February 17
I dunno why, but when I woke up I had the feeling that today was going to be a good day. I might have had a good dream (but if I did, I didn't remember what it was). Some days are days that just feel right, and today was one of those days.
I started with a quick trot around the neighborhood. I did stop by Aric's house and fly around in back and look through the window but he was asleep and he looked pretty cute when he was sleeping and I knocked lightly on the window but he didn't wake up 'cause he'd gotten up so early to get David out of jail then I trotted back towards campus.
I was already wearing my vest; I don't know why I hadn't thought of doing that sooner. It was a little uncomfortable to trot around with it on, but I figured I could get used to it. Humans wore clothes when they were exercising, so I ought to be able to as well.
Before I was even back to campus, I lifted off. I was just that enthusiastic to fly. It defeated the purpose of trotting, and I had to keep reminding myself to keep my hooves on the ground, so my trip back was really more of a set of long jumps.
Very long jumps.
I could have taken off from anywhere, I know. It just felt right leaving from the snowy quad. I asked the airplane controller for permission to fly, and he said I could. It was the deep-voiced man. I asked him if he wanted a weather report (sometimes I hear them ask the airplanes that are flying what the weather is doing in a particular place) and he said yes, so I told him that I would let him know once I got to altitude, and then I took off into the sky.
I love flying at dawn. I can see the world waking up under me, and it's so pretty. The buildings have yellow and orange and blue-white lights around them, and the cars make their own lights on the street. When I look above, I can see airplane lights all over the sky. Then the sun starts to come up and it lightens the sky and I can't see the airplanes anymore unless they're leaving contrails behind them. Soon enough all the pretty lights of the night are washed out and vanish. The cars appear, and the buildings do too.
When I crested in the sky, I made a big, lazy circle, feeling the air ruffling my feathers. I let myself become a plaything of the air currents, going where the sky wanted me to go. Soon enough I would have to return to the ground and sit through classes, but for now I was free.
Up in the sky there are no borders.
I let the solitude wash over me. I kept my eyes heavenward.
All good things must come to an end: a pony can't fly off in one direction forever. When I felt that I was completely relaxed and one with the sky, I angled up just a little bit, bleeding off my slight forward momentum, and flew in place. I now knew the sky and what it promised. I dutifully told the airplane controller what the weather was and what it would be, then I dropped down and did a big loop and a couple of wing rolls, picking up some speed as I went. I zoomed through the sky like a hawk, and just as quickly I reached an apex and glided out like an albatross, then I headed back to campus and classes.
My morning just flew by. Philosophy felt easier now that I knew that it wasn't a certain thing. I ought to have met with the professor sooner. I still didn't get the historical context: the classes we'd had back in Equestria had only covered the most basic stuff.
Lunch was pizza, and that was really nice. Christine still didn't like pizza days, but I thought that they were fine. I did have the good sense to pick more carefully this time and not overeat. A full belly is nice; a distended belly is uncomfortable.
In Equestrian class, we talked about Canterlot. The teacher named off lots of different monuments, and that was kind of funny because there were ones that I had never even heard of. I would have expected that I'd know more about Canterlot than anyone in class, but I was wrong. So it was a really fun class for me, as well.
After class was over, Meghan asked me if I was doing anything tonight, and I told her that I didn't have any plans. She kind of had a nervous look to her (if she'd had a tail, she'd have been flicking it) and she said that ever since I'd borrowed their bathtub she'd been thinking about how her aunt and uncle who lived in Kalamazoo had a hot tub and she wondered if I'd be interested in using it sometime like maybe tonight because they weren't home and she had a key.
That sounded like it would be a lot of fun, so of course I said yes.
I was going to ask her if I could invite anybody else to join us, but then I remembered that Aric had to work in the theatre tonight because the play was starting tomorrow night.
She was really happy about that, and said that I could come to her room after dinner and she'd get us an Uber-car.
So I kinda ate a light dinner. Christine looked at my plate and joked that I'd eaten too much pizza for lunch again, and I assured her that wasn't the case, and told her what I was doing this evening.
Joe and Sean both stopped eating and looked at me and then back at each other, which was kind of odd. Christine hit Sean in the stomach with her elbow, then she asked me how well I knew Meghan. I said that I knew her pretty well; we'd gone on a road trip together and that had been a lot of fun.
