Hippo

And speaking of Starlight, here she was as well levitating her own newly purchased apples. Well, at least Silverstream was in the right place. "Councilor Starlight! Hey, yeah. I'm here to pick up some apples for this week's study sessions. Sandbar was tired of always doing it, so I volunteered to do it this week. I hope I'm in the right place, I never asked him where he gets the apples. I just assumed wherever the apple trees are." She saw the amount of apples Starlight was carrying and grew surprised. "Ho! So you can get apples here!" Smolder walked up to Silverstream and asked her about the area. Silverstream hung a talon on her beak. "I'm not actually completely sure. I'm just here to get some apples for the study session this week." Silverstream had not noticed the mentioning of kisses. "Councilor Starlight here just got some and I can see Professor Applejack up there so I assume she can help me. What are you doing here, Smolder?" She asked with a curious smile. Applejack looked at her list of sales so far today. Eighty-four. That's eighty-four individual sales of apples. Eighty-four minimum of one bushel. Eighty-four smooches off the earth pony's lips. Of course not all of them ended up being her responsibility, but it might as well have been eight hundred and four as it felt as much. But they were close to the end of the day and close to the end of their sales requirements. Applejack had to hoof it to her sister, this really was a great idea for a sale. She just hoped that it didn't mean she would be getting love letters in the mail from misled customers in the weeks to come. Having taken inventory of her sales sheet and her chest of bits she waited for her next customer. "Next!" When she looked ahead, she saw who it was but didn't believe it for a few seconds. She stepped out from behind the selling booth and approached her newest patron. "Rara?" She greeted with pleasure. "What're you doing here?" She asked as she went to hug her old fillyfriend.

Silverstream jumped up and hovered to the chair in front of Starlight's desk, and landed onto it gracefully. She started to explain herself slowly, but as she went into detail of her thoughts, her tone and rate of talking began to escalate involuntarily. "So, I'm so glad that I have friends here at the school. They are the best friends I've ever had and I am so thankful to have them. But, I started realizing that there are some students at the school that are no longer here because they either graduated or they found another purpose in their life that took them somewhere else. And that's when I realized, what if after we graduate we all go our separate ways and never see each other again? What if I have to continue friendship studies in Seaquestria without my friends? Is that a bad thing? Is it bad that I would be learning about things without my friends?" Silverstream thought out loud as she continued her rant. Her concern was that of the future, one she was very well aware of having been involved in several life-altering changes in her life. She was born a seapony, taught about how her kind escaped the tyranny of the Storm King but then accepted transformation into hippogriff culture to help reshape Mount Aris society until she was encouraged by her royal family to attend the academy to learn about friendship. Knowing that things can sometimes rapidly change, she was anticipating the next shift, but this was the first time she had regrets about the possibility of change and it was all because of the time she had spent with her friends she met at the academy. "I know that some things change sometimes, but it doesn't feel right that someone would have to lose friendships." She held out her claws and began counting her talons. "Gallus, Smolder, Yona, Sandbar, Ocellus, even the professors, headmare Twilight... ...you." Silverstream put her claws to her face. "I don't want to lose touch with any of them."

Zap was starting to get a little impatient because he could tell that he wasn't doing everything correctly, even though his mother was there to cheer him on. He pensively just did as he was told when she instructed him, but did have the satisfaction of being able to accomplish his own ability, yet. Baby steps. When Rainbow controlled his wings to put them in a stretch, he winced a little and held his breath unnecessarily. He had athletic genes somewhere in him but they hadn't woken up yet, he was still very inexperienced to conditioning his own body for increased mobility, but he was also fairly young, too. He was still far ahead of the curve. "It feels rough," he said in short exhales. He was too young to appreciate joy of flexibility. Perhaps he would value it more when he got older and saw his flexibility wane. After the stretch, she bet on him to fly to a tree as fast as he could. "Yeah!" He angled towards the tree and took off at it. Because one of his wings was primed from stretching, he found it easier to flap it, but his other wing felt average causing him to have to readjust his angle of approach to the tree. In an unfavorable zig-zag, Zap bumblebeed his way to the tree and landed softly at the trunk. He looked back at his mother and smiled. "I did it!"

