August 29
I think that the same airplane takes off at the same time every morning, and I don't know how Peggy sleeps through it.
I got out of bed and took a shower, and then since I smelled coffee brewing I went downstairs to look, 'cause I didn't think that Peggy needed me to wake her up, and if she did I could always go back upstairs.
John and Chrissie were both in the kitchen already—they were both wearing sleeping clothes, and she went upstairs to use the shower. John poured me a cup of coffee and then said that I'd gotten my picture in the newspaper, and when I sat down he slid it over to me.
There was a big picture of everyone holding up their signs, and I thought that if any of the #freethenipple protesters were reading it they'd probably be mad that it only showed them from the shoulders up. And then there was a little picture alongside the article of me flying up to where you could see my belly.
We both thought it was pretty funny that I'd gotten in the newspaper for protesting but not for flying down The Incline or flying to Cameron Cone.
He asked if I was ready to go see the Air Force Base, and I said that I was. And I said that Peggy had mentioned that there was an airplane museum nearby, too, and he said that we could go to that as well.
It would be kind of boring waiting around until everyone else was ready to go. I guess that's what I get for being an early riser. So I asked if it was okay to walk around the neighborhood and maybe fly a little bit, too—since I'd already taken a shower, I didn't want to work up a lather. He said that it would be okay, and told me not to get lost.
Well, I didn't think that I would get lost but just in case I went upstairs and got my flight vest and put my portable telephone in the pocket, 'cause I knew that if I did get lost I could just land and read the street signs and then Peggy would know where I was and could tell me how to get back home.
I kinda had an idea of the shape of the neighborhood from driving in and out of it, so I went sort of north along their road until I got to the end of it and then turned west, and followed that road until it ended.
The next road ended at a little park, and I thought I'd fly over that, so I did. And I didn't land right away; I kept on flying, and since I was already flying I started to just circle around the neighborhood from the air.
All the houses were really clustered together, more than in Kalamazoo, I thought. And it made it really easy to get confused when I was in the air, and I was trying to focus in too much on the roofs to see which house was hers when I should have just gone to a landmark I knew: the big open pasture that was behind her house. So I went that way, and as soon as I was close I saw her house.
I landed right in front and went back inside and everyone was almost ready. John was in the shower, and Peggy and Chrissie were in the kitchen drinking coffee.
Peggy asked if I knew that I was in the paper, and I said that John had showed me. Then she asked if I'd noticed that they'd cut me off just above the teats and I hadn't but when I saw that it bothered me.
Chrissie told me that I ought to make sure to have all my flight gear, because she said that she thought I'd probably be asked to give a flying demonstration, so I went and got that. And then once John came down we all got in Chrissie's car, which was called a Challenger. It was kind of crowded for us to sit in the back but she said that it was more practical because her car had a special sticker which let it park at the base, and John's Highlander didn't.
The engine was rumbly and I thought that Mister Salvatore would really like the car. I bet he didn't know she had it, since she kept it in the garage where people couldn't see it.
When we got to the Air Force base, we had to go through a gate and Chrissie had to talk to some men called SFs who guarded the gate, and then when we were inside we all had to have special badges except for her because she already had one that was better than ours.
The inside parts of the Air Force base were pretty boring. There was a man who led us through the base and I could tell that he was keeping an eye on us. Then he asked if I wanted to go out on the field, first, or if I wanted to see the space command center.
I thought that the space command center would be really interesting, so he took us to a room that was full of computers and there were lots of people working at them and it kind of reminded me a little bit of the airplane directors, although it wasn't in a tower. They couldn't use binoculars to see the spaceships that they commanded, so they had to rely on their computers to tell them where they were.
He said that they helped to put satellites in orbit and kept the ones that we had safe. And then he asked how much I knew about them and I didn't really know a lot, so he explained how satellites could talk to my watch and that's how it knew where it was—that was how GPS worked—and that there were also radio messages that went through a satellite, and space internet, and so many other things.
They monitored the weather—I knew about that, but I didn't exactly know how they did it, so he explained a little bit about the different types of orbits that they could use and also how they had different kinds of cameras and sensors so that they could see different things.
