//------------------------------//
// Choosing Classes 
// Story: School Days 
// by Dai Kirai 
//------------------------------//

	The skies above Canterlot were clear despite the beautiful weather, fragrant with blooming honeysuckle. Vibrant clouds scattered across the brilliant blue sky. Below ponies shopped and moved about. Stormy flew into the headwind, allowing it to keep him aloft with little effort, gliding through the air. Ai was visible in the distance guarding the front gate of Canterlot Castle. It had been hard tracking her down, but he was determined to tell her about his trip, to properly thank her for the help. The royal guard colors but on a mare.
The wind shifted behind the pegasus, blowing his cornflower blue mane into his face. 
“Hnnf!” The pegasus snorted the hair out of his nose. His eyes reopened to an occluded sky, dark with fresh storm clouds pumped out of the weather factory. 
GRONNN!!! GRONNN!!! The clouds screamed with tension.
The sky cracked and shook. It wasn’t the air vibrating, the sky itself shook.
“Turn that petulant noise maker off!” Edward groaned, the sky shook again. 
Stormy pried his eyes open, staring at a bunk-bed across the room from him, a white hand held a plastic block above a head with roped-like brown hair. 
Roderick sat up, opening his eyes wide, arms splayed in a large stretched, yawning through the entire incident. He then shifted his shoulders back; a loud crack filling the room. The brown ropes of his hair fell down to his shoulders, back as smooth as his face. In fact Stormy noticed his body lacked hair on the human’s body, and thinking back to it, so did the human he saw the previous day. But whereas Katherine had a towel surrounding her, Roderick only had a piece of white cloth covering his waist. 
Taboos on nudity. He remembered. So far none of the other ponies the pegasus saw wore clothing so he didn’t imagine the same moors would apply to him. 
Roderick climbed out from under the white sheet that made up all three beds, climbed down to the desk then onto the floor. His skin pale in the light of dawn, the sun had barely crested the horizon let alone the other buildings. He quickly reached into a tie-dyed suitcase and pulled out a wad of cloth before heading to the bathroom. 
Stormy rolled over to stare at the white rough walls of the dorm. His bed had stopped moving but now another problem crept up on the unsuspecting pegasus. As he opened his eyes, they felt dry, just being exposed to the air made them burn and water. The pony went to take a deep breath, it turned into a sneeze then a cough. His head throbbed.
Stormy let out a minor groan, going back over a book on diseases.
“Humans and ponies cannot transfer diseases from one species to the other. While both species have colds, they attack the body in different manners. In humans the main cause is a virus attacking the lungs while in ponies the main cause is errant magic building up at the base of the skull and radiating outwards. As such diseases are not believed to be communicable between species. see fig.3.4
Fig. 3.5 and 3.6 show a common disease where the base virus is remarkably similar between both ‘pony pox’ and the human’s ‘chicken pox’. In humans though this virus causes swelling and blistering of the skin followed by an itching sensation whereas in ponies it causes the effects of a human ‘cold’ with fever, chills and aches as well as fur discoloration similar to that of when a cutie mark appears. 
Another thing to be wary of is the names of diseases, while both species have hay fever and ‘the trots’ they present in completely different manners.” The book had gone on but was more technical than the pegasus had been used to, and graphic. 
Stormy laid his head onto the pillow, the place it hadn’t been all night as it never made it that far. His nose stuffed, forcing the pony to sniffle which lead to another cough. 
Grumbling came from below the pegasus’ bed, incoherent as they were muted into a pillow. “Agh!” the person below him groaned, head must have moved from the pillow as another fit of sneezing racked the pegasus. The bunk bed shook followed by rumblings in a bag as a zipper was pulled.
A hand rose over the railing that would prevent the sleeper from falling down and placed two small round white objects on the bed. Stormy looked over the edge, a white glaze over Edward’s half lidded eyes. The pony stared at the little pills, smaller than any back in Equestria, barely a cake crumb in size.
“Take them.” Edward mumbled, climbing back into his bunk under the pony. “Antihistamine. You are undoubtedly suffering from allergies due to…” His voice faded into gentle snoring. “Take two pills and call me in the morning…”
Stormy looked at the two objects, afraid to sniff them in case they tried going up his nose. Pills were meant to be swallowed. He hesitantly stuck out his tongue that felt like cotton, to get a taste of the pill only to have them both stick fast. The pills tasted of dust as they were pulled into the pegasi’s mouth. After several attempts Stormy managed to swallow the dissolving masses.
