Sumac could not help but notice that there were some similarities between him and Vinyl, the most noticeable one being that they both wore dark glasses, and for similar reasons. She was quiet, though not by choice, and he was quiet, because he liked to listen and pay attention to the world around him. He was looking forward to the train ride and getting to know Vinyl.
Pebble was wearing something that was indubitably fall coloured. She had on a muted orange dress with dark brown trim that matched her natural pelt colour. The long part of her violet mane had been pulled back into a Fancy braid that was snug against the crest of her neck. Something about her drew Sumac’s attention and he could not help but look at her, sneaking glances when he was certain that she wasn’t paying attention.
It was impossible not to be nervous about the train ride, as the last one had been exciting to say the very least. Sumac was all too aware that there was a very real danger to him—a threat—and he was also aware that Pebble had grown up with the very sort of danger that he now found himself in. She had made it to five, which was pretty good so far, but he took no comfort in that fact.
Yawning, Sumac felt tired and a bit cranky, as he had not slept well and was still plagued by dreams of falling. The dreams of spanking were there too, which bothered him a great deal, as he had been thinking about his behaviour as of late and had determined that he hadn’t done much to deserve a spanking. He had stuck out his tongue and blown a raspberry at Lemon last night, but he was almost certain that doing that didn’t warrant a spanking.
Lemon Hearts had grabbed his tongue with her magic and didn’t let go for quite some time, much to Trixie’s amusement. Sumac didn’t think it was so funny, but what did he know? He was five and he couldn’t figure out half of the things that adults found funny.
“Kiddo, you seem distracted.” Trixie reached out with her hoof and poked Sumac in the ribs. “Quick, explain to me the difference between chemistry and alchemy… one, two, three, go!”
Put on the spot with a blitz-quiz, Sumac emptied his mind of all of his complicated musings and focused upon Trixie’s question. He dredged up the relevant facts that he needed, cleared his throat, and then replied, “Chemical reactions are mundane and are non-magical. An example of this is mixing baking soda and vinegar—you get a harmless reaction that fizzes.” He gulped in a deep breath, pushed his glasses up his nose with his magic, and continued, “Alchemical reactions are magical ones, such as what happens when you combine skunk nuts, whistler leaves, and pony’s ear leaves, which when exposed to electrical shock, makes a powerful stink elixir that causes queasiness and vomiting.”
“Wait, you taught him that?” Octavia turned an incredulous stare upon Trixie her eyebrow arched in concern as her ears pitched forwards.
“I sure did,” Trixie replied without so much as a second’s hesitation. “It got him curious about alchemy and chemistry, because what foal doesn’t want to know more about causing a big stink?”
“I don’t know very much yet.” Sumac’s ears drooped as Octavia turned her very serious looking stare upon him. “I just know some of the basics that I need to know and it will help me have a head start in school.”
“Vinyl Scratch… don’t you dare.” Eyes narrowed, Octavia leveled her stern gaze upon the unicorn beside her. When Vinyl paid her no attention, Octavia poked her mate a few times. “I mean it. We don’t want another incident like the last one involving something incredibly smelly.”
“The skunk cactus,” Pebble said to Sumac in a flat, emotionless deadpan, “Octavia said we are to never speak of it, but she’s the one that usually brings it up.”
“Skunk cactus?” Sumac asked, ignoring Octavia, who was now rolling her eyes at what Pebble had said.
“My father and Vinyl were working on transmuting new species of plants and they modified a needler cactus to have skunk glands. Octavia walked into the lab at the worst possible moment and it went off indoors when she startled my father and he dropped his teacup. My mother ran through a stone wall to get away from the stink and she plowed into Grandpa, who also got a big whiff. It was awful.”
“Oh look, here comes the train!” Lemon Hearts announced in an ebullient, perky voice.
