The inside of the tower was palatial and Sumac had never seen anything quite like it. The walls were covered in dark woods that gleamed with a near mirror finish. He could see his own reflection in the floor. The walls had brass fixtures that held flickering flames and there was a delicious smell that overwhelmed his senses.
There was also a dark blue stallion that stood at the base of the stairs to greet them. He seemed familiar to Sumac, but the little colt couldn’t quite remember when he had seen or met the middle aged unicorn. He came to a halting stop and stared upwards at the somewhat tall, regal looking unicorn stallion. Trixie bumped into him, having only one eye available made her depth perception tricky, but she did not stumble.
“Welcome, esteemed visitors, my name is Night Light and I do hope that you will enjoy your stay here.” The respectable middle aged unicorn bowed his head and gave the group a handsome smile. “You must forgive me, as I will not be able to stay very long. These are busy times… equinity and the preservation of life demand an enormous sacrifice of time.”
Fox, who now stood beside Sumac, bowed his head, then turned to look back at the others. He smiled, winked one eye, then gave a sauve nod to Trixie and Lemon Hearts. “I am always a little nervous when my boss shows up to make certain that everything is perfect.”
“I know the feeling,” Lemon Hearts replied. She blinked a few times, looked at Night Light, then back at Fox. “I work as a school teacher and I’m not too worried about messing that up, but when one of my bosses tells me to fetch a cup of tea, it always fills me with terror. What if I served a bad cup of tea? That would be mortifying… it gives me bad dreams at night.”
“Oh, I would be quite pleased to drink your tea, I suspect,” Fox said in a voice as smooth and slick as silk rubbing against itself.
“Flirt with my mother again,” Sumac said in a low whisper as his eyes narrowed, “I dare you.”
“Sumac!” Trixie planted a soft kick against Sumac’s rump with her foreleg, which was more than a warning nudge than anything else.
“What?” Eyes still narrowed, Sumac turned to face Trixie, but also glanced over at Fox, not wanting to take his eyes off of the sly unicorn.
“My apologies, I am a shameless flirt, but I mean nothing by it.” Fox bowed his head and gave Sumac a charismatic smile.
“And I’m cute, little, and fuzzy… it won’t stop me from pulling out your teeth one by one—”
“Sumac!” Trixie stomped her hoof against the floor. “What in Celestia’s green pastures has gotten into you? Do I need to find a corner to stand you in? This isn’t like you at all!” The corner of Trixie’s unbandaged eye began twitching and her tail swished around her hind legs.
Scowling, cranky from a lack of sleep, Sumac’s lower lip protruded as he turned to face Trixie once more. “You and Lemon are together. I’m not going to let somepony else come along and ruin it.”
“I think…”—with a few smooth steps, Night Light came forward and stood beside Sumac— “that there is a little colt in need of some lunch. Goodness, my little Shining Armor was so protective of his mother, but when he was peckish or cranky, it manifested as outright aggression.” Brows furrowing, Night Light glanced over at Fox. “Be more mindful of your words, Fox, or else I do believe this colt here will try to take a piece of you. A Fox’s tail makes for a magnificent trophy.”
“Ugh, Trixie is embarrassed and mortified.”
“I don’t think Sumac did anything wrong,” Pebble said as she stepped forwards.
“Pebble, darling, stay out of this.” Octavia also stepped forwards and she stood beside Pebble. “Dearie, please be good.”
“No.” Pebble turned her stony stare upon Octavia and her ears leaned forwards. “I will not just stand here and let Sumac get into trouble when he’s done nothing wrong. Fox was being a creep—”
“Pebble!” Octavia’s muzzle crinkled. “What has gotten into you?”
Clearing his throat, Night Light’s expression became stern, but gentle. “I suggest that we just let it go before emotions and tensions get the better of us. Fox spoke out of turn and this genteel young colt stepped up to defend the honour of the mares that he is obligated to care for.”
“I’ve never had a gentlepony step in to defend my honour.” Lemon Hearts began blushing and her hooves shuffled against the floor. “Thank you, Sumac.” As she spoke, Trixie rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh, which Lemon Hearts ignored. Stepping away from Trixie, Lemon Hearts moved over to where Sumac was, bent her neck, and kissed Sumac on the ear. Lifting her head only a little, with her lips just inches from Sumac’s ear, she whispered, “Next time, leave out the threats of bodily harm, if you please, and everything will be just fine.”
After blinking a few times, Sumac gave a reluctant nod of his head and agreed. “Okay.”
“Good. Now that the drama has blown over, we can go upstairs to have lunch.” Smiling, Night Light gestured at the stairs. “Ladies first… we would not wish to upset young master Sumac once again…”
Staring down at his half eaten meal, Sumac felt far too warm. The back of his neck was hot, blazing, and his face felt like he was holding it over a fire. He could feel the pressure of tears between his eyes and his nose, which made him uncomfortable and squirmy. He was having some trouble enjoying his pumpkin curry with chickpeas and rice, which he liked, but was just too upset to eat.
The need to have a good cry manifested as a powerful shudder that caused his teeth to click together and he almost bit his tongue. Not only were there some tears demanding to be let out, but Sumac was holding back a yawn as well. He knew that he was on thin ice already and he didn’t want to do anything else that might jeapordise his trip to the cemetery.
“So, if I might ask, why would a young colt want to go to the graveyard?” Fox leaned over his plate and focused his attention upon Sumac, hoping to engage the colt in some good natured conversation.
Squinting at Fox, Sumac did not reply.
