Silver sat on her couch, reading the massive naga reference book, while watching Sisstet play with his train set and a collection of toy carts that she had recently bought him. He seemed pretty content and happy, aside from the occasional scratch of his scales.
Twist was in the kitchen, making dinner. Tonight's dinner was a bit more involved than regular dinners since this was their first time making sure meat was available to Sisstet. Complicating dinner further was the fact Sisstet scratching at his scales was a sign of an impending molt. That made the preparation of the meat more complicated. It had to be broken down into even smaller pieces than usual since he was not supposed to have large chunks of solid food during the molt, but still required meat in his diet. Silver had offered to help her wife with the preparation, but Twist had firmly refused, saying she wanted to master the prep on her own. They were all having a stew, but Sisset's serving would have the extra ingredient mixed in.
The particular part of the book she was reading was making her queasy. It had to do with what exactly melted naga scales were helpful in. There was a large selection of potions, which made her wonder if Apple Bloom would try to ask them to give her Sisstet's molted leavings. Her friend hadn't asked, but the listings seemed extensive enough that it seemed like something Apple Bloom would ask about. Also listed as uses was food for certain types of animals, and it gave a list of these as well—many of them she had seen at Fluttershy's animal sanctuary more than once. The idea of feeding any part of Sisstet to animals or being ground up into a potion was enough to make her stomach turn, and she didn't see herself offering to save the molt for any creature.
It became too much for her, and she closed the book before it ruined her appetite for dinner.
Sisstet looked up at her with a troubled expression as he heard the book close. "Misss Silver Spoon—"
"No need for the miss, Sisstet," Silver reminded him. He was getting better about that, but it was still a habit that wasn't completely broken. "What is wrong, dear?"
"Do you think I'm too sscary and shy?" Sisstet asked worriedly, setting his toys aside.
She blinked. "You are a little shy, but there's nothing wrong with that, and you may grow out of it. What do you mean by being too shy?"
He fidgeted with his claws while looking at them instead of her. "It'ss just that Candy said I was really shy, and so did Miss Cozy Glow and some other creatures. They said it like it was bad."
Silver's brow narrowed. "Did Candy Apple say you were shy in a way that you felt was picking on you?"
He shook his head. "No, she said I was like Miss Fluttershy, which I guess is good. Miss Cozy Glow and other creatures said it like I wasn't normal, like I was weird. Am I weird?"
She left the couch and had to resist hugging him or patting him on the back while he was physically sensitive. "There's nothing weird about you. You're your own individual."
"But they said naga aren't shy," Sisstet asserted.
"Well, you haven't met many other naga, and I'm sure most of them haven't either, so you can't assume you know what other naga are all like," she calmly replied. "Do you think Twist and I are weird?"
He shook his head. "No, but you aren't weird."
"Really?" she questioned. "She and I both wear glasses and have since we were foals. Most ponies don't need glasses until much older."
"Wearing glasses isn't weird," he replied.
"But most ponies don't need them," she said as she pointed to the glasses on her face. "So if we're different from most ponies, why don't you think we are weird, but you think you are weird because you might be different than most naga?"
Sisstet cowered down. "What if the king ssnakes don't like it? What if they ssay they have to take me away?"
"That won't happen," she quickly reassured him, but the pit of her stomach twisted up. She didn't know for sure they wouldn't do that. She had no idea what their expectations were. She also didn't know what they meant she was supposed to do since it clashed with her normal teacher's instinct to foster everycreature's uniqueness—at least if it wasn't hurting anycreature, and tell them it was something to be praised. She wasn't ready to abandon her better nature yet.
"But what if it doesss?" Sisstet whined. "I don't want to get taken away to live with the big sscary kingsnakess."
Silver started to reach out to him, but remembered at the last second she could accidentally physically hurt him right now, and she pulled her hoof back with a sigh. She could already tell his molts were going to be almost as stressful to her as they were for Sisstet. Still, she wanted to comfort him when he was obviously worried and distressed.
"I don't want you to worry about trying to be what other creatures want you to be," she said in a soft but firm voice. "What you need isn't to be less shy. What you need to learn is how to be more confident. Fluttershy may be quiet and reserved, but she has confidence in herself, and even though it isn't her nature to be assertive, she gets assertive when she feels she needs to be."
Sisstet rose his head. 'How do I do that?"
"Find something you are good at is a start. Don't let yourself get discouraged when you're trying to master new things, either. It normally takes time to get good at something," she replied.
"Silver… can you come here, please?" Twist called out from the kitchen.
"Stay here," Silver ordered.
Hearing the strained pleading of her wife's tone, Silver almost ran to the kitchen. Twist had to do a lot more heavy cutting with meat; did she cut herself? Had she spilled water on herself while it was boiling? All kinds of scenarios played through her head as she rushed to Twist.
Twist was huddled up on the floor, crying. Silver's lungs clenched as she hurried over to Twist and started checking for injuries.
"I tried, Silver. I really did try, but I can't do it," Twist sobbed.