Stuffed into a seat with Vinyl, Sumac had a look around the coach car. This was a somewhat nicer car than the standard commuter car with wooden benches. The well cushioned seats were wide, comfortable, and could be folded back into something that was almost a bed so that a pony could get comfortable. The windows had blinds to keep out the sun, if that was wanted. There was a little cabin made for four that seated all of them and gave them privacy, which Sumac appreciated.
Without warning, Sumac had a slate held up in front of his face. Do you like music?
After giving it a moment’s thought, he nodded. “I like music, but I don’t know much about it. On the road with Trixie, I listened to a lot of songs around campfires.” He saw Vinyl press her lips together and he wondered what she was thinking. After a bit of struggle on her part, Sumac felt her foreleg slip around around him, and he watched as she wiped away her words.
Do you like Triple-Dog-Dare candies?
Sumac paused, feeling a little awkward and embarrassed. He looked at Trixie, who was talking to Lemon, and then he stared down at his own front hooves as he squirmed in his seat. “I’ve never had any. We were too poor. A single box cost more than Trixie and I lived on for several months… I think. I dunno, I never actually asked because she felt bad when she couldn’t buy something.” He felt the leg draped over his withers give him a feeble squeeze.
Hearing a rattle, Sumac looked up and saw that Vinyl had a box of said candies, and she was shaking them. Blinking, awe-stricken, he stared at the colourful cardboard box filled with the most dreadful candies in existence, at least that is what the box boasted in bright red letters.
I love these things, but they are no fun eating them alone. Octavia won’t eat them with me. Vinyl looked serious for a moment as she studied Sumac’s face, and then she gave him a warm smile. I triple dog dare you to eat one.
Ears perking, Sumac sat there in his seat, staring at Vinyl’s slate and the box of candies in question. He had heard stories about them, some scary, some amusing, and he had always wanted to try them. There was always something unpleasant about them, some of them came in awful flavours, usually two or more, but sometimes, they had side effects. You might get a really great tasting candy, but it might also turn your pelt some obnoxious colour.
Sumac felt a prickle of fear as Vinyl tore the box open. There was no way of knowing what you were getting. As the cardboard package was torn open, Pebble leveled her gaze upon the box and so did Octavia. Pebble’s orange tongue darted out and she licked her lips.
“Oh no,” Octavia groaned.
With her magic, Vinyl pulled out a candy and held it up before Sumac. This one was purple and orange, but the colours were a lie. They were no indicator of flavour or side effect, at least from what little he knew about them. He had long dreamed of this moment, as did many foals. Nervous, a little timid, he plucked the candy from Vinyl’s magic and held it up to his muzzle. It smelled sweet and not at all threatening.
“Triple dog dare,” Pebble deadpanned. “Do it, you big scaredy foal.”
Now, both Trixie and Lemon were watching, wide-eyed and curious.
His frogs sweating, Sumac studied the candy, which gave off a noticeable magical aura. Everypony was looking at him, waiting, and the pressure was on. The worst part of Triple-Dog-Dare candies was not knowing what was about to happen. He licked his lips, which felt far too dry, and then he placed the candy into his mouth.
At first, nothing happened. It was sweet, rather good, and Sumac liked it. He began to wonder if perhaps he had gotten lucky and got one of the good ones, but then the flavour began to change and Sumac almost swallowed his own face. This particular candy was flavoured with blazing hot cinnamon and black licorice, which was a vile and horrendous combination.
“BLARGH!” Sumac’s body gave a violent shudder and he struggled to breathe. The blazing hot cinnamon didn’t bother him at all, he liked spicy stuff, but the cinnamon mixed with black licorice was a concoction mixed up in Tartarus. In his mouth, the candy was slow to melt and he didn’t dare spit it out, as it was far too expensive. Left with no other option, he was forced to wait it out and endure the confectionary torture.
Still holding the box in her magic, Vinyl held it out to Pebble and shook it. One of the candies came floating up out of the box, a green and pink one. Needing no further prompting, Pebble opened up her mouth, waited, and Vinyl flicked the candy onto her tongue.
