March 10
Sara gave me a dirty look again this morning. Maybe she isn't a morning person, or maybe she doesn't like it when I use the bathroom before her. I liked her better when she smiled at me and petted my mane.
I just gave her a syrupy sweet smile and went back to Aric's room to get my gear.
Today was absolutely gorgeous, but a touch chilly. A very light sprinkling of snow had fallen overnight and it made everything glittery. I knew it was going to be gone soon; the weather was supposed to be kinda warm and with the sun out, a lot of the snow would melt.
I took a pretty broad flight over Kalamazoo, sort of a big triangle loop all the way up to the Maple Hill Mall and the 131 Highway, and then along Drake Road to Stadium, then followed that back towards campus.
I was pretty sweaty by the time I got back, and when I was in the shower I noticed that I was starting to shed my winter coat. It was time to make an appointment with Maura.
I had to use my hoof to scrape the matted hair out of the drain grate so I didn't flood the bathroom, and then I used my wings to direct the water from the showerhead to get as much of it off the floor as I could.
Then I had to apologize to Brianna for taking longer than normal in the shower. She wasn't mad, though.
Since I was in a good mood and had gotten lots of exercise this morning, I had an omelet and a waffle.
I checked my computer mail before I went to poetry and had gotten a message from Miss Cherilyn saying that they'd meet me to chat and take me (and Peggy if she wanted to go) to dinner after my last final, and then the next day they could get me a train ticket to Lansing, or they could give me a ride all the way there in their van.
Taking the train would be more practical, but I was a bit reluctant to ride it by myself. Plus I hadn't spent as much time talking with them as I ought to have, so I wrote back that I would appreciate a ride if it wasn't any trouble.
Conrad started with a simple short poem called Sailor. Humans don't get cutie marks, so sailors tattoo themselves. I think it's so that they remember who they are, because the ocean makes you forget.
I thought about the ships I'd seen come into port, and the sailorponies step off and stagger onto land like they can't remember what it feels like to have unmoving ground under their hooves. Their coats are full of dried salt, creaking and cracking when they move just like the ship creaks and cracks when it's rolling in the gentle wavelets in the harbor.
Some of the oldest mariners refuse to set their hooves on dry land. They don't trust ground.
Next we read The Negro Speaks of Rivers. I didn't know any of the rivers he mentioned, but he mentioned Abraham Lincoln, who must have been a very important person. I thought I could ask Trevor about him, or maybe Cedric. Cedric really likes me, and he tries not to show it. And Leon likes me too, but he also likes to make fun of Cedric for liking me. Also sometimes Leon likes to talk like he's really dumb, but he isn't.
He had Melissa, who is a really shy, pale girl, read Red Roses. It was a shame she hardly ever read aloud; her voice was beautiful, and fit the poem very well. She read it with a quiet intensity that raised the hair on my back.
Then Conrad had me read a poem called Dust Bowl, about the land being dry and dead and wanting me to come back. I was sad when I got to the end of it, because I knew it was the last poem I was going to read for his class.
He ended with Trevor reading God. Better to be human, the poem said, and I thought that was true. According to the Bible, God had created humans in His own image, and then they just kept messing up, not following His rules at all and He sat in Heaven watching them, perfect—and lonely.
I wonder if Princess Celestia is lonely? I heard that she meets everypony who goes on the exchange when they come back; maybe I ought to give her a big hug.
I met up with Trevor and his friends after class and we went to the dining hall together. Cedric made a big deal about carrying my food for me, and then we sat down and I asked them why Abraham Lincoln was so important that Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes had written about him in poems.
That turned into quite the lunchtime conversation, and filled my head with a lot of not very nice history.
Well, I couldn't change the past, but I could do something in the present, so I wrapped my hooves around Cedric and gave him a big hug—he was sitting right next to me—and then hugged everyone else at the table.
Leon got all embarrassed and said that I was hurting his street cred, and I stuck my tongue out at him.