Christine told me to make sure I let Peggy know where I was going, and then turned to Sean and told him that he needed to get his mind out of the gutter which I don't know why she thought it would have been in there in the first place.
Then she put a pea on her spoon and flicked it at Joe and told him that the same thing applied to him as well.
I wonder if humans find us as strange as I find them sometimes.
When I was done eating, I stopped back by my dorm room but Peggy wasn't there, so I left a note on her desk telling her what I was going to do and then went over to Meghan's room.
Just like she said, she called for an Uber and pretty soon a sleek silver car called Elantra arrived. The driver was kind of taken aback by me, and for a moment I thought he might leave, but he opened up the car and let us in.
It was a ways to her aunt's house. I tried to follow along with where we were going, but there were so many streets it was hard to keep track of them all. We went south on Westnedge for a while and then turned left Romence Road, and then I got completely lost.
We wound up in a nice little neighborhood and the Uber pilot let us out in a driveway.
Meghan walked up to the house with me following. Rather than go into the house like I thought she would, she opened a gate beside the garage (that's where some people store their cars) and we went through the backyard. The snow was a bit trodden down, but not too much. This wasn't a route that people walked too often.
I followed her up a set of steps and to a small deck. There was a big wooden box which it turned out was the hot tub.
It was interesting being on the backside of the house. From the front, there were lots of other houses pretty close, but when I was here, between the fence and the trees, I couldn't see any of them. It looked out to a small woods, and in the fading light I could see a stream meandering through the trees.
Even before Meghan took the cover off, I could feel the heat. She asked if I minded if it was outside, and I said I didn't.
She opened the door on a wooden locker, which had a bunch of towels neatly stacked up, and then she took off her jacket and pushed it into a cubby. Then she looped up her hair in a loose bun.
I might not be an expert in human body language just yet, but I could tell that she was tensing a little bit as she reached up for a button on her blouse. She fumbled with it and told me to make myself comfortable in the hot tub, so I waded right in.
There was a little bench that ran around the perimeter, and then the center was deep. A human could have stood up in it without any problems, but I would have to crane my neck to keep my nostrils above water if my hooves were on the floor.
Meghan unbuttoned her blouse and took off her shoes and socks and then looked at me as if she were waiting for something, then stepped out of her pants and blouse and put them in the little wooden locker and stepped into the hot tub. She walked over the bench and stood in the deeper water and asked if it would be okay if she took off her bra.
I told her that it would be fine by me, so she reached behind her and unfastened it and pulled her arms out of the shoulder straps all while holding it to her chest. She sank a little deeper in the water, sitting on the bench, and almost got it wet before she pulled it off (still keeping one arm over her breasts) and put it on the edge of the tub.
Then she scooched just a little bit lower in the water and stretched out her arms on the edge of the tub and got a smile on her face.
I did, too: social bathing is always nice, and it was something that I didn't think humans would like at all. So I was happy that we were doing it, and I relaxed and let the water warm me up, despite the chilly air above the hot tub.
We stayed on opposite sides of the tub for a while, then Meghan suggested if we moved towards the center we'd be able to get a better view of the woods and stream. I thought she just wanted to sit closer to me, and she should have just said that.
It did make the opposite side of the tub look a bit lonely, and I said that maybe next time more people would want to come, but she said that it was more intimate with just two.
She took her arm off the rim of the tub and wrapped it around my shoulder, and I leaned up against her side and we just sat there together watching the silent forest. She told me that in the springtime, there were deer over there and bats and birds and there was a lot to see. I told her that it was just as interesting as it hibernated.
We stayed there I don't know how long. I was really relaxed and warm and happy, and she'd completely gotten over her earlier tenseness as well. Then it was finally time to get out and Meghan asked me if I'd need help drying off.
I told her that would be kind. I could shake a bunch of the water off me but it's always easier to get all the way dry with help.
So she let me get out of the tub first and I shook off as much water as I could, then she had me go to the wooden locker and get her a robe—there were several of them folded up with the towels.
When I had it, she climbed out of the tub. I gave her the robe and she wrapped it around herself and then she tied it around herself and reached underneath to get her wet underwear off.
