Rarity returned home to find her sisters gathered around Fluttershy, who had a smile on her face and a ring on her hoof. "I am certainly the most fortunate creature that every existed!" cried Fluttershy. "Oh, Rarity! Big Macintosh came to call on me today!"
"What?" Rarity exclaimed. "I missed his proposal?"
"You knew he was going to propose?" Fluttershy asked.
"I suspected he would," Rarity said. "Oh, Fluttershy, I'm so happy for you!"
"Where were you today, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I...I had some important business to take care of," Rarity said. "But it's over now. Where is Mother?"
"Where do you think?" Mr. Bennet asked, from his chair. "She is out, telling the good news to everypony in town. No doubt all of Ponyville will know of the engagement by sundown."
One morning, about a week after Big Macintosh's engagement with Fluttershy had been formed, as all the females of the family were sitting together in the dining-room, their attention was suddenly drawn to the window by the sound of a carriage, and they perceived a chaise and four driving up the lawn. It was too early in the morning for visitors, and besides, the equipage did not belong to any of their neighbors. Neither the carriage, nor the livery of the servant who preceded it, was familiar to them, and the mares conjectured who it could be, till at last the door was thrown open, and their visitor entered.
It was Lady Chrysalis de Bourgh. She entered the room with an air more than usually ungracious, made no other reply to Rarity's salutation than a slight inclination of the head, and sat down without saying a word. Rarity had mentioned her name to her mother on her Ladyship's entrance, though no request of introduction had been made.
Mrs. Bennet, all amazement, though flattered by having a guest of such high importance, received her with the utmost politeness. After sitting for a moment in silence, she said, very stiffly, to Rarity, "I hope you are well, Miss Bennet. That lady, I suppose, is your mother?"
Rarity replied very concisely that she was.
"And these, I suppose, are your sisters?"
"Yes, madam," said Mrs. Bennet, delighted to speak to a Lady Chrysalis. "These are Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie—"
"It is a pleasure meeting you," Chrysalis said, in a tone of voice which indicated the opposite. After a question from Rarity, she made a few perfunctory remarks about Shining Armor's wedding, then fell silent. Rarity was now completely puzzled. What motive could Lady Chrysalis possible have for travelling all the way to Ponyville to meet the Bennets?
Mrs. Bennet, with great civility, begged her Ladyship to take some refreshment, but Lady Chrysalis very resolutely, and not very politely, declined eating anything. And then, rising up, said to Rarity, "Miss Bennet, there seemed to be a prettyish kind of a little wilderness on one side of your lawn. I should be glad to take a turn in it, if you will favor me with your company."
Perceiving that Lady Chrysalis wished to speak privately, Rarity went to the girls' room to grab a parasol. The two of them left Carousel Boutique together and walked along the pathways behind the house. They proceeded in silence along the gravel walk, for Rarity would make no effort for conversation with a woman who was now more than usually insolent and disagreeable.
As soon as they entered a wooded area, Lady Chrysalis began in the following manner. "You can be at no loss, Miss Bennet, to understand the reason of my journey hither. Your own heart, your own conscience, must tell you why I come."
Rarity looked with unaffected astonishment. "Indeed, you are mistaken, madam; I have not been at all able to account for the honor of seeing you here."
"Miss Bennet," replied her Ladyship, in an angry tone, "you ought to know that I am not to be trifled with. But however insincere you may choose to be, you shall not find me so. A report of a most alarming nature reached me two days ago. I was told that you, Miss Rarity Bennet, had paid a visit to the estate of my own nephew, Mr. Darcy, with the intention or marriage. Though I know it must be a scandalous falsehood, I instantly resolved on setting off for this place, that I might make my sentiments known to you."
"There are rumors that I might marry Mr. Darcy?" said Rarity, coloring with astonishment and disdain. "If you believe that these rumors to be false, I wonder you took the trouble of coming so far. What could your Ladyship propose by it?"
"I came at once to insist upon having such a report universally contradicted," Lady Chrysalis said. "You will tell everypony, at once, that there is no attachment between you and my nephew, and you will agree never to see him again."
"You ask a good deal from me, based on rumor alone," Rarity said.
"Let me be rightly understood. This match, to which you have the presumption to aspire, can never take place. No, never. Mr. Darcy is engaged to my daughter. Now, what have you to say?"
"First there is talk of Mr. Darcy being engaged to myself, now there is talk of him being engaged to Trixie?" Rarity asked. "Dear me, Mr. Darcy must be quite the busy stallion, if he has been proposing to as many mares as you have indicated. Next, I suppose, he is to steal Twilight away from Spike."
"Obstinate, headstrong girl! I am ashamed of you! Is this your gratitude for my attentions to you two weeks ago? Is nothing due to me on that score? You are to understand, Miss Bennet, that I came here with the determined resolution of carrying my purpose, nor will I be dissuaded from it. I shall not leave until I am convinced that you will not interfere with Mr. Darcy's engagement to Trixie, for his mother and I have planned this wedding, ever since the day of her birth."
"Dear me, that it is a very long time. It is a shame that Mr. Darcy himself is completely ignorant of the match."
"Tell me, once for all, are you engaged to him?"
Though Rarity would not, for the mere purpose of obliging Lady Chrysalis, have answered this question, she could not but say, after a moment's deliberation,
"I am not."
Lady Chrysalis seemed pleased. "And will you promise me never to enter into such an engagement?"
"I will make no promise of the kind."
"Miss Bennet, I am shocked and astonished. I expected to find a more reasonable young woman. But do not deceive yourself into a belief that I will ever recede. I shall not go away till you have given me the assurance I require."
"And I certainly never shall give it. I am not be to intimidated into anything so wholly unreasonable. If Mr. Darcy ever wishes to propose to me, that is his business and his alone. How far your nephew might approve of your interference in his affairs, I cannot tell, but you have certainly no right to concern yourself in mine. If I decide to pursue him, I assure you that no action on your part can possibly stop me."
"And this is your real opinion! This is your final resolve!" Chrysalis screeched. "You are just like your ill-raised father—scorning all judgment and decency for the sake of selfish gain! Very well. I shall now know how to act. Do not imagine, Miss Bennet, that your ambition will ever be gratified. I came to try you. I hoped to find you reasonable, but depend upon it I will carry my point."
In this manner Lady Chrysalis talked on till they were at the door of the carriage, when, turning hastily round, she added, "I take no leave of you, Miss Bennet. I send no compliments to your mother. You deserve no such attention. I am most seriously displeased."
Rarity made no answer, and without attempting to persuade her Ladyship to return into the house, walked quietly into it herself. She heard the carriage drive away as she proceeded. Her mother impatiently met her, to ask why Lady Chrysalis would not come in again and rest herself.
"She wanted to leave immediately," Rarity said.
"I hope you didn't offend her," Mrs. Bennet said. "What an honor to have such a distinguished guest! I suppose she was on her road, and, passing through Ponyville, though she might as well call on you to say that Twilight and her family were well. Did she have anything particular to say to you, Rarity?"
Rarity was forced to give in to a little falsehood here, for to acknowledge the substance of their conversation was impossible.