art taken from a vector scan by TheSharp0ne at DeviantArt, under open permission.)

Part of the Triptych Continuum, which has its own TVTropes page and FIMFiction group. New members and trope edits welcome.

Now with author Patreon and Ko-Fi pages.

Chapters (1)
Comments ( 145 )

Poor Cropski. He'll never learn. (He should ask a Diamond Dog whether it's possible to break Rarity. Hint: it's not.)

*Slow golf clap*
Bravo sir,
Have a like muffin.
*Hands you a muffin shaped like a thumb pointing up*

That's what happens when the police are trained to view the public they are supposed to serve as the enemy.

This was a very good and interesting read.

That was good. Especially the last bit.

It's very rare I don't entirely "get" a story after reading it.

This is one of the few. I understand the premise (crooked cop + no crime + trying to either meet a quota or just being crooked) and I understand the plot.

I don't understand the motives of the cop or 80% of the ending.

Granted during the whole time I was reading this I was pwning some noob in Pokemon but I like to think I am decent at multitasking when it comes to sweeping fools, but still. What?

3400036

Bullies need a reason to bully someone?

Great story with a great moral to it. Loving it.

Was this, perhaps, inspired by the recent arrest of that young man who had the gall to purchase a belt at Barney's with the money he had saved, and the officers who asked him how it was that a young black man could afford such a thing?

I wish that there were more things that made me believe people weren't inherently terrible.

3400138 in my experience, no, but they always find a reason anyways.

Also in my experience, even crooked cops aren't so blatantly oblivious or obvious about what they are doing, but like I said, I'm not really criticizing the story I'm just lost as to the WHY the cop decided this was the way to go.

I work as a dispatcher for the sheriffs department and its surprising how cops change over time. Theygl really do want to help and protect but situations can cause them gain biases they never had before and didn't notice them getting. Its such a stressful job with judgement calls sometimes meaning the difference between getting every one home that day or losing someone in the line of duty. When you have that kind of responsibility, thinking of politically or socially correct becomes a hazard. Our law enforcement are literally the Battlegrounds between our liberties and their authority. Good story though, and yeah sometimes there is just no one to blame.

3400534

Partially, along with the followup story of the woman who purchased a handbag there and won the right to have officers following her around demanding to know what she was doing in the city. But in truth, most of what that did for inspiration was give me the setting. I've been sitting on this idea for a couple of weeks now, and the original genesis of it was simple: if you ever truly desire to be treated like a criminal for no lawbreaking reason, find two things in the following order: a snob, then a dime. Or in the right/wrong neighborhood, you can swap 'snob' for 'police officer' with no loss of meaning.

Before the incidents where That Store lost customers forever, added thousands of loyal new ones, and potentially put Jay-Z on the path towards something like 'Racists buy belts too', this was going to take place in a fairly high-class shop, anywhere you'd think Rarity might frequent. The news gave me the name, a reason for her to decry every last item found within, and the part about carrying receipts and invoices to prove her income -- but not the totality of the launching concept. And in the end, I did not have her drop every last coin on the ground so she could openly call off the jail time as she recovered each. No doubt she would have gotten hauled in for egregious littering.

And of course, wishing to not be cold as autumn progresses has long-been suspicious activity requiring detainment, but we all knew that already, right?

3400761

If you've never seen a police officer on a fully open 'Because I am a police officer and can get away with this every time, so subtle never has to happen' power trip -- I hope you continue to never see it. (However, be warned that this may mean avoiding a lot of television.) There are always some who join simply for the rush and belief that I Can Do This And Get Paid For It. Not all -- at least in the States -- but enough.

As for the ending... how many of us can truly know help is coming directly from the top? And what happens to those who will never see it? We only hear about the things where someone does speak -- and finds a person who will listen.

I suspect that number, compared to the total number of incidents, is a tiny one.

ETA: Since I wrote this post, the story has spread to a second store -- the flagship Macy's in Manhattan -- and the newest victim is an actor: Robert Brown, currently known for Treme. Apparently accused of using a fake credit card to buy his mother a watch. Stripped and searched. Also suing.

Wonder how far this is going to go before people inevitably become bored with it and pretend it's over.

I admit I had a hard time following the motives of everyone involved at least to start with. At the end, some things still confuse me, but I think that's because I can be a bit naive. This story made me sad and furious. No-one should get away with treating Rarity that way, NO-ONE! Burn Barneigh's to the ground I say, burn it!

