Generosity

by Richie Richter

Chapter One

Generosity

Richie Richter

Chapter One

"I believe you look just marvelous, Mr. Rich."

Mr. Rich turned his head from side to side. He stretched his neck and adjusted the tie around his neck that was a shade of blue that matched his eyes. The tie offered some color to the otherwise monochromatic ensemble. A white collared shirt covered partially by a tweed vest was hidden beneath a black suit jacket. Gold cufflinks and buttons also added little flashes of color.

He turned to give himself a profile view. His new suit covered the upper body but left the hind legs bare. All four of his hooves were also bare because the outfit featured no footwear. It was a traditional look and it took no risks, but it was what Mr. Rich had ordered. And the customer is always right! (Even though they're not.) Still, Rarity was proud of her work. Mr. Rich did look marvelous in that suit.

"Excellent work, Rarity," he said. "The fit is wonderful. I could wear it all day! The colors are stellar as well, the black so rich and deep, along with the grey on the vest, and of course the blue tie to match my eyes. Perfect choice of color. Oh, and the material feels exquisite. You never disappoint, Miss Rarity. Again, I say, excellent work."

“Thank you, Mr. Rich. Is it safe to say that you like it?"

"It is," he said, turning to her with the smile.

"I should hope so, that's quite a few hours of work you have on Mr. Rich. But the quality is to be expected. After all, I use only the highest quality fabrics and dyes. That's Cashmere on the jacket and the vest, comfortable and soft. The shirt is linen. I used a stronger and more breathable fabric there. Oh, and the tie, of course, is silk. All of the fabrics are pure and unmitigated, imported directly from the finest Prench textile weavers I know. On the other hoof, the dye I used on the tie is-"

"I think I understand, Miss Rarity." She nodded. Mr. Rich––along with his wife––were two of her strongest local clients. One of them was always there to fill the gaps between larger orders from some of her bigger clients. She couldn't allow herself to lose this sale, and she was willing to do anything she could to butter him up.

Mr. Rich smirked and turned back to face the mirror. "And it looks rather dashing on me as well, don't you think?" Rarity nodded. "Then again, I look good in just about anything I put on." He chuckled. "But honestly, it's one of the finest suits that I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. Of course I'll take it."

Rarity breathed a sigh of relief. She was exhausted, and even though it was barely past twelve, she was ready to turn in for the day. But a weight had been taken off of her shoulders. Her eyelids drooped and she allowed herself to slink down into the floor. A broad smile spread across her lips, but her smile and odd stance hadn't gone unnoticed. She snapped herself out of it when she realized her client was staring.

"Um, yes! Excellent!" bleated Rarity. "Why don’t you go and get changed so we can finish up."

"Actually, I think I'll wear it out, if you don't mind."

Rarity paused. "Oh, I see." She bit her lip. "Do be careful though dear, cashmere stains quite easily."

Mr. Rich smiled. "Ah yes. I will be sure to be careful on my way home, Miss Rarity...so that will be how much?"

"1,400 bits."

"1,400 firm?"

"1,400 firm."

He shook his head. "With all due respect, that is an outrageous price for such a simple outfit. I cannot go any higher than 1,000."

Rarity scoffed. "I'll drop to 1,300. But don't forget who asked for 'tame and traditional'."

"Not so firm after all, huh? Well I'll tell you what," he spat, "I'll meet you in the middle at 1,100, but no higher. Even I have a budget to adhere to, Miss Rarity."

"Yes, but these are the finest materials in all of Equestria! All imported! They're not cheap, my dear. And it's made by...well, me. 1,200 bits sounds more like the middle to me. And that offer is there only because you're such a valued customer."

Rarity knew how to work her clients. She could get them to submit to just about any price she set. It was her confidence, her posture, her sugar coated words, and a voice that could make even the most difficult customers cave. It was a toss of her mane, a sparkle in the eyes, a smile. (The smile alone would sometimes have ponies emptying their pockets.) A smoldering smile, small and cute, no teeth showing, the lower lip would hang out and form a slight pout. All accentuated by a small, but intentional, tilt of the head. And strangely, these charms seemed to be most effective against stallions.

