Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals

by kudzuhaiku


Chapter 31

“Put me down, I want to walk the rest of the way… put me down, put me down!”

“Sumac Apple, have you lost your applebucking mind?” Trixie paused in place and stared at the stairs leading up to the massive double doors. “Sumac, you can barely walk and there is no way you could make it up those stairs—”

“But I don’t want the others to see you carrying me,” Sumac whined.

“Trixie understands pride, kiddo. Deal with it.” Saying nothing else, she mounted the stairs and began to make her way up, ignoring the wordless whining being done by Sumac. He didn’t whine very often, so she was inclined to let him get away with this little incident without consequences.

At the top of the landing, she took a moment to catch her breath. Her right front knee was killing her. It throbbed with its own heartbeat. The pain made her stop and think about Tarnished Teapot. He was the reason she still had her leg at all. She felt a strong rush of gratitude and wondered if she would ever work up enough courage to thank him properly. There were so many things she wanted to say, but just couldn’t seem to find the words.

She resolved to do better and make things right the next time she saw him. It was time to swallow her own pride and be a good role model for Sumac. She wasn’t his master any longer, and he wasn’t her apprentice. She was his mother and he was her son. That was a serious change in their relationship. She knew that he would have to find a new master, such was the way of unicorns, and she hoped that she wouldn’t be too jealous and clingy.

Maybe Tarnish wouldn’t mind an apprentice. Trixie stood there on the landing thinking about it, and then was horrified by the idea of Sumac’s amplification magic and Tarnish’s poison joke magic interacting. It was the worst idea ever in the long history of bad ideas.

“I wonder where Pebble is?” Trixie asked, thinking aloud.

“No sign of Silver Lining either.”

Trixie looked around and watched as other students made their way up the stairs. She needed to get to work and Sumac needed to get to class, which would be starting soon. Lemon Hearts had left early for work. She sighed, then turned to face the enormous double doors. It was time to take Sumac to class. Once he was there, he could sit in one spot more or less for a few hours and hopefully Pebble or somepony would be there to help him along if he needed it.


As Trixie went through the door, Sumac squirmed. He didn’t want his classmates to see him like this. As they entered the classroom, something was off. Sumac noticed a large white sheet of paper that had been painted and assaulted with glitter. It said, “Welcome back!”

He stared at it wide eyed as Trixie lifted him and lowered him down to the ground.

“Welcome back, Sumac!” Silver Lining said in a low, shy voice as she clung to Pebble.

Before he could reply, Sumac felt himself grabbed in the warm tingle of magic—he almost panicked, the memory of being twisted into a pretzel by Olive was still fresh—but it was just Strawberry Hearts trying to be helpful. He made himself relax. As he was getting settled into his seat, Silver Lining grabbed him and then clung to him. He didn’t mind. Something about her fuzzy, feathery body was reassuring and made him feel better.

“I gotta go, kiddo. Have a good day.” Trixie waved her hoof, and then, with a smile, she was gone.

Clearing her throat, Lemon Hearts got the attention of the class and said, “Okay, settle down, settle in, and get yourselves situated. Today, we have a special lesson planned. We’re going to talk about some recent events.” She looked over into the corner where Cinnamon was and then her eyes traveled around the room, looking at each and every student. “This is going to be a very serious talk, so I expect all of you to be on your best behaviour and paying attention, okay?”


Try as he might, Sumac could not stop squirming. The words being said made him feel uncomfortable. He kept glancing over at Cinnamon and feeling a terrible sadness. His fellow students also seemed uncomfortable and could not sit still, with the exception of Pebble. Sumac had no doubt that she was uncomfortable too, she just wasn’t showing it.

“So class, keep that in mind, no matter what, it is never okay for an adult to hurt you. If one of the adults in your life is hurting you, be it your parent or some other family member, you can come and get help. Speak to me or to Twilight or any of your teachers.”

Blinking, Sumac blurted out before he even had a chance to think about it, “Applejack said she wanted to give me a hiding… is that wrong?”

The classroom was filled with a dreadful silence.

Lemon Hearts had a very sour expression upon her face. She stared at Sumac, her raspberry coloured eyes glittering with emotion, and she drew in a deep breath as she tried to think about what to say.

“Well, this got complicated, I’m not sure what to say right now,” Lemon Hearts admitted. “There are occasions where discipline needs to happen and there is a big difference between loving correction and violent abuse.” Lemon Hearts coughed and one ear began a nervous twitch. “My mother used to spank me with a brush. It didn’t happen often and I can honestly say that when it did happen, I had done something pretty bad. My mother didn’t really hurt me… but it stung enough that I thought long and hard before I did something I knew was wrong.”

“But is it wrong to be spanked?” Flint asked.

“Hey, what about when my egghead brother slugs me? Is that abuse?” Tinder gave his sibling a nervous glance and shied away.

“Don’t you dare!” Lemon Hearts focused her commanding stare upon Flint, who was about to give his brother a punch.