Stormy waited a few moments for the pills to kick in. When his eyes continued to water and throat remained dry, the pony realized human medications were not working. The pegasus blinked his dry eyes and laid his head back on the pillow. I had to be unlucky enough to come down with the feather flu on this trip. He groused, eyes burning through another sneezing fit. 
The pegasus realized this was not going to be a good trip, and hoped it wasn’t a portent of his coming year as his mind drifted back to sleep.

Stormy woke up with his head banging. His runny nose and scratchy throat seemed to have disappeared, his eyes still a little dry but not painfully so. The pain settled right behind his snout. A soft thumping from the bathroom told him his head wasn’t the only thing being banged. 
The pony heard the muffled shouts of Edward through the bathroom door and the sound of a shower. The words too muffled to understand through his foggy mind. 
Stormy stood and stretched his body, taking particular joys as the pectoral muscles along his back stretched out from the night’s flight, going through to his digits. He blinked rapidly a few times, adjusting to the artificial light in the ceiling, window and curtain closed. His stomach grumbled and mouth dry. 
The bed across his was in shambles, blankets disheveled, pillow flat on the floor below his roommates bed, lying in front of the desk. The pony looked down at his own bed with its covers mussed from sleeping on it but still somewhat organized, although they appeared subtly blue today. Must be seeing through the sheet. He mused. 
The twinge of a headache at the edge of the pegasus’ senses made Stormy close his eyes for a few moments. Upon opening his eyes, the headache faded as did the blueness of his sheets. The pegasus shook his head, banging still coming from the bathroom. His stomach rumbled again and Stormy wondered what time it was. 
Stormy walked to the edge of his bed, forehooves on the railing and leapt down extending his wings to soften the landing. A pegasus didn’t need to open his wings for such a small jump, but it always helped to soften the landing. Which was a good thing as his wings fully extended to their six foot length they immediately collapsed, a second later his hooves slammed into the carpet, the harsh landing echoed up his cannons. The pony lifted up his rear hooves in reaction as the remainder of the momentum from his previous jump carried him forward until his chin contacted the same carpet his hooves found a moment earlier. His stomach followed shortly, his rear legs splaying out behind him.
“Oof” Left his muzzle as the shock forced air out of his lungs. Ugg! He thought, closing his eyes yet again. Great start to another day on Earth.
Stormy took some care and effort placing his hooves back where they belonged on the floor, taking care as his body rose back up to standing. The pegasus looked back at his wings, emotions warring between shock and disbelief. He extended his wings again, they spread out fully reaching the sides of the room, being careful of the beds and walls. He gave a gentle flap, and his wings responded but they failed to provide lift to the pony. He tried again, but they would not lift him into the air so they were folded back up against the pegasus’ sides. 
That explains the coughing at least. His rear plopping onto the rough, tight-knit carpet of the dorm room as a realization hit him. Feather Flu. I have feather Flu. Next should be tiredness and a fever. How the buck? It’s not even Feather Flu season. Stormy whimpered. This isn’t fair! All he wanted to do was climb back into bed and sleep for a few hours, regardless of his agenda for the day, the last two days had been rougher than most months for the young pony, at least in Canterlot he knew what was expected of him. 
But getting back into the top bunk while doable would be quite difficult without his wings to provide lift. An earth pony could make the four foot jump easy, but pegasi were too used to using their wings for almost any movement outside of trotting.
Maybe a shower would help. He surmised, a rinse of cold water should at least help his senses regain their footing.
“You miserable little puissant! An hour is more than sufficient to clean oneself in the morning!” Edward was yelling from the bathroom, quite livid, followed by the rapport of another set of bangs of a closed fist on a wooden door. 
Stormy groaned. So much for that idea. Maybe just a nice bowl of oatmeal then. The pegasus turned around to grab his bag only to stop and stare at the bed below his. It was immaculate. Sheets and blanket flat, straight, and tucked under the mattress. The blanket at the head folded down to show the sheet underneath, leaving just enough room for the perfectly centered pillow. A foal could bounce on Edward’s and not disturb a thing. 
A black plastic suitcase sat near the head of Edward’s bed, a paperback book set atop with a bookmark halfway through, it looked to be the same one as the previous day.