I asked him how many there were, and he said that the United States had 658 in orbit and overall there were 2,271 which sounded like a whole lot. And he said that there were some even orbiting the sun, but that those weren't under their command.
I told him that I'd seen the International Space Station, although it had just looked like a little star moving across the sky. And that was pretty amazing, to think that there were people living up there.
He let me go into the room and sit down in one of the chairs and he put a headset on me which didn't really fit over my ears at all, but that was okay because if it had I wouldn't have known what to say anyway. And he asked if I minded if he took a picture on my portable telephone and I didn't mind at all.
We went into another room next and there were lots of pictures on the wall of long rockets and funny-looking little things that had a shiny wrinkled cover and little black panels and dishes on sticks jutting out from them and that was what satellites looked like. The black panels were satellite leaves, which is how they got their energy. Other ones, he said, had little bits of plutonium in them which was what made them work but that the US only had one left and it didn't work anymore and was just orbiting around and hopefully would stay up there for a long, long time.
We went outside next, and he showed me some of the airplanes that they had. The biggest ones were called C-130s, and they were huge. They had gigantic propellers to make them go, and I found out that the design was over sixty years old but they kept on flying them because they couldn't find anything better. He said that they could land on dirt runways, which was something that most big airplanes couldn't do, and he said that one had even landed and taken off from an aircraft carrier, which was a big floating runway. I wanted to go inside one just to look around but I wasn't allowed to.
I could tell from the outside that my whole village would have fit inside of it, though.
Then he said that if I would give a little flying demonstration, after that they'd fly one of the C-130s around the airport so that I could see it. And that sounded like it would be fun.
He said that we'd have lunch first, to give everyone time to prepare, and then I could demonstrate for the pilots.
So we ate in their cafeteria, which was a lot like the cafeteria at college except that it was much cleaner and everyone there was in really good shape. And a lot of them came over to see me, especially after word got around that I'd be doing a flying demonstration. I hadn't heard anybody announce it but I guess it was just like every other kind of gossip where when a couple of ponies know pretty soon everypony does.
I had to wait for permission to fly because the main airport had a couple of airplanes that needed to leave, but once they were gone I was allowed to fly, as long as I kept towards the Air Force's end of the airport and didn't go too high, and they told me that I had to monitor their air traffic control frequency and if they told me to get out of the way I had to. So I told them that I understood all of that, and I decided that I was going to gallop down the runway a little bit before I took off.
When I was galloping as fast as I could, I put out my wings and jumped, and then started flapping to gain altitude. And I kept kind of low so that everyone could see me, and I did some wing rolls and loops and even a backflip, then I flew the length of the runway and did a rolling drop turn, until I was only a few feet above the ground, and I glided the whole length of the runway, then did a really sharp climb at the top.
I lost all my airspeed and then did a tail-first fall which was something that I rarely ever tried because it was only good for showing off. And when I got close to the ground I dropped my muzzle back down and went right alongside the row of men and women who were watching me, and landed kind of in the middle. Then, just to show them that I could, I took off almost straight up, did a circle over the field, and landed again.
I called the airplane directors and told them that I was back on the ground and they thanked me for letting them know. I wonder if they were watching from their tower with binoculars? I bet they were.
Well, everyone who wasn't getting their airplane ready wanted to talk to me, and they asked if all pegasuses could fly like I did and I had to admit that a lot of them could fly better because I wasn't a stunt flyer, I was a cloud-puncher, and pretty soon I found myself talking to a lot of pilots about flying in bad weather and that was a lot like talking to other weatherponies.
I think we could have spent all afternoon talking except that they got their airplane ready to fly and so we all lined back up to watch it take off. And it was a big, loud, ungainly thing, and when it started its takeoff roll I didn't think that it would ever get airborne. But for something as big as it was it got in the air pretty quickly. I don't think that the airplane I flew in to Michigan took off that fast.
They flew it up and around the airport and it didn't do any of the things that I had done but that was probably for the best. One of the pilots told me that it was a shame that we weren't further out of the city, because then maybe they'd do a flare drop and that was really something to see. He said that some people called it angel's wings, 'cause that's what it looked like out behind the airplane.
