“Woah!” Doug nearly shouts as the distraught unicorn plows into his side. He grunts in pain, her watery eyes leaving streaks of tears across his chest. A hand guides her horn away from his neck, his other hand trying to soothe her as she wraps her forelegs around him. “Rarity, what’s wrong?”

“I…” Rarity sobs, pawing at her stallion and trying to draw him even closer. “My dam…”

Emotions flood the unicorn’s body that twist her in every direction and leave a tearful mess. She desperately wants Doug to help her, to fix this, to make everything right again, but she can’t find the words. After all, it’s her twisted family, and she’s the filly fulfilling the falls of the father! Why did she have to find herself attracted to something other than an upstanding unicorn!?

“It’s okay,” Doug croons, slipping his hand from Rarity’s horn to her mane. He digs in deep, not caring how he’s ruining her style. It makes him feel better, closer to the mare, but sadly seems to do little for her. “It’ll be all right.”

“N-no it w-won’t!” cries Rarity, flipping over to kick her legs at the air. “Everything’s ruined!!”

Doug winces at the sharp red line her horn leaves across his chest, but he has more important things to worry about. “Shh,” he tries, hugging her head against him. It does help the pain a little. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Rarity’s crying has woken up Rainbow Dash, who looks annoyedly over her book at the two. “Pregnancy hormones?” she bluntly suggests, huffing to herself.

“Rainbow,” Doug rebukes, tossing the pegasus a glare.

“No, she’s r-right,” Rarity forces out between sobs, her forelegs pathetically waving in the air. “I-if I had b-b-better control of myself, I w-wouldn’t have said what I did!”

Doug grimaces as Rarity wails, halfway tempted to shut her mouth with his hand. “I’m sure it’s not that bad,” he continues, his glare at Rainbow Dash intensifying as the pegasus plugs her ears with her wings. Truthfully, he’s a little jealous, but at least Rarity isn’t in a position to see it. “You were just talking.”

“I told her I never want to see her again!” Rarity cries out, hooves covering her eyes.

“Well,” Doug starts, “I’m sure-”

“And I meant it!!”

The next round of crying takes a little longer to subside, and Doug finds his patience sorely tested; not just with Rarity, but whoever did this. It doesn’t help that the only candidates seem to be her parents. “I’m sure,” he tries again, “that you’ll be able to reconcile this. Right? They’re your parents. They just want what’s best for you.”

“But they think,” Rarity says as she opens her eyes to stare into Doug’s, “that you’re not what’s best for me. That I should leave you, and…” she pats her belly, sniffling, “her, and try again with somepony new!”

“Oh,” Doug says, his brow furrowing. “Well, in that case, fuck ‘em.”

“W-what?” Rarity says, genuinely taken aback.

“Buck ‘em?” Doug repeats, the barest hint of a question mark overcoming the rancor behind the words. It doesn't sound as good as the first try.

“But that’s how we got into this mess,” Rainbow Dash quips from the side.

“Not helping,” Doug says seriously, smacking Rainbow Dash aside the head.

The pegasus winces as she rubs at the spot; he didn’t exactly hold back like she was expecting. “Ow.”

“But, Doug,” Rarity pleads, much of her whimpering gone, “they’re my parents. They just want what’s best for me. I can’t just write them out of my life!”

“Ah, good, we’re on the same page.” Doug nods, exactly once. “It’s not like you can control their minds.”

“Well…” Rainbow Dash says, prepared for Doug’s smack this time. She takes the glancing hit with a smile, and can’t help but see a hint of a grin behind his stern expression. She suspects he’d be the one using levity to make light of the situation if he could get away with it.

“O-of course,” Rarity agrees. “Mind control is certainly not an option.”

Doug’s stare at Rarity is mercifully brief. “We’ll need to convince them the old fashioned way.”

“But,” Rarity interrupts, her gaze lowering to his chest. Her eyes widen at the red mark, oozing blood in a few places. “Doug! Your chest!”

“I’ll be fine,” Doug says, tilting her head away from the red lines matting his thin hair. It’s nothing worse than the scars his cats gave him. “You were saying?”

“Um,” Rarity says, thinking back. “Something about money? That you wouldn’t be able to provide for me?”

“Why does Rarity need helping?” Doug asks, his voice oddly stilted.

“...Because Applejack doesn’t make a lot of money?” Rarity tries, her head cocking slightly in confusion.

“Oh.” Doug grunts disappointedly; he was hoping she would say something else. He looks over at Applejack. She’s staring at him, and probably has been for a while now. She takes the opening as a signal to start ambling over.

“And they don’t want it to sink my business, or for me to toil on the farm,” Rarity continues meekly.

“I don’t know,” Rainbow Dash says, “I’d pay good bits to see that!”

“It’s a shame it wouldn’t help,” Rarity retorts, “seeing as your wages would be garnished as well.”

“Hey!” Rainbow Dash exclaims, glaring at Rarity. She whispers to Doug, “What’s garnished mean?”

“Taken,” Doug says as Applejack gets next to them. “Like taxes, but to support the herd.”

“Oh. Hey!” Rainbow Dash whirls on Doug, mostly figuratively because she was already looking at him. “Those are my bits!”

