Hippo

As Apple Bloom explained who Zap Apple was, he perked up when she mentioned how much of a troublemaker he was. He giggle maniacally, stood up on his hind legs, and started making flatulent noises using the pit of one of his front legs. When Apple Bloom changed her tune and suggested that Zap would be well behaved, Zap paused silently, and then continued to make more flatulent noises, laughing while doing so.

Zap wasn't really sure what to make of Flurry Heart. Even his aunt seemed to be perplexed on the proper way to address them. It was like talking to Princess Twilight Sparkle, except the princess was less kind and smaller in size. Instead of pondering it too much, Zap mostly resorted to just being himself, constantly looking around at things to distract him from the moments of boring things older ponies talked about.

It was indeed geeky stuff. Though it wouldn't be a big deal for Moonlight to witness just how far down the path of comic book fandom Remington had gone, it was likely in his best interest to keep it to himself considering how well this evening had gone. Moonlight would find out in time what his primary interests were, but him explaining the detailed fantasy and lore of his favorite magical girl action comic book stories would have to wait another night.

Remington kept the books and magazines out of sight as if he was embarrassed by them, but he honestly just wanted the momentum of this personal night between them to stay focused. "It's uh, it's nothing. Listen, let's just get cracking then on the studying." Remington put the box away, took a drink of his grape-flavored soda, and opened his book to the page he would need to study on. He shifted through a few notes and started detailing his task. "So we're on chapter thirteen which is all about customer service in retail, but the lectures are really about how to treat people when dealing with priced goods. It kind of makes sense, but the complexity of making a deal while being generous is something the professor would always stress and I just never made the right connections." Remington began reading. "Like right here it says the customer is always right. Does that mean that if I'm talking to someone I need to be generous to, that they are always right? What if they are wrong? What if I don't think they deserve being generous to?"

Remington was facing his book, eyes darting around the text to look for clues to help his confusion, with not much success. A few seconds later, Remington noticed the typical perky responses from his new girlfriend were not happening. "Moonlight?" Remington looked towards the bed where Moonlight was lying and noticed that she had lost consciousness, the rest of her cherry soda staining the floor by the bed. Remington stood up shocked and jumped to her side. She looked peaceful. "Moonlight, can you hear me?" She wasn't responsive, and Remington was confused as to why. But she had just taken a huge swig of the soda she grabbed. Remington started going through his mother's gift box and pulled out the letter he neglected to read. It read:

Remington turned white. His girlfriend of five minutes was just inadvertently drugged by his mother in his dorm room. A short amount of panic started to make it's way into his mind, but he slowly calmed down when he realized that cooler heads would prevail here. Moonlight would probably only be out for an hour or two, maybe longer if she is a real lightweight. Until then, Remington would need to make sure she is breathing properly and that no one sees her like this as suspects something worse.

He grabbed a spare blanket from, his closet and covered Moonlight on the bed with it, making sure she doesn't get too cold. "I guess we'll just hang out then." He smiled, still having to deal with the reality of the situation. He sat back down at his desk and started looking at his book, but after a few moments got bored.

The room was quiet, Moonlight's graceful snoring filling the room with the only ambient noise. But Remington decided to break the silence. "Let's listen to some more music." He suggested to his sleeping companion. Remington pulled out a record with the name 'Afterburner' by Prance Gavin Prance and set it up on the turntable. Once the machine was rolling, the music started. He turned it down so that it would not be too loud for his neighbors. As it played, Remington smiled at Moonlight. He admitted to himself she was adorable in his bed. "When you get up, Moonlight, we'll continue our studying." He stared for a few more seconds at her, then started meditating on the music, bobbing his head slightly to the beat.

After a few silent moments, Remington's voice could be heard overhead, as if it was in the air above Moonlight. His voice echoed hauntingly, and spoke with urgency. "Moonlight? Moonlight can you hear me?" A few moments of silence later, a door opened not too far from where Moonlight was standing and searching. The door was embedded into a foothill, as if somepony had built a small home into the hillside on top of the bluff, but it seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere. Light from inside showed brightly. And then suddenly, the clear night sky was completely enveloped in dark clouds, and it soon began to rain and claps of thunder beginning to warn of the deluge to come.

Moonlight looked around in confusion and terror as Remington's voice echoed facelessly across her whole world. He seemed scared and that only made the situation more desperate, more dire. "Remington? Remington, where are you?!" She asked in a clear panic as she wheeled around, the beatific vision of peace and serenity that had existed atop the world becoming a prison of height and emotion. It was during one of these spins and swings that were draining her of her balance that she saw a white light. She stopped as best she could and gave it a good look, her desperate mind racing for some sense of normalcy.

