A.N. I based Richie Fillyanthropy on Richie Rich from the 1994 film of the same name, and named other OCs after characters from said film.
It started out to be a nice sunny day, the usual day where nothing goes wrong. But that changed when Rarity saw something in the Ponyville Gazette.
"Oh dear...I'd better show this to Applejack." She said.
She quickly but daintily finished breakfast, and then trotted for Sweet Apple Acres with the newspaper. As she neared Applejack bucking apples she saw Big Mac and Apple Bloom nearby helping with the harvest.
"Well howdy Rarity, don't normally see you this time of-" Applejack saw Rarity's concerned look. "Is somethin' wrong?"
"It is, there was a thief in Manehattan." Rarity said. "And...well, you'd better read this. Start from here."
Rarity rested the newspaper on Applejack's pile of apples so that Applejack could read the article easily, and then Rarity tapped to a certain paragraph.
"The thief Richie Fillyanthropy was instantly banished from Manehattan due to his uncle, Lawrence Fillyanthropy, not wanting his nephew nearby anymore. This view was shared by Richie's victims, save for two who refused to comment-" Applejack's eyes widened. "Aunt and Uncle Orange!" She gasped.
"What?" Big Mac and Apple Bloom gasped.
"Oh no, Aunt and Uncle Orange have been robbed? They never wrote to us..." Applejack said worriedly.
"Well that's why I thought you should know, in case you wanted to go see if they're all right." Rarity said.
"Thank you Rarity, but unless they were among the more recent victims I'm sure we would've gotten word if they had been hurt." Applejack said. "One thing's for sure though, if this Richie varmint ever shows his face in these parts I'll teach him a lesson for robbin' from family."
"Eeyup." Big Mac frowned in agreement. "We'd better inform the rest of Ponyville in case he comes here."
Applejack and Rarity agreed, so Rarity went around to make sure that the rest of Ponyville had heard of the thief. By the afternoon, everypony had.
A few days later, late that night, the exhausted form of a unicorn stallion collapsed beneath one of the apple trees...
"Hey you!"
Groaning with exhaustion, the unicorn stallion - brown with a dark brown mane and tail and blue eyes - slowly opened his eyes to see an angry Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom in front of him.
"I recognize you from the newspaper, yer Richie Fillyanthropy!" Applejack glared.
"Thieves ain't welcome in these parts, so-" Big Mac raised a hoof threateningly.
"Okay okay, easy." Richie said calmly, much to their surprise. "I'm not going to hurt anypony, and I'm not here to steal anything. I was just exhausted and needed to sleep, but if you don't want me here then I'll go."
Stunned, Applejack, Big Mac, and Apple Bloom watched Richie sadly walk away.
"Hold on, why did you become a thief anyway?" Apple Bloom asked. "I mean your Cutie Mark doesn't even relate to stealin'."
Surprised, Applejack and Big Mac looked at Richie's flank and saw that Apple Bloom was right. Richie's Cutie Mark was the silhouette of a simple house inside a heart.
"Gee...Apple Bloom has a point." Applejack had to admit.
Richie turned back around with tears in his eyes.
"I'm not the thief, I was framed." He sobbed. "You see I come from a rich family, but when I was a little colt my parents went sailing and died in a storm. My Uncle Lawrence moved in and took over the family business, but only cared about making profits and didn't even care about me. When the neighborhood orphanage was in danger of being shut down last year I decided to 'steal' some of my parents' emergency money to save it. My uncle banished me from the house after that and spread rumors of me being a thief, later hiring somepony to do some actual thieving to make the rumors more believable. I had to go into hiding, but a few weeks ago I decided to sneak into my parents' home to look for their will, hoping that their business was left to me instead of my uncle. Unfortunately my uncle saw this coming and I got caught. You know the rest from the news."
Big Mac was wary at first, but softened upon Applejack looking at Richie as if she felt sorry for him.
"I believe ya." Applejack said softly. "Few ponies know more about honesty than I do, and I can tell when somepony is being honest."
