Chapter 1
As far as measurements for friendship went, cuddles were a fantastic indicator of something special, or an advanced state of friendship. Snuggles, the next step up from cuddles, suggested an even higher level of intimacy on the Sparkle-Index for Friendship. Sumac Apple, one of Twilight’s many students, found himself in a position where the line between cuddling and snuggling had become blurred, and he did not know which was which.
He was wrapped up in a soft, fluffy blanket with Moondancer, the real Moondancer, pondering this friendship conundrum. She was still weak, frail, and bony. The mere suggestion of cold caused her to shiver in the most violent way. But she was recovering from her imprisonment with the changelings, and Sumac liked to think that his friendship with her had something to do with it.
Also covered up by the blanket was Fluttercup, which turned this into a friendship building exercise as well as a real test of character. Moondancer had been devastated to discover that the changeling that had replaced her had also somehow fooled her pet, and Sumac felt bad for her. At least she was getting better, though her replacement therapy sessions were pretty intense.
Little Sumac had sat with Moondancer during some of her replacement therapy sessions—both Princess Cadance and Twilight had insisted upon it, though the colt did not know why—and he had offered helpful words of encouragement, telling Moondancer that she would, indeed, get better. Sumac feared these sessions for their raw, emotional intensity, and because he hated the memory of what had happened.
Moondancer was showing remarkable signs of improvement and she appeared to be having an accelerated recovery. She was gaining weight—the holiday treats helped—and her coarse coat was becoming soft once more. The bald patches were filling in and her mane was gaining a little length, which Sumac knew she was happy about. Most of it had fallen out during her confinement.
“It’s still weird to me,” Moondancer said to Sumac in a trembling, almost halting voice. “I find it strange that you want to be my friend. Most ponies avoid me now because of my replacement. They have… trust issues. Others are angry because they got tricked and I still can’t figure out why they’re so angry with me. I’m the victim. It hurts a lot, Sumac.”
“Give it time,” Sumac replied, and he gave some serious thought as to what else to say. Feeling eyes on him, he looked over and saw that Twinkleshine was staring at him, peering over the top edge of her book. Something about her gaze left him feeling self conscious.
“You should hate me too.”
“That’s not a nice thing to say.” Sumac struggled to lift his head to look at Moondancer, and couldn’t. His whole body trembled from his anger and his eyes angled in Moondancer’s general direction.
“I couldn’t save you from what happened. Every day, the guilt just eats me up.”
For a brief second, Sumac’s anger boiled over, and then it became something else. What it was, he could not say, but it hurt. His eyes sank and he found himself looking down at the blanket, a crocheted afghan, which was covered in many, many shed hairs of all different colours.
Some of them were blue.
“I think I’m having an off day,” Moondancer said, her voice now wavering more than ever. “The holidays are upon us and I feel so out of place. I don’t feel wanted or welcomed. It’s really hard for me.”
“Moonie, I’ve been your friend since foalhood, and I’m not giving up on you now. Lemon Hearts and I, we have your back.” Twinkleshine’s book snapped shut and the pearlescent mare’s eyes narrowed. “I can talk with Tarnish… I can ask him if you can stay with us—”
“No,” Moondancer shook her head. “I need peace and quiet. I can’t stand hustle and bustle.”
Frustrated, Twinkleshine’s lower lip now protruded, and she rolled her eyes.
“It’s really hard for me.” Moondancer closed her eyes for a few seconds, then looked over at her friend since foalhood. “Twilight’s parents will be staying with her in her castle. I’ve been invited to spend a few quiet evenings with them. I was promised a very calm, quiet atmosphere. I’m just having a hard time accepting the invitation. I… I don’t feel like I belong anymore.”
“We all have days where it feels like our progress has slipped away.” Sumac blinked a few times and realised that his glasses were dirty. Sticking his tongue out, he concentrated, his horn glowed, and then he squeezed out a cantrip that left his lenses spotless. “It’s frustrating and everything sucks. I still can’t use a toilet on my own and I hate it.”
“Sumac…” Twinkleshine gave the colt a stern look. “Don’t talk like that. We’ll both get lectured by Lemon. Is that what you want? A lecture? Because that’s how you get lectures—”
“Okay!” Sumac winced and thought of Lemon Hearts chewing his ear off.
