Hippo

Applejack was blinded by the glint. Not of the golden bits set on the counter, but by the sequence that rained from Moonlight's mane and tail. Her cousin certainly had become quite the pony girl. Applejack knew that it was amazing to see younger generations get older, transforming themselves into better ponies with more mature aspirations, but Moonlight was a case all her own. If Applejack somehow achieved ascendancy and became an alicorn, it would still pale in comparison to Moonlight's overhaul. And what's best is that she shared her joyous identity with others. A certain red pegasus had some exclusive rights, but even the other creatures around the unicorn were positively dazzled by her ability to use her talents to improve their lives. The only downside is that no one could ever tell her to shake what her mother gave her. The pause was entertaining, as Applejack looked at her cousin with love. So many awkward kisses had come through and it pushed Applejack's attitude farther than she could muster at times. But this was normal. She had no problems with the affection she could give her favorite cousin. And anypony who would snicker a cousin-loving joke would get a buckfull in the face. Despite her age, Applejack still got it. Applejack stepped out from behind her table and reached into Moonlight's face. The warmth of the mare was inviting, and no sweat was beading down her pelt. Applejack couldn't say the same. Applejack eyed a space just above the unicorn's brow. Her cotton candies bangs revealed just enough space for her to invade it with her apple flavored lips. As she made contact with the unicorn's forehead, she reached around her neck with a hoof and embraced her cousin for a few seconds, allowing the two pony's heads to contribute to a display of familial love that would be unmistakable had anyone seen it. Her lips detached but she remained close. "I love you, cousin."

Luna enjoyed Pyro's ability to talk frankly. She preferred that. She didn't always enjoy asking the simple questions, but sometimes they were necessary in order to make sure the pony she was dreaming with understood their own situation before they started explaining why a solution might not be possible. "Everypony deals with anger differently, and its often because of their life experience that allows them to sort it out in different ways. It's sounds to me your problem is that your fuse is too short, or maybe you bottle your emotions too well." With her magic, the princess opened a portal above them that showed a flashback of Luna's life. It showed her and Celestia playing as younger sisters but also having arguments and fueds. "My sister." Luna chuckled as she witnessed her own memories. "Is sometimes too much. But her presence in my life helped me gain perspective and lengthen my ability to deal with others and my own emotions." The portal shrunk and vanished. "Do you have somepony in your life that can help you sort out your emotions? Sometimes not having someone to spill to makes it harder than it needs to be to control your anger."

Granola beamed at the shine of her customer's golden bits, scooping them into her coffer underneath her table. Bits were an important part of the process that made this whole marketplace thing work. But she was one who liked to hide them away from open sight so that she could focus on the other important things that the marketplace brought, which is meeting others and gossip. "Wow. Prance! I've never been. I've heard their iris cultivation is pretty interesting. Nothing like the common iris plants we can grow here." Granola rolled her eyes up and comically pointed out her observation. This mare had left her home in Prance to live in a town Granola would suggest is still a quaint village that had recently seen some new population growth. "It's interesting how we find places we've been less interesting than the places we venture to go." Granola started shuffling around her table making sure her destemmed plants are taken care of and are not starting to wilt. "The school definitely has brought a lot of attention to Ponyville though. Oh! You asked about the school. Um, have you met Prince Blueblood?" Granola looked to the left randomly. "Or is it Bluebelle?" She looked back up. "Anyway, since Princess Twilight is doing her royal things in Canterlot now, she left somepony in charge in her stead. Although, we all know Starlight Glimmer is probably going to be the permanent headmare down the road." Granola looked up and confused again. "I think? Look, it wouldn't be so odd to suggest that I'm not all that in the know around here. I tend to keep to my plants four or five days out of the week, usually." Granola grabbed a water can and started drizzling her display of foliage.