Mr. Rich was a stallion.

He stepped down from the mirrored fitting platform with a sigh. "Alright, fine. 1,200 bits it is." Rarity nodded and levitated out a ledger with which she tracked her expenses. She had to fight to hide her smile and keep away her giggles. Seeing through her glasses, she scribbled in the number 1,200 and the name Filthy Rich, along with a few other formalities. "I honestly don't understand how you can sleep at night charging prices like these," Filthy spat as he dug through his pockets, "just despicable."

"Oh I sleep just fine, thank you." Rarity hid her smirk behind the ledger. Filthy pulled out a checkbook and scribbled the amount down. As he hoofed it over to Rarity, she had to bite her lip to avoid squeaking in the girlish way that mares sometimes do that is so entirely adorable, but so entirely improper.

"I'm sure you do... Cheapskate," he muttered

Rarity Calmly let the ledger fall on the coffee table off to the side of the room. "Anything else I can do for you today, Mr. Rich?"

"No, but, as always, it was a pleasure doing business with you, Miss Rarity." He bowed and extended a hoof. Hmm? What's this? Trying to atone for your loutish comment, I see? Don’t think I didn’t hear you mumbling. She reluctantly accepted his hoof, and after they had shook he turned to take his leave. Rarity smiled and nodded behind his back.

"Yes, and thank you again for your business, Mr. Rich. Come again soon!"

"I'll be back as soon as I think my wardrobe needs some... touching up. Until next time, Miss Rarity."

She watched him step through the doorway. "Dry clean only!" The door of her shop closed with the ring of a bell.

Rarity turned the small wooden sign on the door from open to closed and fell to their floor, exhausted and giggling. She rolled over onto her back and removed her glasses. She rubbed her sore, reddened eyes. She had been wearing those glasses since Mr. Rich had entered the shop about two hours earlier.

"Oh, what a relief!" She said to herself, "I thought for a moment we didn't have a deal!" She glanced over at the check and ledger on the table. "Perhaps my price was a bit...steep, but if you want the best, you pay for the best!"

She rolled onto her side and let her head fall to the carpeted floor of the boutique. She closed her eyes and giggled. The floor seemed like a good enough place for a nap. A nap? On the floor? How scandalous, Miss Rarity! she thought. But she didn't care. She was tired and the floor felt like a much better option than dragging herself all the way up the stairs to her bed.

Rarity pulled up a stray bolt of fabric to use as a pillow. She snuggled in and started to drift off. After only a few minutes, she was stirred by her cat, Opalescence.

"Wha?...oh, Opal. Mummy's tired right now, sweetie. I'll feed you in...in about...four or five hoursss..."

Rarity was out again, but Opal wasn't having any of it. She mewed and prodded Rarity with her nose. Rarity responded by rolling over. Opal climbed atop her sleeping owner and dug her claws lightly into her coat, it was enough to generate a response.

"Opal!" Rarity shouted. She levitated the clawed creature off of her and dropped her roughly on the floor. "You want food?" She levitated out the entire bag of cat food and flung it at Opal, covering the cat in Kibbles N' Bits. "There. FOOD!" She rolled away and, while she was at it, drew up another sheet of fabric to use as a blanket.

As much as Opal loved being buried in her food, it wasn't what she was after either. She climbed out and headed towards the kitchen, planning her next attack. She returned with a calendar in her mouth, and placed it in front of Rarity.

Sunday was circled.

Every Sunday.

Opal licked the end of Rarity's nose. "OPAL! WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS Behav...oh dear...is it Sunday? Already?" Rarity glanced over at the pile of food on the floor, and then back at her cat. Rarity drew Opal up into her arms. "Oh my goodness, Opal, I'm so sorry. If it wasn't for you, I might have completely forgotten!" Opal mewed, less out of appreciation and more out of fear of being strangled.

Rarity lifted the cat onto her back and rose to her hooves. Her legs wobbled and she fell back to the floor. "Oh, why does today have to be Sunday? Oh, maybe they wouldn't mind if I missed just one week," she said, closing her eyes again. "No, Rarity, this is something you have been doing every week for over a year now. It is not the time for making excuses!" She rose again, and this time, gained her balance.

