> School Days
>  by Dai Kirai
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Acceptance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        He stared down at the letter in shock, unable to believe what his own eyes were telling him. This can’t be right. He told himself. There are reports every year of false acceptance letters being sent out. This has to be one of those. 
No matter what he told himself though; the letter never changed. 
‘Congratulations! You have been accepted into UCLA for fall of 2014. Please accept and schedule your freshmen orientation through the URSA web-system by May 16th.’
The first portal between Earth and Equestria had mysteriously formed near Washington DC in second month of 2010 and ponies were met with instant suspicion. It wasn’t until March 3 of 2011 when tragedy struck the coast of Japan did people realize who ponies really were. Celestia, without even being asked, had sent pegasi and chariots to ferry people out of the affected zone and to safety. They kept it up after the Fukushima daiichi power plant went critical, risking their own safety for that of humans. It had also worked to galvanize the world and help streamed in from across the world. 
But, even with it being accepted that ponies wanted to live in harmony, they still weren’t allowed into human institutions. The mostly agrarian and magic based society was viewed as incompatible with human science and it was believed they could never openly compete on an even playing field. Celestia urged and argued, even getting the help of the ACLU stating that all sapients had the right to the same education. A few Universities immediately accepted in the name of “a diverse campus life” and the sake of good publicity; so long as they could pass an entrance exam upon completing the application and took placement tests. The one for English made no sense to the student as they both countries spoke the same language.
The shocked pegasus had never even been told if he’d passed or not, and that was back in November. Most ponies never applied; they didn’t see a reason to it, and it tended to go against their cutie mark. But, Stormy Skies had been too entranced by humans and ponies working together to even care that his ‘role’ was to work with weather for the rest of his life. On a whim, he had applied to several human universities, never expecting to get into any of them let alone one with such a great name. He hadn’t even given any thought to his major, but he still had two years to pick one.
After a few moments, Stormy looks over at the calendar on his wall, the one with his work schedule for the Canterlot weather patrol. The date was May 10th; mail was a little slow between worlds. Wait! Six days? I only have six days?! Computers still weren’t the most common, even in Canterlot and he would have to find one connected to the human internet if he was to accept in time. The only close location would be in Canterlot Castle at the top of the mountain, wires were too hard to run to many other places since they had to connect to Earth and wireless signals could only travel so far past the event horizon. 
The mustard yellow pegasus promptly ran across the wooden floor of his small flat and grabbed his saddlebags from against the wall, and placed them over his flanks; the storm cloud clasp matching his cutie mark. Stormy Skies then ran back to the spot he had plopped down at when he saw the school letter. He picked the letter up with his muzzle and shoved it into has bags, he’d need the website address if he had any hope of finding it in time. His cornflower blue mane fell into his face and was brushed aside as he ran with his remaining three legs for the door. 
Stormy threw the door open and ran. Once outside, the pegasus quickly spread his wings and started pumping for all he was worth. He rapidly gained altitude as the houses shrunk below him. The ornate castle of marble and gold stuck out from the side of the singular mountain in a manner humans described as ‘defying physics’ for the way most of its mass seemed to hang in midair. A waterfall flowed around the base of the castle and down into Canterlot proper then flowed down to Ponyville and the Everfree forest. 
Before Stormy Skies was even halfway there, he was gasping for breath. His job required flying, but never for very long time and certainly never this fast, he just stayed in the factory to make the clouds. The distance he was having to travel also wasn’t helping. This pegasus lived on the outskirts of Canterlot where the housing was the cheapest. The closer a pony got to the castle, the more expensive and exclusive the buildings became, more than a weather pony could ever hope to make. 
Stormy was a couple hundred yards from the castle and he could already make out the Royal Guards tasked with protecting the area from harmful intruders. The pegasus decided to slow down to avoid looking suspicious, and to conserve what energy he did still had. He was unsure what finding the computer inside the mass of stone would entail or how much time he would have to complete whatever the acceptance form was.
A white pegasus with blue mane and golden armor came up next to the mustard yellow pegasus. The newcomer spoke in a brusque, deep voice. “Do you have business at the castle today?”
Stormy’s wings seized up for a moment in shock, the guard had just appeared out of nowhere. He flapped his wings quickly to keep from falling out of the sky. “Um,” The pegasus replied, unsure of how to respond. “Well, yes. I have, it’s um.” He floundered for words. “I have to use their internet. I, um, got accepted to a human school.” Then the young pegasi remembered the deadline. “I only have six days to get my paperwork in.” The pegasus hurriedly stated, his personality taking a shift. “I only just got the letter today and I didn’t know where else to go.”
The guard gave a small sigh. “Ok. Relax. I’ll take you to the main gate and you can explain it to them.” The guard banked to the right and led the younger pegasus the last 100 yards to the main gate.
The two pegasi landed on a bridge in front of a set of large wooden doors, large enough for a dragon to enter comfortably. “If you can just wait here. I will find somepony to help you.” The guard offered as he walked towards the two ponies guarding the door. These new guards looked identical to his escort other than that they were both unicorns. All guards looked the same; it had something to do with a magic enchantment in their armor. 
After a moment of talking, his escort came back with one of the unicorn guards in tow. “Alright,” He stated stoically. “This is Ai, and will be your escort.”
As Stormy looked at his new escort, his old one flew off and wished him luck on his adventure. This new guard looked similar but less patient. 
“Alright. Before I let you into the castle I need to see proof.” The guard demanded and stared down at the pegasus.
“Ah...okay, one moment.” Stormy quickly replied, not expecting hostility from a guard. Had the changelings really affected the guard that severely? The mustard yellow pegasus wondered as he reached back into the saddlebags to pull out his letter and identification. “Here you go.” He offered helpfully as the guard lifted the documents up in a light cream field of magic. 
“Stormy Skies, huh?” The guard muttered to himself. “Going to California. 26th? Why can’t they process the mail better?” The guard continued talking to himself. 
The unicorn looked back up at the pegasus. “Everything seems to be in order here.” He declared, passing back the papers. “There’s still one more test though.” He stated as his horn lit up and the pegasus was engulfed in the cream colored aura. 
“Wait!” Stormy began to panic. “What are you doing?” He questioned as he began to lift off the ground and his limbs were slowly moved against his will by the unicorn’s magic. His wings were pulled out, legs spread, and tail raised. It felt like somepony had even run a comb through his hair. After a few moments of this he unceremoniously fell to the ground. “What the hay!”
“Had to check you for weapons and if you were a threat. Papers can still be forged.” The guard nonchalantly informed the pegasus and walked to the large wooden doors. 
Stormy had trotted to catch back up to the moving guard. After a few minutes of silence roaming the marble halls filled with columns, statues and frises. The pegasus’ exhaustion and surprise had slowly faded and now his mind wandered. “I didn’t catch your name.” He asked the guard, unsure what his response would be. 
“No.” He replied coldly. “You didn’t”
Stormy didn’t fall behind, he half expected that answer, why else would a pony not introduce themselves.
“But since you asked,” The unicorn continued. “It’s Ai Kido.” The guard turned around and looked at the pony she was escorting. “And before you ask its Ancient Equestrian. It means ‘way of harmonious spirit’.” 
Stormy was taken aback, guards rarely opened up like that. “Thank you.” He replied as his mind began to wander off. That’s a unique name. I wonder how much longer it is. “Does the internet have a closing time?”
Ai stopped dead. One minute he was moving and the next he wasn’t. “You don’t know much about human, do you?” The guard asked rhetorically. “It’s an automated system of sending information. Think of it as a 24 hour dragonfire library.” He iterated. “How much do you know?”
“Um…” Stormy came up short. “They are bipedal omnivores and used science to create technology. They have no true magic but still manage without it. They live in many cities that-“ He was sharply cut off by the guard. 
“Stop.” The guard reproached. “None of that is really useful in dealing with them. I will make sure to point you in the proper direction once we get those papers filled out. Although I would rather see you try to get by on those relatively small readings.” Ai laughed as he started walking again. 
“How do you know?” Stormy asked, slightly indignant, he had spent several days reading up on humans and they didn’t seem that different.
“My family is all guards. When we first ran into humans it was unknown if they were a threat and were thus studied.” Ai informed his charge; a small smile graced his features. “I would actually love to see it. You know they have beaches where the sand is pure white and the water is as clear as the sky.” He revealed in a moment of honesty and passion. 
Wow. Stormy Skies thought to himself. Here is a pony that knows what it’s like, has studied it. All I did was read a few books and apply out of curiosity. The pegasus took a breath, what he was about to do was probably pretty stupid. “Then come visit me sometime.” He offered. “You can stay with me.”
Ai gave a raucous laugh. “I don’t think even liberal schools allow co-ed dorming in the same room.” When Stormy seemed to have a lack of words by not responding, the guard clarified. “You do know I’m a mare right?” She asked quizzically. 
“But you look male. And the Lunar Guards are the only ones that have females.” He uttered, not entirely sure what to believe. 
“The armor just makes us look male.” Ai chuckled. “Just like it makes us all appear the same. It’s a standard military tactic for solidarity and intimidation.” She informed him. “But I may take you up on that offer.” The guard conceded. “And we’re here.”
Stormy Skies looked through the door they stood in front of. Inside were a half dozen computer consoles with specialized tools to go on the hooves of non-unicorns so they could type. The pegasus had seen these machines before when filling out his initial application, but that had been by appointment during his lunch break so he could type up the essays he had written on some parchment. But all of the consoles were full.
Ai just walked in like she owned the place. She walked up to a white coated stallion working on a console. “Hello, Prince Blueblood.” The guard started. “I’m afraid I must ask you to vacate the console.” A modest smile graced her male features.
“You most certainly cannot.” Blueblood responded. “Under whose authority?” He added indignantly.
“Your aunt, Princess Celestia and Celestial Order 1538. Which states that-“
“I know what it states.” Blueblood humphed as he got up from the console and left the room with his nose sticking up in the air.
“I swear that pony is only good at being a pain in the flank.” Ai muttered under her breath, but not quiet enough for other ponies to laugh, the eavesdroppers all chuckled. “Come on Stormy, let’s get started on this.”
“Wait. You’re helping me with this?” The pegasus asked stunned. What is up with this guard.
“I kind of got myself the role of aiding transfers to Earth due to my knowledge.” Ai admitted. “Thought it would be fun at first. But more ponies than I expected had their heads up their rumps, but we can discuss that later.” The guard said, trying to get back on track. “If you can hand me that paper please, it has the address on it.”
Stormy Skies reached back into his saddle bags and pulled out the acceptance letter which was quickly grasped in the unicorn’s magic. 
“This,” Ai Kido said, pointing to a specific line. “Is the web address, you type this in to get to your site.” She stated as she also used her magic to press the keys. The screen changed to from a colorful screen to one with only two lines. “Ok. You need to come up here and input your username and password. Then it should bring up a screen asking whether or not you accept. After you make that decision, we can move on to the next step.” 
Next step? There is orientation, housing, what else? Stormy wondered until a thought hit him. How hard or those things? But, he still walked up to the keyboard, and using the little typing nubs on his hooves, entered his password. The screen changed to a cluttered page. Why can’t they just use forms in triplicate, it’s less confusing. He complained as he looked for anything about accepting.
AHA! He expounded as he moved the mouse over to the little accept button which took him to another screen. How many times must it change? But, the only option he saw on this new screen was either to accept or decline. After less than a moment’s thought he clicked to accept. What’s to think about? He laughed. The screen then changed one more time, with a new message.
‘Thank you for accepting. Please make sure to select an orientation time and to fill out your housing application.’
“Might as well do that now.” Ai Kido advised. “Unless you want to do this again.” She snickered.
Stormy followed the link to his housing application. He had to input his code again, but then there were a bunch of questions ranging from his sleep habits to how he studied and if he drank. He quickly filled it out; he was a responsible pony as were most of the ones he knew. Surely this is just for redundancy, what 18 year old could be that irresponsible? He questioned, forgetting the ruckus that could be made by some of the weather ponies after a long shift or missed rainfall. 
After finishing that application a new message popped up. 
‘Thank you for applying for on-campus housing for the 2014-2015 academic school year. Please make sure to pay your $200 deposit before May 30th or you may lose your housing offer.’
“Um, Ai.” Stormy asked. “How much is that?” Tension clear in his voice, never expecting to have to pay this early. Please tell me the school itself is free. He hoped.
“About 1000 bits.” Ai replied casually. “You did look into how expensive this is right?” She asked, her tome somewhere between disbelief and humored.
“No. Isn’t education supposed to be free?” Stormy asked, afraid to hear what he was about to be told.
“Only the first 15 years. After that it costs money on Earth. I believe for UCLA the number was estimated at $55,000 per year for international students.” The guard informed the new student. “But you are a lucky little pony. From what I’ve heard they charge you the instate tuition to get more ponies attending so it’s only $33,000 per year.”
“B-b-but…” The pegasus stuttered. “That’s still more than I make a year with fulltime work.” His spirits began to crash. Why didn’t I look into this? He wondered, beating himself up for overlooking this. How could anypony afford this?
“Don’t worry.” Ai laughed. “Celestia covers the first two year’s costs as part of an initiative to increase human-pony interactions and to increase cooperation between species. That’s why we have Celestial Order 1538, which states that prospective students get immediate access to computers as long as its school related.” She informed the stunned pegasus.
“Why couldn’t I have been told this before freaking out!?” Stormy freaked out. “I thought…I thought…”
“Because you didn’t ask.” Ai replied nonchalantly, and what Stormy felt was way too calm. “Something you should realize,” The guard informed him coolly. “You won’t have the kind of support you are used to here and you will have a LOT more responsibility.” 
“But I-“ Stormy started.
“No. You aren’t.” Ai quickly rebutted. “If you were, none of this would have been news to you. You will be representing Equestria to a whole species, which is why you get funding.” She continued coldheartedly. “If you buck up, you get cut off. You are representing every pony here and you can’t even take a single step outside your comfort zone!” The unicorn spat, face turning angrier with every passing word. Her ears leaned back as her brows knit together at the front of her face. “You have a chance to do something grand. A chance few ponies get. And already you are pissing it away.”
Stormy lowered his head in disappointment at himself. I was an ass. Why am I doing this? Just curiosity? He asked himself, tearing through his memories to find the one that led him to this point. No, there has to be a better reason. He remembered the video in the tavern, an invention brought in from Earth. They had such unique technology and ideas, ones he could barely grasp. And yet the two species only worked together on the outskirts of society. There were still no cities that had mixed populations. Each species stayed on its own planet. But we could do so much by working together.
“No.” The pegasus muttered. I’m not!
The guard just sat there ignoring him, disdain replacing the fondness that had been evident to any passersby. 
“I will not!” He said louder. “I can do this!” He hissed as he took the mouse under his right hoof and started looking for the button that would allow him to schedule his orientation. He selected the second freshman orientation session because the first was filled up, June 10th through the 12th. He would also have to find a way to get from Washington DC to Los Angeles.
After a moment he was lost again. “Um, Ai?” He asked a little hesitantly. “How do I schedule a human flight?”
The guard looked up, mildly surprised at the passion written on the stallion’s face. “Here,” She offered as she moved beside him. “Let me help.” After a moment’s break she said something else that surprised them both. “I’m sorry.”
“I think we both are.” He admitted. As they scheduled the air travel for orientation and the coming academic year. 

 

> Travel Plans
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy skies was ready, somewhat. Today he was going to the human world for his three day orientation session, even though he would be staying for three nights due to how long it took to travel there. It starts tomorrow but I still have to get from Canterlot to DC to LA in eight hours. The pegasus ran through his mental checklist. He had tried inviting Ai to at least escort him to the human airport, but she declined every time. 
Stormy wasn’t sure if he wanted her to go because he liked her, despite never having seen what the guard actually looked like under that armor, or if it was because he was truly scared of going to a completely alien world, alone. He had studied them more, the books Ai had recommended were wonderful and humans seemed so similar to ponies in so many ways, but it was still a foreign land; and he had never been outside of Canterlot except for flight camp in Cloudsdale. And now he was to go alone.
The mustard yellow pegasus took one last look around his small apartment. There wasn’t much outside of the cream colored walls and wooden floor. He had a small kitchen to cook with, a bathroom, and a bedroom connected by a small hallway to the room he was currently sitting in. There wasn’t much to it, what objects he did have were in the beginning stages of being packed and his landpony had been informed he would only be there another few months. Stormy couldn’t afford an apartment; he would just stay on campus over breaks or find something else. 
His reminiscing was just a way of procrastinating, of prolonging his having to leave. Stormy picked up his saddlebags filled with a few books, his identification, paperwork and money. As the bag settled on his flank, the pegasus left his home and into the great beyond.
Canterlot didn’t look any different as Stormy flew back to the castle. The white buildings with their gold trim and purple parapets were the same, yet at the same time he couldn’t view them without a touch of sorrow. It was a pleasant Monday morning with ponies leaving for work or just out for a pleasant walk or running early morning errands. The perfectly pleasant peaceful preoccupied ponies, whose lives were set, they knew what would happen the next day and every one after. But they will never see something new; never see beyond their own talent. While this trip may be nerve-wracking, he didn’t regret his decision, yet.
Today the pegasus made his way to the castle with less hustle, he had been warned how different legs of the trip might face delays and he had to get into Los Angeles tonight. It was amazing how regular flying and not racing could extend ones flight time. The wind whipping through his hair felt nice and helped relax the nervous pony in the crisp morning air. The castle was over 4000 feet up the side of the mountain; Stormy had plenty of time to enjoy the weather. The scenery wasn’t bad either with grass and trees as far as the eyes could see and the Pronktze River flowing gently into Ponyville. 
Stormy landed at the foot of the draw bridge to Canterlot Castle, having made plans and gotten a flight path scheduled caused the guards to ‘ignore’ him until making his way to the front gate. The two guards at the gate were both gold clad earth ponies holding spears with bowmen on the battlements above the gate. “Identification and reason for visit.” The left guard ordered.
The pegasus pulled out the paperwork from his bag: identification, proof of orientation date, plane tickets, and passport with a visa stamp. “Headed to Earth for school orientation.” Stormy Skies offered as the guard took the papers with his hoof. 
The last month had been hectic getting all the documentation even with both sides working to get the documentation finished. The portal worked just as any other border in Equestria and supposedly Earth. The only issue had been the proof that he could support himself financially. With only 120,000 bit a year income, or $24,000 US, his savings were rather small. A savings account had been set up in his name with enough funds to covers everything for the first two years. But he had enough trouble making sure everything was ready for the next three months to worry about something that far in the future. 
“Everything is in order.” The guard stated with a sonorous voice and hoofed back the papers. “There will be a guard inside to escort you to the portal.” 
The door opened to a pink glow and a grey unicorn guard came out to greet him. “If you will follow me.” He offered and walked back into the castle, forcing Stormy to catch up or get left behind. 
The walls were the same as last time, but the art seemed to blend together after a while as they took a different path than his last visit. “So…” The pegasus started. “What’s your name?” The only thing that greeted him was silence, the guard didn’t even break stride. “Where’s the portal at?” He tried again. All anypony seemed to know was that it was somewhere in the castle. There were scattered rumors about it being in the sculpture garden but that always seemed like such an odd location for something that could have posed a threat. Again, only silence greeted him so he fell into step with the guard and followed silently. 
The trip was taking longer than he expected, it had been at least 20 minutes and they were still walking. If this keeps up, he worried, things may get tight… He stopped mid step as the hedge maze came into view. Already Stormy could see the statue of Victory through the giant glass walls overlooking the garden. Each statue represented an ideal in pony society or a threat that ponies needed to be vigilant of. Friendship sat next to Discord, meant to warn how quickly things could turn.  
Stormy saw the hedge maze, but was still enamored by the sculpture garden; he hadn’t seen it since the class fieldtrip as a foal. He walked up to Victory in a trance. Her eyes were closed, cape and mane billowing in the wind as she stood on her hind legs holding a pumpkin orange flag. This one had always been his favorite, for some reason it always inspired him as a foal and continued to do so. Sincerity looked more regal with her robe and staff, it made him feel calm but never motivated him. 
“GAH!” He yelped as a hoof tapped him on the withers. He turned around to see a white Celestial Guard standing there smirking as his own heart felt like bursting out of his chest.
“Mine was always passion.” A new voice responded. 
Stormy looked at the newcomer. It looked like just another white unicorn Celestial Guard except for the voice; the voice was soft and non-masculine, it seemed jovial even. “What?” He asked, still trying to figure out what was going on as adrenaline surged through his body and his wings flared, wanting to escape.
The guard lifted a hoof. “That one.” It said pointing at a pegasus holding a bow with its hoof with the string pulled taut, the arrow head shaped like a heart. The statue’s tail was bushy and a smile crossed her lips. “They say we are innately attracted to whatever aspect we hold most dear.” The guard then turned to an impatient looking gray guard. “I got it from here, Swift.” And the other guard just humphed and walked away without a backward glance. 
Stormy just stared. What the… his mind froze.
“Don’t mind him; he just takes his job way too seriously.” The guard’s silken smooth voice responded. “Now let’s get you to the portal before you miss your flight. You wouldn’t want to miss check in at UCLA.” As the guard slowly walked off towards the back of the garden. 
Stormy just followed in a stupor. The guard felt familiar to the pegasus, they knew things most guards wouldn’t even be concerned with. He hesitantly spoke up. “Ai?” He questioned, trying to get his legs moving after so much had happened so quickly.
The guard just smirked as she continued leading the pegasus to an unknown location.
As they progressed, fewer and fewer ponies can be seen until it seems like they are the only ones. “Is it really back here?” Stormy asked unsure, things were feeling off. He didn’t have many friends, and she was acting a little…something.
“You’ll see.” She taunted and smiled coyly. 
The mare’s voice coming out of a stallion’s shape was more than a little disconcerting to the pegasus, but he stayed quiet.
They were at the back of the garden, Ai stopped Stormy at an L-bend, and the only other place to go was around to a ‘hidden’ alcove. The sun was still shining brightly as she put her muzzle to his ear. “Wow, you are easily distracted.” She whispered as she shoved him past the bend.
Stormy was taken aback at the sight, the alcove was only a few inches deep and housed a giant white circle. The surface was pure white like the magic of Celestia and stood ten feet across. It emitted no magic, no nothing. If his eyes weren’t telling him it existed he would never believe it existed. His jaw dropped and his escort gave a hearty laugh.
“Sorry,” Ai apologized, it sounded earnest but Stormy barely heard her voice and couldn’t turn away from the mass of white. “It’s just spectacular and I thought this should be something you should never forget.”
Stormy finally managed to look over at his friend, that’s the only thing he could think to call her at this point. And she did look a little sheepish; in fact she looked like a she. The armor was still on, her fur was still white, but she looked like a she. “Is this why you said you couldn’t meet up?” He asked unsure if he wanted to know the answer. Too much was going on for him to process. 
“No.” Ai looked down and pawed the earth with a forehoof. “This is my last day as a guard and I didn’t know if there would be time.” 
“But you love the guard, why would you leave?” Stormy asked hesitantly.
“Restrictions.” Ai said sheepishly. “I’d rather not say more.” And in an instant her demeanor changed to the happy pony she had been before. “I wish I could see their world.”
The disjointed thought process threw Stormy off for a moment and his natural politeness towards a friend took over. “My offer still stands.” Feeling the idea was unfinished he quickly added, “To stay with me that is.” 
Ai looked up with a knowing smile; the pegasus had no idea what her expression meant. “Get going.” She insisted. “On that other side is a whole new world. Just exhale before stepping through, it helps.” She offered turning and walking back the way she came.
Stormy watched Ai depart, she looked sad but he couldn’t follow. His own life lay on a different path. If he didn’t leave soon there was no way he could get to Dulles in time. His flight was at 1pm and it was already 10, if he didn’t get there soon he wouldn’t have the requisite two hours for security that was recommended. 
As Stormy stepped up to the large white circle he had to laugh at himself. I never asked how she changed her appearance. The pegasus didn’t understand enchantments, only weather. He touched his hoof to the surface of the portal and stared as ripples spread out to the edges so far apart and just vanished. 
Stormy followed the odd pony’s advice, the pony that always seemed so strange and kept changing how he thought. He took a deep breath only to let it out slowly. As he finished exhaling he stepped into the portal. The first thing he noticed was how cold it was, and how quickly his surroundings changed. One minute he was staring at greenery and a white circle, the next he was blinded by a burst of white, and lastly he saw grey. He stared at a bland concrete wall.
The room was large with the portal at his back. It was at least thirty feet in every direction; a white banner happily announced ‘WELCOME TO EARTH’ in green lettering. 

> WELCOME TO EARTH
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As Stormy stepped out of the portal he gasped, inhaling a large gulp of air. It wasn’t that he was out of breath, quite the contrary; his deep breath before entering the portal had done its job. The gasp was just an automatic feature of going through the portal; he exited and had to breathe in. It definitely wasn’t due to the ‘stunning’ room he had stepped into. 
The room was a light grey; everything seemed to be made out of cement. Cement was rarely used in Equestria, and never for buildings due to it looking bland. Is this what standard buildings look like? He wondered, his education had only stated that the buildings were impressive, he had yet to see any proof. The four walls were bland but the ceiling was tall by Equestrian standards at fifteen feet high. The fluorescent lighting on the ceiling was harsh on his eyes. The rest of the ceiling was a series of squares. Stormy was not impressed. 
There were metal poles with some sort of blue rope against the far wall to his left and was the most colorful thing in the room outside the ‘WELCOME TO EARTH’ sign visible from the gate exit. There were grey booths against the wall opposite to the portal, a total of six. Each booth came up to his eye level, what would be the waist on most humans and had little white banners with a number on either half and said the words ‘US Customs and Border Protection’ across a sign on the ceiling. The only booth that occupied was number 7 by a female with a long poofy mane down to its shoulders accompanied by black and white clothing. 
Hair, not mane. Stormy corrected himself. So many new words to memorize. The pony lamented, afraid of making a gaffe like that in public. 
The human itself looked strange, but he could only see the top half of it. The nose and eyes were both incredibly small but that had been expected based upon what he’d read. There was no way to know how it compared to other humans except that this one was looking at him. He could barely see that its eyes were a somber blue next to its creamy face, all things you could tell about a pony easily from this distance. 
Knowing what the female would ask, Stormy pulled his paperwork out again as he got to the booth. Stormy had to put his front hooves on the counter just to see over the lip. Yep, he thought, everything is definitely smaller. The eyes only took up small slivers of their face unlike the half on a standard pony and their shape was more of a slender oval that came to a point than his more oblong eyes. The ears were lower down and smaller, not even coming to a point and appeared stationary. The nose didn’t connect to the mouth in a muzzle; each was separate with the nose still protruding in a straight line and the mouth farther down with pink lips. They were bipedal but this one was sitting at just the appropriate level to see him eye to eye. She also smelled, not like an animal though, she smelled like flowers. He took a deep breath, she smelled of lilacs, it was soothing and filled the entire area it was on so thick.
“Thank you, gentlecolt.” She kindly offered, taking the information and scanning it over. The passport; a weird small ice-blue booklet with the Equestrian flag, a deep-blue alicorn and a pearly white alicorn flying in a circle around an image of the sun and the moon.  She then ran it over some flat looking ‘device’ and a screen he didn’t notice to his right lit up. The human looked between the screen and his passport several times before handing the papers back to the pegasus. 
“Enjoy your stay in the US.” She smiled. “If you will follow this path, they just need to run one or two tests.”
Stormy followed instructions and went past the booth which turned into another hallway. But he was rather disappointed in this new land so far, especially after seeing the Statue Garden before coming here. What happened to their myriad ways of living? Their astonishing machines? He had only seen one human and a standard computer screen which was older than even the models in Equestria. 
A white door frame without a door stood at the end of the hallway, a human in black with a small golden badge stood on the other side. As the pegasus got closer he noticed a small conveyer belt that led through a box next to the door frame. Stormy had no clue what he was looking at but continued forward. 
The guard raised a hand, it was what Stormy had learned was a general sign of ‘stop’ to humans. “Please place your bag on the conveyer and step on through he ordered.”
This was odd, but neither one seemed threatening. So Stormy removed the saddle bag off his flank and placed it gently on the conveyer belt. The bag slowly moved away from its owner. 
“What’s all this for?” Stormy Skies asked, slightly confused as he stepped through the doorless door frame. A small beep issued from the frame and his bag appeared out the other end of the box. 
“Just checking for illegal items or magical constructs.” The human offered as he lowered a hand out to the pony. “Can I see your hoof for a moment? We have one last test and you are free to go.”
Stormy agreed easily, the ‘tests’ weren’t anything like he was used to and a lot gentler than his initial screening weeks ago at Canterlot Castle. So he lifted his hoof up to the guard who lowered a small metal tube to the pegasus’ hoof. The guard pressed a small button, it released an audible click and something pierced his skin.
“Celestia’s Sweet Grace!” He yelled as he moved back as quickly as his legs would carry him, until he ran into the door frame. Small drops of blood were left wherever his hoof touched the ground. His eyes were wide. “What the buck was that?!” Was this some sort of attack? Where could he run? The only place for him to go was back through the portal to Equestria. He looked left to right but the guard didn’t move forward. In fact he took several steps back.
“Sorry.” The human apologized. “Simple blood test. The metal detector looked for any geass or other thaumaturgy while this checks to make sure you aren’t a changeling or carrying major diseases. The results only take a few seconds. You should have been informed beforehand.” The human did look apologetic. 
A small chime issued from the tube. The human turned it around so Stormy could see the little green light on it. Wait, green? Like a changeling’s magic? The pegasus started to freak out again. 
“Okay. Everything checks out. You are free to go. Enjoy your stay.” The human seemed remorseful, although it was hard to tell even if they telegraphed their emotions due to their smaller features. 
Stormy grabbed his saddlebag off the conveyer, ignoring the rather large human sitting behind the machine that he had never spotted as he trotted for the solid wood doors that led to the outside. Ignoring the human he had dealt with as it asked if he needed a cab. All stormy wanted was to get out of that building before they decided on another test to run.
The natural light blinded the pegasus for a few moments as he stepped out into the early morning sun. Which is why he didn’t stop until his eyes cleared. What he saw caused his rear end to drop as he stared in wonder at what was before him. How do I even describe this? He questioned. It’s wonderful!
The mass of greenery around was shocking after the solid grey of the earlier building. It wasn’t the vibrant green from Equestria, but it stretched farther than he expected from a human city. The obelisk that stood in the middle of a stone circle was even more impressive. The structure reached at least 500 feet into the air, almost straight up. The design should have been simple and boring in how plain it was. But he could only stare in awe, that simplicity was an aspect of the design itself. 
As he walked closer, small concentric walkways spread about the area, leading to what Stormy assumed were roads. The thing looked to be made out of a white marble; the circle it stood on was surrounded by the red, white, and blue of the American flag. The four sides stretched up and up, becoming narrower as they did, ending in a sort of abrupt pyramid at the top. There were a few people milling about, but neither group paid any attention to the other. 
Music played, loud and raucous. Stormy looked around to see a human put a small lump of plastic up to their ear and start talking. For a moment the pegasus thought it had been a bell… 
He ran over to the nearest human, a male by the looks of it and quickly asked his question. “What time is it?”
“Uh,” The human started and looked down at the mustard yellow pony then at a watch strapped to his wrist. “10:18” He said, unfazed by the talking pony, this was where the portal was after all, the natives had gotten used to it pretty quickly. The human walked off having answered the question and with the pegasus taking to the air.
Stormy went straight up about 40 feet, trying to figure out where the nearest road was, he had an airport to get to in a hurry. But which road to I take? Where do I even find transportation? He questioned.
There were two roads nearby, one looked busier than the other so he went off in that direction. Stormy landed first, flight rules tended to be pretty harsh on Earth with steep fines for any pony caught over 25 feet in the air, and some places banned it entirely as a safety hazard. Besides, Stormy knew he could never fly those 40 miles, especially in a hurry or less than the 30 minutes he felt he had to get there in. The distance would be like traveling from Ponyville to Canterlot Castle; you just didn’t do it. 
He galloped to the street, avoiding the occasional human. After approximately a minute he found the street, and there were cars streaming past. It was hard to study humans and not come across their primary means of conveyance. But why any society would want to rely on such things was currently beyond the still young pegasus. Why would any society make it an obstacle to get where you need to go? 
Occasionally he would spot a yellow car with the word ‘TAXI’ on the top, but they wouldn’t stop for him. Unless he wanted to fly out in front of one and hope it stopped, he had no clue how to flag a taxi down. 
One of the yellow vehicles pulled to the side of the road 50 feet in front of the pegasus, a human male was headed towards it. Stormy spread his wings to increase his speed and give himself a little boost. But he failed to see the human standing off the side of the street. Stormy’s left wing hit the human’s side, sending him careening into her back as both creatures fell to the concrete sidewalk. He landed on top of the human and quickly got off as the human made her way to a sitting position.
The human was older than the others Stormy had seen with wrinkles under her eyes and around the mouth, but her eyes were bright and intelligent. Her hair was a dull red, dull by pony standards; it may have been bright by human standards. She was wearing a black suit, clothing that covered the whole body instead of just the collar like with ponies. The human’s suit was accented with red fabric that complimented her hair. Stormy expected the human to be angry but she looked at who had knocked her down and it turned into a genteel smile. 
“S-s-sorry.” Stormy muttered. “I was trying to catch a taxi to the airport and…” He trailed off, realizing he had just made a gaffe, the thing he had most wanted to avoid. He quickly hurried over to the human. “I should help you up.” He offered, standing beside the human so she could use his back to gain leverage to pull herself up.
The human female smiled. “Why thank you.” She replied, and put her hands on his back to get back onto her feet. The weight wasn’t much to the pony who had four limbs to disperse the pressure on. “You said you were trying to get to the airport?” She queried. 
“Yes.” Stormy replied a little more confidently, humans so far were nicer than he thought they would be. “I have to get to the airport. School orientation is tomorrow and I have to get there tonight.” He tried explaining, even though he felt like he was falling flat. 
“Well, I am waiting for a ride. If you like we can drop you off at the airport.” The human extended with a wry smile. “I’ll just have my receptionist reschedule some meetings.” She said as she pulled out a small plastic device like the other human had and started touching it. “Done.” She finished just as a black vehicle pulled up. 
The vehicle was a shiny black car that seemed longer than the others he had seen. It had four windows which were so dark the pegasus couldn’t see inside the vehicle. A human male quickly came around and opened up the door. Inside was fancy fabric and four chairs, two on either side and more than enough room for human legs.
The male human held the door open and looked towards the female. “Madam Sen-“ He was cut off by the female as she gave him a sideways look. 
“We have a detour. This pegasus needs to get… Dulles?” She asked, turning back towards the pony. 
“Yes.” He replied, Wishing he understood what was going on here.
“Yes Madam Tow.” The male human replied stoically, still holding open the door. 
The female human got in and motioned for the pegasus to follow. Stormy hesitated a moment, he had been told to be careful and not just enter a random vehicle, but she had been nice and he really needed to get to the airport. So he hopped into the seat unoccupied by the door, directly across from the human. The door closed and within moments the sound of another door closing reached his ears as the car rumbled to life. 
“I should introduce myself.” The female offered, trying to start a conversation. “My name is Margarette Tow. I work around the Hill, trying to keep things from falling apart.” Tow smiled, she seemed sincere but stopped there, giving Stormy a chance to introduce himself.
Where have I heard that name before.
“I’m Stormy Skies. I work at the weather factory in Canterlot.” He replied, but Tow stayed quiet and just looked at him so he went on. “At least for the next two months, then I start school at UCLA. This is my first time on Earth.” He chuckled nervously, she was very quiet. 
“Nice to meet you Stormy Skies.” Tow finally responded. “We should be there shortly. Don’t worry; you’ll make your flight.” She soothed as she repositioned to look at him in a more casual posture as he sat with four hooves on the seat. “Is there something specific that you want to study?”
This is where I have to admit it to others. “No.” He said sheepishly. “I was just curious. I saw reports of what happened in Japan, and it showed there was this world beyond the clouds and a single city. It showed the potential of what the two races can do when working together.” He said, with some passion, the first thing he felt sure about since leaving his home. 
“Don’t worry, everybody finds what they want with time.” Her face turned down towards the floor. “Sometimes you just can’t see it at first. But, something in you knows.” Her tone seemed dour to the pony, like this had caused her some pain in the past. 
What someone wants to do with their lives wasn’t typically a problem in Equestria. A young pony would get their cutie between the ages of seven and ten, it would tell them what they were skilled in or what they felt passionate about and they never had to think about it again. But humans didn’t have that, but what Tow was saying seemed a lot like what his father would tell a young Stormy when he went off to find his own destiny. ‘It will find you with time.’ Were the two races the same in how they thought? Was the pony version really better? Stormy had just given up his job, the role his cutie mark said was for him; what if it wasn’t really for him?
“You know.” Margarette Tow spoke again. “I heard the roles for ponies have increased on Earth just as the need for humans has increased in Equestria. That emergency services and even the President have started using the unique capabilities of Equestrians.”
This was news to Stormy; he hadn’t heard anything about ponies, Equestria or many humans entering. As far as he knew, few even wanted to leave to attain new knowledge. But to leave just for a job when you already have one? It seemed crazy to him. “What kind of jobs?” He asked, never able to keep hide his own curiosity or hopes.
“Well,” Tow put a finger up to her lips in thought. “Pegasi are brought in to scout or find people trapped by disasters or to try and curb the most severe weather. Unicorns have been used to move debris and help rescue people from buildings. Earth ponies have been used on construction crews and to introduce new means of farming. Humans have been creating a technological infrastructure and new methods of thought.”
“But, I haven’t heard of any?” Stormy tried to clarify, not wanting to argue. 
“They are very few so far.” Tow elaborated. “The two races still don’t always trust each other. The beginning was rough on both sides, and neither truly likes something new. But with time and patience you will.” A coy smile covered her face and a glint appeared in her eye. “Who knows, maybe one day you will be an advisor to the president if you study hard enough.”
Stormy sat back a little, that was something he hadn’t really given any thought to. What was he going to do? Could he actually get a position like that? A position where he could affect both worlds, or maybe create things using aspects from each race like combining magic with technology. 
A genuine smile graced Tow’s features. “I’m sure you will figure something out.” She took a look outside the windows, at the houses they passed that looked so similar to each other. “Since I know you have so many questions, do you have any for me before we drop you off at the airport?”
Stormy had to stop and think, he screwed his eyes shut in thought. This was a unique opportunity; she was offering a chance to ask whatever he wanted to and seemed very knowledgeable. But he couldn’t think of anything, and he didn’t want to waste it without knowing why her name rang a bell. 
Stormy gave a sheepish grin. “Can I get some recommendations on living here?”
Tow laughed. “Of course. I am always impressed by Celestia’s ponies, we get to see the best, the ones willing to try or help. But you won’t get that luxury, you will see humanity for what it is, both the good and the bad, you will have to decide for yourself what you think of us. It may not be pretty, it may even hurt like you wouldn’t believe. But stay strong, you have support and will have those that look to you for support. You will also be looked at by humans for what Equestria truly is and what they stand for. People who have yet to make up their mind may decide based off your actions and those that hate ponies will look to you for any excuse they can to buttress their own beliefs.” Her eyes seemed heavy after that speech, like they weight of too many problems stemmed from that issue.
The frown dissipated into a warmer smile. “No pressure. Just keep sight of who you are and what you hold precious.”
“Thank you.” Was the only thing the pegasus could think of as a reply. Never noticing that the care had stopped and surprised by the degree at which his life had changed already. For two years he worked at the weather factory, ever since he turned fifteen. And never had his day been filled with this much thought, excitement, or awe and his day wasn’t even halfway over.
“Is there anything else you want to know?” Tow asked, concerned for a creature she wasn’t even connected to and barely even knew. 
Stormy just shook his head, still thinking about what she had said before.
“Then, unfortunately, I must take my leave.” Tow informed her passenger. “I would love to continue this chat, but some appointments can’t be put off.”
The door opened and Stormy saw the hulking male that he had seen earlier. But beyond the human he saw something else, a giant structure of glass and concrete. Giant supports rose into the air, supporting a large curved roof. The supports weren’t the columns he was used to seeing, these were more of a slanted rectangle that got smaller as they rose at least thirty feet into the air. The ceiling was only curved to the back of the building, completely flat if looked at from the front. All the walls were made of glass, letting the light of day stream in. This was Dulled International Airport. This was the kind of architectural marvel he expected to see.

> More Than One Way to Fly
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The second thing Stormy Skies noticed about the airport was all the humans. The pegasus had expected humans to be harder to distinguish from each other with their similar skin tones and lack of unique hair colors or cutie marks, but there were still an array of differences. Unlike ponies, they came in every size, there was a clear height difference of at least a foot among the humans among hair styles and a wider range of skin tones than he was expecting. What humans lacked in their dull colorations they made up for in their colorful clothing. While most seemed to be wearing shades of brown or black there were quite a few, especially children, wearing things from bright pink to royal blue and even purple. The patterns added to some of the shirts were designs that Stormy had no clue about and added even more variety. 
Stormy headed to what could only be the entrance, the glass doors automatically opened whenever someone approached. Something unexpected happened when he entered; it was cooler inside than it was outside. The opposite wouldn’t have surprised the pegasus, heating a room was easy; but cooling them? It wasn’t even that hot out, only the mid 80’s. There was a massive row of service counters, each with a different name above them. 
Stormy reached back into his saddle bags, he couldn’t remember exactly which airline his flight was through. Some of the companies’ names and logos made sense; Delta having a triangle. But others didn’t. Lufthansa had some sort of bird, but the name was something foreign. He found the ticket while rummaging, it was for ‘Alaska Airlines’. The printout tasted funny, human paper tasted fake with a hint of metal and the ink was bitter when compared to the Equestrian variety which was a bit sweeter. 
He kept walking down the aisle trying to find the correct ticket counter, there were so many all trying to compete with each other. Eventually he found the correct area but had to wait in line. It was hard to tell the time on Earth, he didn’t quite know where to find a clock and inside, even with so many windows, it was hard to tell by the position of the sun. He really hoped this wouldn’t delay him too long, he didn’t even know if he’d made it the requisite two hours early. 
While the pegasus waited, he looked closer at the humans. One group hugged and waved goodbye to another group, there were small children being watched over by parents, but there were no other ponies that he could see. Most of the people were also carrying large bags that had to be rolled along the ground. 
Before Stormy knew it, he was at the front of the line and the female, woman or mare he had to remind himself, asked to see his confirmation. The woman’s hair was chestnut brown which blended with her chocolate skin. The pegasus hoofed over the paper, still dry despite being carried in his mouth. 
The woman behind the counter typed some things onto the computer and a strange sound issued from behind the counter, it sounded like a printer. But what else do I need? Why did I need that paper?
The woman put several small papers in what looked like a small booklet and handed it over. “You’re flight will be on concourse C-12 and has been delayed. Please watch the boards for any further delay.” She said smiling. “And that also includes your return ticket so don’t lose it. Do you have any bags to check?”
A confused look crossed Stormy’s eyes, he didn’t think it was that obvious but the lady caught it almost instantly.
“You check a bag if you have a suitcase that is too large to take on the flight or don’t want to carry around the airport.” She informed the befuddled pegasus. “We make sure it arrives at your destination with you.”
Stormy thought for a moment, that was a nice feature, but all he had was the saddlebag and he needed the stuff in there. It contained his money for this trip, some paper to takes notes with even if he didn’t have a quill, his documentation and some books and schedules designed to help him navigate once at his destination. “No thank you.” He said.
The woman just smiled, looked past him and ordered the next person in line to step up.
Stormy quickly moved out of the way as another human walked up to the counter. Not knowing where concourse C-12 was he went in search of a map. There were plenty of places to get food, which he would need soon, but he wanted to find his gate first. His search proved useful in finding a map, just not a useful one. The map was clearly not to scale and just gave general directions, mostly saying he needed to take a tram to the far end of the airport. 
The pegasus trotted off into the needed direction which lead to something called airport security. So he followed the signs, sure it couldn’t be that bad. It couldn’t be any worse than Canterlot Security or the screening at the portal. He found another line, the same direction he needed to go, the lines reinforced with a blue-rope between metal poles. Thankfully the line moved quickly and soon he could see the white doorless door frame up ahead. He stopped dead in his tracks, almost tripping the human behind him who moved up out of reflex. 
The last thing Stormy wanted was to go through that again, but even if it was different, every new screening method had been some new kind of horror he never could have predicted. The pegasus moved forward though, he only had one direction to go; there was still a schedule to keep and something so quick shouldn’t be that much of a problem. He set his saddle bag on the conveyer belt the others were putting their stuff on, including for some odd reason their shoes. 
The guard wore a blue shirt but had a metal badge on his chest like the human at the portal had. However; this one had something Stormy didn’t expect to see as every other human had been without it so far, facial hair. The hair covered his upper lip, went around the side of the mouth and down the chin. The hair on his head had receded quite a ways and every hair was white from age. He had just asked the human in front of the pegasus to remove his shoes and spread his arms and legs. At least this time Stormy could see what would happen to him beforehoof. It actually looked pretty simple as the pegasus saw the human finish and pass through. It was now his turn. 
He stepped up to the door frame to the surprise of the guard who did a double take on the pony. 
“Step through please.” The guard ordered. 
As Stormy stepped through, he heard what was quickly becoming a standard beep. 
The guard gave him a serious look. “Spread you wings and your legs.” After doing so, they guard patted down him down, including his wings. It felt strange, pegasi were very protective of their wings and didn’t care for them being touched. It also took all of his restraint to keep from twitching his wings, especially when his cutie mark, a very sensitive part of his body, was patted down. That was something you only did to close friends or lovers, and this guy was neither. 
“Move along.” The guard brusquely ordered. 
Stormy flapped over to his bag, picking it up in his mouth and trotted down the hall until he could no longer see the security checkpoint. Then he slowed down long enough to put the saddlebag back over his flank and to find another map or transportation to his concourse.
A sign pointed to a set of stairs leading belowground to something called an AeroTrain. The steps were easy to navigate, Equestria had them and remarkably they were the same height. There were a set of moving stairs that some people seemed to ride down, but Stormy wanted to stick with what he knew best. Too many more new things might cause him to panic. 
Below was definitely a sight to see, it was an underground train. The floor was a polished off-yellow material and a train was in the station. The train car was white while accented with a deep blue and its huge open doors could welcome three people at once. Red lettering above the car said it was headed to concourses A, B, and C, so the pegasus happily made his way over and got on. 
Inside there were no seats, which suited Stormy just fine since human seats were of course designed for a human and might leave him trying to keep his forehooves from sliding off the seat, it hadn’t happened so far and he wanted to keep it that way. 
“Doors are closing.” A melodious female voice announced as the doors slid out from inside the walls of the car and slid toward each other. A human on the other side ran with a rolling suitcase in tow, but he missed the doors closing. As the train pulled away, the pegasus couldn’t understand why it couldn’t have waited for a few seconds. How often do they run anyway? He wondered, hoping it wasn’t too long. There were only a dozen people in this car and it would have easily held at least three times that many. 
His wait was rather short after less than a minute the train stopped and the same female voice said, “Concourse A, doors opening.” The doors opened for two minutes while people got on and off, then the voice informed them “Doors are closing” and they were off again, thankfully without leaving anybody behind. 
After another quick minute the train stopped. “Concourse C, doors opening.” The female voice said in exactly the same way it had for the other door, something Stormy doubted a human could do so perfectly. What happened to concourse B?  He questioned as he walked off along with the rest of the passengers; he knew it would leave with him still on it. And while it was fast, he didn’t know what other procedures he might have to do before boarding the plane.
He decided to pick himself up a watch if he could find someplace, it would be very important here, which was probably why everybody was wearing one. Every person he saw seemed to have a watch and a little plastic slab they seemed to call either an iPhone or Galaxy, there were a few other names, but those were the ones he kept hearing. But, they would be hard to use with hooves, especially while walking. 
Stormy ascended the stairs to what should be the proper concourse. He exited into a long corridor. There were spaces with at least a hundred uncomfortably looking seats in rows and a tacky grey-blue carpet. The windows were the same floor to ceiling type he had seen in the area he had received his ticket but the rest of the walls were a type of pocked white material. The closest sign told him he was at terminal C1. 
The pegasus saw there would be no more checks, in fact C4 across from him had started boarding and people were going in. He really needed to check the time. To his right, it looked like a bunch of shops that ranged from food to merchandise. At the same time his stomach rumbled, he decided he should get some food. Unfortunately, he didn’t bring any food with him; he would have to eat human food, the stuff he would be eating for the next few years. 
“Might as well get used to it now.” The pegasus tried to act happy, but he knew a human diet was far removed from a pony diet. He ate flowers and hay fries, humans ate meat. Then he began wondering why. Why do they eat meat? Is it good? There had to be something about it, griffons liked the stuff too. Stormy had just never thought to ask before, that and the smell would turn his stomach. The thought of having to end the life of something just to eat threatened to send him into a panic, or would have if he didn’t realize humans didn’t look at him like food and it more than likely being required to live. 
The area was a mixture of odors, Stormy couldn’t tell them apart. Some were sweet, or flowery, or even powdery while others were tart or burned a little and more than one was a little rank. He started hoping all humans at least had a similar smell like Equestrian life did, that way he could at least get used to it. 
Stormy headed off to the shops, first stop was food then maybe a book on local customs, nothing beat a book about humans by humans he was sure. He felt safe getting food, he knew it wasn’t yet 12 and the lady that gave him his ticket had said his flight was delayed. He would still check the time at his first chance.
The first restaurant he came to was called Burgerphile, but one whiff and a good look at their menu told him it wasn’t a place to get food unless he wanted meat. The word ‘chicken tenders’ told him that. Another thing disturbed him more though, something he hoped was a means of survival, and the items given the most space on their board or the most advertisement were the items with the most meat. What was more worrying was that next door was a place that seemed to serve exclusively fish.
So Stormy kept walking, trying to find something more appealing. The next place he found had the food wrapped in a clear plastic. The main ingredient seemed to be rice and some sort of green sheets; several were made with fish, but as he got closer, some clearly said vegetarian. To make it even better, there was currently no line.
There were two humans working behind the counter, Stormy put his hooves on top of it to make it easier to order. “Excuse me.” He interrupted politely into their conversation. “What are these?” The pegasus asked, pointing to the unusual food in the display. 
“Sushi. It’s from Japan.” The male informed. He was dressed in white with short black hair and olive skin. “Basically rice and seaweed wrapped around some other filling like fish or avocado.”
Stormy didn’t know what to order. It did look good; one even had pieces of cucumber sticking out. His mouth began to water. It didn’t look like a lot of food, but grains could be pretty filling. “I would like that cucumber roll, and…” The pegasus looked at the display, unsure of what else to order. “What would you recommend?”
“Personally?” He asked. “I love the spam musubi. It may be a bit outside your usual fare,” The worker sounded unsure, but was trying to sell something. “If you like, I can wrangle up a sample for you. This stuff sells out so fast.”
The offer did sound good, although he had no idea what spam was, surely the human knew what he was doing, his job was to make food after all. 
“NO!” The other human yelled. “What kind of idiot are you?!” He demanded. The new human wore nothing but white with a strange hat on his head with weird squiggles on it. “Why don’t you take your break now and we can discuss this when you get back.” Even to the pegasus that was not actually a request.
The first human looked offended but took off his apron and set it on the counter before walking off.
The second human came over. “Sorry ‘bout that.” He apologized. “Name’s Takeuchi, nice ta meetcha. You won’t be wantin’ the musubi. It’s meat.”
Stormy’s stomach flipped. He wouldn’t have been afraid of trying it later, but the human had basically tried tricking the pony into eating it. He suddenly wasn’t hungry, who knew what else the human might have tricked the pony into eating; yet he needed food, it had been about four hours since eating and he wouldn’t get into LA now until 4:30 that evening. 
“Do ponies eat protein?” This new human asked. “Beans? Soy? Things like that?”
“Y-yes. Beans.” Stormy stuttered. He wasn’t the biggest fan, but this human had just saved him from something that undoubtedly would have benefitted his shop and was trying to start a conversation. Something told him to give it a minute more. 
“Sorry. Never had a pony here.” Takeuchi admitted. “You can eat cooked food?”
“Yes.” Stormy replied. Why is he asking these things? 
“Tell ya what.” The food worker started. “Give me six bucks and I’ll letcha have the cucumber roll and an order of inari, it’s basically cooked fermented soy wrapped around rice.” He smiled. Genuinely hoping his customer hadn’t been too offended. 
Stormy took a look at the display and instantly regretted it. The price on the cucumber was eight dollars, even without seeing the price of the inari, it was already a large discount. But what could he do? He would need food and worried that if he declined this person would be hurt. He reluctantly pulled out the requested six dollars using his hoof and gave it to the worker. All ponies could pick up items with their hooves, it was an innate magic, Stormy normally didn’t if it was in his pack because it took more time and he couldn’t always see what he was reaching for. 
Takeuchi took the proffered money and happily handed the pegasus two containers of food which were quickly stored in his bag, he still had one more stop to make. 
Stormy made his way to C-12; he had a delay to check on. A screen had information for several flights. His, Flight 327, was delayed until…2:30! A clock on the same screen informed the pegasus that it was only 11:26. He had a three hour wait in front of him. Good thing he bought some food. But if this happened again, more food might be in order. Stormy headed off to find someplace that sold snacks.
In search of some snacks, he passed a drink shop whose major colors were green and emitted an acrid smell of a chemical he was unfamiliar with. It definitely wasn’t hot chocolate, so he kept walking. If he was going to have something to drink, it would be something that would taste good.
After a few more minutes of searching and passing several more restaurants and waiting areas for passengers, he finally found what he wanted. Books. This delay had been unexpected; Stormy thought those two hours would be needed for more paperwork or other procedures which seemed loved by governments, not forgetting the filing of forms in triplicate. This was also his first chance to read up on humans from a human source.
The small storefront was something called “Hudson News” and seemed to have everything he would need. The first thing he headed for was the newspapers, news should have good information, next would be a book, and then a snack; if he could trust them. 
The far end by the front contained a newspaper stand; it was made of metal and held several different stack of papers. Each one seemed to be from a different area: LA Times, The Wall Street Journal, Daily News, The Sun, Yomiuri Shimbun, and a few others. But there was no Hudson News which seemed odd, maybe they were just a supplier; either that or these were papers they owned and papers were just named by the area they represented. Only one seemed applicable for where he was headed, so the pegasus grabbed an LA Times, holding it with his wing while he shopped for other supplies.
The human at the counter was the palest Stormy had seen yet, with several freckles and shaggy dull orange hair, she was tall and lanky. The clerk seemed to ignore the pegasus, only looking back at him from time to time as he wandered looking for food. 
Stormy had no trouble finding the food on the opposite end of the store; it was all in bags so he could see what they looked like. The first food he recognized was a bag of dried pineapple. The mustard yellow pegasus was used to fresh fruit, but they could be eaten dried in a pinch, or if away from fresh items which was what this one seemed for. The next food he noticed were the nuts, he didn’t know which ones to go with though and had yet to figure out conversion rates enough to truly grasp how prices would translate. The pegasus just grabbed a bag of pineapple, a bag of cashews, and a bag of something called red vines to try something new hoping it was some kind of foliage; an item this place was severely lacking.
With the paper under his wing and three bags of food carried in his left hoof, Stormy ambled his way to the counter, which was taller than the others he had been forced to use. After a moment, the pegasus was able to get the leverage and a hoof to see over it. Using his muzzle, he put each bag separately on the counter then lowered it under his wing to pull out the paper. He caught a glimpse of a bottle that required biting down to sip its contents, it looked perfectly designed for a pony so it was added to his small pile of consumables.
After setting his last item on the counter Stormy had a question for something he couldn’t do himself. “What book do you recommend?” The pony had noticed the wall of brightly colored tomes, each designed to get a reader’s attention in the hopes they would buy it. Stormy would have loved to, but knowing nothing about human standards he would have to rely on the clerk’s opinion or spend hours trying to find the proper book.
The human took a step back, the nametag on his blue apron claiming his name was Bobby. He knit his brows in confusion for a bit before answering. “Well, that would depend on your criteria. Are you looking for something dramatic and heart rending? Or something with a little more action?” The clerk said, head still mulling over the problem. “I don’t think we stock anything publish in Equestria though; only what tends to be popular en masse.”
“Action.” Stormy said quickly, he had been a fan of action series. He had read Daring Do, even if it wasn’t his favorite. Her missions into the Griffon Kingdoms were probably the best in the series. Where the intrepid hero had to work with a griffon to thwart Ahuizotl in pursuit of the Battle Helm of the Lunar Princess, an artifact from before ponykind that was supposed to have the power to illuminate that which could not be seen. 
“I would recommend this book,” Bobby walked from around the counter and grabbed a black clad book that carried a golden emblem off the shelf. “It’s one of the more popular books we have with the third movie coming out next week. It may be a bit violent though.” He winced, clearly unsure what was standard for pony fiction.
Stormy thought about it for a moment. He really needed to get a grasp on human culture, and this may be his best chance. Ignoring the clerk’s warning he nodded. “That’s fine.”
Bobby looked unsure, but he took the book to the counter. He started ringing the stuff up, taking a look at the headlines of the paper as he rang it up. When he came to the book though, he stopped. “Are you sure? It can be a bit…” He paused to figure out how best to phrase his qualms. “Violent.”
Stormy was happy this human was so kind, but action books tended to be violent, most heroes had to fight the villain to claim his prize. And no matter how badly a villain was beaten, they always came back. “I’m sure. How bad can the ‘Hunger Games’ be?” He asked.
Bobby rang it up and told Stormy the total which was quickly paid.
Stormy put his purchase into his saddlebags and headed off to his concourse. He had a long day so far and couldn’t wait to dig into lunch. 

