//------------------------------// // Chapter 74 // Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Outside of the carriage, Sumac could hear quite a commotion. They had slowed a bit and were now in heavy traffic just outside of the castle. For the most part, Sumac was quite calm and not too worried about much of anything. He felt better after a good sleep and was ready for the events of what was sure to be a long day. There was, however, a lingering feeling of excitement; Sumac had been sworn in as a member to a secret society in a ceremony that felt very grown up. He and Vinyl had worn voluminous black cloaks together and, using their magic in unison, both had held a burning candle to light another, a symbolic act of keeping the light alive. His cloak had been a little too big and he had almost tripped over it, but that was okay. After the ceremony, he had been given a small, slim spellbook filled with various light spells for him to practice with. He had learned that a wizard skilled with light spells was called an ‘auroramancer.’ It was too early to tell what sort of magic he might be good at, but he had a sneaking suspicion that it would be lightning focused. His cutie mark, his zap apple, had nine little lightning bolts radiating out from around it. Electricity was a useful talent to have, as one could power all manner of fantastical devices, zap horseflies, and recharge batteries back to working condition. With the carriage slowed to a crawl, Sumac realised that he and the others might be stuck here for a while. He looked over at Fox, eyeballed Fox’s swords, and thought about asking a question just to get some conversation going to help pass the time. Clearing his throat, Sumac dismissed his momentary feeling of apprehension about asking a question. “So what’s with the swords?” Sumac asked with a voice that revealed only minimal hesitation. Fox’s brows furrowed and deep grooves manifested upon his forehead below his horn. Tilting his head, he turned to face Sumac, patted the hilt of his sword with his hoof, and then replied, “There are foes who will resist magic. Terrible foes.” As Fox spoke, Octavia reached up and began to rub her throat. His eyes darted to look at her for a moment and there was a passing expression of concern upon his face before he returned his attention to Sumac. “There are foes that will resist your spells, ignore them even, and your telekinesis will fail to grip them. Attempts to shove them away from you will prove futile and they will keep coming.” Shuddering, Vinyl nodded, but of course she didn’t say anything. Sumac thought about the golem that Twilight had battled in Midnight Castle. A sword might of helped, but Sumac wondered how sharp a sword might have to be to cut through a golem. In the back of his mind, he gained further appreciation for his archery lessons. A wizard had to be practical. “Swords are also useful for magical energy conservation,” Fox added. “It takes only a minimal amount of drain to heft a sword and if necessary, I can swing them for hours. And I have. Spells tend to wear me a little faster than I like, so I have a very reserved fighting style.” “A sword seems reasonable,” Lemon Hearts remarked, “but I don’t think I could ever use one.” “When I was a filly, I watched a martial display of staff fighters. Unicorns trained to use staves as weapons, not as magical focusing devices. They were deadly and fierce. I was impressed. My grandfather, Caper, he was not impressed and said the need for a weapon was foolish. A unicorn survived on wit and magic.” Sighing, Trixie leaned over on Lemon a little more and shook her head. “Had I kept a sword or some manner of practical weapon, I might not have ended up in some of the messes I found myself in. I wish I hadn’t been so taken with the romantic notion of surviving by wit and magic. It’s stupid.” “Indeed.” Fox’s eyebrows relaxed and the deep grooves upon his forehead vanished. The carriage gave a lurch and then came to a complete halt. Fox opened the window, leaned his head out, and had a look around. Sumac, in a rather sedate mood, wasn’t worried. He turned to Pebble, smiled at her, and then he looked up at Boomer, who was wrapped around his horn. The little dragon was maybe one third awake, or so Sumac reckoned. She seemed to be too sleepy to be half awake. Fox had fed her a shard of sapphire for breakfast. “The two of you,” Fox began as he gestured at Sumac and Pebble, “will have your own balcony seats. I understand that there will be a fine view from up there and you will have to share the space with a camera. After much discussion, Mister