I Think It's Called Ponytown

by Lasairfion

9/10 Customers can't tell the Difference

Mr Li looked over towards Mr Wong, his manager, and waved a heavy looking book in the air. "I have bought a Chinese-English dictionary as you asked me to do, Sir", he shouted across the factory floor, running towards the manager.

Mr Wong looked disapprovingly at the other man as he broke Factory Rule 6a but his face lit up as he saw the book and grasped what Mr Li was suggesting. "Ah, finally!" he exclaimed. "Now we can produce the 'My Lovely Horse - Friendship is Enchantment' line".

---

Rainbow woke up.

It wasn't one of those wonderful starts to the day where the clouds still felt fluffy, and the temperature meant that getting out of bed wasn't a chore. She liked those days. The ones where you stretched out your rear legs and tried to air-cycle for the sheer pleasure of it.

No. This was one of those other days. The mattress seemed compacted and she could feel the muggy closeness of humidity gone awry and the beginnings of a headache forming around her temples. She also didn't know where her bag of plumbing tools had gone.

She finally pulled her head out from under the covers and groggily rolled onto the floor, landing in an awkward spread-eagled heap. Luckily cloud floors were soft. Butt skyward and nose pressed to the deck, she slowly opened her eyes and peered through the mass of soft blue mane blocking her view.

Hayburger wrappers and soda cartons littered the floor, rustling slightly in a breeze coming through an open door.
"Ugh", muttered Rainbow. "That's the last time I trust one of Berry's drinks at a party. I'm pretty sure a Wallbanger shouldn't put actual dents in the wall."

And if it did, she didn't see why it had to feel like it was her head that had done it. Funny thing though, she couldn't actually remember what the party had been for.

She dragged herself across the room leaving a furrow in the cloud floor, through the open door into the en-suite bathroom and oozed over the edge of the bath, landing with a plop into the tub. The shower head turned on.
The sweet, sweet water poured over her body bringing back all sense and sensibility and washing away guilt, headache and that tingling numbness from the tips of her hooves.

She turned towards the full length mirror to give herself a rakish grin, saw the multi-coloured hair covering her body and screamed.

A cascade of accidents rippled through Ponytown culminating at the far end where Twilight, on hearing the scream, tripped down the main stairs of her castle and ended up landing on Point at the bottom, ruining the Morning Task List to which he was just adding the finishing touches.

---

Mr Bing, the graphic designer, looked across at Mr Liu, the product research co-ordinator.
"You are sure that this one has rainbows?" he asked. It seemed a bit unrealistic compared to all the others.

"Of course", said Liu emphatically. He had been up all the night previous using a VPN to access Western Google Search Engine in order to research these important details. After the third hour he had been wishing he'd taken that free English class, even if those men in suits had looked rather religious. "Blue with rainbows", he continued. "That is what the... valuable information I have procured stated. Small children love rainbows. Also pink."

"Cast a brick to find jade", muttered Bing, causing Liu to look sharply at him. "Nothing, nothing", he stated quickly, colouring the mane and tail on the horse image before him a light blue, before continuing onto the body with a smooth blend of rainbow colours. He tapped a key, sending the finished work down to Production Line 4.

---

After five minutes hyperventilating, Rainbow pulled herself together. Worse things had happened before, and she was pretty sure that this was either temporary, or fixable... or temporary, or.... Yes, there was no doubt in her mind that this could be fixed. Thank goodness she knew a fashion expert.

She dried herself off with her extra fluffy towel and ate a hearty bowl of Yam Nutrition brand oatmeal, as she felt that drowning her sorrows in their delicious Chocolate Cone snacks would be a step too far. The Good Quality Chocolate Crispy Biscuit was tempting though.

Breakfast completed, she launched herself through a window and shot to the ground. After all, she was the fastest... plumber... in all Equestria, right? Yanking on the air-brakes, Rainbow came to a stop mid-hover above the town square. Something felt very off, and yet she knew with all the positivity in the world that she was a plumber. The best plumber there was. She had her Rainbow Wrench cutie mark to prove it. No-one could wrangle those tubes as fast as she could. She was Employee of the Month six months running at the Rainbow Factory!

Rainbow felt the fear rising again and stamped down hard against it. This was no time to go to pieces, even if she looked like....

Rainbow was pretty sure that yesterday she hadn't looked like this, but when she tried to remember what she did look like, she was coming up with a blank. After all, she worked with rainbows, she was called Rainbow, there was even one on her cutie mark. It didn't seem all that odd come to think of it. Granted, no-one else had this stylish sort of colour arrangement, but she'd always been unique in her colouring, right? This rang true.

She dropped lightly to the ground and feeling very puzzled continued on her way over to Ponytown County Carusel Clothing Design and Production Limited Liability Corporation. The CARUSEL was a tall decorative building that looked rather like a fairground ride, if one were to be designed by someone with an aesthetic appreciation for ribbons and fancy scroll-work. Outside the main door, two giant Fortune Cats beckoned with their paws in synchronised politeness.

It was here that her friend Scarcity worked on behalf of the family business which owned immense factories across Equestria producing everything from construction work-wear to office clothing. The Rainbow Factory uniforms all came from CARUSEL, she knew. She'd got a discount on hers.

Knocking at the door, she heard the shrill call of the occupant. "CARUSEL Boutique, where work-wear is Cheap... but quality", sang out the recognisable tones of her friend.

Rainbow walked into the store and stared at the pink pony with the mohawk facing her. Scarcity had just enough time to grab her Official Fainting Couch before Rainbow hit the floor.

Comments

[Voldine]

This has an interesting premise...

[Georg]

Story very good in many way.

[Mr cold ghost]

I am laughing thanks to this little story you have made here. Thanks!

[Irrespective]

This.
This I like.

Please continue.

[Zaten the Changeling]

Mr Wong looked disapprovingly at the other man as he broke Factory Rule 6a but his face lit up as he saw the book and grasped what Mr Li was suggesting. "Ah, finally!" he exclaimed. "Now we can produce the 'My Lovely Horse - Friendship is Enchantment' line".

Would love to know what factory rule 6B is.

[Lasairfion]

8905527
Rule 6 is all about human movement. 6a is of course running. 6b covers the hop, skip or jump, 6c is no dancing. We don't mention 6d but please don't do it on the factory floor.

[Accurate Balance]

Okay... now I see where this is going.
And don't you worry. This offends no Chinese people clever enough to understand this story.