> A Long Flight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Stormy trotted back to C-12, newly acquired items in his saddlebags. Looking for a place to sit, he didn’t feel like trying to read and eat while sitting in a chair designed for humans. There clearly weren’t any for ponies, not like ponies used them that often in Equestria though. So the pegasus went over to an open area of carpet near a window. He set his saddle bags gently on the ground and pulled out his newspaper and the food tray that housed a ‘cucumber roll’ and sat to wait for his plane. 
The clamshell design was remarkably easy for the pegasus to open with his hooves, splitting right open with the slices of rice staying put. Inside was twelve slices of cucumber roll, a small mound of something green along with a tiny red bag with even stranger words on it. His muzzle lowered to the container, sniffing along the way out of lingering doubt. Except for a slight tinge of plastic, it smelled delightful.
Stormy moved his muzzle closer to the ground and picked one up with his tongue, enjoying the firm strips of cucumber that were as fresh as the local deli in Canterlot. The seaweed was a unique flavor, but with the rice it was something almost divine. The pegasus then decided to see what the other two ingredients were. 
The small red package was lifted up to the pegasus’s mouth, the little triangles on the end a clear indicator of where to tear the packaging. Stormy gripped it on either side with his hooves and tore it open with his teeth, the pressure he applied squirting some into his mouth.
Stormy immediately dropped the package in shock. It was almost pure salt. Ponies can handle salt; it made things taste better, but in excess could be incredibly intoxicating. But his mouth only burned from the intense concentration of sodium. His head quickly dove into the saddlebag and he gulped water from his bottle, something he had the foresight to fill on the way to his current spot.
After alleviating the burn from the salt, Stormy eyed the small pile of green stuff and decided it wasn’t worth it. If it was anything like the packet, it would burn and he knew he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the delectable lunch. So he lowered his muzzle back into the tray to eat as he eyes the paper.
The newspaper was split into various sections including: news, food, entertainment, world and so on with the front page being devoted to the most important or eye catching news. The headline article in large letters read: “Pony Immigration Policy!” Followed in smaller words by: “Texas Senator Tow to argue for the bill later this week.” The article then proceeded to go into how the policy was designed to treat Equestria as a first world nation and relax visa requirement on visitors staying less than 90 days. A small quote from the Senator said: “It is only by acknowledging them as a leading country in caring for their people that we can become equals.” The bill was expected to be defeated in the house.
Stormy skimmed the article; human names were still hard to separate or remember and used a hoof to find the local section so he could better understand the area that would be his new home in a few months. But, he quickly closed it after seeing the lead article. “Two men found dead in Compton.” Followed by a picture of two men lying on the ground.
Maybe I’ve read enough in preparation. He pondered, trying to keep his hopes up. At the moment the best thing seemed to be running home as quick as his wings could carry him. There was just too much here. No one would feel disappointed. His family didn’t understand how their son could be so strange, how he couldn’t be like his siblings and just enjoy working with weather like he was destined to. His ‘friends’ were more like acquaintances, just there to grab a daisy sandwich and talk about the weather. The only one that would care would be Ai; did a unicorn he barely knew and had assaulted Stormy on their first encounter really matter into his decisions?
Yes. For some reason, even without knowing what she looked like under the armor; Stormy did not, under any circumstances want to appear as a coward to that pony. He would have to stay resolute in his determination. 
Stormy bent down to get another cucumber roll, only to realize they were all gone. He didn’t remember eating even half of them and contemplated having another. But he had to save his money; things were more expensive than he had expected so far. 
But he was still hungry and opened up the container of inari. They were sweet, yet the rice mellowed out whatever kind of sugar was used. There were only five and he made sure to enjoy every one of them. The tofu skin was especially interesting, it was a type of plant completely unfamiliar to the Equestrian, he would have to find more of it later. The pegasus quickly licked his lips and disposed of his containers in the nearest trash receptacle. 
The sound of a girl’s giggling drew his attention to a child tugging on her mother’s arm. The girl had curly blond hair, a pink dress, and bright pink backpack that bore an image of Celestia. The image showed Princess Celestia acting in a manner the regal ruler would never be caught in. Granted, Celestia had been known to pull pranks to liven things up from time to time, she always realized she was a role model to all ponies and now the public face of them as well. This image had none of those features and was created merely to pander to the tiny wishes of children.
“Mommy. I want to pet the pony though.” The girl whined.
The arm was contained in a black business suit like so many other humans wore in Washington DC. But the mom refused to be moved from her seat, and only grudgingly looked up from a computer screen she stared at, small rimless glasses balanced on her nose and brown hair pulled back into a bun.
Stormy cringed. He had been warned that human children might find him cute and want to climb on him, but the source’s reliability and tendency to provoke reactions made him doubt the sincerity. The girl’s actions though proved just how ‘cute’ he was.
The mother gave a look of amusement. Her features brightened as her daughter dragged her from work. “Sweetie.” She said. “He’s reading. You know people don’t like being bothered while reading.”
The daughter stuck out her lower lip as her eyes started to water. “But he’s so cute and fluffy. Please mommy.” The child pouted.
“I said no.” The older woman said sternly. “I don’t care. You need to learn proper manners.” As she stared at her progeny.
The child pouted and plopped into the seat next to her mom.
Stormy gave a silent thanks to his savior. The last thing he wanted was to be attacked by something that looked to him as a stuffed animal.
The mother returned a slight nod and went back to her computer.
Stormy looked back at the paper, but he just couldn’t get interested in it. The sports made no sense, hoofball and football were nowhere near the same. The food section wanted to talk about who had the best piece of charred cow flesh. And both the local and world sections talked about some war happening in a place called Korea or assaults in the area of Los Angeles. 
With two hours left before his plane left; Stormy pulled out his book and set it on the floor. 
Time to start reading, he thought. With nothing else to do but twiddle his pinions.

“Now boarding all first class passengers, equestrians and those with special needs for flight 273 to Los Angeles.” A voice rang throughout the waiting area. 
It was a blessed reprieve for Stormy. His book seemed decent at first, a story about a downtrodden people having to hunt to survive; it mirrored some stories of ponies and griffons working together so they could both survive; grim but necessary. This was another kettle of daisies. This was about a group of people being oppressed because of a lost war and for revenge, the descendants of the defeated were forced to kill themselves. It was horrid. How could anybody stand to read this? Surely it must get better. He hoped as the book was stuffed back into the saddlebag as the pony made his way to the aircraft. 
The line was short and Stormy found himself having to pull out his boarding pass when he got to the front. A woman stood there in a blue blazer with her auburn hair pulled back into a bun. She waited patiently while he dug around his bag, then happily took the proffered document. 
“If you can stand to the side for a moment Mr. Skies.” A hand indicating a spot by the door but outside the line as she held onto his pass. She then pulled a walkie talky off her belt, speaking to an unseen person. “We need a concierge to assist a 993 at gate C12.” She then 
Is something wrong with my ticket? Stormy fretted, hooves lifting slightly. He took the time to look outside the large windows and finally took notice off the large craft that sat connected to this building, and the half dozen similar craft scattered around the area. The pegasus had looked over basic information on planes, the large tubes of metal with wings and powerful engines that kept it aloft. The sheer size was astounding; the planes were bigger than houses. There weren’t many recommendations on dealing with human air travel from pegasi, but earth ponies and unicorns found it a little disturbing and preferred travel by pegasus. 
The line emptied, the entire string of humans that had been called entered the plane. Stormy was left waiting for the ‘concierge’ as his fidgeting increased, just waiting for something to go wrong and his family to be right; this would never work out.
As Stormy morosely stared out the window, shoulders slouching; a shadow formed in the reflection of his window. He turned around and had to look up, another human, this one male was standing there in a blue blazer and smiling with a closed mouth. 
“This way Mr. Stormy Skies.” The platinum maned human led the way into the corridor that connected C12 to flight 273. “We need to get you seated so the rest of the passengers can finish boarding.” Almost as an afterthought the human spoke; “My name’s Victor by the way.”
Stormy Skies stopped. How was he holding them up? Did he do something wrong?
As if reading the pony’s mind, the human started speaking again. “Ponies require a different kind of seat and special assistance with aircraft seating. My whole job is to make sure you have everything you need.”
“Thank you.” Stormy replied. This was odd. Why should he get so much help at almost every step of his journey? But with the spam incident and his new book fresh in mind, it may just be so.
The tube was a dirty white, as if used many time a day and never fully cleaned, as was the old blue carpet. It was only 100 feet in length and led to a rectangular ovoid door. 
Inside were two walls that led to a narrow walkway. Victor led the pony down the hall and it opened up into rows of seats. On either side were plush, two on each side of the aisle and went back 5 rows where another choke point with a small curtain blocked off the view to the back of the plane. These seats were half filled but Stormy hoped these weren’t his. He could easily fit in these, and comfortably at that, but they were made of leather. There was no way he could sit on the dried skin of a dead animal.
“This is first class seating; it requires a lot of money and isn’t really worth it for a pony. The seats are too big for you to fit securely and the full meal is the same one you can get in coach.”
“Food?” Stormy had food in his pack. “It’s only a few hours though.” 
“Five. That isn’t too long I suppose. It is long enough to need a meal though.” Victor sounded thoughtful as he pulled back the curtain.
The next area, which went to the back of the plane, had about 40 rows of seats with three on each side, with a sad blue fabric and much smaller seats. It seemed funny that every human could fit in one. But Victor stopped just beyond the curtain.
The seats were separated by unmoving blocks that looked like they fit a human arm on top of them. The two seats closest to the windows had a simple flat seat with a strap near one of the rests. But the aisle seat looked different. The seat was at an angle, with the front higher than the back of it, as if creating a pocket in which to hold something. There was also a strap on either side at the top of the seat. 
“This is yours” Victor offered. “If you can set your bag on the ground and jump up here, we can begin strapping you in and run through your unique safety session.”
“Does this mean there are no other Equestrians on this flight?” Stormy asked, hoping he might have someone to talk to, something non-alien to look at. “Shouldn’t this have been done sooner to not hold everyone up? I feel bad delaying them.” He asked, jumping onto his seat as his rump settled into the back and his forehooves remained comfortably by the front of his seat as the back supported him. 
“Nope, you just missed a group of three that was on the last flight. Equestrians are pretty rare, at least on this airline.” Victor answered. “As for being late…that was an oversight on our part. So let us worry about that.”
Victor reached up to the top straps. “This is a safety harness.” He said and pulled out two more from the bottom of his seat. “It’s designed to hold you in place in case the ride gets bumpy due to unruly air currents.  To remove it, just hit this button in the middle and any flight attendant would be happy to help put it back on.”
Stormy watched as the four straps stuck together with a small button in the middle.
Vincent continued his lecture. “In case of a loss of cabin pressure, a specially designed mask will drop out of the ceiling. Designed to fit over the muzzle, it will supply you with oxygen. The seat can be used as a floatation device and the exits are there, there and there.” He said pointing. 
Vincent then shoved Stormy’s saddlebags under seat and got up to leave the aircraft.
Stormy stopped him with a quick tap on the shoulders. “Can you hand me my book please?” He was secure, but that also meant he couldn’t reach his bag or anything in it. That book would be his only source of entertainment for the trip.
“Certainly.” Victor offered and pulled the bag back out. The book was right on top and handed over to the pegasus as the bag was shoved back under the seat. “Is there anything else you need?”
“No. And thank you.” Stormy replied.
Victor hurried back out the plane and within moments, more humans had begun boarding. 
Each of them looked different, but the stream began to blend together into a mass of anonymity. Stormy decided not to start reading in case someone needed to get past him into the two unoccupied seats. 
When the plane was half full, a tall woman in a red shirt with golden letters that spelled out ‘USC’ stood in the aisle near him, putting a bag into the compartment above his head. Her hair was curly, and so blonde as to be artificially colored.
She sidled passed him and sat by the window seat. “Hello there, deary.” She said, smiling sweetly. “Don’t think I’ve ever met an Equestrian before. My name’s Lori. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Stormy was slightly surprised, humans could be so polite. “My name is Stormy Skies. Nice to meet you too.” He stopped there, unaware of what he should say next.
But Lori seemed quite versed and picked up the conversation immediately. “Is this your first time flying? I seem to do this at least once a month.”
Stormy extended his left wing so as to not interfere with anyone still trying to find their seats. “Just my first time on an airplane.” His voice cracked a little as he began to fidget again.
“Safest mode of transportation, so don’t be worried.” She assured him. “What did you do there? Are you a student?”
“I guess I’m a student now.” 
“Do you go to school in LA? I am going there to visit my son, he won a full ride scholarship.” She asked.
“Just got accepted into UCLA in fact. I’m a little nervous.” Stormy admitted.
“I am so very sorry to hear that.” Lori stated half-sorry. 
“Why?” It’s supposed to be such a good school.
“Well, they did a report 2 years ago and UCLA was ranked the most dangerous campus in the country.”  She informed him condescendingly. 
This didn’t help Stormy’s tension. Maybe I can convince Ai to visit a little sooner than expected. Even an ex-guard would be helpful.
“I worked at the weather factory for the last three years.” Stormy hoped to change topics to something less terrifying. 
Lori’s eyes widened. “How old are you?”
“Seventeen.” Stormy replied, not understanding what the shock was for. He’d gotten a great education that taught him everything he needed to know: Astronomy, math, meteorology, Equestrian, History.
“You left school at fourteen?! Your parents should be ashamed! Forcing a child to work at that age.” The stunned woman expounded. “At least you are finishing your education now.”
This irked Stormy. Who was she to talk about his culture? That was the standard amount of time; he could even go into management if he could prove himself. He seethed for a moment, debating if it was worth arguing. The pegasus decided against it, he didn’t want to fight so he just stayed quiet.
It only worked for a few moments though as the loud speaker started up and the plane lurched backwards. “Welcome aboard flight 273 to LA this afternoon. We will be taking off in a few minutes after our flight crew goes over the safety procedures. We will be ascending to 40000 feet and should arrive at 5:12pm local time.”
The aircraft, Stormy wished he knew more about it, but the names were just numbers to him, unable to know the difference between an airbus and a 747. But, as it moved along the ground, striped asphalt passed by the window. 
Once the plane stopped, various humans in blue blazers stood at various spots down the aisle with a bag and began to pull various things out as the speaker started again. Stormy half listened, realizing it was almost an exact copy of the one he received. 
Stormy’s attention was brought back to the plane as it lurched again, and then began to speed up, and up, and up; faster than he had ever travelled before. The white and yellow lines were flashing past the window. Lori seemed to be ignoring everything, with her nose in a magazine. The nose lifted and the ground fell away, as did Stormy’s stomach. His body told him he was falling and his wings reflexively shot out. Lori’s magazine was now literally in her face, and the man sitting across the aisle, someone Stormy hadn’t paid any attention to; now had a face full of primary feathers.
Stormy felt the obstructions his wings had hit and knew they were people, but his wings refused to fold back up. The plane lurched down for a second and both people got smacked in the face again as the mustard yellow pony pumped his wings in an attempt to stop his descent. He could feel the adrenaline as panic set in, his blood chilled. I’m falling. His instincts screamed, despite what his eyes saw. 
Stormy beat his wings again, terrified at what the results might be. He could hear one of the flight attendants calling something in to the pilots. Must stop, must stop, must stop, must stop. But nothing helped. The pegasus looked to his left at Lori, who had her hands out to keep from being hit in the face again; casting an evil look at the first time flier. Stormy looked to his left; at the other person, who was slapping his hand on his leg and laughing; despite the wing in his face. 
Why is he laughing?! This is serious, we’re falling. We can’t hit the ground in this hunk of metal. But, the human kept laughing.
“Dude.” The guy looked over at Stormy, huge grin on his face. “You know, if you wanted to say hi; you could have just shaken my hand and given me your name.”
Stormy looked around, several other passengers looked confused or were smirking, the flight attendant in the aisle behind him looked scared, like a riot might break out. She stepped forward and the man held a hand up.
“Name’s Harold by the way.” The man said, using his hand to shake the end of Stormy’s wing, which retracted slightly at the unexpected touch. 
“S-s-s-stormy S-s-skies.” The pegasus replied.
“This must be your first time flying.” The man chuckled. “I remember my first time, but that was thirty years ago.” The man leaned back as he reminisced. His black hair was turning grey at the sides, his skin the darkest Stormy had ever seen. “I was a kid back then, travelling from New York to Georgia as my family had been relocated due to work. The plane took off and I cried like a baby. My brothers never let me live that one down.”
Stormy relaxed a little, the muscles in his wings relaxed. He leaned forward, to better hear.
“I overheard that you’re a student at UCLA.” The man continued his conversation, distracting the panicked pony. The plane leveled off and Stormy didn’t realize that his wings had retracted several minutes before. “My older brother went there, made for interesting Thanksgivings with the school rivalry. But he loved that place. Always came back with great stories. This one time,” Harold stopped and pressed his lips together in thought. “Never mind. That’s not an appropriate story.”
But Stormy was too intrigued by now. “What happened?”
“Well, let’s just say that if anyone tries to sell you tickets to the pool for seniors on the roof of a building; don’t believe. And if you do, make sure to take a towel.” And then Harold crashed into the back of his chair laughing, getting a mildly annoyed look from the guy sitting behind him. 
“I don’t get it.” Stormy confessed.
Harold wiped a tear from his eye. “Give it some time.” He then went back to laughing at Stormy and looked at the small wall in front of him and closed his eyes.
Stormy ruffled his wings in frustration. This truly was a weird…
He ruffled his feathers again. Stormy looked down to make sure. His wings were folded back at his sides. When did that happen?
The pegasus looked to Lori at his right, but she was ignoring him solidly with her magazine. 
Without any idea what else to do for five hours, and still not sure how they could spend five hours in the air and yet arrive in three hours; Stormy pulled the book out from next to himself and started reading. 

> Arrival
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy was happily interrupted in his reading. Something odd happened, a character died. Not a main one, but it came early as if it wasn’t any big deal. But it was death. What broke the pegasus from his book was an announcement over the intercom that flight attendants would be coming through with drinks and food if anyone wanted to pay for them. 
Stormy was mildly hungry, it was approaching his standard dinner time, but he didn’t want to undue his harness to get out what few packages of he did bring. He didn’t want to spend any more money than he absolutely had to, but he could use some cold water.
Stormy couldn’t see too well beyond the curtain into first class, but it looked like they were getting fancy fluted glasses and plates whose smells were thankfully drowned out by the odors of all the humans and the smell of the aircraft itself. The pegasus looked in the back of the aircraft and saw the flight attendant pushing a metal cart down the aisle, passing out packets of food and small cups of water.
Stormy really needed a question answered about time; surely humans didn’t control its manipulation. He looked to his right, hopefully Harold could answer it. But the man was sound asleep, his chin literally sat on his chest. 
The pegasus looked to his left, at Lori. He didn’t want to talk to that person again, she didn’t like talking to him since his minor freak out and decided it was best to leave her alone. 
The more he thought about the flight attendant passing out food and drinks, the thirstier and hungrier he got until his stomach audibly growled, granting him a dirty look from Lori. With nothing else to do, Stormy went back to his book. 
The pegasus only got a few more pages into Hunger Games before a clamshell container of food appeared on the armrest, just inside his peripheral vision. Stormy looked up at the lady. “I don’t have the money for this.” He could wait a few more hours for food, or if he got really desperate just get the pineapple out of his bags under the seat.
“It’s already been paid for.” The blonde-haired lady informed him. “I believe there’s a note on the container.”
Stormy lowered his gaze, and sure enough, there was a white slip of manufactured paper sitting atop the container. “This can’t be for me.” He said in disbelief.
“I can assure you that it is. This is the Equestrian meal option complete with hay fries, and you are the only pony on this plane.” She assured him. “Can I get you anything to drink? We have tea, water, milk, juice, coffee, and soda.”
Stormy didn’t feel like trying anything new, he had yet to try a human bathroom and didn’t know what effects these new drinks might have on his bladder or his nerves. If only they had a nice cider. He wished. “I’ll just have some water please.” 
The woman put some ice in a little plastic cup and then filled it with water. She handed it to the pegasus, but stopped short with no idea where to put it.
Stormy reached up and grabbed the lip of the cup with his teeth and gingerly set it between his rear legs. He didn’t trust the pull down tray and this would keep it within easy reach. The cold didn’t bother his legs and it wasn’t close enough to chill his stomach, or other sensitive bits. 
The flight attendant wasn’t perturbed in the slightest and turned to Lori. “Would you like something to eat ma’am”
“No thank you.” Lori replied, focusing on some magazine called Vogue. 
The flight attendant turned to the people across the aisle.
Stormy opened the small letter with his name on the envelope. There were only a few lines. 
Don’t be an idiot! You still have to eat and I know you didn’t order one in advance.
That was it. Not even a name to go with it.
Stormy’s sigh turned into a grin. He opened the packaging and looked at his early dinner. A sandwich with some unknown mix of flowers and cold greasy hay fries. He took a bite, and wished he had more of those cucumber thingies. 


Thump. The plane shook.
Stormy sat, unmoving until the remnants of his water tipped over; soaking his legs. He jumped from the shock, restrained by the harness though all he did was wake in a start looking around at his world. 
Somehow the pegasus had fallen asleep. He yawned and looked out the window. Painted lines of white and yellow flashed past. The last thing Stormy remembered was staring out at the clouds, never seeing the clouds so far below or the sky so dark in the middle of the day. He had to blink several times to finish waking up. Remembering the last incident with his wings; decided not to stretch them until he disembarked form the plane. But he still stretched through his legs and into the shoulders. 
Stormy’s tray of food was missing, obviously thrown out by someone. 
“Local time is 5:20 and a warm 86 degrees.” A voice reported through the plane’s speakers. 
Stormy looked around checking if he could remove his restraints yet. He wasn’t used to being held down and it felt uncomfortable; ponies, being four legged didn’t fall down easily enough for restraints to be needed. But everyone still had theirs on as the plane came to a complete stop and a large being could be seen through the window. 
A small ding rang through the plane and a light Stormy hadn’t noticed until now went off. And, before he could register what was going on, the entire craft became a hive of activity. At once it seemed, every human unlatched their belts, stood up and began prying bags out of overhead spaces. 
Stormy put a hoof to his chest, pressing the small button and with a click the lower two straps fell away leaving the top two hanging in place. The feeling of being free was quickly restrained by the being surrounded by aliens; his mind didn’t have enough time to process that he wasn’t in Canterlot anymore. The pegasus hopped down to the floor and stuck his muzzle under the seat, straining to pull out his bag. 
The bag was stuck fast and when it finally budged it threw Stormy into the small wall. To top it all off, no one was moving yet. Stormy pranced, small spaces were not good for antsy pegasi as anypony who’d ever visited a hospital could attest to. Maybe this is why no pegasus had been able to comment on air travel. They were smart enough to avoid it.
The throng began to move, slowly shuffling forward with small bags in tow. The line would stop to let some passengers out, it seemed orderly with the front emptying first. Except no one would stop to let him out. So, he had to decide on whether to force his way through, or wait for everyone else to file out. The pony was unable to know if they were being mean or just didn’t see him there at about half the height of a human. The young pegasus went with the second option. He wanted out. 
Settling the saddlebag on his back, Stormy slowly forced his way into line until he was part of it, slowly moving towards the exit. Wings fluttering, they wanted to soar, but there was nowhere near enough room in the tight confines. The line stopped and Stormy decided to sit, someone had dropped their bag and the contents spilled everywhere. They would have such an easier time if they went naked. He could hear his father speaking, in one of their last conversation before the young pegasus left for school. 
A sharp spike of pain ran up his spine. Stormy turned around to see that someone had stepped on his tail without looking, someone in a red shirt. She quickly backed up once their eyes met, giving a halfhearted apology. He was really starting to dislike that person. His tail didn’t even reach the ground. He stood back up, not wanting a repeat incident. His tail was slightly longer than standard, but a knee length tail felt best to him. 
The exit of the plane led straight into a walkway exactly like the one used to enter the plane in Washington. So Stormy was shocked when the waiting area looked different. The seats near the exit were in rows like at Dulles, but there were other at tall tables he would have to jump to reach or with the backs all facing a center circle in little pods spread around the area. And the different terminals were all in a half circle around the area with a few shops. 
Stormy decided to follow the people, assuming they knew where to go, but everyone seemed headed either to the restrooms or towards an area called baggage claim, neither of which were his destination. Still, he followed and the signs indicated the exit was in the same direction. The pegasus took a moving stairwell down to a lower level, careful to keep his tail up to avoid getting it hurt again. 
The path led to a long white corridor at least 25 feet across with harsh fluorescent lighting and a strange fake white polished floor, similar to the one in Dulles. The 10 foot height was nice, it reminded him how much larger this world was, and how much room he should be able to get. The hallway seemed to go on forever as he slowly trotted through the white hallway. It was at least 200 feet long. But, after being holed up for so long, he felt like a good run. 
Stormy opened into a full gallop, taking advantage of an empty area to stretch his wings and with one solid pump, propelled himself forward. The hallway opened into a wide area, with circular machines and bags moving around the top of them. Humans turned to look as the speeding pony passed; his clopping was an unusual sound overriding the clack of shoes. 
The path forked, doors to the outside world were on the right with baggage machines in front and on the path to his left. Stormy put his hooves down to stop and achieved zero traction. He pawed at the ground with his front hooves as his rump hit the cold floor and all he did was begin to spin. The pegasus’s wings were useless so he tucked them in to prevent damage as he spun right into the carousel. 
Stormy lay there on his stomach for a few minutes, dazed. That would never have happened in Equestria, this world was not made for ponies. The cornflower-blue maned pegasus stared out the glass and metal doors sitting to his right. He didn’t know what he imagined other than that wasn’t it. 
Outside the windows everything was dark and dirty. A mass of sidewalk covered by a concrete awning was followed by a mass of asphalt filled with cars, a berm and then a street wide enough for two cars side-by-side which was also full. The area clearly hadn’t been cleaned in a long time with black blobs that could barely been seen from his vantage point. No wonder humans don’t eat with their hands, they’d track dirt everywhere. 
Stormy shakily moved back onto his hooves. “Now.” He looked around. “Where’s that shuttle at?” The pegasus rummaged through the papers in his saddlebags again, there were directions in there. 
Stormy quickly read the directions. “Lower level. Green sign.” He muttered to himself. 
Stormy walked over to the glass doors looking for a handle. When he approached though; they opened by themselves. Technology.
The pegasus looked around once he stepped outside, trying his hardest to ignore the acrid smell of ozone and chemicals that spewed out of everything, including a stick one guy held up to his mouth. This place was dirtier up close. 
Every column he saw displayed a large white number 6 in a blue box. There was no green sign saying ‘Flyaway’ in sight. It was a direct shuttle service from LAX to UCLA. Not knowing where else to go, he turned left, the paper said there was one for every terminal. He would find one eventually. 
As Stormy walked, it became clear that the inner street was for dropping off and picking up people while the lane on the far end of the berm was for quick travel and finding the proper terminal. 
“Travel shouldn’t be this hard.” Stormy grumbled. This being his first long trip; outside of basic training programs like flight camp, he never travelled. He began to dread his return trip in only a few days’ time. 
Lost in thought, Stormy bumped into another human. This one a younger male, who was so intent in his book that he didn’t seem to notice the pony. Looking up, the pegasus realized this was his stop. The green sign clearly stated ‘Flyaway, buses.”
Stormy sighed with relief, he’d finally found it. Looking around he decided to stand, his only other choice was to sit on the dirty concrete or a bench where the shuttle might miss him. With that, he set in to wait.
“You know.” The human started in the most refined accent Stormy had yet heard from a human. It would have fit perfectly into the Canterlotian upper crust. “It’s polite to apologize when you bump into someone.” His eyes never leaving the book, something called ‘Foundation’.
Stormy debated if he should just deny it; he’d had enough trouble for one day. Peace and quiet and to be left alone like he was at home seemed perfect. He didn’t. He couldn’t. 
“Sorry.” The pegasus muttered, “I was lost in thought.” He lowered his head. This was getting embarrassing.
“Quite alright. You had to have had a much longer trip than I.” The human replied calmly.
“A little.” Stormy replied, not knowing how far this person had come. The Earth was very large, and he’d only covered a fraction of it. 
“My name is Edward by the way.” He said, lowering his right hand to the pony without ever moving his eyes from the book. He even managed to turn the page with one hand. 
“Stormy Skies.” The pegasus took the proffered hand, assuming it was similar to a hoof bump and Edward shook his hoof. “Is it considered polite to read while talking to somepony?” Tired of everything, and never quite liking the upper class ponies who felt others should obey rules that they blithely ignored.
“Quite right.” Edward closed his book without using a bookmark and grinned at the pony. “Have you been on Earth long?”
“Just a few hours. Came through the portal this morning.” Stormy didn’t feel much like talking, but he had to be polite. “I think.”
“You think?” Edward’s voice went up. “How can you not know?”
“I left Washington at two on a five hour flight.” Stormy let the answer hang. It should have been eight.
“Earth has time zones. Because the world is round, one side is twelve hours head of the other. This country has multiple time zones each being an hour apart. The west coast is three hours behind the east coast.” Edward calmly lectured, he seemed well educated which fit his look. Being well dressed in a button up green shirt and a tie, his brown hair shiny from some sort of product and looked similar to that of the males in full suits that Stormy had seen moving through the airport. 
That made sense, especially with their ‘natural’ system. Equestria had only one time zone, for all the area that was known, the sun would rise and fall across the entire known world at the same time. Stormy couldn’t explain it, that’s just how Celestia raised and lowered the sun, keeping their entire world in balance.
While Stormy thought about this, Edward had gone back to his book. The pegasus had never heard of anypony so involved with books.
Stormy went back to waiting for the shuttle and for this day to be over. 
	
	

> Finally There
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy watched the different vehicles pass. The most common vehicles were cars, but every so often other vehicles would pass. The most common was a longer and taller version of the car, clearly designed as people transports. Judging by his earlier experience they could probably hold about eight people quite comfortably and had presumably four doors for people to enter through, but for some reason they mostly contained only one or two people. The occasional yellow car with a sign proclaiming ‘taxi’ would stop and wait for a passenger to enter. The least common vehicle was some sort of transport, they had only one row of seating but there was an open area in back for moving heavy items. 
It was a boring wait, standing as time passed. The pegasus didn’t want to read while standing, he’d have to set it on the ground and maybe get it damaged. It wasn’t what he would normally read but he wouldn’t judge it until finishing it. 
The number of cars would have surprised him if he hadn’t been warned about LAX being one of the biggest airports in the country. The stream of traffic never stopped or even let up. With each new vehicle picking people up and only rarely dropping people off. This area must be reserved only for those arriving. Maybe their ‘haphazard’ method of placing things is just more efficient by their standards.
Stormy yawned, inhaling a large gulp of the foul air. No one else seemed to care. 
A glimpse of fuchsia and the pegasus turned his head. It was just a glimpse, but it was a glimpse of the first pony he’d seen since arriving to this world. He felt less alone, he really wasn’t the only pony.
A large white people mover pulled up, longer than the previous ones the young pony had seen. It was at least half a length longer than the other people movers, the only hint of coloration being the blue letters on the side ‘Flyaway.’ The vehicle pulled over in front and a set of double doors pulled aside and a heavy set man made his way slowly down the triple steps. 
Edward passed the man a black roller suitcase and handed the man a small ticket, which was accepted and the man moved over to Stormy. 
The pegasus quickly pulled another slip of paper out of his saddlebags and hoofed it over. It was a standard printout on human paper that the driver took quizzically as Stormy boarded the shuttle. He saw the driver take another look at the ticket then shove it in the pocket with Edward’s before going around the back with the lone suitcase. 
Stormy saw the seats and immediately preferred the airplanes. The seats were shorter, meaning he’d have to sit in an unnatural manner. The pegasus climbed up to the first empty seat, next to a blonde female with an alabaster complexion and jet black hair who was asleep against the window. He placed his rump and dock along the seat with his croup against the back, his rear legs hung off the edge. It wasn’t comfortable but he could hold it for the short trip to school.
The heavy set man reboarded the shuttle and closed the door. The vehicle started with a lurch. It merged out into the second lane and for a couple dozen feet then merged back into the first lane to pick up more passengers. Three passengers boarded before the full shuttle left the curb. There were only two empty seats as the shuttle pulled up to the last terminal, where only one person got on. Again, Stormy was the only pony, which got him a few curious looks from the other passengers.
As the shuttle moved down the road it passed several tall poles carrying lights that would force the vehicle to stop. Stormy had seen them before in Washington but had paid them no heed. The longer he was on Earth though; the more it became real and that he had to learn this stuff. The lights dictated traffic movements on the full roads and kept it moving faster than walking could have. 
Then the shuttle entered a different kind of road, it was elevated with sides made of concrete. The other surprising thing for the pony was the width, four full lanes of traffic going in a single direction, with a matching road on the other side. The flow of traffic sped up from 20 to 60 miles an hour by the pegasus’ estimation. 
This is rather nice. Stormy thought as the gentle rocking slowly relaxed him. The view was nothing phenomenal, with houses and some other buildings passing by the elevated road; nothing as grand as what was in Washington, Canterlot or even the mechanisms of the vehicles around him. The buildings were bland with straight sides and subdued colors or plain concrete walls. 
One of these days Stormy hoped to get a window seat for a better view, even if the one his current seat afforded wasn’t bad. A few things were becoming obvious about humans, things that just never occurred without actually seeing it. True, every person looked different beyond just their clothing and it was hard to see, but that subtle individuality expressed itself in everything he had seen and probably everything they did. 
The pegasus, even with seeing only a couple hundred cars, he had so far seen no two the same. Ones that looked the same were different sometimes by small things like stickers on the backs on their vehicle. The colors were as varied as ponies, some more so like the neon green box-like car that passed the shuttle a moment before. But the styles were all different; each car had different lines, different lengths and heights. It was so different from back home where ponies would have carts for work or a carriage which were rare; there was no need to decorate them so they stood out. 
It was hard for the pegasus to compare due to sheer numbers. Los Angeles had almost four million people in it. Canterlot only had 400,000 which included the main guard barracks and Stormy couldn’t even imagine what this city would truly look like. 
Stormy stared out the window as more cement barricades passed by until the shuttle shifted to the rightmost lane, taking a turn onto another large road. The new road was greener with the raised sides instead being slopes that housed trees and bushes. Beyond the road a few large building could be seen or else it was just the road, the trees, and fellow vehicles.
It took the pegasus a few moments for the major change to set in; the number of lanes doubled as the traffic slowed. The section he was on had eight lanes all going the same direction; wide enough to house the Wonderbolt’s racetrack in Canterlot. The shuttle was in the left hand lane and Stormy could see the other side which was moving the same speed the shuttle had been minutes before. 
The shuttle slowed to a crawl. The sea of cars became a dammed up river with it raised sides and unmoving current. The hum of a thousand motors replacing the strum of a current. The only river the Equestrian could think comparable in size to this road was the Amapone River in Equitos, the longest river ever discovered in Equestria. 
Stormy closed his eyes to imagine sunbathing on a low hanging cloud above the Pronktze in summer. Letting the warmth of the sun warm his fur and dry his feathers after a pleasant dip after work. 
Every car the pegasus saw had its windows rolled up and the ones on the shuttle refused to open; which would be a bad idea. One of the first things covered in making a cloud was the density and dispersion of water droplets in the resulting formation. Their instructor, when after the fifth try ponies still didn’t understand the needed opacity for low hanging clouds, decided to make a layer of water vapor that simulated a convex plate of glass designed to focus the light onto his group of students. The entire group wound up with singed fur and poor Raindrops developed a minor sunburn through her fur. Glass magnified light and the heat it created, but the shuttle just like Dulles Airport remained cool. 
After ten minutes the traffic had barely moved, these vehicles only moved faster if they were moving. Stormy wondered what could be causing such congestion. The only time something like this happened in Canterlot would be a Royal Parade or during the rare occasions that one of the princesses made a special showing of raising their celestial object. 
Or it could be an accident.  Stormy realized, it was just a rare occurrence that anything like that could hold up traffic in Equestria where a pony could quickly take an alternate route or in his case, hop over the area. 
“I hate rush hour.” A human male in a hoodie in front of Stormy muttered. “Every damned day. When are they going to fix this mess?”
The female next to him laughed. “When hell freezes over.”
This was news, it was standard. Then why don’t they walk to work? Ponies do it all the time. Almost nopony needs a ride. Or take more shuttles; the seats aren’t that bad for humans at least. His legs were uncomfortable in their semi-unnatural position. 
The quiet hum of the motor and mutterings of the people and their music were drowned out by a deafening roar. Stormy’s blood froze as the noise came up quickly from behind the shuttle; it sounded like a lindworm. A giant limbless dragon, they could coil around smaller castles and killed anything that came close or was nearby during one of its rampages.
The pegasus’ head snapped around, trying to look out every window at once. He didn’t see any giant snake heads with greedy green eyes. But a lindworm wouldn’t have a hard time hiding in this environment with the grey concrete, bright green plants and the plethora of vehicles. Nobody gave the slightest concern of the approaching noise. 
The noise passed the pony’s side of the shuttle as it sped off. Stormy caught sight of a new creature, more than likely just a human with unique ideas on clothing and means of conveyance though. The pegasus was able to get a better look as it passed by the front window. 
The creature on top resembled a human; the body covered by a black skin tight black suit including gloves and boots. It wore a helmet, the front half a bright yellow while the back was azure all the way up to the hard ears. The vehicle, which the human hugged to their body, because only humans were known to live on this planet, had two wheels, one in front of the other. The entire thing was black, the only color differences were the result of the various materials used in the construction. 
As his heartbeat slowed from his second bout of panic in the same day, Stormy Skies realized he could never have been ready for this, not without a primary source. He shifted his legs and waited for the log jam to move.

1.5 Hours Later
The shuttle pulled off the big road onto a smaller curvier one. This one only had two lanes of traffic going in either direction with only a painted yellow line to separate them. Despite the decreased size, traffic moved at what seemed a normal pace for cars. The dimming light of a setting sun just made what he saw next even more impressive.
The buildings were huge, easily making up for the loss in size of the road, some at least 15 stories tall and easily beating anything short of Canterlot Castle itself. The vermillion, and orchid, along with the emerging midnight blue all reflected beautifully off a building whose exterior was made entirely of glass. But not all the building had such uses for their windows; many were mostly some form of stone or stone facsimile. However; they were amazing to the young pony. 
As if someone flipped a switch, the buildings shrunk into a more familiar height after just one street. The new buildings were only a few stories tall; it was clear they were all shops or restaurants. Stormy stared and wondered what could be in each of these stores. He couldn’t wait to see them, but during the day when it would be safer. He didn’t know how safe the most dangerous campus was, but Earth had a lot more crime than Equestria which had maybe one murder a year. 
After a few more minutes the buildings changed again, this time to a collage of red brick on the right. Only one building on the right was made of brick, the other side was a concrete three story bunker with all open windows holding vehicles. But as the street continued, the pony could see more brick buildings behind that one, at least three deep. 
The street ended with the only way out a left hand turn for the shuttle, several awnings over the sidewalk whose purpose was quickly apparent when the bus pull up to the last one and stopped. The heavyset man stood from his seat and opened the doors, walking outside and to the back of the shuttle to pull out the people’s bags. The new students, for their part, departed the bus and lined up grabbing their bags as each was pulled off. 
Stormy pulled his bag out from under the seat and resituated on his back while the others slowly made their way off. He took a look back to make sure he didn’t miss anything and saw the woman was still asleep. The pegasus debated leaving her there. If he did though the rest of the crowd would disperse and there might not be anyone left he could walk to the dorms with. They should all be headed to the same space but he didn’t know for sure and was terrified of being alone here. 
The driver will wake her up. Stormy assured himself. There was no one else left on the bus and the last few people were walking past the left turn, following signs to where ever early registration was held. He hurried off the bus and quickly ran to the walking humans. 
As Stormy Skies walked he thought about the human on the bus. If crime really is high, how safe will she be travelling alone? But she’s a human; she should know how to travel safely. He wasn’t reassured; the pegasus kept looking backward at the bus until the buildings obscured it. He never saw the bus leave or the woman depart. More than once the pony turned back, tempted to go back and wake her and each time he couldn’t. This was the last bunch of students and if for any reason she was already gone, he would be alone, which was scarier than he’d ever imagined it would be. 
Stormy’s clopping hooves were silent among the wheels of luggage banging over stone work pathway. The amount of greenery increased the further into campus the group walked. There was ivy growing up the height of a building in front of him and bushes around every building. There was a giant tree off to the side of the large four-way path, a path large enough to house a decent sized market. 
The left was taken up with dirt and benches for sitting while the right had a giant three story building that switched between several feet of concrete and a layer of red bricks. Further down the plaza was a six foot tall bear statue that had been hidden by the tree and two new paths. While the current straight path continued, the plaza led to the right and the left, making it a four way intersection. 
The ‘early arrivals’ sign pointed to the left path past the bear; what Stormy knew of as the school’s mascot. There was a girl riding on top of it while an elderly gentleman took a picture with a small camera, it was similar to what the news ponies used. 
After a short while the building on his left became obscured with trees while the building on his right continued and contained a parapet at the end. The right opened up into a field large enough to play several games of hoofball, if not the entire Equestrian Games, with more brown than green grass. While the left turned into another path and a building whose walls were all glass and went up 20 feet to an overhanging roof. Inside this new building, it was lighted with blue walls and screens projecting information. 
The path continued on as it curved left and moved uphill. Some of the students had trouble moving their heavy suitcases uphill as bags wanted to follow gravity back down. Stormy was again glad he didn’t have that problem and only needed to carry his saddlebags. Thankfully everyone had a good grip on their bags; they would have been hard to stop as they rolled down the hill. Stormy walked to the side just in case, next to a two foot tall concrete barrier that blocked off a small forest, not even six trees deep. 
The trees provided such nice shade, but they still surprised the young pegasus where human building took over nature and then planted more without the two having a melded look. The place looked like Canterlot proper without the clean look and concrete instead of stone and designed to be more square. 
The path split in two. Stormy followed the sign and the right curve, hoping this day would be over soon as the day caught up with him. If his wings weren’t tucked in at his sides they would have been drooping on the ground as his head dipped. He followed the signs to the right, crossing a small street and followed until the path split again, three ways this time. The signs were useful as they directed him and the humans up a three story flight of stairs.
Another short pathway and a second, smaller flight of stairs to his right and a contented sigh as the signs pointed him through a set of double doors and into a building. There were two pairs of metal doors on the left and a line of students ahead of him leading to a raised counter. The line went from the desk to another set of several glass doors on the other side of the room. 
Stormy’s eyes drooped, even the concrete outside was beginning to look nice. The sky was clear enough; he would even be able to see the stars. As his mind drifted, the sound of hooves on linoleum shook him awake. 
Stormy excitedly raised his ears to pinpoint the sound, but it didn’t return. The pegasus realized it must have been his mind creating sounds. His line moved and the sound of shoes on flooring echoed throughout the room as everyone huddled closer together. The sound was distinctive and nothing similar to the sound of clopping. 
CLOP. CLOP. CLOP.
Stormy raised his head and his wings fluttered. That wasn’t his mind, there was at least one other pony in this room. His hooves moved up and down. He wanted to investigate, to see another pony, but more people had lined up behind him. 
The pegasus looked at the long line in front of him, at the half dozen people behind him, several taking fleeting glances at the new creature. There would be no danger here, even if there had been he couldn’t have stopped his mind. Stormy looked at the line again as more clopping could be heard and an onyx black unicorn mare trotted out the doors. His tail swished against his the back of his legs; he wasn’t the only pony here. 
CLOP. CLOP. CLOP.
Make that more than one other pony here. His need to know overwhelmed him. Stormy stepped out of line and through the front of it. Glancing at the counter, the only way he could ever see over it was by flying up there. What the hay! But he ignored the counter for now to scan the room. A hallway, a large room with fancy chairs and a large screen. And a table covered in yellow cloth and black lettering. “Equestrian Registration.” 
This was news. Stormy ran through the information in his mind; there had been nothing about different lines for equestrians and humans. He walked up as a goldenrod earth pony left holding a paper envelope in her mouth. 
A human male sat behind the table. It was clear this human stood at least half a foot taller than most of his kind and was built wider. His happy icy blue eyes and wide grin were comforting compared to his intimidating frame. “Welcome.” He boomed, voice deep and resonating. Nobody else even turn their attention to the pair as Stormy returned the greeting. 
“How can I help you this fine evening?” The human tilted his head downward.
“I would like to check in.” Stormy offered, walking the rest of the way to the table.
“Okay. I just need to see your Equestrian ID.”
Stormy set his bags down and rummaged through his papers, pulling out the little card again. Making sure once he pulled it out with his muzzle to hand it over using his hoof.
The man took Stormy’s ID and began rummaging through a small box of envelopes. He muttered the pegasus’ name as his figures flipped through the papers. “Found it.” And handed over a white paper envelope. “That contains your room key and an itinerary of the events held over orientation so make sure not to lose it.”
Stormy took the envelope with his hoof and placed it along with his ID back in his bags. “Thank you.” He offered as he walked away. The envelope had mentioned his room was in Reiber Terrace room 903a. “Umm, where is Reiber Terrace?” 
The man smiled as he stood, towering over the pony. “I can walk you over if that is acceptable.”
Stormy had to think it over. Had he offered the same help to the other ponies and they declined it or am I special? The pegasus conceded that it didn’t matter, he needed a bed and human designs so far had been very different.
“Thank you.” He said again, feeling like an idiot for always having the same reply.
The man picked up his box of envelopes and carried it over to the desk as Stormy waited. After a minute or so of speaking the human carried a sign over to his table: “Back in 5 minutes” and rejoined the pony. 
“My name is Ilya, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.” The tall man offered, opening up the set of doors opposite the pair Stormy had entered. There were three building all nine stories tall.
The pegasus looked up at the sky, or the small section that was visible through the buildings. He missed Equestria more and more and he viewed what should be his domain, and area he could explore and relax in. An area that was locked off and barely visible. Stormy was beginning to see why some earth ponies detested the humans’ treatment of their world. They ignored the life and beauty around them, blocked off the sky, polluted their oceans. The pegasus sighed. Is this really what I want?
Before Stormy realized it, they were at another set of glass doors. What is this human fascination with glass doors? He wondered. So many of the buildings he had seen used glass doors. The pegasus began to worry it was to check for danger from others, but hoped it was wrong. Maybe it is so humans could look out the doors and wait for others while avoiding the elements. He hoped.
“This is your building.” Ilya informed the pegasus then pointed at a black box next to the doors. “That is a scanner. You swipe your room key to enter the building. And, if you head to the metal doors, those are elevators and will take you to your floor.”
Stormy stared at the contraption. It was all black except for a vertical slit. It was a weird design for a lock; regardless stormy opened the envelope and pulled out found a small white card like his ID with about ten sheets of paper that he would look at later. They key was white on one side and had a black stripe on the other with instructions on how to swipe it. 
Stormy looked from his key to the door, it would be impossible to swipe if he held the key in his muzzle. The pegasus walked to the lock, key in hoof, and swiped. A light on the lock flashed green and an audible THUNK issued from the doors closest to him. The pony quickly tugged on the door, entering an empty hallway. Halfway down the hall were two sets of metal doors and two signs: one saying ‘stairs’ and the other saying ‘laundry’ at the end of the hall with each pointing in opposite directions. 
Stormy scurried to the metal doors. There was no way to open them, only a small button between the two sets. The pegasus pushed it and stared as the button lit up but nothing else happened. His ears twitched as metal began to whir, some was happening. 
Stormy sat and waited, soon the doors opened up. Inside was bland with metal walls, more harsh lighting, and a set of buttons that went up to nine next to the door. 
The pony sat and stared, he had no idea what floor he needed as the doors closed. A sign above the door said ‘1’ so he was on the first floor. But, what floor did he need? He didn’t want to wander the halls looking for 903a. Pony residents only have a few stories so they would just tell you what floor you needed. But there had to be some logic or cultural norm for them to not have explained it to him.
Stormy pushed the number two, which lit up. The machine lurched into motion, a sense of unease moving him upwards. The feeling was just as artificial but more abrupt than the airplane ride. Though this time he didn’t panic, but that was also related to this ride only taking four seconds. 
The door opened with a ding and the pony stepped out. The walls were a boring beige with a path left and right. Stormy turned left as it intersected with another hallway; the floor plan was like a giant H. This entire hallway was filled with doors on either side. A plaque with a number graced each door. 204a. 204b. 206a. It was a progression with even numbers on one side and odd on the other. Stormy checked the other side and each number began with a 2. 
The pegasus went back to the metal doors, this time there were two buttons, each pointing different directions. The arrows gave away which direction they would go, so Stormy pushed the up button now that he had an idea where to go. The doors immediately opened and the pony stepped in, making sure to press the 9 button.
The doors closed slowly, slower than the weary pegasus would have liked. It was another 26 seconds before the doors opened again on the appropriate floor. The jarring motion of the elevator became more tolerable the more he used it. Familiarity made it less harrowing, his reflexes less apt to react.
The doors opened onto the top floor, which looked exactly the same as the second. Stormy noticed a plaque on the wall, something he didn’t notice on the other floor. 

