User:Mega Sean 45/Sandbox/The Manehattan Project

The Manehattan Project is the twelfth episode of the alternate seventh season of My Little Pony Friendship is Magic and the one hundred fifty-fifth overall. The title is a reference to the 1986 film The Manhattan Project.

A rival store runned by Suri Polomare opens across the street from Rarity’s Manehattan expansion, so Rarity pushes her employees over the limit to make sure she doesn’t lose business to her.

Production
This is the first episode Rarity is the only main character to appear in.

Since "Coco Pommel" can't be used together, she is either called "Miss Pommel" or just "Coco" in here.

The BG ponies that appear in here are DJ Pon-3, Sunshower Raindrops, Diamond Mint, Lucky Clover, Rare Find, Shoeshine, Sprinkle Medley, Canterlot Trendsetters, Bubblegum Blossom, Azure Velour, Pacific Glow, Barbara Banter, Blue Nile, Dainty Dove, Luckette, Orange Sherbet, and Pursey Pink.

Moon Dancer also has a BG appearance in the shot just outside Canterlot Boutique. As well as Aunt and Uncle Orange, Babs Seed, Bubble Pop, and Cloudy Thunder just as Rarity, Sassy, and Coco take a cab to Rarity For You.

Summary
Over at Rarity’s expansion Canterlot Carousel, the manager Sassy Saddles thanks Rarity for helping her with making the line of dresses for the big sale she has planned for the incoming week, and Rarity insists that it was her pleasure to be helping out her fellow employees, who are also her friends, and it pleases Sassy very much to be hearing it. Just then, Coco Pommel runs inside the boutique struggling to catch her breath. Rarity was surprised to see her, and she asks Sassy to get some hot tea for her quickly. When Rarity asks what she was doing there, and why in a hurry, Coco explains that a competing boutique was opening across the street from her Manehattan expansion run by Suri Polomare, and Suri swears to get Rarity’s shop out of business.

A while later, Rarity, Sassy, and Coco all boarded the next train from Canterlot to Manehattan. Rarity angrily tells her employees that Suri has some nerve to open a boutique across the street from hers, and that she never did anything bad to her to deserve it. Coco although explains that she did beat her at Fashion Week, and then claims that she did betray her by quitting her assistant job and then giving Rarity the trophy, but Rarity tells her that she did what she thought was right, and is grateful for it. Sassy then asks who Suri is, and explains to her on how she pretended to be nice to her and then abused her generosity, and then Coco explains how rude she was to her when she used to work for her, which was surprising to Sassy. Rarity then asks Coco what the other employees are doing, and Coco tells her that they’re trying to boost business by advertising more sales and thinking of more ideas for different types of dresses, like Plaid Stripes suggesting ostrich-themed outfits, which amuses Rarity after hearing it, and both she and Coco laugh, but Sassy claims she doesn’t get it.

When the train reaches Manehattan, Rarity, Sassy, and Coco all take a cab over to Rarity For You. Coco points Rarity towards Suri’s new shop across the street named The Purple Sapphire. Rarity claims to have a bad taste in her mouth when saying that name, and then she bets that Suri will barely have any customers, but once Suri’s ‘Out to Lunch’ sign comes down, customers begin lining up at her store. Rarity begins to question what Suri has that makes her so famous, but Sassy suggests to her that she should just worry about her own store instead of the competition. Since she’s new, she’ll have customers just checking things out, and that they’ll be back her boutique eventually. Rarity eventually agrees with Sassy and they all walk back in to get back to work. Rarity though peeks through her blinds to keep an eye on Suri’s shop.

After many minutes go by, Rarity waits and waits, but only one customer comes into Rarity’s shop. DJ Pon-3 was about to play some upbeat music for him on the DJ stand, but the customer asks for quiet, which ruins her excitement. Rarity starts complaining about how Suri, as evil as she is, has so many customers, and she’s left with “nothing”. Plaid Stripes offers to give Rarity some ideas on new product, and Coco tells Rarity that Suri is having a grand opening sale which is why she has more customers than her. Rarity tells Coco that they need to get into Suri’s shop to find out the source of what’s going on, and leaves Sassy to run things at Rarity For You until they get back.

