Hippo

Flick had an unplanned staring contest with his producer friend, seeing who would smirk first. It was hard to believe they put themselves in this position. Was it too good to be true? Flick had managed a spotlight before, and with flying colors. But this strive to go independent combined with interviewing the Queen, it was a bit of a wakeup call to how easily his vision might be achieved. Of course, it could all go wrong very quickly if the Queen decides to demarcate his program into obscurity. But when it all came down to it, Flick realized that was up to her. He wasn't going to back down from his true self, and if somepony, even a royal somepony, wanted to bash him for that, then that was their doing and not his. He held his confidence close. "She's here!" "Oh!" Flick started to breathe heavy for a couple seconds before nodding to his assistant and smiling at the reality of the moment. The time had come. Flick stood in the line of sight of the entryway when her gaurd motioned to him that she had arrived. When the Queen walked in, he didn't hesitate. "Your Majesty! Thank you so much for coming to visit us today." Flick performed a quick bow, mostly out of impulse. He did not plan to, but seeing her walk into his new establishment forced him to acknowledge the privilege, despite how unimportant it may seem during any other time. He respected Queen Haven for the most part, but considered many of the ceremonial traditions involved with the royal family to be beyond his primary mode of attention. Flick was not knelt for too long. "Please, step inside the recording room. We're all ready to get started." He led her into the recording booth. It was rather humble. Not too small, but not overly large. Large enough for six ponies to have a conversation, but small enough for two ponies to have a meaningful one. There was a table centered in the room with three chairs around it. Two were stationed across from each other, and the third was on a perpendicular end, distanced away from the other two. His assistant occupied the third chair. In front of him was a small soundboard and a laptop. Flick watched her walk in but had no words to say other than, "Uh, have a seat and we'll get started." Flick had so many things he wanted to talk to her about. He knew her time was extremely valuable, so it was his intent to keep the pleasantries to a minimum so that the real progress of this conversation could begin. Flick sat in his chair, pulled his microphone closer to his mouth and put headphones on. The other side of the table featured a mirrored setup waiting for the Queen to partake.

"Testing, testing. One, two, three, four. Hello, all you ponies. Check, check? It's good? Alright." Flick Ray takes his headphones off, pulls back, and stands up from his carefully adjusted microphone. This being the first episode of his new podcast, he wanted to make sure the sound quality was confirmed to be appropriate. "She here, yet?" Flick and his friend, a.k.a. producer, were slightly nervous. They were about to embark on a journey most ponies have never ventured. After dealing with the regular sources of news and information for a year or so, Flick was determined to create his own brand of media. He hoped that he could have a hooves to hearts conversations that would inspire ponies to be true to themselves, while at the same time having interesting things to talk about regarding Equestrian current events. But even though he was confident in his approach, it surely didn't take much pressure off who he was able to score as his first guest. Queen Haven had just returned to Zephyr Heights with her princess sisters. Although the princesses seemed to be more preoccupied than they used to, Queen Haven's spotlight was well used and provided her exposure in order to get her message straight. Flick hadn't watched much of the initial interviews and royal conferences, but when he was able to schedule an appointment with the Queen to discuss all that had happened, he knew this would be a breakthrough conversation that could change the way ponies in Zephyr Heights think. And depending on what the Queen's responses to his questions would be, it might even provide information for ponies that are listening from the forests or the bays. It was almost time for her to show up. Flick's studio was discreet from the outside, but convenient enough for city ponies to easily find it, assuming they knew where to look. With a door pony waiting for her arrival, Flick was anxious to get the signal that the queen had arrived. He didn't want to waste too much time when she did. Once she arrived, he planned to greet her formally, have her sit down in the recording area, and flip on the mics.

