Part 7: Fluttershy's Cottage
“So, ‘Whinnyapolis’, huh?” Ellie said, as she accepted one of the plates of carrot cake Twilight was distributing with her aura. “I heard that was pretty far north, wasn’t it?”
“Oh, yes,” agreed Fluttershy, gently putting down the teacup in her wing. “But when I got that letter asking for help with an orthros that suddenly started acting up, I just had to do what I could! Poor little thing was just experiencing his first Whinnyapolis autumn, and all he needed was a cute little sweater. It gets really cold up there, don’tcha know!“
“Yeah, our version’s like that, too!” Ellie chuckled, remembering her friend Lauren’s favorite topic of how neither she nor anypony on the East Coast had ever seen a day of real winter in their lives.
Anybody. Damn it, Ellie, you’ve been here too long.
“But I’m glad to see you back! And I feel really honored that you invited me to this thing. I know you all really have a special bond with each other.”
Besides their shared history, there were many, many things that set her apart from Twilight, Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Oh, don’t think of it like that.” Fluttershy smiled. “You’re one of the girls now!”
Ellie smiled back. Though the first time she had ever heard those words and realized they meant to include her, she had winced. But eventually, she absorbed the fact that her short hair, allergy to feminine expression, and men’s dress shirt didn’t mark her as non-central to those words here. Nor to the female pronoun.
“Yeah, I really feel that! I’m taken aback at how readily you girls accepted me even though I’m not from your world.”
“Of course!” Fluttershy assured. “Though speaking of… um…” Fluttershy seemed hesitant. “I’ve always been curious about one thing about your world. I didn’t want to pry, though!”
“Ask away!” Ellie couldn’t imagine the demure pegasus saying boo to a goose, much less asking anything offensive to her.
“Is it true what Twilight said? That in your world, humans are the only animals that can think?“
“Yeah, that’s right!” Ellie laughed. “I mean, our non-human animals can think too, but definitely not the same way yours can.”
There was a bear lying on Fluttershy’s couch right now, quietly reading a book of all things.
“Doesn’t that get lonely?”
Ellie reflected. “Yeah, I think it does. It’s something that makes us think we’re the only species that matters. I don’t think it was good for us.” She looked at Fluttershy. “It must be nice, having so many animal friends.”
Of course, she didn’t really like the way that bunny that was always hanging around Fluttershy glared at her all the time, but besides that the animals were all nice.
“Oh, I wouldn’t know how I’d ever live without them!” Fluttershy agreed. “Without my furry friends book club, what would I even do on Wednesday evenings?”
As if on cue, a pair of birds refilled Ellie’s mug of tea.
“Thanks!” Ellie nodded, and the birds whistled in response.
“I kinda feel like a Disney princess, from a movie!” Ellie laughed to herself. “A few months ago I would have only said something like that ironically, but I can see the appeal of it now.”
“Oh, your world has princesses stories, too?” Rainbow Dash was excited. “What do they do? Do they invent a new magic— er, ‘science’ that goes on to help everycreature in your world? Resurrect a long-lost civilization?”
“Oh. Uh…” Ellie grimaced. “Well, most of them just…” She trailed off as she noticed the confused pony expressions around her. How was she going to explain this in a world where the word “princess” was synonymous with being of the highest authority, the highest power, the highest agency? Yeah, let’s just not get into that.
“Uh, let me just tell you about the one I liked growing up!”
She smiled as she thought of her favorite Disney princess movie, one that had spoken to her on so many different levels that it was actually kind of weird.
“There is this one, Mulan, which is about a girl that saves her kingdom by defeating an entire invading army!”
“Oh, cool!” said Rainbow Dash, this being clearly her speed.
“Yeah! It’s a great one.” Ellie smiled. “You see, her dad is conscripted to defend against the invaders, so Fa Mulan disguises herself as a human stallion to join the army in his place.”
“What?” Rainbow Dash was confused. “Why would she do that?”
“Oh, right!” Ellie realized. “It’s because her dad is getting old and frail, so she was afraid that he wouldn’t survive if he had to—”
“No, I meant, why would she have to disguise herself as a human stallion?”
Ellie was at a loss for an answer.
What was she going to say?
