Chapter 14
Hunched over his breakfast, Sumac thought about the big day he was about to have. He was well rested; new beds had been purchased, soft, comfortable beds that were so much better than the thin mattresses they slept on in the wagon. He was still clean from yesterday. He had new bookbags, a new coat, and a pen and pencil box.
Just as he got a spoonful of granola to his lips, a long purple tongue zipped down and snatched the largest nugget. Sumac said nothing and showed no reaction—he just dipped his spoon into his bowl again. He was a little worried about having Boomer in school with him, but Twilight insisted that Boomer be brought with him to school.
As he raised his spoon again, there was another burst of purple and more granola was stolen. This time, Sumac giggled. His giggling caused Trixie and Lemon Hearts, who were also eating breakfast, to start giggling.
“She’s going to be like your annoying baby sister,” Lemon Hearts said to Sumac.
Sumac shrugged, looked thoughtful for a moment, and scooped up more granola. “She’s not annoying.” He shook his head and then looked up, trying to see the hatchling perched upon his horn.
“How goes the poop collection?” Trixie asked.
“I have some saved up in a big metal coffee can. She’s already figured out not to burn them. She waits for me to pick them up.” Sumac managed to get the spoon into his mouth this time and he crunched down upon his somewhat soggy granola. He nommed his food a few times, swallowed, and then continued, “She doesn’t make a mess in the house, either. She’ll start tugging on my ears and trying to let me know she needs to go. She’s smart.”
“Of course she is. Spike is just about as smart as Twilight when he puts his mind to things. It’s getting Spike to focus that is the real trick. Twilight thinks that dragons think differently than ponies do. Different thought processes.” Lemon Hearts set down her spoon upon the table and lifted her bowl so she could drink the milk that was left over. “A different way of thinking.”
“Isn’t a brain just a brain?” Sumac, who had his curiousity aroused, took another bite and never took his eyes off of Lemon Hearts.
“Different biology. Different creatures. Ponies are carbon based lifeforms, while dragons are sulfur based lifeforms. While both have brains, they are very different. From what little I know, dragons have more advanced memories and memory retrieval. Ponies have situational awareness and advanced sensory awareness, it is the reason why we have such large eyes for our size. We survived, evolved, and adapted because our situational awareness and sensory awareness kept us alive and kept us alert against predators.”
“And the big dragons didn’t have predators, so their brains grew differently,” Sumac said.
“Correct.” Lemon Hearts looked pleased as she began to drink the milk out of her bowl.
“Since dragons live for such a long time, it became important for them to keep track of all the stuff they know, the stuff they remember.” Sumac scooped up more granola, gobbled it, and was thoughtful as he chewed.
Lemon Hearts nodded as she continued to drink, while Trixie just looked proud and impressed. Sumac, feeling good about himself, was rather looking forwards to school, but he was also scared, nervous, and apprehensive. He knew going into this that he was facing what Trixie called an uphill challenge. Sumac had a wagon to tow and a long hill ahead of him. He was smart, that much was certain, but he was a little behind in his placement scores. His reading was fine, but his other practical educational skills were lacking, such as arithmetic. He did well in geography, but his writing skills left a little to be desired.
After setting her bowl down upon the table, Lemon Hearts said, “Today is a half day. School will let out at noon. So if you are having trouble, just make it through the morning and everything will be okay.”
“Alright,” Sumac replied around a mouthful of granola, dribbling a little milk down his chin as he spoke.
“As for tomorrow…” Lemon Hearts paused for a moment and wiped her own face, then continued, “Twilight plans to run things a little differently. The mornings will be structured, traditional learning, while the afternoons will be a time of free learning. Students will be allowed to do as they please, within reason, and encouraged to find special talents, skills, and abilities. Many new cutie marks are expected.”
“Sumac is a little young to be worrying about that.” Trixie gave Lemon Hearts an apprehensive smile and then looked at Sumac. “No pressure, right Sumac?”
“Uh…” Sumac wasn’t sure how to reply. There was plenty of pressure.
“Cutie marks can happen at any time… yearlings get them, foals get them, and sometimes, ponies make it to adulthood before getting one.” Levitating a napkin, Lemon Hearts began wiping Sumac’s face.
“How does that happen?” Trixie asked, looking surprised.
“Oh, it just happened to somepony I know,” Lemon Hearts replied to Trixie, “a cousin, he went into the guard blank, not knowing what else to do with his life, and he had a helmet cutie mark within a week. He was meant to be in the guard.”
