Delicious scents wafted out of Sugarcube Corner and into the streets of Ponyville, enchanting any pony who came by - except for one. Rarity and Sweetie Belle cantered past the open door, but only one of them stopped to salivate.
“I’m kinda hungry...”
“We can eat something back at the boutique. Now come along, Sweetie Belle.”
“But Rarity-”
“I’m sorry dear, but I’m afraid we just can’t associate with that mare anymore.”
“That mare?”
“Pinkie needs to learn to respect fashion a bit more. And to be more wary of leering stallions.”
“And Applejack needs to learn to be less stubborn, and you need to learn to be less of a per...perf... perfectionist.”
“Sweetie!”
“I just mean that nopony is perfect. Why is Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie a bad thing?”
“Yes, well, one can only handle so much of her.”
“You two are supposed to be friends!”
Rarity turned up her nose. “Friends don’t do... friends don’t do what she did,” she huffed.
Sweetie stared longingly into the bakery, her nose twitching, before turning back to her sister. “What if I only talk to the Cakes?”
Rarity sighed. “I’m going back to the boutique. You can do whatever you like - just be back before nightfall.”
Sweetie smiled and hugged her sister. “I will.”
Rarity smiled back before noticing Pinkie bouncing around on the other side of the doorway. She scowled and stormed off.
A knock at the door momentarily drew Rarity’s attention away from the box in front of her. “Just a minute,” she chimed in a sing-song voice. She folded and placed the last blazer before sealing the package, making a mental note to come back later as she trotted out of the room. With a flash of her horn, she opened the front door of the boutique to find Pinkie bouncing up and down.
“Yes? I’m a bit busy...”
“Rarity! I just had the best idea!”
Rarity raised an eyebrow and stepped aside.
Pinkie hopped in and the door clicked shut behind her. “You know how Gummy doesn’t have any teeth? Well I was thinking that-”
“This sounds fascinating, I mean that, but I’m afraid it will have to wait a little bit. I need to finish getting the business line ready to go before a new client shows up. He’s supposed to be here quite soon.”
“That’s okay. I can wait, or maybe I could even help!”
Rarity gave a nervous laugh. “I mean no offense, but I’m not certain you’re capable of assisting me with anything I’m doing today.”
Pinkie frowned. There was another knock at the door.
“I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. Wait, maybe I would. If I were you that would mean that I was Rarity’s sister, and if my sister was super mad at me and didn’t want to be in the same building as me but we lived in the same building it’d be really hard to avoid fighting, and fighting is almost the opposite of partying because instead of laughing there’s yelling and instead of smiling there’s frowning and instead of hugging there’s kicking. Okay, so I might worry about it if I were you, but I’m not you so I don’t have to. And you are you and your sister isn’t mad at you so you don’t have to worry about it and I’m pretty sure the only way I would be you is if somepony messed up a spell really bad, but that hardly ever happens so you shouldn’t worry about it.”
Sweetie stared blankly and blinked twice. “Um... yes?”
“Yes what?”
“Um...”
“Here, cupcakes make everything better. This one’s blueberry,” Pinkie said, shoving a huge fluffy treat at the confused filly. “Rarity’ll come around. Sooner or later she’ll realize it was actually pretty funny. Then she’ll come to apologize to me and realize I’ve been trying to make it up to her but couldn’t because she wouldn’t listen and we’ll hug.”
“Are you sure?”
“Mhmm. Positive. This kinda thing’s happened a few times before.”
“Pinkie, please! I have everything under control. And for future reference, ‘buttering up’ a pony is about complimenting them and doing them favors, not actually coating them in butter!”
“Gotcha. No more dairy products on anypony, no matter how cheesy they are.”
“He’s just being flattering. He does seem to have taken a liking to you, though, so as long as you promise to behave you can stay.”
“And when he’s done, we can talk about my brilliant idea for making Gummy six times more fabulous?”
Rarity smiled. “Of course.”
Sweetie Belle closed the door behind her. “I’m back,” she shouted.
After a brief pause and some shuffling noises, her sister’s voice answered. “Oh, Sweetie. Could you be a dear and come help me back here?”
