July 20 [Training Field]
July 20
Both of us were kind of tired since we hadn't slept well at first last night, so I only woke up a little bit before her alarm went off and instead of getting out of bed after the second time, she waited until the third . I didn't mind, 'cause I had my head on her breast and she was running her fingers through my mane.
I made her oatmeal while she was in the shower, and I left it on the counter for her and brushed her hair after she was done eating.
Then she put on her clothes, and we walked together to her house to wait for her friend to take her to work. I told her that she ought to tell her friend to come over to my apartment—it wasn't all that much farther, after all—but Meghan said that it was a lot easier to just get picked up at her apartment every morning, 'cause that way she didn't have to try and remember to tell her friend where she was going to be. Which made a lot of sense. Plus sometimes having the same morning routine sets your mood for the day.
I had to go back home to pick up my flight gear, 'cause I hadn't put it on before walking to Meghan's.
I tore the corner off the clover bale and ate that, and I thought about having some bread, too, but that would have been a little bit much before going flying.
While I was filling up my camelback I thought about where I wanted to go, and decided I'd fly east again today. Not as far as I had yesterday—it was best to kind of alternate between long flights and short flights.
I headed out along the railroad tracks, and when I was getting close to Morrow Lake I turned more to the northeast and then I called the airplane directors and asked for permission to fly higher. Dori said that I couldn't right now because there was a student pilot practicing IFR at 3000 feet, and she thought it would be wise to give him a little bit of extra room.
She told me that I could go southeast if I wanted to, but I'd been that way yesterday and so I said I'd keep flying the way I was but stay low.
I started following along the trail of electrical towers that came from the dam. They stuck up pretty high, which would have made them really easy to follow anyway, but they also didn't have any trees under them. Then they branched off, and one branch went east while the other went north and I thought I'd follow the smaller branch for a while and see where it went.
It went over a big dirt track and then I saw the horse stables where me and Meghan had gone riding off to my left and in the practice field there was someone riding a horse and jumping it over barriers so I flew down to get a closer look at what was going on.
Well, it was Deanne on the horse and even before I could tell that it was her she waved at me. I'm probably the only pegasus she knows.
I couldn't decide if I should land or not, but finally my curiosity got the better of me and I did land in the big dirt parking lot next to the practice field.
She kept up her routine while I watched, occasionally pushing at the dog with a hind hoof 'cause he kept sort of edging up on me. Then when she got done with all her jumps, she came over to the fence and I stood up on my hind hooves so that me and Henry could sniff each other.
He wrinkled his nose back after he smelled me and I blushed, then he leaned down for another sniff and pawed at the ground and Deanne had to kind of rein him in, and she slapped him on the side of the neck and told him to stop misbehaving.
He snorted, and she tugged at the reins a little bit to back him up, then she got off her saddle and said that I might as well walk with her while she cooled down Henry.
So we went all the way around the stables and then she led him over to a concrete pad with a coiled-up hose hanging on the wall next to it and a long rail, which she tied Henry to.
She took off his saddle and put it on the rail, then she took off his blanket and put it there, too. Then Deanne filled a bucket with water and started rinsing the sweat off his back, and I was paying too much attention to her and not enough to him, 'cause he leaned down and nibbled at my neck, and I told him that I wasn't interested but he didn't really understand, and he reached down a little bit further to try and nip at my fetlock and I just backed away from him until he turned his attention back to Deanne.
Deanne went into the barn and brought out a halter, and put one loop around his neck then switched the rope to that so she could take off his bridle. She said that usually she didn't have to do it this way but Henry seemed to be a little frisky, so she wanted to be safe.
It was weird to see that big piece of metal come out of his mouth. I thought that there must be a better way to let the horse know where it was supposed to go than that—it looked like it was really uncomfortable, and I think Henry thought so too, 'cause he stuck his tongue out once it was gone and then took a drink from the rinse bucket.
When she'd hung up his bridle, she put the halter on over his nose, and got a hoof knife out of her pocket and started to clean out his hooves, and when she was finally satisfied that he was done, she took him around the barn again to the pasture out back and he trotted out to the middle of the field and then started rolling around on his back.
