//------------------------------// // Birthday blood bond // Story: Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals: The Soul Thief // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// Sumac Apple sipped root beer through a straw dipped into an ice-filled glass glistening with condensation. His mothers were acting like fillies at the moment, skipping rope together on the foundation that would one day be a shed, or a workshop, or some sort of building. Others were singing some silly playground song while the three mares bounced in place. For Sumac, watching others have fun was a thoroughly enjoyable activity. “I went outside to play, I looked up in the sky, I saw a rude pegasus, and it poo-pooed in my eye!” Pausing mid-slurp, Sumac considered what had just been sung. Pegasus ponies? Poo-pooing in one’s eye? Casting a sidelong glance in Rainbow Dash’s direction, he had a quiet, thankful moment that pegasus ponies were polite and well-behaved. Beside him, Pebble had an utterly baffled, quizzical expression, as she clearly did not understand what was going on. The adults were sitting in the grass, some of them anyhow, and clopping their front hooves together while singing. Others stood. Some pronked and Sumac suspected that they might have had a bit too much sugar for their own good. “My father has a horn, my mother has wings, I was born grounded, but I love to sing!” Pebble facehoofed but Sumac wasn’t sure why. Somehow, Twilight got pulled into skipping rope with Lemon Hearts, Trixie, and Twinkleshine, and Sumac could see the panicked expression that lit up her face. Poor Twilight had no idea what to do and was almost stumbling to keep up. But, Twilight persevered and in no time at all, she was keeping time with the trio of bouncy unicorns who pranced out a staccato rhythm upon the foundation slab. Manes bounced, tails bobbed, and ears twitched in time to the simple beat of the repetitive song. It was the music that held everything together; so long as one jumped and kept the rope moving in perfect time, nothing could go wrong. Twilight had it now and looked rather pleased with herself—at least this wasn’t dancing, or it would be a disaster. “I made myself a snowball, as perfect as can be, I thought I'd keep it as a pet, and let it sleep with me. I made him some pajamas, a pillow for his head, but then last night it ran away, right after it wet the bed!” Something soft, fuzzy, and feathery touched Sumac, and when he turned his head to look, he saw Silver Lining. She was a clingy creature, Silver Lining, shy, and she was very much like he himself. At some point, she had let go of her mother and now, she was latching onto him. Under most circumstances, Sumac didn’t enjoy his sense of space being invaded, but Silver Lining was an exception. When she clung to him, he became her security, and that changed the feeling of things. He couldn’t be annoyed with her for seeking safety and comfort. Griffons, by and large, were jerks. But Silver Lining hadn’t been raised by griffons in the traditional griffon way; which was to be coldly thrown out and left to fend for herself from the earliest moment possible. Her clinginess was nurtured—encouraged even—by Gloomy. Silver Lining had been raised with pony values, pony social norms, and Twilight loved to speak at length at how adaptable the different species were, how things could be changed. Spike was Twilight’s most perfect example, because most dragons were also jerks. Boomer was blossoming into jerkiness, but also being taught a better way. As for Sumac himself, knowing that one’s nature could be changed was comforting. His father hadn’t been a good pony. His mother was not a good pony. He came from a line of rotten Apples. But, as Applejack was fond of saying, even rotten trees produced fine seeds. The warm spring sun shone down upon him and Silver Lining was a warm, fuzzy lump against his side. Turning his head, he glanced at Applejack, who had arrived a little late. Sumac had high hopes of being a good Apple; Spike, Boomer, and Silver Lining’s very existence gave him all the hope he could ever want or need. “I wish Father was here,” Pebble said, mumbling out the words in a fretful way. “I hate when Daddy goes away too,” Silver Lining said to Pebble. “I hate it.” Not sure of what to say, Sumac said the only thing that came to mind: “My father is a tree.” “Do you want to visit him on your birthday?” Silver Lining asked. It took awhile to work up a response, but somehow, Sumac managed. “Yeah. But I don’t want to ruin this. Everypony worked so hard to make this happen. It feels wrong to want to leave so I can go talk to a tree.” “You’re a weird one, Sumac Apple. Trying to make other ponies happy on your birthday. Today is supposed to be all about you.” Pebble sighed, reached out, placed one hoof upon Silver Lining, and gestured at Olive with her other front hoof. “Look at her. Having fun with her parents. It’s quite a