Chapter 19
“You know, Sumac, you don’t have to go today. Twilight already said that if you feel unsettled, you can just stay at home today. Really, it’s okay. You had a pretty momentous day yesterday.”
“You said that before we left the house,” Sumac said to Trixie as they both stood on the stairs to Twilight’s castle. “I’m fine, really. I don’t feel stupid anymore. And I want to be in class. I want to feel normal again.”
“Such a brave little colt,” Trixie replied.
“No I’m not.” Sumac’s eyes narrowed. “I’m afraid to be by myself. I’ll start thinking and won’t be able to stop and then I’ll be upset and scared and I just want to be with Pebble for some reason and I—” Sumac was silenced with a light tap on his nose from Trixie’s hoof. He looked up at her and saw a faint smile upon her muzzle.
“Have a good day in school. I need to get going. There is a big important meeting that I have to be there for. School starts in a half an hour. Are you going to be okay?” Trixie pulled her hoof away and her ears perked forwards over her eyes in concern.
“It’s about me, isn’t it?” Sumac asked.
Trixie looked around, to the left and to the right, then when she looked back at Sumac, she nodded. “Yes, yes it is. And other things. Twilight works very hard to keep Ponyville safe, secure, and happy. Trixie is now one of the ponies that helps to make everything happen… and Trixie needs to go and do her job.”
“I understand.” Sumac sat down upon the steps leading up to the massive double doors. “I’ll just sit here and wait for Pebble, I guess. Go on, don’t be late.”
Pausing for a moment, Trixie lowered her head, kissed Sumac on the cheek, paused again, and planted a quick kiss on Boomer, who was sound asleep. Then, Trixie was gone, making her way up the stairs with an unusual spryness.
Sitting on the stairs, Sumac watched as ponies went by. The mornings were a busy time, many ponies were on their way to the market for both buying and selling. Pegasi flew overhead, shouting orders to one another. There was a mid-morning thunderstorm scheduled to provide rain and clean the air.
Sumac was just smart enough to understand that he was in a pickle. A real dilemma. He was in an honest to goodness mess. A zap apple jam mess. He had wanted a cutie mark for magic and he had wanted a cutie mark that marked him as an Apple. He had exactly what he had wanted and now, he found that he wasn’t so happy about it. Trixie had once warned him about getting what he wanted, life had a funny way of making you regret it. She had wanted power beyond measure and had ended up with the alicorn amulet. Things had not gone well.
There were a million questions to be asked, such as, where did his magic come from? Sumac knew that magic came from ley lines and magic, according to his own hypothesis, appeared to be a finite resource. There was only so much available ambient magic around him and others at any given time, and the extra magic had to come from somewhere. Extra magic didn’t just appear. The colt struggled with thoughts just outside the borders of his comprehension.
A squawk disrupted Sumac’s thoughts. He blinked and peered around through his darkened lenses. Silver Lining was being dragged to school by Gloomy. The good natured pegasus was smiling a patient, maternal smile as she dragged the cub along, the smile of mothers everywhere who had their patience tested on an hourly basis.
“Look, Silver Lining, you have a friend… Sumac can look after you… baby, I have to go to work, there’s a thunderstorm that I’m responsible for creating,” Gloomy said to Silver Lining. “He’ll keep you safe.”
“He will?” Silver Lining’s voice was a little screechy and full of fear.
Sumac blinked. He would? He didn’t recall being asked or agreeing to such a thing.
“Yes he will,” Gloomy said, “I’m sure he won’t mind.”
Before Sumac had a chance to say anything or even react, there was a blur of motion and then he found that he was being crushed by something fuzzy and feathery. He squirmed, trying to wiggle free, but Silver Lining had already latched onto him with a fearful death grip, the same fearful death grip that she clung to her mother with. It was like somepony had crossed a cat and a chicken and then made it very, very affectionate.
“Thanks, Sumac… you’re a lifesaver!” Gloomy reached up and rubbed an ear with her foreleg, then waved with her right wing. “She’s very affectionate.”
“Gaaah! Girls are gross!” Sumac wiggled and tried to get free, but Silver Lining was far stronger than she looked. He could feel her rubbing herself up against him. Also, the griffoness cub was purring, which for some reason, really weirded Sumac out.
“You smell good,” Silver Lining said as Gloomy spread her wings and flew away. “Like flowers. Bugs like flowers and I eat bugs and so I like flowers.”
“You and Boomer have something in common,” Sumac said as he struggled to get free from Silver Lining. A quiet voice in the back of his mind told him that he was being illogical and silly. Boomer was a girl and hung out on his horn without issue. Sumac didn’t much care for the logical part of his mind and reminded the voice in the back of his head that Boomer also pooped firecrackers and was awesome.