“Lemon has been in a real mood lately,” Moondancer remarked. “Kinda sour…”
This made Twinkleshine smirk and raise an eyebrow. “This is our first winter holiday together… as a couple? No, there are three of us plus Sumac. A triple? A trouple? She’s frazzled and wants everything to be perfect. Lemon is the homemaker of the three of us and she keeps freaking out because things aren’t perfect.”
Sighing, Moondancer nodded her head. “I know how that feels.”
“Lemon needs everything to be perfect, because she’s planning something.”
“What’s she planning, Twinkle?” Sumac asked.
Shrugging, Twinkleshine made a confused face. “I have no idea.”
Without warning, the front door banged open and the howling wind swirled around the living room. The fire rose in angry defiance, crackling and spitting, and Twinkleshine’s horn ignited with a dangerous glow that rivaled the fire’s brightness. Trixie and Lemon Hearts stumbled in, bearing packages and bags, and it was Lemon who slammed the door shut behind them.
It took a few seconds for Twinkleshine’s horn to go dim.
“Moonie!” Lemon Hearts said in a warm voice that drove away the chill.
“Kiddo!”
“Nopony ever calls out my name when they get home,” Twinkleshine said with a dejected huff and she folded her forelegs over her barrel while settling into a pout.
“Twinklestinkle!” Lemon’s eyes were merry and her tone one of affectionate teasing.
Both mares set down their packages as well as bags, and then began peeling away their winter outerwear. Sumac shivered beside Moondancer and was thankful that there was a burning fire. It was cold outside. A heavy winter was planned, and it had something to do with restoring water tables.
Trixie shoved Lemon Hearts aside, causing the lemony yellow mare to blow a raspberry, and Sumac watched his mother as she came closer. He felt himself lifted, tugged out from beneath the blanket with Moondancer, and Trixie held him up in the air in front of her face. Sumac let out a nervouscited giggle when Trixie’s cold, wet snoot pressed into his cheek and she kissed him. He hung there, limp, his legs dangling, and then Trixie swept him in close while she sat down on the couch beside Moondancer.
Sumac found himself cradled in Trixie’s forelegs like a baby. He hated this, but there wasn’t much he could do about it, and it made Trixie happy. He saw this as motivation to get better—soon, he would be able to run away and this embarrassment would come to an end. Sumac was in no great hurry, however. His recent encounter with Chrysalis had left him with a genuine desire to be a little cuddlier with the adults in his life, though he would never admit it.
Trixie still had the cold clinging to her pelt and Sumac could feel it being warmed away while she held him. Her face was damp, her ears looked soggy, and he hoped that she had cleaned away any mud or dirt that might be on her hooves and fetlocks before holding him. It wasn’t hard—there were advantages to being a unicorn—but sometimes one forgot things during one’s excitement or if one was in a hurry.
“I had the money to buy you some presents this year, Sumac.”
Not knowing why, Sumac felt himself growing flustered. “Aw, Mom, that’s not needed—”
“Shush,” Trixie commanded. “I needed it. It makes me feel good. Now I don’t feel like a failure. We’re going to be a happy, loving family and we’re going to have a really, really nice time at Tarnish’s house while we stay there as his guests.”
Lemon began putting things away, picking up wet coats and outerwear from the floor so they could be hung on hooks. She scooped up boxes, packages, and bags, then carried them all into the kitchen, where they were put down on the counter. She hummed to herself, filling the house with a happy sound, and Sumac, safe, secure, and content in his mother’s embrace, came to a powerful realisation.
This was home, and this was his family.
With a bit of a wiggle, he managed to get his head to fall against Trixie’s barrel, and he listened to the sound of her heart beating. The warm tingle of magic wrapped around his fetlocks, and he felt one of his forelegs being stretched out.
“You’re getting socks, Sumac Apple.”
Squinting, Sumac couldn’t see what his mother was talking about, and he could feel Moondancer breathing on him as she leaned in for a better look. Trixie insisted that he was growing socks, that on each of his legs, his fetlocks were a somewhat lighter colour than the rest of his hide. He couldn’t see it, but others could, and this bothered him a bit.
