~Three Days Later~
If there was anything Rufus hated more than Deponia, it was sitting in a bed with nothing to do. He recalled two days ago him asking if he could watch TV, to which he soon found himself forced into lecturing the ponies about the different entertainment his world had to offer. Even yesterday was quite a dozy as everything he said some way or another became about Deponia or how he saved it, and as much as he couldn’t believe it, it was really starting to bug him.
Aside from the constant shower of questions; there was another matter on his mind; this one regarding the purple one that they called ‘Twilight’. See, at first this pony was all against the possibility of a world such as Deponia. Then the next day, she came back quite interested in the idea of a garbage filled planet. As to why, he still didn’t know; much less care too. But there was a definite change in her behavior these past few days, as her stubborn hostility was gradually being replaced with open-minded curiosity.
With the addition of that mare’s odd change in behavior, the pink one known as Pinkie Pie, threw him a ‘Thank you for saving Hope from that manticore’ party, though to him it seemed this was just an excuse for Pinkie to get more information on what he consider to be a great party as each game was followed by a rating system. But hey, if he’s getting presents for it, he’s not complaining.
It should also be noted that his question about Equestria were not going unanswered. One question in particular was about what he was going to wear after being released from the hospital…
Turns out they don’t wear clothes….
“What!? Are you serious!?” Rufus replied to the group hunched over and looking at them as if they were all brain-dead.
“Yep!” the Pinkie chirped with an energetic bounce.
“Does that mean I’m gonna have to walk around butt naked!?” he asked in wide-eyed shock.
“You have a problem with that dear?” Rarity responded from within her biohazard suit. Rufus’s eyes widened even further as he straightened up his posture and stared blankly at the wall for a brief minute. “Nnnneeehyes! Yes ….definitely yes!” He responded back with a furious nod. As much as he would love to show this world his beautiful body, something about streaking up and down the town streets just seemed a little unsettling to him.
“Well if that’s how you feel, I can make you some clothes.” Rarity said with a twist of her hoof.
“This is not gonna be related to your last gift, is it?” He said waving his head at the human size quarantine bubble in the corner.
“Oh, come now, you’re not still upset about that, are you?” Rarity replied, rolling her eyes and batting her hoof. “Because if you are, I just want to say. It was all Twilight’s idea.” The mare said, smiling slyly as she pointed a hoof at the now wide-eyed princess.
“WHAT!?” Twilight shrieked in shock as her and Rufus gasped at the mare. The Deponian gazed at the alicorn and lifted a brow suspiciously. “Is this true?” he said morbidly. All of the residents fixed their eyes on the purple pony.
Twilight’s face turned red, and she rubbed her neck. “W-Well I… Ah, I… May have suggested it to her…” She admitted both fearful and embarrassed.
The tone of the room immediately change as the boy grinned happily at the mare, “Thanks, Twilight! I’ve always wanted one of these!”
All of the group, except Rufus and Pinkie, shot surprised looks at each other. “Y-You did?” All of them, save Pinkie, said in shock.
Rufus nodded back at them in glee. “Of course, now I can make that human sized marble contraption I always wanted to do!”
“Why would ya wanna do that?” Applejack said oddly.
“Why wouldn’t you want to do that?!” Pinkie and Rufus shouted at AJ.
“So you like it?” Rarity said dumbfoundedly.
“Hell yes!” Rufus nodded in one quick jerk of his head. He turned to Twilight with a big grin and said, “Thanks Twi, I can’t wait to try it out!”
“Oh well, um…? Your welcome, I guess…” Twilight mumbled back with a confused yet sheepish smile.
In a slight desperation for approval Rarity stepped forward and pressed a hoof against the chest of her suit blurting out, “W-Well it was I who bought it!”
Rufus stared at her blankly, then gave a board expression, “Yeah, but it’s the thought that counts.”
“He’s got you there Rarity.” Dash said smugly, pointing her hoof at the baffled pony. The mare’s face turned red, and her eye twitch as Dash and the other ponies chuckled around her.
“B-But… it…I-I…” The bearer of generosity stuttered as she tilted her head down and rubbed her temples in an attempt to figure out what just happened. The words and tone of Rufus’s comment echoed in her mind; they dug into her heart like icy claws as she stood there completely confused and hurt by what he said. The pain of which was then soon replaced with spiteful rage, “Oh, never mind!” She groaned irritably, shaking her head as she trotted out the door in frustration.
“Wait!” Rufus called from his bed as she stepped into the hall, “What about the clothes?”
The mare stopped; glanced coldly over her shoulder, “They’re be ready in four days, just come by then and pick them up.”
She took one last look at the group before, snapping her head back with a ‘humph’ and sticking her nose in the air as she disappeared from view. The six stood there, in awkward silence, gazing back at the formerly occupied section of the hall.
