Chapter 10 (Meet the Bureaucrat)
Chapter 10
It had been three days since Allen and the ponies had made proper first contact with each other. In that time, Allen had often found himself on the receiving end of a barrage of questions from two, overly excited, and very inquisitive mares intent on wringing as much information out of him as possible. In addition to that, Allen had needed to keep on top of his chores, and with the electricity still being provided by his gas generator, that wasn’t as easy as before. Moreover, Allen was still dealing with the shock that came from the many bombshells that had been dropped on him in the past few days, and he found it becoming increasingly difficult to sleep at night, the end result of this was that he was constantly tired.
However, today promised to be a good day in that, he was finally going to get power back, or at least he hoped he was. He had received a message, delivered to him by a pegasus courier, from Blueblood. The letter had informed Allen that ponies from the power company were going to meet with him to get him hooked up to the electrical grid. Something that Allen was very much looking forward to. As such, Allen now found himself standing next to his mailbox at the end of the driveway waiting for these ponies to show up.
As he was waiting, he took a moment to glance around him, as a few things had changed in the last few days. The first obvious change was that the giant billboard that the ponies had used to contact him had been taken down. Additionally, there were fewer guard ponies trotting around beyond his property. Instead of hundreds, as there had been before, now there were only about ten or so, and they mainly kept to themselves, content with patrolling the wagon trail and keeping close to their campsite near the apple trees.
Of course, Allen had also been busy, when he hadn’t been answering questions from either Lyra or Twilight or taking care of his regular chores, he’d been busy taking stock of what he had on the farm. It wasn’t much, unfortunately. Allen’s family had been having a rough few years, and their farm wasn’t very big by modern farming standards, being only three hundred acres.
Most of the land that Allen’s father had farmed was rented, and rent prices had been going up, while corn and soybean prices had been going down. Couple that with large, unexpected expenses, and one had a recipe for hard times ahead. In fact, things had gotten so bad, that Allen had been forced to sell off some of their newer equipment, as well as some of their animals, as he couldn’t keep up with the loan payments anymore. This left the Ross farm with precious few farm animals such as cows and pigs to sell later on, and it became more difficult to plant more crops using older equipment. However, they had done the best they could, same as thousands of other farmers across the country, and they’d managed to get by, for the most part.
The problem that Allen faced right now, however, was that, while the ponies had electricity, he doubted that they had the thousand and one other things that he would need to keep his farm going. Parts for old rusting equipment, new tires, coolant, lubricant, and most worryingly of all, gasoline, to feed those machines hungry appetites. Even though, like many farmers, Allen had large storage tanks for fuel on his farm, and they were full, for which Allen thanked his lucky stars, these fuel reserves would not last forever, and when they ran out, that was it, unless he could find another source of fuel.
However, that was something for future Allen to worry about, as at that moment, Allen spotted a group of ponies, pulling a wagon behind them, heading his way. As they came closer, he could see that there were four ponies in the group. Two earth ponies, who were pulling the wagon, a unicorn trotting alongside them, and a pegasus gliding along above them on the late morning thermals.
It was about this time that the pegasus noticed Allen, saying something to its companions, it gave a powerful flap of its wings and quickly closed the distance between it and Allen.
“Hi there,” it...no, she greeted as she came in for a smooth landing in front of Allen, he still had some trouble telling the pony sexes apart sometimes. Holding out a hoof the pegasus mare introduced herself. “Names Lightning Catcher, my team and I,” she waved a hoof to indicate the ponies pulling the wagon, “were told that you needed to get hooked up to the grid, is that right?”
Allen nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”
She gave a happy smile in return. “Well, alright! We’ll go ahead and get to work getting you hooked up and stuff, should have it all done either today or tomorrow at the latest, depending on how much wire laying and splicing we gotta do.”
“Sounds good,” replied Allen, a feeling of relief washing over him at the thought of having power back soon.
One less problem I have to worry about.
“Well, if you don’t need me for anything else, I suppose I’ll let you get to your jobs then,” said Allen, as he turned to go.
“Okay, Mr. Ross, though...” she trailed off suddenly, an unsure look on her face.
“What’s up?” asked Allen.
