> Gift of the Unicorn
>  by Brony_Joe
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 
                TINKLE TINKLE
 
                The bell of Diamond Eye’s jewelry boutique rang as a white coated, purple maned mare entered his store. She held the door open for a purple and green baby dragon who pulled a small cart of gemstones into the lobby and the two moved off to the side, noticing that the proprietor of the establishment was currently occupied with a customer. He nodded once, acknowledging them, and then returned his attention to the stallion in front of him.
                “And how much is this one?” the brown earth pony in front of the counter asked almost fearing the answer, while pointing a hoof at a modest white jewel set into a simple gold band.
                 Diamond Eyes responded neutrally and stated the asking price. “It’s our most affordable item,” he added. The brown pony visibly deflated at the news and a pang of sympathy shot through Diamond Eye’s heart.
The stallion, barely out of colthood, was here to purchase an engagement ring for his beloved. He had entered the shop in high hopes, a smile apparent in his eyes and a sweet song whistling on his lips. He explained to the shop keep all about how he loved his mare, how her laugh lit up a room, how she smelt of wild flowers and fresh berries, how her mere presence was like the first radiant beams of morning sun warming his soul after a rejuvenating night’s sleep, and everything else simply wonderful about her. He spoke of how he wanted to give her the sun and the moon and the ocean and everything else that she deserved and more. He detailed the dramatic and romantic manner in which he proposed to propose. He explained that though he might have been of simple origins and comely upbringing he still wanted to give her a gift worthy of her love for him.
They were all beautiful sentiments similar to the ones Diamond Eyes had heard a few times a week, heck a few times an hour when it was close to Hearts and Hooves Day.
“Are you sure you don’t have anything else for less?” the stallion croaked out.
“Unfortunately so,” Diamond Eyes sighed, “I’ve explained our layaway plan and you could have it paid off by fall the latest, but I’m afraid I can’t budge on the price.” He felt for the poor fellow, but he had his own living to think of. He had his own wife and kids to feed, rent and bills to pay, gems to acquire and refine, equipment to maintain and mend, much less the years of training and experience garnered to make his wares. Each piece was priced fairly but upheld the due respect it deserved. If the poor buck couldn’t afford them, that was his problem.
The brown pony looked down at the modest ring dejectedly, tears at the corners of his eyes. They wavered in his reflection in the glass case as he peered past to the potential symbol of his love. After a long series of moments he sighed. “Well, thank you for your time but I don’t think I’ll be buying anything today. Maybe in a few months…” he spoke quietly before trailing off.
“I understand son and there isn’t any shame in it. If there’s anything else I can help you with, my door is always open.”
“Thanks,” the melancholy pony nickered and began sluggishly walking towards the door with his head held low, his gaze a thousand yard stare, his mind a million miles away. As he made his way towards the door he almost didn’t feel the light tap on his shoulder.
“Excuse me sir,” a posh yet sincerely concerned sounding voice caught his ear, “but is everything alright?”
He looked up to see a gorgeous mare with a pristine white coat and an expertly coiled purple mane staring at him with pleading eyes. He stood dumbly in shock of such beauty, not really sure how to respond. “Umm, nothing you need to worry about Miss. I’m fine.”
“You sure dude?” the little purple dragon at her side said with a half-cocked eyebrow, an apparently half eaten ruby in one of his claws. “You don’t really look fine.”
“Spike please! Behave!” she admonished the little lizard who seemed to shrink embarrassedly. “I’m so sorry for that darling, but he is right. You don’t seem fine. And please, call me Rarity.”
Diamond Eye watched patiently from behind his counter as the stallion took in the only other occupants of the shop.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you Miss. Rarity and Mr. Spike but its nothing, really.” The stallion said with a weak smile and a forehoof absently scratching the back of his head.
“Are you sure?” the dragon asked skeptically.
“Yes. Very.”
“Positive?”
“Unquestionably so.” A hint of irritation crept into his voice.
“Good enough for me,” the purple dragon said with a shrug, finished his ruby with a loud crunch and began moving towards the counter before being held in place by a light blue aura of magic.
“Manners Spike! I mean really,” Rarity scolded before returning her attention the pony before her. “I don’t intend to be rude but I simply must know how you could be surrounded by such fabulosity and appear so upset? Did you not find what you were looking for?”
The brown stallion looked back over all the glistening jewels and metals displayed under the shimmering glass and lights, his eyes dancing between the biggest rocks and daintiest of bands. Everything he had imagined the perfect engagement ring could be was found here and then some. “That’s not it at all. The problem is that I’ve found too much.”
