May 29
I woke up with a pounding head, full bladder, and Aquamarine’s head on my back. And when I managed to get my eyes all the way open, I realized that we were both down at the wrong end of the bed and there was a pair of feet over on the other side of her. I didn’t know who they belonged to and I had too much else on my mind to worry about it.
I tried rolling and twisting to get Aquamarine off me, but that didn’t work—I wound up getting more tangled in the bedding. Fortunately, she woke up and got out of my way.
We got out of bed without stepping on feet or disturbing the mystery sleeper—which was Brianna—and I got my shower things and also raided Peggy’s drawer for a couple of aspirin. I thought she’d understand; besides, it was her fault that my head hurt anyway. She knew I had a weakness for White Russians.
It wasn’t fair how much better Aquamarine looked than me. I knew she’d had at least as much to drink, maybe more, but she was still fresh as a daisy. Which was a good thing; I might need her to hold me up in the shower.
I set the shower basket down on the little bench and took the first toilet stall and at least I felt a little better after I’d peed.
Being in the shower helped, too. I don’t think that rain (or showers) can really rinse out being drunk, but there were some ponies who swore by it. Either by upbucking a raincloud, or using the earth pony method of dunking your head in a barrel, it was supposed to shock you into soberness.
It helped a little bit, I guess. I let the water beat on me for a bit, then moved aside so that Aquamarine could have a turn in it, and after a couple of cycles I felt at least mostly awake, so then we washed each other and since there weren’t any girls waiting for their turn, we really took our time.
We shook off inside the shower, and then went back to the dorm room to finish drying off.
Not much had changed while we were gone. Brianna was still sleeping in my bed, Sean and Christine were in a lump on the floor, and Peggy was all alone in her bed. Both of our desks were littered with empty bottles. Even the vodka bottle was empty.
Once we’d gotten groomed, I asked Aquamarine how she felt about a nice walk around the neighborhood. A trot would have been nice, but we’d just got out of the shower, and I didn’t want to take another one. Earth soap takes too many oils out of the skin and coat if you’re not careful with it, and that can cause problems.
She thought it would be a good way to finish waking up, so I left a note for Peggy under the vodka bottle saying where we were going.
We talked while we walked, which was nice, although a little strange. I was used to mostly having my own thoughts while I was exercising in the morning.
I think that’s why we went further than I usually do. After we went by Aric’s house—which I pointed out to her (and Winston wasn’t in the driveway, so Aric must have spent all night at the theatre working)—we kept on going west on Main Street a few blocks, which I’d flown over and driven before, but never walked. That gave it a new perspective, and we both admired the odd mud-brick style house on the south side of the road.
She told me about her apartment and how much nicer it was than the dorm room, but it was kind of quiet compared to what she was used to, except when trains went by. Then it was pretty loud.
And she said that her professor had told her several times that he was getting really good data from her experiment. He wouldn’t tell her if it was a success or not because he claimed that would bias it, but she was fairly sure it was. He’d had her help him with a paper on an earlier, shorter version of the experiment she’d done, and by every measurement her plants had been bigger and stronger and healthier than his.
I told her a little bit about what I’d done with the weather, although there hadn’t been much, but she was proud that I’d become an official Skywatcher and said that she didn’t think that anypony else had done that yet. I didn’t think so, either.
When we got back to campus, we went right to the dining hall. She couldn’t use her student card, and had to use a money card (hers said MSUFCU on it and mine just said VISA, but otherwise they were the same). We took turns at the waffle-maker, which was still working, and got a big plate of fruit to share. She got some coffee and I got orange juice and we sat at my usual table and continued our conversation from the morning.
We were almost finished up when Peggy and Christine and Sean showed up. All of them looked a little worn-out from the night: Sean only had dry toast on his plate, and he just sort of picked at it. Christine had her Lucky Charms cereal, and Peggy had a few strips of bacon and some eggs because she said a greasy breakfast was the best way to recover from a night of drinking.
Aquamarine asked what we were going to do today, and Sean suggested going back to bed and waiting to die, so Christine threw a marshmallow star at him and it stuck on his forehead and he just left it there and pushed his toast aside and then put his head down on the table.
None of them looked like they wanted to do anything too active today, so I thought that go-karts was probably out, but there were a couple of museums that sounded interesting. I thought of other places I’d seen on my flights around town, and then I asked Peggy what karaoke was, ‘cause I’d seen it on a sign.
