It only took a little screaming and swearing from Kansas before a tow truck picked up the nine States. The car itself got a full repair, and even a brand new set of plates. Of course, Michigan and Illinois worked together to make the perfect pair. The car was now christened with the beautiful name of 'Wheatley'.

Begrudgingly, the others approved.

It took even less time to get back to Missouri, discovering Nebraska on the front porch dining on a slice of pie. "Yo," he called out, waving at them with his fork.

"Yeah, hi, where's Alfred?" Missouri asked, glancing around her yard for any sight of the country.

Nebraska just shrugged, resuming eating his pie. "The only thing I can tell you for sure is that Iowa and Minnesota are making a hot dish."

Without any other words Missouri dashed inside, tearing into her kitchen with wild eyes. They settled on her two brothers, both in her aprons and placing tator tots over some mashed potatoes.

"What the hell are you two doing?" She demanded, hands on her hips as she nearly glared at them.

Minnesota and Iowa traded a look, both shrugging as they glanced back at her. "We didn't want to eat the pie so..." Iowa trailed off, reaching to resume cooking.

Missouri rolled her eyes, huffing out a sigh before walking back out of the kitchen.

Most of the others were already gathering up their things and dispersing, Illinois and Wisconsin having started a shouting contest over football again. Missouri just leaned against her door frame and watched as most of her siblings started driving away.

Minnesota and Iowa left together, both swearing to ship her dish back to her eventually. They also claimed to have left a slice of their pie in the fridge for her. She just shook her head and waved them off.

Soon April turned into August, a few other regional meetings occurring and a couple G8 shenanigans circulated around the gossip pool. According to Indiana, Mississippi heard from Alabama that Idaho legitimately brought his potato cannon into the meeting room. Washington State then proceeded to lecture England about Bigfoot and apparently they had worked out a separate meeting time to go over theories.

But the biggest highlight of August 2016, was the state fairs. Minnesota had the largest usually, quickly followed by Iowa, Ohio, and Wisconsin. However as the political race thickened, each of the swing states got a nice pleasant visit from the candidates.

Now, most people would assume, that because Iowa is such a boring state, it's state fair wouldn't be anything spectacular.

And that's where most people are dead wrong.

For one week, Iowa goes batshit crazy as over a million people flock to Des Moines, intent on surfing the Big Slide, competing in the Sheep Joust, and marvelling at the glory that is the Butter Cow. Ah yes, the Butter Cow.

Each year, one sculptor is commissioned to make a live scale cow made entirely of butter. Several others are asked to make cement calfs, each detailed with varying patterns reflecting culture, and fun in general.

There's corn shucking competitions and surprisingly aggressive rabbit raffles. Not to mention all the food on a stick.

Almost every food available will come on a stick. Salad on a stick, ribs on a stick, snickers on a stick, funnel cake on a stick, chocolate bananas on a stick, deep fried chocolate covered butter on a stick. You think it? It's probably on a stick.

Now, Ansel 'Iowa' Jones, couldn't be prouder of his state fair, it's one of the only times he gets exceedingly excited about anything.

So imagine his surprise, as he was marvelling at the beautiful angel that is his precious Butter Cow, when Nebraska slides up next to him.

Nebraska didn't usually come, mostly because some of the goings on of the fair were a tad too weird to handle.

Iowa raised a dark eyebrow, they'd been getting darker as more people started moving in. Certainly not as much as North Dakota, but it was definitely observable on most of the Midwest's faces.

"Yes?" He started, ignoring how his people were getting frustrated from him hogging the viewing space.

Nebraska looked over, blinking twice before deciding to grace the packed showcase room with his response. "Just checking out what symptoms I can list when we decide to admit you."

Iowa just rolled his eyes, crossing his arms across his chest. "Is anyone else here that I should avoid?" He asked, no real hostility present.

"Eh, not really. I think Illinois is here to scope out the political scene." Nebraska replied, hands in pockets being his casual self.

Oh. Right, that.

Iowa had to stop himself from swearing, he'd seen Cheddar Douche flying around giving helicopter rides to kids. That was something he knew his officials were not happy about. He'd already claimed to favour Cruz and Hillary rather than that wind bag, but whatever. As long as people were happy.

Nebraska snickered from his side, beginning to turn away from his gorgeous cow. "Anyways I've said my peace. Just be sure that when you get all crazy like this you don't also pay any visits to ISU." He said smugly, obviously still not over World War II or maybe the whole computer thing.

"Shove it you kernel. Enjoy the fair." Iowa grumbled back, tearing himself away from his amazing Butter Cow, after all he had to see some of the other events in his fabulous fair.

Iowa spent the day wandering about the fairgrounds, surfing down the Big Slide five times and eating way more stuff on a stick then was probably healthy. He paid little attention to the huge crowds on Main Street, gathering around Cheddar Cheese McDouche Nozzle. The crowd was either throwing things from the sky gondolas, or listening with disturbing enthusiasm.

He discovered Illinois in the corn shucking competition. Needless to say, Achsah pummelled all those sweaty beef cakes up on the stage.

Iowa would never admit it, but he cheered the loudest for his sister, even though he figured her own score wouldn't hold up to his own, let alone Nebraska or Ohio. But he cheered all the same.

Despite this support, he dodged actually meeting up with her in favour of finding some fried butter.

A lot of people liked fried butter, and a lot of people didn't like fried butter. Iowa however, adored the food. Because it was so high in fat and calories you could only really eat it once a year. You had to buy it at the fair, but a few others attempted to replicate it.

The rest of the day passed in a relaxing state of observing competitions, ogling some of the baubles for sale, and riding Ye Old Mill. This was a welcome contrast to the usual hustle and bustle of his life. Zipping about the Capitol in a frenzy of politics and general social customs. Not to mention road trips to either regional meetings, national meetings, or just inter-state relations.

Needless to say, the Iowa State Fair, while being entirely weird and filled to the brim in odd customs, was a time of rest and recuperation for the State.

A/N: Okay okay, I know it's been forever. Literal months. But hey, at least this is...something! It's not as serious or as long as the previous chapters but oh well. Things are getting heated recently, and it felt time for some State Nationalism. That and the Iowa State Fair is seriously hilarious.

Okay so, back in 2016, Trump and Hillary did actually pay a visit to the fair. And yes, people did actually throw stuff from the sky gondolas. Everything included in the chapter is an actual thing, I swear.

By the way, if you don't know, both a version of the computer and the nuclear bombs used on Japan were both created at Iowa State University. Manhattan Project? More like Ames Project.

With that long winded speech over with, don't be afraid to leave suggestions for future chapters!

Thanks a whole bunch!