THWACK
The bag of bits was slapped out of air with a vicious gust of magic, hitting the wall with a dull thunk, its contents spilling all over the floor.

“We don’t need your Goddess damned charity, foal!”
“Mum, please just take the money! I saw the letters from the landmare-”
THWACK
The blow glanced across the young mare’s face this time, leaving her more shocked than hurt.

Why?

There was no strings attached to the offer, she would never try to hold anything her parents heads. All she wanted was the fighting to stop, for their lives to get easier. After discovering her gem finding ability, the younger mare had thought her family’s poverty near its end. Barely more than a filly, her first massive business venture had taken up all her time throughout the summer. Creating, developing , and advertising a mail order jewelry business: Yet it had all paid off, and exponentially so. A few expensive color catalogues placed in key places throughout Canterlot, thanks to the help of a certain pegasus Pony, and the orders made had earned her more bits than she had ever thought possible, giving her more than enough to continue production of the catalogue and creation of refined looking, authentic, albeit cheap, basic jewelry. But how was she supposed to combat this reaction? There had been no way to predict this misplaced sense of pride, this emotionally idiotic line of thought. It was difficult not to hate her mother in that moment.

“... How dare you go through our mail, our private things.” The voice was quivering, though not with anger. It was the after the fact justification, a self-righteous mare trying to justify her cruel response. “Our landmare is an understanding lady, and has given us extensions in the past. Your father will find a new job before then.

‘Who do you think paid for those extensions, you witch!’ Tempting as it was, the cutting retort died in her throat, as always. “Yes mother, you’re right, I apologize for my uninformed assertions.” Her voice was robotic, devoid of feeling, as she carefully gathered up the bits, replacing them in the bag. The stinging of her cheek was harsh, moreso than usual. Demurely, she realized that waiting for it to fade would delay her monthly visit to the landmare. It was unfortunate, but it was the landmare herself who encouraged Rarity to talk to her parents directly about their ongoing arrangement, as she felt guilty for taking the bits from a foal. Landmare didn’t know her family, not really; Rarity didn’t want her to see the fruits of her suggestion

A tentative hoof touched her shoulder, and she spun, making sure the mark on her cheek was in full view of her antagonist, who was more likely trying to comfort herself than her daughter.
“Yes, Mother?”

Her mother hissed, drawing back, likely more disturbed by the mark her magic had left on her daughters exterior than the pain behind her eyes. “... brat” she muttered under her breath, trotting away.

“Evil witch” the mare hissed quietly, low enough that her mother didn’t hear it. She loved her father, far more than her mother, but unlike her mother she had no naive expectations. Father would continue to drink as long as he was unemployed, and he wouldn’t be employed as long as he continued to drink. It was a vicious cycle.

She glared at the bottle of cider on the table. Nasty stuff, but throwing it out all at once would get her in the biggest trouble of all. Following her custom, the tiny mare checked down the hallway to make sure her mother had closed the door, then turned, levitating the bottle of cider to the sink, dumping around half of its contents; she then took a swig for herself, shuddering. Nasty nasty nasty stuff.

The ritual had worked for the last few months. If he even noticed, her father would think her mother took it, her mother would think her father was just trying to blame the volume of his consumption on her, and they would fight. They always, inevitably fought over something anyway, so that was a moot point. If anything it meant her father would spend more time outside of the house, and hopefully more time looking for a job. Suddenly, she wanted nothing more than to be gone from this place. But she could never do that, not ever, for one reason, and one reason alone.

There was a tug on her foreleg, and a tiny pair of green eyes peered up at her. Little Sweetie Belle had only just learned to walk a few weeks ago, and yet here she was, all by herself, checking up on big sis.
“...Hurt?” the small filly asked

“Of course not, your sister is a big mare” she said gently, using a bit of magic to lift her sister onto her back.

“pony-back ride!” the tiny unicorn exclaimed, overly excited.

“Only if you promise to go shopping with me tomorrow, to pick out your preschool things. Also, you need to go to sleep afterwards, it is past your bedtime Sweetie”

“I promise I promise!”

