Chapter 107
It was almost a relief to be alone. It was the late afternoon, closer to supper than it was to lunch, and Sumac had the room to himself, save for Boomer, who was snuggling with his Princess Cadance plush toy. It was time to pick up where he had last left off—trying to figure out the secret of flight, a worthy goal if ever there was one. There had been a few attempts since his last, but getting time all alone was rare.
With his telekinesis, he raised the rug, took a deep breath, and stepped up. Getting this far was easy. He could levitate the rug and then stand on it, an action that still made no sense, it was still unknown to him how this could happen. Now, he was a bit better prepared, he had a spell that would lock his hooves onto the rug and prevent him from slipping.
It was a complex spell for any unicorn, much less a five year old. After a few attempts, Sumac realised that he needed help. He stepped off of the rug, lowered it to the floor, and began to contemplate a little risk management. What sort of trouble was he willing to get into? Quite a lot, in fact. Reaching out with his mind, it was time to try a little conjuration.
A unicorn wasn’t supposed to steal things with conjuration, but the zap apple tincture that Twilight had stored away nearby had to be for him, right? He could sense it, feel it, he wanted it. There was a powerful need for more intelligence, more magic, he needed more power. Sticking his tongue out in concentration, he tried to pull the bottle of tincture through the aether, to his location, so that he might drink it.
It was tougher than he thought and he began to wonder if perhaps Twilight had foreseen him trying get a bottle of zap apple tincture. Frustrated, he pulled harder, harder, and then, with a crackle, a glass bottle appeared. Sumac held it in his magic, and then sighed. Inside, there was no delicious, delightful tincture, no, there was just a rolled up piece of paper.
Unstoppering the glass bottle, Sumac slid the piece of paper out, unrolled it, and gave it a read.
I’m not sure how you’ve managed to be reading this, but you had better believe we’re going to have a long talk about it. Also, your mother wants you to know that she is proud of you, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am going to turn you into a toad, or possibly a stoat. Your loving aunt, Twilight.
Cringing, almost panicking, Sumac rolled up the note, stuffed it into the glass bottle, replaced the stopper, and then tried to reverse conjure it back to its previous location. It vanished after a few seconds, but he wasn’t quite sure where it went. He was going to have to check the dictionary or the encyclopedia, as he didn’t know what a stoat was. It was probably something that Fluttershy would love to hug to death.
Sighing, the colt let out everything in a huff.
He was on his own, for now. Returning his attention to the rug, he concentrated upon his own hooves, trying to make them clingy. There was a whiff of ozone, the feeling of too much pressure, a near instant headache, and then he felt the magic flowing through his hooves, which now stuck to the floor like magnets stuck to metal.
There was a tiny pain in the base of his horn when he levitated the rug again, but he managed. Sometimes, magic hurt a bit and so long as his nose wasn’t bleeding, he was fine. Eyeballing the rug, he stepped up, and then immediately went down as the rug sank down to the floor. Frustrated, the colt did the only thing he could do in this situation.
“Oh ffffffffffffffffffuuuuuuuuuuuudge nuggets!”
Opening one eye, Boomer glared at Sumac while the air around him sizzled from his near profanity.
So, the rug did not float, it did not defy gravity when he tried to stand on it using a spell to make his hooves grippy. It just sank down to the ground, ruining his dreams for flight. Sumac was aware of cancellation and interference. That was how magic combat worked, some spells cancelled out one another for a variety of reasons, such as harmonic resonance or thaumaton polarisation, things he was aware of, but didn’t understand. Magical interference was a complex problem and there were unicorns that made careers for themselves trying to understand it.
After stepping off of the rug, it floated again. Sumac could only make educated assumptions at this point, and he guessed that the grip spell on his hooves was transferring to the rug, anchoring it to the ground so that he wouldn’t slip on the rug, fall down, and go boom. Scowling, the colt stared at the levitating rug and wished that he understood the complexities of magic better.
