September 25
I got up a little bit late, 'cause I was comfortable in bed and it was nice to just not have to get up at all. But after a while I started to feel really lazy, and even though Peggy was still in bed and might not be up for a while I didn't want to spend all morning being lazy, so I got up and went over and nuzzled her then I started thinking about our meeting and getting nervous again.
So I decided that I'd go on a long flight, and I went to the bathroom and filled up my camelback and got the rest of my flight gear on. My GoPro was still in Cobalt because Peggy had forgotten to bring it back in but that was okay, I didn't think I'd really need it for today. The sky was clear so there wouldn't be any cloud-wrangling, so it would be a pretty boring flight, not anything worth making a movie out of.
It still kind of nagged at my mind that I should have it, and I guess I could have woken Peggy up or looked for her keys, but I thought she'd be mad if I did, so I didn't.
I called the airplane directors to tell them what I was going to do, and Dori asked if I could keep clear of downtown for a little bit because there was a big airplane coming and she didn't want me to get in its way, and I said that I would go west.
So I went back to our room and got my saddlebags because I did need to get some groceries and more shampoo, and if I was going west I'd be right by Meijer. And then I went back out to the boardwalk and took off.
I kept low until I got to the 131 Highway, and I'd decided as I was flying that way that I would go north again, just kind of following the highway, but I wouldn't fly as far as Grand Rapids so that I wouldn't get in the way of their airplanes. And she said that was okay, so I turned across the highway and started climbing.
There wasn't anything new to see at first—the cars were different but everything else was the same as I'd seen before along the road and I kind of wished I'd gone off a different way. It would be fun to fly to East Lansing and see Aquamarine some weekend, and I think I could do it. I don't think it was farther than Chicago, but I guess I'd have to look at a map to be sure. She'd probably be happy if I flew there, and I could just follow the railroad tracks all the way to her dorm.
When I got close to the car runway that was by the highway, I could see that there were cars on it and cars parked near it, so I dropped down some so that I could get a closer look and see what they were doing. And when I got nearer I saw that they were doing sprints. The cars were lined up on the taxiway and then two of them would go side-by-side on the runway, and at a signal, they'd rush off to the other end and stop before they got to the end of the pavement, then they'd turn back on the taxiway and get back in line. And some of them were sitting in the grass between the taxiways with their hoods open, and people working inside, so I guess those were the ones that had to be fixed before they could race.
There were grandstands up at the front of the runway, but not at the end, and that was kind of strange because I thought that people would want to watch who finished first. Every race I'd ever seen the winner was the first one to cross under the finish banner, and nobody cared how you started unless you cheated and started too early.
So I circled over and watched that for a little bit, and then after I'd seen a bunch of cars get to the end and either go back in line or go sit on the grass, I straightened up and kept going north.
I went almost all the way to Moline, which was inside the Grand Rapids airplane director’s territory, and then I crossed over the highway as I turned around. I thought that I'd come back on the inside of it, at least until I got close to Kalamazoo, then I'd cross back over and go to Meijer.
There was a little town below me called Wayland, and it had a big oval train track south of it and I couldn't figure out why. It just went in a big loop, and then back where it started. I'd seen one that was kind of like that on our trip out west, but there were big silos where the train got loaded, and there weren't any here. There were a couple of big blue silos nearby, but a different track went to them.
Maybe people raced trains around in circles, although I thought if they were racing they'd want to have more than one track, unless the trains took turns. And there weren't any grandstands where people could watch a train-race anyway. Just a big field in the center that didn't look like anything too special.
Since there weren't any trains there right now, I couldn't even guess what it was for. But I could see enough of the main tracks that I was sure that this went to Kalamazoo and by the Nature Center, so maybe if I saw a train going by I could get a good look at the cars and figure it out.
Just a little bit south of the train oval was the casino where we'd had lunch after I learned how to use my weather radio, and I thought that I could land there and go inside, but I think Miss Cherilyn would be mad if I didn't go with Mister Salvatore at least. Or maybe her; maybe she thought it was something that I shouldn't do with him, but it would be okay with her.
