A father should always be there for his children...his daughter...

He should be there the very second she's born, ready to lend a helping hoof to his wife after she's be put through so much labor and pain.

He should be there as she grows up, ready and able to give her the lessons she needs in order to understand the world around her. Ready to give her the wisdom only he can offer.

OF course, he never realized how direct an approach he would have to take to give her such wisdom...

Oh he still remembered the days of his youth, racing through the town with his group of friends after paying the barest amount of attention in their classes and causing far more trouble than he would ever dare to admit. With their mischief out of the way they would either retreat to a shady spot outside of town of the comfort of one of their homes. There they would relax and they would simply begin to talk with each other.

They would talk about...well that he couldn't remember. Nothing really important he was sure. The current good-looking mares they'd caught the eye of, which classes they were planning to skip next day, how the world would be theirs once they were a bit older.

So silly really...

There was one conversation he would never forget though.

They were talking about the future, how they would never leave each other behind, what kind of jobs they would have, how beautiful their wives would be...

And then someone had offered a question, maybe it had been him...

"What about kids? What do you want? Boy or girl?"

Of course everyone had said boy, each one eagerly talking about how they would raise him to be a natural athlete who would excel at any task given to them.

Then it had come to him.

"Actually...I think I'd prefer a girl," he'd said, stunning his friends into momentary silence.

"Come on, can't you imagine the fun? She brings home anyone for a date and I get the chance to act as crazy as possible to scare them off. Plus since it's a girl the wife can take care of all the hard parts of raising her!" They'd all had a good laugh at that and the question had quickly been forgotten.

But not by him, especially since he'd lied.

He didn't know why he wanted a daughter...but it certainly wasn't for the selfish reasons he'd just said. Maybe it was because he'd heard raising a daughter was harder than raising a son and was up for the challenge. Or maybe he was simply tired of all the machismo in his life and was looking forward to a bit of femininity.

A bit of something different, something new.

But enough of all of that. It was high time he fought his way out of bed.

At least he had one thing to help pull him out from underneath the covers, the lovely wafting aroma of his wife's cooking slowly drifting its way through their room.

His wife's cooking was really something to behold, he simply couldn't get enough of it. Nopony else ever seemed to agree with him though. Whenever someone shared in her cooking he was sure to receive a bit of polite criticism from them for the next few days.

Perhaps he was the only pony in town with the high tastes required for such exuberant cooking.

With a final grunt of effort he levered himself off the bed and made his way into the kitchen. By all accounts it looked to be a beautiful day. His wife was humming a merry tune as she tended the stove, the customary black cloud of smoke hanging over her, and the sun was shining through their kitchen window illuminating the family table. He bet if he looked out the window there would be a bird perched and singing in the nearby tree.

Though...there was one thing missing from the picture.

There was an unset spot at the table.

"Where's Rarity?" he asked, slowly going over to his spot at the table where a large helping of breakfast was waiting for him.

"Oh you know," his wife said, not even looking away from the stove. Unfortunately, this wasn't the first time that question had been asked in the house. "She was staying late with some of those club members from school to help finish a project. It took longer than she thought so she decided to stay over there."

"And which club was it for this time?"

"I think it may have been the sewing club, she was talking earlier this week about how they had a competition coming up soon. Of course, it could have been the drama club, you know how much she loves making their costumes look as perfect as possible," she paused for a moment. "Then again it it could have been the student council, I think they've been trying to get her to help them out as well."

"So exactly how many clubs is she a member of now?"

"I stopped keeping track ages ago. One minuted she'll announce that's she finally finished some big project or other thing and now has a bit of free time and the next minute she be right back at it because they asked for her help with one last project," his wife shrugged a bit, turning off the stove and taking her place at the table. "Sometimes it feels like she's spending more time with the clubs than with us."

"Yes indeed," his eyes fell again on Rarity's empty spot at the table. "It really does."

When had it gotten like this? It wasn't as if they weren't a family any more, nothing like that. It was just...there was an absence where he knew there shouldn't be. A gut feeling.

He was surprised at how much of parenting was built on gut feelings.

When Rarity was born...well...never-mind about that.

When she had begun to grow, to walk and talk, he'd been completely stumped. He'd read the books before she'd been born, those books full of advice on how to raise the perfect child, to ensure that they have a great life without spoiling them into conceited snobs.

