“Did you have a nice visit with your grandmare?” Pebble asked while Sumac lowered a gingerbread roof down upon a gingerbread schoolhouse filled with gumdrop students. “I was worried the whole time. Father was pacing the floor and Octavia got fed up with him moping and she threw a couch cushion at him and hit him in the head. Then, stuff happened and it was nice to see my father and Octavia playing again. It’s been a little tense since the… you know. Everything that’s happened.”
“It was okay… I guess… nothing bad happened.” Sighing, Sumac was rather glum over the fact that his brand new bow had already been put away and he would only be able to get it out with proper adult supervision. Lemon Hearts had made it clear that Twinkleshine was not proper adult supervision, much to both Sumac and Twinkleshine’s dismay.
Smiling, Pinny Lane nudged Pebble with her foreleg and pushed her closer to Sumac. This caused a chain reaction in a number of adults, starting with Cloudy and Pinny glancing at one another, Limestone began giggling with her father, Igneous, and Maud responded with her stony stare. Sumac, who wasn’t paying much attention, missed most of this while he squeezed a bit of white frosting onto the schoolhouse to secure the roof.
“Hey, Pebble, look up,” Pinny said after another gentle nudge.
While Sumac continued his meticulous work, Pebble looked up, her lips parting somewhat when her head tilted backwards. After a crosseyed moment of concentration, she said, “Viscum album… otherwise known as mistletoe. Poisonous. Ooooh, that’s dirty.”
Humming to himself, Sumac was utterly unaware of the danger posed by the mistletoe over his and Pebble’s head. Exercising his telekinesis, he ran a fine line along the edge of the roof so that it could be adorned with gumdrops by Limestone, who had dextrous hooves. Pebble sighed, a resigned sound, and Sumac failed to notice her leaning in until he felt her breathing on his cheek—and by then, it was far too late.
The wet smacker of a smooch Pebble left on his cheek made his left ear ring from the sudden sound and spooked him. Sumac, being a small spooked equine with unstable, sometimes dangerous magical powers, lost control of his telekinesis. Almost dropping the piping bag, he gave it a violent squeeze at the last moment to keep his grip on it and to prevent it from hitting the table, which caused most of the contents to come squirting out on Pebble’s face in long, sticky, stringy, glistening white strands.
Before Tarnish—who just so happened to be fixing lunch with Vinyl—could say anything, Vinyl rammed a whole apple into his mouth with her magic to keep him silent. Igneous, now stony faced, sat very still, Cloudy turned away from her granddaughter and bit down upon her hoof, Limestone buried her face into her mother’s neck, Octavia’s face turned bright tomato red, and Sumac, mortified, stared at Pebble, dumbfounded.
Lemon, Trixie, and Twinkleshine all clutched one another and tried to hide their faces.
“Yuck, I kissed a colt and he squirted me in the face,” Pebble deadpanned in disgust.
Letting out a strange gasp, Maud fell over as if poleaxed, she whooped again, kicked her legs a few times, and then the kitchen was filled with the most bizarre sound of laughter. Maud’s peculiar halting laughter suffocated all other reactions. For a moment, the mare’s eyes went wide and she clutched her stomach while sucking in a deep breath—then, more peals of laughter escaped from Maud’s pie hole.
The surreal moment was too much for Sumac, and he set down the mostly empty piping tube. His face was burning and the heat in his ears was downright painful. Megara rushed over to aid her sibling and began licking off the icing while Pebble made disgusted faces. Something had happened, something adult perhaps, and he wasn’t quite sure what, but he had a few vague ideas. The sound of Maud’s laughter was the strangest thing ever, as it was the most least-expected noise that could come from Maud.
“Tarnish once told me that he had heard Maud laugh… I didn’t believe him,” Octavia said in a voice as creaky as a rusty hinge. “It’s rather unsettling. Megara, darling, um, maybe… licking your sister’s face is a bad idea right now. Oh, nevermind. As you were.”
In an explosion of glittery light, Trixie vanished. Then, an eyeblink later, Lemon Hearts too disappeared with an audible pop. Alone, Twinkleshine began sniggering, but before she was overcome by her mirth, she too escaped into the aether. Near the counter, Tarnish finally spat out the apple in his mouth, which bounced off of Vinyl’s head and knocked her dark glasses askew. She caught it—mid-air no less—and before she could jam it back into Tarnish’s mouth, he fled the room while making strangulated choking sounds.
“I didn’t know that Sumac was going to squirt me in the face when I kissed him,” Pebble remarked while Megara licked her frosted eyebrow. “What’s so funny, anyhow?”