Then Meghan started rubbing me down, until I was nice and dry. She was really good at it, and paid close attention to everything, having me lift my legs one at a time so she could get them, and toweling under my belly and carefully drying my tail as well. She squatted down to make sure she did a good job.
Once she was finished with me, she got dressed herself. She put on her pants under her robe, but had to take it off to get her bra and shirt on. She called an Uber before she put on her socks and shoes, and then she laughed and said that she hoped it wouldn't be too long before it got here.
While we were waiting, she asked me if I'd had a good time and I said that I had, and she asked me if it was something I wanted to do again, and I said that I would like to.
We snuggled up in the back of the Uber-car as it drove us back to campus. When we got back to the dorm, I gave her a nuzzle and she leaned down and pushed back my forelock and kissed me on the forehead, then we went back to our rooms. Peggy still wasn't back, so I took my note off her desk and was going to toss it into the recycling bin, but then I thought that if Meghan and I were going to do this again, I probably ought to keep the note. So I tucked it in the back of my notebook and went to bed.
Silver Glow is so innocently clueless she was being hit on. I almost expected a makeout session. img05.deviantart.net/1392/i/2012/041/3/e/cutie_mark_crusaders_are_happy_by_theairforcebrony-d4p9e3o.png
Meg you are in the Equestrian class you should probably know better about equine social habits dammit
And Silver Glow, meanwhile, thinks they had a great entirely platonic night out.
Jeez. Silver's milkshake is bringing everybody to the pasture.
Man, everybody wants to fuck the pony.
7122053
7122077
I find it funny that people still think Silver is naive about this sort of thing.
Silver is by no means a virgin and there have been major hints that she, and maybe most of the ponies, are bi-sexual at the very least.
It was also rather obvious that she caught onto Meghan's various tells, especially the comment about a flicking tail, and then the comment about how if Meghan wanted to be closer she just had to ask and not have any sort of pretext.
Now, Silver didn't pick up on the context of "romantic hottub" but she sure as shooting caught that Meghan is making moves to be more than just friends. She's probably wishing the humans (Meghan and Aric and maybe a few others) didn't dance around the subject so much so they can get down to the real fun.
I know a lot of people "experiment" in college but Meghan is taking that sort of thing a bit further than most people. Maybe she already knows she's into other girls though.
Her shyness about being undressed around the effective nudist was funny.
Looking forward to the next chapter. Hopefully one of the two humans will stop dancing around the issue and make a move soon. I'm sure Silver would like that as well.
7122113 Considering she didn't comment on it, I doubt she picked it up. Yet anyway.
With how much frustrated she is about her and Aric's relationship, there is no way she wouldn't mention anything at all if she realise that Meghan is added one way or another into the mix.
Ah, once again we have to wonder if Silver is naive and innocent, or if she knows what's going on and is just nonchalant. I'm inclined to think the former, but it's just ambiguous enough to where it might be the latter. Guess we'll see how this develops.
Hmm... Maybe Meghan isn't actually trying anything naughty. Maybe she just heard about Equestrian social bathing and wanted to give it a shot?
Or... maybe not
SNUGGLES FOR THE SNUGGLE GOD
HUGS FOR THE HUG THRONE
7120718 On the upside, protagonists don't have boring lives.
(Sorry about your boss battle. I hope you got lots of XP for it!)
7122149 she's not naive. She just can't read the body language. She's not human.
I would find it the epitome of humor to have Silver confront both of them at the same time, asking why they're both taking forever to ask her to bed. I know she said she was wanting to wait for Aric to make the first move, but once she starts to pick up on Meghan's motives (she's already starting to, it seems), she's gonna see it's gonna be up to her to make the move(s).
Can't wait to see how this turns out.
I wonder if Silver Glow is still operating from the mindset that her body language is saying everything she needs to say. She raises her tail when being petted by Aric, and doesn't show any behavior like this with Meg. To her, it's obvious, but no one else can read her body language.
Silver Glow is becoming quite the active butterfly on the social sene. I hope Alec and Megan are aware of Equestrian social norms before they think she is cheating on them.
If Aric's going to have that conversation with her he'd better hurry up. While he's at it, it might be smart to check whether Equestrians consider monogamy the default.
