Chapter 11
“Are you sure this will work?” Flurry asked her co-conspirator, Sumac. With one raised eyebrow, she turned her head in his general direction and gave him a look that only traitors plotting treason could give. She studied him, trying to determine the confidence on his face and to see if there was any hesitation in his reply.
“It’ll work,” he replied while nodding his head. “After I got a sliver of Trixie’s soul, I suddenly gained an innate understanding of illusion magic that I never had before. When you say the magic words, your gown will transform. You need to trust me.”
“I do trust you, Professor Egghead.” Flurry, who felt ravenous parasprites in her stomach, began to gnaw on her lower lip. Standing in one place, she watched as Sumac made a final inspection of her finished, fitted gown. “I’m nervous, Sumac, and I’m so scared. This is my coming out of the closet moment and everything needs to be perfect.”
“I suppose that is one way of looking at it,” Pebble remarked, and Flurry was relieved that the earth pony filly did not disagree. “Sumac, did you manage to get a moment alone with Shining Armor?”
“I did,” the colt replied while he continued to look the gown over with a critical eye. “I was subtle and smooth and I don’t think he realised I was messing with his head. Flurry, at some point tonight, your parents are going to sneak off somewhere to be alone and they are gonna do something gross with each other. It’ll give us time to do what needs to be done.”
“Sumac, how did you manage to pull that off, anyhow?” Pebble asked.
Flurry found that she wanted to know too.
“I uh, asked Shining Armor for… advice… theoretical advice.” Lifting his head, Sumac pulled off his glasses and then used a spell to clean them, leaving them spotless. “I acted real innocent and a little shy and told him that I didn’t plan on doing anything this cotillion, but in the future, I might kind of want to have that special first time here in the Crystal Empire and I said I wanted it to be adventurous and exciting.”
Flurry groaned and thought about covering her ears.
“Shining Armor gave me some advice on how to sneak away, where to go, and uh, even some advice on useful positions.” Sumac slid his glasses back on and with a turn of his head, he looked Flurry in the eye, a gaze that Flurry was unable to return. “I repeated everything he said back to him and implanted as much suggestion into my words as I could muster. Flurry, you might end up with a new sibling. I’m not really sorry.”
“You wicked little shit.” Pebble’s eyes narrowed and Silver Lining began to giggle.
Feeling hot and flustered, Flurry’s ears burned and she found that she couldn’t look any of her friends in the eye. “So, uh, Dad will be overcome by his own suggestions and he’ll lead my mother away, if we’re lucky. Once they’ve slipped away, the floor will be ours and then you and I can make our announcement, Sumac.”
The parasprites in Flurry’s stomach proved to be too much and now, she felt sick. Belching, she could taste the tea from earlier and for a moment, she worried that the burp might turn into a full blown spew. Maybe spewing would make her feel better and get rid of that slight headache that lurked at the base of her skull.
“You’d better go,” Flurry said to her friends. “I think I need a nap before tonight because I need to be at my best and I already feel tired. Thank you so much for everything.”
“Don’t mention it, Princess.” Sumac bowed his head, a sincere gesture that Flurry appreciated, and she watched him smile his rogue’s smile. “You get the rest you need. Pebble, Silver, we should be going. We’ve got stuff to do.”
“Sleep well, Flurry,” Silver Lining said, and she gave a wave goodbye with her wing.
Stomach churning, her heart pounding, Flurry Heart watched as her friends departed. Tonight was going to be magical, perfect, and stressful. The aftermath was going to be awful and she could not even begin to imagine the dire punishments that her parents would have to think of to punish her. She might actually end up in a tower after all of this was over, it certainly seemed like a very real possibility.
And maybe Sumac might end up in one as well.
It felt as though Flurry was submerged underwater. The pressure seemed to exist as a physical sensation around her, pressing in on all sides, leaving all of her movements slow, laboured even, and it was a struggle just to move. The nap had been a terrible idea, as she had not slept for very long and upon waking, she somehow felt even worse.
Feeling dull and stupid, Flurry realised that she had become the perfect princess: she was now the witless wonder, the pretty, perfect princess doll that could be dressed up and led around for show without complaint. The headache was still there, a relentless thudding that seemed to be striking the base of her skull, and each thump made the jelly in her eyes quiver.
As she prepared to take a shower, Flurry thought about the males in her life, all of them. For whatever reason, she had gravitated towards them, seeking them out, asking for their advice, and she was blessed with good male role models. She loved her father and there were times when she prefered his company over her mother’s. Gosling and Seville both were very dear to her, with both of them being ponies that she trusted. She could talk to Gosling about stuff that she could never bring up to her father or mother, and Seville had unique insights about life that she valued.
Then, there was Sunburst. He existed in the earliest of her memories, a kind, gentle, loving figure. He was her tutor, but more than that, he might have been her first friend. It was tricky and hard to tell, and she wasn’t counting immediate family members as friends. Sunburst was the pony that she had cried with, laughed with, and most of her major experiences in life had been with Sunburst by her side, offering his wise advice. Sunburst had taught her how to blow dandelion fluff and send it flying into the wind. He had taught her painting and instilled in her a sense of art appreciation, something that she kept a secret from others. Sunburst had a patience that she valued, and when she thought about this, she felt guilty for disrupting his lesson. She would need to make that up to him, but first she would need an idea of how to make it right.
