Chapter 101
Several days later…
All around him, Sumac could not help but feel a growing sense of panic, but he didn’t understand what was going on. School had resumed and everypony was busy trying to act as though everything was normal, and that might have worked on most foals, but Sumac was not most foals. The worry, the panic, the fear, it left behind short nerves and even shorter tempers. Things had been so harried and frantic that he hadn’t even been getting his lessons with Moondancer, and that was one of the many ways that Sumac knew that something was wrong.
There were rumours all around the castle that Twilight was hiding an alicorn—a male alicorn no less—and when Sumac asked about it, he was either ignored or told to be quiet about it. Sumac, who felt the tension building, felt as though everything was going to pop soon, like a blister filled with too much pus.
It was late afternoon, with the day’s classes over, and Sumac was watching Spike playing with Boomer, trying to teach her new words and bribing her with gem flakes. Sumac was feeling sulky, a little out of sorts, and somewhere down in the depths, a temper tantrum was lurking, just waiting for an excuse to be let out.
Pebble was there with him, her nose buried in a large, heavy looking cookbook, Pastries For Perfectionists. Sumac was aware that Pebble had returned to wanting to be a chef when she grew up, and she didn’t care that she didn’t have a cooking cutie mark. Neither did her grandmother, who made the world’s most delicious rock hard fudge.
“Everypony is so busy,” Sumac said, giving voice to his feelings. “Even Vinyl. It’s like nopony has time for me anymore. I only see Lemon because she’s my teacher in the mornings and then she’s gone all afternoon and then if I’m lucky I see her at night before bed.”
“That’s just how it is,” Pebble replied, her nose still buried in her book. “My father is right there with them while they’re doing whatever it is they are doing. I know he is getting fed up with being around Starlight. He can’t stand her.” Turning a page, Pebble continued committing the book to memory, reading each line several times until it stuck.
“Nopony will tell me what Starlight did that was so bad. I know that she messed up…” Sumac reached up, scratched his neck, and looked over at Spike. “But she’s helping Olive and Olive isn’t so bad now. Plus, I like Starlight.”
“I like you, so there is no accounting for tastes,” Pebble deadpanned.
Eyebrow arching, Sumac wasn’t sure if he liked this new Pebble, this new Pebble that showed her feelings a little more, this new Pebble that zinged him. Staring at her made him forget what he was thinking, and instead, he started to think about the softness of her body, the way her ears moved, and her distinctive chocolate colour.
No other pony save her father had it.
He really liked Pebble’s ears. They were dark chocolate on the outside, but on the inside, while still chocolate on the edge, there was a hint of pinkish-brown that could be seen, but you had to be looking for it. It was easier to see when one was closer. Getting closer was the difficult part, as Sumac needed some sort of excuse or justification for doing so.
“Ahuizotl,” Boomer said as Spike held up a flash card.
“Slowly making our way through the alphabet.” Spike waved the card around in front of Boomer’s face, trying to make sure that she remembered. “Ahuizotl… say it again.”
“Ahuizotl.” When Spike held out a gem flake, Boomer snatched it out of his claws and gobbled it down.
Watching as Boomer ate her well deserved reward, Sumac, who was feeling rather bored, allowed different thoughts to tumble around in his brain, hoping that something worth talking about would surface. Behind his glasses, his green eyes were vacant, he was still unsettled, and the temper tantrum sent up a few bubbles to let Sumac know that it was just waiting for a reason.
“Pebble, now that we’re special someponies, can we talk about anything?”
“I suppose,” Pebble replied, hesitant and still absorbed in her book.
“So… anything…” Sumac drew in a deep breath and said his next words with great care. “Pebble, I was wondering, do you ever get that weird feeling in your butt when it feels like you’re going to need to poop, but you’re not going to need to poop right away, but the feeling is there, and it makes you worried, and you don’t really want to go off and do anything because poop is coming soon and your butt feels weird?”
“Poop?” Boomer asked, her tail slashing at the air.
“No,” Spike shook his head as he replied, “no, we haven’t reached that part of the alphabet yet.”
Closing her book, Pebble inhaled, held it, let it out in a slow, methodical manner, inhaled again, held it, and then let it out as she said, “Stunning… just stunning. Sumac, you have an I.Q. that is twice that of room temperature… and this is the sort of brilliant stuff you have to say.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” Squirming in his seat, Sumac waited, hoping that Pebble would indulge him.
