• Published 25th Feb 2016
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Silver Glow's Journal - Admiral Biscuit



Silver Glow takes an opportunity to spend a year at an Earth college, where she'll learn about Earth culture and make new friends.

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May 15 [Study Buddies]

May 15

I was all comfy and snuggled on Meghan's breast when I remembered that I had to go to church today so that I could apologize to Liz. So that meant that I would have to get up earlier than I'd planned.

Meghan was a little bit grumpy about that, so I told her that after I flew I would come back and we could take a shower together and then I'd brush her hair, and that cheered her up. She said that she was going to catch up on her sleep a little bit and to knock on the door when I was done flying.

I went back to my room and put on all my flight gear. I thought about leaving the second radio behind, but it was probably better that I had it in case I saw a distant storm or something while I was up in the sky. I didn't think I would, but you never know.

Dori was directing airplanes, and she gave me permission to fly over the west side of Kalamazoo: she said she would clear out a wedge of airspace for me between Stadium and Main. She didn't have to, but it sounded like she wanted to, so I took advantage of that and flew almost straight up from the quad, gaining altitude in a big spiral. Then I zipped off over Western Michigan University, and all the way up to the 131 Highway, where the big bridge over the railroad tracks is.

I circled around up there for a little bit, practicing some swoops, and then back down. There was a funny little neighborhood that was sort of shaped like a comma, and another clear spot next to it that was the same shape where maybe they were going to build more houses. It was interesting how some roads were straight and others had curves in them—I could see how some had been built to go around obstacles, but others were just curved for the sake of it, I guess.

It would have been nice to get in a little more flight time, but it would be really rude of me to break my promise to Meghan or be late to church, so I made a long descent back home, focusing on the bell tower.

One disadvantage of the trees getting leafy is that it's a little bit harder to pick landing spots from a distance. But the parking lot behind Trowbridge is tree-free, and it's easy to spot when I get closer. Since I was going to DeWaters anyway, I wanted to land there.

I saw that Meghan's light was still out as I skimmed across the parking lot, and I thought about going to my room and taking off my equipment first, but it was just as easy to do it in her room and get it later, so I went up and knocked quietly on the door.

It took her a minute to answer, and when she did she sort of stood behind the door as she opened it, then pushed it shut as soon as I was in the room, fast enough that I actually got a bit of my tail caught in it, so she had to open it a little bit again.

She'd just gotten out of bed and hadn't bothered to put on clothes at all, which explained why she had hidden herself behind the door. I told her I wouldn't have minded waiting another minute or two outside while she got dressed, but she insisted that there wasn't any point to it if we were going to get into the shower right away.

Plus, she thought it was really funny that I was wearing more than she was.

She helped me unstrap my equipment and get undressed, then started the shower. I needed more scrubbing than she was used to, 'cause of all the sweat and lather from flying, and I told her I was sorry that I was all sweaty but she said it was okay; she didn't mind.

After we were done, she helped dry me off and then brushed my mane and tail, and I returned the favor, brushing out her hair.

She got dressed and I didn't, then we went off to breakfast together, and after that we went to the service.

It wasn't as fancy as the Easter Service had been; there wasn't any communion and there weren't as many songs. Pastor Liz gave a sermon about not giving in to fear and hate, especially when it was hard, and then at the very end she walked down the aisle and gave everyone a blessing, then stood at the door to hug and shake hands.

When it was my turn I told her how sorry I was that I had missed our talk, and she told me that it was okay, we would just have to have a better talk next week to make up for it. And then she leaned down and we hugged and I knew that she had forgiven me.

She and Meghan hugged, too, and then we walked back to Meghan's dorm. She asked me what I was going to do today, and I said that I had to research my Anthropology essay and that I should read the Bible too, and my book on World War I. She said she had a lot of homework, too, and she said that we could be study buddies.

That sounded like it would be nice, so we went to her room and I got my flight gear and she got her books and then we went back to my room since it was a little bit bigger than hers.

