//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Tropic Love 
// by CCpone 
//------------------------------//

Chapter Two
Baby Steps




I never knew just how relaxing chilling with nature can be. Beautiful birds and busy bugs were dancing around me as they sang their silly songs. It all seemed to call out to me with its loving voice, telling me that this place was real. It truly was a serein feeling, yet it was one that my mental-self seemed to dislike.

Not even one day, and I had already convinced myself that this place was not real. It was just too perfect to be real. The colorful birds, clear blue skies on a tropical island. Without me turning into a pony I would have thought this to be a dream vacation. One that you would read about in stories and see in movies. Alas this was not the time to tread towards such dark paths, it was early in the afternoon, the perfect time to act!

It was this thought that roused me from my thousand-yard-stare, the loose gravel road beneath me slowly wafting by. That’s right Moonlight’s carrying me. I stated to myself as I looked at said pony.

She had that emotionless vibe going on again as she walked up hoof tread trail. The soft sound of crunching rocks made themselves known as she gracefully stepped upon them. Let’s not make this into another awkward situation. I stated to myself. Hopefully, I wasn’t day dreaming that long.

“So how far is it from Sunshine’s place to the village?” I asked as I slowly reoriented myself. I was now floating with my face towards her. A position that was actually quite uncomfortable, even though I was practically laying down on air.

“Just a couple leagues,” Moonlight answered, her tone sinking right back down to her usual monotone voice. “she never really cared much about the village life.” She continued.

I suppressed a chuckle at the mention of village life. I wonder if it could be said to be the same thing as city life, but I somehow doubt it. At least I could say I was getting some information about this mystery mare. 

With all these tidbits of information I was starting to paint myself a nice little picture in my head on what this mare was going to be like. After all I really don’t want to walk up there and have everything dumped on me at once.

Using those tidbits, I mulled over the image in my head. As far I know she’s very optimistic which seems to match her name. I also know that she’s a teacher here on the island. Even though it is at the elementary level, I’m sure she’s very knowledgeable. I’m sure we’re going to be talking a lot if she takes me in. 

That just leads me to conclude that she’s probably a really easy going kind-of-a-person. Then again, you kind of have to be when working around children.

Satisfied with my mental picture I continued the conversation where we left off. I would rather not drag this awkward silence any longer than it already has.

“So I’m assuming were pretty close?” I ask again, we had already been walking for the better part of ten minutes. The village that we were once in was long since gone. Even the smoke stacks from the chimneys were blocked out by the tropical canopy.

“And you would be right in thinking that.” Moonlight Raven stated as we passed by an old fence. The tropical forest seemed to be taking over this area of the island. As evident from the long twisting vines overgrowing the path. “Her house is just up ahead and over this little hill.” She continued.

Moving around again in the dark blue arura I positioned myself to look forwards. In doing so I took sight of the small hill we were walking up to. It’s elevation just high enough to obscure what laid behind it.

“So does she own this house? Or do you girls all live together?” I questioned as we breached the crest of the hill. The house that came into view could be described with only one-word ‘cozy’. This house looks like it was meant to be lived in 24/7. 

From the outside it was a small log home, with windows littering its length. I could already see the small garden on the side growing all sorts of fruits and vegetables. The only problem with the house is that it looked a bit run down. Time had definitely not been kind to its walls.

Then again it all kind made sense in the end if I think about it. Raven and Pin both stated before that they have no idea what she does in her spare time. Mostly hinting that she rarely leaves her house; and if she does it’s either for work or forging. Which brings me to think that she must be very dependable if she is able to live so far off from the village all alone. 

Moonlight cracked a small smile as she looked on towards the house. It’s small chimney bellowing out puffs of white smoke, signaling that someone was home. 

“Yeah, she owns the place. Bought it off an old couple that decided to live off in the mainland. Ever since she moved in she’s been renovating the place and making it better and better.” Moonlight stated as we both arrived at the front of the house.