She wasn’t going to say that in her personal interpretation, becoming a common soldier to be fed into the meat grinder of war was hardly a triumphant moment of self-actualization, but rather the only way to escape an otherwise inescapable fate: Becoming an object possessed by a man. A womb that speaks, with even the speaking part conditional. A painted bird to display in the best case, and a set of callused hands to work and a strong back to burden in the worst.
She wasn’t going to say that had the mysterious force that brought her here had sent her back in time in her world instead, that she had long-standing plans to make a beeline for the nearest convent or Buddhist monastery or Sufi order, because while her own autonomy would never be respected, the authority of the local male deity might.
She wasn’t going to say that she had no reason to think of herself as strong and ingenious as the few women in history recorded as breaking those molds. Able to manipulate social situations to become the possession of a man with access to power she could use. Able to create commercial empires without the right to open her own bank account. Able to sleep in filthy men’s clothing every night because otherwise the French peasants she was leading would—
“It’s just a thing she had to do. Human mares just weren’t al— couldn’t be soldiers back then.”
She saw Rainbow Dash scratching her head with her wing.
“But they can now?”
She knew that the pegasus idolized Flash Magnus, and as a filly dreamed of being magically transported back to the Pre-Classical Age and fighting dragons alongside him. She knew that her mother never tried to worriedly turn her away from such bizarre things for a young girl to be thinking about.
“Yes, they can now.”
Not Ellie, though. Not with that pesky diagnosis of gender dysphoria from her senior year in college buried somewhere deep in her case history. Not that she could ever see herself wanting to in the first place, because she always had good enough prospects in life to never have to consider such a thing, with all the dangers involved. Dangers that also didn’t even exist here.
Ellie tried to change the subject.
“We’re still missing one, aren’t we?”
It showed how desperate she was because in truth, Ellie had kind of been relieved. She’d gotten off on the wrong foot with Applejack, and then had stepped on her feet a couple times more after that. Or stepped on her hooves?
“She said she’d get here on the noon train…” Twilight reflected. “Even with stopping back home, she should have gotten here by now!”
But Sweet Apple Acres was quite a ways out of town, and there was no way she would have been able to get there and then to the edge of the Everfree Forest by now, even at a pony gallop. Oh, right, it must be the other one. Rarity. Rainbow Dash all but confirmed.
“Oh, you know Rarity! She’s probably just fixing her mane so that it looks exactly the same as it did before, except it has one more twist that nopony notices!“
Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and Ellie laughed broishly. Femmes and their beauty routines, am I right? Totally not participating in femmephobic internalized misogyny by making such comments.
Wait, she actually might not be, at least in this world. Neat.
“Up top!” Ellie lifted her left fist, and Rainbow Dash clapped it with her hoof, neither of them needing to even glance at the other. Swag. Wait, the kids still say “swag”, right?
“Wait a minute…” interrupted Pinkie Pie suspiciously. She pulled up a filing cabinet out of somewhere and opened a drawer.
“Wait, where did that come from—”
“I have your file right here!” interrupted Pinkie, not answering Ellie’s question. She took out one of the pages from a plain manila folder and practically shoved it in Ellie’s face. It had a caricature of her face in the center, surrounded by six cutie marks with lines connecting them crossing this way and that.
“See Rarity’s?” Pinkie pointed a hoof at the three diamonds in one corner. “According to this, you’ve never even met her!”
It was true. Ellie could see there was no line between her face and the three diamonds, which was practically the only missing link in the entire graph criss-crossed with black lines. Wait, not all of them were black—
Before Ellie could figure that out, Pinkie suddenly took back the page. When she looked up, even the filing cabinet was already gone.
“But if you’ve never met her, how could you laugh at what Rainbow Dash said? Could it be that my information is… wrong?” Pinkie seized her temples with her hooves.
Ellie laughed. “I haven’t met her, but, you know, I’ve been hearing stories from you all! She sounds like a certain… type, in my world.“
“What?” Pinkie Pie was puzzled. “They have unicorns in your world?”
“What?” Now Ellie was puzzled. “No. I, uh, never mind.” She shook her head. “I was wondering, though. Why I’ve never had the chance to meet her before? You all sound really close!”
“Oh, you know!” Twilight said. “She’s been on the road a lot recently! She has boutiques in four different cities now, and friends from all over.“
“But Twilight!” interjected Pinkie. “She’s always had boutiques and friends in different cities! She’s only been away from Ponyville so much because of her—”
She stopped herself, then covered her mouth with her hooves. Ellie looked around. Fluttershy seemed nervous. Rainbow Dash was giving Pinkie an annoyed look. Twilight was frowning. Ellie felt as if she should not pry. So she changed the subject again, to something else she had been wondering.
