In Retrospect
"Did you know that pasteurization can kill bacteria?" Twilight said happily while sitting on a green coach.
"I did not know that," Dr. Lobe said with a warm smile, jotting down his observations in a green notebook. "You seem to know a lot of stuff," the man said encouragingly. Dr. Lobe was a green-skinned man with yellow hair, a thick beard, and was wearing a leaf-green sweater with brown slacks.
"It is true you were Cady's teacher?" Twilight asked curiously.
"Yes I did," Dr. Lobe said. "She was one of my best students."
"Did you know that in 1858-,"
"Um Twilight," Dr. Lobe said patiently. "You're constantly changing the subjects in the middle of a conversation. First you're talking about pasteurization, then your talking about my college days, then your talking about what happened over a hundred years ago."
"Is that bad?"
"Well, people can be annoyed when you do this," Dr. Lobe said. "It just isn't courteous-," Dr. Lobe paused as Twilight's attention drifted to her shoes.
"Twilight, you shouldn't look away from people when they talk to you," Dr. Lobe said kindly.
"Sorry," Twilight said, meekly pulling her head up.
"Its OK," Dr. Lobe said, "but people get nervous when you suddenly look away from them." Just as Dr. Lobe was about to continue the conversation, the door opened, and in stepped Cadence and Shining Armor.
"Hey Twily," Shining said warmly. "Time to go home."
Twilight rose from her chair and began walking toward the door.
"Cadence, Shining, can I speak with you two in private," the bearded man said.
"Sure," Cadence said. "Twilight, can you wait outside?"
"OK," Twilight said, running out of the room and closing the door calmly. "Bye, Dr. Lobe."
"So, our sister's pretty smart," Shining said, taking a seat on the couch next to Cadence.
"She is quite knowledgeable," Dr. Lobe said, with an uneasy smile. "But her social skills are not very good."
"What do you mean?" Cadence asked Dr. Lobe.
"Well," Dr. Lobe said, looking at his clipboard. "Lack of eye contact, going off into tagents, not reading social cues." He put down the clipboard and began looking the married couple in the eye. "I think your sister is on the spectrum."
"You mean autistic," Cadence said.
"Yes," Dr. Lobe said. His expression became more serious. "She told me you're sending her to Crystal Prep after the summer's out."
"Yeah," Shining Armor proudly. "Every Sparkle has gone to Crystal Prep for the past century."
"Well Twilight doesn't seem to have the...temperament to be there," Dr. Lobe said diplomatically.
"Are you calling her retarded?" Shining Armor said defensively.
"Shiny," Cadence rebuked, putting her. "Dr. Lobe I'm so-,"
"Don't worry," Dr. Lobe said with a reassuring smile. "I've faced more bellicose people." His expression became more stern. "The issue with Twilight is that her social skills are very poor. I don't think a private school is a good environment for her."
"Why wouldn't it be?" Cadence asked with some annoyance.
"Prep schools are the realm of social climbers," Dr. Lobe said. "And frankly, Twilight is very awkward in her interactions with people."
"Are you saying she can't make friends?" Shining Armor said, his heckles rising.
"I'm saying that, in an environment of social competition and dog-eat-dog, Crystal Prep students are going to see her as deadweight when they see she isn't..." he pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Look," he said, pulling out a brochure, "I'm saying there are better environments for her to be in."
Cadence took the brochure and glanced it.
"Dusk Alternative School," Cadence said, opening the brochure.
"It is a wonderful place. World-class facilities, the best teachers, excellent recreational facilities," Dr. Lobe said proudly. "Everything you'd expect." Shining Armor looked at the brochure, and felt his heckles rise when he came across the phrase 'developmental disorder'."
"You want to send her to a retard school!" Shining Armor yelled.
"Shiny," Cadence said.
"It is not a 'retard' school," Dr. Lobe said. "None of those children are retarded. They have developmental disorder. There is a difference between being stupid and having-,"
"You think she's a mental case don't you," Shining Armor said. Dr. Lobe sighed.
"It's not an asylum," Dr. Lobe said. "It is a normal school with a normal curriculum-,"
"Dr. Lobe," Cadence said politely. "I understand your concern. But we want our sister to be in a normal environment with normal people."
"Are you saying those children aren't normal?"
"I meant to say," Cadence said sheepishly. "I want her to be in setting with people she'll interact with for the rest of her life."