When I got close enough to Kalamazoo that I could clearly see cars on the 131 bus Highway, I angled back across the highway and towards Meijer, and I had to change my course a little bit as I got close enough that I could actually see the building, and I came around the side where the truck trailers were backed up against doors, and then landed right near the front after making sure that there weren't any cars that were going to run into me.
It didn't take me too long to get some cans of anchovies and a box of waffle mix for my waffle maker and two cartons of unshelled eggs, and some shampoo and conditioner. I got one bottle of the kind that Peggy used, because I liked how it smelled. I wasn't sure if it would work right on me but if it didn't I could give it to her.
I shouldn't have gone shopping right after flying because the inside of the store was too cold. I guess humans don't like it too hot, but it was making me too chilly 'cause my coat was all damp.
I paid for my food and shampoo and then went outside and put away the cart and put everything in my saddlebags, and then I called Dori just to let her know that I was in the air again, and went back along Main Street all the way back to campus.
I detoured off the road to fly over Aric's house and I thought that I could go see him but maybe it was better to wait until after we had our talk, so I flew down to Grove Street and by my old apartment. There were new curtains in the windows so I guess that somebody else was living there now.
I landed on the sidewalk and after a few minutes the birds that I'd scared off came back to the feeder and I watched them for a few minutes but I couldn't watch for too long because unshelled eggs had to be kept cold or else they would go bad.
Peggy had a little electric icebox that she kept beer in and I was sure she wouldn't mind if my eggs went in there, too.
Instead of flying, I trotted the rest of the way back to campus, and I went in through the front door of Trowbridge. There was a corkboard there that had advertisements on it and sometimes told you things that were going to happen soon and I noticed that there was one for a cuddle party today and that sounded like something that would be fun and I wish I'd noticed it sooner.
I went upstairs to our room and put away my food and shampoo. Peggy was sitting at her computer and she asked if I'd had a good flight, and I said I had, and she said it was okay to put my unshelled eggs in her electric icebox.
I actually had to wait a little bit for the shower, which was kind of annoying, just 'cause I'd gotten used to nobody using it when I wanted to on the weekend, and when it eventually opened it was Rebekka, and she leaned down and petted my head before going out and back to her room.
Me and Peggy went to breakfast after I was done showering and grooming, and I didn't eat too much because I was nervous and she said that she could come with me if I wanted, but I told her that I'd promised that nobody else would be there, so she said she'd wait outside instead, and if I needed her I could just call her portable telephone and she would come to save me.
So that made me more nervous because I didn't expect that I would need saving, and she said that was just a figure of speech.
And I said that I wished I'd done it earlier so it would be done already, or maybe later, and there was still time to call both of them and change the time, and she crossed her arms and said that if I was going to do it I should do it when I said I was and if I was going to wimp out I didn't deserve to be sleeping with either of them, and she was right, so I sat back down in my seat and glared at her and she threw a shredded wheat at my nose, and then I ate it off my tray. It was one of the ones that had sugar on it and it was pretty tasty.
It was kind of frustrating to have an hour after lunch before our meeting. I thought I could walk there with Meghan but Peggy said it would be better to show up by myself because that way Aric wouldn't get jealous right away, and she said that I should sit at a round table and not a booth so that they could both sit next to me and they'd also have to sit next to each other, and it all sounded really complicated and I asked Peggy if this was the kind of thing that humans had to do often enough that there were social rules for it. She said that maybe there was something in a book of etiquette but she thought it was just common sense.
We sat outside on the quad and watched the squirrels run around and watched the fat ones by the stairs to the dining hall beg for food as people came out, and every now and then somebody tossed them something.
I kind of wanted to sit up in the tree but since Peggy couldn't get up there with me it would be kind of rude, so I stayed where I was until she said that it was probably time for me to get going so that I would be the first one there.
So I flew over the dining hall and then went down the hill in back of it, and over the top of the little stretch of buildings that was right next to Western's campus, and landed in the parking lot of Waldo's. There were only a couple of cars there and Winston wasn't one of them.