A second later, Pebble made a very strange face. Reaching out with her forelegs, she grabbed Octavia’s foreleg and squeezed it with a ferocious hug. “Oh, it’s so bad… I think it is mango and toothpaste.”
“That’s nothing,” Sumac said as he once more shuddered with revulsion, “mine is fiery cinnamon and black licorice.”
“Eww! That’s just nasty!” Octavia pulled Pebble a little closer and gave the filly a loving squeeze. “You brought this upon yourself, Pebble, now you finish it.”
Lemon Hearts, looking disgusted, tilted her head to one side and stared at the box of questionable candies. “When I was in school, Twinkleshine and Moondancer both agreed to eat one of those. Twinkle… she kept farting and it sounded like bells ringing. Moondancer on the other hoof, she was magically honest for about an hour and couldn’t hold anything back. It got weird. Twilight extracted information from her to gain a better understanding of magical theory.”
“That’s a very Twilight thing to do,” Trixie remarked, “she could have found out all of Moondancer’s secrets, but instead she went after Moondancer’s encyclopaedic knowledge.”
“Oh, I pulled a few secrets out of Moonie.” A somewhat evil smirk spread over Lemon Hearts’ muzzle. “Oh, the things that school fillies think are secrets.”
Prodding Lemon with her hoof, Trixie said, “I triple dog dare you to eat one of those candies.”
The smirk on Lemon Hearts’ face vanished and was replaced with a panicked expression. She turned to Trixie and almost bumped snoots with her. “I’ll only do it if you will.”
Sumac now saw panic on his mother’s face. Distracted, he made a terrible mistake. He crunched down upon the hard candy to finish it off. The flavour that oozed out of the vile confection defied all description, it was the very essence of cinnamony black licorice and then some. As tears rolled down his cheeks, he crunched up his candy a few more times and then swallowed, regretting every second of it.
Being the horrible pony that she was, Vinyl held up the box for both Trixie and Lemon Hearts. She gave it a shake, rattling the candies, and waited for the two mares to pony up. Lemon Hearts looked at Trixie and Trixie looked back at Lemon Hearths. A faint wrinkle appeared on Lemon Hearts’ muzzle, and her ears leaned forwards.
“I think Miss Lulamoon is a chicken.”
“Am not!” There was a flare of magic as Trixie pulled a candy from the colourful cardboard box and she waited as Lemon Hearts pulled out her own torturous confection. When Lemon Hearts had her candy ready, Trixie popped hers into her mouth as Lemon Hearts did the same.
“AAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaieee!” Lemon Hearts squealed. “Ugh, I think mine is fishhead flavour… ewww! Fishheads and lemon curd! NOOOOO!”
“Mine tastes just fine.” Trixie smacked her lips and smiled. “It’s a little sour, I think it is tart cherry.” Looking very smug, Trixie stuck her tongue out to blow a raspberry at Lemon—
And that was when Sumac noticed there was something wrong. His mother’s tongue was blackish-green, dried out looking, and covered in a bunch of grody squirming maggots. He almost gagged and beside him, Pebble did gag, and so did Octavia. But poor Lemon, she shrieked.
“ZOMBIE TONGUE! EWW!”
Trixie’s one good eye looked down at her muzzle, which scrunched, and she studied her tongue. After about five seconds, Trixie let out a wordless scream, then grabbed Lemon Hearts, seeking comfort from her lemony companion. Lemon Hearts jerked away from Trixie and tried to shoo the zombie tongued menace away from her.
Vinyl wheezed with silent laughter at the chaos that she had caused.
“I triple dog dare you to eat one,” Sumac said to Vinyl as he tried not to think about his mother’s horrible zombie tongue. He stared up at Vinyl and raised an eyebrow as Lemon Hearts continued to squeal in terror.
Shrugging, Vinyl popped a candy into her mouth in a very nonchalant manner. She smacked her lips a few times, smiled, and then sucked on the hard candy while looking very smug. Feeling a keen sense of disappointment, Sumac realised that Vinyl had gotten lucky. She seemed to have gotten one of the good ones. But then again, so had Trixie. Perhaps the symptoms just hadn’t manifested yet.
