Chapter 2
For some, home was a nice little house, or perhaps a cosy stone cottage, for others, it was a gleaming crystal castle that stood out in sharp contrast against the town where it was located. For Sumac Apple and Trixie Lulamoon, home was a vardo; a type of wagon made to live in, a home on wheels. This one had two beds that folded down from the walls, storage space, a pile of cushions in one end, and there was a large, beautifully crafted apple tree on the door, the end result of Big McIntosh’s creative abilities.
The wagon was still shiny and new, having just been made. There was a simple outdoor kitchen off to one side, a barrel for holding water, and a canvas awning covered a small sitting area and the makeshift kitchen.
Trixie Lulamoon was sitting under the awning at a small, portable wooden folding table, hard at work slicing potatoes. There was a glass of lemonade sitting upon the table, a luxury that she enjoyed a great deal. She now had enough money to buy sugar and fresh lemons; the sour drink was an indulgence worth having. As she sat slicing potatoes, she kept an eye on two little foals and one little dragon sitting in the grass together a short distance away.
One foal, small, brown of pelt and violet of mane and tail, was wearing a green smock. The other foal, fresh out of a bath, had a pelt of cream and had a distinctive wheat coloured mane. The dragon, who had also been bathed, was mostly orange with hints of yellow.
Trixie Lulamoon, slicing potatoes, was a very happy pony.
“Pinkie Pie is incompetent and stupid,” Pebble said as she sat back on her haunches and folded her forelegs over her barrel. She sat with her eyes focused upon the dragon clinging to Sumac’s horn.
“Aw, Pebble, don’t say that,” Sumac replied as he cringed. He worried that Trixie might hear and if she did, she would be upset. There had been enough trouble today between the bullying and the bath. Sumac was done with trouble for today.
“And don’t even get me started on my parents… they’re stupid too.” After speaking, Pebble’s lower lip protruded ever so slightly, which was as much emotion as she could muster, just about the end of her expressiveness. She took a deep breath and continued, “I can’t believe they ditched me so they could try again for a better foal.”
“Hey, Pebble, that’s not what happened and you know it.” Sumac felt a heaviness bearing down upon his withers and it made it hard to breath. “Your parents love you. You just need a better school… they left you with Pinkie because she’s family.”
“Yes… Pinkie… who is an idiot.” Pebble let out a snort.
“Pinkie isn’t an idiot,” Sumac said, shaking his head and hoping this conversation wouldn’t get him in trouble.
“Oh, go out and get some sunshine. All foals love sunshine. The sun is good for you. Sunburn? What do you mean, sunburn? Oh, you’ll be just fine, stop complaining. Now go to the park and have fun.” Pebble’s voice was a monotonous steady drone and she only paused to draw breath. “Don’t worry about bullies, just ignore them and they will go away, I promise. You’re making this into a bigger problem than it really is. Oh, will you stop complaining about the sun, nopony likes a whiner—”
“Okay, Pebble, you’ve made your point.” Sumac held up one hoof and shook his head. “But that doesn’t make her an idiot and you’re kinda mean for saying so.”
“And she was kind of mean and stupid for sending me out of the house out into the dreadful daylight where Olive could come along and torment me.” Pebble blinked, shook her head, and then sighed. “I don’t want to live with her. She’s awful. She’s annoying. I don’t like her. She doesn’t respect my personal space or my privacy or anything.”
“But she’s your family and she loves you.” Sumac’s voice was a little squeaky and wavered a bit. “And family is important. It’s better to have somepony that loves you even if they mess up than nopony that loves you.” As Sumac spoke, he glanced over at Trixie, and after staring in her direction for a moment, he looked back at Pebble.
“Everything was perfect. I had my Mama, and I had my Papa, and we were happy most of the time and there was the rock farm and now, I don’t have any of that. It’s all gone. My parents have ditched me… probably because Pinkie Pie was right. I complain too much and nopony loves a whiner.” Pebble fell silent, closed her eyes, and went as still as a stone.