I went inside and found a round table that was near enough to the door that they'd see me but far enough away that we wouldn't be interrupted by lots of people, and a waitress came over and asked if I wanted an appetizer or a drink and I did want a drink but I knew I shouldn't have one.
I got one anyway, and it was called Founders Breakfast Ale. I didn't like the name Founders, but the waitress said it was really good and I looked like I needed a drink. And it gave me something to do with my hooves while I waited, but my stomach wasn't too happy with it. Maybe I should have eaten more for breakfast.
I was halfway done when I saw Aric come in the front door and so I waved him over and then when he sat down I leaned over and kissed him and he asked if he could have a sip of my beer because it looked really good so I let him and he ordered one, and we kinda didn't say much until Meghan arrived, and so I kissed her too. She didn't order a beer; she just had a glass of water.
So at first nobody really wanted to talk. Meghan was sticking her finger in her water and twirling around the ice cubes, and Aric was sipping his beer and both of them were looking more at the table than each other or me. So there wasn't much point in just flying around the sky and not getting anything done, even though I wasn't exactly sure what the best way to start the conversation was. And so I asked if either of them thought that there wasn't any way that we could keep this working, 'cause if there wasn't than there wasn't a lot of point in having the rest of the conversation. And they they both said that they thought we could make it work if we tried, which made me happy.
I wasn't really sure what to ask next. I should have thought of some questions before I came over, like I had to do in Anthropology, 'cause this was kind of the same thing. But I hadn't done that so I asked if it bothered either of them that I was sometimes sleeping with the other one, and both of them said that it kind of did, but for different reasons. Aric said that he'd be more upset if it was another guy, but since it was a girl it didn't bother him all that much, except that he felt like I was spending a lot more time with her than I was with him. He said that over the summer, he'd kind of expected that when he got back to Kalamazoo he expected that I'd be spending half my nights with him, and I wasn't.
But he said that the other thing that bothered him was that since school had started, I'd just come over to spend the night and have sex and then I left again, and it almost felt like I was using him and that made my ears drop 'cause it was true. The only other thing that we'd done together was play Durak, and that was with a lot of other friends so it wasn't the same. He thought that we should spend some more time with just us together, doing something that was fun for both of us.
And Meghan said that I hadn't spent a lot of time with her since school started, either, and she thought that I was doing all the fun things that I'd used to do with her with Aric now, and she said she felt kind of guilty for thinking that now that she knew it wasn't true. I wasn't doing anything fun with either of them any more.
Some of it was school, we all agreed with that. We all had new schedules and were still kind of figuring them out, but it was almost three weeks into the year, so we knew what our classes were and when we had free time.
So the first thing I thought was that I could also see Aric on Wednesday nights, 'cause I could go over after my classes were done, and then I had Thursday mornings free, too. And so I told him that, and he said he liked that idea, and he didn't think that there would be anything to interfere on Wednesdays until it was tech week for the play, when he'd probably be at the theatre late, but that wasn't for a while yet.
And Monday was going to be a short night anyway, because we had Durak and then my lab in the morning, but we could keep that the same.
For Meghan, Friday nights and Saturday nights were the best because Amy was gone a lot, but not always. So we'd just have to hope that it worked out sometimes, but then Aric didn't like the idea that she got weekends and he didn't, and I wasn't sure what would be fairer, unless I wanted to do things on Saturday with Meghan and on Sunday with Aric, but then there were lots of times that there were other things happening on the weekends like the airshow next weekend that neither of them knew about yet, so that wouldn't work out.
Aric said that it was starting to sound like we were debating custody of a kid, so Meghan said that we all ought to get another drink before we said something that we'd regret and she got one, too. And we drank a little bit before we started talking again, and I said that I thought the fact that we were trying to figure out what was fair was good, and Meghan asked if that was something that we did in Equestria, too.
