The morning seemed… strained somehow. Sumac could not tell what was wrong, but something was wrong. Trixie had been quiet—distant even—and what should have been a joyful moment of celebration felt more like a funeral. Sumac didn’t like it, not at all. He started to wonder if perhaps he had done something wrong. Perhaps Trixie was counting on a different outcome. Some of the foals who had participated had received sums of money, a handsome payment in bits. Maybe Trixie needed bits. Maybe he had done too well. Maybe, just maybe, he was going to have to pay for his schooling and Trixie had no means to pay for it and she was trying to find some way of letting him down gently.

“Sumac, kiddo, we have to have a talk,” Trixie said.

The bedroom fell silent, a painful, wretched silence. The room, small by most ponies’ standards, was palatial for Sumac and Trixie. It was a guest room in Princess Twilight Sparkle’s castle. It was so much larger than the wagon that Sumac had been beside himself.

“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” Sumac asked.

Trixie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You always were a bit too smart for your own good, kiddo.” Trixie opened her eyes and looked at Sumac. “I’ve been up all night trying to figure out how to do this. Sumac, kiddo… there is no nice way to say this, but it is time that we part ways—”

“What? Why… what did I do wrong?” Sumac felt some invisible force tightening around his barrel, making it difficult to breathe. He looked at Trixie, feeling hurt and betrayed. What had he done?

“Sumac, you have the chance to do something with your life. You can be somepony. Life on the road ain’t going to do you no good. I’m not going to let you waste your potential.” Trixie cleared her throat and shook her head. “I’ve already spoken to Applejack. While you were building a wagon with Big Mac, I talked with Applejack about her taking you in if you managed to get yourself into school. She agreed.”

“No…” Sumac shook his head and gave Trixie a pleading look. “No, please… I wanna stay with you—”

“Kiddo, don’t be an idiot.” Trixie’s eyes narrowed from anger. “Sometimes, you have to do what is best for somepony you care about. Applejack can give you what you need… things I can’t give you. You need to be in school. You’re smart Sumac, real smart.”

“Don’t leave me… please, don’t leave me… you promised!” Stumbling over his own hooves, Sumac went to Trixie, his eyes wide and pleading.

Hanging her head, Trixie sighed. “I know I did.” She blinked away a few tears and then continued, “I’m real sorry about that. Sumac, you mean so much to me… which is why I have to do what is right for you. You are going to have a wonderful life—”

“I don’t want it!” Sumac shrieked, his voice high pitched, reedy with fear, panic, and anger. “I just want you… if you leave me, I’ll run away and follow you… I’ll—”

“Sumac, don’t throw your life away like I have,” Trixie said as she sat down upon the floor and pulled Sumac into her embrace. “I’ve made so many mistakes… and now I’m paying for them. I’m finally doing the right thing. I’m thinking about your needs rather than my own. I have to do what is best for you.”

Confused, angry, hurt, Sumac kicked and struggled against Trixie’s embrace. He didn’t want to be hugged right now. He was furious, betrayed, he wanted to smash things, to break things, he hadn’t had a temper tantrum in a long time, but one was on its way, he could feel it.

He saw a blue foreleg in his vision—Trixie’s foreleg, and in that moment, he wanted Trixie to hurt just like he was hurting. He opened his mouth wide, baring his teeth, and clamped down on Trixie’s foreleg, just above her fetlock, biting her.

There was an ear piercing scream from Trixie, who let go of him at once. Sumac stumbled away, tasting blood in his mouth, feeling sick to his stomach, feeling guilty, ashamed, and angry, oh so very angry.

“I hate you!” Sumac screeched.

“So that’s how it is then.” Trixie lowered her head as she stood up. “I deserve that, I do. I suppose it’s time to go. Sumac, I’m so sorry… I wish things had turned out differently.” Trixie looked down at the blood trickling down her foreleg, sighed, shook her head, blinked away a few tears, and then looked at Sumac. “You’re going to have a good life, Sumac. The Apples are going to give you a better life than I ever could. As bad as this seems right now, you’ll forget all about this when you’re happy. Goodbye Sumac, and good luck.”

