Beauty

Rarity and Fancy Pants walked out of the theatre still laughing.

After they had arrived in Canterlot, the two of them had swung by Fancy’s place to drop off Rarity’s things. After that they had wandered through the city, done a little window shopping, admired the sights and had dinner at a restaurant near the Castle.  Then they went to the theatre as he promised.

The play was great. Even though most of the audience seemed to think that a play filled with inappropriate jokes and sword fights was ‘high brow’ and ‘should not be laughed at’, you could see all of the actors were having a lot of fun with it. They laughed at the jokes, and they laughed at the faces of nobles who turned to tell them exactly why they shouldn’t be laughing.

By the time they left the theatre, it was quite far into the evening. Usually around this time Rarity would have been thinking about finishing up her work and heading to bed, but she stifled a yawn and headed down the road.

“Would you like to stop for a drink?” Fancy Pants asked, gesturing to a bar.

“That would be lovely,” she answered.

The couple headed in and sat on the barstools. After their first round of drinks had been ordered, Rarity took a good look around the place. It was much more polished than Berry Punch’s bar, but much more cold as well. Ponies here were in small groups or on their own, and she expected that there would be no pony rousing the bar into a sing-along.

“Everypony seems to be staring at us,” she whispered.

“What do you expect them to do when the most beautiful mare walks in?” he asked.

“It’s probably because you’re important,” she said, turning to her drink.

“True,” he said. “But I’m not wrong.”

Rarity had only gotten a quarter into her drink when two ponies came up behind them. One was Fleur, looking radiant as ever. The other, she did not recognize. She was another unicorn, thin and graceful like fleur, but not as tall and definitely a few years younger. Her coat was a powdered blue, and her mane a light orange.

“Good evening!” Fleur and the unknown mare greeted.

“Good evening to you as well!” Rarity and Fancy Pants chorused back.

“I really hated to interrupt what looks like a lovely night,” Fleur said, “but I couldn’t help but congratulate Fancy Pants on finally asking you out!”

“What do you mean ‘finally’?” Rarity asked.

“This silly one has been wanting to ask you out since the day you met!” she laughed, nudging Fancy Pants in the side. “He can be such a scaredy cat when he wants to. Even though every time somepony mentions you he’ll go on and on about you. I am happy, but I do wish he waited just one more week, since I now owe Swan Song fifty bits.”

“That nervous?” she chuckled. “You could’ve fooled me.  I had no idea you were such a great actor!”

“My mother was an incredible actress,” Fancy Pants replied. “I learned everything I know about theatre from her.  She was sure I’d earn my Cutie Mark on the stage.  I’ll introduce you at Hearth’s Warming.”

“That would be lovely,” she replied.

“I’m sorry, I’m a little lost here,” the unknown mare said. “Of course I know of you, Mr. Fancy Pants, but I haven’t met this mare. And she seems like your girlfriend, but every magazine I know of confirms that you’re with Fleur? Did I miss something?”

“Oh, that was dumb of me!” Fleur exclaimed. “This is Elegance. She’s a new model, and since our photo shoot was over, I wanted to show her my favorite bars. As for the relationship, Fancy and I have never been romantically involved.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Elegance,” Fancy Pants said. “You already know my name, so let me introduce the lovely Miss Rarity.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Rarity said.

“And you as well,” Elegance nodded. “The name Rarity sounds familiar, are you in fashion?”

“Yes I am,” she proudly declared. “I’m a designer, so you might have run across my name. Of course, I’m not as famous as Fancy Pants here, and not nearly as important.”

“You’re being overly modest again,” Fancy Pants chuckled. “Just within fashion, you’ve gotten  approval from Photo Finish, Hoity Toity, and Prim Headline, triumphed at Manehattan’s Fashion Week, made numerous costumes for Sapphire Shores, designed the wedding dresses and bridesmaids dresses for Princess Cadence’s wedding, and owns two boutiques, one of which has been talked about nonstop since it’s opening! All before the age of twenty! That’s worth your fame.”

“That’s impressive!” Elegance exclaimed, eyes going wide.

“It was just a bunch of luck,” Rarity said, sinking down a little.

