A direct sequel to Trixie Lulamoon and the Horrendous Hypothesis, after Sumac and Trixie settle down in Ponyville, Sumac begins attending school and becoming closer friends with Pebble, and continues to learn under the Princess of Friendship as dark forces move outside Equestria.
Has a sequel, Princess Twilight Sparkle's School For Fantastic Foals: Winter Break, with the story The Gift Of Gab coming in between and being recommended reading.
This story contains examples of:
- Abusive Parents: Cinnamon Fire's father has anger issues, and takes them out on his son, until Trixie intervenes.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Flam is not a good pony, but after Starlight removes his mark, making him able to feel guilt properly, he earns a little sympathy in the short time before his sentence is carried out.
- The Alcoholic: Cinnamon's abusive father.
- Adults Are Useless: Subverted — although they aren't perfect, the adults are capable, but Pebble thinks that it's played straight because of the difficulties dealing with Olive and Pinkie's difficulty recognising the difference between her and her mother.
- Afraid of Their Own Strength: Pebble has trouble connecting with others because she has to hold back, and with good reason, while playing with her father, she accidentally broke several of his ribs.
- Apologises a Lot: Cinnamon Fire, one of Sumac's classmates. It's a warning sign of his abusive father.
- The Apprentice: Sumac has aspirations of being Starlight or Moondancer's apprentice. Unfortunately Starlight ends up taking on Olive instead, and Moondancer is too busy to take on an apprentice, but Sumac instead asks Vinyl Scratch, a result that all involved are pleased with.
- Argument of Contradictions: Defied by Applejack when talking to Pebble about her parents leaving.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Starlight Glimmer advocates learning about science so that you can make your magic go further.
- Baby Language: Discord acts like he understands and can be understood by Boomer. Of course, it's Discord, so he may or may not actually be able to.
- Batman Gambit: During the attack on Ponyville, the villains trap Twilight in one, expecting her to gather Sumac and the Lantern and try and escape with them, allowing them to lay a trap.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Sumac wanted a cutie mark for magic and one that linked him to the Apples His mark makes him a Sorcerer, powered by Zap Apple Jam, unfortunately also making him a Living Macguffin and dragging him far deeper into adventure than he really wants.
- Beware the Superman: Olive is a talented mage, and uses her talents to bully everyone around her, including her own parents.
- Blatant Lies: Although he doesn't technically lie, no-one believes Sumac just tripped over the rug.
- Blood Knight: Starlight Glimmer is very keen on the idea of dismantling Castle Midnight.
- Brick Joke: Gosling's drunken bachelor party crashing through Trixie and Lemon Heart's back garden appears to be a
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, but later on several characters point out that for a Prince, There Are No Coincidences, someone planned for Gosling to be there. Turns out it was Hotspur, on Luna's orders. - Brother–Sister Incest: Olive accuses Applejack and Big Mac of this to rile up Sumac.
- Call-Back: As standard for the Weedverse:
- The security around the Pie's farm is so tight because of the threats made against Tarnish by Grogar at the end of Venenum Iocus.
- Twilight's ability to make Magic Mirrors has lead to a network of them across Equestria that the heroes use to stay in contact.
- Long Ears and Kabuki are part of the security assigned to the Pie's farm.
- Gorgonzola is sent to bail the main characters out of a sticky situation.
- Casual Danger Dialogue: The adults, while in Castle Midnight, spend most of their time snarking at each other. Averted by Sumac, who is rightly scared out of his wits. Later on, Twilight Velvet calmly completes a crossword while under attack.
- Catch a Falling Star: Rainbow Dash saves Sumac and Pebble during the attack on Ponyville.
- The Cavalry: During the attack on Ponyville, Twilight and Moondancer rescue Trixie and an injured Lemon Hearts from being overwhelmed. Later on, when Twilight is disabled while carrying Sumac and Pebble to safety, Rainbow Dash catches them before they hit the ground. On a larger scale, Gosling and Celestia lead reinforcements down from Canterlot to bail out Ponyville. And when the train Sumac and Pebble are on gets attacked, Princess Celestia teleports Gorgonzola to provide air support.
- Chew-Out Fake-Out: Twilight, to Sumac, after he breaks through her wards to get zap apple tincture.
