Silver Spoon wanted to throttle her parents, but there wasn't anything new about that. That had been more or less the norm since her mid-teens. What was new was she wanted to throttle her parents on somecreature else's behalf. How dare they upset Sisstet like that.
She'd been up and following after Sisstet before her parents could get a word out of their mouths. That was just as well. It would have quickly devolved into a yelling match with things said that she would regret later. They didn't matter at the moment; only Sisstet did. She needed to find him and do everything she could to make him feel better and remind him that she was not her parents.
The problem was that the young naga was considerably faster than anycreature might expect, and the fact he was small and could get through cramped areas much more easily than a pony made it that much harder to keep up. She wasn't even sure she was keeping up or not because he was also excellent at hiding and her foalhood home had no shortage of hiding spots—a fair number of them she had lost the ability to access as she had grown into maturity and likewise gotten too large to fit into.
"Young Miss Spoon, ya might want to try the kitchen," Madam Glass said from behind her.
Silver Spoon turned and looked at the old servant who was calmly standing in the doorway to the main living room with a smile on her face.
"Why the kitchen? You were slower out of the room than me. How would you know?" Silver Spoon asked in bewilderment.
"I have a sense about these things, yes I do," Madam Glass chirped. "No pony or creature can evade ol' Madam Glass in this house. When were you ever able to hide from me when you were a filly? I tell you, he's made his way to the kitchen."
"AHHHH! SNAKE! SNAKE! SOMEPONY SAVE ME!"
Madam Glass rolled her eyes. "Told ya. That was the cook. You might want to hurry before she assaults the young master with a frying pan."
Silver Spoon didn't need more prompting than that. She quickly hurried to the kitchen and found a unicorn mare in an apron perched atop the counter with a frying pan threateningly clutched in her magic as she gazed at the floor in fear. The cook's head shot up as Silver Spoon fully entered the room and rapidly started shaking her head.
"Don't come in, miss. There's a snake, a big one! You should tell the mister and misses so they can call the exterminator!"
Silver Spoon gave the cook a stony gaze. "Sisstet isn't a snake; he's a naga, and he isn't going to hurt you. He's scared and upset and looking for a place to hide. Where'd he go?"
That didn't seem to calm the cook at all as the cook frantically looked around the floor. "I don't rightfully know, miss. I saw it come in, and I leapt to safety."
"Him not it. Sisstet is a foal, not an animal," Silver Spoon reiterated. She then drew herself up and did her best to put on her bratty rich pony airs for the first time in many years because she knew that was what the cook would best respond to. "If you aren't going to be of assistance, then get out of the kitchen and wait. Go on, scram! I'll take care of this myself."
That was all the cook needed to quickly vacate the room, practically knocking Silver Spoon over as she tried to get out of the way of the retreating servant. She wasn't going to make any big deal about that, though. What was important was finding Sisstet.
"Sisstet? Where are you?" she called out. She waited a few seconds but got no answer. Her ears sagged—nothing to do but search.
There were plenty of cabinets, small tables, barrels, and storage crates to use for hiding spots. A quick duck of her head and gaze around the room that way quickly eliminated simply going under a table as his hiding spot.
"Cabinet there, on the far wall, bottom right."
She turned and saw Madam Glass had entered behind her and was pointing at a particular cabinet. Silver Spoon turned to look where the old servant was pointing. It didn't seem any different than any other cabinet in the kitchen. It wasn't ajar or shaking, and the kitchen was too well kept to leave tracks. She strained her ears and didn't hear any incriminating sounds resonating from there. How was Madam Glass so confident? Past experience made her not doubt her foalhood caretaker's word, but she still wished she could figure out how the old pony tracked creatures in the house so quickly. It was downright uncanny but also seemed like something that could be beneficial to know how to do as a parent. However, it was a question for another day. Right now, she needed to calm Sisstet.
Silver Spoon cautiously walked over to the cabinet Madam Glass had indicated and sat down beside it. "Sisstet? Are you in there? It's only me—well, me and Madam—"
She glanced back and found the old servant had left without a word—maybe to deal with the frightened cook. Not only was the pony capable of tracking others quickly, but she was also fast and silent when coming and going.
Silver Spoon turned back towards the cabinet. "Well, just me then. Are you there? Can you come out?"
No verbal reply was given, but she heard movement within the cabinet. In any other pony's house, that might have indicated a rat, but she had never seen a rat in her patents' mansion in her life. It had to be Sisstet.
She sighed. "I know you like to hide when you are upset. I'm not going to force you out, but I want you to at least talk to me about what you are feeling. I care about you—love you. I don't want you to feel this way."
There was some shifting and sniffling. "They don't."
Silver Spoon bit her lip. How to respond to that? "I'm angry at them for saying that, but I blame myself. I should have seen it coming. My parents are a lot of things, but one thing they aren't are liars. They're as honest as the Apples, maybe more so. I think most of the things I got in trouble for as a filly involved telling lies. They didn't care whether I was a bully or everypony's best friend, but they wouldn't tolerate me telling even so much as a white lie about anycreature."
"Which meanssss they don't love me," Sisstet cried.
She gave a sad nod, even if he had no way of seeing it. "They don't, but they do care about you. Maybe they will love you in the future; I don't know. I know they're sad that they upset you."
"What do I need to do to get loved?" Sisstet timidly asked.