Roleplay Type: G5 Original Character Name: Flick Ray Gender: Male Age: Middle-aged Species: Pegasus Eye color: Hazel Coat: Blue Mane/Tail: Purple Physique: Fit, like a retired athlete Residence: Zephyr Heights Occupation: Retired tennis player, sports commentator, and self-learned podcaster Cutie Mark: Tennis racket Unique Traits: Wears a sports jacket, generally out of habit History: Flick grew up in a prestigious household in the pegasus community. His privilege allowed his to be able to have more opportunities to excel in the things he wanted to pursue. One such activity he enjoyed early on was the game of tennis. Because pegasus ponies lacked magic to fly, the sports that were most popular were those that required agile movement on the ground. Tennis had already had a huge following in Zephyr Heights, but through his desire to practice it, Flick became one of the most phenomenal tennis players during his prime. When he got older, he became a repeating champion, winning grand slams in tennis tournaments several times during his career. Because he loved the fans of the sport as well, he became a very marketable personality for the sport and received many endorsements from sponsors and video executives. When he retired from the professional sport of tennis, many networks signed him contracts to be a personality on talk shows and analysts for tennis matches. But not too far into his post-competing career, he realized that the large amount of clout-chasing in the media industry was keeping him from being apart of the community in the way he thought would fit best. So he abandoned his contracts in order to pursue a solo career in self-publishing. Flick started a podcast that is delivered over the Zephyr Heights ponynet, and chooses to not censor himself like manestream media in order to promote a genuine attitude and commentary to his watchers and listeners. His goal is to have conversations with interesting ponies on his podcast that feel genuine and real, instead of filtered by the manestream media that dominates the airwaves. Character Personality: Down to earth, a good conversationalist, and likes to listen in one-on-one conversations. Sometimes when he really is into a particular topic, he fails to realize how much he is talking and talks too much. He sometimes repeats himself because he always feels the need to reiterate a previous talking point. He is open-minded, but gets frustrated when others seem to not be open-minded without explaining why. He is not afraid to call a pony out, even in a livestream, even with a famous pony. Character Summary: Flick Ray is currently recognized as a retired athlete who has decided to host a podcast. He hopes to air interesting conversations with famous and not-so-famous ponies in order to illustrate the diversity of opinion of ponies of all kinds. With pony unity on the horizon, he hopes to inspire himself and others on the new strange worlds that have been hidden to the pegasi for many moons.

Zap finished his slice faster than the other two, and emptied his glass of milk before the older pony conversation was done. This was typically the moment where Zap would asked to be excused and would fly out into the yard to continue playing with Jack again, without really waiting on the words that provided him permission. But with Flurry Heart here, and Apple Bloom trying to make some kind of an impression, Zap realized he might be held hostage in this environment for the time being. To help cope with the boredom, Zap attempted to include himself in the conversation. "So Princess Flurry Heart." Zap stated her name carefully. "What is it you do, anyway?" Zap knew princesses rule, but the ruler of the Crystal Empire was Flurry's mom. So what gives?

The sockets of Zap's eyes were being stretched as his emotions forced the involutory exploration of how far he could roll them. Pretty far, it seemed. Though he he didn't mind complying with authority figures most of the time, he was typically in disagreement with them that what they were doing was the best use of his time. Zap was eager to see what the pegasi were doing during the instructional session, but for the moment, the little winged colt had to follow the cart's traveling away from downtown and towards Rarity's boutique where he was tethered by his mother's love. When Rarity invited Applejack to wash up inside, Rarity fawned at the two foals. Zap was uninterested in this exchange. Well, uninterested until the point of new sources of candy were revealed. Once it got his attention, seeing that an explanation of how good they may or may not have been seemed part of an exchange for something sweet, Zap decided to do what he does best in a moment where he isn't the only thing going for a prize of this nature. "Yes! Well, I've been waaaay gooder than Amby has. She keeps making faces and stuff. I'm the older, more mature one!" Zap grinned wide.

Izzy wasn't sure if pineapple on pizza was as contentious a subject in Maretime Bay the way it was in Bridlewood. Although the unicorns of the forest generally didn't use much energy to bolster much of a argument, Izzy was still mostly in the dark this particular time. "Oh yeah, I have had pineapple, but never on pizza!" Izzy never understood where pineapples even came from, but she noticed that occasionally they would show up in the forest market. As Izzy watched Sunny take her pizza order, Izzy was slightly intimidated by the pressure to understand her desires. In truth, she was ready for anything, and her appetite was ready for all kinds of experimentation. So on a whim, she blurted her suggestion to the pony who was tail-high in receipt tape. "Oh, and I'll have what she is having, but with extra cheese, and extra pineapple." With a determined expressions on her face, she leaned forward onto the counter with her enunciations of the word 'extra', but then recoiled back to the floor and smiled. "Also, a large diet doctor nectar please." "We don't have doctor nectar, would a diet carrot cola be okay?" The gruff earth pony asked. Izzy turned her head at sunny, and then turned her head back to the stallion. "What!?" She sighed after a moment of being upset. "No, I'll just take a water, then." She smiled again, except with a pinch in her cheek.

Applejack followed Coluratura through the hallway to see what current venture or musing the pop pony was flowing to. The farm gal was now in stardom's possession, and she was along for the ride. She couldn't tell exactly how much of a difference her agreement to do a few shows would make, but she felt confident through the affirmation of her friend that she wouldn't be led astray. "So what's next, Rara?" Applejack tried not to sound too eager. After all, she was thinking a sandwich or a treat in the kitchen would do her fine. She had been pulled away from simple pleasures before, when Rarity would have an idea for a dress, or when Rainbow Dash would find yet another activity to challenge Applejack to a feat. For now, she would continue to see where the purple striped tail in front of her was bouncing to.

