Chapter 36
The parlour was a cosy room now that Vinyl had heated the floor with her magic. It was an intimate room, but also a room in need of more furniture. Like most of the rooms in this house, it was heated by burning wood, but lacked a proper fireplace. This room, destined to become a parlour, had a cast iron pot-bellied stove that sat between the door leading into the family room and an empty room that had been closed off until it could be decided what to do with it. The iron stovepipe disappeared into the bare brick wall behind the stove and Sumac had no idea where the smoke was routed.
Sumac liked that this house was still in progress of becoming a house. His stomach full, feeling half-drowsy, he lay on a blanket on the warm floor with his eyes half-open, watching as the others worked on an enormous puzzle spread out over the floor. Boomer, awake, was combing his mane with her tiny clawed fingers, and this made him feel sleepy.
In the other room, the family room, Limestone’s loud, boisterous laughter could be heard, along with Tarnish’s fearsome growling. What was going on in there? Sumac, while curious, was glad that the commotion was in the next room and not this one. He needed quiet time away from the crowd and this bit of respite was almost ideal. After this morning and his visit with his grandmother, he needed time to think. Then, there was the whole frosting fiasco and whatever it was that the adults found funny. Sumac was aware that something embarrassing had happened, but he wasn’t sure what. Adults were silly, and sometimes gross.
“I wish Mama hadn’t left,” Hidden Rose remarked, sighing out each one of her words.
“Yeah,” Ambrosia added, “Mama lets us get away with stuff, and now we have to behave, ‘cause we’re guests.”
“It must be awful.” Pebble’s snark seemed to fly right over the top of the Apple sister’s heads, because both of them nodded in agreement.
“It is awful, we can’t play rodeo and I don’t think we can get away with wrasslin.” Again, Hidden Rose sighed, drawing it out for as long as possible, and she raised her hoof up to her forehead in a perfect mimicry of Rarity. “Why, I do declare that this boredom is giving me the vapours!”
“We could have a brappin’ contest,” Ambrosia suggested.
“For that, we’d need Twinkleshine.” The faint smile on Pebble’s lips radiated the very essence of smugness.
“What? Why?” Ambrosia’s head tilted off to one side, causing her messy pigtails to hang lopsided.
“Oh, nevermind. It’s silly.” Pebble’s smile vanished, but a wicked gleam remained in her eyes. “What’s wrong with puzzles anyhow? They give a pony time to think about important stuff.”
Ambrosia shook her head. “I ain’t one for thinkin’—”
“That much is obvious,” Pebble cut in and Ambrosia’s ears pricked straight up.
“You think you’re smarter than we are, don’t you?” This question was followed up by Ambrosia’s lips contorting into a tight, aggressive pucker, and then, “It’s ‘cause you go to that fancy school with those fancy ponies and you get your head filled with fancy garbage. Just admit it, you think you’re all smart.”
“Oh, I don’t think that at all,” Pebble said aloud, and what Sumac didn’t hear her say was, “I know it.”
On the floor where he lay, Sumac could almost hear Pebble saying the words he just imagined, and the sudden tension in the room made his dock grow tight. Both of his cousins were struggling to keep up right now and he knew exactly how they felt about eggheads, having heard their opinions a million times or more on the subject. Have you tried not being an egghead?
“Well, maybe I was wrong.” Ambrosia glanced over at her twin and then back at Pebble. “See, I was thinking that you were a bit snobby and that you thought you were better than us. Look, I know that we don’t always get along, but my sis and I, we’re country ponies and you two… you’re both eggheads.”
When Sumac’s sleepy brain engaged, one ear flickered, going to and fro, which caused Boomer to take a playful swipe at it. She missed, became miffed, and tried several times to catch the offending ear. Megara too, turned to watch the sudden jerky movement, but Sumac was unaware of her predatory gaze, because he was too busy thinking about how wrong all of this felt. He didn’t like that his best friend and his family were fighting. Fighting? Was this fighting? Maybe not a fight, but Pebble was certainly being unpleasant, as Pebble was known to be to others at times.
It was sometimes easy to forget that Pebble could be a bit of a jerk and this made Sumac think back to when he and Pebble had first met. She was nice to him now—mostly—but seeing her natural jerkishness was a reminder that there were parts about her that he didn’t like. Pebble had flaws—bad ones, even—but Sumac was determined to be her friend because she also had outstanding qualities.
