June 2 [Apartment Hunting]
June 2
While we were cuddling in bed, I told Aric that he needed more seeds for the feeder, 'cause they were running out and soon the birds would be hungry.
He said that if I wasn't raiding it every time I came over, there'd be more for the birds, and I told him that I wasn't because the 'no pegasus' sign kept me away from it.
And then I told him that I would make sure to fill it whenever I had a chance when he was away, because I didn't want the birds to forget it was here. So he said that there was some seed in the garage and he could get enough to last through the summer, but if he did, the mice or squirrels would find it and eat it all.
I told him that maybe if he put it in the truck he was leaving behind they wouldn't be able to get to it, 'cause it was like a big metal box and he laughed and said that even if there weren't rust holes big enough to throw a cat through, the mice would get in somehow.
He promised that we'd fill it up before I left, then he put on pants and we went downstairs and had breakfast in the kitchen. It was only oats—he still hadn't put more food in his icebox—but I was about to have a sunflower seed snack.
Aric went out to the backyard bare footed, and opened the garage door to get at the seeds. I hadn't ever seen the inside of it or any garage for that matter. It was dark and smelled like car. There was a dusty blue car that was all smashed in the front and I asked him why he had it, and he said that he needed the engine for his other truck. He said he'd gotten it at auction for a hundred dollars, and he was pretty sure that the engine worked, because how else would it have gotten damaged.
I said a truck might have hit it, and he said that wasn't possible; there wasn't any explosion damage. Then he grabbed the bag of seeds out and asked if I wanted to put the seeds in the feeder for practice.
Well, he could have easily—it was low enough that he could reach it with his hands—but said I would and I took the bag and flew up to it. He opened the top and I poured in the seeds, only spilling a little bit on the ground (and the squirrels would eat those, if birds didn't find them first), then instead of giving the bag back, I flew up to the garage roof and stuck my muzzle in the bag and ate a bunch of sunflower seeds before flying it back down and giving it to him.
He told me again that I could just buy them, but where was the fun in that?
We went back into the house and I told him that I would be going out in the afternoon to look at apartments with Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn. He said that if he'd known that I was going to be looking for a place, he could have sublet his room to me.
I would have liked that; it would have been nice to be in a familiar place, but at the same time the house wouldn't be the same without him in it. It would be like the palace without Princess Celestia.
Since I was thinking about the summer, I asked him if we could go on a road trip up north this summer, like he'd done with David and Angela, and he got all enthusiastic and said that we could—he had a week off before he had to start in Lafayette, and he'd had some plans about what he was going to do but he could cancel them.
I asked if he was sure, and he said that he was. It wasn't anything important that he was doing, and he'd rather spend the time with me.
So he got out a map and pointed to all the places where he'd gone, and he started pointing to things that he thought I'd like to see. There was a lot; Michigan is a very big state.
Since he had the map out, I wanted him to show me where Lafayette was. It wasn't on the same map; it was in Indiana, kind of towards the middle west of the state. I asked how far it was, and he said he didn't know but it was about a three-and-a-half hour drive, which meant it was about an hour further away than Chicago.
We decided that we'd leave right after graduation—which was the twelfth—and just take our time driving around and seeing whatever we wanted to. So that gave me something to look forward to right at the start of the summer.
I kissed him goodbye and took off to get my morning flight in. It was clear and cloud-free today, so there would be nothing to bring back to school, even if Sean had managed to find a rope.
I just did a bunch of exercises at low altitude: the grumpy man was directing airplanes today. But I got a good workout, 'cause instead of riding thermals, I did everything by wingwork and was pretty lathered up by the time I got back to my dorm.
After a quick shower, I went to lunch, and for once Leon and Cedric weren't bragging about themselves. Both of them were quieter than usual, and when I asked why Cedric admitted that he was a little worried about the exams coming up next week. He had one first thing Monday morning, which he said was the worst possible time, even though I thought that it would be better to get it over more quickly.
Leon said that I didn't understand college; it was a place where you could put stuff off until the very last minute and then cram like crazy.