- Cold Flames: Celestial Fire is a spell designed to do this. Later on, Vinyl creates a globe of these for Sumac to play with after he needs comforting.
- Continuity Nod: Rowanne and Garnet are still living in Ponyville, and are cub sitters for Silver Lining. Similarly, Hachikō, Dove, Mellonella Moth and Gleamgood and Picklesworth all attend Gloomy's wedding.
- Concussions Get You High: Lemon Hearts is a little giggly for a while after The attack on Ponyville, where she gets knocked out. Turns out to be something of a subversion, she was acting like this to get everyone to relax a bit after the attack.
- Convection, Schmonvection: Averted, when a train gets rescued by a dragon, the metal walls don't provide any protection from the heat, requiring some rapid spellcasting to avoid cooking everyone inside.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: A couple of examples:
- The teachers are very fond of setting essays as this. Sumac and Pebble have had to write essays on exactly what they mean to each other, how exactly life is unfair, why they're bored... Later turned back on them, with both Starlight and Twilight being set essays by Sumac when they indulge a superiority complex and gloat over the other's misfortune, respectively.
- Pebble also uses a 'boop-loop', sitting in front of Sumac and repeatedly booping him for an extended period of time after he does something particularly boneheaded.
- After Sumac gets a head injury from experimentation and won't tell the adults what he did, Vinyl decides that it's an excellent time for a magic lesson about casting while distracted or in pain.
- Cool Shades: Despite Sumac's fears, his glasses fall under this trope.
- Cool Teacher: Most of the staff at Twilight's School.
- Cuteness Proximity: Sumac finds this trope intensely irritating. Unfortunately, he's regularly surrounded by mares susceptible to it while being, well, utterly adorable.
- Death Glare: Sumac frequently attempts this, unfortunately, he tends to invoke a different trope.
- Death's Hourglass: Discord uses the imagery , specifically a chitinous pocket-watch, to inflict a Karmic Transformation on Chrysalis, regressing her into an egg.
- Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Sumac manages to befriend Discord, a Reality Warping Physical God.
- Dope Slap: Luna does this to Gosling after he declares himself the second most beautiful thing in existence (the first being a sunrise they are watching).
- Do with Him as You Will: Discord transforms Chrysalis into an egg, in revenge for her hurting Sumac, and hands her over to Celestia with this sentiment.
- Due to the Dead: Sumac is often seen cleaning up graveyards.
- Emotion Bomb: The Undead of Castle Midnight exude fear. Fortunately, Starlight and Twilight have counterspells.
- Extranormal Institute: The eponymous School, although not all of its students are super-powered, they've all attracted Twilight's attention some way, which means that several do have weird magic or other powers, and most of the rest are exceptionally bright.
- Extreme Omnivore: Boomer.
- Eye Scream: Trixie takes a harpy egg to the face during the attack on Ponyville.
- The Fool: Sumac, while coming down from the Zap Apple Jam.
- Funny Background Event: A couple of times:
- While Sumac is comforting Pebble after a particularly emotional outburst at Celestia and Gosling's wedding, Vinyl is walking up a wall to fix the sound system.
- While Discord is confronting Queen Chrysalis for her attack on Sumac, Twilight and Luna are struggling with the zip that Discord use to shut Twilight up.
- Girls Have Cooties: Discord claims responsibility for this trope In-Universe. Sumac is skeptical, while suffering from the trope.
- Gratuitous German: Luna's response to exposure to Stinkbug.
- Godzilla Threshold: Twilight was considering using the Alicorn Amulet to break into Castle Midnight. Fortunately, Sumac's ability to empower her makes the amulet unnecessary.
- Go Through Me: When Trixie is cowering in fear from Princess Celestia, Sumac stands between them, impressing everyone in the room. During the attack on Ponyville, Trixie stands over Lemon Heart's injured body. Sumac's feat with Celestia is later repeated with Queen Chrysalis, protecting the real Moondancer.
- Head Pet: Boomer leaves her egg and immediately flies straight to Sumac's horn, setting a very strong precedent. Later on, Luna and Celestia get a group photo of them all with their Head Pets, and Celestia proposes forming a club of ponies who's horns are habitats.
- Heel–Face Turn: Olive, by the end of the story.
- Heroic BSoD: Starlight Glimmer has a brief one in Castle Midnight, when faced with a threat she can't protect her friends against and Twilight is injured stopping it.