“Where’s Applejack?”
Everypony looked at her. “Huh?”
“Oh, it’s just that the gang would be all here if Applejack were here too, right? I actually assumed she was the one missing at first.” Ellie indicated the empty chair closest to the cottage door.
Instead of an answer there was an awkward silence, but it did not last more than a beat, as said door swung open theatrically in a light blue aura.
“Mes chéries!”
A unicorn in a coat of brilliant white made her dramatic entrance. Her purple mane cascaded down in a single flowing spiral. Ellie wondered how many turns it normally had.
She approached Twilight first, being closest to the door.
“I am so désolée for being so late!”
Rarity kissed the air on either side of Twilight’s muzzle as she just sat still, confused. Wait, was that la bise?
“You will not believe the day that I’ve had! Quel calvaire!”
She melodramatically placed the back of her hoof on her forehead for good measure, then kissed the air on either side of Pinkie’s muzzle. Pinkie laughed.
“You would think les porteuses would have seen a lady’s travel trunk of a proper size before!”
Rarity moved on to Fluttershy, kissing the air on either side of her muzzle as Angel Bunny looked on suspiciously. Fluttershy cowered under a wing after.
“But after a pourboire généreux the gentilétalon finally agreed to make the space.“
Rarity did the same to Rainbow Dash, who rolled her eyes during, then crossed her forelegs and hmphed after.
“It almost felt transactionnelle!”
Without skipping a beat, Ellie leaned forward to press her right cheek against the right side of Rarity’s muzzle, gave the air a smack, then did the same with the left side.
Rarity stopped herself and gave her a curious look. Not looking away from her, she called.
“Twilight, chérie! I do believe I’ve never been introduced to this… um…”
“Human!” Twilight supplied. “Her name’s Ellie. I told you about her last time we talked, remember?”
“Oh, of course!” She gave a mild nod, a slight curtsy with her legs. “Enchantée.”
Ellie smiled.
“Pareille.”
Rarity gave her another curious look.
“Well, now I am most certainement trés deçue that I cannot stay!“ Rarity began making her way to the door, having rounded the table.
“But I plan to be in Ponyville more often from now on.”
She stopped at the door, and turned back to look at everypony and smiled.
“I do look forward to spending more time with you all, darlings!”
Ellie swore she made eye contact with her for a few microseconds at the end there. Rarity theatrically closed the door behind her as she left.
Silence reigned for a few moments.
“Huh…” Ellie exhaled, shifting her jaw to one side.
“Yeah, that was Rarity!” Twilight said apologetically. “Sorry about that, she always gets weird like this whenever she gets back from hanging around with her fancy friends.“
“Oh no, I didn’t mind,” Ellie said, head only half in the conversation. “She speaks French?”
“Oh, it’s called Prench, actually!” Twilight laughed. “I guess it’s just like how your ‘English’ is our Ponish. A fascinating correspondence, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, it is,” Ellie said, still distracted. “’Prench’, huh?” Ellie smirked. “That’s funny.”
“Yeah, it’s what they speak in the Pays des Poneys!” Ellie’s ears noted with disapproval that Twilight pronounced the ‘s’es.
“’Pays des Poneys!’” Ellie exclaimed in wonder, not pronouncing the ‘s’es and stressing the last syllable. She chuckled. “Amazing.”
“Yeah…” Twilight seemed unsure of how to continue the conversation, or if it even was one at this point. “It used to be its own nation before being absorbed by Equestria. A lot of Canterlot families can trace their roots to it. A lot of playwrights, novelists, and philosophers come from there, too. They also make really good grape juice—”
“Could you introduce me to her?” Ellie interrupted. “I mean, to have, like, a real conversation with her? I mean, she speaks French!” She looked at Twilight. “Wait, do you speak French? I mean, Prench?”
“Oh, uh…” Twilight shifted her eyes. “No, I don’t. But I speak Old Ponish! And Pony Latin! I mean, Prench descended from Pony Latin so that’s almost as good, right?”
“Oh, I guess? But I don’t speak Latin.” Ellie said dismissively, not even bothering to wonder why they called it “Pony Latin”.
“And she makes clothes, right?”
