September 9

Meghan woke up before her alarm, which was kinda odd. So I asked her and she said that she was getting kind of nervous about school starting again plus it was also her last day at work and she was going to kind of miss work.

I knew what she was thinking, 'cause I was kind of thinking the same thing. Sometimes change was really uncomfortable, even when it was good. You couldn't help but be a little bit nervous about it. And so I put my head down on her chest and nuzzled her under the chin and she asked if I wanted to go horseback riding tomorrow because it might be our last chance to do it together. And I thought that would be fun, so I said that I would and maybe I'd fly out to the stables today and tell Deanne. She said that I could just call her and I guess I could but that would give me somewhere to go today. And I could get groceries on the way back, 'cause there was a Meijer that wasn't too far out of the way.

Meghan said that since she was awake she might as well get up and so she went to the bathroom and then I had a turn and when I came back out she was sitting on the papasan with a blanket around her. And I sat down on her lap, and she petted my back and said that it was a shame that the window didn't face east. I said that we could go out on the balcony but even then we wouldn't see the morning sun, and she said that she was a little bit underdressed for a trip out on the balcony.

I told her that I didn't think the birds would mind and she said they probably wouldn't, then when I turned my head away she pulled the blanket down and when I saw I leaned up against her chest and she closed the blanket around my head.

That was a pretty comfortable place to be, so I just closed my eyes and let her pet my back until her alarm went off and her pocket telephone was still near the futon, and she had to get up to turn it off.

After I let her out of the papasan she said that we might as well make breakfast and maybe we'd have time to eat it before she got ready for work. All I had left was oatmeal and hay and one piece of casserole that we hadn't eaten last night, so she filled up the electric kettle and started heating the water then leaned back against the counter and said that tomorrow we'd have a proper breakfast because it didn't feel like cooking if all she had to do was put water in a kettle.

I kind of liked that, though. I guess to her it was pretty simple but when I got back to Equestria it wasn't going to be that easy to make hot oatmeal or anything else. Not unless I got to be close to an earth pony and then maybe I could use her stove in exchange for making sure her garden always got the right amount of rain.

Meghan asked me what was going to happen to my furniture and I didn't know. I wanted to keep the papasan in the dorm room 'cause it was comfy and Peggy would like it too, but there wasn't much else that would fit in a dorm room and even if it did I couldn't take it back to Equestria with me. I'm sure that Mister Salvatore and Miss Cherilyn knew that. Maybe they would sell it to someone else, or maybe they would keep it in case the next pegasus wanted it.

It was nice to have time for breakfast without being too rushed, and when we were done eating, I brushed Meghan's hair while she was getting dressed.

I put all my flight gear in my saddlebags and she strapped them on, then filled up my camelback for me and helped me put that on. I'd have to take it off again to put on my flight vest, but that was okay.

We got to her apartment before her friend, so she helped me put on my vest and then we went out on the porch and waited for her friend to arrive.

Once she'd gone to work, I called the airplane directors and told them that I was flying out to Galesburg, and the grumpy man said it was okay as long as I stayed under his flight paths.

So I took off from the porch and climbed up and over the house, then took a fairly straight route across downtown. I climbed a little bit as I went but not too much—there wasn't any need for it.

I followed along the railroad tracks and I was almost all the way to the stables when I remembered that one time when I'd come there early, Deanne hadn't been there yet. But then I decided that was okay, because even if she wasn't I could still spend some time with the horses.

When I got to where the electric wires were, I angled north and flew kinda along their path until I could see the stables and then I went directly over there and circled above. When I was upwind of the stables I heard Henry give a friendly whinny, and then Hoshi too, so I whinnied back and dropped down into their parking lot. Deanne's red truck was there so she must have been around somewhere and since I didn't see her in the training field that meant she was probably in the barn.

I went inside and the dog followed me in and then sat down in the doorway and started thumping his tail on the ground and he looked so happy I kind of wished I had a treat to give him.

Henry was out in the aisleway, a little ways down from his stall. He was all saddled up and tied to the post outside next to Hoshi's stall, and he and Hoshi were rubbing noses which was really cute. And Deanne was in his stall with a shovel which can't have been a fun way to start her day.

Well, I probably should have greeted Deanne first but Henry noticed me and whinnied again so I trotted up to him and let him nuzzle me and I nuzzled him back, then I flew up to the stall door and nuzzled Hoshi, too, which wasn't easy at all. She pushed me back 'cause she was over-enthusiastic.

That got Deanne's attention and she came out to see what was going on so I waved at her and she asked if I wanted to help her muck out a stall. I didn't, really, but I said I could if she had a short shovel. And she said that she'd just been kidding and I didn't need to unless I really wanted to, and then she said that she was going to go around the obstacle course and I could watch if I wanted to, or she could do that later and we could ride together, and I told her that I hadn't planned on riding today but I didn't mind watching her and maybe I'd try the course, too, once she was done with it.

Just then someone called for landing clearance and Henry turned his ears and looked over at me 'cause he was trying to figure out who was talking and that was pretty funny. I lifted up my hoof and turned off my radio so that wouldn't happen again.

When she got done, she took the wheelbarrow outside and dumped it in a muck pile, then put some fresh bedding down in the stall. And she unroped Henry and led him outside, and he was kind of tugging at his lead rope when he saw the course set out.

So she ran around the course for a while and I watched from the fence and shooed the dog away a couple of times, then she walked him around the outside a few laps to cool him down and it was my turn.

I'd never tried it with all my gear on and I probably shouldn't have because the first time through I lost my airplane radio on my sixth landing and had to stop so that I could put it back in my saddlebags. But after that I did well, and I went around the course twice more for practice and then did a pretty quick run just for the fun of it.