“Nothing, nothing is funny,” Cloudy replied, and when Limestone began to titter, the stern mare clopped her daughter on the back of her head. When Igneous snorted once, Cloudy turned her withering, fierce, matronly glare upon him, and her brows formed deep furrows seeded with aggression.
Meanwhile, Maud was still laughing at whatever it was that wasn’t funny.
“My mistake was kissing him while he was squeezing his—”
“Pebble, love, enough!” Octavia fanned herself with her hoof and then she looked down at Maud, whose smock was now quite rumpled. “Dear, do you need some help getting up?”
Maud’s response was more of her halting laughter. “Hah… hah… hah… hah…”
“All my frosting ended up on Pebble’s face and I have nothing left to squirt.” Mid-sentence, Sumac watched as Igneous broke, and the old, wise stallion dodged his wife’s incoming hoof. “I need more frosting so Pebble and I can make a house together.”
Just like that, Vinyl popped out of existence following a hacking hoot.
When Sumac turned his head, his neck popped and he looked over at Pebble, who was getting her face licked clean. The adults were all acting funny and even Cloudy was trembling while pressing her lips tight together. “I don’t know what went wrong, Pebble. I’m sorry I squirted you in the face and left you all sticky, but you spooked me. I think it’s in your mane, Pebble.”
Coughing, Pinny Lane rose from her seat and then departed the room.
“Meg, get that long dangly bit hanging from Pebble’s nose, it looks funny.” Sumac’s ears pivoted towards the sound of Maud’s laughter, and he burned with curiousity, a desire to know what it was that she found funny. “Thanks, Megara. It’s nice to know that if I make a huge mess on Pebble’s face, you’ll be there to help clean up.”
Across the table, Cloudy whimpered and when Limestone started to snicker, the stern old mare clopped her daughter on the head again. Igneous was on his hooves now and heading for the mudroom door. Perhaps he needed some fresh air from outside. One by one, the adults were leaving.
Sumac, trying to salvage the situation, had this to say: “If I would have known that it would make Maud laugh, I would have made Pebble’s face a sticky mess a whole lot sooner.”
“Sumac! Enough! Stop! You’re killing us!” Reaching out her hoof, Octavia waved it at Sumac to silence him. “Pebble, come with me. All Megara is doing is making you stickier. You need a proper bath. Come. No arguing.”
“Fine,” Pebble deadpanned while she pushed her sister away. “Everything about this kiss was confusing. I don’t understand anything that is going on. Next time Sumac, show a little control and don’t squirt me in the face.”
With that, Pebble rose from where she had been sitting, leaned over, gave Sumac a final sticky parting kiss on his cheek, and then she strolled away, trailing globs of white, sticky frosting in her wake. Sumac watched her go while feeling a peculiar sense of excitement, and then, to occupy himself, he began pasting gumdrops onto the roof.
Lunchtime drew ever nearer, but for Sumac, it couldn’t come soon enough. A whole morning of using magic, visiting with family, and the whole mysterious ordeal with Pebble had left him starving. His own sticky face had been thoroughly scrubbed by Lemon Hearts, and she had not spared him from her vigourous ministrations.
“What’s for lunch?” Sumac asked, hoping that somehow, his question might hurry lunch along.
“Leftovers,” Tarnish replied while moving a pot onto the stove. “And some other stuff. There’ll be fondue, some sandwiches, some soup, and I’m heating up some enhanced wheat-meat nuggets too.”
“Enhanced?” Sumac, too curious for his own good, peered over the edge of the table at Tarnish.
“Nutritionally complete for creatures like Megara.” While responding, Tarnish set a timer on the counter and then moved on to his next task.
“I’ve heard it said that the kitchen is a mare’s place.” Sumac allowed his chin to come to rest against the table and then worried that he might have said something upsetting when several adults turned to look at him. “It’s confusing sometimes and I don’t know who to believe.”
Sidestepping a slow-moving Vinyl, Tarnish turned around to face Sumac and asked, “Is this about being a sissy? Are you that worried about this whole thing?”
“Yeah,” was Sumac’s terse reply.
“Sumac, darling…” Lemon Hearts began to rub her front hooves together and she fretted while trying to think of what to say.
“I have clear examples of right and wrong.” Sumac’s ears stood up for a few seconds, but then flopped over and fell against the sides of his head. “I’ve been taught the difference between good and evil. When any of you tell me to be a good pony, you tell me how to be a good pony. But the whole sissy thing, there wasn’t much said about it, just don’t be one. I don’t want Big Mac disappointed in me. I don’t want anypony feeling that way about me.”
“I told you that this was going to cause us a lot of problems—”
“Twinkleshine, now is not the time for ‘I told you so’ and ‘I was right.’ This is a festering problem.”
“Lemon Hearts, you’re right. I’m sorry.” Twinkleshine folded her forelegs over her barrel and then sat there, sulking in silence.