I was kind of tempted to go out there and join him.
I decided that I would like to ride today, and maybe learn something so that next time Meghan and I came out here I'd be better at it.
I took off all my gear in the tack room—Deanne said it would be safe in there. Then I went to Hoshi and we blew in each other's nostrils and then Deanne got her saddled up for me and led her out to the training pasture and told me that we'd just be riding around the edge, and that she'd give me instructions. She said Hoshi wasn't trained to jump so she wouldn't try, and she said once I had mastered the reins I could try navigating around the jumps, 'cause it made a good obstacle course, but until then I'd be sticking to the edge.
After a little while, I figured out that having the reins looped around my forehooves worked the best, and I started to get better at steering Hoshi. Or else she'd figured out the course, and didn't need me to tell her what to do at all.
Deanne must have thought I had the idea, and she had me navigate through the center and around some of the jumps. Hoshi was kind of wary of them, so I guess she hadn't seen what they were for. And there were a few times when she went the wrong way but overall, we did pretty well.
We worked together for about an hour, and by the end of it I was getting pretty good. Well, decent. And then it was time to lead Hoshi back and get her undressed, and I rinsed her down after Deanne took off the saddle.
I don't know what I was thinking, but after we'd put Hoshi in her stall and gone back outside, I said that I thought it would be fun to gallop around and do the jumps like Deanne had been doing when I arrived, and she said if I wanted to, I could, and she'd walk me through the pattern.
It was kind of complicated, and she led me around it twice so I'd know the route, which folded back on itself a couple of times. Then I trotted it once, going around the jumps rather than over.
She said I'd got it right, so I set myself up at the starting line and went right to a canter.
The bars that I was supposed to jump over were pretty high, since Henry had such long legs, but that was okay because I had wings.
I did pretty well the first time around but I knew I could do it a bit faster now that I knew what to expect. I'd lost some time by being on the wrong hoof before a jump, and I lost some speed from flying up late. So I took a drink of water and went around a second time, and I was only off-hoof once, and I thought I did pretty well.
Deanne wanted to know if we had competitions like that in Equestria. I said that was more an earth pony thing; we usually set up clouds and stuff to race around.
Then she offered to pick my hooves if I wanted to let her and I thought that would be nice, especially since there'd been a lot of horseapples on the ground and I hadn't avoided them all.
She picked out my hooves and then used the hose to rinse off my hooves, and said that I'd been the easiest equine to teach the course to.
When I'd gotten back in my flight gear, I called the airplane directors and told them that I was taking off again, and then I nuzzled Deanne and took off for home.
I hadn't planned on being out for so long, so I was pretty hungry by the time I got back home. I had some of the sourdough bread with jam and I think that the bread would have been better by itself. And I thought about taking a shower, but decided that I'd take a bath later, since I hadn't gotten all that sweaty today and anyways I was home alone and nobody would complain about the dried sweat on my coat. But that did remind me that I needed to do laundry.
I took my flight vest and sheets and pillowcase to the laundromat to wash them, and it took some effort to stuff them all into my saddlebags. I had to settle for having some of the sheets draping out the edge like I was carrying some kind of a banner, but they weren't going to fall out 'cause they were pushed in so tight. And I wish that the little machine that let you buy boxes of soap had holes in it so you could sniff the soap before you bought it, 'cause how else would you know if you liked the scent? I thought 'spring fresh' was the best choice, since it had a picture of grass and blue sky on it, so that's what I got.
I would have brought a poetry book along, but there hadn't been room. They had some on the shelves, though, and they also had a newspaper on top of the trash can, so I thought I'd read that.
I probably should have chosen something else. There was a story in it about how mosquitoes in Florida had tested positive for Zika, which the newspaper said was a disease that was very bad for pregnant women, and there was also an article about a man in France who had run over a crowd of people with his truck, and Donald Trump had been voted as the Republican nominee and then gotten in trouble because his wife had given a plagiarized speech, it said. And then they said that Princess Twilight had given a similar speech, too, so it didn't count as stealing.