Her cat was still lounging on her back as she began to clean things up. The bag of food had broken open. She collected it in her magic and placed a standard serving into a diamond encrusted bowl labeled, Opal in ornate calligraphy. The rest, she slid back into place in a cupboard. She replaced the calendar on its hook in the kitchen and turned back to her shop. All at once, she levitated the bits and pieces back into place, leaving only the ledger and Mr. Rich’s check on a small half-circle table standing against one side of her shop.

As she was doing this, she felt her eyes begin to droop. "Ugh, I need a pick-me-up." She got a pot of coffee going in the kitchen as she continued her work. Opal hopped off her owner's back and made way for her food bowl. After everything had been slid into place, she slipped on her glasses and returned her attention to the ledger.

"Lets see what we have," she sang, "7,000 from Hoity Toity––that's the big one––A five dress trial. And if they do well on the runway? ...The sky's the limit! 1,200 from Fleur for that stunning custom nightgown, 324...276, oh and 400 from Rose for that magnificent spring dress––well done on that one, Rarity." she counted the small sales carefully. "104 for those matching hats to Berryshine...36, 24, " she began to mumble, "Oh! And 20 to Twilight for that new pair of striped purple stockings." She giggled. "And finally, 1,200 to Filthy Rich! That makes...oh my..." Rarity lifted her glasses and rubbed her eyes. "This week has been so incredibly busy. Profitable, but...oh, Rarity, it's just the start of the spring fashion season, let's not get too giddy. Most weeks you don't even break 3000." she paused, "Now. One eighth of that leaves 1,361 bits for the...no...no wait, but, but that's impossible! Something doesn't add up!"

She double checked her math, scanning down the page a second time. 200 bits had mysteriously vanished from her records. "How? What? Who? ...Rainbow Dash! I borrowed her those bits three weeks ago. And to buy VIP Wonderbolts tickets, how ridiculous! And they still haven't been returned! The nerve of that pony. If she doesn't return those bits this instant, I'll...I'll!"

The door of Rarity's shop burst open, the bell above nearly tore from it's ribbon. Rarity sighed. Don't ponies not know what the meaning of CLOSED is? She didn't take her eyes off the ledger. "I'm sorry, but The Carousel Boutique has closed early today," she said sweetly despite her annoyance.

"Rarity, it's me." Rarity looked up from the financial record to see Rainbow Dash standing sheepishly in the middle of her shop.

"Rainbow Dash. Just the pony I wanted to see."

"Right, this is about the bits isn't it?" Rarity nodded. "Got 'em right here," she said with a smile. She unfolded a wing and dropped a sack of bits onto the table. "Sorry about being late and everything or whatever." Rainbow quickly tried to move away from the subject. "Me and Fluttershy were going to see a movie tonight, if you wanted to tag along."

"You know, it's very impolite to keep a lady waiting."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Whatever, sorry. So, you wanna come?"

"It's been three weeks, Rainbow Dash." Rarity spat. Rainbow stuttered, caught off guard by Rarity's sudden temper change. "You told me you would return these bits within a few days."

"It's just a few bits, Rarity."

"A few bits! Rainbow, this isn't just of a few bits between friends we're talking about. 200 bits is no petty little sum to be carelessly tossed about!" She paused, shuddered, and took a breath to calm herself. “Rainbow, I asked you to return those bits last Sunday, as well as the Sunday prior, and I believe I’ve given you more than enough reminders in between those dates too, hmm? Just about every time I’ve seen you? It’s not like this is a new issue, Rainbow Dash.”

Rainbow Dash's voice rose. "I know, but I guess it just...slipped my mind a bit, okay. Rarity. I-"

"Slipped your mind?" Rarity's tone grew harsh.

