//------------------------------// // The stone // Story: Rarity's Dilemma // by Twi-Guy //------------------------------// Rarity found herself wandering down the back streets of Ponyville. She hummed a little tune to herself and enjoyed the evening sun on her coat and decided to take the long way home. She turned willy nilly down whichever street took her fancy while heading in the general direction of Carousel Boutique. She stopped for a fraction of a second when her nose picked up the delicate mix of spices floating in the air and her stomach made some very unladylike suggestions. Rarity decided to follow the compelling smell to it’s source. She weaved in and out of the different streets and gradually the buildings shifted from the shining, welcoming advertisements of storefronts to the more modest appearances of Earth ponies homes. Rarity doubted she would ever get to taste whatever it was she was smelling and decided to head back. She managed three and a half steps before another smell caught her attention. She made a quick guesstimate and it seemed that both fragrances were coming from the same general direction. She pressed on, more out of curiosity than anything else. Rarity turned a corner and soon discovered to her delight that the delicious aromas were coming from a restaurant that she didn't even knew existed. Rarity approached the establishment and took note of the name, Soaps and Soups they called it. “How delightfully rustic” Rarity said to herself and went in. She was a bit taken aback when no pony greeted her. A visibly placed sign that said “Seat Yerself Please” made itself known, and having nothing else to go on Rarity found herself a nice booth in the corner. Fate smiled on Rarity as she sat down for her rather spontaneous dinner. It seemed that the last pony to eat at her table managed to misplace some bits on the floor after, what she assumed to be a drunken party, took place there. She looked around in a vain attempt to find the owner of the missing bits. Rarity could feel her face scrunch up as she struggled with the notion of simply claiming them as her own. She gathered them from the floor using her magic and placed them on the table. While the bits themselves were a little worse for wear and covered in sticky cider, the fact remained that they were there and perfectly capable of being spent. Rarity decided to stack them into a neat pyramid shape while she contemplated the fate of her new found fortune. An Earth pony soon came over to her table and introduced herself as Squeaky Clean. She looked at Rarity for a moment and could tell that something was off. Rarity glanced upwards and composed herself. “Yes, I’d like to start with a small glass of wine an-” “We don’t have any wine. Can I get you a glass of water?” Rarity’s ears slanted downwards and her mouth hung open slightly. She barely managed to stop one of her hoofs from reaching above the table but caught herself when she noticed Squeaky Clean’s raised eyebrow. Rarity suppressed a sigh and put on her best sincere face. “Water will be fine, thank you. Also, if you could bring out some of that heavenly soup that would be wonderful.” Squeaky Clean nodded and walked off towards the kitchen while Rarity nearly face hoofed out of sheer embarrassment and loss of face. She supposed she could make up for it by giving an extra large tip. She had more than enough after all, and she didn’t intend to carry the cider soaked bits home with her anyway. Time seemed to pass slowly as Rarity waited for her meal. She glanced around the mostly empty restaurant and recognised Caramel and Miss Cheerilee. They were sitting several tables away from each other but it was painfully obvious Caramel was eyeing Cheerilee. He would glance up, stare for a moment, then look down at his food with his ears hanging low. He would pretend to eat for a moment, then start over again. Rarity found it rather cute, especially when a slight blush would appear on his face, but the routine quickly grew old in Rarity’s eyes when it was clear Caramel wasn’t going to make a move. She contented herself to observing the few other ponies she didn’t know. Rarity could see a brown stallion with a dark brown mane with a hourglass as a cutie mark sitting in the bar area clearly enjoying the drinks. A purple mare with a darker purple mane sat next to the stallion. Her cheeks burned with the fire of the alcohol she had consumed which the stallion took completely the wrong way and earned himself a quick slap to the face. Rarity’s meal was brought out to her and the source of the decadent smells were revealed. As Squeaky Clean approached the table she couldn’t help but give a slight chuckle when she saw how Rarity prepared her napkin. She moved to put the dish on the table but paused when she noticed the pile of bits on the countertop. “Umm, Miss? Would ya mind moving yer bits off the table please?” “Hmmmm.... Oh sorry, it must have slipped my mind.” Rarity slapped herself in her mind for being so careless and struggled to come up with a plausible reason the bits were still there. In a stroke of genius, an idea formed in her mind. “Actually, I was wondering if I could pay for my meal in advance? I uh... have to pick up my sister after school and I really need to be going soon.” “You have to pick up yer sister from school? This late at night?” Squeaky Clean eyed her guest skeptically. “She has extracurricular activities.” Rarity said with practiced ease, doing her best to sound casual about it. “I see.” Squeaky intensified her stare just a tad and watched as Rarity began to look away and even tried to casually laugh it off. Her suspicions were aroused, but when Rarity pushed the whole stack of bits to the edge of the table, Squeaky shrugged it off and let the coins fall into her side pouch. She