Lightning pawed at the ground uncertainly for a moment before saying, “We were given a short briefing about what to expect when we took this job, that includes what, and who you are, where you came from and why you’re here, but I gotta admit, it all sounds a bit fantastical to me.”
Allen chuckled. “Believe you and me, I feel the same way,” he paused and gazed off into the distance, as if looking at something only he could see, “I’ve been here for less than a week and sometimes I wonder if it’s all just a dream...or a nightmare and if I’m going to wake up.”
Lighting Catcher gave Allen a sad look as he stood there staring out into the distance, temporarily lost in his own thoughts. However, he soon gave himself a shake which brought him back to the real world. Turning his attention back to Lighting he gave her a sad smile.
“Well, don’t let me keep you from your job now, if you need anything or have any questions, I’ll be in the house. I turned off the generator, so there isn’t any power for you to worry about.”
Lighting gave a happy smile. “Thank you, I was actually going to ask you about that, but it seems you’ve already thought of that! Though before you go, could you tell me how you got your electricity where you were from?”
“Sure,” replied Allen with a shrug, pointing to a nearby power pole he said, “Our electricity came in through those power lines over there, and that grayish cylinder up top there stepped down the voltage so that it could be used by our house. You might just be able to hook straight up to that pole there without having to lay any new wire unless you guys use something different than what we did.”
Lightning's eyes lit up in both excitement and joy. “Oh no, Mr. Ross! We here in Equestria use wires to transport electricity too! Though we don’t string them up along the top of long poles like you guys do.”
Allen gave her a quizzical look. “You don’t?”
She shook her head. “Nope! All of our lines are buried underground in an insulated and spell treated pipe. Digger,” she pointed at the group's sole unicorn, “is our pipe layer. He’s naturally talented in geomancy and uses his magic to lay the wire underground without us needing to dig a trench.”
“Isn’t it hard to do inspections on the lines if they’re all buried underground, and what about somebody accidentally digging one up? Wouldn’t they run the risk of electrocuting themselves by accidentally cutting into the line?”
Lightning shook her head again. “To answer your first question, nope, all lines come with a special spell attached to them through a series of runes etched into the pipe. Anyone with the proper equipment or magical talent can find a line and determine if it needs to be repaired without having to dig it up. As for your second question, these pipes are also reinforced by the same runes to prevent most things from cutting into them. Besides, we bury the pipes at about three to four hooves deep, so there is very little chance of somepony accidentally digging into them unless they’re going to be doing some major construction work.”
“Huh, fancy that,” remarked Allen.
“Yep! It’s pretty neat stuff, the upfront costs can be a tad pricey, but the lines will pay for themselves over time as they require practically zero maintenance, and are expected to last for fifty years before they need to be replaced. They also have the added benefit of keeping the airspace clear of additional obstructions for us pegasi, and we don’t have to worry about lightning storms taking them out either!”
“Well alright then, guess I’ll let you guys get to it,” replied Allen with a nod.
“Sounds good! We’ll let you know when we’re finished,” said Lightning with a happy bob of her head, and with that said, both she and Allen gave each other a wave good-bye. As Allen watched Lightning trot back over to her crew, he felt his spirits lift a little.
Finally, something is going my way for a change. Now, let’s just hope my other appointment goes as well as this one did.
As the power crew set to work, Allen remained where he was because they weren’t the only ponies that he was expecting this morning. Blueblood’s letter had also mentioned that the prince himself, along with several other government officials were going to be visiting Allen’s farm today, in an effort to get Allen’s paperwork sorted out. Allen, naturally, was not looking forward to the meeting, but he didn’t really have much of a choice in the matter, seeing as how he was kind of stuck in Equestria for the time being, he would need to get his bureaucratic ducks in a row or face the consequences of being an undocumented person in Equestria.
So, even though he’d rather walk across a mile of broken glass barefoot than deal with the coming bureaucratic meeting, he didn’t have many choices to choose from, and so he figured it was best to just get it over with.
