Gosling was wearing his military doublet, which was festooned with the symbols of his rank, his laurels, and his accolades. Sumac had no idea what any of it meant, but he knew that it was shiny and it looked pretty. He also knew that if given a chance, Boomer would probably eat most of it as a snack. Just behind Gosling was a ruddy red pegasus stallion, Hotspur, and the towering behemoth known as Hush. Sumac felt excited upon seeing them and he leaned forwards in his chair.
He wanted to know how they had made a tuxedo big enough to fit Hush.
Something peculiar was happening to the pegasus ponies in the great hall. Quite a few of them seemed to be having difficulty with their wings. On the benches, in the rafters, pegasus ponies everywhere fluttered a bit, and then one by one, many of them had their wings spring out from their sides and go ramrod straight. Sumac watched, curious, and didn’t understand what was going on. Mares, stallions, they all had the most curious wing problem and it seemed to be spreading from pegasus pony to pegasus pony like a contagious disease.
“Homina homina… this Lemon needs a little squeezin’—”
“Lemon, hush!” Trixie, blushing a shade of mauve, gave Lemon Hearts a sideways glance. “I swear, you should change your name to Lemon Zest. You just want to be squeezed, don’t you Lemon?”
“Are you offering?” Lemon Hearts asked as she began to titter. With no warning, she wrapped her forelegs around Trixie’s neck, hauled her in, and kissed her on the cheek. As she pulled away, she whispered the words, “I am the juiciest little citrus fruit there is and don’t you forget that.”
Squirming in his seat, Sumac felt too warm and too awkward. His ears felt like they were on fire and when he glanced over at Pebble, he discovered that she was giving him a curious look. After clearing his throat, Sumac worked up enough nerve to say something and he looked over at Trixie. “I think Lemon’s concussion is bothering her.”
“No it ain’t,” Lemon confessed, “I kept saying that so I could get away with acting like a silly pony. I’ve been just fine for days. I just like acting silly and I wanted an excuse. Everypony has been so uptight and serious lately. It’s been a real drag.”
Sumac came to the conclusion that Lemon was both sneaky and treacherous. Eyes narrowing behind his rounded lenses, he resolved that he needed to keep an eye on her, just like he needed to keep an eye on Vinyl. In the back of his mind, young Sumac began to suspect that every mare and filly was treacherous.
“Lemon, you are terrible,” Trixie said as she turned a wary eye upon the mare sitting beside her.
Below, the music swelled as Gosling strutted up the isle. Red faced, ears burning, cheeks on fire, Sumac ignored Lemon and Trixie and focused upon the scene below. With the music and the roar of the crowd, Sumac couldn’t hear much of anything, but he could see that things were being said. Twilight Velvet and Night Light were standing with Prince Blueblood, who stood on the edge of the dais.
In the front row, sitting on the edge of the aisle, a stark white pegasus mare was weeping into her hooves. Sumac felt bad for her and his heart went out to her, even though he didn’t know who she was. Seeing the emotions of others had a powerful effect upon him and he wondered if this had something to do with the introvert thing that Octavia had discussed with him.
The music swelled and Sumac, who was closer to the rafters where the speakers were, thought that perhaps, it was just a little too loud. He couldn’t even see the orchestra from where he was sitting, they were off in an alcove that extended off of the great hall. He was startled when Pebble grabbed his foreleg and squeezed him. He turned to look at her, and then his head dropped down to look at his fetlock, which was held in Pebble’s fetlock.
Raising his head, he realised that Pebble was still upset. It was hard to tell, but he had a feeling that something was wrong. No doubt, she was still upset about marriage. Her grip was strong and Sumac, who liked his own space, wanted to pull his hoof away, but didn’t. He could endure a bit of suffering if he had to.
The old green earth pony with what looked like a stick of dynamite for a cutie mark, the one named ‘Chesty’ now had a foreleg draped over Gosling’s neck and the two appeared to be talking as Princess Luna laughed. Luna was wearing a crown of white roses upon her head that stood out in sharp contrast against her dark blue pelt. Sumac wasn’t sure when the crown of roses had been placed upon her head. Princess Celestia had a crown of roses too, but her roses were a dark navy blue, which was just about the same colour as Princess Luna’s pelt.
“—perhaps I’ll make you the Prince of Ponyville—”
Sumac could not make out who had said it, but Princess Twilight’s response was immediate and Sumac heard her say, “Ponyville is mine, go and get your own demesne!” There was a lot of laughter from down below and he felt Pebble’s grip upon his fetlock grow tighter.
“What if something or somepony crashes the wedding?” Pebble asked.
Turning his head, Sumac looked Pebble in the eye.
