Story Notes: Business Trip · 2:03am Nov 1st, 2019
Here we have a second entry into Admiral Biscuit's contest challenge which has no deadline and no prizes.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/229885
Snowcatcher is what I've seen called a "HasbrOC" as she's from the brushable toy line (her sole vector art is a Rarity recolor). Her wave hit stores around November 2011. And yes, I remember that well because I was stalking the store looking for her because honestly, she's adorable. Yes, I collect the brushables and blind bags. And yes, there was a time we were getting new characters with regularity. I miss those days. The blind bags at least had some more variation, but they fizzled out and resorted to tons of repeats too.
Reference: http://strawberryreef.com/Index/Name/snowcatcherFIM.html
This is the description her package gives her:
SNOWCATCHER has a talent for catching snowflakes on her tongue -- they tickle as they melt!
Snowcatcher comes with a pink kitty (oh, and a wagon and a comb). She also has a blind bag toy. Snowcatcher was in the second assortment of blind bags (which was never released in the USA) and despite the endless repeats of blind bags, ironically she’s never been reissued since. So I don't have her blind bag toy.
Reference: http://strawberryreef.com/Index/Name/snowcatcherFIMmini.html
So that's all I had to work on as far as her personality. In the 'useless special talents' department, having the ability to catch snow on your tongue is probably up near the top of the list. She'd probably be happier working at a ski resort in the Rockies. Maybe she'll end up there someday, or maybe she'll return to Equestria when her time's up. What do you think she should do?
Source: https://derpibooru.org/164899
Snowcatcher's co-owners of the Mareiott are also early G4 brushable toys. There are sixteen total owners, and in addition to Snowcatcher, Sunny Rays, Flitterheart, Honeybuzz, and Feathermay, the rest are: Starbeam Twinkle, Daisy Dreams (earth pony cook), Diamond Rose (pegasus behind the front desk), Rainbow Flash, Dewdrop Dazzle, Plumsweet, Ploomette, Lulu Luck (unicorn tinkering in the garage), Lily Blossom, Sweetie Swirl, & Cherry Pie. For obvious reasons, it was impossible to work all of them into the story. So instead, we focus on one and get brief cameos from some of the others. But I see a much bigger picture in my head, one that isn't always translated to the written word.
Little Falls, New Jersey is part of the New York City metropolitan area. It's right outside Paterson, New Jersey's third-largest city. The only problem is to my knowledge Little Falls doesn't have any architecture that fits the bill for our horsey hotel. It's far more likely that this adventure is taking part in Wayne, the next town over (and let's face it, if a pony is going to pick a town name would it be 'Wayne' or 'Little Falls'?). Wayne's main claims to fame include being home to a fountain store that gave the band Fountains Of Wayne their name (sadly, this store has since closed) and a shout-out on Full House for having a palindrome for a zip code (07470). Not to mention both Little Falls and Wayne were filming locations for The Sopranos. Wayne is also the birthplace of a famous racehorse named Preakness, and yes, the Preakness Stakes were named for him (even though the Preakness Stakes are held in Baltimore, Maryland; he was the winner of the first race held at the track, the inaugural Dixie Stakes).
Teleportation. We've only seen alicorns and the most powerful of unicorns* use teleportation in the show. Is it too challenging? Does it require large amounts of mana? Or is it one of those things where unicorns get burned once and decide they'll just walk, thank you very much? Or, more likely, it's a power determined as the plot demands it. I think it's a bit more common than the show portrays because let's face it, if you had the power to wink between why wouldn't you use it? And yes, I'm using between as a reference to The Dragonriders of Pern. It's the perfect term to describe something between where you are and where you're going. Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_(fictional_place)
*This just in. Unless Sweetie Belle is a far more talented mage than we've seen to date, teleportation may in fact be foal's play as she uses the ability in Growing Up Is Hard To Do. We know Twilight's been teaching her magic, but has her education gone beyond the basics? And if she's never been taught teleportation, that would make it an innate spell for all unicorns. Granted, it wasn't the most competent teleport we've seen since she ended up half embedded in a hay bale. Still, she did it.
