Pinkie Pie quickly shuffled and adjusted various baked goods currently on sale on the display cases of Sugarcube Corner, her hyperactive tendencies letting her shift from being inside of the store baking, to being outside selling some of her party favors to ponies that needed things like balloons and streamers and what-have-you. Contrary to popular belief, she was not the only party pony in Ponyville, she didn't throw all of the parties in her town. She was the party pony everypony came to to get all of their stuff for their parties though, so she knew just about everypony in Ponyville, ever since she had moved there.

She was busy with another project as well, however. A picnic basket was being filled here and there as time passed over the course of the morning, her working to fill it with various types of cupcakes of all different flavors, a few pies of the same variety....she was going for 'the works' with this outing! The whole time, she was humming a tune to herself, the song seeming to work with some unknown rhythm, multiple higher tempos in the song coinciding with one of the baking ovens dinging and letting her know that whatever was baking at the moment was done. However, she seemed to know when they were going to be done before they dinged, most likely because of that little tune of hers.

"Ooh, this is going to be so neato! Rainbow Dash is going to be so excited and so is Mister Mysterious-Pony-I-Haven't-Met-Yet-Except-For-When-He-Came-Into-The-Store." she said, grinning happily to herself as 11:30am rolled around, right on the time she had set all of her work for.

She began to get ready for the end of her morning shift, only having a part-time shift today. But then, after packing the last batch of blueberry cupcakes and closing the picnic basket's top, she gasped loudly. "Oh no! I forgot about all the drinks! Hmm...." she said, seeming to really sweat it while her gaze went this way and that, her zipping all around the inside of Sugarcube Corner, as if looking for something.

When she found the other picnic basket she owned, she grabbed it and began overpacking it with all sorts of drinks, from some of the most popular brands of soda to Fluttershy's favorite juiceboxes to sip from. Of course, she couldn't forget AJ's favorite cider and Rarity's iced tea. She and Twilight both seemed to love soda though, so she held off on packing any bottled water.

"Alright....invitations?" she said to herself, grabbing the edge of her Basket Hat and tossing it atop her head. "Check!" she said, shaking her head this way and that so she could hear the envelopes rustling against one another.

She tossed one of her picnic baskets onto her back, half of it resting atop her haunches so that it was less likely to fall off, her having plenty of practice carrying things on her back when she wasn't carrying something small enough to fit in her packs. She'd made plenty of plus-sized deliveries on her own, she certainly had the strength and the energy to manage that the majority of the day. Still, she wanted to make the most of her half-day off, and she had a new pony friend for all of her friends to meet up with! He was special to Rainbow Dash too, so that made introducing him to everypony properly even more important.

"Wait....what does he like to drink? Hmm...." she hummed to herself noisily, her tongue sticking out of her closed lips while she pushed on her chin and rubbed at it in thought, face scrunching up in a comedic fashion.

Eventually Pinkie just shrugged it off. "I'm sure he likes one of the drinks I'm bringing with me! Right Gummy?" she asked, turning towards the green party gator standing halfway up and down the staircase leading to the second floor of Sugarcube Corner, which acted as Pinkie Pie's apartment alongside the Cakes.

Gummy's blank, large eyes were all that greeted her, but she knew better. She knew that behind that placid facade, Gummy was one of the smartest little alligators around! She rushed over and picked up Gummy, sitting the adorable toothless alligator atop her poofy-maned head and waiting for the Cakes to take over for her. As soon as they did, she marked down her clock-out time on their schedule sheet clipboard behind the counter and rushed out the door, grinning from ear to ear.

"Be back later tonight Mr. And Mrs. Caaaake!" she called out as she took off.

Rarity's day was turning out to be the same as any other, her horn aglow as she worked all manner of sewing tools, her attention divided as it always was. Most ponies, their work suffered doing such a thing, but not Rarity. No, Rarity thrived in the face of such adverse conditions, seeming to work faster and with even further delight the more she added to her workload.

At least, that was how it usually seemed to be, as long as she was the one in charge of her workload. Lately, the orders had been coming in non-stop, and it was driving her up a wall. She was rushing left and right, in and out, up and down throughout her boutique.

'Oh, the gold silk, why is it always the gold silk?!'

Her horn lit up constantly while various things were pulled off of shelves, even a hoof-sized thimble, a reminder of how she used to do her earliest works without her magic, before she wound up going to school specifically to train and specialize in telekinetic magic spells. Her crowning achievement that sealed her success at the end of her years in those classes was levitating her entire class with minor effort on her part.

That brief second of reminiscing was tossed aside by the fashionista in favor of making an even bigger mess by throwing most of the other materials off of the shelf until she found the large rolled-up sheets of emergency gold silk. Those rolls were from a high-class store in Canterlot, and they both felt and looked magnificent, very shiny, almost as if they were glowing, and that was enough for Rarity to be content with what she had to use to get the job done.