And speaking of getting it over with, it looks like His Grace has just arrived, thought Allen as he saw a fancy looking coach, pulled by a pair of sharply dressed earth ponies drove into view from the distant tree line. As the coach came closer and closer, Allen could see the little intricate details that festooned the coach. Painted a royal sky blue with gold trim, the carriage gave a person the impression that its occupant was loaded with cash, however, it wasn’t opulent to the point of being overbearing. However, it still made one feel humble, which Allen summarized was the intent of the coach’s designers.
As the coach came to a stop in front of Allen, he could see Blueblood looking at him from one of the windows. One of the earth pony pullers quickly unhitched himself as the coach came to a complete stop, and after setting a step stool down in front of the coaches door, he opened it with a bow, allowing the occupants inside to exit.
Stepping down from the coach, Blueblood greeted Allen with a polite smile. “Mr. Ross, it is good to see you again.”
“Likewise, Your Grace,” hooking a thumb over his shoulder at the nearby work crew, Allen remarked, “Those ponies from the power company got here just a few minutes before you did, and from what they told me, I should have power back either tonight or tomorrow morning. I really appreciate your help on getting my power problem fixed.”
Blueblood’s smile grew a bit warmer. “Think nothing of it, Mr. Ross. After what you’ve been through, it is the least that I can do to make your stay here as pleasant as possible. Unfortunately,” his smile suddenly lost some of its previous warmth as he noticed another pony exiting the coach, this one a unicorn, “I’m afraid this meeting will not be as pleasant as we would like.”
Looking past Blueblood to the other unicorn, Allen noticed that everything about this guy seemed to scream bureaucrat, from his average build and height to his precisely combed beige coat and brown mane. His simple gray suit was both neatly cleaned and pressed, and his gold, wire-rimmed glasses were so thoroughly polished that they reflected the early morning sunlight at his every move. In addition, Allen could see that the stallion was floating a rather large briefcase from inside, and when he turned around, Allen could see that his cutie mark was that of a sheaf of papers bound by several strands of red tape.
Well fuck.
Setting the briefcase down, the unicorn turned to regard Allen, and extending a hoof, asked in a clipped tone, “Are you the human that His Grace spoke of?”
Allen nodded hesitantly.
The unicorn gave a satisfied nod. “Excellent, then allow me to introduce myself. My name is Red Tape, and I am with the Royal Equestrian Department of Records.”
Allen fought hard against the temptation to facepalm at learning the bureaucrat’s name. Oh God, even his name is bureaucratic, I’m doomed. However, Allen did not let his inner despair color his outer facade and instead replied with a somewhat forced smile. “Nice to meet you Mr. Tape, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company today?”
“I am here at the behest of my superiors to make sure that you are compliant with Equestrian law. The Department of Records deals primarily with paperwork regarding a being’s ability to reside here in Equestria. Naturally, this includes, but is not limited to things such as residency, and or citizenship, the ability to obtain and retain employment legally, as well as the ability to own property within Equestria,” replied Red Tape simply.
Allen gave Blueblood a pleading look that screamed, “Please, save me!”
Sadly, Blueblood could only shake his head in reply as if silently saying, “Not even I can save you from the bureaucracy.”
Letting loose a defeated moan, Allen stepped slightly aside and dejectedly said, “Okay, if you follow me, we can head inside.”
Red Tape smiled for the first time since he arrived, his red colored magical aura quickly surrounding the briefcase as he trotted after a now more subdued Allen, with Blueblood bringing up the rear.
Even though Allen had expressed a reluctance at the thought of dealing with Red Tape, he had quickly led the group to the front entryway of his home and ushered them inside. Striding quickly, he beckoned them to follow him deeper into the house. Blueblood took a moment to glance around the foyer as he trotted after Allen and Red Tape. The hardwood floors had a layer of dust along the walls where hooves, or in this case, feet, seldom traveled, indicating that they hadn’t been swept in some time. Looking up at the walls, Blueblood could see several pictures hanging from them, no doubt their frames held photos of Allen and his family from days gone by.
Turning his attention back to the matter at hoof, Blueblood noticed that he’d been left behind and quickly got moving again. Trotting past a staircase that led upstairs, he soon found himself in what he assumed was a kitchen, and just beyond it, a dining room/living area. It was there that Blueblood saw Allen and Red Tape seating themselves at a table across from each other. Quickly walking over, his hooves clicking rhythmically against the hardwood floor, Blueblood used his magic to pull out a chair next to Allen and sat down. Though he soon noted that these chairs had not been designed with pony posteriors in mind.