Zareb saw his only belongings being taken to the school via carrier pony. He truly felt violated while at the same time honored to have such a service provided to him. He had only stories and no real time experience with the ponies of Ponyville to trust them this much, but this was why he was here. "Oh yes, I am very excited to see who I get to live with during my studies here. I'm sure they are as eager to friendmake as I am." Having been asked about beverages, Zareb smirked at the offering of rooibos, a common brew from his culture. "Haha, I did not come all this way to drink something I know all too well. What kind of unique drinks do you prepare here in Ponyville? I hear the apple cider here is a must try. Have any of that on hoof?" The zebra challenged, wondering if the fabled cider is as coveted and rare as he had heard from travelers' oral tales.

Having heard Moonlight's explanation that something questionable in the eyes of a familial protector happened at the school involving this colt, Applejack's back tensed up and her brow lifted. She was getting concerned that maybe the way Moonlight was explaining this young stallion was not necessarily in opposition to how rambunctious and dirty the minds of colts can be, but rather showing light in on the way the young unicorn was projecting her style. Even a mare like Applejack had to reserve herself in front of other colts and stallions through the years. The wrong accidental touch of the flank or inappropriate gesture to somepony you're not that close with, could result in a misunderstanding of mutual respect and feelings. "Wow." She expressed her embarrassment for Moonlight. "Um, Sugarcube, are you sure you're not doing anything that might be leading him on a little too much? I know you like like him, but like, you never want to show him too much of yourself too soon. He might get the wrong idea." What idea that might be was any guess Applejack couldn't make. Granny Smith had always warned Applejack on the misgivings of intention some colts had, but even she as a filly was known to do some pretty stupid things. "I know you spent a lot of time with Rarity, and I'm sure she has rubbed off on you a lot. Being taught how to be ladylike is pretty important." Applejack couldn't believe she would ever need to say these words. "Even I know when to let somepony else do the walkin'. I sometimes worry that you might still have that little colt attitude in you. If this guy likes you, it probably wont be the same as when you two were friends as colts." Applejack picked up a basket of apples with her back and hoisted it over to a wagon full of apples. "Even though I was a rough and tumble filly, even I knew that my fillyfriends and coltfriends had different ways of being. I wouldn't talk to a colt the same way I would talk to Rarity. Do you find yourself talking differently now?" Applejack knew no matter what the answer was, it was going to be a lesson. If Moonlight had properly adjusted, then it would mean she needs to approach a familiar friendship in a completely different way. But if she hadn't changed and was continuing her social relationships the same way she always had, then it required an understanding that while the social space of fillies and colts often shared the same space, there were plenty of differences that made them both dynamic and troublesome for somepony who is not familiar with how the perspectives change all because of the biological makeup of a pony's physique.

"Heh, yeah. Right." Remington laughed at the band suggestion, knowing full well that Moonlight was slighting his ability to play music. She called his bluff pretty easily. This was fine, though. It didn't bother Remington, but maybe one day he'll write a song and serenade it over Moonlight under the moon's light. Who would be laughing then? However, it was now that Remington realized how overdressed he felt. He didn't normally wear pajamas unless it was cold, but he wanted to be extra comfortable with a guest in his room. But she wasn't wearing anything, not even her uniform, and it made Remington feel like maybe he overdid it. But he couldn't just undress, that would be even weirder! For now, Remington just settled on not worrying about it, and wearing proudly the soft nightwear that had several moon crescents all over. Speaking of moons, Moonlight seemed pretty opinionated on her discounting of Princess Luna. Remington tried everything within him to withhold his desire for lecture. Princess Luna was everything to him. She was his main inspiration, the reason why he goes to sleep and the reason he wakes up. Without Luna's influence on his life, he would have never come to Ponyville. He owed tonight's chance to gain favor with this special pink mare to the Princess of the Night. He saw Moonlight use her magic to take off the poster, but she was just repositioning it. Remington exhaled a concentrated sigh. How was this possible? Her name is Moonlight, for crying out loud! Let it go, Remington, let it go. He figured there would be time later for him to illustrate to Moonlight the importance of such a alicorn princess in their lives, but tonight was not the night. Remington showed concern over her hoof, but he took notice that she dramatized her own woes regarding her injury. His eyes fell half lid as his amusement over her fainting on the spare bed was lacking. "You know if you need more room to elevate your poor hoof, you can just lay in my imaginary roommate's bed all night while we study. I'm sure he wont mind." Then he remembered. "Oh, shop class!" He went to his bag next to his desk and pulled out a hair brush. "Is this yours?"

