• Published 13th Mar 2016
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Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals - kudzuhaiku



Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals is the place to go for friendship studies.

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Chapter 122

Sumac had discovered the length and breadth of his patience, and it was far, far more than he could have ever imagined. Maud had given him a long, meandering lecture about the various values of stone flooring, the positives, the negatives, and the intrinsic beauty of said stone flooring. The first hour, Sumac had sat there and paid attention out of an innate need to be polite. But the second hour… much to his horror, shock, and surprise, Sumac began to find the lecture interesting and he had listened with rapt attention.

Maud had ended the lecture with the mention that limestone tile was great, because limestone was a soft stone and it was pleasant to walk all over. It was at this point that Pebble had let out a strange giggle, and Sumac couldn’t help but feel that there was some joke that he didn’t understand.

The morning was wonderful, pleasant, great even. Pebble had recovered somewhat, but still had a minor headache that lingered between her ears. Sumac had slept off the stupids and was no worse for wear. Even with all of the recent trouble, it was shaping up to be a glorious, carefree day, and Sumac was looking forward to whatever the day brought.


“What was it like?” Sumac asked, keeping his voice down for Pebble’s sake.

Lifting her head, Pebble looked up from her cookbook. She blinked at Sumac a few times and the faint suggestion of a wrinkle appeared just above her thick brows. The cookbook was almost as big as Pebble was, and its cover was speckled with the remnants of many a meal.

“There was so much that happened all at once,” Pebble replied as she shifted in her seat. “It was all so much and so overwhelming. That feeling of needing to protect, of sensing the danger, it was so powerful that it drowned out everything else. I…” Pebble halted for a moment, her ears drooped, and a very visible look of shame tugged the features of her face downwards like overbearing gravity. “I think I owe Twilight an apology for what I said. I don’t think that she or any of the other princesses can help how they are. I always thought that they were just being, well, princessy, but I was wrong. I think it’s a natural reaction to a state of panic.”

“Oh.” Sumac didn’t know what else to say and he glanced over at Boomer, who was sunning herself as she clung to the wall with her claws.

“I think that, when they lecture us, and we learn something from it, it is one less thing for them to worry about,” Pebble continued, her eyes half closed. “I know one thing… I’m not cut out for that kind of worry and stress. It’s awful.”

There was a loud clunk from the kitchen, followed by the sounds of metal against stone. Pebble winced, squeezing her eyes shut, and she would have dropped her book to the floor had Sumac not caught it. The colt tucked in Pebble’s bookmark, closed the book, and set it down on the arm of the chair that Pebble was sitting in.

“Vinyl tells me that because I strained my brain with magic, my magic should be a little stronger now,” Sumac said to Pebble. “It’s like training your muscles for running or flying she said. She said it was good to push myself to my limits, but to be careful not to push too hard too often.”

“That makes sense,” Pebble said in reply as she rubbed the side of her head with her hoof. “Did you gain any alicorn magic or pick up any new magical tricks yesterday?”

“I don’t know.” Sumac shrugged. “Everything just sort of happened and I stopped paying attention. Maybe I did, but I don’t know. I do know that since I helped Princess Celestia raise the sun, I can now feel when the sun is rising, and it gives me warm tingles all over.”

“That’s neat.” Pebble lowered her hoof and stared at Sumac. “I wish I knew what that felt like. I’m a little jealous, actually.”

“Pebble?”

“Yeah?”

“I kinda want to find out what it is like to be an alicorn, even with what happened to you. I’m a little jealous too.”

“No tickling!” Octavia cried from the kitchen. “Tarnish! Do behave and stop that at once! What has gotten into you?”

Without realising that it was happening, the corners of Sumac’s mouth curled up as he listened. He liked the sounds of a happy house, it satisfied something deep within him, some desire, some craving that he didn’t quite comprehend. After life on the road, this was what he wanted. The little colt basked in the warm glow of his own contentedness and let out a satisfied sigh.


Pebble wasn’t the only one that had a headache. Sumac too, now had one, but not a bad one. His magic sense had gone wonky, so now, there was a persistent sensation that thrummed just behind his eyes, which caused his sinuses to ache and his eyes to water. Sumac did his best to pony up and not complain.

The house had gone quiet, the laughter gone. Pebble was napping with her mother, Maud. Octavia had vanished to elsewhere in the house. Tarnish was nowhere to be seen. Vinyl was trying to teach him something, but Sumac was having a hard time paying attention.

Shields must be maintained with equal, opposite force. The words were written on the stone wall with bright orange chalk and Sumac rubbed his muzzle as he read them. If a projectile hits your shields, you have to apply an equal amount of outward force to the area struck to maintain your shields.

Sumac was having a little trouble understanding the lesson, but he was trying.

If I chuck a rock at you, and it strikes your shield with one pound of applied force, then your shield must press outwards with one pound of force. That’s pretty easy to do, though it is a little tricky to learn the reflexes required. This is why most unicorns can’t raise a shield spell.

Tilting his head off to one side, Sumac thought about what Vinyl was saying. He sort of understood it, it was like a game of Push-Me, when two ponies each put a front hoof together and then tried to push one another off balance. He had never seen the appeal of the game, but little earth ponies and big earth ponies alike loved to play it, and he had watched Applejack play it with her fillies.

The orange chalk moved in a blur and new words appeared. Blipping is the act of repeatedly hitting an opponent's shield over and over with rapid telekinetic strikes. Blipping isn’t about strength, but speed. I’ve trained to time my magic to music, so I can blip at over two hundred beats per minute. I’ve managed to take out Twilight Sparkle’s shields. Her shields are very, very strong, but Twilight isn’t fast. Repeated applications of force done quickly can take down the shields of strong foes.