← 901 – 910


911 – 921 →

Stormy followed the signs until he found the correct room. The door was a boring wooden door with only a small hole toward the top. The lock was different than the earlier example. He pulled the room key back out; slipping it into the slot on top of the lock and pulling it back out with his hoof. The audible click informed the pony he could enter, leaving him wondering why a keypad would be on the lock if the key just opened it up; while the pegasus turned the handle thankful it wasn’t a knob. He could open a knob; it just required a more careful grip instead of just a downward turn.
The room was bland; two sets of bunk beds shoved against opposite plain white walls, a curtain between them hiding the only window. A door to his left beckoned as he set his saddlebag down next to the closest bed, this door used a knob. It turned with little difficulty as the cornflower blue stallion entered the attached room. 
The door at the opposite end connected his room with another while the doors at either end of the sink held the facilities.
“Finally! A bathroom.” Stormy cheered. He’d felt the urge since the bus arrived on campus and waited, knowing there was one in the room. Behind the first room lay a shower, he’d need it eventually, but not at the moment. The door beyond the twin sinks contained the lone toilet. It was taller than Equestrian toilets, more suited to humans’ longer legs. He lifted the seat, clear on its intent to hold the sitting form and put his forehooves on the tank. The release felt like bliss after so long of holding it in; balancing might become an issue later when it came to his other bodily functions. But he would cross that cloud when he had to. Stormy Skies hit the little lever to flush the toilet and lowered the seat back down the way he found it. 
The pegasus went back to take a closer look at his room.  Each bunk bed had a desk at their foot while a third desk sat next to a dresser under the far bunk. It looked small for a human but adequate for a pony. The room was barely ten foot in any direction. But the seven foot long bed was luxurious, twice the length of the one at home. The only bottom bunk was already taken a long pillow sitting on top. The image was a human with pony sized eyes and cat ears and iris blue hair. The creature wore a black suit. 
“Why is it on a pillow?” Stormy questioned before dropping the subject. The desk next to that set of beds was littered with white tubes and metal vials along with a brush, some small disks and other paraphernalia. The pegasus had no clue what any of them were for so he looked at the last empty bed knowing the other two had been taken. 
There was no ladder up to the top bunk. Stormy considered hoping on the desk then up to his bed for a few seconds. Instead he flapped his wings and dragged his tired flank up to the appropriate height, settling gently onto the bed. It wasn’t as comfortable as hay filled beds. As it was covered in some sort of artificial material instead of cloth; it was a blue plastic like substance. The pillow was at least soft as was the fluffy blanket.
Stormy burrowed under the covers, wrapping them around himself in a tight ball, completely ignoring the pillow. His stomach growled and the pegasus contemplated retrieving his last few snacks, for the few moments of consciousness. Sleep quickly took the pony as the room door opened. Two voices greeted him in those last moments, giggling. 

> The First Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

        Stormy Skies awoke the next morning. He laid on his back, blinking rapidly; it felt like he’d slept for days. He smacked his dry lips and shook his groggy head. The pegasus then retracted his wings, one of which was hanging over the edge of his bed, while the other rested against the wall to his right. The curtain behind his head was open; bright light was streaming in despite the sun still being hidden by a nearby building. 
“If you want breakfast you may want to get up soonish.” A high pitched voice offered from the opposite bed. 
A high-pitched voice? Please Celestia no! Male and female voices were the same pitch between worlds. Stormy turned his head, looking over the little railing that would prevent him from falling off. His pupils contracted as his blood turned cold. It had to be a dream. 
Sitting on the bed opposite him was the human he’d left on the bus. She was wearing less clothing and had some sort of white slab held vertically in her lap. But it was her, and she was staring at him. 
The pony’s chest constricted even more when the side of her mouth quirked and she spoke, her voice was rather melodious which only made him more uncomfortable. “Never seen an Equestrian before, but I think you have the wrong room. This is a girl’s room, even if you are cute.”
Stormy was embarrassed, feeling blood rush to his cheeks and finally placing the tubes on that first desk as makeup. All the pegasus wanted was to get out of that room. Equestria had equality of the sexes except for all the rulers being female, but there were still boundaries and one of them was staying out of a girls’ dorm. 
Stormy stepped over the railing, intended to flutter down to the floor, grab his saddlebags and race out the door. But as he turned over the covers wrapped around his rear legs and he tripped, falling head over hooves until he smacked into the floor. The hit didn’t hurt; pegasi routinely took tougher falls learning how to fly or being zapped by an errant jokester with a storm cloud. 
Stormy wrestled his way out of the covers. Once out he picked up his saddlebags in his mouth and stopped dead, wondering what he did to deserve this as a small breeze from the open window ruffled his mane. For right in front of him, just stepping out of the bathroom and blocking his exit was another human. This one had a towel wrapped around her body and another around her head revealing several strands of blonde hair, but she was just as surprised to see the pony as he was to see her. 
They stared into each other’s eyes, yellow into blue, scarcely breathing. Stormy’s instincts, his own mind, told him to run, but there was nowhere to go. So he continued to stare at the lady with strawberry blonde hair long enough to reach what should have been her dock. The mustard yellow pegasus took another step over the soft carpet that refused to make a sound as another breeze blew cornflower blue hair into his eyes. 
A breeze. Stormy realized, the window was open, he had a way out. The pegasus backed up slowly, then turned and ran straight for the open window. The design was different than what he was used to; instead of being two panes where one slid past the other it opened outward from the bottom. 
With a flutter of his wings, Stormy lifted up to the window seal and dove for the window. The saddlebag still in his mouth fit through easily enough, his head was another issue as was his rump; but, with a little effort he slid through and fell towards the ground. The wind rushed through his mane for a second before he reopened his wings and fluttered to a stop. 
Stormy looked back up to the window, the sea blue eyes of the second human looked back. He made a b-line for the building where he picked up his key. Despite his pounding heart, the pegasus took a leisurely pace to calm down. He suddenly had a feeling this day wouldn’t be much better.
Stormy got to the office at the bottom of the large building. Lights were on beyond the door with people milling about. Not thinking, Stormy tugged on the door only to have it refuse to move. He gave it a second tug before remembering the temporary key in his bag. Taking the key in his hoof, the pegasus unlocked the door and quickly entered. 
The desk to the side was missing, as were the day’s previous helpers. Instead, his only option was the single person behind the counter staring at what seemed to be her lap. The pegasus beat his wings and hovered forward so he could look her in the eyes. Books were lying behind the counter with pages open, pages ruffling as he approached, wings stirring the air. 
She looked up; blonde hair falling to her shoulders, her eyelids seemed to narrow over her cool blue eyes but it was hard for the pegasus to tell human emotions. “How can I help you?” She sighed.
Stormy didn’t hear even the slightest amount of care. But that could just be their lack of expression, he thought. Instead he told her his problem. “I seem to have been given the wrong room key,” Hoofing it over. “I woke up this morning to find myself in a girls room.”
Her tongue clicked. With her head down he couldn’t see her eyes or any of the hard to read expressions. She took the key and put it into some sort of machine. “So you aren’t this Sunny Skies then.” Her right hand vigorously rubbed her brow.
“No.” IS the storm cloud on my flank… He stopped. They don’t have cutie marks or the same naming conventions. “My name is Stormy Skies.”
She nodded tightly. “Do you have some sort of ID then?”
The pegasus pulled the ID out of his saddlebags. 
“This will just be one moment.” Hovering in place, thankful to get his wings a little exercise. 
“Ok. Your card has been reset and your new room number is 904b. It seems that you and her packets were swapped.” 
Stormy picked up his new key and put it into his saddlebags, when he looked up the lady was back to her schoolbooks. “Excuse me, where is breakfast at?”
She raised her head slightly, just enough for them to make eye contact, her lower jaw jutting out slightly. “You have a schedule and a map. Use them.” And just like that she went back to her books.
Stormy Skies landed, tucked in his wings and pulled out his schedule. 
8:00 a.m.                Check – in – Sunset Village Patio
                       Light breakfast is available
The pegasus pulled out his map. He twisted it around until he found the cardinal directions and his current location. The map was done at a bird’s eye view, the way he was used to following directions. Normally he could just fly around until he saw the buildings. How do I recognize them from the sides? He would have to try and match buildings, without being able to see their full profile. 
He started with one building he knew, Reiber. But there were three of them: Reiber Hall, Reiber Vista, and Reiber Terrace where he was staying. But standing between the three it was a mess of walls, not the L-shaped Vista or the distended hammer of Reiber Hall. Stormy looked at the nearest building, Reiber Hall, so he knew two buildings. The Earth was different; making it hard for him to tell which direction was north. But following these directions; past Reiber should be a set of stairs leading to a triangles shaped building called Delta Terrace, further past was a building called Covel, and between the two stood an area called Sunset Village.
Stormy held the map in his mouth in case he got lost and headed off. The pegasus was soon greeted by small declines in the sidewalk and a long three-story staircase. Halfway down there was a balcony filled with iron chairs and tables, walls that went above his head but would be waist height on a human. The pegasus continued down, finishing the last few steps and came to another set of table and chairs with glass walls on either side of him. The walls on the left looking into a little store with clothing and the other side had just some sort of counter and a lot of floor space.
Straight ahead. Straight ahead should be Sunset Village. His stomach was rumbling as he exited the alcove hiding the stairs and glass walls. More table and chairs surrounded a raised planter filled with pink flowering plants, dark green shrubs and tall sprawling trees not suitable for anything but minor shade. Each of the wrought iron table had at least three chairs and a beige colored umbrella. Compared to the rest of what he had seen, this would be a nice place to relax and eat. 
To the right was a large dark grey circle of the same material cars drove on with the middle being a patch of green fifteen feet across, tall trees filling the area. The planters continued to the left with spaces for people to walk through spaced out over the next hundred feet. 
Behind the tables and chairs stood a bland building. Its height was still impressive at seven-stories, but the design was boring in comparison to the others the young pony had seen. The top six stories were just a wall of small windows surrounded by off-white walls. The windows would be at chest height to any humans in the rooms and only went up two feet. White lines cordoned off each room from the one next to it making the rooms look smaller, at least from the outside, than what Stormy was staying in. The first story reminded Stormy more of Equestrian architecture, while the other floors were over hanging the first by thirty feet with an outdoor stairway leading up into the middle of the second floor. 
The building to the left, should be Covel Commons. The side, he could easily view consisted of several towers with the corners looking like tower turrets that got smaller the higher they went and connected by the red brick the pegasus had seen the previous day on other buildings. But even the shorter sections of wall between the towers were connected by the same pattern. The building looked four stories tall as he headed for breakfast.
Across from Covel and connecting to the stairwell he had just left, was a sandstone colored wall with some windows covering what looked like offices. Farther down the wall Stormy saw what looked like a market being set up. There were the standard tables, but the height of a human’s waist still being set up. A long sheet of paper was on the ground, yellow with blue lettering that the pegasus couldn’t read. Two humans, a male and a female, the male handing the other a stack of pink boxes.
Stormy trotted over to the tables. Maybe that’s the check in? He could just catch the tail end of the human’s conversation.
“This should be the last of them.”
“Thanks for the help. I’ll go get the jugs and thermoses.” The guy offered and walked over to Covel.
The woman was short, but seemed like so many of the other humans he saw, slight complexion, short brown hair. She was wearing a yellow shirt with blue letters saying “Welcome Week 2014” and flat shoes with blue pants. She set the pink boxes onto one of the tables next to each other one high.
Stormy walked up behind her, making sure his hooves clopped with each step.  Making noise wasn’t hard, it seemed like human materials were made for it. The pegasus didn’t want to sneak up on someone; memories of the previous day flashed through his mind. But the lady was oblivious, moving over to another table to pull it farther from the wall.
“Excuse me,” The pegasus started. “Is this where I’m supposed to check in?”
Despite his best effort, the human jumped at the sudden and unexpected noise, causing the already nervous pegasus to jump back in response. 
“You gave me a start. I didn’t hear you come up.” She apologized. “It will be, we’re still setting up though. Check-in isn’t for another hour. What are you doing here so early?”
Stormy Skies stumbled for words; he did not want to tell about his morning. “My plane arrived last night and the person I was staying with suggested I get here early if I wanted breakfast.”
“If you checked in last night, you don’t need to do it again this morning.” 
The pegasus could tell she was trying to hold back a laugh, something funny must have happened.
“Tell you what.” She turned away from him and opened up one of the pink boxes. She turned back around and handed him something amazing. A donut. “Take this, and you don’t have to come back until eight forty-five to meet your New Student Advisor and meet with your group.”
Stormy took the proffered baked good. He could feel his mouth watering, saliva trying to escape his mouth. Donuts were common in Equestria, he just rarely had them. Out on weather patrol a donut just couldn’t stack up to a good muffin for filling a hungry pony. But this donut was also something else he rarely had in a donut, it was warm, the sugary glaze sticking to his hoof. 
The hungry pony took a bite and savored the doughy goodness. He could feel his wings relax, his stomach stopped rumbling. 
“Feel free to come back for more.” She offered as the pegasus made his way to an overhang on Covel.
Stormy settled onto a small concrete bench under the overhang. The bench formed a circle with three breaks in it for people to walk between them and easily big enough for fifteen to sit comfortably. 
The concrete under his belly was cool, but nothing compared to a cloud in winter. Pegasi were made for colder weather, although he’d never want to work at making the yearly snowflakes. Stormy had at least another hour before orientation. The people were still setting up. Looking around there wasn’t much to do and no other students were around, not that the lone pegasus would be much good for conversation he suspected. The blue maned pony reluctantly reached into his saddlebags for the only thing at hoof to pass the time, his lone book. 

What is wrong with this world? Stormy wondered, staring at the lines of text. The disparity and the glamour. Death and killing as a GAME! It frightened the pony. What kind a creature could find this amusing? Cutting out tongues as punishment, and then forcing the culprit to become a slave? And all this to children?
Stormy was reminded of the story he read in the airport, the murder of two men in this city. The one lady’s story of it being a dangerous area of town. His wings fell open, fluttering against the ground and solid concrete bench. What am I doing here? His eyes welled up as he laid there. Remember the simple job he had back home, reading reports of the desired weather and the effect needed, rolling in rainclouds, creating a gentle breeze. But he was stuck. 
“If you have reached an adequate stopping point in your novel.” A voice spoke up. “I believe it’s about time to meet our advisors.”
Stormy looked up to see Edward from the previous day, but with a different book in his hands, “The Inferno”. The human had on a clean blazer and similar enough clothes, the tie red though and the rest of his clothes black.
He would fit in with the upper crust. Stormy realized with more and more clarity. Stormy closed his book from the back so nopony could see what the book was, how could he look anybody in the eye if they knew?
“What are you reading?” The finely dressed human asked politely.
Stormy just grabbed his book and shoved it as quickly as ponily possible into his bag.
The pegasus could barely see Edward shift his weight between his legs, but wouldn’t look the human in the eye as he stood to walk away.
“Now who is the rude one? Is it not polite to answer a friendly question asked of you?”
Stormy stopped dead. What role did politeness play in this world? He sighed. “The Hunger Games.” The pegasus stated flatly.
Stormy looked up to see why the human was so quiet. Edward’s eye weren’t on the book but actually on the pegasus, one side of his mouth lifted into the semblance of a grin. It made the pegasus feel like he was being laughed at.
“Whatever floats your boat.” Edward stated as he went back to his book. “Although an Equestrian reading such a book is quite a shock.”
“I don’t plan on reading any further. It’s horrible.”
Even with Edward’s face hidden by the book, Stormy could see his chest moving in slight laughter. “It probably is darker than you expected but it is not all bad. The story is meant to show the disparities in modern society between different countries and populations as well as the strength of the human spirit. It is quite human, if not my preferred material.” The male folded his book up. “Finish it at least. I am quite sure you would regret not finishing what you started. Maybe it will ‘click’ after you learn more about us.”
Stormy looked over at the human, into his brown eyes, deciding if he was being nice or trying to trick him like that other human with the meat.
“You can decide at a later date. We really need to meet our advisors though. There is no telling how long it will take to find her.”
As they walked off, Stormy had to ask himself, “How does he know the advisor is a she?”




 

> NSA
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy thought back to his orientation packet and all it mentioned was meeting their advisor. “How do you know our advisor is a she?”
Edward kept walking forward, his face neutral and not in his book.
They turned right; there were several groups of people standing and talking, inside Covel he saw other groups sitting on the floor. Each group consisted of about seven people. Dead ahead, halfway between the doors to Covel and the donuts, a lady was sitting on the edge of a planter. She turned her head in their direction and waved, but that was the direction Edward was going as he waved back.
“I see you’ve managed to find our last student.” She said to Edward before looking over to Stormy and putting out her hand which Stormy shook. “I’m Chevonne Brannon, your New Student Advisor. We can get started as soon as the other two return.”
Chevonne was wearing the same shirt yellow shirt as the previous lady, but it contrasted sharply with her vibrant orange hair, which was also the wildest mane the pegasus had ever seen with its numerous curls and her hair going past her the outside of her shoulders. Her skin was also pale with numerous brown freckles covering her cheeks. She then waved over at the doughnut stand, calling out “Sue, Kat, the group is here.” Her voice was rough with a high pitch.
Stormy looked to the directions of the tables and froze. Please don’t be them two. He pleaded, seeing the two women whose room he woke up in talking. Their faces were excited, eyes wide, emotions so vivid even Stormy could read them without effort. Their hands were moving rapidly, moving all about as they talked. The dark haired one looked over and waved before motioning for her friend to follow. 
Stormy’s chest heaved as he tried prancing while sitting down. The dark haired one wore a black shirt with blue denim pants, while the blonde was wearing a thin pink sweater over a white shirt and the same type of pants as her friend. To distract himself from the coming problem, he looked back to Edward. “What were they doing with their hands?”
Edward already had his book up but looked over at him. “More than likely just gesticulating. It is something humans use to better convey their ideas.”
Stormy heard snickering from behind and turned to see the dark haired female with her hand covering her mouth to keep from laughing any louder. Her eyes conveyed a different idea as she removed her hand to speak, lips raised predatorily. “Nice to see you again.”
Chevonne’s eyes widened with a grin. “So you’ve already met? That’s great! How did you meet?”
“I don’t know his name, but my friend here woke up under him this morning.” She choked out the end through her laughing.
Chevonne was silent as was Edward staring between Stormy and the blonde. Stormy felt his cheeks redden.
“Suzanne!” The blonde started. “That is not what happened.” Her hands were moving snap quick as she spoke. “He was in the wrong room and crashed on the top bunk.” Her speech seemed odd, Stormy tried to mouth the words and it seemed like her tongue didn’t move properly.
“That’s what I said.” Suzanne “You woke up under him; you were on the lower bunk while he was on the top.” Her grin got wider. “It’s not like I mentioned how he ran into you when you got out of the shower.”
The argument between the two friends got worse as Stormy felt he was about to die of embarrassment. Edward stood there grinning. 
Chevonne barely missed a beat. “Well then why don’t we properly introduce ourselves properly. I’m Chevonne, a fourth year anthro major and your NSA, New Student Advisor. Originally from San Francisco. If you have any problem I’m in Reiber Terrace 801.” She reached into a small bag at her side and pulled out a few plastic cards. “And before I forget here are your student ID’s, needed them to make sure I found the right people.” She grinned passing them out. 
Stormy took his with a hoof. Most of the card was taken up with an angled view of a brick building that appeared to have a clock tower on either side with trees on either side. The bottom quarter was a dust blue, a line of yellow separating the building from the bottom. The blue area contained his name, a nine digit number and his designation as a student. To the left was a picture of him and above that was a picture of his cutie mark. It was the same image as was on his visa, one he had to send in to the school. 
Stormy glanced at Edward’s card, and it was the exact same but without the cutie mark picture. But where did they get the picture? Surely they didn’t have to get a visa.
“Those cards will get you into the dining halls and into your residence halls once the quarter starts, and you can put money on them to pay for food or buy things at various stores around campus. They also contain you student ID number.” Chevonne smiled. “And I would like to welcome you to UCLA. Kat. Would you like to introduce yourself next and we just go counterclockwise?” Chevonne asked.
“Ok.” Kat replied, hands clasped in front of herself. “My name is Katherine Thomas.” Her tone was flat and the lisp still present. “I am a pure math major. Been in LA my whole life. As you can probably tell I like pink.” She said, pointing to a pair of rose pink pumps on her feet. “And my evil friend here is Suzanne.”
With crocodile grin in place, Suzanne spoke. “I’m Suzanne Liu, not evil, just like some fun. Born and raised in LA Me and Kim have been friends since second grade. I’m a physics major, all the better to make traps with.” At this Kim cast her a glare. Sue’s smile never left her face.
“I assume it is my turn then. The name Is Edward Lee. Linguistics from Oklahoma. You can call me a bit of a bibliophile.” He said, still sounding like an upper Canterlotian and holding up his book. “There is not much to tell.”
Stormy felt all eyes on him now, forcing himself to swallow, he started. “I’m Stormy Skies. I don’t really have a major yet. I’m from Canterlot, and haven’t been to school in several years, and have been working at the weather factory.” He was too nervous to watch anyone else as he spoke, but he could have sworn Suzanne’s hands were moving as he spoke.
“Great.” Chevonne enthused. “You are all a talkative bunch. Let’s get started with some icebreakers. Have any of you traveled before coming here?”
The first to speak up was Edward. “I have never traveled before coming here. My parents never cared much for it and anything worth visiting is a long way from home.”
“Well, I go to Hangzhou, China every summer to visit my grandparents. Have been to a few places around California like Yosemite though.” Suzanne finished.
Katherine looked hesitant to answer, so Stormy started to speak. But before he could get a word out, she started. “My family likes to travel in the summer. The only one that comes to mind would be Alaska.” She closed her mouth, taking in a deep breath. “The air was so fresh and clean, crisp and chill like you wouldn’t believe, especially next to a glacier. It was invigorating. Makes you feel alive.” Her voice became more animated the longer she talked.
Stormy had a vague idea where some of these places were, like China. But Yosemite and the other ones meant nothing. “Outside of attending school in Cloudsdale, I haven’t been outside of Canterlot.”
“What is Equestria like?” A voice asked, it was female and it sounded like Kat, but Stormy couldn’t be sure. 
The pegasus started and stopped, he had no quick answer and didn’t expect to be questioned. “It has shorter counters? I don’t know how to explain it; I don’t even know how different this place is.”
“Well said.” Edward replied. “Never give an answer until you can give an accurate one.”
A lull came to the conversation which Edward quickly filled with a question. “Why are all of the other groups so large?” 
Chevonne pressed her lips together trying to avoid eye contact with both Edward and Stormy. “They don’t really want us telling this, but…” She sighed. “They never said we couldn’t. It has to do with ponies. It was decided small groups with only one Equestrian would be best for acclimating them.”
Stormy looked down. Was this his fault? Were ponies viewed negatively? He looked around at the other groups of eight or nine, already split up into smaller groups of people talking. He didn’t even realize he was muttering to himself until a hand between his wings shook him awake. 
Stormy looked up into the concerned faces of the humans around them. 
“How weird are humans already? Just think of that book you are reading. How would you respond with double the number of humans here? I’m sure Celestia is aware of this and finds it acceptable.”
Stormy thought about Edward’s words, these days had already been trying and he had met some mean people. Was this also done to improve his feelings?
“Besides,” Kat continued, “You see how all those other groups have split into smaller ones? A group this small can keep everyone included. Larger groups tend to exclude people, especially ones that don’t fit.”
“And crazy is best in small doses.” Sue finished. “Besides, you get to know three different kinds of crazy really well instead of eight vaguely.” Her grin never left, but it seemed gentler now.
Stormy thought about it, and while the first two seemed comforting, he did not trust Suzanne. The talking became a little warmer as they started to compare notes on movies, followed by music. They all seemed to differ but the pegasus paid attention to what they said and tried to remember what they said for later. 
“Surely you have seen ‘Stand and Deliver’ it’s a great movie about a math teacher in inner city LA. How can you not have seen it?” Edward asked incredulously.
“Seen it? I’ve never even heard of it.” Kat replied. “And it doesn’t sound like my type of movie.”
“If I watch a movie you recommend will you watch it?” Edward rebutted.
“Yes. ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, but you will have to look it up.” Suzanne replied before her friend could speak. “You do like it,” She told her protesting friend, “besides, it will be good for you.”
“Fine.” Katherine humphed.
“Deal.” Edward sealed as they shook hands. 
“I’m glad you all have started to get along but we should get going to Ackerman for the opening address if you want a decent seat. 
Stormy looked around, at the different composition of humans. About half the groups had left while several small groups or individuals carrying bags headed from different building past Covel. 

> Orientation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“These are the Awkward steps. You can see where they get their name from.” Chevonne said as she started down the oddly shaped staircase.
They were definitely different than any stairs the pony had seen before. They were twice as long and half as tall. The humans walking down either took two steps for each or took extra-long strides. As Stormy headed down, he felt the stairs deserved their name. It would have been much easier to just glide down the red brick staircase which lasted two flights, almost tripping himself up as he miss stepped, his gait just off. 
The pegasus spread his wings to catch himself. Thankfully there were no people next to him to hit, although a group of girls behind him giggled. He tucked his wings back in, giving them a slight ruffle to better lay against his body. It would definitely be easier to glide down. He looked to his right, at the sheer wall at the top of which he saw table and chairs, a place it would have been even easier to glide down from. 
At the body of the stairs, the path split right and left, it was hard to see past the curve. Chevonne led them to the right, a road separating the two sides. On the left sat trees and a fence, next to them on the right sat another red brick building with large glass windows. The path had a slow decline and curved to the left. 
They passed the building Chevonne called Sproul Commons.  The left was Drake Stadium; he recognized it when they got to a corner. They had to stop at a light to cross the street even though the path continued forward, they were turning left. As he waited for the light to change, he recognized the path in front of him as the path he came up from the bus and the one behind him as the path he traveled to get to his room the previous night.
The light changed, even though it seemed pointless as no cars traveled down the road. Once across, the field came back into view. The path back down the steep incline was just as bad as before, but happier without all the rolling bags in front of him. That was until someone went speeding past him on some sort of board, using gravity to pull him down the slope; it was a standard thing for pegasi to do to pick up speed. But the speed the human went; he covered the entirety of the slope in mere seconds and was gone out of sight around another curve.
No one seemed to pay attention to the speeding human, maybe that was standard behavior, it was faster than walking, maybe even as fast as flying. Or maybe there are so many of them they don’t even pay attention to each other. He had no idea where that thought came from but it made sense. He didn’t even realize others around him were talking. 
“How have you never read that series?” Suzanne asked incredulously. 
“It has never seen interesting. A wizard detective? Really?” Edward responded skeptically. “And what sort of magical McGuffins does he use? A silver talisman? A sword imbued with the power of God?”
“So you have read it!” Suzanne enthused. 
Edward quirked a single eyebrow. “No.”
Stormy had no clue what they were talking about and went back to watching the crowd, they had already made it to Ackerman, He recognized it from the day before, the large building made of bland concrete with rust red lines. The building looked dirty seeing it from the front without the ivy along the side. He had missed the large double story window connecting the second and third floors. To the right were a set of stairs leading to the second floor while in front lay another large set of doors with a sign above reading “UCLA Store.”
“You can come here to but UCLA clothing or other school supplies. Inside is also a small market and bookstore for non-class related reading. But, today we are going up to the Grand Ballroom on the fourth floor.” Chevonne informed. “Past this building you have Bruin Walk which takes you to campus; you will see that later though.”
“And we’re walking.” Chevonne laughed, thinking it was hilarious as she led the way up the stairs. 
There were people sitting on the stairs, either talking or with small computers on their laps, and one person was just talking to his computer. It was all taken as standard by the people around them. 
Stormy though it was odd, but he had seen ponies sit in the grass to read or talk. He had no idea why concrete would be more pleasant. Maybe because they don’t have grass. He pondered, he hadn’t seen much green, let alone grass. 
Chevonne led the small group through the glass doors and into the second floor. 
Stormy was taken aback by the inside. He had to stop and double check the inside. The floor was made of highly polished white linoleum, clean white walls and bright lights that felt more natural and a light rust colored ceiling.
“This floor has the school bookstore as well as various eateries and ATMs.”
Stormy saw several machines along the side with a screen and number pad; a human was just stepping away from it stuffing some money into his pocket. But where did the money come from. Surely they can’t just get free money. Maybe it works like the bruin card? The pegasus moved those thoughts to the back for later. He needed to see what else was around here.
To the left was a place called Tsunami offered sushi and noodles. Stormy felt saliva as his mouth watered. Cucumber rolls ran through his mind. Next to that, and not as interesting, was a place offering graduation supplies, and beyond that was a Blood and Platelet Center. 
“If you want to donate blood to help accident victims, like someone from a car accident or other surgeries, you can come here. They also offer rewards throughout the year for donating.” Chevonne informed, Stormy felt uncomfortable, remembering the surprise of the blood test at the entrance to Earth. 
Next to the platelet center was something call “University Credit Union” but to the Equestrian it looked just like a standard bank, but he had one of those back in Canterlot.
Their guide then pointed them to a set of stairs in the ground across from the platelet center. “That leads to the first floor of Ackerman, and the door to the left of that leads to the textbook store.” The stairway was surrounded by a polished silver railing; these stairs were four feet wide turning ninety degrees halfway down and looked to be made of sandstone as did the bookstore he could see across the open chasm of the winding stairs. Between the two sides of the hallway were sofas and chairs in a rectangle facing each other. 
They reached the end of the hallway where it split into a four way intersection. “To the left we have the restroom and an exit out to Bruin Walk. On the right are some fast food and coffee shops as well as an arcade and Game-On with game systems for people to play freely, as well a lounge with news or sports playing on the TVs.”
There are a lot of diners around here. Why do humans need so many places to get food? The pegasus wondered. Do humans always have to be within feet of food?
They crossed the intersection, very few humans were milling about. The corridor ended with a small window that said “Information” and to the right was a “United States Postal Service.” Across the hall were an elevator and a flight of stairs. 
“If you have any questions come here and they can help.” Chevonne offered. “We will use the stairs to leave the elevator for people who need it. That can be a problem here. Just need to go up two flights to reach the grand ballroom.” Orange hair bouncing along her shoulders as she climbed. 
Stormy followed behind the four humans; wings starting to itch from being stagnant. These stairs were closer together, and the pegasus saw the heel of Edwards feet hanging off the steps as he walked. On the landing for the third floor their NSA advised them on even more dining options.
“This entire floor is dining. Chinese, pizza, salad, candy, boba. The newest restaurant is Wolfgang Puck Express and is the only place on campus to get alcohol.” She turned back to look at her group. “Once you are old enough at least.”
After another flight of stairs they exited onto the fourth floor. It wasn’t as bright as the second floor, or as clean, or as large. The space had another set of stairs in the middle of it which explained why the stairway they were in ended at this floor. What looked like several offices took up the path to their left whereas the right had a single door labeled “Grand Ballroom.” And it had a standard wooden door on hinges with a small window to look into the room. 
Stormy had been surprised to see so few humans, with the traffic the previous floors had and the amount of living space this place seemed to have, he expected more people. That issue was put to rest when Chevonne open up the doors for them. 
The room was huge. The ceiling was tall enough to play hoofball, at least thirty feet high. The room itself was a hundred feet wide and at least three hundred feet deep. The floor was covered with chairs facing a large stage at the front. There were five sets of seats; the first three at the front and the other two at the back with aisles separating the five. Most of these seats were filled. There had to be at least a thousand humans sitting in the ballroom. 
Chevonne led them forward. “Our section is up here.”
Stormy’s wings fluttered of their own accord. Walls of flesh, with not a pony in sight. By this time he would settle for a griffon or maybe a diamond dog. There were only two doors, one at the back and one next to the stage; he could make a run for it though. 
The smell didn’t help, it wasn’t just musk either, but the perfumes and other odors human bodies exuded, of meat, spoiled milk, and a dozen others. It signified this as so much of an alien world.
“Ok, right this way, ladies first.”
There were five empty seats near the middle of the first sets of seats with Suzanne and Katherine taking the first two followed by Edward, Stormy and then Chevonne. 
Stormy was happy he was at least near the aisle. He looked past his group at the next two people in his row. The first had truly unique, long light brown hair thick woven together to look like rope under a blue and white hoofmade beanie, something very few wore back home where they preferred earmuffs. He wore a lavender button up shirt unbuttoned down to his stomach and tucked into the same type of pants the two girls were wearing. He had one leg resting on the other allowing Stormy to see white shoes without socks where he could see the human’s ankle. 
Next to him was… 
The pegasus’ mind froze. It was the second pony he had seen since coming to Earth. A pegasus mare with rose pink hair and iridescent white fur. She caught him looking and he stared at her orchid eyes, and the glimpse of a smile. She was other worldly. Not in an attractive way, but her presence, she cast a serene feeling just by looking at him. 
Stormy turned back around and noticed the same onyx colored unicorn he saw while picking up his welcome packet. To the left of her was an earth, this one a dirt brown stallion with a hunter green mane, he seemed wholly attentive to the stage, uncaring for those around him. 
Stormy just sat, he couldn’t figure out how ponies fit into this whole situation. Why were they clumped up here and now?
While calmer, the pony still felt nervous, there were so many voices and conversations going on around him, he couldn’t pick out the voice of any person. He was looking at the stage when a man came out wearing a suit similar to Edward’s, and skin the color of wet sand. 
“My name is Ellis Maitland, Dean of students here at UCLA, and I would like to welcome all of you to the class of 2019.” He enthused. His voice was controlled, a smile plastered his face. “And I know what you are thinking. You are waiting for someone to realize they made a mistake and you don’t belong here.”
A few heads around the room nodded.
“And you are wrong.” He continued. “Everyone here earned their place. We have two faculty members read over every application and both have to agree that you have what it takes to be a bruin.”
“Or that they make enough to get accepted.” The guy with the rope haired muttered, just loud enough to be heard by everyone in the general area.
“We are one of the most applied to universities in the country, admitting only twenty percent of those who apply as freshmen with over eighty thousand applications a year.” Maitland continued.
“It’s amazing what you can do just by having a famous name. Make it exclusive so your name means more and brand it to make it worth something.” The heckler kept up.
“Can you please be silent?” Edward asked. “Some of us are trying to listen.”
“Just making sure you don’t get fleeced man. Sorry for trying to help.”
“We have a campus population of 39,000 students from around the world with one of the most diverse campuses in the world; with a graduation rate of ninety-three percent, beaten only by UC Berkeley.” 
“We also have one of the most comprehensive hospitals in the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center. It is ranked in the top five hospitals in the country, and is labeled as the best in the west. You are among the best in the world. UCLA has taught Nobel laureates, a co-founder of Blizzard, something most of you are probably familiar with.”
“It really is amazing what charging for an education can get you.” The male voice came from the pony’s left.
“This is a public university, with most of the people here on financial aid dipshit.” Edward hissed, moving past Kat. “Do you even know they get their money from research?”
“Yeah, because they own everything people discover here.” It was the male with ropey hair.
“Which they never would have discovered, if UCLA didn’t provide the facilities.”
“Boys, boys.” Suzanne interrupted. “Why don’t you just pull them out and measure already.”
Both men moved back from what looked like shock.
The back of Edward’s head moved up. “Is that an offer?”
The heckler moved back in silence, beyond him the white pegasus donned a grin while still looking forward.
What is wrong with these people?


***


“And remember that the quarter system does in ten weeks what other colleges do in eighteen.” The woman with purple hair finished, after having gone over student expectations, office hours, and suggestions for succeeding. “And with that, we will take a break for lunch. When we come back, Mr. Jones will discuss general education and we will have a presentation by campus PD.”
The room slowly began to empty with everyone rushing the door they entered through. The throng of people made the pony nervous again; it was a forest of moving omnivorous trees. It didn’t matter what his mind said, he senses replied differently. His wings threatened to spring out, slamming into the others in his group. 
        You are representing every pony here and you can’t even take a single step outside your comfort zone! A familiar voice yelled at him. 
Stormy hugged his wings tight against his body. He could do this. 
After what seemed like forever the line moved enough for their small band of students to make their way to the third floor. 
By this time the pony’s body was howling for food; he hadn’t eaten anything since that doughnut, and the assault of the fragrant food odors was tantalizing; he could barely even smell the meat in there. The sound was even worse than before, like everyone was yelling just to be heard. 
“Okay everyone, get your food and we’ll meet out the front doors to eat outside. And don’t worry, every place here has something vegetarian.” Chevonne headed off to the opposite side of the floor, hidden by a wall.
Stormy stood in the first line he came to, it was food and that was what mattered. 
Edward got in line behind him with the other two heading elsewhere into the giant room. 
The pegasus took a better look at his surroundings. The sign above him stated “Panda Express” with the most ostentatious lights the little pony could imagine. Behind him was a circular establishment, “Greenhouse” that seemed to have a small line, but he didn’t feel like getting out of line, even if he didn’t know the food. 
Beyond that was a sea of tables, the imagery only helped by the blue carpet padded chairs, food standing out against the grey tables. The ceiling was exposed with vents sticking out, held up by blue pylons. One restaurant across the way was covered by wood while the other had similar lighting to the one he was at. The nicest thing was how every exterior wall had floor to ceiling windows. 
The service was speedy and within minutes Stormy was at the front of the line.
“What would you like?” The worker asked.
Stormy stretched up to see above the counter. Almost everything had meat though. Honey walnut shrimp, broccoli beef, and it just went on. A little broccoli sign next to certain items identified what was vegetarian. “Chow mein and stir-fry veggies please.”
The worker spooned them from a large metal container into a smaller white plastic looking thing and passed it towards the cashier.
“What would you like to drink?” The middle aged guy at the register asked, her skin a dark tan. 
“Just water please.” Even the bravest of ponies could only try too many new things at once. “Unless you have apple cider.” Stormy offered.
“One water it is.” She pressed a few keys on the register. “That will be seven thirty seven please.”
Stormy reached inside his saddlebags and pulled out a ten, handing it over. Within moments he received his change, a bottle of water and his plastic container. The pegasus studied the bottle for a moment before shoving it in his saddlebag, grabbed the food with his muzzle with a slightly perturbed look from the guy and walked out. 
Stormy headed back the way he came, to see the doors next to the stairs. Upon exiting he saw Chevonne to his left waiving at him and headed over. The wall they were against went up to at least the height of the ballroom and was featureless, just a mass of sand colored bricks vertically placed. 
There were five chairs around a square table, the girls were there all there. Sue and Kim had pizza, it was something familiar from Equestria, but with slices of pungent meat, while Chevonne had a plate of layered pasta with a red sauce. Edward was right behind him with his own bowl and sat.
Stormy reached up to set his container down then climbed into the chair. Opening the container, it was split down the middle with one food on either side. But the smell was all oil and salt. Reaching down he picked up a piece of carrot with his lips and slowly chewed. It was oily, mushy, lacking in any flavor other than oil. The zucchini and broccoli weren’t much better. 
He looked up to see the group looking at him, he assumed it was the sour expression for such bad food. “I thought UCLA was supposed to have some of the best school food in the country?”
“That may not be saying much.” Suzanne chuckled.
“That’s only for the dining halls, these are chain restaurants from around the country.” The guide corrected.
Stormy then tried the chow mien, which appeared to mean noodles made like their vegetables; bland and salty. The taste reminded him of that mystery packet that had come with his sushi at the airport. He took another bite and looked up to see Katherine staring.
The lady in pink looked at him and pointed to her chin.
Stormy took the hint, moving his tongue past his bottom lip, he encountered a rogue noodle and dragged it into his mouth.
“Not to be rude, but do all ponies eat like that?” There was a grimace to Kat’s face as she spoke. 
“He does not have a trapeziometacarpal joint. A thumb basically.” Edward chimed in, between bites of some brown curled item. “What do you expect?”
“Well, I can use my hooves, but they have attracted quite a bit of dirt.” Have I made some huge error?
“It’s fine. Most people just aren’t used to seeing someone eat quite like that.” Chevonne said around a forced smile. “We are used to either eating with our hands or a knife and fork.”
“Bwahahaha!” Suzanne crashed backwards in her chair. “Lighten up. It shouldn’t offend your delicate sensibilities.” Her cheeks practically shone. “For all you know the way you eat may disturb him.”
Chevonne went back to her pasta, quiet and head turned down.
“Sorry.” Kat lowered her head.
“Let us just forget this incident?” Edward suggested, cheeks slightly rosy. “Although Stormy, you would have a natural advantage in a pie eating contest.”
Stormy went back to his food, feeling a little better. Without knowing why, the pegasus decided to slurp an extra-long noodle eliciting a snicker from the guy at his right and another bout of raucous laughter from the girl to his left. 
The rest of the meal was rather quiet with a conversation starting again between the three, friends he decided to call them. 
More friend than what he had back home. Eventually, the conversation picked back up talking about the weirdest food anyone had eaten. The main contenders seemed to be between durian and rocky mountain oysters.

> General Education
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy returned to his seat in the grand ballroom, full from his lunch, and a little swollen. At the end of his meal the entire bottle of water had been downed plus some. 
When they returned to their seats Sunny Skies, the white pegasus whose room he originally been placed in, had worked out a deal with Suzanne to rearrange the seats. Edward had been moved to one side and Roderick to the other and both threatened to keep their bickering down. Sunny could be surprising motivational. And against Stormy’s protests he was moved between Sunny and Katherine. 
The pegasus looked at his female counterpart, there was something about her, an aura, that was regal, that she had experience and authority. Her face seemed stuck in a perpetual state of ease, as if she knew more than others could understand, that nothing could bother her. It was disquieting.
Mr. Maitland returned to the stage. “Welcome back, I hope you all had a good lunch.” As he walked across the stage. “Now that you are all Bruins, you need to understand what it means to be a True Bruin. Basically the code of conduct you are all supposed to follow.”
The screen behind him lit up like it did during the last presentation. The images were all one large word in gold followed by a sentence in white, all on a field of blue.


INTEGRITY


I will conduct myself with integrity in my dealing with & on behalf of the University.


EXCELLENCE


I will conscientiously strive for excellence in my work.


ACCOUNTABILITY


I will be accountable as an individual & member of this community for my ethical conduct.


RESPECT


I will respect the rights & dignity of others.


SERVICE


I will make an impact in our global community through public service.



Stormy looked out over the crowd as the speech continued, most of the students looked bored, a few took notes, yet some like Sunny acted like it was some diplomatic speech from a foreign dignitary. Edward was paying attention but looked disinterested, Katherine was watching everything that happened up on stage while mumbling to herself, and Suzanne lulled her head to the side asleep. Their NSA was nowhere to be seen.
“I would like to introduce you to Captain Ganz of the University of California Los Angeles Police Department.”
The man that came up to stage was portly, filling out his white shirt and black pants. He looked about standard from what he had seen of humans, another officer went up with him a female with ebony skin, slightly shorter than the captain. 
“Thank you Dean Maitland. I am Captain Ganz and this is Lieutenant Valencourt. We are here from UCPD and we would like to discuss how to make sure your time here is as safe as possible.” 
Lieutenant Valencourt stayed on the left side of the stage while Captain Ganz moved to the right. “UCPD is a full-fledged police department tasked with protecting both the UCLA campus and the surrounding area including Westwood. But you still need to be aware of your surroundings to stay safe.”
A number came up on the screen. “This is the number you can call if you are out late and feel like you need an escort, we will be happy to assist you. BruinBus is another complimentary service that runs year round from around UCLA into Westwood and runs every ten minutes.”
Officer Ganz went from a slide showing a blue and white bus to one showing a two wheeled contraption. “The biggest crime would be bicycle theft due to so many people using bikes and this campus being so bike friendly, so make sure you lock up your bike properly and wrapped the chain through the rear tire.”
“Another major crime is theft of computers.” The slide switched again to an image of a small computer people were carrying around outside, and several were using to type during the lecture. “Don’t let things like your computer or books out of your sight. It doesn’t matter if you will only be stepping away for a few seconds, that’s all it takes for them to go missing. UCLA also offers free Lojack theft recovery for free for every student.”
The image shifted again, this time to two large male humans wearing odd white clothing grappling with each other. “Another service offered is free self-defense lessons in the John Wooden Center. The cost is covered by a different campus organization every quarter. The instructor used to train LA SWAT teams for twenty years and tailors the lessons to what the students want to learn, from what to do if held at gun point, to if someone tries to sexually assault you.”
The slides turned off. “Are there any questions?” The portly Officer asked. 
Several people asked question, which were easy to answer, several of which had already been answered. 
Then a white hoof rose into the air next to him. “What do you have to say about the report from Business Insider in two thousand twelve that stated UCLA was the most dangerous college campus in the United States?”
Stormy had completely forgotten that he had wanted to ask that same question, although not as elegantly.
Captain Ganz took a minute before answering. “That article only compared public campuses, excluding places like CSU from their rankings. It was also based off FBI crime statistics for the area UCPD covers which is a population of over nine million people including West Los Angeles, Westwood business districts, and various medical centers. It was a highly overblown report based off of faulty statistics.”
Sunny gave a polite nod. “Thank you.”
With no more questions the officers left the stage and a new person took their place. This one was about five foot ten with stringy brown hair and a wiry frame. He wore a white button down shirt white black pants. 
Stormy decided he really needed to learn more about clothing, pants were pants, as in useless but not to humans who may have had other messages conveyed in the way they dressed. 
“Hello I am Michael Bernstein, Director of the Freshman Cluster Program. General education typically gets a bad rep. Most students already have their major picked out and have no reason to take any class that doesn’t lead them toward that goal.”
There were a few discreet nods around the room.
“Well… I hate to break it to you but gen ed is required to meet that goal. And if you don’t take it seriously it will tank your ever precious GPA.” Bernstein crossed his arms as he walked around the stage. “For you overachievers that should be enough, now for those of you who actually care about your education, these courses actually have a purpose. Here’s a quote from C.S. Lewis: ‘The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles, but to irrigate deserts.’ And here’s another one: ‘Education has produced a vast population able to read but unable to distinguish what is worth reading.’ G.M. Trevelyan.”
“Perhaps that still isn’t enough. ‘There is nothing so stupid as the educated man if you get him off the thing he was educated in.’ Will Rogers.” Bernstein looked out at the throng of students, minds ready to be shaped. “If you do not have a depth of knowledge as well as a breadth of knowledge; well you are smart, connect the dots. But that, is the purpose of general education classes.”
“You are required to take a total of ten classes plus Writing Two. These must include at least one literary and cultural analysis, philosophical and linguistic analysis, visual and performing arts analysis and practice, historical analysis and social analysis, plus a second from either the historical or social analysis sections. Plus two life science and two physical science courses with one containing a lab portion. The complete list can be found on the UCLA website.”
“However, your major has its own requirements and you will have to look at the with your departmental advisor, but you may be able to get some of your GE classes to count for your major too. The last program I need to cover before I release you to your NSAs for a degree planning exercise is the Cluster Program. It is a yearlong cluster course with a different class each quarter with all three sharing a common theme. Take a look at each of these. The real bonus of the Cluster Program is that it fulfills forty percent of your GE requirements as well as giving you priority enrollment for English Three as well as completing your English Two requirement.”
“And with that I bid you adieu, and hope you take your education as more than just a stepping stone.”
The ballroom was dead quiet as Michael Bernstein walked off the stage.
“That isn’t how I remember orientation…” Chevonne muttered. 
The room slowly emptied as orientation groups decided where to go next.
“Let’s go down by the bear to cover how to plan out your degree.” Their NSA led them out the way they came in. 
Suzanne struggled to stifle a yawn, moving a hand up to her mouth. “That was fun. Occupy us until three with pointless information.”
“You can’t tell me you didn’t learn anything.” Katherine turned around, making a show of closing her eyes and sticking out her tongue. 
“That’s beside the point.” Suzanne made a show of sticking her nose into the air. Her arm snapped out, catching her childhood friend on the arm. “Keep your eyes open, you almost ran into someone, I can’t always watch your back.” Sticking her tongue out in rebuttal. 
“But you are so good at it.”
“That’s beside the point.”
They reached the Bruin Bear across the plaza only to see its pedestal already taken up by another group, the group containing Sunny and Roderick. Of the two new people, the first was a lanky blonde wearing a sleeveless white top and short denim pants. The other was a pallid looking girl, her legs and arms were fully covered, and even her hands were covered, the only part showing was her face cast in the shadow of the bear. A male human was standing in front of the four freshmen, he had an oddly squarish head, the grin adorning his face, a permanent fixture surrounded by facial hair. 
Stormy’s group found a nearby bench at the edge of the concrete, while the humans sat on the bench, Stormy decided the triangular patch of grass looked divine. He lowered his belly onto the cool surface, letting the blades work their way into his fur, the smell taking him back to primary school, crashing onto Mrs. Myrtle’s yard after a game of catch the cloud. Legs splayed out behind him.
“There isn’t much more to cover for degree planning. Tomorrow we will have a hands on demonstration of how to look up classes.” Chevonne went around handing each person a small packet of papers. “This packet has an overview of the general education courses and more information on the Cluster Program. At the back is also a test sheet for making up a schedule of classes. So if you have any questions.”
“How many units are classes worth?” Katherine asked.
“General Education classes are all five units each, many upper division classes are worth four units. You are required to complete at least sixty units of upper division courses to complete your bachelor’s degree, many of those should be geared towards your major but the rest will be electives.” 
Stormy hoped he wasn’t the only one lost. “But what are upper division courses?”
Chevonne face scrunched to one side, before releasing an audible sigh. “Sorry, it’s hard to realize these are not common knowledge to you yet. Lower division courses are foundational and numbered zero to ninety-nine while upper division classes are more geared toward your major and require specific lower division courses as prerequisites.”
“What are our unit caps?” Edward asked next.
“You must maintain at least twelve units to be considered a full-time student and the typical maximum amount of units you can take in one quarter is nineteen. My roommate sophomore year got permission to overload; or take more than nineteen and had twenty-four units.” Chevonne paused, looking at the faces of her charges. 
“If you listen to one piece of advice from me take this one, do not take more than three classes your first quarter and make sure they are from different fields. It is way too easy to fall behind here; they weren’t joking up there when saying you basically start behind in classes, but it is worth it.”
A beeping sound went off from Chevonne’s bag. She reached into a pocket moving stuff around and the sound stopped. “It’s almost four and time to talk about a really fun event. A short exploration of the nearby Westwood Village and the donation of an item to go into a gift basket that will be sent to Mattel Children’s Hospital which is part of the UCLA Medical Center. Now this is completely optional, but I highly suggest it. Your gift can help comfort a child staying in the hospital.”
“Who would like to pitch in?” Looking down at some papers covering her lap, eyes focused on her watch. 
Chevonne raised her head, expression clear, eyes raised in surprise.
Stormy looked around to see three hands in the air along with his hoof. 


