March 17 [St. Patrick's Day]
I woke up in the middle of the night still on the couch with Aric's arm around me and at first it was really disorienting. It took me a minute to remember how I'd wound up asleep there.
There really wasn't any way to get out of his arms and get to the bathroom without waking him up. I tried, but it didn't work. He opened his eyes and hugged me a bit tighter and kissed my head and started stroking my belly, and I felt bad that not only had I woken him up but now I had to push his arm off so I could go to the bathroom again because I'd had too much to drink with Peggy.
I thought he'd already be asleep when I got back but he wasn't and so I snuggled up against him and pretty soon we were doing more than just snuggling and he whispered in my ear that we should go up to his room because anybody could come downstairs and see us.
Sometimes it's fun to be bad, though, so we didn't stop.
When I woke back up in the actual morning, it still felt weird, because not only was I still on the couch with Aric, but it was Thursday and I didn't have to go to class. I didn't have to do anything if I didn't want to, not for a while at least. So we snuggled a bit more, and then we went up to his bedroom.
Peggy thought that a small drink helped her after a night of drinking too much, but I thought when I saw her after Spring Break was over I was going to tell her I knew a funner way of taking care of a hangover.
We sat in bed and talked for most of the morning. Neither of us really felt like actually putting effort into getting up and—for him—getting dressed. Although he did put on a pair of pants when he had to use the bathroom, but he took them off again when he came back to the room.
He said that he was going to go on a road trip with David and Angela. They didn't really have a destination in mind; he was just going to drive in one direction until they found something that looked interesting and then they'd turn that way, and when it got late they'd camp for the night. That sounded like a whole lot of fun to me, and I told him that I wanted to do that over summer break if we could.
I said that I was going to visit my friend Aquamarine, and then I was going on a sightseeing trip as well: we were going to take a train around the US, meeting up with a couple of other ponies on the way.
Aric drove me back to campus around lunchtime, and kissed me and told me to have fun and not do anything too crazy and said that he'd miss me while he was gone. I gave him the same advice, and we both agreed to take lots of pictures to share.
The dorm room felt emptier without Peggy. I'd been in it alone lots of times, but this was the first time since I'd met her that I knew she was gone and wouldn't be back for a week. Her computer was turned off and her half of the room was neat and tidy and already looked lonely.
I packed up what I thought I'd need for the trip. It wasn't much; my flight gear, the camera I had hardly used because I was too busy experiencing things to step back and take pictures of them (and I probably would forget to use it on the trip, as well), a notebook and some clicky pens so that I could write things down, my Bible because I ought to read it some more, and after a little bit of consideration, two books of poems.
I needed some more shampoo and conditioner, so hopefully we could get that on the way.
The dining hall was mostly deserted for lunch. I sat by myself at our table and ate lunch, constantly looking around to see if any of my friends were around, but I didn't find anybody.
Then I went back to my room and waited until Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn arrived.
We got in Sienna and I told them what I needed, so they drove me to Meijer first (I didn't want to go to Walgreens even though it was close). There were a lot of signs up about St. Patrick's Day, and I asked them about it. She said that it was a holiday for an Irish saint, and that a lot of people celebrated by drinking.
So I thought I ought to get something to celebrate the occasion, and bought a necklace with little plastic clovers and a bottle of Jameson's which Mister Salvatore disapproved of. I thought about telling him that I'd had a bunch of White Russians last night but then thought better of it.
We took a bunch of different Interstate highways until we finally got off on Trowbridge Road. It was really a strange coincidence that it would be named the same as the dorm where I was living. Miss Cherilyn said that a lot of roads were named for people, and maybe the road and the dorm were named for the same person. She said that a lot of rich people donated money and in exchange wanted things named after them, and maybe that was the case here.
We drove right by the train station, and they went into the parking lot to let me see what it was like so I wouldn't get confused with where I had to go tomorrow. There was a lot of construction going on; Mister Salvatore said that it used to be an Amshack but they were making it better.
When we got to Aquamarine's dorm, it took a few minutes to figure out where we needed to go and then we went into a little room called an elevator.
I reflexively popped my wings out when the floor came up under my hooves. I didn't like it, and I probably would have been banging on the door to get out if they hadn't been with me.
They weren't sure exactly where Aquamarine's room was but luckily there was a student who knew. As soon as he saw me, in fact, he pointed us in the right direction.
When Aquamarine answered, they said their goodbyes and Miss Cherilyn wrote down her portable telephone number and then they left.
Aquamarine and me nuzzled and she introduced me to her roommate named Jenny, who was studying to be a veterinarian.
She was really excited to meet me, and said that it was really cool to meet a pegasus and wanted to know if she could look at my wings, so I held them out and let her run her fingers over them so that she could feel the bone and muscle structure underneath the feathers.
The three of us talked for a little bit, and then it was time for dinner, which was not anything like how they did it at Kalamazoo College. They had dining halls and mini-restaurants, and Aquamarine asked me which one I wanted to go to. I thought Wendy's sounded fun, although it turned out that they mostly had hamburgers.
I probably could have had one, but I just ate a salad and some French Fries, and then we went back to her dorm room.
