"Thanks for letting us stay, Rarity." Applebloom thanked the designer as they entered the shop. Rarity nodded curtly, inspecting the stitches of a particular scarf without looking at Applebloom.

"No problem at all Applebloom, but where's Applejack? Isn't she supposed to be watching over you?"

"She'll get here eventually; we lost her after we went through the bushes. Ah think she crashed or something."

"...Right, just please be careful around the dresses, I have a lot of work to do."

"Wow..." Applebloom gazed over the many dresses and materials; all of it sparkling and shining when the light touched it. "All of these are for the celebration?"

"Indeed they are." Rarity affirmed. "And unfortunately there's still a lot more that I have to do and somepony refuses to help me."

Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Oh, can we help with the clothes? I mean, if you need some extra hooves, right girls?"

Applebloom nodded straight away. "Of course we'd help."

"Spend the day making frilly dresses that we're probably gonna have to wear?" Scootaloo shook her head at the idea, sighing. "Fine, but there's no way I'm going to wear a dress."

"That's very generous Sweetie Belle but..." Rarity searched for the words that wouldn't hurt her sister's feelings. "Your help won't be necessary. Right now, Opal is helping me."

"Really?" Winona smiled and patted Opal on the back happily. Well, pounded really. "Good on you, miss cat."

Opal quickly stepped away from the earth pony; she still felt her nerves jump when the canine was close. "Oh, that's quite alright." She said. "If they want to do my work for me, by all means, let them."

It was for a split second but Rarity considered letting them actually help her. It would be easier than getting this lazy cat off her bottom and actually doing something. She shook the thought away in the end though. "I'm sorry Opal, but Twilight said that you're the one who needs to help me."

"Wonderful." Opal exclaimed sarcastically.

"Wow! This place is amazing!" Winona zoomed around the store, inspecting any colorful, sparkly thing that caught her eyes like an excited foal. "Ooh, what's this?" She poked at a strange patch of purple in a pile of cloth in wonder. Surprisingly, the pile moved and Spike came out. He swatted weakly at Winona.

"Ugh..." He emitted a pained groan. "First I get stepped on and now I'm being poked by some random pony?" He looked at the startled pony and realized just who was poking him. "Oh, hey Winona." His eyes widened with full understanding entering his mind and he jumped up. "Winona?!"

"Hi Spike." Winona, unfazed by the little dragon's freak out, greeted Spike with her usual cheerfulness and a tiny wave.

"Spike?!" Applebloom excitedly ran up to the assistant but slowed somewhat when she noticed the bruises on his scales. "Are you okay?"

"Oh yeah, I only got stepped on and poked." He rubbed his scales tenderly. "No big deal."

"Spike came over earlier with Twilight while she was doing the checkup and he decided to stay behind." Rarity explained.

"I still think he should have just gone back home." They heard Opal say, to which Spike replied with an irritated glare. While this had been happening, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle had slowly joined Winona and Applebloom. Sweetie Belle was listening to the conversation with interest but Scootaloo was looking elsewhere. "What's this thing?" Her eyes were cast downward at the small ball of red and orange fluff that was curled up in the pile. Cautiously, she poked at it a few times.

"Hey!" Spike suddenly jumped to the defense of the puffball. "Don't do that to Peewee!"

"Peewee?" Scootaloo's curiosity was rising by the second now. She leaned down to get a closer look at the puffball. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle joined her, both of them now interested in what their friend was looking at. To their astonishment, the puffball, apparently named 'Peewee', stirred and a small head with big, red eyes poked out of the fur and fabric and looked up at the three. It blinked a few times before a smile spread on its tiny mouth.

"Awww!" Sweetie Belle, Applebloom and Winona cooed simultaneously. Scootaloo once again had an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Is that... a pony?"

Spike nodded. "Well, now he is." Rarity added.

"And... he's named, Peewee."

"Wasn't my idea." Opal sneered.

"He's so cute!" Sweetie Belle proclaimed and Applebloom nodded in agreement. Peewee looked up at the new ponies in wonder but began to twitch, with surprising force, Peewee sneezed suddenly and violently, a spark of deep, red magic moving up his tiny horn. A few feet away on the floor, a lone sock, one of those lacy, expensive ones, was suddenly consumed in a blaze of flame, leaving behind only a scorch mark and some burnt fibres.

Winona whined and took a step back. Applebloom and Sweetie Belle looked back and forth from the burned floor to the foal who was clapping his stubby hooves together in enjoyment, both of their mouths agape.

Scootaloo grinned. "Cool."

"That's one way of putting it." Opal looked to Rarity. "Could you please get that kid out of here before he burns the building to the ground?"

"Well..." Rarity eyed the scorch mark on the carpet. Nothing she couldn't fix but still. "Spike, Scootaloo? Could you please move Peewee away from the... flammable materials?"

They complied and Spike took Peewee over to another, more empty side of the room with Scootaloo following along excitedly with questions concering the fire-wielding baby. With the introductions over with, Rarity returned to her designing, threads and needles magically hovering around her. Applebloom and Sweetie belle moved over to Opal, practically hopping with excitement from everything that was happening.

"Hey!" Applebloom called to Opal as she got close, Opal looked down to the fillies, a very uninterested look on her face. "What is it now?"

Applebloom faltered for a moment. She didn't actually know what to ask. "Well... you were a cat, and now you're a unicorn right?"

"Yes." Opal replied slowly, glaring at Applebloom.

