Meet The Mares: Snowcatcher · 5:44pm Sep 29th, 2021
There’s only so much that can go into a story, especially one with as many characters as 16 has. So I’m opening the floor to asking these characters questions. Post your reply with any questions you have and Snowcatcher will be happy to answer them (I’ll be editing this blog to add those questions). The remaining cast members will have their interviews posted when their chapters are done.
Interview subject #13: Snowcatcher
Source: https://derpibooru.org/images/2077527
Cutie mark?
Source: https://www.deviantart.com/ponystrange/art/Snowcatcher-Cutie-Mark-Includes-EPS-825526284
Thanks to Feathermay, I discovered that pony names don’t translate to English quite as well as everyone originally thought. What’s the most direct translation of your name?
She Who Dances In Snow To Catch The Snowflakes.
You were on the very first busload of ponies brought to the consulate the day the portal opened. Is that correct?
Yes. At the time, I thought the bus was just taking me to the consulate, but instead it was taking me to my future.
What do you think of that future now that you’re living it?
I wouldn’t have picked this for myself on career day. At first it was just Dewey counting on me, but the bus was filled with ponies who needed hope. No one will ever call me a great mare, but I did what I could to give all of us a new lease on life.
But really, I’d rather be exploring the polar icecaps. I’d like to make history instead of just reading about it. Alas, I’m destined to be nothing more than a background pony in people’s lives. Someone they interact with for a few days, then never see again.
Relationship status?
Single. Dewey and I have a pact to get married if neither of us finds true love, but she’s not really into mares. We went to prom together… kissing her was like kissing my sister.
Do you have a crush on one of your coworkers?
I plead the Fifth. That works for ponies too, right?
Favorite part of living on Earth?
It’s new and exciting. At least for ponies. You’ve always lived here, but I get to be one of the first ponies here. It’s not quite the same as making history, but I’m a pioneer in my own way.
What’s your favorite song? Specifically, your favorite song that our audience on Earth might know?
Everypony just assumes I like Christmas music for some reason. Winter Wonderland, White Christmas, Frosty The Snowman, etc. There’s nothing wrong with them, except the local radio stations and all the stores think that’s all anybody wants to hear from November until the beginning of January.
Now that I’ve sent that misconception to the moon, my favorite songs are We Built This City by Starship and Who Loves You by The Four Seasons. I’m a bit of a history buff, so it really comes as no surprise that my taste in music is also somewhat dated. The bulk of the songs I listen to are from the 1960s through the 1980s.
Favorite TV show?
Fawlty Towers.
Favorite movie?
Rat Race.
Favorite color?
Blue. To be more precise, teal and turquoise.
Do you have a car?
Source: AlwaysDressesInStyle
I have a 1975 Ford Mustang II Ghia. Ever since I accidentally transmogrified myself into one, I have a soft spot for them.
To clarify, you transformed yourself into a car?
Yes. I often have multiple books open in front of me at a time. If I get bored of one subject, I move on to another. In this case, a guest had left a car spotter’s guide at the hotel, and I was reading through it because I don’t know much about cars. I figured I’d get through it, then give it to Lulu Luck. I suppose some ponies find cars exciting, but I’m not one of them. Needless to say I got bored. The other book was my trusty spellbook, open to a spell I’d never successfully cast previously: Transmogrify. I successfully transmogrified into the last thing I’d looked at… which was a 1975 Ford Mustang II Ghia. Which, thanks to the spotter’s guide, I can tell you has a different placement of the fuel filler door and a different vinyl roof than the 1974 model that featured small opera windows. Things that are important to know, really. You know, in case you have to identify a car manufactured forty-five years ago as it drives by.
Explain to me why carmakers took perfectly serviceable windows, then covered most of them with vinyl roofs to obscure visibility?
The 1970s were weird. What did you think of being a car?
Cars weren’t meant to be inside hotel rooms. It took me almost a month to repair all the damage I did to the Mareiott. Aside from that, cars don’t tend to think much. My solitary desire was to drive. So I drove. Thank the stars Starbeam was able to turn me back…
You explained why you drive a car from the 1970s. Is there any reason most of your coworkers also drive vintage cars? As you pointed out, these cars were made a long time ago and you don’t really see them on the roads much these days.
Lulu Luck picked cars for most of us. She likes older cars, and more importantly, she can work on them. New cars have computers and need specialized tools. That saves us a fortune, and it makes her happy. Plus, ponies are traditionalists. We like things that are old and quaint.
What do you miss about Equestria?
Pegasi controlling the weather. It’s really hard to plan events when you don’t have a weather schedule months in advance. We have a few pegasi on staff, but not enough to actively alter the local weather on a large scale. Also, humans tend to frown on weather manipulation, so we only ever change the weather over the hotel’s property. With six pegasi on staff, and two unicorns with weather-related cutie marks, we can make the hotel’s weather whatever we want.
That doesn’t help guests who’ve traveled across country for a special event, only to be rained or snowed out. We try to make up for that with keeping our guests as entertained as possible, but it’s hard to offset that kind of crushing disappointment.
