//------------------------------// // Chapter 119 // Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Overhead, the stars twinkled like a thousand glittery jewels and Sumac took the time to look up so that he might appreciate it. He had slept for the longest time and now he was wide awake, which was the perfect way to enjoy Princess Luna’s night. His poncho was draped over his back and Boomer slept with one corner pulled over her to ward off the night’s chill. After a good look about, Sumac noticed yet another nocturnal pegasus, this one in armor as it hurried through the streets. Was it a Warden? Sumac wasn’t sure. It was strange enough seeing one in Sugarcube Corner, now this. Ears perking, Sumac focused on his magic sense, feeling a strange current in the air. It was like using his eyes to look at something, and recognising it for what it was, but when he focused his magic sense and concentrated, he could sense the magic of the nocturnal pegasus ponies. It was strange, peculiar, and not at all like unicorn magic. “What are you doing?” a deep, growling baritone asked from Sumac’s left. Startled, Sumac let out a bleating cry as he retreated to his right and he heard an indignant wickering of righteous fury. A flash of pearlescent white filled his peripheral vision to his left and Twinkleshine trotted past at a brisk pace. When he turned his head, he saw that it was a mare that had addressed him, and not a stallion as he had thought. “What’s the big idea, scaring some poor little colt like that?” Twinkleshine demanded. The big mare towered over Twinkleshine and looked down at her with a rather amused expression on her face. After a moment of study, she spoke. “Twinkleshine… hmm, we have a file about you. A list of unicorns most likely to go rogue. As I recall, you were completely taken over by changeling mind control magic.” “I’ll go rogue right in your big ugly face if you don’t tell me why you thought it was a good idea to scare Sumac!” “He was observing our magic,” the big mare replied, “and that is forbidden.” “He can’t help it!” Lemon Hearts crept forward, cautious, and she remained behind Twinkleshine. “It’s an involuntary reaction. Go and ask Princess Twilight and she’ll tell you the same.” “Hmm,” the big mare hummed as she shifted her weight from one side to another and caused her armor to clank a bit. “I was not made aware of this. My apologies for my gruff behaviour, but I have orders to obey and follow. There is very little flexibility in my directives. Punishment is dire indeed if I fail in my orders.” Twinkleshine, still bristling, bared her teeth at the much larger mare, and Lemon Hearts stepped around Twinkleshine, brushing up against her side as she did so. Sumac found refuge beneath his mother, Trixie, and peered out from between her front legs. When Twinkleshine refused to stand down, Lemon Hearts gave the snarly pearlescent mare beside her a full body bump to push her aside. “You’ll have to forgive Twinkle, she’s under a lot of stress right now,” Lemon Hearts began as she tried to resolve the situation. “Sumac wasn’t trying to interfere with your investigation or whatever is going on. Scaring him was just unnecessary, you know? Does your mother know that you run around in the dark, scaring little foals half to death?” “Twinkleshine is just doing her job, just as I am doing mine. I would expect no less from her. It was never my intention to scare Sumac and you have my apologies.” The big mare smiled, revealing many jagged shark-like teeth that had a strange bluish-white glow to them in the darkness. “My mother is also my superiour officer, so if we could just keep this between us…” Lemon laughed, accepting the offered olive branch, but Twinkleshine didn’t and Sumac, whose heart was still thumping around inside of his ribs, found all of this rather funny. The colt let out a squeaky, nervous laugh and looked up at the big mare. Trixie made a dismissive wave with her hoof and let out an indignant snort. “Go on, go and do your job, go sniff out dissension or whatever it is that you are doing here.” Trixie’s eyebrow arched and she stroked Sumac when she returned her leg to the ground. “Actually…”—the big mare leveled her steely, draconic gaze on Sumac—“he might be able to help me with that magic sense of his. All of you have alpha-clearance as representatives of Princess Twilight Sparkle, and she is the one that authorised our search.” “Oh, I don’t know if I like this,” Lemon Hearts gasped. “How?” Trixie asked in a curious voice. “I don’t see how Sumac could help you.” “Flam Apple had a contact right here in Ponyville. We couldn’t see the face or hear the voice in his memories, as they’ve been clouded in shadow. We know that who we seek is here, hiding in plain sight, using magic to protect themselves. Perhaps Sumac can sense the origin of this magic for us—” “No!” Lemon Hearts squeaked. “No! No way! Nuh-uh, not gonna happen!” “But Lemon!” Sumac whined. “No buts, Sumac! I said no and that’s final! And that goes for you as well, you big mean foal-scarer!” Lemon Hearts stomped one dainty little hoof into the ground to punctuate her words and her tail flicked from side to side. “Come, we’re going home, all of us, right now. This is why decent, alicorn-fearing ponies