I said that a lot of mares shared stallions 'cause there weren't enough for everymare to have one of her own, but usually it was more spontaneous, if you wanted to have some fun or get pregnant and so Aric thought that meant that we just picked up strangers in pubs and took them home but it wasn't like that. Most ponies wouldn't be interested in a stallion that they weren't friends with, and had known at least for a while, although there were some mares that found the best stallion that they could when they wanted a foal, even if it was somepony that they didn't know very well. And there was almost always one mare that got pregnant during Winter Wrap-Up, 'cause there were a lot of migrating stallions that came up the coast to help out.
Meghan thought that was really weird, but I thought it was a good way to get new blood in town, 'cause everypony knew that if you kept having sex with the same ponies pretty soon you got bad foals. I was surprised that she didn't know that. I guess a city like Kalamazoo is big enough that it isn't a problem, and people at college came from all over the world, too.
So we still hadn't figured out a good schedule, and I had to tell them before we got to arguing again about the air show that was next weekend, and I said that Mister Salvatore was getting us a hotel room and Meghan and Aric looked at each other and Meghan got kind of mad and said that I was making a pretty big assumption and I said that I thought they'd like to see it and even if they didn't, I did, so I was going to go and so was Peggy and Christine and Sean and I guess if they wanted to go too we'd need to get a bigger room, or one that had a door to another room with more beds.
And then Meghan said that she'd thought I'd meant something else, like I was trying to get a threesome and be sneaky about it and I said that I hadn't thought about it because I didn't know if that was something that I would like but if they both wanted to I'd try it. And so Meghan asked Aric what he thought and he said that she should answer first.
She said that she'd kind of been wondering if I would bring it up but she'd never figured out an answer, and she said that she had always kind of liked him when they were in bell choir together but not enough to want to have sex with him but maybe it was different now because of me, and he crossed his arms and asked if she could be any more flattering and she said she was sorry but it was true.
So when we'd finished our drinks Aric paid for everyone even though I said that I would, 'cause I'd been the one who'd wanted to meet here, and we agreed that for this week, I'd stay with Aric on Monday and Wednesday, and Meghan on Tuesday only and we'd take some more time to think about what the most fair thing was. And I don't think that anybody was totally happy with that, especially since it felt wrong to be planning out a schedule for who got to spend time with who.
I didn't feel like going to the dining hall to eat, 'cause I thought I'd probably be in a gloomy mood and spoil everyone's dinner, so when we left, I hugged and kissed both of them, and then I went to Jimmy John's because it was close and got a sandwich, then I flew back and sat in a tree and then I remembered that Peggy said she was going to be near Waldo's in case I needed her so I called her and told her that we had had our meeting and it was over now and I had gotten dinner because I didn't feel like eating with everyone but I was fine and I would see her in our room later.
Then I ate my sandwich and just people-watched for a while. I don't think that anybody knew I was up in the tree, because humans don't think to look up very much unless something is moving or making noise above them.
I think the thing that I liked the least about a set schedule was that it would make us all feel like we had to have sex or else we'd wasted our turn, and sometimes you didn't want to. And that was going to be harder for Meghan, I thought, because she had to share her room and so we couldn't always count on there being an opportunity, and I didn't think that Aric really understood that because he didn't have to share a room.
And maybe there were other things that they hadn't wanted to talk about in public, either, but would it be fair to kind of go behind their backs and ask? I didn't know.
So I sat in the tree until the lights started coming on, and then I flew back to our room. I hadn't come up with any more smart ideas while I was in my tree, so it wasn't much of a thinking tree. I should have picked the one that was in front of our dorm.
Peggy wanted to know what we'd decided, and so I told her that it still wasn't all certain, but that we wanted to try and make it work and for now we had a schedule so that no one got jealous but I kinda didn't think that would work out in the long run. And she said that at least we'd had this talk, and that was something that we could build on later, because we'd dealt with it before things were too broken to fix, and I guess that was true.
But it didn't feel the same as it had before, and maybe that was just because of the stress of thinking about it and all sitting around talking about it and then thinking about it some more afterwards. And I wanted to go to Meghan's room and snuggle but that would be against the rules we'd just decided on, so I hugged Peggy instead and then I got in bed and she said it was kind of early and I said I knew it was but I didn't have anything else to do, and maybe Princess Luna would send me a happy dream.