Emil: What was the favorite food/drink that you discovered on human-Earth?
Source: A friend of AlwaysDressesInStyle’s who would 
if it was known that these were taken for a MLP fanfiction. I recently had the opportunity to be in Mahwah, so of course I stopped at the Mason Jar and made it a point to order everything that Snowcatcher and Mr. Jones had on their visit in Business Trip.
Mozzarella triangles at the Mason Jar restaurant in Mahwah. I went there with a guest because he liked barbeque. He seemed satisfied with the meat, and I really liked the appetizers they had on offer.
Roxylalolcat: What's your most memorable moment (good, bad, or just plain weird) with a guest?
This is a very difficult question. Every guest of the Mareiott is treated like royalty, and that means we want their visit to be as memorable as ponily possible. My weirdest moment has to be when I turned myself into a car, but thank Celestia that I didn’t have a guest at the time.
Weirdest moment with a guest has to go to the exotic pet collector. She was specifically a fan of spiders and venomous caterpillars and had brought several tarantulas with her. We’re a pet-friendly hotel, but that was one of the few times I’ve had to request somepony else look after Snowflake. Flitterheart was kind enough to take him in for the week while I kept our guest company.
My worst moment was getting stuck with an anti-pony bigot. He specifically stayed at our hotel to make all of us uncomfortable. You probably know the type: ‘go back where you came from’ anti-immigration, hatred-spewing nut. I wasn’t going to let any of my coworkers deal with him, so I took him on as a ‘guest’ (‘freeloader’ would be more accurate; he never paid us). Most of them were scared of him, Ploomette stayed at the consulate because she deemed him a security risk, and Starbeam probably would’ve just made him disappear in the Pine Barrens. Starbeam’s not very good with the whole concept of ‘customer service’ with regular guests, let alone difficult ones. I was a bit more creative in getting rid of him. I trotted around town with his lifted, diesel-stacked pickup levitated in my aura. With him in it. I put the truck down on an interstate on-ramp and he didn’t come back.
My favorite moment really depends on the guest. If you take the time and get to know what your visitor likes and dislikes, you can plan their entire trip around that. I try to make sure I go the extra mile and every guest of the Mareiott has a custom-tailored stay. I’m quite fond of teleport tours of New York City.
Spamotron: How many Archmages does Equestria have right now? What kind of jobs do they normally do?
Most population centers have an Archmage. Bigger cities have more, and Canterlot has the most, of course. If I had to guess, there are a few hundred scattered across Equestria, but you have to be in the top percentile to qualify. Smaller settlements have been known to designate the most powerful unicorn living there as their Archmage, but that’s a dubious distinction at best. Any settlement that small and off the beaten path doesn’t really need an Archmage. Likewise, the unicorn noble houses all have an Archmage of their own, but it’s usually the strongest unicorn in their family, and talent isn’t necessarily taken into consideration. My guesstimate is only for true, certified Archmages. If we include these posers, the number likely triples.
An Archmage’s main task is magic. The qualifications are intentionally tough, because an Archmage needs to be capable of performing great feats of magic on demand without tiring. I can teleport more than a mile and a half, repeatedly, without tiring. An Archmage that meets the qualifications can teleport anywhere in Equestria, repeatedly, without tiring. Usually the Archmage reports to the mayor of the city. Duties include keeping the city safe from attacks, teleporting officials where they need to go, and any other major magical task that comes up. Archmages tend to live in towers with well-stocked libraries, and spend the bulk of their time studying magic. Most new magical innovations come from Archmages.
Dan: 1960s music is considered historical, eh?
1980s music certainly is! We Didn’t Start The Fire jumps to mind. On a more serious note, the music of the 1960s is generally considered ‘oldies’ these days, while 1970s and 1980s rock and roll is ‘classic rock’. I’m even hearing some 1990s tunes creep into that later category. Maybe not ‘historic’ but certainly ‘vintage’.
Dan: As a student of history, maybe you, Dewey and Daisy Dreams should try a Civilization match. Maybe invite Diamond Rose and Ploomette.
Ploom’s just about unbeatable at that. She’s been more or less trained since birth to play politics. It doesn’t matter what scenarios the rest of us dream up, she always counters it with something we’re not expecting. It’s just second nature to her.
We also have a crude, homemade version we’ve set up with our own world’s various civilizations. Equestria, Crystal Empire, Abyssinia, Dragonlands, Mustangia, etc.
Emil: What's the population of the largest cities in Equestria? Assuming that settlements are smaller there, how much of a shock was NYC?
The populations are relatively similar, surprisingly. Manehattan is the largest city in Equestria and boasts a population of millions, much like New York, New York. The difference is ponies are smaller than humans. In particular, we’re shorter. Our skyscrapers don’t need to be as tall as yours. Ponies are also herd creatures and don’t like to spread out as much. Geographically, New York City is significantly bigger than Manehattan, even with similar population numbers. It’s disorienting at first because of the sheer size of the buildings, bridges, etc. If the population of New York City stayed exactly the same, but all of the inhabitants turned into ponies overnight, we could double the population of ponies and still have room left over for more.