"Cadence, I understand you want your sister to follow in your footsteps," Dr. Lobe said. "But your sister needs peers who can sympathize with her condition, and teachers who can give her guidance. And she may not get that at Crystal Prep. There is no shame in admitting your sister has special-,"
"I think we should go," Shining said, calmly but sternly rising from the couch. Cadence also rose from the couch feeling mildly insulted.
"Mr. Armor, I'm not trying to insult-,"
"Yeah, you're putting her down," Shining said.
"Dr. Lobe, I understand your concern, but I know what my sister needs," Cadence said in a reassuring tone. "I know she'll do well at Crystal Prep."
"Are you sure that's what she needs?" Dr. Lobe said to the married couple. "And not what you want-," before he finished his point, they turned around and walked out of the room. Dr. Lobe sighed, looking at the pair with no small amount of disappointment.
Shining Armor sat in the living room, reading a fantasy book with a stern expression while laying on the couch.
"Shiny," Cadence said. "Can we talk?"
"About?" Shining asked icily, not looking up from the book.
"It's how you've talking to those girls," Cadence said forcefully. Shining's grip on the book tightened. "Shining, I know you're angry, but this is not helping." Shining muttered something under his breath. "You can't just put them-,"
"What was that?" Cadence said, her heckles rising.
"You certainly we're helping alright," Shining said in an angrily ironic tone.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Cadence said. Shining angrily threw the book away and got into Cadence's face.
"All those wonderful little tidbits you gave our sister," Shining growled. "'It doesn't matter what you look like'. 'It's what's on the inside, Twily.' 'It doesn't matter if you win or lose'. Including my favorite. 'Hitting back makes you a bully too, Twilight.' That certainly helped her." A fire rose in Shining's eyes. "After our sister ran home, covered in paint and tears, I told you she should hit back at the brats who laughed at her face, so that no one would ever treat her like a-,"
"What would that've solve Shiny?" Cadence asked. "She would've gotten in trouble."
"You were the Dean of the School," Shining said, his white face turning red. "You couldn't write our sister one get-out-of-jail-free-card?"
"I couldn't bend the rules for Twilight," Cadence said," that would teach her its OK to break the law." Shining's eyes narrowed in frustration.
"You sanctimonious little bitch," Shining Armor bellowed. "You lecture me about breaking the rules, when you committed perjury to get Cinch fired. You're gonna lecture me about not getting violent when you twisted Cinch's-,"
"That's different Shiny," Cadence yelled uneasily. "Cinch got our sister killed-,"
"And those girls ruined her first PARTY!" Shining yelled back, . "You had no problem covering for Canterlot High, but you couldn't cover for our sister after she was humiliated by those skanks!" He shrieked incredulously. Cadence looked down, a hint of shame on her face. "Did you suddenly become a criminal because you bent the rules and got violent once?! Did you think our sister was so feeble, acting in self-defense would turn her into a criminal monster?!"
"Look, I assumed that Twilight would be better off learning to rise above," Cadence said meekly. "And her classmates would grow to respect her-,"
"How well did that work out, Cady?" Shining said, a vicious smile on his face. "How many people came up to respect our sister for rising above? How many kids wanted to hang out with our sister? How many kids wanted to hang out with Twilight? How many of those kids matured individuals?" Cadence looked down. "Answer me Cady. How many-"
"Well maybe, one or two-," Cadence began.
"No one!" Shining bellowed. "Spike told me when she wasn't be lied to, or being made fun of, she was being shoved in the hall!" Shining took a deep breath before continuing. "You know, I was this close to pulling her out of school. But you told me, based on your educational background, all those little brats would grow up and see Twilight for the beautiful person she was!" He gritted his teeth. "You told Twilight that too! You told me after punishing those girls and lecturing those little idiots about bullying, it would get better! How well did that work out! How much better did it get?!" Shining said. "They just learned to be bigger assholes. Under. Your. Nose!" Cadence hung her head in shame. "Man, where did your diploma? A cereal box?!"
"Don't start with me Shiny," Cadence said her face with red.
