Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, stared at the book on the podium with a great deal of hesitation. It wasn’t just any book, it was The Book. A long time ago, Tarnished Teapot had recovered this ancient tome from Skyreach and brought it home to her. For the longest time, the book was impossible to read. It resisted her until just recently, when words had begun to form. Messages appeared in the blank pages, messages in her own script, which left her feeling astounded and confused.
The last message had been quite clear: Fetch Sumac and all will be revealed.
She had no reason not to trust herself, and somehow she knew that she was seeing her own flowing script. It was her own magical signature—that much was unmistakable—so what else could she do but do as she was told? Somehow, she was giving herself these instructions for a reason, and if you couldn’t trust yourself, who could you trust?
Sumac was beginning to grow into his magic and showed immense promise for his age. His knack for defensive magic was now almost a state of artistry—he constructed shield matrices in the same way Octavia scribed symphonies—and his ability to weave protective spells was only surpassed by her brother, Shining Armor. Through sorcery, Sumac had absorbed and learned defensive magics from those all around him, including tutelage by Shining Armor himself.
There could be no doubt that Sumac was a product of the dangerous times they lived in, but advancing through adversity had made the little colt thrive and grow in strength. Sumac had friends, his greatest strength in Twilight’s opinion, and she felt that she had taught him well. For being eleven years old, he was accomplished, and Twilight knew that she had played a huge part in that. Some might say that it takes a village to raise a foal, and Ponyville had stepped up. Pretty much everypony in town had a hoof in Sumac’s development somehow.
She felt proud. Ponyville was her town, and Ponyville had done right. A princess could not ask for more from her demesne and she knew that her success as a ruler was measured by how Ponyville had prospered. The town was a reflection of her values, her virtues, and her beliefs. It was an extension of her morality as a pony, and her ethics as a princess. She had done right by Ponyville, and Ponyville had done right by her.
When she heard the door opening, she turned to face her visitor…
When the colt entered, Twilight rushed forwards to give him a hug. He froze up, as he tended to do, and she wrapped her wings around him. She remembered when he was small, so small, and now he was getting big. Well, in a relative sense. The colt was skinny, probably from using far too much magic far too often. He was a gawky, awkward little egghead, and she loved him.
“Hi, Sumac.”
“You sent for me?” Sumac responded as he leaned into the hug. “Private lesson time?”
“Something like that, yes.” Twilight nodded her head while she pulled away. Looking down, she adjusted his glasses after knocking them askew. Glasses had to be perfect. Giving him a good once over, she was now satisfied that he was okay. Reaching out her wing, she stroked his mane, pushing it back away from his eyes, and smiled because Sumac had a rather long horn for his age, a horn remarkably like his father’s.
“I think you’ll be growing in that mustache soon,” Twilight said to Sumac in a way that was far too teasing, and she laughed when she saw him blush. When he started to stammer, Twilight switched to more reassuring words. “Your father had a magnificent mustache, and that’s not a bad thing. Of all of the traits you’ve inherited from him, I think the mustache is the best one.”
“Really?”
Twilight could hear the hesitation in Sumac’s voice. “Well, Star Swirl was known for his beard, so you could be Sumac the Mustachioed Sorcerer.”
“That sounds mega-dorky.” The colt’s eyes blinked once behind his darkened lenses.
“If you became a supervillain, you could be the Mustached Maniac!” Twilight allowed her eyes to go wide and her ears angled forwards over her face. “Or maybe the Mustached Menace?”
“Flurry would kill me if I turned to evil,” Sumac remarked, brows furrowed, sighing out his words in a matter-of-fact sort of way.
“Really?” One of Twilight’s eyebrows arched in concern. “She wouldn’t try to redeem you?” Her words caused the colt’s seriousness to crumble a bit, and she heard him giggling, a happy, welcomed sound. For having a troubling life, Sumac had turned out well-adjusted, and for this, Twilight was thankful beyond words.
“There would be a race,” Sumac began, and he shook his head. “Olive would probably throw Pebble at me, Flurry would use her ice powers, Megara would pick up something heavy and hit me with it, and Boomer… well… I suspect that Boomer would express her displeasure with me somehow. My friends would kick my a—”
“Plot!” Twilight interjected.
Sumac reconsidered. “My friends would kick my plot if I turned to evil. Nope, I need to walk the straight and narrow. I have too much on the line to deviate.”
“Like what…” Twilight narrowed her eyes and wondered what Sumac was thinking, what his plans were. There was something about the look on his face that excited her curiousity, and she had to know his motivations, if she could get him to open up. “Come on, Sumac, you can tell me anything, remember?”
“Well…”
“Well, what?” Twilight demanded, curious and impatient.
“Well, I kinda wanna sample Pebble’s sweet, sticky pie,” Sumac blurted out, blunt and straight to the point. His face reddened and his gaze fell down to the floor as he began to kick his hooves against each other. “Look, don’t judge me, but I want something in return for my seeming altruism, and Pebble has those jiggly thunder thighs.” The colt clenched his teeth and let out a hiss as he thought about it. “They keep me up at night. And by up at night, I mean it’s hard to roll over in the bed. You wouldn’t know because you don’t have this problem.”
Twilight understood all too well. Pinkie Pie too, had thunder thighs, and they were distracting. Wings too, had a mind of their own, and even after all of these years, she still had trouble sleeping with them sometimes. She nodded, agreeing, and said to Sumac, “That’s as fine of a reason to remain good as any. Well… let’s get started, shall we?”
