Scootaloo was excited. Today was Hearth’s Warming Eve, and her entire extended family on her dad, Thunder Chaser’s side was coming for a Hearth’s Warming Party. She was so excited she was practically bouncing off the walls. One of her Aunts was already here, and so were her grandparents, but the cousins that were around her age (one was 15 and one was 12 like Scootaloo herself) hadn’t arrived yet. She went over to ask her mother, Swirling Winds, a light blue pegasus with an iron black mane and tail, when they would be here.
Her mother let out an exasperated sigh and said, “Scootaloo, that’s the tenth time you’ve asked that. They’ll get here when they get here!”
Scootaloo sighed and grumbled a, “Fine,” before she noticed that her mother’s face not only had the telltale signs of being irritated with her, she also looked worried. Now Scootaloo may not have been the most observant pony, but she knew that her mother rarely got worried. Swirling Winds was normally a very calm pony, and seeing her mom so worried got Scootaloo worried as well. “Mom, are you stressed about something?” she asked.
Her mom sighed, the worry lines not leaving her face. “Yes, I am,” she replied, not giving any sort of explanation.
“Why?”
Swirling Winds sighed again, clearly contemplating whether she should tell Scootaloo about her worries. Though Scootaloo was 12 now, and had her cutie mark, she could still be ignorant at times.
Swirling Winds knew her daughter knew about lesbians and bisexuals and trans ponies and all that, but she didn’t know for sure if Scootaloo knew about all the bad things that happened to them, how they were excluded, picked on, viewed as wrong in the eyes of other, and so on. (Later, she would find out that Scootaloo did indeed know all of these things, but that is not important to this story, at this time.)
Finally, she came to a conclusion, and decided to tell her daughter. She pointed at Scootaloo’s Aunt, Raining Sunshine, or Aunt Rainy, according to Scootaloo. “Scootaloo, do you know your Aunt Raining is a lesbian?” Scootaloo nodded, and her mom continued. “Well, although your grandparents and our family have no problem with that, your cousins’ family does.”
Scootaloo’s eyes widened, and her mother didn’t know it, but what seemed like a million thoughts went through her head at that moment. See, Scootaloo was a lesbian as well, although the only ponies she had told were Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom. At that moment, she was thinking the same thought over and over again. What would they think of me, if they knew my secret?
Unbeknownst to the hundreds of thoughts racing around in Scootaloo’s brain, her mother kept going, and Scootaloo forced herself to pay attention. “When your cousins’ family found out she was a lesbian, they stopped talking to her. Today will be the first day they’ll be in the same room as each other in about 5 years. And I’m worried about how that’s going to play out.”
Scootaloo kind of nodded in a daze, not really listening to her mother. Unfortunately, her mom noticed, and gave a soft smile. “But you don’t need to worry about any of that, okay? Don’t think your Aunt will be mad if you play with your cousins either. She knows they’re really nice ponies overall, just a little conservative.”
Not knowing what else to do, and not wanting to be alone all day. Scootaloo agreed. Besides, she really did want to play with her cousins. She only saw them two or three times a year after all. She resolved to just never tell them her secret until they were all grown up and grown apart and too busy being boring adults for her to care if they never spoke to her again, and she’d be fine.
Then she heard the doorbell ring, and her mother tilted her head toward it, told her to go on, and walked away.
Scootaloo had been playing with her unicorn cousins for a good half hour when Indigo Rose, the older of the two sisters, said, after glancing at Raining Sunshine “Why would anypony decide to be a lesbian anyway?”
Scootaloo was startled at this question. She knew that nopony just decided to be a lesbian, they were born that way. Apparently, her cousins either didn’t know that or chose to ignore it. She got her answer to that question before she even got the chance to think about it when the younger of the two, Emerald Joy, said, “I know they say all that stuff about being born that way and not being able to choose and blah, blah, blah, but I mean come on! If you don’t want to be a lesbian, then don’t be a lesbian! It’s as simple as that. Aunt Raining has told us many times she wishes it wasn’t like this, so why doesn’t she just change to being straight?!”
Indigo Rose shushed her little sister and said, “Emerald, I know it’s weird, but you’re being kind of loud. Could you please be a little quieter? Aunt Raining isn’t going to change, you know that by now. It’s been five years, and she still doesn’t understand. I don’t think she ever will, okay? So could you please drop it?”