“And as for importance,” he continued, “Rarity has helped save the world quite a few times. You’re looking at the one and only Element of Generosity!”

Rarity sank lower and downed the rest of her glass. Elegance only perked up more.

“That is incredible!” she exclaimed. “I didn’t know you lived here in Canterlot!”

“I don’t,” she answered. “I live down in Ponyville. It’s a train ride south of here.”

“I’ve heard of it,” she said. “But isn’t it a little, unknown? Somepony as famous and as important as you should be here in Canterlot!”

“I do have the Canterlot Carousel,” she said, stiffening up at the comment. “As great as Canterot is, it’s difficult to be here full time. My family and friends are down there, and I can’t really leave them.”

“But your dreams?” she asked. “Every designer I know wants to be on top, and it’s a little hard to do that if potential clients can’t even find your town on a map. Remember, my dear, you’re an adult now. You can cut off family ties if they’re keeping you bound at home. And if your friends are selfish enough to keep you from the things you love, well, they aren’t really friends are they?”

With only a few sentences, the atmosphere around them seemed to change. Fleur shuffled nervously, trying to step away from Elegance without being rude. Fancy Pants put his hoof on Rarity’s shoulder, pulled her a little closer, and gave her a look that said ‘this is your battle, either fight it or tell me to retreat’.  Rarity thought out her next sentences very carefully.

“Being sad that somepony might leave you is not selfish,” Rarity said. “Dropping friends and family out of your life without a thought about them, just for your own gain, is selfish. It is my choice to stay with them, even though I could live anywhere in the world.  And considering that friendship has saved the world a few times over, I assumed that some ponies would stop knocking the concept.”

“You don’t have to keep up the façade,” Elegance scoffed. “We all know that ‘friendship’ has little to do with that. You don’t have to pretend that magical weapons run on ‘friendship’ just to keep us from freaking out that something that powerful is in the hooves of a bunch of backwater hicks. Of course I don’t mean you, dear. But they’re so beneath you! Really, what could they give that’s worth staying?“

“Do you even hear yourself?” she demanded. “Maybe, had I not been a part of saving the world, I would be skeptical on whether or not that magic has anything to do with friendship. Either way, I wouldn’t use my skepticism to insult others and their friends.

“As for what they ‘give’,” she continued, “friendship isn’t about what they can give you. It’s about giving something to them, about caring about them and their happiness. Be a reason to smile or a shoulder to cry on. I’m not going to just leave them because you can’t see value in someone unless they can ‘give’ you something! And, frankly, I don’t have to listen to you insult them.”

She lit her horn to pull a gem out of her hammerspace wallet, and paid the bartender for her drink. Fancy Pants did the same. She lead him towards the door.

“I would’ve expected someone who preaches ‘friendship’ to be nicer!” Elegance called after them.

“I am not the Element of Kindness,” Rarity said, looking over her shoulder at her. “I am Generosity. Generosity gives you what you need, and what you need is for somepony to remind you that there are still some ponies who can care about others while still living their dreams. “

She hurried out the door, barely pausing to make sure Fancy Pants was following her. She just wanted to get away. She didn’t stop until a block away.

“I kind of wish I didn’t offer a drink,” Fancy Pants said when he caught up. “I’m sorry that happened.”

“It’s not your fault,” she sighed.

She heard somepony calling their names. Looking back down the street, she saw Fleur running after them.

“I’m glad I caught you,” Fleur said, slightly out of breath. “I’m so sorry about Elegance. I had no idea she was, well, like that. She had seemed nice earlier but-“

“It’s alright, darling,” Rarity said. “It’s not your fault either.”

“Still, it did put a damper on your date,” she said. “If there’s anything I can do-“

“You don’t have to,” she said.

“Really,” she insisted.  “Anything.”

“Since you’re offering,” she relented, “then when you come down to Ponyville for a dress fitting, you’ll have to join me and Fluttershy on our weekly spa day. You can tell me all about what exactly it is Fancy Pants says when he ‘goes on and on about me’.”

“Fair enough,” she agreed, laughing at Fancy Pants’ expression. “On that note, I’d best be getting home. And so should you two. It seems like you had a full day.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” she sighed.