Love Fears Loss

by SoloBrony

... you've already lost everything.

Twilight stared at the letter, her eyes brimming over. She slowly looked up at me, and hesitantly opened her mouth to speak.

"When did you find out about this?"

"Just earlier today. Ver wasn't sure if she wanted you to see it."

If by 'not sure' I mean 'was sure that she didn't.'

"What? Why?"

"She didn't want to bug you with it. I think she already feels bad about staying here – moreso for taking up your time with lessons."

It's only been three days here at the castle, and Ver is already getting antsy. I almost wonder if she really can't handle having a home anymore.

"But, it's no trouble! I like having her around!"

"Yeah, but, y'know. She doesn't want charity."

Twilight nodded slowly, looking back to the letter. She sighed, closing her eyes.

"Maybe not, but... she needs it, right now."

"Yeah, but, well... it's not your problem."

Twilight's eyes snapped open, and she stared at me, her eyebrows knit in a pained expression.

"But it is, Soarin. It's my responsibility, as a princess of Equestria, to make sure that ponies like Laverna are taken care of! I'm not going to trust that to some other pony in the system after everything that's happened to her!"

I nodded, taking a quick, stiff breath.

No wonder Dash said such good things about you.

"Good."

"You feel the same way?"

"Sorta. I mean, not the princess thing, but, like, her whole life has been ponies deciding that someone else should deal with her. The buck stops here, y'know?"

Twilight smirked at my turn of phrase, but nodded. She looked back at the letter for a few seconds, before brushing one of her eyes with a hoof and speaking.

"It's hard to believe that something like this could happen here in Equestria."

I shrugged, frowning.

"Maybe that's why it happened. Nopony wanted to believe it."

Twilight frowned, staring at the letter. Her brows narrowed, like she saw somepony in the paper she wanted to give a swift kick.

"Well, not any more. I've never really had to put my hoof down as princess, before, but..."

She waved her hoof around, searching for words to match her feelings – as though the look of disgust on her face didn't tell it all. I smirked and tried to fill in the blanks.

"Heads are gonna roll over this?"

"Yes! I mean, not literally, but... something! There's going to be a full investigation! I can absolutely promise that I won't rest until the truth of the matter is exposed, and the ponies responsible..."

I waved a hoof at her, and she trailed off quirking an eyebrow at me.

"I'm sure you'll do what's best, Twilight. Just... could you not tell Ver about it? I don't want her worrying she's caused even more trouble."

"But, these ponies hurt her!"

"Yeah, I know. It's just, I don't think she cares that much about getting back at them, Twilight. I kinda think, maybe... she just needs to put that behind her, y'know? Maybe just tell her after the whole thing is resolved."

Twilight's expression softened, and she smiled at me.

Well that's not what I was expecting.

"Right. Of course, foal psychology. What's important right now is moving forward, not focusing on her victimization – thank you for that, that completely slipped my mind."

Buzuh?

"Huh?"

"It's basic trauma recovery psychology. When a pony shows interest in moving forward in life, you focus on that with them; if they're not focusing on the past, you shouldn't either."

"Oh. Uh, okay. I don't know about all of that, I was just going by what I know about her."

Twilight beamed at me.

"I know. That's even better!"

Huh?

"Uhh... alright. Well, speaking of moving forward, what's the plan with her schooling? You said you'd have an evaluation?"

Evaluations. Now there's something I understand... unfortunately...

Twilight nodded hurriedly, her smile growing excited as she pranced over to a chair near the fireplace.

"Oh, yeah! And it looks good, too! She scored very well on her aptitude tests, once I structured them in a way she was familiar with."

"Great! So, she could go back to school?"

Twilight smile faltered slightly, and she turned her head a bit from me as she spoke, as though she was trying to soften the impact of her words by not aiming them at me directly.

"Not... exactly. She's a couple of grades behind in some subjects, and she doesn't want to go back to school. I don't think it would be good for her."

I sighed, looking down at the floor. Twilight's voice cut in before I could dwell on it much.

"But that's not necessarily a problem! She's very self-motivated, she really wants to improve, and I think having a more personal learning environment would really help her to adjust anyway. Besides, she has a bit of an unusual learning style – I don't think she'd do too well in a regular classroom."

Unusual learning style?

I looked up at Twilight, doing my best to interrogate her with nothing more than a look. She shifted uncomfortably as she spoke.

"I, uh, didn't want to tell you before we were sure, but... well, I kinda suggested she try transforming into different ponies to learn different things. Ponies she imagined would be good at those things, like a mathematician pony for math."

I stared at Twilight for a few seconds.

"... And?"

"Well, it worked! She's a natural actor, and just by trying to act like a pony who was good at something, she started to show an aptitude for what she was doing!"

"Is it really that easy?"

"Well~, not exactly, but it helps a lot. She's got a lot more enthusiasm for the work that way, and I think that the confidence makes a big difference."

I tried to imagine how that would look in a regular classroom.

"Yeah, that'd be pretty easy to tease her for. I don't think teachers would appreciate it, either."

"I came to the same conclusion. That's why I'd like to continue tutoring her, at least until she's mastered the basics."

"... What do you consider 'the basics'?"

"Well, I'm thinking we could get her up through the college-entry level in a year or so. She's expressed some interest in higher learning, though she's very insistent it not interfere with her Wonderbolt training."

"College – so soon?! I thought you said she was a few grades behind!"

