Another day had passed, and the two of the three fillies were busy with their newly-assigned work. Rarity was meanwhile going over some of the important details about running the shop with Sweetie Belle. Shortly after she was done teaching her little sister, the doorbell rang again.
“Oh, that must be the customer I told you of, Sweetie darling!” Rarity said, before she then quickly went and opened the door, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique!” she said, reciting her slogan as she greeted two mares, letting them in. Sweetie Belle, from a bit further away, was spying from between some of the clothes racks. As she looked for the guest, she only saw Cheerilee at first. Is Cheerilee the special customer? She’s gonna get married? Sweetie asked herself quietly. She was absolutely not expecting to see her teacher again during the weekend. Sweetie Belle hid even more behind the clothing, not feeling comfortable even being in the same room with her teacher right then.
A second voice, one unknown to Sweetie Belle - sounding like Cheerilee but a bit deeper and gruffer - then started speaking. “So, you are Rarity? My sister told me a lot about you, and that it's well known that you make the best clothes in all of Equestria.”
Sweetie Belle had no idea who this was, taking a peek from afar to see another mare, and noticing she looked identical to her teacher, except for her mane-style and voice. She never knew her teacher was a twin!
“Ah, yes, I forgot to make introductions. Rarity, this is my twin sister, Cherry Blossom.”
Cherry Blossom grunted a greeting.
“Pleased to meet you, miss…well, soon to be missus. As for your earlier statement, well, I suppose that could be true. My fashion is indeed high-quality, and is known and worn throughout Equestria. Anyways, shall I make us some tea? This could take a while.” Rarity offered as she slowly trotted ahead, waiting for the others to follow her into her workshop.
“Tea sounds delightful, the blend you made yesterday was delicious! Perhaps some more of that, please?” Cheerilee said, licking her lips subtly.
Cherry Blossom, however, gave a soft huff. “Cherry, you know I’m not a big fan of tea.”
“Is that so?” Rarity asked. “I have a few more drinks in store, should you prefer something else. Please, be my guest and don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Got any coffee?” Cherry Blossom asked, getting a nod from her host.
“Of course! Let me just go get some coffee brewing for you, and some tea for Cheerilee and myself, and then we’ll head upstairs into my workshop and we’ll work on making that fabulous dress you want for your wedding! Please, head on in, I’ll catch up with our drinks. It’s just right over there.” Rarity, meanwhile, after starting the drinks, seeked out Sweetie Belle. “Very well, Sweetie, you are now in charge of the shop. Be polite to customers, remember to say the slogan in greeting, and don’t forget to give exact change,” Rarity said to her filly sister, getting a nod from her, “and don’t forget: get me only if there is an emergency.”
“Of course, Rarity!” Sweetie said, before hearing the kettle whistle, and her sister went to tend to it.
As Rarity and the two twins were in the workshop, Sweetie Belle meanwhile took care of the boutique quite well. It was a rather slow day, though she made a few sales. Every time she did sell something, she expectantly looked at her flank, always hoping that she was going to see that she had gained her cutie mark; earned that which her friends and she so much desired, but was left with disappointment every single time she saw her blank flank.
As a customer showed up, Sweetie was trying to do her best at this job despite the disappointment of not yet getting her mark. “Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and mag-noo-feek! How may I help you?” Sweetie asked the couple who had entered the shop.
The mare and stallion were quite surprised by the very young filly, almost a bit startled at the sudden greeting as they looked down at Sweetie Belle. “Aren’t you a bit young to work alone?” The mare asked, getting a light shake of the head from Sweetie.
“Well yes, but it’s my sister’s shop, and she needed someone to help her out for a while.”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Yes, she’s right in the back, so I’m not alone here or anything. So…did you need any help? Are you looking for something in particular?”
The couple looked at each other, clearly thinking, before the stallion shook his head. “No, not right now. We just want to have a look around first.”
“OK, just ask me if you have any questions!” Sweetie Belle chirped, though feeling a touch disappointed, as she didn’t feel like she was doing much to help them.
After a while of nothing much happening, except for Sweetie Belle sitting at the cash register, observing the couple out of boredom, it was then that they both came to a halt. They were both looking at the green dress that Rarity had been particularly inspired to make when she had seen Cheerilee.
The customers waved Sweetie Belle over, and she quickly jumped up with a smile on her face. Finally, something to do! she thought as she approached the couple again.
“This unique piece looks wonderful, but the price is quite high at five hundred bits! We wanted to know what this is made of, as the material feels so soft! Surely there is a reason for this high price.” the mare asked, looking expectantly at Sweetie Belle.
Sweetie, who actually didn’t know, felt put on the spot by the question. Not wanting to bother her sister, who specifically asked her to run the store, and to not be bothered, she couldn’t just let such a big potential transaction slip. Ponies that showed interest in something like that likely had bits to spend, and that would put such a good amount of money into her sister’s earnings.