Then Trevor said that real life was like that, too. And I kind of agreed. There were slow days, and there were days when everything seemed to rush at you, and the best you could do was deal with it as it came. And sometimes on really nice days we slacked off and went to the beach instead of patrolling like we were supposed to. The weather coordinator didn't mind, as long as we were all ready to work if we were needed.
Leon said he had this vision of a big cluster of colorful ponies standing in a cloud-office gossiping by the watercooler, and I said sometimes it was kind of like that, and I'd once overheard a couple of tourists who were in the tavern saying that the weather team just lazed around, but they hadn't been there when everypony was fighting off a gale for two days and we'd drop down to the tavern every now and then for long enough to melt the ice off our wings and drink a bowl of hot soup to warm up our insides and then we'd be back in the air again.
Cedric said that he'd played football in the snow before but he'd never considered what it would be like to fly in it.
Conrad had us meet outside again, and said that we were going to end the year by reading poems which he didn't think fit in any other lesson plan. The first one was from a man named Kit Smart (which everyone thought was a great name), and it was called For I Will Consider My Cat Jeoffry. Everyone had something to say about it, whether they liked cats or not, but we all agreed that the poem described them very well.
My favorite line was that cats are a mixture of gravity and waggery, because they are. And after I said that, Trevor leaned over and said that I was, too, and so I licked my pastern and rubbed it across my cheek and then looked at him innocently and said that I didn't know what he was talking about.
He had us read one next that was called When the Economy Was Booming by Mindy Nettifee, and that was a bit confusing for me because I didn't know what some of the things in it were, like Radiohead and Santa Anna dogs, but I think I still got the idea of the poem. And it made Melissa blush, probably 'cause some of it was about masturbating and a lot of people don't like talking about that at all.
Then he said that before he finished the class, we were all going to sit and write a poem for ourselves, and that it could be whatever we wanted, and we wouldn't have to turn it in or read it out loud or show it to anybody unless we wanted to. It would be ours for as long as we needed to keep it.
I have flown over the ocean
I have seen ships from distant lands
I have visited a world
not my own
I am a traveler, forever bound
to the sky, cursed
(some say)
to wander forever
Never putting down roots
I am one with the wind,
Drifting along like dandelion fluff
Here I am, belly on the grass
And the shadow of an elder tree on my back
Tomorrow I will carry my song
Elsewhere.
To distant shores
To distant ears
As people finished writing, they put their pencils and pens down and just sat quietly until finally Conrad said that some of us would be graduating soon, and all of us would be leaving for the summer, and he was sure that every one of us would make our mark on the world in our own way. Then he read a poem called The Man in the Glass.
I think that poem resonated with everyone in class, because when he finished nobody spoke. I think everyone was thinking about it and things that they had done that they wished they hadn't—I know I was. But I think that in the end a lot of those things had been because I didn't know any better, and there was a difference between doing something out of ignorance and doing it out of greed. And I think that if you don't love yourself, all the wealth in the world is nothing at all.
I blinked my eyes and noticed that Conrad was gone, but the class stayed there for a little while, talking about poems, and a couple of us shared what we'd written and then we kind of drifted apart—some people had to get to another class, and others wanted to go back to their rooms to study, and I had to go look at apartments.
I'd been a little worried that Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn would be mad that I was late, but they weren't. He said that if they were any old people, the landlords would probably leave us hanging like they had when he was in college, but his shiny government badge opened a lot of doors.
We spent the whole afternoon looking at different rooms. Some of them were pretty close to campus, and others were further away, and some of them were in houses and others were in special buildings called apartment houses that was a big house for apartments that were in turn houses for people.
The one I liked the most was a yellowish house on Grove Street, which was very near Aric's house. It was kind of old and the paint was peeling a little bit but I liked it because it had a balcony and the windows looked out at mature trees and it wasn't so big that I'd feel lost inside of it. Plus it had a bathtub which some of the apartments didn't, and it felt kind of cozy.
When I told them that that was my favorite, Miss Cherilyn frowned and said that I had a very different view than she did, and if it were up to her that would be the very last choice because it was old and not very nice. She asked if I'd noticed that one of the windowpanes was broken, and I said that I didn't mind; there was nothing wrong with having some fresh air.
