Hippo

A few turns down the main school's hallway, Silverstream found herself rummaging through a janitor's closet. She only wanted to borrow an item for the evening and she would put it back, but she hadn't anticipated the closet to be so unorganized. "Blegh! How does anygriff know where stuff is?" She shifted buckets, soap bottles, mop heads, and broomsticks. Towards the back, she saw a clothing rack with a few janitor outfits hung on them. On them, a nameplate with 'Scruffy' was labeling the name of the one who apparently owned the attire and the rest of the closet for that matter. When she moved the clothes out of the way, she found a long water hose looped neatly and hung on the wall. She screeched for a fraction of a second and then grabbed it. She fell immediately from underestimating the weight of the hose, and then tried again, successfully carrying the hose while she flew out of the janitor's closet. She left the closet a mess, but that was because she planned on coming back to fix it when she would return the hose she took.

A couple moments later, Silverstream flew up the stairs and arrived at Pinkie Pie's classroom. The door was unlocked, and she bolted to the back of the room. There she quickly found a contraption she had in mind, a machine that Pinkie Pie used to manufacture a continuous stream of bubbles. Silverstream remembered that day in class when the pink pony showed the class the magic of bubbles, but she could only really meditate on how such a device works in the first place. After tinkering with it a little bit, she was able to understand that the machine simply moves air. With a small modification, Silverstream would be able to use it for her project. With hose in one arm, and the bubble machine in the other, she slowing lifted herself up and made her way to the window.

Instead of going back down the stairs, Silverstream decided to fly out of the window and slowly descend to the ground outside. It was conveniently located to where she needed to go next. However, as she fell gracefully out of the window, she dragged the hose too much, and the hose whipped around a little bit, spraying excess trapped water all over the window sill and the floor next to the window. Once she landed on the ground, she looked up at the window that was left open. She shrugged and decided to close it later. Dramatically, and only for a moment, Silverstream paused and asked to herself, "Wait, since when do we have a janitor named Scruffy?"

Remington followed after, sliding down with all his weight to his hooves. He could have flown down, but didn't. Once the two were on the ground, Remington took a look around. It was dark outside, with a few firefly lamps lighting up the empty pathways of the campus. Occasionally, you could hear murmurs or commotion from different neighboring buildings, it wasn't that late in the evening just yet. But no students or faculty were venturing in the courtyards. Seems the teaches provided plenty of homework for everycreature to work on. "It's really quiet. It's almost like we're not supposed to be out here." Remington wore a sly look, bouncing an eyebrow up to entice Moonlight to be entertained by the imaginary notion that they were doing something prohibited. Remington pointed into the direction opposite of Ponyville. "We should go this way. I've always wanted to go up the hill from campus to see what it's like up there. Is it just a boring foothill with the mouth of a waterfall, or is there a vast plateau with undiscovered marvels?" Remington took off into a light gallop in the direction of his adventure expecting his newly acquired fillyfriend to follow.

"Oh yes, Lets!" Fluttershy responded to Discord. She hadn't brought anything to the wedding to give to the newlyweds, but it was only because she was relived of that expectations when she bargained with the couple before the wedding as to what she would bring. She let them know that as part of as wedding gift, she would find a farm-appropriate pet animal in the near future, probably a puppy, that would help bring joy and togetherness in the newly formed family. She suspected that Zap Apple might be the main recipient of such an addition to the family.

Fluttershy looked to Zap Apple who was now at her side. She had the responsibility of watching him for the remainder of the post-ceremony celebrations. "Stay with me, little Zap. Are you hungry? I think we're about to go into the reception area where all the food is. I can help you get something to eat."

Zap was confused as to why all of this commotion was happening, but he liked the excitement of it regardless. For the time being, he would stay with Fluttershy who properly herded him like a sheep.

"So, Discord. What did you get for them again?" Fluttershy asked. She knew Disord was always fond of giving magical gifts to ponies, but it was never completely clear if the gift was something useful for the ones receiving the gift, or if it was just another way Discord could amuse himself while perhaps entertaining others around him that enjoyed his level of chaos. "You always give the most interesting things to ponies," she said intending positivity.

While Gallus was returning to his raptor-like instincts for a short moment, Silverstream realized something that made her retreat. "Oh, no! We left the door to the cloudominium open again!" Silverstream retreated back upwards, leaving Gallus by himself during his failed attempt at finding Zap. Silverstream flew back into the cloudominium and closed the door behind her. But shortly after, she came out of the home again and screeched to Gallus. "Gallus! You gotta see this!"

