Hippo

Royal decrees? Zap had always just assumed that royal decrees were only made by Princess that, you know, were actual princesses. Not princesses that just existed unbeknownst to anypony else, including her own parents. The school lesson in where alicorns come from was an interesting one, and the new chapter on Flurry Heart definitely threw a wrench at the definition of a princess and made it harder for educators to teach the next generation what it all meant. Zap only cared about one thing, though. Alicorns had bigger wings. Apple Bloom entered the room and when Flurry Heart spread her wings, Zap shouted "She's trying to fly!" When the young princess made her decree for milk, Zap hesitated. "Oh." He spread his wings, too. "Um, yes! Me, too! I want some milk." Apple Bloom was acting strange at the small request. Zap wondered if he could obtain such a power, or if it was something he could do already. "Thank you, Auntie! Uh." Zap respread his wings. "Also I want an extra slice of pie."

Silverstream joined Gallus in the kitchen to help clean but mostly to continue the conversation closer together. "Yeah! I mean we all were, probably. I bet little baby Gallus hatchling got into all kinds of trouble." She leaned towards him to antagonize him a little. "He probably got into the trash a few times, drew pictures on the walls. Yeah, little Gally was a dirty birdy." Silverstream had an evil expression that was odd even for her, but then pulled back and laughed it off. And then out of no where, she blushed. She attempted to hide her blush as it didn't seem to make sense for the moment. Silverstream was fairly good at suppressing her emotions though. All she had to do was blurt out the next thing that would come to her mind. "Oh my gosh! We should volunteer to watch Zap again!" It was at this moment the cogs in the hippogriff's mind began turning and she realized that she was never invited to be here today in the first place. She hovered a landing. "Oh gosh. Are they going to be mad that I'm here?" Silverstream began considering the possibility of the professor flying through the front door at any minute.

Applejack finished her short kitchen duty and sat at the table. "Rara, why would I do live shows when I told you from the beginning that I didn't want to do it anymore." She was noticeably disgruntled, either by the lack of transparency or the general misunderstanding that happens between friends who would otherwise love everything about each other. "The reason why I don't feel comfortable doing shows is because it takes time away from the things that are more important to me. My friends. My family. The farm!" Applejack convinced herself of the story that played out in her head if she had gone a whole season away from home. "Am I supposed to believe Apple Bloom can throw all them hay bales when the grass is cut?" Applejack escaped from her nightmare to think about the things Coloratura was implying. Though she was a pony of integrity, she wanted to give Coloratura the full breath and chance to explain herself.

As the rumble on Zap Apple's side of the table continued, he began to feel feelings of resentment towards the guest of the day. Regardless of which princess it was, why was he not being served first when he clearly arrived at the table first? Mom had always challenged Zap and his sister on arriving at the table first, in order to guarantee that they would be here as soon as possible. But apparently, those rules do not apply when there is a princess, or if Auntie Apple Bloom was in charge. Not cool. Zap would successfully withhold his clever remarks for another time though, and would smile the moment a slice of pie was presented to him. Before he dug into it, he looked at Princess Flurry Heart to see if she had also been digging in. If there were in fact, new rules that Zap would have to abide by today, he would not want to infract on those principles in case there were serious consequences. So instead of diving in like he normally would, he waited to see what Flurry Heart would do first. Zap leaned in and smelled the pie, getting very close with his teeth to take a bite, but would wait until he saw Flurry make the first move. After several seconds of stalemate and waiting for Flurry Heart to do whatever it is she does when eating pie, Zap kept his filter off a blurted out the next thing that came to his mind, asking in a subtly rude way. "Why are your wings so big?" Zap felt a little self-conscious about his wing size compared to Flurry Hearts plumage, but didn't have the brain of an adult pony to dwell on those possible shortcomings.

Zap understood the game very well. There were only a few rules. Rule 1: Roughriders were the best team. Not only the best team, but had the best player on the best team. Rule 2: Mom was the best player. There were some actors on the field wearing different colored jerseys that sometimes pretended to be the best, but there was only one true best, even if Mom didn't show it. On rare occasions, the other team would score against the best team with the best player. Zap never did fret too much about this because... Rule 3: If the Roughriders lose or get scored against, it's not Mom's fault. The only thing Zap didn't understand about this game was why it took eighty minutes to determine what he could tell you in eight seconds, that Mom was the best player and that she would carry the Roughriders to victory. "Eeyup!" Big Mac started in reply to answer Applejack's question that they were doing fine. He also held up a small basket of hay fries, some of which was already eaten by the little ones the big brother was watching over. Despite his chill demeanor, Big Mac loved watching the younger members of the family when the other adults could not. But it didn't happen very often, seeing as how Apple Bloom loved to volunteer to watch her niece and nephew. But also, thought he didn't show it much, he was a fan of rugby and was interested in even playing, but seeing as how somepony in the family was already better than him (again), he might as well support her from the sidelines the same way he would at rodeos. Zap jumped excitedly as she walked over to them. "Wow, Mom! You're doing so great. You should kick all the balls into the goal! Also number forty seven on the other team looked at you funny. You should beat him!" Zap stopped his insistent bouncing to grab a hay fry and once he was finished doing so, he started bouncing again. Zap was wearing a light blue roughriders jersey that was most likely donated to him because no one on the team could fit a jersey that small.

Zap didn't hear or see pegasus ponies cloud busting for a long minute, so he inadvertently began fluttering down back to the ground. When Muziki asked him about something she wanted to show him, Zap looked at her and looked down at the frog in her hat. He smirked. "Ka-johnny Kah bitchy? Is that Unyasian for 'bullfrog'?" He chuckled at his own suggested question, but he was mostly serious as it was his best guess. He looked around to see if his mother had at all been alerted by his disappearance yet. "Show and tell? That's tomorrow? I don't have anything. I guess I need to find something." Zap looked around for something and found a stick lying next to a fence poll. He smiled and picked it up with his teeth. He grinned for a moment, before spitting it out back to the ground. "No."