When I was done we went back to the washing area and she asked if I wanted the hose, too, but I said that I'd rather not get undressed and then have to get dressed again.

While she was unsaddling Henry, I told her that me and Meghan wanted to come out tomorrow and ride if we could, 'cause school was about to start again and we didn't think we'd have another chance. So she said that was okay, and that she'd be here and she'd try not to wear Henry out too much before.

When she brought him back to his stall he sniffed at the new bedding and then peed on it so that all the other horses would know that it was his, then he stuck his nose in his oat bucket and started eating.

I said goodbye to Deanne and then flew out of the barn and the dog followed on the ground until I got over the trees and lost sight of him.

It was almost straight west to the Meijer—I knew that it was a little bit north, too, but I'd wait until I saw it rather than guess—and I flew over a little lake that I'd never seen before, which had a nice little park next to it.

Meijer was a little bit south of me, and I flew over the roof then looked for one of the little islands to land on. Since there weren't any right near the entrance, I landed alongside the building instead after making sure that there weren't any cars coming.

Even though all the Meijers have the same name, they're not the same inside and I was on the wrong end of the store. And when I got down to the grocery aisles, they weren't arranged the same way as I was used to either, but there were big signs at the end of every aisle that told you where some things were and I guess if you were really familiar with it you'd know what went with what, but I had to wander around a little bit to find everything that I needed.

It wasn't too smart to shop when you were hungry, 'cause you'd buy too much food. So every time I got tempted I reminded myself that unless it would keep in the dorm room or it was something that me and Meghan would eat over the weekend, not to buy it. And also that I'd be having dinner with Jeff, so I shouldn't eat too much for lunch.

I did get some beer to share and I also found they had a set of ice chests by the bakery that had some food which was already made for you and so I thought I'd try the package of sushi that they had.

I ate that out in the parking lot, and it wasn't all that good.

I followed the road back to Kalamazoo, 'cause it angled right towards downtown, and when I got back to my apartment I put all the food away and took a shower.

I sat out on the balcony to dry off and I also read Joel, which was pretty short. He said that locusts had come and eaten everything and I guess that they were like parasprites. And then he said how God was coming like a prairie fire and that all His enemies would fear Him and that God was going to give the Israelites food to replace what they had lost to the locusts, as long as they stopped being bad.

I put my Bible away and flew over to Aric's house, and Angela was in the backyard sunning herself and reading a book so I thanked her for keeping the bird feeder full and then told her that Jeff was having one more barbeque and that she and David were invited, and she said that they'd be there, and she also said that they'd used up the last of the birdseed so if I had extra they could take it back with them after dinner or else I could tell Aric to bring some back from Indiana with him.

If I'd known, I could have got some at Meijer, although then I thought about how hard it would have been to fly back carrying it so maybe it was better that I hadn't. I probably would have wound up dropping it on a car or something.

When I got back home, I saw that I had gotten a telephone telegram from Peggy, and she said that she was leaving tomorrow morning and would spend the night somewhere in Missouri and then be back sometime on Sunday and she asked if I needed anything from Colorado.

I couldn't think of anything, so I told her to have a good trip and I was really looking forward to being roommates again.

Then I went over to Jeff's a little bit early, 'cause Trinity and Lindy and Caleb were playing in the backyard, tossing a frisbee back and forth and so I joined them, and I kind of lost track of time until Jeff came out and lit the grill. And I should have gone back to my house and brought over the beer at least, but we were having too much fun for that.

Meghan found me in the backyard—she was almost to my apartment when I saw her and I called out and she went up to the fence and asked what we were doing and I said that we were playing frisbee, and I had Caleb toss it at me and then flew up in the air to catch it, and she thought that was the funniest thing ever and made us do it again so that she could take a movie with her portable telephone.

She said that she was going to drop her bag off at my apartment and I asked her if she could bring the beer back with her. She said that it wasn't fair that I was having all the fun while she had to work and I stuck my tongue out at her 'cause I knew she was joking.

It was kind of sad that this was our last barbeque together, and I was going to miss them. All the neighbors who came wished me well in school and they said that it had been fun seeing me flying around the neighborhood. And I gave Trinity another ponyback ride around the backyard, and we stayed out eating and talking for a while until it started to rain just a little bit, and then people started to leave.

When me and Meghan were the only ones left, Jeff crouched down and shook my hoof and thanked me for taking the kids Pokemon hunting, and said that whenever I wanted to come by after school I'd be welcome, which was really nice of him.

We went back to my apartment and I told Meghan that Deanne said it was okay to go riding with her tomorrow, and I told her that I'd also run the course again and then I remembered that my GoPro had probably still been filming, 'cause I hadn't thought to turn it off, and so she attached it to my computer and got the movie out of it and she had to do some looking before she found it, and that was a lot more strange to watch than any other movie I'd taken, 'cause it was really bouncy. It didn't feel like I bounced that much when I was on my hooves and I thought that maybe one of the straps had gotten loose, even though they'd been tight when I took off my flight gear.

She said that was probably normal, and it just looked weird because my mind ignored the bounciness.

And then she asked if she could put it on YouTube and I said that she could, so she started doing that and I hopped up on her lap.

While we waited for it to load I unbuttoned her blouse and she rubbed my ears and ran her fingers through my mane, and she was half-undressed by the time the movie finally was on the internet, and I had to stop 'cause there were a couple more things she had to do and I was in her way.

When she was done she turned off my computer and I got off her lap so that she could get out of the chair, and she took off her bra and hung it on the chair, and took her pants off but she kept finding excuses to not take her panties off 'cause she was teasing me and so I held my tail up and kept on teasing her, too, and then she reached into her bag and got out my new toy and said that it was time to try it out.

Next Chapter: September 10 [Riding in the Rain] Estimated time remaining: 29 Hours, 59 Minutes