Of course, the use of teleportation is going to freak a lot of people out. What's stopping a unicorn from winking into a crowded place with explosives? Or teleporting into the shower to take photos of you, only to ransom them off later? There are so many ways to abuse this power, and there's no way at all to regulate it.
The Statue of Liberty's jurisdiction was decided by the Supreme Court in 1998. Technically, it officially belongs to New York. However, it is completely surrounded by Jersey City, making it an exclave of New York. Ellis Island is even more interesting, since the historic island is also an exclave of New York, but the reclaimed parts of the island are considered the jurisdiction of Jersey City. Confused yet? Over the centuries, there was a colonial land grant, a provincial governor's directive, an interstate compact, court decisions, and the eventual decision by the Supreme Court to figure this out. I guess no one liked the idea of one of New York City's most famous monuments being in New Jersey, geography be damned.
Visiting the Statue of Liberty is completely free for folks of all ages. But there's a catch. There's only one way to get to the island, since private vessels are prohibited from landing on Liberty or Ellis Islands, and that's the ferry which will set an adult back $18.50 as of the time of this writing. Someone, somewhere, would have a fit if unicorns started winking on and off the island. The National Park Service, ferry operators, any politicians on the take...
Source: AlwaysDressesInStyle
The protagonist here isn't a car guy, and perhaps should be forgiven for his dismissal of the Checker cab. The Checker Marathon remains the iconic yellow cab people associate with New York City, nearly forty years since it was discontinued, and a full decade after Checker ceased to exist as a company. Technically, the Marathon was the civilian retail version (yes, these were sold to the general public as well as taxi companies), while the taxicab was marketed as the A11. The cabs featured a giant Checker Motors Corporation logo on the hood, abbreviated to CMC. No relation to the Cutie Mark Crusaders, though I'm sure they'd love to get their hooves on one. Imagine all the trouble they could get into crusading they could do with their own car. The way Hollywood still features them to set scenes in New York City is a complete fabrication. The last Checker in service in NYC was retired in 1999 (not bad for a vehicle last manufactured in 1982!). Their durability is legendary. It had to be tough, as taxicabs are some of the most abused vehicles on the planet. The surviving population of Checkers is estimated to be approximately 1,500 cars total (with less than a thousand of those in running condition), with some early models (pre-A11) possibly extinct. After the Marathon was put out to pasture, Checker survived until 2009 as a supplier for other automakers (primarily for General Motors). The economic downturn of 2008 killed them, though Checker Motors CEO David Markin falling victim to Bernie Madoff's Ponzi scheme didn't help matters. Oh, and Morris Markin's home was firebombed in the 1920s, during an intense rivalry with Yellow Cab (founded by John Hertz, yes, that Hertz). Hertz's prized racehorses were likewise killed in a suspicious stable fire. Things like this happened in Chicago in the 1920s and 1930s. Which is why Markin relocated Checker to Kalamazoo, Michigan.
New York-style pizza is a thin crust pizza, usually 18"-24" in diameter. The thin crust makes it easy to fold in half, trapping the oil inside. The oil is what makes NY style pizza so greasy. Taste is subjective, but for my money, a true New York-style pizza is the best pizza. As someone who enjoys traveling, I've had Chicago deep dish pizza in Chicago, California-style pizza in California, and St. Louis style (in Indiana, so less authentic than the others), and of course, New York-style in and around New York. Don't get me wrong, deep dish is also amazing, but given the choice I'd go with NY almost every time. It certainly beats the bland dreck they serve where I live (please note that unlike our protagonist, I don't live in the South).
I've had the opportunity to travel south many times, and one thing my friends in the various Southern states agree on is that good pizza is hard to find. BBQ on the other hoof... take your pick: Carolina, Memphis, Texas... And much like pizzas, I've had Lexington BBQ in Lexington, North Carolina and Central Texas style in Central Texas. When I travel I like to experience the local cuisine (while simultaneously sticking to my favorites...which happen to be Italian and BBQ). Most surprising places I've had good pizza? Alliance, Nebraska & North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina (of note, this was NY style, and the proprietor was a transplant and not a native; Lucky's has sadly since closed). It's harder to pick a 'best BBQ' since there are so many different styles of barbeque, and I don't like all of them. So it's not really fair to compare.