Shifting slightly in his chair in an effort to get more comfortable, Blueblood turned to Allen and said, “Mr. Ross, before we begin I would like to thank you for allowing us into your home. It is my understanding that we are the first ponies that you have allowed inside if what Ms. Heartstring and Ms. Sparkle reports about you times together are correct.”
“They are,” replied Allen simply.
Red Tape used his magic to adjust his glasses as he gave Allen a curious look. “Was there a reason for you to prevent these two mares from entering?”
Blueblood shot Red Tape an irritated scowl, though Red Tape either didn’t notice or didn’t care. Allen simply stared across the table at Red Tape, a neutral expression etched on his face.
“There wasn’t a major reason,” he began neutrally, “but I did not feel comfortable allowing them instant access to my home till I got to know them better.”
Red Tape gave Allen a searching look. “I see, but that then begs the question, what about us? You don’t know us very well, so why let us in immediately and not them?”
If looks could kill, then Red Tape would have been reduced to a pile of ash by now from how hard Blueblood was glaring at him. Allen’s expression however never changed as he said, “Several reasons,” he began as he raised a hand and began ticking each point off on his fingers, “the first is that I have had a chance to become better acquainted with your culture, not a lot but some, so that helps reduce my uncertainty around you guys. The second is that Prince Blueblood here,” he jerked his head at Blueblood, “was kind enough to arrange for power to be restored to my home quickly and at no upfront cost. Just for that, he’s earned the right to come into my home.”
“And what about me?” asked Red Tape searchingly.
Allen shrugged. “You’re just his plus one, as it were, plus I didn’t want to try and fill out all of these papers on the porch where the wind might get at them. Kind of hard to sign my soul away when the paper I need to sign it on is halfway into the next county.”
Both Red Tape and Blueblood sat there in stunned silence at Allen’s candid reply. However, the silence didn’t last for very long before Red Tape burst out laughing at Allen’s reply.
After several moments of deep, belly aching laughter, Red Tape managed to calm down enough to speak. “Hehe, oh that is a good one, hehe, ‘sign my soul away’, hah! I’m going to have to remember that one for when I get back to the office, the others will get a good chuckle out of it!” Wiping away a tear from his eyes, he continued saying, “My apologies Mr. Ross if I have caused any offense, I’m afraid that my social skills are somewhat lacking.”
“None taken,” was Allen simple reply.
Giving a nod in thanks, Red Tape took a moment to resettle his glasses before reaching into his bag and pulling out a thick sheaf of papers. Plopping on the table between him and Allen, he explained, “While I can appreciate your humor Mr. Ross, I do not believe you need fear having to, as you say, ‘sign your soul away’. Nor do you need to worry about papers blowing away in the wind, we have spells to keep that from happening, though the thought is appreciated all the same. In any case,” he said as he pulled an inkwell and quill from within his briefcase and set them next to the sheaf of papers, “we should probably get started.”
Allen let out a morose sigh at what was to come next. Red Tape simply chuckled good-naturedly at Allen’s antics, and giving a playful tut-tut, said, “Now, now, Mr. Ross, there is no need to get all melodramatic. We are just signing a few forms and going over some basic knowledge that you’ll need to know for future reference should you plan on staying in our fair country for the long term.”
“Yay,” was the unenthusiastic reply.
Red Tape frowned. “Look, Mr. Ross, I know that not all...beings are as happy as I am in regards to doing bureaucratic paperwork, but this is very important. If this paperwork isn’t properly filled out, then...well let’s just say that you don’t want to know what will happen, as I can assure you it will not be a pleasant experience. Besides, these,” he waved a hoof to indicate the stack of papers that stood about four inches tall in front of him, “are all the papers that you’ll have to sign for a while. Though, even I realize that this is a bit much at one time. However, I’m afraid it is necessary as these papers are all the ones critical to being a full Equestrian citizen.”
