Color of Her Blush
Sassy Saddles thought nothing of it when Rarity all but catapulted through the doorway.
Not only because her boss had crashlanded, quite luckily, into a pile of winter clearance dresses, but also because Sassy was very accustomed to such hijinks.
This is the Element of Generous Amounts of Drama, after all.
Shaking her head, she hurried to Rarity's rescue, but before she could play the heroine, Rarity sprung to her hooves and rushed toward the door to latch every lock possible.
"Sassy, fetch some lumber for me! Hammers! Nails! Gather all the furniture you can find-!"
"Calm down." Sassy interrupted. "What's all the fuss about?"
Hysteria written on every line of her face, Rarity flung herself at the doorway as if to keep an invisble intruder out. Odd, but alright, Sassy can salvage this still. Freakouts like these tend to snuff themselves out.
All she had do to is convince Rarity that, as always, she has nothing to worry about.
"She's coming for me... there's no way to escape her wrath!" Rarity wailed, flailing her hooves like a beached octopus.
Should I even bother asking? I would just fuel the flame. Then again...
What if is she actually being chased? "Who?"
Her boss moaned a reply,"Oh, the horror! I dare not speak her name! If I do, she would be summoned here in an instant!"
A idea squirmed into her head of escorting Rarity to the hospital for some nice bedrest. "I'm sorry, but I don't understand. Are you alright?"
"Do I LOOK alright to you?!" Rarity snapped.
Ah, well, Sassy wasn't going to mention it, but-
Her typhoon mane boasted more tangles than sea serpent's perm, her deep wrinkles sagged across her cheeks like exagerrated frowny-faces, and her sunken eyes betrayed an actual comparison to the trotting dead. Yep, a mare of Rarity's standards would not reveal herself to the world without makeup.
The world is not ready for such... boldness.
Warning signs blared inside of her. A true emergency must be happening! Quick, search for the Royal Guard!
Except, oh wait, Rarity's most likely just being more than a little over-dramatic with a dash of insanity. Everytime Rariry has to abruptly leave due to some divine request via Friendship Quest, Sassy has to advise her to treat herself to some TLC. Relax, her mental health is more important than the weekly argument between two fillies over a teddy bear.
"Let's go to the backroom," Sassy suggested as Rarity galloped around the showroom in a frantic search for wood. If she didn't lead her somewhere else soon, her boss might topple her shop upside-down. "We can relax and gauge the situation properly-"
"Darling, there's no time for that! I absolutely must prepare for her return! If I don't, she'll find a way in," Rarity finally settled on a clothes rack and used a levitation spell to lodge it between the lock and the tiled floor.
Sassy rolled her eyes. Remind her why this was her responsibility, again? Why does SHE have to deal with her psycho-boss? She's only a fashion boutique manager, not a therapist. The best she can prescribe is dresses that match the sun-fun aspects of the current summer season.
All for a convenient price!
"So, what does her return entail?" She decided to humor her for now until she finds an alternative. All of her graciously offered comfort and logic had amounted to nada in terms of alleviating her delirium.
Rarity groaned before she sunk to the cold, unforgiving floor in a rather undignified manner, "She has been following me ever since that acursed day last year. It was supposed to be a generous act of kindness on my part, but noooo! She took it the wrong way!"
"Wait," Sassy arched an eyebrow, "Is this about-"
"Knock, knock, knock!" A cheery, albeit slightly muffled, voice sang.
"Oh no," Rarity whispered. She threw herself into a tender embrace with the door and whipped her head around in all directions like a paranoid owl.
Despair dripped from her words, "She's here, she's already here! Quick, we must find a suitable hiding spot or else she shall surely find me!"
Giggling, Sassy walked toward Rarity to place a hoof on her shoulder, only for the latter to flinch away from the unforeseen contact. Her boss jolted her with a glare fit to vaporize diamonds. Maybe that's how the Elements of Harmony defeated every foe; they just played a staring-contest!
"Come on, boss, just relax. Isn't she one of your friends?"
"W-well, yes, but admittedly not a very close one," Rarity stuttered. "I mean, compared to the others, I just don't feel as comfortable with her as I do with mares like Twilight or Fluttershy."
"Is anypony home?" The voice carooned from her cheerful land of Behind-the-Door. May it never be opened, for it could unleash the ultimate shame to plague fashionista ponies; overly attached mares.
"She's still your friend, right?" Sassy cocked her head and gave her trademark smirk. She spent moons perfecting that eqiliubrium between amusement and sarcasm. "Just talk to her. I'm sure she'll understand it's a mistake."
"I have been doing that. For the past. YEAR. She doesn't listen to a word I say!" Rarity retorted.