It lumbered around the airport and then came back in for a landing and it came down really so steeply I thought it might crash, especially since the propellers were hardly turning. And as soon as the wheels touched, the engines sped up and the whole nose of the airplane dropped down as it came to a stop and it was amazing to see something that big stop that quickly.
It came back around to the taxiway and then it backed up into its spot and they turned off the engines.
Before we left the air force base, everybody shook my hoof and they gave me a patch that showed their insignia, and I thought that I ought to put it on my flight vest, and then we went to the airplane and spaceship museum.
We went around the inside first, and there were exhibits that talked about the missiles—which were rockets—that defended America from its enemies, and there was some equipment from the old base which this base had replaced. It had been located in a mountain to keep it safe because humans had big bombs which could get through anything else.
And I got to do a training simulation for a Peacekeeper missile launch, which was fun. There was a computer voice which told me what I had to do, and I had a lot of trouble with it because none of the buttons were hoof-friendly, and the computer didn't listen when I talked back to it. So I tried a couple of times but I didn't get it right any of the times and Peggy said that if ponies were defending the US we'd all be dead, and I said that ponies would put bigger buttons and switches on the equipment. And I said I didn't think she could do better so of course she proved me wrong.
There were a lot more airplanes outside but we had to stay inside because while we'd been playing with the practice missile, it had started raining and hailing and I felt really guilty that I wasn't in the air. I even had all my flight gear with me and I was sure I could have gotten permission to fly and see what the clouds were doing and maybe move some of them out of the way.
We never got a break in the rain, and finally me and Peggy decided that we'd run outside and at least look at the EC-121, which you were allowed to go inside. John and Chrissie had seen it before and didn't want to get wet, so they stayed inside.
By the time we got there we were soaking wet and it was like being in a drum inside the airplane, but since we were already there we looked around at all the radars and radios that it had. She said that it was kind of funny to think that the airplane radio that was strapped to my foreleg was better than any of the radios inside this airplane, and my watch was a better navigational tool than anything this airplane had on it.
Neither of us was looking forward to the run back to the museum, and Peggy said that I should use my Silver-sense to tell her when the rain was going to be the lightest and I said that on the ground, in a place where I didn't know the weather patterns, it wouldn't be much more than a guess.
She said that she thought it would be a better guess than she'd make, so we waited at the back of the airplane until a slight clear spot and we ran back and just made it inside before a fresh cluster of hailstones came down.
The curators at the museum were really nice and kept it open a little bit late until the lightning and hail had stopped, and Peggy bought me a pilot's hat at the gift store.
We drove to Sandy's Restaurant which was right by the air force base for dinner. John ordered a coyote burger and I asked him if it was made of actual coyotes, and he said it was and that was why he hadn't ordered the cowboy burger. But then I looked at the menu and it said that it was made out of beef, not coyote.
It was still raining when we got back home, and after me and Peggy got dried off and Peggy put on new clothes, we sat in the living room together and played a game called Monopoly. I couldn't roll the dice, so Peggy did that for me. And some of it was luck, because you didn't know how far you were going to move, but some of it was skill, too, and they let me read all the property cards and I figured out that the best things to own were the railroads, and also the orange and light blue properties, and so while Chrissie and Peggy focused on getting the expensive properties on the far side of the board, I tried to build my empire on the near side.
I didn't win, but I came in second, and everyone including me was kind of surprised by that. But the railroads had been a really good investment for me, and I hadn't lost anything by trading away Ventnor Ave. to get the Short Line.
Then Peggy told them that I was really smart at math, and I'd probably figured out what the best odds were and Chrissie said that using math was cheating. I didn't think so; the numbers were printed right on the cards and anybody could look at them.
But Peggy was laughing, so it was okay.
We had hot chocolate for a snack, and then Peggy and I went upstairs to bed. Tomorrow was going to be my last day in Colorado, so we wanted to be well-rested.
Silver Glow: Ballistic Missile operator.
RIP in Nuclear Fires.
Uh, why could she not roll the dice? Other ponies have rolled dice. Case in point with the dungeons and dragons type episode.