Stormy left the clean look of Edward’s area to pick back up his bag which somepony had been kind enough to place under the chair of the desk that led to the pony’s bunk. The blue-maned pony lifted up the beige canvas cover of the left partition and pulled out his schedule.
There were a lot of placement exams for things like Music and German, none of which applied to him. UCLA wouldn’t even accept his experience as a weather pony to cover their meteorology class because “Weather system between Earth and Equestria function in different manners. The grade for meteorology signifies a basic understanding of Earth’s weather systems.”
There was one workshop that looked helpful that he didn’t have to be at until 10:00 and that one would finally explain how majors and minors worked, he hoped. So he had until then to get breakfast. There were just some things humans knew because they lived here that never existed in Equestria. Cars came quickly to mind.
There was something else at 10:00 about research opportunities. “In a field that interests you.” It wouldn’t do Stormy any good, he still had no idea what he wanted to do.
At 11:00. He stared at the lines “Registration and Enrollment.” He finished reading the remainder of the paragraph. He let out a sigh when he realized it wasn’t getting the classes just learning how to find classes online… Is everything done by computer here? He stared. Outside of books, everyone seemed to be walking around with a portable computer in their pockets or attached to their ear. 
12:00 would be lunch followed by using the computer lab at 1:00 to 11:30 he could access the Online General Catalogue and Schedule of Classes. It would have to be used later in the day though as a departmental meeting would be held at one followed by an individual academic counseling appointment.
The list went on and on, a full nother page held at least ten more events for that day all with schedules that overlapped or repeated in half-hour increments. He would just have to assemble that cumulus when he came to it. Maybe after meeting the advisors and lunch. How can they have so many things going on at once? How can they do so much in a day?
Stormy gingerly picked his saddlebag up, the only problem coming from his head but not wanted to take a chance. He settled the bags over his flank, covering his storm cloud cutie mark with beige canvas. It’s settled comfortably, like an old friend. It may have looked new but was far from it. The bag had been a gift; however, he couldn’t remember from who, maybe his brother. It was after graduating from the weather academy. A custom made number with his cutie mark, the cloud outlined in sterling silver. 
The pegasus passed by the door to the bathroom, Edward was still banging on the inner door, most likely the one to the shower. Stormy opened the door to the hallway, empty just as every time he had seen it so far. Am I early or late? He wondered. There should have been at least one other person leaving for breakfast, or at least some sounds of activity. 
The elevator took a while to reach the top, the numbers above the doors moved steadily from one to nine. The door pinged and opened, the metal box was empty. The cold metal floor tingled along his clopping hooves. The tang of metal filled his nose, it smelled different. It was the first time since arriving that human wasn’t the over-riding smell of everything. He was unsure which smell he preferred, neither were truly pleasant, neither were they gag inducing or burned his passages like some cleaners did. The pegasus shuddered at the memory of his leg being set after it fell into a ferret burrow. 
Stormy pushed the number one on the elevator’s panel and the door hissed closed. This was his first time riding an elevator down. With a lurch the giant metal box fell, covering five feet a second. And just like on the airplane his wings spread out of their own accord, slamming into the cold hard metal with an audible ting. They recoiled in pain allowing the pegasus to regain his senses. Humans used these machines all the time, they had to be safe. Even if they weren’t though, his wings would be useless so long as he was sick. But how’d I fly so much last night? Flight is one of the first things to go with Feather Flu.
Stormy shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind as the numbers counted down.  6. 5. 4. 3. 2. ‘Ping.’ 
The doors opened up on the second floor and a small human hurried in. She was dressed completely in black; her vest had several pockets and covered a longer sleeved black shirt. The pants were similar to Edward’s pants but obviously lower in quality. The female was only about five feet tall, by far the shortest adult the pegasus had yet seen. Blonde hair covered her head, cut short in the back and longer in the front with the longest parts right in front of her ears. The golden in her hair offset the ice blue eyes that held some kind of fire. It was the same look some of the Royal Guards would display when on patrols or a mission. A bag was slung under her arm, a shaft of some kind stuck out. A small piece of tape labeled the bag as belonging to ‘Murphy’.
Stormy moved to the side as Murphy entered. This wasn’t a person he wanted to run into, her stance placed her as a predator on the hunt. She gave him a brief nod before turning back to face the opening as it closed.
