“Mum, please! Why are you doing this?” I pleaded as my mother ran around my room, throwing clothes and belongings into bags, scowling angrily.

“I will not allow this in my house!” She screamed, turning to me. “You are a lady!”

“Mum!” I sobbed, my entire body trembling as I stood there, staring at my mum packing my stuff. “Please!”

“No! I will not allow it. It’s… It’s… unnatural! I thought I raised you better than this.”

“Mummy…” I said, dropping to my knees. “I-I thought you loved…”

“I do love you. That’s why I must punish you to deter such… perversion!”

“I-I’m not a pervert!”

“It is unnatural! Freakish!”

“No it’s not!” I pleaded uselessly. “I’m not…”

“Roseluck, proper ladies do not fornicate with the same gender!”

“I haven’t even had a marefriend yet!”

“And you never will! That’s why you’re going to live with your aunt and uncle in canterlot. They will sort you out. They fixed your cousin, so I know they can help you too.”

“I hate you.” I whispered, bitter spite to my voice.

A hoof fell across my face and I was knocked backward by the harsh strike. I stood there, utterly shocked. My mother had never hurt me before. Never. She panted, voice ragged, as I stepped back from her.

“You don’t love me.” I said blankly.

“Roseluck…” Guilt filled her face. “Oh gosh, I…”

“I HATE YOU!” I let out a high scream and pushed her backward. Gathering my bags, she stood just as stunned as I had been. I pulled my heavy luggage down the steps and out the door, only to see my dad walking in.

“R-Rosie? What’s wrong?” He stuttered, the look on my face surprising him.

“Why don’t you ask that thing that calls herself my mum!” I said, walking past him and slamming the door behind me.

-

Happy tears dripped from my eyes as I read the response Lyra had sent me. She found a place for me to stay in Ponyville! Thank gosh, staying in this disgusting hotel was absolutely horrid. I wasn’t uppity about it, but I had always lived in my parents relatively fancy house my entire life. This rat infested hotel, the only one I could afford with the small amount of savings I had, was a stark comparison to what I had lived in before.

I had been running my flower stand while staying here, but it really was almost impossible. I moved location every day as well to avoid having my parents find me, and kept well away from the park.

How could she have done this to me? Was that really so much to hate? You’d think I had killed a foal from how badly she had reacted to it. I'm not wrong. I don’t need fixing.

I tearily gathered my bags together, packing all of my stuff away and walking down to the hotel lobby. I payed my bill and left, hailing a cab that took me to the Manehattan train station. The platform was usually busy, but this morning, it was almost empty. A few business-stallions stood in suits and ties, ready to head to whatever job or meeting they had. I closed my eyes, ready to nap a bit before the train came when I heard a voice say my name from behind me.

“R-Rosie…?”

I swung around, my heart racing a mile an hour only to see my dad, his eyes wide with shock.

“D-Dad?” I stepped back, frightened of what he might say to me.

“Rosie!” He called out and galloped toward me, throwing his hooves around me and hugging me tightly. “My beautiful little girl… We missed you so much!” He said as I cautiously returned the hug. “Where are you going?” He pulled away and looked at my bags.

“I’m… I'm going to live in Ponyville.”

“P-Ponyville?” He said, sadness crossing his face. “Rosie, please, come back to us. Your mother and I are so worried.”

“I d-don’t care about what mum wants.”

“What? Why?”

“You know why! She called me unnatural! She said I needed to be fixed! You don’t… you don’t know how she looked at me. Like I was a freak.” I spat, my voice laced with malice towards her.

“Oh, gosh, Rose. She doesn’t… She doesn’t think those things. She just grew up thinking a certain way. You don’t need to be fixed.”

“W-wait, you don’t think the same…?”

“No! I love you and your mother exactly the same amount, but I don’t always agree with her, same as you and I don’t always see eye to eye. I’ve tried my hardest over the past month to convince her to accept you, but… She’s stubborn. You know how she is.”

“I don’t forgive her.”

“I know. It will take time for both of you to settle your differences and for her to learn to accept you for who you are. I accept you, you know that?”

“Th-thanks dad.” I said, wiping the tears from my face.

