June 4
When we finally got out of bed, Aric asked me what my plans for the day were, and I told him that I was going to go flying and then review my notes from math class so that I would be ready for the final on Monday (I was pretty sure that I knew it all, but it was still wise to review it) and that there was going to be a party in Christine's room tonight.
I also told him about my new apartment, and said that I wanted to have a housewarming party there but the more I thought about it, by the time I moved in almost all of my friends would be gone.
He said that if I needed help moving, he had a truck.
We had breakfast at Nina's and talked for a little bit, and I decided that we could leave on the trip after Peggy went back to Colorado. I felt bad that I hadn't spent as much time with her as I should have, so I didn't want to be the one to leave first and leave her all alone in the dorm room. Especially if she needed some help with math before her final.
The two of us took a little detour back to his house, so that he could see my new apartment. I didn't have a key yet so we couldn't go inside, and since it was on the second floor, he couldn't look through the windows. That was too bad: I thought about lifting him up to the balcony so that he could see—I know I'm not supposed to fly carrying people but I don't think it counts if I only fly up one story.
He said that wasn't a good idea and he reminded me how much trouble I'd had flying in his window, which I said was only because he hadn't opened it far enough and there was nothing above the balcony, so it would be no problem to put him on it. But he wasn't convinced, so we walked back to his house, and I got dressed in my flight gear and flew out his window, and this time I didn't steal any sunflower seeds, 'cause I was full and also because there were a bunch of birds on the feeder and I didn't want to bother them.
I could tell that there was rain coming: the pressure was dropping and the wind speed was picking up, and off to the west I could see distant clouds.
I flew west, all the way over the 131 Highway and then to the Kal-Haven trail. Then I told Dori where I was and that I was going to go down low, so that if there were any airplanes waiting they could fly in my area.
There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, probably 'cause it was a nice day, although I didn't see anyone there. Now that the trees had leafed out, you couldn't really see much of the trail from the air, although it was still obvious where it went because there was a long line of trees that cut through farms.
I followed it all the way to Kendall, then I did a few victory loops in the air—not so high that I would get in the way of an airplane—and turned around to go back.
The wind was starting to pick up, which made my flight even easier, since it was on my tail, so even though I was more tired than I had been when I started, I made better speed.
I thought about flying higher over town, but decided not to bother Dori again. So I kept sort of low, and followed along the road, and in front of a bank I saw a sign that said it was twelve-thirty, which meant by the time I got back to campus and took a shower, I would have missed lunch.
(Banks have lots of different names, but you can always tell that they're banks because they have signs that tell you the time and temperature.)
So I decided to get lunch at Taco Bell. As I was landing in their parking lot, I felt a little nervous because I'd never gone in one by myself, but I'd had their food before so I knew what I liked.
The doors opened towards me, and they were heavy glass, and try as I might I just couldn't find a way to grab onto their handles and get them open. But then a mother and her children came out and the taller girl pushed open the door for me and when I came in the younger one wrapped her arms around my neck in a hug even though I was all sweaty and I was too surprised to do anything. And the taller girl let the door close and started petting my mane, and then their mother yelled at them and I said that I didn't mind because they were kind of cute, but I think she was mad that I was all sweaty and her kids had gotten a bunch on themselves.
And then after she got her kids away from me she started trying to shoo me out the door, and I told her that I was going inside because I wanted a burrito and she started to talk more loudly and more slowly and put her hands on her hips.
Then the taller girl said that she was scaring me and ran over to hug me again and her mother grabbed her by the collar and her other daughter by the wrist and pulled them out the other door and trotted across the parking lot so fast that a car had to swerve to avoid them.
So then I got a little bit more nervous about getting food, because maybe I wasn't supposed to be inside, and I couldn't open the door anyway so I ought to leave but then I decided that I wasn't going to leave without a burrito, so I managed to hook a hoof on the door handle and tug it open far enough that I could get my head between the door and frame, and I pushed it open that way.
I had to stand on my hind hooves to order and the man at the counter just stared at me like he couldn't hear and then he called for a manager to come to the front, and while I was waiting I was thinking about how much more efficient it was to order Taco Bell food from inside a car.
When the manager finally came to the front, he asked the man at the counter what the problem was, and he just pointed in my direction and then the manager asked what I'd done, and he said that I was trying to order a burrito, and the manager asked if that was it, and he nodded and then said that I was a pony.
