Hippo

Fluttershy heard her name shouted in a respectful way, just inside the entryway to the sanctuary from the road. It was a purple unicorn with metal coverings. Though Fluttershy knew that pony with a severed horn and scar across her face pretty well, unfortunately, just like all of the other things that terrified Fluttershy during her defies against evil with her friends she was never sure she could face them on her own. But Tempest seemed to have a light demeanor, probably from the expected trepidation coming from those who could hear her voice or see her face. "Tempest?" She asked carefully, not wanting to be presumptive. It also gave her a chance to bury her social fears. Fluttershy knew that there had been another name Tempest had gone by, but she never saw that it was appropriate to use since no one else used it. And even if she wanted to, the lack of usage in a semi-forbidden name escaped her memory. "What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly. Fluttershy would have never guessed a pony like Tempest to approach in pet-finding or even for the sake of general education in animals.

Fluttershy had been working so hard for several weeks attempting to perfect the process of animal caring. She had never been so in love with her with ability to give comfort and understanding to animals in need around her, and her sanctuary had become world-renowned. Because of the acclaim, she had to deal with constant suggestions and queries, mostly asking for an invasion of her way of doing things, and for the ability to come in close contact with animals from all parts of the surrounding neighborhoods without having to go to a zoo. But she would typically reply in a negative tone, counter-intuitive to her usual agreeability. Even her light demeanor wasn't unable to interrupt her promise to the animals in her care, that they would be her priority over everything.

But, as circumstances allowed, Fluttershy understood that occasionally a good pony needs a animal to care for, and a good animal needs a pony to care for them. Such a bond could only be realized by Fluttershy herself, and she knew she wasn't the only one who liked animals. So today, she put more of her energy in an open house of sorts, a chance for ponies and creatures to experience the sights and sounds of her arena, and give them a chance to convince her as to why they are in need of a creature to care for—a tax on members of Equestria society.

But also, she knew there were several pet owners who needed help with their responsibilities and wanted to visit Fluttershy for some of her advice and encouragement. She hoped that Dr. Fauna would be around to help be she knew the doctor had her own, more serious situations to deal with whereas Fluttershy was focused on the outpatient care of animals that didn't need serious attention. So with the sanctuary's resources, Fluttershy hoped that any issues a pet owner would bring forward to them would be able to be taken care of.

It was mid-morning and Fluttershy had just opened the gate on the path to her sanctuary from the town. The gate never did a good job keeping anything in or out, but it was always seen as a sign of whether or not a pony should enter. And today, with the gate opened, Fluttershy hoped that she could use this one day to allow others a chance to find refuge or meaning in the animals Fluttershy felt deserved out attention and respect.

Remington made it back to his room and prepared. Typically he would straighten his room for some orderly sense before studying or writing a paper. If he ever had a buddy come over, he would make sure any unmentionables were stowed away to not be seen. He was a very clean colt, much more so than other colts at the school. Most young students were pretty messy, especially the ones who had relied too much on their parents to do all of their self-maintenance. But tonight the task of preparing for Moonlight's arrival and study session took Remington more time than he would care to confess. His room was immaculate. It wasn't all that impressive though, it wasn't like he had that many things adorning the room in the first place.

Miracle had been trying to get to sleep earlier in the evenings on account of her never being able to traverse the school hallways without some kind of accident when she had to share it with the morning rush of creatures and ponies. Fortunately, her roommate didn't come until later in the night. But, the unicorn pony was interrupted of her attempt to fall asleep by a pound on her door. After a good single knock and an expressively cute voice cheering Remmy's name, the charcoal-colored unicorn mare opened the door. When she cracked it enough, she saw Moonlight smiling, her pink pelt reflecting the sequence from her tail. Miracle was unimpressed. "What? Who's Remmy? Oh, you mean Remington? He's the next door down. And...   please be quiet." The unicorn held a grumpy tone and facial expression as her horn lit up and slowly closed the door, and losing sight of Moonlight.

"Heh heh, YEEE haw!!!" Apple Chord shouted as the song ended. She loved the way Coloratura sung the song, it obviously wasn't the first time she had played or sung it. As they ended the song, Coloratura's assistant walked into the room. Coloratura greeted her, and Apple Chord did the same. "Azure, right? Come join us, we're having fun singin' songs about life."

Apple Chord set her guitar to the side in order to make gestures with her hooves that were always necessary. "Why thank you. Why did I quit? Well, in some respects I never quit. I quit singing for some ponies, but I never stopped singin' for myself and my family. So I guess you could say my family is the reason I quit. If anything takes away from your family, it's not worth doin', most likely. When I realized what a career in music tours would do to my relationships I held dear, it was an easy decision to indefinitely end my tours and keep this one mare song-story to the confines of the farm's fences."

Apple Chord wanted to keep the momentum, but it was slightly adjusted by the new mare in the room, so she started asking her some inviting questions. "Azure, how did you come to associate with this beautiful singing voice with four legs?" She pointed at Coloratura who had a huge smile on her face. She seemed to be really enjoying herself.

"No!" Zap refused the juice offer. He was wise enough to know it was only a distraction from what he was so upset about. The projector suddenly had a malfunction. It clicked a couple times, and then stopped clicking, but the light source was still projecting. On the screen, which took up a good portion of one side of the living room, was showing a still image of a pony with spikes protruding from his face and body, all with chocolate syrup to illustrate to a black and white audience exactly how blood spills from a creature's sinew. Zap accidentally looked at it again, and cried even louder.

*knock* *knock* *knock* *knock*

The front door of the Cloudominium had a knock on the door. With the absence of the film's soundtrack, the pounding echoed loudly throughout the cloud house. Whoever this was, they were urgently trying to get the attention of the homeowner, or they had little understanding of what an appropriate knock on the door sounds like. Zap heard the knock, but could not be bothered by whoever might be trying to get inside. He was too busy wailing on account of witnessing pretend death.

It started to become a small vex in Applejack's ears by the amount of sass Moonlight held in her voice, but only because it was being used as a verbal weapon against her in a way of standing on high moral authority. Well, pretending to, she thought. The choice of words Moonlight would choose to convey her reaction to what she was saying seemed in poor taste, even though they were often used to disavow Applejack's choice of words, which were also poor. Applejack mustered inside of her mind the momentous force of integrity lecture in order to defend herself from a young mare who considered herself so up to date that her flank could solve strange warming weather patterns plaguing the driest parts of Equestria, but she held her temper low enough in order to hear her out.