I didn't know Princess Twilight all that well but I didn't think she'd steal a speech, so I thought that maybe the newspaper was lying.
I put the newspaper back on top of the wastebasket and decided I'd rather just watch my laundry go around and around in the soapsuds.
I liked the washing machines at the laundromat better than the ones in our dorm, because these had front doors and it was a lot easier to put the laundry in and take it back out again.
It was fluffier and kind of spring-like and also very warm when it came out of the drier, and I leaned my cheek against my fresh sheets for a minute before I put them back in my saddlebags.
I had mixed hay and carrots for dinner—I made a salad out of some of the old hay I had and a little bit of the new, and I ate it in the papasan and then I went and filled the bathtub up and soaked in it until the water got cold.
After I'd dried off, I decided I'd read some of the Song of Songs before bed.
That was a lot nicer than Ecclesiastes. It didn't really have much to do with God, but was more about how handsome Solomon was and how pretty his wife was, and how much he liked her breasts and her garden that had things growing in it I'd never heard of.
I think that the people who put things in the Bible were maybe smarter than I'd thought yesterday. Because I could kind of see how Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs all tied together—the first taught you wisdom and then the middle book said that maybe nothing was worth anything, and then the last book was about love.
I think that was a good lesson overall.
My haybales were missing some of their corners but were still plenty big enough for me, and even though I knew I'd have some chaff in my coat in the morning, I just stretched out on top of them without even a blanket under me, and fell asleep with the pleasant scent of clover in my nose, which was much better than the spring-fresh laundry soap.
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New:Clever the Clover bales. Just for you. Buy now and get an Alfalfa trial pack absolutely free.
May contain nuts. Not available in Texas. May take 28 days for delivery. May contain nuts. May contain illegal immigrant species.
We mean it about the nuts.
It's the return of the pony-herding dog!
That speech perhaps plagiarized from MLP was the most amusing news of July.
Yeah, that was definitely a
moment from the campaign.
I'm sure that somewhere in this version of Equestria, Twilight is going
and writing democracy off as a bad idea.
all in all it sounds like a fun day.
Song of Solomon is so racy. Just scandalous.
Silver continues to impress.
7582625
This was Twilight Sparkle's literal, actual statement on the matter.
7582625
Yeah, that was hilarious, and I don't know how I didn't see coming.
Also ,horses riding horses again
Aww, Silver is being all maternal to Meghan.
Plus you don't have to explain to your colleague that you're sleeping with a pony.
Where the noble jury awaits. Or something. (Damn, I really need to finally read that.)
I was totally expecting that sentence to go somewhere else.
Ah! Equine sitcom!
"At least try to be a gentlestallion and bring her out on a date, buy her some flowers!"
"Sounds like a fun activity for a date, I'm almost regretting telling him no..."
There was a Disney movie called Gay Purree with Judy Garland. One of the songs is "The Horse Won't Talk" & how lucky that is
7582705
I was going to make an Austraeoh joke myself, but I couldn't think of a good one. Thanks for saving me the trouble.
7582660
Yeah, I remember seeing that posted to EQD at the time.
The Silver don't take no crap from any dog.
The thing is, when Twilight talked about the power of dreams, she was referring to an actual nightmarish dreamscape. The 2016 campaign just feels like one.
Good to see Silver getting to be more comfortable with the local equinoids. Jane Goodall comes to mind.
I'm working at a farm equipment show right now. As I was walking around I got to thinking how some booths have a bowl of complementary candy out front and some have hay or grain for people to examine. So now I'm picturing Silver walking up and taking a bite of hay. Then turning to someone looking at that equipment and saying she recommends the machine over there, because theirs tastes better.
all the flying of Silver over highways and not a single police helicopter or car chase to follow ...
its also getting kinky for all ponys when silver comes back, and tells everyone about her riding experience
Pony picks up newspaper and reads it.
Pony realizes the newspaper has more horseapples in it than the field she ran through that morning.
Pony puts the newspaper back and amuses herself with a washing machine instead.