Then the manager rolled his eyes and looked at me and asked what I wanted and so I told him a burrito and he put that in the computer and then asked if I wanted it for here or to go. I didn't really want to eat inside alone, so I said that I'd have it to go, and when I paid he gave me a slip of paper that said my order number was 238, and told me that I could wait at the other end of the counter until it was ready. So I went down there and waited and all the while the man at the counter just kept staring at me. It was kind of uncomfortable.
The woman who brought it up front was a lot nicer, though. She had a big smile on her face and set it on the counter and asked what my name was and I told her and she said that her name was Lakisha which was a very pretty name. Then she asked if I wanted any sauce or napkins, and I did, so she put a couple of little packets of mild sauce and some napkins in the bag for me and asked if she could take my picture, too.
I told her that she could, so she took out her telephone and took my picture, and then told me to have a blessed day, and I said I would, and took my bag in my mouth and pushed my way back out then took off again.
I'd meant to wait to eat it until after I took a shower, but I'd had the smell of it in my nose the whole way back and so when I got up to my room I tore open one of the sauce packets and unrolled the burrito enough to squirt it inside so it wouldn't be as messy, and then ate it. It had gotten a little bit cold on the flight home, but was still very good.
After I'd taken a shower, I got out my math notebook and sat on my bed and started reviewing. Peggy had come back and had the same idea; she was sitting on her bed with her own notebook.
We spent the whole afternoon in the room together, getting ready for our final exams. When the rain came, I got up and looked out the window at it for a bit, and I also turned on my radio just in case I had to go watch for storms, but it only was a gentle rain.
It had tapered off by the time we went to dinner, but had started up again when Peggy and I went back to the dorm.
We studied some more until she said it was time to go to Christine's for the party, and I sent a telephone telegram to Aric to tell him that the party was starting and then he asked me what room it was in and I had to ask Peggy, 'cause I'd never paid attention to the number on their door.
It took him a little while to answer back, and I was thinking that he somehow hadn't gotten the message, but he finally said that he was on the way, so Peggy and I left and when we were on our way I heard a familiar noise and turned around and Winston was on the street right behind us. So even though it wasn't far at all, I convinced Peggy to get in the back of the truck with me and ride down to her room that way and she said that she was glad she'd decided to wear jeans because she didn't think she could climb over the tailgate in a miniskirt without flashing everyone.
He found an open space near Christine's dorm, and parked there and we got out of the back and went to her room together. He had two big boxes of beer and all the ingredients for White Russians.
There were a whole bunch of people already there—her roommates, who I sort of knew, along with Sean and Joe and Keith and Malcolm.
It didn't take too long before some people were playing games on the television and Amanda and Malcolm were sitting on the couch right next to each other talking and I got to sit in the papasan with Aric for a while and with Peggy for a while and then Cecilia fell asleep in it because she'd had too much to drink. And it was a funny kind of party, because it was partially everyone celebrating that they'd finished a year (even though they really hadn't until they were done with finals) and kind of saying their goodbyes, too, because most of them were going to leave the same day that they were done with their finals.
Some other people came by and visited for a little bit because the door was open, and someone—I don't know who—ordered Papa John's pizza. Keith asked me if I wanted to play Mario Kart with him and I said that I wasn't very good at it because the control buttons weren't made for hooves, but he said that I'd have fun anyway. And Aric watched me crash a lot and said this was why ponies shouldn't drive, and I reminded him that he'd let me drive Winston before and when Peggy glared at him he told her that he'd only let me steer, and he'd been in control of the pedals.
It was well after midnight when we left, and the three of us—me and Peggy and Aric—walked back up to my dorm room, 'cause Aric was too drunk to drive. Aric started singing a nonsense song called Bad Romance and Peggy joined him, and I did for the chorus, too, because I knew the words for that. And then when we got near the dorm I decided to fly up and sit on a tree branch where I could sleep until Aric finally convinced me to come down and go the rest of the way back to the dorm, even though that seemed like a lot of effort.
Both Peggy and I went to the bathroom as soon as we were back in the dorm, and then she said that I should drink some water so that I wouldn't have as much of a hangover in the morning, which seemed like kind of dumb advice to me since I thought it would just make me have to get up and pee more, but she insisted that it was the right thing to do, so I drank some water out of the sink, and then when I got back to the room, Aric was lying on top of all the blankets with his shirt off but his boots still on and he was already snoring so rather than try to move him, I just cuddled up next to him.
tshirtvortex.net/wp-content/uploads/Lady-Gaga-Bad-Romance-Math-Equation-T-Shirt-300.jpg
You can do anything with math.
