January 29 [The Cloud]
January 29
As soon as I got up, I looked out the window, and I could see small puffy white clouds through the branches of the trees, just like I thought I would.
I got dressed in my flight outfit really quick, and asked for permission to go flying. The person on the radio this morning was more chipper than the one I'd talked to before, and asked me if I was going up for dawn patrol, which is what they call an early-morning flight. I said I was, and she told me to be careful.
I zipped up to altitude, climbing in a nice diagonal path which put me right at the cloud I wanted. It was a smallish cumulus cloud, which meant I could easily fly around it and contain it. The winds at altitude were nearly nonexistent; that also made it easier. It’s hard to wrangle a cloud when it’s whisking across the sky, and then when you do get it it acts like a sail and you have to fight against the wind to get it back where you want.
I started by touching its edge. When you're up-close to a feral cloud, it's really hard to tell where the clear sky ends and the cloud begins; what looks like a sharp boundary from the ground really isn't.
That gave me a good feel for it. I got an idea of how much moisture was in it, and how it was going to react to me.
I circled around the whole thing, then started to push my way in. As it was, the cloud was too big and too unwieldy to pull down to ground. I needed to condense it, but I needed to do it carefully; if I pushed in too quick, I'd just cause all the moisture to fall out of the sky, and I'd be left with nothing.
It was a delicate operation, and I worked slowly and cautiously, squeezing and holding until I'd finally pushed it down to a manageable size. Basically, I was doing the reverse of what a weatherpony does—and this is why we usually just break up feral clouds. It's a lot of effort to corral them!
To check and make sure it was going to hold together, I flew to its top and very gingerly set myself down on it. Too much, and I'd upset the balance and make it drop all its moisture.
It held me just fine, so I lifted off and found a flat spot on its tail and began pushing.
The cloud really didn't want to cooperate, and it was quite a struggle to get it all the way to the ground. By the time I'd finally managed, there were a bunch of students standing on the quad and looking up at me and my cloud. I thought some of them were going to laugh as I struggled to get it around tree branches (any weatherpony who had that much trouble with a factory cloud would be the laughingstock of her team), but they didn't.
When I got my hooves back on the ground and turned off my blinking light, a bunch of them came up to me and asked what I was going to do with the cloud. I told them I’d brought it for class. Then they wanted to know if they could touch it, and I said that they could; that was the whole point of bringing it down in the first place. You had to be careful with clouds, though, 'cause a lot of times they had a charge from the atmosphere and they'd zap you, but this one was safe. I hadn't felt any sparks off my hooves when I'd landed.
So everybody did, and a bunch of them took pictures with their telephones, and I would have been late to class except that I heard the campus clock chiming.
Of course, there was no way that the cloud was going to fit into the classroom. I should have thought of that before I caught it. Luckily, Crystal Dawn was among the students who were playing with the cloud, and she said that she would go get the professor and make him come out here. I didn't want to interrupt the lesson, but I was sure he wouldn't mind delaying it a little bit so that he could see the cloud.
I stayed by the cloud—it was taking a lot of effort to keep it from falling apart in front of me, especially with all the students touching it—and kept an eye on the door.
When he came out, the look of shock on his face was unbelievable. He just stopped right there in the doorway and then he dropped the notebook he was holding. His face went really pale, and then he locked his eyes on me (I was still wearing my flight vest, so I wasn't very hard to see). For a second, I thought he was going to faint.
Luckily, he didn’t. Instead, he scrambled over to the cloud and reached out his hand and touched it.
Once he was done fondling the cloud, he turned to me and started asking me all sorts of questions, mostly about how I did it, and so I started explaining to him about how our inherent magic works, When I’d gotten done explaining that, he started asking some really specific questions.
So I told him how I could work around the fact that the cloud was now supersaturated, and of course much heavier than air, and I explained how it was a lot more difficult here on Earth because there wasn't any rising magical potential from grounded ponies, so I was actually putting a whole lot of effort into the cloud, more than I ever would have back in Equestria.
Then he had Crystal Dawn bring down the rest of the class (which wasn't many; most of them were already outside looking at the cloud) and he had me repeat what I'd said to the class before. Since there were so many of them, I flew up to the top of the cloud and sat there—it wasn't all that good a perch, since I was using a lot of energy to keep the cloud aloft, but at the same time it was a little easier to feel what the cloud was trying to do when I had my hooves on it, and I could keep it under control with just a little effort, rather than waiting until it started changing on me and using a lot of magic to push it back.
