HOME | DD

Description
WARNING: Mention of Sexual Harassment

~~~~~~~~~~

Both Minted and Blueberry needed to unwind from the weekend they just had, dealing with asshole stallions at work. So they decided to spend an evening with the two ponies—other than each other—they loved the most: their Mother and Mom. Their parents made the invitation but tonight they were more than happy to go, especially in the midst of everything else going on. It was their safe place.

“So nice to have my babies come over for once! We’ve missed you!”

Lyra fussed over the twins like they were foals, prompting an eye-roll from both of them.

“We do have jobs, Mom! We have bills and rent to keep up with, it’s hard to take a day off.”

“Yeah! There are no days off when you’re busy making it big!”

“Ugh, I wish I had more days off.”

Bon Bon dampened the lighthearted banter with her own frustration, having just come home from work herself.

“Some of my coworkers are just…disgusting. This one stallion I’d been working with for awhile kept flirting with me and asking me if I still like mares. You know, thinking he had a chance with me. So unprofessional!”

“Ew, what the fuck! This dude works for the government too?”

“Used to.”

Bon Bon corrected Blueberry.

“I finally had enough and reported him today. The agency takes these things VERY seriously, security is their top priority and they’ll oust anypony who threatens even one pony’s safety. Thank Gaia for that too, they weren’t always this strict. But now that means his friends are going to start giving me a hard time.”

The mare groaned just thinking about it.

“It seems like there’s at least one in every field.”

Lyra commented with her own story to tell.

“It’s not always really obvious either. The conductor at our orchestra isn’t really a nice guy, he’s really demanding towards everypony except me. He’s ONLY nice to me. A little too nice. The others are really jealous of me but I don’t know…I think there’s something else going on there.”

She grew quiet as she recalled her discomfort.

“Damn, it sucks he’s got everyone fooled. At least in showbiz you can tell when somepony’s an asshole. They don’t hide it at all.”

Blueberry wrapped an arm around her brother.

“Heh, I was just telling Mint about it. We get crazy fanfillies and creepy stallions all the time at our shows. There was one really gross dude the other night but it was nothing a little execution threat couldn’t fix!”

She broke out chortling.

“Blueberry Twizzle-Pixie Sticks!”

Bon Bon scolded her.

“This is why I told you to get security! You’re going to get hurt!”

“Motherrr, I’m fine!”

Blueberry waved her off.

“We can handle it! It’s not a big deal!”

But her laughing grew more halfhearted like she didn’t entirely believe what she was saying.

“Gosh, it sounds like a big deal!”

Minted’s heart dropped in horror at what he was hearing. First Sienna, then his sister, now his own mothers? He couldn’t bear to think of any of these ponies getting hurt, especially not the three mares he loved the most!

“Does…does this happen to every mare? How do you live with this??”

The three mares traded a glance and chuckled a bit.

“We don’t! It’s awful!”

Lyra spoke up.

“How are you laughing about this? Sienna wasn’t laughing at all when it happened to her! She, well…”

Minted trailed off once he realized what he was getting into.

“You’re right, we shouldn’t be laughing. This is serious.”

Bon Bon was the first to calm down, but at the mention of Sienna’s name all three of them stopped and turned towards him.

Blueberry’s ears perked up in recognition, having visited her brother’s workplace several times before.

“Sienna? Isn’t she that lady who works at the bar?”

Minted nodded, his chest tightening under their expectant gazes as he struggled to explain it all.

“The boss…is horrible to her. Mostly after closing. He gets in her personal space and makes her really uncomfortable and…says such awful things to her. I shouldn’t repeat it. One night it was so bad that she started crying and…I just feel so bad for her.”

“You kicked the boss’s ass, right?”

His sister asked like she assumed he certainly did. He was all the more ashamed to say he wasn’t.

“I want to. I really do. But every time I try to say something I just freeze, I don’t know what to do.”

His family’s faces twist into expressions ranging from surprise to outrage.

“So you’re just letting it happen?”

“Well no! I am trying to do something! I talked to my coworkers to see if they could talk to him, they have the guts I don’t. But they didn’t want to, they just made excuses and turned a blind eye! It was so…so frustrating!”

Minted started to grow angry just thinking about it, until his Mother offered her own two cents.

“Aren’t you also making excuses?”

The stallion opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Deep down he knew she was right…he’d been awfully bad at taking action.

His Mom put a comforting but resolute hoof on his shoulder.

“I know you can’t help your anxiety, Minty. But if something’s going on at work you HAVE to say something. Especially if nopony else will. If you don’t…it could end badly.”

“You’re right…”

Minted admitted.

“I’d do it for you all. At least, I’d try harder than anything. You’re my sister and mothers. Sienna’s somepony’s sister and daughter!”

“Sienna is also somePONY.”

Bon Bon corrected him.

“I was completely alone before I had all of you, you know. I was nopony’s daughter, sister, OR mother. Did I deserve to be harassed? Is that Sienna’s only worth, her relationship to somepony else? Is that was it takes for you to stand up for her?”

All of Minted’s words left him as he sat in his discomfort. He always felt bad whenever his Mother brought up being an orphan but this was different…this was shame. Truth be told, he deserved it with how little action he’d taken, how he’d stood by as a mare’s safety was on the line.

“No, Mother.”

He uttered, promising to himself that he was going to do something. He was going to stand up to Huck, he was going to report him, anything he needed to do no matter how scared shitless he was. He had no excuses.

He owed this to Sienna and everypony who had been harassed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Sialoquent
Next: Docimasy

Description
WARNING: Mention of Sexual Harassment

~~~~~~~~~~

Both Minted and Blueberry needed to unwind from the weekend they just had, dealing with asshole stallions at work. So they decided to spend an evening with the two ponies—other than each other—they loved the most: their Mother and Mom. Their parents made the invitation but tonight they were more than happy to go, especially in the midst of everything else going on. It was their safe place.