“Oh.” Trixie blinked a few times and shook her head. “I suppose there are a lot of things that a pony might not be exposed to until they are an adult. That must be traumatising not knowing what your purpose or your destiny is when everypony around you knows theirs.”
Shrugging, Lemon Hearts replied, “It happens.”
“We need to hurry up and get going.” Trixie pointed her hoof at Sumac. “Finish that up, kiddo, we need to go soon.”
Twilight’s castle loomed large, and somehow, it seemed far more intimidating today. So far, Trixie had kept her promise not to embarrass him in front of his schoolmates and Sumac was grateful. The colt stood at the base of the stairs and looked up. Others were already going up the stairs, all sizes, all ages, but Sumac spotted a few ponies that were about his age. Lemon Hearts stood beside him, and he felt a gentle nudge to get him moving.
There was no sign of Pebble. This would be a lot easier with Pebble. Sumac didn’t know why, but it would. He gulped, his mouth feeling dry, and wondered where she was. Sumac did fine around adults, but for whatever reason, he froze up around foals his own age.
A couple of the students were crying. That was awful and Sumac couldn’t think of much that could be more embarrassing than crying on the first day of school. Hearing a commotion, he turned his head, ignoring Lemon Hearts’ gentle nudge, and saw that not all students were going along in a quiet, calm fashion.
Some resisted.
He saw a pony he knew, Gloomy, and poor Gloomy had her work cut out for her. The pegasus mare was having to drag Silver Lining along the ground, and the little griffoness cub dug her claws in and pleaded with her mother, begging to be let go. Sumac swallowed and felt another nudge against his backside, but he did not respond. Stiff legged, he remained rooted to the spot and refused to budge.
He was about to be trapped inside of a castle with Olive…
At that moment of profound realisation, Sumac wanted to go home. Or better still, hit the road, leave Ponyville, and never return. He began to wonder how many foals resisted going to school because of Olive. Probably all of them. She was that bad. Sumac shuddered and then let out a yelp of shock as he was dragged along by Lemon Hearts. Trixie had vanished, no doubt so she could check in for work. Sumac’s lower lip protruded in a pout as he was pulled along in Lemon Hearts’ magic.
“Mama, nooooooo!” Silver Lining wailed as she too, was dragged to her doom.
Hanging from Sumac’s horn, Boomer let out a sleepy snort of protest at all of the commotion around her. How was a baby dragon supposed to get any sleep with all of this hubbub? She let out a frustrated honk and then curled into a ball around Sumac’s horn, hiding her head inside of her flight membranes.
Knowing that he was about to be dragged up the stairs, Sumac decided that he didn’t want to be embarrassed or shamed. Cringing, he made his own way up the stairs and felt Lemon Hearts let go of him. Silver Lining’s plaintive wails echoed in his ears, and he could hear Gloomy’s grunting.
Somepony was going to have a rough first day of school.
Stepping into the classroom, Sumac saw Pebble. He felt relief go flooding through him and he hurried over to where she was sitting. He sat down beside her, claiming a pillow that was hexagonal, bright yellow, and covered in little blue squares. A part of him wanted to hug Pebble, he was that relieved to see her, but he kept his hugs to himself and behaved.
There were a bunch of foals that Sumac didn’t know. The classroom wasn’t too full, it wasn’t very large, and it didn’t look like any other classroom that Sumac had ever seen. There were no desks, but there was a blackboard and a lectern.
The door to the classroom opened and Gloomy dragged Silver Lining into the classroom. The griffoness cub was silent now, wide eyed, terrified, she was frozen with fear and made no effort to resist. Sumac watched as Gloomy sat down in the corner on a cushion and pulled the cub close, trying to comfort her. The need to hug Pebble, to find some comfort, grew stronger.
There was a collective gasp as Twilight appeared in the doorway. She was wearing her reading glasses and her mane was drawn up into a schoolmarm’s bun. Using her wing, she nudged a skittish looking unicorn colt forwards and into the classroom.
“Go on, Cinnamon, it’ll be fine,” Twilight said to the colt.
The colt bolted for the door and Twilight caught him. Nopony laughed. There wasn’t even a single giggle. Just silence. The tension in the room made it difficult for Sumac to breathe. Sumac’s shallow breathing somehow made all of the sounds in the room stand out in sharp contrast. He could hear the breathing of his fellow students. The rustle of bookbags. He could hear the poor colt’s hooves scraping over the floor as Twilight wrangled him.