Still, this was a success, of sorts. He had no lumps on his skull and no need for more staples, or stitches. On the other hoof, if Twilight discovered the missing bottle of tincture, and she would discover it, she was Twilight Sparkle after all, Sumac realised that he might discover what a stoat was the hard way. He was certain that he could sweet talk Twilight into forgiving him now that she was his aunt, sort of.
His ears perked as he heard a click from the door, which opened without a knock, and Twinkleshine stuck her head in. “Whatcha doing?” she asked as she stood in the doorway.
“N-n-nuttin’,” Sumac stammered in reply.
Twinkleshine’s eyes narrowed. “Wow, you’re really bad at this. You want me to step back outside, close the door, come back in, and then we can try this again?”
“Maybe?” Sumac looked over at the mare, caught off guard and bewildered.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Sumac,” Twinkleshine said in a low, dangerous sounding whisper. “If you are going to be up to no good, and you are clearly up to no good, it is in my better interests to make sure that you know what you are doing and to make sure you do it better—”
“What?” Sumac whined, confused.
“Twilight wants me to protect you.” Twinkleshine let out a sniff. “While I am fine with that, I’d rather have you be able to protect yourself. Now I can smell the ozone in here, and with your garbled response, you were clearly practicing some dangerous magic. So cut the act and let’s go. Grab Boomer, we’re going to have a lesson, you little apple imp.”
Staring upwards, just like so many other ponies around him, Sumac watched the falling snow. This was no winter storm brought by pegasus ponies, no, this was a feral snowstorm that had just blown in. It was too warm to stick, but the falling snow was pretty, if perhaps a bit worrying. Sumac could hear many, many murmured mentions as well as exclamations of the word ‘windigo’ all around him.
The unscheduled snowstorm brought panic and wonder to Ponyville.
Sumac wasn’t like the other ponies around him, as he did not panic. Having grown up on the road, in the wilds, he was used to feral weather. Feral storms were a common danger. He had thought for certain that he was going to die in a forest fire caused by a feral storm. Feral snow wasn’t so different from feral rain, wind, or hail.
Even though he said nothing, Sumac found the level of panic in the ponies around him ridiculous. Had these ponies never walked the roads? Been beyond the city limits of Ponyville? Hadn’t they ventured out into the unsheltered world? When he heard Discord’s name mentioned, he snorted, feeling angry, and he turned to look at Twinkleshine, who was staring skywards.
“This scares me,” Twinkleshine admitted in a low whisper to Sumac, “and I don’t know why.”
“It’s just a wild storm.” Sumac sat down on the dead brown grass and Boomer, hanging from his horn, swiped at the falling flakes. “They happen a lot away from the cities. You get used to them.”
“Oh, I don’t think I could ever get used to them,” Twinkleshine confessed, shaking her head. “I grew up in Canterlot. Sure, we get wind and cold snaps, but the weather there is regulated. Ponyville too.” The mare shivered even though it really wasn’t cold enough to cause it. “Potentially destructive forces have to be regulated, held in check, and rogue elements have to be battled so that us little ponies don’t die. It’s like that big storm that blew in a few years ago off of the west coast and Princess Luna had to go and do battle with it.”
Not knowing why, Sumac began to feel quite isolated—apart—he felt apart, separated, he felt as if there was now a gap between him and Twinkleshine, and he hated that gap, because he liked Twinkleshine. She was scared, scared like a foal was scared of the dark, but she was The Heavy, the hard hitter, the medieval unicorn, and as The Heavy, the hard hitter, the medieval unicorn, she was supposed to be a fearless protector.
“It’ll be the end of us all, Roseluck!”
Sumac’s ears perked.
“Run! Run! Get inside, Lily!”
“Hurry, Daisy!”
The sound of clopping, clattering hooves filled Sumac’s ears as mass panic spread through the herd. For some reason, snowflakes were every bit as terrifying as a harpy attack, and Sumac sort of understood why. He grunted when Twinkleshine grabbed him and began squeezing him. At least she wasn’t running away, but she was scared, so scared. The gap widened and with it came more understanding that he was not like the others, he was different from the herd, and it was far more than just introversion, the stunning new understanding of life and living given to him by Octavia.