“Oh!” she exclaimed, her eyes and ears perking up considerably. “I do know what you mean. Diamond Eye has a fantastic collection and an even more spectacular hoof at his craft. Why, I would even say that each and every one of these adornments were nothing short of a masterpiece.”
Diamond Eye beamed slightly at the compliment behind the counter as he silently continued to eavesdrop the very loud conversation.
“Indeed they are,” the stallion replied with a resigned tone. If Rarity noticed it, she didn’t acknowledge so.
“Even if you scoured all of Equestria, one would be hard pressed to find jewelry as fine as Diamond Eye’s. What he does with these raw gems is magic in and of itself.”
“I’m sure…” the brown pony trailed off as both dragon and mare stared at the display cases with hungry looks. He was just about to turn and leave when Rarity spoke again.
“I truly do not mean to pry darling, but it concerns me to see someone so, well, concerned looking as you. If there is anything I can do to aid you please feel free to ask.”
“No, no,” he shook his head stubbornly but with a smile on his face, “a mare such as yourself has no business being burdened with my problems. Though it does make me feel better knowing that somepony cares.” He shot a dirty look at Diamond Eyes who merely grunted and shrugged it off.
“Oh but I do insist. I will gladly hear your troubles out.”
“Uh Rarity, he says he’s fine and doesn’t seem like he wants to share. Don’t ya think you should ease up on him?”
Rarity turned to the baby dragon and looked down her nose at him. “That may be so Spike, but that’s exactly why he should talk. It is unhealthy to keep things that upset you bottled in and it would be rude and unladly-like for me not to follow through after calling attention to it.” The white unicorn turned her head towards the earth pony, her features softening all the while. “I do implore you sir.” Her eyes glistened and lips pouted.
“Well…” he melted under the purple coifed beauty’s expression. “If you insist.”
With a sigh, he explained his predicament. He told her of his love; how her smile brightened up a hall, how she smelt like a garden in early spring, how her mere presence was like the first cool breeze of evening soothing his body, mind and spirit after a hot day’s work, and everything else simply wonderful about her. Growing bolder, he spoke of how he wanted to give her the sky and the mountains and the rivers and everything else that she deserved and more. He detailed the dramatic and romantic manner in which he proposed to propose. With a proud smile, he explained that though he might have been of simple origins and comely upbringing he still wanted to give her a gift as profound as his love.
And with a heavy heart and sagging expression, he explained the reality of his situation. That he was of such humble origins that he could not afford even the cheapest of baubles within the entire establishment. That his love, while not explicitly looking forwards to the event happening any time immediately would still be expecting it eventually and that he hates to make her wait so, especially over something trivial as expenses. Theirs was a love that could weather any storm and in the long run it would matter not to his love how much he had spent on her so long as they were together, but it means something to him and that he feels like less of a stallion for failing her so.
By the end of the tale, Rarity was on the brink of tears.
“That has to be the. Worst. Possible. Thing!” she exclaimed, a forehoof pressed dramatically to her forehead. “I cannot allow such a heinous crime against true love to stand! Which ring were you looking at?” A fire raged in her soul as she glared intently into the brown buck’s eyes leaning into him.
Unused to having a mare other than his love being that close to his personal space he pointed shakily to the display case where Diamond Eyes still stood. “Th-that one over there, with the white stone.”
Before he could flinch, Rarity had raced over to the case and began looking it over with scrutiny and barely contained rage. “This one?” she said tapping the glass above the offending article. He nodded in the affirmative and she gasped. “That simply will not do! A mare such as yours deserves nothing but the best!” she frantically spun her head around the shop for a few seconds before spying the right item. Her expression lit up and she calmly cantered over to it. “Now THIS is a piece worth symbolizing your commitment and devotion.”
She pointed to the hugest rock the stallion had ever seen. The expertly cut pink gem was half the size of his hoof and set into a dazzling silver band with gold filigree and a rainbow of other smaller but equally dazzling stones adorning the sides. It was breathtakingly beautiful and staggeringly out of his price range.
“It is a very nice ring indeed, but there’s no possible way I could pay for it.” The brown buck responded glumly.
“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Rarity answered with a coy chuckle, “because I can. Would you like an inscription on the interior of the band?”
The jaws of all three males in the store dropped to the floor.
“Wha-wha what did you-“
“Really, that is-“
“Whoa whoa whoa, Rarity, you barely met this guy and, no offence,” Spike spoke over the other two and shrugged apologetically to the brown stallion before running up to his lady’s side, “you’re planning on buying him his engagement ring? Are you crazy?”
