• 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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October 1 [Red Bull Air Race: Qualifying]

October 1

Cayenne and Gusty and Nicky arrived a few hours after we'd gone to bed, and so me and Aquamarine both got up to greet them and show Gusty and Nicky where their bed was. Cayenne was kind of mad that she didn't get a real bed but said that it was better than sleeping in a van, which she'd done on the way here.

She was happy that we had lots of beer, though and asked if we were going to bring any to watch the airshow. I didn't think that we were allowed to, but I was hoping that we'd have a chance to meet up with all the weatherponies afterwards and that was what it was for.

So the three of us got up on the couch and I said that everyone was meeting for breakfast at nine and if she wasn't awake by 8:30 we were going to drag her into a cold shower again, and then we snuggled up and fell back asleep.

Morning came a little bit too soon, and I was already thinking that I was going to be tired on Monday, 'cause I thought that we probably wouldn't get to sleep until late tonight, either. And we were the first ones awake, but I knew that with only one shower in the room there was going to be some competition to use it, so me and Aquamarine took our turn first before anyone else woke up.

And I wasn't going to tell her about Cedric, 'cause I wanted that to be a surprise, but then I wound up telling her about watching him at the football game and she was looking kind of sad that she hadn't gotten to see him play yet, and so I did tell her. And I saw her cock her ear out towards the lounge room just in case her portable telephone was ringing right now.

I thought he would probably not arrive until the afternoon since he'd had a game last night.

We got groomed in the lounge so that Jenny could use the shower, and by the time she was done Sean and Christine were waiting to have a turn, and I went in to wake up Peggy, and it was a pretty chaotic morning. The room had a coffee maker in it but only enough coffee to make two cups, so we had to decide who wanted it the most and who was willing to wait for it. And Sean had to get dressed pretty quickly and then got kicked out of his room so that Peggy could get dressed after she got out of the shower.

Gusty and Nicky came out of the bedroom together and they were both wearing identical sleeping clothes, which was really cute. When they got in the shower we decided that it was time to wake up Cayenne, so me and Aquamarine started shaking her until she opened her eyes and stuck her head up and then looked over at the coffee maker hopefully, but there wasn't any coffee left, so she was gonna have to wait until she went downstairs to breakfast.

It was almost nine when Cayenne finally got in to the shower and we didn't want to abandon her in our room but we didn't want to be late for breakfast either. It wasn't her fault that she'd been the very last one to shower and we ought to have woken her up when we got up and made her shower then.

We were twenty minutes late by the time she was done, and then we all crowded into an elevator and rode it down to the restaurant. I made sure to get in first so that I could be up against the windows and look out, and we stopped on a floor partway down but when the people waiting saw how crowded the elevator was they didn't want to get on.

There was a restaurant where everyone was getting together, and the tables weren't big enough for everyone so ponies and people were just taking tables that were close together. And almost all the weatherponies were already there, and when Lofty saw me she put down her food and trotted over to nuzzle me. And pretty soon it got kind of confusing to keep track of everything that was going on, 'cause Lofty and Paradise were telling me about the tornado they'd stopped, and Meghan and her friends had all come by and were talking to a couple of pegasuses. Prism Glider got yelled at for getting excited and flying inside, but only after he'd bumped his head on a chandelier. And everpony's helpers were there except for Cayenne's, and there really wasn't any order to it at all. But that was okay, because everyone was enjoying themselves, and there was a little buffet that had hot food and pastries and bread and cereal so everybody could get what they wanted. Sean got lots of bacon and Christine had to find a different cereal, because they didn't have any Fruit Loops.

Some of the other hotel guests who were eating breakfast came over, too, and the first man was disappointed when he found out that none of us were Wonderbolts, 'cause he said that he'd heard that they were going to be in the airshow, and I hoped that was true. Flanking Line wanted to give him an autograph anyway, 'cause she said that they were heroes for stopping a tornado but he wasn't impressed.

The next people that came over were, though. I guess Paradise had been on television and they recognized her and they asked if it was true that they were the first ponies to have earned flight licenses, and I said that I was the first and I could go up to my room and show them. And I thought about telling them that I'd gotten to fly a Dreamliner simulator but that felt like bragging.

I overheard someone talking to Gusty, too, who had seen her on Orange is the New Black, and there were a couple of people down at the other end of the table talking to Stormbreaker and Velvet Light.

So they talked to us for a while and we probably could have stayed in the restaurant for a couple more hours just getting caught up but we had to go get anything that we wanted for the day and then we were going to ride the tornado team's bus to the airfield.

The bus was like a short school bus, not flat in front like the buses I'd been riding on before, but instead of being yellow it was black, and inside it was really nice. We let all the helpers sit up in the front and everybody else got in the back and some ponies had to share seats or sit on laps but nobody minded.

I found out that we weren’t actually going to an airport but to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which was a race track for cars but also a good place for airplanes to race. And we got special parking, too, that was pretty close, and we had a big room at the top of a building instead of having seats in the grandstands with everyone else, and it had a really good view of the course. So we got to go by all the people who were waiting in line, and Mister Salvatore and Mister Barrow stayed down at the bottom so that they could check in our friends as they arrived. He hadn't been able to arrange for more hotel rooms, but he could put as many people as would fit here, so everyone's friends were welcome.