Before Silverstream closed the front door of the residential hall after they all walked inside, she looked around at the sleeping campus. She noticed some stray materials out by the water and a few windows open letting in a draft that would disgruntle the first one to walk into class the next day. "I think the school might need to invest in some campus security or something." She shrugged and walked into the dorm and down the hall. Once she got to her door and saw the other two get to theirs, she made her final remark on the night. "Thanks for finding me. I'd probably work all night down there if it wasn't for your common sense. Goodnight, you guys. Sleep well." She opened her door and closed it behind her. After she put on her nightcap and slipped into bed, she couldn't help but get excited about tonight possibly being the last time she slept in the dorms. But after only a few minutes of musing, she drifted and began dreaming about the adventures of a seapony vigilante who searched the abyss for trouble and mischief.

Silverstream whispered loudly. "Yeah. Sure. I can help clean up!" Her chipper demeanor unescapable, she hovered down the stairs into the common area. She started picking up things in the living room like small bits of trash, equipment from the projector set, and stray crayons that fell from the table. As she straightened the room up, she conversed with Gallus who was busy scrubbing down his efforts in the kitchen. "Gallus. You're going to be a really good father some day." Silverstream mentioned it plainly, not giving foresight or any extra context that could have been provided. Had their been extra context, she would have likely blurted it out with her compliment, anyway. "I don't think the others back as school will believe me when I tell them how well you handled it. Well, except for the whole 'we thought he fell to his death' situation. Maybe we just leave that part out."

Zap Apple's espionage of the downtown Ponyville area for pegasus activity led him closer and closer to what he suspected was the pegasus cloud-busting practice. He couldn't get a full view of it, though. From the ground he would peek around buildings, but then he would jump to light poles and wall climb to roofs in order to better his perspective. He could just fly all the way up and see what was going on, but he knew his mother would be able to see him, too if he had gotten that high. A voice from below said his name twice, which for about sixteen milliseconds made him fear that his mother was on his case, but instead he heard it as Muziki, a zebra filly that met Zap a short while ago. Without looking at her, Zap Apple gave her a sufficient enough answer to satisfy her curiosity. "Farm life is fine. Same old same old." He continued to look around and above trees for pegasus activity. But for the most part, he could only hear the occasional poofs and small thunderclaps that are normally associated with the elimination of small stray clouds.

If anypony was a young pegasus colt on a farm who had to do chores on the regular, you would suspect that that anypony would be doing their regular chores at a time like this. However, if that anypony's parents were not there to supervise the young colt, what kind of expectation would there be for one such pony to behave and do things productively as normal. Zap Apple played. It was the thing he was best at. Maybe he should do his chores now, so that he doesn't have to do them later. Maybe he would be a good family member if he went inside to help his aunt clean up a mess he made literally a few minutes ago. Maybe having the freedom to do whatever you want seemed inappropriate during a time in which the youngest member of the royal Equestrian family was visiting the farm. But these thoughts would only occur in a pony who had the sensibilities of others built up over a life experience of relationships, hard labor, and unfortunate hardships. Zap Apple had no such experience, and would do best to stay as clear from that kind of experience for as long as his young wings would allow him. Unless there was pie. "Pie!?" Zap Apple threw the stick for Jack one more time, with this time having the intent to leave Jack hanging around outside with no pony to give the stick to. The russell terrier would be fine though, he had plenty of other things to do when Zap wasn't actively playing with him. Zap zipped into the kitchen, and without announcement, sat at the supper table and placed a napkin around his neck. He softly did a drumroll with his hooves on the table while licking his lips, waiting to be presented with a slice of pie by his mother. Oh, but his mother wasn't here. No matter, he assumed his experience would probably be the same.

Both of the ponies remained asleep. Occasional tossing and turnings happened inadvertently between both of them. It was unclear whether or not they were dreaming with each other, but they both seemed troubled in their unscheduled slumbers. The music continued to play, several of the lyrics illustrating harsh views by the songwriters about reality and relationships. Though the style of music being played off the vinyl record would be considered edgy, it was still not intense or loud enough to wake the sleeping students.