Silver Glow's Journal, aka Humanity is a Tease
7122113
I don't think there's been any hints of her liking girls at all, but there hasn't been any that she doesn't either.
So far every female contact has been platonic from her Equestrian standard, snuggling up with a friend and nuzzling them is just something she does and she does enjoy social bathing as a non romantic thing.
In contrast, her descriptions on her attraction and advances on Aric are very overt and non ambiguous from her point of view unlike this encounter(I still don't understand how some people still think she's virginal or clueless since like chapter 5 or 7).
I dearly hope someone asks Silver if she realizes what signals people are putting out and she confirms that she is entirely aware of all of the sexual tension, if only so I can imagine the expression on the questioner's face.
Plot twist! Congratulations Admiral. I did not see this coming in the slightest. It felt so natural and in character though. That can be hard to pull off these days. We have been taught to expect plot twists everywhere so we're hard to surprise. You pulled it off (on me at least) masterfully though.
Aric was sort of obvious, but Meg catches me by surprise. I'm fairly sure we're all reading this right, and yet I still wonder. Silver is fully aware of how intimacy works... but she also is fully aware in the context of her home culture, where social bathing and casual gestures of affection seem normal.
I'm surprised that she doesn't seem to be picking up on the awkward sexual tension... or is she? The problem is that we don't have a baseline, and that we're limited to just her written word. We don't have her tone of voice or more information on her version of Equestrian dynamics. Is the idea of multiple partners just normal to her? Is she blind to Meghan's seeming advances because of cultural expectations (social bathing, frankness between same-gendered pones)? Are we just misreading this entirely and Meghan was just really shy about being naked or something?
Good luck, little birdhorse. Good luck.
I kind of wonder if ponies have any sort of homosexuality or bisexuality at all; I know a lot of authors write them that way, but they could go the other way too, with homosexuality being something that's unheard of.
7120572
Yes, the words "faith" and "belief" do have a bit of a double meaning to them. I'm just arguing against a Philosophical Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, where people seem to think that it's silly to believe something when you don't/can't have 100% evidence for it. I just want to point out how ridiculous this is.
7122401
She already had that chat with Peggy, but she seemed (mostly) cool with it.
Well, there's another potential source of unique employment for ponies. And a pretty awesome one at that.
I have to wonder, how much of an education does Silver and the other exchange pony students have? I think Admiral Biscuit tends to see ponies as only requiring elementary school, which I think makes sense. I would assume that a university would only accept those who have a certain level of knowledge, but what would they be looking for?
And would the professors in Equestria be impressed with the background knowledge of the human exchange students?
Just for about 3 million words so far.
I don't quite get how people still can think that Silver's naive or innocent. She's anything but. As she writes, she still isn't entirely sure about human body language but is really happy about it when somebody offers to allow close bodily contact. That's something she wants, already misses and further down the line will probably crave.
Again, social cues and body language: the few times I've spent time around Americans I often felt like an alien. I think that went both ways, and I'm just from Scandinavia, not from another planet. Yeah I know.
So, honest question: can somebody who leaves their underwear on in the hot tub (huh?) and goes out of her way to keep herself covered really be seen as 'coming onto her'? I wouldn't know what to do with that.
Humans
Also,
As I said to my plastic surgeon, I don't think it's supposed to be this long.
7122533 That's true from a worldbuilding standpoint. I don't see how it would improve a story, though.
7122592
SILVER GLOW'S WEATHER SERVICE
Everyone complains about the weather, but nobody does anything about it!
$50 for a clear sky
Ask about our cloudsculpture specials!
7122592
I don't think it's so much her general level of education (although that may be lower than western norms, but if that is so her reading, writing and arithmetic seem to be fine) more that she had a limited knowledge of human culture / history provided before she came to earth so she doesn't understand things like why philosophers in ancient Greece wouldn't have refered to a monotheistic god.
I don't think we've had Meghan's appearance described to us yet. Maybe her body image is really poor and she wanted a chance to get naked in front of someone who she knew for sure wouldn't make fun of her body. That would explain the hesitation and even the kiss on the head at the end.