It took Sumac a moment, but he realised that this was probably as close as Pebble came to crying, from what little bit he knew about her. He scooted through the grass and pressed up against her side, trying to comfort her, even though it was really weird and doing so made him feel gross and icky all over.
A moment later, he felt her forelegs slip around his neck and squeeze him. He could feel her breathing, it was heavy, deep breaths going in and out in an irregular way, she was shuddering, her barrel hitching. She was crying, in her own way. There were no tears, no sobbing, no sounds, nothing at all but her hitching barrel to tell him that something was wrong.
“It’s gonna be okay, Pebble,” Sumac whispered, feeling a little bit squirmy and a whole lot embarrassed from being hugged by Pebble. Ponies were going to talk and there was going to be a whole lot more teasing about Pebble being his filly friend. Sumac sighed in resignation; Pebble needed him right now and he was just going to have to endure the razzing. A part of him was glad that he had just had a bath. He didn’t want to be stinky around Pebble for reasons that he didn’t understand. Normally, he wasn’t bothered by being stinky.
Sumac felt the dragon resting upon the top of his head move around. She was now dry, smooth, leathery, her scales were smooth and sleek feeling. She was small and slight, weighed almost nothing, and her movements tickled him. He struggled not to laugh as Pebble clung to him.
The little hatchling let out a trumpeting screech and launched herself from Sumac’s horn. He watched as she lept, his heart in his throat, and there was this weird sense of worry that she would fall and hurt herself. But she didn’t fall and she didn’t hurt herself. She landed in the grass with a muffled whump and then scurried away, her long tail swishing from side to side in what appeared to be a boneless serpentine manner.
She was so tiny, her body was so thin and slight. She had come out of an egg the size of those laid by a goose. She had eaten quite a bit of her egg and some of it had been set aside for her to eat later. A tiny piece of it was still with Twilight, who had promised that she was going to do something special with it.
As Sumac sat watching his pygmy dragon, Pebble turned her head and had a look as well, her forelegs still around Sumac’s neck. The pair of foals watched as the dragon ran around in circles in the grass.
“What’s she doing?” Sumac asked.
“I have no idea,” Pebble replied. The filly sniffled just a tiny bit, took a deep breath, and pulled away from Sumac. She paused mid action, her hoof still lingering on Sumac’s neck, she patted him, and then pulled her hoof away as she scooted back away from her comforter.
The little hatchling hiked up her tail, let out a squeak, grunted, and then stomped her right rear leg. She let out a trilling cry and scooted away, then turned around, her yellow eyes flashing. She had left behind what appeared to be little glittering rocks in the grass.
“She pooped,” Sumac said in a low whisper.
“Looks like rocks.” Pebble leaned forwards and tried to get a better look.
Rearing up, the hatchling lifted up her head, stood on her hind legs while using her tail for balance, puffed up her tiny chest by inhaling, and then, with a raspy whoosh, she breathed fire upon her own leavings.
There was a sound like super loud firecrackers. Each little pellet popped and exploded with a brilliant crack, and each explosive burst caused Sumac and Pebble’s ears to twitch. Pebble pulled her head back, her eyes were wide, and without thinking about it, she reached out and grabbed Sumac’s front leg. She squeezed it in her fetlock as she watched with wide eyed wonder as the hatchling detonated its own leavings.
“She poops firecrackers!” Sumac exclaimed in excitement. “Did you see that? She poops firecrackers! Everything about dragons is awesome!”
The hatchling, satisfied that her job was done, scurried through the grass, over to Sumac, climbed up his leg, which caused the colt to start giggling, grabbed his neck, clung to his mane, and pulled her tiny body back up to Sumac’s horn, her favourite perch.
“My little boomer made a boom boom!” Sumac squirmed as he laughed, the hatchling’s tail still tickling his neck and his ear. Sumac was so busy laughing that he didn’t even notice that Pebble was still holding his foreleg, nor did he notice when she pulled away.
