//------------------------------// // Rarity Opportunity // Story: Silver Marriage // by cdcdrr //------------------------------// Chapter Nine: Rarity Opportunity It had been nearly a week since Diamond Tiara was persuaded to resign from the Ponyville Express. She had spent the free time looking for a job that suited her education and expense, but found to her disappointment that Ponyville had little need for managers, and the nearest place where vacancies in a leadership position existed was Canterlot, which would have required her to move out. That wasn't something she could afford. She was beginning to worry that she and Silver Spoon would run out of money at this rate, and she was not looking forward to asking her father for money. But despite everything, she and Silver had kept up their normal life and tried to banish their concerns by pretending everything was still going well. A habit that on second thought probably caused them to spend more bits than they could afford to right now. Not wanting to let good purchases go to waste, she was picking up one right now. The bell above the entry door rang as Diamond Tiara stepped inside the store. "Welcome darling, I take it you are here to pick up the dress you ordered?" Rarity asked as she afforded Diamond Tiara a quick glance while she kept her attention on the dress she was currently working on. "That's why I'm here. Have you got it?" Diamond looked around, but couldn't see it in the store front. "Oh yes darling. Have you got a minute? It's in the back. I would get it for you, but I absolutely must finish this order. The client could be here any moment and it's a Canterlot celebrity. I can hardly let them see my unfinished product. Do make yourself comfortable dear." Rarity squinted and extended her tongue from the corner of her mouth as she worked on stitching the dress on the ponequin. Diamond Tiara did so without complaint. Her father had been a regular customer of Rarity's for all the dresses he had purchased for her. Despite the tension with her younger sister, Rarity had remained professional throughout and Diamond had stayed a regular customer. She generally loathed cheap items, but the town's fashionista managed to deliver stylish work for a low price. Most amazingly was when she insisted to make her and Silver's wedding dresses for free. If they hadn't planned to invite Rarity for being a suitable guest before, they had to after hearing that. "How's the missus, darling? Life treating you both fair?" Rarity struck up a conversation as she worked and Diamond sat on a stool. "Oh, just peachy. Which makes me wonder, when will you finally seal yourself to somepony? You're too pretty to end up an old spinster." Diamond had always known the mare to be looking, but never finding her special somepony. "Thank you for the compliment darling, but I just haven't found the right stallion yet." Rarity waved her concern aside. "Or mare, perhaps." Diamond Tiara guessed. She saw Rarity tense up, blush, and bring a hoof to her cheek. "Oh, well I just never imagined myself as being- my fantasies had always been of a handsome prince or dapper gentlecolt. What would my Canterlot friends think if they saw me holding hooves with another mare?" "Maybe we just travel in different circles, but last time I lived in Canterlot it was accepted that I flirted with girls." "Attitudes... change sometimes, darling." There was a sharp intake of breath from Rarity. "Haven't you heard? Fancy Pants broke up with Fleur de Lis, and all of a sudden he isn't the pony everypony should know anymore. They now follow this new mare, a baroness I believe. They say she is the new rising star in elite circles, and an elected member of parliament. She has some... clear opinions on how a lady must conduct herself. On how we unicorns must live." "And how is that?" Diamond Tiara frowned. "It's... it's-" Rarity seemed a little agitated at the question. "Look, she is the type to not think highly of an earth pony poseur or one whose barn door swings differently. So I am not going to walk through Canterlot with my marefriend, assuming that I had one, while the winds of group opinion are against us. I will not subject my best friend to such ridicule." "Best friend, ha? Somepony I know? An earth pony perhaps? Who knows more about barn doors than either of us?" Rarity hissed as she seemed to have pricked her foreleg with the needle right after hearing Diamond Tiara tease her. "Let us not speculate on anypony's 'barn door'. And like I said, it is pointless to do so. I know what I am and I know I want a stallion." Rarity determined as she repaired the last stitch. "A pity, really. You are a desirable mare. Take it from me. Had I not been so much younger than you and had Silver Spoon not required my affection, I could have seen myself pursuing a relationship with you." Rarity gave a nervous laugh. "You flatter me. I take it I should be honoured to know I am irresistible with the fair sex to. But let's change the subject. I have noticed that on the recent issues of the Ponyville Express you are no longer named as the chief editor, but Featherweight. Is something the matter?" Diamond Tiara's mood darkened at having that brought up. "I left the paper over... creative differences." "Left? Does that make you unemployed? Of all the things that could happen that is the worst possible thing!" Rarity looked at Diamond Tiara with wide eyes. "I am not looking for pity. Honestly, I've been wanting to leave for a while. I am glad to be free to look for a better job." Diamond Tiara lied. "But the Ponyville Express was