May 15
I was all comfy and snuggled on Meghan's breast when I remembered that I had to go to church today so that I could apologize to Liz. So that meant that I would have to get up earlier than I'd planned.
Meghan was a little bit grumpy about that, so I told her that after I flew I would come back and we could take a shower together and then I'd brush her hair, and that cheered her up. She said that she was going to catch up on her sleep a little bit and to knock on the door when I was done flying.
I went back to my room and put on all my flight gear. I thought about leaving the second radio behind, but it was probably better that I had it in case I saw a distant storm or something while I was up in the sky. I didn't think I would, but you never know.
Dori was directing airplanes, and she gave me permission to fly over the west side of Kalamazoo: she said she would clear out a wedge of airspace for me between Stadium and Main. She didn't have to, but it sounded like she wanted to, so I took advantage of that and flew almost straight up from the quad, gaining altitude in a big spiral. Then I zipped off over Western Michigan University, and all the way up to the 131 Highway, where the big bridge over the railroad tracks is.
I circled around up there for a little bit, practicing some swoops, and then back down. There was a funny little neighborhood that was sort of shaped like a comma, and another clear spot next to it that was the same shape where maybe they were going to build more houses. It was interesting how some roads were straight and others had curves in them—I could see how some had been built to go around obstacles, but others were just curved for the sake of it, I guess.
It would have been nice to get in a little more flight time, but it would be really rude of me to break my promise to Meghan or be late to church, so I made a long descent back home, focusing on the bell tower.
One disadvantage of the trees getting leafy is that it's a little bit harder to pick landing spots from a distance. But the parking lot behind Trowbridge is tree-free, and it's easy to spot when I get closer. Since I was going to DeWaters anyway, I wanted to land there.
I saw that Meghan's light was still out as I skimmed across the parking lot, and I thought about going to my room and taking off my equipment first, but it was just as easy to do it in her room and get it later, so I went up and knocked quietly on the door.
It took her a minute to answer, and when she did she sort of stood behind the door as she opened it, then pushed it shut as soon as I was in the room, fast enough that I actually got a bit of my tail caught in it, so she had to open it a little bit again.
She'd just gotten out of bed and hadn't bothered to put on clothes at all, which explained why she had hidden herself behind the door. I told her I wouldn't have minded waiting another minute or two outside while she got dressed, but she insisted that there wasn't any point to it if we were going to get into the shower right away.
Plus, she thought it was really funny that I was wearing more than she was.
She helped me unstrap my equipment and get undressed, then started the shower. I needed more scrubbing than she was used to, 'cause of all the sweat and lather from flying, and I told her I was sorry that I was all sweaty but she said it was okay; she didn't mind.
After we were done, she helped dry me off and then brushed my mane and tail, and I returned the favor, brushing out her hair.
She got dressed and I didn't, then we went off to breakfast together, and after that we went to the service.
It wasn't as fancy as the Easter Service had been; there wasn't any communion and there weren't as many songs. Pastor Liz gave a sermon about not giving in to fear and hate, especially when it was hard, and then at the very end she walked down the aisle and gave everyone a blessing, then stood at the door to hug and shake hands.
When it was my turn I told her how sorry I was that I had missed our talk, and she told me that it was okay, we would just have to have a better talk next week to make up for it. And then she leaned down and we hugged and I knew that she had forgiven me.
She and Meghan hugged, too, and then we walked back to Meghan's dorm. She asked me what I was going to do today, and I said that I had to research my Anthropology essay and that I should read the Bible too, and my book on World War I. She said she had a lot of homework, too, and she said that we could be study buddies.
That sounded like it would be nice, so we went to her room and I got my flight gear and she got her books and then we went back to my room since it was a little bit bigger than hers.
At first, I sat at my desk and she sat on my bed, but after a while I decided it would be nicer to stretch out next to her. It took a bit of creative repositioning to make it work, but we finally settled into spots where we could both be comfortable and productive and also be close. She held her book in one hand and had her notebook on her knee, so she could rest her writing hand on my back when she wasn't using it to take notes.