“What exploded?” Trixie asked.
Sumac looked up at his worried mother, a broad grin still on his face. “She went poop and burned it with her fire and it exploded! She made a boom boom!”
“Oh.” After a moment, Trixie began to smile as she began to think about all of the ways a little dragon was the ideal companion for a colt. It was good to see Sumac smiling and happy, he was often far too serious and stuffy.
“Boomer is a good name for a dragon,” Pebble said in a low voice.
“Oh, I dunno about that.” Trixie, still smiling, looked at the little hatchling that was clinging to Sumac’s horn.
“Spike likes the name that Twilight gave him.” Sumac went cross eyed as he tried to look up at his own stubby horn. “I like Boomer.”
Trixie sighed, shook her head, and made peace with the idea that there was now a little she dragon with the name of Boomer. She looked at Pebble, who was staring at Sumac, and then looked at Sumac, who had a goofy look on his face. She laughed, shook her head again, and then turned tail so she could return to slicing potatoes for dinner.
“You like the name I came up with?” Pebble asked as Trixie walked away.
“I sure do,” Sumac replied.
The little filly was silent and still for a moment as she looked into Sumac’s eyes. “Thank you.” There was a pause and she took a deep breath. “That makes me feel better. Sumac, do you think you can share your dragon with me?”
The little colt froze and his crossed eyes uncrossed as he focused upon Pebble. He gazed into her brilliant blue eyes and felt something go crawling up and down his spine. He swallowed and tried to make his brain work, but his senses had just stepped out for a five minute break.
“I don’t want to keep her, or take her away from you. She belongs with you. But I like her… and I like you… and I thought that maybe this is something we could do together. Maybe I need to focus on something other than my horrible parents abandoning me.” Pebble blinked, reached up with her foreleg, and brushed her straight, limp mane away from her face. “We could be… like… friends… who… raise her together.”
Sumac gulped and tried not to panic. Ponies would talk about that. Or sing that stupid song about him and Pebble sitting in a tree and giving each other disgusting kisses. On the other hoof, Pebble was hurting and right now, she probably really needed a friend. She was in a bad spot. She felt as though her parents didn’t love her and she was really a very unhappy foal right now. Surely he could deal with a little discomfort so she could be happy, right?
He tried to think about what Big Mac might do. What would Big Mac say about two foals teaming up to raise a dragon together? Sumac didn’t know. He couldn’t even imagine Big Mac trying to give him advice about this. Blinking, Sumac realised that he needed to say something, and soon, otherwise, he was going to hurt Pebble’s feelings. She had feelings and they were important to him for reasons he could not understand or explain.
“I think that would be great, Pebble,” Sumac said in a low voice. “There are bound to be times that I can’t have her with me. I need somepony I can trust to look after her. You are the only pony I know that is smart enough to understand how important and how serious this is. I can trust you.”
Pebble blinked a few times, her long eyelashes clinging together for a moment with each opening and closing of her eyes. “Thank you, Sumac Apple.”
For a moment, it looked as though Pebble was about to say something else, but she remained silent. Sumac, who had become serious and solemn once again, looked at the filly and gave her a nod. “Twilight gave her to me to help me make friends. Maybe, if we both take care of her, we can both make friends together.”
The filly did not reply, but stared at Sumac. After a moment of thought, she nodded her head in agreement. She then crept a little closer to Sumac, took a deep breath, relaxed, and then made herself comfortable in the grass.
“Do you want to stay for dinner?” Sumac asked.
Pebble nodded. “I don’t want to go home back to Pinkie Pie just yet. I don’t want her grabbing me and squeezing me and hugging me and trying to force me to feel better. I can’t deal with her right now. I need quiet time and Pinkie Pie can’t be quiet.”
