Chapter 26
“No! I don’t wanna!” Squirming, or at least doing his best to squirm, Sumac believed that he was quite justified with his whining. He didn’t want to be in the close confines of a bathroom again having his personal space invaded, nor did he want the scratches on his neck cleaned with iodine. Having reached his sensory threshold for the day, Sumac was done and nearing his breaking point. He was in dire need of peace and quiet, and perhaps a nap as well, although he would rather pitch a tantrum than admit to that fact.
Twinkleshine, left to perform parental duties after Lemon had disappeared with Trixie, did her best to deal with the sulky colt. “Come on, Sumac, be grown up about this—”
“I’m five!” he hollered out in protest of Twinkleshine’s outrageous request.
In a rare moment of impatience from having her grand day ruined, Twinkleshine lost her temper and slipped into a rather foalish state of mind herself. “Could have fooled me, you’re acting like you’re two!” No longer willing to coax Sumac into cooperating, she grabbed him, lifted him from the couch where he sat, and started to haul him off to the bathroom.
Sumac wasn’t having it and the poor colt reached the ends of his endurance. With a sob, the lurking tantrum escaped and began to wreak havoc. The first thing it did upon taking control of Sumac was try to put Twinkleshine in her place with a massive discharge of static. With a pained cry, Twinkleshine’s magic fizzled out and Sumac tumbled to the floor, the worst possible outcome that could happen.
He would have landed, smashing into the stone floor face first too, if Vinyl hadn’t snatched him inches before the sure-to-be-tooth-chipping impact. Twinkleshine, infuriated and in pain, sucked in a deep breath to chastise Sumac, but was stopped by Maud, who stood nearby, shaking her head from side to side. The stoic earth pony’s silence was somehow able to reach Twinkleshine, and the pearlescent unicorn—whose pastel pink mane now stood on end while arcing with static—seemed to deflate when she realised what it was that she was about to do.
Vinyl, left holding the bleating, blubbering colt, let out a sigh of unknown emotion. Meanwhile, Cloudy, who had watched the entire exchange, moved in to deal with Twinkleshine, who seemed to be having temper troubles of her own. Megara was holding Boomer in her paws, but seemed at a loss for what to do to console the still sniffling dragon stricken with smoky hiccups.
“The movie was a mistake,” Octavia began as she summed up the chaos. “With everybody here packed into the house, I know that I’m having some troubles so I’d imagine that Sumac is too. The poor little guy is overstimulated and needs some recovery time.”
“So this is that introvert thing?” Igneous’ bushy eyebrows furrowed and he looked on with concern.
“Yes.” Octavia’s voice was low and she gave the older stallion a nervous look. “Please be mindful of your words, Igneous—”
“I wasn’t going to say anything else, I promise.” The Pie family patriarch sounded kind, sincere, and his words held a great deal of warmth as well as affection.
“Thank you, Igneous.” Octavia bowed her head a little, nodding at him, and then turned to Vinyl. “Come, Vinyl, let us go and sort Sumac out. Those cuts need cleaning and the poor little guy needs to decompress.”
Yet again, Sumac had been betrayed. He found himself sitting in a sudsy, bubble-filled bathtub sitting between two mares. Oh, how he scowled and tears trickled down from the corners of his eyes as Octavia rubbed his back with her hooves while Vinyl held him up. The hot water and soap stung the scratches on his neck, but the pain of betrayal was somehow worse. When Vinyl had set him down upon the toilet lid and Octavia had started to fill up the tub, Sumac had known that the worst had come to pass.
Now, all he could do was endure his seething, unspeakable rage. His boiling blood felt even hotter than the bathwater and he tried expressing his displeasure by making furious faces at Vinyl, but she seemed unconcerned—totally not even bothered—by his expressions of irate, apoplectic outrage. Of course, this made him even angrier and there just seemed like there was no way to get her to respond.
Still, Octavia rubbing the tense muscles in his back felt good, but he wasn’t about to admit to that. No, admitting to that was out of the question, so he bared his teeth and tried to look fierce. He even tried growling to express his displeasure, but neither mare seemed impressed, not even in the slightest. What was a colt to do? He still had one option at his disposal, the worst option, and that was farting in the tub. That just might teach them a lesson.
But that would have to wait, because right now, the combination of Octavia rubbing his back and the hot water seeping into his cramped muscles felt really, really good. It was also nice to be taken care of. The bathroom was quiet, save for the sounds of splashing water, and nopony said anything at all. The quiet seemed to be restoring his calm, but Sumac wasn’t about to reveal that to anypony, no. Having been betrayed, he wanted to be angry.