Without waiting for any reply Moonlight rapped on the door a couple of times before taking a small step back. “You think she’s gonna let me stay here?” I asked truthfully as we both waited patiently for the owner of said establishment to come to the door.

“Ehh, you have about a twenty-five percent chance she’ll say yes.” Moonlight stated with a sly smile.

25% chance! I thought my odds were higher than that. I commented to myself as the sound of hoof steps made themselves know. Once the sound stopped, Moonlight Raven slowly lowered me to the ground before releasing me entirely. 

All right, lets bump these odds with a good first impression! Give ‘er the good old Pearson charm. I told myself as I got mentally prepared for what was about to come. That being said the door to the small home opened, a light pink pony with a blond mane stood under the door frame. Her eyes however, were a different story. Their dark green color seemed to pull at me.

At this point my mind was having another breakdown. Thoughts off all sorts started popping up and disappearing. The little people in my brain started running around with massive amounts of paper, while others were rolling on the floor on fire.

This however, was all hidden by my neutral expression. Many years of networking in the piloting industry lead me to this useful state. From an outside I would look like anyone else, but on the inside I was slowly being burned alive.

“Oh hay Moonlight!” Came the chipper tone of Sunshine as she moved out and gave her sister a hug. This was met sadly with resistance as Moonlight pushed herself out of the hug. Clearly she was not the one for physical affection. “What brings you here? I see you’ve brought another visitor as well.”

“Actually I’m here to ask a favor from you.” Moonlight replied, “I would prefer it if we talked about it inside.” Moonlight stated with a hoof above her eyes successfully blocking out the sun. One of which has conveniently placed itself in the most annoying place imaginable. 

You know like when you’re driving and it somehow finds that one spot where your shades can cover. Man I really hated when that happened.

Sunshine on the other hand, did as the last part of her name would entail and cracked a small smile. “Oh of course, come right in.” She said as both of the mares walked into the house, leaving me still outside.

Sunshine seemed to catch my immobility and voiced her concern. “You coming?”

Hearing her question, I jostled myself out of my stupor. Sadly, I was not very fast as she once again asked “Can you walk?” a confused look appearing on her face.

Quickly before you ruin your first impression My mind screamed at me. With that thought in mind, my mouth opened and I spoke my first words to her. “Yes, I can walk pretty girl-” WHAT! My brain yelled at me as the people in my head started to jump off the massive piles of paperwork they’ve been hulling around. 

Thinking fast I quickly fixed my sentence. “I mean pretty good… I can walk pretty good.” I stated with a sheepish smile. To show the truth behind my words I brought my right forehoof in front of me. Yet, as this world likes to do it threw another curveball my way as I suddenly remembered why I was carried all the way here. 

With nothing left to do to avoid the inevitable, my forehoof slipped from its place kicking my left forehoof out from under me. All compiling into one giant trip which caused me to roll rather than walk into the house.

Welp there goes first impressions. In fact I’m pretty sure I butchered that 25% percent chance. I told myself as I got myself back onto my hooves. Sunshine Smiles was covering her mouth with a hoof unsuccessfully hiding her giggling, while Moonlight on the other hand just face hoofed.

Getting back to my hooves with a deep blush on my face I looked around the interior of the house. “Wow, it’s even cozier on the inside.” I stated, trying to change the subject to something other than what had just happened.

“I know right!” Sunshine Smile beamed. “Took me a while to get everything to look this way, but it was all worth it in the end.” She continued closing the door.

As Sunshine made her way over to what I assumed was the living room, Moonlight glanced over to me. A look of ‘I’m going to have to carry you there aren’t I’ etched across her face. When I had failed to answer her, she let out a sigh and fired up her horn.

What happened next I was not prepared for. The world around me turned completely white as my body was squished to the size of a needles point before being pulled. As I flew across the white expanse I started to twist and turn, the feelings all too familiar.

”You think it’s going to get easier?” Gregs voice filled my mind.

“No, bu-” I attempted to reply.