While Sunburst might be her proverbial sun, Dim was her proverbial moon. He had come home when she was young and her memories of that time were faint. As far as ponies went, he was scary, different, and seemed unapproachable. But Flurry’s courage and curiousity had soon been rewarded when she discovered that Dim held a sneering contempt for adult ponies, but not foals. Dim had been there for her during one of the... incidents, an event that Flurry could hardly even remember. The only thing that was clear about the confusing, terrifying event was the screaming—Dim had made her would-be abductor scream—and the sound still haunted Flurry. After that, the Crystal Empire had reluctantly accepted their new protector, or so she had been told.
After tonight, Sumac too would enter the stable of males that she gave implicit trust.
Zero hour drew ever-nearer and Sumac was doing his best to play it cool. On the outside, he looked fine, or he thought he did, but on the inside, he was a wreck. He paced to and fro, taking frequent sips from a tall glass of frothy chocolate milk while Pebble and Silver Lining did some last minute brushing. The last minute brushing was silly, Sumac felt, as they were both going to be wearing gowns. Clothing. Fabric that would cover the places they were brushing.
Mid-trek across the room, he stopped to look at the long steel trunk, which remained undisturbed. Once the cotillion was over, Trixie would ply the family trade upon Shining Armor, but this time she wasn’t here to sell fireworks. Sumac’s own experiments in flight had other far more interesting applications, and his customised vectored thrust nozzles in particular were of interest to his mother, Trixie. The Lulamoons now made more than fireworks and the family business was profitable.
Even if, for some reason, he failed to become a mortician, Sumac had other options, other paths. His skills as an inventor were growing—another talent he had no doubt inherited from his father—and his love of science had broadened his horizons considerably. Vinyl had taught him more than magic, she had given him a considerable knowledge of engineering to help him with his many projects, such as his attempts at constructing aircraft. It was important to have a hobby, because there would be plenty of days where nopony died.
Taking a sip of chocolate milk, Sumac swished it around inside of his mouth a bit and then swallowed. Turning away from the steel trunk, he faced Silver Lining, and said her name aloud to get her attention: “Silver…”
Eyes bright, her head turned around backward to look at him, and Sumac cringed. He would never get used to that, ever, and just looking at it made him want to dance around just to shake away the unpleasant sensation. It made him think of the time that his own neck had been broken, and he didn’t like it.
“What’s up, Sumac?”
“Silver, you need a plan.”
“I don’t know what you mean, Sumac.”
“Pebble and I, we have plans. Goals.” Sumac took another sip of chocolate milk, licked the froth from his lips, and then continued, “We have a roadmap of success. Even though Pebble hasn’t quite decided what to do with her life, she is preparing herself to be able to do most anything. There’s only two things for certain in Pebble’s life… she’s gonna marry me someday and she’s gonna take over her father’s position as Heliophant.”
Sitting on a cushion, Pebble blinked once and her ears pivoted around towards Sumac’s direction.
“Now, I don’t mean to sound like your dad, but you need a plan, Silver.” Sumac took a moment to adjust his glasses, he refolded his wings against his sides, and made a gesture at the steel trunk. “I have plans. Multiple plans just in case what I want don’t pan out. Silver, if you want to be with Pebble and I, you need a plan.”
“I understand.”
Silver Lining sounded quite calm to Sumac’s ears, but the way her feathers fluffed alerted Sumac to how she was really feeling. She had a beak, not a mouth, which made it difficult to read her face. Griffons were a difficult mark, as their facial expressions were so very different.
“I don’t know what options I have,” Silver Lining said to Sumac in a low, muted voice. “My parents are poor. My father, he doesn’t get paid very much for the work he does. There is just so much need and so little in resources, and he tells me there are other remunerations for altruism. I don’t even know what remunerations means and I’ve never asked him because I don’t want to look stupid.”
“It means getting paid or rewarded.” Reaching up with her foreleg, Pebble wrapped her fetlock around Silver Lining’s leg.
“My mother gets a weather worker’s salary, whatever that is. She and my father, they’ve put off having another foal until I’m self supporting, because we’re poor and after doing all of the math, they found that having a little one would be irresponsible. Daddy says it’s hard living within one’s means, and that sacrifices have to be made. They could have a foal, but it would make things too tight and wouldn’t be fair to my future little sibling.”
“He’s right.” Sumac drew in a deep breath, held it, and gave some thought to Silver Lining’s situation. “So this is why you had a meltdown every time you got rejected from a job, isn’t it?” He watched her nod and her eyes glazed over with the tears that threatened to fall. Even though he was well off now, Sumac understood poverty and the shame that came with it. Once again, his eyes focused on the steel trunk. The trunk itself was worth a small fortune, but what was inside was mind-boggling in value.