In absolute silence, Vinyl Scratch reached out with her telekinesis and picked up a soap bubble from the surface of the bathwater. Unable to hide his reaction, Sumac’s mouth fell open and he began to think about how fine her telekinetic control had to be to lift up a soap bubble without popping it. He tried to do the same, but the bubble popped. When he tried again, that bubble popped too. Now, the colt had a mission, a purpose, an all consuming need to lift up a soap bubble without having it pop and his angry expression melted away to be replaced by one of sheer concentration.
With his back turned to her, Sumac did not see the smirk on Octavia’s face, nor was he aware of the knowing expression exchanged with Vinyl. At the moment, he was absorbed in his task, making a desperate attempt to pick up a soap bubble without popping it. It seemed simple at first, but after a dozen attempts, Sumac had learned much and now his mind was thoroughly engrossed in his efforts. The bubbles were fragile and the slightest pressure made them pop. How had Vinyl done this? It seemed impossible and the fine telekinetic control required to do what she had done was inconceivable to Sumac.
His task became an obsession and the colt failed to notice when Octavia began to scrub the scratches on his neck, trying to remove the blood scabbed in his pelt. His thin eyebrows were angled down over his eyes, making his face wizened, and his tongue stuck out in concentration, a trait common to equines for some unknown reason.
Lifting a bubble in her magic, Vinyl brought it down upon the tip of Sumac’s snoot, where it popped on contact. He went cross-eyed trying to focus on it, and it no longer seemed strange or uncomfortable to be sitting in a bathtub between two mares. Picking up a soap bubble seemed somehow impossible, and he could not understand how Vinyl had performed such an impressive trick.
With a single gentle word, Sumac broke the silence. No, not with the harsh bark of an extrovert seeking to end the silence for the sake of hearing their own voice, but rather with the soft, considerate interruption of an introvert who wished to make a brief introjection. With his temper back in its undiscovered country, he asked, “How?”
Vinyl’s response came with Octavia’s borrowed voice, and it too, was thoughtful to the needs of silence. “Years of practice. I started young. About your age. I was in my teens when I did it for the first time.”
This crushed him, for how else could he respond? How else could he react? There seemed to be no trick, no hidden secret, just a decade of practicing while taking baths. When faced with the long, daunting prospect of this, a tear fell, then another, and then as many tears fell, the colt shuddered and sighed. This did not seem fair, but as with life itself, what was? If he wanted to perform this marvellous trick, he would have to do the work.
Save for the splashes of water, the trio returned to silence.
In a bed that not was not their own, three mares huddled together, terrified by the enormity of their task: raising not one, but two offspring. Trixie Lulamoon had her head tucked beneath the pillows and refused to come out. Twinkleshine lay beside her, her mane a tangled messy mass of static that Lemon Hearts attacked with a brush. Poor little Lemon Hearts could only seem to make the problem worse, and she too had a wicked case of the static crackles that grew with each stroke she made. The brush, being only a brush, lacked a means to give voice to its failure, and as such, suffered in profound silence, the victim of crushing, isolating, existential angst.
Such was the fate of brushes.
Nursing a good sulk, Twinkleshine let out a quivering whine while her lower lip quivered. Her eyes, glassy with tears, appeared unfocused, and after turning her head about, she rested her fuzzy jaw upon Trixie’s cutie mark, using the distraught blue mare as a pillow. Trixie’s tail flicked against the bed with a thump while Lemon Heart’s eyes watched its rise and fall.
“The Downtrodden and Traumatised Trixie shall remain downtrodden and traumatised for the immediate future,” Trixie said, her voice muffled by the pillow over her head.
“Sumac shocked me and I almost dropped him.” Twinkleshine sighed while static arced from her mane to her fuzzy ear, which made it have fitful twitches. “I did drop him and the only reason why he didn’t hit the floor was because of Vinyl. I do not feel confident in my parenting abilities.”
“I could not console Boomer,” Lemon lamented and she raised one front hoof to her forehead in a dramatic gesture of distraught anguish. “Look at us… feeling sorry for ourselves. Hiding from our problems.”
“Isn’t that why we came here? So we could get some much needed downtime? So we could recover?” Twinkleshine closed her eyes, sucked in a deep breath, held it for a time, and then let everything out in a dejected huff. “I was really happy… I got proposed to this morning… I was going to be part of a family… I was going to do something meaningful with my life… and now, I just feel… crushed.”