"Look, Rarity. I'm sorry. Really I-"

"Sorry isn't good enough! I loaned you those bits three weeks ago! It is completely unacceptable to treat a friend's money with such carelessness and disrespect! I often believe that the only pony you ever show any consideration for is yourself, Rainbow Dash! You self-centered, narcissistic little...ignoramus! How you ever became the element of loyalty, I have no idea. You're not even loyal enough to return somepony's-"

"Quit being such a bitch about it! God damn! I gave you your damn money, I told you I was sorry! What the hell do you want me to say? Sure I was late, but that was because...because I didn't...I just don't. You know what? Screw it. And screw you too, Rarity." She stood for a moment, giving a fierce glare before shaking her head and turning to leave with a flick of her tail. “Just forget about that movie, Rarity, you're not invited." She opened the door to leave and glanced back into the room.

"Some element of generosity you are."

The door of the shop slammed shut.

Rainbow Dash hadn't intended for Rarity to hear her last piece. She had mumbled it under her breath, but, Rarity had heard it. Loud and clear. She felt tears coming to her eyes. She blinked them away and tried to return her attention to the ledger, but Rainbow's words were crashing around in her head.

Her magic failed a few times before she was able to take up her quill in an unsteady grip. Her glasses fogged up so she threw them to the ground. Rarity took a deep breath and shivered. She scribbled one last name and number into the rows of white boxes.

200 from Rainbow Dash.

The ledger clattered onto the table, the quill floated down beside it. Rarity sniffled and blinked away some tears. She recollected her glasses from the floor, carelessly checking for damage before setting them down next to the ledger.

She felt her legs going weak, there was a sharp pain in her chest. More tears came to her eyes, but this time they couldn't be blinked away. She wiped her eyes with her hoof, dampening her coat. She couldn't think, her head was filled with Rainbow's hurtful words. The words, just a few simple words, they cut her, choked her, and knotted her up on the inside. She swallowed, and when more tears filled her eyes, she made no effort to clear them. She whimpered and slumped. She leaned against the table for some support, but knew it was no use. Soon she would be reduced to a blubbering heap, bawling there on the floor of her shop, alone.

The buzz of the coffee machine saved her.

She looked up, surprised, and quickly crossed the room to the machine. She silenced the alarm, poured herself an extra tall cup, and took a drink. The bitter brew tightened her up. She topped off the mug and took another drink, drowning the pain at the bottom of the cup. She filled her cup again, this time adding two cubes of sugar and a dash of cream.

She stood on her hind legs, leaning with her back to the countertop. She held the cup greedily in her hooves, keeping it close to her muzzle. She could think clearly now. The room had stopped spinning, the air ceased to choke her and her eyes no longer stung, but she was still in a foul mood.

"The nerve of that pony! Saying such terrible things."

You said some terrible things yourself, Rarity.

"Yes, but-" Rarity stopped herself to think. Really think. She tried to put herself in Rainbow’s hooves. She had returned the bits. A little late, yes, but they were returned nonetheless. Rainbow had walked right up to her, looked her in the eye, and told her that she was sorry. Really, genuinely sorry. But Rarity had ignored everything. She had insulted her and ridiculed her for something that she couldn’t control. At least not entirely. 200 bits to Rainbow dash was a lot more than 200 bits to Rarity. She thought about Rainbow’s job on the weather team. The amounts they handed out to all of their employees at the end of month wasn’t much. Nothing compared to what she could rake in in just a few days. Rarity frowned, disgusted with herself. She had done it again. She had let her selfish side come out. And now her relationship with Rainbow Dash had been damaged, and it was probably going to take a little more than a simple sorry to get back on her good side. It was difficult for Rarity; being kind and generous while also living an extravagant lifestyle, complete with fine dining, fine clothes, fine music, and fine everything else. Rarity was a lover of the lavish, the luxurious, the exquisite. But she couldn’t stand the way that many of the other well-to-do ponies treated each other. They were constantly at each other’s throats, eager to pounce on their enemies and tear them to shreds just to raise themselves up one more rung on the social ladder. But she especially hated the way these elitists would treat ponies who had done nothing to them other than not have as much money to throw around. Oh how she hated the way they would strut past the commoners––she hated that word like nothing else––without a care, like they didn’t exist. Throwing their heads back, and tilting their flawless little surgically corrected noses into the air, taking up as much space as possible in the middle of the street, and snorting at anyone who happened to wander into their path. It made Rarity so frustrated that, if given the chance, she would gladly grind these ponies into the dust on the roads that they so confidently walked. Rarity felt torn between these two worlds. Whenever she caught herself acting like one of those ponies, she couldn’t help but feel disappointed. But she wasn’t about to choose between them. Her friends or her desires. She was content to constantly struggle to both have her cake and eat it too.

