Taming Rarity

“$ 74 154 - $ 14 741, 5% interest.”

A beep interrupts your concentration.

“Miss Rarity is here to meet you.”

“Let her in.”

You drop your pencil and throw away the scrap pieces of paper laying around.

You look up from your numbers as she walks in.

“Miss Rarity, how can I help you?”

“Well, erm...”

She clearly felt at uneasy by your life’s work. The towering distillation towers and imposing chemical reactors you so often admired through your office window apparently weren’t her thing. You two were clearly cut from different cloth, so to speak.

“Yes?”

“I’m going to need a little favor.”

You owed her that much. While demanding the utmost from the paints and pigments you delivered to her, she had been a most loyal and generous customer to you.

“What is it?”

“I’m going to need a delay on the payment of your next shipment.”

“So you need my help?”

She really didn’t. She was Rarity, element of generosity. Most of Equestria would loan her any money she’d needed to get her business through any trouble it might be facing and other, be it less skilled, competitors would gladly jump in to sell her some paint on credit.

“Yes, I do.”

You wouldn’t be where you are if you didn’t push your luck once in a while. She held all the cards, but she didn’t even know it.

“Well, that’d be quite generous of me, but I would be risking everything you see behind me.”

“I promise I’ll pay you.”

“Promises aren’t enough. Last month you yourself went on and on about how if the paint I deliver is the wrong shade of purple it could ruin you. I simply cannot risk my company with something so arbitrary.”

You were feigning ignorance. You knew about as much about her line of work as she knew about yours, but you could tell by the ever increasing volumes of deliveries and ever growing number of locations they had to be brought to know that she knew what she was doing. When she was complaining about your paint, it was just a bit of melodrama.

“Surely a smart and handsome businessstalion like you would be able to keep a business afloat even if one of the customer couldn’t make a payment.” she says as she bats her eyes

You chuckle.

You knew that Rarity would try to use her feminine charms to get what she wants. After all, she had done it with your delivery ponies and that had left you a day without them while they helped her move furniture around. But you were a bit smarter than your delivery ponies and you were counting on it.

“My answer is no, but I might reconsider if you show me if you truly owe up to your element and do me a tiny favor in return.”

“What do you want, darling?”

“I hope you meant it when you called me a smart and handsome businessstalion. I’d be terribly upset if that was just a bit of empty flattery to selfishly get what you want from me.”

“No, I would never do something like that.”

“Good, then you’re in luck. I’ve spent far too long in this office. You’re taking this smart and handsome businessstalion out on a date. I’ll be done working at 6. I’d be delighted to see you in one of your famous dresses when I step outside. Wear a black one.”

“But...”

You reach for your pencil as she stares at you, trying to figure out what just happened.

“See you tonight, Miss Rarity. Now, if you excuse me, I’ve got a business to run.”

“110 times $ 78” you resume muttering to yourself as she leaves the room.