Smart pony!
Careful Henry, Silver is already the central figure in a love triangle. I don't think you want to stretch it to a quadrangle. There lies only heartache.
Imagine that conversation.
"Aric, you already know Meghan. I'd like to introduce you both to Henry."
*actual horse noises*
7582708
<canned laughter>
So, does Aric have another competitor?
Seeing Silver going around the course in the fastest possible time makes me think of a race car driver doing the same thing on a circuit track.
Nice
Oh boy, even the local stallions want her. That begs the question, would Silver Glow having sex it with an earth horse be beatiality?
7583825
Yes, I'd say so. A sapient pony and a non-sapient horse would be like a human and an ape.
You magnificent bastard.
7584364
But if you look at Hinduism and daoism, there are surprising correlations between them and quantum physics.
7583920 That's not quite how quantum mechanics works. It's not that observation changes the outcome, as that observation sets the outcome from therange of possibilities. It's like putting a dice in a box, shaking it and then looking inside. The number it shows was dependent on the event, not the act of you looking at it.
Or the Shrodinger's cat thought experiment. At some point the release of the radioactive particle triggered the poison that kills the cat or not. The state exists before you look in the box, the only uncertainty is in the mind of the observer. The thought experiment was actually invented to show the fact that quantum level events don't make sense on a macroscopic level.
7582601
I can just imagine pony supermarkets, and they have little sample stands in them where you can try different blends of pasture gasses. Maybe even get custom mixes.
7582607
Silver's nemesis!
7582623
It was. I've got to say, when part of you defense is 'Twilight Sparkle said it,' you have no defense.
7582631
And Silver Glow learned a new sport!
7582671
I generally don't like using MLP as an existing TV franchise in HiE or PoE stories, because it's very difficult to do and yet have the story still be serious (it's possible, but difficult). On the other hand, when Twilight Sparkle makes legitimate political news, how could I not mention it?
Horses riding horses is the best thing ever.
7582705
And you caught on to Meghan's primary motivation.
It's also on my RiL list. How long is the whole thing?
7582708
I know, right? You don't start with foreplay.
"What did you do on your date?"
"Rolled in the grass, mostly."
7582724
Obviously, they never met Mister Ed.
Or maybe they did.
7582801
What a strange election season it's been, and I think it's only going to get weirder going forward. And then culminate in a disaster.
Ted Cruz's favorite pony is Applejack, BTW. Just in case you missed that little bit of news.
<insert your favorite background pony/background politican joke here>
7582809
The dog just has to refine his approach a little bit, and he'll be able to get Silver Glow back in the barn, where she obviously belongs.
7582867
Oh God yes. I imagine the astronauts in the ISS are refusing to come back down.
I think they would be a constant source of fascination for ponies. Almost morbid fascination, maybe?
7582903
It could very well come to the point (in this story-universe) where people are seriously getting opinions from ponies on stuff. Maybe a smart farrier has a pony assistant, or the vet has a pony he consults with. Monsanto could have pony taste-testers. And saying that your hay was 'pony approved' might carry some weight with horse people.
7583022
Michigan doesn't have car chases like they do out in California. Most departments probably don't have a helicopter, either (I'm sure the Michigan State Police have a couple, mostly for S&R).
I do recall a while back that someone stole a snowplow truck and tried to drive it to Indiana.
She's probably not the first pony to have tried it. Perhaps that's something that they should put in the Earth tour guide.
7583067
7583117
It wouldn't be a satisfying relationship anyway; Henry's a gelding.
(I don't know if that's actually clear in the text).
7583257
7583275
The mindset is the same
Although she probably couldn't do it as fast as a real horse, because her legs are so much shorter.
7583360
7583825
Technically, he's a gelding, which is why he wasn't more aggressive.
As for your question, there was some discussion of that on my story The Breakup (not linked 'cause mature). I don't really have a good answer for where it would fall on the moral scale. I suppose it would depend on whether you considered Silver Glow to be a smart horse, or a horse-shaped person.