“No but’s! This is only going to get harder for you Alex. For the rest of your life you need to be able to do these sorts of things!” Greg yelled out with a frustrated tone.

“I know!” I replied, I was really starting to get angry now.

“Then man up and stop messing up theses stalls!” Greg yelled as our plane recovered and turned towards the airport.

“I guess that’s it for today?” I asked, my anger subsiding only to be replaced by shame. However, before I could say anything else the plane jerked right and up causing it to enter a spin.

“Recover!” Greg yelled at me as I fumbled with the yoke. The pressure of it all starting to build up around me. “You’re not going to have the luxury of knowing when a stalls going to happen! Now fix it before we hit 1000ft” Greg commanded.

My mind was going a mile a minute as I ran through the recovery process in my mind. The dial on the dash spinning endlessly along with the plane. The view outside was left unseen as I focused everything on the recovery.

Warnings of all kinds were beeping and buzzing telling me everything that was wrong. So many things, so little time. So much responsibility, so little courage.

Just like that the white expanse vanished tossing me forcefully onto a couch not ten feet away. As I looked around the spinning room I came to see two blears. One light pink and the other gray, both of which looking right at me.

“Woah are you okay?” I heard the voice of Moonlight Raven speak up. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” She continued.

I let out a weak smile, “I-I’m okay, I never knew you had pet birds Sunshine.” I stated looking up to see three birds circling my head.

“I don’t.” Sunshine stated.

“Oh…” I replied, “Then you wouldn’t min-” And that’s as far as I got before I let my bowels exert their contents all over the nice wooden floor.

Moonlight was the first to speak up, after my little display “I can’t believe you just did that. You really are hopeless.”

”A pilot who can’t land. You really are hopeless.” Greg’s voice once again screamed in my head. I felt my blood run cold. At this rate these ponies would be the end of me. The constant reminders of my failures were enough when I had them once a month. To have them fire one after another in one day seemed to push me to the edges of my sanity.

“Woah, woah, woah, Moonlight don’t be so hard on him.” Sunshine stated as she sat down next to me. “Can’t you see what just happened?” She continued.

Moonlight who from my perspective still looked like a gray brush stroke across a painter’s canvas replied, “Yeah, he vomited all over your floor.” 

“Well… yeah, but this is obviously the symptoms from a first time teleport.” She continued on but my mind was too busy thinking about what she had just said to listen further.

Teleport! Man this girls cray! Floating sure, some smoke and mirrors could be the reasonable explanation. Teleport ah hell no, no way. I retorted in my mind as my sense of hearing seemed to come back to me.

“-ime” Was all I got to hear from Sunshine before her sister Moonlight spoke.

“Yeah, but he’s a full grown Pegasus. You’re telling me that never in his life has he ever had a unicorn teleport him around.” Moonlight stated. My vision was finally getting better; Moonlights face was now at least the shape it should be.

Sunshine was silent for a moment before she sighed in defeat. It seemed like she wanted to drop this topic and move on. As if to act on that thought her horn lit up and there was another flash. This one to me seemed rather useless as nothing seemed to have changed from my perspective.

“So anyways, what brings you two here?” Sunshine finally asked. My odds were already out the window, but Moonlight bit the bullet and asked anyways.

“Alex over here crashed into me on my way to the market. Once I got him to his hooves he claimed all sorts of crazy things. However, taking him to the doctor revealed that he’s perfectly sane.” Moonlight Raven stated before whispering under her breath something.

Sunshine looked at me with a curious expression before nodded for Moonlight to continue, “Since he was all fine from a first glance by the doc, he came up with the idea of staying with me until the next ship to the mainland comes.” Moonlight signed, she knew the rejection was coming. “I have a lot of work that needs to be done, and I didn’t want to just let him to sleep with no roof over his head. So I was wondering if you could take him in?”

The silence was thick, no scratch that the silence was in a solid state. It felt like I was being crushed by the awkward moment as it seemed to stretch on for hours. Thankfully, however it was just my imagination playing tricks on me as Sunshine replied.

