//------------------------------// // Dinner at Rarity's // Story: You Don't Mess With The Snips // by The Invincible //------------------------------// The town of Ponyville was bathed in a golden orange by the time they returned to the town square. Snips turned to the unicorn filly and admired the way her mane still glistened as the sunlight caught it in just the perfect way. “Wow...that’s really, really amazing,” he murmured, just slightly short of breath. Sweetie Belle stopped suddenly and regarded Snips with a bashful smile. “You really did a wonderful job, Snips. I’ve been showing it off to everypony. I wouldn’t be surprised if all the mares in town wanted their manes styled by you.” “Oh, come on. You’re just saying that,” he said, a blush gathering underneath his deep brown eyes. “I mean it. You’re really that good, Snips,” she said, circling around him playfully. “I feel all this energy and spirit building inside me that I didn’t have before, and I think it’s thanks to you and your amazing talents.” The blue colt gave her a warm smile as they took off again. After another few minutes of walking, they made it back to the Boutique. Sweetie Belle opened the door and ushered Snips inside. The place had been cleaned, and the work that the shop owner had completed was carefully stored in the ample space in the back rooms. A sweet aroma--and even sweeter singing--guided them through the workroom, and through a door leading to the kitchen. They found Rarity inside, dancing about the kitchen with an impossibly gleeful look on her face. It was during one of her more elaborate twirls that she finally caught sight of them out of the corner of her eye. “Oh, Sweetie Belle! You’re back! And it’s very, very wonderful to meet you, Mr. Snips. Sweetie, would you be a dear and stir the Bologneighse?” she asked, pointing to a steaming pot on the stove. Sweetie Belle nodded and moved to the stove, suddenly realizing that there would be no way for her to reach the sauce effectively. She looked around for a second. “Oh, yes. Too high up. Just a moment, dear,” Rarity said. She turned her attention from preparing the salad to assist Sweetie Belle. Instead, what she saw was her little sister igniting her horn, and using her magic to drag a footstool from the corner up to the stove. “Oh! Well, never mind then. Very impressive, little sister.” “Thanks!” the younger sister said. She climbed up onto the stool and reached for a wooden spoon to stir the sauce. Rarity turned back to her salad, and added a few final sprinkles of Romaneo for flavor. “Okay, I think it’s just about ready. Snips, you can take a seat right over there; we’ll bring the dishes over as soon as they’re finished,” the older sister instructed, motioning to the table. “I appreciate that, but I’d really like to know if there’s anything I can do to help,” Snips offered, approaching the prep area of the kitchen. “Oh, you’re sweet, but you’re our guest tonight. Besides, everything’s nearly done already,” Rarity said with a tiny laugh. “But if you’d really like, you can grab some plates and utensils from the cabinets over there.” Snips nodded, opening the cabinets on the other side of the room. He removed three plates from the upper shelf and three forks from the lower, and dutifully set the table with three identical places. Rarity’s horn cast a light around three cloth napkins on the counter, and they lifted and twirled through the air, landing neatly in a standing position on the table like three flowing ballroom gowns. Sweetie Belle lifted the spoon to her lips and gave the Bologneighse a tactful taste. She hummed sweetly as the flavor assailed her senses. “Sweetie dear, I know it’s delicious, but you’ll have to wait for the rest of us,” Rarity chided. “Now go on and sit down. I’ll take care of the rest.” The young white filly leapt down from the stool, slightly embarrassed as she approached the table. The two young ponies smiled at each other as Rarity sent the bowl of salad over to the table. Snips grabbed hold of the tongs and began doling out the meal’s first course. As he filled each plate, Rarity checked another pot in which the pasta had been boiling, and determined that her dish was ready. She pulled a colander from another cabinet and drained the noodles in the sink. She then separated the contents into three equal portions and placed them in three bowls. The unicorn finished by ladling a generous amount of sauce onto each dish, bringing each one to the table. “Presenting for your dining pleasure, our featured dish for the evening: Hoof-pressed Tailiatelle in a Porcaballo Bologneighse. Now everypony mangia, before it gets cold!” They all lifted their forks and dug right in. Snips turned to Rarity with a thankful look as he took his first bite. His face alighted at the force of the food’s