I was getting really tired, and so after I'd gotten done talking, I told him that I needed to get the cloud back up into the air so I could dissipate it. He wanted to know what would happen if I just let it go on the ground, and I told him that I was worried about the amount of water it would drop as it broke up.
He said to do it anyway, so I told everybody who didn't want to get wet to move back, and that I was going to very slowly let it free. And I warned everybody to not touch the cloud, because if they did, their hand would get covered in ice almost instantly.
Just as I'd expected, as soon as I started to let it free, the overabundance of water in the cloud started leaking out, quickly forming an icy spot on the snow.
Everybody watched the cloud dissipate in front of their eyes as the water fell out of it. Pretty soon there was nothing more than a cloud of vapor like an exhale on a cold day, and then that was gone too.
The whole project wound up taking up most of the class period, and I hadn't really meant it to. I probably should have tried with a smaller cloud, or maybe waited for some fog (I could have manipulated fog right on the ground where the other students could see what I was doing). The professor didn't seem upset by that, though; he really had a look of wonderment the whole time.
We all went up to class afterwards, and he said that there wasn't any point in rushing through the lecture he'd prepared, but instead that if I was willing, I could answer some more questions.
Well of course I was willing, so I sat in my spot between Crystal Dawn and Luke and told them about how our weather patrol teams worked until the very end of class, and I also told them why the things the professor was teaching were important, because if we didn't work with nature, we'd have to put a lot more effort into the weather because the whole system is so big and we're just a little part of it.
I was completely exhausted by the end of class, and my voice was a little hoarse from talking so much, especially right after all that exercise up in the sky and then not having breakfast at all. The rest of the day pretty much went by in a daze. But I managed to stay awake through all my classes, and I got to talk to Meghan and Lisa and Becky some more in Equestrian class.
I also took the time—even though I was pretty tired—to go over to Stetson Chapel and talk to a woman who knew about God. Her name is Liz, and she's very nice. She said that what I was asking would take a really long time to explain, unless I wanted the most simple version.
The simple version was appealing, but if they built a whole building just for God, He's probably really important. I thought about how my climate science professor hadn't really understood about how we managed the weather until he'd had time to talk with me about it for a while, and thought that it would be best if I got the full version.
So she said that she would love to take me out to lunch tomorrow and we could talk about it then, and she would even give me a Bible as well, which is God's biography.
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just like you.
Biography
Well it's not wrong. Heh
She should start in Lamentations
Silver is so innocent, it's a little painful. We're at the d'aww event horizon. We'll be sucked into the singularity if this keeps up.
First off, BEST PAYOFF!
Now, one quick little nitpick:
wound
This can only end well.
I've just read the chapter's title and I already knew it was going to be awesome!
At last, the day have come! The Cloud!
This curiosity she's developed about religion is getting me worried. Addressing it is a very risky move for an author to make and it usually has very little payoff. There are things in the Bible that could make her feelings go either way. There's war, sexual perversion, blood sacrifice, and brutal punishments, but there's also messages of love, generosity, and forgiveness. I think she'd find most of it confusing, especially considering how she lacks a lifetime of human cultural context that the rest of us have.
I'm hoping she simply gives up out of confusion. Otherwise, it's likely to polarize and insult many of this story's readers, resulting in flame wars.
If this Liz person is any decent theologian, she'll know that explaining the complexity that is the human god-ideal is going to take a long time and a whole mess of books.
And that just deals with the Abrahamic vision.
7063623 I hear ya there. If I have to deal with a customer being jerky for not having a certain product in stock it usually takes three days before I've settled back down.
Hope things get better for you soon.
I love this story.
Every day I can look forward to hearing from someone who's even more out of place than I am, and is doing really well.
7063651
I vote for a vertical double stripe. Y'know, one big main one with a thinner one right next to it.
Well after the last few chapters I saw this title here and the first thing I thought of was Percy Bysshe Shelley's The Cloud.
Another great little chapter.
7063792 >implying you aren't an actual pony
We all know humans aren't real dog
I wonder if she'll see parallels between NMM and Luna. Because god was a dick for a while, then started telling people to love and tolerate.
Or will she give up partway through and just ask people questions? Or yeah, this can't POSSIBLY go wrong.