"If you truly believe he has narcolepsy, I guess I can't argue that. I jus don' want you to fall into the trap of believing someone's over-dramatic shenanigans, all because he's a colt that'll get you all flustered soon as look at ya." Moonlight seemed confident that whatever the official school records would show about him should be good enough for Applejack or anypony else. Unfortunately, she knew the school records were typically tied down with a few hay scraps and were filed in Twilight's school ledger which was either with her in Canterlot, or hidden away beneath the many artifacts the new Headmare would use as decoration. There was no doubt the records were important at the time they would have been taken down, but the need for their information predictably waned and as a result, began gathering dust and credibility. The logs were sometimes so diligently incorrect that one of the professors kept marking a student by the name of Busted Nails absent for five weeks before realizing it was a misheard version of the the young pony Gusty Sails, who had applied on location the previous semester. Whoever took down her name probably had an ear infection that day.

Applejack would concede the filly's point, though. Moonlight had been a pretty good judge of character having spent so much time with Rarity and others, not to mention the honest apple mare herself. "Alright, you're right. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt." Applejack started projecting this as a if her approval was always part of the process. "So he ain't lyin' then, maybe." Applejack started smirking at all the silly things she remembered fillies and colts would do when Applejack was Moonlight's age. "He hasn't found himself," Applejack stood on her hind legs and illustrated her word choice with her hooves, "falling asleep", she stood back on all fours, "conveniently on top of you, yet, has he?" She chuckled. Obviously the answer was no, but Applejack would enjoy the laugh of such a demoralizing piece of evidence that would land her firmly on the suspicious side of this crush Moonlight had. It was a good thing it was probably not true.

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria Cast
Name: Sky Beak
Gender: Male
Age: Adult
Species: Hippogriff
Eye color: Orange
Coat: Lavender or perano
Mane/Tail: Light grey two-tone, long and light
Physique: Full grown and athletic
Residence: Mount Aris
Occupation: Lead Council-member of the revision of the Mount Aris community
Unique Traits: Like most hippogriffs, owns a shard of the magic pearl that allows him to transform into a seapony on command. Also like hippogriffs, is extremely eccentric and excited about his freedom and likeness. He represents a standard that many Mount Aris residents follow.
Flaws: Unconsciously disrespects others' opinions, especially if they come from a lower place on the culture hierarchy.

History: Prior to the Storm King's invasion of Mount Aris, Sky Beak was a trusted member of the royal hippogriff family and was revered as one of the nation's rulers. But when the Storm King invaded, Sky Beak and many other hippogriffs went into hiding while Queen Novo and the general hippogriff population used the magic to transform themselves into seaponies. While Sky Beak could maintain the ability to transform also, he chose not to and ventured across the ocean with his faithful commander Seaspray, looking for ways to resurrect the hippogriffs from their ocean home, including the love of his life Ocean Flow, from their watery prison. He believed that though escaping the Storm King underwater gave them freedom from his clutches, it only did so at a cost of the hippogriff way of life, and the division of families like his own.

When the Storm King was defeated, Sky Beak returned to Mount Aris. Queen Novo continued to be a seapony with those who wished to stay in the water, which included the mother of his children, Ocean Flow. The queen commissioned Sky Beak to rebuild the community atop Mount Aris, so that those who wanted to return to Hippogriff lifestyle could do so. Over the months following the eradication of the Storm King's evil, Mount Aris has become a party city, which hosts many festivals and celebrations every weekend. It is Sky Beak's intention that the hippogriff way of life will never die and will become even more vibrant in future generations.

Character Personality: Sky Beak is very protective of his kind, but understands that sometimes they may not wish for him to rule their lifestyle. He attempts to encourage everyone around him that a good sense of community and celebrating your identity is important to the community as a whole. He is a natural-born leader who is charismatic and delegates with joy to others on how they should proceed to maintaining a successful Mount Aris society. He can often be overly kind though, and at least with foreigners, can be aggressive with his insinuations that hippogriffs are the best creatures on the planet. He has good reason though, and if told an opposing opinion, has enough virtue to understand the difference of perspective and is willing to concede someone's personal choices.

Character Summary: Sky Beak is a very energetic hippogriff that represents his kind very well to the rest of the world. Though sometimes his attitude can seem invoked with classism, his intentions are well placed and only desires that those he leads over have the most happiness in life.

Roleplay Type: World of Equestria
Name: Zareb
Gender: Male
Age: Young stallion
Species: Zebra
Eye colour: Turquoise
Coat: Standard zebra grey
Mane/Tail: Buzzcut-looking mane and tied frizzy tail, both a grey-scaled dark teal
Physique: Average stallion build, stronger than most ponies however
Residence: Unyasi, on foreign exchange to Ponyville at the School of Friendship
Occupation: Student at the School of Friendship
Cutie Mark: Symbol meaning "Friendship" or "Bonds"
Unique Traits: Outgoing, personable, charismatic
Flaws: Lacks awareness of personal space, misses social cues, resistant to conform to social acceptance

History: Zareb comes from the land of Unyasi. In his tribe, his family and friends took notice at his ability to bring others together even when he was very young. In the communities he had spent time in, all zebras held a closer bond than they did before he was involved in it. In one instance, he was able to create friends out of sworn enemies, and his cutie mark appeared. As he grew towards stallionhood, some of the elders suggested he travel to Equestria to see if his ability to mold friendships could be enhanced or learned from. With the School of Friendship opening in Ponyville, he was sent as a foreign exchange so that he might learn something new about friendship, but also in hopes that the leaders of Equestria would recognize a zebra in their institution as a sign of increased political influence between the dominant pony nation and the distant zebra empire across the sea.

Character Personality: Zareb is an adventurous zebra, but prefers to do things with others. He will attempt to bond with others around them, even if they initially reject his presence. He knows that kindness and a good attitude can generally sway someone else to be more open to being friends. He is also inspired to do some things that he has no talent for. One of his futile dreams is to be a rapper, but lacks the real prowress to rhyme on command and cannot generate good lyrics to a beat, but he will continue to try. Zareb is protective of his friends if adversaries go too far; He does not yield to those who have no chance for redeeming a relationship.

Character Summary: When first meeting Zareb, sometimes he can be overly friendly and abrasively kind. Behind his forced relationship-building, however, is a tough zebra who truly wants to make a positive difference in the world around him.

(Joint post that includes Hippo and SteelEagle in character responses. Made via Discord text chat)

Silverstream carried a plate of snacks with her as she hovered alongside Gallus. The two were exploring the castle a little, hoping to find a secret room. However, most of everything they saw so far were empty rooms. "I wonder if we could spend a night in the castle. They probably wouldn't even notice!" Silverstream giggled.