flavor, which was... “Squisito, signora! This is amazing!” he exclaimed. The colt lifted the fork to his mouth again, relishing the taste of the thick mushroom sauce cascading over the noodles hanging off his fork. Once the bite was thoroughly chewed and swallowed, he reached for a drink that he realized was not there. He looked at Rarity expectantly. “Oh my! The drinks! It completely slipped my mind!” Rarity shrieked, bursting out of her chair. “Some hostess I am! Just a moment!” Sweetie Belle released a light sigh. “All the time, Snips. All the time,” she answered the question she assumed Snips was about to ask. Rarity returned to the table with and tray and pitcher, which she poured frantically into three glasses. “Chai tea, courtesy of our dear Spike. I had a taste when I visited the library earlier today, and it was so delicious, I convinced Spike to make some for me to bring home,” she explained, finally relaxing in her seat. “You went to the library? How come?” Sweetie Belle asked with a quizzical tilt of her head. “I wanted to talk to Miss Cheerilee about Snips,” she answered. “She told me some very interesting things about his special talent.” Snips held his place, with the fork in front his mouth. He looked back and forth between the sisters with whom he was sharing the table. He wasn’t really used to this much attention, and he wasn’t sure how he should react yet. “You mean how he got his cutie mark? Snips told us that story in the park, right before we came back!” the younger sister said excitedly. “You should’ve seen him out there! He turned a tree into a statue of me, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo in our talent show outfits!” “Topiary arts, eh?” Rarity said with a little smirk in Snips’s direction. “Very interesting, Mr. Snips. You know, I’ve dabbled a little in that myself. We simply must compare notes sometime.” “Uh, sure,” Snips nodded, with an admittedly dumb look. “Oh my, I’m sorry Mr. Snips. Here we are talking right over you, the guest of honor. I’m so embarrassed,” she said, nervously brushing her hair with her hoof. “You should be the center of attention. I must thank you so much for accepting our dinner invitation. I certainly hope we didn’t keep you from any obligations at home.” The young blue colt shook his head. “No, not at all. There wasn’t any dinner waiting for me at home, anyway. Dad’s in Canterlot right now doing his stint as a palace guard, so I'm staying with a friend and his family until he gets back.” “And...what about your mother?” Rarity asked. “Well...no offense, Miss Rarity, but I’d rather not talk about that,” he set his fork down with a heavy sigh. “Oh...that was insensitive of me, I’m sorry,” Rarity gasped out in guilt. “No, no. It’s nothing like that. She just kinda took off one day. Like, disappeared. Don’t remember a lot of what happened, I was still really young. I asked Dad a couple times, but he wouldn’t tell me anything.” “That’s...awful,” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m so sorry, Snips. I never knew...” She wiped away a tear, before moving out of her seat to give him a warm hug. “It’s okay, Sweetie. Really, it isn’t that bad. I still have my Dad, and my best friend Snails. And now, I guess, you and your friends, too?” Snips asked with a tentative look. She nodded happily in response, putting an equally happy look on his face. “I meant to ask you about Snails,” Sweetie Belle said, returning to her place at the table. “What’s going on with him? Yesterday, he couldn’t even bring you the right bag from the classroom. Today, it’s like he’s some kind of snail sage or something.” Snips took another drink and wiped his mouth with the cloth napkin before responding. “Well, like I said, he’s a good guy most of the time. He has...moments sometimes where...have you ever had a friend who you wish would just stop talking?” Rarity sighed in a slightly harsh manner and nodded. “Yes, I have. But we’re mostly fine, as long as nopony mentions cherries.” “What about cher--” Snips began to ask, but Rarity quickly held up a hoof to cut him off. “The walls have ears, Mr. Snips. Let’s just redirect to some other topic.” “Sure, okay,” he said. “How about we move on to why you invited me over?” “Yes, that does seem the logical path for this conversation to take,” Rarity agreed. “The truth is, I am extremely interested in your special talent, Snips. Sweetie Belle may have already told you this, but I am absolutely smitten with her new mane-cut. And I believe that there is a very lucrative market in this town for such beauty as that. That’s why I’ve initiated a plan to expand my Carousel Boutique to include a brand new Salon, and I want you to become my star stylist!” “What?” Snips uttered in surprise. “You want me to work for you? But, I’m just a colt. I’m still going to school. I