Thankfully this time when the elevator descended Stormy was able to keep his wings at his sides. Stormy’s heart rate picked up, he only noticed as it felt about to burst from his chest. He worked to control his breathing, he couldn’t show weakness to a predator and he couldn’t escape.
‘Ping’. The doors opened on the ground floor. It took Stormy everything he could to not whimper when they opened. Standing there was a large man dressed all in black. He stood well over six feet, his black hair a shamble with just enough beard showing to look like it was shaved within the past few days, but not enough to be considered a full beard, at least not by pony standards. Jeans and a t-shirt were covered by a black duster, its mantle resting over his shoulders. The material would make any pony cringe, the way it moved and looked.
Stormy took a step back, from some horror movie somewhere, a detestable genre. His heart rate didn’t fluctuate but stayed the same, the pegasus assumed he couldn’t be any more terrified. Leather, dead and dried animal flesh.
“Did you bring it?” The man asked, voice firm, emotionless, hard eyes staring at the smaller woman.
She didn’t flinch, didn’t even acknowledge his look. “Of course, Harry” The woman pulled the stick out of her bag, it had to be three feet long, and handed it to her protégé. 
He stared at the markings burned along the side. “Nice. Matorikkusu. Very accurate.” He looked up to stare at the pony. “You were in character weren’t you?”
“Of course.” She seemed to grow taller in indignation. “You did the same. Why?”
Harry pointed behind Murphy, at the cowering pony.
Murphy turned, upon seeing the pony she lowered her head, palm meeting it halfway there. “Aw, Jeez. Why does this always seem to happen around you?”
Throughout her realization he snickered, a barely contained guffaw finally released from Harry’s throat as Murphy cast a death glare back at her compatriot. “Maybe this time we can win that costume contest.”
“What do we do about him though?” Murphy pointed at the pegasus in the back of the elevator.
Stormy looked between the two humans. What is going on? Their demeanor just changed. He inspected his body. While his heart rate was high his body wasn’t shaking, it hadn’t been. There was fear at the humans that was quickly dissipating. The cool metal wall brushed against the pegasi’s back while the cool metal floor his rear.
Harry gave the pony a lopsided grin as he stepped forward, lowering himself to the balls of his feet until they were eye to eye, arms crossing over his knees. The grin had spread to his eyes, mirth filled his features, eyes alight. Grin spreading to the other side, lightly shaking his head. “Sorry about that little buddy. It’s just a costume. In fact,” He reached into the right pocket of his duster, pulling out a small rectangular stiff piece of paper. 
Stormy tentatively accepted the slip of paper, looking at it. The pony stared, it was a business card for costuming services. 
“The name’s Jon. And if you ever want to go to a convention in the area, we would be more than happy to take you. Think of it as a cultural analysis of human subcultures.” There was a kindness to his eyes.
“You really are a dork, you know that?” ‘Murphy’ harumphed, her arms crossed against her chest, expression one of agitation, eyes flicking to the watch on her wrist. But her eyes said something different, they showed concern, but for who the pony couldn’t be certain.
“Says someone dressed up like a character from a book.” Jon shot back, standing back up to his full height, walking past his friend.
“Hey, I wanted a movie. You wouldn’t look bad as Raleigh.” She mused. “The armor wouldn’t be that hard to make. Remember that last set of armor?”
The two humans exited through the glass doors of the entrance, going back and forth over different costume ideas.
The only thought that crossed Stormy’s mind at the moment was: Humans are weird.
The metal doors gave a soft whumpf as they moved towards each other. Stormy moved as quickly as ponily possible on shaky legs and ran out the elevator, not making it in time, the doors slightly hugged his flank then reopened. The pegasus looked back, the doors closed once again, this time shutting tight. Motors whirring as the car moved upwards. Realizing that somehow, the machine would never close on him, that somehow the machine knew his body was between those two cold doors. 
Stormy Skies stared out the glass doors, blinking against the surprisingly bright lights reflecting off windows and concrete, the sun had found a division among the buildings of Reiber. A half a dozen groups of people milled about, one group hunched over books covering a gray metal table, one of several along the left wall following his building. 
Pushing open the glass doors with his head on the metal door frame, a crisp breeze ruffled his feathers. The air smelled of fresh flowers, the odor of pollution stayed as background noise to the more pleasant aroma, noticing the trees and flowers spread around the courtyard of the three buildings. 