Once Gallus returned to the front parlor of the cloudominium, he could see Silverstream and what she was talking about.

"Well Zecora is known through many tribes, but I have never met her. Many of her stories are associated with the story of the six, which is also a widely believed legend. Most zebras know of the major Equestrian stories, though there are some who doubt their truth, ni ngumu kuamini. There was once a fable of Equestrian heroines defeating the changelings to extinction, but eventually it was realized it was a myth, after the great transformation gave way for changelings to explore their world outside of their nests."

Much like the castle, Zareb was amazed at the décor and routine structure of the halls of the school. There were buildings like this his land, but they were not nearly as common. "I think I'd like to see the classrooms first. I have been trying to imagine how they might differ from the classrooms I'm familiar with." Zareb's experience in learning environments ranged from small village huts with students sitting in a circle around their teacher, to more elaborate rooms with furniture specifically designed to aid the teacher in helping students discover new things.

updated 1/6/2021

Smolder was good at not making a big deal out of sensitive information. She was far more concerned about Gallus as a friend and seemed to not advance any teasing towards Silverstream about her affection for him. It's almost as if she had already known. Or maybe the dragon was numb to the idea of having any romantic feelings at all. Smolder seemed to have some heart for it inside of her, but most dragons from dragon realms did not seem to have a pulse for relationships.

Bluebelle made good points about what might be best for Gallus. But what was more important to Silverstream is that she got a green light for inviting him to Mount Aris for the holiday. This was exciting. But would he say yes? Probably. He would say it in a very uninterested tone to hide his true feelings about not having to be alone or back in griffonstone, but he would agree. And Silverstream would do her best to make the griffon feel loved during a holiday, maybe the first holiday he's ever truly felt. Silverstream jumped up. "Great! I'll ask him then." Silverstream bounced in place a little bit while thinking, and then shrieked with excitement. "Haha!! I'll have to get two round trip tickets to Mount Aris instead of one." But then she fell pensive. "Gee, I hope my folks don't mind."

((this serves as a prologue to this story.))

As the vocal exercises continued, Apple Chord tried to follow suit. She wasn't familiar with Coloratura's daily routines, but when in Roam. Azure provided a little personality diversity in the room, as she contrasted Coloratura's composure with a little schoolyard-type conversation. It was then that Apple Chord wondered if Coloratura had any significant someponies in her life. For the short time that she, and Applejack, had known her, it was never obvious that the music star would even have the time to have any kind of relationship, especially one that might raise a family. From her point of view, it seemed Azure was the closest family she had.

Along with the exercises, came the ugly but necessary bad news feed, reports from music labels making lowered agreements and lawsuit notices from old partners that wanted retribution. Very callus. Was this also part of the vocal exercises? Were listening to the toxic mail bag increase the range of Miss Coloratura? When Coloratura asked how she was doing with the exercises, Apple Chord stopped her best attempt to mimic whatever it was the music professionals were doing. "I don't know no," she coughs. "No Applejack, but little ol' Apple Chord is getting along just fine. I don't usually do these types of vocal exercises. I usually just let my throat croak a few times during the first verse. Helps make the song feel more authentic to whoever's listenin'." She was joking and serious. Should it be wise or funny, it could achieve both at the same time.

"Say, you gettin' any mail from any secret admirers? I bet a popular gal like you gets single stallions stuffin' your inbox all the time."

Silverstream was unable to remove the color from her claw. She was hoping that later it might wear off, or that it came off with soap and water. She certainly hoped it didn't turn her tongue rainbow colored, but she was too distracted to ask for an outside view. Gallus began darting downward towards prey. Prey in this instance was the foal he was watching, but with no context, the activity seemed the same. Silverstream had never seen Gallus hunt before, and she wondered if this was what it was like. "Wait, where? On the ground?" Silverstream bolted after Gallus, attempting to streamline her wings for speed, but Gallus was faster than her.

"Ahh, Zecora! We hear so many stories about her adventures here. Does she do any teaching here?" Zareb was at the door, not sure if he should open it himself or wait for his guide to hit the bells and whistles that did everything for him. Zareb was gettting a taste of what it might be like during a long stay here in Ponyville, and he wondered how difficult it would be to be himself. He could see himself being comfortable as a zebra living among other creatures, but he also wondered if he could make more friends by toning down his tribal nature a little. For the time being, he was still getting a feel for the process of service. It seemed a lot of ponies were employeed to do whatever the headmare wanted. Was this going to be like living in a castle?

