Complimentary Royalties
Chapter 13: Complimentary Royalties
Ignoring the voices once more, I set off towards the famous Carousel Boutique. Well, I suppose it wasn’t quite famous yet, although Rarity had managed to gain plenty of customers from the upper crust. It did really surprise me that she wasn’t living up in Canterlot with her high maintenance accompaniment. Then again, she was still friends with Twi and the gang, so why would she want to leave them behind?
As I paced quickly towards the fashion diva’s shop, I continually reminded myself to glance at the sky. The slightest hint of a rainbow would be enough to send me crashing through the streets to find somewhere to hide. I wasn’t even entirely sure why I was so scared. It wasn’t like me to run, in fact, it was the complete opposite of what I would do. But something kept nagging me, like it wasn’t right. I wasn’t supposed to see her.
Luckily, nothing of interest appeared in the sky during my walk. All I noticed were a few clouds rolling in from the north. Looked like rain clouds, but they weren’t too dark, so I was unsure. As they neared Ponyville, I had already made it to the door. It was a rather large door, rounded at the top and made of a nice solid wood. Painted with a light purple, it resembled the gorgeous mane of the fine mare inside. On either side of the door were large windows, gold curtains could be seen inside. The building itself rounded at the top, looking almost medieval in structure. I thought it was a lovely choice of design.
I snapped myself out of my architectural trance and shot my eyes back to the skies. Who knows how long I’d been standing there? Rainbow Dash could’ve seen me at any time. Fearing further discovery, I knocked viciously on the door. I waited there, unmoving for a few seconds. For whatever reason, my mind thought I would be harder to spot if I stood still. It’s not RD was a T-Rex or anything, but my mind works in strange ways.
Finally, the white unicorn opened the door saying, “Well hello there, dear sir. And what might I ask brings you to my fine shop this day? Ah, please do come in.”
Her elegance exuded from every word. I guess she wanted to treat all of her customers as if they were of the utmost esteem. Even if they were an average guy like me.
“You know,” she continued “I wasn’t expecting any customers today. not with the storm scheduled and all.”
“Storm?” I asked, confused.
“You didn’t see it coming in from outside?”
I thought about it for a moment and realized I had noticed it, “Oh right, right. Guess I just wasn’t thinking much of it.” I chuckled, half laughing at myself.
“Oh I see. Well sir, I don’t believe I’ve seen you here in Ponyville before. I think I’d remember somepony with as stunning of an orange coat as you do.” She batted her eyelashes at me. Obviously a selling technique.
“Yes, you see I am kind of new around here.” I explained.
“Only a few days I presume?” her tone was inquisitive, but had another emotion in it that I couldn’t quite place.
“You must be quite keen Miss Rarity. I have only been here a short amount of time.”
“Oh and your wing!” she gasped, genuine astonishment was present, but again there was something else I couldn’t place. “You must have taken a Devastating fall to sustain such Horrid injuries.”
“I wouldn’t say it was that bad. It’s been healing nicely actually.” I replied, beginning to sense her undertone. “Tell me, since you seem to be so vastly knowledgeable of my situation, is there anything else I should know about myself?”
Rarity, as sly as she is fashionable, quickly switched subjects on me “Oh no, just some observations I made. I am by no means all knowing, although I do try.” She snickered. “Now, you must have wanted to purchase something of mine to come in here on such a day.”
“What do you mean by that?” I asked her, seeing how much I could pry from her, as she did with me.
“Well the storm is going to keep everypony inside. No pony is allowed outside until it’s cleared. We’ve been going through a rather large dry spell as of late and the pegasi are doing their best to bring everything back to life by resetting the balance. If you plan on staying here, you’ll be here for a good few hours.”
“Oh, is that so? Well that should be fine. Besides, I’d want to wait until you finished with my, um, purchase before I left.”
Rarity gasped, throwing herself backwards onto a nearby sofa. “I should feel so ever insulted! You do not think I could manage one simple piece of work in a few hours time!”