After rummaging through five cupboards, Silverstream finally found a toolbox underneath the sink. She pulled it out and set in on the kitchen table. She intended to use the tools and her knowledge of modern pulleys and rotary machines to try and fix the broken projector. But having eggplant lasagna fill the room with warming smells that advertised it's ability to be eaten, Silverstream resigned her impromptu task, at least for now. "I can't believe you made this! This looks amazing!" She took a fork and softly cut a piece of her entrée, and then put it in her mouth. It was hot. Delicious, but hot. "Owh wow!" She motioned as she ate. A quick swallow later and she smiled. "It tastes amazing. How did you get the ingredients? Did you go shopping before you came here to watch Zap Apple?" Silverstream was pretty impressed at Gallus' ability to find his way around the kitchen. It was almost as if he had lived with Rainbow Dash this whole time and no one knew because he snuck into her home when she was away on week-long flight missions with the Wonderbolts. And if this was true, Silverstream would be pretty upset at him for not inviting her over so she could see if she could possibly fit into the rainbow pony's old Wonderbolt reserves uniform. How stretchy were those uniforms? One day she hoped to find out. While waiting for her steamy lasagna to cool, she asked Gallus about his day. "So what did you guys do today? Go on any adventures? Teach him any flying tricks?"

Silverstream held in the subconscious portions of her brain the ideas the princess was introducing. The archchancellor seemed to like talking about herself and her identity and her relationships. She held in high regard the loyalty of a faithful companion. And Silverstream could relate to that, but in a much different way. Silverstream was distracted by Smolder's enjoying of one of the sandwiches, happy to see a dragon get a taste for something most scaly creatures would consider diet food. She was also distracted by the ever-so pinging thought that she wanted to share openly with the other girls her feelings for someone in her life, but held a remarkable level of restraint holding it back. It was good for her stress that the other two seemed non-urgent to get the hippogriff to squeal. Silvestream had a hard time considering somecreature else having a liking towards her little brother. Terramar was always her little brother; He was a good swim partner, a good joke listener, and a well-groomed preening partner for those hard to reach spots you would only trust a lover or family member to get at. But envisioning little T wearing a dragon-scaled tuxedo at a school dance with a made-up Smolder in his wing fold was not something Silverstream was prepared for, and she loved surprises. "Cute? Cute if you like hippogriffs that complain a lot and seaponies that are afraid of some of the dark spots in the water." Silverstream openly teased her brother who was not here to defend himself. She rolled her eyes. "I guess he is alright. I've never thought of him in that way before. I know one of my old griffriends back on Mount Aris always said she wanted to marry him." She chuckled loudly. "But that was at least five years ago. I don't even think he could fly in high altitude yet at that time." Silverstream's memory was jogged when remembered both Princess Bluebelle's royal perspective (as well as her duality predicament), and her time back in Sequestria. She was also part of a royal family. "Back at home, I'm known as Lady Silverstream because my aunt is the queen. But no one ever calls me that. My parents call me Silverstream, my friends called my Silverstream. Even the queen called me Silverstream. I'm not sure why they even have those titles." Silverstream fidgeted in silence as she started thinking more about her crush. But something perplexed her. "Princess, what do you mean two?" Silverstream never imagined that one could actually have more than one. If this was the case in Equestria, perhaps Silverstream could spread her potential love in multiple directions. But something about that seemed off, even to her.

"My lips are fine and healthy, thank you very much." Applejack rolled her eyes as the fancy unicorn gave her best Rarity impression. Applejack could understand the persnickety perspective of a pretty pony like Moonlight, but she knew who the real fashionista pony in Equestria was. "It's just that you asked for no apples with red skin, and here I thought you liked things with red skin." She punned towards Moonlight as the winking competition continued. Having fallen in love with a pegasus pony herself, Applejack knew that there was an interesting element involved in having a relationship that close with a pony with wings. Something about the idea that they could fly away from you but don't, was internally one of the most romantic things an earth pony could feel. Or unicorn, in Moony's case. "Five bits is the fairest price for the fairest pony." Applejack leaned into Moonlight's attitude. While waiting for Moonlight to dig her coltfriend's money out of her purse, Applejack slyly expressed, "Where would you like me to kiss you? I'm trying to find a spot where Remington hasn't already done the deed, but I'm having trouble figuring out where that would be."