“She’s pregnant with my sibling. What if something happens? After all of this buildup and stress and worry involving my sibling, I don’t think I can stomach the idea of something happening. I’m freaking out over here and I think I’m coming undone.”
It took Sumac a moment to piece together everything Pebble had said, as it seemed as though she was speaking her thoughts directly. She was, of course, referring to her mother, and stating what was on her mind without explaining the important bits to him. One had to pay attention with Pebble.
“We shouldn’t be here. Me, you, we shouldn’t be here. Neither should my mother or Octavia. How do I keep my siblings safe? How do I keep you safe?” Pebble jammed her right hoof into her mouth and began chewing on it with such ferocity that she gnawed pieces of it off, all while redoubling her grip on Sumac with her other foreleg.
There seemed to be no helping it, he was going to end up hot, sweaty, and uncomfortable. He pulled Pebble over, gripping her fetlock with his own, and she clambered over the arm of the chair to get close to him. He could see that she was trembling and so he pulled her close to comfort her. All of her stoic calm seemed to have departed from her and Sumac didn’t know what to do.
Pebble pulled away her now gnawed upon and rough edged hoof. “How do I keep you safe? How do I keep you with me? What do I do if you go away or something happens? What if I can’t keep you safe? What if we stop being friends? What if we argue? How do we stay together? How does anypony stay together? What promises or assurances do any of us have? I can’t bear the thought of not having you around. I don’t want Octavia or Vinyl leaving. How can we all stay together—”
“Pebble!” Sumac gave a hard jerk on Pebble’s foreleg, which he still had a grip on, and he felt a stabbing ache go shooting through his shoulder. He bit down upon his lip to keep from crying out, pulled his fetlock free from her grip, and then put his forelegs around her. As he did so, his chair got pulled closer to the balcony rail where Trixie and Lemon Hearts were sitting.
Pebble’s forelegs closed around his body with all of the gentleness of an over-eager bear trap. Now, not only was he too hot and sweaty, he was also having a hard time breathing. But Pebble had quieted down and was no longer chewing on her hoof, so he counted it as a victory. Not knowing what else to do, he gave his best friend a hug and hoped that she would sort herself out.
“I am worried, dear sister, do you need to step away and take some time to compose yourself? Do we need to pause the wedding?”
Ears straining Sumac had trouble making out what was being said.
“Wedding? Haha!” Princess Luna’s laughter overcame the sound suffocating murmur of the assembled crowd. “We do not see this as a wedding, but as a friendship ceremony! We are promising a lifetime of togetherness to Our best friend and this is nothing to be nervous about! Nothing at all! Hahahaha! Huzzah! —Urp!—”
From where he sat, Sumac could see Princess Celestia squinting at her sister. A friendship ceremony? Princess Luna seemed a little off—she looked a bit twitchy and nervous. It seemed that Pebble wasn’t the only one stressing out about the wedding. Pebble was breathing on him, it was hot, it was moist, and he did his best to ignore it so that he wouldn’t be annoyed by it. It was something that he had to bear so that he could be a good friend to Pebble, because right now, she needed a good friend, and good friends didn’t get annoyed by being breathed upon.
“Gosling is Our best friend and most trusted confidant—for a husband, that is more than enough.” Princess Luna shuffled around, looked up at her sister, and then scooted over closer to Gosling. Extending a wing, she placed it over Gosling’s back, and waited.
Sumac was certain that something was up with Princess Luna, just as there was something up with Pebble. Both of them were troubled and it seemed both of them were relying upon their friend to see them through these difficult times. The little colt looked over at Twilight, whose smiling face was framed by her helmet. He still wanted to know why her leg wasn’t broken anymore.
“You know, Celestia, this seems fitting somehow, as it was you that married Cadance and I.”
“One of my most treasured memories, Shining Armor.”
Once more, the floodgates opened and Pebble began crying right into Sumac’s ear. Hungry, hot, and now even more annoyed, Sumac wondered just how much more he could endure. He was feeling cranky, tired, and his hind legs were getting cramped from sitting in one spot for so long. He hated to admit it, but the wedding kind of sucked.
“It’s so beautiful,” Pebble sobbed into Sumac’s ear as she squeezed him hard enough to make his eyes bulge in their sockets and a little whistling wheeze escaped his lips. “They’re two best friends promising to stay together forever.”
Something about how Pebble said ‘forever’ made Sumac nervous.
Shining Armor’s voice drifted up from below. “And do you, Gosling, son of Sleet, take both of these mares into your care and safe keeping?”
Ears perking, Sumac strained to hear a reply over the sound of Pebble’s crying. After a few seconds, he heard Gosling say, “Yeah I do.” Poor Gosling sounded nervous and scared. Sumac could hear his voice cracking and that was embarrassing when it happened.