She told me it was singing, which sounded like it might be fun. I said that there was a little place on an island called Moonraker that had karaoke and Sean looked up and said that was a titty bar.
I didn’t know what that was, so Christine told me, and I thought that would be interesting, then Peggy said that she wasn’t going to be the one to drive a pair of ponies to a topless bar. So maybe I’d have to ask Aric later.
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum got the final vote, so after everyone was done eating and getting dressed, we met up in the Trowbridge parking lot, and all got into Cobalt. It was a little crowded in back, since there wasn’t enough room for both Aquamarine and I to lie down and still comfortably leave room for a third, but we got around that by having Christine sit in the front and move the seat all the way forward, which left a nice spot on the floor I could curl up in, sort of. It wasn’t very comfortable, but we weren’t in the car for too long.
We went to the mummy display first, because that was as good a thing to see as any. There were lots of little signs around explaining how the mummy had come all the way from Egypt to Kalamazoo, and how they had figured out how long ago she had died, and that was really interesting stuff. They had used machines to look inside the wrappings and see what was there, and they’d found out a lot about her from that, like that she’d had arthritis and bad teeth, and they’d even made a bust of what she’d probably looked like thousands of years ago.
After Christine read that she wanted to know why Aquamarine didn’t have canine teeth like I did, and so we explained how not all earth ponies have them and almost no unicorns do, but most pegasuses do.
Then we went on to an exhibit called Seasons of Southwest Michigan. That was really neat, because unlike the mummy, everything there could be touched. There was a big tube of lightning that would jump at your hoof or hand when you put it on the tube—it didn’t hurt, but it made you a bit warm—and there was also a bigger tube that had a little tornado inside. I galloped around it really quick in the opposite direction that it was rotating, and managed to slow it down a little bit. I think I would have done better if I could fly and if there wasn’t a tube keeping it contained.
They also had a sand-table where you could use a fan to make little sand dunes and then collapse them, and another that represented earthquakes. Christine made a little sand-tower and then the earthquake knocked it down.
Next we went to an exhibit called Science in Motion which Sean said was for kids, but that didn’t stop him from playing with everything he could get his hands on. Me and Aquamarine had the most fun with a device called a generator that you could power yourself, and once we’d figured out how to work it with hooves we had our own little competition which she won easily.
They also had a really neat section on the human body, and we both learned a lot from that. A lot of what went on inside humans was the same as ponies, but not all of it, so it was kind of fun to compare and contrast. Humans don’t have a cecum at all.
There was a machine that could measure your heart rate, too, and that was fun to play with. Sean had the highest and Aquamarine had the lowest.
We would have stayed longer, but the museum closed before we could see everything. I thought it would be fun to come back later, though.
The sad thing about topless bars is they charge WAY more for drinks. Also, be willing to bet that a pony getting a lap dance would be HUGE on the internet if you could get it past the censors.
Peggy used White Russian! It's super effective! Silver Glow passed out!
Oh, God. I'm already imagining Aric's reaction… Oh, God. I'm already imagining Aric's reaction.
Wait, Aric is a slav? I thought he was of english descent.
7435216
That's not even coming close to the hype that would be generated by a pony giving a lap-dance!
I imagine her saying "care-a-oak".
In theory, since alcool de-hydrates you, you should figth hang-over by drinking water.
Look closer, it is there, just in a vestiginal state, waiting for appendicitis to strike...
if mommy says no, ask daddy...
i allways wonder how it would be with unicorns ... because we just need to attatch something to our existing powergenerators that they can easily grab with magic and then let them run it, energy as green as the pony making it. oh yes, might be a super boring jobs for unicorns, but maybe they can do like 1h or 30min shifts and then someone takes over?
7435335
just force liter or a half in your body befor you go to sleep, works wonders the next morning
Some comedian said "karaoke" is Japanese for "can't carry a tune in a bucket" & was the worst idea the Japanese had since they bombed Pearl Harbor.
Karaoke = Open Mouth, Empty Head?
Day at the Museum, Good,
Night At The Museum, Better?
7435228 Forget Aric's reaction. Imagine the ponies confusion. Or better yet the strippers fawning all over the adorable ponies.