There was a wordless and aimless confusion that cut through Moonlight sharper than any glass as she wandered a wilderness of self-pity. In time her torments and tormentors left her, voiding her of their memories and causes and leaving with her only the drumbeat of savage emotions left behind. But even those were to be lost in the tumult of the moment as a voice called out to her. her eyes darted until she found his voice and her heart soothed itself. She had been looking for him and here he was, safe and sound on the ground! "Remmy! I've been, like, looking everywhere for you!" She said as she trotted happily into the dark where had vanished, momentarily lost in the joys of having seen him again. On the other side of the dark hallway was a bedroom. Not just a bedroom with a bed, but two beds. And not just a bedroom with two beds, but a dorm room! Remington stood there confidently, but then admitted his ignorance. "Moony? Where are we?" It took a few seconds for her brain to allow the room to come in top focus. At first it came together like a painting, then more real as the moments phased out of memory. It was her dorm room! Her bed, complete with silken sheets and one too many comforters, was well made and tidy. Her closet was overfilling with clothes- the Professors had all added top her wardrobe and she couldn't help but have an eye for it herself. More than a few sets were draped over a working desk which was, well, organized chaos. Clothes, measuring tools, sewing thread and a machine next to books and books and books and even some of them were school related. The walls were filled with posters. Bands of all kinds, pop stars, fashion icons, as well as some calendars that seemed to stretch on. The underside of her bed had not one nor two but three suitcases of random items that she had brought with yet had not discarded, and trail of chaos led to the dresser as she had fought herself one too many times trying to decide what to wear. "Oh, this is my dorm Remmy! Have a seat!" Remington looked around him, to his left and to his right. "Um, I think I'll just stand for now." As Moonlight made her way into what was basically her home, it looked like she felt instantly comfortable about her environment. But Remington didn't feel home here, and was apprehensive about the whole room in itself. Not embarrassed for Moonlight's lack of tidiness, but rather wondering if he would be allowed here to begin with. "Should I leave? I don't want to be here if you don't want me here." She raised her eyebrow. "Remmy, of course I want you here! Now sit your cute flank down!" "Um. Ok." Remington meagerly found a spot on the floor not covered in garment and softly reclined on his haunches. He looked around the room, identifying the peculiar artifacts of a filly's bedroom, something he never thought would be as interesting as it was, while at the same time not overly amusing. He also peered through the window, which showed a clear night sky with twinkling stars and a bright full moon. "So. This is your room. Kind of normal." He playfully kicked an outfit lying next to him. "I don't know what I expected." "Sweetie, just sit on the bed or, like, take a seat. On a chair?" She asked quizzically, then dismissed it with a laugh as she tossed her mane back. "What did you expect my room to be like, cutie? I'm alive, you know." Remington stood up in obedience and moved himself to the bed. He climbed on it and lay down forward with his hooves tucked. He took noticed of the view from the window and noticed the stars again. "I don't know. I guess I expected it to be more... I don't know... Wait, what do you mean alive?" "Oh, I was not dead earlier so I am alive. I wasn't born to fail, because I'm with you now," she said as she sat down. then, ignoring everything that was said, she leaned in. "So, what do you have in mind, cutie?" Remington was perplexed by Moonlight's explanation, as it was utter nonsense and carried little context. He was going to answer her question, that which he had no answer to anyway, but noticed out of the window that the stars and moon started to move sideways. "Um, do you see that? The moon doesn't typically set that fast or in that direction. And... is it morning already?" He looked at his watch on his left hoof which had the time indicators spinning out of control. He shook it assuming it might be broken. "It shouldn't be morning," she muttered in annoyed response. She didn't know what she was angry about as she shut the blinds, then opened it up again. Nope, it didn't change. "Le sigh. Moony is all over the place!" The stars accelerated sideways, and as the moon fell out of view, the room began taking on the characteristics as if it was spinning. Centrifugal force of the spin began throwing loose objects to the sides of the room, and Remington started bracing himself on the bed as he felt himself being pulled towards the window. He shut the blinds after Moonlight opened them again, for fear he would fall out. "What is happening?" "I-" she tried to speak as the forces continued to exert pressure on her as she forced herself onto the bed, holding onto a post while her tail reflexively out of fear fell around him. "I-I don't know! This is WAY not cool, moon! Stop it, Luna! You're making this-" she had to choke down some vomit. "-REAL lame!" Remington lost his grip on the bed and began walking the walls as the strange spinning continued to accelerate. "I don't think Princess Luna would do this. It's rumored she hates thrill rides. I think it's fine, I should be able to just stand on the walls." Shortly after, the force of the spin kept him from being about to stand sideways and he collapsed to the wall. He seemed pretty calm considering the room was being treated like some carnival ride. She didn't like carnival rides and she was starting to think he wouldn't either soon enough. After all, he became glued to the wall. She tried to get over there in desperation but the room's vicious spinning took her and she went tumbling splat against the wall- face on the wall, on the stomach and off the ground, upside down. She moved her head with great effort. "THIS. IS. PRETTY. GRODY!" Remington's left cheek was plastered to one side as he reached out with a hoof towards the incapacitated Moonlight. Once his hoof brushed her side, a large ball of light began growing between the two ponies. Some kind of source of condensed energy, the ball lit up the whole room brightly and blinded the ponies from seeing anything. A large powering surge noise was also vibrating throughout the room. What seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few seconds, the ball of light blasted its light before shrinking again until it disappeared, and the rooms spin began slowing down. A rather sudden deceleration, the room stopped spinning completely, and the ponies fell to the floor. A few moments to breathe, and they would be able to react. "What. H-in the world. H-was that? I feel different. Why do I feel so... bitchin'." He walked around room and started picking things up that were knocked down during the spin. Somehow, knowing where everything went seemed natural. There was a moment of clarity and he started to understand what was going on, and began speaking thoughts into existence. "When your apathy's gone sadistic and you've discarded truth, all of your work is worthless and now you're dancing with doom." Several Nightmare Night masks were thrown out of their box from the closet, and so he picked them up and put them back in their box, admiring each mask as he held them. "Your ego runs rampant and tells you you're screwed." His smile fell and worry came over him. He looked over at the full-sized mirror that had fallen down and started picking it up. "So I tried to watch the witness." Placing the mirror straight up, a large crack shattered the mirror, but still displayed an accurate reflection. "And I found out I'm you." Remington looked into the mirror and saw Moonlight. "Like, what is going on, Moony?" The blinded blinded both little ponies, each one lost in the light and blackened by its radiance. In a moment that felt like an eternity there was nothing but that light and that energy, then as quick as it had begun it was over. Leaving them, only them, alone with one another as the room stopped and they tumbled. It took a while for Moonlight to try and move, seemingly paralyzed as she heard herself sing. It was deeply troubling hearing yourself sing, especially when it wasn't you and you were on the ground, and even more so when that cutie sounded distressed. Finally she got up in the foreign room and turned to face herself, who looked aghast at the mirror and then her. Luckily, she had the right answer. "I'll tell you what's going on, Remington," she