It was a door. An open door. She was too afraid initially to approach it. None of this could be real. This felt like one of those fairy tales or fables she was told in her youth, when Valen tried to be a thing. Was this punishment for sneaking out? The karmic values upheld in those olden tales didn't seem to hold much weight in the modern world but as the weather turned against her in a final act of cruelty this paradise threw her way, she decided that something must be wrong with her because those olden tales held a great deal of weight now. She ran towards the door and the light, and the waterlogged unicorn breached it panting in more fear than exertion.

Rain kept pouring from the sky, drenching everything as if it had been wet for hours. Before Moonlight approached the door, a dark figure stepped into the doorway from the inside. It took the shape of a pony, but was wearing a cloak and holding a lantern that lit the now dark stormy environment. From just inside the door away from the downpour, the unknown pony figure said aloud to Moonlight in a masculine voice, "You are welcome here but you must come alone. You know everything is everywhere is home." The dark figure moved aside to let Moonlight walk in, posing as inviting, but remaining shadowy and obscure.

Moonlight made her way at a gallop as the weather took a turn for the worst. In her way, a stallion? A colt? A figure? Her brain had trouble truly putting it together. All she knew was that it wasn't Remington, whose concerned voice still echoed in the over-active recess of her imaginative mind. The light washed him out only vaguely, as if half-painted with a spotty brush. Nonetheless, she made her way in. She didn't know why she wasn't afraid of this menacing figure, and she certainly didn't know what he was saying, but she did know that she didn't know where Remington was and that was a trite more important. She whipped her mane back and forth to get some of the water out, shivering down her body to do the same as she turned to the mysterious figure with a look of panic only scarcely concealed by an attempt at being authoritarian. "Where is Remmy? What did you do to Remmy?!"

The dark hooded figure motioned to Moonlight to follow him into the next room. When they were both in the next room, he held a lantern up and pointed at the wall. The wall was poorly painted, with several chips and scratches in it with seemingly no attempt to repair it. But, also painted on the wall was a black symbol of a theater mask. The floor by the wall was covered in several masks a pony would wear for all different kinds of occasions. Some of the masks looked like they were intended for Nightmare Night, while others seemed to be ambiguous and creatively odd. Without warning, the mysterious pony exited the room leaving Moonlight by herself and asked her, "Do you see it?"

The door to the room slammed shut, and the door and all four walls around the room fell away and revealed that the room was indeed a large cage, with vertical metal bars. The dark figure was joined by several other mysterious stranger ponies, all who seemed to have glazed eyes. They approached Moonlight and reached into the cage with their dirty hooves. In unison, they seemed to chant to her, "Prisoner, prisoner, we found you. We feel you breathing. Are you there? Can you hear us calling you? We'll never judge you." The creepy audience seemed entertained by the exhibit, having a cheery and playful tone as they reached towards Moonlight.

Moonlight was a filly of many tremendous talents. The least of those was her patience which was being sorely tested by this strange, weird figure. She was happy to be out of the rain- she seemed to dry very quickly, Twilight thank her coat- but his weird evasiveness wasn't holding her pleasure much. And so, she did the thing she did when she didn't get what she wanted. She whined. Wait, she didn't do that when she didn't get her way, did she? "Whaaaaaat happened to Reeeemmmmmyy?" She whined and stomped her hooves lightly. Gone was her anger, her emotion switching on a dime in an odd fashion. She continued her pleading, because she could so rarely get things done her way otherwise. "Pleaaase, like, just tell me where he is, pleaaass-" she was interrupted by the switching scenery.

Gone? The masks that lined the walls and the strange art that her mind could scarcely understand let alone fully appreciate. It was a strange mix that she was not smart enough- she certainly felt stupid- to fully grasp. But instead of that, a cage. A room sized cage. And a bunch of creepy ponies saying creepy things reaching in, creepily. It was creepy. But for some reason, she didn't respond to it with fear. She was being watched from every angle, all of her audience wanting a piece of her. And so she did the one thing she knew to do with a crowd. She posed. She walked up and down a runway only she could see. She lost control and played her part, though she asked at the end of every walk, "where is he?" In a pleasant, inquisitive tone. No anger. No worry. Just a model strutting herself, and vaguely aware that she was here for a reason.

Between Moonlight's catwalk turns, the dark figure stood in the way of the unicorn's path. When she approached with her seductive attempt at reasoning, the dark figure paused her with his hoof, and then took his hood off. It was Remington. He appeared as a much older pony, as if he had traveled from the future, adorning facial hair and a posture that lacked the youthful energy students at the School of Friendship are known for. He did not smile, but he seemed pleased to see her. He began speaking words that seemed to be an attempt at making sense of what is happening. But he kept it simple. "Nothing's in a vacuum. Space-time has no value. We're all connected on this wave." Remington held his hoof out, with the intent for Moonlight to lend hers.