Closing her eyes, Pebble began to rub her temple with one hoof and in a low whisper she replied, “Yes, Sumac, I do feel that way sometimes. I think many ponies do. It feels like soreness and it hurts to sit down.”
“Yep.” Sumac nodded.
“You know, Sumac, I spoke out of turn.”
“You did?”
“I did.”
“How?”
“You put into words a common, shared experience that I think everypony goes through and it gives us all something in common that we can relate to. We don’t want to leave the house when there is poop coming. We just want to be left alone so we can wait for it to happen.” Opening her eyes, Pebble looked at Sumac and she drank him in as she stared at him. “I was being snobby again, wasn’t I?”
“Maybe just a little.” Sumac, like any colt who had a very pretty filly staring at him, began to wiggle in his seat and found a reason to look away. After a few furtive glances around the room, he looked at Boomer and felt a warm, brotherly sense of affection for her that was enjoyable and safe, compared to what he felt when he looked at Pebble when she was looking back at him.
Just as Sumac was about to say more, the door to the room opened and Twilight came bursting in, followed by Trixie, Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine, Vinyl, Moondancer, and some unicorn that Sumac didn’t know. There were far too many eyes on him at the moment, and he began to feel uncomfortable.
“Sumac, I am in need of your powers as a sorcerer.” Twilight turned to look at Pebble and said, “You as well, Pebble. I have need of your talent.” Twilight, fidgeting in place, looking very tired but also very nervous, licked her lips and gave her back half a shake. “A lot is going on right now. I assure you that the two of you will be very, very safe, and that no harm or danger will be present. I don’t want another repeat of Castle Midnight if I can help it.”
“No danger?” Sumac felt relieved, but also very worried, and his stomach began doing flip flops. He was supposed to have been kept safe in Castle Midnight, but things had gone sideways in a hurry. Then again, he made it home unharmed.
“What needs to be done?” Pebble asked, getting right down to business.
“I need Sumac’s sorcerous talent to power up your ability to talk to rocks,” Twilight replied as the corner of her eye twitched in a most alarming manner. “We’ve found a vault. Centaur steel. Something we’ve been looking for might be inside of it. I want you to ask the stone chamber what the passphrase is for the vault door, so that we might open it.”
“And what’s inside?” Pebble’s eyes narrowed.
“We think it might be a Moochick artifact, but we’re not sure which one. Some very old records hint that his staff might be located in the vault we’ve found, and if that’s the case, we need to get it before Catrina does. And we need to move now. Now that the vault location is known, it is only a matter of time before Catrina also knows about it. She finds out about everything we do and we’re not sure how or why. It is like she has ears everywhere, but that shouldn’t be possible.”
“That’s pretty smart.” Pebble’s eyes locked onto Twilight’s and fierce determination could be seen upon the filly’s face. “Using my talent to find out an old passphrase and using Sumac’s magic to make it stronger and more focused. Rocks have secrets, but they tend to be too stupid to say much of anything.”
“I’ll do it,” Sumac said to Twilight, “but there is something I want.”
“And that is?” Twilight asked.
“Are you really hiding an alicorn in your castle?” Even as he spoke, he could see the corner of Twilight’s eye twitching and her whole body jerked. The colt’s natural curiousity burned like a flame, so much so that it almost scorched him. It wasn’t enough to know he wanted to see as well. There was so much that could be learned by seeing.
Twilight looked around at her advisors, meeting their eyes each in turn, and her eyes lingered the longest on Moondancer. The two seemed to be engaged in some silent communication, there was eyebrow raising, an amazing sight with Moondancer, there were squints, flared nostrils, and for Twilight, wing flaps.
After much silence, Moondancer revealed much by saying, “Twilight, he was going to find out anyway… you wanted to use his talent to examine our guest.”
The corners of her mouth jerking up and down, Twilight turned away from Moondancer and looked down at Sumac where he was sitting. “There is something that looks like an alicorn in my castle. He came to me for help and he is currently my guest. He’s very, very sick, Sumac, and I want to help him. And yes”—Twilight gave Moondancer a sidelong glance—“I was going to ask you to help me.”
“I’ll go,” Sumac said, and as he spoke there was a relieved huff from both Trixie and Lemon Hearts.
“I’m going too,” Twinkleshine said in a gruff voice.
“That’s not necessary—”
“Twilight, as Sumac and Pebble’s security advisor, I decide what is necessary.”
“But the vault is safe. Cleared out.” Twilight turned her whole body to face her friend.
