I Think It's Called Ponytown... Story Notes | Chapter 9 · 4:04pm Jan 29th, 2020
CHAPTER 9 Police State the Nature of the (Interdimensional) Emergency
The chapter title is a reference to the hologram doctor in Star Trek: Voyager, who when activated always states 'Please state the nature of the medical emergency'. It's also worth a note that Robert Picardo, who plays The Doctor, actually helped out when one of the American pony conventions ran into issues paying its guests and is a complete gentleman. The changes I've made to the catchphrase reference both the Police State nature of China and the Equestrian interdimensional rift problem at hand.
I didn't intend form 601A to mean anything other than a vague reference to common ISO:9001-compliant standards for document production and order. 6 would be the area which that series of documents covers (600 being the Master), perhaps IP Theft in this case. 01 would be the specific document which could be Breach by a Company. A would denote an attachment document to the series, such as a form to be filled in; Report of Breach Form 601A in this case.
It does, however, turn out that I-601A is a common US Border Control document for 'Application for Provisional Unlawful Presence Waiver', which considering the interdimensional rift issue is somewhat amusing.
Jiangsu is a small province, but highly populated and with a good manufacturing base, although that tends towards technology more than toys. They do seem to make a lot of stuffed animals though, so who knows.
The bakery link here is showing the cause-and-effect nature of the interdimensional rift working both ways.
'Mr Ma put on his cardigan, shined his sensible shoes and picked up the extremely slim and menacing briefcase' is a direct reference to a footnote in Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman's 'Good Omens' which reads as follows:
Along with the standard computer warranty agreement which said that if the machine 1) didn't work, 2) didn't do what the expensive advertisement said, 3) electrocuted the immediate neighbourhood, 4) and in fact failed entirely to be inside the expensive box when you opened it, this was expressly, absolutely, implicitly and in no event the fault or responsibility of the manufacturer, that the purchaser should consider himself lucky to be allowed to give his money to the manufacturer, and that any attempt to treat what had just been paid for as the purchaser's own property would result in the attentions of serious men with menacing briefcases and very thin watches.
Crowley had been extremely impressed with the warranties offered by the computer industry, and had in fact sent a bundle Below to the department that drew up the Immortal Soul agreements, with a yellow memo form attached just saying: "Learn, guys."
I always wondered if the Castle of Friendship had crystal furniture that came with it, and then I thought how uncomfortable that would be, and decided that the majority of the rooms came unfurnished. This caused a bit of a problem for the budget-concious Twilight who didn't want to be seen spending public funds on unnecessary furniture, but who had a giant castle with hundreds of unused rooms. As such the majority of them were empty. This led to a real issue with beds if more than a few guests stayed over at a time.
Top and tail is where you share a bed but sleep opposite ways around, apparently so it doesn't feel like you're having some sort of relationship. Hope the other person doesn't have smelly feet.
Rainbow is indisputably the Queen of Naps. Also, I have always figured that Luna and Celestia's manes would be very, very soft. Rainbow's image is of being tough. Tough people don't cook. Perhaps she needs to meet Gordon Ramsey?
The Fengshen A60 is a large Chinese-made car which I figured would be the sort of thing of which a government department may have a fleet. In black of course. The thin watch straps references the same 'Good Omens' quote. Poor Mr Xie who runs the local café is understandably nervous to see important looking government officers around. They could be health inspectors for all he knows.
Broken Record is of course our resident DJ Vinyl Scratch. The basement under Sugarcube Corner is Pinkie's secret Party Planning Basement as revealed in the Season 5 Episode 11 'Party Pooped'.
The reference to Applejack (Water Clover during the rift, of course) bringing the mud to the spa is from a fic called 'Apple Knots' by BlazzingInferno where AJ does indeed supply the spa with said commodity. It's only one chapter of 'slice of life' and well worth the read. Lotus compliments Rarity on the new look because the white fur / purple mane combo is new to her in the rift-verse.
'Flux-fixed' - as in flux capacitor (only dimensional rather than temporal), and as in the liquid metal used in soldering that could look a bit like the metallic mercury-like goo I'm aiming for.
Wholesale Muscles - Yeah, I couldn't resist such a silly name. It's a very poorly done literal translation, of course, from a dictionary. Words like 'bulk' with more than one meaning can be a real problem.
I intended the 'royal nanny' to be Sunburst.
Ladybugs Awake is the song that Twilight and Cadance would normally sing to each-other but this is dimensional rift-land. Poor Twilight, she doesn't have much luck with that song does she? The Ladybugs Awake song is originally seen in 'A Canterlot Wedding - Part 1' which is the Season 2 Episode 25.
Cadance, even in the changed dimensional twist, still went through the events of A Canterlot Wedding, so she's paranoid about changelings when Twilight doesn't join in with her version of the song, in somewhat of a role reversal.
Ba Luobo or 'pull the white radish' is apparently reasonably popular a children's nursery-rhyme although I don't know where it originates. I linked a Chinese video version in the Author's Notes.
Foam parties were a thing created in the 1990s by clubs in Ibiza. So, I figured that a dubstep mud party would be a reasonable substitute; and a good way to get the goop slathered around as many ponies as quickly as possible.
PART 8: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/886928/i-think-its-called-ponytown-story-notes-chapter-8
PART 10: https://www.fimfiction.net/blog/887502/i-think-its-called-ponytown-story-notes-chapter-10
I'll have to admit to handwaving the INS mostly in Farmer Bruener, but it's good to know the form number for later. Informative! Very good placed information of country entry!
Well, Ba Luobo is a rather outdated nursery-rhyme in China that has lost all its popularity at some point between ten years ago and now. Most Chinese readers you might encounter are likely to be familiar with the rhyme but would find it somehow silly. The sheer contrast between it and the original Sunshine Chant would be super-effective against Chinese users.
I, for one, laughed kinda too loud on the metro home.
5207028
Yeah. It's been nearly 20 years now since I was speaking Mandarin.