//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7 
// Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals: Winter Break 
// by kudzuhaiku 
//------------------------------//

	Maud was the best sled puller there was, period. Sumac’s sled was loaded down with stuff, some of which he wasn’t allowed to investigate. Those had to be presents and even though he tried to play it cool, thinking about them made him excited. The sled skimmed over the snow with no jerking, just a smooth glide that Sumac appreciated. 

In the center of Ponyville, near the city hall, earth ponies, pegasus ponies, and unicorn ponies all worked together to erect a massive five-story tall holiday tree, which once secured, would be decorated so that the town might enjoy it. Holiday trees left Sumac feeling conflicted; on one hoof, they were pleasant to look at, but on the other hoof, there was a living tree that was cut down just to be decorated for the enjoyment of ponies.

“Trixie has been looking forward to this.” She paused for a moment, looking a little embarrassed, and glanced at Lemon Hearts, who trotted through the snow beside her. “This has changed my views on family and togetherness. I’m glad I have settled down and that I have all of you with me. This is all very difficult for Trixie to say.” 

“I’m sure this is difficult,” Maud replied in deadpan. “For all those years, you were the mare on the run, fleeing from any sort of emotional attachment, always running, always fleeing. Tarnish got his feelings hurt, and to be honest, I did too, but we kept trying. So did a lot of other ponies.” 

Sniffling a little, Trixie nodded, started to say something, but then didn’t. Her lower lip protruded, quivering, and her eyes were glazed over with tears. Yet, even with all of this emotion on display, she still looked happy. Lemon Hearts gave Trixie a full body bump and somehow, Trixie managed to give Lemon a brave smile in return. 

“It all starts by coming home—” 

“But Ponyville wasn’t my home,” Trixie said. 

“Ahem, it all starts by coming home and letting ponies love you. That’s the hard part.” Maud turned her head to look over at Trixie while her hooves kept a perfect pace forwards. “It was the worst part for Tarnish, because he thought he had convinced himself that he was unloveable. You have no idea how unbelievably hard it was for him. I had to drag him along until such a time that he started to believe that he could be loved. Of course, I suffered from a few issues myself, but by sorting Tarnish out I sorted myself out. I was lucky that way, and I know that not every pony is quite so lucky. Under most circumstances, you have to sort yourself out before you can sort out another pony.” 

“The road ended here.” Lemon Hearts’ voice had a slight catch to it. “You wore your legs out, Trixie… both physical and mental. There was just no running left.” 

“And even with nothing left in me, I tried to run away. Even worse, I tried to leave Sumac behind. Trixie is… I am… I am glad that I was stopped and corralled up in one place for a while.” A single tear rolled down Trixie’s cheek, glistening in the freezing winter daylight while the corners of her mouth turned upwards. “Now, I can’t imagine life without my friends, without Sumac… without Twilight… and you and Twinkleshine, Lemon Hearts. I wake up every morning and just stare at both your faces for a while.” 

Mares, Sumac thought to himself, silly creatures. He needed to wipe his nose and his eyes, but couldn’t. It was a little hard to breathe for some reason, and he sniffle-snorted a few times to sort himself out, trying to hide away any sort of nasal drippage. It wasn’t just mares, either, but fillies too. He couldn’t wait to see Pebble, it had been a while. 

He wouldn’t have to wait much longer. 



 

The mudroom had a curious lack of manticore spawn about it. Sitting on the floor, held up by Lemon Hearts, Sumac waited with patience while he was undressed. No Pebble had come to the door to greet him, leaving him feeling just a tiny bit disappointed. Sumac wondered why it was called a mudroom and not a back porch. 

“You’re growing socks,” Maud remarked as she examined Sumac’s fetlocks. 

“I can’t tell,” Sumac replied, being honest. 

“How can you not see that?” Maud lowered her head down. “There is such a vivid contrast there. I’m thinking we need to get your eyes checked again. Does astigmatism affect how you see colour?” Sitting down, she began to fret over Sumac and with a gentle touch, she brushed his mane away from his face. 

Blinking, Sumac realised that Maud had been acting a little funny as of late, she had been a lot more affectionate. Glancing at her stomach, he suspected that he knew why. Now, she was stroking his right ear, which felt good, it left him feeling relaxed and a little sleepy. Strange thoughts lurked in the back of Sumac’s mind, thoughts that left him unsettled, and his curiousity left him wondering what Pebble might be like someday, when she was going to have a foal of her own. 