Long since resigned to his fate, Allen reached out with a hand and said, “Fine, let’s just get this over with, go ahead and hand me those papers, and I’ll get a pen to fill them out with.”
Red Tape gave him a confused look for a moment before letting loose with a humor-filled chuckle. “Hehe, I believe that you are under a false assumption in regards to how bureaucratic paperwork is handled here in Equestria, Mr. Ross.”
Now it was Allen’s turn to look confused.
Seeing his confused expression, Red Tape elaborated. “I’m not sure how your people do this sort of thing in your world, Mr. Ross, but here in Equestria, the bureaucracy does most of the work. Most ponies simply show up at their appointment with the needed information and a civil servant will fill in the paperwork, after that, the only thing the citizen needs to do is to review the documents for errors and then sign them.”
“Wait, are you saying that I don’t have to fill out all of these papers? That I just have to review and sign them?!” exclaimed Allen incredulously.
Red Tape gave a confident nod. “Of course, doing it this way prevents confusion, as all civil servants are properly trained and certified in the handling of civil documents. Moreover, it eases the burden on the system by lessening the chances of errors due to confusion when a citizen fills in information. Often times a pony is in and out in under twenty minutes or less, though in our case it’ll probably take a few hours to get through all of this.”
Allen looked to Blueblood, as if to double check that what Red Tape had said was true. Blueblood for his part simply nodded, a small smile tugging the corners of his muzzle upwards at the sudden look of relief that washed over Allen’s features. However, as Allen turned back to the small pile of papers, he felt a twinge in his hand at the thought of having to sign all of those papers.
As if sensing his renewed worry, Red Tape levitated the quill and inkwell over to Allen before saying, “Oh, I almost forgot to mention, you will only need to sign your name once, after that the quill will do the rest.”
Once again, Allen’s face betrayed his confusion. “Huh?”
“Oh, do you not have self-writing quills in your world?”
“Self-writing quills?” parroted Allen.
Red Tape nodded, a joyous smile on his face. “Oh yes! They are so convenient! A self-writing quill is...well a quill that has been enchanted to remember a set amount of words and write them down when you use a verbal command. They are commonly used for either short phrases or signatures, in our case, it will be the latter. All you will have to do, Mr. Ross is write your name once in the designated area and then say a simple phrase that you would generally not use in a normal conversation. The quill will ‘remember’ what you wrote down and will only write it after you say the special phrase.”
Allen slumped down in his seat, a flurry of emotions swirling through him, disbelief, shock, and hope being the strongest. Licking his lips, he leaned forward, and grabbing the quill gingerly in his grasp, dipped it into the open inkwell and then set quill to paper and with a quick flourish signed his name at the bottom of the top page in the stack.
He paused for a moment, trying to think of a word or phrase that he could use to activate the quill. After several moments, he finally said, “YOWO.”
“Yowo? What is a yowo?” asked Blueblood, a confused look on his face, Red Tape was also confused by Allen’s choice of activation word.
Allen, a smile on his face, nodded sagely and clarified, “It’s an acronym I just made up.”
Blueblood and Red Tape looked at each other, and then back to Allen. “But...what does it mean?” asked Blueblood again.
“It’s a modification on another acronym from my world called, YOLO, which stands for You Only Live Once, YOWO,” he paused as the quill sudden jumped from his relaxed grip and darted to the next paper in the stack and wrote out a perfect carbon copy of his signature, right down to the final flourish at the end. Seeing this, Allen let loose an impressed whistle. “Wow, and here I was thinking you guys were blowing smoke up my ass, but hot damn it works!”
Red Tape, leaned back in his chair, a smug smile on his face. “Of course, it is as I said, the quill is enchanted and will record what you write down before you utter the activation word or phrase. Believe me, these things are worth their weight in gold,” waving a hoof at it as it returned to its inkwell he continued, “this one is yours to keep if you so wish, consider it a gift for having to do all of this at once.”
Allen found himself struck dumb in amazement at Red Tape’s generosity. “Wow, Mr. Tape, I don’t know what to say, other than thank you, I mean, one of these things can’t be cheap to make.”