When Rarity and Coco arrive at The Purple Sapphire, Rarity first comments on how hideous Suri’s window display is, even though Coco shockingly admits that the clothes aren’t so bad. Once they head inside to look around, Rarity calls everything “lame” and “last season”, but Coco tells her that the place isn’t so bad. Rarity then starts to question Coco’s loyalty, which begins to scare her. That was when Suri shows up and sees Rarity and Coco at her store, and she mischievously greets both as old friends. Rarity demands to Suri to explain why she would open a boutique across the street from hers. Suri laughs and tells her that she didn’t realize her boutique was across the street until after the contracts were signed, so she was stuck there, and then she decided to make the best of it and make some friendly competition. Rarity angrily tells her that she has the nerve to treat her employees like a piece of undercut silk, open across the street from her boutique to steal her business, and then asks for a “friendly” competition, and then insults her clothes in front of her customers. Suri felt pretty laid back and told her that she’s welcome to make it a big deal, but tells her that as long as it’s legal, she can do what she wants, and then she reminds Rarity that she’s the one with the customers and not Rarity, because unlike Rarity, she’s never at Rarity For You that often, while Suri is there for her customers full-time. As Suri’s customers agree with her, she then whispers to Rarity and Coco that she’s going to put them out of business.

When Rarity and Coco return to the boutique, they explain to the rest of the employees the situation, and wonder how they could fix it. Plaid Stripes brings up that she’s willing to make penguin-themed clothing, which would make the wearer look stylish and adorable at the same time, but Rarity tells her that she’ll need something bigger if she’s to get Suri out of business. Sassy and Coco both feel that Rarity might be making too much of a big deal over it, but Rarity tells them that Suri is there to steal her business, and that she will not allow that to happen. Rarity tells her employees that they have to work extra hard to regain customer satisfaction, and that she will have to make the best line of the clothes she’s ever made, in hopes that Suri will give up and move her boutique somewhere else. Rarity begins to sing to her employees on how hard they need to work to take Suri down, saying she’s disgrace to fashion, and that she shouldn’t even own a boutique, let alone being across the street. Suri sings as well about how she’s going to put Rarity out of business for first beating her at Fashion Week, then stealing her assistant, and then getting more of a name of herself by opening a shop at Saddle Row.

When singing wasn’t enough to get Rarity customers, Blue Bobbin requests to go home, and Plaid Stripes complains to Vinyl on why she never talks. Rarity gets confused to after all she’s doing, she’s barely getting any customers, and Sassy tells her that she should stop trying so hard, and that customers will come when they come, and then Coco reminds her that Suri just opened, and that customers will start coming back to Rarity’s boutique soon, in which Sassy agrees and says that ponies won’t be standing for Suri’s “trash clothes and services” for long. Rarity then reminds them of Suri telling her that she’s going to bring her shop out of business, but then she decides to give Sassy and Coco’s word a chance, and that she might be just overreacting. Sassy then offers to get Rarity dinner, and Coco suggests a place nearby they could eat at. Once Rarity closes up the shop, the rest of Rarity’s employees return home while Rarity, Sassy, and Coco go out to dinner.

The next day comes, and while Rarity, Sassy, and Coco walk over to the boutique, they talk about how it’s a brand new day and that the boutique is going to get a lot of customers. Unfortunately, when they got there, they noticed that the boutique was broken into, and the place was ransacked. The Manehattan Police Department shows up to sweep the crime scene and to question the employees as Rarity, Sassy, and Coco try to figure out what has happened. Rarity and Sassy both claim it to be Suri’s doing, but Coco tells them that Suri would never go that far to destroy the competition. Rarity questions Coco on who else it could’ve been, but Coco was in a loss for words. Sassy tells Rarity that they need to stop Suri somehow, but Rarity tells her that they need proof that it was Suri’s doing. The police pony claims to have found a hair sample, and promised Rarity that they will identify it and let her know when the criminal is found. Rarity tells Sassy that she knows it was Suri, so she thinks she should give Suri a taste of her own medicine by ransacking her store too. Sassy finds it to be too evil, but she mischievously accepts. However, neither of them has ever ransacked a place before, but Plaid Stripes overhears their conversation and offers to help them. She tells them to meet her at her place at midnight, and they both gladly accept. Afterwards, however, Rarity starts to question if it’s a good idea to take revenge on Suri when revenge isn’t the best solution, but Sassy tells her that she has to learn a lesson. Rarity claims that her mind is saying yes, but her heart is saying no. Sassy starts to understand Rarity’s pain, and tells her that she will support Rarity no matter what her choice is, which makes Rarity feel grateful.