so much more enjoyable under your tenure. What will I read when they go back to those Namby Pamby stories?" Rarity brought a hoof to her forehead, seemingly ready to faint. "Namby Pamby wasn't that bad." More lies. "Well, my enjoyment of the news aside, I simply can't ask you to pay such a hefty price for the dress I made you while you and Silver are in transition." Rarity left the finished dress on the ponequin to find her ledger. "No, it's fine. I can pay you. You don't have to treat us like we're poor." Diamond insisted, but her protest fell on deaf ears. "Nonsense darling. Your financial stability comes before my bottom line. I know you are a mare who pays her debts." Rarity closed the ledger after making a short edit somewhere inside. "I don't wish to undercut the work I've done on your dress, but gems are so out of season. Sequins is the next trend. I have to refocus on that to make up for my wasteful stock." Diamond Tiara wanted to feel gypped that she had bought a dress that Rarity now said was behind the curve, but something she said peaked her interest. "Gem encrusted clothing out of style? But that is what you do." "Indeed darling, and now I have a whole stockpile of gems I can't use because I have to find me something that sparkles like glitter. Oh dear, and the new trend will probably not pass until fall is upon us and I will have to find inspiration for practical, warm winter clothing. I just can't have all these gems sitting in my inventory!" Rarity dropped on her couch as though she had been utterly ruined. "I was thinking about a project in which a supply of gems would be greatly beneficial. If you don't need them, maybe I can take them off your hooves?" Diamond Tiara proposed. She was expecting there would be a price, since no pony would be so generous as to give her postponement of payment for goods rendered as well as a bucket of gems. "Yes, take them! Take them all. Better they go towards helping a mare in need of them than take up my valuable space just as I have to store quantities of new fabric and material." Okay, so perhaps one pony would be so generous after all. Diamond Tiara just wished Rarity didn't treat her situation as dire. Even though she did feel it was somewhat difficult. "Perfect. If you would give me the dress, we can arrange what time I'll come to pick them up." Diamond Tiara requested. "Don't be silly, darling. I will have them deliver right to you. I'm sure a fine young dragon like Spikey-wikey is up to carrying such a big load in exchange for a few gems to keep for himself." Rarity offered, which suited Diamond just fine. She went back into the workshop to retrieve her client's dress, all the while Diamond Tiara rubbed her hooves with a satisfied smile. * * * On her return home Diamond Tiara was met with the now familiar sight of Silver Spoon out front of the house, cleaning fruit and vegetable remains off the walls and window. "Not again." Diamond Tiara groaned, announcing her return to her spouse. "That's the third time this week. I could have sworn the facade was still clean when I left." "It seems our tormentor is becoming increasingly bold." Silver Spoon assumed. "I'm telling you, you have to get over yourself and tell the mayor." "I've tried. That's what took up half of my time gone." Diamond grumbled. "I didn't want to rely on any favours from her so soon after having been blackmailed. But when I told her about what has been happening and asked her to intervene, all she had to say for herself was that Ponyville doesn't have a police force and she couldn't spare the horsepower to guard one house if it did. Essentially, our troublemaker wouldn't show up if the house was watched, so they'll never catch them in the act, and we'd take up their resources until she'd stop trying." "Please tell me you did not make a scene at town hall." Silver Spoon implored. "Alright, I won't tell you." At Silver Spoon's exasperated sigh, Diamond Tiara elaborated anyway. "I told her it was Berry Pinch doing it, and she said I had no proof she did it and we can't just drag ponies out of their homes on mere accusations. Did she just develop a respect for basic civil rights because it inconveniences me?" "Do we even know it is Berry Pinch? Couldn't it have been Apple Bloom? You know she has a reason to hate us. Plus Berry Pinch never struck as like this bigoted." Silver tried to argue. "It isn't Apple Bloom, her sister would not condone this. Especially if she lied and went behind AJ's back to do this. But you know Berry Pinch is petty. She doesn't need a reason to scribble hurtful epithets other than that she hates somepony." "What are we going to do? I'm beginning to feel unsafe in our own home. We can't have one of us constantly on a stakeout for vandalism attempts, and this is costing us a lot of time and money to clean up every time." "There there." Diamond Tiara comforted Silver as she placed her forelegs around her head and pressed her close to her chest. "We'll figure out something. In the meantime, I will be doing some research and see about getting a loan. I think I have some inspiration to deal with our more pressing concern about money." "I hope you're right, Tiara." Silver pulled free. "I'm beginning to lose sleep over all this." "This'll work out. And when it does, I can start doing something about ponies who wronged us." Diamond guaranteed. Silver Spoon was still a little concerned about what would happen to the ponies who crossed her wife. But she had a house to clean, and she pushed her concerns aside with the hope her mare was going to solve all their problems.