One of the serious issues with making little and innocuous things illegal is that you end up with almost everyone ignoring them. This in turn leads people to become comfortable with committing crimes and law enforcement generally being passive about enforcing them. Which then of course means that when someone in authority wishes to abuse it it becomes almost impossible to avoid committing some form of offense. It can also lead to some people deciding that if jaywalking is a offence but no one ever gets done for it that other more serious offences might also be equally fine. (It's not illegal if you don't get caught and all that jazz)

Anyway, head-canon time!

Rarity was just a means to an end. The real target was Luna. The owner's were aware of her activities and got Cropski to go after Rarity since Luna was out of reach and under the shadow of even greater wings. As for the motivation? They wanted to drive the orphanage under for a cheap land grab and were pissed off that Luna was helping them stay afloat.

This is deep. If this story was a hole we could all wave to china every morning.

This is brilliant. Written like a true masterpiece.

Heh - I liked that story.

Sadly too many Cropskis end up in positions like that. And too many people who think they are better than others use them to enforce their own private-law whims.

3399726
They don't really. Though it depends on WHERE the police station is. In many cases though, the police really try to hire people who do NOT view the public at large is nothing but criminals in waiting. And genuinely try to train and instill a duty to protect. I have had interactions with the police before, and only once seen a cop who was determined to try and find some kind of crime where there was not one. It's just, all you need is that ONE. Even if 9 out of 10 officers are polite and affable under most circumstances, there is still that tenth, who believes the badge equals power over people. That it does not represent a shield for the public, but as a representation of his own petty power. That one who gets bored, so he drags an autistic out of a car and beats him senseless. The one who breaks up a bar fight by bludgeoning a man who is already half unconscious, while the instigators run off. Even the one who is sleeping with a 15 year old girl in highschool, because he thinks he can get away with it.
As for Equestria, it is almost certain most officers truly act to protect and serve. Cropski was an aberration. But not a unique one. And while it is good that Rarity did not let him get away after this, her question at the end is still unsettling. :fluttershysad:

3399726

I doubt it's training in Cropski's case, though. He just openly loves hurting and humiliating people. He'd be an out-and-out criminal, except that he had just enough brains to work out that joining the police force meant he could get away with more.

bloody excellent story.

All right Luna!!! Fuck da police!

This is my favorite kind of story, and it was written extremely well, with a satisfying ending which leaves the reader with a thoughtful message.
Upvoted and please write more, good sir.

This was such a good read I ALMOST forgot where the thumbs-up button was!

That summary told me exactly nothing about the story.

Sorry, but I didn't like this.

"Rarity gets arrested for picking up 10 cents" is what I picked up from the title and synopsis, so I went in expecting something light-hearted, because that's the kind of thing that happens in comedies. Instead I got 9000 words about a cop bullying Rarity for a petty non-crime. And nothing of value is lost or gained from the ordeal. Maybe you were trying to make a statement by not having Cropski learn from the experience, but I didn't like it.

Mostly the fault of slice-of-life being an ambiguous tag, I guess.

How the hell did anyone thumbs this down? This was one of the best reads I've had in a while.

The sad part is I've seen bullshit like this happen in real life. People in positions of power who just seek out the most erroneous examples just so they can use said power. Terrifying and sad.

As for the story I liked it, it was a more thought provoking fic, and I do like it when Luna gets to be awesome. :D

This felt like an anecdote, more than anything. Like, no one walked away learning anything except for Rarity (and that thing was that there are poor suckers out there who don't have the head honcho on their side). As it was said before, the title and description were as informative as a seagull's street directions. Vagueness is almost never an improvement over directness (and not due to lack of skill, just circumstance). The writing was good, as was the characterization. But the only thing that I'd call memorable is the indignation the reader would feel at the events (which lesser stories can do just as well), and not much else. Luna swooping in felt like bit of a cop out; by this, I mean you were obviously foreshadowing it, and it wasn't a cop out by definition, but it FELT like one since there's no equivalent in reality to the influence she had on the story. The closest I think is Rarity the human getting harassed by this guy, then Gene Simmons driving up and telling him he was an asshole. That's about it. I enjoyed it, don't get me wrong. It made me think about things, but that's all it stood upon. This was probably the end goal, so I can say with certainty that it's personal taste most likely talking

This story remind me about one incidence. I got false accusation of kidnapping. True story. Of coarse I got a formal apology from the police, but memories are still memories.