A pet chicken named Nadine. Where have I heard that one before?
Koneko is a real place. And while I haven't eaten there, personally, I have eaten at a similar cat cafe in Montreal. Check them out at: https://www.konekonyc.com/
The Mason Jar is also a real restaurant, and unlike Koneko, I actually have eaten there and hence can (and most definitely will) recommend them: https://www.masonjar.com/
I'm an unabashed carnivore. But I respect anyone with a diet that doesn't include meat in it. As such, when I know I'll be eating with someone who doesn't eat meat, I'll also opt for a meatless meal (usually a pasta dish of some sort, or something that may have meat in it, like lasagna, but isn't obvious). Horses can't eat meat (there are a few reported cases, but I can't find anything reliable), but a lot of plants are also toxic to them including cherries, tomatoes, and mustard. Since we've seen ponies eat cherries, I'm going to say plants known to be poisonous for Earth's horses are okay for little ponies, but meat is still off the table. At the same time, Applejack has mentioned a Thanksgiving turkey and Pinkie Pie mentioned hot dogs. But, as far as I can remember, we've never seen a pony actually eat meat. So I'm sticking with strictly herbivorous here, so I don't anticipate Snowcatcher heading to McDonald's for a McRib any time soon. 
I should probably note that despite my love of travel, I've never had a job that required it. As such, I've never gone on a business trip, attended any kind of trade show, nor filled out an expense report. These are things I know exist, but I have no experience with any of the above. Hence things have been kept fairly generic here. Ironic, perhaps, for a story entitled Business Trip. But the trip isn't the focus here, but rather the plot's main driver.
Source: https://derpibooru.org/694046
One thing that may come back to bite our protagonist is that Snowcatcher has technically been doing unpaid work for his employer. Hopefully, she listens to him and submits those invoices.
Normally I disable ratings for my stories. I've chosen not to for this one because the point of the challenge was to write something that would show up in the 'similar' box for Admiral Biscuit's stories. I'm giving this one the chance to hit the 'also liked' box. I’ll likely disable the ratings at some point in the future.
Source: From the collection of AlwaysDressesInStyle
Yay, story notes! I love story notes!
All my research suggests it’s not toxic in small doses. I have heard that there are Icelandic ponies who know how to fish (stomp on the fish, then eat it), but I haven’t found scientific confirmation for it yet. Historically, someone--and I can’t remember who--supplemented horse’s winter diet with dried meat. Might have been the Mongols. I think that the expedition to the South Pole with horses also fed the horses seal meat, although since in the end all the ponies died, that might not be the best example.
Also also, I used to work with a guy who’d been a taxi driver, in Kalamazoo, with a Checker, and he said that the suspension was so stiff, the one time he lost a wheel, it just rolled away and it wasn’t until he stopped the car that it fell on the corner with the missing wheel.
Also also also, Chicago style pizza is the best. Fight me.
There definitely should be more about Snowcatcher and how she ended up there. Since she was valedictorian, she's got to be one of the most talented at a school for the talented. I don't buy that there's nothing she could've done in Equestria- just as there are plenty of Nobel-winning physicists who didn't contribute near as much as Einstein, and plenty of world-class soccer players who aren't Leo Messi. And plenty who make significant contributions who are nowhere near Nobel or world-class.
It seems more likely that she came to Earth because she was running away from something. Nothing illegal, probably. But just something she didn't want to deal with, like family problems. Still, it's hard to see why she's not working at McMurdo Station or something, since her magical skills are so tremendously useful. Even running the hotel with her friends- she's smart enough that there's probably a lot more that they could do in the hospitality field. A ski resort would probably be happy to hire them all as a package deal with each pony drawing a six-figure salary and justifying every penny of it.
Those are minor quibbles though, and I'd gladly read a sequel to this.
5148864
I’ve spoken with people who’ve worked on ranches who claim horses will sometimes stomp small animals and eat them.