“Trixie hates what this insidious menace is doing to her son.” Before anypony else could react or respond, she continued, “Growing up, I remember all too well never quite knowing what would make my mother or Caper happy. The details were never made clear, but I had to conduct myself in some way and so many hours of my foalhood were lost to worry. I don’t like it!”
Lemon Hearts winced at the sudden increase of volume from Trixie, and Sumac’s ears stood up once more. Trixie was breathing hard, almost panting, and the expression on her face was difficult to read. Lemon reached out, but Trixie shied away, leaving poor Lemon with a sour look upon her face.
Tarnish was about to say something, but the alarm chimes echoed through the house. Boomer, asleep in a bowl of mixed fruits and nuts, let out a smokey snort of annoyance, rolled over, and went back to sleep. Sumac lifted his chin from the edge of the table with great effort, but then decided that like Boomer, he couldn’t be bothered and his head came back down upon the wood with a thump.
“Cactused!” Tarnish shouted while he stomped towards the door.
“Li’l Mac!” Applejack’s voice sang out through the kitchen and a second later, she appeared in the doorway, flanked by Hidden Rose and Ambrosia. “Happy Hearth’s Warming, Li’l Mac!”
With great effort, Sumac roused himself from the table and turned about just in time to see Applejack barreling down upon him at full speed. For a moment, he panicked, but her big squishy hug was surprisingly gentle, though cold and more than a little snowy. Her blanket jacket was a bit damp, covered in white flakes, and smelled of hay.
“Tarnish, I don’t know how to thank ya enough,” Applejack said while she continued to squeeze Sumac. “I have to go to that gala tonight and my foalsitter got sick. Sumac, have ya gotten skinnier? Do I need to feed ya more pies? I worry about breaking ya when I hug ya, Sumac. It scares me!” Applejack was clearly in a mood, because her drawl had slowed to a frozen crawl.
Hidden Rose and Ambrosia admired the gingerbread village with open mouths and wide eyes. “Like I was saying, I’d be glad to watch your girls. Pebble needs the socialisation.”
“Have fun tonight, Jackie.” Tarnish stood near the doorway, ready to escort Applejack out.
“Rose, ‘Brosia, you’d both better behave. You be gentle with Sumac, ya hear? If’n the both of y’all don’t, I’ll wear y’all out come spring with every chore I can think of. You got that?”
The fillies ignored their mother and entranced, continued to stare at the gingerbread village. Pebble, just out of her bath, stared at them with narrowed eyes, perhaps viewing them as interlopers on her domain. It was well known that Pebble didn’t care much for them, as they were rough with Sumac and loved to mercilessly tease him.
Applejack let go and eased Sumac back down upon his chair, mindful of his neck. She lingered for a moment, her eyes warm and merry, and then before Sumac could protest, she kissed him on the cheek. Thankfully, he had no frosting, or this might’ve been awkward. Applejack dropped down to all fours once more and then just stood there, the snow on her blanket jacket melting.
“I don’t want to leave, but I gotta go. A hero is needed. And truth be told, I’m looking forward to spending time with Fluttershy at the gala.”
“Fluttershy?” Lemon Hearts glanced in Applejack’s direction. “That’s an odd pairing—”
“Ain’t got nothin’ to do with pears!” Applejack interjected. “Dagnabbit, ponies keep talking. Look, Flutters and I are friends. When ya get older, your priorities change. It used to be I couldn’t stand her most times, but now that all these years have passed and all these changes happened, things are different.”
“Different?” Lemon’s eyebrow arched.
“Rarity’s gonna be absent tonight from the gala. Dashie goes off and disappears… sometimes with Tarnish”—Applejack turned and gave Tarnish a scowl—“and sometimes with Daring Do. And sometimes all y’all go off together to do Celestia knows what. Twilight stays busy now. Fluttershy and I are the ones who’ve put down roots, and them there roots, they’s tied together in meaningful ways, I reckon. I wasted a lot of years complaining and fussing about how mousy and timid Flutters is, and I failed to notice just how much alike the two of us can be. Now I make it a point to spend time together. Flutters gets powerful lonesome and she feels excluded from stuff sometimes.”
“Good on you, Applejack.”
For some reason, Lemon’s words made Applejack blush, and Sumac noticed.
“Go have a lovely time,” Lemon said to Applejack. “We’ll look after your girls and keep them safe. Go be a hero.”
“Come’re, girls, and give me a hug. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow, don’t know when. Y’all little scamps had better behave, or else.” Misty eyed, Applejack waited for her daughters to come over, but they seemed reluctant to tear themselves away from the gingerbread village.
When Applejack began to tap her hoof from impatience, Sumac began to snicker…