"You were the receptionist at that fancy dress contest that Rarity and I went to, right?" Suri said, taking a sip of her latte.
"Yes...one thing, why did your outfits look...exactly the same?" Grace questioned, also consuming her delicious hot chocolate.
"It was a...coincidence?" Suri said.
Suri awkwardly took another sip of her latte and looked around. She changed the subject.
"Good coffee, right?"
Grace shrugged. "I guess so. Anyways, that wasn't just a coincidence..."
"Okay! I stole the design from Rarity by taking advantage of the fabric she let me borrow!" Suri exclaimed, loud enough for everypony inside Starbucks to hear her.
"Well...okay," Grace said calmly.
"You're not mad? Or even shocked?" Suri asked, now confused.
"Well, I kind of expected that. The dresses looked exactly alike and you sounded like you were lying. Also, it was in the newspaper. Rarity and her friends were interviewed," Grace explained, pulling the Manehattan newspaper from this morning out of her elegant saddlebags. She showed it to Suri.
Suri looked at it closely. "Oh no..." she said.
MANEHATTAN DAILY
SURI POLOMARE IS A DRESS THIEF
One week ago, a contest was held by Prim Hemline. Two mares and many others entered the contest, Rarity and well-known Manehattan fashion designer Suri Polomare. Rarity confirmed that her old friend and now rival, Suri, has stolen her dress design. Her friends and Rarity herself were interviewed to explain the experience.
"Well, after letting Suri borrow some of my fabric used for my dresses after she complimented it, she took advantage of this gift and stole my dress design. I was distraught, and I made my poor friends work through hours of making dresses, and they were not skilled at it, so it was even worse for them. I blame Suri for my ungratefulness towards my friends, and she should not be allowed to enter anymore contests for fashion," says Ponyville resident and fellow fashion designer Rarity.
News ponies are going crazy over this event. Many are criticizing Suri for her choices and the effects her choices had on Rarity and her friends. Advice is being given out to many other fashion designers all over Equestria to avoid being like Suri, but more advice is being directed at Suri herself, telling her to rethink her decisions if she ever thinks about doing something like this once more.
"It goes on for another three pages. That's how big this is," Grace said. She sighed and shook her head. "You were disappointing."
"Oh my Celestia, sorry, okay?" Suri said harshly, annoyed. She took another sip of her latte to take her mind off of this. It was already all over Equestria and it was four pages long. The light pink mare was greatly distressed at her rival's success and her miserable failure!
"It's fine," Grace said, fixing her gorgeous glasses. "So, you're going to avoid this or give in to them?" She smiled mischievously.
Suri looked away, embarrassed. Her cheeks glowed with a light red tint. "Avoid."
"Give in," Grace said firmly.
"No."
"Yes."
Suri, her cheeks even more red than before, picked up her latte and stormed out of Starbucks. Before leaving, she yelled at Grace. Everypony gave her strange looks.
"NO!"
After that, Suri was gone. Grace stared at the front doors, still smiling smugly. She looked even more clever now that Suri had angrily rushed out of Starbucks.
"Yes," she said.
"Suri," Grace said, knocking on the fashion designer's door. "Come out. You can't avoid criticism like you said."
"Get out," Suri said, her voice muffled from behind the door.
Grace kicked open the door, which was rather unfitting for her to do. Suri let out a small yell of fear as her door swung open and nearly smacked her in the face.
"Sorry," Grace said.
"It's...okay," Suri said, even more pale than her usual coat color was.
"Give in," Grace said directly, suddenly changing the subject as she was coming in. She brushed her mane out of her face.
"Are you trying to lower my self-esteem even more?" Suri asked angrily, stepping back.
Grace closed the door behind her. "I guess so. I mean, you're doing the wrong thing, not the right thing."
Suri rushed into her bedroom without answering. Grace followed her more slowly and calmly. She looked in every room suspiciously as if her slow approach inflicted fear into Suri. Finally, she made it into the other mare's room.
"I'm more than a receptionist. Good thing Coco Pommel left you. You suck as a manager," Grace said, sounding uncouth. She didn't bother to fix the few strands of her mane that fell in front of her face, as if she was trying to be a punk pony. She was purple though. Suri was pink. Purple was a punk color and pink wasn't, right?
Grace shook her head again, just as she did at Starbucks. "Suri, Suri, Suri."
Suri finally answered Grace, her voice trembling as she tried to sound strong and brave.
"I can handle this. I'm a mare with more skill than Rarity in making dresses."
"Then why did you copy her outfit designs?" Grace said, looking around curiously. She looked extremely casual.
"You're really not helping," Suri said in an I-can't-believe-you tone.
"Good, because you're not a good pony either," Grace countered, smiling at Suri innocently as she batted her eyelashes.
"But I do like you. You're smart. You could outsmart Rarity and all of her friends," Suri said with an evil grin, her eyes going dark as she rubbed her hooves together. "Be my assistant."
"Who are you, Queen Chrysalis? No," Grace rejected again.
Suri stopped looking evil in a generic way. "Yes." The yes and no battle had begun...again.
The two mares rushed up to each other, pressing their snouts together and looking suddenly menacing. Their tails twitched as they tried to look as dangerous as possible to each other. They both made what sounded like growling noises. Grace's glasses were a little bit out of place, but she didn't bother to fix them, just like how she didn't try to fix her mane.
Suri spoke through shiny, white gritted teeth. "I'll pay you 20 bits a day from my profits."
"No," Grace turned down fiercely.
"Yes."
"Then pay me 20 bits an hour from your profits. Not that you'll make much now that all of Equestria knows you're a dress thief and a jerk who uses other ponies for her own desires. You might as well be King Sombra too! ...Or Queen Sombra."
Suri looked reluctant. She couldn't lower the price now, but she had to. "10 bits."
Grace looked furious now, almost knocking Suri over in their battle of pressing their snouts together to glare in each other's eyes closely. Her face went red as her anger grew.
"5 bits!" Suri exclaimed on purpose, a mischievous grin spreading on her face.
Grace was now making ominous snarling noises. She looked almost eerie with her purple face changing to red so quickly.
"1 bit," Suri said.
Grace was angry beyond words at this continuous lowering of Suri's price.
"0 bits," Suri whispered calmly, looking clever and smug.
Grace was now at her breaking point.
The mare snapped, screaming and running down the hall. Her messy mane and tail streamed behind her as her furious shouts echoed through Suri's house. It wasn't a pleasant noise, but what was pleasant was that Grace was this mad. She knew she wanted the bits, she knew Suri was lying about the 0 bits, she knew her job was bad, she knew she wanted to quit, and she knew she wanted a new one.
Tomorrow Grace would return with a written schedule of when she would work for Suri. The purple-maned mare was sure of this.