As for himself, Sumac took pride in the fact that he had no flaws.
“Do you even listen to how you sound when you call us eggheads?” Pebble asked while leaning forwards closer to Ambrosia.
“Ya call a hawg a hawg, a chicken a chicken, an apple an apple, and an orange is an orange. There ain’t no harm in calling something what it is. Things is what they is and if you have a problem with that, that’s just you making a problem where there ain’t one.”
Pebble’s flinty gaze locked onto Ambrosia and for a moment, she bared her teeth. “So, if I called you a country-dumb hayseed hick, and you were upset, it would be your fault?”
“Hey, that’s mean!” Hidden Rose whined out these words in protest of what had been said. “We’re not dumb.”
“And my head isn’t made from eggshell,” Pebble retorted.
“Yeah, we don’t mean anything by it,” Ambrosia said to Pebble, “but you, you’re just being mean and you sound kinda snobby.”
“Or maybe”—Pebble paused, took a deep breath, and her nostrils flared wide—“That’s just you making a problem where there ain’t one.” Her mimicry of Ambrosia’s speech and mannerisms was almost spot on, so much so that Sumac was shocked by the similarity.
It was a talent that he wasn’t aware that his fillyfriend had.
“We’re not being mean when we say stuff. We’re family…” Ambrosia, struggling to speak, lifted one hoof and made a circular gesture while fighting to find the right words. “It’s just innocent fun, that’s all. It’s like when our Ma calls us cussheads. We are cussheads, and she’s just being all playful like. She still loves us. Sumac is family too and this is just our way to show him that we like him.”
Pebble shook her head in refute and made a dismissive wave with her hoof. “Horseapples. Both of you act like bullies and you scare Sumac. I don’t see any love there at all. He doesn’t like being with you. At best, he tolerates you. At worst, he’s smart enough to probably think of some pretty awful things about you, but because he’s also kind, he keeps those things to himself.”
“That can’t be true. That ain’t true.” Ambrosia shook her head from side to side, causing her messy pigtails to slap against her cheeks. “Now you’re just being really mean and trying to drive us apart. Why’d he want to do that, anyhow? What reason would he have to be that way?”
Pebble did not reply right away, but a fantastically cruel smile spread across her muzzle and her eyes gleamed with a ferocious inner glee. “Because, you both act like hot plot-nuggets.”
In response to this, Hidden Rose let out a groan, turned away, and rolled her eyes, but her sister, Ambrosia, had a somewhat different reaction, one of slow realisation after having been hammered by Pebble’s brutish, unrelenting words.
“A’ight, sometimes we do, but that’s different. Afore, Sumac wasn’t hurt and now he is. We’re not gonna act like butt-dumplings when he’s like this. We ain’t said one mean thing and neither of us has gave him noogies.” Hidden Rose’s voice wavered, changing in both pitch and depth, and it sounded as though she wanted to cry, something that Sumac cued in on.
Hidden Rose however, had a different reaction and placed a protective foreleg over her twin’s shoulders. Perhaps knowing that anything that she said would only be picked apart by Pebble, she scowled in silence while trying to comfort her upset twin. Ears pricked, Hidden Rose’s face held the quiet threat of violence.
And it seemed that Pebble was game. “I don’t believe you. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you thought you could get away with it, you’d be right back to bullying him. Maybe even worse now that he’s too weak to fight back. That’s how the stupid like to fight.” Head darting forward, Pebble was more than a match for Hidden Rose’s aggression. “If you know what’s good for you, I wouldn’t do anything to upset Megara. She’s still learning the rules and she can be a little rough, if you know what I mean.”
The Apple twins gulped together, but Hidden Rose’s ears remained aggressive and pricked.
“We only roughed him up before so he wouldn’t act like such a sissy.” Pulling her sister closer, Hidden Rose held her ground. “Ain’t no good to be a sissy.”
From where he lay on the floor, Sumac heard the sound of Pebble grinding her teeth, and then he heard her say, “You have no idea how much trouble you and Big Mac have caused with that sissy stuff. Cut it out, or else.” Afterwards, she cracked her fetlocks as a means of aggressive punctuation.
Ambrosia pulled her sister back and with her ears pinned in submission, she poured out her heart to Pebble. “It was only funnin’ and we ain’t mean nuttin’ by it! Honest Apple!”