"Why shouldn't I!" Shining yelled. "Four years in college, and you couldn't figure out your sister was being abused! You were the Dean of the school and you couldn't-,"
"What did you want me to do Shiny," Cadence said defensively. "I was sitting in my office most of the day. How could I have known-,"
"Oh my god," Shining said with renewed exasperation. "Don't start with that! Don't give me that! You knew! I knew! WE BOTH KNEW!" Shining screamed furiously. "We knew every time our sister was alone for the weekend! Every time she begged us let her leave. When she went to summer school just so she could graduate early. When she signed up for that stupid independent course-" Shining collapsed into the couch in tears. Cadence felt remorseful tears flow on her face and walked over to Shiny.
Spike watched the fight from the corner. These fights were happening more and more. He always cried when they were like this. Even though it wasn't his fault, he still felt terrible.
"Please come home Twilight," Spike said to himself in tears. "Then maybe things can go back to normal."
"The last time we spoke, she couldn't even look me in the eye," Shining said, more tears coming down his face. "I told her she was being silly. Those brats were abusing her, and I said she was being silly. I belittled-" Shining lost all composure, bawling like he had never bawled before.
"Shiny," Cadence said in a soothing tone, small tears flowing down his face. "Your right. We both screwed up. But we did it because we wanted what was best-"
"And don't say we made her go to Crystal Prep because we wanted what was best for," Shiny interrupted with red eyes. "We did it for our own stupid pride. We wanted her at Crystal Prep because of a stupid family tradition." Shining wiped his eyes. "We were so obsessed with the life we wanted for her, we couldn't see the life she was actually living."
"Because we had good friends at Crystal Prep who-,"
"Oh please. We didn't have friends at Crystal Prep," Shining said angrily. "We were just pretty, privileged little brats on top of a pile of other pretty, privileged little brats! You think if you were homeless, any of your so-called friends would've liked you! Did you think Cinch would've taken you under her wing if you deadbeat, or was it the large donation your parents made!" Cadence looked away from Shining uneasily. Shining stormed over the bookshelf, and angrily grabbed the Crystal Prep textbook of the wall. He opened it and pointed to a picture of a rotund nerd. "You think if I was fat as a whale, you would've dated me!" Cadence looked down shamefully. "We lived in a fucking fantasy world Cadence! The truth is our own friends would've turned on us if we were like Twilight!" Shining said, and threw the textbook in the garbage. "And you still are living in one! You think those little brats actually care about our sister! They admitted they laughed at her when she ran out of the room crying! They hated her so much, they sent her on a goose chase! They're only doing this because they got caught bullying the sister of the Dean."
"They told me what they did Shiny," Cadence interrupted, the resolve returning to her face. Shining broke out of his tirade.
"What?"
"They admitted to me what they did Shiny," Cadence's voice said, her tone becoming serious. "They could've blamed everything on Cinch, but they told me straight up that they made Twilight open the amulet. And they did this before they found out Twilight and I were related." Shining looked at her in disbelief.
"Shining you're right," Cadence said regretfully, putting a warm hand on his shoulder. "Your hundred percent right. We were so obsessed with what we wanted for her, we didn't see the life she was actually living. And you have every right to be mad at those girls for what they did!"
"Damn right I do, they wanted this to happen!"
"Shining they didn't-,"
"They treated Twilight like shit from day one!" Shining yelled back. "You think-,"
"They cried over what they did Shiny," Cadence said in a pleading tone. "They didn't know what was gonna happen. When it happened, they broke down in tears. You know what else they did? They signed the forms that helped me fire Cinch." Cadence said. "I'm not trying to excuse what they did Shiny. They treated Twilight horribly. And you have every right to be mad. But they're trying to change Shiny! They helped prepare a memorial for Twilight, they helped a lonely girl find friends, they saved that girl from humiliation. They even got other girls to form a barrier around her." Shining looked at Cadence with disbelief. "They helped Sunset and Juniper with the magical experiments to find out what happened to her. One of those girls felt so guilty, she smashed her head into a bathroom mirror. And now they're gonna find our Twilight in Equestria."
"I don't want them to help," Shining said bitterly. "They're just gonna hurt her all over again."
"Shiny didn't you hear what I said?"
"Well, why couldn't they do all those things for Twilight while she was still alive?" Shining said miserably. "Why did she have to die for them to care about her?" Cadence said.
"Sometimes Shiny," Cadence said sadly. "You go to lose something to know its there. Besides we weren't much better. We didn't actually listen to her either. We were the adults in her life, and we ignored her too."