It was Remington! Her Remmy was not so young anymore, it looked like. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she had entered into this weirdo place looking for him after he...vanished, was it?...but her joy all came back. She didn't know what it was about him, but he was really mature. Maybe it was the utter nonsense he was speaking that totally made sense or maybe it was the fact that the audience left. She didn't know whether or not this was right or wrong. All she knew was that she dug it. She reached out and gave her Remmy her hoof and pulled him into a big hug, then began dancing with him. Something weird and ominous was about to happen of course, but in this moment it was dandy.

Silverstream moved into what she felt she could call home. Or at least a home away from home. It would be hard to ever replace the familiar salt water currents in Seaquestria, but at least in the water in the school of friendship's lake she could stay in touch with her swimming nature. It also provided a place where she could be left alone. Not that she needed much seclusion. In fact, it was often her friends that needed a break from her and her hyperactive musings. Silverstream was very good at entertaining herself. And so underneath the school in the water is where she spent time resting and studying by herself. The underwater home was unique. The lake around the school was not that exotic. Fresh water fish and plants could only be so diverse. But the rocky foundation the school rested on provided an interesting cavern system in which Silverstream was able to create a large enough air pocket to build a cozy little habitat where a few supplies and some comforts would provide her a place of refuge. The underwater cave was lit by sea lanterns and glowing coral, items she brought to Ponyville with her when she prepared this place for the first time.

The hippogriff was currently in her seapony form, but she sat upon the rocks in the dry area of the cave. Silverstream had just finished reading a chapter in a pony history book about the aqueducts used in olden pony times in the city of Roam. Learning new things about non-seapony culture was always interesting to her, but the engineering achievements of civilizations from several hundred moons ago baffled her. And she wondered what uses the kind of technology creatures were using that long ago has in applications to today. Were brilliant but simple machines being used in other towns she hadn't been to yet in Equestria, or had the increased use of unicorn magic rendered many ancient inventions useless? She pondered.

Zap woke up to his mother's knock on his bedroom. A few blinks, and he would jump out of bed and hover above it. He darted around the room as he remembered what he expected to do today. Today was potentially going to be a special day. He zipped to his dresser and began pulling out different clothes and throwing them on the bedroom floor. "Where is it? Aha!" After a few seconds of scavenging, Zap pulled out his pair of goggles he wore almost every day. Normally, it would be waiting for him hanging at the foot of his bed. But sometimes mother Applejack would do a rotation of laundry and the goggles would find themselves put in their place, or as Zap calls it–Lost. He put the goggles on, started heading for the door and stopped to look at his mirror for a few seconds, flashed a few poses he had seen his airborne parental make, and then continued to the door. He fell out of the room, glided down the stairs, and flew into the kitchen, not flapping his wings until he founds himself over his usually place at the breakfast table and hovered to a drop.

Listening to his baby sister and mother talk, he started inhaling the breakfast that was placed in front of him. After he was done with half of his pancakes, he perked up and added to the conversation. "Yeah, I can't wait to bust clouds with them weather ponies." In Ponyville, young pegasus ponies looking for their first opportunities for work would join an internship program with the Cloudsdale Weather Alliance where they would be taught the basics of weather manipulation in order to serve their communities and, if they were good at it, find more opportunity at corporate in Cloudsdale. Zap couldn't wait to witness the lessons, even though he was far too young to be invited. What he did not consider, however, is that his day was already planned by his mother.

When Coloratura and Azure both left the studio room, it left Apple Chord alone with nothing but her thoughts. And since the whole point of Apple Chord was a personality cheered on by others, the only real thing left was Applejack. She sensed that something was off. A recording artist like Coloratura had many procedures that kept her motivated and ready to perform at will with the best possible result her talent could unleash. But even Applejack knew that going for a run was not a method that improved your singing voice. It might help relieve stress, and it might allow your body to balance out physically, but it would never be something you would do in the middle of vocal preparation for creating music. Coloratura wasn't running towards something. Every instinct Applejack had told her that she was running from something, and she wanted to find out what it was.

Carefully, Applejack took her hat and outfit off and set them to the side. She let her mane down from its done up position, and then tied it with one of her many hair ties. She walked out of the studio and into her room, grabbed her brown hat, and made her way down the steps to follow Coloratura. She looked outside and saw her friend making laps around her private track. Applejack waited for Coloratura to run by her, and then Applejack joined her pace. Before Applejack spoke anything, she noticed how primal her run was, the strides were tormenting and the look in her eyes was almost blank. Applejack could have imagined many things upon arriving at a superstar music pony's home, but this was not one of them. Had Applejack not known her, she would have assumed she was some kind of pony marathon runner. Applejack matched the stride of Coloratura and ran next to her for a minute or two before softly speaking in between pants. "You alright, Ra-Ra?"