Grecian legend of Hercules' tasks has him cleaning the stables to a group of horses trained to eat meat. If I remember the historical breakdown, the horses were breed and trained to be viscious combatants in war.
On other note, the Marriott would total be a place I'd try to book for a vacation. Would probably get kicked out for inadvertently doing something stupid.
5148928
It's a thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnYNmGMsU18. *note, this may be disturbing to some
5148864
One of the great things about this community is if you don't know & can't find the answer, someone else is bound to be able to point you in the right direction. Interesting to learn that horses sometimes supplement their diet with some meat. Looks like JetstreamGW & delightfuldisorder have confirmed that.
And I'm reminded of a Darrell Waltrip quip, You picked a fine to leave me, loose wheel. I've heard stories of Citroëns that could also do this thanks to their self-leveling suspension.
Chicago-style, New York-style? Why fight over it when one can simply choose to enjoy both?
5148927
Thank you for bringing up some very good points. I could, theoretically, explain what makes Snowcatcher tick in a fairly lengthy reply. Or I could expand on her (and her friends) in a sequel. And you're not the only person to request the latter, so I think that's the direction I'm going to take.
Snowcatcher's motivations are already in my head, but they're hard to reveal in a first person perspective when she's not the perspective in focus. At least not without going into an exposition dump. While she was certainly friendly towards our protagonist, in the end he was yet another person passing through her life. He's not someone she's going to reveal her whole life story to.
I'm glad you enjoyed!
5149379
It seems that one thing that's implied in the story, and moreso w/your comment, is that pony norms and human norms as to what default level of friendliness to behave with are quite different. Not so different at first glance as to cause rampant confusion, but enough that it'd be easy after a week of interaction for each side to assume a level of familiarity that the other was not expecting.
Eagerly looking forward to the sequel.
And thanks for the additional information!
I do remember Pinkie did ask a cow for milk once... (X_x) and I think they use eggs and milk in their baking. But yeah...not the same as eating full-fledged meat.
I have to say that the best pizza I've had is probably one in Venice at this tiny pizza bar with no room for tables, just bar stools and a thin wooden strip along the window.
CGP Grey has a couple of great videos about the land ownership around New York and New Jersey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgZ1f4ACZBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ex74x_gqTU0
Brownie points for using 'between' for teleportation intervals.
5148864
Hardly the only example of that. The stadium's right off the Turnpike, but no one ever calls them the New Jersey Giants.
Also, you have excellent taste in pizza. 5148864 is a fool and a heretic.
5150945
So true. I really should've put
MetLife StadiumNew Meadowlands on the tour. East Rutherford is almost exactly in the middle of Manhattan and Little Falls. They would've almost certainly passed through there on their way back and forth. I didn't even think about it since the fic takes place in April, which is the middle of the off-season. Still, I've been to sporting venues on days without events just to say I was there. Oversight on my part.5149379
More Snowcatcher and company? Yes please!
5150849
What can I say? Jon Stewart is wrong, that’s all. I forgive him; he probably grew up on New York-style pizza and got his taste buds ruined.
5150945
Ooh, them’s fighting words.
Let’s agree to disagree with a picture of Derpy trying to enjoy a pizza, shall we?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2015/12/24/1051511.png
5152888
An acceptable compromise.
5152888
Not one word in defense of your not-pizza, I see
5152908
If you want to eat toppings on a Saltine, that’s your business. Meanwhile, I’m happy to have a pizza that the table strains to hold when the waitress sets it down (and let me tell you, from carrying those things, she could wrestle a bear). I’m happy when I order the medium and have leftover pizza to eat for the next two or three days because there’s substance to a deep dish pizza, not a few sad toppings on a hint of crust. I want a pizza that doesn’t fold in my hand, one that’s cooked in an actual iron pizza dish instead of warmed on the sidewalk. Rats can’t carry deep dish pizzas back to their family, thank you very much.
And yes, if the weather gets bad, it’s worth having a pizza you can crawl inside.
5149371
Yeah, although I have not yet found a reliable study for how healthy (or not) it is for equines. Obviously, they’re set up to be herbivores.