shouldn’t be out after dark!” “Lemon has spoken,” Trixie said to the big mare, “and I fear that we must get Sumac home so he can go to bed—” “I’m wide awake, I don’t wanna go to bed!” Sumac’s protest came out as an especially whiny whine. “I just woke up a while ago after sleeping for like a week and a half!” “Oh, good job, you big brute, now you’ve got him all riled up.” Twinkleshine glowered up at the much larger mare and her lip curled back a little farther from her perfect white teeth. “Now we have to look like the bad guys when we tell him that he can’t help. Just… go away and go do your job so we can go do ours!” Bowing her head, the big mare then said nothing as she turned about and strolled off, her armor jangling. Sumac watched her go, looking disappointed, and he let out a little huff of discontentment. Twinkleshine snorted, her nostrils flaring, and she shook her hoof in an aggressive manner at the big mare as she trotted away. Disappointed, Sumac kicked the dirt with his hoof. “But I wanted to help…” Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle glowed in the night, to the delight of some and to the dismay of others. Sumac supposed that having the castle shine in your window while you tried to sleep might be annoying, but this is what curtains were for, right? The little colt was unable to understand the complaints about property values, as they utterly mystified him. Another cause of disturbance was the crowds that gathered around Twilight’s castle, like now. Sumac’s eyes narrowed as he peered ahead, looking at the herd of ponies milling about. The royal guard was out in force and much to Sumac’s surprise, he saw a familiar tall figure, and there was only one pony that tall. As Sumac and the group of mares behind him approached, the guards parted to get out of the way of Twilight, who stepped away from Princess Celestia to greet Sumac, Trixie, Lemon, and Twinkleshine. Twilight looked tired, even in the dim light Sumac could see the bags under her eyes and her tired, worn out expression. But then he saw something else that made him freeze in place… “Good evening, Sumac,” Twilight said in a somewhat dry, scratchy voice. Sumac didn’t hear a word, he was too busy gawking at the strange alicorn surrounded by guards. The colt’s mouth fell agape and he just stood there with a wide-eyed, unblinking, blank stare. Sumac was so much in awe that he failed to notice his own magic sense, but he did notice that the alicorn shook as though he had a palsy. “It’s okay, Sumac, go on over and say hi,” Twilight said as she made a gesture with her wing. “He’s friendly… in fact, he and I became friends almost right away.” As Twilight Spoke, Moondancer came into view, and Moondancer looked more than a little harried. “I think it might be nice for him to meet somepony that isn’t a guard, an advisor, or a princess.” His brave little heart blazing with curiousity, Sumac trotted forwards with his eyes locked upon the strange, twitching alicorn whose eyes didn’t blink quite right. Everything about him shook and shivered, and a feeling of pity joined Sumac’s curiousity. The strange alicorn wasn’t very tall, not much taller than Twilight, his wings didn’t quite seem large enough, and the magic exuding off of him felt all wrong to Sumac. “Sumac, this is Adventus,” Trixie said as she gave her colt a nudge. “He and I have already met. He has some trouble speaking.” “H-huh-heh-huh-hum-huh-hello,” Adventus stammered as his left eyelids spasmed. “Hi,” Sumac breathed as he stood looking up. “Adventus is a neat name.” “He can’t remember his own name,” Moondancer said to Sumac in a voice that held a hint of anger. “They burned the word ‘Adventus’ into his mind and that is all he can think of when he tries to identify himself.” Princess Celestia, now closer, reached out with one wing to offer comfort and calm the quivering, twitching alicorn known as Adventus. She looked down at Sumac with sad, wise eyes, and she said, “Adventus was an investigative reporter and he went to speak with the Equalists with the hopes that we might find some common ground and stop the fighting.” The princess shook her head. “They did this to him… he escaped and he came to Twilight with a warning about the Ascendancy, from what we’ve been able to gather.” Ears perking, Sumac hung on every word being said. “This is why I had to learn the mind-reading stuff from Princess Luna,” Twilight admitted to Sumac as she too, touched Adventus with her wing. “He stutters and stammers so much that it is almost impossible to have a conversation. If we want to help him, we have to understand him.” “The Ascendency needs to be crushed for what they’re—” “Twinkleshine, let it drop for now,” Lemon Hearts said as she stepped closer to Adventus. “Hello, how ya feeling?” The alicorn’s face contorted as he tried to smile and he began to stammer, “Lem-Lem-Le-Le-Lemon!” After expending all of that effort just to say Lemon’s name, Adventus grimaced, as if he was in great pain. He let out a whinny from between clenched teeth and then almost fell—only Princess Celestia kept him upright with a push of her wing. “I fix Adventus tea and we sit together,” Lemon Hearts said to Sumac. “We don’t get a chance to talk much, but that’s okay. Sometimes, just sipping