Gritting her teeth together, Trixie headed for the door, fat tears rolling down her cheeks and splashing on the floor, her ears twitching and jerking with each of Sumac’s sobs. At this moment, she hated herself more than any moment previous in her life—this was even worse than the alicorn amulet.

As Trixie neared the door, it opened.

“Going somewhere?” Twilight Sparkle pushed her way into the room, her face stern, serious, and a little sad. Twilight Sparkle sidestepped to allow others to enter as well. Behind her was a whole parade of ponies.

Applejack came through the door, followed by her brother, Big Mac. After Big Mac, Maud entered, and with Maud came Tarnished Teapot, who kicked the door shut behind him. The four ponies stood in front of the door, making it impossible to escape. Trixie began to back away.

It was Maud that broke away from the group, crossed the room, and went to Sumac, who was still sobbing his eyes out. The earth pony mare sat down, reached out with her foreleg, and with a firm jerk, pulled Sumac to her so she could give him a much needed hug.

“Trixie Lulamoon, consider this an intervention. You ain’t going nowhere,” Applejack said in a hard voice. “I ain’t about to let you make the single biggest mistake of your life.”

Sumac wasn’t quite sure what was going on. Maud was hugging him, and it felt nice. He sat with her, his head resting against her barrel, hiccuping as he tried to stop sobbing. Twilight Sparkle was tying a bandage around Trixie’s leg. Sumac, consumed by guilt, could hardly stand to even look at Trixie. He felt awful for what he had done during his tantrum. He felt Maud stroke the side of his face and he pushed himself against her, feeling the smooth fabric of her smock against his other cheek.

“Trixie, we all knew that you’d try to do this,” Tarnished Teapot said as he looked at Trixie, watching as Twilight finished up with the bandage. “Just like last time we tried to help you. You just… ran off.”

“The wagon ain’t even finished yet.” Applejack pushed her hat back on her head and stared at Trixie with narrowed eyes. “Consarnit, Big Mac put a lot of work in on it so far. And you were just going to leave. We can’t just let you run away from your problems.”

“Eenope.” Big Mac stood directly in front of the door, a living immoveable wall.

“Trixie Lulamoon, you have to stay. You have to face your past. You have to stop running away. This is not a problem you can run from. Sumac needs you. A colt needs his mother.” Twilight lifted her head, her eyes narrowed, and she glared down at Trixie, her eyes glittering with emotion.

Trixie felt her lower lip quivering. Her ears perked when she heard a gasp and a bit of a sob from Sumac. More than anything right now, she wanted to melt into a puddle on the floor and cease to exist. “Twilight, I’m not his mother. I’m just his guardian. I’m trying to do what is best for him. I can’t give him what he needs… or what he deserves. I’m trying to put his needs ahead of my own.”

“HORSEAPPLES!” Applejack spat. “That’s a load and a half of horseapples!”

Twilight’s eyebrow arched. “Applejack—”

“No, Twi, I ain’t lettin’ her get away with sayin’ that load o’ malarky!” Applejack stomped her hoof down. “Trixie, that’s a load of horseapples and we both know it… you’re just trying to skedaddle and you’re using that as a noble excuse! Yeah, I get it, you did some bad things. Yeah, you messed with all of Ponyville when you had the alicorn amulet. You made some mistakes. It’s time you faced up to them. It’s time that you started acting like the mother that Sumac deserves, you hoodwinkin’, hornswaggling, slick talking, tinker pony!”

“Whoa, was that necessary?” Tarnish asked.

“Yes!” Applejack stomped her hoof again, and then again for good measure.

“How do I take care of Sumac?” Trixie shook her head. “After what I did, nopony will hire me. I have no future here… I can’t give Sumac the sort of life that you can.”