She looked down at the shirt that had been her only outer article of clothing for months now. She had tried to take as good care of it as she could, but the patches and stitches and lingering stains were starting to accumulate. The once-white tank top underneath was in far worse shape. The bra was… fine, actually, since she only really wore it to social occasions like this, but it had been on the last set of hooks before it became her daily driver, so…
“Like, if we could just hang out together or something, it’d be really cool? We could talk in Prench and maybe talk about making me some new clothes…”
The look on Twilight’s face seemed… concerned? Ellie couldn’t quite place it.
“Oh, right! She’s like, a super fancy fashion designer!“ Ellie chuckled. “That really is cool! But I guess it would be insulting to assume she’d take time from her busy schedule just to make clothes for me.“
“What? No! Don’t be silly, you silly!” Pinkie Pie interrupted. “She’s the Bearer of the Element of Generosity, for cryin’ out loud! Of course she’d be glad to help out a new friend! Also, I’m sure she would loooooove the challenge of designing clothes for a whole new species nocreature’s ever seen before! Why, if she had known you were interested I’m sure she would have begged you to let her make clothes for you! Isn’t that right, Twilight?”
“Yeah…” Twilight agreed awkwardly. “All of that is correct!”
“And it’s not like Twilight’s the only pony that knows her! I could set up something! Oh!” She pulled out the filing cabinet from out of nowhere again. “Then I’d be the one filling in that missing edge! A friendship K7! That is so special!” She started prancing and then suddenly stopped. “Wait, not quite a K7, since it depends on which edges you project the multigraph down to. Hmm…”
Pinkie was lost in thoughts that Ellie did not bother even trying to comprehend. She was too excited to care.
Which itself was curious. She had never been this excited to meet a new pony before. She wondered why that was.
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Granted, Windy Whistles and worry alliterate far better than they actually go together.
But yeah, while I can hardly blame Ellie for not wanting to dump humanity's gender baggage on ponykind, it does make it hard for her to explain much of anything.
Something in their souls tells them something's off about that, but they're never sure what.
"Pony Latin" is one of the more unforgivable world building bunts in the show's history. I usually call it Equin.
And while Pinkie plots out higher dimensional friendship geometry, Twilight find herself in an awkward position of being jealous of her student... possibly. I could be reading too much into this, but it does lead to some fascinating issues down the line.
Also, the story's marked complete? Hadn't expected that. I suppose this will continue in whatever installments await down the line.
10553017
I can't imagine Windy Whistles discouraging Rainbow Dash from doing anything, even the things she really should be discouraging. It's what makes her character so fun!
But the more objectively bad the show's world building is, the more creative I have to be to work around it! Also, "Pony Latin" is really fun to say.
I was actually considering not even writing this story at first, and originally planned to start with the next one, lol. Ellie's falling for Rarity and the subsequent now fifteen-part romance arc was supposed to be the start of this whole thing. I am glad you enjoyed this prologue, though!
I'm guessing that Part 3 and Part 4 are just the ones that were previously independent stories, now brought in here? That's what it looks like, but I thought I'd confirm to make sure I wasn't missing something.
If so, certainly more convenient to have them here; pity about the comments lost with the separated stories gone, though.
On this chapter, the "princesses stories" I found another interesting bit of worldbuilding. :)
"She wasn’t going to say that had the mysterious force that brought her here had sent her back in time in her world instead, that she had long-standing plans to make a beeline for the nearest convent or Buddhist monastery or Sufi order, because while her own autonomy would never be respected, the authority of the local male deity might."
Two thoughts:
1: Well, on the one hand, she might also get lucky and end up in one of the times and places where she wouldn't need such a measure. On the other, unfortunately, she might end up in one where it would be very nice indeed to have but isn't available. So I can see why she'd focus on that plan.
2: I see she also has a few rough contingency plans for if she suddenly finds herself flung back in time. :D
(I think float glass might be a useful thing to "invent", if in the set of insertion points where both molten lead and molten glass are readily available but haven't been combined like that yet. Though, admittedly, I've never actually tried working with float glass.)
The link to the Pony Latin video doesn't seem to work, though I was able to modify the URL to get to the video.
