It had been complaint after complaint after complaint with this woman. Exactly how long has it been now?
Rarity unobtrusively snuck a quick glance up at the clock up on the back wall.
Five thirty in the afternoon.
A barley noticeable grin crept up into her face. She looked back at the client who had been wasting her time for a half an hour complaining about her dress measurements.
"...and so I can't possibly be size eight and a quarter!! Last time I was size seven, you must have done the measurements wrong, I want the entire dress remade..."
Rarity put on her customer friendly smile ever so politely cut her off.
"I'm so sorry Miss Honey Gold but we have seem to have run overtime, perhaps you can make another appointment and we can look over the new dress designs next week?"
Honey Gold flipped her mane huffing in irritation and stood to leave, "I'm paying you a lot of money Miss Rarity, you had better have some new dress designs that absolutely shine! I only came to you because they said you were the best."
She stuck her nose into the air and haughtily walked out not noticing the scowl being sent at the back of her head by the fashionista.
Rarity grit her teeth in frustration massaging her aching temples. "Every time she comes in here it's the same thing. 'I can't be this size Rarity', 'The dress isn't good enough', 'I can lord over you all I want cause I inherited my status and money from my dad and don't have to work for a living!" getting more haggard and out of breath with each statement.
She couldn't stand some of those ponies. Just because she didn't flaunt money around and didn't backstab other businessmares made her a naive backwater townspony that could be easily fooled. They tried to use her to their advantage and tried to rip her off because she was the 'element of generosity'. She sighed quietly to herself. She truly did love what she did but one only has so much patience.
"A cup of tea and quiet evening with that new novel I borrowed from Twilight will cheer my evening up quite splendidly! Afterall a lady must keep her 'chin up' as they do say.
Decidedly more collected, Rarity trotted into the kitchen area and levitated a kettle onto the stove while she peered into the cupboard looking for her favorite tea. "Jasmine, Passion Berry, Peach Cream...hmmm...I could have sworn..." Rarity gasped, "Ahh, here it is."
Rarity's horn glowed and she gripped the tea box in her magic aura and pulled it closer. This wasn't just any old tea, this was a special rose lemon zest tea that she had imported from Griffonia. It was extremely expensive but a good cup of tea was worth almost any price. It smelled of lemon groves and rose gardens, it tasted simply divine! Just thinking about it made Rarity's mouth water. She opened the box and looked in but, it was empty. She levitated the other box next to it down to her and peered into it but it was also empty, Rarity frowned, "Hm. How strange, I could have sworn this box was half full this morning.."
Rarity looked back up to her cupboards and started to scour the cupboards for the other boxes that she had placed into the cupboard just that morning. Spying the third box in the corner of her eye she levitated it down and opened it up. "This one is empty too?"
Tossing the empty tea boxes in the trash to the right of her Rarity threw open the cupboards began to become more and more frantic with every empty box.
"No,no,NO,NO,NO!" Rarity stomped in frustration, empty boxes now littered her floor."This just isn't possible! I know I had tea, I just got a delivery yesterday morning!" Rarity cried out in dismay. By this time things were flying left and right as Rarity emptied the drawers in the kitchen and ran throughout the boutique in her frantic search for tea.
"Now think Rarity, where could have it gone, it couldn't have just been used up you just had a box delivered yesterday!" Rarity paced back and forth across the foyer getting more and more agitated with each step. "The last time you had a cup was just this morning before Sweetie Belle came down and asked..." Rarity stopped dead in her tracks and a look of comprehension slowly came over her features "SWEETIE BELLE!"
Rarity huffed and briskly trotted out of the boutique intent on finding the Crusaders. "When I find that filly we're going to sit down and have a long chat about taking what doesn't belong to you." Rarity picked up her pace as she set down the road towards Applejack's farm
~Earlier that morning~
Sweetie Belle, bleary eyed and still half asleep laid back on her pink comforter and stared up at the white washed ceiling. Rarity's voice came hollering up the stair-well "Sweetie Belle darling, Get out of bed, you need to get ready for school! You don't want to be late do you?"
Sweetie Belle, relishing the warmth of her sheets had no desire to leave the comforts of her bed. Groaning she turned over and stared at the calender on her bedside table, circled in bright red was PRESENTATION DAY.
"Presentation day? What's...?" Sweetie Belle's eyes widened and she gasped in horror "ITS PRESENTATION DAY AND I COMPLETLY FORGOT!"