Looks like Silver is just gona have to wait till an air show to go inside a C-130. They let foreigners in so I think Silver would be allowed. The JATO was used at the Reno Air Races to show how short of runway it needs to get airborne. The flame is purple too. Was really cool.
I would bet good money that the base commander watched and recorded Silver's flight. She might not be a stunt flier or military pegasus but the air force would like to get a handle on how pegasi maneuver and fly. Damn cheap intell for a couple hundred dollars in fuel for the C-130.
The C5 laughs at your mere 45,000 lb payload.
7687001
Land a C5 on an aircraft carrier and then we'll talk about who's the better airplane.
That design isn't the oldest plane the air force flies. B52s date back to the 1950s. They are kept in service because they have a bigger bomb payload than any other USA bomber (I think the most of any plane in the world but IDK). But, with airplanes it's neither age nor miles flown. What matters most is number of takeoffs & landings because that is what stresses the wings the most. (Or so I've read).
Weird to think some planes are older than the pilot's grandparents.
Even Silver is not immune to the Dad Joke.
I like him.
'Satellite leaves'...
I so love Silverisms, especially when they are so well fitting.
The SG making use of the runway (oh look, an inbuilt pun!) was utterly adorable. Good thing she remembered to show off her VTOL capability as well. I'd love to hear her chatting with those pilots, even if I'd probably only understand a third of it. Alien/Terran nerdgasms all around.
I read a book once about Russian transport pilots who became kind of smugglers-mercenaries after the collapse of the Soviet Union, using old Antonovs (the Soviet C-130 basically) for high-risk high-pay missions for a colourful mix of 'employers' worldwide. Combat flight transport as shady private business. Antonovs and C-130s are incredible pieces of engineering and, in a way, I find them more fascinating than jetfighters.
Did you mean "on?" I don't think a phone is really novel enough anymore for people to want pictures of them.
That's actually not a bad description for solar panels. A bit poetic, but not particularly inaccurate.
Did you mean to italicize the word "all?"
Hannibal Lecter used to eat cowboy burgers. He doesn't like them, though. They're kind of gritty.
Silver Glow, corporate raider. Making it rain in every possible way.
You only need one of those.
If the gate guards were Air Force, they would have been SF (Security Forces), not MP.
7687173 The B-1 and Russian Tu-160 can carry more bombs than the B-52, as could the retired B-36. There are several cargo planes that can carry more weight.
The B-52 and the C-130 are still around not because they're particularly good, but because they're good enough that developing a replacement isn't worth the money. War is an economy and bang-for-buck is king.
When the guy up front yells, Hold on ladies, we go for ride, you know youre in for a Short Round.
Now all you have to remember, is due to the chord pitch with a C-130, is that as far as I remember, its the only other airborne vehicle where when you land, you have to aim the nose at the ground before the runway.
The other is the Shuttle.
And an aircraft musem? Or am I getting confused with the Cussler museum at Pikes Peak the other name, or other side of the mountain? Harry? We got a trip.
I know Silver's grammar can be somewhat shaky at time (like mine...), but you would need a "I" here.
The dark purple ones rigth after the go are pretty good too. It scarily easy to upgrade those and you can start bankrupting your opponent really early...
In the other fanfics the humans can't understand Pegasus flight.
Wings too small, huge power requirements (F=ma)
Obviously part/most/all is due to magical antigravity or
unidirectional kinetic energy. (Sorry Professor Newton)
So yes... I can see the Air Force expressing some interest.
Satellite leaves and space internet. I love silver's naming scheme.
Fun fact, my school actually designs and builds commercial cubesats. Wish I had chose better clubs (and drive a better job scheduling my freshman and sophomore years).
7688076
7686986
"What does it run on?"
"Anchovies, pancakes, and grass clippings, sir."
"Damn... What's its payload?"
"One six pound glaive, one five pound bow with twenty rounds, and about 100,000 volts, sir."*
"So it's already weaponized?"
"Yes, sir."
"Get Equestria on the horn, I want 1,000!"
"Yes, sir!"
*I don't actually know how much a glaive or a bow weigh offhand, and I wasn't erasing all this phone-work just to find out.
Now I really want to sit her down and introduce her to KSP.