A red pegasus walked into the room, his name was Remington. He looked at the classroom, which was full of desks, some with faithful students eager to get started, others hovering around the room talking to new or old friends, and even others still nervously inspecting the walls and windows of the classroom. The teacher had not entered the room apparently. Remington looked around for an idea on which desk he should claim as his place to sit, softly minding the students expressions to get a hint for which classmates to avoid and who to greet as new friends. An older filly sat in the middle-back of the room, her desk tidy and organized. She swept her purple and aqua mane away from her horn, Allsource on today, and her tail flitted about nervously. She was all smiles and easy, quick words of greeting but was otherwise keeping to herself. She had arrived exceptionally early and was among the first to have taken her seat. Maybe she was an ace student or maybe she was simply an eager student, but all who saw her agreed on two things: She was awfully pretty and she was likely very confident and prepared. One half of that was undoubtedly true. She was tremendously pretty! Remington slowly scanned the classroom for a place to feel comfortable. He needed to find a seat but didn't want to intrude on anycreature's privacy. It was the first day of school, today would be a bad day to make enemies. As she finished arranging her desk and materials, putting masks away, she ended up looking around, smiling and trying to acclimate like a normal pony would. And she was a normal pony. While looking around she had to do a quick double take when her eyes found an old friend. Is that Remington? It is! He was here and she was alive, she thought happily. She had been friends with that colt when she attended school in Manehattan (amongst other notable differences). He was a fun colt and look at that cute mane! He was Remington and he was here! She shook her head and smiled broadly at him. He was new here and she was more than happy to see him. She was about to jump up and start talking to him then reminded herself that Moonlight was new to him and that she was born to fail. Oooh. Ooooohhhhh. Okay, she shouldn't do that then. Still, he seemed to be wanting a place to sit himself and what better place than next to her? "Hey! Yeah, you there! I have a seat, like, right next to me open, yeah?" She offered with a wave, hoping to at least have a friend sit next to her. Even if it was like meeting him again! Remington slowing walked into the sea of desks hoping the other students wouldn't mind him sitting close. He was hoping that a familiar face or a even a pony who was trying to make friends would wave him down and invite them to sit next to them, but no one was giving him any looks. After a moment of hesitation, he curled into one of the desks and sat nervously looking around before resting his head on his hooves. Huh. That was weird! Remington didn't notice her. That wasn't right. That wasn't to script-ed to flip! She walked over and corrected him. She moved his mouth and mouthed his words. "Hi, my name's Remington. This is my first day, just got off the train from Manehatten this morning. I didn't expect so many other students. Are they all new, too? Are, are you new?" She asked in his voice as she trotted back to her seat and took it. "Yep! All new here! Well, I mean, new to, like, this school and stuff. I think most students in this class are totes new, too. Like, I could be totally wrong but I think this early Loyalty class is for first timers and, like, those who flunk. But I don't think anycreature's flunked so...whatever?" She ended with a friendly shrug as she refocused back on her friend. She hoped that would keep away the angry metal moans of her mental state back into order. The classroom was very quiet. Many of his classmates were already mingling, and the seats were filling up. Everyone was seemingly having a good time except him. He had no one to talk to, no one to share his first day with. He would hope it would get better, but things seemed to not launch well. He had never had the problem of making friends, but having to move to a new town was different. He had never had to start from scratch like this before, and it was intimidating. The professor flew into the classroom. "Alright everyone! Let's settle down. Time to get to the good stuff! The name's Rainbow Dash...Professor Dash to you guys! Now, who's ready for something fun?" Every creature cheered mildly. "Before I reveal what we're going to be up to...everycreature needs a partner. Try to pick someone you don't know very well!" Remington sheepishly looked around for a partner. He still hadn't noticed her, which made her think she wasn't alive. It made her realize with growing fear that she was not the friend she needed to be before she proved to the world she was a bucking joke. She got up again, her seat making awful sounds as she ran back over to make him say words, though they didn't come as easy. "-I mean not your eyes, I mean if you had glasses. But your eyes are pretty, too," she said as she imagined a blush. She ran back and thought for a moment. "Oh, my eyes? I mean, like, I guess they're kinda cute. I've been working on a killer makeup routine that, like, will be totally radical. Give me substance, give me something..." she said as she trailed off herself, having got lost in her own words and her own desire for a