- Hurricane of Puns: Lemon Hearts is the centre of a few.
- Hideous Hangover Cure: Vinyl is apparently a master of them. She tries using one to help Sumac after he overcharges his power and downloads an entire centaur archive into his head. It starts out tasting foul, runs through literal fire-breathing and ends with snot pouring from the nose. It also appears to work.
- Incoming Ham: Rainbow Dash enters the story by yelling "I AM THE MOST AWESOME PONY ALIVE!"
- Ingesting Knowledge: As part of being a Sorcerer, Sumac absorbs knowledge of magic from anyone who benefits from his empowering effect.
- Interspecies Romance: Not yet, but Char-lotta the dragon is looking for a stallion open to experimentation.
- Improvised Weapon: Trixie has a habit of whacking her enemies with whatever is to hand. Including a postbox, or a wagon. Sumac appears to have inherited the tendency, disabling Flam with a gravestone.
- In the Blood: ZigZagged. Flam was a Con Man and all-around bad type, and Sumac is very much not, but he has inherited his father's Silver Tongue and mechanical aptitude.
- I Shall Taunt You: A part of Sumac's special talent is to know exactly what to say to really piss someone off. This backfires when he uses it on Olive, and earns him the personal emnity of Catrina.
- I Think You Broke Him: Sumac is vulnerable to this after taking Zap Apple tincture.
- It's All About Me: Pebble has a mild case of this, believing that her relationship with her parents is more important than their relationship with each other, or with any other children they may have.
- I Want My Mommy!: Often, but Justified, the main characters are small foals.
- Karmic Transformation: Discord inflicts one on Chrysalis, making her "small and helpless" as punishment for attacking Sumac, regressing her into an egg.
- Last of His Kind: Trixie is the last heir of House Lulamoon.
- Like Father, Like Son: Trixie comments that she raised Sumac to be independent and a scrapper, and, well:Lemon Hearts:So, you've raised him to be like you...
- Living Lie Detector: After some particularly painful secrets come out, Trixie teaches a spell for this to Sumac, saying that no-one will ever lie to him again.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Night Light is Trixie's father.
- The Magic Goes Away: Elaborated on from the Hypothesis in the previous story, Sumac's hypothesis that as unicorn populations increase each becomes weaker is apparently correct, but Grogar is also corrupting the magic so that unicorns cannot access it any more.
- Magic Misfire: It's a school full of talented foals, not all of whom have entirely understood gifts. A classroom full of rotten egg smell is notable only in that it's the first day of term.
- Mama Bear: Many of the mares, and this reaction nearly results in Flam's execution after he tries to kidnap Sumac.
- The Man Behind the Man: Gosling has a hunch the Ascendancy were behind the Mr Mariner incident.
- Meaningful Echo: Trixie's own mother called her "Kiddo", Trixie's Affectionate Nickname for Sumac.
- Mercy Kill: While kidnapped by Chrysalis, and facing a lifetime of torture, Sumac requests that Olive kill him, and she attemps to do so, but Chrysalis saves him.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: While a pegasus, Moondancer suffers from an intense desire to go and find a pond to bathe in while drawing attention to herself, finds Twilight's wings extremely attractive (as well as being somewhat jealous of her wingspan). Turning into an Alicorn also apparently induces a Mama Bear instinct for all equinity, and a Spider-Sense.Moondancer: Also, I am distressingly concerned with being pretty, fast, and nimble.
- Mr Fix It: Sumac appears to have inherited his father's technical expertise.
- The Mole: Moondancer was a Changeling impersonator all along, the real Moondancer doesn't recognise any of the kidnapped students.
- Mundane Utility: Several of the heroes helping clean up after the attack on Ponyville. Draconic wings and strength? Useful for moving supplies around. Phenomenal cosmic power? Lets you build houses single-handedly.
- Noble Wolf: The Moon Wolves that protect Lulamoon Hollow.
- Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught: Trixie holds this attitude, and has taught it to Sumac.
- Not in Front of the Kid: Gosling gets chastised for being crude about his relationship with Princess Celestia in front of Sumac and Pebble.
- Not-So-Harmless Villain: Olive appears to be nothing more than a loudmouthed bully. Then she dislocates both Sumac's front legs after he goads her.