The dance arena was filled with seaponies dancing like zombies. Whatever music played, they matched the mood without hesitation. If the DJ flipped on a record that gave audible instructions on how to make a kelp omelette, everyfin would pull out a frying pan and start cracking. Silverstream was not foreign to that kind of environment, but being with Gallus made the moment peculiar as she could sense his bewilderment of the Seaquestria way of life. When the music changed, Silverstream had no expectations as to what Gallus would do. Sure, the seaponies around them fenced them in as they started slow-dancing so there wasn't much of an escape route, but if Gallus had chosen to sit this song out, she would not have faulted him for it. Instead, Gallus surprised her by embracing the intimacy despite his claustrophobic tendencies. He grabbed her and floated her close as the swaying became more and more routine. Shocked by his forwardness Silverstream just blushed more, bouncing her eyes from the awkwardness that continued. She wanted to say something Silverstream-ish but she wasn't herself at this moment. It wasn't very often she held herself back from displaying an outward reaction of interest, but for some reason it was heavier than she had anticipated and she couldn't find the words. She could only look around at the other seaponies who were enjoying their own intimate moments and wondering if anyfin was focusing on her and the seagriffon she was with. But before she could see her own reflection in someone else's eyes, her dancing partner attempted to shrug off the heat by commenting on how embarrassing the song and dance was, what most griffons would probably say at a moment like this. She finally looked up at him, her smile returning to normalcy and blush fading, and responded with her typical exclamations. "I know, right!? But you're actually really good at this. Have you been practicing?" She started swaying more to the music as if inviting more of those emotions that could only be conquered if expressed as feckless. Her hoofins repositioned so that she had as much of a hold of his claws as he had on her fins, and she was no longer concerned with who was watching.

Zap followed his mother in tandem up the stairs. His hooves double-timed along side Applejack's longer stride which was slowed so that he could keep pace. He hopped up the stairs and walked into the bedroom. He climbed onto the bed first while his mother grabbed the nightly reading material. Zap by this point had already heard most of the stories from these books several times each, sometimes in the context of different ponies and voices. But the context changed even more as he grew older and his mentality caught up with some of the complexities the stories unfolded. The wolf and the donkey was a story he had heard probably a dozen times. However, hearing this story now with the context of his very recent timberwolf experience shed more light on the reality of such a possible parable. With the wolves stronger appearance in Zap's imagination, his eyes sparkled wide as his mother told the story of a wolf in desperation. The sounds she made were entertaining, but more captivating as Zap lay silent to the subtle changes in the story. He knew the donkey got away, and he knew how it ended, but he was never sure about what happened to the wolf. The story verbatim never addressed what happened to the wolf. And so, Zap's imagination, listening skills, and wonderment combined to ask a very curious question that began pinging to his brain. She finished the story, he paused for a moment, and then spoke up. "Mommy? What is going to happen to the timberwolves now?" He was not pitying their existence, but having had such a close ordeal with them, he wondered if the would grow to resent the ponies or if he would meet them again, soon.

The few tears that escaped Zap's eyes left a dark trail of wet pelt on his face. But the moment he admitted his guilt, his mother reached in as close as possible to undo that concern, assuring him it was not his fault. His convulsing continued despite his mother's warm embrace, as it took a few moments for him to calm down from his elevated emotional state. Though his shivering and his sobbing would continue for a few seconds more, his mother vocalizing dismissing him from fault gave him a relief he wasn't sure he would feel at all. It rushed through his heart and started the healing process of getting himself back to composure. Winona hopped on the couch and served as another layer of family comfort. At first Zap wasn't feeling it from her, he didn't want the pity from a dog, even if she was part of the nuclear family. But after a few barks, Zap could not help but smile at her presence and the added encouragement coming from his mother that everything was going to be alright. Zap's sniffed slowed down and he was able to answer he most recent question with some dignity. He wanted to say the more adult thing and decline needing to sleep in the same bed as his mother, but he had a long way ahead of him and he could not help but respond as the foal he was. "Yes." He starred up at his mother and smiled, his face still wet from his episode.

While Zap's smile was currently hidden, his mother had a smirk as if she knew exactly how he felt. Tough love was in abundance between the two parents who represent the Wonderbolts and run a farm that feeds thousands of ponies. But what separated the two was Rainbow Dash was much more eager to teach him strength and tenacity before tending to his condition, whereas Applejack was quicker to protect and be nurturing at the expense of the opportunities to illustrate humility. They both taught him valuable lessons, just in different ways. Zap wasn't even done shaking the grassing off his wings before his pegasus mother positioned herself to show him how it's done. She was angling her body and her wings to show how he should use his muscles to move, but it wasn't easily obvious to Zap, he just hadn't gotten that muscle memory down just yet. So with stray blades of grass flying out of his wings as he started to flutter on the ground, he tried to angle his body so that the wings were moving the in apparent direction they should go, but he was using his legs to angle his body.