That manager deserves a brohoof. Not only for being cool, but for having to deal with stupid teenagers.
"It's a paying customer, what's not to understand?"
7458457
Hence why I said 'one of the', because I know we're not really number one at anything anymore, not even polluting or consuming products produced outside our country.
Back about 15 years ago, my youngest niece worked the night shift at a McDonald's. She was the only person there that English was her native language & wasn't on parole or probation. I told her she should be assistant manager but she was overqualified.
I'm fairly surprised Silver could open the condiment packs. She must have used her teeth.
7458049
but an adorable headache. Imagine walking outside to this
derpicdn.net/img/2015/9/29/990807/large.png
plus this
derpicdn.net/img/2015/4/27/884220/full.png
you know, I've seen this, but more often then not they don't have this where I'm from.
Also. Yay for casual racism (speciesm?). Some people
7459404
Bird horses are best horses.
7458058 It's a good thing really. Being a minx.
Never let them know you have a truck here in Texas. If you ever do you'd be better served by starting a moving company.
Must be an American thing. The best way to tell a bank here is the sign above the door that reads Abandon all hope ye who enter this accursed place.
That manager wins the prize for Best Human-Pony Interaction. The fact that she's a pony doesn't faze him for even a second.
"What is there to be concerned about? She wants to buy food. I mean, if she was trying to pay with bits that might be an issue, because you're probably too stupid to work out exchange rates, but I see nothing but US presidents in that coin purse, so WHY ARE YOU NOT GETTING OUR VALUED CUSTOMER A BURRITO? DO WE NEED TO DO SENSITIVITY TRAINING AGAIN, JERRY?"
We need a spinoff with this Taco Bell, and the manager as the main character.
7459486
Are you from Greece?
7459553 No, Australia. It's just because I have a mortgage, and a credit card...
7459289 math is anathema
It is a terrible terrible thing
Witchcraft even
Also, I will be sad when there is no more Silver Glow. I've been with her so long now, waking up basically half of law school and even now, afterwards, to an intrepid little xeno in our strange world.
Strangely enough, the business I work at has one of those signs but it's in the business of printers, IT management, document management, and phones and data lines. No money anywhere that I can see ... especially my paycheck.
7459361
...Don't most folks open them with their teeth, though?
I guess seeing a pony alien on a TV screen is something very different than actually meeting one in person and without handlers at that.
Guess that in her case, conditioning like 'shooing out that animal' kicked in (so I can't really blame the mother, both embarrassed by her kids and also out of her depth). Where conditioning fails, only 'wtf' remains, as evidenced by the guy behind the counter.
And then there's the manager who's like 'well, it's a customer and free advertising where's the problem?' His franchise just got an endorsement by an ambassador from a different planet. Free advertising doesn't come any better than that. Knowing fast food joints, I'm sure he's already experienced stranger things than a sweaty pegasus ordering a burrito.
And you write drunk people perfectly.
"m gonna sleep branch"
"which one?"
"both."
Me, every day in Japan.
7459486 if it is, it's not a consistent U.S. thing. I feel that I've seen it before, but none of the banks in my area actually have that.
7459880 pff, I'll blame her plenty. When the critter can say "I just want to buy food" and you know they exist, it's a person, not a critter.
7459312 "We don't get too many customers from other dimensions here."
"I'm not surprised, what with these prices!"
(Based on an old joke about a gorilla ordering a beer at a bar.)
You would think that the first person you see when you walk into a fast food restaurant would have better manners than what that guy had...It is their job after all to take your order. They are essentially the face of that fast food company in that store.
With a chapter name like that I expected completely different hijinks from Silver. Instead, I'm disappointed in a couple of people I've never met, and strangely enough, Silver's butt.
I want one.
7459289
I'm still waiting on that math-based romance with -1 words!
7459892
You stare at customers and then call for the manager?
"Come on kid! It's just an alien! We had weirder clients. Get over it."
"You know the angry squirrels won't let you sleep, right?"
