The Lorax and all references and characters contained within are copyright of Dr. Seuss. My Little Pony; Friendship is Magic is copyright of Lauren Faust and Hasbro. I own nothing and am earning no money from this fan project.

Chapter 10 – Arrangements

He should have known his mother wouldn't leave him alone. She was waiting in his office when he returned from the gala. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts. What should have been a beautiful evening with Rarity had been marred between Stephanie's feminist rant and then unexpectedly seeing…he shuddered…That Person there. He was considering just skipping the New Year's gala, but knew he couldn't. He'd already answered the RSVP and no doubt Rarity was making a new dress for it.

"How dare you show up with that woman," Isabella said from where she sat in his chair behind his desk. Anyone else he would have yelled at, but she had brought him into the world, so he decided to let it go.

"Could we possibly do this some other time?" He tried flexing his stiff and aching left arm and actually found himself longing for the support of the brace he planned to put on as soon as he was in his apartment.

"I am trying to ensure your future and find you a suitable wife and you show up with your assistant as your girlfriend."

"I don't believe I ever said I wanted to get married."

"Well, a few families are interested – in particular, the Decklers would like to see their daughter settled down with you."

"Stephanie? Not likely."

"I thought you liked her. She was on your list before you added that purple-haired tramp."

"Don't talk about Rarity like that! Besides, from the way Stephanie talked tonight it sounds like she never plans on marrying or having children."

"Sometimes our plans change when people who know better than us help them along." She stood and crossed the room. She hugged him gently. "I just want what's best for my favorite son. By the way, do I have some kind of meeting with Rarity on Tuesday?"

He wanted her to shut up so he could retreat to his apartment. "What are you talking about?"

"When I last saw her at the gala, she said 'see you next Tuesday'."

It was everything Onceler could do not to laugh, but even so he couldn't stop the corners of his mouth twitching up toward a smile. "Oh, Rarity! She did not."

"I get there is some hidden meaning behind this."

He grabbed a piece of paper, quickly scrawling it written differently, underlining the capital letters – C U Next Tuesday. When he saw the look on his mother's face and realized she'd been stunned into silence, he couldn't help but laugh. "She has some gumption, I'll give her that!"

It took Isabella a moment to find her voice again. "You will fire that…that…bitch!"

"Not a chance."

Isabella huffed and stormed out of the office. Onceler felt a small sense of satisfaction as the door finally closed and he was able to lean against the desk, still chuckling. "See you next Tuesday."

Christmas passed peacefully. Rarity stayed at her boarding house where the lady who ran it prepared a large dinner for those boarders who were not going home for the holidays. She kind of wished Onceler would have invited her to celebrate with his family, but really, she wasn't sure she wanted to be around them. She was pretty sure even he didn't want to be around them. He had given her a bonus in her paycheck (though she suspected he did this for every employee) and a necklace of pearls for the holiday. She'd bought him a pocket watch even though he already had one, but she had been at a loss as to what to get the man who had everything. Still, he'd thanked her graciously and she noticed in the following days that he was using the one she had given him instead of the one he'd previously had.

He worked late most nights doing paperwork and on those nights, she ordered dinner for him and he would stop working for about half an hour to share a meal and conversation. He liked Indian food for the vast array of spices they used, but wasn't impressed when she ordered Thai food.

"Peanut sauce," he said. "I ate so much peanut butter growing up I can't stand the taste."

They always retreated to his apartment for that as he refused to take his gloves off in the office. Actually, he didn't take the left one off at all. She knew from conversation that he wore the brace at night and on the weekends, but during the workday he was back to being completely covered. She was pretty sure she knew why – after seeing the way Mr. Salas had practically been undressing him with his eyes, she realized this way of covering himself was like armor. Onceler would not let anyone think any inch of his flesh was for the taking…or possibly for sale. She hoped someday he would tell her what had happened, but they were not there in their relationship yet. If it was anything like what she suspected – either an unspeakable horror or prostitution – she fully understood why.

She enjoyed their time together since they could drop their formal working relationship and just be two people who were happy in the other's company. Before opening the apartment door to resume those boundaries, he would kiss her softly and tell her she was beautiful. Kissing was as far as it went, despite rumors still flying around the office that more was going on, but Rarity ignored it. All those other girls were probably just jealous they hadn't attracted his attention.

It was only a couple of days before the New Year when Isabella once again clacked her way into Rarity's office. "Is my son busy?"

"He's in a meeting right now. Can I do something for you, ma'am?" She hated addressing Isabella as 'ma'am' – she could think of a few other choice words to call her.

"When he returns to his office, tell him I've arranged a meeting for him at six in the small conference room. Let him know I want him to be presentable." She turned on her heel and clacked off.

Rarity glanced at his schedule – luckily he didn't have anything going on, being that it was after hours, but he'd probably have loads of paperwork to catch up on. As soon as he returned to his office, Rarity updated him on the seemingly mandatory schedule change.

"Did my mother say what kind of meeting or why?"

"Yes, she explained every minute detail. Then we went to have our nails done and engage in girl talk."