As Sumac waited for something to happen, he heard quacking, as if there was now a flock of ducks in their cabin. Ears perking, he paused and tried to figure out what was going on. Again, he heard a quacking sound, and Vinyl looked a bit alarmed. The seat he was sitting on vibrated with each series of quacks and it took a few moments for Sumac to put the pieces together.
A foul stench wafted up and slapped Sumac in the face. Again, there was more quacking as the seat that he sat on with Vinyl vibrated, and the smell grew worse. His lip curling back from his teeth in disgust, he scrambled out of the chair with Vinyl, climbed over the arm, and into the seat with Pebble and Octavia. Almost falling to the floor, Octavia and Pebble grabbed him and pulled him close as once more, a flock of ducks could be heard quacking.
Looking up at Octavia’s confused face, Sumac said, “Vinyl Scratch is farting ducks!”
Bet she left an outline of herself, too.
Those Candies, they sound terrible! Black Licorice, Mango, what madness is that. And being 100% honest... Hmmm, i wonder what lemon got from her...
7688969
They sound like Bertie Botts' Every Flavor Beans, except worse and magical.
But I like black licorice.
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm my favorite candy
minty breath and fire proof seat covers my castle has new doors melted everywhere...
Be glad they aren't honks. #goslingstrikesagain
Years ago, I was on a shopping trip with friends, and we stopped at a group of stores all grouped around small streams and duck ponds. As we got there, my lunch decided it didn't want to sit well with me. I started ripping rancid farts as we passed the ducks, whom I blamed the smell on. Every time I had another, I silently released it by the waterfowl. I managed to get away with it for 20 minutes. A small girl near me kept complaining, "Mommy, those ducks smell bad!"
Needless to say, your duck fart joke brought back memories, and made me fall off the couch laughing.
7689007
In the next chapter, when Gosling meets them at the train station, he is going to mention that he keeps hearing ducks and he is going to ask to know if somepony is teasing him about his cutie mark.
Ermagerd, it was a spoiler! Why did you read it?
Acrtually considering Goslings cutie mark it could well be Gosling strikes again
Bertie Botts has nothing on your candies! XD
Flatulence of ducks? WEIRD!
Discord approved? Maybe he consulted?
7689066
Is this a reference to something?
7689090
Lemon had them in school before Discord's return.
7689097
Chaos cares not for the laws of time and space.
7689091 The cartoon Ben10 the Omnitrix is what lets Ben change into aliens
Actually considering Discords age how long have those candies been around the only thing we do know is Twilight, Trixie, Moon Dancer, Twinkle Shine, Lemon Hearts all had them as fillies..
7689131
Oh.
7689124 It doesn't have to care Discord was around just stoned..
And it wasn't like chaos wasn't around what would you call the CMC
7689131
**Shrugs**
What I find horrifying about them is the fact that they have a fishhead flavour.
For a herbivorous species, having the taste of meat in your mouth all of a sudden must be quite shocking.
7689151
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/10/30/1285129__safe_solo_screencap_animated_edit_trixie_hat_edited+screencap_caption_blinking.gif
7689152 is it something sold only in Equestria or in other places.. Of course something shocking could be one of the things that make the candy such a dare to eat. Maybe it should it be more shocking that they recognized the flavor
I mean from Harry Potter Bertie Blotts every flavor really meant every flavor. There were some disgusting flavors mentioned
7689165
The earwax jellybeans were icky.
As for how Lemon Hearts knew the fishy flavour... well, I'll leave that up to the imagination.
derpicdn.net/img/view/2016/10/30/1285144__safe_screencap_smiling_animated_trixie_hat_starlight+glimmer_lidded+eyes_solo+focus_to+where+and+back+again.gif
7689171 seem to remember a vomit flavored one mentioned by Dumbledore
Consider the tricks played by children add in magic. Best case would be someone eating a sandwich with a little fish added. That of course doesn't include being dared to do something silly
That... actually sounds appealing to me. I will have to acquire some red hots and black licorice and try them together.