“Why me?” She simply asked. “I’m sure there are many other ponies in Blue Water that are better suited then I am.”

Moonlight rolled her eyes at her sister. “That’s where you’re wrong. You are the best pony for the job. You see, Alex here claims that he was never a pony before today. He doesn’t even know how to walk!” Moonlight stated.

The pieces started to click in Sunshine’s mind as her mouth took on the classical ‘oh’ shape. “So that’s why I came to you first. Not only can you keep him off the streets, but you can also teach him.” Moonlight once again sighed. “I know I’m asking a lot. I wouldn’t put it past you if you said no.”

I’m not very fond of being talked about while I’m sitting right here; but even I have to admit that Moonlight did a pretty good job of portraying the severity of my current state. So in turn I just simply let that one slide and turned my attention over to Sunshine.

“Well… in that case… I don’t think I have any other choice.” Sunshine stated as she nodded her head. “You can count on me sis; Alex here will be back too normal in no time!”

“Hay, who’s to say I’m not normal right now?” I finally put in my two bits.

The response I got however could rival my flight instructors. Moonlight Raven’s eyes seemed to have a flame burning inside as she tore me apart with her menacing stare. 

Letting out a large gulp I quickly fixed my sentence. “W-what I meant to say was ‘thank you so much Sunshine! You are one of the most helpful ponies I have had the pleasure to meet in my short time here.’” I stated with sweat starting to drip down my face.

Moonlight’s glare didn’t end there in fact she pushed it harder causing me to yelp and continue my sugar coated thank you speech.

“And of course thank you Moonlight for carrying my sorry flank around all day.” I stated, this time Moonlight’s glare let up as she let out the first genuine smile I have seen her make.

“Well now that, that’s taken care of I got some important studying I need to do.” And just like that Moonlight’s horn lit up and with a satisfying pop disappeared.

Oh god and here comes the cliché awkward silence. I stated to myself as I turned myself around to look at Sunshine. Please don’t be two faced, please be just as hart warming as when your sister was here. I pleaded.

“Looks like we’re going to be roomies from now on. This is going to be so much fun!” Sunshine smiled as she got up from the couch. “Come on,” She stated nudging her head towards the rest of the house. “I’ll show you around the house.” She stated, but never let me respond as she continued, “If you thought this is cozy wait till you see the other rooms!”

Once again for the second time today I was left behind as Sunshine walked into the other room. “Umm Ms. Sunshine?” I called out.

It took a couple of seconds, but Sunshine came back into the living room. “You don’t have to call me Ms. We’ll be living with each other for the next month.” Sunshine stated rolling her eyes. “Now come on, I want to show you my favorite room.” Sunshine claimed as she waited for me to get up.

I just looked at her with a ‘really’ kind of a look. I had tripped into her house not seconds ago, does she really not remember that I don’t know how to walk in this form. I mean I myself always thought that being a quadruped would be pretty easy, but let me tell you it really isn’t.

“Well come on, I don’t got all day!” Sunshine stated tapping her hoof on the hard wood floor.

Sighing I finally stated, “I don’t know how to walk. Moonlight literally told you this not seconds ago.”

Sunshine just smiled at me before saying, “That’s what naysayers say. Now come on and walk with me.” She stated in a calm and relaxing tone.

“Alright, but if I crash into you it’s not my fault.” I said as I slowly slid off the couch and onto all fours.

“Actually it will be your fault, the only way to learn is by pushing yourself. If you want to continue pushing responsibilities to other ponies and hid behind your walls of insecurity, you’ll only end up hurting yourself.” Sunshine lectured.

I looked at her with wide eyes. “Wow, that was pretty deep.” I commented as I took my first step.

With the confidence her little speech gave me, I took my forehoof and placed it in front of the other. and soon you’ll be walking out the doo- Oh god just shut it brain. I stated to myself as I started to walk for the first time ever as a pony. I’m doing it! I’m actually walking!

