Throughout the revelry, Sumac could not help but wonder where Discord was. It seemed that the Lord of Chaos had not been invited to the wedding, and even more interesting, the Lord of Chaos had not crashed the wedding. From what little Sumac knew about Discord, he was prone to do these sorts of things. Lemon Hearts and Trixie were dancing together, and looking at them made Sumac blush. It also distracted him from his thoughts about Discord’s absence.
“Hello, you two,” Octavia said as she slid into a chair beside Sumac.
Turning his head, he saw that Octavia looked sweaty and disheveled, but happy. He smiled at her, then turned once more to look at Trixie and Lemon. There was no doubt that he had eaten too much and now, he wanted a nap. Maybe. Or just a quiet place to lay down for a spell.
“They look so happy together,” Sumac remarked as Trixie and Lemon Hearts danced. “I hope that they get married and have a happily ever after.”
“Sumac… darling…” Octavia’s voice sounded hesitant.
“Yeah?” Feeling worried without knowing why, Sumac glanced over at Octavia, who looked as though she was sitting on red hot coals. When she would not meet his gaze, his sense of worry doubled.
“Sumac, love, I wouldn’t get your hopes up,” Octavia whispered in a low, pained and strained voice.
“Why?” Sumac turned in his seat and he felt Pebble’s hoof on his back, a light, reassuring touch.
“This is a very delicate issue and I don’t know what to say.” Octavia’s eyes narrowed and her barrel expanded as she took a deep breath. “Sumac, dearie, ponies who are gay… well, most of us have this sense—we can tell when another pony is gay, or isn’t. Mine is pretty good, certainly better than Vinyl’s, and Vinyl thinks it is because I am an earth pony and we have finer attuned senses…” Her words trailed off and she turned her attention to the couple on the dance floor.
“Wouldn’t Lemon know?” Sumac asked, his words little more than spoken breath.
“Sumac, when you are in the throes of a heavy crush, or are infatuated, you ignore your senses. It’s happened to me. It’s happened to Vinyl. You so sincerely want things to work and you’ll go to any lengths to make it happen.” A bittersweet sad smile spread over Octavia’s muzzle. “When I was little, I surprised one of my best friends with a kiss. She wasn’t into that sort of thing, and thankfully, we remained friends. She was very understanding. But I had convinced myself that she was the love of my life.”
“I see.” Sumac sighed, slumped down against the table, and rested his head against the hard edge. “Shouldn’t we warn them? Tell them? Shouldn’t we tell them?”
“No,” Octavia replied after a prolonged silence. “No, Trixie needs to find out who and what she is. Lemon Hearts strikes me as being an extraordinarily good pony. I am almost certain that their friendship will survive this… maybe even be made stronger from this. Just be there for both of them, Sumac. Be supportive and good, but don’t say anything. Just be you.”
“What if everything goes wrong?” Sumac’s ears sagged down against the sides of his face. “I like Lemon. What if she stops being my mother’s friend? What if she stops loving me?”
“I could be wrong,” Octavia said, trying to offer a little comfort. “Maybe she just hasn’t come out of her shell yet. She might still come around if given enough time. Things might change.”
Sumac’s left ear twitched and he let out a sigh. He appreciated Octavia’s attempts to make him feel better, and he did, in fact, feel better. Love, attraction, appeal, he didn’t understand these things. When he touched Pebble, or they bumped snoots, he didn’t hear birds chirping or any of the other things that ponies claimed they felt or heard. Pebble was, for all intents and purposes, his very best friend and his emotional understanding didn’t allow him to feel much beyond that.
He certainly didn’t understand the serious complexities of love, like being gay. Being gay made friendship complicated it seemed, because you might like a friend, and a friend might like you just a little more in return. Friendship was a complicated, hazardous place to venture—it certainly was for Pebble, who seemed to be having a hard time making sense of the world around her. Sumac felt bad for her and he had no idea how to make it better for her, or himself for that matter. He wished that he had some answers, some understanding.
“Where is Vinyl?” Sumac asked.
“She got pulled into a room with the princesses and a bunch of other important ponies,” Octavia replied. “Maud and Tarnish too. But not me. I’m just a cello player.” An amused smile spread over Octavia’s muzzle and her eyes, almost hidden under her heavy bangs, glittered with glee as the tip of her orange tongue poked out from between her lips.