She entered a room before Gallus and looked around. "Another empty room." Silverstream turned to exit the room, but stopped when she spotted a pony skeleton in the corner of the room, animated as if it were alive. She did a double take, and then dropped her snacks. She quickly zipped out of the door and planted herself against the wall in the hallway, giving Gallus a feared expression. "What... was that!?"

Gallus snickered. "With all the chaos of the Chancellor doing this whole castle-sitting nonsense, I think we could get away with that really easy," he said as he flew over her to reach for a chip, tossing it into his mouth as he completed the loop to be on her other side. "And if we're caught, well, we'll say its for research. The Chancellor is a sucker for that," he laughed as he went to follow her into the room.

That failed as she shot out, spinning him in place. Such was the force of her exit that the plate of snacks was sent flying- and as he landed on the ground in confusion, the two cupcakes landed on his face, one on each eye. He sat up with a huff as he looked into the room. "Well, it looks like cupcakes because somegriff decided she..." he started as they slid off of his face, plunking onto the ground with a delicious thud. Then he saw the skeleton, and his throat got caught up in a gulp as he slowly started pushing himself up, his wings flaring up slowly.

"Uhhh...uhhh...Twilight's...umm, Twilight's Nightmare Night...thing?" He said haltingly, trying to remain brave even as he slowly started to back up towards Silverstream, back to her and front facing the door.

Silverstream encroached over Gallus as he stepped back to her in a guarding manner. She subconsciously accepted the stance he set as some kind of alpha protector, but she supported him by giving him the physical affirmation she knew the griffin secretly liked. One of her claws was set softly on his backside. "Twilight's? What if it's the new Headmare's? You know them well, are they into this kind of thing? Like even a as a joke?" Silverstream was amazed by almost everything she laid her eyes on, and was typically only fearful of things that harmed her emotionally or otherwise. A pony skeleton fell into a grey area where she felt curiously anxious about how it existed in the first place. Gallus and her had once been amazed at the sight of a picture of King Grover that seemed to be animated, but only became fearful of it when it started flying and chasing after them.

His tail flickered nervously as she touched his backside, her warmth sending a quick shiver to his extremities that ended with a quickly squashed blush. "I...I mean maybe, I guess its possible...but I don't think so. At least, why have it hidden in a random room like this if it was supposed to be a joke?" He asked, the curious cat allowing his wandering mind to distract him from a primal fear. Skeletons belonged on the inside, not outside, and anytime he had seen a non-scholastically related skeleton it wasn't a good time. He found a chipped piece of crystal and picked it up, then threw it into the room, at his best approximation of where he thought the skeleton was.
"Hey! Hey, creepy skeleton thing! Just..stop what you're doing! Being c-creepy, stop it!"

The rock landed next to the skeleton. Silverstream peaked inside the room to see if Gallus hit it or not. She observed it careful. Fortunately, but still creepily, it seemed to be browsing a few old bookshelves and occasionally looking under furniture that had been stored there for space-saving. "What is it doing?" She asked out loud. "It's like it doesn't even know we're here. Oh! Maybe because it has no eyes so it can't see us!" Silverstream perked with brilliance but then dropped her excitement. "But then how does it know where things are?"

Remington chuckled shyly. "Hehe, no. I don't think there are any pools out here anyway." Remington walked outside with the rest of the class, his eyes adjusting to the blurry brightness of the sunshine. He peered across the field they were walking towards once he could see the mostly green terrain. "There aren't any pools out here, are there?"

Moonlight thought about it. She knew there was a pool somewhere out there, since they needed to train the swim team and whatnot. But was there one nearby? She wasn't sure. She tapped her hoof to her chin, almost missing and hitting her snout. Not seeing was a bitch, wasn't it? "I don't think there are. But, like, if there are, don't lead me to one. I don't have a towel and drying off in the sun is, uggh, so super grody like you wouldn't believe. I'd be totally itchy all over."

Remington walked down the path to meet with the rest of the class next to what the professor deemed the starting line. Every moment that passed this began to look more like a race to the fast pegasus. Figures. "Alright, Moonlight, we're over here." Remington looked back and saw the disfigured Moonlight-shaped object far behind him. "Oh, that's right. You can't see." He started walking back briskly to where Moonlight was, tripped on a misstep of his hoof and quickly recovered. Next to Moonlight he started telling her where the path was. "Ok, the path is beneath you. It's beneath you. It's still beneath you. Turn left, I mean right, my right. Oh you can't see me, just go straight, there's nothing in front of you." Remington began to realize how helpless he might be at this.

Remington was walking a little bit faster than Moonlight was. Easy to see why- well, see was the inappropriate word. Easy to understand why. Because he could see, see? That and she would never claim to be the fastest pony anyway. As she meandered listlessly though there was a moment of concern, her ears twitching at the sound of a pony...perhaps falling? Huh. Whoever tripped better not be the leader of the group. That could cause trouble! His voice chimed in with exact instructions. It would be easy to get annoyed at them but she had been working with a rather demanding fashion mare and her equally demanding fashion show compatriots on shows across the land. Reacting to a colt's hurried, harried instructions wasn't something to tickle her tail hairs any. She followed his instructions, flaws included, but could hear the trepidation creeping in his voice. "You're doing so good. Just relax, Manehattan."

Remington exhaled. Everything was cool. Moonlight was cool. He was not cool for some reason. Or maybe he was just worried something bad was going to happen. It was possible the only reason why he felt this anxious about anything was because he was constantly worried about how long he might be without a fixed pair of glasses. Having his vision impaired flustered Remington, and all times, it had to be now, when he was giving directions to a potential friend who seemed to like what he was about, whatever that was. "Only a few more steps and...  Stop! We made it. Well, we made it to the start line, keep your blindfold on."

She reacted on point, stopping at what she could only assume was the right position. Out of habit she stuck out her chest and stood with a straight stern back, as if she were about to spin in place and walk up and down the aisle. Fashion models were second behind only the Royal Guard when it came to parade-ground formation trotting, or so she had been told. "Ready when you are. Or when the Professor is. Or really whenever."

When the professor gave the signal, Remington turned and faced Moonlight. "Alright we got this. Hey, wait don't move yet. What are you doing? I didn't say to walk forward yet." When a stallion was close enough for Remington to notice he wasn't even talking to Moonlight, he shook his head and looked at the lone mare standing by herself. "Oh. Moonlight, go ahead and walk forward at a normal pace. Turn left in about six steps. Or seven. Six and a half, maybe."