The brown earth pony perked at the sound of her newest customer offering to pay for the lavender. "Great! It's three bits for a bundle. And one bit for a pouch of lavender seeds if you'd like them for your garden." Granola reached down and scooped some lavender seeds from her cache into a small fabric pouch used for seed carrying and tied it up with its drawstrings. She set the pouch on the table. As she listened to the golden-maned unicorn express her ignorance, Granola responded with unbridled energy. "I thought you looked new around here! Where did you come from? How long have you been here?" Granola sometimes had a horrible knack for asking personal questions at ponies she barely knows, but this time the pony seemed nice enough to oblige an answer to her curiosity. "Lotta of ponies been moving to Ponyville lately, this place is booming!" A kirin from the other side of Granola's table motioned to her attention. Without haste, Granola grabbed a pouch from underneath the table, similar to the one she had for her new customer, except larger, and gave it to the kirin. In return, the kirin tossed Granola six bits for the transaction. The kirin approached daily to get their seed orders, and Granola always made sure she had them ready. After the kirin walked off, Granola turned back to the unicorn. "A lot of non-ponies, too!"

Zareb saw an assistant who was motioned in by the Prince to grab the zebra's sacks. He had on him a saddle bag, and then also a large bag full of his stuff. The large bag was taken off his back to his physical relief, but he worried what would happen with his personal belongings. He decided to trust the help since he was probably among friends. Listening to the unicorn's explanation, Zareb knew that Twilight had become the ruler over Equestria and leader of the free and harmonious lands expanding beyond it, but he hadn't considered that the princess would have to forfeit her influence over the school itself. He was a little let down. This unicorn prince was probably in charge for good reason, having earned the respect of his peers and appointed by more valuable councilmares who entrust him to do the work that Twilight Sparkle began. But, he really was hoping to meet Twilight Sparkle today, or maybe even one of the other five mares of harmony. He was sure he would meet them eventually. "I didn't realize so much had changed. I knew about the great battle for Equestria, but I hadn't expected it to affect the school." He looked around the castle again, admiring the insides of the ceilings and decorative gemstone-plated walls. "You treat all new students like this? Well, I guess now you get to share it with one that is not a pony." He smiled, assuming all of the students thus far had been ponies. He was well aware of the atypical nature of having a zebra attend a school in Ponyville would be, but hadn't been given the enlightenment that the small Equestrian village had come a long way from only trafficking ponies in its inns and markets.

Silverstream was a little confused as to why things around her seemed to be a little dysfunctional, but once Applejack had left, the archchancellor seemed to have the right idea in mind and began delegating orders to everyone around him. His tone of voice did not leave room for any negotiating, but it also didn't offer any reason to. "Oh. Um, OK." Silverstream hovered towards the pile of treadmill parts and looked around at all of them. She was bewildered. Gallus had asked her in jest if she had read anything about cider presses. "No, nothing about cider presses, I'm not sure I can be much of help." Silverstream began rummaging through the parts and pulled out some tools such as a screwdriver, wrench and hammer. She taloned to Gallus the wrench. "This is a quarter-hoof wrench, we can't use it. We need at least three-eighths-hoof wrench, preferable one that ratchets. See if you can find one over there, Gallus." She pointed in the rubble closer to Gallus. She had no idea what she was doing, but she still knew how to identify the parts she was seeing. "I can see a rubber mallet, too. This claw hammer I have wont do us any good with these parts, they look mostly wooden. Wouldn't want to splinter any new parts." She threw the hammer to the side and started looking at the integrity of the parts. A few rummages of her claws later, and she pulled out a cog which had cracked teeth. "This looks like it might need to be replaced. Anyone know where we can get some wood?" She asked in a short radius, not giving pun to the idea that literally thousands of trees where lined up in an organized grid for as far as the eye could see.