said as she tossed her blue mane. "We got addicted to the what could go wrong," she bemoaned as she trotted forward, her strong coltish hooves betraying no loss in confidence. "I think I’m livin’ right, if you just play along," she responded as she drew in close. It was weird, how she was he and he was she and how it was not the first time this had happened. Remington's hooves reached out to touch Moonlight's face. "We got addicted to our lonesome theme song-" she began before leaning in..."plans for the planet-" she started in before a loud crash shocked her out of the moment! "-we're done, run!" Destruction started rolling into the bedroom from the doorway. There was some question as to where that lead to, but the question would turn into an urgent request to run in the opposite direction. The hallway back to the baseball field mysteriously missing, the only other way out of the room was the window that had been closed during the room's spin. Moonlight's reflection quickly moved to the window end of the room and threw open the shutters. She looked back at Moonlight. "I think I'm subconscious, speaking from a different part of your mind or heart." Moonlight didn't respond right away with the loud noises now filling the room. "Moonlight!? I'm your prison, won't you listen? Give me back your pride." She jumped out of the window into a nightly abyss, looking back at Moonlight with tears in her eyes. "Don't depend on me." RemLight ran as quickly as he could over the window, tumbling down and through it in a panic behind her better self, his smarter self. Rem didn't know how he was talking to her subconscious but knew only that behind them was an awful lot of destruction that she couldn't quite see. And i front of her, a love of self like never before asking the other half not to depend on them. And RemLight could respond only as one could, coming to a stop. "STOP DEFENDING ME!" She yelled, her hooves busy below as she ran in place in fear. RemLight pulled Mooington close before daring to look behind in horror! "We'll go down together!" Remlight tried to say before finding themselves running. When outpaced and with destruction on her heels, "Don't depend on me, a let-down forever!" She wept in equal to the tears that had existed before. "Stop defending me. We'll go down together." Moonington responded as the two fell down a vague depth. Before they could count to an imaginary number, the two found themselves in a ball room, both of them wearing fancy dresses in a posh environment with other stuffy ponies who were making small banter with each other and mingling around the hor d'oeuvres. Moonington panicked. "Should we even be here? What will they, like, say about us?" She looked down at her dress. "Does this make my flank look wider than it should be?" Now the ball room was way more her scene than the field of destruction and what was happening before. She straightened herself up. RemLight was in a dress and while Remington wasn't one who could normally pull it off, it looked like RemLight was going to look like a million bits, and so was her better half. "No, no. You look great. How do I look?" RemLight said as he or she struck a pose, pulling a drink from a traveling waiter. "When your apathy's gone sadistic," she said as she poured the drink down. "And you've discarded truth..." "Oh your identical dress is more bitchin' than mine for sure. You look too good for this place. Psych!" She giggled. She walked over to the dance floor and called over a pony to dance with. She found a willing stranger and began twirling and stepping to the music. The pony she was dancing with didn't show their face immediately. But they sounded intimidating when they decided to participate in the banter. "All of your work is worthless, and you're dancing with doom." Moonington stepped back as the dance partner revealed themselves to be a more evil looking pony. Moonington looked back at RemLight, who seemed to be enchanting herself with other members of the ballroom. She yelled towards her, almost in a way of warning. "Your ego runs rampant, and tells you we're screwed." "Identical dresses are pretty cool I guess," RemLight said as Mooington wen out to find a new dance partner. Made the ol' Remmy ticker die a little but RemLight knew that there were more fish in the sea and RemLight found one. A pretty mare with the salsa moves to die for and RemLight enjoyed every moment of it as they danced hard and fast on the floor. Then in time it changed and the mare harsher, meaner, and RemLight was being danced to rather than with him. eventually she pushed him and he went tumbling backwards until he turned to face himself yelling at herself, and she RemLight could only respond in fear. "So I tried to watch the witness, and I found out I'm you..." The commotion of the ballroom turned sour as all the ponies stopped their pleasantries to goggle at the two impostors. Their welcome seemed to have expired and they were all waiting for them to be removed from the party so that their celebration of poshiness could continue without the dreamer's presence. Seeing as they were not wanted here, Moonington added to RemLight's refrain her desire to leave. "Yo, like, maybe we should just get out of here." The other patrons began making snarls and grunts. "We're leaving, gosh! Gag me with a spoon!" She grabbed RemLight by the hoof and they exited the ball room. As it turned out, the ballroom was on a luxurious airship, and the yacht was currently traveling above the clouds. It was also nighttime, the moon being the only significant source of light onto the decks of the ship. Moonington tried to assure herself, from herself. "Don't worry. It won't need us right after we've fed. It's enough, let's just hope it's our dad. You think a genius got crap on this lad?" She eyed an open area where many young attractive stallions were mingling. Moonington smirked and perked a look at RemLight, signaling that they should go over there. "Load up the lantern and let there be..." The crowd was mean and vicious and everything and anything that was undignified about the crowd. the two same selves moved away, forced away, by the crowd's growing animalistic fervor. In this RemLight had to be kept safe and Moonington had to be safe and she needed to be sure he was well strapped in with the armor of affection. It was good to know they had each other even if everything else was a disaster, and a dreamboat in the sky was as lovely as one could ask for. Well-earned self affection gave RemLight the strength to fight through the negativity surrounding the pair. After all, when your life was lived in self-deceptive moments it was easy to toss aside negativity since you saved so much of it for yourself. Moments to moments passed by with her lovely self. The pair moved to dance with the stallions and it would have been so nice, two mares alike. As they drew close, he blurted out. "Unconditionally dependent, love is hard to find," as he turned to Moonington and was about to rub herself against her, when all the stallions vanished- leaving nothing but a dress where RemLight once stood. Suddenly, an explosion occurred on the ship, and the blast disintegrated all of the stallions. The airship broke apart, and as a result began falling to its end. The bow started to nosedive and it forced them both to slide off the edge of the railing, hanging on for whatever reality they felt they were apart of. Feeling like this would be a more real end than the last one, Moonington imparted to herself to allow the sacrifice to commence. "Don't depend on me! Stop defending me!" The pony would fall and fall and as she fell and fell the cavalcade of terrible things and emotions overran her. Angry metal moans, biology born to fail, choking. Angry fillies, hot angry studs, angry dancers. Scripted to flip from one to another, the filly dove into the dark as the faces and words and worry about Remington continued to compound. Two in one identity where she discovered she was you and you was she, impending doom, depending, defending, STOP. "BORN TO FAIL! BORN TO FAIL!" She screeched as the voices nodded and the faces roared, "Your ego runs rampant, and tells you we're screwed!" she continued as she flailed about screaming, until the voices in her head were the only ones left. That, and a floating Remington, a floating Valen, a dress, a smile, a thought, a feeling, that she could reach out and touch. "We'll go down together," she whispered until the fall suddenly and completely stopped. The fall was lethal. To what or to whom, it wasn't clear. As the Moonlight Glitter pairs fell, they grabbed each other and started to fuse, another ball of light emitting from their pelts. And after the light cleared, the two were one again.