> Outside of Class
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The small group walked down the road next to Ackerman, construction on both sides of the road. Left behind Ackerman had another red brick building aimed for the sky, seven floors; to the right were the remains of a parking structure, past that a road leading underground with light at the end. 
The next block contained red brick buildings on either side with a road upward to Stormy’s left. So much for that way being flat. His hope deflated. 
Beyond that were two parking structures before the large building returned. A shorter building had a slew of pipes and steam emerging from its roof.
“Up ahead we have Ronald Reagan Medical Center.” Chevonne spoke before being cut off by a loud chuffing sound. 
“What’s the helicopter doing?” Stormy asked, drowned out by the noise as it lowered to the hospital’s roof. Although he now had an idea why there were flight restrictions. How common are they? How low do they fly?
“You know what helicopters are?” Katherine asked, curiosity piqued.
“He had to have taken a plane to get here.” Suzanne chimed in.
“Equestria has helicopters. They are smaller and definitely quieter, they are also pony powered. They are pretty rare, I only ever saw one in Canterlot, some odd earth pony took it to visit the clouds.”
“Why is that odd?” Katherine asked again.
“You never hear of ponies that can’t fly being interested in air travel, and if they are they travel by hot air balloon, or if it is very important a royal carriage.”
“Royal carriage?” Edward asked, finally speaking up. They had passed the hospital, with its L-shaped and quarter circle walls, which took at least three blocks. A few people walking past, all around the same age, a few older people in suit or white knee-length jackets passed. 
“A carriage pulled by royal or lunar guards depending on which princess they are working for and urgency.”
“How does the princess system work? Is it like the Queen of England?” Chevonne queried. “A monarch with a two house system to pass laws? Are they just figureheads?” 
Stormy stopped in his tracks. “No. They make the laws themselves. They have advisors but Celestia and Luna have divine rule.” The pegasus started.
“Divine rule?” 
“Ponies have a religion?”
“What race are they?”
“Alicorns. They control the sun and moon, Celestia has protected the land of Equestria for over a thousand years. Why shouldn’t they be trusted?” 
No response came quickly, stunned expressions, until Suzanne spoke up. “So it’s a caste system?”
“A caste system?”
Suzanne floundered for words. “Umm.”
“Stratified social structure based upon different criteria such as race, religion, or job. Where higher caste members are due more respect and the top is almost revered, you don’t associate with lower caste member who are beneath you.” Edward explained. “It was a popular belief in the East.”
“NO! No pony is worth more than any other! How do races work on Earth?” Stormy would get one of his questions fulfilled, if it wouldn’t be on helicopters it would be on this.
They stopped at the next intersection, his friends hesitated to answer.
“Based upon the region someone comes from or differences on the color of one’s skin they are believed to carry specific traits or to be less worthy or as extreme as a contamination of the planet.” Edward explained, face neutral despite Suzanne, Katherine, and Chevonne casting their eyes anywhere but at the pony. “Some places it leads to genocide, or one race trying to kill all the members of another. Or as an excuse to force one group into slavery. The list can go on.” 
The light changed and people flooded across the street, they were crossing from one corner to any of the other three, all vehicles were stopped outside the intersection. 
Maybe questions are better not asked. Stormy’s ears dropped against his head, his book starting to make more sense. An awning covered their heads down the entire block, conversation dead for the moment. 
“We are now in Westwood, there are several shops around, mostly places to eat, but there is a little bit of everything.” Chevonne changed the topic. “And I do mean anything, even vegetarian, and grocery store which will be useful if you live off campus. Target, which is where we are heading now. And there are some great theaters, you will have plenty of time to explore.”
At the next turn their NSA led them to the left. None of the names on the building meant anything to the pony unless they said what kind of company they were like the bank in the middle of the block. 
Everywhere the pony looked were store fronts, the only place to park was along the street under shade trees down the sidewalk. No spaces were empty yet cars were still going traveling down the roads. 
“Are these all the parking spaces?” Stormy turned around, butt pointed toward the white walled building, the huge windows the same as every other store. 
“Fly up. Take a look.” Chevonne quirked. “And don’t worry about the regulations, most people couldn’t care less.”
Stormy looked between the blank faces of his companions, then the roof twenty feet above him past the awning. 
“If anything does happen I will take full responsibility. That’s my job after all.” Chevonne offered, raising her hand toward the sky to mimic the act of flying.
Stormy spread his wings, careful to keep them over the sidewalk, away from oncoming traffic, as pedestrians stopped to see the unique site.
Wuff, wuff. His feathered wings beat the air as he gained altitude. The beating of his wings stretched his supracoracoideus muscles on the upstroke and pectorals on the downstroke, stretching muscles that hadn’t fully stretched in over a full day. It felt sublime to the pegasus. He rose above the roof but kept his eyes closed and just enjoyed the act of flying, of hovering, of moving.
“Well?” Chevonne called up to the pony, breaking his reverie. “What do you see?”
Reluctantly the pegasus opened his eyes to see a parking lot along the roof. Stormy assumed it was a parking lot, it had cars inside lines which crisscrossed the roof with several spaces currently filled. He knew the cars couldn’t fly, they were too heavy, and it just wasn’t physically possible. Sure enough off to the side was a ramp that adjoined a street on the opposite side of the building. They use every square inch. Do they have this on other buildings?
Stormy flew higher to check the roof on the other side of the street. His estimation of humans improved, in the middle of somewhere holes down to the ground, allowing for more windows and even trees, and no parking lots, they had angled roof to prevent water from accumulating and causing damage though. Is there a competition between aesthetics and utility? He vowed to keep an eye on design patterns.
Stormy took the opportunity to get a better view of the city, just as he thought it never ended. It was one thing to see it at ground level and another from the treetops where a pegasus’ eye view. The low building continued for a while before being consumed all too soon by more that seemed to scrape the sky. Wonder what they look like from a higher altitude? His fear forgotten in the rush of air.
“And?” Chevonne yelled as they pegasus beat his wings to rise. “What do you think?”
Stormy shook his head, he was at least thirty-five feet in the air, above regulations with a small crowd forming below him. Cheeks reddened as the lone flier lowered, tucking in his wings upon landing and giving them a good ruffle. 
“There aren’t a lot of cars up there. Why don’t more people park up there?”
“It’s may be farther from what they want, or it could be that it’s more expensive than parking on the street. I have a car but never drive around here.”
The crowd consisted of less than a dozen people that would have crowded around except for the closeness of his group members and moving towards the doors.
“What were they staring at?” Stormy asked, slightly confused, eyes shifting from face to face. 
“They can’t understand how such a large creature can fly, there was a newscast last year saying how pegasi flying should not be possible due to the size of their wings versus body size and the effects of gravity.” Edward quietly spoke.
“Gravity isn’t real, the Earth sucks. From up there it just doesn’t suck as badly.” Stormy laughed at the old joke from flight school. It was something of a popular joke among his instructors. 
Edward’s mouth quirked. “There’s a similar saying here, ask helicopter pilots about it sometime.”
Chevonne called out to the new students, “Come on. We don’t have all day.”
Stormy didn’t check the name of the store, but these glass doors opened as the group approached, revealing an inside of bright white with red walls, bulls eyes scattered throughout. Rows of registers at the front and more of the acrid smelling drink from before, coffee. 
“This is the only department store close by unless you have access to a car.” Chevonne advised. “And for picking out a gift you can spend a total of two dollars each-“
“No.” Katherine interrupted, louder than any were expecting, lips still pursed into an “O”. 
“Every group is limited to this amount.”
“No, that’s not fair! Every other group has double the number of people in it.” Kat stamped a pink shod foot into the linoleum. “So whatever kid gets ours winds up with the short end because we get a pony? How is that fair?” Her voice going up in tone, becoming shrill to the pegasus’ ears.
“Is it fair to require you to pay more? And you think the child will know the difference? They would just be happy for something thoughtful.” The leader spoke more neutral.
The two women stared each other down for a moment. “It is just a guideline though and I won’t check the receipt so long as you keep it reasonable. I will be waiting in the coffee shop for you to return.” Chevonne turned her back on the group, walking up to the counter in the dark brown coffee section.
“I know just what to get.” Kat ran out, leaving the other three to catch up.
“Wait!” Edward yelled in the runner’s direction as he followed.
“Don’t bother. She won’t stop unless you force her too.” Suzanne informed, keeping up. “Just roll with it.”
Stormy followed but watched the grip his hooves maintained on the smooth surface. He wouldn’t run into something else this time, dreading about how sturdy the shelves were.
The aisles zipped past along with stares garnered from other shoppers. The group of four wound through the aisles, the pegasus had no idea what many if not any of these items were. Red lines along the floor formed sections, each aisles stuffed and seven feet tall. The aisles changed as they ran: clothing, school supplies, finally books and toys to the side. 
Kat turned down an aisle filled with enough bright pink to surprise half of Equestria. A pink ball of fluff in her hands. She turned to the group. “This company called ‘Once Upon a Stuffy’ made a new line of stuffed animals based off ponies. Isn’t it so cute!” Hugging the animal to her chest. 
Stormy looked carefully at the item. Four limbs of equal length, it was a pony, the face was of a mare. There was no mane or tail, not even a cutie mark, it was just a ball of fluff over a pony including the ears. 
“That’s one word for it.” Suzanne quipped. 
“Then you can carry it up to the register.” Kat smiled. Handing over the puff of fluff to Sue. 
“Then let’s make this quick.” Suzanne groused, ends of her lips still upturned. 
“If you two boys can give me your four dollars we can pay for it.” Kat offered.
Stormy reached into his bag while Edward pulled a leather wallet out of his pocket. 
“Thank you.” Katherine gave a slight curtsey, bending at the knees before the pair walked off. 
“How much was that though?” Stormy asked, headed to the slot in the shelves that housed a similar size Princess Celestia.
“It is unimportant, why don’t we take a gander around the store? See what else they have to offer.” Edward walked off leaving the pony with a chance to look at the price of the dolls or risk losing the human. 
The store itself was monotonous, every aisle seemed the same with the items shifting. A second set of registers sat in the back leading out to a parking lot under a concrete ceiling. But the store housed almost anything the pony could need including food.
They soon met back up in the coffee shop, the store seemed large to the pony but could be traversed in ten minutes. 
“Would either of you like something to drink?” Chevonne offered, holding up her own white cup emblazoned with a green portrait. 
“That would be delightful.” Edward gave a brief nod of his head. “What would you like Stormy Skies? I will go order it.”
The pegasus looked over his shoulder to the green text over a black board that was their menu. Most of the words meant nothing to a nonhuman. Macchiato, espresso, mocha?
“Whatever is good.” Stormy saw the three women all had drinks, the younger two in clear cups with a white topping. 
Chevonne handed Edward a plastic blue card.
Sue and Kim were busy, hands moving quickly with no sound. There was a similar game in Equestria where you would act something out and the other person would have to figure it out, but the second person usually spoke, just something else that was similar yet slightly different. Chevonne had her little white slab of plastic out, fingers moving across the screen, eyes scanning above it every few seconds.
“They will call you up when your drink is ready.” Edward said from behind as he pulled up a seat next to the pegasus, all five sitting at the small square table. Edward pulled his book back out from under his arm. 
Pocket! His arm must work like a pocket! Not even many ponies do that unless it’s around their neck or hidden in their mane or tail. Everyone was doing their own thing so the pegasus rotated his head to observe the other humans. 
A baby was pushed in a stroller quiet as could be, small conversations were held at the registers as people checked out. The whir of machines behind the counter in the café. Small things that were so similar.
“Ed! Strom!” An oddly accented voice yelled.
Edward and Stormy stood to get their drinks. The counter was another raised one the pony couldn’t reach. Edward grabbed both drinks, one in a white cup and the other in a clear cup. The clear cup was handed to the pony.
Stormy eyed the cup, unsure how to pick it up. Normally he could just grab it with his hoof and fly holding the cup, only earth ponies tended to learn how to carry and walk. He moved his wings forward to carry it either in the tips or against his body but it could be heavy and slip or could spill out. The last option would be in his mouth but spilling or walking with his head down would be an issue. 
“Why don’t I carry it for you.” Edward offered, taking it to the table before the pony could object.
The drink was a cool caramel color with light and dark streaks spread throughout and a white top. Ssshhllpp. Stormy took a sip using the straw inserted into the domed top. The flavors quickly assaulted his senses. Sweet caramel like eating a fresh candy, milky whipped cream, ice cold with small chunks of ice and a bitter endnote of something acrid almost burnt. It was a good drink that the pony happily went back to despite the aftertaste. 
Chevonne put the hunk of plastic to her ear and walked away from the table. “I am calling about the place on Wilshire. Your ad said to call after five.” 
“What drink you get him Edward?” Sue asked.
“A cinnamon dolce frappuccino. It seemed like a good idea, decently sweet and have no knowledge of equine reactions to chocolate.”
Suzanne question the pegasus next. “Stormy, have you ever had coffee before? Or caffeine in general?”
“Some teas have caffeine but I stick to carrot juice.”
Suzanne narrowed her eyes at her male colleague. 
“Do not fret. I shall watch him.” Edward reassured. “It was my mistake.”
“What problems?” Stormy fretted, looked down at his empty glass. “I’ve never heard of any problems.”
“That would be because the effects are mostly if taken to excess and are typically minor.” Edward informed. 
“Ok.” Stormy responded with a downturned head, staring into the cup.
Chevonne came back. “It’s time to head back. We are running a bit late to finish the tour of Westwood.”
The group cleared the table of their desiccated cups. 
“Why perchance did you make such a big deal over the stuffed animal Katherine?” Edward asked as they left the store.
“What kid doesn’t love a stuffed animal when stressed? And it only seemed fitting they get a pony from a pony. No kid could ever forget it.” Hugging the white plastic bag containing the fluffy pony to her chest. 
An uncomfortable silence followed as nobody had any idea what to say, again. 
“How do majors work?” Stormy finally asked. “Everypon- um everyone has a major. Why?”
The four humans stopped to look at each other. “Well. I picked anthropology because it’s the only thing I could imagine working on the rest of my life. It describes the basics of how people and cultures work. In fact the opening of the portal has started several new branches in many fields.” Chevonne offered, moving as she walked to keep the rest of the group moving. “Majors prove you have a set amount of knowledge in that field.”
“Speech therapist. People are judged automatically by their accents.” Edward revealed. “Call it leveling the playing field.”
“Does that mean you can change accents?” Suzanne asked, a familiar glint returning to her eyes.
“With a disproportionate amount of effort yes, vaguely.” Edward answered. “And why are you into physics?”
“The fun traps isn’t enough?” Suzanne grinned wide enough for her canines to show. “Fine, it’s the idea of pushing what is humanly possible. Just look at the work CERN has done in the past few years or the effects of the space program.” Her eyes lit up with every word. “And you don’t understand any of it.” Sue huffed, clenching her teeth. 
Katherine put a soothing hand on her friends shoulder. “Math. It explains the world and working on it shuts out the rest of the world.”
“But what can you do with math? Teach?” Chevonne asked.
“There are many possibilities. Won’t know until I start my upper division classes. Optimize the 405 freeway. Analyze traffic patterns to make better routes and figure the exact amount of road needed along with other possibilities. Finance, some of the best actuaries or stockbrokers are math majors.” As her voice went up in agitation, her speech impediment became more pronounced. 
“Thank you.” Stormy replied. They all have passion but how do they pick one? He didn’t even know what half of what they talked about meant though.
“What was it like back home?” Edward asked.
“Umm…well…” Stormy mumbled. “Just different.”
“Not so fast. You have to answer some questions too.” Suzanne stuck a finger towards the pegasus’ chest. “How does it work in Equestria?” 
“Don’t force him to answer if he doesn’t want to.” Katherine rebuked, sticking her own finger at the friend.
“That’s okay.” Stormy shifted his wings uncomfortably. How will they treat me if they know? “Primary school is from three to twelve with summers taken up at camp. For pegasi it is flight school, I don’t know what it is for non-pegasi. After that is two years studying and working on weather formations. At fourteen or earlier you apprentice in whatever your special talent is.”
“But…” Kat started.
“Why did you go into weather?” Sue finished.
“I’m a pegasus.” Stormy had trouble with the question. They don’t have cutie marks. The mustard yellow pegasus reminded himself. “My whole family works with weather.” He lifted his saddlebag up, exposing his flank and the dark grey cloud with its light outline. “I resheibed dish at eight.” He spoke through the latch in his mouth, settling it back down. “My special talent is making storm clouds. So after my two years apprenticing at the weather factory, shifting from job to job they kept me in cloud production.”
“A tattoo says what your job will be?” Chevonne asked, eyes wide in shock.
“It’s magic. It just appears when a pony discovers what they are meant to do or enjoy. There were some dying plants, I made a storm cloud for some rain and it just appeared.”
“Every cloud has a silver lining.” Sue giggled. 
“Then why are you here? Meteorology? Weather forecasting of terrestrial systems?” Edward queried. 
They had just returned to the steps in front of Ackerman, Stormy had to stop and think. “Curiosity? Humans and ponies working together after that earthquake, it was impressive.” It was stupid, I was stupid. ’You have a chance to do something grand. Step outside your comfort zone.’ 
The pegasi’s mind shifted quicker than he could imagine. “To try something new.”
“Quite honorable.” Edward offered. “Maybe we shall be in the same classes, Gen Eds being what they are.”
“That is wonderful advice.” Chevonne spoke up. “Don’t be afraid to get help, classes will be hard. Now we do need to head inside. Back up to the food court for dinner provided by UCLA and a chance to meet some of the clubs.”
There were more people inside than there was earlier in the day, only Stormy seemed to carry a bag, outside of the women with small ones over their shoulders. 
The conversation shifted to cities as the group of five ascended the steps. The pony heard of the sprawling fields of Oklahoma with large cities with great distances between them. Los Angeles, the sprawling city of millions that was always busy and always innovating; even the port city of San Francisco with its bustling enterprises and fresh air. In return Stormy told them about Upper and Lower Canterlot, the center of Equestria.
He learned the starts of weather patterns: tornadoes in the Midwest like Oklahoma and their swaths of destruction, winds of two hundred miles an hour. Fires that forced evacuations in Southern California every year, and earthquakes strong enough to level cities. Snow that blanketed areas and made it so cold people couldn’t leave their homes. 
Sooner than the pegasus would of liked they reached the third floor. Stormy looked out at the changed scenery, all the restaurants were there except half of the tables had been moved away from the windows to be replaced by manned booths with large signs proclaiming what organization each represented. Archery was the only group he recognized. Other included Nerdfighters, Alpha Lambda Delta and it continued, names he couldn’t recognize. 
The humans streamed past to look at clubs or find a good table while their friends got food from a long table filled with sandwiches. Stormy didn’t feel physically tired but his mind slowed. Too much information too fast while surrounded by aliens, he just wanted to sit. The pony pulled out the schedule to check how late things would run.

5:30pm        Activities Fair & Orientation/ASUCLA Dinner – Ackerman Terrace: 1st Level
Enjoy the music while visiting the tables surrounding the dining area for information about some of the groups and services on campus. Use the conversation starters on the tables to get to know your fellow Bruins.

It was still early for the tired pegasus to eat, but events went on until one and this was the only meal time scheduled in. Best to get food now. He surmised. The tabled filled with free sandwiches and drinks were surrounded by grasping arms, and the table would still be hard to reach up to. 
Stormy decided just to head out the double doors that faced the road they had come back on. The terrace was wide, able to seat two tables side by side and it wrapped around the building to his left. The tables were a soft beige while the chairs were silver. The pegasus jumped up to the table, closed his eyes and let his head settle to the surface, touching the cool metal. Stormy released a deep sigh as the breeze tousled his hair, mixing its fresh aroma with the tinge of metal his muzzle rested on. Utterly serene, the sounds of traffic barely reaching this far into campus and all the humans inside enjoying the food and excitement. 
The screech of a chair being pulled across concrete disturbed the pegasus’ reverie, but not enough to move his head. 
“Are you not hungry?” A familiar voice asked. “No need to be reticent, I would have gladly procured you a sandwich.”
Stormy mumbled, knowing he said nothing. 
“However, you might want to move soon unless you enjoy rude awakenings.” He finished. The sound of sipping next came from that direction.
A sweet voice whispered in his ear. “He was right you know.” As something landed on the pony’s back. “Wakey wakey.”  
Stormy felt something drizzle down his spine, traveling all the way to the base of his tail before he reacted. Head jerked up as his shoulders and wings moved back, chest forward with a single thought flashing through his mind. COLD!!!
With two solid flaps he was in the air searching for the errant storm cloud that drizzled on him. Down below he heard Edward guffawing. 
Stormy shook off and landed, the human that had been behind him moved to an adjacent seat while Edward’s face turned red. Stormy took a closer look at Sue to see the front of her shirt covered in water. 
Stormy looked between the two humans, confusion etched across his face. “Wha-what happened.”
“Sue dripped water down your back.” Edward started to regain control of his lungs. “And you jumped with a start, knocking the cup she had used into her chest.” He then turned to Suzanne, grin still in place. “Just be glad you weren’t wearing white.”
“You would have loved that.” Sue muttered brushing at her shirt with napkins.
“Perchance.”
Stormy swiveled his head, looking for the one in pink. “Why are you two out here? Where’s Katherine?”
“We came out here to find our best pony.” Sue smiled as she pulled the shirt away from her skin.
“And because the noise level inside made it impossible to communicate. I assume you came out here for the same purpose.” Edward clarified. “Kat has volunteered to bring food and survey the clubs for us.”
“She handles loud noises better than I do.” Sue confessed. “And this guy said he had to warn you about me.” Pointing to the other human at the table with her thumb. 
Stormy shook the excess water from his pelt, but what little water Sue had used already soaked in. 
There was no card with a discussion topic on the table, they either figured nobody would go outside or afraid the wind would blow it away. Another difference nudged its way into the pony’s mind. These tables could only seat four easily with their square surface and legs at the edges, but the ones inside were round with legs that didn’t stick out as far. 
While waiting for Kat, Edward started the conversation back up. “What is your opinion of the Pony Immigration Policy?”
“Huh?” Stormy had let his mind wander off again. “I don’t really know much about it. Outside of something in a newspaper about it. Equetrians don’t pay much attention to what happens on this side of the portal unless it’s a threat.” The pegasus squared his eyes. “Although a lot of negatives do come through the portal.”
“Like what?” Kat asked, pushing the door open with her back, holding a stack of paper plates with several sandwiches on top.
“Civil wars, but the names don’t mean anything to me. It comes up a lot in talks of exchanges of technology about how humans can’t be trusted.”
“But there have been numerous exchanges already. Weather forecasting has improved tremendously, and I know various technologies have already been sent over.” Edward brought up.
“Celestia doesn’t always do what her advisors say. She took heating gems with her to that tsunami to help those without power stay warm.”
“Is she not afraid those could be used for war?” Edward asked. “It would make a decent explosive if exposed to pressure and had an electric current run through it.”
Stormy moved further back in his chair, what little appetite he had dissipated at the thought of bodies being incinerated. 
“I think what he means is that the levels of cooperation are quite surprising and this bill can impact immigration and students.” Sue responded, casting a scowl at her male friend. “But let’s not talk politics over food. I’m starving.”
Without asking, Kat spread out the plates and gave everyone a sandwich with three halves left on a plate in the middle. Looking at his food, Stormy gingerly lifted it with one of his hooves, inspecting the ingredients. He could easily smell the fresh tomato, cucumber and sprouts that made up a large portion of his sandwich, but the thick white substance eluded him. His nose informing him it was some sort of cheese.
“Veggie?! What kind of torture is this?” Sue moaned. “I need meat.”
“Then you should have gotten your own.” Katherine cheerfully replied. “Think of this as karma for the water. Besides it good for you.”
Stormy watched the two go back and forth while the two ate. Despites Sue’s complaints her sandwich disappeared as she reached for another. 

The hour and a half for dinner passed quickly, Kat had to go back in for more sandwiches at one point. 
“So private schools are filled with scum too huh?” Sue asked, trying to get more information out of Edward.
“Quite.” Edward stated, refusing to expand on the sting operation at his school that netted a ring that cheated the SAT.
Chevonne came out. “The next program is starting soon in ten. I’ll meet you in front of the ballroom.” And she was gone. 
“What is up with her?” Sue asked, turning to Kat. “Doesn’t she seem odd to you.”
“She may just be having a rough time.” Kat replied. “Remember plenty of times you were in a bad mood.”
“Change of topics.” Sue quickly responded to the threat. “Why don’t we head up now?”
The plates were placed into a trash can and the four of them headed past the still full dining area and up the stairs. The doors to the grand ballroom were open with people slowly trickling in. The group found their NSA in the area they previously sat it, moving out of the way to let the new students enter.
The five of them sat quietly as more and more people shuffled in. Sunny’s group got to their seats as the place was pretty much full. Roderick and Edward exchanged glares. 
“Welcome back.” Maitland started. “Hope you enjoyed your dinner and meeting some of the clubs. We will now have four New Student Advisors come up on stage to talk about their experiences here at UCLA.”
Stormy listened as well as he could, everything just seemed to blend together though. The first lady dressed in some sort of business suit, talked about how fast her classes moved and how quickly she got left behind. 
The next person to get up on stage was another human female, skin a deep ebony, eyes sharp contrasting pinpoints. Roommates, something about roommates making the experience great but to find people you like or it could be unbearable. Stormy never had to share a room except with his brother at a young age.
The next person was rather skinny with short hair and ambiguous features. They talked about the opportunities, how everyone could find something that interested them. “With over a thousand clubs,” stuck out, such a large number. How companies would hire and some classes had interviews as finals. 
The pony’s laconic mind jumped as he saw the last speaker take the stage, a yellow earth pony stallion. He named off locations like La Brea and Gaetti which meant nothing. “With so many great things to see, you should take the opportunities while you have the chance.” 
Maitland returned to the stage. Releasing everyone for something called “Summer in the Union.”
“Who wants to join me for Cabaret?” Edward queried, eyes passing between his three friends.
“No thank you.” Katherine responded first. “Not a fan of war musicals.”
“Nah. Someone should be playing a game of poker downstairs.” Sue’s wicked grin returned to her face, canine becoming visible. “Maybe some of the guys will want to try betting with real money.”
Edward turned to Stormy, eyebrow raised questioning.
“Uh…” Stormy stopped, not knowing what to say. There was so far too much sitting and he didn’t want to watch something about war. Maybe a run at the stadium. “I’d rather not.”
Leaving the ballroom they parted ways.
No context. Even with the studying and the help of Ai, too much history, differences in thought. The pegasus needed to move, time to organize his thoughts.
Outside a small swarm of student departed, he went along with the crowd, most heading up to the dorms or back out to Westwood to explore. 
The pony turned right. The track surrounded a brownish green field painted with white lines. The material of the track itself wasn’t dirt like he was used to seeing, but he no longer expected it of the tech enthused humans. It was some sort of red rubbery material absorbing his footfalls as he clopped down the track. He’d never run at a track before, never had a need to.
Are clubs and volunteering expected? Everyone seems to give them such a high priority. How hard are the classes? 
His mind soon shifted to a person. So far humans had all been nice, why had that human given him a warning? Is it related to wars and different beliefs?
Faster. He needed to go faster as his mind worked slowly. The field was empty. Stormy unfurled his wings. Rounding a corner he pumped his wings and legs hard. A slight burn developed in his legs, then his wings. Another corner, then another around the oval track. White lines flashed below him. Heart racing but his wings couldn’t keep up the pace. The pegasus lowered clunkily to the ground as his wings began to give. His hooves wanting to give under the returned weight.
Huff. Huff. Huff. The pony decidedly left this field, dragging his tired hooves up the steep walk. The exhaustion hit his mind, all thoughts outside of sleep stopped. 
He found his room, hoof slapping the door until his key found its way into the lock, a slight twist opening of the handle opening the door. He left the light off, his eyes able to adjust with the open blinds letting in light.
Staring at the beds, the bottom bunk had already been taken if the bag next to it was any indication. The bunk across the room was too with sheets half off the bed, no humans were present though. 
Stormy dropped his saddlebag in front of the desk, wings barely generating enough lift to raise him to the bunk. His hooves barely touched the bed before they collapsed under him. The darkness of sleep taking the pegasus before his head reached the sheets.

> Choosing Classes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The skies above Canterlot were clear despite the beautiful weather, fragrant with blooming honeysuckle. Vibrant clouds scattered across the brilliant blue sky. Below ponies shopped and moved about. Stormy flew into the headwind, allowing it to keep him aloft with little effort, gliding through the air. Ai was visible in the distance guarding the front gate of Canterlot Castle. It had been hard tracking her down, but he was determined to tell her about his trip, to properly thank her for the help. The royal guard colors but on a mare.
The wind shifted behind the pegasus, blowing his cornflower blue mane into his face. 
“Hnnf!” The pegasus snorted the hair out of his nose. His eyes reopened to an occluded sky, dark with fresh storm clouds pumped out of the weather factory. 
GRONNN!!! GRONNN!!! The clouds screamed with tension.
The sky cracked and shook. It wasn’t the air vibrating, the sky itself shook.
“Turn that petulant noise maker off!” Edward groaned, the sky shook again. 
Stormy pried his eyes open, staring at a bunk-bed across the room from him, a white hand held a plastic block above a head with roped-like brown hair. 
Roderick sat up, opening his eyes wide, arms splayed in a large stretched, yawning through the entire incident. He then shifted his shoulders back; a loud crack filling the room. The brown ropes of his hair fell down to his shoulders, back as smooth as his face. In fact Stormy noticed his body lacked hair on the human’s body, and thinking back to it, so did the human he saw the previous day. But whereas Katherine had a towel surrounding her, Roderick only had a piece of white cloth covering his waist. 
Taboos on nudity. He remembered. So far none of the other ponies the pegasus saw wore clothing so he didn’t imagine the same moors would apply to him. 
Roderick climbed out from under the white sheet that made up all three beds, climbed down to the desk then onto the floor. His skin pale in the light of dawn, the sun had barely crested the horizon let alone the other buildings. He quickly reached into a tie-dyed suitcase and pulled out a wad of cloth before heading to the bathroom. 
Stormy rolled over to stare at the white rough walls of the dorm. His bed had stopped moving but now another problem crept up on the unsuspecting pegasus. As he opened his eyes, they felt dry, just being exposed to the air made them burn and water. The pony went to take a deep breath, it turned into a sneeze then a cough. His head throbbed.
Stormy let out a minor groan, going back over a book on diseases.
“Humans and ponies cannot transfer diseases from one species to the other. While both species have colds, they attack the body in different manners. In humans the main cause is a virus attacking the lungs while in ponies the main cause is errant magic building up at the base of the skull and radiating outwards. As such diseases are not believed to be communicable between species. see fig.3.4
Fig. 3.5 and 3.6 show a common disease where the base virus is remarkably similar between both ‘pony pox’ and the human’s ‘chicken pox’. In humans though this virus causes swelling and blistering of the skin followed by an itching sensation whereas in ponies it causes the effects of a human ‘cold’ with fever, chills and aches as well as fur discoloration similar to that of when a cutie mark appears. 
Another thing to be wary of is the names of diseases, while both species have hay fever and ‘the trots’ they present in completely different manners.” The book had gone on but was more technical than the pegasus had been used to, and graphic. 
Stormy laid his head onto the pillow, the place it hadn’t been all night as it never made it that far. His nose stuffed, forcing the pony to sniffle which lead to another cough. 
Grumbling came from below the pegasus’ bed, incoherent as they were muted into a pillow. “Agh!” the person below him groaned, head must have moved from the pillow as another fit of sneezing racked the pegasus. The bunk bed shook followed by rumblings in a bag as a zipper was pulled.
A hand rose over the railing that would prevent the sleeper from falling down and placed two small round white objects on the bed. Stormy looked over the edge, a white glaze over Edward’s half lidded eyes. The pony stared at the little pills, smaller than any back in Equestria, barely a cake crumb in size.
“Take them.” Edward mumbled, climbing back into his bunk under the pony. “Antihistamine. You are undoubtedly suffering from allergies due to…” His voice faded into gentle snoring. “Take two pills and call me in the morning…”
Stormy looked at the two objects, afraid to sniff them in case they tried going up his nose. Pills were meant to be swallowed. He hesitantly stuck out his tongue that felt like cotton, to get a taste of the pill only to have them both stick fast. The pills tasted of dust as they were pulled into the pegasi’s mouth. After several attempts Stormy managed to swallow the dissolving masses.
Stormy waited a few moments for the pills to kick in. When his eyes continued to water and throat remained dry, the pony realized human medications were not working. The pegasus blinked his dry eyes and laid his head back on the pillow. I had to be unlucky enough to come down with the feather flu on this trip. He groused, eyes burning through another sneezing fit. 
The pegasus realized this was not going to be a good trip, and hoped it wasn’t a portent of his coming year as his mind drifted back to sleep.

Stormy woke up with his head banging. His runny nose and scratchy throat seemed to have disappeared, his eyes still a little dry but not painfully so. The pain settled right behind his snout. A soft thumping from the bathroom told him his head wasn’t the only thing being banged. 
The pony heard the muffled shouts of Edward through the bathroom door and the sound of a shower. The words too muffled to understand through his foggy mind. 
Stormy stood and stretched his body, taking particular joys as the pectoral muscles along his back stretched out from the night’s flight, going through to his digits. He blinked rapidly a few times, adjusting to the artificial light in the ceiling, window and curtain closed. His stomach grumbled and mouth dry. 
The bed across his was in shambles, blankets disheveled, pillow flat on the floor below his roommates bed, lying in front of the desk. The pony looked down at his own bed with its covers mussed from sleeping on it but still somewhat organized, although they appeared subtly blue today. Must be seeing through the sheet. He mused. 
The twinge of a headache at the edge of the pegasus’ senses made Stormy close his eyes for a few moments. Upon opening his eyes, the headache faded as did the blueness of his sheets. The pegasus shook his head, banging still coming from the bathroom. His stomach rumbled again and Stormy wondered what time it was. 
Stormy walked to the edge of his bed, forehooves on the railing and leapt down extending his wings to soften the landing. A pegasus didn’t need to open his wings for such a small jump, but it always helped to soften the landing. Which was a good thing as his wings fully extended to their six foot length they immediately collapsed, a second later his hooves slammed into the carpet, the harsh landing echoed up his cannons. The pony lifted up his rear hooves in reaction as the remainder of the momentum from his previous jump carried him forward until his chin contacted the same carpet his hooves found a moment earlier. His stomach followed shortly, his rear legs splaying out behind him.
“Oof” Left his muzzle as the shock forced air out of his lungs. Ugg! He thought, closing his eyes yet again. Great start to another day on Earth.
Stormy took some care and effort placing his hooves back where they belonged on the floor, taking care as his body rose back up to standing. The pegasus looked back at his wings, emotions warring between shock and disbelief. He extended his wings again, they spread out fully reaching the sides of the room, being careful of the beds and walls. He gave a gentle flap, and his wings responded but they failed to provide lift to the pony. He tried again, but they would not lift him into the air so they were folded back up against the pegasus’ sides. 
That explains the coughing at least. His rear plopping onto the rough, tight-knit carpet of the dorm room as a realization hit him. Feather Flu. I have feather Flu. Next should be tiredness and a fever. How the buck? It’s not even Feather Flu season. Stormy whimpered. This isn’t fair! All he wanted to do was climb back into bed and sleep for a few hours, regardless of his agenda for the day, the last two days had been rougher than most months for the young pony, at least in Canterlot he knew what was expected of him. 
But getting back into the top bunk while doable would be quite difficult without his wings to provide lift. An earth pony could make the four foot jump easy, but pegasi were too used to using their wings for almost any movement outside of trotting.
Maybe a shower would help. He surmised, a rinse of cold water should at least help his senses regain their footing.
“You miserable little puissant! An hour is more than sufficient to clean oneself in the morning!” Edward was yelling from the bathroom, quite livid, followed by the rapport of another set of bangs of a closed fist on a wooden door. 
Stormy groaned. So much for that idea. Maybe just a nice bowl of oatmeal then. The pegasus turned around to grab his bag only to stop and stare at the bed below his. It was immaculate. Sheets and blanket flat, straight, and tucked under the mattress. The blanket at the head folded down to show the sheet underneath, leaving just enough room for the perfectly centered pillow. A foal could bounce on Edward’s and not disturb a thing. 
A black plastic suitcase sat near the head of Edward’s bed, a paperback book set atop with a bookmark halfway through, it looked to be the same one as the previous day.
Stormy left the clean look of Edward’s area to pick back up his bag which somepony had been kind enough to place under the chair of the desk that led to the pony’s bunk. The blue-maned pony lifted up the beige canvas cover of the left partition and pulled out his schedule.
There were a lot of placement exams for things like Music and German, none of which applied to him. UCLA wouldn’t even accept his experience as a weather pony to cover their meteorology class because “Weather system between Earth and Equestria function in different manners. The grade for meteorology signifies a basic understanding of Earth’s weather systems.”
There was one workshop that looked helpful that he didn’t have to be at until 10:00 and that one would finally explain how majors and minors worked, he hoped. So he had until then to get breakfast. There were just some things humans knew because they lived here that never existed in Equestria. Cars came quickly to mind.
There was something else at 10:00 about research opportunities. “In a field that interests you.” It wouldn’t do Stormy any good, he still had no idea what he wanted to do.
At 11:00. He stared at the lines “Registration and Enrollment.” He finished reading the remainder of the paragraph. He let out a sigh when he realized it wasn’t getting the classes just learning how to find classes online… Is everything done by computer here? He stared. Outside of books, everyone seemed to be walking around with a portable computer in their pockets or attached to their ear. 
12:00 would be lunch followed by using the computer lab at 1:00 to 11:30 he could access the Online General Catalogue and Schedule of Classes. It would have to be used later in the day though as a departmental meeting would be held at one followed by an individual academic counseling appointment.
The list went on and on, a full nother page held at least ten more events for that day all with schedules that overlapped or repeated in half-hour increments. He would just have to assemble that cumulus when he came to it. Maybe after meeting the advisors and lunch. How can they have so many things going on at once? How can they do so much in a day?
Stormy gingerly picked his saddlebag up, the only problem coming from his head but not wanted to take a chance. He settled the bags over his flank, covering his storm cloud cutie mark with beige canvas. It’s settled comfortably, like an old friend. It may have looked new but was far from it. The bag had been a gift; however, he couldn’t remember from who, maybe his brother. It was after graduating from the weather academy. A custom made number with his cutie mark, the cloud outlined in sterling silver. 
The pegasus passed by the door to the bathroom, Edward was still banging on the inner door, most likely the one to the shower. Stormy opened the door to the hallway, empty just as every time he had seen it so far. Am I early or late? He wondered. There should have been at least one other person leaving for breakfast, or at least some sounds of activity. 
The elevator took a while to reach the top, the numbers above the doors moved steadily from one to nine. The door pinged and opened, the metal box was empty. The cold metal floor tingled along his clopping hooves. The tang of metal filled his nose, it smelled different. It was the first time since arriving that human wasn’t the over-riding smell of everything. He was unsure which smell he preferred, neither were truly pleasant, neither were they gag inducing or burned his passages like some cleaners did. The pegasus shuddered at the memory of his leg being set after it fell into a ferret burrow. 
Stormy pushed the number one on the elevator’s panel and the door hissed closed. This was his first time riding an elevator down. With a lurch the giant metal box fell, covering five feet a second. And just like on the airplane his wings spread out of their own accord, slamming into the cold hard metal with an audible ting. They recoiled in pain allowing the pegasus to regain his senses. Humans used these machines all the time, they had to be safe. Even if they weren’t though, his wings would be useless so long as he was sick. But how’d I fly so much last night? Flight is one of the first things to go with Feather Flu.
Stormy shoved those thoughts to the back of his mind as the numbers counted down.  6. 5. 4. 3. 2. ‘Ping.’ 
The doors opened up on the second floor and a small human hurried in. She was dressed completely in black; her vest had several pockets and covered a longer sleeved black shirt. The pants were similar to Edward’s pants but obviously lower in quality. The female was only about five feet tall, by far the shortest adult the pegasus had yet seen. Blonde hair covered her head, cut short in the back and longer in the front with the longest parts right in front of her ears. The golden in her hair offset the ice blue eyes that held some kind of fire. It was the same look some of the Royal Guards would display when on patrols or a mission. A bag was slung under her arm, a shaft of some kind stuck out. A small piece of tape labeled the bag as belonging to ‘Murphy’.
Stormy moved to the side as Murphy entered. This wasn’t a person he wanted to run into, her stance placed her as a predator on the hunt. She gave him a brief nod before turning back to face the opening as it closed.
Thankfully this time when the elevator descended Stormy was able to keep his wings at his sides. Stormy’s heart rate picked up, he only noticed as it felt about to burst from his chest. He worked to control his breathing, he couldn’t show weakness to a predator and he couldn’t escape.
‘Ping’. The doors opened on the ground floor. It took Stormy everything he could to not whimper when they opened. Standing there was a large man dressed all in black. He stood well over six feet, his black hair a shamble with just enough beard showing to look like it was shaved within the past few days, but not enough to be considered a full beard, at least not by pony standards. Jeans and a t-shirt were covered by a black duster, its mantle resting over his shoulders. The material would make any pony cringe, the way it moved and looked.
Stormy took a step back, from some horror movie somewhere, a detestable genre. His heart rate didn’t fluctuate but stayed the same, the pegasus assumed he couldn’t be any more terrified. Leather, dead and dried animal flesh.
“Did you bring it?” The man asked, voice firm, emotionless, hard eyes staring at the smaller woman.
She didn’t flinch, didn’t even acknowledge his look. “Of course, Harry” The woman pulled the stick out of her bag, it had to be three feet long, and handed it to her protégé. 
He stared at the markings burned along the side. “Nice. Matorikkusu. Very accurate.” He looked up to stare at the pony. “You were in character weren’t you?”
“Of course.” She seemed to grow taller in indignation. “You did the same. Why?”
Harry pointed behind Murphy, at the cowering pony.
Murphy turned, upon seeing the pony she lowered her head, palm meeting it halfway there. “Aw, Jeez. Why does this always seem to happen around you?”
Throughout her realization he snickered, a barely contained guffaw finally released from Harry’s throat as Murphy cast a death glare back at her compatriot. “Maybe this time we can win that costume contest.”
“What do we do about him though?” Murphy pointed at the pegasus in the back of the elevator.
Stormy looked between the two humans. What is going on? Their demeanor just changed. He inspected his body. While his heart rate was high his body wasn’t shaking, it hadn’t been. There was fear at the humans that was quickly dissipating. The cool metal wall brushed against the pegasi’s back while the cool metal floor his rear.
Harry gave the pony a lopsided grin as he stepped forward, lowering himself to the balls of his feet until they were eye to eye, arms crossing over his knees. The grin had spread to his eyes, mirth filled his features, eyes alight. Grin spreading to the other side, lightly shaking his head. “Sorry about that little buddy. It’s just a costume. In fact,” He reached into the right pocket of his duster, pulling out a small rectangular stiff piece of paper. 
Stormy tentatively accepted the slip of paper, looking at it. The pony stared, it was a business card for costuming services. 
“The name’s Jon. And if you ever want to go to a convention in the area, we would be more than happy to take you. Think of it as a cultural analysis of human subcultures.” There was a kindness to his eyes.
“You really are a dork, you know that?” ‘Murphy’ harumphed, her arms crossed against her chest, expression one of agitation, eyes flicking to the watch on her wrist. But her eyes said something different, they showed concern, but for who the pony couldn’t be certain.
“Says someone dressed up like a character from a book.” Jon shot back, standing back up to his full height, walking past his friend.
“Hey, I wanted a movie. You wouldn’t look bad as Raleigh.” She mused. “The armor wouldn’t be that hard to make. Remember that last set of armor?”
The two humans exited through the glass doors of the entrance, going back and forth over different costume ideas.
The only thought that crossed Stormy’s mind at the moment was: Humans are weird.
The metal doors gave a soft whumpf as they moved towards each other. Stormy moved as quickly as ponily possible on shaky legs and ran out the elevator, not making it in time, the doors slightly hugged his flank then reopened. The pegasus looked back, the doors closed once again, this time shutting tight. Motors whirring as the car moved upwards. Realizing that somehow, the machine would never close on him, that somehow the machine knew his body was between those two cold doors. 
Stormy Skies stared out the glass doors, blinking against the surprisingly bright lights reflecting off windows and concrete, the sun had found a division among the buildings of Reiber. A half a dozen groups of people milled about, one group hunched over books covering a gray metal table, one of several along the left wall following his building. 
Pushing open the glass doors with his head on the metal door frame, a crisp breeze ruffled his feathers. The air smelled of fresh flowers, the odor of pollution stayed as background noise to the more pleasant aroma, noticing the trees and flowers spread around the courtyard of the three buildings. 
Stormy just stared at the new morning. The things in front of him conflicted in his mind. It looked like home and yet an alien visage. The plants, the smells of life, even the breeze felt the same. Large building would tower above a pony in the larger cities, but these were just so much more imposing. But the clouds, they were so far away. The sounds of life, of birds and squirrels were the same but the drum of cars was ever present in behind it all as was the smell of human industrialism. It conflicted in his mind, the alien with the familiar.
Stormy wanted to stay and figure out what was wrong precisely, maybe the planter with a tree in the middle of a circular road, but his stomach raged in hunger. It felt like days since he had last eaten. The pegasus remembered the schedule stated: “8 am Breakfast at De Neve.” Where is De Neve?
Sliding the saddlebag off his flank, Stormy looked into the bag and tried to find his map. The map you have trouble reading? What if it’s on the other side of the campus? Do you really think you can find it using a map and no wings? He chided himself; his heart rate was still up making his thinking a little harder. I should find a human that looks like they know what they are doing. The pegasus surmised, not sure if he could find someplace new.
Stormy looked around at the different people. The group huddled around the table were now talking and laughing, hands moving about animatedly. Two people passed him, walking into Rieber Terrace. The only other people still out were the man in the black leather duster and woman in her black vest as they turned a corner out of sight just past Rieber Hall. They live here and are leaving campus, they can’t be here for orientation, they should know this campus.
With his decision made, Stormy ran to catch up with Jon and his companion. The morning air was cool and crisp as the pony galloped, turning right to follow the gently sloping path with the large stairs down to his left. He looked down the sloping path; there were humans there but none in black. The pony turned to look down the steps, just reaching the bottom of the four sets were the humans he was looking for. 
Stormy yelled out to the two humans. “Wait!”
Jon and his companion looked back from the bottom of the stairs. 
The pegasus ran down as fast as he could, his hooves barely finding their placement on each step, stairs were an odd thing for a pegasi to deal with. Both humans were still there as he reached the bottom but the shift from stairs to flat land again tripped him up as the pony barreled towards both humans. 
“Shit!” The female yelled followed by the sound of something hitting the ground. 
The pegasus left out a whoof, he failed to knock over either human.
“He’s kinda light, huh Avish?” Jon asked as the pony lay in two sets of arms.
“Only compared to you.” Avish replied. “We really don’t have time for this if we want to setup beforehand.”
Stormy felt the four arms gently place him on the ground. Stormy stared, the two humans looked no worse for wear. “But how? How did you stay standing?”
“Experience.” Jon replied. “Was there something you needed?”
Stormy looked between the two of them. “Do you know where to find De Neve? Breakfast is supposed to be there and I have no clue where it’s at.”
Avish and Jon looked at each other. The latter shrugged, “It’s only a few minutes out of our way.”
“So long as we go and don’t just stand here talking.” And with that, Avish turned her back on the two, proceeded to walk at a brisk pace, Stormy and Jon had to move quickly to catch up. And where Stormy had turned left earlier to reach Covel, Avish led them to the right. 
A road bisected the two buildings, leaving concrete on either side with a roundabout in front of them, large trees in the middle. Large white buildings towering on either side of the group, the humans ignoring what to them was normal, or at least had become normal. Will I eventually find this normal? That thought brought new worries to the young pony, the most intimidating being: Will Canterlot look alien if I stay here?
They took the sidewalk along the left side of the road. Baby trees about eight feet tall, not old enough to provide shade but enough to add a little life and color. 
“What made you come to UCLA?” Jon asked, looking down at the pony.
“Huh?” Stormy was broken out of his thoughts of home. “Um…” He tried to think about it but the answer he had been giving felt flat. The pegasus lowered his head. “I don’t know.” 
Avish shot Jon a glare, Stormy caught it out of the corner of his eyes walking on the opposite side of Jon as she was. “We are BizEcon. Kinda boring. The first year is a bit weird but you get used to it rather quickly. And don’t worry, its intimidating for everyone at first.” Her elbow found a spot in Jon’s ribs.
“Uh, yeah. At least you are trying something new. ‘You are now at a crossroads. This is your opportunity to make the most important decision you will ever make. Forget your past. Who are you now? Who have you decided you really are now? Don't think about who you have been. Who are you now? Who have you decided to become? Make this decision consciously. Make it carefully. Make it powerfully. If you do what you've always done, you'll get what you've always gotten.’ It’s a favorite of mine.” Jon gave a sheepish grin. “Why don’t you think about what you want to do?”
“Do you like weather? Books? Math?” Jon asked.
“You don’t need to answer.” Avish amended her friend’s statement. “It’s more about answer to yourself.”
Stormy thought about it, he had never looked into anything, all he did was weather, the role he was supposed to have. I want to learn about humans, about their world. How did they get such a bad name when they seem so nice? He remembered his coworkers shock that he was even visiting the human world. ‘They are at constant war!’ ‘They can’t even get along with each other, what hope do you have?’ ‘They’re idiots that can’t even control their own weather.’ Are they?
“Here we are.” Jon said, pointing to a walkway through a building, stairs leading down. “Just go straight, it is the building with all the tables on the first floor.” 
The two groups parted company, Stormy headed down the steps while Jon and Avish headed down the gently curving down sloped path. The pony took a look behind him, noticing the long set of stairs he came up his first day on Earth.
“You bring the fluorescent paint?” Jon’s voice carried from the distance. 
At the bottom of the steps the path branched at a perfect corner leading to different parts of the building Stormy just passed under.	Twenty feet away, by the entrances to either building, they split and met again into a large mass of concrete. The space between the stairs the vivid green of grass and across the mass of sidewalk was another large building, the first floor hidden by a row of bushes. Behind those bushes had to be De Neve, or at least the dining portion, the pegasus had no idea what the name of the massive building now behind and to his sides was. 
These buildings had a similar shape to Reiber, large four story buildings, but these ones were made of a clean white with smaller windows. Between the closest building and the concrete road, grass spread along small downward hills everywhere there weren’t steps. More people were milling about here, several heading down another staircase that broke up the hedges. 
Stormy decided to take a shortcut through the small grass field in front of him. His hooves did not clop as they sunk microscopically into sodden earth. Dew transferred from the grass to his fetlocks, dripping down his hooves. Every step released the scent of morning, of life, filled his senses. The pony shoved his muzzle between the blades, sucking air in greedily. Memories flooded his mind, laying on his back on a day off, staring at the sky, even that one time he forgot about the scheduled rainstorm and just let the water trickle down his coat and through his feathers. 
Reluctantly, Stormy pulled his nose away from the small sanctuary of life, the grass finally reminding the pegasus of his empty stomach. Grass may be edible but a pony could not live by grass nor hay alone, and the thought of delicious warm donuts drew the pony from his reverie. 
All too soon the patch of grass ended as his hooves met concrete again, soft clops echoed through the courtyard. He stared at the massive ‘street’, and he imagined a royal procession marching through, the Princesses’ twin carriages riding through side by side and wondering how many humans passed through for the walkway to be so wide. From everything he had seen the grey of concrete was for people and the black for their vehicles, a color and style difference similar to Equestria’s. 
Before the young pony knew it he had descended the steps across the way and stared past tall glass walls into a large room filled with tables and counters. It was huge, just like everything else human, counters were spread throughout, maybe three or four of them. Stormy saw one piled high with fruit. He could only see what he though was half of this dining hall and already it could fit at least a hundred people.
Stormy tried the door next to him, the handle was a metal bar on the side forcing the pony to stand on his rear hooves and brace himself on the adjacent window. The pony gave a quick tug and the door rattled but failed to move. Another quick tug. Still nothing. 
Stormy returned his hooves to the ground, the door was locked. Did I miss breakfast? People inside were milling about, people would stand up and go to a counter to grab more food before sitting back down. His stomach rebelled, sending signals to his brain of immediate need for food. As the famished pony wondered how to get in, he saw a human leave their table and walk over to a set of doors that led to another section of building to his left before exited out into the morning air.
Where the human exited were four sets of double doors which easily opened in the pony’s hoof. Inside the wall ahead of him was filled with metal boxes, keypads on the front. Stormy ignored those and entered the second set of doors on his left. A large screen about the size of a human was flanked by wooden pedestals with registers upon each, a woman behind the right pedestal. 
The pedestals were made of some cheap wood; the smell was not the sweet and deep odor of mahogany nor the tang of cedar. The screen was lit, a menu of what the pony could have for breakfast listed, no prices for anything, and nothing his nose couldn’t tell him, the smell of fresh pancakes mixing with eggs and people. I just hope they have more of those donuts. A good donut had never been easy for the pony to find, not warm and fresh at least. 
Stormy looked up at the woman as she looked back down at him. He couldn’t remember if he had seen this one before, all humans were the same shades of brown, their towering heights hard to distinguish unless they stood side by side. Hair had the largest range but most were dark and boring. This one wore all black with a black apron. The pony figured this was where he meant to pay and pulled his room card out from his saddle bags, reaching in with his mouth till he stopped to wonder, he had seen the dirt on concrete along with the metal tang and other chemicals. He thought about this as a human to his left put his hands under some sort of machine that squirted out a clear gel, Stormy could smell the abrasive chemicals as they squirted onto the human’s hands.
The pegasus opened the flap using his mouth and pulled his room key out by his hoof. 
The woman looked at the key but refused to take it. “You need to swipe using your Bruin Card, that only gets you into your room.”
Stormy put his key back and pulled out his school ID but she still refused to take his card.
“First you need to put your bags in one of the lockers outside, and then come back in.” Her finger pointed out to the wall of metal he passed on his way in before accepting a card from another student. With a simple swipe of the card the person was allowed in, the entire process took two seconds. 
Stormy left the dining hall to find a locker. The wall was filled with what was supposed to be a bronze color but looked more like a dreary brown-citrine; the longer he looked the less natural the color appeared. The lockers were small, maybe a foot in any direction with a keypad on the cover. The pegasus gripped one of the handles and gave it a tug. The handle was barely large enough for fingers let alone a hoof, but his hoof was still able to grip it with its pliable surface. The door refused to move. Only a dozen of the hundred or so lockers had closed doors, the rest swung freely. 
Stormy moved over to the closest free locker, fitting his saddle bags in easily, the inside of the door had a small black sticker informing him how to put a code in. 