Rarity trotted around the room to the delight of her younger sister, their grim surroundings suddenly fading away into a warmer, lighter feeling of joy. It would be alright, big sister would make it so. Sweetie would never want for anything, Rarity would see to that. It would have been easy simply hate her parents without Sweetie in the picture. But with her younger sister she had a goal, a future, a reason to surpass this wretched place. With that loving, adorable face to push her forward, what was a few years of paying the rent in secret, as long as the filly in question was there to reap the benefit? The unicorn felt like she could accomplish anything, overcome anything if Sweetie truly needed her to. Perhaps she could eventually open a store with the earnings that didn’t go to the landmare, anything was possible. She could always do more. She could fix it, fix everything if given enough time.

She had to. It was in her blood.

Poke
Something prodded her. It was far too bright, why were her eyelids not blocking out the light properly?

Poke Poke
Okay, this just wasn’t funny, wasn’t there an old saying about letting sleeping ponies lie?

Poke Poke Poke
Rarity was about to choke a mare.

Poke Poke Poke Poke “GET UP! YOU LAZY FAT COMMONER”
Somepony was about get seriously hurt. It was on. Rarity sat up, to... no one. Nopony was there, only a wonderfully tortuous headache keeping her company. Suddenly she remembered the bet from the night before, and looked around for the guards. The aftermath was almost comical

Ah. Well I guess that means I won.

Hm, well whoever was poking her had obviously given up. The table had made an excellent alternative to a pillow thus far, and it didn’t seem like the rest of the guard would be in the position to object to her prolonged nap in the wine cellar any time soon so...

SPLASH
As the last of the bucket of water emptied over her head, Rarity calmly pondered the penalty for committing ponycide in Equestria.

Sputtering water, her head flew up.
“What in Celestia’s name do you think you’re doing?”

“Yes, you would want to know that, wouldn’t you?”
The absolute last pony she wanted to see loomed over her, light pink coat and blonde mane momentarily reminded her of an inverse of her dear friend’s colors... but unlike fluttershy, Rarity had nothing but loathing for this pony.

“And the reason the royal consort has poked me dozen times, called me a not just a commoner, but a FAT commoner, and then dumped a pail of water on me would be...?” Her voice was totally flat, other than the word consort, which she said as more of a profanity than a title.

The pink unicorn dragged a tray to the table.
“My name is Stanza, I’m not the Royal Consort, and I woke you for Tea. And I’m sorry I called you fat”

Tea. Well of course. Why else poke somepony, subject them to name calling, and dump water on them, if not for tea. Well at least she apologized... selectively. Rarity took her cup, dousing the tea with a shot of cider... or three. It irked her to no end when Stanza took her cup and dumped it, filling it back up with the undiluted tea.

Visibly, her only reaction to the Unicorn’s seething glare was an aloof, judgemental look. “You can be a drunk later. Right now it would be counter-productive.” She reviewed the list of names: Drunk, fat, and commoner. This mare was not gaining rank on Rarity’s ‘favored ponies’ list. Tragically, the ongoing pounding in her head was far too loud for her to make a decent cutting retort.

“You’re counterproductive... to my headache.”

“I may be, but the tea is not. Drink it, please.”

“... No.”

“You’ll be spending the day with me whether you like it or not. I’m to prepare you for the hearts and hooves festival, whether you like it or not. I will prepare you, regardless of whether you enjoy the process or spend most of it kicking and screaming. I rather like the thought of you squealing like a school filly, in all honesty.”

More disturbed by the last part of the sudden speech than she had any intention of letting on, Rarity slowly drank her tea, all the while avoiding the unflinching gaze of the other mare. Unlike Rainbow Dash and Applejack she found no real personal enjoyment in the process of competition, and this was probably the closest thing to a rival in romance she had ever had.

“Stanzer-”

“It’s Stanza”

“Right, of course, as I was saying Stanzer-

“Stan...ZA”

“Yes, yes I know. Now StanZA...” she exaggerated the last syllable intentionally. “what do you really want, dear? I’m rather indisposed at the moment”

“To sweep you off your feet on the dance floor, of course.”

“Er- Excuse me?”

Rarity had taught herself to dance when she was only a filly, and paid for classical dance lessons when her business had started turning a profit as a young mare. This, however, felt more like a duel than a dance. When the two had entered, the orchestra had originally been playing a lively tune, but quickly read the mood. As soon as the dark, clashing aura that surrounded the two of them had become apparent, they had switched to something more fitting. The two circled each other, the somber strings of Lacrimarsa echoing behind them, hoofsteps exactly on the beat. The unicorn had hoped to show up her partner in a matter of minutes, but her pink partner was holding her own, empty grey eyes never breaking contact.

