//------------------------------//
// Something About That Mare 
// Story: Hood Rat 
// by Twinkletail 
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"Next hoof please, Miss Fleur."

Fleur de Lis hummed to herself. Had he already finished the first hoof? It seemed like scant moments ago that he'd started. To be honest, she shouldn't have been surprised. These personal assistants were possibly the best that Canterlot had to offer. If they weren't, she certainly wouldn't have hired them. She would never stand for second-best in any field; a mare of her grace and stature not only deserved, but was completely entitled to the absolute best of everything. To accept any less would be an affront to her position.

Fleur brought her freshly-polished hoof to her face, inspecting her assistants' work. She tilted it in every direction, making sure to check it from every angle. Her eyes narrowed as they rested on a slight imperfection in the gloss work on the side of her hoof. She took a moment to think about how her fellow models would act in this situation, and she wasn't pleased with her thoughts. She had witnessed one too many of her contemporaries lose their temper when their assistants made a small mistake, and it simply did not sit right with her. Perhaps a major mistake called for voices being raised, but minor mistakes were not worth shouting over. She felt that an assistant's work suffered if they were terrified of their employers.

The assistant was clearly unaware of Fleur's stance on this, judging from the way he winced and cowered upon noticing her hoof's imperfection. Fleur frowned slightly, despite the lines it might cause on her face. It was true that she only wanted and deserved the best, but despite her love of her high-profile life as a model, there were some behaviors commonly attributed to her job that she simply did not wish to embody. She employed a gentle tone as she spoke to the worried assistant.

"Please touch up the imperfection on this hoof," Fleur said, angling it so it was most visible. Her assistant tilted his head, seemingly unsure of how to deal with being treated in a kind manner, as if he had never in his professional life been subject to the word "please."

"Did you not hear her?" the voice from the next seat over called out. "You are supposed to be assisting, not staring like a simpleton!"

Fleur sighed and shook her head. She and Mint Vogue had only just met when Fleur broke into the modeling business just last year. It was actually one of Mint's spreads that had convinced Fleur to take steps towards the profession. Mint was certainly a picturesque mare; Fleur could easily see how her lithe form and soft, alluring colors worked together to help her go far in this business. At the same time, she knew, although she was very unlikely to say it to Mint's face, that she was just that little bit more lovely. If Mint could earn as lofty of a position in this field as she had, then Fleur knew that she would have no problem doing the same.

As lovely a pony as she was physically, the same could hardly be said for her personality. Fleur had personally witnessed the mint-green pegasus lose her temper at no less than three assistants in the last week alone. Attempting to tally all the instances that she'd been privy to in the last year would certainly require an abacus, or at the very least a quill and paper. As disheartening as it was to see this side of the model who inspired her to enter the field, she still took solace in the fact that Mint was a fine travel partner when she wasn't hollering at the help or making demands. Fleur had heard tales of the modeling world being a cutthroat business, but Mint had been nothing but kind to her since they'd met, practically taking her under her wing. She supposed this was enough to overlook her idiosyncrasies.

Fleur took a look at her assistant, who was now fixing the mistake on her hoof. She waited for Mint's attention to be taken away, then leaned in closer to her assistant's ear.

"You are doing a fine job," she whispered. "Do not let her words shake you." The assistant gave her a grateful smile, then returned to his task.

Fleur was a lot of things that were considered stereotypical for a rich, beautiful mare. She was well-aware of her own beauty and eager to flaunt it. She was not afraid to speak volumes about her privileges, and she was refined enough to hold her own at fancy parties and even make herself the focal point at times. One thing she certainly was not, though, was mean. Her mumsy and pop-pop would likely have disowned her if they ever caught her treating the help like Mint had treated her assistant moments ago.

Fleur felt the train lurch to a halt, just as her assistant finished up her hooficure. A little part of her was displeased with the fact that she and Mint were conducting business in such a simple little town. She was a sophisticated mare, not one to wile her time away in a commoners' town. This, however, was not a feeling that she would express to anypony, except maybe for Mint. The ponies of Ponyville, as unsophisticated and plebeian as they might or might not be, did not deserve to be told that they were as such. They had feelings too. Plain feelings for plain ponies, but feelings nonetheless.

Mint lead the way off of the train and to Carousel Boutique. She had been there a number of times, a fact which she was happy to let Fleur know at various times during their walk. This was Fleur's first time in Ponyville at all, and although she was at least moderately aware of the owner of the establishment to which they were headed, everything else about the town was new to her. She was glad that this job would have her meeting Rarity again. She had seemed like a very nice pony when they met back when she was working with Fancy Pants, even though her friends seemed...less than desirable. To be fair, she had made very little effort to deal with Rarity's friends, but she did not see much of a reason why she would.

The graceful mare grinned lightly to herself as she passed through the streets of Ponyville. She couldn't help but notice the stares from the ponies she passed; clearly they were not accustomed to being in the presence of such beauty. The ponies in this town were not ugly, per se. She often felt that ponies, as a race, were generally pleasant to look at. Of course, this did mean that some ponies would be in the lower echelon of "pleasant to look at," and Ponyville seemed to be an unfortunate haven to quite a few of them.

"Just one quick visit to Carousel Boutique and we can get out of this unappealing little town with its plain citizens," Mint said, turning to Fleur with a haughty grin. Fleur wished that her travel companion could learn to keep certain thoughts to herself as she noticed one of those citizens overhear her and frown. Fleur gave a glance in Mint's direction to make sure she wasn't listening, then turned to the slighted pony. She may not have been the prettiest pony, but she did not deserve to hear such things. She gave the mare a smile.

