It was just cool enough outside to make wearing his new poncho quite comfortable and Sumac was enjoying the autumn afternoon. Boomer, who had been with Pebble for her cooking class, was now sprawled over his back, her belly protruding, and she was napping away the consequences of her overindulgence.
Ponyville seemed to be growing. Much like how a forest fire clears away old growth and allows for new, so had the harpy attack affected Ponyville. With the new houses, the roads were now a little straighter, some of the new layouts were more efficient, and many of the new homes, in various states of being finished, were a whole lot nicer. As awful as the attack had been, much good had come of it and Sumac understood that destruction was a force that balanced out creation. He had even read about it in a book that Twilight had written about the contrasts of harmony, a book that the much older students had as required reading.
He looked forward to doing a little reading when he got to the cemetery with Pebble, who followed alongside him with a strange spring in her step. He had the most magnificent book called Skyreach and it was all about Tarnished Teapot’s fabled adventure in finding an ancient lost city of the pegasi, a ruin that nopony wanted him to find, including Princess Celestia, who had told him that some things were better left alone.
Although he could not be certain, he suspected that A.K. Yearling had written the book and used a pseudonym to maintain anonymity. He had only just started reading, so he didn’t know what all of the controversy was about or why some secrets were better kept as secrets. The book was of an adult nature, kept in the adult wing of the library, and Sumac wasn’t so sure that he should be reading it. He had convinced Spike to get him a copy after reading a reference about it in another book.
It took Sumac about an hour or so to get the cemetery all nice and tidy. He used his telekinesis to push the leaves out through the fence, he pulled a few brown weeds, and he picked up all of the fallen branches scattered all over the place. Ponyville’s cemetery didn’t have a groundskeeper, as Sumac had found out, since the previous one had died quite some time ago and had never been replaced.
Now, Sumac liked to think that he was the groundskeeper, and perhaps someday, he thought he might even try and make it official. Somepony had to look after the dead. With everything done and the cemetery looking much nicer, Sumac took a seat on an old, ratty blanket spread out over the grass.
“You dere, you clean up dis place, why you do dis?” a voice asked.
Sumac’s head turned from side to side and he tried to see who was speaking to him. The voice was strange and the accent stranger. The last time Sumac had heard an accent like that was from a group of zebras travelling abroad. After a quick look around, there were no zebras to be found.
“Is you blind, or someding?”
Forehead crinkling, eyes narrowing, Sumac looked around again, and Pebble, who was now standing in a defensive posture, did the same. Boomer might have been a brave protector, but at the moment she was sound asleep. Sumac felt a cold prickle along his spine and his horn flared with a flash of bright green light.
“I is over here.”
Turning his head once more, Sumac found himself staring at a crow. No, a raven, it had a beard and it was far too large to be a crow. He stared at it, and it stared at him. Not far away, a second raven was perched on a branch, preening its feathers. Sumac studied the bird and wondered if it was a threat.
“You’re a raven,” Pebble said, stating the obvious in a flat deadpan.
“Would you believe me if I dell you I is a zebra?”
“Maybe,” Pebble replied, “but I have my doubts. Who are you and what do you want?”
“My name is Brave Ghede and dat over dere, dat is my companion, his name is Ghede Nibo.” The raven’s head bobbed up and and he danced from side to side on his branch, his eyes glittering with mischief in the autumn sun.
“And what do you want?” Pebble demanded, her guard still up.
“I ask you first, why you in my graveyard, cleaning up dis place?” The raven cocked its head off to one side, and the second raven flapped over to another branch. “Is very odd to have you paying respects to de dead, why you do dis?”
“Cemeteries are my happy place.” Sumac relaxed a little, he couldn’t help himself, he found the ravens rather comical and something about them didn’t seem threatening to him. “This is your graveyard?”
“All graveyards is mine,” the raven replied in a peculiar voice. “I watch over de dead as dey rest.” The raven blinked a few times and his feathers ruffled. “Some of de dead, dey ain’t sleeping so well lately. Is a bad ding, when de dead get insomnia.” The raven’s head bobbed up and down and he flapped his wings a few times as his talons clenched tight around the branch he was perched on.
“You speak of Grogar.” Pebble’s voice was confident and unafraid. She relaxed a bit, her tail swishing, and she sat back down. “What does a talking raven know of Grogar?”
“I dell you, I’m a zebra.”
“Funny, you look like a raven.”
“HA!” Brave let out a cawing laugh and his body bobbed up and down with enough force to make the branch he was perched on rise and fall. “Ha ha! I like you, you is funny.” The raven took wing, flew a short distance, and landed on a weather-worn headstone just a few yards away from Pebble and Sumac. “I like you both, maybe Brave Ghede give you gifts, eh?”
“My mother told me to only take candy from strangers if I am absolutely certain that I can break every bone in their body,” Pebble replied, looking the raven in the eye.
“Your mudder, she very wise, foal of Derra Firma.” The raven bounced once on the headstone and then clicked his beak together a few times. When Pebble opened up her mouth to say something, the raven cut in with a few smooth words. “I know who and what you is, foal of Derra Firma, and I mean you no harm. I was very shocked to see the Stone Speaker in my graveyard.”
“How do you know who and what I am?” Pebble demanded. “And how do you know that I am a foal of Terra Firma?”
“You is in my graveyard, it be my business who and what you is!”
“I feel like I’m missing something,” Sumac remarked. He focused upon the flippant fowl and gave the raven a stern look. “As for you, I mean no disrespect to your graveyard, though I’m not sure how or why this graveyard is yours. Not that I’m saying that it isn’t, I’m just not sure how or why, that’s all.”
