“My, what a truly wonderful experience!” Rarity remarked as she exited the Canterlot Theatre of the Arts, the crisp summer breeze rustling the hem of her sparkling red dress. True to her nature, Rarity had painstakingly perfected her ensemble for such an outing, including styling her hair, touching up her makeup and finding the perfect combination of shoes, earrings and even the right purse to compliment her dress. “All the reviews I’ve read simply do not do it justice, and I simply cannot thank you enough for inviting me, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, it was nothing.” Unlike Rarity, who had gone all out with her outfit, Fluttershy was dressed far more modestly, sporting a simple yellow blouse with a leaf green shawl draped over her shoulders and a pair of faded jeans. “I thought about inviting Rainbow, but she said she already had plans.”
“Rainbow?” Rarity’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. “Of all people, I find it hard to imagine her sitting through a musical like Hamilton.”
“You’d think so, but even when we were kids Rainbow was a huge musical fan. Singing in the Rain is her favourite movie after all.“ The moment she said it, Fluttershy slapped her hand over her mouth, a look of horror on her face. “Oh, please don’t tell her I told you that! She’ll be so mad!”
With a comforting smile, Rarity slid a finger across her lips. “My lips are sealed.”
As the two walked towards the bus stop, the setting sun painting the evening sky a vibrant orange, Rarity felt her stomach grumble. “Fluttershy, if I may ask, are you a touch famished?”
“Hmm? Oh, a bit, I guess.”
“Well, seeing as it’ll be a while before the next bus, then may I suggest we grab ourselves a bite to eat?” Glancing around, she noticed a few small restaurants nearby. “Let’s see… where to—“
“Ooh!” Squealing in delight, Fluttershy pointed towards one of the restaurants. “How about that one?”
Rarity looked to where Fluttershy was pointing to see a small building on the corner. The first thing Rarity noticed was the sign, which was painted a light blue to resemble water and had the image of a cartoonish fish swimming along. The doors of the establishment, amazingly enough, had been designed to resemble Japanese Shoji doors, which Rarity found to be a nice touch. Printed in black font with a white border was the restaurant’s name, Makizushi Delights.
Sushi, huh? Well, not my first choice, but… “Very well. Let’s see if they have a table available.” With an excited Fluttershy walking in step next to her, it wasn’t long before the pair had made their way over and stepped inside.
The smell of fish, both raw and cooked, filled the air as the two entered, though what captured their attention the most was the mural pinned to the back wall, depicting an artistic rendering of a white wolf streaking across of the sun. Rarity swore she could even see black strips dragging behind it, possibly ink.
It only took a few minutes for them to be seated, giving them some time to look over the menu. Before long, one of the waitresses strolled up to their table, dressed in a short light blue kimono with white sashes and an apron tied around her waist and carrying a tray with glasses of water for the two of them. “Hello, are you ready to order?” she asked, looking to Fluttershy first.
“I’ll have the salmon sashimi with the umekyu rolls, please.”
“Hmm… I’ll have the uramaki platter and the miso soup, please,” Rarity answered after a moment, handing their menus back to the waitress once she was done jotting down their orders.
As the waitress left, Rarity leaned back in her seat as she took a sip of her water, taking a moment to listen to the ambient sounds of the other diners enjoying their meals, as well as bits and pieces of idle conversation.
“… Told you this place makes the best sake! You owe me ten bucks…”
“… You didn’t hear it from me, but I heard from Winter Breeze that she heard from Apricot that Emerald Dove is…”
“… And here’s your tempura bento, sir. Enjoy your meal!”
Rarity nearly choked on her water. I know that voice! Spinning around in her seat, Rarity glanced over at a nearby table, where one of the waitresses was humming to herself while wiping up after a previous group of customers. Even with her back turned, there was no mistaking her fiery red and yellow streaked hair.
“Sunset?!”
The waitress froze, turning on her heels at the sound of her name, her turquoise eyes widening in disbelief. “R-Rarity?! Fluttershy?!” Sunset stuttered, clutching the tray she was carrying to her chest. “What… what are you doing here?!”
As the shock began to wear off, Rarity took in Sunset’s uniform. Like the other waitresses, she was dressed in a blue sleeveless kimono with a white sash and apron, and thigh-high white socks with wooden sandals, along with a jade fish hair tie tying up her hair into a ponytail. Rarity couldn’t help but notice how utterly adorable it made Sunset look, a far departure from her usual “bad-girl” black jacket. “I could ask you the same thing, Sunset.”
Blushing, Sunset avoided Rarity’s eye as she tried her best to form words. “I… I work here,” she finally admitted after a moment.
Rarity raised an eyebrow. “I can see that, though I admit I am confused as to why.”
“Well… uh…” The sound of a ruckus in the kitchen made Sunset look up, sighing. “Look, I’ve got to get back to work, but my shift’s almost over. I’ll explain everything then, okay?” Without waiting for an answer, Sunset took off for the kitchen.
Able to do nothing but wait, Rarity settled back into her seat, looking up to see Fluttershy staring off in the directions of the kitchen. “That was certainly unexpected…” Rarity remarked as she took another sip of her water.
“Yeah…” Fluttershy said absentmindedly, eventually turning to face Rarity. “I never imagined we’d run into Sunset here.”
Rarity shrugged. “Small world, I guess. Though I’m curious as to why she’s working here at all. Far as I can tell, Sunset has never been one to be concerned about money, let alone needing to work for it.”
“You don’t think… she’s having money troubles, do you?”
Rarity said nothing, the thought having crossed her mind as well.
Sometime later, their waitress brought out their food, giving a cheerful “Enjoy!” as she walked off. While it certainly tasted good, they couldn’t help but pick at their food with mild disinterest as they waited for Sunset to finish her shift, the wait only conjuring up more and more potentially worrying thoughts.
