8 – Disagreeing Together
Chapter Eight
Disagreeing Together
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There was nothing particularly unique about waiting excitedly for the weekend. All across Equestria, many ponies looked forward to the rest and relaxation that it brought. But lately for Twilight and her wives, there was something special that came with their weekends – they would get to bring Morning Glisten home with them.
And Twilight found she was looking forward to it. She wasn’t sure she felt the same way as her wives did; Sunset and Fluttershy were enamored with the little filly, while Twilight was still struggling with how she felt. But that didn’t mean she didn’t like having Morning around. After getting off to a poor start with the party, they’d had a very nice weekend.
And now it was time to do it again. They had decided to do some simpler things around Ponyville this time. It would be too late by the time they got back to do anything that day, and there was a rainstorm planned for Sunday, which meant Fluttershy would be busy on Saturday making sure all the animals’ dens, warrens, and trees were ready for it.
Besides, while they could easily dazzle the filly with trips to exotic places and spoil her with gifts and treats, they all agreed to try and give her the most normal childhood they could under the circumstances. The last thing they wanted was for her to get a superiority complex due to being adopted by a royal family.
“You don’t think she’ll be too disappointed if we just do things around town, do you?” Twilight asked as they walked into Small Steps Home for Orphaned Ponies.
“I’m sure she’ll be happy just to spend some time with us,” Fluttershy said. “We didn’t do much on Sunday last week, and she still seemed to enjoy that.”
“Besides, Ponyville is still new to her,” Sunset said with a shrug. “Give it a few years before she starts wanting to get out of town.”
Twilight nodded. “I guess that is true.”
They stepped into the foyer of the orphanage and Twilight rang a bell to alert somepony of their presence. Within a few moments, a caretaker Twilight recognized came into the room with a smile on her face.
“Princesses, so good to see you,” Ginger Snap said. “I hope the trip here wasn’t too bad?”
“It was fine,” Twilight said. “And I’m sure the return trip will be even better. Is Morning back from school yet?”
Ginger Snap’s smile shifted. It didn’t go away, exactly, but it seemed a little more unsure. “Oh, not yet. Uhm, but how about you three come into my office? We can talk a little about Morning.”
“Of course,” Twilight said, feeling a little nervous. Had something happened that was getting in the way of their adoption?
All three of them followed Ginger Snap back into her office, and she shut the door behind them. They took seats on one side of the desk while Ginger sat down on the other. It was a little crowded with all three of them on one side, but ponies didn’t really design furniture with their situation in mind.
“So what’s going on?” Sunset asked once they were all seated.
Ginger sighed. “Well, I’m afraid there’s been a bit of an incident with Morning…”
“Oh.” Fluttershy frowned. “She’s not hurt, is she?”
“No, no, she’s fine. But well, she did hit another foal.”
“She what?” Twilight looked at her wives, exchanging glances with Fluttershy while Sunset just stared at the floor. She looked back at Ginger Snap. “Please, tell us what happened.”
The caretaker filled them in about what they’d missed during the week; a colt had antagonized Morning about her adoption, telling her that they didn’t really want her, then Morning had hit him. Then they had been told to apologize to one another, and Morning had instead knocked his plate of food onto him.
It was upsetting news, to say the least. They knew Morning had some behavioral problems, of course. Truthfully that was part of the reason they had decided to adopt her; they knew they would be able to provide a stable and good life for a filly like her, with lots of love and compassion to help her learn to behave better.
But knowing that didn’t mean it was easy to hear she was getting into fights. “So what happened after that?” Twilight asked, hoping there would be no more bad news.
“She’s been grounded, but she hasn’t apologized.” Ginger sighed. “And she won’t talk to me about it. When I went to her room afterwards to bring her dinner, it was a mess. I think she threw a bit of a tantrum and tossed her things around, but she wouldn’t talk to me or explain why she did it.”
“It’s because she was being forced to do something she didn’t want to,” Sunset said, almost more to herself than the others. She shook her head and more directly addressed Ginger. “I don’t mean that you did anything wrong, or that she shouldn’t have to apologize for hitting somepony, I just… know what it feels like to be in her position. She resents being told what to do, so she’s lashing out.”
