Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals

by kudzuhaiku


Chapter 49

Glad to be home, Sumac opened up the front door as he heard wings flapping behind him. Twilight had dropped him off at home, carrying him, and speaking to him of a number of things. As the door opened, he licked his sticky muzzle. He was still hungry, very much so, and the marshmallows had only served to whet his appetite.

Standing in the doorway, he saw Trixie and Lemon Hearts on the couch together. Neither of them got up, but both of them looked at him. Both were smiling. Trixie patted the couch, the spot just between her and Lemon Hearts, and Sumac felt relief flooding over him.

“Kiddo… come over here. Sit with me.” Trixie continued to pat the spot on the couch next to her. “Did you have a nice adventure?”

Upon hearing the question, Sumac nodded. He felt Boomer bobbing on his horn. She had eaten too many marshmallows, and was now comatose. She seemed to be having some trouble holding on as she slept, which wasn’t normal. He closed the door behind him, smiled, and limped over to the couch.

He was spared from having to climb up, Trixie lifted him, and set him down next to her. Feeling affectionate, but not too affectionate, he sat there, waiting for Trixie to make her move, knowing that sooner or later, she was going to cuddle the stuffing out of him. It was obvious that she was in one of those moods.

“I hope I didn’t worry you too much,” Sumac said to Trixie, his voice soft. “Pebble really needed a friend. I knew it was wrong to go with her, but I felt that it would be more wrong to let her go off by herself. Twilight talked with me on the way home about choosing between two wrongs…”

“Kiddo, sometimes, it happens.” Trixie’s voice was calm and full of understanding.

“I did manage to trick Pebble into setting up a campfire in the open.” A look of guilt crept over his face. “I feel a little bad, tricking her. She’s my friend… and… uh…”—Sumac squirmed, not sure what to say next— “she really likes me. She likes me a lot.”

“Oh.” Lemon Hearts let out a faint giggle.

“Pebble isn’t as grown up as she wants others to think.”

“Finally figured that out, have you Sumac?” Trixie leaned over. “So, how much does she like you?”

“A gentlecolt never tells—”

“She kissed you!” Lemon Hearts let out a squeal and bounced in place on the couch.

“I never said that!” Sumac squeaked, his voice cracking from embarrassment.

“If she kissed you, you must have done something to deserve it.” Trixie let out a satisfied, but tired sounding sigh. “And it’s your business if you did get smooched. I won’t make this awkward. You deserve a break.”

“Pebble got teased. It bothered her. It hurt her. Made her angry.” As Sumac spoke, he became aware of the fact that he was about to be cuddled. Trixie had made her move. She had a foreleg around him now, and pulled him closer. He did nothing to resist. She had, after all, just given him a break, and spared him some merciless teasing.

“We found out about the teasing.” Lemon Hearts stopped bouncing and looked sad. “We tried to piece everything together. Trixie insisted that you were too sensible to run away for no good reason.” As Lemon Hearts spoke, she lifted Boomer from Sumac’s horn, levitating the comatose baby dragon, which she then took into her forelegs and cuddled. “Wow, she’s fat.”

“She ate marshmallows.” Sumac let out a little giggle as Trixie’s lips tickled his ear. A second later, he felt her kiss him, and it gave him the tickly warm fuzzies. Closing his eyes, Sumac inhaled, and he could smell Trixie as she lavished her affection upon him. She smelled like bubble gum, like lightning, she smelled like ink, the smell of old books, and the sneezy scent of chalk dust. She smelled like happiness to Sumac, and he was grateful to be home.

“Kiddo, I love you so much,” Trixie said in a muffled whisper as she mumbled into Sumac’s ear, causing it to twitch. “Everything I do, I do it so you’ll have a good future. I’m saving the world for you, Sumac.”

Eyes still closed, he inhaled again.

“Today at work, Twilight asked me if I wanted to be an alicorn… that’s the sort of stuff we talk about at work. Just pie in the sky stuff.”

“And what did you tell her?” Sumac asked, feeling both hungry and drowsy.

“I told her that I was fine with being the pony I was. I didn’t need to be an alicorn. I told her that you were my wings, Sumac, and that you’ve already lifted me up to wonderful places. You’ve made me a better pony.”

