May 1
The problem with sharing a bed with a unicorn is that they don't like to get up early, so once me and Aquamarine were both awake we abandoned Cayenne and I made another pot of coffee, since the smell might wake her up.
She was stirring in bed but wasn't up after Aquamarine and I had both had a third of the little pot, so we went off to the shower without her and we were pretty much finished when she finally stumbled into the bathroom and slid open the curtain far enough to climb in.
There ought to be some sort of stepstool or stile into the bathtub. I never really had much trouble with them 'cause I could fly over, but Aquamarine had struggled with it, and Cayenne wound up doing a sort of sliding belly-flop into the bathtub. Then she muttered something about not being all the way awake yet and stuck her head right under the water.
I've always thought that cold water works better to wake up quick.
But it worked okay for her because she pulled her head back out and shook some of the water out of her mane and said that outdoor fucking started today. I told her that I’d already started and I didn’t know that we weren’t supposed to start before the first of May and she just stuck her tongue out at me, levitated a loofah and started to scrub herself.
When me and Aquamarine had finished up our shower and dried each other off we went into the main room to finish grooming, while Cayenne was still in the shower washing her mane.
I guess that either Cayenne had made us sleep in a little or else Miss Cherilyn was up early 'cause I was still brushing Aquamarine's tail when we heard her knocking on the door and Cayenne just looked over and opened it then turned back to getting her bangs just right. I suppose there are some advantages to rooming with a unicorn.
Miss Cherilyn was a little bit surprised that there wasn't anypony near the door but she told us that if we were almost ready they were too and we could go get breakfast.
With the three of us all together we did even better for breakfast; not only did we have granola and oatmeal, but also a fruit salad. Mister Salvatore said that we could order more than one thing if we wanted to so we got a second fruit salad to share.
Cayenne told us in Equestrian that it was still pretty early so we ought to stretch out breakfast. She said that theatre parties usually ran really late; she had been to one in Chicago and she said that she hadn't gone to sleep until four am. Then she grinned and said that she had been in bed by two and that it had been a great party.
Miss Cherilyn asked what she was talking about, and she waved a hoof and said 'unicorn stuff,' then before Miss Cherilyn could ask anything else she floated up a cube of melon and ate it with a satisfied grin on her face.
We finally finished drinking our coffees and then went back to the room to pack our things. Neither Aquamarine nor I had all that much—it had only been a weekend trip, after all—and even Cayenne had made do with only one bag besides her saddlebags. And we had to put it all in Sienna 'cause otherwise we would have had to carry it with us.
So we went towards Nicky's house 'cause that's where Gusty was, and Cayenne managed to find another way to delay us at a store that sold greeting cards, scented candles called Yankee, and other small gifts that looked to me like the kind of thing you give someone when you don't know what they actually like.
There were lots of different subjects for the cards and Cayenne found one that she liked. It was pink, and on the front it said 'All her life she imagined being this impressive, amazing woman, and one day she woke up and realized she was.' It would have been better if is said 'pony' instead of 'woman,' but I didn't think we'd find a card that said that.
Then we all signed it and put it in the little envelope and we were about to leave when Cayenne said that she ought to get a candle too, and she found one called Midsummer Night, which was just perfect. Miss Cherilyn had gotten into the spirit and found a nice bag that we could put it in, and then she said maybe we should get something for Nicky too but none of us could think of anything that she might like.
When we finally got to her house and rang the doorbell, Gusty came down and opened the door just a little bit and said she wasn't dressed yet and would we mind waiting out on the porch for a few minutes, and Mister Salvatore looked down at the three of us who weren't wearing anything and raised his eyebrow but didn't say a word.
And it didn't take her too long before she opened the door and let us in and happily trotted up the steps with us following. We all congratulated her again on how well she'd done and everyone got hugs and nuzzles and then we gave her our gift and she was so happy with the card and with the candle. She told us some funny stories about rehearsals and said that she got to help one of the Mechanicals put on his stage makeup because he couldn't do it himself and he didn't trust any of the girls to do it for him.
She told us that she'd heard last night that they were going to get to do a special performance in Stratford, and that was where all the famous Shakespearean actors performed, and she was really looking forward to that.
We talked up until it was time for her to go to the theatre to get ready for the matinee performance, then we hugged her and wished her good luck except for Cayenne who told her to break a leg and I thought that was mean to say.
Cayenne rode with us in Sienna all the way to Glencoe, where she got out so that she could ride a Metra train, and we went back through Chicago which was even busier and more crowded than it had been before. When we stopped for the hundredth time at a guard station Mister Salvatore said that next time he was going to fill out the paperwork for an Easy Pass and Miss Cherilyn said that she had told him he ought to.
