Return
A few days passed in relative peace.
Cheerilee returned home from another exciting set of lessons with her eager foals. “Notary!” she chirped. “Did you have a fun day?”
Notary poked her head out of the kitchen. “I suppose. I spent most of it at the library, but I also finished the front of your house.”
Cheerilee looked around and noted the sparkling-clean living room. “You really don’t need to do this,” she protested.
“I want to,” said Notary, simply. “I am staying at your house rent-free... I want to help you.”
Cheerilee smiled. Even though other ponies could do it? she thought, but did not ask. A special talent is what a pony loves to do. You want to matter and make a difference, Notary. Even when you got your cutie mark, it was after you'd helped a writer produce his final work, which I bet he could never have done if not for you. Call it 'changing the world' or 'making a difference' or just 'mattering', I'll bet that's your talent. Not 'recording the deeds of others.'
But Notary would need to discover this on her own -- she certainly hadn't agreed when Cheerilee had broached the subject over the past few days. So she just said, “Thank you, then," as she smiled at her former roommate. "It looks wonderful."
The teacher entered the kitchen, where Notary -- wearing a maid’s outfit that she’d found in Cheerilee’s closet; it looked kind of frilly but Notary said that it helped keep her coat clean while she dusted or swept -- served Cheerilee’s favorite kind of tea and a few fresh pieces of sliced fruit. Honestly, I could kind of get used to having her as a maid, thought Cheerilee, with another smile. She knew Notary wouldn’t go for that long-term, and she knew Notary’s passions lay elsewhere... but a mare could dream. “What were you studying in the library?”
“What to do next,” said Notary. “It was... interesting... to do nothing for three days, but I think I’m read to get back into the world. I just had to decide what to do.”
“What did you decide?”
“Of my legitimate skills, I would probably be most useful as a functionary in some local government,” said Notary. “I have experience that I gained with Greengrass and also from study. I was looking for towns that need somepony like me... somepony who has an encyclopedic knowledge of the law, the diligence and industry to help solve problems, and so forth.” She paused. “There are some towns and cities... even small provinces... in Equestria that are not doing as well as others. Some due to changes in industry, some due to the shift in focus caused by Corona's return, a few because their nobles are neglectful. I want to go to one of those towns and turn it around.”
“Notary, that’s wonderful,” said Cheerilee. “Which one did you pick?”
“Bitsberg. It's one of the smallest provinces in the nation; it consists of one industrial town and its outlying farms. It was largely neglected by its noble, the former Baronetess of Bitsberg, and its industry was slowly supplanted by Detrot, Stalliongrad, and two or three other cities. That only accelerated once Corona returned and the government began focusing more on military contracts, none of which Bitsberg was able to obtain. For the past several years, Bitsberg’s had less and less industry with every financial quarter. The town is collapsing -- first it was just the factories, but by now the farms are falling apart, and even the city's infrastructure is breaking down, from the streets to its one rail line.” She paused. “I think I can save it. There are laws they can use, ancient ones that few ponies besides myself know, but that are still in effect and can be used to obtain some government support. There are some procedures they can take... ordinances, and so forth, to make the citizens use what they have in more efficient ways. I can help them. I can save that town.”
“Without,” said Cheerilee, her tone underscoring her words, “Any of Greengrass’s kind of actions, I hope.”
“Yes. No weeding. No destroying the weak as fertilizer for the strong. Just good, honest work for a town that needs me.” Notary nodded slowly. “They have no leader at this moment. Bitsberg has no Representative; because the town and the province are the same, the duties of the Representative were folded into those of the Baronetess to save money. But the Baronetess of Bitsberg has just been removed from her position due to her neglect of her province. The position is currently vacant, so there is nopony to advocate for the town in the national government. As for the Lord, he has given up hope and does not know how to use whatever power he has to help his town.” She lowered her head. “I can help the Lord and its citizens. I can save the town... and perhaps, now, with the threat of the Tyrant, it might be even beyond Luna’s power to focus on every little--”
“Stop,” said Cheerilee. “You can’t worry about that, Notary. Do you think the citizens of that town will care whether Luna could have saved them but didn’t bother, or whether she couldn’t in the first place? All that matters is that they be saved. If you can do that... that would be a great deed, Notary. It would matter.”
