Primrose was very excited to meet more members of Discovery’s family. He had met all of hers, so it was only natural that she would do the same for him. She had met Honeycrisp and his parents and aunts, and now there was only one family memeber left!

“Bonjur Monsieur Somerset! Er…Mademoiselle?”

She looked to Discovery with confusion. She couldn’t tell at all. Was this unicorn a filly or a colt?

“Um…” Somerset cleared…his or her…throat and shuffled back a bit. “Well…”

Primrose smiled softly, thinking “she or he” was only shy. She moved forward and used her arm to move up Somerset’s bangs.

“No need to be shy, ma petite! What beautiful eyes you have! Such a gorgeous filly!”

Discovery looked between them with a nervous expression, tapping Prim’s shoulder to get her attention.

“Beg your pardon dear, but can we…have a word?”

Primrose looked back up with a wide, blissfully ignorant smile, trotting back over to her beloved delightfully.

“Of course dear!”

She gently nuzzled her head under Discovery’s snout in a show of affection.

“Now tell me, what is troubling you, mon ami?”

“Now Ah just want you to know, Ah’m not mad at you and yer not in trouble, but y’see,” Discovery gestured towards Somerset across the room, “Som here ain’t a colt OR a filly, and they got mighty uncomfortable when ya tried to guess what they were back there.”

The unicorn mare’s eyes glazed over like a fish and her jaw hung open with confusion. She tried to piece together this concept in her head; there was no word for being neither in her language that she could remember.

“I have no clue what you’re talking about, that’s impossible. You are one or the other, no? Some mares become stallions and vice versa but…neither? Please, explain.”

“Ah know it can be hard to understand if ya aren’t familiar with it. It took awhile for me to learn about it mahself. Do you know how bein’ transgender works?”

Primrose nodded intensely. She had a very good grasp on this. She even had spoken to some trans ponies before herself.

“Oui oui! I do get that! I’m very supportive of these things.”

Discovery smiled in encouragement. “Great! Som is kinda like that, havin’ their brain be somethin’ different than what their body is. But instead o’ bein’ male or female, they’re neither. Non-binary, they call it. Non-binary mind n’ heart in a binary body. Does that make any sense hun?”

”I suppose so,” Primrose nodded, still working on grasping it. “Do forgive me for assuming otherwise.”

”It’s alright, love. You didn’t know. But you should start over with Som so they know ya understand and mean well too.”

After a few moments of awkward silence, Primrose pursed her lip tightly and turned back to Somerset, who was shifting their weight back and forth between their hooves. They looked even more worried when they saw her approach.

“My apologizes mon petit, you are a…they, correct?”

“Yes,” Somerset quickly brightened up upon hearing Primrose use their right pronouns. “Yes, Ah am! Welcome to the family!” They shook her hoof heartily, moreso than she expected.

Primrose pulled Somerset into a tighter-than-necessary hug, well-meaning but a little too enthusiastic. “I’m so happy to meet you as well!”