After Applejack placed her son on the couch, all he could do was sit there and look downwards, not able to crack the smallest of smiles. His mother asked him if he was alright. He wasn't, although he could account for his physical health and even his emotional damage minus a possible nightmare in the future, he could not in any sense have confidence that he was not feeling at all guilty over the night's dramatic events. The pause that she made after her question caused a silence that elevated the focus on Zap's inability to cope with his own feelings, and he started to cry. Only a few tears in, he began sniffling and he very quickly began hyperventilating. The randomness of Zap's breathing made it hard for him to say what was on his mind, even though he would rather not say anything at all. But as Mom has always taught him, being honest and telling others how you feel is very important. So in between his random inhales, he uttered his grievance. "It was, it was... all m-, my... fault..."

Gallus' claw didn't look that bad, he approved of hitting the dance floor, and Silverstream started to bubble her excitement. Swimming always did a good job of burning several calories but nothing was more energetic than seadancing, especially when the entire city was participating in attendance. The music had filled the trench with waves of all different kinds of sounds. Artificial and natural lighting sparkled a spectrum of colors across the crowds of seaponies. Silverstream swam a hyperactive zigzag towards the center of the dancing area and turned around to see Gallus follow. Immediately, she start moving her fins and her body in flowing motions not clearly tied to the rhythm of the music, which for the time being was very methodical and electronic. It seemed that magic was involved in the process of playing the music, but it wasn't obvious as to how. Silverstream made aware of Gallus' proximity and started her movements closer to him. She didn't really care about his style or quality of dancing, she just wanted to see what kind of energy he was able to display. Seapony's generally didn't have many insecurities and so, besides a few elderly seaponies, everyfin was squirming to the music. Some of them were talented, most of them were not. *record skip* And then suddenly the music changed. "Alright, this one is for all you lovers out there." The song that started playing was a slow dance song. Seaponies everywhere started coupling together, their fins locked to each other's as the song started its swaying encourages. Silverstream hesitated. She knew Gallus was far out of his element, and she wasn't sure how natural he would approach this situation. In fact, if she would take Professor Applejack's lessons to heart, she was also feeling a little challenged by the action, so much so that she blushed slightly. "Oh. Um." Silverstream didn't know how to respond or provoke a response from Gallus so she just offered her hoofins up. As the song continued, the lights fell more moody, with only dark blue and purple hues covering the floor.

Zap's fluttering sped up at the new command of moving side to side. All he had to do was a strafe. This was something he was not good at, knowing how to finesse his sideways movement seemed counter-intuitive to his understanding of the main purpose of flying which was to travel faster in the air going forward. With a trying smile, he attempted to shift his torso so that his left wing was higher than his right. Slowly, he started accelerating sideways to the right. At first barely, then noticeably, and then swiftly, he was flying strafe to his right side, able to hold a steady altitude for the time being. But he went too far. Unable to slow his lateral movement, he tried to angle his right wings up but was having trouble shifting his weight back. He could not get his back muscles to shift the way they should. And the distraction of focusing on weight shifting, he stopped maintaining his flutter rate and thus lost altitude. Seconds later, he felt the inevitable and gave in to the fall. Attempting to brace for impact, his legs made a sideways contact with the ground, and he was force into a roll. His body rolled twice before coming to a rest. He was unhurt, but he was embarrassed that he failed. He stood up and dusted off the dirt and grass on his wing to try again.

It all happened so fast. Zap had covered his eyes at the sound of howling and barking and smashing. The snaps and brushes of tree trimmings echoed against the barn and the orchard trees, creating a symphony of splintering music. We wasn't immediately aware, but his mother had broke down the door to get outside and took it to the timberwolves that surrounded them one by one, some in the form of advanced aerial combat techniques. If only Zap had his eyes open, he could see the kind of power that she was capable of when a dire situation called upon her to become the hero of Equestria everypony knew her as. Eventually, Zap was pulled by the neck with his mother's teeth, and propped onto her back. Shocked at his rescue, he opened his eyes and held tightly in a fierce gallop to a safer part of the farm, next to a puddle of rainwater. Applejack saw herself in it, and Zap saw himself too. He was a timid pegasus pony colt who was visibly shaking and paler than his typical burnt orange complexion. He started to breathe heavier, his body trying to operate in reaction mode. His mother paused her gallop as she witnessed with Zap the collection of loose branches magnetized to each other to form the timberwolves remade. She lovingly scolded him about the stick. The stick! He had totally forgotten. Having been picked up from a frozen scared state, he had never actually let go of the stick. It was still glowing green in his hoof. This was the cause of the invasion? Zap's regret maximized as the little foal started on the path of what might be his biggest feeling of remorse yet in his life. It was hard. Hard to know that the thing that brought him so much joy was also endangering him and his family. Hard to admit that if he had just left the stick in the forest, none of this would have happened. Hard to change his mind on a dime about whether or not he really wanted to keep this stick for himself. But the more he thought about it, all he really wanted was the amenities of home and family, able to sleep in a comfortable bed while be read a bedtime story and waking up the next day to see breakfast on the table prepared by the ponies who loved him more than anything else in this world. After a few seconds, Zap threw the stick down in front of them. He didn't want the stick anymore.