It was a grown up thought, and it troubled him. 

“Tarnish?” Maud called out. 

“We’re in here waiting,” Tarnish replied from the kitchen. “Nutmeg is behaving herself, but she keeps sniffing at the door.” 

“Well, she’s feline.” Octavia’s voice sounded conflicted. “Well, sort of. She’s not a pony, Tarnish, sniffing is what she does when she doesn’t understand or know about something. We’re supposed to encourage her—” 

“I haven’t told her to stop,” Tarnish said, interrupting. 

Maud pulled Sumac closer, while Lemon Hearts’ magic kept him propped up. One foreleg wrapped around his body and Maud lowered her head down closer to Sumac’s ear. “Now, she gets excited, and she might be a little scary, but Meg is nice. She’s going to be curious about you and her way of saying hello is different. Okay?” 

Sumac blinked once. “Okay.” 

“Open the door,” Maud said in a flat voice. 

And then, before Sumac had a chance to react, the door was opened, and it swung into the mudroom. In the doorway, he saw… something that defied description. She was chocolate brown, like Tarnish, with a dusky, cinnamony red mohawk. What unnerved Sumac was that her fiery orange eyes were actually glowing in the faint light, or appeared to be. She had whiskers and an underbite. She also had leathery, membranous wings that were folded against her sides. 

Finding the strength that allowed movement, Sumac made a feeble wave with his hoof, after somehow lifting up off of the floor. “Hi.” Just behind the curious creature, he saw Pebble, but he had trouble remaining focused upon her, because Megara was on the move. The sight of her stalking forwards made his heart start thudding against his ribs. 

He didn’t mean to be scared, he didn’t want to be rude, but something about her slow, predatory gait was terrifying. Sumac wiggled a bit and pressed himself against Maud, thankful for her presence, and he tried to control his breathing. Manticores were dangerous, devious monsters, and most of his foalhood had been spent fearing what every foal feared; manticores. 

“Remember, Meg, no pouncing. He’s fragile. If you have to pounce something, you pounce me,” Pebble deadpanned. 

Before Megara could reach Sumac, there was a trumpeting blast from Boomer, and then the little dragon lept down onto the floor, putting herself between Sumac and Megara. Boomer inflated, doing her best chuckwalla impression, and all of her spines and frills stood out. Megara paused mid-step, then crouched low, her tail swishing from side to side. 

Nopony moved. 

Nopony seemed to even breathe. 

Boomer was far too tiny to be threatening, but she was fearless. She hissed and smoke streamed from her tiny pinprick nostrils. Rearing up on her hind legs, she waved her front claws around and did everything she could to make herself appear larger than she was. Her own tail slashing from side to side, Boomer began making belching sounds. 

“Megara, darling, don’t move,” Maud said, her voice low and flat. “Boomer, please don’t set anything on fire.” 

“Mreow?” Megara’s head tilted off to one side and her attention was now on the dragon before her. 

In response, Boomer hissed and began to jump up and down while swaying from side to side. Pebble was up on her hooves now, her ears angled forwards, and there was a distinct look of worry upon her face. Sumac could feel all of his muscles tensing as two of nature’s predators continued to size each other up. 

Then, the most peculiar thing happened. Megara flopped down, rolled over, and showed her belly. Right away, Boomer deflated and dropped into a far more relaxed state. Sumac wanted to know, who had taught them to do this? To behave like this? How did they know how to communicate? They both shared a similar language it seemed, an unspoken language, and Sumac was fascinated by what he had witnessed. 

What agreement had been reached? 

Without warning, Megara was on her paws again, but in a crouched position, her tail swishing from side to side, and Boomer began flexing her claws against the stone floor. Tarnish was now standing beside his daughter, Pebble, and he had a look of paternal concern upon his face. Most of the adults present let out a cry of startled surprise when Megara took off running, shooting between her father’s legs, and Boomer took off in hot pursuit. 

“RAWR!” Boomer rawred as she went skittering after the fleeing manticore spawn. 

“GRAWR!” Megara grawred in reply while scampering through the kitchen, chased by a much smaller dragon. 

Octavia was almost bowled over and it was only her dancer’s grace that saved her from  a spill. Megara ran a lap around her, then a second, and with a yowl, the manticore spawn went shooting out of the kitchen with Boomer hot on her heels, leaving behind an entire herd of confused ponies, all of whom were blinking while making startled, bewildered pony noises. 