“No, that’s uh, not what I meant.” I rubbed the back of my head with my hoof, trying to apologize.
The dramatic white coated mare gracefully got up from her lounge chair and trotted over to her work desk on the other side of the room. The room was rather wide, being the entire bottom floor. It had many doorways but no doors. They all looked like smaller rooms containing supplies and fabrics.
“Please darling, don’t fret your feathers over it. I know you mean well.” She said with a smile in her voice.
I was a bit confused in the sudden shift in emotions, but Rarity wasn’t exactly best known for being stable.
“So what would you like dearie?” she asked, giving me a once over. “Aha, I know just what you need!”
“Wait, but I didn’t even -” the excited fashionista cut me off.
“I’ve designed for hundreds of ponies here at the Carousel Boutique. I know what my customers want, and also what they need.”
I looked at myself, seeing if there were any indicators that would lead her to believe I would need something in particular. I could find nothing.
“But, wait, so what are you making me?” I wondered aloud, extremely baffled.
“A vest. A very nice, leather vest. Not real leather of course, but a fine substitute. Although I do love the way my dresses and suits appear, I know a function over fashion pony when I see one. I’m guessing you’ll want pockets as well. Oh and the color, hmm,” she pondered, trying to come to the perfect conclusion; it came quickly for her “Ah yes, black, black is always in style, always chic. Just because you don’t plan on looking your best doesn’t mean you don’t have to.”
My mouth was hung open and my eyes seemed glazed over as she spoke. Her words were going by so fast and she was moving around the room with such nimble speed that I felt like I had slowed down. Everywhere around me was going at a normal pace, but I was lost in the voids of time. I started to drift upon this cloud of thought, but Rarity quickly pulled me back to earth.
“Dear, do try not to stare, and please keep your mouth closed. Rather boorish of you if you ask me. Much like your partying friends, really.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, taken aback by the offhand…offhoof, comment.
“Oh nothing, just a little quip. No offense made.” She smirked.
“No, no, not that part. You said ‘my partying friends’, but I never told you I went to a party.”
“Well I, I mean is it too much to assume that a young stallion doesn’t like to out every once and a while?” she tripped herself up.
A devious grin hid itself behind my lips. “Well I’d suppose so, I mean Pinkie hasta party all the time, and I’m sure you join her all the time right?”
“Oh dear me, no. I couldn’t possibly spend that much time away from the shop. Even for one of Pinkie’s rather ‘interesting’ soirées.”
“Really? Because she told me that EVERYpony showed up to her, eh, you know, giant cider party or whatever she called it.”
“Oh dearie, please. If anyone is ever to exaggerate it would be Pinkie Pie.”
“That so?” I said, inflection placed hard at the end.
“I swear it!” she replied over dramatically “She even said your wing was snapped in two, I mean it’s hardly…” her voice trailed off as she realized what she was saying.
“Oh she did, did she?” I smiled openly.
“I, you see, are you accusing me of something?!” she quickly became defensive and aggressive.
I motioned my hoof for her to relax. “Rarity, you don’t need to lie. I’m sure you’ve heard plenty about me then haven’t you. Let’s see, there was Twilight. She stopped by to tell you about me in case Rainbow Dash stopped by before I did. Then there was Pinkie Pie, who obviously was just being Pinkie Pie. And of course there was Applejack. She walked Sweetie Belle home, right? I’m sure the two of you talked for a bit. Or maybe you got everything on me from Fluttershy during a spa trip?”
“Oh please stop, it’s too much.” she covered her face with one hoof while pushing the other out at me, signaling me to cease.
“Am I right?”
“Surely you’ve covered everything. But why would you push this on me?”
“Why were you hiding it from me?”
She bit her lip. Her eyes faded in and out as she thought of an explanation. Obviously it conflicted with her, telling me versus whatever her reason for hiding it from me was.
“Rainbow Dash.” She answered. “She came to me before Twilight did, told me what happened and everything. She wanted me to make sure if I did that I would tell her where you would be.”
“So why didn’t you?” I wondered, honestly surprised.