“Everypony seems so happy,” Pebble remarked. “There was a big battle and Ponyville got attacked. Some big trouble happened. Vinyl got smooshed. Yet everypony seems so happy. It doesn’t make sense to me.”
“Yes, there was trouble, there were a number of major battles and not just in Ponyville, one very wealthy industrialist tried to bring down the monarchy with a temper tantrum, these have been indeed, troubling times, Pebble. But that is exactly why ponies are happy and celebrating. The monarchy, our government, the Crown, it is resilient and triumphant. The poor are starting to hope that things will get better for them now that corporate interests are being torn apart. Changes are happening, changes for the better. A whole bunch of everyday heroes have fought to hold Equestria together.”
“Like you and Vinyl?” Pebble stared at Octavia with wide, curious eyes.
“Mostly Vinyl for the rougher parts,” Octavia replied. “She was there in the thick of it when everything went down in Manehattan. It was terrifying. I begged her to get out of the city… but she wouldn’t. She had a high rise dropped on her for her troubles. Princess Luna too.”
“How did Princess Luna not get smooshed?” Sumac asked.
Octavia blinked a few times. “Alicorns are very sturdy. Alicorns like Princess Luna are almost unbreakable.”
“Prince Gosling… he’s going to help bring about more changes, isn’t he?” Pebble, still bright eyed and curious, now focused all of her attention upon Octavia.
“Prince Gosling, Princess Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Cadance are heading government reform. I don’t know the plan, but Princess Celestia and Princess Luna have tasked them with making things better.”
Octavia was about to say more, but paused as a group of guards approached the table. She looked up at them and wiped her sweaty mane out of her face while waiting for them to say something. On the dance floor, Trixie and Lemon Hearts were also interrupted by guards. Sumac began to worry that something was up.
“All of you are needed at once,” one of the guards, a unicorn, said. “We have instructions to bring you to the map room.”
“Oh bother,” Octavia mumbled.
Sumac wasn’t sure what was about to happen, but he was certain that he was about to find out. He was full, tired, and just a bit cranky. He let out a huff, sat up, and scooped a comatose baby dragon off of the table, where she had fallen asleep in a pile of bread rolls. There was a smoky snort of protest and she writhed, her belly full, in Sumac’s levitational field.
The map room was exactly what it sounded like—it was a room with a giant map of Equestria on the floor, a mosaic made from what had to be millions of tiny colourful pieces. Sumac was in total awe of it and stood on the edge of the western shores of Equestria trying to take it all in. The room was full of ponies that Sumac did not know, but also a lot of ponies that he did know.
Tarnish was here, along with Maud, the princesses, all of them, a few princes, Night Light and Twilight Velvet stood near where Twilight Sparkle stood, and Vinyl was crossing the room to come over to where Sumac stood. Vinyl looked a little irritated and Sumac wondered what had made his master cross.
“The Council of Canterlot has convened,” Princess Celestia said in a soft voice that still somehow carried through the large room. “We are gathered to discuss the lantern.”
“You know,” Lemon Hearts remarked as she lifted her head high, “most ponies would be celebrating their wedding just after having it.”
“Lemon, hush, I don’t think we’re part of this council.” Trixie gave Lemon a gentle kick in the leg, followed by a full body bump.
“Nopony silences the Squeezable and Juicy Lemon!”
“Um, she’s had a bit too much sparkling cider… I’m sorry.” Trixie gave the room an apologetic glance.
There was a low chuckle from both Princess Luna and Prince Gosling, who found Lemon Hearts’ outburst quite amusing. This chuckle spread to others and became a giggle, then Princess Celestia’s composure slipped and she too, began to titter. The merriment and the mirth of the wedding bled over into the council, which caused Sumac to relax just a little bit. Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad.
“When life gives you Lemon,” Prince Gosling whispered to Princess Luna, and there was more snickering.
“Twilight Sparkle has a Lemon aid,” Princess Luna replied to Prince Gosling.