Having the basket magically taken from her, she returned her frown into a smile as the friendly unicorn mare offered to attempt weaving it with her minor telekinesis abilities. As the weaving continued, banter about individual talents were passed back and forth between them. "Yes, rosemary as it's commonly called. But for stress relief? That one is easy!" Granola disappeared under her table and returned quickly with a bundle of lavender in her mouth. She set the bundle on the table towards the unicorn. "Lavandula angustifolia, or lavender as most people call it. You can crush the flower spikes and use it in baths or even cooking. You might already have lavender in your soaps and don't even know it! But using more would definitely help decompress from a long day with energetic screaming foals." Granola chuckled. As she invited the unicorn to inspect the lavender, she returned to what she had mentioned prior to the question on stress relief. "Oh, so you're a school teacher?" Granola scoffed in agreement when the mare mentioned the lack of enthusiasm from the fillies and colts that were coming of age. "I was asked a few moons ago to give a lecture at the school of friendship. When I did, it was mostly fine, but I didn't expect so many different kinds of students with so many different perspectives. It was kind of intimidating. At least for me. I have no teaching talents, but I'm sure you would be way better than I was."

Luna observed the crackles in the imaginary campfire. The sparks and glowing embers seemed chaotic while at the same time completely predictable. The longer she waited, the more likely the fire would snap its quiet rage. "Do you think you're unique in that regard?" Luna tilted her head to the side, giving Pyro a little intellectual pressure. "I think everyone struggles with acting out while they are angry. And everyone is responsible for controlling their own emotions. But sometimes your friends can help." Luna magically spawned a fresh wooden log and carefully placed it in the fire, spewing embers for a moment before succumbing the slow roll of flame. "Pyro, why do you let yourself get so angry?"

Bluebelle's mode of speaking was not typical and Silverstream would struggle with deciphering some of the syntax she would speak. She was very formal about the way she presented her remarks, but the tone was often hard to discern. Silverstream chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of her head. "Heh, yeah. Half a dozen, that would be crazy. Who has time for that!?" Silverstream had successfully dodged her own desires to express herself, but for the time being she had a tangent that allowed her to delay it even more. Smolder asked about her brother Terramar, and the possibility of him coming to Ponyville to study, and do other things that did not involve study. "Oh yeah, I think he wants to come, but Mom and Dad don't want him to until he is a little older. Next year at the earliest, I think. Why?" Silverstream paused and then made a goofy smile. "Do you like my little brother?"

As Moonlight explored his room, he was nervous about what she would find. It seemed like she was looking for something in particular. Sweat started beading down his brow when Moonlight glanced at different corners of his room. Was there too much dust? Was she checking for spider webs? Why is this so nerve-wrecking. "Oh yeah, Miracle. Yeah she's a hoot." Remington returned the tone to his friend. When she picked up his guitar he wondered if she was going to play something, but instead teased him about a possible music profession he had aspired. "Oh, um, yeah I dabble. I'm actually not that good though, I'm just trying to learn." He hoped she didn't ask him to play anything, because after six months of casual strumming and musing, he hadn't even mastered songs with two chords. Then she commented on his Princess Luna poster. He hadn't thought it odd but now that she mentioned it, he wondered if it was a bit much. He failed to see her words as plain teasing though. He smiled, but died a little inside. "You don't like Princess Luna?" When she asked about gym, she sat on his non-roommate's desk chair. He immediately noticed her hoof wrapped up. "No flying today, we played this new game no one understood except this one guy who was basically a professional. Hey, is that like a new hoof style or," Remington approached her realizing how she was favoring her hoof. "Are you hurt?"