Silverstream stared at Gallus for a few seconds as he adjusted his goggles. With a burst of excitement, she suggested a new full time activity. "Oooo! We should play made up characters! I'll be Streamsilver, a new Wonderbolt recruit—the first hippogriff ever to do so! And Zap, you should be the drill instructor teaching me how to do flips and spins." Silverstream dug out of the box a coach's whistle, blew it once very loudly to test it, and the tossed it around Zap's neck. The lanyard was for adult ponies, so the whistle dragged on the floor a little when it was left dangling. "And Gallus, you should be uhh..." Silverstream dug deeper into the box and started throwing out different items, some as plain as sweatbands, and some as obscure as clown noses. "Ah ha! You should wear this!" Silverstream pulled out and threw a leather flight jacket at Gallus. "And you can play a retired captain." Silverstream jumped in place a few times playfully and then darted to the center of the room to give herself space to move. "What exercise should I do first, Zap?"

Zap was confused, but with an item that makes noise around his neck and a new friend who was excited to play games, Zap felt like this might an opportunity to expel some of his extra energy he had stored up since his last cry in front of Gallus. He stepped forward towards Silverstream slowly, and looked perplexed in thought. "Um. I don't know. Um, jump up and down fifty times." Silverstream began jumping in place, the spring in her legs never showing wear. Zap liked giving orders. This was a newfound experience for him, and he wondered what limitations it might have. He decided to test it right away. He looked at Gallus. "And you! A thousand wing push-ups!" Zap then blew the whistle hard and long.

After a few silent moments, Remington's voice could be heard overhead, as if it was in the air above Moonlight. His voice echoed hauntingly, and spoke with urgency. "Moonlight? Moonlight can you hear me?"

A few moments of silence later, a door opened not too far from where Moonlight was standing and searching. The door was embedded into a foothill, as if somepony had built a small home into the hillside on top of the bluff, but it seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere. Light from inside showed brightly.

And then suddenly, the clear night sky was completely enveloped in dark clouds, and it soon began to rain, claps of thunder beginning to warn of the deluge to come.

@PrinceBlueblood @Pretzelparty @Ciraxis @RexDraco @Dusty

When Blueblood had encouraged Fluttershy to meet with the sphinx who was over by the mayor, she perked up and around to see how soon she might attend this kind of meeting. If for no other reason than that she was beginning to feel encroached by the many wedding guests that mingled around her, wanting to compliment her on her dress, and reacting to what her date was currently entertaining. Upon a Discord-related magical explosion in which Fluttershy was not paying close attention to, several items appeared from seemingly no where, and a snake appeared under Fluttershy seeking shelter. She accepted the snake's desire to stay with her until the snake was feeling confident enough to return to the garden to resume its busy evening searching for food scraps and for other unsuspecting creatures, rodents perhaps, who were also looking for food scraps.

Before Fluttershy could resume her short trek in finding out where the mayor was, Discord introduced her to Bevel. She immediately began wearing a greeting face. "Oh, nice to meet you." She flinched at the explanation. "Robots?" When Bevel expressed that robots was only a recent project, Fluttershy nodded courteously. "That's neat. Hey, um, excuse me, I need to meet with somepony really quick."

Fluttershy turned and looked at the sea of guests, carefully nudging through them in order to not disturb their cheerful conversations. Suddenly, she was ambushed by a jade colored unicorn who had remarks to say about the three way wedding, but then also went into detail about his thoughts on the sphinx he heard mentioned, and spoke to her and Blueblood openly. He did not mince words, which was fine, but Fluttershy kept feeling like she was roped into listening to him. Every time she wanted to softly step away, she felt she was being talked to and stayed in her position.

Blueblood now conversing with the green pony, gave her a better out to escape the conversation and go to the sphinx herself to see what the fuss was about. She felt like she was the only one at the event who was ignorant of the creature. And why did it seem like everypony was suggesting the creature had as much agency as a pony? Fluttershy always did that herself, but she had only considered Blueblood was mentioning the sphinx as if it was a pet. But it seemed much more than that.