“Aaw…” Flint crossed his forelegs over his barrel and slumped down into his seat for a good sulk. His lower lip protruded and the little pegasus glared at his teacher.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” Lemon Hearts admitted. “Parents have a right to discipline their foals how they see fit, provided it doesn’t cross the line into abuse. I’m sorry, class. I feel like I’ve failed you. I don’t know the answer. I don’t know what constitutes abuse...”

Watching an adult be so honest made Sumac feel better, and he thought about what Applejack had said, about adults not always being right. Lemon Hearts was struggling, her mouth kept opening and her lips kept moving, but no words were coming out.

“I don’t want to tell you that sometimes you need to be disciplined and then have you be abused, without knowing the difference between the two, and suffering in silence. On the other hoof, I’m not sure that I want to see the authorities get involved over a simple swat on the backside. There will be very real consequences for your parents or other adults if the authorities get involved. If any of you were to be petty, you could bring grievous harm to your parents or loved ones with accusations, especially false ones. I’m starting to wonder if we should be having this conversation… I’m not sure I’m qualified to be the one trying to tell you about this stuff or telling you what to do. I am feeling very nervous and uncertain right now, class.”

After looking around at her classmates, Strawberry Hearts found the courage to speak. “Don’t be scared, teacher. Maybe this is the right conversation to be having. Admitting that you don’t know… but I think talking about it is still important.” The little filly cleared her throat. “What Cinnamon’s father did was bad… Cinnamon was hurt real bad and had to go to the hospital. I think that’s abuse.”

“Yes it is,” Lemon Hearts replied, “but it never should have reached that point.”

The clock on the wall said that it was now nine forty five. It felt as though lunch was a small forever away. Sumac stared at it, wishing that he could make the time pass faster. This conversation made him feel uncomfortable and he didn’t like it, not at all.

“This one time, me and my big sister Bright Hope held down my brother, Storm Blitz, and we made him drink soap because we wanted to see if he could burp soap bubbles and when my mama found out, she slapped me and Bright Hope all over with her wings and it stung a whole lot and Storm Blitz kept burping and farting bubbles and Daddy wouldn’t stop laughing and Mama was so angry and then she started slapping him for laughing—”

“Tempest Dancer…”

“Yes?” The little pegasus filly sucked in a deep breath to recover after spilling out all those words.

“Are you telling the truth?” Lemon Hearts asked.

“Yup.” Tempest Dancer nodded and gave her teacher a wide-eyed look of innocence.

“I… I don’t even know what to say…” Behind her desk, Lemon Hearts stared at the filly with narrow-eyed disbelief.

“The bubbles were brown and foamy and had shiny rainbow colours and kept squirting out—”

“Tempest!” Lemon Hearts cringed. “Not another word!”

“Okay, sorry.” The little filly ducked down in her seat and a morose look of shame settled over her face. “And it smelled real bad, too,” she added in a hushed whisper.

Exasperated, Lemon Hearts smacked her desk with her hoof and rolled her eyes as her students giggled, groaned, and moaned. She stared at Tempest Dancer for a while, then her expression softened a bit. She shook her head, wondered how any group of siblings survived to adulthood, and then rested both of her forelegs upon her desk.

Clinging to Sumac’s horn, Boomer let out a bored sounding yawn, then belched out a little curl of smoke. Sumac, who couldn’t stop giggling, hoped that Lemon Hearts wouldn’t be angry with him. He had to go home and live with her. He did all he could to try and stop the giggles and be on his best behaviour. There were drawbacks to living with your teacher.


“You know, Boomer, I’m not sure what we learned this morning.” As Sumac spoke, he held out a celery stalk to the hatchling. He felt out out of sorts, confused, and he wasn’t sure what to think of everything that had been said about abuse and bullying this morning.

With a snort, Boomer shoved away the celery stalk and her tail lashed from side to side. She made it very clear that she wasn’t about to eat celery. She tapped her claws upon the table and waited for something better.

“Yeah, I don’t like celery a whole lot either.” Sumac flicked the offending vegetable over onto Pebble’s lunch tray without looking over to see her response. “The stringy bits get caught between my teeth and it tastes funny. Yuck.”

Head bobbing, Boomer let out a shrill chirp of agreement.

Beside Sumac, there was a loud crunch as Pebble began to gnaw upon some celery. He let out a sigh, looked down at his carrot sticks, and didn’t feel like eating them. He liked carrots, raw carrots, he liked the crunchiness and the sweetness. The discussion of the morning weighed down upon his mind, leaving him thoughtful and out of sorts.

“Life is complicated,” Sumac said to Boomer. “So many things seem like a good idea at first, but when you really think about them, well… it’s not that they’re bad ideas, not always, but they can be a lot more difficult than you expected.”

Ignoring Sumac, Boomer eyed the small square of sponge cake on his lunch tray. Lifting her head, she gave Sumac a hopeful look and pointed with one of her claws, showing an extraordinary level of intelligence.

Watching as Boomer begged, Sumac lifted up the sponge cake in his telekinesis, broke off a corner, and gave it to Boomer. The little dragoness wasted no time and crammed it into her mouth. She then began licking her fingers and claws, trying to get every last sticky crumb.