What a mare she had grown into. Moonlight was a catch, even Applejack was smitten by her ability to be an amazing cousin. It seemed like yesterday she was showing an orange foal around the farm to do chores that would nearly kill them. Most ponies got word that magic help turn this pony into the dazzler she is now, but Applejack knew good that hard-workin' tough-lovin' apple-eatin' earth pony magic had a huge role to play in who she became. And she was still so young, too. How many more healthy sore muscles could Applejack squeeze out of Moonlight before the age of time took them both too far to play that traditional farm pony game? And such was a pony who matured before Applejack's eyes, Moonlight had places to be and boyfriends to cuddle with, she meant business. "No red skin apples?" She looked at her mostly depleted inventory. "I have a bushel of golden delicious, but too many of them got bruises. I have about half a bushel of ginger golds. How about I jus' take out the bruises golden delicious and give you a mix bushel." Applejack didn't hesitate for Moonlight to agree with her. In the event the pretty unicorn was not satisfied with such a suggestion, Applejack would find ways for her to conform to her sales pitch. She began tossing golden delicious apples that had been bruised and partially smashed into a spare bucket, and tossed the rest of the golden delicious apples that would survive a good week on the shelf with the ginger golds. "If you ever can't tell the two apart, ginger golds are a brighter yella and they have a more tart taste to them than golden delicious." Applejack finished piling up the bushel of apples, trying to make it as generous as possible for her favorite cousin. "Why do you need so many apples? Do you really need to study that much? Or is this for two ponies?" Applejack smirked. "You know, I learned form Rainbow Dash that pegasus ponies don't burn as many calories as you think they would. You wouldn't want to make the poor guy fat feeding him apples now would you?"

"Zap Apple? Oh that name is so adorable!" Silverstream turned to Zap, her pupil's enlarged and glossy. "You hungry, little guy?" Zap seemed indifferent overall. He was being torn by his emotions and his excitement and didn't really know how to feel. The film was still very upsetting to him. He might have nightmares about it, or even scary daydreams that make him stressed. He still wasn't satisfied with being foalsat by a griffin, especially one that smelled funny. Zap had been pressured to deal with him, but still didn't trust him completely. And then there was the angel. The pink birdy. Zap was really fascinated with Silverstream. She was very pretty, had a lighthearted profile and stance, and had a bubbly personality that made his heart float. She wasn't as brash or as athletically attractive as his mother, but he was entranced by the hippogriff's ability to charm him. "Mmhmm." Silverstream followed Gallus into the kitchen. "No manticores, but you should have seen it! There were some amazing waterfalls and forests with big trees, caves that had millions of bats in it. It was crazy! Fortunately though I just flew over all the danger." Silverstream was interrupted of her trip by the realization that Gallus was cooking something. "You know how to cook!? What did you make?" While Silverstream asked and listened, she went looking into the cupboards for a toolbox. Zap sat in the living room, letting his teared-up cheeks air dry. He could see the winged students in the kitchen talking amongst themselves about something he didn't care about. And when he turned his head, he could see the front door of the house wide open. He started thinking about what would happen if he left right now. Would he find his mothers? Could he safely hover to the ground without getting hurt?

When he had peaked through the double doors at the castle's entrance, no one was there to greet him. It seemed odd at first that the door was unlocked in the first place. His imagination of a place like Canterlot was full of descriptions of heavy guarded towers, security details around the clock, and constant surveillance during nighttime activity. It was midday, and Ponyville, but he at least expected a guard pony to check his paperwork. Where Zareb was from, the threat of constant invasion of aggressive animals species and misunderstood tribes was never an afterthought. As primitive as some of the smaller villages were, even those that didn't have the means of massive structural resources, a wooden gate with a zebra holding a spear was the least you would come across. But this was Ponyville, and his expectations continued to evolve. He walked into the castle slowly, checking around him to make sure he wasn't violating any rules of engagement. Instead of looking diligently for a poster that would share such rules, he found himself amazed at the structural design of the walls. Everything was crystalline in natural, almost as if the several millennia of time had sculpted the castle into existence itself. Nothing was straight, but it didn't need to be, it found a way to symmetrical even when the jagged gem-like pillars randomly jutted out of the shiny floors. This was Ponyville right? Not the Crystal Empire? Zareb began considering the possibility he had gotten off the wrong stop, but suddenly, a white unicorn stallion wearing a crimson red suit softly stepped in front of him and greeted him, first in Zareb's native language, and then again in the common tongue. Impressed by the unicorn's ability to speak as if he was familiar with Unyasian culture, he responded quickly with a typical parable. "Kichaka kina miiba, lakini mimi ni mchanga." He smiled. "I've never traveled so far in my life, but I'm still willing to go further." Zareb looked around, gesturing with his curiosity of the place he was in. "Is this the right place? I have arrived to be apart of Princess Twilight Sparkle's school of friendship."