I spent the afternoon reviewing my notes for philosophy class. Our final exam was to write an essay on a philosopher, and I was trying to think of who I ought to choose, and I had to refresh myself on a lot of what they'd said.
Only Meghan watched the movie with me. Lisa was in the library studying, and Becky said that she had to do homework, too.
It was okay, though, because I got to stretch out on Meghan's lap and she petted me for a little bit and then noticed that I was shedding, so she brought over a wastebasket and one of her brushes and ran it through my coat during the whole movie.
I'd thought I'd figured out that there was a cockatrice on the loose, but it turned out to be a basilisk at the end. I should have known because the people weren't actually turned to stone—but it did make me wonder if maybe it wouldn't be as bad to look at a cockatrice in a mirror.
I didn't think I'd be the one to try it, though. Not with a cockatrice and not with a basilisk either.
When I told Meghan that there were phoenixes in Equestria, she wanted to know if they could really rejuvenate by burning themselves to ash, and I told her that they could. I did my best to mimic their call (the movie got it wrong), and tried to describe how beautiful they are. They're also kinda mean and territorial except when they're migrating and wintering, so they're best appreciated from a distance.
We sat and talked after the movie was over—she used a remote to turn the television off so that she didn't have to disturb me. I told her I wanted to brush her hair, and at first she refused, but then she said that I could. I put my front legs on her shoulders for balance and the brush in my mouth. Meghan thought it was really weird that I could still talk even when I was holding onto the brush.
Meghan slid back on the bed and put her back to the wall after I’d finished brushing her, and I curled up with my head on her lap. I thanked her again for brushing my coat, and asked her if she needed to go to the salon anytime soon, because I had to make an appointment with Maura to groom out some of my winter coat before spring break.
She said maybe we could do it Monday afternoon, and she’d call in the morning and find out.
My head was getting heavy, so I told her it was probably time for me to go back to my dorm room, and then she sighed and said that it probably was, unless I wanted to spend the night in her room.
So she went to the bathroom and put her sleeping clothes on and brushed her teeth and then asked if I wanted the inside or outside side of the bed. I thought that the outside would be more practical, since I like to wake up early.
When we were both under the covers she wrapped her arm around me and kissed me on the ear and then tucked her head against mine.
My taste in poetry leans more towards Rudyard Kipling, Robert Frost, Dorothy Parker, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Each time Sara is making an appearance, I wonder: plain intolerance or jealousy?
Welp, she got the Cliff's Notes version of the Civil War. Pity we don't get more of a reaction out of her. I'd have liked to see, if nothing else, something she misinterpreted.
Cute. Silver is just too cute!
7189172
It could always be both. Perhaps with a shot of disgust, though that bleeds into the intolerance.
7189172 I'm thinking Sara was wanting that D from Aric, and is mad jealous that SG swooped in and unknowingly wooshed it from her.
Depending on the relationship headcanon the author wants to use for Equestria, it wouldn't surprise me if Silver tries to round up Aric, Sara, Meghan, Cedric, and Leon for some herd fun, because she's seemingly catching on to most of them and their interactions with her. She'd probably even try to use the idea that there's three guys and three girls to convince them that there would be nobody (or pony) left out (nevermind the fact that one of the girls just happens to be a pony; she has all the requisite parts that guys would be interested in, and she knows how to use them, apparently).
7189106 see, to me, Robert Frost sticks out like a sore thumb there.
Silver Glow gets all the fillies, man.
Hm, I wonder why Sara doesn't like Silver. What could it possibly be I wonder?
7189172
Or maybe she thinks Silver is going to hurt Aric.
And she could be right.
7189220 I thought Sara was Aric's sister. Was this not the case?
After hearing about the American civil war, Silver Glow should have written her thoughts about that similar Equestrian historical event some one thousand and change years ago.
Loving the double entendre.
She got lots of exercise.