“And if Catrina comes, we’re going to have a fight on our hooves. It’s my job to buy you time if that happens so that you can make a clean escape.” Twinkleshine gave Twilight a grim, smirking smile. “Come on, Twi… we both know that in the long run, Sumac and Pebble’s lives are more important than mine. This goes beyond friendship.”
Twilight’s reply sounded very strained. “You’re a good friend, Twinkleshine. I was a fool to neglect you for so long.” Her face still twitching, Twilight looked around at her friends, and then her expression became one of extreme fatigue “I need the rest of you to stay here, keep an eye on Ponyville, and look after our guest. See that he is comfortable. Lemon, he likes you, see if you can make him feel better.”
“Can do, Boss.” Lemon Hearts made a clumsy attempt at a salute and smiled. “I’ll give him the tea treatment, Boss.”
“Very good, Lemon.” Twilight nodded in approval. “Trixie, Moondancer, while I am gone, the two of you are in charge. I like the way the two of you run things. Vinyl, keep trying to figure out how Catrina is listening to everything we do. This is of the utmost importance.”
“Trixie and I will keep everything running smooth as silk, Boss.” Moondancer looked at Trixie, smiled in a manner most reassuring, and then looked at Twilight once more. “Ponyville will be as you left it, barring uncontrollable circumstances.”
“Twinkleshine, fetch your axe, and then you’re with me.” Twilight looked at her faithful assistant. “Spike, you just keep doing what you’re doing. Boomer is going to need a dragonsitter.”
“Right.” Spike raised his claws in salute.
“Pebble, Sumac, be ready to go. We’re leaving in just a few minutes.” Twilight let out a weary, exhausted sounding sigh. “Thank you so much, both of you, for making this easier on me. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I owe both of you a big favour.”
“Uh, Boss…”
“Yes Lemon?”
“The zap apple tincture, Boss… don’t forget it.”
“Lemon…”
“Yes, Boss?”
“Would you please be a dear and go and fetch some zap apple tincture for me?”
“Sure thing, Boss!”
And with that, Lemon Hearts pronked out of the room, a smile on her face and a twinkle in her eye.
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Just got finished catching up, and bam, new chapter.
Yaaay field trips.
Way to jinx it, you two....
The secret ingredient is rocks!
I wonder how dangerous things will be this time
GET HYPE
So, everyone's predicting that this is going to go horribly wrong, and honestly, so am I. More than that, though, I'm getting a gut feeling that Sumac's going to get to the point where he doesn't want to get involved with these situations anymore. This will hypothetically be his third near-death experience, if I'm not mistaken. There seems to be a running theme concerning personal desires vs. societal expectations in this story, and I get the feeling that this will factor heavily into the story's climax. I could be mistaken, though.
On an unrelated note, Kudzu, what's the deal with Mister Mariner? I inferred from this story that he had been dealt with, but at the end of Perilous Romance of Swans (which I finally got around to reading) he remained at large. Did I misinterpret something, or was he dealt with in another story?
A spy in their inner circle seems the easiest answer to how Catrina finds out everything though am at a loss as to who.
I really appreciate that Spike is bonding with Boomer, here. Working into the basic background of the fic as if he's just... around some of the time, interacting with the other characters.
Gives me an excuse to talk about him, too, although I suppose I'm not saying much.
... Spoilers for stuff in forum posts ahead:
If the Ascendency stallion in the castle is asking for Twilight's help... is he brainwashed, as would be their goal with their alicorns, and just peaceful? Did he escape? .... Is he a plant?
I suspect dealing with this will be what causes Starlight's past to finally be revealed to Sumac.
That's one way to get foals to see their dentist...
Can't Tarnish understand that Starlight Glimmer has repented over her previous felonious actions? After all, she's no longer the same "equality-obsessed" kind of individual she was when Twilight and her friends first met her.
7781081 Considering Starlight practically raped poor Tarnished I'm not surprised those two barely keep a level of professionalism around Twilight at all. Not disagreeing she's changed and all but considering how much she put him through I don't think those two are ever going to be less than prickly towards each other.
7781024 All the ingredients are rocks.
7781103 Wait a minute, when did that happen?
7781065 My meta-sense is tingling. This story happens at roughly the same time (possibly a little before) as The Mask Makes the Pony (Flicker ran into Sumac and his moms). In one of the latest chapters of that tale, Flicker sensed rats around Ponyville and noted that it needed a sweep. And it's been confirmed there that rats are being gathered as agents of Grogar, whom Catrina is allied with. Rats that are growing stronger, smarter and bolder. One would think that it would be a relatively simple matter to have rats and other vermin act as spies.