7063651 An argument could be made to the effect that the changlings were unaware of Luna and so did not actively search for her.
Great chapter. How is she going to recharge I wonder?
7063760
I think mascarade would be funier silver would probably probably have some problems with the cultural references making it up. Plus the rock, paper, scissors mechanic would be difficult for a pony. SCA style might work better as it might fit equestrian culture more. Not sure what weapons she'd easily use, someone will almost certainly suggest she should be used as a steed. Though that's probably going to be harmful.
7063760
Fair enough
I think the whole point of the poem was that last line. There was a build up of some sort leading to it.
But I am really no expert in poetry.
It's interesting how to characterize Silver as largely naive about the world, but then lines like this remind us that she's only really naive about earth.
The title of the sequel story has just been leaked:
Silver Glow joins the Westboro Baptist Church
7063651 I decided upon reflection that you are right, and changed it.
YES!
7063860 That is amazing
silly methodists and their sinful drinking/dancing/smiling ways
don't they know you're supposed to hide in your closets being ashamed all the time
Oh boy... hopefully Glow's faith in humanity isn't shattered by Exodus.
7063885
Sure, it is not as if you said something that bad anyway. You just kinda overeacted. It can happen.
Take care buddy!
Oht of politics and into religion
I read pony words to escape this... why does a story this good have to touch on two really volitile subjects?
... *continues to cuddle Silver Glow* Brace yourself filly, if you thought American politics was bad, you ain't seen NUTHIN' yet
7063897 Thank you.
7063927 Fair enough. I've been thinking for a while now anyway that we need more stories where the ponies themselves don't have a completely accurate understanding of what magic is, just like we've only recently come to reject Newtonian physics, it would make sense for them to have similar problems on a smaller scale as well.
Silverglow after reading Exodus:
img04.deviantart.net/9399/i/2012/030/3/1/scared_rainbow_dash_vector_by_saturtron-d4o54s4.png
7063917
Eh, it's a nice change of pace. Plus this story has a pretty good lore.
7063979 Just imagine her after reading Revelations.
7063622
There it is.
I know a lot of folks are going to fixate on the religious aspect coming up, so I'm going to just wait to see what happens and instead focus on the cloud-wrangling.
It was very cool to see how she worked with the cloud, getting it to behave, and finally taking it down to ground level. The image of all the students taking selfies might well be the most realistic part of this chapter, though.
It was also nice to see the professor appreciate Silver's efforts. I suppose I wasn't sure what would happen, and I thought perhaps the professor might even be upset or refuse to believe what Silver had brought, or else the cloud would send off a bolt of lightning or flood the classroom. Luckily, it seems that everything worked out for the best!
with the Bible stuff, remember, its been edited and changes so many times, with miss-translations and errors and stuff being removed, most of it is probably not close to how it originally was..
Right now I bet there is somebody at a Doppler or LiDAR screen shouting, "What the hell just happened!?"
7063927
Nice! I've found that the best teachers are the ones with real-world experience in more than one field, and that's doubly true of religion.
I didn't expect that others would be able to touch the cloud. Neat!
That professor is going to take a sabbatical in Equestria very soon, I'll bet.
7055101
7063664
Honestly, not being a part of the LGBT "community" (and I use that term loosely because having Gender Dysphoria and liking the same genitals that you have isn't a membership card), I have a tough time trying to understand their viewpoints because much of them these days sound crazy. I'm not sure if they even want that, to have their own Neutral bathrooms, or just want to bully others.
I thought you were talking about segregation within homes as well. I was really confused at what you were talking about there. As for the public places, the only reason I can guess why they have the unisex bathrooms in businesses is because floor space is precious and needs to be conserved for selling merchandise, especially if it's a small store. That makes sense. I'm unsure about government buildings, but I think it would be the same mentality as well. For everything else why there's a Male and Female bathroom is what I said before. A lot of people feel very uncomfortable being around the opposite sex of strangers when they're taking care of business.
~~~~~~~
Lets go at this from another perspective. I want anybody here to honestly tell someone that all the women and men's bathrooms are now gone. All that's left are these bathrooms where anybody and everybody can come in as they please with no privacy or respect for the opposite sex.
Why? Because there's this incredibly small minority that wants society to change by having all those bathrooms taken away because that small minority feels discriminated against by the other 99% of society for not going in any bathroom they choose.