Teapot put his hoof down and demanded that the both of you be kept away from the crowd.” Pebble let out a contented sigh. “My Daddy loves me.” “I don’t like crowds either,” Sumac said. “I remember that dinner we had. Your mother said she had to drag you around on her leg.” Mortified, Pebble gazed at Sumac for several long seconds, then replied, “So did yours, as I recall.” “Don’t get snarky, you two, or else we’ll make you kiss and make up.” Reaching out, Trixie gave Pebble an affectionate pat and she winked at Sumac. Wide-eyed, Pebble stared at Trixie, trying to gauge Trixie’s terrible, horrible, awful, no good threat. After a few seconds, she blinked once, twice, and after the third time, her eyes narrowed as she determined that the threat was real. Trixie Lulamoon was in charge and the threat was real. Pebble had no recourse but to behave herself. “She looks so much like her father when he’s doing threat assessment,” Octavia remarked in an absentminded and bored manner. “Sometimes, I swear, you can see the gears in Tarnish’s head turning. Quite amusing, actually. Except when it isn’t. ‘Hey, it’s a good idea to go charging into the hydra infested Froggy Bottom Bogg.’” Octavia lifted up a front leg and waved it around in a rallying gesture, as if she was encouraging a group to charge. Vinyl nodded and cringed. There was a creak from the rear axle when the carriage started moving again and it took off at a snail’s pace. If this kept up, they would miss the wedding by about a week, or so Sumac guessed. He didn’t mind though, as he was having a nice time in the carriage. When it seemed that there was no story about the Froggy Bottom Bogg forthcoming, Sumac let out a soft sigh. A story would help pass the time, at least, and might be exciting. “I have a question about Lucerna Perpetuum.” Sumac turned his head and looked Fox in the eye as the carriage rattled over the cobblestones. Saying nothing, Fox nodded. “I know that the lights have to be kept on, but what do we do, exactly?” Sumac asked. As he spoke, he took a moment to adjust his glasses, which had gone a little askew and slid down his nose. Tapping his chin with his white hoof, Fox’s eyes went squinty as he mulled Sumac’s question. One ear stood up, the other drooped, and the fox-like pony’s face flashed an expression of cunning for a brief second as the wheels inside of his head turned over a suitable answer for Sumac’s inquiry. “You let one pony fall and they might all fall down, just like dominoes. So many lives are interconnected in so many ways. Sometimes, all it takes is one bad day to undo a pony.” Fox paused, thought a little longer, and then continued, “You let one pony fall down into the darkness and the darkness becomes emboldened. The darkness comes and claims another. We try to lift ponies up, we try to give them hope… we make the darkness work to claim even one life. You allow the darkness to claim but a single life, and then, like an ungrateful cur made welcome, it comes to claim another, as one is never enough.” “So we help others?” As Sumac asked his question, he felt Lemon Hearts pull him closer to her. “What is it that we do?” “As one black day can be enough to do undo a pony, one good deed can be enough to save them.” Fox leaned back in his seat and tapped his hoof against his chin once more. “One never knows when a pony is about to slip through the cracks. Something as simple as buying a down on their luck pony a sandwich might be enough to convince them that others still care. It might be the act that breaks up an awful day that has gone horribly wrong. By lifting up those who have fallen, we keep the lights on. We try to inspire others to be better, to do better, to be charitable, to be kind, to be the embodiment of the Elements of Harmony.” Lemon Hearts, squeezing Sumac, said, “Generousity, kindness, honesty, loyalty, laughter—” “And magic,” Trixie finished. “Grogar, he favours other traits. Deceit, cruelty, treachery, despair, and greed...” Fox blinked a few times, shook his head, and glanced over at Vinyl before he finished, “Twilight has found magic in friendship. Grogar has found special magic as well, in apathy.” “What about hate?” Lemon asked. “Hatred implies that you care about somepony or something enough to muster emotion towards them,” Fox replied. “Apathy means that you care nothing about them at all, which is far, far worse.” “So we fight against apathy, when ponies just stop caring altogether.” Sumac snuggled up a little closer to Lemon Hearts and was glad to have her so close. “A bad day or something that really hurts them can make