Rarity was caught by surprise when she heard the bell above the door to her shop jingle. Who could possibly be here? she asked herself, Why, I haven't had a decent customer in months, and here comes this unknown just strolling on in. She should be beaming with pride, she told herself, so why did she feel so dirty? Maybe it had something to do with the lack of customers? She had been forced to get a secondary job working over at the spa. Even with the added income, it was still difficult for her to make ends meet, let alone help out those that needed assistance. Why, she herself had to go eat at one of those soup kitchens that those in need had to go to. She took this as a sign of how far she has fallen in society. Before, she was one of the ponies that donated the food that went to those in need. Those in need, now there was an interesting thought to her. Before, she never went without the necessities, but now she was eating at soup kitchens to try and save a bit here and there.
The sound of somepony clearing her throat knocked her out of her reverie. Her jaw dropped, when she saw that the pony that had walked into her shop was none other than Filthy Rich.
“What may I help you with?” Rarity asked, remembering her manners.
“I have decided to stop by today, as I had heard that you have been in a spot of trouble for a little while now.” He stopped to clear his throat once more before he continued on, “When I saw that your establishment had not bounced back as I had guessed it would, I figured that I might be able to offer you a little financial support to help you get on your hooves again.”
Flattered, Rarity responded, “While the offer of support is a very generous one, I am afraid that I must respectfully decline.”
“Why on earth would you decline my charity?” He asked, flabbergasted.
“You have no idea what I have gone through to end up where I am, do you? She asked respectfully.
“Why no, I am quite afraid I haven't a clue as to what you have gone through, Ms. Rarity,” Filthy Rich admitted, “but I am still unsure as to why you would decline my charity.”
“After a rather tragic event, which ended with the loss of a very dear friend of mine, I was heartbroken. It got to the point that no matter what I was doing, my mind was on those days when my close coterie of friends and I were inseparable and did everything together. I prefered to think about those days than thinking of a life with-”
Filthy Rich Interjected, “We are speaking of the late Twilight Sparkle, I presume.”
“Yes.” Rarity snapped back clearly displeased with the interruption, “Now anyways, as I was saying. I prefered to think of those days, rather than imagine a world without Twilight. It got to the point where no matter who I was with or talking to, I would go off talking about what grand adventures we used to go off on. This behavior slowly drove my customers away, as they had come to buy an outfit. They did not come to my shop to hear about how good life used to be. Before long, I had no customers and was forced into looking for another job” Rarity finished, rather out of breath.
Filthy Rich sat there quiet for a few moments, before a rather sad look overcame his face. “I am sorry for your loss Ms. Rarity. May I take my leave?” he asked a little too formally.
“I am so terribly sorry, did I say something to offend you?” Rarity asked worriedly.
“No, nothing of the sort,” he responded quietly, “it’s just that you remind me of what I was like after the passing of my wife.” he ended sofly.
Rarity stood there a few moments before asking, “What was she like, your wife?
Filthy Rich paused on his way out the door, “She was overly dramatic and thought the world revolved around her. She was also the most generous and loving pony I had ever met.” He sighed wistfully, “She was a lot like you.” With that statement he walked out the door, on his way to his next destination.
The conversation left Rarity feeling oddly empty inside. Was she that self centered? Did she overdramatize things? She most certainly did not think so. Though, perhaps her opinion of herself was skewed and biased. She needed someone else to talk to about this, she decided. If she sat here trying to figure this out on her own, she was going to get nowhere. Going through her mind, she counted off the ponies she trusted to give an honest opinion to her. Pinkie Pie would say anything as long as it made her smile, and Flutters would be too afraid of hurting her feelings to give an honest answer. That left two of her friends, Applejack and Rainbow Dash. She briefly contemplated talking to Rainbow, then scrapped that idea rather quickly. Rainbow had not been acting quite herself since Twilight’s death. It was like she lost all of the pride and “can-do attitude” that made her Rainbow Dash. This left one pony that she trusted to giver her an honest answer. It just so happened that Applejack was also probably the best one for the job, seeing as she was the element of honesty. She set out from her shop.
To get to Sweet Apple Acres, she first had to cross through town. She did not particularly want to talk to anypony at this point, as she got tired of dealing with everypony's sympathy, and decided to skirt the edges of town. It was getting dark as she walked along, so most everypony was already off the street, which left Rarity some time to think about how she was to approach her friend. Ever since Twilight’s funeral, things had not been so easy for the once inseparable group of friends. Pinkie Pie, though still trying to act like the super happy party pony, was much more miserable and sad than she let on. Rarity had seen her once or twice behind the counter at Sugarcube Corner, and it seemed like the spark that made Pinkie, Pinkie had left her eyes. Nopony really knew what happened to Fluttershy, one day she decided that Fluttershy would probably need help getting through this more than she did so she decided to try and visit her cottage. To her surprise when she got to the cottage it was empty.
At first, she had panicked and hurriedly searched around to see if anyone knew where Fluttershy had gone. After getting the same answers from the other denizens of ponyville, she had soon given up hope. Apparently somepony else had noticed her missing a week prior, and nopony had been successful in locating her. She turned her mind back to the pony at hoof, and tried to think of what had changed about Applejack.
As far as Rarity could gather, Applejack had turned into a workaholic, working from sunup to sundown every day that she could. This had left her with little time to stop and visit her friends and, as such, it had been quite awhile since Rarity had last seen her friend.
Hearing voices from up ahead caused Rarity to stop and take stock of her surroundings. As she looked around, she saw that she had arrived at her destination. The voices that she heard were, in fact, none other than the voices of her friends Applejack and Big Mac. Rarity stopped for a second, as she had heard Big Mac yelling at Applejack. Hearing him shout took Rarity by surprise, as she had hardly ever heard him speak before, let alone yell. As she turned this over a few more times in her mind, she heard the door the house slam, and assumed that Big Mac must have went on inside angry at Applejack. Figuring that now was her chance she walked on forwards to the front porch, and to the lonely figure on the porch.