And then I remembered that she'd said she wanted some more exercise and asked her if she still wanted to go trotting in the morning and she said she'd forgotten but she would as long as I promised to wake her up nicely.
7752034 Then I got nothing on helping your backpain.
7752240 It's ok, Harmony Theory updated... which should have been before yours in the list... Umm... You're up again unless Twisted Choices actually updates.
Eric and Meghan need to become a couple after Silver leaves. My fingers are crossed.
Old song Never on a Sunday by Petula Clark. Silver, it doesn't have to work long. In a few months time you are leaving & the overwhelming probability is that it will be over.
So they talked it out and set up a schedule. Hopefully this will smooth things out between the three of them. I wouldn't hold my breath for the threesome though, and I think it would be a bad idea for them regardless.
The bit about how relationships in Equestria was a bit interesting. The part about migrating stallions getting local mares pregnant before moving on sounds like it would cause problems. Or do they not move on but stick around for the foal?
Leaving it spontaneous made every involved party upset, making an organised schedule took out the fun out of it and makes every party upset.
So either it fail and we see Silver's ability to deal with broken hearth, or they manage to make it work on feeling and fun and fair enough to keep every one happy...
Talk about a conundrum!
For some reason, I'm getting a bad feeling about this relationship, but I hope I'm horribly wrong.
On the other hand, it made me think that it's a good thing that Twilight wasn't trying this. She'd actually turn this into an experiment in human male/pony female, human female/pony female relationships and how each species deals with the issues (you know she would).
Sounds like yet another reason why she shouldn't have given up her apartment.
7752240
I don't think anyone expects that. You'd go mad trying to come up with enough content because you'd be inventing pony society on a daily basis.
7753846
Cockfighting is an ancient spectator sport that goes back to pre-history Asia. Anybody can participate, but mostly because it's used for a lot of gambling, even in ancient Greece.
I see where that professor is trying to extrapolate some kind of meta-narrative about masculinity and war from a spectator sport, but you do have to admit that sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. I see it a lot within gaming where many things are war-like and violent, but it's because it's a part of the design of the game and comes from our culture, history, stories, and psychology, so it's easy to make the comparison. Then again, when you're seeing a game like football, you're not viewing a real battle with lives on the line. (Except for the occasional multi-millionaire player being taken off the field for a concussion.) You're viewing people playing a strictly regulated game, pixels on a screen, or pieces on a board that you're trying to win in a simple competition with no stakes involved. (Unless it's got gambling.) It's a mountain out of a mole-hill situation here.
Men could be berry pickers with the women or the women could come on a long hunting trip with the men. It was about priorities with survival. Women don't have the body that men have for muscle and dexterity, so they were more likely to be a burden in a hunt. What I got from the Professors words is the classic Feminist assertion that women are kept out of the "important" jobs while men rule, which isn't true. For the most part it was about priorities and everybody had to work together to survive. Even if it meant women had to keep the social fabric of the tribe intact and have children, while men were sent out to hunt in the wilds.
Aric knows that there is no right answer for guys to that question.
And Meghan finds out that there is no right answer for girls either.
Could it be that our two friends-with-benefits are falling for Silver?
7753958
Maybe that's just how it was at your college. In my case you can't live off campus until you are a junior(or you originally lived near the college in the first place) but very few people choose to live off campus here. It likely just depends on the college you go to that determines whether or not most people want to live in an apartment or stay in their dorms by senior year. I even know people who live 5 minutes away from college but live in a dorm just like Silver's.
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7754079 You forgot the song!
why is if capitalized?
Also, this is a perfect time to ask, were either of these relationships planned from the start? I seem to remember the comments being quite full of shipping-esque discussions before SG got with either of them, and it's a pretty safe bet that you weren't planning on all this sex seeing as how this used to be tagged E.