She waited and when it was time to go she excitedly waited for his instructions. That excitement became confusion which was expertly hidden in her eyes, away from the prying judgments of her compatriot, when he then told her not to move. What was that all about? She was having doubts now. Was his eyesight gonna lead him to trouble? Her to trouble? As these thoughts flew about her head, he started giving her orders. And she did her best to follow them, even including a half-step- which she did with a short hop, her tail rolling up and down like a wave in the ocean as she did so.

Moonlight did a great job following his instructions. Except she had deviated from the line by about two steps. Was that too far? "Great, now just sidestep to the left a couple steps." Remington turned to look ahead of the pair. All the other ponies were ahead of them including some of the ones that seemed to cripple themselves to the finish of the last obstacle course. At least this one seemed filled with nothing but green grass. The white chalk line the professor had drawn started to fade already having been trampled by the students before them. So he decided to call an audible and try to make do. He walked backward in the direction of the other ponies. "Follow my voice, Moonlight. Turn to your 2 o'clock and keep walking straight. Nothing is in front of you. Except me."

Everything was fine in Moonlight's world. Truth was the hop had adjusted her blindfold and if she wanted to cheat it had been loosened enough to do so, but she wasn't going to do that. So she also closed her eyes, to double-lock-blind herself for the time being. She moved with practiced precision and grace, gliding over the grass with great gaiety as she followed the voice in front of her, which was all she needed to hear. It was a calming one too, even as it went up and down and seemed to try and steel itself. He could do it. She had the faith!

Remington and Moonlight had been walking in tandem for a few moments. He had constantly been checking behind him--the direction they were walking--to make sure the others where still there and that they were in their wake. The white line seemed to have completely faded and seemed like a misjudgment on the professor's call to even suggest following an arbitrary line in the first place. But then, a stallion walked in the opposite direction of the two. "Oh, stop! Turn right ninety degrees, and then turn ninety degrees again, to the right. I guess turn a hundred and eighty degrees. Not twice though, only once. Just turn around." Remington facehoofed himself and walked to the other side of Moonlight, the direction the other stallion had trotted. He seemed to be in a hurry. Hopefully he knew where he was going. Remington was counting on following others to help him lead his newly found friend.

She walked and walked and then found herself suddenly being stopped. She could feel the tail of somepony else graze her...going in the opposite direction. Weird. She then started to follow his directions but this time they were hurried, confused, almost panicked. She turned ninety degrees, then another, then started to do a one-eighty when she was told what the real scoop was. Luckily she hadn't been made a fool of yet and started to walk forward. "Remmy, relax. No need to pull a Sunrise Special out of this," she said with a giggle. Then realized he likely didn't know what that meant. And then was embarrassed, and kept quiet.

Only a short moment after they had started walking in their new direction, the same stallion as before and another pony quickly ran in the other direction again. They were going back? "Oh no," Remington thought out loud. "This might be the blind leading the blind." Remington paused on that sentiment and the longer he lingered on it, the more real it became.

A pony next to Remington who was purple and seemed to have an orange afro mane suggested to him, "What are you doing on the buckball court?"

Remington facehoofed again. "Moonlight, just stand still, I need to get us out of this." Apparently he got lost in an open field and lead himself and blindfolded Moonlight into the practice field during hoofball practice. He flew upwards to get an aerial view and saw instantly they had trotted off course by about forty to fifty steps. He fell down gracefully next to Moonlight. "Alright Moonlight, let's walk forward, turn left to your 10 o'clock and continue walking." Remington was now in Moonlight's right ear, instead of facing her and not looking at where he was going. Though blurry, the distant trees gave him a field of view he could relate to, and he could make it pretty easy. Being this close to Moonlight seemed to give him funny feelings as well.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened and Moonlight was a genius- well, a genius when it came to figuring out when ponies were in over their head. Like Remington was. Though in his case it was more likely blinded by his shattered eye glasses. She nodded when he said he needed to clear it up. That was fine. She was not happy to be on the buckball court (which she could feel the difference in grass underneath her hoof). And she took this time to fix herself a way out of this jam.

Eyes open, horn lit, she nudged the blindfold a little lower. Not enough to uncover her eyes, but just enough for her to be able to get a sense of what was around her. He returned then and started giving her orders once again, and she followed now with her added bit of aid. And he ordered her around with his warm breath on her ears, which made her spine tingle and her ear twitch. "Ooooh, getting a little close now ain'tcha?"

"Oh, sorry." Remington blushed. "Just wanted to make sure you could hear me. Sorry for yelling earlier, I was just a little, turn right. I was just a little stressed about my glasses. But everything seems fine now. Turn left." Remington seemed to be able to lead Moonlight a lot better this way, along side her instead of leading her like some kind of stray animal. They should have done this from the start. "There's a line of small rocks in front of you, they should be easy to step over or onto. A few more steps and we're done."

"It's fine. Like, really. It isn't the first dramatic situation I've been in," she said with a giggle as she followed his directions. It had nothing over a giant worm trying to eat her alive now, did it? It came time for the rocks. She thought they were in the right area and so, in case Rainbow Dash was in the area, closed her eyes and resettled the blindfold before hopping over the rocks.

As the two approached the rest of the class, it was obvious they were in last place if this was a race. Good thing it wasn't a race, right? Oh, Luna, was it a race!? "We made it, heh," Remington stated to the others as he and Moonlight joined the group.

She walked the last few steps, using her tail to strategically slap him as a sign of gratitude. "Good work there, Remmy. Without your glasses, too! Like, so cool!" She said as she joined the group, turning to face him.

Applejack looked back at her cousin Moonlight to see what she was talking about. "You got hurt? Lemme see." The apple professor stopped trotting away and held Moonlight's hoof close to her so she could examine it. "Well, you walked outta class just fine. So it couldn't have been that deep of a cut. Don't worry you'll be fine, just rub some dirt on it. Or don't rub dirt on it, and just get a bandage from the nurses office. I gotta go, Sugarcube, them apples don't sell themselves!" Applejack paused one more time and looked back at her cousin to her one more loving assurance of her livelihood. "You best not be callin' in sick tomorrow on accounta yer minor scratch there, Missy." She chuckled to release the tension as a joke and trotted away.

Remington found it odd how much in a hurry Moonlight was to leave class. Either she secretly hated her cousin's teachings, or she had a meet up with others. Yeah, Remington, you're not the only one she's friends with. But what's this? Remington looked down around her table as the class emptied out, and something pink and sparkly was hiding underneath it. Remington bent down and grabbed it. It was a hairbrush. "Moonlight, you forgot your brush..." Remington looked up to see if he could catch her before she left within earshot, but she was gone. He looked back down at the brush in his hooves and made the executive decision a hero like him was capable of. "I'll put it in my bag and give it to her tonight. She'll be so impressed that I found it for her."

