Two days had passed since Opal had been sent out of the Carousel Boutique. While having taken refuge at Fluttershy’s home was a nice second and a good change of scenery from her workaholic owner, Opal had to admit that she missed helping Rarity with her tasks; to fall asleep peacefully on the materials that Rarity left laying about; and to just comfort the mare after she had stressed herself out on a large order.
The other animals around the cottage had easily taken note of her sorrow, trying to comfort her. The feline’s heart leapt in angst when a family of mice offered her some flowers. She took them, gladly, holding herself back from natural instinct as they scurried away.
However, where there was room for good, there was room for neutrality. Bad was too cliche, mind you, but, as is expected, Angel was not all too well enjoying the attention his owner was giving to the new pet. He was friendly to Opal, yes. They were friends, as their prior pet play dates had supposed to enforce them to be, but he was not enjoying Fluttershy’s ignorance towards him, just like always.
Opal had convinced Angel that she was not to blame for the subject at hand. He took into account her argument, and believed it. Angel, being the boss of the household when Fluttershy was being her too-kind self, found it necessary to get things back to normal. Thankfully for him, Fluttershy had walked in at that very moment.
“Who wants lunch?” she asked cheerily. Several critters flowed out of their nests and went to the respective bowls that Fluttershy had just filled. Opal and Angel looked at each other, shrugging. Angel went and grabbed a carrot while Opal ran up and made space between the other cats to eat up some of her standard cat food. Once Angel finished his food, he jumped up onto the table that Fluttershy had situated herself at and started to communicate with her.
Fluttershy listened intently, taking in her pet’s thoughts. Once he was done, she tapped her muzzle in thought. She sighed, “I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to go try and convince her one more time. Rarity can just simply be hardheaded at times.” She looked over to the cat sitting in the windowsill. “Opal! Come on, we’re going to go home and talk to Rarity.”
The cat was up and at the door in seconds. Angel jumped up onto Fluttershy’s back and she started towards the door as well. The three stepped out, and set down the path to Ponyville.
It was just about 2:30 when the trio reached the outskirts of town. They were quickly approaching the park, which was all that separated them from the Boutique. Angel had hopped off of Fluttershy and was now hopping along side Opal, trying to get a conversation going. Opal apparently wasn’t in the mood to talk.
Angel sighed, slowing his pace for a second to catch his breath. However, it was not long before he started to hear giggling. He looked to the other side of the fountain and saw two fillies talking to each other. One had pink fur with a white and violet mane; the other had gray fur with a light gray and white mane. Angel could only barely make out their conversation.
“DT, you know, you are too good sometimes. Not only did you manage to get Squeaky Belle to stay home from school for a whole two days, you made her two blank flank friends follow suit just to check on her well being.”
“Oh, please Silver Spoon. All I did was give the crybaby an entirely acceptable rebuttal for mocking the quality of my precious tiara. You don’t need to inflate my ego over it. You don’t just simply walk up to your superiors and question their Celestia-tier accessories and expect to get away unharmed.”
“Still, you did your rebuttal using just your hoof file. I’m not even certain that you could cut somepony quite like you did again if you tried. Those things just aren’t cut out for that kind of thing.”
The two fillies faded into the other side of the park, leaving the rabbit with a massive gape in his mouth. He quickly came back to his senses, rushing to catch back up with Fluttershy and Opal to help relieve some stress in the situation.
Once Angel had reached the Boutique, he could see that his companions were already entering, so her hurried up and got inside as well. Rarity barely acknowledged him before shutting the door.
“It’s obvious what you’re here for, and the answer is still ‘no,’” Rarity said to Fluttershy and Opal.
“Please, just hear her out. The poor girl has been really sad for the past couple of days and she really doesn’t seem like the type of cat that would do something like this to Sweetie Belle?”
Rarity rolled her eyes, but her expression showed her hesitation. “I-well….” she sighed, “No, I suppose not. But that still doesn’t come to terms with the fact that there was a ton of scratches all over Sweetie Belle. Taking the pattern of the scratches, it only really makes sense that a cat could make those marks. And let’s face it, Opal can be rather grumpy sometimes.”
Opal frowned. She looked to Angel who was rummaging through a box of fashion materials. He pulled out a hoof-file, looking like he found a trophy. She ignored him and turned her attention back to the two mares. She noticed Sweetie Belle walking down the stairs behind Rarity.