Fluttershy began to feel like she overstayed her welcome as activity at the wedding seemed to overwhelm the attention required to converse with the sphinx. Nilaavin pushed open the door to see what was happening, and commented on the strangeness. Fluttershy had been too enamored with the sphinx to concentrate on anything else that was happening, but having it be alarming to a creature with as large of a stature as his, she also felt she needed to know what was happening. "Is everything alright?"

"My what? Oh, for Apple Chord? You know, it was fun at first but I think I'll just be myself since we're just doing these sessions in private." Applejack chuckled as she explained. "I mean, it's not like I'm actually going on the tour with you." Applejack rinsed a few dishes off and slowly churned a thoughtful look on her face. She meditated on the cadence of Coloratura's voice, and though Applejack was no expert on vocal melodies, she could sense the feeling and intention behind her friend's words. She looked at her without softening her look of concern. "Rara, you ain't talkin' 'bout me going on the tour with you, are ye? You know I gave that up."

"Anygriff and everygriff can participate! Of course, the members of the hippogriff navy have their own jousts, they usually do public jousts where anyone is allowed to try. They give out medals, and free food, it's awesome! Let's get closer so you can see." She lead him to a more central part of New Hippogriffia. As they approached, jousters could be seen ascending above the trees, flying at each other a few times, and then retreating to the ground. She glided to a spot where other hippogriffs were spectating the show. Many hippogriffs noticed that a griffon was among them, but they made no worried expressions, and greeted both of them with smiles and waves. Two hippogriffs wearing military helmets approached each other. They both bowed to one another and then took off for the sky. They took turns darting at each other, like it was a respectable game of tag in the air. The hippogriffs around the area cheered the acrobatic aerial moves they made, and Silverstream joined in. "Hahaha, yay! You got 'em! Oh! Look at that barrel roll! Do it again! Do a barrel roll!"

While hanging onto Gallus' back, Zap chuckled softly at his joke, before yawning with a wide open mouth. "Oh yes, I would love a good nap," Silverstream emoted a fake scratching of her sides. Zap's bedroom was small, but had very fine furniture. His bed was branded with wonderbolts blankets and pillows. He nodded at Gallus' compliment of his bedding, but felt he had to qualify his minor insecurities as a young pegasus who dreams big. "Dashie says she's gonna get me a bigger bed. She says I'm gonna be too big for it one day." Zap fell off Gallus' back onto his bed that he was less than half the size of. Without much effort or repositioning, Zap started to relax his muscles and his eyes fell closed. Silverstream clasped her talons together in amazement at how adorable it all was.

His mother allowing him to fly was the first win of the day. He crouched briefly to get a good launch into the air, but made an abbreviated hop at the condition she made that he would have to stay with the apple cart. He rolled his eyes and continued to have an impatient grumpy expression on his face. Once in town, when mom was busy buying the same turnips she always buys, Zap began looking around out of boredom. He spotted other marketplace ponies buying and selling, a few earth pony foals running around playing with a ball, and small group of creatures that looked like they were from the friendship school on a field trip, to an ambiguous location. Suddenly, Zap heard the rumble of air in the distance. He frantically looked around as it made his pegusense tingle. He hovered softly away from the cart but kept reasonably close to not be called out. He tried a few different angles of looking around buildings in order to see what it was that was making that familiar sound. Behind one of the marketplace buildings, Zap caught a glimpse of a pegasus marking their signature colors in the sky, making a quick aerial move before jetting out of view. He could only see a small part of the flight, and wanted to get a better view of what he suspected was the cloud busting exercises that was scheduled for today. He looked back at his mother talking to the sales pony, and briefly at his sister who was also doing something slightly nefarious, but more of a useful distraction to Zap's current moment. Zap landed and then took a few steps towards the flight noises.

The agreement across the board to head to their beds back at the dorms gave Silverstream the confidence to continue with her swim prep. She would want to go first so the others could follow them out of the dark underwater cave. But she paused at Gallus' odd statement of staying here. It was some kind of joke, and Silverstream didn't get it. She waited for Smolder to catch the humor of it, but once it was obvious it was lost on her, Silverstream raised an eyebrow at Gallus. "Um, yeah, I don't get it either. Maybe we're just too tired. You can try and tell us the joke again tomorrow after we've had some rest. Alright, let's go!" Silverstream submerged herself into the water and swam as a guide to the surface just outside the school's entrance. She jumped out of the water, transformed herself into a feathered hippogriff, shook off the excess water, and walked towards the dorms. "I'll pick up all the stuff I borrowed tomorrow. I think next time I do a project like this, I'll ask you guys if you want to help me."

Silverstream took pause with her new friend's non-verbal decline. "Oh." She raised her fins up in excitement. "Well... there's a school up there! You should go to the school and learn about friendship!"