“So what should we do?” Fluttershy asked Sunset.
Sunset just shook her head. “Hey, I know what it’s like to be a messed up little kid, that doesn’t mean I know what to do about it. It took me most of my life to sort my shit out, and I’m really hoping we can save Morning from all that heartache.”
“This is something we all knew was coming,” Twilight said with an air of resignation. “But… Well, I know I’m not really prepared for it. What do you think we should do, Miss Ginger?”
Ginger Snap gave them a small smile. “It’s never easy to figure out things like this, and the truth is that different kids respond differently, so no one parenting method is best. She’s been grounded, which isn’t truthfully much of a punishment for a filly like Morning, who loves her privacy and her books.”
The whole situation was out of their depths, and Twilight kicked herself for that. She knew Morning had behavioral problems – she should have planned for this. “I don’t want her to think what she does here doesn’t matter once she’s with us. I think… maybe she should stay grounded this weekend.”
“It’s only our second weekend with her though,” Fluttershy said with a frown. “I’m a little worried she might resent us if we take her all the way to Ponyville to keep her shut in her room.”
“You don’t mean we shouldn’t take her, do you?” Twilight asked.
“Oh, no, nothing like that. I just, well, I think we should try talking to her.” Fluttershy bowed her head. “If she’s acting out like this, it must be for a reason. I think if the three of us talk to her in private at the castle, remind her how much we care about her and that we only want to help, maybe we can get through to her.”
Twilight nodded slowly, then turned to Sunset. “What do you think?”
Sunset looked apprehensive. “I don’t know… I mean, I was a way worse kid than Morning’s ever been, I guarantee. I just… don’t know if it’s really my place to say what we should do when I’ve done so much worse than what she did and got away with almost all of it.”
Twilight saw her point, but she wasn’t sure she agreed. She wasn’t sure how to say so, but then Fluttershy did it for her. “You’re her mom too, Sunset,” she said with a nuzzle.
“Shy’s right,” Twilight added. “And your insight might be just what we need to get through to her.”
“I guess…” Sunset showed them a small smile. “I just, well, I don’t know what to do either is what I’m saying.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I’m glad to see you’re struggling with this,” Ginger said. “Most new parents do, and it’s a good sign that not only do they care enough to want to do the right thing, but they care enough to be worried about doing the wrong thing.”
“Well, of course.” Twilight bowed her head. “I just wish I knew what to do.”
She felt a hoof on her shoulder, and when she turned to look, Fluttershy was smiling at her. “We’ll figure it out together.”
“Who knows, maybe you three will have better luck getting through to her.” Ginger looked between the three mares. “She really admires you all, I can tell. That’s why this whole thing got to her. Maybe all she needs is some reassurance from you.”
“I guess we won’t know until we try.” Sunset ran a hoof through her mane and chuckled. “I just hope she takes it better than I did.”
While they waited for Morning to come back, Ginger Snap gave them more tips and, possibly more importantly, reassurance. She told them that they were not unique in their situation, that it was something all new parents dealt with. Not all new parents were adopting a filly with anger issues like Morning had, but all foals misbehaved from time to time and their new parents had to figure out how to deal with that.
Twilight thought back to her own parents. She was a generally well-behaved filly, but there had been times when they’d needed to ground her for misbehaving. For Twilight, the fact that she was being punished was always worse than the punishment itself. She wondered if Morning would feel the same way.
She didn’t have too long to think about it. They had timed their arrival to be around the same time Morning got back from school, so they weren’t waiting for long. Soon another caretaker came in to inform them that the kids were back, and that Morning had gone to her room to put away her school things and get ready for the trip.
“Let’s go see her,” Fluttershy said. “We won’t get the chance to talk about it on the train, but maybe she’ll open up in her room.”
Twilight nodded. “Good idea. Is that okay, Miss Ginger?”
“Yes, of course. Would you like me to show you the way?”
“No need,” Sunset answered as she rose to her hooves. “I think we know how to get there well enough by now.”
Twilight and Fluttershy stood as well, then they followed Sunset out of the room and through the building. Along the way, they passed other children playing happily. Twilight hoped Morning would talk to them, and even more so, she hoped that she would learn to play with other foals like that. She understood wanting to shut everyone away and be alone with a good book all too well, and she understood how that could backfire on a filly.