"Very funny, Rarity."

"She did say to look presentable."

"Do I ever not look presentable?"

"No, sir, you always look great."

Five minutes before six, she went into his office to remind him of his meeting and gave him a sharp look as he was in the middle of smoking.

"Oh, Rarity, stop it. I'll be cutting back starting Monday."

She helped him straighten his tie (in fact, he'd gone back to wearing regular ties after she offered to tie them every morning), made sure his gloves were pulled up and ran her fingers through his hair, which was already neat enough; she just wanted to touch it. "You want me to come with you?"

"Of course. You'll need to take notes most likely."

Rarity grabbed a pen and pad of paper from her desk before following him down the hall to the small conference room. As soon as they entered she realized what was going on. Isabella sat on one side of the table and on the other side were Stephanie and her parents. Stephanie had her arms crossed and gave Onceler a frosty look. There was another – older – woman in the room who Rarity didn't recognize.

Onceler took a step back, but a threatening look from Isabella forced him to sit next to her. Rarity simply stood off to the side.

"I can't see your eyes with those glasses on," the older woman said. "Please remove them."

He did as he was told and the woman immediately was next to him, studying him intensely. "Fine features, blue eyes – that's good, no thinning of the hair…you haven't had any procedures done, have you?"

"No."

"Smile for me."

He gave her his diplomatic smile.

"Are your straight teeth natural?"

"Yes."

"Good. You're awfully skinny though. What's your sign?"

"I don't believe in such things."

"He's a Taurus," Isabella interjected.

The woman looked over at Stephanie. "A suitable match for a Virgo."

Stephanie simply rolled her eyes and turned away from the whole conversation. The woman, whom Rarity now realized must be a matchmaker, returned to the head of the table. "They would make a compatible couple with a high chance of producing beautiful children. She is a virgin, I take it?"

Before her parents could answer, Stephanie finally opened her mouth. "No, I've slept with loads of men – wow – probably hundreds! Sailors and sportsmen and random hookups in bars and I haven't used protection with any of them!"

"Stephanie!" her mother hissed.

Onceler, however, simply joined this conversation in a desperate effort to put a stop to this. "I don't use protection with any of the men I sleep with either!"

Isabella simply gave him a death glare. "I assure you my son is a virgin as well."

"Perfect," the matchmaker said jotting down a note. "So we don't have to worry about children from other relationships surfacing or diseases. Speaking of which, no hereditary conditions that could be passed on?"

"You want to talk about health?" Stephanie asked. "He came in here reeking of cigarettes."

"He's in the process of quitting," Isabella assured her.

"Actually, I'm going up to a pack a day," Onceler lied. "In fact, I could use one right about now."

The matchmaker pulled out an official-looking piece of paper. "We need to settle on the bride price, of course."

"I hope you know what you do is sick!" Stephanie exclaimed. "I am a person and I will not be sold!"

Onceler gestured in her direction. "I'm with her. I'm not in the market for a wife anyway. Particularly not that one."

"Unfortunately, this is decided by your parents, not you two," the matchmaker told them. "However, there is a clause in the contract that if one of you should love someone else enough to marry them before the date of your wedding, you may do so. Otherwise, next January first, about a year from now, you two will be married."

Stephanie slouched a little in her chair, crossing her arms again. "So, basically, you're not giving us enough time to fall in love."

Her father gave her a warning look. "You're getting old, Stephanie. You need to get married and this young man will make a fine husband for you."

Isabella slid a black jewelry box in front of her son. "You probably should ask her a question."

Onceler didn't even look inside. He knew what was in there and didn't care what exactly the ring looked like. He unceremoniously slid it in Stephanie's direction. "If she wants to wear it, she can, but I'm already in a relationship, so I won't be asking her anything."

"Like it or not, your parents have entrusted me to find good matches for you and I believe this is the best one, so they have consented to it," the older lady said. "The engagement will be announced at the New Year's Gala a few days from now."

"That will be very awkward when I'm standing there with my girlfriend," Onceler said.

Isabella shrugged. "Maybe it's time to kick that tramp to the curb."

Rarity wanted to throw her paper pad at the woman. Onceler opened his mouth to say something, but Stephanie spoke before he could.

"We're adults – what about our consent? Do you really think I want to marry this guy? Have kids with him? That means we'd have to…" She blushed bright crimson.

Onceler gave an amused smirk. "What? You could talk about pills to prevent having babies, but suddenly you're too shy to mention sex. Don't worry – the thought of going to bed with you doesn't exactly thrill me either."

"Don't worry, most couples start out this way, but then they get to know one another and see that they are compatible, and love grows," the matchmaker assured them. "If not love, then they at least become friends."

For the first time, Rarity noticed fear in Stephanie's eyes and they were bright like she were about to cry. Onceler simply put a hand up to his eyes and shook his head as though maybe this were some bad dream he'd wake up from. This wasn't just arranged, this was forced marriage and Rarity had just stood idly by while these two families had decided that she wasn't good enough to marry him.