Or am I reading too much into it?
7187201
The word you're looking for is "Snowblades". They're child-length skis usually well under 100cm, rented by many places as a novelty item and often - but less, recently - lacking releasable bindings.
While I've got your attention, most east coast places light the trails for skiers. It's a bit less common due to $$$ for Mountain Ops to leave the lights on all night, so I was just a bit surprised. It's not unheard of, though. If you have snowmaking or ski resort questions, feel free to shoot me a message.
D'aww
7189490
I had wondered that. Just how serious are things? Silver's an exchange student after all.
"Hi, I'd like to get an extension on my visa." (Is that what she'd have?)
"For what reason?"
"I don't want to stop banging this one guy."
One of my favorite celebs is in Kalamazoo today (5/5)
https://www.facebook.com/altonbrown/videos/1305997076096564/
I wish I could have seen his stage show when he was in my area last week, but sadly I couldn't afford ticket.
7189714
I don't think things are that serious from Silver's side, she's repeatedly said she just wants fun in the relationship. Her plan just seems to be to go back to Equestria once the years up and get a high ranking weather job. What Aric thinks about things isn't something which has been covered much.
7189714
So is Sara jealous or are Aric and SG really getting on her nerves because it's one of those houses where you can hear everything from everywhere 'cause the walls are so thin? Oh, how does SG sound like? I know I'm weird, sorry. Might explain a lot.
Another instance of cute Equestrianization, followed by some rather deep philosophical deliberation. Nicely done.
SG and the bros and their crumbling street cred. Love it!
Also, her relationship with Meghan is really sweet. The ability to talk while using your mouth to hold a tool must have an interesting evolutionary history.
I just remembered something from two chapters ago as well:
Couldn't help but notice the 'so far'.
Anyway, wonderful chapter is wonderful.
wow ... i dunno when people find out about who Sliver Glow stays with in her free time and become jealous of each other ?
because it looks like that might be a point of conflict that may come up ?
anyway, i like it, and i would be super happy if its going to have a chapter of her returning to equestia and have the talk with the princesses (?)
I'm definitely curious what's going to happen with Meghan. She's quickly becoming my favorite character!
I think somebody doesn't approve of Silver's inter-species fun-times.
too
Silver is good pony.
7187264
Maybe Silver Glow should wear a pair of those giant novelty sunglasses as safety glasses for her giant pony eyes while she's snowboarding.
fancydressball.co.uk/big_images1/giant-sunglasses-31055.jpg
There were many photographs to choose from. This one is especially fabulous.
... Is it weird of me to think that Meghan of all people would provide something like giant novelty sunglasses as an excuse to spend more time with Silver, with hope of brushing her mane and maybe dressing her up a bit? Tail scrunchies, leg warmers. My goodness, what is this story doing to my brain.
7189512 Not that I'm aware of, but I could be forgetting some details since her introduction. It's been a while since that chapter.
too
I bet Silver looks cute when she is trying to get the remainder of her shed fur out
Oh come on these too need a relationship aric is to Marty stu
Not sure what to think about Sailor as it's pretty much the idea of what a fantasy sailor is. But damn those other poems on that page are pretty morbid. And that God poem... That's deep. I love it. The idea's been done a lot about Celestia and Luna, and even what would happen with Twilight. Being above all and immortal is kind of a bitch if you're not prepared for that pain.
Peggy and Aric are going to have to vacuum up after Silver with all that shedding like a old dog. I wonder what she'd think about that comparison.
And nobody can resist hugging ponies.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/1/25/1073454__safe_oc_human_hug_artist-colon-zacatron94_undertale_glomp_frisk_oc-colon-silent+night.png
7189106
I'm really, really liking Kipling, who I just now discovered thanks to comments on this story. Unfortunately, he doesn't qualify as an American poet.
On the plus side, a new quarter is about to begin.
7189172
I'm gonna leave you guessing on that one. But the first time she met Silver, she was happy to pet her mane.
