In hindsight Mark and Anna Pines could acknowledge they hadn’t handled thing very well. At the time they had thought they were but nowadays where there’s plenty of information on how to deal with the supernatural and where there are pamphlets and internet forms about the do’s and Don’ts if your child becomes Preter (several they visited after they found out their granddaughter was a witch) they knew they hadn’t.

Back then they were flying blind. They made decisions they thought we right, for their kids own good. Knowing what they know now their logic hadn’t been as sound as the thought.

It may sound strange but the problem hadn’t been Dipper’s situation, not really. Yes, their son becoming a demon had been the elephant in the room but no matter how big an elephant is, it’s a lot easier to ignore when it’s literally invisible.

No, the problem was Mable most of the time. Why well…

For starters whatever it was in the Pines family that attracted weird hadn’t skipped Mark and accepting that your twelve-year-old knows better than you can be hard to say the least. That had been the cause of more than a few of their augments Mable suggesting and often outright doing herself a seemingly random solution to an issue. Cue augments about putting herself in danger, getting involved when she shouldn’t and not doing as she’s told countered with claims they didn’t trusting her and she knew what she was doing.

There was a part of them that wonders if had thing been different, would it have been as hard to be believe Dipper. If it had been their practical bookish son and not their creative head in the clouds daughter would the solutions have seemed so random would they have listen more. That thought kept them both up at night.

The other big problem had been her reaction to… well… everything.

Dipper for as little as they saw him seemed as freaked out as they where by his changes. It was wrong they knew to be glad to see fear and panic in their child but it was reassuring to see he was having trouble adjusting too. Even when they couldn’t see him they often heard one-sided reassurances and comfort, that was normal, that’s how someone should react to all this.  

Mable on the other hand had taken everything in her stride either being blasé or excited. That wasn’t normal. It wasn’t normal to exclaim happily “Oh! These are Dippers teeth, they fell out and got replaced fangs! I’m keeping them this box isn’t it pretty!” or “Hey look!” and arrive downstairs holding a taking one-eyed star that was apparently her brother. It wasn’t just Dipper either that was her reaction to everything vampires, werewolves, pixies and gnomes big, small dangerous or cute. Was there something wrong with her?

Sending them back to Gravity Falls had been the right decision that they were sure of. Stan had done a wonderful job. There Mable had a good life a job in the library a business of her own married to a good man with three precious kids of her own. She wouldn’t have had that here, she’d been already been ostracised and isolated when she left it could only have grown worse. Dipper seemed happier too as best they could tell it might just be he was getting strong enough to become corporal more often now. The weren’t sure how they would have handled that here and it wouldn’t have helped Mable situation one bit.

Even now it was Mable they worried about.

Tales of Alcor could be dismissed as the cults own fault or demon instincts Dipper couldn’t control. It was uncomfortable to hear these stories but it was a known quantity easy to understand and explain away.

But tales of Mizar the Gleeful how do you reconcile that with your human child. It wasn’t possession they where seen side by side that was all Mable and that was truly terrifying.

So, no they hadn’t handled Dippers transformation well. The downside of that invisible elephant is its really easy to be blindside when you forget it’s there and run into it. But Mable they didn’t know how to handle Mable anymore. Had she always been like this and Dipper had diluted the effect made it hard to notice or had the trauma of the Transcendence caused it? they didn’t know and it disturbed them.

That was why unspoken was this thought they never acknowledged this terrible evil thought that haunted their dreams would it have been better if it was Mable. If Mable became the demon and Dipper got to stay would thing have been simpler easier to deal with if it had been self-conscious worrying Dipper who came home that summer he wouldn’t acted so odd, he would have handled thing better, he was mostly normal it was wrong unfair they knew that but it was always there and the worst part.

The worst part was DIPPER KNEW.

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This is from the parent’s perspective so while we know Mable’s just putting on a brave face when she deals with them they don’t. We’ve also seen the kind of stuff Mable went threw that summer compared to that most thing post Transcendence are mundane and again I doubt she told them those stories. With that in mind I can’t help think Mable’s already eccentric take on everything would be the most disturbing part.