“Go and sit with her,” Twilight said in a low, soothing whisper as she pointed at Gloomy. “She’ll help… Gloomy is a good sort when she isn’t making it rain on ponies.” Twilight gave the pegasus in the corner a wry smile as Gloomy patted the cushion beside her, while holding on to Silver Lining with her other foreleg.
Sumac stopped breathing for a moment as he waited to see what the poor colt would do. He watched as Twilight gave him another nudge, and then, Cinnamon, the skittish colt, he took off with deliberate slowness towards Gloomy. Sumac sucked in some air and sighed with relief.
Twilight stepped through the door and vanished.
“Hello class, my name is Lemon Hearts, and I am going to be one of your teachers. I understand that some of you are having a hard time, so we’re going to take this slow and we’re all going to be quiet and we’ll get through this together.” The lemony yellow mare smiled at her class.
She sat down upon a cushion, joining the almost circle shape that the students had formed, and gave Gloomy a little nod of support before she continued, “All of you are new to this program. Today, we’re going to have some question and answer time and we’re not going to worry about schoolwork stuff. Does anypony have any questions?”
Pebble raised her hoof.
“Pebble, you may ask your question,” Lemon Hearts said, acknowledging the filly.
“Why am I here?” Pebble asked. “I can’t learn anything here in this class. I’ve already completed the primary school curriculum. I’m not sure what I’m supposed to accomplish here.”
“Pebble, you are here not as a student, but as a teacher,” Lemon Hearts replied.
“I don’t follow, Miss Hearts.” Pebble stared at her teacher and waited.
“Your friend, Sumac, he had non-traditional schooling. He needs some help catching up. Twilight wanted you to learn by teaching. You’re going to get Sumac all caught up.”
Pebble sat still for a moment, and then the most horrible thing happened. The most awful, horrible, hideous thing happened. She smiled. But she didn’t smile like other foals, no, her smile was the most terrifying thing that Sumac had ever seen. Pebble smiled like a cragodile. The corners of her mouth pulled back, revealing perfect square teeth, and a strange gleam filled Pebble’s eyes.
Sumac whimpered and wanted his mama. He didn’t like this at all.
So Pebble could show emotions, she could react if the right situation presented itself. Sumac wished that he was somewhere far, far away. Sumac shivered, turned away from Pebble, and looked at Lemon Hearts as he raised his foreleg.
“I need to go potty!” Sumac blurted out, and without waiting for permission, he took off lickety split, his hooves clattering over the floor. In moments, he was gone, leaving behind a room full of bewildered, confused classmates.
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You can run, but you can't hide, Sumac.
Prepare yourself!
and so it begins....
Question: when exactly does the Horrendous Hypothesis come back into the story?
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It will be touched upon at times, but Sumac has a lot of growing up to do before he can begin to research it fully.
Pebbles smiling = Wednesday Aadams smiling.
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jamiedole.com/gifs/AddamsSmile.gif
The Pebble has cracked. She is going to bolder him over. His world is going to be rocked. He will never take Trixie's lessons for granite again.
...
...
Im a terrible person.
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When Sumac is older, Pebble will show him her crack, just like Maud showed Tarnish her crack. It's a family tradition.
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I still eagerly await the day Cadence meets these two.
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SoonMoon.images5.fanpop.com/image/photos/31200000/Soon-I-mean-Moon-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-31207493-506-426.jpg
7143868 Dohohoho
7143843
Considering how nice Sumac finds graveyards, they might make a very nice Addams-Apple family.
7143948
**Derps**
Mmm... dragon psychology.
I wonder how it's different for Boomer, though. Tree Dragons aren't long lived, are they?
But if they're an offshoot they might still have some remnants of the same brain structure.
Pebble smiles and all of us readers are like...
i1.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/222/527/f2e.png
I enjoyed this chapter. The fact that Pebble, the mini-Maud, smiled, is very disconcerting but at the same time I wanna see a pic. It's like Diamond Tiara and Starlight Glimmer; The queens of facial expressions. Not joking btw, what little expressions you see are very over-exaggerated. Like the one where SG said "Quiet" and she looked super angry. OR the plethora of DT faces. Like chin-tiara (FIMfiction get on that, I want a :tiarachin: emoticon stat)
EDIT: I noticed I went on a face rant.
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7143843
savor the happy moments
img15.deviantart.net/ceb9/i/2016/111/0/9/sumac_by_hillbe-d9zqcaa.jpg
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"...he went into the guard blank, not knowing what else to do with his life, and he had a helmet cutie mark within a week...."
Yep, I had a character suffering from LOST⁽*⁾ in one of my stories too. It makes a nice stress point for a story.