“You’re my beautiful little girl, Rosie.” My dad said, chuckling. “And, personally, I can’t wait to see what beautiful mare you bring home.”

------

My hooves got caught beneath me as the rush of memories smashed into me. I tried to pull a forehoof forward to catch myself, but it got caught and I fell to the ground. I groaned in pain after I face planted, dirt and mud flying into my mouth, face, and mane.

‘R-Rose!” Lily called out from behind me and cantered to my side, helping me stand up. “Oh gosh, we need to get you inside. There’s a big gash on your cheek.”

“N-no…” I said, trying to free myself from my fiance’s grasp. “I need to… I need to find my mum.”

“Rose, you’re bleeding!”

“I don’t care!” I said, pulling myself from her hold. I felt a pang of guilt as I did that, but I had to find her. I needed to tell her I was sorry. I galloped back through the garden, toward the house, and pulled open the door as fast as possible. Inside, I found my mum, head in her hands, crying, while my dad held her.

“M-Mummy!” I said, running toward her. “I’m so sorry, mummy!”

“Rose…” My dad looked at me sadly. “She won’t even say what happened.”

“I…” I sputtered, coughing as my throat got caught. “I screwed up. I really, really messed up.”

“Wh-what did you do?”

“I had a memory. Like, I dunno, a weird flash of a memory, and in it, I saw my parents. My pony parents.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

“Of course! B-but… I messed up. When Lily asked me what happened, I said… that I remembered my ‘real’ parents. Mum heard me.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.” I said, rubbing the back of my neck. I felt such an immense wave of guilt fill me, knowing what I had done had upset my mum so much. “I’m so s-sorry, mummy.” I cautiously approached her, placing a hoof on her leg. She quietened her sobs and looked up from her hands.

“Rose!” She said, her mood immediately switching from sad to worried. “What happened to your face?” She stood up, picking me up and walking to the kitchen. I yelped a bit as she grasped me and lifted me up, but I let her carry me anyway.

“Sit here, I’ll get some disinfectant.” She said, placing me down carefully on the kitchen bench. I sat there, both confused at how easy it was for my mum to switch like this and embarrassed that she then could so easily carry me here. She returned a few seconds later with a bottle of disinfectant and some cotton wool.

“Ooh, honey.” She said, pouring some disinfectant onto the wool buds. “You really got yourself a nasty gash.”

She dabbed my cheek with the cotton wool and I flinched backward at the pain.

“Oh, stop being such a baby.”

“M-mummy…” I said as I let her clean my wound. When she didn’t reply, I called her again. “Please talk to me, mummy.”

“I will, just stop squirming for the moment.” She said with a teary giggle and covered my now clean would with a bandaid. “I have no idea how well that’ll stick to fur, but we’ll see.”

“Mummy… I'm so sorry.” I said, holding my hooves out. My mum’s eyes began to water as she smiled through her sadness and hugged me back. “I-I’m so sorry! I d-didn’t mean to s-say it like that.” I quietly sobbed into the hug.

“Rose, I… I know that you a-are moving on, and trying to make your old life yours again, so… I understand.”

From behind us, I heard the doors slide open and soft hoofsteps rang out.

“Rose! Is everythi-” She stopped when she saw my mum, eyes puffy and red, attending to my wound.

“Hello, Lily.” My mum sniffed and smiled at her. “Y-yes, everything is fine. I'm just talking with Rose and cleaning the nasty gash on her cheek.”

“It’s not that bad…”

“Rose…” My mum looked toward me again. “I know I have to accept this, but you know how hard it is. I know I'm not…” She sobbed again. “Your real mum, but I’d still like to be your mum.”

“You are my real mum!” I said, my frustration at myself and my actions bubbling over. “What I said was wrong, okay? You are my real parents. But… my pony parents are too. I had another memory of my pony parents, and I can assure you, they’re not perfect, but that doesn’t make them any more or less my parents than you. My pony mum, Clover, said some… horrible things to me. Things I know that you would never say.”

“Rose is right.” Lily said, stepping into the kitchen. “My parents… My human ones, they are my parents. They don’t deserve to be called that, but they are. So… So are you!” She said proudly, looking between my mum and dad. Our mum and dad. “You two are just as much my parents as my pony ones. I don’t remember them yet, but they are my real parents too.”

