//------------------------------//
// Prompt #363: Out of Order 
// Story: Ponywatching 
// by ThunderTempest 
//------------------------------//

“Ugh, it’s just so last year.” Rarity winced as she heard the fatal words once more. It was fast becoming a tradition that whenever she created a new line, that its inevitable premiere was in Canterlot. Not that she disliked Ponyville, of course, but there were some things that Canterlotians could certainly appreciate more, and her particular brand of high fashion was certainly one of them. 

But this particular debut was not going well for Rarity. She had been so sure that she had this season’s look nailed down. But no matter where she went in Canterlot her design was not being received well. Occasional failure was not a new thing to Rarity, but almost never on such a grand a scale as she was currently experiencing. Deciding that she was not going to get any new or valuable feedback from her current dress anymore, she began to make her way back to the Canterlot Carousel. At the very least, Sassy Saddles should be there, and she could offer some insight into where Rarity had gone so wrong.

However, when she got back to her shop in Canterlot, the sign on the door read ‘Out to Lunch – back soon’, though Rarity slipped inside regardless. It was, after all, still her shop, and she did have a key. Sassy Saddles was nowhere to be seen, though Rarity suspected that her manager had slipped off to some cafe so that she could talk and be seen by more famous ponies. That was certainly an aspect to the business that Rarity herself was deeply familiar with. Slipping herself out of her dress and hanging it up with her magic, she slipped into the back room and pulled down her reference folders.

She immediately noticed the problem. The magazines that she used to gauge what trends were coming and going were completely out of order. And somehow, in her creative frenzy a day and a half ago, she had not noticed that the magazines that she was looking at were from the previous year. Her mind immediately cycled through the possibilities for who had commited such a depraved act. Applejack, uncultured though she may be, was not the type to maliciously sabotage her like that. Nor was Twilight – the poor mare couldn’t put anything out of order on purpose. Pinkie Pie, too, while being a prankster by nature, would never do anything to purposely sabotage Rarity’s career. Unintentionally, maybe. Provided that Pinkie had no idea that Rarity used the magazines for research, she was a possibility.  Sassy Saddles, too, was probably out: her own success depended on Rarity’s, and Rarity had impressed upon Sassy that the workroom was Rarity’s own space, and that apart from the occasional tidy, she was not to touch anything in there. Fluttershy would never even think about doing such a thing, which only left Rarity’s last candidate: Rainbow Dash. Rarity inspected the pile of magazines.

It was rather haphazardly shoved back into a pile, in almost completely random order, another thing which spoke of Rainbow Dash’s involvement. Rarity was almost certain that Rainbow hadn’t meant to ruin the order, but it was not beyond the realm of possibility for Rarity to imagine that Rainbow had knocked the stack over by accident, fixed it in a rush, and then simply never told Rarity. Rarity inspected the room with the same level of detail that had saved her numerous times as a designer.

Yes, the slightly lopsided stack definitely looked like Rainbow’s work. One of the window latches was broken, again, because Rainbow Dash sometimes forgot that this was Canterlot, and not Ponyville. And, of course, the most telling thing was that Rainbow’s spare flight suit was resting on Rarity’s workbench, where it had been since Rarity arrived in Canterlot yesterday, a note saying that Rarity could study it, but that she had better not ruin it. And of course, Rarity couldn’t forget the multitude of rainbow hair and blue feathers scattered around the boutique that she had been cleaning up since yesterday. It was obviously Rainbow’s moulting season. 

Rarity sighed. Fortunately, it had only been the one dress that she had created in that frenzy of creativity. It wouldn’t be much work to create something new, but it was still annoying that Rainbow hadn’t cleaned up properly, or at least told her.

*******

On the field at the Wonderbolt’s stadium in Canterlot, Rainbow Dash suddenly shivered.

“You okay there, Dash?” asked Spitfire

“I think Rarity’s mad at me.”