I wanted to stop for dinner at a Taco Bell, but I got outvoted and we stopped instead at Denny's and this time nobody was mad at me for being a pony. Aquamarine had never eaten at a Denny’s before and she said it was kind of shoddy. Mister Salvatore said maybe so but it was a lot nicer at four am when you were on the road and the only thing better was Waffle House but there weren’t any of those nearby.
Miss Cherilyn changed the subject and said that Nicky and Gusty were so cute together and so I guess she hadn’t been fooled at all. We all agreed that they were.
Then we went along a different highway for a little bit and stopped at a beachfront dunes park where you could see Chicago off in the distance over the lake and that was really neat. The skyscratchers were like distant mountains, and I was glad he'd thought to stop there for us.
It was kind of odd to think that somewhere off in that distant city that I could barely see was Cayenne, and it had only been a few hours since she was in the van with us. Human travel is so fast.
Once we’d left the dune park, it didn’t feel like all that long before we were back in Kalamazoo, and we agreed that we'd had a great weekend and we still needed to get together in Chicago and see the museums. And once we'd said our goodbyes I went back to my dorm room and started catching up on my homework 'cause I'd missed a lot when I was sick and then even more 'cause I hadn't been able to pay attention on Friday. So it was nearly midnight when I went to bed: even Peggy was undressed and in bed before I finally closed my Anthropology book.
This more than anything else shows that the Unicorn is a sane and rational creature.
Yes! 'The Early bird catches the worm" only shows the worm should have stood in bed. Besides, who wants worms?
Which Stratford?
7348112 The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
So Silver Glow still gets some words wrong, yet I have no idea why she chose to capitalize mechanical.
Is there an American Stratford that's also associated with Shakespeare, or is Gusty mixing it up with the English one, and is going to be disappointed not to be performing at the Royal Shakespeare Company?
7348088
From the sound of it I would have like, 3 horns if I was a pony.
A couple of other comments:
Yes you want EZ-Pass. I got it, because while I don't drive through Chicago that often, it's wonderful not to deal with toll booths.
And I want to know more about Equestrian customs that specify that outdoor fucking is okay, but only at certain times of the year.
"DAWN n. The time when ponies of reason go to bed." - Ambrose Bierce (mostly)
...okay, it's official: All three tribes of ponies are insatiable!
I see Cayenne Is a fan of JoCo's music!
Though Code Monkey is my favorite!
The pony rule about outdoor sex is probably like the human rule about when women can wear white. That is, something that high society people use to show how much more refined they are than normal folks because they have time for that sort of nonsense.
7348135 in the context of the actor being a Mechanical, it is a tile that all manual labourers had in Shakespeare's era, so capitalising it is actually correct.
You know, it occured to me that if I ever end up being in charge of an exchange program, helper will have basic classes in the exchangees' language.
Catching Cayenne talking about her sex life aside, it would be useful sometime to clarify things.
Speaking of Cayenne, was the dinner after or before Glencoe? 'Cause Silver talked about it after, but apparently Cayenne was still with them...
7348156 What makes you conclude that? So far we've only got Pegasus and Unicorn having an active sex life. Aquamarine did it once and it never went further.
So we still need evidence of Earth Pony being insatiable too.
Who doesn't have EZ-Pass in this day and age? At least, in the group of people who frequent highways with toll booths.
Anyway, good to see Silver catch up with the other exchange students, but now it's time to hit those books.
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Nice to see that Cayenne is still a massive pervert.
Silver needs to learn about theater traditions. If she's not careful, she might accidentally say "Macbeth" around Gusty.
7348129
And then the first human asks, "Who moved my cheese?"
You know this might be one of the reasons Silver doesn't like unicorn's much.
Still, I would expect the pony helper humans to at least understand some Equestrian.
Stratford upon Avon, the home of the bard or some other Stratford? If the former, I wonder how easy it is for ponies on exchange to the US to go to other countries.
Arrrrgh. Why does no one tell Silver Glow things? The rational response to someone not getting your joke about Jonathan Coulton is to introduce them to Jonathan Coulton.
Oh no, I'm caught up! I just started reading this story five days ago and I've been hooked since. This story is like eating popcorn. It's light and fluffy and delicious and arranged into little bite sized pieces. So it's very easy to say, "Okay, just one more chapter," again and again until you've read a dozen more chapters than you meant to and you're late for a raid or something. It's devious and I love it.
good thing ponys have four ... i hope Cayenne explained why she said it ...
do unicorns adopt the quickest to human habits ?
7348156 Well they are teenagers.
Driving along the southern part of Lake Michigan does have that interesting experience.
I wonder if unicorns have less of a mutual-grooming tradition due to their telekinesis. Much easier to reach everything than with hooves and mouths, so there's less need to scratch each others' back.
