In all their classes, the students receive ample knowledge of the various aspects of friendship. Regarding the personal interests of the professors, however, they got more out of some professors than others …
“Professor Rarity,” Smolder speaks up during yet another lesson veering towards fashion. “Does generosity only apply towards dresses?”
A tinge of dejection overcomes the unicorn, but she quickly shakes off the feeling. “I admit that my own ventures gravitate towards my profession of choice … but generosity is a vital aspect of friendship regardless of situation. Everything from offering the last slice of pie during a lunch to providing financial assistance to those who cannot afford the finer things in life.”
“Is generosity always associated with physical things?” Ocellus asks.
Rarity chuckles. “Generosity can go far beyond the mere tangible. One can be generous with their time, volunteering themselves for community service. One can be generous with their emotional state, being there for another when times can get particularly difficult. Why, one can even be generous with one’s rationality.”
The sound of Rarity’s final word causes the class to observe their professor with confusion. “What do you mean by being generous with your rationality?” Gallus asks for the group.
“Oh … perhaps I should be careful with my choice of words …” Her attempts to backpedal do little to answer Gallus’s question; she sighs and continues: “Obviously, with my line of work, I get all sorts of requests from all sorts of VIPs … Very Important Ponies, of course. And in some cases, those requests can push my sanity beyond tolerance. BUT, one must always work towards the greater good, and not put one’s mental concerns at the forefront.”
“Yona confused. Can professor give example?”
“Yes, well … I cannot divulge personal information to you, but I suppose I can give you at least a little insight as to what I often have to deal with. Several weeks ago, I got a request from a well-known entertainer.”
“Sapphire Shores?”
“The Countess?”
“An act at Burning Dragon?”
“No no no, I simply cannot go into details,” Rarity insists, “but I will say that this particular entertainer, for one particular performance, had five backup performers, and she wished to have each of them made up in a dress consisting primarily of a single type of gemstone.
A shiver runs down Gallus’s spine, as he begins to sense the direction the lecture is taking them.
“Now again, I cannot reveal details … so let us refer to the backups each by a single letter: A, B, C, D, and E. My client asked that each have a dress made up of one of four gems: either emerald, sapphire, ruby, or diamond. No dress should have more than one gem type, and at least three different gem types had to be used for the dresses, though not necessarily all four gem types.”
“Sounds simple so far,” Silverstream states.
“Would that it were so simple … but my client had a number of provisions that she simply MUST have; else, she would cancel the entire order.”
Don’t ask, don’t ask, don’t ask …
“What sort of provisions?”
Sandbar’s query causes Gallus to slap his head with a wing and groan to himself.
“Is everything all right?” Rarity asks with concern.
“Huh? Oh … yeah, everything’s fine,” he replies with as much sincerity that he can muster.
“OK then … well to answer your question, Sandbar, my client asked that the gem types used for the backups adhere to strict guidelines that, honestly, still make little sense to me.”
“Like what,” Smolder asks.
Rarity muses for a moment. “Yes … it’s still fresh enough in my mind … lesse …”
“ ‘C must wear sapphire, unless D wears ruby. And D must wear emerald, unless B wears the same gem type as E. And E must wear either sapphire or emerald, with A wearing diamond if E wears sapphire and with A wearing ruby if E wears emerald. Oh, and C should wear ruby, unless B wears either sapphire or emerald, and if B does wear sapphire then C should wear diamond, and if B wears emerald instead then C should wear emerald as well.’ ”
…
“Now Yona really confused.”
“Yeah, it sounds like your client contradicted herself, like, a dozen times,” Smolder adds.
“Believe me, it was a lot to process. But the customer is always right, as they say. And after spending a lot of time parsing out her request, I was able to come up with an ensemble that satisfied all her demands.”
“Really?” Silverstream asks in surprise. “How?”
Rarity opens her mouth to speak, when Gallus suddenly interrupts:
“Don’t bother professor; we’ve been through these a lot as of late.”