We went to dinner together at Bilbo's Pizza, and we talked about it more but my heart was set on the apartment on Grove Street. Some of the others were nicer and newer and I guess there were things like laundry rooms and exercise rooms in the bigger apartment houses, but I didn't need either. And I liked being close to campus and to Aric's house (even if he wasn't going to be there), so she finally said that it was my choice, and Mister Salvatore took out his telephone and when he was done talking he said that the apartment was mine, and that next week they would come to help me move out of my dorm room and over there.
Then we talked about some of the big trips for the summer—like going to Stratford to see Gusty, and maybe visiting Cayenne some time, and I still wanted to go to see an airplane factory, and also visit Peggy over the summer. We didn't set dates for any of it yet, but I was happy that they were figuring it out.
We talked longer than I'd meant to, and I was surprised by how late it was when we finally got back to campus. They let me out in the parking lot, and reminded me to tell them what time I needed to move, then they waved goodbye and drove away.
I went right over to Meghan's room, and told her about my new apartment and how nice it was, and she was happy because it wasn't all that far from hers—she was living in the neighborhood by the cemetery—and she told me that I had to have a housewarming party because that was tradition.
She had to go into the bathroom to change into sleeping clothes, 'cause Amy was home, and when she was done we got in bed and snuggled up together.
Stats
Page generated in 0.068 seconds
Total duration
1,046 users online
1,819,441 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
I still wanted to go to see an airplane factory
I just realized that I haven't been to very many at all, just the L-M F-35 plant in Fort Worth, though I've driven by Boeing in Seattle several times. I'd really like to see the Super Hornets in St. Louis.
When I moved up to New York with a friend of mine, our first apartment was terrible. The kitchen floor was sunken by half a foot in one corner, and it had a balcony, but it looked like it had been constructed from an abandoned seaside shack.
And we called our rental agent Chickadee Hairspray, the Agent of Tomorrow- because she was always going to be coming tomorrow when we needed her, never today.
(And don't even get me started on those alternate-side parking rules. Never had a parking ticket until I moved there.
)
I liked the litle call back to yesterday's joke.
That poem is the best poem about cats
It is also my favorite period because Kit Smart... Nobody knew how to join laughter and earnest seriousness in hypostatic Union
Is that the end of
ourSilver's poetry lessons?I have to admit I've rarely thought about poetry since I finished school, but I've really enjoyed Silver's forays into it in this story.
You're a devious little shit, Silver.
Fixed.
Stolen sunflower seeds taste twice as good.
people see how run down the house is ... cue "american pie 2"
Missing a word.
Shouldn't have that random period.
overheard
Wow. Likening her boyfriend to the god-queen of her nation. Silver doesn't do anything halfway, does she?
Another beautiful poem. See previous statement.
And yeah, different species are going to have very different priorities when it comes to living quarters. Especially when one is considerably smaller than the other.
What's princess Luna? Chopped liver?
Unless by this time frame she's moved out and set up her own palace.
That was a very touching poem by Kit Smart.
The problem with apartments, is that if you stay n one for too long,
It becomes home.
Maybe something to consider in what the exchange student To Equestria is feeling?
Songs Of Distant Earth. ?
Silverism #463:
Would that house on Grove Street you are referring to hold any personal significance to you, Biscuit?
Well, Silver is used to pre-industrial; the older, the more it reminds her of home.
7451773
I've actually never visited one. Now that I think about it, that strikes me as kind of odd: my grandfather was a foreman at a GM plant when they were making TBM Avengers for the war effort, and my brother is a flight test engineer/rocket scientist (he was most recently working for Virgin Galactic).
7451864
Some of the houses I've lived in were pretty much the same way. Doorframes that weren't square, odd little rooms that were tucked in here and there, things that didn't work right; one house we named the areas of mold in the basement for various dictators. I also rented a house once that had the only fore and aft two-car garage I've ever seen.
I went to court with one of my landlords. Good times. The judge invalidated the lease, since by the end it was obvious that we both hated each other.
I had a car that got pushed from one side of the street to the other for an entire week to avoid parking tickets. That was good times.
7451894
7451931
It is, because it's all true.
There's something to be said about that skill, and not many have it.