“You’re right, Trixie, he is getting socks, but it is hard to tell, with him being such a pale colour.” Moondancer too, grabbed a leg, gave a tug, and had a closer look.
Sumac allowed himself to be groped and examined. There wasn’t much he could do but whine about it, and he just wasn’t in the mood to whine. He was happy and he could tolerate being pulled on while being fawned over. Plus, it made others happy. In the kitchen, he could hear the kettle being filled and the sounds of Lemon prancing around the kitchen.
“I saw Octavia while I was out today,” Trixie said to Sumac as she continued to examine his beige on beige foreleg. “She told me that you and Vinyl did some impressive magic together. Vinyl is very excited, from what I understand, and is on the verge of having a voice.”
“Yeah.” Sumac felt no need to toot his own horn.
“Kiddo, it’s funny what unicorns consider hard… I could do the voice spell she is attempting without any real effort at all, but other spells remain elusive to me and frustratingly out of my reach. It just goes to show you that we’re all special in our own way and that each of us have our own strengths and weaknesses.”
“I suck at combat spells,” Sumac said to his mother, and he felt a spark of anger. Had he been able to defend himself, things might have gone differently with Chrysalis. It didn’t matter than he was five or that his magic hadn’t matured, Sumac still leveled much of the blame of what had happened upon himself.
“SUMAC APPLE!” Lemon Hearts bellowed from the kitchen, causing every ear in the house to twitch in alarm. “What have I told you about using that kind of language! OOOOOH!” The lemony yellow mare that Sumac had accepted as his other mother boiled over like a kettle. “You are in so much trouble, little colt of mine!”
Cringing, Twinkleshine just had to drive her point home. “I told you Sumac, that is how you get lectures!”
Just outside the window, the city of Ponyville was being buried under snowflakes that glittered like falling diamonds in the warm illumination of the street lamps. The window was fogged over just a little, there was frost in the corners and around the edges. He could feel the cold coming from the glass, and knew that the responsible adults of the house wanted to close the drapes to keep the chill out.
Outside, just beyond the glass, he could hear laughter, the sounds of ponies out enjoying the festive night. The distant sounds of caroling could be heard, along with jingle bells. Inside, splashing water could be heard, and giggling. Trixie and Twinkleshine were taking a bath together—Twinkleshine said it was important to conserve water—and Sumac’s ears perked at the sounds of their happiness.
He felt a tug and Lemon lifted him, pulling him into a gentle, tender embrace. She stroked his ears, smoothed out his mane a bit, and then pulled him close. The scent of coffee cake clung to the yellow velvet that was her pelt and Sumac, content, closed his eyes. He wasn’t sleepy, nope. Just relaxed.
“Sumac, I need to talk to you.” Lemon’s voice was soft, a whisper, and her lips were right next to Sumac’s ears. She pulled the afghan around herself and Sumac, burying him and hiding him from view. She smiled when the colt yawned and pulled the afghan a little tighter around them both.
“Okay.”
“Sumac, our relationship is about to change. It needs to change. Trixie has come to accept some very hard, difficult truths lately, and she is feeling very insecure about herself. It has left her feeling doubtful and insecure about our relationship. So… I feel that our relationship that we have with one another needs to change, but I wanted to talk to you before we said or did anything.”
“Are you breaking up with my mom?” Sumac asked, opening his eyes.
“What? No!” Lemon Hearts almost sounded panicked. “No… nothing like that.”
“What’s going on?” Sumac closed his eyes again and struggled against the drowsy feeling that came with being so warm.
“Sumac, your mother… she isn’t gay,” Lemon Hearts whispered, and her forelegs squeezed tighter around Sumac.
“Uh oh.” Sumac’s eyes were now open once more, and he felt the first stirrings of panic.
“That’s her trouble, Sumac… she isn’t anything. She is asexual… just like her own mother. And right now, she is very, very scared that I am going to stop loving her, or turn her away. Trixie, just like her mother, still needs love, she needs intimacy, she still needs something to fill that big empty space in her heart. She’s doing a good job hiding everything that is wrong.”