I knew we'd have to get up early, but it was kind of hard to think about when they kept the door open and lots of people were roaming up and down the hallways drunk out of their minds. I got out my bottle of Jameson's and we started passing it around between the three of us. I didn't have all that much, because it burned my throat and I also didn't want to overdrink like I had last night. Beer was a lot safer to have.
Aquamarine turned on her computer and started showing me pictures of the plants in the greenhouse she had class in, and she also had a picture of her nose-to-nose with an Earth horse, which she said had been on the front page of the newspaper. The horse was huge!
There was a pasture where they lived not too far from the dorm, and Jenny said that we ought to get Aquamarine’s assistants (who were going to give us a ride to the train station) to take us by there.
I showed her and Jenny the YouTube video that Gates had made of me flying around Kalamazoo College. I was hoping that when Spring Break was over he'd be done making one about my trip to Boyne Mountain.
The evening kind of blurred into a bunch of faces and pictures on the computer and occasional sips from the bottle of Jameson's, and it was finally time to go to bed, because the train came in the morning.
Jenny said that we looked like a couple of puppies the way we were snuggled up together in bed and I stuck my tongue out at her as my answer.
"Jenny said that we looked like a couple of puppies the way we were snuggled up together in bed and I stuck my tongue out at her as my answer."
Picture please!
Is Aquamarine an existing pony?
Seriously loving this fic. :)
I would think that an Equestrian Pony would look at a Earth horse pretty much the same way a human looks at a chimpanzee or Great ape of some sort. Genetically related but Evolution having taken a different course. Both different and similar.
Plz more aqua.
I'm glad "Amshack" is a universal name.
I've ridden Amtrack for more than 10,000 miles on both coasts and everywhere in between. Let me know if I can be of assistance.
7209214 Earth Pony in the same exchange group as Silver Glow.
I laugh every time she's a naughty filly. I find it hilarious.
She could probably write a porno and it would still come across as innocent. I don't know how you do it.
D'awwww
...
I think this is the best pony on earth ever.
7209230 meaning, is Aquamarine also a G3 pony, or a fan-named background pony?
Yay! Now we have the perspective of two pony from two tribes!
The fun as just doubled!
7209264
She's a BG filly in Ponyville. It's not an official name.
Despite what they say during the Hearthwarming holidays, SG seems to be somewhat antiunicornish.
It will be interesting to see her with the other exchange students, some of which have to be unicorn.
As Strangers In a Strange Land they will have more in common than they have differences.
I just realized that you don't reference wing boners in your story. I know silly comment but I've noticed that most stories with people and ponies with one being a Pegasus mentions them with the pony being embarrassed.
How can it be Saint Patrick's Day with no green beer ? I read that the longest continuous Saint Patrick's Day parade in the world is in New York.
Have a happy Saint Patrick's Day even if you are not Irish. After all, you had a Merry Christmas and you're not an Elf.
Here's to the Gaels of Ireland
The men that God made mad!
For all their battles are happy
And all their songs are sad.
...and in local news, officials declined comment on the incident at the university that put four people in the hospital suffering sudden onset heart conditions and an outbreak of spontaneous cavities amongst the student population of one of the dorms. Other than the repeated statements this morning that the incident was an accident and not a terrorist threat, as was the early speculation on Twitter, but an accident, nobody has gone on record as to why this happened. One source reported to the Times, on the condition that they remained anonymous, that the event was caused by an sudden and unexpected excess of 'HNNNNG!' in the dorms. The students' behavior following the incident, including uncharacteristically optimistic attitudes, soppy, smitten looks on their faces, and spontaneously breaking out into song, seem to support this.
7209264 From the mlp wiki...
vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/f/fc/UEF3_ID_S4E15.png
7209395 Yeah, Spontaneous Musical Numbers would be an awesome thing for mundane humans.
A fond, frisky farewell and a lovely, lush reunion. Looks like Silver's in for some fun times in the near future.
(And speaking as someone whose train has had to stop midway to let an Amtrak go by, I definitely appreciated that jab.)
7209223
And wouldn't you just think having a chimpanzee friend would be the greatest?
That reminds me. Silver's of legal drinking age, right?
Also, interesting that Silver's still traumatized from that Trump supporter enough to avoid Walgreens when possible.
I'm with Mister Salvatore on this one, but that's mostly because Jameson's tastes like bad mouthwash to me.
7209348
In Ireland, Green Beer and Parades are just for the benefit of tourists. Real Irish honor him by attending respectful mass, then going home and beating their snakes. Patrick wasn't even Irish.
It occurs to me that SG could get a big job boost by putting together a list of what a new weather team would need to get started. It is for things like that that she was sent to Earth.
Just don't forget to ask humans what they think.
Is that leftover from an edit change? Cause its basically the same as the first paragraph just slightly modified... and only a few farther down, though the going up to his room will probably have to stay or be put somewhere since they did move there.
probably should be her. Lol, If you were working on this last night, I plead the 5th.
I see she skipped over the one video of her giving a pony back ride to the little girl!
Pile of pony is best pony!
