Boring. That's what today was. Applejack, while always a hard-worker, now found herself completely at a loss on what to do right now. Currently, she was at her usual job, at the fruit drink stand in the mall, on what, unfortunately, was turning out to be a very slow day for her. Sighing, she leaned over the counter, looking left, then right, then left again. Barely anybody was around right now. A few people here and there, but nowhere near the amount that she would want when she was working. Frustration was as clear as day on her face, and in this moment of complete inactivity, she brushed down her uniform, her mild dislike for it creeping into her expression as she did so. Turning, she looked over to the drinks she'd already prepared, all chilling in the stand's fridge nearby. The fruit was all cut, and everywhere here, she could see nothing that required her attention. All she needed was the customers, which, unfortunately, she wasn't getting.
"Ugh! Jus' one...jus' one and ah'd be happy!"
"Yeah, tell me about it."
Her eyes widening at the sound of the unexpected voice prompted Applejack's head to snap in its direction. There, standing right in front of her, was Sonata, with one hand behind her back as she gave a wave to her farmer friend.
"Hey, Applejack!"
Seeing her, Applejack cracked a smile and let out a brief chuckle.
"Hey there, Nata. You doin' okay?"
Walking to the counter, the youngest Siren sister nodded, still smiling.
"Yep. Got a free day today, so I figured I'd come over. How's work?"
Applejack's own smiled faded, and she folded her arms as she looked out to the rest of the mall.
"Not so good. Ain't seen one customer today!"
Sonata too looked out, seeing that her friend had the right of it. The place was little better than a ghost town right now, prompting Sonata to consider her companion's position.
"Well...maybe you could liven things up while you wait?"
Applejack let out a laugh, albeit a dry one, and shook her head.
"Appreciate the suggestion, Nata, but that won't do me much good. Tried it once. Tried doin' mah work with a bit more...well...flair."
Sonata raised an eyebrow.
"Isn't that something Rarity would say?"
Applejack frowned, pointing to her.
"Don't ever tell her ah said that!"
Sonata raised both hands in a defensive manner.
"Okay! Okay! Got it!"
Soon after, Applejack let out a long sigh.
Anyway...did it a few more times...but it jus' got dull again. Sure, people liked what ah did at the time, but, time moves on, they say. An’ here ah am again. An’ havin' no customers sure don't help me much."
The youngest Siren considered those words, once more looking around. As before, the level of activity in the mall today was appalling, with the only real sound being that of a slight breeze coming in from whatever door was open somewhere. If the two girls had actually seen a genuine piece of tumbleweed bouncing around at this very moment, it would have summed up the mood quite nicely. Thinking hard on this, Sonata broke out into a smile, snapping her fingers and looking back to Applejack with excitement.
"Oh! You know what you need?"
Applejack, who had taken to making a glass of water for herself, shook her head.
"No," she replied, starting to gulp the water down.
Sonata's smile widened.
"You need to get more customers with some sex appeal!"
As one would expect, this prompted Applejack's eyes to widen to the size of dinner plates, and she spurted out her water, even to the point of nearly choking on it. After catching her breath again, she looked once more to Sonata, with clear disbelief on her face. Sonata, for her part, just seemed confused by this.
"...What?"
Applejack frowned, letting out a grunt of annoyance, as well as grabbing a nearby cloth to wipe away the water she'd sprayed onto the counter.
"Nata, ah...ah can't do that!"
Folding her arms, Sonata frowned slightly.
"Why not? Everybody else does it. Shampoo commercials, clothes lines, heck, I think I even saw someone try to sell cars with it once."
Applejack rolled her eyes a little.
"Ah know that! It's just...not the kind of thing ya do with food an' drink, that's all. Besides..."
She glanced around.
"...there's barely anyone here ta see that kinda stuff anyway."
Again, Sonata turned around, looking to see that, as before, there was indeed few around to really notice anything they did here. But, after a few moments of silence, her smile returned, and she looked over to Applejack.
"Do you have any kind of signs here?"
Though confused, Applejack looked down to just behind her counter.
"Uh...yeah, here."
Reaching down, she pulled up a board of some kind, upon which were, in big bold letters, the name of the stand. Sonata, smiling to her, took the board from her with one hand, then looked out to the rest of the mall. At first, Applejack had no idea what her friend was doing, then, in a similar move to earlier, widened her eyes when she saw what Sonata was doing. For with her one free hand, Sonata had actually started to unbutton a few of the top buttons of her outer shirt, not going overboard, but exposing just enough of the skin of the top of her chest to give the barest glimpse of her cleavage. After this, she held up the sign as high as she could, before speaking out loudly.
"Come one, come all! Try our new fruity drinks! We guarantee..."
The, she gained a sultry look, speaking in a lower tone than before.
"...they're delicious!"
Naturally, Applejack slapped her forehead with frustration.
"Sonata...that ain't gonna work!"
"I'll take one!"
Slowly, Applejack lowered her hand.
"...What?"
Her ears had not been deceiving her, as a young man, maybe a few years older than her, was now at her counter, offering her a few coins.
"That one there with the strawberries looks good."
Applejack blinked, glancing to Sonata briefly, who in turn gave her a thumbs up, before looking back to her customer.
"Er...sure?"
She did as asked, getting the requested drink from out of the fridge, then handing it to the boy in front of her, taking his money and offering him an appreciative smile as he walked off, slurping it down as he did so. Applejack gave another slow blink, then looked back to Sonata, who looked at her with slight cockiness as she placed a hand on her hip.
"Told ya."
Applejack grumbled, silently gesturing to have her board back, which Sonata gladly did. Putting it back behind the counter, Applejack sighed.
"Than you fer the help, Nata, but ah don' need that kinda help."
Sonata, who was in no way put off or offended at that, merely shrugged her shoulders.
"Meh. Whatever makes you happy."
Then, her eyes snapped open.
"Oh! I just remembered! I gotta go and meet my sisters! We're going out to lunch today!"
And with that, she bolted off away from the stand, waving to Applejack in the process.
"Bye!"
Applejack waved back, then let out another long exhale, standing beside her counter and, as she'd done so many times today, looked out to see a virtually empty mall before her. She frowned, them, in this moment of solitude, looked down to the board Sonata had been holding up. She stared at it for a time, then looked around, making sure nobody was looking at her. Slowly, her eyes drifted to her own outfit, and, more specifically, the buttons at the top of her shirt. Hesitation gripped her as she reached for the top one, only for her to suddenly realise what she was doing, as she shook her head violently.
"Nope! Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!"
Grunting with irritation, she looked in the direction her friend had just run off to.
"Darn you and yer sexiness, Sonata..."
Then, she sighed.
"...said nobody ever."
