Sprout sipped at his coffee as he slid the keycard into the lock on the front doors of the precinct. The light blinked green, he pulled the left door open, and stepped inside.
He actually managed to do it; he got up, got ready, and got all the way here before Hitch woke up. He didn't want to take any chances and have Hitch perhaps change his mind at the last minute and have him continue to rest at his house. Taking a quick glance around the office, he went over to his desk, and sat down in his chair. Hitch hadn't done any kind of organizing of his deputy's work area, so it was as it had been left the way it had been when his mom had unleashed that monstrous vehicle on Sunny's lighthouse over two weeks ago.
Including the bottle of apple bourbon that had barely had two inches poured out of it. Luckily, Sprout had the foresight to close the bottle before running off to warn the occupants of the lighthouse, so the booze hadn't spoiled. He picked it up and put it back into the drawer that it had come from. Best save it for an occasion to celebrate with Hitch later on.
It felt good to be back here.
Sprout reached into his saddlebag, and came out with two items; his new smartphone, and a wireless charger that he picked up from the brand new Z-Mobile location downtown. He plugged in the charger under his desk, and made sure that it was on before starting to scroll through his phone. He immediately began to wonder how this device could be used here as part of his job. If their records could become even partially electronic, it would certainly streamline things around here. It wouldn't mean trip after trip to the filing cabinets if some of their paperwork became digital.
He'd talk with Hitch about it. For now, he wanted to perform 'desk duty' to the absolute best of his ability. While under normal circumstances, he and Hitch would take turns patrolling, so he would likely be taking care of things here in the precinct while Hitch spent most of his time out on the streets.
The red stallion took another look around the office, and figured the first thing he could do was clear out the complaint box. They were usually littering complaints, but having tourists in town for the first time in, well, ever, probably complicated things a bit. Getting up from his chair, he walked over to the box, opened it, and indeed found three cards.
"Damage to garden... Reckless flying... Complaint about the flight ban..." he recited as he flipped through the trio of cards.
Well, the sooner Zipp could be convinced to give some flying lessons, the sooner that third one could happen. He noticed that the other two were signed by the same pony, one Posey Bloom.
"You ever going to run out of things to complain about, Posey?" Sprout asked, talking to himself. Even before reunification, the earth mare was one of the citizens who frequented the complaint box the most. Some of Maretime Bay even referred to her derogatorily as a 'Maren', or somepony who complains. A lot.
He made a note to check with Posey about her garden, but as for the other two cards, one had already been handled, and the other one couldn't be dealt with yet until pegasi could fly more safely.
Welp, that was the complaint box taken care of.
Suddenly, an idea dawned on him. He went back to his desk and sat down, before picking up the wired landline in the back corner, picking it up and dialing a familiar number.
"Yes, hello. This is Deputy Sprout Cloverleaf, and I'd like to place an order for lunch carryout."
I once had an idea for Posey being written as a more sympathetic character with some legitimate grievances, only for her to go off the deep end as Chapter 1's magic situation deteriorated more and more. If "Karen" is our baseline, that is clearly not happening.
Laying the groundwork for Chapter 1, I see. I can't help but imagine you running through the list of TYT and MYM episodes in as chronological an order as is reasonably possible and wondering what you'll adapt and what you'll skip. TYT episode 1, Pipp and Zipp's farewell parade? Done. Episode 2, remodeling the Brighthouse? Not sure if done yet. Episode 3, flight school? Work in progress. Episode 4, Nightmare Roommate? Hmm... Episode 5, Mane Melody? Work in progress. Episode 6, Izzy stuck in a unicorn trap? Funny, but not necessary.
Episode 7, Hitch doing detective work? Well...
Basically she's like the equivalent of a Karen 😒
Yep you might as well give that a shot of calling for lunch especially these days now
Okay wow so it looks like sprout finally returned to work after a very long recovery and so far he's looking at a couple of complaint box mostly from Posey even he gets annoyed by her but he looks like he's adapting to his phone and I wonder what else could happen guess we'll find out next time I wonder if we ever going to see misty here
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All quite well said. Unfortunately, she still has SOME legitimate complaints. As is commonly said, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. But then, because she complains so much, it takes a lot longer to get folks to listen when she DOES have something legitimately appropriate to complain about. "Boy Who Cried Wolf" type deal and all.
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Yeah. Right down to the demanding to see ones' manager/sheriff.
Hello there. Glad to see this latest chapter up and running. Absolutely loved the work going into Sprout's observations (especially about how much Posey complains about literally everything that evenly mildly rubs her the wrong way). And, yes, the complaints about the flight ban will be dealt with relatively soon.
I am definitely going to be looking forward to more of this.
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And, yeah, the groundwork for Chapter One is getting excellent traction as are the observations concerning the Tell Your Tale episodes. Yeah, there could still be a much shorter version of the "unicorn trap" bit if Izzy stepped on a trap that they still haven't gotten around to deactivating while on her way to a theater or on her way to collect art supplies. Basically, Izzy just levitates herself enough to allow her friends to press the de-activation button much more easily.
But, yes, Hitch and Zipp (after the latter has trained a few Pegasi how to fly properly [even so they can train others]) working together on an investigation could be good to see (especially showing Zipp developing an interest in detective work).
Looks like Sprout is back on the job and doing very well on his desk duty.
This new chapter is great; I enjoy it. I can't wait to see the grand opening of CanterLove Studios. I could just explode with excitement to see how great the building and flight school would turn out.
Not surprised there.
Who knows Sprout.
So far this is a good AU of the original movie and early episodes.
"Maren" is a good Pony-ism.