“De sorcerer has a silver dongue,” Nibo commented, his accent even thicker than Brave’s. “Listen to how smood he be. Would you ensorcel me wid your sweed words, Sorcerer? You speak wid much glimmer-glammer, Sorcerer. Maybe Brave and I deach you de voice.”
“A silver what?” Pebble asked, sounding confused and quite embarrassed.
“A dongue! A dongue! Dongue!” Nibo let out a frustrated squawk as Pebble kept turning darker shades of brown every time he repeated the word.
“I think he’s saying ‘tongue,’ Pebble.”
“Of course dat is whad I is saying!” Nibo, looking annoyed, let out a shrill screech and flapped his wings.
Curious, Sumac had to know, and so he asked Brave, “What is the voice?”
“De voice...” Brave’s words trailed off for a time before he continued, “De knowledge of de voice is someding dat Nibo should keep to himself.” The raven inhaled, puffing out, his claws scratching on the headstone, and he let out a wheezy sounding sigh. “Lima would kill us—”
“Who is Lima?” Sumac asked, now burning with curiousity.
“I is now dead duck, not raven.” Brave blinked a few times and focused his beady eyes on Sumac. “Forget I said anyding. In fact, my companion and I, we must be going. We have other graveyards filled with sleepyheads to check in on.”
Before Sumac had a chance to say anything else, the two ravens took wing and flew away, heading north towards Canterlot. He watched them go, not noticing that Pebble was still a dark shade of coffee colour and staring down at the grass. Weird things happened in Ponyville, Trixie had warned him, Ponyville was in the middle of a vortex of weirdness and anything could happen here.
Including meeting a raven who claimed to be a zebra, it seemed.
His curiousity unsatiated, Sumac focused on Pebble, knowing that there was far more to her than first met the eye. In his mind, he tried to think of a polite way to ask some questions, but no matter how he phrased it, it sounded intrusive or maybe even a bit rude. If Pebble wanted him to know, she would tell him. Of course, there were other things he was dying to know about Pebble, like what her cutie mark was.
“I have a dirty mind,” Pebble confessed in a breathy whisper.
“What? Why?”
“Nevermind.”
“Whatever.”
“Good, let’s never speak of it.”
“Pebble, I have a question…”
“If that question is what I think it is, you’ll be sorry.”
“What is Skyreach?”
“Oh.” Pebble let out a little gasp. “I don’t know much about that, my parents won’t talk about it around me at all and if I ask questions, they both get upset.” The filly prodded the brown grass with the hard edge of her hoof and made a little indentation in the soft soil. “I once asked Twilight about it and she told me to never speak of it again.”
“How bad does something have to be for ponies to never speak of it?” Now feeling a little out of sorts, frustrated perhaps, Sumac let out a little huff, turned to his saddlebags, and pulled his book out. “Pebble, can I ask you another question?”
“You just did,” Pebble replied, her nostrils flaring.
“Can you help me learn physics?”
“Why would you want to do that?”
Sumac almost replied with the word ‘power,’ but he thought better of it. Instead, his reply was, “For a better understanding of magic.”
“I can do it, but I expect you to pay attention and not waste my time.” Pebble focused her soulful eyes on Sumac and without realising that she was doing so, she batted her eyelashes at him. Lifting her hoof, she waved it from side to side for a moment, then moved it in a circle, moving up and down, and then she pointed it at Sumac. “What will you give me in return?”
“You want something in return?” Sumac asked.
“Tit for tat,” Pebble replied. “I learned it from my mother and my father. When they do something for one another, it is an exchange.”
This seemed reasonable enough, but there was a problem. Sumac didn’t have much to give and he wondered what the filly wanted. It occurred to him that she was acting funny, but he couldn’t quite put his hoof on how or why she was acting funny. Something was off though, something was peculiar.
“Well, what is it that you want?” Sumac asked.
“I don’t know.”
Was Pebble being coy? Sumac wasn’t sure. He waited, his ears perked, wondering what was up with the filly. She was a strange, mysterious creature, more dangerous and unknown than Discord himself. This was somewhat frustrating, how could he give her something if she didn’t know what it was that she wanted?
Much to Sumac’s alarm, Pebble giggled. It was a strange sound and it worried the colt. No, not worry, it scared him. Not only did she giggle, but she snorted as well. It was a squeaky sound, a little shrill, but not unpleasant. She was now the colour of a dark roasted espresso bean.
“I need a dance partner,” Pebble breathed, “so I can be a better dancer, like my mother. I’ll teach you physics if you dance with me during my dance lessons. Pies are expected to know how to dance.”
It now felt like summer and Sumac could feel himself sweating. This was a steep price to pay for learning physics. He tried to swallow and found that he couldn’t get rid of the lump caught in his throat. Pebble was still giggle-snorting and she sounded just a tiny bit like her aunt Pinkie Pie.
Just as he was about to say something, Sumac was interrupted by a strange, yet familiar voice and hearing it made his blood run cold.
“Why, Sumac Apple, how you’ve grown…”
Gritting his teeth, Sumac turned and it was like looking into a mirror when he looked into the eyes of Flam Apple, his father. He almost choked, but somehow held himself together. Pebble was now pressed up against him, and somehow, she had done so without moving, or at least Sumac didn’t see her move.
“Why, I thought I’d drop in and say hello… honestly, I thought you’d be happier to see me…”