“Good news, Trixie… there is an opening for librarian assistant trainee.” Twilight leveled her steely gaze upon Trixie, daring her to be defiant. “And if Sumac wishes to attend school elsewhere, I know ponies. I will get you a job. I’m a princess… when I put my hoof down, things happen.”

“Sumac, what is it that you want?” Maud asked as she gave the foal she was holding a squeeze. “Do you want Trixie to stay and be your mother? You have a say in this, you know. I know you are angry and upset right now, but what do you want?”

Sumac, shuddering, wiped his nose with his foreleg, hiccuped, and looked over at Trixie. He was still angry, he was confused. He blinked, his vision blurry with tears. Maud was warm and soothing against him. Trixie was his best friend. His guardian. His protector. But mother… he thought of all of the years of travel together. All of her affection. All of her care. He thought of her journals, the ones he had read.

“Trixie Lulamoon, we’ve been trying to help you for a long, long time. My family tried to help you when you stayed on the rock farm. Tarnish and I tried to help you when we rescued you from the diamond dogs. Twilight has been trying to help you for a long, long time.” Maud turned her sleepy stare upon Trixie and her ears pitched forwards. “No more running. You have a reason to stay and make things work.”

“I’m sorry, kiddo.” Trixie felt her lower lip quivering and she fought to keep whatever was left of her composure. “What do I do? How do I make this right?”

“Don’t go,” Sumac begged.

“Do you want Trixie to be your mother?” Twilight asked.

Lifting his head, Sumac looked around the room. His gaze fell upon Big Mac first. He realised that he and Big Mac’s eyes were the same shade of green. The big pony’s eyes were full of pain and Sumac tried to understand why—what was Big Mac thinking? Staring, hoping for some means of assurance, no matter how silent, Sumac came to understand that this decision was up to him.

He looked at Applejack, who still looked a bit angry. As he gazed at her, her expression softened a bit and she danced from her right hooves to her left hooves, shifting her weight back and forth. He felt a little confused. Applejack was family. She had some affection for him, maybe even loved him, even though he really didn’t know her. But she didn’t want him. Sumac didn’t understand.

“I made an awful mistake,” Trixie said, squeezing her eyes shut. “I’m so sorry, everypony… I really am.” Trixie’s ears drooped. “Kiddo, can you give me another chance?”

Sumac squirmed free of Maud’s embrace, almost stumbled, felt himself being pushed back into balance by Maud’s hoof, and then he made his way to Trixie as he felt every eye in the room watching him.

“Will you be my mother?” Sumac asked.

“Kiddo, after what I just tried to do, are you sure you want me to be?” Trixie replied.

“I bit you.” Sumac’s ears drooped in shame.

“I deserved that.” Trixie looked away from Sumac as tears rolled down the curve of her cheeks, hung from her jaw, and then fell to the floor. “I love you so much… I didn’t mean for this to happen this way, honest… you deserve a better life than some creaky old wagon and some washed up showpony.” Lifting her unbandaged foreleg, Trixie scrubbed at her eyes and sniffled.

“I don’t care what sort of life I have… I just want you,” Sumac said in a low, choked whisper. “You’re my best friend. If you go, I want to be with you… I don’t care what happens to me, I just want to be with you.”

“Sumac, you need to care about your future… you don’t want to end up like me.”

“Trixie… you can have a future here… and you can give Sumac the sort of future he deserves. We’ll help you. We just want to be your friend.” Twilight Sparkle lowered her head down and looked at Sumac. “Sumac, I’ll ask you again, do you want Trixie to be your mother? You’re old enough to answer this. I need to hear it from you.”

“Do you want me?” Sumac asked, moving closer to Trixie.

Shuddering, shivering, Trixie stared up at the ceiling. “When I first started to look after you, you annoyed me. You cried a lot. You were needy. You wanted things. You had to be entertained. But mostly, you cried a lot, you were annoying, and there were moments that I was certain that I had made a mistake. But you were worth a few extra bits and so I stuck it out.”