“I have to try,” said Notary. “I realize now that I have not wanted anything as badly as I want to save this city. All that work with Greengrass, it was... interesting... but this matters to me in a way none of that did.” She bowed her head. “Thank you for helping me to understand what I was missing.”
“I’m a teacher, Natalia. It’s what we do.” Cheerilee smiled. “I do hope you’ll say goodbye to the class, though. They’ll want to know what happened to my wife.”
“Speaking of that...” Notary sighed. “The forms are lost. I think the foals somehow destroyed them or let them fly off into the breeze. They would take some time to get here from Canterlot; it will require requisitioning official records. I--”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Cheerilee. “You do what you need to do. When the forms arrive, I’ll fill them out and mail them to you. We’ll get it sorted. But please don’t let papers that even you barely care about anymore stop you from your dream.”
“I won’t. Thank you.”
The two were silent for a moment.
“So! What else did you do today?” asked Cheerilee.
“I cleaned your living room, dusted the shelves, swept the floor... oh, and I alphebatized your fish,” said Notary.
Cheerilee blinked. “...what was that last one?”
“Your fish. They were out of order, so I rearranged them appropriately.”
Cheerilee blinked. “Uh.” But... but some of them like the sun! And some like shade! Now the shady ones might be in the sun and vice versa! I have to fix this!
"...and also civic administration."
"What?" asked Cheerilee, realizing that Notary had been talking even as her thoughts drifted to her fish. "What do you mean by--"
And then somepony began pounding on Cheerilee's door.
Cheerilee hurried over and opened it, only to almost be run over by Trixie and Twilight Sparkle. "Hi Cheerilee!" called Trixie as they ran. "Sorry! Emergency!"
"What?" managed Cheerilee. “What’s going on?”
“Magic emergency!” said Trixie. “Come on... hurry up, Twilight!”
“I’m working on it!” said a flustered Twilight. “Let’s just... there!” One of Cheerilee’s doors, the one to her bathroom, glowed yellow.
Notary looked at Cheerilee as they followed the two unicorns into the hallway. “Is this normal?”
“...kind of. Usually not both of them at once,” said Cheerilee. To them, she said, “I want to know--”
The unicorns' horns glowed brightly, the door burst open... and Mayor Ivory Scrolls fell out.
Cheerilee stared blankly.
"We summoned her back!" said Twilight, beaming. "Told you it would be easy to reverse the spell once we identified her location!"
“Mayor Scrolls!” said Trixie, ignoring Twilight utterly as she helped the mayor to her hooves. "Are you alright?"
“I’m fine,” said Scrolls, woozily getting up. She was wearing a viking hat and had a big mace slung in one of her saddlebags. On her barrel she wore silvery metal armor.
Twilight gasped. “Did Trixie send you back to Viking times?"
"Twilight, I--"
"Did you have to fight and wage war to survive?"
"Twilight, I--"
"I’m so sorry, Mayor Scrolls! I would never have helped her learn that spell otherwise! I didn’t mean to force you to become a barbarian chief and pillage the coastal cities! I--”
“Twilight Sparkle!” said Mayor Scrolls. “Trixie sent me to Coneigh Island. These are from a gift shop.” She took off the helmet, which had a label indicating it had been made in Detrot. “They aren’t real.”
There was a pause for a few moments.
“Oh,” said Twilight. “Well... at least it's not as bad as becoming an actual Viking?”
"Hey!" said Trixie. "Coneigh Island is six hours from here by train!" She paused. "They have a telegraph! Why didn't you tell anypony where you were?"
"I telegraphed my family."
"Why didn't you telegraph me? Or just come home on your own?"
"That would have cost money which I would have had to bill to the town, since it was as part of my duties that I participated in your experiment at all." Scrolls smiled serenely. "And I was confident that you would find a way to extract me without the town expending additional revenue. Besides, while I was there I took advantage of the opportunity to try to bolster our town's tourism industry."
"Tourism?"
