Fabulosity in Fact

That was far easier than you’d thought.

You’d made it to The Smart Ass, the famous fabric-and-clothing store run by the most refined and respected donkey in Canterlot, without a hitch. They even had a surplus of scarlet satin, so it was so cheap, you were able to fill your saddlebag to the brim with it. That’ll impress Rarity.

Trotting silently through the dark streets, you can’t help but notice how deserted it is. Probably just yet another social gathering going on. Whenever there’s a social gathering of any kind, all of the upper-class seem obliged to get there. You wonder if they’re still talking about you at those events. You wonder if they’re all insulting you over your fall-from-grace.

You’ll change that. With Rarity’s help, you’re going to show Canterlot, no, Equestria that you’re a good stallion. That you’re not vain and foolish, and that you can ensure beauty comes from reality, and not some doctored photos.

The town square is just around this next corner. Hopefully Rarity should be waiting for you, but if she isn’t, she shouldn’t be much longer-

THUD!

It all happens so fast. Your senses sharply scramble in pain as something collides with the side of your head. Was it an aggressive hoof? It felt like a brick.

You try desperately not to stumble over in shock, but before you can regain your senses, your attacker pins you up against the nearby wall.

“Give me the bag and nopony gets hurt!”

Oh sweet Celestia, you’re being mugged!

The attacker speaks in a gritty, lower-Canterlot growl. An unkempt unicorn, as haggard as his speech. Just as he tries to wrench you saddlebag from your back (The satin for Rarity’s dress! No!), you do the only thing you can think of. You swing at him.

THUMP!

You punch him square in the face. He doesn’t recoil. He doesn’t even wince. He just give you a funny look, before returning the favour with a punch of his own.

His hoof strikes hard between your eyes, the white-hot flash of pain causing you to yelp pitifully. You slide a little further down the wall as you lose your balance once again.

The attacker tries to take your saddlebag again. Not on your watch. Despite the sting of pain on your face, you hold tightly onto the bag, and inside it, Rarity’s vital materials. Your mugger even expresses surprise when you continue to defy him.

“You just have to play persistent, don’t you?” he snarls, ““Just let it go and I’ll leave, it’s not hard to-”

CRACK!

His snide is cut short by the thick sound of his skull being bashed in from behind.

A moment later, the mugger’s eyes roll into the back of his head, and he collapses helplessly onto the pavement. You look up, only to find…

“Rarity!?”

Your eyes weren’t deceiving you; standing over the unconscious mugger is the dainty white unicorn herself, wielding her saddlebag - full to the brim with hard, heavy, jagged gems - as a weapon. You can’t tell whether she looks terrified or furious.

“Are you alright, dear?” she asks, “Wait… no, you’re bleeding!”

You raise your hoof to your numb snout, only to find that it was true.

“I don’t think it’s broken,” you dismiss, choosing to better focus your attention on the motionless mugger on the ground, “Call for a royal guard or something, there should be one nearby…”

Within two minutes, a couple of white-coated, gold-armoured pegasi arrive on the scene, complete with a transport chariot, at Rarity’s beckoning.

“Is that who I think it is?” a wide-eyed guard’s jaw drops on arrival.

“Yes, yes, it’s me,” might as well get the star-struck guard back to his senses, “I own the Canterlot Columns, counted among the upper-class’ elite-”

“Not you!” he snaps, “Him! That’s the Canterlot Scoundrel!”

Ouch. Never been outshined by a knocked-out scruff before.

“He’s a notorious thief!” the guard exclaims, “how in Tartarus did you catch him?”

“I didn’t. She did.” you nod towards Rarity.

“Oh, I wouldn’t have been able to strike him if you weren’t distracting him, darling,” she, rather uncharacteristically, shies away, “We’d best chalk this up to a team effort.”

“In that case,” the other guard says as he helps his partner load the unconscious criminal onto the chariot, “you two will be splitting the reward for his capture. That’s two thousand bits each.”

“Two thousand-!?”

Rarity’s jaw drops considerably more than yours. You’re well off enough yourself, what with owning a magazine column, but considering how much two thousand bits was worth, you can’t help but raise an eyebrow to it.

“We’ve been trying to catch him for a while.” the guard nods, “We’ll have the bits delivered to you as soon as he’s behind bars.”

And moments later, the guards take off with their criminal in tow, leaving a bemused you and an utterly light-headed Rarity.

“Two… two thousand bits… all the things I could purchase with that…”

She seems happy about tonight’s turnout. Who’d have thought going out to get some dress-making supplies would end up like- oh wait!

“Rarity, the dresses!” you pick up your saddlebag, and hoist it back around you, “You said you were nearly done with them!”

The mention of her task is enough to snap her out of her bits-induced daydream, “Ah! Of course! Let’s get going, we can still get them finished before tomorrow morning!”

*******

The saddlebags fall to the floor the moment you both step into Rarity’s Canterlot Palace apartment. You breathe a deep sigh a weariness; you didn’t notice how much the night had taken out of you before now.

“Just leave the fabrics and gems right there,” Rarity tells you, “I’ll take it from here, you just go and clean yourself up - there’s still some dried blood on you.”

Sounds good to you. You could use a nice, cleansing shower right now.

“Wait,” she says, just as you open the bathroom door. You turn around. “I hope you don’t think of me as rude for asking, but… you know those bits that we’ve been promised?”

“Yes?”

“What do you intend to do with your share?”

You mull the question over for a moment. Being as famous as your are, you don’t need the money for yourself. However…

“I’m going to donate it all,” you say bluntly, “It’ll go towards that young filly’s family, you know the one who landed in hospital because of my magazine? It’s the least I’d do to make amends for that. What about you?”

“Me? Oh, I’ll probably just split it all between my friends in… Ponyville.” her expression dampens on that note. When she thinks back to her old friends.

“Do you miss Ponyville?” you ask.

“Of course I do,” she replies, “I may be a Canterlot pony at heart, but I would never abandon my friends for the whole of Equestria. You don’t suppose… you could return to Ponyville with me?”

You shake your head. “I’ll have a magazine company to run. A life to attend to.”

Then it hits you. One day soon, Rarity will be leaving Canterlot. One day soon, it will be goodbye.

“I… I should just clean myself up.” you break the silence like a hoof on brittle glass. Without another word, you trot through to the bathroom and shut the door, leaving Rarity to finish her dress.