• Published 10th Apr 2017
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Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals: Winter Break - kudzuhaiku



School may be out, but the lessons continue for Sumac Apple.

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Chapter 19

“Don’t you foals ever play?” Cloudy asked while she gave her granddaughter Pebble a poke with her hoof. “You know, playing… that thing that foals do. Acting silly when the hard work is done. Pretending. Imagining. Having fun. Something. Anything.”

Sumac watched Pebble turn her head to look at him, and instead of her usual deadpan expression, there was a pleading look. A silent exchange took place, the sort that can only happen between friends who truly knew one another, and Sumac conveyed that he was helpless. Pebble’s nostrils flared in disgust, and with a slow turn of her head, she returned her attention to her grandmother.

“You could play house,” Limestone suggested and her eyes blazed with sudden enthusiasm. Every little foal loved to play house, or to play house with dolls.

“Hey, Maud… you wanna play house?”

Ears perking, both Cloudy and Limestone waited for Maud’s deadpan response to Tarnish.

“Fine, what did you have in mind, Tarnish…”

“Well, you could be the house’s screen door and I could—MMMPH!”

Tarnish was interrupted by Maud’s hoof being inserted into his mouth, and he sat beside her, flailing, trying to break free, while Maud shook her head from side to side. Limestone began snickering, while Cloudy made concerned maternal equine noises deep in her throat. Octavia, who sat by the window, began to snortle-chortle and almost dropped her teacup.

“What was Tarnish gonna say?” Sumac asked while he looked up at Limestone with big, innocent eyes. So innocent that they glimmered with innocence, and never was a foal more irreproachable than Sumac was at that moment in space and time.

Now, Limestone looked panicked. The big, innocent eyes were a dangerous weapon.

“Tarnish was going to play the part of a handypony, repairing the door and oiling it so it doesn’t squeak…” Cloudy’s words trailed off and her cheeks began to redden. “Sometimes, when you slam the screen door… er, um, when you bang the screen door… no… this is why you must never be careless with your screen door, Sumac Apple. Slow and gentle each time, even if you are in a hurry.”

“Good job, Mom. You didn’t mess that up at all. Great work.” Reaching out, Limestone clapped her mother on the back. “At least you taught them the virtues of proper lubrication. Can’t have that screen door squeaking every time it opens and closes.”

“Shut up, Limestone.” The corners of Cloudy’s mouth were now twitching, and her eyes twinkled with suppressed merriment. With swift, sudden movement, Cloudy twisted her body around, wrapped her forelegs around her daughter, pulled her close, and squeezed her. Then, both of them began sniggering together.

Sumac was quite confused, and didn’t know what was going on. “Pebble?”

“Yeah?”

“Things are weird again, Pebble.”

“You’re telling me.”

“Think you can school me in physics?”

“I thought you’d never ask. Let’s get out of here before things get any stranger.”


The afternoon stretched into an endless expanse, as afternoons tended to do. The house was alive now, brimming with warmth and life. Music played, and sweet, harmonious sounds came from the high-fidelity phonograph. The album was one of Octavia’s, an experimental piece that consisted of her playing the cello while accompanied by a dozen giant kettle drums. The album was fittingly called Elephants.

Pinkie Pie was rather sedate—quiet in the most unusual way—and she remained close to her father, glad to be with him, near him, beside him. She laughed often at things her father had to say, but it was toned down. Her sister, Maud however, was far more expressive than usual, having much more to say, and one might even say that Maud had a mood of some sort going on. Something, some unknown factor was having a tremendous impact upon her, and Maud was now almost, but not quite, expressive.

She had even smiled a few times, if one could call it that. One had to be creative in what one considered a smile when dealing with Maud, and keep a very flexible definition. Maud smiled like the Epona Lisa smiled, a sweet and subtle thing that was easy to miss, or mistake for something else, such as the need to sneeze or a foal’s reaction to gas.

For Cloudy, she was living every mother’s wish, every mother’s fantasy. Her daughter, Maud, had grown up well, had her own house, and had filled it with family. She was sitting with Octavia and Vinyl, laughing, talking, and making up for lost time. Not only was the peace holding, but it was increasing in strength with rapidity.

Sitting on the floor, Tarnish was having a conversation with his daughter, Megara, and Boomer. He was patient, sometimes laughing, and tried to help with any words they stumbled over. Megara was bright, attentive, and adjusting well to such a loving, nurturing environment. The conversation meandered, drifting from topic to topic due to Boomer’s many questions.

Surrounded by love, the many different kinds of love, Cadance’s healing magic continued its slow work, knitting back connections, strengthening muscles, and repairing the damage done to Sumac by Queen Chrysalis during his capture. With each passing moment, with each laugh, with each affectionate touch, with every act of affection that took place, Sumac grew stronger.

The magic went unnoticed.


Sumac had the most unexpected supper companion. Pinny Lane had arrived in a flurry of howling wind and snow, apologising for her tardiness. She then proceeded to embarrass her son with a blizzicane of affection to prove that she hadn’t been trying to abandon him again. The big mare, and Pinny Lane was a big mare, no doubt, was the only pony around who could compete with Tarnish for height.

She had come armed with garish holiday sweaters, one of which Sumac was wearing right now. The sweater in question was a bright, vivid shade of blue, an electric blue, and it had pink flames along the sides representing hearthfire. Sumac hadn’t even had the chance to protest, Pinny had hugged him, almost to death, and when he was recovering the sweater had been slipped on.