tea together is fine. Of course, I have to hold his tea for him, otherwise he sloshes it everywhere.” With a great deal of effort, Adventus managed to smile at Lemon. “I bet you get bored,” Sumac said to the alicorn stallion. Adventus nodded, his head jerking about. Sumac was resilient in the ways that only the very young could be, springing back from trauma with surprising endurance. Adventus engaged his curiousity, his interest, and Sumac’s troubles were now the furthest thing from his mind. He felt bad for the sickly alicorn, and a sincere feeling of pity filled his tiny five year old heart. With a turn of his head, he looked up at Princess Celestia. “What is going to be done with him?” he asked. “We’re going to do everything we can to heal him,” Princess Celestia replied as she peered down at Sumac, who did not even come up to her knee. “That’s actually why I’m here, Sumac.” “And not at home doing married pony stuff with Prince Gosling?” “Yes.” The word came out as a soft hiss. “And not at home doing married pony stuff with Gosling. Horrible, icky stuff like hugging and kissing my special somepony. Just like you do with Pebble—” “No I don’t!” Adventus wickered and Princess Celestia’s eyes twinkled with merry mischief in the faint light. “Oh, I think you do… are you being an honest Apple?” Chewing on his own lip, Sumac’s whole muzzle crinkled in a very familiar way—anypony that knew Applejack well enough might’ve seen this same expression on her face, as it was an endearing Apple family trait. Rather than answer, Sumac chose to remain silent. The laughter of Twinkleshine, Trixie, and Lemon Hearts burned his ears, and then Twilight joined in as well. “Sumac, my devoted little Apple-kith, you look bright-eyed and bushy tailed,” Princess Celestia said to the little colt that appeared to be trying to swallow his own muzzle. “How would you like to help me tonight? I could use the help of a sorcerer and you… I know that you’ve been having a hard time and that you are recovering from what happened with your father. Maybe a little hard work might help distract you from your troubles, what do you say, Sumac Apple?” “You just talked like Princess Luna,” Sumac said, making a fearless observation. Blinking, Princess Celestia recalled all of her words, then after a few seconds, she nodded as she gave Sumac a warm, sunny smile. “So I did.” “Can I help?” Sumac asked as he turned around and gave Trixie a pleading look. Of course, the little colt never once gave thought to whether or not Princess Celestia actually needed his help, had he thought about it, he might have realised that an alicorn as powerful as she probably didn’t need his help, but it sure did make him feel better about pretty much everything. “Well, I don’t know…” Trixie seemed hesitant to give an answer. “Pinkie Pie gave me coffee—” “SHE WHAT?” Twinkleshine blurted out. “Oh, I am going to have to have a talk with that pony!” “She said it would make me feel better and it did. It cleared my head and I was able to think again and I didn’t feel so sluggish—” “That’s what coffee does, Sumac.” Lemon Hearts heaved a sigh and rolled her eyes. “Trixie,” Twilight said to her friend and confidant, “you have a right to say no if you want to. Nopony will think any less of you—” “I will.” “Sumac Apple!” Lemon Hearts snapped as Adventus began snickering and wheezing and Princess Celestia let out a mirth-filled chuckle. “Tiny drops of tincture only,” Trixie said to Princess Celestia. “I don’t want him brain dead come morning. I don’t like it when he’s powerfully stupid, it scares me.” Sighing, Twinkleshine said, “It’s going to be a long night.” “Wonderful.” Princess Celestia looked down at Sumac and winked. “I look forward to working with you, Sumac Apple.” “Say, where is Gosling, anyhow?” Sumac asked. “He and Spike are… running an errand,” Moondancer said, answering without really saying anything meaningful. “They’re off with Princess Luna—” “Looking for Flam’s contact here in Ponyville?” Sumac blurted out. “Yes.” Twilight gave Sumac a nudge. “That’s the honest answer. Though, Gosling did say that he was going to give Spike prettification lessons on the way so that Spike will be good looking enough to catch the eye of a certain somepony that he has a crush on.” “How did you know about Flam’s contact?” Moondancer asked. “Funny story, one of those big brutes just jumped out and scared poor Sumac,” Twinkleshine replied as she made a rude, downright obscene gesture with her hoof. “There was an incident.” “An incident?” “Yes, an incident and I thought I was gonna have to Twinkle-Smack somepony.” Her eyes darting between Moondancer and Twinkleshine as though she was watching a tennis match, Princess Celestia drew in a deep breath and butted in. “We should go back inside before there is an incident.” “What’s a Twinkle-Smack?” Sumac asked, sounding innocent as could be while Lemon Hearts let out a flustered huff. “It’s where I hit somepony so hard that they see stars for hours,” Twinkleshine replied. At this point, Adventus was laughing so hard that Princess Celestia had to hold him up in her magic. Lemon Hearts was huffing and rolling her eyes in exasperation while Trixie sniggered and struggled to hold back her laughter. It was just what Sumac needed.