“Because of the others. All of them told me about you. Your injury, recovery, partying, apologizing, playing; I’ve heard it all.”
“But what about Rainbow Dash?”
The white unicorn sighed. She picked up a needle with her magic and finished sowing a pocket onto what I knew to be a vest. She looked upon her work and smiled. The smile was contradictory to her emotions though. Inside she was twisting and turning. Something inside of her was telling her to do something she wasn’t sure was right. She placed the vest down on the table and turned to me, eyes misunderstood.
She chuckled lightly, but it had no mirth behind it, “You know, it’s been nice news to hear Rainbow waking up with a stallion in her bed. All those accusations about her being a fillyfooler, I’m glad you disproved those.”
“I didn’t, I mean, look –” she stopped me.
“I’m sorry. Small jokes aren’t getting me point a across. I really ought to be thanking you instead of kidding things from you.” she began to look back at her work, so she didn’t have to look me in the face. “The six of us, yes I’m sure you know who I’m talking about. We haven’t been on the best of terms lately. So many things have set us all on edge.”
“What in the world do you mean? What could possibly make you six argue?”
“Oh dearie, you’re a bit behind I’m sure. Nopony else wanted to explain, or maybe they didn’t noticed, or care. I’m not sure. Where do I even begin?” she paced back and forth, holding different fabrics in midair with her horn, frantically switching between them.
“How’s about from the beginning?”
“It started after Discord came. He revealed, all too sadly, our flaws. After we saw what we could be like, what things we hadn’t seen before, we began to dwell. Soon enough, somepony said something that shouldn’t have been said, and we all went off on each other. Like any good friends, we apologized and settled our problems, but it didn’t change the facts. We have flaws that are hard to swallow.”
“Well sure, nopony’s perfect. But hey, that’s what makes you guys friends, being able to ignore those flaws and see each other for who you really are.”
“I wish it was that simple. Not too long ago, as you know, Big Mac got injured at the farm. Well, the farm hasn’t been doing so well with him gone. Applejack’s been sleeping less and stressing about making enough money. Fluttershy has been simply frantic over Macintosh as well. Twilight’s been buried under her work and Pinkie is, well she’s Pinkie Pie. And Rainbow Dash, oh dear me, the girl’s been worried about the Wonderbolt’s auditions for weeks.”
“But what of you Rarity? What is on your nerves?”
Once more, she turned to face me. Her lip was quivering, and she was visibly trying to hold her tears back. I thought she was about to start bawling her eyes out right there.
“All of them!” she yelped. “They are driving me insane!” tears started dripping from her eyes, ruining her make up as she let go of her held in emotions. “They are all relying on me to hear their problems and I can’t take it anymore. I’ve heard too many pony’s sad stories to stay happy. Not to mention business has been dropping lately. Dear Celestia, save me!”
Her head drooped and little droplets of water fell to the floor. I walked towards her cautiously, knowing how dramatic Rarity could be. Feeling it safe, I placed a hoof on her shoulder. She raised her head back up to look at me.
“Thank you, Drumroll.” She said.
“What?” I asked loudly.
It didn’t make any sense, that after all of that, she would be thanking me. Heck, I hadn’t done anything for her. In fact, it sounded like I made things worse.
“You’ve been the only good news to talk of these past few days.”
I gave her a mystified stare, completely unaware of what she was referencing.
“When you showed up, for whatever reason you did show up, you saved our friendship.”
“I couldn’t have possibly done anything Rarity, I think you’ve got me confused with somepony else.
“Not at all. No, it had been you. Twilight has something new to study, and a new outlook on ponykind thank to you. Fluttershy was overjoyed to hear good news about Big Mac, all because of you. Applejack got her apple bucking done faster than she could’ve imagined. Pinkie Pie’s biggest party was saved because of your music. And Rainbow Dash has something else to occupy her mind.”
“I never knew….”