Seeing where the mayor had walked from, Fluttershy approached the entrance to the castle, where many were entering to attend the wedding. She looked around for the sphinx but couldn't find anything out of the ordinary. After a short pause at the castle gates, she slowly backed up to turn around and ran into a soft furry surface. When she turned around, she realized it was the large thigh of the brown-pelted sphinx, who towered over her and everypony around. She was not easily frightened by large creatures, but having not expecting his size she reacted shocked and momentarily scared. How she missed seeing this creature upon arrival to the wedding was beyond her. She must had been so nervous about attending this event that didn't even notice the large sphinx serving as a bouncer to this very special occasion.

Zap liked some chores more than others. The chores that utilized his ability to fly gave him more purpose, and so he tended to enjoy the tasks on the farm that required a bit of verticality. But with no parents or grandparents home, Zap Apple was left with his Auntie Apple Bloom to do more of his fair share of chores. Unfair for a young pegasus pony, but he would think that no matter that situation. Some days, one chore is too many chores.

He was in the middle of sorting apple seeds, arguably his least favorite thing to do. Sometimes, he flew the piles of seeds up to catch them in a bag to give himself more of a challenge, but he would only do it when his mother wasn't looking. Having Apple Bloom be the only other pony on the farm to give him any sort of discipline, he had more freedom than he was used to but once she yelled at him to follow her into town, he took this opportunity to escape the monotonous job of sifting through seeds.

"Where are we going?" He asked Apple Bloom out of earshot as he attempted to follow her. He was faster than her in the air, but he would not attempt to fly fast in case this was a trick to get him to do chores faster than he normally would.

Once he caught up to Apple Bloom, he landed, and in front of both of them was Flurry Heart who was hovering with an indifferent expression on her face. Zap was immediately struck by her appearance. Her bright colors and bright blue bow shimmered in his eyes as he wondered who she was. And she had a horn and wings? Like a princess? He thought. As Apple Bloom addressed her with royal terminology, it was clear to Zap that this was an important pony. But why was she here? "Auntie, why is she a princess?" He asked bluntly in front of both of the older fillies.

Remington was splashed efficiently in the face. He winced, the water dripping from his glasses frames. He looked up astonished, and then smiled. "Why you..." Remington pounced after Moonlight, playfully giving her chase as the flirting continued. The river or stream, which sometimes defied width, became an obstacle for which the ponies would jump around, but eventually Remington was able to chase Moonlight away from the water and back into the fields of grass and weeds. Remington could run faster than Moonlight, so it was clear she would not be able to escape, but he would let the chase run for a few minutes before finally ending the game with a soft tackle. Remington brought her down softly onto the grass and held her down for a few seconds until both of their breathing patterns began to slow.

Seeing her yield, Remington rolled off of her, except for his head, which rested comfortably on her back legs. Remington began staring up at the sky. By now, the sun had fully set, and the sky was full of stars, no cloud to be seen. The stars danced and twinkled, teasing their identity for small ponies on the ground to wonder about. "Wow, look at the sky. It makes you feel so small sometimes, doesn't it?"

Remington gave a long pause, meditating on his life and his place in this world, all while reclining on his new fillyfriend. He began speaking openly, asking Moonlight rhetorical questions. "Do you crave a greater reason to exist?" He looked at her face and stroked a few strands of mane away from her horn. "Have you always known that symmetry is bliss?" He chuckled, looking back at the sky. "I know you see the pattern. Lay in your lap, think of your path. Philosophy don't bother me." Remington stood up quickly and looked at Moonlight on the ground. He then said sternly. "Come back when you're trash." And then he disappeared.

When Gallus approached the foal exclaimed on his whereabouts, Zap issued a very practical yet mature look on his face, one that raised an eyebrow and bounced his eyes around like he was surprised it took them this long to find him. "I'm... right here," he said with a little attitude before continuing his rummaging through his mother's stuff. Eventually, he pulled out a pair of subscription goggles intended for Rainbow. At some point, the Wonderbolt might have been recommended a pair of goggles that corrected her farsightedness, but as time would tell, the goggles would instead be stored and forgotten. The goggles were way too big for Silverstream, but they might fit Gallus. "Here, Gally, put these on." He tossed the goggles to Gallus to catch and then continued looking for more eyewear.

Silverstream was looking in a mirror in the same room, checking out her posterior with the flight suit on. "I can't believe how amazing I feel with this on, no wonder they always have them on, even when they aren't doing a performance." Silverstream noticed in the mirror, Gallus holding a pair of goggles. She turned around quickly and gasped. "Huh! Gallus, you want to play dress-up, too!?"

The frolicking between the two reached an interruption as Moonlight took a small step into the running water. Remington bounded a few steps next to her to observe what she was saying. He dipped his own hooves in the river. "The water seems pretty normal to me, but maybe it is a little bit cooler." Remington said sheepishly.