"Well, it seems many ponies are interested in meeting the Elements. Especially you. I talked with some of the tour group managers at Coneigh Island, and was able to set up some tours. They'll bring in trainfuls of ponies to Ponyville to take their photographs with an Element, eat, shop, and maybe even invest in local businesses! Of course, it is contingent on finding a willing Element to talk to these groups..."
Trixie's ears perked up. "Which groups? Amateur magicians? Foals? Courtiers?"
"I believe the first tour has ponies from the Retirement Home for Elderly Ponies who Love Garlic."
Trixie opened her mouth, then shut it. After a few moments, she sighed and said, "I suppose I'd look like a complete prat if I said 'no' to that after I accidentally sent you all the way to another province."
Scrolls said nothing.
"...alright, fine."
Scrolls beamed. "Have a good day Miss Sparkle, Miss Punch, Miss... um, maid pony. Dame Trixie, the first tour group arrives in four days at nine o'clock in the morning sharp." She began to leave. "Oh, and one last thing. If this ever happens again, check before summoning somepony back from somewhere. I was on a date with a very nice carnival barker.” And she left.
Trixie groaned. “...sorry to barge in, Cheerilee. The return spell picked a random door in town; we couldn't control which one it was. I think we can safely safe that Abracascooby wasn’t the great wizard he was cracked up to be." She turned to Twilight. "Thanks."
"No problem! Happy to help."
The two unicorns began to leave, the earth ponies staring as they left. Twilight was asking, "Does this happen often?"
"No, of course not!" Trixie forced a laugh. "Why?"
"Well, I had a little time to talk to my alternate self in that other world, and she said things like this happened about twenty-four times a year to her, often during weekend mornings. She had a theory..." The two left, Twilight still talking about the other-world's Twilight.
Cheerilee and Notary looked at each other for a moment.
"That is what I meant by 'civic administration,'" said Notary at last. "Mayor Scrolls' actions while in Coneigh--"
"Talk later." Cheerilee began to head back to her kitchen. "Cider now."
***
“You’re leaving?” said Scootaloo, sounding completely horrified. “But why? Don’t you love Miss Cheerilee?”
The two mares were addressing Cheerilee’s class (Notary no longer in her maid outfit). Notary had just told them she would be leaving on the next train west.
“Miss Cheerilee and I are friends,” said Notary, enunciating each word carefully. “Very good friends. We are... we are not in love. But we still do care for each other, and that will not change, however far apart we are.”
“Then why leave?” protested Apple Bloom. “Can’t you stay here?”
Cheerilee and Notary looked at each other, and Notary bowed her head slightly. “In the first place, I have hurt ponies in this town. I am not proud of this, and I am sorry. But the fact remains. I do not deserve to remain here.”
“But we’ll forgive you!” protested Sweetie Belle. “We won’t split you and Miss Cheerilee up over that!”
“Second,” said Notary, “I have things I want to accomplish. I cannot accomplish them here. Your teacher, she has more talent than I. She can influence the world and improve it right here, in Ponyville, by teaching all of you. Me, I must go elsewhere to change the world for the better.” She nodded firmly. “But I will change it. I will improve it. And when I do... then I will be able to return here, and see you all again. Miss Cheerilee included.”
“... so you’re going away to become worthy of Miss Cheerilee?” said Sweetie Belle, eyes shining. “That’s so romantic!”
“It’s like a big heroic quest!” said Scootaloo.
Notary smiled. “I am glad you all understand. We both appreciate the effort you put in towards effecting our reconciliation, and of course, I also understand how much of that is due to Miss Cheerilee’s diligent instruction. You are very lucky to have the teacher you do.”
A few of the foals were sniffing back tears. "They're so lovely!" whispered Sweetie Belle.
Notary bowed. “Thank you for the hospitality you have shown me. I do plan to return someday.” And she began to walk out the door.
“BYE, MISS NOTARY!” The foals yelled.
Cheerilee quickly stepped before the class. “Ah, one more thing, class,” she said. “Miss Notary is wrong.”
Notary froze. So did the foals.
“What she plans to do after leaving Ponyville is... noble. Valiant. A good and laudable deed, and I applaud her decision. But she has made one mistake,” said Cheerilee. “She said that she needs to leave Ponyville to matter. But she already matters.”