"Hi, new friend! My name's Izzy!" Roleplay Type: Generation 5 Cast Name: Izzy Moonbow Gender: Female Age: Young mare Species: Unicorn Eye color: Purple Coat: Lavender Mane/Tail: Long and wavy, Blue Physique: Slightly taller than average, average strength Residence: From Bridlewood, "La Villa Izzy" Cutie Mark: A heart-shaped pincushion with a button in the middle. Ever since she was old enough to pick random objects up, Izzy has had a knack for bringing odd pieces of useless materials and making them into something special. She would often make gifts for others using discarded items no pony made use of. As she got older, she began crafting things out of previously used materials to make something beautiful, like a windchime out of broken gemstones or a torn book to make a paper mosaic. She would later trademark this her 'unicycling', making something unique out of recycled pieces. Her cutie mark represents her ability to be creative with items that don't seem to have any value. More recently, she has began take on more abstract approaches with her artistic style. But even though some ponies don't understand her sculptures or glued-on canvases as art, she is always willing to submit to them something that gives a practical use. Unique Traits: Purple hooves, wears a friendship bracelet around one hoof and around her mane which can be see from behind, keeps a positive attitude almost always, and has an infectious smile as a default display of emotion. Izzy has the ability to detect other pony's luminescence. She notices more when a pony is happy, and often describes their luminescence as a color. The practical application of a pony's luminescence isn't completely understood, even by Izzy. But she recognizes it as a positive vibe from a pony and is a feature than makes them unique. When Izzy see's another pony's luminescence clearly, she can use it to understand their personality better. History: Izzy was born and raised in Bridlewood, home to unicorns. When she was young, others around her lacked enthusiasm for most anything. Most unicorns in Bridlewood were extremely apathetic to everything around them. But Izzy found joy and wonder in almost anything she would discover. While her friends didn't share her curiosity, she would often find herself alone to experience the interesting nature of things around her. As she grew up, this contrasting trend between her and other unicorns would continue to part, and she would lack the perspective of other ponies to help solidify her insecurities and social expectancies. On a day when Izzy was still very young, a letter fell softly from the sky by way of some candlelit paper balloon that implied unicorns and pegasi had friends waiting for them in Maretime Bay. She kept this letter as encouragement that she would have friends somewhere if she traveled far enough. Because she didn't share the superstitions and level of apathy that unicorns in Bridlewood had, she decided to put matters into her own hooves, and travel outside of the safety of Bridlewood, and pay Maretime Bay a visit. When Izzy found Maretime Bay, she was met with paranoia among the earth ponies. But she met one earth pony, named Sunny, who would later become her best friend. Through the adventures that took them to Zephyr Heights and back to Bridlewood, Izzy would meet new friends that she would hold for a long time to come. Because of how much she enjoyed the thrill of going to new places, she was slightly afraid to return home, because she did not want her life to return to the dull lifestyle that had always encompassed Bridlewood. But to her enjoyment, the mission of bringing together the three pony kinds was a grand success, and she would have the ability to travel to all the pony towns to share the excitement of new things to discover, and even begin planning on adventuring beyond the known parts of Equestria. Personality: Izzy is a unicorn with a very positive outlook on life. When she is excited, she can be very hyperactive and likes to illustrate her emotions with highly animated jesters and musical numbers, many of which she hums to herself daily. She likes to sing. Even when she seems very distracted with things that amuse her, she is often aware of other pony's situations that may not be obvious to them, such as a personality flaw or their unspoken emotion. She lacks insecurities, and sometimes can be seen as a little too forward with her conversation. She might expose a secret if she doesn't feel that the secret is worth keeping. Whenever she is met with hostility, she usually responds with kindness and compliments. Summary: Izzy Moonbow is a unicorn from Bridlewood who loves making new friends and discovering new places with those friends. She prefers to always do something she hasn't done before and enjoys making something out of nothing. She loves making arts and crafts out of anything and everything, and loves sharing her creations with others. She likes to sing and dance for her own amusement. Her sense of humor is mostly for her own entertainment, but she feels even better about it when it makes others laugh. Her best friends is Sunny Starscout.

"That's nonsense. The changelings here are friendly. I should introduce you to Ocellus, or any of the other changelings at the school." She interrupted her train of thought once again. "So you're not here for the school? Did you know about the school that's here?"