Later that night, Rarity and Sassy Saddles arrive at the Stripe house to meet up with Plaid. Plaid tells them that her dad is out on ‘important business’ so it would be the perfect chance to discuss their plan. Nervously, Rarity was about to explain her confession to Plaid, but Plaid constantly interrupts, talking about how cool the plan is, and shows them the unique-style stealth outfits and equipment they’re going to be using on the raid. When Rarity finally had the chance, she finally confesses that she won’t be doing the ransacking, which causes Plaid to feel confused on why she changed her mind. Rarity then explains that she was just mad before and have said things she shouldn’t have said, and that revenge is never solution to solve problems; and then Sassy adds that there wasn’t any proof of Suri doing the ransacking in the first place, and if the police find out it was her, Suri would be arrested. Plaid begs for Rarity to change her mind, but Rarity’s mind has been made, and she declines the offer before she and Sassy leave the apartment, but not before Rarity takes the stealth outfit Plaid made for her so it wouldn’t go to waste. Once Rarity and Sassy leave, Rarity tells Sassy how bad she felt declining Plaid like that and hope she doesn’t take it too hard, and Sassy tells her that she did the right thing. Right after Rarity and Sassy leave, Plaid glares over at them before she closes the door.

The next day, Rarity and Sassy walk back to the boutique to wrap things up with her employees before they return to Canterlot and Ponyville collectively. However, when they get to the boutique, they see the MPD sweeping Suri’s shop, and Coco explains that it has been broken into the night before. Suri walks up to Rarity and her friends angrily telling them that they had something to do with it, but Rarity tells her that she did no such thing; Suri, however tells Rarity that the cops have found a piece of purple hair lying on the ground and are going to analyze it, and she claims to know for a fact that it was Rarity’s. Sassy then reminds Suri that it could’ve been her hair own hair, but Suri claims that the color of the hair was wrong because it had a lighter shade of purple. After complaining that she never insured her shop yet, Suri then swears to Rarity that she won’t just put her out of business, but also have her arrested; she then smirks at Coco before trotting away. As Plaid Stripes happily joins up with Rarity and the others, Rarity glares at her, asking if she was responsible for ransacking Suri’s shop. Plaid Stripes joyfully agrees and hoping she would receive thanks for saving Rarity For You. Rarity then angrily tells her that she just made the situation worse, but Plaid tells her that even though Rarity wasn’t interested, she didn’t stop her from doing it, and Rarity realizes she should’ve. She then asks her how she could do something like that, and Plaid tells her that she learned it all from her dad, who is a professional at making messes. Rarity explains that they all could be in big trouble for it, and they could all end up in jail. Plaid then realizes what she did was wrong, and she began to cry and apologize, and claims that all she wanted to do was help. Rarity then apologized back stating that she wouldn’t have had the idea if she didn’t mention it, but then explains that just because she said things out of anger doesn’t automatically mean she really wants to actually go through with it. Plaid thanks Rarity for understanding and offers to turn herself in, but Rarity couldn’t allow that.

Rarity walks over to Suri who was devastated in knowing she’s going to lose her shop. Suri wanted to be left alone and asked Rarity to enjoy the freedom she has left. Rarity explains to her that she had nothing to do with the ransacking of her shop, and that maybe the same pony that broke into her own shop broke into hers. However, Rarity claims to have learned her lesson about how business competition works, and that it’s all just business. Rarity then admits that Suri does have a beautiful shop with exquisite clothes in it, and hopes she can stick around so she can put Suri out of business the proper way, and then she gives Suri a purple sapphire, hoping it would be enough to fix up her shop. Suri felt at a lost for words realizing that after all she did for her, Rarity would still help her fix her shop. Rarity agrees and hopes they would an actual friendly competition. Suri then thanks Rarity, and was about to apologize when suddenly, a giant purple-haired ball creature with hands and feet jumps out of a nearby clothes store trying to fit on the different clothes, but none of them fit, which makes the creature really angry, but before it could do anything else, the police capture it. The police pony claim that the creature is called a Furball Mutant from the Manehattan sewage system, and that it has been breaking into clothes shops all over the city for weeks, trying on different clothes and ruining them all. The cop says that the creature was the one who broke into Rarity and Suri’s shops. The creature was confused, and tried to explain in its screech-sounding voice that he didn’t break into Suri’s shop, but the police ponies didn’t listen and told him that he’s going to Tartarus, and then the cop states that the case has been closed. Plaid Stripes felt relieved to be off the hook, and then claims to have a new mutant-themed idea for the store.