Sweetie Belle jumped out of bed, all thoughts of sleep were immediately forgotten. Running around her room she panicked "Oh! What am I going to do? I need something to show off to the class, something cool and stylish that would put Dimond Tiara in her place"
Yesterday afternoon: school had just been let out and all the fllies and colts were racing from the school yard
"What are ya gonna bring tomorrow for presentation day Scootoloo?" inquired Apple Bloom turning to look at her friend as all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders trotted out of the school yard towards the clubhouse.
"My scooter of course," remarked Scootoloo in a matter-of-fact tone "it's fast and it's *awesome** what's better than that!"*
"What are you bringing to school Applebloom? asked Sweetie Belle
"I'm bringin my Apple family tree of course!" remarked Applebloom in a slightly smug manner, "It shows all the Apples from when they first came to Equestria all the way down to when I was born! It sure is...." A snobbish voice cut off Applebloom's next statement.
"What's so great about an old scooter and a list off all the ponies related to a blankflank loser like you!" All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders whipped their heads around to see Dimond Tiara sneering at them with Silver Spoon close behind.
"I'm bringing in a priceless jewel that my daddy got me. It was imported from a diamond smith who lives in Zebrica. You should be lucky I'm bringing it in. From the sounds of it my presentation will be by far the *best** in the entire class." Diamond Tiara boasted.*
Scootoloo's wings buzzed in annoyance "Who asked you anyways! No one cares what you think!"
Diamond Tiara glared at Scootoloo for a brief moment then kept going like no one had said anything at all, "I'm surprised Miss Cherilee is actually allowing you foals to present anything at all, I mean all there is here is a flightless chicken, a dirt poor farmer and a squeaky crybaby. What's so interesting about that?"
"I'll show you!" cried Scootoloo as she lunged for Dimond Tiara. Applebloom grabbed Scotoloo's back legs and dragged her back before she could tackle Dimond Tiara.
"Just ignore her Scoots!" cried Appleblom using her superior earthpony strength to overpower the orange pegasus.
"Well I'm going to bring in something FAR better than you could EVER think of!" cried Sweetie Belle voice cracking at the end. Diamond Tiara just laughed at her
"So what exactly are you going to be bringing in Sweetie Belle? I'm *dying** to know" Dimond Tiara mocked, She leaned forward and locked eyes with Sweetie Belle.*
"Well I umm...am...ugh..." Sweetie Belle sheepishly looked away her and her cheeks tinted pink. Diamond Tiara smirked triumphantly.
"That's what I thought." Diamond Tiara laughed, turned back around and started walking in the other direction, "Come on Silver Spoon let's ditch these loser blankflanks, their polluting my air."
"Are ya really gonna bring in somethin better than Diamond Tiara Sweetie Belle?" questioned Applebloom
"Of course I will! Diamond Tiara won't know what hit her!"
Sweetie paced around her room. "What am I going to do? I can't show my face there if I don't have anything that is exotic or expensive! And I refuse to let her win!" Sweetie jumped up, "THAT'S IT!!" She cried in triumph. "I'll ask Rarity! She's gotta have something sophisticated enough that I can show up Dimond Tiara."
With her mind set she raced down the hall and slid around the corner *Smack* she slammed into the banister and bounced down the stairs cracking her head against the hard wood floor at the bottom.
Sweetie just laid there on the floor and clutched her head trying to make the world stop spinning. When she opened her eyes two blurry purple maned ponies stood over her. "Rarity?" She asked "Why are there two of you?"
"Stop messing around Sweetie Belle, I have a lot of work today and I have an important client coming in today. I don't have time to play games this morning Sweetie." Rarity said while trotting into back into the kitchen simultaneously making Sweetie's lunch while rummaging through the cupboards for something.
"No don't worry I'm alright, thanks for asking," Sweetie Belle said voice thick with sarcasm.
"Did you say something" Rarity called back to her.
"Yeah, actually I have to do a presentation toda...." Sweetie Belle was abruptly cut off by Rarity's sherieks
"This is THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. THING! Where is my new case of Griffonian tea I ordered?!" Rarity cried scanning the room for any hint of the red case. Sweetie, frustrated at Rarity for interrupting her opened her mouth to chastise Rarity for being so rude was abruptly cut for the second time that morning.
"I can't believe it's not here!" Rarity sobbed throwing her hooves up and falling back on the fainting couch she had summoned from who knows where. "I've been waiting for WEEKS for a new batch and it just VANISHED into thin air! What's a mare to do with no tea to start the day!"
Sweetie just stared onto the scene in front of her, completely unamused, things like this just happened way to often with Rarity. Sweetie turned to Rarity, "Sis, it's right...." but before Sweetie could say anything she was cut off for the THIRD time that morning.