Notary frowned. “Blackcherry--”
“She matters not just because of our college adventures, or her... deeds subsequent to that. She matters, just as I matter, and you all matter, because we are all friends.” Cheerilee smiled slightly, but her tone was still serious. “What do friends do? They make each other feel happy, and stop each other from feeling sad. They laugh and cry together. They share, and they help, and they love. Without friendship, nothing else matters. Would any of us really want wealth, or fame, or power, without any friends to share it with? But with friendship, all else is possible. Only with friendship can a nation be built, or a city be saved, or any other great deed performed. Notary, your friendships, with me -- and with, perhaps, a few of the students -- have already mattered far more than you know.”
(Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes. “This is so lame,” she muttered to Silver Spoon.”
Scootaloo’s eyes were watering. “That’s so beautiful!” she whispered.
Diamond Tiara blinked. “I agree!” she told Scootaloo.
Silver Spoon put a hoof to her face.)
Notary paused. “I don’t agree,” she said. “You define mattering differently than I do; I speak in a more... cosmic sense. But... but I think that, when I am away, I will find out. One way or the other. And I swear I will be back someday to tell you my answer.”
Cheerilee walked over and embraced her. “I’ll be waiting,” she said.
And she whispered in her ear, “Be careful, and stay safe. Don’t act as Greengrass would have you act, and don’t sell yourself short. You matter more than you understand. And remember... you are always welcome here. Even if Bitsberg doesn’t work out; even if it fails completely. You have a home here.”
“I know,” replied Notary, eyes misting over. “You were a better friend than I deserved... I will do what I can to honor our friendship.”
The two embraced for a few moments more.
The class was openly crying by now, and Sweetie Belle kept repeating how beautiful it all was.
Finally, Notary had to break the hug. “My train departs soon,” she said. “Thank you all, again. For everything.”
“Ooh! Ooh!” said Snips.
Cheerilee frowned. “Yes, Snips?”
“Are you two still married?”
The two looked at each other, and then both chuckled. Cheerilee said, “I don't know. But what does it matter? We’re friends. That’s what matters.”
***
“GRADUATION!” screamed hundreds of ponies.
Cheerilee grinned as she sniffed the air. She could already feel it. The release of tension, the dissipation of all that final exam stress. She could hardly wait to start hitting the bars and the clubs.
But she had one errand first, and so she made her way to the train station.
“Natalia!” she called, seeing her friend in line to buy tickets.
Notary turned. “Blackcherry,” she said. “Congratulations. I heard you were in the top 1% of the class.”
“You were there too,” said Cheerilee. “Do you have to go home right away?”
“My father wants me to look into some jobs back in Moscolt.” Notary shrugged. “I would have liked to stay a little longer, but... well, does it matter? We can keep in touch wherever we are. We’re friends.”
“Friends,” said Cheerilee, touching her hooves.
And so they were. And that was what truly mattered.
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I'm sorry, but... this is just not a story I enjoyed, Grass. It hits a large number of problems I'm having lately:
1. Overuse of gags. The window, the foals being little more than a gang and doing stuff that's legit criminal activities... It's beyond overplayed.
2. Trixie being made a fool of. And being bailed out by Twilight. It's something I feared would start happening... and here it starts happening. And the first tour group... really? Really.
3. No punishment for Notary when she more than deserves it. Sometimes the bad guys, even in MLP, get what's coming to them. She didn't.
I'm sorry. I normally love your writing, but this hits on a lot of bad trends for me.
3548071
What would punishing her accomplish? And what kind of punishment would be appropriate, in your mind?
As for the story itself...It's okay. About as subtle as a rocket powered brick to the face, but that plays in it's favour...most of the time.
The meta-referential part is what sort of turned me off just a tad.
I thought this was pretty good, as far as stories go. I liked the Cheers+Notary dynamic and how it played out. Maybe the gags were laid on a little thick but in the Ivory Scroll one I think it paid off well.
As for typos, I spotted read for ready and effected for affected.
3548170 It would show that sometimes bad ponies do indeed finish last. It would be karmic justice for her actions in season one. And personally speaking, it would just be so damned satisfying.
