//------------------------------//
// Coming Out 
// Story: Sweet Silver Bell(e) 
// by niightear 
//------------------------------//

"Silver, darling?"

Apple Bloom and Scootaloo had left, and Silver was quite bored.

"Yeah Rares?" Silver asked.

"That panic attack from earlier was from dysphoria, correct?" Rarity asked.

The filly paused. "Dysphoria's what trans ponies feel when somepony calls them the wrong pronoun or they look like the opposite gender, right?"

Rarity nodded. "Correct."

"Then yeah..." the unicorn sighed, scraping her hoof against the ground. "It just... I don't know... I'm sorry..."

"It's fine," Rarity assured her.

There was a pause where the two just sat side by side, doing nothing, until Rarity spoke.

"I think you should come out to Scootaloo and Apple Bloom."

Silver's eyes widened as she stuttered. "W - what?!"

"At school tomorrow, ask to talk to them in private, and tell them you're a trans filly, just like you did with me." Rarity explained. "Everypony in town's accepting, but we all have worries about things, sweetie."

Sweetie... that word stuck in her head for some reason.

"It's a bit late now," Rarity mused, "you should go to sleep. I'll do some shopping for you - better get rid of your more masculine clothes, I suppose."

Silver chuckled and nodded, heading up the stairs.

"G'night Rares!" she called.

Celestia, I pray to you that Scootaloo and Apple Bloom will accept me...



"Silver!"

Silver turned, smiling as she saw her marefriends.

"Apple Bloom, Scootaloo! Perfect timing!" she exclaimed. "Come on! I have to talk to you! In private."

The other two Crusaders nodded as all three headed into the bushes.

"Are ya movin' out of town Silves?" Apple Bloom asked. "Ah hope not, Scoots is mighty crazy without ya."

"Hey!"

"It's true." Apple Bloom hit the pegasus with her tail. "Ah love ya regardless. Anyways, what's this 'bout?"

Taking a deep breath, Silver said the four words that would change her life, for the better or for the worse.

"I'm a trans filly."

Her marefriends were silent for a second, before Scootaloo spoke up.

"So... you identify as a girl?"

Silver nodded.

"What's a trans filly?" Apple Bloom asked. "Ah've heard of lesbian and gay and bi and pan and all those things, but not trans filly..."

"Being transgender's basically where you identify as one gender - Silver identifying as a mare - but are biologically a different sex - Silver being a colt. It's simple, really." Scootaloo explained.

"How do ya know this?" Apple Bloom asked.

"My mom's trans CtF." Scootaloo replied simply.

"CtF?" Silver asked.

"Colt to filly." Scootaloo answered. "Like you."

"Maybe I could talk to her about it..." she murmured.

"So there's a difference between gender an' sex? Ah thought all our teachers just wanted to make sure we were sure about what we were." Apple Bloom mused.

"Yeah, there's three* genders - colt - or male, whatever you wanna call it - filly - or female, yet again, whatever you wanna call it -and non-binary." Scootaloo answered. "Non-binary ponies use they/them pronouns, the other two are obvious."

Apple Bloom paused. "Girls, this might sound crazy and random and out of the blue, but ah think ah might be non-binary??? Ah don't know though..."

"You could try using the pronouns and see how you feel." Silver suggested. "Or you might just be genderfluid."

"Is that where you flow through genders?" Scootaloo and Silver both nodded. "Ah'm confused now..."

"It's not that confusing once you get used to it." Silver said. "Using female pronouns for myself when I'm thinking to myself was weird at first, but I got used to it pretty quick."

"Ah guess ah will just hafta get used ta it..." Apple Bloom murmured. "Well anyways, let's go play with some of the others! Button Mash and Rumble wanted to show us somethin'!"

Silver smiled as she ran off with her marefriends.

Being accepted is a great feeling.