I nodded happily and smiled at Lily. She always knew what to say. I glanced back at my dad who was smiling proudly. My mum was doing so as well, but her eyes were still rimmed with tears. Happy tears.

“Mum, I love you. I-I might even hazard to say that you’re slightly more accepting than my first mum, and you still are my mum.”

“Th-thank you. Thank you so much, Rose. This means more than you can imagine to me.”

“I think I can guess how much.” I said and pulled her in for a hug again.

------

After my mum and I had made up, I felt the stress of the whole situation suddenly bear down on me. I felt absolutely exhausted, even though we had only been working for a few hours when the incident had occurred. Weren’t earth ponies supposed to be hardy and resilient? I hardly felt resilient at all like this. Probably due to those sudden flashes of memories.

Lily and I had decided to take a break from gardening work, as much as we both seemed to be greatly enjoying it, and talked with my parents for a short while. We mostly talked about random things, but my mum did ask what had caused those memories. I was pretty sure it was the touch of that rosebud, but I wasn’t certain. Maybe that was just a subconscious trigger to my memories?

The conversation was pleasant enough and, as much as I did want to sit next to Lily, I agreed to sit on my mum’s lap for a while, quite enjoying the stroking of my mane and coat. I saw my dad stare at me and chuckle, but I just shot daggers back at him. Like he could talk, he enjoyed “petting” me just as much as my mum did. I-I guess it kinda felt nice too...

It was around midday that the exhaustion really seemed to affect Lily and I and we both decided to head up to our room. I sighed happily as I snuggled up next to Lily on my bed, the still relatively fresh sheets feeling very relaxing against my coat.

“Rose?” Lily said as I lay my head down on her chest, cheek still stinging a bit from my fall earlier.

“Mmm?” I replied without lifting my head up.

“Those memories… You said that… your pony mum said something… ‘horrible’ to you.”

I felt an icy chill shiver through my body as the memories returned to me, fresh in my mind, as if they had just happened. My mum… Clover… she called me a freak. She tried to fix me. I felt a pang of guilt as I shifted my gaze upward to Lily. I knew what she had gone through with her parents kicking her out, but now? I didn’t just sympathize now, I could empathize.

“Lily… I think my mum hates me.”

“Wh-what? After all that, you still think that?”

“N-no, sorry, not what I meant. I mean… my pony mum.”

A concerned frown crossed her face as she sat up a little in the bed. “Why?”

“She… I told her that I… liked mares.”

A look of both sadness and realization crossed Lily’s face. “Oh gosh.”

“Y-yeah.” I said blankly as Lily tightened her grip on me.

“I love you so much, Rose.”

“I know. I love you too.”

“I just… I didn’t know. I'm so sorry.”

“Hey, you have nothing to be sorry for.” I smiled tearfully up at my fiance before nuzzling her cheek softly. “I mean, I don’t think I talked to her after I ran away, so-”

“You ran away?” Lily interrupted, shocked. “I thought you said… Or well, I thought you meant that they kicked you out.”

“Sort of.” I said, glancing down at my hooves. “My mum wanted to… fix me. She said that my aunt had ‘fixed’ my cousin, so she could do it for me as well.”

“That’s horrible!”

“I know, but… I think she was just scared.”

“Scared!?” Lily shouted, her face switching from concern to anger. “That bucking mule wanted to fix you! The only thing she should be scared of is me beating her face in!”

“L-Lily, please…” I said, cowering a little again. Luckily, Lily seemed to notice her outburst and quickly calmed herself.

“Fuck, I… I'm sorry, Rose. I just…” She clenched her eyes, clearly trying to clear her thoughts of her own parents. “I don’t forgive my parents. You might eventually forgive yours, but I don’t forgive mine.”

“I know, beautiful.” I said, placing a calming hoof on her cheek and directing her gaze back to me. “I love you, and no matter what, we’ll get through everything together.”