couldn’t accept a job like this!” “Dear, I assure you I’m quite flexible. I’m more than willing to work around your schedule. And youth aside, your talent is something that simply cannot be ignored,” Rarity came around to Snips’s seat and leaned herself onto his shoulders. “You have a gift, Mr. Snips. Let me help you to cultivate it. I can make you a household name all over Equestria!” “Famous, huh?” Snips thought, running his hoof through his short orange hair. “I haven’t really thought about that before. You really think I’m that good?” “Well, there’s only one way to find out,” Rarity answered. “We’ll go into my work space, where there is much more room and lighting, and we’re going to have you style my mane.” “WHAT?!” Sweetie Belle squeaked out in complete shock. “But Rarity, you never let anypony touch your mane! Not even the ponies at the spa! You always wrap it yourself!” Rarity smiled at her sister, and gently massaged her back. She would have tousled her hair a little as she usually did, but her mane was not something to tamper with at the moment. “Well, normally that’s true, darling. A mare’s mane is sacred, one of the most important parts of her body. And since you’re both still young, I’ll leave it at that.” “Like we haven’t taken a health class before,” Sweetie whispered covertly to Snips. “But as a businessmare, it is my responsibility to know what I’m selling, and the best way to do that is to experience it for myself. Don’t you agree, Mr. Snips?” she asked, regarding him with a playful flutter of her eyelashes. Snips gulped, suddenly a bit uncomfortable. “Well...I guess, if that’s what you want.” Rarity leapt from her chair with a giddy cheer. “Oh, it most certainly is, you wonderful little colt! Now then, let me clear these dishes away, and we’ll retire to the Boutique’s workspace. Sweetie, if you’d please, grab a chair and a bath towel from my storage closet. Snips, through that door over there is my vanity,” she pointed to a door across from the one from which they entered. “Help yourself to any supplies you may need. I’ll meet the two of you in just a moment.” They all split up to begin their respective jobs. Snips entered the dressing room and found a low cabinet holding a large lighted mirror. He searched the drawers and secured a number of hair clips, a comb, a pair of scissors, and a tiny squirt bottle filled with water. As he collected the supplies, the unicorn caught a glimpse of himself in Rarity’s vanity. Not being a vain pony himself, he didn’t often pause to check his appearance in mirrors. Today was different though. If the world was going to see him in a different light, then maybe he should try seeing himself differently as well. Snips set the supplies down and gave himself a smile, but frowned when he noticed he still looked a little dorky. He tried a few ‘Blue Steel’ looks, flipping his mane around in an attempt to get some sparkles to materialize, but nothing he did seemed to improve his coolness. He wasn’t dejected for too long; he realized he still had room to grow, and he knew that under Rarity’s guidance he could grow into one of the most well-known and well-liked unicorns in Equestria. That is, if he didn’t blow this job interview, as it were. “Snips?” came a voice from behind. He turned, jolted, as he saw Sweetie Belle standing in the doorway. “You were gone for a long time. Everything’s ready. You coming?” “Uh....yeah. Yeah, I’ll be right there,” the blue colt replied very breathily. He did his best to shake off his nerves and gathered up all the equipment he’d selected from the drawers. He then followed the unicorn filly into the main workroom. Rarity was already in the chair in the middle of the room, taking a very relaxed posture. She saw the two younger ponies entering the room and gave them both a calm smile. This did nothing to assuage Snips’s overall nervousness. “I have to be honest, Miss Rarity,” Snips said. “I’m not really sure I’m ready for this.” “Oh, don’t stress yourself too much, young colt,” Rarity advised calmingly. “It isn’t good for your complexion. Besides, I trust you’ll do an amazing job. And if you don’t...well, it’ll grow back, and I’ve got plenty of hats around here until it does.” “That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence,” the young blue unicorn sighed. He moved behind Rarity and noted every line and swirl in her fantastic mane. It was already beyond beautiful, and he had no idea what he could do to improve on it. The sweat began to build, and his eyes began to scan the room, as though searching for a way out. He was on the verge of fainting, when suddenly he felt something soft press against his cheek. It lingered there for a second or two before pulling away. When the shock to his system finally wore off enough for him to turn his head, he saw Sweetie