“Pebble, can we afford to send Silver Lining to some kind of secondary school or finishing school?”
“Wait, no… no… what if things don’t work out between us for some reason?” Perhaps in need of comfort, Silver Lining snatched up Pebble like a stuffed toy and began to squeeze her. “This puts a lot of pressure on me. I mean, I’m having the time of my life right now but I—”
“It doesn’t matter if things work out between us or not, you’ll still have a better future for having gone to school. Doors will open for you. Opportunities. Pebble and I can give you that.” Pursing his lips, Sumac blew his forelock out of his face and watched as Silver continued to try and crush Pebble in a worried, maybe even terrified embrace.
“We could afford it, Sumac. There is a considerable sum in our mutual savings account.”
“The two of you have a savings account?” Silver blinked a few times and then shook her head from side to side, astonished.
“We have plans,” Pebble deadpanned, “and we’ve made plans to protect those plans just in case things go wrong.”
“Fall is coming, Silver Lining, and with it school. No pressures, but just give it some thought, okay?” Lifting his glass, Sumac finished off his chocolate milk, cleaned it with a spell, and then vanished the glass back to the kitchen. “Well, ladies, I think it is about time that we were dressed. The pre-cotillion supper will be starting soon, and I’d like to be fashionably early. I’m starving.”
“Sumac, have fun with Flurry. Try to show her a good time. This is going to be hard on her.”
“Only if you have fun with Silver,” he replied as Pebble was being smooshed. “We’ll be sitting in different places, I’ve already spied on the dining room. Flurry and I have our own table all by ourselves. You and Silver are quite a ways away, actually.”
“Oh, I’m so terribly excited!” Silver showed her excitement by trying to pulp poor Pebble, but it was okay because Pebble was durable and didn’t seem to mind. “This is going to be the best worst night ever!”
Sumac nodded. “That’s the plan…”
Stats
Page generated in 0.022 seconds
Total duration
998 users online
70,493 hits today, 2,561,572 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
... that is... devious...
Well im pretty sure Shining nor Cadence will mind that too much... until they become aware of the insurecction at least.
well dont keep us in suspense, WHATS IN THE BOX?!
Ah. I appreciate Flurry thinking about Sunburst, I thought she had a dim view of Sunburst, before. Just that sorta "she didn't get along with him because she doesn't prefer bookishness".
Interesting to see that's pretty much wrong, even if she's not very bookish anyway.
Harmony needs a bit of chaos every now and again.
8407344
Flurry appreciates him because he's an opposite.
8407330
I would assume rockets of some kind
I wonder how many children Cadance and Shining were/are planning on having. They sure sound like they'd like a large family, even though life isn't easy for their children.
Is it a literal coming-out? Because a lesbian Flurry Heart would make sense in this context. Or even asexual like Trixie. Either way I'd be rooting for her c:
8407330
best worst night ever!
What a fantastic line!
You do such great action scenes - looking forward to it.
If Sumac were a Kamen Rider character, he'd be freaking Kiriya Kujo/Kamen Rider Lazer. Guy was a liar and a grifter, and was a coroner in a hospital.
Needless to say, he lied only to cover up painful truths, or to hide insecurities, bit came clean and only ran such cons for good reasons (double-crossing the big bad, etc.).
This is fast-becoming another favorite of mine in your works, Kudzu. I find myself in glee when I see a new chapter.
8407520
With how much she goes on about how she adores and relates to the males in her life I would actually assume more transgender if we were taking coming out in that context but I doubt that is the context that is intended. Just coming out as in 'warrior princess" that cares little for governing. Let her sister govern and let Flurry fight.
This reminds me of the Horrendous Hypothesis, where a couple of characters hold a secret, and the whole story is building up to the reveal of this secret. The Hypothesis was my first Weedverse story and one of the best in my opinion, and I think this is on par with it.
It just came to me; is Sumac making assumptions on Pebble intending to succeed her father? She always has been the type who wants very focused goals and having two such high ranking positions seems like she wouldn't be able to dedicate her all to either one. Couldn't Megara be in the running as heir to Tarnished Teapot as well? Neither Pebble or Meg have actually seen how the grove reacts to either of them and Megara is technically the older sibling of the two even if Pebble is treated as the older sister.
8407705
8407520
Twilight Sparkle came out as bi... both a tea drinker and a coffee drinker.
And that's all I'll say.
8407931
Pebble is made of the same chaos that created the Grove.
8407931
meg is also half manticore which may or may not help her chances at becomeing a druid, we dont know what kind of magic manticore have (aside from being REALY durable) if any.
I'm glad that Sumac is more precise with his Charisma magic.
Individual towers for everyone.
8408787
Hmm One question... is it Ascendancy or Ascendency?
As I'm quite confused on where it gets into action I was searching for it on the various documents... and it seems it's written in both ways...
pre02.deviantart.net/560d/th/pre/f/2011/298/3/6/pinkie_pie_on_the_fly___png_by_larsurus-d4dxnth.png