“Th-thanks.” She said, smiling cautiously and kissing me on the forehead. I giggled lightly and leant upward, returning her affections with a soft kiss on the lips. I hovered a short distance from her mouth, smiling subtly as I felt myself drawn toward her again. I placed a second kiss on her lips, this one lasting just a little longer than before. I threw caution to the wind, and with my third kiss, I pressed myself intently against her.

-

I let out a short, surprised squeak as Rose kissed me, pressing her tongue up against my lips. I sank down and opened up, letting her tongue explore my mouth fervently. My mind swam with passion as a heat built between my legs and I felt the familiar sense of arousal begin to strengthen.

I pulled from the kiss and stared into Rose’s eyes. The beautiful leaf green irises of my fiance stared into mine and I giggled in unadulterated joy. She smiled down at me and leant down to kiss me once more.

Oh gosh, this was what I was waiting for. I felt my body begin to unintentionally squirm as Rose’s hoof traveled lower and lower, closer to my-

-

“Are you sure they’ll like me?” My nervous-- Well, I guess she was my marefriend now, wasn’t she? My nervous marefriend looked at me as we stood outside the front door of my family home.

“Well, I'm sure they’ll like you. Whether they like us being together is another thing.”

“I thought you said they weren’t like my parents?”

“No, I just said they never said anything bad about ponies like… us before. I mean, before I met you, I didn’t even think anything like this would be a possibility for me.”

“Y-you still want to be with me, right?”

“Of course! Even if my parents don’t approve, which I'm sure they will, it doesn’t matter. I… I'm not losing you.”

She smiled at me, still apprehensive about this whole situation. She had a right to be, after what she told me had happened in Manehattan, anypony would. I brought a hoof up to the door and rapped on it loudly. A few seconds later, the door swung open and a pink, smiling mare with a green mane opened the door.

“S-sis?” I said, shocked that she was here.

“You know it!” Daisy said, bubbly as always. “I heard you were coming over, and since Swift hadn’t met mum and dad yet, I thought I would bring him over as well! Uh, who’s the friend?”

“This is Roseluck, my mare-… My friend. You’ve seen her around, right?”

“Not really. I moved my stand ages ago.” Daisy replied and I face hoofed for forgetting. “You know I hate stealing your customers, Sissy. Anyway, come inside! I want you to meet Swifty as well!” She turned around and happily trotted inside. I followed Daisy, my marefriend almost hiding behind me as walked in.

Suddenly, a bright red stallion flew forward and took me into a huge hug.

“Lily!” The stallion said, hugging me tightly. Too tightly.

“P-Posey, please!” I gasped out, my breath strained from his tight hug.

“Oh, sorry, Lily. You know how I get. Who’s your friend?” Posey said and glanced over my shoulder.”

“This is Roseluck. We… work together. She ran a flower arranging stall, and we decided to become… business partners..”

“Just like you to make friends with another flower mare.” He grinned, playfully nudging me.

“Hey.” He said, pushing past me and smiling sideways at Rose. He gazed at her, eyes half lidded and mock bowed to her as she pursed her lips and stared back. “I’m Posey Wind. I really hope my sister can tell me all about you. I just hope you want to get to know me.”

“Posey, can you please try and keep your dick out of my friends?” I said, pushing him playfully. “Besides, she’s… taken.”

“Damn.” He said, pulling himself up and glancing at Rose apologetically. “Sorry, Rose, I just can’t resist a pretty mare.”

Rose said nothing but smiled nervously, her face slightly blushing.

“Come on, idiot.” I said, pulling him by his tail into the living room.

Inside was my beloved mother and father, my sister, and her apparent coltfriend, “Flitter” or something.

“Lily! Welcome home, little miss!” My dad said, smiling at Rose and I. “This that friend you were talking about?”

“Yep. Everyone, this is Rose.” I said, motioning to Rose as she blushed nervously. She waved back as everyone greeted her merrily.

-

Dinner was very loud, as it usually was in my household. Daisy was nothing but happy the whole time, my dad was arguing playfully with Posey, and my mother chatted with Daisy’s coltfriend, Swift Dive.

“I always knew you’d go after a pegasus, sis.” Posey said and waggled his eyebrows at her.

“Stuff it, Posey.” My dad said and chuckled heartily. “Now, Lily, you haven’t really told us what Rose is doing here.”