The confluence of Moonlight and Applejack's cohesion was intoxicating. It's how she knew Moonlight was a member of the family, or at least, that she spend so much time around the Apples that she could develop such a cohesion. And more to the ear of Applejack, it was pleasant to hear her cousin ask for forgiveness in terms of how much time she plans on spending with her extended family. Familial threats were always very profitable for Applejack. Worst case scenario you don't have to spend time with the ponies that don't like you!

But Applejack was halted in her work as Moonlight changed her tone. She mentioned that Remington was not fond of apples, and it made Applejack snort primitively. However, as Moonlight continued her lackadaisical explanation of Remington's food preferences, it was clear that not only did she not really know, but she was using her answer to leverage a response from the farm pony. If it weren't for the obvious pauses in Moonlight's voice, maybe she would have been fooled, but she was really good at spotting liars, especially amongst those in the family. Luckily for Moonlight, she also identified this situation as nothing more than humorous shenanigans.

Applejack stared in disbelief not at what Moonlight was saying, but how she was saying it. "Really?" Applejack smirked. "Well, I guess if he doesn't like apples, I might as well just call the whole thing off. Which also suggests that maybe you shouldn't even be friends with him. Don't want a member of mah family mingling with the likes of ponies who don't know anything about fruits." Applejack leaned forward into Moonlight who was doing a poor job of whatever apple chore she was doing. "It's a good thing you know a thing or two about fruits though, dontcha Moonlight? Like the difference between those two apples over there." Applejack pointed towards two bushels of apples, both identical in color, size, and texture. "Right, Moonlight?"

"Tell ya what?" Zap began to bargain, as if his decrees meant anything. Although more than a nopony, he would forever be under the jurisdiction of his mother as long as he was on this farm, and most times even if he was off of it. "If'n you let me stay the night and serve me a heap of a warm meal, I'll give you the smooch you request." He looked around to see nopony else to witness what he considered a very private conversation. He walked around the counter towards her and stuck a hoof out. "Deal?"

Silverstream kept a half-lidded eye on Gallus' reclined position until it seemed he was out, and eventually fell asleep herself, with the echoing sound of waves crashing behind her. It made sense for Gallus to be tired, with all the imaginary muscle cramps he might be having. It's what happens when seaponies or hippogriffs transform into their counterpart for the first time in a long time, and it's one of the habitual natures of the society at Mount Aris and Seaquestria that kept the cultures divided. Fortunately, there were still plenty of amphibiously curious citizens that got plenty of both worlds to taste.

The coastal cavern began lighting up with the sun that reflected its way in. The sounds of waves crashing all night continued into the daybreak, along with the added outside sounds of seagulls squawking for their day's first meal. Added even more was the sound of faint crackling, spontaneous and with less pattern than the ocean's repetition. What was originally a dark damp cavern was now filling up with the smells of firewood and cooked flesh of fish.

Within sight of Gallus, Silverstream had set a campfire on a dry patch of flat cavern floor. She was slow roasting six mackerel fishes on wooden sticks over the flame, the sticks being propped up by large rocks.

((This is a continuation from here.))

The evening had prevailed well, so far. Remington and Moonlight were both in agreement. Each of them was just attracted enough to each other that they both really enjoyed each other's company. It felt too perfect, maybe with too little resistance, and the challenges Remington would face in his composure would test his colthood for the future. But it would be fun, nothing was more enjoyable than exploring the wits and whims of a filly he had just fallen in love with. And with Moonlight's permission, he seemed ready to go to places he had never been before.

Remington giggled at the insinuation of the magazines being geeky. "No, no." Remington dropped his smile and looked more serious. He quickly shoved the box of goods down and out. "Listen, let's not worry about this. And, let's not study right now. We can study later." Remington approaches Moonlight and kisses her, a way of returning the kiss she had just surprised him with. "Do you wanna," Remington looked out the lone window in the dorm room. "Do you want to get out of here? Let's get out of here. Let's do something!" Remington quickly opened a few dresser drawers and started tying up spare pillow cases and shirts he thought he would wear but never did. After a makeshift bedroom rope was crafted, he threw open the window and tossed it down towards the ground. He then tied the upper end to a bed post. While testing the strength of the rope, he wore a slick smile and looked at Moonlight. "What do you say, Moony? Wanna go on an adventure?"