Why am I not surprised that Silver Glow has no problem with the idea of A topples bar. Plus I hear karaoke is fun, she may enjoy it if she can sample some of the music first.
what college dose this take place at?
an
comfortably
7435560 Granny Clampet thought it meant 'No Hats'.
The patrons of said titty bar will either be amazingly down with the ponies or an ugly sort of people. The girls will probably love em.
Peggy: "I am NOT going to be The One that takes a pair of ponies to a topless bar!"
Silver Glow: "But it's not topless, I've flown over the place and it has a perfectly fine and intact roof."
All the humans: "..."
static.spiceworks.com/shared/post/0008/7691/speechless-stickguy-meme.gif
Interesting. Is that based on anything?
Peggy had a few strips of bacon and some eggs because she said a greasy breakfast was the best way to recover from a night drinking.
Had many early morning stops for a big bowl of menudo.
7432376 Thanks for that summary. The SG's exploits lead to many a learning opportunity in the comments.
And yet another place to visit when visiting Kzoo!
So I was at my job, taking my break and washing my hand before eating my sandwich, and for some reason that quote came back to mind and I was like "Hey! She specified earth!".
So did she specify it 'cause just like Equestria's milk is magically preserved, Equestria's soap magically protect skin and hair?
Oh, YES please! I'll totally do it in your stead 'cause that sounds like an amazing thing. Where are your senses of of humor and adventure, Peggy?
Silver: "In Equestria we call them 'bottomless' bars. The entertainers shave their tails bare."
P.S. We got hammered by storms yesterday and I had a lot of fun driving right through the heart of one that was blooming. That got me thinking; Silver needs a human friend who likes dancing in the rain and laughing at thunder with her.
7436382
Different recipes and chemical compositions. Equestrian soaps and shampoos are formulated for pony skin and pony coats, which would have slightly to somewhat different properties and oils. Also, Equestrians have a much smaller and likely more homogenous (on certain levels) population, so their products can be a bit more finely tuned than our mass-production, mass-market methods. Finally, Silver Glow isn't making any sort of intelligent decision as to what soap to use. Back in Equestria, there's maybe 2-3 brands to pick from, and she uses the same kind consistently (if she uses any at all, given the local relative tech differences). On Earth, there's 10-20 brands on hand, and she's got no way of knowing (nor is she particularly trying to find out) which brand works best with Pony physiology.
7436592 You do know that using too much soap (or shamppo), regardless of the kind and brand will cause damage to your skin and hair?
img.photobucket.com/albums/v320/theroguewolf/SGJ_POTG.jpg
Brianna got cuddled by two drunk ponies last night. Lucky.
Oh my god pegasi are carnivores
We kinda do, it just doesn't really do anything.
For the upcoming play, I was thinking
Possible visitors from Equestria
One of the Alicorns. I could see a terrorist attack & humans learning why Celestia is called Sol Invictus, the Unconquerable Sun
If the Mane Six didn't die in battle, they are probably between 40ish & 50ish. They're probably retired from being the active Elements.
As to the ones who might visit Earth, I see Twilight as a college department head to Archimage, chief wizard
Rarity would be one of the top fashionistas & interested in Earth's fashions + Earth's theatre. Andrew Lloyd Weber is probably as big on Equestria as on Earth.
The others probably lack the resources to get to Earth
7436500
For anyone confused: 8===D
7436692 Well, Brianna's feet did anyway.
Didn't you caugth up when Silver started eating anchovies?
ICR = I Can't Recall. I don't know why my mind hates me. I've never done anything to it -or with it. Still, it's usually not on speaking terms with the rest of my life.
About the only things I dislike more are this -ING touch phone and the internet
7436681
I think we technically do already, the problem is distribution. Too many people too far away from the good growing lands and not enough interest in shipping heaps of food to people who can't pay for it.
I know a guy who works in a small bakery and they throw away entire bags of baked goods at the end of each day.
7437265 What did you change it to?^^
7437170 Hold up now, Conrad Hilberry was your poetry professor?
Wait, Kalamazoo...Conrad, how the hell did I not make that connection? It all makes sense now.
From nearly four thousand miles away, across an ocean I shall doubtless never cross, I salute you.
7437273
"He told us that there was a way to do it on computers, where you made little boxes and the iterates would fall into the boxes, and then you would know where the most were landing."
7437318
Yes; he was a professor at K from 1962-1998.