Applejack rolled her eyes and enjoyed the entertainment of seeing Moonlight fail miserably at identifying apples. She let the unicorn filly sweat it out for a minute or so before she gave her the mercy of a professional farm pony. "Now, come on, Moonlight. I can't believe a pink lady like yourself doesn't know a pink lady apple when she sees one." She walked over to the bushels and kicked an apple up to her front hooves. Holding it majestically, she revealed her trick. "They're both pink ladies, actually. Very sweet and acidic, bright in color, and have a tart-flavored crisp bite to them. You know. Just like you." Applejack tossed the apple to Moonlight to catch. "You give this apple to Remington and tell him you'd like to invite him over to your Auntie Applejack's farm for dinner. And don't take no for an answer."

Applejack had long gotten over the doubt of Moonlight's intentions. Though the mare knew the filly had a lot of understanding to do with relationships, and that her new identity would take some time to get used to, Applejack was over the moon with the idea that she would get to play matchmaker for one of her favorite cousins. Applejack could rough up Moonlight with challenges and trusting tests for family support, but the moment her date walked hoof on the farm path, Applejack would change her evaluation metrics towards a stallion who may or may not know what he was in for. Applejack loved the uncertainty of other pony's relationships, like reading a fictional love story come to life. But there was one thing Applejack could be certain of. Dinner the evening Remington comes over will be fantastic!

Fluttershy was overwhelmed by the many ponies and creatures around. Though it was not the largest gathering she had seen, she was more intimidated by the lack of familiarity with ones around her, especially with some of the tales and connections involving her date, Discord. She always knew he had very interesting social life, but she didn't see it often, and in such great concentration.

Swift greeted her kindly, which she took in stride. But when he explained that the wedding relationship was more of a triangle, Fluttershy tilted her head and repeated softly. "A triangle?" Could this be another one of Discord's inside jokes, or were there indeed a set of three tying their knots together at the same time. Without knowing the odds, Fluttershy decided not to gamble. "Is there more than one marriage today?"

Without much warning, Fluttershy received a hug from a friend of Discord's. Fluttershy chuckled. As long as she was with Discord, she wasn't worried about ponies she didn't know every well greeting her in such a way. Or, even worse. Maybe she did know these ponies but she couldn't remember their names. Fluttershy always had a backup plan on what to be worried about.

When Discord told Fluttershy how he knew the bride. "Oh. I don't think I've ever heard you talk about them before." Fluttershy felt ashamed to discover so many things about Discord she never knew about.

Over Discord's shoulder, Blueblood explained to him that he was in possession of a rare creature and might need assistance from Fluttershy. "A sphinx? Like from the Daring Do books?" Fluttershy had an extensive knowledge of animals in far away places, but she was no animalia encyclopedia. "We can schedule an appointment, I would very much like to see them."

Silverstream had not noticed her two friends peering down at her from the windows above where she had just come from, nor did she have any sense as to how cranky they were for having to follow her around while they were losing sleep. Instead of looking up and noticing them, she attached the hose to the air machine, turn the air machine on, and then dive into the water. As her transformation into a seapony assumed, she grabbed the other end of the hose and began diving into the school's lake, disappearing in the water and only leaving behind spare bubbles, and the rumbling of the air machine.

Remington had thought his task was his alone to bear when alongside him arrived his friend the pink unicorn, who confidently overrode Remington's drink order in place of more appropriate beverages for the two to enjoy. She was a smart one. Remington didn't know how to operate in these kinds of functions, but it seemed he was about to be taught how. He looked at her affably. "They have orange here? Reminds me of my ol' foalfriend Valen. He knew all about oranges." Remington threw his hooves up sarcastically. "Where they grow, how sweet each one tastes. He wasn't too fond of them though. It was a family thing. I wonder if the apples ever have ponies that get tired of apples." At some point today, Remington was going to learn how to not say everything that was on his mind, or if he doesn't a hoofslap in the muzzle might be waiting for him.

Fluttershy and Zap had both peeked into Discord's giftbox and saw the creature he teased before he quickly snapped it shut and returned the gift to the pile. "W-wha-what was that?" Fluttershy was not scared nearly as much as she was confused. Discord had always done silly things and she grew top accept him for his peculiar style. But she wasn't even sure she could discern what it was the gift was supposed to be.

"Is that a amminal?" Zap correctly enunciated.

Apple Bloom approached them and complimented Fluttershy's dress. "Oh thank you, Apple Bloom. Sanctuary is good, assuming Angel and Dr. Fauna have everything under control while I'm away."

Zap lit up at the sound of the word cake. "Oooooo! Yes! Yes! Yes!" He began jumping with his wings up, and did not stop. "Cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake, cake."

