Nothing to Do but Wait

"What do you mean you don't know how long it will take?!"

Rainbow Dash stood at Health and Hooves, Ponyville's main urgent care center, conversing with one of the receptionists.  It was time for her to get her routine checkup, something Dash always hated doing.  Today sounded like it would be just as bad as all the others, if not worse.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but Dr. Oxi Meter is currently treating a patient with a very severe disease.  Doctors from the hospital are going to come and meet with Dr. Meter and his patient.  They might try to treat him here, or they might treat him down at the hospital, we're not sure as of now."  The receptionist didn't care much for Rainbow Dash's stark attitude, but she still wanted to be of as much help as possible.  "I'm sorry for the inconvenience ma'am, but I'm afraid you'll have to stay here and wait to ensure that you don't miss your appointment.  This might take half an hour or it might take 3 hours, there's really no telling.  But if you're not present when we call for you then you'll have to come back another day and pay the no-show fee."

Okay, no this definitely sounded worse than her normal checkup.  Up to three hours of waiting?!  That's, like, impossible! she thought.  I could even wind up in here for longer!

Rainbow decided that ultimately her health was more important than her need for entertainment, so she sat down in a chair near the receptionists' windows.  At least the chairs were comfortable, with carpet-like fabric and a bit of cushioning as opposed to a hard wooden one.  Or the ones she used to sit in at school, those were the worst.

Rainbow scanned the waiting room for anything of interest.  To her left, of course, were the service windows.  A clock hung on the wall opposite to her: 10:02.  A few other people were spread throughout the room minding their own business.  There were restrooms in the corner across from Dash.  There was an empty children's area further along the wall with the clock.  Thank Celestia, noisy toddlers would make this SO much worse.  To the right of Rainbow was a small table with a magazine on it.  An office-style water cooler sat beyond this table, only about 3/4 of the way filled.

Rainbow Dash decided to start by reading the magazine.  "Equestria's HOTTEST New Looks!  30 Outfits Meant to Impress!" read the header.  Rainbow hadn't ever been interested in fashion, especially since she never wore clothes.  Other cover-page features read "Fluer shares her favorite beauty tips",  "The rise of the window sweater", and "12 flirty ways to entice your stallion".  Rainbow started to flip through the slickly textured pages, passing up many ads, offers, and the Fluer interview.

Finally, something had caught her eye:  a short article titled "Rarity, Ponyville's up and Coming Fashionista".  "I don't remember Rarity ever saying she was interviewed!" Rainbow muttered in surprise.  "Surely she would've told us...  Well, she probably did, I guess I just drowned her out like normal."

It may surprise you that one of the fastest-growing names in fashion resides in the small town of Ponyville.  Rarity, a tailor and fashion designer, has recently been making a name for herself, beating Suri Polomare in competitions and even designing Princess Cadance's wedding dress!  Rarity runs her own store called the Carousel Boutique, which is Ponyville's go-to fasion department.  Rarity lives and breathes fashion, even going as far as to live in her own shop!  When she's not pioneering some of the latest trends, though, she can be found saving the day, as she is one of the legendary bearers of the Elements of Harmony, specifically the Element of Generosity.

Rainbow was glad that she was somewhat slightly mentioned in Rarity's article, kinda, sorta... but she would have preferred to have her own paragraph.  One of Rarity's best friends surely deserves a section of her own, right?  Especially since I'm another "legendary bearer"!  After scanning through the rest of the magazine and not finding anything particularly interesting, she set it back down on the table.

10:35, the clock read.  The receptionist's lowest estimate had already passed, much to the disappointment of an impatient Rainbow Dash.  She rocked from side to side in her chair in an effort to amuse her, but it just wasn't enough to take her mind off of the boringness.

Rainbow decided to do what she does best, well, excluding flying.  Nuzzling down into the back of the chair, Dash laid her head back and let her eyelids fall.  She pretended as if she was relaxing on a plushy cloud, or better yet, in her own bed.  That reminded her, she forgot to wash her comforter after getting ketchup on it last night.  It was worth it, she thought,  Those hay burgers were too delicious to be left uneaten.  Images of burgers and fries occupied her mind as she drifted off to sleep.....