They walked into a hallway that connected all the girls’ rooms. Sunset paused in front of Morning’s door to smile at her wives, then she knocked. “Morning? It’s us. Can we come in?”
A first there was no answer, then the door opened. Morning smiled up at them. “Hi! I’m almost ready!”
Twilight smiled, happy to see the filly so excited. She almost wanted to call off any punishment in favor of having another fun weekend.
But no; that might make things simpler for the weekend, but it wouldn’t really help any of them in the long run. Least of all Morning.
Morning went back to packing her things, so the others walked into the room. Twilight wasn’t sure how to begin the conversation, but Fluttershy seemed to have an idea. “How was school today?”
Of course, they had to show they were interested in her life. Better that than jumping right into it, even if Morning just shrugged and said, “It was fine.”
“Any homework?” Fluttershy asked.
That one got a sigh. “Yes… Why do teachers give homework on the weekend?”
Twilight just chuckled. “Well, if you need any help, we’ll be happy to.”
Morning put some toys and books in a bag, then slipped it on. “I’m ready!”
The three wives all looked at each other for a moment, then Sunset closed the door behind them. “Actually… we need to talk about something first.”
Morning deflated. “Am… I not going with you…?”
“You’re still coming with us,” Twilight said as she levitated the saddlebags off Morning. “We just need to talk first.”
Morning pawed at the ground with her ears pressed flat against her head. “Did, uhm… Did you talk to Miss Ginger?”
“Yes, we did,” Twilight answered.
“We’re not mad at you,” Fluttershy assured the filly. Twilight wasn’t sure she was striking the right tone, but she seemed to be the only one with any sort of plan. “We just want to understand what was going on. Why did you hit somepony?”
Morning squeezed her eyes shut. “I… I don’t know. I was angry.”
“We all get angry sometimes,” Fluttershy said. “Miss Ginger said you didn’t apologize afterwards either.”
“I will!” Morning said suddenly. “I’ll go apologize to Patchouli right now!”
Twilight looked at the others. That was easier than she had expected. A little too easy, honestly. “How come you wouldn’t before now?”
Morning hesitated, so Fluttershy stepped in. “What’s important is that she’ll apologize now. Do you know where the colt is?”
“Probably in the playroom,” Morning said. “It’s over this way.”
With Morning leading the way, the three mares made their way back through the building. They took a turn down a hallway to a room Twilight had only briefly been in. It was a big room where the foals could play with a few different play areas and lots of toys scattered around.
It was nice to see that the foals had such a nice environment, but they weren’t there to admire the orphanage. Morning led them to a colt who looked like he was her age, and he frowned when he saw her. “What do you want?”
Twilight couldn’t really blame him for his tone considering what had happened the last time they were together, but she worried it would cause Morning to lock up.
But it seemed she owed the filly more credit, because although she kicked at the ground awkwardly and wouldn’t meet his eyes, she did manage to apologize. “I’m sorry I hit you. And knocked your dinner on you.”
“Yeah, well…” the colt looked at the three grown mares and seemed to decide his response due to their presence. “Don’t worry about it.”
Morning looked back at the others, so Twilight stepped closer to her and put a hoof on her shoulder. “There, don’t you feel better now?”
“Uhm…” Morning looked at the colt, who had already gone back to playing with his toys. She turned back to Twilight and nodded. “Uh-huh.”
Twilight smiled at her wives, and Fluttershy smiled back and nodded. Not Sunset, though. She was staring at the colt and frowning. Twilight knew there was something on her mind, but she knew better than to ask what it was right then.
Instead, she guided Morning back the way they came. They came to the intersection leading back to Morning’s room, and she stopped. “Why don’t you go get your bag then meet us here? Then we can all go tell Miss Ginger we’re leaving.”
“Okay!” Morning happily ran off towards her room.
Twilight seized the chance to talk to Sunset. “What’s up?”
Sunset sighed and shook her head, then turned to stare in the direction of the playroom. “I was just thinking, you know, maybe we should’ve asked that kid why he was saying mean things to Morning. We’re supposed to be on her side, you know?”