Letting out a weary sigh, Trixie did her best to salvage the situation. “I don’t have the best reputation in a lot of places. A lot of towns and villages weren’t too happy to see me. A pony like myself gets turned away from the town, but nopony turns anypony away from a cemetery. He and I would take shelter there… we’d rest. It was our safe place, because it was close enough to the town that the dangers of the wild would stay away for the most part.”
“Fascinating,” Fox replied.
“Sumac began taking rubbings of the headstones, the neat ones that told a story or gave some history. He had quite a collection”—Trixie paused and her barrel hitched as though she was hiccuping—“he had so many of them and they were so precious to him… we lost them in the fire.”
A single tear escaped and Sumac feared that the levee would break at any moment now, now that there was a leak. He thought about his lost collection, but he didn’t want to think about it. Once again, he stared down at his plate, miserable, and wishing that he was alone so that he could cry in peace.
“That is a senseless tragedy.” Fox’s words were sincere and sad sounding. “Night Light, we have a surplus of scroll tubes that are fireproof and protected from the elements. Certainly we could spare a few, right?”
“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly accept—”
“Pardon me, Miss Lulamoon,” Night Light said in a soft, gentle voice as he raised his hoof to silence her. “We have them by the hundreds and they fill our closets. We use them in the transport of our dispatches. A few of them would be more than enough to hold a sizeable collection of rubbings for Sumac. A hobby that preserves history is to be encouraged.”
Lower lip protruding, Sumac turned his sorrowful expression upon Trixie and hit her with everything he had. “Please? I know I’ve been rotten and I don’t deserve it, but please? Please?”
“Now now, Miss Lulamoon, I would very much like to make a peace offering. I have offended the young lad with my careless words and I would like to make it up to him.” Fox bowed his head and folded his front hooves together in front of him. “Also, Night Light is correct… the preservation of history is an exceptional hobby and should be encouraged.”
“Very well,” Trixie replied, relenting and turning away from Sumac, as she could not bear to look at his sad little face. “Sumac shall accept your peace offering and he will behave himself without further incident. At least, he better.”
Slumping down in his chair, Sumac almost vanished below the edge of the table. Boomer, who was sleepy, took this opportunity to slither from his horn and crawl onto the table. Yawning, half awake, she began to investigate the pumpkin curry, which was about as orange as she was. Leaning over Sumac’s plate, she started sniffing the food to see if there was anything she might like.
“I miss having a baby dragon about,” Night Light remarked as he watched Boomer. “So much curiousity. And they can be so smart. For a time, Spike was a faster learner than Twilight. It unnerved her a great deal how easy it was for him to memorise entire books. She had to work very hard to keep up with him. I can honestly say that Twilight was a better student because she had Spike around for competition.”
“Hmm.” Trixie’s head swiveled around and she cast a thoughtful gaze upon Sumac, who was still huddled down in his chair, looking miserable.
Pulling off his glasses, Sumac rubbed his eyes with his foreleg, then, not satisfied, rubbed them again. He put his glasses back on, sat up a bit, and watched as Boomer picked out chick peas from the curry. His neck and face felt like it was being roasted over an open flame and the pressure in his sinuses was now unbearable.
“Excuse me.” Octavia wiped her mouth with a napkin, smiled, and pushed her seat back from the table. She stepped away from the table, came around to where Sumac was sitting, and without even saying anything, she pulled him from his chair with her foreleg, causing him to plop down to the floor. With her foreleg, she steadied him and kept him from falling over.
Then, still silent, she herded him away from the table and towards the stairs.
“It’s miserable being an introvert sometimes,” Octavia said as she wiped Sumac’s face with a cool, wet cloth she had pulled out of a cupboard.
The wooden toilet seat lid was cool and rather comforting against Sumac’s backside. He had his eyes closed while Octavia wiped his face and scrubbed away the tears streaming down his cheeks, cheeks that burned with embarrassment and shame from being in this awkward position. It felt weird to be in an opulent bathroom with somepony that he didn’t know very well. The bathroom was a private place where private things happened.
“Sometimes, everything just piles up and you need a good cry, but it feels so awkward to try and step out of a social situation, because you don’t want to call attention to yourself. It only makes the problem worse and you are stuck being miserable.”
The little colt wondered how it was that Octavia knew exactly what he was feeling.
“Vinyl, she’s extroverted, but she is very attentive to my needs. She’s clever. When she sees that I am having a hard time or that I am overwhelmed, she’ll cause a scene or do something utterly silly so that I might escape without calling attention to myself. Now blow.”
Feeling some tissue held up against his nose, Sumac blew a few times. The tissue was pulled away and then he felt a hot, wet cloth scrubbing his snoot. Opening his eyes, he looked at Octavia, who was sitting on the floor before him. After a few seconds of thoughtful consideration, he decided that he liked Octavia, and he thought she was a nice pony.
“You and Pebble can be introverts together. In fact, I suspect that the three of us will get along quite well. We can all be together and enjoy the quiet.” She paused, made a few final wipes, then continued, “Now, we are going to go and have a nice time this afternoon, and you are going to try and wear yourself out a bit, if you can, because I think you need a nap. Do you agree?”
Sumac nodded, but he didn’t feel like saying anything.
“Very good. Sit here for a few minutes and pull yourself together. I’ll sit here with you. In fact, I feel that I need a little time as well, as I had horrible anxiety because I felt as though I was causing a scene when I pulled you out of the dining room. It was quite stressful and I kept worrying about what others thought of me. ”
Reaching out his left foreleg, he placed his hoof upon Octavia’s neck, then just sat there on the toilet seat lid, quiet, and thankful for this reprieve.
“When you think you are ready, just let me know and we shall return to the others. There is no pressure. Take as much time as you need and do not worry about me growing impatient. I understand and I wish that somepony had done this for me when I was little.”
“Thank you,” Sumac croaked.