“Trim!” My mother snapped at him. “That’s no way to say speak to your daughter! What your father meant to say, is what brings your lovely friend here? You don’t usually bring a lot of your friends to dinner.”

I chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of my neck with a hoof. Under the table, Rose placed a hoof on my lap and smiled at me reassuringly. I smiled back and took a deep breath looking back to my family.

“Rose isn’t exactly what I would call a normal friend…” I said, trying to think of a non blunt way to say ‘I’m sleeping with another mare’.

“So what, she’s a business partner?” My dad asked, chewing on a piece of carrot.

“Yes, she is, but that’s not all she is.” I said, my cheeks filling with nervous heat. “I wanted Rose to come along tonight so she could meet you guys.”

“What?” My dad said. “Why?”

“Rose is…” I felt another reassuring squeeze of a hoof from Rose. “Rose and I are marefriend’s.”

The room was silent, the only sound being the clink of a fork dropping down to a plate.

“Congratulations, Lily.” Daisy’s coltfriend was the first to reply before going back to his meal. After another moment of awkward silence, and my family staring at me, Swift looked back up from his meal. “Is something wrong? Did I say something wrong?”

“N-no, babe,” Daisy replied, stuttering.”Lily just hasn’t… Uh… Told us yet. I’m very happy for you, Lily.”

“So, couldn’t really tell us first, could you?” My dad smirked and placed his own cutlery down on his plate. “Don’t get me wrong, I'm more than happy for you, but this is one way to come out to us.”

“Th-thanks dad.” I smiled back, tears beginning to show themselves in my eyes. Rose leant over and kissed me on the cheek, eliciting a shocked gasp from my mum.

“Wait, she hadn’t told you?” Swift said, now realizing why my family had a shocked look on their faces.

“Lily! I'm so happy for you!” Posey cheered, smiling widely. “Sorry about before, I wouldn’t have acted like that to Rose if I knew.”

“That’s fine, ya big dummy.” I laughed, still glancing nervously over at my mum who had yet to say anything. “You didn’t know, so no reason to be sorry to me. You should be sorry to Rose.”

“Heheh, yeah. Sorry, Rose. I can be a bit forward some time.” Posey apologized, still flashing his signature grin. “How long have you been together?”

“About five months now.”

“Lily Valley.” My mum said firmly, standing up. “You are unbelievable.”

“W-what?” I said, my heart sinking as she walked toward me.

“H-hey, there’s nothing wrong with-” Rose started but was interrupted by my mum opening her forelegs up and pulling Rose into a huge, tight hug.

“Mum?”

“I can’t believe you hadn’t told us sooner!” She said, releasing a very shocked looking Rose from the hug. “You better take care of my Lily, you hear?” She said, pointing a hoof at Rose jokingly.

“Uh, I will, Miss Valley.”

“Good.” She smiled, turning to Lily. “Lily, I’m… so happy for you. Happier than you might think.”

“Thanks mum.” I felt the weight lift off my shoulders entirely. They like her! And they didn’t hate me!

“So!” My dad said as my mother took her seat next to him again. “How did you meet your lovely marefriend?”

“Oh, uh… you know that rabbit stampede that happened at the start of the year? So after my stall was destroyed…”

------

“L-Lily?” Rose said, jolting me up as my memory ended.

“H-holy crap.” I said blankly, trying to recover from the rush of information that had almost invaded my mind.

“What happened?”

“I just… I just had a memory thing! Like, that rush of memories that you’ve been having!” I said, Rose’s worried expression relaxing after she saw the joy that this memory had brought me.

“You know, I'm getting sick of these memory flashes interrupting our sexytimes.” Rose said, blushing at her own words.

“O-oh!” I said, remembering now what had been happening before the memory flash. “Why don’t we… continue?”

“I’d love nothing mo-”

“Rose! Lily! Afternoon tea is ready!” Rose’s dad called from the bottom of the stairs.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Rose let out an exasperated sigh of frustration.

“And someone is here to see you!” Rose’s mother's voice added.

Author's Notes:

Hopefully you guys enjoyed. I've been a bit distracted as I got robbed recently, so sorry if the chapter is a little sub-par.