reaction as the mild applause given her professor was joined with an awkward silence that threatened to extend forever. When RD started up her call for only bangers from now on and that they needed a partner, somepony Moonlight was sure would prevail, Tank came in low and slow, splattering the bag and emptying the crypt. Her eyes were lost in the tortoise as it mouthed, "something you couldn't kick?" which was weird because it shouldn't have been speaking. "Everyone's the goat!" Rainbow cheered her students on as they started to lazily pair off. Then she looked at Moonlight annoyed. "Seriously though, it's biology and you were born to fail," she leaned in and screamed, "NOW PAIR UP!" Moonlight went looking for a mask and found one, trying it on as she desperately sought remington's attention. "Tsssh, this just in. Remington and Moonlight, like, totally ace whatever it is Professor Fast has planned! As if anything else was possible!" Remington spotted a male kirin on his left. The kirin was standing up panning the room as many others were. When his eyes seemed to meet with the kirin's, he smiled and waved him over. Immediately, the male kirin smiled as well and started walking towards Remington. As he approached, Remington spoke up. "Hi, my name is Remington, would you like to be my part...ner?" The kirin walked right passed Remington. No one in the classroom seemed to care he was there. He knew he wasn't invisible because they would occasionally look over at him with disgust, probably because he was caught starring at them. As he waited for the charity of another lonely class member, or for the teacher to assign him a partner, he slowly realized he was the only one left behind as all the other students made their way outside the classroom and into the courtyard. He quickly stood up and walked out of the classroom. But instead of the hallway, he walked into his dorm room. Confused at first, but then shrugged. "Might as well be here anyway." He jumped onto his bed and looked up at his poster of Princess Luna. "Why is this so hard, Princess? Why does no one want to be my friend?" Why wasn't he paying any attention to her? Why was Rainbow Dash so weird? Why did her memories fade, whispering invectives into her. Her ego ran rampant and told her that she was screwed, lost as he was, before in time it all faded. She tried to scream after him but instead all that came out was a bitter: "Don't depend on me!" before it all faded to black. The scene seemed to switch to the hallway, which she knew led to Remmy's room. Remington was alive in there and talking. She knew this because she could see it, the walls transparent. Yet no matter how she tried, the door didn't work. Then she found herself outside the window. "We got addicted to our lonesome theme song-" she whispered, though it came off angry. She tried to enter the window but something prevented her. "You foal I'm rich!" She yelled at it before digging into her saddlebag, looking for a mask. "Give me substance, give me something..." She put on the right mask and then leaped through his bedroom window. "'Tis I, Remington of Manehattan! Flap like a flag! Behold my Glory!" She bellowed in her best impression of the Lunar Princess, her Luna mask held tight without strings to her face. "Now, why have thee summoned me? 'Tis because you, like, have a question for Us?" Remington stared at the poster. He wasn't sure what he was waiting for but he began to hear whispers that seemed to come from the walls. He looked around but could not see anypony. "Princess Luna?" A figment for a moment, but then accelerated animations started coming from the Princess Luna poster. A two dimensional alicorn began breathing and moving, stepping into the room from its frame, and popping into three dimensions as a pony. "Remington?" She wore a stern, confused expression. She looked around inside the room, and scoffed with disappointment. "Pathetic. You're alone? No friends?" "It's not my fault. I'll get better. I had friends back in the city, I just need time to-" "SILENCE!" The animated poster princess stepped towards Remington angrily. She pointed at the poster which was now evacuated. "You're in love with a poster, a Princess who does not even know you exist. You're just in denial and with the wrong one. Love don't make you crippled or enslaved. You're just in denial and with the wrong one. Job description ain't the one who saves." Several ponies from the school walked into the room from the door, looking at what was happening. Remington turned pale, and looked into his mirror. "I can still see my full reflection behind my new complexion. I just need to be alone." When he saw all the ponies looking at him, he panicked. "Why do ponies stare, are they noticing you're there? Swap me for my clone and don't touch me when I'm stoned." Madness was something that brewed in the hearts of the distanced and distracted in equal weights, given to little but deadly anticipation of a moment that never came. She wanted to so desperately hear him acknowledge her and again and again he was tossed further into the sorrow of his own mind, increasing hers in equal ways, equally distanced and distracted, in anticipation of a moment that never came. She tried to reach him but found herself driven away from him physically, trotting around his imagined Luna which seemed to occupy a black hole between them until she found himself impossibly behind his mirror as he spoke desperately