Sitting there, Sumac remained silent.

“Over time, something changed. When you cried, instead of being annoyed, instead of being angry, I got worried. It scared me when you cried. I didn’t want to make it stop because it was annoying me, I wanted to make it stop because you were hurting and I couldn’t deal with that.” Trixie lowered her head and looked down at Sumac. “And then there was your talking… you wouldn’t shut up. You talked my ears off, kiddo. That changed too. Your constant talking used to drive me up a wall… but then, then came a time when I went nuts if I didn’t hear your voice, like if you went off and hid on me, and refused to come out or say anything.”

Trixie looked into Sumac’s eyes. “Kiddo, I just want you to be happy, even if it means sacrificing my own happiness.”

Kicking out with his hind legs, Sumac launched himself forwards into Trixie and clung to her, feeling very conflicted, confused, happy, and sad. He felt her embrace him and he was magically transported to his safe, happy place. He felt a little better. He buried his face against her barrel.

“Can you forgive me?” Trixie asked.

“Will you be my mother?” Sumac replied.

“Are we quibbling over price?”

Sumac had to take a moment to think about it. Trixie had taught him a lot about bargaining and getting the best deal for what few bits they had. There had been many, many lessons on this subject. He heard Trixie sigh.

“If you can give me a chance, I can be your mother,” Trixie whispered.

“Just don’t go and I’ll forgive you. You don’t even have to be my mom. Just don’t leave me,” Sumac said in a pleading voice, feeling more than a little embarrassed by the number of ponies in the room witnessing this exchange.

Knowing there was no running from this, Trixie accepted defeat. “I will stay if you will have me. I’ll take that job. I don’t know how I’ll face the ponies of Ponyville, but I guess I’ll manage somehow. I don’t know where I’ll live and I don’t know how this will work out, but I’ll try.”

“I think we’re good here.” Applejack heaved a sigh and looked around. “You know, I think these two need some private time alone. We should make ourselves scarce, if’n you catch my drift.”

“Eeyup.”

“This would be a happy ending, but I just know that there is going to be paperwork.” Tarnished Teapot winced and shook his head. “Always with the paperwork.”

“Trixie… as of this moment, you are no longer Sumac Apple’s guardian pro tempore. There is some paperwork to sort out, but we’ll get to that later. Good thing my mother just so happened to be here to help out… she is the current acting head of the Foal Services and she can finalise any and all paperwork right away—”

“You… you!” Trixie’s eyes narrowed. “You planned this!”

Twilight smiled. “But this wasn’t my plan.” She looked at Applejack, who looked very, very smug and pleased with herself.

“I can be clever.” The corners of Applejack’s mouth curled upwards. “We Apples look after our own.” Applejack prodded Twilight. “We should go.”

“Thank you, Applejack,” Trixie said to the smug looking earth pony mare.

“Like I said, we Apples look after our own… Sumac Apple’s mother.” Applejack gave Trixie a wink and then headed for the door. “Outtathaway, Big Mac, you big goon. It’s dusty in here and I need to get out before my eyes start a waterin’ something awful.”

“What happens next?” Sumac asked as Big Mac shuffled out of the way.

“Paperwork,” Tarnish replied, laughing just a little.

“But first, I just want to hold you for a while, Sumac.” Trixie squeezed the colt in her forelegs and pressed her snoot down against his ear. Her foreleg throbbed where she had been bit, but there were things deep inside that hurt far worse. She understood that she had almost made a terrible mistake.

As the ponies left one by one, Trixie closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh, feeling thankful for once for having friends, and she made a promise to herself that she would make this work somehow, for both her sake and for Sumac’s. She owed him that.

Author's Notes:

That's a wrap, folks.

We're done. But don't you worry or fret, this story will continue.

Sumac's story will continue in Princess Twilight Sparkle's School for Fantastic Foals.

I'd love to hear what you think.