“You going to hurry up or what?” Sunshine stated in a bland tone.

Being caught off guard by her sudden input, my left forehoof missed its spot causing me to once again tumble onto the floor. And now I’m back to square one. I stated as I let out a large huff. Out of nowhere my ears swiveled on top my head and pointed towards Sunshine. Getting back up I came to see her covering her mouth in an attempt to once again silence her giggles.

Letting out another huff, this time in frustration I spoke out, “Oh, I suppose this is funny for you.”

I knew that she was my angel in times of darkness, but if an angel laughed at all your failed attempts you would get pretty mad as well. 

“Just a tiny bit funny.” Sunshine claimed as she walked over to me. “But, I’m glad you gave it your all. Here I’ll help you.” Sunshine stated as her horn glow a nice shade of green. Within seconds I came to see the same glow surround my hooves.

“Now, when you go to move your hooves make sure to take turns. Like this.” Sunshine’s horn glowed brighter as my hooves moved on their own. I took this as the example as I studied the movements.

Having a general idea of how the proper way to walk should go I let Sunshine know. “I think I got it.” I stated as she let go of my hooves.

“Alrighty then, let’s see what you got hot shot.” She smiled as she walked towards the door.

Without wasting anytime, I got my hooves moving again. The memory of her guidance fresh in my mind, as well the muscle movements. With the two working in sync with each other, I found myself arriving next to Sunshine in no time at all.

“Ha! I did it!” I stated to myself. You never know how much you rely on walking until it’s taken away from you. All I wanted to do now was walk, and thankfully Sunshine was willing to comply as she leads me to the next room.

“That you did Alex, nice work.” She chimed.

Once again, I felt like I was being talked down to. I was being treated like a two-year-old, but then again I was kinda acting like one as I was learning to walk again. I guess the inner teacher in her must of taken hold, but it wasn’t for long as I took sight of the first room we walked into.

“Woah, what’s this place?” I asked. 

I had some ballpark ideas of what this room was just by looking at it, but I rather just ask then do the thinking myself. After all my mind was far behind. still trying to figure out if this was all real or not.

Sunshine seemed to perk up the minute she heard those words. “This is my drawing room!” She stated excitedly. “Whenever I get a spark of inspiration, I come in here and draw it out. This is why it’s my favorite room, because it the place I come to when I’m happy.”

“What about when you’re sad?” I asked.

“What’s this sad you speak of?” Sunshine stated with a wink.

Nice one, way to stick to what your good at. I claimed to myself as I looked around the room, taking it all in.

It really was a nice room too. There were three windows outcropped in a trapezoid fashion, these windows openly displayed the side of the house. One of which had a small creak running through the small garden she had planted there.

In the middle of all the windows was a nice flat area with cushions and blankets. The place seemed to scream cozy. Further in the room was a painting stand, on it was a fresh canvas yet to be touched by Sunshine’s inspiration.

Other than that you would have a hard time fitting anything else in this room. The warm afternoon light flowed through the open windows freely; seemingly bringing this place alive in a way you can only describe by being there.

“I can see why this room is your favorite.” I commented as I brought my attention back to the light pink mare. “Did you paint these pictures?” I stated pointing to one.

Sunshine seemed to have dazed off at some point as she shook her head and looked towards me before saying, “what? Sorry didn’t quite catch that.”

“I said if you painted these.” I claimed again pointing to one of the pictures on the wall.

“Yeah, I did.” She claimed walking up next to me as we both stared at the picture on the wall. It was one depicting a lonely mountain as the clouds circled around its peak. The sky was a bright orange, as the sun set off in the distance. 

The cool colors of the mountain however, seemed to clash with the warm colors of the sky in a way that looked like they were fighting for dominance over the canvas.

“What was the inspiration behind this one?” I asked.

“Couldn’t decide whether to buy sweet potatoes or regular potato’s at the market one day. Hence the orange and brown colors.” Claimed Sunshine.