into it. She tried to reach him, help him, and found the mirror impenetrable. "I'll be my old self again soon," she promised the mirror and the colt behind it as she dug around for a mask, dropping Luna on the ground. "I just need time to unwind," she muttered breathlessly as she pulled it out, tears in her eyes as she ran out of ideas, in the darkness an angry mental metal moan. She found the Valen mask and started unwinding the too-long straps. "Smash my demons with cold fiction," desperate desperate spoke the one born to fail as she pulled the mask on, held it on, failure failure. "Until they're all catechized," she said hopefully with the mask on, pressing her hoof to the mirror once more. The stranger ponies in the room continued to stare, and their dark silhouettes blocked the artificial light coming in from the hallway. Remington felt trapped by the room, intimidated by his animated princess, and shuttered to his bed. He pulled a blanket halfway across his body and turned, moving to discomfortable feelings of pressure. But he heard something that made his ears perk up. The sound of a familiar voice? A familiar feeling? "Moon-?" He whispered. "Look at where you are!" the animated Princess coldly stated. Remington fell back into bed and talked himself back into submission of his grief. "I need reminded, recognize it, thinking doesn't know. Another night, another night, another night alone. Minimize or dramatize, it stops, it starts, it goes. Another night, another night, and no one even knows." Remington curled in his bed, trying to block anything that might try to hurt or help him understand his momentary curse. It wasn't working. It looked it was working and then it didn't, it didn't, failure failure failure. He fell back into his own grief and then submitted to it in his bed. She tried to smash and kick the mirror but found it was harder than it should be. As he murmured to himself in sorrow she screamed and growled and failed again and again, the Valen mask shattering instead into pieces and never coming back. "Did you notice I'm normal?" She then took a few steps back and shoulder checked the mirror, falling through it as if it never existed, falling onto the floor of his room. "Did you notice I'm normal," she said as she pulled herself up, approaching the bed in desperation. "Take a look babe I'm normal!" While Remington continued his grief of situational loneliness, he felt the presence of another. A companion? A friend? He looked around for the aura that seemed to illuminate around him. But before he could fully acknowledge what or who it was, the animated horror Princess Luna chastised his feelings once again. "You're just in denial and with the wrong one," she repeated. The course correction forced Remington to stand up and walk up to the strange silhouetted ponies, and attempt to greet them as guests in his unfortunate living space. "Uh, uh hi!" He was a fool, he felt. The others wouldn't care about him. Remington looked away. "How do I say 'hi' to another guy when I wanna die? Why!?" He turned to another pony. "Hi?" The shadowy filly did not respond, and it immediately angered him. "Why don't you say 'hi', we're all alive, I guess that's nice, don't wanna die!" He turned to a third pony. "Hi!?" He put his leg around him. "It's nice to be alive, don't wanna die, you should say 'hi', I won't lie! Ugh! But first, I'm saying 'hi' to say I tried to stay alive." The dark room began to brighten up, and as it did, what was revealed was that the silhouetted ponies were cardboard cutouts of generic pony shapes. On one of the walls of the room, an audio tape reel was rolling. Remington reacted to it in anger. "What!?" As the room seemed to shift in time for a few seconds, he shouted, "Who the heck's recording this, I never gave my full consent. There's sounds I make I can't defend, or show them to my mom." He covered his face in shame, and laid on the floor of the room. "I grapple, I paddle, I clutch," she muttered in defeat as she sat down. No matter what she did he could not hear her. More thinking, more sinking, more mud. She stood up, this time feeling more than a little angry. Not at him, but at everything. "Angry metal moans! Stitch!" She seethed at nothing as she followed him, watching him try and fail at making friends with the cardboard cutouts. It wasn't working. He was sad, lost, alone, afraid, thinking, sinking, stuck in mud. "How many holes have we dug?" She screamed in frustration at the cutouts, kicking one or two of them for good measure. Still, defeated in time, defeated in rhyme, forlorn and defeated did they both retreat. She sat down and looked down, sighing in sorrow. She looked at him as he retreated into his shell. She laid over him, angling her head over his barrel so she could look at his face. Shaking her head all she could say was, "More thinking, more sinking, more mud..." A violent storm was circling around the room, picking up stray objects and turning them into trash. Over only a few seconds, the storm growled loudly and began rushing out of the room through the lonely window. Everything escaped. Princess Luna's projection was sucked out, the cardboard cutouts and recording reels were tangled and thrown out, too. Like a vacuum, the window removed every piece of substance the nightmare had been brewing, and its cathartic winds drove the clutter out of existence. Remington grunted an exhausted whimper. And then it was silent.