Close the door


Press the clear button


Input your personal code


Press the clear button a second time

Stormy closed the door, his hoof pressing the ‘clear’ button easily enough, but not when he had to press the small quarter inch large numbers spaced close together. The pony tried again, his hooves hitting two numbers on each press. On a third try he failed again and had to look around for another place to store his bag. 
A set of steel racks lay off to the side, near the end of the lockers before the hallway split into two directions. A white paper sign warned against using the rack to store personal belongings due to threat of theft, the previous days security lecture had even said as much, the bags and boards strewn over it showed what other students thought of such an idea. 
Stormy realized he had two options, leave his saddlebags out for anyone to go through or leave them in the unlocked locker where anyone could open it or even use it themselves, preventing the pony from regaining his belongings just the same. It wasn’t the hardest decision, just one the pegasus had never had to make before, the threat to safety was more real here. Stormy placed his saddle bags on the bottom rung and quickly pulled out his most important documents: Bruin Card, room key, Equestrian ID and gripped them under his wing, using the trifold design of his wings to hold them securely. Might as well use my wings for something since I can’t fly. Trying to temporarily ignore the rules against flight. 
Do unicorns have the same restrictions? The pegasus wondered as he strolled back into the dining hall. What about earth ponies? He had never given them any thought, never even asked how their magic worked. Do they connect with the Earth, connect to leylines with their hooves? Do they literally help the plants grow? Are they forced to hold back their natural strength? 
Stormy remembered a story in the Canterlot Chronicle when he first started working at the weather factory. During the Summer Sun Celebration, an earth pony who had a little too much to drink knocked down a tavern wall, the whole wall, with one kick after being insulted by a local unicorn official. Thankfully the earth pony missed the unicorn. Celestia had to step in in the end after the case was brought before her. Stormy shivered, she may be nice and sweet, but she wasn’t a pony you wanted mad. And disappointed from her might as well be from your parents, or worse.
Stormy handed the lady behind the counter his card, using his left hoof to remove it from the folds of his right wing. After a quick swipe it was handed back and he ferreted it away back to lay with his other two, the cards that would allow him to prove his identity to eat and return to his temporary quarters. 
After taking only a hoofful of steps, Stormy stopped to curse at himself, all his money as well as his return ticket to Equestria were still in his bag. There was nothing he could do about it now and no way to carry it all with him. 
De Neve dining was even larger from the inside; most of it had been hidden by a wall and the subtle curves of the building. It could house the entirety of any watch of the Royal Guards. Stormy walked around. It was set up buffet style with each station separated to not cause any traffic jams as people went for different items. Each station contained a list of what was served and seemed to contain two or three options on the same dish, along with a ‘vegetarian’ option at each station. 
One station housed pastries and fresh fruit. Stormy grabbed himself a fresh apple and left the pastries, they were small and not fresh judging by the smell, nothing like the one from the previous day. The counters at each station were at human waist height or a pony’s head height. All the pegasus had to do was raise himself onto his rear hooves and pick up a plate using his mouth, about as difficult as it would be at home. 
Settling for a wonderfully smelling stack of pancakes, Stormy went off to find himself a seat. The sheer number of tables was daunting, and each could only have a partial view of the rest of the room. Passing a salad bar he found one of only three booths and quickly snatched a seat, setting his pancakes atop the table before climbing in. The only person nearby sat a table next to his and he was hunch over a book with a pencil in his mouth.
The pegasus reached down to sample his breakfast, or what was left of it. He had finished eating the apple before he even got in line for anything else. It was obvious that whatever brand of apple they were using was out of season because there was so little flavor to it. The pancakes smelled so much better even without the syrup which had set in a giant bin at the same station with a ladle too difficult for the pony to reach. 
The pancakes were surprisingly light and fluffy figuring how quickly they were made and set to wait for a hungry mouth. Warmth spread from that first bite. They flavor was off, a little too much salt and a weird sweetness kept it from being perfect. Stormy looked to his left after finishing his pancakes. A drink dispenser stood against the wall. The pegasus decided to wait until he left and could use his water bottle so he wouldn’t have to walk three-legged back to his seat. 
The human with the books glanced in the pony’s direction. “Excuse me.” He asked, You’re a pegasus right?”
Stormy opened his mouth to answer ‘Yes’ but the human kept talking before the pony had a chance.
“So that means you worked on a weather team right?”
Stormy nodded, not sure how to tell him that not all pegasi worked with the weather. 
“Great!” The human’s uncertain expression turned to one of utter happiness, the face of a foal when they finally got their cutie mark. Well, most foals. “I need some help with cloud formations.”
“I don’t think weather works the same here as in Equestria, there’s nopony to control the weather here.” 
“Can you try?” The guy flipped his book to the table’s edge. “I’m having a lot of trouble with altocumulus clouds.”
Stormy looked down at the book, then at his plate. The pegasus wasn’t hungry he was buying time, unsure how different climatology could be, or if they only studied meteorology. And he was nowhere near an expert. The picture in the book looked the same as Equestria’s, the water moved up into clouds and back down as rain. This water cycle was all done by pegasi.
“Ummm, well.” The pony sputtered. “Um, altocumulus clouds are between 650 and 2000 feet up, so they are middle altitude clouds. Think of them as sheets or patches. We use them to warn forgetful ponies about coming thunderstorms. Every once in a while the weather teams would turn them into altocumulus lenticularis, they look like flying plates, think aliens. Just remember that individual parts are larger and darker than the cirrocumulus clouds. And clouds are not nice and fluffy and light. Anypony who’s tried to stop a runaway cloudlet can tell you that.”
The guy stared at Stormy. “Wow. You do know clouds. I wish you were in class with me. Can you help me with fog now?”
The intent stare unnerved Stormy. It wasn’t a look he liked. Avarice, that’s what it was. Like he had access to a secret pool of information. An image of what a weather class would look hit the pony. Constantly asked for help, the expectation to be perfect like his parents towards his brother. Being the center of attention. “I’m sorry, but I have to get going to my orientation. Maybe later?” The pegasus asked, jumping off the booth.
“Uh, yeah.” The human called. “Want me to clear your plate for you?”
Stormy didn’t turn back, even after spotting the sign ‘Please return plates here’ and ignoring it. Going slightly faster than a trot over the beige tiles. Unable to turn back once he started moving, embarrassed at his moving so soon. Although he really didn’t know what time it was, he did have a meeting. And he did not want to be the center of attention or asked a million questions about a life he doubted he would see again, at least in the same manner. 
A human girl in a pink dress that Stormy didn’t look at long enough to recognize was entering as the pony exited, holding the door open for the hurried pony. 
At the metal rack, Stormy took stock of himself and his saddlebags. Nothing was missing from his paperwork, to his book, to his stash of money. He opened his wing and deposited his vital cards into the bag where they belonged. 
As for his body, the tingling was finally leaving Stormy Skies’ wings and he heart was returning to its normal rhythm. Taking a large breath of air he realized something else was back to normal, his breathing. There was no sniffling, sneezing, or coughing. 
Leave saddlebag in the room next time. The pony decided. And figure out what the hell happened this morning. As he trotted off to the lecture titled of “Majors, Minors, and Other Programs.”


> The Major
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy padded up to the oddly designed Covel Commons. He passed the little sitting area and passed through the twin glass doors. Inside, the floor was covered by a deep blue carpet hiding years of use and wear, an elderly human male with skin like leather was vacuuming. The area he stood in was large, at least twenty feet to a side. In front was a set of solid cream metal double doors, they looked heavy, beyond them stood a curving stairwell long with more doors and the same carpet. To his right another money machine like the one in Ackerman separated a lounge from the rest of the lobby, two humans sat on the couch pouring over the same book. The light cream walls were broken up with a tall counter to his left just like the one in Reiber Hall, with another person behind the counter. 
From where he stood Stormy saw a sign past the metal doors “Majors, Minors, and Other Programs meetings held on the second floor.” Followed by an arrow indicating the left-most portion of the staircase, in what had to be the start of it. But, before the pegasus was even halfway to the doors, the human called out to him.
“Hey little pony. I think you’re in the wrong place.” The voice was neutral and flat giving no indication of the gender; this feel went through the entire person.
Maybe humans are still too alien? Stormy wondered, even though he hadn’t had any trouble differentiating between men and women before. “Isn’t this where the,” He tried to remember what word was used to describe these events. “Workshop. Isn’t this where the workshop is held?” The pegasus noticed “Breckin” was written on the human’s nametag, a slip of silver in the sea of blue shirt.
“Some yes.” Breckin replied, rounds eyes looking the pony over. “But the only ones here are the engineering workshops.	Everything else is in Reiber. It should be in your orientation packet, on the last page.”
“Thank you.” Stormy turned around, opening back up the glass doors.
“Would you like direction?” Breckin called, leaning over the counter to the point his feet had to have left the floor.
“No thank you.” Stormy replied morosely. That’s where I came from. 
Once he got outside Stormy pulled his orientation packet back out. Sure enough, while the basic information had been on the second page, the locations were on the fifth page. There was no general course, they all seemed specialized. Humanities, physical sciences, social sciences, life sciences? Which one? The pegasus looked more at each one. Each workshop had multiples titles under it. Like life science had cognitive science, microbiology and molecular genetics. These make no sense. Each one is so specialized. 
Physical Sciences II – 9th FloorWest Lounge Reiber Terrace
(Atmoshperic Sciences, Earth and Space Science,  Environmental Science, Computational and Systems Biology, Math, Statistics) 
Maybe I should just check this one out to be safe. Get an idea of how much it differs. Stormy trotted off back to the four flights of stairs needed to get back to Reiber, wishing his wings were better. Feeling had fully returned with only a slight tingling sensation along the tips. He flapped them once to see how they reacted, and nearly jumped when his hooves left the ground. 
Not enough lift. But if I run, like they teach foals…
Stormy broke into a gallop, hooves clopping over grey concrete. With a few flaps he started to fly, another and he gained altitude enough to fly over the table. Another flap though and his chin met the ground. “Ow!” he huffed, his wings splayed along the ground. Can’t fly yet. But they do feel better.
A quick ruffle straightened out his wings but left them on the ground while he caught his breath. The concrete was nice and cool on	Stormy’s belly, for some reason he still felt tired. 
With a groan Stormy pulled himself up and folded his wings. Looking around, several people were watching as the pony stood. His cheeks reddened. 
The people moved along. “Have a nice trip?” A random voice jeered, quiet enough the pony wasn’t quite sure if he even heard it. 
It didn’t take long to ascend the steps but in his embarrassment Stormy took the steps faster than he normally would have. He was slightly out of breath but the short walk back to Reiber was more than enough to catch it from the running, the crash, and the steps.  
There was no need for him to pull out his room key to open the door into Reiber Terrace though as the constant stream of people going in and out meant it was open more than it was closed. The same was happening over at Reiber Hall where he picked up his orientation packet. Although the third building, Reiber Vista had almost no one even near it. The herds of people reminded the pony of the weekend market, with its multicolored hues mingling and the only way to tell where each was. 
Stormy followed the herd through the door, careful to avoid the people leaving. He also didn’t have to push the elevator button. It was several minutes before the elevator arrived at the bottom floor. It was packed, completely filled, with each person getting off the elevator having to force their way through the crowd wanting in. The crowds turned into three lines with the middle one leaving while the other two tried see who could get in. Only one line made any progress getting into the elevator. 
The elevator filled up as quickly as it emptied out. No matter how many people got in, more seemed able to squeeze on until there wasn’t room for an apple to fall. About a third of the people made it into this elevator including the pony. As the doors closed the ping of the other elevator arriving sounded. Legs pressed all around the pony, his nose practically at someone’s rump. 
The numbers ticked by slowly in the tight confines, twenty creatures shoving themselves into a small metal box. Everyone was pressed in tight yet tried to keep up their personal space by dragging in an arm here or a leg there. Stormy for his part lifted up his tail so it couldn’t get stepped on again; which was also why he stood. 
The tang of metal was buried under the strong fragrance of thirty humans. Not just pungent humans, but also the faux flowery scent of their shampoos and body washes; the powder of cologne and deodorant. It was an overpowering menagerie of scents. It became hard to breathe through all smells for the pony in the confined space.
5.6.7. No one was getting off. Finally the number ticked to 9, a moment later the doors parted and the box disgorged its passengers like a cloud releases lightning. With slow movement at first as people figure out who leaves first, then a type of order set in and people flooded out, headed in either direction. Once in the hallway some tried to pass others while some just took their time. 
Stormy took a chance and turned left, following the crowd and hoping someone knew where they were going. The group turned left with a few going right. As they walked several more split off and entered rooms. Forcing the pony to wonder if he should have dropped his bag off first. I can still drop my saddlebag off before lunch. He realized, stopping at a room that said: “West Lounge.”
The plaque rested on a single wooden door, one of the humans had trouble opening it. The first human to enter though turned around and just as quickly exited. “Heh. Wee bit early.” 
“Guess they could be late.” His friend replied, as the two moved to a side wall.
The rest of the small group of seven that remained found spots along the wall to wait. Breaking off into their own little groups. Stormy found a nice spot to sit and thought about why he crashed.
It was a weird feeling. What most pegasi don’t talk about is how magic assists in flight, they don’t even think about it; it just happens. The magic is used to help move the air, it can allow for tighter turns and to hover while barely having to flap. And it gave out midair. Not even all at once though, it started at the front of his wing and moved backwards, forcing his head down and causing it to collide with the ground first. 
Back in Equestria it wouldn’t have been the biggest deal as the air was saturated with more than enough magic. But Earth? As Stormy fell he had grasped for that ambient magic only to find too little to help, he could have sworn there was enough earlier. He was just happy the fall was such a short distance. That crash could have really hurt. Like slamming into the side of a mountain without brakes hurt. 
Stormy took the time now to preen his feathers. A few were sticking out at odd angles which was bad for the health of the feathers. One or two had to be removed due to the damage. With a swift tug and a wince of pain they came free, his eyes watered and the feathers went into his bag. No need to litter.
The minutes dragged on as Stormy waited to be able to enter. Dragged on so long he pulled out the book to help pass the time. He opened it up to the last page he was on, but before he could finish the first sentence the door opened and people slowly left the room. The person who had first tried to enter held it open as people left, entering as soon as the other filed out. A brown unicorn with a mop of brilliant orange hair walked out deep in conversation with a human whose skin was darker and shape rounder. 
Stormy was near the last to enter, realizing more people had shown up to wait while he took care of his wings. Inside one wall was completely filled with windows, opposite a white board. The walls were off-white like so many of the others had been and accompanied a grey floor. At least 40 grey padded metal chairs sat in rows facing the white board. 
At the board stood a shorter human maybe five and a half feet tall, removing green marks from the board. This human was dressed more casually than any of the other teachers or staff covering orientation. He wore the same denim as many of the students, a green shirt with a button up collar left unbuttoned and shoulder length hair. 
“Please take a seat and get acquainted with each other. I want to wait to see if any late comers show up.” The man said without turning around. 
Stormy eyed the chairs, these were definitely too short for the pony and the floor worked just fine for his purposes. He picked a spot in the aisle near the back of the four rows where he could still see the board. A moment later the long haired guy at the board turned around.
“My name is Miles Anderson. I am an advisor for the Physical sciences department so this is all I do.” For a relatively short person, his sonorous voice resonated around the room, easily heard by everyone. “My specialty is in the Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, specializing in coastal weather patterns.”
Miles turned to a table setting against the wall next to the white board, grabbing a plethora of colored papers off the top. “Here are the sheets describing the different majors, what is required to get into each and what is required for the degree, you can get these on your way out. You will be meeting with an advisor individually to help later.”
Mr. Anderson looked around the room, his eyes settled on the pony. “Ah, someone who understands the weather. Am I right?”
Stormy nodded, not liking where this was going. Several sets of eyes from around the room stared at him, others seemed happy to whisper to each other. He did not want to be the center of attention or an example.
“Great!” Mr. Anderson enthused. “Let’s look at the AOES major then.” He picked a lime-green colored paper off the desk, handing some out to students, including the lone pegasus. “You will see along the top a list of classes, these must be done in addition to your gen ed classes and before you start the classes for your major. The specific pre-requisites for the AOES major are: AOS 1, which covers climate change and policy or AOS 2 and 3 Which are air pollution and intro to atmospheric environment respectively. Each along with their respective labs. I’m sure you’ve all been told that double digit numbers mean a class is lower division.” Heads around the room nodded. Mr. Anderson didn’t stop moving around the room, gaze shifting from student to student, not severe, he actually looked jovial, this was his passion. 
“Those are the fun classes if you ask me, as for the following sequences, as they should be taken in order, if you have ANY interest in graduate school the physical science version cannot be recommended enough. And don’t feel like you have to write any of this down, it’s all on the information sheets. You have to choose one of two calculus sequences, the one for physical scientists and engineers or the one for life scientists. The first would be math 31A, 31B, 32A, 32B, 33A and 33B. Now those may sound tough but the biggest thing is to remember to take them as soon as possible because you cannot graduate until you have finished all of them. The life science one is math 3A, 3B, and 3C.”
To Stormy the numbers meant nothing but an order. The students around him reacted rather negatively, especially as the list of classes just to start the major went on and on. Some of the students looked excited, some bored, but a good deal looked nervous. It reminded the pony of the horror stories about the Guard. 
Chemistry and Biochemistry 20A (Chemical Structure) and 20B (Chemical Energetics and Change). Engineering Physics 1A (Mechanics), 1B (Oscillations, Waves, Electric and Magnetic Fields), and 3C (Electrodynamics, Optics and Special Relativity) in addition to labs 4AL (Mechanics), 4BL (Electricity and Magnetism). The final prereq being Programming 10A. Those were the suggested tracks. The paper and the teacher went on, not explaining more than just the names; it seemed enough for the other students.
 “You will be surprised by how many of these classes are actually useful when you get into your upper division classes. You will have to take seven upper div AOS classes and two from another physical science. The hardest part will be your lower div classes. Which can easily delay you a year if not more.”
The green shirted advisor took a few seconds to look at the crowd and let everything sink in. “Any questions?”
“Are all the majors that intense?” A pale skinned lad near the front asked.
“If it’s too much you could always major in English.” The tense feeling permeated the room vanished in an instant. Chuckles peppered the room. 
Stormy just realized something else, in the entire room there wasn’t a single female; human or pony. He was also the only pony present. 
“Now, I will let you out early, grab a paper for any major that interests you and feel free to stick around and ask questions. These really are some amazing fields. And Mr. Pony, I look forward to seeing you in my office. Had a few come through and you guys are always a delight to work with, you come so prepared for weather.”
As the assembled mass of males went up to grab papers and talk to the advisor, Stormy used their assembled height to slink out of the room. He grabbed and twisted the door handle with his mouth and pulled. Just like for the human it failed to budge at first. The pegasus ground his hooves into the floor and pulled again to no avail. 
“You have to twist more. I made the same mistake.” The voice came from behind the unaware pegasus. 
Stormy took the advice and twisted his head further, still apply pressure, nothing. Another twist until his head was practically upside down and the door came open, bowling the pony onto his back. Use your hoof next time. Humans use hands exclusively. Think like a human. The pony reminded and warned himself.
The human grabbed the door before it could close again.
A smile greeted the pony as he righting himself. “Thanks.”
“Anytime.” A mildly high pitched voice, it seemed to pop like it was new.
Stormy took a look at the human, this one stood out. Tall and gangly, his movements like a foal that just had a growth spurt and was still getting used to new longer limbs. Scraggly black hair covered his head, the front streaked with a vibrant red under a fedora. His face looked like he was in a wind tunnel; a device used to teach pegasi how to fly in high speed winds by having them fly down a tube with a dozen pegasi at the other side flapping up a gale; his eyes were swept back into slants with his mouth mirroring his eyes in a thin, wide lineA red plaid button-down shirt tucked into trousers finished off the look. He stood out. 
“I’m David. You smell funny.”
“Stormy. Nice to meet you.” Stormy ignored the critique, wondering if it was wise to skip the shower in favor of breakfast. The pony knew the next question he would be asked, and he didn’t want to talk about weather, so he decided to ask the questions this time. “Do you study weather too?” Pretty soon he learned it may have been the wrong question.
“Nothing as boring or simple as that. I’m an engineer, but that orientation was boring so I left to see what the others covered. Good to know they cover actual science like wave mechanics.”
Stormy had just passed the elevator, he was stopping off at his room first. Maybe taking a shower before going to his RA’s room at eleven. David didn’t stop at the elevator and kept talking to the pony. After a few more comments about how climate sciences couldn’t prove anything, the weather pony decided to try and change the topic. “Do you like UCLA so far?”
“The only reason I’m here is because my old science teacher bad mouthed me to MIT. I had the highest grades in science back home.” David went on. “No one else even understood science.”
Soon Stormy arrived back at 904b. “It was nice talking to you.” He said through a forced smile, fighting the urge to paw at the carpet. Instead he pawed through his bag with the hoof until he found his room key. 
“One last thing. Do you have any of those gems? The magic ones? Could I get one for a project?” A non-humorous twinkling in his eye.
“Pegasi don’t have much use for those. Bye.” Stormy entered and closed the door on the human. The last thing the pony wanted was humans trying to get things from him for power or other advantages.
Stormy didn’t watch to see which room the human went into as he hurried into his own room. The sound of falling water came from the bathroom, someone was in the shower. The pony set his saddlebag down by the foot of the immaculately made bed. The elevated bed opposite looked even worse with the blankets wrapped in a ball.
Stormy looked at his own bed, a mess from when his leap earlier in the day, was not a tempting target for the ground pegasi. Instead the pony splayed himself out on the floor with his eyes closed. With the bland beige curtain closed and the fluorescent lights above him off, the pony could close his eyes with very little lightbleed; the running water drowning out all others sounds but his own breathing. And Stormy just knew this would be another long day, but for now he was alone.


***


“The shower is all yours.”
The words reached the pony through a haze. He fought against utter blackness. Eyes fighting his will to open. 
“You will want to make it quick however. You only have a quarter hour before we have to meet the NSA.”
Stormy recognized the voice as Edward. And just as quickly decided it wasn’t worth noting. He stretched out all his limbs before comfortably repositioning himself on the floor.
He felt his left wing lifted before flopping back to the ground. Mostly to the ground, it was so long it hit the bed. 
“Oh no. We have an out of control thundercloud headed for the castle!”
By pure reflex Stormy jumped to his hooves, folded his wings and looked around the ceiling for the errant cloud. Realizing all too late it was Edward with a wolf’s grin.
“So that is how you wake a pegasi.” Edward noted, voice back from the higher pitch of a moment before. The human was clad in green shorts-like undergarments, pulling clean clothes out from the suitcase recently placed on his bed.
Stormy took a moment for his heart to stop racing. Errant weather towards the castle could put a weather pony to controlling weather coming in from The Wilds. “Not funny.”
“But it was effective. You don’t have much time before we have to meet with Chevonne.” Edward said, putting on a pair of black pants, part of another suit laid across the bed. “If you want to shower make it quick.”
After all the traveling he had been doing, a bath sounded wonderful to Stormy Skies. Let the water soak into his coat, mane and feathers; taking away all the dirt from the previous days. After so many days a simple cloud wouldn’t be enough.  Dirt bath would be an acceptable alternative but only with pest problems or excessive sweat. There were more than a few pegasi back home who would stand under a natural or artificial waterfall with their wing extended; something Stormy had never been a fan of, too rough on the feathers if you moved wrong. 
But he didn’t have the time for a proper cleaning and preening. So instead, Stormy grabbed his ID and important cards from his saddlebag; so far he hadn’t needed money that often so that stayed in his bag. But he did check his schedule just in case, ripping out the second and third page just in case. Placing all the items under his right wing.
Edward had just put on his coat. Starting the process of tying a blue tie when he headed into the bathroom again. 
Stormy, with nothing else to do and not sure what time it was, left the room for his eleven o’clock meeting with the New Student Advisor.






> 193
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy made it to the eighth floor without incident. Chevonne’s room was the first one to the left of the elevator. There was a white board sign next to the door with her name written in black marker. Above that was some sort of picture emblazoned with the words “The Wizard of Oz.” 
Stormy knocked on the door which rung as his hoofe made contact with the metal. From inside came a shuffling noise, something closing and a harried Chevonne issuing muted curses. 
“Who is it?” Chevonne called through the door.
“Stormy Skies.” The pony called back as images of him going to the wrong door or being way too early flashed through his head. “I’m here for the-“
The door opened to reveal his NSA in a plain rose colored top and denim pants. “Come in. I wasn’t expecting anyone this early.” She held it open long enough for the pony to walk in before letting the door slam shut on its own. 
The room was the same as his. Three beds and three desks. But, where his room was rather Spartan and plain, this one had been decorated in pinks and whites. What little wall space there was was covered in movie posters or strings of lights. Unlike his room however, one of the desk situated itself right under the window and was covered with postcards. Chevonne took a seat at this desk.
“How early am I?” Stormy asked, voice popping. He hoped it wasn’t as early as it seemed.
Chevonne patted her pockets. “Um, I can tell you but do you see my phone?”
Stormy scanned the room. How can you lose a phone? 
Phones were still relatively new tech to Equestria just like the computer, only less common. Ponies didn’t see the point when they could just trot over and visit their friends or the Pony Express could deliver a letter to another city. At least the computers at Canterlot Castle contained information. Phones were just pointless.
“Found it.” 
Stormy looked over to see Chevonne holding a small plastic slab which looked nothing like a phone. Phones were big and sat on a desk, they had either number pads or a dial with a connected receiver. This was just a small flat brick. 
“Oh!” Chevonne’s face flushed crimson. “I must really have lost track of time. You’re only ten minutes early.” She set the slab back onto her desk next to her portable computer. 
So it’s a clock? Stormy wondered.
“What do you think of UCLA so far?” Chevonne asked the quiet pony.
“It’s big.” Stormy hesitated before going on. “And confusing.”
“Go on.”
“Everypony else knows what they want to study. They all have plans.” Stormy felt his fears catching in his throat. “Everypony expects me to just go into weather or help them with weather. I don’t even understand this world.” The pony felt his eyes water even though his throat dried. “I…I…” He took a deep breath. 
Stormy looked up to see his NSA holding back a laugh. “Is that really what you think?”
All Stormy could do was nod.
“Do you know what my major was when I came here?” Chevonne didn’t give the pony a chance to answer before continuing. “History. I loved tales of the old world. How people conquered life. But anthropology is how they do it, how they live. Many people change their majors and don’t really have any idea what they want yet. They are still very much children and this is their first view of a larger world.”
Chevonne turned back to her desk, rummaging through one of the drawers. Turning back around there was a book in her hands. “Take this, it isn’t up to date, I got it when I was a freshman, but it has brief explanations on the different classes. Take some time and get to know yourself first. Things will fall into place on their own.”
Stormy took the book with a hoof. “General Catalog 2012-2013” 
“Thank you.”
“Now if you know of anyone subletting an apartment for fall let me know.” Chevonne half-muttered through her smile.
“How do you get the door to stay open like this?” The off voice of Kat came from the open door.
“If you turn the handle up, the bolt comes out to keep it from closing.” Chevonne called from her seat. “Come on in.”
Katherine and Suzanne entered. Kat was dressed in another dress, this one a sunflower yellow. Sue had her own style with some sort of unfamiliar design etched in black across her white t-shirt. 
“So we are only waiting on Edward now?” Chevonne double checked.
“Maybe we should form a search party. He may have gotten lost in one of his books.” Sue’s lopsided grin showed her humor.
“That may work but I doubt you could find your way. Heard you got lost just trying to find the dining hall for breakfast.” Edward called from the propped open doorway. 
“And if you hadn’t been late we could have just gone with everyone else.” Suzanne quipped back. “Stormy, want to be our eye in the sky?” She turned towards the pony. 
Kat lightly slapped her friend on the arm. 
“Or we can go over how to register for classes.” Chevonne lightly interrupted. “And we can have lunch after that.”
Everyone turned their attention back to Chevonne as she opened her computer up by raising the lid. 
“The first thing you need to do is login to My UCLA and select the Academics tab.” As the NSA spoke she showed each step. “First you need to select term and year. So we will pick Fall 2015.”
The pages were all white and blue, nothing was used if it wasn’t necessary, even the pony could tell that much.
“That will bring you to a drop down menu. Select your field and then what class you want. Let’s do Anthropology and 124P. What you see here,” Chevonne pointed at the screen. “You will have the CRN, a number specific to each class, the time for the lecture as well as the discussion. When you register you will only select the discussion number as each is tied into a specific lecture. You will also find the professor’s name as well as how many seats are still available. You can see here that the professor is Harold Eins. The lecture still has 124 out of 180 seats open and that one of the discussions is already full with twenty students. So it’s possible to be waitlisted for a discussion but not the lecture, which means you are still waitlisted and may not get the class you need. And pay attention to the final exam times, you don’t want to classes to have a final at the same time.”
Chevonne proceeded to show them several more examples as well as how to find out what a class covered and the quality of the professor.
“Now don’t worry about time. The computer labs will be open all day for you to search out what classes you want.” Chevonne informed the collected students. But she still let them each have a few minutes exploring the system.
When Stormy got his turn, having trouble with the little pad on the computer used in place of the mouse; he was astounded at the sheer number of classes available. There were thousands to choose from it seemed. 193 majors. He remembered. That number finally sinking in. 

> Lunch 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Finding a seat was difficult. Almost every table was filled with students, the ones that weren’t large enough to sit the party of five. They had to walk past the salad bar before finding a seat. There was a counter with a barstool, but Stormy didn’t want to climb into a seat while carrying food. They kept looking, a moment later someone took the barstool seats.
Stormy noticed several eyes on him as the group moved, most were too into their own conversations to notice anything else. How many want help with weather? He wondered, happy he was in a group so no one would approach him while he ate. So far people only came up to him if he was alone. The pony’s head kept scanning, looking for a seat. He found several singular seats, but nothing big enough for the group.
Follow the alicorn, that’s what this reminded Stormy of; everyone following Chevonne and mimicking her actions looking for a table. After at least five minutes a table was found but the pony wasn’t sure who first found it. Chevonne stayed at the table, a long thing with 6 seats at the end free, while everyone else went to get their food and something to drink.
Stormy left with Edward, the pony spotted a delicious smelling pasta earlier. 
Below the counter, a place the pony never thought to look, Edward pulled out two brown trays and handed one to Stormy. 
“Shanks.” Stormy spoke around the tray. It tasted like nothing but plastic, none of the tastes he picked up if someone had touched it a lot like with door handles. This works much better. He thought, setting it on the counter. His rear hooves stayed on the floor as he walked the tray down the counter as the line moved, waiting for some food.
The sign above the counter read: 

Veggie Alfredo (vegetarian)


Shrimp Alfredo

Edward didn’t reply to the thanks, just kept his eyes on the moving line. He pulled off a bowl of pasta with little pink round things the pony decided had to be shrimp.
Stormy got up front, the person behind the counter pointed to a bowl with green specks in it, peas and other vegetables. The pony grabbed the bowl, placing it on his tray.
“They let animals in here now?”
“So much for the health code.” Followed by some kind of a laugh. 
Stormy turned around, two male humans, the kind with alabaster skin were snickering to themselves. I guess I do look like an Earth pony, but what’s so funny about it?
Edward spoke, loud enough for the two to hear him, staring solidly at their eyes. “Obviously, or they never would have let you in. Or maybe you are the type who thinks Homo Erectus is a dirty word.” His words spewed forth, scathing at best. He was met with shocked stares by the other two. “Or maybe your parents just couldn’t afford to educate you properly. Or don’t you know humans are apes.” He grabbed his plate and walked off, leaving Stormy to catch up to him. “Simpletons.”
They stopped just long enough for them both two get cups of water and head towards their seats, sitting down quietly. Katherine and Suzanne were back, Sue with a burger most likely made of meat and Kat with a salad. 
“Now THIS is food!” Sue enthused, talking around a large bite of partially masticated burger. Getting a disapproving glance from her friend who took small bites of salad.
Edward twirled a fork into the concave part of a spoon while it picked up the linguini. He looked like he normally did though, prim and proper.
The food smelled divine, the pony didn’t even realize he was hungry. His mouth dove into the bowl. He finished his first bite before noticing his mistake. Stormy lifted his head up, looking straight at Katherine. “Sorry.”
He was greeted with a gentle smile. “It’s okay. Eat up.” She took another small bite of salad and pointed to her lip.
Stormy felt with his tongue at an errant noodle before hungrily slurping it up.
Ed gave a disapproving stare over his cup of water.
“What?” Stormy tilted his head and crossed his brows. “It’s good.” 
Sue lost it. She practically fell to the table laughing. 
“Glad to see you all getting along so well.” Chevonne returned to her seat with some sort of soup. “It wasn’t til my second year that I made friends like this.”

> Advising
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	With the general catalogue under his right wing and everything else under his left, the pony soon arrived back at Rieber Terrace; for some reason it seemed to be the central hub for everything he did so far. Everyone else had different locations for their departmental advising. From what the pony heard at lunch he expected this to be similar to the session after breakfast, but he didn’t have a department so what would this one cover?
Stormy went back up to the ninth floor lounge and stood in shock when he opened the door. He knew how this one would be different. All the chairs had been removed in lieu of sitting pillows of varying colors. Several of the soft looking seats had already been taken up by conversing ponies. Outside of the human who sat behind the table, the room was only ponies. 
The Onyx pony he saw when picking up his first room key was talking to a pewter colored stallion, a red cross adorning his flank. The dirt brown stallion walked in behind Stormy and joined the pair. At a set of pillows were the white pegasus mare from the previous day still as serene and talking to another pegasus that almost caused Stormy’s jaw to drop. 
Sitting there was another pegasus, but anything like the stallion had ever seen. Atop her orange coated body sat a mane of brown, but when hit by the sun it turned almost golden. Her red eyes met his amber ones. She looked like a midsummer’s sunset over Canterlot. He stood there in a stupor until the white pearly white pegasus waved him over. 
Stormy took a light orange pillow across from the two mares, a few other ponies still trickling in. A royal blue unicorn with a cyclone cutie mark joined the two mares. 
The white coated pegasus spoke up first. “Nice to meet you. I’m Sunny Skies.” She reached out a hoof to shake both Stormy’s and the unicorn’s. She didn’t get much farther before the human at the front spoke up. 
Stormy took the time to look about the room and the eight other ponies sitting in the room. A unicorn sat next to the pewter pony, along with a sienna maned earth pony. 
The human stood, grabbing a stack of puce papers to pass out among the ponies. “My name is Chris Barnes in charge of Equestrian Retention and Outreach.” She made a show of professionalism. Brown hair in a bun, black suit similar to Edward’s except for the skirt, controlled expression. “Despite having majors already, you are here because the requirements for ponies are different than that of regular students and to give specific advice to help you adapt to this school.”
Without allowing any questions, Chris continued. “The classes required for anyone from beyond the portal are different than that for those born here.” She passed out a paper to the last pony in the room, the zebra. On it was a list of classes. “Normally students only need to complete two courses of history and what they cover can vary. But you must complete a minimum of three courses on history with at least one being a US history and one being a World History Course. Along with that you must take at least one additional philosophy course. This is so you can better understand humans and because you haven’t had the same basic instruction in these fields as others at this school who covered it throughout twelve years of education.”
“We do not currently have a special history course to bring ponies up to speed and highly suggest you get tutoring if you have any troubles. It is also suggested you not take a history class until your second year due to the stress of adjusting to life on Earth.”
Sunny raised her hoof. “But wouldn’t a grasp of history help us to better understand this world?” Her question was met by nodding from other ponies around the room.
“No.” Chris replied brusquely. “We have found it harder after Equestrians study about human’s past mistakes before understanding people they have twice the risk of dropping out.”
The onyx pony raised her hoof next. “Is this enforced?”
“Yes and no. You must eventually take these classes but when is ultimately your decision. You will also have to take one additional English course for similar reasons, to take whenever you choose.” 
“It is also suggested the science you take be related to whatever you studied back in Equestria. If you studied weather you should do the same here. If you studied magic than you should do chemistry.”
“Why?” The onyx mare spoke up. “Because they are easier since we’ve already done them once before?” There was obvious anger in her voice.
“No. Because it can help you understand the differences between our worlds. They aren’t the same and if you jump into something completely foreign it will be a LOT more difficult. These tips are designed to help you succeed.”
Why is that mare so argumentative? Stormy wondered, it was almost adversarial in appearance. Has she been having the same issues with people assuming what she should do as I have?
This answer didn’t seem to appease the unicorn. But it mollified her enough for Chris to continue speaking. “There are also special tutoring programs you can use for most classes. I suggest you use it even if you are doing good. It can be the difference between a B and an A.” She took one last look around at the ponies. 
“There are also special regulations as to what you can and cannot do on campus that is different than that of humans.” The onyx mare tried to cut the human off, disdain obvious; however, the human ignored her and kept talking. “Magic needs to be strictly controlled. Any magic use that violates basic rules here at UCLA will be grounds for expulsion. In addition, any use of magic on a test may be considered cheating by your professors and will be treated as such. If you feel the need to use magic for writing, you can go to the OSD for proctoring.”
“Magic isn’t a disability!” The mare practically shouted.
Sunny spoke up quickly behind her. “What I think she means to say is: Why must we go to the Office for Students with Disabilities.” She offered. “I am sure she meant no offense.”
“It is quite alright Miss Skies. The reason is that is the ONLY place on campus with the needed resources to proctor a test, as it is they have to pull a pony from Ashe to monitor you.”
“From the medical center? Are things that much off kilter?” Stormy didn’t catch the voice or where it came from.
“Yes. There are only so many ponies on staff. Almost all are doctors here to care for other Equestrian’s health.” Mrs. Barnes stayed calm and rooted to her spot. 
“Pegasi, flying is to be restricted to the field or stadium; there is not enough room for proper takeoff or landing procedures without endangering other students. Be warned there may be other objects flying through the air like balls and Frisbees.”
“You are not allowed to make potions outside of a proper facility with a hood in case of ‘side effects’, and any tampering with UCLA grounds or injuring of students is subject to immediate dismissal. Last year a student was kicked in the sternum by a surprised earth pony. We cannot have that happen again. This is still a pilot program without any guarantees you won’t be the last.”
“Now I suggest you take some time to get to know each other. You are the only new students from Equestria this year.”
Sunny’s smile never seemed to leave her. “I’m Sunny Skies. I work in Canterlot Castle as an aide to Princess Celestia. Guess I should say I worked there.” Followed by a giggle. “I came to study folklore.”
“Why?” Asked the royal blue unicorn.
“Before the 1000th Summer Sun Celebration, did you ever wonder where the old mare’s tale about NightMare Moon came from? What about the Saddle Arabian Nights? There is so much in there and it can progress relations. What impact does religion have? What does their literature say about them as a species? So many of their books cover things we would never think of.”
Stormy thought about the book in his room and how much of an understatement Sunny had made.
“Does that include history?” Another question from the unicorn.
“No, Celestia has other ponies covering history at different places.”
Stormy felt his mouth drop, thinking he saw a pattern. “Are you here by decree?”
Another giggle. “No. Some were given suggestions, but I did have to request a leave. My family has been serving as Celestia’s aides for generations. Dawn, would you like to go next? What you plan to study, what you did and why you came here?”
“Ok.” Her voice was the essence of melodic to Stormy. Her cutie mark a sunrise as radiant as her mane. “I’m Radiant Dawn. I came to study weather. I lived my whole life in Manehatten but never had the chance to travel.” She was demure, hiding an open mouth smile behind her hoof. “I heard stories from my parents about lending aide after the portal opened. How wild the weather was. How it was a new frontier. There was a hurricane over the Atlantic, it never made the news but it was a trial to see how much pegasi could affect weather here. It just sounded like fun. Weather duties are dull, they never change, but this is my chance for some excitement and to see this world and maybe more of my own later.” Every word was soaked with passion.
Stormy couldn’t help but feel rejuvenated towards weather just by listening to her speak. He decided to speak up next. “Stormy Skies. I helped with the weather over Canterlot.” He couldn’t just leave it at that, and he didn’t just want to give the same story, not to these ponies. “I got tired of weather though. I want to try something new. See a new world, maybe rediscover what I saw in weather.”
“Very admirable. That takes a lot of courage.”
Despite Sunny’s words, and his own thoughts, Stormy realized there was a grain of truth in what he said. He hadn’t been enjoying weather, it was always the same thing day after day. His days had blurred together.
“Balance Sheet.” Although the unicorn seemed excited, there was a sadness in his voice. “So we have three weather ponies here.”
Dawn gasped and jumped to all four hooves. “YOU!” She practically screamed then started to prance. “You’re the manager for the Cloudsdale Weather Factory. The first unicorn to attend weather school. We’ve heard so many stories about you in Manehatten!”
Stormy didn’t recognize the name. Nor that a unicorn had ever, or never for that matter, been in charge of weather before.
“Guess my reputation precedes me.” And while the corners of his mouth raised, his eyes stayed flat. “My reasons are pretty similar. I want to learn, see what I can take back home to get better.”
Stormy looked over at the other group, it was going strong. He then looked over at Sunny and Dawn. Dawn was trying to get a conversation going among the three weather ponies. But there was something about Sunny’s eyes, something the pegasus couldn’t identify. 
“Has anyone picked out their classes yet?” And just like that, Sunny was back to how she seemed before, calm and serene, almost a royal grace. 
Stormy just listened as everypony else talked, only speaking when asked a direct question. It was hard coming to terms with. Had he ever enjoyed weather? He must have, he had the cutie mark for it. Sunny would talk about life in the castle and working for a princess. Sheet talked about his colt friend and their plan to start a farm. Dawn talked ceaselessly about weather, which didn’t bother Stormy as much. But his life had been bland and boring, just like the rest of his time here, he realized he was passive.
Stormy knew from his schedule that he could meet with an NSA anytime between 1:30 and 5:30 for individual advising. With that thought in mind he bid his fellow ponies goodbye and went back to the eight floor. 
The door to room 801 was closed, voices could be heard coming from inside. Two female voices were yelling at each other. The voices were muted, the words jumbled. “…ot o…lease!?” “…. own payme…ack.” 
Stormy left, not wanting to interrupt. According to his schedule, individual advising would last until 5:30, and it should be 1:30. He deciding to take a nice shower to get cleaned and go to the “Choosing a Major” workshop in Covel at 2:30.
Compared to the rest of his day, the trip back to his room was peaceful; the corridors were empty outside of one or two people, as was his room. He quickly set his papers on the desk under Roderick’s bed, the one that had to be his desk, made of cheap looking wood it would perform its job. 
The bathroom was the same as it had been before, the closer door being the shower and the further the toilet. Stormy twisted and pulled the knob and the door opened easily. Inside though was another matter. He had noticed how nothing was made with ponies in mind from the counters to the high toilets, but the shower, as it was only a shower, highlighted this. There was a small area with a towel rack where human most likely got dressed, brown and white tiles without a drain. The shower was closed in by another glass door, this one frosted. Inside was two foot square at best, it would be small even by human standards. There was no way to expand his wings in there.
Stormy considered a cloud shower but the weather was clear as a summer’s day, if he could even reach an Earth cloud. He could go without a shower, but that would be another two days before he could get to one. Thankfully he didn’t sweat like a human, he doubted he could ever emit that much odor, but somehow that one thought he did. 
In resignation, Stormy turned the faucet, a torrent of water shot out, only taking a few seconds to become steaming hot. The pony had no choice but to leave the shower door open and doubled checked that the connecting doorway was shut tight. 
The warm water cascaded down his back. It sent a shiver up Stormy’s spine before the heat penetrated his fur and relaxed his muscles. He had trouble getting everything wet with part of his body out the glass door. Hooves and teeth working the water throughout his fur and feathers; working any dirt or grime out. There was a surprisingly large amount of grime for the pony, leaving a sour taste in his mouth. His ears folded down as he washed his head and face, the water reminded him of a good strong thunderstorm, relaxing, refreshing and invigorating. 
Stormy didn’t bring a towel, he would normally just fly it off and air dry, it solved two clouds with one buck. He stood there debating how best to dry off and was left with only one solution. The shaking started at the pony’s head and moved down his body, removing a large amount of excess water even from his mane and tail. All in all the pegasus estimated the shower took thirty minutes. As he exited the shower room, Stormy saw the door to the other room shut, missing who went with it. 
Stormy stood in the middle of his dorm room, keeping his wing outstretch as far as he could and flapped them to help speed up the drying process, the last thing he wanted was to soak his papers just carrying them to his next meeting. The tingling in his wings had subsided to occasional twinges at the very tips, he wouldn’t try to fly though for a while less he crash face first again. But the inability to fly made his wings itch, made him want to fly all the more. With a sigh of resignation, he trotted out of the room like a regular ground pounder. 


***


The area from Rieber to Covel wasn’t as empty as inside Rieber. In fact, it was just as packed as the pony had come to expect although inside Covel very few people were milling about. The people were just happy to hang around in groups outside and talk.
Stormy climbed the circular steps behind the double doors he got stopped at last time, people going up with him. He assumed the number worked the same as in the dorms and followed the others to a room at the back with another large set of metal double doors open. Inside were tables scattered about the outside with the middle taken up by rows of plain blue chairs. 
The room was rather empty of people, besides the half dozen that came up with him, not even a third of the seats were taken up. The seats people were taking were also spread apart from each other except for the odd groups of two or three people, friends who came or found here, supporting others or seeking help for themselves. 
There was a human male on stage, but Stormy stayed near the back so he couldn’t see any detail of his features outside of the suit and his name was a jumble of consonants. 
“Pick a field that you like.” That was his opening statement. “Think of what you enjoy. If you are doing what you love you will never work a day in your life.” He just stood at the front, on a platform large enough to hold a dozen people side by side, with his hands in his pockets. “Some of you may not want that though, not enough money or recognition. If that’s the case then pick what you are good at or have the skills to do. Don’t be a doctor if you can’t do chemistry.”
“Scattered about the room are advisors, they help students for a living. They can help you check out different fields or look at what skills you have. Don’t be afraid to pick something hard, if you work at it enough you can pick up the skills, most of the time. For this, think. It is ultimately your call.”
At that students started to stand, most left complaining about it not being any help. Others milled around and yet others talked to the advisors. Stormy was in the latter group and found an advisor near the door.
She was a rather bland person, as were most people it seemed. “You should be a simple one. Do you prefer predicting weather, studying the effects of weather, or some other aspect of it?”
You can also cover environmental science or something similar.” She continued. “Do you have any skills? We can use those to narrow it down. Or we can go over what you want to do.”
Again. Again it came down to weather. He didn’t know what he wanted. But he did know it was at least a break from weather. 
“I don’t know. Can I come back later?” The pony asked.
“Of course! And if we aren’t here, just talk to your NSA, they should be able to help you or direct you to someone else.”
On his way back up to Rieber Terrace 801, Stormy thought about the workshops, both the ones he’d gone to and the ones yet to come. Outside of the mandatory ones, there wasn’t much information useful to him. The class advising was useful, but all of that he could have gotten from Chevonne. The “How to Budget” one wouldn’t be useful. What pony living on their own didn’t know how to plan out a budget? To know exactly how far or what they could do on it? The “Financial Aid” workshop would be just as bad, especially since Ai had already walked him through that list, the list which specified down to minutia who could and couldn’t apply for any given scholarship, and all but a few exempted ponies, and he could put that off for two years if he decided to leave, summer allowed an out. 
Or maybe I should just learn it on my own. Maybe my friends can help.
Before realizing he was there, the pony faced the partially opened door of his NSA. Inside were two voices talking, a different one from before, a male and female voice.
“You really think he can do it?”
“Yes, give him some credit. How stupid were you as a freshman?”
“I never said he was stupid. Just very innocent. You know what happens to people like that. You can’t be that naïve.”
“Fine.” There was steel in the voice, the male one. A moment of silence. “I will.”
“You are free to help, so long as you actually help. But you can’t stay in here if he doesn’t want you to. There is a sense of privacy that needs to be maintained.”
“Agreed.”
“Now, do you need any help?”
“No, it is all very simple. Find a class, see if it fits, have it ready to register. I set up a schedule before coming here.”
“Did you just want to wait here until he shows up then?”
“Yes.”
A moment’s pause. “Why are you doing this?” 
“That is my business. Which means none of yours.” 
The sound of confusion by one was followed by the sound of steel.
Stormy recognized the voices, Chevonne and Edward. What he didn’t know is if they were talking about him. Unfortunately, he couldn’t think of any other ‘he’ than himself. The self-doubt came rushing back in that instant along with his own niggling fears. Very few seemed to have any faith in him. The pegasus took a moment to calm his quivering breathe and rang a hoof against the solid metal door, it rang out hollowly but loud enough to be heard.
“Come in.” Chevonne called. 
Stormy metered his steps; he tried to immolate his own normal gait and hoped it worked, he couldn’t keep his wings from drooping but kept his ears up. He would treat this like a test, just a weather test.
Chevonne sat at her desk with her computer open, chair turned to the bed where Edward sat. Her eyes were looking straight at the pony, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes, her legs fidgeted. While the other human grimaced but looked into Stormy’s eyes with his arms resting on crossed legs. Nobody talked.
Stormy forgot why he came and what help he needed, the silence continued.
Edward stood, straightening his clothes. “You are probably here for advisement on classes. I will leave you to it since you most likely want your privacy.” 
“NO!” Stormy stepped forward, the response was automatic. But if the two humans had been talking about him, then one would provide better support. He was already alone. He didn’t want to be more so. “I could use another set of eyes.” He tried to smile, it wasn’t coming. 
Edward sat back down straightening his back, it reminded the pony of a judge or manager having a ‘talk’ with someone.
“What do you need help with?” Chevonne tried but her voice didn’t reach its earlier tone of cheer.
“I don’t know what to do!” His problems hit the pony like a foal finding a hole in the clouds; his stomach was churning just the same.	Despite the words of encouragement from the people here and a certain mare back home. Were those just being nice because they thought I couldn’t handle the truth? Again, he did his best not to let it show. This was no different than back home. 
A hand with its five weird fingers fell on the pony’s back, covering both shoulder blades. It was a gentle touch, something that helped to assuage his fears if just a little. It was a sign of support, a physical sign of support and not just some words. Edward removed his hand after they made eye contact, retuning his face to its set neutrality from something kinder.
“What don’t you know? Be specific.”
“What classes to take. What to even study. Everypony…everybody,” Stormy corrected when he saws the human’s quizzical looks of knit eyebrows, one more subtle than the other. “Everybody keeps asking me about weather, assuming I’m a weather pony.”
“But you are one.”
“But I don’t want to be…” He pleaded. 
Stormy stopped dead. That can’t be. I’ve always done weather. I have a weather cutie mark. I had decent marks, could eventually be a manager. How could I not want to be? But the words rang true even in his own head, he was tired of it. 
“OK, that’s a start.” Edward remained neutral, but there was something else there. “What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know.” The panic started to return.
Chevonne finally spoke up, voice more cheerful, more what Stormy was used to hearing from her. “That’s perfectly fine. You still have a few years to decide. Why don’t you explore something new? Take some classes that interest you.”
That’s a long list! Stormy had gone through that class schedule, there were so many to choose from. How does someone narrow that down?
“Start by picking some GE’s. Later you can pick more fun classes, but get those others out of the way. That should give you some room to explore.” Chevonne offered, moving back to her computer screen and pulling up the list of classes. “What kind of things do you want to know more about? We can start there.”
Stormy looked about the room. He thought about his time on Earth and his time back home. What could he study to help him learn? “I want to study Earth! About people!”
“That is not very specific. Technically all classes involve people somehow.” Edward countered. “Be more specific.”
“What makes people people.” Stormy replied, he could feel himself rising on his hooves, heart rate increases but in a good way. Panic slowly being forgotten, but still at his periphery, ready to crash in at any moment. The pony thought for a minute about Equestria. If he wanted to learn more about home, what would he study? “History!”
His statement was meant by blank stares by both humans who then looked at each other. “Why not something like anthropology or biology? They each cover a science requirement and talk about what humans are.” Chevonne offered. “History is well…” Her sentence trailed off.
Edward picked it back up quickly. “History is violent.” 
The matter of fact tone didn’t deter the pony, but he was left with another question. “What is anthropology?” He had heard that word somewhere before.
“It’s the study of people and their culture. Why they do certain things over others, what traditions they follow as well as what is taboo. It covers language and physical traits.” Chevonne offered. Emotions playing over her face, an attempt to change the topic and her own passion mixing.
“Ok. That’s two classes right?”
“You only need one anthro class though for your GE.”
“No. Anthropology and history. That should cover humans well.” Stormy felt excited on the cusp of a new world, surprised at his own change of moods. Ever since applying though he had been curious about humans. They still seemed nice for the most part, what population didn’t have less desirable people? Canterlot had its fare shares of stuck up ponies, or even egotistical ones.
“Think about your book.” Edward advised. “That is pretty much how human history works.”
That gave the pony a moment of pause, quite a few moments. “Is there a better way to learn about humans?”
Chevonne started to speak, only to be interrupted by Edward. “No. There really isn’t. Just be warned.”
Chevonne shot a sideways glance at the other human who gave a slight nod back. He mouthed something the pony didn’t catch.
“What era and what area did you want to study?” Chevonne asked, slight sputtering in her speech.
“Modern, either US or world history.” Stormy knew he had to take a few history classes, and modern would be best in his mind. It would inform him about how things are currently set up as well as keep myths out of the room. Equestrian history had some problems in anything over a couple hundred years old falling out of memory or becoming “an old mares tale” like the incident with NightMare Moon a few years back. 
“That looks like…” Chevonne scrolled through several pages, eyes intently focused. “History 1C. Introduction to Western Civilization 1771 to present. It will cover the entirety of US history.”
“But that’s over 200 years? Isn’t that a long time?”
“Not really.” Chevonne closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “Humans have been around and keeping track of history for over 4000 years in some form or another.”
“Or, we have History 13C. History of the US and its Colonial Origins: 20th Century. That would be just the 1900’s. There are three separate ones, each covering a different century, they would all be useful.” 
“That last one.” If the world had over 4000 years of history, he would get a grasp of how it was now and work backwards.
“Let’s see, it’s typically a sequence.” Chevonne scrolled some more. “Normally it is only offered on the Spring. But… you are in luck, for some reason they are offering it in Fall as well as 13A which covers how the United States became a country.”
“The times are… Monday, Wednesday from eleven to twelve twenty-five for lecture and the same time on Friday for discussion.” She hit some more buttons and paper ejected from a device from the small bookshelf at the back of her desk. Chevonne handed the summary to Stormy for registration the next day.
All three sat there for an hour, going through classes and possibilities until he finally had three classes picked. He tried for a mythology class, but it conflicted with history on Fridays so the pony had to decide which he would rather take.
In the end Stormy settled for History 13C, Anthropology 7: Human Evolution, and Geology 1: Intro to Earth and Space Science.