"This is just unacceptable! I just can't believe my special Griffonian tea is gone! It was so expensive and took so long to ship! I don't know if I can wait that long again! I NEED that tea today for my clients, if I don't have tea my reputation could be ruined!" Rarity swooned back again and threw her foreleg to her forehead.
Sweetie Belle trembling in frustration and yelled "I WAS GOING TO SAY IT WAS RIGHT OVER THERE BEFORE YOU SO RUDELY INTERUPPTED ME!" her voice squeaking on the last syllable. Rarity got off her couch and grasped the box in her magic aura.
"No need to be so dramatic Sweetie Belle, you could have just said so" remarked Rarity, her demeanor completely calm after finding the box."Now what were you saying Sweetie?"
Still steaming Sweetie Belle grit her teeth and took a few deep breaths to calm herself, she needed a favor and getting snarky with Rarity never ended well. "I was GOING to say that I have a presentation to do today and I need something expensive and exotic to show."
Rarity set Sweetie's breakfast in front of her and stayed quiet for a few moments before finally speaking, "I have some leftover black sapphire silk in the back of the store that was shipped down from Manehatten if you want that"
Sweetie Belle frowned to herself, diamonds from Zebrica were much better than some cheap fabric from Manhattan no matter how sparkly the material was.
"What about that?" asked Sweetie pointing to the tea that was being stirred into the tea cup. A delicious aroma of lemons filled the room.
"What about what Sweetie?"asked Rarity sliding into the seat across from her, taking a sip from her tea.
"What about the tea? It's exotic and it cost a lot of money, Can I pretty please bring it into school for my presentation?" Sweetie pleaded.
"I don't know Sweetie Belle, it's awfully fragile and really expensive..." Rarity trailed off and grimaced at the thought of the tea being destroyed.
Sweetie Belle stared into Rarity's eyes while lowering her lip and folding her ears back. "I promise I'll be super, super, SUPER careful"
Rarity looked back at Sweetie Belle's heart melting display and caved in, "Oh alright.." Sweetie jumped into the air ,"But only one box" Sweetie Belle's victory dance froze right then and there.
"ONE box?" Sweetie Belle asked in disbelief. Each box only had about three tea bags in each. "If I only bring in one box it still won't be enough! Three small tea bags can't of match huge diamonds no matter how expensive it is." Sweetie thought in horror, "I can't let everypony down!" Sweetie was jolted out of her thoughts by a red box dropping down in front of her.
"But Rarity!" Sweetie cried out, "One box has barley any tea at all! Couldn't I just have one or two more boxes? You have an entire case!"
"I'm sorry Sweetie Belle but no." Rarity stated firmly,"Its just too expensive and if anything happened to the tea then it would be extremely hard to replace. I can only get a new batch every six to eight weeks and I serve tea to my clients as well. If anything happened then I would be out of tea for another month."
Sweetie Belle scowled down at her unbeaten breakfast, "But Rarity!" She whinned, "you don't understand Diamond...."
"No buts Sweetie, one box and that is it." Rarity stated in a tone that brooked no arguments as she herded Sweetie Belle to the door. Rarity levitated Sweetie's lunch into her pack and put her saddlebags on her back.
"Are you ready to go Sweetie Belle?" asked Rarity as she made her way out the door. Sweetie looked in her bag; lunch-check, notebook-check, homework-check, the box of tea...THE TEA!
"Wait! Rarity, I forgot the tea box in the kitchen." Sweetie Belle raced back through the doors and ducked into kitchen, it was right where she had left it. Placing it in her bag she made her way back but the sight of the open tea case stopped her in her tracks. Diamond's words played through her mind "My presentation by far is going to be the best in the entire class"
Sweetie Belle bit her lip and glanced around the boutique, it was empty. She walked over to the case and peered inside. "Rarity will never know if a few more tea bags are gone today, they'll be back later and no one will be the wiser."
She opened a few more boxes and gingerly put the individual tea bags inside her saddlebag. "And besides, I am only technically bringing one box to school, it's just gonna have more tea bags in it." She reclosed the boxes she set them back inside the case.
"Sweetie Belle, are you coming darling? We don't have all day!" yelled Rarity from outside the boutique
"Coming Rarity!" Sweetie Belle trotted outside to catch up with her sister.
"Is everything alright Sweetie Belle? You took an awful long time to get that box? Sweetie gulped,
"Everything is fine Rarity! Everything is super duper great!" Sweetie gave Rarity a nervous smile and then trotted ahead. "You know what, I think I'll head to school myself today Rarity." Before Rarity had a chance to respond Sweetie rushed ahead leaving her completely in the dust.
"How odd," Rarity muttered, "I wonder what's gotten into her." Mentally shrugging Rarity headed back the the boutique muttering to herself the plans she had for that day.