“Maybe…” Twilight glanced back as well, although they couldn’t see him from where they were. “But no matter what, Morning shouldn’t have hit him.”
“I guess, it just…” Sunset scratched at her neck. “It just rubs me the wrong way.”
Fluttershy stepped closer and nuzzled Sunset, although it didn’t seem to penetrate through her grumpiness. “We’ll still talk to Morning later. Then we can get to the bottom of everything, and we’ll make sure she knows we do support her.”
“Yeah, okay…”
Twilight stepped forward to kiss Sunset on the cheek, which finally got a smile from her. But as Twilight was pulling away, Sunset’s horn lit up and she pulled her wife closer again. “Come here, you.”
Twilight smiled as she kissed Sunset, then blushed as she heard Morning clear her throat. Sunset just grinned, though. “Ready to go?”
Morning nodded. “Uh-huh.”
Fluttershy used a wing to guide Morning along, and Twilight led them back to Ginger Snap’s office. They only stopped in quick, but they made sure to tell her that Morning had apologized.
“That’s wonderful,” Ginger said as Twilight signed a form. It was a basic acknowledgment they had Morning for the weekend and would bring her back Sunday evening. “I knew you three would get through to her.”
“I think Morning just needed the time to think it over,” Fluttershy said.
For her part, Morning didn’t say anything, but no one pressed her to. Once they signed their forms and said a quick goodbye, they were off.
It was already afternoon and would be even later by the time they made it back to Ponyville, but the sun was shining brightly as they walked out of the orphanage, and Twilight couldn’t help but have high hopes for the weekend. She debated starting a song to see if Morning was a singer, but a look at Sunset deep in contemplation changed her mind. She knew her wife was dwelling on the colt and on how they would make it right.
Well, they might as well be clear with Morning about what was coming. “Just so you know, once we get back to the castle, the four of us still have some things to talk about. We haven’t decided if you’re still grounded, but we are happy you apologized.”
“Okay,” Morning said with her head bowed. “Uhm, I’m sorry…”
Twilight took a deep breath, then smiled and said “It’s –”
“He shouldn’t have said those things to you,” Sunset said. “And, you know, two wrongs don’t make a right or whatever, but…”
“What Sunset means is we understand why you did it,” Fluttershy said softly. “But… well, you can’t do things like that. Did you try telling an adult?”
“No…”
“We’ll talk about it at the castle,” Twilight said. “But… we’re just worried about you, and we want what’s best for you.”
“Uhm…” Morning looked up at Twilight. “I want to say sorry to those other foals. From last week.”
“The Cake twins?” Twilight asked, surprised at the sudden urge to apologize Morning was demonstrating.
“Yeah. You said I should, and I wanna do that. If, uhm, I can.” Morning turned away again. “Plus… they seemed nice.”
Twilight had to grin. She wasn’t sure if Morning meant to use this to get out of trouble, but it was the perfect ploy. How could Twilight say no to her wanting to make friends?
“Maybe one of us can bring you to Sugarcube Corner tomorrow,” Fluttershy said. “That’s where the Cakes live.”
Morning nodded. “Okay.”
Well, that pretty much settled their weekend plans. Their Friday would mostly be settling Morning in for the weekend and talking with her about what happened, on Saturday Fluttershy would be working while one of the others brought her to Sugarcube Corner, and on Sunday they would have a quiet day inside during the storm, then bring her back to Hollow Shades.
Although she had told Morning they weren’t sure if she’d be grounded, Twilight found herself doubting very much that she would be. She’d apologized to the colt, and she would apologize to the Cake twins. A clear show of a friendship lesson had to be worth some leniency.
Besides, as she walked along with the little filly, Twilight just couldn’t be angry with her.
It had been an awkward day, to say the least. Things had gone pretty well on the train ride to Ponyville, as they’d let Morning be excited about spending the weekend with them. It was easy to put aside thoughts of what was coming once they were at home in the face of how happy the filly was.
Of course, that could only last for so long. Eventually they got to the castle, and that meant they had to talk. Still, no one seemed to know how, so they put it off. Lunch first, then they’d talk. Except then they gave Morning the chance to get settled in, then they’d talk. Except then they wanted to give Twilight’s parents and Spike a chance to see her and ask her about her week, during which she didn’t talk about the fight and neither did the three wives.