After reading through the first book, I thought that maybe the best thing to focus on would be the actual wedding ceremony itself. That was a ritual, and I thought the case could be made that it was partially a coming-of-age ritual, since people had to be a certain age to marry.
Meghan grumbled good-naturedly when I got up, but when I turned around with the next book in my mouth she said that she had to get a picture of how cute I was, so she took out her pocket telephone and took a picture and then she asked if I minded if she put it on her Facebook.
I said I didn't mind, and scooted up next to her while she was doing that and started reading the next book. Like the first one, there were only a couple of chapters that I was really interested in, which was good. I would have been overwhelmed if I had to read through every page of the books for my essay.
It was getting pretty close to dinnertime when I finished with the second book. That had a lot of really good information on the origins of traditions, like how the wedding party wore similar clothes to the bride and groom in order to confuse evil spirits, and how bread was put in the communal drinking goblet, which is why they called lifting the glass a toast.
Meghan folded the corner of the page in her book to mark her place, and then the two of us went off to dinner together. I was a little bit hungry because we'd forgotten to eat lunch (I'd thought about suggesting it when it was lunch time, but we were both pretty comfy in bed and I didn't want to get up and I didn't think she did, either).
We sat with Becky and Lisa and pretty soon the four of us were all talking in Equestrian. Lisa complained about how cold it was, especially this late in May, and I said that if Earth had proper weather pegasuses it wouldn't be. Then we kind of got on the subject of climate change and she asked how I would fix it if I were in charge.
That was a really complicated subject, and I had to admit that I didn't have an answer. I dealt with local weather, and while I had an understanding of the bigger picture, it was hugely complicated. I thought that the easiest way would be for people to just stop doing the things that were causing it, and that would be an important first step. Then I thought that probably earth ponies could help, too, by planting more trees.
She said that there were a lot things it would be hard to give up, and I said that was probably true. There were some things that I knew I was going to miss already, like being able to have a hot meal whenever I wanted it.
And then Lisa got a kind of strange look on her face and said that here she was worried about not having her portable telephone and she took hot meals completely for granted. And I guess she was really thinking about that, because she didn't say a whole lot for the rest of dinner.
After dinner, Meghan went back to her room and I went to mine, and it was kind of lonely, so I got my Bible and went outside and sat in a tree and finished the first book of Kings.
It was pretty depressing. They had one bad king after another, and they were always fighting. I guess they never thought about how stupid that was, about how much better off they'd be if they stopped their fighting and did what God told them to do, especially after some of the prophets had warned them what God would do if they were bad, and then He did because they didn't listen to his prophets.
I guess it was a long time ago, though, and we ponies didn't used to be any better.
Peggy was back in our room, so I hugged her and told her I missed her and she asked where I'd been, and I told her I'd been sitting in a tree reading the Bible, which she thought was really funny.
And then she asked about the wedding books, too, and so I told her about my essay and she said that it sounded like an interesting topic.
I said that math was more fun, and she laughed and said that I was welcome to help her with hers, so I reviewed her answers and she'd done pretty well—there were only a couple of problems that needed to be corrected, and she found one on her own while we were reviewing.
Then I showed her the fractals that we'd learned about and how pretty they were, and she said that she wasn't sure that she'd ever be that smart in math, and I told her that she just needed to practice more. It wasn't all that complicated.
We talked a little bit longer, and then I got together my flight gear and went over to Aric's house. He wasn't home yet—I knew he would probably be at the theatre putting away all the lights and that maybe there would be a party after that, but I knew when he eventually got home he would be happy to find me in his bed, so I curled up on a pillow and went to sleep.
7390908 I didn't hate it, they were bad movies from a technical point of view and I am young enough to have seen these before the original trilogy.