Stormy just stared at the new morning. The things in front of him conflicted in his mind. It looked like home and yet an alien visage. The plants, the smells of life, even the breeze felt the same. Large building would tower above a pony in the larger cities, but these were just so much more imposing. But the clouds, they were so far away. The sounds of life, of birds and squirrels were the same but the drum of cars was ever present in behind it all as was the smell of human industrialism. It conflicted in his mind, the alien with the familiar.
Stormy wanted to stay and figure out what was wrong precisely, maybe the planter with a tree in the middle of a circular road, but his stomach raged in hunger. It felt like days since he had last eaten. The pegasus remembered the schedule stated: “8 am Breakfast at De Neve.” Where is De Neve?
Sliding the saddlebag off his flank, Stormy looked into the bag and tried to find his map. The map you have trouble reading? What if it’s on the other side of the campus? Do you really think you can find it using a map and no wings? He chided himself; his heart rate was still up making his thinking a little harder. I should find a human that looks like they know what they are doing. The pegasus surmised, not sure if he could find someplace new.
Stormy looked around at the different people. The group huddled around the table were now talking and laughing, hands moving about animatedly. Two people passed him, walking into Rieber Terrace. The only other people still out were the man in the black leather duster and woman in her black vest as they turned a corner out of sight just past Rieber Hall. They live here and are leaving campus, they can’t be here for orientation, they should know this campus.
With his decision made, Stormy ran to catch up with Jon and his companion. The morning air was cool and crisp as the pony galloped, turning right to follow the gently sloping path with the large stairs down to his left. He looked down the sloping path; there were humans there but none in black. The pony turned to look down the steps, just reaching the bottom of the four sets were the humans he was looking for. 
Stormy yelled out to the two humans. “Wait!”
Jon and his companion looked back from the bottom of the stairs. 
The pegasus ran down as fast as he could, his hooves barely finding their placement on each step, stairs were an odd thing for a pegasi to deal with. Both humans were still there as he reached the bottom but the shift from stairs to flat land again tripped him up as the pony barreled towards both humans. 
“Shit!” The female yelled followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. 
The pegasus left out a whoof, he failed to knock over either human.
“He’s kinda light, huh Avish?” Jon asked as the pony lay in two sets of arms.
“Only compared to you.” Avish replied. “We really don’t have time for this if we want to setup beforehand.”
Stormy felt the four arms gently place him on the ground. Stormy stared, the two humans looked no worse for wear. “But how? How did you stay standing?”
“Experience.” Jon replied. “Was there something you needed?”
Stormy looked between the two of them. “Do you know where to find De Neve? Breakfast is supposed to be there and I have no clue where it’s at.”
Avish and Jon looked at each other. The latter shrugged, “It’s only a few minutes out of our way.”
“So long as we go and don’t just stand here talking.” And with that, Avish turned her back on the two, proceeded to walk at a brisk pace, Stormy and Jon had to move quickly to catch up. And where Stormy had turned left earlier to reach Covel, Avish led them to the right. 
A road bisected the two buildings, leaving concrete on either side with a roundabout in front of them, large trees in the middle. Large white buildings towering on either side of the group, the humans ignoring what to them was normal, or at least had become normal. Will I eventually find this normal? That thought brought new worries to the young pony, the most intimidating being: Will Canterlot look alien if I stay here?
They took the sidewalk along the left side of the road. Baby trees about eight feet tall, not old enough to provide shade but enough to add a little life and color. 
“What made you come to UCLA?” Jon asked, looking down at the pony.
“Huh?” Stormy was broken out of his thoughts of home. “Um…” He tried to think about it but the answer he had been giving felt flat. The pegasus lowered his head. “I don’t know.” 
Avish shot Jon a glare, Stormy caught it out of the corner of his eyes walking on the opposite side of Jon as she was. “We are BizEcon. Kinda boring. The first year is a bit weird but you get used to it rather quickly. And don’t worry, its intimidating for everyone at first.” Her elbow found a spot in Jon’s ribs.
“Uh, yeah. At least you are trying something new. ‘You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.’ It’s a favorite of mine.” Jon gave a sheepish grin. “Why don’t you think about what you want to do?”
“Do you like weather? Books? Math?” Jon asked.
“You don’t need to answer.” Avish amended her friend’s statement. “It’s more about answer to yourself.”