Zap was enjoying his stick. The bliss of experiencing such a strange object tickled his curiosity. He wondered why it was magical, and what else it could do besides glow. He already knew it could dance. And he now knows that it's not to be eaten. What other properties could he discover with such a wooden item. Winona was barking obsessively. Zap loved Winona, but he was never sure what she was barking about. He had yet to learn dog language like his mother seemed to. But then a large howl bellowed from just outside. It was loud, louder than anything Zap had ever heard. Dishes in the kitchen and candle holders on the fireplace mantle clattered to the vibrations of the howl. It was terrifying. Zap sank into his corner of the living room, clutching his stick which was glowing a strong green color. It was brighter now than he had ever seen it before. When Winona was let in, she circled around him and gave him guard. He only felt mildly safe, he wasn't exactly sure what kind of danger they might be in, and the lack of knowing was petrifying. However, Zap still found solace in his possession. A mother who loved him, and dog who stood guard for him, and a stick that amused him. It truly was the worst time of a best of times. But the timberwolves were here, and Zap's pony instincts started to tremor. His wings started to flap in place, as if to warm up for an emergency take-off. His hooves tapping to the nerves while he shivered, only his tail covering his shakes. And his ears were pinned back, his psyche yielding to the chaos. Another howl came and went. It was so loud he lost understanding of his elder ponies at what their response was and what their plan might be. It was so loud, he had to close his eyes from the radiating sound of the timberwolves' growling chorus. And in his hesitation to brace himself of noise, the green stick he was holding so tightly found a way to jiggle out of his grasp and started bouncing away from him. It bounced towards the kitchen, away from the living room and away from the front door where the timberwolves seemed to be approaching. With all the ponies and the dog in front of him, he flanked to his left to run after the stick, which was now jaunting in the kitchen. He did not want to lose his stick. He had already lost it once and he didn't want to lose it again. All he needed to do was pounce on it at the right time and hold on to it tighter. He could not let his daily prized possession get away from him, even if it seemed to have a mind of its own. The stick vibrated across the kitchen floor under the dinner table and towards the door to outside. Before it got to the closed door Zap made a pounce for it, but barely missed grabbing the tip of the stick. With all the chaos of the timberwolves, he became more mentally distracted by the allure of his stick that he started too forget his surroundings and was beginning to become desperate for capturing his magical toy. Although he thought he had it cornered, the stick slipped through Winona's doggie door. "No!" He shouted. Zap was full of foalish emotion, and especially now, his adolescent anger started to fill his mind. He was not about to give up. He had to make a dash for this stick. It couldn't have gotten far. Just grab the stick and come back inside. So he ran through the doggie door to outside. Zap did not consider why Winona in all her fear of what was outside with her didn't use the doggie door to get inside. All Zap was considering as he ducked his whole body through the pet exit is how quickly he could manage to chase this stick. As soon as he stood up from his falling out of the door, he saw the stick on the ground and used as much strength and force as he could to pounce on it. And he hit it. He could feel the stick squirm underneath his hooves. He tried to put as much weight on it as possible to keep it from wiggling its way out from under him. And just as he felt the stick stop squirming, he inhaled to smell the most foul timberwolf smell he had ever smelt, ten times worse than what he smelled in the forest cave. Zap heard a deep growl above him, and as he slowly looked up, he saw a giant timberwolf standing in front of him. Behind it, stood two more timberwolves, howling their support for the one who towered over him. The timberwolves were beastly and intimidating on all angles. The wooden claws dug into the soil, tree sap saliva dripped from their sharp teeth. The front one appeared to only have one stick for an ear, and it was the same shape and size as the stick Zap was holding. Zap froze. He had nothing to say, nothing to scream. No motions were thought of, his wings were trapped to his sides. He just stared back at the timberwolf, his face full of terror and regret. He held his breath and exhaled inconsistently. He wasn't sure what was next. And he wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Some of the creatures took for granted the connection Sandbar had with the other ponies of Ponyville. Without realizing it, the students who came from other lands of non-ponies were using pony connections to get what they felt was not appropriate for them to acquire. Ponyville was not lush with griffons or changelings. Of course, the academy's campus was full of interesting creatures of all kinds, but that was because the nature of it required it to be a melting pot of friendship. Not Silverstream, nor her friends understood the burden Sandbar carried being the pony ambassador to their circle, until he grew an argument about who should supply snacks for the next study session. It was always Sandbar who had gotten the apples and bought the cupcakes. No one ever offered to do otherwise. And so he insisted that someone else in the circle take on snack duty for the week. And this week was assigned to a pink hippogriff with a very curious and bewildered attitude about her surroundings. Apples. Were they all the same? Silverstream wasn't sure, she was always happy with whatever fruit was available for her to eat. She knew there were different kinds, but she had no idea what kind she would even prefer. Knowing she would have to carry a wagon full of apples in order for there to be enough for her hungry classmates, she took to Sweet Apple Acres first. She had actually never been there before, which is quite strange. It was now she realized that even though she made a temporary residence for entire semesters at a time to learn about friendship in Ponyville, she had never really visited that many places outside of school. It was actually kind of embarrassing. And in addition, the professors of friendship who taught her and her classmates were proprietors of a good or service somewhere around the town. You'd think that connection would encourage them to explore the town more. Applejack was in charge of Sweet Apple Acres, and she walked down the path to the front of the farm with wagon in tow, she could see that her honesty professor was selling her most popular items. A short line had formed behind a selling booth where she could see members of the Apple family showing off the fruits of their labor, literally. But Silverstream was perplexed by many things she was seeing. Why was the farm surrounded by fences? Why did Applejack sometimes sell goods in the marketplace and sometimes here on the farm? And why did the selling booth Applejack was at have a crudely drawn painting of her face on the board above it? So many questions. She was ready to ask, but much like how she would wait in line for Councilor Starlight, she waited patiently with her wagon for her turn at the front of the line. Also, why were apples red but sometimes yellow or green?