The pieces are falling together in this masterful Kudz-puzzle
I'm sure there's a number of details I've missed.
7781156 https://www.fimfiction.net/story/310638/venenum-iocus People should have read this one before this story but for the curious few who haven't, SPOILERS AHEAD!
While not explicitly stated yet, it is fairly strongly hinted and widely assumed that a pony wanting Tarnished to give up his cutie mark frequently in this story is in fact Starlight Glimmer. She messes with his head and harasses him so much that it creates an anxiety and feeling of vulnerability within him that either Octavia or Maud (can't remember which) tells Twilight that Starlight couldn't have done more damage if she'd raped him. The act perhaps was not physical but the mental and emotional damages were similar.
...it is only a matter of time before Catrina also knows about it. She finds out about everything we do and we’re not sure how or why. It is like she has ears everywhere, but that shouldn’t be possible.”
Well, if it's some sort of evesdropping spell, you might start by not talking out loud about where you're taking Sumac and why!
Sigh. Unicorns have the worst OpSec.
7781054
This story is about 6 months ahead of Perilous Romance of Swans. So we are seeing the aftermath of what happened there.
7781200
My money is she has a spy (either willing or unknowing) in Twilight's harem (oops, I mean 'inner circle'
).
7781200
Ponies in general have pretty terrible OpSec. Look at the changeling invasion back in the day. They may as well have put out the "Welcome" mat for them and invited them to dinner!
They kind of did both those things!
7781219 The spy is *obviously Sumac. Didn't you notice? He's a plant.
7781252
Nope. I'm banking on Boomer. I'm expecting the reveal will be explosive.
7781200 Why should Twilight be cautious? She's clearly the traitor, and has been from the beginning. Possibly in a Manchurian Candidate sort of way, but that's not necessary.
Indeed a sure way to jinx something with those words or thier equal
7781068
Could be any one of those, but it is implied the from the discussion on this a while back that there would be ponies this was basically forced upon. After all, the Equalists likely only have so many of each tribe loyal to them to do this to, they'd have to forcibly take ponies there were short on the soul of in order to complete and even more after that to continue their works after their own supply of willing subjects ran out.
7781182
That could be an excellent explaination I hadn't considered.
7781054
I don't think Sumax is going to want to stop helping I think Pebble is going to want Sumac to stop helping an try to pressure him not to help anymore. She is exceptionally protective and a bit possessive of those she cares for and Sumac is her special somepony that she has full intention of never losing.
7781024 Pumice in fact, gives it that fluffy light texture.
7781200
7781219 The walls (and roofs, beds, floors & whatnot) have fleas!
7781337
But it also indicated that they would be brainwashed, which means he could be lying... and there might even be layers of lies, where his panic and illness is real, but somewhere underneath, loyalty to the Equalists is ready to be triggered.
7781215
No...
Not six months. Both happen in the fall.
7781054
He is hidden, and at large.
7781200
They're learning as they go.
It's cringe inducing, isn't it?
It's nice to see Pebble and Sumac chatting more though those poor foals... there never going to be bale to live a normal life.
Speaking of foals i can't wait for Luna to give birth. Been looking forward to that sense i read To Dance In Shadow.
Also a shoutout to the Past with Climbing Ivy. Still one of my favorite non pony OC's.
7781400
I thought that it said while there would be those completely unwilling to this soul butchering, that would imply that the brainwashing comes after and that'd give some a chance to escape before that can happen.
*Screams and cowers in fear*
A stone pony talking to ancient metal? I dig it.
7781054 The whole personal desires vs societal expectations thing always reminds me of the Futurama episode "The Why of Fry" where the fate of the universe depends on Fry sacrificing himself and there's this little exchange:
Nibbler: What is one life weighed against the entire universe?
Fry: But it was my life!
Always struck me as a rather poignant scene.
*sigh*
okay, what did I miss? again...
soon you will need to draw a detailed graph that shows the timelines of your stories and dictated the order in which they have to be read.
New Alicorn? Oh dear. Can't wait to learn about this one.
AHHH!!!!
https://youtu.be/zlPyIRd5TNM?t=25s
Am I missing something? Is there another story on this? (In regards to the "new alicorn that isn't an alicorn" thing)
8901766
Nope. This is the introduction.