3548566
So that she has a dream she also thinks is utterly impossible to meet(Mattering, which she finds impossible because she thinks to matter she must do something that no one else can do. Also, she grossly overestimates Luna's power) and that she had the last few years of her life made utterly pointless is not "finishing last" or "karmic justice"? that she somehow earned her cutie mark without figuring out what it means is not terrible enough for you? What is? What does she deserve? And please, be specific. Don't just say "Punishment". I want to know what kind she deserves.
3548599 Well, for her actions with Greengrass, jailtime might be nice. Those last few years of her life where she helped ruin pony's lives and screwed over Ponyville. And made me want to punch the screen.
Although to be perfectly honest, I'm tired of this. She did some horrible things and is basically getting off scot-free as far as I can see. And she's not the only one, either.
Yay! Loved it! This is why the Lunaverse rules.
3548644
Well if you're tired of it, I'll let it drop.
I enjoyed this story and am looking forward for the greengrass one you mentioned. It will be entertaining to see him self destruct.
3548644 The gags are personal opinion (I enjoyed them) and I sort of agree with you with the twilight issue (Really hope it isn't going to be a common plot element). Although I didn't think this was gratuitous in this case as it was another gag, not part of the plot in any way.
3548644: Jailtime might make Notary suffer more, but punishment in Equestria isn't supposed to be retributive or focused on suffering. It should be about justice, about ponies paying their debts to society and bettering others, not about causing pain. So going to Bitsberg in what is basically a self-imposed exile in order to save the crumbling province/town is a much better fate for her, in my book, than her being locked in a cell where she can't be of any use to anyone. Now she can be useful, and can start to actually make other pony's lives better.
Also, Notary is going from working for a powerful noble in Canterlot to having a position with less power and influence than Pokey Pierce's in a town that is probably weaker than Ponyville. (Think of October Sky, or Friday Night Lights -- any coming of age movie with the premise of 'my town is dying and I desperately have to win the big game/build a rocket and impress Werner Von Braun/obtain a scholarship/etc. to get out of here, because life here sucks.') She's giving up a lot, and I think that's more meaningful -- her voluntarily sacrificing luxury in order to pursue her dream and make amends by helping to rebuild a town -- than some judge just throwing her in jail or exiling her to Eastern Nowhere.
3548599: This too. At this point she feels like she sacrificed her morality and got, well, nothing at all -- certainly nothing that mattered. That's a pretty big blow.
3548913 Fine. I'm just gonna state that I disagree and will always think she got off way too lightly.
Well, it's not directly working for the benefit of the Bearers, but the Bitsberg plan isn't a bad use of Notary's talents.
I loved how the Trixie/Twilight subplot played out.
3549098: As much as I like the visual of Notary in Ponyville for a protracted period of time, I wasn't quite sure what she'd actually do there. Trixie's already got Pokey, and nopony else in the cast needs secretaries or clerks.
A distant, crumbling town, though, could use her indeed.
And glad you enjoyed it! Trixie and Twilight were fun. :-)
Great work and funny as ever, though I'm still annoyed she isn't with Greengrass
Very cool stuff as always. The Twilight and Trixie subplot was cute but I agree that Twilight bailing Trixie out makes me nervous that will become a repeating thing. That said I'm not about to hold it against you as you're the first to do it. I'm just nervous that you're a wind before the storm.
I confess I agree with how you handled Notary. I think jailtime wouldn't have benefited anyone, it would've simply been a waste of everyone's time and money, this was she's being useful. To be fair I'm also a backwoods Canadian 
That said I can sort of understand the feeling that she got off scot-free as noone else seems to realize her part in things. It sort of fit as I think trying to have her gain forgiveness would've made the story feel too bloated.
I really loved the gags with the foals as it felt very accurate as to how kids do think. You're one of the best writers out there I think for being able to write kids as kids. It's harder than some realize.
I do hope we'll see more of Notary as she's a wonderful character and I'm really interested to see how she'll rebuild Bitsburg.
That was fun.
Nice to see the Mayor get some screen time.