The chalk dust in Trixie’s pelt made Sumac’s eyes water and caused him to sniffle. Stupid chalk dust. It seemed to be affecting Lemon Hearts too, as Sumac could hear her sniffling. There was a snort in his ear, which made him shiver, and he realised that the chalk dust had claimed Trixie too. Stupid, stupid chalk dust. He gripped Trixie’s leg and pressed his head against her, knocking his glasses askew. He didn’t care. They could be straightened out later.

“Kiddo, you owe me for saving this world.” Trixie’s voice was under assault from the chalk dust, it sounded gritty and strained. “I’ve hit that stage of motherhood where I have some dreams about grandfoals. Twilight Velvet tells me that it is perfectly natural. She said having hopes and dreams is good and that I should have aspirations.”

“Ick, no.” Sumac opened up his eyes.

“Oh, no big hurry. Give it time.” Trixie gave Sumac a reassuring squeeze. She let out a wheezy laugh and then kissed Sumac on the ear once more. Feeling that a cuddle just wasn’t enough, she lifted him up and began squeezing him in her forelegs, crushing him against her barrel.

Sumac offered no resistance.

“The first place we checked,” Lemon Hearts said as she cradled Boomer, “was the cemetery. I must confess, it was just a little odd to go checking the cemetery for two missing foals. When you weren’t there, I started to panic, but Trixie was all calm and none of us could figure out why she was so calm, and I started freaking out, and Twilight got a little anxious, and Trixie was just as cool as a cucumber.”

“Sumac, what do you do if a bad pony or something awful tries to grab you?” Trixie asked.

“I run away,” Sumac replied.

“And what do you do if you can’t run away?” Trixie’s voice was a soft, calm whisper.

Letting out a little cough, Sumac cleared his throat before he replied, “I set them on fire or I pick something up and smash them in the face with it. Maybe stab something into their eyes.”

“That’s right.” Trixie closed her eyes and pressed her muzzle into Sumac’s ear.

“That’s horrendous.” Lemon Hearts shook her head, her eyes were wide and fearful. “That’s awful… I can’t even… I… ugh.” She closed her eyes, her ears drooped, and she clung to Boomer, as if hoping for some comfort. “I can’t stand violence. I’m not a violent pony. I can’t even stomach the thought of using my magic to hurt something.”

“I’ve been hurt by others…” Trixie gave Sumac a powerful squeeze. “But let’s not talk about that. All I have left to say is, I’ve raised Sumac to look after himself. That is why I can leave him alone and trust that he is safe. He’s a smart colt. He’s canny. And he’s fast.

“Every mom thinks their colt is fast.” Sumac squirmed in Trixie’s embrace, turning his body around, and he found a comfortable position where he could rest his head in the crook of her neck. He snuggled up against her, now more drowsy than hungry. The scruffle of her chest was soft, warm, and oh so nice to cuddle against. He yawned and did nothing to hold it back.

“I’ve often wondered about that.” Lemon Hearts scooted a little closer to Trixie on the couch. “I mean, he’s five. And he was left free to wander around Ponyville. I got to thinking about that and it occurred to me that most mothers would be freaking out.”

“I’m not most mothers,” Trixie deadpanned.

“No, you’re kinda cute, for a single mom.”

Sumac’s eyes flew open wide at Lemon Heart’s words and his whole body stiffened.

“Lemon, we talked about this!”

“Oops!” Lemon Hearts let out a squeak of worry and froze in terror.

“Talked about what?” Sumac asked.

“Never you mind,” Trixie replied.

“Pebble kissed me on the cheek and said that she liked me. She really liked me.”

“Kiddo, you don’t play fair.”

“You taught me not to play fair. You said the game of life is rigged. You said cheating was fine, so long as nopony got hurt.”

“Kiddo, you’re spilling out some of our secrets—”

“So what?” Sumac felt his mother go still.

“I’m not ready for this,” Trixie whispered.

There was a long tense moment accompanied by an awkward silence. Sumac lay cradled in his mother’s forelegs, his head still resting against the crook of her neck. He could feel her heart thumping against his cheek and ear. He could feel her trembling. He could feel the heat in her bad knee, it was much hotter than the rest of her leg.

“I’m so sorry, it slipped.” Lemon Hearts squeezed her eyes shut and turned away.