Richie smiled with relief, but his eyes still looked sad.
"Sorry about bein' harsh towards ya earlier, but two of the ponies robbed were our Aunt and Uncle Orange and we happen to be very protective of our kinfolk."
"It's okay- The Oranges? They were old friends of my parents." Richie said with surprise.
"Really?" Apple Bloom said.
"Yeah, they were business associates. My parents invested in good businesses and community services for a living, mostly focusing on using their money to improve things for ponies everywhere." Richie explained. "The Oranges' business was one of the ones they invested in."
"Well I'll be..." Applejack was surprised by the fact that her family and Richie's family knew each other.
"Low blow for your uncle to frame you of robbin' old family friends." Apple Bloom frowned.
"Yeah...I hope they don't believe I was the thief." Richie sighed.
"Dunno for sure...accordin' to the article about your banishment they refused to say anythin' about the matter." Applejack said. "That could be for any reason. But tell you what, how about we write to them to explain what really happened?"
"Would you? I'd appreciate that, I don't want to end up on bad terms with them." Richie smiled, looking less sad.
"Of course. In fact..." Applejack smiled as if she was getting an idea. "I believe an old friend of mine can help you get your name cleared and reveal the truth about your uncle."
"I'd really love that, I want to take over the business and start helping others like my parents did." Richie smiled before looking confused. "But how can your friend help?"
"Well...she happens to be a princess." Applejack smirked. "The Princess of Friendship to be exact."
Richie dropped his mouth open.
In fact he was so stunned by the reveal that he didn't realize that he had been dragged to the Castle of Friendship until Applejack knocked on the door. Richie widened his eyes upon seeing the castle.
"Hello Applejack- Richie Fillyanthropy?" Twilight frowned with confusion. "Applejack, what's going on?"
"It turns out we've been wrong about Richie here." Applejack explained.
"Hm...you'd better come in." Twilight noticed that the ponies behind Richie and Applejack were whispering with disapproval.
Richie was overwhelmed by the throne room.
"Incredible..." He murmured. "I could never imagine a room like this. Well, except maybe in a fairytale."
"Really? Didn't you come from a rich family?" Applejack remarked with confusion.
"Yeah but my parents were always the humble type. Barely decorated our house." Richie shrugged. "In fact most of the expensive articles they owned were either heirlooms or artwork they enjoyed looking at."
"Oh."
Applejack then explained the truth to Twilight. Twilight dropped her mouth open near the end of it.
"That's horrible!" A male voice said.
It was of course Spike, who had just entered the room. Richie jumped a little.
"Sorry, never saw a dragon before." He explained.
"It's cool." Spike smiled before frowning. "I can't believe anypony would do that to a relative! Okay Blueblood I can see stooping that low, but still..."
"Prince Blueblood? Really?" Richie said with surprise.
"Oh yeah, just talk to our friend Rarity if you want a good story about his true colors." Spike sniggered.
"Oh. Glad my parents weren't into socializing with the elite then." Richie remarked. "Mostly they did for business reasons."
"Speaking of the elite, I'd better write to Princess Celestia about the matter." Twilight said. "A letter from her will exonerate Richie pronto."
"What about a letter from you Princess Twilight?" Richie said with confusion.
"Oh I don't have the power to do things like that, except maybe in Ponyville." Twilight shrugged. "And you can drop the princess, I may have earned the title but that doesn't mean I like being called princess."
"Oh, no problem." Richie smiled. "Always happy to meet a fellow member of the humble elite."
"In that case allow me to introduce myself: Prince Spike, Princess Celestia's adopted son and a humble dragon who just recently allowed his true status to be revealed so that he can start participating in court and helping his subjects." Spike smiled.
"Oh yes, I heard of you." Richie smiled. "You're also Twilight's assistant right?"
"Right, and metaphorical little brother." Twilight nodded, looking up from her quill for a sec before going back to writing. "There, that should do it."
"Okay, sending it now." Spike said before sealing the letter and sending it through his fire.