“She does realize that I’m stuck in this bed, right?” Rufus said as they continued their stunned stare.
“I think she’s aware of that.” Twilight said worriedly, not breaking her gaze with the door.
Rufus turned his head towards the rest of the group and said, “Hey!”
Without moving their heads, the ponies' eyes fixed themselves on the man in the bed. “You want to make a bet?” He cockily replied, furrowing his brow and grinning slyly at them as he spoke.
The five looked at each other, then turned around and gazed back at him. “Ah bet?” The cowpony said titling her head in interest as she mimicked the expression on Rufus’s face, “What kind of bet?”
“Oh, just little wager about my new clothes.” He grabbed Twilight’s notepad from out of her grasp then, using a set of colored pencils he had left on a nearby table drawer, started drawing on it. “I’ll bet you that the outfit Rarity makes for me is the same one I wore on Deponia.” He said holding up and tapping his index finger on his crudely made, yet colorful, sketch of his old duds. The group studied the design thoughtfully. It was a sloppy mess of waggled pencil lines, but decipherable to say the least. “If I win, I get twenty zlot- er, I mean bits from each of you.”
Rainbow Dash crossed her hooves and eyed the man quizzically. “And what if we win?” she asked in slowly.
“If you win, I’ll answer all your question for now on, more beating around the bush, and…” Rufus paused for a moment and smirked, “I’ll give you a day where I’ll do whatever you want me to; that’s an individual day for each individual bettor just to let you know.”
“You’re on!” Dash replied pointing a hoof at him.
“Sweet!” he said.
“Count me in too!” AJ answered confidently. She gaze up and put a hoof to her chin as she said, “Why, with his height and those claw- er ah, fingers of his, I reckon he could be mighty helpful around the farm.” Putting the hoof back down on the ground, she smiled tauntingly at the man, “Let’s just hope ya got the strength in ya when the time comes.”
“I assure you I’m quite strong AJ” Rufus said before looking at Twilight. “What about you Twilight?” he asked.
Twilight let a laugh, “Hah! The statistical probability of that exact outfit being made is practically impossible. You can definitely include me!”
“Much like the probability of my world huh?” Rufus smirked. Twilight cringed at his words as she felt a sudden drop of confidence. Rufus then looked at Fluttershy, “How about you Flutters? Are you game?”
The quiet mare looked shyly at the ground and mumbled. “Was that? I didn’t quite hear that. You’ll have to speak louder.” Rufus said holding a hand to his ear.
The mare continued gazing down twiddling her hoof in minuscule circles as she talked, “Uh, well ah…” She looked up and gazed at the group, the sight of her friends staring at her made her nervous. All of them were nodding for her to take the deal, which was except for Pinkie Pie, who was shaking her head no. “I …uh,”
“Uh-huh?” Rufus said vexingly while trying to egg her on.
“I-I…Uh,” Fluttershy squeezed her eyes closed tightly and lower her head as if something bad was about to happen, then gave a soft yet high pitched, “Yes!”
She paused for a moment then cautiously cracked open an eyelid as the room erupted in cheer.
“Wow!” Rufus said with enthusiasm, “I’ve never seen a group so worked up over a bet!” The Deponian directed his attention at the pink mare in the corner. “Pinkie, would like to join?”
The pink earth pony shot him an incredulous look like she wasn’t born yesterday. “What!? Are you nuts?” She retorted, scrunching her muzzle up in as she spoke, “I’m not gonna lose twenty bits to that! Count me out!”
“What’s that matter Pinkie Pie? Are ya chicken?” Dash taunted.
Pinkie glanced up at the mare. “How can I be a chicken without my costume?” she asked puzzlingly.
The four other ponies shook their heads and looked back at Rufus. Rufus shrugged his shoulder and picked notepad aging. He tore the page with the picture out of it and put it to the side. “Alright, ground rules. Twilight write this down.” Rufus said handing the pad back to Twilight. “First off, since the drawing of my outfit is only a rough sketch the clothes that Rarity makes for me doesn’t need to be exactly as shown here, but the color and design need to be relatively similar to it. Got that?”
The group nodded in confirmation as Twilight scribbled down the rule. “Hold it!” Rainbow Dash said. The mare eyed the boy with a distrust, “How do we know you're not gonna try to convince Rarity to make the outfit like the one in the picture?”
“And how am I going to do that? Last I checked; I’m stuck in this hospital, and every time she’s here she’s with you guys.” Rufus replied to her. Dash and the others weren’t buying it as they kept glaring at him suspiciously. “Alright, alright.” The Deponian groaned as he gave in, “I’m not allowed to try to influence Rarity’s design, however…” Rufus paused with a glare of his own, “That means that you can’t show her the picture nor describe it or any other kind of design to her. In other words, you can’t interfere with her work either.”