Red Tape waggled a hoof back and forth in a ‘so-so’ gesture. “Depends on the brand, some are fairly inexpensive, but their enchantments run out fairly quickly or they are locked into whatever their first input was for the duration of their life. This particular set, however, is one of the more expensive sets and should last you a long time. Plus you can reset it later if you want to have it write something different.”
“And you’re just giving it to me? Just like that?” asked Allen incredulously.
“Just like that,” replied Red Tape with a friendly nod. “Though you still haven’t told us what YOWO means yet.”
“Oh right, well like I said, it’s a modification of YOLO and it means You Only Write Once. I figured it was appropriate for the situation,” was Allen’s sheepish reply.
Both Red Tape and Blueblood looked at one another for a moment before they burst out laughing, Allen quickly joining them in their merriment over his little joke. After their laughter subsided, Red Tape, while wiping an errant tear from the corner of his eye said, “Well, while that was enjoyable, I believe that we should probably get started in earnest, Mr. Ross.”
Allen let loose a sigh. “Yeah, I guess.”
“Oh don’t sound so glum. It won’t be as bad as you think it will be. After all, between myself, answering any questions you might have and filling out the forms for you, His Grace, for moral support, and your quill doing all of the signing, you won’t really have much to worry about or be fearful of.”
Allen gave a rueful chuckle. “I guess so. Sorry if I come across as being a bit petulant when it comes to filling out paperwork. Back in my world, we’re just kind of handed the paperwork and expected to fill it out, and nine times out of ten the people giving us the paperwork to fill out don’t care or are assholes. You’re actually the first bureaucrat I have ever met where I haven’t wanted to strangle.”
Red Tape gave a bit of a nervous laugh. “Hehe, well, I’m very glad to hear that, Mr. Ross. Though I am sorry to hear that your world doesn’t put as much care into making sure that the interactions between the civil service and the citizenry are positive ones.” He looked down at his hooves for a moment and fidgeted with the stack of papers in front of him, as if unsure of whether or not he should continue. However, after a few silent moments, he looked up, a determined look on his face. “Mr. Ross, while I can’t help you deal with your previous experiences dealing with bureaucracy, I can help you with this experience, and while I’m sure you won’t find it as enjoyable as I do, I think that you’ll at least be content with the experience,” he said, a hopeful smile on his face.
Allen returned Red Tape’s hopeful smile with one of his own. “I hope so too.”
Giving a satisfied nod, Red Tape grabbed the first piece of paper that Allen had signed and said, “Very well then! If you have no further concerns on the matter, let us begin!” and with that, he began.
Allen for his part felt himself relaxing a little more as they began.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all.
Hey, everyone! Sorry for the long delay again, but life got in the way. Job hunting took a bit more of my time than I would have liked. Though you should all be happy to know that I have since secured a job, as of June, and I've been tinkering with a writing schedule that allows me to write when I'm not tired and unmotivated. Thankfully my current schedule is showing signs of promise as I've managed to average about a page and a half per day, which I think is pretty good.
I would also like to thank Agent-G and badninja for their help in proofreading this chapter for me and making sure it wasn't too crazy or divergent, as I'm sure some of you guys who have been here since the start remember. Sadly, Jack Keller wasn't able to help with this chapter, so there might be more errors in there than in previous ones, as he is my go to guy for spelling and grammar corrections, though I did the best I could, but I'm sure some slipped through the cracks. Though I just noticed that indenting no longer works on the site, so that sucks, on the other hand, however, pony icons are back, yay! 
Stats
Page generated in 0.025 seconds
Total duration
1,040 users online
1,916,537 hits today, 1,822,946 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
And then Mister Ross discovers ponies typically wire their homes for 1,000 volt outlets.
Everything explodes. XD Everything. EVERYTHING.
Really enjoying this so far, I let a few chapters build up as I've been super busy recently so I read chapters 6 onwards in one go, they're really good. Hopefully you can keep to a timely schedule, but don't stress out over it. Looking forward to more though!
Another excellent chapter, and lots of interesting ideas for fleshing out the pony bureaucracy here.:D
nice chapter meng
I think this is the most progress this story has ever seen. Admittedly, with how many rewrites this story has gotten my memories are hazy but it certainly feels like it. I honestly feel like this time ’round is the one, if you will, i.e., the one goddamned time you won’t reboot the story because the set up has been done correctly and that there is unlikely to be any majorly ill thought‐out curve balls.
