Lemon Hearts’ living room sprang into existence around him and Sumac felt his stomach doing flippity flops. He heard a cry and as his vision faded in and out, he saw Lemon Hearts charging right at him. He braced for impact, but it never happened. Instead, she plowed into Trixie and clung to her. Trixie, still recovering from the trip, sat there with wide eyes, confused by the lemony yellow mare clinging to her.
A woozy looking Twilight staggered around on three legs, a pained expression on her face. Beside her, Starlight stood, looking worried, angry, and perhaps a bit sad, but it was hard to tell. Sumac sat down and tried to get his head to stop spinning. He was starving now, Twilight had drawn a lot out of him for the trip back. He was tired, hungry, and oh so very thirsty. Parched.
“I thought I lost you,” Lemon Hearts murmured, “I thought I lost my very bestest friend.”
Just as Sumac was about to say something, Twilight beat him to it.
“We’re still close to the artifact… how?” Twilight shook her head, trying to clear it, then she turned and looked at the lantern. “Of course! How could I be so stupid! Sumac! May I please see your lantern?”
Seeing no reason to say no, he nodded. He watched as Twilight picked the lantern up off of the floor and held it up in front of her face. The light was gone now, the lantern had gone dark. Starlight came over and stood beside Twilight, looking curious while Lemon Hearts continued squeezing the stuffing out of Trixie, who was too fatigued to protest.
“What do we have here?” Twilight asked as she undid some latches that held the bottom of the lantern in place. The bottom of the lantern separated from the upper half, revealing a base and a bracket. In the bracket, there was what appeared to be a half of a pendent, but it was broken. The hinge appeared to be sheared off, leaving behind jagged, broken metal of some sort.
Twilight’s eyes went wide as she stared at the lantern base. Beneath the bracket, a piece of black string was wrapped around the central stalk that was the base of the bracket. Looking at the string made Sumac feel queasy and nauseous. In his current state, he feared it wouldn’t take much to push him over the edge, and he turned away from the hideous, stomach turning string.
“A broken locket and some string,” Starlight grumbled.
“No,” Twilight whispered in reply, “No, this is one half of the Rainbow of Light and the drawstring of the Rainbow of Darkness.”
Starlight’s horn glowed. “That string is—”
“Don’t touch it!” Twilight snapped. “You mustn’t touch it!” She shook her head and glared at Starlight. To keep everything safe, Twilight hastily reassembled the lantern and secured the bottom back to the top. “This is a clever creation, using what was left of the Rainbow of Light to keep this part of the Rainbow of Darkness in check. If you touch them, the consequences could be catastrophic.”
“Well then…” Starlight, rebuked, shrank back from Twilight. “Grab the lantern and let’s go. We need to get you to a hospital.”
“No.” Twilight’s lone syllable carried with it the gravitas of rule. “No, I will not be stealing Sumac’s lantern.” She set the lantern down upon the floor and looked at Sumac. “Sumac, I trusted you with Boomer and I haven’t been disappointed. Megan gave you this lantern for a reason, so this is going to stay with you. Do be careful.”
Sumac nodded and as he tried to say something, a yawn slipped out.
Her eyes narrowing, Twilight cast her gaze upon the lantern for a moment, then looked over at Lemon Hearts and Trixie, still engaged in the sort of hug that only the very best of friends might give one another. Well, Lemon Hearts anyway, Trixie just sort of sat there with a blank stare, not knowing what to do or why the lemony yellow mare was still squeezing her while rubbing her cheek against her neck, at least by the looks of things as Twilight saw them.
“She was worried about you, Trixie,” Twilight said in a soft voice. “Friends do that.” She cleared her throat. “I trust both of you to keep Sumac safe, and by keeping him safe, the lantern will be safe as well. We’re going to have to step up our game though… Sumac made a powerful enemy this night—”
Just as Twilight spoke, Pinkie Pie came bursting through the front door in a shower of confetti, holding a cake aloft over her head with her front hooves. Twilight didn’t look surprised at all, Starlight let out a groan, and Sumac just sat there with his brain melting at the sight of Pinkie Pie charging towards him, cake raised up high.