Basically, should the long-time readers and commenters be feeling at all guilty about the fact that we've reached this point? Or is all this just the consequences of such a blisteringly long story?
This chapter saddened me because off the struggle she's going to face.
Is this going to end like the 5th element?
Can't wait for Silver to read about ww1 and ww2 and all what humanity did to itself around these two wars.
This almost sounds as if it might be possible that it'd work for Aric and Meghan but that it won't work for the SG. Running into cultural walls hurts. At least they talked about it and made sure it probably won't end in a total disaster, even if it still might end in tears.
7751966
Especially with her ability to break the fourth wall. I'm not sure anybody should see what's on the other side of that in our reality. Not that physicist wouldn't want to of course.
Is the rail loop a trialing ground, remains of a power station, etc? Id have thought any containerisation of cargo or such would have ramps for wheeled and tracked self loading, or giant H Cranes for fast moving. Not having anything visible means its all undercover and brought out on rail or fork lift?
For the talks in the cafe?
I havent a clue.
7754362
Speaking of which, didnt she borrow a WWI book from the library a few dozen chapters back? I hope she isn't mounting up late fees!
7754502 Turns out the loop is a 100 car loading loop for CHS Agronomy.
7755088 yes!
Of course you do.
Silver has been doing Applied Anthropology this whole time.
That's a bad feedback cycle. The less time she spends with either of them, the more guilty she feels about spending time with the other, so the more she starts to avoid them both.
!
!!
!!!
IT IS HAPPENING
Does this actually happen in horse breeding? Does the mare develop an immunological response against the stallion's antigens, damaging the embryo? Or is this a superstition among horse breeders?
If it does happen to horses, is it also a risk for humans?
7756117
She means it in the sense of inbreeding over generations, not that keeping the same partner for too long causes problems. If everybody in Chonamare keeps having foals with each other, eventually you end up with this:
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7756117
She's referring to the kind of inbreeding that occurs when you have a small, isolated population where everyone is a first or second cousin to someone else. Sooner or later, recessive genes start being expressed because you don't have enough genetic diversity in the succeeding generation(s) to keep them recessive.
7756232
7756227
Makes sense. I wasn't thinking of it in that perspective.
7756340
I scraped by my Calculus I and retook my Calculus II once. I literally had not touched Calculus until I reached university.
The Vector Calculus class Silver Glow is taking sounds a lot like my Linear Algebra and Calculus I combined. Maybe Vector Calculus class was like this but I've never took it, so I have no idea what was the syllabus was like.
7751946
And the above were all Freshman courses. Silver Glow is so lucky to take this in her "Junior" year. x.x
I thought it'll be something Sean wanted to do to Christine?
7753799
Meghan is totally going to Equestria. Even if she has to hide in Silver's luggage.
¡Aric should jump at the chance for a Ménage À Trois!
I'm still hoping for a three some. Something tells b me that the relationship troubles aren't over. She could just break up with both of them if things start heading south again.
7753763
Doubt I'll have another chapter done by the end of this year. But after that, things should be a lot smoother sailing, I hope.
7753791
It could happen . . . and then they could both come to Equestria and start the triangle all over again. . . .
7753799
Old song Never on a Sunday by Petula Clark.
The sad end of their love triangle. . . .
7753833
I know, right? You just can't win sometimes.
Well, you'll just have to wait and see. At least Silver Glow is an eternal optimist.
7753869
It's a bunch of college-aged kids in a polyamorous inter-species relationship. What could possibly go wrong?
Can you imagine her first time? The poor stallion; she'd constantly be stopping to take notes. And probably the second stallion, too, because now she has a new dataset. . . .
7753873
Eh, there's always ways to make it work in college without having your own apartment. Silver Glow just needs to learn the joys of doing it in the afternoon when Peggy's in class.
7754005
Heh, I might already be going mad.
