+Twilight is on “Canterlot’s mental health facility”, waiting her turn. That single one that they have for the entire place, apparently. She came there along while Ascentia was busy with work, something I already don’t get. On the previous chapter we already made clear that Ascentia was agreeing with seeing a therapist and yet Twilight sneaks in as it was meant to be a secret.
+She’s called to the office of Dr JoshScorcherOc and people whisper around them about a Princess going to an appointment, which is stupid why else did they thought she was waiting there for? Someone comments about they heard that she beats her wife so we have confirmation that this is a known fact people gossip about, not some secret completely covered up by her influence. This’ll become somewhat relevant later but don’t get your hopes up..
+Twilight ignores them and enters the office of Josh. They greet each other. Twilight says she needs help with her way of dealing with her stress and anger. Scorcher asks how does she do it currently. Twilight talks about she hiting her practically all the time and how the first time she did it got her in trouble. Scorcher has the police report of Twilight, which’s something I doubt therapist actually have access to unless the patient was a criminal mandated by law to get treatment. The police report contains “thirteen counts of assault and battery, nine counts of abuse of power, and three counts each of inflicting grievous bodily harm, rape, and assault with a weapon”. All of that I’m assuming happened that one time, the very first time Twilight hit her, and got found out immediately after because it’s amusing to me imagine Twilight just spontaneously did it all at super speed. But I still have to comment that “abuse of power” should refer to her power as a Princess and I actually can’t understand how would that apply to Ascentia, and why it was important to count that it happened nine times. I guess Liliana just wanted to list a bunch of crimes and didn’t thought how they made sense with each other. We also don’t know what weapon did she used. I’ll imagine a dildo because I have to create something fun for me.
+They both mention that Ascentia dropped the charges, which we already knew. Twilight speaks about how all her friends are scared of her and how she could potentially abuse her own baby. But, just like Rainbow Dash, because Liliana’s fully incapable of writing more than one type of character, she doesn’t mind about hurting the baby she’s currently pregnant with as much as ending up behind bars. Mother of the year.
+Scorcher then asks her to talk more about the report so he can get an idea of what happened. Twilight says that that she has tried to block those memories out. They both lived at the palace at the time and she was stressed. She tried to take a break but couldn’t. Then Ascentia said something that annoyed her so much that she struck down on her. What follows is a description of the assault that somehow Liliana manages to mae sound as dull and boring as posible, even as Twilight brings up threatening with stabbing Ascentia if she called for help.
+Ascentia was on the hospital for two days. After getting out she payed the bail of Twilight, even though Twilight didn’t want to leave because she felt she deserved to be there (which shows a level of self awareness that we’re never going to get with Pedodash, good on her even if that never lead anywhere). Ascentia comforts her and tells her everything’ll be alright, just like she di don the previous chapter.
+The second time Twilight went three weeks without sex so when she found Ascentia on the library she raped her. For some reason Scorcher wants her to elaborate further on what happened, I guess because Liliana just needed to tell us all that Twilight was “raging horny” and when Ascentia said she wasn’t on the mood, she still violated her and didn’t stopped, because we’re stupid and none of us could have figured out that is what a rape entails. After she was done she went to sleep to her room, but then started crying because she was a terrible person. She says she wanted to go there and apoligize but didn’t so, the self awareness only goes so far. Not that an apology and feeling bad about could ever be reasons enough to forgive a rapist, but this is Liliana we’re talking about.
+She reccount that the next morning she just found Ascentia next to her bed as if nothing happened.
+The time where Twilight was brought on in front of the Council was because she was caught having consentual agressive sex… on some place where they could get caught, don’t know where. On that hearing Ascentia tried to defend Twilight, despite also admitting that Twilight had been “abusing and raping her for years.” Twilight then talks about how Ascentia’s a masochist and has Stockholm Syndrome as the reason why she defended her.
