It was at this point in time when people had begun to arrive. Rainbow Dash had moved to a register and was helping customers check out. She was a little exhausted from the previous night, not to mention bored. After a few hours of scanning items Thunderlane had walked up to her.
"Hey, time to switch places. My turn on register."
"Good, I don't think I could've lasted much longer before falling asleep." she responded.
"Alright, see you next shift." Thunderlane replied. Rainbow decided to walk around and see if anyone needed help. I mean, it was her job to help customers when they needed it. But, it looked like everyone was fine. Every once in a while she'd walk up to a customer to see if they needed to be assisted. Most of them would politely decline, but of course you always have a couple crazy people when you work in retail. At this moment Rainbow Dash heard the little bell go off that signified someone had walked in the store. She made her way to the entrance fairly quickly to see if they needed help in finding anything. A group of six girls was what she saw when she got there; she recognized them immediately.
"Hey, guys." Rainbow Dash said happily. She was glad that there was someone to talk to. She was starting to lose her composer over her boredom.
"Hey Rainbow." said Twilight.
"RAINBOW DASH!" yelled Pinkie Pie as she jumped almost on top of her. She winced as Pinkie always had a way of making hugs painful. Even if she didn't mean to it didn't make it hurt any less.
"Hey Pinkie..." Rainbow said.
"Sorry, too tight again?" Pinkie asked as she let go.
"Uh, a little." Rainbow replied.
"Anyway, how're you doing?" Sunset asked.
"Uh, you know. Same as usual I guess." Rainbow replied.
"Anything interesting happen?" Rarity asked.
"Well, uh...the manager took food from the store and ate it." Rainbow recounted her day.
"What?" Applejack asked confused.
"I mean, he literally took food off the shelves, opened it, and began eating it in the middle of the store." Rainbow said again.
"Who does that?" Twilight said.
"Someone with no boundaries." Pinkie said.
"Did you say anything to him?" Fluttershy asked.
"I mean, yeah but there wasn't a whole lot I could do." Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, I guess not." Sunset said.
"What'd you say to him?" Applejack asked.
"I told him that we were opening soon and people who are actually willing to pay for the food will be arriving. So, he shouldn't eat it."
"What'd he say?" Rarity asked.
"He told me that his dad is the owner of the store and the owner of all the food inside the store. So he can eat whatever he wants. And then told me to get back to work." Rainbow said.
"That sucks." Twilight said.
"Yeah I mean, the annoying part is, is that he's kinda right. Sure his dad owns the place, but if he was caught doing that in front of the owner it would not look good for him. Maybe he owns it, but I know his dad would want real customers paying for stuff than his kid coming in and eating it all for free. He's an adult for crying out loud! He should have no problem paying for a dollars worth of food!"
"Well, darling couldn't you just talk to your boss. I'm sure if you say something he'll put a stop to it." Rarity said.
"That's the thing. He never believes any of it unless he sees it. He won't even look at the security footage!" Rainbow said.
"That's just stupid. If he knows what his son is like, why does he continuously deny it whenever someone says there's an issue with him?" Twilight said.
"I think it's because he doesn't want to believe how much his son sucks, so he pretends that he's great. Until, that is, he sees him do something stupid." Rainbow replied quite frankly.
"Yeah..." Twilight said.
"Anyway, how are you guys?" Rainbow asked.
"Well, we've all been hanging out all day. So I'd say pretty good." Sunset said.
"How was the rest of the sleepover last night?" Rainbow asked.
"IT WAS GREAT! WE PLAYED GAMES, AND WATCHED MOVIES, AND ATE POPCORN AND-" Pinkie said enthusiastically.
"Sounds like you guys had fun." Rainbow said cutting off Pinkie.
"YEAH IT WAS AWESOME!" Pinkie said.
"It was too bad you had to leave early though." Fluttershy said.
"Sorry about that. I completely forgot to clear my schedule this weekend." she said with a yawn.
"No worries, it happens to the best of us darling." Rarity said.
"You look pretty tired, how are still awake?" Twilight asked.
"Uh, not even I can answer that question." Rainbow said.
"What time did you go to bed at?" asked Sunset Shimmer.
"About 10:30-ish." she replied.
"I mean it's not, that late, but you still probably should have gone to bed earlier." said Sunset.
"I know, I just get lost in thought at night. 'Can't help it." Rainbow replied.
"Thinkin' about what?" Applejack asked.
"I dunno. It's usually sort of, just random." she wasn't completely lying, it was true. She thought about a lot of different things. But most of the time, she was thinking about Soarin. She couldn't seem to get him out of her head no matter how hard she tried. Still she wasn't going to admit it to herself, or anyone for that matter, that she was crushing on him.
"You could try to get to sleep earlier then you normally do, and by the time you get all your thoughts out you'll probably find it easier to fall asleep." said Fluttershy.
"Thanks Fluttershy, I'll keep that in mind." Rainbow Dash replied. Then her manager walked out of the back room toward the water fountain.
"Here look, that's the manager." Rainbow said pointing in his direction.
"He looks absolutely dreadful! Did he actually show up for work like that?" Rarity asked surprised.
"Yep." Rainbow Dash replied.
"He's a complete mess." Sunset Shimmer commented.
"Nothing out of the ordinary." Rainbow Dash replied. A minute or two later Rainbow noticed the little bell go off again. Meaning someone had entered the store. She was close enough to the entrance to see it was Soarin. She tried to ignore him, but found she was struggling to look away. She silently hoped that no one in their circle had noticed and tried to pay attention to her friends conversation. She was focusing so much on looking like she wasn't staring at him; she forgot her friends were there for a second. That is, until she realized they were the ones staring at her.
"Rainbow Dash!" Applejack said a bit loudly.
"What?" Rainbow responded confused.
"You, okay?" Applejack asked her.
"Of course, why?" Rainbow Dash said.
"Uh, you kinda spaced out a second there." Applejack replied.
"Oh, uh did I? Sorry...this is what I'm talking about. I get lost in thought easily." Rainbow said trying to brush it off. Her friends noticed there was something else she wasn't telling them, but choose to ignore it in the hopes that she would tell them herself.
"Anyway, what'd think we should do tonight?" Sunset Shimmer said.
"Uh, I don't know. We could play some board games." Rainbow suggested.
"That sounds like fun." Fluttershy said.
"Yeah, alright." Twilight said.
"So it's settled." Rarity said.
"I'm sure we'll come up with more to do later tonight." Applejack said.
"Yeah." They all agreed. Rainbow began to notice Soarin was getting closer to them and was beginning to feel the nerves as he inched closer. She thought she was going to explode.
"Rainbow are feeling okay? You don't look so good." Fluttershy said.
"I'm great." she said. She was still trying to pretend like she wasn't bothered by him being so close.
"You sure sugarcube? You're startin' to look like ghost you're gettin' so pale." Applejack said plainly.
"Of course. You don't have anything to worry about." Rainbow Dash reassured them. From behind her, her manager walked up and tapped on her shoulder.
"Hey, I need you to go help that customer over there." he said dully. Her heart sank as she looked over at Soarin who just gave her the sweetest smile she had ever seen. It was adorable, but would she ever admit that? Of course not.
"Uh, sure thing." she responded. "I'll be right back guys." As she walked closer to him she felt her knees begin to shake. Just play it cool Dash. She told herself.