“I kinda want to do the mattress mambo with Silver Lining too, but her father is a Warden. Well, retired Warden, but still, that puts a lot of pressure on a colt like me to be good. There are places I’d like to go and girls I’d like to do, and if I’m ever going to live the dream, I have to walk a fine, fine line. Dim told me that when a stallion does good, it’s because he wants something, and he’s right.”
Twilight was forced to cork her mouth with her hoof as an emergency measure, and she saw stars in her vision as she struggled to withhold her laughter. She heard herself snorting, and the sudden pressure made her ears pop while starbursts exploded before her eyes. The honesty here was both amusing and refreshing, and she expected no less from Sumac Apple.
Twilight felt her own magic grow difficult to control as Sumac allowed a zap apple lozenge to dissolve in his mouth. The rush of power was intoxicating; it was a pleasure that made her feel guilty every time she experienced it. It was like when she was young again, when her magic was something she was still learning to keep in check. Twilight remembered the days of never-ending struggle, when just turning a page in a book was an accomplishment.
Every entrance was locked and warded. Intrusion into the room would be impossible for most, and Twilight tried not to think about it or worry about it too much. The book seemed to be reacting to Sumac’s sorcery as well: It had a peculiar glow, and Twilight could feel power radiating from it. It thrummed and throbbed in waves, and she had no doubt that Sumac’s magic sense was being overwhelmed, because hers was too.
Electricity coursed through Twilight’s wings, crackled along each feather, and arced from primary to primary. She shared a secret with Sumac, and that was that they both loved the feeling of power. They reveled in it, their secret pleasure, and the sorcerer offered his power as a voluntary participant. There was a secret nook in Twilight’s mind that took this as a great personal victory, a great accomplishment, that she was friends with her treasured sorcerer and did not have to coerce him. There was power to be had in their mutual trust.
With Sumac by her side, Twilight Sparkle knew that she was the single most powerful magical being in this reality, and maybe the next few realities over. It was a power that so far, she had never abused; she reasoned that, so long as she felt a little guilty about having it, she would be okay.
Her love for Sumac was far, far stronger than her love of power.
“Twilight, I’m getting stronger,” Sumac said in a soft, somewhat squeaky adolescent voice. “It kinda scares me.”
“You’re getting older, Sumac. This is normal. It’ll be okay. You have good teachers.” Twilight felt magic rushing up and down her legs, tingling through her bones, and her hooves crackled against the stone with each step. “You’ve learned an awful lot of theory and application. Soon, you’ll be old enough to put all of that into real practice, and you’ll be a force of magic to be reckoned with. I know that you’ll do good with it. Lemon Hearts has instilled in you a powerful sense of goodness.”
“My sense of right and wrong gets jumbled sometimes,” Sumac confessed while he shook his head. “Sometimes, I just get so angry, especially when life feels unfair for others.”
“Trust in your friends, Sumac,” Twilight replied as she turned her attention upon the book.
This time, the book did nothing to resist her when she opened it, and with her telekinesis, she pulled on the cover. The book fell open in the middle, much to her surprise, and she saw ink swirling around on the pages. She watched as the paper crumpled, crinkled, and took shape. It was like a pop up book now, and a magnificent castle took shape, rising up from the sea of ink.
The drawbridge of the castle opened and light spilled out. Motes of raw magic began to swirl around, and Twilight found her gaze locked upon the inviting entrance. Little paper ponies danced upon the pages, and the ink continued to move in mesmerising whorls. These ponies looked like the somewhat stylised ponies that existed in the paintings and stained glass windows of Canterlot Castle. Enchanted, Twilight felt as though she was a foal again, and she delighted in what she saw.
“Are you ready, Sumac?”
“For what?” The colt looked curious.
“We’re going in!” Twilight gestured with her wing at the paper castle. “Do you trust me?”
“Always and forever,” Sumac responded without thinking. “You’re my aunt!”
“I know.” Twilight blinked once because her eyes now felt a little misty. Being an aunt was special, and she now had a little herd of ponies that worshipped and adored her. It was a treasured accomplishment and a major milestone in her life. She hoped that she might be a mother soon.
Gesturing with her wing, she pulled Sumac closer, lifting him with her magic, and then began to approach the book. She felt a tug—it was like the pull of gravity—and she felt an overwhelming sense of purpose. On her hips, her cutie marks were glowing like the sun, and Sumac’s cutie marks were as well.
“Everything feels right about this,” Sumac said in a voice of perfect, utter calm. “My fears have left me.”
“Me too,” Twilight replied as she continued moving towards the book.
In the blink of an eye, she and Sumac vanished, leaving behind an empty study. The study did not stay empty for very long though, as a brilliant lavender alicorn popped into existence. She had a weary, but triumphant smile, and her eyes looked exhausted. The weariness she suffered was evidenced by how she dragged her hooves over the floor and stumbled towards the book.
“Thousands and thousands of years to reach this point,” she murmured. “To be back with friends, family, and loved ones. Now to wait just a little longer, and then I can be with the ones I love again. Not much longer now…” Sighing with relief, Twilight Sparkle closed the book and the light vanished. “It’s been so long… I’ve changed so much… and they’re still just as I remember them.” She sighed again, sat down, and began weeping.
Wiping at her eyes with her foreleg, she sobbed and said to herself, “Spike, I’ve missed you most of all… I never understood how much I needed you… I was so stupid...”