His mane now moderately ruffled by his pegasus mother, Zap wore a smirking smile to complete the brash and ready-for-action attitude he learned from her some many days prior. He was ready to learn some new tricks, and so with his mother's imagination leading the way he prepared by angling his wings for a take-off stance. As she commanded to go up, he jumped and started flapping his wings at the same time. Still smiling, one could see the effort in his face as he tried hard to keep his wings flapping fast enough to keep from having to catch himself with his hooves. Because he was still apprehensive about falling, his legs were still stretched out underneath in order to brace himself for an emergency landing, but he would never admit that he was afraid. After a few seconds, Zap had successfully matched the height his mother was presenting, although he had some trouble keeping a stable altitude. His voice stuttering as he fluttered. "Up! What's next?"

Just before Silverstream lost the composure to keep from turning around and spying on Gallus' shelling status, he announced his completion of the necklace he was making. Immediately, Silverstream swam a loop to turn around and zoomed in on his product. It was pretty. He did a good job picking out shells whose colors clash well together, and it seemed as though he went with the same convention of finding colors that matched her complexion and accents, much like what she did for his. The quality of his claw-made jewelry was lacking though, but what could be expected from the first ever shell necklace a creature ever attempted to make. Still though, there was something about the way he presented it, the charm of Gallus' imperfection and his willingness to be imperfect that made it strangely amusing. The necklace had a je ne sais quoi that felt blameless and unforced. Silverstream smiled. And then she dropped her smile to astonishment. Perhaps his humility was more about being pinched uncomfortably by the crab and less about having to make a reciprocating necklace in an environment he is unfamiliar with, with tools he's never used, with materials he never thought existed in such quantities. But the je ne sais quoi was still there. "Oh, the necklace looks great, Gallus. Um, let me help you with that." Silverstream used her hoofins to apply pressure to the neck of the crab's claw and the claw was released immediately. Seaponies who knew they fauna of the sea had an understanding of how to tame the animals that were demosticated after the hippogriffs claimed Seaquestria as a home. The indifference of the crab never left, but it did look at Gallus funny, possibly in an intimidating or mocking way. With the way crab eyes are isolated from their body and without emotion, it was kind of hard to tell. Silverstream snatched the necklace from Gallus and put it on herself. She smiled again and swam in a circle to show it off, how the sun rays that sank to these depths glistened off the shining shells, and how the necklace matched her skin. "Good job, Gallus. It's perfect. Uh, are you going to be alright? Do we need to go to the doctor to get your claw looked at?" Silverstream wasn't even sure if a seapony doctor would even have the charts for someone like Gallus, although they would probably just insist on treating his claw as if it were a hippogriff's claw. Griffon talons were bigger and stronger, though. Silverstream was hoping Gallus would just shrug it off. The dance seafloor was still calling her name and she was starting to get desperate to boogie. The music in the background started to get louder as the dancing festivities started to take the main focus of everything going on around them. She looked at the sound stage and back to Gallus. "If you're good to go, we should join the sea dancing!"