Anything with a Warning Star in it is cool with me by default.
a vary interesting story I really enjoyed this chapter.
as to the C-130 coming in and hitting full power I watch this at a air show out west and to say it is load is so much of a understatement.
and yes that popped flairs that day impressive.
7686716
the C-130 is a vary impressive plan / fighting platform.
it has a few names but the one that it has was given bye the plan it's self.
the angel of death the plan when popping flares and the air over the plan will pull the smoke to form a set of angel wings.
The orange and red spaces are the best properties on the Monopoly board. Illinois Avenue is the most landed on property. This is because Jail is the most landed on space by a huge margin, due to having 4 ways to get there. (Chance, Community Chest, the "go to jail" space, and rolling three doubles in a row.) landing on orange or red is almost inevitable.
That wouldn't be Cheyenne Mountain, would it?
7689176
Lieutenant General Jack O'Neill *smirks*: "Did some author perhaps neglect to mention back in Chapter Four, that this was where the portal to Equestria was kept? ♪♫"
7688532 'Course, the reason for those flares is because an enemy would see the C-130 as a large slow target that really needs to be stopped before it arrives. If an incoming missile isn't confused by the flares and whatever other measures the C-130 is carrying... That creates sort of a sub-optimal scenario for the aircrew.
Silver is totally trolling them by pretending to be an airplane, as if she can't take off from a standing position just fine.
I'm pretty sure ponies wouldn't build nukes in the first place.
I wonder what Silver would think if she saw the Spectre Gunship version of the C130?
7695044 Nope, that's what princesses and overpowered unicorns are for!
7686910
It would be the cutest mutually-assured destruction ever.
7686968
Lack of practice, and human dice probably aren't made quite the same as pony dice.
7686986
I would guess that the ones that go to airshows have a whole team of airmen going over them to make sure that no military secrets are accidentally left aboard.
Of course he did. He would have been a fool not to.
7687173
And according to Wikipedia, they're slated to remain in service until 2045.
It's not just the wings, but if it's got a pressurized cabin, it can develop cracks in the skin which fail catastrophically.
i.ytimg.com/vi/tTab0XtXzfg/hqdefault.jpg
7687192
Of course she isn't. Heck, she's a prime target because she's probably never heard one before she got to Earth.
7687325
7687326
I think henceforth we should all refer to solar panels as 'leaves.'
You know that they're getting along well when the stories start "so there I was."
So, essentially like Firefly, but real?
Yeah, the transport planes aren't as sexy as the fighters or even the bombers, but damn, the things that they go through. I read once a story from a pilot who was ferrying parts for an antenna in a DC-3, and when he took off, the antenna--which hadn't been strapped down--slid to the tail, moving his CG so far aft he couldn't put the nose down, and so he kept the engines at maximum RPM while his co-pilot got back in the cargo area and started moving things forward.
7687463
Well, that's something I didn't know.
Given how much the government has spent on the F-35, they probably could replace the B-52 or the C-130 if they really wanted to, but why bother? Both airplanes do really well at their tasks, and it's not likely that you could come up with something significantly better.
7687480
That's about the second-worst thing that you can hear from your pilot. #1 is either "hold my beer and watch this," or "smoke 'em if you've got 'em."
The best airplanes (and birds) don't land well, because they don't belong on the ground.
There's a mostly-military (or perhaps all military; I don't remember their inventory) museum next to the Air Force Base.
7687382
Yes, thanks!
If you squint, it's essentially the same process. Slightly different steps to get there, but more or less the same end result.
Yes, because she rarely bleeds off all her airspeed when in flight.
So did Al Packer.
There are good strategies in Monopoly, and while you can't assure a victory, you can play the odds.
Fixed, thank you!
7687498
Correction made; thank you!
If you can get both of them quick, then they're an okay investment, but the light blues are better, and not much more expensive. Better odds of people landing on them.
7688076
Given that they can potentially make things lighter by using their magic on some other object (like how Fluttershy's carrying her frog-cart), that might make it even better.
"We can make it fly higher and faster if we have a couple of pegasi aboard."
"Doing what?"
"Just standing there--they don't have to do anything."