He had no more time to waste, he left the classroom and galloped towards the gym.

The tea had set long enough, so Silverstream picked it up carefully and started sipping it. It was delicious. The autumn breeze combined with the warm notes of the tea gave her a perspective she wasn't expecting. The light wind that occasionally whisked away a leaf or two reminded her of the seaside breezes that often swirled around Mount Aris. The coconut flavor gave her hints of home memories while the almond taste gave her inspiration of a place she had never been. It was like a home away from home in a mug. Smolder was good.

Silverstream was conflicted. She had admiration for someone and was willing to tease talking about it, but regretted the feeling of embarrassment she felt in having the need to express it. This was highly unusual for her about basically everything, she typically did not need encouragement to spill her beans. However, she would suppress her blurting out of her excited hippogriff hormones in order to make some progress in digging deep into Smolder's thick scales instead. It wasn't very often she, or any dragon for that matter, would be willing to open up this much. "Yeah, I guess Spike is kinda young. I never think of him as that young, though. He seems pretty smart for his age."

Since smolder began hinting at the possibility that such a creature as Smolder might be interested in the occasional snuggle with someone that may not necessarily be a dragon, Silverstream began racing through her mind at the obvious message the orange reptile was attempting to send. Smolder must have a huge crush on someone. "Ho! You like someone don't you!? Is it Chiller? Blade? Zesty? Wide-out?" Silverstream began listing names of fellow classmates. Some of these ponies shared mutual classes with Silverstream and Smolder, but some of them may have not been. It then occurred to Silverstream that she was listing off names of several pony stallions. "Oh, is it Grubber?" She knew there were other non-pony students at the school, more than the original five that came last year during the inaugural semester. But there was still a vast amount of ponies that could serve as a suitor to many interested love scouts. Yet another fragment of imagination came to Silverstream when she realized all the ones she was naming were all male. Her eyes fell and her mouth curled up. "Are you and Ocellus getting closer than I think?"

Bluebelle's answer was all too practical and surprisingly blunt. Straight to the point and if Silverstream was honest, not as interesting as she would have thought. "Type?" She blushed. "Yeah guards are pretty neat, they have shiny armor and are usually very strong." Silverstream never thought about a profession or occupation being the thing she would be more attracted to, she always felt it was more of a sixth sense. She couldn't possibly understand her own infatuation with certain classmates of her's. It was why she was so interested to see what others thought before she began dissecting the pattern of her own crush. "Everyone I spend a lot of time with are all students. If one of them was my type, all of them would be!" She waved her talons around to match the gesture of her insane proposition. "Could you imagine! What if I liked everyone!?" She would gauge the reaction of course, in case logical discourse of that insinuation occurred and it lead to the idea that it was a possible outcome. It was a far-fetched idea though, even she knew.

Smolder asked who this someone might be. Silverstream in the back of her head was hoping she derailed long enough to avoid having to divulge her personal feelings. But since the dragon was too clever for her ability to redirect the conversation to something that had nothing to do with her, she yielded her focus to her shyly spoken interest. "Well." Silverstream circled the mug of tea with a talon. She took a deep breath and looked up. "His name is..." A hummingbird flew just above Smolder and quickly zipped in flight away from the group. It was orange and green. "Whoa! Is that a hummingbird!!?" Silverstream had genuinely never seen a hummingbird until now, although she had heard and read about them during her first studies in Ponyville. She took a large sip of her tea and emptied her cup. "Oh wow, all out of tea. It was good, though." Silverstream grabbed a kelp sandwich and munched on it happily.

Silverstream listened intently on Smolder's phrasings to catch a possible secret the dragon might have been holding onto. But much to her disappointment, Smolder's expressing of her closest relationships currently happening at the school were all too publicly known, and quite frankly, boring. She was expecting some spicy rumors much like the ones surrounding a certain green earth pony and a particular brown yak. "Oh, come on Smolder. Really? There's not someone you haven't thought deeply about, like maybe another dragon. Like Spike, what about him?" Spike was younger than Smolder, but Silverstream had no barometer as to how much younger he was. She had siblings that were as small as him when she left Sequestria for school, but during the last holiday, she returned to see that they were twice as big as she remembered. Maybe dragons didn't grow that fast. How old was Smolder? A few years old? Seventeen years old? A few hundred?

Silverstream wanted to elaborate and attempt to pry, but before she could, Smolder returned the question back to her. She began to sweat a little, which was odd considering how loose and free Silverstream is about many things in conversation. She started playing with her hair again. "Well, um. I think there is someone..."

The Headmare approached the two under the tree and asked if she could participate in the impromptu tea party. Silverstream stood straight up and resumed a more presentable posture. She held inside her confession for the time being. "Oh, hi Archancellor Bluebelle. Um. Sure!" Silverstream scooted over closer to Smolder to create room for a inner-facing shape of creature conversation. Silverstream didn't know Bluebelle very well. She knows she came from Canterlot and that she was somehow related to the royal family there. Silverstream was also a member of a royal family in Sequestria, but she never considered it a huge detail in describing herself. "We were just talking about who we, I mean, what we like." Silverstream would play coy for the time being, but she would also continue to be intrusively personal with those she talked to for the first time. It was her social default. "Archancellor. Are you in a serious relationship? Married maybe?" Silverstream giggled and smirked at Smolder who she hoped would return a giggle. Most times, the dragon didn't though.

Silverstream sat under the tree and waited on Smolder as she heated up water in a kettle. She opened up her bag and pulled out a paper sack that had two sandwiches in them. One of them was cucumber, the other was kelp and mustard. Of course, the dragon had many kinds of tea to offer her. "Oh, I don't care, Whatever you think I should try. I love it when you surprise me." Silverstream had drank tea with Smolder at least a half a dozen times already. She was always hung up on what tea she wanted to try, and she always shrugged because she didn't know tea enough to really understand what she would prefer. However, the moment Smolder introduced a seaweed-tasting tea or a kelp-flavored brew, she would insist.