To which Pebble replied with as much aggression as she could muster, while squinting through one eye and her ears angled out over her face, “Normally, I don’t step on road apples because I don’t like the mess, but I’d be more than willing to stomp on you. I’m pretty sure that I could take you both at once. You’re pathetic and acting like a sissy right now.”
Fearful that he was about to witness a knock down, drag out, pigtail pulling, plot punching, throw down, hoedown filly fight, Sumac knew it was time to end this and when he spoke, he willed his words to carry as much magic as he could muster. “Stop this right now. I don’t want my friends and family fighting. Cut it out! Just stop!”
A mere second after speaking, Sumac was filled with regret, shame, and doubt. Had he just goofed? He had just intentionally used the power of his voice to influence others, and not even a gentle nudge of suggestion, but just plain trying to dominate them. Everypony was frozen now, unmoving, and he was uncertain as to why. His magic? Shock that he could be so assertive? Sumac wished that he knew what was going on so he would know how to feel about it.
Even Boomer seemed to be holding her breath and each passing second stretched out like taffy.
“Rose…” Ambrosia’s voice was a creaky, squeaky, squeal. “Rose, we done goofed—”
“Brose?” Hidden Rose’s ears slipped into a neutral position but the embrace she had on her twin remained firm.
“Rose, didn’t ya feel that, ya big dummy? That was his magic, like Mama talked about… The Grift, she calls it. It was like lightning goin’ through me. He coulda stopped us at any time, Rose, he coulda made us do whatever he wants, and he didn’t—”
“Brose… what?”
“Rose, he’s been better to us than we’ve been to him.” Ambrosia shook her sister, a hard powerful motion, and then with her foreleg, she wiped both of her eyes.
“Brose, it’s just a magic trick, ya done been grifted—” Hidden Rose’s words were cut off by a sudden, powerful smack to the face by her twin and she recoiled in pain while rubbing her cheek. Pulling herself away from her sister, she shot an angry look of betrayal in her sibling’s direction.
“That’s the point, ya big dummy! He coulda been doing this to us at any time to make us stop and he didn’t! He was trying to be nice to us. Trying to be good to us. He’s been trying to act like family… like an Apple, and we’ve done been acting like road apples, ya thickheaded ‘tard!”
“I ain’t no ‘tard, fart breath.” Hidden Rose shoved her sister away, got to her hooves, and retreated a bit. “How dare you call me that, you stink-drinkin’ outhouse basement dweller!”
Again, Pebble mimicked Ambrosia, this time even better than before. “Ya call a hawg a hawg, a chicken a chicken, an apple an apple, and an orange is an orange. There ain’t no harm in calling something what it is. Things is what they is and if you have a problem with that, that’s just you making a problem—”
“Pebble, shut up!” Struggling to rise into a sitting position, Sumac felt stabbing pains go shooting through his neck and for some reason, he felt far, far weaker than he had earlier. Where before, he had been walking and moving around with relative ease, he was now fighting just to sit up. Why? Perhaps he needed a nap. Leveling his stern gaze on Pebble, Sumac kept his mouth shut and did his best to stare her down.
After a moment, she let out a flustered sigh, turned away, and ignored him.
Snarling, Hidden Rose turned tail and stomped out of the room, going to where the adults were gathered. Sumac, fearing trouble once the adults were involved, let out a weary sigh, reminded himself of the importance of staying quiet, and waited for the aftermath of this dreadful, terrible, horrible, no good squabble.
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Reminds me of why I didn't get along with some of my cousins...
Kids are mean. They also don’t think about things, because they don’t have to. Ambrosia and Rose, for instance, never thought about how their behavior impacted Sumac, because they never had to.
Pebble says things that are intended to hurt others, and at least doesn’t seem to think anything of it because she hasn’t really had to.
And Sumac...
Actually, Sumac thinks a lot about what he says, and how it impacts others, because he does have to. Probably more so than anyone else in his family. It’s a position I don’t envy.
8706544
I am really glad that you mentioned that last part. It is a key element of Sumac's character.
8706549
Comments like this always perk me up.
Especially when they’re from you, or really from anyone who’s a lot smarter than I am.
Oh if Big Mac heard this, they wouldn't be sitting for a very, VERY long time. They're abusing his beliefs to justify getting away with what they are doing. Further proof that Big Mac's good intentions having very negative consequences.
Something tells me they'll side with Sumac and what he did. While they likely won't like that he used The Grift, given why he used it will lessen the impact. That would have been a fight with casualties.