Suri then apologizes to Rarity for not just assuming she broke into her shop, but for everything, because after Rarity gave her the money she needed to fix her shop, it proves that it doesn’t have to be every pony for themselves, and that winning isn’t everything. Rarity accepts her apology and hopes for the best for her store, and Suri tells her the same. Suri then apologizes to Coco for how she treated her as her assistant, and tells her that she is always welcomed back as her employee, and promises her a pay-rise, and doesn’t have to get her coffee anymore. Coco thanks Suri for the offer, but declines saying that Suri isn’t going to win the business competition that easily. Suri shrugged and claimed that it was worth a try, and they all shared a laugh.

Credits

 * Tabitha St. Germain as Rarity, Suri Polomare, Employee 2, Police Pony
 * Kelly Sheridan as Sassy Saddles
 * Cathy Weseluck as Miss Pommel
 * Lili Beaudoin as Plaid Stripes, Customer 2
 * Caitlyn Bairstow as Blue Bobbin, Customer 1
 * Peter Kelamis as Employee 1, Customer 3

Featured singer

 * Kazumi Evans as Rarity

Quotes

 * Rarity: Oh dear! Miss Saddles, we need a hot cup of tea here, stat!
 * Sassy Saddles: Oh, but, doesn’t she need water though?
 * Rarity: Tea is water, just hot and brewed!


 * Sassy Saddles: Okay, I probably have been living under a fabulous rock for a while, but who is this ‘Suri Polomare’?
 * Rarity: Oh she’s just some average ordinary fashion pony who had just as much of an eye for fashion as I am; even though she did abuse my generosity by pretending to be nice to me and asking for help, (tone becomes more aggressive) but it turned she stole my entire idea! Almost costing me my friends, and Fashion Week; and now she has the nerve to open another store across the street from mine?! (heavy breathing)
 * Coco Pommel: She was also very rude to me when I was her assistant.
 * Sassy Saddles: Well I’ll be a snake scale on silk! She sounds like a complete disgrace to everything fashion.
 * Coco Pommel: No kidding.


 * Rarity: The Purple Sapphire? Bleh! Even saying that name gives me a bad taste in my mouth! Saying them separately is fine, but together, pfft-ka!


 * Plaid Stripes: Say no more, Rarity! Because I have just the thing that might help save your boutique!
 * Rarity: Heh, let me guess, dear, is it something ‘ostrich’ related?
 * Plaid Stripes: Ostrich? (rasberries) That is sooooo last hour! No, because the new greatest bird that will sponsor all of your clothing… the duck!


 * Plaid Stripes: I bet all of us here do a better job at this boutique than you do at yours!
 * Sassy Saddles: (laughs) I’m my own employee at the Canterlot boutique, dear. The only reason you do a little more exquisite over here is because there are five of you.


 * Rarity: I don’t understand. How could somepony like Suri have more customers than me? I’m left with nothing!
 * Customer: Um, am I not good enough for you?
 * Coco Pommel: Face it, Rarity. It’s the grand opening sale at Suri’s shop. She’s going to have more customers than us for today.
 * Rarity: B-b-but how can somepony as evil as her even deserve that much attention? She doesn’t deserve it!


 * Rarity: You know what? We’re going to check out the shop. Sassy, you stay and run things here; even though there’s really nopony here.
 * Customer: Fine! If I’m not wanted here, I’ll just go to the grand opening across the street!


 * Rarity: Lame, ugly, so last season… so last year… ugh! So last… millennium!


 * Suri Polomare: Miss Pommel! Looks like you came crawling back to me, huh? I still didn’t get my coffee yet. (chuckles) Okay?


 * Rarity: First you abuse my generosity by stealing my fabric, then I see how you treat your employees like a piece of undercut silk, then I see you open a boutique across the street from mine, and now you want to have a “friendly” competition?
 * Suri Polomare: You’re welcome to make a big deal about it, sweetie, but as long as it’s all legal, there’s nothing that can really stop me!


 * Blue Bobbin: Yeeeah, we haven’t had a customer in a whole hour. Can I go home early today?


 * Plaid Stripes: (to Vinyl Scratch) How come you never talk? It’s creepy!


 * Rarity: Oh, darling! I don’t know if I can go through with it! I mean, my mind is saying ‘yes’, but my heart is saying ‘no’, and all my imagination comes from the heart. That’s what makes me Rarity!