"Been doing so ever since I decided to start my own flora laboratory. Everypony who's anypony has a greenhouse, right?" Not everypony had a greenhouse. "But not everypony has a workshop where they dedicate themselves to tap into the different kinds of plants and how we can better understand them. For instance, did you know that the stems of rosemarinus officionalis can help relieve sore muscles?" Granola was excited that this pony seemed to engage in her discussions of plants to this extent. Typically, by the time she started spitting out the old ponish terms for the items she surrounds herself with, the ponies she's talking to would start ignoring her and walk away. Having been relieved that the customer was not, in fact, a potential rival in the growing market, Granola had to guess what kind of pony she was. "So you have a ring of flowers as a cutie mark, but not really for flowers." Cutie marks were sometimes a direct correlation to a pony's destined occupation, but more often than not, the symbols had an ambiguity to them that could not easy be discerned over with a few words. "Do you make things into circles?" Granola grabbed an unwoven basket beneath her table. "Because if so, I have this basket that I'm trying to weave into a circle, but I can't... seem...to...get...it...to...stay..." Granola was forcing the weaves of the basket to take a rounder shape, but it bounced back to its triangular resting state, snapping several twigs, sending them harmlessly flying everywhere in a three meter radius. "...round."

My OC Zap Apple is 3 and a half years old now, seems like yesterday he was a newborn foal. Though it seems likely the intention within the universe of Equestria in the show was that foals were like elementary kids and the students in the school of friendship are around teenage years, I have been thinking about how I want to age Zap for the future. He may never see older ages simply because we don't typically RP that much in the future, but because of how Season 9 ended, and how I have been building on the development of Applejack and Rainbow Dash's son, it makes sense to me to go ahead and start paving the way for his stallionhood. Most of his RPs will still be foal-based, but I wanted to give room for him to be able to have those interactions with other young mares and stallions. This means a lot of things, it means I need to building new visuals for what he looks like. I always like the idea of him having a rainbow mane, but his apple roots are also very monocoloristic. So I decided to do a bit of both. When he was born, he basically had yellow and orange colors in his mane. As he got older, some of the more colorful mane colors he gets from his pegasus mother would start to show themselves. As a young stallion, I feel like a few locks of green in his mane seems appropriate. In the end, may not ever have an indigo or purple, but maybe a blue. It's not fun to me for him to just have exactly the same kind of colors Rainbow Dash has in her hair. I wanted it to be unique, while still pertaining to the principle of a rainbow mane and tail. Now, let's talk about cutie mark. When I created Zap, I had no idea what his cutie mark would be, but there are the obvious suggestions. It's worth noting if you don't know this, I did not name my OC. Steel and foxxy as players of the mothers named my OC in character, while I went ahead and based on the name, designed his colors. Up to this point, I haven't made any concrete decisions about his cutie mark or what his destiny will be, but I have made an executive decision now. His cutie mark, will in fact, be a zap apple. What this cutie mark means could be as simple or as nuanced as I see fit, and I do not have a cutie mark story just yet. But I value the heritage of the apple family and want to honor him being a part of that story with a cutie mark that matches the rest of his family. I could have added wings, but I figured the more simple it is, the better. Rainbow Dash is represented her side of the family with the colors of the cutie mark, and also the apple stem that is a lightning bolt shape. What the cutie mark means is not fully realized, but I'm pretty sure it'll have to do with struggling against adversity, and/or adapting to change and rituals. Zap Apple harvest time has a lot of hidden metaphors that are ripe for the picking. Whether or not we explore those ideas in role play remains to be seen, but I will probably use that kind of idea to explain how Zap Apple becomes a stallion and learns his special talent. If you're interested in RPing with Zap Apple, or becoming part of his history, let me know and maybe we can start a new story. Happy playing!

updated 7/31/2020.