Ears twitching, Sumac sat up a little bit. This made sense to him and he understood the concept. He wondered if the reverse was true, if reverse-blipping, the quick application of outward force would allow him to keep a shield up against a strong hit. His curiousity now engaged, Sumac no longer thought about the thrumming inside of his head.

Blipping can also be done to apply a very nice soothing massage to those you care about. Turning about, Vinyl Scratch waggled her eyebrows at Sumac, and the little colt started laughing at the sight. I’ll teach you more about this when you are older, my apprentice.

Shaking with mute laughter, Vinyl erased all evidence of her words and prepared to continue her lesson.


The lesson was interrupted when Octavia’s voice cried out, “Vinyl, I need you!”

Setting down her chalk, Vinyl Scratch let out a sigh and teetered off at a slow, sedate pace, leaving Sumac all alone. He watched her go, glad for the break, as Vinyl was a relentless teacher who kept the information going in a steady, unending flow. There could be no doubt that Vinyl was getting better with each passing day.

Blinking a few times, Sumac tried to get his vision to unblur. His magic sense had been going nonstop for quite some time now, he had no idea how long. Twilight and the others had to be doing some pretty serious magic and Sumac wondered how they were able to keep going for so long without getting tired.

Hearing hooves, Sumac turned his head and saw Maud coming down the hallway. She looked sleepy, but then again, she always looked sleepy. She also wasn’t wearing anything, which was odd, but not too odd. She had gone to bed with Pebble after all. He gave her a smile as she approached.

“Twilight is outside,” Maud said to Sumac as she drew near. “She wants you to join her. I think she wants your help with something.”

“Oh.” Sumac nodded. “Okay.”

“Go have fun.” Maud began to turn around as Sumac got up to go and see Twilight.

That struck Sumac as being a little weird. He paused, as that didn’t seem quite Maud-like. Maybe Maud was just tired, or maybe it was because she was pregnant. Mares acted funny when they were pregnant. Heading for the door, Sumac decided to pay it no mind. He had been cooped up for far too long and he was in desperate need of fresh air.


The autumn air was crisp and cold enough to make Sumac’s nose sting. Twilight was standing in the lane, waiting for him, and much to his surprise, she had Olive and Strawberry Hearts with her. Twilight seemed a bit worried, her head turned to and fro, from side to side as she kept watch over everything around her.

“Hi, Twilight.”

“Took you long enough,” Twilight said.

Taken aback, Sumac looked up at Twilight, feeling worried, and he thought about how much stress she had to be under. He did his best to look apologetic, and then, with a turn of his head, he looked back at the house and thought about Boomer, wondering if he should bring her along. He decided against it, as Twilight seemed a little annoyed already and making her wait would only make things worse.

“Let’s go,” Twilight commanded, and she took off in a hurry, her long legs making graceful strides as she trotted down the lane, her eyes darting from side to side.

Sumac fell in place, the last in line, bringing up the rear behind Strawberry Hearts. Twilight was moving far too fast and he was almost having to gallop to keep up with her. The cold, brisk air was clearing his head a little, and he sucked in deep lungfuls with the hopes of invigourating himself.

“Where we going?” Olive asked. “You said you’d tell us after we got Sumac.”

“The Everfree,” Twilight replied.

“Why there?” Olive pulled up alongside Twilight and looked up at her.

“Must you always question your teachers this much? Hasn’t Starlight been teaching you better manners?”

Admonished, Olive hung her head a bit and she fell back.

“Twilight?” Sumac felt a strange tickle-prickle along with a buzzing inside of his ears. “Are you okay, Twilight?”

“Of course I’m okay,” Twilight snapped. “Don’t you little brats ever shut up?”

Sumac’s sudden halt was so abrupt that he almost fell over. Turning his head, he looked back at the house behind him, and then back at Twilight. Fearful, he took a deep breath and said, “I’m going back. I don’t feel so good. You’ll have to excuse me.”

“You’re coming with me.” Twilight whirled about and faced the three foals behind her. Fury could be seen on her face, unbridled fury, and her eyes narrowed as she looked down at the foals. “You need to obey me and do everything I say. I am a princess and your teacher. Don’t make me punish you, because I will. Things are very, very tense right now, and you need to obey my every command. Do you got me?”

Terrified, Strawberry Hearts nodded her head, and then Olive did as well. Sumac did not, and he alone remained in bold defiance. He didn’t know what had come over Twilight, but he didn’t like it, not at all, and he was prepared to tell her so. The fine hairs along his spine bristled and his ears angled forwards as his tongue began to feel tingly.

“Oh no you don’t!” Twilight’s horn glowed and just as Sumac was about to say something, she fired off a spell before the words left the colt’s mouth.

Magic flared and Strawberry Hearts let out a fearful, high-pitched scream. Olive watched dumbfounded, her mouth hanging open, and there was nothing that Sumac could do to defend himself. The spell struck him and it was like a thousand knives digging into his flesh, he gagged from the pain, his voice withered into an agonised screech, and he felt a crushing force being applied to his horn. It suffocated him, strangled him, and robbed him of his ability to speak or use magic.

“Stop! Stop! Twilight, what are you doing?” Strawberry Hearts ran up to Twilight, clutched at her leg, and Twilight kicked her away, sending the foal rolling over in the dirt.

For Sumac, the world went green and there was a deafening buzzing sound all around him…

Author's Note:

This was foreshadowed. For a very, very long time now. The story approaches its end.

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