The anxiety slowly drifted away from the conversation as Silverstream listened after she revealed Gallus was the one she was most interested in. She found the implication of a possible romance between her and Gallus being one of diplomatic importance rather peculiar, however. She didn't much like the idea of falling in love with somecreature else for any other reason than the reason itself. The headmare seemed to have an eye for efficiency when it came to coordinating royal relationships, though. Perhaps she forget she was talking to students during recess.

"I don't know. Whenever I ask him about home, he is very dismissive about it. It's almost like he never wants to return." Since the name was now out, she decided to ask the others if it would be appropriate for her to ask Gallus something she had an idea for ever since last Hearth's Warming break. "Do you think it would be wrong if I invited Gallus to Seaquestria for the holiday? He seems to have no interest in going back to Griffonstone, but is that a good thing if he disconnects himself from his ancestry?" Silverstream was asking deep questions. One that maybe could only be properly answered with Gallus involved. But because she thought about him a lot, this was the kind of curiosity that always hung on her mind. That, and why sinks always seem to drain counterclockwise.

Zap squeed nonsense as he was given permission to open presents. He made no haste. He darted right for the first present given to him and attempted to open it. The contents of the small box was a leather color, black in color with a shiny5 medallion tied to it. He was confused. "Uh, was this supposed to be Winona's present?"

When Zap looked up, he saw a small puppy running towards him. The colt gasped. His reaction was still confusion but slowly comprehended the situation. The puppy approached him eagerly, sniffing the box he was holding, and then licked his face a couple times. "Is...  is this, a puppy...   for me!?" Zap's look of disbelief turned to an ear to ear smile. "You got me a puppy!" Zap jumped in place, the puppy's expression matching his enthusiasm despite not knowing what was so exciting. The dog barked a couple times, and ran around the room to explore the place he was now allowed to walk freely in.

Zap laid down after jumping a few times, and the puppy ran to his side and commenced licking him. Once Zap recovered from the puppy onslaught, he poked his head up and asked his mothers. "Can I name him!?"

Zap did not answer the rhetorical question coming from his rainbow-maned mother. Of course he was having fun. And sometimes he had no idea why. The anticipation of the evening was enough to excite even the most hyper of foals. "I can't wait to open presents!" Even though the Apple family tradition had been to open presents on Hearth's Warming, Zap always found himself so excited to open presents that he contained no timetable for when he was allowed to. This year, he had an interesting distraction that kept him from getting overly excited for his own receiving of gifts. "And Amby can't wait either!"

When Apple Bloom walked in carrying several boxes with colorful wrapping and bows, Zap could not contain himself. He hopped over by Apple Bloom and started inspecting the loot. At one point, his aunt asked him if he wanted to set gifts out to everypony. He jumped but then paused. "But wait, we don't open presents until tomorrow right?" Zap wasn't going to argue, but it was a bit of a left turn for what seemed to be the norm.

When Zap saw Amby chewing on a box, he lifted in from her. "No no, little sis. We don't eat the boxes, we open them to see what's inside."

He then turned to his mothers. "Tonight!?"

Zareb was concerned that the housing situation might not be fair to some other student that didn't operate from the same outside perspective that he felt he was being catered for. "I'm not pushing anyone out am I? I could easily live in the woods if it meant more students could live inside the building." He assumed ponies would not have as much desire to live in and around trees as him, and he was probably right about that, if the things he had heard could be believed.

If Zareb had known this unicorn long enough, the past few minutes with him had given him the vibe that the answer would simple be that his selfless desire to live in the woods would not be necessary, but it only made him ponder what his potential roommate was like. Would this pony be okay with a zebra as a roommate, or would he struggle with sharing space with somepony that either resented or feared him. "I also know a lot of ponies don't particularly like my kind. Is that still the case?" Zareb walked up to the front door as he stated his question.

It's not too surprising the way Moonlight described Remington and her ability to manipulate him, when you understand she spent a great deal of time with Rarity in the department of flashy presentation and modern mare mentalities. Applejack could yet again begin to lecture Moonlight on the consequences of such actions, but being as she had already preached to her a little bit, and because this was young innocent schoolyard affection, it seemed more appropriate that Applejack keep it to herself for the time being.