“Sumac, might I have a word with you?”

Starlight Glimmer’s voice made Sumac sit up and pay attention. He looked up and saw her, she was getting ready to sit down across the table from him. She was smiling, but looked serious. He wondered what was up and the sound of Pebble destroying the celery was distracting.

“Sumac, I wanted to talk to you about what happened,” Starlight said in gentle tones.

He leveled his gaze upon her and gave a nod, but didn’t say anything.

“After much discussion, we’re going to allow Olive back into school, but she is going to be under constant supervision.” Starlight inhaled, her barrel expanded, and then her cheeks puffed out as she let everything she held in out in a slow huff. “To facilitate this, it was decided that Olive is going to become my apprentice—”

“WHAT?” Sumac’s squeaky voice caused several students to turn and look in his direction.

“ —so that it will be easier for me to monitor her behaviour and correct her when necessary.” Starlight’s ears drooped and she slumped over the table. “I’m sorry if this upsets you, Sumac.”

“It’s like she’s being rewarded for what she did!” Sumac snapped.

“No, she isn’t,” Starlight replied, shaking her head. “I—”

“This isn’t fair at all!” Sumac almost shoved his tray away from him, but Boomer was in the way. He held in his anger and gave Starlight a fierce glare. He didn’t feel like talking anymore. He felt like shouting. Or crying. He didn’t want to cry in front of his fellow students.

“I have a lot of experience in dealing with anger and rage,” Starlight said, trying to explain. “Having been there myself. Twilight seems to think I might be able to help Olive in a way that others might not, because I’ve been a pretty bad pony.”

Unable to say anything, Sumac scowled. He wanted to throw stuff at Starlight. He wanted to scream about how unfair this was. He wanted to be angry. He wanted to cry. There was so much he wanted to do… he even wanted to cuss. A whole lot. He had traveled a great deal and he knew some colourful words. The sort of words that might get his mouth washed out with soap.

“I think Sumac might have planned to ask if he could become your apprentice at some point,” Pebble said in a calm monotone.

“Really?” Starlight looked surprised.

“What? I… Pebble… how… you…” Sumac stammered, unable to form a sentence.

“You might not’ve even realised it yet, Sumac, but I do think you would have.” Pebble offered Boomer her last bite of sponge cake. “You like Starlight.”

“I… I… you… I…” Sumac sat there, sputtering, unable to say anything.

“Sumac, is this true? Are we friends?” Starlight’s expression looked… desperate. “I know a lot of foals here… but I don’t think I’m friends with any of them. I’m trying, but it is so hard to reach out to them… to understand them...”

“I guess we are,” Sumac said as he stared down at the table and focused upon his lunch tray.

“But I made you write essays.” Starlight looked confused.

“I didn’t mind!” Sumac snapped in a very cross and confused sounding voice.

“He learned something from them.” Pebble scooped up Boomer and began to snuggle the little stuffed dragon in her forelegs. She rubbed her muzzle along Boomer’s bulging sides, while ignoring Sumac’s angry theatrics.

“Well, that makes me feel even worse about this.” Starlight began to sniffle. “I find Olive a detestable little snot, but I don’t have a lot of choice in this matter. There’s a job and it must be done.”

“That’s not fair to you.” Sumac’s anger vanished and he lifted his head so that he might look at Starlight. “That’s not fair at all.”

“Life isn’t fair, Sumac, you of all ponies should understand that.” Starlight reached up with her foreleg and rubbed her eyes. “I’m sorry, Sumac. Had I choice, I would have been glad to take you on as my apprentice. But I have to do what is necessary.”

Looking glum, Sumac nodded. “I understand.”

“It’s gonna be hard to be friends with me because Olive will almost always be with me.”

Sumac felt a growing lump in his throat and the need to cry was growing stronger. Starlight herself was right on the verge of tears and that didn’t make things any easier. As the little colt sat there, trying to hold everything together, his left ear twitched, bobbing up and down.

“I don’t care how hard it is, I’ll find a way. Isn’t that what friends do?” Sumac reached up with his foreleg and rubbed his eyes with a vigorous motion.

“You’d do that for me? Even with Olive in between us?” Starlight’s sniffles increased and she gave Sumac a quivering smile. She wiped her nose with her foreleg and then a single tear rolled down her cheeks. “It’s hard making friends with foals… I never know what to talk about and so many of them are scared of me. I never thought this would happen and Twilight said that it would if I was patient and waited.”

“You should try to be Olive’s friend, even if she is a snot.” Sumac looked away from Starlight and his gaze fell back down to his tray.

“We do have a lot in common,” Starlight replied, shaking her head. “It’s going to be so hard… but knowing that I have a friend who cares will make it easier.”

“Sheesh, you give a foal an essay and life goes topsy turvy,” Pebble deadpanned.

“Oh hush, Pebble, you have too much of your mother’s dry snark.” As Starlight continued to sniffle, she smiled at Pebble. “Are you my friend too? Because your mother is snarkiest to those she holds dear.”

“Of course,” Pebble replied, “I am my mother’s foal.”