//------------------------------// // August 7 [Sterling Silver and Viola] // Story: Silver Glow's Journal // by Admiral Biscuit //------------------------------// August 7 Cayenne was in bed with us when we woke up, laying on top of our comforter with the one from the other bed across her back. She smelled like sex and whiskey, so I guess she must have had a good night. We got out of bed and opened the door, and there was another basket of coffee and muffins for us, which was really nice. Me and Aquamarine shared a cup of coffee, and we left the other one for Cayenne, 'cause I thought she'd probably need it. The two of us were almost done with our shower when she staggered into the bathroom, the coffee cup floating just in front of her, and she walked right into the shower and stuck her head under the spray, then pulled back out long enough to finish her coffee and float the cup over to the sink. I asked if she wanted us to help her, but she said that she'd be okay by herself, so we got out and started drying off. Aquamarine asked her how her night had gone, and she said that she found a party and a couple of people there remembered that there had been a unicorn in one of the plays, and she swore that she didn't pretend to be Gusty, but they might have thought so because they were pretty drunk. Also she flashed them on the way in and that could have influenced them a little bit. I guess I was glad that Cayenne had had a good night, but I thought that while it might be fun to have lots of sex, it was better to do it with someone that you were friends with. We wanted to meet Sterling Silver and Viola for breakfast, so when I was preening my wings Aquamarine called them, and she asked if we wanted to meet at their hotel in half an hour. They had a buffet breakfast which she said was really nice, and they were at the Best Western which wasn't very far from our hotel, so we said that we would and then I poked my head back in the bathroom and told Cayenne to hurry up so we could get breakfast. She groaned and turned off the shower then shook herself off, and went to the mirror to comb her mane. Well, we left a little bit later than I wanted to, so when we got there, both Stirling Silver and Viola were sitting at a table with coffee cups in front of them. We all nuzzled (Sterling Silver was a little uncomfortable with that) and Cayenne got more coffee, then we talked for a little bit before we started breakfast. They wanted to know more about what we were studying in school and what we were doing for the summer, and we learned that he was the owner of Silver Barrel in Manehattan, which I'd never heard of but Cayenne had. He said that his company put advertisements in newspapers in Baltimare, Canterlot, and Manehattan. Cayenne asked him if he was getting any ideas from visiting Earth, 'cause there were advertisements everywhere, and Viola said that they were on vacation and he wasn't thinking about work, but he nodded at Cayenne. When he'd finished his coffee, we all got up and went to the breakfast buffet, which was a lot like the one that they had at the dining hall, but the food trays were a lot fancier and had shiny silver tops over them to keep the food warm. Cayenne helped everypony get their food, and we were kind of quiet while we were eating. It wasn't as good as the food at The Bruce, but it was more familiar to me. The scrambled eggs were a little bit runnier than I liked, but otherwise it was very good, and just like in college if we wanted more we could go and get it. Plus it was nice that we got to smell the food and look at it before deciding what we wanted to eat. Aquamarine and Sterling Silver both went back for some more food, while the rest of us were happy with what we'd picked the first time around. I was a little disappointed in their apples; the one I'd taken was big and shiny red, but it was pretty mealy when I bit into it and I almost didn't want to finish it. Viola wanted to know about the humans who were with us, and so we told her that they were our helpers and that they took us places and mine had helped me to get my pilot's license and radio license, and Aquamarine said that they'd also gone on the train trip with us and drove us around and then Cayenne said that they got her out of jail once and of course everypony wanted to hear that story. She said that she'd gone to a rally with a friend of hers, and she'd thought it was some kind of race but it was really a bunch of people shouting about Donald Trump, and then things kind of broke out into a big scuffle and someone had put her in the back of a police car and then taken her down to a police station and that had been kind of fun because nobody there had any idea what to do with her, and they'd taken hoofprints and then had her sit in a chair with metal hobbles around her forehooves until her helpers came to get her. So that led to them asking what we knew about the election, because ponies in Manehattan were talking about it and nopony really understood it. So I told them how I'd gotten to go to the primary election with a bunch of students from college and even though I didn't get to vote I got to kind of watch how it was done and they even had a sample ballot that everyone could look at. Aquamarine had also gone with Jenny, but Cayenne said that she hadn't, because her helpers had told her that she ought to stay away from politics. Then we started talking about trains and how much nicer human trains were. They were bigger and not as smoky and went a lot faster. They were both unsure whether to believe that we'd taken a train that was two stories tall, but we said it was true. And even the train I'd taken from Chicago to Lafayette had an upstairs dining room. It would have been nice to spend the whole day together, but they were going to see a morning play, and we were going to see Gusty again, but we promised that when we were back in Equestria we'd get together sometime for a meal in Manehattan. The three of us walked back to our hotel to meet our helpers, and then we went to the theatre. We had different seats this time, a little bit higher up and further back, and on the other side, and it was strange how when we watched it the second time it looked really different just because were were watching from the other side. It was kind of sad when the play ended, because I knew that they wouldn't ever do it again and I wondered what Gusty thought about that. We could have probably rushed and gotten to her sooner this time but we all agreed that it was better to wait, because she had so many well-wishers who wanted to hug her or shake her hoof. I told Aquamarine that it was kind of unfair that none of the tech people were in line, and so we looked around and tried to find them but I think they were probably still upstairs in their little booth. They don't get enough credit for a performance. We didn't have a private lunch today; instead, once the crowd had finally left, Gusty and all the other actors went off to their own party, and we went back to the hotel and had lunch there. They had a nice zucchini soup, and also spelt, which was something I'd never heard of but it's a kind of wheat. Then in the afternoon we went to the Avon theatre and watched a play called Shakespeare In Love, which I didn't like as much as I'd liked H. M. S. Pinafore. But it was still pretty good, even though Miss Cherilyn said it was all made up and that Shakespeare hadn't really been in love with any of his actresses as far as anyone knew and besides back then men played woman's roles. So that was kind of like how in the Hearth's Warming Pageant a mare usually played Commander Hurricane. We had dinner at The Bruce again, and it was just as good as the first time. I'd hoped that Gusty would join us, but I guess she was still out with her theatre friends, which I could understand. Ships crews tended to stick together in the tavern, and so did us weatherponies, 'cause we were always a bit more comfortable with who we knew. And I thought that in some ways finishing a play was a lot like finally landing after a big nor'easter, 'cause you kind of had to talk it through and remember it, and if you weren't up flying it or out on a boat in it you didn't really understand it. And I think that's okay. Miss Parker said that we could probably get tickets to another play tonight if we wanted to, but me and Aquamarine both wanted a chance to get outside and stretch our legs, and I think that Mister Salvatore was happy that he didn't have to go to another play as well. So we split up again, and we walked around the parks for a little bit. It was kind of strange to be in another new country and yet so many things were just the same as in Michigan. We'd seen a lot more variety of plants and terrain when we went out west on the train, but what I'd seen of Canada was a lot like Michigan. I guess that since they were closer to each other than Michigan was to California, that made sense. I really wished that I could fly around some, and I did a little bit, but I didn't want to fly off and leave Aquamarine alone, and I also wasn't sure that I was allowed to fly up high in Canada, so I stayed close to the ground. We stayed out until it was dark, and then we went back to the hotel. It would have been nice to soak in the bathtub again, but it was kind of late, so instead we just sat on the bed and talked for a little while, and we both agreed that we'd try to convince Mister Salvatore to take us somewhere tomorrow. We didn't know where—we couldn't think of anything special that we wanted to do—but we thought that since we were in Canada we ought to do something special on the way back. When we were finally ready for bed, we left one side of the bed folded back for Cayenne when she came back.