"Yeah, I don't know." Silverstream admitted. "I think it was just a precaution. Seaponies haven't been around for all that long, you know. It's not like we knew what we were doing from the moment we flopped into the water. Since I was born a seapony, I was one of the first ones to not know what it's like to go from the air to the water. I can't imagine what it would have been like to spend your whole life flying and then the Queen says," Silverstream changes her tone suddenly to a more regal heavy tone. "Everygriff in the water, learn to swim to survive." Silverstream took a bite out of her fish on a stick and then swallowed. "Must have been awful."

Silverstream finished nibbling on her fish and then started cleaning up her setup. She splashed some water onto the flames to put it out, and then one by one threw the rocks that made of the campfire into the shallow water. She cleaned the fish off the sticks and pout the sticks to the side of the cave wall. "Well, it's day two of the Three Days of Freedom Celebration. Today the festival is atop Mount Aris. You get to meet my dad and everygriff at the summit. They really like it up there, especially today. And I'm sure you will, too. Flying might be more your kind of thing. Oh, and Terramar, we might run into him again. When you're ready, we should fly up there." Silverstream began doing stretches.

The two started climbing the bluff behind the school. The waterfall directly behind the school ran a stream through the campus and even into the school's irrigation systems, but eventually flowed through the school and out the other end in another waterfall array that spilled into the lake the school fronted on. In order to get on top of the waterfall, one would have to scale the bluff the waterfall sat. It would provide a magnificent view probably. Fortunately, a stone path with steps was fabricated along the bluff side so that ponies could walk up it, but Remington had never seed anypony do it.

He began trotting up the bluff, occasionally looking back at Moonlight to make sure she wasn't chickening out. The height wasn't all that high, but some ponies get silly about this sort of thing and lose composure. Before long, Remington had reached the top. He turned around and looked down at the campus. It seemed a lot smaller from this perspective than when you are in it. Looking up the river, he saw a calm river. Not what he expected out of a fast flowing water system. It all seemed to start off pretty tame. Next to the river were large pastures that eventually rolled into foothills and scaled to even higher plateaus. The green plains here were wild, uncut, and unbothered. "Oh wow, I had no idea it was like this up here. Look at all this space." Remington started running into the meadow, knocking over dead dandelions and throwing spent grass into the air. The ground felt soft, his hooves grasping to it like he had never felt. He looked back at Moonlight and started laughing involuntarily. "Haha ha."

"Oh, I'm sure I'll run into him at some point." Silverstream had never gone a day without talking to Gallus provided school was in session. The amount of setup the headmare was willing to provide seemed overkill in this regard. She chattered and vibrated. "I'm so excited!"

When Smolder began hurrying up her cleanup, Silverstream looked up at the clock tower. "Oh, I gotta go, too! Yona and I are meeting for a quick sharing of notes before Fluttershy's animal pen maintenance quiz. Her quizzes are brutal!" The idea of Fluttershy having tough evaluations didn't seem to make sense, but when it came to animals, Fluttershy was very direct and specific about what she knew was right and wrong about animal care, and whoever her students were, were expected to learn it.

Silverstream wrapped up her leftover food and tucked it in her pack, and helped Smolder a little with her items. Silverstream giggled, "Oh I will. Gallus' confused look is the best. Thanks again, Archancellor. Maybe we'll do this again some other time. Smolder and I really love our tea parties. Ocellus is usually with us, too, but I guess she was too busy studying." Silverstream rolled her eyes and looked around for anything she missed and started hovering towards the campus building, waving her claw friendly while doing so.

Apple Chord was more than a few splinters of Applejack's personality. In part, it was all Applejack, but there were a few moments that her musical side split off and took control of the mare's body, and her tone and voice would go into a hyperactive version of the spontaneity Applejack's country living was known for. When talking about family and relationships, Apple Chord did not have to tread too far from Applejack's foundation, to the point where the mare herself wasn't sure who was talking.

Listening to the voice coaching and instruction, Apple Chord could see that Coloratura was getting flustered slightly with Azure's banter. But it came to a climax where once they seemed finished, Coloratura was silient and full of blush. "Hey, family is family. Might be a little hard creating a family without a proper stallion to lift the heavy things around the house, but family comes in all shapes and sizes. It's all moot though, considering how busy I know you are right now." Apple Chord said in jest. Upon seeing Coloratura lose composure and declare needing to run out, Apple Chord interjected and questioned. "What? Ya'll are leavin' now? I thought we were just gettin' started?"