laid the soup in front of Rarity and cantered off to the kitchen, her bit pouch jingling all the way. Rarity let out a quick sigh of relief, lit her horn, and slowly took a spoonful of the soup to her mouth. The flavors were at once complex and simple at the same time and Rarity was at a loss as to how this could be. She took another bite and reveled in the soup, letting it slowly caress her tongue as she moved it up and down. She looked around and made absolutely sure nopony was watching. A small gleeful smile lit her face when she discreetly borrowed a spoon from a nearby table and began, for lack of a better word, started shoveling the soup into her mouth. Soup began to splatter all around the table and even managed to get onto her ruffled napkin bib. As with most good things, the soup too lost it’s luster as her hunger was sated. Rarity had very nearly reached the bottom of the bowl when she started to stir one spoon in the bottom in a manner that suggested she was debating on taking another bite. Her eyes soon began to wander over the rest of the restaurant in a lazily satisfied way. Her eyes soon made it to the window where she made a causal estimate of the time based on the sun’s position. When Rarity looked back to her soup something caught the corner of her eye. Rarity thought she was imagining things but decided to look again anyway. To her surprise she could see a faint shimmering coming from a nearby shop window. While it wasn’t unusual for unicorns to use magic to help enhance their advertising, this part of town seemed to house a lot of Earth ponies and while it wasn’t unusual for unicorns to live amongst the different types, Rarity found it rather unlikely. Besides, she knew from experience that eye catching light shows powered by magic always grew dimmer in time but the longer she looked the more powerful the light seemed to become. She decided that she really ought to be getting home and decided to call it a night. Having paid in advance she felt no need to wait. She gave a quick compliment to the chef and practically dashed out of the restaurant. Curiosity compelled her to the source which was gleaming in the moonlight from behind a shop window. Strangely enough, the object seemed to glow from the inside out. Rarity put her face against the glass and used her hoofs to block out the last rays of the sun so she could get a better view. Her face lit up when she realized it was a diamond of some kind, which made her even more curious. Rarity had seen a fair amount of jewels and gems in her day but never one quite like this. It was interesting, but only as a curiosity. She glanced back to the sky and noticed that the moon was just beginning to rise and decided that it would be best to return home for the night. She took one more glance at the diamond, made a mental note of the store, and headed home. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sleep did not come easily for Rarity that night. She tossed and turned on her mattress which refused to yield a comfortable position. Thoughts of the mysterious diamond swirled in her head, as well as several drinks which clouded the edges of her thoughts, which made her cling that much harder to the memory of the enchanted jewel lest she lose them forever. She tossed and turned several more times before giving up her pathetic attempts of sleeping and decided to start work early today. She busied herself with packing the Apple’s work clothes. Rarity carefully packaged each one into a white box, which featured a dark purple bow tie and had her cutie mark in the bottom left corner. She left the manikin room with her boxes levitating behind her, a tranquil smile appeared on her face when she saw the first glint of the sun. Rarity placed the boxes in the back of her small cart and struggled for several moments to hook herself up without magic. The whole thing felt overly frustrating and tedious but eventually she heard a slight “click.” To her it was one of the more satisfying sounds in the world. She set out at a slow but reasonable pace towards Sweet Apple Acres determined to make amends with Applejack. Rarity didn’t mind pulling the cart as much as she thought she would yet her vanity was glad it was early and nopony would actually see her. It wasn’t long before the cobbled streets of Ponyville gave way to well worn dirt roads. Rarity walked the familiar path and kept her eye on the tall barn that loomed in the distance. Even this early the faint sound of apple bucking could be heard in the distance. She paused for a moment to catch her breath and make herself presentable again and tried to find the source of the bucking. Her ears twitched slightly as they struggled to listen. Rarity began to shuffle a bit but soon picked up the sound of apples falling and trotted off in that direction. When she reached the top of the hill her forehead was covered in sweat and her mane wasn’t exactly perfect, but she could see Applejack and Big Mac bucking apples in the orchard below her. She smiled and trotted out to meet them. As Rarity got closer she could see Applejack positioning the baskets under the trees and taking the full ones to the apple cart. Rarity couldn’t help but admire Big Mac’s technique. She watched as he bucked two trees at the same time and Rarity was doubly impressed when all of the ripe apples fell neatly into the half barrels. Rarity’s heart gave a slight flutter when his head snapped up in her direction. Rarity quickly got her feelings under control, not wanting to blush so red it would match his coat, and announced her intentions. Big Mac and Applejack looked at each other in a somewhat shocked manner. It wasn’t too hard to figure out Rarity had probably made them some kind of clothes as a way to apologize for her behaviour on the farm a few