them stop caring about stuff. I’ve felt that way.” “For us equines, apathy is far, far worse than most realise,” Octavia said in a soft and soothing, almost silky voice. “It means that our herd structure has broken down. Our instincts, our motivations, the very things that drive us and inspire us, when we succumb to apathy, it means that we’ve lost the very thing that makes us equines, the very core of our beings. In one of Twilight’s books, she discusses how Discord drove her to apathy and broke her heart when she thought that she had lost her friends.” Pebble, who had been listening, let out a sigh, then turned to Trixie, scooted over a bit, and cuddled up against Trixie’s side. She said nothing, but there was a vague troubled expression upon her face, as if perhaps she had made some jarring self-realisation. “So Twilight’s school for friendship studies, it helps with the things that keep us together, like those things that make up the Elements of Harmony. Twilight is…” Sumac struggled as his brain tried to tackle a concept that was a little out of his reach. “Twilight is… she is…” Unable to turn his thoughts into words, he gave up and fell silent. The conversation gave Sumac a lot to think about. The castle was a hectic, hurried place and Sumac was afraid that he might get stepped on or kicked. He slipped under Trixie, hiding amongst her legs, and making it impossible for Trixie to move with any sort of speed. When he was grabbed by magic, he let out a yelp as he was lifted and then he found himself placed on Trixie’s back. At least he wasn’t in danger of being stepped on. There were guards everywhere, bunches of them, and Sumac caught a glimpse of Tarnish and Maud among their number. Maud was wearing armor and she made for an absolutely intimidating figure encased in some weird orange metal. “Mother is wearing her centaur steel armor,” Pebble remarked in a matter-of-fact sort of way. “I was there with her when she found it in the ruin. So was Octavia.” Lifting a hoof, Pebble waved at her parents as the group continued to hurry away. “It didn’t fit me very well, not like it fit her,” Octavia said as they maneuvered through the sea of bodies. “It pinched me something awful in all of the wrong places. Maud is really, really lucky that it fit her, because that armor can’t be reworked.” “If trouble comes, it is going to go bad for them.” Sumac relaxed a little and clung to Trixie’s back as he watched a group of guardsponies march together as a single unit in perfect lockstep. The sight was impressive and for a brief second, Sumac entertained the idea of joining the guard. He was distracted, however, by the weapons they carried, which were lashed to their backs. “Hey, Mom, those spears look funny.” “Kiddo, those aren’t spears,” Trixie replied. “Those are bayoneted rifles. The Royal Musketeers have been called back into service.” “But those aren’t muskets.” Fox grinned and waved at the passing soldiers. “Nothing quite like sharp eyed pegasus ponies and griffons to keep invaders at a safe distance. Ex Ignis Amicitiae!” One guard, a young pegasus not armed with a rifle, whipped out a wing in salute to Fox, gave a nod, and replied, “Ex Ignis Amicitiae!” Bedazzled by military pageantry, Sumac sat on his mother’s back and just took it all in. He had no clue what had just been said and he was too overwhelmed to ask. His world was changing and he couldn’t make sense of it. The turret gun on the train had surprised him, but now, seeing shiny, gleaming rifles strapped to the backs of pegasus ponies, he saw evidence of just how much the world had changed. The old expression ‘fast as a bullet’ had always just been a phrase for Sumac and he had never seen a bullet fired. He had never even seen a gun before. Now, the world that he had grown up in was a scary, unknown place, a strange place, a place that he did not know. It seemed that there was no end to the surprises today, as he saw Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Cadance. They weren’t wearing frilly princess gowns, no, both were wearing the black, intimidating armor that Sumac had seen on the train ride and worn by Princess Celestia in Ponyville. There was nothing dainty or pretty about Princess Cadance now. She was a hulking juggernaut of alicorn might. Her black armor and what little pink of her pelt that could be seen was a terrifying sight. Even more curious, Twilight didn’t seem to have a broken leg anymore, and Sumac very much wanted to know both how and why. If uninvited guests came to the wedding, they would be in a for a world of trouble and hurt. Sumac pitied them.