Silverstream attempted to pulled the goggles over her face, but the shape of her beak made it uncomfortable around her head. "I don't like these goggles, though. I'm gonna go upstairs and see if there are different sizes of goggles." As she started hovering up the cloudominium stairs she shouted, "Hey Zap Apple, can you find me a different pair of goggles?" Silverstream disappeared up the stairs and then poked back down at Gallus. "Oh. By the way, I found Zap, he was rummaging through Rainbow's Wonderbolt stuff this whole time." The hippogriff said matter-of-factly.

Zareb's initial reaction was giddy and lacked typical zebra composure. But he quickly exhaled a moment of maturity and humility to put his own thoughts into perspective, even audibly acknowledging the privilege it would be to converse with the heroines. "I can't imagine they would make time in their busy schedule for a foreigner zebra to ask them silly questions."

Following Blueblood, Zareb began walking into the classroom and then stop in his tracks at the doorway. As Blueblood spoke about the typical setting and how the range of format would differ from room to room, Zareb had a trepidation in continuing to walk in, as if the hallowed ground of teaching was not to be disturbed, even if no creature was there. He was honored to see the room, but without knowing what classes he was in, he didn't consciously feel comfortable walking into rooms and browsing as if he is interested in purchasing. Zareb took a dramatic look at Blueblood. "This is incredible. It's a classroom. Mahali patakatifu, I mean we have rooms like this in Unyasi with less advanced design, but the feeling of the room's significance to the ones who share space in this room makes me feel humbled to step here."

Fluttershy loved weddings. Everypony was dressed in their best outfit, bachelors and bachelorettes were on their most inspirational moods, and the little ones were super cute and didn't necessarily know why. It was always a good time, celebrating the love two share for each other. However, Fluttershy's eagerness to join such gatherings were typically limited to the connections she feels familiar with. Twilight's coronation after-party? She is one of the Princess's best friends, of course she would be there. Applejack and Rainbow Dash getting married? She saw them almost every day between adventures in friendship and animal-related visits for Winona and Tank, so she would be there at the wedding. When Dr. Fauna host her niece's birthday at her animal clinic, Fluttershy was asked to attend so that she could help entertain the foal guests with fun animal friends. And why wouldn't she agree to that? Dr. Fauna had been a friend and partner in helping her achieve her dreams. Fluttershy loved attending gatherings involving her most important ponies in her life.

It's not to say the ponies of the day at this new particular wedding weren't special. Of course they were--special to somepony, that is. But Fluttershy barely knew them. Her interactions with Blueblood were formal, but never delved deeper than the typical delegations and impressive charisma he and she is known for. As for the other side, Fluttershy didn't even know who they were. Were they from Ponyville? How long have they been around? How long had they been with Blueblood? Fluttershy had no idea. And because she had no idea about this relationship, she felt odd being apart of the gig.

Discord had invited her to be his plus one. She couldn't say no, she knows how much Discord loves going to a crowd and attempting to steal the center of attention away from the bride and groom. But as she arrived, in her typical wedding guest gown, she nudged Discord as he was mingling with some of the usual wedding gang. "Um, Discord, are you sure it's okay for me to be here? I don't know the couple very well." To this point, the details of the wedding had not been described much to her, only that Discord wanted to go to another event, and maybe Fluttershy could be with him in order to keep him from getting too Discord-y. She hoped he would be on his best behavior and that a small, awkward chit chat by the punch bowl with a stranger would be the worst thing she would have to endure today.

While carefully monitoring the fish she was cooking, Gallus approached Silverstream with delight and eagerness in his face. She could tell right away he was happy about what she was developing. "Oh! You're up." Silverstream shyly expressed her meditations. "I got up before you, so I decided why not get something to eat before we start the day. I know you probably haven't had anything like this since you left Griffonstone. I haven't eaten it in a while either, but I tend to enjoy salads more than you do I think. I can tell by the look on your face in the school cafeteria." She giggled. She knew Gallus would love this, she just hoped that the fish she was cooking would also be good in comparison to the other times she tried to cook. She isn't the best at preparing meals, but she did manage to build an impromptu fire pit in the cave well enough.

She held a stick with a fish on it out of the flames, and looked at it closely. "This one should be done." She offered it to Gallus to take, wondering if he would devour the thing really fast or if he would be afraid to touch it. It wasn't like they were doing anything illegal down here, but the feeling of partaking in prohibited meals seemed archaic after spending so much time in a pony town. At any rate, Silverstream would feel really awkward if any of her new pony friends were here, or even Yona! "And don't worry, these fish aren't from Seaquestria's regional drift. It's always a good idea to get fish from a different ocean community. That way, it prevents any amount of animosity, no matter how small, from the sea creatures that inhabit the area near us." She shrugged. "At least that's what Queen Novo always told us."