At first, I sat at my desk and she sat on my bed, but after a while I decided it would be nicer to stretch out next to her. It took a bit of creative repositioning to make it work, but we finally settled into spots where we could both be comfortable and productive and also be close. She held her book in one hand and had her notebook on her knee, so she could rest her writing hand on my back when she wasn't using it to take notes.

After reading through the first book, I thought that maybe the best thing to focus on would be the actual wedding ceremony itself. That was a ritual, and I thought the case could be made that it was partially a coming-of-age ritual, since people had to be a certain age to marry.

Meghan grumbled good-naturedly when I got up, but when I turned around with the next book in my mouth she said that she had to get a picture of how cute I was, so she took out her pocket telephone and took a picture and then she asked if I minded if she put it on her Facebook.

I said I didn't mind, and scooted up next to her while she was doing that and started reading the next book. Like the first one, there were only a couple of chapters that I was really interested in, which was good. I would have been overwhelmed if I had to read through every page of the books for my essay.

It was getting pretty close to dinnertime when I finished with the second book. That had a lot of really good information on the origins of traditions, like how the wedding party wore similar clothes to the bride and groom in order to confuse evil spirits, and how bread was put in the communal drinking goblet, which is why they called lifting the glass a toast.

Meghan folded the corner of the page in her book to mark her place, and then the two of us went off to dinner together. I was a little bit hungry because we'd forgotten to eat lunch (I'd thought about suggesting it when it was lunch time, but we were both pretty comfy in bed and I didn't want to get up and I didn't think she did, either).

We sat with Becky and Lisa and pretty soon the four of us were all talking in Equestrian. Lisa complained about how cold it was, especially this late in May, and I said that if Earth had proper weather pegasuses it wouldn't be. Then we kind of got on the subject of climate change and she asked how I would fix it if I were in charge.

That was a really complicated subject, and I had to admit that I didn't have an answer. I dealt with local weather, and while I had an understanding of the bigger picture, it was hugely complicated. I thought that the easiest way would be for people to just stop doing the things that were causing it, and that would be an important first step. Then I thought that probably earth ponies could help, too, by planting more trees.

She said that there were a lot things it would be hard to give up, and I said that was probably true. There were some things that I knew I was going to miss already, like being able to have a hot meal whenever I wanted it.

And then Lisa got a kind of strange look on her face and said that here she was worried about not having her portable telephone and she took hot meals completely for granted. And I guess she was really thinking about that, because she didn't say a whole lot for the rest of dinner.

After dinner, Meghan went back to her room and I went to mine, and it was kind of lonely, so I got my Bible and went outside and sat in a tree and finished the first book of Kings.

It was pretty depressing. They had one bad king after another, and they were always fighting. I guess they never thought about how stupid that was, about how much better off they'd be if they stopped their fighting and did what God told them to do, especially after some of the prophets had warned them what God would do if they were bad, and then He did because they didn't listen to his prophets.

I guess it was a long time ago, though, and we ponies didn't used to be any better.

Peggy was back in our room, so I hugged her and told her I missed her and she asked where I'd been, and I told her I'd been sitting in a tree reading the Bible, which she thought was really funny.

And then she asked about the wedding books, too, and so I told her about my essay and she said that it sounded like an interesting topic.

I said that math was more fun, and she laughed and said that I was welcome to help her with hers, so I reviewed her answers and she'd done pretty well—there were only a couple of problems that needed to be corrected, and she found one on her own while we were reviewing.

Then I showed her the fractals that we'd learned about and how pretty they were, and she said that she wasn't sure that she'd ever be that smart in math, and I told her that she just needed to practice more. It wasn't all that complicated.

We talked a little bit longer, and then I got together my flight gear and went over to Aric's house. He wasn't home yet—I knew he would probably be at the theatre putting away all the lights and that maybe there would be a party after that, but I knew when he eventually got home he would be happy to find me in his bed, so I curled up on a pillow and went to sleep.

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