Hearing Princess Luna’s pun, Twilight’s laughter ceased and she facehoofed. Standing nearby, Princess Celestia’s look of mischief intensified and her square white teeth were visible in her smile. Princess Cadance cringed and let out a groan as she shook her head, then gave her husband, Prince Shining Armor, a look of contempt when he started to giggle in a most foalish manner.
“Unbelieveable,” Prince Blueblood muttered. “I am surrounded by foals.”
“Oh, shut up, Blueblood.” Raven’s eyebrow arched and she took a step closer to Prince Blueblood.
With an unexpected suddenness, Princess Cadance broke away from the others, crossed the room, and stepped over to where Sumac stood upon the western shore of Equestria. She was still smiling, but her eyes were serious and stern. Her ears pivoted forwards as she drew nearer, and then she lowered her head.
“Forgive me, I was distracted and I did not notice before, but you are in pain.” There was no trace of doubt in Princess Cadance’s voice as she stood near Sumac and looked down at him. She took a deep breath and her horn emitted a warm pink glow that reflected in the eyes of everypony present. “Let me heal you”—she lifted her gaze and looked at Trixie—“and you as well.”
“Cadance, dear, be careful, this makes you weary—”
“Auntie…” Princess Cadance’s eyes darted over towards Celestia, who had spoken. “I mended Twilight’s leg and I was just fine.”
“Shining, go to her side,” Princess Celestia commanded, and Prince Shining Armor, a dutiful sort, hurried over to where his wife stood, ready to catch her if she swooned.
“What’s gonna happen?” Sumac asked as Trixie embraced him from behind. He felt one foreleg wrap around him in a protective hug. “Will it hurt?”
“No.” Princess Cadance shook her head. “Now is not the time for fear or doubt, but love. For this to work, I need you to focus on love, Sumac Apple. You as well, Trixie Lulamoon. Both of you, think about your love. For each other, for the other ponies in your life, let it fill your mind.”
“Can you heal Vinyl?” Sumac asked, not thinking of himself at the moment.
“I have made the attempt,” replied Princess Cadance. “I was able to help a little, to ease her pain, but I am still learning this magic, which is new to me. If anypony can heal Vinyl, it will be Tarnish, as his love for her is the strongest. He only needs to believe in himself. His magical potential is only now being fully realised. He is capable of so much more than he gives himself credit for.”
Over where he stood, Tarnished Teapot shuffled on his hooves, sniffled a bit, and turned away. Maud bumped her armored body into him and then looked up at him, giving him a sleepy stare from beneath the open visor of her helmet. After being distracted by this, Sumac returned his attention to the pink alicorn standing before him.
“Don’t worry, Sumac. She healed me and I turned out just fine,” Prince Gosling said, trying to be reassuring.
“Okay.” Sumac nodded and he felt Trixie squeeze him. He could see a look of intense concentration upon her face and he remained quiet, as he did not wish to disrupt her. Magic took focus and as a unicorn, he knew that. Alicorn magic probably took a lot more focus. Remembering that he too, was supposed to focus, he started to think about the warm fuzzy feelings that he got when Trixie hugged him.
The world began to feel a little peculiar and Sumac felt light headed. There was a sense of pressure in the root of his horn, but it wasn’t unpleasant. He felt Trixie’s leg twitch and then he had the curious sensation of being lighter. There was a deep thrum that made the floor vibrate and Sumac’s vision fuzzed over as he began to feel an intense warmth in his shoulders.
“I need more magic,” Cadance murmured, “more love.”
“All I have to give and more,” Shining Armor whispered in reply.
There was a flash of pink and then Sumac went blind. Blue, white, and purple splotches danced in his vision, and then everything went pink. It was all he could see. There was no longer any sense of gravity and he felt himself floating up from the floor, which caused him to panic.
“Ah, there we go, a mother’s love.” Princess Cadance’s voice, no longer a soft murmur, rang out like a bell. “Begone, pain and suffering! Flee from my subjects!”
The world around Sumac was a pink explosion and he had no way of knowing what was going on. The pain in his shoulders was gone, replaced by intense warmth and a delightful tension, that feeling that he had when his body decided that he needed a good run. Just as the feeling reached its peak, Sumac felt Trixie grab him once more, and she crushed him against her.
Sumac could not help but notice that the grip of her front legs was stronger…