Hopper awoke from his awful nightmare, and trotted into his bathroom to soothe his parched throat. He quickly filled the sink and stuck his head in. It cooled his throat, but his mind was still troubled. Hopper emptied the sink, and looked at himself in the mirror. For a second, he saw the same thing he did in his dream. He shut his eyes, and then he opened them once more. He saw himself as he normally did: Horn, rainbow mane and tail, and a sky colored body. He let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He turned off his bathroom light and went back to bed, but he didn't sleep. Hopper couldn't sleep, not with that question burning in his mind. Who was his father? He had never really cared before, but now his dream had scared him and made him realize the fact that he needed to know. What he didn't know was that this was the reason why his mother began talking to herself. His mom had once told him that some secrets had to be kept hidden, but this was one he was going to unveil. His sanity depended on it most dearly. The next summer morning, Hopper woke up to find that his AC had broke and it was hotter than Celestia in his room. He rolled out of bed, landing in all four hooves, and exited his room. He searched the house for his mother, and found a note from her.

Dear Cloud Hopper,

I am going to Canterlot to buy another AC for your room. I will be gone all day, and make sure you keep the doors locked. Don't leave the house, just practice your magic at home today,

Love,

Mom

He read the letter, not really angry or anything. He was going to stay home anyway, it's not like Twisted was there to keep him company. He went around the house first, making sure everything was locked properly. Then he went back to his room, still just as hot as it was before, and found his large rock. He pushed it out of his room, and out into the open living room floor. He stared at his self assigned challeng for a minute. He had chosen the 50 lbs. rock because he knew it was going to make him better with lighter things, and give him more control. He focused his emerald eyes on the boulder, and summoned his magic. His horn and rock began to glow as he attempted to lift the rock. He struggled on, and the rock was barely moved. Hopper ground his hooves in the soft carpeting, and put all he had into lifting that rock. Grunting, he finally got his magic to lift the rock a half inch above the floor. It then fell back to the floor with a dull thud. The glow faded from his horn and the large rock. He sat down, worn out from his effort, but proud of his accomplishment. Most of the unicorn stallions could easily lift 100 lbs, but Hopper didn't care. He had finally lifted that stupid rock! Next time, Hopper hoped to lift it an entire inch above the floor. Once he felt more rested, he continued to lift the rock to the same height, but holding it up for longer and longer amounts of time. The hard work helped him keep his mind off of his father, and the mystery surronding him. After holding the small boulder up for a minute, he finally gave it a rest. He rolled it back into it's hiding place in his room. While he was returning the rock to it's rightful place, he heard the click of the door unlocking.

"Hopper, I'm home!" declared Rainbow Dash. She entered the living room, and saw that the carpet had a large part of it distorted, like a huge weight had been on it.

"Hey mom, I was practicing with my rock." he explained, hoping she wouldn't get too angry. To his suprise, she wasn't angry at all. As he studied her face, he noticed that she didn't have an AC with her.

"Mom, where's the AC?" Hopper asked curiously.

"Oh, it's on it's way. It'll take a few days though, so you'll have to sleep in the living room." she replied, laughing nervously. Groaning, Hopper stuck his front hooves on either side of his head. It was things like this that gave him a headache more often than not.

"Mom, why didn't you just take it with you?" he asked irritably. Rainbow Dash shook her head, and she looked at her son tiredly.

"Do you think I can carry a 100 lbs. AC, and then try to install it single hoofed?" she replied. She trotted off to her room to take a nap before she made dinner. Hopper sighed, his mother was always one to make others wait. He just wished that she would become a little less lazy. He would always be left wondering how she even became a mother.

After an hour, his mother had finally chilled out. She began cooking dinner.

"Hopper, what do you want with your spinach?" she shouted from the kitchen. He didn't need to think, his stomach told him what he wanted.

"Carrots!" he shouted back at her. Hopper loved carrots, almost as much as he loved apples. They only ate apples on AJ's birthday though, to celebrate the hard working earth pony. As his mother cooked dinner, he prepared the table for eating. As he finished setting the table, Rainbow Dash brought out dinner.

"So, how did training go today?" questioned the cyan pegasus. Instead of answering with words, Hopper levitated the entire 40 lbs. table and food. Rainbow Dash gave him her evil eye, and he quickly placed the table down. They continued to eat their dinner in silence. Just as Hopper finished his meal, he began to walk to the kitchen. He heard his mom mutter something like: "Maybe tomorrow is too soon to tell them..." Hopper then stopped walking, and pressed his ear to the kitchen wall. He waited for a while, but heard nothing. So he continued on his way to the sink, and procceded to wash the dishes.

Next Chapter: Chapter 3 Estimated time remaining: 14 Minutes