Man, these government officials are actually nice! I'd kill to have them replace some of America's government officials.
8285445
I think a large portion of the fandom would take having Celestia come and take power permanently here in the United States. I think 99% of our politicians are beyond corrupt and the reason why nothing is either done right or at all.
Also good to see how efficient the process is!
Allen, don't worry about the farm. The artisans in Ponyville could at least make spares bespoke (although the alloys would certainly be different - different tech bases and all that). As for gasoline? Who needs a tractor when you have a couple of Earth Ponies? Hire a few strong, idle stallions and mares from Ponyville at a promise of the share of the farm's profit this year and you'll suddenly find that the Ross Farm has never, ever had such a corn and soy harvest! Earth Pony magic being what it is, you might even get several harvests this year!
Of course, that would require learning that this is something that he can do. That would probably involve a conversation with Lyra or Twilight that would inevitably include lots of their gushing over human technology and (at least in Twilight's case) trying to magically duplicate the internal combustion engine... likely with explosive consequences!
I liked Red Tape. Are you a fan of Ghost of Heraclitus's Equestrian Civil Service stories? Red Tape could certainly have been one of Dotted Line's senior clerks, I think!
Sensible bureaucracy?
What sorcery is this?
8285092
Yeah, I was a bit worried that he didn't ask about alternating currents, frequencies, or voltages.
Or at least the electrician pony. She should have known to ask.
8285811
Unfortunately, Allen does need to worry about gas for his equipment as most of his equipment isn't ground driven, (meaning that it requires a power take off, (PTO), and by extension, an engine to operate. And while the ponies tech is all over the place, in the agricultural department, they still do most things by hoof, i.e. using scythes to cut hay with etc. Allen would sooner shoot himself than go back to that kind of system.
And yes, I am in fact a fan of that story! Dotted Line cracks me up, especially when he was talking about voting!
8285863 8285092
I'll be sure to address that issue in the next chapter, it just slipped my mind when I was writing this one, a lot of things probably did because there were times when I wouldn't touch it for days if not weeks before I would have a spare moment. A bit of a spoiler here, ponies use the same type of electrical voltage frequencies and currents that we do here on earth. We'll just call that a freaky coincidence.
8285811
That's the problem with human technology, it all explodes. We have fizzy drinks that explode (slowly) in your mouth, we have candy that explodes (yum!), we drive large heavy machinery at dangerously high speeds while it explodes on the inside (blowing up on the outside often if movies are to be believed), we make machines that use explosions to throw itself into the sky/space at ridiculous speeds (proving anything will fly if you throw it fast enough), and of course our weapons ALL explode at some point if not more than once.
You'd think humanity had a thing for explosions or something...
8286011 Well I mean, Micheal Bay has a fetish for explosions, so why does this surprise you?
It is perhaps worth noting that underground cables are terrible for long distance transmission of AC power, due to high capacitance per unit length, resulting in poor power factor and excessive I2R losses as a result. Under ground cables are usually reserved for HVDC transmission. Unless the cable insulation has terrible dielectric properties or the ponies have some way of magically suppressing electric fields, the transmission system being used here will be incredibly inefficient.
8286118
Never heard of that reason. In my experience, it was always understood that underground cables tended to attract lightning strikes or that lightning would go for it versus a random hit when everything else was equal. And being underground, would make any repairs or inspections much harder.
8286394
I wouldn't have thought that lightning would be an issue but cables are much harder to inspect and repair. The biggest factor in the real world is the cost of cables, being much more expensive than overhead lines. We only use cables for short stretches or places where pylons can't be built.
8286118
I figured there would be issues in our world that prevented us from using underground cables on a regular basis. But in Equestria they have magic, and while it can probably be considered lazy writing, I'm just going to go with that and not worry too much about the little stuff like that.
8286435
Well if you have magic to detect cables and diagnose faults, who's to say you don't have magic to solve the capacitance issue?