Silverstream gasped. "Of course we can be friends!" As her eyes grew to the size of saucers, she grabbed the unique pony by the hoof and squeezed it lovingly. "But the school has more about than just making friends. It teaches you everything you need to know about what it's like to engage with creatures from all over. I've been there over a year and I'm still learning new things about friendship!" Silverstream had no authority to enroll somecreature into the academy, but she knew she could direct them in the right direction to be apart of the school. "Do you want me to introduce you to the faculty? Maybe you can be a student!"

Zap jumped up at his mother's response, but his flight launch turned into a hop and flutter once the context of his limitations were known and his face fell to learn more errands had to be run. His mother had all the context she needed to satisfy what Zap needed in the moment, not necessarily what he wanted. Ambrosia on the other hoof, was very good at saying the things that not only were not needed, but also not wanted. "What!?" Zap grew defensive immediately. "No she wasn't pretty. I don't even like her." At the mention of a treat, Zap was further from the cart, and therefore incurred a rare loss in a race against his little sister. When he reached in to grab his allowance of a treat, he pulled out one that seemed a little mangled, from Ambrosia's scavenging he assumed. After he bit into it, he was mildly repulsed. "Ugh. Banana flavor."

Sunny liked to ask Izzy lots of questions. Izzy had a shorter than average attention span, but her memory was relatively sharp. Considering the rapid fire questionnaire she was getting, she would happily answer everything her best friend had to ask, with the most recent question being the thing she would expand on first. "Cheese. Lots and lots of cheese. Like that!" Izzy pointed towards the laboring earth ponies who were frantically working to fill pizza orders. One of them was holding a large bag with pre-shredded cheese in it. "Earth ponies must like cheese a lot, too!" Izzy was slightly distracted by the shop ponies in their process of taking orders and making pizza. Things in Maretime Bay were much more industrialized than they were in Bridlewood. Izzy didn't mind the change of pace, as it kept up with the rate of her bouncing eyes.

The theatrics and banter of the guard's voice entertained the crowd. And with the added intrigue of a classmate of the queen's niece at the School of Friend that was began by Princess Twilight Sparkle, the audience began clamoring with chatter and suspense. The shakiness of the griffon's voice could be heard, but was mostly drowned out by the sheer fact a griffon had approached as a challenger, his bond with the royal niece notwithstanding. Silverstream giggled. "Oh, yes. He's with me. Oh! Also, he told me once he is a fierce flyer, one of the most vicious from Griffonstone, and can beat anygriff in an air joust!" Silverstream played along with the guard, building up the atmosphere of the festival. Silverstream knew it would be a fun experience for Gallus, but she had no idea they would give him this personal of an experience right from the start! A large hippogriff wearing heavy black armor landed near the guard. His armor covered most of his chest, and all of his head. His helmet had a vent that allowed the hippogriff knight to breathe and speak. In an chambered voice, the hippogriff growled up. "If this is the best the griffons have to offer, then allow me to counter his challenge." The strong hippogriff turned to the guard. "If you will allow me the privilege to defend Mount Aris from this foreign threat, it would be an honor." The mysterious hippogriff stood still and obedient, awaiting the guard's projected decision. Silverstream started tapping her talons together with excited anticipation.

Applejack's frown flattened out. Her friend was sounding genuine, although it felt incomplete and chopped up by the words that she received. Applejack knew her words could cut deep sometimes. The way she exposed another pony's intentions through conversation was always cathartic to her. It shoveled away the nonsense and left a pure pony behind to love and cherish. Coloratura was the kind of pony who carried many experiences around with her, and it often affected her emotions. Applejack would always try to slice away the insecurities of her friends when it was appropriate, but she felt that maybe this time she struck a nerve. Applejack interjected with a short grunt. "Rara." She plead for the filly to listen to her response before leaving the room. Applejack took a deep breath and stared at Coloratura's cutie mark. She concentrated on it before speaking her carefully selected words. She closed her eyes, took another deep breath, and then opened her eyes. "There are times when a pony can only do what she is willing to do. Anything more and it might ruin her life. And there are times when a filly is too scared to know when to take a chance. And sometimes it's a friend who helps show them how." Applejack began another pause, and slowly cracked a smile. "If you really think this is the right thing to do..." she looked up and the ceiling and then down back at Rara. "Then I'll do it."