She almost felt capable of getting lost in her work, if not for the whiny, snooty, thoroughly aggravating voice of a spoiled brat of a young filly nearby, watching and scrutinizing every aspect of Rarity's work.

"No! I said I wanted diamonds as the buttons down the front! Not the back!" Diamond Tiara shouted. "What kind of designer are you? Geez, my personal designer back in Canterlot does better than you, no wonder you can't afford employees, you must be poor because you suck at this stuff!"

Rarity gritted her teeth inside of her closed mouth, eyeing the young girl's Father, who was just sitting off to the side writing some things down onto a scroll, the back of the sheet letting her know that he was writing her total payment for services rendered before she was even finished! She would have none of that, she'd been burned by such things before.

She gently set her silks and sewing needles aside for the moment, trotting over to him and clearing her thoughts, she knew she was on edge from Diamond Tiara's horrid, incessant rambling, bitching and whining about the specifics of her dress, so she needed to calm down.

"Excuse me sir, but I would ask that you only write out a payment for your daughter's dress once I'm finished with it completely," she said, putting on her best smile for the rich pony. "We have not even discussed the final price yet, since your daughter is not done choosing the materials she wishes to use."

He seemed unimpressed with Rarity's rather professional approach to this job, only stopping his rapid scribbling of the equivalent to a check to give her a look of what could only be described as disdain.

"Now miss Rarity, I am a busy pony and I have plenty of things to deal with today. I'm sure that if I pay you now, you will simply finish the dress to my daughter's specifications, yes?" he asked, not bothering to give Rarity a chance to answer, almost stuffing the paper in her open mouth to stop her from speaking.

Rarity blinked at the rather rude shove of the paper with so....so many zeroes written onto it. Oh, so many zeroes. She wouldn't normally be dissuaded, and even now the money didn't faze her thought process, but she also knew that there was no reasoning with a ridiculously rich pony like him. He was one of those customers, she knew the type, believing throwing around massive pouches full of bits can buy anything, including her dignity.

She sighed and accepted the paper from him for now, levitating it with her horn and sending it into the back room, where she'd deal with it. "Yes, of course sir....though, I wish to speak with you tomorrow about the cost, if we manage to finish the dress by tomorrow."

He let out an exasperated sigh and nodded to her. "Very well, miss Rarity! Tomorrow then." he said, turning to leave.

"Wait, Daddy! Where are you going?!" Diamond Tiara called out to him, the distress on her features transferring into an anxious shuffling of her hooves on the floor.

The expression on Diamond's face put a dark smile on Rarity's. With all of the grief the little filly had given her for the past three hours or so, she deserved to suffer a little in return!

"W-we haven't finished the work on my dress today! Aren't you-"

He held up a hoof and spoke up loudly and clearly. ""Honey, I paid for the rest of the work on the dress, now I have to get back to work! You know how busy I am."

The sudden, shrill whine that filled the boutique made her magic twitch violently, the needle lacing through a section that it wasn't meant to go through on the dress. She quickly undid the string on the end of the needle and pulled it back out very carefully, looking between the filly and her Father out of the corner of her eye. She knew where this was going.

"But Daaaaaadddddyyyyyyyyy~!!! WHY?! You always have to work when I want to spend time with you!" she whined with a half-screaming volume, stomping her hooves, forelegs and hindlegs in a shuffling motion from left to right to emphasize how upset she really was, a proper tantrum for a spoiled brat like her.

There it was...now Rarity just felt bad. It wasn't in her nature to wish such family squabbles upon any foal, even one as terribly ulcer-inducing as Diamond Tiara had proven to be thus far, and on top of that their back-and-forth in her boutique was making her start to feel a bit awkward. She shouldn't be seeing this, heck she shouldn't be hearing this, but then a spoiled brat and a Father who raised a self-centered young filly like her, well....she couldn't think it feasible to expect either of them to think too far beyond the fraction of the world that actually did revolve around them.

"I'm sorry honey, but I really do have to go. Do enjoy making your new dress, okay?" he stated dismissively, pulling a pocket watch from his vest and checking the time.

With that, and some ignored protests from Diamond Tiara, he stepped outside of the boutique and left Diamond Tiara behind with Rarity....which upset Rarity on the inside, to some extent. She didn't like the thought of having to deal with Diamond Tiara on her own.

Celestia must have felt pity for her today, thankfully, because no sooner had Tiara started to snap had her friend Silver Spoon came into the boutique. "Hey DT, your Dad just left. Where's he going?"