“Focus on your partner is key. You and Her majesty will in front of the eyes of the nation, the tiniest bit of nervousness will be bare for all to see.

Well, no pressure there. Rarity almost tripped, realizing the implications of the advice.

“Wait, not that I’m complaining, but why must I be the one to dance with the Princess? I’m only the seamstress after all.” her words almost dripped with contempt. The pony before her could obviously dance. If Celestia preferred this mare why wasn’t Stanza chosen to be her partner? Her question was ignored as the dance continued for a few tense minutes longer, she matched the other mare flourish for flourish, neither willing to relinquish a metaphorical inch of ability to the other pony

Stopping, Stanza trotted off to grab a piece of rope, using it to tie up one of her back legs. After a few confused glances, the orchestra started playing again.

“You’re to catch me when I start to fall, with this sort of dance, and only three fully functioning legs, you’ll eventually have to. Do it with magic and do it as subtly as possible.”

Their second dance together wasn’t nearly as ‘combative’ as the first. As competent as Stanza was, there were several points where the inertia was simply too much for three legs, and the imbalance started to tip her over. Though she certainly entertained the thought of letting the mare fall, Rarity could never be so cruel, it simply wasn’t in her nature. So she caught her with a tiny puff of magic, trying to be as ‘subtle’ as possible. The other mare looked a bit surprised at the catch, as if she was expecting to be slighted. From that moment on the dance became rather beautiful as they worked in tandem, both ponies getting caught up in the music and unity of the moment. When Rarity raised her partner for a slow spin, she noticed the cutie mark: It was oddly familiar, a green heart with a silver lining. She knew she had seen a similar mark on somepony previously.

When it was over, they were both panting. Stanza handed the rope to Rarity, indicating for her to follow suit. The alabaster mare deftly tied her leg up, and the dance resumed. They didn't get very far however, as Stanza strained to support her; the problem arrived in the form of a particularly difficult turn, when Rarity fell so far off her center of gravity Stanza could only cushion the fall, rather than stop it completely. Glaring, the pink mare shot a inquisitive look at her.

“Answer your question? My marks in magic academy were practically off the charts, in every area... except telekinesis. I simply can't reliably lift anything larger than a single heavy book.”

So she knows about Celestia’s condition... interesting. But as soon as she followed the line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, she balked, eyebrows wiggling incredulously
“Because I have a high telekinetic affinity and you don't? Are you serious? That’s the only reason?”

Stanza looked like she wanted to backhoof her, settling instead for shushing her furiously, glancing over towards the orchestra with concern that the exclamation had been overheard.

“Shut up.” She drew closer, whispering in Rarity’s ear, “No you stupid foal, not just because of your 'magic affinity.’ Because you were the unicorn selected to be her majesty’s aid. Because you know about her condition and will use your magic if need be to support her. And most of all, because you're the one whose name she whispers at night, and if you have any appreciation for her, in any marginal capacity, you will take responsibility for that. So if you’re doing being a stupid, selfish foal, now would be an excellent time to grow up.”

The whirlwind of emotions was... complicated. Rarity went from feeling upset, to used, then proud, then embarassed, then extremely embarassed, then just plain awkward. Suddenly Rarity connected the dots. Her name was Stanza, she had an affinity for music, and the cutie mark...

“You’re related to Cadance, aren’t you?”

Stanza nodded, “My cousin”

“Which makes Celestia...”

“Distant cousin.”

Rarity groaned. As she highly doubted that Celestia was ‘involved’ with her own cousin, she felt a bit awkward as she had obviously managed to jump to record number of wrong conclusions in an extremely short period of time.

“...Maybe we started off on the wrong hoof.”

AN: Um. So yeah. remember what I said about studying? I might have procrastinated a bit. This popped out as a byproduct. Seriously going to study now. Definitely not going to procrastinate again. Since, you know, I obviously have such great impulse control. *face desk* More on Stanza later, including an explanation of exactly why Celestia’s been bunking with her cousin in the next chapter. Which I’m definitely not writing in the next few days. Definitely. Confound these ponies and their compelling back stories that make me want to write them. Please forgive a few grammar/spelling mistakes as this was literally about two hours of work, and I really need to get back to studying. Oh and by "forgive" I mean, feel free to point out.