“Stated like a true artist.” I commented. “What one did you pick in the end?”

“Sweet potatoes, just couldn’t resist. I always had a sweet tooth.” Sunshine stated before continuing, “So we going to move on or are you just going to keep looking at this picture.”

Taring my gaze away from the picture I replied, “Yeah, let’s move on before I get hungry.” I stated once again bringing forth the memory of how to walk.  

Sunshine smiled at my response and walked out of the inspiration room and into another. This one was quite obvious what it was. In fact, I even saw it while I was in the living room. This was none other than the kitchen. The only thing separating the two was a small island with a couple of cushions surrounding it.

“Well just in case you do get hungry, this is the kitchen.” Sunshine stated as she used my statement from before to Segway perfectly into this room. “I got all the basics. Fruit, vegies, wheat, you name it. Most of which are home grown might I add. Nothing like homemade food I always like to say.”

As she said that she opened the fridge nearby revealing all of the things she listed off, except for the wheat. One of which was displayed perfectly on the wooden counter. 

“Seems like you could live out here without any trips to the village.” I stated with a tone that hinted towards what Pin and Moonlight had both told me. “Why stay away from the village so much?” I pressed.

Sunshine looked at me with a quizzical look before trotting into the next room. “Up next is the bedrooms. The spare is a bit of a mess at the moment, but I’m pretty sure with your help we can clear it and have you sleeping in it in no time at all.” Stated eagerly. 

Weird, but I guess she has her reasons. I pondered to myself as I followed her into an equally cozy room as the living room. The bed looked to be king sized in proportion to the pony’s body. The walls were once again decorated with many paintings.

The windows were all pointing to the front of the house. Each of which were semi-covered with heavy beige curtains. Out of the windows the same river could be seen. Its deep blue water rushed along towards its destination.

“This is my room. Nothing else to say really.” Sunshine stated as she turned around and headed towards a door opposite of hers.

“And this is you’re soon to be room.” She claimed.

Walking next to her I peeked into the room to see it practically filled with boxes of all shapes and sizes. This however, didn’t deter me from seeing the rooms beauty. It was pretty much the same as Sunshine’s room, but the main difference was what laid outside of the windows.

From here I could see a couple of feet before a sudden drop off. After that I could see the ocean spread out as far as the eye can see. The waves calmly making their way towards the island.

“Why didn’t you make this your room, the view is to die for!” I exclaimed walking up to the window.

Sunshine however stayed put looking out towards the drop off. “Never really did well with height’s.” She claimed as she took a step back from the door.

“I guess it’s your loss then.” I claimed with a smile as I made my way back to the hallway.

Sunshine wasted no time at all closing the door. “Last stops the bathroom. I only have one so we’re going to have to share.” She stated.

I rolled my eye’s at her. “I think I can manage.” I stated in deadpan tone.

“You might be able to.” Sunshine stated with a small little giggle. “Anyways it’s right in here.” She claimed opening the door to show a pretty standard bathroom.

It had your essentials, bath/shower, sink, toilet and mirror. This all of course was made to look like the coziest bathroom ever. I could probably spend hours in here, this house really was that cozy.

Turning back into the hallway I noticed one other door that we had yet to visit. Seeing this I spoke up, “Hay Sunshine where does this lead to.”

“Oh that, that just leads to basement. That’s where I put all the dead bodies.” Sunshine stated nonchalantly.

I looked at the door with an emotionless stare. “Oh, ok.” I shrugged moving back towards the kitchen. “Wait what!” I back pedaled, just now hearing what she said in my head.

Turning around in the kitchen I was met with Sunshine holding an evil smirk a led pipe floating next to her. Next thing I know she yelled boo and I’m jumping ten feet into the air before falling flat on my flank. Seeing this, Sunshine’s smile only widens further. 

She seems to keep her giggling in check with her hoof shoved in her mouth. It looks as if she was going to explode at any moment from keeping all that laughter in. I however was attempting to slow my heart rate down. I now know how horrifying it would be to see colonel mustard.

