• 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 56

The wagon rocked from side to side as it was pulled down the dusty road by Igneous. Trixie, who only had one eye at the moment, kept it on the sky, and she never stopped looking around for even a second, refusing to be distracted by Sumac. Lemon Hearts was leaning up against a sack of grain that sat wedged to the headboard of the wagon. Her lemony complexion looked a little green as the wagon rumbled over the rutted road.

Boomer, awake and alert, was sitting on top of Pebble’s head, following Trixie’s lead and watching the skies, her sharp eyes glittering in what was left of the sunlight. Pebble had returned to being Pebble, at least for the moment, and she was reading a book about something called quantum entanglement, which Sumac had made the mistake of asking Pebble to explain. The resulting words that spewed from Pebble’s mouth made his brain hurt and left him feeling stupid.

Looking around, Sumac noticed tall figures along the sides of the road, out in the fields, sprinting alongside the wagon as it traveled. Some had bows, some had swords, some had spears, and others had axes. Diamond dogs. Sumac understood that they were friends, not foes, and offered a little extra protection.

All of this for some lantern. It really all came down to the lantern. The little black piece of string in there would allow for control of an unstoppable army that could destroy all the world, and with it, perhaps the only means of stopping it. Sumac held the lantern in his magic, studying it, trying to understand it. Quite by accident, he found latches that would allow the pony plates to be moved around. The earth pony plate, the pegasus plate, and the unicorn plate could all be moved to one side of the lantern, facing forward, and the shape of all three ponies together formed an alicorn, a majestic silhouette of an alicorn in a regal, commanding pose.

With the three plates all locked together, other plates seemed to spring into existence to fill the open gaps where the pony plates had been, trapping in the light and only allowing it to shine out of the alicorn shaped silhouette. The lantern, transformed, wasn’t lit up at the moment, perhaps because it knew that it wasn’t needed.

Squinting, Sumac peered inside, peeping through the alicorn shaped opening, trying to view the Rainbow of Light secured inside of the heart of the lantern. The lantern was filled with shadows though, making it hard to see. His vision was obscured and Sumac soon grew frustrated. He pressed his muzzle up against the lantern and tried to peer inside.

There was a brief flash of light that almost caused him to drop the lantern. Almost blind, he sat there, blinking, trying to see again. He had to squint to be able to see anything, and from what he could tell, no one seemed to have noticed that the lantern had flashed him. The world around him looked weird, there were strange colours in his vision, shimmering motes of light—

And there was Pebble.

Pebble looked a little weird.

No, Pebble looked a whole lot weird.

For one thing, there was two of her. Little Pebble, and Big Pebble. The larger of the two Pebbles was spectral, ghostly, and wreathed in flames. She also had a horn and large, powerful looking wings at her sides. Her face was stern looking, solemn, and serious. She was also, at least in Sumac’s eyes, quite pretty.

The others still looked the same. Trixie was Trixie, Lemon Hearts was Lemon Hearts, Igneous was Igneous, but there were two Pebbles. He looked down at himself and around himself, and saw nothing out of place. There wasn’t two of him.

Then, as he blinked, Sumac’s vision cleared and the ghostly apparition of the second Pebble was gone, leaving behind the little Pebble that he liked. What had the lantern shown him? Was this the future? One possible future? Pebble’s destiny? Almost right away, Sumac began to feel some worry. If this was Pebble’s future, her destiny, what part did he have in it? Maybe he didn’t. He was above average, he understood that, but he was outshined by others, like Olive. Even Strawberry Hearts, his classmate, showed more magical aptitude than he did.

The lantern made one thing very clear though.

Pebble was special… and he wasn’t.

He didn’t know how to feel about that. Setting down the lantern, Sumac looked over at Trixie, who was watching the sky with a keen interest. During his vision, whatever it was, Trixie too, was just a pony. But Trixie was also a hero. A fighter. A pony that did the right thing. She was also his mother. After a few moments of thought, Sumac realised that this didn’t change his plans. He could still become a powerful wizard through hard work and effort, and he could be happy being above average or even being exceptional.

Whatever the case may be, he wasn’t one of the chosen ones, even if he was an ‘asset.’


Now, it seemed, was Lemon Hearts’ turn to watch the skies. She and Igneous had taken over sky watching duty once they had reached the train station, and Trixie now had her good eye closed. She appeared to be deep in concentration and Sumac knew that she was attuning herself to cast a complex spell. He was curious as to why there was no zap apple tincture, as having a magical boost would certainly make things easier.

As for Sumac himself, he was doing his own part to keep the skies clear. If any big black flies came near, the sort of flies that loved to bite pony flesh, he zapped them with a lightning bolt to keep them from biting his mother and disrupting her concentration. Some of the bigger, meaner flies took two or more zaps, and Sumac was getting quite good with his aim, even though he would never boast about it. Trixie had told him that boasting was wrong and that she would be very disappointed with him if he became a braggart.