7189175
I'd think that unless any of Trevor's friends are historians, they'd just give her the short version of the North being anti-slavery and the South being pro-slavery, and that's something that SIlver Glow could understand easily enough.
7189180
7189214
Not everybody can love and tolerate the pony.
7189220
You have no idea how much I love how you worded that.
I'm not saying whether or not this is the case. I will say, however, that this lead to an interesting discussion at work about how do you invite people to an orgy?
7189258
Poetry is like
pornographypolitics--everyone's got different likes.Because she's so damn cute.
7189384
Peggy even warned her about this very thing.
7189490
For better or worse, there's no way Aric can get out of this unscarred, no matter what happens. But the things we do for love or for lust. . . .
7189512
No, she's just a housemate.
7189523
Which one? So many things happened in Equestria a thousand years ago.
(IIRC, there's a panel of the IDW comic where they make fun of that)
7189546
Nope, that's what you're meant to read into it.
7189575
Thinking on it, the one possible problem is how close a pony's forelegs and hind legs are together. Not an unsolvable problem, but bindings for humans are probably near the center, and I'm not sure that would work on a pony without actually running the numbers. But they've got short torsos, so it might be an issue.
Most Michigan 'mountains' are at best sand dunes, and at worst repurposed garbage piles. Up in the UP they have some genuine 'mountains,' but by anybody else's standards, they're just hills. The glaciers giveth (the Great Lakes) and they taketh away (challenging terrain).
I will! We're just about at the point where the ski resorts in Michigan shut down for the season, but Silver Glow might go back in the future to find out more about snowmaking . . . or, there's next winter to consider, as well!
7189714
Everybody involved knows that at the end of the year, SIlver Glow will go back to Equestria. Where it goes from there . . . well, ask me at Bronycon about the hoops my brother had to jump through.
To the best of my knowledge, yes, she'd have a student visa.
Given the number of students who already come over here on student visas, that may very well be a checkbox on the extension form.
7189785
I don't know who that is
But I have been to the Miller auditorium. They have (or had, anyway) the least convenient I-beam ever from a lighting perspective.
7189788
One of the mixed blessings about a story in the first person perspective
7189949
It's got nothing to do with wall thickness (although that would be a funny twist). I'll leave it to your imagination how loud Silver Glow and/or Aric is during.
Even here on Earth, the ocean forgets.
Being hugged by a pegasus drops your street cred. It's a proven fact.
Practice? I'd think a ventriloquist could do it. . . .
She's aiming high.
7190045
Or the hug. That's the most important part.
7190103
7190597
I think you just hit the nail on the head.
Oops.
Silver is the best pony, and Princess Celestia doesn't get enough hugs.
7190653
Goggles are canon. I think novelty shades are too.
Yes. Yes it is.
Only good things. Silver Glow would be adorable in a tail scrunchie and leg warmers.
[i]Somewhat related and also spoilerish for that episode with Starlight and Trixie
7190775
Damn these typos! Damn them!
7190871
Are you kidding? Silver looks cute all the time.
7191037
Is he? Or is Silver just putting him up on a pedestal right now because she's into him?
7192679
I think there's something to it, though, especially from a pony's perspective. When an Earth pony loses her memory of the land, what has she got left?
Currently my all-time favorite PMV about Celestia is this:
Well, I don't know how she'll feel about the comparison, but I do know that pegasi don't like vacuums.
derpicdn.net/img/2013/2/4/233229/full.png
Nobody. That's a fact.
Sometimes, you brush the pony. Sometimes, the pony brushes you.
Pony Exchange Student floods dorm bathroom!
Yeah, as much as I (and many others) like to make fun of Celestia, she really needs several big hugs for all the stuff she has gone through.
And I wonder, have Silver and Aric done it four times now?