Dear Officer Cropski, we're down on our knees, 'cause nopony wants a pony with a social disease!

West Side Story. Good times. At least, that's what I thought of when I saw the name. I really enjoyed the story, though. Great job!

3402339
Can you tell the story please?

I honestly didn't care much for the story. The flagrant abuse of police power against a completely innocent Rarity just wasn't terribly interesting to me. However I really liked your writing style. The colorful narration and strong dialogue kept me reading. I haven't read any of your other stuff but I will certainly give it a try after this.

Very nicely done

3402187 This is one of the many reasons a [Normal] tag should be made. For episode-like (or show-accurate, whichever term you prefer) stories.
Though I did enjoy the story.

3402187

Slice of life does not equal comedy. Comedy equals comedy.

That said, this is really more adventure than slice of life.

3401022 I lived in south florida for a while. I have seen the power trips from both sides of the law (my friend ran the weed ring south of miami for a solid few years). I've never seen it THAT bad. In FLORIDA. That being said, straight arrows tend to avoid police attention, especially when your mother is a politician who knows the local police chief well enough to get a gang to shoot up houses on your street *shrugs*

Another sneer. "Nothing good happens under Moon."

And from above them, "Truly?"

I died. Oh man that was perfect timing. I love me a little bit of Rarity and Luna dynamic. I think they would get along swimmingly together, since they both have an appreciation for the ham.

Anyway, this was a really interesting story. I think my major comment would be that the officer seems to be a bit of a Strawman. I can see the end part, with the colt bullying, fine. But the scene with Luna, where he just continued to push on into full blown stupid? That just seemed like it was stretching the boundaries of 'sane corrupt cop'.

It was still a very enjoyable story, and I thank you for making it. Congrats on your feature, as well. :D

-Lumino

Great story. Rarity remained classy as fuck throughout the interrogation and the ending with Luna had me giggling nonstop.

3400036

The ponies at Barneigh's hated Rarity, so they tried to embarrass her, harass her, basically make her life hell by bribing a cop (Cropski) to do so. Being an earth pony in a unicorn city, he jumped at this chance for some extra money, maybe a little power.

3403809 Interesting. Why, what useful information for me...

(Be careful what you say on the internet. You never know what opportunists may be watching.)

3401788 What's even worse are the leaders of nations who think themselves above the nation's laws... who ignore them to impose their whims whenever they please... who spy on the people of the nation and allied nations while turning a blind eye to various illegal activities in their political interest... who engage in ill-conceived plans to give guns to drug gangs and then lose track of them... who alter laws unilaterally and grant special privileges to favored groups and donors...

Hmm... you know, that kinda seems familiar... :trollestia::trollestia::trollestia::trollestia::trollestia:

3400036 Ending: Rarity was collecting donations to an orphanage. She picked up the ten-bit and added it because every bit helps. :pinkiehappy: And she was delivering the donations to Luna.

I just now realized why this writing style was familiar -- you are "Pony Piano Murdering Hitler". It all makes sense now.

This incident, while not the same, is still similar.

And amusing. Don't worry, it's short.

5 Apologies to Cops Who Beat Me Up for No Reason

3404255 I have said absolutely nothing of worth as none of this info is current?

Though it's adorable that someone would worry about me enough to actually tell me to watch what I say ;p

Another awesome fic by Estee! YAY! :heart:

Excellent read! It's thought provoking, and sadly reflective of the reality of police abuse-of-power in North America... but it still has an uplifting ending. Which, by the way, I am eternally grateful for. I totally thought poor Rarity was going to get beaten with a phone book! :rainbowderp: Bonus points for, as always, capturing the very essence of Rarity in her manner of speech and prideful, yet always graceful and generous, attitude. :raritywink:

Obligatory political message... Now, let's all imagine Rarity in "modern" Russia wearing a Gay Is OK pin! :raritycry:

3402654

Glad I am not the only who got the reference. I think I will go listen to the Officer Krupke song again.

3402331

Vagueness is almost never an improvement over directness...

I'm not too sure the title "Rarity gets Harassed for Picking up Loose Change" lends much to the story, either. Nor am I sure it'd fit in the confines of the chapter naming system.
At least this way, the story wouldn't be summarized in its title.
Unless I'm interpreting this wrong, and you meant something else entirely? :trixieshiftright:

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