+I have to make a little sidenote: I don’t know why this fic’s called Stockholm. Yes, we just namedropped the title of it and Ascentia does portray a very loose and poor attempt at what stockholm would be like, but she’s barely on the story as it is. We're on chapter 16 and this’s the first time she and Twilight have a chapter entirely on their own without we having to deal with Rainbow Dash’s drama. For anyone who have been reading this story Rainbow would be the protagonist and Ascentia/Twilight are nothing but a plot B that doesn’t really connect entirely with the plot A. Stockholm as a whole is an idea that’s just there and doesn’t have much to do with anything. Maybe Liliana just couldn’t think a title related to Dash’s pedophilia so went with one related to the other story without reasoning how much spotlight she gave to one over the other, making the title just not fit with the actual story.
+Back to the story, Scorcher points out that Ascentia has never been officially diagnosed and then asks what happened. That was when Ascentia told her she liked the abuse. At first Twilight felt terrible about it but then started liking it, and just now it occurs to her that she looked like an abuser to everyone else. The people calling the cops of this world on her apparently wasn’t enough to clue her in.
+Scorchers wants to now why she’s there now, and Twilight just summarize what happened on the previous chapter in case we all forgot.
+At this point I’m beggining to think that Liliana understands “abuse of power” as in the interpersonal power umbalance, because Twilight keeps talking about feeling like she had power over Ascentia, which’s stupid. Twilight thinks she likes to apply this power violently because Ascentia is taller and stronger than her, but she could subdue her. She thinks this happened either because she herself was stronger than she thought or Ascentia was letting her get away with what she wanted to do.
+In response Josh decides to show Twilight a recording of a previous session that Ascentia had with him by court order. Since Twilight’s Equestian Royalty there’s no need for doctor confidentiality and nobody cares about Ascentia’s consent here anyway.
+The recording just says the obvious: Ascentia doesn’t actually like to be raped, hit or beaten. She just said that to make Twilight feel better and doesn’t care if that is not what a healthy marriage is or not.
+Twilight’s shocked to hear this because she’s an idiot and feels like a terrible person again. There’s a lot of that here and I think the point’s to show Twilight being actually a good person because she feels bad about doing bad things, which’s stupid but consistent with Liliana’s way of writing her main characters being awful people tha face no consequences for it.
+Scorcher tells Twilight that she has to forgive herself since Ascentia already did. Twilight says that Ascentia shouldn’t have to sacrifica her mental health for her, and Josh responds with this “Twilight, as of now what has happened is in the past,” Firebrand explained, “And while it can hurt, you can either run from it or learn from it. And I cannot help you unless you choose to learn from it.”, which doesn’t really responds to what she said.
+The solution of Scorcher is for Twilight to take a depressant, a similar prescription that he gave to Pedodash, that’s meant to help her out when she’s stressed our angry. He also says that it won’t help unless they find out for sure why she rapes Ascenta. Spoiler for the next fic: it’s implied, but not outright said, that is because Twilight’s mom raped her as a kid for years. But unlike Twilight, her mom doesn’t get any sympathy and is outed as a predator that everyone despises, I guess because Twilight’s mom is an older woman and we know how much Liliana hates those. I don’t know if Liliana planned for it or she realized she never actually did anything to “redeem” Twilight so quickly thought of facing Twilight with a worst abuser than her. My bet is that she had no idea, and probably also didn’t planned for the sexual abuse as a child to explain her current tendencies but that’s just my theory.
+Scorcher asks Twilight if she wants to hurt Ascentia again. Instead of concentrating on the fact that she loves her wife and therefore would never want her to go through any pain, she says that she’s always concerned because she commited a crime. Nice to know that on her list of priorities is first to obey the law, then caring for the wellbeing of her daughter and wife.
+The doctor tells her to have a long talk with Ascentia and that the help “will continue to help you as long you listen to me”, which I’m sure Liliana didn’t realized how slighty ominous that sounded, especially from the same doctor that actively enables a pedophiles.
+Twilight goes back home and Ascentia recieves her, concerned because she didn’t know where she was. Despite she being the one who had to go to the hospital, she says “after everything you went through, I was concerned” to Twilight.