Bad acting, weak dialogue, badly constructed scenario, abuse of CGI. If you don't nitpick too much, the third one had some entertaining moments and was passable, but the Phantom Menace and the Clone War were horribly boring. Not to mention useless. You did not need to see the event in these two film to understand the third one. I would know, I tried it...
I've dabbled a bit in history & I've noticed something: no matter how bad a ruler is, NOBODY ever thinks that they should resign. I think that this is one of the things that makes them a bad ruler -the inability to recognise that they are a bad ruler.
Abraham Lincoln said "It is to general Burnside's discredit that he is a bad general, but to his credit that he knows this is so."
Well, I think at this point we can sum up the ancient testament like this: human don't follow god rules, are always figthing and get punished.
According to Silver at least.
Is she talking about climate change or getting back home?
7391602 Power corrupt the mind.
Anyway, there are many exception to that rule. But you don't simply resign from being a king, so usually these exception were handled with good advisor and/or delegation of task to more competent people.
In Russia, pony brush you!
As to the Star Wars movies, I am old enough I was an adult when they came out (Jesus! It doesn't seem possible it was 40 years ago). You have to remember that this was the dawn of CGI & the effects blew us away. + Most of the scenes were a homage to scenes from classic Sci Fi books. Many of them are out of print or no longer read these days. (For instance, Smith's Lensman novels are hard to find)
In short, they haven't aged as badly as I have, but the impact isn't what it was.
I think Silver Glow will miss our worldwide trade in fresh food next February, when she's stuck eating stale hay and canned food.
Wait till you get to Lamentations, Silver.
There was a funny little neighborhood that was sort of shaped like a comma, and another clear spot next to it that was the same shape were maybe they were going to build more houses
You mean 'where' there, not 'were'.;)
Now, back to readin'.^^
7390431
guess thats not hard when you get into the airforce ...
welcome to first world problems!
Adorable chapter overall.^^ Still looking forward to your other fic updating though. XD
7391765
Meh. I'm looking forward to Silver's reaction to Ezekiel - especially a certain X-rated passage therein...
7391597
7391631
I'm old enough to remember seeing the original Star Wars back in '77. The Atari 2600 came out in '78 '79? So yeah CGI stank on ice. Heck, I remember 5.5 inch floppy disks.
All that aside was all the revamped special effects in Star Wars 25th anniversary really necessary?
You probably could still get a mother's day episode in here, since she was busy that day, she might have missed it.
I think the total disconnect from Equestria is a kind of underwhelming part of this fic at times.
Yeah, that's the problem with climate change. It's not as simple as "Doctor, the planet gets warmer when I do this!"/"Don't do that." A very thorny issue, even for magic ponies.
In any case, Silver's essay is probably going to be a fascinating read.
Damn it Meghan you're on of those book-crinckling heathens that can't remeber what page they were on without molesting a page.
Drop here like a bad rash, Silver.
I just thought of this...Aric getting home and finding Silver in his bed reminds me of those stories here on FIMFIC that are titled, " (pony character) won't get out of your bed" or something like that.
7391607
Equestria has a disturbing lack of microwave ovens.
On the bright side, with contact being a thing now, some unicorn is probably going to come up with an enchanted box of some sort as a stand-in. And then Silver can have all the hot meals she wants in Equestria, too!
7393593 Equestria might have microwaves. That said I'm betting cloud houses don't have much in the way of amenities at all.
I guess it was a long time ago, though, and we ponies didn't used to be any better.
Ah, she's catching on to the main message of the Old Testament: All People Can And Will Screw Up Anything.
7391602 Actually, some presidents have resigned and kings have abdicated.
7391602
I think you're probably right. Although there are examples of rulers stepping down, they're few and far between, and I think in a lot of cases it's to avoid a worse fate.
7391607
From what I know of the Old Testament, that's pretty much all of it. However, it's worth noting that those who do follow God's rules are often rewarded (except Job).
Kind of a little bit of both--talking about giving things that you're used to up.