“Not at all my dear,” she said with a smile. “I simply have the means to help a fellow pony out and am following through on it.”
“That’s very generous of you miss, but I cannot accept your offer. I couldn’t dream of repaying you.”
“Think nothing of it,” she replied matter-of-factly. “Consider it my wedding present to you and your fiancé.”
“Heh- Ju- Buh- NO! Celestia no!” the buck stammered out. “If my love is going to get a ring it’s going to be because I earned it for her, not because of some well intentioned charity.” His stern tone and determined stance caused the white unicorn to take a step back. “I really do appreciate your offer, but please respect what this means to me,” he concluded more softly.
“I do understand and I apologize for offending your honor,” she replied humbly.
“Its all right. You’ve made a very very tempting offer, but I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I put you out of so much.”
“It’s nothing really.”
“Still…”
An awkward pause hung in the air before the sound of a throat being cleared broke the silence.
“Ahem,” Diamond Eyes began, “If I may make a suggestion?” The other two ponies nodded silently, only now realizing that the proprietor was still present. “Miss Rarity and I have an agreement where she brings me raw gems and I make her finished jewelry at a severely discounted price. If you could spare me the trouble of gem hunting as she does, I would be willing to offer you the same service and charge only for labor. It would even give you the opportunity to find just the right stone.”
A glimmer of hope began to kindle in the earth pony’s heart but before he could react to it, a shrill squeal of delight erupted from the mare next to him.
“Ooooooooo! Idea~” she sang in a melodious tone. “I just so happen to have a fine collection of raw gems with me! Spike, fetch the cart!” With a quick salute and blur of scales and claws the little lizard was there and back with the precious goods in the blink of an eye.  He parked the cart in front of the stallion so that they glittered and shone a multifaceted array of colors into the pony’s face.
“I can’t just have one of these!” he said incredulously while wiping a bit of drool from his mouth.
“Fine then, you can buy it from me. I was planning on selling them to Diamond Eyes anyway but I can just as easily sell one to you. Whatever you can afford is more than enough.” She paused to think, tapping a thoughtful hoof to her chin. “In fact, half of what you can afford is more than enough.”
“Wha- Buh- Ju-“
“Make that a quarter. After all you, still need to pay Diamond Eyes.”
A flurry of emotions ran through the earth pony, chiefly a mixture of joyous relief at being offered a chance at his dream and stubborn indignation for not achieving it on his own. But pride goeth before the fall and with a bittersweetly resigned sigh he consented to the arrangement.
“Deal, but you should know I don’t have much to offer.”
“Its no bother darling, we can worry about that once the gem is chosen.”
The brown stallion nodded once and began examining the arrayed jewels. There were just so many of them. “Diamonds and sapphires and rubies, oh my,” he muttered under his breath as he sifted through the collection. He dug through emeralds as green as a forest and onyxes black as night. There were moon stones and sun stones, lapis lazuli, turquoise and amber.  Though rough cut and clearly fresh out of the ground they sparkled and shone and dazzled like a midsummer’s fireworks display. It was flabbergasting how many brilliant shades and hues were assembled. It was exceptionally hard to just pick only one, and yet none of them were exactly right.
He dug deeper into the pile, setting some of the potentials aside. “Even if they’re not perfect now, once Diamond Eyes is through with one of them, it will be,” he thought. He brought out a sapphire the shade of a summer sky, a diamond already shaped like a prism and reflected a literal rainbow of colors, and a stone that looked like rose quartz but was far too translucent, rich and deep of hue to be mere quartz.
“You have a keen eye for gems my boy.” Diamond Eyes commented as the stallion put his options aside.
“I’ll say…” Spike salivated, “they look delicious.”
“Yes, any one of those would make a dazzling ring indeed,” Rarity agreed.
“Hmmm, yeah definitely,” the buck said as he finishes perusing the pile. “They’re all great alright.”
Just then, out of the corner of his vision as he turned his head back to the assembled ponies a shimmer caught on his face. He refocused on the cart instinctively to see what nearly blinded him and down at the bottom, mostly buried beneath other fabulous gems he found it. The one. THE gem. The symbol that radiated the depth and vibrancy of his devotion. He leapt with joy and practically dove into the cart after it.
“My word, are you alright?”
“I’VE FOUND IT!” he exclaimed and held the piece above him like an exalted crown jewel among a treasure trove of pricelessness.
It was the most perfect opal that ever was. White as moonlight with pale greens and pinks and blues radiating like the aurora borealis swam in the depths of the stone, flecks of yellow and purple shimmering like stars. Everypony’s eyes grew wide as the stone practically glowed and bathed them all in transcendent swatches of glorious color. The stallion climbed out of the cart, his smile beaming almost as brightly as his find.
