Learning To Accept People Different From You
Sweetie Belle was at the park with her friends an hour after school ended, they just wanted to hang around for a bit so that's exactly what they did but they all knew they had be back home a certain time so they decided to walk back.
As Sweetie Belle walked home her friends caught up with her, she kept walking while she heard them have a conversation behind her, she didn't listen to it though as she concentrated on the path ahead of her. Her friends went home while Sweetie Belle walked up to her place.
She went inside and saw that Rarity was not there, she guess that either Rarity was in the bedroom or she was with her friends, Sweetie Belle shrugged as she went up to her room, she heard noise coming from Rarity's bedroom and that made her think that Rarity was in there cleaning her room.
She tried to play in her room by herself but she looked over at Rarity's room, she saw that it was open a crack, she wondered why Rarity didn't greet her when she came back home as she should realize that school time was over. She decided to see what the noise was so she went over to Rarity's room.
She quietly opened the door and saw Rarity kissing Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle was completely stunned, she looked away and tried to comprehend the possibility of Rarity kissing another woman, she couldn't believe it, she wanted to gossip about it but she knew doing that would be bad.
She got her phone and sent a text to her friends, her hands were shaking, she told them to meet her and went over to see them, when they saw eachother they talked about it immediately.
"Rarity was kissing a woman!? But....she's a girl!" Scootaloo exclaimed.
"I know! I had to look twice to make sure I wasn't going crazy but yeah they were smooching alright, they were pretty into it!" Sweetie Belle said.
"That's nasty! Were they doing that today!?" Apple Bloom asked Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle nodded franticly. Scootaloo held her stomach in laughter, Scootaloo laughed for a bit and got up.
"Ah heard from mah sister that when two women kiss they are called dykes and when two males kiss they are called faggots! Your sister must be very queer!" Apple Bloom remarked.
"Wow I didn't know that! I hope I'm not queer because then I would be attracted to one of you!" Sweetie Belle remarked.
"Ew! I can't believe that! Well I guess I should get home, bye girls!" Scootaloo said, the three friends went home as Sweetie Belle decided that she should stay quiet about her sister. When Sweetie Belle got home she saw her sister and Cheerilee talking on the couch.
Sweetie Belle wanted to ask about their relationship but she would seem rude if she did plus she didn't want to give it away that she saw them kissing earlier so she went up to her room. She decided to bring it up during dinner so she waited. As she played in her room Rarity came to check on her.
"How are you Sweetie Belle? Did you behave in school?" Rarity asked her, Sweetie Belle looked at her and answered in a distracted tone as she wondered about confronting Rarity.
"I'm fine, yes I behaved." Sweetie Belle remarked as she hoped that Rarity would go away, Rarity noticed something was off about Sweetie Belle, she sat by her sister, Sweetie Belle scooted away from her, Rarity wondered why she did this.
"Sweetie Belle what's wrong? Your not being yourself and its worrying me!" Rarity said, Sweetie Belle held back on asking Rarity about what she saw that day, she decided not to though and spoke.
"I'm fine Rarity." Sweetie Belle said. Rarity let it go and talked to Sweetie Belle for an hour and it took Sweetie Belle a lot of strength to not ask her sister if she was a lesbian or not. Finally Rarity kissed her forehead and left to prepare dinner. Sweetie Belle decided to ask her at dinner time.
Soon Sweetie Belle was called downstairs for dinner and while they were eating Sweetie Belle saw a ring on Rarity's hand, Sweetie Belle wondered if Rarity was going to marry Cheerilee, Cheerilee spoke.
"I'm proud of you for doing a good job at school Sweetie Belle, I've already told your sister that you were doing well this quarter so as a reward we might take you somewhere that you want to go." Cheerilee said, Sweetie Belle spoke.
"Thank you." Sweetie Belle said simply, this of coarse confused Rarity and this made her probe a bit further.
"Sweetie Belle I'm concerned, your usually not like this, is there something bothering you?" Cheerilee asked, Rarity nodded at Sweetie Belle, Sweetie Belle gulped as she stuttered to make up an excuse. She decided to spit it out.
"Are you two dykes?" Sweetie Belle blurted out, Cheerilee choked on her food in shock and Rarity came rushing to her aide, Rarity was able to dislodge the food from Cheerilee's throat and glared at Sweetie Belle.
"What did you just say!? Where did you hear that language!?" Rarity yelled, Sweetie Belle glared
"I want an answer! Are you two gay or not!?" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Rarity wanted to yell but Cheerilee stopped her.
"Yes Sweetie Belle we are gay, we want to know where you learned that language." Cheerilee said. Sweetie Belle didn't want to tell on her friends.
"I'm not saying who now why are you two gay? Why can't I have a normal sister?" Sweetie Belle remarked, this was when Rarity burst into tears and sobbed and this angered Cheerilee.
"Rarity is normal! You do not talk to your sister like that! We want you to tell us where you heard that language and-" Cheerilee said.