It wasn’t like Twilight didn’t know they were stalling, it was just that she didn’t know what else to do. If left to her, she might have kept stalling all weekend. Thankfully, Fluttershy took a little more initiative.
“Morning?” she prompted once everyone was settling down. “We still need to talk.”
Morning deflated a little. “Okay.”
They chose to move to the sitting room so that all four of them could be comfortable, and they let Morning pick a seat first. Twilight and Fluttershy sat on a couch next to her, while Sunset sat on a chair nearby.
All three wives looked at each other, each waiting for the others to start. Eventually Twilight took the lead. “I know you said you were just angry and lost your temper. I don’t think we need to dwell on why you did it. But we do need to talk about it.”
“So, uhm…” Morning shifted uncomfortably. “What do we talk about?”
Twilight looked to Fluttershy, who took over. “Well, mostly that no matter what, we want the best for you. We don’t think you’re really a bad filly, you just… lost your temper.”
“Which isn’t okay,” Twilight said, a little worried that Fluttershy was going too soft. “But well, what we’re saying is we know you can behave better than that.”
“I can!” Morning said. “I’ll never do anything like that again.”
Twilight smiled, happy that Morning was so dedicated to doing the right thing.
Fluttershy had other thoughts, it seemed. “Never is a long time. What’s most important is that you’ll talk to us if you feel like that again.”
To be honest, Twilight considered not hitting other foals to be pretty important when it got down to it, but she didn’t want to disagree with Fluttershy in front of Morning. Still, she couldn’t say nothing. “Before you hit another foal. And if we’re not around, like at Small Steps, you need to talk to another adult, like Miss Ginger.”
Realizing that Sunset hadn’t weighed in yet, Twilight glanced towards her. In addition to being one of Morning’s moms, she had a unique perspective on the situation. But she just nodded in agreement, causing Twilight to frown slightly.
“Twilight’s right,” Fluttershy said. “It’s important to talk to ponies about what you’re feeling. And you know, you can talk to us about anything at all.”
Morning nodded. “I know.”
Fluttershy leaned in a little and smiled. “Since we’re all together and talking about things, is there anything you want to discuss with us?”
“I don’t think so…” Morning pawed at the couch beneath her, and Twilight could tell she was wondering how much longer they were going to keep her for.
“You’re not still upset about what the colt said to you?” Fluttershy asked.
Morning shook her head. “No, not anymore.”
“You know he was wrong too, right?” Sunset asked.
Twilight turned to her and cocked her head to the side. The first time she spoke, and it was to justify Morning’s actions?
“I guess,” Morning said.
“What’s his name?” Sunset asked.
“Patchouli,” Morning answered.
Sunset nodded. “Does Patchouli do things like that a lot? Say or do things to upset you?”
“Uhm, I don’t know. Sometimes, I guess.”
Sunset frowned. “Yeah, well… Just because you shouldn’t hit him doesn’t mean he’s not also wrong.”
“Have you talked to an adult about him picking on you?” Twilight asked.
Morning hesitated for a moment, then sunk her head. “Miss Ginger says we should be friends.”
Sunset snerked and muttered under her breath, “Yeah right.”
“Sunset,” Twilight interjected sharply. Sunset rolled her eyes and turned away. Twilight took a deep breath and smiled at Morning. “Do you have any other friends at Small Steps?”
Morning looked away. “I guess Spring Blossom is a friend.”
The ‘I guess’ didn’t sound too promising, but Twilight wasn’t sure there was much point in pushing for more when Morning was going to be moving to Ponyville soon. “I’m glad you have a friend. And maybe you can make some more this weekend. Do you still want to go to see the Cakes?”
Morning looked apprehensive. “Are they gonna be mad at me?”
“I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Fluttershy said, stretching out her wing to pat the filly with it. “They’re nice foals, they’ll understand.”
Twilight smirked. “Just try to be a little more careful if something upsets you this time.”
“I will be!” Morning promised. “I won’t get mad this time or anything!”
Fluttershy frowned a little, but Twilight was happy with what she heard. “Good. Why don’t you go play in your room and we’ll get you in a little bit for dinner. Or you could go to the library, or to see Spike.”