> A Long Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy left Chevonne’s room unsure of his decisions. Did he make a mistake? Was Chevonne right to worry? 
OH NO! The pegasus stopped dead in his tracks as he got to the elevator. What happens if anypony back home finds out about geology??? That could end badly, he was a weather pony, rocks were below them as far as anypony he knew was concerned.  
The ding of the elevator interrupted his muttering thoughts. Two pegasus mares walked out chatting. 
“I do not think that is what he meant.”
“Who the buck says ‘nice ass’ to a pony? Just because I have four hooves and…” the orange furred pony walked into the gaping stallion. 
“Stormy!!! Isn’t it amazing?! Did you see all the AOS classes?” Her crimson eyes lit up like a foal’s. “They even have a class on climates of other worlds! Just imagine how that has changed since the portal opened!!”
Radiant Dawn’s sentences came rapid fire and all Stormy could do was stare at the sheer exuberance of the fellow weather pony. “Yeah, they look interesting.” He lied, never having actually looked at any of the atmosphere classes. How many worlds do these humans know of?” Stormy asked himself. He looked between the two mares, Sunny just happily watching. 
“Are you in Hammond’s 10am class? It was so hard picking which one.”
“No.” Here was his challenge. He didn’t want to lie, not to one of the few ponies he liked here. “I’m… I’m taking Geology.” The stallion saw the stares from both mares, bracing for some kind of ridicule.
“Huh.” Said Dawn, resting on her flank for a moment. “That is new.”
“Earth was formed by geologic processes which have a huge impact on weather and civilizations.” Sunny offered, a warm smile on her face. Eyeing a small strap on her left front hoof. 
“Yeah. That is pretty cool. You’ll have a hoof up on all the other competition! Good luck and hope to see you in class sometime.”
“Bye Stormy!” They both called as they walked away. “And don’t forget ‘Tips for Equestrians’ at 5:30”
“How can they have stories of minotaurs if they don’t exist here?” Dawn asked her white coated friend.
Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. The pegasus had to wait for the elevator to come back up, he still had an hour before the next meeting judging from Sunny’s watch, and he knew there was a store near where he had been earlier. Ackerman sounded familiar. He stopped by his empty room before leaving to grab his saddlebags in case they had a hoofwatch, he would need his bits; time ran different on Earth, it felt like it had to be done faster and more urgently. 
The elevator was empty and opened instantly upon hitting the button. Stormy braced for the descent, the feeling of uncontrolled falling. It started with a jerk, but then smoothly moved down the building and red numbers at the top ticked down till hitting one and the doors opening with a ping. Maybe it does get better.
Stormy checked his wings, the tingling had vanished, stepping out into the Reiber turnaround he spread his wings. The breeze blew through his wings and warm air filled his lungs. Perfect flying weather. He flapped his wings, hoping this time they would support his weight. His body lifted, shakily at first as if these were new wings, but he steadied after a few moments. The pegasus settled back to the ground, best not to test it and definitely not get caught flying on campus.
He followed the steps and path downhill, paying more attention to his surrounding as he was more familiar with the area now. There was so little of anything natural, where walkways weren’t needed were certainly trees, with planters covering larger areas of sidewalk. The people walking were occupied in their own thoughts, was this really that different though? These same thoughts kept bothering him, a human walked past carrying a board with wheels. 
Stormy got to the red bricks that led past the field and heard wumphs coming from the right, near a black metal fence and decided to take a look. There were three small fields along with concrete benches and an electronic scoreboard on one side. He was near the top of the stadium, in the middle of the bowl were three tennis courts. Games were being played on two of them with some people resting at the third. 
The scoreboard was blank and the players seemed to just be practicing, the pony was more shocked that humans played tennis. It wasn’t always the most popular game in Equestria, but it was an old one from one of those Neighlick territories. Did humans get this game from Equestria? The field doesn’t look new, and there are other similarities. How?
Stormy left the stadium, spotting the jogging track across the walkway. So many small places. Although if it stayed this empty it shouldn’t be that bad, walking around there was so much space for everyone to move. While the auditorium earlier had been filled, they were now spread all over campus. He knew there were many more students, but the campus seemed big so far. 
Soon he arrived back at the bear on its stand in all its bronze glory. A girl was standing next to it having her picture taken by a phone. After some sort of signs between the two and some exchanged words, the girl got on top of the bear for another picture.
A large metal sign at the front of Ackerman said “UCLA Store” and Stormy figured that would be the best place as he walked across the plaza. He knew it was the only place from trying to get the stuffed animal. If he had been a smarter pony he might have checked Target for a pony section. 
Stormy had trouble opening the large metal and glass doors outward, the direction every door seemed to open if not automatic. But, the pony had developed a not too troubling method of hooking a hoof through the handling and slowly walking backwards; it took two tries before he could hold it open to slip inside. He watched the door close as someone else walked up to it, but they hit a metal button on the wall that caused the door to open under its own power. 
Stormy walked back to the door and eyeing the square button with some weird symbol on it. The button was at head height for the pony and as he pushed it, machines whirred and the door opened like someone was moving it. Stormy realized he was the one that moved it. Technology!
Happy to find something to make his life a little easier there was a little bounce to his step and looked about the store. It was massive, reminding him of the Target, walls were put up to keep different areas separate. To his left was a massive selection of clothing and to his right cosmetics, he turned right.
There were racks upon racks of clothing, all designed to fit human and all bearing either the name of the school or an emblem. Even in summer there was a large stock of sweaters and jackets. It was massive, right down to weirdly open shoes, if it weren’t for the strap by a human’s toes they would look like flimsy horseshoes. There were hats, stickers and everything else for the next fifty feet, but nothing sized for a pony, not even a saddlebag or special hat to allow movement of the ears. 
Stormy moved through the rest of the store, awed at how large it was. Computers, food and drink, optometrist, and thousands of school supplies. He found a human behind a counter, computers all around. “Um. Excuse me. Do you have any hoofwatches?”
“What kind of watches?” The blonde scraggily man looked at the pony.
Stormy raised his hoof. “A watch? Something to tell time?”
“Uh, yeah. Just follow me.”
Stormy thought the human was weird, his eyes fighting to look and yet refusing to look at different parts of him. Soon he was led to a rack of watches, all really small and designed for a human wrist.
“This is all we have. If you need any more help.” He offered before hurrying back to his post.
Stormy double checked through all the watches, finding a silver one in the back labeled “Equestrian Enterprises”. He pulled it off the shelf and slipped it onto his cannon, tightening the latch. It rested comfortably against his ergot that kept it on his leg. He walked around with it, surprised that it didn’t jangle but stayed in place, it also had the wrong time on it. The pegasus flipped over the package to check on the price and happy the watch was on his wrist or it would have fallen to the ground with the packaging. 
Forty dollars! Two hundred bits? He looked at some of the other watches, the ones for humans and gasped at the prices, the cheapest watch was at least twenty. He contemplated putting it back and finding one in Equestria, it was clear he would need some way to tell time, but all Canterlot would have would be a pocket watch designed for the well to do ponies. 
Stormy swallowed his pride and took the package up to the desk. The human took the package and checked it against the watch then scanned a small barcode. Stormy paid the 48.59, put the container and his change into the saddlebag and walked out of the store, happy his food was covered for this event. 
Stormy took a break to look at the list of events left in the day; the last event was at 11:30 and something called Carpe Noctum. Does this place never sleep? He decided to go back up to the dorms, wait for the next workshop and rest, not even wanting to touch his book. 
It was a short trip for the pony to trudge back up the hill, he was sure he could fly, but the pegasus refused to allow another crash landing. He had never walked up so many hills or steps in his life; what pegasus would have? Most ponies wouldn’t have except for visits to the castle. 
Stormy returned to the ninth floor and dropped off his saddlebag before going to the lounge, the same one he had been to earlier with all the other ponies. Seeing it was empty, the pegasus entered and picked a comfortable pillow by the far window. It wasn’t that he wanted to avoid the other ponies, he was just tired and being around them sounded draining. He missed the peace and quiet and solitariness of home. The pegasus looked outside the window at the courtyard and the people milling about, they all seemed so happy. 
Much sooner than he expected another pony, well zebra, came in and sat at the opposite side of the room. Stormy couldn’t tell if she was giving him space or was in a similar position to him. He looking back out the window and losing track of time.

“So, you are all that deigned to show up?” Chris Barnes of Equestrian Outreach and Retention set a large box on the table. “Just means you all will be better prepared.”  Her voice seemed lighter somehow to the pegasus.
Stormy looked about the room, he was one of only four ponies to show up. The last two he wasn’t surprised to see the two pegasi. 
“There are some unique things you may not be used to on Earth that are quite a bit different from Equestria.” On the table she set out a computer, an inkwell with quill, and a weird pencil. 
“The first thing, and this is very important, you need a computer. I know you all have some experience with these by the fact that you are all here. But, almost every assignment will have to be typed from a computer. This is an issue,” Chris held up a keyboard with the letters too close together for a pony’s hooves. 
“There are two ways around this, the first is a program designed at this school called ‘Pony PC’ and includes tutorials and a speech to text program to help with writing papers. A pony named Noteworthy helped design the interface to be more natural to a pony. It is made free for all students from ‘abroad’, but any speech recognition software should work. You can just go to the computer store in Ackerman and they can help you with the initial setup.”
Chris moved onto the inkwell and lifted it up. “I know you all are probably used to using one of these. And it is fine in the dorms, but please do not take them to class. They are very easy to knock over in a busy classroom and many students had trouble writing fast enough with them or even room on their desks.” She set down the inkwell and picked up the pencil. “We will be getting in a stock of these come the start of the school year. It is a mechanical pencil.”
A what? Stormy quirked his head. He was very familiar with a standard pencil, ink didn’t work well in high winds. 
“It used little sticks of lead and you push this button,” she pointed to a tab near the top of the cylindrical object and with an audible click the tip grew longer, “to extend the lead. These are made to be held in a pony’s mouth, but any kind of pen or pencil will work.”
“What about getting a debit card?” Sunny Skies asked politely without raising a hoof.
“Thank you for bringing that up.” She gave a nod to the pink maned pony. “A debit card is a form of electronic currency. You should just have to go to Canterlot Castle and ask for help there. Since you have a bank account through the Princesses. However, if you want a local one I would suggest the University Credit Union on Ackerman B-level. And be very careful with your cards as they are the same as bits and can take weeks to replace if they are lost or stolen.” Chris looked about the room.
“Why was this not included in the earlier presentation?” Radiant asked next.
“That is a tough question.” Mrs. Barnes took a while to answer. “Time. There is only so much time to pass out information and the stuff covered in this one can be seen elsewhere. But the other one was more ‘how to survive’ while this is more tips, which is why this one is not required.”
“There are some more tips, but a lot of it you really will have to figure out on your own. Talk to people and see what they have to say.” Chris offered. “Now why don’t you all go and get dinner before they close the doors at seven.” 
Stormy looked down at his watch, the time was 6:20.
“De Neve is the only one open.” Chris smiled as the four ponies hurried out of the room and to the elevator. 
“They like to keep us running.” Radiant laughed, pushing the button.
“It is intentional. Everything so far has been.” The voice a deep contralto. Everypony turned around to look at the zebra. For the first time Stormy took a good look at her, noticing a few thing. She had no cutie mark, not even the cryptic symbol he had heard zebras had. Her mane and tail were cut short, only an inch of black and white stripes mane remained and match with her coat. “They want nopony isolated.”
“That makes sense.” Sunny replied. “Make this place feel less alien.”
“But it is not alien. It is of the same coin. The same mother.”
“That’s crazy.” Radiant stared at the zebra while scratching her head. “How can that even be possible?”
The zebra spoke no more though as the elevator arrived. 
They all stood in silence. 
“Maybe it has something to do with shared myths.” Stormy offered, not thinking anyone was listening to him.
“That could very well be.” Sunny liltingly replied, smile ever apparent. “Hmm. Do you have any examples?” She asked of the zebra. “Um, what was your name?”
But the zebra just stood there as the doors opened and they piled out. There was a small throng of humans waiting to get on and stared at the small departing herd with a few hushed voices. 
It was a quiet walk down to De Neve, no pony had any bags with them so went straight to the line. Once inside the zebra went one way while Sunny and Dawn went another.
Stormy looked about the half empty dining hall, making it look all the bigger without as many obstacles. Not quite knowing what to get he stood in the first line he came to, whatever it was smelled of tomato and spices and the ever present smell of cooked meat. When he got to the front the pegasus was surprised to see it was pizza and they had two vegetarian options, cheese and a vegetable pizza covered in he didn’t know what all. 
Stormy reached for a slice, but it was just out of his reach. A human hand passed over his shoulder and slid a piece of cheese pizza to the pony. “Um, can you hand me a veggie one too please?” There were so many people crowding around that he couldn’t even get to the other pizza. But, in a moment a second piece was put on his plate, the spare plate disappearing and the pegasus unable to tell who he had to thank.
Picking up the plate in his mouth, the odor of freshly baked pizza filling his nose as he searched for a table. His stomach growled in response, informing him of how long it had been.
Stormy got no further than the mane seating area before he heard someone call his name.
“Stormy! Over here!” It was the ever pleasant song of Dawn. 
The pegasus looked around and found the orange hoof waving for him and hurried over. It was a low set table at the very edge of the dining area, next to one of the large fifteen foot tall windows. There were no chars, but it sat at the perfect height for a pony to eat. Stormy decided to take the seat across from Dawn, with Sunny to his right. 
A moment later another plate of food was set down to his left, a plate of pasta with little brown balls setting in a white sauce. All eyes turned to the zebra.
“It is acceptable for me to sit here?” She asked, looking at Sunny Skies.
“Of course!” She exclaimed vociferously. “The more the merrier.”
“Thank you. Nobilitas Tua.” The zebra placed her front hooves together while sitting on her haunches and muttered something quiet. Upon finishing she put her muzzle in the bowl, going straight for a meatball while everypony stared. 
The zebra looked up at their shocked expressions, at their open mouths. “It is some dish called Swedish Meatballs. It is quite interesting if you want some.” She slid her plate forward for anypony else to help themselves.
Stormy tried to process this information. Zebras are vegetarian…they don’t eat meat…they…
Dawn looked to be in the same position, but inching away from the table.
“Is everypony ok? Is it not proper to offer part of one’s meal to those who accept them at their table?”
Sunny, smile still in place was the first to speak up. “No. I just do not think anypony expected you to be eating meat is all. The pony stomach does not handle it very well.”
“I am sorry. But it is a ritual to remind us that we all are part of life and how precious that life is. So we pray for the spirits of those who have given their lives. Our ancestors who fought to give us this world. Our foes who have strengthened us. Our friends who keep us company and fight by our side. So once a week while on our spiritual journey, we eat meat to remind us of this.”
“Spiritual journey?” Dawn asked, moving back to the table but avoiding her food.
“I am afraid that must be kept secret until I can find my answer. But you, stallion. Are you on a similar journey?” She stared into Stormy’s eyes.
“Um, no.” He looked down at his plate of pizza. “Well, maybe.”
“Is that why you consume the stomach of cow? Do ponies have a similar belief?” 
Stormy shot his head up to see the zebra looking between him and Sunny. “What. There is no meat here.” He looked back down to his plate, making sure there was no meat.
“Do not humans use rennet to make cheese?”
Dawn blanched and pushed her bowl of alfredo away. 
Stormy felt his stomach flip and his empty stomach try to remove any signs of his lunch.
Sunny reached over and grabbed one of Stormy’s slices of pizza and took a bite. “I don’t think these use animal rennet.” She said around a mouth of food. “It is pretty good though.” She pointed to Stormy’s other piece. “You going to eat that?”
Stormy rocked back for a second at the unusual behavior. He saw Dawn slide forward, taking a small taste of her pasta and seemingly happy with the taste continued to eat. 
Stormy looked down at his remaining piece of pizza. It is covered with those delicious looking veggies. He gingerly lifted the piece and took a bite. This is good. And before he knew it the piece was gone and conversation had started to return. 

> An Even Longer Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And then he made one of the clouds into a convex plate, the entire group had singed fur.” Stormy laughed as he walked out of De Neve dining and back to the dorms.
“That’s nothing.” Dawn replied. “We had such a history of shooting each other with lightning that Heavy Rain made the most temperamental rainclouds you have ever seen. They chased us for an hour and shocked us anytime we bucked them wrong.” Using a wing to cover her mouth as she tried to contain her mirth. “My cutie mark has never been so sore.”
Stormy sobered up and his laughter died. “What did you do in Manehatten? I mean what kind of weather did you deal with?”
“It may sound stupid,” She admitted, “But I specialized in cirrus formation. I was the pony who got the clouds ready every morning to give fire to people when the sun rises.” Her left forelock rubbed her right leg as they stopped. “It became the same thing every day.” Her voice rose as her wing fluttered, ears perking. “It was an art.” Her tone dropped. “It became standard. Repetitive, especially with a whole wide world out there!” Dawn twirled taking in the road, the trees, and the buildings. “It’s like learning to fly all over again and all these places open up to you.”
“Did you know Sunny has actually seen a griffon?” Her eyes were wide. “Not just seen them but visited their Kingdom!” Letting our her breath with a wide grin. “What about you? What did you do exactly?”
“Different things.” Stormy turned away. Stupid things. “The first year I was helping make clouds, then I was out placing them and finally in the office double checking weather schedules and work rosters as an assistant.”
Dawn stared in disbelief. “Management? You were in management.”
“Kind of. My brother was trying to help.” Stormy looked away. “I don’t like talking about it.” He looked at her, at her nodding and acceptance. “But it was never what I chose. It wasn’t fun or interesting.”
“It just was.” Dawn finished.
They looked at each other, gave a half smile then finished their walk to Reiber in silence. 
A breeze blew through the evening air, perfect weather. They look at each other as they arrive at the building, both with a shy smile on their faces.
“Are you going to the movie tonight?” Stormy asked as he opened the building’s door.
“No, but heard so many people talking about it. I have plans with Sunny. We are going into Westwood; see what things we can find. You are welcome to come along?” 
“Isn’t that dangerous?” He asked as they stepped into the elevator. He felt his stance, falter, stepping a little quicker.
“Not with wings. Besides, Sunny said she is capable if anything does happen. So, you want to come?” She stared with that wide toothy grin, eyes bright. 
Stormy’s ears moved to the back of his head. The fur on the back of his neck bristling. “No. I really wanted to go to that Carpe Noctum thing tonight.”
Dawn returned a knowing smile. “Ok, well, have fun. 
“You too.” He waved goodbye as she went down the opposite end of the hall. “See you tomorrow?”
“I hope!” She hollered back and slipped into a room. 
Stormy heard voices through the door to his room, causing him to hesitate in opening the door. 
Stormy jumped back and fluttered his wings as the door flew open and a human stormed out not looking, clipping his wing as Roderick stormed out. 
“Tyrant!” Roderick yelled through the door. 
“Hippie!” Edward yelled back from inside the room.
Stormy sidestepped to avoid the storming human who never saw him and continued down the hall. The pony darted forward to grab the door before it finished closing. 
“What happened?” Stormy looked about the room at clothes strewn about along the floor.
“Nothing.” Edward replied curtly followed by language the pony didn’t understand. 
The pony moved to his saddlebag, closing a flap that had somehow come open, securing the latch. “Um, Edward?”
The human answered while folding his clothes strewn on the floor and placing them into his bag. “Yes?”
“You want to see Avengers tonight? They are playing it and it looked interesting.”
“No. Not a fan of the action movies. Too many explosions and not enough thought.” He replied while working, placing each item carefully. “But go and have fun. Tell me how it is.”
“Ok.” Stormy said flatly, securing the bag over his flank. He stopped and turned around at the door. “Were you still doing that thing tonight?”
“Of course!” Edward looked up from his work, brows knitted for an instant. “See you at the bear around eleven.”
“Sounds good.” Stormy uttered before exiting the room again. Humans are weird. Now what to do for the next three and a half hours? Most of the workshops were done for the day, he already had a plan on his schedule, but he could always change it. Instead he settled for roaming the ninth floor, eventually finding himself outside the lounge.
Inside was empty and dark, the pillows still there from earlier. Stormy tried the door to find it unlocked and slipped inside. The pegasus wandered around, eyes unsuited for such an environment. There was no light switch like he was expecting, just a small white panel near the door. He had to stretch up to reach where it sat on the wall at a human’s chest height. 
With a flutter and a whir the tubes of light blinked into existence, slowly solidifying into a solid force. The air was stagnant and humid, he briefly wondered about using it to make a cloud to rest on, but it would never support the book. So the pegasus just picked a pillow nearest the door and settled into it, placing the saddlebag to his right. 
Stormy pulled out his book, marker still in place from where he left off the previous day. He then rummaged through his bag for some food, thinking he had a snack somewhere floating around in there. Finding his bits, papers, watch container, water bottle, everything but food. Did I already eat it?
Shrugging, the pony set the book between his hooves as he settled in to read. 

Stormy Skies stared down at the book, wondering how much he wanted to finish the Celestia forsaken thing, having just finished the start of the ‘games’. The pegasus looked down at his watch.  Just enough time to meet everypony. Happily shoving the book into his bag and taking another sip of water and turning the light back off on his way out. 
Stormy waited by the elevator, something he felt occurred way too often. A window exit or some stairs would be nice for leaving. 
The doors opened and a girl in pink ran out oblivious to all around her.
“Kat!” Stormy called, “Kat!!!” But she was down the hall before and gone. Would she want me to wait for her? But what if Ed is already down there? Stormy runs into the elevator as it starts to close, his body forcing the doors back open. Is Sue in the room? He wondered through his descent. Refusing to close his eyes for fear of repeating the scenes from the book, imagining the scenes as he read they stuck with him. 
Not too much later, the pegasus arrived at the bear to see many humans wandering about, one in particular in a suit sat with his legs down on the Bear’s large concrete stand. He wasn’t the only human using it as a bench, but he was the only one dressed that finely and the only one with a book in his hands rather than a phone or chatting with others. 
Stormy approached slowly so his hoofsteps made no noise as the tread on concrete. He was tempted to fly, but the earlier troubles combined with the fact that pegasi wings were not made to be quiet. As he stalked closer, sure no one was the wiser, he noticed the book, always a new one. “How do you read so many books?” It just slipped out of his mouth like water through a sieve; he doubted anything could have stopped him from uttering it. 
“A LOT of practice.” Edward flipped the page before closing it shut without any preamble or bookmark. “Were you missing anything out of your bag?” The human grasped his hands behind his back and stretched.
“No.” Stormy answered. Just the pineapple. “Why?”
“Curiosity.” Ed turned, looking at the amassing people. “How is the book?”
Stormy swallowed to wet his mouth and gaged in the attempt.
“That good?” The human sat back down, leaning back. “Wish I could say it gets better, from your perspective that would be a complete lie though.” He stood up, waving to someone behind the pony. “But it does.” He finished, passing the pony.
What does that mean? He felt his ears lean back, unsure now about letting such visible signs of his thoughts show.
Edward cleared his throat. “What happened to Sue?”
“I don’t know.” Kat replied, the ‘d’ sounding off, more like an ‘n’. She rubbed the back of her neck. “Thought she would have been here already.” Her clothing was different than it had been earlier. She wore pants like the other humans but now wore a fluffy pink sweater over a white shirt, hair tied back into a ponytail. 
Stormy looked about, wondering if he would recognize anypony else present, a person, a pony, anyone. The only one he thought he recognized was a girl that looked like Suzanne walking in from Westwood; but, he couldn’t be sure. Her face looked different with her cheeks sticking out more and something just seemed off. Her clothes were odd too, the small black jacket that was open in the front rested over a white shirt. But this person walked straight towards his small group as another person started speaking from the middle of the plaza. 
“Ok, I hope everyone is ready to have some fun and explore the campus. It’s time to ‘Seize the Night’!” As the female voice spoke, people gathered closer and closer to her, Stormy had no idea what the person looked like. “If you all meet with the table in front of Ackerman to sign up your group you will be given a disposable camera and a list of places. Your goal is to take a picture with your group in front of each place listed. The first team that gets back with all their pictures will win Bear Wear sweatshirts. Now go out and have fun!” The people surrounding her all dashed for the tables, his group stayed back. 
“Why aren’t we running up there?” Stormy asked, looking at the thrashing forms of people fighting to get their stuff first.
“You really want to fight through that crowd? Go right ahead.”
Stormy saw the feet moving, how closely packed the people were, and while there was a sense of order it was nothing the pony wanted to deal with. “You may have a point.” 

Edward and Sue walked off to one side to talking animatedly, Stormy didn’t notice. They were taking a break up on campus near something called ‘Public Affairs’. The buildings here were all mixed, one was white with lots of glass, another was the usual red brick, and this other looked like some sort of giant grey box shaped building with small black windows. The only thing he liked about this part of campus was that there were so many more trees; you couldn’t see any building without the view partially blocked by foliage, even if a road cut through the campus. 
The pony lifted his sore legs, the only thing not wanting to collapse were his wings itching to fly. They had been running through the campus for more than an hour and were not yet halfway done. Near him stood Kat staring at her phone, pushing buttons, looking up occasionally at her friend. 
“Kat?” Stormy turned to the pink clad human. “Katherine?” Although he talked, she continued to look at her phone or her friend. That thing must be really interesting. He surmised.
Stormy moved closer to the human, moving to within five feet of her, just in case. “Katherine?!?” He half-yelled, moving his wings up to his mouth to funnel the noise, still no response. Why is she ignoring me? Did I do something wrong? Is she mad at me? 
The pegasus moved closer until he was right next to Kat and gently poked her leg a few times. “Are you ma-“
She turned around faster than Stormy could have opened up his wings, there was a large intake of breath and her eyes darted around and settled on the body, her body was trembling. “Don’t do that!” Her speech was even more off than usual.
“I-I-I’m s-sorry.” He stuttered, mouth not responding and slipping.
“What?” Kat squinted, her mouth stayed open as she stared. 
Stormy turned his head away, that creeping feeling of his stomach trying to escape through his mouth, his wings telling him to run. “I’m sorry.”
Kat shook her head. “I can’t hear you.” She moved her right index finger, pointed upward, from her ear to her mouth. “I’m deaf.”
Stormy turned back to the lady in pink, the blond hair hanging over her left shoulder in time to see her hands move. “Deaf? Then how do you speak?”
“I read lips, sign. But yours are hard.” Her hands moved the whole time, her breathing still hadn’t slowed.
“That’s terrible; there must be something that can be done. Maybe the Princesses know of some way to fix you.” The pegasus offered. 
The next thing the pony knew her hands and arms were moving faster than he could follow, all short quick movements, her fingers would maneuver and reposition while her hand moved between her head and waist. All fast, quick, and jerky. Not a word left her mouth. Her face contorted and twisted, red spreading across it.
Stormy looked around without taking his sight off Katherine. Sometime during this, Edward and Suzanne noticed something was up, as they were coming closer. 
Suzanne stepped to the side and waved a hand in Kat’s field of view to get her attention, they exchanged hand signals in a flurry of emotion before Kat stormed past the pony, going back the way they had come. All this while Edward stayed back, hands in his pockets.
“You said WHAT!? What kind of insensitive…” A hand landed on her shoulder. Suzanne looked back at Edward, her expression went from mirroring Kat’s to something smoother. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”
Edward didn’t move his hand, holding her in place. “No. He created this problem and it should be his job to fix it.” His gaze turned to the pegasus. “If he doesn’t though…”
Stormy looked at the cold eyes glaring at him. What just happened? He turned away, hooves not wanting to move. Did I just alienate my only friends here?
He wandered off in a daze, head moving right to left, not sure where to look or what to do. What did I do?
A soft sobbing sound could be heard by a small building to his left. While he couldn’t see anything due to his eyes not be suited to darkness, he followed the sounds, eventually finding a small form hugging her legs. 
Stormy stopped two feet in front of her, sitting, pretty sure this was the same person. It had been a while since they had seem another person. 
And for a while, they both just sat there, in the dark.
“I am not broken.” She whispered. “I do not need to be fixed.” There were tears in her eyes as she sat against the wall. 
“What?” He had no idea what that meant. He knew she couldn’t hear him, but he had to say it, and stay until she looked up.
“I am not broken.” Kat looked up and the pony saw her bloodshot and puffy eyes. “You know how many times I have heard that? How many people treat you as stupid all because you can’t hear? How many people think you are less, that you should hold yourself to their standards? How many can’t see that deafness has a culture and its own life? That some sort of implant that most people can’t use and can destroy what little you have will make your life magically better?” 
There was a need, a desperation, a cry. Not just in her voice, but for once Stormy could fully see the expressiveness of a face. The downturned eyebrows, the moving lower lip, the trembling upper lip. But it was more than that, her posture, her hand positions. Everything communicated something. 
“I’m sorry.” It was hard, to look her straight in the eyes and face her. One of the hardest things he had ever done. But he needed to, he knew that, if he were to turn away now it would invalidate everything else. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Just treat me normally.” Kat pleaded.
Stormy nodded and stood, he moved over to sit next to his friend who proceeded to wrap him in a hug. She was warm and tender, her grasp desperate as she held him tightly to her chest as tears fell onto him.
But who am I doing this for: me or her?



> Side Story - Susanne
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“You have to be kidding.” Edward responded, corners of his lips upturned.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Sue motioned to a blank stare.
“Where did you get that from?”
Suzanne rubbed the back of her head. “A friend?” Kat, she heard it on some sort of interview years ago. Sue remembered the first instance of it being used and having a similar reaction. But it’s now an in joke. “But yeah, Equestria has some really advanced thermodynamics, like more advanced than we have.”
Off in the distance, not so far where she couldn’t hear the basics though; Stormy and Kat were talking and she didn’t like where it was going. 
“Once they could figure out the symbols and some unique methods…” Sue looked to the group, to Kat’s rapid signing.
“It is not that surprising. There is speculation that there may be a common…”
No way in hell. Suzanne stormed up to her friend. Sorry, Edward. As fun as it is talking to you, this takes priority. 
She moved around to the side, making sure to place herself in Kat’s peripheral vision and waved to signal her want to talk. 
Kat turned, hands a blur of motion. 
Sue may have learned American Sign Language well enough but it was Kat’s mother tongue, being born to deaf parents. 
‘Slow down!’ Sue signed. ‘You know I can’t go that fast.’
‘I can’t, it’s happening again.’ Kat’s eyes watered. Many would have assumed she was angry, but only partially. ‘Every time! I am NOT broken. Why?’
What do I say to that? Back home everyone knew, but going someplace different is always hard? She’s like a sister and I can barely imagine what she’s feeling. Every time some idiot has to open their mouths. 
Kat walked off, the last time that had happened was freshman year of high school. 
Sue heard a pounding in her ears, her throat dried as she fumed. “You said WHAT!? What kind of insensitive…” A hand landed on her back with enough force to sting. She looked back at who would dare… 
Edward? His features were completely smooth; Suzanne had forgotten anyone other than her and the idiot pony were there. She could see her rage against his calm. There was a gentle squeeze from the hand. She took a slow breath, letting her ire soothe and simmer. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”
“No. He created this problem and it should be his job to fix it.” He turned from her to the pony. “If he doesn’t though…” Letting the sentence trail off. 
Stormy moved off, staggering as he moved.
“If he says anything to hurt her.” 
“They both need to learn.” Edward moved off to a metal table, pulling out two chairs. “Life isn’t easy.”
Says Mr. Rich. Sue fumed, sitting gently into her chair, holding up the sides of her shirt as she did. I need to protect her.
Edward started speaking and Sue heard none of it, thoughts racing of her friend.

First Grade
Suzanne saw the new girl brought in with her frilly pink dress. It was the girliest thing she had ever seen, and the only one in the small class wearing such colors. 
“Ok, everyone. I would like to introduce you to Katherine. She will be joining us.” Mrs. Clarkson said. “Now she can’t hear like you do so remember to be nice. Now sweetie if you can take a seat over there please.”
This should be fun!
The new student sat near another adult who she rarely looked at as the lessons continued. 
Soon enough, it was time for recess. Sue shoved the books into her desk and waited for everyone else to get up before making her move. As the other kids made for the door, Sue ran forward, making sure to run into the back of the new student and then making her way outside.
She continued it for the next week. Sometimes it would be a ball from behind or just some words she learned from adults. Until one day Kat never went outside for recess and stayed inside with books. 

Second Grade
“Watch this!” Sue yelled at the swing went straight with the ground. A few more leg pumps and the seat rose. The next time it reached the top, she jumped. The feeling of flying was awesome to the first grader, then she landed and pain shot through her leg. The pain blasted out all other shots as hot tears rolled down her cheeks. The teacher checking her out and the ambulance ride were all a blur. 

A week later Suzanne came back to class in a cast and a wheelchair. The teacher made her a special desk to fit over her chair, sitting her far away from the other students and their desks. 
Recess eventually came and she wheeled to recess. Getting outside though she saw nothing that could be done sitting in a chair. She could feel more tears form in her eyes.
“Crybaby.” Someone called from behind her, Sue couldn’t turn around to see who it was. 
“Here.” A voice said from behind as a book landed on Sue’s lap. The voice sounded funny, like it was someone who never spoke. The book was from some series called ‘Goosebumps’.
Kat walked around to her side and sat on the ground, making sure her pink dress didn’t get dirty.
Suzanne looked down at this little blonde thing, the one she had picked on. “Why are you being nice to me?”
Kat nodded her head and pointed to her ear before pulling out a pad of paper and passing it to Sue.
‘Why are you being nice to me?’ She scrawled with large uneven letters before passing it to the odd girl.
‘Why not?’ Kat shrugged before passing it back.
I don’t even like reading.

Freshman Year of High School
Sue entered the classroom for Algebra. At the front, just as expected, sat Katherine in her favorite sundress, white with pink borders, a gift. 
Sue hung her head. Guess it’s the front of the class this year. She sat at the desk to her friend’s left. She hated her new jeans, but thought they made her look better. 
‘Do you always have to sit in the front?’
Kat grinned wider than a Cheshire cat. ‘Only if you can’t be in class on time.’
‘It was five minutes and history. Pretty sure learning things I wasn’t there for is the point of that class.’
“Haha.” A crackling voice, one that had just started to change spoke behind Sue. “I’d rather talk to a can of beans. I mean if you can’t speak English it’s the same thing.”
Sue’s ears perked. I hope Kat didn’t see that.
Kat taped on Sue’s shoulder, pointing to the front of the class as an elderly man walked in. His hair was grey and fell in very loose curls, like he never bothered to fully comb it and wore some strange purple patterned button down. 

‘I will catch up with you in a little bit. Need to talk to Mr. May.’ Sue signed when class let out.
‘OK.’ Kat moved off as her friend waited outside the building, heading for her next class.
“Hey.” She waved and the young male who just exited the room. Dark black hair, a plain white shirt and stained jeans. “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Of course.” Giving what he thought was a sly grin.
“Please do not insult the deaf in my presence.” Sue suggested. You can catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
“It’s not my fault she’s as dumb as a brick.”
“Listen here. She is a better person than you could ever hope to be and smarter than you can imagine.” Sue moved until she stood nose to nose with the taller boy, stabbing a finger into his chest. “If I hear you speak against my friend again I will make sure your voice doesn’t finish changing.”
“Make me.” He grinned, an expression that quickly changed into a grimace as her knee came up.

> Going Without
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy moved groggily, having trouble finding which leg was his front and wondering how to remove the blanket. His head throbbed from lack of sleep. The pegasus knew, just knew, he had looked at his watch in shock at what time he had gotten back to his room but for Celestia’s sake he couldn’t remember other than it was near three in the morning. 
It took a moment but Stormy found the railing on his bed and figured how to stand, and leapt off his bed. This morning when he opened his wings to flutter down they opened. With slow graceful flaps he gently met the ground, quiet as a feather. The pegasus looked at his wings and smiled, rubbing one against his muzzle, feeling each feather respond to the touch and move. Glaring at the light above seared his tired eyes. 
Stormy looked about the empty room, he knew he was forgetting something important about last night, Carpe Noctum and something about his wings as his wings stifled a yawn. With his head turning to the window, a gentle breeze blew through his mane while the light burned his eyes. The pegasus took a quick trip to the bathroom and grabbed his Bruin Card to go get some breakfast, a strange perfume filtered under the door of rose and lavender. His stomach roared in response, remembering one of the best dishes he ever had. 
Opening the door the pegasus turned to his left and saw Kat in another pink dress and wringing her hands. He came up behind her back and went to tap her on the leg before remembering the problem of the previous night. The pony moved to her side and lifted up a wing to wave so she could see him. 
Kat turned around, a shallow smile on her face. “We didn’t know what was taking you so long.”
Are you still mad? Why wouldn’t you knock? “I didn’t mean to hold up breakfast.”
“Breakfast? Breakfast is over. You’re about to miss registration for classes.” Her weird accent more pronounced than usual from her own experiences with the previous night. 
Stormy looked down at his watch. 9:25. 
“You don’t want to miss out on any of your classes.” The blonde human had already turned away from him to stride towards the elevator; Stormy had no way to argue with her. 
Sue was holding the elevator. As the group entered, Sue and Kat went into their own silent conversation while the metal box descended its short distance. Stormy stood at the back feeling distant.
The ‘silence’ continued until the three of them entered Chevonne’s room. Stormy entered last and saw the scene from the previous day with their NSA sitting at the desk and Edward on the bed, book in his hands.
The red-head turned around, a small sigh of relief escaping. “I was worried you got lost.” She laughed. “Who is going to register first?”
Sue looked over to the bed. “Ed should go first since he had to wait.”
“I already registered. You should hurry up though, Linguistics was already waitlisted.” Edward never looked up from his book.
Sue tapped her friend’s shoulder and signed something. Kat went up to Chevonne while Sue blocked Stormy’s way into the room.
The black haired woman bent down at the knees until she was eye to eye with the pony. “Kat may be on the way to forgiving you, but don’t think for a second I am. You have no idea how much it meant to her to meet another lifeform, let alone a pony. And you called her broken.” She stared into his eyes, black rocks boring into him. The contrast of the fire in her eyes with the ice in her voice tingled up the pegasi’s back. 
Stormy looked to the ground and pawed the carpet. 
“Because you have never said or done anything stupid in your life.” Edward called from deeper in the room, somehow hearing the quiet tones. “You would never pick on someone for something they can’t control would you?”
Sue looked between the two males; a look of shame crossed her features before turning back to the pegasus. “I will forgive you this one time if Kat forgives you.” She said and stood, moving towards the computer seat that her friend had just vacated. 
Stormy took this opportunity to move into the room and sit on the floor near Edward. “How did you know what she was saying?” He looked up to the linguist. “How did you get her to stop?”
Edward kept reading, either not hearing or just ignoring the pony’s questions. 
Soon it was Stormy’s turn on the computer. Getting up on the chair and positioning himself was slowly getting easier, he saw the screen was on the sign-in page. 
StormySkies
***********
The pony took a pencil off the desk and held it in his mouth to type with, attached to the back of his Bruin card was something called a post-it note stuck to it with three strings of numbers written down. Stormy entered the three CRNs on the appropriate screen, having scribbled them down to make it easier for himself being unable to type quickly. 
After pressing enter another screen popped up asking for clarification and a small red section was on it saying his geology class was waitlisted. I could just take meteorology. He pondered, falling back into his old habit of running.
“Just click to waitlist it.” Chevonne said from behind the pony. “Some classes have seats reserved for other orientation sessions or people sign up for classes just in case. Seats normally open up.”
Stormy was surprised, he had expected her to try and convince him to change classes or to suggest replacements, but she walked him through the rest of the process to get the three classes he had selected.
Chevonne pulled a small box of prepackaged donuts from somewhere, they sat in a blue package and tasted funny but it was food the pony really wanted as his stomach continued to growl.
“During session one several students missed breakfast so I prepared.”
“Fank Youf.” Stormy said around a mouthful of donut, a plastic kind of chocolate glaze covered it, nothing like the last donuts he’d had. It still filled his stomach as he ate three of the things. Everyone else just took a single donut, said their thanks and ate slowly. 
“We need to head for the next and the last lecture of orientation which is mandatory, followed by an urban legends campus tour and then farewells.” Chevonne grabbed a small package from her closet; it was the pony plush from Target. “We should get to it.” As she moved for the door. 
The trip back to Ackerman was rather calm with everyone still tired from the night before or lost in their own little worlds. Chevonne was writing something down while Ed read and the two girls signed back and forth. The trip was almost becoming familiar to the pony, like going to work every day but with less sleep. Stormy stifled a yawn.
Ackerman Grand Ballroom looked the same with the large room packed with chairs and already half-full. The pony felt he was getting used to humans. The time seemed to flash by as he would blink and more rows would be filled by students, all human this time; the pegasus couldn’t see any other ponies from his vantage point. 
Stormy worked to stifle another yawn, but a second followed right after and opened his mouth wide, noticing more than a few stares after he finished. When a third came, he used his wing to cover it, but in the tight confines it brushed against Chevonne on his right.
“You look like you could use some coffee.”
“Coffee?” It sounded familiar but he couldn’t place it. 
“It’s a drink, lots of caffeine to keep you awake.” The NSA offered. 
“And make you jittery, keep you up for days, can make you anxious, make you more stressed or increase blood pressure.” Edward stated calmly from his other side, receiving an evil eye from Chevonne.
“Maybe some orange pekoe tea?” Stormy asked, wanting to stick with what he knew, let alone one that was pulled out for special occasions. He still didn’t know why his wings had failed the day before.
“Don’t think they have anything that specific, but we can try to find some after.”
A human walked up on stage, Stormy didn’t catch his name and most humans looked the same as did their names. The pony had trouble paying attention.
“Life is not all about what is in the classroom, but also what you do outside of it.” He spoke, moving from one end of the stage to another. “Most of your time here will be spent outside of class, even if you spend most of it doing work, there are still plenty of opportunities you should look at.”
“You have probably been hearing this quite a bit the past few days and that is because it is true. This is your chance to try more and do more. Join house government and help your other Bruins have a great time. Get an internship doing what you enjoy and build that resume. Join model U.N. and interact with students from many other school and work on current world issues. Volunteer to motivate others to strive for higher education by going to schools to help kids read. There are so many things to do.”
“But with so much going on you may get sick. Illness can spread like wildfire if you don’t take precautions. There are face masks in the Ashe center as well as hand sanitizer in several locations. There is a completely free gym with a rock wall and quite a few classes including hiking or skiing trips.”
Stormy listened to the droning voice, losing interesting and only hearing half of what was said. 
“And at least a few of you may have psychological problems or depression; maybe you need help with stress. Counseling and Psychological Services or CAPS, your RAs will also try to help you in any way possible. 
Stormy felt his head slip and smack into the chair in front of him, snapping back straight and slapping Chevonne and Edward with his wings, as well as the back of the heads of some people in front of him. 
The NSA shot him a look halfway between mad and worried and before she could speak the pony felt a hand on his shoulder. 
“Let us find you that tea.” Edward offered, standing up and walking to the aisle. Stormy followed him out the room. 
“Be glad Suzanne isn’t here or she would call you an idiot. If you couldn’t handle staying up so late then why did you?”
“I never stay up late, or do this much. I didn’t think this would happen.” Stormy refused to look Edward in the eye.
“Ok. Let us try to wake you up. Do you think tea will help or stretching and moving?” Edward walked down the stairs while the pony followed.
Stormy wasn’t sure, maybe some tea. “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot.” He thought and stated each part as they came to him. There were a few ponies that drank cold tea; but Stormy never liked how it changed the flavor.
The linguist stopped with his feet on different steps to look back at the pony. “You sure you aren’t,” emphasis on the n, “familiar with Earth?”
“No.” Did I say something wrong?
Ed shook his head and continued on, the pony realizing something was off about him.
“There is a place to get drinks on A-level; they should have your tea there.”
“A-level?” Stormy remembered there were five floors, were they counted in letters?
“It’s the second floor, the one with some fast food.” As he spoke they exited on the proper floor.
Edward turned left right after a place called “Taco Bell” into a place that was just a waiting room and a counter holding pastries behind glass.
“Oh, it’s a donut shop!” Stormy looked around at the dark interior, “They sell drinks?”
His guide ignored the question as he moved up to the counter which was above the pony’s head. “One Earl Grey tea and blueberry scone please.” Edward asked, voice pleasant as if this was some huge favor he was asking. “Thank you very much.” He said and grabbed the cup and a small white bag. “Have a wonderful day.” He turned from the counter and handed both items to the pegasus. 
“What?” He took both items unsure what to do. “But, I could have paid for it.” Stormy sat and pulled out the scone. “What do I owe you?”
“It is quite fine. You gave me a reason to get out of another boring speech.” Edward stifled a yawn of his own as Stormy bit into the scone.
It tasted so much better, like it was fresh from the bakery and went great with his tea. 
“Careful with the tea.” Edward warned, looking around the floor. “It does have caffeine and I am not sure if it has caffeine back in Equestria.” Both of his hands rested in his pockets. 
That’s it! His muzzle isn’t in a book. He had one earlier.
“Have you eaten any good books lately?” Came from Edward’s pocket as he pulled out his phone, hitting buttons along its smooth screen. The voice sounded familiar and sent a shiver down the pony’s spine, ruffling his feathers, the tea losing all its heat. 
“What was that?” Stormy didn’t like the idea; he knew that voice from somewhere, the sun rising and falling rapidly, himself spinning corkscrews. 
“Just a ringtone from a show I watched as a kid. The meeting is over and we are to meet at the bear for a talk about life outside the classroom with Chevonne.” 
Stormy finished off his drink and felt much better, even with the shock he felt more at ease. Something clicked. “You don’t like Chevonne do you?”
“She is okay.” Edward walked off down the hall. “Just a difference of opinion is all.”
Stormy let it drop, feeling that was all he would get, even if it wasn’t an answer and followed Ed outside.
The rest of their group sat on the stairs at the bottom of Ackerman. “What kind of activities does everyone want to try for the next year?” Their leader asked.
“To denounce the evils of truth and love” Katherine started, and the second she had finished Suzanne spoke.
“To extend our reach to the stars above.”
“Poetry.”
“Space exploration.”
Chevonne stared at them. “So were you interested in Mars One? And there are plenty of writing clubs and sessions around campus.”
“No, I would rather explore from Earth until travel can be trusted.”
“Just imagine how a crash would affect stock prices though.” Edward quipped, causing all three to turn around 
“Because that is SOO much better.” Suzanne rolled her eyes and flung something at him.
Edward caught the book and tucked it away under his arm. “But you could take them down with you in a blaze of glory.”
“Ok, mister fancy, what kind of things will you do?” She shot back and crossed her arms, grinning in anticipation.
“Join a book club.” Kat chimed in.
“Or a knitting circle.” Sue fired.
“I was thinking the rowing team looked interesting. Or maybe tennis.” Ed looked thoughtful. 
“Fancy.”
For the first time the group wasn’t asking Stormy questions or trying to force him into the conversation. While it was nice, he wanted to join in. 
“I saw something about Equestrian games that might be fun.” The pony chimed in.
“A pony riding a pony, that sounds like a smashing idea.”
Stormy quirked his head in confusion.
“Here, equestrian tends to refer to the riding on Earth horses in games of polo or athletics.”
“There should be something though,” Katherine chimed in. “We can always look.”
“Suzanne, there is another world you can see with only a plane.” Stormy offered, he got surprised looks from everyone else. 
“Can people just visit Equestria?” Katherine asked, visibly sitting up straighter as her eyes widened.
“I. Don’t know.” Came Edward’s reply, pulling out his phone. “It doesn’t say.”
Sue and Kat started their own conversation before the black haired one spoke. “We can figure that out later.” For once Stormy heard someone else’s stomach growling. “When is lunch? I may have overslept myself.”
“Lunch is offered during the campus urban legends tour, which is not required or you can find someplace else to eat. What do you want to do?” Chevonne asked. “I have other stuff that needs doing so it’s your call.” She walked away, leaving the four to decide between themselves.
“Tour.”
“Westwood.”
“Westwood.”
“Tour.” Stormy was the last to reply as the vote was split, the other one for the tour was Kat.
	
> Paths
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The four sat, looking at each other. 
“Not another boring lecture,” Suzanne argued. “We already covered the campus last night. I ain’t spending four hours doing that again. It was fun last night.”
“I concur,” Edward backed her up. “They are rather pointless and quite unfactual. Designed purely to help new students learn the names of the buildings.”
“It’s fun.” Katherine shot back. “Fun stories that you remember, it makes the place feel alive.” She raised her hands up like she was welcoming the cool rain even though it was bright out without a cloud in the sky.
“It would all be online.” Edward pulled out his phone.
Stormy decided to speak up, he wanted to watch his money and the tour had free food, and sounded fun. What are human legends like? “I don’t like the internet, it’s hard to use.” Which was true, a library was much more useful. “Do we split up and meet back here around five?”
“That should work.” Ed nodded. 
Sue looked to her friend. “Do we need to get you a translator?”
“No. I-“
“Because they said they will have one here all weekend.” Interrupting her friend. “Just in case.”
Kat shot her friend a glare that would make a manticore run away. “I do not need a babysitter.”
“Ok.” Suzanne raised her hands in defeat. “You have my number just in case.”
“I know.” Kat half smiled, even a pony could tell she was having a rough time. 
Edward and Suzanne walked down the path, past the construction and into Westwood while Katherine and Stormy headed for the tour meeting place.
They headed partway up Bruin Walk and turned left, past another red brick building. In front of them were more buildings, to the right was a massive staircase and to the left a large field where people were playing with a disc. There was a table filled with sandwiches and bottles of water, one tray had a sign that read ‘vegetarian’. They both picked one up, just from different trays.
“But wouldn’t a translator help in case the person has their back turned?” Stormy was confused.”
“Probably. But I won’t” Her body seemed to be made of steel, looking stronger than tornado.
“Why?”
“There is always something I have to prove. People never thinking I can do it, that I am part of this world.” Kat was vibrant, a fire deep in her eyes, a passion Stormy had rarely seen outside of Dawn.
“It can’t really be that bad can it?” Stormy asked. “It can’t be that much different.”
Kat’s eyes turned to the pony, the fire subtly shifting, turning colder yet hotter. “Not much different?” Her voice cracked. “You still can’t understand can you? How would you feel if you could never fly, had never been able to fly? Or been a unicorn without magic? Would you be called broken, would you have a place in the world? Would people like you to be relegated to second class status and treated as inferior while those in power tried to eradicate that trait?” The blonde human seemed to grow as she released her frustration. 
“My alarm clock is on my wrist.” She held up an overly large watch on her left wrist. “It vibrates to remind me of appointments, it’s easier than the ones you hook to the bed. Have you ever missed a friend visiting because you didn’t see the lights flashing because you can’t hear knocking? Or missed a package because the deliveryman refuses to do anything but knock? A phone is only useful for texting, and that was a huge leap forward for me, at least it has a standard number unlike TTY lines.”
Stormy didn’t her to ask what a TTY was. He already felt backed into a corner. 
“To be unable to know what the teacher is saying with their back to you because they are writing something on the board. To be pulled over when driving and try to sign, to get comments how you shouldn’t even be allowed behind the wheel. To be told there is this device that turns your world into machine noises will magically cure me, even though my parents tried and I can’t, but I would still hear about it from classmates or teachers.”
“I know I can do this but everyone around me still acts like I need a guide. Like I need help. Like I can’t. I had the best grades in school and yet people still tried to baby me, the best. To have people talk behind your back. To have your best friend try to protect you to make up for some minor slight from years ago. How can you possibly understand?” Her hands were clenched into fists, her body shaking and breathing ragged. Stormy was unsure if she would scream or cry.
I don’t understand. The pegasus realized, this was something completely alien to him. He saw Katherine walk off out of the corner of his eyes but had no wish to follow. The pony looked at his wings, remembered the previous day. What would it be like to live with that every day? To never feel the air, to never touch a cloud, to deal with my parent’s expectations? His rear sunk to the ground. How is it I keep insulting her?
THWUMP!
Stormy felt something land on top of his head then fall to the ground. The pony shook his head from the shock and looked at the small item by his hooves. 
It was a small blue book with white letters. ‘Deaf Culture Our Way. Anecdotes from the deaf community.’ Stormy looked up in time to see a pink dress walk away to join the rest of the group. Looking back at the book he noticed a small piece of paper folded up inside it. The letter was on pink paper with little curly queues around the sides. 

I shouldn’t expect you to understand and I would have similar problems in your situation. So all I can do is give you some tips and hope we can work it out. Maybe I can teach you some basic signs. You have tried and I appreciate it. 

Katherine Thomas

p.s. I heard Equestria has been buying up a lot of books on Earth for the past few years. Maybe that is why Celestia has been pushing for access to Universities. It should include books on almost every human subject. 

p.p.s. I would love to see Equestrian physics book, not much has been released on how magic works yet. Not to the general public at least.