From the way you described it I originally thought Notary was going to help out Max's province.
Should be:
Abracascooby is a reference to Scooby Doo.
With exception of season #03 where Study B made Equestrian Girls too, each season had 26 episodes.
About the neighsayers in the comments, the story made me laugh. The problem could be that it is so cracky that someponies might have trouble excepting it as canon, but it is canon. Perhaps a wrapper:
During the chase, Cheerilee briefly interact with many confused ponies. Perhaps, start the story with Cheerilee half drunk, in the bar of BerryPunch with all of the ponies who appeared in the chasesequence say, something like:
Then start the story.
At the end of the story go back to the barscene from the beginning and haveCheerilee say:
The story as an whole can still be canon, but the cracky bits could be embellishments or drunken misremembering. We can keep the characterdevelopment on Notary and the crackiness too.
Finally. After being busy with nanowrimo, I'm finally able to start catching up with stories I've missed. This was a fun ride.
It's always fun to see Cheerilee's past catch up with her and I will admit that I do see this having happened to her back in her bad mare days. Notary was never a mare that got a lot of attention but I do admit I really enjoyed seeing her take centre stage in a rampage of revenge.
I found the fact that Cheerilee would run from Notary instead of owning up to it an accepting the consequences a tad odd but I went with it for the sake of the story (though I will admit that I'd probably rather run than face a pissed Notary
)
The chase scene was awesome. Just seeing the variety of ways you could take a chase scene and mess with viewer expectations. My favourite part was the spa scene.
Though I will admit the doors gag at town hall made me stop to ask my self a few too many questions instead of enjoying the spin on the scooby doors gag.
Seeing the foals try to 'help' is always entertaining and you use them well. I also liked the cameo's of Big Mac and Applejack.
All in all it was a very enjoyable story. Well done.
I'm so glad that I finally managed to catch up with this story! I loved it. Notary and Cheerilee's shared history was hilarious and also rather poignant. I find it very amusing that in the end, the foals' idea was the best one - make Notary and Cheerilee talk to each other instead of chasing each other around town. I'm really glad that Cheerilee was able to give Notary a better perspective on life, and inspire her to use her talents for good instead of evil.
3781449 : "Foaling Around"
Well it took me a while but I caught up and after thinking about it I kinda want to side with RK 3548071 on this one.
There's just a lot of stuff in here that kinda rub me the wrong way. Now unlike RK I don't mind Trixie being the butt monkey because none of it is really her fault and it's not like Twilight really saved her since they were working on that new spell together in the first place. I also don't mind Notary not being punished since Greengrass was pretty careful about not letting evidence around so there isn't much the law can do about her, her going in exile and starting from scratch seem decent enough.
But I do think this takes the foals WAY too far into shenanigans territory and they're getting a bit out of control here. It goes way too far. It's like they only exist to make Cheerilee and the adults suffer! Like some sort of big cosmis joke.
My biggest gripe is that, while I enjoy the idea of Cheerilee being badass and all that, this relationship with Notary comes out of nowhere. In the first chapter she barely even recognizes her and suddenly she has all those exciting memories with her? And they talk about writting? And somehow this never came up before in Greengrass' schemes? I'm not against coincidences when they involve saving the universe (hello Sonic Rainboom) but for something this mundane it feels a bit extreme too.
And while the chase was fun I really didn't get how it started in the first place, it just seems crazy.
Also I'm not sure I'm 100% comfortable with defining so much of Cheerilee's past, a good deal of the fun in her past is keeping it vague.
On a technical stand point it was excellent and I enjoyed many of the gags (even the foals related ones, when put separatedly), like that scene at the spa.
Good stuff first: I like the slapstick in this story. The chase, spa, Trixie being a butt monkey, Cheerilee's reactions and flashbacks. Which is a good thing that there's a lot of those, because like some before me, I noticed some stuff that rubs me the wrong way.
Notary for one. This story is one of those "two characters who never met are actually long time friends" which we see all the time in fanfics and for the most part, Im not against it. The problem is, that this relationship came out of nowhere! Im supposed to believe that NOTARY, the hypercompetent sidekick to hypercompetent villain, never once realized she's still married to her old friend, whom she never mentioned or even hinted at being? The character who knew EVERYTHING about L6 down to a tee, never noticed this? She or Greengrass could dig.up any dirt but never found "has been married for years" in any documents? Beaurocracy in Equestria sucks, yo.
