Rarity and the Dissatisfied Cat
The Sugar Cube Corner bell tinkled daintily as Rarity entered. She stepped up to the counter and glanced about. Seeing nopony, she tapped the service bell on the counter.
"Hi, Rarity!" Pinkie chirped, popping up from behind the counter with a grin.
Rarity instinctively took a step back, simultaneously raising a hoof to her chest, eyes awide in surprise. "Pinkie, you startled me!"
"Really?" The pink pony remarked, cocking her head to an abnormal degree. "You rang the bell for me to come. How in Equestria could I startle you?"
Rarity smiled. "I suppose I simply didn't see you there, darling."
"Well duuh! If you'd seen me you wouldn't have rung the bell, now would you?"
Rarity shook her head with a smirk and chose to move on to the matter for which she had come. "Miss Pie, I was wondering if you had any of those delightful vanilla tea cakes in stock? A half dozen of them will do."
"Sure thing, Rarity! I'll even throw in a chocolate muffin as a 'oopsie-I-didn't-mean-to-startle-you-so-to-say-sorry-here's-a-chocolate-muffin!" Pinkie leaned in to whisper something. "I'm telling you ahead of time so you aren't startled when you see it." She grinned.
"Thank you, darling. We'll be sure to enjoy it," Rarity replied amiably.
"Okie-dokie-lokie!" Pinkie began to load the aforementioned treats into a cake box. "You said 'we', presumably not as in the Princess Luna 'we', but as in the regular pony 'we'. Are you going to have tea with Fluttershy?"
"Indeed, Miss Pie. I thought these would be a nice addition to the event."
"In that case I'll add a half a dozen chocolate muffins!—I startle Fluttershy A LOT. Here ya go!" She slid the box towards Rarity with a hoof.
"Thank you, Pinkie. I'm sure we'll enjoy them." She enveloped the box with her horn's magical light blue aura. "Happy baking, darling! Ta ta!"
"See ya later, Rarity!" Pinkie said, waving a hoof wildly in farewell.
---*---
Back at Rarity's, the fashionista had all but finished setting the table. The treats from Sugar Cube Corner sat upon a multilayered silver tray, two carefully chosen teacups paired each with a spoon for stirring were by a rather elegant matching teapot, and she hadn't forgotten to have a spot for the cream and sugar. She had also placed a vase containing several orchids off to the side to complete the aesthetically pleasing arrangement.
"There!" Rarity said, having just finished her last slight adjustment. "I do hope I haven't forgotten anything. Fluttershy always prepares so thoroughly whenever we have tea at her home."
She took a step away only to stop herself abruptly in order not to trod over her pet cat. The feline had been sitting calmly on the floor, licking her paw, before Rarity's leg had suddenly brushed against her coat startling her. Opalescence hissed at her mistress and ran from the room.
"Sorry, darling!" The unicorn called out in apology.
It was then that the doorbell alerted Rarity to the arrival of somepony at the private entrance, and taking one last assessing glance at the table she'd set, she turned and walked out of the room to greet her visitor. Upon opening the door, Rarity saw just the pony she had been expecting.
"Good afternoon, Fluttershy!" Rarity smiled wide in welcome. "So glad you could make it! Do come in."
"It's, um... good to see you too, Rarity." The pegasus mare smiled, stepping inside as her friend had bade her to.
Rarity closed the door and led the way to the dining room wherein she had been preparing.
"Oh, Rarity! What a lovely table!" Fluttershy gushed.
"Why, thank you! Oh, but... silly me!" She let out a nervous laugh. "I do believe I forgot the napkins. Do sit down. I shall return momentarily!"
Rarity popped out of the room and walked over to a bureau a ways off, opening the second drawer with her magic. She took hold of two of the white linen pieces within and closed the drawer, commencing to trot back to the dining room with the napkins in her magical grasp, a contented expression playing out on her face.
Abruptly, however, Rarity heard a voice and stopped just short of the doorway.
"Oh. I'm sure Rarity didn't mean to upset you," the timid pegasus cooed sympathetically.
There were several low meowing sounds.
"That's not true, Opal. Rarity cares for you very much."
More meowing.
"Well, she feeds you and keeps a roof over your head, doesn't she?"
Hissing.
"Now hold on, Opal. Surely Rarity showed some remorse for startling you."
One meow. Then a few more.
"See? She even apologized. You should learn to be more understanding."
Purring.
"Oh, no! Thank you for the compliment, Opal. But I'm sure that's not true!"
More purring.
"Uh... um... no. Not that I wouldn't want to! It's just―"
A very indignant meow.
"I... I couldn't ask. It would hurt Rarity's feelings!"
Rarity's voice suddenly spoke from the doorway. "What would hurt my feelings, darling?"
Fluttershy froze. Opalescence was sitting a few feet from the chair the pegasus was sitting on.