Letting out a sigh, Sumac tried to think of a useful, meaningful response, but couldn’t. He felt bad for Pebble but did not know how to help her. Pinkie Pie could be a little hard to handle sometimes, but the pink pony meant well. It was clear that Pebble was loved, but Sumac didn’t know how to get her to see that and make peace with it. He glanced up at Boomer, and saw that she was already asleep. Baby dragons slept a lot.
Today had been the biggest day in young Sumac’s life; perhaps the most important day of his life. He had hit the bottom with his rage and soared to the highest peak with his happiness. He had one friend that he really cared about, even if he didn’t understand her. A precious gift had been given to him, a gift that he knew would change his life. He thought about how Trixie was always going on about his potential. Perhaps Boomer would help bring out his potential. Boomer had already brought him and Pebble a little closer. Deciding to raise a dragon together was a special kind of close. Sumac didn’t know how to define it, but he knew it was special, something to be treasured.
“Heya, Pebs,” Sumac said.
“Don’t call me Pebs,” Pebble replied.
“I just wanted to say…” Sumac swallowed and found that his mouth had suddenly gone dry. He cleared his throat and willed the rest of his words to come forth. “I just wanted you to know that I’m here for you. You helped me out and you saved me and without you I could have never got into school or realised my potential and I owe you so much and I’m really glad we’re friends and I’ll always be there for you if you need me and I can’t seem to stop talking because I feel really stupid right now and it feels like there is no way to end this without looking dumb and I just can’t seem to—”
Placing her hoof upon Sumac’s lips, Pebble silenced the blabbering colt. She looked into his eyes and in a flat monotone, said two words. “Thank you.”
When Pebble pulled her hoof away, Sumac let out a sigh of relief and remained silent.
This might need some editing and some touching up. I've been awake for too long. It's like 8 am right now and I've been writing this for a long time and not much makes sense right now. 
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Pebbles and Boom Boom? :)
Just how much was Pebble whining for Pinkie to tell her she's doing it too much?
And... yep. The dragon is given a pets name.
But, then again, from the dragons we have informal names of, it's not actually out of the ordinary. Garble? Fizzle? Spike and Boomer are hardly out of place.
It's just... ponies named them, though.
A name I seems actually rather masculine? It's not definitely masculine but...
That was adorable
7032316
Do you actually think Pebble was whining?
Something must be wrong with our dear kudzu. So much cuteness, and love and adorablenesseses in one single story, and none was maimed so far ! How´s that even possible !? Usually, by this time, half of Ponnyville would have been killed, reanimated by a necromantic spell, Trixie would lose at least 3 limbs, and Sumac would be scarred for life while his cute mark in monster slaying would appear, while boomer would cry for him not leave her...
Lol a dragon with fire cracker crap? hahah nice! You know once she gets bigger the might crap out grenades.. that could be scary hahah
7032406
Rated E, for Everyone.
7032408
As we shall soon learn, a primary ingredient in dragon poo is ammonium nitrate.
This is a powerful fertiliser. Also, it has amazing explosive properties.
It is how dragons in the wild get more gems. They pinch a loaf down inside of a crevice of a mountain, breath fire, blow up a big hole, and then pick through the rubble for tasty gemstones.
SCIENCE!
7032424 I see that cool to know n.n i know Potassium nitrate can be used in similar way for KNOX rocket fuel Or as some would call it candy rocket fuel. Seen some cool results from video of people who have made the stuff apparently you mix part sugar with it as well assuming you have the right % mixed and go from there cooking the sugar down. Seen a few rockets go boom before getting in the though.. air bubbles.. lol
7032424 I like that idea--well thought out.
Awww.. Boomer sounds cute :) I think Pebble will learn to appreciate her Auntie Pinkie soon enough, and Pinkie will learn better how to relate to her niece's, she just needs to learn how different from others Pebble is. Also I'm gonna guess Trixie's wagon is next to the Friendship castle, or at least on the grounds
7032530
Trixie lives in a wagon down by the river.