(I also had Sharon Olds as a professor, but she wasn't a very good.)
7437354 Thanks.:D
7436651
Or these two:
http://imgur.com/zgna7Ld.gifv
wrcb.images.worldnow.com/images/22559709_SA.jpg
7435335
Wiki says it's actually what the appendix is attached to.
Looks can be deceiving, Silver. Ours are just underdeveloped.
7436681
but if they succeed or not is a different question
It's just a matter of perspective. Once a society starts understanding the mechanics of the world, they stop calling it magic and start calling it science. It's clarke's third law. Is stainless steel really different than enchanted iron? Robots and computers could be considered golems. But I do understand what you mean, it's a fine line. Personally I made my magic stuff for MLP similar to analogue electronics. It's fairly easy to start getting technical and planning spells out, but you still have an element of magic there.
that's probably true. I'm more interested in things like seasonings and weird stuff like cashews. The shell is highly toxic so all cashews need to be processed before you can eat them.
The topless bar would certainly be an experience for all involved. If people get uncomfortable with the marshmallow ponies discussing their sex lives, imagine how weird it would be to see those enormous eyes watching a pole dance. Especially if you're the dancer.
Ponies at a museum, on the other hand, sound quite adorable and enjoyable for all. As long as they don't disrupt any vortex exhibits too badly.
7437354
Heh, I wonder how Hilberry, Banerjee and the others would react to being immortalized in pony fiction.
YEAH SCIENCE!
7435216
Oddly, Moonraker didn't. Although I should point out that in Michigan, you can serve alcohol at a bar where the girls (or guys, I suppose) are topless, but you cannot serve alcohol at a full-nude venue.
Of course it would. (although to get a lap dance, they need to go to a different venue.)
7435228
There are some things that you don't do. And then there are some things which you are obligated to do if the opportunity arises.
7435263
What do you want to bet that Cayenne already has?
7435321
She probably would . . . Peggy's probably gotten used to her mispronunciations, too.
7435335
I've had mixed results with that technique.
To be fair, though, it probably wouldn't be labeled on a model in a kid's section of the museum, since it's hardly an important organ in our digestive system (until things go wrong), whereas in IRL equines, it's a very significant organ.
7435362
exactly!
You're not the first to think of this:
smbc-comics.com/comics/20110713.gif
7435372
Whenever I'm at a bar (which is rare) and they start karaoke, I just get up and leave. Unless it's a bunch of musical theatre people; then it winds up being pretty good.
7435435
Is there a Night at the Museum/Daring Do crossover on the site, yet? (If not, why not?)
7435450
That's the number one reason that it would be so worth doing. Hell, even just the topless bar (in Michigan, there is a difference between a topless bar and a nude club).
7435560
And she's got more understanding than most ponies about why humans wear clothes all the time.
It's more fun to participate than to listen, that's for sure.
7435822
Kalamazoo College, one of the best liberal arts colleges in the midwest.
7435866
Heh, the ponies in Appleoosa might be offended by a hatless bar.
7435886
At the one I'm thinking, it could go either way. That place was a dive bar, in the good sense of the term.
Of course they will. What girl doesn't love a pony?
7435995
At least by now a lot of the humans know that Silver Glow isn't as sweet and innocent as they first thought.
7436098
IRL, most stallions and about 25% of mares have canine teeth, which was the starting point. Then I started to think about the overall behavior of the tribes, and decided that pegasi were the most likely to fight physically and need them; the earth ponies have similar distribution to actual IRL equines, and since the unicorns can use their horns, they've got no need of them.
cache4.asset-cache.net/gc/479676349-burchells-zebra-yawning-rietvlei-nature-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=SDhT5%2BHGcHTJXKA%2Bv3VbkJHBHeQ7%2BK18ELwYHS%2BwMMBq3D%2BFhE5awd9RBdbZx8PmmyvvC3d%2FKgxoDl7NFHReTQ%3D%3D
(It's easiest to find zebra pictures, since most domestic horses have their canine teeth removed.)
7435844
Corrections made, thank you!
7436114
I didn't know what that was, and then I looked it up. I'm not sure which version you're referring to (or if my google-fu failed me), but from reading the description, it sounds like something that will either kill you or make you stronger.
7436148
They do! For me, as well. Turns out I didn't know anything about the potato famine, besides that potatos got blight. I couldn't even count the number of times I've learned something new from the comments.