Nice light-hearted (and light farted?) chapter. Just what was ordered to counteract the blues a bit.
7689173
I had one of those. It was sour. It smelled worse than it tasted though, which was a neat trick. It filled the room with vomit aroma.
7689178
It actually happened to me. I was eating Jelly Belly Jellybeans and I had a blazing cinnamon and black licorice one stuck together. Now, I like both flavours individually, but together, they were gag inducing. I had trouble getting them down.
oh hay look this is chapter Cancer
to days chapter is sponsored by the letter z
for zodiac
7689182 after reading that I've avoided trying them
7689194
That is a legitimate reason to write that. I'd still try it. Better than the vomit flavored bertie bott jelly bean one of my friends got in high school. She spit it out and chucked it across the (empty) courtyard. I got grass. It tasted like grass smells. Very strange.
7689202 Imagine Grass Flavor wouldn't be disgusting or one they loved but maybe like a cola flavored one to most people for ponies
Reminds me a bit of JellyBelly Beanboozled jelly beans
Hilarity comes out of the mouths of 5 year olds.
You, young sir, have said a mouthful.
"far to expensive"
far too expensive
I giggled like a maniac reading this chapter. A good bonding moment all around. It's nice to see Pebble be\eing a little immature, too.
7689131
I must admit, I thought that you were talking about the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, and referencing the lantern's theorized ability to turn ponies into alicorns.
7689091
The omnitrix is from a cartoon called ben10 and it grants the power to transform into other bearers of the omnitrix from past/future/parallel realities, or something like that.
The connection here is the target species transformation is usually a paragon of that species defining trait, making it the omnitrix user's burden to adapt to these specific extremes, like turning into the strongest possible earth pony in history, or most magically sensitive unicorn ever.
7689261 I was explaining to kudzuhaiku what the Omnitrix was from Sigmacipher's comment or my best understanding of it
Ugh! I love cinnamon, but licorice? I hate, hate, HATE black licorice!
Oh relax Sumac, Gosling's not on this one.
That's what s/he said.
Ooh, new word for me, had to look that one up.
Haven't heard of 'grody' before either?
Trixie is trick or treated and Lemon is Lemminged.
i137.photobucket.com/albums/q206/FieldingBandolier/CuteGeneral/lemmings-1.gif
7689065
...and Vinyl
Ass Fart?
derpicdn.net/img/view/2014/4/30/614002__safe_oc_animated_vinyl+scratch_dj+pon-dash-3_car_laughing_funny_german_germany.gif
DROP THE BASS
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7689512 images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/36800000/mauds-emotions-my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-36850780-1024-1498.png
At Pebble's conception almost all of these expressions Maud used. (you can leave out bored)
7688955 Not Quite.
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/mlp/images/5/51/Main_cast_looks_through_a_hole_in_the_wall_S5E19.png/revision/latest?cb=20151019122124
All of my lolz
If Twilight had Vinyl's candy...Canterlot wedding may have gone differently
orig11.deviantart.net/0938/f/2013/015/5/0/fart_with_fire_makes_you_higher_by_bnka-d5rmlf9.jpg
7689171 the grass flavored ones were... interesting.
Thanks for the laughs. That last line heh.
7689699 my only minor gripe about this story is that since Vinyl is a mute, I can't hear Nowacking's voice when I read Vinyl's words.
No bass cannon in this story
Unicorn candy makers are insane. At least, I assume it was a unicorn, they're the insane ones.
There seems to be an exclamation mark missing.
7689152
Being an herbivore, how did she recognize the fish head flavor? <We need to talk.)
For now, though, I'm still laughing at Vinyl's fowl emissions.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=monty+python+crunchy+frog+skit&&view=detail&mid=BDD42C8136CF1D30B5CFBDD42C8136CF1D30B5CF&&FORM=VRDGAR