Stymied by Sumac’s perfect mental repartee, the voice agreed and fell silent.
“You know, you seemed fine out at Fluttershy’s place,” Sumac said to his inseparable companion as he tried to get free.
“That’s a safe place,” Silver Lining replied as she redoubled her grip and held on. “Mama found out I have something called separation anxiety and I need safe places.”
“I’m not a safe pony.” Sumac gave up and went still. When he did so, he found that Silver Lining’s grip eased up a bit. “I just got my cutie mark and I can’t talk about it, but my life just got dangerous.”
“Then we must stick together!” Silver Lining’s voice sounded a little frantic. “We’re safer together than apart. I have claws but I’m not s'posed to use them. Mommy said I’m not supposed to listen to Wormy when he talks about how good it is to have sharp claws.”
“Wormy?” Sumac twisted his head around to look Silver Lining in the eye.
“Wormy is Mama’s special somepony,” Silver Lining replied. “He’s safe and he’s kind and he bought me a scratching post covered in rope just to be nice.”
Trying to relax, Sumac went as still as possible with the hopes that Silver Lining might relax a little more. He suspected that if he stopped trying to pry her off, she might relax enough to let go and be happy just sitting close to him. But he didn’t know how she was going to act in the classroom. Somehow, the classroom was going to have to become a safe place.
“The two of you are adorable,” a flat, monotonous voice said.
Turning his head, his ears on fire, a rosy blush forming on his cheeks, Sumac looked in the direction from which the voice had come. He saw Pebble and she was wearing a pale green dress that contrasted well with her chocolate brown pelt. The quiet voice in the back of his mind suggested that Pebble was pretty, a suggestion that Sumac ignored. He decided that he was no longer speaking to himself any longer, as the quiet voice had nothing good to say. His mouth went dry and he swallowed. He said the only thing he could think of to explain this to Pebble, without even understanding why he felt the need to explain.
“Silver Lining needed a safe place.”
“So, Silver Lining, how do you do that chicken disguise?” Pebble asked.
“I dunno.” Silver Lining shrugged using her wings.
Sumac spotted something big, mean, and green moving through the crowd of ponies. The nervous colt licked his lips and then said to his companions, “Hey, let’s go inside… Olive is coming.”
Sumac watched as Tinder tossed down his pencil in frustration and felt like doing the same. Pebble made no response, made no show of anger, she was the same as she always was. Pebble was very much like, well, a pebble. She was just there and she didn’t cause much of a disturbance. Beside him, Cinnamon Fire stared down at his paper with a dull, blank expression and on his other side, Silver Lining clung to his leg with her talons.
“Fractions are hard,” Tinder said in a voice that sounded quite grumpy. He blew his dark brown mane out of his eyes and rolled his pencil back and forth using his magic.
“Everypony else gets them but us,” Cinnamon mumbled. “My brain hurts.”
“I hate my brother so much right now,” Tinder said. “Flint can go suck eggs. I’m a unicorn, I’m supposed to be smart. He’s a pegasus and he’s supposed to be an airhead.”
“Tinder, that’s not nice at all.” Pebble’s dry monotone was soft, gentle even, but Tinder’s ears drooped from her rebuke. Pebble had slipped into the role of a teacher a little too well. “Earth ponies are supposed to be numbskulls. Do you have any idea how smart my mother is?”
Ears down, eyes wide and sad, Tinder looked quite ashamed of himself. The unicorn colt let out a sigh and rested his front hooves upon the edge of the round table. He pulled his pencil close, lifted it, and went back to doing his schoolwork.
“You know, Pebble, you can be a little snobby sometimes, you could pass as a unicorn.” As Sumac spoke, he turned to look at Pebble and when he did, he didn’t like what he saw. Her face held no expression, but there was something about her eyes that unnerved him. With a jerk of his head, he looked away and then he too, went back to doing his schoolwork.
Leaning over, Silver Lining whispered into Sumac’s ear without moving her beak, “Sumac, don’t be a dumdum. That’s not how you talk to your special somepony.”
Sumac sucked in wind to fill his lungs with so much force that there was a wheezing whistle. He opened his mouth to say something, oh yes, he was going to say something, he was going to let it all out, he was going to set the record straight, and he was going to explain to Silver Lining just how wrong she was. He leveled his stern gaze upon his companion, ready to let her have it and—
“That’s enough talking over there,” Lemon Hearts said in a firm voice. “If there is to be any talking, it had better be about fractions.”