Her head shot up, and her back went rigid. "You do nothing. Never believe you have to do things to earn love, ever. Love is not something that you earn or buy. It is something freely given. However, my parents aren't the types to give things away without expecting anything in return, so that makes it hard for them to love. I know it seemed cruel for them to tell you that, and I suppose it is, but at the same time, I should be happy they didn't lie. I don't know what I'm supposed to feel; I just feel angry."
Sisstet was quiet for a second. "Do they love you? They sssaid they do."
She exhaled a long breath. "And my parents never lie. I suppose they do love me, but we have a complicated relationship. Love can be like that sometimes. I love them too, even if they make me angry and even if we don't see the world the same way. Just know that nocreature requires that you love them. Love can't be forced, and nocreature should try to force it. I do love you. I want them to love you too, but I don't have the power to make that happen. It has to happen naturally if it happens at all."
He was silent. That was just as well. She needed a few seconds to gather her thoughts so she could say what she needed to say next.
Those seconds passed, and she licked her lips. "All that being said, I need you to try to get along with them. They are helping us, and we need their help. I can't do everything I need to do to keep you without their assistance."
"W-why are they helping if they don't love me?" Sisstet asked in a whimper.
She did her best to keep negative emotions out of her voice as she answered. "They hope you take an interest in their business so you can be their heir instead of me. They want it to stay in the family, and if I adopt you, then you're family."
"But I thought they loved you," Sisstet said in confusion. "Why me and not you?"
She gave a sad smile. "I wouldn't be happy following in their hoofsteps, and that wouldn't be good for me or the business. My parents know that, and that's why I'm getting skipped over. However, you aren't me, and you might decide you like it, and I want you to know there's nothing at all wrong with that."
"Will they love me if I—"
Silver Spoon cut him off. "Stop!" She then took a deep breath. "Don't do anything specifically to try to earn their love. If you want to follow them in the business, it should be because it's what you truly want to do, not because you think it will make them or me happy with you. I'll be fully supportive of you no matter what you choose to do with your life, and they understand you might not find it to be your thing either."
"How do I know if it'ss my thing?"
"You don't need to worry about that until after you're done with your primary schooling, so you have years to figure it out yet. No rush," Silver Spoon gently replied. She then cautiously rapt on the cabinet door. "Think you're ready to come out now? I'm not sure what is stored in there, but I'm assuming it's a little cramped."
"There are lots of big pots in here," Sisstet answered. Silver Spoon smiled a little as she noted he didn't fumble his S's that time. That meant he had calmed down.
She chuckled. "Well, you don't belong with the pots. I would really like to hug you, and it's hard to do when you're in there. You might not have noticed, but I don't fit in kitchen cabinets anymore."
There was some rustling, and the cabinet door cracked open wide enough for Sisstet to flicker his tongue out, testing the air outside. She was unsure exactly what that accomplished, even though she'd seen him do it a few times before, and she knew snakes did the same thing. She didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable by highlighting his non-pony habits, so she made a mental note to wait to ask about it when there was a more relaxed setting. Whatever the tongue was checking for must have been satisfactory, as his head soon followed after it.
He didn't fully emerge yet. Instead, he looked around, checking for threats. The cook might have given him an additional scare earlier. She was patient as he went through the actions that made him feel safe. It took almost a full two minutes from when his tongue had first snuck out the door, but he eventually seemed to think it was safe enough to fully exit the cabinet, immediately slithering close to her and wrapping his arms around one of her forelegs.
"Is it okay if I gently hug you?" she asked, knowing that just because he seemed more at ease didn't necessarily mean he was, not to mention she was unsure how physically uncomfortable he still was due to his molt.
"Soft hug, not hard," he answered with a nod, still latching on her leg.
Silver Spoon pulled him into a hug as gently as she could, exerting practically no pressure at all and giving him plenty of room to escape her grip if he so chose. It was a tough line, trying to balance out making him feel protected while not accidentally hurting. She might not be a farmer or a miner, but she was still an earth pony and had earth pony strength. As earth ponies grew into adulthood, they learned to treat the world as if everything was potentially breakable. Every earth pony colt or filly had at least one incident during puberty, if not numerous incidents, where they inadvertently damaged or destroyed something with their budding strength. Her worst incident was slamming her hoof on one of her parents' good tables in frustration and snapping it into two. She'd learned after that to be far more careful. However, dealing with Sisstet made her push the need to be extra cautious with her strength to new limits.
Actually, her incident of breaking the table had a silver lining. Her parents had taken the time to comfort her when she was crying, not even seeming upset about the loss of an expensive table. Times that they showed affection had been rarer than most parents typically showed their foals, typically leaving things to Madam Glass to deal with, but those times weren't non-existent, and they were memories she deeply cherished. They reserved their displays of love for more significant life events— her cutecinera, helping her cope with emotional and bodily changes during puberty, birthdays, Hearthswarming, really-really terrible days like when she had briefly broken off her friendship with Diamond Tiara as a foal. Her parents were capable of letting their petty noble-wannabe faces drop and showing genuine affection, even if it was seldom. Knowing that gave her some hope that they could show some love to Sisstet.
She slowly released her hug and smiled down at who she hoped would be her adopted son. "I think we should head back into the other room and give my parents another chance to talk to you. I'm not sure if they will show it or not, but I know they're very sorry they upset you. The only way they'll learn to love you like I do is exposure, and we can't do that hiding in the kitchen. Can you be brave and try again?"
He latched onto her leg tighter and didn't say anything.
"How about if I let you ride on my back? Will that make it easier for you?" she asked.
He was still silent, but he nodded. She bent down and let him get in position, wrapping his coils around her for security.
Time to try this again.