"Cool trick." Richie smiled.
"Thanks, mom taught me that one."
"Well, after we get Princess Celestia's letter I say we head to Manehattan to confront Richie's uncle." Twilight said. "Probably should limit the group though, a smaller group would be easier to sneak onto the estate."
"Oh that's no problem, I have my own special entrance that not even my uncle knows about." Richie smiled.
"Really? Good...okay, Pinkie Pie's in because of her Pinkie Sense, Rarity I know will want to come because she loves Manehattan, you're in of course Applejack because your aunt and uncle were two of the ponies robbed...and we might need Rainbow Dash's speed. Fluttershy I think won't mind missing out on the trip since she doesn't like confrontations."
"That's a good idea, my uncle can get really brutal when he's angry." Richie agreed.
"We'll definitely need Rainbow Dash then." Twilight deadpanned. "Starlight is still in the Crystal Empire so she'll have to be left out too, the sooner we do this the better."
Spike then burped out a message from Princess Celestia. Two actually, at the same time. One was unsealed so Spike unrolled that one first.
"Ah good, perfect timing." Twilight smiled.
"Let's see...Dear Twilight, I am shocked by the reveal of what Mr. Lawrence Fillyanthropy has done but I also have to admit I am not surprised. He happens to be an...acquaintance of my nephew Prince Blueblood, they went to the same school together." Spike read. "Well that explains a lot." He remarked sarcastically.
A.N. Celestia stopped using Twilight's title most of the time due to Twilight requesting it. She now only called Twilight by her title during formal occasions.
"Oh yeah, thought I heard of Prince Blueblood before." Richie noted. "My uncle must've name-dropped him one Hearth's Warming Eve or something."
"Uh where was...oh yeah: I have included a letter of pardon for Mr. Richie Fillyanthropy to give to the police so that he can be let back into Manehattan and take over his family's business. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." Spike finished reading.
"Good, we'd better get ready to go then. Oh Spike, do you mind missing out on the trip? I'd like you to take over here while we're gone."
"No problem, it'd take some self-control to keep me from toasting this Lawrence's flank anyway." Spike winked jokingly.
Twilight just smirked back.
After revealing the truth behind the thefts to the rest of Ponyville Richie received a friendlier greeting from everypony. Especially Pinkie unsurprisingly.
"Don't worry Richie, we'll give your uncle meanie what he deserves. I Pinkie Promise." Pinkie grinned.
"Pinkie Promise?" Richie repeated.
"Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Pinkie recited.
"Oh."
"Speaking of cupcakes, would you like one?"
"Actually I would love one, I haven't had a decent meal in days." Richie admitted.
"In that case be right back!" Pinkie zipped into Sugarcube Corner and then zipped back with a few cupcakes and a milkshake.
"Thank you very much...say, did you ever consider participating in a professional racing event?" Richie remarked, a little taken-aback by her speed.
"Not really. Don't need to anyway, I do plenty of running here and partying is my main thing." Pinkie grinned.
Richie then ate, taking care not to eat or drink too fast.
"You say what's on yer mind dontcha?" Applejack noted.
"My parents taught me to always be honest, yet also take care to phrase my words so they don't hurt anypony." Richie smiled.
"Well, gotta say I respect that. Honesty is my main trait. Obviously Pinkie's main trait is Laughter." Applejack then chuckled.
"Not surprised." Richie grinned after swallowing a bite. "I'm guessing Friendship is Twilight's main trait."
"Yes, also Magic." Twilight nodded. "In my case the two kinda go together."
"Because Friendship is Magic?" Richie smiled.
"Why...yes. How did you know?"
"I always cherished friendship myself, always wanted it actually." Richie then looked sad again. "Didn't really get much of it as a colt, most of the other foals were just into the fact that I had wealthy parents. The orphans from the orphanage were really my only friends, but even then I couldn't hang out with them often since we went to different schools and they rarely left the orphanage."
"Oh..." Twilight said softly, understanding how lonely Richie must've felt.