7209532
I was wondering the same thing; it looks like we have essentially two chapter beginnings that are about 4 paragraphs apart. Unless Biscuit meant they woke up one morning, spent the whole day doing co-ed couch calisthetics, and then woke up similarly the next day. So risque!
7209532
7209645
I read it as her waking up at some point while it was still dark, needing to use the bathroom due to drinking, then waking up again in the actual morning.
7209532 7209645 7209689
It was meant that she woke up in the middle if the night to pee, they had their little roll on the couch, fell back asleep, then woke up again in the actual morning.
The confusion I think was with how similar the two paragraphs were, so I made some changes.
I have inserted the emphasized word.
7209348
Um... elf? I think you mean Christian?
She probably isn't either one.
How is this not a story in and of itself!
Sorry, Salve, alien exchange student or not, students will be students.
7209214
Well, I doubt she spontaneously spawned out of the aether.
7209747 yeah looks a lot better now. lol.
Just realized that with her going to see Zootopia, there will probably be students that mention Civil War. THAT will probably prompt Silver to think that they really do need to put in movie course for visiting ponies. You need to have watched at least four or five other movies to know who everyone is.
Another great story and two snuggling ponies at the end is just adorable.
7210355
Because they're lazy and thought they could make the earth ponies do it.
7210364
And that's why nopony likes unicorns
7210369
Yup. Quantum mechanics is weird.
thought
to
7210081 Maybe he just has high standards for whiskey. There are palatable Irish whiskeys, but Jamisons, like most non-top-shelf Irish whiskeys, tastes like turpentine. Redbreast is drinkable, from the same distiller IIRC.
7210369 And is also a demonstration of how the world changes based on how scientists try to explain it.
7210427
Always vote Pixie, you'll never go wrong, you'll also receive tiny beverages in acorn cups.
7209448 Um....no.
To be more precise, F*** NO!
I like my face where it is, on the front of my head.
A Pegasus is studying meteorology, and an Earthpony agriculture?
What does that make the Unicorn? Physics?
"I had to tell them I don't use dark magic".(Dark Energy)
"They said if a human could figure out and duplicate Equestrian magic they'd make him a noble and allow him to write tickets."
Nobel prize; Write his own ticket.
7210310 Hated all of them...
7210362 Depending on how bad her English is accented, she might be able to program that way. I know of at least one quadriplegic who does. Voice recognition tends to be very accent-tolerant.
I studied IT at college, but one computer science class was a requirement for graduation for everyone there, regardless of how skilled they obviously were. (There really should have been a test-out option.) A basic computer science class like INFO-TECH 101 won't include any programming. It would consist of very basic theory and computer operating skills -- a simplified explanation of how computers work and the basic anatomy of a computer, simple terminology, basic Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office use, and these days would probably also have some basic web browsing and e-mail instruction.
If voice recognition isn't enough, some very creative people have invented some wonderful keyboard and mouse alternatives for disabled people. Instead of a mouse, she could use a joystick, trackball, or switch interface. A trackball would probably be easiest with hooves, until some entrepreneur starts selling enlarges switch interfaces designed for ponies. A standard keyboard could be replaced by a high-mounted projection keyboard with enough desk space.
I suspect that pony-specific peripherals, made with most of the same parts as human ones, would quickly become common in the Silver Glow universe. Hoof-friendly chord keyboards and hoof-friendly joystick-type mice would probably show up quickly. And that's just basic stuff.
If we want to get really crazy, nearly all the characters of a US keyboard could be replicated by two joysticks and one button. (81 of the 97, anyway. A second button acting as a shift brings it up to 162 possible functions.) The first joystick would be used to select one of nine groups of nine characters, and the second joystick selects one of the nine characters in each group. The button, something as simple as pressing down on one of the joysticks, would then enter the chosen character. I used to be able to do about 20 WPM that way on a Linux-based handheld, and I suspect that's how Daring Do / A. K. Yearling's two-key-and-a-space-bar typewriter works.
Pic of the typewriter.
Sorry. I get carried away.
7210412 It would be a very interdisciplinary question. You'd need a biologist specialized in horse to talk about what kind of sound an actual horse can and cannot do, a specialist in evolution to try and figure how it could evolve if the species gained sapience, a linguist...
But I doubt it would be a mix of whinny and nickers, these don't really allow for a complex language, at most the language would have tone and sonority reminding of "horse sounds".
An Amshack? I've been down south far too long.
7210800 Ear semaphore.
There's a SciFi story where sapient alien rabbits use that on scouting missions instead of hand signals.
7210427
Well, it's not a language barrier story, but Riverdream At Sunset does have the Greek part down. I'm sure I've seen others as well, but I can't remember any right now; if you come across any further examples, I'd be interested in them too.
7210355
Unless Celestia is being deliberately obstructive, I would expect it's safe to say they're already there to an extent. Nearly everyone has one in their pocket, even.
Establishing patterns of algorithmic thought is one of the most important parts of introductory courses.
Like poetry? Well, you're writing your story. Bringing the wonders of computing to unsuspecting ungulates will happen somewhere eventually.
Nope.
Elective.
Some of the more important things to learn.
Languages are cheap. The concepts never really die.