There were lots of signs and pictures for Red Bull, and I hoped that it wasn't the same red bull as in The Last Unicorn, because then Cayenne and Gusty would be in danger. But we'd protect them from it if it was, and I didn't think our helpers would take us someplace that was dangerous anyway.

We hadn't been there all that long when they announced that there was going to be a bit of a delay in qualifying because of the rain, and there was some grumbling at that but most of us were having so much fun talking that we weren't too disappointed. Flanking Line said that we'd ought to go up there and clear away the rainclouds so that the airplanes could race, and she told Lofty who went and asked Mister Dove if they could, and he said that they didn't have permission and there was no chance he could get it before the race was over.

We thought that was kind of dumb, since we could have just gone up there and it probably wouldn't have taken much more than an hour or two to clear the skies over the whole race track, and then have a small group of ponies stay up there to break up the clouds as they came in.

More people started showing up—Meghan and her roommates were first, and they all came over and greeted me and Meghan crouched down so we could nuzzle each other, and then I introduced them to the other college ponies and all the weather ponies, and pretty soon I had to do it again when Aric and David and Angela arrived. And there were other people, too; a couple of Cayenne's friends had come, and so had a bunch of people that Gusty knew, and I tried to remember everybody's names but there were just so many that I couldn't keep track of them all.

The race course was set out with giant cones, and it wasn't that different from a pegasus race course, although we used clouds, of course. Lofty said that after the qualifying was done that they were going to do a demonstration race around the course as a team and I could join if I wanted to. I'd have to be in the back, since they'd practiced the course yesterday but I hadn't, and that was okay.

We found a stack of books that told us about the race and all the different pilots and there was a little picture of each of them in the back, along with a picture of a weather team fighting a storm in Equestria, and it didn't look like any of them were actually in that picture. I guess they hadn't had a chance to take a picture of them in Oklahoma or Texas.

Every now and then another person would show up, and I saw Aquamarine look hopefully at the door each time, but there was no sign of Cedric or Leon by the time the qualifying started, and we all turned our attention to the windows or went out on the balcony so that we could watch.

I don't think the other ponies really appreciated it quite as much as I did, because I'd actually flown almost-real airplanes and I'd been in a couple, too, and they were quick but they didn't turn very well. But these did; they flew a lot like a pegasus might. They banked all the way over on their sides to clear the cones, or to make really sharp turns, and then they'd snap back level and go on to the next one.

They were different colors so you could easily tell them apart, and some had names on the wings like Breitling or Red Bull (there was a human flying it, not a bull). And they took turns racing around the course, 'cause there wasn't a lot of room for all the airplanes so only the best ones were gonna get to be in the good race, Lofty said.

I didn't see Cedric come in, but all of a sudden, Aquamarine dropped her hooves off the railing and ran through the room and I kind of lost her with all the people, but it didn't matter, 'cause Cedric was easy to see, since he was the biggest person in the room.

Leon went over to the snack table and started making himself a plate and it was a little strange because Mister Dove had a bit of a frown on his face when he went over to talk to him, but then Leon straightened up and I thought I could see a little bit of a change in him. I couldn't really describe what it was, but Mister Dove's frown went away and I could see him relax, and then pretty soon the two of them were talking, and it was like they were best friends all of a sudden.

Most of the afternoon, the different airplanes were qualifying, and we sort of took turns watching them or talking and getting snacks. Lofty had to keep reminding her team to not eat so much that they couldn't fly, and she insisted that nopony could have more than one or two beers or else they weren't going to be able to race because she said that we were supposed to be setting a good example. And then an official from the race track came in and told us that there was one more qualifying run and then it was time for us to fly, and Lofty told him that I'd be flying with them, if they wanted to announce my name, too.

She led us to a little waiting paddock that had a little tunnel that led out to the main course, and when the airplane got done running the course it landed and the announcer told everyone about us, and he said my name at the very end and that was pretty exciting.

Lofty had lined us all up in order, and the track official leaned over and she nodded, then turned back to make sure everypony was ready, then we took off, one after another.

I was glad I was in the back, 'cause I could see that everypony was flying about one ponylength apart and it was pretty simple, basic flight camp stuff. But I don't think that anybody in the crowd had ever seen anything like it before, and I heard a lot of applause as we peaked and dove, then went around the course like a long snake. We mimicked some of the stuff the airplanes did, like turning on our sides when we went through the cones, and when we'd gotten to the end of the course Lofty went up and then looped back down so that we could do it again backwards, and she'd kind of forgotten that I was at the very end of the line and I could see where she had to drop a little bit further than she'd planned but I don't think anybody watching would have noticed.