7688103
The local high school here builds submersible ROVs, which is really cool. The only thing I ever got to build in school was a napkin holder,
7688240
Seriously, start thinking about what a useful multifunction aircraft a pegasus is, and every air force would want some of them. They're all-weather capable, too, and stealthy.
7688333
Silver Glow, spaceship pilot.
7688341
65.media.tumblr.com/476705f0b6445c1d17c95f51982a9294/tumblr_n6pky7lDJH1txx6x7o2_1280.jpg
7688516
Thanks!
Yeah, those things aren't exactly sneaky. But they're not really meant to be.
And you can land it on an aircraft carrier and take off again. That still blows my mind.
7688662
IIRC, that's what the strategy guide said, too. I figured Silver Glow wouldn't get all the odds right the first time she played it, though.
7689176
That is exactly where the gear came from.
7689362
If the portal showed unexpectedly, that would certainly be a surprise for everyone.
"Oh, hi, guys! What do you do in this room? And why are you reaching for a red telephone?"
7689383
You can fly an airbus with part of the wing missing after a missile strike; I bet you can do the same with a C-130. Still, not an optimal scenario. I'm sure that thing's basically a sitting duck for almost any anti-aircraft weapon.
Of course, that's why they have little friends.
belgian-wings.be/webpages/navigator/photos/airshows/Kleine%20Brogel%2012Sep14/C130-Escort-DBx-IMG_4737.jpg
7693223
Of course she is. Although it's easier for her to get aloft if she picks up some speed on the ground first.
Related: apparently, when there are airplane pilots flying on the Goodyear Blimp, what the blimp's flight crew likes to do is a proper takeoff roll, angle the nose up, and then cut the engines. Freaks out airplane pilots every time.
Probably not, but you never know.
7699191
Out of curiousity, are there any other aircraft which carry howitzers? When you've got something that you need to make disappear and an A-10 won't get the job done . . .
Wait. They actually finished a game of Monopoly in a few hours? What dark sorcery is this?
7763905
It's possible, if one player gets lucky with his dice and nabs the good streets first and early they can expand rapidly while everybody else just loses more and more until they go bankrupt.
7763905 Plot twist: the winner to that game was AlphaGo.
7906433
Related:
7687001
I am really appreciating this post/username combo.
7763905
If you play by the rules in the box and not house rules the game is surprisingly easier and quicker. So free parking is just a free space, no money for landing on. Plus if someone doesn't purchase a property it goes up for auction. Are actual rules people do not use, but should.
8078960
The 'free space' thing is something I only learned about in college; we always used to play it where you got nothing for landing there. And I think that when I was a kid, we did the auction thing, too, but subsequently, nobody's played with that rule.
My brother and I also came up with some other variations on the game which involved using other money to buy cars, since we had wads of other fake money and lots of Matchbox cars and Micro Machines.
7687001
AN-225 Mriya scoffs in your general direction
9269674
Yes, but can the AN-225 land on an aircraft carrier?
7688662
I read a book on Monopoly strategy. According to the book, owning the light blues is a viable strategy. They are cheap to develop + going around Go, you are likely to hit them. They fade in value as the game goes on because they don't have much bankrupting power.
Also, according to the book Go is the most landed on square & rolling a 6 or 8 lands you on a light blue
9333092
I looked at a few Monopoly strategy guides to come up with Silver Glow’s strats. I figured that she’d be decent at stats and probability, certainly better than I am, so she’d have a decent strategy, but she would also be unfamiliar with the game, and that would wind up costing her in the end. As I recall, she wound up playing some elements of the best strategy and some that weren’t.
9272872
I bet it could! Once. But it wouldn't be in great shape afterwards. ...Nor would the carrier.
My favorite part of the whole exchange between the Air Force pilots and Silver Glow is imagining them beholding a living, breathing, talking, flying, magical mythical alien from another dimension, and she's like "holy smokes, Earth is amazing: I learned to make pancakes!"
10519385
Sort of do a belly flop on the deck and hope for the best?
That’s kind of how they landed SAS flight 751 in a forest.
Pancake-making is a very important skill.
7913666
Yep, still appreciating it.
I lol'd. Dad jokes are still jokes.