“Then I, Shining Armor, Emperor of The Crystal Empire, Prince of Equestria, and Lord Protector of the Northern Reaches, do hereby bind you together. Let nothing tear asunder this union that I have blessed, lest they feel the wrath of the Crystal Empire fall upon them. Traditionally, this covenant is sealed with a kiss, which you may do so now.”
As Sumac tried to watch the kisses happen, he felt Pebble’s wet, snotty snoot press into the fuzzy spot just below his ear. He sat there, blinking, slow to register the fact that he had just been kissed. The roar of the crowd was deafening and made his ears hurt. It was impossible to hear anything, but, Sumac was able to sort of see that a crown was being placed upon Gosling’s head.
Overwhelmed, overstimulated, Sumac found himself clinging to Pebble just as much as she was clinging to him. He was seeing a new prince get crowned and for the first time in who knows how long, the Royal Pony Sisters had a husband, which all of the adults said was a sign of healing between the pair. Sumac himself didn’t know what to make of it, but the adults were all making a big deal about it.
Everything about this moment seemed triumphant, the emotion, the music, the roar of the crowd, Sumac now understood why the wedding had taken place. If he was feeling this, if his own spirit was soaring, then so must everypony elses’. The seeds of patriotism sprouted in Sumac’s heart and sent forth tender shoots into his soul. Overcome with feeling, he gripped Pebble in a very take charge sort of way and then pressed his snoot into the corner of her mouth, kissing her, a lingering kiss that lasted for several seconds.
As he pulled away, he saw that Lemon Hearts was doing the same, pulling away after a quick peck upon Trixie. His heart thudded in his barrel as he turned his head and looked Pebble in the eye. He felt tears coming, which was weird, because he was happy. He no longer minded the hot, sweaty, humid and moist feeling of Pebble pressed up against him.
“No matter what happens, I promise, we’ll stay friends,” Sumac said to her in a voice raised so he could be heard over the crowd. “If we fight or argue, we’ll apologise and make things right. Best friends… forever.”
Smiling, tears streaming down her cheeks, Pebble nodded, opened her mouth to say something, and then after a sharp, sudden inhale, Pebble sneezed all over Sumac’s face…
THat was a gross ending. You have a very dirty mind kudzu. I hope you're proud of yourself.
Pebble's earth pony lungs just sneezed earth pony snot into Sumac's delicate unicorn face at point blank range.
I can see a lot more of those Weedverse pony herd instincts in play here.
Pebble seems to be becoming completely unhinged.
7707402
The fall (among other things) has left her a little emotional.
7707402
Are we seeing the face of Discorded Pebble?
Just remember people. Our Dear Author has given us a sweet and cuddly chapter. Next chapter Something Terrible® is probably going to happen.
Twittermites in the cake?
Hospitals overwhelemed with cases of Pegasai Priapism?
A sniper in the bell tower?
Monkeys run amok?
An undead goat party crasher?
Alicorn Hemmrroids?
Stay tuned!
7707439
You forgot humanzee invaders from outer space.
7707444
I think Monkeys Run Amok covers that.
7707439
Any kind of attack here will be HILARIOUSLY Curb Stomped by the security. If anything it will be more of a comedy chapter than anything.
7707450
But humanzees aren't monkeys.
7707452
Not with that attitude.
7707451
Don't tempt the Author, say something like that and he may kill off a main character next chapter out of spite.
7707457
Rated E story. Nobody dies, they just get really big booboos.
7707460
You know how many G rated movies Disney has made where they ice someone?
Beliving ratings is for suckas.
*puts on tin-foil wizard hat*
7707465
Nobody falls to their deaths like Gaston!
7707474
While she didn't fall Ursala got shafted pretty hard.
7707480
Hello sailor.
7707483
I can make puns too.
I just do so sparingly.
Just off the top of my head without looking anything up in G rated disney we have seen at least two "on camera" stabbings, death by explosion, death by gunshot, death by falling, death by falling in to fire, off camera death by gun shot, and probably a lot more that have slipped my mind.
In live action PG rated Disney we have seen death by disembowlment/eviceration (The Black Hole).
I take all ratings with a salt-lick.
Especially after a T rated story I reported for scenes of explicate adult material is still up and hits to hot box whenever it updates and the rating remains unchanged.
7707494
Report it.
7707496
I did last year. Nothing was done.
Even directly linked the chapter in the report since it is a REALLY long fic.
Kinda been there before.....but the opposite party had food in their mouth at the moment....
7707497
Hmm. Try again, but go to Eldorado?
But didn't Luna clearly state in Perilous Romance of the Swans that she was in love with Gosling?