Silver clearly didn't notice the reddening of Diamond's face, or the angry stomps of her hooves. When the sudden furious shout rang out through the boutique, Silver Spoon jumped back in surprise.

"Th-that...old moron!" she growled out, gritting her teeth in frustration.

Rarity didn't much approve of it. "Young lady, I must ask you to not speak of your Father like that! You should be thankful for everything he does for you."

If looks could melt your face, Rarity's would surely be puddling on the floor right now, judging by how furious DT's glare was. She recoiled slightly at the genuine hurt in the young filly's eyes, a pang in her chest making her stay silent.

"Shut up, you old lady!" she snapped at Rarity, stamping her left forehoof against the floor. "The only reason I wanted a new dress is because Daddy said he would come with and help me design it! I don't know why I believed him...." she said, her voice becoming meek, pained and sad.

There was silence from her for a brief moment, and Rarity was prepared to speak up, but much to her surprise Diamond Tiara seemed to recover very suddenly. She knew a mask when she saw it though.

"Come on, Silver Spoon!" she said, walking past her friend. "Let's get out of this blank-flank lame-o hangout. I don't want to be here when those boring Cutie Mark Crusaders come back and try to pity me for having such an unattentive Daddy!" she said in a thoroughly mocking tone towards the end of her sentence.

Silver paused for a moment in confusion before quickly turning and catching up to her friend. They both turned towards each other, giving their customary hoof-shake and 'catch-phrase' to one another. "Bump! Bump! Sugar lump rump!" Rarity heard them both say, before giggling incessantly and heading for the door.

Rarity quickly raised a hoof as they began to leave, despite neither of them even looking in her direction. "W-wait, young filly! What about your dress?"

Diamond scoffed and shot her a baleful look from over her shoulder. "Oh, just....put something together that will fit me, I don't care," she said, her features softening into a full-face frown for a brief second. "Daddy won't pay any attention to it anyways...." she muttered, opening the door and heading outside.

Rarity scowled and ran a hoof over the front of her face. "Customers are always right Rarity, you are a proper lady, you do not want to make a plushie of Diamond Tiara just so you can set it on fire and then drown it in the nearest lake....!"

She wanted to believe she was telling herself the truth, but...then she remembered some of the things that the young filly had said. She couldn't bring herself to be mad at her, whenever she recalled those depressing words. If she was being honest, she felt bad for Diamond Tiara; feeling ignored, whether you were actually being ignored or not, could really mess up a child.

Rarity took a short break, getting herself a glass of water in the kitchen while trying to decide on what to do with the check Mr. Rich had given her. She picked it up in her magic and looked it over more closely, her eyes bugging out a little as she carefully counted exactly how many zeroes were written down. She sighed and placed it into a small box she used to keep track of all of her payment papers, kind of like a makeshift filing cabinet.

"Ooohh, what should I do with this job, Opal....?" she muttered, looking to her cat for some kind of response. All she got was the sight of her pretty kitty licking her paw. "Hmph, you could at least pretend to give a buck."

She glanced over to the ponnequin currently holding Diamond Tiara's dress, unsure of what to do with it. She had been given free rein on what to do to it, so...hrm.

She blinked as something from earlier just registered in her mind. "Wait....did those two say that they have....sugary-sweet rumps? My goodness, what are their parents teaching them?" she pondered, thinking back to Diamond's source of frustration. "Or...not teaching them, perhaps."

"Raaaarity?? Are you in here?"

She'd recognize that voice anywhere, and she quickly peeked her head in from the kitchen to stop the rambunctious mare from hunting all through the boutique for her. Who knew how badly Pinkie might mess everything up?!

"Well, hello there, Pinkie Pie! What can I...uh, why are you wearing your invitation hat again?" she asked, walking over towards her friend while setting her water aside.

Pinkie Pie just giggled and turned sideways, letting Rarity get a look at the picnic baskets that were mounted on her back, or at least, one of them. The other one was in Pinkie's mouth, and as a mockery of all laws of physics, refused to cough up all of the treats it had hidden away as Pinkie bounced up and down in her endless excitement.

"Well, there's a new pony in town, and he's a friend of Rainbow Dash's but we're not supposed to know about that yet! So I'm throwing a Close Friends of Rainbow Dash Only party at Starlight Hill, outside of Sweet Apple Acres for all of us. You wanna come?" she asked, utterly unfazed by the alligator crawling out of her 'hat' and sliding down over her snout, giving Rarity that endless stare he was so well-known for.

Rarity looked ecstatic, but for all the wrong reasons. "A secret friend of Rainbow Dash's? Now THAT sounds scandalous....count me in!" she said in an all-too-giddy tone, rushing upstairs to look through her dresses for one that would suit the occasion.