Rarity wiped the tears from her eyes and used a magically coated tissue to dry her makeup. She walked away from me and went to her desk. I was lost for words. What could I tell her? I’m sorry, you’re welcome, I don’t even know. Rarity was a mess, inside only though. As quickly as she lost it, she took her composure back and regained her regal appearance, save the dried makeup. Still, she carried herself like a member of the royalty.
She lifted the finished vest with her horn and floated it over my wings. She motioned with her hoof for me to lift my hooves up. I did as she requested and she placed the vest over them. The holes for my wings were large, considering their size, but also because of the injury. Inspecting her work with the eyes of an all-knowing god, she nodded her head and smiled. Unlike her other smiles, this one had some actual positive feeling behind it.
“You look rather dashing Mr. Roll.” She complimented me.
I looked at my new clothing piece and smiled along. “You truly are an artist, Miss Rarity.”
She blushed, at least I thought she did, “A simple vest really. Still stylish, as always though. I’m glad you like it.”
I sighed, “Rarity, are you going to be alright?”
“Oh my, I must apologize. There was no need to explode at you like that. I really should keep my personal life and business life separate.”
“Is there anything I can do, you know, to help?” I asked her, concerned that she might still not be completely stable.
“Heaven’s no. I do believe all that I needed was to let all of that out. I’ve been holding it in for such a long time, it was good to ‘express’ myself, if you will.”
“As long as you promise you’re going to be ok.”
“Well now that I’ve seen firsthoof what kind of stallion you are, I’m sure I could die happy.” She giggled playfully.
I laughed with her, happy to see her happy again. I would’ve hated to leave her in her previous state.
“So how much?”
“Excuse me?” she inquired.
“For the vest, how much do I owe?”
“Oh no, perfectly free for you.”
“But didn’t you say business was bad?”
The perplexing unicorn mare trotted over to the door and opened it. I followed, trying to understand, as always, what she was doing. She walked outside with me and looked up at the sky. The storm from earlier had almost completely come over the town now, yet it hadn’t begun raining.
“If you’d like to pay me for the vest, I’ve only one thing to ask of you.”
Since she was looking towards the sky, I decided to look as well. When I saw what she was looking at, I realized what she was going to ask. And man did I hate it.
“Go find her. Talk to her.”
“She’ll kill me!” I yelled back.
“Oh Drumroll, don’t be so foalish. She won’t kill you.”
“You’re sure?” I asked, still extremely skeptical.
“Certainly. She might horribly maim you, but Kill, ha not at all.”
I gave her a straight you-can’t-be-serious look. She simply shrugged and said “Only if you really want to pay me for that vest. I’m sure you will, you seem like that kind of stallion.”
Something clicked in my brain and I looked at Rarity with the utmost disgusted and impressed eyes. This mare was a genius. Conniving and absolutely devious, but a genius nonetheless.
“You set me up.”
The unicorn showed a sly grin and flipped her mane back, “Oh what ever do you mean?”
“Everything you told me, the whole sob story, everything. You set me up from the beginning so that I’d end up going to see Rainbow Dash. Just like you promised her you would. And now I’ve got to, don’t I?”
“Well, I can’t FORCE you to do anything, but I’m sure you will. You’re smarter than you let off mystery stallion, I’ll give you that. I did play your heartstrings and for that I apologize, but I couldn’t simply allow you to drive one of my best friends insane. Celestia only knows how many of them are already crazy.”
There was nothing I could do. If I didn’t go up to sky, I’d be stuck at Rarity’s for the duration of the storm. And if I stayed, she’d surely be guilting me the entire time. I gave myself an ample facehoof for not seeing it coming. With an obvious display of remorse, I took the drumsticks from my wings and placed them into the deep pocket of my new vest. At least something went right today.
“So where is she?”
“I’m sure it won’t take too long to find her up there.”
“Not gonna be very helpful are you?”
“Oh I’m sure I’ve ‘helped’ you quite enough today.”
“Alright, alright I get it. I’m off.”
I opened my wings and once again, felt the twinge of a seemingly long lost pain. Oh well, it wasn’t a far flight to the clouds, it wouldn’t hurt too much. But before I could beat my giant feather dusters, I felt Rarity put her hoof on my shoulder.