I do think that either a sexual relationship with humans or a sexual relationship with actual horses, one of them is definatly beastiality, but which one is might make for an interesting legal case.
Unless you're in Ohio, where beastiality is not illegal.
7584056
Although one could argue that the two in your example are basically the same species. (I'm not saying it would be a good legal argument, but the argument could be made.)
7584226
7584760
Perhaps they were smarter than the ancient Greeks.
It is interesting when one bit of philosophy that might have been considered silly winds up being closer to the truth than anybody knew.
7585034
I like that analogy, especially since I'm a tabletop gamer.
Man... imagine if you went to a zoo and an orangutan handed you a box of chocolates with a rose on top, and then tried to follow you home.
How is Silver not weirded out by this?!
Intrigued minds must know!
7585034
I've always disliked the observer paradox because the way it's usually worded makes little sense to me. I know it's hardly scientific, but it's always made more sense to me that the vast difference in perspective is what's causing problems, not that looking in and of itself is messing up the system.
Now a peach, on the other hand...
7591124
7583022
Riding horses, or riding humans?
7591124
Apparently, they could ask the horses themselves.
(This just showed up on my facebook feed)
Darn, when I finished reading this chapter I refreshed the page and the likes counter had jumped from 999 to 1001. Congratulations on the 1000 likes though!
7591291
Well the good news for Silver (unless she wants to pursue a relationship) is that Henry's gelded. So he's got a vague sense that he should be interested but he's not really sure why.
And don't forget in Equestria they've got a lot more experience with multiple sapient species, and she's learned from some of Aquamarine's experiences.
7591346
I know all about ponies and peaches.
Why can't it be both?
7592240
I'm not surprised. Seems to me that any social species is going to be able to communicate pretty clearly between other members of its own species, or other species that it considers an honorary member. What's interesting is that I also watched a Rick Gore video about that study and I think he tragically missed the point.
7682089
Thanks!
7698216
That brings to mind a video from that guy you like to learn about horses from. I think the question was about what to do about dropping, but his final message was something like, "Yes, so-and-so, geldings have pee-pees and they know how to use them!" Better watch out, Silver, Henry's getting the roses and chocolates ready!
The real test will be whether additions to the herd (transplants or births) will pick up the communication without direct input from the handlers.
7698275
Well, that's true. He might not be really sure what to do but he's willing to try if she doesn't reject him.
Actually, stallions dropping when they're relaxed is something I've never seen in a fic.
I suspect that if you trained every horse in a herd that they would in turn teach their foals what the sign meant. That's an experiment I'd like to see done.
I wonder--there have been great apes that have been taught kind-of sign language; would they teach their children? And then would their children start to adapt the sign language for their own benefit? I bet there's a good chance of it.
7592240
dat pun
7698299
Does it count as a pun when it's in a vaguely scholarly article?
7591105 Very long. Its a 12 part series and the first seven installments are 200 chapters each and the eighth is at 280 and counting. As of today it adds up to 3,183,533 words.
7698290
Actually, no. I've seen some episodes about this on PBS. (Nova, I think). This is one of the big differences between "How do apes think?" vs "How do people think?" Apes have some pretty amazing learned behavior. However, they pick it up by watching each other. They don't seem to deliberately teach other things. They also almost never talk to each other (even if they both know sign language).
8776153
Hmm, that's how horses learn, too. I wonder if they really don't deliberately teach things, or if it's a case of us humans not looking for the right cues?
I'm a little surprised that they don't talk to each other in sign language if they both know it, although maybe there's a reason for it. Like, the ape is thinking 'well, this is useful to talk to people, but if I want to tell Bob over there not to eat my bananas, he'll only really understand that I'm serious if I beat my chest and bare my teeth at him.'
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=lyrics+a+little+good+news&&view=detail&mid=27367A75FE3E70741F9427367A75FE3E70741F94&&FORM=VRDGAR
9321563
That’s a good song.
If Silver's allowed to sleep on her food, does this mean I can have a sushi bed? Or at least a pepperoni pizza mattress? Cake futon? Steak sofa?