“Are you sure you don’t want some of this cake?”
Rarity came trotting out to meet her sister. She eyed the chocolate confection suspiciously. “Some day, Pinkie will learn that you can’t buy a mare with sweets.”
“Oh, this isn’t for what happened. This is just because. She said she has something way better to make it up to you, and that pretty soon you’re going to look back on this and laugh.”
“I hardly see how it was funny,” she said with a sigh, “but I suppose I can’t stay mad at her forever. Losing a client is no big deal, and I’m sure things would eventually have turned sour even without her, but I just don’t understand how she thought she was helping me.”
“Maybe you should leave.”
Pinkie’s bottom lip quivered. “What did I do?”
“It’s not you, it’s... he likes you a little too much.”
“How is that a bad thing?”
“He doesn’t actually like you, he just likes... you’re just eye candy to him.”
Pinkie smiled. “Candy is delicious!”
Rarity groaned. “Listen, Pinkie, I don’t think he’s a particularly good stallion. He would only end up hurting you. Please, could you just go so I can finish conducting business with him before he tries to conduct business with you?”
Her smile evaporated as the quiver in her lower lip returned. “But... but my idea...”
“If it’s really that important to you, you can stay out here until I’m finished. I just really don’t think the two of you interacting can possibly end well, that’s all.”
The sun’s rays bounced brilliantly off of the jewels set in Rarity’s stunning new hat while she sat waiting. Pinkie popped up over the horizon, trotting merrily down the path. Try as she might, Rarity couldn’t summon up any ill will toward her long-time friend and instead smiled and waved. Pinkie broke into a gallop.
“Rarity! Does this mean you aren’t mad anymore?”
She hugged her dear, dear friend and smiled gently. “No, Pinkie. I’m not mad.”
“So it’s okay you lost a client?”
“His value for my business didn’t outweigh his rudeness. I don’t blame you in the slightest.”
“And it’s okay that-”
“Yes, Pinkie. Everything is fine. I’d like to hear what your idea was, if you’d still like to tell me.”
Pinkie’s face lit up. “Oh! You know how Gummy doesn’t have any teeth? And you know how you like to put gems in things because it makes them sparkly and pretty and fabulous? What if we put gems in Gummy’s mouth? Then he’d have teeth so he could chew on things properly, and he’d look great doing it!”
Rarity winced at the thought of Gummy with teeth. She shook away her discomfort, smiled, and took off her hat. She carefully pulled the small, rounded gemstones out of their sockets and placed them in her saddlebag.
“Let’s go practice dentistry.”
“I thought you’d never ask!”
“And don’t you ever come back!” Rarity shouted as she slammed the door.
Pinkie bounced in place, smiling. “Yeah, you tell him Rare-bear! Um... what exactly are you telling him?”
“Nevermind Pinkie. Even if you weren’t offended by his... advances... it’s obvious that that is a stallion with no respect for mares and it behooves any classy lady to help make the lives of such stallions as inconvenient as possible.”
“Oh. So now what?”
“Now that I’ve cut all ties with him, I’ve got some business to take care of. Oh I’m going to be so busy trying to finish everything on time. I’m afraid I won’t be able to help you with... whatever your idea was. I’m sorry. I’m going to go use the powder-room and then get back to business. You’re free to do as you like, but waiting for me would be a waste of your time. Maybe tomorrow?”
Pinkie smiled sweetly. “Aw, it’s okay Rarity. I understand.”
“I’m glad. See you later?”
Pinkie nodded and turned around as Rarity trotted away. On her way toward the door, she noticed a fun looking box on the floor of a room and decided to go take a look.
“Goodnight, Rarity.”
“Goodnight, Sweetie. I’ll see you in the morning. I have to go replace all the merchandise Pinkie destroyed. I still can’t believe she thought she was helping me. I stepped into the room, and there she was shearing all those beautiful ties with a comically oversized pair of scissors! How is cutting all my ties supposed to help me get anything done?”
Sweetie stared silently at her sister.
Rarity blinked, groaned, and slapped a hoof against her forehead.