“Uhm…” Morning fidgeted in her seat. “Am I… still grounded?”
The three wives all looked at one another. Twilight was tempted to say yes, but they hadn’t really discussed that.
“I think we’re just going to have a quiet weekend anyway,” Fluttershy said. “So, uhm, I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
Twilight nodded slowly. “We won’t go anywhere exciting this weekend, but this time, you’re not in too much trouble. As long as you promise to be better from now on.”
“I do! I’ll be really good now!”
“Good.” Twilight smiled. “Now run along, the three of us need to talk.”
“Okay.” Morning climbed off the couch and looked at the three of them. She seemed to be debating saying something, but in the end, she ran off without a word.
Twilight waited until Morning was gone to hang her head down and sigh. “Was that as stressful for everyone else?”
“A little, yeah,” Sunset said.
“I didn’t really mind.” Fluttershy scooted closer to Twilight and leaned against her. “I think it went pretty well.”
“I’m a little worried that you were maybe too soft on her,” Twilight said with a frown. “Telling her it’s okay to hit another foal isn’t really something we should do.”
Fluttershy sat up again. “I didn’t tell her it was okay.”
“That’s kind of what you made it sound like.”
“Uh…” Sunset glanced towards the door to make sure it was closed. “I guess I’m the only one who thinks maybe it was okay?”
“What?” Twilight reared back. “Sunset, how can you say that?”
“I dunno, ‘cause this colt sounds kinda like a bully? So many people could’ve shut me down when I was queen bitch of CHS, but they wouldn’t stand up to me.”
“Maybe, but violence isn’t the answer.”
Sunset arched an eyebrow. “Twilight, you of all ponies know sometimes violence is the answer. Did you talk things out with Tirek?”
“That was different!” Twilight narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think this colt was threatening all of Equestria.”
“Look, I’m not saying it should be the first thing she tried. But if this kid is bullying her and the adults are just trying to force them to be friends instead of addressing the problem, well… I’m kinda glad she gave him a good reason to think twice about fucking with her.”
Twilight was horrified to hear that, although she couldn’t piece together exactly why. She disagreed, of course. But she wasn’t sure why it made her so upset to disagree with Sunset on this matter.
“I don’t really think Morning talked about it with Miss Ginger,” Fluttershy pointed out. “I don’t want Morning getting into fights either, but I think we can all agree she needs to try telling an adult before she ever does anything on her own.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, exactly.”
Fluttershy smiled. “And I think more than anything, Morning just needs to know that no matter what, we love her and want to help her. I think if she just knows she can talk to us about anything, then we won’t have problems like this.”
It was tempting to just agree, but Twilight wasn’t so sure. “Maybe, but… what about what happened last week with the Cakes? It’s only been a week and she’s already had two incidents with losing her temper.”
“I’m with Twilight,” Sunset said. “It’d be great if we could just hug her problems away, but we need to know sometimes she’s going to misbehave. We knew that when we decided to adopt her.”
“Yeah, but…” Twilight sighed. “I just don’t know what to do about it…”
“We’ll figure it out together,” Fluttershy said with a smile that Twilight couldn’t return. “We’re a team, remember?”
“Yeah, we are.” Although Twilight said the words, they sounded hollow to her ears. It wasn’t like they weren’t a team, it was just…
It was just that they all disagreed on how to handle this. Fluttershy wanted to pretend everything was okay as long as they talked about it, and Sunset wanted to let Morning get away with violence. Meanwhile, Twilight’s mind kept going to how to best correct the problem and to punish Morning if and when it came down to it.
She leaned back on the couch and let her head fall back against the headrest. That was why Sunset’s response had bothered her so much. They were moms, they were raising a kid together, and they didn’t agree on how to do that. She had always thought they could handle anything together, but, well… she didn’t feel much like they were doing this together.
“What… happens when we don’t agree?” Twilight asked slowly.
Fluttershy cuddled up against Twilight, so she put her wing across her wife. “I don’t know. I guess we talk about it, like this. And maybe we don’t always find the answer, but we always try our best.”
“I think this time, things are pretty well resolved,” Sunset said. “We have tomorrow with the Cakes, and then we’ll just spend Sunday hanging around the castle. That rainstorm is coming anyway.”