Silverstream put her two sandwiches on a paper plate she also had in her pack. She set the sandwiches on the plate and cut them in quarters with a picnic knife. "Help yourself." She grabbed a cucumber sandwich quarter, chewed it, and then swallowed it. As the dragon poured the beverages, Silverstream started combing her hair with her claws. She typically only did this when she was nervous, guilty, or if she was unsure of how others would react to something she plans to talk about. She had many opportunities to explode nutty subjects up with her friends about many things that didn't require her to fidget, so whatever was on her mind must have to be pretty substantial. "So. Smolder." She looked around making sure no one was within earshot. "Have you ever had feelings for anyone else." Silverstream's eyebrows bounced. "Like in a 'more than friends' sorta way?"

Remington slowly began realizing how wrong he was about the acronym he tried to decrypt. It made Moonlight laugh out loud, so loud that she held her hoof to her mouth in order to not make a scene in the classroom. Unfortunately, he didn't count it as a win. Sure she made her laugh, but he felt he was being laughed at. But he had to shrug it off as she was still engaging in the planning of previously aligned meeting agreements. "Hehe, yeah. That's you! Heh." He noticed that she was biting her upper lip. Was that a sign that she really liked him? A magazine once said so. "Bring anything? Bring anything to what?" Remington paused not knowing why Moonlight was frantically wrapping her hoof in a paper towel that was normally used for cleaning up glue and stain. Failing to pull his attention from his poor choice of words, he tried to focus on her question. But he was so clueless, she could have been doing cartwheels with a monkey on her head and he wouldn't notice. "Oh right, the study thing. Um, no not really. I have everything we need. I'll even have some snacks in case we're hungry. All you need to worry about is bringing yourself so you can help me-"

"Beat it!" Applejack yelled at her students with excitement. She opened the half door violently with a hind hoof. "Hurry up and clean your space and get out of here," she said with joy. "You guys did a good job today, and we'll finish your projects some other time, but we've run out of time and it's time to skidattle. Work ain't worth a ton if you're not allowed to have some fun." Applejack bucked the resident apple tree that shared the classroom space. "And take an apple as you go. No student of mine is going home hungry!" Applejack left the classroom and urged her students to do the same in order to carry on with their day.

Remington jumped at his teachers announcement. He closed his box one last time. "Well, I guess we're done." He grabs an apple off the ground and puts it into his sack which was faithfully sitting on the floor. He picked it up and saddled it around himself. "I hope the gym doesn't wear me out today. I had a rough time last week when they made the winged creatures do a hundred laps around the school bell towers."

Zap began to be fixated on the film as the monster grew more and more terrifying. The shots with Daring Do being beaten up, but then also the thrill of her narrowly escaping the certain death of the vicious tentacles the monster hurled at her started to vex Zap's inner colt. He was not a stallion, not yet. Gallus set the apple juice on the table next to Zap and mentioned the film's scariness with chill tones. He jumped slightly at the voice as he was not expecting the half-cat creature to use his feline sense to silently sneak up on him during the tense part of the film. However, it helped that the noise of the film was drowning anything else in the home that could squeak, including Zap's soft involuntary whimper.

The film progressed as Daring Do was able to escape the monster by evading the trap through the trickery of color. She climbed back through the floor she fell through and ran to a doorway that would lead her to a large room with a calm pool of water. She then jumped in, the colors that painted her were washed away and the default color of the character emerged, though wet and sporting many bruises and red marks from scratches. She also seemed to have a problem with her wing, which she wrapped with medical tape to protect from further injury. Zap exhaled.

Daring Do found her assistant, a pony with a strange accent named Guile Move who was happy to see her mentor. "The temple is coming apart, we need to get out of here." Sure enough the short break of easing had ended and the film became a tense watch for Zap Apple again. The two ponies ventured through dark tunnels and sprinted across sharp blade traps, narrowly escaping certain death. They happened upon a trench that had no obvious way across. Daring Do lassoed a rock on the other side of the trench and pulled it tight to form a reliable knot. Guile Move jumped on the rope, swung to the other side and climbed up the other side safely. "Throw me the rope!" Daring Do yelled as the temple continued to crumble, large rocks and sidings behind her caving in. "Throw me the idol first." Daring Do pulled out the idol she had acquired from deeper in the temple and threw it to Guile Move. "Now throw me the rope!" Without doing so, Guile Move saluted to the pegasus her demise. "So long, ol' friend." The untrustworthy pony then disappeared further down the temple halls.

Zap Apple looked back at Gallus. "Gally?" He asked with concern. In the film, Daring Do grunted with annoyance. "This is why I work alone." She took a few steps back from the trench and proceeded to jump across it to the other side. She barely grabs the rope and climbs up the side safely, but only after several terrifying seconds. "Gally?" Zap asks again with more worry in his voice. The next shot shows Daring Do turning a corner in a hallway, and having to jump to the side and over many metal spikes. But then in a moment in the film edited for shock value, she happens across her former assistant, now lifeless, who had been impaled by several spikes that all protruded from her head and torso, leaving no room to the imagination of anyone watching it as to what had happened. Zap started crying. "Ahhhh!!! No!" He covered his eyes but it was too late.

Applejack shared a chuckle with the pretty pony who took the deluge of apple tree leaves in good spirits. Applejack tilted her head happily as Moonlight spoke about beauty. She was so proud of her little cousin. She seemed to understand the best basics of good qualities in a pony, and it seemed almost as if obtaining a young mare's body that was curvy and sparkly as her's was more of a prize that she won, than it was a lucky get. When she started explaining the logistics of Remington's possible attraction to her, however, Applejack started crossing her eyes and flaring her nose at the many versions of the word 'like'. Through the roller coaster of many practical uses of a standard word the pink mare often uttered senselessly, it became hard to understand the details of her nuance. Fortunately, Applejack did think she had the gist of what she was laying out though. "Girl, you train your thoughts into words more confusing than an apple cart rollin' down a rocky mountain trail. I think I get it. Um. Basically you don't know for sure, but at the very least, he's a loyal friend." Applejack approved of such a pony. She just hoped Moonlight's heart-strung describing of Remington is half as good as the colt is in reality.

Applejack kicked a tree and the apples fell predictably into their assigned baskets once again. "Wait a minute. Did you say narcolepsy? Did he tell you that just because he accidentally fell asleep during one of Fluttershy's lessons?" She could picture it now. And what a ruse it would be. Remington sleeping in class and his default response as to why would be because he had a 'medical condition'. "Are you sure he's not just saying that as an excuse? Seems kinda odd." Suddenly, Applejack became worried about the integrity of the pony Moonlight seemed so enamored with. Remington was a red pony, and that was a very bold and gracious apple color, so that was a plus. But it would be hard for her to justify allowing Moonlight to bring Remington over during family functions if the pegasus is a habitual liar. "I once had a customer who kept saying they couldn't pay for their monthly apple home delivery because their dog ate their bits. I kept giving them apples in good faith that they would have the money, but eventually I had to cut'em off. I lettem do that to me for four months before I realized they didn't even have a dog."

