• Published 2nd Jan 2018
  • 3,615 Views, 57 Comments

Lessons In Darkness - kudzuhaiku



Sunburst too, is blind to much, but this doesn't stop him from being an excellent teacher.

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Chapter 4

“Just because I can’t reach you doesn’t mean that you’ve won,” Sumac said while keeping his distance. “You’re just hiding from the problem, same as you always do. So I can’t reach you and you, you can’t touch me. Delay is not victory, Flurry.”

The scalp muscles on the back of Sunburst’s head drew tight as his ears pinned back. Had Flurry protected herself from the power of compulsion in Sumac’s words? Could she? Even while saying he couldn't win, Sumac was employing the one weapon that almost ensured that he would. Even if Flurry couldn’t ward herself against his compulsion, she could, if she so wanted to, block out all sound entirely.

But Flurry wouldn’t do that, Sunburst realised, because she depended upon her sense of hearing far too much. Did Sumac know this? Was he ruthlessly exploiting his friend’s weakness? It appeared that way and just thinking about the dizzying intricacies of this betrayal made Sunburst feel swoony-headed.

“When all else fails, you hide behind your shield, Flurry. You’ve done this for as long as I have known you. You hide behind your shield with the hopes of waiting it out or having somepony come and rescue you. There’s been plenty of times that I’ve hidden inside of that shield with you. Hiding in your portable safe space doesn’t negate the fact that you just got trounced.”

“In a fair fight I would’ve kicked your scrawny backside to the moon, Sumac Apple!”

“Then I have no motivation to fight fair, do I?” Sumac replied in a voice of utter calm that echoed in all directions around him. “Physically, I am the weakest of the alicorns, Flurry. Even Skyla is stronger than I am. I was the weakest of my playmates, growing up, and still am. My friends—our friends, they’re all stronger than I am. Pebble is a titan… a colossus… Megara is quite literally a monster. Even Boomer is stronger than I am. Rather than feel weak or inadequate, I found other ways to fit in… to belong… to compete… to—”

“You cheated!”

“Well, duh!” Sumac clucked his tongue, a mocking sound, and continued, “And you exploited my cunning nature every chance you got. ‘Oh, Professor Egghead, we need a plan!’ Sound familiar?” The colt mocked Flurry by speaking in a high falsetto but he did not laugh.

Sunburst found the tension paralysing.

“I can’t overcome your shield, Flurry Heart, but you can’t outthink me. You’ve been letting me do your thinking for you for the longest time and as your friend, I’ve done you wrong. I should’ve made you think for yourself, but I wanted to belong and to feel important.”

When Flurry lowered her shield, Sunburst released the breath he hadn’t realised that he had been holding. Lightheaded, he filled his lungs with much needed air and wondered when Sumac would renew his assault. The calm, the lull, it was somehow worse than the combat—the continued peace was maddening and Sunburst hoped that something would happen to break this terrific, terrible tension.

“Flurry… you’ve used your magic sense in the past. You’ve told me about how you’ve sensed things. Why not now?”

“It only works when I’m not thinking about it,” Flurry replied, blurting out the words in a hurt, foalish manner. “If I try to force it to work, nothing happens! I have to be doing something else for it to work. Standing around bored with a blindfold on makes it impossible.” Then, after a moment, she added, “Still friends, Professor Egghead?”

The ventriloquism spell ended and Sumac revealed his location with the sound of his voice. “Of course.”

Flurry advanced, still blindfolded, and Sunburst forced himself to breathe again. Flurry had just been humiliated by her own best friend, and she was a filly that did not deal well with being humiliated. Sumac had handled himself with grace and aplomb though, admitting his own faults so that Flurry’s might not sting so much. It was with no small sense of irony that Sunburst concluded that Sumac and Flurry were as different as night and day.

“You know”—the sudden sound of Starlight’s voice almost caused Sunburst to leap out of his skin—“I met my best friend during an impasse. It was a fight that neither of us could win. I could have kept the fight going, I could have held on to my stubborn pride, but I saw how the world ended—er, at least one way for the world to end if I didn’t let go of my pride. Twilight talked me down from my haughty position… she did with friendship and words what couldn’t be done with magic and brute force. Somehow, she did it without diminishing me, or belittling me, and she somehow left me feeling hopeful rather than allow me to continue wallowing in my hopelessness.”

A short distance away, Flurry and Sumac embraced, both still blindfolded, and Sunburst turned to look at Starlight, who now stood beside him. Starlight’s eyes were misty, and Sunburst knew how much tears stung in the cold. As he stood, looking her in the eye, he watched the first tear fall and admired Starlight’s courage.

Twilight Sparkle too, appeared, her magical concealment falling away like an unwanted cloak. She stood staring at the two foals for a time, her expression unreadable, and then she placed a wing over Starlight. Using his cloak, Sunburst wiped Starlight’s face for her, saying nothing so he wouldn’t embarrass her, and then leaned up against her side.

Meanwhile, Spike was offering up his best apologetic grin to Twilight.

“We should go somewhere and get warm,” Sunburst suggested, and he was overcome with a pressing need to have his friends and loved ones gathered around a cosy table. “It’s never too late for tea.”

“There’s work to be done,” Twilight responded, and she gave her head a sad shake. “Now that I’ve found my Number One Assistant, I can get back to work. Have a nice time without me, Starlight. I want to see you bright and early though. Dawn.”

Sighing, Starlight nodded her head.

Sunburst didn’t know what to think about everything that had just taken place, and knew that he would need plenty of time to sort everything out. A lesson had been learned here tonight, though perhaps not the lesson he had planned. Flurry was still hugging Sumac, her wings wrapped around his neck, and both were still blindfolded.

Sniffling, Starlight echoed Sunburst’s previous sentiment: “It’s never too late for tea.”


⇺The End⇻


Author's Note:

Based on some of the messages I received, I think some people were hoping for or were expecting some sweeping saga of a romance. My apologies, that was never the purpose of this story.

Comments ( 14 )

this is a good lesson for Flurry. Perhaps not the one sunburst was planning to teach but a good lesson none the less.

A lesson Sunburst couldn't have taught Flurry in a similarly effective way. But it was him who brought such an effective study group together.

I’ll admit, I’d hoped that the story would end with Sunburst and Starlight having a quick little ceremony, but this was another fine addition to the Weedverse. Nice job!

The only question is will the lesson stick

8649048
Then it stops being a story about a valuable lesson and becomes a story about a quickie wedding ceremony. The point would be then lost to the Feature Creep.

8649121
Swept away in a Snow Flurry?:rainbowlaugh:

Oh wow, I was so much into this story that when I read the last chapter, I didn't realise it was the last one. Though I did get the sense I've missed much with the Weedverse. Awesome story kudzuhaiku. I'm sure I'll check Weedverse out, to see what else there is. Thanks for the story. Hope you're having a great start to the year.

A lesson learned is knowledge won. And it seems quite a lesson has been learned here.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
Woohoo!
Im caught up, now to throw some stories on the read order list.

8651587
Hover over picture, click on source.

And Flurry learns a more fundamental lesson. :twilightsmile:

I kinda feel like a starved man seeing a juicy steak. Thar happens every time i see something new about either Sumac or Tarnish and company.
You outdid yourself with those two and their connections with friends and family.

a true true friendship is forged in the heat of fire.

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