“Yeah,” Twilight said, mostly because she wasn’t sure what else to say or do.
“We’ll have to talk to Pinkie,” Fluttershy said. “It sounded like she was part of why Morning got overwhelmed last week.”
Twilight nodded. “I’ll go see her and make arrangements with the Cakes before dinner.”
Sunset sighed and walked over the couch, sitting on the edge and putting her foreleg on Twilight’s shoulder. “This isn’t the end of the world, Twi. We don’t always have to agree.”
Twilight’s ears folded against her head. “I know, but… this is important.”
“It is,” Sunset agreed. “And we should probably face facts: This is going to come up again, and we might disagree then too. So how about in the future, we talk to each other before talking to Morning? Then we can come at it with a unified idea of how to address things.”
“That’s a good idea.” Twilight smiled a little. She knew Sunset thought on her hooves – the unicorn almost seemed to prefer to go into situations without a plan and just rely on her quick thinking to solve problems. Twilight also knew that Sunset was proposing this specifically because she knew it would mean a lot to her wife to plan things out.
It was a small gesture, but it did remind Twilight that they were in this together. They disagreed, sure, but that never meant they weren’t on the same team.
Fluttershy’s head was resting on Twilight’s shoulder, so she gave it a kiss. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I should head over to Sugarcube Corner if I want to get back by dinner time.”
Fluttershy sat up and smiled. “Alright, I’ll make something special tonight.”
“Think Morning has any interest in cooking?” Sunset asked. “Maybe she’d like to help around the kitchen.”
“I could always ask,” Fluttershy said. “I think it’d be nice to cook together.”
Sunset stood up and stretched. “Come on, let’s go find her.”
Twilight took a deep breath, and she found a smile was hiding out in her heart, so she got it to work its way to her lips. “Love you two.”
Fluttershy kissed Twilight’s cheek. “Love you, Twily. And you too, Sunset.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty great.” Sunset struck a cocky pose. “And, you know, love you both too.”
Twilight giggled, and they all left the room together. Whatever would come, no matter if they agreed on everything or not, they’d still be facing it together, and that would make all the difference.
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I'm trying to figure out whether Morning has Borderline Personality Disorder--the fear of abandonment and lashing out pretty well match the symptoms, after all--or whether she's just responding to the fact that, well, she has reason to be afraid of abandoned and maybe hasn't been taught very well how to manage her feelings (and is still pretty young).
I bet when we get back to her position her seemingly wonderful behavior here was fueled basically by a terrified feeling that if she didn't do everything the three said they would decide not to adopt her after all. Twilight and Fluttershy are being a bit naïve here...Sunset has her problems, too, like Twilight pointed out internally, and Fluttershy is Fluttershy, but Twilight should really know better than to 100% believe Morning when she says things like "I'll never do it again!" or "There will absolutely not be a problem!"
Hope they soon recognize that Morning isn't really able to name her feelings or show them openly other than anger.
What she really ment to say was "I cant look into your eyes to say the truth that I fear you could abandon me too"
Existential fear seems to be the true driving force behind her behavior as well as low self-esteem and worth and it will needs a lot of time and build up of trust to help her change it.
...wow. Morning is playing it up hard. I really hope one of her moms starts to pick up on it. Twilight already started to think this was too easy, and I'm really banking on Sunset noticing something.
Well that chapter was an interesting insight to how they'll be as mothers twilights' the problem solver being the princess of friendship, fluttershy with the element of kindness tries to find a softer approach while sunset from her unique perspective wants her to use fist or I mean hooves to solve her problems I mean not all the time but like she said
sometimes a bully needs to see someone stand up to them for them to back down but sunsets right they won't always agree on how to raise morning and will need to talk to each other and try to find some middle ground. Anyways nice to see them talk about what happened in the last chapter and looking forward to reading more
on a side note hope they can see through mornings play acting and get her from being somepony she's not.
10538734
I dont think she has BPD, seeing as other things can lead to those fears and lashing out (such as trauma, not being taught how to properly handle anger, as two examples), but that's just my opinion in the matter. I can see how you came to that possible conclusion, though!
