One of the worst parts of Triple Threat’s hospital stay, among all the…other stuff, was the homesickness she felt. She missed her family even more than she did when she was away at school. So she’d been looking forward to family therapy for days, when she could finally see her parents again.
“It’s not the same without you around, T! I can’t be the only one tip-tapping around the house!”
Her parents didn’t hide how much they missed her, but they kept the conversation lighthearted to start.
“Well, hopefully it won’t be too long!”
TT did her best to match their cheer, but it made her sad to think about when she was still in the thick of her treatment.
“It’d better not, I’ve been aching to see my grandfilly!”
Her grandmare, Jive Honey, was also here to see her! As she lovingly squished her cheeks in the way only a grandmare could, TT couldn’t help but feel better.
“Why don’t you sit down? Make yourselves comfortable.”
The family therapist guided the four ponies to some seats. TT sat down first, then her mom, and her dad and Nana decided to stand next to Sweetie’s chair so they could be closer together.
“How is everypony feeling today?”
TT wasn’t sure how honest she wanted to be, she had a lot of conflicting feelings that would be hard to unpack. But before she could even attempt to do that, her mom was the first to answer.
“Not a day goes by where we don’t miss you a ton! Sometimes I want to find those ponies who made you feel like you had to do this to yourself and give them a good talking-to about how mean they’ve been.”
Sweetie was getting right into it, and honestly Triple Threat was a bit shaken by her manner. It also didn’t seem like she was getting the point; she’d forgotten half of her castmates’ and casting directors’ names by now so the individuals weren’t really her concern right now.
Tender Taps was used to his wife being oblivious or tactless on occasion, so he offered his daughter some comfort himself.
“Well, what matters is that you’re safe and getting better.”
“I’m working on it, Daddy.”
TT gripped his hoof in hers, looking between him and the therapist for affirmation.
“I just can’t believe this happened!”
“I know how much it stings to have ponies poke fun at you. I thought I’d never see the end of it until I finally got my cutie mark. But were a few pokes and jabs enough to do this? To drive you to quit school and make yourself sick?”
“Now I’m not sure it works quite like that—“
“Being a blank flank isn’t the same, Mom.”
TT snarked in reply before her grandmare could defend her. Something about her mom’s attitude was really ticking her off.
“And it wasn’t a few pokes and jabs. They were making me the butt of the joke in every production all because of my weight!”
“Everypony gets bad roles sometimes, don’t they? Especially when they’re just starting out like you!”
Sweetie was really trying to be comforting, but as she went on it was clear she just wasn’t.
“You’re the most talented filly we know, if you’d just stuck it out a little longer the good roles were sure to come.”
The therapist knew very well that this young mare was coming from a family with unresolved tensions as she watched all this unfold, so she did what she was trained to do and tried to mediate.
“Triple Threat, how does this make you feel?”
The sheer ignorance of her mom’s statement was about as big a slap in the face as all the “bad roles” TT got. It made her feel even worse than she felt coming into this meeting, but now she was angry. She practically ignored her therapist as she shot back:
“You’ve clearly never been told not to shoot too high. You don’t know what it’s like to be left out by your castmates at every turn or cast as a damn farting warthog!”
Once she let out this curse, everypony knew it was getting real.
“You have no problem making sure everypony sees your talent. And you clearly have no problem giving your opinions on things you clearly know nothing about!”
“I know more than you think! Right after I had you, my body—“
With this, Triple Threat buried her face in her hooves and resisted the urge to scream.
As this roast between mother and daughter went on, Tender could hardly quell them. He looked to his mother, silently pleading for her to have a solution. And luckily she did.
“How about we go outside for awhile and give TT some time to visit with Tendy?”
She looked to the therapist.
The therapist, in turn, looked to her patient.
“If you are okay with it.”
“Yes, please, just get out of here!”
TT cried out, refusing to make eye contact with her mother.
Sweetie was about to protest but it was no use, she had already said more than enough. So she followed her mother-in-law out of the therapist’s office, leaving her daughter still grappling with all the insecurities she passed down to her.
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Sweetie Belle’s cutie mark by Dropple-RD