Stormy thought about it, he had never looked into anything, all he did was weather, the role he was supposed to have. I want to learn about humans, about their world. How did they get such a bad name when they seem so nice? He remembered his coworkers shock that he was even visiting the human world. ‘They are at constant war!’ ‘They can’t even get along with each other, what hope do you have?’ ‘They’re idiots that can’t even control their own weather.’ Are they?
“Here we are.” Jon said, pointing to a walkway through a building, stairs leading down. “Just go straight, it is the building with all the tables on the first floor.” 
The two groups parted company, Stormy headed down the steps while Jon and Avish headed down the gently curving down sloped path. The pony took a look behind him, noticing the long set of stairs he came up his first day on Earth.
“You bring the fluorescent paint?” Jon’s voice carried from the distance. 
At the bottom of the steps the path branched at a perfect corner leading to different parts of the building Stormy just passed under.	Twenty feet away, by the entrances to either building, they split and met again into a large mass of concrete. The space between the stairs the vivid green of grass and across the mass of sidewalk was another large building, the first floor hidden by a row of bushes. Behind those bushes had to be De Neve, or at least the dining portion, the pegasus had no idea what the name of the massive building now behind and to his sides was. 
These buildings had a similar shape to Reiber, large four story buildings, but these ones were made of a clean white with smaller windows. Between the closest building and the concrete road, grass spread along small downward hills everywhere there weren’t steps. More people were milling about here, several heading down another staircase that broke up the hedges. 
Stormy decided to take a shortcut through the small grass field in front of him. His hooves did not clop as they sunk microscopically into sodden earth. Dew transferred from the grass to his fetlocks, dripping down his hooves. Every step released the scent of morning, of life, filled his senses. The pony shoved his muzzle between the blades, sucking air in greedily. Memories flooded his mind, laying on his back on a day off, staring at the sky, even that one time he forgot about the scheduled rainstorm and just let the water trickle down his coat and through his feathers. 
Reluctantly, Stormy pulled his nose away from the small sanctuary of life, the grass finally reminding the pegasus of his empty stomach. Grass may be edible but a pony could not live by grass nor hay alone, and the thought of delicious warm donuts drew the pony from his reverie. 
All too soon the patch of grass ended as his hooves met concrete again, soft clops echoed through the courtyard. He stared at the massive ‘street’, and he imagined a royal procession marching through, the Princesses’ twin carriages riding through side by side and wondering how many humans passed through for the walkway to be so wide. From everything he had seen the grey of concrete was for people and the black for their vehicles, a color and style difference similar to Equestria’s. 
Before the young pony knew it he had descended the steps across the way and stared past tall glass walls into a large room filled with tables and counters. It was huge, just like everything else human, counters were spread throughout, maybe three or four of them. Stormy saw one piled high with fruit. He could only see what he though was half of this dining hall and already it could fit at least a hundred people.
Stormy tried the door next to him, the handle was a metal bar on the side forcing the pony to stand on his rear hooves and brace himself on the adjacent window. The pony gave a quick tug and the door rattled but failed to move. Another quick tug. Still nothing. 
Stormy returned his hooves to the ground, the door was locked. Did I miss breakfast? People inside were milling about, people would stand up and go to a counter to grab more food before sitting back down. His stomach rebelled, sending signals to his brain of immediate need for food. As the famished pony wondered how to get in, he saw a human leave their table and walk over to a set of doors that led to another section of building to his left before exited out into the morning air.
Where the human exited were four sets of double doors which easily opened in the pony’s hoof. Inside the wall ahead of him was filled with metal boxes, keypads on the front. Stormy ignored those and entered the second set of doors on his left. A large screen about the size of a human was flanked by wooden pedestals with registers upon each, a woman behind the right pedestal. 
The pedestals were made of some cheap wood; the smell was not the sweet and deep odor of mahogany nor the tang of cedar. The screen was lit, a menu of what the pony could have for breakfast listed, no prices for anything, and nothing his nose couldn’t tell him, the smell of fresh pancakes mixing with eggs and people. I just hope they have more of those donuts. A good donut had never been easy for the pony to find, not warm and fresh at least. 
