//------------------------------//
// Epilogue: Acceptance 
// Story: New Discoveries 
// by Phantom Shadow 
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	Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo sat in the lower section of the Carousel Boutique, waiting for Rarity to come back.  While they waited, they sat at the kitchen table.  Sweetie Belle was looking down at the table, her thoughts racing through her mind about what her sister was going to say.  Scootaloo sat across from her, a worried look on her face as she watched her unicorn friend looking worried and doubtful.

“Don’t worry about it, Sweetie Belle,” the Pegasus filly said with a smile, “Everything will be alright, you’ll see.”

“How can you be so sure?” asked Sweetie Belle, “How do you know she’s going to approve of us being together?”

“I just know,” she answered, her reassuring smile on her face, “You need to calm down and stop worrying so much!”

“I’ll try,” she replied, letting out a small sigh of worry.

Before either of them could say anything else to each other, they heard the sound of the front door of the Boutique open.  Hesitantly, Sweetie Belle got up and made her way to see if it was Rarity who had walked in.  However, she didn’t need to walk too far before she was face-to-face with her older sister.

“Oh, hey sis,” she said, worry clearly evident on her face.

Rarity didn’t say anything to her, at least not yet.  The only thing she did say was, “Scootaloo, I’d like a moment alone with my sister.”

Only nodding in response, Scootaloo got up from the table, passed a reassuring smile to Sweetie Belle and headed out the front door of the Boutique.

When they heard the sound of the door opening and closing, the two unicorn siblings made their way to the kitchen table and sat down.  Rarity could see that Sweetie Belle was worried about what she was going to say.  However, the only problem that the older unicorn was facing was how to tell her.

After several moments of silence between them, Rarity let out a small sigh and cleared her throat.  “Sweetie Belle, I’ve been thinking really hard about what you said to me earlier, about you and Scootaloo being ‘together’.”

The filly only lowered her head in response, feeling a bit of shame and guilt rushing over her.  She felt like she wanted to cry, but no tears were in her eyes at the moment.  All the same, her heart raced and her mind could only prepare for the worse.

Rarity sighed again and continued, “I admit that I am a little bit uneasy about you two being together like that, only because you two are still very young and have the rest of your lives ahead of you.”

Sweetie Belle nodded in acknowledgement, finding it really hard to look Rarity in the eyes.

“However, after thinking about it, and after all that has been said and done within the past few days, I feel that I’ve come to a conclusion,” stated Rarity, her voice firm and regal.

Still bracing for the worst, Sweetie Belle scrunched her eyes closed and waited for the response.  However, what she heard come out of her sister surprised her to the point of disbelief.

“I might be your older sister, but it’s not right for me to stand in the way of what makes you truly happy,” she said, a reassuring smile on her face, “If you really feel comfortable being with Scootaloo in this kind of way, then you have my support.”

“Really?” asked Sweetie Belle, her face lighting up like a light bulb.

“Only on two conditions,” said Rarity, looking her sister in the eyes.

This sent an uneasy chill to run down the filly’s spine, not having a single clue as to what “conditions” Rarity had in mind.

“Okay,” she said, her voice becoming low and soft.

“First of all, you have to promise me that you will not lie to me about something like this again,” she said, “I know I don’t have any right to snoop into your private and personal business, but when it comes to something like this, I really should be told the truth.”

The filly nodded as the older mare continued, “The other condition is simple: if you two have any problems, whether it’s somepony at school or from somepony in town, please let me know.  You have my support on this, but if anypony presents a problem about this, let me be the one who handles it.  Well, Sweetie Belle, do we have a deal?”

Rarity extended a hoof to her sister, hoping to shake on their agreement.  However, much to Rarity’s surprise, the little filly got up from her seat and gave her a big, tight hug.  Shocked that she had done this, Rarity simply smiled and returned the hug to her.  She could tell that the filly was happy that she had supported her decision about this.

“Thank you, Rarity,” the filly whispered, “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome, Sweet’ums,” she replied, feeling tears of happiness beginning to form in the corners of her eyes, “I love you.”

“I love you too, sis,” said Sweetie Belle, as she kissed her sister on the cheek.  Then, she made her way to the front door of the Boutique; no doubt she was going to tell Scootaloo about her decision on the matter, Rarity thought.

Rarity trotted to the front window of the Boutique and looked out the window.  She could see that Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were both pretty happy about what she had said.  Letting out a small sigh of happiness, she smiled to herself and began making her way up the stairs to her work room, ready to finish her dress she was working on and feeling very proud of herself that she made her sister happy. 





“See, Sweetie Belle, I told you there was nothing to worry about,” said Scootaloo with the same reassuring smile on her face, “Now you can stop feeling so guilty about not letting Rarity in about us being together.”

“Yeah, I guess you were right, Scoots,” she said, nudging her friend on the neck, “How could I have ever doubted you?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she replied, “Come on, Sweetie Belle!  We agreed to meet Apple Bloom at the clubhouse today.  She says she has a few new ideas on how we can earn our cutie marks!”

“Okay,” said the unicorn filly with a smile, “Let’s get going.”

With that, the two fillies began making their way to their clubhouse over at Sweet Apple Acres.  As they galloped down the main roads of Ponyville, they couldn’t help but smile at one another every now and then.

They felt very happy with one another, as they made their way down the dirt road towards the farmhouse.  Their best friend was supportive of them, their other friends and family were supportive of them and everypony else didn’t seem to mind that they were together.  They no longer had to worry about keeping their relationship a secret anymore and were free to show their love for one another in public.

Soon, their galloping slowed to a trot, as they were both a little out of breath from running.  As they slowed, Sweetie Belle leaned in and gave Scootaloo a small kiss on the cheek, whispering to her, “I love you, Scootaloo.”

The Pegasus filly returned the kiss and said, “I love you too, Sweetie Belle.”

As they trotted down the dirt path, they both had smiles on their faces, knowing that this was only the beginning of the rest of their lives together.


The End