(*) Late Onset Symbol Trauma
An entirely different biochemical basis? If that's the case, I'm amazed that dragons can digest any organic material. I suppose magic makes up for a lot.
As for Pebble's new position... Well, I'm certainly happy for her, but I'm very glad she doesn't have her aunt's gifts. The last thing I want is that smile directed at me.
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The reason that smile was so terror inducing is because the implication that smile carries. Pebble, his friend and refuge in this crazy place has just become the enemy. Pebble is now an educator, a cog in the machine wanting to grind him up and mould him into society's view of an educated pony.her smile is the promise that not only does she accept this new paradigm, but she does so with relish. Suddenly his rock of stability is just another tumbling pice of debris out to crush him.
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Later, when grown, about Pebble it could be said
A senpai in the streets and kawaii while in bed.
Wait, did I just channel just Doctor Seuss?
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Oh god, if poor Sumac doesn't develop a serious teacher Fetish then that colt is beyond help.
Why?
Why?
I have a bad feeling about this
abekoby.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/got_a_bad_feeling.jpeg
7144763 the promise of chaos makes this one joyful.
Oh god that smile, i can only imagine
E: okay i can see!
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Bunch of loonies, who gets scared of a filly smiling? Jeez what a load of....
....nopenopenope
Oh gods...
He will be delicious....
7143851 That's just how I imagined it.
Way to make a good first impression Sumac,
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Just as we eat things that are not carbon; dragons would be capable of eating things that are carbon. It might be an important nutrient.
I have to wonder if this is an utterly terrible idea. I can't really think of a better way to set up a friendship between young kids to go sour than by giving one of them authority over the other.
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Give it a chance. When you see how this plays out, it will make a lot of sense.
Hahahah Poor boy, shes going to eat him alive xD
Also i feel bad for Cinnamon he is a bit flighty.
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BTW, Cinnamon... your OC has been placed.
7154381 lol so I see n.n I've been wondering when he might show xD or for how long. But yeah like how you did him. Lol God help sumac pebble is going to teach his brain to death.
delightful
7152228 I'm Curious, what do we eat that isn't partially/completely carbon?
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Ignoring that we are more than 60% water (which contains no carbon), most vitamins and nutritional minerals contain elements other than carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. On the vitamin side it is usually just a little nitrogen here and there, but sometimes other things (B12 contains cobalt and phosphorus). On the mineral side it is a little more obvious; iron, calcium, sodium, etc.
Carbon, oxygen and hydrogen make up the majority of what we eat, but it is not all of it.
However the only things people eat that do not have any carbon or water are certain dietary supplements (and even those I think usually use some form of carbon and/or water as a medium). And salt, although rarely eaten separately).
Interesting ideas about dragons being just quite a bit different from ponies based on their biology. Sulfur based, eh? Neat.
Good Celestia, Pebble!
livinthethailifeblog.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/awkward-pics-17-1.gif
7163261 Anything on a McDonalds menu
And Pebble smiled.
I guess Sumac has a...rocky road ahead of him.
eyhooo
Ms. Twilight hold me, I'm scared!! T_________T
I actually pictured her grinning like the grinch.
*gets on soapbox*
Sulfur based lifeforms are nearly impossible due to the fact that sulfur has a total of 6 valence electrons. This means that, like oxygen, which has the same amount of electrons, it can usually only from up to 2 covalent bonds. Meaning, unlike carbon which can form up to 4 covalent bonds, complex molecules based on sulfur are near impossible under regular conditions. Specifically, molecules that act like DNA and protein cannot form with a sulfur base. It's not even about undiscovered molecules; sulfur with more than 2 covalent bonds are inherently far less stable.
If you don't know what covalent bonds are, they're basically just molecular bonds, as in the adjacent atoms. For example, H2O has two hydrogen atoms that each have a covalent bond with the central oxygen atom.
Sure, you could explain things with magic, but anything like that would result in them literally being magical constructs or basically living golems; no chemistry based biological function can arise from sulfur-based molecule interactions.
*gets off soapbox*
Now, was that necessary? No. Does this affect the story at all? Nope. Does anyone really care? Probably not. I still find it entertaining to apply real life science to inherently absurd things such as bloody dragons.
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https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2010/02dec_monolake
http://www.coml.org/discoveries/discoveries/new_species/sulphurbacteria.htm
http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2011-08/oldest-fossils-ever-found-could-present-new-target-search-extraterrestrial-life
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypothetical_types_of_biochemistry
Sulfur based lifeforms already exist. Without magic. You were saying?