And it wasn’t just him—no—by extension, it was also Trixie. They were the wanderers, the roamers, they had walked the roads of Equestria, they had lived outside of society; it was only now that Sumac was beginning to understand the profound difference, and the consequences of that difference—he would never be normal. He clung to Twinkleshine’s leg, not understanding why he needed to cling to her, but the gap that now stood between them seemed impossible to cross.
Even as he held on to her leg, squeezing it, he felt cut off from her, separate, different. The panicking ponies of Ponyville feared the snow might be their undoing, but for Sumac, it was his undoing, and now he was facing an existential crisis that he had trouble comprehending. All manner of thoughts filtered through his mind, a million questions, such as wondering if this was why Trixie had trouble finding, and being, in love.
This knowledge expanded in his mind, blooming like an unwanted, bitter flower, a terrible weed that had grown in his budding garden of self-awareness and ideology. He thought of Applejack and her failed marriage. The colt shuddered as a vast, unknown, and potentially unhappy future presented itself. The Elements of Harmony had all stepped outside of the herd, and while they had friends, none of them had what one might call ‘normal lives.’
“I’m scared, Twinkleshine,” Sumac whispered.
“Of the snow?” replied Twinkleshine, her voice scratchy and catching in her throat.
“No. Not the snow.” When faced with the daunting task of trying to put his thoughts and feelings into words, Sumac’s brain balked, then shut down. The cold he felt wasn’t from the feral winter weather and somehow managed to sneak past Twinkleshine’s warm, velvet-smooth embrace.
“Poor little guy, I’ll save you.” Some of Twinkleshine’s bravery returned, spurred on by her sense of duty. “Let’s forget that lesson and go have cocoa instead.”
Sumac went cross eyed as he watched a fluffy snowflake land upon his nose. It melted almost right away, and the little colt listened to the sounds of the Ponyville marketplace being evacuated. He felt himself lifted by Twinkleshine and then he was plopped upon her back. She took off at a hurried trot, and Sumac could tell that she was holding back a full blown panicked run. Even now, she was clinging to her dignity, she was one of the noble unicorns of Canterlot, she had her pride, but she was on the very verge of losing it.
Such was life in Ponyville. The sight of one out of place snowflake or a visiting zebra was enough to spook the herd. Breathing deep, Sumac buried his face into Twinkleshine’s pink silken mane and let heave a sigh, not liking this newfound feeling of isolation. Was this part of what had driven Trixie to wander the roads?
He didn’t know, but wanted to talk to her about it. Maybe later, over supper.
Stats
Page generated in 0.026 seconds
Total duration
1,049 users online
1,637,895 hits today, 1,960,719 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
And thus, we see the hazard of never having to deal with hardship: When it finally comes around, no one has any of idea of how to behave.
Thus, we see also the value of Twilight's influence on Ponyville: Sure, they have no idea how to behave in the face of a little snow, but they know how to behave in the face of a sudden harpy attack. It's not exactly the same, but there it is!
We see also also that despite everything, Twilight is still a wimpy Canterlot unicorn at heart; she tries to control Sumac's curiosity rather than indulge it with supervision. Control will never work the way she wants it to: Either Sumac will grow resentful and then go against her wishes just because it's against her wishes, or he will break and accept his fate, and then when the unexpected happens, he'll panic and end up in worse trouble.
Contrast that with Twinkleshine, who seems to understand that Sumac is going to keep trying no matter what, and wishes to indulge that curiosity with supervision. Let him experiment with a safety net so he can apply what he learns when the chips are down.
Their natural strengths combine to defeat their natural weaknesses, making them stronger than either of them could possibly be on their own.
That is the Magic of Friendship.
7805400
About Twilight: she is teasing Sumac.
7805408
This time, sure. She's his aunt now, so she teases him.
That doesn't change the fact that she's gotten in the way of his independent rug studies — easily one of the dumbest sounding things I've ever said — in the past, and other independent studies in the past for no adequately explained reason. "Because Princess Celestia said it has to be this way," should never be offered or accepted as a rationale for anything.
Yes, we see that Twilight understands this now, but her actions have yet to match her apparent revelations, so until such time that she has earned the benefit of the doubt, she shan't have it from me.