Tarnish, the first to recover, asked, “What just happened?” 

To which his daughter Pebble replied, “Megara just made her first friend… I think?” 



 

Feeling a little miffed, Sumac sat on the kitchen floor with his head propped up on a cushion. He could hear Boomer, Pebble, and Megara playing with Tarnish in the other room, and Megara had no interest in him, probably because he was boring. The scent of tea was strong in his nostrils, and the adults were moving about the kitchen, doing whatever it was that they were doing. 

It was Vinyl who came over to be with him, and Sumac was thankful for this. He was feeling a bit glum that Pebble had gone off to the other room to be with the others. His master moved with a bit of extra pep in her step today, and when she sat down, she didn’t ease herself down like Granny Smith might do. Vinyl seemed… better. She also seemed happy. Reaching out one foreleg, she booped him on the nose, and Sumac felt his mane suffer an explosive change. 

Now, he had a spiky mohawk with all of the colours of a zap apple, and Vinyl was grinning. 

It was not to last though. Trixie, who had been peeling potatoes, stopped what she was doing, dropped the paring knife down upon the table, got up, crossed the kitchen, and sat down beside Sumac. Brows furrowed, she stared at Vinyl, challenging her, and with one raised foreleg, she too, booped Sumac on the nose. 

Now his mane was its usual self once more. 

Vinyl, not to be outdone, stared Trixie right in the eye, and the corners of her mouth tugged downwards while Trixie shook her head from side to side. When Vinyl raised her hoof, Trixie’s eyes narrowed, and Sumac could not help but feel that he was trapped, stuck in the middle of this contest of wills. When Vinyl booped him, his mane exploded back into a riotous state. 

Saying nothing, Trixie booped him too, and his mane went limp while losing its garish colours. Octavia and Maud were watching now, while also exchanging glances with one another. Lemon Hearts, not content to watch, came over with her ears pinned back in a submissive manner, and she sat down just behind Sumac. 

“Hey, girls, what’s going on?” Lemon Hearts asked. 

Reaching out, Vinyl replied by booping Sumac’s nose and causing his mane to explode once more into a spiky, zap apple coloured mess. Before Trixie could respond, before she could boop her son, Lemon Hearts intervened. Reaching around Sumac, she placed a lemony yellow hoof on his nose with a light tap, and his mane poofed into a slick-looking pompadour. 

Vinyl recoiled in horror and so did Trixie. Both mares pulled their heads back, cringing in disgust, and Sumac couldn’t quite figure out what was going on, other than his mane felt really weird and kind of greasy right now. It was Vinyl who reacted first, and she booped Sumac on the snoot, trying to fix Lemon Hearts’ dastardly enchantment. 

Once again, Sumac’s mane exploded. 

Trixie, taking exception to this, did not touch Sumac, but instead she booped Vinyl. With a touch, all of Vinyl’s signature shocking colours vanished, and her mane became pale white, almost translucent. It was limp too, hanging down in straight, almost lifeless strands. Octavia began sniggering, and she covered her muzzle with her fetlock. 

Not one to be outdone, Vinyl booped Trixie back, and Trixie’s mane reacted… poorly. It turned a gross shade of half-rotten avocado greenish-brown while exploding into a mess of dense curls. It looked like a clown’s wig, but grosser. Sumac couldn’t bear to look at it, and apparently, neither could Lemon Hearts, because she covered her eyes with both front hooves and let out a shrill squeak. 

Just as everything was about to go topsy-turvy, it was Twinkleshine who rescued Sumac. In a flash, he was teleported away from the foalish adults and into the waiting embrace of the pearlescent mare. With a boop, she undid all of the current enchantments on Sumac’s mane, returning it to its natural state, and then cradled him, rocking him back and forth while both Vinyl and Trixie turned on poor Lemon Hearts, whose only mistake had been getting involved. 

“Unicorns.” Octavia let out a sniff and turned to look at Maud. “Silly creatures, the lot of them. Sometimes, honestly, I am confounded by whatever it is I see in her.” 

“I brought one home to meet my parents,” Maud replied, shaking her head. “What does that say about me?” She elbowed Octavia in the ribs and then added, “I have a wicked craving for pumpkin. Help me.”