Belle standing next to him with a brilliant rosy tint in her own cheeks. “I believe in you, Snips. I know you can do it,” she whispered sweetly to him. Snips looked back and forth between the two white unicorns, hoping to find some kind of clues as to whether this was a dream or not. “Did...did she just...” he stuttered. “I think she did, dear,” Rarity replied, turning back to him. “Just relax and do your best. We both have faith in you.” He allowed himself a quiet smile as he felt his heart rate slow a little. His resolve renewed, Snips focused his energy into the shears and comb. “Okay...I’m ready,” he said as his eyes narrowed. He lifted up the comb and water bottle to Rarity’s mane and smoothed it out with gentle brushes. Then he pulled the scissors up with another magical glow and began snipping away a little bit at a time. Rarity remained motionless as she felt the gentle tug of the comb in her mane. She found the experience to be very soothing, which was a bit of a surprise to her. As she felt her mane flatten against her head with the moisture, she gave a happy sigh, confident that this was a good plan after all. Sweetie Belle watched from the side, mesmerized as she was yesterday, by the magic that Snips worked into her sister’s mane. The blue unicorn was once again lost in his own world, where the only thing that mattered was the beauty that was in front of him, and the beauty that it could be. He indeed saw his future in this mane, and it would be up to him to seize it. Those were the thoughts that ran through his mind as he continued to work. The tranquil scene was interrupted quite suddenly by a loud rapping at the window. Rarity opened one of her eyes, signaling to her sister to open it. Sweetie Belle moved to the other side of the room, right next to Rarity’s plush purple couch, to give the window a solid push. A pinkish blur appeared from seemingly nowhere, and materialized into the unmistakable shape of Pinkie Pie. She had her typical look of hyperactive happiness as she hung by her hooves from the window’s ledge. “Hey Rarity! Hey Sweetie Belle! And...oooh, Snips! How are you doing today?!” she asked, noticing a familiar face in the room, but not one she was expecting. When Snips did not respond, or even look up to acknowledge her, Pinkie puffed her cheeks in very mild annoyance. “Hello? This is the sound of my voice! It is trying to talk to you!” she cupped her hooves against her mouth to amplify her voice, despite also needing them to maintain grip on the ledge. “Um, Pinkie Pie, are you levitating again?” Sweetie Belle asked, peeking behind the pink pony to the outside. “Of course not!” the pink pony replied, pointing down. “Right now, I’m standing on Rainbow Dash!” “And could we move this along, please?” Dash asked with a strain in her voice. “Pinkie looks like she’s made of cotton candy, but she certainly doesn’t weigh like it.” “Well, I certainly hope not! Can you imagine how inconvenient that would be? Just a slight breeze and then whoosh, there I go! I wouldn’t be able to stay in one place for long at all! Although, that wouldn’t really change too much about me, now that I think about it. I’d be able to see all kinds of new, fun places. And I’d get to meet new ponies in all the new places, and make all new friends! Oooh, but I bet I’d have to stop them from trying to eat me, since I’d be made of cotton candy, but I don’t think I’d really mind, since I’d probably taste really good. I wonder if I’d have to keep from eating myself, or if that would technically just be me eating a part of my body, and that’d just be recycling since it’d grow right back. Would I even have organs if my body were made of cotton candy, would they be cotton candy organs, would they be able to eat things, or would I have to go the rest of my life not being able to eat? That’d be terrible, ‘cause there are so many delicious treats to--” “PINKIE!” shouted Rarity, Sweetie Belle, and Rainbow Dash all at once. “Oh, sorry,” Pinkie Pie chuckled with an embarrassed smile. “That’s quite alright, dear,” Rarity said. “Though, if I may ask, did you come over here for a reason? As you can see, we’re kind of in the middle of something at the moment.” “Oh, I was just passing by the Town Hall and I felt a little scritcha-scratch on my chin!” Pinkie explained, rubbing her chin as an example. “And I knew that means that somepony was talking about cherries!” “Oh, no,” everyone except Snips said in unison. “Pinkie Pie, I don’t mean to interrupt, but we really should get back to this important business meeting,” Sweetie Belle chimed in. “Do you think it’s possible for us to move this conversation to another time?” “Hmmmm, okie-dokie-artichokey! Ooooh, artichoke! That’s what it’s missing! Maybe if I...” Pinkie continued her seemingly endless rambling, but was effectively