“It’s nice to have a personal bug zapper,” Pebble deadpanned. “I hate horsefly bites.”

Groaning, Igneous flexed one of his hind legs but never took his eyes from the skies. Sumac, who was all to aware of these sorts of behaviours because of Trixie, wondered what a lifetime of hard work had done to Igneous. Trixie wasn’t all that old, but years of abuse and pulling a wagon had wrecked her body. Igneous was still pretty spry and got around well, while Trixie… well, it was probably for the best that Trixie had settled down and had stopped pulling their wagon from town to town.

“The train is coming. Say your goodbyes.” Trixie did not open her eyes as she spoke.

Igneous, still looking upwards said, “Pebble Pie, you be a good pony.”

“If it suits me,” was Pebble’s monotonous reply.

“That’s my filly.” Igneous’ voice was a little gruffer than usual. “Sumac Apple, you’ll be getting the papers for the arranged marriage in just a few weeks.”

Cheeks burning, Sumac’s head whipped around to look at Igneous. He worried about his mother’s concentration being broken. She needed to be able to concentrate. When Sumac looked over at Pebble, he saw that she was now a much darker chocolate brown and squirming where she sat.

“Boomer, be a good little lizard.” Igneous took a deep breath. “As for you, Miss Lulamoon, I wish you the very best of luck. Miss Hearts seems like a real firebrand.”

Blinking, Lemon Hearts let out a drunken sounding giggle.

It was then that Sumac saw it—the train. He could see it in the distance. This train didn’t have the gingerbread livery common on so many Equestrian trains, or the sleek Crystal Empire style that Shining Armor and Cadance so loved. No, this train, was scary. It was dull grey, almost black. It wasn’t very long and it didn’t look like it had windows, just some narrow slits along the sides.

What was this thing?

As it drew nearer, Sumac saw that there was something else on the train, something that scared him a great deal. In a squeaky voice, he remarked, “That’s not a party cannon.”

Igneous, who was squinting and had his hoof over his eyes so he could see better, nodded. “That’s a turret gun. Things must be bad if Princess Celestia is allowing for those to be seen again. It’s been years since I saw one last.”

“You’ve seen one before?” Sumac asked.

“In a museum.” Igneous shook his head and let out a weary sounding sigh. “Guns, tanks, rockets, cannons, all part of our past. Looks like they’ll be in our future now, too.”

Scowling, Sumac didn’t like thinking about this.

“Things must be real bad if we’ve dug those out of storage.” Igneous shook his head and then turned to look at Sumac. “Son, you are going to grow up in interesting times. You and Pebble stick together, you hear me? You can keep each other safe. Earth ponies and unicorns made good partners in times of trouble.”

“Yes sir.” Sumac gave Igneous a solemn nod.

The train lumbered along the tracks, scary looking and intimidating. The locomotive was wedge-shaped and covered in heavy armor plating. There was no smokestack, no place of weakness, the smoke poured out of grills along the sides, making it look like a smiling dragon muzzle. The cars had no windows and weren’t rectangles, but were more cylinder shaped.

Sumac understood why the train couldn’t stop. It would be too heavy. It was like an overloaded wagon, it would take forever for the train to get moving again if it came to a stop. It chuffed through the countryside, spewing black smoke, and Sumac could feel it coming. Everything was rattling as the behemoth approached.

“Everypony around me,” Trixie commanded. “Come close. I can feel the signal I’m supposed to lock onto.”

“Goodbye, Igneous,” Sumac said as he hurried over to his mother’s side.

“Goodbye, son,” Igneous replied.

“Goodbye, Grumps.” Pebble waved at her grandfather.

From the top of Pebble’s head, Boomer waved. Lemon Hearts almost fell over, but managed to stumble closer to Trixie. Using his telekinesis, Sumac tried to steady her, but Lemon Hearts was just too heavy for him to lift. Wobbling a bit, Lemon Hearts managed to wave goodbye to Igneous just as Trixie’s horn began to glow.

“Send more fudge,” Pebble said in a very calm voice as Trixie’s magic began to crackle. “Tell Aunt Mub-Mub that I love her.”

Sumac didn’t get to hear Igneous’ reply. There was a loud fizzle, followed by a thunderclap. His mane was standing on end and he could feel static coursing through his over-conditioned and super fluffy pelt. There was an almost painful pressure inside of his ears and his vision fuzzed over.

The world around him exploded with light…


Sumac slammed down upon a hard metal floor with enough force that it made his teeth clap together. It hurt a little, well, maybe more than a little, but he somehow didn’t cry out. He fell over and rolled into Lemon Hearts, who fell over and landed on top of him, smooshing him. He could hear muffled groans and moans all around him, and then he heard Pebble’s voice.

“Daddy!”