It took her very little time to get her things, close the boutique and get going with Pinkie Pie. She needed a break from the crud she'd been taking all day!

Time had become a remarkable thing to Twilight, in the past hour or however long it'd been. It was always just ticking by, and yet, if they didn't age time would just be an illusion...whoa. Was that why Celestia never seemed to court with anyone? Because she existed outside of the concept of time, thus they were beneath her in that regard? She had to tell someone about her crazy revelation!

"Hey, Zecora...did I ever tell you that you look reeeeaaally nifty? All stripe-y and mohawk-y...."

Or not. Now Zecora was the remarkable thing caught in her sights. Well, until her gaze wandered towards the wall across the room, her eyes suddenly locked with the empty eye-holes of a tribal mask.

"I'll bet that took you a really long time to make," she muttered, her hoof waving lazily in the direction of the mask. "S' a lotta' work ta do by hoof!"

Zecora had to practice a whole lot of self-restraint to stop herself from laughing, making this one of the longer hours of her life. She continued to stir her cauldron, the bubbling contents going from yellow to white to clear as she continued to add and mix ingredients together. She had to be careful with the taste-testing, for fear of over-estimating or under-estimating the potency of the potion, and if she under-estimated...well, she'd probably be rolling around on the floor talking with Twilight about all the pretty colors or something.

"Zecoraaaa~...why aren't you talking to me?" Twilight whined out with a small pout, which was quickly followed by an odd giggle-snort. "I sound like a brat." She tried to put a hoof over her mouth, but it did little to silence her endless amusement with that statement.

Zecora sighed and smiled a little, it was admittedly funny, but goading her into talking more could wind up causing some very funny and potentially troublesome shenanigans on Twilight's part. She filled up several vials that acted as a detox medication for an overdose of the painkiller medicine she'd given Twilight, approaching her with it.

"This potion, you must drink. Otherwise, I'll raise quite a stink!" she said while helping Twilight to sit up on the edge of her bed.

Twilight found something amusing about what Zecora said. "Heh, stink..." she muttered, reaching out and booping Zecora's nose. "Stinky!"

The zebra snorted in amusement and pushed her hoof away, holding the vial out to her. "Just drink the potion, you silly mare."

"Yeah, I gotta drink this or you'll get all stinky," she mumbled, taking the vial and looking it over for a moment before shrugging. "We don't want that, bottoms up!"

She threw her head back while pursing her lips around the opening of the vial, quaffing the entirety of the potion and setting the empty container aside, licking her lips at the flavor.

"Huh. Tastes like-"

That was as far as she got before the world went hazy and a sudden sharp pain rocketed through her skull. It made her vision blur and her head spin like a carnival ride, and she could vaguely feel Zecora's hooves grabbing hold of her withers to keep her steady.

"OH!! Oh, sweet Mother of Celestia, h'OH wow!" she shouted, her eyes wide as colors danced in the corners of her vision and pain coursed through her head with every beat of her heart.

"A painkiller overdose is no small issue. It had to be resolved quickly, for your safety." she explained simply enough, continuing to hold Twilight straight while she recovered.

Twilight winced and held a hoof to both sides of her head, sitting up in the bed. "Feels like someone tap-danced on my skull...."

"I have no doubt. That potion was specifically designed to detoxify a person's body of the painkiller I gave you. It can be very unpleasant when dealing with overdoses, but it's effective!"

She could feel the soreness returning, slowly but surely, and she rolled her withers to help alleviate and adjust to it at least a little. "I guess so. Thanks...wait," she said, glancing out of one of the windows. "How long have I been here?"

"For a few hours, you have stayed here. You are late to make your way home, I fear," she said, chuckling a little and motioning to her door. "Your pack, it has been set aside."

Twilight got up from the bed quickly once Zecora let her go, but she had to sit back down for a moment as her head spun from the rush of blood. A thought came to her when she felt the soreness flare up, and she looked to her friend curiously.

"Do you think you could maybe fill some smaller vials with that painkilling potion? I'm pretty sure I've learned my lesson after this."

Zecora looked her friend over once with a guarded smile. "I do not wish to be vindictive, but this potion can be quite addictive," she said, looking Twilight in the eyes for a moment longer before relenting. "But if you truly wish to take that risk, I will make them to give your body a fix."

She smiled and bowed her head to Zecora, heading towards the door. "Thanks Zecora, I really appreciate it!"

She watched Twilight go with a vague feeling of apprehension. She glanced over to the vials and bottles she'd filled with what had been left over of her previous batch of the painkiller, unsure if she should keep her word on this matter...but eventually, after re-evaluating her faith in Twilight's willpower, she picked up some empty vials and went to work measuring out and filling them with a standard dose.