Sugar Hoof the Wizard Colt

by Furenstein

Foal among the Trees, Foal among the Tracks, Foal among the Throne.

Brae brought me out to a small three room cabin surrounded by apple trees. The smell of apples and sweat permeated the air as we walked through the front door. A small kitchen, dining room, and living room, made up the first room. I could see what appeared to be a bedroom in the back and the third room I hoped was a bathroom. Though, perhaps ponies simply don't bathe and they all also use magic to keep themselves clean.

"Ah know it ain't much, but it's home." He said, waving a hoof as if to present his dwellings to me.

I didn't particularly care for this whole ministry of foals nonsense, and I planned on leaving once Brae was asleep. "As you recall, I was looking for work to acquire some spending money for travel. I was wondering if you needed any help with farming or building."

Brae patted me on the head, "This work seems a mite too big for ya, ya'll just rest in here." He said, walking back outside.

I did not remain in his house too long after he left, My appearance as a child was beginning to vex me, but I hoped to use my youthful appearance to make some spending money. He was off slamming his back legs into trees as I sneaked off back into the town proper.

---

"Sugar Hoof!" Goldie screamed.

Rain flew above the clouds, hoping o find him. "Sugar Hoof, where'd you go, little buddy?"

Goldie was worried, they took their eyes off of him for less than thirty seconds, only for him to disappear without a trace.

"Oh, where could he have gone?" Goldie muttered under her breath.

"He's probably following the train tracks," Rain shouted from above, "I doubt he'd wander off in a random direction!"

Goldie had to agree with her, Sugar Hoof was a lot smarter than the average toddler. Considering he was born into slavery, he spoke at a level equal to grown ponies. She remembered when she asked Sugar Hoof his name. He hesitated, but it didn't seem like he was afraid of telling her. When he hesitated, it felt like he just didn't want to tell her, or that he wasn't even using his real name.

She shook her head, "We still need to find him! A colt as young as him, out on his own, who knows what could happen to him."

Stopping in her tracks, Goldie put a hoof to her forehead. "He could get hurt out here, who knows what kind of ne'er-do-wells live out here, what if he gets foalnapped." She imagined either bandit ponies or diamond dogs keeping Sugar prisoner.

"Yeah, that'd be the thing, escape slavery just to be put back into chains." Rain agreed, flying back down to her friend. "We'll find him, Goldie, he's probably wandered into Appleloosa by now. We'll get there, he'll be completely fine and the three of us will go out for lunch." She said, rubbing her friend's back.

"It's almost sundown, it's too late for lunch." Goldie said.

Rain blew a raspberry at Goldie, "Dinner then, the three of us will go get dinner."

Goldie had always been a bit of a worrier, only time she wasn't was when she was gardening. Even back when the two of them were in school, she would worry over the smallest things, but would never sweat the bigger ones, like tests. She'd worry if she remembered to water the plants before she left until after school, then once she was home, drown her flowers, and cry about it all night.

Rain remembered the day the two of them got their cutie marks, Goldie was planting some petunias as Rain brought a rain cloud over and watered some of her plants. One of the seeds was a bit defective though, once she added water, the flower's petals convulsed into the shape of a large orange reptile that felt spongey to touch. The two of them looked at it before both burst out laughing. After they finished laughing, they stood back up and saw that they had both gotten their marks, a rain cloud and an orange petunia respectively.

"Come on, let's keep going." Rain said.

---

Lord Birch sat next to a large golden throne, overlooking the caverns. The unified beating of hammer on metal wrung throughout their underground home. If the treants were capable of tiring out, they'd be exhausted from all the work they do. From sowing and harvesting the crops, to hauling goods to and from the many store rooms, to building and forging new works, such as furniture, weapons, and armor. The treants toiled from dawn till dusk for their master, all missed him, but none missed him more than Birch.

"I had this hall built specifically for you, master." He said to the empty hall. Green and blue lights shined brightly with life magic and reflected off of both the golden throne, and the golden crown sitting on the throne.

"Magic keeps it warm in here, the doors are nigh impregnable, and you'll have a whole battalion of the greatest treant warriors to guard you. Even now, they train for you." Birch stood up and walked over to one of the windows looking out into the caverns.

"The miners are working on carving out the desert, but three of the tunnels have been flooded by the ocean. We're working on a way to completely overlook the oceans entirely. Once we have everything in place, your nation won't stop at the ocean, your kingdom will span the entire planet." He stopped to admire the craftsmanship of the walls and floor. The stone was cut into triangles and the walls smoothed and fortified with golden accents.

Walking back over to the throne, Birch looked at it, wishing Sugar Hoof was there. He felt tree sap enter his eye as he imagined his master sitting on his throne, dressed in the finest silks as he would place the crown upon his head.

Birch fell to his knees as he clutched the throne, his wooden claws felt weak upon his master's throne.

"Please stay safe, master. Please come back to us." He whimpered.

---

One last train pulled into Appleloosa as I began setting up my stall. "Last stop, Appleloosa!" The conductor shouted as six mares and a dragon stepped off.

"Alright girls, we'll just have to spend the night here." Said the purple one.

The rainbow-maned pegasus groaned, "Twilight, What are we even doing again?"

The purple one replied, "I told you, Rainbow, Princess Celestia felt a magical surge from the desert, she wants us to check it out, and put a stop to it if it turns out that whatever is out there is dangerous."

The dragon scampered to the front of the crowd, carrying a large box, "That's why we brought the elements of harmony." He said with a grin.

"Mah cousin, Braeburn should be out buckin' trees right now, I'm sure he'd let us stay in his barn." An orange mare wearing a cowboy hat said.

A white mare with purple mane laughed hesitantly, "A barn, how very ..." She cleared her throat before continuing, "rustic."

"I didn't know Appleloosa started growing sugar." The pink one said as she bounced onto the dirt pathway at the center of town.

"They don't, at least, Braeburn's never mentioned growing any sugar." The pink one had faded from existence before the orange one could even start talking.

"Hey, how much for your sugar!" The pink one said energetically as she spontaneously appeared in front of me.

"You can have my entire stock for twenty..." Brae didn't seem to know what a storm buck was, "...you can have my entire stock for twenty of your currency." I told the mare as I regained my senses from her speedy movement.

She threw a bright pink bag that jingled with coins onto my stall before she began absorbing all my bags of sugar into her mouth like a vacuum. I didn't bother stopping her, she paid for it all, she can do with it as she likes.

Her body shook as she did this though, her mouth watered like a faucet as her eyes shined a life magic green. Once the mare had swallowed all the sugar, bags included, she purred before floating upward slowly into the air.

I looked down at my notes and saw that I placed well over twenty food enhancement runes that I learned from Braeburn's dessert onto each bag of sugar. "Maybe I should've left it at one rune, instead." I mumbled softly, writing that down.

Hopping off of the rock I was using so I could see over the counter, I enveloped my stall in magic before forcing it to sink back underground before opening the bag the pink mare had given me and counting the golden coins I saw inside.

While the pink mare was grabbed by the rainbow-maned pegasus off of one of the roofs, the other four mares and dragon began walking over to me.

Comments

[StarzGecko]

Oh no run little guy they found you!

[shance]

Birch, I just cannot imagine Sweet's reaction. So long as they don't go to war for their king without said King's word all should be well.

[Ziper Ace]

Oof he's not Evil...
It's a HUGE MISS Understanding YIKES!
Ooooh all the Drama he does not want he just want to learn and enjoy his life