The ponies looked at each other; then the four huddled up. What followed next was a series of hushed murmurs then them turning back to face the Deponian ready to deliver their answer.
“Fine.” Twilight said, speaking on behalf of the group, “But if Rarity asks us for our help we give it to her, even if it’s an opinion about the design. And just to make sure things are fair, Pinkie Pie can be the judge for the outfit and can disqualify any cheaters if need be.”
Rufus thought a bit, “Okay, but if that’s the case then I should be able to tell my opinion for what the clothes should look like when asked.”
“Alright, but only when your asked, and only in an oral description, Deal?” Twilight responded holding a hoof out.
“I have no idea what that means, but deal!” Rufus said, catching the mare off guard as he greedily grabbed the offered appendage and shook it. The group eyed the odd shaking gesture Twilight was currently partaking with the man.
Rufus let go of the hoof and Twilight stood there frozen with her leg still extended. She felt herself trying to suppress the excitement of participating some alien custom as she spoke up. “I-It means only talking to her, no writing or drawing.” The mare happily stuttered as she gently place her hoof back on the ground.
“Oh! Well that’s going to be easy to do.” Rufus replied.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~A Few Minutes Earlier~
{Hospital: Outside}
Rarity paced around the front lot trying to collect her thoughts and processed where she went wrong. She was trying, and she meant really trying when it came to likening him and to be his friend, but he didn’t even seemed to like her gifts he wouldn’t even pretend to appreciate them. What did she do wrong? Was it the scene she made with the clothing? Did that man just love hurting her feelings? It wouldn’t be too farfetched as he’d go all the way as to point out what he disliked about the present and he even make jokes about what she gave him too! And now the on gift he did like…
The unicorn took an aggressive stance hanging her head low as she growled furiously, “That ungrateful sadistic jackas-” Rarity stopped in mid-sentence and quickly recomposed herself giving a cough as she reasserted herself into a more dignified manner. “Really Rarity, control yourself, this isn’t the first time you had an issue with giving.” She said calmly, “You shouldn’t let some nonsense like critiquing your gifts bother you. And besides, you know that the bubble idea was yours in the first place.”
The mare paused for a moment. She heard faint whispering in the back of her head but couldn’t make it out. The murmuring caused her feel odd, like something was off but she couldn’t quite figure it out. She decided to rethink what she said, monologuing her thought process along the way, “It was Twilight who suggested it to me when it was on my mind at the time. And she suggest it when I was expressing my concerns to her about the many dreadful diseases he might be carrying. And it was her suggestion that finally caused me to go out and buy it.”
She gasped in horrid realization, “Does that mean that that gift didn’t actually come out from generosity of my heart, but out of fear for my own well-being?!” Rarity started pacing again as she continued talking to herself, “Putting yourself before others!? That’s practically the opposite of generosity!”
Rarity looked at the biohazard suit she was wearing. Once again the words and tone of Deponian’s comment echoed in her head. ‘It’s the thought that counts…’. The mare felt something in her chest sink; tears welled up around the base of her eyes. She wanted to push the thought out of her head, but something kept it in there. The phrase was now forever etched in her mind, piercing into her heart like sewing needles in a pincushion. She felt lost and confused. How many times did this happen? How many time did she give for approval? How many for her own well-being? Rarity continued to question the nature of her generosity till a voice in her head spoke…
‘It’s true that it’s the thought that counts… but what that thought is may not necessarily be a generous one… and thus if it isn’t, then the action at heart isn’t one of true generosity…’
The mare’s eyes widened in startlement at the thought the voice had put in her mind.
Rarity slumped to the ground and began to cry bitterly in silence, her makeup started to run as she did so. An array of emotions, anger, fear, saddens, now swiped her, but the two feelings that she felt the most was lost and confusion. It was a horrible and overwhelming experience. She had never felt one such like it since the weeks after Discord’s defeat. She continued to sulk there in the front lot of Ponyville Hospital.
Rarity just laid there crying till she saw the shadow of a figure cover the ground before her. The distraught mare looked up from the cobblestone street to find Princess Celestia there looking down at her with concern. “What’s wrong my little pony?” she asked softly.
Rarity gazed up at her in saddens then down at the puddle of tears that laid before her. These past days with Rufus had been a disaster, he had made her look like a fool, criticized her gifts, and worst of all, made her question her own element.
The unicorn’s face turned to bitter anger, and she stared up at Celestia with it.
The mare didn’t bother to beat around the bush or hesitate, she just told the princess exactly what was wrong, “It’s the newcomer, the one Twilight mention… he… he hurt me…”