“What happened?” Sumac’s eyes were now half closed and he waited, wondering if Trixie would talk. Something had happened. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but it involved Lemon Hearts and his mother being flirty.

“Just like Pebble, Lemon Hearts revealed that she liked me.”

“Uh huh.” Sumac kept waiting.

“Sumac, Lemon is into other mares. Do you understand that? Does it bother you? Does that make you uncomfortable?”

“Why would it make me uncomfortable?” As Sumac spoke, he heard a gasp from Lemon Hearts, and thought it sounded like one of relief.

“I didn’t know how you might take it, and I didn’t want you in a situation where you were uncomfortable. Lemon and I… we both want you to be happy.” Trixie glanced over at the mare on the couch beside her.

“What about your happiness?” Sumac rubbed his muzzle against the base of Trixie’s throat and felt her suck in a deep breath. Lifting a foreleg, his shoulder aching and burning, he stroked his mother’s neck with his fetlock.

“I don’t know what I want,” Trixie confessed. “I’ve never really been in love before. The Great and Powerful Trixie lived with a Great and Powerful loneliness. The only pony that I have ever even been remotely attracted to was Tarnished Teapot, and that’s only because he rescued me.”

“Over and over,” Lemon Hearts said in helpful, chirpy voice.

Raising an eyebrow, Trixie glanced over at the lemony yellow mare beside her. “Yeah. Over and over.”

“He’s nice like that.”

“He sure is.” Trixie’s voice dripped with sarcasm. “Always running around, saving ponies, going into dark, dangerous places and saving the weak and the stupid—”

“Hey, be nice, Miss Lulamoon, or else!” Lemon Hearts’ lower lip protruded and she gave Trixie a harsh glare of disapproval. “I dunno, I don’t find him all that attractive, but Maud sure is cute in a subdued sort of way.”

“Ugh.” Trixie rolled her eyes. “Anyway, Sumac, I haven’t figured out what I’m into, and I didn’t want to get involved in a relationship and create a mess that might make life hard for you. I mean, what if it didn’t work? What if I’m not into mares? What if everything goes wrong and Lemon and I aren’t happy, and if we aren’t happy, then where do you and I live… we’re guests here, and I didn’t want to make things complicated.”

“But what if you are happy?” Sumac wasn’t sure what was so complicated.

“But I—”

“But what?” Waiting, Sumac wanted to know what his mother had to say about this.

“I told you so, Miss Lulamoon. Didn’t I try to tell you?” Lemon Hearts’ voice held a teasing tone. “He’s a sweetie. You didn’t raise him to be a judgmental oaf.”

“Lemon, I never really had a chance to even talk to Sumac about, well, you know.

“Being gay?” Lemon Hearts scooted a little closer to Trixie.

“No… just… the physical parts of love in general and how complicated it can be.”

“Well, now you have a chance to open up some dialogue about it. You can talk to him about it while I go and fix him a nice dinner before he nods off into lalaland.” Lemon Hearts smiled, and then, before Trixie could react or protest, the bold lemony mare leaned over and planted a quick peck on Trixie’s cheek.

Sumac heard his mother’s heart going thumpity-thump and felt it against his face.

“I don’t know how to talk about it. I’ve never been in love. Other than Tarnish, I’ve never even been attracted to another pony. I don’t know what I like or what I’m into. For too long, I was the Great and Powerful Trixie, and I sacrificed much of myself upon the altar of self improvement.”

“Do you like the colour yellow?” Sumac felt Trixie’s whole body grow warm, and her neck became quite hot. A moment later, she was sweating. He could feel her shaking, trembling, and for a second, he worried that she might drop him. “Good news, Lemon Hearts, I think she likes the colour yellow.”

“Yay?” Lemon Hearts bounced up onto her hooves to go and fix dinner, and she carried Boomer in her magic. “Just think about how nice it would be to have two mothers, Sumac. Wouldn’t that be great? I could make you cookies and teach you all about being gay, so you can be a more understanding pony. You could make Trixie proud. Wouldn’t that be nice?” Smiling, Lemon Hearts plopped Boomer into the fruitbowl, which made a perfect bed for her.

“Yeah, it would.”

Ears drooping, Trixie slumped over and settled into a mope, still cuddling Sumac. “Woe is me, my own son has turned against me, turned by the charms of the yellow lemony one...”