“Sumac Apple! You’ve made an arch-nemesis! A sworn enemy! Something that hates you more than anything!” Pinkie Pie bounded across the living room, bouncing with every step, and she set the cake down on the floor in front of Sumac. “This is a very important moment in your life, Sumac Apple!”
“I don’t know what is going on.” Sumac looked up at Pinkie and his muzzle crinkled with confusion.
“Well, I started a tradition back when Tarnish made his first sworn enemy, his arch-nemesis, and then Maud got one, and not long after that, Limestone got one, and I got one, and these moments seem super important, like a birthday or an anniversary, so I started celebrating the occasion!” Pinkie Pie paused, her head tilted back, and she looked up towards the ceiling. “You know, I never knew that there were evil geologists. Maud’s nemesis, she’s not a nice pony. Not at all. I’ve met her and she’s a real pain in the neck! Boring too. She and Maud glare at one another and do funny things with their eyebrows.”
Tilting his head, Sumac looked at the cake. The pink frosting was tempting. He was starving. Under most circumstances, Sumac was thoughtful, well mannered, and well behaved. All of that was cast aside though, as he plunged his muzzle into the cake and began gobbling. It was a confetti cake, with bright bits on the inside and delicious, sugary pink frosting. Famished, he devoured the cake and wished he had a glass of milk.
“Catrina is a wily and dangerous foe,” Twilight continued, “she’s obsessed with her own beauty. She is vain to the point of it being a weakness.” She paused, let out a sigh, and watched as Sumac ravaged the cake. “She’s also an all powerful demi-lich and to be quite honest, I don’t think I could have beaten her. We would’ve had to destroy her phylactery to take her out, and I doubt she had one there with her. She would have destroyed us, most likely.”
“So, I’m guessing she came into the castle, made it to the labyrinth, tried to cheat, was captured by the null golem jailer, and tossed into one of those cells, which no doubt, had null iron to keep powerful magical prisoners in place.” Starlight, using her magic, stole a dollop of frosting from Sumac’s cake and ate it. She licked her lips, looked at Twilight, and added, “She might have stayed locked away forever and a day if we had not come along.”
“Somepony needs milk!” Pinkie Pie went pronking off to the fridge, her tail twitching.
“I… didn’t think of that, I mean, I didn’t think about how difficult it was to take down a demi-lich,” Starlight admitted as she bowed her head. “I am sorry. Once again, I let my aggression get the better of me. You are right, Twilight. She would have wore us down and then taken what she wanted from us, but only after doing awful things to Sumac because of what he said.”
“What’s a demi-lich?” Sumac asked with his mouth full. He smacked his lips and licked away frosting from his snoot as Pinkie Pie set a glass of milk down on the floor beside him.
“Never you mind what a demi-lich is!” Trixie replied in a very firm voice as she attempted to wiggle free from Lemon Hearts, who was still squeezing the stuffing out of her. “Lemon Hearts, stop telling me how brave I am and let me go! The Great and Powerful Trixie has a great and powerful need to visit the little fillies room!”
“Twilight, we need to get you to the hospital and then I’ll throw you a ‘I broke my leg again!’ party.” Pinkie Pie, even though her eyes were merry, had a worried look upon her face. Turning her head, she watched as Trixie, now free from the prison that was Lemon Hearts’ embrace, went to the restroom.
When the door was shut, Pinkie turned to Twilight and asked in a low whisper, “She’s never been in love before, has she?”
Eyes darting to the bathroom door, Twilight shook her head but said nothing. She glanced over at Lemon Hearts, then back at Pinkie, who was looking unusually thoughtful. She then looked at Starlight, who was oblivious and studying the lantern.
“Is it that obvious?” Lemon Hearts asked.
Pinkie and Twilight nodded.
“It’s just a little crush, that’s all.” Lemon Hearts’ voice was little more than a spoken breath.
“We should be going,” Pinkie Pie said as she gave Twilight a nudge. “Say ‘good morning—’”
“Morning?” Twilight’s eyebrow arched.
“It’s about five in the morning, silly!” Pinkie Pie stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry. “It’s too early to say goodnight!”
Sumac’s head felt full of sludge. He struggled in the chasm that existed between sleep and wakefulness, it was difficult to cross the gap. His whole body ached and his mind resisted leaving the dreaming realm. He had pleasant dreams, wonderful dreams, but he had trouble remembering what they were.