The second time around, instead of being in a line, we did a behind-and-up formation, where everypony was in pairs and the wingmare flew behind and above her partner, and since there was an odd number of ponies I just flew the same path as Electric Blue was. And when we got back to the beginning of the course, everypony fell back into a straight line and we did one pass above the runway, about mid-level on the grandstands, then we looped around at the very end and spread out along the course and just stopped facing everyone and then did a mostly coordinated landing on the track in front of the grandstands.

There were lots of cheers and claps as we bowed on the ground, then Lofty called for everypony to take off straight up, and when we were all in the air again, she turned and led us back out of the race course.

That was a lot of fun because I hadn't done any formation flying in a long time, but it was kind of intimidating to see all those people in front of us.

When we went back up to our lounge, we all got champagne which was bubblier than I liked and tickled my nose but tasted pretty good. There wasn't much more to watch outside, 'cause all the pilots had already raced, so we mostly stayed inside and talked, and Stormbreaker and Merry May went out to the balcony and flew off of it and raced in circles around our building.

Meghan and Lisa and Becky were really popular with the weatherponies, 'cause they could speak Equestrian and there were a few ponies on the team who weren't very good at English at all, so they were a lot happier talking to the girls. And I told Meghan that if she wanted to try and get a stallion, I wouldn't be mad at her, 'cause I saw how she was looking at Stormbreaker, and her face got really red and she said that it wasn't like that but I thought that maybe if I had a chance I'd tell Stormbreaker she was interested. The toys were nice but they weren't the same as a real stallion.

We had a chance to go see the Red Bull airplane, and that was really fun. We weren't allowed to touch it, or get in it, because it had to race tomorrow and they were a little bit worried that we might accidentally break it. But they did let us fly over it, and Paradise thought it was fun to fly over its wings and be dominant when it was stuck on the ground. I thought it was kind of silly to get in a territorial fight over an airplane, since it wasn't anything more than a machine, and I told her I'd seen an airplane when it was just a big roll of tape, but it made her happy anyways.

And I got to meet the pilot, too. He'd talked to most of the other ponies yesterday, but it was his first time meeting me and he shook my hoof and said that it was an honor to meet the first pegasus with a pilot's license.

We talked about flying a little bit and I'd thought from watching him that he had instincts almost as good as a pegasus. He'd been around airplanes for almost forty years, and done lots of flying although I still had more hours in the air than he did.

Medley invited everybody back to their suite to have a party, and she had to give directions to people who were staying in different hotels, 'cause they couldn't ride in the bus with us. And while we were riding back Mister Dove reminded everypony that we had to respect the other guests at the hotel, so we couldn't be too loud and then Paradise asked if they could sleep in the bus if they got kicked out of the hotel, and he said that we were not allowed to and nobody was supposed to nest on the roof of the hotel, either.

Flanking Line said that was a dumb rule and humans just had that rule because they were jealous that they couldn't fly.

So it turned out that they had a suite like ours, just a few floors down, which was really convenient for everybody. And the whole evening kind of turned into a blur; there were lots of people and ponies going back and forth between our rooms and then we found out that our helpers had room on the same floor, too, and I don't think that they really wanted to join the party but they kind of got dragged into it anyways.

And after a while they kind of got in the spirit of it, and Mister Salvatore had some playing cards so he played some poker with a couple of the weatherponies until Miss Cherilyn saw and made him stop. Cedric left early and took Aquamarine with him, and Leon went down to the swimming pool with a couple of ponies who wanted to swim. Cayenne drank too much and then went away with a couple of her friends, and I wasn't sure that we'd even see her tomorrow, especially if we weren't there to wake her up.

There were a couple of times that somebody from the hotel stopped by to remind us to be quiet, and we were for a while but there were a lot of people and a lot of ponies and we were all having fun.

Some of us went downstairs for a race in the parking lot, and we dragged Peggy along as a judge. I didn't win, 'cause Merry May was faster than she looked. And then we decided that we'd fly back up along the side of the hotel and knock on the window of their room until somepony noticed us, so we did that and it was a little while before anypony did, 'cause nopony was looking out the windows and it was dark outside.

They had a hot tub in their room which wasn't fair, 'cause we didn't, and as the night went on that started to be more and more popular, but it wasn't big enough for everypony and we had to take turns in it.

Most of the humans didn't want to use it because they didn't have swimming clothes with them, but after Angela went in in her underwear, Aric decided that he would, too, and I went in with him and after a while Meghan joined us and that was really nice. I wouldn't have minded staying in there for a couple of hours but other ponies wanted a turn and I was a little light-headed 'cause I'd had a little more to drink than I should have.

I don't know what time it was but it was pretty late, and the party was kind of breaking up, and ponies and people had just kind of found anyplace that they could to sleep. Aric had had to go back to his hotel with Angela and David, but Meghan had gotten left behind by her friends, so she was still around somewhere but I didn't know where for sure. I thought about going back to my room, but I was pretty sure that neither Aquamarine or Cayenne would be there, and if everybody else was sleeping in the same beds as before, that meant that I would be alone on the couch and I didn't really want to be, so I poked my nose into one of the bedrooms and got into bed with Lofty and Paradise and Rocky Storm, and it didn't take too long for me to fall asleep.

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