7032532
damm you for getting the image of a sweaty overweight stallion motivational speaker in my head!
7032390
With Pinkie's ability to read her relatives? I wouldn't be surprised if Pebble offhandishly commented more than once and Pinkie could tell she was unhappy.
Little Boomer is cute cute, yes!
7032424
Isn't that a major component of a lot of animals' fecal matter?
7032718
Only in tiny, trace amounts. Sodium nitrate is probably what you are thinking of and that is found in bat guano. Ammonium nitrate is a powerful fertiliser and is a primary ingredient in dynamite.
The Oklahoma City bomb was made of ammonium nitrate.
7032122 I read Horrendous Hypothesis, but I didn't realize that The Weed and VI are part of this. Well, time to READ MOAR. Not that that's a problem. I caught up to The Chase in a little over 4 weeks of reading.
7032532 and now I have to rewatch that SNL skit again.
Me thinks Trixy is gins be a wee bit depressed if Sumack gets s special somepony before she dose.
7032923 The connection between the Apple and Pie family is so distant that it doesn't even quality as an inter-family relationship. I forget exactly how Pinkie puts it, but there's at least a 10 generation gap between Pebble and Sumac. People that live in small towns are more closely related to each other than that.
Oh dear... Can't wait to see where this goes.
Kudzu, how many stories is this? 7? 8?! What are you?!?!
7033025 He's going to be hitting the double digits soon, these stories are going to be the death of him at this rate.
7033025
A cyborg.
No, really... I have several pounds of metal used to reconstruct my leg.
It is not at all awesome, let me tell you. But I can stick refrigerator magnets to my leg.
7034033 that must be hell at security gates. I am still 100% me. While i am missing a few bits, haven't replaced anything.
Nice to see that Sumac seeks Mac as a father figure.
OK< I have to ask. Is olive and Apple clan member as well?
If so, why is she such a big jerk? Poor Pebble. You'd figure with how she was when she met Sumac she'd be able to take an insult better. I honestly figured, based off the previous fic, that she'd more than likely talk to Olive with big words to annoy her into submission.
Pygmy dragon huh?
It melted my heart when Su called Trixie mama....
I like how you are writing the foals, this is cute.
You know, I'm forced to wonder if Spike did (or does!) anything similar, and am amused to imagine filly Twilight's reaction.
7032316 Sharon Valeri says, "Pet? Masculine? Bah, here, have two nukes to the Basestar. Or rounds to the chest, I'm easy either way. "
7034033 You could sell advertising space? (that sounded funnier in my head
)
I don't understand. Pinkie Pie is the Element of Laughter and shouldn't make Pebble miserable.
So what, this day is better and worse than the entrance exam?
7383616
Pebble acts a lot like Maud, but I think behind that stony exterior she has a very different personality. Pinkie sees her as as foal and somepony like Maud, and her way to act around either really doesn't help Pebble.
I guess you could say that as Element of Laughter, Pinkie has a lot of trouble with ponies who don't want to laugh, either by mood or personality. Fluttershy would probably be able to understand Pebble able lot better (or possibly Rainbow Dash; she's loud and brash, too, but unlike Pinkie she has a much better sense of when ponies aren't like her and how to act accordingly, even if she's a bit blunt about it).
I don't know if anyone else picked this up but Pebble gives me a Gregory House Vibe and Sumac has A Dr. Wilson from House vibe on how Wilson was one of Houses' only friend
Hmm Pinkie Pie BENDS the rules of reality to be considerate of her friends.
and can read how other feel quite easily. So it seems a bit out of character that she pushes Pebble so much.
But whatever...
7937274
Look at the EFFECTS of what Pinkie did by pushing Pebble out into the world that day. Did things turn out ill or well for Pebble? It looks to me as if they turned out well for Pebble, Sumac and Boomer.
Then remember: even in vanilla canon, Pinkie is precognitive.
7032532
So glad that I decided to start reading this and saw this comment after knowing about this SNL reference.