"Have you really tried?"
"Of course! What do you take me for? I despised this terrible pursuit since the very beginning-"
"Hey Rarity! Can you pretty please let me in? I wanna talk to you!"
Sassy reached over to the locks and the clothes rack. "Listen to that. She just wants to speak with you. Seize this opportunity to discuss with her what you really meant when you gave her those chocolate hearts."
"No, please, you mustn't! I can't let you open this door!" Rarity swatted her away.
Sassy glared at her boss. She didn't care if she got fired now; she just longed for this madness to end. This is too much for one pony to handle, let alone a mare like Sassy Saddles, to foalsit on her own.
"I will unlock this door, and you will talk with her like a sensible adult!" Sassy hollered, shoving herself toward the locks as hoof slaps as frail as a filly mid-tantrum retaliated.
Rarity scowled, which is most definitely not a stellar look for her. "No! First of all, this is my store, so I decide our closing hours! Second of all, I am not a sensible adult! I am a victim-"
Success! She unlatched the door and dodged her boss' barrage of both expletives and punches by her awesome signature move. A special maneuver that she found quite useful whenever a fashion boutique under her employ fails:
Skedaddle away.
And so she did. Striaght into the backroom, as far away as physically possible from the absolute theatricial nutcase known as Rarity Belle.
"Don't leave me here!" Was the final plea Sassy heard before she closed the door.
"Aw, Rarity, you're such a fancy-shamancy gentlemare!"
Rarity only offered a tentative grin as the Ponyville party pony herself, Pinkie Pie hop-hop-hoped into her store. How in the world did she even follow her to Canterlot?
Actually, don't answer that. Rarity does not wish to know the nuisances of the Pinkie mind; she much rather keep her delicate innocence. Ignorance is bliss.
"Ah, thank you for coming," Rarity tried to best to maintain her atypical picturesque demeanor. It wouldn't do to allow for her icky emotions on to be on full display while a guest is visiting!
After all, Pinkie can smell fear.
"So, whatcha doing today?" Pinkie Pie pirouetted around to face her, blueberry-colored eyes wide and expectant.
Oh no, darling. Two can play at that game. Due to her various powwows with the elite, she's learned how to control ponies with just a few words. It's the one strategy game that Rarity has mastered completely:
Deflection and Changing the Subject.
Rarity flipped her mane with an air of indifference. "The usual. What else is a showpony to do? I am more interested in what you are doing today."
"You're super, duper, uber nice!" With each rhyme, her voice climbed in pitch to near helium levels. "But I was just going to follow you around all day. No biggie!"
All day... Rarity bravely managed not to faint right then and there. Good and gracious Celestia, she's not even sure she can stand one more second with this voracious mare.
"Well, I am busy," She indicated the extent of her busyness with a flippant wave of her hoof. "I need to finish several projects before the end of this week due to the eve of celebration-"
"I can help you!" Pinkie interjected, "Not that you're aren't amazing on your own, but sometimes we need somepony else to lend a hoof! Just to make it the best it could ever be! Oh, did I mention that your fashion line is totally stupendous?"
She offered the hyperactive pink blob nothing save a cynical appraisal. Laying it on thick, are we not? Her subtlety reminds Rarity of a yak trampling through a house made of marshmallows.
Which is to say, it is practically non-existent. Well, nopony ever deemed a party-canon that erupted sprinkles and confetti and "happy suprises" as subtle.
She mimed a shocked giggle. "Thank you for your shower of praise! Are you certain you are not the Element of Kindness after all?"
"Oh, nope! I could never be as patient as Fluttershy. I just... really appreciate fashion?" Pinkie's perpetual grin quirked into an embarrassed one.
Sure, Rarity sighed.
"I suppose I should start my work. So many dresses and drapery to stitch and such," Head held high, she marched toward the safety of the backroom.
"But I want to help you?" Pinkie Pie called after her but strangely made no move to follow. What horrific plans was she concocting underneath those unruly curls?
"I'll manage with the assistance of Sassy Saddles, thank you. I think it would serve you better to help Monsieur Cake with his fillies. Those ittle scamps would be oh so much more engaging that a simple needle and thread," Rarity placed a hoof on the doorknob. Almost there!
"Um. Uh. Well," Pinkie stammered.
At a lost of words? She fought the urge to burst into a triumphant laugh. I have finally shaken her off! Now we can go back to just being normal friends without any awkward encounters! She smiled as she attempted to turn the doorknob, her final, victorious key toward freedom.
But then it refused to move.
She froze. Pinkie continued to mutter the ramblings of a mad mare.
The door to the backroom was locked.