None of that advice seemed to fit his daughter.

She was just so...permanent. If she walked into a room you could not help but notice her.

She was so eager to help with her mother and father, so eager to try as many new and different things as possible. Simply entertaining her exhausted him like nothing else.

Except when it came to fishing or other similar activities of course. They had so little in common in terms of personal interests.

Though they had at least one thing in common...

In an effort to help expend some of her energy he'd signed her up for as many different classes as possible. Music classes, cooking classes, sewing classes, he'd even put her in a martial arts class for a short while.

All that seemed to do was drive her towards doing even more things than before.

When the first years of school arrived she signed up for any and all club available to her. Most of them were uncertain at first, not seeing what she could give to them while working for so many others.

Then she'd discovered her cutie mark just in time for the school play and the clubs were tripping over themselves to get her help.

He wondered when they'd realized that a simple plea for help was all it took for Rarity to give her all? Those were her weaknesses, her generosity and her need to be perfect.

But a pony can only stretch themselves so far...

First there had been the bag under her eyes. An incredibly obvious sign of how much time she was spending time on others rather than herself, but not quite large enough for anyone to seriously comment on.

Second to show was her temper. Missing sleep was of no benefit to anypony's mood, and Rarity soon became quick to snap at any interruption to her work. This didn't stop the requests though, now they came mainly via letter rather than speech, and his daughter could not help but accept.

Finally there was this, missing meals, missing her family, all out of an effort to do good for others.

Though he suspected Rarity was a little proud of how good it made her look in return...

Either way, things were going to have to change. It was high time for a father-daughter bonding trip.

Something to stop her from making future mistakes.

"So do you expect she'll be home later today?" he pulled himself out of his thoughts to ask his wife.

"I'd hope so, though it will probably just be to replenish her sewing supplies," she admitted with a shrug. That was good enough for him, the plan was already starting to work itself out in his head.

"All right then. I'm off to work, see you this evening dear," with a few quick bites he finished his breakfast, pecked his wife on the cheek, and happily trotted out the front door.

Walking down the road he could not help but smile.

Rarity would never see this coming.

Rarity had quite literally passed out on top of her bed the moment she had come home, completely exhausted not only by all the work she had just finished, but from knowing that more work awaited her the second she woke up.

She was just so tired...but she knew that she couldn't let any of those ponies down. She had given her word and by Celestia, she would follow it to the very end.

However, what she hadn't prepared herself for was for her father to be waiting right outside of her door holding what appeared to be...no, not that...

"Yes, that!" he annouced as she opened the door. "Here's your fishing pole, I've got the wagon all prepared outside. Hurry up now!"

""Wuh, but..."

"No time for gibberish, if we don't leave soon we're going to miss out on prime fishing time. No need to worry about breakfast I already have some food packed." Still drowsy, she found her hooves obediently following behind her father to the waiting wagon.

The sun had barely even begun to peek over the edge of the horizion, bathing the sky in a myriad of pinks and reds...and reminding her that there was a pink and red dress waiting for her to finish it back at the school.

"I can't go fishing today father! I already have so many commitments I can just simply-"

"Oh don't worry about all of that, you called in sick today," he father interrupted, sounding entirely too happy.

"What? But I did no such thing!"

"Well...it wasn't you exactly, but it's too late to take it back. Now c'mon, get in the wagon and I'll pull us to the lake." How was he still smiling? This was a disaster!

"But I can't go father! I need to-" she started to walk away.

"No, you're going to take a break from all of your projects and spend some quality time with your dad," she suddenly felt the grip of her father's magic. He almost never used magic...there really was no fighting this, was there?

Meekly she let him levitate her into the wagon and quietly grumbled as it began to roll down the smooth dirt road.

She knew exactly where they were going of course. If her father said 'The Lake' there was really only one place they could go. The same place they had gone since she was a little filly. Well...gone to maybe two or three times. He father had an enthusiasm for fishing she could never match and she had respectfully declined most of his invitations to any further trips.

That did not stop his talking about it of course. From all of his stories she could bet that she knew the fish in lake just as well as he did.

Perhaps she could just humor him for a bit, catch one or two fish, and then she'd still have enough time to work on her projects, if not finish them.

He was irritatingly silent as they pulled up to the edge of the lake, which did not help her mood, though she could not help but admire the smooth surface of the water reflecting the first few beams of daylight.