"I love what you have done with your mane," Fleur said warmly. She may not have entirely meant it, as but the smile that it put on the mare's face made the lie worthwhile. She figured that a common pony like this one would take quite a bit of stock in a compliment to her appearance by a model as stunning as she was. Fleur turned back and silently thanked Celestia that Mint had not overheard her. Mint was a firm believer in the idea that ponies on their level were not meant to converse with the common folk more than they needed to, and being as Mint was her inspiration and the one who got her into the field, speaking up against her beliefs would not augur well. She'd heard one too many stories about former travel partners who'd gotten on Mint's bad side, and she had no inclination to do the same. She would simply travel quietly with her without making a fuss until she was well-known enough to find jobs on her own; a situation which she was sure she would find herself in soon enough.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique," Rarity said, her voice slightly weary as she opened the door. "Where everything is chic, unique, and...oh!" The startled fashionista nearly dropped her cup of coffee. The slightly-unkempt manestyle was evidence enough that she had been quite busy today. "Is it 2:00 already? I'd completely lost track!"

"It is a pleasure to see you again, Miss Rarity," Fleur said with a confident smile, choosing to overlook the generally disheveled look that she was sporting. She knew quite well of Rarity's good looks, and figured that everypony had a bad day here and there. Although she had to admit, at least internally, that this looked like quite a bad day for Rarity.

"Yes, quite," Mint said, her tone lacking some of the warmth and genuineness that Fleur's held. "I take it you have our outfits ready?" Fleur was almost surprised that Mint was not speaking to Rarity quite as rudely as she had the other citizens of Ponyville, but she supposed it made sense. Rarity, after all, was providing them with the clothing needed for their job, and the last thing anypony in the industry wanted to do was insult somepony who supplied them with their wardrobes.

"But of course!" Rarity said with a smile. "While I may not look quite as ready as I should have been, I assure you that your clothes are very much so. I would never dream of providing anything but the best service to you both."

"Excellent," Mint said, entering the boutique. "We have no time to waste. Our shoot starts in exactly one hour, and then it's off to Upper Crust's soiree." Fleur had nearly forgotten that they were attending Upper Crust's party tonight; she had been so focused on the gig today that it had practically slipped her mind. She loved a good soiree, and Upper Crust and Jet Set hosted the finest ones in all of Canterlot. They were always a good opportunity to schmooze with the rest of the high-society Canterlot crowd, and there was rarely a time in the past year where she did not receive a job opportunity while attending them.

"Upper Crust's soiree, you say?" Rarity asked, her smile beginning to crack as her ears drooped. "I...I'm sure my invite simply got lost in the mail...but no matter. I have my own party to attend to tonight."

"Is that so?" Fleur asked, striding into the boutique as well and closing the door. She couldn't imagine the possibility of another...party, as Rarity put it...being better than what her evening had in store.

Suddenly, the boutique door burst open once more, startling all three ponies. The three turned simultaneously to see what or who had caused the racket.

"Hi Rarity!" Pinkie Pie shouted cheerfully as she bounced into the boutique. "Just stopping by to make sure you're all ready for the party tonight! It's gonna be loads of fun! There's gonna be bobbing for apples and plenty of music and dancing and horseshoes! The game AND the clothing! And everypony's gonna be there! It's gonna be super-duper fun-riffic!"

Pinkie then stopped in front of Fleur and Mint. "Ouh, pretty ponies! You must be models! My name's Pinkie Pie and...oh wait!" She pointed to Fleur. "I've met you before! You're really pretty! You two should come to my party tonight!" The bubbly pink pony pulled two invitations out of her mane, then grabbed Fleur's hoof and placed them in it.

"There you go!" Pinkie giggled. "Now you're officially invited! Not that you wouldn't have been allowed to come if you weren't! It's an open-door party! Ouh, nice dresses!" Before anypony could say anything, Pinkie bounced past the group and began looking through the outfits that were displayed on the nearby mannequins.

"Ugh..." Mint said, watching Rarity follow Pinkie. "She is an annoying one, isn't she?"

Fleur didn't say anything. Her eyes had not left the pink pony since she had arrived. She knew she had met her back when she had met Rarity, but she had not paid all that much attention to her back then. This time, though, she had garnered her full attention. Her exuberance and energy was like nothing she had ever seen before back in Canterlot. In fact, it was very unlikely that anypony in Canterlot would ever act even slightly as ebullient as Pinkie was right now. And the way she moved...it certainly wasn't graceful in the sense that her own movement was, but still, it held a certain primitive rhythm to it. Nopony would mistake it for the smooth motions of a model, but her body moved with a certain bizarre, warped elegance, executed in such a fashion that Fleur wasn't even sure whether or not Pinkie was aware that she was doing it.

Fleur found herself positively transfixed by the bouncing ball of pink energy in front of her. She couldn't explain it, but there was just something about that mare, something that refused to let her pull her eyes away.

"Come, Fleur," Mint said, snapping her out of her near-hypnotized state. "We must be off. No more time to mingle with the common folk."

Fleur blinked a few times as she looked to Mint, who had already gathered the outfits meant for them. Fleur nodded silently, beginning to leave. She gave a look back before leaving, telling herself that she was doing so to thank Rarity. She found herself unable to mutter the words out as she caught the baby-blue eyes of the pink mare.

"See you two later!" Pinkie said cheerfully, giving them a wave and a smile that Fleur felt become etched into her visual memory. In what was certainly her least charming and graceful action ever taken, Fleur opened her mouth, but all that came out was a strange, wordless grunt. She noticed as Rarity raised a brow, and quickly excused herself before she could embarrass herself further. She wasn't at all used to being embarrassed; it was an entirely new feeling to her, and not one that she wanted to experience often. She wasn't even entirely sure why she'd acted like that. All she knew was that it had to be something about that mare.