Also, teasing or not, she threatened to turn him into a stoat. A stoat! Who does that? has she ever seen a stoat? They're like geese! Tiny, fuzzy, vicious geese. I challenge you to think of the circumstances under which a goose would be considered "especially vicious," without answering, "if it were a stoat." Although not against the rules as such, it would be unsportsmanlike.
7805455
She taught him a more valuable lesson... he overpowered a weak ward designed to block conjuration. Next time, the ward will be stronger, and he'll have to work harder...
If she wanted to, she could have blocked him out completely with no hope of even detecting the tincture was there.
It's pretty obvious that this is a game and nothing serious.
7805471
But a stoat? I'm sorry, but this is where I draw the line.
At stoats.
I draw the line at stoats — how did I arrive at this point in my life? I feel I've made some very strange and unfortunate decisions in the past.
7805471
7805455
Yes, I certainly can't imagine Twilight Sparkle, of all ponies, turning somepony into a stoat for the crime of trying to do more with their magic. I think that she's a little more self-aware than that.
Also, Sumac would make an adorable stoat! Stoats are lovely, and playful, and furry little balls of destructive fun!
7805497
factzoo.com/sites/all/img/mammals/weasel/stoat-roaring-singing.jpg
Whyyyyyyyyyyyyy must you hate me?
7805523
"Here we see the stoat in its natural habitat, practicing Italian opera."
7805523
That's it! From now unto forevermore, you and I are enemies!
Oop! One moment, the tea is ready! I shall return, and then we shall resume being enemies.
EDIT:
Haiku, we're back on speaking terms again. There were no cakes, so I'm afraid the cupboard has replaced you as my enemy.
7805534
That would be Princess Celestia's Doing. Maybe she should be your enemy,
I was gonna make a Sumac Stoat vs. Angel joke, but then I remembered that Angel just died recently and the new one might not be a little jerk.
Ugh I've thought myself in circles around this and now most of my comments more in depth than this seem lost.
I do sympathize with Sumac's realization about how he differs from others and how this can separate him from them, though.
Sweet little chapter poor Sumac if Twilight put a note in the bottle of tincture there is a chance she set an alert to let her know automatically when the bottle was opened
7805582 there is a new Angel bunny remember.
7805455 Don't have to imagine geese are vicious and those wings
7805581
An interesting suggestion, but I make a point of not being enemies with anything that can kill me with its brain.
huh. some reason i would think ponies living near the everfree would be used to sudden unregulated weather. mainly cause the forest is a condensed feral magic forest that likely spits out severe weather out of spite of being contained.
7805627 Thank you. Hell I think in the show unregulated weather from the Everfree drifts over to Ponyville shows up from time to time. Honestly this severe a reaction on, well, almost everyone's part aside from the Flower Ponies seems a bit too extreme, in my opinion.
7805627
7805659
I love how unreliable narration from a childlike perspective can completely suck a person in. Really, this is great. It is a wonderful exercise in assumptions.
A foal, the childlike mind in question, sees ponies hurrying to get out of the cold, hears the panic of a few, associates the panic to the entire crowd, and having said childlike mind, has a very childish reaction.
In summary, a childlike persona says, if I close my eyes, THE ENTIRE WORLD GOES DARK!
Reader reaction: OMA! (Oh my alicorns!) Everypony panic! The world has gone dark!
7805582 Naa, it's tradition. Besides, it's probably one of Angel's grandbunnies. Vicious lot, with sharp, pointy teeth. They take after their great-great-great-to-the-nth-grandsire.
7805614 Twilight looked up from her studies, placed a mark on a nearby checklist, and returned to her reading.
"What was that?" asked Spike.
"Step one of seventeen," said Twilight absently. "Someday I really need to tell Sumac how my mother used to try to hide the cookie jar from me and Shining Armor."
7805675 :P
though was only applying it to a few of them. not the general group.
7805746 In that case, I'm selling tickets. 5 bits and the condition that no one tells Fluttershy.
7805746
I almost died from choking and laughed at this far harder than I should have. How does a parent keep a little unicorn out of a cookie jar, anyhow?