Frustrated beyond belief, Sumac choked down his words and pressed his lips together into a tight, pinched line. He didn’t dare glance over at Pebble, he couldn’t bring himself to look at her. Worst of all, Silver Lining was still clinging to him. He wanted to jerk his leg away from her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it, as that would be mean. And if Sumac was going to be mean to somepony, it was going to be Olive, because she deserved it.
Unable to do anything, Sumac sat and stewed in his own angry frustrations.
Nervous, frogs sweating, Sumac stepped out into the hallway and looked up at Starlight Glimmer. He saw her smile, but it was a nervous smile. Something about it unsettled him. When she started to walk, he followed.
The pair walked in silence together, with Sumac wanting to say something, but not knowing what to say. He had so many questions, or he thought he did, he had them earlier, but his brain wasn’t cooperating right now, as he couldn’t remember a single one. Perhaps cutting off the quiet voice in the back of his mind was a bad idea.
After a long walk and a few turns, Starlight stopped at a door and pushed it open. Sumac peered around the edge of the doorway and saw Twilight. She was wearing her reading glasses and was surrounded by papers, books, and scroll tubes. Spike was busy writing something.
When Starlight nudged him through the door, Sumac let out a startled cry, which made Twilight look up from her work. Spike stopped his writing and set down his quill in the ink pot sitting beside his paper.
“What’s going to happen to me?” Sumac asked.
“Nothing,” Twilight replied.
“Nothing?” Sumac tilted his head off to one side and stared at the alicorn headmistress in wide eyed befuddlement.
“Starlight and I had a long, long talk about this.” Twilight took a deep breath and looked at Starlight for a moment, then back to Sumac. “After much discussion, she reminded me how friendships can change the fate of a nation, and even the world.”
“I don’t understand.” Sumac stood there, confused, and he felt Starlight drape a foreleg over his withers. “So I am being kept here in Ponyville because of Pebble?”
“Sumac… Starlight tried to alter the future by changing the past. She tried to prevent my own friendships from happening. She reminded me of that last night. We also discussed how she felt losing her only friend. After giving it a lot of thought and careful consideration, I have come to the conclusion that my apprentice, Starlight, was right about one thing.”
“And that is?” Sumac asked, wondering what Twilight might say.
“Friendships happen for a reason.” Twilight pulled off her glasses and set them down in front of her on top of a book. “If they are disrupted, bad things can happen. But if they are nurtured, cultivated, made to grow, those friendships can affect and influence so many lives in so many ways that we cannot even begin to comprehend all of the ripples that travel outwards.”
“Ripples?” Not understanding, Sumac’s ears splayed out sideways on his head.
“It’s a metaphor, sorry.” Twilight gave Sumac an apologetic glance. “If you drop a rock into a pond, it causes ripples. Drop more rocks, and you get more ripples. Everything overlaps and effects can be felt across the whole pond. Everything is connected and everything affects everything else. ”
Nodding, Sumac sort of understood. He was fond of skipping stones over the water. Trixie had spent a lot of time teaching him how to do it, with both magic and holding the rock in his fetlock.
“Together, Starlight and I decided that it would be worth the risks. You need your friends and your friends need you.” Twilight lifted her glasses back up and slipped them over her nose. “Now go eat lunch. The cafeteria is serving creamed corn and baked cheese sandwiches today. Try not to worry about things.”
Sumac nodded and began to back out of the door, slipping out from beneath Starlight’s leg, but was stopped by Starlight Glimmer. He looked up at her and she down at him, and Sumac saw her barrel expand as she took a deep breath.
“Before you go, I have a special assignment for you,” Starlight said.
“What?” Sumac asked, feeling a bit put out by the idea of all of this ending with a special assignment.
“I want an essay on what Pebble means to you as friend,” Starlight replied.
He felt his legs go stiff and a sudden muscle cramp at the base of his skull made his neck ache. “Do I have to?”
“Yes, yes you do.” Starlight smiled and booped Sumac on the nose. “Now, go have lunch. That essay had better be five hundred words or more.”
“But I—”
“No arguing.” Starlight gave Sumac a gentle nudge.
“But you—”
“That sounds like an argument.” Starlight’s brows furrowed as Twilight chuckled.
“But that’s not—”
“Fair?” Starlight asked, cutting Sumac off and putting an end to his whining.
“Yeah!” Sumac blurted out in reply.
“I’ll take another five hundred word essay on all the ways your life isn’t fair, Sumac Apple.” Starlight’s smile vanished. “When life isn’t fair, it should be documented and registered with the proper authorities. We don’t want rampant unfairness destroying some colt’s life, that would be terrible.”