change. Plus, she’s a hero now, because she stood up to Queen Chrysalis. Not even a year ago, I hated her guts. Now I can’t imagine life without her.” “She’s one of us,” said Sumac, agreeing. “We should form a club.” “The Weirdos, Rejects, and Losers’ Club.” Again, Pebble sighed. “What a stupid idea.” “We’re not like the others.” Silver Lining redoubled her grip on Sumac, but also lifted her head high. “As a griffon, I don’t fit in. Except with you.” “My sister, Megara, scares other ponies. Oh look”—Pebble’s deadpan became particularly pronounced—“big scary manticore. Quick, run. Hide. It’s scarier than a zebra. We’re all going to die. Run away.” Heaving yet another sigh, she finished with, “The monumental stupidity of others physically pains me. The only refuge I have is with you. My friends. You weirdos, rejects, and losers.” “Pebble, try to get Meg and Olive and I’m going to see if I can sneak inside.” “Sumac?” Tilting her head, Pebble glanced around Silver Lining to get a better look at Sumac’s face. “We’re gonna have a club.” Sumac glanced around, his shifty gaze going from pony to pony. “We’ll have a bond with spit… and blood. And it will be just us… against the world.” “Okay.” Pebble offered up a resigned shrug. “I’ll see if I can cause a distraction so you can slip away with Silver.” “Blood?” The faint waver in Silver Lining’s voice gave away her trepidation. “I feel queasy when I see blood.” “Pebble’s parents and Trixie all share a special bond.” Sumac kept his voice low, almost in a conspiratorial whisper. “Especially Trixie, Tarnish, and Maud. They have a special bond that other ponies don’t have. It’s almost like a club, but better. Way better. It’s something they’ve bled for. If you listen when Tarnish tells his stories, there’s always blood involved. He and Vinyl have bled together. That’s the secret to friendship that they’re not telling us about in school. You have to bleed to bond.” “There is a scary amount of logic in that statement.” Pulling her hoof away from Silver Lining, Pebble Pie rubbed her broad, fuzzy chin. “Olive and I bonded and became friends when we bled together. When Queen Chrysalis did what she did to us. Look at us now. Olive and I are the best of friends. It was the blood that brought us together.” “Gross.” Silver Lining pulled away from Sumac, but only just a little. “I can bleed for my friends… if I have to.” “You two… wait for my distraction. You’ll know it when it happens.” “Don’t think for a moment that I didn’t notice that you and your friends disappeared, Sumac Apple.” With a peculiar feeling of pride, Trixie gave her son a knowing look. “That was clever, setting up a distraction so you could slip off. You’ve learned so much from me.” Of course, Sumac said nothing in return, and that was fine. “You don’t have to tell me what went on in there, but I will admit, I am curious.” Still, the colt was silent and Trixie was oddly prideful of his secretive nature. “Are you having a nice time, Sumac?” she asked, this time posing a question she hoped he would answer. “Yes.” He nodded, and what a prim and proper nod it was. A showpony’s nod. He was in fine form, now that he’d recovered from the incident earlier. “Did you have fun jumping rope?” “In fact, I did.” Trixie allowed a smile to happen and she elbowed her son in his thin little ribs. “When Trixie was little, she wanted to play jump rope, but nopony would play with her. So Trixie got an attitude problem and took out her frustrations upon those who would not jump rope with her.” “Lemon Hearts.” “Among others.” Trixie’s smile remained, but she felt a painful twinge of guilt. “Things are sorted out now, though, and now I have others to jump rope with. Marital rope skipping is quite lovely.” “Should you be doing that in public?” Unable to stop herself, Trixie began snickering. Sumac was a funny little guy just brimming with charisma and wit. Slipping one foreleg around his neck, she pulled him closer until they sat side to side with one another. She could feel the past wanting to creep up on her, but she was in too fine a mood. A maternal mood, actually, and she realised that she had an opportunity to bond with her son. “Kiddo, one day, you’ll grow up a bit more, and you’ll fall in love.” She sighed and gazed off in the direction of where Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine were facing off against Moondancer and Twilight Sparkle. “It will be real love… not just youthful infatuation. You will find that just spending time with those you love, you will find that it is a joy. A pleasure for one to treasure. It doesn’t matter if you are skipping rope, or playing cards, or washing dishes, or raising a son together… these moments take on profound meaning.” “So it is like what I have now, but better?” There was a thoughtful look upon Sumac’s face and his ears remained pivoted forwards—a sure sign that he was listening with rapt attention. Looking down at him, she could not help but be