My head turned back, “What is it?”
Rarity was tearing up again, and not trying so hard to hide it this time. “I must apologize for being so unladylike today, but please understand, I just want everypony to be happy.”
I had to let my tiny grudge against her go and shake it away. She wasn’t trying to be mean to me, or hurt me or anything. She was just keeping a promise to a friend.
“Alright, alright. I’m not mad or anything.”
“I’m glad, because everything I said today…it’s all true.”
With that, she walked away. I thought to call out to her, but knew I had nothing more to say. I had been played, but it wasn’t fake. How am I supposed to feel about it?
“Angry maybe?” said the right voice. “Or maybe betrayed?”
“Shove it voice.” I shot back.
“Ooh, he’s got an attitude today.”
I opened my large, encompassing wings and gazed into my destination. Off to the clouds today for my funeral. In the end, I guess it doesn’t matter much what happens. I’ll see Rainbow Dash, and maybe she’ll beat me to death, maybe she won’t. But hey, I can’t say I’m not happy with everything that’s happened.
“That’s all we can ever ask for, isn’t it?” said the left voice.
“Yeah. Just a speck of happiness makes everything all that much better, right?”
“Absolutely.”
The right voice retorted, annoyed “Ugh, such sappy aphorisms. Blech, you make me sick. Just get on with it boy, the girl is waiting for you.”
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And now we play the waiting game
727696 gah! who are you? a new person posting on my story. what be this sorcery?
although im glad to have more people enjoying the story. 
727696 Collect New chapter upon Passing 'GO'
727881 i hope you guys play slowly, cause if you get back to GO again soon, you wont be getting a new chapter.... oh god, is this how the monopoly guy feels when hes broke?
727879 Have I not posted before? ...Crap I haven't! I have been reading this fic sense you published it! I
love
your attention to detail!
727927
so much joy! im so glad you enjoy it. i hope you werent disappointed with the new chapter, i know it wasnt up to par with the rest of them.
My face
When seeing this has gotten a new chapter ~ :D
When reading the chapter ~ :D
When finished reading the chapter ~ :D
When realising I have to wait for a new chapter ~ D:
I NEED MOAR!
728035 my apologies thunder, itl be at the very least another 2 weeks...sorry man. im trying my best though! trust me. just a lot to do. urghhhh
728100
Take your time.
I wouldn't want a rushed chapter of RD beating the hay out of drumroll.
I'd much rather have the the lovely~ness of a good quality chapter of RD beating the hay out of drumroll.
Either way it doesn't look to good for drumroll.
728155 you know, just cause DR thinks that RD is gonna kick his ass doesnt mean that she....well yeah i mean its kinda obvious he's getting hit...a lot. you know what, im not even gonna deny it.
there, i said it. 
Drumroll is going to be hit
but of course, i could be lying
Lol... when I got to the part where Rarity said that Discord had made the Mane6 get on eachother's nerves, I was thinking "son of a bitch... not another 'Discord is on the loose. The human becomes a new element and they defeat him' story arc."
Thank god you didn't make another one of those stories.
Finally he is going to chat with RD. You can't elude fate, my dear Drumroll.
728839 "not another Discord is on the loose" mwuahahahahaha
oh boy if you only knew. if you ONLY KNEW. then again, loose is a rather free term now isnt it?
no, not a chance. thats just stupid. 
not a chance. not a single chance.
but a new element? seriously?
730312 You have no idea how many HiE fics make the human the 7th element or something. Some of the stories are nice, but after about a million of em, you get tired of seeing them.
I was thinking why dosn't he just stay away from RD for awhile then confront her with Scootaloo and see what happens. He'll probably still get hit either way though.
730442 bah, there is no need for a 7th element. besides, that would have nothing to do with me being there. i can only imagine how overplayed that is though.
730946 well later, as seen in the bbss, scoots and rd are together. so it wont be me that brings em together. plus, i couldnt use scoots as a shield, shes too cute. and damn is drumroll getting hoof smacked.