There was a knock. Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce looked up at the office door. They recognized the silhouette of the man on the other side. They both felt a growing fury at the idea of dealing with him again.
“Let’s see what he wants,” Gloriosa sighed. “Not like he can do anything else.”
“Are you sure?” Timber asked.
“I’ve got-“she stopped and frowned at the familiar phrase. “I can handle talking to him, but you’re welcome to stay.”
He nodded as she opened the door. As they expected, on the other side was Filthy Rich. However, there was something different. He didn’t have that superior smirk on his face. In fact, he looked almost sad.
“What do you want?” Gloriosa demanded.
“To talk,” he answered. “May I come in?”
She frowned, but stood aside and let him through. She went back to her desk, and motioned for him to sit in the chair across from her. Timber took the other chair, but pulled it around to his sister’s side of the desk.
“What do you want to talk about?” She asked.
“I wanted to apologize for some things,” Rich said. “For overall being a jerk to you two. And for the things that happened while I was trying to buy this place.”
“Seriously?” Timber interjected. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you caused?”
“Yes, actually,” he replied, turning to Gloriosa. “You turned into some kind of maniacal tree witch using an alternate dimension’s magic in a desperate attempt to save the camp by trapping the entire place in vines.”
“How in the-?” Gloriosa began.
“My daughter, Diamond Tiara, goes to school with the group that was here that week,” he explained. “She’s still a freshman, but she’s close friends with the little sisters of those girls who helped save your camp. She asked if my role was exaggerated or not.”
“And you believed a story like that?” she asked.
“You two don’t get into town much, do you?” he chuckled “You weren’t the first power-mad magical girl to wreck the place. I wouldn’t believe it if I hadn’t been chaperoning the Fall Formal. We all had a lot of questions after a student turned into a demon, and was then blasted into a crater by six other girls with pony ears and wings. One of those six was a princess from that other dimension, and happy to explain what happened. The girl who became a demon was also from there, and she filled in a few more of the blanks.”
“And that somehow leads you to apologizing?” she scoffed.
“Gloriosa, I’m used to people being mad at me,” he said. “And to be honest, I know I can easily come off as smug, which doesn’t help those mad at me. I’m buying their failing businesses, which are sometimes their homes, and making them my own. Of course they’re upset. Despite what some may think of that, I’m not doing anything morally wrong. Your incident made me question that.”
“Why do you care?” Timber asked. “You were so intent on turning this place into a spa. Who cares about morals as long as you have your profit?”
“Stars, kid, I’m not evil,” he said, leaning back in the chair. “My senior class went to this camp too. I loved it. If my wife wasn’t so against camping, I’d bring my daughter up here for bonding weekends. I’m glad to see that it’s sticking around.”
“Then why a spa?” Gloriosa asked.
“You were losing the camp anyway,” he answered. “Usually, if someone is losing their business, it means they aren’t making profit. As far as I knew, the camp wasn’t making money, and I don’t have the know-how to make it better. So after I bought it I would have to turn it into something that I could make money with. Others who wanted to buy this place were planning on demolishing everything, building malls or casinos or amusement parks. A spa resort would have only been one building, allowing the forest to stay as lovely ‘escape the city’ scenery while still making a profit.”
“Hearing about what happened,” he continued, “the magic was too far for just denial of losing something. And with so many people at the fundraiser talking about how much they come up here, it sounded like you should be making plenty of profit. So I asked around on why you weren’t making profit if so many people came around.”
“Asked around?” she repeated.
There was a quiet tension. She glanced at Timber. His posture had stiffened, almost to the point of shaking.
“I’m sorry to hear about your father,” Rich said.
“You had no right to look into that!” Timber shouted, standing up to put his hands on the desk.
“I know,” he answered, undisturbed by Timber’s anger. “I know nothing I can say to justify my prying will help. And I know no condolences will make you feel better about your loss. If I had known what your money was going to, I would’ve helped out myself.
“So you’re apologizing out of pity?” Gloriosa asked.
“Empathy,” he corrected. “I know what it’s like to lose a parent or two.”
“Really?” Timber asked, his anger subsiding a bit.
“My mother,” he elaborated. “She was hit by a drunk driver when I was fifteen. My father fell into a depression, drinking himself to death a few years later.
“I-I’m sorry,” he said.
“It’s alright,” he said. “I’ve had many years to grieve. But my point stands. Had I known you didn’t have the money because of the funeral and your mother’s hospital bills, I would have given the money myself, or bought this place to keep you two running it. I know it probably doesn’t matter now, as what’s done is done. But for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for the part I played in all this.”
“That means a lot,” Gloriosa said. “Thank you. I don’t know if I forgive you, but this helps.”
“I don’t expect you to,” he said. “But I’d like to make it up to you, if I can. So if you ever need anything, help or someone to talk to, you can call me. Or money, within reason. For your mother or emergency repairs at the camp.
“That’s… ridiculously generous,” Timber said. “Honestly, thanks. Just the offer goes a long way. Though I can’t think of something we need help with yet.”
“Actually,” he said, pulling a phone out of his pocket. “You just gave me an idea. Let me call someone.”
Timber and Gloriosa just looked at one another, bewildered. Rich waited as the phone rang. Eventually someone picked up.
“Hi, Diamond,” Rich greeted. “Are you still at Sweetie’s house? Are her big sister’s friends there? They went to the farm? Alright. No, I just need to talk to Sunset about something. If you could have one of your friends call their sisters to have them stay there, I’d love to meet them there. Thanks, Diamond. Yes, you can have a sleepover, but try not to stay up all night. I know. See you tomorrow, pumpkin. Love you too.”
With that, he clicked the button to end the call, and looked up at them. He was right. His normal happy grin did look like a smirk.
“What kind of plan are you coming up with?” Gloriosa asked.
“How much did those girls tell you about that magic?” Rich answered
A few hours later, Princess Twilight Sparkle opened her journal. After reading the passage, she grabbed the book in her magic and headed into town.
Author's Note
Listen my man. The one of, like, three things that bothered me was how OOC Filthy Rich was, because he'd always been generally nice before. I had to fix that somewhat and make this a little less Scooby Doo.