“So nice to have my babies come over for once! We’ve missed you!”

Lyra fussed over the twins like they were foals, prompting an eye-roll from both of them.

“We do have jobs, Mom! We have bills and rent to keep up with, it’s hard to take a day off.”

“Yeah! There are no days off when you’re busy making it big!”

“Ugh, I wish I had more days off.”

Bon Bon dampened the lighthearted banter with her own frustration, having just come home from work herself.

“Some of my coworkers are just…disgusting. This one stallion I’d been working with for awhile kept flirting with me and asking me if I still like mares. You know, thinking he had a chance with me. So unprofessional!”

“Ew, what the fuck! This dude works for the government too?”

“Used to.”

Bon Bon corrected Blueberry.

“I finally had enough and reported him today. The agency takes these things VERY seriously, security is their top priority and they’ll oust anypony who threatens even one pony’s safety. Thank Gaia for that too, they weren’t always this strict. But now that means his friends are going to start giving me a hard time.”

The mare groaned just thinking about it.

“It seems like there’s at least one in every field.”

Lyra commented with her own story to tell.

“It’s not always really obvious either. The conductor at our orchestra isn’t really a nice guy, he’s really demanding towards everypony except me. He’s ONLY nice to me. A little too nice. The others are really jealous of me but I don’t know…I think there’s something else going on there.”

She grew quiet as she recalled her discomfort.

“Damn, it sucks he’s got everyone fooled. At least in showbiz you can tell when somepony’s an asshole. They don’t hide it at all.”

Blueberry wrapped an arm around her brother.

“Heh, I was just telling Mint about it. We get crazy fanfillies and creepy stallions all the time at our shows. There was one really gross dude the other night but it was nothing a little execution threat couldn’t fix!”

She broke out chortling.

“Blueberry Twizzle-Pixie Sticks!”

Bon Bon scolded her.

“This is why I told you to get security! You’re going to get hurt!”

“Motherrr, I’m fine!”

Blueberry waved her off.

“We can handle it! It’s not a big deal!”

But her laughing grew more halfhearted like she didn’t entirely believe what she was saying.

“Gosh, it sounds like a big deal!”

Minted’s heart dropped in horror at what he was hearing. First Sienna, then his sister, now his own mothers? He couldn’t bear to think of any of these ponies getting hurt, especially not the three mares he loved the most!

“Does…does this happen to every mare? How do you live with this??”

The three mares traded a glance and chuckled a bit.

“We don’t! It’s awful!”

Lyra spoke up.

“How are you laughing about this? Sienna wasn’t laughing at all when it happened to her! She, well…”

Minted trailed off once he realized what he was getting into.

“You’re right, we shouldn’t be laughing. This is serious.”

Bon Bon was the first to calm down, but at the mention of Sienna’s name all three of them stopped and turned towards him.

Blueberry’s ears perked up in recognition, having visited her brother’s workplace several times before.

“Sienna? Isn’t she that lady who works at the bar?”

Minted nodded, his chest tightening under their expectant gazes as he struggled to explain it all.

“The boss…is horrible to her. Mostly after closing. He gets in her personal space and makes her really uncomfortable and…says such awful things to her. I shouldn’t repeat it. One night it was so bad that she started crying and…I just feel so bad for her.”

“You kicked the boss’s ass, right?”

His sister asked like she assumed he certainly did. He was all the more ashamed to say he wasn’t.

“I want to. I really do. But every time I try to say something I just freeze, I don’t know what to do.”

His family’s faces twist into expressions ranging from surprise to outrage.

“So you’re just letting it happen?”

“Well no! I am trying to do something! I talked to my coworkers to see if they could talk to him, they have the guts I don’t. But they didn’t want to, they just made excuses and turned a blind eye! It was so…so frustrating!”

Minted started to grow angry just thinking about it, until his Mother offered her own two cents.

“Aren’t you also making excuses?”

The stallion opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Deep down he knew she was right…he’d been awfully bad at taking action.

His Mom put a comforting but resolute hoof on his shoulder.

“I know you can’t help your anxiety, Minty. But if something’s going on at work you HAVE to say something. Especially if nopony else will. If you don’t…it could end badly.”

“You’re right…”

Minted admitted.

“I’d do it for you all. At least, I’d try harder than anything. You’re my sister and mothers. Sienna’s somepony’s sister and daughter!”

“Sienna is also somePONY.”

Bon Bon corrected him.

“I was completely alone before I had all of you, you know. I was nopony’s daughter, sister, OR mother. Did I deserve to be harassed? Is that Sienna’s only worth, her relationship to somepony else? Is that was it takes for you to stand up for her?”

All of Minted’s words left him as he sat in his discomfort. He always felt bad whenever his Mother brought up being an orphan but this was different…this was shame. Truth be told, he deserved it with how little action he’d taken, how he’d stood by as a mare’s safety was on the line.

“No, Mother.”

He uttered, promising to himself that he was going to do something. He was going to stand up to Huck, he was going to report him, anything he needed to do no matter how scared shitless he was. He had no excuses.

He owed this to Sienna and everypony who had been harassed.

~~~~~~~~~~

Previous: Sialoquent
Next: Docimasy