The three things I like most about this story:
- World-building
- The poetry discussion
- Casual pony-cuddling
7280296
Casual pony cuddling is underused in so many stories
7202993
In Soviet Russia, pony groom you.
7211375
It could happen. Can you imagine cleaning out the hot tub at the spa?
4.bp.blogspot.com/-arNC7_rQrY8/Tzr4Fs9zDWI/AAAAAAAAfDw/xRzuGH3ybmY/s1600/132115+-+Alicorn+artist+heilos+celestia+luna+princess+sisters.png
You're keeping count?
7280296
7642633
Agreed!
So i got a hunch Sara is a bit against that relationship. Wonder when that will get talked out...
8007994
A bit, yes. Silver Glow never witnesses the talking out, but it happens.
Aww... so adowabu!
8066155
Princess Celestia needs more hugs, I think. Luna, too.
pre13.deviantart.net/6af3/th/pre/f/2016/155/d/d/a_hug_from_luna_by_princesstwilisparkle-da4yjx9.png
Yes it is, and let's hope Aric is ready for that. Poor dude is going to be wiped out....
Thing is I likely would be left going "All of the what?" if I hadn't noticed comments from later talking about the issue with her and being able to tell what this was about given how crappy I am at keeping names straight and the gaps in time meaning I wouldn't have remembered what started this.
Though this is likely where I might have started putting it together.
Still. Prude! maybe if you ask nicely, Silver will help remove the rob from your ass.
Now the humans get to enjoy one of the great funs of living with a full body coat of fur.... Look at the bright side, they'll get to take little pieces of Silver Glow with them. That's why cats sleep on the clean clothes, to makes sure you keep kitty with you always you know. Yeah, totally that.
That was the lady from the hair salon right? How are they going to deal with trimming a full body?
Oh..ow..ow..owowowowowowowowowowowo BAD THOUGHT!.....wax
Living on the edge there Silver.
What's next? A waffle omelette!?
YAY!
Certainly VERY accommodating for the pony.
As all humans should be.
I... wha.... huh...... that is so......
Silver..... I think you broke my brain. That just it.. it makes no sense.. and yet, so much sense, and yet none and yet.........
Brain.exe has stopped working.....
And for the first few days you still sway when you walk and really do feel odd that things aren't moving under you.......
Luckily, some of them are pegasi who get around that by simply flying everywhere. The unicorns just conjure water in front of them to keep the land from being dry. And this one Earth Pony captain had his crew just set bucket of water for him to use as stepping stones.
Ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy. Time to find some cover.....
Versus hanging out with them, going to parties, eating cake, and all the other fun stuff Celestia does when she's not worrying and/or trolling ponies. Yeah, making an even better case for the need for Celestia to just come take over from God.
D'AWWWWWWWWWWW And yes, you should TOTALLY do that!
Also you are not fooling us Silver, we are on to you. That meeting is really a secret debrief to see how the plan of getting all humans to bow to the will of the ponies is going.
Ohhhhh? Silver starting to get her own little harem going? Lucky her!
Ohhhhhhhh boy..... ummmmmm..... yikes.
I can bet......
Oh.... ouch... ummm..... ouch....
ALL
THE
D'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
pony hugs fix so many problems!
Dude, getting seen snuggling a cute pony like that? It has got to be a chick magnet!
I'd say Marx given ti's the one you understood the best.
Or a nice long one on why Neitzche was full of hot air.
Wait.. this is kind of confusing.. does Lisa live on campus with Meghan and them.. or in Aric's house?
Given how that worked out last night.......
Cats... ponies are freaking cats....
Watching this stuff when coming from a world where so much of it true has got to be odd. Also, how many humans refuse to watch fantasy movies with ponies after they spent the whole time nitpicking about how they didn't get the monster/magic right?
I don't recommend this.
Like this kind of stuff.
Now, play it smooth, and maybe you can get the pony to 'brush' another patch of hair....
Getting closer! Now Meghan, just, casually say you prefer sleeping naked.. she won't mind in the least.