- Not Worth Killing: The reason Chrysalis is still alive after upsetting Discord by targeting Sumac. He reckons if she'd hurt Fluttershy, he'd probably would have killed her. Then brought her back to kill again. As it is, a Karmic Transformation is applied.
- Now or Never Kiss: During the attack on Ponyville, Sumac and Pebble are falling to their deaths, so Sumac asks Pebble if she'll be his special somepony, the actual kiss is interrupted by the rescue.
- Oh, Crap!: Trixie has this response to hearing that Princess Celestia is coming for a visit, fearing that she did something wrong and that Celestia is going to punish her. Later on, a team of Squishy Wizards upon encountering a Null Golem. On a more humorous note, Spike has this reaction after he accidentally sends the notes from a research session to Princess Celestia, said notes containing embarrassing behaviour from Twilight and Moondancer, and some snide remakes about Celestia's fiancée.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Trixie gets a little freaked out when Sumac doesn't resist getting washed after Castle Midnight due to still being under the effects of coming down from Zap Apple Tincture. Later on, his inability to feel upset over Twinkleshine's bathing of him shows just how much he was shaken by Flam's return and ultimate fate.
- Physical God: Discord. Which is why his This Means War! speech is not an example of A God Am I.
- Power Incontinence: Sumac's power to know and say exactly what is required to really upset someone isn't entirely under control, causing problems when the wrong person is subjected to it.
- Pride: Sumac has some problems with this, often leading him to try and refuse needed help.
- Psychologist Teacher: Moondancer, literally. Most of the other teachers also have some tendencies in this direction, but Starlight Glimmer stands out, offering advice to Sumac and taking on Olive as an apprentice. Unfortunately, it's not actually Moondancer.
- Puppy Love: Pebble and Sumac, maybe. They're very young, and it's left ambiguous as to whether they're going to end up Platonic Life-Partners or in a sexual relationship once they grow upnote .
- Rage Breaking Point: Sumac launches himself at Olive after she goes too far. Fortunately Lemon Hearts intervenes.
- Really Royalty Reveal: Trixie is from high breeding, and can trace her line of descent directly to Princess Luna.
- Running Gag: Sumac wanting to see Pebble's cutie mark, and his hatred for baths.
- Screw the Money, I Have Rules!: When Celestia offers him and Trixie a comfortable house in Canterlot if he comes to her school in Canterlot Sumac refuses, instead choosing to stay with Pebble, and turns Celestia's compliments back at her, saying that a good Guard would not take a bribe. Celestia apparently hadn't thought of that, and is very impressed.
- Secret Test: Twilight Sparkle knows that Sumac will want to obtain Zap Apple Tincture, so she uses an ever-increasing series of protections to prevent him getting it, so that if he wants to keep getting it, he'll have to get better at magic. She also doesn't tell him this until he's broken through it once.
- Security Cling: Not uncommon for any of the foals, but Silver Lining is particularly susceptible: she spends most of the first day of school firmly attached to Gloomy. She spends the second day welded to Sumac instead, as Gloomy has to organise a thunderstorm. After Sumac then has to miss the next few days, she ends up latching onto Pebble.
- Sensory Overload: Princess Platinum's Prismatic Lights is designed to do this.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: The main characters are on the receiving end of one telling them to not dismantle the Lantern and destroy the Rainbow of Darkness. It's stated to be an act of utter desperation, requiring shattering the Cutie Map, an older Sumac's Sorcery and the power of Twilight Sparkle and Starlight Glimmer combined to even attempt, and they aren't even certain it'll work.
- Shipper on Deck: Applejack, Trixie, Pinkie Pie and Lemon Hearts are all enthusiastic Pebble/Sumac shippers.
- Ship Tease: When Moondancer is transmuted to a pegasus, she finds Twilight Sparkle's wings extremely attractive, and utterly fails to keep her own under control.
- Shutting Up Now: Starlight Glimmer, after explaining the curse on Castle Midnight to an already thoroughly terrified Sumac.
- Shower of Love: Implied between Trixie and Lemon Hearts, although the story being filtered through a foal's perspective means that it isn't certain.
- Sleep Cute: Sumac, Pebble and Boomer in an overstuffed armchair after the wedding.
- Solid Gold Poop: Boomer poops explosives, which is valuable to a young colt, and more classically valuable to alchemists.