+Twilight explains what we just read and ask Ascentia why she lied about liking everything she did. Ascentia answers that she end up liking some of the stuff they did, but mostly she just didn’t want her to be stressed out because she loves her so much. Just now Twilight talks about how she doesn’t want to hurt her. They hug.
+Then Twilight mention how talking with Josh made her realice that other things made her stressed, not Ascentia herself, and then Ascentia would say the wrong thing at the wrong time, which’s a way to blame her for the abuse. Ascentia actually apoligizes for it since she just tries to “lighten the mood” which I don’t buy or at least doesn’t really make sense. If it happened one time, I can believe it, but for it to happen so many times and Ascentia still never understanding when Twilight’s too stressed out to not make some snide comment just doesn’t sound believable to me. She says she doesn’t mean to make her more upset, but if that is the result every time, except on the rare ocassion that Twilight does laugh, then why keep doing it? Also the time Twilight raped her on the library wasn’t “saying the wrong thing at the wrong time”, was not giving consent to a sexual encounter she didn’t felt like having at the time that Twilight asked for it.
+Whatever. They decide to snuggle and watch Frozen. Ascentia comments that is the Disney movie, “The one everyone says has lesbian sisters in it”.
+They’re both sleeping on bed. Twilight feels bad. Ascentia’s mumbling about feeding Spike, that apparently’s the younger brother of Twilight here and that doesn’t matter because he never appears anyway. While Ascentia is sleeping and continuesly trying to be closer to her, Twilight notices a bunch of wound and bruises she leff on Ascentia and how bad she feels about it. They say I love you to each other.
+Twilight has her own inner voice that taunts her about how she feels bad now, but she’ll be back to abusing her in no time. Twilight’s so sad about how much she destroyed Ascentia that she cries and only then Ascentia wakes up. They talk about how bad Twilight feels while Ascentia tries to tell her that’s fine, she’ll get better. Twilight wants Ascentia to promise her that if she ever does something again, she needs to take their daughter and run away.
+I want to take a momment to point that right there, just saying that, makes her a better person than Rainbow “I only care about abusing my daughter because my girlfriend could leave me over it”, and I don’t think that was intentional. It won’t mean anything later on when Ascentia does exactly that and Twilight still goes after her, but for now, as far this fic is concerned, yeah, she’s better than Rainbow.
+Ascentia tells her she won’t ever leave her because she’s her wife and if she tries to take it out on their dauther, she’ll restain her, which’s a horrible thought to have as a mother. Babies are insanely fragile. They can actually die for one single second you’re not watching them. On that moment between Ascentia doing anything else and Twilight being alone with the baby, that baby could die and Ascentia willing to take that risk’s being a fucking idiot.
+Twilight asks her why she refuses to hurt her if she can do it.
“Because I forgive you, Twilight. For everything. Some people say I’m a masochist, or I’m a battered wife, or that I have Stockholm Syndrome. Some people are really fucking stupid. I’m not going to beat you up, what would that accomplish? Look at yourself, sweetie. You’re miserable, and you’re crying. Why would I do something like that to you at a time you need me the most?””
+Another instance of Liliana writing abusive characters being forgiven by their victims just by virtue of feeling bad about it.
+They go back to sleep. Ascentia has her own inner voice that she defeats with sass and sarcasm, all while “jokingly” talking about how if Twilight doesn’t rape her daughter then Rainbow will anyway.
+On the next morning Ascentia is preparing a big breakfast only using her underwear. They banter and flirt. Ascentia gives Twilight her breakfast and they eat. Then Ascentia plays pretend like a cat because Kitten, all with mewling and baby talk. Then they fuck. Twilight feels bad again about all the scars that Ascentia has, some of them still hurting, but Ascentia says she like them because they tell a story. They banter. Ascentia comments this:
“Oh come on. Two women, both of them gorgeous, big dramatic abuse story, all kinds of hot kinky sex the audience feels guilty for enjoying? It’s in the bag! I’d like to thank the Academy for giving us this prestigious honor, and my wife for helping me write this wondrous film!”
+I comment that there was nothing particularly kinky about this scene except the cat thing and even that was very mild. A vanilla person’s idea of kinky at best. The end.