A faint prickle of fear annoyed Sumac. He ignored it, or did his best at trying. He had been in danger before, real danger, and Trixie had kept him safe. He knew that something had changed for Trixie, but he wasn’t sure what it was. Before having him around, she found herself in trouble often and Tarnished Teapot had rescued her more than she cared to admit, or so it seemed.
After having him around though, Trixie became a fearsome wizard. Trouble still found her, found both of them, but Trixie dealt with it. Perhaps she avoided mortal peril, or perhaps something had made her more powerful and she wasn’t revealing what it was. He knew that Trixie knew magic though, and she had taught him quite a bit. She had taught him more than spells, but also the how and the why. The nuts and bolts of magic. The mechanics behind it. The science that drove it.
Their relationship was a confusing thing now. She was his mother and no longer his master. He was no longer her apprentice. Unicorn tradition held that unicorn foals found masters outside of their own households and that parents did not keep their offspring as apprentices. Masters had to be tough on their apprentices and a parent might be soft out of a sense of love.
He could hear Twilight and Trixie talking, whispering to one another. No doubt, they were talking about adult stuff. Sumac tried not to listen, but he couldn’t help himself. Twilight was talking about how she would focus on keeping most of her magic focused on a shield around him, bleeding off her excess magic and making it easier to control. Trixie had experience in working with magical amplifiers and not making her horn explode, and Trixie was giving Twilight some last minute advice.
Starlight was humming to herself, she didn’t seem bothered by this at all, and she stared out of the window, smiling. If she was afraid, she was great at hiding it. Sumac took a moment to think about the spells he knew and wondered if they would help in the coming fight. Clover the Clever’s Cudgel was a magical attack that smacked something with a glowing aetherial construct club that left behind painful magical slivers that lasted for hours. Trixie had been proud of him when he had learned that spell. It was a weak attack spell, but there were many adult unicorns that never learned it.
Princess Platinum’s Prismatic Lights dazzled the eyes of the enemy, confusing them, sometimes blinding them, and sometimes causing them to attack one another if it was cast on a group. It was another low level attack spell and Sumac didn’t think it would be very useful on the sort of things they would be fighting.
Celestial Fire was a magical fire that would cause a foe to burn with rainbow coloured flames. The flames didn’t hurt, but they did confuse, disorient, and sometimes blind something. The flames also made enemies much easier to hit in the dark and made dangerous enemies with invisibility visible. Sumac decided that this might be useful if they were fighting spectral undead. They could turn invisible, or so he had heard.
Trixie hadn’t allowed him to learn any dangerous spells. He knew that she knew them. He had watched her lob a fireball once and torch a whole mob of pony eating spiders. There had been a great big whoosh and all of the spiders were on fire. The smell of burning hair had filled the air and he had almost been sick because of it. Trixie prided herself on her fireball spell, which she said was bigger, better, and burnier than most. Trixie was the burniest burninator there ever was.
Well, maybe. She wasn’t an alicorn. But she did have a mean fireball spell.
After thinking about his options, Sumac was bothered by his magical repertoire; there wasn’t much to pick from. He was five years old now… and… and… and he had to be the stallion in both Trixie and Lemon Hearts’ life. He had duties, obligations, he needed to start learning more magic right away. He needed a new master. He glanced at Starlight and felt a pang of regret. He liked her, but she had other duties. She had to straighten out Olive so that Olive could be a better pony. And when Olive was a better pony, Sumac would finish straightening her out as best he could. He didn’t know how he was going to do this, but do it he would. There was a lot at stake.
But there was another female in his life that needed him. He scooped up Boomer from out of the fruit bowl where she was napping. He watched as she let out a sleepy yawn and he held her right in front of his nose. He was responsible for her, Twilight was trusting him, and he had to make certain that he did right by her. He glance to the left, then glanced to right, trying to see if anypony was looking.
Twilight and Trixie were still talking. Starlight was staring out the window. Lemon Hearts stood near Trixie, looking worried and sad. Poor Lemon Hearts didn’t seem happy about this. He had another look around to double check that nopony was watching.
“I gotta go and do something dangerous. Something top secret. Be good for Lemon Hearts, okay?” After whispering these words, Sumac, who was nervous about this sort of thing, puckered up, leaned in his head, and gave Boomer an affectionate smooch right on top of her tiny, scaly head.
“OH MY GOSH, THAT WAS THE MOST ADORABLE THING EVER!” Starlight danced around as she shouted and her hooves clattered on the floor.
“How… how did you see?” Sumac squeaked as his ears drooped in embarrassment.
“Oh, I have a spell that gives me eyes in the back of my head,” Starlight replied without a moment’s hesitation. “I saw you making shifty eyes all around the room and I knew something was up. And then you kissed her! It was so adorable!” She let out a squeal and pranced around on her hooves again. “Twilight kisses Spike on those rare occasions she can catch him by surprise and when she thinks nopony is looking.”
Twilight let out an indignant snort while rolling her eyes, but she said nothing. Beside her, Trixie and Lemon Hearts began sniggering. Starlight ignored Twilight and continued to gush over what she had seen as Sumac set Boomer down upon the table. Sumac felt his cheeks burning and his ears felt as though they might catch on fire. Now on the table, Boomer let out another yawn, this one smokey, and then tried to rub away the kiss with her tiny little hands, looking disgusted as she did so.
Trying to look very grown up and serious, Sumac turned to speak to Lemon Hearts. “She usually poops in the morning and at night. She’ll have to go later. She’ll let you know. Please reward her for not setting her poops on fire and exploding them.”
“I will,” Lemon Hearts promised as the corners of her mouth kept jerking upwards into a smile, which she kept trying to hide.