7459312
*She* ponies are people too
wow first soccer mom encounter !!
haha and drunk pegasus sleeping in a tree hahahaha
oh and grats to peggy for making a pony drink ?
i also wonder if aric and silver going to keep up their morning routin hehehe
They kinda like Nostradamus katrens. I.e. you could interpenetrate then in lots of different ways. Especially considering that some of them vague as hell. Like CMC, Diamond Tiara or Silver Spoon cutie marks.
Ahh, seems like when Silver's with her human friends people get less confused about her presence than when she's by herself. I guess if she's with humans people are like "Umm....well if that pony is with a human than that's alright" but if she's by herself people might just get stuck in the mindset that ponies are just animals and get confused.
Also, I probably missed something or just plain old forgot but didn't Aric have a roommate that didn't like Silver? Sarah, or something like that? Like, she'd stare at Silver angrily or something, I think? What happened to her?
7459938 Personally it's the flying gear that would've clued me in with the "May be an intelligent, sapient, non-human person and clearly not an unwanted critter.".
Managed to survive public transport once more.
As for alien at the counter, thats what you get for not living in an area where all the healthy non deformed, old and crippled people eat out or get stuff delivered to their home.
That and many years ago for assesmen, I spent a weekend at a residental place where Severe disfigured people went. Apart from the colour, there was one girl there who didnt have to do much to look like Venus. Apart from he only had two manipulatory digits on each hand. Kept having trouble trying to work out what was wrong with her as I thought there was something different but couldnt work out what. Something about, she has manipulatory digits and I couldnt tell the diffrence between what type or how many etc.
In fact, its getting to the point that seeing healthy average humans is getting weird round where I live, what with teh casting studio at the top of the hill and the dwarf family in town, in trying to work ut just how much time and money theyre wasting in treatments and makeup etc t be idealised movie stars.
Oops.. need sleep.
I bet that soccer mom had that haircut. You know the one.
Wow, what a [complicated pictogram].
Also, I appreciate the stealth pun in a little pony going to Taco Bell to order a burrito (little donkey).
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh! Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh!
Caught in a horse romance
Edit: I knew those lines but hadn't actually heard the song. Holy crap, if they all sound like that, I think I might be a Gaga fan now.
7459312
That manager deserves a brohoof. Not only for being cool, but for having to deal with stupid teenagers.
"It's a paying customer, what's not to understand?"
7459338
Oh, I'm sure we're number one at something. Michigan borders the largest freshwater lake (by surface area) in the world, that's got to count for something (technically, half of it is Canada's, but hey, half a lake is better than no lake).
7459361
Yeah, some of those stores don't attract the best and brightest.
I only ever worked at one restaurant, and it wasn't exactly the greatest job ever.
She held the corner down with a hoof and tore the top off with her teeth. Silver Glow is resourceful.
7459404
"Silver Glow, you just can't . . . stop making puppy-dog eyes at me!"
Oh, they don't here, either. Silver Glow's making an assumption which totally isn't true. Most of the older banks have that sign, and the newer ones don't. I have no idea why.
[sarcasm] Yeah, you'd think that racism wouldn't be a thing in America any more [/scarcasm]
7459421
All horses are best horses.
7459452
I thought everyone in Texas had a pickup truck and wore a cowboy hat.
7459486
A lot of the older banks have such a sign. They're not doing it anymore, though.
7459497
It's probably not the weirdest thing he's ever seen. Especially not at a Taco Bell in a college town.
maybe I should do some side stories. hmm. i'll think about it.
7459635
Economics is even odder, because they do their math backwards.
Fear not, our journey with her is not even half-over yet.
7459669
Maybe it used to be a bank?
Now that lots of businesses have LED signs, lots of places can tell you the time and temperature, but I remember when I was younger only banks had those signs, and the display matrix was individual light bulbs. Actually, the bank across the street from where I work changed theirs not that long ago, and before that about once a week, somebody had to go out on a ladder and change the burned-out light bulbs.
7459880
I know that there are things which I had seen on TV before that I was not prepared for in real life. A lot of times because reality and TV are very different animals.
Oh, undoubtedly he has. I've got to think that stoned people visit taco bell all the time. I know I would if I was stoned.
It's good when I can write what I know.
There was one time that I discovered a traffic cone on the roof of my car, and I had a vague memory of seeing it when I was walking home drunk, wearing it as a hat for a while, and then when I got home deciding that my car needed a hat more than I did.
7459892
I can only imagine.
7459938
I feel that some of the people that fast food restaurants will hire might not actually be aware that ponies exist.