And the whole "she's not evil, she's just ambitious so she just works for someone evil" - well, who forced her? She could leave anytime she wanted and nothing in other stories ever hinted that she couldn't. But whatever, that's the least of my problems.
Also, the pacing. The story was pretty much over two chapters before it ended. Look, I get it, she'll get a new, better job, thats cool and fine, just end already and stop explaining in great detail every single small tidbit about Bitsburg. I know it's hard to end a story just like that, but it's called climax for a reason- it's supposed to be short and satisfying (and now I feel dirty writing that).
But by far the thing that annoyed me the most, was the treatment of Luna. "She can do everything and anything and we don't matter and why do we even exist yaddayadda..." ... except we CONSTANTLY see that she CANT! Stop pretending she's omnipotent GOD, ok? She's very powerful, yes. But Notary of all ponies should be aware that she's not perfect and thats the sole reason why Night Court was how it was. It wouldn't be that annoying, if Notary didn't make it seem like a big deal, especially since nobody in Lunaverse ever said that before.
But even though I spent a bunch of time and effort pointing them out, I still liked and enjoyed this story a lot. That's why the problems are so jarring, they ruined what could be one of the best Lunaverse stories written.
This Sir is an awesome story. Silly slapstick, serious issues, reconciliation with old friends and enemies. Just awesome.
A few grammatical errors in the fic. An instance of yar rather than yer in one of AJ's lines.
All in all a cute fic. Enoyed re-reading it, and was thoroughly enjoyable.
Summer Sun Celebration?
In a Lunaverse-story?
5575128
Earlier fics established that while the Summer Sun is a day of mourning for the rest of Equestria, Neigh Orleans has it as a celebration instead (forgot the reason why, though it wasn't out of Corona worship).
I still ship it.
11163024
I know that any fruit or vegetable can be pickled. But there's a difference between whether it can be done or not, and whether it's a thing. And now for some reason, I'm wondering what pickled watermelon would taste like.
Garlic wine? I knew you could make wine out of more than just grapes. I'm a fan of the brand Arbor Mist, which does just that. I tend to like the Blackberry Merlot. But now I'm curious about what garlic wine tastes like. And now I want to know what a watermelon wine tastes like. (And yes, I know that watermelon ale is a thing.)
Have you noticed that I like watermelon?
11516302
If you chill wine or beer, you can significantly raise the alcohol content.
To raise the content to 60 proof (regular whiskey is 86 proof or higher).
1) Put in plastic container (glass or pottery can break, metal can react with alcohol, wood kegs are EXPENSIVE + limited reuseable)
2) Chill to -10° Fahrenheit (-25° Centigrade)
3) After a few hours, remove the gunk.
4) Repeat until the gunk stops freezing out
11516345
the process is called jacking, its how they make applehorse.
it works by bascialy lowering the water content - by freezing it into ice and then remoivng said ice.
(thank you Adults Only Science demo that used dry ice to freeze the stuff)
11516701
In the part of the USA I grew up in
most apple cider was sold as "sweet" cider (nonfermented). IDK the difference between cider and apple juice. It's thicker is all I can say. Sort of the difference between orange drink & orange juice.
"Hard" (fermented) cider is classified as wine. Cheap brands (popular with those who don't know any better) are Boones Farm & Mogen David (colloquially called Mad Dog). Sold in various flavors.
It is my understanding that in the UK it sells about 1/3 the amount as beer. IDK about today, back when, it wasn't sold in bars by the drink. We usually bought it in grocery stores in Ohio States have somewhat different liquor laws. Pennsylvania didn't allow stores to sell booze. You had to go to a bar or a State Liquor Store & the only 1 anywhere near where we lived didn't carry it. So, Ohio got our business.
Freeze distilled, here it is called Applejack. Yes, the same as the breakfast cereal -and the MLP character. Used to be you could only get it from the Amish. Now, some companies also sell it.