“And how do you explain her claws? They were covered to the root in blood!” Rarity pointed out. Opal unsheathed her claws and looked at them, blood still crusted onto them around her sheaths.
“From what she told me, she killed a mouse in the storage room. Did you not look back there?”
“I did! No mouse, no fur, not even a single drop of rodent blood!” Fluttershy hummed in thought, turning to Opal for an answer. Opal meowed, motioning the eating of something and lapping up of a liquid.
“I guess she ate it and drank up the blood before a stain could settle in.”
“That doesn’t even make sense! Do you know how fast blood stains on carpet?” Rarity asked getting annoyed.
Fluttershy sighed, realizing that it was a good point. She feared for Opal that she lost the argument. However, a struck thought her.
“You said her claws were covered in blood up to the root, didn’t you?”
“Yes. They were entirely red from the looks of it. Dripping.”
“When you inspected the cuts on Sweetie Belle, how deep were the cuts?” Angel squeaked to Fluttershy, “In a moment, Angel bunny.”
Rarity seemed awestruck for a moment, realizing what Fluttershy was getting at. “Th-they weren’t that deep at all. It was more like an irritable rash that opens up.”
“So, how could have Opal gotten all that blood on her claws from Sweetie Belle, if the cuts weren’t deep enough?” Fluttershy smiled, realizing that she struck through with Rarity.
Fluttershy looked at Angel and let him speak. Rarity noticed that Sweetie Belle was in the room finally, and turned to speak to her. “Sweetie Belle, was it really Opal that scratched you?”
Sweetie Belle backed up a step and crouched down; clearly not wanting to tell her sister.
Suddenly, Fluttershy started thinking out loud in her conversation, “Pink coat and a tiara? That sounds like Diamond Tiara. What does she have to do with this?" Sweetie Belle’s eyes widened at the filly’s name.
Angel squeaked out a few more words to the mare.
"She what!" Fluttershy screamed. Angel held up the hoof-file as a final point. Fluttershy looked fairly distraught to Rarity.
"Fluttershy, care to tell us what Angel just said?" Rarity asked apprehensively.
“According to Angel, he overheard Diamond Tiara and her friend talking about how Diamond had used a hoof-file to hurt Sweetie Belle for mocking her tiara.” Fluttershy told Rarity. Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Sweetie Belle, is that true?”
“Y-yes,” she squeaked out quietly, “She had made fun of me for being blank flanks and I guess I had enough and gave her an insult back, saying her tiara looked trashy.” Sweetie Belle paused, sniffling as though she were about to cry, “After she had attacked me, she said if I told anyone, she’d have her dad put the Boutique out of business.” She started to cry into Rarity’s forelegs. “I didn't want you to lose your business Rarity!”
Rarity sighed, rubbing her sister’s head, quietly whispering, ‘There there, it’ll be okay.’ Fluttershy patted Angel on the head, and he smiled triumphantly. Fluttershy noticed Opal looking a mix of sadness, joy, and anger in the corner. She walked over, giving the feline a quick petting. She then picked her up, flying over to the two sisters and plopping Opal down right between them.
Opal and Rarity stared at each other for a few silent moments before Rarity’s lip quivered and she broke into tears herself. She grabbed her cat and pulled her into a tight embrace. “Opal, I’m so so~o~rry! Please forgive your foolish owner!” Opal was purring, rubbing her head into the mare’s face. She meowed.
“She said ‘apology accepted,’” Fluttershy translated for her, smiling.
Once Rarity and Opal had made up, Rarity turned back to Sweetie Belle. “Also, Sweetie Belle, thank you for thinking about my shop before your own matters.” She hugged her sister. “However, I can assure you that Filthy Rich, while he may have money and power, he has the intelligence to keep hold of it. If he went around putting ponies out of business for fun, he’d have lost it all in some form or another.”
Angel looked down at the scene before him, before an idea struck him. He jumped over to Fluttershy and whispered it in her ear. Fluttershy gasped, “Angel, that sounds so mean.” He squeaked something out with a matter-of-fact look on his face. “Well, I suppose that’s true.”
“What’s he saying?” Rarity asked.
Fluttershy looked over to Sweetie Belle. “He wants to know if you’d like to get revenge on Diamond Tiara. I personally don’t like the idea, but his plan would work fairly well, I-I guess.”
Sweetie Belle seemed to go into thought for a moment. “What’s his plan?”