Dang it, wasted the chance.
D'AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
7198300
Not really. Only Sombra and NMM. Those are the only two things that we know took place ~1000 years ago, and Celestia was clearly rounding the figure when it came to Sombra. Plus given the proximity, I do kind of like the idea that it was something that happened while fighting Sombra or the after math that pushed Luna into becoming NMM.
8103334
That's often a problem in real life, too. A friend has a long running issue with someone else, and you just can't remember what their name is (or what the problem is, or whatever). Heck, I can't even remember all the details about a family wedding I went to back in January.
There is a dramaturge, which might help with some of the characters, although it's hardly complete.
Pony is getting unfluffy. She's still cute, though. And she'll fly faster with a sleeker coat, I bet.
The same way you do with a real horse--lots of different brushes, and clippers.
Bald horses are weird.
derpicdn.net/img/2012/9/14/97628/full.png
You know, I don't think it ever occurs to her to combine the two.
Well, to be fair that is technically part of their job.
It's true, though. The ocean makes you forget.
That'll happen sometimes after a really long car trip, too, especially if the car has a particular, repetitive motion to it. Or a train, as well.
I legit could see some ponies not wanting to step on dry land anymore. Like, maybe small islands are okay, but nothing where you can't see the ocean all around.
Similarly, there are probably pegasi who have never landed on solid ground in their whole lives. Maybe not too many, but surely there are some.
I know, right? Although God's probably never been trapped by plundervines or put in a changeling's cocoon, or any of the other things that have happened to Princess Celestia. So maybe it's a mixed blessing.
Well, of course those types of meetings are. What else would they be about?
It's that pony magnetism--it's practically irresistible.
You know, Silver's kinda got an advantage here. Nobody can be mad at her for the bad things that her ancestors did, or even the more current problems in the world, and she can just give sincere hugs and nuzzles and make them feel better.
I know, right?
SIlver Glow is never one to take the easy way out, though. She always likes to go above and beyond.
Lisa lives with Meghan, Becky, and Amy, in a dorm room on campus. Aric lives with David, Angela, and Sara, in a house off-campus.
A girl can hope.
They are, it's totally true.
Silver Glow's not the type to nitpick too much, but I can imagine watching a fantasy movie with a pony who's an expert on monsters, and would be griping all the way through.
Yeah, it's probably a bad idea. Best way to defeat a cocakatrice is to be a total badass, like Fluttershy.
I bet lots of pegasi have had run-ins with phoenixes. And, for that matter, other winged monsters.
A girl can dream. . . .
Silver Glow totally wouldn't mind.
And Discord, as I recall.
(Actually, do we know for sure? Obviously, it had to happen before Luna went all nightmarey.)
I personally think the actual order was Discord, Sombra, NMM, and that the 'thousand years' is just rounding on Princess Celestia's part--she's probably dead on when it comes to NMM, and the others are approximate.
And I also think that it was in part fighting Sombra that pushed Luna over the edge.
Also, I think that the events of the Hearth's Warming Pageant aren't entirely accurate, but there was intertribal fighting, and that it mostly took place from the end of Discord's reign to the leadup into Sombra's first demise.
Hee. Might be!
She'd probably appreciate it, even just for the breach of protocol
10757839
The more I think about this, the more I think Silver is right.
I think she would. She’s big and powerful, and doesn’t get hugs as much as she should.
In the original versions of the myth, Medusa's reflection did not in fact carry her curse. The reflective shield just helped Perseus keep his sword pointed in the right direction to ward off the otherwise unarmed woman he proceeded to murder. At least he had the decency to make sure her son was raised properly?
10928259
Isn’t that a common bit of mythology, that a gaze curse doesn’t work if reflected? I wonder if that would have worked on the cockatrice in the show?
Also, I’m not really up on Greek mythology, but wasn’t a lot of it them killing each other?
Oh yeah, you ARE a rebel