"Go Roughriders, go! We're the team that run this show!" Zap cheerfully shouted with her sister and anypony else in the vicinity that would join them in their chant invented during the halftime show. Though Zap and Ambrosia often didn't match each other's enthusiasm when it came to their own interests, the setting which involved the best earth pony mom in the world dominating all others in a friendly, yet ruthless ball game seemed to align the two siblings' attention spans fairly well. "Go, Roughriders, go! We're the team that run this show!" When Applejack ran back onto the field with her teammates in her wake, Zap fluttered up and blared. "WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Zap folded his wings slowly and gave a look of disappointment. He didn't obey out of fear of the wrath of his auntie, but rather just felt unsatisfied with the reaction he got. He couldn't tell if his wings had done anything. And the fact that Auntie openly admitted his mother would likely punish her for allowing him to continue to spread his wings at the table only fed Zap with the ideas for leverage that he could use later to get the things he wanted. Flurry Heart might have the status of a young princess pony of a leader Princess pony to get what she wants. But Zap at least had the creative adaptation in his own environment in which he might be able to procure a situation of his liking, and he could do it without secret magical pony stares and strange echo-y voices. "Nu uh. Never been to the Crystal Empire. I heard it can get cold there sometimes with snow, and that they have a crystal heart at the center that glows." Zap sipped on his milk and gasped urgently when he cleared his mouth. "Is that why you're name is Flurry Heart!?"

When Muziki intentionally tugged on his wing a little he flapped them instinctively when she let go. Like most pegasi, Zap did not like his wings being touched. He was generally willing to let his friends touch them on request, but Muziki's forwardness startled Zap slightly. But he smiled. Hearing all the cool things the pegasi were doing made him rear up and start shadow boxing random kicks and thrusts to his sides as if he was doing the cloudbusting she was describing. When she was interrupted, Zap's attention was strung. "W-what happened next!? Um, no she's not sell- she's doing other things, but..." When Muziki's parents called for her, Zap realized he would probably never hear what the pegasi were also doing. In order to give his mind some peace, he suggested to himself that what they were doing involved giving younger ponies on the ground a chance to cloudbust with them. Though, he properly failed to listen to his mother's call, he could not ignore the yelping of his name from his baby sister. He winced and looked around the corner of one of the buildings. He didn't want to reveal himself, but the risk of staying out of sight was probably too much, too early. And anyway, there was a chance he could cut lose if he played by the rules. He stepped out from behind a stationary cart. "I'm right here. Oh! Are the errands down now?" His slow trot dropped into a pouncing stance. "Can I go to the cloudbusting exercise now?"

"I don't have a license to slice, yet. Oh, you mean the place with the sign that says 'License to Slice'. Gotcha." Izzy was guided by Sunny to enter the restaurant. "Oh, we have farms in Bridlewood, too. But I guess they just aren't as big. More like gardens. We grow fruits and vegetables like apples, carrots and celery, but it's easier to grow things that would normally grow in the forest anyway. So we end up eating a lot of mushrooms, all different kinds of nuts and seeds, and berries from bushes. Oh! We also grow a lot of herbs like ginseng and passionflower, you know for tea." Izzy leaned on Sunny. "Yeah, we drink lots of tea. I like most the food we grow in the forest, but I also like to eat a lot of snacks. I typically went through a few boxes of cheese crackers every week. I also like eating macaroni, but most of the dried noodles end up getting used in a craft instead of being eaten.

Izzy Moonbow had a lot to think about. Her brain was constantly racing with intuitions and daydreams about things that could spark her curiosity in the moment. The constant exercise of imagination kept her mind sharp and her intentions sharper. Combine this with all the events of the past few days finding new friends and making a positive change across all pony kinds? It was simply magical. Oh yeah, magic! Izzy feeling the tingling sensation on her horn felt oddly familiar, like she had experienced it in a previous life or something. Knowing that being able to use magic was a new feature didn't agree with the second nature she had controlling it. She wasn't able to shoot pony lasers or read other pony's thoughts, but she somehow managed to use levitation magic to set the Maretime Bay trolley back onto its tracks. She wasn't even sure how she found the courage to do so, lifting something heavy always meant you needed more strength. But unicorn magic was a funky feeling that gave Izzy the poise to lift anything as if it was as light as a feather. Later, having been removed from the magical rush, Izzy's horn stopped glowing inadvertently. However, her innate understanding of the magic she could now wield stayed with her reflexes. Being able to levitate almost anything never replaced her desire to use her legs for walking though. Something about traditional pony trots kept Izzy's brain paced on taking things in as slow or as as fast as her eyes could motivate. But for now, her ears were taking in the attention from her new best friend, Sunny Starscout. "You earth ponies have a lot more food shops than we do in Bridlewood, but we eat mostly the same food, I think. I've had pizza in Bridlewood before but it was a long time ago and had a lot more green leaf toppings that I see on signs here in the city." Another part of Izzy's body was tingling with magic, but this one was more primal than familiar. It also made a growling sound that came from the unicorn's underside. "Oh! Hehe, do you think we can get some!?"