"Fine, we were shitty guardians," Shining said regretfully. "I admit that. But those girls chose to make her miserable, and I don't want them to look for her."
"Shiny, you have every right to be mad at them," Cadence said with a mixture of sympathy and firmness. "But you have no right to attack someone who's trying to change." Cadence looked at him with pursed lips. "Is forgiveness only when you want it to happen?"
"We gave those girls two years worth of chances, and they stomped on our throats," Shining threw back.
"Your right. We were both wrong then," Cadence said sadly. "But now , they're trying to change." Shining sat with pursed lips. "Look, it was hard for me to give those girls a second chance. I had my doubts. I pointed them to Juniper because I wanted to see if they learned their lesson. Because I gave them a chance, a lonely girl got to have friends. It was hard for Sunset Shimmer to give those girls a chance. She was furious over what they did. But because she did, we not only know how the magic works, we know Twilight's alive now." Shining perked up a bit. Cadence put a comforting arm on Shining's shoulder. "Because I had faith, we know Twilight is still alive somewhere. Maybe having faith in them is the hard you have to do. But maybe if they help, we can find Twilight faster."
"I had faith Twilight could make it at Crystal Prep," Shining muttered. "And faith screwed me. I'm I'm looking the empirical facts. The fact was they treated our sister like shit and didn't care about her safety until after she nearly died."
"OK, look," Cadence said with a sigh. "If you don't want them to help out fine. I'll tell them that. But I want you to do one thing for me first."
"What?"
"Talk to them," Cadence said softly. "See what these girls are like before throw them out the door. Tell them how you feel. If they're as horrible as you say, fine. Then they can't help. But they can prove to you they're really sorry, then you should give them a chance."
"Alright," Shining said, exhausted but slightly less forlorn. "I'll talk to them. But on two conditions."
"What are they?"
"You can't be in the room with me," Shining said with harsh eyes. ",and I get to sail the rules."
"Deal," Cadence said, extending her hand. "Just be fair."
"I'll say what I have to say," Shining said with determined eyes.
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In retrospect, it was Shining’s fault for being stupid and ignorant towards Twilight’s needs.
10230802
Indeed.
Someone needs to throw the scripture of "Let he that is WITHOUT sin among you cast the first stone at her" at our dear Shining Armor.
Or them, in this case.
Although a better one might be "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones".
Either one works, really.
Yeah, Shining is taking all his anger at himself and lashing out with it at everyone else. And he still doesn't really feel like he has any empathy towards different groups, but this is a scene full of anger, so we'll see. I'm afraid he's really going to try to hurt the Shadowbolts emotionally, I just hope they can weather it and maybe even get through to him.
10230802
10230820
When watching the Friendship Games, there was something I always wondered: why didn't Twilight tell anyone she was being blackmailed by Cinch. My conclusion was that Twilight was losing faith in the people around her. Even Cadence and Shining Armor. My conclusion was that while Cadence and Shining Armor weren't malicious guardians, they were neglecting her emotional needs in favor of what they wanted.
Shining Armor does acknowledge his failures, but he's also mad that Cadence-who was the Dean-didn't know, and mad that she wasn't offering Twilight more helpful advice. And he feels responsible, thinking that sending her to the special needs school could've avoided this fiasco.
10230828
I wouldn't say Shining Armor has no empathy. It's that he doesn't think certain people (the Shadowbolts) deserve empathy. i'm not going to spoil anything, but you'll find out that Shining's grudge toward the Shadowbolts goes well beyond what happened during the Friendship Games. And it ties into the theme of my story: that every life does matter. And when you hurt someone you think doesn't matter, you'll hurt more people than you'll know.
Incredible job here!! I finally caught up and I'm really enjoying it! Keep going!!
And Shining is right when he says CPA is full of shallow entitled brats.
10230937
The realization that he ignored his psychologist's advice and dumped his anti-social sister into that world is what's tearing at him.
10230966
Yep. That does not make that statement any less true though.
10230920 Hmmm, good points, those.
I often wondered about that myself.
10230802
Not just Shining Armor, Cadence is too! They were both stubborn and refused to listen to the psychologist about Twilight being on the Spectrum and puts her to CPA anyway... all for the sake of their own pride and not Twilight needs.
Parents of the Year everybody!