"R-Rarity!" Fluttershy stuttered nervously, beads of sweat suddenly appearing on her forehead. "I was... just talking about you! With Opal! Telling her what a... wonderful pony you are." She grinned a little too broadly for it to be genuine.
"Fluttershy," Rarity began, her tone firm. "I promise I wont get upset, but I would like to know what Opalescence just said."
"S-Said? Wh-Why, Rarity... everypony knows that cats can't talk!"
Opalescence hissed at that.
"Fluttershy..." Rarity pressured, her eyes narrowed.
The pegasus sighed in defeat and averted her eyes as she spoke, "She thinks that you don't take care of her as well as I would... She... She wants to come and live with... me." Fluttershy winced as she finished, knowing the pain it would bring her friend.
"Would you be willing to take her?"
Both Fluttershy's and Opalescence's eyes widened and they stared back at Rarity in surprise. The unicorn's question had been posed in a tone that had seemed completely unaffected, and she had responded so promptly! Rarity didn't seem upset in least! This was really quite unexpected.
"W-Well, I thought that you'd be upset if I―"
"Nonsense, darling!" Rarity practically sang. "If Opalescence doesn't wish to reside under my roof, and she feels she would be happier under somepony else's care... who am I to stand in her way?"
"Well, that's... very decent of you, Rarity." Fluttershy turned to the cat. "Opal, Rarity seems okay with it. Are you really sure that's what you want?"
The cat's eyes were still bulging out from astonishment at Rarity's reaction. She looked to Rarity. Then to Fluttershy. Rarity. Fluttershy. Rarity. Fluttershy. Rarity...
Then she suddenly bolted from the room.
After a moment, Rarity calmly took her place across the table from Fluttershy. "How has your week been?" she asked nonchalantly, lifting the lid to the sugar dish. "You take two lumps, correct?"
Fluttershy was confused. "Rarity, what just happened?"
"You're the animal expert, Fluttershy," Rarity replied simply, gently hoofing the filled teacup to her friend. "It all seemed perfectly clear to me. Opalescence asked to leave and I said she could. That's that."
"B-B-But... You seem so calm! If Angel Bunny ever were to decide to leave me for somepony else... I don't know what I would do!"
"Yes. And I expect that if Opalescence were to leave me, I would likely feel the same."
"I beg your―Excuse me?" Fluttershy was extremely confused.
"Darling," Rarity said sweetly. "Opalescence never intended to leave me for you―although perhaps she herself wasn't fully aware of it until she was faced with the choice. You see, Fluttershy... in as much as you are an expert on animals, I am an expert on Opal. She wouldn't want to leave all this!" She gestured in a very general way about the room. "A nice home she doesn't have to share with any other pets? An adoring owner who let's her have all the toys, affection, and freedom she wishes? To say nothing of the attention she doesn't have to share because she's the only pet!"
"So, you knew all along that she wouldn't leave with me?" Fluttershy asked.
"No," Rarity admitted, perplexing the pegasus even further. The unicorn smiled at her guest's bemused expression. "But even if she did leave with you," Rarity continued. "I knew that she would quickly grow to miss what she had left behind and request to be returned. She is a bit of a fussy feline, but I love her all the same, and I'm glad that she came to her senses so quickly. I would have missed her―even for such such a short while. Regardless, I do everything I can to care for her, and it seemed that the best way to end these ridiculous tantrums of hers was simply to allow her the freedom to choose. And it appears she did."
Fluttershy was silent for a few moments. "But... what if she had been happier with me?"
That gave Rarity pause for a few moments, and the unicorn set down her teacup. "Well... if that were so, Fluttershy. Then I suppose I would have to content myself with knowledge that she was happy. It's like that old saying; If you love something set it free. If it comes back to you it's yours, if it doesn't... it never was."
---*---
An hour or so had past and after the two ponies had said their farewells, Rarity walked about her home, silently searching for a certain somekitty. Eventually, Rarity spied the feline lying at the foot of the unicorn's bed in her room, Opal's expression looking a bit gloomy.
Rarity came and sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at her pet. "Opal?" she said softly.
The cat meowed irritably and turned away.
"Come now," Rarity cooed. "I said you could go. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Opal was silent.
Rarity reached out a hoof and gently began to stroke the cat with her fetlock, knowing it was softer than the end of her hoof. Usually Opal didn't care much for physical affection, but this time she didn't object and just continued to sit quietly as Rarity pet her. Some time passed, and eventually Opalescence began to purr. The cat stood up and began rubbing herself against Rarity, finally curling up in her lap.
Rarity smiled down at the fluffy mound of fur, and continued to gently stroke the cat. "I love you, Opalescence," she said softly.
Opalescence's eyelids were only half open as she began to drift off to sleep in contentment, she meowed quietly in the response and sounded a richly satisfied purr. Rarity didn't need to understand another creature's language in order to comprehend what her beloved pet had meant to say with all this uncharacteristically affectionate behavior...
I love you too.
---*---
The End
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