Blinking, Sumac listened, but was in over his head and didn’t know what to say. Some time ago, he and Lemon had a talk about the different kinds of ponies and the different kinds of preferences, and how important it was to keep an open mind. He suspected that the chat they had a while ago was just preparation for this one.
“I really, really love her, Sumac.” Lemon paused, licked her lips, and then when she spoke again, her voice was a strained, squeaky whisper. “At some point, during the holidays, I’m going to ask her to marry me, and Twinkleshine too. I’m scared out of my mind, Sumac, and before I do anything, I want to make sure that you’re okay with this.”
Without a moment of hesitation, Sumac replied, “I’m fine. What’s the plan?”
Lemon Hearts let out a nervous laugh. “You’re something else, Sumac, you know that?”
“Yeah.” After a moment of quiet cuddling, he added, “I’d like to have a family. Like Pebble has. Sometimes, I’m a little jealous.” The colt yawned, smacked his lips together once, and then yawned once more. The sound of his mother’s giggling and the sound of carols outside was now a confusing, drowsy jumble inside of his head.
“Would you like for me to tuck you in?” Lemon Hearts asked.
“Yeah,” Sumac yawned. “I’d like that. Can you read me a story?”
“Which one?” Lemon asked.
“The one about the farting elephant that has trouble making friends.”
“Really, Sumac?”
“I like that story.”
Lemon Hearts sighed and shook her head.
“I’m five,” Sumac said to Lemon, offering up irrefutable logic. “I’m supposed to like that story.”
“Okay.” Lemon sounded hesitant and she gave Sumac a suspicious look, perhaps curious about being played.
“You have to make the noises too—”
“Sumac…”
“Please?”
“Okay, fine.” Lemon heaved a sigh and then muttered, “I think Applejack knew exactly what she was doing when she bought that book.”
“I love you, Lemon-Mom.”
Resigned to her terrible fate, Lemon Hearts smiled. “Just a few minutes more of this. When Trixie and Twinkleshine get out of the tub, we’ll all gather together and I’ll read Hitut the Unlikeable Elephant.”
Snuggling a little closer to Lemon Hearts, Sumac smiled and savoured his victory. “I like the part with the crocodile witch doctor and the cork and the spider named Anansi.”
“That poor, poor spider,” Lemon Hearts said in a voice filled with sincere sympathy. “Riding a cork, he flew across the ocean and found himself in a new land. Tarnish has met Anansi, from what I understand.”
“Don’t pull my leg, Lemon—”
“No, really, ask him about it.” Lemon grinned and one ear twitched. “I think I’ll fix cocoa and cookies for story time… how does that sound?”
“Do we have gingersnaps?”
“I think we do, if Trixie didn’t eat all of them…”
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♫ School's out for... um... winter! ♫
8086655
♫ School's been blown to pieces! ♫
This marks 36 stories in my Weedverse Bookshelf. Holy smokes! Three dozen and still going strong! Thank goodness Tia doesn't have as many children yet. Those first three sound like a handful.
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I think there are more than that.
Anansi, that name rings a bell.
Time for a google search.
...
*Yawn*
After bed, it's like 4am
I really like these slice-of-life stories.
Very pleasant to read, and always a clue (or ten) about the rest of the Weedverse.
Oh no, mistah, it won´t be short ! I need happy and I DEMAND happy for a while ! Don´t you even dare lemme down on that !
8086687
African spider god of trickery if I recall right. At least that's the real-world reference.
Back to a simpler time!
I am disappointed in Ponyville's collective reaction to Moondancer... I'd expect some difficulty trusting her, and some broad awkwardness, but not anger...
At least Sumac is pretty awesome, sticking up for someone he has never technically met on the grounds that he liked her doppleganger.
8086719 Think Loki with a tan and more legs.
Yay! I feel warm and fuzzy. I needed this for today.
Meanwhile at Twilights castle
It's so nice to have dragon fire for the holidays
Yeah Cutie Marked Crusaders marsh mellows toasters!
girls be careful I don't want to see a mess 
I have a nice self cleaning spell,
no problemo Ah ah ah Sporkle!
what was that?