It only took Silverstream a few school functions in the main hall for her to gain a talent for snacking around the treat table. If only hippogriffs had cutie marks...

The Summer Sun Celebration was acknowledge by all hippogriffs but was never officially observed the way it is in Equestria. But no seaponies would ever ignore the invitation of a shindig that involved socializing and celebrating the elements of the universe that help keep everything together. It was always about the what and less about the why. This year, Silverstream got word of the party that would be happening at the Ponyville castle and decided to attend. Knowing that the archancellor would let the invitation extend to students at the school who weren't exactly official Ponyville residents, she knew that at the very least she would be able to lurk and socialize with other students who decided to do the same.

She spotted Gallus once she was inside. "Gallus!" She screeched and waved. She zipped over to him. "Did you get a chance to see the food tables. Do they have those potato skins like the ones they had at the Feltock Fete? I don't think there is any dancing, so in case this ends up more boring than we thought, I brought our cards." She held up a packet of playing cards that were worn in from the several games the students would play during school dances and other less interesting functions. She immediately went to one of the snack tables and started plating herself some hors d'oeuvres. But then she noticed Bon Bon's bonbon table and realized that some of the food might require rare circular pieces of metal otherwise known as money. "Gallus, is this stuff not free?"

Silverstream stood back up with the help of Gallus' leverage. She was distraught that she had spilled her mug of cider and felt it was on her to try to figure out a way to get it back. However, a fresh cup would be better than trying to distill the cider from the soil. "Should we ask the Archancellor?"

Answering her own question, Silverstream fluttered towards the prince, slowly approaching as she got close. There seemed to be a situation in the supply chain of the cider-making and Silverstream couldn't make heads or tails of it, nor did she feel it was any of her business. But she didn't want to hover idly waiting for nothing. "Prince, um Archancellor? Um." Silverstream rubbed the back of her neck with a claw. "Gallus was wondering if there was anyway we could get a replacement for a lost mug of cider. Lost as in, gone. Gone as in spilled." She smirked, implying the attempt at cider-acquisition was all Gallus' idea. Silverstream looked around at the tired Applejack, the grumpy-looking Princess Luna, the slightly-annoyed unicorn pop star, and a the socially curious kirin. Her assessment is that something big was going down. "Is everything alright?"

Applejack peered at Prince Blueblood and the others around her. Seeing Apple Bloom able to deal with the sale counter while making pleasantries with a Princess proved she could handle her own. The Prince was also formidable in delegation, despite how unfortunate his early years as a destined leader may have fallen into place. And the others around her have made successful attempts and doing whatever is was Applejack needed help doing. She realized it was time for her to take a nap.

She looked up at Silverstream who had just included herself in the conversation by the cider presses. "Oh. Hey Silverstream." She stood up and gave her exposition to the hippogriff to make everything clear and concise to everycreature around her. "I was just about to take a break and I just needed affirmation from mah friends here that everything will be taken care of the right way." She cracked a smile and looked at the archancellor. "Prince Blueblood, I need your trust that the use of magic will not be used as a direct source of energy to make the cider. Telekin-whatsit and levithems magics for the purpose of carrying a took and whatnot is okay, but I don't want to see some magical aura spinning the treadmill with no pony on it. Alright? And if I can trust you, and I think I can, it'll give me a moment to get some much needed rest." Applejack looked around her at her supporting cast of volunteers. In this time of stress she had to rely on creatures and ponies of all types. But her, the only earth pony in the circle, decided to give the others a chance to prove their integrity.

Applejack started walking towards the barn, looked back for a second, smiled, and then continued walking to the barn. Once inside, she would stresslessly walk up the stairs and fall into a bed of hay.

Silverstream looked confused but only slightly. It was obvious that there had been a change in who was in charge for the time being, but that wasn't priority number one for the hippogriff. She broke the silence that stood after Applejack had departed. "So is that a yes or a no on the replacement cup of cider?"

Current fresh cider supply: Enough for now

Cider press #3 repair: 79%

Zap followed Gallus and sat down in the living room where the movie was playing. "Can I have juice?" He asked with a perky squeak in his voice. As he watched the film, he couldn't really follow what was going on, but he could tell the pace of the plot had increased considerably. The minor details weren't important, but he began to be fixed on things that characters were doing that seemed out of the ordinary. Why was that pony with the scar holding a knife? Was he about to slice a cake? And where do those two unnamed ponies go when they fell off the cliff? Did the Wonderbolts save them? Probably. Yeah, the Wonderbolts probably saved them. Zap wishes he could have seen that scene.

Daring Do in the story seemed to be composed, but obstacles kept giving her close calls, a typical trope in Daring Do fiction. But eventually, she fell down a pit. In the pit, a dark monster who seemed very large and had evil green eyes started menacing the screen, giving a horror vibe that could be felt through the minds eye of the protagonist and the viewers alike. Zap's eyes widened and his hooves clinched to the pillow he was sitting on. His imagination could scare himself pretty easy if he thought a monster of some sort was hiding in hid bedroom while he slept, but seeing it in a brilliantly shot black and white film made the reality of such an abomination more real than Zap has ever felt, and he started to quiver.

Silverstream continued to look through books in the school library. She didn't know exactly what she was looking for, but she would know it when she saw it. While browsing the science section of the enormous bookshelves, she heard a large stomping that seemed to come from outside. She froze and wondered what it could be. She wanted to investigate, but Silverstream's pause gave her enough time to notice a book that she recognized as being useful. "Ah ha!" She grabbed the book and sat at a table to start reading it. A few moments passed and she began pondering and meditating on the subject she was currently musing. She then left the book on the table and started browsing again for another topic. She hadn't accounted for how dark it would be in the library after hours, but she managed to make out the spines of the books in order to determine what was useful versus what wasn't.

She pulled a second book from a shelf and brought it to the table. Opening it, she flipped frantically to a page she knew would be there. When she found it, she excitedly read it silently. She discovered what she needed to do, and she was pleased. She grabbed a piece of notebook paper and quill that was lying around and started jotting down information from her short term research. Once the scrap notes were completed, she tore the page away the booklet to keep her notes for later. To save time, Silverstream did not worry about putting the books back. She might not even be able to find the location where she got them, so she left them open on the table. One book was called 'Hydrodynamics for the Hooved' and it was left open on a chapter that explained the phenomenon of equilibrium water levels. The other book was labeled 'Diving: Why Ponies Can't Breathe Underwater' and it was open on a page describing how water pressure and air pressure relate to each other. The single-track minded hippogriff walked out of the library and fluttered down the hall and turned a corner where she would lose line of sight to anyone following her. She had to look for supplies for her next project and she knew exactly where to find them.