Between Gusty and Cayenne, I suspect she's the only pony studying Anthropology theoretically tonight.
7348240
In fact, Mr. Coulton didn't originally come up with that line. The poem is slightly different from the first lines of the chorus. "Hooray, hooray/it's the first of May/Outdoor fucking starts today" is very old indeed.
7348240
Hadn't heard this one. Most amused the video has a pic of Kalamazoo in there.
7349439
I know, right?!
Fuck yeah, Waffle House. Some people like to pretend IHOP is in the same league, but they're either delusional or salty.
shook some of the water out of her mane and said that outdoor fucking started today.
Omg! My sides!
Mmm Waffle House. *drooling intensifies*
7348515
These days, it isn't too hard to program a GPS to go by back roads and avoid stretches of highway with toll stops.
Another event in Wisconsin I'd love to see Silver Glow and company go to is Summerfest in Milwaukee
7348088
I second that opinion. If I didn't have a daytime job, I probably wouldn't get up before ten a.m.
7348112
Robins, and pegasus foals who think that they're robins.
7348114
The one in Ontario (Canada). As a Michigander and a theatre person, that's the one I mean when I say Stratford.
7348129
I know all about that. I have mice. Not the fun pet kind, but the evil eats your cookies if you don't lock them in a safe kind.
7348135
Because a group of actors in A Midsummer Night's Dream are 'The Mechanicals.' (Quince, the carpenter; Snug, the joiner; Bottom, the weaver; Flute, the bellows-mender; Snout, the tinker; and Starveling the tailor.)
If you rarely use toll roads, though, it's not worth the hassle. I only use them on my way to Bronycon and back, so I don't have an EZ-Pass.
(Of course, the Ohio Turnpike is a lot better than the Chicago
turnpikeclusterfuck.She's quoting the ancient Earth proverb "Hooray hooray the first of May/Outdoor fucking starts today."
I think Ben Franklin said that.
7348138
I am not aware of an American one (although there very well might be), but there is a Stratford in Ontario, Canada, which puts on a Shakespeare festival.
7348149
7348156
Only unicorns. Earth ponies are up with the sun, and so are some pegasi like Silver Glow.
That may be so, but poor Aquamarine isn't getting any.
7348240
I recognize that K-College sign. The near dorm is Harmon; the one that's further back is Hoben. And if you could see more to the right, you'd see Olds-Upton.
7348249
Presumably depends on the tribe. The pegasi . . . well, any day is a good day for outdoor sex.
7348302
Much like 'The Faeries.'
7348496
The ponies are assuming that since they've never heard their helpers speaking in Equestrian that they don't know the language.
That assumption is not necessarily correct.
Keeping the above in mind, there are probably varying levels of comprehension among the helpers. Just like Peggy didn't have to speak Equestrian in order to qualify as Silver Glow's roommate, it's very likely that some of the successful applicants do speak Equestrian.
Yeah, that was my mistake. I meant Aquamarine.
7348515
Who doesn't have EZ-Pass in this day and age? At least, in the group of people who frequent highways with toll booths.
I don't, but pretty much the only time I'm on toll roads are when I go to Bronycon or when I go to Sunny Haven.
Yup. Poor Silver's got some catching up to do.
7348653
statici.behindthevoiceactors.com/behindthevoiceactors/_img/chars/char_151946.jpg
That manestyle doesn't just happen.
7348716
Of course she is.
You mean 'the Scottish play'
7348772
Yeah, it does play into it. The other tribe's perception of them is 'screw you, I've got magic.' Obviously, it's more nuanced than that, but to a pony who doesn't know any unicorns all that well . . . .
You can bet that they know some. And some of them are surely fluent in it.
Stratford, Ontario, Canada.
Probably generally easier than it is for you average Joe, since they have federally issued helpers to take care of all the paperwork. Behind the scenes, there might be a lot of negotiating. Case in point: Silver Glow has no idea how much negotiating went on behind the scenes before she got her pilot's license. Mister Salvatore was making a lot of phone calls and leaning on a lot of people to make it happen.
7348804
Cayenne probably doesn't get the reference, either; just the word 'fucking' perked her ears up and that's why she remembers that May 1st is the start day for doing it outside.
7349005
(for being caught up) :pinkiehappy; (for being hooked)
You can console yourself with the thought that there will be a new chapter tomorrow.
And the tomorrow after that.
And, good Lord willing and the creek don't rise, every tomorrow until March 2017.
7349023
Nope. Silver Glow has no idea why Cayenne said that.
Well, she's had five months to adopt human habits. Also, although not speaking from personal experience here, I would imagine if you're into outdoor fing, you might not worry too much about what day it is before you decide to Excaliberize the princess outdoors.
7349323
I've only been along that route once in the last fifteen years.