silenced by Sweetie Belle’s magical influence closing the window. “Thank you, darling,” Rarity praised her sister’s quick thinking. “That is not something I am prepared for at the moment. Pinkie Pie is an absolute joy at times, but like Snips says, sometimes I wish she’d just stop talking. Okay, then. Snips dear, are things going alright?” The young stylist finally looked up from his work and smiled brightly. “I think it’s ready. Give me a second to clean up a little bit.” He looked over the back of Rarity’s hair, placing a few strategic pins here and there. He blew gently on her neck to chase away some stray snippings, earning a slight shiver in return. The colt finished his ministrations by circling the seated unicorn, taking in his work from all angles, and then taking his comb and flipping up her bangs one last time. “And that’s what I do!” he cheered, flourishing his comb like a baton. Rarity opened her eyes at his announcement, trying to get any indication of what her mane had become out of her peripheral vision. She turned to Sweetie Belle, who had a massive smile on her face, and that put her at ease. “Sweetie Belle, a mirror, if you’d be so kind,” Rarity asked gently. The little white unicorn gave a short nod and ran to a dark magenta curtain nearby. She jumped up and wrapped her hooves around the golden drawcord, pulling it down and revealing another full-size mirror. Rarity had to control herself, or she would have rocketed straight through the ceiling at that very moment. Her mane had not been cut too short; Snips didn’t want to take that much of a risk on his first ‘professional’ styling. Instead, he had smoothed out the length of her mane, so the tight curl at the end was loosened and appeared more natural. She liked the way it framed her face and gave her a dressed-down ‘au naturel’ kind of glow. The front of her hair, usually waved and curled off to the side, was now allowed to hang playfully across her forehead. Her horn peeked out in the slightest way, appearing almost as a tiny diamond-shaped island among a flowing ocean of purple. Rarity was deeply moved by the poetic symbolism. But what she loved most of all was the way her mane had been layered just the tiniest bit; the way the colors seemed to phase and oscillate as she turned her head left and right, it was like having a hundred manestyles all at once, each one more captivating than the last. “Mr. Snips,” Rarity murmured, nearly whispered. “I have been to the Grand Galloping Gala in, well, apart from Princess Cadence’s wedding gown, what I consider to be the greatest dress I’ve ever designed. I’ve been a very, very important pony; dare I say, the talk of all of Canterlot. I was even temporarily transformed into a crystal version of myself.” She paused a moment to catch her breath. “And yet, I have never, in my life, felt as beautiful as I do at this very moment.” “YES!” Sweetie Belle cheered, bouncing around Snips and then clamping him a big hug. “You did it! You did it!” “You most certainly did, Mr. Snips,” Rarity said, lifting herself out of her seat. She floated her towel over to a laundry basket near her storage closet. She trotted over to Snips and joined in on her sister’s hug. “And believe me when I say that if you can satisfy me, then you can satisfy any mare in Equestria! I don’t know how you did it, but I’m going to need you to do it again. And again, and again, and again....Then we should probably open up for customers.” “And there’s that discomfort again,” Snips commented with a small blush. “Oh, I was just being a tad facetious, dear. As you’re now an employee of mine, an interpersonal relationship would be quite unethical. Not to mention illegal. And, I didn’t want to say this before, but...eyebrows. Wow,” she said with a little giggle. “What? What’s wrong with my eyebrows?” the colt asked, widening his eyes in surprise. “Well, apart from the fact that they’re actually bigger than your eyes...nothing at all,” Sweetie Belle added into the discussion. Snips tried to look offended, but he was just too overcome with the joy of the situation. They all laughed together, and Rarity pulled him just a little bit closer to her. “Remember this moment, Mr. Snips. This is the day that both of our lives began anew. With your amazing talents, and my connections in the fashion world, the sky is quite literally the limit for us. You and I, Snips. Together, we will change the world.” "I believe that in the right set of hooves, a pair of scissors can change the world." his own words from just a short time ago echoed through his mind. Snips’s eyes began to tear very lightly as the gravity of the situation finally caught up to him. He nodded his head appreciatively and leaned in close in acceptance of his new boss’s attentions. “Miss Rarity...I think I’d like that very much.”