7436370
The museum or the topless bar? Or both?
7436382
More like it's formulated to be gentle on pony skin and pony skin oils, whereas human shampoo isn't.
7436533
Peggy's sense of adventure stops short of taking ponies to a topless bar. Now, if they both wanted to go snowboarding, Peggy would be down with that.
One author (who I can't remember) called prostitute ponies 'sell-tails.' And I wouldn't be surprised if they do crop their tails.
Peggy did that one time. Peggy just doesn't like driving in the rain.
7436592
Yeah (not to mention, they'd have scents that ponies prefer, rather than ones humans prefer).
Not at all. She found the one shampoo called 'mane and tail,' and therefore assumes it's the correct one to use. In many ways, she's not a savvy shopper.
7436640
7436692
Only her feet, but still. . . . Lucky.
Technically, opportunistic piscivores.
True, but it likely wouldn't show up on a digestive system diagram in the kid's section at the museum, since it's fairly insignificant.
7436711
After Twilight's battle with Tirek, I would love to see Celestia crank it up to eleven.
lh5.googleusercontent.com/-emCXxcj8XIk/UFOPxTVoEWI/AAAAAAAAGqM/elLJ2tPqXT0/s450/PhoenixCelestia.png
I tend to think of them on the young end of the spectrum, so possibly only mid-thirties.
By the beginning of the third season, I assumed that she was going to either become a head mage (like Starswirl) or have some other important government position. I didn't see the wings, though . . . that was a surprise.
Musicals would be one of our greatest exports to Equestria. They'd probably scoff at cars, but there'd be huge lines for any Broadway musical that performed in Equestria.
Except for Pinkie; she'd probably hitch a ride on the landing gear of an Aer Lingus jet.
7436982
SocksPonies: they're comfortable and easy to wear.(Or when she was unsuccessfully hunting sand crabs on the beach.)
7437192
Gotcha, thanks!
...
but the internet has ponies!
7437195
I'm not 100% sure that we do worldwide; I know that we do in the US--if we just gave the food that we threw away to the hungry, nobody would go hungry.
Is there anyone that he could donate it to? Food banks or the like? Obviously, it would have a pretty limited shelf life, but still. . . .
7437414
That pony sleeping with the teddy bear is so cute. The other one is just sort of weird, and I was expecting a lot more drool.
7437619
I did know that we had a vestigial cecum, but I doubt it'd be labeled on a drawing in the kids' section of the museum. Also on a horse, it holds eight gallons, so it's a pretty significant organ for them.
7437735
I expect that if they try enough, they will. But with humans anyway, there are all sorts of ethical problems, so it's only likely to be done where the ethics aren't an issue, or if there's some kind of crisis where it has to be done.
Well, that's one thing--where do you draw the line between magic and science for the purpose of a story? But I was just thinking that the 'generic' setting for magic universes is quasi-medieval; modern settings (like Harry Potter) are rare. Unless you consider the superhero genre to fall into the magic universe category, in which case it's a huge genre.
Or tapioca. I've heard that there's something like a sixteen step process before it's non-toxic. Who kept working at it after the first fifteen steps weren't enough to make it edible?
7437943
I suppose it would depend on how much the ponies tip.
A point of clarification; in Michigan, there is a difference between a topless bar (which is just a bar with topless waitresses) and a nude club (which cannot serve alcohol). Kalamazoo has both; when I was there, the two topless bars I knew of were Moonraker and Mermaid's; the nude club was Deja-Vu.
"I let your tornado out; I hope you don't mind."
7437965
I doubt Hilberry would mind (in fact, I think he'd like it); Banerjee would probably tell me that I don't understand nondynamical systems at all.
7437994
7438339
The reason quasi medieval setting (and you can actually include Harry Potter in this category as wizards don't use any of the modern technology) is because that's when people actually believed in magic while modern societies don't. Personally I think the line comes from the human reading the story. Ponies are going to view their magic as a normal part of their existence and if you give them a modern culture, their probably going to view magic from a scientific perspective and re create modern technology with magic. But we have no analogue and nothing to compare it to so we see it as magic. Although the ponies may refer to their abilities as magic, it may just be a holdover.
yeah, stuff like that is fascinating.
7438159 I've had people tell me they could smell my coffee brewing from a block away.