Almost a half-hour after walking in, they finally spotted Sunset heading for their table, now wearing her iconic jacket over her uniform. “Ugh, my feet are killing me,” Sunset groaned as she pulled out a seat for herself. As she sat down, she reached up and pulled off her hair tie, giving a quick shake of her head as her hair fell back into shape. “So, what’s the occasion?”
Rarity blinked in confusion. “I beg your pardon?”
“As much as I know you love fashion, this…” Sunset gestured to Rarity’s outfit, “… doesn’t usually qualify as ‘casual wear’ for you, does it?”
“Oh,” Rarity muttered, figuring Sunset had a point. “Actually, Fluttershy and I got out of a showing of Hamilton not too long ago.”
“The musical?” Sunset inquired. “I though that show was sold out for months.”
“It is, which is why I have Fluttershy to thank for getting us tickets. Isn’t that right, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy nodded as she swallowed a bite of her umekyu. “I won two tickets in a radio contest, so I invited Rarity to come with me.”
“Was it any good?” Sunset asked, having caught word of the high praise the musical was getting.
Rarity’s face positively lit up. “Oh, it was marvellous! Truly a spectacle worthy of all the acclaim!” Stirring her miso soup, she scooped up a spoonful and brought it to her lips, wiping her face with her napkin afterwards. “We were a bit hungry after the show, so we popped in here for a quick bite. Which brings us to our next area of discussion.”
Both Rarity and Fluttershy turned to look at Sunset, though Sunset couldn’t help feeling like she was being scrutinized, sighing as she placed her hair tie on the table in front of her. “Yeah, yeah. I know I said I would explain everything, but can you promise not to tell the others first?”
“Why?” Rarity asked, “Working as a waitress isn’t something to be embarrassed about.”
“You say that, but I just know Dash’ll have a field day if she ever saw me wearing this.”
Rarity took a moment to consider this, already picturing Rainbow’s reaction. “Fair enough. We’ll keep this between us.” Looking to Fluttershy, she nodded in agreement as well. “With that settled, I suppose the obvious question is how you ended up working as a waitress in a sushi bar in the first place?”
Sunset tapped her chin in thought. “It’s kind of a long story, actually.”
“You’re not having trouble paying rent, are you?” Fluttershy interjected, “Because if you are, we could—“
Sunset held up a hand to stop Fluttershy. “I know where this is going, and I’m going to stop you there. I’ve got more than enough saved up from what I brought with me from Equestria to afford rent, and, if I ever needed more, I’m sure I could ask Princess Twilight for a loan. I promise I’m not hurting for money. Well… not anymore, anyway.”
“I’m sorry, ‘not anymore’?” Rarity inquired, glaring in Sunset’s direction. “Sunset—“
“I’m getting there, give me a minute!” Blowing a lock of hair out her eyes, Sunset reclined back in her seat before speaking. “So, you remember a while back when my bike broke down?”
“That was the week you had to take the bus to school, right?” Fluttershy replied, remembering how grumpy Sunset had been that week.
“Yep. Took me a few days to get it fixed, though the part I needed was a bit more expensive than I would have liked. Had to dig into my savings to afford it, unfortunately, which threw a wrench into my finances for a while.”
“You could have asked me,” Rarity suggested, “I would have happily chipped in some money.”
“I know, Rarity, but you girls have already done so much for me that asking for money to fix my bike felt like too much to ask.”
“I wouldn’t have minded.”
“But I would have,” Sunset replied, the pride in her voice shutting down any further arguments. “Besides, I’ve been living here for long enough, figured it was about time to contribute back in some way and start looking for a job. I mean, how hard could it be?”
Rarity eyed Sunset, a mischievous smirk on her face and a glint in her eyes. “Bit harder than you thought, I’d wager.”
Weakly chuckling, Sunset rubbed the back of her neck. “Yeeaahh… it was. I did a few odd jobs here and there, until eventually I stumbled across this place. They were looking for a new waitress, and I was just the person to fill that role. The rest is history, I suppose.”
“And the fact that they serve fish doesn’t bother you?” Rarity asked.
Confusion passed across Sunset’s face at Rarity’s question, lost as to what Rarity was implying. “No… Why would it?”
“Well, I just figured, given the world you and Princess Twilight come from, that preparing or eating meat of any kind wouldn’t sit well with your particular sensibilities.”
Without saying a word, Sunset reached over and plucked a slice of sashimi off Fluttershy’s plate and popped it into her mouth. “It’s just fish, Rarity,” She said in-between bites. “Granted, seafood is more of a pegasus thing, but I’ve never had a problem with it personally.”
“Oh…” Rarity face fell, thoroughly embarrassed by her rude assumption. “Forgive me, I just assumed—”
“Nah, it’s fine,” Sunset said, swallowing her pilfered sashimi before adding, “Barbeques still make me nauseous though.”
“Duly noted.”
“I’m confused,” Fluttershy spoke up, setting her sushi trays aside. “That was months ago, wasn’t it? If you were just trying to get your bike fixed, how come you’re still working here?”
“Because, believe it or not, I like working here. I mean, it’s not perfect and there are the occasion jerks and drunkards from time to time, but the staff here are really nice, as are most of the regulars. Plus, it’s nice having some disposable income for a change. The uniforms aren’t too bad either, although…” Propping up her legs, Sunset winced as she rubbed her sore ankles. “… I could do without the wooden sandals, honestly.”
“I’ll say!” Rarity exclaimed, sounding almost offended. “I mean, socks with sandals? Really?”
Sunset and Fluttershy exchanged glances, before bursting out laughing, Rarity joining in as well after a moment.