And thank you for writing! Some mysteries, some worldbuilding, some character development... I enjoyed the chapter, and look forward to the sequel. :)
(And aye, I wasn't expecting this story to be complete here either, but I'm glad the story is continuing. :))
10554050
They're not deleted, just unsubmitted, and I could make them available to read by password, which I'll make available on a later blog post, The good comments were the only reason I didn't withdraw them a week ago! Thanks for your good comments on them, by the way
The other viable plan as a definite cultural and 95%+ likely ethnic outsider woman is the swamp witch route, but it's very risky since the things that make that work can also lead to some very, very bad outcomes for the same reasons. The local arm of a world religion will be the only low-cultural-context institution if only one exists. If even that doesn't exist, well, neither she nor I like to dwell on what would happen then. But yes, she could get lucky and end up in 19th-century Boston or Ancient Egypt. There are more options there and she could totally do the kooky future inventor thing that she wants to do.
Taken directly from the canon! Celestia invents a new magic, letting Equestria raise the sun without having to drain entire unicorns. Cadance resurrects the Crystal Empire.
Fixed it, thanks! Needed the https:// for the direct link to work
No, thank YOU for writing comments! It really does keep me going!
10554106
Ah, good to know! Thanks.
And, heh, thanks. :D
Riiiight. That either makes your eccentricities work for you or, well, as you said. Might still be your best option in some places and times, but risky for a Plan A.
"The local arm of a world religion will be the only low-cultural-context institution if only one exists."
A missionary religion especially, I'd expect, if you don't mind either converting or pretending to.
"If even that doesn't exist, well, neither she nor I like to dwell on what would happen then."
Right. Still could get lucky with an individual situation of some sort, but barring that, as I said, don't blame Ellie for not wanting to spend too much time on that.
(And as for ancient China, from what I know of its women's rights... yeaaaah...)
"But yes, she could get lucky and end up in 19th-century Boston or Ancient Egypt. There are more options there and she could totally do the kooky future inventor thing that she wants to do."
Right. :D
Though I'm guessing she'll, particularly eventually, prefer Equestria still, to the idea of that.
(...Though now I'm wondering about Ellie showing up in the court of Cleopatra VII, who's fascinated to learn about this strange person and language and such, and also a few little other things like, oh, black powder and its potential applications for keeping would-be emperors on their side of the Mediterranean...
Of course, there are plenty of other and older potential opportunities in the long history of Ancient Egypt, but from what I know of Cleopatra VII she'd be, among other things, useful for getting past the language barrier quickly. And she's cool. :))
"Taken directly from the canon! Celestia invents a new magic, letting Equestria raise the sun without having to drain entire unicorns. Cadance resurrects the Crystal Empire."
Oh, the events are, sure, but not them being a genre of story, that I'm aware of. :D
(I also got the impression from the chapter that the stories didn't limit themselves to historically attested princesses.)
You're welcome. :)
And aye, working for me now.
Heh, and you're welcome there, too. :)
Sometimes I can manage more than others, but I do like leaving good ones when I can. :)
Little known fact. Rarity is actually grey. She is actually as light a grey as you can get without getting white.
10554314
The neat thing is I can pass off facts I don't know as facts the character doesn't know!
10554323
She must have just conditioned her fur because she would be the color of a marshmallow at best.
10587648
I have no objection to the notion that Apple Acres cider is non-alcoholic (although I note that low-alcohol content versions of beer and so on are still regularly consumed by children in places like Germany and France, and it used to be the norm in times neither fresh cow's milk nor water was safe). What I do find a bit odd is the notion that in Equestria, Land of Magic, there are no mind-altering drugs, beverages, or foods at all. Besides the issues of biological plausibility (of course, we don't even know if Equestrian life evolved or was created by giant space-Elvises or something) and putting Berry Punch/Berryshine (brewmaster extraordinaire, according to various fanfic writers) out of a job, it's literally inhuman: getting away from one's neurological base state one way or another has been the human norm since before civilization got going (some historians think large-scale grain cultivation first began in the middle east as raw ingredients for beer, not bread).
10588931
I agree very much that that is the human norm. My ponies are not human. Of course, the "real" reason not a single recreational mind-altering substance is depicted in canon Equestria is that it's a G-rated show. I just chose to take that depiction seriously for my worldbuilding, the same with various other things that are also not depicted because of the G rating.
10587645
I'd like to think that if I were to ever visit the Magical Land of Equestria, the locals would be a bit less stylized than in the show: they rarely seem to translate well to 3-d.