After a while Sunshine seems to calm down before speaking up, “I haven’t seen something that funny in a long time. I think we’re going to get along just fine.” Sunshine stated as the led pipe popped out of existence.

As she made her way into the kitchen Sunshine glanced at the clock hanging on the wall. “Wow, three thirty already!”

“Have somewhere to be?” I ask looking at the clock as well.

Sunshine shakes her head, “No, but I do need to get started on marking the tests I gave out yesterday.” She claims.

“What was the test on?” I ask curiously.

“Nothing special, just some mathematics.” She sighed. “My least favorite subject, you’re either right or you’re wrong. There is no in-between.”

“If you want I can grade those papers for you.” I offered. I was pretty good at math in college and I had no doubt in my mind that I could answer simple elementary questions.

Sunshine gave me another confused look, “You’re telling me that you don’t know how to walk, but you know how to do math?” She asked, her tone was skeptical.

“Yes.” Was my simple response.

“6*6?” She stated.

“36” was my answer.

“tan 45?” She asked again

“1” I responded.

“y = x^3 is a what function?”

“cubic function,” now it was my time to have some fun. “you done being a d^3x/dt^3”

“Yes and FWI I love d/dx intax f(t) = f(x)” Sunshine stated.

“Do I really need to know calculus to do what I’m assuming is only going to be arithmetic.” I stated rolling my eyes for the umpteenth time today.

Sunshine once again giggled into her hoof. “No, but you were the one that started it.” 

“So will you let me help you, it’s the least I can do after I rolled into your life.” I claimed.

“You also vomited as well.” Sunshine added.

“Just answer the question.” I stated in a deadpan expression.

Sunshine’s horn glowed bright green before two stacks of papers floated themselves in-between the two of us. “I guess it would be nice to have some help, here.” she stated giving me one of the stacks. “Care to join me in the living room?” She stated.

“Not like I could mark it anywhere else.” I stated as a problem presented itself to me. How the flying flapjacks am I going to walk over to the living room with only three hooves? Sunshine was already sitting down in the living room by the time I had thought of the problem. 

“Is Mr. Mathematician having some trouble over there?” Sunshine called out.

Oh this mare can just shove these papers right up there. I stated to myself as I looked at the papers then to the seat a couple of feet away. Challenge accepted. I claimed with determination.

Lifting my free left hoof to take the first step my mind immediately regretted the decision. Having no forehooves on the ground caused me to once again face plant into the floor. This of course sent all the papers that were neatly stacked on, flying into the air.

Thankfully, Sunshine seemed to have thought ahead and in a matter of minutes I and all the papers were floating towards the living room table. The whole way there Sunshine was stifling her giggles. I swear this mare giggles at everything.

Within seconds I was seated upon a cushion across the table from Sunshine. The table had all the required materials in order to mark. Ink well, feather, papers, it was all here, leading me to my third problem of the day. How the hell am I going to write with no hands! I yelled to myself as I plucked the feather from the ink well with my mouth.

well here goes nothing. I stated as I read the first question. 

’42 + 63 = 105’ With a satisfied nod I went down and checked it perfectly. Which in turn annoyed me slightly.

“Whsh ish dish easay and walking ish not” I stated furrowing my brow and went down the page marking each and every question accordingly.

“The world has funny ways of presenting itself sometimes.” Sunshine stated as she placed the first finished test in-between the two of us.

That statement held so much truth, with all that I had been through in the last couple of hours. Hearing those wise words brought me back to my thoughts. My mind auto-marking the papers in front of me as I did so.

Was this real? Will I wake up tomorrow in my bed? This all being one weird dream. What would I do if this all turned out to be real?” I asked myself, ”Maybe I’m overthinking this situation? I’m sure there has to be a logical solution to all of this. Just like in math. Question after question fired in my mind. The only thing making sounds however, where the quills scratching on parchment, as me and Sunshine continued to marked late into the night.


~~<End of Day 1>~~