Remington fumbled the ability to compose himself, trying to play off his lack of words. "Great! When time can, you come, study help me?" What? And what was a BSF? Remington's mind raced nervously as he wanted to try and impress Moonlight with his usefulness understanding what a casually spoken acronym had meant. 'Bad Sassy Female?' No, that can't be it. Moonlight was testing the sides of her sitting device when Remington couldn't help but watch her cutely justify how she would go about improving her piece. Eventually, he would snap out of it and look at his own work. Does the box close? Yes. But what about opening it, does it open? Good. Wait, could it mean 'Beautiful Sister Filly?' Probably not. He tests the hinges of the box over and over until eventually closing the box produces a small squeak. A malfunction!

Remington stood up from his workbench stool and walked over to the small can of oil the class shared. He brought it to his bench and squirted a few drops of lubricant on the hinge to keep it from squeaking. Maybe it means 'Bottled Soda Fizzy'? Wow Remington, really? You are so dumb. Remington wanted to speak to Moonlight again, but she hadn't yet specified a time frame for helping him, and he hadn't come up with a good idea of what BSF meant. The ultimate impasse. Maybe it meant 'Best Student Forever'. No, no. That's too obvious and easy, it had to be something else.

Fortunately, Moonlight broke the silence and said that she was free tonight, she thought. "Oh good. Yeah tonight would work. After woodworking, I have to head over to the gym to do some P.E." Remington could use acronyms, too. "But then afterwords, We can meet up at my place at my room. My room is in Stygian Hall, second floor. I was never assigned a roommate so we don't have to worry about invading anyone's privacy." It was time to execute the moves that would seal the deal. He had to go for it. He gave an appreciative smile and said, "Haha, thanks so much for helping. I can't wait to have someone's 'Bold Strong Flank' helping me out." Thousands of subconscious ideas of optimism inside of Remington's brain began committing suicide.

Zap Apple was smart enough to know that one of the differences between his mothers is that one of them had a strong affinity to composure and character-building. The other, while very loyal and accountable, sometimes lacked the tenacity to save face in times not ideal. But he was not articulate enough as a young pegasus colt to helpfully explain that to Dashie. He loved both of his mothers, but he would be lying if he didn't find more comfort in the things Applejack was saying to him, all with the tender loving care of warm touches that tried hard to ease the pain. That's all Zap wanted right now from either of them. He had no time to worry about Rainbow Dash's lament, he was overwhelmed with trying to deal with his.

Zap nodded. "Yes, please." He responded to Rainbow Dash. He turned to Applejack. "But will cookies make my wing stronger? Should I eat apples instead?" Zap Apple had been born into a family that taught him the deep religious nature of apple fruit before he could even begin to utter a word about how good they taste. He was indoctrinated by a large half of his kin that apples would practically cure any ailment, not the least of which was emotional suffering. He wanted apples. "Or apple pie?" Good job, Zap what a great compromise between sugar and fruit.

Zap trotted slowly towards Rainbow Dash, not knowing how she would respond to his closeness. But he had to make something very clear to her. "I don' want you to read Daring Do where she flies. I wanna here the one where she is hurt and can't fly." Zap had a relatively good idea of what he wanted that could possible up his spirits. A warm slice of apple pie while his hero mother reads him a story about a hero adventurer who is overcoming the odds he felt he was facing.

"Sure!" Silverstream rebounded quickly to the dragon's suggestion. "I got a couple sandwiches in my pack. You can have one if you'd like. Do you have your tea kit on you?" Silverstream didn't like tea as much as Smolder. Of course, not many did. But she knew any request for a break or a meal would typically involve a minimum of a kettle, cup, and saucer set in order to properly enjoy the succulent sophistication of whatever Smolder poured into her cup. Tea parties 101 was a class that hadn't been setup yet by Professor Fluttershy or Professor Rarity, but Silverstream knew that Smolder would probably be able to ace the final test for the course during it's first orientation.

Silverstream scanned the courtyard for a spacious place to sit and talk. A tree that appeared to have been in it's current location long before the school was even built was standing proudly just past the outer quarters of the campus. It wasn't officially part of the land the school sat on, but it was practical enough to assume that it would be sat under by anxious teenager creatures trying to study for pop quizzes about the politics of friend-making. "Let's go sit under that tree."

Applejack continued kicking apples off trees. She saw Moonlight use her magic to gather tools and hold them. She winced a little bit. The use of magic during Winter Wrap Up and other Ponyville traditions was generally outlawed not because there was a disgrace of unicorns in the town, but because it went against the natural way of preparing the seasons and kept ponies from getting too comfortable with their magical luxuries. This attitude of old style maintaining carried throughout the traditions of the orchard as well. It often didn't come up in family conversations because few members of the Apple family can wield unicorn magic, and the ones that do rarely enjoy spending time doing chores with Applejack. She had many discussions and arguments with Twilight and Rarity about the use of magic on her farm, but conceded that magical use on the farm is not completely prohibited, but should never be used as a direct source of energy to complete a task. Since Moonlight was only using her magic to hold tools up, Applejack felt it was better than if she just used telekinesis to removed all the leaves instantaneously. No one likes a show-off.

As Moonlight started blushing and talking about Remington, Applejack perked up. She pondered and caressed her chin with her hoof. "Oh, yeah. I know that feller. Kinda skinny-lookin'? Square glasses? Talks obsessively about Princess Luna? Yeah I know him. Haven't got a chance to talk to him one on one, yet. If he fell asleep during my lessons I would've noticed. Ain't no pony falling asleep when I'm talkin' to 'em."

"Best friends, huh?" Applejack smiled. She dipped her smile into a disappointed smirk when Moonlight suggested her own beauty and attractiveness for being the reason Remington would spend any time with her. She could feel vibrations of Rarity's personality echoing through Moonlight, and the situation had a strange resemblance to Rarity's crush with Trenderhoof. Hopefully Remington wasn't the sort of young stallion to fall in love with his teachers.

Applejack walked over towards Moonlight and kicked a pile of leaves that had already been collected into her face. "Now, now. You know that beauty can leave just as fast as it came. And besides, this Remington guy doesn't seem to be the type of colt to only be friends with you for yer style. And if he is, that ain't a good thing. Do you know if he likes you back?"