7460346
Can I quote myself?
"I think . . ." Gerard began, setting the coin back on the counter. He honestly wasn't sure what to think.
"Pony wants a drink," the regular on the right said. "Pony's got money. You oughta give the pony what she wants."
"Yeah." Gerard licked his lips.
"Better ask it for some ID," the regular on the left muttered. "Might be an undercover cop."
"Oh, for Celestia's sake. I'm Berry Punch. Look." She pointed down to a cluster of grapes on her flank. "See?"
7460411
I dunno, I've been in some fast food restaurants where the counterperson is just barely competent. Like the time last week where the girl at Burger King had to go in back to find out how to ring up an item which was featured on their menuboard. [And it isn't just fast food workers; when I was in high school, I got in trouble for playing euchre with some friends. I told the assistant principal that I was practicing for the school-sponsored euchre tournament, which he was unaware of despite the fact that there was a ten foot long poster outside his office door advertising it.]
7460489
How can you be disappointed in Silver's butt?
7460548
He was probably mesmerized by her blinking light.
Damn squirrels that won't let a drunk pony sleep.
7460587
7461062
They're sometimes very protective of their offspring.
You know that happens in Equestria all the time.
As long as they can. When you've got something that's working, there's no need to change it.
7461320
I agree. I think that the cutie mark as much means what the pony thinks it means as anything else. I wonder if there's a genre of self-help books in Equestria with subjects like Your Cutie Mark: What does it Mean?.
7461467
Yeah; we tend to think of animals as belonging to people, so all is right with the world when there's a dog on a leash or a human riding a horse, but when said dog or horse is just wandering around on its own, that's kind of weird (at least in America). I think it would take a while for people to get that thought out of their minds.
Like, when I was in Australia, one of the weirdest things for me was seeing animals like parrots in the wild, because before that I'd only encountered them as pets. I knew, intellectually, that they come from somewhere; that there must be wild parrots, but I'd never seen one before.
Yes, he did. Funny you should mention her. . . .
7461505
Yeah, that would be a pretty clear sign. Especially if she was talking on the radio as she walked in to let the air traffic controllers know she'd landed.
7462453
Is there a name for that cut? There probably is.
7463418
That wasn't actually even an intentional pun--the bean burrito is one of the things on the Taco Bell menu that's vegetarian.
I think they do. Her music videos are kind of weird, though.
7477632
I was expecting more fart-based shenanigans since Taco Bell featured so prominently.
7477670 "Control, I am running low on taco bell, I'm doing an emergency landing at the mall to make a re-fill"
"Oh god! These alien invader have come for our most precious ressources! Must defend the burritos!"
7477756
There was originally a section of her sitting on a tree branch and farting while a student below kept looking around for the source of the noise, but I wound up deleting it.
7477769
What would be funny is if she called an emergency landing for a potty emergency.
7497720
And that would make sense...
7497720 What potty emergency? She can just use the clouds....
Silver Glow: "I'm sorry, sir. I didn't realize Earth clouds can't hold waste like Equestrian clouds."
7498961
I think pee would just break up before it hit the ground (assuming that the pegasus had sufficient altitude). Poop, on the other hand . . . that's something that they must have figured out a way to deal with, so maybe they do have special clouds and maybe when they get full, they push them over a compost pile or something and break them up. Can you imagine having that job?
For what it's worth, this is a discussion I never thought I would have.
7501430
I never thought I'd read that paragraph.
8349382
As it happens, just Friday I published a blog post about how much ponies might poop.
8349773
I remember posting over at Poniverse that, IMO, there was probably a law that Pegasi foals had to wear a diaper until they were toilet trained on the grounds that "If you think birds are bad news......" or "Why Ponies Wear Hats"
7477670
Yeah everybody at that Taco Bell is an asshole besides the manager and the girl who brought her food.
When she's actively like "Hey gemme fud" she's obviously not an animal but a person.
9242307
Pretty much, yeah. Although at least they didn’t try to kick her out for being a pony, so that’s something.
If pony’s got money and pony wants a burrito, sell pony a burrito. Simple.
9246903
I tell you
"No shoes, no shirt, no service"
& the "no shoes" is the Board of Health
10658939
Horseshoes are kind of like shoes and ought to count.
Granted, Silver doesn’t wear them, but it’s not like you can easily tell without seeing the bottom of the hoof. . . .