The floor fell into blackness, and before long, the blackness lit to a beautiful day. Freshly cut grass could be smelled, distinguished from freshly eaten grass. Birds were chirping, trees were clapping softly in the light breeze, and an occasional wooden crack could be heard from nearby associated with soft clopping applause. There was a wooden bench that other than it's dried and aged appearance, seemed unremarkable. A long hut covered the bench and cheap chain-linked fencing surrounded it with an opening on both ends to the sides. At one end of the bench, a large pile of masks were cluttered together that looked to be designed for protecting the face of a pony who intended to be thrown at with a hard-surfaced ball, perhaps. "You're the new player?" A lightly-colored orange earth pony approached Moonlight. He noticed the pink unicorn filly with her cute stature, but decided to forgo his pleasantries in order to address the fact that she looked completely lost. "You have a uniform on and everything. I'm the manager, First Base, and I think we put you on the bench for the day but we need you to pinch right now. Are you a lefty or a righty? Chipper Pones is at bat right now and I need you on deck." The mind reeled at trying to make sense when sense was not being made nor did the mind reel in a way of making sense of the senseless, senselessly struggling, struggles against that which could not be ordered. That brief collapse was wiped away by the warmth of the sun, or what was imagined to be it, and soon she found herself near some sort of game. She wore a strikingly nice little uniform, a bit tight for her taste but considering she didn't know what was happening she'd take it for granted that whatever it was she was wearing, she was wearing it well. It was then that a cutie came up to her and asked if she were the new player. "Sure," she responded for no good reason, "Manager First Base. Did you know that I don't know where Remington is?" She asked nonchalantly as she picked up the weird stick that she saw Chipper Pones play with. She mimicked him a few times before using the circle as a small stage to saunter about in front of a mish mash of faces. Some of them looked like fruits that were thrown at her. She didn't know where she was but she knew that she didn't know where Remington was. What game was this again? "This is baseball. A sport of strategy, wit, and patience. It's also known for its tradition. Well, starting today. Look, all you need to know is that there is one out, it's the bottom of the ninth inning, and we're down by one run. But the bases are loaded and we have a good chance to win this game." Chipper hit the ball softly after it was pitched to him from the mound, and the ball rolled softly to a player where he was tagged out quite easily. None of the runners advanced. First Base sighed. "Make that two outs. Alright. No problem. Just take this bat, wear this ankle guard on your front hoof, and get to the batters box. Just put the ball in play!" First Base lightly shoved Moonlight towards a pony wearing all black with a mask, and a goat wearing a mask and a large glove. The cute manager pushed her into position. Or was she in position? She didn't know. She went to where Chipper was and looked around. Why were they throwing the ball and not catching it? She held the bat with the thick part first. "Are you Remington?" She asked the pitcher as she adjusted her helmet. It had been blocking her eyes and she needed them to see Remington. But then the sun blinded her just as the pitcher started to move his legs in a weird way. The pony on the pitching mound hurled a ball across the plate and into the catcher's mitt, swishing by the oblivious batter who other than her cute batting stance, had no idea what she was doing. "STEEEEERRRIKE," the pony in black behind yelled. "Maaaah," the goat catcher belted before throwing the ball back to his pitcher. First Base from the dugout swiped his face with a hoof and then took a calming breath. "Glitter! You're holding the bat upside down! You can do this! I know you have no idea what this game is probably, but just try your best, you can do it! Facts, just say it! No, you don't need to know! Feels, display them! Everyone's the goat!" As the team of goats in the field began their between pitch chatter, the pitcher began his motion to another pitch towards Moonlight. She stepped out of the batter's box and took a deep breath. Okay, so that wasn't a good thing? Based on voice tone? No, it was a bad thing. She was doing her best but her best wasn't good enough. "Got it, cutie," she said, giving her manager a wink. He was a cutie, after all. And she was not dead. So she stepped back and reversed the bat, thinking to herself that this looked a little better. "Okay, goats aren't moats and moats are totally not floats, I'm not a float, I'm the goat, bah," she said as she stood in the batter's box and assumed the stance. The player on the mound hurled the ball towards Moonlight at the catcher once again, spinning it end over end. It appeared to dance in the air a little but before a pony could count their hooves, the ball clapped into the catcher's mitt. "STEEEEEERRRRIKE TWO," they pony in black behind Moonlight yelled. As it turned out, a zebra was on the mound, and he smiled and lightly shook his head. He held his glove up to receive the light toss of the ball from the catcher. During his swagger around the mound, he seemingly attempted to taunt Moonlight. "Now I'm around the world shredding for an ovation. And you can trash my reputation as you enjoy your long vacation." From the dugout, Manager First Base leaned in and plead with Moonlight. "Give me substance, give me something..." The zebra pitcher cocked his opening motion with his legs and then spun his body around to hurl another ball towards Moonlight as fast as he could to the catcher. Two strikes was bad. You know what? That one wasn't her fault. The ball was doing weird things. She could braid her luxurious mane in the time it took for the ball to do what it did but then she didn't have that time and she spent that time thinking about her mane and how so very wonderful it was, which didn't help her. Then that cute zebra pitcher taunted her and her coach was asking her to do something and she just wanted to find Remington. "Okay! Okay! I'll do it but, like, just tell me where Remington is for the love of Celestia! Tch!" She said in frustration, wiggling her bootie to get into her stance as her eyes slit and she stared the pitcher down. "Okay. Time to swing for the fences!" She turned quickly to the ump. "Do I want to do that?" She turned back to the pitcher, wiggling her way into the stance. "Alright. I got this. I got this." All the uniformed players in the field in front of Moonlight started swaying softly during the pitch delivery, antagonizing the batter's attempt to hit the ball. "Hey batter, batter. Hey batter, batter, batter," they all chanted. As the ball reached the plate, seemingly in slow motion, all the fielding ungulates shouted, "SWING!" And swing she did. She swung as hard as she could swing, so hard that she spun in place and did a full 360 before falling on the plate. Coughing through the dirt, she looked up to see what she had done and took off before she could realize it! Crack! The ball had been struck by the mare's wooden bat, sending vibrations through the mare's hooves before flying away from the batter. Towards the clouds it soared, seemingly not slowing down its ascend into the blue sky. Only seconds later did the ball change its mind, and the mysterious natural forces began pulling the ball back down to the playing field. A goat standing near the wall on the opposite side of the field jumped around before standing still with a gloved hoof up. The surrendered ball fell harmlessly into the goat's glove, where he secured it for the final out of the game. All the field goats bleated and began running towards the center of the field. First Base threw his hat down into the dirt. Aww, did she do a bad job? Did she make an 'out'? What was an out, and was there an in? She didn't really know. She didn't really blame herself though. Why, she felt like she did a really good job. That ball went really far! That was a good thing, right? Did she make a point anyway? She stood up and brushed herself off, admiring herself in her uniform a moment longer. "Hmm, I still look super cute!" She said to the ump before trotting to a visibly upset First Base. "I'm sorry I didn't make more points but I almost sent it over the wall for a three pointer!" First Base rubbed his temples while listening to Moonlight's cutesy response to her failure. It looked like he wanted to say something, but didn't have the overblown temper to lose control of it and kept his words to himself. However, behind Moonlight, the zebra ball hurler swaggered towards her and started bragging. "This is the song you wish you’d wrote, before you proved to the world you’re a silly joke, before you had your chance and hilariously choked." He mocked but then gave a stern face and stared into her eyes. "Before you tried to do me over." The zebra stepped back and began circling Moonlight. "Honestly, you've always known I'd prevail." He eyed her physique rudely side to side and muttered a remark on the fact that her feminine features held her back from competing. "It's biology. And you were born to fail." First Base had apparently unsuccessfully calmed himself down, and started angrily walking towards Moonlight as well. He began shouting obscenities, some which didn't make any sense, but then others that seemed to cut deep had the pony who received it understood the context. "Ditch if fist, phony! Cancel all your fans! They're passed out in the pasture sucking up lifespan! You look just like a pony, but missing all the mare! When life becomes a burden, just do something unfair!" Just as he finished his rant, he and three others started circling Moonlight Glitter. First Base, the zebra pitcher, the mean green filly from the fashion show, and Prim Hemline began chanting around her singing, "You were born to fail," over and over again. They all slowly trotted around her in unison as they sang their evil chants. What started off as a gentle serenade of awfulness soon started to cascade into seething words of venom that trickled into her from not one, nor two, even three, but finally four different voices of antagonism. Repeating their awful slogans in their awful ways, penetrating the veil between dreams and the veil between feelings. She tried once, twice, three times and more to stop them. The cute zebra colt, the overzealous cult, The Prim Prim, and that awful filly- one into another and four into one, Moonlight's uniform turning into a dress and the field a stage and the stage a void and her hands with a bat. "Stop it! S-Stop it!" She cried out as she turned herself dizzy. "Strike!" The ump called as the handsome zebra colt pushed her towards Prim. "Hey! Cut it you foal, I'm rich!" "Strike two!" The ump called as Moonlight swung her bat at Prim, which phased through as the older mare bent down. "Flap like a flag, script-ed to flip!" She screamed with an angry mental moans that sent Moonlight to the ground, her bat landing on a Valen mask and shattering it in the void. "Ball one..." the vile filly whispered with a giggle, the ump behind her giving the signal. Moonlight tried to get up but fell down, tripping on the bat and mussying up her dress. "Where's Remington?!" "BALL TWO!" The filly laugh-screamed an angry mental moan as she invaded Moonlight's personal space. "It's biology, and you were born to fail!" They all screamed in unison with the force of a thunderclap, it knocked her on her back as she gently wept. "before I proved to the world I'm a buckin' joke..." "STRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRIKE THREE-" "BEFORE I HAD MY CHANCE AND BUCKIN' CHOKED!" Moonlight said in unison with the others as she started to weep uncontrollably on the field, on the stage, in the void, in her head, in her soul. The commotion was rich, but also began to fade. The ground around Moonlight began to expand, and her enemies drifted away from her. But with them, the light also faded. When she would turn around, she would find the dugout with a hallway leading into the unknown. Out of the unknown walked a pony. Once the light from the cosmos hit his face, it was obvious who he was. "Moonlight, this way," Remington said before disappearing into the dark hallway again.