Stormy tucked the letter back in the book and tucked them both into his wing. As he approached the large staircase he could hear their guide talking. The group was small at around 50 students, so many less than he had seen most of the day.
“Don’t ever step on the sixth step.” The guide said, carefully jumping over a step. “Edwin Janss is buried beneath it because he so loved this school. One of two brothers responsible for the location of UCLA and also Westwood. And if you step on it you will be stuck here another year or fail an important test.”
Stormy saw several other students talk to each other in hushed voices. He looked up the long wide stairway that went up at least three stories. This is why pegasi have wings, the pegasus laughed to himself, Canterlot has similar pain in the flanks. 
As they rose the steps, their guide still prattling away, Stormy saw on the edge of the sixth step, an area of the side that had been worn away by the superstitious. Feeling good, the pony scoffed at the idea and strode up, a large brick buildings could be seen at the top. 
Most buildings sounded like they had some kind of history. Bunche, the large concrete block that went nine stories up and had no feeling. “Bunche Hall originally faced from east to west, parallel to the 405 freeway. But due to its height and reflections off of its glass windows, motorists on the freeway were blinded and it caused accidents. To solve this problem, UCLA rented army helicopters to lift and turn the building to face north to south, where it is currently located.” As their guide had stated. Stormy though couldn’t see how anything short of a Princess could perform such magic. 
“How much wing power do helicopters have?” Stormy asked, he hadn’t read enough on these vehicles. 
“Wing power?” The guide asked back.
“The amount of lift generated by the wings of pegasi. The average wing power is seven point two and it takes at least 800 to lift water up to Cloudsdale for cloud production. To lift even a small house requires at least 300 wing power of lift. That building is huge, the cables needed to wrap around it would be equally heavy so they wouldn’t snap.” The pony ran off what he knew of lift, some of what he knew. It was basic stuff in weather control and planning. 
Several humans turned to the pegasus and stared. He felt uncomfortable under their gaze.
“It is a legitimate question.” Katherine added. “What kind of helicopters?”
The people turned back to their guide.
“I don’t know…” He looked between the various students in his group. He had been walking backwards and talking to the students so he could maintain eye contact but now he turned around as he led them away. He turned back around, “And over here is Young Research Library.”
The stories continued; that if you are lost to just hold up your card and fellow students will help you find your way. The inverted fountain that was compared to a toilet bowl and was revenge from a design student who had been kicked out of UCLA and had to go to USC. Every story seemed odd, but so did the buildings, at least the ones that weren’t just red brick. There were even some about a “potato tree” and the building called Royce that seemed like such a big deal to everyone as people kept posing in front of it. 
The tour ended back at Ackerman where they were told the Grand Ballroom had been set up to make stars for the lobby of the Mattel Children’s Hospital. Stormy liked the idea of helping kids through a tough time. As, it seemed, did Kat.
There were tables of supplies: stars of different colors, glue sticks, glitter, pieces of paper to cut and glue onto the stars, there was even a table with colored pencils. 
The pony thought of what to make. It seemed like kids liked ponies, so he thought he would try to center his on that. There was a white star on the table that he pulled off, then grabbing a pink pencil in his mouth he started to draw. First went the wings, long and wide. The lithe legs, the horn. Stormy pulled off some more pencils to work of the aurora mane and tail. He then applied some glue to the auroras and added some glitter. He didn’t know what else to put on, so he grabbed a pencil the same silver as the edge of the cloud on his cutie mark and wrote a message. ‘From a pony. Please get better.’ 
The pegasus took a look at his work before handing it to a worker. It was decent, you could tell what it was, but his talent was never art. Leaving to find Kat, he was amazed at how few of the students were in this room, but they came in and left so it was hard to know just how many, kind of like how they walked past other groups of students on tours. 
Katherine had half a table to herself, a small stack of stars growing to her left as she added pink hearts to a yellow star and added it to the pile before pulling out a randomly colored star to make another. 
Stormy left his blonde friend to her work, he knew she would watch the time and decided to see if either Sue or Ed had returned to the bear yet. They hadn’t so he sat on the concrete holding the bear up and watch the people passing. It was still surprising how many people had cameras, almost everyone was taking pictures of the metal bear, a symbol of the school. In Equestria cameras were only pulled out for major events and were rather large, except for the ones used by professionals, who could afford spending hundreds or thousands of bits on such a device. 
He got bored quickly as he exchanged stares with people, wishing he had brought his book with him down, even though he dreaded how it would end. 
A girl came running up to him. Girl was a bad word as she was just as old as the other people he was travelling with. Long flowing auburn hair framed her face. “Can I get a picture with you?” She asked, rising to the balls of her feet.
“Um.” Stormy stalled, unsure what to do, unsure what the custom was. “Sure”
She gave her name as Ashley as she sat next to him on the bench, laying on arm across his shoulders before handing her phone to a friend who pointed it at the pair. 
“Smile.” The other girl said, one of a group of four.
Out of the corner of his right eye he saw Ashley lean towards him and felt lips on his cheek.
His wings shot out in reaction, somehow it opened behind the woman and the flash went off and her friend took the picture. He turned towards the person touching him.
Ashley gave him a big hug, got up and darted to her friends, all of them giggling as they talked in hushed tones as they moved away.
“You animal!” A new voice said as the group moved away.
Stormy looked over to the female voice. Pulling in his outstretched wings and trying to get his mind moving again.
“Here not even a week and you already have girls falling for you.” Suzanne called from twenty feet away, followed by a grinning Edward.
“You must give me some tips.”
“Maybe it’s just that animal magnetism.” Suzanne continued.
“Is that normal?” He looked back to where the group had been, feeling hesitation and doubted he wanted to take anymore pictures with people. 
“Not where I am from.” Edward shook his head before looking at Sue.
Stormy heard a weird comment whispered from Sue to Ed, something about cousins. But before Ed could respond she started talking to the pegasus. “Definitely not. Although it was kind of cute.”
Stormy felt it was anything but cute, if it were a certain mare he probably would have liked it, but not that.
“I have never seen something like that before.” Suzanne finished. “Where’s Kat?”
Stormy saw their blonde friend coming down the Ackerman steps and decided to do something.
“Last I saw she had been making stars for the children’s hospital.” Stormy said. “I think she said something about helping to deliver them.”
Sue pulled out her phone and started tapping furiously on its surface with her thumbs. 
Ed took a step back from Sue as Kat came up quietly, hands empty. 
Katherine stopped directly behind her friend, moving her head close to Suzanne’s ear and hands near her friend’s sides. “I’m right here.” Her voice deeper than normal and without any impediments as her hands wrapped around Sue’s sides.
For a moment the pony thought humans could fly as Sue jumped two feet into the air. A scream pierced his ears a second later as she came down. Her breathing was fast, Stormy could see her chest rising and falling. She looked like an earth pony dropped from a cloud. 
Sue spun on her heel. “Holy Sh-“ She screamed. “What the hell was that for!?!?” Only a few inches from Kat’s face.
“Babying me.” Kat replied with a slight grin. “And that pillow you put on my bed.”
Sue was calming down, her fists unclenched as she gazed at her friend. “But that was funny. Remember Sunny’s reaction at that?” A clearly forced smile crossed her lips, fighting with her racing heart.
“At least you didn’t try putting it in her bed.”
“Pillow?” Edward asked, at a complete loss as he looked between the two girls.
“That one with the big eyes and funny hair?” Stormy remembered it, he still had no idea what meant.
Ed continued to stare but included Stormy in his moving gaze. 
“But just imagine the images you could get of a pony glommed to one of those.”
“That would be inadvisable. You know what we were told.” Ed warned the maths people. “And would you really want to get the ire of an aid to Celestia?”
Kat saved her friend from having to answer. “Shouldn’t we go meet Chevonne?”
“Fine.” Sue still looked a little shaken. 
“Don’t want to anger a god?” Stormy asked, he knew enough of what humans believed about alicorns. Celestia has made a show in Japan, some of the reels made it to Canterlot. She had chartered out huge jets to ferry her guards to the site but teleported herself and a small honor guard with supplies directly there. The alicorn had then flown into the sky and let pure magic pour out of her as she lifted tons of rubble and visibly moved the sea while her guards rescued who they could. 

The four of them arrived at Chevonne’s door, hesitating on going through. Ed’s hand hovered near the door, which rested open. This was the end of orientation; they would be leaving for various parts. They had already packed their stuff and were carrying their bags. Where Edward had a large black one undoubtedly filled with books and suits, Katherine had a small pink one that came up to her knees and Suzanne had a hard shelled silver one halfway between the two.
“Why don’t we meet by the bear?” Stormy asked. “Use the mail to exchange notes on when we arrive to meet up?”
“That is rather brilliant. Chevonne should have paper to allow us to exchange addresses.” Edward finally knocked on the door.
“Come in.” Their NSA’s voice was distorted by the door. Inside was the red-head at her desk. 
Edward was the first in and went right to Chevonne’s desk and asked for a piece of paper and a pen. She pulled some off her desk, nicely lined paper. Stormy was still used to seeing plain parchment. 
Edward pulled a pen out of an inside pocket on his jacket and ripped the paper into four sections, writing a string of letters on all four of them before handing them out. 
Before long they were all at his hooves and he just stared at them, none of it made any sense. There was no city listed, no zip code, no real name attached to them. “How is the mailmare supposed to find these?”
Sue failed to suppress her laugh. The pony ignored her.
“It is for electronic mail. Email. It would be how you receive information from the school, they gave you one at the very least.” Edward said from above as the pony continued to stare at the paper. “It should be your first name and your last name.”
That clicked for the pony as he finally remembered and wrote it out with the pen in his mouth. Writing quickly and cleanly he put down stormy.skies@ucla.edu on the pieces of paper, realizing his was the last one. The pony kept one and handed the other three up before asking whose pen he had which had just materialized in front of him. 
Edward took the pen, took one look at the end Stormy had in his mouth before putting it back in his suit pocket. 
“How can you write so well with your mouth?” Suzanne looked at the paper.
“That is just how ponies write.” Stormy said, finding himself a nice piece of floor. “How do you write with your hands?”
“Nowhere near this nicely.”
Kat backed up her friend. “It’s true, hers looks like a doctor’s.” 
Chevonne waited until the slips of paper were put away to speak up. “It was a pleasure helping you all get acquainted with this campus. Hope you learned as much during this trip as I did.” Several heads nodded. “If you hand me your room keys I have some things for you.”
Stormy pulled out the white piece of plastic, making sure to leave his ID in the saddlebag, and handed it to the NSA. 
After getting the four cards Chevonne went into her closet and pulled out a box and some rolled up large rolled up sheets of paper and began handing things out. The sheet of paper was a poster that included a calendar and lists of events and places around the edges. Next was a pin to put on his bag, a white and yellow thing that read ‘UCLA True Bruin’. And finally something called a planner; it had spaces to write for every day, just an expanded calendar.
“That planner is one of the best things you can get, even if you have never needed one before. With tests, readings, papers, clubs, and everything else. One of my roommates is so busy she has to schedule in time for her friends.”
Stormy took the pin and the planner to put in his bag and used the excuse of the plane to ignore the poster; he wasn’t a pony for posters. He wasn’t the most excited for the planner either, his days back home were always the same, or close enough and his memory had always worked just fine. 
“Now, does everyone have transportation or a plan?” Chevonne checked with the new students to a series of nods. “Ok, then travel safe and if you have any questions just ask. You can also call any department you need to get ahold of over summer.”
“When will our book lists be available?” Edward asked almost instantly.
“The book store in Ackerman will have all your books.”
“But other places may have them cheaper and I would like to get a head start.”
“Sometimes a month before classes start and others maybe a few days or in class. Or they may require readers, which can only be purchased in the book store.” 
Edward seemed to think that over, not asking another question, for a few seconds at least. “Is the syllabus adhered to?”
“Again, that varies by professor. Some may not cover what is in the last few weeks, some never used listed books and other go off topic so ask your professors.” Chevonne was getting short, her lower jaw was moved to one side and her eyelids lowered.
Suzanne placed a hand on Ed’s shoulder as he opened his mouth to speak again, and shook her head.
“Then I will wish you all safe travels.”

The four exited the room, bags in tow, and headed for the elevator, the place looked even more deserted. 
“What is it between you and her?” Sue asked forcefully.
“Nothing in particular.” Ed spoke as if that were true, but even Stormy could tell he didn’t like her.
“It has to do with that meeting doesn’t it? That’s when you two met.”
“Meeting?” Stormy asked. Was there something I missed?
“Yeah, on the first day. We met and she said some things before we left to find you.” Sue pushed the elevator call button and turned back to the man in a suit. “What did she say?” The concern in her voice was losing out to anger.
“Nothing.” Ed’s voice sounded gruff. 
The bell chimed as the elevator doors opened. Suzanne blocked the door into the empty with her body. “Don’t you give me that.”
“It’s personal.”
Sue still wouldn’t move.
“As in I will tell you later.” He made a few quick motions with his hands. It looked like what the two girls used but a lot slower and not as graceful; it was like a mule doing ballet. 
“Fine.” Sue moved out of the way.
The ride down was quiet if not hostile. What happened? Why do I feel like I caused this?
As the elevator doors opened on the first floor, Stormy ran out and blocked their exit just as Sue had done. “What is going on? What did I do?”
Kat smiled to the pony.
“Now you are perceptive.” Edward mumbled. “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“If it is about me I have a right to know!” He slammed his forehooves into the elevator and it rocked. He stared at the much taller human. “I thought we were friends.” He realized he was in fact glaring at the human.
“We are.” Edward replied, it was very matter of fact. “Which is why I don’t want to talk about it.” When that didn’t move the pony he continued. “Let us just say I do not like those who decide to judge others without evidence.”
Sue’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Stormy.” 
He turned his head to look at the one talking to him.
“Drop it.” She tried to adopt a soothing voice. “Trust me.” She walked forward, to the pony and lowered to his level. “Have you heard the phrase a little knowledge is a terrible thing?”
Stormy nodded. Pegasi were renowned for being showoffs with clouds or racing when they learned to fly. A new trick only added to that, a classmate had broken their wing just after getting a racing cutie mark but hadn’t learned how to tuck their wings in quickly enough for a tight space.
“This is like that.” She looked into his eyes, the complete opposite of what he expected of her, compassion. “I promise that if he doesn’t tell you later that I will.”
“Ok.” The pony agreed and moved aside. Letting the three humans out of the tiny metal box. 
“Where is everyone headed?” Stormy asked, feeling disheartened, fearing he had damaged his friendships.
“My mom is picking us up.” Suzanne said. 
“I am taking a red-eye out of LAX.” Edward replied, his demeanor switching to a professional tone. 
“Red. Eye?”
“It means a really late flight.”
“Ok.” Stormy made his goodbyes and before he was even out the door Sue and Ed were in an impassioned talk. 
So Stormy walked to the Fly Away location he had seen on his map earlier. Alone in the sun, not to different than when he arrived. Thoughts tearing at his head. 
He looked at his situation. He would be home and living with his parents for two months and then spending the next four years on an alien world, surrounded by creatures so similar and yet eerily different. A work load he had been told would be very hard. And to top it all off he would be living with two complete strangers. 
Stormy Skies wondered which would be worse, family or school. 

> Side Story: Chevonne
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Chevonne looked at her ringing phone. This wasn’t the best time as she had a group of new students to lead in a few days and wrangling eight freshmen around campus was not the easiest thing she had ever done but it was giving her ample research opportunity for her capstone project dealing with children and education. But it was Lisa, a very close friend whose apartment she would be subleasing in the fall. 
“Hey!” She called into the phone; the silence told her something was wrong, Lisa was always the type to talk immediately. “Everything alright?”
“You can’t move in.” Was the hushed response.
“. . .” There are only two months until classes start. This had been three months ago! There aren’t any good apartments close by.
“The landlord found out and threatened to evict me if I let someone else move in.” Lisa was being docile, there was more to it.
“You cleared it through him though.” What is going on? “You live in a single and you said you cleared it and could just move a second bed in.”
“One of the other girls let her boyfriend stay and things didn’t go well.” Chevonne could almost hear her friend rubbing the back of her neck.
“What am I supposed to do?” This can’t be happening! This is my final year, this was supposed to be the best one, when I have learned everything and set myself up for grad school. The commute and everything had been planned out.
“I’m sorry.” The phone went dead.
Chevonne just looked at the screen. What about my down payment?


***


“No.” Chevonne answered. “I can’t make it to look that day. I have a job for those three days.”
“Then you won’t be getting the room.” The guy on the other end hung up.
Chevonne went back to the list on her computer, neither one of her roommates were staying in the dorms right now so she had the room to herself. Which was good, as she had stacks of papers lying around and so many tabs up on her computer. I should have just entered the housing lottery months ago, Of course they expect seniors to live off campus so even that is a gamble.
Chevonne had spent the last three days going over every housing listing she could find and asking fellow bruins for help, still nothing and she was getting stressed. Half the sites she found required a payment just to use their listings under the promise that they would find her something, but their student reviews said otherwise. She buried her head in her arms, letting her curly red hair do whatever it wanted. She wanted to say the hell with it and just live in the library. 
There was a knock at her door, and while it didn’t destroy her misery it moved it to the background. She got up and grabbed a robe, without anyone else here she could enjoy wearing less than normal. It was a plain white robe, a birthday present from Lucy. Chevonne undid the deadbolt on her door, when she was by herself, unless it was during those few days of being an NSA, her door remained closed and locked. 
On the other side was a young girl she recognized as working in the Rieber office, someone who rarely had time for anyone else. A true student. She groused, never liking the people who believed grades came before all. 
“I have a letter for you from the Dean of Student Services.” She handed Chevonne the letter who took the manila envelope. “Now if you can sign this for me.” She handed over a clipboard with a list of names. “I have seven more letters to deliver.”
Chevonne signed next to her name and closed the door. She sat and opened the letter, it looked pro forma, a letter made once and just sent out. 

Dear Chevonne Brannon,
There has been a change to your student group for the coming week. You have been reduced from the normal eight students to just for to better focus on a special case or two you are being given. 
Among the normal students you will have one new student from Equestria. As you know we cannot guarantee what species you will get as that information has already been put into the packet you will receive Monday. And there should not be any troubles with a griffon like there were last year. The group has been shrunk to make adjusting easier for these special cases. 
Before meeting with the pony you should meet with the other three students to warn them as special care must be taken to ease them into life on Earth. Make sure people refrain from gawking or taking pictures and that is treated with the utmost respect. Guide them in their class selection and make sure to avoid any classes dealing with war or history for their first quarter. We believe these guidelines will be helpful in retention of these students who are not as familiar with the world as normal students.
Dean of Student Services,
Ellis Maitland

Chevonne tossed the letter to the back of her desk; she could read the rest of the papers later. Perfect. More to deal with. She looked at the clock, it was after five. And they timed it so no questions could be asked and things need to be prepared before the end of the weekend. She hated the idea of special cases; just normal students were bad enough, but then to include a child. 
She opened a new tab on her browser and searched for information on Equestria. 


***


This was the day; she had read through her information but was nowhere near prepared enough. The pony was off by Covel and had his nose in a book which worked for her so long as she could find her other three charges before he finished. 
She had the photos of the students in her group which made matters slightly easier. The different groups would meet in different areas as there were too many to meet in a single location. A couple dozen students were walking about; more than a few had picked up donuts. She knew from experience that many would still be asleep, but she had time, there was spare time built into the schedule.  
One student caught her eye as he was dressed in a suit, from what she could tell it was an expensive suit. Whereas most students she had seen didn’t dress like slobs they made sure to dress in something comfortable or expressed themselves. Most of them at least, some guided tours from Asia had everyone dressed up but that could have been dress codes. His walk and style matched, impeccably clean with just enough gel in his brown hair to complete the look. The red tie was a bit of a surprise as it stood out.
Chevonne looked at her packet; she didn’t want to call over the wrong student. It looked like the same student and waved him over. “Edward?” She asked, it never hurt to make really sure.
“Yes.” He replied. It wasn’t curt just very formal. “Are you my New Student Advisor?”
“I sure am.” Remember to stay bright and cheery. 
“I must be early then.”
“Nope, you are right on time. We just need to find two more people, have a talk then find out fourth.”
Edward readjusted his tie. “Only three others? Why is this group so small?”
“I can explain that in a minute.” She spotted a face in a pink dress. “If you can just stay here one moment.”
Edward nodded and pulled a book out from under his arm, ‘The Inferno.’
Chevonne jogged quickly to the donuts, finding two girls by the tables of donuts. Their hands waved around as they laughed. They contrasted each other. One had dark black hair while the other had light blonde. One dressed in a black top while the other wore a pink sweater. They kept laughing but neither one seemed to talk. Her first thought was that one was deaf but her papers didn’t inform her of any disabilities and that would have required a translator. 
“Suzanne? Katherine?” Chevonne asked. 
The one in black turned to her. “Yeah.”
“Hello. I’m Chevonne. I’m your New Student Advisor.” Throughout Suzanne’s hands never stopped moving. “I was hoping you could come over and we could get started.”
“Can we get some food first?”
“Of course. But I just need to talk to you for a few minutes before we take a break.” Chevonne noticed the hesitation; Katherine seemed like she would follow whatever her friend said. “We have some things to discuss before we get the rest of the group together.”
The two exchanged worried glances, but nodded and followed her back to where Edward waited. 
“I need to talk to you about our fourth member which is also why this group is so small. He has some special considerations.” Chevonne noticed their worried expressions, especially on the two girls. “He is from another world.” 
There was an ear shattering shriek from Katherine, a sound of excitement. Chevonne had to cover her ears from the piercing sound.
Suzanne motioned to her friend who then made a circle on her chest while saying sorry. Katherine had a sheepish grin on her face.
“You may have just given a pony over there a heart attack.” Chevonne couldn’t tell if Edward was joking or angry. 
Chevonne saw the pony had jumped and was now looking around.
“I hope he wasn’t reading anything scary.” Kat whimpered.
“Do ponies read horror?” A small glimmer of something shone in Suzanne’s eye.
“Just ‘The Hunger Games’”. Edward replied nonchalantly. 
How does he know that? It doesn’t matter. “Yes, our fourth is a pony from Equestria.” She expected some kind of response, but not what game. Katherine was antsy and excited, Suzanne rolled her eyes, and Edward looked as if he couldn’t care less. “But there are some things we must cover before bringing him over.”
There were no responses. “I don’t want any of you making a big deal over him. No gawking or taking pictures.” Katherine apologized again. “You are to treat him nicely to make the transition easier on him.”
“Why?” Edward asked, looking at her but it wasn’t curiosity.
“He comes from a simpler culture and we don’t want to scare him.”
“That is rather ethnocentric of you. You can’t control everyone.”
Chevonne bristles at that, it was only one step short of calling her racist. This is why I will never TA, I can’t explain things well. “The other NSAs have been informed and will be watching their students and everyone will be on their best behavior.” 
“You really think they know much of war or race? He needs to be eased into it or he might quit.” She felt her ire rising, this was NOT how this was meant to go.
“Then he will hit walls later.” Edward still looked perfectly calm. “When he realizes how things are done. We all fail at some point. The question is whether someone will be there to help.” He stopped to point out the pony. “Look at him, look at what book he is reading. He hasn’t run yet.”
“Because that is such a great introduction to people.”
“Yes it is. And maybe you shouldn’t judge what he is capable of because of how he looks.” Now he looked mad, at least in comparison as his jaw set.
Chevonne noticed the two girls watching but they had moved back a step. “Maybe we should get some food and I will go get our Equestrian friend.”
“I will go. I already know him.”
Chevonne watches the three new students go. This will be a fun three days. She surmised and pulled out her phone to see if she had gotten any replies on apartments yet. 


***


She sat on the steps as the four new students talked. On top of that she was surprised. They were becoming friends, better friends than she had during orientation or even her first quarter. They were talking and having fun and somehow they got the shy pony to joke around and interact. Chevonne told them to head for the tout or some food and headed out, hearing the start of some sort of argument, probably nothing serious but they could solve it. 
She was still worried about the pony though. Her own experiences in other cultures hadn’t always been the best; she knew how rough it could be and the feeling of being an outsider. Not everyone could handle the pressure and the stress, or deal with the other things he would have to as she remembered the current issues out of China and Washington. But she had always just gone in like the pony had and wound up enjoying it, so maybe she was wrong.
Chevonne felt her phone vibrating. “Hello?” She asked, not even checking the caller ID, the phone had been on vibrate so it wouldn’t interrupt any of the lectures.
“Chevonne? I convinced the landlord to let you stay. He has a regular lease ready for you to sign.”
	
	
	
	

> DK
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy saw the bus in the parking structure and he ran, ran as fast as his hooves would carry him. Saddlebag slamming into his hips as it bounced. The dirty sidewalk flashed past in a blur then became asphalt as he entered the parking structure only to see the bus pull out and leave him. 
The pegasus huffed, and glared at the bus. If he hadn’t been so lost in thought. His stomach growled, lunch having been light with only a partial sandwich. The pony looked at his watch. Seven, which explained the darkening city. Just like Canterlot, the sun was cut off by the tall buildings. 
The bus won’t be back for another hour, may as well find something to eat, something that can be eaten. He looked around at the streets, with people moving, this was not a place he wanted to be after dark. Stormy went to the nearest restaurant he could see, some sort of barbeque place and looked at the posted menu, and everything had some sort of meat to it. Even he knew what pork and beef were, not vegetables. He decided to go to the corner, and across the street sat a place called ‘Veggie Grill’. 
Stormy hoped it was really was what the sign said, but several others had words he wasn’t familiar with. It was a little brick building and if it weren’t for all he had seen, the pony would have thought humans were at the same level as ponies, they had so many brick buildings. A small sign by the door had an “A” on it for quality; it didn’t mean anything to the pony. The sign below it did though: “Everything approved for consumption by Equestrians.” Next to that was a menu proclaiming they even had hay fries under a section marked “Equestrian Specialties”.  
Inside the place was a mash of carrot orange and zucchini green with large booths filling up the empty space. A large menu attached to the ceiling above the two registers, which was good as there were three people in line. Four he realized, seeing the recognizable gold armor and blue crest of a Royal Canterlot Guard who took a small clear cup in his mouth and trotted off to a seat.
Stormy looked back to the menu while he could and looked at the non-“Equestrian” food which had things like veggie burger and something called chikn nuggets. His stomach was going to the daffodil and daisy sandwich seasoned with dill. The choices of fries were regular, sweet potato and hay. The pony debated getting it, soon enough he would be home and there he knew where to get quality food. But he so missed regular food, something with flowers or plants. He also needed to think of the coming year where for nine months he would be on Earth having to eat human food so he wondered whether he should find human food he really liked or a place for good Equestrian food. Then he looked at the prices.
Eating out would use up all my money and food is provided on campus. He tried working out what to do.
Stormy got to the front and still wasn’t sure what to get and eight dollars for the daisy sandwich was high to him, but his stomach overruled him and it was ordered along with regular fries and a water. He was given a number and a clear cup with his change and went to find a seat. 
The pegasus didn’t realize how full the place was until he tried to find a seat. They all had people at them, except for the one with the Royal Guard who was waving with the tip of his wing. Stormy didn’t know if he should go over, most of the guards he knew, at least the ones in their armor, were rather cold and one had even levitated him into the air. The face on this one wasn’t much better as he seemed to scowl. 
But there was no other seat available so he filled his cup with water and went to meet the guard. The guard sat and had a small smile plastered over his face before reaching out a hoof. “You can call me DK.”
“Umm, Stormy Skies.” As he sat a person came out with a tray of food and set it in front of the guard.
“They are mighty fast tonight. Must be the uniform.” The guard giggled before lifting his burger up with a hoof.
Stormy realized how tired he was and yet something had sparked and questions flew from his muzzle. “Does that mean you come here often? Is this place popular among ponies?  Are you having meat like that zebra? Why is a guard here?”
DK slowly swallowed the partially chewed food and looked absently from his food to the pony and let his moth hang open, a piece of sesame stuck between two teeth. “One question at a time padawan.”
“Padawan?” There was another phrase Stormy had never heard. 
“It’s an Earth saying.” 
Stormy nodded as the guard continued. 
“No, it is not meat. The burger as you called it is just made out of vegetables and eggs and maybe some bread. This is one of the more popular establishments as you know what is in the food before you order it and this place doesn’t even serve meat. Although you still get the stares so on campus is preferred by some, but it sure beats the Everfree Forest. I like to come in once a week and I am here because I just got off duty and was hungry.” DK reached down for a hay fry before looking back up for clarification. “Zebras eat meat?”
“The one I met did.” The smell of food was intoxicating. “You lived in the Everfree?”
“Until I was ordered here. It’s a great place for survival training and in case anypony gets lost in there. Although at least there I could go into town to talk to the cute mares.”
“Why are there guards here?” Stormy asked. “You are the first one I’ve seen.”
“For protection. There are threats made often and to walk ponies home if need be. Also to make a presence known. But some are here without their armor.”
“But wouldn’t they still be white and blue?” Every guard he had ever seen shared the same colors.
“Celestia no. Not all of us at least. The armor changes the appearance of a pony, you can’t even tell mares from colts.” Stormy did remember that much. “There are always at least two on duty.”
A bright light flashed in both pegasi’s eyes. The guard growled as Stormy blinked the lights out of his eyes. “What was that?”
“Camera flash.” DK picked his burger back up as Stormy’s food arrived. “Have you not noticed?”
“Noticed cameras?” Stormy thought about his few days. “Only this one when a human surprised me with a kiss.”
DK looked about the restaurant, twisting this way and that. “How many people here do you think have a camera or have been watching or listening to us?”
Stormy looked about for himself, trying to pay attention to the people. The only thing he saw was the guard stealing some of his fries. In response, the yellow pegasus took some hay fries for his own to the laughing of the guard. “None.” He responded.
“Wrong. All of them probably have cameras and at least five were staring at us when I looked.” 
Stormy looked again but couldn’t see any large machines, then he remembered the girl with her phone.  They have more advanced technology. They all have cameras in their phones. He looked about again, paying attention to what he thought was irrelevant.
“Now you see it.” DK said around a mouthful of fries.
And he did. Over in a corner were two people posing with their phone, obviously taking a picture of themselves, but Stormy knew he was in the picture. He caught furtive glances from several other patrons, their heads shifted if he looked their way. A few were speaking in hushed tones that the pegasus could only guess at the meanings. How much have I missed? Am I just something to watch and gawk at?
“How many ponies do you think live in this area?” DK asked. “Less than forty, in a population of tens of thousands. What would happen if a human went for a stroll through Canterlot?”
Stormy thought about it. What did they really want? He felt overwhelmed. His heart raced. He continued glancing about. Nearly jumping out of his seat as something touched his hoof.
“It’s ok.” The guard was speaking. For some reason Stormy couldn’t comprehend that the voice was coming from the guard. “They are just curious. Most don’t mean anything. They do get annoying though.”
“Then why are there guards here?” He felt his eyes grow wide. Must get out. He looked at the door, wondering how quickly he could get out and how many people were in his way.
“How many guards are in Canterlot?”
“I don’t know.” Stormy looked back to the guard. 
“Quite a few.” DK answered slowly, making sure each word was clear. “How safe is it from attack? Normally.”
“Quite safe. It’s the center of Equestria.”
“Then why are there so many guards.”
“Just in case something goes wrong.” Stormy said, everypony knew that. Most cities or towns had some sort of defense.
“Exactly.” DK excitedly slammed a hoof down on the table.
“Huh?” Stormy didn’t get it.
“You really aren’t a clever pony are you?” The guard let out another giggle. “Think about it.”
DK waved to the people behind the counter and they promptly brought out two boxes.
“What are these for?” Stormy stared at the flimsy material.
“For your food padawan. If you don’t leave soon you will miss your bus to the airport?”
Stormy looked at his watch, he had been sitting and talking longer than he thought and had barely even touched his food.
“How did you know?” Stormy kept looking at the time, he had maybe five minutes to get there. He looked up to see DK putting the daisy sandwich and the regular fries Stormy had ordered into a box. Stormy noticed some hay fries in the bottom.
“It’s my job.” The guard winked and Stormy shoved the carton into his bag and bolted for the door. 
Stormy felt his hooves pound against the concrete and the jolts travel up his legs. He heard the clopping as he ran as fast as he could, he knew he was late and would miss the bus again and he could see people watching as he ran past.
The pegasus entered the parking garage, moving over the course material made for cars and saw the bus. He also saw a human arguing with the bus driver. 
The human was in a fine black suit and padding his pockets like he was looking for something. “I do not think I forgot it.” Even from the back the pony knew Edward, the book he was carrying only made it easier.
“Hurry up kid. We don’t have all day.” The bus driver looked annoyed as his eyes shifted to the watch and his other passengers.
Edward turned around to the pony, probably hearing his clopping. “Hey Stormy. I can’t seem to find my wallet.” He grinned. “Can I borrow ten dollars for the bus?”
More things that confused the pony. Stormy knew you couldn’t fly without an ID and yet he did owe Edward and if it weren’t for this he would have missed the bus. “Sure.” He reached into his saddlebag and pulled out twenty dollars, he didn’t like how fast money disappeared.
The bus was packed, there were only three open seats, with two being across the aisle from each other. Stormy picked one as Ed picked the other. 
“Thank you.” Edward told the pony. “I do not know what happened.”
“No problem.” Stormy replied, ignoring the small bulge in his friend’s side pocket. “How many books did you bring?” He asked, staring at the black bound book with gold letter that read ‘Ars Goetia’. The rhythmic rocking of the bus as it pulled out started to lull the pony, it had been a long week.
“Enough. Maybe about twelve. Just in case.”
In case of what? Nopony can read that much in three days. His eyelids drifted down and his head smacked into the back of the chair in front of him. “Ow” he muttered. The week had taken its toll as he lost the fight for consciousness. 
	
> Departure
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	THA-THUMP!
Stormy felt his body lift up off the seat before coming back down and shoving his head forward as the bus slammed on it’s brakes.
“Dear Sweet Celestia! What the buck!” Stormy yelled as his face met the back of the seat in front of him. He rubbed his muzzle and looked around, face flushing as he saw the people staring at him. The pegasus rearranged his wings, realizing they had flared when his body thought it was falling.
He looked to the woman sitting on his right who spat a feather out of her mouth and had a small wet spot on her shoulder. Stormy realized he had fallen asleep on her shoulder. “Sorry.” He mumbled and stared at the ground. Hearing the local bookworm holding back a laugh. The pony glared at Ed who never pulled his face away from the book. There were several feathers on the ground.
The lady looked at him then turned away and looked out the window. Stormy couldn’t read if she was mad, thought it was funny, or annoyed so he stayed quiet. “Wish I could just fly there.” He muttered, hoping no one heard him. 
At the same time he didn’t want to go home, didn’t want to deal with his parents, or even his brother. He wanted to go back to being alone and just doing his job. That’s not an option anymore. He reminded himself. He needed to go by the library to check out some books on Earth, get a final health screening, and thank a guard for their help one last time. 
The pony felt a tapping on his shoulder. “What gate are you supposed to get off at?” Edward asked, pointed outside where the sign for American Airlines sat.
Stormy closed his eyes, trying to remember, he knew it was the same gate he arrived at. “Six. Gate six.” He said after fighting with his memory. 
“The one we just passed?”
Stormy jerked to look out the window, the bus was pulling over at gate seven; he grabbed the saddlebag and ran for the exit, prancing behind someone else who stepped down slowly from the van. He trotted for a bit still woozy from his short nap; he looked at his watch to see how much time he had before his flight. It was currently 8:29pm and his flight was at . . . the pegasus scrounged through his saddlebags, ignoring the books and pulled out his boarding pass . . . 9:15pm. 
Stormy Skies thought back to his pre-trip warning, that he needed to be at the airport two hours before his scheduled flight. There was screenings and finding the gate among other things. The pegasus sped up, running through the sparse humans, weaving through and glad this was concrete and not that slippery material inside, as his hoofs got traction allowing his rear to twist and make sharper turns without the use of his wings. He hadn’t planned on this, it never would have occurred to him the huge spaces involved on Earth, he thought with his orientation ending at 5:30 that four hours would be plenty of time. 
His head scanned up for the sign stating Alaska Airlines, but with the tall people around he might as well have been in a forest with the sign being the stars hidden behind their leaves. He thought about it though, the only thing they had done at the first airport was give him his ticket, technically he already had that, and from there it had a gate number he could follow. 
Stormy took the first door into the airport he could find and followed the signs and the people with bags for the security checkpoint. Unfortunately he forgot about the change of flooring materials and with his first shift weight his feet flew out from under the pegasus. He pawed at the floor, trying to stop before he knocked someone over, humans weren’t as stable as a pony and with their height were probably easily damaged. 
Stormy was going to try to roll onto his stomach and use his wings to fly up, thus stopping his forward momentum. The non-frictionless material of the floor did that for him though as he slowly stopped, still turning about. Just lying there, the pegasus got his bearing before standing, he had never been good with the whirl-a-tron, hence why he never worked on bringing up water to Cloudsdale. 
Slowly getting back to his hooves, Stormy walked delicately to the security station, amazed at the line as it curled and twisted with at least fifty people in line. Where did they all come from? This is more than was outside. The line wasn’t fast either, he had met tortoises that moved quicker. 
After what felt like an eternity it was finally his turn and was waved forward. Stormy placed his saddlebags in the grey container to pass through the grey box and stepped up to a weird cylinder. The two uniformed guards on the other side of the tube, something the pony still didn’t understand as there seemed to be so many uniforms for the same job, mimed what they wanted him to do. Stormy shifted his weight and raised onto his rear hooves, arms outstretched and the tube whirred around him. 
The guard behind the desk and the one next to the tube gave each other obscure looks as the pony was waved out and to the side. “The x-ray had some strange readings, we need to check you as a precaution. 
Stormy stood there as the guard moved his white gloved hands down the haunch then through the pegasus’ feather. The pony saw another guard going through his bag, stopping short as she lifted up the book he was reading before putting it back in.
Stormy was not comfortable, not only was this taking much longer than it had before, the guard wasn’t the most gentle and touched more than one sensitive area. The pony thought every inch of his body had been run through, suppressing the need to shake, to let his fur fall back into natural position. And then he felt his tail lift, without thinking, or even realizing what was happening, he felt both of his rear legs lash out to buck the human. 
Stormy turned around as quickly as he could, the guard was on his butt and looking shocked. The other guard quickly moved over to help his friend up. The pony could feel all the eyes on him. He was now afraid what would happen, he didn’t mean to buck the human, it had just happened. The guard did not look happy and reached for what had to be a phone on his shoulder. 
The guard’s friend though laid a hand on his shoulder and waved the pony on. Stormy more than happily ran to his gate. More than happy to leave that incident behind him. It took more than a dozen minutes though to find gate C4. The seats around the gate were empty and the door behind the counter was closed. A brown haired woman dressed in blue stood behind the counter typing on a computer. 
“Where is the flight to Washington?” He asked, not even able to see over the counter and not wanting to reach up and leave his stomach exposed. 
The human looked around for a minute before looking down over the counter; she stared for more than a few minutes. “It just left.” The words came out hushed and quiet. The woman continued to stare. 
Luna send me to Tartarus! He cursed. “When is the next flight?”
She shook her head and went back to the computer. “It looks like nine thirty in the morning. Normally it would cost a hundred dollars to change a ticket.”
Stormy’s head dropped, he ran through the numbers of how much money he had brought with him, and that would be the last of it, even now, with watching his money, it vanished quicker than a cloud in a tornado. 
“I guess I could use a workaround for employees.” She kept glancing at the pony. 
Stormy jumped. “Really? Thank you.” He enthused, humans really were great creatures. How do they have such bad reputations at home?
“Would I be able to get a picture with you first?” The lady beamed, eyes alight with joy.
His heart fell a little, not that it showed on his face. A favor for a favor wasn’t a big thing, he just remembered earlier in the day when that one had snuck a kiss on him. He didn’t have much of a choice though. “Ok.”
The woman came around from behind the counter, he finally saw her name as Annette who quickly hugged him and pulled out her phone to snap a picture. She then returned to her station and within seconds handed the pony a new ticket and then started doing something with her phone. “Just remember there aren’t any food places open between midnight and four.” She said as Stormy walked away, still intent on her phone.
Stormy felt eyes on him as he walked, and several more flashes. He began to feel even more self-conscious. He never liked being in public or under scrutiny, it would inevitably lead to the comparisons with his brother. 
Stormy wandered around for a while, passing by more than one place for food as none of it looked appetizing. Eventually he found a bunch of chairs all looking at a screen, a woman in a red suit looked straight into the camera. He followed the news anchor as she shifted in her chair, the cameras always looked right into her face though, which even he could tell was covered in something fake. Words crawled along the bottom of the screen, he just barely made out “Equestria” before it was gone.
“We have an update on the incident in the Heibe province of Eastern China.” Stormy didn’t know how the person had memorized all these lines or if she just read up on it. “Smoke Stack, one of the pegasi hired by the Chinese President to help clean up the smog, has been moved from critical to serious condition tonight.”
“Video has surfaced of the incident Friday afternoon where Smoke Stack was beaten in public by a mob after kissing a local woman. We warn you that this video is not recommended for sensitive viewers.”
The screen switched to a grey stallion talking with a young human girl, she was holding his wing. A sign Stormy knew of a serious relationship and trust. She bent down as he fluttered up and kissed her on the lips. There was yelling and within moments the pony was surrounded by a mass of humans, the girl was tearing at one of the attackers only to get shoved away. 
Other bystanders soon came and tried to help. Two Royal Guard unicorns teleported in at the same time several men in green uniforms accented with red ran up and started to subdue the mob. A hole opened in the crowd as the two sides started at each other and some ran off. The woman darted in while she had the chance and covered the pony’s body with her own. 
Stormy felt physically ill, he couldn’t even think. He looked at the humans around him, wondering what he might do that would insult them and cause such a reaction. The pegasus shuffled his wings and swallowed hard. He could only imagine the reaction back home. That wasn’t his only problem though, Smoke Stack had been a classmate and coworker who had loved cleaning up after fires and fixing the environment. That pegasus had always been a bit weird but always fun, trying to get other ponies involved with more than just clouds. 
“The identity of the woman in this video is still unidentified.”
“This incident comes on the heel of Princess Luna’s visit to Beijing to discuss trade negotiations with President Huang. Princess Celestia is expected to make a speech from New York in a couple of hours.”
“What is your take on this Jeremy?” The camera zoomed out and an elderly gentleman with thin hair and a pouty expression appeared. 
“Thank you Jenny.” He nodded to the woman. “This makes things more complicated. The trade agreement was not expected to go through as the Equestrian government has stated that it refuses to trade with any country that does not pass laws for the equitable and fair treatment of its citizens. But this shows the tensions that still exist.”
“An action group at UC Berkeley, a place famous for its activists has already promised a campus wide protest for tomorrow to fight what they call the unethical treatment of Equestrians at their school by having different graduating requirements based off of race. While places like Egypt and Iran are calling for their complete removal from the planet by any means necessary.”
“How long do you think this mentality will last? They have helped with several natural disasters.”
“It may last for decades. Look at how long humans have been distrustful of each other. And these are aliens, it will take more time for humans to trust such strange creatures. And incidents like todays grade fixing scandal out of MIT would only make it worse.” A symbol with the same letters popped up on the screen.
“You mean where the faculty artificially elevated a pony’s grades to keep her in good standing?”
“Exactly. This is still a delicate and complicated situation. The number of visitors to either world is still strictly regulated by total population.” The image of a school was replaced by a graph with squiggly lines. “There are roughly two hundred visitors from Equus on Earth at any given moment; most of them in schools or private contractors for specialized kinds of work. But those visas are incredibly rare, and not restricted to Celestia’s subjects.” 
“It is no different on their end with maybe seventy five humans on their side at any given time. Diplomats, archeologists, scientists, diplomats and such.”
“Why so few? There must be more that could be supported.”
“Because Jenny, there are still quite a few safety guidelines and concerns. Especially for long term contact.”
“Thank you for your time Jeremy.” The image shifted back to just the woman. “And now to sports. The Santiago Sharks won their third game this season against…”
And just like that, without even blinking the woman had changed topics, as if nothing had happened. Stormy felt tired, he felt unsafe as small alien eyes watched him. Looking up he saw rafters plenty large for a pony to take a nap on as he stifled a yawn. He didn’t feel like sleeping near these people, he didn’t feel they could all be trusted. 
The pony heard some speaking behind him. “They ain’t to be trusted. Look at all those requirements just to offer some trade. They aren’t as helpful as they seem, what have they done for the little man?”
Stormy barely heard this as he flew up to the rafters. Looking down he saw several people stare at him. The pony took this time to walk over to a different area, someplace people hadn’t seen him fly to.
The pony finally stopped after several minutes, when no more humans seemed to be tracking him. No longer was Stormy tired, instead he was worried and confused. How could the people who had been so nice to him be related to the ones who hospitalized a pony for kissing someone? It made no sense, the two were polar opposites. Then he realized not once had they talked about the people responsible, never on any of the news had they discussed potential punishment for any of the incidents. 
He was no longer tired, as least not enough to go to sleep. For a while he sat and stared at the ground, watching people milling about and talking. It didn’t help his mood though as he wondered which were the volatile and which were the helpful. Again, he questioned the wisdom of his decision, dreading the comments when he returned to Equestria. 
His body built up energy from the stress and all he wanted to do was go for a fly, something that was not an option, not with the only air space already taken and him not wanting to be seen for a while. So despite hesitating, Stormy reached back into his bag for the book, blanching at the thought but at a loss for anything else to do. 
The air was uncomfortable though. For some reason the building was getting warmer as the night went on and more humid. Do they want summer showers in here? If they don’t remove this water that’s just what they will get. He remembered when a classmate had tried bringing a cloud inside for a nap and one thing led to another with the classroom getting flooded.
Reaching into his bag he noticed an unfamiliar blue shape next to the black of his book. “Spark Notes: The Hunger Games.” A Small piece off green stuck out from one of the pages, Stormy pulled it open. A ten dollar bill had been used as a bookmark, a small piece of paper on the same page.

For if you get confused reading “Hunger Games.” This will tell you the basics of what it is.

Good Luck.

There was no name, but it was obvious who it was from, which only made Stormy more confused. So he settled down with his other book and the bottle of water, hoping morning would come soon. 
	
> The Airport
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy wanted to throw the book down, to toss it far away down some deep dark hole as his eyes scanned that line again, the grave of flowers. Instead he gently set it down so it wouldn’t sail to the floor; you never tossed something from the sky unless you didn’t want to see it again, nopony knew where it might land, or in how many pieces. Tears fell onto the cover. It was too much as he tried to organize his thoughts from the past few days. 
Humans were full of contradictions. They wrote books that had such horrible things; they beat a pony for being in love. The pegasus had no idea what else. At the same time he had seen the were incredibly loyal, he knew now that Edward was sticking up for him. Stormy pulled out the little book from Edward and looked at the ten dollar bill. Edward didn’t need to borrow money so why did he? The pegasus pondered the problem to no avail.
Stormy stood on the rafter, stretching out the muscles that hadn’t moved most of the night and took a few minutes to preen. His stomach growled, having eaten his leftovers during the night. It was too late to nap or he might miss his flight again so he decided to find some food, they should be open by this time. 
He found a place called McDonalds, ordered some fries and found a spot of carpet near his gate. Settling in Stormy pulled out the little blue book. He had to know why people enjoyed that book so much. Going off what he had read it looked like humans would be at constant war not just with each other but with themselves. 
The pony took a bite of fries and balked, rummaging through his pack to take a large gulp of water from his bottle. Humans did like their salt; he would have to be careful with his food. Just like his first day with that weird brown sauce, the salt had burned his tongue both times. The ones during the night, his leftovers, weren’t as bad as these new ones. Maybe I should stick with fresh fruit or bread. He wondered, moving to the gate to wait and hope it wouldn’t be a long day.  
Stormy got back up; exhaustion had started to set in, he found his hooves had trouble finding their mark as he stumbled into a chair snout first. His nose twinged, itched, and started a sneezing fit that ending with his flank back on the ground. Maybe not. He decided not to shake his head, dizzy enough already. When was the last time I went this long without sleep? Probably when Cloudsdale’s altitude controls broke and it started sinking. No, The pony corrected himself, That was maybe twenty hours. He groaned and kept his fries, slowly munching on them might help keep him awake. 
Stormy settled back by his gate and pulled out the blue books while stifling a yawn. His eyes fluttered open and closed. 


***


“Now boarding seating group 3.”
Stormy’s snout stuck to the cover of his book, a string of saliva connected him to the book. A pool of wet had seeped through the cover and collected on the pages.  He ignored the moisture on his book and shoved it into his saddlebag and galloped to the small line of people and cut off more than one human in the way. Feeling bad but at the same time his just waking brain didn’t want to miss the plane, and no one said anything. 
The line had stopped moving as soon as he entered it, if it had been moving before getting into it. Stormy thought about sitting down then looked at his tail before deciding that standing was acceptable less he get stepped on again. Slowly his mind cleared, it wasn’t that the line had stopped but that there was some commotion at the front. An old man in a wheelchair was arguing with a lady at the front, the pegasus couldn’t hear what they were saying. Soon two men in blue uniforms came, pulled the elderly one aside and had a chat. While they talked the line started moving again, it was a steady stream and soon enough he was on the path leading to his second plane ride. 
The path to the plane, he thought somepony had called it a jetway, felt different than last time. It was as if it was newer or better constructed. If he couldn’t figure out why the jetway felt different, it was obvious why the interior of the plane looked different. It was massive. Inside were two separate aisles each with four seats and a staircase leading to a second level. This was by far the most massive thing he had since outside of some building.
How can this thing move? Stormy stared in awe, trying to take in every feature at once. There were towns that could fit their entire populations in this behemoth. The front had chairs that could fully recline, one person was already doing such a thing, these ones were only two to a section. His chair in the middle of the plane was more comfortable and the seat seemed much bigger. Stormy was a little happy to have a window as he stared at all the people moving luggage onto an automated ramp that lead into the belly of this beast. 
Stormy reopen his blue book and winced at the wet pages. He didn’t have experience with this but hoped it couldn’t permanently harm it. The pegasus just wanted to pass the time before takeoff and maybe distract himself that was the terror of flight but enjoying that his saddlebag fit on the seat with him. The seat rumbled and moved forward, the pony paid no attention to it as something else had hit. It wasn’t that long into the book yet, but he realized why Hunger Games was an important book. It was about being held down and standing up, being passionate and fighting for what you believe in. What am I passionate about? What do I care for and love? He knew it wasn’t weather and people was too broad a subject and he doubted they could ever be understood, let alone by a pony such as him, greater ponies had struggled with it. 
It wasn’t until a beam of light pierced his eyes through the small window that he looked up, mouth agape. It wasn’t the nearly empty plane in which no one would get smacked by an errant wing. It wasn’t that they were in the air as he somehow knew they were airborne. Scarlet painted the sky, streaked with amber wisps atop a pearlescent canvas. It rivaled the greatest work of Celestia. Stormy had never seen such artistry or from so high up. He ignored the cloud formations, possible events that would follow. Despite the plane rocking, he felt at peace staring at the work of art. The sky had never done something like that to him; it was purely a job, something to do because he had to. 
His wings curled closer to his body and fluffed themselves, the inside of the plane felt chilled, though in a good way. The gentle rocking of the plane was soothing, bringing up memories of flying around in a foal holder that kept him pinned to his mother’s chest. The ill portent of the moon standing next to the sun couldn’t faze him. Is this the real Earth? Stormy asked. One of many questions, curiosities, and wonders. He had no idea if he slept the rest of the way or just stared at the window, and to him it really didn't matter. 


***


The trip back to Equestria had been uneventful, outside of an issue finding a ride back or understanding the one he did find. Customs checked his bags and waved him through. This he stood back in the Canterlot Gardens and wondering where to go next. Unfortunately the guard that awaited him wasn’t the one he expected to see. The one he felt he had an obligation to tell of his trip to. 
“Stop. We need to do a basic search of you and your possessions.” The earth pony ordered while his unicorn friend went through Stormy’s bag and frisked him for any items. “Did you have a pleasant trip?” The earth pony asked, sounding not at all like he cared, just as a way to pass the time. 
Stormy thought for a second, it had been a mixed bag and very tiring but somehow… somehow he had enjoyed it. “Yes. It was different and scary but there was something great about it. 
The unicorn gave a nod to his partner.
“You’re free to go Mister Skies.” The earth pony’s voice just as flat as it had been.
Stormy thanks them and walked off. How boring must their job be? Standing in one spot all day. Do they talk to each other to pass the time or is that against the rules? In the end it didn’t really matter to the pegasus, there were bigger problems at hoof. He did not want to go home, that seemed worse than his initial trip to Earth, but they would be worried at his being so late. If he didn’t go home his parent’s might decide to not let him stay there for two months. He also wanted to thank Ai for her help and to show that he really was trying, the morning sky being one of the things. Then he needed to visit the library, there was so much he needed to know of human society and their world just to live among them for nine months. There were so many questions and things to do. 
He took a nice big breathe of air, enjoying the sweet taste of flowers and clear air. Stormy hacked a few times as his lungs had trouble switching from the air of Earth and its various chemicals. It was good to be home for two months. 
	
	
	
	
> No Place Like Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It wasn’t long before Stormy arrived at the house he grew up in. He had done everything he could to avoid this place the last few years. It was in Middle Canterlot, a place desired to raise young foals or as payment for many years of good management. 
Stormy didn’t have the key, hadn’t had one in years but he wanted to drop off his bags before going back to the castle. He knocked a few times just to be safe, he had always been a terrible liar. If they didn’t answer he could at least say the effort had been made. And if nopony was home than he could just leave his bags by the door, this area was safe enough that it would never be touched, or he could just take it with him to the castle. Although he had to leave a note so his parents knew he was there. 
Stormy decided to stop knocking and leave, which was a good thing as the door opened. If he hadn’t his hoof would have landed right on his mother’s sky blue snout. She was the same as at the last Hearth’s Warming family dinner. One of the few times a year everypony gathered around a single table.
“Thunder Cloud would never have been so inconsiderate. Your brother always informed us of changes to his plans.” The older mare lectured, for what the younger pegasus felt was the thousandth time. Several loose strands of her main floated in the wind. “It’s bad enough you feel the need to abandon your duties and life here but to make me stay home and wait for you is something else.” Clear Blue Skies walked past her son, leaving the door wide open. “There is some leftover braised beets in the fridge.” A shade of warmth to her voice. Stormy had never been able to read his mother, she was generally bright and happy but very cool to anypony. 
The entranceway was the same as always with its blue and white walls that simulated the sky, something his parents missed in Canterlot and a view that spread throughout the house. The same multihued sitting pillows laid in precise piles, side tables held coasters and some books. To the right was a standard pony kitchen, the only kind he had ever known. 
Stormy was tired, but braised beets were a really good dish and his parents always knew how to cook. He knew the food was stored in the cloud box, a winter storm kept in the kitchen to keep food cold, they sat by themselves on a shelf. The pegasus set them on a plate he pulled from the cabinets. There was always the option of heating them in the oven, but that took time, time he didn’t want to waste so he bit into the first beet. Red sweet juice dribbled down his chin and discolored his yellow fur. It was a surprisingly good and familiar flavor as the pieces and juice trickled down his throat. It seemed like only one bite but the two beets had already disappeared. 
Stormy washed his plate before putting it back in the cabinet. He then headed off to his room. The pegasus could have sworn the hallway was longer but he took the second left and entered his old room. Entering alone was a shock as boxes and items were stacked floor to ceiling. Many were his own, items from his apartment that would be stored here, but others were a complete mystery and the only free space was a foot in any direction around his naked bed and a route to the door. It was a weird feeling to see his whole life packed up in his foalhood room. Memories, playing Cloud Strike with Thunder Cloud, when his brother intentionally lost after Stormy had been picked on for getting his cutie mark so late. Cloud Kicker teaching him how to buck his first cloud and his fun little trick with morning fog. Now it was all boxed up until he moved back to Equestria in four years or quit school. 


