It was midnight. Apple Bloom knew her episode would be on this day, but what she didn’t know was that it would start right now. The birds arguing, the computer humming, the click-clack-clack tap-tap clack-clack-clack tap click of her keyboard as she typed a line of what she hoped was the next great Equestrian fanfic. It wasn’t.

Rainbow Dash got up on her cloud, and the first thing she noticed was that the sun was much higher up than she had expected.

“Oh crap, I’m gonna be late!”

She sprinted to the site of the episode she was supposed to be filming and, instead of landing, took her last twenty kilometres an hour off by rolling sideways. Regardless of how, she was outside a clothing store on a street of similar urbanness to downtown Ponyville, which was to say it was more or less nowhere.

“Y’all raht there, sugarcube?” Applejack said. She was there along with Twilight.

Rainbow got up and brushed some dirt off her face and front legs. “I feel okay. Am I late?”

“You’re fifteen minutes early.”

“Oh.” Suddenly all the gravel she had displaced didn’t seem worth it. “Well, what are you doing here so early?”

“Ah left early in case Ah was slow, but Ah wasn’t.”

“Same here,” Twilight said.

“So do we just wait? Where’s Apple Bloom?”

“Wasn’t supposed to come,” Applejack said. “And yes.”

“Well, what exactly is this place?”

“As you can see from the giant letters...” Twilight said, “Well, you can’t make them out so well standing right in front of the building. But this is Case Clothed, it’s a clothes store. You may wonder why all the walls are made of acrylic, and it’s because of their dedication to transparency to their customers. They don’t have anything to hide, and even if they did, they wouldn’t.”

“So how does what I assume is a chain of clothing stores exist here? Here being Equestria and all surrounding countries.”

“It must be their wide range of designer apparel designed to fit in anywhere from the business gala to the forced sex alley at cut-rate prices. Popular with loiterers and ponies who are ‘just browsing’, Case Clothed has sixty-four—”

“I get it.”

After waiting fifteen minutes, they went inside and tried to find some way to make things entertaining for themselves.

“Um...” Rainbow said.

Twilight came over to her. “What? Oh, you’re looking at one of Case Clothed’s famous bargain bins.”

Filled slightly past the brim with cast iron pans, window blinds, and blocks of polystyrene, its contents did nothing to make it stand out from any other Case Clothed bargain bins. “I don’t get it.”

“Exactly.”

“I don’t get that either.”

“It’s supposed to be weird to make ponies mention it and give them free advertising.”

“Oh. That’s disappointing.”

“Well, I’m going back to the large range of casual yet sophisticated options. Or a small part of it since there’s so much selection.”

Already incredibly bored, Rainbow went to her primary girlfriend, since talking to her usually made her happy. “AJ?”

She turned around. “What?”

“I’m bored like a young foal.”

“How could you be bored at such a great store? Ah mean, look at this shirt.”

“It has a joke I’ve heard before.”

“Yeah, but it’s a good joke.”

“So they’re paying you too.”

“Payin’ me? We came ‘ere ‘cause we love Case Clothed.”

“So if they’re paying everypony else, why not me?”

“We just love Case Clothed for their middle-end clothin’ at cut-rate prahces.”

“Talk to me when you can talk normally.”

The next morning, Apple Bloom woke up to her alarm and, instead of comedically hitting the snooze button, listened to her own advice and got up. She did her morning bathroom routine, walked uphill through snow to school, had a normal day of mediocre grades, walked uphill through snow home, walked up stairs to her room, and began the fun part of her day.

“So how did you love your first visit to Case Clothed?” Twilight said as they stood outside the building.

“It was shit.”

“It was the shit, as always.”

“Look, I did what they said, so I’ll see you whenever.” She flew away.

“What’s her problem?” Applejack said.

“Meh, sometimes that’s how I feel when I come out of Case Clothed without buying anything. If that wasn’t such a rare occurrence, it wouldn’t be a problem, but I guess it’s a good problem to have.”

With the fun finally over, here are the testimonials of half the ponies who saved the world:

“I didn’t get anything, but I might’ve if I had brought any money.” –Twilight Sparkle

“How they have such high-quality casual wear at cut-rate prices is beyond me.” –Applejack Apple

“Case Clothed has things you can’t find anywhere else.” –Fluttershy Next Chapter: Chapter 64: One Better Estimated time remaining: 12 Hours, 58 Minutes