“I am ready to go,” Sumac announced, “so we can leave at any time.”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Starlight Glimmer said, “So adorable! It hurts, Twilight, it hurts! I want a foal of my own!”
Twilight fiddled with the portal gem, examining it, and no doubt making a few last minute adjustments. On the table was a bottle of zap apple tincture, which a sleepy Boomer kept poking with her claw. With each touch of her claw, the strange liquid in the bottle pulsed with rainbow light, creating a dazzling illuminated display upon the walls and ceiling.
In an open space, Trixie was flexing her knees and trying to get the kinks out of her bad leg. She had taken a few pills, which worried Sumac, she only took pills when she had to and she hated doing it. Tearing his eyes away from Trixie, he turned to look at Starlight Glimmer.
“So you want to have a foal?” he asked.
“Yes,” she replied, then paused. After a moment of indecision, she shook her head. “No.”
“Well, do you or don’t you?” Sumac sat down upon the floor and looked up at her.
“Sumac, that’s hard to answer.”
“No it isn’t.” Sumac’s brows furrowed and several wrinkles appeared upon his brow just below his stubby horn. “You either do or you don’t. Do you have a special somepony?”
“Oh, I don’t know, Sumac…”
“Again, do you or don’t you?”
“He’s special, and we’re friends, but… but I don’t know where we stand. He means a lot to me. I haven’t said anything to him because I don’t want to risk our friendship. But I like him. He’s a powerful wizard.”
“Powerful magic, eh?” Sumac nodded. “It makes sense that you would like somepony like you.”
“Well, no, actually,” Starlight said as a confused look settled over her face. “He’s the most powerful unicorn I know, he really is a powerful wizard, but he doesn’t do much magic.”
“What?” Sumac tilted his head off to one side and one ear drooped own.
“He’s a very powerful wizard, but his actual magic skills are lacking.” Starlight, nervous, licked her lips, her orange tongue flashing into view for but a second. “But he knows more about magic than just about anypony I know. In my own opinion, I would say that he and Twilight are tied, but Twilight might disagree with me. He knows esoteric stuff… stuff the common wizard wouldn’t know. He’s very good at what he does and Princess Cadance made him the Court Wizard.”
Sumac realised that there was a lesson to be learned here. Knowledge of magic and using magic were two different things, and both could make one a good wizard.
“I miss him, Sumac… I stay so busy… I feel guilty for not keeping in touch, and then, because I feel guilty, I don’t talk to him because I feel so ashamed. And then I feel even worse for not talking to him for so long, and it just gets worse.” Starlight hung her head. “Don’t fall into that trap, Sumac. It’s awful.”
“Maybe talk to him and tell him you feel guilty. Explain why.” Sumac thought about what he had said for a moment and then added, “And apologise. I find that I can get away with almost anything if I apologise and really mean it.”
“I wish it was that simple.” Starlight let out a sigh. “Sumac, something terrible lurks in the shadows. Something awful. We’re all very busy trying to fight it in our own way, and he is too. The Crystal Empire has records that Equestria doesn’t. On top of that, Equestria is having some troubles at the moment, which makes us weak and makes it easier for our enemies to exploit us.”
“If we’re stronger together, why do you keep yourself apart from the pony that might be your special somepony?” Sumac opened up his mouth to say more, but the words never got out. Starlight grabbed him and began squishing him. He felt her trembling, she shuddered against him, and he knew that she was hurting. Feeling a bit awkward and embarrassed, he realised that Starlight was trying not to cry.
What would Big Mac do in this situation? Well, that seemed obvious. Sumac sat there and let himself be held, even though it was mighty uncomfortable. He was needed. He ignored a slight feeling of annoyance and accepted the fact that he was going to have to adjust his glasses, or even clean them. Sometimes, glasses just got in the way. The sooner he got over it, the better.
“Okay, time to pony up,” Twilight said as she held the portal gem aloft. “Sumac, I am going to give you one drop of tincture to power you up and we’ll see how that goes. If more power is necessary, I’ll give you a second drop. Okay?”
Starlight let go of him and he gave Twilight a nod.
“We’ll be travelling by ley line… the portal gem will pull us into the aether and we’ll travel along the veils of magic. I’ve done this before and I’ll admit, it’s a little uncomfortable. Not painful, just unpleasant. So be ready.” The blue gem held in Twilight’s magic twinkled and began to emit sparks.
Starlight elbowed Sumac. “Not even Princess Celestia can do this. This is a new type of magic and only Twilight can do it. But she’s right though, it’s not exactly pleasant.”
“Okay, Sumac,” Twilight said as she held up a dropper filled with rainbow liquid.
He opened his mouth and waited for the drop to hit his tongue. When it did, his whole body shook and he convulsed for a few seconds. Sumac could feel his face muscles jerking and twitching. The tincture was sour and electric. He felt stronger, smarter, he felt energised and awake. He felt more aware, more alert. He looked up at Twilight, whose whole body blazed with aetherfire. Magical energy crackled along her wings and sparks arced from her horn. Her hooves glowed with shimmering purple flames that stung the eyes.
“So much power,” Twilight growled, “but this time I have more control. It feels like the time I fought Lord Tirek.” She sucked in a deep breath through clenched teeth, then added, “A second drop might be too much.”
“Ready to go?” Trixie asked as sparks spilled from her horn.
“I think we are,” Starlight replied. She too, was spurting out excess magic from the tip of her horn.
“Hang on!” Twilight cried. “We have a long way to go! Stand together and I’ll pull us in!”
All around Sumac, reality warped, twisted, and then popped like a soap bubble…