- So Proud of You: Celestia is deeply proud of how much Trixie has grown. Trixie also frequently expresses this trope with regards to Sumac, including being Played for Laughs (and Mood Whiplash) when he picks a lock to get to her while she's distraught and Lemon Hearts suggests she maybe shouldn't be proud of him picking a lock. It won't be the last time Trixie is proud of Sumac for something no-one else approves of.
- Spider-Sense: Alicorns can sense threats to those under their care.
- Spontaneous Weapon Creation: Clover The Clever's Cudgel produces a short-lived one.
- Suddenly Shouting: The end of Discord's This Means War! speech.
- Super-Empowering: Sumac is a Sorcerer, while powered-up by Zap Apple Jam everyone within close proximity to him experiences a massive boost in their magic abilities.
- Super-Intelligence: Sumac, while powered up.
- Superpowerful Genetics: Magical bloodlines are known, with the House of Lulamoon, descended from Princess Luna, being one of the most powerful. These seem to be a subset of the Hypothesis (see The Magic Goes Away, above), Arcturus' death leads to Trixie (his only granddaughter) suddenly gaining a boost in power, and it is theorised that should Dandy Lion also die, Trixie would become even more powerful.
- The Talk: Discussed. Tarnish and Maud haven't had one with Pebble (using a metaphor when it came up), but she knows how it works anyway. Later on, Big Mac tells Sumac that he's to come to him if he has any questions, but The Talk itself is put off until later. Sumac also knows how it works, as when you spend a lot of time travelling, you're going to see animals periodically.
- Teleportation Sickness: Normal teleportation just causes mild disorientation due to the change in location. Portal Gems, on the other hand, are thoroughly unpleasant.
- Teleporter Accident: Invoked by Night Light's Teleportation Reversal Ward, designed to send teleporting attackers into a furnace.
- There Was a Door: Pebble claims this was Maud's response to Tarnish and Vinyl creating a needler cactus with skunk glands and accidentally setting it off.
- This Means War!: After Chrysalis hurts Sumac, Discord congratulates her on managing to teach him hatred, and explains how he will write his hatred down the ages, compose paeans to his fury, and first of all, he'll hurt her.
- Tranquil Fury: After Olive goes way too far, Twilight's voice is utterly lacking in emotion as she sends her to her office.
- Transflormation: Tarnish does this to ponies who violate the Druid's Grove. Flam is sentenced to it after he tries to kidnap Sumac and sell him to Grogar. It's an act of mercy, as trees don't suffer.
- Took a Level in Badass: Trixie, during the infiltration of Castle Midnight. Later revealed to be because her grandfather had died, passing a significant chunk of his magical power to her.
- Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: Apparently something once tried to control Maud's mind. She grabbed it at wouldn't let it out, and it got very, very scared.
- The Un-Smile: Pebble's response to learning she'll be tutoring Sumac, putting poor Sumac to flight.
- Unstoppable Rage: Olive uses this to stop Queen Chrysalis choking Sumac, and give her the strength to fight the much more dangerous Queen.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Sumac and Pebble spend a fair amount of time snarking at each other, but they're still utterly inseparable.
- Wacky Cravings: Maud seems to have a new appreciation for pumpkins.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Vinyl performs a truly epic (and completely silent) rant at Octavia after Octavia suggests she might not be mature enough to take on an apprentice, after already agreeing that she's able to be a mother, because having foals is what Octavia wants, but Vinyl taking on an apprentice doesn't matter to her either way. Later on, Trixie and Lemon Hearts call out Twilight Sparkle for overcharging Sumac's talent to gather information from a centaur vault, and possibly (as far as they know at the time) permanently burning out his brain.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Trixie is deathly afraid of the Wardens, and with good reason.
- Yin-Yang Bomb: The Lantern is powered by half the Rainbow of Light and the drawstring of the Rainbow of Darkness.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Discussed. Twilight Velvet believes you can, as all the prophecies said she herself could have been in the place her daughter would ultimately achieve, but she chose otherwise, so fate simply corrected itself.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Pulled by most of the combatants of Ponyville to get Sumac to safety and stop the horde realising he's not there any more due to a portal gem. Fortunately, there are no deaths amongst the Ponyville contingent, although it's implied that their relief suffers some.