“Yes,” he said reverently, “yes this is the one.”
A squeal of displeasure broke the spell.
“Ooooh, are you sure?” the white mare asked.
“Positively,” he said still in awe.
“Unquestionably so?”
“Without a shadow of a doubt.”
“Drat, and I had hoped to use that as the centerpiece for a whole line of dresses. As soon as Spikey-Wikey dug it out of the ground I received a tremendous amount of inspiration and drew it up on the spot.”
She went over to a compartment in the cart and pulled out sketches of some of the most beautiful dresses the stallion had ever seen. He wasn’t much for fashion but apparently he had a discerning eye and he could tell that what he saw on paper would have made any mare that wore what was there feel like Princess Celestia herself.
“Oh, well if it’s already spoken for then I guess one of these others will do…” he trailed off as he gazed upon the still magnificent but clearly outclassed selection he had put aside. The smile was still there, after all this was an amazing opportunity, but it waned ever so noticeably.
For a hot second, Rarity was thrilled that she could still fulfill her dream but after noticing the subtle shift in his smile she knew what she had to do.
“No, if that’s the one you want then it’s yours.”
“Rarity! Are you sure? That line would put you on the map forever!” Spike exclaimed.
“I insist. How could I possibly live with myself knowing that I stood in the way of true love. Sure the wealth and fame and adoration the Boutique would have gotten would have been nice… all the attention I’d be getting… Socialites asking my opinions… Nobility deigning to make my acquaintance… Rich mares lining up for my latest designs… Rich stallions flocking like sheep to court me…”
“Uhhh, Rarity?” Spike said as he poked his day dreaming pristine princess. “You ok?”
“Huh? Oh! Right,” she stumbled as she came back to herself. “All of that would mean nothing. I couldn’t possibly sleep comfortably at night knowing I didn’t see this through, no matter how opulent my bed might have been.”
“I’m not sure what just went on there, but it sounds like we have a deal?” the stallion hedged.
“We do indeed,” the purple maned beauty held out her hoof and the two shook on it. “So how much can the future of my career be bought for?” she asked half in jest, half in genuine professional interest.
He told her.
Were it her shop and she a less dignified lady, she would have profanely screamed him out of the shop, throwing lesser gems at his head that still would have been more valuable than the total he could manage and told him never to return.
Instead she fainted.
Her loyal lizard was at her side immediately to catch her and bring her back on all her hooves.
“Ahem, well…”she said as she steadied herself and tried to regain some composure, “a deal is a deal. Diamond Eyes, I trust you’ll keep to your end of the bargain?”
“But of course. How could I not after such a gesture?” the shop keep replied with a rueful smirk.
The three ponies concluded their business with some semblance of respectability; the mare in shock, the merchant with beguiled amusement and the stallion as giddy as a schoolgirl. With a final spine crushing group hug and profuse thank yous the brown earth pony literally bounced out of the store in euphoric glee knowing that in a weeks time his ring will be finished and ready to be presented to his love.
“That was awfully nice of you Rarity,” Spike said as the two left the shop themselves shortly after finishing their own business with Diamond Eyes.
“Hmmm, yes, well…” she said absentmindedly as she sorted out her thoughts. “It was definitely the right thing to do,” she settled on with a nod to reconfirm it to herself. “As Applejack would say, ‘ya gotta do what cha gotta do’… or something like that.”
“Still, you could have done a lot with that opal,” he said after they shared a brief giggle. “You could have given it to me. It looked delicious!”
“Oh I think it went to a much better cause,” she said with a titter of her own. “Besides, there were plenty of other fine gems we found today and with a few tweaks I’m sure I can make due. It was only the initial inspiration and given the nature of the creative process I’ll find some more along the way.”
“Mmm, wont be the same though.”
“No, it wont,” she lamented for the final time before smiling. “It’ll be better. Knowing that I helped that poor stallion out has put me in great spirits and I can only imagine the fanciful wedding he and his fiancé will have. That kind of joy is bound to bring on all kinds of creativity in me.”
“I guess so,” he said before they fell into a contented silence for a stretch. “Hey Rarity.”
“Yes Spikey-Wikey?”
“So, once he proposes, they’re getting married, right?”
“Yes.”
“And that means a wedding, right?”
“Usually it does.” She said uncertain of where the little purple and green dragon was leading.
“Do you think she’s picked out a dress yet?” he says with a smile.
Rarity stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes glimmering with possibilities, a huge grin plastering itself upon her face.
 

LE FIN