"I don't really care what you have to say about your relationship Cheerilee, I want my old sister back." Sweetie Belle said while Rarity cried.
"She is your old sister! Just because me and her are gay doesn't mean that we aren't normal, we were going to invite you to our wedding but we won't if you keep this up." Cheerilee said as Rarity continued to cry.
"Good! I wasn't going anyway! You can try to convince me that you two are normal all you want but that won't convince me in continuing to live here and go to you wedding, I want to go home my mom and dad." Sweetie Belle said defiantly. Rarity spoke through her tears.
"Fine then! Your going back to them early tomorrow because I will not stand my own sister hating me for who I am and you can explain why your sorry ass back went back to them earlier than expected and then maybe they can set you right!" Rarity yelled while she cried. Sweetie Belle flipped them off and ran up to her room while Cheerilee comforted Rarity.
Sweetie Belle slammed her door in anger and cursed to herself, Rarity and Cheerilee both figured out that Apple Bloom probably told Sweetie Belle those derogatorive names but they decided to let it go as Applejack usually took Apple Bloom's side over that.
After an hour Sweetie Belle thought about how she treated Rarity and Cheerilee she realized how mean she was being to two ponies that were nice to her.
She still couldn't stand the idea of gay people though but she thought about this a bit more and realized that maybe it wasn't such a big deal and that they were like any other straight couple. Maybe it wasn't as bad as it seemed also she saw how mean she was to Rarity and Cheerilee She realized her mistake but she feared that it might be to late to apologize.
She thought about Rarity and Cheerilee being gay a bit more and decided that it really didn't effect her what they did together, if they both couldn't help to then why did she attack them anyway. She decided to talk to them while hoping they would give her another chance.
She went to see Rarity but all's she saw was Cheerilee, Cheerilee looked at her with a nervous expression.
"You come to make fun of me? I don't care anymore do you what you want, you won't be coming to our wedding so be glad about that, in fact you never have to see me ever again as you you said you were going back to with your parents early so go ahead and make fun of me since this will be your last opportunity." Cheerilee asked Sweetie Belle couldn't say anything. She finally got the nerve to speak.
"Can I ask you something Cheerilee? Why did you get so offended? Why should I apologize?" Sweetie Belle asked. Cheerilee spoke to her.
"Because you made fun of us for being who we are, me and Rarity were both born like this and we can't help it, gays have been discriminated against in Equestria a few years ago but not as much as today since seventy percent are accepting now but still some people are discriminated against for it, what I'm trying to get at Sweetie Belle is that discrimination is wrong no matter who it's targeting! It doesn't matter if some males like other males or women like other women because love is love. Discrimination is ugly and it drives people apart and if Rarity's and my sexual orientations causes you to hate us after years of caring about us then that would devastate us so tell me Sweetie Belle, are you seriously going to start hating two people that have been nice to you while you have been nice to us for a long time as well, are you going to throw away the love you have for your sister and the appreciation for me if we are a couple? Will you seriously skip your own sister's wedding? Will you seriously hate your own sister for being different? Please think about this very carefully before you answer? This is up to you Sweetie Belle." Cheerilee said as she stared Sweetie Belle straight into her eyes.
Sweetie Belle thought about what Cheerilee said and thought about how nice Rarity and Cheerilee were, she also remembered all of the great times she had with her sister, she didn't want to throw those moments away and the way Cheerilee put it made Sweetie Belle reconsider her hatred and made her think that maybe it didn't matter which gender you love as love had no gender. She made her decision.
"No I don't want to hate my sister, I don't want to throw any of that away, your right about everything, that was a terrible way to act towards you two, I'm sorry Cheerilee, I'll never discriminate again, your right, the gender of your love really doesn't matter as long as it's between two consenting adults it shouldn't matter as they both live each other. I'm sorry Cheerilee." Sweetie Belle said as she started to cry.
Cheerilee pulled Sweetie Belle in for a hug, they were both glad that Sweetie Belle changed her mind. Rarity came in and saw what was happening and Sweetie Belle noticed her. Cheerilee looked at Rarity and let Sweetie Belle go and Sweetie Belle apologized to Rarity.
"I'm sorry for hating you for who you were, it was wrong of me, I want to go to your wedding, I sincerely mean it, I promise to never be hateful again, I'm sorry for being mean and intolerant to you. I hurt you today and I shouldn't have done that. I'll never be like that again I promise." Sweetie Belle said with tears running down her cheeks.
"I forgive you, you can still go to the wedding if you want...." Rarity said but was cut off as Sweetie Belle suddenly hugged her, Rarity smiled and all three of them hung out. A few weeks later Sweetie Belle went to Rarity's and Cheerilee's wedding as she was very happy for them and was happy that she wasn't intolerant anymore.
When the day was over Cheerilee, Sweetie Belle and Rarity hung out for a bit which made Sweetie Belle happy, she would always love her sister and Cheerilee.