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/897/829/611.png
I mean, we're definitely some ways down the slope of the uncanny valley there.
(I've seen some better - say, this, although the hair needs work - images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/559aad62-96ec-402d-8161-aeb4cb52c34b/ddljvef-4e0528b9-48ea-43e7-accf-6e19cfab4cc5.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_70,strp/unexpected_hug_by_therealdjthed_ddljvef-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7ImhlaWdodCI6Ijw9MjE2MCIsInBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzU1OWFhZDYyLTk2ZWMtNDAyZC04MTYxLWFlYjRjYjUyYzM0YlwvZGRsanZlZi00ZTA1MjhiOS00OGVhLTQzZTctYWNjZi02ZTE5Y2ZhYjRjYzUucG5nIiwid2lkdGgiOiI8PTM4NDAifV1dLCJhdWQiOlsidXJuOnNlcnZpY2U6aW1hZ2Uub3BlcmF0aW9ucyJdfQ.zpXs1Tn4cFl91Gc38lb6NPij0LzoCvrZ_0ubmsM6HcQ
but it's not that easy to do!
10588936
Not gonna tell you how to write your own fanfic, of course, but perfect adherence to canon-as-seen is probably impossible, or at least undesirable.
"So where's the toilet?"
"What's a toilet?"
10588943
An outhouse is depicted in The Last Roundup, bathrooms are canonical. Checkmate.
Though yes, I've thought this through. They would essentially function as squat toilets for any human visitor. Uncomfortable at first for anyhuman used to Western toilets but most of humanity has used them for most of history, so it can't be too bad since they are also constructed with modern sanitary standards in mind.
10588945
A hit, a palpable hit!
images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/95a30faa-aba6-404e-84dc-d2c94256ffe3/de9sr59-61331e43-82b6-4739-8648-2e60a3f7c20f.png/v1/fill/w_1192,h_670,q_70,strp/berry_punch_loves_a_pint_by_quoterific_de9sr59-pre.jpg?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOiIsImlzcyI6InVybjphcHA6Iiwib2JqIjpbW3siaGVpZ2h0IjoiPD03MjAiLCJwYXRoIjoiXC9mXC85NWEzMGZhYS1hYmE2LTQwNGUtODRkYy1kMmM5NDI1NmZmZTNcL2RlOXNyNTktNjEzMzFlNDMtODJiNi00NzM5LTg2NDgtMmU2MGEzZjdjMjBmLnBuZyIsIndpZHRoIjoiPD0xMjgwIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmltYWdlLm9wZXJhdGlvbnMiXX0.XGL6Cn3w5e07_Am_W5DxDvv_zM_DrBY9rgTECxfux-4
And no doubt the barrel is full of fruit juice, that carefully wrapped bottle is fine mineral water, and they're stomping grapes to make grape juice.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/8/18/403182__safe_screencap_amethyst+star_cloud+kicker_derpy+hooves_lemon+hearts_minuette_prince+blueblood_rarity_sparkler_sweet+and+elite_airship_blimp_cha.png
Not-champagne?
(Come to think of it, alcohol - as a chemical rather than a beverage - has quite a few uses. Antifreeze, disinfectant - there is in fact an MLP hand sanitizer - cleaner, food dye ingredient, fuel, preserving biological specimens, and aging it into vinegar for salads. It's also widely used in many of the personal care products Rarity no doubt uses. Perhaps she should consult a chemist - although pure alcohol should never be drunk straight, even if it lacks the deadly trace chemicals stuff produced for industrial use often has).
But enough. I'm just being silly-competitive at this point.
In spite of my quibbles, I am looking forward to the sequel.
10591599
This is almost exactly a comment that was on the story version of that chapter. Like in there, I'll answer that Ellie figures industrial alcohol exists but going that far would indicate she's an alcoholic, which she is not.
Can you make the full story with this character I want more of it and I feel like I'm missing part of the story and that makes me sad like how she got here
I had several laugh out loud moments just in the first chapter! This is possibly the best HiE story I have ever read,* and I'm eagerly looking forward to the continuing (mis)adventures of Ellie.
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* And I've read a lot of them!
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augh, i really should continue my stories with this character! they have been on hold for more than a year now. but i'm very glad you enjoyed this very early example of my writing!
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I hope you do continue with this series, or just pony fic in general. I love that you can conceive of the Equestrians as something other than 21st century humans in pony suits.