I loved the film. It broke a few expectations, exceeded others, and in some cases, completely invented a way for me to be surprised. A lot has been said that I would basically agree with. The big thing to me is that I want more. Which is probably the goal in some cases. I think there are a lot of questions that they were willing to not answer since there will be more with these characters in the series. The movie is a good starting point, and dare I say it might even be a better starting point than what Friendship is Magic started with in it's first 80 minutes of content. It needed to connect the universe of G4 (It didn't need to, but I'm speaking as a producer now) while still standing on it's own, and that by itself is pretty impressive. Fit Right In is best song. Izzy Moonbow is best new pony. Sprout is a 'villian' I want to get redeemed just so we don't have to endure his awful antagonism and get better villains. My first Mane 5 of the new generation, ranked: 1. Izzy Moonbow 2. Zipp Storm 3. Sunny Starscout 4. Hitch Trailblazer 5. Pipp Petals Hipposcore: 8.5/10 A headcanon I have is that Zipp is somehow related to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, because of how much of both of their charcters she seems to take from. "But Hippo, wouldn't that mean Pipp is also related since that's her sister." Hey. Shut up.

Applejack was a very stubborn pony. But even she knew when a reasonable argument was made, and it was even softer coming from a pony she respected. She was silent for a moment and continued to hold a grumpy attitude, though when she spoke again, her tone was calm. "The reason I came out here, Rara, was because you said you needed to grab from the inspiration I bring to the song writing process. Somethin' about my down-to-earth singin' from the heart. I figured that was noble, not the mention a compliment. I also thought it would be great to come out and spend time getting to know the older version of one of my best fillyfriends from my youth." She sighed. "So I came out here, on the condition that I wouldn't do any performances. But now you're telling me that not only do you still want me to, but you've already made arrangements to something I didn't agree to." Applejack was not happy. "I feel a little deceived." "And anyway, when you cut the tall grass, you cut it, and then bale it."

Zaps bouncing increased in speed at Rainbow's question on how excited they were. Seeing a professional match like this in the front row was pretty great, too, even though the stadium was only big enough to house half the town, should they show up to watch the team play a big match. Zap may never understand how good of a hoof of cards he was dealt. When Mom made an easy way to explain why an opposing player would act the way they did, Zap nodded in full agreement. "Yeah, I want to grow up and beat number forty-seven, too!" Zap had heard stories on how Rainbow Dash was a cheerleader coordinator for the Friendship School. But when Zap looked up what a cheerleader was in his picture book, it didn't exactly align with what he expected out of Dashie. Nevertheless, he assumed she would know all there is to know about leading a cheer team, or family. And if Mom was signaling that they weren't cheering loud enough, then Zap would reinforce that suggestion to his other parent. "Blue momma, I mean, Dashie! We gotta cheer harder! Oh, also I want some cider now, I think." Zap was easy to suggestive sell ideas when he was having fun.

Silverstream lit up at the prospect of the event speaker inviting onlookers to participate. She knew that there were very few moments when this would ever happen. One time she got to be a honorary participant in the celebration jousting event. To her, it meant a lot to be a part of the action and excitement with everygriff watching. What she would never remember to mention though, is that as a member of the Seaquestria Royal Family, she would always face a competitor who was scripted to either let her win, or act in such a way that made an amateur flyer like Silverstream look like a future captain of the hippgriff aerial squadron. She inadvertently bumped Gallus, but then egged him on. "Gallus you should volunteer. It's super fun, and no griff ever gets hurt for volunteering. I'll cheer you on!" The reality of danger didn't phase Silverstream, but maybe that was because there hasn't been anything to fear on Mount Aris since the Storm King was sacked.

Zap held a strong smirk across his face as Muziki explained. He was always reminded how entertaining it was to hear Muziki speak. Though the common pony tongue was not her first language, the young zebra could still speak very poetically and affably. "Haha, yeah, like Jack. I need to figure out what to show and tell, though. Will you help me..." Zap's request for help finding a tangible show and tell object was interrupted by Muziki's firm suggestion about the pegasus ponies, and affirmed Zap in question that he would join them some day. Zap puffed his chest and stretched wings as far as he could to show their length. "Oh, absolutely! Ain't no pony going to be a better flyer than me once I'm old enough." Zap was curious as to what Muziki meant by what the pegasus ponies will do later, so he asked in a confident all-knowing way. "Yeah I know I'm going to like what they do later. Have you ever seen the things? The things they do later? And what did you like about it?" He paused. "Also, what did they do?"