Twilight nodded, her happy smile returning.

"She is, but she's learning very quickly. Adult ponies with educational gaps tend to make up the lost ground more quickly than foals learning material while they're growing; I'm pretty confident in her abilities. I mean, just the other day, we were discussing geometry, and she was pointing out how weird it is that we don't have tools to directly measure the area of a geometric object..."

I tuned out Twilight as she rambled on about 'critical thinking' and various other topics that Ver had apparently excelled in.

Could she really turn it around like that? Go from missing a few grades in school to going to college early? Ver... is that what you'd consider a happy ending?

"Soarin? Anypony home?"

I started from my thoughts, glancing up at Twilight.

"Oh, sorry! I was just thinkin'. What were you saying?"

Twilight snickered at me, but then her features took on a much more serious look

"I was saying... we need to talk about Laverna's, well, species."

Aw, man, not this again...

"What about it?"

Twilight jerked a bit from how forceful my voice was, but leaned forward to continue.

"Soarin, I've figured out the spell keeping her in pony form. I can dispel it, and... I think I should. Not all at once, but it needs to happen."

"Why, though? What difference does it make?"

"The magic takes energy, Soarin. Whoever cast it put a lot of energy into it, but it's running off of Laverna now. It's... not healthy for her to be forced into a disguise all of the time. She needs to get a better mastery of her transforming magic, or it's going to stunt her growth – it may already have done so."

I worked my jaw silently a few times. I wanted to be angry, but what she was saying made sense. That didn't stop me from finding another reason to be angry, though.

"Wait, that's why you had her try to transform in class, isn't it?! So you could confirm that she was a changeling?"

Twilight threw up her hooves, her eyes widening a bit in alarm.

"No, no! I did some research on changeling learning patterns, and I was told that this was something that might work well in her case! I'm only interested in seeing her learn!"

I spent a few seconds pointing a hoof at her scowling before I relaxed. I set my hoof down and sighed.

"Alright. I'm sorry, it's just... you've kinda been obsessed with the whole 'changeling' thing since we got here, and, well—"

"I remember what happened when you got here, Soarin. I don't want a repeat of that. I want us to keep looking forward."

"Alright... but why are you telling me, anyway? Why not ask her?"

"Well... about that..."

Twilight smiled a little too broadly, and was rubbing her hooves together awkardly. It looked altogether unconvincing, and I found my eyes instinctively narrowing at her.

"... Twilight? What did you do?"

"Well, you remember how we were discussing filing for emancipation?"

"... Eeeeyeeaaaah?"

"Well, she kinda-sorta decided to file for legal guardianship instead...?"

"Huh? What's that mean?"

Twilight frowned, and grabbed a small paper with her telekinesis, floating it over to me. I quickly scanned over it.

"Is this... an adoption form?"

"Not exactly. It would designate you as her legal guardian until she comes of age or chooses to be emancipated from—"

"That sounds a lot like adoption, Twilight."

"... Yeaaaah, kinda? The responsibilities are different. I mean, you'd technically be more like—"

"A foster parent."

My eyes had latched onto a particular piece of fine print that hadn't sat well with me. Twilight sighed.

"Yes. More like that."

"Why would she want this? She's spent so much time trying to get away from ponies controlling her!"

"Ponies controlling her for their benefit. She knows enough to know she doesn't know how to survive on her own, Soarin."

It took me a second to parse that sentence.

"Uh... right. So you're saying that she wants me to, what? Help her make decisions?"

"And handle things like taxes, legal negotiations..."

"Oh. Right. She'd have to handle all of that herself if she was emancipated..."

"And she's still catching up on her education."

I sighed, looking at the paper.

"I graduated, Twilight, and I'm glad to have you around. I didn't know about any of this stuff before we got here."

"Does that mean you're okay with it?"

"Yeah. Like I said, the buck stops here, right?"

Twilight smiled at me warmly. I almost smiled back, but then I remembered how the conversation started.

"So, wait. You're saying you're asking me what to do about her, like... changeling stuff, because I'm her legal guardian? Or will be?"

Twilight nodded, floating a pen over to me.

"That's right. So, Soarin... what do you think we should do?"

I stared at the pen for a few seconds, and then smirked at Twilight.

"I think we should ask Ver."

I grabbed the pen in my teeth, and started signing the paper. I heard a soft chuckle from Twilight, followed by her voice.

"And that's why she trusts you in the first place."

Comments

[xuincherguixe]

"She didn't want to bug you with it. I think she already feels bad about staying here – moreso for taking up your time with lessons."

Knowing when to press, when the person doesn't want to be pressed. That's a tough one. Which is part of why it's easy to ignore people that are really hurting.

"Sorta. I mean, not the princess thing, but, like, her whole life has been ponies deciding that someone else should deal with her. The buck stops here, y'know?"

Ah. When the same phrase takes on a different meaning.

"I think we should ask Ver."
I grabbed the pen in my teeth, and started signing the paper. I heard a soft chuckle from Twilight, followed by her voice.
"And that's why she trusts you in the first place."

Respecting Agency. It goes a lot further than you might think.

[Pwnego]

The buck stops here, y'know?"

Smirks at turn of phrase

Twilight smirked at my turn of phrase

You win this round.

~

"I think we should ask Ver."

https://youtu.be/Otf9Bnm48Kk?t=24s

[nioniosbbbb]

HUZZAH!