Excess

by Twinkletail

Munificence

Rarity hummed quietly to herself, refusing to let anything get her down. She was usually a cheery pony to begin with, but right now, she was determined o be even more cheery than usual. Yesterday had been rather decent for the most part; picnic days with her closest friends always were.

Well, actually, that wasn't entirely true. Picnic days with her friends were usually better than decent. In fact, they typically ranged from joyful to downright euphoric, depending on everypony's moods, the condition of the weather, and the quality of the foods provided. With those things and nothing else taken under consideration, yesterday should have certainly been more than decent.

And yet it wasn't.

Rarity could not bring herself to award a greater title to the day, and she couldn't quite explain why. It wasn't a bad day, which was always good. But it wasn't a good day, which was somewhat bad. The only impetus she could possibly come up with for the less-than-excellent rating was the loss of her delicious apple tart, but that didn't seem like enough to mar a day completely. Besides, it had made Sweetie Belle quite happy, so she couldn't bear to think ill of the situation. There had to be something else...but whatever it was, it was clearly something she couldn't quite put her hoof on.

As it was, though, she had decided to stop trying to put her hoof on it. If it was something that she couldn't figure out, then there was a fair chance that it was just a silly, baseless feeling. Besides, her hooves were needed for far more important matters. After all, there were many ponies who depended on her brilliant fashion mind to guide them along the path to dressing for success, and what would they do without their finest seamstress and her fabulous designs? Rarity didn't want an answer to that question, to be truthful. To receive an answer would mean subjecting her mind to torturous ideas; not only the concept of ponies that she cared for being unfashionable, but the idea of said ponies needing her help and her not providing it. Such a concept was unthinkable.

Rarity's ears perked as the bell above the boutique door rang. She figured it would be Minuette coming to pick up her dress. Rarity thanked her lucky stars that she hadn't let yesterday's strangeness distract her from her work today, otherwise she never would have finished this dress on time.

"Good afternoon, darling~!" Rarity sang as she turned to face the entering unicorn. "I've just finished up your ensemble! What impeccable timing you have!"

"Comes with the territory, I guess," Minuette responded, smiling and indicating the hourglass cutie mark on her flank.

"I suppose it does!" Rarity said. Her horn lit up, and the now-finished dress lifted from its resting place, hovering before Minuette. "I worked so hard to make it perfect just for you! I feel this particular shade of green compliments your coat wonderfully, and the trim is a special little design I've been working together. Isn't it just fabulous?"

Minuette looked over the dress that floated before her. Rarity smiled eagerly, trying not to show the worry that hid deep within her. Minuette was not exactly knowledgeable when it came to fashion matters, but she was very opinionated and hard to please. It didn't help that she was ridiculously obsessive when it came to small details, even moreso than Rarity herself. Every single time she'd make something for Minuette, they'd end up haggling over the price, with Minuette citing these tiny imperfections as her reasoning. Rarity took pride in the fact that, while she'd relent a little on the price, she'd never let it get out of hoof. She could already see her customer's mind working intently, and she steeled herself for the upcoming battle.

"It's lovely," Minuette said. "Really, it is. But I dunno...the trim here isn't entirely symmetrical. And I kinda had a slightly different shade of green in mind. The saturation in this green is around a 56, but I was envisioning more of a 87."

Rarity stared blankly for a moment. This was a whole new level of specificity for Minuette. She wouldn't let this ruin her resolve, though.

"A more saturated color would direct attention away from your lovely coat, darling," Rarity said through an uncomfortable smile. "And really, nopony will notice the very slight asymmetry when they're too busy focusing on your beauty."

"It's really, really gorgeous, don't get me wrong," Minuette asserted. "But I kinda just had something a little different in mind. I mean I'll still take it if you'll give me a discount."

There it was. She knew it was coming. Still, she kept her smile.

"I could always make it over, darling," Rarity said, knowing that she could probably just sell this dress to somepony else. Making a new dress really wasn't an issue for her at all.

"No no, it's fine," Minuette responded. "It really is a great dress, other than those little bits. Nothing that a little discount wouldn't cover."

Rarity's smile faltered further. It had started. She cleared her throat, ready to begin the haggling process. She was never a very good haggler; she always consented a bit more than she wanted. This time, though, she was determined. There was no way that she would allow a major discount on this fabulous dress just because of some very minor problems that a pony without Minuette's discerning eye would never notice. She would placate her customer with a little bit off the price, but a little bit was all that she would allow.

"What kind of discount were you envisioning, darling?" Rarity asked, holding in the little bits of frustration she was feeling with the grace of a proper lady.

"Maybe 25% off?" Minuette responded, a cool, calm look on her face.

Rarity couldn't believe what she was hearing. A 25% discount for a slightly-greener green and a barely-noticeable asymmetry in the trim? It was preposterous. Even 10% was a little much. 25% was right out.

"Nonsense," Rarity said, giving a small flip of her mane. "If you are dissatisfied, then I must abide. 50% off."

Rarity had no clue where that came from. Both the bigger discount and the nearly-Iron Will-esque rhyming phrase were completely unexpected to the poor, confused mare.

"Really??" Minuette asked, taken aback. Before Rarity could think of saying another word, the blue unicorn had given her half of the dress's original asking price. "Thank you so much, Rarity! You're fantastic!"

"You're...welcome?" Rarity responded, blinking slowly. She watched as the elated Minuette skipped out the door, dress floating alongside her.

The stunned fashionista sat where she stood. Something was certainly wrong, and if any of her past experiences with things that she couldn't explain being wrong had taught her anything, she knew what she had to do.

Rarity rushed out of the boutique, locking the door and turning the sign to its "closed" side. She needed to see Twilight.

Comments

[Cold Spike]

Are you going to do a follow up chapter for each pony before they all see Twilight? I only ask for selfish reasons... I WANT MOAR! But I also want the story to not go on forever... I'm conflicted ><

[Aurora Dimmet]

Wow. Colgate's kind of a bitch here. o-o You don't haggle over something that's handmade and custom-tailored to you. It's just not proper.

[websterhamster]

Seems that they're being forced to act like their elements.

[Skeeter The Lurker]

Oh my.

Rarity got played.

~Skeeter The Lurker

[Lenora Goff]

3730801

An extreme version, I would say.

[Seer]

I can see how this could go wrong for all of them, but Rarity and Twilight especially.
Twilight has the capacity to go all 'overcharged magical monster', whereas Rarity has the only element that involves willfully giving up her own things.
Sure, Rainbow might not be able to say no to a promise, but Rarity could end up with nothing. Plus people can be dicks, as soon as they hear about this she's going to get throngs of ponies asking her for stuff all the while knowing she can't decline.