Unable to see, Sumac was able to hear hooves stomping over heavy metal. There was quite a clatter, a happy sound of laughter, and then there was shrieking, which echoed against the metal floor and walls in the most awful way.

“Pebby Poops, I’m sorry, I forgot that you don’t like to be lifted!”

Struggling, Sumac tried to get out from beneath Lemon Hearts. He wiggled and kicked, but Lemon hadn’t recovered enough to have all of her senses. Left with no other option, he raised his voice a little. “We fell… we fell a long way… Twilight got hurt and we were several miles up in the air and we fell down.” As he spoke, he could hear Pebble sobbing and knew that she had gone from being fine to being a mess again.

“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…”

With a powerful jerk, Sumac was yanked out from beneath Lemon Hearts. He sat up and looked around while he sucked in a few deep breaths. There were a lot of ponies here, a whole lot of ponies. He could see Tarnish, whom he knew, and Maud, whom he also knew. There were two mares that he didn’t know, but he could guess who they were. One was Octavia, and Sumac had listened to a few of her records. The other had to be Vinyl Scratch. Pebble was completely swallowed up by her family.

Twilight Velvet stood close by, and Sumac realised that it was she who had pulled him free. Beside her was a dark blue stallion who had a kind smile. As he sat there, trying to check out his surroundings, Twilight Velvet began to examine him, and he did nothing to stop her as she checked him over.

Some distance away, Sumac saw more familiar faces. Gosling was staring out of a narrow slit that served as a window. There was the big enormous lunar pegasi known as Hush. Seville was sitting beside Hotspur, and all of these four were wearing armor, but it wasn’t the usual golden armor, no. This looked heavier, thicker, and looked quite battered, as if it had recently seen some violence.

“Sumac, are you okay?” Twilight Velvet asked in a soft voice. “You got a little smooshed.”

“I’m fine,” Sumac replied, “is Lemon okay?”

Twilight Velvet shook her head. “I don’t think she is—”

As the kind older mare spoke, Lemon Hearts barfed. Sumac turned his head just in time to see it. Trixie was beside her, holding Lemon Hearts around her neck, and was using her magic to keep poor Lemon’s mane out of her face as she spewed.

“I think the teleportation and the rocking motion of the train is too much for the poor dear.” Twilight Velvet clucked her tongue and then began digging through her bags with her magic, as if she was looking for something.

“Are you here to protect assets?” Sumac asked. He saw Twilight Velvet’s face wrinkle as a scowl appeared upon her muzzle.

“I’m here to protect two foals who are very dear to me,” the middle aged mare replied. “All foals are precious to me, which is why I championed the cause of reform. But yes, you are assets, as much as it pains me to admit it.”

Turning his head, Sumac looked over at Hush. “Did Princess Luna make you trick Gosling into meeting me?”

Right away, Gosling reacted. He turned to look at his friend, and asked, “What’s this?”

Hush, true to his name, did not reply.

“Hey, yous holding out on me, Hush?” Gosling reached out and prodded the much larger pegasus. “What’s going on here?”

Hush, worried looking, shook his head.

“Don’t lie to me, Hush!”

“Gosling, sit down and shuddup.” Hotspur grabbed Gosling by the neck and yanked him backwards. “It was me, okay? I set up the meeting in Ponyville. You were supposed to meet Sumac and get to know him so that he would trust you in times of trouble.”

“The princesses, they’s skeevy.” Gosling’s eyes narrowed. “Always with the tricks and the manipulations… ugh!”

“That’s enough, all of you,” Twilight Velvet commanded, and as she spoke, all four of the ponies she addressed saluted. She turned and faced Sumac again. “If things go wrong, Sumac, you and your lantern will go with Hotspur and Gosling. Pebble will go with Hush. There will be no arguing, no complaining, and no refusal to go.”

Sumac nodded. Twilight Velvet meant business.

“The rest of us will remain on this train and make sure that the two of you make it away safely.” Twilight Velvet looked over at Lemon Hearts, who was still spewing, and held out a small glass bottle to Trixie. “This will help the motion sickness and the nausea. Two drops down each ear.”

Nodding, Trixie accepted the bottle and went to work trying to get Lemon Hearts sorted out. Sumac, who didn’t know what to feel, say or do, sat on the floor trying to make sense of things. He looked over at Pebble, who was being hugged by both of her parents, and wished that somepony was hugging him. The sour smell of vomit made his nose crinkle.

“Sumac, come over here and sit with us,” Seville said as he patted the hard metal bench beside him. “Bring your lantern and your dragon.”

Turning his head, Sumac looked up at Twilight Velvet, wondering if it was okay. He saw her give a faint nod, and when she did so, he grabbed the lantern and realised that Boomer was already sitting on top of his head. He had lost track of her during the commotion.

It was going to be a long ride home.

Author's Note:

A long ride home indeed.

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