“One day together and we’re fighting about money?” Doug takes a deep breath. “Applejack, please tell them we’re not going to take their hard earned bits.”

“Honestly, it’d be a real help for the farm,” Applejack says earnestly, earning herself two glares and Doug holding his hand over his eyes. “What?”

“Not helping.” Doug sighs, hands reaching to Rarity and Rainbow Dash. “Look, I’m sure we’ll hash all this out. But Rarity and I need to work something else out with her parents.”

Rarity gulps. She doesn’t want the full extent of her dam’s vitriol getting to Doug, and tainting his perception of her. “No,” she says, carefully rolling off him, but unable to dislodge his hand. She pulls a few tufts of grass with her horn, dabbing at the few red stains on his chest. Of course they don’t come off, but Rainbow Dash doesn’t look concerned and the pegasus knows more about first aid than she does. “I’ll… deal with them.”

She takes a deep breath, especially as Doug frowns. She knows she needs to give them something else to focus on. “Whatever you decide, leave Carousel Boutique out of it. I want, no, need my business to succeed or fail on its own merits, and that won’t happen if bits are being siphoned off for something else, or if it’s getting undeserved infusions.” She smiles at Doug, hoping to alleviate his frown. “The proceeds from our expeditions, or at least a part, can go towards the herd’s finances.”

Doug slowly nods, his hand pulling away from her. It isn’t the time or place for this kind of discussion, and Rainbow Dash especially seems unenthusiastic about any mention of money. “Alright,” he says, his tacit approval now fully explicit. “Good…” he winces, looking around for Pinkie Pie and spotting the pink pony respectfully giving them distance, but he can’t mistake the way her eye narrows at him. “...Hunting.”

Rarity merely offers him a smile as she departs, heading back to her home. Ponies give her curious glances, especially as Pinkie Pie does an admirable job of getting the party back in swing.

The front door to the Crumble residence ominously swings open as Rarity approaches. Her dam steps outside, haughtily regarding her. “Come to apologize?” she demands in an even voice.

“I came hoping to reconcile,” Rarity states. Her hackles threaten to raise, but she tamps them down with a practice born of dealing with unreasonable customers. She hates that she is viewing her dam as one of those charlatans, those pretenders, but soldiers on.

Cookie Crumbles pointedly looks past Rarity. “Did you get rid of him?”

Rarity grits her teeth for a long second. “No,” she returns. “I did not get rid of Doug, and I do not plan to.”

“Well, if there can be no arrangement, then we are at an impasse,” Cookie Crumbles decrees.

“I’m afraid so,” Rarity agrees, her voice unwavering. “He may not compete with us magically, but I have no doubt to his abilities.”

“You’re that confident?” Cookie Crumbles asks, slightly tilting her head.

Rarity nods, confidently.

“Then you are a foal,” Cookie Crumbles says swiftly. “At the very least you should have let Applejack test the waters.”

“A fashionista dies by being second to the trends,” Rarity states harshly.

Cookie Crumbles ignores her as she looks to the sky. “And with Fluffy Clouds gone, it will only be a matter of time before more like him are in Ponyville. Unknowns, manticores masquerading as mastiffs.”

“We will never know if we don’t give them the chance,” Rarity says.

“And risk the potential outcomes?” Cookie Crumbles shakes her head. She turns to the door. “I’m pulling up our stakes in Ponyville,” she states, glancing back with a meaningful look to Rarity. “All of our stakes.”

“No!” Rarity shouts, the thought of losing her Boutique too much. She holds a hoof forward, like it would stop her dam’s decision.

She is stopped by her sire walking out of the house.

“What is that?” demands Cookie Crumbles as Hondo Flanks levitates a sealed envelope to Rarity.

“Our share of Carousel Boutique,” he responds, his voice hard. He formally nods to Rarity. “I was hoping you two would make up your differences, but I am sorry to say I was wrong.” He turns to stare down his lead mare, towering over her. “I won’t see that taken away from her.”

Cookie Crumbles takes a deep breath, biting her tongue so hard Rarity winces. Then she spins, stomping inside.

“Thank you,” Rarity whispers as her sire draws next to her.

“I hope you prove her wrong,” Hondo Flanks confides, rubbing her mane.

Rarity attempts to duck and weave her way away, but her sire isn’t letting her go that easily.

“I’m afraid,” he says, both his attempts to muss her mane and her attempts to evade ceasing, “that I don’t think we’ll be able to come back for a while.”

“Daddy,” Rarity whines, frowning.

“It’s okay,” he says, smiling initially. It fades into a deep sigh. “Well, mostly. Just, keep me posted on what’s going on, ya hear?”

“I will,” Rarity says, giving her sire a last nuzzle.

“I’m sorry about this,” Hondo Flanks says, his voice heavy. “I know you’ll do great.”

He winks at her, and she’s afraid it will be the last time in a long time.

“Sport.”

Rarity takes a deep breath as her sire returns inside the house, trying to bolster her confidence. It doesn’t long before the first of her possessions levitates out the front door in her dam’s brown aura and sets down none-too-gently on the ground. She curses herself inwardly. She did want the Boutique to live or die on its own merits, and living under her parent’s roof certainly doesn’t qualify.

Next Chapter: Ch. 81 - Lifesprig Estimated time remaining: 4 Hours, 52 Minutes