Rarity sighed. “For god’s sake, Rarity, never let yourself become made of plastic. Stretch this, pull that, cut this, inject that, enlarge this, shrink that. No. Never. No matter how shriveled up you get, don’t ever let yourself become like them... Fake.” She sighed again. She dreaded the conversation that she was going to have with Rainbow the next time she ran into her, but at least now that she had had some time to think, she wasn’t quite as glum. She took another sip of coffee, shrugged, and glanced over at the clock.

"Well, I guess its about time I started getting ready." She took a quick sip of her coffee before trotting upstairs to the bathroom. She took a quick shower, dabbed on a bit of makeup, and put her mane into its usual style. She returned to the main floor and moved to the table with the ledger and her checkbook. She counted off one eighth of the week's profits and scribbled the amount down onto a check. The ledger, the quill, the bits, and all the checks floated back into the safe across the room.

Rainbow’s words rung through her head.

Rarity glanced back at the safe, troubled. She stared for a moment before opening the safe and withdrawing the money again. She scratched off the old check and took another quarter of the profits. No. More. More! Its not enough, I need more. Much more. She tore apart the check and scribbled a new one, this one for a little over 6,000. Half of the week’s profit. Generosity? I'll show you generosity.

"But only just this once, Rarity, I can't afford to do this every week." She floated up a small, faux-leather shoulder bag and buckled the strap. She slid the check snug inside, and threw in a few cosmetic necessities as well just in case of an emergency. She zipped the pocket of the stylish brown tote closed and secured it around her shoulder. Opal spied on Rarity from the kitchen, one eye covered by the doorframe, the other peering out fiercely. "Mommy's going out, Opal," she said, not noticing the prowling little feline. "I'll be back later tonight. Help yourself to something if you get hungry, okay sweetie?" The door closed and was locked from the outside.

Opal shrank back into the kitchen. Finally, Rarity was gone, and she was alone. Opal paid no attention to her bowl and headed straight for the cupboard. She pulled out a bag of chips and left them on the couch in the next room. She returned to the kitchen and headed towards the fridge. After a quick struggle it was open and she began to rummage through.

She needed a drink. Unfortunately, all Rarity ever kept in the boutique was wine. An entire rack filled with bottles of the purply stuff sat on the counter. Opal wasn't after the soft stuff, an entire bottle of those fancy, fruity wines wouldn't even make her paws twitch. But Opal had a secret stash. At the back of the fridge on the lowest shelf, she found an unopened bottle of premium Apple Family cider. Only one bottle left. She needed to get her paws on some more before next Sunday. Cider, rum, whiskey, whatever, she didn't care, as long as it wasn't wine. Apple cider wasn't exactly hard liquor, but she would take it over a prissy glass of glorified grape juice any day. She moved back into the other room and hopped up onto the couch. She tore the ribbon from her hair and worked herself out of her itchy collar.

Opalescence leaned back, cracked open the bottle of cider, and switched on the TV.

Comments

[untamedwaters]

The story felt good, and did you write this based off that comic that was on EQD a while back?

Like I said, the story was good, but many of the lines didn't feel very Rarity. I tell this to one of my regular writers a lot. He does a lot of RD stuff and sometimes has (in the past) had problems making them sound RD. He is far over that now considering his main story is over 100k words. If you want some help I'd be happy to have him take a look at the RD lines and I could help you a little with the Rarity lines. (Rarity is best pony)

But overall, a good story. I've only completed the first chapter but often getting through 4000 words is difficult due to time constraints. (I shoulda gone to bed, I've got almost a ten hour day tomorrow)