Realising that he was fighting a losing battle, Sumac retreated before he spent the rest of his life writing essays for Starlight Glimmer. He scowled as he backed away and glared at Starlight. There was a ghost of a smile on her muzzle. Life just wasn’t fair, not at all.
Stats
Page generated in 0.034 seconds
Total duration
719 users online
754,798 hits today, 2,054,621 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
..... You're determined to give me horrible flashbacks I take it?
The ultimate evil.
Very interesting chapter. I tend to wonder if Twilight isn't also considering what happened with Tarnished Teapot in her considerations.. i would've thought Sumac would've realized long ago life isn't fair though and complaining doesn't change that
That's about right.
And hey! I was wondering if Wormwyrd (i think that's his name) would appear.
And Starlight shows why i was and am never rude to a single English Teacher. And word counts too. Ugh, damnit Starlight! That's just plain abuse!
Starlight's turned evil again! Flee for your lives!! All hope is lost!!
"Life isn't fair" is such a poisonously-misused statement.
My life isn't fair because Starlight Glimmer is the worst pony in the world. She smells like icky feet from the worst evil dragon from evil dragon land after he spent a hundred million billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion billion years stomping on innocent students for no reason. She is very evil and should be punished by having to write 'I am very evil and should be punished' over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over.
7207600
Into the bad pony corner with you!
Easy. Pull your tongue out, hold it in place, then say, "I was born on a pirate ship!"
Repeat as necessary.
All he needs to do to complete those essays quickly easily, and likely so big they get him tons of extra credit is to get himself someplace secluded and eat a drop of Zap Apple Jam.
7208244 You know, if actual Zapapple Jam has that much of an effect on him, it could be *possible* that just thinking really hard about Zapapple Jam could have a much more controllable influence on his abilities. Perhaps if he worded his fraction problems in terms of bottles of jam....
Wow, that seemed kind of petty of Starlight.
"Hey kiddo, you're struggling with subjects you've had no practice with despite coming up with a formula for why magic is deminishing.
And we have you tutored by the snobbiest earth filly around!
Oh, and your Cutie Mark could spell disaster for your friends, family, and newly settled home town.
You know what we should cap all that off with after deciding your fate for you with no outside input?
MOAR HOMEWORK FOR DARING TO QUESTION YOUR SUPERIORS!"
7208831
And that is a very foalish view of things.
Focusing on the importance of his friendship is actually something pretty and important special.
7207450 It's not a proper fimfic if there are no flashbacks!
7208847
Yeah, I'm just gonna go. Later.
7209340
Mang, I'm sorry, I was trying to be silly. I didn't realise that you were being serious.
7209625
No. I'm good.
I did a bit of math and between starting out as a Shadowbolt and upgrading to the $20 a month family member tier I've spent close to $200 dollars on The Chase and related stories. I'm not going to be mocked while waiting for the story to reach some kind of conclusion. I get that Patreon doesn't entitle me to anything but I can find better uses of my time and money.
Good day sir.
7210471
Whoa, there was no mocking going on. I'm sorry you feel that way, but that wasn't my intention.
I had to stop and laugh for a bit at this. The idea of having to get a scratching post for your children is highly amusing.
That's brilliant!
Starlight may be evil, but at least it's a constructive form of evil. Hopefully. For all we know, this is the first step towards Equestria getting conquered by Sumac Apple, cruel and terrible idiot-god... though that doesn't seem especially likely.
Also, Silver Lining really needs a comfort object of some kind.
Fun take on a gryphon cub essentially being a kitten.
Well, it might be slightly safer if you grow up with a gryphon as a close friend.
Fractions are important, the general concept is actually pretty useful in day to day life.
Bwhahahahaha!
... because he's not good at writing. Clever, clever!
A teacher in my early high school days tried that extra essay stunt with me after trying to argue the point about something with her. When she told me she wanted it after lunch, I just said "Not Bloody likely!" and just walked away. Never heard another thing about it.
Aw, who's a little bad ass colt? Look at little stallion frontin'!
vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/zimwiki/images/3/32/Mrsbitters.png/revision/latest?cb=20160822015535
In the SWSV, Starlight Glimmer may become the Element of Fairness (Equity, Justice), and the whole business with the Equal cult was an example of how thwarted Alicorn potential can curdle and go very wrong. So I found Starlight's final essay assignment to Sumac very appropriate.
If you care, SWSV Trixie is Illusion (Fantasy, Imagination) and Sunset Shimmer is Redemption (Passion, Trust). I'm vague about this, because even baby Cosmic Concepts are complex beings.