7754006
I think that what she was getting at was that football has been kind of hyper-masculinized. I don't think that anyone sat around and said 'how can we come up with a sport that's an allegory for battle and manliness,' but that unconsciously it sort of turned into that kind of game because that was what people wanted to watch, what the cultural expectation was. And I think that some of the uniform was designed to highlight 'masculine' traits; I can think of one example of a female team that went whole hog with their uniforms to highlight feminine traits. I'm not sure that I can safely put a link to it here, to be honest, but it was
thea Columbian woman's bicycling team. Likewise in the Legends Football League, the uniforms are very different than the ones the NFL wears.And it's obviously not unique to a sport like football, either; over the centuries clothes have been worn to accentuate or obscure parts of the body, based on the prevailing societal rules of the time.
Yeah, I could see how it would come off like that. In a modern society, the rules are (or should be, in my opinion) more relaxed--if a woman can do the same job as a man or vice versa, then there's no reason why they shouldn't. Obviously, the two genders are different; no matter how equal society ever becomes, men will not be able to bear children, and unless we eventually get to a point in our society where all babies are test-tube babies raised by robots, that's going to be one thing that sets men and women apart.
Or, to quote Jubel Early, "Man is stronger by far than woman, yet only woman can create a child. Does that seem right to you?"
7754025
Nope, nothing he can say is the right answer.
Yeah, one of those rare cases where she's stuck in the same trap that he is.
It certainly could be.
7754068
That was the case at K, for sure. My sophomore roommate's house was two blocks from campus, yet he lived in the dorms just like everyone else because that was how it was done at K.
7754079
There actually is a research facility in Pueblo (IIRC) that has a train loop for testing purposes, and I believe that they've run high-speed trains on it before. They also do crash tests and the like. And from what I've heard, the Indiana Railroad Museum used to race trains on the mainline sometimes, since they had a track which ran parallel to it.
As for drifting trains, that usually ends badly.
7754103
Bendy bus drifting!
I read an account by an engineer about how he'd gotten mis-routed down a dead-end coal unloading track, and jumped two locomotives when he got to the end. The railroad gave him an award for it.
7754185
Probably because I'm a bad typer.
It was T, not E, but the sex tag was added later. One of the relationships was planned early, and the other one was not, and I'm not going to tell you which was which.
Yes, you should all feel guilty. It is of course partially the consequences of it being a long story, and taking place at college, where hormones are high and wisdom is low, but comments have shaped things in this story. So comment wisely, folks!
7754241
As long as all three of them want to make it work, they'll find a way; they've just got to remember to be open and keep talking about what they want and what they don't.
7754362
It could, I suppose. Not likely, though. Silver Glow's stronger than that, and anyways the ponies haven't always been all sunshine and rainbows, either.
7754404
Yeah, and of course it's totally a thing that they should have talked about in depth before things got to this point. But who ever does that?
How is Pinkie still sane? I mean, she's kind of not, but I would think that if she showed any human what she sees, she'd leave the human a gibbering lunatic.
7754502
7755157 found it on Google Maps (good job, that!), and what I suspect is that it's a storage loop and the actual loading and unloading takes place near those giant tanks. Because of the seasonal nature of agriculture, certain types of railroad cars are in high demand for part of the year and basically surplus for the rest of the year, and they have to have a place to put them. I suspect that CHS Agronomy has an arrangement to lease cars or even to just store them for the host railroad, in exchange for better service during the time of year when they need the cars the most. They could also be using the cars to store extra material--maybe they make fertilizer all year long, but only need it in the spring, so they have to have some place to put it when they don't need it.
Or else they do load trains in hundred-car batches. It looks like they have a locomotive (top of the loop in the satellite photos) and it looks like those could be loading pipes on either side of it. I've never actually been there, since it's a fairly new building, so I don't know for certain how they conduct their operations.
7755088 7755402
She did, but she returned it to the library before she left college for the summer.
7755765
Who knew that cuddle parties were real things? But now I want to do one.
And applied biology, if you know what I mean.
It's a terrible feedback cycle. And one that's all too easy to fall into and very hard to get out of.
Maybe. Don't count your clouds until they're all pushed into the sky.