A tummy-ache was inevitable should his rate of consuming the tasty victuals on his plate that Gran-Gran stewed to Apple family perfection. Fortunately, his mouth was a mess and his mother interrupted his needless race to finish the food by cleaning his face off when the sauces drifted too far east or west from his lips. He would occasionally grunt to act out his displeasure of what he deemed was a waste of time. Typically, a foal like Zap would be slow to eat because the urgency to finish eating was not there or because the activities following a meal might include cleaning or foal-appropriate farm work, things he rarely looked forward to. But when he knew that the nightly playtime was to follow the meal, he would compete with the clock in order to maximize his time to play before bed. And luckily for him, he was kin to one of the few families in Equestria that didn't mind their matters at the dinner table as much as they probably should. Zap nodded in agreement when his mother shared the short story of their adventure in the forest. "Hmm hmm." He yupped, before taking another sloppy bite of kale. Next to Zap Apple's plate sat the stick he brought to the table. It shook for a split second, creating a jostle as if somepony had shaken the table from underneath. Zap closed his mouth from taking another bite and looked at the stick with a perplexed look on his face. Did the stick move? Zap wasn't sure about the nature about cool sticks that glow green from the forest, so he just assumed that this was a normal jumping green-glowing stick. The thought of another discovery made him smile again. "Heh, funny stick." He then returned to eating and finished the last bit of salad. He planned on skipping the dessert since he knew it was optional, but he knew he would never get to leave the table if he still had something on his plate. "Yesh, I'm full!" He said enthusiastically with his mouth packed with his last bite. With permission from his mother, Zap Apple grabbed the stick in his mouth, and climbed down the high chair to start running for the play room. When his mother asked him if he had put his toys away last time he played with them. He stopped and put the stick down temporarily to respond before picking it back up and scurrying to have fun. "Um, yes." He hadn't.

It was a sunny day in Ponyville. Only a few clouds left over from the morning weather pony could be seen, not so much as in imperfection but possibly an intentional flaw to give Ponyville that quaint charm it was so good at showing. It was the normal midday hustle and bustle in the marketplace and from a distance the occasional shopkeeper's bells could be heard ringing their invitation for customers to browse wares and goods of all kinds. But on the outskirts of Ponyville where the grass grew longer and the hills began to roll, it was much more peaceful. So peaceful, that the flapping of a pair of butterfly wings against the soft breeze created the ambiance for what would otherwise have been considered an ideal place of meditation. A pony seeking relaxation could trot themselves to this spot and be able to sort out their thoughts and their dreams with comfort of interference. But of course, that was not the plan for today. Instead this grassy hoofhill would be introduced to a pair of wings with a very young mind controlling them. An orange pegasus pony flying only a couple pony heights off the ground was fluttering inconsistently towards the crest of the hill. The colt was not flying very fast, but the excited sounds from his mouth made the noise of what it might sound like had he been flying at breakneck speeds. The foal slowed to a hover and after a few seconds of wobbling himself down to an even-hoofed landing, he struck the ground with the force of a small jumping fall. After a short wince, he looked back from where he came and yelled excitedly to his mother who was following close behind. "Did you see? I was flying fast! Faster than you!" Zap Apple had spent ample time with his mother Applejack on the apple farm, where he learned all about the apple trade and the farmer pony family values. He learned how to toughen his skin and how to deal with animals. The small amount of time he spent in the Everfree was experienced alongside Applejack who was always there to protect him, but to also remind him of the dangers that lurked where few ponies canter. And Zap had spent time with his other mother Rainbow Dash, but he had only just started to really learn how to fly. A couple weeks ago, he was able to take to the sky without any help from his mother for about five seconds. It was a big win in his eyes and made him feel motivated to fly higher and longer. But so far, his flight was still limited to the strength of his wings, which was only showing the beginning signs of being able to deal with more enduring flight challenges. Zap Apple had dreams of being able to fly above the clouds and do stunts and tricks like his mother Rainbow Dash did for the Wonderbolts. And he was so sure of himself that he would join her in wearing that blue suit even though he had no concept of what that meant. This grassy hill had become a usual spot for Rainbow Dash to show Zap the beginnings of pegasus mobility, and since they arrived for today, Zap was eager to get started with what he wanted to do, as if it was up to him. "We're here, now you can show me how to do tricks. I wanna do a big trick!" He fluttered in place, his wings buzzing violently, before his wings gave up and he landed back on his hooves.

