Rarity was sitting near her kitchen table while reading the latest issue of the Saddle Row Review. It was one of Rarity's daily activities to read fashion articles so she is updated with the latest fashion trends all over Equestria.
The articles were about the usual subjects: the opening of new boutiques, presentation of new clothing lines, and advertisements for perfumes or mane-care products. It wasn't until Rarity noticed some particular reviews were about Rarity For You. Rarity read the reviews to find out the contents were not praises. They were about how terrible the service was as it was provided by three rude pegasus. Rarity understood that the reviewers meant Fluttershy when she used her characters to run Rarity's boutique. What's worse was that the reviewers wrote about how unsure they were about coming back to Rarity For You if the owner would allow such employees to work in her boutique.
"What!" Rarity cried out. She couldn't believe that ponies would say such things just because of one employee. She placed the newspaper down to take a sip of tea to calm herself. She needed time to process as there could be a chance of decrease in her business.
There would be no telling how many customers will come into Rarity For You after what Flutterhsy did. Rarity wasn't sure how she will have to explain to her landlord that she will be running late on her boutique's rent due to lack of profit. It was bad enough there was a major lack of customers from the Friendship Journal's publication. Fluttershy might have made things worse for Rarity as the decrease of customers continues, especially in Rarity For You.
It was a good thing Rarity terminated Fluttershy's Manehattan personas before Rarity For You faced major business decline. Fluttershy's realization of her mistakes didn't stop from word getting out about the terrible service she provided to those customers. It was worse as the reviewers' opinions were written so every pony could read about it.
'To be fair,' Rarity thought, 'I did chose a friend who had little to no fashion knowledge what so ever' She recalled when Fluttershy showed that poorly knitted tea cosy. That should've been a sign that Fluttershy was lacking in the fashion department. Rarity should've taught Fluttershy more about fashion and running a boutique, but how could she cram years experience and knowledge into her shy friend?
Hiring more employees to run Rarity For You would've been a better solution. It would also mean wasting lots of bits that Rarity didn't have in a short time.
Rarity understood that most of her friends had their occupations to deal with. Coco Pommel could've been a great candidate as she was a fashion expert and was nearby. Coco was too busy making new costumes for Bridle Way. Spike was also busy helping Twilight with her curriculum. Rarity remembered how easy it was when Spike would come to her aid with no questions asked. However, she knew that Spike's first priority was to assist Twilight.
After finishing up her tea, Rarity went upstairs to continue her progress on new dresses. She noticed one mannequin was wearing The Warrior of Inner Strength dress. It was a reminder of how Fluttershy had inner strengths that she was able to reveal when she needed to.
'Too bad it didn't make it to the runway.' Rarity thought. Rarity felt some regrets for leaving the fashion show early. Her friends will always be her top priority if any of them face a problem. But she could've gained more opportunities from all the attention of her fashion creations if it wasn't for Fluttershy.
'No!' Rarity shook her head. 'I shouldn't point my hooves at my dear friend for making some mistakes.'
Rarity knew Fluttershy wouldn't do anything to harm others. There were some occasions where Fluttershy did hurt Rarity without realizing it. One example was when Photo Finish chose Fluttershy to be a model and Rarity grew jealous of the pegasus's increasing popularity. Fluttershy only did the modeling because she was encouraged by Rarity to do so. Another time was when Fluttershy started taking those seminars from Iron Will and it made her take the assertiveness too far. Rarity felt stung from all of those hurtful insults Fluttershy made on her. After all of those incidents, Fluttershy was able to learn her lessons from those experiences and apologized to Rarity.
Applejack was another friend who unintentionally hurt Rarity. One time was when Rarity chose Applejack as a judge for the Ponyville fashion contest. All Applejack did was give harsh honesty to the contestants and it resulted of the contestants quitting along with the other judges. Rarity felt upset as the entire fashion show was ruined because of Applejack. After Applejack realized her mistake, she not only apologized to Rarity; she also took measures to make sure the fashion show was back on track.
Rarity wished that Fluttershy would've did something to make up for driving those customers out of Rarity For You. Unfortunately, there was no way to get rid of the reviews or bring back those customers.
Rarity grew worried about how was she going to talk to Fluttershy after reading the reviews. Rarity feared she might decrease her spa appointments with Fluttershy or any of their tea time together.
A few knocks interrupted Rarity from her train of thoughts. She went downstairs to open the front door. It revealed Fluttershy standing outside.
"Fluttershy, what are you doing here?" Rarity asked.
"I came to pick you up for our daily spa appointment." Fluttershy replied.
Rarity completely forgot about her weekly spa day with Fluttershy. It was a daily routine to spend time with Fluttershy at the spa. But now it felt hard for Rarity to stay calm as the pony who caused those bad reviews was standing near the front door.
"I just need to gather my things before we leave." Rarity said with a fake smile. "Would you like to come in?"
"Oh, thank you Rarity!" Fluttershy said as she walked inside. Rarity did her best to avoid as less eye contact with Fluttershy as possible. The view of Fluttershy reminded Rarity of those rude characters who caused Rarity For You to have less customers. Rarity used her magic to retrieve her bag of bits.
"Umm, Rarity." Fluttershy said with concern. "Are you alright?"
Even Fluttershy's voice angered Rarity as she could almost hear it being more snobby, brooding, or sassy. Rarity just laughed nervously. "I'm fine, just been having some stress lately."
"If you need to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." Fluttershy assured.
Soon, it felt too much for Rarity to contain her anger anymore. "You did this," Rarity hissed.
Fluttershy became confused for not hearing what Rarity said. "I'm sorry, what did you sa-"
"YOU DID THIS!" Rarity snapped. "Rarity For You is having less business because of your ridiculous characters! I feel like this was all my fault because I thought you were capable of running a boutique! Of all of the ponies that were available, I ended up with you! I should've chosen Boulder to watch over the boutique! Maybe he wouldn't have cause so many customers to leave the boutique! Rarity For You could end up being out of business because of you!" Rarity panted from all of her yelling. There was a moment of long silence before Rarity realized she made a terrible mistake. She saw Fluttershy sitting on the ground with tears pouring out of her eyes.
Fluttershy completely collapsed on the floor as she bawled. "I'm so sorry!" Fluttershy cried. "I didn't mean to ruin your business!"
Rarity's anger changed into heavy guilt as she saw Fluttershy crying. It wasn't long till tears were forming in Rarity's eyes. "I'm sorry! I shouldn't have taken my anger out on you!" It wasn't long till Rarity and Fluttershy cried and hugged each other. Their tears and hugs were signs that they forgive each other and hope their friendship will continue on.