Stormy looked up at the woman as she looked back down at him. He couldn’t remember if he had seen this one before, all humans were the same shades of brown, their towering heights hard to distinguish unless they stood side by side. Hair had the largest range but most were dark and boring. This one wore all black with a black apron. The pony figured this was where he meant to pay and pulled his room card out from his saddle bags, reaching in with his mouth till he stopped to wonder, he had seen the dirt on concrete along with the metal tang and other chemicals. He thought about this as a human to his left put his hands under some sort of machine that squirted out a clear gel, Stormy could smell the abrasive chemicals as they squirted onto the human’s hands.
The pegasus opened the flap using his mouth and pulled his room key out by his hoof. 
The woman looked at the key but refused to take it. “You need to swipe using your Bruin Card, that only gets you into your room.”
Stormy put his key back and pulled out his school ID but she still refused to take his card.
“First you need to put your bags in one of the lockers outside, and then come back in.” Her finger pointed out to the wall of metal he passed on his way in before accepting a card from another student. With a simple swipe of the card the person was allowed in, the entire process took two seconds. 
Stormy left the dining hall to find a locker. The wall was filled with what was supposed to be a bronze color but looked more like a dreary brown-citrine; the longer he looked the less natural the color appeared. The lockers were small, maybe a foot in any direction with a keypad on the cover. The pegasus gripped one of the handles and gave it a tug. The handle was barely large enough for fingers let alone a hoof, but his hoof was still able to grip it with its pliable surface. The door refused to move. Only a dozen of the hundred or so lockers had closed doors, the rest swung freely. 
Stormy moved over to the closest free locker, fitting his saddle bags in easily, the inside of the door had a small black sticker informing him how to put a code in. 

Close the door


Press the clear button


Input your personal code


Press the clear button a second time

Stormy closed the door, his hoof pressing the ‘clear’ button easily enough, but not when he had to press the small quarter inch large numbers spaced close together. The pony tried again, his hooves hitting two numbers on each press. On a third try he failed again and had to look around for another place to store his bag. 
A set of steel racks lay off to the side, near the end of the lockers before the hallway split into two directions. A white paper sign warned against using the rack to store personal belongings due to threat of theft, the previous days security lecture had even said as much, the bags and boards strewn over it showed what other students thought of such an idea. 
Stormy realized he had two options, leave his saddlebags out for anyone to go through or leave them in the unlocked locker where anyone could open it or even use it themselves, preventing the pony from regaining his belongings just the same. It wasn’t the hardest decision, just one the pegasus had never had to make before, the threat to safety was more real here. Stormy placed his saddle bags on the bottom rung and quickly pulled out his most important documents: Bruin Card, room key, Equestrian ID and gripped them under his wing, using the trifold design of his wings to hold them securely. Might as well use my wings for something since I can’t fly. Trying to temporarily ignore the rules against flight. 
Do unicorns have the same restrictions? The pegasus wondered as he strolled back into the dining hall. What about earth ponies? He had never given them any thought, never even asked how their magic worked. Do they connect with the Earth, connect to leylines with their hooves? Do they literally help the plants grow? Are they forced to hold back their natural strength? 
Stormy remembered a story in the Canterlot Chronicle when he first started working at the weather factory. During the Summer Sun Celebration, an earth pony who had a little too much to drink knocked down a tavern wall, the whole wall, with one kick after being insulted by a local unicorn official. Thankfully the earth pony missed the unicorn. Celestia had to step in in the end after the case was brought before her. Stormy shivered, she may be nice and sweet, but she wasn’t a pony you wanted mad. And disappointed from her might as well be from your parents, or worse.
Stormy handed the lady behind the counter his card, using his left hoof to remove it from the folds of his right wing. After a quick swipe it was handed back and he ferreted it away back to lay with his other two, the cards that would allow him to prove his identity to eat and return to his temporary quarters. 
After taking only a hoofful of steps, Stormy stopped to curse at himself, all his money as well as his return ticket to Equestria were still in his bag. There was nothing he could do about it now and no way to carry it all with him. 
De Neve dining was even larger from the inside; most of it had been hidden by a wall and the subtle curves of the building. It could house the entirety of any watch of the Royal Guards. Stormy walked around. It was set up buffet style with each station separated to not cause any traffic jams as people went for different items. Each station contained a list of what was served and seemed to contain two or three options on the same dish, along with a ‘vegetarian’ option at each station. 
One station housed pastries and fresh fruit. Stormy grabbed himself a fresh apple and left the pastries, they were small and not fresh judging by the smell, nothing like the one from the previous day. The counters at each station were at human waist height or a pony’s head height. All the pegasus had to do was raise himself onto his rear hooves and pick up a plate using his mouth, about as difficult as it would be at home. 