days ago. Truth be told, they were kinda expecting something like this although not this soon. They gave each other a series of looks as they wordlessly communicated their surprise but stopped and stared when they saw Rarity struggling to get her harness off. “Oh this stubborn thing, I had it all figured out when I left home. I can’t imagine why it’s not working now.” Applejack looked at Big Mac and he offered a slight shrug in return. He walked (is that an ok term to use?) over to Rarity and pushed a complicated metal piece forward on the back of her harness which promptly shed itself from Rarity as if by magic, much to her relief. Rarity stepped out in front and looked back at the device with confusion and bewilderment, paused for a moment and then looked up to Big Mac. “How did you do that?” “It was a special harness, designed to keep slave ponies from leaving work early. Only somepony on the outside can undo it.” Rarity stood there for several seconds while she let the implications of Big Mac’s history lesson set in. She looked down at the harness and visibly shuddered. “So uncivilized.” “Eeyup.” “Well, I see. I’m glad that *that thing*,” Rarity spat “will never be used again.” “Where in Equestria did you get that?” Applejack asked with slight curiosity and morbid fascination. “Oh, I uh... bought it at the market. I thought it was just another cart...” Rarity looked down at the ground and let her ears hang back. “It’s just that it brings back some memories, is all.” Big Mac reflected solemnly. “Oh, I didn’t know...” Rarity could feel the tension in the air and her chance of making up to the Apple’s slowly slipping away. She felt that the sooner she could steer the conversation away from this subject the better. Rarity cut to the chase and put on a genuine smile, guiding her friends to the back of the cart where the alabaster parcels waited. Her eyes lit up with excitement and anticipation while Applejack and Big Mac gave each other a quick smile and sat on the ground and waited patiently for Rarity. They sat in such a way that Rarity was blocking the view to what would no doubt be a fabulous yet portable display. After several minutes of waiting and no indication of progress, the two began to wonder what was taking Rarity so long. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Meanwhile, across town in a certain bakery a particular pink mare’s tail, left hind hoof, and eyes started to twitch in a most peculiar and strange manner. Suddenly, the pink mare literally dropped everything and rushed upstairs knocking over several finished racks of custom order cupcakes in the process. She ignored Mrs. Cake’s confused and angry shouting and yelled back “NO TIME... PART-.” Mrs. Cake only sighed and poured herself a generous helping of Sweet Apple Acres cider and sat in the ruins of her once proud kitchen. “Confound it Pinkie, you drive me to drink.” ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ “Hey Rarity? What’s takin so long?” “Just putting the finishing touches, won’t be a moment longer.” Applejack sighed and turned to Big Mac, “She’s said that before.” “Eeyup.” The two sat and waited patiently for a few minutes and suddenly the banging and haphazard noises coming from Rarity’s cart ceased. The two sat a little straighter and leaned forward a bit, anticipating Rarity’s display. Rarity looked out to her captive audience and moved aside from the cart, milking the moment to the fullest. Applejack just looked to her friend with an “what the hay is that” expression to which Rarity responded by gripping a corner of the purple cloth with her teeth. “Thse, Afflejack,” she paused letting the tension build for a moment and then tugged the curtain away, “are you’re new work duds.” Several seconds passed before an all too familiar yet vaguly described bubble gum pink mare appeared behind a tree and unleashed the party cannon while yelling at the top of her lungs “SURPRISE!!!” The timing was perfect, the confetti glittered and the streamers streamed, yet Applejack and Big Mac sat in the dirt dumbfounded. Even Rarity was taken aback by the sudden appearance of this cotton candy maned mare. Pinkie smiled one of her trademark smiles, jumped onto the barrel of the cannon, yelled “NAILED IT!!!” and did a hoof pump simultaneously. After which she promptly packed up her cannon and began to wheel it home, muttering something about taking the scenic route home. Applejack stepped forward, followed closely by Big Mac, and examined the four boxes. It was immediately apparent that a massive amount of work and thought had been put into these clothes and it seemed to her that each one was custom made to help each of the Apples with their unique challenges on the farm. She looked to Rarity who was begging them to try them on. Applejack hesitantly pulled her duds out of the box and held them up to see how they would look without actually trying them on. “Well, what do you think?” “There uh... nice?” “Aren’t they? That’s custom hoof stitching on the legs and I took extra attention in mak-” “I need to stop you right there sugar cube. I appreciate the effort and all, but we can’t accept these.” “I understand Applejack, I would never charge full price for one of my friends. For you and your family, half price.” “I reckon this is gonna be a heartbreaker, but we still can’t accept these. It’s just not necessary.” “How about quarter price?” “I’ma sorry hun, but we just can’t. Thank ya mighty kind for the offer an all, I appreciate it, ah really do but we can’t accept.” “You’re really not going to take them, aren't you?” “Eeyup.” “Oh, well... in that case I suppose I best be getting home. Nice seeing you all again. Tell Apple Bloom and Granny that I said hi,” Rarity packed her cart, saddled up, and decided to take the scenic way home too.