7707504
I'm over it honestly. I stopped reading that fic over a hundred chapters back. As I have read more and frankly better stories here my bar for what I care to continue following has raised from somewhere near the Laurentian Abyss to about halfway up Everest.
That story would have to have a total rewrite and make me hit Lagrange Point 1 before I could care again.
That was a prime example of a kudzu ending right there.
And ouch, that probably felt like a shotgun blast to Sumac.
7707494
Clayton wasn't so bad. He just wanted to hang out.
7707512
He might have been redeemed, but he choked at the last minute.
7707494
Crushed under a pillar, deaths by wildebeasts and hyenas, a trip to Vodoo Hell, offscreen beheading because the Queen of Hearts is awful, death offscreen prior to the movie's plot because you are a parent of the heroine...
7707512
He wanted to play hangman.
7707505
Nervousness makes lovers become silly messes whose brain replaces words on the way to the mouth.
7707544 That's a good point.
Well there it is. After 5 days of reading I have finished reading all of what currently exists of Princess Twilight's Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals. Excellent, excellent story so far. I love it when this story and The Perilous Romance of Swans come together and I imagine that lots of stuff will become clear to me as I now go to read The Weed.
Convenient timing since this chapter came out just a bit before I finished chapter 76.
OK - I'll ask the weird question because I'm sure I'm not the only thinking about it.
Kudzu, so the kiddos are about 5(-ish) years old if I'm not mistaken. In the Weedverse, when does puberty start to hit fillies and foals? I ask because part of me thinks that both Sumac and Pebble are both acting a bit odd and it could be explained by both of them simply being overwhelmed with their situations of late AND/OR they could also be starting into puberty which is going to really screw with their emotions.
Personally, I'm expecting that pony puberty in the Weedverse is a few years off for them, and they are simply overwhelmed here, but it never hurts to ask for clarification on things like this.
(Although, somewhat related, I do believe the our dear Lemon Hearts is experiencing something of her own resurgence of her own hormonal upsurge and would like nothing more than to overwhelmed should the situation arise... especially if it involves a certain blue coated, silver-maned pony.)
7707586
Sumac and Pebble both haven't spent a lot of time around other foals, as has been noted many, many times. Characters in story have even commented on this.
Both of them have modeled their behaviours based upon the adults in their observational radius. Their social milieu in general has been mostly adults. When social interactions arise, they are most likely to mimic the social behaviours of those in their immediate milieu.
However, they are learning more age appropriate interactions, such as tickling.
7707600
Yeah, I keep forgetting they are not 'normal' foals as far as social situations go. You'd think I'd learn by now.
You forgot out of control pranks..
boogers and wing boners!
you should of see our first kiss...hot hot hot
yeah I sneezed and burned down sugar cube corner... actually you turned it into a big ball of cotton candy!
It took Pinkie only two days to eat up the sugary mess
love was in the air and cotton candy too
Hmm. Must be a Pie thing.
7707788
This right here. This is the reaction that I was praying for.
7707586
You know kudz is going to skirt that question.
7707600 just like that.
And seeing how the question was
The best answer i can say is earlier than us. Tarnish was 16 when married, no one batted an eye. Gosling is 14 right now (i think, correct me if im wrong)and it was only a minor issue with some. So, a natural assumption would be that puberty hits them earlier.
Plus based of his Chase-Verse stuff( while not the same story, have some parallels), DT hit heat already, the crusaders hit heat already. Meaning Dinky and Piña are next. They are how old again?
7707900
Gosling is 15.
7707910 damn! 1 off!
Although.
MY POINT STILL STANDS!
7707919
7707586
Relevant info.
Swans, chapter 21.
7707926 okay, how old where some of those mothers to the foals Castor made?
7707945
Oh, the math is suggested in the quoted text.
7707957 oh for fuck's sake! Can i at least- wait...
Cadence, what year do ponies hit puberty?
Thank God. Pebble's breakdown was interesting enough to read, but everything else was getting so sweet that I just wanted to hurl.
Yes, I know it's a wedding and all, but I guess I just don't really get into this sort of stuff. Hell, at my own brother's wedding I got rather bored and outright irritated at the mushiness of it all. Probably says bad things about myself, but that's just how it is.
7707964
Cadance: I think you meant Cadance. Every calendar year, we have foals hitting puberty. Oh, you mean what age do foals hit puberty? When they near the decade mark they begin to notice a few changes to their bodies. It is a very difficult time for them.
7707973 is that how you spell her name?
*searches*
Huh.
And I'll take it! Just before 10 years. Im writing that one down.
7707964
Way to game the system! I'm buying you a beer.
menshealth.com/sites/menshealth.com/files/styles/slideshow-desktop/public/images/slideshow2/beer-intro.jpg?itok=hhBQBwWj