After a few seconds of checking, Silver found no sign of injury. That was a minor relief, but it didn't fully relieve her. Twist was still crying on the floor.
"What happened? What's wrong?" Silver asked.
Twist shook her head, still crying. "It's the fish. I could deal with it before when I just had to cut it into pieces. I can pretend I'm just cutting up some vegetable after I cut away the head and don't have to see its eyes staring at me like they are asking why a pony would do this to them. The bones, though, I can't deal with deboning."
Silver pulled her wife into a hug. "It's okay. We'll figure something out. We aren't the only ponies that have to do this. You know Fluttershy has to do it with all those carnivorous animals she keeps."
"She's been doing this forever and probably sees it as some circle of life thing," Twist replied. "I don't know why the bones bother me so much. Ponies eat bones already."
Silver blinked. "We do? I don't recall ever gnawing on a bone."
"Where do you think gelatin comes from?" Twist asked. "And I go through a lot of gelatin."
"Yeah… I knew that. I just try not to think about it," Silver replied, feeling ill.
"I just can't stop thinking about how I am pulling apart an animal when pulling out the bones," Twist whined. "Normally, I wouldn't need to, but he has to have the bones out when molting and has to have everything in small pieces. Sisstet can eat the bones fine normally. Technically, he could eat the whole fish without me cutting it up, but it's easier for us to deal with if I cut it up, so we don't have to think about what each of those little slices are… am I wrong for doing that?"
Silver sighed. "I don't know; it’s a lot of adjustment for us. Maybe cutting it up is just a way for us to get used to it, and we can stop doing it eventually."
"Well, it needs to be cut up right now and have all the bones pulled out, but I don't know how to manage it," Twist said, deliberately turning her head, so she wasn't looking at where the fish was being prepared. "Can you take over? I… I just can't."
Silver sat up and looked at the fish. The carcass looked like a wild animal had been ripping at it. There were bits of flesh with bones sticking out everywhere. Beside the remains were a set of tweezers and a knife that Twist had been using so she didn't have to put her mouth into the meat, but both of these were covered in goop that no doubt belonged inside an animal's body. Silver felt like she was going to vomit, and sat back down, shaking her head as fast as she could without further inducing her desire to upchuck.
"What are we going to do?" Twist asked in a defeated voice.
"You could ask Sisstet to help you," Silver suggested. "I'm sure it won't bother him like it would one of us. It could be a way of introducing him to cooking more food. You had him help you with candy-making already. He won't always have us to prepare food for him, so it is an important life skill."
Twist shivered. "I don't know how much I can teach him when I can't even stand to watch what he's doing. It's not like I'm an expert on this type of preparation anyway. Taking the bones out seemed way too physically difficult for me to have been doing it right. I was practically shredding the fish...oh sweet Twilight… I'm going to be sick."
"Try to walk him through it verbally and check his finished product. If the bones are all out, or at least mostly out, then maybe it won't bother you as much," Silver suggested as gently as she could.
"Maybe… we can try," Twist said in a pitiful tone.
Silver stood back up. "I'll send him in. I'll give you a minute or two to wash your face and collect yourself so he doesn't see you and get worried."
Twist nodded as she lifted her glasses and wiped her eyes. "Yeah, just a minute or two. I don't need too long."
Silver bit her lip. "By the way. I think I changed my mind about him getting lessons about the Everfree from Apple Bloom. It could be something to boost his confidence, and he should be safe if he is with Apple Bloom. I trust her."
Twist stood up and made her way to the sink to wash her face. "I'm not really in a good state to discuss it right now. We can discuss it later. We need to see how he feels about it and talk to Apple Bloom some more about the details. Then we can decide. Let's focus on dinner for now."
"I'll go explain you need his help, then send him in," Silver said over her shoulder as she walked back towards the living room.
Sisstet gave her a worried look as she approached him. "Iss Twist okay?"
She nodded and gave him her best reassuring smile. "Yes, she is. She's just having a little trouble with dinner. She wants to see if you want to help her."
The naga foal blinked and gasped. "She wants my help?"
"Yes, your claws can be very useful for doing all kinds of tasks she has problems with," Silver explained. "Before you go help her, you need to go wash them. You don't want to get dirt and stuff into the food, do you?"
He shook his head. "No. I don't want to get dirt in the food."
"Then go wash up, then go to the kitchen to help Twist," Silver instructed with a smile.
Sisstet slithered off to the bathroom in a hurry. Washing his claws was necessary, with how much he had been scratching himself, but it would also buy Twist some time to collect herself.
Still, he had introduced a new worry to her. He needed to make a good impression with the kingsnake whenever it came, and given how dominating the kingsnakes were, she could believe that they could be displeased with him cowering in fear. They might be disgusted and angry that one of their own was easily intimidated, and that could lead them to take Sisstet away to correct what they saw as a problem. She didn't want him to lose his gentle nature, but he needed to be more confident and less fearful. Hopefully, learning how to deal with the outdoors from Apple Bloom and helping him develop new skills would giving him that confidence in himself to banish his fears.