Sweetie Belle stuttered as she looked inside on a tag on the dress, which usually held notes about the gowns’ fabrics and other contents, but all that was there this time was the date of its creation : “I… I actually don’t know, I’m sorry. My sister made it just yesterday, and what it’s made of is not fully noted.”
“Oh, that’s too bad. We were considering buying this, but don’t want to if we don’t even know what it’s made of! I only get my darling here the very best, after all,” The stallion said, before heading towards the door and adding as an afterthought, “Oh, and thank you for your time.”
Sweetie Belle, seeing such a high-profile sale walking out the door, quickly decided to get her sister anyways. “Wait! I can get my sister! She understands that the customer always comes first!” The couple nodded and looked around a little longer to pass the time.
As she headed to the back room, Sweetie Belle couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous.”I hope she won’t be mad,” she whispered to herself, before taking a deep breath and knocking at the door of the workshop.
Almost instantly, she heard a rather friendly ‘come in’ inviting her into the room.
Sweetie Belle took a quick glance into the room in silence at Cherry Blossom, who was half-dressed in something white. It looked rather awkward and quite incomplete, but of course that was only because the dress wasn’t done yet. Then she looked at Cheerilee, her teacher, and it still made her feel slightly uncomfortable, her teacher being at her home. Again.
After a short moment of silence, Rarity quickly broke it as all three stared at Sweetie Belle. “What is it, my dear?” she asked, though there was no edge to her tone that Sweetie was expecting.
“There are two customers who wanted to know something about a dress, but some information is missing on the tag.” Sweetie Belle explained.
Rarity got up from her chair, then looked at the twin sisters. “Please excuse me for a minute, then I will also be back with some more tea.”
“More coffee for me!” Cherry Blossom quickly threw in, then, after a glare from Cheerilee, added a little quieter, “please, if that’s OK….”
“Of course. I’ll be right back.”
As Rarity and Sweetie Belle were on the way to the showroom, Rarity asked Sweetie Belle to make the tea and coffee, while meanwhile she was on her way to the customers.
As she arrived at the showroom, Rarity had a quick look around, but nopony was to be seen immediately. She could, however, hear two ponies’ voices coming from behind a display.
‘That must be them,’ Rarity thought, then went towards the both of them. “Hello, I’m Rarity. I was told that you had a question about one of my dresses. How may I help you?” She kept her tone very friendly, even though she was indeed slightly annoyed at the disturbance. She would’ve much prefered to stay upstairs focusing on the wedding dress.
“Yes, so we’re interested in this green dress,” The stallion replied, pointing to the dress in question, “It would look great on my wife at an event we shall soon attend. We were wondering what it is made of?”
Rarity took a look at her work, the dress that she had internally decided, although she couldn’t quite admit it, she wanted to gift to Cheerilee now.
“Oh, oh that one. I’m very sorry, it’s not up for sale.” Rarity replied, almost too quickly.
The mare picked up the tag, which very clearly displayed ‘500B’ on it. “But then, why does it have a price tag on it?”
Rarity quickly tried to find an excuse: “That was a preliminary price. I forgot to take it down. I wanted to rework it a little bit because I wasn’t entirely happy with it.”
“But, it looks great right now!” the mare said, sounding a bit whiny.
“I said, it’s not for sale, I’m sorry.”
“But I want it!”
Rarity felt rather annoyed by the attitude of the mare, who was rather acting like a petulant, spoiled filly at this point. To the surprise of Sweetie Belle, who could hear the conversation as she was bringing the drinks to the workshop, she heard Rarity almost shout at the couple. “It’s not for sale! Please choose something else!”
The couple were both clearly shocked by the sudden outburst. “Well, if that’s how you treat your customers, we won’t purchase anything, and shan’t be back!” The stallion said, consoling his clearly-upset mare, before they both shortly after left.
Sweetie Belle, who came back from bringing the other two their drinks, saw as Rarity brought the now-folded dress back to the workshop with her, which Sweetie gave a confused look at, but decided she’d rather not ask about it right now. Not after hearing Rarity shout like that, and at potential customers nonetheless.
As the day had passed and evening was nearing, the sun lowering in the horizon and casting an pink-orange hue on all the beautiful fashion pieces in the shop, Sweetie Belle closed up the shop and went to her room, her ‘punishment’ fulfilled.
Rarity shortly after led her visitors to the showroom, both of them looking quite happy, with Cherry toating a rather large dress box on her back. As she opened the front door, and Cherry and Cheerilee were about to leave, Rarity stopped Cheerilee. “Would you mind staying for a bit? I would like to talk to you about something.” She asked, getting a nod from whom she was inquiring.
Cheerilee tilted her head slightly at the question, though. “May I ask what about?” Cheerilee asked, then turned around to her sister.
Without even waiting for the question, Cherry shrugged. “It’s okay, I can find home alone. Don’t be too long, I’m gonna get dinner started. Daisy sandwiches sound good?”
Cheerilee nodded to her sister, then went back inside with Rarity.