As she listened to Moonlight's rambling, she got an idea as to how she could better tap into the young stallion, saying it at the same time Moonlight did. "He can come over for dinner!?" She asked it as a question, but then immediately answered the implication. "Of course he can come over for dinner. If for no other reason, but so that you can come to dinner again. You don't do it nearly as often as you used to." Applejack winked back to her. "So what kind of food does he like? He does like apples right?" She chuckled the deal-breaking question.

"Auntie AB? Are you okay?" Zap took immediate notice at how tired she was, and he thought he was exhausted. But the attention was brought back to him as she noted how proud of him she was. Nothing interrupts a medical need for a pony more than giving Zap relentless amounts of praise and acknowledgement. It's too bad he didn't exactly feel the same. He felt a little defeated. "Well, I basically got last place. I might as well have not even tried." Then the colt remembered that his suggestion would be wise in a coltish sense. "Actually, yeah, I wasn't even in the race. What are you talking about, Auntie? I was on my way to do chores on the farm after I watched the end of the race." He hoped his cover story kept, and that Apple Bloom remained impaired enough to not remember him racing. If news got out that he had tried to run, he might have to wash dirty apples for a whole week...    again.

Remington was a fish out of water. He had no idea how to mingle in most social events, particularly the ones where he did not know most of the guests, and his role was more or less 'colt who gets things for his fillyfriend.' It was a relief though. Moonlight could have humiliated Remington by asking him a straight-faced question about his feelings on the ceremony, requesting details and bullet points that adhere to the filly's feelings. He was not prepared for that. Luckily, she just asked him to fetch a couple drinks instead. Maybe they nightmare would shift into one of figuring out which drinks to get, but at least he wasn't risking his relationship with the only close fillyfriend he had ever had in his life.

He walked up to the Punch's table. "Two drinks please. Um, apple juices I guess?" Was that too foaly? Did Moonlight want more grown up drinks? Surely she didn't intend on a drink that would loosen her up, although to be fair, it might be something he could use. Then again, was that even legal in Ponyville for a colt his age to be drinking harder varieties of beverages? He decided to do the bravest thing he knew possible, push the risk onto the server. "Or, whatever drinks would be good for me and my friend Moonlight over there, the bride's cousin."

His mother implied she knew everything about his line of work, because of course she did. It was Applejack after all, she was pretty wise. But having been a family member for as long as he's been alive, he had grown exhausted of the praise her heroine mothers got for being the best ponies alive. Being a savior to the nation was not enough to impress Zap Apple. Although what he did care about was that they loved him, and through all the torrential embarrassments and arguments they might have with him over things that really didn't matter all that much, knowing that they still cared deeply about him and his life is what kept him coming back for supper. And even though he would have to listen to lectures about what they thought of his life, he wouldn't trade it anything involving staying away from the apple orchard, the place he always knew would be home.

"Now hang on. I can't kiss you." Zap points at the sign that was almost put away. "Says right there on the sign, five bits for a bushel. I don't have any bits on me, so I think that means no kiss." He said slyly. "But, since I am a very valued customer here. Maybe you could let me grab some apples and I'll pay you back tomorrow." Zap planned on having supper with the family, and staying the night, but he wouldn't reveal that up front as it would blow his bargain. Or, if his mother was as smart as she knew she was, none of this would matter, and he would find himself feeding the pigs at dawn tomorrow morning.

Bluebelle's suggestion led Silverstream to the idea that she has to come forward with her feelings to the one she admired, in order to confirm whether or not they felt the same about her. She did not like this idea, but she agreed it was the most efficient way to do it. But she was not afraid of rejection. She was more afraid of changing things that were not necessary to change. To Smolder's question, Silverstream educated. "There were only so many pieces the magic pearl could be cut into, but basically everygriff that wanted out of the water was given a chance to do so. There were plenty of Seaquestrian citizens that planned on staying in the water permanently. And Sirens?" Silverstream looked up, perplexed. "Sirens dissappeared a long time ago, long before we even gained the ability to turn our entire nation into sea creatures. It wasn't until we read up on that chapter in Elemental History that I realized where some of the sirens had gone."