“You know nothing of crushed,” Trixie grumbled.
Frowning, Twinkleshine lifted up one foreleg and draped it over Trixie’s middle so she could get more comfortable. Lemon Hearts, the nurturing one, kept brushing but her efforts showed little return. The pile of mares shifted when Lemon turned about to come to rest against Trixie as well, perhaps hoping to squash her tight-lipped secrets out.
“The Downtrodden and Traumatised Trixie had to stand in a stall in the mare’s restroom with her son while he had his very first—” From beneath the pillow, her words came to an abrupt end and she was unable to finish. Both Lemon and Twinkleshine were jostled by Trixie’s full body shudder and the blue mare tucked all four of her legs against her body as she curled into a fetal position.
“Oh.” Lemon’s mouth froze into a little round puckered ‘o’ when she realised what had taken place.
“The Downtrodden and Traumatised Trixie was useless… useless… useless. There was nothing that the Downtrodden and Traumatised Trixie could do but stand there, completely unable to relate to, connect to, or otherwise reach out to her son. He suffered and the Downtrodden and Traumatised Trixie could do nothing.”
“Oh, you poor dear!” Lemon’s outburst was sincere and she rubbed her body against Trixie, trying to comfort her. “That must have been awful for you.”
“Oh, you have no idea of the things that were going through my head.” The pillow shifted, but Trixie did not emerge, and she remained secluded in her Fortress of Fluffitude. “I thought about the worst kinds of things, things I don’t understand, things that confuse me, and it hurt me inside—”
“You thought about him sticking that into Pebble one day, didn’t you?” Twinkleshine asked.
“Yes!” This time, Trixie did emerge from her Fortress of Fluffitude and her head popped up from the pillows. She lay there, blinking, her eyes adjusting to the sudden light. “How did you know?”
“Because, you’re my best friend now and I am pretty sure that I love you even though I’m sort of confused and slip in and out of denial,” Twinkleshine replied. With her head still resting on Trixie Lulamoon’s cutie mark, she snuggled Trixie’s backside and gave it a squeeze.
“The Confused and Somewhat Disgusted Trixie realised that her son had sexual urges and would one day act upon them. It scared her, because she didn’t know how to talk to him about it, or connect to him, because Trixie has no understanding of these things.”
“But you seem to like it when we’re together, you know, doing stuff.” Twinkleshine looked confused for a moment, and she began to slide her chin back and forth over Trixie’s hip.
“Oh, Trixie likes the attention, but the feeling of closeness and the emotions are what set Trixie off. It’s different, but Trixie cannot say how.” After taking a deep breath, she bit on her lower lip and began to chew on it a bit, leaving it stained a darker blue with moisture.
“Oh… oh… wait, I think somepony is in need of sapphic spousal snuggles.” Lemon’s eyes brightened and some of her usual good cheer returned.
“Ever since you heard those words from Octavia,” Twinkleshine breathed.
“I like these words.” Lemon’s smile was almost infectious. “They make me feel good to say them. Now, come on, and let us make the most of our time alone with one another…”
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That part, ´bout the introvert rage, and sensory overload...is it real ? In humans, I mean ? Why ?
8385661
Yes it is.
https://introvertdear.com/news/yes-there-is-such-a-thing-as-an-introvert-hangover/
Distraction? Sun Tzu approves.
I think my favorite part of this chapter was sapphic spousal snuggles. Am I wrong or was that based off of happy husband hugs?
8385726
It is. Also, it comes from Venenum Iocus.
8385661
Think about what it feels like to focus on a complex task for a long time and you'll get an idea of how it feels like. It takes me a lot of energy to focus on other people and socialize properly.
I absolutely love Octavia and her clear understanding of Sumac's introverted nature and needs.
Excellent distraction, Vinyl.
8385661
Suffering from this myself, yes, it is totally real.
I mean, I don't know about the rage part, but I've got almost 30 years on Sumac, so....
Quick look! A distraction!
*bravely runs a away*
I wonder if Sumac is autistic or if "being a unicorn" is a mental condition in and of itself.
8386352
Nope. Just introverted and five.
This chapter re-reminded me that Sumac is five. He got sexually turned on at five? Is that normal? Is it a normal pony thing? A normal male thing? A normal everyone thing and I was just a really late bloomed? Well, I know I was kind of late but didn't think that late.
8385661
I'm an ambivert, but my wife's introverted and I've been with and around many, many introverts. Saying it like that seems kind of odd given the subject, but it was both at the same time and spread out over years.