AJ is going to be one pissed off pony when she finds out what her children have been saying and doing. She wants Sumac to be raised well, but the looks of her own family speaks poorly of her own ability. They may have their mother's honesty, but none of her integrity.
This is why you watch what you say around kids. Not because they're "innocent little angels," it's because kids have no filters.
I can see this so easily
8706612
This mighta rubbed off just a little.
Good girl Pebble. They're taking out their frustration at not getting to do the things they shouldn't be doing on someone they perceive as weaker than them socially and physically, and won't even admit to themselves why they're doing it. "Just a joke" and "It's for his own good", the litany of the bully caught out and trying to save face with themselves and everyone bearing witness. Set 'em straight.
I feel like this was probably an experience the Apple twins needed.
Few things as brutal as children.
So, given that I don't remember meeting the Apple twins before (may have without remembering, or may have just missed the story they were in), here's my first impression of the three sides based on this alone.
The Apple twins are rough. They're loud, rude, and crude. Part of that is their family. Brutal honesty is a part of what they know. Being kids, though, they haven't learned when to tone it down. They say what they think because that's what they know to do, and they don't think about the consequences. They use language as a blunt instrument, not knowing or thinking about the consequences.
Pebble is blunt, yes, but the same way that Seal Team 6 is blunt. Her words have little tact, but that's because she uses them tactically. She knows exactly what her words mean and their consequences, and doesn't care. From what I see here (and those five words are important), she's not aiming to get the Apple twins to change their minds. She's trying to break them of a habit by breaking them. Harsh words that really have no place. Again, she is a child, and doesn't have the self-control she likes to think she does. But a tactical nuke is not tact.
Sumac is tactful. He doesn't talk unless he has to, out of fear - both of himself and others. The Grift is something that he dreads. He sees its power for good, potentially, but he avoids using it at all because of unintended consequences. He understands unintended consequences, unlike his cousins, and cares about them, unlike Pebble. Pebble has no care for casualties, and the cousins don't know about them. But Sumac is one, and having the same power as his father terrifies him. So, he says nothing that he doesn't have to, because he doesn't know what it may do.
On a side note, I do like Big Mac, and always want to defend him whenever the other ponies start getting mad about his theories on sissies. If Big Mac means it like I do, he's not afraid that Sumac is going to turn into a (gasp) girl or something like that. Hell, the strongest person he knows is a girl, and you can pick from the list of ponies to fill in whomever you want for that role. Big Mac is afraid that Sumac will be weak - that Sumac will live his life without an honest day's work. A sissy is not someone who enjoys the finer things in life. A sissy is someone who doesn't know their roots - who doesn't stand for their beliefs and throws them aside in search of money or fame. In human terms, C. S. Lewis called them "Men without chests," people who had no real heart anymore. This is all just a head canon that I've built around Big Mac, and if it contradicts the stories written so far, or Kudzu's view of it, I'll be glad to retract it. But I think it makes sense. He's smart enough to not use blindly follow the traditions handed down without asking why.
Facts, fam.
Well, I reckon it's a stress thing. Psychosomatic symptoms (and we know at least a portion the problems are psychosomatic) can be aggravated by stress, like, say, getting caught in an argument you don't want.
Or maybe it's to do with using the Grift. If part of his recovery is due to using the convincing talents on himself (probably subconsciously), convincing himself he's recovering, so he is actually recovered (he does similar for other people in other stories, they can do things he convinces them they can), and the energy got diverted by using it to break up the fight, it might leave less for the basic functioning bit.
8708737
The utter lack of love is messing with Cadance's magic.
8708751
Or that. That makes sense.
8708754
Her magic lingers and is powered by love.
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Double reply
Double it
Now THIS was a powerful chapter
8707217
I am not totally convinced that is 100% true. Also even if it is, he has not explained it well at all, which has lead sumac to have his little meltdown
8715175
Fair enough. I'm probably putting my own thoughts into Big Mac's head.
8715599
We all project parts of ourselves onto characters that we feel we can relate to. No one is able to really understand THIS Big Mac except Kudzu.
I mean it's also possible that I'm wrong and maybe you're right. Maybe I'm right. Maybe it's somewhere in between. I think once Sumac's moms get their hands on Mac, THEN we will know. Probably.
Big Mac may be strong, but he's got NOTHING on the Combined Powers of Sumac's Moms >=)
8715816
Trixie made her feelings known already. Pretty major story element.