Silverstream was confused by Bluebelle's implication. It seemed that she was saying royals shouldn't intertwine too much, or bad things will happen. She didn't fully understand this thinking. "But everyone in Seaquestria is practically related. Not saying this would happen, but if I was forced into a royal marriage, chances are the guy would be one of my cousins." The term cousins had elasticity for more than Silverstream was explaining. It could be that familial ties in Hippogriff culture were well documented, meaning that everygriff could know who they were related with, or it could also imply that the community is so tightly knit, that the possibility of hooking up with somegriff outside of the assumed family was near impossible. Either way, Silverstream felt disenfranchised a little by Bluebelle's cultural norm.

The insinuation of what proper courtship looked like carried Silverstream's openess to one of doubt. But a glimmer of hope in Bluebelle's suggestion that marriage could be used as diplomacy raised Silverstream's curiosity again. It was so interesting to her, she didn't have enough time to mask herself with anonymity. "Oh! So maybe if I end up with somegriff, that means a permanent bond between both of our families and communities could come together." She liked the idea of this, especially since this kind of thing was unheard of in Seaquestria or Mount Aris. "So, would that mean that if me and Gallus fall in love, that Griffonstone could have a lasting relationship with Mount Aris?" Silverstream held her talons to her beak, realizing she let slip of the name of her attraction. "I mean, or anyone else for that matter?..."?

Zap had no idea how lucky he was. Being a member of the Apple family was possibly the best thing ever. He didn't know a life outside of apples, and though he often wondered what it would be like to discover parts of the world when he got older, he had no idea that being born into this family would give him, among other great perks, a lifetime supply of apple cider, something many ponies in Equestria covet, and some with contempt. Being called for cider was just like being called for anything else. Don't acknowledge it at first, pretend to acknowledge it second, and then scream down the stairs as fast as you could to get as much attention as possible. It was a foolproof plan, and one that had an extraordinary success rate, even during times in which he might have been punished.

Ambrosia's presence in this family provided Zap with his most difficult obstacle he has faced. Having been an only child until just recently, he had been able to gain the attention of his parents and extended family fairly easily, in order that he can feel secure and loved. But now that he had competition for Mommy's love, he was more rambunctious in and around the barn, often getting into extracurricular activities that his parents would have advised him not to get into. And sometimes, he would bite off more than he could chew, and learn a lesson the hard way, and with the help of Mommy's paddle, sometimes two. If Zap was honest enough and aware enough of his own livelihood, he knew nothing much had changed, and that most of his adjustments were internal. But his baby sister provided an excuse to ignore the warning signs of maturity trying to inch its way into his mind.

Zap zipped down the stairs in his hoovie pajamas, his goggles around his neck, and raced towards his mother, using his wings to spare extra time between trots. He reached on top of the table where his cider cup was, and sipped it carefully as to not burn himself. "MMMmmm." He exclaimed before looking over at Ambrosia. "You're gonna love Heart's Warming, Amby! You don't know this yet but," Zap leaned into his little sister and whispered, "We get lots of presents."

Zap jumped in place for a few seconds to help burn his excess energy and then asked his mother a curiosity. "Is Auntie going to be here tonight?"

Remington was smart enough to know that his own imaginations of how his life's firsts would play were seldom realized in the picture perfect daydream he envisioned them in. Moments like his first day of school, or his first bite of an exotic fruit, or his first gold medal for winning for Manehatten in the Equestrian Games in pogo-sticking. They were all pretty storybook-esque in detail, and even more far-fetched. But even he was surprised at how suddenly unexpected and pleasant his first kiss was.

It never occurred to him that Moonlight would use her spontaneity to plant Remington's first kiss onto him in this moment. But he couldn't think of a good enough excuse for her not to. The kiss was warm and perfect, almost like it was ready and waiting all evening for its moment to shine. The seconds after Remington was kissed, he jolted back in astonishment, but kept his composure to illustrate his appreciation for the affection. He smiled and blushed ferociously, jotting his eyes around for a desperate attempt at his attention and energy to naturally lead to something else.

He looked back at the package on the floor. "Yeah, we should study." Remington did not read Moonlight's flirtatious suggestions well, but he had his own ideas as to how he would present to her more proof of his love for her. "But first, let me see what my Mom sent me." Remington picked the box up and placed it on the desk. He fidgeted a little with the box's seal, and then ripped it up in order to fold the box open. Inside the box, were several snacks and treats. There was an assortment of sodas in different flavors, cookies, candy, and a few magazines. "Alright, she brought me snacks!" He looked up at Moonlight who was waiting for some kind of cue. "I'll share them with you and we can eat them while we study. Which flavor soda do you want? There's grape, cherry, lemon-lime."