They did screwed it up, but at least they realized about their mistakes with Twilight now (more or less), but ironically, Cadence already made the same mistakes with Jupiter when she was bullied by Suri. And I'm worried about what Shining is going to say to the Shadowbolts. Not that I'm defending their actions, but I hope Shining didn't go too far when he finally tears them a new one.
Also, I spotted a mistake:
You mean, "Shining"?
10231103
I've always found that a lot of parents/guardians can end up doing this: confusing their wants with their child's needs.
10231104
The whole incident with Cadence and Juniper was me hinting at Cadence not necessarily being the most...empathetic person.
Granted, she is certainly nicer than Cinch. But being nice is not the same thing as being understanding. How could she not see her own sister-in-law was suffering? Why was it Twilight couldn't tell Cadence the truth? Hence why she gives Juniper a really unnecessary punishment: because she fails to grasp the situation at hand.
Made the correction.
Will this be the last act of the story? Or will we see another hiatus? Bcoz I know a story like this needs planning.
WTF Shining.
10231819
I think it is a bit of exaggeration to call him an ignorant brute. But yes, he did confuse his pride for what he wanted. And in his pride, he failed to grasp how miserable her sister was until he learned that Twilight's own teammates didn't give a damn about her.
10231790
The issue with Shining is that he sees autism as a disease. Something that carries shame. And he didn't want to admit that his sister had it.
I have to say it's about damn time Shinning realizes he's been just as much of a bully as the girls he claims are bullies. He put his love for a school above his own sister. I know Cadence was guilty in allowing this to go on, but it seemed from what I've read Shining was more guilty for ignoring Twilight's cries for help.
So is the hiatus on this story over now?
Shining, you be damn careful that you don't turn into just as much of a bully as the girls were.
OK. So, in terms of the D.A.B.D.A process, we all can agree that Shining is still stuck on Anger.
Shining is an ass, and super suprised candance didnt just walk out.
Also I feel like this is the third time we've had the same conversation between cadence and shining.
This chapter gives me a lot to think about.
I'm lucky I've never had someone in my life in denial like that or who felt I was... that rather offensive word I'm not going to say. I've had good people to help me out when I was in High School. I still always felt like other students were always out to get me, but I don't blame anyone for that. I don't even know if any of that was intentional. It's very clear to us as the readers that certain incidents in Sci-Twi's past definitely warranted disciplinary action, but we usually don't have that level of insight in our own lives. I wonder if that's why Sci-Twi never reported a lot of it.
I owe a lot to folks like him. Granted, My parents were never like that and actually were quite involved in the system on my behalf. Special Education is an underappreciated and very vital resource for kids that need it.
10231874
opinions like that are far too common in this world, and it causes a lot of pain and misery.
10231103
I'm a bit surprised you thought that deserved spoilers since it's pretty obvious if you know what autism is. Heck, I've heard arguments that the entire Mane 6 show different possible aspects. (there's a BIG reason it's referred to as a spectrum)
10238832
Just to clarify, I added spoiler tags in my comment because it was the first time it was mentioned in the story. I put the spoiler tag in because I don't want to spoil other people who did not read this chapter yet in case they read the comments first. It has nothing to do with knowing about the spectrum.
10232167
I think Cadence is about 55% guilty while Shining is about 45% guilty.
Yeah, Shining failed in his duty as a brother. But Cadence was the Dean, and she was ignorant to what her own sister was going on in her own school.
That's where a lot of Shining's anger toward Cadence comes from.
"I meant to say," Cadence said sheepishly. "I want her to be in setting with people she'll interact with for the rest of her life."
Me: Is she saying that Human Twi is not allowed to make friends with CHS students, but only Crystal Prep?!
10474667
No.
In her own polite way, she is more or less saying "I want my sister to interact with normal people, not special needs people".
In spirit, she is agreeing with Shining.
Now there's something my dad would definitely tell someone if they're not paying attention to someone when talking to them.
https://m.Welp, this is going in a completely new and bad direction...
back. "You*
wasn't being lied to,
did you get your diploma?*
Sometimes it's best to ask someone what they want over what the two of you wanted. Not everyone's dreams are the same.
She's right.
"But now,*
me. I'm looking at the empirical facts.*
before you throw them out the door.*
eyes. "And*
Geez does this guy ever shut up?The same broken record again and again we get it