//------------------------------//
// You didn’t have to smile at me… 
// Story: Honeybee 
// by Dashie04 
//------------------------------//

The Honeybee and Rose soon met daily. The fragility of the Honeybee slowly receded as they became more attuned to trying to live in their skin.

Most of all, something had begun to complement those ocean eyes. That was the face of a smile. A beaming grin. One that was usually plastered on the Honeybee, always trying to be helpful and grow past the fragility, but the thing with fragility is that it never completely goes away.

As such, when that smile was not on the face of the Honeybee, than that was a cause for concern. Such as today.

Rose, sat down in her usual spot, across from the Honeybee, and asked her usual questions.

“Have you chosen a name yet?”

The answer was almost always “Not entirely.”

“Are you feeling good?”

The answer was almost always “As well as I can be.”

It was practically rehearsed. The responses were natural, no party expected anything else, and they were fine with that.

Today, came a different response.

“Have you chosen your name yet?”

“I— think so.”

Rose immediately looked up. She immediately jumped on the next question.

“What is it?”

Rose was absolutely dying to know.

“I, think I like the name Honeybee.”

“That’s good!” Rose looked down at her food. This was a momentous occasion! But… where was Honeybee’s smile?

Naturally, she had to ask the question. Where had Honeybee’s smile gone?

“I’m just… scared,” Honeybee said. 

“Of what?” Rose asked, hoping for something different from the answer she expected.

“Everything else…” 

That was the answer Rose expected. 

Rose looked down at her food again as she tried to think of a response that was more than ‘sorry about that’. She tried her best, always, but sometimes she didn’t have an idea to do so with.

“…I know, I know the ponies you’re scared of have power.”

Rose still tried to think of something, beyond that, but she figured she should set the record straight first.

“I’m just scared of what my parents will think. What happens when they learn their stallion is a mare?” Honeybee was dejected, panicked, worried about her quality of life. She wanted to live on her terms, but she knew she very well couldn’t. Not as long as her parents still believed in words that were never spoken.

The table went silent. Both parties went silent. Rose eventually spoke up.

“I say go for it. Keep it on the down-low. Try something different at this massive school, even that should be good enough.”

Rose tried to sport a smile, but Honeybee looked up as her ocean eyes prepared to cry a river. 

“What if I’m not really a mare. What if my parents were right?”

“That’s fine. However, let me tell you that you are whoever you are. Parents don’t get a say. Some ponies are trans, and that’s how they’ve always been. You might not be one of them, you might be, but don’t let your parents decide that for you. Follow your heart.”

Rose concluded, finally stringing together words into sentences, stitching together an elaborate blanket.

“But…”

Rose cut Honeybee off, “I’ll be here whenever, alright?”

Rose once again looked up, and tried to sport a smile of her own.

Then, even though it was broken, and it hid a world of hurt…

Honeybee smiled.