Remington continued to read into his books, but kept getting sidetracked by the fact that a cute filly he was smitten by was sleeping in his bed. How was a studious colt supposed to concentrate? But the music, right, that was helping him meditate on other things. Like doing homework, flipping pages of the book, and screaming at the top of his lungs. Although, he wouldn't do that, he knew what would happen if he had. And that's when it hit him. What if somepony, like the mail carrier from a moment ago, were to help themselves in again? What if that roommate that he is supposed to have comes while Moonlight is passed out in his room. How does he explain it? Would they even believe him? Remington gasped quietly to himself. What if his roommate is another filly! Would they give him a filly roommate? Was that violating any rules? And if it was, then he was in trouble, because there is already a filly in his room. Remington spiraled his thoughts out of control. He could not keep from panicking over the condition of his fillyfriend, even though he knew she would be fine. The imagination of accusations and consequences of this evening was constantly on his forethought, and he was unable to shake it. He was certainly not able to think about his homework. How does a colt in his situation remember the difference between a friendship agreement and an acquaintance promise when he is distracted with half of his heart beating at twice the rate it normally would. The music continued to play though another song, and as Remington continued to stress about the situation, he began to exhaust his ability to focus. By the time the current song had ended, he was asleep, his head plastered sideways onto the desk he was sitting at. The turntable, however, continued to play through the album.

Silverstream giggled loudly at Gallus' animated gesture of the gushy nature of pony cultural lessons. And because Smolder was not the one to laugh at that kind of thing, it left the watery cave echoing with Silverstream's lone snorts and whoops for a few rings. "Well, you could always just not go back to Griffonstone. I kind of want to go back to Seaquestria, but I also want to go everywhere else. If I didn't want to go back home, I don't think I would feel ashamed to find a new place to call home." All the talk about drinking made Silverstream wonder what her own tolerances were. She had never tried to drink a lot of fermentation, but if Gallus and Smolder were serious, there would be a moment where she would find out and it might happen in this cave on another night. Seaquestrian culture didn't partake much of the sauce, and on Mount Aris most of the juice was fish-based and all the fruit was eaten fresh. Hippogriff tolerance could be pretty low if their acclimation to alcohol was as bad as she thought it might be. It scared her enough to not respond to the other two talking about it. "Hippogriffs can live up to a hundred and fifty, sometimes. Historically, King Crestwing was said to live to two hundred and thirty-two, but it's also believed that he embellished his own life a lot and the documentations might be incorrect. Queen Novo is the oldest in Seaquestria I think, but no one actually knows her age because everygriff is afraid to ask her." As the banter seemed to bounce to new topics that the students usually have during times in which they should be studying for Professor Pinkie Pie's party exam, Silverstream realized it would be best if everycreature went back to the dorms to complete what would probably end up being a short night's rest. "Let's just go to bed guys. It is getting pretty late. I have enough completed now, I'll finish down here later." It occurred to Silverstream she spent more time planning for the excavation than the actual move. There was also a lingering thought in her mind that she felt she needed to express. "Also, I probably need to ask Headmare Twilight or Counselor Starlight if it's alright that I'm down here." Silverstream pushed herself into the water to prepare the return to the surface. Before she disappeared into the underwater channel she asked, "They'll be fine with it, right?"