And try to explain it to these protestors in this video.
["Oh, they're not uncomfortable. They're just bigots." Go f
k yourself too, kid.]
Or this one.
http://www.king5.com/news/man-womens-locker-room-cites-gender-rule/65533111
[There's a lot of articles and videos showing other similar incidents.]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And I think I know the root problem of it all. There's a large number of people, LGBT or social justice activists, believes "gender" ("how one thinks what sex they are" according to them) is a social construct. There is a bit of truth to it, that society plays in how a person believes or grows up, but that's not the whole truth. We are a sexually dimorphic species, meaning that men and women are born with inherent traits and instincts based upon their sex that are needed for the survival of the species. That bit has also influenced how society has evolved, especially in the roles that men and women choose to do in their lives. It's a chicken and egg problem, but I don't see it as a big deal. However, a transgender person is someone with a mental disorder called Gender Dysphoria or Gender Identity Disorder, whereby they believe they have the wrong sex or were born with the wrong sex. In essence, it's a delusion and these people need help with coming to terms with their own genitalia..
I tried finding some sources, but stuff on this is starting to become harder to find without an obvious agenda being pushed by these LGBT and pro-social justice activists. For example, I looked at Wikipedia for Gender Dysphoria and the first sentence contains blatant propaganda with the whole "assigning at birth" part. The "assign at birth" thing, when one of those people argue about it, sounds like doctors are intentionally conspiring to force babies into gender roles by assigning "male" and "female" to them based upon their genitals. It's madness.
7064001 Or Sodom And Gomorrah.
Seeing the professor's reaction to the cloud was wonderful. It's nice to see someone indulge their sense of wonder.
Huzzah! There was a cloud, and it was marvelous.
7063867
i.imgur.com/IW9KauD.gif
7064268
Well, some climatologist is certain to. Maybe the Professor will send some of his post-doctoral students instead of going himself.
7063845
We drew cards out of a special deck when LARPing at my college, but that is probably equally difficult for a pegasus. If Silver Glow is amenable she could just have other people pick cards or throw ro sham bo for her.
The title of this chapter reminds me of The Clouds by Aeschylus.
Debatable. I hope Silver Glow doesn't come away thinking that human religion is monolithic.
7064400
People use to associate skepticism with close minded, sneering morons. In truth, when you bring evidence to an actual skeptic, he will say " Holy shit,you were right! Tell me more... or better, let's gather more data! "
7064371 Well, the first thing I'd like to say is while I am not part of the "LGBT community", I hang out with a few people who are. And one thing I Iearned from them is that there is no community. One of the main problems of the LGBT rights movement is that it lacks unity. There is just about as many view on what should be their rights as there are people in the movement. And apparently there is sometime even discrimination inside the community.
So attempting to analyse the will of the LGBT community can be a bit of a tedious exercise.
True and yet, not so much. One of the things I learned in psychology classes is that there is very few differences between girls and boys and that most of these differences tend to disappear with time and with education. There is a physical dimorphism (being in coaching I know it very well), but the behavioral dimorphism is mainly acquired from outsides influences.
The "assigning at birth" part is true if you take the time to think about it. No it is not evil, no it is not a conspiracy. It just a cultural thing. Take the time to observe peoples around young children. They will almost always act differently if it's a boy or if it is a girl, have different expectations and so on.
The second part with the doctors is only concerning the case of those born with both set of genitalia. Often, the doctors are choosing which set is the more complete and cut out the other one directly after birth. I don't want to enter the debate about whether or not it is good, but it is a reality.
Excellent stuff with the cloud, especially the professor's delighted astonishment.
As for reading the Bible, it will be very interesting to see what Silver makes of it, especially if her friends find out what she's doing.
7063669
as if the comment section hasn't gone full flame war before
7063979
7064001
7064376
Silver Glow is going to exercise caution.
Starting with Genesis, she will realize she is reading mythology, and limit her personal translations until she can get someone else to bounce her comprehension against.
7065118 Still, there's no need to cause another one if it can be avoided.
7063622
7063636
Where would the best place be for a pony to start? Right from the beginning? Should she read the New Testament first? And what version? KJV's got unicorns in it, but the language would otherwise be very difficult for her.
7063637
There will be no survivors.
7063643
Thanks!
Oops! Fixed, thank you!