I can tell you that yes, yes it is. Introversion and the extremes of social anxiety can often be found hand-in-hand, which is absolutely terrible for some people. I have a brother who, despite in the middle of many years of extensive therapy and a great deal of determination, can't leave his room, let alone his house, more than a couple times a week. That is, of course, an extreme case.
Think of it like this. Being around other people, even people you're close to (it's not as bad with them usually), builds up a sort of.. meter. The more exhausted you become dealing with the chaos of social interaction, the more the meter grows. The more your frustration shows, until the meter's full and you're just... done. Done with the day, done with the people. You need a break.
If that break is denied to you for whatever reason - either literally, or because of some reason your anxiety cooks up, all that frustration stews and builds exponentially inside until it has to come out somehow. Either by getting that break and destressing quietly, or... well, exploding somewhat or completely violently either physically or emotionally. Oftentimes this is actually more dangerous to the self than to others, even if nothing physical is being done, the emotional damage is great to the person, who now has a whole new set of reasons to worry about being around others, because now they're embarrassed to have been seen like that, worry that everyone's opinion of them is lowered.
Depression sets in, and as we all know depression is a hungry beast, doing everything it can to make you drag yourself deeper down its gullet, using your every feeling of guilt, helping you make all the wrong choices that seem like they're helpful at the time.
I could go on, but in short introversion is pretty fucking awful. I am glad I don't often personally deal with it, but I've had to defuse, organize, and soothe people for more than half my life who were dealing with it all the time. Extroversion carries its own issues, which introverts rarely see because they see extroverts being active and social and included and want that very badly. It's hard for them to see the sort of gilded cage situation. Basically, everyone has their problems, and introversion is pretty darn well represented here. Sumac does not have a light touch of introversion even if his resistance is fairly good.
8386352
We are often led to forget that Sumac is five because foals in Kudzu-stories tend to be intelligent and mature for their age until their emotions take hold and they reach something we're more familiar with as humans.
8386933
There is also the fact many autistic are like children in many ways
8387158
He's not autistic according to Kudzu, and you need to be specific there. You'll find there's quite a few of us with a place on the autism spectrum in this fandom, and those of us lighter on the scale may struggle trying to pass off with some amount of normalcy, but we certainly can with enough hard work and intelligence. If you mean those who are disabled by their spectrum intensity, then yes they often are, sad as it may be. Though by some realms of thought they may be the lucky ones.
He's just a socially impacted introvert with some anxiety issues and probably a decent amount of passive trauma.
8386927
It's an equine thing. The foals have all been shown to be about as intelligent as most of the adults, and more mature at times. They can also experience a sexual awakening at this age. For all intents and purposes they can function as adults as we humans understand the concept except for inexperience at controlling their natures and dealing with emotions.
8387252
I agreed with the assessment that "he's just a smart 5 year old" and pointed out another reason he could be mistaken for autistic, the often childish nature of some(not all) autistic persons, Is that clear enough? I guess I have to explain as well the first comment I made was meant to be sarcastic.
8387259
I am not sure intelligence and mental maturation=sexual awakening. That seems more driven by biology. I could possibly take the argument though that high stress might have triggered biology to wake up early in this regard as a survival mechanism.
Trixie took Sumac's reveal a bit hard, I think.
8386927
Equines in kudz's stories develop faster. While the exact specific are unknown, i know that 5 for first awakening is around normal (if a little early) in this verse. (I asked in a Q&A like 2 years ago)
8387614
I never said it did. I did state that they tend to coincide, however. While stress is possible, it's also presented as awkward but somewhat normal, leading me to believe it's not uncommon at this age. The foals exhibit traits we would attribute to human teenagers and young adults. Even at this age of five. I was pointing to it being a normalcy of equine biology as presented in Kudzu's writing. I could be wrong, but based on what we see (what we see is not always accurate, so trust Kudzu's word as final in almost all cases).
So I go forward with the understanding that the foals are more intelligent, and mentally/physically mature than our average five year old human being. While just as emotionally immature in many cases, possibly for longer than ours.
8387842
Human infants can get boners.
8387851
yup. The only difference between them and teens, is that infants don't get No Reason Boners. Those are the WORST. Just ask Dan Avidan.
I cringe every time I read about the strongly scented bath products. All I can think is 'migraine trigger!' I'm kind of surprised no one has gotten him something less floral (or, even better, with minimal scent). Hope he thinks to request some soon. Might make him less inclined to fight a bath.