Thinking about what I did in college (that I care to confess in public)
Being in a school play. In the USA, when you are going for a Bacheller's Degree (supposedly, 4 years) no matter what your major is, you need a whole bunch of other stuff to graduate. You need a certain number of classes in arts & humanities, so much social sciences etc. At 1st glance, Silver wouldn't fit in a human play, but get CREATIVE! For instance, she could play Puck in Shakespeare's Mid Summer Night Dream, or the spirit in The Tempest, etc
I also can't wait until she finds out marijuana is illegal. Or when she encounters Amway, Avon, Tupperware, or those waterless cookware folks with the lifetime guarantee. These days they probably don't sell you ten records for a dime & throw in a lifetime w your name on a customer list but I'm sure there is a new (& worse) replacement.
You also needed 3 credits in phys. ed. Health counted for 2, so everyone took that but she is still going to need some gym classes. Remember that kids' book If Animals Had Gym With Us ?
7122873
I'm jealous of your phys. ed requirements. That would be either two or three semesters usually (is a typical phys. ed class a half credit or a full credit?), but it sounds like you could knock it out in one if you wanted to. Where I'm going four semesters of physical activity (PE stands for something completely different here) are required. Doesn't matter how many PA credits you take, you've got to have at least one PA class in each of four semesters. Kind of sucks for transfer students, since PA isn't offered over the summer.
wow this gets more and more interesting.
also why are the girls shy around silver glow ? she is a pony ?! isn't it more likely that people behave around her like around pets ?
anyway, i can't wait for the end, when silver starts setting up the friend she made to go out with each other and have a good time or something, because it looks like things could lead in this direction too.
and with her understanding of group behaviour/dynamics and what not, that she is learning on the side while living in the dorm.
oh and even if not, its still a great SoL read !
7123031 really? I wasnt required any PE requirements...
Aric's going to be upset.
Also, this felt like a short trip into the 'generic romance anime' zone, where the main character is completely oblivious to the obvious.
7122618 For me it is the "How well do you know Meghan" that sound suspicious, as in "Do you know she is into girls?".
Aside from that, sure, we could be mistaken. Just like I was when I said that Aric and Silver were just having a platonic relation based on cuddle and petting...
Well, I'm talking about what was required 40 years ago (more or less) at Edinboro college, Edinboro, Pennsylvania. Since each state has their own requirements, it depends on what Michigan demands. The school play was because Intro to Theater, you had to be in one of the 2 school plays that semester. It was fun , though. One weird thing. At auditions, you had to read for a part. A lot of the kids couldn't read out loud.
7122541
Hear hear - I think we can all agree on that one. Just be careful with your word choice when discussing it: this whole tangent spun off because of a disagreement over definitions, not because of a disagreement about the actual subject matter. Sticking with noncontentious word choices saves a lot of effort wasted on debating irrelevancies. Applied to this particular case, that suggests avoiding the terms belief/faith as much as possible when discussing science or religion - those double-meanings virtually guarantee that someone is going to misinterpret you no matter what you're saying.
7122776 Silver Glow: "Well, she's got two legs, ten fingers, no muzzle, next to no fur..."
7122079
i.imgur.com/abpPdlv.gif
Silver Glow and Meghan, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G~
Either we have been too conditioned to think that topless bathing = Homosexual Romance, or Silver could be in for quite a rude awakening!!
Gosh, Silver is quite the accidentally popular one. She technically got asked out and didn't even realize it!
7122273 "Ugh! You humans are taking too long! All right, that's it. You two strip and get on that bed. The safe word is 'albatross'."
Knowing that ponies, like horses, form herds when it comes to romance, I am waiting for the inevitable drama of a love triangle to ensue, with Silver not knowing what the problem is and most likely cheerfully suggesting a threesome.
I cannot believe I let this story slide til almost 1am. New work schedule has me all confused.
Finally caught up on this wonderful story. Such a great premise and super interesting world. I'm rather excited to see where it goes
7125063 ooooh. Nice headcanon.
7125105
That could be an interesting plot twist! I second this idea. Admiral? Any chance of this coming up in the future?
sit through classes, but for now I was free. --- add comma after for
be a lot of fun, so of course I said yes. --- fun. So, of course, I said yes
remembered that Aric had to work in the theatre --- theater
It was a ways to her aunt's house --- aways