"That's so amazing!" She said. "Ah mean, Winona's just an earth pony but she was able to plow right through these mean Timberwolves. And you're a unicorn now, so you'll be able to do magic like Twilight and Rarity!"

"I can't do magic." If it was possible, Opal's glare increased, like she was trying to bore holes through the filly's skull. "Ever since I was turned into... this..." She motioned to her current form. "I haven't been able to generate a single spark of magic. So not only am I without claws to defend myself, this..." She tapped her white horn. "...This ugly thing is completely useless."

Applebloom stayed optimistic. "But you can probably still do a whole lot. Ahm sure you and Rarity could finish all of the work together."

"Help her?" Opal asked incredulously. She let out a little laugh. "Why would I want to do that? She doesn't need my help."

"But..." Sweetie Belle spoke up. "Don't you want to use your special talent to help Rarity? Don't you have a cutiemark?"

"Cutiemark? That's what those garish things are called, aren't they." She turned to the side, showing the two that her flank was actually blank, nothing but preened, white fur. "As you can see, I don't have one. And even more than that, I don't need one."

"But, your cutiemark is what tells you what your talent is." Sweetie Belle said.

"Then I guess you and your friends are talentless. So stop bothering me with these stupid questions and go do something useful for once."

Without another word, she walked away from the two, over to one of the couches farthest away from everypony, and plopped down onto it, turning so her back was to them. Both Applebloom and Sweetie Belle wore odd expressions of confusion, disappointment and anger on their faces and didn't pursue Opal, instead going off depressedly. Winona did go after her though; she walked straight over to the unicorn and prodded her rudely on the shoulder.

"I told you; I don't care about your cutiemark problem, so just leave me alone al...read...y..." Her voice slowly left her as she turned around, quickly realizing who exactly was staring her in the eyes. Unlike earlier, Winona didn't have her usual 'happy child' look, or even her 'blind animal rage' look. Instead, she was looking at the feline with an expression of quiet contempt that Opal hadn't seen before. "Um..." She was temporarily thrown for a loop. "Hi?"

"Why'd ya do it?" Winona asked plainly. To which, Opal replied with a simple. "What?"

"Why'd you say that to Applebloom and her friend?"

"...Were you spying on us?"

"No!" Winona said louder than she probably should have. Her ears pressed down against her head after that, a light blush reaching through her thick fur. "Ah just hear things sometimes, and Ah heard you saying that they were talentless."

"Well they are." Opal affirmed. "All they do is attempt stupid and dangerous things, desperately searching for a talent that they'll probably never find."

"And why do you suppose that they'll never get them then?" Winona asked.

"Because I've seen what they do a lot more than you have, flea-head." Opal sneered. "It's about time that they stopped this foolishness and started helping instead of damaging."

"Like how you're supposed to be helping Rarity but you're not?" Winona asked, picking up on the irony in the cat's words.

"I shouldn't have to do that." Opal replied sternly. "I'm not a pony."

Winona was beginning to see why she always chased Opal when they were pets, and was sorely tempted to do so. "That don't mean that you get off scott free. Ya need to help Rarity, ah've been helping Applejack since before Ah can remember, and she's always been grateful for it."

Opal sighed in the same way a teacher would when a student got an easy question wrong. "You still don't get it, do you? I'm a purebred, born in the exquisite city of Canterlot before Rarity found me and brought me here. I'm supposed to be in shows, winning all manner of awards and being adored just by being better than everypony else, not working."

A flash of understanding crossed Winona's face. "Oh... Ah understand now."

"Finally. I was wondering if you'd get it at all."

"You..." She poked Opal in the chest with a hoof, a proud look of realization on her face. "...are a spoiled brat."

"..." It took a moment for what Winona said to fully register in Opal's brain. When it did, anger spread over her face like a rash. She got up from her couch to stare Winona in the eyes, her voice slow and quietly angry.

"What, did, you say?"

"You're a spoiled brat..." She repeated with intelligence that Opal hadn't noticed before. "Plain and simple. All ya'll do is lounge about on your behind, insulting other ponies and just plain being disrespectful to your owner."

"How dare you, you dirt-coated hillbilly!" Opal reacted with surprise and anger. "I'm the kind of pet royalty would love to own!"

Winona tried her best to remain calm. "Lady, Ah don't care if you're Celestia's pet phoenix, you have no right to say that your better than us, so get off your high horse and try being generous for once."

Opal stared viciously at Winona, her face burning with rage, but said nothing.

"Opal?" Rarity suddenly stepped up to them. Winona turned to her but Opal stayed fixed on Winona. "Did you say something to Sweetie Belle? She and Applebloom have been really quiet lately."

"Yeah, she did." Winona nodded to Rarity and looked back at Opal. "Come on then. Tell her what you said to Applebloom and-"

Winona had predicted a lot of yelling, and even some name calling. But, she had never predicted the powerful blast of dark purple magic that sent her flying back and through one of the big windows behind her. Silence entered the boutique, only the sound of quiet gasping and breaking glass permeated the air. Rarity could only stare in horrified awe at the moment.

Opal stood there in a state of exhaustion, sweat running down her face and her horn smoked from the sudden magical discharge. She panted heavily from the exertion.

"There!" She shouted hoarsly at the broken window. "How's that for doing something?"

Her moment of bragging was cut short though, as Winona, unfazed by her sudden defenestration, dove back through the window at Opal, her teeth bared and a furious, animalistic look in her eyes.