Emerald sighed and agreed, but not before asking Scootaloo, who had been silent during this whole exchange, what she thought about lesbians.
Caught off guard at that, Scootaloo tried to come up with a somewhat appropriate answer, and said the first acceptable thing that came to her mind, though stumbling badly over her words. “Uh, well, I, um, guess they’re kind of weird. I, uh, don’t really, um, understand them, I guess?” the last part coming out as a question.
The two looked at her a bit strangely, but they accepted her answer nonetheless.
Then, Emerald started telling a story from back where they lived, in Fillydelphia. “And so we turned the corner, and we saw two mares making out together, in public!” she exclaimed. “It was just gross, wasn’t it, Indigo?” Not giving the other filly time to answer, she continued. “I couldn’t believe they had the guts to do that where just anypony could see! I mean, to just do that out in the middle of the sidewalk? That’s just plain rude!”
By now, Scootaloo had begun feeling sick to her stomach. “I’ll be back guys, okay?” she interrupted. “I just need to go to the bathroom.” And she got up and trotted out of there so fast, you would have thought there was a tornado in the room.
Instead of going to the bathroom, however, Scootaloo galloped to the back room of the house, where she felt nopony would look. Once she got there, she laid down, put her head in her forelegs, and cried.
Scootaloo didn’t know how long she’d been crying, but eventually, she just had no more tears left, and her crying slowly stopped except for the occasional sniffle.
“Are you okay, Scoots?” she heard. Her head snapped up, startled. She hadn’t heard the door open, and she hadn’t heard her Aunt Rainy come into the room. But she was there.
“Why are you here?” she asked, instead of answering.
Her Aunt smiled dryly. “Let’s just say the air out there got a bit too tense for my liking.”
“Because they don’t like that you’re a lesbian?” Scootaloo asked.
“Pretty much, yeah. You know, I almost didn’t come to this party. Thought that would be better for everypony, and I could just come see you another time, when they weren’t here. But I decided I would come anyway. Maybe I shouldn’t have, now that I know how tense it is out there, but it’s too late now.” She broke off, realizing something. “You know, Scoots, you’re really just too good at changing the subject. Why were you crying?”
Scootaloo looked away. “How do you do it?” she whispered.
Raining Sunshine looked confused. “Do what?”
Scootaloo hesitated. “How do you keep going every day, when you know your own brother and his wife and children aren’t talking to you for something you can’t control? How do you manage to date other mares out in public like I’ve seen you do, when other ponies laugh at you, call you disgusting, and sometimes even throw things at you, which I’ve also seen? How can you deal with that?”
Raining Sunshine thought that over for quite a few minutes before answering. Finally, she said, “Well, I just remind myself that I wouldn’t be happy if I wasn’t true to myself. If I tried to be somepony I wasn’t, I wouldn’t feel right. As long as I am happy, I know I’m doing the right thing. Does that make sense?”
Scootaloo nodded slowly. “Yes it does. Thank you, Aunt Rainy.”
Raining Sunshine smiled. “Always happy to help. Why did you want to know?”
Scootaloo looked down at the floor. “I’m a lesbian too,” she whispered.
Raining Sunshine looked surprised, but nevertheless, she gathered Scootaloo in a caring hug, and asked, “Have you told anypony?”
“Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle.”
“Your best friends, right?”
Scootaloo nodded confirmation.
“Did they care if you were a lesbian or not?”
“No.”
“Then you should be fine. As long as your friends and your parents don’t care, you’ll be fine. And I know your parents and grandparents don’t care, so that’s a bonus.”
Scootaloo nodded but said, “But my cousins care.”
Raining shrugged. “So don’t tell them. You only see them a few times a year, right?” Scootaloo nodded again, and Raining Sunshine continued. “So it shouldn’t be too hard to keep it a secret. Just ignore that topic when you see them, and have fun playing. Of course, when you grow up, if you end up marrying another mare, then they’ll know. But just have fun with them now, and it won’t be a problem until later.”
“All right,” Scootaloo agreed, thinking it actually was a pretty good idea.
“Attagirl! Now what do you say we go back out there together, kay? It’s almost dinner time. You can sit next to me the whole time.”
Scootaloo finally smiled, and agreed to that exuberantly. Crying made you hungry. “Okay!” she exclaimed.
And they walked out of the room together.