8286444
Yep, plus think about the fact that around a 3rd of the population is capable of flying. So think about all of the accidents and pegasi related maintenance issues that would occur if they used above ground wires. In the case of this story, the electric power crew has a unicorn that lays the pipe underground using his magic, so they don't need machinery to do it for them, and as Lightning said, their pipes are specially treated.
8286458
A good point. If a bird hits a line and dies that's sad, but if a pegasus hits a line and dies that might be the local equivalent of manslaughter.
8286501
Yeah, pretty much.
8286524
I don't think anyone ever considers that in PoE style stories...
There's really been only one that I can recall which deals with pegasi flitting about on Earth; Love and Tolerance: a fraction of the humans got turned into ponies (it's not a TCB) and the story follows one who's trying to deal with it, the scene in question was when the pegasus character goes to rest on a cloud for the first time and is rudely reminded there are commercial airliners up there. Yikes!
Granted, there's a serious lack of really good PoE stories, and the really good ones out there have apparently been abandoned as the incomplete tag drags on year after year... after year...
On a side note: When we finally get personal air-cars, unless computers are doing the driving/piloting, there's gonna be so many accidents. We can barely handle navigating a 2-D space, making it 3-D is too much.
8286885
Yeah, I've read that story as well, pretty sure it's either abandoned or the author is like me and just takes a long time to upload new chapters.
Alondro taps his chin, "Would it be a bad thing if I said I eat ponies alive and delight in their screams of agony?"
Red Tape blanched, "Y-yes. I do believe that would cause quite a number of severe complications."
Alondro nods, "I see. I definitely won't say that, then."
And then the chernglerngs attacked.
It updated?
OMG IT UPDATED! 
I have to be honest here, I really like Red Tape. A friendly bureaucrat seems like such a novel concept. Before you had Red Tape gift Allen the Calligraphy pen, I was kind of hoping Allen would gift him a ballpoint pen. (My brain derped and I thought Red Tape was using a standard issue quill.)
Hey Tim, me here (obviously lol).
Damn, man, the way paperwork is handled in Equestria just screams CONVENIENCE. There are a few small liberties taken in redundant security, yes, but given the smaller population and consequently less forms to go through (and I'd even risk to say less chances of fraudulent papers slipping through the cracks like they would on a computerized system that sees the false information as technically acceptable), it's plausible that this could be done. Even because spell scrying is a thing. Now let's just hope voltage and amperage are compatible between Allen's farm and the Equestrian grid - wouldn't you wanna know if they transmitted at 330v by standard
The chapter's good - I see no glaring errors with the narrative or spelling, only small ones like when Lightning Catcher's name was (there are a few instances where it's written as "lighting" without the first N). There are a few (happy to say they are very few) tonal issues such as one time where you wrote "however" in two side-by-side narrative sentences, and when Red Tape says "experience" three times in the same phrase. If you'd like me to do my usual thing, you know where to find me
8383668
Glad to hear that grammar issues are minor in this chapter, but if you wouldn't mind tuning it up a bit for me, that'd be great. Thanks, Jack.
Ok so, ten chapters in and we have a chapter dedicated to bureaucracy. Lots of potato here but no meat.
9627139
It's a slow burn.
9627513
Slow burn is good. Don't let people tell you not to slow burn.
Fun fact: In the eastern European country Estonia they practice a system called "governance by cloud" were every document is recorded online. This means it take the average Estonian citizen around a minute to file their taxes. Instead of going to the dvm you can do all of your paperwork on your phone.
Those lucky bastards
8286010
To be fair, that fits in perfectly with them speaking and writing English (or is it us speaking and writing Equish?).
I'll admit I was worried about it too, and while it would be amusing(?) to see the other option, making it a freaky coincidence makes perfect sense.
Yes, Red Tape, let's give the human the implied threat of having his land, house, technology taken -- all for the good of Equestria, of course. Had I been Allan, Red Tape would be out of my house right then and there, and Blueblood along with him. Perhaps edit this a little so as Blueblood intervenes, drags Red Tape off by the ear and gives him a stern talking to about NOT threatening the human -- at ALL.
10983789
Perhaps you should edit yourself into not being such an oversensitive little bitch.