It had been a long break. It was very refreshing to get some free time to do things a creature wanted to do, instead of things they had to do. Although the full swing of classes at Friendship Academy created a work ethic that few could really understand unless they were directly involved in the lessons learned inside the campus, it was still nice to see that hard work pay off in an individual's home where their family and communities could see the influence the academy had on them. Only a week into the first semester and Silverstream had already started to stress about the homework and school projects she was tasked with. Of course, it got a little more bearable once the EEA regulations were no longer enforced. And so even though the school had not been in session, Silverstream was constantly assigning herself projects that aroused her curiosity, and it filled the hole of not having to attend class every day. But now it was time for another semester of friendship classes and Silverstream had to prepare for another year of planned discovery and learning, and with it new challenges she may not have expected. But there were a few things she had been wondering about while school was out. She had spent so much time with her best friends she met last year, and now she was thinking about where these friendships would go. In fact, some of her new relationships built at the school were so important to her, that she couldn't fathom what would occur if the friendship was lost. But there was still a large amount of unknowns Silverstream was faced with, and so she decided to pay a visit to Councilor Starlight Glimmer to seek guidance in these matters. Starlight's door was already open when she glided to it, so she walked in. The pink hippogriff was not sporting her usual pencil and notepad she often had when asking questions to Starlight. "Councilor Starlight. Are you available? I had some questions about friendships."

Silverstream's saucer eyes sparkled as Gallus put on the necklace and verbally appreciated it. She was so happy to see him accept it, and without the signature sarcasm he was well known for. "You like it!?" Silverstream interrupted him. "Oh good, because I wasn't sure if the colors would go well with your underside color by your..." She rambled while Gallus felt humbled by his inability to make one from scratch himself, admitting he had no affinity for this kind of craft. "Oh! Well it's easy." She hooked his claw and swam him over to one of the collections of shells, this one being a large treasure chest full of rejected scallop shells, some of them pretty, but many of them bland and white. "You take a shell you like, and then take some string, and you can either use holes in the shell itself to string it through, or you can make a hole yourself using the crab over there." Next to the chest sitting on the ocean floor was a snow crab with an indifferent disposition, his entire occupation seemingly being to punch holes in shells for shell-stringing. The crab acknowledged to the two with a wave as Silverstream pointed towards it. "And then you're done!" When Silverstream's example necklace was back in focus, it was already completed with about fourteen shells, all of which had pale colors. "Now you try." Silverstream turned around to not see what Gallus was doing. Being as hyperactive as she can be and this being the first day of the Three Days of Freedom Celebration, she took notice of all the other festivities going on throughout the trench. The dance floor next to the sound stage was beginning to fill up with several seaponies moving to the beats and melodies that the water vibrated with. Some seaponies were swimming their moves near the sandy floor, while others found it easier to express themselves by swimming up above the sound stage to dance with six ranges of movement. All ages of seaponies were dancing, from the elderly seaponies who lived most of their live as hippogriffs, to young seasquirts who don't even know how good salmon juice tastes yet. It was all inspirational, seeing the majority of Seaquestria celebrate to music and dancing, and quite frankly it was making Silverstream a little anxious. She wanted to turn around to see if Gallus was done yet, but she didn't want to impose on him. "How's the necklace looking? Are you having any trouble?" She was put into a difficult position. She didn't want to squash Gallus' effort at trying to make a necklace, but she also didn't want him to spend so much time making it that they lost time to do other things.

The seapony backed off, and threw his hooffins up again. "Whoa, whoa! Come on, I'm tryin' ta help you here. Oh you don't believe me, huh? Well okay." The seapony pulled out a shell that was rainbow colored, and had the luster similar to a diamond. "My daughter picked this out and gave it to me today. There are about five hundred more just like it. You know what, I don't even care, you don't need to pay me, I was just wondering if I could make some profit off of the stuff I need to get rid of anyway. Apparently seagriffons are just as wisecracking as they are greedy. My property is right by the sunken log underneath the broken archway down-current from here. You'll see a stash inside the log, but you can find more underneath it." The seapony was a little irritated at Gallus for assuming his deal was a con. But in a way he could understand the mix-up. But what made him chuckle a little was the clawed fish's threat from a seapony of royalty, as if he didn't know who she was. Of course he knew Silverstream. Everypony knows who Silverstream is. In fact, this is Seaquestria. Everypony knows everypony. "Hey, next time someone tries to do something nice for ya, be a little careful before you just assume they're out to get ya." The blue seapony started swimming away, but ran into Silverstream who was swimming towards Gallus with a present. "Oh, hiya Silverstream. Welcome home!" Silverstream having bumped into the seapony responded with immediate kindness. "Oh hi, Briny Depths! Thanks!" She approached Gallus and then immediately shied down. "I made this necklace for you." Silverstream held up the necklace she made for Gallus. It was made with all different sizes of shells alternating blue and yellow colors. Most of the shells had a glisten to them that could probably be seen from afar under the right light. "I hope you like it." Silverstream spoke very calmly, which was uncharacteristic of her, almost as if the shell-stringing mode brought her tempo down to that of one that was more reflective and thoughtful. She still made the necklace fast though, this was her 9th straight year of doing it, after all.