Emil: Given the capabilities of Archmages, are pegasi and earth ponies essentially irrelevant as far as Equestria's defensive capabilities go?
To be fair, even the Archmages are only relevant if there’s no alicorn around. The Royal Guards aren’t there to protect Celestia, that’s for sure. But to answer your question, no. It’s never wise to put all your eggs in one basket, and as such, there are roles for everypony when it comes to defense. An Archmage (or even an alicorn) can’t be everywhere at once. Pegasi are the aerial support, whether that be close air support or further back, while earth ponies are incredibly strong and durable. Armored earth ponies can hold a fort quite well.
Snowliasion: Favorite colleague oh mistress of magic?
Dewdrop Dazzle, of course! My fillyhood best friend forever and ever!
penguincascadia: Are there any attempts to combine human technology and Equestrian magic that you are particularly interested in?
Lulu Luck’s always working on that, and I keep abreast of her developments. Right now, she’s focused on making a pony-friendly car. Human cars can be operated best by unicorns, while the other tribes find them difficult to use. Ponies are significantly smaller than humans, and equine bodies don’t bend in the same ways as human bodies. With magic, I don’t have problems reaching the pedals or steering, even if I have to use a booster seat to see over the steering wheel. Searchlight, one of Ploomette’s guards, was the first pony to get a driver’s license, and she’s a thestral. They jerry-rigged the vehicle for her benefit – I think they started with a handicapped conversion. But that was expensive, and wasn’t designed by ponies, for ponies.
penguincascadia: What do you think about New York City’s mass transit system?
I almost never use it. I can teleport around faster and cheaper. It’s certainly very different from Equestria’s mass transit.
ZimFanaticGal: Out of all the snow related activities, like skiing, sledding, or ice skating, what's your most likely go to activity?
I’m really partial to sledding. I’m a bit biased, since I quite literally ran into my best friend that way. I met Dewdrop Dazzle when I almost ran her over with my sled, and I discovered my magical gift when I reacted to get her out of the way so she wouldn’t get hurt. We’ve been besties ever since!
How many Archmages does Equestria have right now? What kind of jobs do they normally do?
What's your most memorable moment (good, bad, or just plain weird) with a guest?
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Thank you as always!
These questions have been answered in the blog.
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That was really cool, thank you! Loved the solution for dealing with the bigot!
1960s music is considered historical, eh?
As a student of history, maybe you, Dewey and Daisy Dreams should try a Civilization match. Maybe invite Diamond Rose and Ploomette.
Although Laurier is overpowered. Though he could turn me gay with the sexy accent.
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Thank you as always!
I've replied in the blog.
What's the population of the largest cities in Equestria? Assuming that settlements are smaller there, how much of a shock was NYC?
Given the capabilities of archmages, are pegasi and earth ponies essentially irrelevant as far as Equestria's defensive capabilities go?
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Thank you as always!
I've replied in the blog.
Well for what it's worth from a human you're not likely to meet, I'll apologize on behalf of humanity for your bad guest experience. I won't pretend to be a saint, internal biases and foibles, but overt nastiness bugs me.
You sound like a very intelligent mare, and I find that to be a rather attractive feature. Some of my favorite fictional stories are built around real history or making a plausible fictional history through the art of world building. I don't mean simply slapping "a thousand years ago" to any random thing, I mean painting a vivid picture of the world back then and how the characters live inthe day to day. I'm something of what I call an amateur armchair history buff.
Oh look it's our main mare, well as per standard, while not hard to guess, Favorite colleague oh mistress of magic?
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Dewdrop Dazzle, of course! My fillyhood best friend forever and ever!
Hey Snowcatcher, I found a video relevant to your interests.
What do you think? Would you like to meet Dr. Ken?
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YouTube's blocked on my computer so I can't watch the video, unfortunately. If you give me some more details I'll see what I can find on an internet search so I can respond in character.
It's the educational channel Veritasium by Derek Muller. In the November 30, 2021 episode, Dr. Ken Libbrecht of CalTech is a guest. He's the world's leading authority on the physics of snowflakes. Derek explains the basics about what we've learned about snowflake formation in the last century and then Dr. Ken gives a demonstration of creating snowflakes in his lab. Derek has also started uploading videos to his Facebook page. But, he has a decade worth of material to get through and it'll probably be a while before this one is up there. Dr. Ken has a lot of books on Amazon to check out.
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Definitely up her alley! Let me see what I can find and then I'll respond as Snowy.
Are there any attempts to combine human technology and Equestrian magic that you are particularly interested in?
What do you think about New York City’s mass transit system?
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Replied in the blog, thank you as always for the question!
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That whole chapter was just fun - both from a writing perspective and a reading perspective. A nice, cutesy palate cleanser after a few serious chapters (we definitely needed it after Rainbow Flash's chapter, the poor darling).