7452003
The end of the formal lessons until summer's over (and she may or may not take another poetry class when the fall quarter starts). But there's still so much poetry for her to read on her own. . . .
Six months ago, I would have said the same. And now I'm ordering poetry books from Amazon. What a strange thing to have had happen.
7452266
She is.
It's true!
We weren't supposed to take food out of the dining hall, but of course we did. Usually little things like cookies, but one day we got the idea to try and take a whole pie, which my buddy carried out folded up in a newspaper. That pie had the sweet, sweet taste of victory.
7452317
It really wasn't that bad. Not the worst place I've lived, that's for sure.
7452454
One of the things that I've always had to account for when looking for apartments/rental houses was accommodating multiple cars. It's part of the reason that I now have a house out in the country, where I've got a whole acre that I can park cars on. I've heard that other people look for things like having good internet access or being close to shopping or what have you.
7452551
Princess who?
I think that the palace in Canterlot and Princess Celestia are inexorably linked. Celestia was the sole Princess from whenever it was built until Luna got redeemed, and I suspect that was centuries.
7452438
Corrections made; thank you!
7452726
Credit goes to Cynewulf for suggesting it.
7453071
True. Although some people want that, I guess. I always wanted a real house of my own, and by golly now I've got one.
I have considered it, but at this point I've got too many irons in the fire to actually write such a story. Maybe someday.
7453390
7453552
Of course it would. I lived there for eight months or so after college.
7453559
And she's also more interested in the location of the apartment.
Did he do it, or did he just run off real fast?
7541656
You know what? I'm going to say yes, he did it.
7553419
Wonderful.
It speaks to me as that is something that I did myself.
I've been across this nation countless times.
I've scoured the plains and sands and delved in the caves and deep ravines.
Slogged through mountain ranges and ridden upon grand plateaus.
Yet, I cannot dream until I rest in the comfort of warm nights and good friends,
Of which there are few as I've done all these things without another at my side to share them with.
Dang, this might be one of my favorite chapters yet! Arguably the most adorable
I love the whole saga of silver glow and her birdfeeder mischief. It's like a metaphor for their relationship: Playful, and she always gets Aric's seed(s) in the end
I'm sorry,I really couldn't resist the opportunity for a raunchy joke here
HNNNNNNNNG
SO CUTE
And then, just from the brink of fatal silver-betes, you save us with her very lovely poem
Lazyreader's comment lead me to re-read this chapter today and I just noticed. Is that an early indication of Aric's significance to SG? Aric is a princess to her? D'awwww.
8084709
Seriously, though, stolen sunflower seeds taste the best.
Ponies are much like cats, it's true.
8085206
It is. She's maybe not so good about always saying it, but deep down in her heart. . . .
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lyrics+manana&&view=detail&mid=5C43CA804440767D18F05C43CA804440767D18F0&&FORM=VRDGAR
Used to hear that on the radio when I was a kid. (It hit #1) These days, you couldn't play it, it'd be called racist. On the other hand, you couldn't curse the way a lot of songs do. I'm not sure that's a fair trade.
Silver must honor her barbarian raider pegasus ancestors by stealing sunflower seeds.
Good god, this is weapons-grade.
You paint such an amazing portrait of Conrad in this story. Sometimes it feels like half the point in writing it was to share the impact he had on you.
10923383
But of course. Stolen food is the best food, everypony knows that.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2020/6/30/2387320.png
(shame nobody every drew Silver doing that)
She knows how to be adorable.
It’s funny, because in many ways it was a very delayed impact. Like there was so much that I didn’t really get back when I took his class, but it stayed with me, and when I started to write this story, it all came back.
"Exercise room? *gestures with/at wings* How am I supposed to exercise in a room?"
And of course then you end up talking about gymnasiums and their actually-relevant-for-once etymological roots in a word for naked.
11012995
Exactly, she’s got the whole sky, what does she need a room for?
The advantages to being a pony. “I’ll just wear my gym clothes to the gym . . . and then to a formal dinner, and then to bed, because I’m always skyclad.”
Well, looks like Conrad got to see his wish fulfilled.
11686151
More than you'd think.