The scent of food cooking tugged him over the vast chasm, he opened his eyes and sniffed. He was in his bed, alone, and his mouth felt as though it was filled with sand. His eyes were crusted over with eye boogers and there was a dull ache in his stomach. His brain protested at all of the effort and it felt difficult to even think.
The blanket was pulled back and Sumac turned his head. He saw Trixie, he was glad to see her, and he managed a sleepy, though somewhat dimwitted smile. He reached out his forelegs for a hug and lay there waiting. He did not have to wait long. He got the hug that he wanted, a gentle squeeze, and a kiss as well. He felt himself lifted out of the bed and held aloft.
“Kiddo, your face is gross.”
“Gross.” Sumac nodded.
“I’m gonna toss you in the tub.”
“Okay.” Sumac gave his mother a simpleton’s smile.
“Bother. I had hoped that you would sleep off the stupid phase. At least this will make bath time easier.” Trixie let out a soft sigh then smiled at Sumac. “I was just sitting here watching you sleep while Lemon Hearts fixed lunch.”
“Lunch?” Sumac gave Trixie a hopeful look.
“Pumpkin ravioli and glazed carrots.”
“Mmm.”
Trixie sniffed, then her nostrils crinkled. “We’ll need to do laundry. The bedding smells like a corpse. And so do you. Ugh. I spent the last hour scrubbing the stench of Castle Midnight off of me and now I can really smell it on you, kiddo.”
“Stench.” Sumac blinked a few times then giggled. “Stinky.”
“I can’t stand to see you like this, kiddo, it bothers me that we did this to you.”
Sitting in a chair, Sumac watched with a dull, vacant stare as Boomer scampered across the table. He was clean, smelled of flowers, and Trixie had trimmed his mane. It was nice. He was clean and fresh feeling, he smelled good, and everything was wonderful.
His head was also mostly empty.
Boomer smacked a plump, purple grape, sending it rolling over the table, and then hurried after it. She pounced on it, flexed her claws, and then savaged the poor grape, ripping open its tender, thin flesh so she could slurp down its juices. An ever growing purple-blue puddle grew around the grape as Boomer made certain her prey was dead, stabbing it with her claws as she bit it.
“Tree dragons are actually a subspecies of wyvern,” Lemon Hearts said in a conversational voice as she began to clean away the lunch dishes. “And this one is a savage hunter. Look at her going to town on that poor grape.”
“It never stood a chance,” Trixie said as she lifted up a teacup. “Sumac? You okay?”
“Grape!” Sumac watched as Boomer slurped up the blood, er, juice of her victim.
As Lemon Hearts cleared away the last of the dishes, she set down an enormous bowl of ice cream in front of Sumac, then wiped his face with a clean cloth, trying to scrub away the sticky carrot glaze. As she did so, Trixie looked up from her teacup with a miserable expression.
“He’s not even squirming or fighting back,” Trixie said in a low whisper. “I hate this.”
“You want him to misbehave?” Lemon Hearts asked in astonishment.
“Yes!” Trixie set down her teacup and tea sloshed out on the table. “Sumac is at his best when he fights back. He’s at his best when he questions everything and demands a reason for something! I want him to struggle, to fight, to reason, I want him to think and challenge everything I teach him… and I can’t bear to see him like this.”
Not at all bothered by Trixie’s outburst, Sumac lifted up his spoon and began eating ice cream as his mother fumed beside him. When Boomer came over, he held out his spoon, offering her some ice cream, even though dairy products gave baby dragons terrible gas. The consequences were out of reach of his current mental state and he paid them no mind.
“I trimmed his mane and he didn’t even bat an eye.” Trixie slumped over the table and let out a mournful sigh.
“You want Sumac to fight back?” Lemon Hearts asked.
“Yes,” Trixie mumbled, “I raised him to take care of himself and be independent. I raised him to be a scrapper. Even though it's been a headache.” Looking up, she watched as Lemon Hearts sat back down at the table.
Lemon Hearts cleared her throat, let out a polite little cough, and said, “So, you’ve raised him to be like you…”