7756382
From K's syllabus, it looks like a fairly high-level class, because of all the prerequisite classes, although I suppose a math prodigy wouldn't have any trouble at all with it. It's far beyond what I ever learned in college, though.
No, 'cause he's the one who got her to change her vote.
7757225
I bet pony customs sees that all the time. "Get out of the suitcase, you're not fooling anypony."
7758089
They're not as much fun when not everybody who's participating is all that interested.
7763978
When are they ever going to be over in a polyamorous relationship that's being figured out on the fly?
But then she's got nothing.
7770163 It wasn't the national columbian team, just a professional team, sponsored by (amongst other sponsors) by the columbian's capitol, Bogota.
They had a part of their team kit skin colored.
https://prowomenscycling.com/tag/idrd-bogota-humana-san-mateo-solgar/
7770670
Ah, alright. In the (not surprisingly, in retrospect) bad, sensationalist news reports I saw, they implied that it was the national team. I did skim through your link, and it seems like part of the problem as well was that the lighting of the infamous pictures was bad, and the 'skin colored' part was more of a gold, and of course the uniforms were supposed to be nearly skintight anyways, just like they would be for any other team. . . .
Step 1: Have Meghan and Aric start talking [X]
Step 2: Have Meghan and Aric go on a couple dates [ ]
Step 3: Have Meghan and Aric share a romantic plate of spaghetti [ ]
Step 4: ???? [ ]
Step 5: Sexy profit [ ]
As South Park proved, this kind of plan is foolproof!
7888059
Maybe . . .
Since I've never been in a love triangle myself, all I can take away from this chapter is that Peggy really is a truly spectacular friend.
... and also that the Anthropology professor should really have covered harem management skills.
Your take on Equestrian sexual and societal norms is, as always, fascinating. Earth horses do 'share stallions', and migratory bachelor herds are definitely a thing. That would explain the apparent gender imbalance in Ponyville, and presumably most Equestrian settlements.
Marriage being the exception rather than the rule could also explain Pony culture's emphasis on friendship as well. Maybe it also explains the Power Of LoveTM kind of magic seen in the show, e.g. Cadance and Shining Armor's explosive love-bomb attack... If sexy friendship times are magic, how much more potent is a legitimate lifelong commitment in a society that doesn't require it? No wonder the changelings were so thirsty for that wedding!
10336874
Of course she is. She’s there when Silver Glow needs her, doesn’t judge Silver’s weird love triangle, and is ready to rip a dick off if that’s needed.
It does make one wonder what an Equestrian anthropology class might be like.
Yeah, that was kind of my thought. As well as the fact that in canon and fanon, it appears that there are a decent number of mares with a foal and without a husband; both a shortage of stallions and a maternal lineage (for tribes who cared about that) would fit with that as well. I can’t remember if at this point of the story Silver’s brought it up yet (I think she has, but if not, minor spoiler); she and her sister don’t have the same father--her mother just found a stallion she liked when she wanted to have a foal, got pregnant, and that was that.
That is a possibility. There could also be tribal differences--i.e., ponies who normally have land (farmers) and those who don’t (pegasi); they could also have some marriages based on treaties/alliances--I don’t personally think that is the case with Cadance and Shining Armor, but it could be argued that the head-of-state for the Crystal Empire marrying the head of the Royal Guard for Equestria is a marriage of alliance, as binding as a treaty between the two nations would be. Going down that path, it’s plausible that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have been married before.
Even without that idea of alliance marriages, you’re right that a lifelong commitment to a partner might have certain powerful magic attached to it, I suppose in some ways not dissimilar to the bond between a mother and her child. And a marriage with the Princess of Lurv? Yeah, that would be prime feeding grounds for changelings.
Now that I think of it, their four princesses are the one who brings the light, the one who brings the night, the one who brings love, and the one who brings friendship, and at the end of the series, it was the one who brought friendship who reigned over them all. . . .
derpicdn.net/img/view/2013/2/19/248508.jpeg
7754006
"Keep the social fabric of the tribe intact" sounds a lot more like a leadership role than what the men were doing. Just saying.
11170519
Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty important.