I would imagine that unicorn nannies are popular with pegasus pony and earth pony parents.
7805752 seen at least one story where Velvet hid it in an alternate dimension till Night Light put a stop to it. He was a little worried about what else might accidentally pulled in by Twilight
7805782 (raises hand) Guilty as charged.
Ah Sumac, I know that feeling well. I'm white and spent part of my childhood in Japan. Plain short grain rice is a comfort food, among many other formative experiences. The amalgamation of that time is a place even some of my closest friends cannot reach and will never be able to reach. Only a handful can ever understand the shameless joy of a warm sakemayo onigiri on a cold winter day.
Sumac's circumstances are more significant I think, but I trust he'll find friends who understand, friends who can reach that place. Trixie can, Tarnish, Maud, Vinyl, probably Pebble too.
OMA! (Oh my alicorns!)
This, this is why you are the best.
7805455 We need more Stoats.
(first one for the funny)
Or some chickens trained by Morpheus?
Hear me out sumac, Velcro shoes! Either that or just go slowly on the rug
7812047
Sumacs great escape! Twilight wraps him in a rug, and instead he flies off!
That...does not exactly give me confidence. Have you seen some of the things she hugs?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/3/9/570174.png
nopenopenope!
In their defence, Ponyville does experience some sort of crisis nearly every week on schedule, and Equestria at large seems to be facing annihilation on an annual basis. Windigoes probably would not come as a surprise to the native Ponyvillians. In fact, they would more than likely have a very specific, well rehearsed, well drilled plan of action for yelling, screaming, and stampeding for every conceivable disaster. All headed by the Flower Trio Equestrian Civil Defence Officers...
7805400
7805659
Well Ponyville is quite grim
For a show for kids.
With ravenous little parasprites
And stampeding leporids,
And monstrous Ursas Major,
Timberwolves, and basilisks,
And cockatrice, and hydras
All thrown into the mix.
And now then there was Twilight's
Purple lizard son
He wasn't a meanie dragon
But his greed made him one.
The efforts of the Wonderebolts
He easily ignored
As he rampaged through Ponyville
To add it to his horde.
And I said,
"Send a scroll to Celestia!
Everypony run and flee!
The situation's going south,
We need the help of Harmony!"
I know that I'm a grown mare,
And I must do my part
But this is way
Above my pay
Please save us Purple Smart!
The chaos trickster god Discord
was locked up all in stone
'Till he was freed by fillies who
Di'nt leave well enough alone
He cackled with a flourish,
Snapped the talons on his hand
And then set about to spreading
Chaos magic 'cross the land.
And then there was the wedding,
All Equestria was in bliss
'Till it was crashed by changelings
And their bug-queen Chrysalis
She took out all the Royal Guard
And mind-controlled the groom
Then captured all of Canterlot
And stuffed them cocoons.
And I said,
"Send a scroll to Celestia!
Everypony run and flee!
The situation's going south,
We need the help of Harmony!"
I know that I'm a grown mare,
And I must do my part
But this is way
Above my pay
Please save us Purple Smart!
The boastful showmare Trixie
Challenged Twilight on a dare
Wreaking havoc on the town
With a stellar bear.
Twilight sent her packing,
But she was not finished yet
She returned and enslaved the town
With the Amulet.
Well Cerebus was distracted
Now Tirek's on the loose
He's scooping up the unicorns
And draining all their juice.
Nopony could hope stop him,
Their plans were doomed to fail
It has been exacerbated
By Discord's betrayal
And I said,
"Send a scroll to Celestia!
Everypony run and flee!
The situation's going south,
We need the help of Harmony!"
I know that I'm a grown mare,
And I must do my part
But this is way
Above my pay
Please save us Purple Smart!
c.f.
7805752
Put it in a Klein bottle perhaps?
Twilight for the win!!!
This is kinda my theory on watching kids, if you're going to do something wrong, don't insult me by doing it badly. Seriously, don't stand there with crumbs on your mouth, chocolate on your hands and tell me you didn't get in the cookies. That's just insulting.