7391623
7391631
Yeah . . . I feel the same way about The Matrix. The first one, man. Those special effects. The second was sort of 'meh,' because it wasn't anything new, and the lack of a coherent plot became more apparent. I expect the third is much the same; I've never watched it.
7391648
Yes, she will. I think that the ponies probably are better at keeping food fresh than we are (magic, yo), but even if so, there wouldn't be as much variety. I bet fresh-ish food prices go up in the wintertime, too.
7391765
And Job. That's going to be hard for Pastor Liz to explain.
7391840
Correction made, thank you!
7391891
He did it the old-fashioned way: scrimped and saved to pay for his own lessons. Got his pilot's license on his sixteenth birthday.
7391907
Thanks! Other fic will update soonish, but I'm not promising a day.
7392115
"Well, they got the emission part right."
7392234
That's the year I was born! So I didn't see it back then.
I thought it was a bit of an improvement over some of the older effects. Necessary, though? Probably not.
7392326
I probably could. I'll see what I can come up with.
7392358
Yeah, that's the problem with climate change. It's not as simple as "Doctor, the planet gets warmer when I do this!"/"Don't do that." A very thorny issue, even for magic ponies.
Agreed: there are ways that they could fix it (hell, there are ways that we could fix it), but getting 7 billion people on board with the program--or even to agree what the program is--that's the real challenge. After that, it's pretty easy.
7392373
I was horrified in college when I saw people writing in their textbooks. That was a level of defacement I'd never imagined to exist.
7393393
I've never heard of that.
Nope.
Honest.
img09.deviantart.net/9e77/i/2011/261/9/5/applejack_is_honest_by_orangel8989-d4a6cfb.png
7393593
When someone asks how it works, 'magic' will be a legitimate answer.
7393817
I personally assume that they don't (no electricity* pretty much precludes microwave ovens).
*headcanon
I can't imagine that they would. The more I think about it, the more I think that pegasus homes are generally pretty spartan.
7396703
It's a very important point. All people are fallible.
7404464
I know I've talked about it before, but it does really feel like something that hurts the story over all. Silver only rarely receives letters from home, it seems, and those letters aren't ever talked about; similarly, she doesn't (as far as I can recall) ever seen homesick.
Another example, which is why I brought it up with mother's day, is that we haven't seen Silver wake up and go "oh, this is such and such a day" or what have you--ie she doesn't seem to carry over any traditions or cultural aspects from her home.
*shrug*
7404486 You do realize that in MMDW, they showed that Ponyville has a hydroelectric dam, right?
7404447
He got better in the end.
7536238 They have a dam. Not sure it was hydroelectric, though. Ancient humans dammed rivers to build reservoirs and run mills thousands of years before we learned how to master lightning the way we did fire.
8038442
Yeah, it's got a structure at the bottom of unknown purpose. And the only thing that I can recall them ever using a reservoir for was to supply the weather factor with water. Presumably, they could also use the dam for flood control, agriculture, or to run the water wheel that we've seen in canon.
8048906
Not really unknown purpose. Unstated maybe.
The structures on the top of the building are transmission towers- the plus-size Tesla Coils that emit magnetic fields to wirelessly transmit electricity.
9240600
That’s an explanation I’ve heard a lot of people make (although I don’t think that’s ever stated in canon), but I wonder if they couldn’t equally well be receiving antennas for magical energy? I seem to remember that Flim and Flam’s cider machine was powered by unicorn magic; I can’t remember if it had an antenna on it.
9305926
Correction made; thank you!
7392115
Honestly, the Vision of Ezekiel will ruin basically every depiction of angels that she sees from now on (she doesn't seem like the type for NGE or most of the other things that do them justice)
Meanwhile, in Equestria, a certain Princess is overcome by a violent shudder.
11310555
I know, right? I feel for her, too; I've always been such a purist I'll just remember the page number of the book I'm reading rather than mark it in any way whatsoever.