//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: The Rite Setting // by Ebonysdagger //------------------------------// “Damn it all.” Rarity Belle was not having the best Thursday ever. Actually, that was an understatement. Her past week had been hell if she was honest with herself. It all started last Friday. “What do I do now? If I don’t start getting some orders soon I won’t be able to afford the rent. If that happens I’ll lose the store and then return to Ponyville. Who knew it would be so hard to break into the market here in Canterlot anyway?” Rarity had just spent the past month running her new jewelry shop getting only two customers the entire time. Oh sure she got the lookie loos one would expect a new shop to gain in any town but only two had purchased anything and at that it had been rather simple earrings. Given the care and hours she had put into several virtual raiment of gems she was not happy to only part with her simplest wares to say nothing of the least expensive. Given these facts it should have been unsurprising she was spending her money as wisely as anyone on the fast track to depression would by visiting a bar to get plastered. Perhaps the sauce could help her creativity was her excuse. As she continued to cast sheets to the wind she began to come up with an advertising scheme. This was Canterlot which was not only the city of the unicorns but one of the few cities in the entire nation that ran as much on gossip, hearsay, and scandal as it did money and magic. Perhaps she could spread some tales of the miracles her creations could work for her clients. Why it would not even be a lie after all. What Lady would not feel more confident with a lovely tiara or horn ring and in the realm of nobility what problem could a bit more confidence not fix? What Lord would not cow his rivals with a refined pocket watch made from far rarer and quality materials? She spent the rest of that night plying her secondary talent for gossip spreading the rumors about her shop. In time, she drunkenly believed, this could only help her business. What she had forgotten was this was Canterlot and not Ponyville. Rumors of miracles in a city filled with arch mages and psuedodeific royalty will be taken far more literally here than they would have been back home. These last two days had been a mad scramble trying to fulfill requests from clients. Rarity had never spent so much time researching the lattices of crystal and the mana throughput of various metals before in her life. She had managed to make four different tailor crafted trinkets for customers that mostly dealt purifying their mana for smoother flow or augmenting a customer’s mana pool. She was left feeling sort of dirty given that these were things unicorns looked for in a mate, purer magic and larger magic stores, and the leers the customers who had purchased them had shown to their companions after making the purchase made her ill. Today was a brand new day and she just knew it would mean more time taking her special talent and using it to help some sleaze get laid. The sad thing was these were the first requests she had received after the rumors spread. If this was what miracles meant to the nobility she was beginning to think it might be better to return to Ponyville after all. The problem was now though the store was empty again because she had received word that an important client would be requiring her services and as such she had her shop closed to the public until they arrived. “At least this month’s rent is handled. So let us hope today will be better.” She began to draw up a sketch for a lovely little diadem that had attached to it a small netting of silver that would loop into the grooves of a unicorn’s horn and was covered in small gems that would catch the light just so when it was made. Thankfully she no longer had to take time away from creating new works to find gems and it was all due to a chance happening. The day she had encountered her friend, Maud Pie, had been such a boon for her she would remember it always. Rarity was bored. Her horn had been tugging her somewhere for nearly a day and a half at this point. If this did not end soon she was going to fear for her health though perhaps more importantly now was how scuffed up her hooves were becoming. After a few more minutes she suddenly stopped thanks to her horn slamming her into a giant rock. Needless to say the filly was unamused with this development. Just as she was about to kick the rock off the cliff she had found it on an explosion rippled across the sky and magic raced throughout the world as far as her limited magical sensitivity could tell. This lead to the rock breaking in half, finding a mother lode of gems, and the attainment of her cutie mark in a single instant. As the young unicorn set her best efforts into carrying the gems back home she spotted a gray colored filly heading her way. She stopped to see what this individual would want. As she waited a very monotone voice reached her ears. “Please wait a moment. If you don’t mind I would like to see those gems you have there.” After some talking and some working together Maud had taught her a bit about the gems and their properties which had lead Rarity to using them for more than just augmenting some costumes for her class play. From that day on the path of the jeweler had been Rarity’s and Maud had been more than willing to give Rarity any gems she found once she had finished studying them. Why, Rarity still had an odd bit of tourmaline from that day that she could never seem to part with for any reason. Her door chime rattled calling her attention. Just as she was about to explain that the store was closed today so as to accommodate a client she noted that the one who entered was a dragon with purple scales and a green underbelly and fins. This caused her to halt before she could begin because this must have been who she was waiting for. Everyone in Canterlot recognized Spike if only because he was the only contact with the High Lady Twilight Sparkle anyone in the city had. Why would the custodian of this modern age of magic and science need her services. “Excuse me miss. Are you Rarity Belle?”