Pebble wore one over her dress as well, hers was a cheerful holiday green and it was covered in red glass ornaments, like the kind a pony hung from a tree. Calling it tacky would be kind, calling it an eyesore would be an Applejack-ism. Pebble, upon being accosted, had reacted with stony, profound silence, knowing the folly of sassing her long, tall grandmother.

Pinny sat beside him, to his right, while Lemon Hearts sat to his left. The table was crowded, almost too crowded, and Sumac was having a hard time with the press of bodies. He was certain that Octavia was having trouble as well, and he hoped that maybe, when the meal was done, they could talk about it together. It kept him going.

With his fork, he stabbed a pumpkin and pickled sweet red pepper filled ravioli. He didn’t much care for red bell peppers, they weren’t something he liked very much, but Vinyl had insisted that he wouldn’t taste them much and she was right. They were a background flavour, secondary to the sweet, savoury taste of the pumpkin filling inside of the pillowy, chewy pasta.

“Look at you!” Pinny gushed. “Such good manners for a colt your age! You do need just a little help though, hold on.” With no further warning, she went to work and wiped Sumac’s snoot with a napkin. When she was done, she nodded, pleased with the results. “There. Now you have a boopable snoot again.”

“Thank you.” Sumac felt his cheeks flush and he had a sudden need for a drink. Still holding his fork, he reached out, gripped his glass, lifted it, and that was when things became interesting.

The glass popped, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces, and the apple juice inside of it would have spilled all over the table had Vinyl not caught it. Stunned, Sumac sat there, unable to respond, overwhelmed with the sudden urge to cry for what he had done. When he blinked, his eyes stung with tears, and he felt Pinny’s foreleg slip around his withers.

“It’s okay, Sumac. This happens. Tarnish did this too.”

The glass shards glowed with a blinding flash of light, and then the glass was whole again. Vinyl’s face evidenced her effort, her muzzle scrunching from concentration, and she allowed the apple juice to pour back into the now whole glass. The glass was set down and everything was fine again, except for Sumac.

“Come on, hold it together.” Pinny gave the little colt a squeeze. “It’s okay. Nopony is going to punish you for accidents or growing up. If you’re feeling embarrassed, that’s fine too.”

The sudden shift of moods, along with the press of bodies proved to be too much, and with a shudder, the first tear fell. The fork clattered to his plate, bounced, and then landed upon the table. Sumac very much wanted to be away from the table, away from his mistake, his clumsiness, and he couldn’t bear to look anypony in the eye.

“Here we go… it’s like with the sled… we talked about this, girls.” Twinkleshine, who sat between Lemon Hearts and Trixie, looked at her two companions, turning her head from side to side. “So, who deals with this one?”

“I will,” Pinny offered, and before he could protest, Sumac was snatched up out of his seat.


The lid of the toilet seat was cold to sit on, but it was warming bit by bit. Pinny Lane stood by the sink, waiting for the hot water to kick in, and she held a fresh, clean washcloth in her magic. Sumac took some consolation that he was only half-crying in the bathroom with a pony that, truth be told, he didn’t know very well. His ears burned with shame, a fire hot enough to keep the cold chill of the bathroom air away.

“Why are you helping me?” Sumac asked, and it was a struggle to say each word.

“Because, I want to get to know you,” Pinny replied while she waited for the water to get hot. “Sometimes, to really get to know a pony, you have to be with them during the bad times. You never get to see the real pony during the good times.”

The colt didn’t know how to respond to that, so he remained silent.

“I’ll tell you a secret.” Pinny’s head turned, and she looked Sumac right in the eye. “I’ll tell you a secret and then both of us can understand one another a little better.” She inhaled, sucking in a deep breath, and then it took her a moment to prepare herself for what she had to say next. “I still feel bad for what I did to my son. I know it wasn’t my fault, but the guilt is still there. So, when I get a chance to do mom-stuff, like now, I jump on it. It makes me feel better, like I’m paying back a debt.”

“But… but… but…” Sumac stammered, trying to make words. He knew a little bit about what happened, but he wasn’t sure he knew enough to say anything. It didn’t stop him from trying though. “But it wasn’t your fault!” His words came out as a shrill nasal whine.

“And breaking the glass wasn’t your fault, but you’re still torn up about it, aren’t you?”

She had him there, and Sumac was now too distracted to keep up with his state of almost-but-not-quite-blubbering. There was an argument to make, but he was in no condition to make a good one. Crestfallen, he let out a shuddery sigh, sniffled as a few more tears trickled free, and then stared down at the tile floor. No words came, even though he tried with as much effort as he could muster, and he did not respond when Pinny pulled his glasses from his face.

A second later, a hot, steaming washcloth was draped over his eyes, blinding him, and the sudden darkness, the sudden lack of vision was soothing. Lemon Hearts did this sometimes, and it always seemed to help. The sound of hooves clicking on the tile floor could be heard, and there was a squeak when the hot water faucet was turned off.

“I still break glasses sometimes,” Pinny said to Sumac. “And I am not skilled enough to repair them. I’m strong and I’m clumsy… well, clumsy most of the time. I channeled all of that strength and power into bowling, and I do pretty good with it. When I focus on my gift, my talent, I’m not clumsy at all. But getting a drink? Sometimes, I still mess up. You need to make peace with it now, Sumac.”

It was almost painful gulping in enough air to keep breathing, and it made his neck ache.

“It’s tough being a little unicorn, but you have friends to help you, Sumac Apple…”

Author's Note:

Why yes, the innuendos in the background are going to continue, why do you ask?