Her father stayed silent as they unloaded the boat and set adrift in the water. Without a single word they both stepped into the boat and cast the lines of their fishing poles.

Now all they could do was wait.

Rarity remembered the first time on the lake, whining and whining about just how boring fishing was.

"We just sit and wait and wait and wait and wait!" she'd said, rocking the boat with her vibrant energy. "Isn't there any more to fishing?"

"Sort of," her father had said, somehow keeping his voice calm. "It's a battle of wits really. You go out into the water trying to follow the sort of fish you want to catch. Then you need to pick the right kind of bait based on what they've been biting recently and then you need to make sure you cast your line correctly in order to get their attention without scaring them away. The waiting part is a careful anticipation if all your hard work payed off."

Then he'd shook his head and grinned at her,

"But for me, I just use it as an excuse to sit back and relax in the sun," then he'd gone back to staring as his fishing pole.

Honestly, she hadn't understood then, and she still didn't understand now.

"So...how long are we going to stay here?" she finally decided to ask.

"As long as it takes," was all the answer she got.

"As long as it takes...for what?" she glared at her father. "Surely you didn't bring me all the way out here, away from my many projects, just to sit silently in a boat!"

"Well I was hoping you could see...how nice it was to have a whole day without being...hounded by your projects," her father explained, slowly reeling in his lure. "And hopefully, get the chance to tell you a story."

"What kind of story?" she asked. He gave a small chuckle before talking again.

"The fact is, I used to dislike fishing just as much as you."

"I could never understand those silly older ponies who could sit, for hours at a time, out in a boat waiting for the barest hint of motion form their fishing poles. Then even when they managed to catch a fish, all they'd do was let them go. I had a job and a wife and I simply didn't have the time for such silly activities..."

"I spent all of my time working, taking any and all commissions offered to me. I would travel to neighboring towns simply because I thought that there was no way the job would get done without me. Plus, it simply felt good to be relied on so much. But then I missed something..."

Her father went quiet again, staring out over the lake as their boat slowly drifted across the water.

"I had already made the commitment, I had to go far out of town to do this job, I couldn't let them down. I thought I'd be able to finish the job fast enough...fast enough to get back for..."

"For what?" she asked.

"For...you..." was what her father answered.

"The day you were born, I wasn't there. I let your mother down...I let you down."

"But, that wasn't your fault. You had to be there," Rarity tried to argue for him.

"No I didn't, not really. I could have said no, could have simply chosen to stay home. Your mother didn't blame me, though she was still a bit upset. And I don't think I can ever really forgive myself. I'm your father, I should have been there."

"That's the thing about being generous to anypony that asks. You keep giving and giving and giving...and eventually there's nothing left for yourself," he said. "You can't keep up with it, you can't live like that, not without letting someone down."

"But I haven't let any of them down yet," she admitted, perhaps a bit too proudly.

"But you will, eventually, that's the point," she started to reply but he stopped her. "How many different groups are you helping right now? And how many others are asking for your help?"

"Well...that's...I..." she tried to come up with a number but the truth was she'd stopped trying to keep track a while ago.

"Exactly, even you can't handle everything."

Rarity was silent for a few moments, it was odd to hear her father talk like this, with such...conviction.

"Because I'm betting the world will still be able to turn without you helping those clubs. Because part of being generous...is knowing when not to be," a pause. "Because sometimes you need time for yourself, to make sure you don't miss anything important."

"So...What do you think I should do?"

"Easy, finish the projects you've almost finished and as for the rest...turn them down except for a few. Don't stop helping, but do it at a more reasonable rate. The clubs will not fail without you," he was smiling.

"And what what about right now? What should I do?" she indicated her fishing pole which had just begun to twitch.

"Oh! Hold it steady and make sure the fish won't get away," he quickly instructed, helping her get a grip on the pole.

Absentmindedly, Rarity let her gaze wander up to the sky. The sun had managed to rise up into the sky, show its brilliance to all the land.

It really was a beautiful day...

Author's Notes:

I did it, at least one chapter before Christmas.

I guess this is a bit of my head-canon as to why Rarity doesn't give everything away despite being the element of generosity. Or something.

Next up is Applejack, mainly because I've run out of ponies. Will try to not make it sad, but I might slip, so who knows.

Think there will be at least one more chapter after that.

No idea how this chapter got over three thousands words. Weird.