I stifled a sneeze
8086681 Then I have missed some and this needs to be rectified! TO THE GROUP PAGE!
Edit: There was ONE story I missed. M.F.D. Whoops!
Not to diminish your ability to write other things, but I believe that you are one of the best authors that I have ever read for writing things from the child's point of view. Combine that with your slice-of-life skills, and you have something like sitting in front of a fireplace with your family.
It begins~! Huzzah!
Is Hitut based on an existing book?
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It is based off of actual folklore, yes.
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Sweet, things to track down!
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Good luck explaining to your younglings concepts like poli-marriage and herd family.
No, really, good luck and, please, send the video to us later. For laughs.
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Just one of many reasons why all of my "youngling" experience is vicarious.
8087055 Does a wall mounted, reverse cycle air conditioner count as a fireplace? Fireplace means collecting firewood, which is a little hard for me to do anymore.
On a lighter note, reasons to keep Trixie away from Fluttercup.....and--and me, Maud please, quick, put me back in your pocket, I'm scared!
8086727
I can understand anger. It's still irrational, but... because she was a weak link enough to be replaced, all the hard work they did, all the sacrifices, everything they did to ensure safety, was next to useless from the word go. And they did a LOT of hard work, and sacrificed a LOT.
I mean, if you work hard on making something, and someone trips into it or gets pushed into it, wrecking it, you get mad at them, even if you're quick enough not to take it out on them. So, you can at least understand that feeling.
Essentially, things could have been much, much worse due to Moondancer not being strong enough or aware enough to prevent getting replaced like that. Equestria quite literally could have fallen if a few deals had been made with different entities and such, making use of that mole in Twilight's own home, privy to many of her secrets and practically in charge of security. So while it's not fair to Moonie to be angry at her, and her whinging about it is a little annoying, I can completely understand why people who value the hard work for their security are angry at someone putting all of them and their loved ones at risk due to not being on the ball. Can't you see it? They'll simmer eventually and let it go, this is more just the knee-jerk at this point.
So Trixie is Asexual but not Aromantic?
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Yeah, I can understand.
Especially since they're not about to start blaming themselves for not being able to notice that Moondancer was replaced.
I was promised Tarnished and Starlight in this fic (yeah I didn't forget) and can't wait for that
to kick in.
Of Course the Spider Trickster God Exists in the Weedverse? Has Tarnished killed him like he has other spider?
"Suck" is bad language? Geez Lemon, tyrant much?
hmm the (mostly) definitely worries me...
D'aww.
Also what language did Sumac use to rile Lemon ip so? Is she one of those adults who thinks "suck(s)" is a bad word, or was it the mentioning of combat spells?
Have I mentioned I love this story? Probably not this one in particular, but I love this story. Prepare yourselves for a *short* rant.
Representation is amazing. It's just. Amazing. Not enough people explore the queer side on this site, and the fact that this does makes me a happy camper. There was no real reason to go further than gay/lesbian line, as most people wouldn't blink an eye at the lack of queer(aside from the obvious; they're ponies for christ's sake). Trixie is ace and you're not making it out to be an issue
except the whole thinkingLemon will leave her thinglike most writers automatically go for.Just akjkkjklsalkhfafklhddkd. It gives me warm fuzzies. Words are a thing that I do goodly
Congrats, Kudzu. You made a normally collected and eloquent writer speechless(typeless?
).
The Moondancer thing makes me unhappy. It annoys me how self-centered the other citizens of Ponyville are being. It also feels kind of weird to focus on that, especially given that I still don't know how they collectively felt or feel about Tarnished Teapot.
It's probably unfair, but I'm just going to call them dicks, for now. Makes me feel better.
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MY HOME!
NOT AGAIN!
It's weird that, out of everything else in this story about magical ponies, Lovecraftian nightmares, artificial deities, and an actually well-conceived structure of magic, that the hardest thing I have trouble believing is that Sumac and Pebble are only 5. For some reason that's the limit of my suspension of disbelief.
Also, Trixie's sexuality seems intriguing and I look forward to its inevitable awkwardness.
https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=12+pains+of+hearthswarming&&view=detail&mid=68306B3DAA7443CDA34568306B3DAA7443CDA345&&FORM=VRDGAR