Zap giggled as the towel rub tickled his pelt all over as he was being rolled into dry by his mother. He felt like an apple being polished. Once the towel was done wicking his pelt dry, Zap was free to trot around the kitchen with his frizzy mane and tail. "Yeah I told Big Uncle about the stick. It's a cool stick, ain't it Uncle?" As Big Macintosh responded in his typical fashion, Zap was noticing the commotion around the dinner table. Mother asked him to take his seat, so he would try. A high-chair was his spot at the table ever since he could remember sitting in it the first time. He was able to climb into it after a few tries. Of course, he was far better at escaping the chair and using the steps to get down; The climbing up part was learned later. Carrying the stick in his mouth again, he pulled his little body up the chair from behind it, and jumped over the back of the chair to plop his rump into the seat so that he could face the table. Once up on the table, he spit out the stick and placed it next to his place mat. Zap was starting to grow attached to the branch despite it not coming from the family tree. It could be a phase, it wasn't the first time Zap had drawn this much attention to something so odd. To Zap, the stick represented his discovery of things outside the home. Never before had he ever brought something from another place to call his own. It was a lesson of possession and a stimulant of exploration. In the near future, he would undoubtedly search for other inanimate objects to bring into the home, with or without the older ponies' knowing. "You sit here, stick." He suggested to himself. He then relaxed and sighed, and on a second inhale, took in all the sweet and savory aromas that filled the room. "Mmmmm. Food smells good! I want carrots!" A plate was placed in front of him that featured all of the dishes in smaller portions. With little hesitation, he reach over with his head and nabbed a couple carrots off his plates and began chewing them fast. They were soft and delicious, having been simmered for at least ten minutes. Using his hooves, he grabbed his sippy cup and drank a few swigs of apple juice from it. When his mouth released he exhaled refreshment, and then moments later, burped.

The stranger seapony could see this young seagriffon give him a suspicious talkdown, so in response, he decided to let up a little, while still reaching into his ego. He threw his hooffins up. "Hehe, okay, I get it, she's not your special somepony." He motioned quotations with his hoofines. "And 'we're' not going anywhere. The shells are located at a certain location only I know that is only a short swim from here. The area is private property. My property! So the shells you see here came from just about everywhere but there." The seapony scratched his neck with his hoofin. "And uh, I'd be willing to part with the information of this location." He held out his hooffin. "Five sand dollars."

Zap Apple reached the saddlebag. His slippery pelt dampened the bag as he slightly struggled to open the buckle. Once the bag was opened, he reached in with his whole face for a second and then pulled out the stick with his mouth. His baby teeth grinned as he held the stick, it filled him with a mysterious amount of joy. The kitchen floor, which was made out of wooden panels, started shifting and creaking at the pace of the apple mother's canter. Zap looked up to see a large towel, darkened by its own shadow, with his mother bordering on top of it with a grin on her face. She was moving in close and slow, and even though Zap could escape and run around for another fifteen minutes, he was satisfied now that he had his stick. He was prepared to embrace whatever his mother must do to him, for he had already won. He giggled before his mother grabbed him and stood still. He spat out the stick and held it in his hoof and held it up in triumph. "Stick!"

He slipped his hooves down the stairs carefully. Not being chased down the stairs allowed him to traverse the descent one step at a time. Once he was officially on the ground floor, he took off running again, at first in no particular direction but then he started looking for the saddlebag. He slid into the living room where he'd thought might have seen it, but it wasn't there. Then he went to the broom closet to see if it was placed where he could reach it. But nothing of value was there. Finally he went to the kitchen. This was enemy territory, and he would have to be careful not to be grabbed by Big Uncle or Gran-Gran. He wasn't sure where Mom went. He darted underneath the table that was being set. Looking around the floor of the kitchen he could not see a bag until he looked by the door to outside. And there it was, the saddlebag just as he had remembered it with the prized stick inside. He started running towards it and as soon as he was out from under the table, he could see his mother flanking him on the right.