I remember when the scenic highlights were the yellow sky over Gary, IN, and the giant quarry-holes alongside the highway (which I think are now filled with water).
7349369
Probably not; it's not only about bathing, but it's about social bonding. We've seen unicorns in the group tub at the spa, after all. Rarity goes all the time, and I'm sure she's perfectly capable of washing herself.
7349378
How old, I wonder? Is there Roman graffiti with a similar sentiment?
(probably)
7349674
IHOP is in the same league if you want pancakes and nothing else. They make pretty good pancakes (as one would hope, since 'pancake' is one quarter of their name). But if you want eggs or hash browns or anything but pancakes, there's no substitute.
Also I was just thinking about this: does Waffle House have anything on their menu that isn't breakfast food?
7349728
One week, and I'll be passing by Waffle Houses on my way to Bronycon. You can bet I'll be stopping at one of them.
7349799
Although I've found in many cases the few dollars you save in a toll turn into aggravation. I'd rather pay $20 (or whatever) to drive on the Ohio Turnpike than take the less-direct cluttered-with-traffic alternate route. Usually when I'm running east/west, 80/90 is the fastest way, and it's totally worth the toll for the convenience.
7349618
7350160
Like I said: Ponies of reason!
7350095 if you ever make another trip to Stratford let me know (just announce it in a blog or something.) I can't remember the last time I saw a play there.
I'd love to tag along.
Also you're quite correct. It is the only Stratford worth mentioning... although it is a bit tarnished since 'he' made a name for himself.
7350289 Fuck IHOP, Denny's, AND Waffle House. I'm an Austinite. Kerbey Lane all the way :P
7350095
See now someone's got to write a Tarzan parody about a Pegasus raised by birds.
7350160
From March 18-19:
Someone has to tell her that if you fall off a human you have to get right back on again.
Oh, just had a thought: Gusty should really take a trip to Ten Chimneys some time.
7350662
I do have to weigh trips to Canada with the potential of being deported at the border, which does make planning a bit of a challenge. However, I would like to get back up there sometime. Maybe sometime this year I could make a weekend of it? Not sure what their schedule is, but besides the Shakespeare festival, it seems like they've always got something going on up there.
7350874
That would be pretty funny. Especially when instead of a cloudhouse, she starts building a nest in a tree.
7352416
7353252
Theatre class field trip, maybe? Hmm.
7348812
Basically it suggests exactly what you've stated: cultures that don't place enough significance on a color to even name it become unable to even see it.
The interesting thing, to my mind, is it isn't an inability to see the color; rather, it's a question of significance to the viewer.
Rambling a bit here, I'm reminded of a conversation I had with an old girlfriend who was a vet. I mentioned a dog I'd seen but I didn't know the breed, and couldn't answer many of her questions about what it was; similarly, when she mentioned a car she'd seen she couldn't describe it well enough that I would know what it was. Each of us had our own fields of expertise where accurate identification was important.
IIRC, Greek statues were painted; I wonder if the painters had a broader vocabulary for colors than what was in the surviving writing of the era? Even if it was just slang terms ("Hey, Kostos, you got any of that Parthenon-stripe paint left?")
7357518 About people not being able to describe a thing they don't understand. I've dealt with that while I was a broadcast TV equipment repair tech trying to converse with news reporters. These are people whose job requires being able to accurately describe what they've seen and heard. Despite that, they tended to use make-believe terms (spacey video) or to misuse technical terms (shorting out). I had my best success asking them to set aside all jargon and commentary and just tell me what they saw or heard that led to them believing the device was defective...
As far as I can figure, it's usually not that they can't comprehend the problem, but that they're scared of sounding stupid.
Miss Silver Glow is a pegasi mare (in astronomy, pegasi is the adjectival form of pegasus and some use it as the plural for pegasus, although this is not the Grecian plural because, in Greek, Pegasus is the personal name of a particular winged flying horse). Flying is a fast way to travel. Migrating birds travel about 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour. I emphasize that this is long-duration sustained flight —— not a short-duration burst of speed. I am sure that Miss Silver Glow prefers being driven because it does not tire her, but if she would have to fly to play, on her own power, she would be very tired, but beat the car.
7467588
I don't know how fast pegasi can travel for sustained periods. Anatomically, as pictured in the show, they'd be unable to fly at all, unless they relied heavily on innate magic. Given a realistic weight, at .6 gravity (because that's the first one I found online, and I'm not an aerodynamic engineer by any means), she'd need 68 square meters of wing to fly well (obviously, at Earth gravity it'd be more).
So my thought is that her top sustainable flight speed on Earth is about 30-40mph through the air. In Equestria, it's probably faster.
When I was last in Chicago the EZ lanes where also open to carpoolers. If the van or car was full they could have passed as carpoolers.