reminded of life on the road. She could always tell when he was listening, paying attention. When he was her ‘apprentice’ she prided herself on having such an eager student that hung on her every word. It built her confidence, made her feel worthwhile, and this… this had changed her in some fundamental way that she still did not have the words for. Twilight Sparkle crowed in triumph when her horseshoe clanged against the metal post. “What do you have now, Sumac?” she asked with the hope of giving Sumac something to think about. “A bond that can’t be broken,” he replied. “Oh. Is that so?” Intrigued, Trixie thought about the fact that he had slipped into the house for a time with his friends. Had some kind of birthday pact been made? That seemed likely. Determining that it was a private issue, and wanting her son to have a sense of privacy, she decided to drop the subject. Pebble was outright heckling Twilight and Trixie could see that said heckles were getting under Twilight’s skin. Poor Twilight… she always approached competition with fairness and kindness in mind. Not a bad thing, but when others sought advantages or brought a harsh, competitive edge to the game, Twilight often became unnerved. It was an observable weakness. Like her mother, Maud, Pebble was a natural-born heckler. “Sumac, I can’t help but notice that your friends are all girls.” She saw her son blush, but he did not turn away. “Olive is more of… more of a tomboy, really.” Sumac paused to adjust his glasses and let out a light huff. “And Megara is just as rough and tough as any colt. Tougher than I am. I don’t get along with most of the other colts my age. I don’t know why. Most of them seem mindless. I get in a bad mood around them. They don’t want to read books or learn stuff and I don’t know how to talk to them. It’s frustrating. My friends are all smart… mostly. They also just happen to be girls. It just works out that way.” “Well, I think it is a fine thing—” “Really?” Trixie could not help but notice the relief in her son’s voice. Clearly, he had anxieties, and she had just stumbled across them, unawares. She knew that Sumac had trouble fitting in and she knew why. He had been socialised around adults and not around foals his own age. Life on the road had skewed his perspectives and his social interactions reflected that. It was something that had been discussed at length with Twilight Sparkle and Twilight Velvet. It was a relief to find out that Sumac could still be considered ‘normal.’ As Twilight Velvet had pointed out, being a nerd was perfectly normal. She had, after all, raised not one, but two fine, upstanding nerds. Not just any nerds either, but alpha-nerds. Dorks. Twilight Sparkle had melted down a bit to hear her mother say this, and even tried to protest, but Twilight Velvet had shushed her, and had even threatened to send her to her room. Sumac, being a nerd, had naturally formed a nerd-herd, though Megara’s nerd status was in question. Boomer showed signs of being a nerd, and would certainly swing in that direction if Sumac and his friends had any say in the matter. Olive had settled into a studious role because she wanted to impress Pebble and Sumac. As for Silver Lining, she was a shy, clingy nerdling in need of quiet, patient, understanding friends. As for Trixie, Trixie was most certainly not a nerd. No, she was a geek. There was a difference. What that difference was, well, that was rather nebulous, but Twilight Sparkle was a nerd and Trixie was most certainly not Twilight Sparkle. No way. A line of distinction had to exist between her and her half-sister. “This is the best moment of my party,” Sumac remarked, and Trixie was jolted from her thoughts by his words. Unsure if this was a con-job, her eyes narrowed. “I don’t mind it if there is a party around me just so long as I can sit down and talk with just one pony. If there is too much going on all at once, I get worked up.” Making a mental note, she replied, “I’ll keep that in mind.” “Right now, I can just focus on you, and everything is fine. I know that stuff is going on, but I can tune it out. Like how everypony is gathered around the horseshoe pit. If I was there with them, I’d be… uh, nervous. But worse.” “You’d have anxiety?” “Yeah, but worse. Listen to how loud they are. And see how they’re in each other’s space? Just looking at that makes me feel… jittery. Like when Twinkleshine lets me drink coffee.” “Oh.” She gave her son a reassuring squeeze. “Well, thank you for telling me. That helps me be a better mama. I mean, technically, the Great and Powerful Trixie could read your mind to figure out what is going wrong, but that is fraught with danger for the both of us and I don’t think that would make me a better mama. I’m not cut out to know what little colts might be thinking at any given moment.” Hearing a soft, faint laugh from her son, she smiled while pulling him closer. “Thanks for the party, Mom.” “Kiddo, happy birthday.”