Also, in terms of hunting their own food, horses aren’t very good predators. Pretty much the best they’ve got is something small enough to stomp on and then eat, or dumb enough to not avoid being nommed. And I suspect that there’s the matter of human influence in their diet, too--like, more than a few anecdotes I’ve read suggest that horses are like dogs, in that if they see you eating it, they figure it’s food for them, too.
You’re not wrong about the benefits of the hivemind on the site, though. I’ve found a few experts in various esoteric subjects on the site, and it’s always nice to learn something new from somebody commenting on a blog or a story.
Realistically, anything with a stiff suspension could. And I’ll admit, having picked up a few vehicles that lost a wheel from back in the day when I drove wrecker, I’m a bit skeptical that Checkers are that stiff; on the other hand, if you were gonna build something that could survive being a taxi in places like New York, you’d want the suspension to be stiff.
You speak wisely.
Still the fastest way to start an argument:
pizza toppingspizza styles.5152939
Now that's more like a defense.
You're still wrong about it being pizza, though. Your bread bowl full of tomato soup is inferior to Costco's finest.
Well about the meat eating there is the fact that Applejack keeps pigs and the pigs seems to be not sapient.
Pigs are not useful for anything but being slaughtered in the end with various uses for the parts.
So... I would guess that they eat some meat and draw the line mainly with the criteria of you don’t eat something you can have a conversation with.
It's something of a belated comment but I'm very happy you didn't disable ratings on this story for two reasons.
The first is that I would never have seen it in the first place since I saw it in the "Also Liked" list.
The second is that I would never have read it. Disabled ratings are a giant red flag for me because it tends to hide either 2-edgy-4-u or really poorly written stories. I'm happy I gave this story a try and found your other stories as a result.
5364392
Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
5365161
Thanks for writing such interesting stories. :)
Regarding your point on teleportation...haven't you got ut a bit backwards? If your point is "surely thet'd use it if they could", and in canon they don't, that does point to it being a rare ability. (Your take is interesting too though.)
5169159
The official line is "truffles". Fanon adds "garbage disposal" and maybe petfood. And Pinkie does describe the pony diet as "complètly vegetarian" in Over a Barrel.
5486717
This can be open to different interpretations. The show tends to focus on a few characters more than the rest, and we know Twilight and Starlight can both teleport. Rarity's never shown teleporting (at least not that I can remember), but that doesn't mean she can't do it. Especially considering in one of the final episodes, Sweetie Belle of all ponies teleports. She was shown to be training under Princess Twilight, but aside from that she's never shown any proficiency in magic beyond the other unicorns on the series. Granted, it's not a great teleport, but she pulls it off. It may very well be a case of most unicorns can do it, but choose not to because of it being a drain on their mana or the consequences of what can go wrong if it isn't done right.
In Snowcatcher's case, she knows her limits. She's good up to a mile and a half, and anything beyond that knocks her out for two hours. The in-story explanation:
She coughed, drawing my attention to the other side of the room. “Teleportation magic.” Her horn glowed and she disappeared again, reappearing a split second later directly in front of me. “I timed it last night. We can do it in about ten minutes. Sorry for having run out on you last night, but I can’t teleport anywhere I haven’t been. I need a reference point. And preferably a nice, empty place to wink into. Recoil isn’t fun…”
“How do you do that?”
“It’s a simple spell, really. Any unicorn can do it, but it takes a lot of energy to pull off so most use it sparingly. But that’s mostly because a lot of unicorns don’t experiment with it and find their limits. Once you know where your limits are, you just have to be careful not to exceed them. And from that point on, it’s a simple spell. The problem is, a lot of ponies push themselves too far one time, find themselves flat on their back with a massive headache, and then get cold hooves and never try the spell ever again thinking it’s too dangerous. Completely forgetting they’d done it successfully previously. It does help to have generous reserves of mana though.” She rubbed her chest with a hoof. “First in my class at Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns.”
5486723
Well, with that kind of qualification she might be expected to be capable of it either way.
PERN!
I adore Anne McCaffrey.