***


Stormy woke up in a pool of drool, the melancholic thoughts of earlier half jumbled. Outside it was dark, silver slivers of luminous light of Luna’s moon struck through the window and bounced off the walls. The watch said it was 9pm, he yawned and stretched, despite his mood there was something deep inside that still felt hopeful. But trying to move around the room showed that to be a bit hopeful as he stumbled into a stack of boxes that caused them to topple and he himself stumbling the other direction until he smacked into the bed. Stormy Skies just stood there a moment. A brief look at his watch told him it was eleven at night. 
There was a hoofknock at his open bedroom door, the solid rap of a stallion. Storm Front entered, hair a scatter as if he just walked through a hurricane, something that would not have surprised the young pegasus. “Glad you are finally up. Have some really amazing news.” Firm voice like concrete resounded from the walls. “I got you a job at the weather factory working under your brother. It’s full-time and starts in the morning. And if you change your mind about this silly Earth thing you can start moving up the promotion path within six months, maybe a year.”
“I can’t quit, Not now.” Stormy hesitantly stated, his father was a hard one to predict; he could either blow past or blow up. “And I needed to do some research at Canterlot Library.”
Storm Front’s glossy grey/silver coat rippling, giving sight to the stray strands of yellow that permeated his body. “Do you have any idea how many strings I had to pull to get you this job? I had to trade one of my best rainmakers to Whinnietonka just to make an opening. Your trivial reading of whatever story you are using to escape the world this time can wait until you have a day off. Those books will still be there.  You are always welcome here, but so long as you live under our roof you will perform a reputable job. Celestia willing you will one day find a mare and start your own family, preferably soon. Just look at the life of your brother. Did you know they’re expecting a foal in a few months?”
Stormy blankly listened to his father. Just another thing he did wrong, another way he didn’t stack up, another way he was a disappointment. The young weather pony absently nodded until his father left then went to his saddle bag. Out came some writing utensils and paper, leftovers from his orientation schedule, and jotted down exactly what he wanted to get done. If he only had his off hours to do these projects it would have to be well planned out. It took only a few minutes to plan out the truly important parts. Then, unable to sleep he pulled out his book, lit a candle and read the night away, driving all thoughts from his current issues. 
	
	
	
	
	
> Family Woes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Time to get your lazy flank up or you’ll be late. You don’t want to look bad on your brother.” His father yelled from the living room.
Stormy had been up all night, not even wanting to sleep. He was never a fast reader but he finally finished Hunger Games and got a decent way through the Spark Notes on it. It was grim and bloody, but he couldn’t call it bad, especially after looking deeper at its material. There definitely was a lot to humans. He quickly shoved the books under his bed along with the other paperwork from UCLA. The list of things to do got shoved into his saddlebag. The plan was to visit the castle on his lunchbreak, maybe roll his other breaks into it and check out some books to read at night. Until the phrase the best laid plans of ponies drifted into his head and all the things that could go wrong flitted through. It could close, his lunch break could be thirty minutes if they were busy, maybe he would have to sign up for a library card, or not even be allowed into the castle. 
Stormy shook his head. FOCUS! Grab his bag and ran through the house, grabbing a cold corn fritter on his way out the door and taking flight ahead of his father. Any luck he could get there and get started without having to see other ponies. 
The Weather Factory grew as he approached. It was the same as always. Large clouds supporting the magical machinery, every single piece of it hoof crafted by brilliant pegasi for special jobs. Metal, magic, and nature integrated into something greater. All most ponies saw was the giant cloud of the outside or the rainbow falls, not the inner dials and tubes and pathways. A lone pony stood by the entrance doors and caused Stormy to flap his wings harder and rush the door. 
Standing there was a pure white pegasus from mane to tail, eyes a cold blue and small patch of silver the only sign of a cutie mark. Sprint flying was hard. Harder than most ponies would expect as the muscles spread down his entire back and chest, even up part of his neck. Stormy had been conditioning himself, but that was more for distance and as an easy speed. The lone pegasus standing guard saw the rushing pony and spread his legs, wing half unfurling. The corn-colored pony speed up, angled to right above the other pony, they eyes each other. 
At five feet apart Stormy gave one last hard push and tucked his wings in to speed past and reach the door, adding some spin to his movement just as the white pegasus gave a solid push up and reach his hooves out for the speeding bullet. They two collided in midair and for a second Stormy’s spin made his hard to grasp, but the other pony was better as one hoof wrapped around his neck, one around his chest and over a wing while his rear legs wrapped around Stormy’s. The white pegasus used his wing to cut their speed and glide them both into a nearby cloud bank. 
Thunder Cloud released his brother who just laid there for a moment breathing heavy which gave the older pegasus a chance to ruffle the younger’s mane. 
“One of these days.” Stormy used his wings to flip onto his back, just rolling over, his legs splayed out. He felt so much lighter now. “One of these days I’ll get past you.”
“Not with those tactics.” Thunder closed his eyes and stuck out his tongue. “Nice spin though, made it really hard to stop you. Who taught you that?” He asked and opened his eyes back up.
“Sorry. Secret.” Stormy crossed his arms and attempted to stick his chin into the air. “If you were to learn that you might figure out my other plans.”
“Ahhhh.” Thunder turned for the door. “It must be a mare.” For a second a swagger was added to his step as blood rushed to Stormy’s face. “But that’s not what what you wanted to talk about.”
“What do you mean?” Stormy was lost, everypony kept switching topics on him so quickly, he didn’t like it. 
Thunder turned around and walked back to his younger brother, until they were snout to snout then raised his eyebrows until his eyes were comically large. “Because you are easy to read. Whenever you don’t are doing something you don’t want to you suck on your lips or chew on an errant feather, even when just stressed. 
Stormy stared dumbfounded. I what? How could I not notice?
“That and I talked to your old supervisor, a guard at Canterlot Castle and somepony who went with you to Earth who actually came to see me. Combine that with having to deal with Storm Front and it’s kinda easy to see.” Stormy paid attention to his brother for what felt like the first time. Not his physical characteristics but his movements, he stood completely straight and his uniform color made it hard to see anything else, it was like trying to read a person. Except, three of the secondaries on his right side were twitching and moving against. “You don’t want to be here.”
Stormy stood back up, he had to. It felt like he was going to choke, his throat wouldn’t work. Weather was everything to his family, even his brother. Radiant Dawn would fit perfectly in it. Or maybe that was just how pegasi were. 
“I know what Storm Front did. About the worker he sent to Whinnietonka. He was one of my workers and had been wanting that transfer for a while, actually got a short term trade for one of their cloud pushers so there are plenty of ponies here. Orders are lax for a while; all we have to do is move the Factory around a bit and collect water to start making new clouds with. I don’t really have any work for you unless you just want to push the place around but then I’ll have to give someone else some leave.” Thunder’s eyes lowered at the edges along with his ears. “But its not as if there would be other things for you to do here before leaving for months.”
“If I don’t work though dad won’t let me stay at home. Where could I go?” Stormy lowered his head, walked past his brother and reached out for the door.
“Then don’t.” As if it were the simplest and most common idea since ‘Celestia raises the sun’. “Stay with me and Wishing Well. We have the room and it will give you a chance to get done what you need to. There is a guest room so you won’t have to worry about the baby having a room.”
“I’ll… think about it.” Stormy looked at the ground. I can’t! He told himself and squeezed his eyes shut. Dad and mom will see it as another failure, as me outright contradicting them. As me insulting them. It will hurt them, I can’t do that. Something warm traced a line down his muzzle and off his nose. 
“No.” The voice was so much like Storm Front’s, it sent a shiver up Stormy’s spine. “You will decide now. You can’t put this off. No more excuses. Which way will your life go? Will you give up on Earth?”
Will you give up on your hope and your friends? Will you just listen to your father for the rest of your life? What happened to your motivation from yesterday? 
“Whatever you are doing just do it well. I know you’ll do amazing stuff. Don’t worry, mom and dad will come around. They just excessively worry. But this HAS to be your call or it means nothing.”
Stormy sniffed as mucus trickled out of his nose and that warmth continues but now down his cheeks. “Thanks you.” The young pegasus choked out. 
Thunder Cloud walked into the Weather Factory, leaving Stormy alone in the morning sun before most of the real work had begun. Stormy knew what he needed and what he wanted. But I’m not strong enough. I never have been. 
	
	
> More decisions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy sighed. “I can’t.” He lowered his head and opened the door to the Weather Factory, inside the white hallway stretched before splitting, light sent through the clouds by refracting sunlight. What is the point? The pegasus asked himself. I don’t know how to fight this kind of uphill battle, not really.
“Then Learn!” A voice inside his head chided. The familiar silken yet gruff voice. 
His ears perked up, it took a moment for him to realize the feminine  voice wasn’t spoken, but a fragment of his imagination. Stormy quickly shot his rear leg out and caught the door before it finished closing. His mind raced along with his heart in turmoil. He knew he kept going back and forth but he didn’t want to disappoint anypony. Stormy rushed out the Weather Factory and took flight. 
Upon reaching a holding pattern somewhere between the Weather Factory and Canterlot Castle, Stormy pulled out the list of places to go and ponies to see. His doctor’s appointment wouldn’t be until the next week, work was now no longer needed, so the only things of real importance were the two things at the Castle. He would wait until slightly later to grab his stuff from his parent’s house, early enough though that his dad would still be out or would think he did a full day of work. He fumbled the parchment back into the bag, almost dropping it several times. Meanwhile his upper lip kept finding itself in his mouth. 
There weren’t that many pegasi flying about this early which was nice, so few people around, no having to watch his step or getting his tail stepped on. The parapets and towers of white, gold, and purple were always so easy to see and the morning sun rising over the top of the mountain left no doubt as to how kind the Princesses were in their ruling and tending to their celestial charges. The few lone pegasi were either guarding the castle or placing a few shade clouds for ponies to enjoy. 
Landing  upon the Castle entrance, Stormy was stopped by two golden clad guards just as formal as the last pair, they could even have been the last pair for how similar they all looked. 
“Reason for visit today?” The pegasus guard asked while the unicorn patted Stormy down.
“To visit the Canterlot library and hoping to see a guard by the name of Ai.” The former weather pony asked, a slight break in his speech on the second part. 
“The library is still in the same spot, go down the hall and up the stairs. If you want to use the computers you will have to wait in line. Seeing Ai Kido will be rather hard though as she left the Royal Guards a while ago and the scuttleflank is that she was hired by some private security firm in a human city called New York.”
“It was probably having to deal with all those space ponies.” The other guard filled in. 
“Space ponies?” Stormies stomach summersaulted.
“Yeah. That’s what their head is filled with, empty space. They come here and slow us guards down with stupid pointless questions and need their hooves held. It would be enough to drive anypony away.” There was venom to the unicorn guard’s words that forced the student back a step. 
 “We’ve lost a lot of good guards the past few years. Between replacements to join the Lunar Guard. Deaths in the fight against NightMare Moon and Chrysalis. Dangers at the borders, human companies trying to recruit our senior members and ponies needing protection on Earth.” The pegasus guard moved between the two and used a wing to escort the young pony to the front gates which hung open. Then in a lower voice. “It’s a lot for a guard to deal with somedays. And yesterday a contingent got sent to the frozen north including our Captain. So please don’t think too poorly of some of us.”
Stormy left the two guards behind him. He had heard nothing about the frozen north. Was some new army coming to attack? Why had so many incidents happen lately? He also felt heavier at not being able to thank Ai, even know it felt like what she said was helping him. But maybe it was something I did… she was pretty mad that one time. With a shake of his head he banished that thought, it was unproductive and unhelpful.
The walls felt brighter and cleaner than usual, everything shined. The marble was practically a mirror while the drapes were perfect sheets of color. The wooden doors more brown while their iron framework stood black as night. It seemed new and clean while Earth had looked older and more run down. More than once Stormy got lost wandering the halls of Canterlot Castle. It was open to the public on most days, the library being the one many serious students visited. So the guards and attendants were always more than happy to point a hoof in the proper direction. 
	
> Canterlot Library
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Large wooden doors towered over the pony, and while they stood open he was convinced a dragon could fit comfortably through them. They also looked solid enough that same dragon could never breach them if locked shut . It was a daunting sight, his reflexes told him to let his wings drop much like a human’s jaw seemed to do on occasion. Stormy fought his own  intimidation as he entered the library only to realise the entire building was of similar scale. The bookcases stood at least three time taller than the doors with walkways making separate floors. 
Very few ponies could be seen. There was an elderly mare manning a desk and a few others in the distance reading books. Stormy tried to remember the last time he had been to any library, and the only one was way back in primary school. How can there be so many books? The weather factory has its own collection of books but it’s nothing like this. 
Stormy continued to stare until a pony came up, tapping on his shoulder. He turned to see an elderly earth pony mare with grey mane and cantaloupe fur. There was a small light brown desk against the wall, half covered in books with a “HELP” sign below it. Conveniently She wore a badge that read “Venerable Parchment”. 
“May I help you find a book?”
Stormy was still struck by all the books. There had to be millions. 
“Ummm,” He knew there was no way to find anything in here. How are they even sorted? “Please.” Stormy gave her what he hoped was an encouraging smile. “Books on Earth?”
“I am afraid we do not have many of those.” Parchment went back to her desk, rummaged through several papers and came back carrying one in her left hoof. As the earth pony led the pegasus through various aisles she would check the paper and compare it to numbers on the shelves. “Celestia only recently approved a budget for new materials. It then takes our researchers a fair bit of time to discover the reliable ones.”
Stormy thought about that for a while. It went against what he had heard about Celestia ordering a lot of human books, but could be true. How many things had he heard throughout his life that had only been mare’s tails? Although Nightmare Moon was true. How unreliable could a human’s books be? They don’t seem to lie that often although they have some big stories like moving building by helicopter.   
“Here we are, Human Studies.” Parchment waved at a large, empty bookcase. Not exactly empty, just that where the other bookcases were jammed with books, this one had less than two dozen. Most were leaning against a side or just laying flat. The titles were even more boring. “A concise history of human evolution.” “Deities of the Sinai Peninsula.” “Scholastic Science Dictionary.” “The Way Things Work.” “Animals of Earth.” “Taming of the Shrew.” Several whose titles started with “National Audubon Society First Field Guide.”
“Are you sure there is nothing more?” Stormy questioned, flipping quickly through the books again. None of them dealt with the information he needed. 
“Quite sure.” Venerable Parchment took some time to tidy up the dusty shelves. It was in a back corner and seemed like nopony ever visited this section. “This section has only been open for the last few weeks-”
“Parchment. Celestia’s student has finished going through another stack.” A snow white pegasus rounded a corner. Sunny Skies gave a brief wing wave to Stormy before saying more to Parchment, as if a whole spiel had been memorized. “There is nothing new in this section but at least four-thousand have recently arrived from Earth, most are in section 3 but there are a few new additions to section 9, if you can please inform our ‘special’ readers of these new acquisitions.”
Venerable Parchment took a brief bow, it lasted all of a second. “I was just showing this pony our current selection of books on Earth.”
Sunny hid a petit giggle behind her radiant hoof. 
A look of horror crossed the maretron’s face as she looked between the two pegasi. “Oh, no. You two know each other…” Parchment took an immediate longer bow which was met by a less stifled giggle out of Sunny. 
“Tis nothing like that.” A snort or two could be heard when Sunny took in breathe. An instant later she was back under control, though the smile never left her face. “Stormy here was at my orientation. He’s one of the new ‘ambassadors’ to Earth. The new list of accredited individuals should be at your desk within a week.” Sunny lowered her head in apology. “We never expected somepony to show up quite this quickly.”
“Yes Ma’am.” Venerable Parchment gave another deeper bow. “I will leave him with you then and return to my work.” The elderly earth pony turned and left, moving at a canter and turning down another aisle at the first chance.
“Looking for books on Earth?” Sunny had followed the other mare with her eyes, and looked still to be following her. 
Stormy’s eyes darted between his fellow ‘student’ and where the librarian had stood. “Yes.” He gave a truncated nod, unsure what was going on, again. “There was some stuff I wanted to research.”
The cheery pegasus finally moved her attention fully to the stallion. “Then this is the wrong place to look.”
“But isn’t this where they house all the books?” Stormy took another sweeping look at his surroundings and the massive aisle of books. A city in its own rights. 
“The books on Earth have been separated depending on their sensitivity.” Sunny spoke as if only they two existed and walked a circuitous path around various bookcases. “They are ranked from one to ten with one being what was on that shelf and ten being only for the Princesses and very select others.”
“Why would the Princesses do such a thing?” Somehow Stormy found he was in an old stone hallway.
Sunny’s eyelids lowered as she stopped walking. This was the first time the pegasus had looked stern, there was no more sense of levitity or regality she had embodied until now. Instead she looked like a disappointed teacher explaining how to buck clouds for the twentieth time to the same student. “There are beings, on both worlds mind you, that would like nothing more than to see any and all alliances fail. Neither humans, nor ponies, nor griffons, nor many others look great when viewed through  certain lenses. What do you think would happen if the average fearful pony got ahold of that book you were reading?”
“. . .” All Stormy could do was meat the question with a stunned silence. 
“80 million people died in their last big war.” Sunny’s wings ruffled as she faced the other pony. She began radiating something, Stormy had never felt that kind of an emotion before, like a deep sadness. “More than 50 million were civilians. If that became common knowledge Celestia and Luna would have to work constantly just to keep their ponies from reacting out of hoof.” Sunny pointed to a mirror on a wall. “Look at yourself, how you look after learning that. You have met these humans. Now imagine how the average pony would react. How you would have reacted before going to Earth. That is more life than a pony can reasonably understand. That number is only one note in their history and a very little detail compared to the bigger picture.”
Stormy declined to look in the mirror, one that had seemed to materialize out of nowhere. He could feel his stomach turning, increased blood flowing through his body. Hooves clopping on the stone floor. 
Sunny turned away, her tail moving as if it was a creature in its own right and completely avoided Stormy where anypony else would have hit him with their tail. He could see her sides and wings quivering. Her chest making big movements. 
“I’m sor-” The stallion apologized.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.” Sunny sighed. “It has been a long week. I have not slept since returning to Equestria. There are so many errands and things to file. The paperwork piled up. Celestia needed crop reports from Ponyville, the list of requested imports and exports, new tariff laws, researcher requests.” Her head rested against the cool wall. 
“You will have access to everything level 5 and below.” Sunny metered her voice. “As will most every other student visiting Earth. There will be some restriction based on past history and personality.” She took one last deep breath followed by a loud exhalation. The smile slowly returned. “Next time you want to see these books, just show Parchment your UCLA ID and she will lead you to the proper doors.” 
“How will you handle all this work while on Earth?” Stormy followed her down the hallway to a wooden door just the right size for an alicorn. 
“I am training my younger sister, Moonlight Sonata, how to take over my duties. It is quite tiring.” The mare let out her own small laugh. “But that is its own interesting matter.” Her manner had entirely returned to what it had been as she opened the wooden door. 
	
	
> Reading Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sunny waited for Stormy to enter before closing the door behind him. Inside stood a circular room, books not only filling the walls but quite a bit of the floor space. A single lavender unicorn sat square in the middle of it all, reading while shelving books by the dozen and then pulling more off the shelves. She was somehow reading them all at the same time. Stormy had never seen anything like it and was hesitant to step closer for fear of disturbing whatever the mare was involved in. 

The mare muttered maniacally moving manuscripts. Her striped mane was out of place and frazzled. “No! Who put you in 3? you are obviously a 4!” she mumbled a few curses. “Why did I volunteer for this?!” the mare questioned the air. 

Now closer Stormy noticed a six pointed star for her cutie mark. Another outburst sent books flying in every direction. One errant book slammed into the door behind the mustard yellow pegasus who gave an “EEP!” in response before jumping forward and spinning to eye the errant missile.

The violet unicorn jerked her head in his direction. “Oh! I am so sorry. Nopony else was scheduled to be here today,” her cheeks brightened a few shades as she picked up the errant books in her magic. “Are you here to help organize? If so somepony needs to tell you how to organize books. Graphic history tomes, especially those with pictures, are an eight and not a five. We don’t want to scare ponies now do we?”

Stormy took this latest incident in stride. His life had become weird enough, so why not an insane unicorn throwing around books and ranting? Who knew why despite the book hitting the door with enough velocity the pegasus was particularly glad it hadn’t hit him, considering somehow there was no damage to the book. Or it could be that his mind froze in the onslaught. He closed his mouth, blinked a few times, and took a breath before answering. “Uhhh……” Stormy took a look at the door behind him to see a dent in the wall created by one of the books turned  projectile. 

“You aren’t with the library are you?” The mare facehoofed. “Of course not.” She turned, picking up more books and putting them in piles as if she knew exactly where each one had come from by instinct alone. “Well, I’m Twilight Sparkle. What brings you to this section of the library?”

“I wanted to study some texts on Earth culture before leaving for school.” Stormy explained hesitantly, still stood rooted by the door, his heart rate picked up again. “I already have some idea of what books-”

Twilight’s ears perked up and her books dropped, her eyes went wide, followed by her mouth as it grew into an eager smile. “Nopony has come in here looking for information outside of a lone zebra a few months ago and a griffon. What were you interested in?”

Stormy pulled out his to-do list which was immediately wrapped in an amethyst glow. The pegasus leapt and grabbed the paper in his hooves. Twilight dropped the parchment and the clinging pegasus, giving a sheepish grin in the process. 

“Sorry.”

He took a quick look at the list, some things on there were private, and just looked at the subjects he wanted to read. “History. Medical conditions and how they affect ponies and humans. Beliefs.”

Twilight’s expression changed, the humor and dorkiness left, replaced by a manager’s face. “Any history tome you want will be at least level 6, these others are not practical enough for what you will need. That is why students cannot take history classes until their second year, it is not for the faint of heart. Religion is also a seven but requires a base understanding of human society to access. What medical information in particular? That can range from a three to a nine.”

Stormy played with his wings in trepidation and stared at a random book on the ground, Ars Goetia, the same book Ed had. “A friend there is deaf. . .” He let his sentence trail off, unsure what the reaction to such a disease would bring. 

By the time he looked back up there was a stack of at least a dozen books at his hooves. Picking up the first one, it was hard backed, the spine had a number “6” on it, the title said something about anatomy and history. 

“The numbers are more of a guide.” The purple pony had gone back to her eccentric ritual of sorting her books, the smile she had upon meeting him was still firmly ensconced if a bit smaller. The unicorn picking up and sorting several books at once. “Sunny will be here in a few minutes with others books that will help.” 



***



Stormy never noticed when the new books arrived, just a sense of someone saying his name and then a door closing. He was maybe halfway through a biography on a doctor Philip Zazove and was simply stunned. This man with good grades and a positive demeanor was rejected from so many places but kept it up, one of only three of his kind. He was deaf, and a successful doctor helping out others. There was this innate warmth to his writing, the care he took towards each patient, it was impressive. It filled the pony with its own kind of warmth and love. 

The list of books was starting to seem insurmountable, he didn’t even know any of these names; Edison, Keller, Ferrigno, and the list went on. Those, Stormy decided would be optional. The next pile was a stack on human medical diseases, leafing through it though, it included a lot more than just deafness but also paralysis, blindness, loss of limbs, and a few things that he had to skip past. Next was a pile on pony medical diseases, but also what remedies there were, almost none he had ever heard of. All of a sudden that first stack filled him with determination. It blended perfectly with his book.

“Um, Twilight?” Stormy asked into the silence, “Have you heard of a book called The Hunger Games?”

Twilight looked up, having finished her sorting to start on her own pile of reading, three books at a time. Her look was sour. “Unfortunately. Not sure how you heard about it but nopony around here has or will ever see it. That is an eight, bordering on nine for its senseless violence and blood. How did you hear about it?”

“It was recommended to me on Earth. At one of the shops.” Stormy wanted badly to ignore the question and goes back to his book, or any book.

The mare gave a low growl. “I hope you didn’t read it. It paints a very poor picture of humans as cruel beasts.”

Stormy grasped a new book in his wings to ignore what Twilight had said, but he found himself unable. “Then why was it recommended? Why is it popular?”

“Nopony really knows.” The mare was reading and holding a conversation, the stallion was a little in awe. “They have a history of war and a lot of their media depicts grotesque violence.”

“What if it isn’t about the violence?” Stormy heard his own voice cracking. This pony is much more experienced and probably has some say on who can visit Earth. Do I really want to argue with her? A cold tingle shot up the pegasi’s spine, his feathers started shuffling and shifting to trap more air against his body. “W-w-what if it’s about conflict?”

Her pile of books clattered to the floor, as Twilight stared into the distance. She was just still, no movement outside of her chest rising and falling.

“Spike? SPIKE! Where are you?”

His throat closed and he stumbled back at the sudden outburst, his heart beating as fast as a hummingbird’s. 

“Thank you.” The lavender mare squeed before moving off to unknown parts, or at least parts of the library Stormy couldn’t see. “I need to check with Parchment on some issues.” 

Like that Stormy was alone. “Maybe this would be a good time to leave for the evening.” He was splayed out of the floor talking to nopony in particular and waiting until his hooves no longer felt like fog.  
	
	
> Unitended Consequences or one to many books
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy galloped over the twisted and gnarled tree roots that jutted from the earth in gnarled twists as if their goal was to snag his hooves. Somewhere along the way he lost his saddlebags and developed a painful stinging in his right wing. Thankfully the moon was full so he never tripped even if the panicked pegasi stumbled. He had to get away, had to run. There was someone or something hollering from the treetops. No, it sounded higher, as if it came from the sky itself. Probably another person or pony trying to catch him. Off in the distance the nightly harsh reverie of canons made itself known, making a rapid clopping sound. 

He was alone at least. It felt safer, more secure. His mind barely functioned as adrenaline coursed through his system, but there had to be somepony who could help. 

“Stormy!” a female voice called. It was to far away and seemed to come from everywhere at once. “STORMY!” The ground beneath his hooves shook. The world itself shook.

He stopped. That voice, I know that voice. The panicked pegasi paused to catch his breathe and look at his surroundings. The trees formed two perfect rows as the upper leaves coalesced into cruel, curved and knotted wires. An old fashioned biplane could be seen careening through the ravine in the sky, as it seemed to release something like a thin string of clouds. A pleasant but jarring tingling filled his head and the pony gasped.


***


The smell of old books assaulted him. The smell suffused everything to the point he could swear he had never smelled anything quite that strong. The lights seared his eyes, causing his eyes to water, he could barely see the purple mare standing in front of him, let alone her expression in his state. His ears rang from the sound of his own breathing. Stormy retched and a sour taste abruptly filled his mouth. He looked at the piles at stacks of books, he knew it was there somewhere. 

Look for the blue circle, look for the blue circle. There was a subtle but sweet smell in the air Stormy associated with rainstorms, sometimes referred to as ozone. With it came a purple haze… surrounding the blue circle. 

Stormy yanked the floating bucket to the ground and hugged it, shoving his snout into the interior. Thank Celestia! He also tried to thank Twilight for bringing the container but upon opening his mouth other things happened with an acrid, bitter taste. Small pieces of roughage accompanied the liquid. 

“Are you okay?”Twilight placed a caring hoof on his back right between his scapula and rubbed. It didn’t soothe his stomach or his mind; it didn’t hurt either though and he didn’t have the energy to decline it. “It happens to everypony at least once reading the 6’s or 7’s. Especially when you fall asleep reading them.” She said with obvious experience showing in her somber and embarrassed expression, pretty much everyone in the library had seen the mare when it had happened. 

“I think you need a break for a few days.”

Stormy’s eyes drifted up to his stack of books that had grown and shrunk several times over the last month, almost none of the first books still sat there. The library added more books every week after all, more than even Twilight could read. I wish it was falling asleep while reading that did this. He emptied what had to be the last contents of his stomach into the bucket. I was hoping sleeping in the library would help with the nightmares from the past week but it just made them worse. A change of scenery, something different or more homey as I spend more time here than anywhere. The dreams felt more vivid and real here than at brother’s. Though I won't wake anyone up here with these nightmares. 

“It’s odd that Luna didn’t stop your dream though.” Twilight lifted some books, jotting down their reference information on a piece of parchment before reshelving the book, all without even moving her hooves.

“L-luna?”

“She appears in the moon in pony’s dreams, observing and approaching them to help them face their fears.” A few books were getting quizzical looks from the unicorn and set in their own little pile. 

Maybe that was the voice. Stormy saw which books were being set aside as his vision cleared, they were easy to spot with the large 8’s and 9’s on their sides and titles mentioning: Nanjing, Bosnia, and Holodomor. They were all about wars. The pictures flitted through his mind. Oddly his stomach was finally settling down as his body returned to its normal rhythm and stood up, forcing Twilight to take back her hoof.

“Did I mis-shelve these books?” The mare muttered, walking off as she flipped through the books. “How could this have happened?” Her ears shot up. “OH NO!” she flipped around with huge eyes. “I’m sooo sorry Stormy! I-i-i didn’t mean to…” Her eyes and lips quivered, seemingly begging  for forgiveness. 

“. . .” That look. It hurt Stormy worse than all the week’s nightmares combined. Here was a pony who had helped him and even bent some rules so he could research beyond the expressed limits. And here he was unable to speak what he knew would allay her fears.

“I should have paid more attention. Maybe had them locked up so nopony could just pick one up and read them.” She looked dejected. Or, Stormy thought, like she was an abject failure in the face of her responsibilities.

“It... wasn’t you.” Stormy had to fight for every word. It would be better to just stay qui- no it wouldn’t. Just look at her and quit lying to yourself.

“Of course it was.” She was near tears. “I should have noticed. Celestia trusted me with protected ponies.”

“I waited until you were distracted and or out of the room to grab them. I wanted to understand.” It hurt, it was painful, he felt like withering into himself, that he betrayed something almost sacrosanct. Instead, Stormy looked her in the eyes. I deserve this.

“Why? Why would you intentionally read these?” Twilight was aghast as she stared at him, clearly not quite sure if she were looking at a sane pony any longer. “What could you need to understand so badly?”

“Conflict.” He choked out. Stormy was quickly losing his resolve. Consequences would be coming soon.

“Ooooh.” Realization dawned on her face. “I should have seen it.” The books and paper dropped, though Twilight being herself the literary material did so gently. 

“Is this where I get banned?” Stormy shivered, it wasn’t the heat or cold but that he may have just ruined everything and not just for himself. He could be forced to go back to his old life and be not just banned from the library but from ever stepping hoof on Earth again. Or Twilight could be punished. Would she lose her job? Her position? 

Twilight let out a sigh and settled her eyes on the stone floor in contemplation. “I don’t know exactly. It will have to be reported to Celestia, you can probably expected to be contacted by someone soon.  This hasn’t exactly happened before”

Will I be jailed? Banished? He couldn’t voice those ideas, not if there was even a chance of them happening, he refused to contemplate it out of simple fear.

“Until then.” Twilight swallowed, making a show of sitting up straight and trying to hide her emotions, to be official as she said what came next. “You are not allowed on the library grounds for at least the next 168 hours.”

Stormy’s lip quivered, he felt something hot sting his eyes. “I understand.”

“It’s not what you think. You need to get away from these musty old books for a while and meet some friends. Maybe a special somepony.” A box flashed into existence to which the books he had been reading, including the reshelved ones were pulled down, and carefully placed into the box. “You should also see the doctor about those nightmares and to get long term clearance for Earth. I’m assuming you haven’t had your physical yet and they need to check stress tolerances and common allergies.”

Stormy got up and headed for the door at a shaky pace. Maybe a break would be for the best. He thought more about Twilight’s advice, he had to do something, and there was a potential mare that sprung to mind.
> Surprise!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Stormy fidgeted, the room was a stark white with subtle grey lines as if he were in the middle of clouds, all except for the peach pony staffing the reception desk, even the cushions lining three of the walls matched the color. Stormy felt he could breathe easily here, his mind slowly eased. The air in the room even had the right humidity with a cool breeze, just like a pleasant spring day in Cloudsdale. 

“Sir,” The mare said fruitily, “You don’t need to wait here. Doctor Hoofington will not be available for another two hours.” The words rose and fell in cadence, no word could be missed, similar to how ponies in the market could be heard clearly over any din. In the quiet of the office it penetrated through Stormy’s mind. He looked up at the peach mare, her mane subtly pinker with lime eyes and a gentle smile. 

“I don’t really have any place else to be and am just happy to have gotten a same day appointment.” This feels nice.

“There is the computer lab one floor up, a cafeteria two floors down, the library, the sculpture garden by the portal, Cloudesdale is above us today.” The mare could obviously list off many more places, and would be happy to do so. “Take your pic.” She spoke again after a brief pause, “the sculpture garden probably wouldn’t be a good idea, the mayor of Manehatten is here on some sort of business with Princess Celestia.”

The mare mirrored his current mood, content. Or am I mirroring her? Those gentle smile and kind eyes had been on the earth pony the entire time. “Wait…” Stormy had to give his head a little shake. “Cloudsdale shouldn’t be above Canterlot til next week. Did something happen with their schedule?”

“That I don’t know.” She shook her head. “If you want to wait here though it would be rude of me to force you away.”

“No,” If I can’t get off my rump and do this, I know I will miss something great. Stormy moved his hooves from the pillow to the white, fluffy carpeting and stood. “I have some computer work.”

“That’s fine. Just make sure to return before your or appointment or Doctor Hoofington is likely to go back to the lab and be hard to pull out. You might have to see one of the interns them.” The mare gave a silent wink. He couldn’t tell if she did any work behind the counter or was just there to help patients. 

The door open and closed at the touch of his hoof, there was no doorknob and it secured itself again after he went through, gold letters spelling ‘CLINIC’ emblazoned the outside of the door. Stormy’s hooves clacked on the marble floor, every once in awhile were signs pointing to different places ponies might need, this entire section was dedicated to any pony that traveled to or from Earth. He passed the legal offices before heading up the stairs. 

The computer lab was completely empty, outside of the single helper off to the side. Stormy went up to the first monitor. Find the power button, turn on screen. The machine clicked and whirred through its startup. It felt so much different than his last visit, not just how quiet and empty this place was but his growing familiarity with computers and lack of trepidation. Within moments he found the internet icon, one of only four, then clicked around with the mouse some trying to find his email site. Despite running through the process on Earth it had been a while. After getting all that out of the way the pegasus pulled up the address book to find Dawn’s address and pulled up the virtual keyboard to type with the mouse. There were hoof add-ons to help type but they were clumsy. Stormy took a shuddering breath.



Dear Radiant Dawn,
This is Stormy Skies from orientation. With the quarter starting soon I was hoping to meet up with you before classes started.There is this really nice vegetarian grill off campus I would like to take you to. If it isn’t too much trouble.
Sincerely,
Stormy Skies


Click. Email sent.

A cold chill went up Stormy’s spine. He checked what mail he had gotten, not checking it since leaving Earth.


Stormy,
It was a pleasure meeting you over break. I’m setting up a time for the four of us to get together during zero week and I can’t wait. I’m currently looking up travel procedures so we can visit you in Equestria. Orientation was pretty stressful for everyone and I sincerely hope none of us made a bad impression. 
Kat


Stormy backed out to his inbox. He had no idea what to say. There were a few others from Sue and Ed, the UCLA store titled “Tools to help with transitions to Earth and your Education.” which contained mostly computers aides and writing materials with a few miscellaneous supplies. And one from Dawn.


Dear Stormy Skies,
I am delighted to hear from you and a date sounds wonderful! I am in Canterlot dealing with some family issues so how does dinner tonight at The Golden Crow sound? I know it's a bit fancy but my treat. 
Xoxo
Dawn



He stared in horror. She responded. Date. Tonight. The Golden Crow. 

> Unexpected Information
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stormy fidgeted, the room was a stark white with subtle grey lines as if he were in the middle of clouds, all except for the peach pony staffing the reception desk, even the cushions lining three of the walls matched the color. Stormy felt he could breathe easily here, his mind slowly eased. The air in the room even had the right humidity with a cool breeze, just like a pleasant spring day in Cloudsdale.

“Sir,” The mare said fruitily, “You don’t need to wait here. Doctor Hoofington will not be available for another two hours.” The words rose and fell in cadence, no word could be missed, similar to how ponies in the market could be heard clearly over any din. In the quiet of the office it penetrated through Stormy’s mind. He looked up at the peach mare, her mane subtly pinker with lime eyes and a gentle smile.

“I don’t really have any place else to be and am just happy to have gotten a same day appointment.” This feels nice.
“There is the computer lab one floor up, a cafeteria two floors down, the library, the sculpture garden by the portal, Cloudesdale is above us today.” The mare could obviously list off many more places, and would be happy to do so. “Take your pic.” She spoke again after a brief pause, “the sculpture garden probably wouldn’t be a good idea, the mayor of Manehatten is here on some sort of business with Princess Celestia.”

The mare mirrored his current mood, content. Or am I mirroring her? Those gentle smile and kind eyes had been on the earth pony the entire time. “Wait…” Stormy had to give his head a little shake. “Cloudsdale shouldn’t be above Canterlot til next week. Did something happen with their schedule?”

“That I don’t know.” She shook her head. “If you want to wait here though it would be rude of me to force you away.”

“No,” If I can’t get off my rump and do this, I know I will miss something great. Stormy moved his hooves from the pillow to the white, fluffy carpeting and stood. “I have some computer work.”

“That’s fine. Just make sure to return before your or appointment or Doctor Hoofington is likely to go back to the lab and be hard to pull out. You might have to see one of the interns them.” The mare gave a silent wink. He couldn’t tell if she did any work behind the counter or was just there to help patients.

The door opened and closed at the touch of his hoof, there was no doorknob and it secured itself again after he went through, gold letters spelling ‘CLINIC’ emblazoned the outside of the door. Stormy’s hooves clacked on the marble floor, every once in awhile were signs pointing to different places ponies might need, this entire section was dedicated to any pony that traveled to or from Earth. He passed the legal offices before heading up the stairs.

The computer lab was completely empty, outside of the single helper off to the side. Stormy went up to the first monitor. Find the power button, turn on screen. The machine clicked and whirred through its startup. It felt so much different than his last visit, not just how quiet and empty this place was but his growing familiarity with computers and lack of trepidation. Within moments he found the internet icon, one of only four, then clicked around with the mouse some trying to find his email site. Despite running through the process on Earth it had been a while. After getting all that out of the way the pegasus pulled up the address book to find Dawn’s address and pulled up the virtual keyboard to type with the mouse. There were hoof add-ons to help type but they were clumsy. Stormy took a shuddering breath.


Dear Radiant Dawn,

This is Stormy Skies from orientation. With the quarter starting soon I was hoping to meet up with you before classes started.There is this really nice vegetarian grill off campus I would like to take you to. If it isn’t too much trouble.

Sincerely,

Stormy Skies


Click. Email sent.
A cold chill went up Stormy’s spine. He checked what mail he had gotten, not checking it since leaving Earth.


Stormy,

It was a pleasure meeting you over break. I’m setting up a time for the four of us to get together during zero week and I can’t wait. I’m currently looking up travel procedures so we can visit you in Equestria. Orientation was pretty stressful for everyone and I sincerely hope none of us made a bad impression. 

Kat


Stormy backed out to his inbox. He had no idea what to say. There were a few others from Sue and Ed, the UCLA store titled “Tools to help with transitions to Earth and your Education.” which contained mostly computers aides and writing materials with a few miscellaneous supplies. And one from Dawn.


Dear Stormy Skies,

I am delighted to hear from you and a date sounds wonderful! I am in Canterlot dealing with some family issues so how does dinner tonight at The Golden Crow sound? I know it's a bit fancy but my treat. 

Xoxo

Dawn


He stared in horror. She responded. Date. Tonight. The Golden Crow.
> The Joys of Doctor's Visits
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stormy wrote a quick reply accepting her offer and left, still dazed, not sure or caring if he signed out or turned off the computer. He found his way back to clinic. With a hof touch the door slid open, to a field of deep orange yellows of hay. The floor, the walls, he was in the middle of a field where earlier had been clouds. The air felt a little warmer with some unfamiliar scent in the air.

The peach mare looked as the door opened. “Stormy! Perfect timing, the doctor just finished and should be ready to see you in a few minutes. So if you will follow me to a room we can get started.” The door between the waiting room and the hall beyond opened by itself, with the mare gladly waiting for the stallion. The hallway was U-shaped with only one on this side of the reception counter and what looked liked six patient rooms. “Was it productive?”

“K-kinda.” Heat rose to his cheeks, wings repositioned.

“That’s good.” She lightly giggled. “Here we are, room two.” The mare ushered him in.

“Now if you can take a seat, it should just be a few moments.” With that she left.

It was spartan but the cloud motif had returned. There were two fluffed sitting pillows and a low table covered in a white paper at knee height probably the exam table. Cabinets were set along one wall with a sink in the middle. Stormy moved his hoof along the wall. The white distorted into prismatic lights that radiated out a few inches. The wall felt like sand, smooth yet granular, the lights and color washed over its surface. Even with that knowledge the clouds held sway casting their magic spell over him. A cool day off, relaxing in the clouds, watching ponies going about their lives below.

The door clicked open, allowing an indigo unicorn in, the stallion walked with a slight limp to his right rear leg. “You must be Stormy Skies.” The stallion lifted his hoof to bump in greeting. “Call me Doctor Horse, it's nice to meet you.”

“Doctor Horse?”

“I didn’t pick it, but the name fits.” Doctor Horse settle into the other pillow. “So what brings you in today?”

“I need medical clearance for study on Earth.”

“That should not be a problem.” The indigo pony levitated a clipboard from a drawer and pen over, he scratched his 	short cut mahogany mane with the pen. “Have you ever visited Earth Before?”

“About a two months ago for a few days. It was orientation.”

“Ok. How was the flight? Heard pegasi have a problem getting used to human air travel.” Horse took notes on everything Stormy said.

“It was rough. I freaked out, I slapped a person with my wings.” Stormy looked to the floor, it was still embarrassing.

The doctor gave a deep throaty chuckle. “As first experiences go, that one doesn’t sound too bad. Watch, in a few years you will find it funny. Did anything notable happen while you were there?”

“Nothing really. It was crazy.”

Scritch scritch went the pen. “Any allergies or problems with the food?”

“I woke up the second morning feeling really sick, but that went away pretty quickly. Had some sort of supplement that helped.” Feathers ruffled.

“Is that all? No problem with magic?” Doctor Horse stood to ruffle through a lower cabinet.

“There was a little trouble flying. My wings had tingled some and wouldn’t provide lift but it was only a few hours.” A few worrying hours Stormy reminded himself.

“Okay.” The doctor came back over a glass tube. “I need to take a feather sample, is that okay?”

“Um, sure?” Stormy replied hesitantly, taking a look at his wings.

A feather was plucked in light purple aura and gently placed into the tube followed by some clear liquid. Almost instantly it fluoresced and copied the yellow of his body.

“How much of that medication did you take?” The doctor asked while taking a few more notes.
Stormy stared at the tube. “Two pills. That's what Edward gave me. They were really small.” His mouth dried out. “Was that wrong??”

“No, nothing of the sort, but that medication is extremely potent on equestrians. A regular dose should be half a pill, I will write up a script for something herbal you can take with you with a prescription while there.” He stared up to the ceiling, his eyes and off grey. “There have been a few very rare instances of pegasi being introduced to high levels of anti-histamines losing the ability to fly for hours. It seems to block the distribution of magic to the feathers by binding to certain receptors. There should be no lasting side effects unless you abuse it regularly. The body flushes all traces of it within twenty-four hours with trace amounts left in ancillary feathers.”

“. . .”

“Don’t worry,” Doctor Horse reassured, his straight posture and authoritative voice carried weight. “There is stuff like that in Equestria. Poison Joke comes to mind as something much worse. If you have any questions, I personally know the Equestrian doctor at UCLA and she is top notch.”
Stormy’s ears perked.

“It also goes the other way. There was this unicorn last year. He had a sneezing fit in the middle of class and started turning the projector on and off along with at least one laptop.” Doctor Horse pulled out another tube, this one attached to a needle “Now how have you been sleeping?”

His ears drooped faster than the falling rain.

“That bad huh? This will pinch a little.” The needle smoothly entered the pegasi’s leg with no sensation and the tube quickly filled with blood, a piece of gauze and tape covered the area as the needle was removed. The doctor moved to feeling the wings, taking a temperature and a few other parts of a physical exam. “Earth isn’t for everypony, I can prescribe something to help with sleep but I highly suggest you see a psychologist. There is one here that is really skilled and could probably see you today.”

“I would rather not.” Stormy felt some wind leave his body, as if he was deflating under pressure and weight. “I don’t want to risk not being allowed to return. It’s something I need to do.”

“I can understand and even admire that.” Doctor Horse set the blood vial and other tools on the counter. “But not at the risk of your health. The only two ponies who can ultimately decide if you can return are you and Princess Celestia, it is not my place to stop you but I will be sending a letter to her majesty to decide.”

“I understand.” Stormy sat there weightless among the clouds, floating among nothing.

“You can come back next week for the tests result and are free to go unless you have any questions for me.”

“Are there any spells to block hearing?” Stormy continued to stare at the floor. He had to ask though, had to know.

“Huh.” The corner of the doctor’s muzzle lifted. “That is an odd question.” He moved from the door “Why do you ask?”

“I have a friend on Earth who can’t hear.” Stormy rubbed one leg against the other, and looked up to meet Horse’s eyes. “I can’t understand it and I really want to.”

“I’ve had several young ponies asking for similar to help them study. To block out the noise and I have always said no. The reason is there will always be problems and shortcuts would just make them dependent instead of grow. However, I will also have a single dose for you later. See Peachy Keen in about two hours for your medications.”
> Date Prep
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stormy stood outside his brother’s house. It was only three so Thunder Cloud was still at work but Wishing Well would be home. Outside of special conferences she was always home. He gave three quick raps on the door.

“One moment please.” His sister-in-law called out, Stormy knew she would be extricating herself and not to mess up her ‘carefully constructed organizational system’ of stacks and piles of papers. It took several minutes before clopping could be heard nearing the door. The door opened to a pale pink mare the color of unbleached silk her mane like a subtle blush with the deep purple pink eyes of a myrtle tree.

The colors were hard to see and if Stormy had not recognized the blur he might have screamed at the onrushing pony that glomped on. He stood and took it, she normally let go after a minute or so. He tried to wrap a leg around the earth pony to return the hug and failed miserably in her steel grip.

“Finally taking a break from the constant studying?” wishing Well chuckled and let the smothered pegasus extricate himself.”

“No.” Stormy followed her in. “I kinda got kicked out.”

Well gave a concerned look but nothing more and quickly made her way to a free- standing whiteboard, carefully moving through piles of papers. The whiteboard sat against one wall, all six feet of height and eight with width were covered in scribbles and equations similar to her cutie mark.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Besides that one?” Well asked while working on some new problem.

“I need some help preparing for a date tonight.”

Her marker clattered to the floor. A massive “SQUEEE!” echoed through the room and Wishing Well bounded over her papers in one leap and rapid fired questions. “What’s she like? Is it a she? Where did you meet? Cute? Pony? Human? Griffon? Zebra? Does Thundy know?”

Uhhhhhh. “Met her on Earth during orientation,” Stormy started, he might as well tell her, and he needed someone to tell. “She is the most beautiful pegasus you have ever seen.” He recalled her fiery mane. “But we’ve only known each other for a little bit.” He openly pawed the ground.

Wishing smiled gleefully. “So first off we need to decide on attire. Where are you going? Blooming Iris? Thats where I went on my first date and you can go in casual attire.”

“Some place called the Golden Crow but I’ve never heard of it.”

The earth pony’s snout turned down and she stared at her brother-in-law. “You’re sure? The Golden Crow?”

“That’s what her letter said.” Butterflies started growing in his stomach, something had to be off. “Is that a problem?”

“No?” Well cleared her throat. “I mean, no. It was just unexpected. That’s where Thunder took me when he proposed. You must tell me about this mare later. For now let’s get you into one of your brother’s suits, something very fancy.”

“How fancy?” Stormy hesitated, he did not like dressing up, suits rubbed against his flank weirdly.

“Tux.” Wishing Well stated before trotting off to the back rooms, only now did he notice a slight bulge to her belly.



***



Stormy stood in the front room struggling against the fabric. It looked nice he had to admit. A white undershirt covered his chest while a black overcoat went along his back and down the flank, both went down his forelegs. There was a blue something he didnt know the name of between the two and a pink bowtie at his neck. The shoes were worse than the suit though all shiny and black and stiff. No matter how he moved something brushed against his fur in an unused to manner.

“Quit fidgeting.” Wishing Well ordered, “and let me finish your mane.” She had taken a brush to both his mane and tail along with some sort of sweet smelling spray. “Next, you need to pick up a flower for your date, something that goes with her mane.” She took a step back to look at her work. “It will have to do.” She gave him a wink. “Good luck Stormy.”

He tried not to gag upon leaving, the butterflies had yet to leave him, in fact they seemed to be multiplying like an altostratus. He knew where the Golden Crow was but not a flower shop, so he kept his eyes open along the way.

Celestia’s sun had set but a full moon shone plenty of light upon the streets of Canterlot while the ensconced lights showed off varied houses and storefronts. Stormy slowed his gait and focused on his breathing, he rarely took the time to stroll down streets. There were so many shops and all selling something different. It wasn’t until he got to the restaurant that he found a flower stand. It was a bland little thing next door to the restaurant, a mass of beige, the only reason he saw it was because a shock of colorful flowers through its windows. Even then he barely noticed it next to the gold, black, and white of the Golden Crow.

Stormy entered “Daisy’s Daisies”, unsure what to expect. He was blasted by the colors and fragrance, it was like a war as soon as hoof entered store. Everything was competing and clashing but they were the most beautiful flowers he had ever seen with the most vivids greens, brash pinks, dappled purples and cool blues. There was one flower that he was particularly enamored with called a fire bloom, it had five petals that radiated from a bright fushia to a golden yellow surrounding a navy blue center. It reminded him a the Radiant Dawn’s morning mane and took three of them to the counter and paid for them. He carried them outside in his mouth, the had a cool smoky scent that filled his nose along with a hint of pine and waited for his date.
> Stormy's First Date
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Stormy stood outside and waited. Large black columns were laced with decorative gold and a white topped created an elegant if imposing visage. Swaths of ponies walked past the patient pegasus all in various modes of dress with only the most regal even looking at the Golden Crow. The flowers were bundled and held by his left wing to not impede his walking, or in this case pacing and pawing. He could just make out a clock on an opposing building, probably a peddler in such things, and watched the minutes tick by. The butterflies in his stomach were turning into angry wasps slowly but surely with each passing minute. Was I late? Did she already leave? Never show? He thought while fighting the panic before wondering, Maybe she is just waiting inside?

Stormy took a few hesitant steps into the restaurant, if the outside looked regal he had no way to classify the insides, even the maitre d had a nicer suit than the newcomer pony. The place was dimly lit with red accents yet everything was clearly visible. The inside din was hushed yet you could not hear any conversations. “May I help you good sir?” The maitre d asked from his podium.

“Uhhhhh,” Stormy forgot why he came in in wonder of the opulence.

“Do you have a reservation?” The pegasus looked down at his podium which had to be holding a book of patrons to be expected. “If not I am sorry to say we are all booked up for the next month.”

“Um, no. Sorry.” Stormy cleared his throat and shuffled his head to clear the fog. “I was supposed to meet my date here. A Miss Radiant Dawn.” Well had coached him some on the proper formalities but they still felt foreign and iffy.

“Ahhh, you must be Sir Stormy Skies. Madam has been asking about you.” He got off the little stool and started walking into the restaurant. “If you will please follow me.” Even the unicorn’s gait was different as if he step was carefully planned in advance.

Stormy spotted his date before they got within twenty feet of the table, Dawn was practically a light unto herself. Her dress has frills and outcropping like an aurora he sadly never got to see as very few weather factories allowed them. The gossamer colors seemed to shift and swirl with the full rainbow yet always complimented her orange body and golden-brown mane and made her crimson eyes stand out even more. The pegasus stopped dead in his tracks at her sight.

Dawn saw his reaction and waved the maitre d away, who bowed before returning to his post.

Stormy somehow made his way to the table without knowing it and handed what now looked like boring standard flowers in comparison.

“OH MY!!!” Dawn gasped. “Those are amazing.” An edge of awe in her voice. “I’ve never seen such brilliant flowers. Thank you Stormy!” She got up from her lavender sitting pillow to give the stallion a peck on the cheek.

"S-s-sorry I was late… I was-”

She interrupted him with a giggle. “It’s quite all right. I knew you would show up eventually?” her smile showed the honesty.

“I have never seen such a dress. You look stunning.” Stormy had no idea how to start a date and hope a compliment was a good idea.

“It’s a one of a kind original design by Hoity Toity my father had commission for one of his parties.” She looked down at the flowers and frowned before looking back, the smile on her face didn’t return to her eyes however.

What followed was a sullen silence which Stormy quickly broke. “How has Earth been?” He asked.

"It was amazing!” Dawn’s mood popped right back up. “There are so many books, so much information on weather and unique patterns. The prediction methods are sooooo cool!” Her demeanor changed to that of a foal on Hearth’s Warming. 

“They have no way to change weather so every breeze can change the weather of following weeks. It’s so much harder than weather here.”

The rest of the evening was pleasant if non descript, nothing like Stormy had expected. The entire conversation revolved around weather or how Stormy was doing, anything else and Dawn would shift it back to one of those two, especially any talk of returning to Earth. Stormy himself was vague with his potential ban. Eventually the food came and went and they parted ways, neither wanting to be walked home.

Stormy shuffled his way back to his brother’s and pondered. He thought of the hibiscus and rose soup adorned with petals, a special fried tofu dish with so many colors, and finally something called a baumkuchen. But the date felt like nothing special, it was certainly fancy but felt like a meal with a friend. What was is supposed to go like? Did something go wrong?