Settling for a wonderfully smelling stack of pancakes, Stormy went off to find himself a seat. The sheer number of tables was daunting, and each could only have a partial view of the rest of the room. Passing a salad bar he found one of only three booths and quickly snatched a seat, setting his pancakes atop the table before climbing in. The only person nearby sat a table next to his and he was hunch over a book with a pencil in his mouth.
The pegasus reached down to sample his breakfast, or what was left of it. He had finished eating the apple before he even got in line for anything else. It was obvious that whatever brand of apple they were using was out of season because there was so little flavor to it. The pancakes smelled so much better even without the syrup which had set in a giant bin at the same station with a ladle too difficult for the pony to reach. 
The pancakes were surprisingly light and fluffy figuring how quickly they were made and set to wait for a hungry mouth. Warmth spread from that first bite. They flavor was off, a little too much salt and a weird sweetness kept it from being perfect. Stormy looked to his left after finishing his pancakes. A drink dispenser stood against the wall. The pegasus decided to wait until he left and could use his water bottle so he wouldn’t have to walk three-legged back to his seat. 
The human with the books glanced in the pony’s direction. “Excuse me.” He asked, You’re a pegasus right?”
Stormy opened his mouth to answer ‘Yes’ but the human kept talking before the pony had a chance.
“So that means you worked on a weather team right?”
Stormy nodded, not sure how to tell him that not all pegasi worked with the weather. 
“Great!” The human’s uncertain expression turned to one of utter happiness, the face of a foal when they finally got their cutie mark. Well, most foals. “I need some help with cloud formations.”
“I don’t think weather works the same here as in Equestria, there’s nopony to control the weather here.” 
“Can you try?” The guy flipped his book to the table’s edge. “I’m having a lot of trouble with altocumulus clouds.”
Stormy looked down at the book, then at his plate. The pegasus wasn’t hungry he was buying time, unsure how different climatology could be, or if they only studied meteorology. And he was nowhere near an expert. The picture in the book looked the same as Equestria’s, the water moved up into clouds and back down as rain. This water cycle was all done by pegasi.
“Ummm, well.” The pony sputtered. “Um, altocumulus clouds are between 650 and 2000 feet up, so they are middle altitude clouds. Think of them as sheets or patches. We use them to warn forgetful ponies about coming thunderstorms. Every once in a while the weather teams would turn them into altocumulus lenticularis, they look like flying plates, think aliens. Just remember that individual parts are larger and darker than the cirrocumulus clouds. And clouds are not nice and fluffy and light. Anypony who’s tried to stop a runaway cloudlet can tell you that.”
The guy stared at Stormy. “Wow. You do know clouds. I wish you were in class with me. Can you help me with fog now?”
The intent stare unnerved Stormy. It wasn’t a look he liked. Avarice, that’s what it was. Like he had access to a secret pool of information. An image of what a weather class would look hit the pony. Constantly asked for help, the expectation to be perfect like his parents towards his brother. Being the center of attention. “I’m sorry, but I have to get going to my orientation. Maybe later?” The pegasus asked, jumping off the booth.
“Uh, yeah.” The human called. “Want me to clear your plate for you?”
Stormy didn’t turn back, even after spotting the sign ‘Please return plates here’ and ignoring it. Going slightly faster than a trot over the beige tiles. Unable to turn back once he started moving, embarrassed at his moving so soon. Although he really didn’t know what time it was, he did have a meeting. And he did not want to be the center of attention or asked a million questions about a life he doubted he would see again, at least in the same manner. 
A human girl in a pink dress that Stormy didn’t look at long enough to recognize was entering as the pony exited, holding the door open for the hurried pony. 
At the metal rack, Stormy took stock of himself and his saddlebags. Nothing was missing from his paperwork, to his book, to his stash of money. He opened his wing and deposited his vital cards into the bag where they belonged. 
As for his body, the tingling was finally leaving Stormy Skies’ wings and he heart was returning to its normal rhythm. Taking a large breath of air he realized something else was back to normal, his breathing. There was no sniffling, sneezing, or coughing. 
Leave saddlebag in the room next time. The pony decided. And figure out what the hell happened this morning. As he trotted off to the lecture titled of “Majors, Minors, and Other Programs.”