10539601
Well, yeah, like I said I really wasn't sure. I just noticed some striking similarities between her behavior and that of people diagnosed with BPD, which led me to wonder.
10538734
10539601
To be honest with you, I don't actually know a lot about BPD. I don't discredit the idea, though I'll say it was not my intention. The story is already written in full and I won't be editing it to either strengthen or weaken any tie to BPD, so I'd be most interested if she continues showing signs. While it wasn't my intention, I would never say that she doesn't have it just because of that; like I said, I'm not knowledgable enough on it to say one way or the other (she was, incidentally, intended as nuerodivergent, though no one as of yet knows in what way).
10538819
It's hard when someone is actively trying to mask those feelings, even if it's a kid. I went through almost all my life not knowing I'm neurodivergent because I hid it so well no one could tell. In that aspect, I was like Morning, playing pretend. My own issues were very different from hers, but I do relate to her on that level.
10539151
They'll have a ways to go yet, but we'll see how things happen for this family
10539184
I'm sorry that happened to you, and I won't try to get you to keep reading or anything. I will give some explanation, though, which you can read or ignore, but enough people have commented on Twilight and Ginger that I feel it best to explain my thoughts on them. Ginger was always intended to be in the wrong, however. Just because I wrote her this way doesn't mean I think she was right
it's just that there's no drama if she handles the situation properly. With Twilight, my thinking was that she's trying too hard to raise Morning like her parents raised her, not realizing (yet) that Morning is a different filly and needs different approaches. Because Twilight probably was made to apologize to her brothers when she wronged them, as they were to her, but the difference there is that they were a loving family underneath it all, no matter what minor scuffles they got into, and Twilight would probably really be sorry when coaxed into apologizing. That said, Twilight is also in the wrong here, this is just to say why she's in the wrong. None of this is to say you should keep reading if it's upsetting to you, because this is not the last time mistakes will be made in this story, and while in my mind this is the last time something this upsetting will happen, I can't say that with confidence (I'm thinking of another scene that happens later in which a proofreader and I disagreed on the severity of what the other foals in question did).10539281
Yeah, I really wanted each of them to take a different stance to this issue, because handling disagreements on parenting is a big part of parenting correctly. Glad you enjoyed it, and time will tell on if they break down her walls so she can start healing!
10540620
I meant in a professional environment (daycares, orphanages, schools, etc.), not biologically, the parents are doing their best - and I was more venting about IRL issues regarding this sort of thing, sorry if I made it seem like I was having a go at all the adults in this universe
10540839
Ah okay, I gotcha. I didn't take it personally, though I did think you meant in the story. I just thought, like, it's easy to forget that the boring old good adults are there since they don't really have a need to pop up that much in this series lmao
Twilight and Ginger’s ‘everyone can be friends and should be’ approach is definitely going to be toxic in the long run. That’s not to say that there’s no signs of it being so now.
10695941
And forcing apologies doesn't do much for anyone but the one forcing the apologies. If they don't mean it nothing will change. And sunset is right about standing up to bullies. If you don't stand up they will take advantage over and over.
Sort of, but it's still not great Twilight.
Something tells me that she won't hold onto that promise.
https://m.That I can agree with, somewhat...
Knowing Morning, she's likely gonna have a difficulty with it.
Raising a child and being a parent sure can be difficult.
Uh huh!
Well, three heads are better than one, I suppose.
That said, it also helps if the three heads have a solid clue about what's going on. I think Twilight is erring towards being a bit too nice when dealing with the problem. Also I'm somewhere in between wondering if Sunset has some idea of the issue and is playing relating to Morning's feelings to get more information out of her to resolve the problem, or is just responding to the problem with feelings/biases of her own. Fluttershy seems to be taking the most measured approach but unfortunately doesn't really know what to do.
Guess it's just up to a matter of time and discovery...
11712934
Yeah, usually parents learn to parent at the rate that the kid grows up. To this end, these three are so brand new to this and are getting a foal that's already a bit older and has some issues. They didn't get off easy by skipping the baby years is the point lol
As for me, I have complex feelings on the subject, but ultimately would probably be flailing myself in their situation. I like that different readers have taken different stances on this, it tells me that having the wives not know what to do and each walk away with different ideas on that was the right move.